In this coaching episode, I'm joined by Kim, a lawyer and divorce mediator based in the Canadian Great Plains who has spent her career helping others navigate some of the hardest transitions of their lives (lord knows, I’ve done it twice!). What she brought to our session was something so many of us carry quietly– a shame spiral from a painful professional experience nearly a decade ago that she couldn't quite shake, and the way it had been silently running the show ever since.

This one went places I didn't expect, and I think that's exactly why you need to hear it. We ended up in territory around conditioning, self-trust, intuition, and what it really means to put yourself first when your whole life has been built around “doing your duty” as a woman. Kim also sent in a follow-up update three months later, and I'm not going to spoil it, but it pleasantly surprised me.

Key Takeaways:

Kim's update at the end of this episode is proof that sometimes the most profound shifts happen in the places you least expect them, and that the real work is just deciding to stop vomiting on the barn floor.

Resources from this episode: 
Subscribe to my (free for now) writing on Substack

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!

MSN is supported by:
We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Heather Chauvin is back on the show, and honestly, every conversation with her feels like a masterclass in telling the truth. Heather is a leadership coach who helps successful women live, work, and parent on their own terms, and she practices every single thing she preaches, whether that's kayaking Alaska or snowboarding with her kids. In 2013, a stage 4 cancer diagnosis cracked her life wide open and pushed her to take a deeper stand for change, and she has been helping women do the same ever since.

In this conversation, we go deep on identity, decision-making, self-trust, psychedelic therapy, and what it actually means to fight for your own aliveness in a world that is constantly pulling your attention outward. This one is meaty and I can’t wait for you to hear it!

What you’ll hear in this episode: 

Heather is one of those people who tells the truth so cleanly that you have no choice but to look at your own life differently, and this conversation is no exception. If you've been white-knuckling your way through life wondering why nothing feels like enough, this episode is for you.

Resources from this episode:
Follow Andrea on Substack!
Check out Andrea’s coaching HERE and HERE
Heather’s episode on boundaries in her marriageHeather’s candid conversation with her son podcast episode 

Heather Chauvin is a leadership coach who helps ‘successful’ women courageously and authentically live, work, and parent on their own terms.

Heather started her career as a social worker helping adults understand children’s behavior. But it wasn’t until 2013 when a stage 4 cancer diagnosis pushed her to take a deeper stand for change, uncovering how cultural expectations sabotage our dreams. She has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Real Simple Magazine, Mind Body Green, Google, and more.

When Heather isn’t working, you will find her living out what she teaches which may include kayaking Alaska, snowboarding, hiking, or anything else that challenges what she believes is possible for herself (and inviting her children along the journey). Life is full of opportunities. It’s time to feel alive.

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!

MSN is supported by:
We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, I'm back with Alanna Kaivalya, PhD, author of The Way of the Satisfied Woman and expert on mythology, feminine psychology, and spiritual empowerment. This is part two of our conversation, and it might be even better than the first. We picked up right where we left off, and Alanna came with receipts.

She goes deep on the practical, embodied, sometimes uncomfortable work of actually stopping the self-abandonment cycle. Not just recognizing it, but interrupting it in real time. We talked about what it means to reclaim your energy from the people and systems that have been draining it, what happens in your relationships when you start saying no, and why so many of us are still waiting for permission we were never going to get. (Link to our first conversation is in the show notes.)

What you'll hear about in this episode:

Last, a reminder to follow me on Substack if you want to get my longer form writing I’ve been doing lately. I’ll be writing to unpack some pretty big topics, and would love to interact with listeners of the podcast over there 😀

Resources from this episode:
Follow me on SubstackAlanna’s previous episode on the podcast
Alanna’s website
Alanna Kaivalya, PhD, is a bestselling author, educator, thought leader, and expert on mythology, spirituality, psychology, and women’s empowerment. The author of The Way of the Satisfied Woman, Sacred Sound, and Myths of the Asanas, she earned a doctorate in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and is the host of The Satisfied Woman podcast. She lives in Los Angeles. More information at TheSatisfiedWoman.com.

