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Welcome to Witches and Yoga Pants, your cozy corner of the cosmos, where modern magic meets everyday life. We're here to explore magic, mindfulness, and personal growth with a grounded, no-fluff vibe. Whether you're into moon rituals, tarot spreads, or just trying to survive Mercury retrograde, you're in the right place. So get ready to disrupt some old patterns, explore what it means to reclaim your power and remember who you really are. So pull up your yoga mat, light a candle, and let's get into it. Hello and welcome back to Witches in Yoga Pants. I'm so glad you're here. I realized recently that there was something pretty significant that came and went without me really stopping to acknowledge it. On September 6th, Witches in Yoga Pants officially turned one year old. And yes, I'm a little late talking about it. September 6th has already passed, life's been happening, episodes have continued to come out, and I didn't do some big anniversary celebration right on the actual date. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't want to let this milestone pass without taking a moment to acknowledge what this past year has meant to me. Because when I think back to where I was when I decided to start this podcast, I don't think I could have fully imagined everything that would come from simply deciding to sit down in front of a microphone and start talking. So today is partly a thank you episode because I have so much gratitude for every single person who has listened, shared an episode, sent me a message, told a friend about the podcast, signed up for the newsletter, worked with me, supported the show, or simply quietly listened from wherever you are. But I also want to talk about something bigger than the podcast itself. Because one of the greatest things this past year has taught me is what can happen when we're willing to step outside of our comfort zone and allow ourselves to be seen. Starting a podcast was absolutely outside of my comfort zone. If you listened back to my earlier episodes, I talked about how difficult it was for me to push record that very first time. I think sometimes when we look at someone after they've been doing something for a while, it's easy to assume that it must have always felt natural to them. You see someone speaking publicly or creating content or running a business or just putting themselves out into the world. And because they look comfortable doing it now, you assume they probably started out that way. I certainly didn't. There's something incredibly vulnerable about putting your voice out into the world. When I work one-on-one with someone, I can see them. I can feel their energy. I can watch their reactions. I know when something lands and I know when something doesn't. I know when I need to go deeper into something and when we need to move in a different direction. There is an exchange happening between us. Podcasting is very different. I sit here and I talk into a microphone. I don't know where you're listening from. I don't know whether you're driving, walking your dog, cleaning your kitchen, sitting at your desk, lying in bed, or listening through headphones while you take a walk. I don't get to see your face when I say something that resonates with you. I don't know when something makes you stop and think. And, especially in the beginning, there was something very strange about that. You're putting your thoughts, your beliefs, your experiences, your ideas, and your voice out into the world without really knowing how it's going to be received. And that can feel very vulnerable. And I think vulnerability is one of the reasons so many of us stay inside our comfort zones. Our comfort zone isn't necessarily a place where we're happiest. It's sometimes simply a place where we know what to expect. We know who we are there. We know how other people see us there. We know the rules. We know how to function. And when we step outside of that familiar space, suddenly there are unknowns. What if people don't like it? What if nobody listens? What if I sound ridiculous? What if I say something wrong? And what if someone disagrees with me? What if I put all this effort into something and it doesn't go anywhere? And maybe the question underneath all of those questions is simply, what happens if I let myself be seen? Because being seen can be uncomfortable. Expressing ourselves can be uncomfortable. There's a safety in keeping parts of ourselves private. And there's safety in having an idea and never doing anything with it. There's safety in saying, someday I'd like to. Because as long as someday never arrives, we never have to find out what would actually happen if we tried. But there's also an enormous amount of life waiting for us beyond that familiar edge. And I don't mean that we should constantly force ourselves into situations that feel wrong or unsafe just because we're trying to prove that we're brave. I think there's an important difference between something feeling wrong for us and something feeling uncomfortable because it's new. Sometimes discomfort is information. Sometimes discomfort is our nervous system saying, I've never done this before and I don't know what happens next. And those are very different things. I think about that a lot when I look back at this first year. There are things about doing this podcast that feel completely normal to me now that did not feel normal at all a year ago. Recording an episode, putting my thoughts into words, having guests on, sharing something personal, knowing that people I've never met are listening to me talk