Ep 9. Potentiate Your Power with Helen Wilkes (and join us in Ibiza this summer!)

In this episode of Meat & Monogamy, Liv is joined by one of her oldest and most beloved friends, Helen Wilkes, founder of The Collab in Sydney, yoga teacher, retreat leader and women’s power coach.

This is a conversation about women who were never built for small lives.

Liv and Helen speak about friendship, sisterhood, power, initiation, business, motherhood, and what it means to become a woman who can actually hold the life she has chosen. They share the origin story of a friendship forged in girlhood, rebellion, protection and being the ones who never quite fit the mould, and trace how that same thread has shaped the women they are now.

Helen shares the deeper roots of her work with power, from witnessing her mother’s journey, to moving across the world with no safety net, to opening her yoga studio, to supporting her partner through a life-altering illness and discovering a level of inner resource she could no longer deny.

And then, the invitation.

This summer, Liv will be joining Helen in Ibiza for Potentiate Your Power, Helen’s flagship retreat, running from 30th June to 6th July.

This is not a holiday with a bit of yoga.

This is a deeply held, high-touch retreat for powerful women who are already living big lives and are ready to be supported, expanded, nourished and met in the next layer of their becoming.

There will be yoga, embodiment, ancient energetics, deep facilitation, sisterhood, gorgeous food, spacious days, Ibiza magic, and one hell of a closing dance floor.

If you have been craving an in-person experience where you do not have to hold everything, perform, explain yourself, or do your growth alone, this episode is your invitation.

Two rooms remain.

Find Helen on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/thehelenwilkes/ 
Potentiate your Power in Ibiza retreat here: Details here

*Please note prices on the retreat page are in Australia Dollars*

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Okay, hello everyone. Welcome back to the Meet and Monogamy podcast. It's your girl live. And I am back. I have been away for a little unplanned hiatus, but I am back. And we have such a special episode today because I have my dear, dear, dear, lifelong bestie on the pod. Welcome to the Helen Wilkes. She's in the room, baby. And if you don't know her, you're gonna get to know her. If you are a new listener, I just want to give you a lay of the land. This podcast is all about serving women's power, building nourishing lives. How do we actually build lives that sustain and hold who we really are, the fullness of who we are, us in our fully beautiful, expressed powerhouses as women. And so this episode today is kind of the first of its kind because I'm gonna be interviewing Helen. And I'm really excited about that because I've I've known I've known you for such a long time, and you are, you know, really such a special woman. And at the same time of interviewing Helen, I'm also gonna be, we're also gonna be inviting you to something very, very special. So if you are tuning in, we recommend you listen the whole way through because there is a very special invitation to something happening in Europe this summer, and it involves me and Helen. And so just dropping a little bit of a seed that, you know, for those of you that are hungry for a little IRL, in-person magic, we are gonna be talking about something very special today that we're gonna be doing together and that you are very much invited to. Okay, so I'll say that's all I'm gonna say for now. So, first of all, let me just introduce Helen because you know this is special for me because we've been really, really dear friends, sisters for about 25 years, I think coming up for about 25 years in, maybe longer than that. We grew up together and we will share a little bit about our origin story in this episode because I think it will be really nice for those of you that that know me, don't know Helen, or maybe you you know Helen, you're getting to know me. Like I think that, you know, I think origin stories of of beautiful friendships are so special to listen to. So we have a good one. So we'll be sharing that. But Helen is really, you know, a very impressive woman. And I just want to say I have such respect for your work. So for those of you that don't know Helen, she is based in Sydney, Australia. She left rural UK where we grew up and has built a beautiful life over there with her partner and son. And Helen runs a really incredible in-person yoga studio and community, and also has a global yoga business. So Helen needs retreats, and I call Helen the Queen of Retreats because I don't think I know anyone that's led as many retreats as Helen. You are truly the girl. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, Helen's work is really rooted in the work of power, women's power, and particularly serving women's power through ancient energetics. And so we're gonna be hearing more about that today. You know, you'll you'll probably, if you know my work, you'll kind of be like, oh, this sounds kind of similar, and like we have this beautiful overlap. But Helen also has this, you know, this beautiful devotion to yoga and has very much devoted her life to that. So, you know, decade of running her yoga studio, and which I've had the pleasure of going to many times. And so if you are Sydney based, get your ass down to the collab in the room brush. But yes, welcome Helen. Thank you so much for coming on. How does it feel to be here?

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Oh my god, it feels so fun. It's so exciting. I'm like, what are we gonna talk about? Where are we gonna go? I think we're about to go around the whole wide world. Yeah, and exactly as you say, if you are really familiar with Liv's work, you're going to see so much overlap in the work that I do, and probably here around why I got into this work because I feel like you were a really difficult part of that. So it'll be super cool for some of those stories to come through.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Yes, love that. I just want to do a slight mic check because I think your sound might be coming through your white mic. Oh no. Just check it because it's a little muffled. How's it now?

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Same, same. What about now?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Testing, testing.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Testing, testing?

