Navigating Menopause Health: Transformative Stories of Body Positivity and Nourishment on Your Personal Food Journey

Are you navigating the turbulent waters of menopause health and seeking a deeper connection with your body? Join host Heather Carey as she dives into a transformative conversation with Michael DiPietro and Marci Donnelly, co-authors of “The Inside Guide: Breaking Through to Intuitive Wisdom and Inspired Living. ” This episode of Real Food Stories is a heartfelt exploration of self-acceptance, purpose, and the journey toward living a fulfilled life in midlife.

Michael, a seasoned coach with a wealth of experience, and Marci, who has journeyed from client to co-author, share their unique insights on overcoming the challenges that many women face during midlife, particularly around menopause health. They discuss how these life transitions can spark profound self-reflection and transformation, empowering women to embrace their bodies and celebrate their worthiness.

Throughout the episode, Michael reveals his innovative coaching approach that combines neuro-linguistic programming, mindfulness, and spiritual practices, all designed to help clients reconnect with their inherent value. Marci opens up about her personal food journey, detailing her struggles with feelings of inadequacy and how she discovered her true self through Michael’s compassionate guidance. Their stories highlight the importance of self-love, body positivity, and the necessity of making healthy lifestyle choices that resonate with one’s true purpose.

This episode is a treasure trove of nutrition advice and healthy eating tips, offering listeners practical insights into midlife nutrition and how to navigate the complexities of hormonal changes. Together, they debunk weight loss myths and explore the intersection of food beliefs and culture, encouraging women to embrace their personal food stories while nourishing their bodies. Heather, as a culinary nutritionist, adds her expertise, emphasizing the importance of cooking for wellness and sustainable eating practices.

Listeners will walk away inspired to explore their inner selves and recognize that they are whole and complete just as they are. Whether you’re dealing with perimenopause health or seeking to improve your overall well-being, this episode will empower you to embrace your journey with confidence and joy. Tune in to discover how to cultivate a mindset of abundance and navigate the midlife changes with grace and self-compassion.

Join us for this enlightening episode of Real Food Stories, where we celebrate the beauty of women’s health and wellness, and together, let’s empower your menopause journey!

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Transcript:

Speaker #0
Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back. And if you are just tuning in with me for the very first time, it’s so nice to meet you. And I’m really glad you’re here with me today. I am your host, Heather Carey, nutritionist, chef, mom, and a woman who has been around the block with food. I want to open up about real food in relation to health, weight, and our bodies so you can make peace with what you eat. Hi everybody. Do you ever suffer from wondering what is the bigger purpose in your life and how you can finally make peace with your weight and your body so you can just live with kindness and compassion for yourself? Well, today I had the pleasure of speaking to Michael DiPietro and Marci Donnelly. They are co-authors of the book, The Inside Guide, Breaking Through to Intuitive wisdom and inspired living. The unique thing about Marcy and Michael is that while Michael is the coach that helps and guides you to big life transformations, Marcy is a real life client of Michael’s. She is living proof of Michael’s work on healing your mind, body, and spirit so you can feel the love in your life. It’s a powerful in-depth interview and if you’re asking yourself the question of, is this it when it comes to your life that I would

Speaker #1
definitely suggest taking a listen. Hey, everybody. I am here today with Michael DiPietro and Marci Donnelly.

Speaker #0
For over 20 years, Michael has been guiding individuals and groups to overcome obstacles and awaken to authenticity, fulfillment, and life purpose. Michael is a certified master practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming, a martial arts instructor, skilled body worker, meditation teacher. and has spent time in both Buddhist and Benedictine monasteries. Through his extensive training and deep intuition, he guides his clients and readers to truly know themselves, to transform challenges, and to find meaning and to live their life purpose. And Marcy Donnelly is a senior vice president at a leading financial institution. Her passion for helping others comes through in her volunteer work as president of the PTA and president of her business network international chapter and for the Boy Scouts of America, as well as for Hay House events. She is a professional member at the International Center for Reiki Training and is a certified Reiki master. So welcome, Michael and Marcy.

