Conscious Conversation With Shannon Keating

A Beautiful Conscious Conversation on what Shannon Keating does as a Holistic Life Coach, we explore her journey and go deep into the importance of empowering women with gratitude and self love. Shannon combines a variety of coaching and mindfulness based practices to grow happy and whole humans.

Transcript

I've known since I was like a kid that I've been put on this planet to help people.

That was this week's guest Shannon Keating and this is Conscious Conversations.

My name is Luke McLean.

I'm a life coach and I'm a meditation teacher.

I work with people primarily to help them create the space to get the clarity that they need to then look at what's the life they want to live that really speaks to their purpose and that's what I do.

So you know if you ever want to contact me just look me up at lukemclean.

Net or on Instagram lukemcleanmindfulness.

So that's what I do but let's get into Shannon.

Shannon is also a coach and she works a lot with women on transforming them to be more unique,

More empowering and you know really being themselves and again that authenticity and she does it from a different lens for me but there's a lot of overlap in how we see working with people and the importance of being present and being mindful and the work that we have to do on our inner self because you know personal training which is great and leadership which is great but a lot of the work that we feel that needs to happen is the outer self but to get great outer self we need to dig deep into the inner person and that's where I sit and do a lot of my work that then transitions to the outer but we have to but we have to start inside and if you looked at it from an eco from a natural ecosystem a lot of the work that Shannon's doing and probably what I'm doing as well isn't the soil we're working on the soil to make the soil really healthy then we'll grow whatever we need to grow but when we want to just plant stuff when we want to just plant goals and we want to plant different things but we haven't done any work to the soil or the rest of the ecosystem that they die they die really quickly and all they just don't take so the soil work or the the deep work that Shannon's going to talk about in this podcast is just so important and that's why I was so good to have her on the on the podcast and she speaks with such authenticity about what she does and gives a bit of a running description on how she coaches and how she sets up her practice which is really nice as well.

I loved it I loved Shannon's lens on how she coaches and I really liked how she speaks to the whole person and that's so important and speaks to the relationship that we have with ourself because that is the most important relationship we have the reality is you know my lens and this is not Shannon but you know life's just a flow of energy exchanges through beautiful connections get great at great connections and really deep and authentic connections then we'll get more energy and that's what I feel like Shannon's really speaking to in this podcast so if you want to check out more of what I do it's Luke McLean Mindfulness on Instagram or lukemclean.

Net on the internet.

Shannon is just Shannon Keating on Instagram nutritionuplifted.

Com or she's got a Facebook page and you can just search her up but without further ado this is Shannon Keating and this is Conscious Conversations.

Okay so we've got Shannon Keating,

Shannon's what I'd call a transformational coach who specializes and works a lot with women and you know primarily around mindfulness meditation and the inner work thanks Shannon for coming on Conscious Conversations really happy and stoked to have you on.

Yeah thanks for having me Luke I'm excited.

Shannon I think it's such a great story and I think you know the wellness of men and women but the ability to really put a focus around the coaching lens on helping people show up with more authenticity and be okay with everything they've got inside and we all carry that and that's completely normal and to bring that out into an open lens is really important so I'd love for you to just touch on some of the work that you're doing and some of the focuses that you've got when you do coach people.

Yeah of course.

So let's see my I guess to kind of begin the pillars of like what I do are authenticity,

Vulnerability,

Connection and love and so in my work primarily I guess oh there's a lot of layers too but I think my like my mission is to help women form like a really deep loving connection to themselves and their bodies and also to integrate spirituality into their lives and so when I first began my I've known since I was like a kid that I've been put on this planet to help people.

Yeah.

Like I've just known that and I didn't really know you know it's like you know okay there's this this element of my purpose but what does it look like how does it take shape how does it take form and I didn't really know how that took form and so when I began working with people it began in holistic nutrition.

Yeah.

And so I started with holistic nutrition and it was great I was so passionate about it I learned so much I went to the Nutritional Therapy Association here in Denver and it was wonderful but then I started to like call in these clients these women who were all just struggling with the deeper stuff the not wanting to feel their emotions not feeling like they were good enough feeling as though they needed to lose five more pounds to be beautiful or to love themselves all sorts of stuff and I kept getting these clients after clients after clients and I was just like so called to help them with the deeper stuff but they were coming to me for a meal plan.

Yeah.

They were coming to me to yeah to be like told what to eat and when to eat it what not to eat how to exercise and I think that's amazing it's it's important but I was like that's not even what you need.

Yeah.

And and for me I'm like such a person of high integrity that I was like I just can't tell you to cut out your to cut out sugar one more time because that's not your problem.

That's exactly right.

Your problem isn't with sugar you know it's with these emotional things you're not addressing that are making you want sugar and then making you beat yourself up about yourself and yada yada yada going down and down and down and so I kept just kept getting these these cases and I was like okay I really want to help people with the deeper work I want to help people more with lifestyle stuff so I started to integrate more of the lifestyle stuff into things like talking about sleep and meditation and things that I was you know doing in my own life but I was like you know if I really want to help these women with a deeper work I've got to do the deeper work.

Yeah yeah.

