Today we’d like to introduce you to Leanne Elliott.
Hi Leanne, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I came from a twenty-five year career as a wedding planner in Santa Barbara Wine Country. When the change of midlife arrived, I knew it was time to pivot and begin to think more seriously about what I wanted the second half of my life to look like. I had been a freelance writer for a stint when my children were very young, so I imagined resurrecting that career. What I discovered coming out of two decades self-employed, was a dramatically changed world — one where I no longer easily fit in any one box, nor a greatly expanded idea of what being “qualified” looks like. I remember trying to revise my resume to post it on LinkedIn, thinking where’s the part that I include being up all night with a feverish child, while still making it on time to my meetings the next day, with a Power Point vision board, and napkin swatches in hand. I tried but ultimately know what I was seeking was not on the other side of that resume update.
Not knowing what to do next, I took what was meant to be a short sabbatical to consider my options. What started as a few months off, turned into a midlife sojourn of the soul that took me deep within to mine places I had not named or remembered for many, many years. During this time off, I started a podcast (Living Wellness Muse Podcast) to talk with other women about the midlife journey. I launched a companion Magazine (LIvingwellnessmag.com) to explore and define what it means to walk through midlife not just physically, but spiritually, personally and professionally.
Then, energy healing found me, and claimed me. I had been working with a reiki practitioner as a patient for over a year at that point, and had been offered the opportunity to be “attuned” on several occasion. When I was asked to help plan an attunement retreat, I said yes, welcoming the task that felt so familiar. At that retreat I was attuned to Level One, a few months later I was attuned to level two and after that experience something deeper unlocked in me. It felt like I had come home to myself in a new way. I explored this new ability with curiosity, treating friends and family on a used massage table I got from Facebook Marketplace. When people experienced profound shifts, they starting offering to pay me, so I figured I might have a the beginning of a new career; but more than that, a new purpose. It was during the sessions that followed that I began to tap a clairvoyant ability that I always knew was there, but finally had the space to fully reveal itself.
But something else was brewing under all of this. The unrelenting menopausal symptoms–hot flashes, disconnection, exhaustion, foggy brain, apathy–that had been plaguing me, started to lift and dissipate. I wasn’t just feeling better, I was feeling transformed. As I compared notes with other midlife women on a similar journey, I began to trace a thread that connected the midlife journey to a meaning that was beyond suffering, confusion, aging and fear for what this all means. I was discovering a connection between turning toward this process not as punishment but transformation. Perfect design. Divine, refinement for a life that has so much more to live, and a future full of renewed purpose.
It was from this connection that I was called forward to create a program called Midlife Alchemy™, a journey through the 5 Gateways of transformation. This curated container is designed specifically for midlife women walking on the journey of evolving identity, and renewed purpose. Through community connection, and self-paced, supportive resources, this is a space to talk honestly about the challenges of midlife, heal the past, connect with other women, and walk this season together.
This is the season for women to come together in community, and claim this time for dreaming into a vision for the next chapter.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road here was bumpy. I had walked myself all the way to this point, and I was the only one who could walk myself out of what I no longer wanted to do, and who I no longer wanted to be. While I could find support from friends and family, it was a lot of lonely journey, especially because I had left the belonging and influence that I had enjoyed for so long in my industry.
This was a complete overhaul of my life from top to bottom – my professional identity, my relationships, my sense of purpose, where I belong, and what I’m meant to do with my life. This was less about a career pivot – which is how it started – and became a real soul-search for what I am specifically here to do in this lifetime. Not just to make money, but what was my vocation, my purpose, my core gifts, offered in a way that was unique to me, while still serving others.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I conceived Living Wellness and Midlife Alchemy™ after flipping through a stack of lifestyle publications and realizing nothing truly reflected my own wellness and midlife journey. I wasn’t looking for just another list of healthy recipes — she was longing for something that could nourish the soul, offer reflection, and honor the changing seasons and rhythms of a woman’s life.
As a support to midlife women, am an energy healer, intuitive medium, editor of the Living Wellness Magazine, and host of the Living Wellness Muse podcast. I help women reclaim their own inner wisdom and step into the aligned leadership of their lives.
I am known for my grounded insight and intuitive clarity, and as a guide through the stages of transformation that allows for grace, courage, and humor during a notoriously difficult season for a woman. Within my energy practice and the Midlife Alchemy™ community, I tap the raw and radiant truth of midlife becoming — inviting every woman to return to a life that doesn’t just look well, but lives well.
I am most proud of this journey that has allowed me to step into a life that feel truly all my own, for the first time. In this homecoming, I have been able to care for myself, while giving back in a way that gives me life and joy.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I know now that everyone of us has a unique purpose here. There is no need to compare with others, because we arrive with the gifts needed to fulfill our destiny, whatever that may be. For some that purpose is extravagant and public, for others it might be quiet and private. Or somewhere in-between. Either way, your purpose is uniquely yours to discover, and midlife is the perfect time to explore the possibilities, and claim the life that only you can live.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.leanneelliott.com/
- Instagram: @livingwellnessmuse
- Facebook: @livingwellnessmuse
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leanne-cooper-elliott-638985250/
- Youtube: Living Wellness Muse
- Other: https://www.leanneelliott.com/midlifealchemy
