October 11, 2023 • 41 mins
We have a very exciting episode today because Amanda’s sister, Mimi, joins the show!
In this episode, Amanda and Mimi delve deep into their personal journey, exploring the highs and lows of their relationship, the revelations they’ve had along the way, and the growth they’ve experienced through pain.
Mimi shares her front-row perspective from the early days of Amanda leaning into her mediumship abilities and tells amazing stories of Amanda’s gifts in action and how her messages have shaped lives.
The sisters also discuss the complexities of family dynamics and how they can lead to both wreckage and healing.
Topics they cover:
- Challenging, difficult, dysfunctional family dynamics
- Growing up in a divorced family
- Feeling out of place within your own family
- Dealing with estrangement following a sudden tragedy
- Alcoholism and addiction
- The process of reconnecting after a period of separation
- Divine timing and intervention
- The lessons you learn from your family of origin
- Holding space for your loved ones to cultivate their gifts and passions
Amanda and Mimi share their personal family stories to help others navigate their own challenging family dynamics - this is your reminder that healing can happen and the best gift that you can give your loved ones is time, space, and understanding.
About Mimi:
Mimi Rieger is a renowned yoga instructor in Washington D.C. with 25 years experience who hosts international retreats and has graduated hundreds of students in her yogi training. Mimi has a unique ability to get people into their bodies and tweak anything out of alignment with their spirit.
Follow her on Instagram @MimiRiegerYoga and check her out online MimiRiegerYoga.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hi, everyone, It's Amanda Rieger Green. Welcome to Soul Sessions.
I am overjoyed.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
We're laughing already.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I was going to give everybody a disclaimer that get
ready to laugh and get ready probably to cry and
everything in between, because today my guest is my sister, Mimi,
Mary Elizabeth Reager. She lives in DC. She is joining me.
She is my person. She is my person and has
(00:38):
been since I came on to the earth. And so hello, Mimi.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hello, welcome, so happy to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Mimi is a yoga instructor in Washington, d C. She
is incredible at what she does. She's highly gifted, has
been doing this for twenty five plus years, host retreats internationally,
has graduated hundreds of yogis and students in her teacher training.
(01:08):
But she's always had this gift of helping people get
into their bodies, pay attention, tweak anything that is out
of alignment. Because when I was little, you know, she's
the person that taught me how to do cartwheels and
all of my dance moves. And I can remember, you know,
(01:29):
at four or five years old, no risks straight, no,
land it on two feet, land.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It, do it again.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So it again, do it again, do it again, stronger,
do it again, do it again.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And anyway, so welcome, thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I am very happy. So today, let me just give
everybody heads up. We're going to cover a lot of territory,
so we'll probably break it into two sections. We'll do
a part one and a part two, and we're going
to talk a little bit about our journey, our relationship,
the highs, the lows, the in between, the revelations, the growth,
the pain, our family a little bit, which which I
(02:08):
know that you all relate to, because we all go
through family dynamics, sometimes dysfunctional, sometimes functional, and it can
create a lot of wreckage. We've certainly been through that
and in this very miraculous and divinely timed way, created
an extraordinary healing that resonates out not only too and
(02:32):
with our family, but I think into the work that
both of us do in the world. Our day to
day life are personal practices, so we're going to share
that with you. We're also Mimi is the person who
was very active and in a front row seat to
me stepping into my mediumship, my intuitive gifts, and it's
(02:53):
quite fascinating, hysterical, and overwhelming. So she is the one
to be able to reflect backstories and talk about opening
up to spiritual gifts and her spiritual gifts and intuitive
gifts too. So we're going to cover a lot of
territory and thank you for joining us. I want to
start with when I was little. I think I was
(03:14):
maybe four, So I was in preschool that was like four,
and we had a dress up day and you dressed
up for what you wanted to be when you grew up.
And I remember mom was like, well, what do you
want to be when you grow up? What do you
want to dress up as? And I was like a teenager.
I want to be a teenager. And I had an
(03:36):
outfit that I called my teenager outfit, so that's what
I wanted to wear. But I wanted to be a
teenager because you were a teenager. Mimi is ten years
older than me, and she basically was what I wanted
to be when I grow up, and she still is
in a multitude of ways. And you know, have you
(03:57):
ever heard it when people say what you want to
be when you're like four or five years old, that
really is closest to who you are at the essence
of your soul.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Now have you ever heard anybody say that?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
No, And I think that's so true at this moment.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
What did you want to be when you were four
or five?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I wanted to do something with design, you know, always
something with design, using my hands, using color, just you know,
style whatever.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Memei's an incredible designer and stylists and curates spaces places,
whether it is clothing or it is home decor she
does that with a very discerning and discriminating eye. And
you will know it because it's all over her body language.
If she disapproves of something or it needs tweaking, Yeah,
(04:41):
it shows all over your body language. But that makes
so much sense, and especially this phase where you're doing
a lot of evolving personally and professionally. But yeah, I
wanted to be you when I grew up. And I
think back to that and I was like, well, what
was it?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Why?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And it's not hard for me to answer that question.
I want to to be you when I grew up
because you brought me joy, We laughed, we played. Mimi
and I share the same father. I have four half siblings,
and all four of those siblings, I have three sisters
and a brother, and there's me with my parents. So
(05:17):
we have different mothers, same father from two different marriages,
and Mimi was the baby of the four. Mimi is
the youngest of my four siblings, and she was born
at a time that was pretty challenging, I guess, with
our father and your mom and their marriage and life
and a multitude of things, and then they ended up
(05:39):
getting divorced. My dad met my mom, married her, and
they had me. So it was like I grew up
as an only child, but with siblings. Mimi grew up
as an only child but with siblings, and our experiences
were very close. Talk to me a little bit about
that from your perspective and split family and also just
(06:02):
challenges in childhood.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Yeah, I mean, you know, my three other older siblings,
Aman is older. Half siblings are much older than I am,
so they were kind of living a different life than
I was. The closest sibling to me is six years older,
and then my brother is eleven years older, so there's
quite a they had completely different lives going on. I
was very small, and I was just kind of sheltered
(06:26):
and kept kind of out of the chaos and just
kind of to the side. So I kind of grew
up with not really no, I mean grew up early
about not really knowing where I fit and not knowing
really what who I was because I didn't feel like
I was part of their family, even though I was
and I loved them. So when Amanda was born, it
(06:46):
was like I was so delighted to be able to
have someone that was actually mine, you know that where
I felt like I could, I could be with her.
We could, you know, we could. We could just play
and explore, and I just wanted to give her all
the love that I had because I felt like I
just I was a really loving kid, and I didn't
have a lot many outlets for that because there were
so many different things going on in life, you know,
(07:10):
leading up to my sixth and seventh year of life,
and just a lot going on. So when she was born,
when I was around ten, it was like a really
significant gift and it shifted things in me, in my
heart and my value. You know, who I thought I
was because I could share my love with someone.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Well, and now you know, by that's who I wanted
to be when I grew up. And it was so
important to me because I also and you know this
and thank you for sharing. I felt out of place too.
I felt that same sense of confusion around who I was,
where I belonged. And while I had my family unit
(07:50):
of our dad and my mom, I also had these
four half siblings that were grown and older and in
and out, and they none of them lived with us,
So it was like I was an only child. Yet
I had siblings, but I never really knew where I fit.
And from early on we fit together quite well, and
we played and we had fun and it was delightful
(08:12):
for me. And that's why I think going back as
an adult and looking at, Oh, what did I want
to be when I grew up, and it really was
I want to be enjoyedable. I want to be enjoyed.
I want to be loved on. I want to have fun.
I want to laugh, I want to be seen. I
want to play, you know. And I think about that
(08:32):
as an adult today, and it's so much a part
of my prayer and my intention is that I want
to be joyful. I want to be playful in life
because I wax towards serious and intense.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Except when you don't, except when you.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Accept, except when I don't, and when I don't I'm
quite rambunctious and sometimes off the chain and out of control.
