Here we are at episode 52, exactly one year since we launched The Heart Work Podcast!! From that first vulnerable conversation to hosting our first live event, this year has been proof that when you lead with heart, everything accelerates.

This past weekend, practice owners and their teams traded their polished professional facades for something infinitely more powerful. Four months from conception to reality, Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa's first Heart Work live event became proof of what happens when teams stop performing their way to success and start leading from authentic transformation.

This wasn't your typical business seminar. Friday night under the open sky on a Tennessee farm became the foundation for Saturday's breakthrough work at Freedom Chiropractic. What emerged across both days had participants saying "100 out of 10" and "nothing else like this exists."

🔥 In This Episode:

• The intentional decision to create intimacy over impressive numbers and why the perfect size allowed barriers to dissolve and authentic leadership to emerge
• How Friday night's foundation of individual radical ownership became Saturday's breakthrough in team dynamics, systems work, and business transformation
• The profound shift from asking "how do I get there?" to asking "why do I want that?" and how this one question revolutionizes everything from team buy-in to personal fulfillment
• Real moments of team members apologizing, having difficult conversations, and stepping into ownership because the weekend created space for authenticity over avoidance
• Why the most impactful leadership happens when you stop solving problems for others and start posing questions that invite them into their own genius

What unfolded wasn't just professional development but permission for an entire room of leaders to remember that doing the inner work isn't about performing better, it's about being well as humans, which inevitably transforms everything else. This is what happens when heart work meets business strategy, and why authentic leadership will always outperform polished perfection.

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast 
• Email: [email protected]

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show

Sometimes the universe conspires to put you exactly where you need to be, even when it feels completely out of your comfort zone. What was supposed to be a simple weekend supporting their mentor Stephanie at the Living Brave conference in Denver became something none of them saw coming: a complete rewiring of how they understood surrender, abundance, and the power of showing up as themselves.

Sara found herself buying entirely new outfits to get out of her own way and step fully into a conference that celebrated feminine power without apology.  Marisa had breakthrough moments recognizing that the abundance she'd been chasing was already flowing through her life. And in a hotel room with no makeup, wearing pajamas, five women discovered that Oracle cards and raw vulnerability could crack them open in the most beautiful way. This wasn't your typical business conference recap. This was about what happens when you're brave enough to be uncomfortable and trust that your story is being written with more magic than you could have planned.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why putting yourself in triggering situations is actually the fastest path to discovering who you really are (and Sara's honest take on buying new clothes to feel like she belonged)
  
  
  
• Marisa's mirror moment with limiting beliefs: "You are not a failure if your business fails" and how that revelation changed everything about how she sees abundance
  
  
  
• Why your presence radiates a frequency that people feel before you even speak, and how showing up as yourself is the only strategy that matters
  
  
  
• The beautiful truth about surrender that doesn't mean giving up but removing the obstructions to let life flow through you
  
  
  
• Why life mirrors exactly what you're putting out into the world and how to trust your story instead of chasing someone else's
  
  
  

Stop chasing other people's stories. Your life is already being written with more beauty and magic than you could have predicted. When you show up as your full self, trust the uncomfortable moments, and surrender the need to control every outcome, the universe doesn't just conspire to help you — it creates space for the kind of transformation that makes you unrecognizable to who you were before.

Connect with us: Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast Email: [email protected] Join our community: The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show

What happens when you look back at your childhood through the lens of everything you've learned about healing? When you watch old family videos and suddenly see patterns that were invisible to your younger self? When you realize that the stories your family told about love, loyalty, and sacrifice were actually blueprints for generational patterns you never chose but somehow inherited?

This episode takes you deep into the messy, beautiful work of family healing. Both Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa share their raw, unfiltered journeys through setting boundaries with family members they love deeply, navigating the complex emotions that arise when you choose your own healing over keeping the peace, and discovering that sometimes the most loving thing you can do is create space for everyone to grow. From four-year periods of necessary distance to unexpected reconnections that feel like coming home, this conversation explores what it really takes to break generational cycles while keeping your heart open.

🔥 In This Episode:

• How revisiting childhood memories through an adult lens can reveal generational patterns and traumas you never recognized before
• The profound difference between carrying guilt for someone else's emotions versus protecting your own energy while staying open to love
• Why boundaries aren't walls but rather bridges that create space for authentic healing and genuine relationship
• The messy, non-linear journey of family healing and how trust can be rebuilt when you've done your own inner work first
• How to navigate the complex emotions that arise when family dynamics shift and change, including grief for relationships that never were

This isn't just another conversation about family drama. This is about the deep, necessary work of breaking generational cycles while still honoring the love that exists within imperfect family systems. It's about learning to hold space for multiple truths simultaneously and finding your way back to authentic connection through the courage to be honest about what you need.

