Building a business is overwhelming. As a health coach, you’re thinking about social media, email marketing, your website, your offers, not to mention attracting your ideal client. If you’re feeling that burnout is coming on, it might be time to slow down, check-in with yourself, and find realignment by unblocking your chakras. When you’re in complete alignment with your business (and yourself) you will become unstoppable.
In today’s episode, I am talking with Monica Bravo, a Shamanic healer, transformational coach, and marketing expert who shares her best tips for building a business that is in alignment with you. Monica tells us how different chakras can be out of alignment, finding balance and grounding yourself using your chakras, why health coaches get blocked chakras (and how to avoid it), and the importance of breath work. She’s even sharing her daily practice for staying in alignment.
Rachel: Hey guys, I’m so excited to be here with my good friend Monica. And she’s also –well, I was about to say you’re a chakra specialist, but you’re so much more than that. Correct?
Monica: Yeah, I’m a shamanic Reiki master. I’ve taught yoga for over 18 years and empowerment coach breathwork facilitator and a mama.
Rachel: So I reached out to Monica and I was like, Alright, I have to know a little more about how your business can be in alignment, your health can be in alignment. So I say come on the podcast, everyone’s talking chakra, chakra essential oils, chakra foods. So why don’t we dive in for the people who are sitting here listening, all the coaches and wellness professionals? Tell me how and if a chakra is not in alignment?
How Chakra Can Be Out Of Alignment
Monica: Ah, well, I would say for coaches, entrepreneurs, business owners one way is really talking to that person. They’re holding back or they’re either not speaking their truth or they’re a really spiritual person. We’ve all seen this person, let’s just talk about this one specific person, this person is a coach or a business owner and they’re just ignoring their intuition. They are ignoring their spiritual, and they’re not speaking their truth about what they want to share. That’s a big one.
They’re fearful. They grew up maybe with parents that were abusive, or addicted, and they just don’t feel safe. As healers, we can energetically look at someone and go, Wow, you didn’t grow up safe, or you weren’t told that you were good enough? No, a lot of us raise our hands out there. A lot of us felt that way. And I tried a few of those. I’ve always had people say to me, Oh, your root chakra needs to be in alignment. It’s not. It’s blocked.
The Connection Between The Root Chakra & Safety
Rachel: You and I were talking about that word blocked, but you to describe it as more…
Monica: So chakras are spinning energies, right? We have seven main chakras, we have a lot more. But they’re spinning. When I do meditations, we actually spin them clockwise. We’re spinning them clockwise, when they’re blocked, you can even test it with a little pendulum. That’s what I do with my clients before they come in. I can feel it. I can put my hands and feel it. But if you are blocked, let’s just say in your intuition, so that would be up here. You would be blocking those urges that you feel in your stomach like, Hey, Rach, don’t go there. You ever got one of those?
Rachel: Oh, yeah.
Monica: But you’re like, I’m still doing it, I mean, look, I have been able to override it, and it’s something that I talked about a lot coming out of this burnout stage of my life. Not even just burnout in business, but burnout because I’ve always been this way and really needing my body to slow down. I was like, No, we’re not listening to you. I’m calling in faster.
Well, not so. When you see, if you felt safe in or anyone you meet business, specifically women, I went through this for years and years, if you don’t feel safe at home, you don’t feel safe with your parents, or you don’t feel safe with your husband. I was in that in my life. I didn’t feel safe. So how could I show up for my business? And that’s just your root chakra and thoughts off? We can’t even move up. Right? We’re trying to speak our truth. Without safety. We’re trying to own our power without safety. So that root chakra is money safety.
Rachel: What’s beautiful about your business is you see you work with business coaches to accelerate their business and we’ll talk about that with Facebook ads. But you also still have your health business. Have you found that in this last year and a half, I know for myself, that triggered a lot of safety stuff that went on when I was younger. I felt I was losing my mind.
Monica: Yeah. Well, most people were like, I don’t want to be home. I don’t want my family home. No, I don’t want that. There was a lot of people that separated because of that, right? Because it was like, I have to be home with that person that I’ve been literally trying to run away from.
