From the Heart with Rachel Brathen

Do mom brains just work differently than dad brains? This is obviously not the case in every family, but in a lot of families - the mother bears the brunt of the mental load. The mother is the one making sure the kids have everything for school, they do all the groceries and list making, they note the things that need fixing and mending and cleaning. So why is that? Do their brains just work diffe...

In today’s episode, Rachel is the type of tired that you feel in your soul, in your bones, and in your identity itself. It’s a feeling that stems from the roles and responsibilities she has in her life right now, but it goes even deeper and older than that - into the trauma she felt as a child and the burdens placed on her back then. Rachel attempts to unpack this experience by sharing specific ex...

When you reflect on your personality, why do you think you are the way you are? Is it due to your nature or your experiences? In today’s episode, Rachel reflects on this question with her own personality - much of which she thinks is the result of her childhood. She opens up about codependency and a sense of internal stress and urgency that never seems to leave, no matter how little there is on he...

There’s a lot happening in Rachel’s life at the moment! You probably feel it too. This weekend has so much momentum and high energy. It’s the peak of the season, summer solstice, and the midsummer celebration in Sweden. All of the events happening sent Rachel into a sickness spiral where she realized something important: this was her first felt experience of aging. With the high highs of summer we...

Today’s episode is about going back to basics, full circle moments, and a new chapter intertwining with the old. Rachel has just launched a summer retreat after some serendipitous circumstances. It has her reminiscing back to her twenties when her and Dennis first launched retreats together from their kitchen table. She shares some old stories and why she’s feeling so nostalgic: she now feels inte...

This episode of From the Heart is all about AI and how it is infiltrating every corner of our lives. After a few upsetting encounters with AI, Rachel was left wondering: do the bad parts of the internet outweigh the good? Where are we headed as a society? And is it even our fault if there’s no way to stop it?  It can be so hard to balance the desire to live without the internet while our lives hav...

In today’s episode, it’s the end of May, Rachel’s energy is buzzing, and things are happening all around! Rachel talks about the momentum that this month brings to the Scandinavians, and just how that momentum has met her: it’s come bearing so many ideas and epiphanies. Rachel has been initiating a million things lately, and she talks about different projects she has going on the farm, how her day...

If you are a mother, you probably know the feeling of fear well. In today’s episode, Rachel talks about the biggest trauma her nervous system is still experiencing today - the fear of something happening to her children. Lea had surgery this week which was a huge experience for their entire family. Rachel shares the entire story from start to finish, and beautifully puts the terror moms can feel i...

Family Lore is a weekly narrative podcast that celebrates and investigates ancestral mystique. Each episode begins with a guest sharing a fascinating family legend, followed by a historical deep-dive to uncover the truth and meaning behind the tale. Available now: link.pscrb.fm/f0281/FLFD To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Le...

Can we build confidence in our children? Or is confidence something they have to figure out for themselves? This episode brings us another segment of Ask Rachel, where Rachel answers questions from listeners that have called in. She shares her future vision and dreams for the store at Ala Farms and how to deal with roosters so they don’t ruin your life. Then she answers a really beautiful question...

In today’s episode of From the Heart, Rachel shares her process of getting things done and how she stays productive in her daily life. It looks a lot like this: manifesting with the energy of a thousand suns, side questing on the way to another side quest, and then falling apart on the couch with a tub of ice cream once all is said and done.  We all have different ways that we generate and create....

In today’s episode, Rachel shares many opposing thoughts that we are all thinking right now: the world is absurd, crazy and scary - but the world is also full of so many beautiful things. Everywhere we look there is war, genocide, starvation, and terrifying men in positions of power. But there are also children laughing, flowers blooming, and ducks in Rachel’s house! How can these polarities exist...

In today’s episode, Rachel answers a very specific question: does she hate men? The answer to this is… no, not all men. But the truth is, the male population as a whole is not giving women a lot to feel confident in right now. From charlatans in the healing space preying on the vulnerable, to the lack of prosecutions resulting from the Epstein files, and the shocking rape academy online, we live i...

