Unlocking the Power of Healing Responses in Parenting: A Path to Stronger Connections - Anna Howes

:: 00:00

Hello and welcome to this episode of the The Mindful Coach Association podcast. I'm your host, Brettt Hill, founder of The The Mindful Coach Association Association, and one of our amazing members is the incredible Anna Howes. Let me introduce you to her. She is a parent, educator, family coach and an energy healer. She believes the best way to achieve a better world is through raising a generation of children who are stewards of the earth and compassionate contributing members to our communities. She does that by providing family education and coaching, offering educator resources, and by working with people individually in energy healing sessions. She loves making connections with others who are passionate, motivated and inspired to be part of creating a more peaceful, just, sustainable and healthy world. Often that work looks like engaging in deep healing and personal transformation work. Welcome to the show, Anna.

:: 01:00

Thank you so much, Brett.

:: 01:02

I really appreciate conversation we had. I just enjoyed such a nice, fun report. I just had a good time talking to you. You're so much fun and I can't wait to share the journey of what you've been through and how was it you got here? So let's just start way back. Like, what was it that made you realize there's more going on here than meets the eye? Often people have some kind of story that goes, wait, what? And I'd really interested, is there something like that you would care to share?

:: 01:34

Oh, there definitely is. And I'm getting those like, full body tingle goosebumps just thinking about it and having the opportunity, abbreviated version of that story with all of you today. And the really exciting thing is that I have a big anniversary of sorts coming up tomorrow, which I believe is the day that this podcast will air.

:: 02:03

You're listening to this August the 30th. So she's talking about August 31. So whenever you're listening to this, that's the point in time when this is going to happen. 2023.

:: 02:15

Yes. And exactly 24 years ago on August 31, 1999, my august 31, 1999, my son was born. And that was probably the most transformational experience of my entire life. I was young, my extended family were nervous and scared for me to step on into a journey as a parent at such a young age. But my commitment and dedication to this amazing wild spirit that was coming through me really sustained my strength and my courage to really hold space for his journey. And it was a moment when I decided that against all odds, I would listen to my truth, listen to that quiet inner voice and follow it and continue to follow it. And I made a commitment to be a different kind of parent than I had ever witnessed in the world. I wanted to be different than my parents. I wanted to have a close relationship with this child. I wanted to build a life for us where we could feel like we were yeah, at the time it felt like it was us against the world.

:: 03:59

24 years really turn inward and somehow you found some kind of a North Star, like, this is what's true, and I'm going to do it, even if there are no models out there for me.

:: 04:12

Exactly. And looking back, it no longer feels like a battlefield that I had to kind of conquer, but realizing that it was a journey and it was an inner journey and it was a commitment to discovery, to discovering new ways of being present, new ways of being in cooperative and co creative relationship with both my child, my partner, the universe, Mother Earth. Right? Like everything.

:: 04:53

Well, let's keep it small.

:: 04:59

It was like slow decisions along that journey where I committed to a holistic health care and a holistic approach to caring for my child, including the types of food that I served in my family meals, and the kinds of health care we sought out, but also researching all kinds of different alternative parenting styles. I was embarking simultaneously on my own journey as an educator, teaching preschool, infants and toddlers for almost two decades and supporting other families and parents with discovering their own unique journey towards aligning with their values and finding solutions that worked for them and their child, despite the messages that they were hearing from experts, pediatricians, family members. I mean, even strangers feel like they can give advice to parents all the time, right?

:: 06:01

Famously. Right? You really should try this. Do you have any kid? No, but I think this.

:: 06:09

Yeah. And so that journey kind of culminated then with an experience where my own mother was diagnosed with cancer, and I left the classroom to support her for two years in doing direct care for my mother until she passed away. And it was during that time that I really felt this calling towards something bigger. Like, I knew I was impacting the lives of the children in my classroom. And I had already embarked on trying to be out there, advocating on a larger level for systems changes and marching in protests and all kinds of things like trying to make the world a better place. But it felt like I was stuck, and I was like, there's something bigger out there for me. There's something deeper for me to explore. And that's when I found the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. And shortly after my mother passed away, I enrolled in the four year program to become a Brennan Healing practitioner and spent four years studying energy healing science.

:: 07:22

Wow, that's that's a lot of years to study a healing science. It's like MD level study in a way, right?

