Stand Up Break Free

Melanie is a rockstar. She blends yoga, feminism, punk rock, academia, and activism in an incredibly profound and accessible way.

"Empowerment for renegades, new thought leaders, new executive leaders, next-level entrepreneurs, paradigm shifters, or anyone who knows walking in their greatness is for the greater good" is what it says on the home page of Melanie Klein's website. 

I love it. Yes. All of that. 

She shows up in the world as a yogi, coach, speaker, professor, and person with so much grounded wisdom and she shares incredible insights in this conversation. 

Connect with Melanie here: http://www.melaniecklein.com/

Check out more on the Yoga and Body Image Coalition here: http://www.yogaandbodyimage.org/

Find all of her books here: http://www.melaniecklein.com/writing.html

Connect with me, Katie Ashley, here: www.katieashley.org 

Chris Dodson performs anywhere from 4-6 nights a week, often multiple gigs a night, in the Charleston area. He has been writing and recording original music since 2002. His song catalogue is mind blowing and the diversity of his musical projects is incredibly inspiring. 

Interestingly, given that he plays so many gigs and has so many bands and duets, he would prefer to write songs for other artists and musicians as a non-performer and just perform as an entertainer.

He's currently building a vast collection of songs and is headed to Nashville to pursue songwriting. 

Listen to his music and find out where he's playing here: http://chrisdodsonmusic.com/

Listen to his album here: https://soundcloud.com/user-696193764

Follow him on social media here: https://www.facebook.com/chrisdodsonmusic

Thank you for listening!

You can connect with me, Katie Ashley, at www.katieashley.org and on Instagram and www.Instagram.com/katieashleylove 

Can Dharma and Tranta mix? How do we heal from trauma and how do we best help others to do so? 

What's it like to leave home and travel the world? How does one even begin? 

Does a serious spiritual practice have to have such a focus on suffering or can we lean into joy and pleasure more fully? 

In this episode Shelby Leigh shares about all of this and so much more. I could have kept talking to her for many more hours. 

To connect with Shelby please visit: http://shelby-leigh.com/

To connect with me, Katie Ashley, please visit: www.katieashley.org 

Enjoy the show! 

This is the sex & money conversation that we all need to hear. Jillian is a rockstar and I LOVED talking with her. 

This podcast is for you if you're interested in exploring your relationship to sex, money, pleasure, relationships (especially between mother & child or child & mother) the practice of receiving, inviting and accept support - and how accepting support is different than being dependent - worthiness, making big changes in your life, healing deep wounds, connecting the dots in your own life and healing process...and so much more. 

Jillian is a wellspring of knowledge and shares so much goodness in this episode. 

To learn more about Jillian and her work, please visit: https://www.jillian-anderson.com/

You can also find her on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jillianaanderson/

You can find me, Katie Ashley, here: http://www.katieashley.org/ and on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/katieashleylove/

Clutter can feel so heavy and daunting and overwhelming. It can literally be in the way of our personal development and our over all wellbeing. I've personally, had enough. And, I'm getting help! 

Next week we're taking on the art room in our home with the expert guidance of Amy Kay, clutter coach and founder of de-cluttered. 

I am beyond stoked to do this project and to share Amy's wisdom with all of you. Get a sneak peak into what we're up to and get some expert tips and tricks that you can apply to your own home!

This is the "before" interview and we'll be sharing another conversation once our home is de-cluttered! 

Learn more about Amy here: https://www.de-cluttered.com/

Find her on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/de_cluttered/

A light topic today. Really though, it's not heavy. It's more of an investigation of ideas and a sharing of some really wise teachings by Jack Kornfield and others. 

If you're feeling a bunch of old stuff lately - this episode is for you. It's also for you if you tend to "over spiritualize" your practice. 

We explore ideas that I've been turned on to and ideas that came to me in my own moments of big change and little change...when I've been tuned in. 

The blog that I mention can be found here: http://www.katieashley.org/stuck-in-a-riptide-going-against-the-stream/

You can find the book that I reference here: https://www.amazon.com/After-Ecstasy-Laundry-Heart-Spiritual/dp/0553378295

Modern Science is proving the benefit of this ancient practice. It's one of my favorites. It's one I teach often. It's one that we can all use more of. You can find more, freely offered, meditation practices at www.katieashley.org/meditation 

Interesting Facts about the practice of Loving Kindness Meditation:

• 1. In a landmark study, Barbara Frederickson and her colleagues ( Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, & Finkel, 2008) found that practicing 7 weeks of loving-kindness meditation increased love, joy, contentment, gratitude, pride, hope, interest, amusement, and awe. The results of these positive emotions included many benefits such as increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, and decreased illness symptoms, which, in turn, predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms.
• 2. A study by Shahar et al (2014) found that Loving Kindness Meditation was effective for self-critical individuals in reducing self-criticism and depressive symptoms, and improving self-compassion and positive emotions. These changes were maintained 3 months post-intervention
• 3. A study by (Kang, Gray & Dovido, 2014) found that compared to a closely matched active control condition, 6 weeks of Loving Kindness Meditation training decreased implicit bias against minorities.

Enjoy! 

A funny story from 3am and a life lesson that took me over five years to learn. I hope that after listening to this you can put the lesson into practice in about five seconds. 

This episode is sponsored by a new event that I'm hosting with my dear friend Susannah Dellinger. It's called Mindfulness + Makeup + Mimosas. If you're in Charleston - come and bring friends! 

Here is the link for tickets and more info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mindfulness-make-up-mimosas-tickets-46190745764?aff=es2

This episode has been a long time coming AND it's right on time. Today, we're exploring what it means to live life on purpose and what happens when we get "there." 

Here's the link to the yoga class that I mention in this episode: http://www.katieashley.org/love/

Here's the link to my book, Living Life On Purpose, if you'd like to read the story that I mentioned: https://www.amazon.com/Living-Life-Purpose-Katie-Ashley/dp/1517492777/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526563877&sr=8-1&keywords=katie+ashley+living+life+on+purpose

Andrea Owen helps high achieving women let go of the big 5 default behaviors: Perfectionism, Control, Isolation/Avoiding, People Pleasing, Numbing Out, and all of the ways that we contribute to believing that we're not good enough through our own sh!tty self-talk. 

She's the author of 52 Ways To Live a Kick-Ass Life and How To Stop Feeling Like Shit and the host of one of my favorite podcasts, Your Kickass Life. 

Her new group program, Raise Hell, is coming soon (aka now) and you'll want to stick around to the end of our conversation to hear some special info about that. It's going to be a game-changer. 

You can find Andrea at www.yourkickasslife.com