You have to be willing to let go of your old life to step into your new one. It takes dedication, commitment, and a true devotion to your vision. There are so many habits and mental thought patterns you have to challenge to rise into the woman you’re meant to be. We all have a lot of societal and familial conditioning we have to work through, and that’s okay. But do the work.
Today, more than ever, wellness is at the forefront of societal discussions. From mental health to physical well-being, women are making significant strides in bringing about change, introducing innovative solutions, and setting new standards. Despite facing unique challenges, they break barriers, inspire communities, and are reshaping the very definition of health and wellness. In this series called women in wellness we are talking to women doctors, nurses, nutritionists, therapists, fitness trainers, researchers, health experts, coaches, and other wellness professionals to share their stories and insights. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Victoria Nielsen.
Victoria is a breathwork facilitator, author, and empowerment coach who demystifies ancient energetic practices like the Akashic Records and Kundalini Yoga to help women live a more empowered and embodied life. She also hosts retreats, digital workshops, and is the co-creator of the Spirit Mamas Oracle. Work with her at victoriamargaux.com
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
Amiscarriage in 2018 rocked my world and kickstarted my self-discovery journey. All the things I thought I wanted for my life didn’t feel good anymore — the important title, the big paycheck — and even though I didn’t really know it at the time, my spiritual and wellness journey really began.
Learning to tap into my intuition through the Akashic Records (an energetic tool of healing and empowerment) helped heal my grief, and it ultimately overflowed into so much joy and love in my life. I never thought I would do Akashic Records readings for other people, but I decided to join a business coaching group and was so inspired. I honestly had no idea what I was signing up for, but I knew two months postpartum — right before the pandemic hit — that I wanted to tap into this yearning I had to help people.
A few months later, another mom friend and I started Spirit Mamas as a way to help other mamas who were struggling to navigate this new awakened life. Our mission was to help new and old mamas everywhere rediscover who they wanted to be in the world with their (third) eyes open. We started holding women’s circles, retreats, and discovered the magic of women coming together to heal, grow, and expand.
We created an Oracle Card deck — the Spirit Mamas Oracle — and we helped dozens of women on their spiritual journeys as part of our beautiful virtual community that was really special during the pandemic. Then, after having my second son in 2022, I felt the calling to shift again, and ventured out on my own to write a book about my miscarriage, start a podcast, and help even more women step into their power and truth.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
I’ve never been steered wrong following my intuition to make a business decision. Our intuition is our superpower, as it’s uniquely ours and always guiding us. Following that wise, intuitive aspect of myself I moved from NYC to Alabama and met my husband, manifested a baby, held retreats in healing places, hosted a 6-city non-traditional book tour, and more.
I took a year off to stay at home with my second son, and instead of it holding me back, it allowed me to blossom. I was given the space and time to feel into who I really wanted to be in this next iteration of business, and I’ve approached it from that more feminine, intuitive place.
There’s nothing wrong with the traditional masculine approach of hustle culture, but it doesn’t work for me. I flow with my cyclical nature as a female, and it’s allowed me to build the foundation of the business in a really easeful, natural way without force. Because of that, many of the opportunities I’ve had to host retreats, work with amazing women, and to write my book with the Unbound Press have fallen into my lap.
For me, the lesson is to not do things like anybody else, but to instead do them like you. I could have gone on a traditional book tour doing readings, but instead I hosted women’s circles to bring the teachings of the book to life. Creating something new in the world is, to me, far more interesting than doing things the way they’ve always been done.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I should start by saying I honestly don’t feel like I’ve made any mistakes. Now, hear me out. On the surface that might seem conceited and very selfish of me, but I truly don’t believe that we as humans can make mistakes — at least not in the traditional sense.
When you’re following your intuition, and making decisions from that place, everything is a lesson. Everything has the opportunity to show you areas of yourself where you can improve, or where you’ve got room to grow.
Do I have things I maybe should have figured out sooner? Sure. But every part of my journey has molded me into the entrepreneur I am today, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
I will leave you with this, though: When you focus on only the masculine aspects of the business, and not the energy behind the business, everything suffers. If you’re making decisions out of lack — because you need to make money, or you feel like someone else is going to beat you to it — people can feel that. When you make decisions out of joy and passion, people can feel that, too. Now, tell me, which kind of energy would you like to experience as a consumer?
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
As women, our intuition is our innate superpower. Most women, through cultural and familial conditioning, have stopped listening to and honoring that inner knowing as they navigate their lives.
Through ceremonial circles, coaching, and simplifying these ancient practices, I create a safe space for you to reconnect back to that most powerful and wise intuitive aspect of yourself. Because when you’re in touch with your intuition, you’re in touch with your truth — the most powerful and unique thing that makes you YOU, and something you need to manifest your best life.
As women in the world, we carry so much shame, trauma, and negative emotions. It’s time to put all of that down and become who we’re really meant to be — joyful, fully expressed beings. Everyone deserves to feel powerful in their own life.
And every person on Earth has unique medicine for the world just by being 100% themselves. It’s my mission to help women love themselves enough and feel safe enough to share it.
I’m not here to tell anyone else what to do, I’m just here to live as an example of what’s possible. I don’t have all the answers, you do. And together, as I walk beside you, you’ll begin to trust and know that you are the master of your own destiny.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
1 . Stop any kind of mind-altering substances — alcohol, caffeine, etc. — at least in the beginning of your wellness journey. How can you know who you really are, and what you really need, if you’re always masking it with something else? You’re better able to support yourself and your nervous system when you’re free of things that impair you. This doesn’t mean you have to abstain forever. Just while you’re getting the lay of the land, so to speak.