:: 07:31

Yeah. They offer a bachelor's degree in Healing Science as well as continuing education. It's an incredible program. Some people call it the rocket ship for personal transformation because I was not only learning how to support others, but I was taking that deep dive into myself. And it was at some point in the middle of those years, I believe it was the second year of school where we began to take our exploration out into our relationships. And I had this AHA, where I thought, here I am out there shouting in the streets, trying to create world peace, when I can't even create peace in the four walls of my own home. I'm coming home. Every day there's screaming, there's frustration, there's crying, there's butting heads and conflict. And when I literally quit cold turkey, like, all these things I was out there doing, doing, right, all this doing, and I was like, done. And I had to sit and be in that pause and in that moment, many moments, years even, of stillness, to find my way towards inner peace. Really taking that deep dive inside myself, starting to unpack some of the energetic patterns that were leaving me in these habitual spaces of conflict. To be able to slowly untangle that in myself, begin to create an atmosphere in my home where my children, my partner and I could start to live that dream that I was talking about that started 24 years ago when I was like, oh, it's going to be this cooperative, co, creative, beautiful, peaceful, loving, joyful, family, unicorns and rainbows, right? And I hadn't even seen all the stresses in life sneaking up on me until it felt almost too late. Right?

:: 09:39

But the only problem with the vision is that I'm in it and I haven't done that work. Right.

:: 09:47

And I was exhausted and depleted. I was having physical ailments associated with that. And as I began to untangle all of that and create that peace in my home, that vision has now slowly over the last now seven or eight years since graduating from the school, I've been able to feel how that is picking up momentum and the ripple effects of the work, the inner work that I've done that the work that I've done in my family has begun to impact the work that I'm doing in my communities and the work that I'm now doing as part of Anna Howess whole family healing and personal transformation so that I can build that kind of support for others.

:: 10:34

Wow, okay. So if I just kind of hang out with that, I get really interested in that segment where you took it to your own you took it internally, like disconnected from all the doing and you went and said, I've got to set my own house in order. And what was that transformation like for you?

:: 11:02

Well, it was gradual and it's interesting because this kind of transformation isn't like you wake up one day and you're like, it's all transformed, right. Or you say like, okay, I'm going to change this, and the next minute it's like, changed. Right?

:: 11:21

Right. It's like the tide coming in. It's a process. Right?

:: 11:27

And so it was really a culmination of being able to bring in all that I learned, as an early educator, everything I understand about early childhood development, the way that I believe I consider myself a baby whisperer and a toddler translator.

:: 11:46

That's interesting.

:: 11:47

And I brought that work to myself, to my inner infant, my inner toddler, my inner child. And I will say, I do also consider myself now like a teen. I don't know what a good word for it is, but teenagers are right now are my teenagers and young adults. I just love hanging out with them. They're so fun, they're so creative, they're so passionate. Right. And there was a lot of wounding for me at that age, too. A lot of us experience a lot of hardship through middle school, high school, and transition to college in the real world. Right.

:: 12:28

So it was really about a little somatic memory there.

:: 12:36

So it was about bringing that in for myself. And as I grew more patience for those little parts of me that get triggered, that feel scared, that feel defensive, it's really about slowing down. And I love that you and I took a moment before we started this interview. Right. Even just a moment to slow down, to take those breaths, resource ourselves.

:: 13:13

Exactly.

:: 13:14

Yeah. And then it was like yeah, it was these little moments where all of a sudden I realized, like, oh, that thing. I was longing for that part where I can talk to my child and move at their pace and create spaces where they feel accepted and loved and therefore respond back to me with respect and love. Oh, that's happening. Wait a second. I don't even remember the last time I lost my cool. And yet my youngest kid still loves to tell the story of when I threw a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the wall. Right. So these things still happen.

:: 13:56

It does happen. It's in the folklore. That's really funny. So that's quite a journey. I'm wondering now, are you back teaching now?

