Hi!! I would love to hear from you!
Herbalist Avie Heidenfelder transforms women's menopausal journeys through natural remedies and frank conversation—a mission born from her own struggles after a hysterectomy at 39. Our candid conversation tears down the walls of silence that have surrounded women's hormonal health for generations.
"This is not like the curse," Avie asserts, rejecting the historical stigma around female bodies. "There's nothing wrong with us. It's a natural journey." We share raw accounts of emotional rollercoasters—from inexplicable tears to feeling completely detached from their usual selves. Our honest admissions validate what countless women experience but rarely hear acknowledged: the profound identity shifts that can accompany hormonal fluctuation.
After leaving her corporate career in finance, Avie embraced off-grid living and discovered herbalism, eventually specializing in menopausal wellness. Her approach combines personalized herbal formulations with holistic lifestyle adjustments, recognizing that every woman's experience differs based on diet, activity level, and individual physiology. This episode explores how women's hormonal health remains dangerously understudied, with Avie noting that many women in previous generations were institutionalized for what was simply menopause—a sobering reminder of why breaking this silence matters.
Beyond professional insights, Avie shares glimpses of her woodland sanctuary where boulder-strewn meditation spots and forest bathing constitute her essential self-care. Discover her free resources at myherbalistjourney.com, including specialized PDFs on herbal remedies and monthly virtual workshops covering energy work, mindfulness, and chakra balancing. For anyone navigating the complex terrain of hormonal shifts, this conversation offers both practical wisdom and the profound reassurance that you're not alone—and you're definitely not losing your mind.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
um welcome to empowered ease.
My guest today is aviheidenfelder.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Avi, tell me your title so herbalist and holistic
menopausal wellness specialistum.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Those of you that know me um know that that last
name, heidenfelder, is my maidenlast name and Avey is actually
my aunt but Avey and I worktogether a lot.
we do a lot of free workshopstogether, but I wanted to have
Avey on the podcast because shehas a interesting story and is
helping women with hormoneswhich, if you follow any of my
(00:39):
socials, you know that mine areall over the place.
Perimenopause is awful, so Amy,tell me, yeah, a little bit
about this perimenopausehormonal awfulness that I'm
going through and how you helppeople.
Today's, one of those days.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Today is one of those days.
Well, I am not in peri, I'malready in full blown, so it is
still one of those days.
Well, I am not in Perry, I'malready in full blown, so it is
still one of those days.
Yeah, so I just, you know, Iused to work in the corporate
field and I did that for a lot,several years, working for a
(01:20):
financial firm and stuff likethat.
And then, I guess, when myhusband and I decided to move we
actually live completely offgrid, but when we decided to
move down here and make a lot ofchanges, I got into the whole
what can I use around theproperty?
So I kind of jumped into theherbal part of it and absolutely
(01:42):
loved that.
But then, in the middle of allof that, you know, menopause hit
and with being um, a woman whohad to have a hysterectomy at 39
, you know you're, you'replaying the guessing game all
the way through.
The doctor tells you oh, youprobably have 10 more years, you
know, before you have to worryabout it, but you're constantly
(02:04):
thinking about it, you know.
And so I finally got to thepoint where it actually hit and
I'm doing one of those things,crying, and the husband's like,
why are you crying?
I don't know, you know.
So we've all been there, and ifyou haven't hopefully you don't
get to that point that bad.
But then I wanted to just startfiguring out what, naturally,
(02:28):
can I do to help with my ownmenopause, which took me into
this whole whole thing of okay,this is ridiculous.
Women have got to know thisshit kind of thing, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Well, I think you're touching on a big thing.
This is a very understudied,under and under talked about
area that I feel like like.
For me, I had no idea what toexpect.
Now we have social media, sothere is way more education
there, but I'm still like, oh myGod, how did I not know what
this was coming?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well and that's where I jump on my soapbox is because
you know, I am part of thegeneration that our moms didn't
talk about it, and they didn'ttalk about not just menopause
but any cycle of being a female.
From you know your very firstmoon cycle, all the way through
menopause.
(03:22):
It was just a conversation thatwas not had, and it's not their
fault because their moms didn'ttalk about it.
It was just how everybody wasraised in the whole society
thing.
And I think that is the partwhere I'm like bullshit.
This is a conversation we'regoing to have.
This is a normal thing forwomen.
(03:43):
It should be able to bediscussed just like somebody
calling up someone and beingtalking to them Like I have the
flu, what should I take?
Well, women should be able toreach out and be like oh my God,
I'm doing this and menopause,what do I do?
You know, so it's like breakingthe whole barrier.
(04:03):
This is not.
This is not like the curse thatwe, you know, kind of like
getting your period and stufflike that.
There's nothing wrong with us.
