Today is your meditation day! Ohhhhh, I love creating these and sending them to you.

This month: a gentle invitation to return to presence. If you are able to do this outside, please join me! We will take a few minutes to come back into our bodies, arrive into the present moment, and rejoice in the moment that is right in fron…

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Welcome to a new episode of Love Notes from Laia! In today’s episode, I take myself outdoors to give you an honest reflection on slow productivity, digital distraction, and wild expansion.

I woke up feeling deeply disconnected from nature and thought, “Why not just go do what I need to do outdoors?”

That desire for fresh air turned into a deeper reflection on why we’ve been taught that productivity can only happen behind a desk (Spoiler: go be productive outdoors, too! Watch the magic that can happen!)

I talk about working outdoors, the ideas in books like The Intersectional Environmentalist and Slow Productivity, and why spending time in nature might be one of the most radical things we can do in the age of AI. I wander through themes of creativity, the summer solstice as a halfway-point check-in (how are your yearly goals doing?!), herbalism, and rewriting a relationship with “doing nothing”.

Enjoy alongside the sound of birds, weaving spiders, and friendly slugs.

Thank you for tuning in, and leave a comment to let me know what resonated, or what your favorite ways to enjoy nature are:

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And… if you’d like to keep receiving these episodes and support my work:

Thank you for being here! Thank you for being you!

With all my love and joy,

Laia

Some gentle notes:

• Around minute 15 until 16.30: something happened with my phone while recording, so the video feels a little glitchy — please excuse this!

• The video I mention at the end of how people used to spend their time from 1920-2026:

1:1 Coaching

I work 1:1 with individuals who are ready to reclaim their presence, pleasure, and power — to live a life of utmooooooost delight and JOY! If you are ready to step into a new chapter of true empowerment and embodied lust for life (with a regulated, calm, and nourished nervous system), you can schedule a free connection call or apply to work with me here. I’m opening 2 more spots for coaching beginning in mid- to late-June!

Welcome to a special episode of Love Notes from Laia — this time: an interview with the incredible Kim Joanna, a practitioner of radical rest, nourishing movement, and embodied presence.

In this episode, we go deep into the themes of radical rest, embodiment, slowing down, activism, and the importance of pauses, spaces to be, become, and connect with the world.

I hope you enjoy this episode, and if anything comes up during your listen, please:

Leave a comment

With allllllll my love and joy,

Laia

Connect with Kim:

• Website: https://kimjoanna.com/

• Substack:

  Unravellings with Kim

  A space between wor(l)ds to soften into what was, what is, and what might be.

  By Kim Joanna

• Free Call: https://calendly.com/kimjoanna/connection-call

Connect with Laia:

• Website: https://www.laiaalonso.com/

• Substack:

• Free Call: https://calendly.com/iamlaiaalonso/30-minute-connection-call

Today I’m sharing your monthly meditation — but this month's is a heatwave special. It is warm! Like: very, very warm! The heat can be uncomfortable and quite confronting at times. So today, I’m sharing a meditation to help us move through this discomfort and find peace within ourselves and our surroundings.

Find a comfortab…

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There’s a subtle balance that needs to be found. But balance is inherently and incredibly personal. Balance, for me, is not about never seeking out thrills and forever finding a state of contentment. Instead, balance is about asking myself what I need to move with peace, while making space for the moments when I crave adventure, excitment and a rush of exhilaration! It’s a return home to the body, to the pace that feels natural, peaceful, and easy to flow with.

As the weeks passed in reflection, I asked myself: What does it look like to move with a regulated nervous system? And, as clients came navigating similar experiences (often acting as mirrors for our own internal processes), I asked the same question back to others, curious what it would look like and feel like inside their own bodies, too.

How can I move forward with a regulated nervous system? This list is not exhaustive, but it’s what works for me. See how they land for you.

1. Break down the tasks to the simplest possible thing, and focus on that

One foot in front of the other. Taking a big view all the time can be incredibly overwhelming, especially when it’s a big project. So, I break it down: one step in front of the other. What is the smallest possible thing that I could do next to move the needle forward? It does not have to be big, it does not have to be complicated. Focus on how simple it can get, and give yourself the accomplishment boost of knowing you did that one thing. Making it feel doable and digestible makes me feel calm and regulated, while maintaining my energy.

2. Really focus on my breathing

Make it intentional and slow. When I get carried away with thoughts or feelings, I focus on my breath, and I bring it down, SLOWLY. Long exhales: slow inhales. You can do this anywhere and everywhere. Count if that feels helpful (start with a count of 4), and see if you can prolong the exhale (maybe to a count of 6, or even 8). Build it up, take your time, connect with the breath, and notice the whole body slow down.

3. Carve out solo time to check in

Don’t rush brushing your teeth, your morning shower. Eat lunch by yourself with your own thoughts, and see it as a moment to cleanse that mental junk that’s keeping you in overdrive. Solo time can feel incredibly revitalizing when we take the time to actually calm: not scroll, not escape — but be with ourselves. When everything feels overwhelming, having a dedicated moment just for me feels oh so much more special. Invite in the quiet, make space for yourself, and allow yourself to simply be. Reflect, ponder, release.

4. Exhausted = rest + sleep / Agitated = move, run, workout

When my nervous system feels dysregulated, it’s usually one of two causes: either I’m incredibly exhausted and attempting to fight through it, or I’m incredibly anxious and agitated and not giving my body the release that it needs to close the stress cycle. Figuring out which of the two feels prominent for my body is key. If I’m exhausted, I take all the time I need to rest and prioritize my sleep. If I’m feeling agitated or anxious, I know that I need to move the emotions through my body. I move, I run, I work out, and I notice that as I do so, my mind and my body slowly move through whatever is keeping me in that state, and I leave the experience feeling a weight lifted off my shoulders.

5. Pause: remember you’re a speck of dust in the universe

Nothing is that important. Maybe you see your work as your devotion to yourself and to the world, and that’s beautiful. But for right now, take such a wide perspective on yourself and the universe that you realize: nothing is that deep— and relax into it. I love watching videos of the galaxy or even looking up at the sky to remind myself that we are simply a speck of dust. The universe is so old, and we are alive for such a tiny amount of time. We are only one human of the 8.3 billion people on this earth. Allow that to nurture you. Allow the galaxy to hold you. Allow the universe to remind you that it’s not that deep, it’s not that important, and everything will flow and move exactly as it needs to.

6. Limit comparison

We’re all separate beings on separate paths. If you see someone on theirs—> celebrate them, and then come back to yourself. Your journey, your story. Focus on yourself, your body, your goals, your nervous system. Everybody is on a different timeline; everybody is working on things in their own particular way. Focus on yourself and run through this list again to return to what you and your body need.

7. Go for a walk: look up, look down, look all around.

It may seem silly, but oh, is it true. Nature is calming, nature is healing. Sometimes it can feel so intense when we are at home, in our rooms, in our coworking spaces, in our offices, or in cafes. What if you just get outside, rain or shine? Put on some shoes, grab whatever layer of clothing will keep you warm, and go for a walk. Look up at the sky, at the trees, at the birds! Look down at the ground, the soil, the earth. Wave at a friendly face and smile at a stranger. Hug a tree and give a kiss to a flower. Connect to nature and notice how your body will immediately feel calmer, more regulated, more present, more here.

As a highly ambitious, extroverted girlie running her own business, these things may seem small, but they make a world of difference. They keep me calm, they keep me centered, and they remind me of WHAT I am working towards and the whole point of it all: to ENJOY! To enjoy the process! To enjoy my body! To enjoy this life!

In all truth, I wrote this out on 26/03/26. I was midway through a massive launch when I paused to write this out in my journal because I needed the reminder: I need the tending to. Right after writing the 7 things, I wrote: “Now, creating is for later. Right now, we pause, we listen… we connect. One foot in front of the other, this is the moment to cultivate the fire.”

