See'rs, Be-ers, Knowers and Doers
See'rs, Be-ers, Knowers and Doers
How Intuition can Bring Joy, Strength and Healing into Our Lives
I spoke with Sarah Lord, PhD on March 21, 2019. There was definitely a winter theme as she shared about one of her new business Maritime Detours which is an outdoor adventure tour company. She loves to build community and connection between people and nature while building skills. Sarah’s other business is called Speak UP with Sarah Lord which is about grief recovery and tools for supporting people with anxiety. She has built side businesses that bring her joy. Sarah also share candidly about coming out of a very unhealthy relationship and how intuition supported her in that journey.
Heather “I find for myself too I often say words that I need to hear. Or it will sink when they are out loud. It’s almost like now that I have said it It’s real.
Sarah - Exactly It is more of an acknowledgement and acceptance because not only is it out there out loud for not only myself to hear but for the world actually”
Heather “I know some physical symptoms can actually be the body remembering stuff and there are so many interesting tools out there now.
Sarah - I guess the way I think about is it is almost like a plantar wart. There is a like a seed that is deep within and it needs to get out because that seed plants lies in your body of danger that is not in fact there but your body perceives it as if there was a lion and you do need to run and your body goes through the same fight or flight response”
Sarah “It’s just like an idea. I don’t know where it comes from but it’s inspiring and exciting and it ignites something inside of me so far I have never been led astray following it. I just go where it takes me and then I think the important thing is too to surround yourself with positive encouraging people who help you go for it because there is a lot of people who will say well that sounds silly that could.”
For more information on what Sarah is doing with her two businesses
Maritime Detours- Hiking and Snowshoeing Tours https://www.facebook.com/MaritimeDetours/
Speak Up with Sarah Lord https://www.facebook.com/speakupwithsarahlord/
Maritime Detours (MD) also offers 'trail programs'- Learn to Hike, Snowshoe, Nordic Walking and we have groups for Women and Girls to introduce them to outdoor adventure- Women of the Wilderness and Little Women of the Wilderness.
TRE Trauma Releasing Exercises for releasing stress https://traumaprevention.com/
Crazy Love TED Talk Lesley Morgan Steiner https://www.ted.com/talks/leslie_morgan_steiner_why_domestic_violence_victims_don_t_leave
Sarah's Bio
My Mission is to connect people to resources to help them live their best life. Sarah loves to learn and loves to teach. She host workshops related to Health & Wellness. She is a Health coach who is a patient advocate, resource person, public speaker, community builder & promoter. She loves to help people live active, healthy lives and leads people by example.
Sarah's favourite book is the
Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
https://amzn.to/2lMoIZx
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
Welcome to See'rs, Be-ers, Knowers, and Doers, a podcast about intuition. Do you know what that is? Intuition to me is that inner sense for knowing that something is true and yet I have no proof, but there's so many definitions and there's so many ways it can come and I'm looking to bring together and share with you some amazing guests. Who have some amazing life stories and also some insights into how intuition can come in. I'm looking to gather those c rows in the trees. I hope you're one of them. I hope that this podcast inspires you to be more connected to your intuition and I hope that by doing that we make the world a better place. Thanks for coming on this journey with me. My guest today is a connector, a world traveler, an activator. S he's somebody who is a lifelong learner. She's also somebody you want in your corner if you're needing to be motivated to do something that's out of your comfort zone. My guest today is Sarah. Lord,
Sarah:thank you so much Sarah for coming to our podcast. Thanks for having me. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Okay. How far back do you want me to go? So whenever you feel like sharing. I keep reinventing myself every 10 years it seems like, but I guess I'll tell you what I've been up to lately. Sure. I worked full time at Jean Coutu pharmacy. Um, since January I started two new businesses cause I figured why start one when you can start two. And so one of them is Speak Up with Sarah Lord and it's all related to my journey, dealing with anxiety and different challenges in my own life. And then the other one is Maritime Detours Tours. It's an adventure tourism company. Very cool. Yeah. I think I've sent some people your wait for maritime detours or I'm trying anyways. Thank you. So the maritime detours, it's actually outdoor activities like snowshoeing and both. What else does it well, I'm insured to lead tourists in the maritimes to take people. I'm Nordic walking, snowshoeing and hiking. So really what I specialize in in senior population, people with limited mobility, maybe someone who's brand new at an activity, they've never tried it before. So because science like taking people on trips like the Midland ice caves and is the one that I've done recently is, um, I do workshops on like learn to Snowshoe, learn to hike. What could be commitment level for somebody? Well, something that I'm working at doing is creating community around these activities. So usually we meet, um, on six consecutive evenings and to learn the activity. And then after that the group is for you to continue, uh, and organize on their own and meet and continue on with the activity they've been introduced to.
