Welcome! My guest today is a fear-blasting, storytelling maven for entrepreneurs and people with a mission. Johanna Walker helps people put their stories out front to help change the world. Since 1997, she has helped hundreds break through their fears, step into leadership, and claim their place. She has worked with teenage girls, incarcerated women, fledgling entrepreneurs, and corporate executives, over and over witnessing the transformative power of telling our stories and speaking our truth.

Johanna is the co-producer and co-host of Boulder’s bi-monthly storytelling series, Truth Be Told and Fearless Solos. She has performed almost everywhere---and yes, we DO mean, EVERYWHERE—and she is a certified public speaking coach. Join us for Johanna’s story!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How a combination of circumstances and choice lead Johanna not to have a child.
• How she always assumed a child “would happen,” because that was the normal script to follow in life.
• How she began to question her beliefs, assumptions, and expectations—“If children aren’t going to give my life meaning, then where is the meaning?”
• How this decision has led her to be able to be connected to people and projects that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible.
• How she encountered pressure, judgment, and disappointment from her family.
• How she went through the grieving process for several years because she couldn’t see that anything else in life could make life worth living.
• How she felt alone and isolated for a period.
• How she even went through a time of not wanting to hear or celebrate other people’s joys around parenthood.
• “Bring forth what is IN you; if you don’t, then what is in you will destroy you.”
• How she learned to channel her creative life force and energy through storytelling and helping others express their creativity through speaking
• Ironically, she became a writer first and went through periods of silence, and then transitioned into speaking.
• Growing up, the best way she could be a “good girl” was just to be quiet.
• How she began to get a bigger picture of women’s voices, to tell her story, reclaimed her voice, and began speaking
• Johanna’s most fulfilling work is seeing people tell a story and hear their voice in a way they haven’t done before.
• Her advice to someone considering a “different” path is: “Use your voice. Tell your story in whatever your circle of influence may be.”
• The major benefits of her childfree life are the relationships with young people that are unique and different from the parent/child relationship. “I get to stand in my power as a woman separate from motherhood.”
• Johanna’s legacy is to be present for herself and others. “Show up, be curious, and then tell your story about it.”
• The lessons Johanna has learned are: “Let go of judgment and expectations and enjoy this extraordinary life. Be open to the possibility of the moment.”

Resources:

www.johannawalker.com

www.storyslamboulder.com

For more episodes of Unclassified Woman go to michellemariemcgrath.com

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share with another woman who you feel would benefit. Thank you so much!

Welcome! Today’s guest is Lesley Pyne, who is a leading coach for childless women in the UK, helping them to heal and create fulfilling lives. After unsuccessful IVF treatments, she spent ten years hiding from the truth of her life. She trained in techniques that helped her learn to let go of the grief and sadness. Lesley now uses her story, firsthand experience and professional skills to help other women heal. She facilitates them in being able to have a deep understanding of their experience, so they can embrace an adventurous, fulfilling life. Lesley's warmth and empathy shines through.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Lesley pursued pregnancy through six rounds of IVF and then determined that “that was enough.” She is childless through circumstance.
• It took ten years of healing before she found herself in the place to be comfortable talking about her experience.
• “Childlessness is the biggest gift in my life because without it I wouldn’t have the fulfilling life I have now.”
• Lesley shares the lengths that she and her husband went through to “give it our all and be able to look back with no regrets.”
• As women, we don’t always realise the limits on our fertility as we get older.
• During Lesley’s grieving process, she felt dark and alone for about a year, but she and her husband drew together and grew closer.
• She joined a support group and found powerful encouragement from sharing stories with the other members.
• The more that you share your story, the stronger you become.
• Lesley recommends to others that they believe that their life can absolutely be fulfilling, even without a child. She advises that women take advantages of the resources available and search out the help that is right for them.
• Making a difference and helping other women gives her meaning and purpose. Being in a choir helps, as does exploring different things and expanding her comfort zone.
• The major benefits of a childless life for Lesley are flexibility and freedom to do the things she wants and enjoys.

Find more more about Lesley's work at www.lesleypyne.co.uk

For more episodes of Unclassified Woman go to www.michellemariemcgrath.com  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe on Itunes and share with another woman who you feel would benefit. Thank you so much!

My guest today is Riikka Rajamaki, whose life passion is to help women unlock their creative and intuitive abilities after an experience of abortion or miscarriage. She teaches women how to move from fear to love by living out one of her life mottos: “It’s better to nourish the seed than to cry over the lost fruit.”

Riikka is the creator of Womb Quest, a certified spirit coach, wellness coach, gifted body worker, trained intuitive, and holds a masters degree in sociology.  Now based in San Francisco, she is originally from Finland, and says it took her years to realise that “the greatest journey we take is inside ourselves.” Her happiness is dependent on personal growth and her ability to remain centered and connected to her spirit. Join us for Riikka’s inspiring story.