The journal entry with the 7 things I do to move with a regulated nervous system flowed out of me that day, but I knew that there was nothing else I had to do with it (for the moment). Moving with a regulated nervous system at that point in time meant writing down the idea, closing my journal, going for a walk, and putting one foot in front of the other. Self-tending to my breath, my body, and nurturing myself and my creative project in a way that felt good to me.

Today, it is 03/06/26. Now, I get to run with the inspiration; I get to move forward with the work that Laia did before. That, to me, is what allows me to keep making, to keep creating, to keep progressing. I do what I can, I pause the rest, and I make sure to tend. It’s how I move forward feeling regulated. It allows me to move with the bursts of energy and inspiration when I want them, and to take a step back when I know I need to regroup.

Do whatever you are doing, and do it with love. Enjoy the process. Take time to calm, to close the stress cycle, and to re-regulate when things feel difficult. It’s all about finding the right balance, and finding the moments to slow is just as important as finding the moments to go.

1:1 Coaching

I work 1:1 with individuals who are ready to reclaim their presence, pleasure, and power — to live a life of utmooooooost delight and JOY! If you are ready to step into a new chapter of true empowerment and embodied lust for life (with a regulated, calm, and nourished nervous system), you can schedule a free connection call or apply to work with me here. I’m opening 2 more spots for coaching beginning in mid- to late-June!

THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!

With all my love and joy,

Laia <3

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I’m so happy to present our monthly meditation! The weather has been getting better and better on this side of the world (reaching almost 32°C this weekend!). I’ve been spending more and more time outdoors, and this month’s meditation is inspired by that practice. We’ll connect with our breath, our surroundings, gratitude, an…

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Love has always been one of my core values: to approach all that I do with love, to love fully and completely, to approach people with kindness and openness: with love. To build a life that feels overflowing with love and is built on the foundation of love. If I have the ability to curate and create my own reality, I want love to be at its base.

Pictured: My own interpretation of maslow’s hierarchy of needs based on my core values. Love at its base, the most important, the foundation. From there, we build on authenticity, community, joy and self-expression: the main tenants that make me feel deeply fulfilled. At the top, beauty — as life’s little cherry of top. My own for of romanticizing my own life: making things look and feel beautiful and romantic.

The beauty of core values is that you decide on them at a specific moment in time, and over time, with care and attention, they slowly unfold and envelop your life. Love entered my list of main core values around 2 years ago: when I decided I wanted to make it a core tenet of who I was and the life I wanted to build. If I were to create my own reality, I would want love at its center. Why not? It would make life feel so much more fulfilling, luscious, indulgent, romantic, delicious.

2 years later, I’m starting to see the fruits of this decision. My friendships are bursting with love. Genuinely. The love I feel for my community, for my friendships, for the people in my life. Sometimes, I feel like my heart and body can barely hold the love in my chest. There are moments of gratitude where the love feels so immense that it simply overflows. But those are the moments that I know it is expanding. The enveloping and bursting feeling of love feels a little like this:

Image sourced from Pinterest

Maybe it makes sense that my Substack is called Love Notes from Laia, for through it, I got to keep spreading the love I felt in my chest via the written word. I get to share musings, stories, and lessons that pour from me, all fed by the love that has been carefully cultivated and nurtured within.

Because what does one do when they are so deeply enveloped in love? They spread it. They sense it. They feel it more deeply. They become more present with love.

I’ve now entered that stage in life where multiple friends of mine are getting married. And oh, the love at these events is simply spectacular! I got back from a wedding a few weeks ago, and love is at its most palpable in moments like these. Watching vows unfold, watching two people look at each other in a room full of their loved ones with absolute comfort, care, and ease. Enveloped in their own love story and getting to share it with others in their lives. Love is all around — and being in the presence of such outward examples of love has made me reflect and see that love really is at the center of mine.

Romance yourself

I’ve always loved the practice of romanticizing my life, of treating myself like a lover. If I were dating myself, if I were trying to impress myself: what would I do? I would buy myself flowers and get myself pretty. I’d make an effort to look good, set the table beautifully, and curate a physical space that is more inviting of romance, slow living, smooth jazz, and candlelight. I’d read slower and write myself poetry.

I get to do this all for myself because I’ve become my own lover. I deserve to give myself all of the love and all of the pleasure of the world. I don’t wait for others to do it, I show up, first and foremost, for myself: with love, with tenderness, with desire… with a yearning nature to romance and be romanced. By doing this, by showing up for myself in such deep love, I get to set the standard for how I want others to treat me, and I get to invite in people who will match this romance and this lust for life that I feel.

Romancing and loving myself came through consistent moments of showing up. Way back to when I was co-creating The Women’s Collective, I was confronted with questions about how we could get to a place of self-love. Questions (like the one pictured below) began shifting my perspective towards one of kindness, compassion, and love: if you were to fall in love with your body as a physical vessel, what would it look like? How can you cultivate and create a relationship with your body that feels so deeply healing and encouraging? Prrrrrrrr, what delicious questions to sit with.

And what an honor to sit with them! To have the luck and the privilege to get to spend time pouring into your body, into yourself, into romance, into love as a tenant, a core value.

Pictured: A question from The Women’s Collective card game from the section on Self-Love.

The lens of love

If there’s one thing that neuroscience has taught me, it’s that we see everything through the lens that we choose. Our perspective and focus determine what our brain chooses to focus on. We’re all inherently wired to go towards whatever it is that we are already looking for, and that which will come easiest to us, too. If we choose to see things through the lens of struggle, it will all become a struggle. If we choose to see things through the lens of gratitude, everything will be a source of gratefulness. If we choose to see things through the lens of love, it will all become love.

So, what does it look like to see things through the lens of love? To live a life that upholds love as its greatest pillar? That makes a conscious choice to move and live from a place of love. Only time will tell, but I bestow upon us (and myself) that the age of love has arrived.

(If you’ve lived or are living from a place of love: tell me — how is it influencing you and your life? I’d love to hear it.)

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A song that feels romantic to me, that I want to share with you. I’ll be dancing under the trees to it this weekend:

1:1 Coaching

I work 1:1 with individuals who are ready to reclaim their presence, pleasure, and power — to live a life of utmooooooost delight and JOY (and of course, LOVE)! If you are ready to step into a new chapter of true empowerment and embodied lust for life, you can schedule a free connection call or apply to work with me here. I’m opening up 2 more spots for coaching beginning in mid/late-June!

THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!

With all my love and joy,

Laia <3

Taking the eagle-eye view is what has given me the most perspective on what is actually life-changing. Not the little habits and the small details of the day to day, but the big picture ideas that truly create deep, meaningful, long-lasting change.

Looking back at myself, my own life, my own growth, was what made me come up with the three pillars of my work: presence, pleasure, and power. What were the things that most revolutionized my capacity to show up? To become the version of me that lived fully expressed as her most empowered self? They came from this.

Presence

Presence is where it all begins, because no growth can happen if we aren’t aware and present within our own lives. Escapism happens instead. We escape, we redirect, we divert our attention outside of ourselves and into whatever else we can grasp onto. We are so far from reality that we cling to anything around us: phones, social media, entertainment, sports, food… anything to keep us from simply being with ourselves.

I’m no stranger to wanting to run away from myself. But that running away kept me stuck. It kept me stuck in a loop of my own doing. I couldn’t face the thought spirals, the loops, the deep-seated beliefs inside of myself that were keeping me small because I was never giving them the time of day.

Now, don’t get me wrong: avoidance can be good at times. I can be quite the champion at it. But avoidance comes with a cost when done for too long. Whenever I go through a period of darkness or grief, I usually need to take a moment and avoid it. Avoidance, for a short while, makes the blow of the feelings feel softer. But then, I need to tackle it, because without tackling it, there is no growth.

My life began changing towards a life full of joy when I actually took the time to be present with myself: the good, the bad, the ugly.

