Healthy Living by Willow Creek Springs
A podcast about practices to promote healthy lives featuring experts, businesses, and clients: we gather to share our stories about success, failure, exploration, and so much more. Our subscription episodes feature some personal and vulnerable, real-life stories that are sensitive to some of the general public.
Healthy Living by Willow Creek Springs
From Corporate Law to Spiritual Healing: Lora Cheadle's Journey of Reinvention
What happens when life's deepest betrayals become your greatest teachers? Lora Cheadle's transformative journey from corporate attorney to spiritual mentor began with a devastating discovery—her husband's long-term infidelity. Rather than succumbing to bitterness, she chose a radical path of reinvention, creating Life Choreography, a holistic framework that helps people reclaim their sovereignty after betrayal.
In this profound conversation, Lora expands our understanding of betrayal beyond romantic relationships. She reveals how betrayal can manifest when our bodies age or become ill, when career expectations are shattered, or through collective experiences like the COVID pandemic. This broader perspective allows us to recognize and address the deeper wounds that often masquerade as burnout or disappointment.
Through her unique blend of legal expertise and spiritual wisdom, Lora shares powerful insights about somatic healing—intentional movement that helps process trapped emotions—and hypnotherapy, which accesses subconscious programming to remove limiting beliefs. She eloquently describes Life Choreography as viewing our existence like a dance routine where we can choose to follow prescribed steps or improvise with intention, finding moments of joy even during difficult journeys.
Perhaps most fascinating is Lora's work channeling "the Librarians," collective wisdom keepers who gather insights from souls who have transformed specific challenges. This connection offers clients access to solutions others have discovered, providing both practical guidance and the comfort of knowing they're not alone in their struggles.
By the conversation's end, we understand Lora's most meaningful achievement: restoring hope to those who believed their lives were permanently damaged. Her message is clear—we are unlimited beings with access to infinite possibilities, even when circumstances seem most dire.
Ready to transform your deepest wounds into wellsprings of wisdom? Discover Lora's books, channeled readings, and free Betrayal Recovery Guide through the links in our show notes, and begin choreographing a life of authentic power and freedom.
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Well, hello and welcome back to the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, joe Grumbine, and today we have a very special guest. Her name is Laura Cheadle and she's a former attorney turned spiritual mentor, author and betrayal recovery coach, which, of course, I've never heard of before, but I really want to hear about. She helps people transform life's deepest wounds into sources of wisdom and freedom. After uncovering her husband's long-term infidelity, she left her career in law to create Life Choreography, a holistic framework that integrates legal clarity, emotional healing, somatic release and spiritual awakening. She's the author of Flaunt Drop your Cover and Reveal your Smart, sexy, spiritual Self. And it's Not Burnout, it's Betrayal Five Tools to Fuel Up and Thrive. She channels a collective of wisdom keepers called the librarians, who share a collective soul lessons of humanity. Today she works with high achieving women and couples to reclaim their sovereignty, rebuild trust in themselves and rise stronger after betrayal.
Speaker 1:With roots in both law and spiritual healing, laura brings a fierce commitment to justice, truth and liberation. Well, all of these things are near and dear to my heart. I've been a freedom fighter for my whole life and been helping people my whole life. So you know, betrayal is something that I don't think anybody is a stranger to, and you know, it seems like we always get betrayed by the people we trust the most. And then comes choices, right, yeah? So, laura, usually I ask people how they came to this path, but I think your bio laid that out for us. Is there anything you want to add to that?
Speaker 2:You know, what I want to add is I came to know and to understand betrayal through the infidelity route. But betrayal is so much deeper than that, you know. It can feel like our body is betraying us when we age, when we get sick, you know just by not getting promoted in our career.
Speaker 1:It can feel like a betrayal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, exactly Like politically, you know, we feel like it's a betrayal. Covid felt like a huge betrayal. Yeah, like there are so many different ways we feel betrayed, and having the gift of infidelity really taught me how to understand betrayal at such a soul level and it's just one of those things. Had I not had that experience, I would have never even identified this as betrayal. I just would have been like, oh, this isn't the way I thought it was supposed to be.