And I love it because, you know, there's nobody in
the world world except for you know, my siblings. Really
where I get to be this unapologetic version of myself
(09:09):
that is quite playful and free Mimi and I, And
this is where I want to dive in a little
bit deeper entire experience. There was a period of our
life where we were strange after our dad died. It
was he died when I was eighteen, you were twenty eight,
and you were just shy of twenty nine, right, yes, yeah,
(09:32):
and he died very suddenly. It was very tragic and unexpected.
And the years following that, so Mimi is twenty nine,
I'm eighteen nineteen that age, you know, those are pretty
formative times. I was about to go off to college.
You are, you know, embarking on what I would know
as your Saturn return and into that decade of the thirties.
(09:54):
It's a real pivotal time and moment. You also lived
in Washington, d C. At the time. I was in
Louisiana and then headed to college in Tennessee. So we
had geographical separation. We didn't get to see and share time.
But then more and more space came between me and
all of my siblings, and I was a big part
of that. And I was going through a lot of
(10:16):
struggles and I set some pretty harsh boundaries for a
long time, and there was an extended period of estrangement
and it was painful. It was painful for me. I
was angry, I was confused, I was frustrated. I was
also in my alcoholism and addiction and that flourished at
that time. So it gave me this extra excuse in
(10:38):
my mind at the time.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
It gave me an.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Extra excuse to set a harsh boundary and to cut
people out of my lives. And I cut my people,
my family out of my life in a pretty significant way,
from a lot of pain and trauma and anger and
from a very hurt place. It makes me think, you know,
hurt people, hurt people, And that's definitely what I was
doing at that fame of my life. And it was
this coping mechanism and I didn't I didn't know any better.
(11:04):
I didn't have the tools and resources, and I also
didn't know how to show up, be honest, be vulnerable,
speak my truth. I just didn't have any of those
tools at that time. But it was very painful and
the separation was hard. What are your thoughts on that
time from your perspective? What are your thoughts on that
(11:30):
time from your perspective?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Well, because I did feel like our connection was significant,
and we were, you know, apart from each other a lot,
you know, after I left DC and that sort of thing,
but we I felt like we were so entrapped in
each other's hearts. You know that I didn't think that
that that bond would ever dissipate, you know. So I remember,
(11:55):
you know, trying to find you to invite you to
my wedding. You know, there are ways, you know, place
we couldn't. You know, we didn't know where to find you,
and you know, our sister in law was, you know,
the super sleuths trying to find you for all the years.
You never gave up and finally did find you. But
there were just points where I just felt confused, and
I mean honestly just bummed out, never mad, never upset.
(12:19):
I just was bombed, you know, I was bombed because
I just wanted to spend these times with you, you know,
I just spent I just wanted to spend that time
with you. But I think in retrospect, and we've in retrospect,
we've talked about this before, Like, I think that you
and I together, it would have been too much for
us to handle, to be honest, Like if we were
(12:40):
both in our you know, in our heyday of like
having a good time and doing those things and being together,
I think it would just be too be too much.
And so I think there is this divine intervention of
us having a little pause and then meeting each other
a little bit later when we were actually doing a
training or and our lives are so so parallel. When
(13:02):
we meet that together, that's the magical part about it, right,
I mean the sucky part is the distance and the separation.
But on the other hand, when we reconnected, I mean,
that's joy right there. I just remember seeing you for
the first time when I pickedure oup at your friend's house,
you know, and you came out of the door and
(13:23):
I was like, oh my god, there is she hasn't
changed a bit. You got in the car, like, let's go,
what are we going to do? Like nothing had changed?
How many years was it like thirteen years something like that?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, it was thirteen years and I share this with everyone,
and this is a huge part of my story that
it's pretty delicate to talk about. And I don't know
that I've talked much about it publicly, but I was
after our dad died, I went away to school, and
it was it was extremely traumatic personally, obviously financially, and
(13:55):
I was pulling myself up by the bootstraps, putting one
foot in front of the other, really surviving for a
long time, and unreconciled grief and pain and trauma just
began to compound. And all I knew was to shut
out and to set heavy boundaries and put my head
down and do the work. And when I say do
the work, I'm not talking about the personal development and
(14:17):
the spiritual work. It was achieve, accomplish, go to school,
get this degree, go to graduate school, get this job,
make sure everything is taken care of. Make sure my
mother is taken care of, which you have that same
parallel life with your mother. So these are both of
our moms. You know, our father is deceased. Mimi was
(14:38):
the youngest and very close to her mother, just like
I was close to mine. And I felt even though
my mom took care of me, made sacrifices to have
the things I needed. I still felt like the one
that was supposed to assume the role of my father,
or be in charge or do what well academically and
(15:01):
then professionally to make sure I could take care of things.
And in order for me to do that, it was
a lot of self preservation. And then I set these
boundaries and I didn't know how to heal and connect
and approach old wounds with my half siblings and my family,
so I shut them out. And the longer that that happened,
(15:21):
the sicker I got, especially in my alcoholism and addiction,
because they say something in alcoholism that made sense to
me once I made the decision to get sober and
my life started to change.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Is we drink at?
Speaker 3 (15:36):
You know?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
We drink at And if.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You would have asked me in the midst of that,
if I was mad or angry at you all, I
would have said, no, I just can't handle them in
my life. I can't deal with all of their stuff
or their pain or their trauma. I have enough on
my plate. They don't understand my situation. But I drank
from a place of really needing to feel, and I
would drink at even though it was very subconscious. I
(16:00):
would drink at my inability to let people love on me,
let people see my messiness, let people see my brokenness.
And I think so much, and it was about to
start crying. I think so much of the barrier that
I put up for so many years was I was
afraid to be loved because love to me meant abandonment
(16:21):
or you know. And I didn't know that at the time,
and my mom certainly never abandoned me, but our father
and many things, you know, I think it just piled up.
But what Mimi articulated to you all is she and
I both know you know, when we saw each other.
She picked me up in Washington, d C. I was
with my one of my dearest friends from college, and
(16:44):
it was like part of my soul just infused back
into my body. The moment I saw it was like
we had never been apart, yet we had so many
things to connect and catch up on that we didn't
even know and it was divinely orchestra. And it was
that way with all of my siblings, who, by the way,
are the loves of my life today, you know, apart
(17:06):
from my husband in text and Abby, are dogs. You know,
apart from our dogs and my husband, you know, I
need them. I need to do life with them because
I'm better for it. And I now can show up
in my messiness and my brokenness and these humans, you know,
these siblings are the ones that carried me when I
(17:28):
couldn't carry myself through my mother's death this past year.
So I got to be present for Mimi's mother passing
a few years ago and support and love on her
and my other siblings, and they turned around and showed
up without question and with more unconditional love. So it
was very divinely orchestrated. And I for anybody out there
(17:51):
who is listening and understands challenging, difficult, dysfunctional family dynamics,
because we have been through. I mean, we could basically
be a mini series on HBO Max.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
What was that show? Big little lies?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Like?
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I mean, I don't know that we had murder going on.
I don't know that we had murder, But literally, if
they made a Lifetime movie, it wouldn't even be a lie,
it would be it would be a number one Academy
Award winning show. Because our family, the stories are outlandish
and incredible and so layered so layered psychologically and personally
(18:32):
and intertwined, and it's karmic. And you and I know this,
and that word. When I use the word karmik, I
mean I know that we came down to learn big
lessons and I feel like we have. We walked through
all the chaos and dysfunction, but we have also walked
through the healing in really brave and tremendous ways with
(18:55):
each other, and all of us healing different layers of
dynamics separately together. It's very intertwined. But MIM and I
and I agree on this is there is something to
divine timing. And if you're out there listening and you
have pain with your family, your family of origin, you know,
(19:17):
and your family of origin, and I tell you what,
our family of origin, we incarnate into these families to grow,
to heal, to learn lessons. And when we grow heal
and learn lessons, usually it's through pain, and it's through
trauma and tragedy and death and loss and fear, not
always through the happy, joyful stuff. We grow through the tragedy,
(19:42):
and it is divinely orchestrated. So if there is someone
in your family that's on your heart, that you're estranged from,
or angry or unable to forgive or unable to let in.
