What is it about being somewhere new that allows us to shapeshift into different version of ourselves? And how can we harness that transformational power of travel into our daily lives?

Our guest this week is Michael Bennett: founder of Explorer X, seasoned traveler, speaker, consultant, educator, and entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to inspiring, guiding, and supporting others in becoming the hero of their own story.

Listen in for more on how travel can be a tool for personal evolution, the “myths” of transformational travel, and how you can integrate more purpose, meaning, and perspective into your next trip.

What You Will Learn: 

3:52: Michael explains his background in organizational consulting work, how he reached a point of burnout, and how he evolved his career to get back to a point of inspiration. 

7:37: Why the “chasm” between where we are and where we want to be is never as big as we think it is

10:08: What Michael has learned about grief and why the best way through it is to embrace it

11:30: The philosophy of Michael’s company, ExplorerX, and how travel can be a tool for personal transformation

15:07: The myths of transformational travel, plus the questions you can ask yourself and actions you can take to add more meaning to your travel

20:46: Why travel is an “unveiling of who you are” 

25:16: Why our “travel selves” are the most aligned with our truest selves and how we bring that into our everyday lives

29:35: Michael describes how he’s redesigned his relationship with his work and the methods by which he protects his time

32:41: Michael’s definition of success, both for himself and his travel company

33:35: Why Michael feels like he doesn’t need a vacation and why it can be beneficial to not have boundaries between work and play

35:50: How play shows up in Michael’s daily life

37:30: Where Michael plans on traveling next 

41:02: What travel creates space for, and why people have to do the work to fill that space

Relevant Links: 

• Learn more about ExplorerX: https://www.explorer-x.com/
• Follow Explorer-X on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goexplorerx/
• Listen to the Wisdom & Wanderlust podcast: https://www.explorer-x.com/wisdom-wanderlust
• Free Soulcation Daily Planning Page: https://www.melodymiles.com/daily-planning-page
• Follow Mel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulcationmel/
• Purchase the Soulcation Planner: https://www.melodymiles.com/soulcation-planner

When a crisis happens – especially one that lasts long-term – we spend much of our time simply in survival mode, and for good reason. But how do we find empathy for ourselves during the most difficult times of our lives?

Our guest this week is Patti M. Hall: a writer, collaborator, book coach, and founder of The Story House book-building mastermind. She’s also the author of “Loving Large: A Mother’s Rare Disease Memoir.” 

In this episode, Patti discusses her son’s rare disease diagnosis, and how that period of chaos and crisis sent her into physical and mental overwhelm – and how she eventually found balance, self-compassion, and light at the end of the tunnel. 

What You Will Learn: 

4:46: How Patti has come to embrace her own voice, as opposed to just helping others find theirs

5:49: Patti tells the story of her son’s rare disease diagnosis, and how it affected both her family system and her internal world

8:24: How Patti’s mental health suffered in the period of time after her son’s diagnosis

11:38: Why Patti was “floundering” and how she expanded the “fight, flight, or freeze” mechanism in her brain to include something else

14:54: How Patti balances responding to crisis with self-compassion (and how she defines self-compassion)

18:10: Patti explains how her son is doing now, as well as how crisis has united her family

19:55: How Patti tunes into her inner child, even (and especially) during hard times

24:57: How Patti has moved from “island” to “community”

26:35: Why writing was a tool for Patti to heal her pain, and how she coached herself through the writing process to make peace with her most difficult memories 

29:30: What Patti would tell people who are curious about writing as a path towards healing, and why we need to take the “mystique” out of writing

30:31: Why writing a book with the audience in mind first is “missing the point” and how stories can release us

33:17: What “scheduled unscheduled time” looks like for Patti and how she uses color coding to give herself space for herself in her daily life

Relevant Links: 

• Visit Patti’s website: https://pattimhall.com/
• Buy Patti’s book, “Loving Large: A Mother’s Rare Disease Memoir”: https://www.amazon.com/Loving-Large-Mothers-Disease-Memoir/dp/1459746368/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=loving+large&qid=1622642484&sr=8-2
• Follow Patti on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patti_m_hall/
• Free Soulcation Daily Planning Page: https://www.melodymiles.com/daily-planning-page
• Follow Mel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulcationmel/
• Purchase the Soulcation Planner: https://www.melodymiles.com/soulcation-planner

What is one way you could experience the same freedom and fulfillment you experience during vacation… in your daily life? 