Speaker 2:Oh, this is so disappointing and learning that it was betrayal and what that means and how to work with it right is huge.
Speaker 1:That's one of the things that so many of this community have in common is you know you experience an obstacle, a huge challenge, whatever it is, and you know some people survive it, some people don't survive it and some people take it and use it as a tool, and I think that those of us that you get given a gift that you can't get any other way unless you go through a thing. And now you have empathy and sympathy and clarity and experience and all that good stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and it's one of those things. Like you know, you said you were a freedom fighter. Similarly, my whole life I wanted to grow, I wanted to go deep, I wanted to rise high, like I wanted to do all of that stuff, but you also don't want to disrupt yourself and your life.
Speaker 1:Right To such a deep level, take big risks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And whenever you have a challenge and something disrupts it for you, right Wow?
Speaker 1:Thank you. Priorities change. I think that's one of the big factors that happens when a major obstacle comes your way. All of a sudden, all that stuff that was so important, you throw it right out the window and this thing that you didn't even know about becomes number one, number two and number three.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's just crazy and like that. Sometimes we say, oh well, this is what I want to lean into, and oh, this is a way to live healthier, and oh, one day I'll do this. But, then we never really do.
Speaker 1:Time goes by, right? Yeah, it's crazy. So you left your law practice. What kind of a practice was it? I was in-house, I was corporate, oh okay, you were dealing with betrayals, but not on such a personal level.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. When I first graduated from law school, I did some family law and I also worked as a guardian ad litem, which is a court-appointed attorney who represents the best interest of children, and that's some deep emotional stuff.
Speaker 1:I spent some time in family court with my activism stuff and there's some heavy stuff going on in there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really tough and I I liked it but it wore me out. And then, you know, I knew I wanted to have kids and it was like there's there's only so much energy that I've got.
Speaker 1:So you decided okay, I'm out of here, I'm not doing this anymore, it's not suiting my purpose, it's not me anymore. What was your next move?
Speaker 2:My passion has always been wellness. I have been teaching fitness classes like group exercise since 1988.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so a long time. Yeah, a long time.
Speaker 2:And oh wow, and what size you are. And I was more passionate about wellness. Yeah, agreed.
Speaker 1:I like where you're going. So far, as we discussed early on, I had a sense we'd have a lot to talk about. So you're teaching these classes and, like you say, everything's about looking good, everything's about being skinny and firm and fit, and you know all the curves in the right places. But what does that have to do? You know, with Jim Fitzkeels over dead. You know with a heart attack, and you're like, well, all that running is supposed to be good for you. What happened? You know, and it turns out really none of these extremes. You know, marathon runners are some of the most beat up, broken people you ever meet. But you can't tell them that and you know that's what it is. We choose our path, but health is such a holistic approach. All these pillars have to be in place for health to exist.
Speaker 2:Exactly and that's what I was so passionate about. So I went back to school and I became a hypnotherapist, because it was like you have to have a healthy mind, you have to have a healthy way of thinking. And then, um, I became a somatic attachment therapist. Like how do we move in ways that intentionally process emotion, not just make us big and buff?
Speaker 1:you know, and I started bringing all that in Somatic practice. I'm not really familiar with that.
Speaker 2:Somatic, just means of the body and it's more intentional awareness of the body. So, you could do traditional fitness things like marathoning, but where? Where is the body mind connection? What, yeah, how?
Speaker 1:do you put that all the time? I just didn't connect that term to it. It's very powerful. Yeah, intention and intention. Intention, intention based living is transformative. You can make all the actions you did double, triple or or 10x, no problem.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And like, if you are you know how, sometimes you feel that sinking in your gut, like you feel guilt, you feel sadness, you feel regret, whatever it is. How do I take this feeling and move in a way that flows it out of my body?
