Hi!! I would love to hear from you!

The hidden epidemic of chronic pain affects millions, but women in midlife bear a disproportionate burden—often with inadequate support from conventional healthcare. In this episode we discuss this revolutionary understanding of pain science with expert Mandy Ryle, who combines professional expertise with personal experience navigating her own chronic pain journey.

Mandy challenges our fundamental understanding of pain, exposing the outdated "mechanistic view" of the body that originated during the Industrial Revolution. This paradigm shift reveals why tissue damage and pain are only loosely correlated—explaining why 40-50% of midlife adults have joint changes visible on MRIs yet experience zero pain.

For women navigating the complexities of perimenopause, family responsibilities, and societal pressures, chronic pain becomes a perfect storm of biological, psychological, and social factors. Estrogen's role as a natural pain modulator, the perfectionist personality traits common among chronic pain sufferers, and the validation gap many women face in medical settings all contribute to this complex experience.

Most powerfully, Mandy offers practical strategies that work—not by "fixing broken parts" but by addressing the whole person. Movement reclamation, community support, nervous system regulation, and developing interoceptive awareness become pathways to significant improvement, even when pain cannot be completely eliminated.

Whether you're personally struggling with persistent pain or supporting someone who is, this conversation provides both the science and soul of effective pain management. Discover how to move beyond simply surviving pain toward reclaiming vibrancy, agency, and joy in everyday life.

Move Beyond Pain Roadmap Ebook: https://empoweredself.me/move-beyond-pain-roadmap-ebook/

Struggling with a pain issue? Schedule a chat to learn more about holistic pain care: https://empoweredself.me/free-strategy-session/

Social

https://www.facebook.com/EmpoweredSelfwithMandyRyle
https://www.instagram.com/mandyleighryle/

YouTube Movement for Healing. Free video resources for holistic pain care:
https://www.youtube.com/@movementforhealing

The Yin Yoga Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2q0Xto3mxbcv2sczyJbcvn?si=505e4ee91a5a48f7
On Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-yin-yoga-podcast/id1518403758

Moving Beyond Pain Facebook Group: A free community for those seeking holistic pain care resources and guidance.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/710104050217437/

Support the show

Want to support the show? Buy me a cup of coffee and I will give you a shout out on the show….. great opportunity for small businesses!

https://buymeacoffee.com/empoweredease

Join the Newsletter

https://themoonflowercoachingcollective.com/podcast-empowered-ease/

Hi!! I would love to hear from you!

Maria Paholik takes us on a deeply personal journey from people-pleasing to self-liberation in this heartfelt conversation about authenticity and worth. Eight years ago, Maria stood at her bedroom window, feeling completely lost despite outward appearances of success. That vulnerable moment when she asked the universe for help sparked a transformative path toward self-discovery and healing.

Through her work as a Heal Your Life workshop leader, Coach, and mindfulness meditation teacher, Maria now guides women to break free from the exhausting cycle of people-pleasing. She shares refreshingly practical strategies, like her simple yet powerful question: "When do you need the answer by?" This creates vital space between requests and responses, allowing us to check in with our true desires before automatically saying yes.

What makes Maria's approach unique is her recognition that healing isn't linear. Even after years of setting boundaries, she sometimes finds herself momentarily unable to say no. Rather than viewing this as failure, she embraces it as part of the spiral-like journey of growth—we revisit similar challenges throughout life but with increasingly gentle and effective responses each time.

Our conversation explores how many of our stressors come from self-imposed expectations rather than actual demands from others. Through client examples and personal anecdotes, Maria illustrates how small experiments in self-prioritization—like leaving dishes undone to put your feet up instead—can create profound shifts in wellbeing and identity.

Ready to begin your own journey toward self-love and authentic living? Maria offers practical starting points, including her free gift of 21 self-love letters delivered daily to your inbox. Her parting wisdom distills everything into one gentle reminder that might just change your life: be kind to yourself.

💐 Free Gift : 21 days of love letters to yourself

http://info.mariapaholik.com/loveletters

💚Maria’s Website:

http://mariapaholik.com/

Find her on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/maria.phlk

Support the show

Want to support the show? Buy me a cup of coffee and I will give you a shout out on the show….. great opportunity for small businesses!

https://buymeacoffee.com/empoweredease

Join the Newsletter

https://themoonflowercoachingcollective.com/podcast-empowered-ease/

Hi!! I would love to hear from you!