You don't have to be ready at any time to
let them back in or heal those things. A big
part for me was saying to God, Hey, God, help
me show me and as I heal and heal through
(20:04):
all of my mess, help me to be able to
show up, and you divinely orchestrate it, God, when you're ready,
and when I'm ready to show up and face past
my side of the street and then be open to
hearing their sides of the story and what went on.
And that has been one of the most illuminating pieces
of the puzzle of my life, of our lives, the
(20:28):
fabric of our lives is hearing your side of the story,
hearing what you were walking through, Hearing what my other
siblings were walking through at different junctures in our journey,
and being able to relate, to appreciate it, to understand
each other's pain, and not to dismiss it, to really
(20:49):
embrace it because it's so parallel and intertwined. It's like
we all came to learn to love on each other, specifically,
to grow together and delight in one another. Is there
anything else you want to say about that or that's
coming to mind.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
No, I would just say that we were all having
our own individual kind of experiences and journeys with how
whatever was going on in the in that timeframe, but
everything was kind of happening to us in our own way.
There were you know, three, four or five foundational aspects
that were affecting all of us, right, So it was,
(21:28):
you know, yes, so we were individual and also collectively
experiencing the same thing.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I would say, yes, And that's so incredibly intricate on
a soul level, on a consciousness level, to be experiencing
similar stories in different environments and then learning how to
bring those together and intertwine and be reunited and reconnected
(21:58):
stronger than ever. So when Mimi picked me up that
day in DC and we got in the car, and
of course we just started laughing and crying, and we
were both genuinely overjoyed and overwhelmed to be with each other.
And at this time, it's when my gifts of mediumship,
(22:23):
clear cognizance, and precognition were busting in very rapidly, uncontrollably.
I was confused, I was afraid, I was curious, and
I knew that something massive was stirring in my soul.
And I will say this and I know it. I
(22:45):
know it in my being. You and my mother held
the most delicate and strong space for me to cultivate
those gifts in very beautiful ways because I did know
how to share my voice with the world. I had
just finished my yoga teacher training. I was still working
(23:07):
in healthcare where I was doing very well, but all
of these spiritual gifts were coming through, and of course
I finished my yoga teacher training and here I am,
you know, seeing Mimi in action as one of the
most incredible yoga leaders and instructors that I have ever encountered,
(23:28):
and then getting to have you hold space because that
trip was pretty significant because my gifts were coming through
uncontrollably and I couldn't shut my mouth. I mean, what
do you remember about that trip? Because this is it's hysterical,
and it's just it's kind of a.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Freak out moment. I don't even have words for it.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
I'll try to keep it very succinct, but it'll be
pretty hard to do.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
What do you remember about that trip?
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Because this is it's hysterical and it's just it's kind
of a freak out moment.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I don't even have words for it.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I'll try to keep it very succinct, but it'll be
pretty hard to do. So. I think the very first
experience that because you and I weren't talking about any
of your you know and you and of your woo
stuff yet. We were just kind of catching up on
family stuff, like talking about, like, you know, just what
we've been doing and blah blah blah. So I took
you out to this lovely little town called Middleburg and
(24:27):
we had lunch out there, and we were at this
old inn and we were sitting there like waiting to
maybe you've gone to the restroom or something. I was
waiting to get for the reservations of the thing. And
you came back and you said, well, do you see
that union soldier over there? And he was right there
in the corner, just like like it was just as
clear as day. And I said, where exactly is he
(24:50):
standing because I just seemed exactly now And.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
You said, yeah, a union soldier, And.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I said where did you You're like, well, he's not
there now, but he was there just a minute ago.
You're like, I know, you think I'm crazy. I was like, no, no,
I know this place is haunted. I've heard this for years.
I've just never seen anything yet. I said where, Will
you let me know if you see anything else? And
you said yeah, sure, because I wanted to see if
I might build it. You have the same yet you know.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
And listen, the cool thing about this is it was
so mad, like I just said, well, did you see
the Union soldier? And then a matter of factly, she says, no,
but I know that this place is haunted. If you
see somebody you know, let me know again. So it
was casual, yet it was strong, and it it held
space for me to start to let you in on
(25:38):
the world that had been chaotically rocketing my life and
I didn't have a lot of space to share it.
So my mom had been sharing in these experiences with
me and I hate like very very few other people
at this time.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
And then here I am.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Seeing, you know, dead Union soldiers in this this old
the restaurant hotel.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
And what happened after that? There's a fox.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
There was a fox, right yeah. And it still it
was all about, you know, the totems and the imagery,
and we started talking about all that sort of stuff,
and so like our lives started kind of intertwining a lot, like,
you know, because I've done my own self study and
you know, all my self excavation work all these years
before we met back up again, and so we had
so many similarities and so many like we didn't have
(26:26):
to talk, We didn't have to explain too much to
each other. We just knew. We just kind of got it.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
We knew, yeah, and you had this, you had an
oracle deck, you had a spirit animal totem deck. I
remember that because you know, after all this is going on,
when we got back, You're like, oh, I've got a deck.
We've got to pull the deck out, and we've got
to pull cards. And I don't remember what we pulled,
but I do remember we were pulling energies that made
so much sense for us. And you're right, we didn't
(26:54):
have to say a lot. We just knew and we
held that space. Do you remember the your friend who
owned the boutique?
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yes, but I haven't even have a better story. I mean, yes,
well I can certainly tell that. I mean, this might
have to be a six car series. I mean, I
have so many stories, we'll have to cut it short.
At some point, I'm going to tell you the really
sweet story about my friend. So you know, we were
out in Middleburg and I wanted to take you to
my friend who had the horse farm, remember, and we
(27:22):
went to meet her, Michelle, and she was one of
she's one of my mentors. She's just this badass lady
who I just she just rocks my world and just
such an inspiration for me. And so I really wanted
you to meet her. And so we go out and
we pull up to her farm and we're walking up
and she's walking towards us, and you said something like,
(27:43):
do you think she would be offended if I said
something to her about, you know, something about her husband?
And I was like, well, I mean I know she
has a partner right now, but I'm not sure. Maybe
she's cool, like I'm not sure exactly how how it
will go. And so she we introduce you to her,
and she's super sweet, and you said, I'm so sorry
to say this, but your husband wanted me to tell
(28:05):
you something. Is it okay if I give you a message?
And she said sure, just very just kind of casual.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Sure, and her husband had died years back, right, yes,
like love of her life love of her life husband.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah. Yeah, and you said, he wants me to tell
you your eyes are still as blue. That's the first
thing you said. And then you said, and he's so
happy to see you wearing the belt buckle. And do
you remember that she said after he passed away, that
she cut all of his belts down so she could
wear his belts.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Now, I don't remember, she had.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
One of his belt buckles on, and she and that's
really what got her, you know, because that's a very
specific thing to notice a belt buckle. And then we
went into her home and her mother came through, and
you know, so that was a really because she's just
the coolest person in the world. So to have like
the second experience with me with her she's open minded,
(29:02):
it just kind of kept things going, you know, like
we just kept Yeah. And I remember we're driving back
from the farm back to DC and we're talking about
stuff and you said, oh my god, Dad is here,
and I'm like what, You're like, Oh my god, Dad's here.
He never comes around. He never comes around. He's here
right now. It's like, well, what does he say. I'm
just driving.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Look, And here's what's so crazy about this is so
our dad died in nineteen ninety nine, as I said earlier,
and so for me, people who I love, who are
family who have passed away, they will show up and
come through, but they don't come through so definitively and
strongly unless I am around someone where it is it's
(29:45):
like you had to anchor in the inner validate for
him to get to validate it for me, because I
can feel that just like you feel your mom, or
I feel my mom come through because we've lost our mothers,
or dad will show up. But it was like you
were anchoring in his energy.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Okay, wait what did he say?
Speaker 3 (30:02):
So? Yeah, so you said, oh my god, no, so
Dad is here. I'm like, okay, what is he saying?
