Ep1: with Shani Pride | Stillness, Mantras, and Manifesting a Purpose-Led Life

Join host Wilma Mae in the premiere episode of The Healing H.A.C.K. Podcast for an intimate conversation with filmmaker, writer, and director Shani Pride about finding purpose, spiritual practice, and the transformative power of manifestation.

In this deeply personal episode, Shani shares her journey from actor to award-winning storyteller, revealing how she discovered her true calling during the COVID-19 pandemic. After years performing in front of the camera, she made the courageous transition to writing and directing, a shift that Sundance Film Institute recognized and nurtured. Now, she's creating impactful stories that blend social consciousness with compelling narrative, including a feature film shooting in Italy and a television series set in Brooklyn.

What You'll Discover:

Spiritual Practices for Modern Life: Shani opens up about her daily rituals, including meditation, crystal work, and mantra practice. Learn how she uses stillness as a tool for creativity and peace, and why meditation doesn't have to be intimidating. It can happen anywhere, anytime.

The Art of Manifestation: Hear powerful manifestation stories, including Wilma's unique sigil-making practice that helped a friend land his dream CEO position. Shani shares how she's been manifesting since high school, using vision boards and intentional practices to create the life she envisioned, from getting into UCLA and USC to manifesting her current film projects.

Purpose-Driven Creativity: Discover why Shani calls herself an "impact-driven storyteller" and how she harnesses media to enlighten, inspire, and provoke thought. She discusses her upcoming projects, including a film described as "Eat Pray Love meets Erin Brockovich" and "Brownsville Redemption," a series about a teenage piano prodigy navigating survival and creativity.

Self-Care Without Guilt: Both Wilma and Shani, self-described "reformed workaholics," share why self-care isn't indulgent. It's essential. From playing with puppies during the pandemic to establishing boundaries around work hours, they discuss practical ways to prevent burnout while staying productive.

Spiritual Toolkit Building: Explore diverse practices including Buddhist philosophy, crystal healing, healing card decks (like Matt Khan's healing mantras), and the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. Shani shares how traveling to spiritual centers in India, Bali, and Mexico has shaped her practice.

The Power of Specificity: Learn why being specific in manifestation work is crucial, and why many women struggle to articulate what they truly want for themselves (versus what they want for others).

Conscious Media Consumption: Understand how the stories we consume, from news to social media to film, profoundly affect our spiritual and emotional wellbeing, and why choosing "puppy dogs and rainbows" content isn't frivolous. It's self-preservation.

This conversation is perfect for anyone seeking to build their own spiritual toolkit, creatives looking to align their work with purpose, or anyone curious about manifestation, meditation, and living authentically. Whether you're just beginning your spiritual journey or deepening existing practices, Shani's wisdom and Wilma's insights offer practical guidance for navigating a demanding world with grace.

Keywords: manifestation techniques, spiritual practices, meditation for beginners, purpose-driven life, creative spirituality, self-care for entrepreneurs, crystal healing, mantra practice, vision board manifestation, filmmaker journey, conscious living, spiritual toolkit, mindfulness pra

Subscribe to The Healing H.A.C.K. for more conversations exploring ancient and modern tools for spiritual health, abundance, connection, and knowledge.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:02

Welcome to the Healing Hack Podcast. I'm Wilma May, your host. Hack stands for healing, abundance, connection, and knowledge, the core elements of real spiritual health. Join us as we explore ancient and modern tools, practices, and approaches for navigating a world that can feel fractured and demanding. You'll hear from experts across spiritual and healing modalities, as well as guests with powerful personal journeys. The goal is simple to help you build a spiritual toolkit that actually supports your life. Let's begin.

SPEAKER_04 0:41

I love those glasses. Thank you. I can see.

SPEAKER_05 0:52

So peaceful. It is peaceful. It is a um a haven and a place where I can reconnect. Yep. And hopefully friends can reconnect with themselves as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:04

So first of all, um would like to introduce you briefly. You are the gorgeous, amazing human Shawnee Pride. A new friend of mine that I met recently, and we really connected. Feels like years. It feels like years. I felt like, oh my god, I've met my sister. Yeah. Like the sister I never had. Literally.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

There's no way it's just me. I know, right? Maybe in this lifetime.

SPEAKER_05 1:32

Yeah. Yeah. It's very, it's very strange and interesting and fascinating when that happens. Because I meet a lot a lot of people. And it feels like I've met them for the first time. Right. Even if I have a really amazing connection. I agree. But then I felt like, oh no, I I know you. Yeah, definitely. From somewhere. For sure. Right? For sure. So that was just like blew my mind. Yeah. And then the the more amazing thing was that a few weeks earlier, one of my investors and my a dear friend now, and a former client, um, no, I was, I was, no, yes, she was my client. She had said to me, You have to meet this amazing woman, Shawnee. And I thought, okay, great. Whenever that happens, that'll be wonderful. And then if like maybe like, I guess it might have been 10 days later, I met you at the summit event. She didn't know you were part of that community, and you were just coming into this community. And then when you said your name, I was like, I've heard that name before, and I couldn't remember who had said the name.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:48

And then it wasn't until we were halfway through our chat and you went, Rochine. I went, yes, that's right. That's what it was. So the fact that someone who I adore and respect immensely said that. Yeah, and vice versa.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

It said that about you, which is just so amazing that we gravitated toward each other. Right. Which is why we were, well, we were amint to meet, for sure. And our souls have known each other and we have a connection. Yeah. 100%.

