This episode is a little different.

Instead of talking about a concept, a lesson, or a tool, I’m sharing how I’m actually choosing to close this year and why this matters more than rushing into the next one with new goals.

This year asked me to slow down, listen to my body, and let go of the pressure to achieve or perform. At the time, it didn’t feel comfortable or impressive. But looking back now, I can see how much shifted beneath the surface and how essential that internal work has been.

In this episode, I talk about celebration as a way of living, integrating, and creating safety within yourself. 

I also share a simple process I used to reflect on this year honestly and close it with intention — something you can do too, without forcing clarity or productivity.

Here's a little summary of the steps: 

1. Reflecting on each month’s wins and challenges
Looking back month by month and naming the real themes that stood out, not just what went well, but what stretched and grew you too. 

2. Finding the wisdom in the hard months
Instead of dismissing difficult periods as “nothing happened,” learning to ask what those moments taught you about yourself, your body, and your needs.

3. Setting an intention for the year ahead
Not in terms of your physical goals, but what you want to embody more of.

4. Choosing three anchor words as guiding pillars
Simple, embodied reminders to help you make aligned decisions moving forward.

5. Drawing a line in the sand to mark completion
Creating a clear energetic ending to this year so your body and nervous system can truly move into the next chapter.

I also share a bit more about my own journey this year, from health challenges and  slowing down, to learning how to trust my body, release old patterns of overgiving, and soften into a more grounded pace of life.

If this year felt quieter, heavier, or more internal than you expected, this episode is for you.

This is my first ever guest conversation on the podcast, and I couldn’t think of a better person to begin with than my dear friend, yoga teacher and trainer, Jennifer Tang.

Jen and I met through the world of yoga and healing, and every time we talk I’m reminded how real, messy, and human the journey of alignment actually is.

In this episode, Jen shares what her life looked like as a Statistician & Business Analyst living the “successful” 9–5, while quietly feeling disconnected, anxious, and miserable every morning. We talk about:

• what it’s like to realise the life you worked so hard to build isn’t actually yours
• the moment she stopped pretending she was okay
• quitting her job without a plan
• the six months of anxiety and surrender that followed
• how yoga brought her back to her body, intuition, and truth
• what alignment actually feels like
• the difference between freedom on paper vs freedom in your nervous system
• why self-trust changes every single thing in your life

This conversation is for anyone who feels stuck, disconnected, or scared to take the next step and needs proof that alignment unfolds one brave decision at a time.

Connect with Jennifer Tang, Yoga Teacher Trainer & Mindfulness Coach

Instagram @msjennifertang
Website:  https://www.stilliriseyoga.com.au

Free 10 Day Yin Yoga Challenge
https://www.stilliriseyoga.com.au/10-day-yin-challenge/

Yin Yoga Teacher Training

• Online: https://www.stilliriseyoga.com.au/yin-yoga-teacher-training/
• In-Person: https://www.stilliriseyoga.com.au/yin-ytt-inperson/

200hr Yoga Teacher Training

• Online: https://www.stilliriseyoga.com.au/online-ytt200/
• In-Person: https://www.stilliriseyoga.com.au/ytt200inperson/

Work with me:
1:1 Mentorship Season Between Stories: https://www.parulgupta.com.au/monthlymentorship

 Cosmic Blueprint Readings (HD + Astrology + Numerology): https://www.parulgupta.com.au/yourcosmicblueprint

 Order Finding Magic in Your Mess Guided Self-Love Cards:  https://www.parulgupta.com.au/shop/p/findingmagicinyourmessaffirmationcards

 Instagram: @healingwithparul
Email: [email protected]

In this episode, I’m breaking down one of the most misunderstood concepts in the self-development world: feminine energy.

Not the aesthetic or performance or the “slow dancing in Bali” imagery we are sold on Instagram, but the real thing.

If you grew up being the strong one, the responsible one, the fixer, the achiever, the emotional adult in the room long before you were ready, then softness probably never felt safe.

