Written by Kelly Wolf, Integrated Energy Medicine Practitioner Kelly Wolf is an acupuncturist, educator, animal communicator, clairvoyant, and Planetary Sound practitioner. She is passionate about bridging ancient wisdom and the unseen world with modern perspectives. She explores the transformative potential of sound, frequency, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and consciousness. At first glance, a tuning fork seems almost too simple to be therapeutic. Two metal prongs, a handle, and a gentle strike that produces a clear, sustained vibration. No electricity, no elaborate machinery, and sometimes barely an audible sound. Yet when a weighted tuning fork is placed against the body, something remarkable happens. The vibration is no longer simply heard. It is felt. It travels through the skin and underlying tissues, activating sensory receptors and creating an experience that can be surprisingly profound. This is what I find so fascinating about tuning forks. Their appearance is deceiving. Behind their simplicity lies an interaction between sound, mechanical vibration, the nervous system, and human perception. But what does science actually tell us about their therapeutic potential? Everything begins with vibration Sound is a mechanical wave created by vibration. When a tuning fork is struck, its prongs oscillate at a particular frequency, measured in hertz (Hz). A 128 Hz tuning fork, for example, produces approximately 128 cycles of vibration every second. When we hear a tuning fork, sound waves travel through the air and stimulate our auditory system. When we place the stem of a vibrating fork against the body, mechanical vibration can also be transmitted directly into the tissues. These are two different ways of experiencing the same vibrating instrument. In my work, I use both weighted and unweighted tuning forks. Weighted forks are particularly interesting because their vibration can be felt directly against the body, while unweighted forks are often used to create a clearer audible tone. The physical effects depend on the frequency, amplitude, contact pressure, placement, and duration of the vibration. It is important to understand that although sound and vibration have measurable biological effects, research has not yet established that individual frequencies used with therapeutic tuning forks produce specific healing outcomes. The nervous system recognizes vibration One of the most compelling scientific connections involves the sensory nervous system. Our skin contains specialized receptors that respond to pressure, touch, movement, and vibration. Among these are Pacinian corpuscles, which are especially sensitive to rapidly changing mechanical stimulation. When vibration reaches these receptors, mechanical movement is converted into electrical signals that travel through sensory nerves to the brain. This process is known as mechanotransduction. In other words, a tuning fork does not need to penetrate the body or produce a loud sound to be detected by the nervous system. The body is designed to recognize vibration. In fact, physicians have used tuning forks for neurological examinations for generations. A 2024 study published in BMJ Open investigated the use of a 128 Hz tuning fork to assess vibration sensation in 149 people with diabetes. The researchers found that the tuning fork test correlated with measurements from a biothesiometer, supporting its potential usefulness in screening for peripheral neuropathy. This is an important distinction: the study demonstrates that tuning forks can help assess sensory nerve function, not that they repair damaged nerves. Nevertheless, it confirms something fundamental. The nervous system responds to these vibrations in ways that can be measured and clinically evaluated. Can vibration influence pain? Pain is not simply a message travelling from an injured body part to the brain. It is a complex experience influenced by sensory input, emotions, attention, expectations, and the nervous system's interpretation of incoming signals. One of the best-known explanations for how sensations that are not painful can influence pain is the gate control theory proposed by Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall in 1965. Their theory helped establish that sensory signals can influence how pain information is transmitted and processed. This is one reason rubbing an injured area may temporarily reduce discomfort. It also provides a plausible scientific framework for investigating vibration as a stimulus that can modulate pain. In my practice, I find it interesting that clients sometimes describe a weighted tuning fork as soothing or comforting when applied to an appropriate area. Could some of that experience involve sensory modulation? Possibly. However, we must distinguish research involving broader vibration therapies from research involving handheld tuning forks. The same results cannot automatically be assumed for both. The potential is worth investigating, but a tuning fork should not be presented as a proven treatment for chronic pain or neurological disease. Sound, stress, and the relaxation response One of the most noticeable experiences during sessions involving sound is the shift from mental activity toward relaxation. People may arrive feeling overwhelmed, restless, or physically tense. As the session progresses, they sometimes report feeling quieter, calmer, and more connected to their bodies. There is scientific research supporting the broader relationship between interventions involving sound and emotional well-being. A 2017 observational study by Goldsby and colleagues examined 62 participants attending Tibetan singing bowl meditation sessions. Following the sessions, participants reported reductions in tension, anger, fatigue, and depressed mood. They also reported increased spiritual well-being. This study did not investigate tuning forks specifically, and because it lacked a randomized control group, it cannot establish which part of the experience produced the changes. Nevertheless, it offers an interesting starting point for understanding why structured sound experiences may influence how people feel. Research involving music therapy has also reported benefits for anxiety and pain in certain clinical settings. A systematic review by Ulrica Nilsson examined 42 randomized controlled trials of music interventions around surgery and found beneficial effects in approximately half the studies. These findings suggest that auditory experiences can influence emotional and physical comfort, although they do not establish equivalent therapeutic effects for tuning forks. The relationship between vibration and the brain The brain is continuously processing sensory information. Sound is particularly interesting because it engages networks involved in auditory perception, attention, memory, emotion, and sometimes movement. A single tone can attract our attention. A familiar melody can evoke a memory. A rhythmic sound can influence how we experience time. A gentle vibration can bring awareness to a particular part of the body. This relationship between sensory stimulation and conscious awareness may help explain why sessions with tuning forks can feel different from ordinary relaxation. When someone concentrates on a sustained tone or physical vibration, their attention may shift away from repetitive thoughts and toward immediate bodily sensations. That experience resembles aspects of mindfulness and meditation focused on the body. It is not necessary to claim that a tuning fork forces the brain into a particular brainwave state to appreciate this possibility. Specific claims about tuning forks reliably producing theta waves, delta waves, or particular neurological changes require direct experimental evidence. Why frequency matters Not all tuning forks produce the same sensory experience. A 128 Hz weighted tuning fork feels different from a 256 Hz fork, partly because their frequencies and vibration characteristics differ. The human body is not equally sensitive to every frequency. Sensory receptors respond differently depending on the characteristics of the stimulus. This is why frequency selection matters from a physical perspective. However, frequency alone does not determine a therapeutic result. Amplitude, duration, location, individual sensitivity, and the context of the session may all influence the experience. I believe this is where sound practitioners have an opportunity to combine curiosity with careful observation. Rather than assuming that a particular frequency must produce a predetermined result, we can pay attention to how individuals respond. Analog vs. Digital sound: The benefits of natural vibration One of the most fascinating aspects of tuning forks is that they produce sound and vibration acoustically, without digital processing or electronic amplification. When a tuning fork is struck, its metal prongs vibrate naturally, creating a continuous physical oscillation that gradually diminishes as energy dissipates. Unlike sound played through a digital recording and speaker, a weighted tuning fork can transfer mechanical vibration directly into the body through physical contact. This creates a unique combination of auditory and tactile stimulation that may enhance body awareness, sensory engagement, and relaxation. Digital sound, although capable of reproducing audible frequencies with extraordinary accuracy, generally requires a separate mechanical device to deliver comparable tactile vibration. From a therapeutic perspective, the potential advantage of an acoustic tuning fork lies not in analog sound being inherently healthier than digital sound, but in its direct, localized vibration, natural decay, and immediate sensory connection. These qualities may help explain why some individuals find sessions with tuning forks particularly grounding and calming. In my experience as a planetary sound practitioner, there is something profoundly different about feeling the vibration of a tuning fork directly through the body rather than simply listening to a recorded frequency. It becomes an experience you don't just hear. You physically feel it. Research into the sensory nervous system helps us understand why this distinction may be meaningful. A 2013 review by Abraira and Ginty, published in Neuron, examined the specialized sensory neurons responsible for detecting touch and mechanical stimulation. Their research describes the sophisticated pathways through which the body detects and processes tactile information. When we experience vibration directly through the skin, we engage sensory pathways that are different from those activated by listening alone. This gives us an interesting scientific foundation for understanding the distinctive sensory experience of weighted tuning forks. However, direct clinical evidence demonstrating that acoustic tuning forks produce superior healing outcomes compared with digitally generated sound or vibration remains limited. Perhaps the greatest advantage of a tuning fork is not simply the frequency it produces, but the intimate relationship it creates between sound, touch, and conscious awareness. How tuning fork vibrations affect our cells, mitochondria, and DNA When we think about sound healing, we often imagine vibration travelling through our muscles, bones, and nervous system. But what about the trillions of tiny cells that make up our bodies? Every cell is a living structure that responds to its surroundings. Cells can detect physical forces such as pressure, stretching, and movement. Scientists call this process mechanotransduction, which means turning a physical force into a biological message. Imagine gently pressing a doorbell. The pressure activates a mechanism that sends a signal. Similarly, specialized proteins in cell membranes respond to mechanical forces and can trigger signals inside the cell. When a weighted tuning fork touches the body, its vibration creates small mechanical movements in the tissues. Some of these movements can stimulate sensory receptors. Whether the vibration meaningfully affects deeper cells depends on its strength, frequency, placement, and how it travels through tissue. But what about our mitochondria? Mitochondria are often called the powerhouses of our cells because they help convert nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy our bodies use to function. They also participate in cellular signalling and responses to physical stress. Researchers are investigating how mechanical forces can influence mitochondrial activity in experimental systems. Could therapeutic vibration influence cellular energy regulation? It is an interesting question, but there is no convincing clinical evidence that placing a tuning fork on the body increases mitochondrial ATP production or improves mitochondrial health. What about our DNA? Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is our body’s instruction manual. It contains the genetic information that guides how cells develop, function, and repair themselves. Research shows that mechanical forces can influence signalling pathways involved in gene expression, which is how cells use instructions encoded in DNA. That does not mean sound vibrations rewrite DNA or that a tuning fork can repair damaged genetic material. Those claims go beyond available evidence. What I find remarkable is that our bodies are not passive structures. From the skin and nervous system to individual cells, we are constantly responding to physical information from our environment. The gentle vibration of a tuning fork offers a tangible way to experience this connection. Perhaps the most exciting question is how future research might help us understand the biological effects of precisely controlled vibration. The power of simplicity Perhaps the most deceptive quality of a tuning fork is that it does not look powerful. We live in a world where sophisticated technology is often associated with effectiveness. Yet a tuning fork demonstrates that even a simple mechanical instrument can create a precise vibration and a meaningful sensory experience. It can be used to assess vibration perception. It can provide a focused tactile stimulus. It can produce a sustained audible tone. Within a carefully designed relaxation practice, it may contribute to an experience of calm and bodily awareness. Science supports some of these effects directly. Others remain promising questions for future research. For me, the value of sound healing lies not in pretending we have all the answers, but in recognizing how much there is still to explore. Beyond the physical body So far, we have explored what happens when vibration meets the physical body. But what about the experiences that are harder to measure? Why do some people report emotional releases, vivid imagery, spiritual connections, or a profound sense of inner stillness during sound healing? Why have ancient healing traditions associated sound with consciousness, energy, and spiritual transformation? These questions take us beyond the measurable mechanics of vibration and into the fascinating relationship between frequency, intention, consciousness, and the energetic body. Continued in Part 2: The deceptive power of tuning forks: Frequency, consciousness, and the energetic body. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Kelly Wolf Kelly Wolf, Integrated Energy Medicine Practitioner Kelly Wolf is an acupuncturist, clairvoyant, animal communicator, and Planetary Sound practitioner dedicated to supporting the health and well-being of both people and animals. Her mission is to educate, empower, and inspire others by integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine, sound, frequency, and energy medicine into a holistic approach to healing and consciousness. References: Chattopadhyay, S., et al. (2024). Can the 128 Hz tuning fork be an alternative to the biothesiometer for diabetic peripheral neuropathy screening? BMJ Open, 14, e082193. Melzack, R., & Wall, P. D. (1965). Pain mechanisms: A new theory. Science, 150(3699), 971 to 979. Goldsby, T. L., Goldsby, M. E., McWalters, M., & Mills, P. J. (2017). Effects of singing bowl sound meditation on mood, tension, and well-being: An observational study. Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 22(3), 401 to 406. Nilsson, U. (2008). The anxiety and pain reducing effects of music interventions: A systematic review. AORN Journal, 87(4), 780 to 807. Abraira, V. E., & Ginty, D. D. (2013). The sensory neurons of touch. Neuron, 79(4), 618 to 639. Jaalouk, D. E., & Lammerding, J. (2009). Mechanotransduction gone awry. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 10, 63 to 73. Kelly Wolf is an intuitive practitioner, acupuncturist, planetary sound practitioner, and metaphysical educator. Her work combines Traditional Chinese Medicine, practices involving sound, and spiritual exploration.