SPEAKER_05 3:21

I'm excited. Yeah. I'm excited for our journey together. Tell me about who Shawnee is. Ooh. And what are you, where are you at right now in your journey?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Right. I am, I would call myself an impact-driven storyteller. I've always been a storyteller. I'm technically a writer and director, and I make film and television and short content, but all of that for the purpose of affecting change and for harnessing the power of media, of creativity, of stories to enlighten, inspire, educate, shift, provoke thought, um, and all those beautiful things. So I'm a storyteller at heart. I'm purposeful, I'm impactful, and um, and yeah, I love to align with the storytelling part of me.

SPEAKER_05 4:23

And in your journey as a writer-director, where you are now, what's different to the beginning of that journey to now? Like what would have what how has it evolved? And um, and obviously I want to kind of dig into the spiritual side, but I'm sure that has an impact, that whatever journey you've taken on how your work has evolved.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

A hundred percent. I I'm very spiritual, first and foremost, and um I bring that essence to my work as well, not directly, not sort of on the nose, but in in the essence of who I am. It shows up in my writing, it shows up in the way I capture moments and um particularly visually capture moments. But I started in front of the camera and evolved to now being behind the camera. So you were an actor? For years. Oh, really? Yeah, for many, many, many years. Um started very young in high school, went to high school for the arts in Los Angeles. Okay, which was an incredible, rigorous, very prestigious program, and then went on to sell a theater school and started acting before I even finished school. I immediately started working as an actor. And I loved it until it became too small of a container for me, actually. And I started to feel this deep desire to expand and to be to have more agency around the stories that I was participating in. Because as an actor, you have no agency. You're told what to say, what to wear, where to stand, where to go, how to do it. And the writer and director really is the one that it's their story to tell. So I was around a lot of writers for many years, very successful writers, and they would always say, You're a writer. And I would never embody that or take that on because I was so much trained as an actor, like in all the best teachers across from Europe to LA, New York, everywhere. And so I thought, I'm not trained as a writer, so I'm not a writer. And then I finally embraced that part of me and trained with all the prestigious schools. And then I realized that because I was acting for so many years, I already knew story arc, I knew character arc, I knew three act structure, like I knew all the things. I just didn't realize I knew them. And so I just fell into it so effortlessly. And directing was the same way because I worked with so many directors, and because I am an actor, I know how to work with actors and connect with them and pull out really dynamic performances, and I speak that language, and so it just was so naturally the next step for me.

SPEAKER_05 7:15

When you say naturally the next step, surely it wasn't an easy step to take. No, definitely. It's not as easy. What was the what was the I mean, what process did you go through internally, spiritually, in terms of like coming to the decision, I'm going to now move into the space of writing, directing. Is that and how I mean, how was that a struggle for you initially? Was that, did it, did you just go, it's time, and then you moved into it?

SPEAKER_00 7:44

And there was space because it happened as COVID was happening. Okay. So I had a pause as we all did, um, and time to sort of explore that. Um, because we weren't doing anything, because everything shut down. The the industry, the film and television industry definitely shut down. No one was doing anything. So it was the perfect time to actually write.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Um, and so I used that as an opportunity to see if it was something that I would take to and would resonate in my soul and in my spirit and in my heart, like acting did for so many years. And um the transition, it's like everything in life. The hardest part of the transition was deciding to say yes to it. The moment I actually said yes, it was love at first sight. I just, I'm naturally very good at writing. Like my friends would always say, You're a writer. And I finally understood why they said that. Because I would read their scripts and give them notes and analyze, and they were like, you think like a writer. And then the same thing for directing, like Sundance actually was the one who told me I'm a director. They're like, you write like a director. Wow. You write so clearly and vividly, you can see your stories, and so you write in pictures. So you are the one who should be directing your stories. And I was like, I'm not a director. Then I tried it and I loved it. Really? And what were you directing? Your own stuff? My own stuff. So first I started with just directing a scene, you know. I wrote a scene and then I directed it with Sundance, actually.

SPEAKER_04 9:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

And the moment I stepped into that space, and the moment I was in that space with the actors, it just felt like home. I knew like this is this is for me for sure.

SPEAKER_05 9:47

It's a real gift to be able to discover or find or re-remind yourself of the path that you're meant to be on. Right, it's true. And I think quite a lot of people, myself included, struggle with what am I meant to be doing here on this planet in this lifetime.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:12

And I used to terrorize myself, and I don't say that word lightly, I terrorized myself because I didn't have like, well, I don't really know what career I'm supposed to be in. And I don't have a specific talent for something that I've discovered yet. And I was like, okay, but then I got probably probably about 15 years ago, I was like, you terrorizing yourself doesn't serve a purpose at all. Right. So let's just stop. Yeah. We're just flowing through life, and the purpose, if it's supposed to come to you, it will. It'll emerge. And it emerged. Yeah. Right. So now I'm walking that path. Yes. So it must feel amazing to be able to find that purpose at any time in life. Yeah. Right? Even if it's later in life. And then you start to you start to explore that and pursue that. So I mean that's really exciting that you did that.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Yeah, I'm such an advocate for purpose-driven lives. Yeah. And I do think that everyone has a purpose in this life. And most people don't find it, which is really um sad for me, because I think if people were standing in their purpose, there'd be less violence, there'd be less um projecting, there'd be less fear-based actions, there'd be less of all the stuff that we don't like about the world that we're navigating and more of the things we do because people would be connected to themselves in a way that would pull them away from things that are just distractions from who they really are at their core. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:57