What I actually felt is more like, I felt I had to be home with myself. I work from home. I’ve always worked from home, even when I worked. Even when I worked corporate, I had flexibility. But this last year and a half, that’s why I kept saying to myself, I’ve got to learn these tricks and these tools. The same thing we say when we’re coaching our health clients, I’m going to teach you these tricks and tools.
Finding Balance & Grounding With Chakras
I’m so sick of feeling this block here because I have this amazing frickin life now, but if you don’t feel if you’re running, right, I feel that’s the adrenals. All of us were like, Go, go. We’re coaches. So we are with the heart chakra, let’s just talk about that imbalance. We know how to give to others. But we don’t know how to give to ourselves. We know how to love others. But we don’t know how to love ourselves.
When you’re talking to someone you can immediately see that. People say I can’t meditate. I’m like, Well, how about this? That’s why I started doing breathwork with people because we can all breathe, right? We can just take five deep breaths.
But even then, people are like, what’s that feeling? Why do I feel I want to cry? You just have to be with yourself. A lot of people didn’t even know what that was. Right? Can you turn off the TV and just sit for a moment and just ground your energy. That’s a big one for the Root Chakra just ground your energy and say, I am safe. I am safe. I am safe.
Rachel: I think some people listening to this might be like, Oh, I’m Monica. And that because you love being quiet and you love that breath and that yoga work, it comes to you. Would you say it constitutionally comes to you? Or was that something you really had to work on?
Why You Need To Slow Down To Balance Out
Monica: I would say since I really want to connect to spirit, I am an intuitive and psychic since I once I felt wow, I’m doing this so I can connect. So I can balance those top chakras, then I was like, I want to do it. But do I forget? Yeah, yes.
I would say it really was the last few years of me saying because I’m that person that always exercises, running and working out at the gym and HIIT workouts and all those different kinds of workouts. But it got to a place where I was, I have to slow down, constitutionally on this way. But I have to slow down to balance out because I was sick of being fried.
I did an Iron Man. I was a marathon runner. But what happened is my spirit guides, my ancestors were you, I would just get injured and injured and injured. Then I went to yoga and my favorite part of yoga Shavasana. Just being there, and I could feel this lightness energy. When I felt those chakras balance, they’re spinning, but they’re open, they’re clear and I realized I want to be in that instead of the going and doing.
Techniques & Tools For The Business Owners Feeling The Burnout
Rachel: So for somebody listening, because we all talk about how we just want to be and this coach is saying, Rach, I know that building a business is overwhelming. We do get into that overdrive, what would be some techniques or tools that you would suggest for that person who’s feeling that burnout, and has a lot on their plate. As a health coach, you’re building your business, you’re thinking about social media, email marketing, your website your offers, let alone attracting your ideal client. So what is it? What are some tips that we could do as takeaways?
Monica: Super easy one is when you wake up, we know not to look at the phone, right? But just look out your window or sit for a moment and think about, oh, I’m grateful for this. I’m happy I’m in my body. I’m happy in my bed, the simple gratitude. But also in the millions of courses I’ve taken is just ground down, sit down and close your eyes and just imagine that you have a big tree in front of me. The redwoods here in California. But imagine that you are that tree and you’re just routing your energy and you’re breathing in and out. You’re just feeling that dropping in. Once you do it a couple of times, and this is for everyone, do it a couple of times. Then it will be okay.
Also crying. Having a good cry. When I did my first Reiki training 10 years ago, my teacher said cry every day. Put on a song that is gonna make you cry. I was like, I don’t want to do that. But now even with the breathwork, I have a lot of men coming to my classes now because they feel safe to purge, to bring up those feelings and get them out.
You can also punch a pillow. Get on your couch and get that energy out because the problem with these chakras is they get stuck or blocked. They’re just stuck and blocked and you’re not really doing anything to move it. That’s why yoga is really good. Because you can make it move.
Why Blocked Chakras Happen To Health Coaches
Rachel: Would you say the biggest area where it shows up for health coaches is not speaking their truth?
Monica: Not speaking their truth and not feeling safe. Not feeling safe is always the number one. They’re not feeling safe to do a video, not feeling safe to do social media, not feeling it. They’ve might have been told when they were a kid. And it all goes back to childhood. Sorry, everyone. But I mean, I think about it we going back to working with my shaman is we didn’t feel safe. So how can we go back? Once we clear that I’m safe in my body, I’m okay with the way I am.
