I am super excited about this new Soulful Shout Out series here on Soul Speak! Each week, I’ll be highlighting beautiful people and their wonderful offerings!

One of my favorite parts of blogging is being able to introduce you to amazing souls who are putting goodness into the world. I love connecting people and sharing products that I love, and so I’m just thrilled to be able to do that each week with you here.

If you would like your product/website/service promoted here, please click here to read the details and then email me to apply. (I take what I share very seriously and will only share products and services that I am in alignment with.) The spaces are going quickly (I’m already scheduling into May), so please keep that in mind when you’re signing up! A huge thank you to everyone who has already done so. You’re all absolutely wonderful, and I am so grateful for each of you.

And now, let’s get to this week’s beautiful soul and her wonderful offer! (Please be sure to read all the way to the bottom – there is a FREE guided meditation and beautiful report for you!)

This week, I am featuring one of my dear friends, Shann Vander Leek! Shann is someone that I just adore. She is amazingly sweet, calm, and just pure love. Our phone chats always end with my heart feeling full.

Shann has created an amazing, heart-filled program that I am excited to share with you called the Sacred Heart Teachings. I had the opportunity to go through the entire program several months ago, and I absolutely loved it! Shann poured her own heart into it with the hopes of helping you reconnect with yours. You all know that I love journaling, and Shann provided many soulful prompts to help me tap into my inner wisdom. I also loved how it is multi-dimensional. With a combination of audio, written, visual, and physical, it’s definitely a full body, mind, and soul experience. Yay! 🙂

I believe that at our core, we are all made of love. And Shann’s program helps us remove the protective layers that we’ve placed over our heart and embrace our truest self again.

I asked Shann a few questions about her desire to create this program. I also asked her to share more about the program itself, so you can really get a feel for it.

So let’s get started!

What gave you the idea to create the Sacred Heart Teachings Program?

I created the content based on my own sacred healing process and personal transformation over the past ten years.

For years I thought I could be happy and fulfilled because I had a ‘good job’ and was bringing home six-figures. In reality, I could buy anything I wanted but had no idea how to properly care for myself. With an inner critic on the loose, I had to learn how to put myself and my healing at the front of the line to be a good role model for my daughter.

I didn’t even realize that I’d shut down physically, mentally, and spiritually. I had to make friends with what I call ‘the monsters under the bed’ and learn how to honor myself as the beautiful, talented, and loving woman (that I now know) I am. A lucrative career couldn’t heal old wounds that needed to be explored with loving kindness. I had to sort out the baggage I still carried from being bullied in middle school. I had to stop punishing myself for the unconscious choices I made as young woman. I had to excavate the suppressed feelings from a lifetime of issues around my relationship with my father. I had to free myself from an unbalanced mind, body, and soul. I choose to share this personal story because I’ve had a lot of emotional healing to contend with over the last ten years, and I know that I’m not alone.

You say that beneath our personal stories of pain and suffering we can access wholeness, love, and compassion. Why do you think we hang on to so much pain and suffering? 

I believe that we subconsciously erect protective walls around our hearts to insulate ourselves from the pain and trauma we once endured. We must remove the barriers within that keep us from experiencing joy and compassionate self-care.

How can the Sacred Heart Teachings help?

The Sacred Heart Teachings is a pathway that guides women to face their fears, forgive themselves (and others), heal what hurts, and open their hearts. Each one of us deserves to experience life with more levity. More joy. With deeply profound unconditional love.

How do you care for your precious heart?

I care for my heart by practicing loving kindness with myself and others. I’m mindful of my inner conversation. Aware of my monkey-mind and how it can run amok looking for trouble if I’m not taking care of myself. I write in my journal, read inspirational books, and listen to relaxing guided meditations. Practicing heart opening yoga postures – like cobra and backbends – also help me keep my heart-space open.

How does someone know if they are ready to heal their hearts?

