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Sophie Messager

Author: Sophie Messager

  • Spring Equinox: Connecting with Dandelion Wisdom

    Spring Equinox: Connecting with Dandelion Wisdom

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    The spring equinox marks that perfect moment of balance when day and night stand equal, inviting us to pause and reflect on balance, and opposing forces in our lives. This weekend, I’ll be leading an equinox ceremony for my local community, centred around the wisdom of plants native to our land – this time, the humble dandelion.

    Why Local Plants?

    I’ve chosen to work with local plants for our ceremony because they carry the specific medicine and wisdom needed for those living on this land. There’s a beautiful reciprocity in honouring the plants that grow naturally in our immediate environment – they’ve adapted to our specific soil, climate, and conditions, just as we have. Working with local plants connects us to the wisdom of the land in a way that imported or exotic plants/herbs simply cannot.

    The plants growing around us are offering their gifts freely. By acknowledging and working with them, we deepen our relationship with the land we inhabit and strengthen our sense of belonging to place.

    Dandelion: The Perfect Equinox Teacher

    Dandelion embodies the balance of equinox energy perfectly. With its surprisingly deep roots reaching into the earth and its golden flower mirroring the sun above, it demonstrates the harmony between below and above, darkness and light.

    During winter, dandelions store their energy in their roots, sending their life force deep into the earth. As spring arrives, this energy begins to flow upward, creating the perfect balance between grounding and outwards expansion.

    Dandelion’s Healing Properties

    This common weed is anything but ordinary. Dandelions offer remarkable healing properties:

    • Roots: Rich in inulin, dandelion roots support liver function, aid digestion, and help clear toxins from the body – perfect for spring cleansing after winter’s heaviness.
    • Leaves: High in vitamins A, C, and K, potassium, calcium, and iron, the leaves act as a gentle diuretic (in my native France, they are called pissenlit, which literally translates as “pee in the bed”, because its diuretic properties) helping to reduce water retention while replenishing potassium.
    • Flowers: Contain antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds that support immune function and skin health.

    Dandelion reminds us that what appears ordinary often holds extraordinary gifts – we need only the wisdom to recognise them.

    Dandelion Meditation

    As part of our ceremony, I’ll be guiding a special meditation that invites participants to embody dandelion energy, feeling the balance between the grounding force of roots and the radiant expression of the golden bloom. This practice helps us recognize how we can draw upon winter’s stored wisdom while simultaneously opening to spring’s expansive potential. All you need to do is set about 5 min to sit or lie quietly and listen to it. You may want to have a notebook ready if any wisdom rises as you listen to the meditation.

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    Dandelion Tea Ceremony

    During my community’s sharing circle, as well as the meditation, I will share dandelion tea. A tea made from all parts of this remarkable plant – dried and roasted root, fresh leaves, and flowers – symbolising the integration of our whole selves at this balanced time of the year.

    Spring Equinox Dandelion Tea

    Ingredients:

    • 1 tablespoon roasted of dandelion root (earthy, slightly bitter). You can make your own, or buy this online or in heath food shops.
    • 1 handful of fresh dandelion leaves (green, slightly tangy)
    • 1 handful of dandelion flowers (sweet, delicate)
    • Honey or lemon to taste
    • 4 cups water

    Instructions:

    1. Gather dandelion parts from pesticide-free areas
    2. To roast roots: Clean thoroughly, chop, and dry in a low oven (120 degrees C) until dark and fragrant
    3. Bring water to boil in a pot
    4. Add roasted dandelion root, reduce heat, and simmer for 10-15 minutes
    5. Remove from heat and add leaves and flowers
    6. Cover and steep for 5-10 minutes
    7. Strain and serve with honey or lemon if desired

    This tea supports gentle spring detoxification while nourishing the body with minerals and vitamins – the perfect balance of cleansing and nourishing energies that mirror the equinox itself.

    Honouring Life’s Thresholds

    As someone who guides women through life’s major transitions, I find particular resonance in these seasonal threshold moments. The equinox teaches us that balance isn’t static – it’s a dynamic dance between opposing forces, a momentary alignment that reminds us of our place in the cycles of nature.

    By connecting with dandelion wisdom at this equinox, we learn to honour both our depths and our radiant outward expression, our roots and our blooms, our past wisdom and future potential.

    May this equinox bring you perfect balance between all aspects of your being.

    If you’d like to join future seasonal ceremonies, please reach out. I offer both community circles and individual mentoring for those navigating life’s significant thresholds.

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  • The wisdom messenger episode 14: birth consciousness with Alison Shaloe

    The wisdom messenger episode 14: birth consciousness with Alison Shaloe

    In this insightful conversation, midwife and lactation consultant Alison Shaloe shares her 30-year journey supporting women through pregnancy and birth. She discusses her work at the Sacred Fertility and Birth Sanctuary and offers a refreshing perspective on how childbirth can be approached as a transcendent, empowering experience rather than a medical event.

