Navigating Life's Labyrinth: A Journey to Self-Discovery with Elaine Glass, Hay House Author

Have you ever wondered how a labyrinth could lead you to a deeper understanding of yourself? I chat with Elaine Glass, a Hay House author and spiritual guide, who shares her compelling journey of self-discovery through her book "Get Quiet: Seven Simple Paths to the Truth of Who You Are." Elaine opens up about overcoming life’s tough transitions, from divorce to health challenges, and how a labyrinth became her sanctuary of clarity. 

Elaine shares practical advice on nurturing both your body and your environment to reconnect with your soul. She shares personal stories of how feng shui and energy clearing helped create a harmonious living spaces and better life decisions. Imagine transforming your cluttered home into an inviting sanctuary that resonates with peace and clarity! You'll learn how tuning into your body and surroundings can significantly boost your well-being and decision-making abilities.

Elaine and I share the therapeutic benefits of nature walks, breath work, and other practices that can offer solace during grief and loss. We encourage you to take time to rediscover yourself, suggesting new activities and passions to reignite your zest for life. This episode is a heartfelt invitation to embrace your inner power, embark on a journey of self-discovery, and share your healing stories with our community on social media. Tune in and let's journey together towards a more authentic, purposeful life.

Elaine Glass is a writer, speaker, and Hay House author of the transformative book titled: Get Quiet, 7 Simple Paths To The Truth Of Who You Are. She is passionate about empowering women especially to be able to navigate difficult life transitions.  Elaine is a spiritual guide that shares her wisdom with us on how to gain clarity by connecting to our most precious inner resource which we truly need in this fast-paced, frenetic world. She has guided people worldwide to tap into their intuition and how to overcome challenging times.

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Book:  GET QUIET - 7 Simple Paths To The Truth Of Who You Are

Chapters

• 0:00 Transformative Journey of Inner Wisdom
• 15:06 Nurturing Body and Clearing Environment
• 29:43 Embracing Body Image and Self-Worth
• 38:54 Discovering Beauty Within and Life Purpose
• 50:25 Connecting Through Healing Journeys

Transcript

Rose: 0:00

My guest today is Elaine Glass, a writer, speaker and Hay House author of the transformative book titled Get Quiet Seven Simple Paths to the Truth of Who you Are. Elaine is extremely passionate about empowering women, especially to be able to navigate difficult life transitions transitions. She shares her personal story about her connection to a sacred tool called a labyrinth and how she was able to tap into her trusted inner voice to help overcome the challenges of health issues, divorce, single motherhood and a career transition. Elaine is a spiritual guide that shares her wisdom with us on how to gain clarity by connecting to our most precious inner resource, which we truly need in this fast-paced, frenetic world. She has guided people worldwide to tap into their intuition and how to overcome challenging times. She is a proud mom of two sons and resides in Paradise Valley, arizona. Get ready to rediscover yourself with Elaine's wisdom and embark on a transformative journey inward.

Rose: 1:15

Welcome to Chat Off the Mat, the podcast that explores the transformative journey of healing and self-discovery where energy, spirituality, mind and body intersect. Hi, I'm your Rose Wippich, and I invite you to join me and explore ways to invite more holistic practices into your life. I will feature experts and practitioners who provide insights, tips and practical advice. From Reiki to Qigong, Chakra balancing to Shamanism, this podcast will be your guide to understanding how these practices can lead to more harmony and greater energy. Whether you're seeking stress relief, emotional balance or a deeper connection to your authentic self, Chat Off The Mat will provide you with insights and inspiration. Let's start discovering the possibilities that lie within you.

Elaine: 2:12

Welcome, Elaine. Thank you so much for having me on Rose.

Rose: 2:16

I'm really excited for you to be here and share your experiences and your messages around Getting Quiet, your new book and introducing people to the transformative journey of the labyrinth, and I know you're going to talk about what that is. But first I'd like for the listeners to hear about your personal story where you were in your life when you discovered an actual labyrinth and what happened and what happens?

