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In this episode, I am joined by Ashlie Woods to talk about leading with your wild heart.
I made this promise with Spirit several years ago that if you make it clear, I’ll muster the courage. I feel like that’s my part, my job and- well, to stay connected to Spirit first of all, like to stay receptive and connected and listening and paying attention- but beyond that, it’s like, once once you tell me and it’s clear, I’ll put my brave panties on and make a move.
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Hello and welcome to Retreat and Grow Rich: the podcast. I’m Darla Ledoux, I’ll be your host today, and I’ll be interviewing the amazing, fabulous, talented Ashlie Woods.
Ashlie is someone who really walks her talk and epitomizes the concept behind this series, which is the RICH Revolution.
Remember, RICH is that Right-brained, Intuitive, Connected and Heart-centered energy. It’s a different way of working that we’re exploring in this series.
Ashlie believes that you are infinitely powerful and inherently creative. Her work is about knowing that truth in the most undeniable of ways. So you can embody it in every area of your life. Ashlie’s journey to freedom began over a decade ago when she attended a weekend workshop, I’ll call it a retreat, and discovered that she wasn’t broken. That life-changing moment propelled her along an endless path of self-love and authentic living.
In the decades since, she’s come to know the wholeness of who she is, to trust her intuition for guidance, and to believe that she is worthy of what she most desires. Ashlie believes there’s nothing sweeter or more liberating than loving ourselves exactly the way that we are. Welcome Ashlie, thanks so much for being here.
Ashlie Woods: Thank you for having me. Very excited to be here.
Darla LeDoux: I am excited to share with people about wholehearted living and what it is to follow your heart and let your heart lead the way, as opposed to all the other ways we can live our lives. So that’s what we’ll dive into. But first I’d love to hear just a little bit from your perspective so people can connect to the heart of your story. What’s that journey been like from discovering, “hey, I’m not broken,” to actually making that your life’s work?
Ashlie Woods: Big question. So let’s see. Yeah. I had this, it really, I think, the crux of it came at a really pivotal time in my life. I was kind of riding the fence in my marriage. I’d been in a relationship for almost 10 years and it was coming to the truth of the matter that I wasn’t really fulfilled there. Everything that my life involved at that time. And I was doing all the things I knew to do to get myself right and make the most conscious decision that I could make. I was seeking counsel that I trusted and attending classes and getting quiet and asking my friends and I was just, I was kind of a, mentally, kind of a train wreck sort of navigating this big crossroads in my life. And I had a trusted mentor tell me, she just encouraged me to notice what it felt like in my body when I told the truth. And you know it was having, there was, my head was so loud because there was so much at stake that I was really having a hard time getting to what was true. I didn’t know how to, I didn’t know how to get there. I just knew I was confused and overwhelmed and a mess. I just kept saying I was a mess, you know, because that’s really what it felt like. And when she encouraged me to do that, I trusted her, and I took it on, and I just started paying attention and kind of starting in the places where it felt the easiest. You know, do I want to wear this today? Or do I want to wear this today?
This is a low-risk kind of choice I could make and I can tune in and see what that feels like and so I just started practicing in those sorts of situations and I began to notice something consistent that I could rely on my body like it knew something that maybe my mind couldn’t quite process or rationalize. But there was a distinct way that my body felt when the decision felt good or true for me.
I think that looks different for everybody, which is part of what my work is about- you know, it’s for people to be able to find that for themselves. But for me, my feet felt really grounded. I had a sense of being rooted, but also light at the same time. And there was this- there is, I continue to feel it in the same way pretty much now- there’s the sense of expansiveness in my chest and my head is higher, but I just feel really rooted and really light at the same time.
Darla LeDoux: How did you know at that time that you needed help finding your own discernment?
Ashlie Woods: Because I wasn’t- I couldn’t- do it on my own. I just was spinning my wheels.
Darla LeDoux: What did that feel like? So someone’s listening, they’re feeling like, “yeah, I can relate to your experience.”
