Ignite Your Sunshine – Ep.021 – Heather Viniar

Episode summary:​ Heather is a life coach, yoga instructor, and the owner of Ignite Your Sunshine.

She’s originally from New York and her struggle with anorexia ultimately led her down a path toward healing where she spent years working on herself, her body, mind, and Yoga was a major piece of that healing.

We get into some deep topics like self-abandonment and the power of our inner voice but we also share a bunch of laughs.

Guest Name & Bio:  Heather, tell us about yourself…

“Hi! I’m Heather. I’m a life coach, yoga teacher, personal trainer, sunshine spreader, and the owner of Ignite Your Sunshine. 

Through life coaching, yoga, integrative wellness, and/or Ignite Your Sunshine Scents’ proprietary blend of essential oils, I empower all humans to feel whole, and complete and live their greatest lives possible.

Wherever you are in life, whatever you are experiencing, you are not alone and you are welcome here. Come join me for class or for an event, or reach out to me personally to connect 1×1 and I’ll be happy to support you however appropriate. Sending you love and light!”

EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION

[Nick McGowan]  Heather Viniar hello and welcome to

the show how are you doing i’m great

[Heather Viniar] hey i’m great how are you

[Nick McGowan] i’m so excited you’re here we’ve had a

handful of minutes to chat before we started

[Nick McGowan] doing the recording here and i can tell

right off the bat we’re gonna hit it

[Nick McGowan] off and at one point you said i’m

from new york i was like well i’m

[Nick McGowan] from philly so it would be totally good

and the non cursing and you kind of

[Nick McGowan] said all right with that so welcome to

the show why don’t you start us off

[Nick McGowan] tell us what you do for a living

and one thing that most people don’t know

[Nick McGowan] about you

[Heather Viniar] man okay so i’m gonna skip to that

i’m gonna stick to that third one right

[Nick McGowan] on the spot already

[Heather Viniar] off the like right off the bath because

like i’m pretty open so i’m not sure

[Heather Viniar] what people don’t really know about me but

like i digress first of all thank you

[Nick McGowan] okay

[Heather Viniar] so much for having me here i’m really

grateful to be here with you yeah i

[Heather Viniar] i’ve so i i told you right beforehand

like i was really looking forward to being

[Heather Viniar] on here and then i looked at my

calendar today and like my computer like deleted

[Nick McGowan] better

[Heather Viniar] the event from my calendar but i still

like knew that it was there and i

[Heather Viniar] was really excited for it so yeah just

thank you for having me um my name’s

[Heather Viniar] Heather Viniar i own ignite your sunshine which is

a coaching and wellness business it’s health it’s

[Heather Viniar] life coaching private yoga i am a personal

trainer i don’t currently personal train but i

[Heather Viniar] use my knowledge from personal training and nutrition

to incorporate it into really integrative programs for

[Heather Viniar] my clients so if i have a client

who is like working with me for live

[Heather Viniar] coaching but also want some nutrition support i

got them like i it’s i work in

[Heather Viniar] a really holistic in a hurry in a

really holistic way and so those are services

[Heather Viniar] that i offer through night your sunshine i

also i also own ignite your sunshine s

[Heather Viniar] which is a it’s like a portion of

ignite year sunshine and so i created proprietary

[Heather Viniar] blend essential oils and i sell them as

roller poll bottles as room sprays and as

[Nick McGowan] hey

[Heather Viniar] um and as serums like dropper bottles so

that people can put them into their diffuser

[Heather Viniar] you can could drop it into laundry you

could put it in a in a bubble

[Heather Viniar] bath if you are so inclined to so

it’s like you it’s you get this whole

[Nick McGowan] o

[Heather Viniar] like holistic health and wellness vibe from ignite

your sunshine and that’s kind of that’s what

[Heather Viniar] i do i guess i have to say

something that people don’t know about me at

[Nick McGowan] correct

[Heather Viniar] this point hm um okay so i’m gonna

preface this by saying i’m not flighty the

[Heather Viniar] reason is the we

[Nick McGowan] anything with a disclaimer like let me just

give you disclaimer first

[Heather Viniar] the reason why i’m like prefacing by saying

that is i have moved probably nineteen times

[Heather Viniar] since two thousand and eight and like which

is like a pretty solid amount of time

[Heather Viniar] given the number of years between two thousand

eight and right now in twenty twenty two

[Heather Viniar] but um before two thousand eight i literally

lived in the same exact house like grew

[Heather Viniar] up until i was twenty one twenty twenty

one twenty two twenty twenty two yes in

[Nick McGowan] in your early twenties

[Heather Viniar] my early twenties let’s go with that yeah

in the stam house in plainview new york

[Heather Viniar] and yeah then i moved down to florida

and like as soon as i moved to

[Heather Viniar] florida like i i just moved like and

like many of those moves were like within

[Nick McGowan] nice

[Heather Viniar] the same exact vicinity some of them were

like one of them i did move overseas

[Heather Viniar] for a period of time for grad school

i also like lived on the opposite coast

[Heather Viniar] of florida for a little while but like

i like i just i have just moved

[Heather Viniar] so you need some tips on packing i

got you

[Nick McGowan] yeah there’s some people that literally just stay

in the same town maybe even in the

[Nick McGowan] same house like i know there are people

almost seems like a really old timey thing

[Nick McGowan] like well you know met the neighbor down

the street we got married at sixteen popped

[Nick McGowan] out nine kids and i got a corporate

job we moved into mom and dad’s house

[Nick McGowan] it’s not really a thing anymore i mean

i guess there are some parts of the

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] country that does that but different part