Our guest this week is Alexis Artin, who is a leading success coach, international speaker, writer, NLP practitioner, and a master embodiment trainer who’s trained the life-changing Demartini Method. She’s also an expert in empowering others to make the choices necessary to build the life that will truly fulfill them.

Listen in to learn more about the Demartini Method to separate our perceptions from our emotions, how women can choose to become the “narrator” of their own stories, and the empowerment of staying connected to the present moment.

What You Will Learn: 

2:06: Alexis gives her definition of what success is. 

3:02: Why Alexis’ friends call her the “Forrest Gump of the feminine” and how she has been the hero of her own story

6:28: What happens when women ignore their own feminine energy

10:07: How women “tone themselves down” and how they can avoid doing so

13:00: Why Alexis doesn’t believe in mistakes

14:21: Alexis talks about her deepest core values, and how they show up in her daily life

18:57: Alexis explains the prescribed roles of “the villain, victim, and the hero” and how you can switch to being the “narrator” instead

22:56: What the Demartini Method is, and how people can use it to connect to their unconscious thoughts

28:06: The stories that came up for Alexis when she took herself through the Demartini Method

31:57: Alexis explains how women can experience the same freedom and fulfillment of vacation in their everyday lives. 

36:15: Alexis explains what the “free body” movement is and how we can eradicate the need to compartmentalize, and instead integrate mind, body, and soul.

Relevant Links: 

• Visit Alexis’ website: https://alexisartin.com/
• Follow Alexis on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexis_artin/
• Alexis' free webinar 'See Ya Later Sabotage': https://alexisartin.com/see-ya-later-sabotage-the-new-webinar-from-success-coach-alexis-artin/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=sylswebinarregistration
  
  
• Read more about the Demartini Method: https://drdemartini.com/about/demartini-method/
• Free Soulcation Daily Planning Page: https://www.melodymiles.com/daily-planning-page
• Follow Mel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulcationmel/
• Purchase the Soulcation Planner: https://www.melodymiles.com/soulcation-planner

Society, family, friends, and even that voice inside ourselves – they all tell us that divorce and heartbreak are an ending. But what if it could be the beginning of finding your own joy and choosing yourself?

Our guest this week is Renee Bauer: she’s an award-winning divorce attorney, published author, and founder of the family law firm, Bauer Law Group. She’s also been through two divorces, and knows firsthand the stereotypes and shaming that often comes with this decision. 

Mel and Renee each tell their own divorce stories, including how those choices led them on paths to true happiness. Listen in to hear more about what they’ve learned about love, how self-abandonment can appear in a marriage, and how to tune into your own happiness, no matter what.

What You Will Learn: 

2:40: Mel begins to tell her own story of divorce and why she and her ex-husband both needed to escape their marriage. 

5:27: How the unraveling of Mel’s marriage led to the unraveling of her Christian faith 

7:31: Mel explains what was said to her during her divorce that led her to feeling the worst shame she had ever felt in her life. 

10:31: How Mel abandoned herself for the sake of the institution of marriage

15:00: Mel describes the process of writing vows to herself after her divorce

17:52: Renee introduces herself, including her history with divorce, both in her personal and professional life. 

19:47: Renee explains the hardest part about her first divorce, and why “good enough” wasn’t good enough for her anymore. 

22:44: The story of Renee’s second marriage and divorce, and why she still wouldn’t trade that experience

25:25: The ways in which people abandon themselves for the sake of marriage and why they tune out their own happiness 

28:12: The advice that Renee would tell women who are in the midst of divorce or heartbreak

31:40: What Renee would tell people about grieving the end of a relationship and why it’s important not to “quick-fix” it 

34:45: How women can find their joy again after a divorce or heartbreak 

36:15: What Renee has learned about love 

39:44: How Renee creates space in her own life and relationship

43:23: The ways in which Renee lives a life she doesn’t need a vacation from, including what her “happy place” is

Relevant Links: 

• Visit Renee’s website to learn more about her courses, programs, and podcast: https://msreneebauer.com/
• Follow Renee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msreneebauer/
• Read Mel’s vows to herself: https://www.melodymiles.com/blog-posts/2018/7/10/blog-headline-3-b9mgp
• Free Soulcation Daily Planning Page: https://www.melodymiles.com/daily-planning-page
• Follow Mel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulcationmel/
• Purchase the Soulcation Planner: https://www.melodymiles.com/soulcation-planner

When it comes to work, romance, and friendships, we tend to prioritize relationships with others over the relationship we have with ourselves. But what if that was the most important relationship of our lives? How could we experience more joy by cultivating that relationship as much as we cultivate our others?

