The Wellness Ninja Podcast

After a few missed weeks (life, illness, the world feeling like it's on fire… you know), I'm back — and we're talking about something that might feel fluffy but absolutely is not: joy. In this episode, I share a quiet birthday-morning moment that stopped me in my tracks and reminded me, this is the whole point. Then we dive into a powerful idea from the book The Joy Reset — that joy isn't pastel, toxic positivity, or "just make lemonade." It's gritty. It lives alongside grief. It shows up at funerals and in high school drama and in the smell of your morning coffee. I'll walk you through the importance of starting to notice tiny little joys (without bypassing the hard stuff) and how training your brain to find them can literally support your health. Because joy isn't the cherry on top of the cake. It's a key part of the recipe.

It's the end of January, the shine has worn off your New Year motivation, and suddenly the internet is yelling at you about five-step morning routines and perfect plans you're already "failing." In this episode, Heather lovingly calls bullshit on all-or-nothing wellness and introduces a much more realistic (and sanity-saving) approach: menus, not routines. We talk about why perfect plans fall apart the moment real life shows up, how changing capacity (hello hormones, stress, and sick kids) actually works, and why "all or something" beats "all or nothing" every single time. You'll learn how to create simple menus for things like mornings, workouts, and bedtime—so even on messy days, you can still support yourself without throwing the whole plan in the trash. Less pressure, more flexibility, and a whole lot more self-kindness.

In this episode, I'm continuing the conversation around the mind–body connection, and going a little deeper into an idea that can feel both intriguing and confusing at the same time: your body is always giving you information. We'll talk about what that actually means in real life, why so many of us were taught to ignore or distrust our body's signals, and why swinging to the opposite extreme—making every symptom mean something big—isn't helpful either. Using relatable examples (like stress and digestion), I share a different way to think about physical sensations as data rather than problems to fix, and how curiosity and small experiments can help you work with your body instead of fighting it. This isn't about blame, quick answers, or "doing it right"—it's about creating a little more understanding, calm, and room to move forward.

What if we stopped treating New Year's resolutions like magic wishes… and started treating them like experiments? In the first episode of 2026, I'm making a bold call: resolutions are out, and experiments are in. We're talking about why traditional resolutions create pressure, guilt, and burnout—and how approaching your health and life like a curious scientist can actually move you closer to how you want to feel. I break down how to turn goals into low-pressure experiments, why neutrality beats willpower every time, and how simple course corrections beat pass/fail thinking. Plus, I share one of my own real-life experiments (yes, it involves my phone and sleep). If you want to make meaningful changes this year without beating yourself up, this episode is your invitation to get curious, get flexible, and have some fun with it.

What exactly does a health and life coach do—especially one who doesn't hand out meal plans or workout routines? In this episode, Heather breaks down the real heart of coaching: partnership, perspective shifts, curiosity, and the sometimes-messy middle between where you are and where you want to be. She shares how her style of coaching blends teaching, truth-telling, mindset work, BodyTalk, and practical support so you can create sustainable change without relying on willpower or "just try harder" advice. If you've ever wondered what coaching actually looks like, why it helps, or how it's different from therapy, this episode gives you the clear, down-to-earth explanation you've been craving—served with honesty, humour, and zero meal plans.

Ever tried explaining BodyTalk and felt like you were babbling about nonsense? Same. In this episode, Heather does her best to explain what BodyTalk actually is — without the jargon, the woo-woo overwhelm, or the "trust me, it works" hand-waving. You'll hear how she went from skeptical engineer ("what even was that session?") to longtime practitioner, and why BodyTalk remains one of the most powerful tools she uses with clients today. She digs into: Why BodyTalk feels weird (spoiler—>its because it is) The "boxes in a dark room" analogy that helps explain it How BodyTalk helps you hear what your body's been trying to tell you Why curiosity is still the key to it all If you've ever wondered what BodyTalk is or why you'd even want to try it, this episode hopes to address that in a way that actually makes sense.

Life happens, and sometimes your health plan stops working… but that doesn't mean you've failed. In this final episode of the VIBE Method mini-series, Heather dives into evaluating and evolving your wellness strategy. Learn why health is a direction, not a destination, how to adapt your plan as your life and seasons change, and why treating your habits like a personal science experiment can keep you moving toward how you actually want to feel. If you're ready for practical, flexible, guilt-free strategies to stay on track — even when life throws curveballs — this episode is your roadmap to sustainable wellness.