Speaker #1
Thank you.

Speaker #0
Also, Michael and Marcy, I just want to pause and say they are the authors of the book, The Inside Guide, Breaking Through to Intuitive Wisdom and Inspired Living. Michael, I’ll just start with you. I know that you are a coach who helps people who are struggling to find purpose. And you describe that your ideal client is someone who is wanting a breakthrough or for finding the deeper meaning in their life, feeling like there’s something missing, just feeling stuck overall, questioning who am I. I totally get that. I can totally relate to that. And I’ve certainly felt like that many, many times in my life. And especially now that I am a woman navigating menopause and midlife, I feel like I’m in that, what they describe as the midlife crisis in a way. I definitely have a feeling of sometimes of like, is this it? This is it. Like, what else is happening for me? Or is this it? Like, have I just gotten everything I’ve, you know, that you can get in life? So let’s talk about just how you got into this work and why you feel so passionate about working with this type of client. And Marcy, feel free to also certainly chime in. with your perspective too?

Speaker #1
Sure. Those are great questions. So this work started for me in my early thirties. Sometimes our problems are our gifts actually. And I was not fitting into the corporate world very well and had to kind of do some soul searching about what I was really here to do. And I knew I had these. kind of draws to the esoteric to the to the hidden to the meditation and the kind of you know i use the word spiritual lightly, but that’s, you know, the kind of not mainstream aspects of life. So I really started dabbling in my 30s and got into body work and energy work and the martial arts and just different practices that really guided me into just starting a coaching practice, just around helping people break through, helping them feel more fulfilled. And so it just evolved over time. And, you know, I did a lot of corporate coaching in my 40s. And then, you know, I hit that mid-life point in my late 40s. And it really, I wanted to work on a different level with people. I was doing a lot of business outcomes and a lot of corporate coaching. And I really wanted to speak to the soul of people, get to this deeper, richer experience. You know, when you ask, is this it? That’s what really drove me too, is I think at a certain point in life, we max out on the exterior of all the things we can do and the gratifying behaviors. And the only place left to go is deeper within, right? That inner universe. And so that’s really where I’m taking people now is deeper into their own interior. And that’s the whole essence of the book, The Inside Guide. is really guiding people to all the richness and all the goodness that lies within them and beginning to feel deeply fulfilled on the inside. So you asked why I’m passionate about it and probably just mostly because of my own journey. And, you know, I had a lot of dysfunction from childhood and a lot of wounding from childhood. And I think anyone that gets into this type of work kind of has to be born into that. And that becomes… You know, the wounded healer is an archetype, and that becomes kind of the thing that drives us when we start the healing process. But then you realize that’s actually a gift. That wound we carry sometimes is the gift itself. And that drove me for a long time. But then once I began to break through my own challenges, it just became a desire to give back and a passion to help people. and just… really live my life purpose. And the mission I’m here to do is, is really help nudge humanity along a little bit in our evolutionary process. So that, that just drives me and it’s what I love doing. So

Speaker #0
I can, yeah, I can relate to that too, that, you know, having some childhood trauma, having some, whatever your experiences from childhood, right. Just start to shape. And then, and then when you get a little older, you start to question that and, and maybe things, how they were working or not working anymore, having some angst and you know that you need some kind of a change. And then again, you know, I don’t mean to break the like midlife, you know, woman thing, but you know, it’s, that’s, this is a huge time of transformation because I think this is the crossroads, you know, like where we’ve had our kids, we’ve maybe have gotten away with. I don’t know, going on certain diets and stuff like things are not working like, you know, like they, you know, sometimes like as they as they were. And so we really start to question. Then you can like, right. Take like two crossroads. You can really learn to explore yourself or you can try to ignore that and struggle with what’s what you have. And it just becomes, I think, more and more of a struggle. Is that do you see that?

Speaker #1
Yeah, you know, as men go through… that too, not as overtly, you know, but I really respect that journey that women are on through their life that has these biological markers to it, you know, and so it’s more pronounced, I think, for women and this transition to where you’re transitioning in your wisdom and showing up as a wise elder, right?