    Key Highlights:

    1. A Spiritual Awakening: Alison reveals her personal challenges with cesarean births and breastfeeding that led to specialising in tongue-tie support, and how Reiki opened her to spiritual dimensions of birth, including the ability to hear messages from babies.
    2. Breaking Through Dogma: Alison discusses the challenges of speaking about spiritual aspects of birth in a society dominated by scientific dogma and fear, sharing how her book evolved from clinical focus to include channeled information from spirit babies.
    3. Altered States of Consciousness: The conversation explores how women naturally enter altered states during labour—a necessary surrender that’s rarely taught in midwifery education but is essential to the birth process.
    4. Patriarchal Systems in Birth: Alison highlights how current birth practices often reflect patriarchal attitudes that interrupt women’s natural birthing processes, from computerised systems to unnecessary interventions that disempower women.
    5. Honouring Women Through Ritual: The importance of ceremonies like “mother blessing” and “closing the bones” is discussed as essential cultural practices that honour women’s journey into motherhood and support significant life transitions.
    6. Creating Sacred Birth Spaces: Alison shares her vision for birth environments that honour the spiritual and emotional connection between mother and baby, emphasizing the need for privacy, respect, and gentle first moments after birth.

    Listen and/or watch the episode on :

    You can find Alison on her website https://alisonshaloe.com/

  • Beat Procrastination with the Drum: How Rhythm Can Help You Take Action

    Beat Procrastination with the Drum: How Rhythm Can Help You Take Action

    If I show you a frame drum and tell you it can help with procrastination, does it make you roll your eyes? Does it trigger thoughts like, “What’s this hippy nonsense?” And yet, you might be surprised to learn that drumming has a solid scientific foundation. Years of research show how rhythmic drumming can influence your consciousness and nervous system, helping you shift out of procrastination and into flow.

    What is procrastination?

    Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing tasks, decisions, or actions, even when you know it could lead to negative consequences. It often involves choosing short-term comfort or avoidance over the effort, discipline, or focus needed to complete a task—despite the long-term benefits of getting it done.

    Why do we procrastinate?

    Procrastination isn’t just about poor time management—it’s a self-regulation challenge. We procrastinate to avoid uncomfortable feelings such as:

    • Fear of failure, judgment, or being seen
    • Perfectionism
    • Difficulty managing emotions

    At its core, procrastination stems from a dysregulated nervous system. When we’re overwhelmed or afraid, our brains seek comfort and safety, making it harder to focus or take action.

    How drumming can help

    This is where the drum becomes an unlikely yet powerful ally. Through a process called auditory entrainment, drumming can shift your state of consciousness and soothe your nervous system.

    Shamanic drumming, which typically maintains a rhythm of around 4 beats per second, is especially effective. This rhythm slows your brain waves, moving you into a relaxed, semi-meditative state. In this state:

    • Your nervous system calms down.
    • Fear and constriction ease, allowing for more open and creative thinking.
    • You can look at problems differently, with a “relaxed” brain that makes moving forward feel easier and less overwhelming.

    How to use drumming to overcome procrastination

    If you have a drum:
    Set a timer and drum intuitively for just five minutes. This is usually enough to release mental tension and get you unstuck.

    If you don’t have a drum:
    You can achieve the same thing by drumming on a book, on a table or on your body. Percussion causes the brain changes, so it does not matter what you use.

    Listen to drumming
    There are plenty of free shamanic drumming tracks available on platforms like YouTube and Spotify. You can do this with drumming in the background whilst you do something else, and you do not even need headphones.

    For a more targeted approach:
    Check out Brain Stim Audio by ADHD drummer Jeff Strong. He has developed specific focus tracks designed to overcome procrastination using the same principles of auditory entrainment. You can try Brain Stim Audio free for two weeks without providing payment details, and Jeff also shares some rhythm samples on YouTube. From personal experience, I can vouch for their effectiveness!

    Want to dive deeper?

    If you’d like to explore this further, I recently hosted a low cost workshop (£25) called Beat Procrastination with the Drum which is available as a recording.

    In this 90-minute session, you’ll learn:

    • The science behind procrastination and how it affects the brain and body.
    • Practical ways to use drumming to move from stuck to flow.
    • Guided drum exercises to help you shift your mindset.

    No drum is needed—I provide live drumming during the session, along with tips and resources you can use afterward.

    Join me and discover how the power of rhythm can help you soothe your nervous system and overcome procrastination.

  • The Wisdom of Winter: Embracing Natural Rhythms in a ‘Always-On’ World

    The Wisdom of Winter: Embracing Natural Rhythms in a ‘Always-On’ World

    In early January, I felt a familiar disconnect: while my body craved hibernation, the world buzzed with “new year, new you” messaging. This jarring contrast led me to reflect on our relationship with rest, productivity, and natural cycles – both as a scientist and as someone learning to honour my body’s wisdom, and also to offer a workshop using the drum to manage this.

     

    The Biology behind winter rest

    First let me make something clear: making resolutions in early January makes no sense on an energetic and biological level. We’re in midwinter. It is still dark and cold. We are meant to rest at this time. 

    It’s a fact, biologically. I did my PhD and 2 postdocs on chronobiology. Evidence shows that when nights are longer we have less energy. In fact as a species we used to work a lot harder during the time of the year when nights were short, but the advent of mass schooling (and people needing the kids back to help during the harvest) led to what we have now: holidays at a time (summer) when we need the least rest.

     

    What Celtic Wisdom Teaches Us About Seasons

    It is also a fact in nature. Just look around, nature is still mostly hibernating, even though tiny signs of Spring can already be visible. I celebrate the festivals of the celtic wheel of the year, and it would make much more sense to wait to plan goals/do resolutions etc starting from Imbolc (end of January/early February), when the energy of Spring is starting to rise.

    Despite taking a really long break over Christmas, the first week when we were supposed to be back at work, I noticed that I was still very sluggish. Getting back to work after holidays is something I’ve learnt that I need to do progressively, and I did, but this was next level. I just wanted to hibernate. I did very little work that week, I just couldn’t get going.