It's a natural journey.
It's different for everybodyyou know, and it's just
something that I think needs tobe brought out and talked about
more oh my, my God.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I believe I agree with you a hundred percent, but
I I'm like I am in a young to gothrough perimenopause as
intensely as I am, and I thinkthere's probably other factors
like my lifestyle and job choicethat make mine worse.
But it is probably like there.
If I, if it wasn't so talkedabout to the level it is now, if
(04:42):
I, I think I would think I wasgoing crazy, like I think I was
losing my mind sometimes becauseof how differently I can feel
day to day.
I made a post this week aboutfeeling numb, like just feeling
like, waking up one day and Ijust couldn't understand.
I didn't feel caring towardsanything like anyone else, and
that was not who I am Like.
(05:03):
I generally like an overlycaring person who does a lot for
a lot of people, and that wasnot who I am Like.
I generally like an overlycaring person who does a lot for
a lot of people, and I didn't,I couldn't under even understand
who I was Cause I'm like why doI do this?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, I wrote.
I wrote about it last week inmy newsletter that I you know
I'm usually the funny, thesarcastic, the usually annoying
friend probably, and I'm the onethat reaches out to everybody
(05:36):
and I'm the one that tries tomake everybody feel better or
lighten the mood and everythingelse and like for two weeks I'm
like I don't want to be aroundanybody, I just I.
I was not me and I didn't wantthat coming off onto anybody
else.
And it's like no, they are, theydon't know me that way, but I'm
(05:57):
just going to sit here in mylittle show and I'm not going to
see anybody and I'm not goingto go anywhere and I'll
communicate by messaging Betty,and I'm not going to go anywhere
and I'll communicate bymessaging, but that was even
limited because you know, andthen I went out and I sat in my
garden and I sat there in thesun and I started crying for no
reason, because and I can't sayfor no reason I started crying
(06:18):
because I was not me and I youcan, you can sit there and you
can feel this is not me, this isnot who I am, this is not how
I'm normally am.
This is not right.
What the hell is going on?
you know, yeah, so yeah, andthat's why back in the way, back
in the day, so many people,women that were put in psych
(06:39):
wards, psych hospitals, yeah,their husbands were like oh my
god, they're batshit crazy, orwhatever.
No, no, honey, it was menopause, it's our bodies.
I swear, my body feels likeit's killing, killing me.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah, mine does too.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I mean to me it's the, it's the
whole conversation about youknow, I want my granddaughter to
know everything you know, I,you know, and I have no doubt
that my daughter-in-laws willmake sure that happens.
But I also, I want, not just ourdaughters, I want our sons to
(07:23):
know, because our sons are goingto grow up and be around women
that are going through all ofthis and they need to understand
.
They're not going to have totalempathy or whatever, but they
need to at least have a littlebit of an idea of what is going
on with women in their lives andhow to help handle that and how
(07:45):
to actually be a cheerleaderand support system instead of oh
my god, you're so crabby today,you know oh yeah, I think my
husband just withdraws becausehe's like I don't know what to
do with you.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I'm going to take a few steps back now.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, you know it used to.
Every morning I would get upand get coffee or whatever, and
Mike would be like oh, did yousleep?
Okay.
Now usually it's like how arewe doing today Scanning?
It's like his pre-warning ofthe it's not a good day.
Or hey, we're good, we're we're.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, I think, I think, I, I, I can't say that.
I feel sorry for him, but hedoes hear about the details and
everything about menopause morethan probably most men in this
world, because I'll be like, hey, did you know?
The reason I was like this isbecause oh educating him all the
(08:47):
time.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I do that to my husband too.
Okay, he says he can tell whatkind of a mood I'm in by how I
greet our dogs at the door whenI go to work.
He's like how do you?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
greet the dogs.
I can tell that's good, though,that he picks up on that,
because a lot of guys don't, youknow, they don't, they don't
pay attention to that.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So it doesn't mean we don't want to smack them around
later, you know if we're inthat mood, but I don't think it
helps a whole lot, but right, sohow do you um, how do you work
with women and their fluctuatinghormones?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So I do have um a coaching program coming up
pretty soon.
I do have a free.
I am doing some free littlemini workshops that lets people
get a little bit of informationabout menopause, whether it is
an overall view of like thethree stages so you can figure
(09:49):
out where you're at, becausethat's always helpful.
You can't I know they have theguidelines of the age and all
that.
You just cannot, you can't goby that.
It's very understudied it is.
And everybody you knoweverybody is different.
It's not like Tylenol works foreverybody.
Everybody's different in theirdaily lives, their diet, their
(10:12):
activity.
All of that affects what you'regoing through when it comes to
menopause.
So I do some mini workshops and, like I said, I've got the
coaching program coming up.
