Follow Your Heart And See The Magic Start (Guest: Isabelle Nanin)

Today's guest, Isabelle Nanin, shares how she followed her intuition, moved to Ecuador, and is now doing what she loves. 

Isabelle's own experience to pursue her dreams was the springboard to her discovering her soul's purpose. She became a Women's Empowerment Coach and created Fenix Coaching & Training to accompany professional, introverted women and female entrepreneurs to: enhance their self-belief and turn their self-doubt into success.

Learn more about Isabelle and Fenix Coaching here:  https://www.fenixcoachingtraining.com 

Connect with Isabelle here: www.linkedin.com/in/isabelle-nanin-magic-women- 

About your Host:
Lauren Tatner, founder of Law of Happy, is an inspirational teacher, attorney, author, wellness arts practitioner, and inspirational clown. She is certified as a Reiki Teacher, Consulting Hypnotist, and Meditation Teacher, Laughter Yoga Leader, and Fitness Instructor Specialist. She also trained in Theatre, Dance, Zumba, Voice, Mediation, Public Speaking, Improv, Clown, Comedy, Past Life Regression (with American Psychiatrist, Dr. Brian Weiss), Shamanism, and Qigong.

Lauren has always been fascinated with the mind, body, and spirit connection. She is passionate about teaching the power of laughter, meditation, and movement in a fun and relatable way. When Lauren gives talks and leads workshops in the corporate and private sectors, she uses a unique approach that integrates elements of her diverse skills and experience.

Lauren is the mother of twins and a rescue pup.

- Follow Lauren on IG @TheLawofHappy
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- Interested in laughing with Lauren on the show or in a customized workshop: Get in touch

Transcript

0:10

Welcome back to the Law of Happy podcast. I'm your host, Lauren Tatner. I'm an attorney and I teach laughter as an exercise. When we laugh, we feel good and we raise our energy. This allows more good, fun things to flow into our experience. This is the law of happy. So let's laugh, have fun, and practice the law of happy together. I get so inspired, hearing, personal stories from people who follow their intuition, even if it means moving to another part of the world and are doing what they love. I want to thank my friend and mentor John Coldwell for having connected me to my friend and today's guest Isabelle, Nana. From Paris, France to Quito Ecuador via Sheffield, England. Isabel has been living in Quito, Ecuador. It's 2009. Her own experience to pursue her dreams and fulfill them was the springboard for her to discover her real purpose. She became a women's empowerment coach and created phoenix coaching and training to accompany professional introverted women and female entrepreneurs to enhance their self-belief and turn their self doubt into success please join me in giving a warm welcome to Isabelle.

Lauren: 1:15

Hi, Isabel. Welcome to the Law of Happy Podcast. I'm so happy that you're here as a guest. Thank you for being here.

Isabelle: 1:22

Thank you very much, Lauren. I'm really honoured to be on your, on your show.

Lauren: 1:25

So I'm excited and I'm excited too. Oh, good. So to start, I thought it would be fun to do a fun, simple laughter, laughter exercise. So I'm a laughter yoga leader, I find laughter is such a quick. Way to to feel good to raise our energy and to be silly, let go. I mean, there are so many benefits to laughter. It's I'll get into that at another episode, but but the bottom line is, is that you feel good when you laugh and for laughter yoga, we're combining breathing, laughter exercises, and just, you know, allowing ourselves to be Childlike and just just to be playful and we're choosing to laugh as an exercise, a form of exercise. And on purpose, we're not relying on, you know, on humor or something to make us laugh. We're choosing to laugh to get the benefits. So it can sound a little funny or silly if, if, one isn't used to it. So what I like to tell people is as long as you're open minded, it's all you need to be. And to just be gentle with yourself because it's a practice that can feel, you know, a little weird or different at first. Okay, let's just, let's just get into it. So this exercise we're going to do is called the Laughter Name Game. So I'm going to start. So I'll introduce myself. And I'm going to say my name, and I'll also say my favorite color, and then I'm going to laugh, and then you join me and laugh with me, and then, and then you'll introduce yourself. Okay, so, hi, my name is Lauren, and my favorite color is pink. Well, I'm