Written by Versandra J. Kennebrew, Speaker, Author & Healing Artist Versandra J. Kennebrew is a motivational speaker, healing artist, and holistic health educator with over 20 years of experience. As founder of Optimal Living Retreats LP, she helps couples, communities, and wellness professionals deepen connection through touch. She received Brainz Magazine’s 2025 CREA Global Award. Her work promotes relationship wellness, emotional intimacy, and holistic healing. Self-awareness is the foundation of every healing journey. Psychologist Daniel Goleman, known for popularizing the concept of emotional intelligence, describes it as “the ability to monitor our inner world,” a skill that allows us to recognize our emotions, patterns, and the unconscious habits shaping how we relate. Without self-awareness, even the most loving relationships can feel strained or disconnected. I once worked with a massage client who felt deeply hurt by the lack of intimacy in her relationship with her fiancé. She was convinced the problem lived entirely in his behavior, his distance, his silence, his lack of affection. But through gentle coaching, she began exploring her own internal landscape. What she discovered surprised her: beneath her longing was a fear of vulnerability, a habit of withdrawing emotionally, and an unspoken expectation that her partner should “fix” her emptiness. That moment of introspection became a turning point. She realized connection is created together, and self-awareness is the first step toward meaningful change. This is the heart of my new guide, 5 Nonverbal Practices That Deepen Connection, where I write: “Deep connection in relationships is not only fostered through words but is profoundly shaped by how we communicate beyond them.” Based on feedback from past retreat attendees and veteran couples who have attended workshops and forums, this guide is an eye-opener. Inside the Relationship Wellness Community powered by Skool, readers can download the full ebook and explore practices like intentional touch, soulful eye gazing, synchronized breathing, mirroring movement, and presence without distraction, each designed to strengthen trust, empathy, and emotional attunement. Take a few moments right now and slowly breathe in and exhale. Ponder this statement: “I can identify when past experiences are influencing how I respond in the present moment.” How do you feel as you sit with this statement? What comes up for you? Is your response yes or no? This self-awareness is your gateway to relationship wellness, and honesty with yourself is required. If this short reflective exercise was difficult, engaging in a supportive community focused on holistic wellness for one hour each week could be just what the doctor ordered. Final thoughts Connection often begins with a willingness to notice what is happening within us. Before we reach for the right words or ask our partner to change, we can pause and ask ourselves: What am I feeling? What am I protecting? What do I need, and have I made room for the other person’s needs, too? These questions invite us to approach each other with curiosity and honesty. The nonverbal practices in this guide offer simple opportunities to bring that awareness into everyday life. With both partners’ comfort and consent, a moment of intentional touch, a shared breath, or a few quiet minutes together can become an invitation to reconnect. There is no need to force closeness or get every practice right. Start with what feels comfortable for both of you, and allow trust to grow at its own pace. Relationship wellness is an ongoing practice of noticing, listening, and choosing how we respond. Some days, connection may feel natural. On others, it may require patience, a clear boundary, or the courage to acknowledge a difficult feeling. Each moment of honest awareness gives us another opportunity to meet ourselves and each other with greater care. Call to action: Begin your relationship wellness journey today Take the complimentary Relationship Wellness Check Up to explore how effectively you communicate verbally, nonverbally, and emotionally. Download the full ebook, 5 Nonverbal Practices That Deepen Connection, inside the Relationship Wellness Community powered by Skool. Join a global circle committed to empathy, connection, and relational healing. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Versandra J. Kennebrew Versandra J. Kennebrew, Speaker, Author & Healing Artist A certified yoga teacher and graduate of Irene’s Myomassology Institute and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Versandra blends science, spirit, and storytelling to create immersive wellness experiences. Her book, Touch Me With Love: Intimate Alignment for Couples Through Touch and Yoga, is a cornerstone of her mission to restore trust and deepen love through intentional touch. Whether speaking on international stages or mentoring future wellness leaders, Versandra’s message is clear: love is the force that binds us, and touch is its language.

Written by Constanze Zientek, Women's Coach Constanze Zientek is a women's coach who works with highly sensitive women in their thirties, helping them to cultivate inner strength, embrace embodied leadership, and build an authentic, aligned life. Her approach blends emotional depth, clarity, and self-trust. Have you ever felt like you were meant for more, but it still feels too far out of reach? Like the experiences that you are having in your career or in your private life are not even scratching the surface of your potential, but you don’t really know how to look for more? No matter how hard you try, you always feel like there is an invisible limit holding you back from your actual potential, but you don’t know how to get over it? If that is the case, you are not alone. You’re likely experiencing a glass ceiling in your own advancement. What is a glass ceiling? While some limits are very visible, glass ceilings are almost invisible limits to what a person can be or achieve in their life. It’s like a very well-hidden limit that determines the maximum amount of growth, evolution, or luck that is allowed to happen to a person and therefore often keeps them rotating in the same lane, without the possibility of change or big pivots. Potential areas include salary, career opportunities, relationships, friendships, every imaginable skill (learning a language, an instrument, a new sport, or only a few of them), or simply the feeling that you don’t deserve what’s good. It is the feeling that you can’t do or have something because you’re not skilled, able, or worthy enough to have more or something different. A glass ceiling can, without any doubt, tie a person to a state of misery, but it doesn’t have to. Actually, a glass ceiling is more likely to tie people to situations where they feel like their current state is not extraordinarily great, but still just fine. That’s because the glass ceiling acts like an invisible barrier wherever people feel that going higher will eventually lead to everything currently existing falling apart or bring up more risks and responsibilities. As we can see, there are different types of glass ceilings after all. Some examples are the glass ceiling of power and influence, the glass ceiling of income, the glass ceiling of expansion, the glass ceiling of luck and ease, and the list goes on. Career and education can be classic fields for glass ceilings to appear in. However, they can also appear in relationships if things seem to be “too good to be true or too harmonious.” Glass ceilings can also arise in any other opportunity that seemingly comes together a little too smoothly (just picture getting an unexpected gift and thinking right away, “What do they want from me in exchange? Am I being scammed here?”). Many times, glass ceilings appear in very subtle ways and therefore become almost unnoticeable in the first place. They can appear as a feeling of unworthiness while secretly desiring a raise, the wish to be treated in a different way in personal relationships, a feeling that it’s impossible to pick up a new hobby, project, or habit, or simply the fear of doing too many different things at once. There can be uncertainty about being able to handle it and, of course, about what people might think about it. A glass ceiling is the silent force that wants you to stick to your current identity because that’s what you are and what feels safe to you. It’s what makes you stick to “being realistic” when you secretly feel like there’s more to explore, but fear that there’s so much more to lose. The hidden cost of staying beneath it As much as the glass ceiling might serve as a protection mechanism in the first place, it comes with a hidden cost whenever it is simply fear that is holding a person back from growth and evolution. That cost is losing touch with one’s own desires. Whenever a person continually dismisses what they truly want, the chances increase that they will sooner or later develop a habit of dismissing their own desires and start living a life they have learned to adapt to, but never aspired to create in the first place. That feeling can further increase resentment, self-doubt, and frustration, which can eventually become permanent and have a detrimental effect on their physical and psychological health over time. On top of that comes, of course, the fact that not only the person but also those around them might unknowingly suffer from that person holding back their true potential. 10 ways to lovingly smash your glass ceilings 1. Recognize the ceiling you have learned to call your limit As already mentioned, there are various ways in which a glass ceiling can show up, such as the glass ceiling of power and influence, the glass ceiling of income, the glass ceiling of expansion, and the glass ceiling of luck and ease, to name only a few. The very first step is to become conscious of which ones are yours. Since glass can be completely transparent, it’s often hard to discover. Ask yourself what thoughts come up when you think of getting bolder, bigger, and more versatile than you already are. Do you feel like it would be too much responsibility and come with a hidden cost? Do you feel like it would attract the envy of others and you might lose some people? Do you feel like a fraud? Do you feel like another role would just be too much to take on? Do you feel like it would be too good to be true? Do you feel like you would have to carry too much at once? Take your time to get to know your glass ceilings. Sit with them for a while. The more you get to know them, the better you can start to approach them in different ways and ultimately start to lovingly smash them. 2. Ask whose rules you’re still living by Ask yourself where your individual glass ceilings originated. Are they something you picked up in childhood? Where were they taught to you? Sometimes we realize that we’ve been living by the rules our teacher introduced when we were in third grade, even decades later. Get clear on how they have been serving you. There might not just be a downside to them, but also a benefit. Cherish the benefit, but also look at the downside. What does the glass ceiling cost you? What ways could you find to still cherish the relevant benefits even if you moved forward from your current standpoint? One example of this could be the conviction, “I have to work really hard to prove myself to be successful.” This belief could once have motivated you to deliver extraordinary results and really go the extra mile in order to achieve your goals. But nowadays, with more experience, capabilities, and a deeper awareness of your own needs, it might create a glass ceiling because it might leave you feeling chronically unprepared for stepping into a new role or project and therefore cause unnecessary anxiety that actually hinders you from reaching your current goals. 3. Find evidence to believe a different story We are more likely to believe in ourselves once we have created the evidence that we are actually capable of overcoming challenges, adversities, and our very own limits. Ask yourself about all the moments when you have overcome some invisible or visible limits, your own doubts or those of others. If you want to, write them down as an evidence log. Sit with those moments and let yourself feel into them. Adopt the thought that if you were capable of overcoming these hurdles in the past, you can always gather the strength to do it again. 4. Differentiate between inner and outer barriers Not every barrier is internal or mental. Some are external, and they can’t be changed by decision alone. Acknowledge whether there are concrete circumstances that are putting limits on you and to what extent. The goal is not to sugarcoat anything, but to become really aware of your circumstances and more compassionate toward yourself. There might be a way of overcoming the outside barriers, but the first step lies in simply noticing them. 5. Choose a small, consistent action So if there are actually external circumstances that are hard to overcome, how do you approach a glass ceiling? Support comes from creating the conditions that make change more likely to happen. If outer circumstances genuinely limit you, try to identify one circumstance you can influence and start working on that. Don’t pick any steps that will be difficult to sustain over time, but focus on steps that can be undertaken consistently to create lasting change. Ask yourself, “What is a step that I can take today and then maintain consistently to overcome my ceiling?” Then stick to that action. For instance, if financial insecurity is holding you back, start by educating yourself more on the topic and by creating a small financial cushion, if possible. Check in with yourself every week, and name and celebrate the steps you have taken. 6. Don’t wait to feel ready Once you have chosen the consistent actions that you are going to take, you might have to come to terms with feeling unready. The weird thing about feeling ready is that it often comes after you decide to do something and start putting your energy into it, but not before. Waiting to feel ready before taking action rarely works. Sometimes we truly have to play make-believe in order to bring something into existence, and readiness is a good example of that. With every step you take, you build the foundation for the feeling of readiness to develop. So don’t wait for readiness to appear before starting to apply your chosen doable, consistent steps, and trust that readiness will show up once you do. 7. Build community around your progress Change is easier if we don’t feel all alone while we’re implementing it. Getting together with people who think like you and help hold you accountable, while you do the same for them, can provide such valuable support in staying consistent. Also, it can really help you gather the courage to go further with your chosen steps when you feel like you’re not the only one doing it. 8. Let ambition and sensitivity belong in the same life You don’t have to be hard on yourself and disciplined in order to overcome your limits. In fact, it’s often quite the opposite that is more helpful. Taking an honest look at your sensitivities, weaknesses, and fears doesn’t keep you from evolving as long as you don’t make them your identity and let them stop you from going further. If you take them as an honest mirror of what you really need in order to overcome your limits, your sensitivities, weaknesses, and fears can show you exactly what to avoid and what to cherish in order to grow into the next version of yourself. 9. Practice setting boundaries if needed Not every outside opinion or seeming obligation is as important as it looks in the first place. If something truly keeps draining your energy, feel free to explore setting boundaries and making your needs very clear. Sometimes we get so used to doing things a certain way that we don’t even notice whether they are benefiting us and those around us. Sometimes a no is necessary to say yes to something else that matters. 10. Get into a safe container while doing it Getting in touch with people who think like you and have the same or similar goals can work wonders in helping you reach the point of smashing your glass ceilings faster. Working together with a qualified coach who will motivate you, hold you accountable, and give you tangible, applicable steps to move forward can absolutely boost your growth even further. Contact me today to take the first step towards smashing your very own glass ceilings, and let’s figure out how we can work together! Follow me on Instagram for more info! Read more from Constanze Zientek Constanze Zientek, Women's Coach Constanze Zientek is a women's coach working with highly sensitive women in their thirties. She supports them in cultivating inner strength, embodied leadership, and an authentic, aligned life. Her approach blends emotional depth, clarity, and self-trust. She furthermore practices as a lawyer with over ten years of work experience, specializing in inheritance law. Her work with clients in emotionally complex transitions, combined with her own journey through her thirties, led her to coaching. Today, she integrates structure and intuition to offer clear, deeply human guidance.