When I take a perspective of my life, and I start to see when things began feeling deeply colorful, exciting, and beautiful, it was when I started finding comfort with being present with myself: present with my own body, present with my own thoughts, present with my own experiences, and present with my life. I engaged more with active listening; I actually was listening. I took the time to be with the things that I was doing.

I remember reading this quote from Thich Nhat Hanh, a quote I still think about almost weekly.

“While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes, which means that while washing the dishes one should be completely aware of the fact that one is washing the dishes.” … “The fact that I am standing there and washing these bowls is a wondrous reality. I’m being completely myself, following my breath, conscious of my presence, and conscious of my thoughts and actions. There’s no way I can be tossed around mindlessly like a bottle slapped here and there on the waves.”

I began by washing the dishes and being there to wash the dishes. Then I began to be with myself.

Becoming more and more present with myself and my life felt like a warm wave washing over me. A warmth that felt like a homecoming, enveloping, desirable, and welcoming…

Learning presence and being with presence came in many different shapes and sizes. Meditation was my first teacher, which then brought in yoga. It wasn’t like I started yoga to become more present. I started doing it to move my body (okay, and maybe partly to slow down). However, the deeper and the deeper I got into it, the deeper it brought me to joy in the now – in the present. It brought me into the moment and taught me the connection of the breath, how to move the body, and how to connect my mind and anchor it to whatever it was flowing through and moving with.

Pleasure

I recently wrote about my love affair with hiking, and as I sit and think about it, maybe it also has to do with pleasure. With connecting to the beauty and slowness. Pleasure may feel indulgent, but it certainly is not. We are all hardwired to feel and to experience pleasure. Yet, we’ve come to make pleasure feel like something we have to earn, something that can only happen after a hard day’s work. It seems one cannot seek out pleasure merely for the sake of pleasure, or it will be accompanied by guilt or shame. I’m here to debunk this.

Pleasure is our birthright. Getting to experience the joys of life: the highs, the beauty, the sensations, the awe, the wonder, the joy, the delight, the succulence – it is what we were made to do. When I look around the earth, and I see the mountains, the rivers, the sky, the rain, the beauty all around us, it reminds me that we were not put on this earth to suffer. Through time and conditioning, we’ve created systemic structures that have encapsulated and diminished our prioritization of pleasure and delight. We live in a society that seems to believe pleasure is for later, while hard work is for now.

Yet, I’m constantly humbled by life itself. If we are lucky, we get about 70-80 years on this planet. A year around the sun flies by. As I enter the final years of my 20s, I realize how much faster time goes by year after year, and I am sure it will keep slipping through my fingers as I age. When is later, then? When time moves so fast and our days could be counted, we should focus on the now.

Time has become my biggest permission slip for pleasure. Because time is finite. There is a certain deadline as to when we will stop experiencing the delight that is this life, this experience. When that deadline will come is unknowable, but what we all know is that we must enjoy the experience that we are given.

When I look back at my life, I want to look back at it with awe. I want to look back and feel as though I’ve truly cherished this experience. That I’ve given my body all the pleasure possible. That I never stopped it from seeking out experiences and sensations that it wanted. I want to know that I got to soak in the tremendous opportunity to experience life on planet Earth. I want to know that I got to surround myself with the most beautiful of people, animals, plants, and communities. That I enjoyed and indulged in every little treat: from morning coffees looking out the window, to slow evening winding down at home. I want to know that I fearlessly went after the things that made me feel good, and encouraged those around me to also soak in the beauty of this experience. What a joy it is to be alive! What a unique and tremendous experience!

So often we forget how lucky we are to be in this body, in this world, on this planet. Pleasure reminds me of this luck: the luck of being here, right now! The deeper I got into prioritizing pleasure, the more I enjoy everything that I do. The happier I get. The more change I want to make. The more impact I have.

Pleasure is purpose. Pleasure is the why behind why we are here. We don’t need to overcomplicate purpose; we don’t need to overcomplicate why we were put on this earth. We merely need to remind ourselves of our ability to experience that which is around us, and our ability to find pleasure in all that we do! That is purpose. And that is enough! Let that be your guiding light at the end of the tunnel. Pleasure is my why.

Power

As I developed the fundamentals of presence and pleasure, I inherently became more confident in myself and my own skin. I befriended my mind through presence, getting to know what it was like inside of my own head – and making the inside of my brain an extremely inviting place to be. I don’t want to oversimplify it, as that took a tremendous amount of work. But oh, did it make being still with myself a glorious thing to do! When the mind became kind, exciting, inviting, and a place to find inspiration and reflection, it became an incredibly empowering place to be. Making mistakes, learning as you go, and trying your best were all part of the process. The beauty was that I was able to pick myself up and uplift my view of myself.

That is incredibly empowering. To get to know who you are, to accept yourself, your strengths and your faults, and then to talk to yourself from a place of uplift, of trust, of confidence: is a skill of empowerment.

As I sought deeper pleasure in the world around me and made pleasure a purpose, I developed a strong sense of self and of the world. I found clarity in who I am, what I am here to do, and how I want to spend my time. I learned to trust my intuition, because it’s always guiding me towards that which is right and wrong for me. I learned to listen and to give my intuition the time and space it needs to talk to me. The more I listened, the more I realized that it was correct, and the more my self-trust developed. The deeper my self-trust grew, the stronger my self-confidence became, as confidence is merely the practice of knowing that we can handle whatever life throws at us and take it in our stride.

I can’t think of anything more empowering than knowing who you are, knowing what you are working towards, and believing in yourself and your capacity to navigate the messy and beautiful journey of life.

Power is a practice, though. I don’t want you to think that confidence is merely something you have; it’s rather something you grow into. By developing the skills of presence, getting clear on what gives you pleasure and seeing pleasure all around, and cultivating practices and habits that help you get into your body, you develop a deep sense of self and empowerment.

Proper goal setting was key for me because it's not simply about coming up with an abstract “want.” It is about understanding the vision of what we are working towards (where are we going, what does it look like to be there, to have done that, to have that?), breaking it down into incredibly accomplishable tasks (things to do that feel 100% do-able) and building habits of empowerment (daily practices that support us in embodying the version of us that we are working towards).

We get to support ourselves in developing self-trust by actually doing the tasks we set out to do. We develop self-confidence by making time for the habits that help us embody the version of ourselves we want to be. We create deep empowerment by knowing that we can do anything we set our heart towards, and by showing ourselves that we can adapt, learn, and achieve whatever it is that we desire.

Life has its beautiful twists and turns, but power reminds us that we can develop a deep sense of self that helps us navigate it and flow with the current rather than push against it.

Stand strong in your sense of self, stand proud in who you are, and enjoy every little experience that comes your way in the process.

Liberation & Empowerment

Empowerment came from developing these skills, but additionally, from giving myself the perspective to look back and see how far I’ve grown. How deeply I can trust myself, my goals, my creative visions, my ambition.

It’s deeply liberating to know that you are capable of creating change, and the journey of my life, as of yet, has taught me that I can make big change. I can make a change inside of my own life (how I treat myself, how I move, what habits I build, the things I do, the way I speak to myself), I can make a change inside of others’ lives (my friends, my partner(s), my family, my community, my clients, and those who read me or listen to me or watch me, wherever it is that you are), and I can make a change for the world (pursuing what I believe, pursuing things that will affect people positively and will inherently make them care for the world at large more fully, that protects nature, and amplifies nature’s voice and role in all that we do).

That is the most empowering part of it all. To know that you are making a change, and to see the change start to come together into existence.

When I hear from the people that I work with how my mentorship and teaching have inspired them, affected them, my heart swells – because THAT is the work. The work of making a meaningful impact. I can’t think of a more empowering thing.

Life, lately…

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Reflecting deeply on myself and my growth, and doing so publicly (which has not been easy, to say the least, but it certainly has been rewarding!). I’ve had to take many steps back to realize how far I’ve gone. The importance of the eagle’s eye view has been shown to me, over and over again.

Creative Empowerment

I’ve been working on a creative project since January 2025. I remember when I was first conceptualizing and envisioning it. I found it under the Q2 goals for 2025.

