Embracing Transitions: Empowering Women at Every Stage with Dr. Rachel Bush
In this episode of Amplified Impact, we dive deep into the transformative journeys of womanhood with Dr. Rachel Bush—a clinical psychologist, award-winning author, and wellness advocate. From guiding women through menopause to sharing the profound lessons of self-love, Dr. Bush opens up about her journey of turning challenges into wisdom. Together, we discuss the power of sisterhood, the importance of loving our bodies at every stage, and breaking the silence around topics often shrouded in shame. Whether you’re at the start of your cycle, experiencing motherhood, or stepping into the wisdom of menopause, this conversation is for you. Tune in to connect, be inspired, and amplify your own impact as a multi-passionate woman on a mission to change the world!
Dr. Rachel W. Bush is a licensed clinical psychologist, cancer survivor, internationally bestselling author, artist, and nature photographer. She has written five impactful books: Mindful Menopause, Self Love, Equine Therapy, Interior Design, and Relationship Revival. She is also an international bestselling co-author of three Creative Life books, where she shares her insights into creativity and personal growth.
With over two decades of experience, Dr. Bush specializes in helping women navigate life’s pivotal transitions, including menopause, through mindfulness and practical tools. As a cancer survivor, she brings a unique perspective to her work, empowering others to reclaim their health and well-being during difficult times.
In addition to her psychological practice, Dr. Bush is a talented artist and nature photographer, drawing inspiration from the natural world to fuel her creative endeavors.
Timestamps:
07:05 - Empowering women through life transitions
15:00 - Embracing menopause and breaking the silence around aging
18:04 - Radical freedom and coming into authentic self-expression
21:09 - The power of feminine energy and flowing with life's rhythms
28:34 - Dr. Rachel shares her journey of self-investment and reflections on life after cancer.
31:04 - Amber and Rachel discuss their upcoming “Here for More Live” retreat in December.
32:27 - Free chapter download from Dr. Rachel’s menopause book and workshop details.
36:53 - Normalizing life’s major transitions: from menstruation to menopause and beyond.
Connect with Rachel on Instagram
Sign up for Rachel's workshop on October 28th and 29th right here
Don't forget to...
Let us know you are listening, screenshot and tag @amberhagberg on IG
Transcript
Amplified impact.
::For multi passionate female entrepreneurs turning their gifts into assets, this is a space to open your heart even deeper as you learn how to tune into your mission and connect with your clients, the ones who you dream to serve and create massive impact in their lives.
::I'm here to inspire you to take time for yourself so you can be the leader in your life and your business, one who stands out and thrives.
::This is the place where women just like you create wealth from the inside out.
::I am.
::Yay.
::Welcome back to another episode of Amplified Impact.
::I am.
::Oh, my goodness.
::So excited for this one.
::Today I have Doctor Rachel Bush who is coming to hear for more lives.
::She's sharing her gifts and her magic with the world as a clinical psychologist, award winning author, artist, spreading positivity and mental wellness through art and words.
::She's also guiding women through the menopause journey, which, like hormones, are wild and crazy.
::Whether we're just starting our cycle, whether we get pregnant, we're at postpartum, or we're at the phase where that chapter is ending.
::And I wanted to bring on Rachel because she's someone that's coming to hear for more lives.
::She's coming to the masterpiece retreat.
::And honestly, I'm just obsessed with her online content.
::I'm like, come beyond that podcast.
::Let's interview you.
::And, yeah, bring, bring the work that you do to my audience, my community.
::I know that you also host retreats, you write books, you're multi passionate.
::Like, the definition of this podcast and this movement is like, we're creators in the world.
::And that's what you do, is you create.
::So introduce yourself, tell us what you're doing, what you're so excited about now, and a little background on, like, I mean, we could be here all day.
::How did you get here?
::How I got here was you were dancing with your beautiful pregnant belly with your daughter, and you were dancing with your finger saying, come here, come join us.
::And I thought to myself, I have to meet this woman.
::I'm going to Costa Rica.
::I need to meet her.
::And the last time I was around a pregnant woman like this, this close, was my surgeon at Dana Farber three years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer and I had endometrial cancer and I had a hysterectomy three years ago.
