Finding Harmony Podcast

What if your symptoms aren't the problem? What if they're a message?

Harmony Slater and Russell Case welcome Allison Lorne, a certified nurse midwife with 25 years in women's health who guides women through perimenopause and menopause as a sacred passage rather than a set of symptoms to silence. Allison is also a spinal energetics practitioner, so the conversation moves between the clinical and the energetic: what hormones are doing, what the body is asking for, and how to come home to it.

Allison explains why she calls perimenopause "adolescence in reverse," how the history of hormone therapy shaped what women were told for two decades, and why emotional symptoms like anxiety, irritability, and sleeplessness often arrive first. She shares her own first symptom, why it took her years to recognize perimenopause, and how a lifetime of intuitive healing work led her from hospital nursing to private practice. Along the way: the grandmother hypothesis, a coven on California's Central Coast, dandelions, and a simple practice for tuning in to your inner wise woman.

Allison Lorne, CNM, is a certified nurse midwife with 25 years in women's health. After two decades in hospital and clinical practice, she opened a private practice three years ago, where she guides women through perimenopause and menopause with a blend of clinical education, somatic work, and spinal energetics. She leads a three-month coaching program for women in midlife and lives on five acres on California's Central Coast.

Ancient Breathing 2.0 Master Class - https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

What if your symptoms aren't the problem? What if they're a message?

Harmony Slater and Russell Case welcome Allison Lorne, a certified nurse midwife with 25 years in women's health who guides women through perimenopause and menopause as a sacred passage rather than a set of symptoms to silence. Allison is also a spinal energetics practitioner, so the conversation moves between the clinical and the energetic: what hormones are doing, what the body is asking for, and how to come home to it.

Allison explains why she calls perimenopause "adolescence in reverse," how the history of hormone therapy shaped what women were told for two decades, and why emotional symptoms like anxiety, irritability, and sleeplessness often arrive first. She shares her own first symptom, why it took her years to recognize perimenopause, and how a lifetime of intuitive healing work led her from hospital nursing to private practice. Along the way: the grandmother hypothesis, a coven on California's Central Coast, dandelions, and a simple practice for tuning in to your inner wise woman.

Allison Lorne, CNM, is a certified nurse midwife with 25 years in women's health. After two decades in hospital and clinical practice, she opened a private practice three years ago, where she guides women through perimenopause and menopause with a blend of clinical education, somatic work, and spinal energetics. She leads a three-month coaching program for women in midlife and lives on five acres on California's Central Coast.

Ancient Breathing 2.0 Master Class - https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

Everyone is talking about nervous system regulation. But what if the goal isn't to be calm all the time? In Episode 337, Harmony Slater and Russell Case talk with Laurie James, author of Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go, host of the Confessions of a Free Bird podcast, and a certified somatic practitioner and coach who works in the Somatic Experiencing approach developed by Peter Levine.

Laurie shares how caring for aging parents while raising four daughters, and the end of a 26-year marriage, led to a season of overwhelm and then to somatic healing. She explains what Somatic Experiencing is, why a healthy nervous system moves between activation and rest many times a day, how to build capacity instead of chasing calm, and why you can heal without retelling your whole story.

Laurie James is an author, certified somatic practitioner and coach, and the host of the Confessions of a Free Bird podcast. Her memoir, Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go (2021), chronicles a season of raising four daughters, caring for her parents, and the unraveling of a long marriage. She lives in Southern California.

Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing), Stephen Porges (polyvagal theory), Gabor Maté, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris (The Deepest Well and the ACE study)

Ancient Breathing 2.0 Master Class - https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

Everyone is talking about nervous system regulation. But what if the goal isn't to be calm all the time? Harmony Slater and Russell Case talk with Laurie James, author of Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go, host of the Confessions of a Free Bird podcast, and a certified somatic practitioner and coach who works in the Somatic Experiencing approach developed by Peter Levine.