So I was like okay I'm ready to do this deeper work and so that's kind of what began my path is I started to dive into deeper into meditation deeper into learning how to actually whoops actually feel my emotions learning how to actually love myself just like right now you know work with acceptance work with forgiveness work with love work with the subconscious programming like all sorts of stuff I just like really dove in and started to do the work on myself and I'm very very intuitive I have natural gifts to be able to like help people already and so with what I was learning I just started to share it with clients and so I started to share how to meditate I started to create courses and meditate on how to meditation and in weaving self-love into the kitchen I started to create different programs and and it's just constantly been evolving and that kind of led me to diving deeper into spirituality and deeper into other things and then just like sharing them with women but I guess at first for the last like the first couple years it was a lot about helping women love themselves and their bodies yeah and it's so important and it's so amazing but these last six months last six months to a year have really shown me that again that's part of the picture we also need to be weaving spirituality into our lives yeah because it's not just about us as humans it's about our souls and it's about us living a human life but also having a like being very having a very spiritual experience as well and so I found that just focusing on the self-love and the body love it was it wasn't quite it you also like you need to feel that you are deeply connected and also you're being supported so in those moments when like you hate yourself or something blows up in your external world and you're not trusting and you're losing faith and you don't have hope you can tap into like a higher self a spiritual connection and that can can really help you hang on and be like okay one day at a time I'm gonna move forward and it also really helps to empower women too because it's connecting them with their intuition and it's connecting them with like feelings in their body so that they know what is a yes for me what does it know for me how can I be guided but also guide myself towards my next step so yeah I think I think yeah Shannon I think I think you've raised some good points here and I'd love to to dive a little bit into the like for a lot of people this inner journey that people take in as a coach you know you sort of try to take people on it's actually it's initially a hard journey like it's not it's not an easy step because it's a step of unknown a lot of people aren't sure of the step and when you coach on this stuff it's not it's not a 10-page ebook of this is exactly how you do it for each person because it's such a unique path that you need that support and that guidance to help you because your your path will slightly vary from the next person's and you're at a different point and what you're saying is important that it's not one thing that starts it and then it just flows on in a step program it's all connected and all quite messy sometimes and I'd love to know how you go how you talk to that like how do you talk to that with a client that then they a get it but first really can onboard and believe to receive it yeah okay so there's a couple things that kind of come to my mind so the first thing I wanted to just mention is like we've got you know our creative beautiful dreamer minds our higher self that like that that soul inside of us that is like okay we're meant for more it's you know it's safe to be happy and call in greater relationships and like actually be joyful and like have a good life but then we also have this ego part of us that's like no but you're comfortable here and I want you to stay here so don't go over there right and then that ego is just going to self-sabotage all the time just keep us here keep us here keep us here anytime we're like okay let's spread our wings let's maybe do this meditation practice let's do this thing and then the self-sabotage comes in and like the self-sabotage doesn't always make sense yeah right it's not like this clear hi I'm your ego and I'm self-sabotaging you from deeper spiritual connection and joy and happiness but it'll come in of just like the negative self talk the the tiredness the going back into old habits back into old patterns back into old relationships and so what I first have women do and especially if they're having like this resistance to doing the work because they're like okay I know it's going to be hard and that scares me and it's unknown and I don't even know like I'm scared right I'm scared so whenever you say I'm scared okay that's ego that's fear yeah right there right then and there that I'm scared is okay then now we know that we're working with ego and fear I'm scared I'm excited okay cool excited means we're working with soul yeah and so what I'll have women do is just like okay let's just just like remove all the buzziness all the external stuff all the noise in your head let's slow everything down let's calm it down and I'll just ask them like is this you know this direction or this path or doing this practice or working with me as a coach is this in alignment with your soul and they'll get the answer like right now at this point in time and if they say yes I'm like okay great let's talk about moving through the fear if they say no I'm like okay wonderful let's talk about the next steps of what you need to support your journey yeah right and so I think that helps a lot is like knowing that is the first thing that came to mind and the second thing that really comes to mind is a lot of times it can get heavier before it gets lighter yeah and I was talking to my client about this I think two days ago because she's done such amazing work but in order to get where she is today where she's like about to quit her job she's going to like take money out save up go to India and do a yoga teacher training she's like totally revamping this she's been in like she's built like a 12-year career in like banking and finance and she's just like radically transformed the last five months but in order to get to this place where she's like oh my gosh I have a vision I have a dream it excites me like boom she had to stop drinking stop smoking stop hanging out with her community of friends sit in her loneliness spend Friday evenings by herself lonely right like battle against cutting boundaries with different relationships feeling isolated right having like really open vulnerable conversations with family members and ex-partners like ending relationships like she had to do all that stuff and I think oftentimes like that stuff isn't talked about right we see these people like sitting and being like oh I love meditation I'm so happy and I'm dancing la la la but they don't talk about like it kind of sucked for a little bit and maybe a lot of it and there's some darkness here right and so unless people are like really talking about that and making it like it's not so scary yeah that's right yeah like yes it's it's awful and it doesn't feel good and there are like low points and darknesses and scary like feelings and all this stuff and the feeling of isolation all this stuff around it but to be like it's okay because it's all temporary and there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it doesn't always have to be heavy is really important too but I think people need to be talking about yeah there are going to be moments when you feel lonely and you have to distance yourself from certain friendships and you have to stop certain behaviors and habits that you've been doing for 10 years you know and like that's not always fun but there is a light at the end of it and reminding them of that and having them work with like that hope and that vision and and see other people who have done it as like confirmation okay I can do it too rather than oh I can't do that that person is like separate from me yeah Shannon I think you make an amazing point there that the need for people that have been on the journey to self-discovery and in higher purpose to tell the to tell the harder story as well as the the end story where they are where you know your client in five months time posts on social that she's got a new yoga teacher from India everyone sees that as the outcome of oh well she's awesome and she's happy now but hasn't seen the work that's taken place to get to that they just see the outcome and want to get there but haven't seen that yeah it's it's it's been a hard journey like it's been really rocky but you know there's a saying that like in the to get to the treasure you got to get to the depths and you've got to go deep sometimes to get the real gold and but we don't sort of portray that as much and I love what you do and what you're trying to do is talk to that and embrace that the journey not so much the outcome yeah totally totally.

What I'd like when you said you've got to get people to get the buzziness out of their head and you know get clear and get the space like that within itself can be tough so I'd love to just unpack that a bit and how do you how do you work with your clients to to get a bit more space to get a bit more clarity?

Yeah so so I kind of like like you said everyone's so individual which is why I really like working with one-on-one people because you can see like okay what do they need right now and you use your tools and your practices and you kind of lead them on this journey but I also do groups and so what I found works really well just like a couple things that work really well in general are one what I have people start with is just like a very simple simple simple meditation practice that they're going to do.

Yep.

Three minutes,

Five minutes,

Ten minutes max right especially if someone's been meditating for a while then we can like jump right into some deeper stuff but if they haven't like I have a real conversation with them and I'm like okay we need you to meditate every single day and commit to a practice and we'll figure out what time of day is going to work best for you and what's the time we're going to start with and so some women are like okay I can do three minutes and so we're like okay great we're going to start with three minutes and so then now they're sitting with themselves for three minutes every day and I just start with like the simple breath right it's so simple but like just use your breath to connect with yourself and to connect with the present moment and let's start there and let's start working with that.