And when softness doesn’t feel safe, the feminine retreats in the background to protect herself.

In this conversation, I’m unpacking:

• why so many of us mistake control, hyper-independence, and over-functioning as strength
• why feminine energy isn’t something you “learn,” it’s something you remember
• how childhood roles shape the way we love, date, receive, rest, and trust
• why safety, not aesthetics is the foundation of your feminine
• the real reason emotionally available relationships feel out of reach
• how pleasure, rest, and softness reconnect you to your magnetism
• what it looks like to open again without abandoning yourself

If you’ve ever thought you’re “too much in your masculine,” if you’ve ever shut down your desires, overperformed in relationships, or struggled to trust receiving love and support, this episode will land deeply.

This is the truth I wish someone had told me years ago:
Your feminine isn’t missing. She’s just waiting for your body to feel safe enough to open.

Come listen, soften and remember who you were before life asked you to play tough.

Connect with me:
 IG: @healingwithparul
Website: www.parulgupta.com.au
Got a question for me?: [email protected]

PS: My Finding Magic in Your Mess affirmation cards are now live. They were birthed in a season that taught me how to surrender and soften. 

Get yours here 💖: Self-love cards

We talk a lot about discipline, consistency, and hard work, but rarely about the energy that makes all of that sustainable.

Pleasure isn’t the opposite of discipline. It’s the rhythm that keeps discipline alive.
It’s how your body remembers safety, creativity, and trust — the quiet exhale that says, I’m safe now.

In this episode, I unpack what it means to live from a regulated, pleasurable body, one that doesn’t need to burn out to prove its worth.
You’ll learn why pleasure isn’t about indulgence or luxury, but about restoring the energy that keeps you moving toward what matters.

💫 We’ll explore:
 • Why pleasure and safety are the same thing
 • How to make your discipline feel nourishing, not punishing
 • Practical ways to reintroduce rest, joy, and aliveness into your everyday life

This episode is a permission slip to soften... not to stop moving, but to move from a place of wholeness.

 ✨ Connect with me:
Instagram — @healingwithparul
Website — www.parulgupta.com.au
Email — [email protected]

Turning 39 has me reflecting on a year that cracked me open in ways I never saw coming. What I thought would be a season of grounding in Melbourne became a year of eclipses, ancestral grief, shadow work, back pain, and deep lessons in rest, authenticity, and radical self-love.

In this episode, I share the biggest truths this past year handed me:
 ✨ Why grief isn’t just about loss, but how we metabolize change and integrate absence.
 ✨ How anger, when honored, becomes love’s guardian and reconnects us to dignity.
 ✨ Why sadness softens us, humbles us, and grows our capacity for empathy.
 ✨ The body’s wisdom — and how my own pain forced me to slow down and live differently.

This isn’t an episode about chasing happiness. It’s about embracing the full spectrum of being human — and how grief, anger, and sadness are the very teachers that deepen our capacity for love, connection, and authenticity.

Links:
🌹 Work with me: The Season Between Stories — https://parulgupta.com.au/#coaching-program
 🌹 Book a FREE Clarity call —  https://calendly.com/hello-parulgupta/complementary-discovery-call?month=2025-09
 🌹 Website — https://parulgupta.com.au/

As Rilke reminds us: “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”

Confusion and indecision can feel like quicksand — the more you fight them, the deeper you sink. In this episode, I’m breaking down what confusion actually is (and isn’t), the difference between confusion and indecision, and why your nervous system might cling to both. I’ll share how fear, conditioning, and the need to keep others comfortable can keep you circling the same choice for months or even years.

You’ll hear personal stories from my own life, including the times I’ve felt completely paralyzed in a decision and the shifts that helped me move forward without having every answer.

We’ll talk about why confusion isn’t always a problem, how to use it as a sacred pause, and the small actions that build self-trust when indecision feels safest.

If you’re in that foggy in-between right now, this is your permission slip to slow down, listen deeper, and take one small step toward what you know in your gut.

🎧 Listen until the end for a journaling practice you can use anytime you feel stuck.

