S1E18: Claim Your Divine Purpose with Sofiah Thom
Welcome to Women Rocking Business, where we are here to help you rock yourself, rock your life, and rock the world as a woman entrepreneur. Because the world needs you and the time is now. I’m Sage Lavine, CEO, trainer, unretired camp counselor, and best-selling author of the Hay House Book, Women Rocking Business. We’ve had the honor of serving over a hundred thousand women entrepreneurs around the globe, just like you, who are here to do more, be more, and have more by giving your gifts to the planet. Let’s do this.
Sage Lavine
00:00:37
Hello everyone. I am so excited to be here for the session with you on what it means to thrive, especially in your business, through the balance of masculine and feminine. I couldn’t be more proud to be here alongside my dear and beloved friend and colleague and client Sofiah Thom, who, for those of you that may not know, Sofiah is a Divine feminine mentor for women leaders. She’s an author, a modern day temple dancer and entrepreneur committed to helping women embody their feminine power and birth their gifts into their careers, into their purpose, into their lives. She’s the creator of the Temple Body Art School.
Sage Lavine
00:01:20
She mentors women to live their purpose and create businesses from the inside out. She’s coa-uthored the Path of the Priestess book, a way to discover your divine purpose and has been teaching and speaking, performing both live and online all over the planet for over two decades. She has an amazing husband, Brendan, who I love and adore and together with a handful of visionaries, she co-founded the Envision Festival. It’s a huge festival in Costa Rica. You’ve probably heard of it and her husband, Brendan, and Sofiah, co-founded this amazing eco retreat in Costa Rica where they live or I’ve gotten a chance to frolic and play. Sofiah, I just think it’s so beautiful that you and I are able to come together at this auspicious moment and stand for women who are feeling the thing that we’re all feeling, which is we continue to be asked to lead and rise through, you know, repeated and a prolonged sort of global pause. Just thank you for being here with me.
Sofiah Thom
00:02:23
Thank you, Sage. Yeah. It’s such my honor to be here and to be in this conversation and, you know, thank you to you and Women Rocking Business to support so many, including myself, to really continue to show up and to be visible through whatever is going on in the world. So yeah, what a journey.
Sage Lavine
00:02:48
I want to commend you, Sofiah, for continuing to rise and reaching more women than you’ve ever reached. I mean, you’re reaching now tens of thousands of women and I am so of the embodiment tools and the understanding that you have of how do we really do this thing called feminine leadership and not using the feminine as an excuse to sell out on our power. What I see you doing is bringing really, truly a new paradigm, like you’re birthing something that has never been birthed before… an understanding of what it really means to balance the masculine and feminine in leadership. So can you talk a little bit about that?
Let’s get this discussion going and for those of you that are listening, post comments about this, so we can be in this conversation. It’s so important.
Sofiah Thom
00:03:36
Yeah. So important. Yeah, I mean, it’s such a big conversation and I feel that for so long as women, you know, it hasn’t been that long that we’ve even had the right to vote, you know, and be able to own land and have these rights.
Now here we are rising up to have our businesses and careers and lives. So it’s like for so long, I think we were kind of mimicking like the masculine way and being in this patriarchy way. So much misalignment of really, truly who we are as women. We are like, we are the creators, we are the ones that birth new paths and new ways and babies into this world.
Sofiah Thom
00:04:22
So the power that we have is here to truly guide and support us in creating a life that is sustainable, that is nurturing, that has these feminine qualities of really being able to be present and listen, you know? So I feel like this is a big piece that came through for so many and continues to is when there’s a global pause going on. It forced us to go inside and to really lesson and to look at what is not aligned. “How am I showing up that actually doesn’t feel good?”
So there’s this beautiful opportunity that we’ve been given across the globe to really check ourselves and look at how we can step forward, be in right relationship, not only with our feminine, but with the masculine to which is so important and needed.
Sofiah Thom
00:05:18
You know, I’ve learned so much from you, Sage, and like the structure and the focus and the ways that we need those, you know, like the riverbanks for the Shakti, for the river to flow. It’s like, we absolutely have to have those, but again, it’s like being in right relationship with the structures with the masculine and that way, as well as the feminine. So it’s really is a new way of being with ourselves and these, these different principles really, I like to call them, that live with us. So there is definitely a movement happening right now. So many people are recognizing that we need both in order to create.