I probably will be rolling thatout in about a week or two
actually.
So I'm really excited aboutthat.
So that will be.
It'll be a month.
(10:33):
So it'll be four check-ins,about an hour and a half to two
hours each time, and what we'regoing to do is we're going to
start out by assessing whereyou're at, how your body is,
what your lifestyle is andeverything else.
I'm going to personalize aproduct specifically, whether it
be tincture or herbal tea, thatis solely just based on the
(10:58):
assessment that we do.
Oh cool.
And then we're also going towork through some of the
holistic stuff, so it'll be diet, you know, activity, moving,
mindfulness and all of that.
So we'll do that for a week,yeah, or a month, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Once a week for a month.
That sounds awesome, yeah, or amonth, I'm sorry.
Once a week for a month Soundsawesome, yeah.
So also, I wanted to touch onthis earlier, but you mentioned
that you live off of grid.
Yeah, you want to tell us alittle bit about how cool it is
where you live.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Actually, it's very cool it is very cool, it is very
cool, you, technically it's notcool to get to my house because
our neighbor up front is kindof, you know, junkyard-ish.
But it is cool in the fact thata lot of people don't know
we're back here, because youhave to drive in his drive to
get to us.
And so literally, yeah, we'reback here, surrounded by just
(11:54):
woods, and that's it.
Yeah, so we've been here fornine years.
Yeah, we've nine years.
We've lived off grid.
We started out in um, we liketo call it our little tent house
.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
So you guys quit your , you quit, you retired, right?
You both retired and uh decidedto like live like you guys,
bought some property andbasically built your own little
paradise, right?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yeah, so what we were doing was we bought the
property.
We lived in Illinois.
We bought the property.
We were going to come down hereon the weekends and do stuff.
Mike retired and this was justgoing to be our hangout and
place to get away and we weredown here.
I think we bought it in Marchand we had had it for a year
(12:48):
that we both were working and wewould come down here and hang
out and do some stuff.
And then the following year hehad retired and we came down
like three months after heretired and we spent two weeks
down here and when we left weleft knowing that.
And when we left, we leftknowing that.
(13:13):
Or I knew I had no clue when Iwas going to be able to get back
down here because I was stillworking full-time and doing, you
know, 50 hours a week and stufflike that.
I left crying because I didn'tknow when I would be able to get
back down here.
But on the way home Mike waslike hey, you know I, I know at
some point this was supposed tobe our retirement live here once
(13:33):
I retired.
And he's like but what we wantto really do, living off grid is
going to take a lot more work,so I think you're just going to
have to retire early.
Okay, yeah, because the plan waswe were eventually going to
move down here, but I was justgoing to move branches.
I was going to transfer fromthe branch in Illinois that I
(13:54):
was at to a branch in Rolla thatwas closer and I was going to
continue to work.
But it did take, because webuilt our own house, the two of
us and everything else, and itwas solid woods where we were,
so we had to clear out stuff andclear the trees.
So it was a lot of work.
And so he was like I thinkyou're just going to have to
(14:17):
retire early.
Okay, okay, you know I wasready for a stroke anyway,
working with the stock marketand stuff.
So it's like no, no, yeah, letme be out in nature in my tank
top and and whatever, and I'mgood playing in your playing in
your garden and in the woodsyeah, yeah, definitely.
We have four gardens, so andthat is that.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So is that when you started um getting into
herbalism or was that?
Had you done that, any of thatstuff before?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
actually I hadn't um, not the herbal part now hiding
in the woods.
I did that my entire lifegrowing up.
So you know, everybody used to,everybody used to.
You know talk about you, knewyou had a good life when you
knew you went home when thestreet lights went out.
Well, I lived.
I lived out in the middle on Ican't even I can't say a farm.
(15:09):
We did have a lot of animals.
I helped my dad hand milk cows,I had 13 baby goats for my 13th
birthday.
You know, we had the pigs, wehad all of this stuff, the
chickens obviously, and stufflike that, and I would go out
into the woods and hide.
I would pack me a backpack andI would go hide in the woods and
(15:30):
I actually had this one tree.
There was this huge juniperright on the side of a pond and
it umbrellaed.
It was so big that the bottomwould umbrella and I would climb
underneath that and that waslike my little fort.
Oh, I love it underneath that.
And that was like my littlefort, oh I love it.
So when it was time to go home,you could hear my dad honk the
(15:57):
horn on the truck and that meantget your butt home, it's time
for dinner, kind of thing.
So I mean, the the outdoorspart has always been in me and I
think that was the hardest partwith having a corporate job was
, you know, that was twodifferent lives.
And when, when I actually toldpeople we were moving down here
to do this, everybody that I hadworked with for and known in
the industry for, you know,almost 20 years, was like oh my
(16:21):
God, why would you want to dothat, why are you doing that?
