Lover of life

Authentic Self. Creative Channel.

Are you an empathic, creative or sensitive person who’s ready to enjoy the wave of life, with all its ups and downs, and ride it with grace, security and ease? That’s where I come in, as an artist, song channel, coach, teacher and trainer to empower you as you navigate life’s natural ebbs and flows so you can be empowered, have fun and enjoy this crazy ride called life! 

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My “Big Why”

Around 2007, I had a vision: when all of us are doing exactly what we’re here to do, and being exactly who we’re here to be, the world will be a better place.  Why?  Because, you’re happier when you’re doing what you love and what feels good to your Soul, right?

This vision turned into a mission: to facilitate personal growth and healing experiences that lead to collective growth and healing for every individual, their families, communities, the world and for the planet. It just makes sense!

Someone once said that if every human being took care of their own backyard, the world would be a better place.  But, what stops you from taking care of your own backyard?

I think you already know the answer.  Just like a big adventure, dealing with your “inner stuff” can feel exciting and terrifying.  Why?  First of all, you’re excited to heal and get started, while jumping into uncharted waters can feel quite scary at the same time!

The truth is, while it can feel scary at times, it is also one of the most rewarding and transformational experiences you can take in your life.  Once you deal with your “stuff,” you become a stronger person.

You become more conscientious of and responsible for your actions, choices, and what you’re creating in the world.  In addition, the pathway of your life becomes so much clearer.  You’ll think clearer and feel better.  You’re now empowered to take responsibility for yourself, create healthier relationships and have the clarity and courage to do work that fills you with joy and which makes a huge difference in the world!  This is an empowering path and it will call you into your power in surprising ways.

Imagine feeling secure and confident within yourself, your life and your relationships because you have healthy coping skills and boundaries that allow you to navigate life’s natural ups and downs with more grace, fluidity and confidence.  You feel courageous in your actions and can take healthy risks to grow, evolve and change into the person you’re here to be!  You have faith in life’s greater goodness.  You feel proud of who you are and the life you’re living.  Your relationships are thriving, you feel the love of your family and friends.  You enjoy taking care of yourself just as much as you do others.  You feel courageous, empowered and compassionate towards yourself and others.  And, you know that your Higher Power is with you, supporting you, at all times!

 

Move through the blocks

to real change.

As a compassionate, no-BS coach, we work together to create a safe space for you to identify what you want to accomplish during our time together, clarify your core values, which guide your choices, create a clearer vision of your dream life and create action steps to help you co-create that with yourself, your Higher Power and others.

In our sessions, I’ll support you to explore, like a curious treasure seeker, the valuable lessons and messages of your life, so far.  These treasures of insight can unlock fresh, new perspectives, which can free you from the past and empower you in the present moment and moving forward.

You will become The Victor of your own life’s story!   

You’ll begin to feel empowered and self-compassionate, as you learn to take care of yourself, love yourself and be kind and caring towards yourself, just like you are with others.  It’s a game changer!

Together, we’ll co-design practices and accountability structures to keep you on track.  You’ll feel more confident to take action and you’ll have fun along the way!

You’ll learn to shine your light on the fears that come with being a sensitive, creative person so that you can feel better, clearer and braver in the face of whatever’s happening in your life!

This journey is not about perfection, it’s about self-compassion, most of all giving yourself permission to mess up, make mistakes, learn, love, grow and enjoy life while you’re on the journey!  It can be fun, it can be messy, you’ll fumble, but at the end of the day you’ll learn the tools needed to bounce back up and try again as you ride the wave of life!

Change your life

Are you ready to be empowered?

Imagine the impact you’ll have on yourself, your kids, your family and friends when you’re happier, healthier, more empowered, secure and confident in yourself and your natural gifts!  See the smiles on everyone’s faces.  Feel the love in your heart.  See the future generations you’re impacting right now through your new actions, mindset and healthy choices.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.

Melody Beattie

My story

How my journey began.

In the fall of 1993, at 16 years old, I decided to give a shit about life.  I’d come through a traumatic time in my early teens, where I gave up everything that I loved and was good at, and was finally ready to give life a try again at school, in making new friends and learning new things.  I wanted to do something with myself.  

My journey in healing began through dance that same year, as I was introduced to all night rave parties. Inspired by the free-form dancing I saw, I began to move my body to the pulsating beats, completely sober, and felt “high” off dancing to the electronic music.  Snowboarding became a passion that year, as well.  I fell in love with the sport, made new friends, my grades improved and I was filled with a fervor for life again!  

A new passion also began to stir in my heart: I wanted to work with “troubled youth,” who were like me, to heal and grow.  This passion grew into a calling to be an art therapist.  (Although I would not choose that exact route, I would eventually end up doing therapeutic work, through the arts, as an adult.)   

In 1999, I graduate with a B.F.A. in painting from S.U.N.Y. Fredonia, having studied with Alberto Rey.  During my last semester I met an amazing couple, Dariel and Michael Woltz, who became life long friends.  Before traveling across the country that summer, Dariel, my first yoga instructor, offered me a creative movement therapy session using visual and movement arts, writing, speaking and sounding to get to the heart of my healing journey.  It was during this first session that I discovered I have to love myself fully.  I can no longer look to others to love me the way I want to be loved. 