::And so after that was done, I got in my head, I have three boys and a history much like yours, of multiple miscarriages and needing surgery and thinking, I'm never going to have a baby.
::And this is like the most important dream of my life.
::But after the surgery, I thought, okay, now my life is all about giving back and legacy, and I making, like, a big impact.
::And I've always had a clinical practice that I've loved.
::I've loved working one on one.
::It's been fabulous.
::I've had incredible patients.
::They've been amazing.
::But I wanted to splash, you know?
::So all of a sudden, I had three international best selling books, and then I added six more.
::So in the past three years, I've written nine books, and I'm CEO of luminosity Publishing.
::And we've.
::My husband and I have been running couples retreats because we feel like this is.
::We've both been married before, and we know what a bad marriage looks like and what a good marriage looks like, and we feel like we have the magic, so we feel like we have an obligation to share the magic and, like, it's so easy with a whole bunch of skills and tools.
::So where we have a podcast called relationship revival, and we love that.
::We love hanging out together, and.
::But my real connection is to women.
::And I feel like I've kind of been forced to play in a man's world in a certain kind of way.
::Like, I think Meryl Streep said it the best when she said women have learned.
::Had been forced to speak male, you know, and I'm tired of that.
::Like, I feel like I really want to be around my soul sister.
::Speaking female.
::Like, my late brother went to college with me, and he was amazing, but I learned how to throw football and how to play basketball and, you know, how to be an athlete.
::And I've raised three sons.
::My oldest is in med school.
::And I just feel like I want to be around women.
::I want to help women go through life's transitions.
::And I have this fantasy that in my womb, at one point, I was holding a girl, and that somehow, you know, I'm still carrying some of that feminine energy and that it's supposed to be passed, that that's part of my legacy in some way.
::And so, like, even though I've raised these boys, I feel like part of what my job still is is about female life transitions.
::And I know that women have a lot of trouble with self love and self worth, and I've treated a lot of women with eating disorders, and it's really hard for women to feel comfortable in their bodies.
::The first time I really felt comfortable in my body was when I was pregnant with my oldest son, and I was.
::You know, my husband at the time called.
::Called my uterus.
::We decided to name him Max.
::So he called it Maxwell house after the coffee.
::But I want women to feel good about their bodies and happy in their bodies, and I in love with themselves and grateful and alive and filled with vitality and awake.
::You know, I feel like it's time for everyone to wake up in some way and to give themselves the love that they deserve to have, to give that love to their sisters and to the other significant people in their lives.
::And I feel like I've missed out on that sisterhood piece because of being around all of these men.
::And so now I feel like, you know, here I am.
::I'm going to be 63 years old on New year's day.
::You know, like, I'm almost a senior citizen.
::I'm a 500 hours yoga instructor, and I took a course in Trauma Informed yoga, which was great.
::And I used to take the train into Manhattan and TrEat and teach trauma informed yoga at women's ShelTErs for Women who had experienced domestic abuse.
::And I know what that's like, to have TraUma stored in your body and to have it released through yoga and how healing that is.
::I feel like, you know, it's an incredible movement for Everyone.
::It's just an incredible gift, and that you're sharing that gift all of the time.
::Like, I think you're just, like, at the most inspiring, incredible young woman, you know, like, you're probably half my age.
::I'm so in love with just, like, like, the evolution of your story and, like, your devotion to being a student and, like, your achievements and writing how many books.
::But, like, everything that you're doing now is because of your struggle with it at one point and your breakthrough of it to the other side.
::Like, you know, the masculine world that we've been driven in of, like, what is success?
::How am I supposed to be learn to do it this way?
::The masculine way has shaped us, but then also, like, eating disorders.
::Like, any woman listening, like, I think everyone, because it's, like, what society has told us.
::And when I often work with my one on one clients, it's like, this is what I was told to do.
::This is the strategy, and that's bro marketing.
::That's the bro way of doing business.
::And, like, so many people swing to the other side, like, the feminine inclines are going to fall from the sky, and it's like, we need both energies.