Ashlie Woods: Yeah that’s a really great question. What did it feel like? No answer felt settled. I had an answer. I would say it like this-I had an idea of what I should be doing, and what the right thing would be, and I just kept trying to talk myself into that. So I was spinning my wheels. I was, like, answering the question, but it still felt unanswered. So it popped back up and resurfaced again. My body still felt agitated and restless and my experience was restless and I really was running from things to a large degree, staying in motion, and staying busy, and avoiding the tough conversations.
Darla LeDoux: And why do you think that was?
Ashlie Woods: Because sometimes telling the truth is really hard. And I think I knew, you know, at some level-excuse me- it’s still like the courage that it takes to tell the truth. It’s really something sometimes. And I think at a really deep level I knew what there was for me to do. But as soon as I acknowledged it, and really embraced it, I was going to have to do something about it. And fuck that was hard. Yeah, so you know, I think sometimes we pretend we don’t know because pretending we don’t know is a lot easier than knowing and having to be responsible for what we know. It’s easier to stay confused or whatever. So I was doing a lot of that.
Darla LeDoux: So it’s interesting because, you know, it makes me think of- and I know you work with clients on this too- like we’re trained to listen to our head, to have it make sense. So a lot of our culture is pulling for us to stay confused and not see and hear and feel our body and our truth. Right. Because, yeah, otherwise we’d be teaching that in school.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah. Yeah. We’re not interested in that.
Darla LeDoux: Which I know you have a similar passion for, right. That “how do I help others get this knowledge sooner.”
Ashlie Woods: Yep. And, you asked me earlier Darla, you asked me how I knew that I needed that. By this point, I had already been introduced to transformational work so there was a lot of awareness about my own thoughts and my feelings and I knew enough to know that there are things running in the background that influence us that we can’t always see and that we need outside help to be able to see. So, I already had that appreciation and I think that’s another reason that I- and I didn’t just talk to anybody, you know I wasn’t just talking to all my friends and getting their opinion- I knew to go to someone who was clear and centered and wise. So even the friends that I did talk to, you know, I felt had some discernment or something to offer that I could value.
Darla LeDoux: That’s great advice. Ya, so, I love that you said, “I’d already been exposed to transformational work,” and when you know that, what I’m sensing, is when you were feeling unsettled for so long you knew something was up. Something was ready to get looked at.
Ashlie Woods: Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah. Because when things are complete you have a sense of freedom to be. And, you know, when there’s something to be looked at it feels, you feel stifled and constrained, and like you’re running in circles. And that’s definitely a time to do what you know to do to get clear. For me that’s my indicator.
Darla LeDoux: Beautiful. So that was a while ago, you left your marriage.
Ashlie Woods: I did.
Darla LeDoux: Today you work with women to really be able to hear their own heart and their truth. What have you learned since then about the body and the wisdom within?
Ashlie Woods: Yeah, it’s so funny. I know it goes without saying, but I feel the need to say, it’s like, I think that there’s a fear people experience when it comes to listening to their heart that it’s going to mean leaving their marriage or cutting their job or selling all their stuff and moving across the country. It’s like, I work with people all the time that are interested in living a heart led life and it never means them leaving their relationship or making some dramatic, drastic change. So, while it did look somewhat like that for me, that’s absolutely not everybody’s path. So just throw that in there, because if you’re scared.
Darla LeDoux: I have had some drama, personally.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah, I mean, sometimes things get shaken up.
Darla LeDoux: It doesn’t feel like drama when you know though, right. So for me, you know, even things that on the outside look dramatic don’t feel so dramatic when you understand that your heart is guiding it. It takes the drama out.
Ashlie Woods: I would actually say yes. The drama is now uncomfortable, wildly so sometimes, challenging, scary- absolutely- but not now, not necessarily dramatic.
Darla LeDoux: So have you found that for you, I mean you lead retreats all over the world, you do embodiment work at the retreats, and a lot of, you know, transformational breakthrough work, and do you find that all of your clients know that their body knows more than maybe their mind?