Speaker #0
And I did not mean to dismiss Matt. I’m not… I’m so focused on myself. Most of the clients that I see, actually, the clients I see are women in midlife going through this menopause transition. So that’s why I’m more focused. But yes, I agree that men are certainly going through this. It’s just not as transparent.

Speaker #1
Women. And women have, I think the men aren’t struggling so much with the hormonal aspects of it, the way women are and the hot flashes. and the the real change in your chemistry that you’re going through. So it is, it is much more significant for women that transition time, I think.

Speaker #0
Yeah, it definitely does give you like this, like tap on the shoulder to like, I don’t know why, like suddenly. hot flashes mean like we have to question our lives. But it, it, yeah, everything’s shifting and changing, but for men too, you know, and so we, and we do realize that life is, is not infinite and, you know, and what are we going to do with the rest of our lives?

Speaker #2
So Heather, that’s interesting where you’re coming from, because that’s actually what drove me to this work five years ago when Michael and I started working together. If you do kind of an assessment, I have, you know, the house, the job, the kids, like if you were to check off, you know, these measures of what, you know, a typical successful life is. I had so many check marks next to things that I’ve accomplished. And going back to body, I’ll just say that that was one thing that I never quite felt like I had conquered. And so that’s been a lifelong struggle. But I was at the same place where I didn’t necessarily have any large issue that I had to overcome or any trauma that I was dealing with. I just felt like something was missing. And I just felt like I wanted something more. And I had studied and had a whole bunch of things in my toolbox. And on paper, I looked successful. But inside, I just felt like, gosh, there has to be more to this. And so that’s when Michael and I started working together and I sat down and he asked, you know, what are we? What are your goals? And I said, I’m not quite exactly sure how to say this. I haven’t put my finger on it, but it feels like there’s something inside of me that still needs to be fixed. And immediately he said, and this is, I think at the first part of the book, that there’s nothing broken, that nothing needs to be fixed, that you are whole and complete. What maybe we can work on is like the, and that’s, you know, that Michael has this amazing tool set of, you know, NLP training and his own work and background and his body work. And so we started delving into the things that my brain does that trigger these stories and this perception. And that really continuing to look at outside things like I’ve, I said, gosh, if nothing’s broken, why have I spent like thousands of dollars on like conferences and mentors and leaders and teaching and training? He’s like, this is an inside job. This is all about what’s happening. within you. And that’s the whole, that’s what’s missing. And that was a life changer. Just resetting the fact that there is nothing about me that I need to keep searching for to fix was life changing. And so that’s when we started working together. And then I say now that I can’t even really remember or feel what it felt like to live in my head and my body five years ago, because these changes through the tools that… that he uses goes in and actually shifts things around so those old programs almost don’t run they’re almost like overwritten with new software and i’m a very like um operations driven person so i’m like i mentioned kind of a left brain thinker with the spiritual side but we actually were able to go in and reprogram things so that i’m able to cope and deal with things we have My identity as a mom, we have a student, I have a senior who’s moving into college, is, you know, a wife, a friend. All of those identities are shifting right now based on this age that I’m at. And through the tools with Michael’s work and the work that we’re presenting in the book, they’re actual very, they’re practical tools where you could go inside and start examining. So whether I wanted it or not, my body stuff changed. Like a lifelong struggle with body image started shifting because I started shifting the way that I treated myself and valued myself and saw the world. So I am right with you on kind of these struggles that we’re dealing with kind of at this life point. But some of this work I wish I would have had 20 or 30 years ago so I could shift my perception about myself back then.

