From Grief and Infertility to Conscious Pregnancy with Ashley Holmes

From Grief and Infertility to Conscious Pregnancy with Ashley Holmes

Ashley Holmes, a holistic fertility coach whose work grew out of her own experience with grief, unexplained infertility, motherhood, yoga, Ayurveda, and nervous system healing, joins me this week. Ashley grew up on a farm in a small Canadian town. After the sudden death of her older brother, her family life changed dramatically, and she later left Canada for New Zealand in search of a fresh start. That time abroad deepened her love of children and eventually led her to meet her husband. Years later, Ashley and her husband faced unexplained infertility. She shares what it was like to go through fertility testing, medication, emotional stress, and eventually become pregnant with twins. Ashley also talks about the practices that changed how she understood her body, thoughts, stress, and fertility. Through yoga, Ayurveda, meditation, Reiki, and trauma-informed work, she began to approach pregnancy in a more conscious and supported way. She later conceived her third child naturally, and those experiences now shape the way she supports women and couples navigating fertility challenges. This episode also looks at the loneliness many people feel while trying to conceive, why support is not always the same as advice, and how simply being listened to can make a real difference. We discuss: * Ashley’s childhood in rural Canada * Losing her brother and carrying grief for years * Moving to New Zealand and beginning again * Unexplained infertility and fertility treatment * Becoming pregnant with twins * Yoga, Ayurveda, Reiki, and trauma-informed support * Conceiving her third child naturally * Conscious pregnancy and nervous system support * The loneliness of fertility struggles * How friends and family can offer better support * Yoga Nidra as a simple reset practice About: Ashley Holmes is a Holistic Fertility Coach and spiritual guide who helps women reconnect with their inner wisdom to naturally conceive and heal. Drawing from Ayurveda, yoga philosophy, and energy medicine, she empowers clients to release limiting beliefs and embody wholeness. Her work is rooted in the understanding that true transformation begins from within - without needing to seek outside validation or authority. Connect at: FB [https://www.facebook.com/ashley.holmes.3979], IG [https://www.instagram.com/ashley_holmes3202/], FB Group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/271957647919481/?ref=share_group_link], Website [https://holisticfertilitycoachinc.my.canva.site/] We'd love to hear from you 🥰. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2442632/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://buymeacoffee.com/wisdom.without.the.guru] ✔️ Like, Comment & Subscribe ✔️ Share with someone who needs this message ✔️ Leave a review on your podcast app ✔️ Subscribe and support here [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2442632/support] or here [https://buymeacoffee.com/wisdom.without.the.guru] ☕ 🙏  Follow us for video clips and more: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/wisdomwithouttheguru/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/wisdom.without.the.guru], and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@WisdomWithoutTheGuruPodcast]

Life & Loss Through the Lens of Yoga with Mandy Mona

Yoga therapist Mandy Mona speaks about family, faith, motherhood, body image, relationship strain, yoga therapy, pregnancy loss, and learning how to support yourself and others through difficult seasons of life. Mandy shares how early losses in her family left her with questions about faith, God, and grief that she did not yet have the language to understand. She also reflects on growing up in a large, busy family, becoming a young mother, navigating a complicated relationship that later became her marriage, and learning how childhood experiences can follow people into adult relationships. Yoga first entered Mandy’s life as a physical outlet, but over time, it became something much deeper. Through teacher training, work in treatment centres, and yoga therapy, she began to understand the connection between the body, emotions, breath, mental health, and lived experience. Mandy also speaks about the loss of her son, Tyson, during pregnancy, after first learning she had been carrying twins. She shares how her family has continued to honour him, and what she has learned about supporting someone who is grieving in practical, grounded ways. This is a gentle conversation about family, healing, faith, the body, and the many ways people learn to keep living alongside what they have carried. Topics include: * Growing up in a large, creative family with sports, siblings, and different personalities * Questioning faith after early family losses and not having a clear language for grief * Becoming a young mother while navigating relationship strain, family pressure, and uncertainty * Body image, pregnancy, and the impact of comments that stay with us longer than people realise * Discovering yoga first as a physical outlet, then as a deeper therapeutic practice * Working in treatment centres and seeing people beyond addiction, diagnosis, or circumstance * The difference between commercial yoga and yoga therapy as an integrative practice * Pregnancy loss, stillbirth, family grief, and finding ways to honour Mandy’s son Tyson * How to support someone who is grieving without asking them to explain everything they need About:  Mandy Mona is a passionate, experienced yoga therapist dedicated to helping people reconnect with their bodies and trust their intuition through movement, breath and mindful awareness. Connect at: IG [https://www.instagram.com/bloomingmoonyoga_], FB, TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@bloomingmoonyoga], Website [https://bloomingmoonyogaandholistics.my.canva.site/] We'd love to hear from you 🥰. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2442632/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://buymeacoffee.com/wisdom.without.the.guru] ✔️ Like, Comment & Subscribe ✔️ Share with someone who needs this message ✔️ Leave a review on your podcast app ✔️ Subscribe and support here [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2442632/support] or here [https://buymeacoffee.com/wisdom.without.the.guru] ☕ 🙏  Follow us for video clips and more: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/wisdomwithouttheguru/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/wisdom.without.the.guru], and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@WisdomWithoutTheGuruPodcast]

