Sometimes you have to dress for the next chapter before you know the plot 📚

Hello beautiful soul

“In the first week I knew the environment wasn’t right for me… but I told myself I should give it more time.”

A woman said that to me this past week, and it stopped me in my tracks—because I’ve heard it so many times before.

Not just in work. In love. In life. I’ve even said it myself.

Eighteen months ago, my life looked full and vibrant.

I’d moved to America. I believed I was married to the love of my life.
We’d just renovated our home.
We were healing from a failed IVF round, and I told myself: we’re getting stronger.

From the outside: progress. Inside? I felt wonky.

And the hardest truth? I’d known something wasn’t right a few weeks in to being there. But I told myself: it’s a big change—just give it more time.

Two years in my body started screaming the truth I wasn’t ready to face.

Tight chest. Restless sleep. Constant alertness.
A thudding head. Tense shoulders. Sciatica in my left hip.
I couldn’t rest. I couldn’t breathe fully. I couldn’t be.

When the logic wasn't logic-ing and clarity was nowhere to be found, I followed my intuition.

#1: First came a somatic healing immersion with Gabor Maté and Bessel van der Kolk.
I saw it and signed up immediately... telling myself it was to become a better coach. I arrived nervous, unsure what I was even doing there.
I left cracked open, raw, and flooded with something that felt like ancient grief and ancient knowing.

#2: Then came the lotus flower earrings.
I was wandering through a market in Bristol, my hometown, not looking for anything, when I saw them.
Lotus flowers. Unlike anything I’d normally wear.
But I felt something stir deep inside. I needed them.

The lotus, I would later realise, grows only through the mud.
Its thousand-petalled bloom is a symbol of the crown, of awakening, of the soul made visible.

I was dressing into the next version of myself before I knew who she was.

#3: Then in London, I walked into Le Labo to buy my usual perfume—Labdanum 18.
I’d worn it for years. My signature scent.
But that day, I left with Lavande 31 instead. Feminine. Sweeter. Yet more powerful. 
A new scent for a new self. A new season that was about to unfold. 

Each of these steps was small, but together they formed a drumbeat.
A rhythm returning me to something older. Something wiser.

4: I started studying Ayurveda, something I’d always been drawn to but had never gone deep with. 
Something told me my truth of what was happening in my body lied somewhere in this ancient system of living intelligence and I was right. 

I began to bring my body into alignment—gently, consistently, reverently.

5: I had an energetic awakening in a meditation practice, and started to be pulled into Kundalini yoga.

I've been a Yoga Teacher since 2016, but I had managed to avoid, read run away from Kundalini before then. Suddenly I could feel my life force running through me—alive, electric, sacred.

6: I stopped wearing what I thought I should wear, and started dressing how I felt.

My clothes softened. I softened. My truth began to take up space in my body again.

And as I rooted deeper into these ancient practices, something became clear: The truth of most things lies in what the old ways already knew.

Indigenous wisdom. Earth-based traditions. Customs of reverence—for the land, for the body, for each other.

And through it all, something became clear:

The truth of most things lies in what the old ways already knew.

Indigenous wisdom. Earth-based practices.
Customs rooted in reverence—for the land, for the body, for each other.

Somehow, through all this unravelling, I hadn’t fallen apart.
I’d come home to myself.

And from that place of reverence, I could finally see.

I saw the man I married for who he really was at that time—not the story I told, not the hope I held. The truth. Not the fantasy.

It wasn’t a mask I pulled off. It was a veil of delusion and hope. Mine.
Built from love and longing. Layered with effort.
But no longer able to survive in the light of who I had become.

Because the woman I was becoming could no longer live inside the life I had built.

And eigtheen months on...? I am living a life that feels sublime, safe and truly aligned. This is me yesterday, on my way to a friends wedding in France.

I share this not because I think you need to burn your life down or make the kind of big changes I had to. 

I share it because you already know what isn’t working.
You already know what’s shrinking you.
You just filed it under “not yet” or “maybe later” or “it’s not that bad.”

So I’ll ask you now:

What truth will you ‘learn’ a months from now that your body already knows today?

You don’t have to name the change. You don’t have to see the whole path. You just have to start walking.

Buy the strange earrings. Say yes to the class. Try the practice. Speak the small truth. Let your body lead.

Tiny choices become armour. Whispers become knowing. Knowing becomes courage. Courage becomes freedom.

Sat Nam is how we greet each other in Kundalini.
It means: Truth is my name.

That’s the practice I’ve been living into every day.
Not perfection. Not performance. Just truth.

And that’s my invitation to you...
Not to quit your job or end your relationship or uproot your life.
But to begin the sacred work of not pretending anymore.

Because the moment we stop lying to ourselves?
That’s when the real path appears.

That’s the journey I’m on right now with the brilliant women inside Women Who Lead… and I love this work so much.

This week I hosted our monthly AMA session, where we brought the real stuff—raw, messy, human. Like:

“Around some leaders, I freeze. I can’t get my words out the way I want.”
We explored how to regulate the nervous system and speak with clarity, even when the room feels intimidating.

“I want to take a real break—but I’m scared it’ll hurt my career.”
We talked about what it means to rest without vanishing, and how to create space without losing your seat at the table.

“I’m doing so much, but still feel like I’m not doing enough.”
We looked at how to honour our wins, shift out of survival mode, and lead from a place of sufficiency, not scarcity.

Because here’s the truth:

We’re not fixing ourselves.
We’re remembering who we’ve always been.

What’s one small step your future self is waiting for you to take?
Reply and tell me. I read every message.

Rooting for you always
Ruth x

Ps. This week I went live with Marta Faria—somatic therapist and nervous system guide—for a conversation on how The Body Keeps the Score in leadership.

We talked about why so many of us still freeze, over-function, or shut down in high-stakes moments… even when we know better. Catch the replay here.

Embodied is the new empowered. | LinkedIn The body keeps the score- but are you listening? You can journal your way through it. Talk your way through it. Even logic your way throu... www.linkedin.com

Pps. If you’re craving deeper alignment, the next Women Who Lead cohort begins this September.

Reply READY and I’ll make sure you’re first to know when the waitlist opens