::And, like, you sharing, like, a 500 hours yoga student, but also, like, you're a clinical psychologist and, like, all of these different multi passions, but coming from, like, your own experience of, like, what it was like, you know, coming up into a man's world and, like, our struggles with sisterhood and, like, I feel like the healing that I've had to do with sisterhood and the community of sisterhood that I've created here in real life in Costa Rica, wanting to bring that into in person experiences, but also online experiences of, like, we all have similar struggles and, like, the things that we struggle the most with and the things that we, like, we're doing right now in the wave.
::You know, you've signed up for so many of my courses and so many of my experiences, and then you're coming to hear from more live, and you're also going to the retreat, and you're also in the wave, and you're also in the membership.
::And it's like, because you get being a devoted student, but you also don't just sign up.
::It's like you're participating every day in the membership.
::You know, you're celebrating every single day, like, the collective sisterhood.
::And I think that, like, we do this together, and something that's, like, the reason that I'm here is because of a reel that you did.
::And it's like, we never know what we created or what we did that bring people into us.
::But if we can just be ourselves, show up authentically and do what we're passionate about.
::Like, I loved how you said, like, I'm doing this because, like, this is what I experienced.
::But, like, I.
::If anyone's watching this, like, when we air onto the YouTube, it's like, you are glowing.
::Your aura is so big, your joy is so bright.
::And, like, I also have a lot of clients right now where several clients, their mission is to help women love retirement, to love aging.
::How can we love menopause?
::How can we love getting older?
::Meet my clients.
::Like, Rachel, you know, it's like, getting older is actually a gift.
::It's making us wiser.
::But if we can come together and, like, have women that are just now going through, starting their period, have women that are going into motherhood, have women that are going into menopause, and we all get in the same room, like, I'm thinking about here for more live of, like, the red tent, you know, like, let's get into the red tent and take care of each other and nurture each other.
::But also, while we do that, like, let's grow a business where we all get to have impact.
::Sharing our gifts with the world, make insane money, and, like, where's our money going to go?
::Like, who are we going to support?
::How are we going to fund organizations that are studying menopause?
::Like, what do they tell women?
::You know, like, at, when they're gaining weight?
::What do they tell women when they're going through menopause?
::What do they tell women?
::We're told all of these things.
::Why don't us women come together and start talking about, like, what does it actually really feel like?
::Like, yesterday, I went to a sisterhood circle in my community, and four of us all have kids, and three of us are all pregnant, and we're talking about how we feel being pregnant in our first trimester.
::And, like, what's that doing to our love life?
::What's that doing to our hormones?
::What's that doing to our emotions?
::But these things aren't actually talked about enough, you know?
::And I think for you, like, something that I really want you to, like, bring to the conversation because I know you're working on it now, is, like, what is the journey into menopause?
::And, like, how does someone begin to embrace their femininity even when they're losing that part of the feminine journey?
::Well, I think, first of all, there's been this shame associated with menopause, and I think every time that there's shame for women, there's silence.
::And so nothing's talked about, and doctors don't talk about it enough.
::So women are not even prepared medically for average age of menopause is 50.
::Like, that's a useful piece of information to have.
::I wish someone had told me that, you know, and perimenopause would have been really helpful, you know, simple, simple things like, hey, dress in layers.
::It's a really great thing.
::You can take things off if you're hot.
::You can put things on if you're cold.
::It'll really enhance the quality of your life significantly.
::You know, your mood, your hormones are going to be, you know, estrogen and progesterone during perimenopause are going to be fluctuating all over the place.
::So as a result, much like being pregnant, you know, you're on a ride.
::Like, you're on an interesting roller coaster that isn't quite the regular amber, but it's a roller coaster ride.
::And, like, you're on the ride, so, like, tune in and see what you're experiencing and, you know, like, see what you can become more aware of and think about what about it.
::Are you grateful for, you know, what about getting older?
::Are you feeling gratitude for, you know, what do you know now that you didn't know, before.
::I mean, there's so many incredible parts of this, like being able to walk out of the house and really not care what I look like at the all, you know, like, it's not like being a young woman.
::It's like, oh, I didn't brush my hair.
::I'm not wearing any makeup.
::I'm just going to the store, and they're going to have to accept me the way that I am.
::And that's kind of refreshing in a nice way, you know, like, come as you are.