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Uh yeah, that's better.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Okay, great. Sorry, I'll turn the nozzle.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Thank you, Bron. We don't do edits on this podcast, so you're gonna get the real the real deal. You're gonna get the real deal.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Unfiltered, untamed, and rogue.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yes, there we go. Okay, great. So yeah, you're happy to be here. We don't know where we're gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Fucking happy to be here. We don't know where we're gonna go. And that's just gonna make it an exciting adventure.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Yes, wonderful. Well, let's start with the origin story. How did we meet?

SPEAKER_02 5:20

I was just feeling like we should say Liv and I have not pre-talked about this whole podcast episode, which means it's gonna be so fun. Because I feel like if there are if there is one person in my life who I've truly seen every every every kind of life experience you could have that's massive, I feel like Liv and I have definitely had together. So Liv and I grew up in the same place in Buckinghamshire, and you were a friend of my cousin's. And I remember the first time I met you, we were going to Pizza Express, and you had a Jay Norman set on, and I thought that is a nice outfit, and you wore a hat and you had a blue hat on with a blue halter neck and a blue ra-ra skirt, and I was like, girl. And actually, if if I zoom out for a moment, I feel like one of the things that really drew me to you, and we were we were only like oh my god, maybe I was like 13, 12, or something like that. You would have been obviously younger than that. Yeah, I'm a couple of years younger. Yeah, a couple of years older than you. When I really think about the first, I mean I'm imagining it was a year, who knows how long it actually was. I remember feeling actually quite connected to you because you also had lots of people around us that weren't very fond of you, that were a bit judgmental over you. Yeah, and you were still so like loud and proud. I just remember being like, who is this girl? Like, I love this girl. Uh no one likes these people don't like me either. They're actually a bit mean to me as well. And yet this girl is just like thriving. This is incredible. Who is this woman? I just feel like I was so um, I don't know, there was something in that kind of being a bit of the black sheep that really, really made me feel connected to you. And I would never have known that at the time. I would never have been able to obviously verbalize that at the time. But now I look back and I'm like, wow, like you and I so have a bit of that black sheep story inside of us where you know we've always wanted to live quite different, interesting lives. Gone and done a lot of exploration, some of it a bit fucking wild and so interesting when I look at where we've both ended up in in such a different place, but also such similar paths, even though we've been around the world 1800 times to get to where we are. So I feel like that's where our story started. We formed a really strong connection in that way, and then we were obsessed with each other, we saw each other every single day. We went everywhere together, we spoke on the phone for 700 hours every day. We used to go to the gym together, we did like a boot camp together, and then eventually we went traveling together, and that was such the kickoff of a we'd obviously been friends for a very long time. Up to that point, you'd gone to Haiti, I'd done my charity work in Bulgaria, like I did that charity piece. You really inspired me with your work in Haiti. So I feel like that's kind of where our journey began.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah, I love sharing that. Yeah, that's so interesting because it is true, and that is especially true from a young age, that yeah, we kind of didn't give a shit, you know, and like people really have a problem with that. Yes, and yeah, and I think that is so interesting to name because it's not something I would have thought of, but I do remember when I think back to that time, I think back to a time of in myself, it's like deep soul searching of like, yes, I feel very unaccepted, and I feel very judged, and I feel very different to all of these people, and I'm expected to be this way, but I just don't fit the mold. And and and I and I think that I think that you are always have always been someone that has is, you know, walking permission. I also think you're very protective and you've kind of got this like you've always had this like fierce kind of mama energy and like big sister protect me at all costs. And so, you know, you're always a couple of years older, so I feel like you were like, you know, walking just slightly ahead in life because of your age. And it's really actually nice to revisit that because it's so interesting that like that is still true now, you know. Like now people are a little bit judgmental and a little bit like you know, a little bit kind of like, well, you can't really live your life like that, and you shouldn't have really made that decision. And yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

So well, it's so funny you say that because even though I'm saying, Oh, you were so loud and proud, I mean, that's how I felt at the time. Now I look back and I'm like, oh my god, these two fucking young girls who just were being judged, people who really should have known better, who were not being very nice, you know, adults and all these different circles that were around us in the in the kind of environments that we were in. And I feel like what we formed then, which has informed really, if I think about it now, everything since then was that true sense of sisterhood. Yeah, like I've got your back and you've got my back. And I also remember, like, we just found it so funny at times. I remember in the places where I would feel so lonely, and so like these fucking people don't get me. And I'm a child, and there's nothing I can do about it. And you know, I've just got to exist in this life for a while until I'm old enough to get the fuck out of it. We just used to make it so fun. We just would have a laugh about it, and we'd be silly about it, and I almost like there was something about it's so funny, you said that protector role. I can think of so many times I would hear people not be very nice about you. And I love that I like had a role, you know, like don't say that about her, actually. You know, I was like, you can't do that. There was something in that that that felt, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know what the words are like purposeful, or it just made the whole thing like it really formed that that bond of sisterhood. Now you just don't ever fucking let your people ever get spoken down to when you're in the room, and sometimes that's really uncomfortable, and people will gang up on you, but you don't ever flinch in what you believe in and what you know to be true. And exactly as you say, you look at the lives and the paths that we've both walked, and oh my god, has that served since then? You know, finding that when you really are at a young age in quite a powerless position because you're a kid and like you know, you don't have mummy or cars or like choice. So yeah, it's so interesting to look at that, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Do you think you knew then what you would build? Like, did you always know you'd build what you've built when you were you know when we were at that age going through that?

