Meet Hester Van Hooven Ward

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hester Van Hooven Ward. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hester below.

Hi Hester , thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

For me, overcoming ‘imposter syndrome’ is a continuous process, or at least I hope so, if I’m doing ‘it’ right. I aim to continuously reach out of my comfort zone and stretch myself into growth opportunities both professionally and personally. Its so important, I feel, because this type of bravery and commitment to living life in this way, really shows us where we are at in regards to fears and limiting beliefs. When it comes to my career, I believe everything I do “on and off the field” plays a role in my confidence and ability to overcome the voices telling me I am not good enough to be doing something, ie ‘imposter syndrome’. There have been times in my life when these fears have completely debilitated me. I could hear the voices of people, mostly from my childhood, telling me I shouldn’t and I can’t. I could feel a physical reaction of anxiety and heart pallpiations every time I thought of taking a risk and diving into something in any other way than the safe and reliable way. I’ve made huge advances against this stream of thought. I am able to trust myself more, recognizing that I, above anyone else, knows what is best for me, what is in my hearts prayer, what I am capable of. I also trust in Divine guidance. I have cultivated an awareness of listening and paying attention. I have found, through fumbling and falling on my face, that I am being divinely guided and I am greatly supported by an ever present loving force. My method isn’t perfect and I still fall into the habit of allowing my ego and will run me into easily avoidable situations of varying degrees of disaster. But if I loosen the grip, follow my heart, and listen to the feeling in my stomach when something feels off, I know I cannot go wrong. So that has helped tremendously in overcoming ‘imposter syndrome’, the knowing its not even about me most of the time. I look things with the lense of “I”m meant to be here”, “I’m supposed to be doing this.” That perspective helps me tremendously when i see other people supposidly looking at me sideways, drawing their own conclusions about my level of value, I remind myself, “they just don’t know that I’m supposed to be here.” Also, as we all know, and it helps to be reminded sometimes, people are only able to see us through their own experiences and ability to relate to the world. Instead of allowing someones limited personal perspective impact me, I tap into compassion and grace and remind myself that people are doing the best they can.
I’m a Shamanic Reiki practicioner, a mind/body/soul empowerment coach, ceremonial facilitator, and I have a podcast. It’s all work that not only commands an absolute belief in self, but also in my various lineages of study and in my spirit guides and in the unseen. Most of my work requires me to believe in my own magic and in the magic of the world. I had to get really comfortable owning the idea of being the ‘crazy lady’ in the family and friend group. It was a challenging process at first to step into this work. Then, to get past my fears of what people might think of me. I’mposter syndrome’ for me doesn’t exist as much in fearing what people i don’t know might think of me, but in fearing what people I do know might think of me. I always say, I feel all fears can be reduced down into one universal fear, the fear of being disconnected from source ie: the fear that we are somehow inherently unloveable. I believe, for the most part, we live in fear of finding evidence to support that one great deep fear. I had to recognize that I can never be disconnected from source, because I am love, I am source, as we all are. I found my way to this discovery through many deep personal healing experiences, and even more specifically, tons and tons of inner child healing. I walk with my inner child by my side as much as possible, I reassure her that we’ve got this. When she feels safe and seen, she feels free to shine. When she shines, I can do anything. I don’t care if someone doesn’t like what I have to say on my podcast, or thinks I’m a phony healer, or whatever, I know I’m in my heart and I am loved and I am a force of love. With that said, I don’t think I will ever completely transcend ‘imposter syndrome’ once and for all, as I had mentioned earlier, as I am always shifting my offerings as I grow and shift as a woman and as a mother, sister, lover and friend. I made a deal when I came into this life to never stop growing, and so in keeping with that commitment, i am constantly evolving who I am and the medicine I carry and how I bring it forward. Bless the imposter syndrome, bless it because it reminds me my ego is not running the show, it reminds me we are all doing the best we can. I can laugh sometimes at myself when i bring forward a new healing modality, detaching from this idea I have of myself and witnessing myself from a more playful viewpoint. This is also more of the inner-child coming out to have fun and feel joy in playing with the Divine and doing things in a new way. I truly giggle when I watch myself sometimes, thinking, “Ok! So we are doing this now! Awesome!”. One last thing I’ll say is that at this point in my life, encountering ‘imposter syndrome’ excites me because I see it as a hurdle I get to jump over, again and again. It exhilarates me in a triumphant sort of way. I am fed by my rise.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m a Mind/Body/Spirit Empowerment Coach, working with people to re-claim their vitality, health, and purpose. Its a program of deep inner-work and healing, accessing and releasing limiting beliefs as well as implementing new rituals of self-care. I work with in clients re-prioritize and declaring self-love as the ultimate priority in all aspects of their lives. I am also a trainer and nutritional coach, offering support in exercise and diet. Nothing is more exciting for me than in helping people access sovereignty in their bodies, hearts, and minds. I also invite each client to access their own ways of working more deeply with the Divine through sacred ritual and ancient practices through sharing some of my own practices of meditation, altar-making, manifestation, and herbalism.