Oksana Sheremeta is an Authenticity Coach and creator of The Embodied Self Method™. She works with self-aware people who have read the books, done the inner work, and gained plenty of insight, but still catch themselves living according to what everyone else expects. Oksana’s path has never been a straight line. Born in Ukraine, she came to New York at 20 with $500 and no English. She became a Registered Nurse, opened a wellness center, published a gut-health cookbook, and built a combined following of more than 500,000 across social platforms. Her first viral video was imperfect, had a typo, and reached 10 million views. It took off when she stopped trying to follow someone else’s formula and did it her way. Oksana Sheremeta, Authenticity Coach What does it mean to you to move from knowing yourself to actually living as yourself? I like to say that awareness can show you the door, but only action can take you through it. In this case, knowing yourself is awareness. It helps you see your patterns, values, desires, and even parts of yourself you have hidden. But living as yourself happens on the other side of that door. You can spend your entire life standing in front of it, studying it, touching it, knocking, even trying to eavesdrop in an attempt to make sense of what’s behind it. You may even come up with legitimate reasons not to open it. But until you turn the handle and step through, that knowledge remains something you understand and feel, but not something you embody. Imagine you planted an apple seed. You nurture it, water it, study it, and one day it grows into a tree full of apples. You continue to nurture it and study all you can about these apples: what they taste like and what the tree needs to bear good fruit. But you never actually get to enjoy the fruit. Moving from knowing to living is allowing yourself to actually taste your apples and share them with everyone else. Why can someone understand their patterns deeply and still struggle to make choices that feel true to them? FEAR. At the most fundamental level, that’s what comes to mind. But it has a different shape, face, and flavor for each of us. When you peel back its layers, you often discover two fears. What will happen if I leave this familiar pattern behind? This is a fear of letting go: we are afraid to lose what feels comfortable and familiar. What might happen if I make the choice that feels true to me? This is a fear of what comes next: we are afraid of where that choice may lead us. Let’s peel back one more layer. Underneath both fears is meaning, the story we are telling ourselves about what each choice means. We may attach the meaning of safety, belonging, love, or being a good person to the familiar pattern. At the same time, we may believe that making the authentic choice means being selfish, disappointing someone, losing a relationship, or being judged by others. For example, you may know that a pattern is destructive, but if it also means, “This is how I stay loved,” knowledge alone will rarely be enough to change it. Until that meaning shifts, this pattern will continue to feel safer than what is authentic. How does The Embodied Self Method™ help someone recognize what their body may be telling them before their mind explains it away? The Embodied Self Method™ begins with Body as First Language. I call this somatic awareness: noticing what is happening in your body before asking the mind to interpret it. The body doesn’t speak in sentences. It speaks through sensations, tightness, heaviness, expansion, warmth, changes in breath, or the urge to pull away or move forward. The mind is fast. Within seconds, it can explain those signals away with, “I’m fine,” “I’m overreacting,” or “This is what I should do.” In the method, we slow that sequence down with a present-moment somatic check-in: What is happening in your body? Where do you feel it? What changes when you imagine one choice and then another? For example, the freedom to make my own decisions and choose how I live and work is very important to me. Whenever I consider a decision that may take away that freedom, I feel as though I’m suffocating, as if someone is holding me by the throat. I now recognize that sensation as a signal of misalignment, but I didn’t always understand it. I learned by noticing the pattern and deepening my relationship with my body over time. The goal is not to treat every sensation as a command, verdict, or diagnosis, but to lean into it with curiosity. Over time, people learn their bodies’ unique language and begin recognizing misalignment before habit, fear, or other people’s expectations talk them out of what they already sense. Where do you think the personal development industry places too much emphasis on insight and not enough on embodiment? I think the personal development industry places too much emphasis on the breakthrough moment and not enough on what happens afterward. It is very good at helping people recognize patterns, name beliefs, and experience powerful realizations. But it often stops before integration, before helping someone carry that realization into an ordinary Tuesday. This is why we often confuse feeling moved with having moved. Don’t get me wrong, a breakthrough matters tremendously. It can open the door, but opening the door is not the same as walking through it. Embodiment means practicing the new choice after the emotional high fades and the familiar pattern still feels safer. It is setting the boundary during an actual conversation, saying no while the guilt is rising, or choosing differently when there is no audience or applause. The problem isn’t insight. The problem is treating insight as the finished product. A realization becomes transformational only when it begins to shape how someone responds, chooses, and lives. What changes when resistance is treated as something protective rather than something to overcome? When resistance is treated as an obstacle, we often try to muscle through it with more discipline or massive action. That puts us into a fight with ourselves and uses enormous energy. But when we understand that resistance is protecting something, compassion becomes possible. We stop forcing ourselves and start listening to ourselves. Instead of asking, “How do I overcome this?” we can ask, “What is this protecting? What do I need to hear? What is one aligned next step that feels accessible right now?” When that protective part feels heard, the internal guards begin to lower. The energy we were using both to defend ourselves and fight ourselves becomes available for perspective, choice, and action. We may discover that resistance isn’t saying, “No.” It may be saying, “Not like this. Not this fast. Not yet. Or not without support.” The path may still require effort, but we no longer have to swim upstream because we assume that is the only way forward. Life begins to feel easier, not because the work disappears, but because the way we approach it becomes more aligned, sustainable, and rewarding. We are no longer doing the work and fighting ourselves at the same time. How can someone tell the difference between genuine inner knowing and fear, conditioning, or temporary discomfort? Discernment is not an intellectual formula. I wish I could offer a perfect checklist, but it is more like this: once you know, you know. Learning to trust that knowing takes practice. At the most basic level, I believe discernment begins with somatic awareness, learning to notice and understand the signals of your body. Some people call it a gut feeling. As we deepen our relationship with the body, somatic awareness can open the door to intuition, a higher inner wisdom that arrives before the rational mind can fully explain what we know. Here is where it gets tricky: the body doesn’t always offer a simple yes or no. An authentic choice may feel uncomfortable because it is unfamiliar, while a conditioned choice may feel safe simply because we know it well. Expansion and contraction are clues, not conclusions. The journey toward discernment also involves meeting all parts of yourself, the good, the bad, and the ugly, without immediately rejecting or obeying any of them. Over time, you recognize how each one speaks. Fear may feel urgent and fill your mind with worst-case scenarios. Conditioning often speaks through “shoulds” and other people’s expectations. Temporary discomfort may soften when you pause and give yourself time. Inner knowing is often quieter and steadier. Fear may surround it, but it keeps returning. Sometimes the distinction is: “This scares me, but it still feels like me,” versus, “This feels like what I should choose, but it requires me to abandon myself.” You develop discernment by practicing self-trust until you recognize what remains true underneath the fear. What is one practical way to begin expressing yourself more authentically when you are used to meeting other people’s expectations? One practical way is to learn to pause before answering. When you are used to meeting other people’s expectations, “yes” can leave your mouth before you have even checked in with yourself. Before responding, take one conscious breath. That brief silence may feel like an eternity, but it gives your own voice time to enter the conversation. Then practice saying, “Let me think about it.” Sometimes that pause may last a minute, an hour, or an entire day. What matters is that you don’t give an answer before giving yourself a chance to hear your own voice. Inside that space, you can notice what is happening in your body, what you actually want, and whether your answer is coming from truth or from fear, guilt, and the role you are accustomed to playing. Authenticity doesn’t have to begin with a dramatic “no.” It can begin with not giving an automatic “yes.” If you recognize the pattern only after the moment has passed, that moment isn’t wasted. Instead of criticizing yourself, replay it with curiosity: What did I actually want to say? How would I like to respond next time? Rehearsing the response in your mind helps make a new choice more accessible when the pattern appears again. The goal isn’t to respond perfectly every time. It is to practice not abandoning yourself automatically. The pause is where self-awareness becomes choice, and choice becomes authentic expression. What did your own transition from nursing and wellness entrepreneurship teach you about the cost of choosing a life that feels true? My transition taught me that the real cost of choosing a life that feels true is not simply the money, time, relationships, or identities you sacrifice. Those are the forms of payment. The real cost for me was surrendering the guarantee that my choice would produce the result I wanted. The cost of choosing a path that feels true is transformational rather than transactional. In a transaction, you give something away because you expect a specific return. In transformation, you invest without knowing what the return will be, what form it will take, when it will arrive, or even whether you will recognize it. When I stepped away from the security of a nursing paycheck and invested five years and $150,000 in my wellness center, I hoped to make a specific amount of money, which would then prove to me that I was on the right path toward a life that felt true. When it closed, it felt like a complete failure. Only later could I appreciate that it has given me much more: public speaking, creativity, intuition, business experience, and the ability to lose something, get back up, and begin again. As I finally stepped into this chapter of my life as an Authenticity Coach, I realized that the deeper lesson wasn’t that every investment eventually pays dividends. It was this: if you choose a path only because it guarantees a particular result, you’re not choosing the path. You’re choosing the result. When you choose a life that is authentically yours, you are not buying a result, you are choosing alignment. Transformation begins when you stop asking, “Will this choice pay off?” and start asking, “Is this choice mine to make?” What would you want someone who has done years of inner work but still feels stuck to understand about their next step? What I would want them to understand is that their next step doesn’t need to be big, perfect, or life-changing. They may not need to keep digging for one more reason why they are stuck before they allow themselves to move. If you have done years of inner work, you have already gathered knowledge, recognized patterns, and experienced powerful insights. At some point, more understanding simply becomes more understanding. Integration begins when you do something with what you already know. Your next step is to give yourself permission to take one small action that gives expression to something you already know to be true. Set one boundary. Say the words you keep rehearsing silently. Decline one thing that doesn’t feel aligned. Begin something that continues calling you. There is a humorous version of a familiar saying: if you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. If you can’t crawl, at least lie down facing the direction you want to go. It makes me laugh, but the meaning is profound: your speed matters far less than your direction. You don’t need to understand everything before you act. Sometimes action reveals what more thinking cannot. Your next step doesn’t have to take you all the way there; it only has to move you from understanding into experience. If you need support turning what you know into something you can actually live, that is exactly where I meet people in my work. Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Oksana Sheremeta