If you want to try Activations, now is the perfect time. Visit activations.com/rachel for more. When you envision your most authentic self, who do you see? What is that person like? What are their daily habits? How do they feel? In this bonus episode, we are re-releasing one of our favorite past episodes with Mimi Bouchard, the creator of Activations. Mimi transformed her life from one of self-hat...

Does it feel like time is just moving quicker and quicker? Are you yearning to slow down the clock and enjoy each moment as it comes your way? In today’s episode, Rachel is about to celebrate her husband’s 40th birthday. After meeting in their twenties, having two children, and spending decades together - this feels like a big milestone. Rachel shares her thoughts on growing older as she takes a t...

What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and had no power? Or the grocery stores had no food? Or there wasn’t any clean water anymore? What would you do if all of a sudden you were expected to live a completely different lifestyle than you are used to? Can we really rely on the government or anyone else to take care of us? In today’s episode, Rachel talks about prepping for the end of the world....

Today’s episode will inspire you to put your hands in the soil and grow something. Rachel shares her entire history with gardening, from how she got started to her intuitive process now. The beautiful thing about gardening is that you can just begin, and nature will take it from there. Tending to a little plot of land has changed Rachel’s life for the better. This daily work of time spent in the g...

It’s time for another Ask Rachel episode of the podcast - and the questions that came today were really incredible. It was a very mother-centered episode, with guests asking about setting boundaries with their mothers, how to find moments of self-care when you’re a new mother, and how we can really make a change in the world when we are so immersed with raising our kids. Rachel also opens up about...

Are you standing at a crossroads? Today, we’re sharing Becoming You, hosted by the brilliant Suzy Welch. Known for her wildly popular self-discovery class at NYU, Suzy is the guide we all need when the "big life questions" start feeling heavy. Find Becoming You with Suzy Welch everywhere you get your podcasts. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc...

Happy Spring Equinox! Today marks the balancing of night and day, the halfway point between winter and summer solstice, a new astrological year, and of course, the first day of spring. With this untapped potential, this episode offers you a full practice and ritual. It’s an opportunity to grab your journal and pen, reflect on what happened to you over the winter, and manifest what you want to invi...

As spring inches closer, Rachel has a personal realization about this time of year: it is always filled with a mixture of grief and celebration. With her daughter’s birthday and the anniversary of her best friend’s passing both taking place, there are always many conflicting feelings being felt at the same time. This week brought its share of challenges - but did the universe do that on purpose so...

Welcome to another episode of From the Heart. Today Rachel begins with a meditation - something all our hearts need - to settle into the moment and open ourselves up to receive. When the world feels dark, when our days feel like a never-ending to-do list, we have to make sure that we are making joy a priority in the small moments we have for ourselves. There is no other way to carry on.  Rachel ta...

Maybe the apocalypse isn’t what you see in the movies. It’s not power grids collapsing, fires burning everywhere, and zombies coming for us all. Instead, it looks like society being okay with abuse and asking us all to move on. In today’s episode, Rachel has entered a new level of feminine RAGE. She talks more about the abuse women and children suffer at the hands of men and the micro-aggressions...

With the Epstein files and all the atrocities that they hold coming to light, we can no longer be silent and complacent in a world built on patriarchy, pedophilia, and women as second class citizens. In today’s episode, Rachel unpacks her own experience diving into the realities of the files. As a mother, as a woman, and as a business owner, she shares stories of people she almost worked with that...

If you’re a parent, you may have heard a million different theories on how to best raise children. But here’s the thing: none of those people have ever been in your shoes and they’ve never raised your kids. In today’s episode, Rachel talks about parenting from intuition and from your own lived experience.  Do we really need advice from experts, ChatGPT, or a hundred parenting books telling us what...