Yeah, and I feel that that fear of either being judged, or not even the fear, the reality of people judging them. Yep.

unknown 12:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:08

Can stop people from pursuing their purpose.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

And just fear in general, like we're taught from such a young age to like get a this kind of job, get married, have kids. Like, there's all this like still stiffness around life that if your purpose is to go off and be a photographer in the wilderness, you know, it's like some people don't even know how to, well, yeah, I have a family or be, how am I gonna do that? Or what are people gonna think of me, and and be judged by judging themselves, other people judging them, society judging them. And it's sad because it's like, what's it all for at the end of the day, right? If you're not really aligned with how you're living your life, really.

SPEAKER_05 12:59

Yeah, I I I I hope that the young generation is embracing their purpose earlier. Yeah. Because it took me a while. Yeah, and I think that that's normal. I think And it's not yeah, it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

It's not like I think for me, finding my purpose in my high school years isn't is an outlier.

SPEAKER_04 13:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

I think most people, this is why I think even in college, when they're like, you have to decide what you're gonna do with your life and choose a major, when pe in your 20s you're still exploring with no idea what you're gonna do and be in your 20s, most people. So, and I think it all leads to where you are. So, you finding your path that you're on now, which is so beautiful and resonating with so many people, you needed everything before to get to where you are now, which is more reason why people should give themselves grace, yes.

SPEAKER_05 14:02

Right, yes, and that that that's when I stopped terrorizing myself and gave myself grace. You were building the foundation, yes, you're absolutely right.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

And even me, I acted for many years. That was the foundation for, and I'm still open to acting in my own projects, but I was not meant to just be an actor. Like the universe had so much more in store for me that I was not ready for at that particular time. But I was learning everything I needed to learn and evolving in ways I needed to evolve to be able to step into the positions and roles that I'm in now.

SPEAKER_05 14:38

Yeah, and that path is not always, it's it's almost it's almost never a smooth path. Never. Never. Which brings me to my next question. Were you did you always consider yourself a spiritual being? Um, you know there's a quote that says Um we are we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience. Did you always know something like that in yourself or did that did you come to that?

SPEAKER_00 15:15

I started really exploring that around high school. And I think being a creative, at least for me, aligned itself beautifully with that. Because I'm the type of creative that goes within to create. And when I go within, I always go to like Mother God, you know, like I go to the universe, I go to nature, I go to these very spiritual things. And I feel like the act of creating, whether it's a flower being created or a film being created, I think is a very spiritual process for me. Um, not for everyone. So for some people it's very technical or biological or what have you, but for me it's very spiritual. So I think my spirituality has definitely evolved as I've grown older and I've traveled the world and experienced all these different spiritual cultures and practices and principles, which I love. Like I love traveling for that reason. Going to India or Bali or Mexico City, all these places that have a very deeply rooted spirituality.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

And that has just shaped me as a human being, as an artist, as a soul moving through this world.

SPEAKER_05 16:34

Do you have a particular attachment or um fondness for a particular tradition or practice in spirituality? Do you combine and like what is your do you have a practice? Do you do you practice anything on a daily basis? Do you have any traditions or schools of thought that you are more aligned with? That I subscribe to.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Um, I love um crystal work, which recently I've like fell into. I went to Merida in Mexico, and for some reason, there in the cenote, and I just all of a sudden started gravitating towards crystals while I was there. So now everywhere I travel, I get a crystal or three, one, two, or three crystals from that particular region. And then meditating with the crystals, meditating, I use a lot of mantras. Um, I I read everything from Wayne Dyer to Deepak Chopra to all everything in between.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Um, so I I absorb a lot of sort of spiritual teachings, but from Kabbalah to you name it, I just kind of pull things that universally I think are beautiful practices that everyone can benefit from.

SPEAKER_05 18:26

Yeah. It's um it's interesting with the crystals. That's something that I am curious about from afar. Yeah. So was I. Um also what I am curious about is how how have you found that crystals impact you? Do you feel a tangible difference? Because I always wonder, I haven't, I used a crystal once. It was given to me when I was when I was in deep depression, and I was hospitalized, and someone gave me a crystal as a gift, and I had no idea what to do with it, but I had it by my bed. And over time that crystal changed from being clear to cloudy, as if it was, and I would hold it against me, and it was almost as if it was pulling out the whatever was toxic that was within me. And I still have that crystal and I I clean it, but that was the closest I got to any kind of work with it. What impact do you feel it's had with you?

SPEAKER_00 19:38

I um I do think crystals are palpable. I do feel the energy of a crystal. And what I find really interesting, so whenever I go to a place in the world, I feel like, at least for me, crystals choose me. So I'll gravitate toward a particular crystal, and then I'll look up its significance and meaning later.

SPEAKER_04 20:03

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

And it's always aligned impeccably with whatever I'm experiencing at that particular time in my life.

SPEAKER_05 20:13

Wow, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Yeah, it's crazy. So it speaks to you.