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!

MSN is supported by:
We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This solo episode from the archives comes from something one of my clients told me about, and it was the same thing I’ve heard from many women in this community. 

My client went to a live event-- a personal development sort of conference/retreat. She went alone, and this particular client is, like many people, massively uncomfortable with vulnerability, but really wanted to change and grow, so she did the vulnerable thing by going alone to this event. 

Everyone around her seemed to be having these massive breakthroughs, and she just... wasn't. I've been there and probably so have you. It's one of the most common and least-talked-about frustrations in personal growth.

Today I'm getting into “comparisonitis”, specifically around your personal development journey, and why what you see other people experiencing has very little to do with what's actually available to you.

What you'll take away from this episode:

Stop measuring your journey against someone else's highlight reel and come back to what's actually in front of you. Listen to the episode as I talk more about what to do if you find yourself comparing your personal development journey to someone else’s. 

Resources from this episode:
Work with me 1:1 with Devotion, or open sessions 

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!

MSN is supported by:
We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Facebook showed me a memory this week and I had to share it with you.

(See it here!)

Ten years ago I wrote that. Word for word, I still mean every single sentence.

I've been saying some version of this for my entire career–  write the thing, use your voice, stop waiting until you're brave enough or good enough or done caring what people think, because that day isn't coming and the regret of not starting is so much worse than the fear of beginning.

The thing that’s different now, is the world.

I mean, it was bad then in April of 2016, but we hadn’t even had DT’s first election into office yet. Today, women's voices have never been more needed or more threatened at the same time. The stories that get told shape what people believe is possible. The narratives that go unwritten leave a hole that no one else can fill, because no one else has your exact life, your exact perspective, your exact fingerprint on the page.

This is why Shannon Kaiser and I created The Words You're Here to Write Masterclass. Not because the world needs more books. Because the world needs YOUR book. Your Substack, your essays, your voice. Your truth in whatever form it's asking to take.

This is a 6-week live mentorship for women who are done waiting. You'll walk away with:

✓ A clearly defined and positioned writing project
✓ A structural framework and 50+ pages of real written momentum
✓ Cleared fears and roadblocks that have stalled the work
✓ A publishing path and the confidence to use it
✓ Freedom from the conditioning that taught you to stay silent
✓ A community of women doing this work alongside you

The program starts April 30th. Enrollment is open now.

I've been saying this for ten years and I'll still be saying it in ten more. But I'd really love for you to not need me to say it anymore because you already did the thing.

Resources from this episode:
The Words You're Here to Write Masterclass

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!

MSN is supported by:
We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's my 51st birthday, and I'm doing what I do best, speaking from my heart. In this solo episode, I get straight to the three things I most want you to know at this stage of my life: the tools that actually accelerated my healing, what fourteen-plus years of sobriety has made possible, and why the last five years have been the most transformative (and most brutal), of my life.

I also have an exciting announcement: registration is open for The Words You're Here to Write Masterclass, a six-week live mentorship program I've co-created with my friend and  bestselling author Shannon Kaiser. Whether you're thinking about a memoir, building a body of work, or just ready to finally write the thing you've been talking yourself out of–  this one's for you!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

Plant medicine, astrology, and writing don't create the truth, they surface it.

Your nervous system has to be ready to hold a story before you can tell it.

Sobriety didn't just mean abstaining from alcohol, it made everything else possible.

Staying present for the hard stuff, instead of running from it, is what allowed me to move through it.

Perimenopause, a second divorce, Chiron return, and this cultural moment hitting at the same time is no fucking joke.

A dark night of the soul isn't failure, it means you said yes to becoming someone new.

If you've been waiting for permission to feel the weight of what you're carrying and keep going anyway, consider this it. Happy birthday to me! 🎉

Resources from this episode:

The Words You're Here to Write Masterclass

Last year’s Birthday series, Coming Home to Yourself, episode 1 on Self-abandonment

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!

