In this episode of Explore Beyond, Courtney talks about loss and what it really looks like to experience sadness honestly instead of pushing it away.

After receiving a text about a friend’s aging dog, Courtney reflects on how easily we try to hero our way through grief, cover sadness with gratitude, and avoid feeling what is actually present in our bodies.

Through the lens of conscious leadership and personal experience, she shares how learning to sit with sadness, allow emotions to move, and create space for feelings has changed the way she navigates loss in her own life.

In this episode, you will hear about:

How we often avoid feeling sadness by distracting ourselves
Why covering emotions with gratitude can keep us from processing loss
What it looks like to let emotions flow through the body instead of holding them in
How to create safe space to feel difficult feelings
Why allowing sadness to be present actually helps it pass more gently

This episode is a gentle invitation to stop fixing your feelings and start allowing them to move.

If you are navigating loss, grief, sadness, or emotional heaviness, this conversation offers a grounded, compassionate way to be with what is here.

In this episode of Explore Beyond, Courtney walks you through one of her favorite conscious leadership practices: the Whole Body Yes.

This simple but powerful exercise helps you learn how to make decisions using your head, heart, and gut instead of obligation, habit, or outside influence.

Through guided reflection, Courtney helps you identify what a true whole body yes feels like, what a clear no feels like, and how to recognize the subtle “little no” that often shows up in everyday life.

You’ll learn:

• How to tune into your body for intuitive decision making
• How to recognize the physical signals of a yes vs. a no
• Why presence and awareness matter when making choices
• How to practice whole body yes with small decisions first
• How this practice builds energy, vitality, and clarity in your life

This episode includes a practical exercise you can follow along with to map your own internal compass and start making decisions that feel aligned from small daily choices to bigger life adventures.

If you’ve ever wondered how to listen to your intuition, trust your body, or stop saying yes out of obligation, this episode is for you.

In this episode of Explore Beyond, I’m doing something a little different I’m sharing one of my wildest travel stories from my years leading international expeditions.

This is the story of a jungle trek in Belize that didn’t go according to plan.

From the wrong fuel causing a literal fireball, to flooded tents, army ants, overgrown trails, night navigation through a boulder field, exhausted students, tears, rainstorms, and an unexpected jungle “shower” this experience asked everything of me as a leader.

It’s a reminder that leadership isn’t about control or perfection.
It’s about presence.
Adaptability.
Keeping calm when others can’t.
And finding creativity and humor when things fall apart.

This episode is equal parts adventure story, leadership lesson, and reminder that sometimes the hardest moments become the ones we remember most and learn from the deepest.

Pull up a seat and come with me into the jungle.