Holistic Menopause Healing: Insights from Medical Intuitive Katie Beecher

In this episode, Mary is joined by Katie Beecher, a medical and spiritual intuitive, licensed professional counselor, and internationally recognized healer whose transformative work bridges science, intuition, and lived experience.

Katie shares her powerful journey from battling a life-threatening eating disorder at age 16 to becoming a celebrated healer with over 35 years of experience. The conversation explores how she discovered her unique gift of creating detailed intuitive readings and soul paintings using only a person's name and age—a skill she describes as both natural and learnable.

This episode dives deep into the intersection of menopause, spirituality, and holistic healing. Katie challenges conventional approaches to women's health, advocating for root-cause healing that honors the physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of midlife transformation. At 60, she's not just talking about vitality—she's living it as a two-time national champion pole and aerial athlete who started training just six years ago.

Key Takeaways:

• How medical intuition supports midlife health

• Jungian psychology: How it taught Katie to befriend her disorder, communicate with her body, and discover the messages behind symptoms,

• Reframing perimenopause and menopause as the time to shed societal expectations, set boundaries, establish self-love, and reclaim authentic power rather than merely surviving symptoms.

• Highly Sensitive beings and empaths have a superpower

• Hormone Therapy Advocacy: Katie's personal experience with bioidentical hormones (estrogen, testosterone, DHEA) have empowered her to advocate for symptom-based, quality-of-life treatment.

• Practical guidance on connecting with your intuition, spiritual guides, and inner wisdom.

• How beloved pets mirror our emotional and physical states, often taking on our pain to protect us, and what their illnesses can teach us about ourselves.

Connect:

• Heal From Within: A Guide

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Transcript

Katie Beecher: 0:00

That is a bunch of crap because it's about our quality of life and not just getting through something in, in an unpleasant way. Like why do we have to suffer? So, and also listening to your body, your intuition, being like, I don't have worry so much about taking care of kids anymore or what people think anymore, Mm-hmm. So it's such a freeing time. And I work with people who. Don't really know themselves, haven't really set boundaries, have taken care of everybody else, all their life. And now they're like, I wanna live differently and maybe get outta my dumb marriage that I've been in for a while, or change jobs or whatever. But it's just, you're, it's never too late, to find your way. And if you piss a few people off along the way, oh well,

Mary Lee: 0:51

Welcome back, my listeners. Today I'm joined by the incredible Katie Beecher. She's a medical and a spiritual intuitive, a licensed professional counselor, and internationally recognized healer whose work has been featured in Goop, poosh Miranda Kerr's blog Coast to Coast am. Bloom TV and so many more. She has over 35 years of experience and more than 200 features across media, podcasts and summits. Katie is known for her unique intuitive readings. Where she creates a detailed four page report and a stunning, intuitive soul painting, knowing only the person's name and age. Let me tell you, I was absolutely fascinated with this skill, and we will get into it. In this episode, Katie brings a powerful blend of science, intuition, and lived experience to her work, and in this podcast, you're going to hear her story, her awakening. since then, she's helped countless people address the root cause of illness and emotional distress, drawing upon her own profound healing journey Now she's age 60. And she's not only a champion for midlife vitality. Listen to this. She's also a two time national champion, pole and aerial athlete. So incredible. And she has been breaking down stereotypes about aging, menopause, and feminine strength. Wow. Love it. Her bestselling book Heal From Within A Guide to Intuitive Wellness, offers us the reader's grounded research-backed approach to intuitive healing and self-discovery. Katie's story and her work are a beautiful reminder that healing is both an art and a practice of deep listening, listening to our bodies, our intuition, and our soul's truth. I can't wait for you to hear her story. Please join me in welcoming Katie Beecher to the Menopause Disruptive Podcast.

Mary: 2:49

Katie.

Katie Beecher: 2:51

Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited.

Mary: 2:54

So much, so much to unpack. let's begin. I always love to begin being a true communicator that I was for over 24 years in pr. I always like to begin with a person's backstory.

Katie Beecher: 3:07

Certainly So I've always been able to know that there was something more than what we can see and hear. Even as a very young child, I would hear voices in my head and be able to communicate with animals and know what other people were thinking. I had this BS meter especially with a pretty dysfunctional family and being like, this is not okay and this isn't real. And thankfully I felt like I had some guidance along the way, even like at three. And so really empathic and sensitive and all the things that are annoying and also cool and around when I was 16. I was in the throes of an eating disorder, really, really bad, throwing up three times a day,

