Discover your power, joy, and purpose! If we let others’ expectations dictate our lives, we run the risk of never discovering our true purpose. When we don’t pause to explore our true selves, we can feel stuck and half-alive. Yet the answers to some of our deepest fears and yearnings lie just inside the quiet of the soul. There is immense power and wisdom to be found within our own intuition and the deep connection it brings. Learning to look inside—daring to embrace the sacred feminine—is one of the greatest acts of love for oneself and others. When we find and follow our true purpose, we rise and radiate in the most magnificent ways. In this empowering episode, we explore the realm of the “Sacred Feminine” to find that it is not a gift solely for one gender; it allows all of us to rise toward and embrace our highest selves.
Books by Dr. Carla Manly:
Date Smart: Transform Your Relationships and Love Fearlessly
Joy From Fear: Create the Life of Your Dreams by Making Fear Your Friend
Books by Andrea Menard:
Gabriel Dumont’s Wild West Show
Connect with Dr. Carla Manly:
Website: https://www.drcarlamanly.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drcarlamanly
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/drcarlamanly
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drcarlamanly
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-marie-manly-8682362b
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.carlamariemanly8543
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dr_carla_manly
Connect with Andrea Menard:
Website: www.andreamenard.com
Twitter/X: @andreamenard
Facebook: @andreamenardmusic
Instagram: @andreamenardmusic
YouTube: @andreamenardmusic
Seeds from the Sacred Feminine Wisdom Cards: https://andreamenard.com/buycards
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Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Discover and Live Your Passion with the Power of Your Inner Self with Wellness Expert Andrea Menard
Intuition is one of our greatest super powers. Regardless of gender, the wise voice of the sacred feminine waits within each of us.
Discover your power, joy, and purpose. If we let others’ expectations dictate our lives, we run the risk of never discovering our true selves and purpose. When we don’t pause to listen to the inner self, we can end up feeling stuck and alive. We can find the answers we yearn for and need within ourselves. Indeed, there is immense power and wisdom in our intuition and the deep connection it brings. Learning to look inside and daring to embrace the sacred feminine is one of the greatest acts of love for the self and others. When we find and follow our true purpose, we rise and radiate in the most magnificent ways.
We will focus on this listener’s real-life question, “I feel lost. I’m in my second year of medical school, but I know this path is not right for me. I’m living the dream my parents have had for me since I was a child, but I’m miserable and suffocating. How do I break out of the mold I have been in for so long? How can I find out who I am and who I’m meant to be?” That question is the focus of this episode.
There is immense power to be found in embracing the sacred feminine. As women, as individuals, we often minimize who we are or never discover our true purpose because we are living a life directed by others’ needs. When we learn to turn inward to see that self-awareness is one of the greatest acts of love for the self and others, we allow ourselves to expand and radiate.
We will focus on this listener’s real-life question, “I feel lost. I’m in my second year of medical school, but I know this path is not right for me. I’m living the dream my parents had for me since I was a child, but I’m miserable and suffocating. How do I break out of the mold I have been in for so long? How can I find out who I am and what I’m meant to be?” That question is the focus of this episode. I’m joined by a very special guest, Andrea Menard, who will be sharing her expertise on the sacred feminine. She’s a guide who helps lead people back to themselves. Andrea, welcome to the show. It’s lovely to have you.
I’m honored to be here. Thank you for having me.
Bring wellness to yourself, your loved ones, and the planet! Find and embrace your true self with the wisdom of Andrea Menard in this IMPERFECT LOVE podcast with Dr. Carla. Join us for an uplifting, heart-centered journey into empowerment, love,… Share on XBefore we dive into the listener’s question, tell us a little bit about what makes you you.
This is an opportunity to introduce myself the way I was taught. As a Métis woman, I introduced myself in a way that acknowledges where I am. I carry traditional names. I am a proud Métis woman from Treaty 1 territory in the homeland of the Métis, which is otherwise known as Manitoba. I live in the unseated traditional territory of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and the Musqueam people, also known as Vancouver, BC, Canada. I’m on the other coast in Mi’kmaq territory, also known as Halifax, Nova Scotia. I am honored to be here. I am many things, and I’m on this coast because I’m acting in a TV series. The reason I’m here is because I am a seeker of truth, wellness, and healing. I have been on a journey for a long time, walking the Red Road, as my elders say.