And I'm like but that's whereI'm from, that's what I used,
you doing that, and I'm like butthat's where I'm from, that's
what I used.
No way, because I was, you know, the five inch heels, the, the
dress for corporate, the wholething.
And I'm like no, this is me fora job, but that's me you know,
so when we got down here and gotin the woods, this was like,
(16:41):
okay, I'm finally home.
You know I'm finally home.
But there was, um, there was atime that I saw one of the
wineries that we love to go to,peaceful Bend in Stillville, and
they're amazing, love theowners.
And they had what they werecalling a wild walk and they had
(17:02):
a lady coming and you couldcome.
You could, you know, get yourwine, have lunch, whatever.
She took you on a walk aroundthe property and pointed out all
the different plants and thingslike that, told you what they
were good for, and it just likeit was like something.
A light bulb went off and I'mlike, oh, my God, this is, this
(17:23):
is amazing, you know.
And we left there and on the wayhome I told my husband, I'm
like you know, what would becool is if she would do a class
or a internship or apprentice,something like that.
I'm like I would really like toknow.
You know, we have all of thisaround us.
I said, uh, I would love toknow that there's something out
(17:47):
there I can use if we're in thewoods and get hurt or or
anything.
And it basically, it was justthat, just the basics.
What can I use if I'm I'm here,cut myself, but don't have a
band-aid?
Well, you can use yarrow.
Well, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
So it's so simple.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
yeah, it was those simple little things and I think
it was like three months.
I started following her,Colleen from Turtle Earth, and I
think it was like three monthslater and all of a sudden she
posts on Facebook takingapplications for my first
apprenticeship.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, meant to be.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I instantly sent her a thing.
She sent me the application, Ifilled it out and sent it back
the same damn day.
I didn't need to.
I had two months to do it, butI did, and luckily she did.
She ended up picking five of usand so I did a working
apprenticeship with her and sowe would go and we would do
(18:47):
stuff for the property that theywere building and then we would
do herbal and stuff like that.
And then, as I got into that, Ijust was like, okay, now I want
to, I can't, I can't, um, Ican't save the world.
I can't know absolutelyeverything about every plant and
(19:08):
what it does.
And so I wanted to kind of Idon't want to say minimize, but
focus.
And that's when the menopausalpart came in, yeah, and that's
when the menopausal part came inCause I'm like this is so
needed.
This is, you know you can findthe other, you can Google.
Something simple Like theyarrow will stop, you know, a
(19:30):
bleeding for cut and stuff likethat.
But I didn't feel like therewas as much herbal when it came
to natural things that helpbalance your hormones and things
like that.
So that's when, yeah, I dugdeep for that.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
So very cool, very needed.
So, um, if people want to learnmore about you or follow along
or receive your blog, where willthey find you?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Okay, so I'm kind of everywhere in odd places.
Facebook, definitely Under myherbalist journey and warrior
heart.
I am also on Instagram, youtube.
I just started YouTube.
I'm trying to move some of myvideos over to that.
I just started Substack so I dohave a free subscription for a
(20:19):
weekly newsletter that I do.
It's not always herbal,sometimes it's just me on
whatever hits me.
So that's on Substack.
And then I have a website thatis myherbalistjourneycom.
Love it.
All those.
And on the website.
I do have several free PDFs.
So I have a PDF on quick herbalguides, I have one on embracing
(20:42):
menopause, I have a specificone on endometriosis, ovarian
system, uterine fibroids that'sall together in one, and then
one on the wise women ways andhormonal health.
Those are all out there.
You can view them or you candownload them and print them.
They're on your website.
Those are onto my website.
(21:03):
Yep, it's underneath thearticle.
And free PDFs yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yep, amy and I also do together.
We do two free workshops amonth.
We do like a one on the newmoon for, like, clearing energy
box and do a line with whatever.
Like the goals of the new moonare?
Um, they're basically a littleeducation on energy and and
herbs or herbal allies.
And then we do too longmindfulness and then we're
starting a series, um, on thechakras and we're doing this
(21:31):
month we're just doing anoverall like introduction to the
chakras and then we're going towork our way from the root to
the crown and then do like afull balance of the whole thing
at the end.
So those are all free and we dothem virtually online if
anybody wants to come to those.
It's a lot of fun.
We've gotten a little following, so it's exciting and you leave
feeling really good becauseit's basically just like two
(21:53):
peaceful mindfulnesses.
So, yeah, it's very good.
And a little education, yeah,definitely.
Well, amy, thanks so much forcoming on here.
I was excited.
We are, we work together allthe time, but I definitely
wanted to have you on thepodcast so people could hear
about all the awesome thingsyou're doing.
So thank you.