Mary: 4:00

Oh

Katie Beecher: 4:01

suicidal just had had it with the whole thing. And I came home from school and decided to call our pediatrician without telling my parents at all, because they wouldn't have been any help. And I said, I am making myself throw up and I need help. And it was 1983, so no one really talked about eating disorders then. But, and he said you'll probably be fine, blah, blah, blah. And I said, no, definitely, definitely not fine. But he hooked me up with a youngian psychologist and young stuff is all about spirituality and intuition and self-love and symbolism and all the cool things that I had in my life already, but didn't know what to do with. So worked really hard and learned how to do a lot of the things that I teach in my book. Like, talk to your body and talk to your guides and find self-love and look at the messages behind your symptoms and how to befriend your disorders and all kinds of good stuff. And, I didn't really know what to do with being a medium or an intuitive, but I always worked really intuitively in my sessions because I came a, became a licensed counselor shortly right after you. I got my, bachelor's in master's and eventually the abilities became stronger and stronger and I couldn't really, I didn't have them. And so I started working as a medical intuitive. It's not just medical, it's physical, emotional, and spiritual. So I really tune into the whole person and with just a name and an age, I create a four page report really detailed about a person's entire life. So it's. Childhood and career and relationships and intuitive abilities and physical stuff and emotional stuff and trauma and all the things. And then I also create an intuitive soul painting. Which is symbolic way of showing what's going on in people's bodies and their energy fields. And so yeah, I'm really fortunate to be doing this work and love talking about menopause because it's so important and para menopause and all the things. And I'm 60. So I told my doctor that they're going to take my hormones outta my cold dead hands.

Mary: 6:33

My gosh, I can take this in a million directions, but the first one that comes to mind and true to the name of this podcast, menopause Disruptor, just exactly how bridging clinical psychology and medical intuitive counseling. Into disrupting the status quo of the medical interventions that have been out there to treat women or not.'cause let's face it, we have been outright dismissed and ignored in research. does the work you do totally disrupt the status quo?

Katie Beecher: 7:11

I love talking about this and also just the concept of aging and age stereotypes and all those things, right? So I'm pretty. Disruptive myself so I am, I'm 60, as I said. I am a a pole sport athlete and I do aerial arts and I've won two national championships on pole.

Mary: 7:36

Fantastic.

Katie Beecher: 7:37

Right. Started six years ago. I love it. It's the best thing I've ever done for myself. I couldn't do anything when I started. So people who think, yeah, I've been good at this my whole life. No, not at all. And it's just so empowering because I feel better about my body than ever. I feel better about myself coming from an eating disorder background. I have to wear basically bikini to, to stick to the pole or I fall on my head and die. So. I had to get over that really quickly and it's so fun to be in classes with people half my age or less than that and be able to inspire them. Like age doesn't matter, so just by the way, I live my life. I like to be a disruptor. But so much of health, especially women's health, emotional and spiritual and spiritual and physical. Is holistic and it's, it should be from a root cause perspective and. With women, especially menopausal stuff, it's sort of like, well if you're not having hot flashes, you're fine. If you're not having symptoms, you are just fine and you don't really need a sex drive anymore. You you, don't need to have any energy or enjoy life or it's just menopause is just something you get through and I'm like. That is a bunch of crap because it's about our quality of life and not just getting through something in, in an unpleasant way. Like why do we have to suffer? So, and also listening to your body, your intuition, being like, I don't have worry so much about taking care of kids anymore or what people think anymore, so it's such a freeing time. And I work with people who. Don't really know themselves, haven't really set boundaries, have taken care of everybody else, all their life. And now they're like, I wanna live differently and maybe get outta my dumb marriage that I've been in for a while, or change jobs or whatever. But it's just, you're, it's never too late to find your way. And if you piss a few people off along the way, oh well.

Mary: 9:54

it's been coined by, Ayurvedic practitioners and two things about the menopausal transition. One, it's the time of the great reveal. This is a common thread that's in my podcast episodes and that what we have not dealt with. Let's face it, women are good at pretending masking sh shelving away and putting everybody else first, so we can avoid taking care of ourselves. And so they'll come to bear because estrogen leaves the body, which is that great protective. Mechanism. And then two, Ayurveda says that it's the age of wisdom, a time to truly get to know our bodies. And I love how you coin that. It's not just the physical body, but it's the, uh, energetic body, the emotional body, the spiritual body, the intuitive body. and so it's that time to really get to know who we are on all planes of existence, if you will. So let's talk about the work that you do with women to help them comfortable with some of these woowoo concepts, for lack of a better terminology, like spirituality and tapping into what's already there to heal within. How do you work with your clients in that direction

Katie Beecher: 12:05

So the first thing I wanna say is I am about the least woo woo, really woo woo person you will ever meet because I feel like intuition is natural. We're born with it. Medical intuition is really natural. When we or our kids, let's say, or somebody we know, when you start to have symptoms, when you get a stomach ache, okay, you immediately have to tune in. And because it gets your attention. The worse the stomachache is, the more it gets your attention.'cause you may have been ignoring it, but you have to do something like, okay, do I need to lay down? Did I just eat something that was weird? Do I need to have some crackers? Do I need to throw up? Do I need to you're, you're automatically starting to do this detective work.

Mary: 12:54

Right.