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: [email protected]
• Join our community: The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

BONUS: Are you ready to discover what it means to build something beautiful with your team? Join us September 12th and 13th in Knoxville, Tennessee for a leadership experience where people don't just show up, they come alive. This isn't your typical conference. It's where heart meets strategy and your team learns to thrive together. Limited spots available! Register at: https://theheartwork.myflodesk.com/leadershipconference

Support the show

Picture this: You're four weeks old, breathing in flour dust at your family's pasta shop in South Jersey. Your Italian grandmother's stories of hiding Jewish families during World War II are woven into Sunday dinners. Your cousins are your best friends, your godfather is your hero, and you believe this unbreakable bond will last forever. Then one day, everything shatters. The business splits, invitations stop coming, and suddenly you're collateral damage in a war you never signed up for.

This week, Dr. Marisa opens her heart wide to share the raw, unfiltered story of how her tight-knit Italian family fell apart over business drama and generational wounds. But this isn't just about family feuds or pasta shops. It's about what happens when you choose forgiveness over resentment, when you decide to show up as yourself instead of carrying someone else's pain, and when you realize that sometimes the most radical thing you can do is simply say hello.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The generational trauma that gets passed down like family recipes, and how Marisa recognized she was carrying resentments that weren't even hers to hold
• Why showing up authentically in painful situations doesn't mean being a doormat or dishonoring your mother's experience
• The moment Marisa realized she could interact with estranged family members without that tight knot of hurt consuming her from the inside
• How forgiveness isn't about forgetting or reconciling, but about freeing yourself from the weight of someone else's choices
• The powerful difference between reacting from years of accumulated pain versus responding from your authentic self in the present moment

What if the people who hurt you are also just carrying their own wounds? What if forgiveness isn't about fixing relationships, but about refusing to let someone else's dysfunction dictate how you move through the world? Marisa's story proves that you can honor your pain, protect your peace, and still choose love over bitterness.

The truth is, these same dynamics play out in every team, every organization, every group of humans trying to build something together. When we learn to show up authentically instead of reacting from old wounds, we transform not just our families, but our businesses too.

BONUS: Are you ready to discover what it means to build something beautiful with your team? Join us September 12th and 13th in Knoxville, Tennessee for a leadership experience where people don't just show up, they come alive. This isn't your typical conference. It's where heart meets strategy and your team learns to thrive together. Limited spots available! Register at: https://theheartwork.myflodesk.com/leadershipconference

Connect with us:

•  Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast 
• Email: [email protected]
• Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show

What happens when everyone tells you your dreams won't work, but that inner voice keeps getting louder? Dr. Andy and Dr. Kailey Armor moved to Montana with a month's notice, built Compass Chiropractic against all odds, and discovered that uncertainty isn't something to fear, it's where expansion lives.

This conversation goes deep into the identity work required to build alongside your partner without losing yourselves. From Andy's journey discovering that vulnerability makes men stronger, not weaker, to Kailey's process of finding her voice again after becoming a mother, they reveal what it takes to trust your inner compass when building both business and family. Now as founders of Chiro Couples, they're helping other entrepreneurial partnerships navigate the space between ambition and connection.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why moving from the boardroom to the bedroom requires intentional navigation and specific systems
• How fear of uncertainty and failure are actually superpowers every entrepreneur must develop
• The identity audit that helps you separate who you actually are from the noise others project onto you
• Why men doing emotional work isn't about becoming soft, it's about building unshakeable confidence
• Their 2-2-3 rule that saves marriages while scaling businesses (and it's simpler than you think)
• How decision fatigue is killing your momentum and why making choices quickly creates clarity
• What it looks like to trust your inner compass when everyone else says you're heading the wrong way

This conversation cuts through the surface-level business advice and gets to the heart of what it actually takes to build alongside your partner without losing yourself or each other. Andy and Kailey prove that when you do the deep work of knowing who you are and what you want, everything else becomes a decision you can make with confidence.

BONUS: Join us September 12th-13th in Knoxville, Tennessee for a leadership weekend that breaks every conference rule. Ground into nature with your team on Friday, then workshop real challenges inside Dr. Sara's actual practice on Saturday. Work directly with leadership teams who've built what you're trying to create. Whether you come solo or bring everyone, you'll leave with clarity and practical tools that transform your workplace culture. 