Imagine living with debilitating pain for three decades, only to discover that the key to freedom wasn't surgery but something far more surprising. This is the remarkable journey of Kari Kiazyk, who transformed her 30-year battle with scoliosis pain into a mission to help others find relief through unconventional but powerful methods.

At just sixteen years old, Kari faced a devastating diagnosis following a gym class accident. Doctors warned she'd be wheelchair-bound by thirty without immediate surgery. Despite this grim prognosis, something deep within her resisted. That intuitive "no" set her on a path that would eventually lead to complete freedom from pain – though not before enduring years of suffering and a near-fatal car accident that became her ultimate wake-up call.

The accident marked a turning point when synchronicities began appearing in Kari’s life. Her introduction to energy healing resonated on a profound level, and after just three sessions with a healer, her pain dropped from a nine to a two. Today, she's been pain-free for over a decade without surgical intervention, despite still having the physical S-curve of scoliosis.

What makes Kari’s approach so revolutionary is her understanding of pain as a messenger rather than an enemy. "Pain is like a fire alarm going off in your body," she explains. "You don't just smash the alarm and walk away—you go to the source." Through her work with crystal singing bowls and energy healing, she helps people access those deeper sources of pain—often emotional or energetic in nature—that conventional treatments can't reach.

The vibrations from sound healing move through water, tissue, and energetic fields, helping regulate the nervous system and dissolve stored emotional residue from grief, stress, and trauma. This modality proves particularly powerful for releasing trauma incurred before we had language to process it.

Ready to transform your relationship with pain? Explore Kari’s work at aligningyourheart.com and discover how addressing the root causes of suffering can lead to lasting relief. Your body has wisdom to share – are you ready to listen?

Connect with Kari Kiazyk

Websites:
🌐 www.aligningyourheart.com
🌐 www.thrivewithscoliosis.com

Instagram:
📸 @aligningyourheart

LinkedIn:
🔗 linkedin.com/in/kari-kiazyk

🎧 Free Sound Healing Gift

Awaken the Frequency of Relief

A short guided sound healing journey to help your body soften, recalibrate, and begin to release what it’s been holding.

Support the show

Want to support the show? Buy me a cup of coffee and I will give you a shout out on the show….. great opportunity for small businesses!

https://buymeacoffee.com/empoweredease

Join the Newsletter

https://themoonflowercoachingcollective.com/podcast-empowered-ease/

Hi!! I would love to hear from you!

Are you tired of rigid diet plans that never stick? Do you feel disconnected from your body despite "doing everything right"? Join us for a refreshing conversation with Nicole King, author of "Listening to Your Body" and founder of Balance Being Nutrition, who offers a revolutionary approach to health that prioritizes self-acceptance over restriction.

Nicole's journey began with a simple revelation: providing meal plans alone doesn't create lasting change. Through her own experience as "the skinny girl who struggled to gain weight," Nicole discovered that true health transcends appearance and involves reconnecting with your body's innate wisdom. Her eight-step program helps women break free from shame-based patterns and rebuild body trust without the burden of restrictive dieting.

What sets Nicole's approach apart is her emphasis on individualization and sustainability. She promotes an 80/20 nutrition philosophy that allows flexibility while nourishing your body properly. "Anything rigid and restricted is not sustainable," Nicole explains, offering practical insights into why most diets eventually fail. You'll learn about her innovative "pause method" for setting boundaries, the importance of questioning whether you're pursuing health for yourself or others, and why rest deserves to be recognized as a crucial component of wellbeing.

This conversation challenges conventional wisdom about nutrition, exercise, and body image, offering a gentle pathway toward healing for anyone who has struggled with food stress. Whether you're battling food confusion, exhaustion, or disconnection from your body, Nicole's compassionate approach provides real solutions without shame or judgment. Ready to transform your relationship with food and reclaim your sense of self? Download Nicole's free "Trust Your Body Guide" at bbnutrition.ca and take your first step toward genuine, sustainable wellness today.

Free Gift from Nicole

https://bbnutrition.ca/trustyourbody-freegift
https://bbnutrition.ca

Support the show

Want to support the show? Buy me a cup of coffee and I will give you a shout out on the show….. great opportunity for small businesses!

https://buymeacoffee.com/empoweredease

Join the Newsletter

https://themoonflowercoachingcollective.com/podcast-empowered-ease/

Hi!! I would love to hear from you!