Emma Tait is our guest this week: she’s a writer, soul guide, and creator who helps people connect to their own inner knowing and guidance system so they can have a career and life filled with purpose, joy, and peace.

Listen to the full conversation with Emma to learn more about how to cultivate your best relationship with yourself, how co-dependency manifests in our lives (and how to step away from it), and the power of non-radical change. 

What You Will Learn: 

3:30: Emma talks about her work with people to help them develop a deeper relationship with themselves. 

5:31: Emma gives an overview of her personal story, including extreme personal tragedy, and how she’s become the hero of her own life. 

12:53: How Emma defines self-trust and how we can use it in our daily lives

15:31: How to cultivate self-love by leaning into a willingness to be a “beginner” 

19:18: What co-dependency is when it comes to both personal and professional relationships, and how it can become a slippery slope in our lives

25:40: Emma gives tips for how to give ourselves grace for our co-dependency, and how to move forward to a better relationship with ourselves.

30:31: Why change doesn’t have to be “radical” in order to be effective

31:46: The power of unstructured time in establishing more joy in life

33:30: Emma talks about the new balance of motherhood and how important it’s been to remind herself of the intensity of this season of life.

35:51: The daily rhythms and rituals that have helped Emma integrate into motherhood and why her balance isn’t necessarily “balanced”

42:52: Emma describes the power of giving herself permission to do whatever she feels like doing, and how that has cultivated a life she doesn’t need a vacation from.

Relevant Links: 

• Follow Emma on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmarosetait/
• Visit the Create The Love website: https://createthelove.com/
• Free Soulcation Daily Planning Page: https://www.melodymiles.com/daily-planning-page
• Follow Mel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulcationmel/
• Purchase the Soulcation Planner: https://www.melodymiles.com/soulcation-planner

Could the way that you breathe actually reduce (or exacerbate) your stress? What if a few simple habits could make you feel more at ease, less stressed, and more present? 

Our guest this week is Ryan Dambach: Ryan is a former professional baseball player and currently works as a mental conditioning coach and professional hitting consultant in Orange County, California. He also works with individual athletes, teams, and businesses to develop 5 mental skills to maximize their potential.

Listen in to hear more about the breathing techniques Ryan teaches top-level athletes, the link between our physiology and psychology, and how to use our bodies to ease our minds.

What You Will Learn: 

2:17: Ryan talks about his background in baseball and his interest in human performance. 

5:00: The power of rest, and how “outworking everybody” isn’t always what makes a person’s performance better

7:40: The link between physiology and psychology, and how to use breathwork for managing both our automatic nervous systems and our mindsets

9:34: What “transitional breathing” is, and how it can help you move throughout your day

10:29: The problem with mouth breathing, and why it’s causing you stress 

14:17: Ryan describes the 5 mental skills we need in order to stay more present.

17:51: The importance of taking a long-term view when it comes to accomplishing goals

20:30: The power of the little things in your day-to-day as far as getting to where you want to go

21:05: Ryan talks about the journaling techniques he teaches his clients that can help you determine how you want to feel. 

24:29: What Ryan tells his clients when they lose a game or have seemingly “failed” in some way, and how he encourages them to redefine success

27:42: The perception of failure, and how it can lead to us finding something far greater than we’d imagined

29:40: Ryan talks about the power of following your own curiosity and understanding what brings you joy.

Relevant Links: 

• Visit Ryan’s website: https://ryandambachbaseball.com/
• Follow Ryan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryan_dambach_hitting/
• Free Soulcation Daily Planning Page: https://www.melodymiles.com/daily-planning-page
• Follow Mel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulcationmel/
• Purchase the Soulcation Planner: https://www.melodymiles.com/soulcation-planner

Burnout, chronic fatigue, perfectionism, overwork, and overachievement are struggles faced by millions across the world. Yet despite what we know about how stress affects the body… we’re often still praised for harmful habits and patterns that cause endless cycles of burnout. 

