We’re continuing The Energy Is Everything Series and today I’m sitting down with my friend Danielle Laura, an energy mastery teacher and Human Design guide for conscious leaders who are here to use their gifts to make the world better… without sacrificing themselves in the process.

In this episode we talk about energetic hygiene, the hidden places energy leaks show up (even in “self-care”), and why the solution isn’t more rest. We also get into Human Design as a roadmap for regulation.

This one is for the woman who keeps pouring into a cup that has a hole in the bottom… and is ready to stop leaking her life force.

TOPICS WE EXPLORE:

• Why rest doesn’t restore energy when you’re never fully present
• Hidden energy leaks inside productivity and self-care
• Overgiving, access, and energetic boundaries
• Human Design as a tool for understanding energetic alignment
• Not-self themes and how they signal burnout early
• Micro-shifts that rebuild safety and presence
• Energetic hygiene as a daily practice, not a lifestyle overhaul

POINT OF THE EPISODE:
Energy isn’t lost in one big moment, it leaks slowly through small, unexamined patterns. When you learn how to recognize those leaks and respond with simple, embodied shifts, regulation becomes sustainable instead of exhausting.

MENTIONED:

• Danielle’s website
• Danielle on Socials: Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, Podcast, TikTok, Substack
•

Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!

MORE ABOUT ASH
I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before.

LINKS:

• Become the Regulated Woman
• Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth).
• Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7
• Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip)
• Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com

Work with me 1:1

• Therapeutic Mentorship
• Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship)
• ...

This bonus episode is an unfiltered reflection on what happens when the identity that once fueled your ambition no longer fits. I share openly about the messy middle of personal evolution, the quiet unraveling that followed slowing down in my business, and the unexpected ways that space reshaped my marriage, my sense of self, and my relationship with support.

This is not a story of resolution or arrival. It’s a story of transition, grief, surrender, and learning how to lean when hyper-independence has been your survival strategy for decades.

TOPICS WE EXPLORE:

• When ambition outgrows the identity that built it
• Hyper-independence and the fear of relying on others
• Slowing down without knowing what comes next
• How space in business can create space in marriage
• Letting go of being the provider as a core identity
• Grief, friendship loss, and the death of former selves
• Learning how to be held without shame

POINT OF THE EPISODE:
Sometimes growth doesn’t look like expansion… it looks like stopping. This episode is a reminder that ambition can evolve, identity can soften, and allowing support may be the most energetically expansive thing you ever do.

MENTIONED:

• The Energy Is Everything series (6 Episodes)

Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!

MORE ABOUT ASH
I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before.

LINKS:

• Become the Regulated Woman
• Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth).
• Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7
• Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip)
• Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com

Work with me 1:1

• Therapeutic Mentorship
• Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship)
• ...

Today we’re continuing The Energy Is Everything Series with a conversation that hits a nerve for so many high-achieving women: visibility, identity, and the energetic cost of hiding.

I’m joined by Renee Bowen — photographer, trauma-informed coach, and the kind of woman who makes you feel seen just by being in the room with her. We talk about what it really means to be “seen” (and why that can feel terrifying), how motherhood can blur your identity until you can’t find yourself anymore, and how neutrality is the bridge between being reactive and becoming sovereign.

This episode is for the woman who feels exhausted not because she’s doing too much… but because she’s doing too much of what isn’t true.

TOPICS WE EXPLORE:
• Why “not being seen” is one of the biggest energy leaks
• The visibility wound: where it starts and how it shows up
• Identity outside of motherhood, roles, and performance
• The cost of living for the male gaze (and how to unwind it)
• How anxiety, trauma, and nervous system dysregulation shape your choices
• Being called “selfish” when you stop martyring yourself
• What it means to get neutral — and why it changes everything
• Removing sensory charge (sound/color/story) to access objectivity
• Social media as energetic input (and how fast it drains you)
• Reclaiming self-trust without outsourcing your healing

POINT OF THE EPISODE:
When you’re hiding (even subtly, even “for good reasons”) you’re leaking energy. Healing the visibility wound isn’t about being louder online… it’s about becoming safe enough in your body to be honest, to take up space, and to live as you without needing permission.

MENTIONED:
• Renee’s website
• Renee on Instagram
• Renee’s podcast: Tried and True with a Dash of Woo
• Free hypnosis for anxiety

If this episode lit something up inside you, if you felt called out, softened, or seen... that’s not random. That’s your body telling the truth. And this series is your invitation to listen.

Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!

