From the Heart with Rachel Brathen

We all poop! Why don’t we ever talk about it? Trigger warning: this episode gets really up close and personal on all things number two! After having her first colon hydrotherapy session, Rachel became more intimate with her poop than ever before - and she shares all the deets! What was the experience like? How did it feel? And what really came out of her? From someone who grew up feeling so embarr...

Today’s episode shares the objective story on how Rachel and her family dealt with finding toxic mold in their house, from A to Z. Environmental health is incredibly important, but often overlooked. The truth is you are exposed to toxins on a continuous basis, but your body has pathways to remove them from your system. What happens when you live in an environment that completely overwhelms your na...

There is a place life takes us sometimes. It’s dark, it’s lonely and it feels like we’re trapped at the bottom of a hole. It can be hard to get out, unless we remember one thing: the only way out is through. This week, Rachel has managed to see the light again after two weeks of ever present anxiety. Through what felt like utter failure, she realized something important. No matter how often she lo...

Today’s episode comes with no epiphanies. It’s just an honest, open sharing on anxiety when there is nothing else you can do. If you’ve ever had a tiny moment trigger a sea of anxiety, then you’ll know exactly what that feels like. This week, Rachel and her family are visiting friends on a beautiful island off the southern coast of Sweden. The sun is shining, summer is in full swing, and Rachel is...

When you look back on your life, make sure you can say that you were there for it. You were present. You didn’t just move through the motions of life, doing what you were told and checking out when things got hard or boring. You felt it all. You experienced it all, from the mundane to the breathtaking.  This podcast episode begins with a short exercise to support the feelings in your heart right n...

We come from the earth, we’ll return to the earth. In between, we garden. We nourish our bodies, we feed our minds. We tend to our hearts as though they are budding seeds. In today’s episode, Rachel shares the journey of self-care she has been on over the past year. After feeling a huge disconnect in Aruba (cue toxic mold, land built to support tourists, and environments not conducive to her human...

Are you actively participating in the creation of your life, or are you a bystander, feeling out of control and like you have no say in what life brings your way? Today, Rachel has some big decisions to make. It’s reminding her of a time of crisis years ago when she turned to Sweden to clear her head and find the answer that changed the course of her life forever. Now in a similar situation, she i...

Sometimes life doesn’t work out the way we expect. We can sit in nature, ask for guidance, notice the signs and follow our intuition, but it still doesn’t lead us to the answers. This week’s episode begins with a beautiful guided meditation to anchor you into the spiritual practice of sitting with the unknown, and holding space for everything that you are. If you feel anxious, worried or angry, th...

On this week’s episode, Rachel has everyone’s favorite guest on the show, Dennis Schoneveld! After being separated for almost 2 months, the little family is finally reunited and exploring their options in Sweden. They discuss everything that brought them to this exact moment, from moving out of their home, remediating their house from toxic mold, and Dennis finally making it to the tiny cabin in t...

Some things just feel like home; a small cabin in the woods, jumping into a cold Swedish lake, or a long hug from your person after being apart for months. Today’s episode begins with a guided meditation to allow you to check in and find home inside of yourself. Rachel then shares the heartfelt reunion with Dennis since his arrival in Sweden (and how Luna handled it!). With the little family back...

Have you ever downplayed a dream? Did you tell your friends, your family - and even yourself - that that thing you long for really doesn’t matter all that much? Here’s the thing: your dreams DO matter. How are they ever going to come true if you pretend they are not important? In today’s episode, Rachel shares her own intimate dream. It is one that may not be possible for so many reasons, but by s...

Our identities are complex. We are made up of dreams, beliefs, likes, dislikes and unique personalities - but everything about us is interwoven with the identities of the people we love the most. So, how can we know where others end and we begin? When do we choose ourselves, and when do we recognize and make sacrifices for a loved one whose needs may be greater than our own? In this week’s episode...