:: 14:10

That's a great question. So I don't work directly in the classroom. What I'm teaching now is I am teaching an online course for parents called Roots to Grow Wings to Fly again, hoping for this ripple effect, for this work to ripple out into the world. I want this to be available to as many adults as possible. So my vision originally was, like, me in the classroom with 23 year olds, and now I'm like, oh, there's millions of three year olds in the world. How do we reach them? How do we reach them? And how do I support families and parents and caregivers who are feeling that same stress and overwhelm that I was feeling? So this course is a culmination of bringing together again everything that I learned about child development and combining it with everything I learned as an energy healer. Really taking the understanding of the anatomy of the human energy field and our Chakra systems and how to find a new approach that's not me telling people more things to do. Right. It's not about being like, okay, do this. This is the magic wand. You wave and then everything will be fixed. It's really about helping parents again turn that lens around, looking at their own inner work, but also giving them some fun games to play, some different tips and tricks and tools that I've found over the years to put into place, to slowly kind of create the atmosphere, create the environment in which they have the tools to find to create, to discover their own unique solutions to everyday sticky moments.

:: 16:07

That's the teaching that you're doing these days, right?

:: 16:10

Yeah. And I also have a course for educators, so teaching educators who are in the classroom some of these tools as well. I have a whole series of educational offerings for teachers I think I was sharing with you. I currently have a free video on my website, which is called an Energy Reset for educators, where you can just watch a short video and take that time to resource yourself, take that time to just slow down and build some energetic and inner resources for yourself so you can be a more whole person when you step into the classroom. And then I find myself with kids all the time. I just took my nephew camping. I'm teaching all the time. I'm like, everywhere I go, I'm with kids, I can't help myself.

:: 17:03

That's what teachers do. So what do you say to people who have sort of a fuzzy relationship to the notion of energy and energy work and that kind of thing? Because there's a whole bunch of people that I think could benefit from many of the things you're putting out in the world, but when they hear energy, they might go, OOH, I don't know if I want to dive into all of the whole chakra system and all no judgment on my part. I'm trying to represent a voice here.

:: 17:37

It's a real thing, right? It's a real thing. I think we're at a moment now where this language is more common, and I would say the most common use of this language that you hear everyone say all the time is the word vibe, right? We throw this word around all the time. We're like, OOH, I don't like the vibe of that place. Like, I'm not going back there. Right? Or we're, Ah, I love this guy's vibe. I want to hang out with Brett, right? So in a lot of ways, we already have normalized the concept of energy, because what vibe is short for is vibration. And the way I describe this, because it's the only way that in kind of elementary science we learn about vibration is through sound. So we can really visualize sound waves, right? So let's say a symbol is like, clang together. We can in our imaginations, know that when that symbol hits, there's a vibration that starts to ripple out from the symbol and when that sound wave hits our eardrum, we hear it. It's like, ching. Like whoa. Okay, I heard that right. The same thing. Any kind of energetic imprint has that same capacity for sending a vibrational wave out in space. And then we feel it, and we pick up on know, one of the things that I studied. So the Barbara Brennan School of Healing is a really powerful model because Dr. Barbara Ann Brennan was a NASA scientist. She's quoted as having left the study of outer space to study inner space, and she actually used the Western scientific method and Western scientific tools to measure and quantify the human energy field and actually prove that there is an electromagnetic field around all living things. And this electromagnetic field is vibrating with a frequency, and that frequency changes depending on our mood and our emotions or our reactions to things that we encounter in our day to day life. And when that energetic vibration shifts in our human energy field, it sends ripples out that people feel. So you can be in a room full of people who are chatting and smiling and connecting with each other, and one person walks in who's in a real sour mood, instantly the room goes like right? You just feel the energy drop, and people are, like, leaning away from the sky.

:: 20:17

You kind of make space for this.

:: 20:19

Person who might have a certain energetic imprint that's not maybe not desirable or what you were hoping for in that moment. But then, in the same token, all it takes is one person holding a stronger vibration for joy or compassion, understanding to shift the vibe in the space again to coming back, whatever it is, to engage in the meeting, have creative ideas. So we're using our energy all the time, whether we know it or not.

:: 20:56

Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I have a whole orientation to this that I don't talk about a lot, and it has to do with the people who've done their inner work. Right? Because what happens, in my experience is once you've really done the hard work that you've talked about, where it's not like, oh, I got it now. It's a moment. It's like years of work. You begin to create within yourself a resource that isn't as variable as the world around you, and so you're not as influenced by your transient experience of other things in your world. Eckhart Tolle talks about this all the time to the degree of Know, the house is burning down, but you're fine, right? So it's kind of like walk outside, oh, look, the house is mine. That's horrible. But it's just a house. It's not you. And you can choose to be in a space where your life is ruined in your head because you have all these notions about what this means. Or you can check in with yourself and go, life is still effervescent from me, and the sky is beautiful. I'm not talking about trying to be completely disassociated from impacts. I'm using an extreme example. So what I'm trying to say in another way is that woman walks in the room, and in my mind, it's like from a mindful place. If I'm paying attention, I notice that this woman has this vibe, and it's just a fact. Oh, she's carrying this vibe. It's not my vibe now. It's over there. Right. And a lot of other people, though, sometimes they'll start to tune up to the vibe of the people around them.