Katie Beecher: 12:55

especially with gut because. The gut is one of my bad signals and a lot of other people. And what I mean by that is I may have gut symptoms before I realize that I'm anxious about something or I may realize it a little bit and my husband would be like, you seem nervous. And I'm like, yeah, I'm fine, whatever. But then my gut will be like, oh yeah, this is what's going on and you need to pay attention. So I. Really like to help people to tune into that in a natural feeling way and let them know that there's nothing special about me. I do have some pretty wild abilities, but there's nothing that I do that you can't do for yourself to a certain degree as well. And it's really a really important part of my sessions and my book that I teach people how to do that.

Mary: 13:54

Wow, that's incredible. So then how can women start to, to see their midlife and this transition as bigger invitation to go deeper into some of that embodiment work, intuitive feeling. And rather than fear it, look at it as little breadcrumb crumbs, if you will, to take bigger, bolder, uh, agency in their health, much like you did at age 16 by

Katie Beecher: 14:21

Right, right.

Mary: 14:22

picking up the phone.

Katie Beecher: 14:24

Crazy. Yes, I love that. So I'd like to start with the concept of just some self-acceptance because self is, feels pretty outta reach for a lot of people. We're very hard on ourselves, we.

Mary: 14:40

Of course.

Katie Beecher: 14:40

It feels kind of like, wow, I don't know if I'll ever get there, but how about just getting to know yourself? Self-acceptance, good, bad, ugly. So a really great tool is just start a list on your phone or whatever and start listing things about you. So judgment. And it can be the color of your hair, it can be I like this food or I really hate this one. Or it doesn't have to be this big, huge stuff. Just little tidbits about who you are, what's important to you what you don't like. And the more you start thinking that way, the more that when you are. Approached by a certain person or introduced to a different opportunity or something, you start to think, does that resonate with me? Is that good for me? Am I getting red flags about maybe this isn't a great person for me, or job or something? So you immediately start to look at life from. What do I need? Who am I instead of what's going on outside of me? And I like to teach people that intuition is basically a source of unconditional love and acceptance,

Mary: 16:06

Right.

Katie Beecher: 16:07

like a bodyguard, something that knows everything about you and loves you. And the more you get what you need from spirit, intuition, whatever you wanna call it, because whatever you call it doesn't matter. The less important it is what other people are doing and saying and thinking, and the less important, it's what people think of you. So if you are your foundation, everything kind of flows from there.

Mary: 16:32

Oh my goodness. So much of the work of Gary Zuckoff, of the Seed of the Soul is coming to mind right now for me in that heat. He really tells teach us to tap into the soul, the soul purpose, the lessons to learn in the soul journey. Understanding that there's parts of our personality that are there, to, live in a material world or into a human body, if you will. But as we go deeper into the soul and get to know that soul, who we are at the foundation, the root of who we are, spiritually. That those parts of her personalities start to fall off. for me, I feel like when I was reading that part of this, that chapter, I really felt like there's parts of my per personality that didn't exist. or had existed perimenopause or pre perimenopause. And were there probably to protect me just to survive in the corporate workplace. And now there are parts of my personality. That Are showing up. Others have fallen off. It's like I feel sometimes feel like a different woman almost sometimes. And If it wasn't for the work that I'm have done as a menopause doula, I think it would've scared the shit outta me because I'm actually am questioning things that I used to do, or like perimenopause or pre perimenopause. And I think. Well, I love who I am today. I wouldn't wanna change it for all of the broken parts or the faults in my, in the stars. But looking back, I think, oh, that poor, stubborn, unaware woman girl who she was. So let's like, let's talk about that personality part, which is. By and large, the material part of who we are. Just I guess, to protect the ego. I'd like to unpack that some more.

Katie Beecher: 18:31

Yeah, so I really love Young in psychology because young gets into all of this stuff of the different. Aspects of who you are and where they came from

Mary: 18:41

Yeah.

Katie Beecher: 18:42

and that they all serve a purpose. Maybe you got some of them from other people, or we get them from our experiences. But to look at ourselves in totality and be like, there are parts of me that are pretty darn great and serve me pretty well. And then there are parts that get in my own way and give me these messages of you're not good enough. Or what does somebody gotta think? Or, and narcissism and being really loving and giving, and we all have these parts. So I think to the more we get to know ourselves from a nonjudgmental perspective and be like, okay, I'm not gonna spend a lot of time like feeling guilty or feeling bad about the things in my past that I did that didn't serve me other than to learn from them, right? And I'm going to allow new experiences. And new ways of doing things. And it's like if you had told me 10 years ago that I would be on a pole, okay doing some pretty cool acrobatics in a bikini, competing on a stage in front of a, an entire auditorium of people, any of those, any of those little parts, I would've been like, you are out of your freaking mind. There's, there's just no way. And because I found something I love that helps me to get to know myself and express myself and be creative and these things that I would've been terrified, literally terrified. My, my family used to make fun of me and they'd be like, you wanna even put on a bathing suit? And now who you are. So, and I think that the older I got, the more I figured out these are the people who matter. These are the people maybe who not only don't matter, but don't even know me, and I'm gonna do more of what I want. And the more you challenge those fears, and it doesn't happen overnight, I'm not gonna say this is easy. It's little by little breadcrumbs like you said, but the more you challenge those fears, the more you realize that, oh, maybe I can't do that. Maybe didn't need to be so afraid of that. And okay, well maybe. That person got mad at me, but maybe I didn't really need that relationship or just really cool things happen when we evolve.

