She Talks

The first talk of the New Year, given on the final morning of last year’s SHE Retreat in Mexico, illuminates what I recommend every woman include in her daily practice. Because a day without practice is a disempowered day. It’s a day when we’re thrown from the helm of our ship and thrashed about by the waves of life and others’ agendas. Our habitual tendencies take over and sabotage us. And we end the day-- or, worse, the year-- exhausted and feeling like, no matter how hard we try, we’re just never enough. Creating and maintaining a daily practice is something I know so many women struggle with. It’s one of the core things that I mentor women on; and it took me many years to establish mine. The effort was well worth it: now my morning practice is the wellspring of a fulfilled and sovereign life. I could never do what I do or be who I am without it. At the end of this first talk, rather than sharing a practice, as I will in all the forthcoming ones, I offer a comprehensive list (not to be confused with

When we’re up against something big in life (which only seems to happen more frequently, with more intensity, as we get older), we need a different approach to scale the seemingly unsurmountable walls that Life places on our paths. We don’t need to become better problem-solvers. Nor do we need to become better people, necessarily. No: we need to move in the opposite direction. We need to stop trying so darn hard. To stop taking ourselves so seriously. We need to revive our little girl magic. Yes! We need to, once again, trust and believe. It’s in this place of surrender to something greater than us that our spiritual path really begins. And it’s in this disposition of faith, that we can finally step off the hamster wheel of incessant self-improvement and allow real, deep, lasting transformation to take root. Welcome to the “ascending” dimension of the Heroine’s Journey, the shooting star to spiritual freedom. And this is the fourth (and final) Bubble Bath Wisdom talk I’ll share before we resume this ser

Today invites the second week of Advent and the first day of Hanukkah. Yes, we’re in the thick of holy. This weekend I’ve had the chance to drop into this sacred time more deeply. On Friday, Keith and I packed up my white Prius (Amia included, much to her delight) and headed up snowy roads to celebrate our five-year anniversary in a rustic, mountain cabin. Relationships challenge and grows us more than anything else in this world, making them the holiest aspect of life. It’s a topic that deserves our attention here, especially at this time of year. To help us dive deeper, let’s explore one of the most primal relationships within ourselves. One within our own psyches, between our Inner Critic and our Vulnerable Child. But most especially: the dimension of the Sacred Feminine that begins to blossom from this relationship when we start to heal. In this clip, recorded on the second afternoon of our SHE Retreat in Mexico, I shared: *The 3 main ways we react and defend ourselves when we feel threatened, stress

She didn’t see how badly she was hurting herself. “I feel like I should be able to handle this,” she admitted. “I mean, she does so much for me. Who am I to complain?” We were halfway through our mentoring session. I paused, remaining silent on the other end of the phone line. The space between us told me to wait: I knew she wasn’t finished yet. “A part of me feels like I should just suck it up,” she finished. Her throat tightened around her voice, holding back a tsunami of sadness. While spending Thanksgiving with her family, this incredibly deep, wise woman became embroiled in a familiar struggle with her mother. Her new haircut (too short), the mess her green smoothie made in the blender, how she wanted to go for a walk instead of visiting with the cousins-- her mom shot passive aggressive jabs at them all. No matter how calm and compassionate this goddess was in her daily life, when she visited her family, it all seemed to fly out the window. Her mom seemed to know exactly which buttons to push, cau

These women were exhausted. As azure ocean waves lapped in the background, the small group of courageous sisters settled into their cushions in the Meditation Cabin. It was the first morning of our week-long SHE retreat in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. And I could see the fatigue peeking through the excitement on their faces. It wasn’t just the fatigue of the previous day’s travel. It was the longing for deep silence, for oh-so-needed rest, for contemplation and creativity and sensuality and all those things that make women, women. Over the next 20 minutes, I shared the first wisdom talk of our retreat, setting the context for our 7-day journey together. Fittingly, this talk was about the first stage of the Heroine’s Journey: “Leaving Your Normal Life.” If you’ve ever heard the call to your own Heroine’s Journey (and, my dear, if you’re here, you undoubtedly have), you know it can come as quite a challenge. A health crisis, a relationship meltdown, a career shift, a financial disaster. It’s during these ten