Our guest this week is Dr. Mandy Lehto – coach, writer, and champion of people journeying back to their inherent enoughness. She left her corporate career in investment banking after a period of burnout, and is now writing a memoir about her healing journey. 

What if life could be about more than achievement? What if we could change our lives with tiny steps that eventually could eradicate perfectionism and overwhelm? Listen in to learn what practical steps Mandy would give to those struggling with overachievement, how her own journey to “enough” began, and how we can cultivate realistic, practical, healthy relationships with our work. 

What You Will Learn: 

3:12: Mandy talks about her own story of burnout, her background as an overachiever, and the one addiction that we get praised for.

6:38: Mandy shares her story of leaving investment banking and how she still struggled with the obsession with “pushing harder” and ignoring her body’s messages. 

10:05: The period of grief that can come when you step away from the idea that worth comes from achievement and you lose an old part of yourself

10:50: Mandy discusses her “journey to enough” and what was in her “inner backpack” during that messy process.

16:08: What Mandy has done to create a practical relationship with work, following her struggle with over-achievement and addiction to perfectionism – including creating an “alternative scorecard” for success

20:30: Mandy describes her journaling process that she’s used to keep track of her spaciousness, creativity, and connection throughout the day. 

24:01: What “enoughness” means for Mandy

27:58: How pain is like a text message, and what we can do to listen to what it’s telling us

34:16: Mandy explains how overgiving and overdoing are forms of manipulation. 

38:30: The pieces of Mandy’s everyday life that help her cultivate “aliveness” 

Relevant Links: 

• Visit Mandy’s website: www.mandylehto.com
• Follow Mandy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandylehto/
• The “Four Liberating Questions” from Byron Katie: https://thework.com/instruction-the-work-byron-katie/
• Free Soulcation Daily Planning Page: https://www.melodymiles.com/daily-planning-page
• Follow Mel Miles on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulcationmel/
• Purchase the Soulcation Planner: https://www.melodymiles.com/soulcation-planner

How many times have you heard or said the phrase “I had a gut feeling”? But what does this actually mean? And how do we actually hear (and listen to) those feelings deep inside us?

Our guest this week is Mar-y-Sol Salinas – founder of Essential Wisdom Coaching and an educational leader with over 20 years of experience in education and personal development. Her research focuses on embodied learning, the phenomenology of intuitive experiences, and embodied intuition as an approach toward leadership development. 

We explore more about what it means to have a “gut” feeling, what intuition is, how we tap into it, and the power of embodiment and visualization. 

What You Will Learn: 

4:53: Mar-y-Sol tells her background story, including her challenges in formal education, her time as a single mother, and her decision to go back to school.

11:09: The many definitions of intuition and how someone can tap into their own

15:09: How someone can start to develop their intuition or “essential wisdom” and how to start noticing the sensations of intuition in their body

18:42: Mar-y-Sol describes her “transcendental gardening” practice, her sensory deprivation float therapy practice, and other rituals she uses to help herself access her intuition. 

22:09: The power of setting intentions within the rhythms of our lives to help us focus and get in “flow”

27:13: How Mar-y-Sol uses visualization with her clients to help them figure out what they want in life, and how to use small steps to get to their ideal version of happiness

31:30: Mar-y-Sol talks about judging emotions vs recognizing them as natural human responses and how she’s retrained her brain to stop delineating between “good” and “bad” emotions

36:10: What Mar-y-Sol has learned through intuition practices and how she’s learned to just go for things instead of trying to plan everything out

37:37: What the difference is between following your fear and following your joy

40:18: How Mar-y-Sol defines a life she doesn’t need a vacation from

Relevant Links: 

• Visit Mar-y-Sol’s website at http://essentialwisdomcoaching.com/
• Follow Mar-y-Sol’s coaching practice on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/essential.wisdom.coaching/
• Free Soulcation Daily Planning Page: https://www.melodymiles.com/daily-planning-page
• Follow Mel Miles on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulcationmel/
• Purchase the Soulcation Planner: https://www.melodymiles.com/soulcation-planner

Where in your life or business could you replace tradition or “how things have always been done” with authenticity? What if you could break out of the mold and create a new path forward, with your core self and desires guiding the way? 