::Like, it's a great feeling to come as you are.
::I've been waiting for that for my whole life.
::It's like freedom of expression, freedom to just be authentically yourself.
::And I think that's something that society and the world has, like, shamed us for.
::And, like, we hold ourselves back because of what other people say, what other people think, what the world says we should do, how the world says we should dress.
::And it's like, what if we could come into that fully expressed, fully embodied, fully authentically, you?
::Sooner.
::Sooner, sooner.
::And I think that's where the world is going now, is more rebellion, more rule breakers, more, like, tell me how I have to do it.
::I'm going to do it the other way.
::That's the movement.
::That's the mission, because we've been put into these boxes, and we've been put into these.
::This is the way it has to be.
::Rules and lies and conditioning.
::And so I love that you say that you can just, like, walk out of the house, show up as you are, because you're literally.
::I just have to keep saying this, just a beaming ray of sunshine, of light, and it's like.
::But that doesn't matter how you dress or what color your hair is or how you use your pronouns in the world.
::It's like that radiant energy that we all hold as universal consciousness, which is something, you know, that we're working on and in for hear from.
::We're live in the wave.
::It's like we go from the me, mine, and I to, like, the universal.
::Like, we are all one.
::We are all connected, minus the body.
::But, like, where the heck did we come from?
::You know, I loved what you said about, like, holding a woman, a baby, a female within your womb.
::And, like, this is why your mission now is, like, to heal the feminine and to help women, like, see the signs and be okay with premenopause and actually love premenopause and, like, look at the gifts that this brings you and the magic that that shares.
::Because I'm sure there's so many things you wish you knew then when you were in that transition and now on the other side.
::Always, always, always.
::In hindsight, we're full of wisdom.
::And that's the wisdom that we get to turn to wealth.
::You know, once we do so much of the inner child and the inner work and the fully coming embodied into who we are in our mission, it's like taking that, not just knowledge.
::Now the wisdom lives in your body because you experienced it.
::And, you know, sharing that with the world, and I love that that's what you're doing now, is like, I know.
::And now I have to share it.
::Like, I can't not share what I know.
::And I'm curious, like, of the books that you've written and the work that you've done, like, what has been the most powerful tool for you to embrace where you're at on the human feminine journey right now?
::I think that whole idea of radical freedom and the whole idea of, I'm here for a short time, and I have a big mission to accomplish and that I have to move with feminine energy, not masculine energy.
::And my feminine, feminine energy is a yemenite going with the flow kind of feeling and doing what.
::What feels right at the right time and not pushing against, not forcing something when it's not right.
::Like, if I'm tired, I'll lie down and I'll take a nap and I'll write later, you know?
::Like, I don't.
::I don't.
::I listen to my body now, you know, if I'm hungry, I'll go eat something, you know?
::And I'm no longer having these battles.
::Instead, I'm just kind of going with the natural flow, and all of a sudden, everything's so much easier.
::It's like, oh, I should have been doing this the whole time, but instead, you know, it's like the.
::You know, the masculine, you know?
::You know, if you're gonna gain, you need pain and, you know, struggle, and it's not true.
::It's.
::It's just simply not true for us.
::It's.
::It's a myth, and there are so many myths.
::That's what I'm finding.
::Yeah.
::And I love what you say about being in the flow, because before we got on this podcast interview, I was like, we're just gonna go with the flow and see where a natural, organic conversation takes.
::Rather than following a script or following the questions, you're like, I love to be in the flow, but I feel like there's this force in the fight.
::In the flow.
::Like, I need to force this to happen.
::I need to make this happen.
::But also, too, it's like, that's a conditioning that we've been given.
::And it's like, what you shared right now is goal.
::What is my body telling me?
::Because I think for so long, we are pushing down and ignoring the signs within our body.
::And something that I've just been living with recently, like, especially since getting pregnant the second round, I just feel like I'm so much more in tune with what my body's telling me.
::But I think that we ignore those signs because we're not told how to listen to the body.
::We listen to the body when it's like, am I hungry?
::Do I need to poop?
::Do I have to pee?
::But, like, there's so many other signs of, like, does this excite me?
::Does this activate me?
::Does this scare me?
::Does this make me nervous?