Elaine: 2:49

Yes, my life had become totally and completely chaotic. I was going through a very difficult divorce and I was just trying to hang on for dear life. I had two small children, two boys, eight and ten. I was working full-time and my life was just so loud I couldn't even feel my own body, I couldn't even hear what I even believed in or thought for my own life, because things had gotten so loud.

Elaine: 3:14

And so one day I was in a hurry, as usual, picking up my boys from school, trying to get in that carpool line, and I stopped to get snacks and a coffee and there was a guy there and we just started to talk and something intuitively told me like I heard it so clearly even amidst the chaos in my life and the noise, something still was able to get through, and I heard very clearly to stop and to talk to him.

Elaine: 3:45

And so I did, and after the course of a few minutes we got into a deep conversation. He told me that he had been going through a difficult time and that this labyrinth, this Franciscan Renewal Center close by to my house, is where he found some peace. And I thought, gosh, I need some peace. I'm desperate to have some inner peace. So later that day I went to the labyrinth and found this peace and quiet that I didn't even know I was craving, but I was, and in that quiet I was really able to feel myself again, because I had become so numb to life. And that's where my journey started, wow.

Rose: 4:36

And in your book you talk about the labyrinth and it's a metaphor. What do you use? What metaphor? What is it a metaphor for, according to you in your book?

Elaine: 4:48

According to me, the metaphor is that we start from the outer world, which we are in our minds and just overthinking, and as we traverse the paths the 4000,000-year-old ancient paths of a labyrinth and we get to the center, we actually have then dropped into our hearts and even then connected to our souls Because I believe that we are actually souls here the energy of an infinite soul having a very human experience, and I think the cause of most of our troubles is that we have forgotten just that. And so if we just stay stuck in this overthinking mind, that's when we suffer. And so this is a metaphor and a practice to really get to the truth of who you are, and that is this beautiful soul that has traveled with you and will continue to for infinite and infinite time. So why not connect to that, because there's so much wisdom there.

Rose: 5:56

And when we get quiet, and I understand that. You know you spoke about your life as a young mother with young children and it's very chaotic and you listen to that inner voice guiding you to go to this place and take a few moments, but it's very hard. That was probably the first time in a long time that you were able to connect with that voice and actually do something for yourself and it was a very pivotal moment for you in your life and it changed and transformed your path.

Elaine: 6:30

It was, and sometimes we don't even know what's propelling us forward to do certain things In that moment. When I look back, I can clearly see now that it wasn't me that was driving to that retreat center. It wasn't me that got to the mouth of that labyrinth and started walking. It was literally an energy that carried me, and I know that can sound woo-woo and it would have sounded very woo-woo to me back then, over 15 years ago. But now what I know to be true for myself is that we are energy in motion, and so that energy has an intelligence that moves us in ways that our logical mind sometimes just cannot make sense of.

Elaine: 7:20

Now, why would I be going to walk circles in the dessert Rose? Why? Only the intelligence that I know to be true for myself, that I've tapped into, led me there? And I said yes to because I am a human and I have the willpower to do that. And so I said yes to that because I was so desperate in that moment and we have all been there, we've all been at that rock bottom moment. We are desperate for answers and everything outside of us just isn't making sense and we're following too many opinions. So this was about me leading myself.

Rose: 8:05

Finally, Thank goodness, thank goodness that you listened to that inner voice and you and you follow that energy and it guided you there. I understand what what you're saying about that, because sometimes I have done or have said things and I feel that it came from some other source and it was channeled through me Correct, yeah, and I was so divinely guided to go into a certain direction or do something, and I would look back and like where did that come from?

Elaine: 8:38

And we all have these urges, yeah, and we don't know where they come from and we think we're going crazy. Like what Am I supposed to trust these urges that? And we don't know where they come from and we think we're going crazy, like what? What am I? Am I supposed to trust these urges that? I have these intuitive knowings and, as women particularly, we feel like we've lost that. And when we lose our intuition or we feel like we have I believe we never do, but I feel like we do lose connection, like a tuning in, like a radio station just trying to always get tuned and it's always static.

