How to Own Your Health Journey in Midlife & Beyond with Shannon Wallace

Shannon Wallace on trusting your body, questioning the experts, and reclaiming your health in midlife and beyond.

Some of the most important decisions we'll ever make are about our own bodies, and yet we're taught to hand that authority to everyone but ourselves.

In this episode, I reconnect with past client and health educator Shannon Wallace, who shares how she moved from chronic illness, exhaustion, and fear to reclaiming her health on her own terms, and why learning to trust your body is the real foundation of healing.

What We Explore

• Shannon's decades-long healing journey, from chronic illness and imposter syndrome to finding what finally worked
• Why you don't have to be "100% healed" to help others (and how struggling can deepen your compassion)
• The moment five lumps and a scary diagnosis sent her inward, and how she made her decision from intuition, not fear
• What it really means to become "the CEO of your own health"

Links

Find Shannon Wallace on Instagram

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Welcome back to An Intuitive Life. This is Elena Lipson, your coach and mentor, and today I have a little blast from my past. Shannon Wallace is a health educator, coach, and advocate for personal sovereignty. She helps women over 55 reclaim their health, confidence, and freedom by teaching them how to think critically, ask better questions, and take ownership of their well-being. I think I'm going to read the rest too, because it's good. After overcoming chronic health challenges and navigating some of life's toughest experiences, Shannon became passionate about helping others move from fear and dependency to resilience and empowerment. Her mission is simple: teach people how to become the CEO of their own health. I love that. I love it. I love it. So I say a blast from the past because Shannon and I go kind of way back, way back. I cannot, I was trying to figure out when exactly you were in my divine self circle. You do, you have the date? No, uh, the date, it was sweet spot coaching.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Oh, sweet spot coaching, even more.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Oh my gosh. Okay, okay. So I hosted a program called, it was a 12-week program called Sweet Spot Coaching. And it was 12 weeks to get your sort of brand, your messaging, like those all just the beginning foundational pieces on. And I remember that. That was such a fun program to host. And it's great.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

It was probably my favorite of all time.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Oh it was so fun because I feel like I was trying to fit in so much. Like I wanted to help, I wanted to make sure everyone at the end of it was like complete. And I learned a lot of lessons from that from hosting that program because I do like several people did get really, I mean, everyone got results, but I remember the feedback was like, it's a lot. It was just a lot, because I just wanted to make sure that everyone got everything they needed every single minute of the day and and had a lot of content and and to-dos. And we had calls every week and coaching and all of that. So um I that's how that was sort of like the beginning stages of what turned into my year-long program, and then sort of more spread out coaching to where, you know, all those lessons I've learned from those those days about like pacing yourself, trusting your own timing, not forcing things, and really being able to create something that is long lasting versus just done. And so, but that was yeah, I I couldn't remember like when what yeah, and then so then we were in the in the membership as well, and and there was a lot of great, and we happened to be local to each other at that time, and so we had the you know benefit of going out to lunch and and just being in in physical presence with each other, which was rare because a lot of the ladies were all over, all like Australia, New Zealand, and East Coast, West Coast. So, um, so welcome to the podcast. So exciting to see you. I have been noticing sort of your work on Instagram and sort of what you were doing, and just was really curious. And I know your work has always revolved around health, and you've done some amazing work in terms of like hypnosis and colon, hydrocolon therapy, and I'm sure lots of other things in between as well. But when I think of you, I think of health and women and um not doing things the typical way and really taking responsibility for and ownership of your own health. That's a lot of what I think of when I think about what you do. So I would love it if you would just take some some time, you know, in your own words, in your own space, like what fuels your work? How did you get into this, the health space? And just what are some things you're really passionate about sharing today?

SPEAKER_03 3:37

Uh, I got into the health space space, I think out of necessity. I was very sick. My doctor wanted to cut out part of my colon. He thought that might help my constipation problem. And I knew that that wasn't a route I wanted to go down, and someone referred me to colon hydrotherapy. And this was in '99, but before the internet took off. So I had to get a referral from a person, and I did, and it really helped. And it helped so much that I decided to become a colon hydrotherapist, and that's where internal harmony was born. Uh and it did help, but it didn't address everything. And um, so when we worked together, I did I was sick and I couldn't I couldn't figure it out, and so that led to quite a few years of what I'd call imposter syndrome and it really did a number on my confidence. Uh and I never gave up. And so I learned that's when I I thought, well, if I can't help people with their with their physical health uh because I didn't it didn't feel like I was integrity with myself because I was so sick, I thought, well, I can help them with their mind. So that's when I became a hypnotherapist. And then uh Psyche K. Have you ever heard of Psyche K?