Since today is my birthday, I wanted to share you with you a very special conversation-- an interview with my mom about her own Heroine's Journey. And, wow, does she have an incredible story! Over the years, I've watched my mom face her biggest fears: supporting herself financially, mothering four girls into womanhood amidst a vicious divorce, overcoming an addiction and embracing a life of sobriety, confronting her own childhood wounds that had led her to believe she wasn’t worthy of love or happiness. And finally, dedicating her life to healing and generously helping others to heal. Now as she approaches her 70th birthday, her hard, inner work has paid off. She's feeling whole and happy from within for the first time in her life. I hope our words will spark appreciation and healing in your own mother-daughter relationships, and in your relationship with The Mother at-large. For there is nothing more sacred, or in need of healing, than this. This is also the 14th, and final, interview in our SHE Stories se

While she admits she's always been a "woman's woman," Nisha Moodley admits that her own Heroine's Journey really began when she fully took a stand for sisterhood. When faced with a divorce, followed by the dissolution of a very deep and meaningful relationship, she recognized just how much she had been deriving her sense of wholeness from men. Nisha's devastation not only led her to surrender in the lap of her girlfriends but it also initiated her into the process of "choosing herself" and cultivating her own intrinsic wholeness. Through this, Nisha learned to partner with challenging emotions as her greatest allies. This allowed her to transform heartache into one of her life's greatest gifts. Tune into our sisterly conversation to discover the tools to help you also "choose yourself." Nisha Moodley is a Women’s Leadership Coach and the founder of Global Sisterhood Day. Inspired by the belief that the world will be set free by women who are free & sisterhood is key to a woman’s freedom, Nisha creates comm

The second child in a very patriarchal, Italian household, Jennifer Racioppi grew up estranged from her feminine essence. Then, in her late teens, Jenn had to have an emergency hysterectomy as the result of very aggressive endometrial cancer. By the time she was 20, Jenn had already gone through surgical menopause. Having lost the capacity to reproduce, she rejected every notion of her femininity and set out to recreate her life. A surprise initiation into understanding the cyclical nature of the moon turned out to be a massive turning point on her Heroine's Journey. By learning to let her desire guide her through life, and to manifest her desires in harmony with the lunar cycles, Jenn found the feminine heart and power that she had always longed for. Fiery and wise beyond her years, Jenn shares with us how we, too, can bring our desire to the forefront and how to use cyclical rituals to bring them into being. Jennifer Racioppi is a progressive women’s health and success coach who combines her deep kno

Today I invited my own business mentor, Andrea J. Lee (she's the one who encouraged me to create this podcast!) to share her Heroine's Journey with us. Living in Vancouver and of Taiwanese descent, Andrea's incredibly joyful and bubbly. I have yet to have a conversation with her when she hasn't giggled! Yet, Andrea didn't always used to be this way. Up until several years ago, she was an incredibly angry woman. Through a lot of deep, inner work and a supportive husband, she used the pain that this rage represented as her path to healing. Seeing this anger as a karmic legacy of not ever being able to be a child, she shares how she has transmuted this pain into self-love, compassion, and loving service. Since anger is something every woman struggles with-- either lashing out or numbing out in reaction to it-- we all can, and need, to learn from Andrea's story. Andrea J. Lee is founder of Thought Partners International, which does business online under the identity 'Wealthy Thought Leader University' -- an