[Heather Viniar] yeah i would think that there are still

some parts that do that but like i

[Heather Viniar] just like your mainstream mainstream america like that’s

not necessarily the norm anymore but i do

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] there are definitely people that i grew up

with and like i didn’t grow up in

[Heather Viniar] a small town like we i it was

not like a small pod town nothing against

[Heather Viniar] those types of towns they’re great they have

their special place in the world but like

[Heather Viniar] where i grew up was not that and

there’s still a lot of people that live

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] in the in the vicinity and like all

the power to them it just wasn’t me

[Nick McGowan] i’m right there with you and i think

there’s like a fine line look we can

[Nick McGowan] be honest there’s a fine line where you’re

like why the fuck are you still there

[Nick McGowan] and then another line of like you know

you everybody can do their own thing so

[Nick McGowan] i appreciate you being kind of political in

a sense with it but i know there

[Nick McGowan] are people there are people that listen to

this show that are from mil neck of

[Nick McGowan] the woods that still live there i appreciate

those people but even with them i’m like

[Nick McGowan] why the fuck are you still there they’re

like well you see my businesses here and

[Nick McGowan] this and that like gotta move well welcome

to florida i live in i’m basically in

[Nick McGowan] near tampa now you’re on the other coast

right okay oh okay cool i mean this

[Heather Viniar] yeah yeah yeah i’m in uh i’m in

palm beach county i live in jupiter

[Nick McGowan] is this is just basically paradise so i

hope people don’t turn off the episode at

[Nick McGowan] this point that don’t live in florida but

those of you who don’t like hey we

[Nick McGowan] live here come on down and visit like

i’m looking at the pool right now and

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] it’s probably seventy degrees outside so come on

down i still friends and family that are

[Heather Viniar] yeah yeah

[Nick McGowan] up north that are like oh man feels

beautiful out it is fifty four degrees i’m

[Nick McGowan] like jeeze that sounds cold and like what

the fuck is wrong with you

[Heather Viniar] but sounds awful i thought okay so i

know this world that’s up in the orlando

[Heather Viniar] area and i was on i don’t remember

if it was facebook or insta it was

[Heather Viniar] like one of those a couple of days

ago and she literally posted something and it

[Heather Viniar] was like florida is one of nine states

that isn’t snowing today in the united states

[Heather Viniar] and i was like yes there’s a reason

we’re here

[Nick McGowan] yeah shit i st still family that’s like

hey you coming up for christmas i’m like

[Nick McGowan] what still snows there right they’re like yeah

i’m like well then no i’m gonna sit

[Nick McGowan] by my pool what is wrong with you

come on down here oh yeah alright so

[Heather Viniar] serious s they’ll make the migration at some

point it’s like typical northeast like you’re from

[Nick McGowan] yeah i mean they typically do when they’re

a bit older though like i did it

[Heather Viniar] the northeast yeah and up

[Nick McGowan] in my in my early thirties and now

i’m like shit i’m not going anywhere else

[Nick McGowan] i mean maybe so cow but that’s a

different lifestyle over there that’s let’s pull back

[Nick McGowan] from that so people they’ll just be like

what the kind of travel should are they

[Nick McGowan] talking about on this show so

[Heather Viniar] no no i am i mean just in

response to that i have wanted to live

[Heather Viniar] in california for like ever and like i

am not leaving or going anywhere like my

[Nick McGowan] hey

[Heather Viniar] family is here i have i have a

niece and nephew that’s here like i’m not

[Heather Viniar] going anywhere i like i at some point

my goal is to have like little many

[Heather Viniar] Heather Viniars and i mean like not just mini

mes like obviously like a husband will like

[Nick McGowan] not cloning yourself

[Heather Viniar] have genetics in here as well but like

i wanna have like little ones running around

[Heather Viniar] and like i want them to live near

their cuts yeah and like they i’m not

[Nick McGowan] sure yeah that makes sense oh man and

especially when you have so much sun constantly

[Heather Viniar] going anywhere florida is

[Nick McGowan] and it’s beautiful i i think about growing

up with the different seasons being in the

[Nick McGowan] northeast you saw the different seasons they were

like those periods where you’re like oh it’s

[Nick McGowan] starting to get cold there oh man it’s

really cold it’s bone chilling cold and then

[Nick McGowan] it would start to get warmer we don’t

really experience that here we’re just basically just

[Nick McGowan] nice and then it’s like sort of not

nice and then it’s really nice again but

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] i think we need to stop the whole

florida stuff the fact that you traveled around

[Nick McGowan] a lot is a big thing so when

i think of two thousand eight that was

[Nick McGowan] actually a bit ago and a lot of

stuff has happened since two thousand eight so

[Nick McGowan] i haven’t counted the amount of times that

i’ve moved but i’m at least in probably

[Heather Viniar] yep

[Nick McGowan] around that nineteen twentyish area as well i

think some of that has actually helped to

[Nick McGowan] shape me the way that i’ve experienced different

things so can you talk about some of

[Heather Viniar] oh yeah

[Nick McGowan] what you’ve experienced not only just with the

moves but as we talk about it and

[Nick McGowan] look back like what’s kind of shaped you

from that

[Heather Viniar] yeah so the first initial move down here

like the initial like move from new york

[Heather Viniar] to here the first thing that i can

really pinpoint about that is i had struggled

[Heather Viniar] with anxiety for like ever like anxiety depression

i was severely anorexic in my teens and

[Nick McGowan] hm

[Heather Viniar] in my early twenties and like getting down

here to florida was

[Heather Viniar] it slowed me down and it gave me

i think also the fact that like i

[Heather Viniar] had moved from a situation where i knew

all of these people to a place where

[Heather Viniar] like i literally was starting from scratch and

the only people that i knew that were

[Heather Viniar] surrounding me were my family it probably also

gave me a little bit of time like

[Heather Viniar] to myself to like figure some shit out

and it was in that time that i

[Nick McGowan] yeah hm

[Heather Viniar] like got myself help for my eating disorder

and like i’ve been i was i was

[Heather Viniar] thinking about it i was thinking about it

like two weeks ago because i was thinking

[Heather Viniar] about what it was that i wanted to

talk about on like my first podcast episode

[Heather Viniar] how i was introducing myself to people and

i realize that like the first thing that

[Heather Viniar] comes out when people are like well’s your

life experience like it’s usually something surrounding the

[Heather Viniar] eating sorter and like that’s not who i

am or who i relate to anymore i

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] mean i know how to work with people