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Yes, I have heard of it, but it's been a while since I've even thought about that. But I that is something I remember.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

Yes, it's like a it's a is it a modality or is it like a it is a modality, it works, no, it works with your subconscious mind. Okay, it's just quicker and easier than hypnosis for people, they get results a lot faster, and I look no people like fast results, so I started doing that, and then um, but I still didn't have any energy to live my life.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

So you were still running your hydrocholon therapy business and adding on the hypnosis and then the psyche, so helping other people, but yourself, you were still experiencing like just not wellness.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

No, no energy, nobody, and no, you know, when you have something that doesn't show on the outside when it's invisible, people don't necessarily know how you feel. So I didn't really show that to people, I didn't even show it to James, your husband. He didn't know, yeah, yeah. So that was a hard, hard time to go through.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

So, but you're still helping people, and I do think, you know, there's no, I don't think you have to be a hundred percent perfect at everything in order to help other people. In fact, I think you're sometimes more well-versed in helping other people if you're going through something yourself as well, because you have that compassion and empathy for what they are going through. So I think that's like, you know, I I get a sense for the where that imposter syndrome came from. I get that because I think we all have that. We want to be in integrity, we want to have done the thing 100% before we help someone else do it, but that's not always the case, right? Because you're sort of learning about your body and what's going on as you go. So so tell me, so like how did this journey lead you into? I know you're doing great now, which is awesome. Like, you know, spoiler alert, she's amazing now. But like, so how did that journey lead you into what was your next sort of you know iteration from there?

SPEAKER_03 7:08

Um, well, in 2020, I shut the doors of my business, and so I really had to figure out what was next. Um, I had some uh parental stress. Uh, my biological father died. We decided to move at the same time. Uh, and then I promised him I would take care of his wife. So James actually moved before I did, and I helped move her, get her house ready to sell, sold her house. And by the time I got to Prescott, I crashed.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Oh wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

And so I went to a new naturopath and I had all kinds of testing done. And I had a I've had a healthy lifestyle for a long time. I shouldn't have been unwell. But I had five lumps in my breast. Um, really bad brain fog, the toxin test came back terrible. And I felt a little hopeless. I couldn't work. I had given myself, you know, moving in your 60s and starting over is kind of a big thing. And on top of it, I didn't feel well, but I had given myself a year to figure it out. And right after I moved here, I got introduced to a protocol that um saved my life. It took about six months for me to start feeling better, not need two naps a day. Uh, I could think again, I could interact with people again because I had decided I didn't want to work with people anymore. That's how bad it was. So then during that time I became a holistic uh pet health coach. I thought, oh well, work with animals, but that included people too. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Because they don't they don't come, they don't come in for their appointment on their own.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

So yeah, that was the the pet parents that I was coaching. Yeah. So um I started so then I started working with the women who ran the protocol nine months in.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

So was this protocol more more to address some of the toxins? And like what what was the protocol all about?

SPEAKER_03 9:23

It it's in dress it's addressing infections, parasite mold, bacteria, fungal.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Would that be the umbrella of the under the toxins? Like, is that what you were testing for? How did you know to do that?

SPEAKER_03 9:37

I didn't know. I I feel like it was a God thing that I was led to hear. Um it was mold. Um all kinds of toxins. The glyphosate was off the chart. Right? And I grew my own food. I got my meat from a farmer, I don't eat out. Uh so that was really perplexing. But a year and a half later, I retook the same test and the glyphosate was gone.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

And so just for reference for those who aren't familiar, glyphosate is from is like a is because it's from Roundup. Is it from like pesticides? Right. Okay, so and usually it's found in vegetables, basically all of our food that comes from our food.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

But I and I ate organic and grew my own food, so it never made sense. But the one thing I did when I started that protocol is I had tried to supplement myself back to good health.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Oh, and I stopped everything because supplements come from food too, right? Like byproducts or like dried whatever's dried berries, dried, you know, you would think, I mean, some of them do come from the EU where they have different standards. And although, although I, from what I understand, Monsanto is trying to get into the EU as well, right? I don't know. Anyway, haven't checked in check, haven't checked in a while. But so do you think that's where some of your glyphosate numbers came from in the supplements?