In all of my areas of work, including my coaching work, I infuse everything with a reverence for my lineages of devotion, the 13 Moon Mystery School of Goddess Archetypal Wisdom, and the 13 Original Clan Mothers, ancient teachings of the feminine. I am forever a student of the Shamanic Reiki lineage as a Master Practitioner. I have a business called, “Spirit Medicine Reiki”, where I offer remote Reiki Sessions both in-person and remotely. I facilitate women’s circles, and sacred Cacao ceremonies. I also have just launched my podcast, “You Can Call Me Crazy,” a podcast about embracing our crazy as the ultimate form of resistance. Its a weekly podcast of interviews and solo-casts, available on video through Spotify, Youtube, and Apple, as well wherever you get your podcasts.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Listening, through meditation and moments of pause. Time in nature, time alone.**This is not supposed to come easy, especially meditation. Our society throws so much at us 24/7 at warp speeds, our attention spans are shortening, our desire for instant gratification and immediate feel-good fixes is increasing. None of this speaks to a practice of mediation or prioritizing time in nature, or silent time. However, if we really really want to have peace, meaningful relationships, more joy, more purpose of being, these things are essential. We have to resist and find our way against the stream. Its not easy, maybe the hardest part, but we have to do it.

Surrendering the need to control people, places, and things. I’m a natural born control freak, and its been a process, often times Divine intervention has had to force me to let go of the reigns and those times have been painful and harder to recover from, but I’m learning. Its the only way really, we can’t control anything but our own thoughts and therefore emotions. Thats it. Theres so much grace in that. It’s a practice, no one excepts the masters have it perfected, but its worth a shot to try every day to return our gaze and focus to ourselves.

Tenacity. Get off on your rise. Be your own hero. It’s thrilling. We truly are capable of extraordinary things, especially when all bets are against us. The whole coal into a diamond thing is real, meaning tremendous pressure and adversity can be the powerful force of expedited change, change that surpases the norm and any perceptions of what is possible. But, we can’t give up on ourselves. fumbling, falling, even a few days of hiding under the covers, is to be expected and a part of the process. The road to great triumphant success isn’t linear, however, underneath it all has to be a level of tenacity and desire to thrive that is unparalleled.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

The 13 Moon Mystery School is the text of Holographic Meditations on The Mystery, a book presencing the 13 Goddess Archetypes alongside each moon/month. It has enabled me live and breathe the various Goddess archetypes and learn their medicine and healing wisdom. The Archetypes include Great Mother, Goddess of Compassion, The Priestess, Creator/Preserver/Destroyer, Lady of Communion, The Muse, Goddess of Love, Primal Goddess,The Initiator, The Wise Woman, Weaver/Dreamer, Queen of Death, The Alchemical Goddess of Ecstasy. I have learned so much about sitting with other sisters, holding space, authentic presence, and idenitfying my behaviors and beliefs that feed the great illusion of separation. I have learned the practice of welcoming all of it with the arms of love. Truly transformational experience learning and working with these archetypal frequencies.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hestervanhoovenward.com
• Instagram: @hester_van_hooven_ward, @spiritmedicinereiki, @youcancallmecrazypodcast
• Facebook: @HesterVanHoovenWard, @youcancallmecrazypodcast
• Youtube: @Hestervanhoovenward, @youcancallmecrazypodcast