Yeah. That they have some kind of body wisdom.
Ashlie Woods: OK. No. I mean, yes, yes innately they do, but they don’t come in knowing that they do necessarily. So in my retreats, we use a free movement dance practice as one of the primary modalities of our work. And a lot of people come to retreat like they’re intrigued by that, it sounds like a good idea, but they’re scared to death. Or they’re really self-conscious. They have ways that- the dance is so, I mean I’m really passionate, I can’t say enough about this beautiful practice for opening up this connection- because it’s the perfect metaphor or analogy. It mirrors like how we can be so concerned about the right way to do it or we have this way of anything we should do it or there is a good way and we’re concerned about that.
We really can get in our head and there’s a very distinct difference of yourself and just the moment when you’re in your head doing it versus when you drop into your body and you’re just in the experience of it. And so for most people they don’t, they don’t have the capacity to do that right away. That’s part of what they’re practicing and getting. So they don’t recognize maybe how much is available in their body just because they’ve never done it or tapped into it before. And that’s not true for everybody, I mean some people come on retreat with me are, you know, massage therapists or a yoga teachers or things that they do have that connection. But it’s really fun for those that have never experienced that before.
There’s kind of the dreaded dance session, you know, and there you can just tell they’re nervous and anxious.
Darla LeDoux: I went to, I can’t remember if I’ve shared this with you before, but I went to a workshop here locally and it was on- I can’t even remember what it was called, but something about self-expression- and we did a drawing of like, we tuned into a particular issue or area or something we wanted to create and we created art based on that.
Ashlie Woods: OK.
Darla LeDoux: And then we danced the painting.
Ashlie Woods: OK, cool.
Darla LeDoux: And it was really awesome. And I thought, I literally I was like, so grateful, because I thought, “oh my gosh, the me, you know, a few years ago would have died right now.”
Ashlie Woods: Yeah yeah.
Darla LeDoux: But yeah it was it was amazing. It was such a beautiful I practice. I’ve actually done it since just at home.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah yeah yeah. That’s awesome. Yeah. People at the, there’s always, there’s like the various stages people go through. I guess like any transformational process right. You know there’s the various spaces that people move through and the same is true in the dance, you kind of watch it unfold and, you know, you move from that self-conscious trying to do it right and trying to not worry about that, but worrying about that, and until where there is this place where something gives, something drops, and if even for just a brief period of time, you have this incredibly rich experience of just being alive and embodied and free. And it’s a resource people can come back to over and over and of course, like all of these, all of our tools, right, the more we practice that, the more facility we have with it. But the distinction so undeniable and clear that they can use that anytime they want to true up to their heart.
Darla LeDoux: That’s awesome. So how- what would be in an exercise, and by the way I’m dancing in my mind right now, just so you know.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah, I can see it.
Darla LeDoux: I’m excited stuck behind my computer today. What would be an exercise you would give listeners that would help open up that connection?
Ashlie Woods: Yeah, this is actually an exercise we’re gonna do in “Wholehearted,” the online series I’m doing. So just pick a song that you enjoy and commit to one song of exploration. And start- you can even, you can start the song- and start with your feet planted and your eyes closed and really just listen to the music, without jumping into the dance or anything like that, just kind of connect in, and hear the music, and feel the beat, and wait for something to pull at you.
Wait, wait for there to be an urge. And it might be something really subtle at first. It might just feel like just rocking, right. Or it might feel like something that actually you would say “looks” stupid. You know, you might judge it to say like, “well that’s not a dance, that’s not how you…” but just as best you can, right- like leave your judgment the door- and for one song just explore. And when something pulls at you just follow it and see how it feels. And maybe it’s that. And then, if you find yourself in your head, stop, and tune into the music again, and wait for the next thing to pull you.
And you might find that you don’t take many steps or make very grand gestures or anything like that at first, but what you do do feels really true. It feels really organic, like it’s coming from somewhere within you, and in it is the sense of that energy that wants to come through us. So it’s that, it’s that life that wants to come through us and so it’s a practice in surrendering to that and letting it move you. But you first have to be connected and available for that and trust that. And that’s just one simple way you can practice. So when the song is over, you know, you’ve done for the day and come back and do it again tomorrow.