    I noticed something really interesting happening. Whilst I’ve always known in my head that winter is for rest, I still struggled with some level of guilt about not being productive that week. This I expect is due to my upbringing, and belonging to a culture that sees “being productive” all the time as a sign of worth, and resting as a sign of laziness.

    Nature likes balance. What comes up must go down. The cycle of growth and decay is very clearly evidence in nature. Trees don’t bear flowers or fruits all year round. But still, it is hard when the “productivity” belief has been so ingrained in us since childhood. This also makes it hard to know when we truly need to rest or we are simply experiencing a disconnect, a resistance between our inner state and what we think we ought to be “doing”.

    That first week of January, my body simply would not let me work. So I leaned into that, and lo and behold, the following week my energy was back to a much more functional level. And projects started to pull me forward once more: this week I received the mock up of both the French translation of my first book (Why postnatal recovery matters), and of my new book about women and drumming, on the same day!

     

    When Productivity Becomes Unsustainable: My ADHD Medication Journey

    In my case, it is probably not surprising that I needed some extra rest. In July 2024 I started taking ADHD stimulant medication (Elvanse/Lisdexamfetamine). Whilst part of me loved the hyper productive experience the medication gave me (and it sure was fantastic in helping me finish my book in time), by September, I started noticing that I was working at a level that wasn’t natural or sustainable. I was working at a constant level. There were no “down days”  , something that used to be normal for me. I not only finished the book about drumming, and did all the edits and corrections, but I also finished correcting the French translation of my first book, and also did all the work to launch my first group program.

    In September I experienced constant bleeding, which led me to stop taking HRT after 18 months (when I look back, this was probably also related to overworking). By November I was also experiencing severe gut symptoms. When I meditated with my gut, the answer came loud and clear: you need to slow down. I did not really want to but the symptoms were severe enough for me not to be able to ignore them. It was as if my gut was literally screaming at me. 

    After researching the subject and finding evidence that there is a link between the meds I was taking and the symptoms I was experiencing, I decided to stop taking the ADHD meds, and did so at the end of November.  I also took healing herbs and saw a homeopath, but listening to my body’s cry for rest really felt key. I was prescribed typical Western medicine, drugs that I knew would not heal, but just put a temporary lid on my symptoms, and also stop me from listening to my body’s needs.

    So I slowed right down, winding my work from early December onwards, and stopping completely by mid December, and really not properly resuming a sense of readiness to work until mid January. When I look back, having spent 5 months working at an abnormally high pace, it’s not surprising that I would need a much longer break than normal to recover.

     

    Learning to Listen: The Different Faces of Rest

    Now that I’m meds free, I’m back to having my normal ebb and flow, with the ups days and the down days. I’m working at trusting the wisdom of that. I know that, in typical ADHD fashion, when I get up on days I often accomplish several days of work in a few hours. And I need to trust and lean into the down days (I call them “fuck-it” days-and usually give up on trying to work and do something nourishing instead).

    However, I also experience procrastination that is not down to having an energetic down day. It’s more that there is something blocking me underneath. A sense of stagnancy, of stuckness. 

    I feel it’s really important to be able to distinguish between the two: is this really my body trying to tell me to rest, or am I running away from something uncomfortable? The two feel completely different. The key is to lean into the embodied experience.

     

    Finding Flow Through Rhythm: How Drumming Breaks Stagnation

    When I am procrastinating, the one thing that seems to help me faster than any other tools I’ve tried is my drum. Whenever I’m experiencing resistance or feeling stuck, I put a timer on for 5 min and play my drum. It’s amazing how quickly it shifts me from stuck more into movement and ideas. I also often listen to some drumming tracks designed to modify my consciousness/state of mind whilst working/getting started.

     

    Conclusion

    As we navigate the pressure to maintain constant productivity, perhaps the greatest wisdom lies in trusting our natural rhythms. Whether it’s honouring winter’s call for rest or using tools like drumming to move through genuine blocks, the key is learning to distinguish between our body’s true needs and conditioned resistance. This journey has taught me that productivity isn’t about maintaining constant output, but about flowing with our natural cycles.

    I am aware that many of us are experiencing similar issues to the ones I describe above at this moment in time and feeling difficulties in getting going. I’d love to hear what your experience has been.

    To support this, I’ve decided to offer a workshop called Beat procrastination with the drum, on the 29th of January.

     

  • From Guidance to Power: My Journey Through 2024

    From Guidance to Power: My Journey Through 2024

    If you’ve been following my blog since 2017, you’ll know I love doing these year-end reviews – they’re like a public reflective diary, helping me process and share my journey. For about five years now, I’ve also chosen a word for the upcoming year, using an intuitive process that helps me connect with what support I need and how I want to feel. (I’ll share a guided drum journey below so you can find yours too!)

    My word for 2024 was “Guidance” – and boy did the universe deliver! They say be careful what you wish for, and this year brought guidance in ways I never expected, consuming most of my energy and focus throughout the entire year.

    Building a support system: My access to work journey

    One of the biggest changes this year came through successfully applying for an Access to Work grant. Since ADHD is classified as a disability in the UK, I was eligible – but this journey wasn’t one I could navigate alone. For someone with ADHD, where admin and paperwork are my nemesis, the process felt particularly challenging, especially since government systems seem designed to be hardest for those they’re meant to help.

    I was fortunate to have amazing support: my neurodivergent coach Kanan helped draft the initial application and body-doubled with me for the submission. Then came the team at This is Me agency. They were instrumental in helping me map out my support worker needs, advocating during DWP calls (which significantly reduced my anxiety), and tackling the mountain of paperwork – including gathering 24 different quotes from potential support workers!