MSN is supported by:
We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My birthday is next week and I'm turning 51 🎉. Dr. Fox and I are celebrating with a road trip to DC to see Florence and the Machine in concert for the very first time. I CANNOT WAIT! But before all that, I have someone very special on the show. Friend of the podcast, Shannon Kaiser is back, and we are diving deep into something both of us have built our careers and our healing around: writing.

This episode is not just for people who consider themselves writers! It's for anyone who has something inside them that wants to come out, whether that's a memoir, a poem, a Substack post, or a raw caption about what's happening in the world right now. Shannon and I have been writing professionally for nearly 20 years, and in this conversation we get honest about fear, voice, silence, and why now, more than ever, your story needs to be told.

Here's what you'll hear in this episode:

Shannon and I are both in the thick of our own memoirs, both pushing against the publishing industry's tired advice to stick to what sells, and both deeply convinced that your story (however messy, however unfinished), matters. We hope this conversation gives you permission to start!

Resource from this episode:Join us on April 14th for our free writing training!

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!

MSN is supported by:
We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before we jump in– I wanted to let you know I’m hosting a free live training on April 14th for writers! Check it out HERE if you’re interested. 😘

This week I’m re-airing an archived episode– it’s one of my favorites– and it’s a conversation with Thais Sky. Thais is a truthspeaker, healer, women’s coach and feminist on a heart-led mission to support the seekers, the edge-dwellers, and the “why the heck do I feel so broken” of the world reclaim their sense of belonging by learning how to explore, trust and express themselves unapologetically. Thais is so expressive and downright poetic, as you’ll hear. I loved my conversation with her and I hope you do too.

In this episode, Thais and I talk about the worthiness wound, what contributes to it, some critical steps to take to reclaim your worth and how healing the worthiness wound is a radical act. We also talk about personal development and how we often hope someone will save us, but it really comes down to doing the work. We also touch on holding the human experience and being capable of navigating through triggers, thoughts and feelings. Lastly, we talk about whiteness, patriarchy,  becoming radicalized and acknowledging that one can be both the oppressor and the oppressed (and how that doesn’t mean you are a bad person).

In this episode you’ll hear:

Resources from this episode
Join me for a free live training for writers!
Thais Sky’s websiteThais on Instagram
Scene on Radio
The Start: A Forum for Radical Social ChangeAndréa Renee Johnson’s blog post on why the self-help industry is not changing the world

Thais is a truthspeaker, healer, women’s coach and feminist on a heart-led mission to support the seekers, the edge-dwellers, and the “why the heck do I feel so broken” of the world reclaim their sense of belonging by learning how to explore, trust and express themselves unapologetically. Based on her own healing journey and decades of research and mentoring women worldwide, she has developed a comprehensive model that explores and offers tools/skills to heal the pervasive sense of unworthiness within women, what she calls the worthiness wound. She also hosts a weekly podcast RECLAIM where she offers conversations on finding the intersection of feminism and spirituality. Thais received a prestigious first-class degree in Management and has studied spiritual psychology, trauma, and leadership for over 10 years. You can learn more about her and her online offerings at ThaisSky.com and just about everywhere on social media, because #millennial at @IamThaisSky.

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!

MSN is supported by:
We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's been two and a half years since I announced my separation and divorce on the podcast, and in this personal episode, I finally sit down to give the update I promised myself I'd share. What took so long? The answer, it turns out, is the very story I continue to tell… one of profound transformation, spiritual reckoning, and slowly coming home to myself.

This episode is an honest, unscripted look at what a midlife awakening can actually look like from the inside. I walk through the intersection of perimenopause, my Chiron return in Aries, the end of my marriage, and the slow dismantling of long-held beliefs about myself and my life. I share five powerful relationship self-assessment questions, reflect on the mind-body connection between suppressed needs and physical illness (drawing from Dr. Gabor Maté's work), and speak directly to women who are in that uncertain, frozen place of not-yet-knowing what to do about their relationship. The throughline of the episode is this: follow the breadcrumbs, even when you can't see where they lead.