Elaine: 9:13

But when you get quiet and in the way that I've laid out in the past of get quiet, the book that's when that radio station becomes so crystal clear. It's it's life changing, and so that's the path that I started to walk. And the path that I started to walk was really to look at my life and say what do I really want and how do you know what you really want? And the only way I knew what I really wanted was I had to let go of so much. In fact, I really call it like a purging of my whole entire life, purging everything in terms of my health, purging everything in my environment, purging everything in my mind Just a total cleaning and clearing of cleaning out, so that I can really start in my mid forties at the time from like zero. And then how do I add in things that I really want? So that was, that was the journey.

Rose: 10:24

I think we're in a society where, especially women I know you work with a lot of women and mostly the audience, the listeners here are women it is hard for us to let go. We feel that we need to do everything for others. We pick up all the pieces, everyone's broken pieces. When my kids were younger, I shared with you I have twin boys I did all the volunteering at school, I worked as a real estate agent. There was nothing that I said no to and although I survived, I barely did it. And then I wound up having breast cancer when my children were seven and for me that was a wake-up call in that, you know, I looked up the spiritual messaging behind that and it was someone who carries so much on their shoulders and in their heart and not allowing you know I speak about myself, not allowing myself the space to just be an end and not do for everyone else. So for me that was a wake-up call.

Rose: 11:28

And you know, I know you talk about how women. In your book you say that women, if I may quote, are burnt out, anxious and depressed more now than ever before and that we've lost touch with femininity and creativity. How do you feel? Do you feel that women have a lot of pressure to do more and to be more. And where does that pressure come from?

Elaine: 11:53

It comes from us. It doesn't come from anywhere else but us, and I believe too that is we have great intentions. I mean, we are that we have great intentions.

Elaine: 12:08

I mean we are wired to get shit done. Let's just be honest, that's how we're wired. We're wired to grow humans in our bodies, if that's what we choose, and to take care of them and nurture them. If that's what we choose, and to take care of them and nurture them, I mean that alone takes every skill set ever known to man to do. And so if we can apply that those same skill sets to other things in our life, I mean that's why we just rock our lives, because we can do so much, we have so much potential, and sometimes that energy we're talking about energy, that energy of limitless potential can get out of whack, it can get dysregulated and our energy goes into places that it's not meant to.

Elaine: 13:05

So how do we get back in control and regulate our energy? And that's what the seven paths and get quiet helps you, and it really helps you regulate not only your energy or your life force but your nervous system and, as you know, our nervous system regulates every function in our bodies. So when I got to the mouth of the labyrinth that day, I was so dysregulated in my body, in my nervous system and in my life force energy so I needed to quickly be the healthiest mother, mind, body and soul that I could be. That was my biggest inspiration was to do just that, and I needed to do it quickly. So that's why I started these paths for myself, so that I could actually ground myself into a more regulated human being, so that I could use all that limitless potential and use it for the good. And that's what I did, and that's what I teach people to do.

Rose: 14:25

Yeah, I would like to talk a little bit about the labyrinth itself, and I know you experienced a physical labyrinth, one that you were able to actually walk through each one. But I know in your book you have a picture of a labyrinth and the path around it and you talk about there are seven circuits, correct, right? And can you just talk a little bit about the energy of those circuits and what they mean and how the path of the labyrinth is not a maze but more like, I guess it's like an intentional journey?

Elaine: 14:59

Yes, yes, absolutely so. A path is not a maze. A labyrinth is not a maze. So when you enter those circular pathways, it's not to confuse you. There's only one way in and one way out. And that's what's so pleasing to your nervous system, is because you know you're safe. And the minute you even enter, I literally felt and I know all of my clients feel this too that something is greeting them there. There is an energy. There is an energy and vibration of love that's meeting you there, and I believe that what's meeting you there is your truest self, waiting and longing to connect with you. I believe your soul is waiting for you there. I believe that angels and guides and God and all of that is waiting for you there. Everything that we've disconnected from the unseen, that is there, waiting for us to help us and support us. But life has gotten so loud we cannot hear it. So in the paths, in each path that I write about in Get Quiet, there are seven paths, and that may seem like a lot to do to get regulated and connect with your soul, but they're so simple. They're so simple.