:: 22:41

Exactly.

:: 22:42

And so they get dampened by the dampeners in the world. And there are a lot of them. There are a lot of people who don't want you to shine, and they're going to throw water on your light, or they're going to try to douse you right. Because they don't like that because it makes them feel smaller. And so what I'm trying to say is that through the work that you're talking about and the work that I do also in my work and I'm riffing a little too long here, but you create a space in yourself where you become your own resource. And I don't mean like I am no resource, but it flows through you.

:: 23:19

Yeah.

:: 23:20

And when you're doing that, then what you notice is people give you feedback about that because it's very interesting. Have you noticed that? What do they say to you about you, about your energy?

:: 23:33

Well, I do find let's see. There's a couple of things I want to say. One is, first, that this vibe travels beyond time and space so that you and I can feel it right now, even though we're across the continent from each other, calling in at different time zones on the computer, like, you're just a square on a screen to me right now, but we can still have an energetic exchange. Right. So that's just one thing to throw out there. Maybe freak people out a little bit, but it's real. Or maybe get some people excited.

:: 24:11

I'm afraid to say it totally is. Yeah.

:: 24:14

And so that I think the reason I bring that up is because over the last handful of years, like the last three or four years, as we've gone more and more remote, that's when I've noticed this thing that people say when they're like, whoa, I like hanging out with you. Like, wow, Anna, you bring a certain energy to a space that really know. Some people say super positive, or other people say, it's so comforting, or people will notice. They'll say something, oh, that was so fun just talking with you. I forgot we were on Zoom. Right. So it's that ability to have a certain presence, and I call it contact. So it's like connection, but it's a deeper connection where I am present and connected to myself, and therefore, I can have closer and deeper contact with you. And again, to what you are speaking to. That doesn't mean that I take on everything you're feeling and become a whim to all the drama that you might be sharing with me, but it means that I can hold present and clear and centered in myself and listen to you fully at the same time.

:: 25:34

Yeah. So that's what I would call what you're talking about is what I would call one way I would describe being a healthy empath, being able to connect with people in a deeper way, feel them really pretty fully, and also realize that's not my energy, that's their energy. And feel the impact of that on you, but it doesn't become you. And that's a beautiful way to be in the world because there's a lot of beauty that you get to vibe with.

:: 26:07

Totally. I love that. And I'll say that a lot of people who come to me for energy healing sessions are deep, empaths, highly sensitive people who really feel overwhelmed and blasted by all the input they get everywhere they go. There is a lot happening on this planet. These are really intense times. Emotions run high and there's a lot of pain and suffering. And when you're constantly taking that on and feeling overwhelmed, a lot of people through their early childhood experiences have been normalized to being caretakers in their lives and they're really trying to make everything okay. And this can leave us feeling really depleted, completely overwhelmed. People aren't sleeping, they have high anxiety. And eventually when that's taken on, it can manifest as physical disease. Physical disease, right where we're really holding a lot of that trauma in our bodies. And so the healing table is another place where I educate. So it's not just about laying there and receiving this hands on energy healing, which I can do in person here in Vermont, in my office, but also remotely, again over zoom, where people are laying in the comfort of their own homes and we get to have this exchange. And they receive that energetic support through the energy healing techniques that I use. But I'm also educating them with tools and resources to be able to practice this on their own, to be able to really develop their own healthy relationship to their deep sensitivities and how to develop that as a tool, as a gift that they have in the world and not be a victim to it. And one of the ways I do this, speaking of this kind of energetic vibe, one of the things that I teach about is called a healing response. Most people have only ever heard of a trauma response where we're like in a deep, reactive space. But when we can start to make energetic observations and have a greater capacity, like you said, to stay in that centered, grounded place in ourselves no matter what's happening on the outside, we can then have the opportunity to actually consciously choose the energetic vibration that we're holding. And we can even choose to hold an energetic vibration. That's a healing response, not just for ourselves, but for the others that are around us.