Speaker 2:You know I might need to wiggle my shoulders. I might need to do some cat cows. I might need to wiggle my shoulders. I might need to do some cat-cows. I might need to walk and breathe heavily. What am I doing to get at that feeling, to access it and to allow it to flow, so it doesn't end up literally eating me alive?
Speaker 1:You're doing energy work as well.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Excellent, excellent. I work with a number of reiki practitioners and and nsr all different types of uh energy and I've experienced it. You know, like you say, you get a feeling, it's a thing. If you feel it, there's something happening. And you know, going through my journey, I've had all kinds of you, visual and feeling experiences that have helped me solve my problem and connecting to these things and directing them and giving them a way out. You know, said all right, you can go that way, just get along, and you'd be surprised what that does sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And then just that awareness, like what is this feeling telling me?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know, if I have an obsessive thought, why do I have it? What?
Speaker 1:am I missing. Huge. I think we go through life, you know, half numb and blind. We're not paying attention except to the little thing blipping in our ear, and then you just stumble on your way around. So you know, mindful, you know it's a big thing, mindfulness, but it's really like just pay attention, son, you know. I mean, be aware of what you're doing, be aware of what you're seeing and feeling, and you start living a life again. It's a whole different thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and get curious about it. You know, so often we think we have the answer like, oh, this is just a little bit of knee pain, or oh, I'm just stressed about whatever. Well, ask yourself, sit quietly, dig deeper. What is really going on in there?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think that's powerful. A lot of the guests that come into this show. You know we talk about root causes of things. You know we actually want to get well, not just cover up a symptom. You know standard of care Western medicine is all about. You know, alleviating these symptoms, and you know. But then you end up on a cocktail of drugs that everything's alleviating the next thing but leaving another thing behind and you don't ever get to the root cause. And so I'm kind of curious about hypnosis. I mean, you know we all know about hypnosis and the mentalist things and all that stuff that. But I've witnessed a little bit of hypnosis and I believe that you can unlock virtually anything if you are able to really tap it. So what's been your experience with that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's incredibly powerful. First of all, hypnosis is just a brainwave state. We all go in and out of it. So, yeah, there's nothing. It just shows how mystical and magical and powerful we are, yes, you know, it's all right here and wherever else it lives.
Speaker 1:We have it all, all the tools, all the abilities to fix or break anything we want.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and hypnosis basically moves the conscious mind out of the way, so we have full access to that subconscious or unconscious. So all of the things that we have been programmed to believe about ourselves can be removed. You know, if you believe you're bad at math, if you believe you're going to die of high blood pressure and a heart attack because everybody in your family did, if you believe you're limited, we get those beliefs out of the way and set that subconscious mind free.
Speaker 1:I tell people all the time it's like what are you thinking about? Because that's what you're making happen. You know if you're complaining all the time, well, of course you have these complaints. You're blowing air into them all day long. You know, if you think about what you're trying to accomplish, you're probably getting closer to that every day. You know, thinking about being grateful, you probably have more to be grateful for. I mean, it's just like we're creating. I tell people look around, look at anything that man ever built, created in any way, shape or form. It all started as a thought, every bit of it. So tell me what you can't create, right?
Speaker 2:Exactly, and we tend to recycle the same few thoughts, and then we think things are the way that they are, so then they become the way that they are. So then they become the way that they are.
Speaker 1:Exactly that old monkey brain. Yeah, I know I want to get through a lot here as this initial interview. I'm curious about your life choreography program. Tell me about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I said I grew up doing fitness, I grew up dancing, and the analogy that I like to use is our life. The one life we have, is like a dance routine. You get one shot at it, there's a beginning, there's a middle, there's an end. Hopefully there's some form or structure to it. How are you going to re-choreograph? Are you just going to sit down and stop? Are you going to just like plow through with the same choreography that society?
Speaker 1:told you to do. Do it harder, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Or how can you improv in the moment? How can you have intention for the end point but also improv along the way, and this is a huge piece of it. Find that joy along the way too, so you're not stressed by it, but so you're literally and figuratively dancing through life, dancing through this experience.
