December 2025

This month I got to experience one of the greatest career highlights of my life. And it only happened because of a promise I made to myself years ago — that every time I had the opportunity to share my voice, my music, my presence… no matter how afraid I was, I would say yes. Every room. Every moment someone handed me a mic or cleared a space. I said yes. Even when my hands were shaking.

And this month… it led me here:

Many people would refer to me as fearless, but I can assure you… I feel fear, I just try not to back down int he face of it. I aim to courageously face it and rise into my next level of expansion through it.

A few years back a mentor of mine shared an acronym with me that forever changed my perspective on fear.

F - Feel

E - Everything

A - And

R - Rise

Maybe you’ve heard that before, maybe you’re hearing it for the first time. Either way, it’s so damn good.

Fear paralyzes us as humans. It blocks our creativity, it holds us back from loving, it prevents us from stepping into opportunities that could massively change the trajectory of our lives and enhance the quality of our lives too. ‘

But what really is fear?

I think fear is the presence of emotions that aren’t allowed to fully move through the body. Thoughts that are left circling in our brains. And in the unknown space due to a lack of control.

And wow, do we humans like to control… everything.

You’re a control freak. Sorry not sorry.

Me too.

But I these days like to ‘identify’ as a control freak in recovery.

I still have my moments, but I try my best to remind myself that I am not in the drivers seat, I’m not even in the passenger seat… Im blindfolded in the back of the damn car.

What I have found is that in the moments I surrender my grip, the most incredible experiences come into my world. It becomes a fertile ground for my dreams, goals & desires to come into life… just never in the ways I expected them to.

I literally got the word “surrender” with a butterfly tattoo on my wrist in November 2024 to remind me that I soar the most when I surrender my grip, my expectations, and the areas where I’m trying to to figure it out and direct the ship (aka my life)

December was my 3rd month as a digital nomad. And if I’m being honest it was THE most incredible month of 2025. Thank god.

Its funny how my November was all about shifting my identity and stepping outside my comfort zone, setting stronger boundaries to welcome more aligned energy, and slowing down to listen to what brings me more aliveness… no coincidence that December brought so much abundance.

December started with a spectacular opportunity that only showed up in my world because I attended a Leadership retreat on a yacht back at the beginning of November. On that trip I met an amazing new friend who facilitates magic mushroom ceremonies around the world, mostly in London lately (if you’re interest in finding out more about these feel free to reach out to me.)

Whats funny is when we first met I wasn’t vibing with her, I felt triggered and instead of writing her off I chose to just sit with it, own it, and not make it about her, but question myself and what it was that was being revealed inside of me. We were sitting together one day when she turned to me and straight up just asks me “so, what reflections do you have for me?”

It completely caught me off guard, but it opened a conversation that welcomed immense growth in both of us on that week long journey. And it led me to grow some big respect for her as a sister.

It led her to soften in her leadership, and it led me to put my guards down and actually let new community close to me again.

I love directness.

I love people that want to just bring it all to the table.

I love the people that aren’t afraid to say the uncomfortable things as to gain clarity and grow closer together in the end.

Something I’ve learned over this year is how hardship does that, it builds stronger connection when theres a willingness to face the storm head on. I saw this at burning man when my build team faced incredibly stressful circumstances due to 80+ mph wind that destroyed nearly everything we had built, and wise literally life threatening. But every person in our camp showed up, and worked together to support each other during & after.

This was actually incredibly eye opening for me after a year of feeling like my close friends weren’t weathering the storm with me. It showed me that there ARE people there to weather the difficult storms with me.

So back to the boat…

Our connection strengthened through the week together on the boat and she ended up inviting me to Lithuania to join her at a software engineering conference that she was speaking it.

Part of me was like… why Lithuania, this is the most random place for me to be. I was offered free food, free lodging, and free entrance to the conference, and although it felt like such a strange place for a somatic coach & facilitator to be, It was too easily showing up in my field to ignore.

This chapter of my life is all about ease. Recognizing what feels easy and leaning into that (more on this later)

So I went.

The main host of the conference was Neringa. She’s making waves in the software & tech world by brining the presence of consciousness & personal development forward to to a population of people that tend to be more logical than embodied. I have so much respect for what she’s doing, and it was such an honor to be a part of it!

I got to deepen in connection with a group of women who were friends of hers holding that pillar of consciousness through out this event. Including another new friend, Aeon who was helping Neringa with the organization & flow of the event. I totally stalked her Linked in before arriving to the event and felt like she was such a mirror for me into myself.

I love finding women doing BIG things that make me take a step back and make me say “wow, she’s incredible, I want to be in a room with HER”

I walked into this conference with no agenda other than to be fully myself and allow people to feel my presence in the space. To allow that to speak volumes in a room of many humans disconnected from their hearts & their bodies.

The conference was Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. Thursday night included a big event that id compare to a ‘Tony Robins” event. There were personal development activities to help the participants break through mental barriers and connect more deeply with the impact they want to make through their leadership in the world.

Wednesday night I was asked to lead a short embodied dance experience at the beginning of the event to help them connect with their bodies before the other activities. I was an immediate yes.

Then Thursday came. And Neringa & Aeon called me down to a round table 3 hours before the main evening event and asked me if I would facilitate & lead the entire event that night. I felt honored to be sitting at a table with 2 powerful women that were trusting me, mostly a stranger, to lead a peak experience at the conference.

I ended up strategizing & stepping forward to be the Emcee & Ceremony guide for the evening. I received what I felt was one of the most important jobs, which was to meet these humans where they are at, and help them take down their armor, help them trust that its safe to be in their body & safe to connect with the people around them, help them lean into the vulnerability of self expression & dance, and guide them into a higher state of consciousness so that they could step into the personal development activities, overcome their fears, and have fun in the process.