SPEAKER_03 11:03

I that is the only thing that was different.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Interesting. Okay, so we're not doctors, we're not recommending stop whatever and start whatever. Like just listen and do research for your as always. Use your intuition, use your research muscles. We have Google, we have so many resources now. This is just a conversation that might make you think a little bit about the things that you're you're putting in your body. So please just use your own discernment. As always, we are not here selling anything, we're not like recommending to stop or start anything. Just listen and see how it lands in your body. That's where we all start, right? And that's the whole thing. Like this is the whole conversation.

SPEAKER_03 11:39

Uh and I had practitioner accounts, so so I had expensive supplements. The one thing I didn't think about back then that I do now is are they third-party independently tested?

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

Because supplements aren't really regulated.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Sure, there is no regulation. There are some things you can claim. Now, I I was I did work for a supplement company in their marketing. I was their a copywriter for and content content strategist for a year. And so I learned a lot about what you can and can't say, what you can't and can't claim, um, and where the ingredients come from, some better than others. So, but but you're right, it is not regulated. I mean, FDA does have oversight in on language and certain things like that, but you really, yeah. So it is a little bit of the Wild West. People can sort of bottle things. I remember seeing a supplement company on um on Shark Tank, and oh my god, they like slam this product because they're like, Well, like, who is it tested? Like, how many people? Who's a third party? Like, they really ripped it apart. And the guy was just like, he was doing well, but it like they're like, we can't represent this product. There's no, like, we don't know that it works. Like, we can't, we can't promote this. So it was really fascinating because you're right. Like, there's really anyway, this is a whole conversation about supplements now, but I think it's really interesting because for someone like you who is super healthy, eating organic, has a great lifestyle, but yet comes up like off the charts on the toxic testing, is really fascinating. And that could be one of the places where, you know, likely maybe was. I don't know, obviously, but right? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Like I'm a one-off. I just happened to do the test right before I started, stopped all the supplements, and I did it a year and a half later. And I, for that whole year and a half, I couldn't figure out where is my contamination coming from. Shouldn't have off the chart glyphosate in my body. So that was my experience. I'm not I'm not telling anyone that that's exactly what it was, but that that was my experience.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

It's important to share. So then you're going through this protocol, which is is like a is it like a detox protocol? Like what you know, how are you managing?

SPEAKER_03 13:42

We do we do open our detox pathways via coffee animas. Um, there's a bunch of science behind coffee animas, they clean out our liver, they bind to toxins in our blood, it recirculates through your body every three minutes and pulls out toxins, and then it help also helps you uh get rid of toxic bile. You have a bile release when you do it. So anytime I didn't feel good or I was a little tired, and still, I still do them. If I had uh a headache, which is not normal for me, I would do one and I would feel great if I felt like I'm I'm tired. I could take a nap. I would do that instead and I could go on with my day. Interesting. So it's something that I will probably keep in my life forever because it has made such a big difference. Interesting.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Okay, so now you're sort of on the other side of that protocol. And I still do it. You still do the that protocol. It's like it's an ongoing protocol.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

I do it for prevention. I don't ever want to go back to feeling how I felt because I wasn't living. So, and I'm not um I I guess I'm not really in the medical system. And so I want to keep my health, myself healthy for as long as I can.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Absolutely. So now you're helping other people, other women specifically, or who do you, you know, who's who do you recommend?

SPEAKER_03 15:12

Mostly women. We do have we do have men who do it too. Uh some people do it for prevention. Some people do it because they've tried everything else and it didn't work. And some people do it because they have had a diagnosis and they're more desperate. So it's yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

No, I was gonna say, so that's that's your work right now, is is this main protocol? That's what you're working on.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Yeah, and education. We want people to know what to do, have at home what they need to help themselves, their family, and their friends. So it is a big, it's a big education program and asking questions, being curious about what we're told. And I think that a lot of people become their diagnosis and identify with it and we don't.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

So what do you think, what do you think are some of the common beliefs that people come in with that they have to really examine in order to sort of, you know, because because I think a lot of healing is being able to trust what you're choosing, right? And I think, and I I remember, you know, and I've gone through autoimmune healing and um and have had very close family members with other illnesses. And so I I remember this like this thought process where if it stresses you out more to do the natural thing, it's probably not the best thing. Like, what is, you know, like if you're gonna, if you're gonna go in with a massive amount of fear for choosing something alternative, is that better than then placing your trust in something you really do believe in that's more sort of modern medicine or doing a combination? So I how do you I mean I'm sure people who get diagnosed are sort of scared and you want to find the right answer, or even people who are doing preventative medicine because they don't want to deal with any, you know, potential bad diagnosis. What do you think some people come in with in terms of belief systems and how do you help them see it see it differently?

