From Trauma To Trust: Embodiment, Gene Keys, And A Life Reclaimed with Shauna Hawkes

Some stories don’t just inspire—they recalibrate what you believe is possible. Today we sit down with Shauna, a women’s embodiment mentor, yoga teacher, and Gene Keys guide who rebuilt her life after profound childhood trauma. She walks us through the turning points that moved her from anger and hypervigilance to a grounded practice of trust, presence, and self-leadership. You’ll hear how therapy opened the door, but embodiment—yoga, breath, somatic tools, and energy work—actually rewired the patterns living in her body.

We unpack that familiar feeling of being stuck and why it often comes from unclear desire rather than lack of discipline. Shauna’s no-fluff approach invites a new pledge: trust your inner nudge, decide, then back your decision without self-punishment. We challenge the myth of self-sacrifice and show why your joy is a strategy, not a luxury. When you become resourced, your energy changes everything you touch—parenting, work, health, and creativity. Maria shares a raw story of illness and recovery that proves putting on your own oxygen mask first can be life-saving and life-shaping.

Curious about Gene Keys? Shauna demystifies this contemplative system that names your shadows, gifts, and highest expressions. Instead of “fixing,” you learn to watch patterns with compassion until they reveal the gift they’ve been guarding. Real-world stories bring it home: careers realigned, relationships completed with grace, and long-dormant art returning to the center of life. If you’re overwhelmed or unsure where to start, Shauna offers the simplest first step—get into your body for five minutes a day. Move, breathe, dance, or step into the ocean. Movement moves stories, and small repetitions build self-trust like compound interest.

If this conversation lights a spark, share it with someone who needs a gentle nudge toward their next chapter. Subscribe for more courageous stories, leave a review to help others find the show, and tell us: what’s one decision you’re ready to back today?

Connect with Shauna:

Website: https://www.shaunahawkes.com/

Instagram: @shaunaembodimentmentor

Facebook: @yogabyshauna

Chapters

• 0:00 Host Welcome And Guest Intro
• 0:32 Shauna’s Background And Mission
• 1:39 Childhood Trauma And Survival
• 6:35 Therapy Starts And Body-Based Healing
• 9:49 Yoga As Awakening And Embodiment
• 15:20 Signs You’re At A Crossroads
• 20:21 Trusting Yourself Without Self-Sacrifice
• 27:11 Moving From Victimhood To Agency
• 29:56 What Are The Gene Keys
• 35:14 Using Gene Keys In Coaching
• 40:09 Real Client Transformations
• 43:17 First Gentle Step: Get In Your Body
• 45:24 Limiting Beliefs And Being Seen

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome back to the Against All Odds, the Less than 1% Chance podcast with your host, Maria Aponte, where we will hear stories of incredible people thriving against all odds. And my hope is that we can all see how life is always happening for us, even when we are the less than 1% chance.

SPEAKER_01: 0:19

Hey, hey, welcome back to Against All Odds, the Less than 1% Chance podcast with your host Maria Aponte. I am so excited for another amazing conversation coming your way today. So I want to quickly introduce you to Shauna. So Shauna Hawks is a woman's embodiment mentor, yoga instructor, and Jean Key's guide. I am so excited to hear all about this. So she helps women at a crossroads break free from self-sabotage, embrace their feminine nature, and step confidently into their next chapter with clarity, ease, and joy. With a background in social work and over 15 years of experience teaching yoga, leading retreats, Shauna combines grounded wisdom, intuitive guidance, and practical embodiment tools to support deep personal transformation. Through her workshops, mentorships, and retreats, she helps women create lives that feel free, light, and deeply fulfilling without self-sacrifice or overwhelm. Which let's be honest, we all need a little bit of that. So, Shauna, welcome. I'm so excited to have you.

SPEAKER_02: 1:33

Thanks for having me, Maria. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01: 1:36

Yeah, absolutely. So give us a little bit of background. What is your against all odds story?