Elaine: 16:20

The first path is nurture your body. So what is one thing you can do today to nurture your body. Maybe it's just saying thank you to the lives that it's housed, Maybe it's just talking nicely to it, Maybe it's going and taking a bubble bath. Whatever it is to nurture your body? Just one thing.

Elaine: 16:45

And the second path is all about cleaning and clearing your environment. Oh my gosh, you should have seen the purging I did in that environment. When we can get control of our environments, our whole life changes Because our heart opens and that's the energy of the heart opening. In fact, when I totally purged my environment, not only just what was in my closet, what was in my refrigerator, what was in outside storage units that I had been paying monthly for, but totally lost the key to to who was sleeping in my bed, who was in my home, so I'm talking a total purge, and that release of dense energy out of my environment allowed me to have the space to find myself again. So those are the first two paths. They're simple and yet they take focus. This is about waking up to the truth of your life and not looking away anymore. You know that never works. It does for a little while, but then we just say you know, this is not working anymore. I've got to get real with myself.

Rose: 18:02

You talk about purging and I know in your book you talked about how you moved furniture a lot and your kids were like there goes mom moving furniture. And I want to just share a similar story. I used to study feng shui. It's part of energy work and I'm a Qigong teacher and you work with energy. So my children, I would be like, okay, let's go Come in here and help mommy move furniture, because when I would walk in a room it just didn't feel right and I had to make those adjustments so that the energy could move.

Rose: 18:37

And even when I was a realtor and I would walk in a home that had so many things I couldn't breathe. And you talk about, like you know, the path is the path of the heart and the lungs, path two, right. That was the second path Because the way the labyrinth works, you don't really walk. It's not like you're walking 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. It meanders you around different. So the lungs in traditional Chinese medicine, you know, here you're talking about purging it's like you can't breathe when you're surrounded by so much.

Elaine: 19:13

Yes, yes, I mean when we can breathe.

Elaine: 19:23

I mean so much of my earlier years in just survival mode didn't allow me to fully take a full breath in, so my body wasn't even oxygenated very well, so my brain wasn't even making wise decisions, and it was because my environment was so cluttered, it felt so restrictive, which I totally felt around my heart.

Elaine: 19:44

So when we can associate these things and feel them in our bodies, that is a huge wake-up call for women to be able to tune in to that place where they feel it in their bodies, to that place where they feel it in their bodies, because so much of this connection and tuning in is being able to identify in our bodies what feels off and use our bodies as a tuning fork.

Elaine: 20:09

And so, yes, I mean I clean and cleared everything in my environment and I do help people as well clean their environments by doing clearings. But one story is funny, because I went to sell my house and most of the time realtors would come in and say, oh no, you need to like make coffee and have cookie smells and make it feel homey. I didn't do any of that because I knew what that house needed to get sold and so I did a whole cleaning and clearing of the energy in my home and eight hours later the house was sold the next morning because someone came in. Three people came in and they maybe wouldn't have been able to identify or say what they were feeling, but they could just sense how clean and clear the energy was and it felt good.

Rose: 21:00

Yeah, there was harmony. May I share a similar story as a realtor? There was a house one of my coworkers was trying to sell for let's say it was a year on the market. It was in my neighborhood and when I walked in there one day maybe it was six months there was so much stuff and it wasn't. The energy was heavy and dense and dark and you can feel it. I could feel it because I'm sensitive to that so I went around and I cleared the energy using Reiki. I didn't tell anybody. It was during an open house, so I went around, I just every room, I cleared the energy, I cleared it at it. Three days later they had a contract on that house and I said I said you know, I did reiki on the house. Well, you know, you know people, it's of course, it's woo, woo, they. I think more people believe it now. Great story that you know about clearing your house and the important of doing that. I love that story and thank you for letting me share mine as well, because it's relatable, you know.