(22:14):
Yeah, anything else too?
Oh, I didn't ask you.
I always ask everyone whattheir go-to self-care is.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
What's your go-to self-care when, like, things are
awful and it's your one thingthat makes things better?
Honestly and I'm lucky enoughto be able- to do this.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
I usually go out in the woods and sit.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I was wondering if that was what it was going to be
.
Yeah, we have a section of ourproperty that has huge boulders
and, like when I do a new moonceremony, I take people over
there and that's where wemeditate and it overlooks the
dry creek and stuff.
So that's my go-to.
I'll just pack a littlebackpack and walk over there and
hang out Yep, I love that.
And hug a tree, oh hug a tree.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That's cute, I love it.
Perfect.
Well, thank you so much, andall the links to all your stuff
in the show notes Awesome.
um welcome to empowered ease.
My guest today is aviheidenfelder.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Avi, tell me your title so herbalist and holistic
menopausal wellness specialistum.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Those of you that know me um know that that last
name, heidenfelder, is my maidenlast name and Avey is actually
my aunt but Avey and I worktogether a lot.
we do a lot of free workshopstogether, but I wanted to have
Avey on the podcast because shehas a interesting story and is
helping women with hormoneswhich, if you follow any of my
(00:39):
socials, you know that mine areall over the place.
Perimenopause is awful, so Amy,tell me, yeah, a little bit
about this perimenopausehormonal awfulness that I'm
going through and how you helppeople.
Today's, one of those days.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Today is one of those days.
Well, I am not in peri, I'malready in full blown, so it is
still one of those days.
Well, I am not in Perry, I'malready in full blown, so it is
still one of those days.
Yeah, so I just, you know, Iused to work in the corporate
field and I did that for a lot,several years, working for a
(01:20):
financial firm and stuff likethat.
And then, I guess, when myhusband and I decided to move we
actually live completely offgrid, but when we decided to
move down here and make a lot ofchanges, I got into the whole
what can I use around theproperty?
So I kind of jumped into theherbal part of it and absolutely
(01:42):
loved that.
But then, in the middle of allof that, you know, menopause hit
and with being um, a woman whohad to have a hysterectomy at 39
, you know you're, you'replaying the guessing game all
the way through.
The doctor tells you oh, youprobably have 10 more years, you
know, before you have to worryabout it, but you're constantly
(02:04):
thinking about it, you know.
And so I finally got to thepoint where it actually hit and
I'm doing one of those things,crying, and the husband's like,
why are you crying?
I don't know, you know.
So we've all been there, and ifyou haven't hopefully you don't
get to that point that bad.
But then I wanted to just startfiguring out what, naturally,
(02:28):
can I do to help with my ownmenopause, which took me into
this whole whole thing of okay,this is ridiculous.
Women have got to know thisshit kind of thing, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Well, I think you're touching on a big thing.
This is a very understudied,under and under talked about
area that I feel like like.
For me, I had no idea what toexpect.
Now we have social media, sothere is way more education
there, but I'm still like, oh myGod, how did I not know what
this was coming?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well and that's where I jump on my soapbox is because
you know, I am part of thegeneration that our moms didn't
talk about it, and they didn'ttalk about not just menopause
but any cycle of being a female.
From you know your very firstmoon cycle, all the way through
menopause.
(03:22):
It was just a conversation thatwas not had, and it's not their
fault because their moms didn'ttalk about it.
It was just how everybody wasraised in the whole society
thing.
And I think that is the partwhere I'm like bullshit.
This is a conversation we'regoing to have.
This is a normal thing forwomen.
(03:43):
It should be able to bediscussed just like somebody
calling up someone and beingtalking to them Like I have the
flu, what should I take?
Well, women should be able toreach out and be like oh my God,
I'm doing this and menopause,what do I do?
You know, so it's like breakingthe whole barrier.
(04:03):
This is not.
This is not like the curse thatwe, you know, kind of like
getting your period and stufflike that.
There's nothing wrong with us.
It's a natural journey.
It's different for everybodyyou know, and it's just
something that I think needs tobe brought out and talked about
more oh my, my God.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I believe I agree with you a hundred percent, but
I I'm like I am in a young to gothrough perimenopause as
intensely as I am, and I thinkthere's probably other factors
like my lifestyle and job choicethat make mine worse.
But it is probably like there.
If I, if it wasn't so talkedabout to the level it is now, if
(04:42):
I, I think I would think I wasgoing crazy, like I think I was
losing my mind sometimes becauseof how differently I can feel
day to day.
I made a post this week aboutfeeling numb, like just feeling
like, waking up one day and Ijust couldn't understand.
I didn't feel caring towardsanything like anyone else, and
that was not who I am Like.
(05:03):
I generally like an overlycaring person who does a lot for
a lot of people, and that wasnot who I am Like.
I generally like an overlycaring person who does a lot for
a lot of people, and I didn't,I couldn't under even understand
who I was Cause I'm like why doI do this?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, I wrote.
I wrote about it last week inmy newsletter that I you know
I'm usually the funny, thesarcastic, the usually annoying
friend probably, and I'm the onethat reaches out to everybody
(05:36):
and I'm the one that tries tomake everybody feel better or
lighten the mood and everythingelse and like for two weeks I'm
like I don't want to be aroundanybody, I just I.
I was not me and I didn't wantthat coming off onto anybody
else.
And it's like no, they are, theydon't know me that way, but I'm
(05:57):
just going to sit here in mylittle show and I'm not going to
see anybody and I'm not goingto go anywhere and I'll
communicate by messaging Betty,and I'm not going to go anywhere
and I'll communicate bymessaging, but that was even
limited because you know, andthen I went out and I sat in my
garden and I sat there in thesun and I started crying for no
reason, because and I can't sayfor no reason I started crying
(06:18):
because I was not me and I youcan, you can sit there and you
can feel this is not me, this isnot who I am, this is not how
I'm normally am.
This is not right.
What the hell is going on?
you know, yeah, so yeah, andthat's why back in the way, back
in the day, so many people,women that were put in psych
(06:39):
wards, psych hospitals, yeah,their husbands were like oh my
god, they're batshit crazy, orwhatever.
No, no, honey, it was menopause, it's our bodies.
I swear, my body feels likeit's killing, killing me.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah, mine does too.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I mean to me it's the, it's the
whole conversation about youknow, I want my granddaughter to
know everything you know, I,you know, and I have no doubt
that my daughter-in-laws willmake sure that happens.
But I also, I want, not just ourdaughters, I want our sons to
(07:23):
know, because our sons are goingto grow up and be around women
that are going through all ofthis and they need to understand
.
They're not going to have totalempathy or whatever, but they
need to at least have a littlebit of an idea of what is going
on with women in their lives andhow to help handle that and how
(07:45):
to actually be a cheerleaderand support system instead of oh
my god, you're so crabby today,you know oh yeah, I think my
husband just withdraws becausehe's like I don't know what to
do with you.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I'm going to take a few steps back now.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, you know it used to.
Every morning I would get upand get coffee or whatever, and
Mike would be like oh, did yousleep?
Okay.
Now usually it's like how arewe doing today Scanning?
It's like his pre-warning ofthe it's not a good day.
Or hey, we're good, we're we're.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, I think, I think, I, I, I can't say that.
I feel sorry for him, but hedoes hear about the details and
everything about menopause morethan probably most men in this
world, because I'll be like, hey, did you know?
The reason I was like this isbecause oh educating him all the
(08:47):
time.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I do that to my husband too.
Okay, he says he can tell whatkind of a mood I'm in by how I
greet our dogs at the door whenI go to work.
He's like how do you?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
greet the dogs.
I can tell that's good, though,that he picks up on that,
because a lot of guys don't, youknow, they don't, they don't
pay attention to that.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So it doesn't mean we don't want to smack them around
later, you know if we're inthat mood, but I don't think it
helps a whole lot, but right, sohow do you um, how do you work
with women and their fluctuatinghormones?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So I do have um a coaching program coming up
pretty soon.
I do have a free.
I am doing some free littlemini workshops that lets people
get a little bit of informationabout menopause, whether it is
an overall view of like thethree stages so you can figure
(09:49):
out where you're at, becausethat's always helpful.
You can't I know they have theguidelines of the age and all
that.
You just cannot, you can't goby that.
It's very understudied it is.
And everybody you knoweverybody is different.
It's not like Tylenol works foreverybody.
Everybody's different in theirdaily lives, their diet, their
(10:12):
activity.
All of that affects what you'regoing through when it comes to
menopause.
So I do some mini workshops and, like I said, I've got the
coaching program coming up.
I probably will be rolling thatout in about a week or two
actually.
So I'm really excited aboutthat.
So that will be.
It'll be a month.
(10:33):
So it'll be four check-ins,about an hour and a half to two
hours each time, and what we'regoing to do is we're going to
start out by assessing whereyou're at, how your body is,
what your lifestyle is andeverything else.
I'm going to personalize aproduct specifically, whether it
be tincture or herbal tea, thatis solely just based on the
(10:58):
assessment that we do.
Oh cool.
And then we're also going towork through some of the
holistic stuff, so it'll be diet, you know, activity, moving,
mindfulness and all of that.
So we'll do that for a week,yeah, or a month, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Once a week for a month.
That sounds awesome, yeah, or amonth, I'm sorry.
Once a week for a month Soundsawesome, yeah.