SPEAKER_02: 1:43

Oh, wow. Okay. From day dot. Let's see. I'll make it as brief as I can with also giving you enough information that you can get a feel for where I'm at now and how I got here. But my my mom was pregnant with me when my parents got divorced. So my mom had me as a single mother, and she met a woman when I was two who was in my life from the age of two to eighteen. So that became her partner. It was was back in the days when it was the early 80s, and it wasn't really a thing to be in a same-sex relationship. It was looked down upon. So I was told to keep it a secret and to pretend she wasn't in my life. Where it got a little bit complicated is that she was a narcissist who was a homicide detective turned a trauma therapist. And so when you combine the likes of a highly intelligent person with a lot of emotional instability, it leads to some interesting patterns and some interesting experiences I had. She was very abusive in many ways, telling me that many of the things that my mom was experiencing. So my mom was highly depressed growing up and was suicidal. So my mom had many attempts at taking her own life, and I was often there to pick up the pieces or take her, call the ambulance, things like that. And her partner told me that I was the reason that my mom tried to hurt herself, that I was the problem, that I was in the way. And not only that, she was sexually molesting of me from the age of about two. So there's a few dynamics in there. I met my dad when I was not until I was about six or seven. I wasn't, he was paranoid schizophrenic, and had some mental health issues. So it wasn't really safe when I was little. And then when I did meet him, um, I only saw him a couple times a year, usually around Thanksgiving and Christmas. And he sexually abused me every time I saw him in his parents' house at Christmas and Thanksgiving. And no one really knew about it. They just turned a blind eye. Well, in a way, I think everyone knew about it, and they all just turned a blind eye and just thought that it was normal that I was in a back bedroom with my father when he wasn't allowed to see me. So there was with the combination of all those things, is just a lot of messiness and a lot of confusion for me. And I think, yeah, if we talk about odds, I'm lucky that I didn't end up on drugs and pregnant by the time I was like 13 or 14. But fortunately, that wasn't my experience, and I've come out to be highly successful on the other side of that. But with that being said, I'm also so grateful for all of my experiences, and it's led me to exactly where I am and to the work I do now, and a lot of empathy and understanding for other people's pain and the struggle and the challenges to overcome a lot of limiting beliefs that get created by experiences in in younger life and belief systems. So yeah, that's the nutshell of my story growing up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 4:58

Wow. Wow. It's and it's so crazy how it can like everybody in your life that was supposed to look out for you, right? And that's so you're right, it could have turned out completely different. And how amazing that you can take the perspective, and it's to me, just so that our listeners understand, I'm in Orlando, Florida, and you're in Australia, and it is beautiful to me that we can be in two completely opposite ends of the world and have the same perspective. I was sexually assaulted as well when I was 16, and it could have it turned my life upside down for a while, but I wouldn't change what I went through because I like you said, I am who I am because of the things that I've experienced, because of what I've gone through, and I wouldn't be the person that I am today. And I like myself the way I am. So you're right, it could be completely different, but I love that we're literally from opposite ends of the world and it can come together, not knowing each other and have this kind of same perspective. It's quite beautiful to be honest. I agree. Yeah. Okay, so we you go through all these things. How do you get into the work that you're doing now?