    The grant approval was both exciting and overwhelming. I received funding for 14 hours of weekly support worker time, ADHD coaching sessions, and equipment like noise-cancelling headphones and a Remarkable tablet. But then came the challenge: how to recruit and manage all these people? Classic ADHD paralysis hit me hard, and it took weeks to actually implement the support. Looking back, I wish I’d reached out to the agency about feeling overwhelmed and prioritised finding the right VA first to help coordinate everything/everyone else. 

    Building my support team

    My first hire was a professional declutterer, who visits weekly. Working with her has been revelatory – finally helping me understand why I could never tackle the chaos alone (and helping me kick out both the shame and the delusion around not being able do it alone). She doesn’t just help organise; she measures spaces and tells exactly what storage solutions to use to prevent clutter from returning. A year on, my desk no longer holds its infamous “pile of doom,” and for the first time in years, I’m not frantically clearing space before my family visits for the holidays. The fact that we’re only halfway through the process after a year shows just how much support I needed.

    Finding Rosslyn, my VA who specialises in supporting people with ADHD, was another game-changer. Instead of overwhelming me with procedure documents and systems, she worked with me gradually to build processes that actually work for my brain. She’s helped identify other crucial support needs, like a website manager and bookkeeper, making my business more streamlined and automated. I was lucky to have had my grant renewed for the coming year too (albeit at a lower rate), which means that I’ll be able to complete the many projects I started.

    Professional evolution: learning, growing, teaching

    • The Business Side

    Working with conscious marketing mentors has been a key part of my journey since 2021. I’ve found that being held in a container of like-minded, heart-based entrepreneurs helps keep me accountable. After three enriching years with George Kao, I sought someone who better matched my needs: Europe-based (for more compatible time zones – I’m a morning person), a woman balancing motherhood with business, and offering affordable mentoring with the same conscious/authentic values. Through George’s community, I found Caroline Leon, whose smaller group size and understanding of work-life balance was exactly what I needed.

    Under Caroline’s guidance, I created my first proper business plan in over 11 years of self-employment. While I set some overly ambitious financial goals without accounting for the time needed for Access to Work implementation and personal development, I see this not as a failure but as valuable learning.

    Looking at what I did accomplish this year:

    • Teaching: 6 in-person courses spanning intuitive drumming, closing the bones, postnatal recovery massage, and rebozo techniques for NHS midwives
    • Community work: I led 13 drum circles and co-facilitated 8 wheel of the year ceremonies
    • One-to-one support: I did 16 closing the bones massages/healing sessions and about as many mentoring sessions.
    • Online courses: I welcomed 142 new students to my courses and ran 3 online masterclasses 
    • Workshop: I ran a new online one about overcoming impostor syndrome.
    • Plant medicine: I ran an evening of connection with the spirit of Mugwort
    • Content creation: I wrote and published 32 blog posts, sent 20 newsletters, shared over 180 social media posts, and recorded 6 podcast interview

     

    • Major milestones

    The highlight of my year was completing my book about drumming as a tool for women’s empowerment – twice the size of my first book, Why Postnatal Recovery Matters. True to my ADHD style, I wrote most of it in an intense six-week sprint before the publisher’s deadline! The book will be published by Womancraft in September 2025, with US distribution through Red Wheel.

    I also finalised the French translation of Why Postnatal Recovery Matters (Mères nouvelles, traditions ancestrales, restaurer les rituels de soin du postpartum), due for release in January.

    • Breaking new ground

    This year saw me stepping into new and bigger spaces, delivering drumming demonstrations at two midwifery conferences and speaking about women’s life transitions at the convention of women drummers. I taught my first intuitive drumming course, incorporating rites of passage work around menarche and motherhood – a profound and powerful experience.

    • Beautiful “failures” and their gifts

    My attempt to launch a group program for creating calm and overcoming overwhelm didn’t attract participants despite thorough preparation: market research interviews, content creation, and technical setup. Yet instead of disappointment, I felt relief. This “failure” revealed that I was meant to offer something deeper – focusing on helping sensitive, holistic, heart-centered women reclaim their power in more profound ways.

    Personal growth and healing: a journey to wholeness

    • Finding deep support

    After supporting my child through mental health challenges and experiencing my own struggles, I knew I needed something different from traditional support systems. The NHS counselling I received in Autumn 2023 provided zero relief, leading me to seek alternatives that aligned with my holistic understanding of healing.

    My experience with the NHS’s approach to mental health – both for my child and myself – highlighted a fundamental flaw in modern healthcare. As Josh Schrei beautifully puts it in his podcast The Emerald, “if a plant was sick we wouldn’t say it has ‘wilting syndrome’, we would ask if it’s getting enough food, water, sunshine.”

    Another quote that really exemplifies the narrow, mechanistic view of the modern mental health approach, which ignores our need for community, belonging, and connection, is this one (from an article about Western talking therapists who were sent to support people in Rwanda after the genocide).  

    “Their practice did not involve being outside in the sun where you begin to feel better. There was no music or drumming to get your blood flowing again. There was no sense that everyone had taken the day off so that the entire community could come together to try to lift you up and bring you back to joy. Instead, they would take people one at a time into these dingy little rooms and have them sit around for an hour or so and talk about bad things that had happened to them. We had to ask them to leave” 

    I found my answer in a therapist who bridges psychotherapy and shamanic practice. His two-hour sessions (so much more effective than the standard 50-minute format) provided more healing in a few weeks than months of conventional therapy. By May, I was experiencing a level of peace and spaciousness I hadn’t felt in years – a feeling that continues to deepen.