Heather:Oh cool. Yeah. And that's part of the reason why I've referred people to use, cause there's a lot of lonely people in the community unfortunately. And so they are, they've stopped doing their gym activity and they need to connect with another community and they don't know where that community is and they're active people. So I'm like, Okay Sarah, Lord, please contact her. Cause there's some neat, um, ways that I find, I think this maritime detours is filling a niche that that isn't out there. I mean I love the idea that it's all outside because people have lost that connection with being outside. It's the loss of connection with the outdoors and each other. And so it's a way of like disconnecting I guess from social media if you will. And that just finding connection in outdoors with other people who also want to go.
Sarah:I always talk about it. I say it's like I like to go outside and play with my friends after work. So just like you did when you were a kid, you get to enjoy those activities again, the same kind of joyful enthusiasm. You had when you were a child. And that I see as another huge need. I'm actually doing a seminar on the inner child tonight. So the timing of your comments perfect. Because it is a void that people don't even know that they have as adults. And so to make a snow angel or go out and hug a tree or just be running through the woods on their snow shoes and you're giving them permission. Absolutely. Like we had a girl in our last tour from Mexico who had never seen snow and her big bucket list item was to jump in the snow, make a snowy angel. And so I got to do that with her. And it's like, I just can't even describe the feeling that you get from just sharing in those activities and being a kid and just playing. Yeah. Fun it is huge. And I think people need permission to do it or else they feel foolish. Exactly. It's like, no, the whole point is to be foolish again because life is too serious, sometimes or too busy, I'm sure. And forget to have fun. We don't even know how to have fun anymore. It's like we need a a program to show us. Well, I'd love Your Business Plan. Yeah. That's my business plan. That's it. Have Fun. Yeah. So far so good. Yeah. That's great. So you've had good turnouts with your events. And I have, I've had three sold out events so far and um, I'm just going slowly and building capacity gradually because I don't want to get too overwhelmed myself. Um, but the first event was the conclusion of our learn to snowshoe six week series with Mike's bike shop. So we took those folks. And then another one was a private group of women who get together. They're retired but every month they try new fun activity. Oh cool. And the last group was just a group of people who didn't know each other, who came together for the tour. Midland ice caves. So we had people from Halifax, from Fredericton, from Moncton, from Mexico. Like I said, wow. All over. Um, just coming back again. The gums. Yeah. So it was like a, a friend group for the day. And then the fun thing that comes out of it is afterwards we like to break bread together and have a meal and then chat about what else could we do that's fun and exciting in the outdoors. So. Okay, cool. So, Speak Up, I think is an awesome name for what you're doing. Tell me more about Speak Up. Well, I was speak up, I guess it's a grief recovery journey, but it's also, um, understanding and learning more about anxiety and, um, I've been diagnosed with anxiety. I probably had it my whole life, not knowing what it was, but I remember being in, uh, junior high school as a kid and throwing up on that first day of school and just how nervous I felt and anxious and, um, there were no words or labels for things like that back then. And I remember other kids at school just kind of laughing and making fun of me and even in university kind of going off and Kinda crying privately because, you know, I would get easily overwhelmed by things. And, um, so I think where I'm at now in my adult life, having been diagnosed by my doctor, he recognized what it was and I'm having medications. And now being in counseling too, as my therapist says, unraveled the onion and trying to understand, you know, where does this come from? Cause I, I did have a traumatic childhood and it's not, somethings were so oddly acknowledged. Yeah. And then my family, cause I think again, it was normal for us so we didn't identify it as anything unusual. And we even have a term for it in our family, which is probably not a good term, but we call it Clark crazies in the sense that, you know, our family's known for having these classic issues and meltdowns and instead of looking at it and what it is, you know, you know, it's more dismissive than it is acknowledging of like the real, OK. Like I, I live with anxiety and this is a trigger. And you know, humor is one way to deal with it. But for me the whole Speak up is, as I speak out about it, it helps me process and helps me kind of figure out what it is and how to deal with, I got on it. I find for myself too, I often say words I need to hear or it will sink when they're all out loud. Right. It's almost like, okay, now that I've said it, it's real. Exactly yeah, it's more of an knowledgement and acceptance because it's out there, out loud for not only myself to hear but now world. Yeah. And at the same time I think sometimes we don't even remember things or body remembers it. Yes. And I know some physical symptoms can be actually the body remembering stuff. And there's so many interesting tools out there now I know one of the people I come across, they deal with something called trauma releasing exercises.