Darla LeDoux: Ya, that’s beautiful. So this begs the conversation for me around RICH skills, right. The right brains, like, they’re not nonlinear, active, connected into source -you talked about the energy that wants to move through you; heart-centered skills- and we’re gonna talk more about you know, how do you know when your heart is speaking to you and things like that- what’s been your experience with the value of that? Because what I really want people to hear and take away is their own inner confidence and the value of this type of work. So could you share a little bit about that? You know, if you had any concern or resistance or mental chatter like, “oh people don’t want that, they won’t pay for that,” or an example of, like, the value that you’ve seen created. I know your clients all have major breakthroughs because of maybe a simple exercise like that, of something that, you know, allowing the energy to flow through. Why that’s created worth in the world?
Ashlie Woods: Well as soon as you asked a question I immediately see like this big broad perspective, right, like all these pieces, like, cooperative components. As Abe Hicks would say, Abraham Hicks would say, right, “moving together to make things happen.”
So I think that first of all, there’s like a bigger picture appreciation that there’s more happening than what I can possibly see and to limit my choices to what makes sense in my very limited, rational mind is to rule out a whole host of possibilities on a cosmic scale, right. So it’s like, I don’t really want to live a life that’s limited to my small thinking, as much as I try to expand my thinking all the time, you know, it’s like I want to be able to tap into something bigger than that.
Darla LeDoux: And how’s that been? Because when you talk about that and Abraham Hicks, and I’m imagining our listeners all are aware of Abraham Hicks but maybe not. You know, but the world at large is not. So what’s that been like for you- following that, trusting that, integrating that into the way you do business, when maybe the world isn’t caught up to that yet or isn’t in that place? And I’m just even thinking, I know you’re you’re coming to us from Mexico, it’s not where you live, but you were led to be there right now because that’s where you were led to be, so there’s a way you live your life that’s distinct from how a lot of people live.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah, I made this promise with Spirit several years ago that if you make it clear, I’ll muster the courage. I feel like that’s my part, my job and- well, to stay connected to Spirit first of all, like to stay receptive and connected and listening and paying attention- but beyond that, it’s like, once once you tell me and it’s clear, I’ll put my brave panties on and make a move.
And I think, you know, you ask how it is and I think that’s how it is. It’s like, kind of fucking scary sometimes. And that’s the case for the clients I work with like when they step into that and they start doing those things they’re doing. They’re doing this stuff that’s like, “oh my gosh I’m about to do this thing. I can’t believe I’m doing this thing. You know, I’m gonna like I’m gonna completely rename my business and trash everything I already did and start with this because this feels better. I’m gonna turn down that huge job offer in that huge part because it doesn’t feel right for me and I’m just going to trust something else and I’m gonna go ahead and quit this job that I’ve been doing and I’m gonna take off” and it’s like all the things they require, I think- I don’t think, I believe- living like a heart led life means you have to step into the unknown. You gotta walk into uncharted territory over and over again.
Darla LeDoux: I was gonna say once or over and over again.
Ashlie Woods: Oh yeah, over and over. And then your, so the first time- you’ve mentioned Mexico and I’m back here in Mexico- the first time I came to Mexico- I’m in Playa del Carmen right now- and I came here for the first time about two years ago. And it was sort of on a whim. I was looking to go somewhere, I knew I wanted to travel a bit. I knew I wanted to create a little bit of distance in my relationship.
I’m in a committed relationship. We have a great partnership and we really like our autonomy, and our independence, and we were kind of looking at how he could have that while he was committed and needing to be in Dallas, where my home base is, and so I was going to look to go somewhere and I was really just open. And as soon as I set the intention and that I was open, I saw a friend who was more like an acquaintance, I knew her online, but I hadn’t actually personally met her. She posted something about a dance that she was doing here in Playa and as soon as I saw it I knew I was supposed to go and I was like, “oh, what about Playa?”