Childhood Trauma, ADHD & Learning Calm with Amanda Bearce

Wellness coach Amanda Bearce joins me to talk about growing up with fear, instability, and a nervous system that never fully learned how to rest. Amanda shares how her father’s severe mental health struggles shaped her childhood, including years of stalking, disrupted sleep, and a constant sense of uncertainty. She reflects on how those early experiences followed her into adolescence and adulthood — through school, relationships, anxiety, self-blame, and an abusive relationship that mirrored some of the instability she had known before. We touch on Amanda’s healing process, including therapy, EMDR, an ADHD diagnosis, and her move from IT into wellness coaching. She explains how therapy helped her understand trauma and triggers, while coaching helped her begin to look forward, rebuild self-trust, and discover what calm could actually feel like. We cover: *  Growing up with fear, uncertainty, and a parent with severe mental health issues  *  Childhood stalking, disrupted sleep, and not feeling safe at home  *  How trauma can show up as reactivity, anxiety, stomach aches, and overwhelm  *  Leaving high school, getting a GED, and finding another route forward  *  Recognizing patterns in an abusive relationship  *  Therapy, EMDR, ADHD diagnosis, and understanding nervous system responses  *  The difference between therapy and coaching in Amanda’s healing process  *  Moving from IT into wellness coaching  *  Protecting your energy without turning self-care into another obligation  *  Practical self-care tools for people who feel overloaded or constantly “on”  This episode is for anyone who has lived in survival mode, struggled to understand their own reactions, or wondered whether calm can be learned later in life. About: Amanda Bearce is a board-certified health and wellness coach and the founder of Simply Wellness with Amanda. She helps women who are exhausted from doing it all slow down, tune in, and nurture their well-being through sustainable self-care, so that they can feel more present, energised, and well in both their personal and professional lives. Connect at: IG [https://www.instagram.com/simplywellnesswithamanda/], FB [https://www.facebook.com/simplywellnesswithamanda/], Website [https://www.simplywellnesscoach.com/] We'd love to hear from you 🥰. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2442632/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://buymeacoffee.com/wisdom.without.the.guru] ✔️ Like, Comment & Subscribe ✔️ Share with someone who needs this message ✔️ Leave a review on your podcast app ✔️ Subscribe and support here [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2442632/support] or here [https://buymeacoffee.com/wisdom.without.the.guru] ☕ 🙏  Follow us for video clips and more: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/wisdomwithouttheguru/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/wisdom.without.the.guru], and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@WisdomWithoutTheGuruPodcast]

