The Mothers’ Empowerment Podcast

Embracing the Shadow: Reclaiming the Divine Feminine Through Radical Embodiment with Cynthia

Embracing the Shadow: Reclaiming the Divine Feminine Through Radical Embodiment
Guest: Cynthia Abulafia, author of "Embodying the Goddess: How to Cultivate Curiosity and Reverence on the Spiritual Path"
What You'll Discover:
Why curiosity is the gateway to true empowerment and spiritual awakening
The hidden "transcendence bias" in modern spirituality that keeps us disconnected from our bodies
How to turn toward your shadow and activations instead of pushing them away
The revolutionary practice of amplification meditation that transforms pain into wisdom
Why the "dark" aspects of the feminine are actually doorways to your deepest power
How to expand your capacity for joy and step into your edge with courage
Quotable Moment: "The shadow is the doorway to the heart. Where is my armoring? Where have I armored my own heart?" - Cynthia
Join Us Live: Don't miss Cynthia's Mentor Conversation on Monday, February 23rd at 11am PST where she'll guide us through powerful amplification practices to expand our capacity for joy. Register FREE at IsabelleBridges.com/mentorconvo/cynthia
Get Cynthia's Book: "Embodying the Goddess: How to Cultivate Curiosity and Reverence on the Spiritual Path" is available at https://www.cynthiaabulafia.com/embodying-the-goddess-book

The Glue That Makes Manifesting Stick

If you’ve tried manifesting and it didn’t “work,” this episode is your exhale. Today I’m reframing manifestation as a brain-training + nervous system practice—not wishful thinking. You’ll learn why stress can block change, what I call the “glue” that makes new beliefs stick, and my simple 4-part method to align your focus, beliefs, and micro-actions so your life can actually shift.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why manifestation can feel impossible when your “stress bucket” is full
- How your nervous system affects your ability to change patterns
- What “glue” is (and how to use it so your intention lands)
- My 4-part manifestation method: Desire → Competing Belief → Action Board → Micro-Actions
- A 90-second Vivid Dream imprint you can do anytime
 
Try this after listening (5 minutes)
- Write your one-sentence desire (present tense).
- Name the competing belief that contradicts it.
- Choose one micro-action today that supports the new identity.
Featured Practice: The 90-Second Vivid Dream Imprint
Close your eyes, imagine the desire already happening, add sensory detail, and let your body record “safe enough.”
Mentioned in this episode:
The Mother’s Empowerment Sisterhood (MES): ongoing support + nervous system tools + weekly check-ins + sisterhood community. Doors Open in March 2026. Until then, get instant relief with the Pressure Relief Kit: https://isabellebridges.com/pressure-relief-kit-2/

Adulting as an Act of Love: Life & Disability Insurance for Your Family

When you’re already over capacity, the idea of planning for worst-case scenarios can feel… impossible. Many of us were never taught how to think about life insurance, disability insurance, or estate planning—especially as moms. So we avoid it, tell ourselves “my partner handles that,” and hope for the best.
In this episode, I’m joined by Wallis Tsai of Above Board Financial, a former Goldman Sachs insider who now helps real families make grounded, no-BS insurance decisions that actually match their lives and values. Together, we talk about how to take “financial disaster” off the table—not from fear, but from love.
We explore:
Why financial empowerment starts with understanding your actual situation—not being “good at math.”
The simple Level One planning every family should consider: life insurance and disability insurance.
How to calculate the real value of a stay-at-home or lower-earning parent’s unpaid labor.
The emotional resistance to scenario planning (especially if money was never talked about in your family) and how to gently move through it.
Level Two planning: the harder conversations about values, wishes, and guardianship—and why they matter.
How to reframe this kind of planning as self-care and an act of love for your kids and your future self.
Wallis has created a special page just for our community so you don’t have to figure this out alone:
👉 https://www.aboveboardfinancial.com/mothersempowerment
There, you’ll find:
A simple starting point to get quotes for life and disability insurance
Tools and calculators for DIY-inclined listeners
Options for getting personalized support
This isn’t about perfection or fear. It’s about giving your future self—and your kids—the gift of stability when life throws a curveball.
🎧 Listen now to “Adulting as an Act of Love: Life & Disability Insurance for Your Family.”
And if this episode supports you, it would mean so much if you’d:
Subscribe to The Mother’s Empowerment Podcast
Leave a quick review
Share this episode with a friend who handles “all the things” but avoids money stuff

From Avoidance To Agency: Nervous System Safety + Simple Steps With Crystal Rigley Janis

Money stress isn’t a personality flaw—it’s often a nervous system response to a skill we were never taught. In this episode, Isabelle sits down with personal finance educator and coach Crystal Rigley Janis to talk about why money feels so dysregulating for so many women (especially mothers), how financial “jargon” can keep us out, and what it looks like to move from avoidance into calm, empowered action. Crystal shares her “start with the dream” approach, simple ways to use community for accountability, and a gentle next step you can take today—even if opening your bank account makes your body want to shut down.
 