Speaker #0
That that’s a good point that I know. I think that, too, that like, oh, I wish had I known in my 20s that maybe the you know, the time has to be right for you to be open to it. And I just want to preface to that, Marcy, you were a client of Michael’s. Right. And then went on to co-write the book that right that you both wrote. And we’ll we’ll get to that in a second. But I because I also want to just say that I think. the difference sometimes between men and women is that women have so many different roles. I mean, men, men do too, but you’re a mom, you’re a wife, you’re a sister, your daughter, you’re like, I mean, right. And then. We have to deal with the transition of our kids and we have to deal with the transition of our aging parents. And we have a lot to contend with. Not that men don’t. Again, I don’t want to not dismissing what happens in a man’s life. But I think that women in particular do juggle a lot of different roles, not to mention body image and the relentless pursuit of the perfect body. Right. And and healthy eating and how to eat well. And what am I? Am I the right diet and always trying different things? So I think that women have a lot to contend with. Let’s talk about the book that you then both co-wrote. How how did you go from client to co-author of your book?

Speaker #1
Let me jump in. I’ll start and then Marcy can maybe add her her perspective on it. So I was, I am actually. by nature, not a good writer. When I sit down to write, nothing comes through. So when I have someone to share with, when I have someone to talk to, I can speak pretty naturally and easily. So I knew I needed a dialogue partner. I knew I needed someone to talk to and help that content. And so I worked with someone and it didn’t work out. I tried hiring someone that didn’t work out. And then I just went into meditation and I meditated. And Marcy popped up in my meditation. And I’m like, oh, interesting. Okay, well, Marcy’s a client, probably not the best idea. And so I just parked it aside, waited a few days, meditate again, Marcy again popped up. And I’m like, oh, interesting, okay. And I’m like, all right, I get it, I get it. And so I picked up the phone right away after that. And I reached out to Marcy and I said, Marcy, I’ve been, and I told her the whole story and do you wanna write this book with me? And there was just a huge yes. I would love to. It was great. And ever since then, it’s been just a beautiful collaboration. We are very lucky to have found this working partnership that just is, in my opinion, pure gold. I’ve tried to partner with people before, and I’ve never had such a synergy with someone where we really jive together. We really just play off each other in a beautiful way.

Speaker #0
That’s great. I mean, especially when you find somebody you to collaborate with and it clicks.

Speaker #1
Yeah.

Speaker #0
And especially someone who knows your work.

Speaker #1
Yeah, that was it.

Speaker #0
You know, your work, it is. And it sounds like, Marcy, you are a success story.

Speaker #2
Yes. And I don’t think with, if I hadn’t done this work, I don’t think I would have received that call. I mean, that call was because I was in a place in my life where I was ready to do this. And going back to life purpose, I mean, this is really what I love. you know, inner transformation development, being a, playing a larger role in our community, in our world, how to help others find like that golden magic in themselves. It’s, it’s been a lifelong passion for me. And this was the channel and I feel so fortunate. And I disclosed, I said, gosh, I’ve never written a book. I don’t know about the publishing industry, but yes, I have no idea why, but yes. And it’s been amazing. And just this wonderful experience. And so, yeah, it was still that phone call was a marker in my life that I’ll never forget.

Speaker #0
Marci, you said before that when you first went to see Michael for coaching, that he said to you, you are not broken. You are whole and complete, you know, that you your brain might just trigger some stories. Right. And you need to just maybe rewrite these stories. I think, again, women. feel right. We’re like broken, you know, like something needs to be fixed. I’m not enough. I’m not doing enough. And that sounds like it’s a foundation, Michael, of your coaching. So why don’t we just talk about what, tell me about some of the tools that you use in your coaching or that you have in the book, you know, if people purchase your book, what can they expect to find?