and i know how to support people because

[Heather Viniar] of that experience but that’s just not like

it’s like i’ve been in recovery from it

[Heather Viniar] for like upwards of ten years so it’s

not something that i am like challenged by

[Nick McGowan] hey

[Heather Viniar] on a daily basis anymore um and a

lot of that like a lot of that

[Heather Viniar] healing and a lot of that process to

get to the Heather Viniar that i am right

[Heather Viniar] now has is a result of the different

places that i’ve lived in like the initial

[Heather Viniar] move down to florida definitely had a huge

impact on it from there i ended up

[Heather Viniar] i ended up going overseas and like having

that level of independence and like living in

[Heather Viniar] israel and like getting reconnected with like my

family’s israeli so getting reconnected with like my

[Heather Viniar] heritage um that definitely like it definitely got

me back to being more me than i

[Heather Viniar] was before and then i um and then

i got i got back to the united

[Nick McGowan] hey

[Heather Viniar] states from there and i ended up moving

to houston and i’d had a yoga practice

[Heather Viniar] since i was in since i was in

tenth grade excuse me yeah since i was

[Nick McGowan] six

[Heather Viniar] in tenth grade and i when i was

in houston i like found the studio that

[Heather Viniar] i ended up doing my training at and

i went through like years of like really

[Heather Viniar] just deep diving into into well like self

development i like i guess like it was

[Heather Viniar] like yes it was yoga training and it

also like a huge portion of it was

[Heather Viniar] self development so that got me closer to

myself as well and it was like the

[Heather Viniar] process of the process of like getting reconnected

to this portion of myself into this portion

[Heather Viniar] of myself into this portion of myself it

allowed me to over time just get really

[Heather Viniar] deeply connected to to my spirit and to

my voice

[Nick McGowan] yeah it’s so interesting how all of those

things have to happen to get you to

[Nick McGowan] a point where right now you could be

like well the person i am now is

[Nick McGowan] because of all these things that have happened

i had a conversation with a client maybe

[Heather Viniar] no

[Nick McGowan] about two hours ago where we were talking

about like well what does it just take

[Nick McGowan] for some people to actually get this thing

and say well what did it take you

[Nick McGowan] to get the idea of all of this

he was like wow took me blah blah

[Nick McGowan] blah blah and rattled off all that stuff

and if you think of when you moved

[Nick McGowan] and all the things that had to happen

even the dumb little terrible times in between

[Nick McGowan] that all adds to lucent so but if

you think of you as a younger person

[Heather Viniar] oh yeah totally

[Nick McGowan] bumbling your way through and trying to self

develop things and like take info in it’s

[Nick McGowan] so clunky and just so awkward at times

yeah if you think like people are like

[Heather Viniar] what is your job

[Nick McGowan] well if you could talk to your eighteen

year old self what would you do i

[Nick McGowan] think most people were like i’d punch them

in the face or like kick their ass

[Nick McGowan] or whatever i’d probably look at them be

like you’re at least you’re gonna go through

[Nick McGowan] some but you’re gonna be awkward as hell

for a bit too so are there any

[Nick McGowan] like times that come to mind where you’re

like oh man i remember this bit of

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] season that was awkward but now do it

differently or you know whatever

[Heather Viniar] yeah man okay so there’s a couple of

different directions i could go i could go

[Heather Viniar] with that but like the direction that i’ll

go with is

[Heather Viniar] up to i mean as recent as like

three four years ago if something happened like

[Nick McGowan] hey

[Heather Viniar] someone was out of integrity at work or

like didn’t show up for their commit or

[Nick McGowan] good

[Heather Viniar] like there were standards for one person were

completely different than standards for another person or

[Heather Viniar] i mean the they’re like i i don’t

know if those are great examples but like

[Heather Viniar] my personal response even with like years of

self development under my belt like is that

[Nick McGowan] sure

[Heather Viniar] like is that an appropriate term like under

my belt for like years of i don’t

[Nick McGowan] yeah sure i get that yeah

[Heather Viniar] even wear about i don’t know why i

use that term but like but anyway with

[Heather Viniar] like years of experience with self development and

like being so connected with in so many

[Heather Viniar] different ways there’s like something within me where

like i would like lose my personal voice

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] and i wouldn’t speak i like wouldn’t speak

up from myself i was speaking i was

[Heather Viniar] like moving and breathing and speaking as like

a representative of the organizations that i was

[Heather Viniar] leading or working for or

[Nick McGowan] i thought you meant of you like the

u n of yourself i’m a representation to

[Heather Viniar] um now no no no not a representation

of myself like a representation or a representative

[Nick McGowan] myself it’s like wow that’s quite a fu

mask

[Heather Viniar] of those organizations so like i wasn’t fully

speaking my truth i was like speaking from

[Nick McGowan] sure

[Heather Viniar] the organization and so like there was like

jargon that i would use and there were

[Nick McGowan] oh

[Heather Viniar] like things that i would say that like

weren’t necessarily mine and so like that’s how

[Heather Viniar] i would handle things then and like the

moment that i separated from the specific organizations

[Heather Viniar] that i’m that i’m like pinpointing in my

brain right now i actually like it was

[Heather Viniar] it was like a it was a rough

road yeah it was a rough road because

[Nick McGowan] hey

[Heather Viniar] i went from being surrounded by all of

these people to like moving back over to

[Heather Viniar] the east coast of florida which is where

which is where my family was and like

[Heather Viniar] where i knew that i was gonna be

launching my business from and where i wanted

[Heather Viniar] to be and though like i’d spent years

surrounded by all of these people and the

[Heather Viniar] moment that i separated from those two organizations

like i lost all those people and so

[Nick McGowan] who

[Heather Viniar] i got back to the east coast to

florida and i was like left with some

[Heather Viniar] like heavy emotions and heavy to deal with

and like that process for me is what

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] got me connected with my voice like i