::And it's like, what does this mean?
::What's underneath of that?
::What am I here to learn about the signals of my body?
::And it's like, the more that we listen to those, the subtler the message is received.
::Because normally we're so busy doing doing that, when we do get an opportunity to slow down, we're afraid of what we're noticing and what we're experiencing.
::And that's why in yoga, it's like, feel what's in the body and someone's like, I cried, and I don't even know why I'm crying.
::It's why dis ease is a dis ease within the body.
::And that's why when we ignore the signs for so long, it shows up as a disease, cancer, illness, something worse.
::But, like, your body was telling you this a long time ago.
::Something that I've really been coming into is, like, what is embodiment?
::What does it actually mean to, like, be aware of what my body is telling me and then to act upon it or to be within it?
::And how can we be within what our body is telling us and make empowered decisions regardless of what the world tells us or our mentor or our friends or external sources?
::Like, we all have the power right here within us.
::Should I do this or shouldn't I do that?
::Oh, this food made me feel this way.
::That food.
::You know, we are told this diet or this exercise or this regiment, but, like, not everyone can intermittent fast.
::It can take our hormones completely out of whack.
::And yet, like, they tell us intermittent fasting is the best way.
::And it's, like, one of the ways that I screwed up my hormones, like, weekly, you know?
::And so I really love that you brought that wisdom here.
::The body.
::Oh, and listening to ourselves and trusting ourselves, and we're all individuals, and we all have to learn to really look in the mirror and to kind of become as self reflective as we can and to tune into that inner landscape, basically.
::And I think the more we're tuned into that inner landscape, the wiser we are and the smoother the external flow is.
::Like, when I saw you, it was like, okay, we're going to Costa Rica in December, you know, it was just like, hell, yes.
::You know, and we know right away when someone says something or invites us or mentions something, you know?
::Like, you know when it's a hell, yes, you know, like, I'm there, I want to be there, you know?
::And with that hell yes that you felt for Costa Rica and saying yes, it's like you knew you paid.
::Like, I'm there.
::I'm curious for you.
::Like, was there any limiting beliefs or doubts or questions or was it just like, I felt it, I knew I moved, because I know sometimes we feel it, we're about to move, and then the mind gets in the way, and then we slow ourselves down from actually.
::But I always like, is this a full body?
::Yes for you?
::Like, I believe in God given timeline, and I also think that we find ourselves waiting and holding back and saying, next year.
::But that's what keeps us from being in the flow, is the mind getting in the way and all of the logistics.
::But, like, the feminine is like, I know I should be there.
::I go.
::And that's really how I lived out this year is like, if it makes me richer, I'm in.
::And I mean richer in connection, richer in experience.
::You're richer in embodiment, richer in all of the ways.
::And yeah, that richer has costed me a lot of money, but the investment in my becoming, I feel like I lived so many lifetimes this year because I followed the yes even when I didn't know why I was saying yes.
::Then the lessons came afterwards.
::Yes.
::Absolutely no.
::There was no hesitation.
::It just feels like this is the time to completely invest in myself.
::And I think the cancer kind of taught me that, you know, like, none of us know how long we're gonna be here for.
::And so, like, the time is right now, you know, and I think that a lot of us keep thinking, like, oh, you know, there's going to be plenty of time for that, or, you know, we'll do that down the road and, you know, that's not the most productive way of thinking about it.
::Like, the investment that you put in yourself is going to always be the most important investment ever.
::And I've seen this over and over again with my patients.
::I mean, one of the most gratifying things for me has been seeing my patients stop the inner generational transmission of trauma in their families that's been passed from generation to generation to generation.
::And finally they're like, no, I'm going to do the work, and I'm not passing that down.
::And then I watch them raise their kids and their beautiful parents, and they have beautiful kids, and there's none of that old garbage going down.
::And it's just like, it just warms my heart so much, you know, to, like, see, like, all of their hard work and what, what they've brought into the world and the magic of these young people and, and thinking about all of their creativity and gifts.
::It's, like, so exciting, really.
::You just love speaking it about it.
::So beautiful.
::I'm so excited to share this space with you in December, to have you out here for more live and the masterpiece retreat and see what happens and manifest for you on the other side.