Isabelle: 3:19

Isabel and my favorite

Lauren: 3:21

color is blue. Well,

Isabelle: 3:32

that's really fun. I feel like I've released all the

Lauren: 3:35

tension. Yes, me too. I know we're not supposed to overthink anything, but I just want to tell you something. Because before Isabel and I recorded, we just quickly did a laughter. We did a lot, you know, a laughter exercise. It's a practice warmup. We did the same exercise and I said my favorite color. Was it blue? And now I said pink, but I just want to reassure you, Isabel, that they're both my favorite colors. Okay. To be honest, I don't like pink. Well, it's good. You're being honest and, you know, true to yourself. Exactly. So that's good. And you were consistent with blue. So that's interesting to hear. So thank you for, for laughing with me and doing that exercise. So, okay, so, oh my gosh, I'm feeling, Very great. So, so Isabel, I I want to learn more about you and your, your journey. I mean, I, yeah, I find everything that you do, your background fascinating. So where are you right? You're, you're, where are you now? You're in, you live in? I live in

Isabelle: 4:48

Ecuador in South America. It's a small country between Colombia and Peru. It's not very well known, but it's fantastic. Four different regions. And people are so nice and I came as a backpacker a few years ago. And I just fell in love with this little country and

Lauren: 5:10

came back. Wow. So, cause you're not originally, you're not originally from Ecuador. You're, you're originally

Isabelle: 5:18

from? From France. Right. I'm French. I'm from Paris area near Versailles. I was born in Versailles. I studied in in France but went to England as well where I stayed 14 years. And then I remembered that I had a dream when I was younger to go to South America, and I followed my heart and my

Lauren: 5:43

dream. Wow, that's incredible. When you say dream, was it, I mean was it a dream that you had while you were asleep or was it a dream that you like a daydream or

Isabelle: 5:54

something? I really want to do. Probably a daydream or visualization or imagination that one day I would go there. One day, not leave there, but go there.

Lauren: 6:06

Wow. So one second. So your plan initially was to backpack for a certain amount of time. Yeah. Time or like what was the original probably

Isabelle: 6:15

about five months. You know, and on my own I spoke the language anyway before I left, so that was easier.

Lauren: 6:26

Okay. And I don't want to cut you off, but were you in your teens or your twenties then, or? Oh, no, I was 36 at the time. Okay. That's amazing because you know what, first of all, I, I asked you that just to, for our listeners in case, you know, it can inspire any, inspire anyone and to show people you can follow your dream and do what feels right for you. Anytime. I, first of all, I don't believe in chronological age. That's a whole other topic. You can follow your heart anytime. There are no limits. So that's very inspiring.

Isabelle: 6:59

Exactly. I mean I was in sales. I had a fantastic job in England. And something was missing in my life. I just thought I'm grateful, but that's not what I want anymore. And and I sat with myself literally in a very nice space, you know, silence. And I just asked my heart and I just said, well, what's going on? What should I do? And suddenly it came up and it was just like, Hey, do you remember when you were 18, you wanted to go to

Lauren: 7:34

South America? Okay, so I thank you for sharing this part of the story too, because I think it's key. So you said that when you sat with yourself, or you just you had this feeling in you that you weren't doing exactly what you wanted to be doing necessarily, or to continue doing it like that. And you sat with yourself. In silence, or in a way where you quieted your mind and were able to tune in to your inner self, inner self. Exactly. So I, yes, I find that is key so that you know that it's really your, your inner being or your inner self or your true self that, that where this is coming from, because I find if we don't tune into ourself like that, we don't know, is it just like, you know, our mind playing tricks on us? Is it just the chatter or our mind just on Overdrive or is it really from our core, our inner being. And so the way to, to do that, like you said, is to sit with yourself in, in silence or in a way where you've quieted your mind a bit to, to really feel and tune inward to reflect within. And so do you have a like a technique that you did then to, to tune in inside?