    The medication journey

    This year brought interesting experiments with different forms of support. As I wrote my book, I discovered the power of “microdosing drumming” – just 5 minutes daily – which created similar positive thought pattern changes to my previous experiences with microdosing mushrooms. This practice, along with pre-recorded therapeutic drum tracks, became crucial tools in my wellbeing toolkit.

    • The HRT chapter

     My journey with HRT, which began in 2023 to soothe my nervous system, took an unexpected turn. I started experiencing concerning side effects that echoed my previous experiences with hormonal contraception in the past. After being fast-tracked to the cancer clinic due to constant bleeding, I made the conscious choice to stop.

    Whilst HRT supported my nervous system back towards balance at a time of desperation, feels like it somehow paused my menopause process. However, now that I’ve stopped, I feel like I wasn’t my true self during the 18 months I took it. It feels a bit like an epidural during labour: yes you no longer feel the pain, but you can also no longer feel the power.

    Stopping HRT led to increased energy and a stronger connection to my power. As Jane Hardwicke Collings explains, oestrogen is the “hormone of accommodation” – it can make us more pleasant and accommodating but might also dampen our true power. Without it, I’ve rediscovered my authentic voice and strength.

    • The ADHD medication experience

    My experience with ADHD medication was equally enlightening. While the medicine I was prescribed, Elvanse, helped tremendously with focus and motivation, particularly in finishing my book, I could sense that I wasn’t being entirely myself, and something told me that the increased productivity wasn’t sustainable long-term. When serious digestive issues arose, and I meditated on it, my body’s message was clear: “slow down.”

    Listening to this wisdom, I chose to stop the medication after 5 months, and embrace a slower pace, particularly during the winter months when nature itself calls for rest. This decision feels deeply aligned with my body’s needs and the natural rhythms of nature.

    Embracing winter’s wisdom and looking forward

    • Winter solstice reflections 

    Last week, co-creating our winter solstice ceremony with friends brought a profound realisation: for the first time, I’m not just enduring the dark season but discovering its beauty. I can appreciate the starkness of winter while quietly celebrating that the light will soon return. Our ceremony will honour both the necessary stillness of darkness and the promise of returning light – a perfect metaphor for my own journey this year.

    • The power of slowing down

    My decision to work quietly through December and take an extended break (December 19th to January 6th) feels aligned with winter’s energy. This slower pace, matching the season when nature herself rests, brings a deep sense of rightness. It’s a conscious choice to honour natural rhythms rather than pushing against them.

    Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Winter is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximising scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible. Katherine May, from the book Wintering

    Vision for 2025

    • Stepping into power

     Having recorded a drum journey for reviewing 2024 and connecting with 2025’s energy (which I’m sharing with you below), I feel a clear shift emerging. 2025 calls me to fully step into my power as a menopausal woman and mentor. This power has been rising steadily since stopping HRT, and it feels like perfect timing with my new book about drumming and women’s wisdom being published next year.

    I feel called to support other women in accessing their own power and wisdom, contributing to raising humanity’s consciousness. We can no longer thrive while disconnected from nature, community, and what makes our hearts sing. There’s an urgent need to create new frameworks beyond our current constraints.

    My 2024 word was Guidance, and it served its purpose beautifully, bringing me exactly the support and direction I needed. For 2025, my word is Power. It’s about embracing my authentic strength and using it to support others to do the same and create positive change in the world.

    Closing invitation

    As we stand at this threshold between years, I invite you to join me in this reflective practice. Below you’ll find the recorded drum journey to help you review 2024 and connect with the energy of 2025. Now isn’t the time for rational goal-setting, but rather for dreaming and listening to your inner wisdom. Whether you’re seeking to reflect on the past year, find a word for the coming year or simply wanting to connect more deeply with your own truth, the drum is here to guide you.

    Remember, this turning of the year is not about forcing change or setting rigid resolutions. It’s about listening deeply, honouring your journey, and allowing your authentic power to emerge naturally – just as nature knows exactly when to rest and when to bloom.

     

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    #YearInReview #PersonalGrowth #WomensEmpowerment #ADHD #Perimenopause #DrummingForHealing #HolisticHealth #BusinessGrowth #ShamanicDrumming #WinterSolstice #AuthenticLeadership #ConsciousBusiness #WomensWisdom #MenopausePower #SacredBusiness

  • Drum journey to review 2024 and connect with the energy of 2025

    Drum journey to review 2024 and connect with the energy of 2025

    We are approaching the winter solstice, a time of rest, pause, and reflection

    In Celtic traditions, the Winter Solstice (around December 21st) holds deep significance as it marks the longest night of the year and the rebirth of the sun. It represents a turning point in the natural cycle, where the darkest days give way to the return of light. This is a time of reflection, renewal, and hope as the sun begins its gradual ascent again, heralding the return of longer days.

    The Winter Solstice is celebrated with rituals that honour the darkness and the return of the sun, often involving pauses to reflect on the darkness, spirals of light, and the lighting of fires.

    It is a sacred time and a reminder of the cyclical nature of life.

    I found this beautiful text on this website:

    “I stand at the threshold of the longest night, In the stillness where darkness and light entwine, Where time pauses, and the world holds its breath—I call upon the sacred power of this moment.

    I honor the deep darkness, Not as an absence, but as a womb—A sacred space where all life is conceived, Where dreams take root in the fertile soil of silence.