Laurie shares how caring for aging parents while raising four daughters, and the end of a 26-year marriage, led to a season of overwhelm and then to somatic healing. She explains what Somatic Experiencing is, why a healthy nervous system moves between activation and rest many times a day, how to build capacity instead of chasing calm, and why you can heal without retelling your whole story.

Laurie James is an author, certified somatic practitioner and coach, and the host of the Confessions of a Free Bird podcast. Her memoir, Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go (2021), chronicles a season of raising four daughters, caring for her parents, and the unraveling of a long marriage. She lives in Southern California.

Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing), Stephen Porges (polyvagal theory), Gabor Maté, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris (The Deepest Well and the ACE study)

Ancient Breathing 2.0 Master Class - https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

What happens when the thing that saved your life becomes the thing you have to heal from?

Chad Herst has been practicing Ashtanga yoga since his twenties — authorized to teach by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois himself in 2003 — and coaching high-performing founders and executives since 2008. From the outside, he'd figured it out. From the inside, he was running the exact pattern he now helps his clients name: the drive that builds something real, and then keeps running long after it stops feeling like enough.

Harmony and Russell sit down with their old friend from the Mysore years to talk about what actually broke that pattern open — a body that finally refused to cooperate, a decade of sitting with ayahuasca, and a grief from his brother's death in 1991 that he didn't let himself fully feel until he turned 50. It's a conversation about achievement, identity, family patterns, and what it costs to keep proving you're enough — and what's on the other side of finally stopping.

Chad's new book, The Performance Trap: The Ache No Success Will Ever Fix, launches October 1, 2026 Get the first chapter, read in his voice, at herstwellness.com/chapter-one.

Guest bio:

Chad Herst is a mind/body and executive coach and the author of The Performance Trap: The Ache No Success Will Ever Fix. He has been coaching since 2008. His work helps people notice the patterns that take over under pressure, listen for what matters to them, and try different ways of responding in daily life.

Find out more: https://herstwellness.com

His new book, The Performance Trap: The Ache No Success Will Ever Fix, names the pattern he kept finding underneath the success in his clients, and in himself: the drive that builds something real, then keeps running long after it stops feeling like enough. He lives in Northern California with his wife, Melissa.

Connect with Chad:

Website: herstwellness.com

Free first chapter (read in his voice): herstwellness.com/chapter-one 

Key takeaways:

Content Advisory: This episode includes a personal conversation about grief after a suicide loss, a family member's mental illness, and the complicated emotions that can follow. Please take care while listening, and feel free to skip this one if it isn't the right time.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available:

If you're in immediate danger, please call your local emergency number (911 in the US and Canada).

Leave a review: If this episode resonated, a 5-star review and a note on your biggest takeaway helps other seekers find these conversations.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube · or wherever you listen.

Ancient Breathing 2.0 Master Class - https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

What happens when the thing that saved your life becomes the thing you have to heal from?

Chad Herst has been practicing Ashtanga yoga since his twenties — authorized to teach by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois himself in 2003 — and coaching high-performing founders and executives since 2008. From the outside, he'd figured it out. From the inside, he was running the exact pattern he now helps his clients name: the drive that builds something real, and then keeps running long after it stops feeling like enough.

Harmony and Russell sit down with their old friend from the Mysore years to talk about what actually broke that pattern open — a body that finally refused to cooperate, a decade of sitting with ayahuasca, and a grief from his brother's death in 1991 that he didn't let himself fully feel until he turned 50. It's a conversation about achievement, identity, family patterns, and what it costs to keep proving you're enough — and what's on the other side of finally stopping.

Chad's new book, The Performance Trap: The Ache No Success Will Ever Fix, launches October 1, 2026 Get the first chapter, read in his voice, at herstwellness.com/chapter-one.