So I immediately sent her a message and I’m like, “hey, I’m looking for some place I might want to go.” And she said, “oh my gosh, yes, I love it here- and by the way, I’ve been wanting to work with you, so I was just thinking of reaching out last week.” And it was just like out of nowhere I had a place, a community, and a client. So ding, ding, ding and then next thing you know I was here. And now I have this…
Darla LeDoux: So traditional thinking would say that’s crazy, right? Was the dance like a three hour event or something?
Ashlie Woods: Oh yeah, if that. It was part of the regular, they have- we have- a community here and we do this dance practice together once a week. So it wasn’t even like a special thing that was happening.
Darla LeDoux: Ya, like who moves to Mexico because of a dance, right? The traditional thinking.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah. Yeah.
Darla LeDoux: But it’s a different way of doing life.
Ashlie Woods: And that’s just kind of my life now.
Darla LeDoux: Yeah. Because Spirit had a reason you were to be there.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah. Yeah.
Darla LeDoux: We met there.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah, yes! I was in Mexico last, that’s right. That’s right. Oh, I mean so many beautiful…
Darla LeDoux: I’m sure you’ve had a lot of experiences that helped you know “oh, this is why I’m here.”
Ashlie Woods: Yes plenty. Yeah, yeah plenty.
Darla LeDoux: And then, I’m curious because I know a lot of people in my community, you know, have the heart centered urge to live a non-traditional life and then have a chatter of “can I do that, what would that be like.” So did you get any pushback or or flak about living in different places for a time”
Ashlie Woods: I think it’s great. Yeah, you ask what’s that like. And that was one answer that was there for me too, is you have to not care so much about, you gotta be willing to do it your own way regardless of what other people think and be able to stand in the face of their concerns or their doubts because they do sometimes want to project their fear on you. Like “is that safe?” Like for me coming to Mexico or whatever it is, “is that safe” or “I don’t know how you guys do that, I could never be away from my partner or my husband for blah blah blah.” And it’s like OK. I can.
I get, like, it’s not going to make sense to everyone and people that love you are naturally going to share their concerns. And I think knowing, too, that when you make choices like that you are naturally going to highlight for the people around you where they maybe aren’t making choices like that, and that’s going to be really uncomfortable. So mostly it’s not about me that they’re concerned for me. I mean, for the most part it’s about their own discomfort. Whatever my choices are shaking up in their life.
Darla LeDoux: Yeah and when you make that commitment, if you make it clear- Spirit I’ll muster the courage- that’s part of that commitment, right, is to being someone who can roll with that. I believe it’s part of our role, actually, and purpose is to shake that up in other people.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah. Yeah.
Darla LeDoux: Beautiful. So what would you like to share? You’re an expert at being able to hear your heart, your wild heart, as you say, and allow it to speak to you. What have you learned about that or what would you share with people about how to do that in a practical way?
Ashlie Woods: Yeah. I would say the the most important thing is that you make that commitment or you set that intention, because what it actually looks like- how your heart speaks to you- I feel like it’s different for everybody. And so it’s not like I can say, “oh you’re gonna know it’s your heart when it’s like this.” I mean, yes, there are some basic things, like, right, we know some things about how the ego works, and how it wants to keep us safe and protected, and so there is a specific way that it’ll sound, and things that the nature of the egoic thoughts is recognizable in certain ways and so there are some general things of course. But overall, you have to discern for yourself. I think it’s an exploration that you have to be willing to go on to know how does Spirit speak to you. How does your heart speak to you. What is true feeling like for you.
And I can’t tell you that. I can guide you in an exploration and I can hold you there long enough to discover that for yourself, but you have to do that work yourself. And so I think the first thing is just getting committed to it. Like putting both your feet in and saying I really I want to live this kind of life, I’m open to it. Maybe I don’t know how or what that’s going to mean, but I’m willing to find out.