Sage Lavine
00:06:02
You just said so much. I want to point to two things that I think are so wise.
Number one: don’t miss this opportunity. Like Sofiah saying, we are being asked to reassess. There is still a global shutdown for those of us that used to spend our lives getting on planes and distracting ourselves with all kinds of global travel and playmates. You know, many of us are being asked to go inside in a very real and very outer world kind of a way, whether we agree with it or not, whether whatever belief you have or whatever, you know, sort of thought paradigm you live in, in terms of what’s actually happening on the planet. The truth is there’s an opportunity here.
Sage Lavine
00:06:44
It’s a different vibration than we were in. So we are going to see the world opening up and you know, the thing that I would love to ask every single one of you to consider is, “What do you want to do before that happens?” Right? Don’t waste these precious minutes. We have an opportunity just like Sofiah saying to let go of what wasn’t working to reassess, to really reflect on what wants to truly be here now, because life is shorter than any of us could have imagined. Many of us have lost loved ones and had losses and challenges that we never would have expected in this shutdown. The other thing that you’re pointing to, Sofiah, is this willingness to embody both of masculine and the feminine as a way to make those decisions, to move toward what we want and let go of what we don’t want.
Sage Lavine
00:07:35
I think that’s something I’d love to dive in deeper with you, because I think you have an understanding of the masculine and feminine inside of you, the way you move your body, the way you turn in for wisdom. I feel like in some ways the women’s empowerment movement has at times been a disempowerment movement because we start to think about these certain traits as feminine… softness and loving and gentle, which is all wonderful. But I see you and the feminine I see in you, and in so many of us, the feminine is also fierce and the feminine is like Kali. You know, she is going to slash that, which doesn’t belong.
Sage Lavine
00:08:15
I refuse to think that that’s only a masculine trait and it’s like, say more about how we literally embody these, you know, these forces and we stop resisting. Like you said, the strategy is the structure that we need to be able to dance with our intuition. We need both, you know, how do we let go of resistance? So we can really be our full selves? Like, what’s your thoughts on that?
Sofiah Thom
00:08:39
Yeah. I mean, what’s coming through so strong right now that is absolutely key for each of us is discernment and really having access to, I like to say, this sword of discernment and that truly is like the masculine for me. It’s like to be able to really, you know, because the masculine principle is like…tThey will cut through. They are focused. If you try to talk to my husband when he is doing one thing, I’m not even there. I mean, but that’s, it’s a beautiful quality of actually being able to just have that one pointed focus. Iit really is also like pure consciousness.
Sofiah Thom
00:09:22
The masculine is pure consciousness, it’s pure awareness. It’s being able to step out of the busy-ness and even the feminine that can be so, you know, all over the place and able to weave these things, but can be really distracting. I mean, how many of you tuning in here get distracted and pulled by this and this, or “I want to do this and I want to do this.” I mean, I was definitely there before.
Sage Lavine
I still sometimes am there.
Sofiah Thom
Right? That is part of being human.
Sage Lavine
00:09:57
It’s part of our gift, right? That we can, you know, watch the baby and make the dinner and do all the things and go kick ass to make a million dollars while we’re doing it.
Sofiah Thom
00:10:06
Yeah. There are times where we need to really hone in. So I think, you know, what we both stand for here is like really supporting women and getting so clear so that every choice in every moment is aligned and guided with like where you want to be and the impact that you’re here to create. So when we can really know why we’re here and have that intention and that focus, then every opportunity, every situation, every thing that arises, it’s like we can tune in and listen. Rather than it coming from the head as well.
It’s like, “Is this truly going to support? Is it going to give energy for what I truly want? Or is it going to take energy away and distract?” So this is a really easy way… I mean I say easy, but this is a practice, right? This is a practice of listening every day and listening to your truth because when we don’t honor that, that’s when we give a power away. That’s when we disempower ourselves when we’re like, “Oh, but I don’t know. I’m not, you know, I’m not ready for this” Whatever the excuses are for staying small and not truly, you know, rising, but the courage that it takes. It takes a lot of courage.
Sage Lavine
00:11:34
It does. It takes so much courage. What you’re speaking to in terms of this concept of discernment, I would love to hear from all of you, what does discernment mean to you? How do you get back to a place of discernment after you’ve caught yourself spinning out in overwhelm that extreme isolation some of us are walking through, the confusion, the fear. Right? How do we come back to that discernment? That is such a beautiful place where the masculine and feminine meet. One of the things I’ve heard you talk about, Sofiah, and I respect this so much about you is your sort of lifelong practice of tuning into what feels expansive and what feels like a contraction.