Heather:Interesting. And it is about how we store trauma in our, psoas muscles. And we do that when we fetal position. Okay. So naturally when trauma happens, we fetal position and the physics of it all, if you want to call it that, if that trauma gets stored, every other animal on the planet shakes under trauma. Okay. Bird gets away from the cat and they like fluff their feathers and shake it off. And yeah, and we humans seem to be above that and we remain calm. We remain stoic through the trauma unless it's extreme. And then the shaking will happen or shock will happen and the shaking will happen. But it's a series of exercises that fatigues muscles that if you allow, cause you're just going to stay in the present. Just your body's trembling, right? You're not going into the trauma, you're not speaking about any of this stuff. So yeah, irony of it is just allowing your body to release it. Okay. And when you shake for the 15 minutes, you might laugh, you might cry, you might. But that facilitator would keep you in the present moment and then, and then sometimes those physical triggers aren't there anymore because the body's actually had the release. Okay. I guess the way I think about it is almost like a, a planters wart. There's like a seed that's deep within and it needs to get out because you know that seed plants lies in your body danger. That is not in fact there. But your body perceives it as if there was a lion and you do need to run when there is no lion, but your body feels that it goes through the same fight or flight response. And often times how I feel when I'm having an anxiety attack is that I just want to disappear completely.
Sarah:Like I don't want to exist. Wow. And a not like that I want to die but I just don't want to be in the moment. No. Right. It's scary and it's um, your whole body tenses right up and sometimes it's hard to breathe and your stomach and head and everything like physically goes are. Yeah, it does. Yeah. So anything that can help a person dig that out and get rid of it I think is worth trying. Yeah. Well and different things resonate with different people. Yeah. It's just such a neat tool cause sometimes counseling is fabulous but sometimes you wonder, am I retriggering when I go through this? Yeah. Again, so there's a, there's a balance. I think all of it is beneficial but people again, yes. To listen to their instincts, to know what resonates with them and what they should be doing. I think I've definitely experienced that in counseling in that, you know, it can sometimes get worse before it could get better because you are diggng up certain things that are varied within and for a reason it's protecting you. So yeah, my experience with counseling is that sometimes it can be challenging and taxing. But yeah, I'm open to trying anything that could help. Like lately we had a workshop with the Yoga teacher last night and I could not believe how many tools are available to access your body's own intuition about what's going on. Um, and it's all through the breath and, uh, through grounding things that you've taught me. And then also like through belly breathing, three-part breath meditation, and then you just start asking questions and the answers are all there and they're all within or without, but outside in the universe. And it's just a matter of kind of knowing what's the question. And then usually the answer is surprisingly very accessible. Yes. You just don't realize it's been at the tip of your tongue the whole time. Well, and that's kind of leading into where I want to go.
Heather:So, so how does your intuition come? Is it the fun? Is your intuition all about the fun? Or like what does it look like? Well, I think oftentimes what happens with me is I'll get an inspiration from somewhere and an idea will pop in my head and then I'll get excited about it. And from there it's my heart that leads me because, you know, I'd even said to Jean, who's my mentor and Yoga teacher, I'm so in love with what I'm doing. I can't describe it in any other way. It's just such a profound feeling of love and happiness. Like I've talked into my reason for being almost. Yeah. And that is that excitement I get from introducing people to my love of the outdoors and adventure. So yeah, I guess that's where it all comes from for me and, and the excitement of having that idea pop, feeling the energy from it and making it reality then not see automate and like wow, manifest in a dream that I had made.
Sarah:It made it real. Yeah, absolutely. Because people don't necessarily, they think, oh, I'm not intuitive because I don't see things or I'm not intuitive cause I don't hear voices. They have this perception of what that intuition is and, and is possibly as simple as that pop it is. It's just like a, an idea. I don't know where it comes from, but it's inspiring and exciting and it ignites something inside me. And in so far I've never been led astray following it. And I just go where it takes me. And, and then I think the important thing too is surround yourself with positive, encouraging people who help you go for it. Because there's a lot of people who will say, well that sounds silly, that could, you could get hurt. There might be sharks in the water if you're going to go learn how to surf. But if you just kind of tune that out and focus on that spark and surround yourself with positive and encouraging people, you're just going to keep moving forward. And, and it, it doesn't feel like work. It's not work. It's pure joy. Absolutely. And you don't have to know the outcome. You just have to do the next thing. Exactly. Yeah. Less pressure. Yeah. I don't plan too far ahead. Like some people ask me, Oh, you know, write this grant, or what are you doing next year? Or whatever. No, like my plan is just one month out of time, one day at a time. And if I'm feeling good today and there's friends who want to have an adventure, then I just go and having adventures. So, and I'm lucky I can do that. That's fabulous. So has there been a time that you'd feel comfortable sharing where, where you had an instinct not to do something and you did anyway at, well, um, I know that, you know, you know my story that I was in an abusive relationship after my marriage broke down and, um, my mom passed away and I guess I was at a really vulnerable time in my life. I went online dating. I