Mary: 21:15

Yes. Oh my goodness. Look at the trajectory of your life from disorders, which was. Which is profoundly rooted in an absence of self-love and trying to fit in. And let's face it, back in 83, it was all about the magazines, right? People Magazine, what we looked like. They would even put your weight in brackets next to the celebrity's name. What the hell? So no wonder that girls who Drew grew up in the Gen X generation were just inundated with, you're not good enough. And so to go right through that full spectrum of your life to being very, like you said, front and center in a bikini on a stage, your legs around a pole. What, what what a testimony that is. Uh, but like you said, it's not always easy. So, I know is just absolutely fascinating because I, the question of my name and my age, and you can do all that, but we'll get back to that, for that journey to bring in a woman through that journey. And I think at some level we all have that highly sensitive nature, That empathy, is probably one of the strongest women's intuition to be able to break free of all those societal norms and just become that full soul expression of who we're meant to be. So do you recognize that empathy within individuals and help them ignite it? Or what else is it? Within the individuals, the women that you work with, to help them bring out all those traits that they need to move past fear into acceptance and self love.

Katie Beecher: 23:13

So when you were talking one of the things that came up is that so many humans, but especially women, are really, really sensitive. Like when I was told I was so overly sensitive that it was painful and I think a lot of people can relate to that, especially women. So what that sometimes leads to is being able to feel other people's pain, and then as women we are told that it is your job to fix it or take care of. Maybe we watched our moms do that maybe we thought that was how we were supposed to be, and you got a lot of acceptance and kudos for that. Good girl, you're doing all this stuff. And so. One of the things that I do and, and people who come to me, I have to say some have physical illnesses, some have emotional stuff, some just wanna know more about themselves and their lives and how to connect to intuition or their relationship or, so it's all over the place. It's not just people who are sick. So but a, a really common theme seems to be, what do I do with these really strong feelings? What do I do when. I'm really, really sensitive. I have a hard time maybe tuning people out, or I'm afraid to hurt people's feelings. I'm afraid that if I say what I need to say or set boundaries that I'm gonna hurt somebody else or, so. One of the things that I like to teach people is number one, and this not my words, it's a very wise person who said this to me. Other people's pain might be the best gift you ever gave them

Mary: 25:02

Oh.

Katie Beecher: 25:03

because. Sometimes we need that pain to grow and learn. I am so grateful for the eating disorder because if that had not happened, I, first of all, I'd be dead. Because I hated myself. And it was having to go through that struggle and reach rock, rock bottom to be like, this is not working. You have to make a change. So it took that to separate me from my dysfunctional family. It took that to help me to get to know and to come to terms with my weird abilities so I like to help people see the challenges that they're going through as messengers and things that they can learn from and to, and even the sensitivity, like use it as a tool, but also know that you are in control of your energy at all times. So you can't actually absorb other people's energy, even though you think you do. You have the control. So it's like if I walked around open all the time, my life would be really overwhelming. But as a therapist, as coming from a dysfunctional family, as an intuitive, I've had to learn to turn it off and on so that I can protect myself. From the rest of the world, and then also tune in when I need to too. So we all have that ability.

Mary: 26:33

Yeah. Ah, wow. Wow. So that How then okay. I'm gonna switch gears a little bit

Katie Beecher: 26:46

Okay.

Mary: 26:46

it snake on me When you, when people come to work with you goop describes it as eerily accurate when people come to work with you or just provide you with their name and their age to help them with a. I'm gonna call it their soul map, right? That your four page document, but a soul map, a visual representation of what's happening so that they know they can start identifying where to make those wise choices to step into the greater version of themselves. I like to think certainly in the context of the midlife transition. Okay. of all, the very first time you ever did that, like how did you figure out that this was actually something and it worked?

Katie Beecher: 27:30

So, yeah. My mom got really sick. And I became her caretaker. And that really rocked my world because everything I had doing, been doing before then I had to stop. And it makes you, she almost died. Well, she eventually did die, but at the time she had almost died. And it really made you look at like, what's important, what's not is the stuff that I've been doing every day that I thought was important, actually important. And it made me want to go deeper.

Mary: 27:58

Mm.