Poop, Self-Help & Letting Go with Angela Jamieson

In this special episode, I welcome back Angela Jamieson to talk about her unusually titled book, Using No. 2 to Get to No. 1: The Shockingly Insightful, Full-of-Crap Self-Help Book. Yes, the book really does connect poop and personal development — and, as Angela explains, that is exactly the point. Through humour, digestive metaphors, personal stories, and very relatable observations, Angela explores how letting go is not only something the body does but also something we often need to do, emotionally, mentally, and in the way we approach life. Angela shares how the idea for the book first appeared many years ago, why it took time to become what it is now, and how her own experiences with family, work, parenting, loss, self-help, and everyday human awkwardness shaped the final version. The conversation touches on everything from toilet paper rationing and international toilets to comparison, people-pleasing, conscious choices, and why no one else’s personal development formula can be copied exactly. We also discuss the link between the book and Angela’s work around relaxed productivity — especially the idea that life does not always need to be approached with more pressure, more achievement, or more seriousness. Sometimes, the most useful insights come through laughter, honest reflection, and remembering that we are all human. This episode is a funny, grounded, and surprisingly thoughtful conversation about self-help, connection, letting go, and learning to trust your own internal diagnostics. Angela’s book is available through major book retailers, including ebook formats, and the audiobook is expected to be available through Audible. About: Angela Jamieson is a former engineer turned Relaxed Productivity Advocate, speaker, publisher, and bestselling author. She helps busy professionals get more done by doing less—but smarter. She's recently published Using No. 2 to Get to No. 1, the cheekiest self-help book you didn’t know you needed.  Connect at: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-jamieson-b857a7/], IG [https://www.instagram.com/angelajamiesonfung], Website [https://www.angelajamieson.com/], Aimee Bronson [https://www.amazon.com/stores/Aimee-Bronson/author/B0BC6SKWXS?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=4a8605b4-62c0-47e4-a671-ce55f4914d4a] We'd love to hear from you 🥰. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2442632/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://buymeacoffee.com/wisdom.without.the.guru] ✔️ Like, Comment & Subscribe ✔️ Share with someone who needs this message ✔️ Leave a review on your podcast app ✔️ Subscribe and support here [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2442632/support] or here [https://buymeacoffee.com/wisdom.without.the.guru] ☕ 🙏  Follow us for video clips and more: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/wisdomwithouttheguru/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/wisdom.without.the.guru], and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@WisdomWithoutTheGuruPodcast]

Culture, Identity, Loss & Redefining Success with Angela Jamieson

Author and creator of Relaxed Productivity, Angela Jamieson, joins me to speak about identity, culture, ambition, family history, grief, creativity, and what it means to redefine success. Born in Canada to Chinese immigrant parents, Angela grew up between cultures, with family roots connected to the building of the Canadian railroad and prairie life in Saskatchewan. Her early love of maths, music, writing, and travel eventually led her into engineering — a career that took her from Canada to the Netherlands and Brunei, while raising children abroad and building a life across continents. We explore: *  growing up Chinese Canadian while feeling culturally shaped by more than one world  *  how travel, family history, and education influenced Angela’s career path  *  building an international engineering career while raising children abroad  *  the loss of Angela’s father and how it changed her view of success  *  the idea of relaxed productivity and why doing less can sometimes create more  *  creativity, romance writing, spirituality, and the different parts of a life that do not always fit neatly together  After years of professional ambition and leadership, her father’s cancer diagnosis and death made her question what she was working so hard for. That turning point led her into personal development, a more spiritual yet still practical way of thinking, and into creating her work around “relaxed productivity.” This is a wide-ranging conversation about belonging, achievement, family, creativity, and learning to build a life that makes room for more than one version of who you are. About: Angela Jamieson is a former engineer turned Relaxed Productivity Advocate, speaker, publisher, and bestselling author. She helps busy professionals get more done by doing less—but smarter. She's recently published Using No. 2 to Get to No. 1, the cheekiest self-help book you didn’t know you needed.  Connect at: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-jamieson-b857a7/], IG [https://www.instagram.com/angelajamiesonfung], Website [https://www.angelajamieson.com/], Aimee Bronson [https://www.amazon.com/stores/Aimee-Bronson/author/B0BC6SKWXS?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=4a8605b4-62c0-47e4-a671-ce55f4914d4a] We'd love to hear from you 🥰. [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2442632/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://buymeacoffee.com/wisdom.without.the.guru] ✔️ Like, Comment & Subscribe ✔️ Share with someone who needs this message ✔️ Leave a review on your podcast app ✔️ Subscribe and support here [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2442632/support] or here [https://buymeacoffee.com/wisdom.without.the.guru] ☕ 🙏  Follow us for video clips and more: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/wisdomwithouttheguru/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/wisdom.without.the.guru], and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@WisdomWithoutTheGuruPodcast]