Limited spots available! Register at: https://theheartwork.myflodesk.com/leadershipconference

Connect with Dr. Andy and Dr. Kailey Armor:

• Website: www.compasschirowf.com, www.chirocouple.com
• Instagram: @k_cox12, @dr.andy_armor, @chiro_couples
• Programs: Realigned Event (August 30th), 8-Week Coaching Program (Coming Fall 2025)

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast 
• Email: [email protected]
• Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show

You've built the perfect systems, streamlined every process, and optimized every workflow. Your business should be humming like a well-oiled machine. But something's missing. Your team shows up, does the work, and goes home. They're following the playbook, but where's the spark? Where's the passion that transforms a group of employees into a force that makes clients feel something extraordinary?

That's exactly why Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa are creating something completely different this September in Knoxville, Tennessee. A leadership workshop weekend where you don't just learn about team culture—you experience it. Where you don't go back and try to translate what you learned to your team—you bring them with you. 

Join us September 12th-13th in Knoxville, Tennessee for a leadership weekend that breaks every conference rule. Friday afternoon starts on a stunning property where you'll ground into nature, reconnect with your purpose alongside your team, and enjoy a farm-to-table dinner by a private chef. Saturday brings you into Dr. Sara's actual practice to workshop real challenges with teams who've built what you're trying to create. You'll work directly with their leadership teams, navigate hard conversations, and discover how to bring heart into your systems without losing accountability.

This is for entrepreneurs, practice owners, and their entire teams. Whether you come solo, bring your leadership team, or bring everyone—you all experience this together. No more going back to translate what you learned. No more hoping your team "gets it." You'll leave Saturday with clarity, connection, and practical tools that transform your workplace culture from the inside out.

The leaders who get things done don't wait. Limited spots available! Register at: https://theheartwork.myflodesk.com/leadershipconference

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast 
• Email: [email protected]

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show

Picture this: you're so committed to serving everyone that you literally can't walk. Dr. Nikki Cottis was adjusting patients in professional heels, over-giving her way to financial struggle, until she tore her Achilles. When the orthopedist said she needed eight weeks off for surgery, Nikki knew something had to radically change.

What unfolded was a complete identity reconstruction. She went from the woman who thought she had to save all of Alabama to the systems genius who teaches practitioners how to create sustainable practices without losing their hearts.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The moment her body literally stopped her from over-giving and how that physical breakdown became her greatest breakthrough
• Why switching from heels to sneakers wasn't just about comfort but about stepping into authentic alignment
• How COVID stripped away all the excess and revealed what actually creates growth in practice
• The difference between capacity limits that are real versus the lies we tell ourselves about what we can handle
• How asking ChatGPT to help her be a better coach revealed she wasn't celebrating her own wins
• The conversation every team leader needs to have about life seasons, responsibilities, and shared grace

Nikki proves that the most powerful systems are built on understanding humans, not controlling them. She shows us what happens when you stop apologizing for wanting structure while still crying with your patients, and that you can demand excellence while honoring everyone's different life seasons.

Nikki's journey from the woman who couldn't say no to the coach who helps others find their capacity reminds us that sometimes the most radical act is admitting you're not that serious all the time. She's a Penn State football fanatic who wants to be known as someone's funniest best friend, building something meaningful while staying completely, unapologetically herself.

BONUS: Are you ready to discover what it means to build something beautiful with your team? Join us September 12th and 13th in Knoxville, Tennessee for a leadership experience where people don't just show up, they come alive. This isn't your typical conference. It's where heart meets strategy and your team learns to thrive together. Limited spots available! Register at: https://theheartwork.myflodesk.com/leadershipconference

Connect with Dr. Nikki Cottis: Website: chiroconnectgulfshores.com Coaching Platform: The Wealthy Practitioner Instagram: @drnikkicottis Podcast: Aligned for Success

Connect with us: Instagram: 

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast 
• Email: [email protected]
• Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show

Picture this: You're the CEO of your practice, but every decision still runs through your brain. Every metric, every strategy, every team challenge lands squarely on your shoulders. Sound familiar? Today's conversation dives deep into the messy, magnificent reality of what it actually takes to build a team that thinks like owners, not just employees. Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa unpack the evolution from solopreneur to strategic leader, sharing the exact frameworks they use to develop team members who ask the same questions they'd ask as business owners.