Katie Beecher: 27:58

And so I, I don't know how things appear sometimes, right? And I heard the term medical intuition and I thought, I've always been super interested in medicine. I came pretty close to going to medical school. I have the intuition background, like what is this? So I read Mona Alicia Schultz has pretty famous medical intuitive and I took a look at her book and she happened to be doing a three day workshop eons ago, and it was just like introduction to it. What is it? What does it mean? What are chara? Stuff like that. So she was like, I'm going to give you a name and age, and I want you to just write down everything you can about person. And we didn't know if it was a person or animal or whatever. And I, I'm like, there's no way in hell, like, I'm gonna be so embarrassed, I'm not gonna be able to do this. This is insane. I started to write things down and then I started to see the people or the animals, like not even knowing it was an animal. I started to see these people and see characteristics and one of them was this older woman and I saw her like hunched over and I knew what color hair she had and I could see inside her body and I knew trait like things about her emotionally and, and it just was, the more we did it, the more I knew and I'm like, how? How is this happening to me? And she even said, I don't know what you actually do, but you should probably think about doing this. And it was just really mind blowing and eyeopening, which is why I really en encourage people, do things you haven't done before. Do things that stop you. Find out more stuff. And when I, like I did a workshop up in Omega and I did this exercise with people. And they thought the same thing. They're like, no, I am not gonna be able to do this. And I'm like, just write it down for yourself. It's not a quiz. You're not gonna, I'm not gonna embarrass You And they were pretty blown away by how much they knew about the person that I was talking about with just a name in a H two. So we, a lot of us have more abilities than we think. Right. So it was then I said, there's something to this and I just started practicing on friends, on friends, dead relatives.'cause it doesn't don't have to be alive for me to do this on their pets. I just kept practicing and I was involved with a spiritualist church at the time too. For people who don't know what spiritualist churches are it's a place where you could go get, intuitive readings and psychic readings and energy healing. And they believe in uh, us living after we die and, and all the things and in spirit communication and pretty cool stuff. But I just kept learning and learning and learning and, and my abilities have grown and I've just discovered more about it. So if you ask me how I do it, I honestly can't tell you. But people get the reports and the paintings'cause I send them before I meet with them. This is, I can't BS this, you get this before I meet with you. And then during the meeting I get tons more information from my guides too. So, but they're always like, wow, you, you already know me. This is so cool. Like, we've already done so much work because I don't have to tell you all of this stuff.

Mary: 31:18

Oh my goodness.

Katie Beecher: 31:20

Uh, yeah, it's, it's really awesome and it allows us to do so much, get so much done in an hour. So some people don't even. Need another appointment and some people want to work with me more, and, but you can get so much out of that first appointment.

Mary: 31:36

Oh wow. Okay. Sign me up first

Katie Beecher: 31:38

Awesome.

Mary: 31:39

and second. You said something that I gonna hone in on my guides.

Katie Beecher: 31:46

Okay.

Mary: 31:46

My guides. Okay. So I'm a big believer in guides. But tell us a little bit about what that means. First of all, guides and to work with guides.

Katie Beecher: 31:58

Wonderful question. When I first was taught how to connect to my intuition when I was 16. Thank you. Thank you, God, for bringing me this person. I had no clue what I was doing. It was so weird, and I'm just like, I don't know. Like I knew the concept of having a voice in my head and I just called it God. Which is great, and it just felt like love. And she taught me to, even though this feels weird and foreign and all that stuff, try to connect to a piece of you that loves you unconditionally. that's the goal. And so I called it God and the more I did it. The more I realized that I was also talking to my intuitive guides. I was also talking to whatever's in spirit. I was also, so it felt like a bunch of different entities and people, even people like my grandparents and things like that. So the name guides I think can be hmm. Overwhelming and, and misleading only because it puts pressure on people to define it. So when I think about my guides I know that there is a. Centuries old man who was involved in American Indian traditions. There's a couple of women of different ages who have Latino az techy things never seen their faces, so I only have an image of what they look like, and then my grandparents are there, and then I see this half table. And the initial guides are like the first people on that circular table. And then I just see rows and rows and rows and rows of beings. And we all have a team. So, and we're all connected. And even quantum physics, we're all connected, right? Collective unconscious, all of the things. So I think that we draw from not only spiritual beings, if you will, but also ancestors and beliefs and DNA and myths and all the good Jungian stuff.

Mary: 34:22

For you and I to sit down and have this conversation, well, first of all, 20 years ago having this conversation on podcasting was. Unheard of in the virtual space, but just to see the topic alone 20 years ago would've been witch crazy, hormonal whereas today, today we have these conversations and everyone lights up. I really feel that we are living in such a great time, but a precipice of massive change. And now the world is becoming more introduced because of these. channels, these platforms introduced to people like yourself, Katie. this is bringing, I think, so much hope and encouragement at a time where there's climate anxiety, there's political unrest, not to bring us down that road, but don't think we can exist in all the parts of who we are without being consciously aware of and even stressed out by these external factors. then you pair that with the menopausal journey, which is so massively disruptive in itself with the hormone shifts So how then do you feel that spirituality, this awakening to spirituality. Is in itself like a panacea that one cure medicine that she could always turn to.