And do you Shannon sorry so in that do you is that the is that the narrative you create with with the clients is we just want to begin this meditation for however long it is to connect with the breath to connect with the moment and that's the that's the reason why I want you to meditate like how does that because I gather you can say I want you to meditate but there needs to be a purpose to the client as to why do you want me to meditate what are we trying to get from this as opposed to just let's meditate.

So because right we know there's like a billion and one benefits to meditation but to simplify it the reason why I'm having them begin is to yeah connect with the present moment and to connect with themselves.

Yeah perfect.

Yeah and so every day it's like it's that act of I'm showing up for myself too I'm sitting with myself and I'm sitting in stillness and silence with myself whereas a lot of like people and women it's like we're running around we're people pleasing we're taking care of people we're we're exercising we're eating we're socializing we're reading we're absorbing all this self-help stuff and we're not just like sitting and forming a relationship with ourselves and the and the present moment that is our lives.

And so that is how I start people it's like let's start there and we'll kind of build off it ideally I love to have clients sitting for 10 to 20 minutes every day and and I integrate different guided meditations and things into their practice but we start with what they're going to start with and the cool thing is like they notice within a week within two weeks like they're noticing how this is changing their life and I don't need to tell them like you can expect this this this and this from your meditation practice I don't even put that in their in their ears you know because they'll notice it and they'll share like Shannon I noticed that you know I was at the park and this this gentleman came up to me and you know he wanted to talk to me but I felt really uncomfortable I didn't want to talk to him and like I was able to like take a deep breath and like be nice to him and then walk away where I wouldn't have been able to do that before you know and they like find these little tangibles wins and they're like oh there's something to this I'm going to continue you know just those little things are so important yeah I think Shannon and you bring up probably one of the best points when coaching and talking to people it's it's meeting them where they're at and I think exactly what you're saying then there's no point asking them to do um 40 minutes of meditation in day one and they'll never do it and it won't stick and then they drop off the wagon again and I think that's the beautiful thing what you're saying is it's it's three minutes it's five minutes but we actually want you to do it like what can you do and take action on right now as opposed to what I want you to where I want you to be and I expect you to be which is a completely different narrative so I think that that that's super important for that I I I'd love to know what your practice is in terms of of what you're you feel in terms of how you prepare you when you get to catch up with a client like what's your preparation for a client beforehand you do you prepare quite in-depthly or do you then just you sort of just as it comes you play it by your heart and your soul and what you feel is the right thing to say and bring up so what's that tension that you hold between those two Yeah,

Yeah,

So I I feel like I Really get to know my clients And it's something like I really value in myself is For our first session.

Well first before they even work with me I really get to know like what's going on with this woman and can I help her and then once we begin to work together the first session together is Very long.

It's like 90 minutes to two hours and I'm diving deep and I'm asking a lot of questions and I'm taking lots of notes but I'm also just like allowing my soul and my Human self to just like soak up all this knowledge about this person And then what we'll do towards the end of the session is we go through like a like a bunch of different pillars we go through Spirituality we go through body we go through relationship with self we go through health We go through Like your connection with your femininity and sensuality like we go through a number of areas and I guide them in a process of meditation Where I ask them to Really visualize into what the current reality is for them in this area of their life.

So if we focus on like body How do you feel about your body?

What do you think about your body?

What is your relationship with your body look like?

How do you treat your body?

What do you think about when you look at your body in the mirror and I have them like bring all of that to their mind and Then we go through that we take a deep breath and then I have them visualize.

Okay?

Ideally,

What do you want your religion their body to look like?

How do you want to feel about your body when you look at in the mirror?

What do you want to be wearing?

What do you want to be putting into your body like and then I have them create the ideal And I have them do this in a number of categories and then once I got him out of the meditation They just like word vomit out and share everything.

Yeah,

And so then when we start coaching I've got this beautiful picture of like,

Okay know a lot about this person I'm starting to get to know their personality more and then I've got this beautiful picture of like this is where they're at And this is their vision and we've got six months to make this vision happen.

And so at that point Then it's just like I just intuitively coached them the goal being to get to that vision and the halfway point We kind of check back in with that vision make sure it's still in alignment because things shift and change right like in six months Like they might have a whole different vision for their body and they might have even gotten there and they want more So that's kind of I'm like working off of that I'm working off of this woman how I'm intuitively reading her and then before each session.

I just like ground myself I review all the notes.

I kind of review her stuff and I'm just like You know what source just like work through me and help me to guide this woman to what she needs right now And while I'm coaching her I'll get little like hits of like oh we need to do this practice right now.

I'm like,

Okay We're gonna go through this practice right now Yeah It's really it's a beautiful insight into into like the process I don't think a lot of people understand the process of coaching and everyone's gonna every coach is gonna do it slightly different But the process of a there has to be an element of preparation and planning,

But I find the people that coach really well There's an element of you've just got to be with the person as they are right now and see what happens from that You can't be too prescriptive So I think that was really nice to sort of to take people through do you find your clients?

When you get into the inner work,

So for instance,

It's the body and people go What do you want your body to look like and you know,

What would you be wearing?

That then when you get into some more inner work and people realize there's more about Acceptance of just what is that then that shift to wanting to look that certain way Actually isn't how I want to look because I've got more acceptance of my body as as it is now So that I want to actually focus a bit more of my energy on You know mindfulness and meditation as opposed to just nutrition and how I look Does that happen with your clients quite a bit of that the The trajectory changes quite a lot as they do more in a work and go on that journey Yeah,

It totally does it totally does because something I do work with is Active acceptance that we've got to accept what is not so we stay with it,

Right?

Like if it's like oh,

I I hate my body Okay,

But can you accept that you hate your body?

Yeah,

Right and then What do we want to get to right?

Okay Well,

I want to get to a place where like I accept where everybody's at right now.

Okay,

Let's get there,

Right?