I added coffee to this list because it’s addictive — as a former coffee junkie, I know. I’m a mom of two young boys, I honestly couldn’t function in the morning without it. Recently, however, I’ve switched to matcha or green tea, and the shift might seem really subtle, but it’s been profound for supporting my nervous system. I no longer feel jittery, anxious, or have a crash of tiredness in the afternoons. And I can tell when my body needs something because I’m not tricking it into thinking it’s not tired with caffeine. I’m also able to fall asleep easier and faster.
2 . A daily self check-in. If you can carve out time for yourself first thing in the morning to have a morning meditation and movement practice, great. But if not, taking the time to check in with your energy throughout the day is an easy way to increase your overall wellbeing. Set 3 alarms on your phone — one each for morning, afternoon, and evening. When it goes off, stop what you’re doing and take a deep breath. Then, ask your body what it needs. Do you need to take a break from the task at hand? Are you hungry? Should you get up and move around? I was the queen of powering through at work when I wanted to get something done. But often, it was to my detriment. I’d force myself to finish something, only to have to redo it anyway because it was terrible. If I’d just come back when I was fresh, it would have been finished in half the time — and at a way better quality!
3 . Keep the cork in the bottle — not everything is for everyone else’s consumption. We all share ourselves online these days, but then what’s left for you? Some things are meant just for you and your journey. Not everyone is entitled to every detail of your life — or your energy. A medicine woman in Sedona, Two Phoenix Moons, shared this idea of a champagne bottle with me: Say you have an amazing experience. All that fizzy, magical goodness is circulating inside of you afterward. The world showed YOU a miracle. But then, you go to share it with someone else and you uncork the bottle, so to speak. Sure, maybe they think it’s cool too, or maybe they don’t fully understand the magic because they weren’t there to experience it themselves. Either way, now you’re feeling womp, womp about something you’d been so stoked on. Now, I love to share, but the magic is diluted with each spray of champagne. It’s okay not to document every little thing for the world to see. Keeping things just for you sometimes makes them extra-special.
4 . REST! This is one of the most underrated but most vital lifestyle tweaks. Prioritizing rest doesn’t make you lazy, it makes you smart. Women in particular are cyclical and our energy changes during the 28 days of our menstrual cycle. The more you prioritize rest, the more you’re able to receive. Last year, I started working with the mantra “when I rest, I receive more,” and I used to say that before taking an afternoon nap. Not only would I wake up to new sales notifications, but I’d also have more energy to play with my kids and get things done around the house.
5 . Only keep pieces in your wardrobe that make you feel like the highest, most aligned version of yourself. Energy can get stuck in places — especially in the old clothing and shoes we hang on to for far too long. It’s important to clear out the things that no longer bring you joy or represent the woman you are becoming. It’s also a manifestation exercise because you’re bringing to life that future version of you every single time you wear something she would be inspired by. I’m doing this exercise for myself right now, and it’s amazing the shift in energy I feel by lovingly releasing the old version of me with each old piece of clothing I no longer wear. Plus, my closet and environment feel less cluttered, which automatically brings me a sense of peace.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Self-love, baby! The most important relationship you have in this life is the one that you have with yourself. And the way that you love yourself is how love is going to be mirrored to you in ALL of you relationships. When you’re able to love yourself — messy parts and all — nothing outside of you has any influence or bearing over you. And how freeing is that? To live life 100% for yourself on your own terms. That’s what I want for everyone in the world. To feel that freedom.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
- Boundaries! When you have healthy boundaries with both your work and your home life, everyone benefits. I used to try and multitask working on the business while my kids were around and it was a disaster. Nothing got my full attention, and then I’d feel guilty afterward. Now, I know I have time carved out for both so I can be fully present with what’s in front of me.
- Your success is tied to your healing. The more that you heal and work on yourself, the more successful you’ll be. Because then you can walk in right relationship with yourself, and so many things around you, to achieve success in a more balanced and mindful way. You aren’t striving for burnout. You’re coming from a healed and whole place to begin with instead of striving for that once you’ve reached the finish line.
- You have to be willing to let go of your old life to step into your new one. It takes dedication, commitment, and a true devotion to your vision. There are so many habits and mental thought patterns you have to challenge to rise into the woman you’re meant to be. We all have a lot of societal and familial conditioning we have to work through, and that’s okay. But do the work.
- Nobody really knows what they’re doing. We’re all just winging it. Even that big time CEO and successful soulpreneuer you look up to is just figuring it out as they go. It’s all just one big experiment, and even if you have the magic formula figured out, it will eventually change and you’ll have to figure it out again.
- It’s okay to change your mind. Your preferences, the company you keep, etc. Just because it felt right to you before doesn’t mean it’s permanent and has to stay forever. You can switch absolutely anything in your business (and in your life!) because you want to. I originally said I wanted to quit my corporate job ASAP, but it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Right now, I still have a corporate job while I’m building my empire. I do both well because I’ve cultivated my life in a way that supports both. You don’t have to jump in to being a soulpreneuer immediately with both feet. There’s a lot of pressure to leave your corporate job right away to start something for yourself, but why not have both? The security of my corporate job allows me to be inspired and create in my soul-led one because I’m creating out of joy and not scarcity because I have to pay my bills.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Mental health. Without that, you have nothing. You can’t pour from an empty cup, and as a busy momprenuer if I’m not taking care of myself and my wellbeing first, everyone around me suffers. On the flip side, when I do take care for myself, everyone benefits. It’s not selfish to put yourself first. It’s a necessity.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
Follow me on instagram at @VictoriaMargauxNielsen or listen to my weekly podcast, Flip the Script with Vic.
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com .