SPEAKER_02: 6:35

Look, I think the when I went to college, I studied social work, and part of the requirements of getting a degree in social work is that you got to see a therapist or got to go see a psychologist. So that started very early days of my freshman year in college, and that was for my whole year. So for four years, I was in therapy, and I think that started the questions and the conversations around maybe some of the feelings that I was feeling that felt out of proportion to events. So I had a lot of anger. I was very, very angry, and it would just take a little thing for something to click and I would blow it, would just blow out of proportion. Like my anger was not in relation to what was happening, and I wouldn't understand why. And I wasn't really, I didn't have a lot of awareness like I do now of what happened because my body blocked out a lot of it, my mind blocked out a majority of the events just to keep me surviving. If I had to remember a lot of that stuff, I couldn't have survived and thrived in life. So that was the first step, and then it was a great first step, but then there was a limitation because it was all in the mind and there wasn't enough in the body, and the body was what was storing things. So we can learn all we want about what's happening in our mind, but it doesn't change our lives. Like our lives change because we embody concepts and we understand what it means to feel it in the body and through the body. And so yoga was I fell into it. It wasn't on purpose, but I was actually raised in the States. I was raised in Washington State, and I traveled around a bit, went to college in Idaho and lived on the East Coast for a while, and then I settled in California and I uh went to Australia on holiday and I met my husband on the streets of Byron Bay, which is a famous place in Australia on. So, anyways, that moment I know, I know. So that moment changed my life, and I was at a place where I was ready for the change, and so I moved to Australia. And when I moved there, one of his friends said, Oh, why don't you try this yoga thing? I said, Oh, yoga is not my thing. Like, I'm not really into that slow moving. And the first time I went, it just really transformed something inside of me. But to be honest, I hated yoga when I first started it. I hated it. I hated the smell of the carpet. I hated what the teacher was saying. I didn't like the heat. I didn't like the person breathing next to me. I was just, I had a lot of anger inside me, but there was something about it that made me want to keep going back. So I just kept going back. And then all of a sudden I realized, oh shit, I'm angry. It's me. It's not the people, it's not the teacher, it's not the floor, it's not the heat, it's me. And that was a really big moment of awareness. And it was through the body that I was able to have that awareness through my mind. And then if we fast forward, I've studied many modalities and uh EFT has been one that really transformed my life. And I was able to see where a lot of the trauma had come from that was stored in my body. Done a lot of kinesthetic, I've done a lot of somatic work, I've worked a lot with plant medicine, and I've had a lot of beautiful, different experiences working with modalities, and I usually just study them because I'm passionate about learning about myself and expanding my container of what I can hold in life. So that was the start for me. The yoga was the start, and that's why I teach yoga. It's not for the body and the postures or the flexibility or the strength per se. For me, it's about what are you, how are you becoming awake and how are you becoming aware and conscious of what the things that you're doing that aren't conscious? So my method of teaching is very about speaking to, as you described earlier, the higher self, the part of you that has that sense of knowing, that knows that you're not your stories, that you're not the things that happened to you. But yeah, that was the start of my journeys was yoga was in many ways a saving grace. And then I just naturally fell into, oh hey, do you want to do a 30-day challenge? I was like, Yeah. And then it was like, oh, hey, do you want to do the teacher training? I was like, yeah. And then I was like, oh, hey, do you want to teach? And I was like, yeah. And so I just kept saying yes. And then all of a sudden, now we're almost 17 years down the track, and I'm still teaching yoga. So it naturally happened as I responded to life. I guess that's the best way to describe it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 11:18

I feel like yoga is learning how to be present. Like every time I do it, I just I realize that like how my breath is. It just you listen to your body in such a different way. So I love that's the same thing that you've done. I've felt not necessarily just through yoga, but through different things. I've done lots of Reiki and things like that have completely transformed my life. I feel like I held for so many years my sexual assault. I held it in my hip. And for many years I couldn't even get a massage. They couldn't touch that area because it hurt so bad to the touch. And I had a like a Reiki massage that I didn't even know what it was. It was my friend was like, you have to try this healing energy massage. I will get it for you. You just make it to the appointment. And I was like, okay, let's do it. And it was the first time that I think that I didn't even say anything to her. And she like just asked me, and is there any anything that I should be aware of? And I was like, just don't touch my lower back. You can massage anything you want, just don't touch my lower back. That that's my like no. And she was like, she just kind of like grazed her fingers over my body and was like, Oh, you have so much sexual trauma right here. And she pressed on that area and really like concentrated on that area, and I cried the whole hour or so, whatever, however long I was there. But it was the first time I think I cried from the soul, from the body. My body cried, and since that point, it has been years since I haven't had like that persistent lower back pain that I can't even touch. Um, so it's so beautiful to understand that your body stores all of that in so many different ways. I know that I always store a lot right here in my shoulders, and it blows my mind and it's beautiful. I loved it. That's what got you into what you're doing now. So I just wanted to like I felt like, oh my gosh, I know that feeling. That's so amazing.

SPEAKER_00: 13:51

That's so amazing.

SPEAKER_01: 13:52

So many women reach that point where they feel stuck or uncertain about what's next. Believe me, I've been there a lot. So I'm speaking from experience. What are some of the key signs that someone is standing at a crossroads in their life and how can they begin to move forward with clarity?