Key takeaways from this episode:

The five relationship self-assessment questions:

If someone told you that you're a lot like your partner, would that feel like a compliment?

Are you truly fulfilled in your relationship, or are you just less lonely?

Are you able to be unapologetically yourself in your relationship, or do you feel you have to show up differently to please or accommodate your partner?

Are you in love with your partner as they are right now — as a whole — or are you in love with their good side, their potential, or your idea of them?

Would you want your child (real, future, or imagined) to date someone like your partner?

The Chiron Return is an astrological transit in your late 40s to early 50s when the "wounded healer" planet returns to the position it occupied at your birth — and for those of us born between 1969–1976, it tends to arrive boldly and intensely.

The mind-body connection is real — drawing from Dr. Gabor Maté's When the Body Says No, I highlight research linking higher rates of autoimmune disease and non-smoking-related cancers to chronically suppressing your own needs in a relationship.

There are two very different kinds of easy — life can be logistically easier inside a relationship while quietly depleting you spiritually and physically, and it's worth asking which one you're actually experiencing.

Midlife awakenings take longer than we expect — mine stretched across nearly a decade of incremental ruptures before I finally made the decision to leave my marriage in 2023.

You are not alone — whether you're in the questioning stage, the frozen stage, or somewhere further down the road, it's all a normal and valid part of the journey.

Follow the breadcrumbs — encouragement to ask smaller, more honest questions that move you incrementally forward toward the clarity you need.

This episode is an invitation to anyone in the middle of their own becoming. Whether that looks like questioning a relationship, navigating midlife, or simply feeling the foundation shift beneath your feet like I did. My message is clear: what looks like falling apart is often falling open. The breadcrumbs are there. Keep following them.

Resources: 

Ep 540: Leaving My Marriage from July 2023

TikTok I mentioned that has those 5 questions

When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté

Single session to have your birth chart read. (P.S. I made a mistake in the episode when I said the price. Instead of pulling the episode and changing it, I will grant 5 people the discounted rate I mentioned at the end of episode 720. Once they are all booked, those discounted sessions will be gone and the regular price applies!) 

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!

MSN is supported by:
We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joining me on the podcast this week is leading Latina psychotherapist, Christine Gutierrez, LHMC. Christine is the founder of Christineg.tv, an online hub that features psychologically-savvy and soulful advice. Christine also specializes in love addiction which happens to be the topic of today’s episode.

In this episode, we talked about healing from love addiction, Christine’s own experience with it and how she now helps clients move through the healing process. We also touched on codependency and love addiction red flags. It’s clear through my conversation with Christine that she has worked hard and tirelessly on learning how to trust in herself and lean into her biggest self. I’m happy to share our conversation with you. 

In this episode you’ll hear:

Resources from this podcast:
Christine’s website
Join my email list for info on upcoming writer’s program

Christine Gutierrez, MA, LMHC, is a Latina licensed psychotherapist, self-worth expert, and thought leader. Gutierrez is also the author of the book I Am Worthy,  I Am Diosa: A Journey to Healing Deep, Loving Yourself, and Coming Back Home to Soul and the affirmation deck Wisdom Del Alma. Christine has a Bachelor’s degree from Fordham University in human behavior and development and a Master’s degree from City College of New York in mental health counseling with a focus on prevention and community. Through her work, Christine offers group coaching, corporate wellness, transformational retreats such as her annual Diosa Retreat in Puerto Rico, and soul-based business mentorship in her annual Madre Diosa Legacy Council. In addition, Christine is the founder of the forthcoming app DIOSA a global community where like-hearted women gather to meet soul sisters, gather in circle, and rise together. She has been featured on the Kelly Clarkson Show, Latina Magazine, Yahoo Health, Ebony, Cosmopolitan for Latinas, Oprah Magazine, Entertainment Online, Telemundo, and others. Christine currently resides in Puerto Rico. 

Book recommendations:
I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!

MSN is supported by:
We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices