October 4, 2025 • 53 mins
In this episode you will hear what happens when Monica Stein a fromer engineer decides to redesign more than airplanes — she redesigns lives? In this inspiring conversation, my guest shares her journey from the world of engineering to the realm of holistic wellness. With a background in science and her training at the Chopra Center, she blends the wisdom of Ayurveda with practical, evidence-based tools. The result? A unique approach that bridges East and West, offering clients a path to balance, healing, and inner transformation.
One of the most powerful moments Monica shares is this: “I jumped, and the universe caught me.” It’s a reminder of the courage it takes to follow your inner calling—and the magic that unfolds when you do.
Key Takeaways:
- How an engineering mindset can be applied to healing and personal growth
- The influence of Ayurveda and Chopra Center teachings on her work
- The balance of science, spirituality, and ancient practices in modern wellness
- Her personal leap of faith into a new chapter of life
- Why clients describe her work as both practical and magical
- Tips for bringing more alignment, wholeness, and inner wisdom into your own life
Whether you’re curious about holistic healing, fascinated by Ayurveda, or simply seeking inspiration to take your own leap of faith, this episode will spark something within you.
Connect with Monica Stein at:
On IG:https://www.instagram.com/monica.inspires/
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/prana-and-possibilities/id1792757354
Website: http://omthenticyou.com/
You can find me at:
https://www.instagram.com/cataton/
https://www.facebook.com/casey.taton/
You can find what sparks me at:
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AgeRtyojY/
https://www.instagram.com/lmbdcelebrations/
Music by: Jason and Ashley Scheufler
Artwork by: https://www.instagram.com/graphx_ink/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hey friends.
Welcome to the Enter Sparkpodcast.
I'm your host, Casey Caton.
If you're looking to hearstories of transformation and
personal growth, this podcast isfor you.
My guest and I will be sharingthose sparking moments that has
changed the mental living a morefulfilling authentic life.
I'm so excited for you to heareach unique story.
(00:24):
So sit back, relax, and let'sget started.
Hey friend.
Welcome back to the Enter Sparkpodcast.
I'm your host, Casey T, andtoday I have Monica Stein with
me.
She is a beautiful, amazingperson.
(00:45):
She's an energy healer, a dogmom, a self-care guru.
She went from being an engineerto engineering wellness for
herself and her clients.
She blends a spiritual with thepractical.
Use Eastern and Western.
And her clients keep coming backfor more of her magic.
(01:06):
She walks her talk and practicesthe modalities she offers.
Hi, welcome.
I am so excited to have youhere.
I'm excited to be here.
I haven't been on a podcast in awhile, so I've been like, have I
have my own?
(01:26):
I've been interviewing people,having just my own, and it's
been a minute, so I'm reallyexcited to be here too.
I am honored to have you here.
I wanna tell them a little bitabout how we met.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, so we met in, KathyHeller's world, in our
podcasting world, and then weboth follow some other coaches
(01:50):
and we have got to deep connectyou're just a magical human
being and you are so talented inso many areas.
And it inspires me and lights meup to learn more and more and
more.
So would you tell them a littlebit about, your backstory?
(02:10):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I just wanna also just kindastart off, it's kind of my
backstory, but I wasn't alwayslike this magical, or maybe I
was, maybe we're all magic andwe forget, right?
Yeah.
We just need to remember.
Um, the, the energy that I bringnow is, it's something I worked
at.
I wasn't always.
Like this, I was very fiery andpassionate.
(02:31):
I call it passionate, but it'sreally, it's like type a very
fiery need to be just like this.
Otherwise I get angry and I getso angry, you know?
But that, that has slough, thatship has sailed every now and
again.
I do get a little bit morepassionate.
but yeah, I grew up in atumultuous home and, I had to
(02:55):
protect myself.
Yeah.
So what I did was I hid a lot inmy bedroom that I shared with my
sister, and I studied a lot.
It was me and my homework, meand my books, me and my little
cocoon, because of it.
So I don't know where reallythat took me and how that has
helped me.
(03:15):
Maybe it's just me self caringfor myself at a very.
Young age, that probably hasstayed with me my entire life.
Just being just protective ofmyself, I guess.
Keeping myself safe wherever Igo.
You know, a few weeks ago Imentioned to my husband that I
(03:36):
realized, I actually put it intowords.
I realized that I was very riskaverse, and he's like, hello,
duh.
Have you met yourself?
And I'm like, I have, like, Iknow who I am, but sometimes it
takes a minute to, yeah.
To hold space for ourselves inthat way when we're recognizing
something, not that it's a badthing, that I'm risk averse, but
(03:57):
it's just something that I'mremembering and that I'm
recognizing.
And that really only happenswhen we're present, when we're
aware.
Part of my upbringing.
That it was tumultuous isbecause we kept moving like a
lot, and one of the places wemoved to was Brazil.
Oh, wow.
My family is Brazilian and Iwent there.
(04:19):
My sister, my mom, my dad and I.
We went there and my sister andI didn't really know the
language per se.
Like my parents spoke to us inPortuguese and we responded in
English, so like we had basicunderstanding, but they put us
into a Brazilian school.
Oh my goodness.
They couldn't afford theAmerican school.
(04:40):
So we got put into a Brazilianschool and.
I will tell you this, when wemoved, I was, I had just
finished my sophomore year ofhigh school, and here we have
four years of high school there.
There's three years of highschool.
Oh.
And so I went from being asophomore here to then being
last year student there.
(05:01):
And what was difficult aboutthat, besides the language is
that here when we go to highschool normally, well this is,
this was my, my journey.
Year one, right?
When you're freshy, you takebiology, maybe you take
chemistry the second year.
If you decide to go that route,physics is maybe your junior
year there.
They really build on it.
(05:22):
So it's not biology first year,chemistry, second year, physics,
third year.
It is, you are learning all ofit every single year.
So they had already thefoundations of biology,
chemistry, physics.
For the first two years.
And so I was going into thethird and last year of high
(05:43):
school with just the foundationin biology, but not even in
Portuguese'cause I had it inEnglish.
So, and I hadn't taken chemistryhere.
I chose not to take that route.
But when I got to Brazil, I hadto choose a path.
Was it gonna be the sciences orwas it going to be more liberal
arts?
And I chose the sciences becauseI figured that would be easier
for me to translate in my head.
(06:03):
And I did enjoy math.
So, yeah, so I basically wentinto my last year of high school
with no foundation and all inPortuguese.
and when we came back I did getinto a college there for
engineering, which was kind ofexciting.
And when we came back, which weweren't supposed to come back,
uh, we were meant to be therelike for the rest of our lives
mostly.
(06:24):
we came back after a few yearsand I just felt so smart.
So smart because the educationsystem there was so good for me.
Yeah.
Um, and I just, I was, it was sogood.
It was so good.
Um, anyway, so he came back hereand I just, you know, I started
my path and.
I came back in April of 90, so Icouldn't really transfer into a
(06:46):
college because April's kindalate.
Mm-hmm.
You know, to even start Right.
Applying and taking care of thatstuff.
So I ended up going to communitycollege and then I stayed there
for a while till I was ready tomove forward.
I.
And then my dad had a heartattack and triple bypass at that
point, my parents were alreadydivorced.
When we came back from Brazil,they got divorced, which was a,
(07:08):
A blessing.
A blessing.
I was very grateful for that.
Um.
My dad had a, a heart attack,triple bypass.
My sister went away to school.
I stayed around, but I didn'twanna go to, I was done with
community college.
I didn't even wanna get anassociates.
I just said, I'm done.
Yeah, I need more now.
Um, so I transferred to atechnical school in the city
and, which was amazing.
(07:29):
I met so many beautifulinternational people and I made
so many friends.
And because of, because I wentthere, I got to.
Take this internship slash co-opat the Department of
Transportation, which was alsobrilliant.
I got to meet more people.
Why did my world, it broadenedmy world.
It was so beautiful.
(07:49):
Um, and then after that, becauseit's so interesting when you
look back and you see like wherethe pieces were left for you.
So while I was at the Departmentof Transportation.
I met this group of guys who areinterning there.
I was a co-op, so I was stayedfor like seven or eight months.
Um, but I met these guys thereand they all went to university
of Illinois, Champaign Urbana,all in engineering.
(08:12):
And one weekend that summer, oneof the guys had a party and he's
like, come.
So I took my roommate and wewent and I had such a brilliant
time.
And at that same time, my home,my mom's home, which is kind of
where I was staying.
Was, I will refrain from swearwords.
It was not going well.
Who?
Emoji.
Okay.
(08:32):
Yeah.
It was not, it was not goingwell.
I had to make a decision, um,what to do with my life.
My sister was already out of thehouse.
She was already at school, um,living there, and I had to make
a decision.
What do I do?
I, I didn't wanna go live withmy dad.
He didn't have the room for me,and I didn't wanna stay where I
was and so.
(08:53):
I think it was July.
In July, I called up theUniversity of Illinois and I
said, Hey, I'd like to transferover there.
What do you need from me?
What colleges of engineering arestill available to me?
And one of them was civil and Iforgot what the other two are.
Did it matter?
I chose several.
And I said, great.
I got, I sent my transcriptwithin a month, sent my
(09:15):
transcripts, sent my essays, um,found an apartment.
And they accepted me.
And boom, within a month I wasstarting at the University of
Illinois.
Wow.
I'm gonna take you back for asecond if that's okay.
Yeah.
(09:36):
Because you came off as thisgirl who hid, right?
Yep.
And you hid and you read and,um, like that kept you going,
and then all of a sudden youwere this person who was like.
I'm taking action, I'm doingthis.
Um, where do you think thatswitched in?
(09:57):
You, do you?
Oh boy.
I think that, I mean, do youthink it was like traveling or
do you think it was like, um, Idon't know that it was traveling
and I don't, I wonder if it wasa little bit of maybe living in
Brazil and getting thatconfidence.
I'll tell you that for the firstyear that we lived there, I
cried like almost every singleday.
Hated it.
Didn't know what to do withmyself, but I had this wonderful
(10:19):
friend who I still have now 30years later.
Um, and she took me under herwing.
She didn't just like me becauseI was American, like she was
really my friend.
And so nowadays, when I go back,I stay with her.
I see her.
Um, it's, it's a very beautiful,um, relationship.
I'm really glad that she's myfriend.
Um, the value of friendship, Ithink it's right.
(10:43):
That's a long time.
Um.
I think it's because I knew atthat point that I needed to take
care of myself, that I needed tomake decisions for my own life,
to take care of me because Iknew that my parents weren't
gonna be able to help me, theyweren't gonna be able to support
me.
And once again, and this hashappened repeatedly in my life.
(11:06):
and maybe it's happened in inyours too, but we make decisions
based on someone else'sdecisions, right?
They make a choice.
Yeah.
It doesn't fit us right?
It doesn't work for us.
It doesn't resonate.
It's not supporting us.
We need to take a step back andsay, okay, this is their life.
How do we take care ofourselves?
Right?
We are our own wisest self.
(11:29):
How do we move forward?
And I needed to make a decision.
I needed to make a decision, andthat is the decision I made.
And I can see how the universesupported me in that.
And also sidebar, someone hadtold me once upon a time that I
have a little guardian angel,and so I just kinda stay with
that.
I'm like, great.
I have a guardian angel.
And so some, you know, Iremember that.
(11:52):
Yeah, it's been quite a ride formyself and I remember doing this
exercise.
I'm not really sure where I.
I think it was a writingexercise.
Anyway, I think it was during myVeda training.
It was part my Veda training.
Part of my VEDA training waslife coaching also.
And so we had to go through it,these, these exercises.
And so we were kind ofjournaling on our like landmark
(12:18):
things that happen in our lives.
Right, like the highlights.
Yeah.
And as I was writing, like whatwas going on in my twenties, I'm
like.
Oh my god.
What a PO show, right?
Yeah.
Like it was like it was, and itwasn't anything I did.
It was the choices my mothermade, and then I had to figure
out what to do next.
What, what do you do next as a,you barely have life experience.
(12:38):
What do you do when you're 20?
I.
Right.
How, how do you take care ofyourself when you're 22?
Most people go to college,right?
They graduate high school, theygo to college.
They started about 18 or 19.
Mm-hmm.
And you start getting someresponsibilities a little bit.
But I was still living at home,right?
Going to community college,going to the other school, you
know, before I transferred outof town.
(12:58):
And like, how do I take care ofmyself?
What are the decisions I have tomake given the limited knowledge
that I had at the time?
How do I take care of myself?
And I saw that the universesupported me.
I jumped and the universe caughtme, said, Hey, we got you.
We're gonna figure this out.
That's so powerful.
(13:18):
Um, it's really inspiring andit's really powerful for
someone.
I'm gonna be honest, I've nevertraveled outside of the United
States.
So for someone who left theUnited States and then got in a
school and didn't even speak thelanguage and then.
You came back and then you justit's like mind blowing to me of
like, and then all of a suddenyou were just like, okay, I'm
(13:41):
ready.
My life is starting and I'mtaking control of it, and I'm
going for this.
Yeah, but it takes its toll,right?
Yeah.
So I, I had to protect myself alot.
I had a lot of decisions I hadto make and make a lot of
choices.
And at some point it catches upto you if you're not caring for
yourself and when you're in yourtwenties, maybe thirties.
(14:02):
You take life for granted,right?
Especially if you are healthy,you take life for granted and
you're like, I'm invincible.
All good.
I don't have to worry aboutthings.
I'm gonna speed, I'm going to,you know, drink a lot, eat a
lot, whatever it is, right?
Yeah.
Until something happens, right?
And that's something happened tome when I was 31.
(14:23):
So, you know, and, and that'swhen life is like, okay, hello.
Take a look at your life.
What do you wanna do now?
How do you wanna take care ofyourself?
What are you gonna do movingforward?
Right?
We flow with whatever happens,right?
With our own lives.
We're getting to know ourselvesin a different way as we're
growing up, right?
I went to this woman's retreatthis weekend.
(14:45):
It's a beautiful retreat, andI'm still learning things about
myself.
I'm gonna be 54 in a week.
Or six days, and I'm stilllearning like so much about
myself.
And the most common comment Iget when I go to these types of
things is, oh, hey, did you comewith someone?
I'm like, no, no, no.
I came alone.
And they're like, oh, you're sobrave.
And I'm like, why is that brave?
Like I do this all the time and,but maybe it's because of how I
(15:08):
grew up and all thecircumstances I've had where I'm
just like, whatever.
I just go by myself.
Like I get to meet people and Iusually, most of the time walk
away with the new friend, youknow, with a connection and.
That's all good.
I think that's, uh, yeah, no, Ithink it's super powerful,
because it is difficult whenyou've never traveled or done
these things alone.
(15:28):
I just said that to a friend theother day and it was even going
somewhere in my own hometown.
I was like, God, I wish youlived closer so you could go
with me.
I mean, not that I can't go bymyself, but sometimes it's it's
intimidating.
And, and so I, I think that weare always doubting and like
questioning ourselves and it'slike finding that inner
confidence of like, and it'sfreedom.
(15:50):
I imagine like how much free youfeel when you do these things.
Like empowering, like I canstand on my own two feet.
Yeah.
And like I know you have ahusband, but also.
You also get to stand on yourown two feet and do these things
and meet new people.
Yeah.
So it just is, it's trulypowerful.
(16:11):
Yeah.
Don't get me wrong, I wasscared.
I was scared.
I have to drive.
I have to drive.
I get to drive.
Yeah.
You know, and I know thatwithout traffic, it takes about
an hour and a half to get there.
I think it was like 70 somethingmiles or something.
But there's always traffic inthe Bay Area and I was
concerned.
I was leaving Friday afternoon.
What does this look like?
(16:31):
My GPS was taking me in adifferent route altogether that
was gonna take three hours.
And triple the miles.
And I'm like, why is it takingme down there?
There's like nothing going on uphere.
Like, I don't understand.
I had to pull off, look at my,look at my, like Google app or
whatever the maps and, and thenlook at my GPS and I'm like,
what do I do?
And, and I kept changing it.
What's funny is like on my car,I kept changing it to.
(16:53):
Fast, fastest, and it would takeme there and then like 10
seconds later it would revertback to, no, go this way.
And I'm like, I have to make adecision, right?
Maybe there's something that theGPS knows that I don't know, but
I'm like, whatever, I'm justgonna go the way that I know and
that's just the way it's gonnabe.
But I was so, I was scaredbecause of traffic.
I was scared because I don'tusually leave my town.
(17:16):
Okay.
Yeah.
Like I have everything here.
Um, and I'm meeting all thesepeople.
I don't even know how many womenwere gonna be there.
It, it was at camp.
I don't go camping.
Like, that's not me.
I went to day camp when I wasyounger, but never overnight
camp.
Right.
For me, like going, camping islike a two star hotel or one
star hotel.
Like, I don't know what that is.
Okay.
(17:36):
So like, this was new for me.
I didn't know what to expect.
I have a lot of dietaryrestrictions and I put that down
in the form.
I did not know what to expect,but there was something inside
of me that just said.
Don't worry, you'll be fine.
I was gonna bring my pillow, myblanket.
I was gonna bring, oh, so manyother things.
And I'm like, you know, Monica,you're still here in the Bay
Area.
Like, it'll be fine.
(17:57):
Don't worry about it.
And like, and I'm going and oneof the things I had to do while
I was driving there, I.
Let's go on this windy road upthe hill, and that makes me
nauseous.
Yeah.
Fortunately I had an apple andI'm eating the apple and, and
I'm like, it's okay, Monica.
We're almost there.
It tells me only four miles.
We're almost there.
So, you know, there's still alot of scary, and then I get
(18:18):
there and I'm still, here's thething, people say, yes, you're
brave.
Yeah, that takes courage.
And yes, I'm still scared, butthere's that part of me that's
still, and I recognize this,even just this, even this week,
this past weekend, like I feltlike my energy was all.
Here.
It wasn't out here.
Yeah.
Like I was still very nervouswhen I got to the pickup point,
(18:39):
uh, for the shuttle.
Nobody greeted me, not even thecounselors who were there, and I
thought, what the hell?
Right?
Like, this is terrible.
Um, but then these other womenwho just parked their cars came
up to me and like said, Hey, doyou know what's going on?
And I'm like, oh, great.
Someone's talking to me.
I don't usually, I'm very shy,so.
You know, when I approachpeople, but here's the thing,
(19:00):
when I got there, they looked atme, but they never said hello.
They never said welcome and thenpeople are like, well, why
didn't you say hello?
And I'm like, I just got there,aren't they?
Mm-hmm.
Maybe I'm making up storiesright for them.
Like, shouldn't they bewelcoming?
I'm judging, but I don't know.
I just, I feel like.
We should be welcomed when wecome in someplace.
(19:20):
And that is what I do whenpeople walk into any event that
I have.
Right?
When I was president of thiswomen's group last year, people
came in and like I welcomed themeven though I was president and
busy doing other things.
And I have this one woman whowas so wonderful and she
actually told me a few monthsago, she goes, you're the reason
I joined.
Because even though you have ahospitality table, nobody really
(19:43):
welcomed me.
It wasn't until you walked up tome, I.
And started talking to me that Ifelt welcome and I said, thank
you for saying that, becausethere's so many things that we
do and how we show up that wedon't recognize we're just being
our true, authentic selves.
Right?
Yeah.
But we don't recognize it untilsomebody says to us, here's what
I saw, here's what Iexperienced.
(20:04):
Right.
And sometimes they don't sharethat information.
They keep it hidden too.
Right.
For some reason.
Tell me more.
Right.
Whenever I see someone, I'mlike, oh my God, I find
something.
You know, acknowledge, you know,that's so funny that you would
say that you're shy.
And I think it's just becausewe've got to know each other
because I don't see it at all.
I like see you as like thisperson that's just like, I mean,
(20:26):
very welcoming.
I mean, you can be shy andwelcoming in a different way.
Um, so I mean, I can see how, Imean, that's how I am and it's
never a second guess of justlike, hi, how are you?
Even though I'm, I'm more quietwhen I don't get, when I don't
know you, but.
The power that that has in it.
Um, just to welcome somebody.
(20:48):
It's so powerful and I'm so gladthe lady said that to you.
I know.
Yeah.
It's these little blessings,right?
That we can accumulate along theway in our lives, right?
When people remind us of who weare, like we remember, like
Kathy Heller always tells us,remember to remember right.
And I'm remembering things aboutmyself, and I'm getting to know
(21:09):
parts of myself that I forgot ordidn't even know about, haven't
acknowledged in forever.
But when other people come andshare these blessings with you,
hold them close.
Right?
What a beautiful exchange.
That's impactful.
And it's funny because we neverstop learning, and I think in
Kathy's community, that's one ofthe biggest things that we've
(21:30):
learned is that.
It doesn't matter our age.
We're all ages in there.
I mean, I'm 41 and we're allages and mm-hmm.
We're all learning and growingtogether.
Yeah.
And it's just, it's so, sopowerful.
It's so powerful.
Yeah.
And so, you know, justremembering you know who you are
(21:51):
and what, what's the energy thatyou bring, right?
Yeah.
Into the space.
Because you can influence it.
You can influence it, and Ithink.
You know, I think that becauseof all the work I've done on
myself that has changed me, my,my energy, the meditations, the
(22:12):
energy clearing, you know, all,all the things that I've studied
and I practice anything.
And it doesn't even have to be astudy, honestly.
You can learn from other people,like from their mistakes and
say, I'm not gonna do that.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then you embody that.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
And you bring that with youwherever you go.
Any book you read, anything youdigest, it's not just food, it's
(22:35):
what you're reading.
It's who you're spending timewith, what you're watching on
television.
You know, they, I think one ofthe books that I studied, I
can't remember who it was at aTell My Cabinets, you are the
five people that you surroundyourself with.
I call it the Five Energies.
Because not all the time is itpeople, right?
One of the things could be news.
One of the things could besocial media, right?
(22:57):
Because you spend, we spend alot of time.
With social media, a lot of usdo, right?
Oh, yeah.
My aunt spends a lot of timewith her news.
She listens to the news all daylong on repeat, and so we are
digesting that, right?
We're either looking at it ordigesting through our eyes.
We're digesting throughourselves.
(23:18):
We're digesting through ourears.
What are you bringing into yourlife to help calm you down,
right?
Yeah.
Can you close your eyes and nottake some stuff in?
That's, yeah.
That's so powerful.
I actually did, a podcastepisode that's released on that,
about who you spend your timewith and where your energy goes
(23:40):
and is what you're doing liftingyou up or is it physically
draining you?
Yep, because it's, I don't thinkpeople realize it, and even on a
daily basis, I have to check inwith myself.
Of where am I going with thisand how, like, how did it make
me feel?
And that's why I released it.
'cause I had had a, a week and Ijust thought, let me reflect on
(24:00):
this week and see where I'm at.
Yep, yep.
Where are you at?
Right.
But sometimes we don't wanna seethat.
We don't wanna see where we'reat.
Right.
So we keep filling our buckets,our lives with so many different
things so that we don't have toacknowledge where we are.
Okay.
With all that being said, I havea question for you.
(24:22):
I wanna take you back becausewe're talking so much about
energy and who we surroundourself with.
So how did you go from being anengineer?
Mm-hmm.
Going to school for thatengineering to what?
What switched you?
What changed you?
What sparked you to do somethingdifferent?
I think it was all the illness.
(24:44):
It was all the illness.
Um, so, Hmm.
I loved engineering.
There were so many parts ofengineering that I loved.
And I still use a lot of that inmy business today, but there
were certain jobs that, did notresonate with me.
And I tend to stay longer than Iwant in those jobs because.
(25:06):
I like having purpose and I likehaving community and I like
having financial stability.
Um, yeah, so that was reallyimportant to me.
And so, you know, I, while thosejobs did not make some jobs, did
not make me happy.
I did look for other jobs withinthe company.
When I was about eight yearsold, my dad taught my sister and
(25:29):
I reiki and.
Meditation.
And so that actually has comefull circle.
So with my very last job atBoeing, which did not resonate
with me at all, and that waslike a whole fiasco all by
itself, I just ended up, I'lljust keep it short and say I
ended up leaving.
I ended up leaving for the lasttime.
(25:50):
That was enough for me at somepoint, some years previous to
that, I had, I was standing inmy living room, I was living in
Seattle at the time, and.
As many of you may know,Seattle's not known for
sunshine.
Yeah.
Um, so I was standing in myliving room and I was looking
out the window.
It was an overcast day, overcastwith a peak of sun.
(26:12):
And so I was standing there andI'm just looking out the window
and all of a sudden there's thistear that's coming out of my
eye.
And I'm like, what's that?
What's going on?
I don't understand.
And that was the moment where Ireally connected to myself.
I said, oh my gosh, I'm justunhappy.
I'm unhappy here.
I have a beautiful house.
I have great friends.
(26:34):
I love all the things.
I love the beauty.
I'm tired.
I just can't do this anymore.
I cannot be here anymore.
And so I planted a seed in theuniverse, in my husband's head.
I planted a seed.
Yeah, it took several years.
So I ended up leaving the Boeingcompany in 2013, October of
2013.
My husband left Amazon in a yearlater, and he said to me, this
(26:58):
is gonna be quick.
Whatever happens, he's in tech.
So he's like, this is gonna bequick, whatever we do.
And I said, okay.
He looked for jobs out here inCalifornia, northern and
Southern.
Um, and he ended up with severaljob offers and he asked me where
I wanted to live and I said tohim, that's a very loaded
question because I need to knowif you need me to have a job
(27:23):
because if you want me to work,if you want the second income,
we're gonna have to move toSouthern California because that
is where aerospace is.
That is my experience.
Yeah.
And.
I asked him in return, I said,which job do you like?
Because you're the one who isgonna be earning more than me no
matter what.
Mm-hmm.
(27:43):
Um, where do you wanna go?
I was asking him to uproot.
I didn't mind uprooting.
I'm used to moving around.
But yeah, he likes, he's verystable.
He likes stability.
So he said, the one in SanFrancisco.
And I said, okay, if you're okaywith me not working.
Then little did I know that wasa manifestation that I would not
(28:05):
be able to get a job.
Um, anyway, sidebar, um, wemoved to the Bay Area and after
about 10 months or so, he'slike, okay, I like it here and
we can stay.
And I'm like, great, let's buy ahouse.
Okay.
That was the start of adifferent kind of journey of
Yeah.
Overpriced houses and multipleoffers and.
(28:28):
Bidding over asking.
That was quite the adventure forus.
But we found a beautiful homeand it's been great.
We've been here 10 years.
10 years in March.
Wow.
And I wouldn't know where elseto go really.
Um, so we got here, I had a catwho was not doing well.
(28:51):
She had a tumor.
We needed to remove it.
So most of my time.
Was settling in, unpacking,getting to know the new area.
Finding a good vet for her.
Yeah.
Um, meeting people.
How do I meet people?
How do you meet people when youare not working, when you don't
have a job?
Yeah.
So I joined a newcomers club inmy area, and they were women,
(29:14):
maybe like one person my age.
but most of'em were older.
They were empty nesters, theywere retirees.
Mm-hmm.
They just moved here.
So that was good.
For a while.
I didn't make any friends, but Istill kept going, you know, try
new things.
I'm always listening to, notalways, lately in my life, I've
been listening to inspirations.
Anytime I get a little in myear, I'm like, oh, lemme go
(29:37):
check that out.
What does that mean?
What am I supposed to do withthis?
So I've given myself permissionto follow those inspirations
wherever they might go.
So, yeah.
Ah, yeah, it's been hard.
I've made some friends, but alsoI've, you know, I have friends
in Seattle, so I go back and oneof my friends actually moved to
Sacramento, so kind of far, it'slike an hour and a half, but
(29:59):
still closer to the Seattleinstead of being hour and a half
on the airplane.
I'm an hour and a half in thecar and she comes here a lot.
So that was great.
She was my bestie in Seattle.
So it's been good and.
During this time, I am trying tofind things like a part-time
job, but nothing's calling,nothing's happening.
And I just, my sister calls meup that first year that I'm here
(30:20):
in 2015 and she says, I need abreak.
I need a break.
We did a little research.
We ended up at the Chopra Centerin San Diego, which is no longer
there.
We ended up there for a week.
It was a week long.
Retreat and we didn't know whatwe were signing up for.
We're just like, okay, see youthere.
And she was coming from Chicago.
I was coming from here, see youthere.
(30:41):
We're sharing a room.
That's it.
And it was so brilliant.
And so that week is where welearned how to meditate with
Deepak Chopra.
Mm-hmm.
And it was so, so brilliant.
And this like, it just, for me,that just became full circle.
While I was an engineer, Istudied a lot, like a lot of
other things just to bring meinto balance.
Mm-hmm.
Um, animal communicationcoaching.
(31:03):
Aura cleansing.
Like anything that was just any,anything fun, curious tarot
cards, like whatever, quilting,whatever it was, I'm like, let
me do that.
I need to release the stress inmy body from engineering.
So I've learned a lot of things.
Anyway.
This was so beautiful and thiswas the meditation that I needed
and I still guide people to thisday.
(31:24):
Even today, I had a meditationthis morning that I guided, a
group of people and I love thismeditation and it's.
To me, it just started my fullcircle journey to when I was
eight years old and healingmyself and taking care of
myself, right?
Given all the circumstances Igrew up with, taking care of
myself, protecting myself.
So I got certified.
(31:45):
My sister and I both gotcertified at the Chopra Center
for Meditation.
To get certified, we needed tostudy a little bit of Ayurveda.
I had no clue what it was.
They weren't helping me.
I didn't understand it, so Idecided to study it so I could
understand it more.
And so that then I got certifiedin Ayurveda and then I got
certified in yoga teachertraining 200 hour.
(32:06):
And then we had this pandemic.
I'm like, know what?
so I was teaching online.
Before that, I was teaching inperson, but then in the pan,
during the pandemic, I wasteaching online and I studied
more.
I studied more Ayurveda.
I studied health coaching, lifecoaching.
I studied more meditation.
I studied like so much.
So now.
(32:28):
I'm in a place that just feelsso, so delicious and so in
alignment and really, you know,our mentor Kathy Heller, like
she really helped with that.
Like, I've been following Kathyfor over maybe a year and a half
now, and it's been so, so good.
Um, just my whole energy, likemy alignment, it, it, whatever
(32:50):
she did, whatever magic she hasreally allowed me to find my own
magic again.
We all have magic.
We just need to find it.
We need to remember it, we needto share it.
We need to share our light.
And so that's really what I helppeople with in, with energy
healing.
How can I help you heal?
How can I help you shine yourlight?
And it's just so many ways.
And, you know, I've had a lot ofbusiness coaches, well, not
(33:10):
well, several business coaches,and they're always saying the
same things.
Do it my way.
I absolutely can help you.
I can totally help you do it myway.
And, and you really have tolisten and you get caught up in
that excitement, right?
You, oh yeah.
We all carry, we all carryenergy, right?
Mm-hmm.
And we get sucked into theenergy of that person, right.
The five people we surroundourselves with, right?
Yeah.
And it doesn't, and it's notjust five people or five
energies, um, in general.
(33:34):
Like, it's just like, what aboutthose five people in that one
day?
Yeah, right?
In that one hour, who are yousurrounding yourself with?
So I get sucked in and I'm like,oh my God.
Oh my God.
Now, there were some beautifulblessings from these groups, for
sure.
Mm-hmm.
But this is the first time whereI felt like I was given
permission to do what I neededto do and not second guess
(34:00):
myself, because I wasn't doingit their way.
I was doing it my way.
That's so powerful.
There I was looking for, right.
I was looking for what is funfor me?
What am I going to enjoy?
What, what is gonna bring medelight?
How can I be of service topeople with, with my gifts?
What does that look like?
(34:20):
Because once we know that andwe're in alignment, that's where
the confidence comes in.
It's not listening to the otherpeople and their way, their way
worked for them.
We are all unique human beings.
We all have our strengths.
We all have our weaknesses,right?
Mm-hmm.
What, what can we do with thesegifts that were gifted to us on
the day that we were born?
(34:42):
What can we do with them?
So I just went back to energyhealing and it took me a while
too.
That took me a few years too,like am I a meditation teacher?
And this is like, it's a lot ofmindset stuff too, right?
Yeah.
People who know me as anengineer, then there are people
who know me as a meditationteacher and then an Ayurvedic
health coach, and then a lifecoach and energy healer.
(35:03):
And they're all differentpeople.
But those people who were withme from the beginning, they
start thinking like, what thehell is she?
Like wishy-washy.
First, she's an engineer.
Now she wants to teachmeditation.
Now she wants to teach yoga.
Now she whatever.
You know what?
It's all part of me.
It doesn't matter.
I'm reading the book by MelRobbins.
Right.
Let them let me, right?
Okay.
Yeah.
Let them have those storiesabout me.
(35:23):
Let them, it's okay.
That's, they're entitled.
They can do make up whateverthey wanna do.
If that's their life, I'm notgonna let it bring me down.
Right?
I'm thinking those things too.
They're not the only onesthinking that.
Can I make a decision?
Do I know what I want?
I didn't have the right mentors.
So look for the right mentors,right?
Be around the people thatinspire you, not drain you.
Just going back to what yousaid, right?
(35:43):
What's draining you?
Mm-hmm.
Don't, don't, don't be aroundthose people that drain you.
Right?
We wanna be around people thatlift us up, that support us.
I have this new friend that Imet at the Kathy's Summit last
year, who is like my biggestcheerleader, like overt.
She's always like just rightthere, smiling, cheering me on
all the time, all the time infront of other people.
(36:07):
And I'm like, I don't know whatto do with that.
And I told her this.
I'm like, I don't know what todo with that because.
I've never received that before.
This is so new to me.
Thank you for helping me to getcomfortable with it.
That's powerful.
'cause I never was, right?
Yeah.
So really here I am like 54 insix days and like still figuring
(36:28):
out my life, still figuring outmyself.
Yeah.
And what's fun, right?
Like what do I wanna do when Igrow up?
And I love what I do and it justlike all of this just came
together.
All these healing arts, all thethings.
That I know and I love withlike, hi, I'm practical.
I don't, I'm not a hundredpercent guru.
(36:49):
Like I'm not, right.
I live in the modern world, likethere's stuff that happens.
I buy stuff that's already cutup for me.
I don't cut it up.
Okay.
Fruit?
Yeah.
Whatever it is.
Vegetables.
No, because life happens andeven though technology is
supposed to help us and it kindof does, it also takes time.
So.
Yeah.
You know, there's, there'sthings and we wanna have a good
(37:09):
time and we can have a good timecooking if that is our passion.
Mm-hmm.
But there's also like, I wannahave a good time with my friends
and so let me just hurry up andmake myself a meal and enjoy the
meal and go do stuff that Iwanna do.
You know, exercise, go outsidein nature, have a, I'm going to
meet a friend today.
I am gonna meet her new fosterdog.
So I'm excited about that.
Like, how do I make time forthat, you know, right before I
(37:31):
go volunteer.
So, yeah.
What lights you up?
What, what is your body tellingyou that you need to do?
And I think, no, ultimately, Ijust wanna say, and I know you
didn't ask me like final partingwords, but really, like,
ultimately I feel like this hascome full circle already.
Yeah.
Um, is that, you know, what,what lights you up?
And, you know, maybe it'ssomething that's full circle for
(37:53):
you too.
What did you enjoy when you werea kid, right?
Mm-hmm.
What lights you up?
And maybe this is a journalingpractice for you to figure out.
Maybe it's a meditationpractice.
Maybe it's just you spendingtime by yourself, which so many
of us do not like spending timewith ourselves.
Very true.
Right.
So what, what is that?
How can, how can you bring yourgift into this world?
(38:15):
Mm-hmm.
And this gift, it doesn't haveto be the same one all the time.
I believe that my gift, likewhen, just as far back as I can
remember, thinking like I, thatI was in purpose and on purpose
mm-hmm.
Was a few of my jobs at Boeing.
Right, or being surrounded bythose people and who I was
helping, that was my purpose atthat time.
(38:38):
This is my purpose.
Now, that can change.
And one of the things I learnedwas that, you know, we have
purpose and there's littlepurpose with, uh, you know, so
Dharma in Sans Strut, that'ssmall.
D and then there's big Dharmawith a capital D.
The big dharma is our umbrella,right?
This is like our overall bigpurpose, but daily, hourly.
(38:58):
We have our purpose, our smallpurpose, and all that little
purpose is doing is guiding ustowards our bigger purpose.
It is like different assignmentsthat capture our whole big
purpose in this life.
I had a meeting.
I went to an Ayurveda conferencea few weeks ago.
Go fast.
Will you tell listeners whatthat is?
(39:19):
Oh, Ayurveda.
Oh yeah.
So Ayurveda is the sisterscience of yoga.
It translates as the science orwisdom of life.
It's about bringing balance intoyour life and just to keep it
simple, if you're feelingreally, really, really, really
cold, are you gonna drink like anice hot tea?
Or are you gonna have like a icecold beverage?
(39:39):
You know?
So kinda like that.
How do you bring in balance intoyour life?
Okay, so I went to thisconference.
there are six pillars of healthin Ayurveda movement,
meditation, nutrition, um,movement, meditation, nutrition,
emotions, sleep and self-care,stress management type of thing.
(39:59):
So I do all of those and.
So I went to this conference andI learned so many beautiful
things.
There are doctors there who areEastern and Western, and it's so
beautiful and just hearing whatis going on in Ayurveda and how
it's supporting Western medicineand how it overlaps, it
supports, and it's a lot of,there's something I read a long
(40:23):
time ago, and it was like thepills that we take the.
The medicine that we take ingeneral, when the doctor
prescribes it to you, that isall based on plants.
Like it started that way, right?
Yeah.
They added some chemicals.
There's some other things.
Right?
So it's all plant based sort of.
Yes.
I won't get too much into that,but that's where it started.
(40:44):
That.
Ayurveda is just a beautiful wayof being in balance and being
aware, and that's really whatit's about.
Being aware of what's going onso that you can bring balance
into your life.
Too much of something, too muchsugar.
You can feel kind of disgustedand cloying and whatever, and
sticky, um, too little ofsomething.
(41:07):
Can also not feel good.
So how do we bring ourselvesinto balance?
So I went to this conference andthey're trying to raise funds.
I made a donation so that Icould get an A, an astrology
reading and a geo ti astrologyreading, which is different than
western astrology.
Anyway, so she said to me at theend of the, our conversation
(41:30):
based on my astrology chart, shesaid to me.
That I am exactly where I'mmeant to be.
That I am supposed to be thehealer at this point in my life.
I am supposed to be the healerand people will come to me for
healing.
And while that wasn't one of myquestions, it was validation.
(41:52):
It's also validation.
When people come to you and theyask you a question, they're
asking for advice.
Those are clues for you, right?
Mm-hmm.
What are people asking me?
What are they asking me for?
That is a clue for you becausethat is something that they
respect about you, that theyfeel like you are the guru for
(42:14):
them to help them.
So, I don't know.
Anyway, I just thought it was sobeautiful.
The other thing she said to mewas, I really appreciate, and I
didn't get into, all I said wasmy, she asked about my
upbringing and I said it wastumultuous and that was it.
And she said to me afterwards,she goes.
It's good that you decided tonot have a relationship with
(42:36):
your mother.
she didn't know, you know,anything.
Just looking at my chart and shehad said some things about my
mother and like I started to crybecause no one has ever said
these things and I was justlike, I was receiving and it
unfortunately resonated and.
(42:59):
That's hard when it's a parent,you know?
Oh, yeah.
But I went to a therapist justto kind of talk about this
stuff, and she said, you know,mom, dad, whatever, it's a
label.
It's just a label.
Whatever.
It's, it's just a label.
So, you know, there's, there'sthings, and see, it's still me
trying to protect myself, right.
Creating those boundaries.
Mm-hmm.
Um, self care all, all the time.
(43:22):
Do I feel like going somewhere?
Do I not feel like goingsomewhere?
What's my body telling me?
So everything that I do, I, Ijust, I put me first.
I have to put me first becauseif I don't, I can't be there for
my family.
I can't be there for my clients.
That's so powerful.
(43:46):
I could go a hundred ways withthis and we can break this down
into like another five hours ofconversation.
Um, yeah.
So anyway, full circle.
Full circle.
First, you know, eight, eightyears old, Reiki and, and
meditation, and I relearnedmeditation with, you know,
different meditations.
But the one that stuck with meis with Deepak Chopra, the
reiki.
I actually, I went back to lookat my notes and.
(44:08):
I have my certificate, like from2006.
I learned reiki in 2006.
So I recently got re attunedwith a friend of mine.
I didn't need to, but I wantedto get re attuned.
She's like, you don't need it.
And I'm like, I want to.
I just wanna know, am I in theright path?
And she re attuned me.
And if you're familiar withreiki when the attunement
happens, um.
The symbols came and I didn'teven remember what the symbols
(44:28):
were.
The symbols came on top of myhead.
I closed my eyes to her seatwhen she did this, attunement.
And it came up over my head,these symbols.
And they were dancing.
They were dancing all over theplace and my tears.
And I'm just like, oh my God.
So, you know, there's so manymessages that we can receive if
we're available, if we allowourselves.
(44:48):
To receive them.
So yeah, all of this, how did itstart?
That's how it started.
And it's just pieces, right?
The universe provides us withopportunities.
Are we listening?
And if we're not, the universeis gonna come back and give us a
little bit more of a nudge.
And then if we're still notlistening, it's a little bit
more of a nudge.
So, you know, it just, it justkeeps coming back, right?
(45:08):
It just keeps coming back.
and the people, and it might noteven be the same people who keep
coming back into your circle.
It might be different peoplewith similar energy or similar
messages.
Right.
It's just, it may not come theway you want it to come.
Yeah.
But it comes and I, I kind offeel like, I wonder, it's a good
question to ask.
I'm wondering if, if we all comefull circle at some point, you
(45:31):
know, while we're aware, youknow?
Yeah.
Like in this point, like, Iknow, you know, we, we are born,
we die.
But in between do we notice anyfull circle moments in our
lives?
That's definitely an interestingquestion.
Is it?
I, yeah, I mean, I think weshould, we should put a, a toll
out or a pull toll a pull out onthere and like, and see like
(45:54):
what people say because, um,we're not taught to listen to
our bodies.
So like, I think it's a, areally gift that you learned a
lot of this at a young age, andthen kind of moved back into it.
You always had these tools, but.
I mean, I've told you that I, Ilearned some of it from my
(46:14):
grandmother at a young age.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I didn't fully embrace itall until, you know, I got
older.
Um, but so many people aren'teven aware or it's frowned upon
to do things like this.
And I think that it's coming,it's happening that our world is
just becoming more open to lookat different things.
(46:35):
Yeah.
You kind of already answeredthis.
Um, well first of all, can youtell people where they can find
you at?
Um, sure.
So, um, where can they find me?
So, my, my website ismonica.coach, www.monica.coach.
That will take you to, um, a, adifferent website, which is
(46:55):
authentic.
You and a lot of people dunnohow to spell that.
So I just say I just keep Monicacoach.
Um, and there's an opportunitythere to meditate with me on
Monday mornings at eight 30.
It's free.
I have a little community, um,and it's, it's really beautiful
and it's the meditation that Ilearned with Deepak Chopra.
It's called The Four SoulQuestions.
And so I meet eight 30 Mondaymornings and you can sign up
(47:18):
there.
I also have a podcast, prana andPossibilities.
You can find me on Spotify, youcan find me on Apple Podcasts.
Um.
I just, I think those are, thoseare some good ways.
And if you have, you know, aquestion for me, you can always
email me@helloatmonica.coach.
M-O-N-I-C-A dot C-O-A-C-H-Ithink so.
(47:39):
No, I'll leave those in the shownotes so people can find you.
I do ask everybody, and you kindof already answered this, but if
there is one thing that theyshould go do today, to get them
started on, finding that innerspark, what would you say?
One thing to find that innerspark, I would say close your
(48:00):
eyes.
Close your eyes.
Bring your hands to your heartspace, your left hand on your
heart space, your right hand, ontop of your left hand, and I
invite you to go through thesefour soul questions with me.
Who am I?
(48:22):
Who am I?
Notice what comes up for youNotice, acknowledge all the
labels, every beautiful piece ofyou that's coming into your mind
right now of who you are.
Acknowledge, give gratitude,release.
(48:44):
Let it float away.
It'll always be a part of you,and each time you ask yourself
this question.
Different things will come.
Same thoughts, but maybedifferent things too.
Who am I?
Who am I?
(49:04):
What do I want?
What is my heart's desire?
Lemme check in with yourself.
Check in with your heart.
What does your heart want?
Maybe it's an image.
Maybe it's a thought.
Maybe it's a feeling.
What is it that my heartdesires?
(49:30):
What is my purpose?
My dharma?
Notice what comes up for youhere.
An image.
A thought.
What is my purpose?
How can I be of service tomyself, and how can I be of
(49:50):
service to others?
What does that look like?
What does it feel like and whatam I grateful for?
What am I grateful for?
(50:13):
This can be itemized.
You might be grateful for yourbreath, your home, the food on
your table, your appliances.
It could also be the energy ofgratitude.
What does that energy feel likeof being grateful?
How does that change?
How does that change the energyin your body?
(50:35):
What am I grateful for?
Just notice that energy fillingyou up, surrounding you,
emanating from you, and we'regrateful we attract more things
to be grateful for.
It lifts our vibration.
It raises our vibration.
(50:56):
Am I grateful for?
Hmm hmm.
You can release your hands.
Vote your eyes open.
These are the four.
So questions that I've learnedand.
Sometimes, you know, just askingyourself what they are, who you
(51:18):
are in this moment, what youwant in this moment, what you'd
like to see in this moment.
Maybe journal on it, notice whatcomes up for you.
Sometimes the answers don't comeduring the meditation during
this time.
Sometimes they, they're shown toyou a little bit later outside
of this space and you recognizeit.
(51:39):
Ah, that's what it's, that'swhat's resonating for me.
We need to be aware, right?
Can you be aware?
Can you be with your breath?
Can you be present in your ownlife?
This is the one life you have.
Can you be present in it?
(52:00):
Thank you so much for thatspecial gift.
I wanna thank you so much forcoming on the show.
I will drop all your links solisteners can come find you.
Thank you.
You guys, I, I don't know whatyou took away from that.
I wanna thank Monica for thespecial gifts at the end.
I encourage you to go find her.
(52:22):
She is an incredible woman frombecoming an engineer to just
connecting, coming home toherself through everything she
has studied and learned, and.
She's so knowledgeable about somany different things and just
how she pulls them all togetherto be uniquely who she is.
(52:45):
it just truly lights me up.
So I encourage you guys to gofind her, go listen to her, and
as always, go let those sparksfly.
Thank you for tuning intoanother episode.
I hope today's story inspiredyou to embrace your own journey
of growth and change.
Remember, transformation isn'talways easy, but it's always
(53:07):
worth it.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe.
Share it with a friend, andleave a review.
If you found something thatsparked you in this episode and
may spark a friend, I encourageyou to go share with them.
If you have your own story youwould like to share, I would
love to hear it.
So please reach out to me.
Until next time, friends, gohave some fun and let those
(53:28):
sparks lie.
Hey friends.
Welcome to the Enter Sparkpodcast.
I'm your host, Casey Caton.
If you're looking to hearstories of transformation and
personal growth, this podcast isfor you.
My guest and I will be sharingthose sparking moments that has
changed the mental living a morefulfilling authentic life.
I'm so excited for you to heareach unique story.
(00:24):
So sit back, relax, and let'sget started.
Hey friend.
Welcome back to the Enter Sparkpodcast.
I'm your host, Casey T, andtoday I have Monica Stein with
me.
She is a beautiful, amazingperson.
(00:45):
She's an energy healer, a dogmom, a self-care guru.
She went from being an engineerto engineering wellness for
herself and her clients.
She blends a spiritual with thepractical.
Use Eastern and Western.
And her clients keep coming backfor more of her magic.
(01:06):
She walks her talk and practicesthe modalities she offers.
Hi, welcome.
I am so excited to have youhere.
I'm excited to be here.
I haven't been on a podcast in awhile, so I've been like, have I
have my own?
(01:26):
I've been interviewing people,having just my own, and it's
been a minute, so I'm reallyexcited to be here too.
I am honored to have you here.
I wanna tell them a little bitabout how we met.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, so we met in, KathyHeller's world, in our
podcasting world, and then weboth follow some other coaches
(01:50):
and we have got to deep connectyou're just a magical human
being and you are so talented inso many areas.
And it inspires me and lights meup to learn more and more and
more.
So would you tell them a littlebit about, your backstory?
(02:10):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I just wanna also just kindastart off, it's kind of my
backstory, but I wasn't alwayslike this magical, or maybe I
was, maybe we're all magic andwe forget, right?
Yeah.
We just need to remember.
Um, the, the energy that I bringnow is, it's something I worked
at.
I wasn't always.
Like this, I was very fiery andpassionate.
(02:31):
I call it passionate, but it'sreally, it's like type a very
fiery need to be just like this.
Otherwise I get angry and I getso angry, you know?
But that, that has slough, thatship has sailed every now and
again.
I do get a little bit morepassionate.
but yeah, I grew up in atumultuous home and, I had to
(02:55):
protect myself.
Yeah.
So what I did was I hid a lot inmy bedroom that I shared with my
sister, and I studied a lot.
It was me and my homework, meand my books, me and my little
cocoon, because of it.
So I don't know where reallythat took me and how that has
helped me.
(03:15):
Maybe it's just me self caringfor myself at a very.
Young age, that probably hasstayed with me my entire life.
Just being just protective ofmyself, I guess.
Keeping myself safe wherever Igo.
You know, a few weeks ago Imentioned to my husband that I
(03:36):
realized, I actually put it intowords.
I realized that I was very riskaverse, and he's like, hello,
duh.
Have you met yourself?
And I'm like, I have, like, Iknow who I am, but sometimes it
takes a minute to, yeah.
To hold space for ourselves inthat way when we're recognizing
something, not that it's a badthing, that I'm risk averse, but
(03:57):
it's just something that I'mremembering and that I'm
recognizing.
And that really only happenswhen we're present, when we're
aware.
Part of my upbringing.
That it was tumultuous isbecause we kept moving like a
lot, and one of the places wemoved to was Brazil.
Oh, wow.
My family is Brazilian and Iwent there.
(04:19):
My sister, my mom, my dad and I.
We went there and my sister andI didn't really know the
language per se.
Like my parents spoke to us inPortuguese and we responded in
English, so like we had basicunderstanding, but they put us
into a Brazilian school.
Oh my goodness.
They couldn't afford theAmerican school.
(04:40):
So we got put into a Brazilianschool and.
I will tell you this, when wemoved, I was, I had just
finished my sophomore year ofhigh school, and here we have
four years of high school there.
There's three years of highschool.
Oh.
And so I went from being asophomore here to then being
last year student there.
(05:01):
And what was difficult aboutthat, besides the language is
that here when we go to highschool normally, well this is,
this was my, my journey.
Year one, right?
When you're freshy, you takebiology, maybe you take
chemistry the second year.
If you decide to go that route,physics is maybe your junior
year there.
They really build on it.
(05:22):
So it's not biology first year,chemistry, second year, physics,
third year.
It is, you are learning all ofit every single year.
So they had already thefoundations of biology,
chemistry, physics.
For the first two years.
And so I was going into thethird and last year of high
(05:43):
school with just the foundationin biology, but not even in
Portuguese'cause I had it inEnglish.
So, and I hadn't taken chemistryhere.
I chose not to take that route.
But when I got to Brazil, I hadto choose a path.
Was it gonna be the sciences orwas it going to be more liberal
arts?
And I chose the sciences becauseI figured that would be easier
for me to translate in my head.
(06:03):
And I did enjoy math.
So, yeah, so I basically wentinto my last year of high school
with no foundation and all inPortuguese.
and when we came back I did getinto a college there for
engineering, which was kind ofexciting.
And when we came back, which weweren't supposed to come back,
uh, we were meant to be therelike for the rest of our lives
mostly.
(06:24):
we came back after a few yearsand I just felt so smart.
So smart because the educationsystem there was so good for me.
Yeah.
Um, and I just, I was, it was sogood.
It was so good.
Um, anyway, so he came back hereand I just, you know, I started
my path and.
I came back in April of 90, so Icouldn't really transfer into a
(06:46):
college because April's kindalate.
Mm-hmm.
You know, to even start Right.
Applying and taking care of thatstuff.
So I ended up going to communitycollege and then I stayed there
for a while till I was ready tomove forward.
I.
And then my dad had a heartattack and triple bypass at that
point, my parents were alreadydivorced.
When we came back from Brazil,they got divorced, which was a,
(07:08):
A blessing.
A blessing.
I was very grateful for that.
Um.
My dad had a, a heart attack,triple bypass.
My sister went away to school.
I stayed around, but I didn'twanna go to, I was done with
community college.
I didn't even wanna get anassociates.
I just said, I'm done.
Yeah, I need more now.
Um, so I transferred to atechnical school in the city
and, which was amazing.
(07:29):
I met so many beautifulinternational people and I made
so many friends.
And because of, because I wentthere, I got to.
Take this internship slash co-opat the Department of
Transportation, which was alsobrilliant.
I got to meet more people.
Why did my world, it broadenedmy world.
It was so beautiful.
(07:49):
Um, and then after that, becauseit's so interesting when you
look back and you see like wherethe pieces were left for you.
So while I was at the Departmentof Transportation.
I met this group of guys who areinterning there.
I was a co-op, so I was stayedfor like seven or eight months.
Um, but I met these guys thereand they all went to university
of Illinois, Champaign Urbana,all in engineering.
(08:12):
And one weekend that summer, oneof the guys had a party and he's
like, come.
So I took my roommate and wewent and I had such a brilliant
time.
And at that same time, my home,my mom's home, which is kind of
where I was staying.
Was, I will refrain from swearwords.
It was not going well.
Who?
Emoji.
Okay.
(08:32):
Yeah.
It was not, it was not goingwell.
I had to make a decision, um,what to do with my life.
My sister was already out of thehouse.
She was already at school, um,living there, and I had to make
a decision.
What do I do?
I, I didn't wanna go live withmy dad.
He didn't have the room for me,and I didn't wanna stay where I
was and so.
(08:53):
I think it was July.
In July, I called up theUniversity of Illinois and I
said, Hey, I'd like to transferover there.
What do you need from me?
What colleges of engineering arestill available to me?
And one of them was civil and Iforgot what the other two are.
Did it matter?
I chose several.
And I said, great.
I got, I sent my transcriptwithin a month, sent my
(09:15):
transcripts, sent my essays, um,found an apartment.
And they accepted me.
And boom, within a month I wasstarting at the University of
Illinois.
Wow.
I'm gonna take you back for asecond if that's okay.
Yeah.
(09:36):
Because you came off as thisgirl who hid, right?
Yep.
And you hid and you read and,um, like that kept you going,
and then all of a sudden youwere this person who was like.
I'm taking action, I'm doingthis.
Um, where do you think thatswitched in?
(09:57):
You, do you?
Oh boy.
I think that, I mean, do youthink it was like traveling or
do you think it was like, um, Idon't know that it was traveling
and I don't, I wonder if it wasa little bit of maybe living in
Brazil and getting thatconfidence.
I'll tell you that for the firstyear that we lived there, I
cried like almost every singleday.
Hated it.
Didn't know what to do withmyself, but I had this wonderful
(10:19):
friend who I still have now 30years later.
Um, and she took me under herwing.
She didn't just like me becauseI was American, like she was
really my friend.
And so nowadays, when I go back,I stay with her.
I see her.
Um, it's, it's a very beautiful,um, relationship.
I'm really glad that she's myfriend.
Um, the value of friendship, Ithink it's right.
(10:43):
That's a long time.
Um.
I think it's because I knew atthat point that I needed to take
care of myself, that I needed tomake decisions for my own life,
to take care of me because Iknew that my parents weren't
gonna be able to help me, theyweren't gonna be able to support
me.
And once again, and this hashappened repeatedly in my life.
(11:06):
and maybe it's happened in inyours too, but we make decisions
based on someone else'sdecisions, right?
They make a choice.
Yeah.
It doesn't fit us right?
It doesn't work for us.
It doesn't resonate.
It's not supporting us.
We need to take a step back andsay, okay, this is their life.
How do we take care ofourselves?
Right?
We are our own wisest self.
(11:29):
How do we move forward?
And I needed to make a decision.
I needed to make a decision, andthat is the decision I made.
And I can see how the universesupported me in that.
And also sidebar, someone hadtold me once upon a time that I
have a little guardian angel,and so I just kinda stay with
that.
I'm like, great.
I have a guardian angel.
And so some, you know, Iremember that.
(11:52):
Yeah, it's been quite a ride formyself and I remember doing this
exercise.
I'm not really sure where I.
I think it was a writingexercise.
Anyway, I think it was during myVeda training.
It was part my Veda training.
Part of my VEDA training waslife coaching also.
And so we had to go through it,these, these exercises.
And so we were kind ofjournaling on our like landmark
(12:18):
things that happen in our lives.
Right, like the highlights.
Yeah.
And as I was writing, like whatwas going on in my twenties, I'm
like.
Oh my god.
What a PO show, right?
Yeah.
Like it was like it was, and itwasn't anything I did.
It was the choices my mothermade, and then I had to figure
out what to do next.
What, what do you do next as a,you barely have life experience.
(12:38):
What do you do when you're 20?
I.
Right.
How, how do you take care ofyourself when you're 22?
Most people go to college,right?
They graduate high school, theygo to college.
They started about 18 or 19.
Mm-hmm.
And you start getting someresponsibilities a little bit.
But I was still living at home,right?
Going to community college,going to the other school, you
know, before I transferred outof town.
(12:58):
And like, how do I take care ofmyself?
What are the decisions I have tomake given the limited knowledge
that I had at the time?
How do I take care of myself?
And I saw that the universesupported me.
I jumped and the universe caughtme, said, Hey, we got you.
We're gonna figure this out.
That's so powerful.
(13:18):
Um, it's really inspiring andit's really powerful for
someone.
I'm gonna be honest, I've nevertraveled outside of the United
States.
So for someone who left theUnited States and then got in a
school and didn't even speak thelanguage and then.
You came back and then you justit's like mind blowing to me of
like, and then all of a suddenyou were just like, okay, I'm
(13:41):
ready.
My life is starting and I'mtaking control of it, and I'm
going for this.
Yeah, but it takes its toll,right?
Yeah.
So I, I had to protect myself alot.
I had a lot of decisions I hadto make and make a lot of
choices.
And at some point it catches upto you if you're not caring for
yourself and when you're in yourtwenties, maybe thirties.
(14:02):
You take life for granted,right?
Especially if you are healthy,you take life for granted and
you're like, I'm invincible.
All good.
I don't have to worry aboutthings.
I'm gonna speed, I'm going to,you know, drink a lot, eat a
lot, whatever it is, right?
Yeah.
Until something happens, right?
And that's something happened tome when I was 31.
(14:23):
So, you know, and, and that'swhen life is like, okay, hello.
Take a look at your life.
What do you wanna do now?
How do you wanna take care ofyourself?
What are you gonna do movingforward?
Right?
We flow with whatever happens,right?
With our own lives.
We're getting to know ourselvesin a different way as we're
growing up, right?
I went to this woman's retreatthis weekend.
(14:45):
It's a beautiful retreat, andI'm still learning things about
myself.
I'm gonna be 54 in a week.
Or six days, and I'm stilllearning like so much about
myself.
And the most common comment Iget when I go to these types of
things is, oh, hey, did you comewith someone?
I'm like, no, no, no.
I came alone.
And they're like, oh, you're sobrave.
And I'm like, why is that brave?
Like I do this all the time and,but maybe it's because of how I
(15:08):
grew up and all thecircumstances I've had where I'm
just like, whatever.
I just go by myself.
Like I get to meet people and Iusually, most of the time walk
away with the new friend, youknow, with a connection and.
That's all good.
I think that's, uh, yeah, no, Ithink it's super powerful,
because it is difficult whenyou've never traveled or done
these things alone.
(15:28):
I just said that to a friend theother day and it was even going
somewhere in my own hometown.
I was like, God, I wish youlived closer so you could go
with me.
I mean, not that I can't go bymyself, but sometimes it's it's
intimidating.
And, and so I, I think that weare always doubting and like
questioning ourselves and it'slike finding that inner
confidence of like, and it'sfreedom.
(15:50):
I imagine like how much free youfeel when you do these things.
Like empowering, like I canstand on my own two feet.
Yeah.
And like I know you have ahusband, but also.
You also get to stand on yourown two feet and do these things
and meet new people.
Yeah.
So it just is, it's trulypowerful.
(16:11):
Yeah.
Don't get me wrong, I wasscared.
I was scared.
I have to drive.
I have to drive.
I get to drive.
Yeah.
You know, and I know thatwithout traffic, it takes about
an hour and a half to get there.
I think it was like 70 somethingmiles or something.
But there's always traffic inthe Bay Area and I was
concerned.
I was leaving Friday afternoon.
What does this look like?
(16:31):
My GPS was taking me in adifferent route altogether that
was gonna take three hours.
And triple the miles.
And I'm like, why is it takingme down there?
There's like nothing going on uphere.
Like, I don't understand.
I had to pull off, look at my,look at my, like Google app or
whatever the maps and, and thenlook at my GPS and I'm like,
what do I do?
And, and I kept changing it.
What's funny is like on my car,I kept changing it to.
(16:53):
Fast, fastest, and it would takeme there and then like 10
seconds later it would revertback to, no, go this way.
And I'm like, I have to make adecision, right?
Maybe there's something that theGPS knows that I don't know, but
I'm like, whatever, I'm justgonna go the way that I know and
that's just the way it's gonnabe.
But I was so, I was scaredbecause of traffic.
I was scared because I don'tusually leave my town.
(17:16):
Okay.
Yeah.
Like I have everything here.
Um, and I'm meeting all thesepeople.
I don't even know how many womenwere gonna be there.
It, it was at camp.
I don't go camping.
Like, that's not me.
I went to day camp when I wasyounger, but never overnight
camp.
Right.
For me, like going, camping islike a two star hotel or one
star hotel.
Like, I don't know what that is.
Okay.
(17:36):
So like, this was new for me.
I didn't know what to expect.
I have a lot of dietaryrestrictions and I put that down
in the form.
I did not know what to expect,but there was something inside
of me that just said.
Don't worry, you'll be fine.
I was gonna bring my pillow, myblanket.
I was gonna bring, oh, so manyother things.
And I'm like, you know, Monica,you're still here in the Bay
Area.
Like, it'll be fine.
(17:57):
Don't worry about it.
And like, and I'm going and oneof the things I had to do while
I was driving there, I.
Let's go on this windy road upthe hill, and that makes me
nauseous.
Yeah.
Fortunately I had an apple andI'm eating the apple and, and
I'm like, it's okay, Monica.
We're almost there.
It tells me only four miles.
We're almost there.
So, you know, there's still alot of scary, and then I get
(18:18):
there and I'm still, here's thething, people say, yes, you're
brave.
Yeah, that takes courage.
And yes, I'm still scared, butthere's that part of me that's
still, and I recognize this,even just this, even this week,
this past weekend, like I feltlike my energy was all.
Here.
It wasn't out here.
Yeah.
Like I was still very nervouswhen I got to the pickup point,
(18:39):
uh, for the shuttle.
Nobody greeted me, not even thecounselors who were there, and I
thought, what the hell?
Right?
Like, this is terrible.
Um, but then these other womenwho just parked their cars came
up to me and like said, Hey, doyou know what's going on?
And I'm like, oh, great.
Someone's talking to me.
I don't usually, I'm very shy,so.
You know, when I approachpeople, but here's the thing,
(19:00):
when I got there, they looked atme, but they never said hello.
They never said welcome and thenpeople are like, well, why
didn't you say hello?
And I'm like, I just got there,aren't they?
Mm-hmm.
Maybe I'm making up storiesright for them.
Like, shouldn't they bewelcoming?
I'm judging, but I don't know.
I just, I feel like.
We should be welcomed when wecome in someplace.
(19:20):
And that is what I do whenpeople walk into any event that
I have.
Right?
When I was president of thiswomen's group last year, people
came in and like I welcomed themeven though I was president and
busy doing other things.
And I have this one woman whowas so wonderful and she
actually told me a few monthsago, she goes, you're the reason
I joined.
Because even though you have ahospitality table, nobody really
(19:43):
welcomed me.
It wasn't until you walked up tome, I.
And started talking to me that Ifelt welcome and I said, thank
you for saying that, becausethere's so many things that we
do and how we show up that wedon't recognize we're just being
our true, authentic selves.
Right?
Yeah.
But we don't recognize it untilsomebody says to us, here's what
I saw, here's what Iexperienced.
(20:04):
Right.
And sometimes they don't sharethat information.
They keep it hidden too.
Right.
For some reason.
Tell me more.
Right.
Whenever I see someone, I'mlike, oh my God, I find
something.
You know, acknowledge, you know,that's so funny that you would
say that you're shy.
And I think it's just becausewe've got to know each other
because I don't see it at all.
I like see you as like thisperson that's just like, I mean,
(20:26):
very welcoming.
I mean, you can be shy andwelcoming in a different way.
Um, so I mean, I can see how, Imean, that's how I am and it's
never a second guess of justlike, hi, how are you?
Even though I'm, I'm more quietwhen I don't get, when I don't
know you, but.
The power that that has in it.
Um, just to welcome somebody.
(20:48):
It's so powerful and I'm so gladthe lady said that to you.
I know.
Yeah.
It's these little blessings,right?
That we can accumulate along theway in our lives, right?
When people remind us of who weare, like we remember, like
Kathy Heller always tells us,remember to remember right.
And I'm remembering things aboutmyself, and I'm getting to know
(21:09):
parts of myself that I forgot ordidn't even know about, haven't
acknowledged in forever.
But when other people come andshare these blessings with you,
hold them close.
Right?
What a beautiful exchange.
That's impactful.
And it's funny because we neverstop learning, and I think in
Kathy's community, that's one ofthe biggest things that we've
(21:30):
learned is that.
It doesn't matter our age.
We're all ages in there.
I mean, I'm 41 and we're allages and mm-hmm.
We're all learning and growingtogether.
Yeah.
And it's just, it's so, sopowerful.
It's so powerful.
Yeah.
And so, you know, justremembering you know who you are
(21:51):
and what, what's the energy thatyou bring, right?
Yeah.
Into the space.
Because you can influence it.
You can influence it, and Ithink.
You know, I think that becauseof all the work I've done on
myself that has changed me, my,my energy, the meditations, the
(22:12):
energy clearing, you know, all,all the things that I've studied
and I practice anything.
And it doesn't even have to be astudy, honestly.
You can learn from other people,like from their mistakes and
say, I'm not gonna do that.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then you embody that.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
And you bring that with youwherever you go.
Any book you read, anything youdigest, it's not just food, it's
(22:35):
what you're reading.
It's who you're spending timewith, what you're watching on
television.
You know, they, I think one ofthe books that I studied, I
can't remember who it was at aTell My Cabinets, you are the
five people that you surroundyourself with.
I call it the Five Energies.
Because not all the time is itpeople, right?
One of the things could be news.
One of the things could besocial media, right?
(22:57):
Because you spend, we spend alot of time.
With social media, a lot of usdo, right?
Oh, yeah.
My aunt spends a lot of timewith her news.
She listens to the news all daylong on repeat, and so we are
digesting that, right?
We're either looking at it ordigesting through our eyes.
We're digesting throughourselves.
(23:18):
We're digesting through ourears.
What are you bringing into yourlife to help calm you down,
right?
Yeah.
Can you close your eyes and nottake some stuff in?
That's, yeah.
That's so powerful.
I actually did, a podcastepisode that's released on that,
about who you spend your timewith and where your energy goes
(23:40):
and is what you're doing liftingyou up or is it physically
draining you?
Yep, because it's, I don't thinkpeople realize it, and even on a
daily basis, I have to check inwith myself.
Of where am I going with thisand how, like, how did it make
me feel?
And that's why I released it.
'cause I had had a, a week and Ijust thought, let me reflect on
(24:00):
this week and see where I'm at.
Yep, yep.
Where are you at?
Right.
But sometimes we don't wanna seethat.
We don't wanna see where we'reat.
Right.
So we keep filling our buckets,our lives with so many different
things so that we don't have toacknowledge where we are.
Okay.
With all that being said, I havea question for you.
(24:22):
I wanna take you back becausewe're talking so much about
energy and who we surroundourself with.
So how did you go from being anengineer?
Mm-hmm.
Going to school for thatengineering to what?
What switched you?
What changed you?
What sparked you to do somethingdifferent?
I think it was all the illness.
(24:44):
It was all the illness.
Um, so, Hmm.
I loved engineering.
There were so many parts ofengineering that I loved.
And I still use a lot of that inmy business today, but there
were certain jobs that, did notresonate with me.
And I tend to stay longer than Iwant in those jobs because.
(25:06):
I like having purpose and I likehaving community and I like
having financial stability.
Um, yeah, so that was reallyimportant to me.
And so, you know, I, while thosejobs did not make some jobs, did
not make me happy.
I did look for other jobs withinthe company.
When I was about eight yearsold, my dad taught my sister and
(25:29):
I reiki and.
Meditation.
And so that actually has comefull circle.
So with my very last job atBoeing, which did not resonate
with me at all, and that waslike a whole fiasco all by
itself, I just ended up, I'lljust keep it short and say I
ended up leaving.
I ended up leaving for the lasttime.
(25:50):
That was enough for me at somepoint, some years previous to
that, I had, I was standing inmy living room, I was living in
Seattle at the time, and.
As many of you may know,Seattle's not known for
sunshine.
Yeah.
Um, so I was standing in myliving room and I was looking
out the window.
It was an overcast day, overcastwith a peak of sun.
(26:12):
And so I was standing there andI'm just looking out the window
and all of a sudden there's thistear that's coming out of my
eye.
And I'm like, what's that?
What's going on?
I don't understand.
And that was the moment where Ireally connected to myself.
I said, oh my gosh, I'm justunhappy.
I'm unhappy here.
I have a beautiful house.
I have great friends.
(26:34):
I love all the things.
I love the beauty.
I'm tired.
I just can't do this anymore.
I cannot be here anymore.
And so I planted a seed in theuniverse, in my husband's head.
I planted a seed.
Yeah, it took several years.
So I ended up leaving the Boeingcompany in 2013, October of
2013.
My husband left Amazon in a yearlater, and he said to me, this
(26:58):
is gonna be quick.
Whatever happens, he's in tech.
So he's like, this is gonna bequick, whatever we do.
And I said, okay.
He looked for jobs out here inCalifornia, northern and
Southern.
Um, and he ended up with severaljob offers and he asked me where
I wanted to live and I said tohim, that's a very loaded
question because I need to knowif you need me to have a job
(27:23):
because if you want me to work,if you want the second income,
we're gonna have to move toSouthern California because that
is where aerospace is.
That is my experience.
Yeah.
And.
I asked him in return, I said,which job do you like?
Because you're the one who isgonna be earning more than me no
matter what.
Mm-hmm.
(27:43):
Um, where do you wanna go?
I was asking him to uproot.
I didn't mind uprooting.
I'm used to moving around.
But yeah, he likes, he's verystable.
He likes stability.
So he said, the one in SanFrancisco.
And I said, okay, if you're okaywith me not working.
Then little did I know that wasa manifestation that I would not
(28:05):
be able to get a job.
Um, anyway, sidebar, um, wemoved to the Bay Area and after
about 10 months or so, he'slike, okay, I like it here and
we can stay.
And I'm like, great, let's buy ahouse.
Okay.
That was the start of adifferent kind of journey of
Yeah.
Overpriced houses and multipleoffers and.
(28:28):
Bidding over asking.
That was quite the adventure forus.
But we found a beautiful homeand it's been great.
We've been here 10 years.
10 years in March.
Wow.
And I wouldn't know where elseto go really.
Um, so we got here, I had a catwho was not doing well.
(28:51):
She had a tumor.
We needed to remove it.
So most of my time.
Was settling in, unpacking,getting to know the new area.
Finding a good vet for her.
Yeah.
Um, meeting people.
How do I meet people?
How do you meet people when youare not working, when you don't
have a job?
Yeah.
So I joined a newcomers club inmy area, and they were women,
(29:14):
maybe like one person my age.
but most of'em were older.
They were empty nesters, theywere retirees.
Mm-hmm.
They just moved here.
So that was good.
For a while.
I didn't make any friends, but Istill kept going, you know, try
new things.
I'm always listening to, notalways, lately in my life, I've
been listening to inspirations.
Anytime I get a little in myear, I'm like, oh, lemme go
(29:37):
check that out.
What does that mean?
What am I supposed to do withthis?
So I've given myself permissionto follow those inspirations
wherever they might go.
So, yeah.
Ah, yeah, it's been hard.
I've made some friends, but alsoI've, you know, I have friends
in Seattle, so I go back and oneof my friends actually moved to
Sacramento, so kind of far, it'slike an hour and a half, but
(29:59):
still closer to the Seattleinstead of being hour and a half
on the airplane.
I'm an hour and a half in thecar and she comes here a lot.
So that was great.
She was my bestie in Seattle.
So it's been good and.
During this time, I am trying tofind things like a part-time
job, but nothing's calling,nothing's happening.
And I just, my sister calls meup that first year that I'm here
(30:20):
in 2015 and she says, I need abreak.
I need a break.
We did a little research.
We ended up at the Chopra Centerin San Diego, which is no longer
there.
We ended up there for a week.
It was a week long.
Retreat and we didn't know whatwe were signing up for.
We're just like, okay, see youthere.
And she was coming from Chicago.
I was coming from here, see youthere.
(30:41):
We're sharing a room.
That's it.
And it was so brilliant.
And so that week is where welearned how to meditate with
Deepak Chopra.
Mm-hmm.
And it was so, so brilliant.
And this like, it just, for me,that just became full circle.
While I was an engineer, Istudied a lot, like a lot of
other things just to bring meinto balance.
Mm-hmm.
Um, animal communicationcoaching.
(31:03):
Aura cleansing.
Like anything that was just any,anything fun, curious tarot
cards, like whatever, quilting,whatever it was, I'm like, let
me do that.
I need to release the stress inmy body from engineering.
So I've learned a lot of things.
Anyway.
This was so beautiful and thiswas the meditation that I needed
and I still guide people to thisday.
(31:24):
Even today, I had a meditationthis morning that I guided, a
group of people and I love thismeditation and it's.
To me, it just started my fullcircle journey to when I was
eight years old and healingmyself and taking care of
myself, right?
Given all the circumstances Igrew up with, taking care of
myself, protecting myself.
So I got certified.
(31:45):
My sister and I both gotcertified at the Chopra Center
for Meditation.
To get certified, we needed tostudy a little bit of Ayurveda.
I had no clue what it was.
They weren't helping me.
I didn't understand it, so Idecided to study it so I could
understand it more.
And so that then I got certifiedin Ayurveda and then I got
certified in yoga teachertraining 200 hour.
(32:06):
And then we had this pandemic.
I'm like, know what?
so I was teaching online.
Before that, I was teaching inperson, but then in the pan,
during the pandemic, I wasteaching online and I studied
more.
I studied more Ayurveda.
I studied health coaching, lifecoaching.
I studied more meditation.
I studied like so much.
So now.
(32:28):
I'm in a place that just feelsso, so delicious and so in
alignment and really, you know,our mentor Kathy Heller, like
she really helped with that.
Like, I've been following Kathyfor over maybe a year and a half
now, and it's been so, so good.
Um, just my whole energy, likemy alignment, it, it, whatever
(32:50):
she did, whatever magic she hasreally allowed me to find my own
magic again.
We all have magic.
We just need to find it.
We need to remember it, we needto share it.
We need to share our light.
And so that's really what I helppeople with in, with energy
healing.
How can I help you heal?
How can I help you shine yourlight?
And it's just so many ways.
And, you know, I've had a lot ofbusiness coaches, well, not
(33:10):
well, several business coaches,and they're always saying the
same things.
Do it my way.
I absolutely can help you.
I can totally help you do it myway.
And, and you really have tolisten and you get caught up in
that excitement, right?
You, oh yeah.
We all carry, we all carryenergy, right?
Mm-hmm.
And we get sucked into theenergy of that person, right.
The five people we surroundourselves with, right?
Yeah.
And it doesn't, and it's notjust five people or five
energies, um, in general.
(33:34):
Like, it's just like, what aboutthose five people in that one
day?
Yeah, right?
In that one hour, who are yousurrounding yourself with?
So I get sucked in and I'm like,oh my God.
Oh my God.
Now, there were some beautifulblessings from these groups, for
sure.
Mm-hmm.
But this is the first time whereI felt like I was given
permission to do what I neededto do and not second guess
(34:00):
myself, because I wasn't doingit their way.
I was doing it my way.
That's so powerful.
There I was looking for, right.
I was looking for what is funfor me?
What am I going to enjoy?
What, what is gonna bring medelight?
How can I be of service topeople with, with my gifts?
What does that look like?
(34:20):
Because once we know that andwe're in alignment, that's where
the confidence comes in.
It's not listening to the otherpeople and their way, their way
worked for them.
We are all unique human beings.
We all have our strengths.
We all have our weaknesses,right?
Mm-hmm.
What, what can we do with thesegifts that were gifted to us on
the day that we were born?
(34:42):
What can we do with them?
So I just went back to energyhealing and it took me a while
too.
That took me a few years too,like am I a meditation teacher?
And this is like, it's a lot ofmindset stuff too, right?
Yeah.
People who know me as anengineer, then there are people
who know me as a meditationteacher and then an Ayurvedic
health coach, and then a lifecoach and energy healer.
(35:03):
And they're all differentpeople.
But those people who were withme from the beginning, they
start thinking like, what thehell is she?
Like wishy-washy.
First, she's an engineer.
Now she wants to teachmeditation.
Now she wants to teach yoga.
Now she whatever.
You know what?
It's all part of me.
It doesn't matter.
I'm reading the book by MelRobbins.
Right.
Let them let me, right?
Okay.
Yeah.
Let them have those storiesabout me.
(35:23):
Let them, it's okay.
That's, they're entitled.
They can do make up whateverthey wanna do.
If that's their life, I'm notgonna let it bring me down.
Right?
I'm thinking those things too.
They're not the only onesthinking that.
Can I make a decision?
Do I know what I want?
I didn't have the right mentors.
So look for the right mentors,right?
Be around the people thatinspire you, not drain you.
Just going back to what yousaid, right?
(35:43):
What's draining you?
Mm-hmm.
Don't, don't, don't be aroundthose people that drain you.
Right?
We wanna be around people thatlift us up, that support us.
I have this new friend that Imet at the Kathy's Summit last
year, who is like my biggestcheerleader, like overt.
She's always like just rightthere, smiling, cheering me on
all the time, all the time infront of other people.
(36:07):
And I'm like, I don't know whatto do with that.
And I told her this.
I'm like, I don't know what todo with that because.
I've never received that before.
This is so new to me.
Thank you for helping me to getcomfortable with it.
That's powerful.
'cause I never was, right?
Yeah.
So really here I am like 54 insix days and like still figuring
(36:28):
out my life, still figuring outmyself.
Yeah.
And what's fun, right?
Like what do I wanna do when Igrow up?
And I love what I do and it justlike all of this just came
together.
All these healing arts, all thethings.
That I know and I love withlike, hi, I'm practical.
I don't, I'm not a hundredpercent guru.
(36:49):
Like I'm not, right.
I live in the modern world, likethere's stuff that happens.
I buy stuff that's already cutup for me.
I don't cut it up.
Okay.
Fruit?
Yeah.
Whatever it is.
Vegetables.
No, because life happens andeven though technology is
supposed to help us and it kindof does, it also takes time.
So.
Yeah.
You know, there's, there'sthings and we wanna have a good
(37:09):
time and we can have a good timecooking if that is our passion.
Mm-hmm.
But there's also like, I wannahave a good time with my friends
and so let me just hurry up andmake myself a meal and enjoy the
meal and go do stuff that Iwanna do.
You know, exercise, go outsidein nature, have a, I'm going to
meet a friend today.
I am gonna meet her new fosterdog.
So I'm excited about that.
Like, how do I make time forthat, you know, right before I
(37:31):
go volunteer.
So, yeah.
What lights you up?
What, what is your body tellingyou that you need to do?
And I think, no, ultimately, Ijust wanna say, and I know you
didn't ask me like final partingwords, but really, like,
ultimately I feel like this hascome full circle already.
Yeah.
Um, is that, you know, what,what lights you up?
And, you know, maybe it'ssomething that's full circle for
(37:53):
you too.
What did you enjoy when you werea kid, right?
Mm-hmm.
What lights you up?
And maybe this is a journalingpractice for you to figure out.
Maybe it's a meditationpractice.
Maybe it's just you spendingtime by yourself, which so many
of us do not like spending timewith ourselves.
Very true.
Right.
So what, what is that?
How can, how can you bring yourgift into this world?
(38:15):
Mm-hmm.
And this gift, it doesn't haveto be the same one all the time.
I believe that my gift, likewhen, just as far back as I can
remember, thinking like I, thatI was in purpose and on purpose
mm-hmm.
Was a few of my jobs at Boeing.
Right, or being surrounded bythose people and who I was
helping, that was my purpose atthat time.
(38:38):
This is my purpose.
Now, that can change.
And one of the things I learnedwas that, you know, we have
purpose and there's littlepurpose with, uh, you know, so
Dharma in Sans Strut, that'ssmall.
D and then there's big Dharmawith a capital D.
The big dharma is our umbrella,right?
This is like our overall bigpurpose, but daily, hourly.
(38:58):
We have our purpose, our smallpurpose, and all that little
purpose is doing is guiding ustowards our bigger purpose.
It is like different assignmentsthat capture our whole big
purpose in this life.
I had a meeting.
I went to an Ayurveda conferencea few weeks ago.
Go fast.
Will you tell listeners whatthat is?
(39:19):
Oh, Ayurveda.
Oh yeah.
So Ayurveda is the sisterscience of yoga.
It translates as the science orwisdom of life.
It's about bringing balance intoyour life and just to keep it
simple, if you're feelingreally, really, really, really
cold, are you gonna drink like anice hot tea?
Or are you gonna have like a icecold beverage?
(39:39):
You know?
So kinda like that.
How do you bring in balance intoyour life?
Okay, so I went to thisconference.
there are six pillars of healthin Ayurveda movement,
meditation, nutrition, um,movement, meditation, nutrition,
emotions, sleep and self-care,stress management type of thing.
(39:59):
So I do all of those and.
So I went to this conference andI learned so many beautiful
things.
There are doctors there who areEastern and Western, and it's so
beautiful and just hearing whatis going on in Ayurveda and how
it's supporting Western medicineand how it overlaps, it
supports, and it's a lot of,there's something I read a long
(40:23):
time ago, and it was like thepills that we take the.
The medicine that we take ingeneral, when the doctor
prescribes it to you, that isall based on plants.
Like it started that way, right?
Yeah.
They added some chemicals.
There's some other things.
Right?
So it's all plant based sort of.
Yes.
I won't get too much into that,but that's where it started.
(40:44):
That.
Ayurveda is just a beautiful wayof being in balance and being
aware, and that's really whatit's about.
Being aware of what's going onso that you can bring balance
into your life.
Too much of something, too muchsugar.
You can feel kind of disgustedand cloying and whatever, and
sticky, um, too little ofsomething.
(41:07):
Can also not feel good.
So how do we bring ourselvesinto balance?
So I went to this conference andthey're trying to raise funds.
I made a donation so that Icould get an A, an astrology
reading and a geo ti astrologyreading, which is different than
western astrology.
Anyway, so she said to me at theend of the, our conversation
(41:30):
based on my astrology chart, shesaid to me.
That I am exactly where I'mmeant to be.
That I am supposed to be thehealer at this point in my life.
I am supposed to be the healerand people will come to me for
healing.
And while that wasn't one of myquestions, it was validation.
(41:52):
It's also validation.
When people come to you and theyask you a question, they're
asking for advice.
Those are clues for you, right?
Mm-hmm.
What are people asking me?
What are they asking me for?
That is a clue for you becausethat is something that they
respect about you, that theyfeel like you are the guru for
(42:14):
them to help them.
So, I don't know.
Anyway, I just thought it was sobeautiful.
The other thing she said to mewas, I really appreciate, and I
didn't get into, all I said wasmy, she asked about my
upbringing and I said it wastumultuous and that was it.
And she said to me afterwards,she goes.
It's good that you decided tonot have a relationship with
(42:36):
your mother.
she didn't know, you know,anything.
Just looking at my chart and shehad said some things about my
mother and like I started to crybecause no one has ever said
these things and I was justlike, I was receiving and it
unfortunately resonated and.
(42:59):
That's hard when it's a parent,you know?
Oh, yeah.
But I went to a therapist justto kind of talk about this
stuff, and she said, you know,mom, dad, whatever, it's a
label.
It's just a label.
Whatever.
It's, it's just a label.
So, you know, there's, there'sthings, and see, it's still me
trying to protect myself, right.
Creating those boundaries.
Mm-hmm.
Um, self care all, all the time.
(43:22):
Do I feel like going somewhere?
Do I not feel like goingsomewhere?
What's my body telling me?
So everything that I do, I, Ijust, I put me first.
I have to put me first becauseif I don't, I can't be there for
my family.
I can't be there for my clients.
That's so powerful.
(43:46):
I could go a hundred ways withthis and we can break this down
into like another five hours ofconversation.
Um, yeah.
So anyway, full circle.
Full circle.
First, you know, eight, eightyears old, Reiki and, and
meditation, and I relearnedmeditation with, you know,
different meditations.
But the one that stuck with meis with Deepak Chopra, the
reiki.
I actually, I went back to lookat my notes and.
(44:08):
I have my certificate, like from2006.
I learned reiki in 2006.
So I recently got re attunedwith a friend of mine.
I didn't need to, but I wantedto get re attuned.
She's like, you don't need it.
And I'm like, I want to.
I just wanna know, am I in theright path?
And she re attuned me.
And if you're familiar withreiki when the attunement
happens, um.
The symbols came and I didn'teven remember what the symbols
(44:28):
were.
The symbols came on top of myhead.
I closed my eyes to her seatwhen she did this, attunement.
And it came up over my head,these symbols.
And they were dancing.
They were dancing all over theplace and my tears.
And I'm just like, oh my God.
So, you know, there's so manymessages that we can receive if
we're available, if we allowourselves.
(44:48):
To receive them.
So yeah, all of this, how did itstart?
That's how it started.
And it's just pieces, right?
The universe provides us withopportunities.
Are we listening?
And if we're not, the universeis gonna come back and give us a
little bit more of a nudge.
And then if we're still notlistening, it's a little bit
more of a nudge.
So, you know, it just, it justkeeps coming back, right?
(45:08):
It just keeps coming back.
and the people, and it might noteven be the same people who keep
coming back into your circle.
It might be different peoplewith similar energy or similar
messages.
Right.
It's just, it may not come theway you want it to come.
Yeah.
But it comes and I, I kind offeel like, I wonder, it's a good
question to ask.
I'm wondering if, if we all comefull circle at some point, you
(45:31):
know, while we're aware, youknow?
Yeah.
Like in this point, like, Iknow, you know, we, we are born,
we die.
But in between do we notice anyfull circle moments in our
lives?
That's definitely an interestingquestion.
Is it?
I, yeah, I mean, I think weshould, we should put a, a toll
out or a pull toll a pull out onthere and like, and see like
(45:54):
what people say because, um,we're not taught to listen to
our bodies.
So like, I think it's a, areally gift that you learned a
lot of this at a young age, andthen kind of moved back into it.
You always had these tools, but.
I mean, I've told you that I, Ilearned some of it from my
(46:14):
grandmother at a young age.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I didn't fully embrace itall until, you know, I got
older.
Um, but so many people aren'teven aware or it's frowned upon
to do things like this.
And I think that it's coming,it's happening that our world is
just becoming more open to lookat different things.
(46:35):
Yeah.
You kind of already answeredthis.
Um, well first of all, can youtell people where they can find
you at?
Um, sure.
So, um, where can they find me?
So, my, my website ismonica.coach, www.monica.coach.
That will take you to, um, a, adifferent website, which is
(46:55):
authentic.
You and a lot of people dunnohow to spell that.
So I just say I just keep Monicacoach.
Um, and there's an opportunitythere to meditate with me on
Monday mornings at eight 30.
It's free.
I have a little community, um,and it's, it's really beautiful
and it's the meditation that Ilearned with Deepak Chopra.
It's called The Four SoulQuestions.
And so I meet eight 30 Mondaymornings and you can sign up
(47:18):
there.
I also have a podcast, prana andPossibilities.
You can find me on Spotify, youcan find me on Apple Podcasts.
Um.
I just, I think those are, thoseare some good ways.
And if you have, you know, aquestion for me, you can always
email me@helloatmonica.coach.
M-O-N-I-C-A dot C-O-A-C-H-Ithink so.
(47:39):
No, I'll leave those in the shownotes so people can find you.
I do ask everybody, and you kindof already answered this, but if
there is one thing that theyshould go do today, to get them
started on, finding that innerspark, what would you say?
One thing to find that innerspark, I would say close your
(48:00):
eyes.
Close your eyes.
Bring your hands to your heartspace, your left hand on your
heart space, your right hand, ontop of your left hand, and I
invite you to go through thesefour soul questions with me.
Who am I?
(48:22):
Who am I?
Notice what comes up for youNotice, acknowledge all the
labels, every beautiful piece ofyou that's coming into your mind
right now of who you are.
Acknowledge, give gratitude,release.
(48:44):
Let it float away.
It'll always be a part of you,and each time you ask yourself
this question.
Different things will come.
Same thoughts, but maybedifferent things too.
Who am I?
Who am I?
(49:04):
What do I want?
What is my heart's desire?
Lemme check in with yourself.
Check in with your heart.
What does your heart want?
Maybe it's an image.
Maybe it's a thought.
Maybe it's a feeling.
What is it that my heartdesires?
(49:30):
What is my purpose?
My dharma?
Notice what comes up for youhere.
An image.
A thought.
What is my purpose?
How can I be of service tomyself, and how can I be of
(49:50):
service to others?
What does that look like?
What does it feel like and whatam I grateful for?
What am I grateful for?
(50:13):
This can be itemized.
You might be grateful for yourbreath, your home, the food on
your table, your appliances.
It could also be the energy ofgratitude.
What does that energy feel likeof being grateful?
How does that change?
How does that change the energyin your body?
(50:35):
What am I grateful for?
Just notice that energy fillingyou up, surrounding you,
emanating from you, and we'regrateful we attract more things
to be grateful for.
It lifts our vibration.
It raises our vibration.
(50:56):
Am I grateful for?
Hmm hmm.
You can release your hands.
Vote your eyes open.
These are the four.
So questions that I've learnedand.
Sometimes, you know, just askingyourself what they are, who you
(51:18):
are in this moment, what youwant in this moment, what you'd
like to see in this moment.
Maybe journal on it, notice whatcomes up for you.
Sometimes the answers don't comeduring the meditation during
this time.
Sometimes they, they're shown toyou a little bit later outside
of this space and you recognizeit.
(51:39):
Ah, that's what it's, that'swhat's resonating for me.
We need to be aware, right?
Can you be aware?
Can you be with your breath?
Can you be present in your ownlife?
This is the one life you have.
Can you be present in it?
(52:00):
Thank you so much for thatspecial gift.
I wanna thank you so much forcoming on the show.
I will drop all your links solisteners can come find you.
Thank you.
You guys, I, I don't know whatyou took away from that.
I wanna thank Monica for thespecial gifts at the end.
I encourage you to go find her.
(52:22):
She is an incredible woman frombecoming an engineer to just
connecting, coming home toherself through everything she
has studied and learned, and.
She's so knowledgeable about somany different things and just
how she pulls them all togetherto be uniquely who she is.
(52:45):
it just truly lights me up.
So I encourage you guys to gofind her, go listen to her, and
as always, go let those sparksfly.
Thank you for tuning intoanother episode.
I hope today's story inspiredyou to embrace your own journey
of growth and change.
Remember, transformation isn'talways easy, but it's always
(53:07):
worth it.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe.
Share it with a friend, andleave a review.
If you found something thatsparked you in this episode and
may spark a friend, I encourageyou to go share with them.
If you have your own story youwould like to share, I would
love to hear it.
So please reach out to me.
Until next time, friends, gohave some fun and let those
(53:28):
sparks lie.
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