about spirituality, energy, human design, relationships, healing, witchy stuff, everything else we've covered over this past year. Somewhere along the way, the uncomfortable thing became familiar. And I think that's something worth remembering when we're standing in front of something we want to do, but we're afraid to do it. You don't necessarily have to wait until you're comfortable. Sometimes comfort comes because you did it. You did the thing awkwardly, you do it imperfectly, you do it while you're still figuring it out, and then you do it again. And eventually your nervous system realizes, oh, we know how to do this. And suddenly the edge of your comfort zone has moved. That doesn't mean that fear never comes back, and it doesn't mean you'll never question yourself. It means you've created evidence that you can move through something unfamiliar and find your footing on the other side. There's also a part of this experience that has been really interesting for me, and it has to do with human design. If you've listened to the podcast for a while, you've heard me talk about being a projector or an orchestrator in quantum human design. One of the things we talk about with projectors is recognition and invitation. That can sometimes be misunderstood as meaning projectors are supposed to sit quietly in the corner and wait for someone to discover us. That's certainly not how I experience it. Recognition requires visibility because people can't recognize something they never had an opportunity to see. And I think the podcast has become one of the clearest examples of that in my own life. For a long time, like many people who owned a business, I thought about marketing in terms of how to find clients. How do I get in front of people? How do I convince someone that what I do can help them? How do I market myself? How do I grow? There can be a tremendous amount of pushing in that mindset. And for me, pushing has rarely been where things flow best. The podcast has changed that for me. And that was the whole idea behind starting it. Instead of constantly trying to find people, I started expressing myself. I put my voice out into the world and started talking about things I care about. I started teaching. I started sharing the way I see energy and healing and human design and spirituality and heck, just life. I started allowing people to hear my voice and get to know me, putting my voice out into the world and allowing people to find me. Some of you've listened to an episode and then gone to my website to discover your human design type. Some of you become clients. Some of you have become friends. Some of you have reached out because something I talked about helped you understand something happening in your own life. I've met people through this podcast whom I probably would have never met otherwise. I've had conversations I would have never had. I've learned from guests. I've developed relationships and connections, and I've watched my business grow. And there has been more abundance in my life, not because I figured out how to push harder, but because I became more willing to be visible. Not everyone who comes across this podcast is gonna like it. Of course they're not. Not everyone believes what I believe. Not everyone is interested in the things I'm interested in. Not everyone is gonna resonate with my voice, my approach, my perspective, or the way I talk about these subjects. And that's okay. Because one of the most freeing things about expressing yourself in this way is realizing that you don't actually need everyone. You need the people who recognize something in what you're offering. Maybe they recognize themselves. Maybe they hear something that they've been trying to put into words. Maybe they're curious about something they've never explored before. Maybe something I've said opens a door. Maybe they simply enjoy spending a little bit of their Mondays with me. Whatever it is, there's something incredibly powerful about allowing residents to do some of the work. And I wonder how many of us are holding ourselves back because we're still trying to make what we have to offer acceptable to everyone. Maybe it's your work, maybe it's your art, maybe it's something you want to write, maybe you wanted to start a podcast yourself. Maybe you want to teach something or change careers or start a business. Maybe you want to share something you've learned. Maybe you want to dress differently, speak differently, live differently, or simply allow people to see a part of you that you've kept tucked away because you weren't sure how it would be received. Stepping outside of your comfort zone doesn't mean having to jump out of an airplane or move across the country or do something dramatic. Sometimes stepping outside of your comfort zone is simply allowing yourself to take up a little more space. Sometimes it's using your voice. Sometimes it's saying, This matters to me. Sometimes it's sharing the thing before you've perfected it. Sometimes it's allowing yourself to be a beginner. And sometimes it's letting people see who you actually are rather than presenting a version of yourself that you think they'll find easiest to accept. I think that's part of what this podcast has given me. I've been able to talk about subjects I love without needing to squeeze them into a little box. We've talked about spiritual things. We've talked about very human things. We've talked about energy and emotions, relationships, intuitions, seasons and cycles and healing. And through all of that, I've been able to use my voice. The interesting thing about finding your voice is that I don't think