Darla LeDoux: And how do you know if someone’s ready to do that journey, or how would someone listening know “yes, now is the time.”
Ashlie Woods: Yeah, that’s a great question because I feel like that’s the very question people are dealing with when they’re- you know, I’m doing this series about, that is this exploration, taking people through this discovery of what it sounds like and even the people that are kind of riding the fence they’re not sure, like they kind of want to do it, but they’ve got a little doubt. I’m like, “oh, it’s perfect. This is exactly what we’re gonna be looking at and you get to test it out now.
So I think, you know what I was saying earlier, for me where it started- start where it’s easiest and start paying attention. So like what are the things you know you know. That your heart is really a- what I would call a wholehearted yes about.
Darla LeDoux: Yeah and love your advice earlier like do I want to wear this or this.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah like go for a walk around your neighborhood and just walk out your front door and say left or right or street or, you know however you live and just see. And you may start walking left and something might go “eh” and you need to turn around and walk the other way. And then you realize oh yeah that feels better. And if you do that enough you start to get really familiar. So I would say start where it’s easy. Get committed and then start where it’s easy and pay attention.
Darla LeDoux: Love it. What do you feel gets in the way for people of letting their heart lead? We kind of touched on it I think a bit in your story, but what have you seen with your clients in your community?
Ashlie Woods: Fear. Doubt. And all the things they think about how they should be or how life should be. Some form of judgment or limiting belief. There’s, we don’t trust our desire. I don’t think often, you know. And I do think that there is some discernment that has to happen.
You know so much of my work we talk about following what feels good and true. And inevitably people have to find that edge between- because I certainly don’t mean “do what feels good” like give in to your every whim and do whatever you feel like all the time, that’s different- so it’s like what feels good. I like speaking about it like this and I think it’s why I went with “Wholehearted” even as a term, because there is a way that what feels true has you feel more whole, and not more a hole in the inflated ego sort of, puffed up way, but a whole in like, you don’t want to hide, you don’t want to run away, you feel like you have the power and the freedom to show up in your life with this, that sense of wholeness that’s there. Yeah. So. Yeah.
Darla LeDoux: That’s beautiful. That’s a great way to think about it, when something, you know, I can kind of feel in two places in the past where maybe something has made me feel like “oh I’ve gotta have it all sorted before I can get visible, before I can talk about it, before I can tell people about it,” and that feels limiting as opposed to something where it’s like “well, it just is.”
Ashlie Woods: And it might be scary.
Darla LeDoux: Yes.
Ashlie Woods: But there’s still a freedom involved with it.
Darla LeDoux: Yes. Yeah. It just feels true. And when something feels so true, even if it does require, what did you say about your panties?
Ashlie Woods: [laughing] brave panties.
Darla LeDoux: Even if it does require brave panties, they fit, right, and feels good.
Ashlie Woods: Yes and you’re ready for it, because all of you is there for it. You know, you’re not half hearted about it. You’re not keeping something back. You’re not like, there is all of your energy and all of you available for it.
Darla LeDoux: Yeah. So to circle back to my mission around more money filtering into businesses that are wholehearted, that are RICH, that are coming from this place, let’s talk a little bit about investing in this type of work.
Ashlie Woods: OK.
Darla LeDoux:Because you have a business, I have a business. You know, we work with people who are willing to invest in this type of work because they know that it really is what matters.
Ashlie Woods: Yep, yep.
Darla LeDoux: And so, I don’t know if a story pops to mind, I’m just trusting what comes through, but what’s been your personal path or decision to say- because I know you invest in your mindset and your alignment in your connection, that’s the thing I invest the most in- why has that been so important? And, you know, as we compare it to some of the strategies out there or like the the practical coursework you can buy versus going on retreat where you get to see your heart.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah. Well. Again, I see like that bigger, broader sort of cosmic picture. And I remember this insight I had in a Kundalini class one time and that like we’re doing some crazy funky breath work- have you ever done Kundalini?
Darla LeDoux:Yes.