Written by Dr. Asanee Brogan, Ori Alignment Coach Dr. Asanee Brogan is an Ori Alignment Coach, Ifá educator, and author. She is the founder of Asanee 44, a spiritual brand rooted in the Ifá tradition that offers lineage-based guidance and support through Ifá divination, Odu Ifá wisdom, and Ori-centered ancestral work. She is also the host of the African Spirit Reintegrated + Reimagined podcast. Maybe it started with a dream. Your grandmother, gone for years, standing in her kitchen and calling your name the way she used to when dinner was ready. Or maybe it started with a pull you couldn’t explain. You found yourself up late, reading about Ifá, watching videos about the Orishas, and feeling something stir inside you that seemed both new and strangely familiar. Then the changes kept coming. You started sensing things more intensely. You can sense the energy of a room as soon as you walk in. You know who’s calling before the phone rings. Conversations that used to be normal now leave you drained. The friendships, the job, and even the goals you worked so hard for no longer feel right to you. You are likely in the middle of a very real spiritual awakening journey. But living through an awakening and understanding it are two different things. You might ask why this is happening now, why your grandmother appeared, and why these forces are calling you. That’s where Ori alignment comes into play. Understanding the awakening journey The phrase “spiritual awakening” appears everywhere now, from social media captions to books on self-help. Underneath the popularity is a sincere experience. An awakening journey is when your awareness expands past the beliefs, habits, and expectations you are familiar with. It is a call to wake up, and for many people it marks the first time they ask who they are outside of familial and societal constructs. An awakening usually doesn’t happen all at once. It manifests in stages, sometimes over months and often over years. Some of the most common signs include: Heightened intuition, such as knowing information before anyone tells you Vivid dreams, including visits from relatives who have passed away A shift in values that changes how you spend your time, money, and energy Losing interest in people, places, and habits that once fit your lifestyle These stages can be beautiful. They can also be disorienting, and most individuals experience both at different points. One part of the journey can bring peace and heightened synchronicity. The next may be filled with confusion, loneliness, or grief. Awakenings also don’t belong to any one religion. They happen to teenagers and grandmothers, to devout churchgoers and individuals who have never set foot in a temple. They arrive after a loss, a birth, an illness, or for no clear reason at all. For a growing number of people, an awakening leads them to Ifá. The dreams, the pull toward the Orishas, and the sense that your ancestors are reaching out to you often point directly to the tradition. Once you arrive, Ifá offers a resource that the awakening experience doesn’t. It gives you a way to understand the experience through your Ori (inner head). Understanding Ori In Ifá, Ori is your personal divinity. Ori has two distinct aspects: the inner head and higher consciousness. Through Ori, you remain connected to the destiny you came here to fulfill. Before you were born, your Ori chose your destiny. That choice included the purpose you came to serve, the gifts you would bring, and the lessons you would learn. Then you arrived on Earth without remembering any of it. Much of life is the process of remembering and walking the path your Ori selected. Ori also holds a unique place among the forces in the tradition. The Orishas guide and support you. Your ancestors protect and correct you within their assigned roles. Your Ori, however, is the one force that accompanies you through your entire journey, from before birth through every stage of life. No one else can make your choices for you or live your destiny on your behalf. For this reason, Ori sits at the center of Ifá practice. When your decisions agree with your Ori, doors tend to open. When they don’t, you often find yourself stuck in the same cycles, no matter how hard you try to break them. What Ori alignment looks like Ori alignment is the practice of living in agreement with the destiny your Ori chose. It takes the insights from your awakening and grounds them in your daily life. It often starts with Ifá divination. Signs, dreams, and intuition can point you toward the truth, but divination provides confirmation and guidance on the next steps to take. A reading shows you where you stand with your Ori and how to move into greater alignment. Ebo is the next layer. These sacrificial offerings, prescribed through divination, help set you back on course when you’ve drifted from your path. Ebo also protects you as you work toward fulfilling your destiny. Iwa pele, or balanced character, is the foundation of it all. No offering can replace living in integrity and adhering to your taboos. Ori alignment also shows up in everyday choices. Whether to take a job, end a relationship, or make an investment is a question of your destiny, not your emotions in the heat of the moment. The core differences Spiritual awakening and Ori alignment are not competing ideas, and neither ranks above the other. They differ in purpose and scope. Spiritual awakening describes a shift in awareness. Ori alignment describes how you live once that shift has begun. Here are the key distinctions: Awakening describes the opening of awareness. Ori alignment describes living in agreement with your chosen path. Awakening can happen in any tradition. Ori alignment is rooted in Ifá cosmology. Awakening raises questions about who you are beyond your conditioning. Ori alignment points you to your Ori as the source of those answers. Awakening changes how you understand your life. Ori alignment helps you make decisions about your path based on that insight. Together, the two complement each other. Awakening opens your eyes, and Ori alignment shows you the path forward. How Ori alignment supports the awakening journey Ori alignment does not replace your awakening. It gives the experience context and purpose. An awakening often brings experiences that seem disconnected. Ori alignment helps you understand why these experiences are surfacing and how they connect to your divine purpose. The journey can also become disorienting or even chaotic. You may lose the relationships, routines, and beliefs that once defined you, which can throw you into a whirlwind of emotions. Guidance through Ifá grounds you during these cycles, so the changes have meaning and you know how to navigate them. Signs you are ready to move from awakening to alignment Every awakening journey reaches a point where awareness alone no longer answers your questions. When that happens, it’s a signal that you need greater support. These signs often show that your journey is inviting you toward Ori alignment: You want concrete answers about your experiences, not more speculation You keep repeating the same cycles despite your new level of awareness You want guidance for your individual journey, not generic advice that doesn’t speak to your specific circumstances You are ready to experience balance, not only affirmation or confirmation If any of these describe where you are, your awakening has prepared you for the next stage. Ori alignment first steps Ori alignment begins with a few practical steps. You don’t need to know everything about Ifá to start. You only need a willingness to listen and follow through. Here are some steps you can take once you’re ready to work with your calling: Seek a reading from a qualified Ifá priest or priestess to learn how to align with your Ori Follow the guidance given in your reading, including completing ebo and honoring any warnings or taboos Commit to developing iwa pele, or balanced character, in your daily life Seek Ori Alignment Coaching for deeper guidance and support as you integrate your experiences From awakening to alignment Think back to the dream of your grandmother calling your name. The late nights watching videos or reading about Ifá. The way you sense the energy of a room and the friendships that no longer fit. Your awakening opened your eyes to it all. Ori alignment helps you understand why it happened and where it leads. Instead of wondering whether your experiences mean anything, you learn how they connect to your destined path. You make decisions about your life circumstances with confidence. You know where you stand, and you know which path to take. Your spiritual awakening started the journey. Ori alignment helps you walk it with purpose. If you’re ready to take that next step, Asanee 44 offers Ori Alignment Coaching to support you as you learn to understand your awakening, follow the guidance of your inner head, and live in agreement with your destiny. The work is yours to do, but you don’t have to do it alone. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Dr. Asanee Brogan Dr. Asanee Brogan, Ori Alignment Coach Grounded in years of study and practice within the Yoruba-based Ifá tradition, Dr. Asanee Brogan creates accessible learning resources. These tools guide individuals toward ancestral reconnection and Ori alignment. Through Asanee 44, she provides Ifá divination, rituals, products, courses, and more that honor African spirituality with authenticity and cultural integrity.

Written by Ann-Kathrin Petersen, Healthy Love Coach & EFT Practitioner Ann-Kathrin Petersen is the author of "Ellavate: 7 Steps to Elevate After Toxic Love" and host of the podcast Team Ellavate. As a trauma-informed healthy love coach, she helps women heal from toxic relationships, build self-worth, raise their standards, and create healthy, secure, and deeply fulfilling love and relationships. Ladies, we need to talk about how much emotional real estate we give to men. Some of us are running businesses, raising children, building careers and managing entire households. Then a man takes six hours to reply to a text, and suddenly we're conducting a full psychological investigation. What did he mean? Is he losing interest? Did I say something wrong? Should I text again? Is it his attachment style, his childhood, or Mercury retrograde? Girl. At some point, we need to ask: why is a man getting 90% of our mental energy when he might not even be giving us 10% of his? This is where my 90/10 Rule comes in. No, it isn't a trick to make him chase you. It's about getting your life back. The 90/10 rule: Put yourself back at the centre The principle is simple: direct 90% of your attention towards your own life, including your health, friendships, ambitions, finances, children, personal growth and happiness, instead of letting a current or former romantic partner occupy your entire mind. The numbers aren't a scientific formula or a literal time budget. They're a memorable reminder of where your focus belongs. Your life is the main event. A relationship can be a beautiful addition to it. I believe in healthy, committed love. But I don't believe you should put your life on hold waiting to be chosen. Loving somebody should never require abandoning yourself. After a breakup: Stop making your ex your main occupation After an unhealthy relationship, we can become obsessed with understanding the other person. Why did he do that? Was any of it real? Does he miss me? Will he change? You replay conversations, analyse messages, read about attachment styles and trauma bonds. Before you know it, you've practically completed a doctorate in your ex. Congratulations. But what about you? Understanding what happened matters, particularly after manipulation or abuse. Processing experiences and seeking appropriate support can be essential. The 90/10 Rule isn't about suppressing grief or blaming yourself for what happened. It's about noticing when reflection turns into an endless investigation of someone who is no longer part of your life. Instead of asking, 'Why did he treat me that way?' try asking, 'What do I need to feel safe, strong and happy again?' Reconnect with friends. Rebuild your routines. Work on your finances. Move your body. Revisit a dream. Not to show him what he's lost, but because your life is still happening, and it deserves your attention. In dating: Stop auditioning for the role of girlfriend You meet someone. He's charming, attractive, funny. Three dates later, he's living in your head without paying rent, with a plan for your family five years into the future. You're checking your phone, rearranging your schedule, imagining the future. Meanwhile, you haven't even established whether he's emotionally available. When we're overly invested before we know someone, we stop evaluating whether they're right for us and start trying to make sure they choose us. Dating is not an audition. You are not competing for the privilege of being somebody's girlfriend. Go on the date. Flirt. Enjoy the chemistry. Then go home and continue being the fabulous woman you were before he appeared. Keep your plans, your friendships and your goals. Let his actions show you who he is over time. This isn't playing hard to get. It's remembering that a healthy relationship involves two people making an effort, rather than one person doing all the emotional heavy lifting. In relationships: Love him without disappearing into him Before anyone thinks I'm suggesting you give your partner only 10% of your love: absolutely not. Healthy relationships require time, care, compromise and mutual responsibility. Sometimes a partner or family needs more attention. The 90/10 Rule concerns your centre of gravity, not how little you should give. You can love somebody deeply without making them responsible for your entire happiness. You can want commitment and a shared future while maintaining friendships, interests, goals and a strong relationship with yourself. You can understand somebody's circumstances without putting your own dreams on indefinite hold. That's not selfishness. That's the foundation for a partnership between two whole people. Why knowing better doesn’t always mean doing better If you've ever thought, 'I know I'm overthinking him, but I can't stop,' there may be a reason. Our attachment experiences, learned beliefs and past relationships can shape how we respond to romantic uncertainty. Knowing someone isn't offering what you need doesn't always make emotional attachment disappear. That's why 'just stop thinking about him' is rarely useful advice. The work is learning to tolerate discomfort without automatically acting on it: feeling anxious without sending another message, feeling lonely without returning to an unhealthy dynamic, feeling rejected without deciding you're unlovable. In my work, I combine relationship education and coaching with tools such as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) tapping to support emotional awareness and regulation. No single technique is a magic fix, but practical tools can help you create space between a feeling and your next decision. Knowing your worth is one thing. Acting in alignment with it when you're emotionally attached is another. How to practise the 90/10 rule today Ask yourself: How much time do I spend thinking about my ex, dating situation or partner? Am I investing equally in my own happiness? What have I neglected? Am I choosing this person, or trying to get chosen? Pick one neglected part of your life and give it attention this week. Make a plan with a friend. Take the class. Apply for the opportunity. Rest. Move. Do something that belongs entirely to you. When you catch yourself spiralling, ask: 'Is this helping me create the life I want, or am I giving away my energy again?' Some days the answer is to allow yourself to grieve. Other days it's to put down the phone and get on with your life. Both can be part of healing. Stop waiting to be chosen, start choosing your life I don't want women to stop wanting love. I want us to stop treating it as the one missing piece that will finally make us complete. Build a life you genuinely enjoy. Have ambitions, adventures and friendships. Make money. Learn things. Laugh until your stomach hurts. Fall in love with being alive. When somebody wonderful comes along, let them add to that life, rather than rescue you from it. 90% you. 10% him. 100% responsibility for where you direct your attention. Because healthy love isn't something you simply find. It's something you become available for. Ready to put the 90/10 rule into practice? Understanding your patterns is a starting point. Changing them often takes tools, practice and support. Through Ellavate, I offer online programmes, EFT tapping resources and coaching for women healing after unhealthy relationships, rebuilding confidence and navigating dating more consciously. Explore the programmes and find your next step here. Follow me on Instagram for more info! Read more from Ann-Kathrin Petersen Ann-Kathrin Petersen, Healthy Love Coach & EFT Practitioner Ann-Kathrin Petersen is the author of "Ellavate: 7 Steps to Elevate After Toxic Love" and the host of the Team Ellavate podcast. As a trauma-informed healthy love coach, she helps women heal from toxic and unhealthy relationships, raise their standards, build self-worth, and create lives they genuinely love. Through Team Ellavate, she shares empowering education around healthy love, emotional healing, attachment styles, conscious dating, nervous system regulation, confidence, boundaries, and creating secure, fulfilling relationships and families. Her work helps people move from survival mode and relationship chaos into healthy, connected, and deeply aligned love.