Last November, Lissa Boles lost her beloved husband. In today's interview, she lets us into her space of mourning-- a little cottage on the shores of Lake Huron. She shares how she's using this incredibly difficult time to listen deeply and follow her inner direction. We speak about how death and grieving are in shadow in our culture, and ways that she's learning to respect this important time nonetheless. Towards the end of our talk, Lissa shares some important questions she asks herself daily to honor her need for space-- regardless of others agendas. In closing, she offers a way that we can all help ourselves (and those we love) in befriending grief. Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Lissa Boles is CEO of The Soul Map, a boutique entrepreneurial coaching & consulting firm providing an unparalleled astrological approach to niching, platform creation, business building ad success achievement – one based on the untouchable uniqueness of the owner’s life purpose and the trailblazing thought leadership that’s th

In 2009, Alexis Neely (whose artist name is Ali Shanti) knew something was wrong. Very wrong. She built multiple million dollar businesses, drove a fancy car, and lived in a posh neighborhood. Yet, it had been a long, long time since she had cried. This realization led her on a path of massive transformation. She listened to these inner cures and let her team go, dismantled her business, and moved her family to a farm in Colorado. If you're an ambitious woman on a mission, Ali's words will move you. She speaks candidly about external versus internal success, her struggle with not identifying solely with her worldly achievements, and her desire to leave a legacy-- beyond just a financial one-- by being a mother to the world. Alexis Neely s a new economy expert who offers a fresh perspective for your personal finance, business & life decisions. She graduated first in her class from Georgetown law and quickly scaled the ranks of "successful" entrepreneurship, built multiple million dollar entrepreneurial e

Nicole and I met a few years ago when I first offered my online immersion, Reversing Our "Curse." We are both devoted to helping women heal and live in harmony with their menstrual cycles, seeing our periods as important barometers for the state of our souls. In today's SHE Story, Nicole opens up about how disoriented and tender she feels, now at the tail-end of a 5-year relationship. She shares how challenges with her mother during childhood urged her to devote her life to empowering women, how she overcame a constant feeling of unworthiness, and her favorite tools for coming back to her "spiritual center" in the midst of uncomfortable times. Nicole Jardim is a Young Women’s Hormonal Health Coach who runs a successful 1-on-1 and group coaching business and has helped thousands of women from all around the world who are struggling with PCOS, infertility, amenorrhea, PMS and much more. Rather than treating problems or symptoms, Nicole treats women by addressing the root cause of what’s really going on in the

If you haven't met Jennifer Louden yet, you're in for a real treat. A pioneer in the women's self-care movement, Jen's teeming with wisdom and infectious enthusiasm. At the tail end of one of her biggest life's transition to-date, she shares with us how she stays grounded during such massive life changes as moving and caring for an aging parent. We also dive into essential ways to avoid "drying up" creatively and how to set up sacred "containers" each day to help us honor our desires. Jennifer Louden is a personal growth pioneer who helped launch the self-care movement with her first book, The Woman’s Comfort Book. She’s the author of 7 additional books on well-being and whole living.There are about million copies of her books in print in 9 languages. Jennifer has spoken around the U.S., Canada and Europe, written a national magazine column for a Martha Stewart magazine, been profiled or quoted in dozens of major magazines, and appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, even on Oprah. Jennifer has been t

I met Rochelle at a Qoya (dance) class that she lead during her visit to Boulder last spring. Her sensual, fierce vibrancy touched me deeply, and I invited her here to share her embodied wisdom with us. Rochelle recounts the tale of her own Heroine's Journey, and what it's been like for her to "go against the grain" in order to follow her heart and create her life's work. She speaks of opening to the power of "Mother energy" (even when one doesn't choose to birth children), the importance of getting into one's body, and a hard lesson she learned that led her to finally trust herself. In closing, Rochelle gives succinct instruction for how to reach out for divine guidance. Join us to celebrate the full spectrum of our womanhood and allow Rochelle's story to inspire you to follow your own precious heart. Rochelle Schieck is the founder of Qoya, a movement system based on the idea that through movement, we remember. We remember our essence is wise, wild, and free. She has spent the last 15+ years traveling th

