Maven 5Q Eleanor Shannon!

Her life looked perfect on paper now it's perfect for her in real life!

Very FIRST!

Book Club Event of Eleanor Anstruther’s book Fallout is public!

June 24, Wednesday, 10Am

The Colonnade Hotel, Boston, 120 Huntington Avenue | phone: (617) 424-7000

The Rooftop Pool, weather permitting or Lucie (Hotel restaurant ground level), if cold and rainy. Parking available.

Eleanor will be beaming in from France via video and taking questions!!!

RSVP via button below

---

Eleanor Shannon

Come To Your Senses

At 45, my life looked perfect on paper, with a career, husband, three children, and a lovely home. But die-hard habits of control and self-sacrifice had left me exhausted, resentful, and trapped in chronic back pain.

Desperate for a change, I took a 10-day Italian language course that called up an adventuresome, fun loving version of myself I had forgotten about. That experience catapulted me onto a twenty-year trust walk of allowing myself to move towards what felt good—what I truly wanted—without having a specific plan or goal. I learned to feel what I was feeling and embrace all of myself, even the parts of myself I had always wanted to get rid of. And gradually, I reinvented my life.

Now at 69, I have my own practice, Come To Your Senses, working with capable, high-achieving women who find themselves stuck in a life that just isn’t working in some way. By tuning into the nervous system, they uncover both the old patterns that are keeping them stuck and new creative possibilities they hadn’t allowed themselves to imagine.

What is the most surprising part of being in this stage of life?

That I could be living a life I couldn’t have even dreamed of twenty years ago.

That I would be living pain-free after suffering a decade of back pain that doctors said was untreatable. That I would have learned to speak fluent Italian and lived for fifteen years in Italy where earned professional certification as an international wine sommelier in Milan (in Italian) and became recognized as an expert on natural Italian wine through my blog www.uncorkedinitaly.com.

That I would have trained as a teacher of body-centered practices—meditation, yoga, conscious dance (and that included learning to DJ at 60). That I would have certified in Gabor Maté’s somatic approach to healing trauma.

That I would live in Ojai, CA. That I would have three grown children, married and living their best lives, and three grandchildren with one more on the way. That I would have written a memoir and be about to publish it.

That I would have created Come To Your Senses. That I would feel the most alive I’ve ever been and love my life and work more than I ever have.

What’s one new thing you’re trying to embrace in mid-life?

See above. I just keep embracing the next thing. The most recent thing has been starting a Substack.

If you could give yourself a piece of advice 20 years ago, what would it be and why?

You’re on the right track. Everything you’re dreaming is possible. Know that you are loved and supported beyond your wildest imaginings. And whatever you are seeking is also seeking you. Trust what you know to be true for you and allow your life to unfold in unexpected ways.

What’s something that our generation had access to that you’d like to bring back?

Summer reading lists and time to read and read and read.

If the next 20 years of your life had a theme, what would it be and why?

Sharing my experience in ways that allow others to create the life they’ve always dreamed of but didn’t believe they could have. Because witnessing another person do that makes my life meaningful. It is the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever experienced.

Eleanor Shannon’s web site!