MONAD’s Pacific & Pavement photography exhibition opens November 7. San Diego photographer Eric Jenkins has been selected to exhibit his work in Pacific & Pavement, a photography exhibition presented by MONAD on Saturday, November 7, 2026, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at 3776 30th Street, San Diego, California 92104. The exhibition explores the intersection of coastal life and urban energy through photographic interpretations of San Diego and the wider California experience. Eric was selected through MONAD’s San Diego Open Call after the organization reviewed his full photography portfolio, including work featured on his Instagram. MONAD reviewed submissions from hundreds of photographers before selecting artists whose work aligned with the vision for the exhibition. Pacific & Pavement explores California through its people, streets, landscapes, and architecture. The exhibition invites photographers to interpret San Diego, the ocean, the border, and the communities that shape the city. The exhibition welcomes photography across fashion, editorial, portraiture, street photography, documentary, fine art, landscape, architecture, and experimental work, bringing together different perspectives on the region. Exhibition details Exhibition: Pacific & Pavement Photo Exhibition Presented by: MONAD Date: Saturday, November 7, 2026 Time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Address: 3776 30th Street, San Diego, CA 92104 About MONAD MONAD is a New York City-based arts organization dedicated to creating photography exhibitions that connect artists with audiences around the world. Through thoughtfully curated exhibitions and creative collaborations, MONAD provides a platform for photographers to showcase their work, share their unique perspectives, and engage with a global community of art enthusiasts. The organization aims to celebrate artistic expression, encourage cultural dialogue, and make photography more accessible to diverse audiences. Media contact Eric Jenkins Email Website

Written by Florentina Gionea, Spiritual Mentor for Leaders Florentina Gionea is a spiritual mentor for leaders, featured on Fox TV USA, Forbes, and the TEDx stage. Author of The Blissful Leader book and backed by 16 years of intense practice, she blends business with spirituality to help leaders clear blocks and build their next legacy. Access her Blissful Leader Toolkit. Discover women in leadership trends for 2027 and how transformational leadership helps female leaders motivate teams, mentor well, and lead with aligned purpose. Most leadership advice still assumes the person at the top is managing tasks and tracking results. But if you are a female leader who has ever felt quietly out of place in that model, who leads by pulling people forward rather than pushing them through metrics, you are not doing it wrong. You are doing it differently, and the data is starting to catch up to what you already know instinctively. The dominant women in leadership trends 2027 point to one clear pattern: transformational leadership, the style built on shared vision, emotional attunement, and genuine investment in your team's growth, is not a soft alternative to "real" leadership. It is the style that is outperforming. In this guide, you will learn exactly what separates transformational from transactional leadership, why the female approach is winning right now, and three concrete practices, drawn from the Blissful Leader Toolkit, that you can apply immediately to lead with more clarity, influence, and ease. Step 1: Transformational vs. Transactional leadership for women Most leadership frameworks were not built with you in mind. Before you can use a model well, you need to know exactly what it is and what it isn't. Transactional leadership operates on a simple exchange: you deliver results, you get rewarded; you miss targets, there are consequences. It is task-focused, metric-driven, and built around compliance. It works in the right context. But it treats people as inputs rather than humans with the potential to grow. Transformational leadership flips the logic. Instead of managing performance, you shape the environment in which people want to perform. You lead by sharing a vision, investing in individual development, and creating conditions where growth becomes contagious. The leader becomes a facilitator, not a gatekeeper. Here is why this matters for women in leadership trends 2027: the research keeps pointing in the same direction. Female leaders are rated as exhibiting significantly more transformational leadership behaviors and significantly fewer transactional leadership behaviors than male leaders. That is not a soft finding. Women leaders were, overall, more likely than men to adopt transformational leadership approaches, which are positively associated with leadership effectiveness. In the Blissful Leadership Matrix, this maps directly onto two non-negotiable pillars: emotional intelligence and a collaborative mindset. Not as soft skills to manage alongside "real" leadership, but as the engine of it. When your energy is regulated, your presence shifts a room. When your mindset is collaborative rather than competitive, people bring you their best thinking instead of their safest answers. The best leadership style for women in business is not one borrowed from a model designed for someone else. It is one built on what you already do naturally, refined with intention and backed by the right tools. Step 2: Learn how female leaders motivate their teams without burning out Here is the tension hiding inside one of the biggest women in leadership trends 2025 data sets: women lead men by six percentage points in workplace engagement, 34% versus 28%, yet nearly a third of women very often or always feel burned out at work, compared to just 23% of men. More engaged. More depleted. Same leader. That gap is not a coincidence. It is what happens when you motivate from an empty field instead of a full one. So before the tactics, a reframe: how female leaders motivate their teams is not simply about technique. It is about energy. Specifically, whose energy is running the show. The three moves that actually work Share the vision before the task. People do not commit to a task. They commit to a reason. When you explain why the work matters, to the team, to the client, or to a larger purpose, before you explain what needs doing, you activate something transactional leadership skips entirely: personal investment. Ask yourself before any assignment: Can my team member see themselves in this outcome? Make people feel seen, not just useful. 76% of employees with highly empathetic senior leaders feel engaged, compared to just 32% among those with less empathetic leaders, a 44-point gap that no bonus structure can buy. Empathetic listening, the kind Florentina Gionea builds into her Blissful Leader work, is not passive. It is active attention without an agenda: you hear what someone means, not just what they say. Tie individual growth to collective purpose. When a team member grows, the whole team lifts. Link feedback, stretch assignments, and development conversations explicitly to the shared mission. "I'm giving you this because I see where you're headed" lands differently than "I need this done." The over-giving trap and how to close it This style has one predictable failure mode. Empathy without boundaries becomes self-erasure. You listen to everyone, carry everyone’s energy home, and wonder why you feel hollow by Thursday. In a multi-year Potential Project study, 55% of women were ranked by their followers as being wise and compassionate, compared with only 27% of men. But wisdom includes knowing when to stop absorbing and start redirecting. Florentina calls this energetic boundary work: you stay present and caring, but you are not the container for everyone else’s emotional weight. Your energy field is an asset. Treat it like one. The result, when you get this right, is that your team feels motivated and you stay resourced. That is not a compromise. That is the actual goal. Transformational leadership is the style most consistently linked to organizational performance, and within the women in leadership trends 2025 research landscape, the evidence keeps pointing in the same direction: the women leading at the highest levels are not mimicking a transactional playbook. They are building something more durable. But durable does not mean effortless. It means practiced. Florentina Gionea, Spiritual Mentor for Leaders, with more than 16 years and 15,000 hours of energy and leadership practice, built the Blissful Leader Toolkit specifically for this gap. It is not generic theory, but concrete processes. Here are three of them. Practice 1: Values fast track – lead from identity, not from pressure Before your next high-stakes decision, pull out one sheet and answer two questions: What do I actually stand for? Is this choice consistent with that? The Values Fast Track Process in the Toolkit walks you through naming your core values in under ten minutes and using them as a real-time filter. When you lead from your identity instead of reacting to external pressure, the best leadership style for women in business stops being a theory and becomes a daily operating system. Practice 2: Daily patterns that reveal the leader you are Self-awareness is not a feeling, it is a data set. This process asks you to track three behavioral patterns each day: how you communicate under stress, what you defer and what you decide, and where your energy goes after difficult conversations. One week of honest tracking shows you the leader you actually are, not the one you intend to be. That gap is where the real work begins. Practice 3: Decide with clarity – instinct-backed decisions Most decision-making frameworks leave out the most important input: your own signal. The Decide With Clarity process guides you through quieting external noise, reading your internal response to each option, and cross-checking it against your values before you commit. Transformative leadership behaviors such as building trust, acting with integrity, and encouraging innovation are most pronounced in leaders operating from a clear, grounded center, and this process builds that center one decision at a time. These three practices do not require a personality change. They require repetition. Work through them consistently, and you will notice that how female leaders motivate their teams shifts naturally because the leader doing the motivating has become steadier. The next step is taking that steadiness into mentorship. Practice 4: Build your mentorship and coaching practice as a female leader Most female leaders already mentor, they just do not call it that. They ask a follow-up question instead of giving a directive. They sit with someone's uncertainty instead of filling it with answers. The problem is that this instinct stays informal, invisible, and inconsistent. This step is about making it deliberate. The goal here is not to add a mentoring program to your calendar. It is to weave coaching behavior into the leadership you are already doing, so your team builds capability every week, not just during quarterly reviews. Done consistently, these steps shift something real: your team stops waiting to be told and starts trusting themselves to figure things out. That is not a soft outcome. That is the foundation of a high-performing, Women in Leadership Trends 2027-aligned culture, one where mentorship lives in the daily fabric of how you lead, not in a formal program no one has time for. In the next section, we look at what to do when this approach feels hard because it will, and that is exactly when it matters most. When this approach feels hard and what to do about it Here is the moment most leadership guides skip: you read everything, you apply the practices, and it still feels like you are pushing a boulder uphill. The team is engaged, the strategy is sound, but something inside is off, and you cannot name it. One of the persistent findings within the Women in Leadership Trends 2027 research is that barriers to leadership include not just external organizational constraints but internal factors such as confidence and self-perception. External tactics can only go so far when the internal field is misaligned. Florentina Gionea's entire body of work is built on exactly this observation: you cannot strategize your way through a blocked energy field. You have to clear the root first. Leadership development must address mindset, confidence, and strategic influence, not just skills training. This is exactly where most coaching stops short and where Florentina's work begins. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Florentina Gionea Florentina Gionea, Spiritual Mentor for Leaders Florentina is the Spiritual Mentor for Leaders, featured on Fox TV USA, Euronews, Forbes, and the TEDx stage. Author of The Blissful Leader Book and backed by 15,000 hours of intense practice, she blends business with spirituality to help leaders clear blocks and build their next legacy. She is the creator of The BLISSFUL Leaders Program, The Spiritual Studies Academy, The Gentleman Code Program, and a series of courses on abundance, wealth, and spirituality.

