Empowered Within with Jennifer Pilates

Spiritual Growth and Transformation With Shannon Kaiser

April 20, 2022 Shannon Kaiser Season 5 Episode 57
Empowered Within with Jennifer Pilates
Spiritual Growth and Transformation With Shannon Kaiser
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Show Notes Transcript

I’m so excited to share with you someone I’m learning and growing with right now, Shannon Kaiser, mentor, friend and soul sister.

Shannon is the bestselling author of five books on the psychology of happiness and fulfillment, including the #1 bestsellers, The Self-Love Experiment, Adventures for Your Soul, and Joy Seeker. As an international life coach, speaker and retreat leader, Shannon helps people trust and believe in themselves so they can live their highest potential. Shannon has been named a top 100 Women to Watch in wellness by mindbodygreen and "your-go-to happiness booster" by Health magazine and her award winning website  PlayWiththeWorld.com

In my her new book, Return to You, Shannon share her 11 spiritual lessons for finding unshakable inner peace―a complete guide to her most effective strategies for tapping your innate wisdom and stepping into your true power.

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Welcome to empowered within a soul glinting transformational podcasts that will set your soul on fire through candid and inspiring conversations. Leading experts, celebrities, healers, and I share our journeys of how we've overcome challenges to living an empowered life from within I'm your host, Jennifer Pilates. Welcome to another episode of empowered within. Hi there. I am so excited to introduce to you today. My beautiful friend and soul sister, Shannon Kaiser. She is the bestselling author of five books and international life coach speaker and retreat leader. Shannon. People trust and believe in themselves so that they can live their highest potential. Shannon has been named a top woman to watch and wellness by mind, body green and your go-to happiness booster by health magazine in her new book returned to you. Shannon shares her 11 spiritual lessons to finding unshakable inner peace, a complete guide to her most effective strategies for tapping into your innate wisdom and stepping into your true power. Welcome Shannon. Hello. Hello. I'm so happy to be here with you. I'm so happy. And for those, so she's saying it again. So for those of you who don't know, Shannon was one of our first guests in our podcast last year. She is on episode two. So you can, after this one, go back and listen to that one and get even more good goodies from her. So, first and foremost, congratulations on the best-selling of the new book, because this is so amazing. It is amazing. It came out recently and it's taken on a life of its own. And, you know, even when I wrote it, it had a life of its own. It's very different in a beautiful way. Uh, the process it took me through and now it's all about inner peace. And I think now more than ever, that's what we're all meeting wanting, but it's returned to you. So it really is about coming back to your true self freedom from fear and worry, all the stuff that's happening outside. Let's get rid of that and come back to us. Exactly. So share with me Shannon, how did your new baby returned to you? How did she say. Yeah, I call her my baby too. Cause, uh, it's a very special project, but it actually started, I call them pivotal moments. You know, we have these moments where our life is really radically changed. And if we're aware and kind of, it's a spiritual journey for many of us, a spiritual awakening, but for me it was this pivotal moment. I was traveling for my last book, joy seeker, which is all about seeking joy, being happy, being out in the world. But I would, I was on book tour and I'd come home from these events. And although I was really practicing, you know what I mean? Teaching. I did feel joy. I started to have these panic attacks. I was overwhelmed with fear. I started to break out in cold sweats and my inner voice, the ego, not even my inner voice, the ego was saying, who do you think you are to be enjoy? The world is in such a desperate place. You can't be happy. There's so much pain out there. It was so nasty. Now I had a history of suffering from depression and anxiety several years prior, but I had healed myself through my spiritual journey and. In stepping into my purpose during the work I do. So interestingly enough, this anxiety stayed with me for quite a while, and I recognized that it was a training ground, if you will, because I recognized we live in a school called planet earth, which is less than one in the book. And I was taking myself through really a step-by-step process to discover what is in our piece truly. And I discovered it through the contrast. I couldn't, you know, in Eastern philosophy, they talk, you can't know something if you don't know the opposite. So for me, my anxious. And panic attacks led me to really understand what true pieces that is beautiful. Oh, thank you. And I, you know, we had quite a little party here for a few minutes pre-show and you know, I'm jumping up and down in my seat and I'm saying, you know, I've read the book twice. I've gone through four highlighters. My world shifted. After the first chapter dramatic, I would even say within the first chapter. And so the part that I want to talk about is in your book, you actually give permission, you give permission to. Not needing to be consumed by the world and the events and the media and everything that is around us that is making us feel out of control. And we don't even realize it. And there's a moment in this chapter where you talk about you've gone out, you're going to, I think it was dinner with your friends and you're sharing with them like holy batshit, crazy. The world is melting. I'm researching, I'm looking all this stuff because I want to know what's coming so I can be in control. I E I'm prepping and I was. Um, shall I raise my hand and admit to being here too, because I'm thinking, being prepared as being in control, and this is a good thing. Right? And you, you came up and said, girl, no. So will you share why we think searching out all this information and needing to know what's happening and prepping, prepping, prepping? We think this is a good thing. Tell us all what it really is. Yeah. So there's a lot of things that actually keep us stuck in this anxious state. And, you know, as you just shared, and as I share, I was prepping and doing all the research because I wanted to be prepared and I knew that things. Weren't what they seemed like, just an, just looking out in the world. There's also a lot of fear-mongering we look out and they're going to pull, it's pulls our attention all the time and says, look at me, believe me, do what I say. And a lot of times it didn't feel right. Do these, I call it doomsday prediction, scrolling, you know, and I just, it's a