It's like eventually I want to like love my body and really and really value my body and see it as a beautiful temple And all these things regardless what it looks like,

But we're not there right now So let's start working with acceptance and I do find that women like when we start to work with acceptance and this and that then Yeah,

Like this ideal image or ideal picture kind of goes away and they're like,

You know what?

I like dressing this way or like sometimes I like to wear outfits like that But like that's not actually authentically me all the time And so once we work with acceptance and work with like owning who they are More then a lot of that stuff does kind of just float away and it's not really yeah it's not really the goal or the desire the desire is more of like loving who they are and and putting more What's the word?

It's whatever wants Oh confidence putting more confidence energy into like loving who they are versus who they think they need to be Yeah,

And I don't know if you say it Shannon but you know,

You must work with women that are more in that corporate world and I work with a lot of men but there's you know,

There's a pressure to look and behave a certain way that is really inauthentic and it actually takes a lot of energy from them and What it what people sort of realize is like vulnerability and authenticity when when you can unlock that and build that relationship with yourself It's actually a real performance tool like it's a performance tool where you actually improve performance not it's not a soft and fluffy thing where you're actually gonna get walked over and people are gonna take advantage of you now because you're You're vulnerable and you know,

You practice your meditation mindfulness or whatever you're doing because it's softer That's the I'd love to know how you Speak to that because that's something that I talk to a lot But because it's I see it as a real,

You know Mindfulness and vulnerabilities is real perform a performance tool in leadership now and in life Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

I mean I would totally agree and kind of what I have to add to that is I think that especially right now Everyone is just craving People to be themselves.

Yeah and almost It's like oh my gosh,

You're yourself now.

I have permission to be myself Right and I'll have to keep pretending that I'm okay all the time and when you ask,

How are you?

I don't have to always say good because I'm not always good right,

And I think our our world is really craving that like actual authentic connection and Relationships and leadership where this person can show up and not be like a mess But be authentic and real and not be preaching from this pedestal Like I am enlightened and I am perfect and yada yada yada but show they're a real person and they're working through these things and and I think that when you can show up and be yourself it Actually inspires other people and helps to give them that permission.

They're looking for to be themselves.

Yeah,

And I yeah,

I agree completely and I think the work that you're doing is that helping some people have gone off the journey that far that They'd actually don't know who they really are So there's the self-discovery of like who am I really because you know Ten to twenty years of being someone that isn't authentic to you It takes quite a bit of work to get back to that space of Who I actually am and who I really want to be and what my purpose on this planet actually is Is that for you?

Sometimes some of the starting blocks towards what you do is is actually the Building the relationship or finding who you really are.

I Think so,

Yeah because a lot of women and myself included get so distracted in comparison and especially with social media and media in general and just like Everything out there.

It's so Distracted in comparison of like,

Okay.

She looks really happy.

So what's she doing or they've got this relationship?

So like clearly that brings happiness or you know,

She's like,

Okay,

I'm gonna be happy Clearly that brings happiness or you know,

They're doing this workout.

So maybe I should do that workout Oh,

They said this maybe I should do that.

Oh,

They're buying that crystal.

Okay,

I'm gonna buy that crystal and it's so External it's so so external and I've noticed this a lot in the last Couple of months just in my own journey of how I was I was kind of getting really caught up in it,

Too And I actually took like a two-month break From social media because I found myself like on that thing just comparing comparing American American I was like this is not serving me at all And I'm just gonna like as much as my egos like you can't disconnect you run a business from social media I was like,

Yeah,

But my life and my health and my sanity is more important than this so I took a step back and I noticed with the women who follow me in my Facebook community and Clients they were like Shannon you took a step back.

I took a step back You know,

They they got off Instagram for a month or two because they're like,

Oh,

Thanks.

That sounds really good I find I'm doing this too.

But but in essence,

Yeah a lot of the practices I have women do is like Really getting to know themselves and doing a lot of work around like your inner child yeah,

Looking at that girl doing healing there and then also like seeing the things that you love about yourself and Starting to boost those up and And also looking at though like okay.

I love the fact that I am Compassionate how can I acknowledge that own that and be even more of that?

Yeah,

Right and then also the things that like our society tells us aren't super great Like I work with a lot of women who are empaths and they were very very sensitive.

Yeah,

And that's because that's me yeah,

And I Up until these last few months.

I had everyone and their mother telling me that I'm an empath Yeah And then I'm so sensitive and all these things and I disowned it because when I was younger I was always told I was too sensitive and too emotional and to this and so I didn't want to be I didn't want that Label identity,

Whatever.

I'm also very introverted.

I'm incredibly introverted I love being in my own space being by myself and Sometimes that makes it difficult as someone who's also identifies as a leader,

But it's also an introvert Yeah,

Right wants to grow a business and network but also really wants to spend time by herself and So things like that I'm having women really look at and acknowledge and own and so Doing work with their inner child doing mirror work where they have conversations with themselves and they just have a conversation around like you know What you're very sensitive and it's actually a gift and I'm choosing to own this and create it into a gift Rather than what society tells us which is that it's a weak point or it's too much or it's to that and you know What you're introverted you need your alone time and you need to start to honor that rather than?

Buzzing around and doing all these things and starting to come back from place of like Who am I actually authentically versus who am I trying to be and can I be more of my authentic self in?

A bigger way even though that that seems scary,

Too.

Yeah It was like this like what you've just said there Shannon.

There's so much in that like there's stacks in that and there's and I Feel like when you were saying that I was kept coming back to just the importance And you would talk to this all the time,

But the importance of self-awareness to know What step to take when so when do I want to go out and get energy from other people?

But when do I need to be by myself because I know that that space does energize me and you know Being empathetic and an empath is actually a good thing But how do I use that to actually,

You know help people and give because that's my purpose It's so much there that if you haven't got the self-awareness to understand Who's showing up or what showing up at what times it could be quite?

Confusing and quite confronting and quite for people that don't know themselves that well so that's what I saw in that and I think it's it's really important for that and The relationship with the self.

It's just like what's your relationship like with yourself without going into too much detail?

But I see that's for me what I'm looking at.