Katie Beecher: 35:49

The first thing I wanna say is I love your outlook because I agree with it and it saddens me when I hear from people who tell me that I am Satan. What I do is against the Bible. That fear based patriarchal stuff, and it really, really makes me sad. Because it's people, mostly women, but even men do, who are shutting off a whole side of themselves because of things that they don't understand and think they can't control. So that makes me very, very sad because I, everything I do is based in love and God, and it's just to help people's lives and help empower them, which can be scary. So there's that, but. I, I really do feel like embracing spirituality, which to me means connection with love, connection with each other, connection with your authentic self, helps you to be the most you can be and be happy. And if we're. Listening to ourselves and have self-love, then we can help others feel that way too. And every single time I work with people, there is always a connection between what is wrong, so physical illness, emotional illness, something like that, and a lack of self-love and self-acceptance. Then that goes along with not being able to express who you fully are and pushing that down. So when I was going through my recovery, I heard loud and clear with acceptance, with self-acceptance, self-love and connection, and to intuition. You can heal from just about anything. And they told me that was gonna be the centerpiece of my work and my book. And I, it's just keeps every person I work with, I'm just like, there it is again.

Mary: 38:03

Yes, again, it goes right back to that earlier point. It starts with the self-love.

Katie Beecher: 38:08

Mm-hmm.

Mary: 38:09

And now of course a lot of us have had incidents, Because it's not necessarily genetics. As we've heard before, genes load the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger, so we are not pre-ordained or predestined because there are genetics to be a certain way, be it a neurodivergent trait. We are exposed to things that bring trauma to the body and then it is I, yeah. Understand, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, it's our ability to cope with that trauma that masks the true essence of who we are and interferes places, obstacles in the way for us to be authentic and to truly love and know thyself. So your work does. Onto past traumas and childhood traumas and neurodivergent traits. Tell us a little bit how that comes into play then in the healing journey.

Katie Beecher: 39:05

Yeah, very, very much. When I look into someone's life time. Time as we know it, it does not exist. So I see someone's lifetime right in front of me and from childhood to whenever, wherever. And the way that I know that something is like current is it's a louder voice. It's this clearer picture, something like that. And it's more faint. If it's maybe happened to them in childhood or if it's related to somebody else they care about or love, because I get messages for people they care about too, because I that's how we operate. So I don't believe that people have to rehash every single thing that happened to them in their childhood. And I work with some people who've dealt with unbelievably severe. Abuse, like through Catholic church stuff or contest or cults or things like that. Just such sad, scary stuff. And so a lot of the time, because they have developed these coping mechanisms to survive the feelings get pushed down and emotions get pushed down and they're, they do come out in the body and all that other good stuff, but it's like, how. Is that stuff still impacting you? Are you still hearing voices from people during that time? Is the way that you were made to feel then, like you didn't matter, like all the things, is that still impacting you? I'm a really big one on looking at now and how to move forward rather than just dwelling on the past, even though the, the past does shape who we are, so it's more about like moving forward and living in the now, but also are you holding on to any of that stuff? And how is it shaping what you're doing? But it's so significant and neurodivergence has become a very interesting term. it. Means so many things. And I definitely am, most people in my family are, and whether that means autism stuff or A DHD or creativity or gifted or there's so many meanings now that almost has lost its meaning in some ways. So I really don't love labels. I really like to help people get to know who they are. And what it means for them. Not that some of those labels can't be like really educational.

Mary: 41:55

at what point then in all the work that you'd been doing that you realized, I have to write this down in a book. Get this out to the masses.

Katie Beecher: 42:06

when I was going through my recovery when I was 16 I was like, okay, you're gonna write a book, you're gonna speak, you're gonna get to help a lot of people. Fine. Well, of course I put it off because I don't know what the hell I'm doing. and you go through life's crap and shit and all this stuff. And so, uh, mid forties I find out that I had Lyme disease. I'd had it since I was a kid. I grew up next to Lyme, Connecticut, finally diagnosed, no one ever diagnosed me, blah, blah, blah. And one of the things I like to teach people and use. Is, and this is what I did with my eating disorder, is I wrote to it as a friend

Mary: 42:44

Oh.

Katie Beecher: 42:44

and I let it write back to me. There's all these techniques in my book. I wrote to it as a friend and I was like, all right, here you are. What would you like? Why are you bugging the hell out of me? What do you need? How, how do you need me to help you? What do you need to heal? What's your message? What are we doing here? And so you see it as a team member instead of something that you have to fight or be afraid of, or control or have anxiety about. So I did that with a Lyme and I refuse to say my Lyme or label any of the symptoms with my, but I'm just like, okay, Lyme, hi, what do you want? What are, what are we doing? How can I heal?'cause I. I'm done with all this crap and it, it wrote back to me and it said, it's time to write your book proposal. Finally, if you wanna heal, you need to do that. And I'm like, shit. So it was time. I muddled my way through lots of proposals, got help and found an agent. Was very fortunate. Went through about 80 million iterations of proposals and found St. Martin's Press who really liked the concept and helped me finish the book.

Mary: 43:57

Okay.

Katie Beecher: 43:58

and so that's what happened. So I, if you wanna write a book or wanna do anything, like if you think you are not capable of it, you'd be surprised what you are capable of. So.