rabbit hole. You go deep, deep, deep down. There is no ending. What I recognized in this is it's driven from fear. It's even though we're trying to be prepared and we're trying to really stay in control of our life. It's still. And we do this even in our relationships, we think of maybe worst case scenarios or we think of, and that's what it was. I was thinking, what is the worst that can happen. So if it happens, I am good. I'm prepared. I got my emergency kit over here. I got, you know, whatever it is we're preparing for, but the truth is that is an action taken and fear and fear will breed more fear. As Paul Selah gossip often says. I had to look at my foundation, even though I was like, I'm good. I'm in control that his ego, my ego was wrapping itself around making me feel like I'm good, but it leaves you feeling like it's your never enough. What you're doing is never enough. You call it causes a animosity, your stress. And so the real shift in the whole work of this book and my goal is to help us remind us that operating from love is our truth. And so I, uh, have radically shifted my life, you know, and it was funny because as you share in that story, I went out to dinner with some. And I, you know, they're like, how are you? And it was during 2020, you know, the whole COVID lockdowns. You don't see people for a while. And then things open up and then they don't. So it was in one of those in-betweens and I was like sharing, you know, oh my gosh. And I literally was going to bed with such anxiety. It was sharing, you know, there's so much going on. And they looked at me like I was some caged animal, like I saw in their face that they were not in fear. And that's when I realized I'm trapped in my own fear and delusions. What might happen in the world? I think we all do this some extent. The reality though, is love is our director. And so I truly have found inner peace and operate from love. Now I make all my choices in love, and I think that's the process we all want to go to. I think that's so important. And when I read this, you know, it's so pivotal for right now, because your mind is saying. I've got to get the kitty food because I can eat peanut butter, but they, what if they don't? So you're justify right now, you're justifying this. And after reading this chapter, I sat back and I literally apologized to God. And I said, I'm so sorry that I purchased so much kitty food in that I didn't have faith that I lost my face. I didn't realize I wasn't acting in. I just got full body goosebumps. When you said that. Cause that's similar to me. I went out and bought a whole bunch of dog food and I think the whole idea though, is we're operating from a place of trying to prepare and is of course in miracles says when you're operating from fear, it's a sure sign. You're trusting. Uh, yourself and not trusting God, not trusting source energy. And, uh, I liked that you shared that prayer because I think that's where I got to in my space too. And there's prayers I share in the book too, which is, you know, help me surrender and see the love that is here. You named it though. It's a lack of faith when we're trying to control when we're trying to over prep. It's no, don't get me wrong. It's really. Important it, you know, even in my conversations with God, it's like, if you feel safer having kind of an emergency kit in your garage, then please, of course we want to do like a balance is what we're really getting up. I think the ultimate kind of end process or real flow is to align with God though, and really let that lead us because faith is freedom from. Which is a lesson in the book as well. Right. Which is another incredible lesson, which brings me to out of the 11 lessons in the book. Do you have a. You know, I love this question because everyone's my favorite as I'm reading it, but my true, true, true favorite. And you can tell, as you've read, my other books is, is less than 10. Uh, nothing real can be threatened. And the reason why, you know, I was on the meeting, the book, I got to read the audio book and we were in the sound booth. I went to SoundsTrue my publisher in Boulder. And I remember reading through the book and the sound editors were all feeling more peaceful. And then when I got to this chapter, I had to take a deep breath in and I'm like, Okay, here we go. And he's like, yeah, what the chapter had like this, I see we're going deep. And it was just so funny because this chapter, nothing real can be threatened here in lies. The peace of God is the full quote from a course in miracles. And it talks about the biggest war we are fighting as the war within our own selves. And it's a process of, you know, I was fiercely independent for me. I still am. I like my independence, but. It was a I'm good because I didn't want to allow Levin or allow myself to receive. So this chapter is about allowing yourself to really heal on the inside. And, uh, I'd be interested in hearing your take because you've read the book too, but that one too. Because I'm an author and because I'm on my own spiritual journey was the deepest one for me to put it. Cause I even talk about, you know, near death experiences and people who cross over and come back. So I put all my beliefs out there and I, I needed to share. Yeah, no, I, there were, you know, like in the beginning, my life completely shifted and then I was deep and I had my notes and I, and I'm doing, because you give good practical, um, little assignments at the end of each chapter. And so I really went in, I was dedicated. I said, okay, I'm going in? And then when I got to that chapter and I was like, Oh, as you said, we're going there. Okay. So this is another layer. So I went a little bit deeper and you really, again, my soul sister, you know, we, we spoke earlier. I said we were clearly in the same womb and separated at birth. You know, you talk about, I got this. I don't need anyone. I'm miss independent. I'm this I'm that? And I'm like, okay, there goes my hand again, like hundred percent N you know, not recognizing. That, that is actually a trauma response. And I'm wondering, you know, if you could dive a little bit into that because there's a lot of us out there. One, we were actually bred some of us, some of us because there was trauma that transpired that brought us to this place. And I think once we can shine the light and you talk about this a lot in the book, if we can shine the light, then we can transmute the dark. We can understand it and work through it and allow the love of. That's it it's about allowing the love and sometimes this fierce independence. I'm good. I got it. Whether it shows up in your business, you know, for many years, I didn't even have an assistant and, uh, it shows up in relationships, pushing people away. It also shows up in not asking for help. And I think we, as women empowered women, it's also a cultural conditioning. Like I got it. I'm good. I'm an empowered female