Sage Lavine
00:12:19
You know, this is something I think we can each continue to practice just in terms of making decisions, making decisions about your business, whether to start a business, whether to grow a business, which you know, who are my clients, what do I want to do next to get the word out about my, you know, my offerings? How do I get visible? How do I get online? How do I start speaking more? All the things that many of you are considering doing or already doing, are you making those decisions from a place of expansion rather than a place of contraction? I think that’s like a way I’ve been practicing discernment and working with my own clients to really get them to understand.
Sage Lavine
00:13:01
It’s like, it’s not just about the strategies and it’s not just about the expansion. It’s about those two things together, right? Our intuition is only going to take us so far if we don’t know how to get out there online. If we’re being barraged by strategies and we’re so overwhelmed and we lose track of our intuition, that’s not going to be any good either. I’ve seen you do such a good job, you know? In our coaching relationships, we’ve even had times where you’re like, “Well, I think this,” and I’m like, “Well, what about this?” We have to kind of work out what’s true and that’s been such a big part of your success. You take the strategies. You’re coachable. Then you’re really true to yourself and your creativity. You bring all your authenticity to that which you’re putting out in the world.
So do you have any more thoughts? I mean, I know you do, but words of wisdom for women that are walking this path.
Sofiah Thom
00:13:52
Well thank you for that reflection and yeah, it is. The more that you can value your body and the wisdom within, and really like take the time to listen and take care of your one vessel and vehicle for this life, your temple body… You will, it’s like, you’re polishing that in a compass. We really truly have this inner compass and it’s like listening and you will feel like what is the full body yes feel like? It’s this expansive space and if there is a contraction or something that like being able to go in and listen and reflect, because we are guided in each moment and we do, we need both, like, we need the structures.
Sofiah Thom
00:14:39
We need the know-how like, how do I use all of this, these devices in sacred technology and social media and all of the things to put my message out into the world, which you so beautifully do. At the same time, do it in a way that feels authentic, like you said, and that actually feels good and doesn’t feel like, “I’m trying something on tha isn’t me.” It’s really like this beautiful balance and dance. So the more that we can be true to ourselves and embody our essence, I mean, then we become more magnetic as well. So when we do use the structures and the strategies to put ourselves out there online and to build our businesses, it can actually happen really easily because we are taking care of ourselves.
Sofiah Thom
00:15:31
We’re showing up. We are magnetic. You know, one of the things I just had to recommit this week, because I was starting to feel some stress. I was starting to feel in my body and like my mind couldn’t shut down and like holding all these pieces. I just had to pull out my sword and say, “No.” This is not what I’m choosing. Like, this is, this is not worth what I’m doing. Like it has to feel good. It has to feel aligned. I recommitted to pleasure. I choose pleasure. I choose to come from a place of empowered pleasure. So for me, that looks like really connecting in with my body and doing something every day that is pleasurable that really fills me up.
Sofiah Thom
00:16:16
You know, it’s like coming from that space of pleasure, because when we’re in pleasure, we are receptive and we’re open to receive. So just take a breath into that and feel into the embodiment and the energetic frequency that is pleasure and how that can support us. I really feel that is part of this new paradigm way of doing business. Like as an embodied feminine leader, it is possible to do it from a place of empowered pleasure.
Sage Lavine
00:16:48
Wow. This is so cool. I love this discussion. I want to just take a pause and share something I know you guys might want to know about. That’s that we just launched a Rock Your Business Bonus Training Package for anyone who buys my book, Women Rocking Business. The book hit number one when it was recently published with Hay House and the book is a 12 step system for any woman to go from having just the idea to building a six or seven figure business with a simple and elegant business plan that’s based in women’s values. You know, women are starting businesses one and a half times faster than men right now, but we’re also failing faster than men. But what I’ve seen is that when we learn to build businesses that align with our innate values of collaboration, rather than competition empowerment, rather than power over.