Back then, the project felt so much more rudimentary than what it has become today. Life is funny in that way. Sometimes, things get delayed, and you don’t get to do them when you wanted to. Other goals took priority, and I pushed this project back quarter to quarter until Q2 of 2026. I have to believe it is divine timing, because now… I look at it, and I feel deep awe. I’ve kicked it up a whole notch. I don’t think Laia, back then, could have even believed what the project looks like now. Because with the extra time, the extra brainpower, and the dedication and devotion I gave this project, it became something so much larger than myself. Over 100 lessons with 14+ hours of video content, 5 scientific deep dives, curated playlists, reflection prompts, exceptional video and audio quality, and so much more.

Image: Screenshot of my Q2 goals of 2025, the course (here called masterclasses) front and center yet left uncheck-ed. Today, something much bigger than what I could have conceptualized back then. Introducing: The Awakening. https://www.laiaalonso.com/the-awakening-course

So much of our day gets lived in the day-to-day tasks: our daily output. Looking at my growth from afar, through the lens of this project, has taught me so much about my inner confidence and the trust I hold in myself. It has reminded me of the power of believing in myself, knowing that I can do anything I set my heart on. It has reminded me to work hard for the things that I want to make happen, and to love fiercely and passionately along the way.

One year later, I launched The Awakening – a self-paced course through empowerment. A deep dive into the three pillars explained above: presence, pleasure & power. I’m deeply proud of myself. I’m deeply in awe of the creative process. And I’m eternally grateful to get to do work that changes lives.

Thank you for reading Love Notes from Laia. If you’d like to learn more about the creative project that I just launched, you can do so here: https://www.laiaalonso.com/the-awakening-course. We’ve already got 7 people inside, and you might just be next! I’ve poured all of my love into it, and I think you’ll feel it the whole way through.

With all my love and joy,

Laia

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Beautiful subscribers: thank you for your patience with this essay! It was supposed to go out last week; however, with the launch of The Awakening, it got slightly delayed. Thank you for your patience, and I hope you deeply enjoyed it! In deep gratitude to you all! Thank you for being here, thank you for being you!

Welcome to the final episode of this three-part series, where I dive into the three pillars of my work: Presence, Pleasure, and Power! This one is all things power.

The truth is: After San Francisco, I burned out completely. I slept for a month. After that period of rest, something shifted. I started asking a question I hadn’t let myself ask in a long time: what would a life that was actually mine look like?

That question was the beginning of stepping into my power.

This episode is the one everything has been building toward. Because it’s so incredibly difficult to access real power from a dysregulated nervous system, from a state of chronic stress and overwhelm. And you can’t lead from a life you’ve been taught to suppress, to make small (when you were actually built for GREATNESS!)

In this episode, we will cover:

• What power actually looks like from the inside

• Self-confidence, self-trust, authenticity, and sooooo much more!

• Neuroplasticity, affirmations, and how to literally rewire your brain

• A future self visualization to feel what’s possible right now

And if this trilogy has moved something in you, I want to invite you somewhere!

On May 4th at 7 pm CET, I’m hosting a FREE live event called Awaken into Joy. We’ll open with a practice, I’ll teach, and I’ll introduce The Awakening properly for the first time. There’s something special for people who show up live (eeek!!!)

It’s free. It’s intimate. It’s going to be transformative!

REGISTER HERE FOR AWAKEN INTO JOY — MAY 4TH!

🗓️ Register now — https://iamlaiaalonso.myflodesk.com/awaken-into-joy

Presence. Pleasure. Power. This is the work!!!!

With alllllll my love and joy,

Laia

Welcome to your second episode in this Three Pillar Series, where I share about the three pillars at the core of my work. In this episode, we are Awakening into Pleasure!!! Incredible, beautiful pleasure!

What I noticed was: Once I learned to arrive in the moment, something unexpected happened. I started noticing things I had completely disregarded when I was in my state of chronic stress. Pleasures! Pleasures such as the warmth of the sun, the taste of my coffee, and the feeling of my body moving. Little moments of: oh. That feels goooooooood.

I hadn’t lost my capacity for pleasure; I had just stopped giving it space!

This episode is about what happened when I started noticing moments of pleasure again. When I awakened to the beauty of life, of what is possible, of indulgence. I go into all things dancing walks, creating art for the joy of it, candle-lit rituals. The kinds of things that sound small but can change everything!

We cover:

• What pleasure actually is (it’s not what you think)

• Pleasure as a life-force resource (not a reward or something we need to work for)

• How to start awakening your senses and cultivating awe

• A short practice to open up into pleasure right now

Presence opens your eyes. Pleasure turns up the color! Let’s turn up that saturation, baby!

& Share your comments below! What did you do for pleasure this week? Celebrate pleasure with me by letting me know!

Leave a comment

See you on Tuesday for the final episode of this series!

P.S. — On May 4th I'm hosting a free live event called Awaken into Joy. We'll move through a practice together and I'll be sharing something I've spent a year building. Registration is open — https://iamlaiaalonso.myflodesk.com/awaken-into-joy

With allllll my love and joy,

Laia

Today is the first day of our new series on the three pillars: presence, pleasure, and power. In this episode, we go deep into PRESENCE.

There was a season in my life where everything looked right on paper. Where I should have been living my best life, but I simply was not there… I was not present. I was not in the moment. I was living deeply in my head, and just moving with the motions.

This episode is about what it took me to come back. To ground and arrive back into myself, my body, my life!

Expect answers to questions such as: When did I find myself struggling with presence? What actually is presence? How did I awaken into presence? And what are the tools that can support us in becoming more present in our own lives?

In the episode, we’ll also cover:

• Why your brain defaults to past and future (and what you can do about it)

• The stress response and why you feel so disconnected

• Tools to support us in arriving and landing back in the here and now

• A short practice to bring you back into the moment

This is the FOUNDATION of all our work! Everything else builds from here.

Dive in! And comment below to let me know:

What does presence mean to you? When was the last time you felt present? And how do you connect with presence?

Leave a comment

See you for the next episode on Friday!

With allllll my love and joy,

Laia

Welcome to a new episode of Love Notes from Laia! Today we are diving into menstruation and all things menstrual cycle! And we are doing this with the help of an incredible tool: The Women’s Collective card game. I’ll be answering all the questions from the Menstruation section of the game — and giving you a real and honest look into how I have navigated things like periods, cycle tracking, period products, period pain, and more for myself.

If this sparks any curiosity, please keep the conversation going! Talk to your loved ones, your friends, your partners, your lovers, your family members, your community members! Allow these conversations to be a part of the bigger sphere.

I am also offering Menstrual Cycle 101 Sessions now! For You & For Couples! If you’ve been wanting to learn more about the menstrual cycle, in a shame-free, judgment-free, open-minded space: please, come through. I am here and ready to hold this space for you to leave feeling educated and empowered to understand and celebrate the menstrual cycle!

⁠https://www.laiaalonso.com/menstrual-cycle-101⁠

⁠https://calendly.com/iamlaiaalonso/menstrual-cycle-101-session⁠

With all my love and joy,

Laia

When I was learning about the menstrual cycle, most of my education came from my own internet deep-dives. Candle-lit (and computer-lit) evenings researching, watching videos, and reading books about the menstrual cycle. The information felt as if it existed in multiple corners, and I had to piece together my understanding from bits and pieces found here and there. It was overwhelming and deeply emotional. I was angry that I was not taught about my own body. Especially with the school system. How could this not be included! How could it have been that I was not educated on my own body and its inner workings! Why did this become taboo? When it should be my utmost birthright to know, understand, and celebrate my body and its inner workings!

I blame no one in my life for this, but I do blame the higher societal workings and stigmatization initiatives that have created shame around a natural body process and have failed to include basic education in school. To this day, I feel this frustration when I speak to friends who simply have never been given the chance to learn about their own menstruating bodies. So many didn’t learn about this, and as their passions and time were focused elsewhere, they never received the information needed to feel fully educated and empowered about their own menstrual cycles.