MORE ABOUT ASH
I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before.

LINKS:

• Become the Regulated Woman
• Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth).
• Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7
• Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip)
• Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com

Work with me 1:1

• Therapeutic Mentorship
• Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship)
• ...

Welcome to the very first episode of The Energy Is Everything Series — a six-part conversation series all about protecting your energy, expanding your capacity, and building a life and business that actually feel sustainable in your body.

In this opening episode, I’m joined by the brilliant and wildly honest Heather Chauvin for a raw, grounded conversation about identity fatigue, impossible standards, and the invisible ways women are bleeding energy in the name of success, motherhood, and safety.

This is not a “do more, try harder” conversation. It’s about reverse engineering the life you want by starting with how you want to feel, and letting that guide your choices, boundaries, and identity… even when it disrupts everything you’ve been taught.

TOPICS & TANGENTS:
• Why energy is the real currency behind success
• Reverse engineering your life from how you want to feel
• Identity fatigue and the cost of impossible standards
• Survival mode vs. aliveness
• How women enable their own exhaustion to stay safe
• The hidden energy leaks in motherhood and ambition
• Co-regulation, support, and learning how to be held
• Why balance is a myth rooted in perfectionism
• Emotional repair as a daily practice
• Letting go of performative strength
• Choosing embodiment over hustle
• Reclaiming feminine power without bypassing reality

POINT OF THE STORY:
You don’t need to become someone new to create the life you want… you need to stop abandoning yourself to maintain an identity that’s draining you. When you reverse engineer your choices from how you want to feel, your energy returns, your boundaries clarify, and your life begins to align without force.

MENTIONED:

• Dying to Be a Good Mother- Book
• Follow Heather Chauvin
  • Instagram
  • Emotionally Uncomfortable Podcast

This episode sets the tone for the entire Energy Is Everything Series. If you’ve been exhausted, over-functioning, or quietly wondering why success doesn’t feel the way you thought it would, then this conversation is your invitation

Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!

MORE ABOUT ASH
I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before.

LINKS:

• Become the Regulated Woman
• Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth).
• Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7
• Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip)
• Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com

Work with me 1:1

• Therapeutic Mentorship
• Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship)
• ...

Happy New Year, my love. This bonus episode is a gentle but honest conversation about what so many of us unconsciously bring into a new year: intensity, pressure, and the belief that healing only counts if it hurts.

In this episode, I’m naming something I’ve lived, witnessed, and had to unlearn myself… the tendency to create struggle in the name of growth. The idea that if it’s not hard, painful, or dramatic, it must not be real healing. I want to offer you a different path as we step into 2026.

This is an invitation to choose integration over resolution, embodiment over force, and safety over intensity. Healing doesn’t have to break you to work.

TOPICS & TANGENTS:
• New Year energy and the addiction to intensity
• Masochistic healing and why we believe struggle equals worthiness
• The nervous system’s attachment to pain as proof
• Why healing doesn’t only “count” if it hurts
• Integration as the most powerful form of healing
• Embodiment over endless learning and fixing
• Self trust as the real root of transformation
• Daily micro healing versus massive emotional overhauls
• Seasonal wisdom and honoring winter energy
• Slowing down without falling behind
• Why burnout often comes from trying to heal “correctly”
• Letting safety, not force, lead your growth

POINT OF THE STORY:
Healing isn’t meant to be punishing. The real work isn’t in how much you can endure, but in how deeply you can integrate what you already know. Transformation happens when your body feels safe enough to embody change… not when you push yourself to the edge trying to prove you’re worthy.

MENTIONED:
• Episode 164: My 2026 Planning Process (Structure That Creates Freedom)

If you’re feeling the urge to sprint into this year, let this episode be your permission slip to slow down. You can’t rush what’s already meant for you. Integration is where the magic lives.

Happy New Year 🤍

Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!

MORE ABOUT ASH
I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before.

LINKS:

• Become the Regulated Woman
• Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth).
• Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7
• Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip)
• Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com

Work with me 1:1

• Therapeutic Mentorship
• Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship)
• ...

In this final episode of 2025, I’m sharing exactly how I plan for a new year in a way that feels grounded, supportive, and sustainable. This isn’t hustle planning or rigid goal setting. It’s the process I use to create structure that actually frees me.

I walk you through my full end of year reflection ritual, how I set intentions across every area of my life, and why regulation, capacity, and self trust matter more than forcing motivation. If you want 2026 to feel different, this episode will show you how to plan in a way your nervous system can actually hold.