Isabelle: 8:50

Well, I think as you said, you need to get rid of all the the, the talk, you know, in your head and just silence your mind breathing helps a lot meditation, obviously, but just being nice to yourself and just being a quiet place. Everybody's different. But the silence is very important because otherwise you won't be able to to hear the answer. For me was just like sitting down and just in a silent room and just think, okay, My body is saying to me that I'm not aligned anymore because that was my alarm. I was getting sad, I was getting angry. I wasn't satisfied anymore with my life, and I had everything. Don't get me wrong, but that was, in a way it's horrible to set up. It's not that it wasn't enough, it's that it wasn't, I was, I felt that I wasn't on the right path and my body was telling me, so I had to listen. Otherwise, I think I would've gone for burnout. And, and that's the thing. Sometimes we carry on for whatever reason could be because we've been told that we have to carry on, or we are afraid of losing our job or, or, or changing because it's, it's not easy to change. But I was feeling that I wasn't in limbo, so I wasn't there and I wasn't somewhere else either in my future, so I had to make a decision Better as well. So basically for me, what, what worked was to

Lauren: 10:35

be in silence. Right. Yes, exactly. That was just, yeah, the way to turn within and inward and to check in with how are you feeling? Is this how you want to continue living and you felt that no, there was something else you wanted to do. And you made the decision that going, to Ecuador and backpacking was going to be the, the next step that felt good and right for you.

Isabelle: 11:05

Well, I backpacked in South America. Actually, I started with Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and went to Ecuador. Ecuador was my last destination South American destination. And I had planned to meet a friend from England in New York. And when she phoned me and she said to me, Hey, I've got my ticket. My heart sunk because I fell in love with Ecuador. There was something obvious. I had to come back.

Lauren: 11:41

Okay. So how long after did you go like, then what was then what happened? Well, I

Isabelle: 11:47

stayed eight months in France when my heart wasn't in it. My heart was somewhere else. And so I went

Lauren: 11:55

back to Ecuador. Okay. You went back to Ecuador. Nice. So the first time that you went, well, the first time that you went back, it was just to, to visit a bit more or to. To

Isabelle: 12:08

see if I could make a life there. And then I had some health problems. So went back to France and in 2009, I said to my mom, I have to go. I have to go back. It's unfinished business. I can feel it. Wow. And, and went back and here I am since 2009. I've been here permanently made the choice to be here. I've got the double nationality as well. I'm Ecuadorian

Lauren: 12:40

too. Okay. That's amazing. You're so in touch with your intuition, because I believe we all have, you know, intuition, but it's about tapping into it or, or just learning how to access it and trust it, like to recognize it and trust it. So were you always like as a child, do you remember being, well, yeah, being very in touch with your

Isabelle: 13:04

intuition? Yes. Some people will see images feel things. So I feel when it's good for me or when it's not. Mm. And probably because I listen even more now because at some point I didn't listen and I paid for it and I learned half Mm-hmm. So but yes I've got like goosebumps sometimes and I know that it's the right decision. So I really do follow my inner wisdom.

Lauren: 13:35

Mm hmm. And like you said, you know, the times, because I mean, I, I can think too of, I'm attached to my intuition as well and, and follow it usually, but there are times when like, I guess if I'm really tired or if I didn't quiet my mind and I'll sort of like rationalize or, or sort of disregard my intuition so like you said, I agree, like those times when we don't listen to it, it's a great learning experience about the power of intuition and how it's, it's trying to guide us for our greatest. Good. And we can learn from it either way. So thank you for, for sharing that. I'm so inspired by by your journey and how it unfolded. And I think that's amazing. And so you've been working in well,

Isabelle: 14:22

I used to be in sales and three years ago, I decided to be a woman's empowerment coach. Because I feel and I truly believe that we need help and I wish I had had some help at the time, you know, when I was in limbo, doubting, shall I stay, shall I leave? What am I going to do with my life? Being stuck? I felt at the time that I was, you know, at the entrance of a roundabout and you go round and round and round and you don't know if you go right, straight on, left. And and that's why I just thought if I can guide. Those women who are stuck at the moment or felt stuck as I did at the time, well, that's what I want to

Lauren: 15:06

do. Oh, that's amazing. So can you can you tell us more about how you help people tune into their. Own intuition, right? To make the well,

Isabelle: 15:19

to accept the way they are, the beauty all the beauties they've got inside and the self confidence because without self confidence, we can't do anything. But what we don't realize that as human nature, we focus on what we haven't got or what we haven't done instead of looking back at all. The experiences we've had and what we've learned from them. Yes. Which makes us stronger and that makes. grow in a way. So that's why I like to to always go back to self confidence

Lauren: 15:57

Yes. And what you said is so key that it really does come down to having the self confidence, knowing your, your worth, your value and self love. Like, I know that these are all terms that a lot of people are using these days and knowing that it's so important, but I find a lot of people have a tricky time. Like, how do they develop, you know, the self confidence and the self love and like they hear that they should be this way or it's. Helpful to be, you know, to have these to feel this way, but how do they do it, you know, in practical terms. So you guide them through practical ways to develop these habits of these. And