fiercely. God is the, you know, my world, but the truth is it's a trauma response in the sense that we're not letting Levin because allowing yourself to receive whether it's help, whether it's support, whether it's even, um, vulnerability from, from your relations and communications with others. The that's getting us to a place of, we are protecting our heart because we don't feel worthy, but also because there's something in our past that made us feel like it's not safe. And so the most beautiful process. And that's why this chapter is my favorite. I think the deepest amount of healing can come when we truly piece ourselves back together. It's almost like we split away from ourselves. That's what I start the whole book with is like that moment in my childhood, where I split away. It was more important to fit into the world and be liked, even though it was a false version of myself, but something was missing. So this is coming back to you in this chapters where it brings everything back together. This, uh, it comes back to what. And there's some questions it's you are worthy of love. You are worthy of being seen of being validated of being in this world of getting support, because support is love. And this is the chapter where I say one of my favorite quotes is acknowledgement is love. When you acknowledge someone, when you allow yourself to be acknowledged in the world, that's a form of receiving love. That's what we're all looking for right now. Truly. I mean, this chapter really sat me down. Like sat me down tears and I thought, wow. Okay. And you know, for listeners out there, if this happens to you instead, like I would say months ago or years ago, I would have been like, oh my God, why am I being so emotional about this? It was because I'm realizing, you know what, there's, you've, I've been healing much like Shannon and everyone is there's some work to do in this area. And that's a great, you know, what a revelation when you can, you know, get to that point and go, oh, okay. Wow. Like these are tears of the inner child going, oh my gosh, you finally, you've, you've, you've hit on top of that golden nugget. Like, let's go there. It's so safe. And that's the thing I talk about. It's the work and the work can feel hard and scary, but that's why we stay anxious, depressed, worried, addict addiction stay in our life. But when we start to go into this, we realize it is safe and these emotions want to be expressed. So I like that you say that, and that's, that's beautiful. In this, there's a deep, profound awareness for us to step more fully into our life. And that means returning to us on all levels, all the pieces of us, we left in childhood that perhaps are still crying out for help and want us it's a connection back to itself. So yeah, that's definitely a process for us, but it's. Yeah, it is beautiful. And your whole book is incredibly beautiful and incredibly safe. And everyone that reads it, I feel we'll definitely be reading it at the right time, at the right place and get exactly what they need out of it. And I was sharing like, this is now the book that stays on my desk. This is like the Bible of remembering love, staying out of fear and staying in alignment. You had an S and a that's beautiful that you say that because I even organized the book in a way that I was wanting it. The book kind of talks to me as the author of how it wants to be laid out. As you see my other books, there's different ways, but I wanted to have life truths presented throughout the book. So you could just open up any book or any page and seem like a, a bolded kind of, I've done this in other books, but the life truth is like the foundation it's like, love is why we're here. Love is our truth. Peace is my truth. These are some of the lectures. And then the clear action steps. I am a big journaler and a mantra girl, myself. So I wanted to put lots of different resources because not everyone learns in the same way. So if you're a journal person, go to those journal questions, if you like the mantras and the prayers, these are your tools, there's quizzes in there. So that was a goal for me too. So I'm glad you're saying it's resonating in a. On your desk, always a hundred percent. I mean, it's so well rounded. And I was even saying, pre-show look, I, you know, not that I'll never know, I'll always read books, but this is, you know, for the spiritual healing aspect and, you know, healing on any journey that you're in. This book hits every aspect. Yeah. Thank you. I thought about that too, as I was writing down. It's it's amazing how the book kind of informed itself, you know, I take you through one lesson at a time, but each lesson works off the lesson previous, so it really is a journey, but more so it's an experience. And as I was going into the book, funny enough, you know, I never had writer's block or anything because whatever was happening out in the world, Was happening. You know, there's a part where I talk about, we have to go inward if we don't go within, we go without, because one of my other favorite chapters, because I w I thought it was going to be about meditation, but the truth is there was a natural disaster happening. We were I'm in Oregon, just outside of Oregon. And there was wildfires and we don't, we're a very wet climate. We don't experience that. And so for many days we had the worst air quality of the sky was blood orange. People were wearing like those hardcore gas masks you see in apocalypse movies, like seriously, To go outside with my dog. And I started to fall into that, oh my God, the world is ending, but I caught myself and realized, wait a second, if you don't go within you, go without not only can I not really go outside right now, but with the COVID lockdowns, I had to be inside all that. So it was one of those things where. Our inner world is beckoning us to go in because the outside world will not give us anything. And we've been living in a world and conditioned and years, and ancestral is passed down to us that you need to be out here. Chase look like this, do this, believe this it is fleeting. It is failing all of us. And so that's really why I wrote this book because you're in a world is your golden ticket. That's the true return to you really is. And again, it just gives you permission to tune out. So that you can tune in. Tune in to you and really like, just listen to yourself. And I'll say, you know, after that first chat, maybe after the first two chapters I like, and I could have, I could have just read this in a day, but this is for me, this was not a book to read in a day. I needed to save her. I needed to pee. I needed to go with. And so I encourage people to take that time to if you're like, oh, I want to read more, but I feel like I just need to sit here with it. Please do because so much more radical shifting will transpire and come up for you and beautiful. Yeah, it's funny too, because I thought about