Speaker #1
So a big part of that, what you just kind of laid out there leads us to the topic of identity, right? Who are we really? And our early experiences, we have a record in our neural pathways of everything we’ve ever experienced. And what happens is along the way through our development, we form different identities. And those identities sometimes are based on our experience rather than who we really are. And so what happens is once Once our brain wires in an experience into our identity, it gets routed into our neural centers and specifically through our limbic system, which is regulating our survival, our safety and survival. Once that happens, it’s very tricky to change something that’s limiting. So if we’ve come to believe a limiting thing, I’m not worthy, or I have to try harder, or something’s broken, and that’s wired through that place, our brain is actually going to work. to protect us. It’s actually going to try to maintain the false belief in an effort to keep us alive. And that might seem counterintuitive, but that’s how the wiring works in the brain. And so when we understand that mechanism, when I’m working with someone, we can go in and hold the safety button down so that it’s safe and kind of take that part into account. So that as we go and change and update the belief system and update the old experience, which has another set of tools on how to do that. And that’s kind of the magic of what I do with people one on one. But once we have those pieces in place, we can shift the programming at an unconscious level so that people just automatically know their goodness. that we update the programs so that They know like instead of I’m not worthy, oh, this is what it’s like to feel and experience my inherent value. Right. One of the one of the stories I use is especially for moms, that first time you held your child for the very first time. Did that child have to do anything at all to prove its worth and value? No, absolutely not. Right. It is just inherently valuable just the way it is. And each and every one of us as human beings was that child at one point. But we lost touch with our inherent value. We lost touch with that along the way sometimes in our upbringing and in the early experiences we go through. So I just try to read first, you know, that’s one thing in terms of our value is reconnecting people to that inherent value so that there is nothing you have to do. You don’t have to prove to anyone in the world how valuable you are and how worthy you are. And everyone has a right to be here just as they are.

Speaker #0
Well, that’s a good point about it. babies, right? Newborn babies, right? Don’t, or like just come into the world, like as a length slate, but then depending on who their parents are, right? And their upbringing. And, you know, then we get fed messages, especially, you know, I’m just thinking about the messages around food and eating and body image and not being enough. I mean, I certainly was fed those kind of messages too, that like you go on diets when you’re a young teenager or you go, you know, like And then you mentioned something about just keeping, you know, your brain keeping you safe, right? And like those, you develop those kind of coping mechanisms. So it’s work, right, to untangle some of these messages and everything.

Speaker #1
You know, I think the food and the eating aspects are particularly interesting because we need to eat to survive, you know. And so it’s always tangled up in that. And yet it gets so complex and especially the… the messages from media about how women are supposed to look specifically, it’s so damaging, you know, and it just runs roughshod over our natural inherent beauty and just being as we are, you know, and letting our beauty come out in a natural way. Again, there’s nothing anyone should have to do to prove that or try to improve themselves, you know, to get to that. place. And I think once, and especially for women, once you can begin to tap into your inherent beauty, that center of you where you’re beautiful just as you are, there’s nothing you have to do. And then our behaviors around food and eating can kind of align with that. It becomes easier to make the right choices.

Speaker #0
Yeah, that is a lifelong. challenge. Because we are just contending with so much on social media, so many mixed messages about how we should look, what we should eat, what we shouldn’t eat. And yeah, you’re right. We have to eat every day. Food is something we have to do every single day. It’s complicated when it comes to food and diets and body image and body weight and how much we should weigh. and body acceptance. And this is, yeah, lifelong work, I think, daily work. So when you work with your clients, tell me about the process.

Speaker #1
Well, it’s experiential, right? So we’re looking at how your brain… creates your experience and your perceptions of reality, right? And so, nothing is bad or wrong, but if there’s an experience or a perception is limiting, that’s a person’s reality. We say, okay, let’s honor that, but it may not be useful, right? It may not be the best thing for the outcome they want to experience, right? So, we’re really looking at how to shift it in the neural pathways. and how the brain is functioning to give rise to a particular experience. So every one of our memories is in there in our brain, right? And a lot of these experiences are filtered through our memory banks. So the memories can operate, you know, as a filter. So let’s say the filter is blue. My entire reality, when I filter it through a blue memory, is going to look blue on the outside, right? And so. we can adjust those filters. So I always say, like, imagine, you know, the filter was blue, and you took it out and replaced it with a clear filter. How would the vision look at that point? You know, you’re really removing the coloring from our memory and from this filtering process that happens naturally in the brain. So that’s just one more tool in the toolbox. I think when it comes to the specifics, of body image and food and eating, it’s so important that we get back to our value and get back to like a sense of being okay as we are. We can have a goal, let’s say, you know, like I want to lose a few pounds. Okay. You know, I got a few extra pounds too. I’m kind of working on that myself, but that doesn’t mean I’m… flawed. You know, I’m still okay the way I am. And I think everyone needs to realize that even if we’re in route on a process, the starting point is your goodness and wholeness and beauty as you are now.