you necessarily find it before you start using it. Sometimes you find it because you're using it. You discover what you want to say by saying things. You discover what matters to you by talking about it. You discover what feels authentic by occasionally hearing yourself say something and realizing that it doesn't. You grow into your own expression. And I think that applies to so much more than podcasting. We sometimes think we need to know exactly who we're going to be before we're allowed to begin. But what if beginning is part of how we find out? What if the first version doesn't have to be the final version? What if you're allowed to evolve in public? You're allowed to change your mind and allowed to get better. What if you're allowed to discover that something that you thought you wanted isn't actually what you want anymore? And what if you're allowed to become more of yourself as you go? I think that's one of the gifts of doing something that stretches us. We don't only create the thing, the thing also changes us. The podcast has changed me. It has made me more comfortable with my own voice. It has made me think more deeply about what I believe and why I believe it. And it's challenged me to put language around things that I sometimes understood intuitively, but never necessarily had to explain. It's connected me with people. I've met some really, really good friends. It's brought new people into my work and it's brought opportunities, conversations, relationships, ideas, and abundance into my life that I couldn't have predicted when I recorded that first episode. And none of that could have happened if I'd waited until putting myself out there felt completely comfortable. Pushing that record button that very first time was terrifying. So maybe there is something in your life right now that feels a little like that. Maybe there's something that keeps nudging you, something you've thought about but haven't done, something you've wanted to say, something you've wanted to create, something you've wanted to share. You don't have to turn it into an enormous leap. Maybe you just take one step towards it. Send the email, sign up for the class, record the first thing, write the first page, make the appointment, tell someone your idea, apply for the thing, share your work. Say yes to something that excites you, even though part of you is nervous. Allow yourself to be seen a little bit more than you did yesterday, and then see what happens. Because I think sometimes we spend so much time trying to figure out exactly where something is going to lead before we're willing to begin. And I certainly didn't know where this podcast was going to lead. And I still don't. That's actually part of what I love about it. I don't know who's gonna find it next. I don't know which episode will land in front of someone at exactly the right moment. I don't know which conversation will lead to another conversation, or which listener might someday become a client, a guest, a friend, or simply someone who stays with this little community for years. What I do know is that none of those possibilities exist if I don't keep showing up and allowing myself to be heard. And that brings me back to why I wanted to acknowledge this anniversary in the first place. I want to say thank you, truly. If you've listened since the beginning, thank you. If you found Witches in Yoga Pants last week, thank you. If you've shared an episode with someone because you thought they needed to hear it, thank you. If you've sent me a message, left a review, signed up for podcast extras, worked with me, told someone about the show, or simply pressed play when you're going about your day, thank you. There are actual human beings on the other side of these numbers, and I never want to forget that. And I especially want to thank those of you who have chosen to financially support Witches in Yoga Pants with a monthly contribution. That means more to me than I can express because you're choosing to support something I create because you find value in it and want to see it continue. And I don't take that lightly. If you've ever thought about supporting the podcast yourself, there's a support the show link in the show notes. There's absolutely no obligation to do that. Listening is support, sharing is support, being here is support. But for those of you who have chosen to contribute financially, I just want you to know how deeply grateful I am. And because this anniversary really is about gratitude, I wanted to do something for those of you who've been listening and have thought about working with me, but haven't taken that step yet. For a limited time, I'm offering $50 off an initial session with me using the coupon code Witchie. If you've been curious about human design, the energy work I do, or what it would be like to work together, you can go to createyourvibrant life.com, fill out the appointment request form, and just mention the coupon code Witchy when you submit the request. And I'll make sure to apply the $50 off. So happy slightly belated first birthday to Witches in Yoga Pants, and thank you for being part of it. I cannot wait to see where we go in year two. Until next time, use your voice, step beyond what feels familiar, and give yourself permission to see where it leads. Take what you've heard today even further by joining my newsletter community. Each week you'll receive journal prompts and reflections connected to the episode that are designed to guide you in bringing these conversations off the podcast and into your own journey. Let's keep going deeper together. The link is waiting for you below.