What’s standing in the way between you being 100% in tune with your body? A strong intuition is found within each and every one of us. We know ourselves on a deep and intimate level. When it comes to our health, we can say what makes us feel good and what doesn’t. So, why do we make decisions that so often ignore our gut feelings and lead us away from ourselves?  Would you believe that there is a...

Where you come from is rooted deep within you, for better or for worse. No matter where you go or how far you run, home will always call you back. For those of us that left on purpose, this can be really hard to face. But, returning to basics and reconnecting with your roots can lead to some surprising discoveries.  In this week’s episode, Rachel has been looking into her ancestry and made a surpr...

All of us at our core are longing for home. We long for that place where we can let go, be ourselves, and find peace. But, how many of us truly find home, and how many of us spend our entire lives in search of it? In this week’s episode, Rachel is recording from the middle of the forest in her homeland of Sweden. After quite the journey to get there from Aruba (especially traveling with Ringo for...

How do you say goodbye to the most important thing in your life? In today’s episode, we take notes and learn from Lea Luna, Rachel’s 4-year old daughter, and how she dealt with losing her best friend, Bear. Did you have a special toy as a child that meant everything to you? When you’re young, a stuffed animal can mean structure, support and love. It can mean everything. In today’s episode, Rachel...

The environment we live in, the water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe play a massive role in our overall health and wellbeing. The good news? While this may seem overwhelming, a lot of it is within our control. On this week’s episode, Rachel opens up about her family’s environmental toxicology test results. While they were in for some shocking insights, now they have the answers t...

As Rachel purges all of the items in her house, she reflects on the process of letting go and the human experience of it. Knowing that our life isn’t in our things is one of the most fundamental spiritual lessons - but that doesn’t make it any easier. No matter who we are, where we’re from, or how we live, we will all have to deal with loss. We could lose relationships with people who mean everyth...

The mold saga at Rachel’s house continues this week, but with some major lessons, miracles, blessings and resiliency sprinkled in. Now with somewhat of a game-plan on how to move forward, Rachel has been able to reflect on the past few weeks with a clearer head and a lighter heart - and that is when she noticed something miraculous. Even in the darkest times, grace can still find you. On the show...

Still deep in a mold crisis, Rachel’s entire future shifted when a mystery mold man fell out of the sky and landed in Aruba. After a few minutes in her house with a flashlight, this man could tell Rachel one very important thing: she is not crazy. Even after being forced to leave her home, losing all her belongings and suffering from mold illnesses, the worst part of this journey for Rachel has be...

How do you make it through when your world is crumbling around you? In today’s episode, Rachel shares her best advice, resources, and practices when it comes to crisis management. The first thing we need to do is acknowledge when we’re in a crisis. Sometimes big life events feel manageable, while smaller things make us unravel. Instead of trying to soldier on, admitting that you’re having a hard t...

As of last week, Rachel received the devastating news that she has dangerously high levels of mold in her house. Her family has had to move out immediately, get tested for mycotoxins, find contractors, doctors and mold experts that can help, and they will possibly lose all of their belongings… including their home. Trigger warning – bring tissues for this episode. After years of taking great care...

On today’s episode of From the Heart, Rachel is joined once again by her best friend: the accidental influencer, Olivia Rothschild! While laughing their way through this episode, they tackle all topics best friends usually discuss, from Botox, running, and that time Rachel was arrested while driving Olivia’s scooter, to deeper conversations on true friendship, home births, empowering women, and al...

What does self-love mean to you? We spend so much of our day-to-day lives rejecting our whole selves. When we feel bad, we usually try to make ourselves feel better rather than sitting with what is true for us in that moment. But how could this denial ever be considered self-love? As Rachel continues to battle pneumonia, she reflects on the mental stress of not feeling her best. Diving deeper, she...

What should you do when you want to let go, but can’t? In today’s episode Rachel is not only battling pneumonia, she is battling her own mind as well. In order to heal, we need to rest. But what if resting just gives rise to anxious thoughts, limiting beliefs and the added pressure of feeling like a failure? The truth is, life will always throw us curveballs that remind us we are not in control. T...