Speaker #0
I can totally relate to that. I mean, I know that just with my clients, your process is what I would call like just practicing kindness and compassion with yourself because we’re, you know, got a lot of other. judgment going on all around us. So, but it takes, that takes work. I mean, that takes dedication. Well, this is the beauty is it’s,

Speaker #1
it can go faster than people realize. And that’s what we, what I do in a session. So I do a two hour intensive with people and we actually give them an experience real time of what’s that like. So when we can work in the neural pathways, they can start to feel that directly. So a lot of times clients will say, oh my gosh, I feel lighter. My energy, this burden I’ve been carrying feels gone because we’ve resolved something. I use the metaphor of if you’re going on a hike and you’ve got a backpack and you’re wondering why the hike is so difficult and you stop and take off your backpack and look and you’ve been carrying bricks this whole time in your backpack and you wonder why the journey is so difficult. And suddenly we take the bricks out, you put your pack back on and continue. And the journey is a lot easier. It’s a lot lighter, you know. And so sometimes we’re carrying these things from our past that we just don’t need. They’re just not necessary. And a lot of times it goes back to our upbringing, the family of origin, things we learned at a very early age that are still coming into play even in our adulthood.

Speaker #0
Yeah, that’s like you. We might have stories like we should be carrying those rocks, carrying the burdens of our family, and you could let them go. You do have the option to take the bricks out of your bag and lighten your load.And part of that direct experience is going back to listening to your body and trusting your body. Because, you know, as Michael talked about, some of the work in his one-on-one sessions is about getting into the unconscious, which is hard to do if you’re conscious. It’s hard to do with your thinking mind. Impossible. So one of the best tools, I think, in the book is organized into three separate parts. So the first part is mind. related. Second is body. So in writing the body section, there was no way I was going to escape that section without some shifts in my own life. And the last section is more spiritually oriented. And Michael could talk more about that. But the body section for and I don’t know if your listeners if you could relate for most of my life, I live from the neck up. I am a mind processor, a thinker, a planner. love things organized. It’s part of who I am. And because my body wasn’t necessarily in line with what I thought a healthy, perfect body looked like, I basically disconnected from that. So I lived most of my 20s, 30s, and 40s from the neck up. And so through this work, I’ve been able to reconnect to what my body really wants in terms of food, in terms of how I’m feeling about making decisions about things. So when, like we talked about when Michael called me, do you want to work on this book? My body immediately said yes. Sometimes my brain will say yes, but my body, if I take a moment, will say no. And so listening and tying in. So this isn’t just an exercise of the mind. It really is listening and becoming more in touch and in tune with your body. And for those of us that necessarily haven’t tracked. our body as being safe and capable and responsive to our brain, that is a big shift. And as we’ve talked about, this takes work and it takes courage, but it’s not difficult. And the payoff is amazing. Like it’s, for me, it’s been life-changing, but going back from now reconnecting my brain and my body, and then actually leveraging my body and relying on my body for answers and to trust what it needs. It’s naturally shifted into healthier eating and it’s naturally shifted into movement and exercise in a way that works for it. And we talk about, gosh, and menopause and midlife, your chances of losing weight and changing your body and being fit and trim shift from possibly your 20s. And some of those are facts of aging. But if you haven’t tried listening to your body and having your body direct what’s healthy for your own composition. I really feel like the possibilities are limitless from this point through my life, through the rest of my life. And I’m dealing with those menopause symptoms. But in fact, they’re actually like a little bit. Now, I told Michael, I said, you probably don’t relate, but I got a hot flash. And I said, I actually got it when unconsciously something was going on that needed my attention. So it’s almost like a marker for me. And it’s fascinating because I thought I was just, I’ll just be a victim of these. hormonal changes, but actually there’s something going on on my cellular level that actually needed some attention and something was actually bothering me more than I thought it was. So I thought, gosh, I’m going to welcome some of these symptoms because they’re actually like telling me something that maybe my brain wasn’t ready to pick up on. So it’s, it’s been really interesting. This body work is, has really opened up a new part of my self-identity in a lovely way.

