From the Heart with Rachel Brathen

Latest Episodes:

Sitting in Silence: How To Deepen Your Spiritual Practice Sep 17, 2021

Show notes

The world feels so isolating sometimes. We can turn on the news to see one terrible thing happening after another. We open our social media to find cruelty and separation. It’s so easy to lose faith in the midst of it all - our fragile hearts aren’t supposed to take it. So, how do we make it through? How can we continue to show up for others without depleting ourselves in the process?

We turn inward. We meet each other in the silence. What connects us to the whole must be what connects us to each other. Our sacred practices, which often feel selfish and a means of escape, might just be the remedy to a world craving a deeper meaning to it all.

In today’s episode, Rachel is feeling the watery energy of the full moon in Pisces approaching us. It’s the perfect time to contemplate the bigger picture. Tune in to sense your connection to others, to contemplate your place in the universe, and to cherish the part of you that is constantly seeking it out.

Mothering Ourselves - A Fever, A Tea Ceremony, and God Sep 10, 2021

Show notes

Sometimes the biggest realizations come to us at the most challenging times. Today’s episode of the Yoga Girl Podcast is no different. Returning to life after a sickness and fever brought her to a different portal, Rachel has a lot to share. From lucid dreams, to big transitions, and all her tests coming back negative - was this past week an ascension? A shedding of layers? A rebirth? A coming home?

Sitting down for tea, it all came together. In this episode, you will get a glimpse into an aspect of Rachel’s life she has never shared before: her tea ceremony. This ritual tied together with a newfound vulnerability brought her to her knees and made everything come full circle. Sometimes we have to completely fall apart to put ourselves back together. Sometimes we have to learn to mother ourselves when our inner child is scared and fragile. And sometimes, we have to go to the depths of the portal, to the brink of our edges, to find God.

Riding An Emotional Rollercoaster - The Journey Back To Aruba Sep 03, 2021

Show notes

Rachel has had a rollercoaster of a week! After traveling back to Aruba, leaving Ringo behind in Sweden, learning he ran away and more, she has been to the depths of despair and back more times than she can count. If you’re also feeling scattered, ungrounded, and unable to grasp all the emotions coming at you, this episode begins with a meditation that will bring you from chaos to calm. The journey to get there is through dropping the resistance and finding self-acceptance.

After our minds are a little quieter, it’s story time! Rachel recounts everything that happened over the past week in chronological detail. What happened at the airport? Why did Ringo run away? She even discusses her chat with an animal psychic! Tune in to learn Ringo’s true feelings about staying in Sweden for a few months before he is reunited with his family. Today’s episode really has it all!

How To Set and Maintain Boundaries with Nedra Glover Tawwab Aug 27, 2021

Show notes

Are you in a relationship that often feels frustrating but you aren’t sure how to exercise your power? Is someone you’re close with pressuring you to act in a way that goes against your intuition? Are you experiencing any guilt for not conforming to behavior deemed acceptable by society? These are all signs that you need to set and uphold a boundary in your life. Today’s episode can help!

Joining the Yoga Girl Podcast is Nedra Glover Tawwab. A licensed therapist, New York Times Bestseller and highly sought-after relationship expert, Nedra is here to teach us how to set boundaries, to be assertive, and to come back to ourselves again and again.

When it comes to setting boundaries, the majority of the work begins with ourselves. Learn how to communicate your needs, what to do if they are not honored, and ultimately how to sit with discomfort in today’s important discussion. Tune in to begin!

To connect with Nedra further, you can follow her on Instagram at @nedratawwab or get a copy of her book, Set Boundaries, Find Peace, here (https://www.nedratawwab.com/set-boundaries-find-peace).

Finding Home: With Every Ending Comes A New Beginning Aug 20, 2021

Show notes

Today’s episode begins with some grounding breaths to arrive fully into this moment. When life throws something our way, no matter if it’s exciting or heart wrenching, our emotions can become scattered and our breath gets strained. This short meditation will hone everything into the here and now. And we are going to need it because…

Rachel and her family found a house in Sweden! After months of moving through limbo it is finally happening. In today’s episode, she shares the entire journey that brought her here, from the things that felt wrong to what ultimately felt so divinely right.

Tune in to be reminded that the universe is taking you where you need to go, although it usually has a surprisingly way of getting you there!

Everybody Poops. Let’s Talk About It! Aug 13, 2021

Show notes

We all poop! Why don’t we ever talk about it? Trigger warning: this episode gets really up close and personal on all things number two!