I have discovered that we are all meant to be of service to that thing that we are, that beauty and purpose inside of us. I have discovered, even though I’m an actor, singer, writer, and speaker, who I am. I’m a facilitator of the rise of the sacred feminine, which is what I was taught by my elders. This is the time we are in now. We look at it from an indigenous perspective. You hear that divine feminine everywhere, but from an indigenous perspective, we are returning to the circle through the ways of the interconnectedness of knowing that all life needs to be balanced. I am a facilitator of the rise of the sacred feminine.
If we let others' expectations dictate our lives, we run the risk of never discovering our true purpose. Join Dr. Carla and Andrea Menard for a heartfelt discovery into joys that await you when you dare to dive inside your heart and soul to… Share on XI have two questions. I know I will have many questions for you, but I want to start with two. When you talk about the sacred feminine, many people think that only means you are talking about women, and it applies to females. Let’s bring our male audience into the circle. Could you explain what you mean by the rise of the sacred feminine?
I’m glad you asked that because this is not about gender. It can be, but according to my elders, we are in a time where the feminine aspects of life, which are everywhere in everything, and the forces of nature have a feminine and a masculine aspect to them. The day is a masculine aspect. The night is a feminine aspect. They are not female or male. They are feminine and masculine because of the nature of what they do and what they are.
When it comes to human beings, every single one of us has a sacred feminine and a sacred masculine nature. The fact that we are doing this show in a little meeting of minds. This is an action and doing. This is a masculine way of being. We are performing an act of talking in this way. We are both females, but we are acting in our masculinity now. Many women thrive in this world because of their masculine natures. The rise of the sacred feminine is a balancing of values between the feminine and the masculine.
Intuition is one of our greatest super powers. Regardless of gender, the wise voice of the sacred feminine waits within each of us to guide us toward our highest selves. Join Dr. Carla and wellness expert Andrea Menard for a powerful journey into… Share on XIn order to survive in this world and all of the systems in place are masculine in nature, all of the beings needing a job and money and working within these systems have to activate their masculine natures to survive and thrive. That’s valued in our society. What is not necessarily valued in society are stillness, emotional expression, and emotional understanding. It is to know ourselves from an emotional standpoint.
Nurturing, gentleness, intuition, and creativity are all feminine things. It’s rising in value. Yes, we need the systems to embrace those more. I’m here one heart at a time and one person at a time, learning to value their sacred feminine nature. If we are talking about women who have a great feminine response to life, women have also been taught to devalue their feminine aspects. They have been taught to apologize when they get emotional and feel deeply. That is the magic and beauty of the feminine nature.
Women have been taught to devalue their feminine aspects. They have been taught to apologize when they get emotional or when they feel deeply, when that is the magic and beauty of the feminine nature. Share on XMen have been taught to pretend it doesn’t exist and suppress it. Our men have been incredibly brutalized by this system. There’s a value that’s coming home for all beings. When we become gentler with ourselves, we tend to become gentler with others and the planet itself, you know. We stop conquering, colonizing, and exploiting, which is when masculine nature has gone too far without balancing nature or aspects of the feminine.
I’m aligned with you. In my first book, Joy from Fear, I wanted to talk about the masculine and the feminine and find that balance. I was counseled by the editing team. They were like, “No, don’t use that language. It’s too polarizing.” I shifted it into the masculine being power energy and the feminine being nurture energy, giving homage to Carl Jung, who brought a lot of those terms forward.
I love how many fairytales have been in the past, and I imagine you might have one you might want to share with us, but I’m thinking of, in our world, we often think of Cinderella. People think that means that the woman goes out and finds her perfect male. When we get through the roots of that fairytale, the ancient roots of Baba Yaga, it was about the woman finding her feminine and masculine half and the man finding his masculine half and balancing it with the feminine energy. We speak that same language. I love this topic. I haven’t got to my second question, but could you share with us a sacred tale about how that works, balancing the feminine and the masculine or the power and nurture?