Just recently, I’ve been putting videos out without a shirt and just my sports bra on that is a lot for me, I had a lot of body shame. A lot of people don’t know that. But I’ve been talking a lot about that. I have these roles. I had a seashell section. But now that I feel safe. Here you go, here I am.
How To Find Safety Within Yourself
Rachel: I love that you just gave that example of your own life. What would you say when somebody does not feel safe? So whether they’re working and they’re like, I want to go to this live, but all that fear that comes up? What would you say has helped you to get to that place of saying, I am safe, I’m present. I’m capable?
Monica: I would say is really connecting to my higher self, my higher purpose for me. But it’s not just for me every time for those coaches out there that you don’t do this, you’re actually taking away from your purpose. You’re taking away from sharing your gift and your message and your story with someone else. So I would do the grounding. Put some essential oils, I love oils, put oils on your solar, oils for grounding.
Rachel: Oh, Balance. You’re a doTERRA girl.
Monica: I love balance. I’m tough. I’m a fire, earth person already. But my friends that are airy, I would say that over cedarwood. Some really grounding oils, because those will just get you connected. But I love Elevation. I know they’re not making it but I had postpartum depression. I used elevation every day. Citrus Bliss. It’s shifting your mind. Rewiring the mind is huge.
If you want to go deep, I do hypnosis and things that. But going deep and finding a place in your mind. You could go, we call it the secret garden. And the shamanic perspective is know that you have a place that you can go, you can close your eyes and just go and sit in that special place.
Rachel: I love that. Do you go sit in your special place?
Monica: I gotta be honest, because this is about being honest on these podcasts that I do really well when somebody’s guiding me. That’s one I have to take time out to do that. I’m doing better at doing that. Because that quiet special place is where I feel that release. Everything just feels abundant. Whereas the opposite is everything just feels overwhelming.
I think we have to feel going back to the self-worth, we have to feel okay asking for help as coaches, right? We have to feel okay being guided. I have people saying Oh, I do your breathwork and it’s just amazing. But I want to do it all the time on my own. I do my own breathwork. I listen to my own voice guiding me because then I can keep it going.
How To Find Breathwork That Works For You
Rachel: Right? If somebody wants to do breathwork, I mean, of course they can hire you. What are some of your favorite places do you go? Do you suggest a certain app or do you say go on listen to videos?
Monica: You could go do videos of the Wim Hof Method. You’re laying laying down. You can look up shamanic breathwork, transformational breathwork, that’s what I do. It’s a three-part breath mouth open, so that you’re shifting the cells. It’s proven that shifting the cells also just do yogic breath. So look up Kabbalah bhakti Breath, which is the fire breath because from summer to fall, you might get overheated. You have to really, really push that breath. Alternate nostril breathing.
Rachel: Oh my gosh, I think that was the first breathing technique that really I thought, wow.
It doesn’t have to be just closing one nostril. Closing the one that you just were breathing in closing, opening and breathing out and breathing in that same nostril. Closing that one of. Breathing out. Breathing in that same nostril. You were breathing out. Closing it and releasing it right there. How do you feel rates just doing that? Warm? fuzzies?
Monica: Yeah, so I would say alternate nostril breathing is really good.
Rachel: Really, because that is so easy. That’s the thing that you could just do. When you’re stressing, getting your stuff together for your freebie, or I just think of so many things that coaches say they’re always, Thank God, I found you because I was trying to create content, but I’m so overwhelmed. I don’t know where to start.
Why Overwhelm & Burnout Happen + How To Stop It
And I always say, Okay, it’s going to be overwhelming., I wish that I could tell you there was this one magical thing that helped. But staying really positive, staying grounded through that time. So you don’t go into a mass burnout. Because burnout is really easy for any of us to go into.
Monica: Yeah, it’s super easy. It’s something we do to ourselves is keep ourselves busy, right? So we keep ourselves busy because then we feel safe. We don’t have to stop and look at what’s going on inside our bodies, right?
