What if the next chapter of your life isn’t about fixing yourself but trusting yourself?

In this deeply grounding episode of The Luminous Life Podcast, Erika sits down with Jill McKeon, yoga teacher and owner of Village Yoga (Glen Rock, NJ), for a conversation that begins with breathwork and unfolds into something much bigger: how women grow, change, begin again, and stay connected to themselves through it all.

This is a conversation about midlife bravery, long marriage truths, community as medicine, and redefining beauty as something you feel not something you chase. It’s honest, funny, emotional, and deeply regulating.

This is beauty without the BS, exactly as it was meant to be.

What we talk about:

A grounding breathwork practice to help you land (do it with us)

What it really looks like to start over in your 50s

Owning a business without losing your soul

Building community beyond fitness: yoga, dance, sobriety, creativity

Long marriage honesty: love, resentment, commitment, and repair

Parenting through crisis and how it reshapes courage

Aging, beauty, injectables, lasers, and staying you

Pleasure, intimacy, and why caring for your body matters more with time

If you’re feeling the pull to reconnect with what makes you feel alive this conversation will meet you right where you are

📍 Follow @villageyoganj Village Yoga, Glen Rock, NJ

✨ Visit us in-store for beauty that feels like therapy

📍 Instagram: @luminouslifepodcast

📩 [email protected]

What if the pressure to “new year, new you” is… not the vibe? In this Some Things Sacred segment, we’re back with Michelle Santana to talk seasonal beginnings, simple rituals that actually stick, and how to stay grounded while the collective energy feels a little 🔥.

We get into:

Why Michelle says the “real new year” starts closer to spring (and how that takes the pressure off)

A powerful 13-manifestation winter solstice ritual (and how to adapt it if you’re starting now)

New moon vs. full moon energy: manifesting vs. releasing

Energy boundaries + the “I stopped responding” era (self-preservation isn’t rude)

A quick, practical daily protection practice: “bubble of light” visualization

Mediumship myths: what spirit actually wants for you (hint: they love laughter)

The difference between loving someone’s potential vs. their pattern

The collective shift toward back-to-basics joy (and why it’s medicine right now)

✨ If you’ve been craving simplicity, better boundaries, and a grounded way to work with the unseen—this one’s for you.

Featured Guest: Michelle Santana of Some Things Sacred

🔮 Want your natal chart + placements reviewed? Search “Some Things Sacred” + book with Michelle. https://somethingssacred.com/

Visit Us:

If you’re in North Jersey and want “beauty that feels like therapy,” come see us at Luminous.

Follow along on IG: @luminouslifepodcast

Email: [email protected]

What if the most powerful beauty treatment for 2026 isn’t a serum… but forgiveness?

In this episode of The Luminous Life Podcast, we welcome back our resident therapist and emotional compass, Lara Maurino Donahue, for a conversation that feels like therapy, philosophy, and a deep exhale all in one.

We explore what it really means to live a well-curated life, from sacred white space and self-regulation, to learning how to pull back judgment (without bypassing your feelings). This episode is for anyone tired of trying harder, fixing themselves, or performing wellness...and ready to choose peace instead.

✨ Topics include:

Ego vs the Self (capital S)

Why neutrality is more healing than positivity

Forgiveness as non-attachment

Discipline that actually feels loving

Letting feelings move through instead of living in you

How to curate your energy, relationships, and habits

This episode is your permission slip to stop striving and start listening inward.

🎧 Follow The Luminous Life Podcast

💬 Share this episode with someone who needs permission to let go

📲 Follow us on Instagram @luminouslifepodcast

January doesn’t have to be loud to be meaningful.

In Episode 47 of The Luminous Life Podcast, Erika and Marcella explore what it looks like to release the pressure to optimize, fix, or reinvent yourself just because the calendar flipped.

From slow Januaries and rest without guilt to decision fatigue, somatic self-soothing, and the radical idea that not every task needs inspiration. This episode invites you to soften your grip and listen inward.

If you’ve been feeling tired of:

Hustle culture disguised as “self-care”

Endless choices and constant consumption

Being told who to be, buy, or become next

This episode is for you.

✨ Sometimes growth looks like soup and a salad.

✨ Sometimes healing looks like fewer questions.

✨ Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is… just be.

Listen, reflect, and share with someone who needs a slower January.