:: 28:49

Can you give an example of that, you think?

:: 28:52

Sure, I can definitely share an example of that. I'll share two examples because the first example is a healing response I hold for myself. A healing response I hold for myself. I have named Vanilla Pudding and it's so delicious. And the name just helps. You can feel it immediately. This energetic vibration of vanilla pudding. It's soothing, it's nourishing, it's sweet. And this healing response for me comes from the place in me that gets triggered when I feel like there's not enough. When I feel like there's not enough, I'm not enough. I lived with food insecurity as a child. I lived with scarcity in my life. And that feeling can sneak up on me. Even as an adult that has everything I need, only plenty of food in the fridge, right. That feeling can sneak up on me and it can impact my relationships with others. It can impact the way I react in situations. And now that I can start to track how that feels when it comes up in my body, right. I start to feel this hollow sinking in my stomach and in my throat. Like I've started to be able to have a somatic experience of what that's like when it's sneaking up on me. And then I'm like vanilla pudding and I just start drinking it in. It's like there is enough. I am nourished. And I can just feel the edges of my energy start to soften and smooth out. Right. When I'm feeling like there's not enough, I get like Porcupiney. I get all that.

:: 30:27

Get all grabby and clutchy.

:: 30:30

Yeah, exactly. Grasping but trying to pull from other people. Like what I need.

:: 30:37

Right?

:: 30:37

It's like, oh no, I can resource myself. I can give myself everything that I need, and I can provide that for myself with this healing response that I call vanilla pudding. So that's one example of a healing response.

:: 30:53

That's a good one. Yeah, that's a good one. You're going to give another one?

:: 30:56

I am. So the second one that I've been teaching a lot lately is a healing response in relationship with someone else. So this is when you've maybe presented something to someone and they don't like it. And they're like, let me tell you, the finger comes out and their energy is going up and over. They're coming at you. Sometimes it can feel like an attack. It can feel like they want to tell you why you're wrong. Something you've said has triggered them into a defense where they feel like they're on the attack. This happens all the time, and we don't often mean to do that. Right. It's just the way that our energetic systems start to there's a way in which sometimes our energy combined with the other person's energy just creates conflict. Right?

:: 31:53

Well, they got triggered, they're triggered into being defensive, right?

:: 31:57

Yeah. And so the healing response that I teach for this, again, starts with that place in ourselves where we're like, okay, I'm okay, I'm whole and complete. First we start there. We fill the space around us, the space inside and around us with this feeling of sort of, okayness, okay, I'm okay, I'm safe. Start with that. And that often I'm safe, is really important. And the feeling of safety really is about dropping our energy. We hold a lot of energy from our shoulders and head and above. In Western culture, we're like thinking and trying to figure everything out all the time. So when you drop that energy down, all the way down, past your hips and pelvis down, so you're broadening your energy field by your legs and your feet, you're instantly in energetic response of safety and trust. So you first fill yourself with that feeling and then you imagine the outside of your energy field coated with an impenetrable and non stick coating. Back in the day, they would have called this like, Teflon. So you create, like, a teflon pan with the outside of your energy field so that anything that that person is trying to throw at you, like verbal arrows, hooks from up above, trying to get you their energetic defense. Their goal is to get you to engage, because that gives them the energetic feedback that they are looking for, like, to prove that they're right. A lot of people engage in this way. And when you are able to hold a really clear response, which this healing response is called no contest. No contest, like, I'm not going to engage in the fighting about this. You can still practice active listening and hear what they have to say, but you don't have to engage in the conflict. And anything they're throwing at you is sliding off the outside of your energy field and just melting down into the Earth. Mother Earth always just transmutes and transforms any of that kind of energy. She takes all our shit, composts it and grows beautiful fruits and vegetables. Right. So we can just let her do her work and hold that clear boundary. That's really a boundary that is also a healing response.

:: 34:34

Yeah. That's really powerful skill to have. Particularly, I think this is a dynamic when you encounter people, there's a lot of people in the world who that's one of their main dynamics is they want to overpower. They want to overpower people verbally and emotionally. And so the capacity to create some separation there so that you're not going to take the bait as sometimes I talk about it and I use it a little similar but different language. It's kind of like, well, if they're handing you this gift of like, just let them hold it, don't take it. Just kind of like, oh, no, thank you, I appreciate that, but no, I'm not having that. I'm. Sorry you're upset, but there seems to be a problem on that side of the room here. Over here. It's pretty nice. And I'm sorry you're having a hard time. Maybe you should get some help with that.