Jennifer Lee has been a dear friend and inspiration for years. Today, she reveals some stories she hasn't shared before and opens up about some tender points along her Heroine's Journey. She shares why she's risking listening to her body (over ambitiously pursuing rapid business growth alone), and both the struggle and peace that this brings. She also shares some of her favorite ways to "embrace ease" during her work week, and how connecting with her muse keeps her creative fire kindled. This sisterly conversation is for anyone who's looking for a more inspired, feminine path to success. Jennifer Lee is the founder of Artizen Coaching and the author of Building Your Business the Right-Brain Way and the bestseller The Right-Brain Business Plan, which has helped tens of thousands of entrepreneurs around the world launch their creative businesses. After spending 10 years climbing the corporate ladder and getting tired of living her dream "on-the-side," she took the leap to pursue her passions full-time. Jenn

Bari is one of my closest girlfriends. It then comes as no surprise that we had a really deep interview, where Bari opened up about stories she had never shared before. She talks a little bit about her work, The Art of Money, but she mostly shares tender, personal stories. We explore the "Father's-Daughter Archetype," a concept I write about in The Book of SHE, and how Bari had to rebel against her father's "way" in order to find her own inner compass. We also explore the grief process, and some recent money riddles that it took her decades to solve. Grab a cup of tea, nibble on some dark chocolate (Bari's favorite), and settle in with us for this rich, sisterly conversation. Bari Tessler Linden, MA, is a Financial Therapist, Mentor Coach and Mama-preneur. Bari’s gentle, body-centered approach weaves together personal, couple, and creative entrepreneurial money teachings into one complete tapestry. She is the founder of The Art of Money: a global, year-long money school, which integrates Money Healing, Mone

Running on far too little sleep is something every new mother can relate to. Alisa Vitti, hormone expert, best-selling author of WomanCode(Harper Collins), and the founder of FLOliving.com, shares with us how she comes home to herself-- especially on days when it seems impossible. She shares her story of how she overcame PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) through nutrition and lifestyle, and has gone on to help thousands of women worldwide to use food to end hormonal chaos and get into hormonal “flo.” Learn more about Alisa at www.FloLiving.com. I hope you enjoy our conversation! Come right this way to order your copy of The Book of SHE at www.TheBookofSHE.com. When you register your receipt there before October 30, you’ll receive an invitation to join a complimentary online women’s yoga & meditation class, as well as a live Q & A, with Sara, to help support you as you begin your own Heroine's Journey.

Doing the laundry while brainstorming writing topics -- this is one of Elena Brower's favorite combinations. A mother, author, teacher, and lifelong learner, today Elena opens up about how her darkest moments (including recently overcoming a major addiction) have allowed her to become one of the world's most loved yoga teachers. Learn more about Elena at www.ElenaBrower.com. I hope you enjoy our conversation! Come right this way to order your copy of The Book of SHE at www.TheBookofSHE.com. When you register your receipt there before October 30, you’ll receive an invitation to join a complimentary online women’s yoga & meditation class, as well as a live Q & A, with Sara, to help support you as you begin your own Heroine's Journey.

This is my most candid interview. Ever! Within every woman lives an inspiring story. To help us get to know one another better, here's the tale of my own Heroine's Journey. I share why and how I founded The Way of the Happy Woman, healed from severe illness, became a bestselling author, run a global community as an HSP, and created this podcast. I also answer some questions I get asked often: * What is my morning ritual? * How did I get my first book published? * What are some ways that I balance my work and love life? * How do men, sexuality, and intimate relationships fit into a woman's spiritual path? * Where am I now, after announcing I wanted to close my business one year ago? My good friend, Emma Teitel, psychotherapist, coach, and women’s group facilitator here in Boulder, Colorado sat down to interview me today. You can learn more about Emma at www.EmmaTeitel.com. I hope you enjoy our conversation! Come right this way to order your copy of The Book of SHE at www.TheBookofSHE.com. When you re