Like what I mean? I remember just driving and looking
over at you like okay, I mean like it's you know,
it's like it's the normal, normal day day to day routine,
you know. And he said, oh, well, he's he's like
an orchestra. He's like a conductor and he's or he said,
he's been orchestrating this, hoping that what is happening, and
(30:24):
he's doing his hands like this like to conduct the orchestra,
saying that he's been working on this behind the scenes
all the time.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, Which I can see Dad with his fingers, like
do I can see his hands?
Speaker 2 (30:38):
I can. I can see Dad's hands so clearly.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Yeah. So basically, like you know, he's been working behind
the scenes, you know, to get our you know, to
have our reunion happen, you know, for us to all
start making our way back to each other.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
And then after that, which here's where it gets so layered,
because this is where the healing began, not only for
Mimi and I and these moments of magic, because they
were miraculous moments, they really were. It was like the
energy was holding this quantum space for us. But Mimi's
(31:16):
mom remarried years later later, and she married one of
our father's very best friends.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Who was in his wedding, who my dad was. Our
dad was in their wedding.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Our dad was in Denny's and Betty that's Mimi's step dad,
and her mother in their wedding, and he called Dad.
He said, you know, can I date Betty? I think
I think I'm I'm you know, into her. I don't
know exactly what he said, but he called our father
to say, you know, can I date Betty and they
got married, and I mean he he was he remembered
(31:47):
Dad because he knew Dad from childhood.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
They lived on the same street.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Dad was in his first wedding.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yes, they went way back, and here's some of the
intertwined stuff. But I remember on that trip, we were
so start talking about our father and the history of
our father and things that we knew and things that
we didn't know. And I was like, we've got to
get on the phone and call Denny. We've got to
talk to Denny. Yeah, And do you remember calling because
I mean I knew Denny, but Denny knew our father.
(32:16):
And that was like us extending, hey, we're here, we're
back together. Tell us these stories about Dad, because I
remember that being so healing to be able to reach
out and ask questions about our father, but both of
us together, asking someone who really knew, but also somebody
who was a father figure, which was your your father
(32:39):
figure more so even at times, I mean, I don't
want to overstep in any way, but than our father.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah. So we called my mom and
Denny and they, you know, everybody knew it was up.
Everybody knew that you were coming, you know, but everybody
was going to give it, give us our own to
work into it, and like, you know, let us come
out of our little shell when we were ready. And
(33:06):
so we called my mom and she's like Amanda, she
was so delighted to talk to you and you guys
had a little exchange, and then Denny came on the phone,
like you know, no time had passed, and we asked
him all about Buddy, our grandfather who we neither one
of us met, and told us about, you know, about
our you know, our grandmother, our dad's mom, and how
(33:28):
she was such a you know, such a strong female
and his in his you know, in his history, and
how she was just such a dynamo and blah blah blah,
and just kind of validated that we were all exactly
where we were supposed to be, so to speak, and
getting a lot more information about Buddy, because remember you'd come.
(33:49):
He ended up being one of my guides initially on
that very first trip. He came out and had a
very important message that he gave you to give me
and blah blah blah blah. So that was kind of
a pretty big deal.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
We're sharing these stories with you, not only to get
you thinking about healing. Whatever healing can or you think
can or can't take place, But how intertwined our intuition
and our DNA and our bloodlines are, and how people
(34:22):
in our lineage, people in our present, our ancestors, as
well as the people around us, can illuminate pieces of
our soul, pieces of our story that have been estranged
or disconnected or disjointed or untold. And it was like
(34:43):
the history of ourselves and our souls started piecing back together.
And it was I mean, it was intense, and it
was I mean we were mind blown the whole time too,
because things would happen. And it's been this way ever since.
It's been this way for you years now. We share
so many parallel stories and open up for healing. But wait,
(35:04):
talk about the woman because I remember so profoundly going
into this woman's boutique and you're like, Amanda, don't freak
her out, and I'm like, I can't help it, Mimi,
and you're hiding behind the clothes. Tell them this story
because I will never like you're hiding thinking this woman's
going to think I'm crazy. You can tell the story,
but I remember you thinking, what is she going.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
To say, yeah. So she was this awesome woman. She's
a boutique quite near where I live here in DC,
and I had a yoga pant line for a while
and she was carrying my pant line. She was just
she's just a cool lady, and I wanted you to
see how cool her shop was, and blah blah blah.
And we walk in. I'm like, hey, hey, this is
(35:47):
my sister. She's in town. And automatically you start acting
a fool, like you were acting so strange, and you
turn around and you said, your grandmother's trying to tell
me something like, I'm not sure this is the right
place for it. Honestly, I don't know. I don't know
her that well. She's super nice, but I'm not sure
this is the right place to start saying. She's like,
she's really insistent. She won't let me stop. I have
(36:09):
to say it. I'm like, okay, So I walked around.
I said, Sarah, I'm gonna go ahead. I'm going to
walk around here and just look at the pants and
see what's still here. You know, do we need to
replace anything?
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I mean, and you were you were hiding behind behind
you know, a closed tier or whatever. Those things are
called You're like hiding behind it, peeking out like a child,
and I'm you know, bellying up to her counter yes, And.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
You say, I know this is unusual. I'm me and me, sister,
I'm really not a strange person. But I have to
tell you something. Your grandmother has me has what me
wants me to tell you that she really loves the
flowers that you've put on on the desk here, on
the on the checkout desk or whatever it was. And
all of a sudden, she just starts just i mean
just dripping tears out of her eyes and she's like,
(36:55):
oh my god, are you serious. I needed to hear
that right now more than ever. I'm going through a
really challenging family situation. Something legitimately just happened outside on
the sidewalk with someone in my family. And you said, oh,
your grandmother. I mean, she is really really strong, and
she has some choice words for you, like meaning like
(37:16):
to like pull up your bootstraps and stand up for
yourself basically is what she was saying. Right. And the
way I find is really interesting is the way that
you're able to connect. And this is you know, your
special way and in ways that when I've had readings
to from others, you know, just to make sure that
people know that you know you're on the right track.
Something very specific, like she loved flowers, and there's a
(37:37):
particular type of flower that was in that flower arrangement
that was their flower, and you pointed directly to that flower,
and then all of a sudden it was you know,
it was an open an open door to move forward
because she knew it was a safe space and she
knew it was legitimate. And then you went on from there.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
And I just want to say, I mean, this brings
me so much inspiration and joy for other people too,
about so many people are coming into gifts, gifts of intuition,
gifts of the soul, of higher consciousness, of mediumship, of
connecting with loved ones, or whatever your gifts may be.
(38:19):
Finding people in your life. And it doesn't have to
be family of origin, by the way, you know, we
have a lot of family that is not blood family
that becomes our tribe, our people. But finding people to
be firm and encourage you and also to hold space
in ways. Because I didn't know how to express those things,
(38:42):
but I knew when a spirit was knocking and they
were relentless and the message was important. I was going
to figure out a way to share it. And at
that time, I was learning to ask permission ethically, you know, hey,
to ask above the spirit and then make sure I
could share it with the person that I wasn't just
dumping material on, you know, I was navigating all of that.
(39:04):
But every time I would share something and it would
resonate and heal and relate, you know, and relate presently
and concretely, it was like something leveled up in me.
But then to have you witness it and to hold
(39:24):
the space gave me a strength that I didn't have
for myself. And I'm sharing that because the gift of
intuition can be lonely. And I had a woman tell
me that this morning when I finished my pilates class,
just talking about her personal spiritual development. She wasn't talking
about mediumships. She's lost her father and her grandmother, and
(39:46):
her grandmother primarily raised her and she's going through.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Some stuff right now.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
But she says, man, Amanda, the spiritual journey is lonely.
She said, it can be very lonely. And I said
to her, I said, I hear you. It is and
she said, so many of my friends don't want to
talk about it, don't know how to hold the space,
And she said, I enjoy them, But she says, there's
a couple of people that I can go to lunch with,
(40:10):
or a book I can bury myself in about signs
and oracles and messages, And she says, I can cry
myself to sleep, but I'm not crying tears of pain.
I'm crying tears of healing and awakening. And then I
know who my audience is and I can share it with.