SPEAKER_05 20:19

Yeah. All right, so you you gravitate towards crystals and you'll look up the meaning later, and then you'll find and discover that it's aligned with something you're going through or experiencing, or some part, some other healing that you need to do.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

And then I'll work with it. So especially if I'm in a very challenging moment, then I'll and say I'm I'm trying to write, for example. Then prior to writing or during writing, I'll just hold the crystal, keep it with me, or I'll meditate with it prior to starting my day or prior to moving into some form of creativity. And I find it really does what it's supposed to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:11

In terms of maybe some of your other practices that you have in your life, one of the things I I, you know, we call this the healing hack, which is about if hack is an acronym, it stands for healing, abundance, connection, and knowledge. So the idea of being able to build your own healing toolkit, your own spiritual toolkit, because what works for you may not work for me. 100%. But it might work for someone else. 100%. So I think it's what I I want to be able to do is to share other people's experiences with their own personal spiritual practices. And that uh they might be able to incorporate into their own practices. So, what practices do you do? Do you have one, two, or three? And and and how How do they impact you? So we've got the crystals.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

So crystals is one. Meditation is big for me as well. And I know for some people who are intimidated by the word meditation, um, as was I for many years. And my way of approaching meditation is just stillness. Um you can meditate anywhere at any point at any time, in any moment, in any place. And so when I say meditation, I mean constantly making an effort to be still. And particularly if I'm reacting to something or overwhelmed by something, um, or needing to find peace and serenity. Um, I try to start my days with meditation, and as we know, like when you're traveling so much, it's hard. All these rituals go out the window, and it's so difficult to stay consistent. But I know for a fact, if I start my day with meditation, I have a far more productive, more peaceful day than if I don't.

SPEAKER_05 23:08

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

It's really powerful.

SPEAKER_05 23:11

Yeah. Anything else that you do?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

I love again, I love like mantras. I do, I have these decks where like I have a healing deck, for example. Um, and I love pulling these cards and then reading whatever is on it. And always, like the crystals, if I whatever card I pull at that particular moment, it's always speaking directly to something that I needed to hear, I need to be reminded of in that moment. So I will meditate and then sometimes pull a card, read what's on the card, and then sit with in meditation whatever comes up on that particular card for me.

SPEAKER_05 23:59

What uh is there a particular deck that you use that you would share?

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Do you remember the name? I I think one of them is called, and don't quote me, but I'm like 90% sure Matt Khan is this healing deck that I actually bought when I was in LA when I was going through a very difficult moment. And it's like a blue, light blue colored deck. And I think it's literally called the healing deck or the healing month or healing mantras or something along that line.

SPEAKER_05 24:31

Okay. I'll look it up and hopefully add that into the show notes. Yeah. Um, and when you when you bought the deck, did it did it instruct you to activate that deck for yourself, or did you just immediately just pull?

SPEAKER_00 24:43

That's a good question. I think there is a little like pamphlet that comes with it. Um I'm trying to remember, it's been a few years now, but I think intuitively I was in a season of healing. So I knew anything related to healing, I was assigned yet.

SPEAKER_05 25:07

The reason I ask is that when you have um things that are for you, like your crystals, or let's say you read tarot, um, or you wear a a talisman of sorts, that they're usually activated for you. Right. Right, so that that becomes your energetic connection and link. And I've seen that with with tarot cards. I have my own talismans that I wear. In fact, I just rediscovered one yesterday that was given to me by my mother, and I hadn't worn it in a long time. But that we did energetic work to attach that to me. And some of the decks that I have I sit with before I use them and will do energetic work around that deck. So that that deck is really for me.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Yeah, I love that. I mean, personally, any anything spiritually related, energetically, I'm either drawn to it or I'm not. So I was drawn to that deck. Okay. Because it was what I needed at that time. Um, and the same with the crystals, and the same with a book I may read or a podcast I may listen to. I like I'm very attuned and attuned to um where my spirit is trying to take me versus not trying to take me. Even when I travel and I walk into a temple, you know, like some temples pull me in, some don't.

SPEAKER_04 26:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Yeah. So I think you're right. I think for me it just sort of happens organically. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:59

That makes sense. That makes sense. And I guess the other question that I have for you is are there either people or organizations that you're more drawn to in this season of your life now that you've I'm not gonna make an assumption that one is fully healed. I I always think we're all healing.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

All the time. Always be healing.

SPEAKER_05 27:23

Always be healing. If you're not growing your diet. Right. Yeah. So um, in this season of your life, are there um certain teachers or traditions that you are aligned with? That's a great question.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Um It's interesting because there are seasons where I am fully immersed in like spiritual work, healing work, um, growth-based like self-realization type work. Um SRF is actually comes to mind, self-realization center. I don't know if you know, or self-realization fellowship. He was really powerful. So he has a book, um, yoga nanda, the autobiography of a yoga. Yes. So that was a such a beautiful um long, I mean, uh probably 20 years now. Um I've been going to that center. When I went to India, I visited one of his centers in India. He's from India, so I visited one of the centers outside of Delhi. And um, so yeah, so there's times like that where I'll be so immersed in it. And then there are times like this, which is a very interesting time for me, where I'm my creativity is my spirituality in the sense of I'm pulling all of these things that I've experienced in my life. Heartbreak, um, moments of success, whatever, what have you. And I'm sort of harnessing that power through what I'm creating because the goal is to help others and help others find themselves work their way through difficult situations, be enlightened, etc., in ways that I can help do that. Not to say that I'm some guru, but like that is what's really calling me spiritually right now. And of course, I still meditate and I have to stay grounded in these things, but there's a deeply rooted connection to that at this particular time.