This isn't about micromanaging with fancy spreadsheets. This is about creating a culture where your team becomes so invested in the business's health that they start solving problems before you even know they exist.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The three essential questions every team member needs to answer monthly to understand their role's impact on business health
• How to identify impact drivers versus KPIs and why most practice owners get this backwards
• The strategic difference between developing leaders who execute tasks versus leaders who think like CEOs
• Real examples of role-specific health indicators that transformed team accountability in both practices
• Why quarterly strategic reviews create sustainable growth instead of constant firefighting
• The art of inviting team members to co-create their own success metrics instead of imposing top-down goals
• Navigating the delicate balance between small business execution and scalable systems without getting your cart before your horse

Here's what this conversation really reveals: the businesses that thrive aren't the ones with the smartest owners—they're the ones where everyone on the team operates from the same strategic mindset. When your team starts asking the questions you'd ask and bringing their own unique genius to it, that's when you know you've built something sustainable. 

If you're curious about how you can develop this kind of strategic thinking with your team, join us for The Heartwork Leadership Workshop Weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee this September 2025. This isn't just another conference, it's where you and your team discover what it means to build something beautiful together, creating a culture where people don't just show up, they come alive. Limited spots available! Register at: https://theheartwork.myflodesk.com/leadershipconference

Connect with us: 

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast 
• Email: [email protected]

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show

Picture this: You're killing it in real estate, everyone calls you "one of the best," money's flowing in—and you're literally writing in your journal that meetings make you nauseous. That was Callan Faulkner's reality until a ChatGPT demo in July 2023 flipped her entire world upside down.

Most people would've pushed through the sick feeling, stayed for the "security." Not Callan. She shut down her profitable land investment business, launched The Uncommon Business Co., and built it to $4 million in revenue at 40% margins in just 18 months. Now she trains what she calls "high-frequency humans" to use AI without losing their souls. Turns out, following your obsessions over your obligations is actually a business strategy.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why your body's "no" is actually divine guidance trying to save you—and how Callan's nausea in land meetings led to her AI obsession
• Why emotional regulation and nervous system work ARE business strategies for building sustainable success
• How to activate your team's highest potential instead of keeping them busy with low-level tasks
• The hiring philosophy that changed everything: asking about trauma and choosing frequency over skill
• Her mission to free "Donna" from 30 years of cubicle fluorescent lights—and why AI fluency will matter as much as email skills

This conversation will mess with everything you think you know about business, success, and what it means to build something that matters. Callan's not just teaching AI—she's showing us how to stay human while we rebuild the world.

BONUS: Join us for The Heartwork Leadership Workshop Weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee this September 2025! This isn't just another conference—it's where you and your team discover what it means to build something beautiful together. We're filling the gap that's been missing in our profession: how to create a culture where people don't just show up, they come alive. From intimate development sessions at Freedom Chiropractic to transformational experiences on a stunning private property, this weekend is designed for solo entrepreneurs, high-level team members, and entire teams ready to align around something bigger. Limited spots available—register at: https://theheartwork.myflodesk.com/leadershipconference

Connect with Callan:

• Website: https://theuncommonbusiness.co
• Instagram: @callanfaulkner
• Email: [email protected]
• Interesting in one of Callan’s Programs: Start with Foundations of AI (3-hour course)
• Get on the waitlist for Automate to Accelerate (Fall 2025)

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast 
• Email: [email protected]

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show

What does it actually take to evolve from shouldering every decision, every stress, every late-night task alone to genuinely enjoying your practice again? This isn't about productivity hacks or delegation tactics - this is about rediscovering the joy that brought you into this work in the first place, and learning how to build something beautiful with other people.

Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa dive deep into the transformation that happens when you stop trying to be everything to everyone and start creating space for others to step into their brilliance alongside you. From recognizing the lies we tell ourselves about being indispensable, to the profound relief of sharing both the load and the victories with associate doctors and high-level team members, to watching your people grow beyond what they thought possible - this conversation explores what it really means to build something sustainable and joyful. They examine how releasing the death grip on control doesn't make you less of a leader; it makes you the kind of leader people want to follow and grow with.

🔥 In This Episode:

• The moment you realize you never want to practice alone again and what that shift actually feels like
• How to navigate the vulnerability of being truly seen and supported by your team
• Why some entrepreneurs stay trapped in solo stress patterns and how to break free
• The specific identity work required before sustainable collaboration becomes possible
• Creating systems where individual growth and collective vision amplify each other

This conversation challenges the narrative that successful entrepreneurs must sacrifice joy and connection for growth. Instead, Dr. Sara and Dr. Marisa show how building with high-level team members creates a multiplier effect where everyone's growth amplifies the impact you can make together.

BONUS: We're announcing our first-ever Team and Leadership Workshop Weekend in Knoxville this September! This intensive will focus on heart-centered leadership development and creating cultures where both you and your team can thrive. Stay tuned for details.

Connect with us: Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast Email: [email protected]

Join our community:The Heart Work Life Facebook Group and download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show