After having her first colon hydrotherapy session, Rachel became more intimate with her poop than ever before - and she shares all the deets! What was the experience like? How did it feel? And what really came out of her? From someone who grew up feeling so embarrassed by poop, this experience taught Rachel so much about her own body, her relationship with food, and what specifically disagrees with her system. But on a deeper level, Rachel unravels the shame behind pooping - especially as women who are taught we cannot have big bodily functions. We’ve all been there, but poop shouldn’t be a shameful topic!

This episode will inspire you to release many things, including the shame surrounding a completely normal and natural human experience. Tune in for a safe space to let go… literally!

How To Deal With Toxic Mold: Environmental Toxins, Detox Protocols and Tips for Keeping Your Home Healthy Aug 06, 2021

Show notes

Today’s episode shares the objective story on how Rachel and her family dealt with finding toxic mold in their house, from A to Z.

Environmental health is incredibly important, but often overlooked. The truth is you are exposed to toxins on a continuous basis, but your body has pathways to remove them from your system. What happens when you live in an environment that completely overwhelms your natural ability to detox? It’s simple. You get sick.

In this episode, Rachel covers the entire mold timeline, from how her family discovered the problem, to the symptoms experienced, the tests they used to assess the damage, the detox protocols they followed, how they remediated their house, and what happened with their belongings. Tune in to learn the common places in your home that mold loves to hide, why your steamy showers may be harming you in the long run, and other tips and tricks to keep your home healthy. You shouldn’t always have to focus on healing - sometimes you should just thrive! Today’s episode will help you get there.

Mold Resources:

The Colorado based company that helped Rachel’s family: Gary Gilman from SteamMaster https://steammaster.com/

Mold Remediators and Consultants: @moldfinders, @themoldguy, @pjharlowwellness

Functional Doctors: @drjillcarnahan, @dr.jess.md

The Great Plains Laboratory: https://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/

Envirobiomics: https://www.envirobiomics.com/

How To Love Yourself (hint: you already do) Jul 30, 2021

Show notes

There is a place life takes us sometimes. It’s dark, it’s lonely and it feels like we’re trapped at the bottom of a hole. It can be hard to get out, unless we remember one thing: the only way out is through.

This week, Rachel has managed to see the light again after two weeks of ever present anxiety. Through what felt like utter failure, she realized something important. No matter how often she loses herself, and no matter how hard it is to get back, she never stops trying. Instead of giving up and drowning herself in ice cream and wine, she hugs her husband, cuddles her daughter, practices yoga, drinks tea, and walks outside in the sunshine.

Maybe this is the mark of real self-love. It’s not always butterflies and rainbows. It’s not quick fixes. It’s the fact that we stick with ourselves through the hard times. We don’t give up on ourselves. Today’s episode will give you a new way to measure your self-love, not in your supposed successes or failures, but in how often you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again.

A Sharing From The Heart: Anxiety, Spiraling, and What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Do Jul 23, 2021

Show notes

Today’s episode comes with no epiphanies. It’s just an honest, open sharing on anxiety when there is nothing else you can do. If you’ve ever had a tiny moment trigger a sea of anxiety, then you’ll know exactly what that feels like.

This week, Rachel and her family are visiting friends on a beautiful island off the southern coast of Sweden. The sun is shining, summer is in full swing, and Rachel is surrounded by loved ones, good food, and beautiful scenery. But her anxiety has not let her enjoy any of it. After finding three ticks on her daughter, Rachel went into a full downward spiral worrying about her daughters health. Nothing has helped her break the surface as of yet.

What can we do when there is nothing to do? Sometimes the answer is to be in the body, so the mind can follow. Sometimes the answer is to share. And sometimes the answer is a really long, understanding hug. Tune in today for a combination of all three.

You Are Inherently Good - How To Manage Anxiety by Taking Care of Your Inner Child Jul 16, 2021

Show notes

When you look back on your life, make sure you can say that you were there for it. You were present. You didn’t just move through the motions of life, doing what you were told and checking out when things got hard or boring. You felt it all. You experienced it all, from the mundane to the breathtaking.

This podcast episode begins with a short exercise to support the feelings in your heart right now, then Rachel dives into today’s topic - our presence. Over the course of our lives, our presence is shaped by so many things. Being told we are ‘bad’ as children and internalizing those emotions. Checking out as we complete our normal mundane tasks for the day. Or, finding ourselves overwhelmed by trying to keep it all together. For Rachel, this came to a cumulation this week after she checked out and was only brought back to earth by a crippling panic attack.

The solution? Embrace your humanity! Love yourself - and that begins with understanding yourself. Learn the intricacies of your emotions, what triggers you, and when you check out so you can catch it before you’re too far gone. Today’s episode will give you new tools to manage anxiety and help you get to know yourself a little better. Tune in to get started.