You know you’re ready when you can say yes to trading in guilt and shame for grace and self-acceptance. You’re ready if you are tired of not letting loved ones get close. You’re ready when you realize you deserve to trust again. I hope that each person reading this interview will take pause and summon the courage to begin some form of sacred healing.

Sacred healing comes in many forms and offerings. I’ve enjoyed silent yoga retreats, dancing like a dervish, and yoga teacher training. I’ve made peace with myself through deep shadow work and healing sweat lodge ceremonies. I’m currently engaged in a wise women’s healing circle. I write morning pages (most days), spilling my thoughts on the page. I’m grateful for a profound healing experience working through and facilitating The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

If you are ready to put your energy where your joy is, you are ready to begin to heal your heart.

What is one thing that we can all do right now to heal our past and open our hearts?

The best thing we can do right now is forgive ourselves and forgive everyone else who’s ever done us harm. Carrying the weight of a painful past is like committing an act of violence against yourself, every day. Imagine being rid of the burden, anger, and grudges you’ve carried along with you over the years. How would it feel to let them all go? I can tell you from experience that it feels incredible.

What does your soul want you to know?

My soul wants me to know that I am safe, unconditionally loved, and in alignment with my highest purpose. That I’m fully supported to help as many people as possible remove the armor around their hearts so they can experience more joy.

Can you walk us through the program?   How is it different from other inspirational offerings? What will the participants receive?

What is unique about the Sacred Heart Teachings is that it’s a soulful and introspective digital experience. A multi-dimensional offering – incorporating the mind, body, and soul together with journaling prompts, gentle yoga classes, guided relaxations, supportive stories, and BIG love. It provides a safe space for the reader to dig deep and then gently resurface. My wish is that many will begin to heal their past and open their hearts with this experience.

The Sacred Heart Teachings include:

• Journaling exercises to help you gently open to yourself
• Stories to support you through your process
• The Sacred Heart Healing Cycle to help you identify the feelings you may be experiencing
• Gentle yoga classes to accompany your introspection
• Guided relaxations that will support you to rest and unwind
• Inspirational quotes, poetry,and Big LOVE

You can work through the program in a day or choose journaling prompts and exercises that call to you, and leave the rest for another time. There are no rules here. The tools and prompts to care for yourself and heal your heart are within the program. I invite each person to experience the yoga classes and guided relaxations both before and after exploring the journaling prompts and sacred exercises.

Each participant can choose to work through and interact with this material in several ways.

Options Include:

•  Print out the workbook and fill it in by hand.
• Write your responses in your personal journal.
• Key in your work within the editable PDF file.
• Do all of your work in the private online portal.
• Enter journaling answers in a private online form.

You will want to create space and time to do your work, reflect, and recover. A mini-retreat or getaway weekend is the perfect time to dive in. Consider getting away from your day-to-day environment for some much needed (and deserved) “Me” time. If you can’t get away, you will want to create a quiet, and private environment within your home.

What else would you like to share?

To be fully present and shine our light, we must explore our darkness. The Sacred Heart Teachings guide you to get to the root of what is weighing you down so you can let go of what no longer serves you and liberate your heart.

• Create time for sacred emotional healing.
• Learn to honor the miracle that is YOU.
• Know that you can reprogram your critical mind, heal your past, and open your heart.
• You are LOVED.

Shann has put together a special offer for the Sacred Heart Teachings just for Soul Speak readers!

♥ Free for Everyone ♥

Shann is lovingly giving ALL of you her special report: The Sacred Heart Healing Cycle + Body Scan and a relaxing guided meditation from her Transition to Calm album!

Click here to receive these gifts!

♥ Special Discount Just for You ♥

She is also offering 20% off the price of the Sacred Heart Teachings program just for Soul Speak readers! All you have to do is use the coupon code:  soulspeak (all lower case) for this special offer!

Click here to receive your discount now!

Thank you so much, Shann, for sharing about your beautiful program here on Soul Speak and for offering a free gift and special discount! I can’t wait for everyone to sign up for the Sacred Heart Teachings. It’s such a beautiful journey back to our heart.