It's the most important relationship we have and it's the one that I'm Self-discovering and I don't think it's an end journey I don't think you have the relationship with yourself and go it's done like I'm okay now because it's a continued Journey of self-discovery with yourself to help,

You know,

And I'm similar to you to help others become better but it's such a Important relationship that we don't spend a lot of time on we don't a lot of people don't set intentions or journal or have the mirror Coaching session with themselves big a because they're too busy to do it and they're always worried that the next thing Like can you unpack that for yourself?

But and how you do that,

Like how do you build that relationship with authenticity?

Yeah It is It's a never-ending process.

Yeah,

It's oh,

Yeah.

It's so It is just that Constant I don't know.

It's like you are always with yourself Yeah,

Always always always and actually a friend of mine shared with me She's on a spiritual path as well.

And she's always like a little like a little bit.

I always say like oh She's a little bit.

She's always a few steps ahead of me So it's really nice to have her and like you talk to her and be like,

Okay like now you're doing this,

Okay I'm gonna do this next,

You know,

And so it helps stop her and we've been like best friends since third grade which is really beautiful,

But she was telling me she was like,

You know what like We're never she's like we're never really alone because we always have our thoughts and our and like our minds with us all the time Right.

And so this whole like concept of like feeling lonely or feeling alone.

It's like we're never really alone and And I loved when she said that and then another thing that kind of came to My consciousness over this weekend I was at this women's empowerment retreat and a Lot of people feel this isolation Especially when they start to work on the relationship with themselves where you start to feel lonely You start to feel disconnected you start to feel like oh my gosh,

I'm doing all this work on myself and I'm always with myself and I'm you know,

Not choosing not to do certain things and like it can get a little bit like you can get to in your head and you Get like feeling kind of isolated and lonely and so what this woman mentioned was she kind of just like brought the point that You're not alone We are all one.

Yeah,

And So,

I don't know if you've heard that before but just like breaking down that word and I was like that's so true and so for me my relationship with self is constantly growing and I think the biggest thing that I could say that I'm working on right now is Is truly honoring like my wants and my desires and forgiving myself for I guess I Distancing myself from different relationships from having to choose a different path from all sorts of things I think you know,

I've done a lot of work around relationship with my body and meditation and and now for me what's really coming up is is forgiveness and and feeling worthy enough to go after What I do desire Yeah,

And and not let my mind keep keep me down and keep me stuck.

And so Yeah,

I think it's just a constant evolution and there's always layers and different things that come up But it's it's kind of I think when you can always come back to like love and compassion and ease for yourself then you can kind of work with whatever kind of comes into your way and When you start to tell yourself like I am worthy I am enough and if I need to make this decision To not hang out with this person or to end this relationship or to end this career or pivot It's okay.

Yeah,

And So that's what I find a lot of women just feeling this guilt of like even like I'm going to ask my husband I don't know to help and I'm gonna take a bath or I'm gonna you know Have a day to myself or whatever There's this impending guilt that comes towards the self when we are taking making decisions that are more in alignment with us And so I think that's one piece and then the other piece I did want to mention that I work with women is like getting a really good relationship with intuition and Seeing intuition like as soul and as self but also as like a higher power supporting you Yeah And knowing like what is a yes for me and what is a no for me and knowing what that feels like in your body not listening to the mind but tuning into the body and the feeling and Then just using that as a compass and trusting that like okay if I honor my bodies and my intuitions yeses Then this is going to be what's best for all Yeah and trusting that and working with that it had I found to be very profound and like really helped me to Make scary decisions and forgive myself and and do things that are Scary and uncomfortable and make me want to beat myself up and get into you know Negative self-talk and loops and all that kind of stuff.

Yeah Shannon on that how important is having you know a grounding pillar around purpose and values to then let that trajectory stem from so if you you know,

And when I say purpose the you know,

The purpose from the heart and purpose from the head but that connection and then the values that you want to live and align to that then allow you to when you Go off.

You've got a place to come back to to go is this serving my purpose like my purpose for why I want to be on this planet to give to others for instance or to To be more compassionate being as a value like do you work a lot with that within yourself and also with your clients that there there's There's a compass point around purpose and values that you can come back to it and align back when you do get a little bit lost mm-hmm,

So I guess It's a really interesting question because I You know to be honest I don't do a lot of work around that I I do have women in my coaching my group coaching program come up with in like a whole like a beautiful paragraph of like their beliefs and their stories like not what their family wanted them to do or their friends or Society and so I have them do that And I think that's a beautiful thing when you're like interacting with other people and just kind of feeling into Is this person alignment?

Is this not but honestly what I found best is like Does this feel good?

Yeah Like really really simply does this feel good and you couldn't you couldn't really you can boil it down to tangible Values and and purpose and like a you know,

Like words you can But you can also just like have that within you and be like does this Decision or working with this person or going to this event or doing X Y & Z Does this feel good and that does require you again to go back to?

Forming that stillness within yourself Yeah You go and you clear and you ask and then you listen and that sometimes the hardest part of like Oh,

This doesn't feel good,

But it would help my business,

But it doesn't feel good Okay,

It must not be in alignment.

I just have to trust that.

Yeah Talk to me more about honoring It's a word that it's a really strong word that you said you got to honor my body and and honor and I'd love to Know,

You know How you use that word?

But what what's that mean to you when someone is honoring like how does it show up?

Yeah,

So I think how that shows up honoring yeah,

Like honoring the answer is Because what you know when we speak about purpose all of all of us have as souls if we're on a spiritual path like we do have a purpose yeah and Again,

That can change Right,

It can totally change like for example Like I know deep down my purpose is to help people.

Yeah and a large part of those people They're women and children young girls,

And I know that but how that takes form.

I don't know Yeah,

Right like I know how right now but in the future like I've got ideas.

Yeah,

Right,

But I think it's honoring Honoring is when you are living more in alignment and listening more to the higher self version of you versus the version of you versus the the small version of you the ego version of you that just wants to stay safe stay small stay stuck in Old patterns.

Yeah,

And so honoring it's like it brings in that level of like respect and love into what you're doing Because you respect that I am a soul having a human experience.