this book is about inner peace. It's the lessons to inner peace and how we can, but really it's a philosophy of life. It's a, it's a way of being, it's a lifestyle. It's a way of choosing love over fear in moment. By moment, we have this process, whether it is a relationship and there's a whole chapter about releasing relationships that are not aligned. You know, I was going through a lot of relationship reconciliations because some of them. I didn't feel good. I felt like they were demeaning. I felt like they didn't respect or really support me. And I was doing a lot more for them. And I had to look at that and that again was a tendency of me over-giving as a child, because I wanted to feel worthy. I wanted to feel loved. So I'm going to over-give to you, even though you're not giving me anything back. So I talked through that process and then there's also relationships that are serving us, or whether it's a natural disaster or whether you're really having anxiety because of your future and the fear. And I will say that. One of my favorite chapters, just because it's the core of all the work I do is your purpose as personal expansion and from day one, even my coaching practices is all about getting into alignment with your authentic self, your true life purpose. Like what are you here on earth to do? And, you know, sometimes we feel like we don't have a purpose. And so that causes anxiety. So it's been a fun process to kind of look at the pivotal parts of our life that are causing worry and stress, and then creating a guide to say, well, okay, here's, here's your go-to food this right. And again, so excellent. And you touched on something really great that I'd like to turn around and go back to, is, will you share the difference between your life purpose and your sole purpose? absolutely. Well, I believe all of us are here earth, as I talk about less than one is a big school. We are in a school called planet earth and we live and grow and learn through the contrast. I truly believe we're here to go through things, to help us return to what is truth, which is our love and our spiritual self. So we're spiritual beings having a human experience. We've heard that a lot in the spiritual circles. Our life purpose is to, to grow and expand into more love to understand what love is. Sometimes we think my life purposes, that job, or that career, that accolade that, you know, when I first left my corporate and advertising, I was like, what's my life purpose. Oh my gosh, I'm a writer. That's it? No, no. I love writing. I see now, and I love being a coach and being here with you and having podcasts chats, but that's not my purpose. Right. That's where we fall into, because if all that goes. Then you're, the ego is going to be like spinning out of control. But if we're doing things with love, then, then that's going to connect us. Whereas our actual soul has a different assignment and this is really fun for me too, because in my private practice, I talk about the soul's journey and there are a lot of ways that your soul may have elected, so to speak, raise their hand and said, I'm going to go to planet earth and I'm going to learn. One of them. Uh, you know, there's a lot of different ones. There's maybe eight that I go through. There's more, but you know, one of them is like to learn how to heal, um, karma or to play out karma, you know, karma, whether it's from the past or to kind of make things right. Again, another one is to, um, play in the wonder of it all. And that's one of the reasons I wanted to name my website, play with the world, which you can also go onto for resources. It's not just about playing and not taking things seriously. It's about really seeing the beauty through the contrast. And right now we're in a world that it looks crazy. If you're tuning into out there, that it looks like we're falling apart and it's constantly social media news cycle wars. It's just not shootings. It's non-stop. There are so many beautiful things happening on the planet. Right now, there are so many beautiful opportunities. So it's about how to see the beauty in the darkness. There's some others too, but that's kind of, so it's really fun to know. That your soul has a mission as well. All right. I'm interested in when you were reading that list, was there any that resonated with you? There were, and oh, I wrote them down. So definitely the spirituality, the education, um, those, those definitely like stuck out for me. And then I thought, you know, and then it was like, sort of, my ego was trying to be like, but what about like business or something? And I'm like, well, yeah, but you know, this, if I'm really being honest, helping people and serving. Is, that's been my mission since day, once after politesse school, it was like, if I can help one person to not feel pain, that was my mission. And so, and now it's, you know, it just has snowballed into, like you lit into the Pilates training, turned into the coaching was turned into the podcasts, which turned into just helping everyone to heal and empower them. And I love what you say about that too, because it's like one thing leads to the next making some times I see this in my practice, YouTube probably where people start out and they're like, I don't know how I'm going to get to there. I see myself coaching or writing books, but where I am is not there. And so we fall another thing that causes anxiety is this paralyzed space in between, but there was so much. In the in-between because that is the, how is in the now I often say, so what can you do right now? And as you said, you do one and then it opens up a whole new possibility. But if you don't even take that action on that one thing, you will never see this realm over here that is available to us. It's almost like your future self or your true self, higher self, or the return to you, which I call your true nature is guiding you. All we have to do is just keep showing up for that guidance and take guided action. When. Right. And follow the synchronicities that you talk so much about when we're, when we're really aligned and feeling that flow. And all of a sudden one turns into the other and someone asks you to do this. And you're like, oh, I would have never thought about that. Like, I've done writing a long, long time ago, and I've only started coming back to that. I used to write consistently forever and magazines and this and that. And I'm like, well, where did that. Yeah, and I love something that you also point out in the book it's like, you never get lost. You don't ever go off track. You are exactly where you're supposed to be right now. And I think that's something too important. Sometimes something will go on the back burner. And then you can come back to it and there might've been a reason, like you had to go and learn or experience or have a traumatic event. Um, yeah. Yeah. I think that's also a really important chapter. I talk about seasons