SPEAKER_05 29:30

Yeah. Well, I feel like I feel like we need that in the world. I think we need more stories that help people to connect with themselves, to learn how to build the resilience to work through the difficult times.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Yes, 100%. And stories are ancient, they're the oldest form of teaching, right? Back to like literally primitive, you know, hum humans, where through stories they would tell people where to get food and where the lions were and where not to be and where to be. And so it was always that for humanity, and it still is in such a powerful way. And I don't think people often realize how powerful the stories that they consume are, whether it's through social media or film or television or news media or whatever outlet you're consuming, but it affects you, and we talked about this. Yes, it really affects you for better or for worse.

SPEAKER_05 30:29

Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, as we were talking about the pandemic, for me, I had to turn off the news because it was too overwhelming. And for the first time ever, even watching films around there seems to there seem to be a lot of films and podcasts around and TV series around murder. Yeah, look, there are a lot of people. And it's that I still do not find that entertaining.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

And as humans, we are drawn to that, right? There's something about that that it's like watching a cr a train crash. This morbid fascination. But when you don't understand how that's affecting your soul, that's where it becomes precarious. I I think even um Victor was talking about how he can't watch certain things right before bed, right? Because it does, it affects your sleep, your dreams, the way you wake up the next morning.

SPEAKER_05 31:29

Yeah, you know. I mean, I I could only I I call it puppy dogs and rainbows. Right. That's all I can consume. Right. That's it. Right. And in during the pandemic, when when I had launched Dark Beauty Healing, we were giving away free therapy to women of color, it was really intense. It was really intense, it was really hard. Give also being in the pandemic, and I found that I was burning out. And I said to my team, and obviously we were all remote, I said, I'm gonna need to, in order for me to navigate through this, I'm gonna need to not be online in the mornings. I'm I can only come online after midday, and I need the mornings to just do whatever my soul tells me to do. And what I would do is I'd get up, I'd go and get walk to the coffee shop, get a coffee, go, and then two doors down, there's a doggy daycare. And I would sit down, and every few minutes somebody would come out with a dog to go take it for a walk. And they would bring the dog over. Because that obviously, clearly, I'm a dog freak and I love dogs, and they would bring the dogs over so I could just give them a little cuddle and play with them. And I would do that in the mornings, and like within a month, my whole being had shifted. Powerful. And I gave myself the space to do that. I'm glad I was able to do that. Absolutely. Not everybody can. No. But um, I was able to then still that was the way I had to rebuild resilience. Yes. And it was, it sounds like indulgent, but it was true healing just to play with the dogs and have my little morning coffee and sit outside. And I was in New York, so I couldn't really be in nature, but um, it did really help. It was simple and almost free.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

And therapeutic. And I don't, and I think we need to like move away from this notion that self-care is indulgent. Right, exactly. You know, because it's necessary. Yes. And if it takes all day, it takes all day. Yeah. If it takes a second, it takes a second. Like whatever that individual needs at that particular time in order to be in the best iteration of themselves, there's nothing more important than that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:55

I think that the difficult part of that is that we are still in a culture, especially in America, of you have to work to live. And with the health care, with all the things, the jobs that you have to take, because you get health care with that job, you have enough money and prices are going up. You know, to live in New York is insanely expensive. And it's really hard. Yeah. And so to give yourself that space and that grace to be able to do that healing feels indulgent and hard. And you feel guilty because you should be productive, you should be out there working. But in fact, the opposite is true. In fact, you should be taking care of yourself and giving yourself that time and space. That's the luxury in life, not the not the brand name.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Yes. And, yes, and I, from experience as a reformed workaholic.

SPEAKER_04 35:00

Me too.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Um, so we're speaking from experience, no judgment, but I have found, and as I've matured in life, that the more balanced I am, the more productive I am. Because when you're burnt out, 10 hours of work is really only four. Six of those hours, you're just you're not connected. But if you are focused and sharp and healed and whole and happy and at peace, yeah, two hours of work could be more productive than 10 hours of work because you're so in it and of it and like connected to it, whatever it is, that it's just like I believe in this notion of like the four-hour work week, you know, because I do think that if you structure balance into your life, and that's like emotional, physical, spiritual, fit, like all working out, meditating, playing with puppies, like whatever that is for you. If you work that into your life, you're just elevating at such a high frequency, you're just knocking things out left and right. Yeah. You know.

SPEAKER_05 36:11

I feel like the journey I've been on for the last couple of years when I decided to go down this road is that um I made a very clear, very conscious decision that I wasn't going to overwork myself. Um, because I have a lot of other things going on in my life that I need to be front and center with. And I need to be able to fit it all in and not kill myself in the process. A hundred percent. And I'm when I made that very clear decision in my mind, and I did my intentioning work around this. The interesting thing is that everything has pretty much magically dropped into place in a way I've never had to like and it's never been super intense and stressful. None of this has been. And it was it was a mindset shift. Absolutely. Absolutely. That was all I did. Yeah, 100%. And when when I and I and I fully, fully adhere to manifesting work. That's one of my major practices that I've rediscovered. Used to do it in my early 20s.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:25

That's one for me too. I left that out. That's huge.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