started to i started to like i’d had

[Heather Viniar] a meditation practice for like years but i

like really intentionally started to meditate in the

[Heather Viniar] mornings like i would pull an intention card

or an oracle card or something i’d meditate

[Heather Viniar] or journal on it i intentionally and like

very purposefully if something came up like i

[Heather Viniar] spoke about it like i didn’t keep it

in i didn’t like try to process on

[Nick McGowan] hm

[Heather Viniar] my own i just like called the trusted

few people that i that i knew i

[Heather Viniar] could call and i could just like blurt

out whatever it was that i needed to

[Heather Viniar] blurt out because it was the practice of

me using my voice like my voice though

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] and so like there was that and like

i i also um i started i started

[Heather Viniar] using and i know that this like might

come across as like really hippie dep toed

[Heather Viniar] using essential oils and like intentionally using them

not just using them because i like the

[Heather Viniar] way they smell and so i like started

making my own essential oil blends with specific

[Heather Viniar] intentions and like the first one that i

ever created was one that was geared towards

[Heather Viniar] the throat shock because it like it like

to to support me in actually using my

[Nick McGowan] to speak yeah

[Heather Viniar] voice and yeah i now sell those oils

so like they’re like they’re it’s like a

[Nick McGowan] what a beautiful thing

[Heather Viniar] part of my business that was born truly

out of my own personal process so like

[Heather Viniar] long story short the way that i used

to handle something was like speaking as an

[Heather Viniar] representative of an organization or like speaking not

from my true self to now doing nothing

[Nick McGowan] hey

[Heather Viniar] other than speaking from my true self

[Nick McGowan] so we probably just spend the rest of

the episode going through something with all of

[Nick McGowan] this because for the most part the masks

that people wear and i think of those

[Heather Viniar] school

[Nick McGowan] people that are very businessy like uh you

know we’ll circle back to this thing and

[Heather Viniar] oh my god i can’t stand that term

[Nick McGowan] like that’s same same oh my god

[Heather Viniar] i i i can’t or like what’s the

other one so like there’s two that just

[Heather Viniar] really drive me bonkers let’s unpack that and

let’s circle back to it like those two

[Nick McGowan] okay yeah

[Heather Viniar] i just can

[Nick McGowan] the circle back one i don’t know yeah

so some people i think just get into

[Heather Viniar] next

[Nick McGowan] the habit of that stuff because they hear

it so much it’s almost like when you’re

[Nick McGowan] a little kid and you hear your parents

say certain things thanks mom that’s maybe where

[Nick McGowan] i got this mouth from um but you

know really you you learn those sort of

[Nick McGowan] things and you start to say those you’re

integrated into that system you’re working with that

[Nick McGowan] company and you start saying those things because

those other people are saying it just like

[Nick McGowan] the right like right what about this right

like that sort of thing where people are

[Nick McGowan] saying that or there circle back or what

have you it’s so interesting when you can

[Heather Viniar] m

[Nick McGowan] pull back from that and you realize like

oh shit i was wearing a mask as

[Nick McGowan] well and for the most part that’s not

that bad of a mask cause you’re just

[Nick McGowan] culturally trying to fit in socially trying to

fit in but we all have some sort

[Nick McGowan] of mask on and the fact that you

started to actually take that mask off set

[Nick McGowan] up a process to be able to talk

to people and say i just need you

[Nick McGowan] to be here and listen because they’re got

to take this mask off and just stretch

[Nick McGowan] the muscle of talking and just getting out

and doing it man and there’s a lot

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] that’s within that so how did you get

to that point where you were like i

[Nick McGowan] have to set this up i have to

like what was the breaking point basically where

[Nick McGowan] you’re like fuck it i’ve had enough

[Heather Viniar] bomb again you like mi drop buck they’ve

had enough um yeah so i you know

[Heather Viniar] i i moved i moved back here and

i realized that i like just didn’t i

[Heather Viniar] had kind of distanced myself from the overarching

yoga institute that i did a lot of

[Heather Viniar] my trainings from i was no longer involved

in those two local organizations and um and

[Heather Viniar] i got back here and i like literally

like i did not i had been away

[Heather Viniar] and so the friends that i had in

this area that were in this area like

[Heather Viniar] i wasn’t i wasn’t close with any longer

so i had to like kind of i

[Heather Viniar] felt like i was like re becoming friends

with them all over again and i i

[Heather Viniar] like i didn’t have anyone like i i

just i didn’t the people that i was

[Heather Viniar] like so closely surrounded by like i literally

like i just did not i didn’t have

[Heather Viniar] them and um and the people that i

the people that i’ve had in my life

[Heather Viniar] for like years who have been with me

for like decades now at this point like

[Heather Viniar] none of them are down here like they’re

in new york they’re in minneapolis they’re in

[Heather Viniar] wherever they are yeah new york and minneapolis

are the two that are sticking out for

[Heather Viniar] me right now but uh they like they’re

clearly not here so it’s not like i

[Heather Viniar] could just like go and meet up with

them or go and hang out with them

[Heather Viniar] and i think that that process not i

think i know that that process of like

[Heather Viniar] having having to just sit with myself yeah

having to just sit with myself like i

[Nick McGowan] hey

[Heather Viniar] they there was no other i mean i

i had my family of course like and

[Heather Viniar] so i spent time with my brother and

sister in law my niece my nephew hadn’t

[Heather Viniar] been born at that point in time yet

but um he’s roaring and ready to go

[Heather Viniar] now and like my and my parents so

i i spend time with them but aside

[Heather Viniar] from that for a little while like i

just i i wasn’t spending time with anyone

[Heather Viniar] else i really just took the time to

like get the connection with myself because without

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] actually being connect like i just felt so