In this episode, we dive into the Build Your Plan step of the VIBE Method and break down how to create a realistic, sustainable health plan that actually works in real life. You'll learn the four essentials of effective habit-building: starting small, planning for the season of life you're in, pairing new habits with existing routines, and practicing real self-kindness instead of self-criticism. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by health goals, stuck in all-or-nothing thinking, or frustrated when plans fall apart, this episode gives you a grounded, flexible approach you can use right away. Tune in to learn how to build a health plan that supports your goals, your energy, and your actual life.

In this episode, we're stepping into the second part of the VIBE Method: Identify. This is where we look beneath the surface and get curious about what's really getting in the way. Because that thing you think is the problem? Often, it's not the whole story. We'll talk about why surface fixes (like changing the job, the routine, or the meal plan) don't create lasting change, and how your body and emotions are constantly giving you useful data—not evidence that you're failing. We'll explore how blocks can show up on multiple levels—physical, emotional, mental, and energetic—and why addressing just one layer usually only provides temporary relief. Most importantly, we'll talk about approaching all of this with curiosity instead of self-judgment. You're not broken. You don't need to be fixed. You're learning about yourself more deeply—and that's where real change begins.

Ever notice how you can hit your goals and still feel...meh? In this episode, we're kicking off a four-part series on my VIBE Method, starting with the "V" — Vision. But not the vision board kind. We're talking about creating a vision for how you actually want to feel in your life, not just what you want to achieve.  And of course we'll make it practical with a simple (but effective) exercise to help you pinpoint your three "feeling words" — the ones that can shift how you see your day, your goals, and even yourself. If you've been stuck on the treadmill of "doing all the things" and still not feeling how you hoped you would, this episode will help you start seeing (and feeling) differently.

After an unintentionally long four-year break, Heather is back in your earholes with a fresh season of The Wellness Ninja Podcast — the wellness podcast that helps you actually enjoy life while taking better care of yourself. In this reintroduction episode, she shares what really happened during the hiatus, how her perspective on health and self-care has evolved, and why she's embracing her imperfect action era. You'll hear about finding energy again in your 40s, redefining what "healthy" means, and letting go of the idea that you have to have it all figured out. If you've ever felt stuck, tired, or over the wellness noise, this episode will remind you that health is a journey — and it's way more fun when we do it together.

Everybody has a superpower. In fact, we all have the same superpower. For some of us it lays dormant, waiting to be discovered, for others we've discovered it but are using it against ourselves. This superpower is Curiousity! And not only did it not, in fact, kill the cat, it has the power to change your life. In this episode I share three keys to really using this superpower.

Season 2 is here!  I dive into the health journey of the last 18 months and share lessons learned (and relearned) and what practical steps I have been taking to improve my energy and health.  It's been a humbling and hard journey and also I've grown so freaking much because of it.

I shared recently about all the anger I've been feeling lately and from the responses, it seems I'm not alone. We are all feeling a whole lot of big feelings and they can be overwhelming. Anger in particular can negatively effect your life. Acknowledging your feelings is important, knowing that there is information for you in the feelings is really important, but unless there is action after, you kinda still remain stuck in the emotions. In today's episode I share how to work with anger (or any emotion) in four key areas: physical, mental, emotional and energetic.

While I don't recommend resolutions or big audacious goals right now, I do think you want a word of the year to guide you. Are you familiar with having a word of the year concept? It seems silly but it can be a very powerful way to navigate the year, regardless of all the crazy stuff that happens. This episode explains how a word can help and gives advice on how to pick yours.

No resolutions. No big goals. No 30/60/90 day reset. No 75hard. None of it. If New Years resolutions worked, 80% of them wouldn't be tossed by February. It's been a stressful year so how about we don't stress our nervous systems out more okay? Let's try a different approach this year. Lets simplify it to the foundation support pieces. Just a few things to focus on. Listen in and I'll explain what I mean.

There's been a lot of advice lately about hand washing and social distancing, but there are a lot more ways to stay healthy this year. Today's episode is an interview with Dr. Marika Geiss. She is a board certified Naturopath and in this episode she gives a tonne of practical advice on how to keep a strong immune system, as well as what to do when you get sick to help in your recovery. This is more than just eat more vegetables (which, by the way, you absolutely need to do)- these are actionable protocols for your health.