SPEAKER_02 12:16

I always knew that I would live a really interesting life, and I always knew that I wouldn't do what anyone else did. I feel like I've known that from such a young age. And it's interesting because of all the years that I travelled and all the weird things that I did and places that I went to, I remember saying to myself, like, I want to go and experience as many different realities as I can in different countries and different, you know, I I didn't have never one permanent job in my whole life, but I've worked like 50 fucking different jobs. I would never be in one role for longer than like a month. I would clean toilets, I would go and work in like these big account management roles, I would work in the fucking weirdest places, as we both know. But I remember thinking I'm just sampling realities, I'm just sampling realities to see what I like, and then I can form my own reality because reality isn't real, reality is just wherever you are, and I remember just it sounds so profound, but it wasn't, you know, I didn't think about that at the time. I just remember thinking this is such a cool way to be when you're young. And then when you get to that point where you feel like you've got enough ingredients to know what you really like, and I think it was such a rebellion, too, like you say, growing up where we grew up, you know, it's a wonderful place, but I think as a kid, it's very much like this is just what you do and this is where you live, and then you go and get meet someone and you get married, and then you you know you work down the local town, and I just remember thinking, nah, like there's just so many ways to live. I don't want to choose something because I think I have to. Yeah, I want to choose something because I made the choice to be here. Yes. Um, so yeah, I feel like I did know that from a very young age.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. I that makes so much sense. Like, I I think I know that about you from knowing back then, yeah, yeah. And I think this leads nicely into like I I'd love you to share more about you know your journey of becoming. So, you know, a lot of the work that Helen does now is is you know, you serve a lot of women, you serve a lot of power in those women, you support women building their businesses, you support women to, you know, change vocation, become yoga teachers. Like you are serving women at a very high level, and you have been doing that for quite some time. And I know that so much of your teaching and so much of your skill and so much of your passion like comes from your own journey, like comes from what you've walked, comes from the the woman you've become on the way. I've obviously been front row seat to this beautiful becoming. And you know, if anyone knows Helen on socials, like you're so good at telling your story, you're so good at like inviting people in, you know, intimately. Like, this is who I was, and like this is, you know, I'm uh unapologetically gonna own my story. I'm gonna own my journey. I'm gonna own what I've walked through because it has been earned, like I have earned where I am today. So I want us to touch on like kind of some of those pivotal moments, you know, of you know, some moments for you that were like super influential and and life-changing to get you to where you are now.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