Speaker #1
I think that’s such a great point, Marcy, that you said you’re living from the neck up, just totally in your head, because I think so many people do that, and they don’t pay attention to what’s going on in their body. So this sounds like a real plan, an action plan, rather than just talk therapy. You go to therapists for dozens of years. you know, your mind getting really tuning into your body. And then, you know, the spirituality component too sounds very actionable and life-changing according to you, right? I mean, it’s been really significant. So in the book, do you go through these processes? Can someone benefit from just reading your book? Does it benefit more to see you one-on-one, Michael? How does that work? What’s the difference? And how did you get inspired to write the book then? You know, was it just a way to get it out to more people in the world?

Speaker #2
Yes, definitely that. So we give as much as possible in the book. been accused of trying to give too much, you know. But we really give all the techniques. I really try to share my entire tool set. There’s definitely, you’re going to go on a journey just from reading the book because it’s a guide in itself and it’s a self-directed guide. So it really is inviting people to be their own authority. And we’re just kind of pointing at different experiences that people can have inside and how they’re putting all that together. In terms of working with me in the relation to the book, if they did a private session, it’s going to take it to the next level. So, they can work with the book to a certain extent. But again, as we talk about unconscious, it’s very hard for us to see what we’re not aware of. And so generally, As a guide, I can catch wind of that and help direct people to the unconscious content, right? To what’s going on below the threshold that we’re not aware of. It’s not what you’re already aware of that’s holding you back. It’s the parts that you’re not aware of. And again, we’re looking at not just therapy, as you said, but how to have the direct experience. I get a lot of clients post-therapy and they’re very intelligent people. They’re like, I get it. I know why I am the way I am. And dang, the thing is still happening, right? So I’m ready just to have it shift. I’m ready to have a different experience right now. I want to be done with this processing. And so that’s really my intent in working with people is how do we just get them? you know, in a lot of ways, I’m putting myself out of business when I work with people each and every time, because I want to get them off and self-sufficient and empowered and on their own and being their own guide and being their own authority where you don’t need to check in with other people. You know, your inner truth, you know, what your, what your guidance system is telling you. And so. That’s where we’re taking it to a whole other level in the private sessions and in our retreats and in our workshops and what we’re doing with people live and online. So the book is a primer, if you will. It’s an entry level way to get exposed to the work. And again, I give everything in the book, but how deeply people can apply it is it just depends. So one person might read the book. And it’s just going to be enough for them. And someone else might want to take it further.

Speaker #1
Well, that sounds like a great intro, at least to Michael, what you or how you coach and that people want more from you and to help keep them accountable. Right. And it’s a little more powerful when they’re working one on one with you. Right. But the book sounds like a great start. And I love the fact that. You both wrote the book together. And Marcy, you are a real life client of Michael’s. And I think people are going to get a lot of value out of that because it’s one thing to just talk about the book, but you’re like the living proof of what happens, you know, when you work with Michael. So that’s fantastic. And thanks for coming on and sharing your story too. Is there any other takeaways you want to share from the book? Anything important that you think you should leave the listeners with? And then also, how can people find you? And I’m going to link all of that in the show notes too. But if you can tell me that.