Making sure we are doing the daily things that support our health is always important, but especially now when life has been upturned and flipped around. In today's episode I am sharing the things that are helping me really enjoy life right now and that allow me to support my health without it being a big deal or taking up all my time or brainpower.

There is a lot of judgement going around on how we are supposed to be handling this. By this I mean a global pandemic and countries shutting down and all sense of normal being thrown out. There is no right way to do this. And today's right way for you will look different than tomorrows. A different way to approach it is to ask yourself better questions and take each day uniquely. This episode explains what I mean, gives some better questions and I also share the one skill I hope every comes out of this event with.

Today's episode is an interview with Confidence Coach Riley Lawson. She shares her journey from working in fashion and having a lot of self judgement to reaching a place of being tired of blaming others and taking responsibility for her life. She gives really helpful examples from her own life of the work she has done to reframe her thoughts and change her beliefs to reach a place of self acceptance, and dare we say, self love.

It's January 2020 and reality check, you are the same person you were on December 31, 2019. There is nothing magical about the new year that transforms you into a new person. You have the same baggage, the same bullshit in your way. Let's take the pressure off to suddenly show up "new" and instead focus on what's really going to get us where we want this year. This episode is about how to actually use this New Year excitement in a healthy supportive way and how to set standards, not resolutions.

Today I get to talk with the fabulous Kristin Pierce. She is an award winning author, an Advanced BodyTalk Practitioner and a Mindscape Instructor. We dive into her journey through cancer, the pivot in career that it caused, all things Mindscape and her new journey into being an author. We discussed unlearning all the crap and moving through all the layers of BS we accumulate. Kristin's childrens books are so much more than just a story and we discuss the impact she hopes they make (they also make a great gift!)

We can have the best intentions, we can have a plan, we can believe we have changed for the better. But when it comes to stressfull situations, like holidays with family, its surprisingly easy to suddenly be thrown back into your 14year old self and yelling at your brother while rolling your eyes at your mother. One key strategy to prevent this is to have a pattern interrupt cued and practiced. Listen to todays episode to learn what pattern interrupts are and one of the easiest ones to use.

Today I'm talking about the one thing everyone lets get in their way. Drumroll...it's fear. The truth is that fear is never going away, the jerk. There will always be things we are afraid of, most of them being the stories we tell ourselves. So we have to do 'the work' to get through. Only it's always pissed me off when people say that because I was frustrated as to what 'the work' really meant. Today I'm sharing my new understanding of what it means to do the work and hopefully it will clear up the frustration for you too and give a new perspective on handling the fears we all have.

We all have know that an apple is healthier for us than a donut. We all have habits that we know make us feel good, yet we aren't doing them. Today's episode dives into doing what works and issues a challenge for you.

Amanda Perrot spent 47 days traveling around Saskatchewan, holding events for women to gather and share real conversations. Then she wrote a book about it. The book, 47 Days: A Journey Home, was so much more than I expected that I immediately had to interview her. In the interview we talked about worthiness and questioning your own thoughts, needing to back your words up with action and her one night stands. This is a woman who is deeply skilled at looking at her own mental crap with compassion and humour. Amanda is so easy to talk to and we skip all the light and fluffy stuff and dive into the good stuff. It was a damn good interview!

This is a story about my hate of the air bike. Except it's not really. It's about the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. It's about how those stories can limit us. It's about choosing to change the stories. It's also about that f**king air bike.

Have you ever been really enjoying yourself and then suddenly found yourself with a feeling of dread? Or have you ever looked at your child and been filled with love and then pictured a horrible accident? Author Brene Brown refers to this as forboding joy. In todays episode I share my own experience with this recently and discuss Brene's solution.

Ever had a thought, an idea, a project that had you really excited? Then the more time you thought about it, and more specifically the more you thought about people's reaction to it, the less excited you got? So you keep quiet. You silence your excitement and keep the thoughts bottle up inside until they die from lack of oxygen. This is something I have struggled with my whole life, and as I begin to share more with this podcast, it has become even more noticable. So I want to get a discussion going on it. I want to get people questioning their overthinking. I probably have no answers, but I do like good questions. Come and listen to them on this weeks podcast episode.

So a crazy thing happened last month- I turned 40! And to be honest it felt a lot different than I expected. Listen to hear how it really felt, all about your give-a-f*&k meter, and why it might matter to you.

Do you include pleasure in your self care? In your health care? I am speaking again this week with the lovely Robin Hilton and we are diving body first into the idea of pleasure being a crucial aspect of your health and well being. I'm also fairly certain it's the first time this podcast has had the words vagina and pussy (prepare yourself people) so you know it's a good listen!