SPEAKER_03 17:14

I had quite a few people come in for colon hydrotherapy with diagnoses, and I never made them wrong. I think it's really important that we believe in what we're doing. I think that's one of the most important things is the belief behind it. So it'd never try and tell someone what they should do, or it's more about education and leaving it up to them to make their own decisions using our intuition, what you teach. It's so oh, I got the hit. It's so important that we learn to trust ourselves and our bodies. A lot of people don't trust their body.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's um that's a huge one. Really learning how to trust the signals of your body because when you do have something big to decide or when you have a direction to go, like it's really easy to outsource that trust into especially in the medical system, especially. Like I've gone to urgent care with my son a few times. He's got like really bad allergies and he's got some infection. And so we go in and we'd spend like three to five minutes with this urgent care doctor, and we walk out with like steroids and antibiotics and all these things, and we're like sort of looking at each other, like, hmm. Do we like what do we do here? Like, because you know, on the one hand, you're thinking like you're you're scared, right? Because someone's sick and you're absolutely wanting to give them relief, and and uh you know, whatever relief looks like, the symptoms can be really like life-altering. Like you can be really thrown off by, you know, he couldn't breathe for a very long time. And so on the one hand, and we actually went to another doctor who um it was an ear-nose throat person, and and he wanted to put him on, you know, like 30 plus days of antibiotics. And we walked out of there and we're like, but yes, he said it, he's like, I'm not doing that. I'm like, I know, like, isn't that a little? He's like, first of all, it messes up my stomach. He like we don't do antibiotics often, but we we we did we have done them when when it's acute, like when he's got acute infection or something. And um, and he himself, he's like, I'm not doing that. He's like, I'm not putting my stomach through that for 30 days. Like, it's I'm not doing that. We need to figure out something else. So we did, we we sort of ended up going to a different place, but um, it was very for as a mom, I'm sitting there and I'm like, what do I do? Like, this is what the doctor's saying. He's saying, you know, he needs this, then he needs surgery, then he needs this. And I'm like, is that what he needs? Like, I don't know. So, so how do you? Because this I think is really the the core of the conversation, right? Because regardless of what you're going through, you have to be able to at some point make the decision and trust the process, trust your chosen modality, trust your practitioner. But above all of that, like trust your own intuition around that, which I think could be scary when you're dealing with something that could be pretty bad. So, how do you how do you work with yourself, having gone through your own journey of having to sort of lean back? And then how do you work with people? Where do you think you start people start in in being able to come back to that core of self-trust, especially when it comes to health?

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Well, part, I think part of it is everybody in our lives maybe has an opinion on what we should do. And there's so much information out there, it can also be really confusing. And then you may want to do some holistic stuff, but your doctor doesn't want you to do it in conjunction. So it's very, it is very confusing, it's very fearful, and that's kind of how I felt when I got um when I had my appointment with the naturopath, I was terrified for two days. Five lumps, I could feel them, I knew they were there. Um so I got really quiet and I sat with myself and went into my intuition about what I should do. I also had a call with April, who alleviated a lot of my fears, and I made the decision from there.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

And is April the creator of this modality that you're working with now?

SPEAKER_03 21:19

She's the woman I work with, and and I just really trusted my intuition on it, and that's why I decided to give my body a break from all the supplements. And I didn't do anything else. I had tried everything else, everything that that naturopath wanted me to do, I had already done and spent my retirement on. Um and I would have found if I thought it would have saved my life, I would have found the money to do that. It was gonna be about three thousand a month, and instead I ended up spending about four hundred a month. But it wasn't the money. Even though that's a big difference in money and I wasn't working. Uh I went with my intuition on it. I got really quiet.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Yeah, that's really it's a very courageous thing to do, especially in light of having sort of like somebody tell you there's something going on and knowing what the traditional path is. And how so how did you like you went internal and then from there was it just a matter of like a daily coming coming back to yourself? Like I'm just so curious because you know I I live for like a sort of how do you connect with intuition? How do you keep that practice going? Because the fear and the doubt are so natural, they're gonna come up and they're gonna be like those voices of all the people around you, or your own fear, your own ego. How do you how do you navigate it?

SPEAKER_03 22:46

Commitment. I made a commitment to myself. I also I also have a uh a thing that happens in my body when I'm on the right path. I get the chills from head to toe. Like I have it right now. Um, and I've learned over the years to trust it. It hasn't steered me wrong, um, but it took me a long time to be able to trust it, especially when I wasn't feeling good. So I get quiet and I reevaluate and I check in with my body and see if it's right, it feels right. And it did, so I stuck with it. And it was kind of about there's that part too. But I did want to give it a good amount of time to see if it worked, and now you're feeling good and well, and I feel amazing. Uh I work a lot where I couldn't work at all before. I am, I had uh what do they call it, post-exertional malaise. Have you heard of that?