Written by Isabel Theissen, Motherhood & Leadership Coach Isabel Theissen founded &BEYOND, a maternity transition consultancy. She helps organizations create more structured, sustainable maternity transitions while guiding women through the personal and professional shifts that accompany motherhood. There’s a common issue I see when women are preparing for maternity leave. Ambitious women, especially, do their very best to ensure that work is covered smoothly while they step away. But they don’t lay the foundation for a smooth return, often influenced by the common assumption that it’s a return to ‘normal’. But motherhood changes you. You return as someone new, with new skills, perspectives, and needs. So here's how to prepare for a return to work that reflects who you're becoming, not just who you were before. I often meet two versions of the same woman when supporting her through maternity leave and her return to work. She is the same person. Yet, she isn't. Before maternity leave, many women describe themselves as independent, ambitious, and career-driven. They are determined to return to work and continue building the careers they've worked so hard to establish. After maternity leave, that ambition is usually still there, but something has shifted. Success is no longer measured solely by career progression. The quality of the life they're building, the relationships they're nurturing, and the presence they bring to both work and home may matter just as much. What I learned over the last few years is that at their core, women remain the same. Yet motherhood expands their sense of who they are and what they want from life. This transformation is one of the most important things to acknowledge when preparing for maternity leave. Because even though it can feel impossible to imagine beforehand, you are preparing for a return to work as a version of yourself you haven't met yet. A version who may be grateful that you considered not only the logistics of your leave, but also the emotional complexity of coming back. A version who may appreciate having the space to reconnect with colleagues, find her rhythm again, and integrate her professional identity with her new identity as a mother. I see both versions of you because I've been both. I know how intangible it feels when people tell you that motherhood will change you. Before becoming a mother, you might not feel the need to change anything. You know who you are, what you want, and where you're heading. Then motherhood changes you anyway. This is why I believe preparing for maternity leave should be about more than handing over responsibilities and making sure everything runs smoothly in your absence. It should also be about laying the foundations for your return and giving yourself the space to navigate the person you're becoming. When those two versions of you no longer feel at odds, but become part of the same story, you can move forward feeling like yourself again. So, if you're preparing to go on maternity leave, I'd like to share three reminders for your future self. Something to return to when your first day back approaches, and you find yourself wondering how you're going to make it all work. 1. You don't have to ‘bounce back’, embrace your return as a new chapter You don't have to be exactly who you were before. You're still you, but now you're also a mother. You don't have to choose between being a good mother and having an ambitious career. For many ambitious women, a career is more than a job. It is a source of identity, purpose, intellectual stimulation, and achievement. It represents years of hard work, personal development, and professional relationships. So when motherhood enters the picture, the possibility of change can feel unsettling. What if I don't feel as driven as before? What if I want to work differently? What if the career I've worked so hard to build no longer fits the life I want to lead? Or perhaps the opposite happens. You return to work eager to take on new challenges, only to find that others make assumptions about your availability, flexibility, or willingness to pursue the next promotion. There is no single way motherhood changes a woman's relationship with work. Some women feel a renewed sense of purpose. Others need time to rediscover what matters to them. Many experience a mixture of both. The transition into motherhood, often described as matrescence, involves profound changes across our identity, relationships, and sense of self. Like other major life transitions, it can take time to understand what these changes mean for us. Yet the expectation at work is often that we will simply pick up where we left off. We assume the woman coming back will be the same woman who left. But what if a successful return isn't about going backwards? What if it's about moving forward with a clearer understanding of who you are and what you need to thrive? You don't need to have the answers before your baby arrives. You don't need to decide now how your ambitions might evolve. You can give yourself permission to find out and adapt along the way. 2. Redefining success doesn't mean losing your ambition One of the most persistent assumptions about working motherhood is that women eventually have to choose: their children or their careers, their family or their ambition. This false choice creates unnecessary pressure. You can be deeply committed to your child and ambitious about your career. You can value flexibility and want to lead a team. You can set boundaries around your time and still be a high performer. What may change is how you want to pursue your ambitions. Perhaps you become more intentional about where you invest your energy. Perhaps you care less about being present at every meeting and more about the impact of your contribution. Perhaps you realize that the way you've worked for years is no longer sustainable, and you want to find a different way. These changes don't automatically mean you've become less committed or capable. They may simply reflect a new understanding of what matters to you. Motherhood can also bring qualities that are valuable in leadership: a sharper sense of priorities, greater adaptability, an ability to navigate uncertainty, and a deeper understanding of different perspectives. These qualities don't appear automatically in every mother, nor do women need motherhood to become good leaders. But they can be recognized, developed, and brought into the workplace. The challenge is to create space for women to integrate these experiences into their professional lives, rather than expecting them to leave one part of themselves at the door. That starts with giving yourself permission to question the old definitions of success. 3. You don't have to navigate this transition alone Preparing for maternity leave is often a highly organized process. There are forms to complete, responsibilities to hand over, and practical arrangements to make. Preparing for the return, however, can feel much less structured. You might not know how you'll feel until you get there. Your manager might never have supported someone through this transition before. Your organization might have a maternity policy, but no clear process for helping you navigate your return. While you're figuring it all out, the expectation remains that you'll somehow make everything work. This is why support matters. It might mean having an honest conversation with your partner about how responsibilities will be shared. It might mean working with your manager to establish realistic expectations. It might mean speaking to other mothers who understand the experience, or seeking professional support to reflect on your identity, priorities, and ambitions. Whatever form it takes, you deserve more than being told to manage the transition yourself. Maternity leave is not simply time away from work. It is part of a significant life transition, and returning to work is another important stage of that journey. The more space you give yourself to prepare, reflect, and ask for support, the better equipped you may feel to navigate the changes ahead. Organizations have a role to play, too. Supporting women through maternity leave and beyond shouldn't depend entirely on the individual woman or the experience and goodwill of her manager. Clear processes, informed managers, and meaningful conversations can make a real difference. Because a successful transition benefits not only the woman returning to work, but also the team and organization welcoming her back. A resource for the journey ahead If you're preparing for maternity leave right now, you don't need to have all the answers. You don't know yet how motherhood will change you, what your priorities will be, or how your career will evolve. But you can start laying the foundations for a more intentional transition. That means preparing not only for your absence, but also for your return. Making space to navigate the changes motherhood brings. Reflecting on your priorities and ambitions. Having the conversations that will help you build a sustainable way of working in this new chapter of your life. This is why I created the &BEYOND Maternity Transition Online Programme. Discover here. Designed for ambitious women who want to continue thriving in their careers alongside motherhood, the programme guides you through the four phases of the transition between motherhood and your career: Pre-Leave, On Leave, Re-Entry, and &Beyond. Through practical tools, reflection exercises, and conversation guides, it helps you prepare for leave, navigate the transition, approach your return with greater clarity, and think intentionally about what comes next. Because you don't have to figure everything out alone. You don't have to bounce back to the woman you were before. You can move forward as the woman you're becoming. Follow me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from Isabel Theissen Isabel Theissen, Motherhood & Leadership Coach Isabel Theissen is the founder of &BEYOND, the maternity transition consultancy. She helps organizations create more structured, sustainable maternity transitions while guiding women through the personal and professional shifts that accompany motherhood. Her approach combines professional expertise, research, and lived experience of navigating motherhood alongside a corporate career, giving her a grounded understanding of the realities of this transition. Isabel challenges the idea of a simple “bounce back” after maternity leave, instead defining the return as a leadership transition that requires structured processes and intentional support. Through &BEYOND, she helps organizations move from well-intentioned policy to meaningful implementation, supporting talent retention, strengthening leadership pipelines, and creating more inclusive, sustainable ways of working.

Written by Pritesh Lohar, Certified Medical Oncologist Dr. Pritesh Lohar, MD, FACP, is a board-certified medical oncologist. He is also a Mindvalley-certified life coach and a six-phase meditation trainer. He is the Founder and CEO of the School of Mindset Coaching. What if one of the most powerful tools for changing your health is not another supplement, wearable, diet, or morning routine, but the person you believe you are becoming? We have been taught to think about health primarily in the present tense. What are your numbers? How did you sleep? What did you eat today? How many steps did you take? What is your blood pressure, glucose, body fat, VO₂ max, or resting heart rate? All useful questions. But after more than two decades in medicine, and through my work in coaching, I have become increasingly interested in another question: What is your future doing to your biology today? Because the future is not merely somewhere you are going. In many ways, you are rehearsing it now. Your body is listening to your decisions Every ordinary day contains hundreds of small biological votes: going to bed or opening another episode; walking after dinner or remaining on the sofa; having the difficult conversation or carrying the resentment; choosing food for tomorrow’s health or today’s impulse; protecting recovery or glorifying exhaustion. These decisions rarely feel dramatic. That is precisely why they matter. One unhealthy meal does not create metabolic disease. One missed workout does not create frailty. One stressful day does not create chronic physiological dysfunction. But repeated choices become patterns. Patterns become physiology. Physiology, repeated over years, becomes part of the architecture of ageing. This means longevity is not built primarily through occasional heroic interventions. It is quietly constructed through identity. The problem with the present self Human beings have an interesting relationship with time. We understand intellectually that an older version of us will eventually inherit the consequences of what we do today. Emotionally, however, that person can feel strangely distant. We say: “I’ll start exercising when work settles down.” “I’ll sleep properly after this project.” “I’ll lose the weight next month.” “I’ll deal with the stress later.” “I’ll make time for myself when life becomes less busy.” The present self receives the convenience. The future self receives the invoice. This is one of the hidden problems in preventive health. Most consequences are delayed. A cigarette does not immediately produce emphysema. Years of inactivity do not announce the exact moment muscle reserve begins to matter. Chronic sleep restriction does not send a monthly statement showing accumulated physiological cost. Biology often whispers before it screams. So immediate comfort repeatedly defeats distant consequence, unless we make the future psychologically closer. Meet the person who will inherit your life Imagine yourself ten years from today. Not as an abstract older person. Make that individual specific. How easily do you get out of a chair? How strong are your legs? How clearly do you think? How much energy do you have at 4 p.m.? Can you travel independently? Can you climb stairs without thinking about them? How well do you sleep? Who are the people around your table? What conversations are you having? What still excites you? What work still feels meaningful? Now consider something uncomfortable. That person cannot come back and renegotiate today’s choices. They can only inherit them. This changes the meaning of self-care. Exercise stops being punishment for your current body. It becomes an investment in future mobility. Sleep stops being lost productivity. It becomes neurological maintenance. Strength training stops being cosmetic. It becomes preparation for independence. Relationships stop being something fitted around work. They become part of the infrastructure of a meaningful life. Preventive medicine stops being about avoiding disease alone. It becomes about preserving possibility. Future-self continuity Psychology has a useful concept called future-self continuity: the degree to which we feel connected to the person we will become. When the future self feels like a stranger, sacrificing for that person becomes harder. When that future person feels like me, long-term decisions can become more emotionally relevant. This gives us a different way to think about behavior change. Most people try to change through instruction: eat better, exercise more, sleep earlier, reduce stress, meditate, stop smoking. The information is usually not the problem. A physician can explain what needs to change in minutes. The more difficult question is: Why should today’s version of me inconvenience itself for someone who feels decades away? That is where identity becomes powerful. Identity has biology attached to it Consider two internal narratives. The first: “I really should exercise more.” The second: “I am becoming the kind of 70-year-old who is still strong enough to carry his own luggage.” The behavior may initially be identical. The psychological architecture is not. One is obligation. The other is identity. Identities create repeated behaviors. Repeated behaviors influence sleep, metabolism, cardiovascular fitness, muscle mass, cognition, stress regulation, and many other dimensions of health. This is why I believe we should think of future-self work as more than motivational visualization. Used responsibly, it can become a behavioral intervention with biological consequences. Not because imagining your future magically changes your cells. It doesn’t. But because the future you identify with can change the decisions that repeatedly act upon those cells. That distinction matters. Stop asking only, “What do I want?” There is another question I find more useful: “What am I rehearsing becoming?” Your calendar answers it. Your bedtime answers it. Your food choices answer it. Your relationships answer it. Your repeated thoughts answer it. Your boundaries answer it. Your response to stress answers it. Even the things you repeatedly tolerate answer it. We tend to imagine identity as something internal. But identity leaves evidence. Look at enough ordinary Tuesdays and you can often see the outline of a future person emerging. The future-self prescription If I were to write a different kind of prescription for long-term wellbeing, it would contain five questions: Who do I want to be capable of being ten years from now? Not what do I want to own, but what do I want to remain capable of doing? What will that person thank me for starting today? Perhaps strength training. Perhaps better sleep. Perhaps repairing a relationship. Perhaps leaving an unsustainable lifestyle. What am I repeatedly doing that my future self will have to pay for? This question requires courage. Which one behavior would change the trajectory most if repeated for five years? Not five days. Five years. What can I do today that casts one vote for that future identity? Make it small enough to execute. Then repeat it. Longevity needs a human story Modern longevity science is giving us increasingly sophisticated ways to measure and influence health. That progress is exciting. But human beings are not dashboards. We are meaning-making creatures. Data can tell me that I slept six hours. It cannot decide why I should protect seven. A biomarker can warn me about risk. It cannot create a reason to care about the person I will become. Technology can quantify the body. Meaning mobilizes the human being living inside it. Perhaps the next frontier of preventive health will therefore require something surprisingly old-fashioned: imagination. The ability to meet ourselves before we arrive there. To feel responsibility toward someone who does not yet fully exist. To recognize that today’s habits are not simply producing today’s results. They are constructing tomorrow’s human. Your future has already started There is no clean dividing line between who you are today and who you will become. The future is accumulating quietly: one meal, one night of sleep, one workout, one boundary, one conversation, one decision at a time. So tonight, instead of asking only, “What do I need right now?” try another question: “What would the person I am becoming ask me to do today?” Then listen carefully. Because your future self cannot reach backwards. But you can reach forward. Sometimes, that may be one of the most powerful health interventions available to us. Visit my website for more info! Read more from Pritesh Lohar Pritesh Lohar, Certified Medical Oncologist Dr. Pritesh Lohar, MD, FACP, is a board-certified medical oncologist. He is also a Mindvalley-certified life coach and a six-phase meditation trainer. He is the Founder and CEO of the School of Mindset Coaching. His goal is to impact as many lives positively as he can by imparting his life experience and coaching skills to others.