disconnected and i had already like launched like

[Heather Viniar] an earlier version of my business and um

like my of the coaching and wellness business

[Heather Viniar] and i like i knew that i had

something to offer but i also knew that

[Heather Viniar] at that point in time like i wasn’t

able to offer it the way that i

[Heather Viniar] wanted to because like i still wasn’t like

speaking freely and speaking truly and just like

[Heather Viniar] that was just that was just part of

my part of my journey i think i

[Heather Viniar] got so used to over the years like

not saying anything and not saying anything and

[Heather Viniar] not saying anything that um yeah i had

to learn how to say something again and

[Heather Viniar] so i started i mean i started doing

the things that i mentioned before like coupled

[Heather Viniar] with really deep mindset work but i have

this one friend in particular and uh and

[Heather Viniar] she’s like we’ve been like without actually using

the term accountability buddies like for for upwards

[Heather Viniar] of a decade now in different areas of

life like we’ve definitely been that for each

[Heather Viniar] other and so at that point in time

yeah i started like book ending things with

[Heather Viniar] conversations with her so i’d be like i’m

going to do this and then i’d go

[Heather Viniar] and do it and then like i’d call

her after and so like you could call

[Heather Viniar] it check ins you could call it book

ending something but it was like that level

[Heather Viniar] of being able to like process beforehand go

and do what i had to do process

[Heather Viniar] afterwards or even if there wasn’t any process

it was just like still the practice of

[Heather Viniar] using my voice and like speaking up and

that it was like hugely hugely helpful and

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] hugely supportive

[Nick McGowan] yeah you think of those little steps that

you do that you can only look back

[Nick McGowan] at and go shit that helped me but

it was more of a subconscious thing because

[Nick McGowan] you’re like i need to do this and

i i just need to talk to you

[Nick McGowan] about this thing and let you know and

i’ll call you back when i’m done because

[Nick McGowan] you’re setting up that process where you know

i talk to different people at times they’re

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] like man i want to do these things

i want to have a better life but

[Nick McGowan] i don’t want to do these things or

i don’t want to do that and i

[Nick McGowan] think we find ourselves in the space where

it’s kind of a gray area where you

[Nick McGowan] have to figure out what you don’t want

and what you actually want but you need

[Nick McGowan] to figure out what’s the thing that you

don’t want because you don’t want to and

[Nick McGowan] do it or you don’t want coz it

doesn’t align with you

[Heather Viniar] wolves so like that’s like that’s the whole

other piece for it like there’s i speak

[Heather Viniar] with clients and i have clients who are

like yeah i want i want like x

[Heather Viniar] y z but like it’s never going to

happen so like i’m just i just don’t

[Heather Viniar] do anything and i’m like yeah well with

that mindset it’s never gonna happen because you’re

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] never gonna do it and like it’s not

like you’re gonna like take the action once

[Heather Viniar] and then all of a sudden magically that

habit has been formed like na it doesn’t

[Heather Viniar] work that way like meaningful things take hard

work and like it gets nosy and like

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] those like the messiness of the process is

like i mean for me at least it’s

[Heather Viniar] what makes it all worth it and i’m

not saying like go get super fricking sloppy

[Heather Viniar] in your life let everything go and then

all of a sudden one day you’re gonna

[Heather Viniar] look at it and be like man i

was a slave and that was great no

[Heather Viniar] that’s sa to do that like go through

the work and when i say the work

[Heather Viniar] i mean like go through the personal journey

go through the things that you need to

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] process that you need to go through in

order to like come out the other side

[Heather Viniar] the newest u that you can bay and

right i mean there’s no better way to

[Nick McGowan] the us u that you can be perfect

no no i mean shit alright ladies and

[Heather Viniar] say it

[Nick McGowan] gentlemen it’s been real thank you for your

time oh man yeah exactly man there’s um

[Heather Viniar] my top

[Nick McGowan] it it can be interesting because as you

go through being a little kid and then

[Nick McGowan] in school like grade school middle school and

high school like you test out what’s cool

[Nick McGowan] and what’s not cool you try different things

and then as you get a little older

[Nick McGowan] you start to be like yeah fuck it

i don’t i don’t need people around me

[Nick McGowan] whatever and then you really figure out like

man i really wanted everybody around me because

[Nick McGowan] i didn’t know what the i wanted or

what i needed but as you can get

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] really real with you and you can figure

out what you want and what you don’t

[Nick McGowan] want like what piss you or what doesn’t

it’s the check ins those little check ins

[Nick McGowan] do you agree with that like you just

got to check in with yourself and some

[Heather Viniar] yes

[Nick McGowan] people don’t

[Heather Viniar] oh dera check in with yourself and check

in with the people around you too like

[Nick McGowan] yeah um

[Heather Viniar] google around you need to know that you

care and like most of the time i

[Heather Viniar] find that when i randomly am just like

hey i just wanted to check in how

[Heather Viniar] are you like something comes out like they

needed to be checked and on and so

[Nick McGowan] oh

[Heather Viniar] like when you think about that and like

yeah when you think about that like you

[Heather Viniar] need to be checked in on two because

like if you actually sit back and ask

[Heather Viniar] yourself like hey Heather Viniar or like hey Nick McGowan

how am i doing today like i’m sure

[Nick McGowan] hm oh yeah yeah it usually makes me

laugh too weird that goes through my mind

[Heather Viniar] something’s gonna come up

[Nick McGowan] where you’re like you’re alright dude but what

the is that smell i’m like damn the

[Nick McGowan] trash need to go out whatever or like

a shit i left the coffee on those

[Nick McGowan] little ch those little check ins are powerful

absolutely powerful and okay

[Heather Viniar] i no go for it yeah i am

i ta i taught a class this morning

[Heather Viniar] and this woman like walked into she walked

in she like put her put her mat

[Heather Viniar] down and she’s like holding her head like

going like this and i looked over and

[Nick McGowan] oh

[Heather Viniar] i was like hey how are you doing

like you look like like is it is

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] it gonna fall off you look like you’re

holding on for dear life and she started

[Heather Viniar] laughing and she said so many things other

so many things are going on up in

[Nick McGowan] then

[Heather Viniar] there and like it’s one of those things

like just like check in with yourself because

[Heather Viniar] you may not realize you might not realize

like the pain that you’re feeling in your

[Heather Viniar] shoulders and your upper back from like the

stress that you’re carrying there if you actually

[Heather Viniar] check in and are like why am i

so tired like what’s like what’s going on

[Heather Viniar] or like why does why why am i

feeling why am i feeling tension in my

[Heather Viniar] upper back like oh i didn’t even realize

this what i’ve been thinking about like our

[Nick McGowan] hm

[Heather Viniar] bodies have really subtle ways but like really

clear ways of telling us what’s going on

[Nick McGowan] yeah oh man it’s such a great thing

you gotta listen to your body don’t always

[Nick McGowan] have to listen to your subconscious mind because

that can sometimes push out random things you’re

[Nick McGowan] like i don’t know why these random things

popped up and try to decipher it but

[Nick McGowan] i think the physiological side along with the

spiritual and the emotional side can all tie

[Nick McGowan] together like when you feel led to go

do something and you’re like oh everything in

[Nick McGowan] me like pulling my rib cage gets my

heart my mind excited and of that but

[Nick McGowan] we can’t have that unless you actually ask

but i i think we need to be

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] aware to do the thing like think about