Links & Resources:

🎵 You Can’t Rush Your Healing by Trevor Hall - https://open.spotify.com/track/7kdJcH97qbvW7ubH6ukOTf

🖋 Want to go deeper? Free Clarity Journaling Workbook & Clarity Codes – Download them here -  https://app.flodesk.com/form/689d96b8dedd9ea62fd655a3 (Workbook)

https://app.flodesk.com/form/686748d37b55f41e12bfab8b (Clarity Codes)

🌿 Season Between Stories (Work 1-1 with me) - https://parulgupta.com.au/#coaching-program

🧬 Human Design Deep Dive - https://parulgupta.com.au/#human-design

🌐 Find out more on my website - https://parulgupta.com.au/

Have you ever felt like you just can’t trust yourself to make the right decisions? Like you circle around choices, waiting for certainty or someone else’s approval before you move?

In this episode of The Magic is in Your Mess, I’m breaking down:

• What self-trust really is (and what it isn’t)
• Why so many of us lose it in childhood, relationships, or chaotic environments
• How life feels when we don’t trust ourselves
• The steps I took to rebuild my own self-trust and why it’s a practice, not a destination

This one’s for you if you’ve been circling decisions, people-pleasing, or waiting to feel “ready” before you take the next step.

Because self-trust isn’t about never feeling doubt. It’s about knowing you can handle whatever comes next.

Want to go deeper? Here’s how we can work together: 

Season Between Stories – My 3-month coaching container for women in life transitions who are ready to find clarity, reclaim their voice, and take their next step with confidence.

https://parulgupta.com.au/#coaching-program

Human Design Deep Dives – A 90-minute session to explore your unique energetic blueprint and decision-making style so you can start making aligned choices with ease.

https://parulgupta.com.au/#human-design

Got any comments or questions? Drop me an email: [email protected]

Website: https://parulgupta.com.au/

In this episode, I’m sharing one of the most pivotal chapters of my life—the story of my divorce, and how it became the catalyst for my healing, my creativity, and my courage.

For years, I stayed. It wasn’t a bad relationship. In fact, it was the safest and the most loving thing I’d ever known. But inside, I was slowly unraveling. I couldn’t hear my voice. I couldn’t feel my joy. I was waiting for a loud, dramatic reason to walk away. But what I really needed was to trust the quiet knowing in my body.

✨ In this episode, I talk about:
 — Why I stayed stuck in indecision for so long
 — How childhood trauma shaped my idea of love and safety
 — The mirror moment that finally changed everything
 — What clarity actually feels like (and when it shows up)
— The fear of choosing yourself when no one else gets it

This isn’t just about divorce. It’s about any decision that asks you to leave the familiar and trust your truth.

If you're sitting in that place—safe but disconnected, loyal but lost, I hope this episode meets you there. 💌

Come say hi on Instagram @healingwithparul and let me know if it spoke to you.
 

Next episode: Rebuilding Self-Trust After Emotional Chaos

In this foundational episode, I share the story behind this podcast—why I created it, what “the magic is in your mess” really means to me, and how the hardest experiences of my life became the gateway to healing, creativity, and truth.

I open up about my childhood, the loss of my mother, navigating a controlling household, and the trauma I never acknowledged until my thirties. I talk about the deep courage it took to leave a safe marriage, walk away from a stable career, and bet on myself—again and again.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt stuck, confused, or like they’ve lost their voice.
 It’s not a polished success story—it’s a real one.
 And it’s the beginning of a space I’ve been dreaming about for years.

🎙 Inside this episode:
 — My story (and why I’m sharing it now)
 — What “doing the work” really looked like for me
 — The messy decisions that changed everything
 — Why this podcast exists, and what’s coming next

If you’re somewhere in the in-between—still figuring it out, still healing, still becoming—this is for you. 

 Follow the podcast, tag me on Instagram @healingwithparul, and share this episode if it speaks to your heart.

Next episode: My Divorce Was My Awakening