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Sage Lavine
00:18:31
I love it. Do you keep coming back to, “What does it mean to be an embodied feminine leader?” And that reminders that when our bodies are flagging, our bodies are hot, whatever they are, because something is needed. I’m like you sometimes, many times, I’ve got to stop in the middle of the day and I encourage all of you to do that and have a dance break, go grab your vibrator, go return to pleasure, go take off your shoes and get your feet on the earth or the beach, right? Like whatever that is. Sometimes I start getting anxious or hot because there’s something that I need to do in my business. There’s actually something like I woke up this morning and I was like itchy.
Sage Lavine
00:19:13
I was like, what is it what’s going on? Then I realized… I’ve got like 26 affiliates mailing for me, like with big followings in big lists early next week. And I was like, “I haven’t texted any of them.” I was like, okay, like 8:00 AM. I’m crafting personal texts to just, you know, love all of them up for helping to get the word out about what we’re up to. If I had ignored that itchy, hot feeling and thought I just needed to go down some of the beach, like I wouldn’t have gotten that rush of like self joy of like, “Oh yeah, okay. Now I’m in touch with everybody. Now I’m going to go to dance on the beach. I got my work done.” So, you know, it’s like learning to be a woman who goes and kicks ass and takes numbers and who then returns to herself and, you know, and swirls up that yummy pleasure.
Sage Lavine
00:20:00
But yeah, say just a little bit more about that dance. The words that you use help me to access the even sensuality of business, you know, you talk about things like sacred technology and the dance between, you know, the action and the surrender and the pleasure, and it is a dance. I think you can help us all return to that. So say a little bit more about that.
Sofiah Thom
00:20:25
Thank you, Sage. I just have to say, I love what you just shared about waking up itchy and listening to that and taking action. I have actually been experiencing the same thing and it’s like, you know, when we’re holding so much and we’re in the doing a lot of the day, like sometimes, you know, in the night or in that space between day, like between waking and dreaming is actually when things will come in. Actually, even those moments where we do pleasure or, we go to dance. Like when we empty out and stop doing, that’s when the insights come in, that’s when we remember something that we should have remembered, we’re like, “Oh, thank you. There it is.”
Sofiah Thom
00:21:06
I love what you said it is. It’s like, you know, rather than getting upset too, it’s like, “Okay, like, why is this here?,” and allowing yourself to rise. I do a lot of that in the night. If I can’t sleep, it’s like bringing it through. So it’s such this beautiful dance in honoring, like always honoring ourselves, but then coming back to this action. When it’s action aligned with our purpose, with what we’re here to create the impact that we’re here to make when it’s not about us and it’s about, you know, all the people that we’re here to inspire, then it really just becomes this beautiful dance.
Sofiah THom
00:21:52
Again, there’s that word because it is like just showing up and allowing and recommitting and continuing to show up and when everything shuts down, just continuing.
Sage Lavine
00:22:08
That’s the inspired action. That’s not the “Drive drive drive! Have to have to have to!” That’s the inspired, “I am acting from a place of being filled up with a greater purpose.” That feels so feminine to me. Of course, there’s amazing men on the planet who are so beautifully feminine, right? Like we all get to have this blend of masculine and feminine and it’s that willingness, right? Like you said, to be willing to do that one right next thing and not try to do it all at once.
Sofiah Thom
00:22:35
Yeah, definitely. I know you, you have taught me and so many of us…When you were in that overwhelm, it’s like, you know, just take one action. It’s like, “Don’t think about all the things, but just like that next step.” Again, it just comes back to the courage that it takes to really show up and to claim your divine purpose.
Sage Lavine
00:22:56
For those of you who don’t know, we bring Sofiah into our events and have her lead movement as a way of creating clarity and opening the channel, specifically open opening the channel of your gift, and it’s beautiful to dance and it’s beautiful to move. But when you are moving with a guidance from a woman who has so much innate wisdom of how to unlock the body truths and the body clarity and the body wisdom, there’s something so magical that comes through. So I can’t wait to use your video myself. I actually go back to some of the recordings that we have from you at events and get inspired that way. Sofiah has an incredible Facebook group. You can go pop into it. Tell them the name of your Facebook group.
Sofiah Thom
00:23:41
Thank you. Yeah. The group that I have grown with your support is almost at 5,000 women across the globe. It’s called Temple Body Sisterhood. We have amazing new moon dance challenges in there and all kinds of beautiful things. So we’d love to have you come join us. Yeah, I mean, you have supported so many Sage and myself included of course, to really claim that and to be part of something bigger. Because I feel like for so long being here in Costa Rica, I mean, I was isolated and I had like all of these big visions and I wanted to so badly reached the women with my message, but I needed your support. Yeah,I know you have a fun thing for us support too.