And I know who it may not be safe with,
(40:31):
or it may not be okay with, or it may
infringe upon their space or their beliefs, and I'm not
going to do that, but I still get to be
their friend. I just can know my audience. So if
you're listening, remembering it is imperative that this journey be
done with people who can hold space for you and
support you, because it is lonely.
Speaker 4 (40:54):
I'm delighted to be sharing this conversation with my person
my support during my journey, my sister Memi. You can
find her on Instagram at Mimi Riager Yoga. Part two
of our conversation will drop as a bonus episode this Friday.
We'll be sharing more of our intimate family stories in
hopes that you can see the divine timing in your
own life and find healing in your family and relationship dynamics.
(41:18):
We'll also talk aliens, ghost and Mimi's new path as
a death duela. You won't want to miss it. Thanks
for joining me.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
Be well,
Hi, everyone, It's Amanda Rieger Green. Welcome to Soul Sessions.
I am overjoyed.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
We're laughing already.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I was going to give everybody a disclaimer that get
ready to laugh and get ready probably to cry and
everything in between, because today my guest is my sister, Mimi,
Mary Elizabeth Reager. She lives in DC. She is joining me.
She is my person. She is my person and has
(00:38):
been since I came on to the earth. And so hello, Mimi.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hello, welcome, so happy to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Mimi is a yoga instructor in Washington, d C. She
is incredible at what she does. She's highly gifted, has
been doing this for twenty five plus years, host retreats internationally,
has graduated hundreds of yogis and students in her teacher training.
(01:08):
But she's always had this gift of helping people get
into their bodies, pay attention, tweak anything that is out
of alignment. Because when I was little, you know, she's
the person that taught me how to do cartwheels and
all of my dance moves. And I can remember, you know,
(01:29):
at four or five years old, no risks straight, no,
land it on two feet, land.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It, do it again.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So it again, do it again, do it again, stronger,
do it again, do it again.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And anyway, so welcome, thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I am very happy. So today, let me just give
everybody heads up. We're going to cover a lot of territory,
so we'll probably break it into two sections. We'll do
a part one and a part two, and we're going
to talk a little bit about our journey, our relationship,
the highs, the lows, the in between, the revelations, the growth,
the pain, our family a little bit, which which I
(02:08):
know that you all relate to, because we all go
through family dynamics, sometimes dysfunctional, sometimes functional, and it can
create a lot of wreckage. We've certainly been through that
and in this very miraculous and divinely timed way, created
an extraordinary healing that resonates out not only too and
(02:32):
with our family, but I think into the work that
both of us do in the world. Our day to
day life are personal practices, so we're going to share
that with you. We're also Mimi is the person who
was very active and in a front row seat to
me stepping into my mediumship, my intuitive gifts, and it's
(02:53):
quite fascinating, hysterical, and overwhelming. So she is the one
to be able to reflect backstories and talk about opening
up to spiritual gifts and her spiritual gifts and intuitive
gifts too. So we're going to cover a lot of
territory and thank you for joining us. I want to
start with when I was little. I think I was
(03:14):
maybe four, So I was in preschool that was like four,
and we had a dress up day and you dressed
up for what you wanted to be when you grew up.
And I remember mom was like, well, what do you
want to be when you grow up? What do you
want to dress up as? And I was like a teenager.
I want to be a teenager. And I had an
(03:36):
outfit that I called my teenager outfit, so that's what
I wanted to wear. But I wanted to be a
teenager because you were a teenager. Mimi is ten years
older than me, and she basically was what I wanted
to be when I grow up, and she still is
in a multitude of ways. And you know, have you
(03:57):
ever heard it when people say what you want to
be when you're like four or five years old, that
really is closest to who you are at the essence
of your soul.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Now have you ever heard anybody say that?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
No, And I think that's so true at this moment.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
What did you want to be when you were four
or five?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I wanted to do something with design, you know, always
something with design, using my hands, using color, just you know,
style whatever.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Memei's an incredible designer and stylists and curates spaces places,
whether it is clothing or it is home decor she
does that with a very discerning and discriminating eye. And
you will know it because it's all over her body language.
If she disapproves of something or it needs tweaking, Yeah,
(04:41):
it shows all over your body language. But that makes
so much sense, and especially this phase where you're doing
a lot of evolving personally and professionally. But yeah, I
wanted to be you when I grew up. And I
think back to that and I was like, well, what
was it?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Why?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And it's not hard for me to answer that question.
I want to to be you when I grew up
because you brought me joy, We laughed, we played. Mimi
and I share the same father. I have four half siblings,
and all four of those siblings, I have three sisters
and a brother, and there's me with my parents. So
(05:17):
we have different mothers, same father from two different marriages,
and Mimi was the baby of the four. Mimi is
the youngest of my four siblings, and she was born
at a time that was pretty challenging, I guess, with
our father and your mom and their marriage and life
and a multitude of things, and then they ended up
(05:39):
getting divorced. My dad met my mom, married her, and
they had me. So it was like I grew up
as an only child, but with siblings. Mimi grew up
as an only child but with siblings, and our experiences
were very close. Talk to me a little bit about
that from your perspective and split family and also just
(06:02):
challenges in childhood.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Yeah, I mean, you know, my three other older siblings,
Aman is older. Half siblings are much older than I am,
so they were kind of living a different life than
I was. The closest sibling to me is six years older,
and then my brother is eleven years older, so there's
quite a they had completely different lives going on. I
was very small, and I was just kind of sheltered
(06:26):
and kept kind of out of the chaos and just
kind of to the side. So I kind of grew
up with not really no, I mean grew up early
about not really knowing where I fit and not knowing
really what who I was because I didn't feel like
I was part of their family, even though I was
and I loved them. So when Amanda was born, it
(06:46):
was like I was so delighted to be able to
have someone that was actually mine, you know that where
I felt like I could, I could be with her.
We could, you know, we could. We could just play
and explore, and I just wanted to give her all
the love that I had because I felt like I
just I was a really loving kid, and I didn't
have a lot many outlets for that because there were
so many different things going on in life, you know,
(07:10):
leading up to my sixth and seventh year of life,
and just a lot going on. So when she was born,
when I was around ten, it was like a really
significant gift and it shifted things in me, in my
heart and my value. You know, who I thought I
was because I could share my love with someone.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Well, and now you know, by that's who I wanted
to be when I grew up. And it was so
important to me because I also and you know this
and thank you for sharing. I felt out of place too.
I felt that same sense of confusion around who I was,
where I belonged. And while I had my family unit
(07:50):
of our dad and my mom, I also had these
four half siblings that were grown and older and in
and out, and they none of them lived with us,
So it was like I was an only child. Yet
I had siblings, but I never really knew where I fit.
And from early on we fit together quite well, and
we played and we had fun and it was delightful
(08:12):
for me. And that's why I think going back as
an adult and looking at, Oh, what did I want
to be when I grew up, and it really was
I want to be enjoyedable. I want to be enjoyed.
I want to be loved on. I want to have fun.
I want to laugh, I want to be seen. I
want to play, you know. And I think about that
(08:32):
as an adult today, and it's so much a part
of my prayer and my intention is that I want
to be joyful. I want to be playful in life
because I wax towards serious and intense.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Except when you don't, except when you.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Accept, except when I don't, and when I don't I'm
quite rambunctious and sometimes off the chain and out of control.
And I love it because, you know, there's nobody in
the world world except for you know, my siblings. Really
where I get to be this unapologetic version of myself
(09:09):
that is quite playful and free Mimi and I, And
this is where I want to dive in a little
bit deeper entire experience. There was a period of our
life where we were strange after our dad died. It
was he died when I was eighteen, you were twenty eight,
and you were just shy of twenty nine, right, yes, yeah,
(09:32):
and he died very suddenly. It was very tragic and unexpected.
And the years following that, so Mimi is twenty nine,
I'm eighteen nineteen that age, you know, those are pretty
formative times. I was about to go off to college.
You are, you know, embarking on what I would know
as your Saturn return and into that decade of the thirties.
(09:54):
It's a real pivotal time and moment. You also lived
in Washington, d C. At the time. I was in
Louisiana and then headed to college in Tennessee. So we
had geographical separation. We didn't get to see and share time.