SPEAKER_02: 14:14

I think the word that comes up is stuck. They feel stuck, they feel like they want to be somewhere or they're seeking something, or they know that they they know that there's something more for them, and they don't know how to get there, and they don't know why they're not there. There is a bit of, and so the stuck energy comes from the lack of clarity. There's no clarity around where they're going or what they're seeking, it's just they know that they don't want to be where they are, right? And so for me, that's the key sign that okay, that's someone that I want to work with, is they the desire is there to not be where they are, but they don't see the missing pieces. And I guess that's where the gold is for me because there's a lot of things that that I can see or feel into or into it that drives my work, that drives that ability to bring some things that are in the unconscious to the conscious so that there can be creative change so that there's no more excuses because I have a really big no bullshit approach, and most people who come to me know that. Like, I'm not here to listen to your stories, I'm here to listen to you, and absolutely I will support you and I will hold your hand and I will love you unconditionally, and I also won't put up with your bullshit. You know what I mean? Like, if you want someone to listen to you, then you can see a therapist because I'm not here to listen to your stories, I'm here to take everything that has created your life as it is, and then let's make conscious choices. Let's start to choose a different life, and then whatever is standing in the way of that, or whether it's fear or uncertainty or doubting or just that inability to make a decision, that's where I come in and sort of like I would say, I hold people's hands and put the guardrails around them and just go, okay, so just like that. That's the way we're moving through this. So yeah, that's what I feel like the signs are the stuckness. Like I don't know where I'm going, I don't know what to do. I feel stuck, and but they have that vision of something greater because if people don't have a vision of what they want and where they're going, we can't go anywhere because otherwise they're just gonna stay stuck in the looping. They're just gonna stay doing the same thing you've always done. You gotta know where you want to go. And so a lot of the work that I do is let's get clear on where you do want to go and what you do want in your life, and then let's start to move towards that.

SPEAKER_01: 16:42

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I again can clearly remember moments of that stuck feeling that you're just like, I know what I want, I truly, but I just don't know how I'm even like pushing myself there or pulling myself there. Like I have felt moments of stuckness, and even with this podcast, I didn't record for about a year and a half, I didn't put out anything for about a year, and it just I felt like it was not fitting, I didn't feel a flow with it anymore. It felt very like my energy wasn't there, and so I just took a step back and lived life and allowed life to kind of fall into place again. And the moment that I decided to make that switch, it felt so invigorating to know exactly what I wanted. I put boundaries around when I record, I put boundaries on like when I'm editing, and it just felt, oh, this is easy again. And it was just such a different energy. And so I I felt that like stuck feeling last year when I was like, just oh, it feels like it's burdened. I like I could talk to people all day long. That part is easy for me. I don't mind that the behind the scenes, the editing, all the other stuff. It just it became so much that I was just like, okay, I need to step back, and I don't know if it's gonna continue. I don't know, like I don't have a clear vision of where it's going, but right now I need to step back. And I felt very like, gosh, I felt like bad and guilty, and I'm like, but this was something that I have felt so passionate about. And then again, I like October came around and I was like tasked to do something that I've been that I've had on my heart, and I'm like, oh, I'm bringing it back, and it just felt so good. And I was like, all right, I'm only recording on these dates, I'm only like it felt like okay, I'm back and it feels really good. So yeah, like I gave myself like that permission to just take a step back and then take the momentum from there. So I just felt very connected to what you were saying. So you said you so you talk about creating your next chapter with ease, confidence, and zero self-sacrifice. What does that look like in practice? And what are some of the biggest misconceptions women have about pursuing joy and fulfillment? This is a big one.

SPEAKER_02: 19:42

Uh oh, okay. Might have to break that down into two part parts. Um okay, so um when you okay the first thing is that it all comes down to trust and the ability for us to. Trust ourselves. And if our experience in life hasn't been that we it hasn't been safe to trust other people, or we haven't known how to trust ourselves, this is pretty basic for most humans that when you're little, you might feel like I want to do this, and then you get you keep getting told no, no, you can't do that at school, or your parents say no, you can't have that. And there might be a part of you that really not just wants that, but maybe knows that's what would be in your best interest. Not in all cases, but in some cases, and you learn over a period of time not to trust what feels good to you and what feels right to you, and over that repetition, because we as human beings, we learn through repetition always. So the more patterns get repeated over and over and over again, it becomes unconscious. So we're not aware that's happening, but it's just happening, right? And so what it feels like to me is that in the majority of the people that I work with, especially with women, they just don't trust themselves and they don't know how to trust themselves because they're always too busy putting other people first or thinking that they need to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of whoever. And I'm like, but you and your healthiest, like you in your prime, you and your joy, you and your abundance, like that's what we're after. Because when you're that, you're that for everyone, and everyone can feel that, and they they're energetically on that wavelength. So I think what it comes down to, and the reason why people get stuck, especially women, is because they don't know how to trust themselves. They have a feeling about something, they have an insight, and they don't then make a decision. So they don't trust themselves, and then when they do have something, they just don't act on it. They don't, they so they freeze and then they get stuck because they end up doing what they think they should do, they should all over themselves, is basically what they do, is they just go, I should do that, or this is what society expects of me, or this is what I should be doing. And so I think that's where the biggest, like in the work that I do right now is teaching women that it's safe to trust yourself. And I know what it's like to not trust myself, and I know what it's like not to trust people around me. The people who should be keeping me safe were actually abusing me in many ways and exposing me to being abused. So I get it, and it's not an excuse, it's not an excuse to say that you don't can learn how to trust yourself, you can teach yourself how to love. You the this doesn't come from outside of you. This doesn't come from another person, this comes from within you. And so it's learning that part of you that is all-knowing and that can see the further vision, trust it. And again, it's through repetition. So the more you trust yourself, the easier it gets. And when you trust yourself, you make the decisions. And then I think with decision making, you just got to back your own decisions. It's okay to make a decision that doesn't turn out the way that you want it to turn out. It doesn't mean that it was a wrong decision, it means it was a learning opportunity. I don't believe in right or wrong or good or bad. I don't believe in that. And in parenting, I don't say to my kids that's bad and that's wrong. I say that's an interesting choice you made. And look at how life has taught you the consequences because life will show up and show us whatever it needs to show us. Like, we don't need to step in and think we need to show. Like, life will just keep giving you the opportunity so that you can learn to trust yourself and that you can learn how to make decisions. There's a second part of your question. I can't remember what was the second part of your question.

