In this beautiful conversation on the sometimes frightening yet necessary experience of change, we open with our stories of change and how important they were for our personal growth and alignment of our true path.

We then reference and unpack the beloved Jewish, Austrian psychiatrist and nazi concentration camp survivor, Dr. Victor Frankl, who once said “Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” 

We suggest a three step process for embarking on change and 
close by asking our fellow sparkies to consider what in your life is calling out for change? It doesn’t have to be a complete life renovation, it might be the act of setting a simple boundary or making a subtle pivot that makes the difference.

We invite you to share about your change experience as it happens, so feel free to comment here or send us an email at [email protected].
Thanks for listening, and if you found value in this episode, we truly appreciate you sharing our podcast with your people.

Blessings and love!

In this crazy amazing episode, Sophia and her bestie, Mylene Cormier, share two different conversations, a year apart. 

The first one is when they were both 15 and the second one was recorded a year later. In these chats, they openly discuss friendship, motivation, body image issues, depression, anxiety and perfectionism and more.

Despite their youthful ages, they speak with clarity and wisdom about the struggles of being a girl and a female athlete in today's world. 

If you have teens in your life, this is a must listen. If you are a teen, you'll want to tune in.

Happy listening and learning from these two beautiful souls, and thank you Sophia and Mylene for sharing your light with us!

In this episode, this mother-daughter duo discusses the uncomfortable, yet necessary topic of conflict and confrontation. Sophia starts us off with a quote from the Guardian: “Confrontation is the willingness to address difficult topics, while conflict is the willingness to engage in tense interpersonal relationships” 
We discuss our relationship with conflict and confrontation and marvel at the generational differences in how we react to them (hint, Sophia’s great with confrontation, Jenny’s preference is avoidance). Jenny suggests that our relationship with conflict might be a spectrum, where on the far left we find the conflict seeker and on the far right we find the conflict avoider. We all tend to live somewhere on that spectrum (a great point of discussion with your family members).
We dive into the whole gamut of passive aggression and undelivered communication punishment by ghosting (which can feel worse than outright violence because of its sneaky nature). We both wholeheartedly agree that we’re always communicating somehow, even if we’re avoiding conflict by remaining silent. We also ask ourselves if our comfort with conflict is based on nature or nurture, or a bit of both. Ultimately, we agree that when faced with conflict, we could also stand to keep in mind that we all want intimacy and healthy relationships. So the next time we enter into conflict with another person, we can ask ourselves if our behavior aligns with the highest outcome for the situation.
We conclude that neither being a conflict seeker or avoider is better or worse. The key is to become familiar with your triggers and instincts around conflict and then eventually, have the awareness to choose the best approach depending on your situation. 
The takeaway? Facing conflict is something we women, younger and older, could stand to practice more skillfully.
We hope this episode inspires honest conversations with your loved one’s, leading to greater trust and connection.

Happy International Women's Day everyone! In this episode, we begin with the IWD mandate: Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality.
From there, we springboard into our topic of eating disorders, which we've chosen because these life threatening disorders affect 1 in 12 Canadians today and there's a 2 year wait list for treatment.
We also chose this topic because Jenny almost lost the battle to anorexia in her teens and miraculously recovered through the help of the healing methods of yoga and meditation that she's devoted her life to sharing. Sophia also shares about her experience with disordered eating as she moves through her post-acne phase and how her OCD tendencies could have very well taken her down a dangerous path.
Then, the amazing, the determined, Shaleen Jones, Executive Director of Eating Disorder NS, joins the conversation and shares about the roadblocks and successes she's experienced over the last 20 years spearheading this organization that has supported people of all ages through their recovery. She finishes with her hopes for the future with regards to women and body peace.
For anyone who has struggled with disordered eating that's consumed too much your life energy and mental real estate, this is a conversation that will give you faith that recovery and life beyond food obsession is possible, afterall, we're living proof!
Access resources at: https://eatingdisordersns.ca/

They're back!!! After a short hiatus from podcasting, this mother-daughter duo comes back together to update you, our listeners, on their lives now. Sophia candidly shares about her struggle to come to the decision to take accutane, the hefty acne medication, and what it was like being on it. She bravely speaks about her experience with therapy and how it supported her journey through this very challenging period in her life. 

The conversation then shifts to Mom, where Jenny shares about her 10 mth Women of Light Wellness Program that she designed and led, in the midst of the public inquiry. She talks about the alchemical journey that it was for all involved, including her, and how it enriched participants' lives by learning how to use our times of suffering as opportunities to deepen our understanding of ourselves.

Having both had birthday's since the last podcast, Jenny turned the big 50 as Sophia celebrated her dancing Queen at 17, they discuss their family rituals for birthdays. As a gift for listeners this year (and for years to come), they share this birthday hand out to help us align with our deepest dreams and live the life we long to live.

"As a birthday gift to yourself, take a step on the journey of YOU today. By doing so, you’ll ensure that next year this time you’ll be in a new and different place." 
from the Spark Birthday Handout
 
HANDOUT: https://bit.ly/sparkhandout

In this podcast episode, Jenny and Sophia chat with beloved educator Colleen Shannon.
Colleen is an extraordinary educator who commands a lot from her students and gives a lot in return.  Sophia knows this well because she was taught by Colleen in grade 9.  Colleen shares how yoga changed her perspective on what's possible in the classroom, which spurred her on to do her second Masters in Counselling.  Jenny clearly remembers Colleen's Yoga Teacher Training and Girl on Fire Training, because it was during these experiences that Colleen discovered she was gay.  Colleen speaks with honesty and authenticity about her 'privileged' coming out, the GSA Advocacy work she's doing at her school and, of course, the need for more inclusive education.
Colleen demonstrates what it takes to be the kind of educator that leaves a lifelong imprint on young people's lives. 
Please enjoy and feel free to leave a review.