I don’t know if I’m going to say a tale now, but there seems to be something coming to me instead. It may seem like we are going a little off-topic, but it’s not. According to indigenous ways of knowing, I was taught that all of life exists in a circle. The structures that exist would make you think that life exists in a pyramid or a triangle, but it exists in a circle, which means every single human being or living being on the planet has a place in this circle.
When everyone is in a circle, there’s no one person or being more important than the other. That means that your best friend, parents, enemy, animals, and plants are beside you. That means a little virus called COVID-19 is also equal to you. Everything is equal and connected to the other. Every single part of life brings to the whole.
In this time where many voices have been left out of the systems, this is all the rise of the sacred feminine. All life seems to be screaming from all these different parts of life. Women, our voices, and the #MeToo Movement are flying to be heard. Indigenous people, Black people, people of color, people with disabilities or extra abilities, vegans, vegetarians, transgender, two-spirited, non-binary people, and all the ones have been left out in devalued, brutalized, and almost attempted to be eliminated from the planet are rising and coming home to the circle with equality and space. It’s going to be a little crazy and loud because all of those voices need to be heard. It’s because we are getting used to the feeling that every voice matters. It’s not exactly what you were saying.
It is perfect because you are addressing balance, and the circle is all about balance. My second question is, what is the Red Road? I don’t know anything about it when you said your elders speak of the red road. Please explain.
That’s an indigenous phrase or knowing. There is the path of walking a healing path, walking a medicine path, walking a path towards healing, self-evolution, self-development, and self-understanding. That’s walking the Red Road. I’d heard it forever, but when I understood it as my path, I had written an album at this point. It was earlier than that, but I’d written a song.
An elder liked the nature of what I talked about. He says, “You were up there gathering a song, but you accidentally walked onto the medicine path. You went up into the realm where artists go to find songs and bring them back and bring them home, but you stepped onto the medicine path up there. You talked with the ancestors and spirits.” I went, “Yeah, I guess I did.” It was the first time anyone had said it like that. You can see it as a concrete path of somebody who chooses a healthy lifestyle and partakes in things that help their life instead of not. It’s when you start to get healthy and own yourself.
You gave me chills as you were explaining that. You helped me see the time in my life when I started finding the Red Road, and that was a moment in your life when you were alerted to the existence of the Red Road. This is a natural segue into the reader’s question. It seems as if an inner part of her is asking to have help in finding her Red Road.
Before she even gets to that, let’s talk about the feminine aspect of life, which is your feeling center. This person is unhappy in their second year of medicine. That’s coming from an emotional response of, “I don’t want to be here. My heart hurts.” It’s that feeling. That is a deep wisdom that this society has taught us to ignore. The fact that our parents want us to ignore it means that they were taught to ignore that wisdom.
I was taught that feelings are wisdom keepers. What we are taught is that they are messy, inconvenient, and embarrassing. There’s something to be controlled and eliminated. When you look at them as a wisdom keeper, you are like, “This part of me has wisdom. What is it trying to tell me? If my society tells me I have to ignore it, and I’m miserable, what is it that this misery could be telling me? I’m not following my heart and the path I need to be walking.”
That teaching alone about listening to the wisdom keepers that live within you and your emotions is telling you to start listening to the sacred feminine within you. It has deep wisdom for you. It is intuition or feelings. They let you know if you are walking the path or not. If you are riddled with pain, doubt, sorrow, despair, and fear of the future, chances are your spirit is trying to talk to you.
Life is trying to move you in a different direction, but you have to be the one, one person at a time, who decides to put society’s expectations and training aside for a moment and say, “I know what you think about this, but what do I think about this? What are my feelings? I seem to think about this right now.” That is where you will begin to take the steps that will lead you to your freedom.
I love how you talk about emotions as wisdom keepers. I call them messengers. It’s that same language but a wisdom keeper. Your guidance is the first pause. If you are feeling unhappy, miserable, and out of sorts, there is a reason. There is wisdom in those feelings and emotions. Slow down, tap in, and use the sacred feminine to figure out what wisdom is trying to surface to talk to you. What is their next step?