So also, I wanted to touch onthis earlier, but you mentioned
that you live off of grid.
Yeah, you want to tell us alittle bit about how cool it is
where you live.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Actually, it's very cool it is very cool, it is very
cool, you, technically it's notcool to get to my house because
our neighbor up front is kindof, you know, junkyard-ish.
But it is cool in the fact thata lot of people don't know
we're back here, because youhave to drive in his drive to
get to us.
And so literally, yeah, we'reback here, surrounded by just
(11:54):
woods, and that's it.
Yeah, so we've been here fornine years.
Yeah, we've nine years.
We've lived off grid.
We started out in um, we liketo call it our little tent house
.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
So you guys quit your , you quit, you retired, right?
You both retired and uh decidedto like live like you guys,
bought some property andbasically built your own little
paradise, right?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yeah, so what we were doing was we bought the
property.
We lived in Illinois.
We bought the property.
We were going to come down hereon the weekends and do stuff.
Mike retired and this was justgoing to be our hangout and
place to get away and we weredown here.
I think we bought it in Marchand we had had it for a year
(12:48):
that we both were working and wewould come down here and hang
out and do some stuff.
And then the following year hehad retired and we came down
like three months after heretired and we spent two weeks
down here and when we left weleft knowing that.
And when we left, we leftknowing that.
(13:13):
Or I knew I had no clue when Iwas going to be able to get back
down here because I was stillworking full-time and doing, you
know, 50 hours a week and stufflike that.
I left crying because I didn'tknow when I would be able to get
back down here.
But on the way home Mike waslike hey, you know I, I know at
some point this was supposed tobe our retirement live here once
(13:33):
I retired.
And he's like but what we wantto really do, living off grid is
going to take a lot more work,so I think you're just going to
have to retire early.
Okay, yeah, because the plan waswe were eventually going to
move down here, but I was justgoing to move branches.
I was going to transfer fromthe branch in Illinois that I
(13:54):
was at to a branch in Rolla thatwas closer and I was going to
continue to work.
But it did take, because webuilt our own house, the two of
us and everything else, and itwas solid woods where we were,
so we had to clear out stuff andclear the trees.
So it was a lot of work.
And so he was like I thinkyou're just going to have to
(14:17):
retire early.
Okay, okay, you know I wasready for a stroke anyway,
working with the stock marketand stuff.
So it's like no, no, yeah, letme be out in nature in my tank
top and and whatever, and I'mgood playing in your playing in
your garden and in the woodsyeah, yeah, definitely.
We have four gardens, so andthat is that.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So is that when you started um getting into
herbalism or was that?
Had you done that, any of thatstuff before?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
actually I hadn't um, not the herbal part now hiding
in the woods.
I did that my entire lifegrowing up.
So you know, everybody used to,everybody used to.
You know talk about you, knewyou had a good life when you
knew you went home when thestreet lights went out.
Well, I lived.
I lived out in the middle on Ican't even I can't say a farm.
(15:09):
We did have a lot of animals.
I helped my dad hand milk cows,I had 13 baby goats for my 13th
birthday.
You know, we had the pigs, wehad all of this stuff, the
chickens obviously, and stufflike that, and I would go out
into the woods and hide.
I would pack me a backpack andI would go hide in the woods and
(15:30):
I actually had this one tree.
There was this huge juniperright on the side of a pond and
it umbrellaed.
It was so big that the bottomwould umbrella and I would climb
underneath that and that waslike my little fort.
Oh, I love it underneath that.
And that was like my littlefort, oh I love it.
So when it was time to go home,you could hear my dad honk the
(15:57):
horn on the truck and that meantget your butt home, it's time
for dinner, kind of thing.
So I mean, the the outdoorspart has always been in me and I
think that was the hardest partwith having a corporate job was
, you know, that was twodifferent lives.
And when, when I actually toldpeople we were moving down here
to do this, everybody that I hadworked with for and known in
the industry for, you know,almost 20 years, was like oh my
(16:21):
God, why would you want to dothat, why are you doing that?
And I'm like but that's whereI'm from, that's what I used,
you doing that, and I'm like butthat's where I'm from, that's
what I used.
No way, because I was, you know, the five inch heels, the, the
dress for corporate, the wholething.
And I'm like no, this is me fora job, but that's me you know,
so when we got down here and gotin the woods, this was like,
(16:41):
okay, I'm finally home.
You know I'm finally home.
But there was, um, there was atime that I saw one of the
wineries that we love to go to,peaceful Bend in Stillville, and
they're amazing, love theowners.
And they had what they werecalling a wild walk and they had
(17:02):
a lady coming and you couldcome.
You could, you know, get yourwine, have lunch, whatever.