Right, doing the manifestation. Manifestation work. Tell me about your manifestation work. I'm with you on manifestation. I think there's also this mentality around anything that you accomplish in life, you have to work very, very, very hard for. And I'm not saying sit around all day and watch TV. Right. Well, but that I definitely don't do. We're not doing that. But it is a mindset shift around things coming because I believe we live in a world of abundance. I really do. And I believe that everything is accessible to us if we are in the right mindset and if we are ready for those things. Yeah. And I've always manifested from high school years. I would manifest. It's funny because a friend of mine told me recently, in recent years, maybe the last five or seven years or something, she went, she was a high my best friend in high school. She's like, I just always thought you were spoiled. Because everything you said you wanted in life, you got. And she was like, but I didn't realize that you were manifesting these things in your life. And then she's like, now I get it. Now I totally get it. And it's like, yes, yes, because I would, I did a lot of vision work, which I still do, and I did a lot of manifesting with everything, with getting into high school for the arts. It was impossible to get into this school. I got into UCLA Theater School and USC Theater School. Impossible to get into these schools.

SPEAKER_04 39:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

USC particularly choose 12 people out of thousands. What? And I would just envision my path and really believe in it and believe in a higher power that would that would help me usher me through these things. And I was manifesting these things that came forth. And I think that's exactly what everyone should be doing.

SPEAKER_05 39:29

They should be doing that. And there are many different ways to manifest. Many. There is not just one way. No. Many. I love the the visioning that you did. Did you do a vision board? I did vision boards, whatever. So what did you did you do? What's sort of like cutting out pictures from magazines? And putting them putting them on a poster board.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

And then putting it on the wall. Yes. And literally seeing it every day. Yeah. I still have a vision board to this day. Do you in my closet? Do you update it? Not as often as I probably should, but what I've been noticing is that everything on that board is manifesting. So I probably need to now update it to keep that pushing forward. Um but yeah, I don't, I don't, the vision board I don't take as seriously as some people do, but I have done it for sure. When I'm in the mood of doing that sort of arts and craft type thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:27

But it's powerful.

SPEAKER_05 40:29

It really is. And I think when people open up to it, I mean, I I I sometimes my kids joke with me, but I'm the woo-woo one of the family. And as soon as I talk about anything, remotely spiritual eyes start rolling. And and yet recently, you know, my son was, you know, talking about the things he wanted in his life and talking about them daily, daily, saying it over and over again, and just listening and not getting in the way. And I think within a few months, he didn't realize he was manifesting by repeating this over and over. It's like a mantra. And within a few months, pretty much everything he had been that he wanted had actually come to pass. Yes. Love it. And I just went, that's what manifesting is. And he's like a mom.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

And mantras are a very powerful way to manifest. Yes. I love mantras. We love a mantra. And mantra, I think, is really powerful for those that are trying to incorporate these practices. If you're going through a very difficult time in your life and you're in a very difficult space energetically, mantras pull you, even if you don't believe it.

SPEAKER_02 41:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

If you repeat a mantra every single day, you will start to embody the thing subconsciously. That's what's so great about mantras. You don't even have to believe it. You don't have to think this will, this will definitely come true for me. You could be like, this is the craziest thing that this is not going to happen. And then to your sons and mine and your testament, you'll look up 30 days later and be a completely different person, have a completely different experience around you.

SPEAKER_05 42:20

Yeah, really. It's um it I had forgotten how powerful manifesting was. And my mother had taught me how to manifest. And in my early 20s, I used to do it, forgot about it when I moved to the UK, got on with my life, and didn't realize that everything I was trying to manifest had manifested with even my move to the UK and my first career, and all of those things were things I had tried I'd wanted to manifest. And I'd forgotten about it until about, I want to say nine years ago, before I was even living back in New York, I had met up with a friend of mine who I used to wait tables with in New York in the 80s. And she said, Wilma, you know, I'm with the father of my child today because of you. Well, I was like, what do you mean? She said, Don't you remember you taught me how to do this manifesting work and these rituals? I said, I did. She said, Yes. And she said, she told me the ritual. I said, she said to me, Wilma, you told me the ritual to do. And I did it, wanted to find the person, my person. And I did, I met this guy, and I thought it was great, that worked, and then realized this guy wasn't the guy for me. They broke up. And she said, I think, if I remember correctly, she said, and I remember you saying you have to be really specific. Yeah. And I wasn't as specific as I should have been. So I went back and did it again, and then did that ritual again, and then I am now still to. Today with the man who the father of my child and my husband, and that was that ritual that I did. And I said, Well, you did that work, that had nothing to do with me. Yeah. But brava. Yeah, yeah. Right. So, all of that to say that the work with manifesting. And so when I rediscovered that was the beginning, that friend's story. And it, but it took another few years for me to really go, I need to start this work again. I think I took it for granted that it because it used to come so easily to me. Yeah. And then you get out of the habit of doing the work.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

So when I think just don't lose that thought. I think as we get older, we get more jaded. Jaded. Yeah. So when you're younger, you're you're more optimistic. And we lose that as we get older, which is really tragic and sad. So there's like this battling of like staying in that sense of awe and wonder and curiosity and endless possibilities. That childlike nature. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 45:11