TOPICS & TANGENTS:
• My full end of year planning process from reflection to strategy
• Monthly reviews and why I track the year as it’s happening
• Celebrating what actually worked instead of rushing past it
• Setting intentions for life, not just business
• Script style intention setting and nervous system safety
• Why structure creates freedom, not restriction
• The difference between ease and avoidance
• Planning with ADHD and limited capacity
• Breaking goals into 15 minute or less tasks
• Working backwards to avoid all or nothing burnout
• Why consistency beats intensity every time
• Taking things off your plate before adding more

POINT OF THE STORY:
Ease doesn’t come from doing less or avoiding effort. It comes from resourcing yourself before, during, and after the work. When your plans honor your capacity, structure becomes the thing that creates freedom instead of pressure.

MENTIONED:
• Episode 160: How I Plan Profit Without Burning Out
• End of year reflection and intention setting practices
• Nervous system regulation and capacity based planning

If you’ve been craving more ease, more clarity, and more support heading into 2026, this episode is your invitation to slow down, reflect honestly, and build a plan that actually serves you.

Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!

MORE ABOUT ASH
I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before.

LINKS:

• Become the Regulated Woman
• Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth).
• Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7
• Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip)
• Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com

Work with me 1:1

• Therapeutic Mentorship
• Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship)
• ...

This episode is a behind-the-scenes look at what really happens when success comes faster than your nervous system knows how to hold.

I’m sharing the full story of what unfolded after a wildly intuitive, expansive year in business and how unworthiness, perfectionism, and fear quietly took over once things felt “too easy.” What followed was burnout, over-efforting, identity collapse, and ultimately a five-month sabbatical that changed everything.

We’re talking about the nervous system science behind becoming the woman you desire to be… not through force or mindset hacks, but through safety, practice, and embodiment. Why “acting as if” actually works, how success can feel threatening to the body, and why breaking was the doorway to everything I was trying to create.

This is about becoming her from the inside out.

TOPICS & TANGENTS:
• What happens when success outpaces nervous system capacity
• The hidden unworthiness that follows “too easy” wins
• Perfectionism as protection, not discipline
• Why success can feel unsafe to the body
• The be–do–have model vs. chasing outcomes
• Acting as if through nervous system rehearsal, not pretending
• Identity, safety, and practicing your future before it arrives
• Why abundance requires regulation, not effort
• Micro decisions that rewire who you’re becoming

POINT OF THE STORY:
You don’t become her by achieving more.
You become her by teaching your body it’s safe to be who you already are.

MENTIONED:
• Microdosing as a nervous-system support for neuroplasticity and regulation
• Golden Rule — including Superflow and Soul Gummies
• Code ASH10 for 10% off

If you’re setting goals for the next season of your life and wondering why they feel heavy instead of exciting, this episode is your reminder: becoming her starts with safety, not pressure.

Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!

MORE ABOUT ASH
I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before.

LINKS:

• Become the Regulated Woman
• Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth).
• Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7
• Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip)
• Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com

Work with me 1:1

• Therapeutic Mentorship
• Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship)
• ...

In this bonus episode, I’m sharing a behind-the-scenes audio from The Regulated Woman private podcast. It is one of my favorite micro-tools for releasing stress that gets trapped in the body throughout the day.

We’re talking about emotional residue... the irritation, disappointment, pressure, or overwhelm your body absorbs when you don’t have time (or space) to fully process what you feel. Even when your mind has moved on, your nervous system might still be holding the weight.

This episode walks you through a simple, 60-second somatic release you can use in real life

TOPICS & TANGENTS:
• What emotional residue is and why it drains your energy
• How stress and emotion live in the body, not just the mind
• Why “pushing through” costs more than you think
• A simple three-step somatic release you can use anytime
• How incomplete stress responses keep you exhausted
• Reclaiming mental, emotional, and physical energy without effort

POINT OF THE STORY:
You’re tired because your body is holding too much. But there’s a way to change this because when you allow stress responses to complete, you get your energy back.

MENTIONED:
• My conversation with Alison Hardy on Six Figure Secrets — a raw discussion on success, burnout, and redefining what “enough” actually feels like

If this episode lands for you and you want more support like this — short, effective, body-based tools you can actually use — The Regulated Woman might be exactly what your nervous system has been asking for.

Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!

MORE ABOUT ASH
I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before.

LINKS:

• Become the Regulated Woman
• Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth).
• Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7
• Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip)
• Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com

Work with me 1:1

• Therapeutic Mentorship
• Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship)
• ...