it if you had no idea that you

[Nick McGowan] had to figure out how to breathe you

probably wouldn’t but thank god we don’t have

[Nick McGowan] to worry about that and we just naturally

breathe just breathe it all it is but

[Heather Viniar] just breathe Nick McGowan all you have to do

is breathe just breathe

[Nick McGowan] those there are triggers for each of us

and i’m sure my triggers are different than

[Nick McGowan] yours but i’ve realized with myself that my

natural state is positive joyous and usually super

[Nick McGowan] type a and like over the top because

i’m just excited about life but if i’m

[Nick McGowan] not there and i feel like weird and

snarky i know that i’m from philly so

[Nick McGowan] i can naturally be an asshole at times

but that’s not the native state that i

[Nick McGowan] tend to live in so that’s kind of

a yeah it’s not where i’m normally at

[Heather Viniar] it’s not your homeostasis screen

[Nick McGowan] so i’m like all right dude you’re being

an aso right now what’s wrong and i’ll

[Nick McGowan] kind of pull the emotions in almost like

it’s in a room i’m like all right

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] ass get in here what’s your problem who

are you they’re like oh i’m whatever i’m

[Nick McGowan] nostalgia or i’m fear or whatever and i

kind of walk through it but i think

[Nick McGowan] you gotta you gotta figure out what your

triggers are and do you have the same

[Heather Viniar] well

[Nick McGowan] conversations with your clients

[Heather Viniar] oh my god yeah one hundred percent like

a lot of so and i don’t want

[Heather Viniar] to say a lot a lot of what

i do is about bodies sensations but like

[Heather Viniar] no it all comes back to body sensations

it’s like oh like you have that like

[Nick McGowan] hm

[Heather Viniar] feeling in your gut like okay well it’s

the thought that’s surrounding it like if you

[Heather Viniar] are debating whether or not you should go

do something and you have this like not

[Heather Viniar] good sensation you should probably not do it

if you are debating whether or not you

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] should show up for something that you committed