Elaine: 22:06

Yes, and everybody in your environment. You know, with two small boys at the time, I needed to clean and clear my home to keep it harmonious for them, Because they were going through a difficult time with the divorce and they needed to feel some harmony, some peace. And so, as a mother, I use that tool to help keep the harmony for my boys in that home and I know it made a huge difference. And so this is what you not only do for yourself, but your family, for even at work, your coworkers to clean and clear environments, because you have the power to do this. And you may not think that you do, you may never even have even attempted to or even thought of this type of cleaning and clearing of your environment, but let me tell you that when you do, when you take the very simple steps that I lay out in that chapter that you read in, Get Quiet about getting back into control of our environments.

Elaine: 23:16

Your whole life will change just with that one path and I know that some people have read the book and they'll just focus it on one path, maybe for a whole entire week. And that's what makes it fun is that you have this roadmap to like oh, I'm just going to nurture my body for this week, or I'm going to just clean and clear out this closet this week, and that's what it's. So it's so simple, but we just need to know what to do when we're trying to get healthy. You know, I believe that our health is our wealth nothing else wealth, nothing else.

Rose: 24:05

And as you get closer to the center, you're moving towards the center of yourself, right, you're journeying towards more of a maybe a balanced state or a harmonious state or even a more open state, like, I think, about seven, with the seven chakras. Seven is a kind of like a sacred number where you're moving from the base to the top, but it doesn't really correspond to those. But in a way you can use a very similar explanation, like when you're moving towards your crown chakra, you're more open to the divine energy to receive more messages. Do you find, or have you found, that as you were moving towards that center, the connection that I know, you were connected, felt connected as a child, that you were able to hear more messages, feel more messages from your guides and your angels and whoever was in your team of spirit?

Elaine: 25:05

Yes, and I don't want to say that you need to have done all these seven paths to get those messages Because, as we talked about before, those messages came through when I stopped and talked to that guy in the coffee shop. So they're always there. They're just easier sometimes to hear and then open enough, like you said, in terms of opening your space enough to actually allow those messages to come in and then take action. So I just want to clear that up, that you are. There's nothing to fix, there's just this opening that I'm inviting you to that's even more profound and more available to you by walking these paths. And so, yeah, I would hear messages that I heard messages like surrender. I heard messages like he's the one.

Elaine: 26:02

That was a fun one because I had just fallen in love with my fiance, michael, and I was like is he the one? I don't know, I've got these boys and I don't want to just introduce them to anybody. I mean, I was so protective in those years and I heard clearly when I got to the center he's the one. I heard things like when I was going through life coaching school, I heard you're ready. And there's always a synchronicity. That happens after you have this profound listening that happens in the center of the labyrinth. So I heard you're ready? No, I heard I'm ready. I told myself I'm ready. A few days later, I'm driving my son to a baseball game. I see this old timer car because that's how spirit catches our attention, because I love old time cars Me too and I stopped at the stoplight. The car was in front of me and the license plate said I'm ready.

Rose: 27:09

Oh my.

Elaine: 27:12

And when you see these synchronicities that the universe is saying like we got you, You're not going crazy, Just keep on the path you're going. You don't want to stop because you know it's so real now, because there's so much confirmation, and that's why getting quiet and walking these paths is so important today, because we have lost ourselves. We feel like we're so lost, but this is how you find yourself again is tuning in, getting quiet, focusing in on these paths and really knowing where your life is heading.

Rose: 27:55

There is a lot of noise these days social media not, um, not getting quiet. There's always a distraction. I heard you say in another podcast that this topic is not necessarily a sexy topic because we're so drowned out by other topics like trauma and fear and all these other things that people are putting out there, and just something as simple as getting quiet is more profound than anything else, and that's, you know, something we need to move towards and away from all that sensationalism and all that other things.

Elaine: 28:33

I believe that Because things have become so complex, and the complex is what people are attracted to the shiny objects. I'm doing this. I'm doing that for sure, with sitting over 40, with over 40,000 patients one-on-one and hundreds of coaching clients is that we are needing something desperately to get healthy in a sick world. You know, be still and know is a biblical saying, for a reason, yeah, and so this is about getting still and knowing the life path you're meant to walk, instead of using your energy in a dysregulated way that we were talking about before, trying this and trying that and wondering if that person has the answer or this person has the answer.