Written by Margie Raimondo, Agrarian Storyteller, Chef, Author, Educator & Filmmaker Margie Raimondo is a storyteller and chef who focuses on the connections between food, agriculture, heritage, and culture. She founded Urbana Farmstead and The Grain Keeper. She is also an author, educator, and filmmaker dedicated to preserving the stories that connect seeds, the table, and place. There is something almost deceptive about a handful of wheat seed. At first glance, one kernel looks much like another. But look closer, and a very different story emerges. Some varieties traveled with immigrant families. Others adapted over generations to particular soils, climates, and farming practices. Some became prized for the bread they made, the flavor they carried, or simply because they survived where other wheat would not. Then much of that diversity disappeared from our fields and, eventually, from our tables. Today, as farmers, breeders, millers, bakers, and cooks search for more resilient, diverse, and flavorful food systems, we are looking backward for clues about how to move forward. The future of wheat may depend, in part, on what we nearly left behind. What do we mean by heritage wheat? The language surrounding older grains can be confusing because terms such as heritage, heirloom, ancient, and landrace are often used interchangeably. They are not quite the same thing. Heritage wheats generally refer to older varieties of common wheat that predate much of modern semi-dwarf breeding. Landraces are traditional populations shaped over generations through farmer selection and adaptation to particular environments. Ancient wheats, including einkorn and emmer, belong to earlier domesticated forms of wheat, while spelt is often grouped among ancient or hulled wheats. Sicily preserves another important part of this story through traditional durum wheat landraces such as Timilia, also known as Tumminia. Timilia has a long history in Sicily and the Mediterranean and remains valued for its distinctive qualities and deep connection to the island’s agricultural and culinary heritage. Research continues to document significant genetic diversity within Sicilian durum wheat landraces such as Timilia. What unites these grains is not that they are automatically “better” than modern wheat. Their importance lies in the broader reservoir of agricultural history, genetic diversity, flavor, and cultural knowledge they represent. Consider Red Fife. First grown in Canada by David Fife in Ontario in 1842, it became widely cultivated and later contributed to Canadian wheat breeding, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s history of Canadian wheat breeding. Or Turkey Red, which Mennonite immigrants from southern Russia brought to Kansas in the 1870s. It helped establish hard red winter wheat across the central and southern Plains and contributed to the region’s wheat industry, as documented in USDA Agricultural Research Service records. These are not simply old seeds. They are chapters in the agricultural history of places and people. Why did so many wheat varieties disappear? The answer is more complicated than simply blaming industrial agriculture. For generations, farmers and plant breeders selected wheat for traits people genuinely needed: higher, more reliable yields; disease resistance; earlier maturity; stronger straw; improved milling qualities; and better performance under particular growing conditions. Modern wheat breeding dramatically increased productivity and helped feed a growing global population. But success also brought consolidation. As fewer high-performing varieties occupied larger acreages, a wide range of locally maintained varieties moved out of commercial production. Some survived in farmers’ fields. Others remained in seed collections and germplasm banks. The result is something of a paradox: agriculture became extraordinarily productive while much of the diversity that preceded modern breeding became less visible in everyday farming. That diversity, however, did not lose its value. Why does grain diversity matter? Modern wheat breeding is far from finished. Breeders and researchers continue to return to landraces, wild relatives, and older germplasm because these materials may contain useful traits that are scarce in contemporary varieties. Researchers are examining traditional wheat populations for genetic variation associated with drought and heat tolerance, disease resistance, yield stability, and adaptation to challenging environments. In one study of 990 bread-wheat landraces, researchers identified genetic material linked to drought and heat tolerance that could support future breeding programs. CIMMYT highlighted the work in its research on drought and heat tolerance in bread-wheat landraces. A recent systematic review also found that wheat landraces and other genetically diverse populations can contribute valuable traits for drought tolerance, disease resistance, adaptability, and yield stability, particularly in organic and marginal farming systems. The review of traditional wheat populations and genetically diverse materials reinforces why diversity gives breeders and farmers more options. Brainz Magazine also explores this broader relationship between agriculture, food choice, and climate resilience in Smart Foods for Your Health and the Climate. That distinction matters. Older does not automatically mean better. But diversity gives agriculture options. In a changing climate, options matter. What do we lose when every field grows the same thing? We lose more than genetic variation. We may also lose flavor. Wheat varieties can differ in aroma, sweetness, nuttiness, color, texture, protein characteristics, and how they behave in bread, pasta, pastry, or fermentation. A variety bred primarily for commodity production may serve one purpose extremely well, while another grain may offer qualities a baker, miller, pasta maker, or chef values. As a chef, this is where the conversation becomes tangible. A grain becomes flour. Flour becomes dough. Dough becomes bread. Suddenly agricultural diversity is no longer an abstract idea. It becomes something you can smell, touch, taste, and share. That is where preservation stops being theoretical. Grain also carries cultural memory. Food is one way people remember who they are. Seeds migrate with people. Recipes travel with families. Varieties become associated with landscapes, migration routes, farming traditions, mills, bakeries, and particular ways of eating. Turkey Red is a powerful example. Its place in the Great Plains is inseparable from the Mennonite communities who carried the seed, planted it, and helped establish the hard red winter wheat tradition that became so important to American bread production. Sicilian grains tell similar stories. Timilia and Russello remain connected not simply to agriculture but to particular landscapes, breads, farmers, and regional traditions. When a grain disappears, we may retain its name in an archive. But we risk losing the living chain around it: the farmer who knows how it grows, the miller who understands how it mills, the baker who knows how it behaves, and the cook who remembers what it was meant to become. Preserving grain is also preserving knowledge. Why are these grains returning now? Part of the answer is flavor. Part is curiosity. Part is a growing recognition that agriculture needs genetic diversity. Researchers are actively examining gene banks and traditional wheat collections for traits that may strengthen future wheat varieties. At the same time, farmers, regional grain networks, small mills, artisan bakers, chefs, and consumers are creating markets for grains that may never compete with commodity wheat on yield or scale but have value because of their flavor, history, regional identity, or suitability for particular foods. These are two very different movements: scientific conservation and culinary rediscovery. But increasingly, they meet around the same seed. That is where I believe things become especially interesting. A grain preserved for its genetic value can also find new life when someone wants to grow it, mill it, bake with it, or put it back on the table. Preservation becomes participation. Brainz has also explored the connection between land, farming, and human experience in How Regenerative Farms Can Save Your Soul As Well As The Soil. What should you look for when buying heritage flour? Start with the grain’s name. “Whole wheat flour” tells you how much of the kernel remains in the flour, but little about the wheat itself. Look for producers who identify the variety and, whenever possible, tell you where it was grown. Then ask a few simple questions: Where was the grain grown? Who grew it? What variety is it? Was it stone-milled or roller-milled? When was it milled? Is it whole grain or sifted? What does the farmer or miller recommend using it for? These questions turn flour from an anonymous commodity back into an agricultural product with a source, a farmer, a place, and a purpose. Freshly milled whole-grain flour also retains the germ and its natural oils, so freshness and proper storage matter. Most importantly, taste it. The revival of heritage grain will not be sustained by history alone. These grains must also earn a place in contemporary kitchens because people enjoy cooking and baking with them. The shared table may be part of the solution This is the part of the grain story that captivates me most. We can preserve thousands of seed samples in collections, and we absolutely should. But a grain remains culturally alive when people also grow it, mill it, cook with it, buy it, eat it, and teach the next person how to use it. Preservation cannot live only in a seed bank. It must also live in a field. In a mill. In a kitchen. Ultimately, around a table. This understanding lies at the heart of my work with The Grain Keeper: reconnecting the seed to the farmer, the farmer to the miller, the miller to the cook, and the cook to the person who ultimately breaks the bread. Perhaps the future of food is not entirely new. Perhaps some of it is waiting for us in the grains we stopped noticing. From Soil to Soul, the work is not simply to save the seed. It is to keep the story alive. Continue the journey from seed to shared table To explore more about heritage grains, regional food traditions, and the stories connecting seed, table, and place, follow Margie Raimondo’s work through The Grain Keeper and Urbana Farmstead. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more info! Read more from Margie Raimondo Margie Raimondo, Agrarian Storyteller, Chef, Author, Educator & Filmmaker Margie Raimondo is an agrarian storyteller and chef whose work explores food, agriculture, heritage, and culture. She founded Urbana Farmstead and The Grain Keeper and is an author, educator, and filmmaker preserving the stories and traditions that connect seed, table, and place. Her work spans regenerative agriculture, food preservation, Mediterranean foodways, heritage grains, and culinary education.