Yes. Yeah. Now I started to really connect with my manifesting work, not just for myself, but for friends. I really wanted, for me, I love having friendships where we're on journeys together. Right? We're not, I don't speak to friends every day, but when we check in, you know, they're doing work too to move forward in life. They're struggling or they're doing, but they're doing work. They're figuring it out. They're going, okay, I'm stuck here. How can I unblock this thing? And then they go and do the work, whatever that work looks like. So I love those kinds of relationships. Same. Yeah? Same. And what I started doing when I moved here was I started reconnecting with work around manifesting, but in put in in particular with sigil making. And I started reading about this through the author Aidan Walkter, who is uh a he practices what he calls dirt magic, which I love, the idea of dirt magic. He's incredibly experienced uh witch and with understands many different traditions, and he his books are really very down to earth and which I like, but incredibly he's very he's super knowledgeable. And so I was really fascinated by this sigil work. So sigils are a means for encoding information into your deep mind, right? It's the manifestation of that, so it's a symbol. And what I've kind of taken what he put in his book and morphed it into some of my own systems. And what I tend to do is I will send instructions to a friend, and uh I had a friend who was leaving a a job and didn't know what his next gig was going to be, and you know, was stressed about that, and I don't know his industry, and I was like, I don't know what to tell you. I said, but I can make a sigil for you. And he's like, I have no idea what that is, but I'm game for anything. So I gave him the instructions, and what what you do is you sit down and you write out in great detail everything you want to call into your life. And when I say specificity is your friend, specificity is your friend. Be incredibly detailed. And it may only be about one thing in your life, it doesn't have to be everything. Right. It can be just I want to call this in, I don't want to call this in. And then when you do that, you write it down one to two pages, and then you sit with it for maybe a few days or a week or however long you feel, and then you think, okay, do I need to tweak it? Tweak it. And then the next part of that is you have to then sit with it and write down, reduce it down to one to two pages, only using positive language. Right. That's hard for a lot of people. So I so let me correct myself. The first step is one to two pages of what you want to call in. Then the second step is one to two paragraphs, reducing it down to one to two paragraphs only using positive language. Correct. Then you have to reduce it again, sit with it for a few days, tweak it, then reduce it to one to two sentences, not only using positive language, but also um writing it as if you're already living that reality and it has come to pass. Love that. So those one to two sentences from one to two pages is really hard work.

SPEAKER_00 49:20

Very. Right? Very but it's hard, but it's also like, and it's you'll you'll see where this is going, but as an entrepreneur, when you're trying to basically get to the heart of who your avatar is or what your purpose is for your your huge mission of this company, yeah, distilling it down. But we have to do that with our lives as well, right? Absolutely. And which to me is like basically getting down to the essence of your purpose, you know.

SPEAKER_05 49:54

And m mind you, not a lot of people are here for that work.

SPEAKER_00 50:00

Oh, it's work. It's work. And a lot of people get overwhelmed by this notion.

SPEAKER_05 50:06

And one of the things I discovered during doing this for friends was that, and I didn't know this going in, but I started to see a pattern that when it was men that I would give these instructions to, they would come back to me within a week or two, sometimes sooner. They were very clear about what they wanted. Interesting. With the women, I would say 90% of the women I've given the instructions to either have never come back to me. Oh, wow. Or took months. That's interesting. And what I think it could be is that they're not comfortable yet with allowing themselves to want the things that hit home.

SPEAKER_00 50:52

That's exactly what it is. Because I'm like, why is that? But it's true. I think A, women are afraid to desire for themselves. Yes. They can do it for their husbands, their kids, their jobs, even, but for themselves. And you're right, and I think it does come down to this feeling of either that's selfish or that's I don't have time for that. I'm busy taking care of everyone else, this nurturing thing that women have been prescribed for far too long. But it's true. Yeah. Where men are very capable of thinking about themselves. No problem.

SPEAKER_05 51:30

No problem whatsoever.

SPEAKER_03 51:33

This is what I want. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_05 51:35

But then what happened was this friend, this male friend, um, did the work pretty quickly. He was motivated to do it pretty quickly, and he gave me the two sentences. And by the time I see the two sentences, I don't really know what he's trying to manifest. That's not my job. Right. And I don't care. Right. But what I then do is when I'm then in the next energetic alignment, because because I travel a lot, I have getting grounded and aligned in a space where I feel that I can do this work sometimes takes me months. So I tell everybody you've done the majority of the work by getting down to those two sentences. It's already in play. So Yeah, because that's a lot of work. That's a lot of work.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

It sounds very simple, but it's not.

SPEAKER_05 52:29

Right. Right. By the time I know I'm in the energetic space, and that usually means I need to be in solitude for a couple of weeks. Um my my diet has to be on point. So when I'm in that space, then I go into ritual and I will then remove all of the vowels from those two sentences and any of the repeating consonants and the letters that I'm left with, I create a hand-drawn symbol. And I and I'm in, I'm in ritual, I'm in front of my altar, and I'm calling in my people. And when I'm done with that drawing, I send that to the friend. And I say, you can, I send it to them as like a PDF document. And I said, you should print it out, fold it up, put it in your wallet, and or save it as a screensaver on your phone, and then forget about it. Get out of the way. As my mother used to always say, as soon as you finish doing your manifesting work, get out of the way. Let the powers that be. Right. Yeah. It's now in motion. You don't need to obsess about it. Just let it be. Get on with your life. It doesn't mean don't do anything to push forward to get to that goal. Right.

SPEAKER_00 53:46

And stay open to the things you need to do to push forward. Exactly. But don't obsess for an outcome.