But then more and more space came between me and
all of my siblings, and I was a big part
of that. And I was going through a lot of
(10:16):
struggles and I set some pretty harsh boundaries for a
long time, and there was an extended period of estrangement
and it was painful. It was painful for me. I
was angry, I was confused, I was frustrated. I was
also in my alcoholism and addiction and that flourished at
that time. So it gave me this extra excuse in
(10:38):
my mind at the time.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
It gave me an.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Extra excuse to set a harsh boundary and to cut
people out of my lives. And I cut my people,
my family out of my life in a pretty significant way,
from a lot of pain and trauma and anger and
from a very hurt place. It makes me think, you know,
hurt people, hurt people, And that's definitely what I was
doing at that fame of my life. And it was
this coping mechanism and I didn't I didn't know any better.
(11:04):
I didn't have the tools and resources, and I also
didn't know how to show up, be honest, be vulnerable,
speak my truth. I just didn't have any of those
tools at that time. But it was very painful and
the separation was hard. What are your thoughts on that
time from your perspective? What are your thoughts on that
(11:30):
time from your perspective?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Well, because I did feel like our connection was significant,
and we were, you know, apart from each other a lot,
you know, after I left DC and that sort of thing,
but we I felt like we were so entrapped in
each other's hearts. You know that I didn't think that
that that bond would ever dissipate, you know. So I remember,
(11:55):
you know, trying to find you to invite you to
my wedding. You know, there are ways, you know, place
we couldn't. You know, we didn't know where to find you,
and you know, our sister in law was, you know,
the super sleuths trying to find you for all the years.
You never gave up and finally did find you. But
there were just points where I just felt confused, and
I mean honestly just bummed out, never mad, never upset.
(12:19):
I just was bombed, you know, I was bombed because
I just wanted to spend these times with you, you know,
I just spent I just wanted to spend that time
with you. But I think in retrospect, and we've in retrospect,
we've talked about this before, Like, I think that you
and I together, it would have been too much for
us to handle, to be honest, Like if we were
(12:40):
both in our you know, in our heyday of like
having a good time and doing those things and being together,
I think it would just be too be too much.
And so I think there is this divine intervention of
us having a little pause and then meeting each other
a little bit later when we were actually doing a
training or and our lives are so so parallel. When
(13:02):
we meet that together, that's the magical part about it, right,
I mean the sucky part is the distance and the separation.
But on the other hand, when we reconnected, I mean,
that's joy right there. I just remember seeing you for
the first time when I pickedure oup at your friend's house,
you know, and you came out of the door and
(13:23):
I was like, oh my god, there is she hasn't
changed a bit. You got in the car, like, let's go,
what are we going to do? Like nothing had changed?
How many years was it like thirteen years something like that?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, it was thirteen years and I share this with everyone,
and this is a huge part of my story that
it's pretty delicate to talk about. And I don't know
that I've talked much about it publicly, but I was
after our dad died, I went away to school, and
it was it was extremely traumatic personally, obviously financially, and
(13:55):
I was pulling myself up by the bootstraps, putting one
foot in front of the other, really surviving for a
long time, and unreconciled grief and pain and trauma just
began to compound. And all I knew was to shut
out and to set heavy boundaries and put my head
down and do the work. And when I say do
the work, I'm not talking about the personal development and
(14:17):
the spiritual work. It was achieve, accomplish, go to school,
get this degree, go to graduate school, get this job,
make sure everything is taken care of. Make sure my
mother is taken care of, which you have that same
parallel life with your mother. So these are both of
our moms. You know, our father is deceased. Mimi was
(14:38):
the youngest and very close to her mother, just like
I was close to mine. And I felt even though
my mom took care of me, made sacrifices to have
the things I needed. I still felt like the one
that was supposed to assume the role of my father,
or be in charge or do what well academically and
(15:01):
then professionally to make sure I could take care of things.
And in order for me to do that, it was
a lot of self preservation. And then I set these
boundaries and I didn't know how to heal and connect
and approach old wounds with my half siblings and my family,
so I shut them out. And the longer that that happened,
(15:21):
the sicker I got, especially in my alcoholism and addiction,
because they say something in alcoholism that made sense to
me once I made the decision to get sober and
my life started to change.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Is we drink at?
Speaker 3 (15:36):
You know?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
We drink at And if.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You would have asked me in the midst of that,
if I was mad or angry at you all, I
would have said, no, I just can't handle them in
my life. I can't deal with all of their stuff
or their pain or their trauma. I have enough on
my plate. They don't understand my situation. But I drank
from a place of really needing to feel, and I
would drink at even though it was very subconscious. I
(16:00):
would drink at my inability to let people love on me,
let people see my messiness, let people see my brokenness.
And I think so much, and it was about to
start crying. I think so much of the barrier that
I put up for so many years was I was
afraid to be loved because love to me meant abandonment
(16:21):
or you know. And I didn't know that at the time,
and my mom certainly never abandoned me, but our father
and many things, you know, I think it just piled up.
But what Mimi articulated to you all is she and
I both know you know, when we saw each other.
She picked me up in Washington, d C. I was
with my one of my dearest friends from college, and
(16:44):
it was like part of my soul just infused back
into my body. The moment I saw it was like
we had never been apart, yet we had so many
things to connect and catch up on that we didn't
even know and it was divinely orchestra. And it was
that way with all of my siblings, who, by the way,
are the loves of my life today, you know, apart
(17:06):
from my husband in text and Abby, are dogs. You know,
apart from our dogs and my husband, you know, I
need them. I need to do life with them because
I'm better for it. And I now can show up
in my messiness and my brokenness and these humans, you know,
these siblings are the ones that carried me when I
(17:28):
couldn't carry myself through my mother's death this past year.
So I got to be present for Mimi's mother passing
a few years ago and support and love on her
and my other siblings, and they turned around and showed
up without question and with more unconditional love. So it
was very divinely orchestrated. And I for anybody out there
(17:51):
who is listening and understands challenging, difficult, dysfunctional family dynamics,
because we have been through. I mean, we could basically
be a mini series on HBO Max.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
What was that show? Big little lies?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Like?
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I mean, I don't know that we had murder going on.
I don't know that we had murder, But literally, if
they made a Lifetime movie, it wouldn't even be a lie,
it would be it would be a number one Academy
Award winning show. Because our family, the stories are outlandish
and incredible and so layered so layered psychologically and personally
(18:32):
and intertwined, and it's karmic. And you and I know this,
and that word. When I use the word karmik, I
mean I know that we came down to learn big
lessons and I feel like we have. We walked through
all the chaos and dysfunction, but we have also walked
through the healing in really brave and tremendous ways with
(18:55):
each other, and all of us healing different layers of
dynamics separately together. It's very intertwined. But MIM and I
and I agree on this is there is something to
divine timing. And if you're out there listening and you
have pain with your family, your family of origin, you know,
(19:17):
and your family of origin, and I tell you what,
our family of origin, we incarnate into these families to grow,
to heal, to learn lessons. And when we grow heal
and learn lessons, usually it's through pain, and it's through
trauma and tragedy and death and loss and fear, not
always through the happy, joyful stuff. We grow through the tragedy,
(19:42):
and it is divinely orchestrated. So if there is someone
in your family that's on your heart, that you're estranged from,
or angry or unable to forgive or unable to let in.
You don't have to be ready at any time to
let them back in or heal those things. A big
part for me was saying to God, Hey, God, help
me show me and as I heal and heal through
(20:04):
all of my mess, help me to be able to
show up, and you divinely orchestrate it, God, when you're ready,
and when I'm ready to show up and face past
my side of the street and then be open to
hearing their sides of the story and what went on.
And that has been one of the most illuminating pieces
of the puzzle of my life, of our lives, the
(20:28):
fabric of our lives is hearing your side of the story,
hearing what you were walking through, Hearing what my other
siblings were walking through at different junctures in our journey,
and being able to relate, to appreciate it, to understand
each other's pain, and not to dismiss it, to really
(20:49):
embrace it because it's so parallel and intertwined. It's like
we all came to learn to love on each other, specifically,
to grow together and delight in one another. Is there
anything else you want to say about that or that's
coming to mind.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
No, I would just say that we were all having
our own individual kind of experiences and journeys with how
whatever was going on in the in that timeframe, but
everything was kind of happening to us in our own way.