Elaine: 29:43

The intention about this book Getting Quiet Get Quiet is for the reader and the listener who listens to the audio to find their own way, to find their own unique path for themselves. I don't tell you anything to do. I just give you the paths to walk and you make them what you want to make them for yourself, because I don't want people telling me what to do. I just want you to show me and guide me and then I'll see how it fits in my own life. That's what works for me and that's what I hope works for the reader as well.

Rose: 30:34

I want to share my experience in an actual labyrinth. I mentioned to you before that my first yoga teacher, who we reconnected with Now first yoga teacher 30 years ago is when I first started taking yoga. There were no yoga teachers around and I traveled to meet her. So a couple of years ago we reconnected. She lives nearby and she has a real live labyrinth, life-size seven circuit labyrinth in her backyard. Now I was saying there's, no, there's. You know these are all synchronistic signs here. You know that, that that you're here, you wrote this book. It, your book, is fantastic. I encourage everyone to read this book. It has so many practical, easy ways, things to follow and incorporate in your life. And I said I'm going to make sure I go to this labyrinth before I talk to Elaine so that I can share my experience. And, just like you said, I walked in and it was a little ceremonial for me. I cleared my energy and I was like, okay, I don't expect to hear, see, feel anything, I just want to walk. And I did.

Rose: 31:52

I started on the path and it was very buggy, I have to say. She lives in like a fielded area In New Jersey. We have a lot of bugs here too now, like those little gnats that were just attacking me the whole time. And normally I would be like, okay, I'm done. You know, I didn't have bug spray or anything like that, no eucalyptus. So I kept walking and just observing everything and the little messages along the way and the little rocks with the messages and the angel figurines that people have placed, and I walked and it was just like, okay, well, this is a long path, let me just, you know, keep going.

Rose: 32:28

And then I eventually made it to the center and I sat down and she had a bench. I sat down and just sat there for a while. The sun was beating on my shoulders, it was felt good. The gnats were just attacking me left and right, but I just stayed there. And eventually I heard don't let the small things bug you.

Rose: 32:53

And if you ask anybody in my family, I get bothered by the littlest, stupidest things sometimes and I'm really trying hard to not let those things bother me. And when I heard that and sat with that, the bugs stopped attacking me, literally stopped. I was like I didn't want to leave there, I wanted to just sit there and it felt so good and I was like the bugs just went away and I didn't expect to hear anything, feel anything or know anything, but it happened and I was ready to hear that and it was a big message for me. So it's something I need to work on and I'm aware of it. So that was my experience in the labyrinth and I intend on going back several more times and maybe put a little bug spray this time.

Rose: 33:51

But I wanted to share that with the audience. But you don't need to be in a real life labyrinth. You can go out and walk in nature or in your book you have a picture of one and just go through the exercises of clearing and cleansing and nurturing, and nurturing and take care of your body, moving the energy, using the breath. You talk a lot about the breath in your book as well. Can you share that with the listeners?

Elaine: 34:25

Well, first I want to acknowledge your experience in the labyrinth, because that just makes my heart smile. You definitely had an experience that the labyrinth was holding and waiting for you, was holding and waiting for you, and had that message come from the outside world? Because I'm sure many people have said, oh, come on, rose, don't sweat the small stuff, because it came from you, because it was your voice, your soul's voice, god's voice, whatever you want to call it. It was that true voice, your higher self voice saying that to you. That's what shifts the energy within you and you almost don't even have to think about it anymore Because you might just find yourself naturally, without expecting anything of yourself, just naturally, not not being bothered so much anymore. That's how quickly it happens.

Elaine: 35:28

In terms of the, the breath, I think that we have all experienced a loss, a disappointment. Maybe we're grieving, and I know for me, when I've been at my lowest in terms of grieving the loss of family members or friends it's hard to breathe and what I realized in the labyrinth, particularly on the path of the heart, is that there's an energy that helps us breathe in those times and I didn't realize this. For me, that energy is God. I think God is the source of our breath. And when I couldn't breathe, when I was curled up in a ball, when I was stuck like frozen, I didn't rely on myself to breathe. I couldn't. There was not one ounce of me that could even muster up that energy. But when I gave it to God and I started to match what I thought was God's breath, that helped me breathe. It's a moment that I'll never forget, because I so desperately needed to breathe.

