Guts & Grace – Episode 11: Caring for Ourselves with Sara Exley

When I hear the term “self-care,” I’ve got to be honest. Sometimes it fills me with tension, reminding me that there’s yet another friggin’ thing that I’m supposed to be handling. Just add it to the list. If we listen to the chatter, it sounds like we’re not only supposed to get all the things done that our lives require, but we’re also supposed to magically carve out time for ourselves without missing a beat. So that we can stay calm and gorgeous and ready for anything.

But when I drop beneath that noise and tune into my own experience, I feel a deep sense of knowing that my body, my mind and my heart need support from me. And that support happens when I choose to tend to my own needs in a way that resonates with me. That’s when I feel most able to show up in the world and make a meaningful contribution. Because let’s be real – the world needs us now more than ever.

That’s why I’m so delighted to share this conversation with you. Sara Exley and I take a deep dive into what it means to care for ourselves. Sara defines self-care as, “Holding space and being wiling to do what feels right for me as often as I can.” Brilliant.

In this episode, we touch on:

• trusting the process
• re-parenting yourself (you’re going to want to hear this one!)
• what happens when you think you’ve figured it all out
• creating safety so you can grow
• saying yes when you mean it
• saying no when you mean it
• everyday self-care, and the not-every-day kind
• dealing with isolation and learning to ask for help

Ultimately, Sara and I both see self-care as a piece of the puzzle that leads to building a better world – one in which, as Sara says, “it’s safe for us to need each other.”

Sara Exley is the internet’s most unlikely hypnotherapist. She’s flunked out of most wellness practices, including meditation and yoga. She’s not particularly zen. And even the word “calm” used to make her cringe. (Is that like being really tired?)

In October of 2016, on a wild intuitive hair, she enrolled in Grace Smith’s Hypnotherapy School. While she fully expected to gain a wonderful new skill set, what she didn’t expect was that hypnotherapy would give her back to herself. Sara discovered she didn’t really need to “transform” who she was.

“Nothing was ever wrong with me and I was never broken.”

Hypnotherapy helped her let go of the subconscious crap that wasn’t hers, reparent her heart, and feel safe trust herself on a deep, visceral level.

Interested in getting to know Sara and experiencing hypnotherapy? Join her facebook group here. It’s totally free and is a very laid back, non-tribey and non-judgey corner of calm. Just Sara, some really nice folks who love her style of hypnosis and TONS of free videos you can relax to.