::For those that are listening, tell us more about your menopause workshop that is coming up.
::I believe the dates are October 20, 28th and 29th.
::But go ahead, give us a rundown.
::Tell us what it is.
::Tell us who it's for.
::And I will link that into the show notes for anyone that wants to join.
::But, like, tell me, what is it?
::Oh, it's going to be incredibly awesome because it's.
::It's going to be an opportunity for women to come together for two days, and we're going to have a Jo Davis and I, who are soul sisters and fellow creatives and close friends, and we'll be chatting together about all things menopause and answering all kinds of questions and getting into all kinds of important discussions and diving deep, you know, really doing a deep dive so that finally the information that women have really needed is finally out there.
::And they've already put.
::People can download a chapter from my menopause book for free right now if they're interested in, you know, taking, taking a look and, you know, seeing if that's helpful.
::And, you know, I think it's going to be awesome.
::Really amazing.
::Share with me the links for the book.
::So anyone listening, you can download that free chapter that you spoke of.
::Where is this woman at in her menopause journey?
::And what type of questions will, will she get answered and where will she be after this workshop?
::She is right in the middle of her menopause journey.
::So it's like, I think it's really good in the sense that she's right in the middle of it and I'm past it.
::So you get two women at two different points in time.
::And she's an artist and she is in intuitive and she has, she's an international bestselling author as well.
::And she runs retreats in Mexico for women that are looking to learn about radical freedom.
::So she's awesome.
::I really love that you have a woman who's in the midst of menopause going to be there hosting this workshop and someone on the other side.
::Because for me, what I feel like is it's going to answer the questions of, like, what I'm experiencing now in the moment and how I got to the other side.
::So it's like you get to ride the wave of this journey from where you are till the end, because that's what it is.
::It's in a journey.
::And the emotions that you spoke of before, it's like, it's an emotion, an emotional roller coaster.
::It's a wave of emotions and different signs and symptoms and feelings that this workshop can help to normalize what one is going through, but also to do it with other people who are going through it.
::Because I think that this is a huge piece of, like my why for here, for more live.
::It's like we're all here devoted to our becoming, to being a student, to being the best leader, to healing limiting beliefs and old stories and ancestral trauma.
::But also like, growing a business is really easy in the strategy piece, but in the emotional human piece, it's hard.
::Like, on paper, menopause looks easy, but like, in the woman's body, what we think and what we feel in the external things that happen to our bodies because of this transition, that's not easy.
::And that's why coming together for here, for more live.
::If you want to grow your business, if you want to grow your impact, but also coming to this amazing workshop with Rachel, if you are in pre menopause.
::Menopause and you want to be supported in a community of other women who are at that point in their journey, because together, everything gets to be easier.
::And we don't have to do this alone.
::We don't have to go through motherhood alone.
::We don't have to go through marriage troubles alone.
::We don't have to go through growing our business alone.
::We don't have to go through menopause alone.
::Like healing sisterhood is so important that we find people that we can trust, that we can relate to, and we can heal and grow with.
::And so I will put into the show notes Rachel's amazing workshop the link for here for more live.
::If you have any questions, you can dm me Amber Hagberg on Instagram and I'll also put doctor Rachel Walsh's bush's Instagram in pregnancy brain is happening here.
::So grateful that you came onto this podcast that you're coming to hear from more live.
::And even more grateful, as I mentioned when we hit record on this podcast, that this conversation is becoming welcomed.
::And not just becoming welcomed, it's becoming sought after because we need to normalize what happens in the human body.
::Whether it's starting your period, going into postpartum and all the emotions that you feel there or going into menopause.
::Like to have people in this and through this journey because it's a wave of emotions and we need our sisters to get through and onto the other side.
::So such an honor to have this conversation with you, Rachel.
::And I'm so excited to see you in December.
::I can't wait.
::Thank you so much for having me here.
::It really has been.
::It's just meant the world to me to have a chance to talk with you.
::You're an incredible person.
::Yeah.
::I'm going to put all of Rachel's information so you can go and follow find her.
::Grab 1235 or nine and I will talk to you on the next episode.
::Thank you, Rachel.
::Thank you, Amber.
::I love.