of your soul. You know, I used to be, when I was diagnosed with clinical depression in 2009, I was in advertising completely different career. And a lot of that was I read the quote at the time by Jim Carrey, which is depression. Is your. Your, uh, avatar telling you it's tired of playing the character that it's playing. And I read that and I was like, yeah, most of my depression is tied to me just doing what the world wants, not what I really want. So I started to go on a journey. And one of the biggest things that opened up for me was being an athlete. I was an athlete in high school, so I started doing triathlons competing in a half marathons and just traveling the world through my endurance events. And then when I start. And moved left. Chicago moved back to Portland. I personally started to get very clear. I'm a book author, and I want to coach, and I'm starting this website. And as I did the endurance athletes kind of stuff fell away timing. And there was about three years where I was feeling really guilty for that. Like, this was such a passion of mine. But then I started to understand the seasons of our soul. And that's what this chapter is. So dear to my heart, because sometimes we try to hold on. It was unsustainable to hold on to that type of lifestyle as you're starting a business and trying to be an entrepreneur. Yes, it's possible. But on my personal journey, it wasn't. So the seasons of your soul is about honoring where you are. And sometimes we outgrow what we needed to grow into, but also most things do have expiration dates. And then also my favorite part. We often will come back to what is truly important. So I used to cook and bake when I was little with my mom and I spent 20 years not doing it. And now for the past, like nine months, all I'm doing is baking, cooking, giving all my goods to my neighbors and the homeless. My dad even said a couple of weeks ago, Shannon, you got to stop. Baked goods. Like our freezer is full because I'm having so much fun with it. So it's about returning to you. What do you love to do? I love that. And so how does that go into knowing the difference between your passion and. Yes, this I'm so glad you brought this up. And I had to put this in the book too, because a lot of times we are passionate about something and that's the number one question I start with is what did you love to do as a child? And I work with people in my coaching practice, you know, to find their purpose. And they're like, well, I absolutely loved, um, you know, baking, but I don't want to be a baker. I don't want to have my own. That's a whole thing. And, and that's where you recognize that's a hobby. You absolutely love it. However, what happens is there's a directive from our. That pulls you and it pulls you forward. So for example, I had a coaching client who she loved making little characters out of clay. She did it all through childhood and she grew like she was in her fifties. So her kids had gone off to school and we went back to what she loved. And she said, I absolutely loved it. And that was what we discovered. Is this a hobby or is this a, is this a passion? As in you want to turn it into a lifestyle business. And she started to make these characters, sell them on Etsy. Now it's her business because he or she is making ornaments and these clay things and her child's self is connected. So you have the distinguisher is, do I have a pole from my heart or is it just something I enjoy doing to fill my time? I love that you say that because I'm a baker too. I grew up baking with my grandmother and my mother was a baker and I didn't for a while. And then I did, and I actually tried to turn it into a business at one point, like small while I was doing Pilates while I was at which so that wasn't sustainable and it wasn't as well. Yeah, the timing wasn't great. Same thing. My family now is like, can you please stop? Like, we're all gaining weight. Like we no more goodies because of course, like you find a new group together. So I E I'm not baking breads, like I'm baking muffins and cookies and cakes and all that. Yes. I love it. We are such soul sisters. Yeah. It just makes me so happy. And it does, it takes me back to those childhood moments, which are so precious, you know? Totally. Yeah, that's the key it's, it's connecting you to the joy of the moment. And I've often asked myself too. I don't know if this is going to turn into something I've actually started to, you know, see little insights of, maybe I do want to have a bakery someday, and that's the joy of the journey. We don't have to force. We don't have to push, you know, maybe you and I opened up a bakery down the road. Like that's one of the things where you don't know where life's going to lead. You, you just connect to the joy and keep trusting the guidance. That's it. Choosing joy, then we're not going to be able to move forward into the path that feels the most aligned. And so for you just baking now at night, that's joy. So we got to keep doing, got to keep doing it. I love doing that or that, you know, like the podcast. I mean, this literally, I w I mean, for me to say it came out of nowhere is not true. Like, this was literally God, the divine, you know, saying this is what you're going to do. But not yet. And here's the something I had never listened to a podcast. I didn't know anything about and a year, like, I love what I do. I love, you know, meeting people like you, I would have, we would have never met helping to share all of this to the listeners around the world. And that was my one thing in 20, 20 20. Is that how you reached out? Yeah. Or we talked to then. I knew that I was meant to make an impact and I needed to help spread light and joy on a larger scale. And I had been doing it all of my life and, you know, brick and mortar, Pilates studios or this or that, but it was like, no, it Annie up girlfriend. And I was like, I don't know about this. And I just dove in. For it. And I'm like, this has been such a blessing, you know, such a blessing. So beautiful. And that's the key too, is to just dive in, dive into the wonder and the joy of, I think truly we are creators human beings. You know, I often say this and people are like, I'm not, I don't write, I'm not a painter. Like I'm not artistic. And I don't mean create in that way. I mean, I mean, we create, we create other human life, like. Is to have, if we're not creating, I think we become stale and that's, what's happened over the last couple of years, too many people did stop creating. Or the flip side is we dug deep in ourself and realized, oh my gosh, I'm going to write that book. I'm going to start that podcast. And that's the activation. That's where, you know, we're here. You can either fester and what's not going well. Or you can step forward into creating what you want. And so that's what I love about you. Oh, thank you. And that's what I love about you. My soul sister tears. So