Subscribe & Follow The Luminous Life Podcast

This “Best Of Guests” compilation is a bouquet of the moments that linger...funny, tender, and unexpectedly deep. We talk about beauty as inheritance (and acceptance), the wildest unsolicited compliment at a bagel shop, and the kind of service-provider relationship that only works when honesty is allowed to breathe.

You’ll also hear about community roots, cultural reverence, rebuilding after big life changes, and the truth we keep circling back to: beauty isn’t a finish line it’s a frequency.

In This Episode, You’ll Hear

Beauty as a mirror: what we inherit, what we accept, what we stop criticizing

The Bagel Nosh story: a senior gentleman, a sundress, and “second base” before breakfast

Client + provider relationships: why you should never feel guilty speaking up about a service

Confidence as energy: “I got you” presence… and learning to turn that care inward

Divorce, resilience & self-advocacy: fighting for yourself without losing your softness

Community + legacy: honoring tradition while still making room for the new

Purpose with receipts: local nonprofit work that changes families’ futures

✅ Follow The Luminous Life Podcast on your favorite app

Instagram: @luminouslifepodcast

Email: [email protected]

This isn’t a “best of” in the loudest-moments sense. It’s a truest of.

In this year-end compilation of The Luminous Life Podcast, Erika and Marcella trace the emotional undercurrent of a year defined by growth, discomfort, laughter, and becoming.

From imposter syndrome and starting something new…

to remembering how to play…

to redefining beauty, strength, softness, and rest…

this episode captures what it actually feels like to live inside transition.

If you’re standing at the edge of a new year wondering Who am I becoming?—this one’s for you.

💬 Share with a friend who’s feeling the year in their body

⭐ Rate & review to help more women find this conversation

📲 Follow us on Instagram: @luminouslifepodcast

💌 Reach out: [email protected]

There’s a strange, floaty week between the holidays and the New Year.

Time melts. Calendars lie. Pants are optional.

And yetour phones glow like tiny slot machines whispering, “This counts as rest… right?”

In this episode, Erika and Marcella gently (and sometimes hilariously) pull that thread.

They talk about:

Why scrolling feels like rest but rarely restores us

The seven different types of rest (and why naps are only one slice of the pie)

Guilt, productivity, and the inherited belief that worth = exhaustion

Why women are praised for working themselves sick and how to stop that pattern

“Bed rotting,” balance, and why these days don’t count (Marcella’s official ruling)

It’s part permission slip, part loving reality check.

A conversation for anyone who’s tired… and tired of being tired.

This one feels like closing the blinds, lowering the lights, and exhaling for the first time all month.

🎧 Where to Listen

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, and YouTube

📩 Contact: [email protected]

📸 Instagram: @luminouslifepodcast

What if beauty right now isn’t about doing more but about doing just enough?

In this honest, funny, very December conversation, Erika Menanteaux and Marcella Barricella pull back the velvet curtain on real beauty routines when life is loud, schedules are full, and energy is finite. Think: dry shampoo debates, lashes as survival tools, red light masks in bed, and the radical permission to stop pretending you’re exfoliating when you’re barely brushing your teeth.

This episode is for the women who love beauty but are tired.

For the ones who want glow without the performance.

For anyone wondering what actually matters when time, hormones, seasons, and life itself are shifting.

We cover:

The bare minimum beauty routine (and why it’s not a failure)

Dry shampoo: miracle or Febreze-for-your-scalp?

Keep it or ditch it: retinol, vitamin C, toner, exfoliation & more

Red light masks, lashes, and beauty shortcuts that actually help

Why feeling beautiful always comes before looking beautiful

Beauty as play not as pressure

This is beauty without the BS.

This is survival chic.

This is Luminous.

🌙 Episode Highlights

Bare minimum beauty routines for busy, stressed women

Dry shampoo love/hate + scalp honesty

Skincare shortcuts that actually work in winter

Red light therapy, lashes & low-effort glow

Emotional intelligence + beauty rituals

Feeling beautiful vs. performing beauty

Midlife transitions, hormones & self-knowledge

✨ Listen + Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts

✨ Leave a review—it helps more women find us

✨ Visit us in-store if you’re in North Jersey for beauty that feels like therapy

📩 Questions or guest ideas? Email us at [email protected]

📲 Follow along on Instagram @luminouslifepodcast

In this episode of The Luminous Life Podcast, Erika and Marcella sit down with Babita (“Babz”), the new owner of Carlo Russo Wine & Spirit World in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ, an iconic wine store that’s been part of the community for over 75 years.