SPEAKER_01: 23:37

What does it what does that look like? What does it look like in practice? And what are some of the biggest misconceptions women have about pursuing joy and fulfillment?

SPEAKER_02: 23:48

Yeah. So it's this lie that if I sacrifice everything, then that makes me like a good human. But the truth is when you're abundant and when you're joyful, and when you're living your truest self, and when you're trusting yourself and you're making decisions, you then are the highest vibration. Like you're then the light, right? And and then you can be that for all the other people. You can still do all the responsibilities. It doesn't mean you don't do responsibilities because you're happy. You can still do everything that you're doing, but do it from a different energy. This is where it the problem lies. If it's a problem, is that people are so caught up in this, I'm gonna self-sacrifice for what reason? For what reason are we self-sacrificing so that you can feel like you're a martyr or because it's a habit that you're used to? Because I know what that's like. I was used to being treated like shit. So how dare I feel good? I was not worth feeling good. And you learn that. You learn how to feel good, you learn all these things, but it's through repetition and it's through kindness, and you cannot beat the shit out of yourself and think you'll create a life you love. It's not gonna happen. So you can only love yourself to create a life that you love. You gotta be really kind and patient and generous with yourself. That takes time, takes practice.

SPEAKER_01: 25:16

It does. I feel like I've always had to, I was a single mom, so I completely understand feeling so much that I had to like self-sacrifice. And and in 2015, my oldest daughter was I think 12 at the time, and she was had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I was just handling everything on my own, and my body was just like, no. I've heard from a mentor that I've listened to for years. When you have dis-ease in your body, it creates disease. And so that year I had cancer twice. I had cervical cancer come back twice. I had a surge surgery the first time in the summer, went through depression, decided that I needed to be here for my children. So I started to take care of myself. I started to work out and started to eat right and started to listen to personal development and get really get into a space of putting my oxygen mask on first. Um because I realized in that moment that okay, if I don't take care of myself, I may not be here next year for my children when they need me the most. And so it became like, nope, I still got all the things done. I just woke up a little earlier, worked out in the morning rather than at night where I was exhausted. Like I learned how to wake her up in the morning just a little bit different. I would do it after I meditated so that my energy was in the right place, so that I didn't go into her room with this anxious energy of, oh my gosh, what is the day gonna look like? Because the mornings were crazy and it like trickled into the rest of the day that way. And and then I so I started to really focus on my health in August. In October, I go back for my follow-up and the cancer came back, and that's when I I decided with my doctor to do a full hysterectomy because that was the fourth time in my life that I had gotten cervical cancer. So he was like, You have three kids, like you're in your 30s. This isn't what I would recommend to just anybody, but this has been recurring, and so I was like, All right, so I decided to do the surgery. I had a full hysterectomy in December, but in that time frame, I continued to work on myself and take care of my my not only my physical body, but my mental and spiritual and emotional body. And it was so bizarre for me to go into my surgery a week later, go to my follow-up, and the doctor's like, Maria, there was no signs of cancer in your pathology report. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I can't even believe it. But it taught me that the moment that I decided to take care of myself to put my oxygen mask on first to make sure that me, I was happy and I was in a good place and I was doing something for myself, everything started to like work itself out and everything and my body started to respond to things. And so it was it blew my mind in that moment. I was just like, Oh my gosh, is this really happening? And then that trickled into how I parented, how I talked to my kids. You said we tell our kids consequences, right? That life will teach you. And I tell them that all the time, like, okay, this isn't the best choice, I don't think, but good and bad choices have good and bad consequences. So it you'll see life teaching you the lessons, or you can learn from the situations that you've already been through, the choices that you've already made. And are you gonna continue to have that happen, or are you gonna learn from it? And so yeah, it's crazy and beautiful how that works, and I agree 100%. Like the moment that you're the victim of your situation, then your body's like, no, no, no, and then everything just becomes more difficult.