Yeah, it's funny you say that because I feel like it's only just dawned on me, even though it's just so obvious to someone maybe like you, who obviously knows you know my whole family and my life way before it was what it is right now. But my mum just obviously has been here for nine weeks and she left this morning. Um I had this realization probably when I had Freddie, my little boy, that all of my work around power stems from her. And I'm like, No, that might well, of course it does. You know, my mum very briefly came from a very traumatic background, lots of abuse, and yeah, lots of abuse that was never really addressed, never supported, and is a very brilliant, wise, and intelligent woman who without wishing to uh like reduce her in any way, because she lives a wonderful life now, she really has been a woman who who hasn't ever felt like she had any power. And and really at every turn, people really abused their power over her. And every opportunity when she's wanted to kind of re-grasp that power or reclaim it, lots of, you know, the medical system, different structures have really taken that away from her without going into it too deeply. And I watched that my whole life. She went in and out of mental institutions, she was on medication for she's still on medication just to literally function. She yeah, she's been on a big, big journey. And in so many ways, you know, whilst her journey has been with her mental health and has been with her past, it also actually has been a huge relationship with her power. And even having her here for nine weeks, you know, we always laugh when she comes to stay with me. Because, like, my mum is one of the most capable people you've ever met. But she often presents herself as someone who doesn't have any capability. Oh, I can't open this door, like I'm too weak, I'm I can't do that, like I'm on medication, I can't sleep. And it's like that's a kind of how she's learned to survive, and she wouldn't mind me sharing this, you know. I've okay that she's happy for me to share parts of her journey in the way that I see it. And then I get here and I'm like, you're fine, open the fucking door. Like, no, no, I'm not opening the door for you every time you get up. And not because I'm being mean, and people often do this with me. They're like, You're so mean to your mum. You should help her more. And I'm like, no, my mum is incredibly capable and being very kind to my mum. She knows how to open the door, she knows how to do these certain things. And the thing is, is that the reason that she doesn't think that she can do them is because she spent her whole life with people telling her she can't do anything because she once had this thing happen to her, or she presents like this, and I'm like, no, I see a deeply wise and capable woman, and I refuse to participate in whatever we're doing around not helping her see and believe in that. So I feel like that was a really big start to my journey with power before I ever had language or words for any of it. And you know, when I moved to Australia, really the reason I feel like now, if I really, really think about why I moved to Australia, you know, so much of that was kind of stepping away. I'm the fourth child, and I've definitely felt very much like everyone was projecting how I should live my life. And we've been through quite a traumatic divorce and upbringing, with me being the youngest, and everyone had lots of very strong opinions, strong opinions I should do and how it should work and what I should be doing. And I just remember thinking, like, I feel so powerless here, I feel really sucpated, and I feel like I just want to go and figure out who I am and what I'm doing. And I had a lot of debt, I um had a lot of fear, I know fucking money, and I just remember thinking, fuck this, like I'm just gonna go and fucking figure this out. I'm just gonna go to Australia. You and I have been here before, I loved being here. You know, there was great like economic opportunity here at the same time. So I knew that you know, worst case scenario, just come and have a great time, make some money, and then go back home again. Um, and really coming here and not having any resources, as in like financial resources or even resources of people that I knew and know anyone here where I was in Australia, which is quite a rarity. Like, usually, you know, you go places and everyone knows someone. I felt like that having to find and make a way, and I really resonate. I always see these memes on social media of like, oh my god, if you've moved to another country and like built a life for yourself, like, oh my god, the level of resource and power that you have to find within yourself when all of your safety nets are gone, is so ginormous. And I think I really realize and actually remember, I significantly remember this, and I remember it every time I say the word resourced, I remember you wrote me a letter once when I lived in Perth, and you wrote down Helen Wilkes is, Helen Wilkes is, Helen Wilkes is, and it was like all of the things that you saw in me. And I'll never forget you saying in this letter, Helen Wilkes is the most resourced woman I know. She always finds a way. And I remember exactly where I was when I read it. It was like this moment of like feeling really seen, like, oh my god, I yeah, I fucking am resource, aren't I? Because everyone else is fucking telling me that I don't know what I'm doing. I'm a bumbling idiot with credit card days just YOLOing around Australia. And also, like, oh yeah, I am that. Oh yeah, I actually do know what I'm doing, and I actually can fucking trust myself. So, you know, I kind of really learn a lot about myself during that journey, and I, you know, I cleared my debt and you know, fast forward along the path when I became a yoga teacher, something that I'd wanted to do for such a long time, and I had real no kind of idea of what I was gonna do with it. I just know I was so cool to this practice. I'd practiced for a while and knew how it made me feel. And our mutual friend Rachel, like I've been to a couple of her classes, and I thought, oh my god, I just want to make people feel how she made me feel in that class. I don't know what she did, I don't know what happened, but like I just want to be able Do that for other people. And so when I became a yoga teacher and I set up my business here in Australia, I started teaching in like small local halls and in fucking event fundraisers and gardens and beaches. Like I literally taught everywhere and anywhere until the path that eventually led me toward opening a studio. Which all of these things I'm glossing over, they're funny stories in and of themselves. But I feel like a couple of two kind of pivotal moments for me is right after I opened my studio. My partner who I'd been with for two, three years, got something called Gilliam Baret syndrome, which, very long story short, is he within 36 hours, he was a you know very healthy, kind of 33-year-old triathlon runner, and he became fully paralyzed and blind and he nearly died. And um, thankfully, he didn't die, and he's made a full recovery now. But I just opened this studio, and we know we were relying on his income, and now he didn't have an income because he was a contractor and he, you know, didn't get any sick pay, and now I had to teach all of these classes and I had to earn all of the money, and I had the story. I was always the one that had no money, that couldn't be trusted with money, and it's like so funny how these things happen. Because whilst there was so much like was awful around that time, and it was very difficult. We had to learn how to walk again, to talk again, literally to see again. It was just for me personally, and I always felt a lot of shame actually saying this out loud because obviously it was a really difficult time for Neil, but for my own personal evolution, it was like all of the places I'd been told my whole life I had no power. I was literally had designed this circumstance, I had no other fucking choice but to rewrite the story to be like, okay, well, now you have this business and you have to take care of your partner. So that's a nice story. Get the fuck on with it. You know, like I just put myself in this spot where I had to go and make the money, I had to go and teach the classes. And I remember equally feeling as guilty at the time where I thought I felt the most powerful I'd ever felt. Like I felt so purposeful. I felt like I was really taking care of like Neil, which was, you know, like a huge undertaking. He was incredibly unwell, but I loved, you know, taking care of him and being able to like really he was told he would never see again, he was never walk again, he'd be like, you know, a vegetable for the rest of his life. And we almost found this like massive turn on in being like, really? A bit like you and I did when we were little. Oh, really? Like, oh, that's cute. You think that we don't like there was that real, like kind of like a rebellion, but not angry, more of like really finding that power spot where you're like, oh, well, you think I can't, oh everyone, I bet everyone thinks I'm gonna close his yoga studio. Like, oh no, girl, I'm not, you know, like, and I think it was like the first time where I was really aware that I was connected to a power. And you know, I I'd been teaching for a while then, I've been practicing for a long time. So I really understood that we have a life force inside of us, you know. In yoga, we call that like a prana, a higher power that comes through us. But I feel like that was my real. Whilst I'm in it, I am aware that I am connected to something that is higher than me and bigger than me. Because there is no way that tiny little of me could ever be doing all of this without being literally fueled by something bigger than I was. And I felt so sustained by it. And I worked like a fucking dog for that year and a half. I did privates at 4:30 a.m. in the morning. I taught 20 classes a week. I did a lot of the admin, I did a lot of the back end, I did the social media. Neil could never be left by himself. I had to like wash him and help him walk and then cook for him and like all of these things, pay the rent, like pay teachers, find teachers. There was, and I've never done any of this before. I was like the bumbling idiot who had all this debt and you know couldn't be trusted. And it was like suddenly I just was literally overnight living a different reality, and it just showed me that when you are connected to a power inside of you, like wow, what can happen? Like, and that was a real initiation for me, and inside of that, you know, just before I had been like a year, and then you came to visit in Australia. And I remember we Liv had come over to visit me, and um, it was amazing. And we were at the traffic lights outside McDonald's, and Liv really casually, while she was looking the other way out of the window, said to me, I think I said to you, like, Oh, I'm gonna get some like business coaching or something. And you were like, Have you ever thought about getting any like support with like desire? I remember thinking, what the fuck is this bitch talking about? Desire. I was like, Hey, what are you talking about? You were like, you know, like maybe it's time to just invest in what you want. And I mean, I'm massively paraphrasing right now. Like, you know, like, you know, go and go and do some coaching for you and what you want to do and where you want to go, and you know, like moving what you were distilling to me, I can't remember the words you use, were like, how about we don't do things by necessity? And we come out of this, you know, you've been a year now in a lot of fucking graft and holding a lot going on. I wonder if you did some coaching that wasn't dry business coaching, but someone that was really looking at the sustenance of where you're doing this from. That's what you were really saying. And I just remember looking out the other window of the car thinking, if anyone else said this to me, I could be like, get the fuck out of this car.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Like, bitch hasn't slept for a year and her partner's paralyzed. And you're like, I think you can go and do some coji for some sustenance. I'm like, you can say this to me, and me be like, sorry, only you can say this to me.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