    I welcome the return of the light, The promise of rebirth and renewal. As the sun begins its journey back toward us, I open my heart to the warmth and the wonder of new beginnings.

    In this pause, I listen to the whispers of my soul, To the quiet stirrings of the dreams and desires within, Nurturing the seeds of creation that long to be born. I tend them with care, with faith, and with love.”

    Winter solstice  is a period of both quiet reflection and joyful anticipation, as nature begins its slow transformation towards the awakening of spring. The turning of the wheel of the year from the longest night to the gradual return of light holds special meaning.

    At this time,  I am offering you a guided drum journey to reflect on 2024, and connect with the energy of what 2025 might have in store for you.

    I love this process because it is energetic and heart centred, and more intuitive and joyful than trying to do it with only rationality and goals in mind.

    Through the pulse of the drum, we reconnect with ancestral wisdom celebrating the sacred pause of winter, the time between times, before the light returns again . This festival reminds us of the eternal cycle – life getting ready to emerge from winter’s sleep, embodying nature’s regenerative power, and cycles of death and rebirth.

    Join this drum journey to reflect on the past and tune into the future.  Just set aside 15 min where you can relax sitting or lying down, and enjoy the soothing beats of my Stag drum which was made in ceremony in Glastonbury. If you take this journey I would love to hear what you think. Just comment below.

    Play

  • The Wisdom Messenger podcast episode 13: Caroline Leon on Conscious Business Growth

    The Wisdom Messenger podcast episode 13: Caroline Leon on Conscious Business Growth

    In this insightful conversation, business coach Caroline Leon shares her journey and philosophy of ethical business practices. She discusses how she helps coaches, healers, and teachers build sustainable businesses without resorting to manipulative marketing tactics. With years of experience transitioning from corporate work to conscious business coaching, Caroline offers a refreshing perspective on how business can be both profitable and aligned with personal values.

    Key Highlights:

    1. The Dark Side of Marketing:  Caroline exposes common manipulative marketing tactics like artificial scarcity, pressure tactics, and countdown timers. She emphasises how these techniques often exploit people’s vulnerabilities and create distrust, particularly in the coaching industry.
    2. The Power of Authentic Connection:  Instead of focusing on perfect websites and polished marketing, Caroline advocates for genuine connection through conversations, gift sessions, and valuable content sharing. She highlights how sustainable business growth comes from building real relationships rather than following formulaic approaches.
    3. Putting People Before Profit:  A cornerstone of conscious business is prioritising both the client’s and the business owner’s wellbeing. Caroline discusses how this approach leads to sustainable growth and helps entrepreneurs avoid burnout while maintaining integrity.
    4. The Importance of Generosity and Transparency: Caroline shares how being genuinely generous with knowledge and transparent about selling can build trust. She emphasises the value of giving real content and being clear about when you’re selling versus when you’re sharing information.
    5. Sustainable Growth Takes Time: Through a client success story, Caroline illustrates how authentic business growth often takes years, not weeks. She shares how one spiritual coach grew from earning £16,000 to six figures over several years by consistently applying ethical business principles.
    6. Finding Your Authentic Path: Caroline emphasises the importance of choosing marketing methods that feel authentic to the individual, rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach. She encourages entrepreneurs to select platforms and strategies that align with their personal preferences and values.

    Listen and/or watch the episode on :

    You can find Caroline on her website https://carolineleon.com/

  • Overcoming Overwhelm: The Story Behind The Calm Within Community

    Overcoming Overwhelm: The Story Behind The Calm Within Community

    As holistic professionals, many of us are familiar with the feeling of being overwhelmed. We often take on the emotional weight of others – our clients, our families, our communities – while neglecting our own needs. We wear multiple hats, juggle countless tasks, and still, the to-do list seems to grow faster than we can check things off.

    I know this feeling intimately. In fact, my personal journey through overwhelm is what inspired me to create The Calm Within Community.

    My Story: From Overwhelm to Inner Peace

    For years, I struggled with a constant undercurrent of stress. As a doula, educator, healer and nurturing women mentor, I was deeply committed to supporting others during life’s biggest transitions. But somewhere along the way, I found myself burnt out and disconnected from my own needs. The very practices I taught my clients about self-care and balance were ones I struggled to implement myself.

    I would wake up already feeling behind, as though the weight of my responsibilities was crushing me. I had constant anxiety, especially at night when I would wake up worrying about all the things I had to do. My mind raced from task to task, and I often felt like I was drowning in an endless sea of demands. I also navigated perimenopause and did not yet know I had ADHD. The shame of not being able to keep up with everything made it even harder to ask for help. I kept wondering why I could be self disciplined and procrastinate so much.

    I knew I couldn’t continue like this, so I began seeking answers. I dove into ancient spiritual wisdom and modern neuroscience, looking for tools that would support me in navigating stress without adding more pressure. Slowly, I learned to blend these practices into my life in a way that felt sustainable, manageable, and, most importantly, healing.

    Through nervous system regulation, connecting with nature, prioritising self-care, and finding support from a like-minded community, I began to shift from overwhelm to a deep sense of inner calm.

    Why I Created The Calm Within Community

    As I began to reclaim my peace, I realised something important: If I was struggling with overwhelm despite my knowledge and experience, other women in holistic professions – the ones who are constantly giving and nurturing – must be facing the same challenges.

    I ran a series of interviews of many overwhelmed women. Our conversations highlighted the real challenges women face and the deep desire for sustainable peace and spaciousness in life, showing how deeply women yearn for both spiritual connection and practical solutions that work with their current energy levels and time constraints. 