SPEAKER_02: 29:47

Agree, yes. 100%.

SPEAKER_01: 29:50

So I want to hear about gene keys, number one, because I've never heard of that. So from what I understand, you weave embodiment and gene keys into your work. How do these tools help women connect more deeply with themselves and then navigate through major life transitions?

SPEAKER_02: 30:10

Yep. Okay, so the gene keys is a system that is based on uh essentially astrology and the i Ching. So the I Ching is called the Book of Changes and it has 64 hexagrams, which is it's about life is always changing and evolving. And astrology is, you know, where's the moon? Where's the sun? Where's Venus? Where's Mars at that particular time that you're born in the location that you're born at the time that you're born? Okay. So you combine these two and you get given a chart, which the chart's free, so I can give you the notes to for people to go and have a look at their own chart. And like any system that you're working with, sometimes you can get the results and you can read it and you can be like that's spot on, but you can look at the chart and go, I don't not know what this chart means. Like, what are all these circles here and these lines doing that? And then sometimes the tendency is to dishing disengage from those methodologies. Now, the gene keys was very different for me because I've never really been into astrology or human design or any of those things. I am into what we call woo-woo or spiritual things, but I've never really, I've never really been able to resonate with the astrology because it feels complicated. But the gene keys is like an uncomplicated version of astrology. So it takes, okay, this is where you were born and it gives you these keys. Now, these keys will tell us what are the things that you what are your shadows? So your shadows are like the things you can't see. So when you turn to see a shadow, it hides, right? Like you can't see the shadows. So what the gene keys do is it shows us, okay, well, this is what your shadows are, these are what your gifts are, and this is what your highest potential is. Okay. And so many of us, we already know what our gifts and our shadows are, but no one's really put a word to it. Like you might know what you're really good at, and you might know exactly what you struggle with, but it's a whole different story when a system brings that and puts it in front of you, and you look at it and you go, Oh, yes, that is. And in a way, yes, yes. So, in a way, it's very confronting because when you see your shadow parts, it can be quite like, oh shit, man. But at the same time, it's so beautiful because this is a practice where you just know the shadows and then you contemplate them. That's it. So it's this practice is a practice of contemplation, it's a practice of gentleness, it's a practice of just watching these patterns as they're unfolding and becoming more awake and more aware. So it's not a it's not a, oh, this is your shadow, this is what you can do to fix it. It's like this is your shadow, watch it show up. And it's there's three different portions to the sequence. So one is based on your life's like work, like what is it that you do? What is your purpose? How do you how does your body most feel alive? So that's the first part of the sequence. And then we look at your relationships, and this goes into what do you attract into your relationships over and over and over again? What are your emotional defense patterns? What is the thing that you do to defend yourself from being hurt in your mind, in your emotions, and in your spirit, three different ways? And then what is like the wound that you were given to heal for like all of everyone, like the collective that came through your mother's umbilical cord? So this can go really, really deep, right? And then the last part of the sequence is about how do you best prosper? Are you best in groups? Are you best one-on-one? And how do you use your money? Are you here to be a philanthropist? Are you here to celebrate life? Like, are you here to build a business? What are the things that make you thrive? And so this whole system holds all of those that they hold all of the answers. So it's very in-depth. But the way that I use it, and I've been studying it now for about five years, and it's a it's been a slow burn. It takes a lot of time to contemplate these things and understand the way it works. But what I do is whenever I do work with people, I give them a gene key reading. So I basically look at their whole profile and I say, okay, this is what I'm seeing. These are the things that you're really gonna struggle with, and this is the way that you do life, this is your expression of life. Like you play the piano, whereas I may play the guitar. So that's gonna be your flavor, and that might be my flavor. And these are your defense patterns. And so when you're doing work with someone one-on-one, it's really beautiful if you have a system that sits next to you. And when we're doing the work, I go, remember how there was that pattern that can show up? And it's like, oh, and it's not just Shauna telling you that this is what I see, it's also a system that's showing us, oh, this is your pattern. And we don't have to beat ourselves up for the patterns. We go, oh, there it is again. So, for example, one of my shadows is seriousness. Okay, it's one of my defense patterns is I get really, really serious. So when I get serious, I always do this. I go, oh, you're so good at being serious, Shauna. You are so good at it. Like you can nail the seriousness and it lightens up the energy around the seriousness. Now it's like from the seriousness comes this beautiful gift, like this ability for this clarity that comes through because of the seriousness. So, this is the thing is every shadow is bringing us these gifts. So when I'm working with someone, we're focusing on the gifts. We're not focusing on the shadows, but we're using the shadows to reflect back. Oh, okay, this is showing up and I can see it for what it is, and we're gonna move through it together. We're not gonna, we're not gonna allow it to pull us down a rabbit hole. We're not gonna go deep into our mind and overanalyze it, but we're gonna use it as this tool for deep transformation. And in the past years of working with the Gene Keys, it's transformed my life because I can really see myself and I have words to use. Oh, entropy. Okay, it's like this deep depression where the creative energy gets locked. Yes, that's been my experience over and over and over again. And every time I can see it's happening, I can call it out. I can say, There it is again, there's my pattern. And that might not be your pattern, Maria. Yours might be something else. So, but it's beautiful because when we know these things, it helps us to again wake up, be aware, like be conscious, yeah, and then move into a new state of being. So that's I love the gene keys because I just think it's such a powerful tool for creating change.