let me ask you this. How do you stay peaceful in unknown and transitional times through. I think so the fear of the unknown is one of the biggest fears, fear of not fitting in is another one for people. And that's why I address both of these in my first couple of chapters, because so often it's terrifying because we want to have control because having control makes us feel like we are in control and know that we can navigate the world. But. In the unknown is where the biggest amount of growth happens in the unknown is where the surrender can happen. And so how do we stay truthfully in peace through the unknown is through our faith and it can be faith in a religious sense, but what I mean is faith and a connection to your higher. To your future self, to the higher power that you align with faith and love is really what it's about because even I've traveled the world, all religions come back to love and love in one form or another. And we identify with what we reach for. So to me, the more, and I started to share this and I noticed something in 2020 and 2021. Here we are in 2022. I noticed the people who fell into fear. And this is kind of a blanket statement. I don't mean it in that way, but the people who fell into the most fear were the ones that had the least amount of faith. And I have a whole side of my family who is, is, is very religious and then another side who's not. And it was just interesting to kind of see the development and not even with my family, but just with neighbors. And it could be faith in what you believe in. But to me, it's God, it's source energy. As I talk about divine love. And that's one of the main ways I was able to stay so grounded and connected through some of the most disturbing times we faced as a culture because I had a prayer practice. I had a meditation practice. I had a daily, one of the things for me was connecting to earth. I think there's an immense power and guide. The earth energy. So I would ground every day, which is taking your bare feet. If you have a backyard or I live in a condo. So I went to the park and I just connected. And the, the energy you get from earth is healing. So this, these are things that I do daily, and I think we can all implement. I agree. I mean, my non-negotiables are my walks in the morning and in the evening it clears me to get ready for my day. And then I clear out my day. By just going. And I say that my walks are also a form of meditation. That is when I get some of my most inspiring ideas or thoughts that come through and it's gangbusters. It's just such an incredible. Yeah. And I like that you say that because I think for me, meditation is not just sitting on a pillow and zoning out. When we're talking about inner peace. It's not being at peace all the time or being the Buddha under the tree and escaping life. It's about activity. In each moment, the peaceful awareness that is available to us. And so when you're walking, that's a farm. You know, when I was in endurance athletes, I would run a lot. That was my meditation. So doing what you love daily and making that a non-negotiable is really the key here. That's how we find more peace. That's how we find more joy. Absolutely. Do you have, and is it fair to call it even a traditional meditation practice or do you have Shannon's meditation? I do a little bit of both. I don't have a, every single day I'm going to sit in my chair and zone out kind of practice, but I make sure that I'm always kind of connecting inward, whether it's on a nature walk sometimes even washing my hands and just really smelling like the lavender soap, like that's meditation. However, I do do anywhere from five to 30 minutes a day of I have guided meditation albums. Sometimes I listen to those. I like listening to. Uh, music that will help me go inward. I have a Peloton app. I use those meditations quite a bit. So every day, minimum five minutes, usually it works out to about 20 to 30 minutes a day. That's great. I love that. I do something similar. I have a Reiki music that I lay down to and whatever comes. Just come in. Sometimes I think I'm asleep, but I don't think I was sleeping, but I was somewhere in between worlds and yeah, like that's why, and you wake up and you're like, oh my gosh, it's a new day. Or you get up, I should say. And it's a new day and it feels amazing. Yeah, another thing is during my self care, like I love baths, love them. Those are almost non-negotiable. So I will do a meditation, then I'll put on some nice music. And so doing, you know, putting these together is also if we're looking for tangible tools, sometimes if you're, for example, if you're baking doing a nice YouTube meditation along that, or listening to an audio book, I think it's fun to build. It's a lifestyle. So you build it up right step by step. How can you create a day that feels more peaceful and joyful? As I'm saying this, I think it's important to recognize that because I get this a lot in private comments and in coaching a lot of times it's like, how can you stay in peace? Right? When there is so much going on out in the world. And I think when we're talking about here, it's not about spiritual bypassing. It's not about ignoring the realities of the world, but before we got on, and even we were talking about this, it's about being in a creator mindset and creating the world you want. And stepping into that place and doing what you can when you feel it's important and timely. So donating money to organizations that you feel aligned to speaking your truth using you know, your platform. But I think if we spend our days doom and gloom, focusing on the news, focusing on what's happening, looking out then that is plummeting our energy and keeping us in a fear state. That's not serving. So, what we're talking about, I think is important to recognize is it's really about coming back to you because your natural state is of love. It's not a fear and you don't feel good in that space. So why do we keep operating in that space? It's about changing our operating system to a place of truth, which is love. And our peace is our purpose really. Right. Truly. I believe that now I know there's going to be a listener out there who at this point in time goes, all right. I want to call bullshit on both of you. Don't you watch the news. Don't you tune into the weather. Don't you do astrology. Don't you look at? If the planets are in a hot shit mess, like, come on. Y'all don't. Absolutely. I know, I think about that too. Yeah. So the thing that comes to mind first and foremost is of course, but here's what we focusing our attention on that is, is keeping us in a low vibration. So looking at it and being aware, and then turning, I often say, turn your resistance into assistance because so often we are resisting. There was a time. You know, when I was in my doomsday predictions, I was like, oh my gosh, it's going to be a natural disaster. It's going to be this more