Written by Clayton Dunn, Neurodivergent Burnout Coach Clayton Dunn helps professionals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and AuDHD (co-occurring autism and ADHD) overcome burnout. A former mechanical engineer, he was diagnosed with ADHD in 2024 and autism in 2025. Clay coaches from his lived experience with both. You've taken the vacation. You've set the boundaries, cut back on commitments, maybe even changed jobs, and the exhaustion still finds its way back. That isn't because you're doing recovery wrong. It's because most burnout advice was built to fix a different problem than the one you have. What causes neurodivergent burnout? Burnout put me in the ER. When I got home, I returned to a quiet apartment. I sat down on the couch, like I’d done thousands of times before, but this time something was different. I didn’t feel safe sitting there. I wasn’t comfortable. I was grateful that I was fine, but I felt a weight in my chest. In that moment, I knew something had shifted. I finally knew that I couldn't keep living this way. But I wasn't sure what to do about it. I had already done everything you're supposed to do to fix burnout. I'd changed jobs. I'd taken more time off. I'd gone on vacation. I'd been doing some version of that for 8 years, and none of it kept me out of the ER that day. That's how I knew this was different. Whatever was happening to me, the standard burnout advice wasn't going to fix it. Here's what I eventually understood. Traditional burnout is a sprinter who's run too many races. They're in the right sport, doing what they're built for. They've just pushed too hard for too long, so they rest, recover, and get back on the track. Neurodivergent burnout is Michael Phelps being entered in a marathon. He's one of the greatest athletes alive, but he'd struggle in that race because it's the wrong race for him. No amount of rest would fix it. Every time he recovered and lined up again, he'd be back in the wrong race. That's what it's like to live a life built for a brain that works differently from yours: the expectations, the environments, the unwritten rules about how work is supposed to get done. The problem isn't your effort or your ability. It's whether or not the race you're in is right for you. If you treat that kind of burnout like the regular kind, you'll rest, recover a little, return to the same life, and burn out again. For a lot of neurodivergent people, that loop doesn't last a few months. It lasts years. Sometimes decades. For me, it lasted 8 years, but some of my clients have been burnt out for as long as 40 years. The standard burnout playbook You already know the usual advice. "Rest more. Take time off. Set better boundaries. Make room for self-care." None of it is bad advice, and for some people, it works. But why doesn't it work for others? Because of how burnout is usually defined. The World Health Organization describes burnout as a syndrome that comes from chronic workplace stress that hasn't been successfully managed. Read that closely and you'll see the assumption baked in: the problem is too much stress, so the fix is to lower the stress or recover from it. But what if stress load isn't the cause of your burnout? What if it's built into the very foundation of your life? So that even a light week costs more of your energy than it should? Then lowering the load and resting more may help for a while… But it won't fix it. Why changing jobs failed Changing jobs seems like it should work. New boss. New team. New environment. If the problem is fit, a new fit should solve it. But you'll be bringing yourself with you. You walk into the new job with the same habits you built to survive the old one, and most workplaces are built on the same assumptions about how people focus, communicate, and get things done. The new building ends up being the same as the last one, just with a different logo on the door. What the data shows In 2025, the Australian mental health organization SuperFriend and the neuro-inclusion nonprofit Specialisterne published a report based on 2024 survey data. They compared 865 workers who identified as neurodivergent with 865 workers who didn't, matched by age and gender. Their definition of neurodivergent covered ADHD, autism, OCD, and other related conditions. They found that 43% of the neurodivergent workers were already burnt out, compared with 32% of the other group. Another 20% were at risk. Which means more than 6 in 10 neurodivergent workers were either burnt out or close to it. It's not just burnout, though. 32% of neurodivergent workers reported severe psychological distress over the previous four weeks, nearly double the 17% in the comparison group. Of the workers who were struggling, 64% said it made their work hard to manage. So neurodivergent people are more likely to experience distress and burnout at work. What these numbers don't tell you is why rest isn't fixing it. For that, we need one more number. It's about fit When researchers asked both groups how heavy their workload was, the answers were nearly identical: 6.9 out of 10 for neurodivergent workers, 6.8 for everyone else. Statistically, no difference. Same amount of work. Now remember that 43%? Neurodivergent workers were still far more likely to be burnt out: 43% compared with 32%. If burnout were only about how much you're doing, those two numbers should match. They don't, and the gap points to something other than workload. Something about how the work is set up was costing neurodivergent workers more for the same output. The workers themselves said as much. When asked what would help, only 13% mentioned workload. Nearly half asked for a more supportive and understanding manager. Others asked for quieter, less overwhelming workspaces, and for clear, consistent ways of getting work done. They weren't asking for less work. They were asking for work that fit how they think. Even when workload was the problem, it wasn't always too much. Some neurodivergent workers said they had too little, and if you have ADHD, you may be familiar with that particular exhaustion: the slow day where you can't get traction on anything and end up more drained than after a busy one. This is Michael Phelps in a footrace. Giving him a shorter race wouldn't fix anything. He'd still be in the wrong race. Why rest isn't enough Rest helps you recover. But it doesn't change the conditions that wore you down in the first place. Here's what those conditions look like. The cost of masking The report's authors describe neurodivergent workers as working twice as hard just to hide their challenges, prove their worth, and fit in. You probably know what that looks like from the inside. You rehearse what you'll say before a meeting. You force yourself to sit still so you look engaged. You watch other people's faces to check whether you've talked too long. You double-check an email four times so you don't miss something and appear incompetent. None of that shows up on a task list or a performance review, so nobody sees it. Your manager included. But it's work, and you're doing it all the time around other people. A long weekend doesn't fix it. It just starts again on Monday. The "got it" trap Specialisterne observes that neurodivergent employees often say they've understood a task when they haven't, because they're afraid of being judged. Then they quietly take on extra work to make up the difference. Maybe you've done this. Your boss gives a vague request, you nod, and you spend the next three hours trying to decode what they meant. One worker in the study asked managers to give specific details instead of expecting them "to fill the gaps." Those gaps cost you time and energy, and they make your workday unnecessarily hard. When your senses overload One IT professional in the survey described office lights so bright they caused headaches after long stretches of focus. If you spend eight hours a day in a room that's too loud, too bright, or too busy, your brain is spending energy just to stay functional before you've done any actual work. Time off isn't enough Here's a surprising statistic: 35% of neurodivergent workers had taken paid leave for their mental health in the past year, compared with 26% of other workers. Burnout was still higher in the neurodivergent group. That doesn't mean that time off doesn't work. A survey like this can't show cause and effect. What it does show is that neurodivergent people are already resting, and they're still more burnt out. Rest helps, and you should absolutely keep doing it. It's just not the whole fix. The burnout cycle Put all of this together and you get the Neurodivergent Burnout Cycle. You live and work in a setup built for a different kind of brain. To keep up, you mask and overcompensate. Eventually, you crash. You take time off, recover enough to function, and go back to the same setup. You're back in the wrong race, and the cycle repeats. Each cycle tends to make the next one worse, because each time you come back believing the rest should have worked. When it doesn't, it's easy to decide the problem is you. It isn't. You've been treating a fit problem as a fatigue problem. What recovery looks like For most of your life, the question has probably been, "How can I better fit this environment?" Recovery starts with a different one: "How can I make my environment better fit me?" You won't be able to redesign everything at once, and not every workplace is safe enough to ask for much. Start with the places where you have some control. When the workers in the study were asked what would help, their answers clustered into five areas, and each one is a place to start looking. If you work for yourself, these still apply. You're just asking them of yourself, your clients, and the way you've set up your business. You'd be in good company, too. Neurodivergent workers in the report were more than three times as likely as the comparison group to be freelancers or contractors, and more likely to own their own business. Find real support The most common request, from 49% of the workers who answered, was for a more supportive and empathetic manager. That one isn't fully in your control, but more of it is than you might think. You don't have to disclose a diagnosis to ask for what you need. You can say, "I do my best work when I get requests in writing," or "Can we do a quick check-in on Fridays so I know I'm on track?" Those are working-style requests, and a reasonable manager will hear them that way. If your manager responds to those poorly, then it can be a good indicator that this workplace is wrong for you. If you're self-employed, support looks a little different: a coach, a peer group, a business partner, or clients who respect how you work. The question is the same. Who in your working life understands how your brain works, and who doesn't? Design your sensory space 16% of workers asked for a better sensory environment. Start by noticing what costs you. Is it noise, light, interruptions, the commute? Then change what you can. That might mean using noise-cancelling headphones, using a lamp instead of overhead fluorescents, working from home more often, or shifting your hours to miss peak commute traffic. Any change you can make to your working environment to support you is a worthwhile one. Even small changes can drastically reduce the energy drain. Make expectations explicit 15% asked for clear and consistent work processes. If your workplace runs on unwritten rules, write them down for yourself when you identify one. After a meeting, send a short recap: "Here's what I understood I'm doing and by when. Let me know if I missed anything." Ask for examples of what "good" and "finished" actually look like. Build your own checklists for recurring tasks. Every gap you close is energy you stop losing. Right-size your workload 13% asked for help managing stress and workload. Remember that the wrong size can mean too much or too little. If you're overloaded, push for realistic deadlines and clear priorities, so you know what can slide when everything can't get done. If you're under-challenged, it's worth asking for work that actually engages you. For an ADHD brain, interest isn't a luxury. It's the fuel you need to create good work. Choose where to unmask The last theme, from 7% of workers, was wanting to be accepted as they are. One real estate agent summed it up in five words: "Allow me to be me." You can't unmask everywhere overnight, and in some places it isn't safe. But you can find the places where you can drop it: one coworker, one meeting, one part of your day. Each hour you're not performing is an hour where you keep your energy. Find your race Everything above makes the race you're in easier to run. But there's a bigger question underneath it. Are you in the right race at all? Michael Phelps didn't become one of the greatest athletes alive by learning to tolerate marathons. He found the pool. In The Big Leap, psychologist and author Gay Hendricks writes about the "Zone of Genius." This is where your natural abilities and passions overlap, and work starts to feel effortless. This is not an easy place to reach in your work. For myself as an entrepreneur, my "Zone of Genius" is absolutely my 1:1 work with my clients. I love seeing people learn to trust themselves and feel in control of their lives. It gives me chills every time. What I don't like? Emails and video editing. Things you have to do as a modern entrepreneur, but things that drain me. So I look for ways to do less of that so I have more time to focus on what lights me up. You can do the same thing in your own work. Hobbies, too. When you finish tasks, start to ask yourself whether that task energized you or drained you. If it energized you, ask, "How can I do more of that?" If it drained you, ask the opposite: "How can I do less of that?" Get creative: you'll find that there's always something you can do to make a task easier, more fun, or at least more tolerable. Over time, your answers start to show you the shape of your race. Maybe it's a different role at the same company. Maybe it's a different career. Maybe it's the same job, done in a way that finally fits you. You don't have to know yet. You just have to start noticing. The data says it's worth it. 13% of neurodivergent workers with a mental health condition said their workplace had a positive impact on it. When the fit improves, the outcomes can change. It's not easy, but it is possible. One of my clients, whom we’ll call “Lizzie” to keep her anonymous, came to me just as she was starting a new job. In her last one, she said that every day felt like a crisis. Over 9 months, she could count the full days she took off on one hand. A new job was a good start. But as you know by now, a new job alone doesn’t fix it. So we didn’t just work on resting more. We worked on noticing what kind of race her brain is built for. Here’s what she found: “I can tolerate stressful things if they’re fun.” But stressful and boring? “I have no capacity for stressful and boring.” She also noticed her brain does some of its best work at night. So on one rough day, instead of pushing through, she stopped mid-afternoon. She made dinner, spent time with her kid, and came back to the work that evening. She got more done that night than she had all day. The late hours stopped feeling like a punishment. They started feeling like freedom. Then she built in a monthly check-in with herself: “Is my job still more fun than stressful?” The day the answer is no, she’ll start looking for a new race. By the time we finished working together, Lizzie was sleeping better, was able to be there more for her kids, and was spending more time doing what she loved. In her words, her worst night of sleep is probably what her average night used to be. This is possible for you, too. Rest was never enough When I think back to that ER visit, the lesson is clear. The vacations were never going to fix it, because I was never just tired. I was living a life built for someone else's brain. If you've been resting and recovering and burning out again for years, it doesn't mean you're broken or doing recovery wrong. It means it's time to stop asking how to fit in and start asking what would fit you. If you're ready to find your right race, you can book a call here to see if we're a good fit to work together 1:1. If not, I'll point you in a more helpful direction. Follow me on Instagram for more info! Read more from Clayton Dunn Clayton Dunn, Neurodivergent Burnout Coach Clayton Dunn helps professionals with ADHD and AuDHD overcome burnout. While working as a mechanical engineer, burnout caught up with him and landed him in the emergency room (ER). This was his turning point. He stopped living for others' expectations, stopped settling for the life he was given, and created systems that genuinely worked for neurodivergent brains. He left engineering to coach full-time, helping professionals who feel exhausted and tired of advice that doesn't stick. His mission: to help people struggling with what almost killed him.