We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dawn Leonard a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dawn, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

I work in women’s health and wellness and so I know that this subject is just barely discussed in middle school health class. We live in our bodies all our lives and yet the connection we have with these instruments is at best something that we must master, and at worst disempowered and traumatic. For women and girls the information about our bodies has been systemically removed and often shrouded in shame, guilt and fear. But female bodies are amazing!

I have learned 90% of what I know about my body from teachers, healers and professionals that are mostly outside of the standard Western medical model. People who have done a lot of research and study in areas where there are gaping holes in textbook knowledge.

So I know that it is already a hot button issue, but I think that ALL people need to understand fully the menstrual cycle… the hormones, what they do, what affects hormone production and even the psychological gift/impact of hormones. And also to know that a woman (with a regular healthy cycle) can only get pregnant during about 4-7 days of her cycle. Most people don’t have that basic knowledge! This is life-changing information.

On an even more radical level, teaching people about the full spectrum of healthy sexuality (accurate anatomy, relational and communication skills, understanding pleasure and energy) would change the world! The science is out there, but there are a lot of people who are afraid of it (and the implications of giving the information to all people ).

Dawn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am Dawn Leonard. I am a Women’s Wellness Educator and Healer. I work with women to connect with and heal the “second chakra” energy which includes creativity, sexuality, fertility and our life-force energy.

I have been on a path of healing my own womb space for over 10 years. It began with my fertility journey and has lead me through 2 healthy pregnancies and home births; the study of menstrual cycle awareness; yoga for women; and ceremony facilitation and reiki energy healing.

Through my work as a prenatal/postnatal yoga teacher, childbirth educator and energy healer, I am creating a community of people who are growing into positive balanced relationships with their bodies and each other.

I am especially loving working with pregnant people and mothers right now. I want women to feel empowered in their pregnancies and births and this starts by understanding the nervous system. And the connection to our intuition. So in class I really encourage people to listen to what their bodies want in that moment and to move with that energy. Its really simple, but we’ve been highly trained to NOT listen to our bodies and only do what the teacher (or doctor or priest or boss) tells us to do. This simple practice can teach us not only what it is that our body needs, but also self-knowledge toward the ways that we can access our inner authority.

Being a healer means that I can help people access a layer that is more subtle than the physical body (because the energy body precedes the physical body in terms of health and wellness). We use simple, conscious practices of movement and breath, and the conduit that is the nervous system, to move energy and shift consciousness.

I just love leading people through a 60 minute session of gentle movement, breath connection and body awareness, and then watching the shift in their energy by the end of class. Its really magical (but actually based tangible knowledge)!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

My number one “strategy” for growing my business in general is to love what I do, love what I offer and feel SO GOOD and confident about my services that I don’t care what other people think about it. I had imposter syndrome real bad for a long time! And I still get it, especially when I’m offering something new. But now I’ve had enough experience with enough clients and students who tell me that they love the way I teach or what I teach. It’s not that I think that EVERYONE has to love what I offer, but that there are enough people who are enough like me, that they want what I want.

I tried the exercise of creating my “ideal client avatar” and in the end I felt is was just a waste of my energy. There is no one ideal client. People come to me from a lot of different life experiences. Being in the world of birth, I think a lot of people don’t know that there are alternatives to mainstream Western birth practices, so they don’t necessarily know to seek out what I offer, but when they come across my website or someone recommends my class, they experience it, and they love it.

Or they don’t and that’s totally ok too! I don’t need to serve people who aren’t interested in my offers. I don’t need to convince anyone. But when I love what I do, I’m magnetic.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t still have to sell things. Another really important part of “growing my clientele” is making sure that everyone I come in contact with knows that I offer these services… prenatal yoga, energy healing, childbirth education. I can mention that I offer these things and then let them lead with questions. If I sense that they are curious, I follow up. I have to do a lot of reminding, via weekly emails, and social media, and direct messaging. The direct messaging is the most challenging because I risk receiving a direct “no” but a lot of times, if I engage with curiosity and an eagerness to serve (rather than just to make money), then the messaging is natural and not sales-y. And then more often then not, people say “yes.”

I really think the energy behind the teaching or serving is actually what draws people to me.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I’m a huge fan of Simone Seol! She is a business/marketing/coaches coach but she is radically unconventional (and also a multi-millionaire through this radical work). Simone’s work has helped me to see through the smoke and mirrors game that traditional business models and coaching offer. I love her idea of our business (especially when our business is a soul-calling) having its own spirit. So I’ve learned to work with the spirit of my business. She teaches how everything stems from our internal energy, so spending time understanding our mental and nervous system patterns is how we become wildly successful and stay true to ourselves and the spirit of our business. Following Simone’s work is the only way I’ve been able to channel my passion and learn how to sell it in a way that actually feels good. Just about any other “business” coaching or “salesy stuff” would have me “failing” because I don’t buy into the stories of capitalism.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sacred-rhythms.com
• Instagram: @sridawn
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090106452055

Image Credits
All professional photos are by Katie Klein. Other photos are by me and my iPhone.