In this episode, you can expect to hear:

• Riikka’s powerful and personal story of finding herself unexpectedly pregnant at age 36, married to a man who said that his life path did NOT include children;
• How Riikka was able, through meditation, to meet the spirit energy of her unborn child and experience a clear, guided moment of clarity;
• How Riikka, after that “miracle moment,” felt compelled to pursue a meeting with Richard Bartlett, whose metaphysical work she had followed;
• How her meeting with Mr. Bartlett resulted in an angelic visit in which her baby's soul chose to not come into physical creation;
• How Riikka subsequently suffered a miscarriage and entered a year-long grieving process, which was complete with shame, guilt, and blame for her husband;
• How Riikka and her husband found healing and a closer connection which led them to begin a business together, even though they are not together now;
• How Riikka’s experience taught her about dimensions of commitment to another person and how she had used and misused love;
• Riikka’s advice to others who suffer from guilt or shame:  DON’T rush out of the pain or try to avoid it.  Let pure tears have their time.
• Riikka supports the view that we, as a society, shouldn’t define each other based on whether they have children or not;
• Even though having a child expresses creative energy, there are other ways to express creativity also, like touch, writing, and movement;
• Riikka's advice for someone seeking meaning and purpose when they realise that a child won’t be a part of their lives: Connect with childhood passions, reconnect with happy moments from childhood, and find inspiration, passion and joy.
• Riikka shares her REAL definition of success and why she meditates to communicate with her spirit EVERY day;
• She created her home study course, Womb Quest, to teach others how to move from fear to love. The 16-week course is geared toward those who have lost an unborn child or are grieving some other loss.

Find out more about Riikka's work at

www.riikkarajamaki.com/wqinvitation and www.rikasf.com

For more episodes of Unclassified Woman go to www.michellemariemcgrath.com 
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe on Itunes and share with another woman who you feel would benefit. Thank you so much!

Welcome! My guest today is Anaiya Sophia, who is a mystic, author, and an initiator of Sacred Marriage and the Mystical Teachings of The Feminine Christ. A native of the UK, she is based at her guest house Amma Rosa in the South of France but teaches her transformational work worldwide.

She is a wellspring of both wisdom and experience and is known for her role in birthing New Paradigm Relationships and Divinized Sexuality. Her desire is to help people transition from codependent relationships to a thriving union based on Love and Freedom, held within a holy sanctified container.

Anaiya Sophia, is no spiritual lightweight. She is intensely committed to go through whatever humbling and fierce truth-telling is required to open to the full divinity that can, and will birth us.

Her work is streaming forth through the Feminine aspect of Christ Consciousness, which includes the Tantric, Virgin and Mystical expressions represented by Mary Magdalene, Mother Mary and the Black Madonna.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Anaiya became interested in deep, spiritual things at age seven.
• How an angel experience transformed into a Christ-figure for Anaiya.
• How Anaiya couldn’t turn from the momentum of the spiritual longing to have a child and family.
• She never had a moment when she really wanted to have a child.
• How she confronted the decision to not have a child with some grief, but an overwhelming spiritual longing.
• How a health issue led Anaiya to confront her own vulnerability in writing her book, Womb Wisdom.
• How Anaiya had to learn to trust the masculine in the form of her writing partner.
• How Anaiya created a “womb” atmosphere on the outside, that was full of mothering energy.
• How focusing on her own nourishment overflowed into peace and presence in other relationships.
• How she found a “womb” quality in everything in the universe.
• Every woman should realize the creative force within her womb and ask, “What Am I Birthing?”.
• The choice not to have physical offspring doesn’t eliminate all forms of offspring.
• How people need to find the balance between feminine and masculine energy.
• There is a transformation called, “The Return to the Divine Feminine.”
• How Anaiya’s home in the south of France is the vortex and epicenter of the divine feminine.
• For Anaiya, the benefits to not having a child are emotional openness and the time to deepen who she is and what she is becoming.

Find out more about Anaiya's work and retreats at www.anaiyasophia.com

See her books: Open Your Heart with Kundalini Yoga, Womb Wisdom, Pilgrimage of Love, Sacred Sexual Union and The Rose Knight.

I do hope you enjoyed this episode of Unclassified Woman. For more, go to www.michellemariemcgrath.com

My guest today is Christine Rose Elle, who is a business and life coach.  She is a certified Beautiful You life coach and the founder of The Heart-Centered Coach Community.  Her passions include styling, beauty, portrait photography, branding, marketing, and all things high-tech.  Her loves furnish her with the perfect set of skills to help other coaches discover their own skills and do meaningful work with their clients.  Christine offers free monthly online training for life coaches and soulful entrepreneurs who want to create and grow their dream business.  She lives and works in a tiny Victorian bungalow in Los Angeles with her husband and two amazingly spoiled dogs.  

Christine shares the following about her life without motherhood:

• Christine is childless through a combination of choice and circumstances.
• She realised early in life that she didn’t want to have children in the same way as many of her friends.
• She married early and then divorced at age 30.  It was at age 35 that she had her “epiphany” moment and realised that her whole life to that point had been lived for someone else and not herself.
• Other factors played into her decision to not have children.  She carried baggage from a difficult childhood, a chronic health condition, and negative interactions with doctors.  Regarding the possibility of giving birth, she said, “I CANNOT be that vulnerable.”
• She moved to Italy and met her husband.  They are content with building their lives together, and the time never seemed right to have a baby.
• Christine has never felt intense pressure from family and friends to become a mother, nor has she experienced intense regret or grief over her life choices.
• The decision to have children is a huge responsibility, challenge, and commitment.  “It’s not like buying an expensive dress, where you can just take it back if it doesn’t work out.”
• Some of the advantages of the relationship between Christine and her husband are the self-actualization and support they can give each other.  Christine also loves the personal time she has to read, write and create.  This wouldn’t be possible if she were busy raising a child.

Christine has many positive aspects to her life without children, and she says she is perfectly happy being “Auntie” to her nieces and nephews.  For her, having dogs also fulfils in a way, the nurturing, mothering instinct.  Join us for Christine’s story!

Find Christine online:

www.christineroseelle.com  (Her website, with links to her Heart-Centered Community and more.)

For more episodes of "Unclassified Woman" see www.michellemariemcgrath.com