There were you know, three, four or five foundational aspects
that were affecting all of us, right, So it was,
(21:28):
you know, yes, so we were individual and also collectively
experiencing the same thing.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I would say, yes, And that's so incredibly intricate on
a soul level, on a consciousness level, to be experiencing
similar stories in different environments and then learning how to
bring those together and intertwine and be reunited and reconnected
(21:58):
stronger than ever. So when Mimi picked me up that
day in DC and we got in the car, and
of course we just started laughing and crying, and we
were both genuinely overjoyed and overwhelmed to be with each other.
And at this time, it's when my gifts of mediumship,
(22:23):
clear cognizance, and precognition were busting in very rapidly, uncontrollably.
I was confused, I was afraid, I was curious, and
I knew that something massive was stirring in my soul.
And I will say this and I know it. I
(22:45):
know it in my being. You and my mother held
the most delicate and strong space for me to cultivate
those gifts in very beautiful ways because I did know
how to share my voice with the world. I had
just finished my yoga teacher training. I was still working
(23:07):
in healthcare where I was doing very well, but all
of these spiritual gifts were coming through, and of course
I finished my yoga teacher training and here I am,
you know, seeing Mimi in action as one of the
most incredible yoga leaders and instructors that I have ever encountered,
(23:28):
and then getting to have you hold space because that
trip was pretty significant because my gifts were coming through
uncontrollably and I couldn't shut my mouth. I mean, what
do you remember about that trip? Because this is it's hysterical,
and it's just it's kind of a.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Freak out moment. I don't even have words for it.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
I'll try to keep it very succinct, but it'll be
pretty hard to do.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
What do you remember about that trip?
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Because this is it's hysterical and it's just it's kind
of a freak out moment.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I don't even have words for it.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I'll try to keep it very succinct, but it'll be
pretty hard to do. So. I think the very first
experience that because you and I weren't talking about any
of your you know and you and of your woo
stuff yet. We were just kind of catching up on
family stuff, like talking about, like, you know, just what
we've been doing and blah blah blah. So I took
you out to this lovely little town called Middleburg and
(24:27):
we had lunch out there, and we were at this
old inn and we were sitting there like waiting to
maybe you've gone to the restroom or something. I was
waiting to get for the reservations of the thing. And
you came back and you said, well, do you see
that union soldier over there? And he was right there
in the corner, just like like it was just as
clear as day. And I said, where exactly is he
(24:50):
standing because I just seemed exactly now And.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
You said, yeah, a union soldier, And.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I said where did you You're like, well, he's not
there now, but he was there just a minute ago.
You're like, I know, you think I'm crazy. I was like, no, no,
I know this place is haunted. I've heard this for years.
I've just never seen anything yet. I said where, Will
you let me know if you see anything else? And
you said yeah, sure, because I wanted to see if
I might build it. You have the same yet you know.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
And listen, the cool thing about this is it was
so mad, like I just said, well, did you see
the Union soldier? And then a matter of factly, she says, no,
but I know that this place is haunted. If you
see somebody you know, let me know again. So it
was casual, yet it was strong, and it it held
space for me to start to let you in on
(25:38):
the world that had been chaotically rocketing my life and
I didn't have a lot of space to share it.
So my mom had been sharing in these experiences with
me and I hate like very very few other people
at this time.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
And then here I am.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Seeing, you know, dead Union soldiers in this this old
the restaurant hotel.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
And what happened after that? There's a fox.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
There was a fox, right yeah. And it still it
was all about, you know, the totems and the imagery,
and we started talking about all that sort of stuff,
and so like our lives started kind of intertwining a lot, like,
you know, because I've done my own self study and
you know, all my self excavation work all these years
before we met back up again, and so we had
so many similarities and so many like we didn't have
(26:26):
to talk, We didn't have to explain too much to
each other. We just knew. We just kind of got it.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
We knew, yeah, and you had this, you had an
oracle deck, you had a spirit animal totem deck. I
remember that because you know, after all this is going on,
when we got back, You're like, oh, I've got a deck.
We've got to pull the deck out, and we've got
to pull cards. And I don't remember what we pulled,
but I do remember we were pulling energies that made
so much sense for us. And you're right, we didn't
(26:54):
have to say a lot. We just knew and we
held that space. Do you remember the your friend who
owned the boutique?
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yes, but I haven't even have a better story. I mean, yes,
well I can certainly tell that. I mean, this might
have to be a six car series. I mean, I
have so many stories, we'll have to cut it short.
At some point, I'm going to tell you the really
sweet story about my friend. So you know, we were
out in Middleburg and I wanted to take you to
my friend who had the horse farm, remember, and we
(27:22):
went to meet her, Michelle, and she was one of
she's one of my mentors. She's just this badass lady
who I just she just rocks my world and just
such an inspiration for me. And so I really wanted
you to meet her. And so we go out and
we pull up to her farm and we're walking up
and she's walking towards us, and you said something like,
(27:43):
do you think she would be offended if I said
something to her about, you know, something about her husband?
And I was like, well, I mean I know she
has a partner right now, but I'm not sure. Maybe
she's cool, like I'm not sure exactly how how it
will go. And so she we introduce you to her,
and she's super sweet, and you said, I'm so sorry
to say this, but your husband wanted me to tell
(28:05):
you something. Is it okay if I give you a message?
And she said sure, just very just kind of casual.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Sure, and her husband had died years back, right, yes,
like love of her life love of her life husband.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah. Yeah, and you said, he wants me to tell
you your eyes are still as blue. That's the first
thing you said. And then you said, and he's so
happy to see you wearing the belt buckle. And do
you remember that she said after he passed away, that
she cut all of his belts down so she could
wear his belts.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Now, I don't remember, she had.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
One of his belt buckles on, and she and that's
really what got her, you know, because that's a very
specific thing to notice a belt buckle. And then we
went into her home and her mother came through, and
you know, so that was a really because she's just
the coolest person in the world. So to have like
the second experience with me with her she's open minded,
(29:02):
it just kind of kept things going, you know, like
we just kept Yeah. And I remember we're driving back
from the farm back to DC and we're talking about
stuff and you said, oh my god, Dad is here,
and I'm like what, You're like, Oh my god, Dad's here.
He never comes around. He never comes around. He's here
right now. It's like, well, what does he say. I'm
just driving.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Look, And here's what's so crazy about this is so
our dad died in nineteen ninety nine, as I said earlier,
and so for me, people who I love, who are
family who have passed away, they will show up and
come through, but they don't come through so definitively and
strongly unless I am around someone where it is it's
(29:45):
like you had to anchor in the inner validate for
him to get to validate it for me, because I
can feel that just like you feel your mom, or
I feel my mom come through because we've lost our mothers,
or dad will show up. But it was like you
were anchoring in his energy.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Okay, wait what did he say?
Speaker 3 (30:02):
So? Yeah, so you said, oh my god, no, so
Dad is here. I'm like, okay, what is he saying?
Like what I mean? I remember just driving and looking
over at you like okay, I mean like it's you know,
it's like it's the normal, normal day day to day routine,
you know. And he said, oh, well, he's he's like
an orchestra. He's like a conductor and he's or he said,
he's been orchestrating this, hoping that what is happening, and
(30:24):
he's doing his hands like this like to conduct the orchestra,
saying that he's been working on this behind the scenes
all the time.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, Which I can see Dad with his fingers, like
do I can see his hands?
Speaker 2 (30:38):
I can. I can see Dad's hands so clearly.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Yeah. So basically, like you know, he's been working behind
the scenes, you know, to get our you know, to
have our reunion happen, you know, for us to all
start making our way back to each other.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
And then after that, which here's where it gets so layered,
because this is where the healing began, not only for
Mimi and I and these moments of magic, because they
were miraculous moments, they really were. It was like the
energy was holding this quantum space for us. But Mimi's
(31:16):
mom remarried years later later, and she married one of
our father's very best friends.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Who was in his wedding, who my dad was. Our
dad was in their wedding.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Our dad was in Denny's and Betty that's Mimi's step dad,
and her mother in their wedding, and he called Dad.