Listening to feelings and learning to listen to feelings is a huge step from one thing. We are not saying, “That’s easy. Go ahead, listen to your feelings, and off you go.” We wish. You are in counseling. If you are a clinical psychologist, you know it’s not that simple. The choice to listen is an easy one. I am going to listen. I am no longer going to be someone who ignores the wisdom that lives within me. First of all, make a choice to listen to what your body is saying because you know. “You already wrote it in an email to you, Dr. Carla. This person wrote in an email to you, ‘I’m miserable. This is not the path for me.’” This person has all the expectations of family.
At this point, because our world has disallowed us or steered us towards not honoring ourselves, we have given our power away to this society. We give our agency to our parents, boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, sibling, authority, or government. When we give over our agency, we can feel victimized. The truth is this system works with a whole bunch of victimized people. It keeps it in place. It keeps it perpetually moving to be victimized people because no victimized people fight back. No people think for themselves. Victimized people give up easily. We are easily manipulated. We do what we are supposed to do instead of what we are in our inner spirit because human beings are powerful.
I was taught that we are enormous beings. We are spirit beings that come into these human forms to remember who we are, which means that enormity comes into this limited space to remember. That is the sacred path of going, “I’m not a victim. I’m starting to see through the training. I’m supposed to be obedient to this, but not according to my spirit. My spirit is supposed to say wake up from that. I am not meant to follow everyone else’s path. I’m supposed to find out what my path and purpose is here and be a contributor to a better world by sharing what I’m here to do.”
No one can tell us what that is, not one single person, not our parents or society. No one, because it’s the inner calling, the wisdom keepers, the wisdom intuition, the feminine aspect of you that when you finally stop doing. If you look around, society is a doing, especially this Western way of looking at the world and operating. We do so much that we are looking at the fires up north, COVID-19, and the climate crisis. This is an example of doing to the point of exhaustion, ignoring all the signs, and doing.
That is what happens when we ignore the intuitive wisdom. It feels like a wrong decision. This policy, procedures, and law are wrong. Those come from intuitive knowledge. When a world values behaviors in a corporation or government that embody a sociopath’s way of being, which has no feelings, no opacity to care about the outcome or the consequence, when that’s valued for business or savviness, that creates a sickness in society.
When a society starts to value the intuitive hits the wisdom, we become mature, start to grow up, remember who we are, have compassion, and care about the other beings in the circle. We care because what affects them affects me. We are not meant to be victims and hide our light in the world. We are meant to contribute to a better world.
I’m 100% with you and believe in what you are saying, especially if we take it back to the question that it is about slowing down, tuning into herself, himself, or themselves, listening to those feelings, paying attention to the wisdom within the feelings, and doing the next right thing, even if it may feel like a baby step for this individual. The next right thing that helps break out of that path that is not this person’s path is somebody else’s path. It may feel uncomfortable, scary, and odd to discover your path for the first time in your life, but as long as this individual keeps tuning in.
The other piece I noticed you spoke about indirectly but also directly is a reprioritization. Sometimes, the values that the wise self needs to embrace are not the values of parents or society, especially if it’s heavy in masculine energy. Do it to the point where the planet is obliterated, or other people’s feelings are ignored, or your feelings are ignored. You are saying it might involve a reprioritization of values to value, feelings, energy, kindness, and love your path because your path is what is sacred and the divine is calling you to do it. Maybe it’s time to wake up and listen to that path. What do you think?
I went from going over here and went up to the big picture again. You captured it clearly in that big way of looking at the world. If anything, I want to say it’s not easy. That societal training is incredibly sophisticated. It’s in every cell of our body. When we go away from the societal norm, we feel like we are breaking something. We are going to die. We are not going to survive. It’s a primal fear that we feel.
Moving against the grain is part of it. That makes you extra courageous by walking the path your spirit wants you to walk. That is how you know you are doing what is right because it is worth it. You will step towards breaking all your parents’ hearts, societal rules, or rules of being a great achiever. Whatever those rules are, you can glean from society’s expectations when you choose to follow your heart. Sometimes they will be with society, and sometimes they won’t. Maybe there will be a time when they come together for a while and part ways. Every time you are brave enough, because it takes courage, and that’s okay, to say reprioritization. When you make a priority to listen to your wisdom and you take steps towards that, it will get easier.