SPEAKER_05 53:53

Because then that blocks it. That energy will block it. Yes. So this friend of mine, I'm I think I did it for him in like the October, November. Not January, he texted me and said, Oh my God, this shit's working. I was like, what? Tell me what happened. He goes, we have to get on a call. We ended up not getting on a call until later that year, like July. Oh wow. Because our lives were just everything's moving fast. And we hopped on a call and he said to me, the week after the sigil was done, I got a call from a headhunter who basically said, There's this job going, and the outgoing CEO said, the only person who can do this job is you. And it was not in the industry, it was an adjacent industry to one he had worked in. And they he said, You can go in, name your name your price. And it's owned by a private equity company, and they'll give you shares. They want you to grow it, and so they can sell it. And he went in, named his pie in the sky price. They were like, done. No problem. No problem. And and basically has equity. And he said, I am loving my work so much. I'm having so much fun. This has been such a game changer for me and my family. Love it. And it has opened up our lives immensely. Love it. We have optionality now. And he's like, Thank you so much. I said, Oh no, you did this work. It is work. It's work. He did the work. Yeah. I just sprinkled a little little fairy dust on top, but that was already he did it. But the sid the sigil goes to work in your deep mind. And when you like for me, I have mine on my screensaver on my phone. And I forgot what I wrote. Right, right. It doesn't matter. It doesn't even matter. Right. But I see it. Yeah. I know it's working. Right, exactly. And so that work, that, that, that work is so important, that manifesting work. And then going briefly back to when I started doing this back in the 80s. About six months ago, I opened a box that I didn't even know what was in that box. And I found these two two notebook papers that I had written on. And this must have been maybe 1988. Wow. It was in my early 20s. In New York. Anyway, I wrote everything that I wanted to call into my life. It was really immature. Well, or not. Well, yeah. But I my hand went up to my mouth and I went, oh my God, that's I got all of it. I'd totally forgotten I'd done that work. Exactly. Like the path that I'm on now. It was all leading up to 100%. And I mean, I literally it was immature, but everything was with a really good heart. And all of that stuff manifested, but I got away from it. So I love this connection to an energetic force that exists, that's as they always say, you know, the universe is is solving for you. What is the there's a saying that it's it's always working for you, not against you. If we if we kind of get out of our own way. 100, 100, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. So let me ask you another question. And you don't need to answer because it may be um it may be confidential now, but are you can you talk about the project you're working on now yet?

SPEAKER_00 57:53

Yeah, I can. Um not in all its specificity, of course, but um, but yes, I'm working on a film that shoots in Italy, um, mostly in Italy, but in New York and then parts of Louisiana. Um that's based on my life story that I I've told you about. I think briefly I've told you about it, but um it's like Eat Pray Love meets Aaron Brokovich. And it's this love story about self-love, about falling in love with oneself and fully stepping into your power. And um, you know, I've experienced a deep heartbreak, which was extremely transformative for me. And so, as one does as an artist, I sort of took that pain and turned it into my passion and my um my creativity, and so that is happening. And then I'm also doing a television series that films in New York that I'm also really passionate about, and that one is also it's not a life story, but it's um I relate so heavily to the main character. She's only 16, but she's a prodigy, she's a virtuoso on the piano, she's Juilliard-bound, and but she lives in Brownsville, Brooklyn, which is a very marginalized community, a very difficult environment to navigate, particularly as a young person. And she loses her father to police brutality, she loses her mother to gun violence, and then she's orphaned at 16, and so she finds herself unexpectedly in this drug world and becomes a highly successful drug lord at 16. But she's navigating the struggle of pursuing her creativity and going to Juilliard and playing in the New York Phil, which is what her mother wanted for her, and what she wants for herself, and survival.

SPEAKER_04 59:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 59:54

And it's this difficult path, and will she and or won't she and can she redeem? It's called Brownsville Redemption. Oh right. Can she redeem herself or not? And does she go too far or not? And yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:06

That's amazing. Thank you. Really amazing, and everything is moving forward. Everything is moving forward beautifully.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:13

Talking about manifesting, it's like it's all effortless. I mean, I've been in the industry for almost 28 years, so it's like effortlessly falling into place. There's their dues have been paid, but it's it's the way it's all coming together is divine. It's divinely inspired, and I get out of the way, and I just show up and and I'm present to the work and present to the story that needs to be told. I always say that I'm a vessel and the story comes through me. Yes. And I just I just move out of the way and let it come through me. And um, with these two projects in particular, and there's other projects I'm working with brands and whatnot on, but these are the two big, big projects right now that are sort of leading the way.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:04

And you're taking care of yourself in the process? 100%. Good. Yes. Do you not burn yourself out? That is not allowed.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:12

Not allowed. The film is about self-care and self-love. I'd be a complete hypocrite. And again, it was my journey of really leaning in and solidifying that. And I and I've put rituals and practices in place for myself to make sure that I don't burn out, to make sure that I always, always go back to balance and self-care and self-love and all these things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:39

Thank you. Yeah. It's been so wonderful to know you and to start this friendship journey together. And thank you for sharing today. Thank you. I really appreciate it. It's been lovely. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for listening to The Healing Hack. If this conversation resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and share it. You can find me at the healing hack on Instagram. And for more on cultivating personal ritual in your life, and to discover the products we are creating to support that, follow Sordo at SordoOfficial on Instagram and at SordoRitual on TikTok. Until next time.