• Image from studio.marilyn’s tracker

As we get older, and start to approach the late-twenties and early-thirties (the predominant age within my friend group), I see more and more people begin to get off of birth control from a desire to get to know their own bodies. It’s at this moment that a lot of people realize that they didn’t truly know what it felt like to have a menstrual cycle, or that the basics of the menstrual cycle feel fuzzy in their brains. If it’s not taught in school, and so many of our parents and older generations were also not taught about this, how are we expected to know? It’s kind of overwhelming, isn’t it?

There is absolutely no shame in not knowing. On the contrary, I think it’s more of a norm. However, this is where we need to come in. This is where we, as a collective, can start to change and create spaces for people to learn: to get to know their bodies, in shame-free, judgment-free, open-minded spaces. Where people can come, be honest, and learn at a pace that feels right for them. We all know different bits and bobs, but we all need a space to start.

• Picture of The Women’s Collective card game: A place to start conversations on women’s health and beyond! Taken from our The Awakened Women’s Dinner Experience in Amsterdam.

Now… learning about the menstrual cycle is not just for those who menstruate. It’s for everybody! Why? Because we are all deeply intertwined and interconnected. If you don’t have a menstrual cycle and are dating/in a relationship with someone who does, that will inherently affect you. If you care for people who menstruate (be it your mother, your daughter, your friends, your colleagues, your community members…), don’t you want to empower and understand them too?

The more all beings learn about the menstrual cycle and feel empowered by their knowledge, the more those around us will learn and feel compelled to know more. The issue is that it’s difficult to find these spaces where we can educate and learn.

When I asked my mother about her menstrual cycle education, she wrote to me:

“I am 68 years old and no one has ever explained to me what is happening in my body. When I was younger and had my period, I was told to keep it quiet and private as if it was something shameful instead of something beautiful that a woman possesses. I was told to endure the pain and also cry in secret so no one knew why I was not feeling well. Is this normal? Is this right? A woman should be taught and know all about what is happening to her body and be proud of this beautiful power that a woman has to give birth. This is all so natural, so why is it that it is not explained or taught naturally? I think everyone should learn about the menstrual cycle to empower their knowledge of their own body, and even better if male partners can also understand the natural cycle to support their loved ones..”

We deserve better than crying in secret and being told that to experience a cycle is shameful. When it comes to the actual period and menstruation, why should we suffer in silence? Why not create a safe container where people can express their feelings and be honest about what is going on?

And not only create more education around the period itself, but also the menstrual cycle as a whole. There is so much more variation within a cycle. When I understood the full menstrual cycle: the ups of follicular and ovulation, and the more relaxed moments of luteal, the need for rest during menstruation… I became able to contextualize my period and its accompanying period pain as a wider part of this experience. It doesn’t become something to dread, but rather, something to celebrate. I feel a sense of normalcy in my own body. And, like emotions, with highs and lows, I felt the cycle's highs and lows. A period may be low, and I know it will pass. There is great beauty in this low. I feel proud of this low. I am honored to have this low.

A real-life example of mine:

I recently had a conversation with my partner, where I told him I had just gotten my period. He responded, “Oh, I’m so sorry”. I got absolutely livid. I didn’t want to be apologized to for getting my period, which I consider a beautiful aspect of being a woman. I wanted to be celebrated! I wanted to be acknowledged! And I didn’t just feel this for me — I felt it for all women. I asked him instead to tell me, “Congratulations! I’m so proud of you and your body!” And now, every time I get my period, it’s what I hear. I absolutely love it! It makes me feel amazing as someone with a menstrual cycle. Yes, I get cramps, and yes, bleeding can be hard. But I want to be celebrated for it, not put down for it. That rhetoric changes how I view my body and its accompanying fluctuations. Not as something to feel bad and put down against, but something that feels honorable.

Imagine how the rhetoric would change if instead of making menstruators feel like their period is something to endure, to get through, to feel sad about, secretive about — it became about celebration, about admiration, about growth and beauty.

And, taking it one step further… imagine if that knowledge not only spread about the bleed itself, but about all of the phases. About having a menstrual cycle as a whole.

Menstrual Cycle is for Everybody

Menstrual cycle education is for everybody. It’s for those who menstruate, and those who do not. Menstrual cycle education is foundational education in becoming a human being. When we learn about it, we become a catalyst for change and well-being: within our circles and beyond.

Imagine having the power to improve body literacy and health in your community? You can. Understanding hormonal patterns and how they can affect mood, energy, metabolism, sleep, mental health, and more creates space for you to better support your friends, partners, and family members through their experiences. You get to reduce the stigma that they feel, and support them in feeling welcome and accepted in their bodies. We remove the need for people to lie about their experiences to our faces, and instead, create a warm and welcoming environment where they can open up to us, and be met with compassion and understanding.

So much shame about the menstrual cycle exists because of silence. When we take the time to educate ourselves (with as little as just a few hours of understanding), we start to piece apart this societal programming that has led us to view periods as taboo or gross. Instead, we start to look at them as something natural, beautiful, and full of intricacies. We can release the isolation people feel, the suffering-in-silence sensation, and make it feel inviting for them to open up and feel respected in doing so.

And we haven’t even gotten to the power of building empathy in relationships! We can find a deeper understanding with our people through this education. Whether our closest friends, our partners, our workplace colleagues, or acquaintances, we find a deeper understanding in our relationships and in the experiences people may have: the need for rest and support during the late luteal phase and menstruation, and the outbursts of creativity and energy that occur during ovulation. When we can lean into it, we create space to see another person fully and completely as they are.

Menstrual cycle education can change workplaces and systems to work with, rather than against, the cycle. Imagine how much more could be accomplished if systems worked for people’s bodies instead of against them? If we could lean into people’s superpowers when they were shining bright, and give them extra space to rest when they needed to recharge. I’ve felt a dramatic shift in my ability to work and my productivity when I lean into my menstrual cycle, and I can’t begin to imagine the widespread change that would happen if this were more widely adopted.

If you have a menstrual cycle: give yourself space to learn! I promise you, it will open doors to so much beauty in your life. It will give you a newfound reverence for yourself, for your body. You will see your body as a cause for celebration! And see that this menstrual cycle was given to you as a gift! I promise, it is deeply beautiful.

If you are the partner of someone with a menstrual cycle, be a part of the change! Incorporate menstrual cycle education into your arsenal so you can show up, and the person that you are with feels loved, celebrated, and empowered for who they are as a whole. Come into this together, because education should not only fall on one side. You’ll find that it will only improve and create more closeness with your romantic relationship, but also with all your relationships with the menstruators in your life.

If you are past menopause but have not yet learned the basics of the cycle, know that it is never too late to educate yourself so you can educate and empower others (in your life, your work, your community). This education is for all of us! It’s never too late to change.

If you are an older man, a community leader, a parent, or a boss. Know that this is for you, too. Change starts in your own hands, and understanding, learning, and empowerment are also yours.

We need to create a change and create spaces for people to come to learn. Places where we will be met with compassion and understanding. Because its OKAY if you don’t know anything! If you’ve learned the basics and feel confused by it all! Or overwhelmed! Tired! Exhausted! You are welcome here, and you are welcome to learn more about yourself and your body.

And if you feel fired up, excited, and motivated to learn! Maybe you want to better understand your body! You want to break generational chains of lack of knowledge! You want to be a change-maker for your community! You want to be a part of making the world a better place! Give it a go. Start. Learn! It will revolutionize your life.

Want a place to learn? I’ve recently launched a MENSTRUAL CYCLE 101 Session! For you & for couples

This is a 90-120-minute deep dive into the menstrual cycle. A private, shame-free, judgment-free zone to learn, ask away, and get all your questions answered. There are no “stupid” questions here: it’s a space for you to learn and understand the menstruating body.