The more you take steps towards your true life and happiness, the more you also break ties with others. You make it easier for others because humans aren’t meant to be cogs in a wheel. We are meant to be free beings who bring our beauty to the world through our purpose, joy, and contribution reciprocity. We are here to be of service to the whole because when we are following what is most deeply serving us, it serves everyone else.
Thank you for going big because when you go big and give bigger context, it helps us understand that this is a world, a societal issue, a big energetic issue, and a collective unconscious issue. I’m imagining when we bring it back again to the reader, and I have a question for you. We bring it back to the reader and imagine, does the world need one more unhappy medical student who’s helping people get ahead of treating sickness? Perhaps the world needs one enlightened individual who creates wellness that gets us ahead of this path we are on. It is such an incredible sickness, internally and physically.
I remember I had a client who was also in medical school and said, “I’m in my fourth year. Is it okay if I give it up? I am unhappy.” I said, “That’s not for me to answer. Does the world need one more unhappy physician? Is that what we need? Do we need one more physician who hates their job?” We don’t need anybody who hates their job. We want people who are living their dreams. That is how we do good. The passion takes root. It drives us and feeds us. That’s where magic happens. Thank you.
I have a question for you. I know you have these beautiful new cards out that help people look. For the question that we are looking at, sometimes we are doing our self-work, journaling, and meditating. We are afraid and don’t know the next right step. I’m a firm believer that there are cards like those beautiful awareness-evoking cards, and you have created a pack, and there they are the sacred feminine cards. Will you please share how those can help all of us find more awareness and truth?
For those of you who are not card people and don’t necessarily understand what they are, I’m holding them up. They are beautiful paintings by my Métis sister, Leah Dorion. It is published by Mango Publishing. They are available almost everywhere, but the cards themselves are called the Seeds from the Sacred Feminine. It’s all about helping you create a ritual of self-care to help you learn how to walk gently within the mysterious realms of the sacred feminine, which will help you walk gently on the planet.
I will go back to those of you who don’t know. Why do you use cards? Each card has a little teaching on it, and there’s medicine in that teaching, card, and artwork itself. You can ask a question to your spirit. “The person who wrote a question to you, Dr. Carla, can ask a question however they want to say it,” I say my ancestors, spirit guides, and spirit helpers. You can say angels, the people who live on the other side, in the spirit realm, as opposed to the earth realm, which is what we are in.
They have a bigger perspective. When we ask our wise ones to say, “You see this better than I do. Can you please answer this for me?” You have a question. You can shuffle the cards, play, and pick one. They might be your answer. There are no mistakes. One might go flying out of the deck, and that might be the one you are asking for. It’s all in there. I have a book within the deck of cards that you can read. It teaches you how to do it.
All the teachings help you get grounded in the simple things of life because these feminine aspects aren’t the loud aspects. They are quiet, gentle, and inward aspect. Mother Earth is the quintessential sacred feminine. She is the mother, especially in indigenous ways of knowing. Everything begins with the earth. The waters, the four sacred elements, and directions.
When we slow things down and ask a question of our intuition because that’s what we are asking too, we are slowing down. The act of slowing it, asking something of ourselves to be in the other realm, and listening for the answer. All of that is a feminine way of being. You are receiving wisdom from something, some part of you, some being that is wiser at this moment because they see clearly. We see from a human perspective. Sometimes, we need help.
The very act of slowing down, asking something of ourselves to the being in the other realm, and then listening for the answer—all of that is a feminine way of receiving wisdom. Share on XAll of these little things are deceptively simple. You can take it as it is. If you are on a path of self-evolution, and you have been on this path a while, and this is all making sense to you, each of the cards goes deep. With the teachings, you can go deep or at surface value. They are all valuable no matter where you sit. When you learn to be gentle in that way of listening, receiving, and expecting your ancestors to embrace you with answers, that in itself is changing you, this is a way to help you move into a way that honors your sacred feminine nature.
Getting out of that myopic way of viewing an issue and allowing yourself to be open to a message that might be from far beyond you, and sometimes quite a bit wiser because it’s not stuck in this little human form. If you would do me a favor and pull one card, please, I would love that. We can maybe use it to wind down our discussion but add a bit of wisdom to the question of the day. Let’s trust those cards to provide us with something beautiful, quiet, and as deep or as superficial as we might want to view it. Andrea is shuffling her cards and putting her energy in there. Here we have one.