Speaker 1:Joy is a powerful word, you know. I tell people sometimes that there are very few things we actually control, but how we see a thing is one of them, one of the biggest ones, and whether you find joy or sorrow in an action or activity is up to you entirely. And I've been in difficult situations and found a way to laugh and smile, and plenty of people find themselves in good situations and find a way to be miserable.
Speaker 1:And plenty of people find themselves in good situations and find a way to be miserable, and you know. So I think that's really important, because that's truly the thing we control the easiest and most completely. Nobody else can control for us. Nobody can make you feel joy and nobody can make you feel sorrow.
Speaker 2:No, exactly, and time passes regardless. You know I had yeah, I had my horrific infidelity journey and it's not like, yay, I'm going to be joyful and make the best, it's not like I'm faking it, but it's like I have to go through this recovery journey.
Speaker 2:We have to figure these things out. I have to do all of these. I can make myself much more miserable, or I can at least find moments of beauty and joy along the way. A beautiful sunset you know my cat like I can find those pockets of joy throughout a journey. That is really darn miserable.
Speaker 1:Absolutely A hundred percent, and I, I couldn't agree with you more. And then it comes down to where you're spending your time thinking. You know you're remembering something. You're remembering the misery, or you're remembering that sunrise. You know, I I'd rather choose the sunrise when I get the thought about it. You know, nobody wants to remember being miserable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and for me, like the, the question I kept asking myself is what are you going to make of this? Like you're going through this horrible situation. What are you going to make from it? Because it could have turned me into a bitter, miserable, awful person and it was like. That's not what I choose. I'm going to choose to learn because of this. I'm going to choose to find joy. I'm going to choose to help others. I'm going to choose all of these different things because I'm not a victim. I was victimized but, I'm not a victim.
Speaker 1:Exactly A hundred percent. Yeah, we get taken and granted for, we get blindsided, we get hornswoggled, whatever the word you want to come up with. But then it comes down to okay, now what? And it's that, now what that just determines your outcome, not the action that happened. I mean, I've had some horrible things happen in my life that could have turned me into a really bitter, angry, miserable person, and each time I had to decide okay, well, is this going to ruin you? Are you going to figure it out, forgive and move on, or make a correction? And you make your choice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and really whatever you choose is fine. I just think being aware like if I choose, to be miserable sometimes I want to wallow in that Nobody can take that from you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but then at some point, yeah, I'm going to choose differently.
Speaker 1:I may not want to hang out with you, but that's okay, exactly so this, this life choreography program how, how does it take life Like? Is it a class, is it a software, is it a book or what? How does it work out?
Speaker 2:It's a little bit of both I how it works is I work with people for six months because change takes place in the moment. Change doesn't just take place because I read a book. It takes place along the way. And what I do is I meet with people once a month and we set those big steps forward Like what do you need? What do you need, what do you need? And then I give people 24-7 access to me through the Voxer app and I hold them accountable along the way and they talk to me along the way. So if they're trying to change the way they're thinking, I ask them to send me a Vox. A Vox is like a walkie-talkie app.
Speaker 2:So, it'll be like I'm doing this again, Laura, but then they're marking it. Okay, Once you mark it, then you become aware of that behavior.
Speaker 1:So, now I start changing it, doing it blindly, yeah Good I like that. So when did you start that program?
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, when did I start this About 2017 or 2018. So it's been a while.
Speaker 1:So pre-COVID.
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely pre-COVID.
Speaker 1:I'll bet pre-COVID it probably blossomed quite a bit because everybody was having every kind of problem during those years.
Speaker 2:Oh, exactly, exactly, that was a tough time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So with this program like I mean, obviously you're one person, you can deal with so many people, and I know that you know this this type of a program is not particularly scalable because it requires you it's high touch. So you have to decide. You know clients you're going to take and scheduling, so how many clients do you generally manage?