Two years later, in the summer of 2001, my best friend from college was doing work exchange at The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies.  Nestled outside of Rhinebeck, N.Y., in the Hudson River Valley, a stop there, along the way to an eventual interview in New York City, changed my path.   I chose not to stay in N.Y.C. and instead moved to Omega for the next 2.5 months.  During a transformational therapy workshop later that summer, I made another great discovery and an actual commitment to learn how to love myself.  A journey I continue to this day. 

Moving to the Bay Area in January of 2002, I enjoyed living in such a large, diverse and fun urban area.  I thrived in the dance scene and made great friends.  However, just 10 months later, I would begin to unravel, as the first of two major life transitions in my early adulthood would begin.  Feelings of panic and anxiety filled me and despair eventually threatened to knock me off my path.  However, after hitting “rock bottom,” I bounced back up and that transition would become a huge catalyst for healing and growth in my life.  Shortly after, I would follow a calling to live somewhere tropical and move to Maui, HI., in September of 2003, where I continued healing and learning how to love myself.

On Maui I was introduced to EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing).  Something had triggered scary thoughts and impulses in myself that would encourage me to seek help.      

Now, I can see those uncomfortable thoughts were probably a continuation of the healing that had begun the year before in the Bay Area.  It was a continuation of an unraveling, a deep healing on a generational level and a letting go of years living tightly woven in a ball, trying to protect myself.  Ultimately, I was learning how to live life joyfully and confidently as my authentic and whole self.

In 2007, my husband, at the time, and I embarked on a year abroad, and moved all of our belongings to the mainland, U.S.A.  Before leaving Maui, I made a new commitment to myself: to learn how to trust myself and listen to the true “inner guidance” within me.  Although this turned out to be a confusing process, which frustrated myself, as well as others, at times, I learned to discern what I really wanted and created a level of trust and confidence within myself that continues to grow to this day.

You see, I used to be one of those people who always called on family, friends and mentors for advice.  Making my own decisions felt scary and I was even more terrified of making the “wrong” decisions.  Now, I can honestly say, although there are times where it’s helpful and necessary to get a second opinion or run something by a trusted confidant, I rarely ask others for their advice or feedback.  I know what I want, and if I’m not sure, I let it go until a clear answer comes to me.  It’s an incredibly liberating experience to know I can trust myself and God to guide me.  

In 2008, after landing in my hometown of Buffalo, N.Y. after our travels, I had a major life awakening and chose to leave the marriage.  The next decade would be a huge growth curve, rattling, driving and pushing me in ways that threatened to break me.  I’d learn that I was a highly empathic, sensitive person, which was a huge insight into why I was the way I was throughout my life! This insight would lead to discovering that my sensitive nature was actually a gift, as I worked with a life coach to learn how to use these empathic, intuitive tools within.  Ultimately, I’d come out of this decade stronger and better than ever before, uncovering the truth of who I am and continue to be in this life.  Woohoo!    

Emerging unrecognizable from the person I was, when I first moved back to Buffalo a decade prior, things started to come together.  God came into my life, my career grew in exponential ways and I’d find security within myself that I never knew was possible.  I gained life changing relationship skills through a life coaching certification, Coaching for Transformation, which I received in 2012 through Leadership That Works.  In 2014 I gained a 200hr yoga teacher certification through the coveted ETT training with Francois Raoult at Open Sky Yoga in Rochester, N.Y..  This further informed and deepened my knowledge of yoga, myself, and the gifts and tools I have to share in life with others.  Most importantly, I’d learn how to stand on my own two feet and trust God and this thing called life!

Working with a new trauma specialist, beginning in 2018, through Internal Family Systems Parts Work and EMDR Therapy, would help me heal layers of old trauma, that weren’t getting touched by decades of healing I’d done before.  In addition, with the help of a spiritual coach, Dante Washington, and working with a Native America Elder, Tahwehdahque, on the Tuscarora Reservation in Niagara County, an inner strength began to grow inside of me.  And, my faith continues to be restored in myself, in God and in life’s greater goodness.  

My story continues

And so the path goes on.

As I move along in Life, there is inspirational music coming through me to share with you.  There’s art and dance.  And, there’s fun in being and living Life to it’s fullest!

Although I have no idea what’s going to happen next, I know is that I am a part of and I belong to life always, as are you!  I am always connected to The Source Of Life. I can trust God’s guidance coming through me. Clarity will come, sometimes it just needs the right time and space to appear.  Life is on its own time frame.  I can ride the wave, relax and enjoy the process!  Now, I know, ultimately, there are only right turns.  I can trust Life’s greater goodness and that I’m always being guided to the right places, people, and things at the right time.

One of the tools that I still use to this day is a process called Free to Be: From Insecure to Confident in 5 Powerful Steps. It’s in the form of an eBook, which you can access below.  Also, listen to the newest inspirational and motivational music from Song Channel Music here.

Take care and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely and with Aloha Nui Loa,

Inspiration for you

Check out what we’ve got going on.

Mindfulness tools, inspiring, original music, artwork for your home or garden and more through Sarah Haykel and Love Is Real LLC.  See below for some of our offerings.  Click here if you’d like to contact us about Latin dancing.

offerings_free_to_be_ebook

Free Mindfulness Challenge, E-Book, & More Life Coaching Info

Inspiring Original Music From Song Channel Music

Original Ceramic Wall Hangings & Mural Art

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