I'm going to honor that spiritual aspect of me and I'm going to listen.

Yeah Yeah,

Yeah,

It's it's you know,

It's It's such an interesting word.

There's so many words that are so powerful that I feel sometimes we say them without getting into the reason why and the importance of them and when we Begin to understand the importance of something like honoring that that we actually be really true to ourselves and understand that that then we We hold it with high regard rather than just say it without understanding what it's actually meaning or what it's doing to us So that was why I sort of asked that question on that because I think it's a really powerful word and it's something that we We really need to do is honor ourselves and honor our reason and our purpose for being here Because if we don't we're kind of doing ourselves a disservice you know to Well here for a short time,

So we want to Be the best version of ourselves we can but that needs to be done with you know a lot of authenticity and a lot of realness to who we are and it takes a lot of courage but It's we have to or else if we don't we haven't honored this existence for instance And that's why I sort of went there.

Ah Word that's come up quite a bit and a word that I play around with so much and I love to get people's lens on it is ego because it's it's like It's it's a common word now and it's getting spoken about a lot more and it obviously it's a an old word That's been through every sort of religion and text but like what's your take on ego and and how do you look at it and?

Feel about it Mm-hmm,

So Yeah,

I think I like I didn't even know I'll tell you this I didn't even know I had no idea what an ego was Yeah up until like I read I think my first like Gabby Bernstein book and she really dove into it and I was like,

Whoa That's you know,

That's amazing.

I remember learning about in psychology and high school in college,

But I didn't click No,

Right,

You know,

There's like the ego and the ID and what never click and that's like the word like the honoring Like that's what I mean.

Like we hear these words in school and we're like it doesn't oh We've heard about ego when we've heard about you know,

The self and these things through school many times,

But until they click Then they've got the power so Yeah,

And so growing up to you know,

You also associate with like,

Oh they just got a big ego They're full of themselves.

It's got a big ego and that's that's what I thought ego was Yeah,

Someone that's just overly confident and in a little bit of like a kind of way not a really like inspiring way But I guess because I have to work with ego.

Oh my gosh.

It's like a daily practice,

Right?

Like we're always working with our ego but we're also like when I'm coaching women like that's such a big thing that I really want them to start to understand and What I found works best is so ego I Mean you have so many names for it But I like to I like to honestly give a lot of names because different things are gonna resonate with different people Yeah,

So it's like ego can be synonymous with fear.

You can be synonymous with inner critic Yeah,

Right can be can be synonymous with like a lot of women say like inner mean girl or inner mean boy,

Whatever Yeah,

Negative self-talk that sort of yeah negative self-talk another.

Yeah,

So like that's like these all can be synonymous And so what resonates most with you is all that matters,

But essentially what I tell people is like,

Okay Our ego is not a bad thing.

We need it.

We're human,

Right?

We're here as humans and so we have an ego and it's actually great because it helps us identify who we are and have this individual individualistic aspect of ourselves But the thing is the ego is designed to keep us where we're at and keep us very safe and keep us very the same Right inside of our comfort zones.

And so when we look at it that way and we're like,

Okay So there's this ego this part of our consciousness that wants to keep us safe in our comfort zones And what happens is when we start to contemplate from our higher level of thinking?

Okay,

I want to do this thing or I want to start this practice or I want to like try on this way of speaking to Myself that's outside of my comfort zone.

That's unfamiliar.

That's new Then our ego then our fear then our inner critic is gonna start to jabber And it's gonna start to say these things because our minds is so powerful It's gonna start to like say all this stuff to keep us from expanding outside of our comfort zone and so what doesn't help is when you start to engage in that dialogue and you start to like get mad at the Ego and be like,

Oh,

Why can't I just not have an ego?

I wish I didn't have an ego I wish I didn't have doubts.

I wish I was too confident Right when you start to do that It gives the ego strength and power and then what happens is you just stay and the egos like yay victory and you're like Oh,

I wish I didn't have an ego.

Yeah,

But when you can start to be like,

Okay This is an aspect of myself that's built in design to keep me where I'm at and it kind of hums and drums and it Doesn't always sound good.

It sounds it sounds kind of nasty.

I don't really like things it says When you can give it a little bit of compassion and love and but also sternness Simple as like thank you But no,

Thank you.

Yeah,

And then move in the direction of like what feels good What feels expansive and know the ego might still buzz into whatever you move towards then becomes comfort zone Yeah,

Right.

So for example with meditation really simple example is When you're beginning to meditate and you're noticing all these benefits in your life Your ego might be like,

You know what?

Let's skip it today.

I'm tired or you know what?

We can't handle ten minutes like five minutes is good enough.

I don't want to go to ten or You know,

Whatever it starts to say.

And so you can either be like,

Okay ego I hear you and you know what?

It's actually safe for me to meditate for ten minutes And I'm gonna choose to meditate for ten minutes Yeah And then you go and you meditate for ten minutes and we do that again and again again And then all of a sudden after like four weeks a month meditating for ten minutes comes comfortable Your ego isn't gonna pipe up when you meditate for ten minutes,

But maybe it will when you say,

Okay now I'm gonna meditate for 20 minutes or now.

I'm gonna meditate twice a day Yeah,

Right And so it's like kind of that aspect of us that's gonna sit there and jabber and jabber and jabber And so we kind of have to speak to it.

Love it acknowledge it tell it it's okay I'm safe because that's all it wants to know is I'm safe and then move forward Anyway and take that next step out the comfort zone expands it quiets down and it's just like an endless ongoing process.

Yeah yeah,

It's Yeah,

I mean,

Yeah spot on it's a beast.

I think the ego is really powerful I think that's what I saw what I've noticed and I think there's a flipside to Shannon where you work with people,

Too it's like I I've been offered this role as a general manager for instance,

And I'm this and it's like okay So do you really want to take it and it's like the egos like of course you want to take it like you want to Be a GM.

That's the next step But to bring the person back to go Okay well Is that you or is that the ego wanting to that the status symbol or the extra twenty thousand dollars?