Ever reached a goal and then thought 'well this doesn't feel as good as I thought it would'? What if you flipped traditional goal setting on its head? Today's episode is an interview with entrepreneur and coach Robin Hilton and she is going to give you a different way to set and reach your goals: start with how you want to feel first.

Self Care? Booo! Taking bubble baths isn't going to fix me and who has time for the spa!? Ever find yourself thinking those thoughts whenever some health guru starts talking about self care? Today I dive into what I think self care actually is (hint, you actually do it already) and how having more radical practical self care can be achieved

Do you know how you want to feel? Or do you just know how you don't want to feel anymore? It's a surprisingly hard question to answer. And if we don't know how we want to feel, then our brain can't collect evidence to help us feel more of it. Listen to this episode to learn simple ways to use the wiring of our brain to help us feel more of what we want.

It's that time of year again- you know where you are hit with all the messages about how you need a new you, "here's 5 ways to change everything about yourself", and my favourite one "follow my program and I will solve all your problems". I am not a big fan of resolutions. I feel they convey the wrong message and set you up to feel shitty all year. Listen in and hear how I think you could approach this new year differently.

Last week's episode was about how to prepare yourself for the Holiday season and all it's gatherings and how to see the good in people. Things aren't always so rosy and kind, nor do we control how other people behave, so we also need to talk about how to have strong healthy boundaries and a plan to keep them. It comes down to values and asking yourself 'Am I Willing' questions. Listen to learn what I mean.

How do you want to show up this holiday season? Because I guarantee that Aunt Sue is going to keep being a jerk and Grandpa will keep making racist remarks. And no matter how good a comeback you have, you are not going to change them over Christmas dinner. So how can you prepare ahead of time to help these holidays, and anytime really, go better? It's not by preparing for battle! Instead try these 3 simple methods to go in prepared and to help you show up as the best version of you.

Today's episode is an interview is with Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner Dr. Daniel Hoffman. We talk about how a lumberjack looking kid from the Prairies dived into the world of Chinese Medicine without even having experienced it himself, the shock of his first week at school, and what is Chinese Medicine anyways. We also discuss how becoming a parent changed his views on western medicine-and it's not how I would have expected!

Often it's the little things that we do consistently throughout our day that can make the biggest difference. They can help us continually course correct to get us to where we want to go- which is really about how we want to feel. This episode shares 5 simple things to do everyday to keep course correcting. Plus there is a bonus I talk about at the end.

Today I'm feeling low and sharing what I do when that happens. It's unscripted and real. It's about feeling the feelings all the way through.

Sometimes we just need to get all the thoughts, good, bad, & ugly, out of our heads. This can seem simple but there is a method to doing this that is most effective. Listen and learn to spew!

From Medical school student to consciousness medicine teacher. Learn about Allison Bachmeiers journey through both and the lessons she learned. Key quotes from this episode: "I felt a kind of better I didn't even know existed" and "I am all about whatever works best and I don't care what we call it"

Embrace the Suck. Ever feel like you have trouble making decisions? Like your life is full of things you have to do and not want to do? What if instead of waiting for wonderful option C, you embraced sucky option A or sucky option B? What does that even mean!? Listen and find out.

Want to know the #1 Mistake you are making in your health? I see it all the time with clients, with my family and even still sometimes with myself. The answer is what I dive into in todays episode. You will also learn if you are a Pam or a Janet and why you actually want to be a little of both.

What if all you had to do for healing was just observe? Listen in as Dr. Tracey Clark shares her health story, going from professional dancer to Osteopath to a PhD in Integrative Medicine. It was a big journey of personal healing.  We also discuss her fascinating research on the power of observation to create measurable health changes. It really opens up the definition of what healing is. Tracey focuses on the whole body approach to health providing an extensive and holistic approach to finding solutions and supporting the lifestyle changes that allow her clients to thrive. Tracey is a Board Certified Manual Osteopath, Advanced Certified BodyTalk Practitioner and Instructor. She lectures internationally and is on faculty of the International Quantum University of Integrative Medicine, The International Alliance of Healthcare Educators and the International BodyTalk Association.

Welcome to the Wellness Ninja Podcast. This first episode is all about what a wellness ninja is and why you want to be one. It's shorter than a regular episode and gives a taste of fun things to come, as well as a glimpse into my views on health.