Elaine: 37:03

It's a moment that I'll never forget, because I so desperately needed to breathe and I write about this in Get Quiet because I think it was such a profound experience for me Moments of not knowing what to do, because we're so overcome with emotion that we can immediately say, okay, god, take over, I can't breathe right now. You have to help me breathe, and I'm going to match your breath with mine, and that has gotten me through countless, countless difficult times.

Rose: 37:47

I love that. That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that.

Rose: 37:51

One of the for me, a very powerful statement in your book is that you write that women are most critical of themselves, especially our bodies, and we spend time picking our bodies apart. And I've been thinking about this a lot lately because as a child I never had a good body image and I think I've struggled with that over the years and I'm sure I'm not the only woman out there who looks at themselves, especially postmenopausal. You know things change, things shift, and I have also. You know I've had C-sections, maybe we've had surgeries or anything, and that we pick our bodies apart.

Rose: 38:36

And you say that when you I'm quoting when you hide your body, you hide yourself, you hide your greatness from the world. When you hide your body, you hide yourself, you hide your greatness from the world, and that your body is the container through which you get to enact your gifts and your purpose in the world. And I, just when I read that, I just felt such a connection to those words and a shift in how I want to feel about myself and not be so caught up in how I look, but how I feel, how I feel in my body. Can you share more about why you wrote that or just about what you wrote?

Elaine: 39:22

Well, I want to define beauty because I think that women want to feel beautiful, they want to look beautiful, and I love that, because when we talk about energy and the vibration of beauty whether it's our physical beauty or our environment being beautiful that is the highest vibration closest to God. So the intention of wanting to feel beautiful is just the intention of wanting to be close to God, wanting to be close to God. So I just wanted to find one thing about me. After the C-sections, after menopause, you know like life had beaten me up and like what was one beautiful thing that I wanted to feel, because I knew that vibration would hold me close to the vibration of God. So I wanted to just find one thing about myself, physically, that I loved about myself and that's what I would challenge anyone listening here to do.

Elaine: 40:32

One thing that people say oh my gosh, you have the best smile and you've always dismissed it or didn't want to receive the compliment. What is one thing that you can just hang on to that you feel so beautiful? Maybe it's just the fact that you love people and nurture people without any conditions. Find one thing that you feel is so beautiful about yourself, is so beautiful about yourself. There is one thing, because that one thing is going to allow you to push forward through all the other stuff that we don't have control over sometimes.

Rose: 41:12

Right.

Elaine: 41:13

And then want to be seen for that one thing. So I just said I'm going to just move forward with my smile. Okay, I'm 20 pounds overweight because I have thyroid issues. Okay, I'm going to just move forward with my smile. Okay, I'm 20 pounds overweight because I have thyroid issues. Okay, I'm going through menopause and the weight's not coming off the way I thought it. Okay, you know, I mean, it's just this. One thing after another. We can continue beating ourselves up over, but with the intention of beauty is in the same vibration as God, of course. Then you're going to find one thing. Why would you not want to? Right?

Rose: 41:56

I love that. It's beautiful. We are all beautiful, as I always tell my students. I always tell them you are perfect. You know, it doesn't matter who's looking at you and saying that you're not perfect, but you're just perfect because you are made in the eyes of God. I love that. What do you find your clients struggle with the most? Is it disease, chronic pain? Is it maybe finding their true purpose or path in life? Is there anything that stands out that you've seen recurring with your clients?

Elaine: 42:37

Yes, so most of my clients are in there anywhere between 45 and 60 years of age and they have at least 20 years that they have put into mastering something. They have a skill set that they haven't even fully embraced is so very special, haven't even fully embraced is so very special. And so they come to me feeling like they're not being appreciated for what and what they have done and can do and they're looking for maybe a different place to share their gifts and maybe they haven't even fully embraced their gifts. They just need a sounding board or a mirror to have someone like me say, oh, that's what you do so easily, that it comes so easy and naturally that you're like you don't even know you have this gift.