    We Were Never Meant to Do This Alone

    Another theme that also clearly emerged was that these women were feeling lonely, and did not have a community they really belonged to. Despite being surrounded by people we care for, many of us lack true community – a circle of sisters who deeply understand our journey.

     The stories highlighted the need for a program that combined holistic practices with neuroscience-informed strategies, while providing an accessible community for women who are seeking genuine connection with others who understand their journey.

    That’s why I created The Calm Within Community: A sanctuary for women like you who are ready to release the overwhelm and find sustainable peace. This six-month program is designed to help you reclaim your inner calm by providing a nurturing space where you can truly heal.

    The Calm Within Community: A Place of Healing and Transformation

    This program isn’t about quick fixes or productivity hacks. It’s about developing tools that work for you – tools that can be integrated into your life and used for years to come. We combine ancient wisdom with modern neuroscience to create practices that not only soothe your nervous system but also promote lasting change in how you approach life.

    Over six months, we’ll focus on four key pillars:

    1. Self-care prioritisation: Learning how to take care of yourself, not just your clients or your family, without feeling guilty.
    2. Re-regulation of the nervous system: Techniques to soothe the mind and body, bringing you back to a state of balance.
    3. Immersion in nature: Connecting to the natural world to ground and restore your energy.
    4. Community: Building a supportive network of like-minded women who understand and support your journey.

    Through weekly live calls, a private Facebook group, and ongoing workshops, you’ll not only learn how to calm your nervous system but also connect with a community that truly gets it. We’re creating a space where you can breathe, be, and grow – at your own pace.

    Supporting Women to Support the World

    When women in nurturing professions find their calm, they transform every life they touch. We hold space for humanity’s most profound moments – whether that’s supporting a client through the birth journey, through a tough time or guiding a family through a life transition.

    You surely have heard the saying that you cannot serve from an empty cup. We cannot model sustainable care if we’re overwhelmed, burnt out, or disconnected from our own well-being. By helping women like you step out of overwhelm and into peace, we’re creating a ripple effect of sustainable care that will touch families, communities, and even generations to come.

    This community is for women who are ready to explore a gentler, more conscious way of being. If you feel a deep yearning for change, if you’re tired of the “do more” mentality, then this might be exactly what you need.

    Are You Ready to Join Us?

    If this resonates with you, I invite you to apply for The Calm Within Community. We begin on November 26th, and there are limited spots available to ensure we keep this circle intimate and supportive.

    If you’re ready to take the next step, or if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to comment under this post or reach out directly. I’d love to hear from you.

    Together, we can build a future where women lead from a place of peace, balance, and sustainable care. I can’t wait to share this transformative journey with you.

     

  • Finding Calm Within When Everything Feels Too Much: A Story of Hope and Transformation

    Finding Calm Within When Everything Feels Too Much: A Story of Hope and Transformation

    Two years ago, my overwhelm was at its peak. The combination of mothering an autistic teen struggling with severe anxiety perimenopause and undiagnosed ADHD was a killer. The nights were worse. I’d jolt awake at 3am, my mind instantly spinning into an endless loop of anxiety about all the things I wasn’t doing.

     

    In those dark hours, everything felt impossible. The list would spiral: work stuff I needed to do, emails I hadn’t answered, family needs I wasn’t meeting, paperwork deadlines, self-care I was neglecting. Each thought would feed the next, creating an exhausting cycle that left me lying there, heart racing, unable to get back to sleep.

     

    In the morning, overwhelm would crash over me within 5 minutes of getting up. I was so dysregulated, I could not organise tasks in my head, I’d start one then the other, not finishing any, and get more and more stressed. The weight of responsibilities – running my business, being present for my family – felt crushing. Even as someone who taught others about wellbeing, I struggled to find peace in my own life.

     

    The shift began when I realised I needed to fundamentally change my relationship with time and space, and learn to recreate calm within my nervous system. Instead of pushing harder, I started creating intentional pauses in my day. I learned to listen to my body, to notice when I was dysregulated, and do small things to bring peace back. Most importantly, I began putting my own wellbeing first – no longer treating self-care as a reward for getting everything else done.

     

    Most importantly, I started unlayering the weight of society’s expectations on myself, the false belief that my productivity was my worth. I started challenging the voice inside my head that berated me to work harder.

     

    Nature became my sanctuary. Whether wild swimming in cold rivers or simply walking in nature, I discovered that spending time outdoors helped regulate my nervous system in ways no amount of ‘productivity hacks’ ever could.

     

    Finding a supportive community of women who understood this journey was crucial. Together, we created spaces to share about our struggles and celebrate the good things in our lives. These connections reminded me I wasn’t alone and showed me different ways of being.

     

    I experimented with a lot of things, some that worked (microdosing, drumming, a temporary use of HRT, and working with a therapist who is also a shaman) and some that did not (lots of quick fix tools that made things worse, antidepressants, talking therapy). I unlayered so much, including fundamental beliefs about myself. In the end I came to realise that the only way to provide lasting change is to get to the root of the cause of overwhelm, which is complex and multifaceted.

     

    Now, my nights, mornings and days feel completely different. Yes, there’s still plenty to do, but the new spaciousness I’ve created inside myself means that, even in the midst of a full life, I no longer feel overwhelmed. Those 3am anxiety spirals have gone, and I have many tools that actually work to calm my nervous system.