Speaker 2:I try to keep a small caseload for that reason, because we're really intimately involved. We're really connected. I'm moving people forward. Quality over quantity, yeah, yeah, exactly, and it is high touch and it is bespoke. So I do keep it small and as far as numbers, it depends because I have other things going on as well. So during busy times I'll take less people. During more times and I am in 2026, I'm going to start a certification program where I can certify other coaches to do- it as well.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it. That's generally the progression right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You learn a thing, you teach a thing, and then you figure out that it's worth teaching somebody else how to teach it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Love it, I love it.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. So you've written a number of books, and what's the timeline of all that?
Speaker 2:The first book that came out is Flaunt. Drop your Cover and Reveal your Smart, sexy and Spiritual Self. And I wrote that because as an attorney especially as a female attorney I felt like I was very judged. I had to show up a certain way. My voice had to be a certain way. I couldn't look too pretty, but I also couldn't look not put together there was all this judgment. You know what I mean. I was either I was too much yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was like I am more than this and I have always been very spiritual and I channel and people are like, well, you can't be an attorney and channel. Actually I can. I am Might, I can.
Speaker 1:I am Might even help you yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was on. Really, how can we be multidimensional beings, how can we own our power in all areas, how can we show all facets of who we are and everything that we do in service, really, of setting the whole world free to be who they are as well?
Speaker 1:Nice, Nice, and how, how, um you know, did you self publish this? Or I mean, you know, publishing books is so different nowadays than it was. It is.
Speaker 2:It was traditionally published Um. I had a literary agent. The literary agent sells it to different publishing companies and New World Library bought it and published it.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, good job. That's. That's impressive. I like that, yeah, and the next book.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my second book is it's Not Burnout, it's Betrayal Five Tools to Fuel Up and Thrive. And you know, when you were talking earlier about getting to the root cause, that's what this book really does is it helps people understand how to get to the root cause, because I don't know if you, if you've heard, but like the word burnout, everybody talks about it. Oh, I'm so burned out, I'm really burned out. We're burned out, and that's what this book is about. But are you really?
Speaker 1:Right. Is it really burnout? You're bored or you just you know you lose your inspiration or you know there's. We blame burnout for things that really it doesn't deserve. Like when you're burned out, your body's usually falling apart and that's that's. You have physical signs of a true burnout. You know you have a breakdown and you lose control in some way, yeah, and then people yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then people do these like remedies for burnout and then it doesn't work. Well maybe you're applying the wrong remedy you know. So yeah, is it burnout, is it exhaustion, is it boredom? Let's figure it out and then apply the correct remedy.
Speaker 1:Okay, and how have these books done?
Speaker 2:Really well.
Speaker 2:Really well, it's interesting. I've done some book clubs and some reading them together in groups and that has actually been a lot of fun because people can share their experience with each other. You know whether it's a team, whether it's a group of friends. You can go through the work. I give steps, I give resources, I give you know, tools and processes and practices. So when you're holding each other accountable and when you're moving through it, and then you can talk, the transformation is huge Because, again, we can know things in our head, but until it drops, into our heart.
Speaker 1:I tell everybody I am the world's worst mind reader and even if I could, I wouldn't, I don't know. Just tell me what you want me to know and we'll go from there. Yeah, I agree. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But yeah, the first one was on the Tattered Cover bestseller list. It's won an award. Second one was an Amazon bestseller. So yeah, they've done well.
Speaker 1:Good job, wow. Now this last little tidbit I'm very curious about is you're channeling a collective of wisdom keepers called the librarians. Now that is the kind of stuff that I really just you know the universe is so big and you know I work with all different things and you know retreats and plant medicines and meditations and sweat lodges, and I've experienced things that, like you, don't even you know. I don't even know what I experienced. I just know I did and it transformed me, and I'm not here to explain it. I just know that it's a much bigger place than we'll ever know. So to think that we might tap into an intelligence is, frankly, very reasonable and likely to me if you're looking to do something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they are amazing. I don't know if you've ever heard about the like that. Yeah, yeah, they are amazing. I don't know if you've ever heard about the Akashic realm? Sure, but they are in the Akashic realm. But instead of taking the records from us, from our individual souls and lifetimes, they collect the wisdom around like a topic. So every soul that has experienced betrayal and has alchemized it and developed wisdom and gleaned something from it, they collect the knowledge around that Same thing like judgment. All of us who have faced judgment, who have overcome judgment, what are the lessons that we would have to hand down to our ancestors around judgment?