Babz didn’t grow up swirling Burgundy and name-dropping Pinot Noir. In fact, she used to skip the wine list entirely and go straight to tequila. Now she’s the woman at the helm of a legacy shop that’s helped generations fall in love with wine... and she’s doing it in a way that is deeply rooted in heritage, hospitality, and feminine leadership.

We talk about what it means to be a first-generation Indo-Guyanese woman stepping into a historically male, often intimidating industry, and how Babz balances respecting tradition with bringing in fresh, modern ideas. She shares why wine is completely subjective, why there is truly no wrong answer when it comes to what you taste, and how every bottle is a story you get to take home and pour into your own life.

Then we drift into beauty and self-care. Babz walks us through her turmeric-and-saffron face mask, coconut and jasmine hair oil, and nightly abhyanga-style sesame oil body massage that makes her feel like royalty on even the most stressful days. We connect the dots between wine, ritual, and beauty: the courage to take up space, honor our roots, and show up as the most luminous version of ourselves.

If you’ve ever felt intimidated by wine, disconnected from your heritage, or unsure how to blend old-world reverence with new-world ambition, this conversation will feel like a warm pour of permission.

Episode Highlights

How a self-described wine novice ended up buying a 75+ year-old wine institution in Ho-Ho-Kus

The magic and responsibility of inheriting legacy while still making space for new ideas

Why wine is fully subjective and why there is no wrong tasting note

The rise of women in wine and why more female winemakers are changing the industry

How Carlo Russo became a hub for wine education and storytelling, not just transactions

Why Babs sees herself as part of her customers’ dinners, celebrations, and memories

How she curates wine gifts for clients who “have no idea what to buy”

Weekly Saturday tastings (12–6pm) and approachable wine experiences at the shop

Babz’ Indo-Guyanese roots and the importance of holding onto culture and tradition

Her homegrown beauty rituals: turmeric & saffron masks, coconut & jasmine hair oil, nightly oil massage

The link between looking good, feeling good, and facing hard days with “big queen energy”

Why community, reverence, and relationships matter more than flashy marketing

🎧 Listen & subscribe to The Luminous Life Podcast on your favorite app so you don’t miss new episodes.

⭐ Rate & review the show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify - your kind words help other women find us.

🥂 If you’re in North Jersey, visit Carlo Russo Wine & Spirit World in Ho-Ho-Kus and tell Babs The Luminous Life sent you @carlorussowine @iamthebabz

💆‍♀️ Want beauty that feels like therapy? Come visit Luminous in Ho-Ho-Kus or hang out with us on Instagram at @luminouslifepodcast.

What if your favorite psychic medium told you what you needed to hear, not what you wanted to hear?

In this episode, Erika and Marcella sit down with psychic medium Michelle Santana of Some Things Sacred to talk about what actually happens when you read energy, talk to the dead, and live your life “out of the broom closet.”

Michelle shares how her gifts showed up in childhood, the moment a dream helped her family unplug life support, and why she refuses to be an “entertainment” psychic. We go deep into ethics, timing, grief, God, and boundaries – and why she believes she works for Spirit, not for your ego.

You’ll hear us untangle:

Religion vs spirituality: Why Michelle still prays the rosary and channels ancestors

The “virgin, maiden, crone” journey – and what it means to own your crone era without apologizing for your body, your boundaries, or your light

Grief as a soul contract, why some souls choose to go, and how mediumship can soften that ache

Shadow work, trauma, and why evolving often means losing friends and raising your frequency

Parenting adult children, caring for aging parents, and learning to back off when your kids say “let me mess this up myself”

Beauty as energy: how Michelle sees “blemished light” behind the Botox, filters, and fake-perfect feeds

Michelle is blunt, funny, deeply reverent, and not afraid to say “too f**king badly” when Spirit delivers a message you don’t want to hear. This one’s for anyone who’s curious about mediumship, afraid of being judged for their beliefs, or standing at the edge of their own next-level self.✨ If this episode hit home…

Tap the ❤️ and repost to your feed

Tag a friend who’s obsessed with mediums, grief, or all things witchy-grandma energy

Follow The Luminous Life Podcast here on SoundCloud so you never miss an episode