:: 35:29

Yeah. A friend of mine taught me, when I've coined this one, the wax on, wax off. And she says, that is your stuff.

:: 35:40

This is my stuff. I like that's. Good. Yeah, right? Exactly. I know in coaching, I talk about this as the shield of sensitivity, and it's a similar sort of thing. I don't call it necessarily a shield, but it's like a way where I imagine that there's like a screen of sensitivity and all my senses are showing up on this. All the stuff that's coming across is showing up on this screen. So I'm not energetically in the other person's field because I know a lot of energy workers, and they kind of are a little aggressive about going into people's energy. And I don't respect that at all. And so it's like I try to keep clear boundaries, even though I don't normally talk about this stuff with my clients at all, because I'm just like letting their energy be over there. I'm trying to mindfully observe my response to who they are. And like you said, and I think it gets down to this in a lot of ways, by doing this work where you connect to yourself in a really profound way we're talking about nontrivial work here to get connected to yourself in a way that's really powerful and not imaginary, and you're sitting in the strength of that. And then you are simply being in rapport with that while you're in rapport with other people. That's what gives you the ability to see deeper and connect to and speak to things in people that they themselves might not be quite connected up to. And in doing that, you quicken, if you will, because of this resonance thing that goes on. You help awaken that in them, and so they walk away going, well, I don't know why, but I just feel really calm after talking to you.

:: 37:25

Yeah.

:: 37:25

And the reason is because I'm talking to the calm part in you, whether you know it or not. And I'm not trying to be subversive about it. That's just the way I roll.

:: 37:33

All yeah. And the way I teach this to parents. Right. Because this is such a powerful tool with our kids. Our kids are the most eloquent at triggering us. Like, they know exactly which buttons to push. They know exactly how to trigger the deepest parts of us that are needing and maybe subconsciously calling for our healing.

:: 38:02

Exactly.

:: 38:02

So when our kids are triggering us, this is really important place for us to be able to do that inner work and to look within ourselves instead of blaming it. It's really easy to blame it on someone who's smaller than you. Right. And so how do you actually practice what you preach and model the behavior that you long for your child to learn. And this tool I call harmonic induction. So back to us being able to visualize this through the concept of sound. And for those of you listening, I don't know if everyone will be watching the video, but for those of you listening, I'm going to use each of my hands to demonstrate a tuning fork. So the first tuning fork is my right hand. And I'm going to strike this tuning fork on a solid object which creates a vibration. So I'm shaking my hand back and forth and this tuning fork is ringing. And we can imagine now that vibration, that sound wave is rippling out and you can bring another tuning fork. This is my left hand which is not shaking. It's a tuning fork that has not been struck close enough to the one that has been struck and they both begin to ring. And so now both of my hands are shaking or vibrating. Right? So that idea that our vibe, our vibration, actually has an impact on those around us. So this is why a healing response is so powerful. Just the same exact way that you just said it. If I'm calm and if I am centered, I'm vibrating a vibration that is calm and centered. And therefore those who come around me will feel that in themselves, they begin to also resonate at that same frequency. And it's like, wow, this feels so good. And so this is where we can really have a positive impact not just on others, but also on the environment, on the spaces in which we enter, right?

:: 40:09

Yes, exactly.

:: 40:12

So one other thing I just wanted to mention is that all of these tools are within this concept that I really believe that when we start to understand the anatomy of our energy field, what we're really understanding is the direct connection between our mental and emotional health and our physical health. As well as this kind of anatomy of our energy field or understanding the way we use our energy also gives us a direct map to understand ourselves in relationship to others. And that I find is a really powerful tool for being able to take those steps towards the life we long to live, towards the relationships we long to have. It really helps us have sort of concrete. Again, a map is the way that I describe it, a concrete map back to our most whole selves and then therefore achieving those longings.