What if everything you've been told about nurse burnout is wrong? Dr. Lorre Laws, integrative nursing professor with over 35 years in the healing arts, presents a revolutionary perspective: what healthcare professionals experience isn't mere burnout – it's occupational trauma with profound physiological impacts.

With equal parts scientific authority and spiritual wisdom, Dr. Lorre unveils how chronic workplace stress triggers cell danger response, causing mitochondrial dysfunction that manifests as chronic fatigue, brain fog, autoimmune conditions, and more. This groundbreaking framework explains why traditional "self-care" approaches fail and why we need trauma-informed healing strategies that begin at the cellular level.

The conversation delves into historical nurse trauma and system-induced gaslighting that keeps healthcare professionals marginalized despite being the linchpins of every healthcare system worldwide. Dr. Lorre shares her journey from teenage CNA to founding the Halen Academy, where she helps nurses stabilize their nervous systems through evidence-based, integrative approaches.

Most powerfully, Dr. Lorre offers immediate, practical tools anyone can implement – including her 30-second "Microdoses Matter" practice for nervous system regulation and the "Dr. Lorre Tuck-in Protocol" for clearing absorbed energies before sleep. These simple yet profound techniques help healthcare professionals maintain regulation even amid workplace chaos.

Ready to transform your understanding of healthcare trauma and discover evidence-based healing approaches? This episode provides both validation and actionable pathways toward genuine recovery. Visit drlorrielaws.com for free resources, masterclasses, and information about Dr. Lorre’s book "Nursing Our Healer's Heart."

https://drlorrelaws.com/

Social media @drlorrelaws

https://www.instagram.com/drlorrelaws/

https://www.facebook.com/drlorrelaws/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-lorre-laws-9650063a/

https://www.youtube.com/@dr.lorrelaws3693

https://www.tiktok.com/@drlorrelaws

Support the show

Want to support the show? Buy me a cup of coffee and I will give you a shout out on the show….. great opportunity for small businesses!

https://buymeacoffee.com/empoweredease

Join the Newsletter

https://themoonflowercoachingcollective.com/podcast-empowered-ease/

Hi!! I would love to hear from you!

What happens when we stop fearing death and start embracing it as part of our human journey? Christine Soza, a Reiki master and end-of-life doula with 30 years of nursing experience, transforms our understanding of mortality in this profound conversation.

Christine guides us through the role of an end-of-life doula—a non-medical practitioner supporting people from diagnosis through their final transition and beyond. With compassion and clarity, she explains how our society's death denial creates unnecessary suffering and how reclaiming death as a natural process can lead to more meaningful living. Her stories of sitting with hundreds of dying individuals reveal the sacred patterns and opportunities for connection that emerge when we don't turn away from mortality.

Our conversation ventures into practical territory as Christine shares how advance care planning empowers individuals and relieves loved ones from making agonizing decisions. She introduces the concept of "legacy work"—writing letters to future grandchildren, planning meaningful gestures that will continue after death, and creating what one client lovingly calls her "dead box" with all essential information organized. These preparations aren't morbid; they're liberating acts that allow fuller engagement with life.

Perhaps most striking is Christine's integration of energy healing into end-of-life care. As a medical Reiki master, she witnesses remarkable transformations as this gentle practice activates the parasympathetic nervous system, creating deep relaxation for those transitioning and their families. Her perspective challenges us to reconsider quality versus quantity of life and reminds us that "if death is a battle, we'll all lose"—suggesting instead that we transition having fought bravely.

Whether you're facing mortality yourself, supporting a loved one, or simply curious about approaching life with greater awareness, Christine's wisdom offers a roadmap to presence, meaning, and connection. Her closing thoughts on rekindling our inner light serve as a powerful meditation for living fully, no matter where we are on life's journey.

Support the show

Want to support the show? Buy me a cup of coffee and I will give you a shout out on the show….. great opportunity for small businesses!

https://buymeacoffee.com/empoweredease

Join the Newsletter

https://themoonflowercoachingcollective.com/podcast-empowered-ease/

Hi!! I would love to hear from you!

What happens when physical fitness meets energy healing? Ashley Weir's journey from fitness queen to Reiki master offers a compelling answer. As the owner of Indigo Sage and Balance, Ashley has discovered that true wellness requires more than just pushing your body to its limits—it demands attention to your energetic and spiritual well-being too.

Ashley's story begins with a familiar narrative: a young athlete focused intensely on physical performance, struggling with body dysmorphia and using exercise as her primary outlet for emotional processing. "I'd push myself physically," she reflects, "and I was like, 'I need to just keep pushing myself and pushing myself.'" But something was missing. Despite her physical strength, anxiety and depression were constant companions, and the constant "go mode" left little room for genuine healing.