Speaker 2:The librarians collect this wisdom around the lessons.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, it's kind of. You know, there's so many different ways that these things take shape, the Abraham Hicks and all these different experiences of a spiritual energy and and intelligence that you know I like. Who are we to think that we're going to explain something like we're just animals running around this rock flying through space and, and you know, you just look up at the milky way one time and realize that, okay, I'm just gonna sit here and watch and try to learn and maybe do the best I can and, you know, really humble. So I guess we are running a little light on time, but what do you do with that?
Speaker 2:A lot, because whenever you feel like when we go through something tough, we always feel like I'm alone. I'm the only one that's experienced this, and when I channel for other people when we have a session, it helps them tap into the wisdom around that.
Speaker 2:So, whatever you're facing. Okay, what's the collective wisdom on this? You know, and it's the ultimate resource Again, whether it's health, whether it's judgment, whether it's, you know, whatever it is. What have other people done, judgment whether it's, you know, whatever it is. What have other people done? What is the wisdom that I can glean for myself and use to solve this problem, to feel better? And then, additionally, what is that piece of knowledge or wisdom that I can now contribute to the collective because of my experience?
Speaker 1:Nice. So when you're doing this, are you doing this by yourself, with others, in groups? How do you do it?
Speaker 2:I do a one-on-one with people. Yeah, I'd like to do some more groups. I think that's really powerful to sit in a group, but right now I just do it on Zoom or in person and we just together, get together one at a time and have a singular session.
Speaker 1:Nice. So I generally like to hear like one impactful story of you. Know you've touched a lot of people in your life, but generally there's at least one thing that stands out is you know I had this one experience. Why don't you share one of those with us?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. This is kind of a collective experience the people. The thing that I hear over and over and over from people is I have hope. I didn't have any hope before. I really thought things were being changed for the worse, and I have hope that it's not going to be for the worst. It's going to be different and it's not what I expected, but I have hope that it's going to be okay.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful and that's powerful. You're right. I came to a spot in my life where hope was one of the things keeping me going and there wasn't a lot of good options in front of me and I still said, well, we'll find them, We'll make them, We'll do what we got to do and I'm not going to quit until I get there. And here I am. I'm, you know seven miracles standing in front of you. Yeah, so, Laura, out of all of this, I mean, you just left us with a pretty powerful message. But I usually try to say you know, if you have a one, one idea or one thought that you'd like to leave us with, what would that be?
Speaker 2:I think the thought is it's all deeper than we think it is. There is so much more mystery, there is so much more possibility and whenever you feel trapped, just to know that you are unlimited and just tap into that limitlessness.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it. Well, as I suggested in the beginning, we could go deep on any one of these topics. I'd certainly love to invite you back. How does somebody get a hold of you? You know, if somebody is interested in getting involved in your life choreography program or finding your books or getting involved in anything, Thanks, my books are available.
Speaker 2:Anywhere books are sold, you know, amazon, barnes, noble, anything like that. If you want to get some more information about the Librarians, if you go to wwwcoffeewiththelibrarianscom you can get my monthly channeled readings from them and learn more about that. And then, if you also would just like a Betrayal Recovery Guide, I've got a free Betrayal Recovery Guide at BetrayalRecoveryGuidecom.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Well, this has been amazing, as I suspected it would be. I'm glad that you were able to share some time with us and I look forward to having you come back.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, I appreciated it.
Speaker 1:This has been another episode of the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumbine. I want to thank all the listeners for all your support and we will see you next time.