shootings. Like now war. It's never going to end because we are on planet earth and thinking that the earth is going to look different is where we get caught up. So what we are actually here to do is to focus on how can we create a better life for ourselves and others? How can we help those? So if you're resisting, what's happening. Oh my God. The world's falling apart. Right? I get it. I was there. Oh man. Was I there? But it wasn't serving anyone. It was actually hurting the world and it was keeping us in that state. So I say it's important to be aware, but more importantly, what can you do? How can you make a difference? So, for me, I was, um, joining, you know, organizations that I believed in, you know, starting to send money to companies that were important to me. And more, most important. I started to opt out of things that I didn't align to unsubscribed from certain things. Don't go on social media to certain things. How do you feel after if you feel, and I talk about this in the book, if you feel. More worried, fearful, desperate, hopeless. These are things that are inducing more fear. Why are we choosing this? Let's shift into what makes us feel uplifting United hopeful, love peace. There's a lot of that happening. And so you it's just about where you give your attention. And I think the most important thing is to ask, okay, well, what can I do? Because festering and feeling hopeless does nothing for me. No, and you're actually sending mixed messages to the universe. You can't sit there and have a vision board and have a gratitude practice and turn in my opinion and turn around and watch the news and not think your vibration is not going to lower. And when it lowers all this beautiful practice that you just did is now. Yeah, I think a lot of I'm just thinking of people I know who do watch the news and they do it because they say, I want to be informed. What we have to recognize too, is the news in, in general is, is, is a game. If you will. It's it's uh, I come from a background of advertising. So I understand I also have a journalism degree and I know. There's things called clickbait there's things. They, their whole mission. And even Tony Robbins talks about this in his lectures too. Like they are a marketing machine and they know that fear keeps people locked in. So they're going to align their headlines. They're going to cover things. And also I've kind of gotten to a place to where I even talk about it in the book. I don't really trust the news. I don't. And I'm pretty unapologetic about that because we're not there unless you're physically there and you see it with your own eyes. Things can be manipulated things to be photo-shopped, things can be changed. And I think it's important to talk to people who are going through things and experience these and see how we can help. But the truth is most of the media is not something I really aligned to. Yes. And I know that that's something we both agree on. It's not, I don't, my mom will be like, she'll say, you know, like, oh, did you know there was a torrent? She did this to me the other day. So how did you feel about the tornado that almost came. And I looked at her and I go, what tornado? She goes, do you not watch the weather? And I said, no, I don't, I don't want like mom, you know, I don't watch the news. I just don't know every once in a while, like if there's a certain rally or something and I'm, and I'm wanting to tune into something. Okay. Because I know it's going to be uplifting, not because it's doomsday, but I don't, I don't watch the news. There are times where like friends will say, Hey, like someone said something to me yesterday about something that was going on. And I said, you know, I said, I'm not really participating in this movie anymore. So I'm kind of good. Like I know that God has a plan. I know we're all going to be fine. And. Hey, I love that you say that too, because a lot of the things too, when I see it, and that's one of the reasons I had to write this book, because it's about step-by-step intuition development. And I think when your intuition is fully intact and aligns, we can connect into, does this feel true? And there are a lot of false flags out there. There's a lot of manipulation in the media. There's a lot of advancements in technology. CGI stuff like they can make people look like you see movies lately. People look different. It's uh, it's, we're living in a world where there's a lot of manipulation. There's a lot of illusions. And so the process, my mission, your mission is to help us connect to love. God's love is here. And like you said, God's got this. I often say that too, you know, in the book I talk about that. Don't make Amy choice. That is in fear. You know, in the beginning, when I saw this happening, I was thinking, oh my gosh, do I need to like, go move out to the forest and, you know, get off grid. And I was like, mom, we need a house. We need a garden, we need a helicopter. We need a boat. We need to have all our exits covered. And she was just like, Oh, my God. Yes, I was serious. I was doing I'm with you. Cause I was going through that and no amount of like panic can save us from that, except for recognizing that that is fear. But it's also, like you said, trying to be prepared, but truly I had to stop myself and I called my friend summer bacon and Dr. Peoples and they said, Don't make any choice in fear. Fear is going to create more fear, recognize that you are always exactly where you're supposed to be. God is always going to put you right where you need to be on earth. And so to the person who's saying why there's more is happening, how, how dare you talk about peace? You know, I, I do hear that. We are where we are, because it's part of our own soul's journey, but it's also part of where God wants us. So what can you do with where you are in a line and know that in each moment, when you are connected to that source, that truth God's voice will talk to you and let you know, okay. It's time to move. It's time to take a new job. It's time to go to this country. And so we keep honoring that step by step moment, by moment. That's the real beauty and peace available to us. It really is. And it's so beautiful that you brought it back to that because when we do trust our own intuition, that's when you really know, you know, like, do I still want to get an RV? You know what? I still like to have a piece of property and, and have a garden. Yeah. But it's, uh, it's not from a place of lack or fear now it's because that's really where, when I release all of that fear that it's still in my heart going, oh, well, I enjoy people. I also really like. Not being around people. I enjoy being in nature. I would adore to have a house on a lake and, and have a garden and be good at it because I don't know if I have a green thumb. I've never really experimented experimented with that, but an RV to travel around the world and, or at least the United