From the Heart with Rachel Brathen

Latest Episodes:

You Are Nature: How Tending to the Land is Tending to Your Heart Jul 09, 2021

Show notes

We come from the earth, we’ll return to the earth. In between, we garden. We nourish our bodies, we feed our minds. We tend to our hearts as though they are budding seeds.

In today’s episode, Rachel shares the journey of self-care she has been on over the past year. After feeling a huge disconnect in Aruba (cue toxic mold, land built to support tourists, and environments not conducive to her human design), everything has come to a head in a surprising way now that she is in Sweden. Alone in nature, running through the woods collecting flowers, she has found herself.

The environments you immerse yourself in play a huge role in your healing practices, but that doesn’t just mean your immediate surroundings. The relationships you are in, the home you live in, even your country and the practices it adopts can affect you on a deep, cellular level. That’s because we are nature. Flowers cannot grow in concrete, and you cannot grow where you are not rooted.

Tune in today for an episode that will remind you that no matter what season you are moving through in your life, there is always one constant. Mother Earth is here to hold you. Returning to her is returning to yourself - it’s the real coming home.

You’ve Got The Power! How To Actively Participate in the Creation of Your Life Jul 02, 2021

Show notes

Are you actively participating in the creation of your life, or are you a bystander, feeling out of control and like you have no say in what life brings your way?

Today, Rachel has some big decisions to make. It’s reminding her of a time of crisis years ago when she turned to Sweden to clear her head and find the answer that changed the course of her life forever. Now in a similar situation, she is once again being asked to choose - to actively decide the life she wants to create - but choosing for yourself when you’re used to putting the needs of others ahead of your own is a scary thing to do.

No sign from the universe is still a sign. It’s a sign that it’s time to get empowered and make decisions for yourself. The answers aren’t always easy, but if you choose love over fear and yourself above everything else, the path forward becomes a little bit more clear - and a whole lot more aligned.

Does Life Always Bring You Where You’re Meant to Be? Jun 25, 2021

Show notes

Sometimes life doesn’t work out the way we expect. We can sit in nature, ask for guidance, notice the signs and follow our intuition, but it still doesn’t lead us to the answers. This week’s episode begins with a beautiful guided meditation to anchor you into the spiritual practice of sitting with the unknown, and holding space for everything that you are. If you feel anxious, worried or angry, this meditation will help you hold space for the discomfort. Sometimes, that’s just what life brings.

Rachel continues on to share and process her last days in the Swedish cabin, and dwell on the feeling of not knowing what is coming next. After all the places life has taken her in the past year, she is not sure if she can fully trust that life is taking her where she is meant to be anymore. But maybe being lost deep in the woods of unknowing is part of the process, too. No matter where we are, even if it’s not meant to be ours, can lead to learning, growing and healing. Not everything is black and white - there is gratitude in uncertainty, trust in the disbelief, and even dreams found in heartache. Tune in to be reminded that it’s okay to not know where you’re going. It’s the journey that counts, anyways.

Making Life Decisions with Dennis Schoneveld Jun 18, 2021

Show notes

On this week’s episode, Rachel has everyone’s favorite guest on the show, Dennis Schoneveld! After being separated for almost 2 months, the little family is finally reunited and exploring their options in Sweden.

They discuss everything that brought them to this exact moment, from moving out of their home, remediating their house from toxic mold, and Dennis finally making it to the tiny cabin in the woods of Sweden where he is settling in nicely (except for the water temperature and low ceilings!). Now the question is, where do they go from here?

Today, Rachel and Dennis discuss their feelings, their dreams, and whether or not they will move to Sweden. Things may be up in the air, but they are always okay when your loved ones are by your side. Tune in for a wonderfully funny and endearing episode with the sweetest couple, and even a special guest appearance at the end from Lea Luna herself!

Don’t Rush: Everything Works Out the Way It’s Supposed To Jun 11, 2021

Show notes

Some things just feel like home; a small cabin in the woods, jumping into a cold Swedish lake, or a long hug from your person after being apart for months. Today’s episode begins with a guided meditation to allow you to check in and find home inside of yourself.

Rachel then shares the heartfelt reunion with Dennis since his arrival in Sweden (and how Luna handled it!). With the little family back together, Dennis gets a sense of the dream Rachel has been bringing to life over the past weeks, and Rachel is easing into this new family dynamic with a deep sense of peace and a newfound trust in life.