Elaine: 43:33

But, like you know, I've sat with like female entrepreneurs is usually the type that comes to me and their brains work in ways that are so fantastic and so innovative and they don't even know that they have, like this kick ass, you know skill set that they've developed over the course of 20 years or more, and so I help them identify what that is is. I help them believe how special it is and that various ways they can continue to use that and impact the world and also get financial gains as well. So that's who's coming to me, and it's so rewarding to help someone identify for themselves something that has come so naturally, so easily. That is special.

Rose: 44:48

Women who are entrepreneurs in their own home by raising children and doing all the volunteer work and all that great stuff. They also have special gifts that they can transfer into another path or another way of or yeah, I guess another career or a career. Yeah, I guess another career or a career, because I know that I've worked with women who have been home and have you know their families are more important and then they're empty nesters and now they're finding they need another purpose, especially during a life transition, as becoming an empty nester, I mean, yes, talk about the entrepreneurial women as mothers.

Elaine: 45:29

I mean, that's pretty much how you would define an entrepreneur right there Just become a mother. But when you don't have those same responsibilities on a day-to-day basis, you do have to understand, well, what did I, what was I doing and who was I being all of those years for my kids and my family? I mean, what skill sets would you know? Just that I honed so beautifully that now I can, you know, apply those same skill sets somewhere else? That would excite me. And what I would caution is that when I became an empty nester, I didn't want to jump right in to well, I've got to do something. Next, I've got to just keep going and keep being busy. That, I don't think, is the answer. It wasn't for me and it's definitely not the answer for my clients. I suggest that you, if you can, take what I call not a year off, because some of us have to work, but in that year, if you do have to work, choose something every month.

Elaine: 46:46

I called it for me the out of the box challenge, and what I did for 12 months, this one particular year, is. I chose something to do just for myself that I was curious about, that I was interested in, and one was Qigong Cool, awesome. And another was going to Toastmasters learning how to speak, public speak. So I just and we were talking about urges I had these urges that were guiding me to these various things. I mean, I could have chosen so many different things, but it was interesting to look back and see the things I was actually choosing to do.

Elaine: 47:30

There were things that I was interested in, but there were also things that I was a little scared to do. But this is how I reengaged in my life again in that time in my life that was current and not outdated. And you know, after those 12 months, my whole entire life changed, just because I followed those urges and the things I was curious about and the things that I learned. And again, I believe that that year was a year of play for me. And again, I believe that that year was a year of play for me, and I believe that one of womankind's greatest achievements is play. But we forget to play because we feel like we're carrying the weight of the world on us.

Rose: 48:30

So this is a way to lighten up, because when you lighten up, you can connect to those lighter vibrations that have all the wisdom waiting for you. Beautiful. Thank you, elaine. So appreciate you being here and sharing all these wonderful experiences and wisdom with the audience and, as I was saying, I encourage everyone to purchase Elaine's new book Get Quiet. Seven Simple Paths to the Truth of who you Are. Paths to the truth of who you are. And before we end the interview, is there anything else that you wanted to share? I am going to put all of your links in the show notes on how people can find you order your book. Is there anything else, any other takeaway that you can share or would like to share?

Elaine: 49:29

My life came crashing down because of one reason looking back, and that's because I disconnected from my spirituality, I disconnected from having conversations with God and trusting that I have guides and I have angels and I have a whole spirit team that's here to help me, and so my last message would be to trust the unseen and know that you are not alone.

Rose: 50:04

Thank you, Elaine, for being here today. I really appreciate you taking the time. Thank you.

Elaine: 50:12

Thank you, Rose.

Rose: 50:19

Thank you for joining me here on Chat Off The Mat. I hope these stories have inspired you. If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it with those who might benefit. Your support helps me spread awareness about the power of transformative healing. Stay connected with me on social media. Reach out with your own healing stories or topics you'd like me to explore in future episodes. Your voice is an essential part of this community. I hope that your healing journey is filled with self-discovery, curiosity, resilience and the unwavering belief in the power that resides within you. Until next time, I'm Rose Whippage, wishing you a journey filled with love, laughter and endless possibilities.