Divine Feminine Spotlight Series
Welcome to the Transformation Goddess – Divine Feminine Spotlight for October!

The intention of The Divine Feminine Spotlight series is to share transformational stories of women who have learned to walk in beauty, with the strength, courage, and pleasure of claiming their feminine sovereignty.

 

Carole Fogarty Divine Feminine Spotlight

Today it’s my pleasure to introduce you to my favorite Australian, the soulful and beautiful, Carole Fogarty.

Carole is a writer, relaxation alchemist, crafter of delicious slow retreats and workshops sprinkled with a background trained in counseling, restorative yoga, meditation and holistic healing.

She is a lover of chai tea, dark organic chocolate, hula hooping, her vintage bicycle, deep rest yoga, barefoot walking, shaking her booty (dance is medicine), knitting, and horse riding.

 

Divine Feminine Spotlight conversations can be enjoyed by clicking on the player below, or easily downloaded to your iPhone or mp3 player via our popular Transformation Goddess Experience Podcast at iTunes.

“Listen. Pause. Breathe. Repeat.” – Carole Fogarty


Transformation Goddess Mandala
You can read the transcribed interview here, or listen to the more intimate audio to experience and receive the full energetic connection of our transformational conversation.

I know you will enjoy Carole. She is the epitome of a sovereign goddess.

 

Please share a Significant Transformation you’ve experienced recently.

Hello to everyone in Australia!

I guess my thing is, which I’m working at on a daily basis, is to sit in my trust. To sit in my belly. To sit in my body. To trust my intuition. When I do that things flow. When I get off track, or my thoughts get scattered or I get pulled in directions that I didn’t intentionally want to go in, things get a bit wobbly. I’ve learned to trust and to go with the flow. The more I do that, the more things happen effortlessly for me.

In the last year I had a feeling that I wanted to give back to my Rejuvenation blog readers by offering a healing circle from home that would be crafted with crystals, beautiful essences and bits of nature. I was a bit hesitant to offer this on my blog because I wasn’t really sure if my readers were open to that sort of thing and I didn’t want to isolate some of the readers. But, the feeling to proceed was very strong in my belly. I made the choice to proceed in a moment of pausing and being in that listening state which is very powerful for me. So I pushed the send button, gulped and offered the healing circle as a gift to my readers on the first of January. It felt right, even though there was a little bit of fear (but that was just the mind getting involved, which has nothing to do with my intuition…so I pushed that aside and released it. I thought I would probably get 20 or 30 people interested in participating in my offering and I got close to 800 people! I was really taken back. Gosh. Wow. Wow on a few levels. Wow, I trusted my gut, my intuition. And then I thought, perhaps I need to do this more often as a service to circle. I sat with the idea and the answer that came up was offering this service by donation to make it accessible to as many as possible. That’s what I did and they’ve bee going strong ever since.

Everything comes back again to trusting in your intuition and creating time to be with it. Creating a listening space, pausing. I love my pausing.

What are your favorite sacred feminine rituals?

Breathe would be the most obvious. The feminine energy for me is about receiving. To receive we need to pause and breathe deeply. The breath is medicine. The breath is an indication of what is going on in the body. If you’re holding your breath, which I do on occasion, your restricting on a physical level, oxygen coming into the body and the organs having space, but energetically there’s an inner clenching. I’m a big proponent of breath being medicine. Just focusing on your breath. Noticing what’s happening. Is your breath shallow in your chest, deep in the belly, clenched or are you reverse breathing? Reverse breathing being as you inhale you suck the belly in and when you suck the belly in you are restricting the breath, the blood flow, and less space for the organs. Basically, your living a restricted version of yourself. Having a nice swollen full belly that inflates like a balloon brings more prana, more Shakti energy, more feminine essence into the body and that’s where we store it, down in the belly, which then nurtures our intuition, giving intuition a bigger space 0n which to bubble away and reside as well.

How do you relate to your body, sexuality and power?

I go through phases of being disconnected with my body because I’m very much sort of out there in the ether, connected to other realms and energies. I work hard at being in my body, being earthed, grounded and sitting in my body. Obviously the breath is the connection between the mind and body bringing that energy down for me.

About 15 years ago I worked purely with sexual energy through a Tao System.  Sexual energy is the most potent energy in the body. The program that I experienced was about cultivating it, expanding it in the body and then directing it to certain parts of the body that needed healing. It wasn’t from a man and woman sexual point of view. It was for your own self. The building up of this potent sensual energy through your body with breathing exercises.

I hold my own and relate to my body, sexual energy and power by pausing, breathing and listening. That’s all you have to do is listen. When we don’t listen we have a disconnect with the body and that’s when something might go wrong or we don’t have a harmonious relationship with our bodies. When I need to drink, I pause and drink. When I need to be in nature, I listen and go out in nature because that’s what my body needs. It’s the practice of listening and it changes all the time. With three boys in the house, nature and time alone is big for me. Time alone helps me come back to myself and listen more clearly. I come back to the breath as medicine. The breath brings spaciousness to our thoughts and to our body for physical, neurological and spiritual reasons as well for intuition and inner guidance..

It’s also being mindful of the thoughts that are attached to the breath. My two favorite mantras to use when I’m unsure of outcomes is “I trust” and “I allow.” At the moment I’m going though a phase where I’m doing my best not to be attached to certainty. The more that I am able to use the breath as the vehicle to let go and release my attachment to certainty, the more things will unfold naturally as they’re meant to unfold. “I trust” is a huge one for me when things are rushing along. I inhale and I trust. I exhale and I trust. This creates spaciousness in the thoughts in my body and around me so I can see the world with expanded awareness or sense with expanded awareness. The mind doesn’t have the answers. The mind likes to think it has the answers,  but it just get’s in the way.