SPEAKER_00 23:57

No. Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

So for people who have any like mitochondrial dysfunction, chronic fatigue, Epstein Barr, which I had it all, if I exercised, it took me days to recover. Like I would go walk Lake Patton because I wanted to stay in shape. I'd go walk Lake Patton and I'd have to spend the rest of the day in bed.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Interesting. I remember when I was, I had this like a period, I think it was sort of during the pandemic-ish, maybe a little before that too, where I was experiencing what I see, where what I I can look back at pictures now of myself. I know I was experiencing like acute inflammation, and I was so discombobulated. I was so confused because I was eating so healthy 99% of the time. I was working out five days a week. I was so in tune with my health, but I would go work out and I would feel like I had the flu afterwards. And I've had Epstein Bar. So I know, I know like the signals of my body, and this was different. And I realized I was running on cortisol. I was just constantly running on cortisol between worry about, you know, sort of like what was happening during the pandemic, between our we had family stuff going on, between working out every day that hard. I just had to rewire like everything. I I was so I was literally like gaining a pound every day. Like it wasn't there was no, I felt out of control, like really out of control. Because the more I the more I worked out, the more I tried, the more I worked, the the more tired, the more flu-like I felt. And I know exactly what you're talking about. Like there's your body, and you probably had very different symptomology and different things happening, but there is a point where your body just like, this is not the right path. Like stop and reassess because you're just continuing to do more of the same. Because I think a lot of us as women, like, we are so responsible and we're so dedicated and committed to whatever it is we choose in our families and our work and our health and all of it, that it could that itself, that commitment to being so responsible, to being the one who does it itself is the thing that's causing the cortisol to spike and to not have enough enough rest and recovery, not have enough quiet insight time to where you're actually like, wait a minute, what is happening in my body right now? Not just performative meditation or performative working out, like checking the boxes, but actually like, okay, what does my body need today? What does my body need right now? And really being able to navigate that. And I found, you know, as I went into like my 40s and now I'm in my 50s, it's so it's so loud. Like you just you you you can still not listen, but the results, the the consequences of the not listening are so much more profound as you sort of move into that that phase. So I'd love to like segue into the other aspect of your work, which is like not really believing in normal aging, which I share that belief with you as well. I think we have to unplug from as many of those assumptions as possible. So, what what do you believe is is the alternative to quote unquote what we're supposed to be doing at different times?

SPEAKER_03 27:18

I see a lot of uh I'm 63 now. I see a lot of women kind of like uh we call it maybe winding down, getting ready to retire. And that doesn't light me up. I still want to be engaged, involved, be active, be healthy, and help other people. And so I've had to kind of figure it out figure out who do I want to be, how do I want to show up in the world at this age? And am I gonna let my age bother me? And define you or or define me, and now that I feel better, it's a hell no. I'm just starting.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

So I I just I look I look at it differently. This is a new opportunity. I definitely have things I still need to work on, like recovering my muscle from not being it from from having post-exertional malaise for so long. I also did a James and I got up at 5 a.m. for a year and did do you remember P90X?

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Oh, yeah. I I my husband was big into that for a while. I did it a few times. It wasn't like I think it was at the time where I was like, ah, I don't know if this is quite the the rhythm for my body, but I remember it was like pretty kick-ass. That's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_03 28:41

I did it, but I was exhausted. I was also gaining like a pound a day for no reason, not changing anything. I wasn't gaining muscle. It was like toxic fat. It was felt like a pillow with wrapped around my body. So at this stage, it is not it's not about my weight anymore, it's about how strong I am, my energy, how I feel, that I still have excitement for life and engaging with uh women and helping them lights me up.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

And I don't want to give that up because I'm in my 60s.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

No, and I think that's a thing. Like, what are you supposed to do at a certain age is all you know irrelevant based on because what is it? It's like some standard set by who cares. Like, you know, if you have the the energy and if you have the desire and if you're creating something, that's the thing. Like there's so many examples you you know, you're gonna look, you're gonna find whatever you're looking for. So if you're looking for examples of incredible men and women who, especially let's talk about women, because that's a whole different, it's like a different, it's a different architecture in the mind. Like women, what we're supposed to be in our you know, 40s, 50s, or 60s or 70s. And there's so many amazing examples of women who start things, restart things, redefine things, like like bust all the myths of what we're supposed to be at a certain age and just go for it, which is what we're here for, right? Like there is no rocking chair, there is no porch, there was no iced tea. Like, what even is that? You know, that some movie or some book told us we're supposed to be look looking like by that age.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

So or or the other the other part for me is um, and this is not this is not a judgment, it's just not for me. Like moving into an over 55 community where people don't work and they get together for wine o'clock every day and just kind of uh I don't know, it just doesn't appeal to me. I want to get land, I want chickens, I want to grow my own food, and so I think I can still do it, even though I'm in my 60s.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

I love so I was gonna ask you like, what is your vision? What's your sort of next new trajectory like that you want to move into? Is that it? Is like is the land piece?

SPEAKER_03 31:07

That's the the that is a piece we are looking like 15 miles out of town. A lot of the homes are on an acre or two. I don't want a big farm, but I want a little one. I'd love to have a donkey. Oh, they're so cute, and they protect chickens. Um, yeah, I just like to live a little more outside of the city. Have a well, be a little more self-sufficient.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Yeah, I love that. I think that's a big movement these days. I love it. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

So I wanted to do it for years. I wanted to move away from Washington for years, and it was a big scary thing to do. And I'm so glad I did. And you did it. I did.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

So now you're on to the next adventure pretty soon, hopefully.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

Well, I can't wait for 10 years to do it.

SPEAKER_02 31:58

No, I mean, you know, it's gonna happen when it's gonna happen, but yeah, I think you're you're on the way, you've got the vision.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

The vision is different at this age, it's not quite so far out, which is uh odd. Yeah. I mean, it's like one day I woke up and I was in my 60s. And when did that happen? And so there it feels uh more like there's a finite amount of time than it did when I was younger.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Yeah, I think age is such a tricky thing and time. And you know, I always talk about because you know, I just sort of rolled into the the 50s, and I I remember when when I turned 50 last year, I was like, I heard this um this, I was on a reel, some French guy was like, Oh, how so called the language, so language. So in our vernacular, we say, I am whatever age. So you like that's your identity, that's who you become in the French language, and I think probably in Italian too, and maybe like Spanish, but the way you say it is yo tango, I have 50 years. I have 50 years, and I just like when I heard that, I got chills. I'm like, that is so much better. Like, I have 50 years of friendships, I have 50 years of experiences, wisdom, failures, everything in between. Like the I have this beautiful well of now 51 years of content and like relevant experiences to identities and evolutions and things I can pull from. And and how wise is that? Like, and the more you go, the more you gain, like the more you get. That is such a different mentality to me than now I'm 51, and now I'm 52, and now I'm 50, and now I'm 61. Like, it's like it's such a I think it's such an expansive, because it first has to sh has to shift in your own perception, right? Everything. Like it just has to shift in your own perception. And then you can like unplug yourself from whatever you think 50 was supposed to mean when you were 20 and 30 and 40. And like you're like, and now I'm this. Like, what does that mean? I'm still the same person. Like, I still like my if I like close my eyes and think about how old I feel. I'm like now it's like around 30, 34. Like, that's sort of my energetic place before it was like 27. It sort of moves up a little bit, a little bit of like my energetic sort of you know, stamp. So I think 63 is you have 63, you know.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

I have more peace than I've ever had, and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

But isn't that such an a much better way of like just perceiving it in your own cellular? I mean, I I really think about that because someone's like, How old are you? And I'm like, Well, and I actually so in that in I actually did that, and you know, I say, you know, I say it, like you know I say it. I say the thing that is not the thing, like because when someone's like, How old are you? I'm like, Well, I heard this way of saying how you know your age in this way. And I say it, I I really appreciate it because it feels like I have 50 years of wisdom and experiences and beautiful things and friendships and all that, versus I am, and and I I said I said it like all last year I was saying it, and no one's asked me recently, but I will still continue to say that because I I want to be someone who plants that seed in someone in other women to be like, oh, oh, it I and I of course, yes. And like I want to keep spreading that because that's literally the reaction, like, oh, huh. Like you can just like your paradigm shifts in a second because, like, wait a minute, I am not this identity. I choose my identity, but what do I have? I have this, and then who cares what anyone else thinks? Like, I know what I have, and I know what I what I'm have access to, and I can pull from this beautiful well of wisdom. And it guess what? The older I or the more I grow, the more I get to fill the well. And I'm how exciting is that? But yes, there is a point where you're like, Well, I could see the runway, and I know technically the runway is a little shorter, you know. So, like yeah, it is. So, what do I do with it? What do I do with it, right?

SPEAKER_03 36:08

So you're not gonna let it do I uh really not gonna let it stop me.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Awesome, I love it.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

And when if any uh sometimes I look in the mirror and I see my mom, and it's still shocking, and it's you know, I love my mom, and it's fine, it's not like I degrade myself or anything from it, it's just a little a little jolt, but it is a privilege to age that not everybody gets, right? And I don't want to waste it.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

I love that, and I love older people, so here's the other thing yeah, you're not there yet. I love older people, I always have and the wisdom that they have, and I just I adore them. And pretty soon that's gonna be me.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Yeah, but you have a choice. Like I I I totally do too. Like I love joyful, self-expressed, unique older women. I there's these beautiful accounts that I follow on on Instagram, and I can't remember the, I can't remember the name right now. If I remember it, I'll put it in the notes. But like they're actually one of them was created by this guy who, as a, as an honor to his grandmother, I think it's like ladies of Madison Avenue or something like that. And how these he basically highlights these women who have this really exceptional, like unique style, and they're like in their 80s and 90s.

SPEAKER_03 37:29

Oh, I've seen yes, I've seen that.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Now there's a couple of accounts like that where they're like so colorful and so beautiful and so elegant and so like just them. And they're interviewed and they're like, they're just like sharing their and and to you know, and I love a self-expressed person. I feel like that's one of my personal missions because I per personally for me to be fully self-expressed is like my my sort of north star as a person, right? Because to me, someone who's fully self-expressed can be honest and clear and and own all of it and all own the mess and the beauty and all of it. And so that's sort of like what I strive for when I can remember to like take off more and more of those layers of of the things that we've been, you know, have been put on for us. Um, so yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_03 38:15

I think that is one of the beauties of aging.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Yeah, it could be. I've seen it not happen to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 38:25

And I've seen it get more constricted and more resigned and more, oh well, and more this is it, and more I'm old, and more like I've seen that personally in my life, and it's a very it makes me very, very sad. You can't, you really can't change someone's inner sort of makeup, but it's a I believe it's a combination of you know, trauma that has gone unhealed and a life that has gone unreflected to a certain point, and not always because of a choice, sometimes it just is. Like I've learned to I've learned to accept that, like it just is, like it just is just is.

SPEAKER_03 39:01

I know, and I I'm forever grateful for whatever it is in me that didn't accept that.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:14

And yeah, it's it's makes me sad. It does me too.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

But it's almost like a daily, daily reacceptance of like, and now I get this choice, and now I get this choice, and now I have this choice to choose gratitude, and I have a choice to reach out, and I have a choice to connect, and I have a choice to like be in my body and do something nourishing for it, which is sounds like what you're what you're doing every day now.

SPEAKER_03 39:39

I definitely, and especially with exercise, because I was in a habit of of not. And so that has been a big a big deal for me to embrace and commit to. What are you doing these days that feels good? Um, I love to stand on my head.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Oh okay. I did not expect that answer.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

Uh we have it downstairs and we've turned it into like our saunas down there. It's like a workout health room. Uh I use the vibration plate. I use weights. I have this thing called the answer. What is that? It's a it's a little, well, there's workouts that you can do on it. It's a little like seat like this, but then there's place for you to put your feet in, and there's just different, you know, one of the things about getting older that for for people is they have a hard time if they don't take care of the body, they have a hard time getting out of a chair.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 40:44

So I do the the sit-down and stand up a lot, but there's a lot of exercises you can do it. I have a little Pilates chair. I do I have a rebounder.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

I don't like to get bored. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Yeah, I think variety keeps it keeps it fresh. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 40:59

I have a fitness app.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

Um whatever I can. I love it. I love that. That's such a and you you know, you don't have to make it super constrained and do the same thing all the time. So the variety probably is great for for a lot of people. I love that. I do use the vibration plate every day. Okay. I've I've just seen one recently and it looks really cool. I've never tried one, but it looks really cool.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

I like oh, and I go to dance class once a week. Yes, okay. I do get out of the house. Yes, yes, yes. Okay, what kind of dance are we doing? Uh, it's 80s music, it's routines to 80s music.

SPEAKER_03 41:35

Love it. Like jazz or size. Kind of. It's not full jazzer size movements, it's some different movements. I used to do it.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

Jazzer size is still alive, like it's the whole thing, and they're they teach it here in Bellingham. There's a place now on stage. I used to go there. Oh, isn't that awesome? Like, I had no idea it was still alive, but yeah, they're still doing it. They're still doing it. So, and that's fun.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

And I get to be with other women, which is huge. So I wish I could do it more, but it's when I go one once a week. I've gone for a year now. Amazing. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 42:07

You know, I support that big time. Dancing with other women in a room is like it's it's every I just danced this morning. I danced, I'm a dance tomorrow. Night, dance many more. Like I do, I dance all the time.

SPEAKER_03 42:17

So and you used to dance before you went on uh on our calls.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

I always dance before calls before podcasts. I didn't dance right now because I literally just came from dance class to this this interview. So I'm like, I just danced a bunch. So, but yeah, I think that's such a energy shifting, presencing, voiceful thing to do. So I'm gonna be promoting dance.

SPEAKER_03 42:41

My barometer for how I'm doing up here used to be if I was on my way to work and I had road rage.

SPEAKER_02 42:47

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:48

I would I would get to work, and before I saw my first client, I would put on some music and dance and switch up my energy. And it it's so helpful.

SPEAKER_02 42:57

So good. It's one of the fastest things you can do is just put on not just the music itself, but also um, you know, and I think there's a lot, a lot to be said for processing your emotion. And why am I angry and whatever was I feeling? But you know what? At some point, like just put on some freaking music and dance, like get over it. Like, let's just move on. Not uh because I'm a reflective person, but sometimes to my own detriment, to my own like annoyance. I'm like, all right, I'm done thinking about myself for today, like enough. Um, but you just dance and then you come out happier person anyway. So you're just gonna come out.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

It changes your energy, it really does. There's shaking medicine. Have you heard of that? Oh, yes, oh yes, and dancing is kind of the same thing. Absolutely. So you might as well have more fun with it. Shake it off. Shake it off. Yeah, oh yes, I love it. I love to do that. I love to change, uh, change my state.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

Yeah, I love it because that's energy is really everything, right? What was your your new YouTube channel? It is the energy in everything, energy in everything. Amazing. I can't wait to check it out and put it in the show notes. Um one final question I ask every guest is what does it mean to you to live an intuitive life?

SPEAKER_03 44:12

It means well, you know, it changed over 2020. It means not giving my authority to a bunch of experts or or other people. I can listen, but I can also sit with it and see how it feels to me and see if I get my intuitive hit on it. Sometimes I do, but more than often now I don't. And the more we practice that, the more we trust it. So I guess becoming our own authority. Yes, I love it. I love that. Perfect. So I love what you teach. Thank you. Because it's I think it's foundational to be able to trust ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

Trust our body, trust the signals. So yeah, I love what you do.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am so happy we got to reconnect. It's been several years, and I'm just excited to be reconnected on the gram, where I can see what you're up to, and vice versa. So thank you, Shannon, so much for sharing your, you know, your story. I know it wasn't always easy, but I think it's important for other people to hear that healing is possible and not sometimes the traditional ways. And I'm really curious about the glyphosate supplement connection. Again, we're not doctors, we're not telling you to do or not do anything, but and I think it's important to not just do something because everyone else is doing it or because it's the expected thing, or because someone, like an expert, told you. Um, but yeah, I I think that's it's I learned I learned that today. I did not think about that, but it's it feels so obvious once you said it. So I'm definitely gonna take a look. I don't take many supplements. I sort of got off of that train a while ago. Personally, for me, I take a few, some oils and some magnesium for my muscles, things like that. But yeah, I I don't, I just don't intuitively, it was just I stepped back from it. But this is fascinating to hear that you did too for a different reason.

SPEAKER_03 46:23

And you know, with a chat, it's really easy to go in and put your product in there and say, is this third party tested? And then it will give you all the details if it's transparent or not. And so it's uh it the finding out can be quick.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

Awesome. Yeah, and then you can find out some good choices too. Yes. Awesome. All right, well, I will be on that. Shannon, thank you so much. I will make sure to share your Instagram and your new YouTube channel and um anything else we mentioned. My little note taker will catch it and put it in the show notes too. Okay. Thank you so much. If you have any questions for Shannon or any notes on any of the modalities she mentioned, please feel free to comment on the podcast. I will share, like I said, your Instagram account too. You can message her there or message me. I can pass it on either way. But thank you so much for listening. I hope you took something away. We'd love to hear from you. You can press the little blue heart in the show notes and just text me directly. It's not a bot, it's me. So just tell me what ask any questions. And um, yeah, we'll see you on the next episode of An Intuitive Life. Have an amazing day.