SPEAKER_01: 37:17

Yes, I love that. It's like shining a light so that the shadows don't we don't allow the shadows to swallow us up and more like oh, okay, I see you. You're there again. All right. Yes, I can maybe work at this a different way. Love that so much. I'm so interested in that. I'm all about the woo and all the things that that bring the woo. I'm like, I want to know this is something new. I love that. It's like things in our toolbox, right? So that would be a good idea.

SPEAKER_02: 37:53

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 37:54

I love it. Love that so much. So you work with women from many walks of life. What are some of the most powerful shifts that you've witnessed when they're embracing their feminine nature and letting go of old patterns?

SPEAKER_02: 38:11

Yeah. A lot of healing happens, and that's a real generalization. But I'll give you an example of one client, and she came to me and she was in, she was in an accountant and made good money, and she was in a dead-end relationship where she had been in the relationship for many years, but there wasn't a lot of joy, there wasn't a lot of fulfillment. She was feeling a bit, we'll use the word stop. And after our work together, she went on and she studied Chinese medicine and became a Chinese medicine doctor, and you left her role in in accounting and left her relationship. And now she's she's single and she's independent and she's doing what she loves, which is practicing Chinese medicine. So, you know, that that's an example of what can happen when people really decide to move into the things that their heart is really calling them to do. But many other things are just I I always say, like, you can make the change and you don't have to leave your marriage, but if you want to leave your marriage, you can. Do you know what I mean? It's like whatever people are seeking, I'm here to support you, but I'm also here to support you in whatever capacity you feel like you need supporting. But I think that's probably one of my favorite stories. And just one recently, like this is really recent, is a gal I was working with is like I've just hit that retirement age and my kids are on their way, and I don't know what's next for me. I love my art and I just don't know what I can't concentrate on my art. And so we just cleared out some of the stuffness that was going on, and now she's presenting her art in art galleries as a regular thing, which is so beautiful, and she's feeling light and happy and doing what she loves in this chapter of her life. And I think for me, it's about moving into a new chapter, we're leaving the Chapter, we're taking all the lessons from the previous, we're taking all the knowledge and the wisdom from the previous chapter, but we're stepping in into a new life. Whatever it is that people want to create, whatever it is that women want to create, it's there waiting for them. It's just whether they're willing to take that next step. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 40:17

That's amazing. Oh my gosh, I'm like living vicariously. I love hearing those stories because I love seeing those stories, but hearing them, I'm like, oh, this is just I love seeing transformation. Transformation in so many different ways. And so I've seen so many people transform many things in their lives. I've seen myself transform. And it is just such a it's such a beautiful thing to be able to see and experience and maybe just be back here and be like, oh my gosh, you're back here like, yay! Those stories are so for listeners who might be feeling a little lost, overwhelmed, or disconnected, what's one gentle first step they can take today to begin aligning with their next chapter?