Sorry, the baby's asleep, and I'm being too loud, right? Only you could say this to me and me go, she'll move a point. And you obviously set me up on a call with one of your mentors at the time, I think, as well. Sorry, I'm just checking if the baby is awake. Rachel. And sorry, there's like 10 babies in my apartment, and I never know which one's my baby.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

I think that's funny. Okay, yeah, don't worry.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Okay. Well, everyone, I will just I will just jump in here. So we make space for you know, mothering. Mothering is so central to the kind of business we do. So Helen can take her time with little Freddie if he's needing his mommy. And Freddie's here. Freddie's joining us. So I just had such a good time now, I can't. Yeah, we've got Freddie on the boob here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Yeah. It's okay, sweetie. Yeah.

unknown 30:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

You directed me toward Rachel and I started working quite formally with desire and with you know, your turn on. And really, in yoga terms, with my life, with that energy, just through a very different lens than yoga often speaks to it. Yoga can be the tradition can be translated in quite a masculine way, and now I really understand that the reason I was so drawn to it is because really what we were talking about was exactly what I teach. It was just coming from a very different lens of how to really work with that life force. And I mentor with Rach for years and years and years on and off. But through that exploration and through so much self-study, I really understood, yeah, how to work with this power. And I think I'd had such a huge initiation where I rewrote so many stories almost overnight. I was like, what the fuck? Like, we actually have something inside of us that if we can understand how that energy is moving through us and how to work with it. So much of this talk therapy and re you know, like identity shifting and really mind working, great, has its place, but there's something way more powerful that can override and change that overnight. So they were there were a couple of, I mean, I could go on, but they were a couple of really massively powerful initiations into energy work where I couldn't not see it anymore. And I remember almost going back to teach after those times, and just it's like if I taught before and was a local guitar artist, I went back like fucking Beyoncé. I was that bitch. I just was like, oh my god, it's like I've realized who the fuck I am.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

Oh my god. It's like I felt 10 inches taller inside of myself through an experience that by all means, like everyone on the outside looking in was like, Oh, this poor girl, poor partner, poor everything wanted to take the power away. And so much turn on there for both of us.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