Isabelle: 16:34

I. Give them tools or we do exercises so they can go back and tap, into the intuition, but as well into their experiences and the skills they've found they've gained through difficult situation. Because we are so resilient, but we don't see

Lauren: 16:53

it. Right, right. And I like what you said, too, about reflecting back on past experiences as a way to learn and move forward. Because I don't believe it's not about living in the past or feeling guilty or bad about certain decisions or circumstances. It's about Growing from it and, and seeing what what you can learn from it. And I find that when you can do that, even those experiences that didn't feel so great in the past, when you can recognize what it taught you and what you've learned from it, it can even, it can launch you even, even to a better, stronger place on your path and journey. So I find that a lot of fun to to connect those dots and launch forward like that. It's like a springboard,

Isabelle: 17:42

right? You use that to just move to the next level and expand your comfort zone as well. Just say, okay, well, I know I'm scared, but I'm going there. I'm just going to see where the magic can start. I'm just going to share with you on a personal basis, that's what I do. I actually, when I feel that I'm scared, I know that's where I have to go so I can

Lauren: 18:06

grow. Thank you for sharing that it's the first time that I've heard that described like that. That's a very good motto. Can you just say it one more time? I just want to process this again. When I

Isabelle: 18:18

get scared, I know that's where I have to go to grow.

Lauren: 18:23

I like that. I like that. And then you're just, and then you don't have to be afraid of your thoughts or afraid of it. It's, it's it's a good thing. And you're always moving forward and learning and growing. And because I

Isabelle: 18:39

know at the end that I'm going to

Lauren: 18:40

learn something. Right, right, right, right. I'm going

Isabelle: 18:44

to grow new skills, new

Lauren: 18:46

strengths. Yes. So thank you for sharing that.

Isabelle: 18:51

And people know how much I love painting, drawing as well because I use pastels because I like touching the the material. And and That's why I've decided to combine it as well with my

Lauren: 19:04

coaching. That's incredible. Hmm. That's fascinating. You know, the, your, your background and your experience and the different tools that you use to help people feel good and, and move forward and move in a direction that feels good and right for them. What's your. Go to or quickest way or most efficient way to raise your vibration if you're like having feeling a little off or not like yourself, you're going to laugh, but don't sing in my kitchen. Yes, I'm not going to laugh. I do that too. And sometimes I'm washing

Isabelle: 19:40

the dishes and I'm just like, dancing at the same time. And my dogs look at me just like she's crazy,

Lauren: 19:49

but, oh, that's, that's fun. Okay. So I'm not the only one. Definitely not. It's a, that's a great way to to feel good and raise our vibration to, to move to to music in a way that feels good. Thank you.

Isabelle: 20:02

Because as well, I mean, South America, you can imagine salsa, tropical music. So just like my feet just move on their own.

Lauren: 20:13

Oh, this is, yes, I get it. I, cause I, I love Latin dancing and salsa, bachata. Yes. Oh, that's amazing. So much fun. So thank you so much Isabel for being a guest and for having this chat. With me, with us and us, you know, myself and and our listeners and I like to ask this question. Was there anything that I didn't ask you, but you think I should have asked you and what would be your answer? Before we started the

Isabelle: 20:47

show, we, we. talked about an intention and my intention today was to, if I could, inspire one person to follow their heart,

Lauren: 20:58

that would be fantastic. It's beautiful. Thank you for adding that. And that's why we have This this lot of happy show and guests like you to you know, to share these stories, share these these tools and techniques and what works for you. And if it can inspire it, like you said, yes, just 1 person. That's amazing and I'm sure it will inspire many. So thank you for adding that and sharing everything. And if we can just end with a laughter game, it's the thank you. And goodbye, laughter game, where we wave to. Other, and we laugh. Thank you. Thank you Isabel Thank you for inviting me and making me laugh, Thank you too.

21:54

Thank you for having tuned into this Law of Happy episode. If you smiled, laughed, or felt inspired, please subscribe, rate, review, and share the Law of Happy podcast with someone you'd love to have fun with. And if you'd like to laugh with me as a guest on the show or in a customized program, you can email me at lauren at law of happy. com. I look forward to laughing with you soon.