SPEAKER_02: 41:11

Get into your body. So your body knows way more than your mind does, and the mind can be very deceiving, and the mind isn't necessarily right. So sometimes the way that we can really connect with ourselves is to just go beyond the mind and get into the body, and that can look like so many different things that can look like any form of exercise or movement of the energy in the body, or it can look like a massage or a Reiki. It can look like whatever you want it to look like, but just moving the energy that's in the body can really release a lot and it can help you from move from feeling stuck into some sort of forward momentum or just diving in the ocean if you have an ocean available, and just doing something where the stagnant energy of the thoughts get to move would be my recommendation. And doing that regularly, it doesn't need to be for a long time, it could be five minutes a day, but just get into the body, get out of the mind. The mind doesn't know at all, and get into the body.

SPEAKER_01: 42:15

Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I I definitely have to agree. There's just something to me, it's like dancing. The moment that I like can dance and move my body, like my it's so crazy how the energy just it just feels so much freer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 42:37

Indeed. Yeah, love it.

SPEAKER_01: 42:39

So, what limiting beliefs or roadblocks do you feel you had to overcome in order to get to where you are today?

SPEAKER_02: 42:49

Limiting beliefs. Probably all of them, no. All of the above have bad probably like the deep self-worth, like that I'm worth feeling joy and abundance. I'm worth having a happy life, like I am enough. That the that it's not based on who like the things that have happened to me. It's based on this deep, unchangeable part of me. So yeah, I think that was a big one. I had to reframe a lot of my beliefs around money and what money is and the impact it plays in my life, and and that it's that it's just a tool and not a and not an opportunity to hold fear. What other beliefs? Yeah, that I can do it, that I can be seen. I think being on podcasts has been that next level of being seen. I've always been seen in the yoga space, but to really share one-on-one in this capacity about the reality of what my upbringing was like when I did I don't really share a lot of that, and a lot of people wouldn't know that about me. It's yeah, it's that it's I'm safe to be seen in my fullness in all of my experiences. So yeah, I would say those are probably three big ones that I'm aware of at this moment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 44:05

I I love it. It's that's so beautiful. So, what daily habits or which ones do you say have helped you reach the level of success where you are now?

SPEAKER_02: 44:17

They've changed over the years. And this is always interesting because I feel like I get asked this occasionally. I get asked, what's the one thing that you do that really? But there is something I do right now at the moment that's really alive for me. And one of the things I do is I listen to Bob Proctor and he wrote a couple of books. Yep, yep. So she shakes her head.

SPEAKER_01: 44:40

That's yeah, I know who I'm very that's the mentor that I said that talked about dis ease in the body creates disease. I've put his thinking into results program. So, like, I have loved it. Okay, you can resonate.

SPEAKER_02: 44:54

Okay, I can resonate. So he does like an interview with Dan Strutzel, I think it is, or something along those lines, and it's change your paradigm, change your life. And I listen to that every day on repeat, and I've been doing that for about two months. So I just keep listening to it over and over every time in the car, and it just really keeps me awake and aware. And then I write down on a card almost daily, I am so happy and grateful I now, and then everything I wish to experience in my life. And I read those over and over, and I just keep reading, I am so happy and grateful I now, and just in that present tense. So for the moment, those are the two practices that I work with that resonate, and I'm sure that that will change in a few months' time, and that's okay, but that's working for me now.

SPEAKER_01: 45:40

So I love that. It's so crazy how again, two different parts of the world, and there's so many things that can connect us. It's so cool.

SPEAKER_02: 45:51

That's it, that's it. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 45:53

Oh my gosh. Well, I am super excited for our listeners to hear this today or to watch or listen or however they tune in. This has been so amazing, and I got so much out of today. So thank you so much, Shauna. I appreciate you jumping on and having a conversation with me.

SPEAKER_02: 46:14

Thank you, Maria. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01: 46:17

Yeah. So, listeners, as always, I will put every way to connect with Shauna in the show notes. And please go and try to connect and see how just the little things and being so much more present in your how things can shift. And I urge you to go and connect with her on all the places in social media worlds. But thank you so much for listening, watching, however, you tune in. I really, really, truly appreciate it. And uh peace out, love your life. Bye guys.