Sage Lavine
00:24:30
We meet the right people at the right time. For many of you, you are getting to meet Sofiah for the first time. Some of you are getting to know me for the first time in a more intimate way. I do believe that people and energies come into our lives at the right moment. That’s that intuition piece. That’s that deeper feminine. I have benefited so much from the relationship with you Sofiah and from the moment we met in Costa Rica, you know, standing up on that mountain swapping stories, we were both just so curious, like, “Who are you? Who is this incredible creature?” When you come upon people in your lives that light you up in that way…If you feel “yes” to allowing yourself to be lit up in one of our communities or both of our communities, we just encourage you to keep following that spark, keep following that moment where something lights up for you.
You’re being pulled toward your greater purpose and these tools, the embodiment tools, the strategies, they all weave together to make a difference for you in your lives. We have a Superpower Quiz for women who are speakers. We want to get on camera and get more visible. We have four superpowers which are also archetypes.
Sofiah and I were giggling before this interview because we’re both visionaries. There’s four archetypes, there’s a visionary of the nurturer, the motivator, and the truth teller.
Sage Lavine
00:25:58
Of course, we’re all a mixture of all four types, but when you know which one is your strongest, we have some hacks and some tools to help you sort of leverage that energy, that gift within you to get more visible online, and get more seen. When you go take that quiz, you’ll also find out about an upcoming free video training that I have to help you get more visible online using your incredible gifts. If you’re being called to be a leader at this moment in history, trust Sofiah, and I, when we say it’s no joke, you are being tapped on the shoulder for a reason. Sofiah, the sort of last thing, or the thing that you wish you would of known, you know, five years ago, and you were like just kinda starting and you were hoping it would work?
What would you say to women who are kind of learning this stuff for the first time and wondering if somebody out there might already be doing it better than me, or is this really going to work? It feels like a mountain of technology to figure out like all the things, right?
Sofiah Thom
00:27:00
Yeah. Come to your breath. Yeah, you know, I want to say like, be careful and yes, look out there and see what’s happening. I want you to really look inside more because we are bringing new things. At the same time, if there’s other people doing similar things to you, no one’s going to do it just like you. Each of us is a unique fingerprint of the divine and really trusting that and allowing others to inspire you, but always coming back in and trusting yourself and how you are guided to show up and remembering that your presence is a gift and to always come back to that.
Sage Lavine
00:27:47
I love that, Sofiah, and remember that if there’s somebody out there that inspires you or even intimidates you, you may be doing a Facebook Live with them someday. You may be hosting a podcast with them. You may be linking arms and rising together because we’re moving into the time of we. So wrap your arms around yourself and wrap your arms around all the women that you are being guided to discover in this sacred moment and go take the quiz. Sofiah and I would both love to support you in expanding into a life where you are more and more on purpose each day in that purpose is carrying you forward. Your decisions and the things that you walked through in life are infused with this deeper sense of purpose and authenticity in joy and pleasure.
Sofiah, thank you so much for being a sister on the path with me.
Sofiah Thom
00:28:40
Thank you. Thank you. Yes, we are arising together. This year, definitely more than ever. I feel like collaboration is everything and leaning in. So thank you. Thank you so much to each of you.
Sage Lavine
00:28:54
So much love. Your people are out there waiting for you. They’re not just waiting for someone like you. They’re actually waiting for you.
Sage Lavine
00:29:05
You’ve been listening to Women Rocking Business. I’m Sage Lavine. The next step is to join our private Facebook group. The Women Rocking Business Sisterhood and introduce yourself over there for the real and vulnerable conversation of what it really takes to launch and scale a business you love in that Sisterhood group. We have each other’s backs, each other’s sides and each other’s fronts. This is true collaboration. So go grab a seat in the Sisterhood because we can go so much further when we go together, you’ll find a link to the private Sisterhood group and do our upcoming events in the show notes.
And if you have a woman in your life, who’s growing a business or starting a business, please share this podcast with her so she can create her big dreams and take a moment to subscribe and rate and review the podcast, which helps us get our message into the hands of women who need it. I’ll see you on the next show and don’t forget, your clients are waiting. They’re not just waiting for someone like you. They’re actually waiting for you.