Ashlie Woods: It’s bizarre. I mean, it’s different in terms of yoga. I love it, but it’s different. So we’re doing some breath work and I have a series of thoughts that basically had me laughing out loud like, “oh, I think I know how something’s supposed to go, how arrogant is that.” That I would think that I know how something’s supposed to go, right. And I just, all of sudden could appreciate like there’s this whole big, big amazing picture out there. So again, it’s like making that investment is like- and when it’s really aligned- I totally say yes to situations like that, that are gonna develop me when they have that resonant, I feel really grounded and light at the same time, and I know that it’s like I’m bypassing something. It’s that I’ve just let go of my arrogant, small thinking to tap into some bigger thing. I have opened myself up to a whole new level of velocity and momentum by doing that. Did that answer your question?
Darla LeDoux: No I got it. And it’s, sometimes these concepts are hard to put words around. Right, I kind of get a visual and a feeling more so than you do step one, you do step two, you do step three. Because for me, the way I would say it, is it’s energy. Right. So we’re tapping into a container of an energy- you said velocity, right- that’s maybe different than the container that our ego is now attached to.
Ashlie Woods: Yes. And my mind would have me try to figure out- I mean, I am like most people, a master figure out-er, a recovering figure out-er at this point- would have me figure out what I should do, and I need to do, and I would look at what other people are doing, and then I would, like, do that, and then I do some research, and I would think of what makes sense. And and even as I say that it all feels like it’s like I’m stuck in traffic on a highway kind of going 15 miles an hour bumper to bumper. Yeah. And then I get this ping of, you know, some opportunity that comes in and it’s like it feels like it’s pulling at me like a string in my heart. Yeah. And it’s as if I just took an exit onto the expressway and bypassed all the traffic that I could have been sitting in for two years and instead I’m just, like, flying high over here.
Darla LeDoux: There’s another dimension for travel available.
Ashlie Woods: Completely. Yeah completely. Which is so fun isn’t it.
Darla LeDoux: Yeah. And it’s fun. And then sometimes we go “whoa, like put the brakes on.” Because what happens off that exit?
Ashlie Woods: Yeah. Yeah.
Darla LeDoux: Yeah. So that’s where that I think you’re spot on when you’re talking about commitment and having a commitment to living your life in that way. It changes everything.
Ashlie Woods: And that being willing to be in the unknown. Because if I’m sitting here in traffic I know I can gauge how long it might take me, I’ve got some predictability. Like, I take the exit ramp, and I say yes to Spirit- I have no idea what the hell kind of ride I’m in for sometimes. Most the time.
Darla LeDoux: Right.
Ashlie Woods: But that is a good thing, because if I did know it would be a regurgitation of my past and be limited by my thinking, because my thinking is always past. Where else could it come from rather than what I know? So if you want something unprecedented then unknown territory is where it’s at.
Darla LeDoux: Yeah. I can’t remember where I read this recently, but someone was talking about how every so many years or whatever, basically your whole goal should be to blow up your business every so many years. Because if you’re making incremental shifts, it’s all based on the past, right. Because as a leader you have to re-learn what does it mean to lead now where I’m going? Which would probably be, like, totally different skills, totally different ways of being, totally different systems and operations and all of that than, you know, the old version of the business. You may think of that, right, because yeah where, you know, traditional thinking would be, “well, do more of what’s working” and “don’t, you know, kill something that’s working” and what I’ve found is, you know, it’s usually- like you said, it’s usually not as dramatic as we think- it’s a slight pivot. That being willing to totally let go of what we thought we knew. And savor of the next thing. That’s what I hear when you talk about the exit ramp.
Ashlie Woods: Totally. I had a whole retreat where we kept anchoring into this quote, and I wish I could remember who said it, but the important thing is this: to be willing to sacrifice who you are on behalf of who you might become. Yeah, like that or your business- where your business is on behalf of what it could become Yeah.
Darla LeDoux: Ya I love that.
Ashlie Woods: And, even as you say that I’m like, oh shit that sounds scary.