States and bring light that way. Absolutely. And I feel that that's the key as it expansive. Does it make your heart open up or does it feel like I have to do this because I'm running away or trying to protect myself? That's it right. And there's no wrong really? It's just, where do you want to align to? And it feels a lot better to be in love and expand and make those dreams. So. So just let me know when you get that RV. That's pretty awesome. Well, I'll tell you. Yes, is she is on the vision board. I have narrowed it down to the perfect one at this point in time. I'm so, and I literally saw I was going on a ride the other day and I said, you know what? I've got to go see this one in person, no lie sitting at the red light here she comes. Goosebumps. And I was like, she is perfect. That's how it goes. That's how it goes. And I thought, okay, so I'm getting closer. So we're getting there. Yes. I have a friend who calls it driftwood. And she says like, when you see something it's like in the beach or, you know, when, what comes by, it's showing you what's on its way to you. So there's your form of driftwood love that I know. I like to call them God winks, but I really liked the drift wood being from Cape Cod. I liked the driftwood. There you go. That's so amazing. Oh, my goodness. So Shannon, we are getting to this time in the show where I ask this one pressing question, are you ready? I'm ready. All right, girl, what is one thing that perhaps no one knows about Shannon. Ooh, such a good question. Um, I'm laughing because there's so many layers. Well, something that, uh, no one knows, but I already shared it with you a little bit earlier, is that. Working on my next book. And I'm literally like, after we get off our call today, even though I just launched another book, I'm working on the kind of outline and proposal for that. It's a little too early to say what it's about. But as we were sharing before we got on, um, the return to you is really an encompassing and. Uh, hug to the world. It is my teaching up to this point. So I will say the next book is very different than any of the books I've ever been. Not in just the content, but the way it's written, the way it's laid out. And, uh, I can't wait to share it with you guys. I have such goosebumps. So excited. Yay. Oh my goodness. Something more to look forward to. Well, I still have plenty of time to read your book another three or four times, so, oh, I love it. Yeah. I'm so glad. I'm so glad we could share and connect today. Me too. This was so amazing. Now we did talk pre-show we talked about you. Um, this year it was in November. I believe the unshakable inner peace Oracle cards. And these are amazing, and these are beautiful. And we talked about were actually cause they're so amazing. Beautiful. We will give them their own separate pod pet casts because there's so much to chat about with them. But we did talk about how I personally feel as do you how accurate they are every day. I'm pulling one of these cards and they're just amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Would you do us the honor of pulling a card and that for us today? So I will say that unshakable inner peace Oracle cards is really a sister companion to the book returned to you. Uh, we almost, you know, with SoundsTrue my publisher, we, we kind of almost thought about, you know, that's why 11 spiritual lessons for unshakable inner peace is the subtitle of returned to you. In the book, the Oracle cards, I started to design, I left advertising and I was a designer and I sat down to help with my own anxiety, designing these little collages, and I would print them. And they would help me each day. And then in meditation, one day, it said you need to make this an Oracle card deck. So this is the first kind of process that I have put out into the world that is both my graphic design. And I love these. I love that you feel the high vibe, Dani, nothing I've ever seen or put in my hand before the embellishments, the pictures, it's just. Oh, thank you. And then the messages that go with them are very key. They're the life truths that are shared throughout the book as well, but I just pulled one just now and how you do Oracle cards. If you're, you know, I'm sure a lot of people listening already are aware, but you just kind of set in and set an intention. What I just asked, what message do we need now today, university, you know, and the one that came forward is card number eight. Crystal mountain card because it's a mountain of amethyst and amethyst is all about manifesting. It's all about alignment. It's all about your true self, lots of different layers there, but then this, this person is walking in, in the, um, it's not the maze by. The labyrinthian. And so they're walking through the labyrinth and in this position, we have the message you heal by releasing not suppressing. So this is our card about healing. And here you are all about healing. And here we are talking about our healing journey, but the key here is what emotion do you need to feel? Okay. We have emotions that get stuck. And that's, again, there's a whole lesson in the book. That's about feeling your emotions because you do as you know, and teach and share, they help us heal. And our emotions, we live in a world that says, you know, don't feel, you know, big girls don't cry, stop feeling, but the truth is our emotions, our direct connection to our higher self and spiritual self, they guide us. So feeling. Let yourself feel beautiful. Oh my gosh. So amazing. Now, Shannon, please share with our amazing empowered within community, where can they best get in contact? Yes. So my website play with the world.com. You can actually take an intuition quiz to, uh, what is your intuition style? And that's also in the book and my social media, Shannon Kaiser writes w R I T E S for my author page on Facebook and Instagram. And the book returned to you as available. Yeah. And everywhere. Yes. Shannon, thank you so much. This is truly such an honor. I mean, my heart is so full. My soul is so full today. I cannot thank you enough for being here and sharing your incredible energies, your book, your Oracle cards and just your beautiful soul. Thank you. It's been so great to connect with you and I'm so happy that, uh, we came together today. Thank you. Absolutely will. Thank you everyone. All of Shannon's information will be over on the show notes on Jennifer dot com. So you can head over there and check everything out. And as we say until next time, Thank you so much for tuning into another episode, please remember to rate, review and subscribe to empowered within with Jennifer Pilates. Your feedback is important. It helps me to connect with you and gives me insight into who you are and what you're enjoying about the show for today's show notes and discount codes from today's spot. Head over to Jennifer dot com until next time, may you live an empowered life from within