met someone who was into playing outside like I was, but it very quickly became controlling and the red flags were there to not keep going. But I, I still moved forward. I kind of like just, uh, pushed it aside or gave the person the benefit of the doubt maybe one too many times. I think a big part of it for me to why I stayed in it, because you always feel like you have to justify why that happened, how, you know you could do that. But I think the big part of it is I was really afraid to be alone and having, you know, lost my mom and my marriage and huge loss. Yeah. So just, you know, I think in retrospect, if I had just processed the loses and spent some time feeling comfortable in my new environment and being alone and knowing what I wanted, I maybe maybe of would have not fallen as easily prey to that situation. But it's just one of those things that, you know, it happens and came out the other side. I survived. Yeah. He came out the other side. Absolutely. Now we're your instincts part of the coming out the other side because, because Zac controlling environment is very difficult to leave from any number of reasons. Right? So did your intuition kick in at some point? And, and did that help keep you safe through that process? I think part of it is, I think that you had identified in me in meeting with you at different times, but not really feeling like I deserve better. Um, I would've been screaming from the roof tops. Yeah. I know. And I mean I think at a, anyone, um, you saw me even not knowing me and supporting me when a lot of people hadn't been and yeah, I appreciate you for that. Oh really appreciate that. Um, but the way I sort of think about it is a, um, say you encounter a bear in the wild. Usually people say don't hunt cause they're gonna chase you. So my intuition was telling me I need to back away from this individual and slowly so they don't kind of know what's happening and they're not triggering to chase after me. Um, cause I've been chased after before and you know, you know, almost ended in, you know, termination of my life. Yeah. You know, being pursued on the highway speed and trying to be run off the road. So I think at that point you do have to just, like I said, bear the wild, step away slowly and then one day it's just gone and you just don't answer the messages anymore. Right. And with support you start taking the next step forward to the other side, which is just recovering.
Heather:Yeah, for sure. Cause there's a lot that goes with that. There's, there's recovering yourself, there's recovering your safety net or covering your emotional, the words that happened in your head. There's, there's lots of different scenarios with that. And so you're strong, strong, strong, strong, strong lady. The people you're going to help just because you, you've been there, your empathy for the situation because I watched one thing years ago called crazy love and I shared that with you a little bit about how everybody feels like they're going to be judged. And the most frequent thing stated is like, why didn't you just leave? All that crazy love thing was like, no, you don't. You don't just leave. Like yeah, it's one of the scariest places to be is knowing you should leave and, and leaving. Right? So it's a testament to your instincts. Yeah. That showed you how to get out of there and get to where you are now.
Sarah:Cause now the sky is the limit. Part of what helped me move forward at that time too is simultaneously with the ending of that relationship, I was invited by the arthritis society to do a charity challenge track too much. You teach you on why? Without too much thought. I said yes. So immediately I have a plan for stepping forward in fundraising and the preparation for that trip physically, mentally, financially. And so it was a welcome distraction and something to look forward to that just brought me out of that situation and forward in a way that was fantastic on a healing journey. Just that trek would have been yes. experience of a lifetime. Yeah. I can't remember. Okay. I'm not been, but it's just the beautiful, how beautiful the people are and the aboriginal are the native people and their connection. Very deep rooted connection to mothers and the respect for that and that they showed us. And uh, it is a very spiritual place. It was a lot of good energy, which you feel it's more palpable there than it is here cause we're in like this urban jungle and you know, or we're less connected to earth but there it is all about the earth so it's cool to be able to receive that and perfect timing, divine timing off. Yeah. It was like that boost in energy that I needed for an empty tank. Sure. Yeah. What was the time periods of training that you've had and fund or anything before we went to Machu Pichu the relationship ended in the fall and I said yes in March and then I, and I was going to let you teach you that next fall I think it was. Yeah, so goosebump less than a year. You never know what's going to happen when you, something pops and you just say, let's go, let's do this.
Heather:Yeah, it feels good. Say Yes. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Well thank you so much for your candor and your honesty and sharing what you have shared with us today. I think it is going to resonate with many, many people, probably people we wish it didn't resonate with, but it's a very important stories of thank you so much for that. Thank you for what you're doing too and sharing the story and Oh, it's all the wonderful tools that you have in your toolkit to help people. I just try to do what's next and this podcast thing was what's next and, and it's fun.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for giving us your time today. We truly appreciate our guests for sharing their stories and insights about how intuition has impacted their lives and I'm so grateful for Peter Trainer for his time and giving me this original music. It's now your turn. It's your turn to listen and act on your own intuition and help make the world a better place. Until next time, keep seeing being, knowing and doing. If you like this podcast, please share it. If you want to find others like it, go to www.healingvitality.ca or wherever you would find your podcasts. We would love to have you join us on this journey. Come be a crow sitting in the tree, be part of our community