But in your heart of hearts and when you go back to your core values and honoring yourself You know is the six hours a week away from your children to be the GM really serving your purpose Or is that the ego wanting just the next step because that's what society is telling you is successful And I think that's that the other flip side where it can really again it hooks you into into that and and what you're saying so true and I love what you said and it's it's the like some people think you they can just let the ego go and it's it's I don't believe the The egos always going to be there And it's it's like it's how well we build a relationship to the egos What's really gonna matter not not trying to get rid of the ego or pretend it doesn't exist because if you do that That's when it's going to become even stronger and take more of a hold on you Yeah,

So I think you're spot-on and I I think people Need to spend a lot of time building that relationship with the ego and noticing exactly what you said,

Which is this amazing tool to actually go that that's the ego like talk to it and Let it know that okay that's interesting that you're not wanting to meditate for 10 minutes today and Chances are when you do sit even to meditate for that 10 minutes the ego will come back in a minute to and go I Told you you shouldn't be doing this.

It's like oh There you are.

That's interesting that you yeah here here,

But I think I should I need to stick it out Like quiet it again.

It'll come back Yeah,

It's such a powerful and that's why I want to ask you.

It's so powerful and it Do you feel it?

Do you feel that it can cripple people that it really sort of can hold them back?

Oh my gosh Yeah,

And I'll give you a perfect thing like in my own life it's in the last so Personal example I was like going going going going going going doing all these things and had this experience last time Experience last fall that just like things just blew up all at once and it was really scary and it was really ugly and I Didn't like it and I was freaked out.

I was just like so much anxiety just so much mass confusion I know who I was like it was it was a dark night of the soul rock bottom experience that like I was not Expecting I was like all my high horse like I'm doing this Yeah,

I'm gonna travel the world blah blah blah and then it was like boom no Shannon.

That's not where you're going and and so I've like really had to sit with myself a lot and lead on like really positive relationships and like cultivate a really strong relationship with my My intuition and just like knowing.

Okay,

What what are the correct decisions?

What aren't the correct decisions and I've noticed now I'm kind of at this period where I Can't go back into old patterns because I've got so much awareness around them.

Yep,

But I cannot stay where I'm at Yeah,

Because it's something painful Right,

And so it's like my ego is like no don't invest in that.

You know,

I'm looking for my Next like spiritual mentor coach that I want to work with and my egos like no don't do that Stay where you're at.

Yeah.

Yeah,

Like yeah,

But where I'm at is now becoming more painful than like Investing this scary amount of money into a next coach because I know What might happen and what might happen is that I outgrow certain people certain relationships certain Places in my life that are not serving me anymore.

And that is what's freaking my ego out the freaks freaks And I think that's a bit like going back to your client about how she you know She's had to let it go when she's gonna go to India and study yoga.

It's it this is And I haven't seen it stop hasn't stopped with me and it sounds like I hasn't stopped with you where you become the more aware you become The more you realize I can't be where I am right now and it like it feels like it's the wrong spot You'd like that movie The Matrix like y'all this isn't where I it's all an illusion type stuff and it's very uncomfortable to be there But then you're not where you feel like you should be yet So you're sort of stuck in the middle and that?

Space and then you get you transition to the next space and then you sort of realize I want to go again and you get stuck again like Which sounds a bit like yourself in terms of outgrowing and getting a new mentor and it's scary But it's necessary at the same time like you sort of I can't not do it to a certain degree Yeah,

And I think you do like you have these These like periods of time and these you know moments when you're like,

You know what things are good,

You know,

I'm feeling really good I feel like I'm stretching myself.

I feel good where I'm at,

But then like yeah those plateaus hit We're like,

Oh my gosh Something has to shift in a massive way and I don't even know what that looks and feels like But I know it has to because it's getting so uncomfortable to be here.

Yeah,

And and what I What I kind of alluded to is like,

You know,

We were all everyone's talking about like there,

You know higher vibrations vibrate higher this that and that and I was kind of like a little bit about it because I was like,

You know that that's egotistical being like Oh your vibration is higher than them and you can't spend time with them and this and that But all of a sudden I'm getting a real-time experience with it and I tuned into a like a deeper accessing more like spirit guide meditation the other morning and it and the wisdom I got was like Shannon your soul is wanting to vibrate higher and the people you're surrounding yourself with and the the environment you're in is Old and it's lower and so that's why you're so uncomfortable right now Because it's like it's out of your control that your soul is ready for the next evolution But your your circumstance isn't reflecting that and so it's like that's why it's so uncomfortable and I was like,

Okay great So what I said was I was like,

You know what that's great.

That's amazing There are certain aspects of my life.

I'm not going to change right now,

Right?

Like where I'm living I'm gonna be here for a couple more months.

Yeah,

So what can I do in the meantime?

Yeah,

And you're and you'll get insight.

It was like buy some plants Yeah,

Yeah You know like there's little things that we can do or it can be like go out and do this women's circle or go to This meditation group or go to this yoga studio or do these little things right now To give you that dose of inspiration and give you that higher vibration or give you whatever it is You're your soul's looking for while you do the inner work to then get yourself to that next level where you're you're growing And you're more comfortable in your growth.

It's not this like plateau uncomfortableness Yeah,

And I think Shannon you said you've like but the plants the plants and the the women's circle is the that is the step to trajectory like the trajectory isn't There when you move out of the house,

For instance,

It's by that's the first steps getting the new plants and it's going to that But it take like that's the the step to the high vibration that's already happening but the The belief that I need to be in a different house is going to make the vibration all of a sudden That's the bit where it's acceptance of now.

I can start right now like it's inside me and I can go and buy Five plants.

Yeah,

And that's the start like that's it Like I think that's the the beautiful bit with us that we can start where we are right now And if we I think you can get tormented on thinking you have to have this yoga mat To be better at yoga and then you start to compare when you walk into the studio of all they've all got better yoga mats Than me and I had can't afford this much yoga mat yet But it's like no I can use this one and I can just practice to stretch on it this way and that's my way of Getting where I want to be Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

Totally and that that's the thing too.

It doesn't yeah,

It doesn't have to be this massive shift of like,

Okay I'm gonna move it can be okay.