Our guest this week is Erin Hatzikostas. She’s a former corporate CEO turned professional pot-stirrer; the Founder of b Authentic inc, career coach, TEDx speaker, and nationally-published thought leader. 

Listen in to hear more about Erin’s story from corporate job to blazing her own path, what “strategic authenticity” actually is (and how you can use it in your own life), and how experimentation can help you determine your next move if you’re ever feeling stuck.

What You Will Learn: 

3:35: Erin talks about her background as a CEO, her journey through corporate America, and when and why she started itching for something new.

6:40: The epiphany Erin had after her corporate career and how she teaches that same epiphany to her clients now

8:40: How Erin followed her intuition when leaving her job in the corporate world and what role experimentation played in that process

11:08: Erin explains how she defines the word “authenticity.” 

17:36: Erin describes how someone can connect with their own authenticity and who they truly are at their core.

22:21: What “wall” Erin hits with her work now and how she moves past it

24:58: Erin explains what the “50 percent rule” is and how she applies it in her business.

28:26: Erin describes a piece of her backstory that’s allowed her the confidence to boldly express her opinions and to be authentic over traditional.

31:51: Why Erin thinks the philosophy of “being yourself” isn’t enough to truly live authentically

34:12: Erin gives advice for how someone could strategically use authenticity in their lives and their work.

40:50: The six pillars of strategic authenticity that Erin writes about in her new book

44:02: The brain science and power behind being “unexpected”

Relevant Links: 

• Visit Erin’s website: https://www.bauthenticinc.com/
• Purchase Erin’s book, “You Do You-ish”: https://www.amazon.com/You-Do-ish-Authentic-Superpowers/dp/1736376500/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=erin+hatzikostas&qid=1617748027&sr=8-1
• Follow Erin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-hatzikostas/
• Follow Erin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erinhatzikostas/
• Free Soulcation Daily Planning Page: https://www.melodymiles.com/daily-planning-page
• Follow Mel Miles on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulcationmel/
• Purchase the Soulcation Planner: https://www.melodymiles.com/soulcation-planner

What does it mean to be truly connected to your own feminine energy? How could that connection change the course of your life, your relationships, your career, and even your relationship with yourself? 

Our guest is Mel’s own coach, Jasmine Rose – a womb wisdom guide, holistic pelvic care practitioner, traditional fertility and birth keeper, and the founder of Humble Wild Wellness. She is on a journey to help women deepen their cyclic connection, and shares plenty of wisdom on this episode for those looking for a place to start.

Listen in to learn more about how a woman’s connection to her womb and cycle can help her on her journey, what it means to embrace your feminine energy, and how to use embodiment in your daily life to inspire more connection, joy, and pleasure.

What You Will Learn:

3:07: Jasmine tells the story of her “rock bottom-ness,” including a phase of her life where she bled for an entire year. 

6:02: What Jasmine’s body was telling her, how she finally turned inward rather than outward, and how it changed the trajectory of her life and career

14:09: What happens when we allow ease and pleasure into our lives, as well as what it has meant for Jasmine to reclaim her own pleasure after childhood trauma

18:05: Mel and Jasmine discuss the disconnection women have with their feminine energy and how to reconnect to it

23:30: Mel describes going through the process and ceremony that Jasmine took her through to reconnect to her cycle and body.

29:03: Jasmine talks about her realization of how sacred her menstruation cycle was, and how she reclaimed a connection to it. 

35:04: Jasmine answers the question of what she wishes her younger self would have known about being a woman.

36:44: What it means to show up for leadership positions and still be connected to feminine energy, as well as how to unhook from society’s narratives of what it means to be a woman. 

38:00: What “embodiment” means and how Jasmine uses it in her daily life

41:54: Jasmine tells us the actions she takes in her daily life that make her feel like she’s on vacation.

Relevant links: 

• Follow Jasmine on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humblewildwellness/
• Visit Jasmine’s website: https://www.humblewildwellness.com/
• Join Jasmine’s “Rewrite Your Womb Story” program: https://www.humblewildwellness.com/rewrite-your-womb-story
• Free Soulcation Daily Planning Page: https://www.melodymiles.com/daily-planning-page
• Follow Mel Miles on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulcationmel/
• Purchase the Soulcation Planner: https://www.melodymiles.com/soulcation-planner