to showing up to and like the feeling

[Heather Viniar] is like yeah go you should probably go

like your body is telling you to go

[Heather Viniar] um it’s it it all i mean it

it all comes back to it all comes

[Heather Viniar] it all comes back to the sensations or

like the triggers for all intensive purposes

[Nick McGowan] sure it’s almost uh we can kind of

make it mechanical in a sense like when

[Nick McGowan] this thing happens this other thing will happen

so that we can look for those triggers

[Nick McGowan] and go oh well when that happens this

happens which is kind of almost like habit

[Nick McGowan] stacking man we’re getting to a deep nerved

level at this point but if you can

[Heather Viniar] yes

[Nick McGowan] think through what those things are and understand

that you’re you’re typically not that state then

[Nick McGowan] you can be aware of whatever the next

thing is so you’ve been through a lot

[Nick McGowan] of stuff and the fact that you went

through anorexia into being a coach and helping

[Nick McGowan] people health wise and all of that i

know that you had said earlier like there

[Nick McGowan] are people that talk to me about this

thing but that’s not who i am and

[Nick McGowan] there’s a balance there for us as and

coaches where we are still growing i still

[Nick McGowan] up daily whether you’re a client or you’re

just the audience listening know it i fuck

[Heather Viniar] all

[Nick McGowan] up daily but it’s the learning from it

so how do you balance your mindset of

[Heather Viniar] right

[Nick McGowan] like ah i’m not there anymore but those

people that are there are still looking to

[Nick McGowan] you for help

[Heather Viniar] yeah well okay so i think the distinction

the distinction with that for me in terms

[Heather Viniar] of like the eating sorter specifically is like

that’s not something that i like work through

[Heather Viniar] on my own on a daily basis anymore

and the reason that that that’s the case

[Heather Viniar] is because of all of the work and

all of the habits and all of the

[Heather Viniar] things that i’ve implemented into my life over

the years and so like i’m very much

[Heather Viniar] so able to like freely talk with someone

about those type of things and support someone

[Heather Viniar] who’s like challenged with just that without having

it be like oh my god i’m going

[Heather Viniar] back to that point of my life or

like that’s that’s not what it brings up

[Heather Viniar] at all it actually brings up a lot

of joy for me because i have the

[Heather Viniar] ability to support someone and to show them

like look if you saw

[Heather Viniar] i was twenty three when i got into

recovery from my eating shorter so if you

[Heather Viniar] saw Heather Viniar between the ages of like twelve

and twenty three like like around there you’d

[Heather Viniar] see a very different human than the Heather Viniar

that you see right now and like the

[Heather Viniar] fact that i’m still alive and here to

tell that tale goes to show you that

[Heather Viniar] like it’s not permanent and like if you

are committed to making a shift in your

[Heather Viniar] life to better in your life and to

like healing yourself because it’s never about the

[Heather Viniar] food itself like there’s always something else that’s

there if you’re committed and actually want to

[Heather Viniar] he all that like you can it’s not

just something that i was able to miraculously

[Heather Viniar] do and like was not that miraculous of

a thing like it was really not pretty

[Heather Viniar] it was really really not a pretty journey

but yeah no so i it’s not it’s

[Heather Viniar] not that i like don’t want to have

those conversations it’s more so like when i

[Heather Viniar] think about my experience like in order to

speak to someone as like who i am

[Heather Viniar] right here like telling them my experience from

eleven years ago isn’t as authentic as telling

[Nick McGowan] sure yeah

[Heather Viniar] someone my experience from like yesterday it’s like

it’s more present and it’s more relatable and

[Heather Viniar] i could still be relatable talking about that

but i mean it’s upwards of a decade

[Heather Viniar] ago like i was you know the difference

from when you were in your in your

[Heather Viniar] early twenties versus when you’re in your thirties

your mid thirties or like you

[Nick McGowan] shit yeah shit let alone a year yeah

a lot of stuff can happen and especially

[Nick McGowan] when you’re on a growth path and you’re

growing i mean that’s a great answer to

[Nick McGowan] the question but the fact that you’re able

to look at all of it and understand

[Nick McGowan] i understand a bit more about your heart

now that it’s more about the how do

[Nick McGowan] we actually get to the heart of the

matter and help the person wherever they’re at

[Nick McGowan] whatever it’s about

[Heather Viniar] yeah yeah and and i think that that

really that really pinpoints exactly how i work

[Heather Viniar] with clients like i know different cli different

coaches and like different life coaches different health

[Heather Viniar] coaches different different people work with their clients

differently i don’t have a specific program i

[Heather Viniar] just don’t because i don’t want to put

someone into a box and like what i

[Nick McGowan] h

[Heather Viniar] realized from the first couple of clients that

i had was like the program that i

[Heather Viniar] created it didn’t fit any of them but

they were still like they were still drawn

[Heather Viniar] and like still gravitated towards working with me

and so like all i did i met

[Heather Viniar] them on a daily basis exactly as they

are and that so like you saying that

[Heather Viniar] like it’s the heart of the matter just

like get to the heart of what it

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] is like that’s that’s how i work with

people and it’s and it’s really like for

[Heather Viniar] me it’s for me it’s really rewarding i

mean do i have things from like the

[Heather Viniar] program that i created do i have things

that i like end up doing with clients

[Heather Viniar] anyway absolutely and have there been clients where

like yeah i do like just go through

[Heather Viniar] that pro like does it fit them absolutely

one hundred percent but it’s like just like

[Heather Viniar] i’m just like like i’m special and have

my own needs on a daily basis they’re

[Heather Viniar] all special and they have their like they

all everyone has their own unique needs as

[Nick McGowan] yeah yeah great point it’s funny how we

can sometimes as coaches want to just make

[Heather Viniar] well

[Nick McGowan] this thing go oh this is it everybody

should just go through this thing and there

[Nick McGowan] are a ton of people that push that

as like the coaches that coach people uh

[Nick McGowan] they’re like make this one thing set it

up and that’s the only thing you do

[Heather Viniar] that

[Nick McGowan] and i was kind of in the same

boat like i’ve got an eight week program

[Nick McGowan] i’ve had people go through it and that’s

there for the people it fits for but

[Nick McGowan] you know that when you have that initial

i call it a clarity session that first

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] call that discovery call you can know like

one am i gonna be the right fit

[Nick McGowan] to even help this person and two does

the program actually make sense or do we

[Heather Viniar] right

[Nick McGowan] need to do something slightly different to get

you the actual results i think it’s almost

[Nick McGowan] rude for somebody to be like i hear

what you’re saying so here’s this box i’m

[Nick McGowan] gonna need to sit your ass in like

fuck what so you didn’t hear anything i

[Nick McGowan] said okay

[Heather Viniar] i hear exactly what you’re saying so here’s

this box i love that it’s uh yeah

[Heather Viniar] and you know what there are the and

i and like you know there’s so many

[Heather Viniar] people in the world and there’s so many

people who are looking for support in the

[Heather Viniar] world that like i’m not going to be

the right person for everyone and like maybe

[Nick McGowan] no

[Heather Viniar] one of those other coaches will be the

right person for that individual and like that’s

[Heather Viniar] great and the people who are like grout

who gravitate to and who like feel inclined

[Heather Viniar] to work with me like they work me

with me for the reason of like i

[Heather Viniar] am who i am y

[Nick McGowan] you’re you i mean that’s the authenticity of

it there’s not just with coaching but if

[Nick McGowan] you think of it’s easy for me to

think of sales ’cause i’ve been in sales

[Nick McGowan] forever but there’s so many people that just

sell people they sell sell sell shit and

[Nick McGowan] they’re just forcing people to buy things or

they’re going after that hunt instead of just

[Nick McGowan] trying to help people i had a conversation

with a couple of my team members recently

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] where they’re like hey we have this big

thing big conversation new division of this company

[Nick McGowan] we’re going to work with and we’re going

to put together this presentation and do all

[Nick McGowan] the i was like do we know what

they want to talk about oh they wanna

[Nick McGowan] know what we do is like do you

know what their problem is like no but

[Nick McGowan] we’re talk about all these things mi that’s

totally cool i get that let’s see if

[Nick McGowan] we cover those things and let’s find out

what her problems were i i loved the

[Nick McGowan] team but that was a prime moment of

us going at the end of the call

[Nick McGowan] like we use the presentation once to pull

up a link to then show something and

[Nick McGowan] actually walk through it other than that it

was all based on conversation you gotta be

[Nick McGowan] able to actually people with people think about

the people that can’t people with people they

[Nick McGowan] can’t talk to people um those people i

guess don’t have podcasts whatever so on that

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] note you’ve got a podcast coming up why