The chakras are going to be unaligned. What about those people that lose your voice? I did that till maybe five years ago, I lost my voice twice a year. That’s a throat chakra because I didn’t say I’m a healer. I didn’t say that. I was like since I was a kid. Even my dad, my seven-year-olds doesn’t everybody do that? I mean, they all do it and they never talk about it. We weren’t talking about the truth of who we were and how we were feeling. So that throat, so speaking your truth, but even goes deeper than that. Am I okay to speak my truth? Am I connected to my truth? Because we as coaches the first year, let’s think about that, Rachel. There were coaches who were just copying everybody else.
I remember, I had to put myself in a timeout looking at other people. Because I was in such comparison syndrome that if I didn’t seriously turn everything off that I would be able to pursue. That’s one of the greatest gifts that I gave myself in year one and two. I think in year two and a half I was like, I better start looking at what we’re doing. But you’re still shooting darts and just hoping that one of them sticks.
Rachel: Would you say that’s how we are instead of just listening to other people listening is another throat chakra thing?
Monica: You’re talking too much, right? And you’re not listening. If I would have just listened to what my client, the people around me, wanted, I had already taught yoga at that time for 10 years. I could have just done what they wanted. And actually, that’s what I do now. So if I have a couple of people, and this is for everybody out there, if you have a couple of people that asked you for something, then it’s wanted.
Breathwork. People have asked me for 10 years to do breathwork. Now I put up classes and people come and oh, sorry, I just know it’s okay. It’s because I just listened, Okay, I have integrity. I’m going to listen, this is what they want. Do I like it? Do I really enjoy doing it? Well, I teach it. And then you get feedback. You get those testimonials and you show that you’re in alignment.
What It Looks Like When You’re In Alignment With Your Business
Rachel: That’s what our next question was. What does it look when you are in alignment with your business? I think you just even answered that partly of what that what alignment does mean and you’re able to tap into your intuition.
I always hear coaches who say, well, everyone’s telling me I need to be an X coach, this is the most profitable type of coach and I always sit there and say, but you’re not even believing that. What is calling to you? And then being able to tap into what feels right and progress through.
Monica: When you are aligned, and at the base is you are earning money and you feel worthy of earning that money. You’re charging what you should be charging. This is a big one. How much should I charge? You should charge what you feel you should charge right?
But also the second chakra is the creative. Right? This is a big one. Can you be sexual? Sensual? Can you be? I was on the dance team. I tell people I did air bands. I was a Super dancer. I love doing these reels to do that stuff. But can you show up and do that? Can you create? Can you birth new things on your own? Or are you stuck? You can see that that creative center stuck on those people they just can’t finish? I think we can go to places where we are stuck.
Rachel: Would you say one time maybe a chakra is not blocked, but then it is for whatever reason?
Monica: Yeah. Somebody says something or something happens or a client does something. And then you’re like, oh, and you? Everyone out there you feel it? You’re here? Oh, my head hurts. This is not good. I’m not where I should be. I’m not where I share in the sense of power. are you feeling powerful? Or are you feeling, you’re just following people?
Daily Practice For Staying In Alignment
Rachel: So for your daily practice, what you do to keep you in alignment? Can you share a little about that?
Monica: I try to do yoga almost every day. It’d be every other day. I usually do ballet bar or yoga. It’s only 20 minutes. So let’s be real. A lot of yoga teachers do not do an hour, 90 minutes. No, that is too much. Because we’re already tired. Right? So 20 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes of breathwork, and then some meditation, which is totally doable for anybody in this busy world.
Yeah, and just being able to say a huge one for me, especially in the pandemic time was sitting outside alone in my garden, and just looking around, and then I started seeing dragonflies and all of these little animals coming towards me, and I thought, wow, this is what we’re supposed to do.
I think we just were human doings, right? Instead of human beings. A lot of us don’t want to just sit and look around. But if you practice that five minutes and I’m telling everybody out there 10 years ago, when I was starting my healing work I’ve looked at people what are you talking about?
So it’s possible. Again, marathoner, Iron Man’s everything. I had two kids and I was training for marathons now I’m like, why?
Rachel: So for anybody who wants to find out what it’s to work with you can you just share where they can find you?