We will start by checking in to see how much you know (or don’t know) to tailor the session to your specific needs and current knowledge. Then, we will dive into scientific education and the basics of the menstrual cycle: What is it? What are the phases? The hormones? We will take it at your learning pace, so you can feel empowered in your knowledge and truly understand. I’ll give an introduction to cyclical living and how the menstrual cycle can affect aspects such as work, productivity, food, energy, rest, socialization, exercise, and more. And finally, we’ll leave ample time for Q&A so you can get all your questions answered.

You’ll leave feeling knowledgeable, empowered, and celebrated in your efforts!

Learn more

And if you are ready…

Book a Menstrual Cycle 101 Session HERE

With all my love and joy,
Laia

Other Substacks of mine related to the menstrual cycle:

• Living Cyclically: My Relationship to the Menstrual Cycle

• Reasons Why I Absolutely Adore My Period

We can walk and walk for hours, and everything feels peaceful. There may be moments when your heart rate spikes, and others when everything feels relaxed and easy. Parts full of forests and trees, and visions of large mountain ranges and seas.

Hiking has become a deep, intimate way I to relate to nature. It is my utmost escape into nature’s depths. It irrevocably pulls me in. The trail wants to spend the day with me! And I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday than with my walking shoes on, lost in between the trees. A tortilla-de-patatas sandwich in my backpack (you can take the Spanish out of Spain, but you can’t take the tortilla sandwich out of her heart), some nuts, and several liters of water. Sometimes, a little speaker, because music always makes the walk sweeter.

As I walked through the Base Torres hike in Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile, just a few weeks ago, I found myself trying to remember the beginning of my love affair with hiking. I never grew up a hiker. My parents were big runners, but never long-distance walkers. It wasn’t something I ever remember doing until I moved to Chile in 2012.

My first memory of hiking is signing up for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in high school. I didn’t really have much outdoor experience. I played football (soccer), and I swam. I was mildly athletic, but I never had the hiking genes. When I moved to Chile, I quickly became friends with a group of outdoorsy boys. Boys (now men), who have shown me the ease and beauty of honest, innocent, beautiful male friendship. I don’t remember exactly why I decided to do NOLS, but I assume it had to do with their encouragement, since they were doing it too, and my “why the fuck not” attitude I’ve always had when encouraged and given the opportunity to try new things.

We signed up for a week of trekking through Patagonia: hiking up Cerro Castillo. It was a group of about 10 men and 2 women, including myself. I remember my shock upon being given our trekking pack, full to the brim with food, pots, pans, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and all the other bare necessities for surviving in the mountains for that stretch. Pack in and pack out. One extra pair of socks, and not much else. A deep dive into nature.

What an introduction.

I remember the ups and downs of the experience. The days of thinking, how in the hell am I going to finish this. The exhaustion. The thrill. And also the highs. The emotions of being so deep in the mountains, surrounded by nothing but ourselves. Being completely disconnected from the internet and our cell phones at such a young age. Being with mountaineering mentors and inspirational leaders who reminded me that I could do and become anything. The peace of having hours and hours to think. The disbelief at seeing that nuts and seeds were going to be our lunch. And the joy of making fresh pizza on a camping stove after a day of hard work.

We camped in forests, on rocks, on ice, and on snow. Every day, pack everything up and walk. Every day, pack everything down and rest. Put socks on your shoulders to make them nice and dry. Give it a switch in the morning and get ready to go.

The joy of being at the summit, after days and days of hiking, was unlike any other. Standout moments like waking up at 3 am to pee and being met with the most insane view of the Milky Way, unmatched to date. Screaming at the top of our lungs on a bridge and fighting through those mental talks that tell you you can’t do it, then proving yourself wrong. It was a deeply bonding experience.

This is where I fell in love with hiking // senderismo.

Chile began my love for hiking and the mountains. I stayed mildly active, doing shorter hikes after that. El Manquehue, and so forth.

When I went to University in central New York, I found that peace came to me in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by a small stream and a few trees. I loved walking. I’d walk from place to place, go on snow-shoeing adventures with friends, and get lost frolicking through nature’s little hideaways.

I eventually moved to San Francisco, and California solidified my absolute love for it.

Patagonia began it, California made it real.

Northern California became nature’s valley. My weekend plans started to revolve around getting out and heading to a trail. I’d go with friends and their dogs, with long-distance friends who’d come to visit, with my best friend and roommate, with whom we shared a love for the outdoors. We’d pack up, get in a car, and find a new place to go. I was lucky to be surrounded by people who knew where they were going. As a foreigner, I had no idea what places to go, what places were beautiful, and I didn’t even have a car. My friends had my back, and they took the lead. They showed me around, and wowza, did that make an impression on me.

We started exploring more parks and included short trips to Yosemite. We spent days walking around the Lake Tahoe area, finding spots for long walks. If we didn’t go for big hikes, we’d just walk: walk around the neighborhood, the small entryways and nooks and crannies that we found in the backyard.

Once I felt ready to leave my corporate job, my roommate and I decided to go on a month-long trip through the National Parks. I sold all my belongings and put everything into just a few suitcases, which I left in her garage. And we packed the rest into her car.

Off we went. An adventure through the national parks of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and California. We hit Death Valley, Zion, Canyonlands, Arches, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Joshua Tree, and the Grand Canyon. We spent days sleeping inside the parks, hiking our hearts away. Experiencing things from heat stroke and exhaustion to the greatest natural highs available (as well as shroom-induced ones that made me feel at complete ease and as one with nature).

My love since then has only continued to expand. I can think of no place I’d rather spend a day or a holiday than getting lost on a trail. I feel some heartache as I write this, considering I’ve chosen the greatest flatlands – the Netherlands – as my home. Although likely a more temporary base, it has certainly limited my exposure to the outdoors.

Patagonia, the place where my love affair began, reminded me once again of the pleasure I receive from being out there in relationship with the elements.

Being in the forest, walking between the trees. Going up and down the trail, enjoying and reflecting. Feeling the peace, the quiet, the magnitude, the awe. I love it here: the friendliness of the path strangers and the ease with which my body falls into routine.

Chile began my love affair with hiking, which now feels more like a courtship. Hiking persuades me, it invites me, it wants me in relation to it. It feels as though I am in a period of my life where hiking and I are in letter-writing mode, seeing each other every now and then, and periodically reminding each other of our love.

I’m sure I’ll find my way into the mountains someday. Until then, I will carry on in courtship. But forever will I have Chile to thank for my love affair.

Onwards and upwards (and don’t lose sight of the journey).

With all my love and joy!

Laia <3

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P.S. I recently shared a heartfelt newsletter featuring more personal reflections from my trip. I share all my latest updates and offerings on that list, while Substack stays as a more creative home for me! Want to stay up-to-date? Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter, too. You can do so here.

1:1 Coaching

I work 1:1 with individuals who are ready to reclaim their presence, pleasure, and power — to live a life of utmooooooost joy! If you are ready to step into a new chapter of true empowerment and embodied lust for life, you can schedule a free connection call or apply to work with me here.

If any of these lists resonate with you, make your own and share it with me in the comments! Lists inspired by Busy Making Lists.