It's so it's so good, these examples because they're all so different. You know, you've got like the kind of historical context of mom and like the family of origin, and you know, that like abuse and suffering, and then you know, I mean, your mom is just one of the most amazing women I've ever met. I love her so much. And seeing her journey has just been such a profound privilege. Like, she's just incredible what she's survived and now thriving, you know. It's just like she's been there for nine weeks. Like, we just love, we love her, and you know, it you know, that mother-daughter relationship of you really being like, No, my mom is a powerful woman, and I'm gonna continually mirror that back to her, you know, and then going into what happened with Neil, and you know, the kind of ground beneath you, like leaving overnight, and you being asked to respond to this like extremely uncertain, devastatingly hard situation, and you really rising to that and being like, I'm gonna figure this out. Uh, it's gonna be me. I'm gonna want to teach all the classes, I'm gonna do the admin, I'm gonna pay the rent, like, I'm gonna find the teachers. Like, you know, you had just started. I mean, probably by God's design, you've just started this studio right before this happens, and you are thrust into this, you know, 100% degree of like responsibility. And then here we are a year later, and us having that conversation, I don't specifically remember that conversation. So interesting. It's so visceral.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

I literally remember what your hand was in the car. I just remember being like oh oh shit, okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

We've just lost Helen, she'll be back. But yes, I don't actually remember that conversation. And I remember like the but I remember that trip, and I remember the I remember that, you know, my friend who I loved so dearly was like had been through the ringer, you know, they had been through the ringer, like Neil had been through the ringer. I was just sharing, you know, like from my perspective, coming, I think I came for six weeks, you know, at that time I was really on my journey. I was like flying back and forth to New York. I was doing my coaching training, like one of my coaching trainings. This was like, I don't know, what night, eight, nine years ago. I was at like the very beginning of my business. Wow. Yeah. And I just remember, you know, like you were really in this like incredible output, you know, just doing all of this stuff and managing it all so beautifully. But there was something that I was continually hearing where the focus was still external. And you were like in this like high functioning, like highly conscious, overfunctioning place. And you know, as a woman, when you hear that and you know that there's actually something else available, there's a moment to suggest that. And you don't want to suggest it any moment sooner than maybe that person is ready to hear it, because there are times where you do actually need to be in the stretch and the struggle and the striving of the time and you're adapting, right? But there is a moment to say, Hey, have you considered that there's something else available for you here? Like, have you considered that perhaps maybe some support? Perhaps, you know, someone to hold you as you hold all of this. And I think it leads really beautifully into us talking about what we're gonna do together this summer because this is really so central, this being held peace, right? So drum roll, shall we tell them?

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Yes, live is coming. So I am leading a retreat in Ibn 30th of June at le name potentiate your power. And I have led this retreat multiple times, but this is it's it's firstly it's my last retreat for the next three years. I'm taking a break, but I'm taking this retreat in Ibiza before I get to Olivia after you know my relationship with power, as we've just discussed, and there's so many other things that I could share, which you know I do on retreat. But having just led a pregnancy outside of the medical system, having birthed my baby at home and being initiated into motherhood, which oh my god, if you want to talk about power, and systems that like to control women with power, pregnancy, birth, and motherhood is maybe the pinnacle of it. And so I'm walking into this kind of like retreat, even though I've led it so many times with such a different, you know, deeper level of embodiment around the transmission of this work. And Ibiza is a country that I have wanted to lead a retreat in for so long, which we'll go into why in a moment. But I can't think of anyone that would be so a just fucking phenomenal on a personal level to lead a retreat and have you there, like what the hell with my baby? Are you kidding me? But more so for everyone who's going to come on this retreat, and we have a couple of rooms left to be supported by your knowledge, and exactly as you say, you really are that person who has such an incredible attunement to when people need to hear certain things and when it's not the right time, and that's not something you can learn, and to have someone on retreat to support women in such an attuned way, and I say attuned so deliberately, people can know all of the things and all of the stuff, but attunement is even different to presence, to be present and attuned in a support role for people on a retreat to receive you. I'm like, wow, and then add the third layer of people being able to experience our level of relationship and sisterhood. I think that there's something so deeply healing and expansive to even be in proximity to relationship like that, which women really are hungry for. So that's a really long way of saying Liv is coming to Ibiza and is coming to support this retreat, a week-long, bougie, expansive experience. And there's really no one better to be there at this retreat than you. Oh my god, how do you feel about it?

SPEAKER_00 39:35

I'm just getting so excited for hearing so excited about it. Yeah, I'm I'm kind of, you know, I love what you were saying about, you know, what are women really hungry for? And, you know, for me in my work, you know, I'm I'm at this stage in my business where I'm rebuilding my business and I'm not doing in-person events really at the moment. Like, and it's probably not something I'm gonna do for quite some time. And so when Helen was bringing this, you know, I've seen you, I've seen you leave this retreat time and time again. I've always been, you know, super drawn. And then when I knew you were bringing it to Europe, um yeah, first time. So that's also really interesting. Like it's coming to Europe for the first time, you know, usually do it in Bali or Oz. I was like kept having this thing of like, I think I'm supposed to be there, I think I'm supposed to support, I'm supposed to, you know, be in this together. And and then you had the same thought literally on the same day, and we just had this conversation a few months ago, being like, Yeah, I think that this is what's supposed to happen. So we are just really excited. And I think, you know, like what you I love what you just said about, you know, like you're in your role of leading, right? This is your your magic, this is your creation, this is your baby, this is the thing that you've done again and again with women. Like, you know, the in-depth of this retreat, and then I'm coming and I'm bringing this different flavor, this support role, and you know, it adds this whole other dimension of holding, it adds this whole other dimension of holding, both from us individually, but also us together in our relationship. Like, people are really gonna get to feel our third in person. I know it's so good. So I'm I'm so excited, and I'm so excited for the women that are gonna come. And a question I think would be great for people to like for us to explore actually is like what happens for these women on these retreats? What does this women go through?