Mary: 44:08

So true. did you call upon the guides or were

Katie Beecher: 44:11

Oh heck yeah. Oh yeah. It was like, okay, I really have a DD and I need a little help with that just while I'm writing. Because I can't focus'cause there's too much in my head. There's 35 year, there's at that point 50 something years of experience. Too much was coming at me all at once. Didn't even know how to focus at all or whatever.

Mary: 44:31

Yeah.

Katie Beecher: 44:31

But I was like, I need help. Please help me write this. And it's like when I used to paint and stuff, the more you let it work through, you let it meaning your guides and your creativity and stuff the better the product is and the less you stress about it. And it's funny because I don't remember everything that's in my book. Like I, because

Mary: 44:53

Yeah.

Katie Beecher: 44:54

So much. I didn't really write, like I just let it come through me. It's like when I do readings, people will, I will remember if I meet with them again because my guys make me remember, but I don't consciously remember.

Mary: 45:06

I feel the need to share this, so I have a deck of my Oracle cards. again, it, for me, it's not woo woo, it's just something fun. And there they were, next to my yoga mat this morning and I looked at them. I went today's a good day to call upon heart again.'cause I love to do that. And these are the archangel, fire Oracle cards, Alexandra Wenman. So I did my little thing, shuffle the deck, tapped three times and pulled one out. And it was the Archangel Aerial who is the archangel of nature and animals. And of course, cultivating love, self-love, which is very ironic that I pulled her. And then of course, the other night I had a dream about my beloved ishka, my husky, that we unfortunately had to say goodbye to for cancer last, March. really impressed though that animals come through and you said I don't know whether it's a person's name or an animal's name. Is there something different about when an animal is coming through to you or you're feeling the presence? And I like to understand that a little bit more.

Katie Beecher: 46:10

I love animal reading so much.

Mary: 46:13

Oh, good.

Katie Beecher: 46:13

sometimes they even come through in the paintings. I will draw person's animal next to the spirit, symbolic image of them they go through, come through that way too. The really fun thing about animals is. First of all, they are here for us. We think we're here to take care of them. It's the opposite. They are here to take care of us. so they take on so many of our traits and our physical symptoms and our pain because they want to shield us. And when I do animal readings, it's very funny because some people will. Do anything for their animals. So they'll get an animal reading, but they're not really ready to look at themselves. Or there's some fear or health anxiety about learning more about themselves. But animals are sneaky and so they tell me things not only about themselves, but they tell me lots of things about their humans. And it's a very fun way to get the human to talk about their things and what they need to change and what they need to work on, because they don't want their animals to be hurt or harmed or impacted. So if a person is dealing with anxiety, that's a really blanket one, but the animal picks up on that and then the animal gets sick. Or something and the human's like, oh my God, I didn't know I was doing that to them. I don't wanna make them sick. What can I do to work on me to help them? And it's, it's a very cool thing. But it's, they animals feel just like humans. When I work with them horses, I know nothing about horses except when I do readings, and they're incredibly fascinating because they're so human. They're almost super human, and they feel very much like I'm talking to humans and I really. I have no proof of this, but I think that we are reincarnated as each other, so humans and animals reincarnate as each other. That's just my feeling. But yeah, they talk to me just like I'm talking to any other human spirit thing, Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mary: 48:41

had disclosed too that my beloved ishka, she passed of cancer too. Now it makes me think back and it was rapid. It started out as a small golf ball and eng gof into a grape size,

Katie Beecher: 48:52

Aw,

Mary: 48:53

on her leg is that makes me think back. And I heard that one once before and I thought she took on so much. There must have been something. Within me or maybe my lineage. I don't know.

Katie Beecher: 49:06

not as a blaming thing. Don't take that on as a blame thing, right? Because we also, it's like when kids get sick or, which is just horrible to think about, but an entire family is impacted by that child or by that pet

Mary: 49:24

right.

Katie Beecher: 49:25

so sometimes it's about what are the lessons that an entire family learns or

Mary: 49:31

Okay.

Katie Beecher: 49:32

how maybe because your animal is sick. You slow down, you stop what you're doing, you put your priorities in order, and you make more time to spend with that animal. And the crap that you thought was important maybe isn't. And maybe you're like, I don't need to say yes to that party or to that obligation because I'm gonna spend time with my animal. So there's so many lessons.

Mary: 50:01

Stomach lessons. Ugh. Gosh. Okay. said something pretty profound earlier on and it really deserves the attention.'cause I just love it and that was, you'll pry hormones from my cold dead hands. Tell us all about that.