I allow for uncertainty. I allow for a greater version of myself to appear. I allow for answers to appear that I could have never possibly dreamed of to appear before me. I trust in the flow of my life. I allow for things to unfold.

How do you embody being a sovereign Goddess?

I don’t plan. I don’t have goals. I go with the flow and I honor myself and what my body needs now. I go with the flow. If I go against the flow and my mind gets caught up and it starts wanting to achieve and do and be this, and it’s not meant to be, then I’m wobbly and off track and I’m not living my truth. I’m living a more masculine energy. There needs to be a balance of masculine and feminine energy within us. Masculine energy is move, do, push, achieve. Gradually over time if I get caught up in that, then there is a disconnect in my feminine self and disconnect from receiving. I work very hard at creating lots of Yin energy because I have lots of boys in my home and a lot of Pitta in my personal Dosha. I listen to myself and my body to be sure that I’m not off balance.

Going with the flow is the way I stay in touch with my feminine self and embody my sovereignty.

What was you Inspiration for your Slow Retreat offerings?

The inspiration just happened. An intuitive hit that I followed up with that booked up quickly! 10 years later my retreats have come to a place that I call them a “slow retreat” because I think we need to take a pause from excessive stimulation. We are being encouraged to go faster and faster. It’s becoming a little bit harder to slow down and come back to ourselves. I’ve got this real desire now to bring stillness to people’s lives. To provide a place where they can take some time out and be with themselves. They can sink into who they are. I simply hold the space and allow for what ever the individual needs to happen. Of course we do restorative yoga and breathing exercises and things. It’s a very gentle and slow. I often offer retreats in Bali and will be leading a slow retreat in Spain in 2015.

Please tell us about your FREE relaxation manifesto!

I offer rejuvenation tips every day at my blog and facebook page and decided to pull lots of these tips together into a beautiful manifesto.

Readers are welcome to claim a copy of my Relaxation Manifesto as a reminder to help you pause, relax and listen.

How can our readers and listeners contact you?

You can contact me through my website at  www.rejuvenationlounge.com 


P.S. If you enjoyed today’s conversation, you may wish to visit the Divine Feminine Spotlight Series library to meet all of the transformation goddesses who’ve shared their wisdom and give aways in our podcast interview series. If you know a woman who might be a good fit for the Divine Feminine Spotlight, please let me know. We have a few openings available in 2015

Affordable Offerings for Your Consideration

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About Shann Vander Leek

Shann Vander Leek

Shann is a Transformational Leader, Award-Winning Podcaster, Best-Selling Author, Voice Over Talent, Podcast Coach, and Producer. She lives in the village of Suttons Bay, Michigan with her beloved husband and mouthy old cat. This Goddess Shines!

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Llinos Oct 15, 2014, 7:26 am

    Going with the flow can be so important. When I have resisted in the past, it hasn’t served me. Thanks for sharing this interview.

    • Shann Oct 15, 2014, 9:28 pm

      LIinois,

      I’m glad you enjoyed our conversation. Here’s to going with the flow.

  • Joy Balma Oct 15, 2014, 11:20 am

    I love what you say here Carole~ “I don’t plan. I don’t have goals. I go with the flow and I honor myself and what my body needs now. I go with the flow. If I go against the flow and my mind gets caught up and it starts wanting to achieve and do and be this, and it’s not meant to be, then I’m wobbly and off track and I’m not living my truth. I’m living a more masculine energy.”

    Yes! It is our job to live from a balance between our masculine “doing” self and our feminine “being” self. Great interview!

    Joy

    • Shann Oct 15, 2014, 9:31 pm

      Joy,

      I knew you would love Carole’s spotlight. She really is a model of grace and balance!
      Big LOVE!

  • Debra Reble Oct 15, 2014, 11:42 am

    Loved this interview with Carol and thank you for sharing these divine goddesses with us. What an inspiring program. Blessings

    • Shann Oct 15, 2014, 9:29 pm

      Debra,
      I’m happy to know you are enjoying this interview series.
      Thanks for listening. XO

  • Chara Armon Oct 15, 2014, 2:36 pm

    What a beautiful interview. Carole, you really embody what so many of us are seeking! I love the story about how you followed your intuition about offering a program, and had an enormous response. May we all learn to honor our bodies and intuitions in the way you do!

  • Christa Oct 15, 2014, 3:32 pm

    Love this so much! Listening to our bodies and our inner Selves is KEY! We are such wise souls, and our bodies and our instincts know what is right for us. It’s when we don’t listen to that, indeed, that things go awry. There is nothing wrong with listening to our inner nudges and our divine whispers. They are there for a reason, and truly want us to succeed. Let them help us, I say!

  • Peggy Oct 15, 2014, 3:45 pm

    I absolutely love, love, love the whole idea of a slow retreat. In so many ways, I get that. To slow way down. To sit in trust. To sit in stillness. To sit in nothingness. To sit in the cradle of heaven. oh yes. a thousand times yes.

    Namaste,
    Peggy

  • laura Oct 16, 2014, 8:42 am

    It was a delight having you share Carole, Shann! Any woman who likes Chai Tea is a friend of mine. Breath Medicine is where I began my healing journey ~ and where I return when I need to embrace my inner wisdom.

    • shannvanderleek Oct 21, 2014, 8:51 am

      Hi Laura,
      My pleasure. Carole is one of my favorite mentor goddesses on the planet. I love the way she lives in the moment and goes with the flow.

  • Sue Kearney (@MagnoliasWest) Oct 19, 2014, 1:34 am

    Carole, what a powerful message. Such a loving commitment to trusting your intuition; you inspire me.

    Love and blessings,
    Sue