SPEAKER_02 41:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So potential power is I always say it's not a holiday with a couple of yoga classes, and that's no shades of holidays with a couple of yoga classes. There's lovely retreats like that. This is a journey, you know, from the moment you get there as a participant, every single moment has been deliberately considered. And what that doesn't mean is you're in a gazillion sessions and your time is micromanaged because now you're on this like weird training thing that's called a retreat. No, it's like I have thought about your experience on this retreat and what women need to feel nourished on every single level in every single moment, especially in the moments where it looks like, oh, this is just spontaneous. Like, it's definitely not. I've thought about it, you know. I'm like, oh okay, how are we gonna create an experience? And I guess like this is before I go into kind of more of the structural pieces, there are so many retreats that the one area of women. So you go on these yoga retreats and it's all about philosophy. You go on these meditation retreats and you sit in silence, you go on these like holiday retreats and it's all about yellowing. Whereas this retreat really is, and I imagine every single woman listening to this podcast will relate to this. I am a deep philosophical thinker who wants to like be a better person and rewrite my limiting beliefs and really study the nature of the truth and be with other women deep, beautiful ways. And I just want to lay by the pool and talk about fucking shit and go and dance and be silly and have fun and just hang out with the girls and be a fucking vibrator, you know. Like I want to be fed in those ways, I want to move my body every day, I want to connect to my breath. I also just want to have a fucking good time and feel strong in my body. And I wanted to create a retreat where every single level of our amazing multidimensional beings can be served. Um this retreat is really that. I teach you a framework around power, which really is just to say that I let you know how power works in your body from an ancient energetic sense. I've studied. Ancient energetics for over a decade. This isn't you learning, like, hey, learn my methodology. It's me telling you how your energy works inside of your body. And exactly as you said at the beginning of the podcast, so many women, I imagine, who are listening to this are probably really well versed in making really great power moves in their lives. Like they know how to, you know, go and do the fucking thing and make the big, bad, bold move. But often we don't know how to hold that without becoming high-functioning, you know, kind of like a-type, stressed out, masculine, or without crumbling. And so this retreat really teaches you how power works in your body and how to stay connected to your power in all of the different phases in your life. And so the sessions that we do in the afternoon are like just being able to sit there and just chew on like these ancient philosophical insights that just are like, oh my fucking God, that is me. Oh my god, I do do that. Oh my god, I never realized that pattern. Oh my God, that's how I, you know, expand in that area. We really go deep into how power works. And each day we explore a different phase of power, and we do that again through the kind of philosophy, but also we go through embodiment practices. How can you support yourself? You go through a guided class every single morning. We have evening sessions of breath work, of mantra, of meditation, of yoga nidra. So it's a really wonderful blend of deepening your own personal spiritual practice, of being guided just through gorgeous somatic practices, and then also just so much free time to just hang about and sleep or read or talk to people or do whatever you fucking want. I always say I don't need anyone to be anything for me on a retreat. I don't need you to be social. I don't need you to be be whatever you fucking want to be. You want to go and spend most of the day wherever you fucking want, not talking to anyone, you go, girl. Like, love that for you. So there's a there's a real beautiful blend of there being sessions to be expanded by and to drop deep into your body. And then there's just a lot of free time to be in this incredible villa with incredible food. We're in Ibiza. And if anyone knows anything about me, I close every single retreat with a retreat rap party where I hire an incredible DJ and we really send the retreat off with a fucking insane dance party. But of course, because we're in Ibiza, I'm taking everyone out to a fucking remarkable club where we can just YOLO our tits off in the middle of Ibiza, and like there's no every single woman listening to this knows there's no greater feeling than when you have arrived somewhere and you don't know women, and then now you know them, and you get to like have that peak experience where you're just all on the dance floor, feeling so connected, feeling so like together, where you're just like all locking eyes and singing, your arms are going up in the air, and you're like it's like a real peak of being in your power, of being in connection. So that's what the retreat is as an overview, and having someone like Liv I was saying to her when I was telling her about my vision for her role, like it's so different to go on a retreat is one thing, to be held deeply on a retreat is another thing, and I keep my retreats small and intimate because I want them to be bespoke and tailored. I want women to really learn something about themselves and walk away with something, whilst also just having an unforgettable time and to have someone like you there to be attuned to the group and just support people if they need it. You know, you don't realize how much you need to feel until you go away and you're taken care of, or how much you need to be seen or celebrated. And as I said to you, it's not like you're going on a retreat where you know literally walking around counseling everyone by the side beds. I mean, maybe I can if you want, maybe. But like just having someone there, like again, that real back to the village sisterhood where people are just around to be with you in whatever capacity you want to be with. Um my god, so far is just wow.