In this episode, we cover
Why money anxiety is often nervous system protection, not laziness or “being bad at math”
The difference between feeling safe and playing it safe (avoidance)
Why Crystal starts with the dream (and “5 Whys”) before the jargon
How to use ChatGPT to translate confusing money language (“explain it like I’m 2”)
What to look for in a money community: no shame, confidentiality, values-based choices
A “day-in-the-life” contrast: dysregulated money stress vs. calm, empowered clarity
The smallest next step that still counts (even one minute changes the trajectory)
 
Workshop invite (mentioned in the episode)
📅 Free workshop: 10 Easy Money Moves To Transform Your Finances
🕙 Tuesday, January 21, 2026 at 10:00am PT
Join link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85179952938
Password: sistering
(If you’re listening after Jan 21, check the show notes for updated ways to work with Crystal.)
Resources mentioned
The Budgetnista (Tiffany Aliche) — Instagram handle: @thebudgetnista
Her First 100K — Instagram handle: @herfirst100k
Isabelle’s free resource
Feeling overloaded, stretched thin, or like you’re carrying too much? Start here:
The Pressure Relief Kit (free): https://isabellebridges.com/pressure-relief-kit-2/
Connect with Crystal
Instagram: @crystalrigleyjanis

Wintering as a Rite of Passage: Womb Wisdom for Tired Mothers with Jessica Golden

In this deeply nourishing conversation, Isabelle is joined by Jessica Golden, women’s health practitioner, acupuncturist, ritual guide, and mother, to explore motherhood as a rite of passage—and what happens when women are not held through that threshold.
Together, they unpack the lost art of wintering: slowing down, integrating, and tending the womb as both a physical and energetic center of wisdom. This episode offers language, permission, and an embodied experience for mothers who feel stretched thin, quietly grieving, or disconnected from themselves.
Jessica also leads listeners through a gentle womb-centered drop-in practice, inviting you to feel—not just think—your way home.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
Why empowerment begins with sovereignty, agency, and inner authority
Motherhood as an initiation—and what’s missing in modern culture
Wintering as a verb (and why postpartum, projects, and even dinner need it)
The womb as a creative, energetic center (for all women)
How grief, resentment, and exhaustion live in the body—and how to listen
A short, embodied womb-connection practice you can return to anytime
Mentioned & Invited
Jessica will be a Mentor inside the Mother’s Empowerment Sisterhood in June
Learn more + join the Sisterhood: IsabelleBridges.com/Sisterhood-2
About Jessica Golden
Jessica Golden is a women’s health practitioner, licensed acupuncturist, ritual guide, and mother devoted to supporting women through life’s thresholds with reverence and care. Her work bridges Chinese medicine, womb-centered wisdom, and modern motherhood. She practices in Berkeley and Pleasanton, CA, and offers online programs.
Find Jessica:
Instagram: @kinmedicine
Facebook Business Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/KINmedicine/
🎧 Listen to more episodes of The Mother’s Empowerment Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mothers-empowerment-podcast/id1669394663

No Bad Dreams: Nighttime Dreamwork, Parts & Neuro-Complexity with Genevieve Camp

As we land on the other side of the holidays and slip back into school routines, a lot can feel stirred up—both in our waking lives and in our dreams.
In this conversation, I’m joined by Genevieve Camp—board certified art therapist, certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist and coach, evolutionary astrologer, dreamwork guide, and mama to a wildly creative nine-year-old. Genevieve works at the intersection of trauma healing, giftedness, neuro-complexity, and creativity, weaving together IFS, art, astrology, dreamwork, and meditation.
Together we explore how your nighttime dreams, your “parts,” and your beautifully complex brain can become allies in your empowerment.
In this episode, we talk about:
Why everyone dreams (whether you remember them or not)
A simple way to start remembering your dreams—starting tonight
The powerful idea that there are no bad dreams—how even nightmares arrive in service of healing and wholeness
How to “metabolize” scary or recurring dreams instead of pushing them away
An accessible introduction to Internal Family Systems (IFS) and “parts work”
The tiny but huge reframe from “I’m overwhelmed” to “A part of me is overwhelmed”
What Genevieve means by giftedness and neuro-complexity, and why so many sensitive, deep-thinking moms feel “too much” and “not enough” at the same time
The shame that can come with labels like “neurodivergent”—and how naming can become empowering when we claim who we are
A little toe-dip into evolutionary astrology and how it can illuminate the bigger, soul-level curriculum you’re working with in this lifetime
Empowering action:
Before you go to bed tonight, put a piece of paper or journal and a pen by your bed. As you settle in, gently tell yourself: “I want to remember my dreams.” When you wake up, write down anything you remember—even a tiny fragment. That’s the beginning of your dream practice. 🌙
Resources mentioned:
Genevieve’s website & offerings: GenevieveCamp.com
Book: No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz (IFS)
The Art of Parts workbook (creative IFS exploration) – available through Genevieve’s site
If this episode resonates, it would mean so much if you’d follow the show, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with a friend who’s navigating her own beautiful complexity.

How Anxiety Impacts New Year's Resolutions with Lisa Skeffington

As mothers, we’re told that if we just try harder, get more disciplined, and stick to our resolutions, life will finally feel better.
 