I'm gonna buy some plants and like that's what like that's what I was guided That's what I was tuned into doing and it's like,

Okay,

I can do that.

Yeah And then what's next right and it's these little steps right?

Sometimes there are massive shifts you have to make Yeah,

But it oftentimes Yeah,

Our egos will get in the way of like oh well unless you can yeah get that yoga mat or live in that apartment Then you're not doing it,

Right?

But it's working with where you're at not staying stuck But elevating it to the capacity which you can to give yourself momentum to keep growing Yeah and chances are the massive shifts that we feel like they were massive shifts if you actually Reflected and you might not realize it at the time But there's probably been 20 small shifts that have made that shift really it might seem like it's happening out of nowhere but you know,

You've gone to a meditation class and you've met someone who's Owns a yoga studio in San Francisco that then all of a sudden I'm moving to San Francisco But the shift was you went to a meditation class and you met someone and then yeah.

Oh,

Hang on It all happened all of a sudden.

No,

I it's because you bought some plants and then That's where it started.

Like it's the plant started it really and I think that's Yeah,

That's it.

That's it.

But before we leave I I just wanted to finish with like How do you with your clients but also with yourself and this is something like what's in what's the tension you hold between?

It's like social media and social connections But as you sort of said we've mentioned before actually the community connection of going to yoga going to a physical meditation group like and the importance of a Having both and not you know,

Finding your mentors or everything.

So solely on digital How does that play out for you Yeah,

I love that you asked that question because that was that was that's actually conscious shift I've been making in the last several months because I Was very tunnel vision on I'm building this online business because I want to travel the world Yeah,

And I know that one day I want to have an in-person practice and maybe online stuff,

Too But I know at some point in time,

You know when I'm ready to settle down all that stuff I want to have like a home right like a physical home that I see people in and there's work like Beautiful spiritual work done there and all sorts of things but I was like tunnel visioned and like,

Okay But I want to travel the world and an online business is the way to do that So I'm gonna do this thing and so working with people and like,

Okay,

How do I build it on my business?

What do I do?

What do I need to do and just like so in that That I was actually not nurturing my in-person connections and I wasn't nurturing Like yes seeing an actual physical healer in person or you know having just a night with my girlfriends making dinner Yeah,

Like I wasn't doing that stuff.

It was very much business my relationship at the time Traveling the world go.

Yeah,

And so this whole bit the whole experience I had in in August Just made me really look at things and be like,

Whoa I need to cultivate more of a balance.

Yeah,

Because I am like I mentioned I'm introverted I like my time by myself.

Yeah,

So honestly running an online business serves me in a lot of ways Yeah because I can be You know in my own space with a plant next to me with sage with a candle and I could just do my own work In my own space and I like that but then finding the balance between okay now you need to go and like go right to a woman's circle or go see someone or Organize a date with some friends because like you need to be the one to do that Finding that balance has been something I've really been looking into a lot lately And honestly when you put the intention out there of like I'm ready to balance my life out a little bit more I'm ready to Call in some good relationships and nurture that like it happens.

It happens really quickly So I think it's the first the awareness of like when you're out of balance and like,

Okay I need a little bit more this and a little bit more that tensions out there.

I'm gonna put some energy into it I'm gonna take action.

Yeah And do you think Shannon that sort of also serving you for you know,

If you did want to travel the world and be sort of mobile with your business that when you've got that balance sorted a bit more that you actually enjoy the Trip a bit more because you'll have the practice of going out and meeting people and getting out and enjoying it because I you know There's no point traveling to Europe For instance,

If 90% of what you're gonna do is gonna be on the on a device inside like that's it You know to me so it's sort of like no you've got to get good at this as well like Is that what you sort of saw?

Yeah.

Yeah,

And then I also yeah,

But that's also a reason why I think that Online social media all that stuff is amazing.

Yeah You know,

Yeah cuz like for me a lot of my travels I want to do India I want to do Thailand.

I want to do Australia.

I want to do Japan and so finding people who live in those places and connecting with them ahead of time and just knowing there's people out there and like when I Know I'm gonna go next year having people I can reach out to even for recommendations or hey,

I'm coming Can I meet up with you?

Yeah,

Like that's gonna be really valuable,

But then also knowing like I'm in Colorado right now I'm in Denver until at least September of this year.

Yeah,

And so honoring that and cultivating like tribe and community here At the same time.

Yeah,

Perfect.

I'll let you go because it's been a great hour For people that you know aren't following you or want to get a bit more information about what you do So I gather you do coach globally Yeah,

So,

You know,

I think you know,

Especially for the people in Australia that listen to this So where can people find you in contact?

Yeah,

So I would say Best I mean best best place to kind of find me and look check out the work I do would be either on Instagram and that's just my name at Shannon Keating or I run a Facebook community It's closed It's like a closed Facebook community called unmasked women and that's on Facebook and I do a lot of live Trainings in there and put like interacting with people in there so you can kind of get a feel for my work in both of those platforms,

But then if you want to chat with me more like one-on-one and reach out and connect then Either shoot me a message on Instagram or send me an email to Shannon at nutrition uplifted comm perfect Shannon Appreciate it.

It was great.

It was a great insight into what what you do and also,

You know the work That's gone into yourself to get you to where you are.

So I think was a really beautiful conversation Thanks Luke.

I enjoyed it.

Thanks for having me.

No worries Okay,

So I hope you like that I hope you like Shannon I I really it was a really cool conversation You know,

She spoke well She gave me space to speak and and we got some really good questions out of it that she answered with real authenticity But I feel that as a listener you would have taken some really good notes and got some good stuff away from from that From that podcast.

So I really do.

Hope you liked it and I do encourage you to go and check out more of Shannon where she mentioned you can find her at so Have a great week.

Look after yourself.

Take care,

You know,

And really my message for this week is Start to take some steps on the inner self start to look at you start to even if you just start the journal in the mornings and just or what's called auto right just write down the feelings It's a practice and the more you practice it the better you get the deeper you can go and the more you're gonna unlock And that's that's my advice for tonight for today.

Sorry.

So take care.

This is conscious conversations My name is Luke McLean and look after yourself