SPEAKER_00 48:45

Just the um, like this is so wonderful for me because I have I have held retreats and been in the other role and been the one holding the whole thing. And so, you know, for those of you that know me, I've done hundreds of events of all different shapes and sizes, and and it's really, really, really something that I adore to do. And it's not something that I want to do other than in this role right now. Like, I want to be in the supportive role, it's perfect for where I'm at. Yeah, and and I I want to be supporting this beautiful vision of something that already exists. I want to be holding these women and you know, pouring my love onto you, onto the retreat, onto these women. Like, that's exactly what I want to do. So it's like such a gorgeous, like beautiful, sort of divinely designed opportunity for for I think everyone involved. And I think that because it is Europe-based, and you know, a lot of my ladies, a lot of you listening, you are Europe based or you're US based. There's there's a couple of spots left, you know. There they're, I think you said this is there one or two rooms left. Yeah. So there's two rooms left. Yeah, yeah, there's a little bit of availability, and and this is happening 30th and 15th. July 6th. So it's like that first week of July. So there is still a little bit of time for you to make your plans. And I just was like, I just have a feeling that some of you listening to this, that this is gonna be right up your alley, that you want to come and see me in person, you want to come and meet Helen, you want to come to Ibitha, you want this like beautiful embodiment retreat where it's serving women's power, but we're also doing yoga and we're in this gorgeous place and it's very paladin designed, and it's gonna be super relaxing. But I'm sure, like, you know, my ladies love to do the work. So there's there's there's that opportunity for a gorgeous holiday, but you're also gonna have the opportunity for that internal interior exploration that I know so many of you love. Um, so I was like, we got to get on the pod and talk about this.

SPEAKER_02 50:53

We've got to let you know this is happening. This is happening. Yeah, there's two things I'd love to just add on to what you're saying, which firstly, you don't need any experience in yoga. People always go, oh my god, I really want to come, but I can't do X, Y, Z. It doesn't matter. The great thing about being with the teacher who's been teaching for a decade is I can I am facilitated enough to know how to hold a room full of any level and layer, and it really is not about the fucking postures. Like, yes, there is an hour of movement in the the beginning of the day, but it's such a minuscule part of the experience, and you'll be so held and so supported regardless of your experience with the practice. And secondly, like when I think about being a woman coming on this retreat and having yours like being held by you and me, like wow, what a featherbed! What a featherbed of like such deep love and also just like expansion and also such incredible experience, you know, like everything I've said so far has been, you know, personal. But the beautiful thing about you that I love and admire about you, that I also love and admire about myself is that we have done so much work and have so much experience in facilitation. It's not just, you know, having women and hoping that everyone has a lovely time. It's like deep facilitation is an art and a craft. And when you have two women that just fucking love life, love each other, and love women who also have incredible facilitation skills, like, oh my god, the depth that you will just be. Oh my god, just the depth of your experience if you come on this as a student is going to be like nothing you have ever, ever experienced before. So if you feel the call to be there, I would really, really trust it. It's very unlikely we will be back doing anything like this. I mean, at least for three years. And I'd be through such a special island to be on, as you and I both know. So if you need to reach out to me for any reason, you can on Instagram. I'm sure Liv will Shemmy and obviously go and reach out to Liv. But yeah, I just if you feel something inside of you, then I just want to give you like the vocal permission to follow it.

SPEAKER_00 53:20

Yeah. Oh, such a gorgeous invitation. Yes. Thank you for seeing me. Yeah. No, this has been just such a wonderful conversation and long overdue. We will in the show notes of this episode, and this will be sent out in a multitude of places. This is going to be on Substack, on YouTube, on Spotify, on Apple. I'll send it out my emails. Helen will send it out her emails. Like, we'll click this, put it on IG. Like, there's this episode is going to be here, there, and everywhere. So we make sure that it gets into the right hands and ears and souls and mouths. And it will have all of the details of how to get in touch with me or Helen if you're interested and you want to have a conversation, you want more details. We'll also put the retreat website link in the show notes that gives you all the information. You can see the villa, you can see the rooms, you can see the pricing, and you can see kind of just you know all of the things, logistical things that you might be excited about. And yeah, you know, trust it. Trust that, you know, summer 2026, you and Ibitha, like if you feel like you're supposed to be there, we we we just can't wait to speak to you. Helen, thank you. Just such a pleasure, and thank you also, Freddie. Little cameo from our little club here. Bless him. Yeah, thank you. I love you so much, and um I'm just so grateful to be on this journey with you. And I'm so happy that my people, you know, my regular listeners here are getting their first, maybe their first experience of you. So that's super exciting. And for those of you who are coming, we will see you in Ibiza. See you in Ibiza, baby.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

Yes, okay, everyone. Thank you. Bye.