The turning point came through therapy, when a counselor helped Ashley see that running seven miles to process frustration wasn't addressing her deeper needs. Learning to simply "be" for twenty minutes proved challenging for someone always on the move, but it opened the door to meditation, yoga, and eventually Reiki—a healing modality she approached initially with healthy skepticism.

Now certified as a Holy Fire Reiki master, Ashley describes working with "life force energy" to help tune clients' energy systems to their highest frequencies. During sessions, she's guided by intuition, often sensing areas needing attention through physical sensations in her own body. "I feel it in my hands, I feel it in my chakras," she explains. "When I'm working on someone, I can feel if someone's having something in their heart chakra, I'll start having pain in my chest."

Perhaps most valuable is Ashley's guidance on energy clearing—essential for anyone who absorbs others' emotions throughout their day. Through visualization, salt baths, sound healing, or simply setting conscious boundaries, we can release what doesn't serve us and create space for what does. "You don't need to carry somebody else's energy with you," she reminds us, a particularly powerful message for empaths and those in helping professions.

Ready to explore how combining physical fitness with energy work might transform your wellness journey? Ashley's experience shows that when we honor both our physical strength and our energetic nature, true balance becomes possible. As she wisely puts it: "Trust yourself and trust your gut and whatever life is telling you is the right path for you."

What is Usui/Holy Fire Reiki?

Usui/Holy Fire Reiki is a modern evolution of traditional Reiki, a Japanese healing technique that promotes relaxation, stress reduction, and emotional well-being through gentle energy work. Rooted in the original teachings of Mikao Usui, this practice has been enhanced with Holy Fire energy—a refined and powerful form of spiritual healing introduced by the International Center for Reiki Training. Holy Fire Reiki is known for its deeply soothing, purifying, and empowering effects, helping to release energetic blockages, support emotional healing, and foster a sense of inner peace. It works intuitively, guiding energy to where it is most needed for the highest good of the recipient.

Why Choose Reiki?

Reiki offers a w

Support the show

Want to support the show? Buy me a cup of coffee and I will give you a shout out on the show….. great opportunity for small businesses!

https://buymeacoffee.com/empoweredease

Join the Newsletter

https://themoonflowercoachingcollective.com/podcast-empowered-ease/

Hi!! I would love to hear from you!

When the hospital beeps follow you home and echo in your dreams, you know your nervous system has been fundamentally altered by your work. This was Eva ZobianWolfe's reality during her 25+ years in critical care nursing before she discovered the transformative power of adaptive yoga therapy.

In this deeply resonant conversation, Eva reveals the barely discussed truth about healthcare burnout – how the hypervigilance required to save lives creates a physiological state where true relaxation feels impossible, even threatening. "I felt like an angry shell of myself," she confesses, describing how burnout manifested in her relationships and wellbeing. This emotional honesty creates immediate connection with anyone who's experienced the crushing weight of compassion fatigue.

Eva's journey from bedside nurse to founder of Eva Z Wellness represents a radical reframing of self-care for healthcare providers. She exposes why traditional "treat yourself" activities provide only fleeting relief, while offering evidence-based alternatives that create lasting nervous system regulation. Her expertise in adaptive yoga therapy and mind-body wellness shines through practical suggestions like the Kirtan Kriya meditation, which research shows improves cognitive function even in dementia patients.

What makes this episode particularly valuable is Eva's holistic approach to healing. Beyond physical postures, she explores all eight limbs of yoga, including ethical principles that naturally support boundary-setting – something desperately needed in healthcare environments. Through personal anecdotes and professional insights, she illustrates how these ancient practices can help modern caregivers recover their joy and compassion.

Whether you're a healthcare professional fighting burnout or simply someone whose nervous system feels perpetually overwired, this conversation offers both validation and viable pathways forward. Listen now to discover how reconnecting with your authentic self might be the most radical act of healthcare you can provide – to yourself and those you care for.

You can find Eva at http://www.evazeewellness.com/ or join her Facebook community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/selfcareisyourhealthcare

Support the show

Want to support the show? Buy me a cup of coffee and I will give you a shout out on the show….. great opportunity for small businesses!

https://buymeacoffee.com/empoweredease

Join the Newsletter

https://themoonflowercoachingcollective.com/podcast-empowered-ease/