This very special episode, recorded on Mother's Day, is a candid conversation between hosts Jenny and Sophia AND Sophia's younger sister, Bella Rose. 

After a few minutes of awe inspiring details of Bella's cooking creations, Bella bravely shares about her dyslexia diagnosis. What for many would be a life changing setback, she's learned to view her learning disability as a quality that makes her unique. Bella reminds us not to let our struggles define us and offers concrete strategies for thriving in life at any age.

In a world where girls' relationships are often mired in competition and jealousy, it's inspiring to hear these siblings interact so supportively by building on each other's strengths and generously affirming their goodness. 

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.

*Potential Sensitive Content Warning*

We are thrilled to introduce Dan Millman, who’s been transforming humanity for over 40 years, with his dedicated work on personal development and human potential. Author of PEACEFUL HEART, WARRIOR SPIRIT: the True Story of my Spiritual Quest, Dan is a former world trampoline champion, Stanford University gymnastics coach, martial arts instructor, and college professor. His 18 books are published in 29 languages and his first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, was adapted to film in 2006. 

As we mark the 2-year anniversary of the April 18-19th mass shooting in NS, we are so moved that Dan opened his schedule up to be with Sophia and I and give this gift to our people, many of whom are still hurting and confused.

For what would have been Lisa’s 51st birthday, I, Jenny, posted this quote from Way of The Peaceful Warrior “Be happy now, without reason - or you never will be at all.” We started our chat by discussing the idea of happiness and how it’s possible to experience joy even amidst the grieving process. 

Dan exquisitely described the crushing pain of grief and how it softens over time, allowing us to move from grief into gratitude. He makes mention of mud and stars and how we always have a choice to see mud or stars in every moment. 

 He then describes success as making progress toward a meaningful goal and emphasizes the importance of taking action, sometimes small action, to help move us into a different place when we’re suffering. Dan invites us all to consider what we want to bring into the world, and the answer is something we can all work toward.

 We are most grateful for Dan’s wisdom teachings and we encourage you to visit:  www.PeacefulWarrior.com for his books, events, online courses, and free life-purpose calculator. 

We are also deeply grateful to you, our listeners and friends, for walking this path with us as we work to create meaningful change in the wake of the NS tragedy.

In this episode, Sophia and Jenny share reflections on their public speaking to a school in NB, and have a good chuckle at Jenny’s rather intense approach to health and healing with grade eights. They discuss the training opportunities coming up with Women of Light and Girl on Fire Empowerment, and share some excitement about their upcoming visit to California. 
The conversation with Strong Beauty author, Karen Furneaux begins with the acknowledgment of what a generous and kind person Karen is and how much light she shines into the world. She then describes her journey as a young athlete, driven by big dreams who eventually joins the ranks of the small percentage of athletes who actually realize their Olympic dream. 
Karen discusses her rituals on the water that helped her to enter the flow state before every kayak race and the importance of breath for connecting her mind to her body, which she claims is a key factor in any performance. 
She shared about her transition from the role of athlete to that of CBC broadcaster and how she’s learned to view new beginnings as exciting, in order to manage stress and anxiety. 
Conversation closes with Karen‘s passion for speaking to students and her new role with kids help phone. She finds it deeply gratifying to support someone through their darkest moments, and we are all so blessed to have people like Karen walking the earth. 
To find Karen Furneaux, visit @strongbeautytribe on IG, 
And Karen Furneaux on FB

As the Public Inquiry into the mass shooting of April 18-19th was approaching, the Mass Casualty Commission asked the public how the massacre has affected their lives?
Sophia shares honestly about how unrecognizable she was right after the events. 
She withdrew from socialization for a year and a half and dealt with her feelings of hopelessness and fear by micro-managing her environment with A LOT of OCD tendencies. 
We talk about big picture questions, like "Why now, with the girls so young (they were 11 and 13)?" and "Why us, why our family?" 
Sophia expresses how important it was for her to process it all with us, since it might have been too much for her friends.
She talks about her school experience, post massacre, during a pandemic. She wanted to talk about it and no one acknowledged it.
She wishes someone would approach her and say, "I'm holding space for you and I want you to know I'm here for you, for whatever you need."
This experience has inspired Sophia to increase awareness into trauma-informed best practices.
After a small poll regarding trauma with her peers, she concluded that the majority of teens have been traumatized.
Jenny talked about the prevalence of traumatized kids and how they act out to cope. She believes trauma literacy needs to become more of a priority in all of our workplaces.
Jenny shared a quote by John Eldredge "The accumulation of event after event that we're assaulted by, erodes our confidence that we are a part of something grand and good and reduces us to a survival mindset." 
She then went on to share the common feelings of being anxious, overwhelmed, scared, irritable like a wild animal, much of the time after the April event.
Jenny notices that her life is divided into life before and life after the massacre.
She has noticed way more fear and has grown super cautious.
And anger? Jenny notices a deep rage surface when she sees her sister's name on the news in google. 
She's thankful she's got tools to self-regulate, like RBC (relax, breath, choose) which she explains in her Mindfulness in Schools Manual.
Both agreed that it's too much to take in for a reasonable mind, since what he did was in such a state of insanity.
We hope this conversation supports your own healing journey. We invite you too to talk it out, with a family member or a professional, because it really does help. 
We’d love to hear your feedback so feel free leave a review!