Katie Beecher: 50:19

So for me, we are all individuals. My hormones have been wonky for a very long time. I have ERUs Syndrome, which is a connective tissue disorder, and one of the side effects of that, it's, that's a whole shown in of itself, but one of these side effects is that you, it, your hormones can get wonky and all sorts of things, PSOs and stuff. So, had postpartum depression, but it was a year and a half later, I got put on psych meds. Thank God. My gynecologist was like, no, there's something wrong with your hormones. I was 29, got put on estrogen fine unopposed, estrogen, which a lot of doctors would be like, oh my God, you're, yeah. Did that kill you? No, I'm still here. That changed my life and because of that it helped a lot of different things and so. That made me a believer in helping myself with hormones and with also helping women of all ages be like, just'cause you're 20 doesn't mean that your hormones are normal. And so you know, all this kind of stuff. And so I am on an estrogen patch. And bioidentical estrogen cream and then bioidentical testosterone from a compounding pharmacy and all that. And DHEA. And for me, it has changed my life in so, so, so many ways. So, physically, emotionally, spiritually strength sex drive. Yay. Helped with the weight that weirdly came on my body when I turned 50 that wasn't there before. Just self-confidence, it helps with some of that intense sensitivity. So it helped dull down some of that sensitivity that was overwhelming, that would get in the way of me being able to make decisions and things like that. So it's just helped so many things and thankfully more and more doctors are treating with symptoms. Based on symptoms rather than just blood tests. They are treating it as a quality of life issue rather than just getting you through symptoms because we deserve to feel as good as we possibly can for as long as we possibly can. They give men testosterone and Cialis and all this stuff when there's like a hundred. So, why are we so I really encourage women to explore those possibilities. Not everybody can do it, but even if you're 60 and one doctor says, oh, you're past menopause, maybe there's stuff you could do and maybe other doctors wouldn't take that perspective. So for me, it's been a great thing.

Mary: 53:12

I'm glad you shared that, Katie, because yet again, it's another tool in the toolbox of our, of the whole person that we are, to have that quality of life and perform optimally just the way we are meant to be independence, aging in place and that when we look at it holistically, is responsibility of everybody because it can be a burden on our healthcare system. When we, when we don't honor a person's right to have quality of life and to age in place.

Katie Beecher: 53:39

And also the people around us. We're not nice if our hormones are like it affects everybody.

Mary: 53:44

And that energy transmutes from ourselves to others that whole entire ripple effect. Which you alluded to earlier. I, I can't wait to dive into your book. Please tell the listeners where they can find it and where they can find you and perhaps you'll get a plethora of emails of My name's and I'm 33. I'm Sam, and I'm 64.

Katie Beecher: 54:07

I love it. So my book is called Heal From Within A Guide to Intuitive Wellness. And you can get like every Amazon, every, it's available everywhere wherever books are sold. I recommend the book rather than the audio, although a lot of people get both.'cause there's a ton of visual aids and tools and there's some examples of some of my paintings in there. And it's designed to go through a workbook and take your time with it. Mark it up and all those kind of things. my website is katie beecher.com that's where you can go and make your appointment for the readings. There's a couple of different options and we report and painting or without, or whatever, but there's, there's different options. And I work with people all over the world by Zoom,

Mary: 54:51

this has been such a delight. I am so glad that you found me. And that I just knew that, well, she's definitely someone I need to talk to, so, and we, here we are

Katie Beecher: 55:02

I love it. Thank you so much for having me.

Mary: 55:04

baby. Thank you so much for your precious time and your energy to share with us here today.

Mary Lee: 55:10

Wow, that was an incredible, powerful, deeply nourishing conversation. And Katie reminds us that healing isn't linear. It isn't even one dimensional. It's an integration of the physical, emotional, and spiritual parts of ourselves and her journey, as a licensed counselor and a medical intuitive shows just how transformative it can be when we learn to trust our inner guidance. So here are a few key takeaways I got from today's conversation. Number one, menopause is not a decline, it's an awakening. Katie invited us to see this transition as a portal into self-discovery, a time to reassess who we are, what we need, and what we're no longer willing to carry. Number two. Intuition and self-acceptance are essential tools, and she encourages us to listen inward, honor our desires, and let go of the old beliefs that keep us playing small. Midlife becomes lighter when we stop abandoning ourselves. Number three, sensitivity is strength. Amen to that. Rather than seeing sensitivity as a flaw like I did growing up, and probably many of us too. Katie reframed it as a powerful. Instrument for deeper awareness and connection, so long as we protect that energy and keep healthy boundaries. And number four, healing requires courage and honesty. And from Katie's own experiences with trauma caregiving and hormonal imbalance, she makes it clear we need to address these past wounds, love ourselves fiercely, and ask for support. These are all non-negotiables in our healing journey. And lastly, it wouldn't be a Menopause Disruptor podcast episode if we didn't talk about at least one of the interventions. And this one, hormonal therapy hormone therapy is deeply personal and it's deeply impactful. And Katie opened up about her own hormonal struggles and the life changing benefits of. Menopause hormone therapy highlighting the need for more system centered care, more nuance, and far more validation for women seeking answers. So if any of this in today's conversation resonated with you, I hope it serves as a reminder too, that you are not meant to simply survive midlife. You are meant to evolve through it and to thrive. You're allowed to be curious, intuitive, sensitive, bold, and absolutely beautiful. so grateful to Katie for showing us what it looks like to live with radical self-trust and for giving women permission to embrace their whole selves, and thank you for listening taking time out of your busy day to listen to this episode. until next time, stay curious, stay compassionate, and keep disrupting the menopause narrative.