Leave a comment

Things that make me absolutely love life:

1. The Orange Poem by Wendy Cope

2. Buying fresh flowers and romancing my space: incense, candles, decoration, art…

3. Soaking up as much sun as possible, imagining I also need to photosynthesize

4. Talking to nature: the ocean, the trees, the rocks, the flowers

5. Cooking and eating like they are the most pleasure-inducing things in the world!

6. Seeing live music! The artistry! The joy!

7. Appreciating small and big moments with loved ones and community

8. Taking pictures of myself when I feel desirable, hot, and sexy

9. Working towards goals that I can actually accomplish! Some may be more of a stretch, but I love having something to work towards

10. Getting to space-hold and helping others see the joy and beauty in themselves and in their own life!

11. Taking myself on little walks with my favorite home-made tea blends (hello to my go-to spearmint, lavender, calendula, and rose herbal mix)

12. Watching life magically unfold before my eyes!

20 things I’d rather do than be on my phone:

1. Go for a quiet walk in nature — no input, just looking around, and staring at the bees

2. Mediate. Close my eyes, focus on my breath

3. Look through coffee table books for cool pieces of art, new artists, designers, creatives, or snippets that inspire me

4. Read a column in a magazine or a short article/Substack piece to give me the little distraction boost that I want

5. Do 10 jumping jacks

6. Stretch the body, do a yoga flow, on the floor, on my rug, a mat, or whatever surface that I have (anything will do)

7. Ask whoever I’m with a question: any question — to start a conversation

8. Make a list of things I’d rather do than be on my phone (or any list, for that matter)

9. Listen to a song: slowly, fully, intentionally. Bonus points if it’s on a record player.

10. Write about what I am seeing around me in my journal. Maybe even paint it if I am feeling extra daring and creative.

11. Make a home-made recipe that I can eat now, or meal prep for later

12. Go get myself flowers. It’s always a good idea to get yourself flowers.

13. Re-decorate a room in the house

14. Call a friend, family member, or a loved one: just to say hi or to chat about life

15. Water my plants (or check if they need any)

16. Plan my outfit for tomorrow so that I can look absolutely spectacular

17. Brew myself a tea, a cup of coffee, or a matcha, but making it a slow and intentional ritual

18. Pull an oracle card to see what my next step in the day is, or the energy that I need right now

19. Have a little dance party: shake it out, move the body! Release through more expressive movement and a dance-a-thon to one song

20. Take a shower, cleanse the body, and start anew

Things that brought me the utmost pleasure and delight this week:

• The heaviest, most intense yet incredible workout at the gym: Body pump HEAVY, where I felt myself push my body to the absolute limit and loved every second of it (yes, I’m ovulating).

• A matcha & coconut protein shake following that class

• Leaving the house with my phone Bricked: and getting a cheeky and radiant smile knowing that I simply cannot access Instagram, even if I wanted to.

• Going for a run using an old iPod Nano: the beauty and reminiscence of a deeply loved and revered music device

• A passion fruit & mango sauce that smothered my ceviche: YES PLEASE!

• Finding sweet notes around the city, and mentally thanking the person who wrote them

What I do/say when I need it all to be okay:

1. Make a list

2. Take a breath

3. Remind myself, it will all be okay <3

4. Find something that makes me smile and follow that rabbit hole of JOY

What I would do if I could do anything:

• Everything. I’d try everything. I’d give it all a go! I want to experience, and try, and see it all. There’s no list, because there’s no end. It’s all worth a shot! It’s all worth a try!

Thank you for reading! I hope this post inspired you to make some fun lists that center your wellbeing, your joy, and your moments of pleasure! They are all around you!

If you’d like to keep supporting my work, you can subscribe to my Substack here:

1:1 Coaching

I work 1:1 with individuals who are ready to reclaim their presence, pleasure, and power — to live a life of utmooooooost delight and JOY! If you are ready to step into a new chapter of true empowerment and embodied lust for life, you can schedule a free connection call or apply to work with me here.

THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!

With all my love and joy,

Laia <3

Ohhhhhh, am I happy to be here! Ohhhhh, am I happy to share this practice with you!

This meditation is a guided visualization, which will take you to meet your future self. I won’t share too much more of this, as you’ll have to watch the meditation to let more of that reveal itself to you.

Visualizations are perfect for moments…

Read more

It’s all about perspective. Are you looking too deeply inside the same box? Can you widen your perspective? Can you be open to deeper experiences? To feel joy and celebrate in ways that maybe do not conform to what you were expecting, defy all expectations, yet make you feel more ALIVE than you even realize? Find the sweet spot. Expand the perspective. Live for experiencing.

Joy came to me the moment I stopped constantly seeking it. When I was heavily disconnected from my own joy, I was trying so hard to find happiness. I searched for it in every corner: the bottom of bottles of liquor, the gratification of going on a date with someone hot, in between shopping sprees and dressing for the compliment gaze. None of it really fueled me. It felt like I was constantly seeking the dopamine hit. Which is, technically, what I was doing. I was going for all the things that would give me immediate gratification. For a moment, I could feel that spike: ohhhhhh it feels good. And then (usually quite quickly), back to despair. All in the search for meaning, for joy, for a glimpse into the window of happiness.

In its own unintentional ways, mindfulness came to my rescue. I took a course simply because it was offered, and I had a friend who was motivated to sign up. I followed behind. Any excuse to do something. I took so much out of it.

It was short— about 6-weeks. 1 or 2 hours every week. We learned the basics and got given a few exercises to try at home. I don’t think I ever did the homework back then. But the principles have stayed with me deeply. Over 12 years later, and here we are. Preaching a career that was built on the principles and the science of mindfulness.

What I carried with me was that joy comes when you stop searching for it, and start living for it.

As I went along my own path, I began spending more time in the present, unintentionally yet unequivocally. Instead of living for those hits of dopamine, in constant search for the next hit that would make me feel good, I simply started living for the now. I started to pause, to look out the window. To count my breath (a 4-count in, 4-count out…). To mentally check in, and see: how am I, really? What is underlying whatever I am feeling? I shifted my quest toward self-discovery.

Self-discovery is incredibly difficult when you are constantly seeking stimulation outside yourself. Self-discovery only thrives when you actually take the time to slow down and listen to your own body. This happened slowly and gradually. But I began spending more and more time with myself, and genuinely enjoying it. It was through this process of mindfulness that I slowly got into yoga. I wanted to spend more time in the present moment — and that practice helped reel me in. Breath to movement. In and out. Bring your right leg up, and place your foot between your hands. Presence. Awareness. Aliveness.

As I connected with myself, I stopped living for the what-ifs and the intense dopamine spikes. I realized I got more satisfaction from these slow, intentional ways of living. I began enjoying my own company. And that brought me the most joy of all.

Enjoying my company became the avenue through which I could enjoy everything in life. I could spend hours on my own, reveling in my own company. Reading books, making doodles, dressing for my own gaze, cooking for my own tastes, trying to impress no one but myself. Aha! I surprised myself! Again and again. That was oh so immensely fulfilling. And if I had a weird experience? It didn’t matter because at least I learned something new. I got to hang out with myself for a bit longer and learn more about this strange yet beautiful thing we call life.

It didn’t happen overnight; it happened over time. One day, I realized that the greatest joy I experience comes from simply being in the present moment. Whatever that present moment is.

When I am there, when I am present, when I am living for the moment, exactly as it is, I feel joy. I feel awe at being alive. My heart is beating! My lungs are breathing! The leaves are swaying! The bugs say hello! The clouds drift! The sun shines! The rain is so powerful! The taste is so expansive! Can you BELIEVE that we were made to be on this earth and EXPERIENCE? Ohhhhh what a joy! I can revel in that feeling day in and day out. There’s such magic in aliveness. But that magic does not immediately make itself known.

When we are born, we probably feel this. Kids definitely seem to do. I think of a baby’s eyes widening as it looks around at the world. What must it be like to see it all for the first time? To absorb and observe.

When plants sway, I feel they are saying hello to me. When water goes down my throat, I feel the ocean giving my body an internal hug. It’s all part of the magic. There is no searching here. There is only being. I live for this.

What gets me up in the morning now is simply: the possibility of experiencing another day. I don’t mind what that day brings. It could bring lounging around and looking at the trees from my window— what a sight! It could bring laughing and giggling with friends, hopping from cafe to cafe — what a delicious treat! It could bring love-making and twisting in each other’s legs — what an amazing feeling to be able to experience that with my own body! It could bring dancing and moving my body to the rain — oh YES, earth, unleash your power on me! It could bring typing my day away into Substacks — what an honor to have a brain that wants to think and come up with new thoughts, and feels safe and comfortable enough to put them out there!

So; let’s live. Here’s to a new day!