Darla LeDoux: Every time, right. I mean I will admit that, I would say it’s still- this is probably true even as we’re we’re talking about, you know quantum leaps and taking the exit ramp- there’s always been a part of me that thinks, “yeah, but then at that level…”
Ashlie Woods: There won’t be another exit ramp.
Darla LeDoux: Right, at that level. And I haven’t found that to be true yet. Yet there’s some- probably, you know, the moment my ego stops imagining that there is a plateau will be another level of freedom, right, because there’s some fire that’s always like “oh and then there, then it’ll be…” But why do we, why would we want that. Why would we want to keep regurgitating the past as you said.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Darla LeDoux: So for someone who’s listening and they’re leaning in and they’re feeling like yes wholehearted living is for me, I want to go on this journey, I know I am willing to follow Spirit to muster the courage if I can just get clear on this connection. How can people get more from you?
Ashlie Woods: Yeah. Well I hope they can definitely find my Website. And there’s a couple of ways that I could…
Darla LeDoux: So www.AshlieWoods.com. It’ll be below the video, but yeah Ashlie with an IE.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah. www.AshlieWoods.com. And then there’s a couple of ways that we could play. I have retreats throughout the year. I also host a monthly meditation circle that’s a virtual experience.
So the retreats I do are formed around a free movement dance practice and meditation. So we use movement and stillness as our main modalities. And, yeah, the monthly meditation circle is like a super sweet place for someone to drop in from the comfort of their home and just kind of see what it’s all about.
Darla LeDoux: And they can find that on your website?
Ashlie Woods: They can find out on my website, as I’m saying that now I’m wondering, can they find out on my site? That’s a really good question. I have a Facebook group where we share the details of those calls and it’s called Sacred Circle Meditations- it’s a private Facebook group where we share those. But yes, if you sign up for my newsletter, you’ll get information about the virtual circle. How about that. Anything I’m doing here. You know my blogs and then all the information’s there.
Darla LeDoux: I was gonna just make up a U.R.L. for you…
Ashlie Woods: And then I could go make it work.
Darla LeDoux: Yeah. So for those of you watching, listening, if you aren’t yet familiar with internet marketing we record this and then we put it out so there’s always this magical time period where whatever you say you can then go create. That’s part of, you know, that’s truly, the skills you’re talking about the mastering of like, just “oh my heart wants this, let me go.” there is a way we just say yes and then create it right.
Ashlie Woods: Yep.
Darla LeDoux: So it’s a great skill for being a business owner too.
Ashlie Woods: Yes it is actually.
Darla LeDoux: Yeah. Awesome. So they should get on your newsletter, hop in your Facebook group. They’ll get invited to a meditation. They’ll get the news about your upcoming retreats.
Ashlie Woods: Yes. All the above. Yes. Yes.
Darla LeDoux: Ashlie, anything you would like to leave people with.
Ashlie Woods: You know, when you first asked the question Darla about if someone wanted to get connected, how would they get started, the first thing that was there for me was just put yourself in any kind of container that has the intention of transformation. You know, maybe you’re pulled to my work and great, beautiful, I’d love to meet you.
Maybe there’s another retreat that’s been on your mind and you just haven’t actually made the leap. Do something. Take some sort of action that’s a demonstration of your commitment and you can’t beat a retreat. I mean obviously we’re biased, but it’s a surefire way, you know, it’s a reliable way. It’s exactly where I would go if I knew I wanted to get clear about something. I would put myself in to some sort of container with somebody I knew I could trust and felt called to and watch the magic happen.
Darla LeDoux: Yeah it’s beautiful. Thank you. Thank you so much Ashlie for being here given your time and for who you are in the world. I just love that I get to do this journey with other leaders like you. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
Ashlie Woods: Yeah I feel really honored that you invited me to be here. Appreciate it.
Darla LeDoux: Thank you everyone for listening. Tune into our next episode in the series on the RICH Revolution and go connect with Ashlie A.S.A.P. Bye everyone.
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