     

    I want to share about my journey and what I’ve learnt along the way. I want to help other women take steps towards bringing more spaciousness and calm into their lives. I want to do this because, if we are going to create a better world, we simply cannot do it alone, nor from a place of dysregulation. Dysregulation keeps us in a state of firefighting, one from which we cannot access our own wisdom nor affect change.

     

    I am launching a 6 month group program for overwhelmed women called The Calm Within Community, and I am going to be sharing the essence of this in a free masterclass this week.

     

    If this resonates with you, join me for my free masterclass, Overwhelm to Calm, on Wednesday the 6th of November at 8pm London time. I’ll share what I’ve learned about moving from overwhelm to calm, blending neuroscience with ancient wisdom to find a gentler way of being.

     

    Because to change the world, you need to feel peace, not just teach it to others. 

  • Shrinking Mountains: Practical Tools to Transform Overwhelm

    Shrinking Mountains: Practical Tools to Transform Overwhelm

    Every time I take a break from my routine, whether it’s a holiday or just some time off, I always struggle a bit to switch back into work mode. After a period of relaxation, it can feel challenging to return to the many tasks that come with running a small business and managing family life. It’s like the weight of both roles—the solopreneur and the “CEO” of my family—hits all at once.

    In the past, this shift often left me feeling grumpy and overwhelmed, but this time I approached it differently and was able to overcome the stress more quickly. Here’s how.

    Many years ago, I embarked on a journey to reduce overwhelm  (read about that here). The biggest two learning points in my de-overwhelming journey and process are as follow:

    • Put the self care in the diary first
    • Decrease the size of the mountain

    1) Put the self care in the diary first.

    I know this is going to sound counterproductive, but it really work. If you try to work harder out of overwhelm, if you wait until you’ve done all the stuff in your to-do list before you allow yourself to relax, to take the time to do the things that make you feel good (in my case, swimming, drumming, and dancing) then you never find the time to do these things. You are not only likely to remain stuck in the overwhelm cycle, but also to make things worse. You cannot create spaciousness from a place of scarcity. If you feel you never have enough time, the way to create more time is to give your mind and body the chance to experience what it feels like to be spacious and relaxed.

    I’ve found that practices such as  reflecting in a journal every time I feel stressed or overwhelmed, putting a timer on for 5 min, simply starting with “what does my soul wants to tell me today”. Or doodling myself as a stick figure and writing speech or thought bubbles works well to, putting a timer on for 5 min and drumming. All of these things help my overwhelm settle down. What comes up, with either of these practises, is usually that when I feel there is too much on my plate, I actually need to slow down instead of trying to flog myself to work harder. Overwhelms is often a sign that you need to slow down.

    When you feel stuck or stressed or overwhelmed, rather than trying to push through the stuckness, which usually doesn’t work, you can choose to do something that involves a bit of movement, and that makes you feel good instead. For me this means a walk in the woods, a swim in the river (I usually tell myself “fuck it I’m going for a swim!”) or a short 5rhythms dancing session (as in, just one short track I love).  This ALWAYS results in the stuck energy moving through and my being able to start seeing the forest for the trees, and starting to be able to get stuff done from a refreshed place.

    Building up your sense of achievement rather than focusing on what you aren’t doing is also important. Another practice that I’ve found transformative is to use a “ta-da” list. At the end of each week I write everything I’ve done that week, self care, family and  work wise. I’m always surprised by how much I have accomplished, even when I’ve felt that this wasn’t a very productive week.

    2) Decrease the size of the mountain.

    Since I started working with authentic business mentor George Kao I’ve learnt the importance of capturing the process whenever I start anything new. This is for three reasons:

    • It helps understand the large numbers of steps and time involved in creating something (see Ta-da list above)
    • It saves time for the future, as you already have all the steps and tasks captured if you want to do it again (for example, creating an online course)
    • But most importantly, it decreases the size of the mountain. It helps to break down the impossible ascent into tiny, do-able steps. It creates a path where there was none before.

    Imagine that you are facing climbing an enormous mountain. Or that you have to carve a track in a deep jungle with a machete. All the tasks, the thoughts about the tasks, they all get jumbled in your head and all you can feel is this enormous, impossible task. You feel exhausted just thinking about it, and you don’t know where to start or even want to start. It feels heavy, overwhelming and scary. Running away feels easier,  or pretending it’s not there. Yet you feel the weight of the “unclimbed mountain” on your shoulders all the time. Sounds familiar?

    This is because you cannot see your way through. You just see the top, or the impossibly far destination. And this keeps you stuck in fight and flight, or freeze mode, because our brains have evolved to be very good at protecting us. A perceived danger is experienced by our nervous systems in the same way as a real one.

    If you decrease the size of the mountain, as in capture all the tasks in small dividable steps, and then decide to maybe only do one, tiny step, as soon as you start to move, it creates a path, and the overwhelm gets resolved almost instantly. The energy starts to move, and you realize that the anxiety about doing the tasks was much bigger than the task itself. In fact, very often as soon as you start taking steps towards doing the task, the anxiety dissolves and you realized that you made a much bigger deal about it than it was.

    I’ve found that when I procrastinate, if I start writing a list of what needs to be done rather than doing the actual task, it feels more doable to write that list than to do the task. And then when I’m ready to tackle the task, the list I’ve written creates a simple path I just need to follow, so I no longer procrastinate about it.

    Here is one of George Kao’s blogs about it, and also a video about it.

    I have had such an incredible journey doing this that I plan to create a course to help others do the same. I am offering one to one mentoring sessions to start with so I can get feedback and experience. Do get in touch if this is something you would be interested in.

    Does this resonate with you? If so I’d love to hear about it.