:: 41:16

I'm a big fan of maps and I learned a bunch of them in my work from character maps and coaching. I teach one of the The Mindful Coach Association method the somatic insight cycle. And it's really super helpful because whenever you get a little confused in the world, you don't know quite what you're doing. These maps are really helpful to orient because that's what maps do. You're like. Where am I? Where am I going? Use a map to kind of orient. So I'm really big fan of maps. I'm really glad you're bringing that into your work. How do people engage this wonderful energy field of Anna Howes?

:: 41:51

Oh, thank you for asking. All right, so right now, I am just launching a free five day challenge to slow down your parenting. So if you're a parent out there, a caregiver, really anyone who interacts with kids, this is going to be a really fun way for you to engage with me. We're going to start on Monday, a week from this coming Monday, September 11, and it's going to be five days. You're going to get an email and a quick, easy video into your inbox each day for five days. It's not going to take you more than 15 minutes each of these little tips, tricks, and tools just to help you take that time to really resource yourself and give you some of these how to develop that presence in yourself. And I was telling you, one of my favorite tools to teach, and this will be day two of the challenge is called The Mindful Coach Association. And this is a really simple tool for making observations in your life, for becoming that kind of objective observer in your life, so that you can see, you can kind of pan the camera out, look at the big picture, see all the moving pieces, observe the physical space, the emotional space, the energetic space, and be able to really kind of put that in your mind as like, okay, these observations will help inform a hypothesis, and this hypothesis will help me make adjustments. And then I just see what happens. And it's not about getting it right or getting it wrong. It's just about what those adjustments tell you about the environment. Maybe they show you that you need to make some more adjustments, right? And maybe at one point you're like, oh, this works so great, and you have a moment to celebrate. Bringing joy and celebration into our lives is one of my real passions. And then, as with kids, it'll work for, like, five days, and then they'll be on to the next developmental phase, and you'll have to start all over again, start from scratch. But at least you're not putting that pressure on yourself, that you have to get it perfect.

:: 43:59

Is this something that people can I'm sorry, I just wanted to ask, is this something that people can engage anytime, or does it have to be at the time that you're launching it?

:: 44:07

Yeah, thanks for asking. So we are going to launch it live. This is the first time that I'm offering this five day challenge, so we're going to all do it live together. So if you're listening to this in the next couple of weeks, please sign up by the beginning of September and do it with us live, because I'll be engaging every day practicing all the tools myself, talking about it on my Instagram page, sharing about it in the comments, in the lessons. And once the five days are over, it's not too late. This is going to be an evergreen thing that will live on my site. So you can visit and you can engage in the five day challenge no matter when you're hearing this and it'll be there for you. Yeah, perfect.

:: 44:53

And so how do they find you? What's your website?

:: 44:55

It is Annahows.com. So that's Annahowes.com.

:: 45:05

Yeah, we'll put all that in the show notes so people can find it.

:: 45:08

Great. I also wanted to share that I'm currently just offering a package deal and giving folks 5% discount on buying a three session bundle for energy healing sessions. So I've had a number of people reach out to me and I'm like, I want you to get the support that you need. And my clients who have done three consecutive sessions in a row have had incredible results. So I'm offering a special package deal right now. You can get the information quickest by emailing me Anna. Anna@Annahouse.com, that would be the fastest way for me to get you information about that package deal and I'm running it through the fall of 2023. But if you're listening to this even years from now and you reach out to me and ask for it, I will honor that because I think that everyone deserves the healing and support that they long for.

:: 46:10

Indeed they do. And so thank you so much. This has been really great talking to you. I could talk to you all day because this is just a blast. I really enjoy the work that you're doing and on behalf of the universe, thank you for that. And I know that your clients and the world that you are impacting through your work is better off for. And Anna is a great representation in a way of the work that many of the coaches in The The Mindful Coach Association Association are doing fabulous work. All of them courageous, inspired people doing amazing work. And that's what the The Mindful Coach Association podcast is about, is helping these coaches get the word out and to inspire and uplift others who hear this into realizing that you are not alone. There is a lot of great work going on out there and if you're inclined to join us and to meet these amazing souls, you can join us@themindfulcoachassociation.com and come to the community meetings and get involved in all the goodness that's going on there. It's absolutely free to join and you'd be welcome if you resonate with this at all. So thank you so much Anna. It was great talking to you. I really appreciate you being here.

:: 47:21

Thank you so much, Brett, and thank you for the space that you hold for all of us. I love being a member of the association and yeah, I'm just taking it all in.

:: 47:33

Thank you so kindly.