It says, “Feel your pulse.”
It’s perfect. What a gorgeous drawing. It’s a buffalo on the card. It’s quiet and beautiful. Doesn’t that tie into what you were saying for our reader and all of us? Dive in, listen to yourself, feel your pulse, and feel what is right for you.
In this case, that heartbeat within you is a sign that you are alive and connected to the heartbeat of the earth. It is everything to humanity’s wellness. When you remember that your heart and the heartbeat that flows within you are connected to all that is connected to our mother, that shows your sacred nature.
You have value. You need to remember to honor the life within you. You are alive. You were a valuable part of creation. This one little card can say, “Yes, feel your pulse. You are alive.” You can say, “You grandchild, daughter, son, and child of creation have life to share with others. Don’t waste it doing things, being things, saying things, and believing in things that don’t serve. You are here to bring that heart to others.”
Your message and cards are magnificent. Your wisdom for the question of the day is bringing tears to my eyes and heart. Thank you. What a beautiful mess that we can all benefit from. As a believer in the power of cards to evoke something in us beyond what our beings sometimes want to know, that’s why they are beautiful.
You can take them superficially, but if you allow them to go deep, sometimes they are telling us something we want to know but are afraid of knowing. You have said it beautifully. Thank you so much for your time, for your beautiful and sacred energy, for your wisdom, and for bringing wisdom from your elders down to us here and now. I thank you from my heart.
I’m honored to be here. Thank you for sharing space and bringing that person’s question here so we could play for a while.
Yes, beautiful play, important play, meaningful play, thank you. Where can our readers find you?
They can find me at AndreaMenard.com. I have a nice section where it’s AndreaMenard.com/cards. It’s simple, but it’s right on the front page. If you can’t remember, you scroll down, and you can find all the information. There are links to bookstores, Indigo, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.
As a wrap-up quote, taken from Andrea, leaving you with this beautiful message, “Love is a purpose. Healing is an act of love.” Thank you for sharing your time with us.
Important Links
- Andrea Menard
- Joy from Fear
- Seeds from the Sacred Feminine
- @AndreaMenard – Twitter
- @AndreaMenardMusic – Facebook
- @AndreaMenardMusic – Instagram
- @AndreaMenardMusic – YouTube
- https://www.Amazon.com/Seeds-Sacred-Feminine-52-Card-Handbook/dp/1642509566
- Website: https://www.drcarlamanly.com
- Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/drcarlamanly
- Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/drcarlamanly
- Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/drcarlamanly
- LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/carla-marie-manly-8682362b
- YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/@dr.carlamariemanly8543
- TikTok: https://www.TikTok.com/@dr_carla_manly
About Andrea Menard
Andrea Menard is an accomplished Métis singer/songwriter, actor, speaker, wellness trainer, and the founder of the Sacred Feminine Learning Lodge. As seen in USA Today, Andrea is an influencer in feminine leadership and was named one of WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner in 2020. An advocate for rematriation and reconciliation, Andrea helps all-gendered people to reclaim and embody the qualities of the Sacred Feminine.
She is also the author of the Seeds from the Sacred Feminine Wisdom Cards, (Mango Publishing) which contains 52 gentle, land-based teachings and beautiful paintings by Metis painter, Leah Dorion. One of the co-stars of the new hit CTV series, Sullivan’s Crossing, Andrea is a five-time Gemini-nominated actress, a 16-time music award winner, and was named ACTRA National’s “Woman of the Year” for 2021. She has released 5 award-winning albums, including her latest Michif language album, a symphony show, 2 television programs, and her TEDx Talk called “Silent No More” has reached almost 200,000 views.
Andrea has performed for royalty, prime ministers, governor-generals, residential school survivors, families of the missing and murdered Indigenous women, and even sang her song “Peace” to the world’s NATO generals. Born in Manitoba, Andrea is a proud member of the Metis Nation of Canada. Her Metis family originates from St. Laurent, Manitoba.
Andrea currently lives in the unceded traditional territory of the Squamish, Tsleil Waututh, and Musqueam peoples, also known as Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This heart-centered Métis warrior knows where she comes from and where she is going: to bring wellness to her community and balance to the planet.