don’t you tell us a little bit about

[Nick McGowan] that

[Heather Viniar] yeah i do i have a podcast coming

up and i’m super super excited about it

[Heather Viniar] i’ve had this podcast in the back of

my mind for like you know like a

[Heather Viniar] couple of years at this point and it

just it for me i i didn’t necessarily

[Heather Viniar] feel like it was the right time to

do it and i don’t know if there’s

[Heather Viniar] ever a right time or a wrong time

but uh i was i was talking with

[Heather Viniar] someone a couple of weeks ago and she

was like you know you’ve been talking about

[Heather Viniar] this podcast forever like when are when are

you gonna do it like when’s it coming

[Heather Viniar] and i was like you know now it’s

coming now and so um and so really

[Heather Viniar] what my podcast is geared towards is

[Heather Viniar] you know had i’m gonna say it in

a really consc way ok so it’s the

[Heather Viniar] name of the podcast is the ignite your

sunshine podcast my business is ignite your sunshine

[Heather Viniar] and i mean if you all could see

the look on my face like you’d get

[Nick McGowan] she’s beaming yeah

[Heather Viniar] why my businesses ignite your son job i

literally like through the journey of what we’ve

[Heather Viniar] been talking about like i lit up my

sunshine or like i i re lit the

[Heather Viniar] sunshine within me so like yeah so it’s

the ignite your sunshine podcast and really what

[Heather Viniar] that podcast is going to be geared towards

or what it is geared towards is creating

[Heather Viniar] mindset shifts discovering your purpose integrating your mind

body and soul and taking ownership of your

[Heather Viniar] life and so we’ll do that through talking

about self love talking about integrative wellness talking

[Heather Viniar] about mindfulness talking about visions and goals like

goal setting is one of my favorite favorite

[Heather Viniar] things in the world at yeah and i

know that it can be like goal setting

[Heather Viniar] can be something that’s really really like out

there for some people and for me it’s

[Heather Viniar] like no stop setting goals that are like

huge u two two two two two to

[Heather Viniar] the point where you’re so afraid of them

that like you’re not gonna do anything because

[Heather Viniar] there’s so much beer there like set the

small goals and then accomplish it and then

[Heather Viniar] set another one and accomplish that one like

do this in like do it in a

[Heather Viniar] a really a really like step by step

basis so that you’re like creating the creating

[Heather Viniar] the staircase to actually like accomplish what it

is that you want to accomplish yeah and

[Heather Viniar] so it’s going to i have scheduled it

to release weekly on wednesdays walus wednesdays and

[Nick McGowan] nice

[Heather Viniar] um yeah and i’m i’m super stoked for

it i have my first couple of episodes

[Heather Viniar] recorded already the first one will officially drop

next week on wednesday of course and uh

[Nick McGowan] oh

[Heather Viniar] yeah it’s i mean getting that so i

actually i had the i had the realization

[Heather Viniar] this morning because i officially i had like

filed everything and then yesterday i got like

[Heather Viniar] the congratulatory email from apple podcasts and yeah

and so i i this morning i decided

[Nick McGowan] yeah

[Heather Viniar] to like just go and see if i

could pull it up on spotify and so

[Heather Viniar] i typed in ignite your sunshine and like

i saw myself on spotify

[Nick McGowan] such an awesome feeling isn’t it

[Heather Viniar] and yeah and i like i clicked it

and i listened to the trailer and i

[Heather Viniar] was like how fuck yeah i’m on spotify

that’s me

[Nick McGowan] that’s so good man it it’s um that’s

a big step even just to do the

[Nick McGowan] damn thing the amount of times i’ve heard

that story and the amount of times i’ve

[Nick McGowan] said my version of that story of man

i thought about doing a podcast for years

[Nick McGowan] my version includes my cousin tom who would

send me a text just with the word

[Nick McGowan] podcast and it’ll be like off dude i

got it you know timing wasn’t right it

[Nick McGowan] sounds like this is kind of a thing

that most people go through where it just

[Nick McGowan] kind of percolates in the back and you’re

like hm there’s something here and that’s sort

[Nick McGowan] of like our calling almost not just the

podcast i mean podcast maybe our calling but

[Heather Viniar] yeah

[Nick McGowan] the innate to help people this is a

beautiful medium to be able to do it

[Nick McGowan] so the fact that you’ve at least stood

the damn thing up is what nine out

[Nick McGowan] of ten people wouldn’t do so well done

with that there are different milestones you’ll go

[Nick McGowan] through i’ve passed the ten episode milestone where

people said that’s crazy because they’re like geez

[Nick McGowan] so many people don’t even get to ten

but i’ve talked to people that are in

[Nick McGowan] like the thousands yeah well i think we’re

kind of in the same boat like if

[Heather Viniar] really

[Nick McGowan] you’re gonna do it you’re going to do

it so you’re gonna all asked the whole

[Heather Viniar] oh yeah i don’t have as anything i

put my pull as in yeah it’s only

[Nick McGowan] last needs to be in that

[Heather Viniar] half acid put your full ass in

[Nick McGowan] man so i’m i’m really excited

[Heather Viniar] and it doesn’t have to be like a

c but like let it be a good

[Heather Viniar] ass

[Nick McGowan] and that’s where the health and wellness comes

into play ladies and gentlemen do your squats

[Nick McGowan] put your whole ass in it oh man

well i’m excited that you got your show

[Nick McGowan] coming out i’m excited to hear about the

show at some point if you’d like me

[Nick McGowan] to have be on the show i’d love

to if not totally understand

[Heather Viniar] oh my god that would be like having

everything come full circle that would be so

[Nick McGowan] yeah well i’m in for it you let

me know um this has been a pleasure

[Heather Viniar] fun

[Nick McGowan] chatting with you i know we could just

talk more and more and more and we’ll

[Nick McGowan] probably have you back and we’ll just do

a bunch of uh show swaps here but

[Nick McGowan] why don’t you tell people where people can

find you

[Heather Viniar] yes

[Heather Viniar] okay so super super simple you can find

me at ignite your sunshine on instagram you

[Heather Viniar] can find me at ignite your sunshine dot

com website and if you’d like to reach

[Heather Viniar] out via email you can find me at

hello at ignite sunshine com and if you

[Heather Viniar] want to listen to my podcast you can

just go to wherever you listen to your

[Heather Viniar] podcasts apple podcasts spotify i’m sure there’s a

variety of other platforms and you can just

[Heather Viniar] type in the ignite your sunshine podcast so

like super simple super basic and freaking fabulous

[Heather Viniar] um yeah so that’s all my business stuff

if you want to connect with me just

[Heather Viniar] like as a human my name is Heather Viniar

viner my personal instagram which is public is

[Heather Viniar] hea they’ve been here again really simple

[Nick McGowan] perfect well Heather Viniar it’s been a pleasure to

have you on thank you for being here

[Heather Viniar] thank you so much for having me