She took you on a walk aroundthe property and pointed out all
the different plants and thingslike that, told you what they
were good for, and it just likeit was like something.
A light bulb went off and I'mlike, oh, my God, this is, this
(17:23):
is amazing, you know.
And we left there and on the wayhome I told my husband, I'm
like you know, what would becool is if she would do a class
or a internship or apprentice,something like that.
I'm like I would really like toknow.
You know, we have all of thisaround us.
I said, uh, I would love toknow that there's something out
(17:47):
there I can use if we're in thewoods and get hurt or or
anything.
And it basically, it was justthat, just the basics.
What can I use if I'm I'm here,cut myself, but don't have a
band-aid?
Well, you can use yarrow.
Well, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
So it's so simple.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
yeah, it was those simple little things and I think
it was like three months.
I started following her,Colleen from Turtle Earth, and I
think it was like three monthslater and all of a sudden she
posts on Facebook takingapplications for my first
apprenticeship.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, meant to be.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I instantly sent her a thing.
She sent me the application, Ifilled it out and sent it back
the same damn day.
I didn't need to.
I had two months to do it, butI did, and luckily she did.
She ended up picking five of usand so I did a working
apprenticeship with her and sowe would go and we would do
(18:47):
stuff for the property that theywere building and then we would
do herbal and stuff like that.
And then, as I got into that, Ijust was like, okay, now I want
to, I can't, I can't, um, Ican't save the world.
I can't know absolutelyeverything about every plant and
(19:08):
what it does.
And so I wanted to kind of Idon't want to say minimize, but
focus.
And that's when the menopausalpart came in, yeah, and that's
when the menopausal part came inCause I'm like this is so
needed.
This is, you know you can findthe other, you can Google.
Something simple Like theyarrow will stop, you know, a
(19:30):
bleeding for cut and stuff likethat.
But I didn't feel like therewas as much herbal when it came
to natural things that helpbalance your hormones and things
like that.
So that's when, yeah, I dugdeep for that.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
So very cool, very needed.
So, um, if people want to learnmore about you or follow along
or receive your blog, where willthey find you?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Okay, so I'm kind of everywhere in odd places.
Facebook, definitely Under myherbalist journey and warrior
heart.
I am also on Instagram, youtube.
I just started YouTube.
I'm trying to move some of myvideos over to that.
I just started Substack so I dohave a free subscription for a
(20:19):
weekly newsletter that I do.
It's not always herbal,sometimes it's just me on
whatever hits me.
So that's on Substack.
And then I have a website thatis myherbalistjourneycom.
Love it.
All those.
And on the website.
I do have several free PDFs.
So I have a PDF on quick herbalguides, I have one on embracing
(20:42):
menopause, I have a specificone on endometriosis, ovarian
system, uterine fibroids that'sall together in one, and then
one on the wise women ways andhormonal health.
Those are all out there.
You can view them or you candownload them and print them.
They're on your website.
Those are onto my website.
(21:03):
Yep, it's underneath thearticle.
And free PDFs yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yep, amy and I also do together.
We do two free workshops amonth.
We do like a one on the newmoon for, like, clearing energy
box and do a line with whatever.
Like the goals of the new moonare?
Um, they're basically a littleeducation on energy and and
herbs or herbal allies.
And then we do too longmindfulness and then we're
starting a series, um, on thechakras and we're doing this
(21:31):
month we're just doing anoverall like introduction to the
chakras and then we're going towork our way from the root to
the crown and then do like afull balance of the whole thing
at the end.
So those are all free and we dothem virtually online if
anybody wants to come to those.
It's a lot of fun.
We've gotten a little following, so it's exciting and you leave
feeling really good becauseit's basically just like two
(21:53):
peaceful mindfulnesses.
So, yeah, it's very good.
And a little education, yeah,definitely.
Well, amy, thanks so much forcoming on here.
I was excited.
We are, we work together allthe time, but I definitely
wanted to have you on thepodcast so people could hear
about all the awesome thingsyou're doing.
So thank you.
(22:14):
Yeah, anything else too?
Oh, I didn't ask you.
I always ask everyone whattheir go-to self-care is.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
What's your go-to self-care when, like, things are
awful and it's your one thingthat makes things better?
Honestly and I'm lucky enoughto be able- to do this.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
I usually go out in the woods and sit.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I was wondering if that was what it was going to be
.
Yeah, we have a section of ourproperty that has huge boulders
and, like when I do a new moonceremony, I take people over
there and that's where wemeditate and it overlooks the
dry creek and stuff.
So that's my go-to.
I'll just pack a littlebackpack and walk over there and
hang out Yep, I love that.
And hug a tree, oh hug a tree.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That's cute, I love it.
Perfect.
Well, thank you so much, andall the links to all your stuff
in the show notes Awesome.
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