Guest bio:

Chad Herst is a mind/body coach and licensed acupuncturist who has coached founders, executives, and high performers since 2008 — the kind of people who look, from the outside, like they've figured it out. Most of his life, he was one of them, which turned out to be the part the work was about. He spent years training in Ashtanga yoga and was authorized to teach by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in 2003 [VERIFY]. His new book, The Performance Trap: The Ache No Success Will Ever Fix, names the pattern he kept finding underneath the success in his clients, and in himself: the drive that builds something real, then keeps running long after it stops feeling like enough. He lives in Northern California with his wife, Melissa.

Connect with Chad:

Website: herstwellness.com

Free first chapter (read in his voice): herstwellness.com/chapter-one 

Key takeaways:

Content Advisory: This episode includes a personal conversation about grief after a suicide loss, a family member's mental illness, and the complicated emotions that can follow. Please take care while listening, and feel free to skip this one if it isn't the right time.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available:

If you're in immediate danger, please call your local emergency number (911 in the US and Canada).

Leave a review: If this episode resonated, a 5-star review and a note on your biggest takeaway helps other seekers find these conversations.

Ancient Breathing 2.0 Master Class - https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

Marie Manuchehri was a thirty-seven-year-old oncology nurse when, mid-task at a patient's bedside, her clairvoyance switched on — and never switched off. Thirty years later, she has spent more time than most of us at the edge between living and dying.

In this conversation with Harmony Slater and Russell Case, Marie explains why joy is the condition that opens intuition rather than the reward for it, how to tell a genuine knowing from ordinary fear, and what she has noticed in the rooms of people who were about to cross over. She also shares the moment she told her nursing supervisor what was happening to her — certain it would end her career.

Key takeaways:

Marie Manuchehri is an intuitive, healer, and medium who began her healing career while working as an oncology nurse in a Seattle-area hospital. Her perceptions and her ability to move energy have assisted many people in healing their bodies.

Marie loves to educate those who are also on the healer's path, and teaches many courses focused on intuition and the awareness of energy — tools for recognising and understanding your own intuition, and for offering new perceptions to those seeking healing. She's devoted to teaching people about the real, positive impact their own psychic abilities can have on transforming their lives and their psychology, as well as the lives of others.

In her private practice, Marie cares for clients around the world, providing insight into their health concerns as well as mediumship to help them connect with loved ones on the Other Side. She hosts the bi-monthly Joyful Intuitive Podcast and is the author of Intuitive Self-Healing and How to Communicate with Your Spirit Guides.

Website: energyintuitive.com

Instagram: @MarieManuchehri

Facebook: @MarieManuchehri

YouTube: @MarieManuchehri — youtube.com/user/mariemanuchehri

Podcast: The Joyful Intuitive Podcast

Books: Intuitive Self-Healing · How to Communicate with Your Spirit Guides

Free masterclass — Sunday 27 September. Three pranayama techniques, taught live. If this conversation made you want to slow down enough to actually hear yourself, this is the practice. 

Free 90-Minute Pranayama Masterclass: https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

DISCLAIMER: This conversation is shared for educational and inspirational purposes and is not medical advice. Nothing discussed here is a substitute for diagnosis or treatment by a qualified healthcare provider. Please don't change a treatment plan without talking to your doctor.

Ancient Breathing 2.0 Master Class - https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

Marie Manuchehri was a thirty-seven-year-old oncology nurse when, mid-task at a patient's bedside, her clairvoyance switched on — and never switched off. Thirty years later, she has spent more time than most of us at the edge between living and dying.

In this conversation with Harmony Slater and Russell Case, Marie explains why joy is the condition that opens intuition rather than the reward for it, how to tell a genuine knowing from ordinary fear, and what she has noticed in the rooms of people who were about to cross over. She also shares the moment she told her nursing supervisor what was happening to her — certain it would end her career.

Key takeaways:

Marie Manuchehri is an intuitive, healer, and medium who began her healing career while working as an oncology nurse in a Seattle-area hospital. Her perceptions and her ability to move energy have assisted many people in healing their bodies.