Monica: You can watch my silliness on and this is being in your truth on reels at rapid manifestation today you can go to Monica Bravo calm, which is actually my original health site, which I won’t take down because it’s when I did health coaching has my yoga goodies, all of that stuff. So you can find me on Facebook a lot of people want to be seen so I have a video marketing course but it’s more to do with ads than it is to do with actual video the actual video I do give you a script but really if people knew that just showing up live you can do that on Facebook, Instagram, show up live and just speak your truth. People are going to watch it. But what I teach is how to use those to use them for ads and remarket and target and really get other people excited and see you as an expert. And I’ve worked with many of your clients Rach and they are always amazed, wow, people, they say they just keep seeing me yeah, you don’t have to be. You don’t have to bug your friends or all of that. You can but you could also just show up in people’s News. feeds and I have actually a meditation on rapid manifestation today on Instagram and Facebook. It’s just 10 Minute. And it’s a chakra balancing recoding the mind and it’s there.
Rachel: Well, I’m definitely gonna go check it out. Everyone should and I would say no matter what time of year, it’s so important to focus on this stuff. I know that one of our freebies that sells the most is our chakra freebie, because everyone, no matter what niche you’re at, a lot of people talk about chakras.
Monica: Yeah, I have your chakra course I taught it in Facebook group over seven days. I did just a talk about the chakra each day when the sacral then I showed the crystals the oils to use and then I did a little meditation for each day.
Rachel: Well, that’s entirely why I wanted you to be here. It’s not just because you use our freebie. When I think of you, I really think of alignment. You’re that person that just came to my mind when I was like, I want to talk about this because I know everyone right now is feeling a little more stress than normal. So if you are feeling that way, and you have benefited from this, please let me know in the comments. And Monica, it’s been a pleasure to have you you want to say anything before we leave.
Stop Waiting For Perfection & Practicing Self-Love
Monica: Yeah, one big thing I hear I need to say is don’t wait till your life is perfect and your website is perfect and everything is perfect to show up for yourself. I have not had a perfect life. I’ve been through disasters, a couple of them natural disasters, regular disasters, but if you stay in tune with yourself, stay in tune with your intuition in your gut and just really feel into should I be doing this? Am I on the right track? Ask yourself. You don’t have to look outside to feel what you need to do inside you if you just listen and you can listen to some of my meditation. Just listen what do you hear when you go quiet?
And not wait for that perfect moment because everyone thinks that there’s going to be another course, this other coach this, we just think that something’s going to make this perfect match instead of just starting and take out hydrants and listening to your gut and intuition.
Everybody out there has so many amazing resources especially with you, Rach. I mean, that’s how I started. I was getting a free three-day detox and letting adding my own twist to it. But sharing that so I didn’t have to do all the things and get help where you need help. I decided this year I’m not taking any more courses. I’m just going to hire people to do my podcast that’s going to come. I’m going to show it have someone show me how to set up my video correctly. Instead of doing it all myself. Instead of expending that energy and going into any type of burnout and stress.
If you could do a little, everyone do a little work on love. This is one of those things, Louise Hay is, can you say I love myself? When I used to do that in the beginning. I would just cry. I love you. Where do you feel it? That’s the easiest way honestly, you say I love myself. Where did you feel that? Heart, belly? The easiest way you’ll find what’s out of balance is right there. Okay, I’m gonna work on my throat, say I love you too. Oh, that’s my stomach. That’s my solar plexus. I got a pain in my shoulder. So these are super simple things.
A lot of people that are watching this are women, right? So women are born medicine women. No one can take that away from us. That’s the one thing my shaman said, no one can take that away from you. You’re a woman, you’re born a healer. I think that is one beautiful place for all of us to know and to come back to because it can get overwhelming and then we start doubting and not just robs from that place of self-love.
You’re not for everyone and that’s okay. I’m a little harsh for people. It’s okay to say it how it is. I think everybody you should know you’re not going to be for everybody and just do what you can. Maybe you don’t want to do everything everybody’s doing and that’s okay. But tuning into yourself and loving yourself so that you can help other people is super important.
Rachel: Well guys, if you have not fallen in love with her mental thing, relisten to this podcast. Monica, thank you so much for being here. And guys, again, take a look at Monica’s work. Make sure that you follow some of the tips. There are some really great ones. Don’t go into burnout.
But make sure that you start and just start without perfection. Do that imperfect action, do it scared, but make sure you’re aligned. Make sure you’re breathing, recoding, aligning these are all part of her Bravo method.
Alright guys, it’s been good to be with you take it easy. Bye.