Thank you for reading! I hope this post inspired you to take a step back, and simply be; live; experience. You don’t need anything else. You’ve got it all — I truly believe!

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1:1 Coaching

I work 1:1 with individuals who are ready to reclaim their presence, pleasure, and power — to live a life of utmooooooost delight and JOY! If you are ready to step into a new chapter of true empowerment and embodied lust for life, you can schedule a free connection call or apply to work with me here.

THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!

With all my love and joy,

Laia <3

Hello beautiful beings,

Welcome to a new episode of Love Notes from Laia! Today, I am giving you a short snippet of what I mean by “Change your brain, change your life!”

We dive into the science of neuroplasticity and how your thoughts, habits, and emotional patterns shape your inner world (aka, your brain). You’ll learn how small, consistent shifts can create PROFOUND change! And how to work with your nervous system rather than against it.

You’ll learn about Hebb’s law, selective attention, neural filters, and the impòrtance of PRACTICING what you want to BECOME, so you can BECOME what you PRACTICE!

With all my love and joy,

Laia

If you liked the show or want to share anything that resonated with you, please leave a comment below:

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1:1 Coaching

I work 1:1 with individuals who are ready to reclaim their presence, pleasure, and power — to live a life of utmooooooost delight and JOY! If you are ready to step into a new chapter of true empowerment and embodied lust for life, you can schedule a free connection call or apply to work with me here.

Public Speaking

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THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!

All of us are in positions of leadership, whether we want to be in them or not. If your friends look up to you: you are a leader. If you are or want to be a parent: you are a leader. If you are working and have people you work with or that report to you: you are a leader. If you hold space: you are a leader. If you simply exist: you are a leader.

I was recently pondering this as I grappled with the power people have over one another. Each of us is constantly influenced by what those around us say, share, and think. Especially in the age of social media, we are constantly open to different opinions, thoughts, and voices.

Yet, so many times, we belittle ourselves. We stop caring about our image and how we show up. We get lazy, we let ourselves go. And that’s okay — it happens. But what if you remembered that, to someone or something, you are a leader? Would it change how you dress, how you move, how you act, or how you wake up in the morning?

When I sat with this thought, all the people who may look up to me came to mind. Those who vocally tell me they are inspired by my work, but also those who may be quietly observing. They are also looking.

As a person with a voice — a creative voice — and a voice I am using to make this world better, I must play my role in carving a path for others. I want to show up in a leadership style that defies expectations. A leadership style that feels authentic to me. A leadership style that keeps pushing the boundaries of how people can show up, and makes space for people to show up in their own unique, beautiful ways.

When I remember that I am a leader, however big or small, my posture changes. I stand up straighter, I take the time to fix my hair, I move with poise. It reminds me of my role in this world. Which, aside from having fun and soaking up the beauty of life, is to inspire and make space for others to find their expression and shine.

Becoming the leader

Thinking of the kind of leader I want to be, I remembered a viral post that said, “Growing up, I never knew a relaxed woman.” I found it for you below.

It stuck with me because it made me re-evaluate the kind of woman I wanted to become. And how I could inspire other women, especially younger ones, to step into their power from a place of ease.

I’ve always yearned to be in a leadership position. When I think of what I wanted to be growing up, the image that pops into my mind is always a boardroom. I wanted to be high up there. I wanted to be where the power felt palpable. I wanted to make high-stakes decisions. I wanted to feel like I was making an impact. I wanted the title of CEO — heck, I still yearn to be one.

As I grow, this image stays strong. However, the way in which that boardroom looks keeps changing and evolving.

Being a woman in leadership has meant stepping into the shoes of a masculine CEO. We’ve had to hustle for so long. To fit into those board meeting rooms, we need to dress as it is deemed appropriate by the patriarchy. We need to act, move, and respond in deeply masculine ways. To be in leadership in this way means to be in constant commotion. It feels stressful. I cry for the nervous system of some of those people.

The message of “I have never known a relaxed woman” invited me to reconsider: what if we redefined leadership? What if we stepped into a place of agency, of space holding, of education, while also embodying presence, pleasure, and devotion to ourselves, the world, and our bodies?

Can we redefine leadership in this way?

Serious and playful: one and the same

During my yoga teacher training, someone gave me one of the most beautiful compliments I have ever received. She celebrated my ability to blend deep professionalism with playfulness. I wish I remembered the exact words. But the essence was that I could maintain my true professional poise while being authentic and moving in the silly, unserious nature that still gets shit done, and does it well.

It felt like a turning point. An acknowledgment that I could create my own script for what a leader could be. I was refining the narrative of what an appropriate way to show up in “professionalism” looks like. And I loved that. I’ve carried it with me.

I loved it because it kept my authority. It reminded me of my ability to quickly tap into a moment of professionalism. I’ve always been a shapeshifter. If I need to shift into business mode, I can do so, and very quickly. But that does not mean I need to let go of my inner child. The best work I have done has been done while giggling, stretching with a friend, lying in the sun, and in coffee-stained shirts.

Redefining my own leadership style

Nowadays, I think of my leadership with much more intentionality. I want to be that playful leader, but I also want to make a more conscious effort in thinking about how I show up. I want to inspire those who look to me to see that they, too, can build their dreams while staying at ease. That dreaming big does not mean fitting a mold. That you can find your own unique, authentic style, and let that be in the room.

Our power; our ambition; our focus; our will — it can take a myriad of shapes and sizes. The importance is that we can step into all of those energies. That you can be in your power, in your ambition, in your focus, in your will. The way that gets shown is completely up to you. But can you feel regal? Can you feel present? Can you feel empowered knowing you are stepping into a position where people look up to you? And embody the deep knowledge that people ARE looking up to you. That you are a leader in your own community. And that you can OWN that!

Can you feel like you deeply belong in that room, whether a boardroom or a living room? That space is of your creation. You can make of it whatever you want to make of it.

Leadership in everyday life

I write this as I sit in a cafe, watching so many different people working and moving in their own unique ways. The barista is a leader. She is holding the space here. She interacts with every single customer, making their coffee, offering smiles, and moving with incredible grace and poise. It sets the character for the cafe: she is leading.

I see two friends talking, each taking a moment to listen and respond. Both of them are deeply invested in each other. It’s refreshing to see men who so clearly care for each other. They pass the leadership baton to one another. One asks for advice, seeking support from the other. By being vulnerable, he is showing up and encouraging his friend to do the same, with mutual respect. They are leaders for each other.

There are multiple people working on their laptops. I have no idea what they are doing, but I am convinced that they, too, are leaders. Whatever work they are doing, click-clacking away on their laptops, they are clearly delivering, thinking, polishing, and making. I wonder about their teams — do they know that they are leaders to their team members too? Who are influenced by their myriad of moods? By the way they show up to work?

Art by Erica Pollock Norelius

This feels deeply human. It feels restorative. We all live in our own little worlds, yet we influence each other. We are leaders for each other. We inspire and make space for people to show up in different facets and ways, depending on how we show up.

And what I want to invite you to think about today is: how do you want to show up? What type of leader do you want to be?

Do you want to be the ambitious leader? The relaxed leader? The feminine leader? The wielder of raw power leader? The dressing up with poise and regalness leader? The empathetic yet driven leader? The compassionate leader?

It’s all up to you.

Thank you so much for reading my Substack! If you’d like to support my work so that I can keep showing up here, week after week, writing inspirational words and notes from my heart to yours, please consider becoming a paying subscriber:

Subscribe now

Founding members & monthly members receive an additional monthly meditation!

Did any part of this essay resonate with you? Please leave a comment so I know that it did!

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1:1 Coaching

I work 1:1 with individuals who are ready to reclaim their presence, pleasure, and power — to live a life of utmooooooost delight and JOY! If you are ready to step into a new chapter of true empowerment and embodied lust for life, you can schedule a free connection call or apply to work with me here.

THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!

With all my love and joy,

Laia <3

Cover piece by Chanelle Nibbelink