But what if the problem isn’t your willpower at all…
What if it’s that your nervous system is already over capacity, and your inner critic is running the show?
 
In this powerful New Year episode, I’m joined by multi–award-winning psychotherapist, executive coach, and author Lisa Skeffington, who has spent nearly three decades helping high-performing women move from anxiety to true empowerment.
Together, we talk about why so many New Year’s resolutions quietly fizzle by February—and how to create change that actually honors your nervous system, your self-worth, and your real needs.
 
In this episode, we explore:
Why anxiety is often a messenger, not the “real problem”
The invisible script you’re carrying from childhood—and how it secretly decides whether your resolutions stick or collapse
 
Five common ways women self-sabotage their goals (and how this is actually a form of protection, not a character flaw)
 
Why over-giving, over-doing, and “trying harder” are rooted in a deep need to feel enough
The truth about affirmations: when they help…and when they quietly make you feel worse
How to set intentions that are grounded in self-worth and inner safety, not perfectionism or people-pleasing
 
A simple reflective practice you can do with a cup of tea to discover what you really need right now
 
Lisa reminds us that resolutions don’t fail because we’re lazy or undisciplined.
They fail when we’re asking an anxious, exhausted system to perform at even higher levels without tending to the fear, doubt, and worthiness wounds underneath.
 
Real change begins when you stop trying to earn your worth through achievement, and start remembering that you are already enough.
 
Connect with Lisa Skeffington
Take Lisa’s Self-Esteem Reality Check Quiz and receive a personalized invitation for next steps:
👉 welcome.empoweredmomentum.com
 
Get a free preview of her latest book From Anxious to Empowered on the same page
Explore options to work with Lisa 1:1 or in her Coastal Escapes in the UK (details via her site and calendar link on the page)
 
📱 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝗮 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisaskeffingtonanxiety
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empowered.momentum/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-skeffington/?originalSubdomain=uk
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lisa.empoweredmomentum

Why The Holidays Hijack Your Nervous System

The holidays arrive at the exact moment nature is inviting us to slow down — but modern holiday culture pushes us to speed up. In this episode, Isabelle explains why that mismatch can strain the nervous system, why holiday “overreactions” are often nervous system state shifts (not personality flaws), and how old brain patterns can get triggered by scents, songs, family dynamics, and sensory overload.
You’ll learn a simple 3-step reset — Name it, Orient, Regulate — plus boundary and rest practices that help you move through the season with more steadiness and self-trust.
What You’ll Learn
Why winter biology + holiday overstimulation can dysregulate the nervous system
What “neurotags” are (and why one small cue can trigger a big reaction)
Why story follows state and how to interrupt the loop
A simple regulation sequence you can use in real time
Why boundaries are nervous system protection — not selfishness
How “winter moments” of rest rewrite your holiday experience
Journal Prompts
What holiday cues tend to trigger me?
What state do I shift into most often?
What boundary would protect my capacity this year?
What’s one daily winter moment I can give myself?

Stop Walking On Eggshells

As the holidays approach, many women find themselves walking on eggshells — carefully managing other people’s emotions to avoid conflict, guilt, or drama. In this episode, Isabelle explores why “offense” can become a subtle control mechanism in relationships, and why being willing to disappoint someone (kindly) can actually create more honesty, trust, and intimacy.
You’ll learn how to stop living under the “tyranny of the tantrum,” how to tell the truth without over-explaining, and how to set simple holiday boundaries that protect your peace.
What You’ll Learn
Why you can’t feel close to someone you can’t be honest with
How offense can function as a control tool (even unintentionally)
The difference between integrity and “keeping the peace”
A holiday-ready mindset for saying no without collapsing into guilt
Simple boundary scripts you can use immediately
Holiday Boundary Scripts Mentioned
“We’re staying home this year.”
“We need to head out by 7 — bedtime.”
“That doesn’t work for our family.”
Journal Prompts
What do I avoid saying because I fear someone’s reaction?
What boundary am I ready to set this season?
Can I care more about what I think of me than what others think of me?

How to Be a Team During the Holidays (Without Mom Doing It All)

If the holidays tend to leave you feeling like the overworked event planner, caterer, housekeeper, and emotional support human all rolled into one… this episode is for you.
In this conversation-style solo episode, Isabelle invites you to gently rewrite the “mom does everything” script and begin relating to your family as an actual team during the holidays.
You’ll receive real, word-for-word scripts you can use with:
Younger kids who want to help but need a clear “job”
Tweens and teens who are ready to share real responsibility
Partners or co-parents who genuinely want to support you but don’t always see the full mental load
Extended family members when you’re setting calmer, more sustainable boundaries
We’ll explore:
Why so many moms end up carrying the invisible labor of the holidays
How to name a shared “holiday vision” so everyone’s experience (including yours!) matters
Age-appropriate ways to bring your kids into the magic-making
Language that shifts your partner from “helper” to true co-owner
A simple 3-step weekly ritual to bring your family into team energy
You are not meant to be the entire village.
You’re allowed to be inside the magic you’re creating—not just behind the scenes.
🎧 Listen in and then try one single sentence from this episode with your family this week. Tiny shifts count.
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