Speaker #2
I’ll just talk a little bit and then I’ll hand it over to Marcy again. This book is really unique. It’s got an energy to it. And it’s got a lot of density to it in terms of… It’s just not your average book in terms of the five steps to getting… No, it’s dense. And so use it on your own terms. It’s really, again, I say it’s not so much the book, but how the book lands for each reader. And what is it really empowering in you? What is it? So the focus is on our readers. We really wrote it with the intent. It’s not about us. It’s not about the book. It’s about your audience, your reader, how is it landing for you and what is it doing for you? And where do you need to go? What’s your edge? What’s the next chapter for you? What is it like when you’re living the life of your dreams? And so we really take all that in the end towards purpose and tie it to living your purpose, not just. as this peak experience, but as an everyday reality, right? And so, we talk in the book, we go through a metaphor of the mountaintop and the return to the village. So, the mountaintop is your enlightenment. You have these peak moments where it’s like the clouds part and everything’s clear and you have that moment of clarity, but then you come back to your everyday reality and what happened to that experience, right? So, we’re really giving people a roadmap throughout the book to integrate. your peak experiences into your everyday reality. It’s more about the return to the village, right? And how are you bringing that back into your everyday life so that you can live your enlightenment, right? That’s a key component that we’re addressing in the book, and we offer a lot of tools on that respect in the third section of the book. So, I think that makes it very unique in terms of different books out there. And then in terms of getting in touch with us, I’m going to hand it over to Marcy. And she’s got a little to share with that.

Speaker #0
Yeah, thanks. And really, this just as a last thought is this book is about love. I mean, that’s what our goal is, is that everyone and all of our all the readers and people that are that are part of this community. The intention is that everyone find the uniqueness in themselves. And that’s why. This isn’t a book about you have to follow this particular path to get to this particular place. It’s about finding what’s true to you and loving and accepting who you are and who your place in this world with the our intention, which is the last part is so you can go out in the world and live your purpose because we need that in our communities. We need to be those examples in our families. you know, with all of the people in our world that we support, we need to each live our unique life’s purpose and finding that out and loving the process. I mean, that’s the beautiful thing of this is, is, is there were some tears and some difficult things in my journey, but it’s almost like unwrapping this mystical, magical gift is, is like gently loving yourself through this process. And being able to put the critic aside and separate that from your true uniqueness. And because the world needs that, we need people to live in that state so we can heal some of the things that are troubling our world these days. So this really is a book about love. And to connect with us on that subject, though, our website is www.loveguidesus. So L-O-V-E. H-U-I-D-E-S dot U-S because Love Really is the guide. And through that, there’s a link to purchase the book or to schedule a complimentary introduction to work one-on-one with Michael and learn more about his work. And it doesn’t have to be a 10-year difficult shift of studying. This really starts immediately with the fact that we’re all whole. And he helped. me turn off some of the noise that pulled me away from that, that knowing that I had when I was in my mother’s arms, I’m sure as a baby, so 50 some odd years ago.

Speaker #1
Right. Right.

Speaker #2
Just a note for those of you who love retreats and workshops too, we do have a live retreat weekend in South Lake Tahoe. If you’re, you’re on the West coast, or even if you feel like booking a flight and coming on out. And that’s going to be September 15th to the 17th, again, in South Lake Tahoe. And so that’s a way to really immerse yourself in the work with a fantastic group of people that are all oriented the same way. So we have the workshop. Post-workshop, we’re going to be having probably monthly online meetings to support continuing. And then again, just reach out if you’re at all curious. I’m very low pressure in terms of working with me. I want to make sure that it’s a right fit and that we really connect. And so that’s why I offer the free session, just to get to know each other. And we talk and I give you all the logistics of everything you need to know in that free session.

Speaker #1
Okay, fantastic. And that information is, I’m assuming, in your website.

Speaker #2
And I will link all of that in the show notes.

Speaker #1
Thank you so much, Marcy and Michael, for coming on today. I really appreciate it. I got a lot out of this and I, and just great reminders to love yourself and accept yourself. And it takes work, takes a lot of work.

Speaker #2
Thank you. What an honor to be here. I really enjoyed this conversation specifically. I think there was just. some real beautiful points we touched on today.

Speaker #0
So thank you. Great. Thank you too.

Speaker #1
And as always, if you loved this podcast, please consider gifting me with a five-star review. It is so helpful for me to get the word out on real eating, our real bodies, and real food stories. Thank you so much and have a great week. Bye for now.