He said, you know, can I date Betty? I think
I think I'm I'm you know, into her. I don't
know exactly what he said, but he called our father
to say, you know, can I date Betty and they
got married, and I mean he he was he remembered
(31:47):
Dad because he knew Dad from childhood.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
They lived on the same street.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Dad was in his first wedding.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yes, they went way back, and here's some of the
intertwined stuff. But I remember on that trip, we were
so start talking about our father and the history of
our father and things that we knew and things that
we didn't know. And I was like, we've got to
get on the phone and call Denny. We've got to
talk to Denny. Yeah, And do you remember calling because
I mean I knew Denny, but Denny knew our father.
(32:16):
And that was like us extending, hey, we're here, we're
back together. Tell us these stories about Dad, because I
remember that being so healing to be able to reach
out and ask questions about our father, but both of
us together, asking someone who really knew, but also somebody
who was a father figure, which was your your father
(32:39):
figure more so even at times, I mean, I don't
want to overstep in any way, but than our father.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah. So we called my mom and
Denny and they, you know, everybody knew it was up.
Everybody knew that you were coming, you know, but everybody
was going to give it, give us our own to
work into it, and like, you know, let us come
out of our little shell when we were ready. And
(33:06):
so we called my mom and she's like Amanda, she
was so delighted to talk to you and you guys
had a little exchange, and then Denny came on the phone,
like you know, no time had passed, and we asked
him all about Buddy, our grandfather who we neither one
of us met, and told us about, you know, about
our you know, our grandmother, our dad's mom, and how
(33:28):
she was such a you know, such a strong female
and his in his you know, in his history, and
how she was just such a dynamo and blah blah blah,
and just kind of validated that we were all exactly
where we were supposed to be, so to speak, and
getting a lot more information about Buddy, because remember you'd come.
(33:49):
He ended up being one of my guides initially on
that very first trip. He came out and had a
very important message that he gave you to give me
and blah blah blah blah. So that was kind of
a pretty big deal.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
We're sharing these stories with you, not only to get
you thinking about healing. Whatever healing can or you think
can or can't take place, But how intertwined our intuition
and our DNA and our bloodlines are, and how people
(34:22):
in our lineage, people in our present, our ancestors, as
well as the people around us, can illuminate pieces of
our soul, pieces of our story that have been estranged
or disconnected or disjointed or untold. And it was like
(34:43):
the history of ourselves and our souls started piecing back together.
And it was I mean, it was intense, and it
was I mean we were mind blown the whole time too,
because things would happen. And it's been this way ever since.
It's been this way for you years now. We share
so many parallel stories and open up for healing. But wait,
(35:04):
talk about the woman because I remember so profoundly going
into this woman's boutique and you're like, Amanda, don't freak
her out, and I'm like, I can't help it, Mimi,
and you're hiding behind the clothes. Tell them this story
because I will never like you're hiding thinking this woman's
going to think I'm crazy. You can tell the story,
but I remember you thinking, what is she going.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
To say, yeah. So she was this awesome woman. She's
a boutique quite near where I live here in DC,
and I had a yoga pant line for a while
and she was carrying my pant line. She was just
she's just a cool lady, and I wanted you to
see how cool her shop was, and blah blah blah.
And we walk in. I'm like, hey, hey, this is
(35:47):
my sister. She's in town. And automatically you start acting
a fool, like you were acting so strange, and you
turn around and you said, your grandmother's trying to tell
me something like, I'm not sure this is the right
place for it. Honestly, I don't know. I don't know
her that well. She's super nice, but I'm not sure
this is the right place to start saying. She's like,
she's really insistent. She won't let me stop. I have
(36:09):
to say it. I'm like, okay, So I walked around.
I said, Sarah, I'm gonna go ahead. I'm going to
walk around here and just look at the pants and
see what's still here. You know, do we need to
replace anything?
Speaker 1 (36:18):
I mean, and you were you were hiding behind behind
you know, a closed tier or whatever. Those things are
called You're like hiding behind it, peeking out like a child,
and I'm you know, bellying up to her counter yes, And.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
You say, I know this is unusual. I'm me and me, sister,
I'm really not a strange person. But I have to
tell you something. Your grandmother has me has what me
wants me to tell you that she really loves the
flowers that you've put on on the desk here, on
the on the checkout desk or whatever it was. And
all of a sudden, she just starts just i mean
just dripping tears out of her eyes and she's like,
(36:55):
oh my god, are you serious. I needed to hear
that right now more than ever. I'm going through a
really challenging family situation. Something legitimately just happened outside on
the sidewalk with someone in my family. And you said, oh,
your grandmother. I mean, she is really really strong, and
she has some choice words for you, like meaning like
(37:16):
to like pull up your bootstraps and stand up for
yourself basically is what she was saying. Right. And the
way I find is really interesting is the way that
you're able to connect. And this is you know, your
special way and in ways that when I've had readings
to from others, you know, just to make sure that
people know that you know you're on the right track.
Something very specific, like she loved flowers, and there's a
(37:37):
particular type of flower that was in that flower arrangement
that was their flower, and you pointed directly to that flower,
and then all of a sudden it was you know,
it was an open an open door to move forward
because she knew it was a safe space and she
knew it was legitimate. And then you went on from there.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
And I just want to say, I mean, this brings
me so much inspiration and joy for other people too,
about so many people are coming into gifts, gifts of intuition,
gifts of the soul, of higher consciousness, of mediumship, of
connecting with loved ones, or whatever your gifts may be.
(38:19):
Finding people in your life. And it doesn't have to
be family of origin, by the way, you know, we
have a lot of family that is not blood family
that becomes our tribe, our people. But finding people to
be firm and encourage you and also to hold space
in ways. Because I didn't know how to express those things,
(38:42):
but I knew when a spirit was knocking and they
were relentless and the message was important. I was going
to figure out a way to share it. And at
that time, I was learning to ask permission ethically, you know, hey,
to ask above the spirit and then make sure I
could share it with the person that I wasn't just
dumping material on, you know, I was navigating all of that.
(39:04):
But every time I would share something and it would
resonate and heal and relate, you know, and relate presently
and concretely, it was like something leveled up in me.
But then to have you witness it and to hold
(39:24):
the space gave me a strength that I didn't have
for myself. And I'm sharing that because the gift of
intuition can be lonely. And I had a woman tell
me that this morning when I finished my pilates class,
just talking about her personal spiritual development. She wasn't talking
about mediumships. She's lost her father and her grandmother, and
(39:46):
her grandmother primarily raised her and she's going through.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Some stuff right now.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
But she says, man, Amanda, the spiritual journey is lonely.
She said, it can be very lonely. And I said
to her, I said, I hear you. It is and
she said, so many of my friends don't want to
talk about it, don't know how to hold the space,
And she said, I enjoy them, But she says, there's
a couple of people that I can go to lunch with,
(40:10):
or a book I can bury myself in about signs
and oracles and messages, And she says, I can cry
myself to sleep, but I'm not crying tears of pain.
I'm crying tears of healing and awakening. And then I
know who my audience is and I can share it with.
And I know who it may not be safe with,
(40:31):
or it may not be okay with, or it may
infringe upon their space or their beliefs, and I'm not
going to do that, but I still get to be
their friend. I just can know my audience. So if
you're listening, remembering it is imperative that this journey be
done with people who can hold space for you and
support you, because it is lonely.
Speaker 4 (40:54):
I'm delighted to be sharing this conversation with my person
my support during my journey, my sister Memi. You can
find her on Instagram at Mimi Riager Yoga. Part two
of our conversation will drop as a bonus episode this Friday.
We'll be sharing more of our intimate family stories in
hopes that you can see the divine timing in your
own life and find healing in your family and relationship dynamics.
(41:18):
We'll also talk aliens, ghost and Mimi's new path as
a death duela. You won't want to miss it. Thanks
for joining me.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
Be well,
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