Marie loves to educate those who are also on the healer's path, and teaches many courses focused on intuition and the awareness of energy — tools for recognising and understanding your own intuition, and for offering new perceptions to those seeking healing. She's devoted to teaching people about the real, positive impact their own psychic abilities can have on transforming their lives and their psychology, as well as the lives of others.

In her private practice, Marie cares for clients around the world, providing insight into their health concerns as well as mediumship to help them connect with loved ones on the Other Side. She hosts the bi-monthly Joyful Intuitive Podcast and is the author of Intuitive Self-Healing and How to Communicate with Your Spirit Guides.

Website: energyintuitive.com

Instagram: @MarieManuchehri

Facebook: @MarieManuchehri

YouTube: @MarieManuchehri — youtube.com/user/mariemanuchehri

Podcast: The Joyful Intuitive Podcast

Books: Intuitive Self-Healing · How to Communicate with Your Spirit Guides

Free masterclass — Sunday 27 September. Three pranayama techniques, taught live. If this conversation made you want to slow down enough to actually hear yourself, this is the practice. 

Free 90-Minute Pranayama Masterclass: https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

DISCLAIMER: This conversation is shared for educational and inspirational purposes and is not medical advice. Nothing discussed here is a substitute for diagnosis or treatment by a qualified healthcare provider. Please don't change a treatment plan without talking to your doctor.

Ancient Breathing 2.0 Master Class - https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

Harmony Slater and co-host Russell Case sit down with executive coach, theater artist, and University of Virginia lecturer Denise Stewart for a conversation about story, voice, and confidence.

With more than three decades of experience as an actor, playwright, and director, Denise now coaches CEOs, physicians, scientists, entrepreneurs, and university students on how to access their own stories — not a polished script, but the real, specific, unglamorous truth that actually connects.

Topics covered:

About Denise Stewart: Denise Stewart is an executive coach and lecturer at the University of Virginia's Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, where she teaches public speaking, improv, and storytelling. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from UVA and has spent over 15,000 hours in public speaking and theatrical performance, including touring her one-woman show Dirty Barbie and Other Girlhood Tales to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her clients include entrepreneurs, physicians, scientists, and Fortune 500 teams.

Connect with Denise: denisestewartstudio.com | Instagram @swamphatchedbutterfly | Substack: The Last Nerve

Connect with Finding Harmony: Instagram @findingharmonypodcast | Host @harmonyslaterofficial | community-harmonyslater.com

If this episode moved you, leave a review and share it with someone who needs to trust their voice a little more today.

Ancient Breathing 2.0 Master Class - https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass

Harmony Slater and co-host Russell Case sit down with executive coach, theater artist, and University of Virginia lecturer Denise Stewart for a conversation about story, voice, and confidence.

With more than three decades of experience as an actor, playwright, and director, Denise now coaches CEOs, physicians, scientists, entrepreneurs, and university students on how to access their own stories — not a polished script, but the real, specific, unglamorous truth that actually connects.

Topics covered:

About Denise Stewart: Denise Stewart is an executive coach and lecturer at the University of Virginia's Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, where she teaches public speaking, improv, and storytelling. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from UVA and has spent over 15,000 hours in public speaking and theatrical performance, including touring her one-woman show Dirty Barbie and Other Girlhood Tales to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her clients include entrepreneurs, physicians, scientists, and Fortune 500 teams.

Connect with Denise: denisestewartstudio.com | Instagram @swamphatchedbutterfly | Substack: The Last Nerve

Connect with Finding Harmony: Instagram @findingharmonypodcast | Host @harmonyslaterofficial | community-harmonyslater.com

If this episode moved you, leave a review and share it with someone who needs to trust their voice a little more today.

Ancient Breathing 2.0 Master Class - https://harmonyslater.com/free-90-minute-pranayama-masterclass