Today's episode is about grief. Or at least it starts out that way, but the conversation evolves into being about authenticity, purpose and desire. And weirdly, as you listen, you'll find that these topics make sense together. Because for as heavy and all-encompassing as grief feels while you're in it, it's inseparable from some of the most essential questions in life. Who am I? What am I here to do? And what do I really want?

Uma Girish is a Grief Companion, Human Design guide, and the author of four books, including Sacred Fire: Memoir of a Marriage. She works with women who are grieving a loss and feeling lost, helping them navigate not just the death of a loved one, but the "lower-case losses"—breakups, changing roles, diagnoses, empty nesting, and the years spent not choosing themselves. Uma serves as a compassionate witness, helping women listen to what grief is asking of them and who they are becoming in the process.

► Grief as an Identity Reset
► Spiritual Bypassing vs. True Feeling
► The nervous system's and mind's common responses to loss
► Human Design as a Soul Map
► Reclaiming Desire

► Website: https://umagirish.com/
► Substack: Light After Loss (via website)
► Book: Sacred Fire: Memoir of a Marriage
► Special Offer: Uma is offering a free 20-minute Human Design Highlights reading to the first two listeners who email her with their birth details.

If you loved this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can learn more about how to support Jay's work and the show at https://buymeacoffee.com/jaymoonfields

► Website: https://jaymoonfields.com
► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heywaitwithjay/
► Books: https://www.amazon.com/less-lost-finding-yourself-ordinary/dp/B0FSDSG63B
► Coaching Program: https://jaymoonfields.com/coaching
► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaymoonfields/

Have a question for the podcast? Send it in — it may be featured in a future episode.

This podcast was produced by Viv – First Click VA.
For collaboration or podcast support, contact: viv@firstclickva.com

Original Music produced by Dalton Grant

Have you ever felt like your nervous system is pressing the gas pedal and the brake at the same time? In the first solo episode of Season Two, Jay explores the often-overlooked "Fawn" stress response, a survival strategy that prioritizes connection over authenticity. If you find yourself shape-shifting to please others or losing touch with your own needs to keep the peace, this episode will help you understand that it isn't a personality flaw; it's your nervous system trying to keep you safe.

Jay Moon Fields is a somatic coach, author, and the host of Hey Wait. She works with people who struggle to stay connected to themselves while connecting with others, bringing deep insight into nervous system regulation, embodiment, and "unfawning."

► The "Hey, Wait" Tool: Using two simple words as a reset button to interrupt default patterns and reorient to your own needs.
► Defining the Fawn Response: Understanding the fourth stress response (alongside fight, flight, and freeze) as "responding to a threat by becoming more appealing to the threat."
► The High-Functioning Fawner: Why fawning often hides in plain sight, looking like competence, empathy, and success on the outside while feeling like numbness and resentment on the inside.
► A Personal Confession: Jay shares a vulnerable (and slightly ridiculous) story about fawning at the airport with her husband.
► The Path to "Unfawning": An introduction to the steps required to heal, including nervous system regulation, reparenting, and parts work.

If you're interested in learning more about Jay's signature online program, Yours Truly, that teaches you the steps to heal fawning, visit https://jaymoonfields.com/yours-truly.

Use the code heywait-100 at checkout to receive $100 off your registration.

If you loved this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can learn more about how to support Jay's work and the show at https://buymeacoffee.com/jaymoonfields

► Website: https://jaymoonfields.com
► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heywaitwithjay/
► Books: https://www.amazon.com/less-lost-finding-yourself-ordinary/dp/B0FSDSG63B
► 1:1 Coaching: https://jaymoonfields.com/coaching
► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaymoonfields/

Have a question for the podcast? Send it in — it may be featured in a future episode.

This podcast was produced by Viv – First Click VA.
For collaboration or podcast support, contact: viv@firstclickva.com

Original Music produced by Dalton Grant

This week's episode feels less like an interview and more like a homecoming. Jay sits down to steep in a conversation with Angelo Lazenka, one of her main mentors who shaped her life and work.

Angelo is wilderness rites of passage guide and the former Director and President of the School of Lost Borders. He has worked with thousands of individuals seeking growth and insight in the wilderness and brings deep insight into the practice of living, dying, and the healing of the "lie of separation."

At 72 years old, Angelo is stepping away from the role of guide and moving into the next chapter of elderhood. In that way, this conversation comes from a "liminal space," the in-between times when you are no longer who you were, but not yet who you are becoming.

► What rites of passage really are—and why they are so rare and necessary in our time.

► The vital distinction between self-improvement and true intimacy with life.

► Healing the "lie of separation" between ourselves, nature, and one another.

► Navigating the shift from adulthood into the rich, stewardship-focused territory of elderhood.

► How to answer the call of "that which you've always been, but have yet to become."

► Website: www.schooloflostborders.org

If you loved this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can learn more about how to support Jay's work and the show at https://buymeacoffee.com/jaymoonfields

► Website: https://jaymoonfields.com
► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heywaitwithjay/
► Books: https://www.amazon.com/less-lost-finding-yourself-ordinary/dp/B0FSDSG63B
► Coaching Program: https://jaymoonfields.com/coaching
► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaymoonfields/

Have a question for the podcast? Send it in — it may be featured in a future episode.

This podcast was produced by Viv – First Click VA.
For collaboration or podcast support, contact: viv@firstclickva.com

Original Music produced by Dalton Grant