Tune in today as Rachel realizes - the universe has your back. Maybe you don’t have to be rushing to get things done all the time. Good things take time, and what is meant for you will not pass you by. Sometimes we just have to sit back, enjoy the journey and hug our people along the way.

There is No Such Thing as a Dream Too Big Jun 04, 2021

Show notes

Have you ever downplayed a dream? Did you tell your friends, your family - and even yourself - that that thing you long for really doesn’t matter all that much? Here’s the thing: your dreams DO matter. How are they ever going to come true if you pretend they are not important?

In today’s episode, Rachel shares her own intimate dream. It is one that may not be possible for so many reasons, but by speaking her dream out loud, she just may be bringing herself one step closer to manifesting it.

Let today’s vulnerable sharing be a reminder that you can dream, too. You can get your hopes up. You can believe in the possibility of beautiful outcomes. You are a constituent of this universe, so you get a say in what happens! Tune in to dream big and shout from the rooftops exactly what it is you want - the universe will be listening.

A Radical Act Of Self-Love: Setting Boundaries with our Loved Ones May 28, 2021

Show notes

Our identities are complex. We are made up of dreams, beliefs, likes, dislikes and unique personalities - but everything about us is interwoven with the identities of the people we love the most. So, how can we know where others end and we begin? When do we choose ourselves, and when do we recognize and make sacrifices for a loved one whose needs may be greater than our own?

In this week’s episode, Rachel opens up about her difficult past family dynamics and how they are showing up in her life today in this move to Sweden. Finding herself in a very similar situation she faced as a child, she reflects on bravely balancing her own needs as a human being, as a daughter, and now as a parent, too.

Remember, it is a radical act of self-love to set and uphold boundaries, but that doesn’t mean that its easy or that the decision is always black or white. Tune in as Rachel tackles the challenging topics of setting boundaries, making difficult decisions, and daring to take up a little bit more space.

In Tune With Your Intuition - How to Trust What Your Body Is Telling You May 21, 2021

Show notes

What’s standing in the way between you being 100% in tune with your body? A strong intuition is found within each and every one of us. We know ourselves on a deep and intimate level. When it comes to our health, we can say what makes us feel good and what doesn’t. So, why do we make decisions that so often ignore our gut feelings and lead us away from ourselves?

Would you believe that there is a possibility that the answer to that question has nothing to do with your personality? That maybe, it’s not because you have weak willpower or a lack of discipline but actually our choices are deeply influenced by many contributing factors, and a lot of them are found in environments we have no control over.

In today’s episode, Rachel shares her journey back to herself after mold illness, and the experience of actually feeling deeply in tune with her body after years of separation, sugar addiction and disconnect.

Hopefully, this is an episode that will help you lead yourself back to you, too.

What If It's Not Just You? Ancestral Trauma and Honoring Where You Came From May 14, 2021

Show notes

Where you come from is rooted deep within you, for better or for worse. No matter where you go or how far you run, home will always call you back. For those of us that left on purpose, this can be really hard to face. But, returning to basics and reconnecting with your roots can lead to some surprising discoveries.

In this week’s episode, Rachel has been looking into her ancestry and made a surprising connection. The forest she walks, the water she swims in, and the land where she has found peace, is the same land her ancestors lived on hundreds of years ago. Our ancestral roots run deep - deeper than our parents and grandparents. What does this mean for Rachel, who has been trying to heal familial hardships her entire life?

Our ancestry is found in our triggers, in our awareness, and in our reactions. It’s the plants we recognize from our childhood and the soup our grandmothers used to make. It’s who we are at our core, memories all interwoven on a land that both holds us and brings us to our knees. But, can we say we’ve healed if we never return? Today’s episode will help you honor the land you come from and connect to a long line of ancestors that came before and are still looking to heal through you.

Finding Your Way Home - A Sharing From The Forest May 07, 2021

Show notes

All of us at our core are longing for home. We long for that place where we can let go, be ourselves, and find peace. But, how many of us truly find home, and how many of us spend our entire lives in search of it?

In this week’s episode, Rachel is recording from the middle of the forest in her homeland of Sweden. After quite the journey to get there from Aruba (especially traveling with Ringo for the first time since The Flight From Hell!), Rachel has found herself feeling at home in this country for the first time of her life. She has spent hours in the forest, hugging trees, laying on the mossy ground, and listening to the secrets that nature has shared with her.

Today, she shares those secrets. It’s what you learn when you listen to the wind, when you find the beauty in the simple mundane things, and how your heart beats when you’re alone in the forest with nothing but trees and peace encompassing you. Maybe home is found within nature, because we are nature, too.