This was a highlight opportunity of my career. This was literally the exact dream job I’ve had in mind for the last 2 years. And it just happened to show up in my field because I chose to surrender all expectations and just show up as my expressive, heart-open self in a room of people who are still learning to be on that journey.

When you lead with your light, others see it, they feel it, and it gives them permission to find that light within themselves.

I am calling in more of these opportunities this year. Where I get to be the pillar of personal development & consciousness at business events & conferences that want to facilitate more connection between participants & employed, more fun, and a yield a greater outcome & greater productivity.

If you’re interested in my leadership work with company teams or exploring my facilitation for one of your events, please reach out at Leah@mindbodywithleah.com

I emerged from Lithuania feeling so deeply connected to my worth, so trusting of my ability to literally lead ANYONE into an experience where they feel safe enough in their bodies to express more freely & connect more deeply with others.

It wasn’t an ego boost, it was a remembering of my power, of my courage, of the work I’ve done to be the woman who is ready to step on stage at a conference with 3 hours notice and boldly lead a room of people.

This strengthened knowing of myself led me to an experience that I’ve been calling into my world for quite some time… Falling in love.

It’s been 4.5 years since I’ve been deeply in love. The kind of love that is playful, expansive, and seems to transcend all time and space.

But it happened for me in London. I met a man and spent 2.5 full weeks with him. I laughed in ways I haven’t laughed since parting ways with my previous friends. I loved in ways that felt so vulnerable and cracked my heart open. I trusted in ways I’ve never trusted anyone, let alone a complete stranger. And I surrendered into my back body because I felt so much ease in my nervous system in his presence.

I felt chosen, desired, cared for in ways I’ve craved, but really struggled to find & experience with men.

There were moments where my judge came in and was like “Leah what are you doing, you can’t be in love with this man, you’ve known him for 2 weeks!”

But to me, love isn’t about the length of time you’ve known each other. Its about the life force energy that gets to intertwine when two people are wiling to put down their shields, surrender their armor, be seen vulnerably, and when they allow themselves not to fear the feelings & emotions that arise through another person.

Two weeks, thats all the time we had in each others presence, and he’s shown me things I’ve wished for since my last love left me for another woman 4 years ago.

And then we said our goodbyes.

The very hard “I’ll see you soon”

As I write this, Im sitting on an airplane headed to Bali for 2 months. Neither of us know what is going to transpire, but what we know is that theres so much love between us that we want to continue to nurture.

I think one of the most courageous things you can do is keep your heart open in the unknown moments, where you choose to feel in the face of fear, where you surrender to the outcome

Leaving London was hard. It felt difficult to willingly choose to leave the kind of love I’ve been calling into my life for so long. But I knew I had a mission. I also knew that being immersed in inseparable love for 3 weeks around the holidays was kind of like living a fairy tale. It wasn’t fully real life, and we both needed to get back to it.

Have you ever been so in love that leaving the person seems to wring every tear out of your body that exists? … Yeah… that was me.

So I left, and flew to Bali… and boyyy did my attachment wounds have a whole lot to say about it.

Over the last few years I’ve done so much work on my inner child that has felt unloved and abandoned as well a the attachment wounds that tend to get activated in relationships. But, the real work is in those moments where you feel more vulnerable than ever in relationship. Thats where the real attachment wound work gets to happen.

The first few days of January in Bali were TOUGH, especially with terrible sleep. But I held myself and re-committed to all of the habits that support me in regulating my nervous system.

I’ll share more about the attachment work and how I’m tending to this love from afar in my January substack.

Before I close out this chapter with you, I want to leave you with a few things to sit with.

Not to journal about perfectly. Not to figure out. Just… to let land.

Where are you white-knuckling it? What are you gripping so hard right now that you can’t actually feel your life underneath it? You know the thing. The outcome you’re trying to control. The relationship you’re trying to manage. The version of yourself you’re trying to maintain. What would it feel like to loosen that grip… even 10%?

What are you calling in but not yet being? Because here’s the thing, I didn’t attract Lithuania by trying harder. I attracted it by becoming the woman who walks into a room with no agenda other than to be fully herself. The love didn’t show up because I manifested it. It showed up because I finally stopped armoring up long enough to actually receive it. So who do you need to be before the thing you want can arrive?

Who have you been writing off? The woman who triggered me on the boat became one of my greatest gifts that month. Every single time. The people that activate something in us are showing us something about ourselves that’s asking to be seen. Before you write someone off, get curious. Ask yourself what they’re revealing. And humble yourself long enough to try on their perspective.

Are you following the ease? Lithuania made zero sense. A software engineering conference? Random. But it kept showing up in my field and it felt easy to say yes to. I’m learning that ease is a form of guidance. Not everything meant for you is going to feel hard to find. Some of it just… arrives. Are you letting it?

Are you letting yourself actually be seen? Not the curated version. Not the put-together one. Not the one performing for love, perfecting for likes… Im talking about the real you. Because that’s where all of the ‘magic’ emerges from. Im talking about the deep connections, the unexpected opportunities, the love that cracks you open… It’s attracted in your surrender, and experienced through your embodiment.

The throughline of this whole month, and honestly this whole year, has been surrender. Not giving up. Not being passive. But releasing the grip on how things are supposed to look and trusting that life is always working for me, even when it’s blindfolding me and throwing me in the backseat.

You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to be willing to feel everything and rise.

That’s the work. That’s the invitation.

Much Love,

Leah