CONNECT with Sheila Botelho Podcast

When Rest Becomes Strategy with Monica LeBaron | EP 505

• Sheila Botelho

Share episode

🔗 Mentioned on this Episode: Show Notes 👈


We’ve all been told to “listen to your body” — but what does that actually mean when you’re leading a company, juggling responsibilities, and navigating the invisible pressure to keep proving yourself?


In this episode, I’m joined by Monica Le Baron, MBA — bestselling author, sleep expert, and creator of the Sleep Simplified method. After burning out in corporate and healing herself from insomnia, chronic pain, and anxiety, Monica has helped hundreds of ambitious women reclaim their energy and get better sleep in 30 days or less. Her work has been featured in Spirituality & Health, Telemundo, Healthy Woman, and Insight Timer, and her voice is a grounded reminder that rest is not a reward — it’s a requirement.


We talk about unhooking from the “I’m only valuable when I’m productive” loop, how to repattern your nervous system (without a 2-hour morning routine), and why your body will always tell you the truth — especially if you’re willing to listen outside of your inbox. If you’ve been feeling the pull to do business differently, this conversation is your signal to start where you are… and let your body lead the way.


Follow Monica:


Text us! What did you love about this episode?

🎁 Subscribe & Get the Seasons Success Method & Meditation
🎧 Listen, Subscribe & Rate this podcast
📲 Follow me for more insights: Instagram | LinkedIn

Sheila:

Every time I override my body's truth to meet someone else's agenda. It costs me, and it costs you too, in energy, clarity and sometimes even revenue. In today's conversation, I'm joined by bestselling author Monica LeBaron to explore how high performing women can repattern their relationship with rest and start letting their body lead their business, not the pressure to prove themselves. If you've ever second guessed your own rhythm, this is your permission slip to trust what's already inside of you. Let's go there, so good to be live with you.

Sheila:

Today I have a guest and I'm excited because we're going to be talking about sleep. Hi, monica, she's here. I'm going to introduce her first. We are going to talk about sleep. We're going to talk about the body, and truly I want to just read to you the intro I have prepared for you, because it's so powerful. How we show up in our life and how we show up every single day impacts every area of our business too.

Sheila:

Monica is someone that I really deeply respect, not just because she wrote a bestselling book, but because she teaches women how to get better sleep in 30 days, and also because she embodies the work. She's a sleep queen, she is a sleep expert, and I want you to welcome Monica LeBaron, and so, as she's joining, joining. I will say that the whole idea here is that every time that we override our body's truth, hi, monica, we pay in other ways, and that's what this conversation is going to be about today. So good to see you. It's been a while, oh, and I love the earrings. Show them to me, thank you so much oh, and I love the earrings.

Monica:

Show them to me luckily made, got them at the farmer's market and I just love it. But I don't remember the the name of the person. So if you're watching this video and you made him text me.

Sheila:

Well, why don't we share with everyone which farmer's market is your local?

Monica:

oh, uh, I'm in las cruces new mexico right now yeah, so there you go.

Sheila:

Yes, we want to go to mexico to check out the farmer's market.

Monica:

That's what we want to do mexico, but we'll go to mexico.

Sheila:

oh, my goodness. I am so thrilled because we have spoken a number of times about sleep, about the power of when we give our body what it needs, it responds in beautiful ways. But when we ignore it or when we are in our head too much, or when we're focused on the conditioning of having goals that are somebody else's, perhaps, or society's, that disconnect impacts us in so many ways. And I know I have a story in my history and, like you know, I've been going through one myself personally too a story in my history and like you know, I've been going through one myself personally too, over the years of just like the connection to the body and then the disconnection, the connection and then the disconnection. It's like a dance, and I know you have one too and you've shared before on the podcast.

Sheila:

And today what I really want to talk about is using your body as a compass, and I feel like in your work, using your body as a compass, and I feel like in your work, you, you can't get away from it because sleep is inherently it's. It's your body. Yes, it's connected to your mind, but, like your body and your mind work at different rhythms. So I would love to hear you know, in terms of teaching through nervous system regulation, yoga and breath, this, this question, is going to be about business. It's going to be a bit of a departure from where we've gone before. What is the moment in your business where your body gave you the truth before your mind caught up? And then what did you do about it?

Monica:

I guess this is an everyday battle, but I can first all thank you for having me. It's so lovely to be with you and your presence and you know everybody who's watching. Thank you for being here. And I know that, like one of this is not specifically with my business, but it's when my business started and I was living in Beijing and I was working full time and I was doing photography and I was doing exhibitions and I wanted to meet everybody and be around people and do everything. I have a vibrant life.

Monica:

I was married. I was, you know, just conquering the world and it was a stage that things started going downward and everything was happening with me. So I was visiting the doctor, like every week, different doctor, different specialist and I didn't know what was going on. And it was just like this. I remember, like me saying, like I'm sick of going to a doctor, like I'm not going to go anymore, I don't care what's wrong with me, I'm not going to go anymore.

Monica:

And one of those things was that I was unhappy with my life. Like you said, I was doing and living somebody else's dream, and that unhappiness, like I was trying to fight it. You know, I, I left my marriage and I was fighting not to leave it. I was fighting to do the things and go to therapy and do the things and be more patient and do more things for trying to save this relationship Right. And like I think six months, a year later, I got, I left my marriage. I was doing super good. So this is like that when, when you ask like when did your mind cut up? Like my body knew it. I used to be lactose intolerant, I wasn't able to use spices, and like everything was stuck in my stomach and now, like that's one of my cues, I'm like wait, wait, wait. Did I really eat something? That my body's resenting or is this emotional? So now, like I've learned from that experience, and I go back and it's like, oh, what am I processing right now?

Monica:

I guess, that's the biggest example that is the hardest.

Sheila:

Yeah, it's hard and it's not. You enter into a relationship you enter into like sometimes it's a working relationship to right. You enter into it with the best intentions. But everybody grows and changes and that's okay. We have this thought in our minds that I need to make all the changes, perhaps. But really any kind of relationship it is it's two people and there's always so many dynamics, and but it's interesting how your body really keeps the score of all of the things, of all of the things. And so in your book, sleep simplified, which I love, and I'm sitting on my bookshelf. I was going to pull it out, but I don't want to leave camera now. It's right, it's right there. So if you've got one next to you, you can show it. She's like I'm going to bring the phone with me. I could do that too. I suppose I think there she is. I see that beautiful teal spine of it there it is there she is.

Sheila:

It's a labor of love and you've been just having so much fun promoting this work and so many people are being benefited from it, me being one of them, my family being being the rest local to me and. But you talk about quick shifts that yield the most highest return and I'm just wondering for the women listening who think, okay, I want to. You know, I want to. I want to have better sleep, I want to really let my body be be able to hear what my body has to say to me, but I'm so busy.

Sheila:

How do I add one more thing, right? So what is one micro repatterning pattern or process that women could start when they're specifically caught in that loop of like performance and and I know in um, I feel like in in nervous system, healing? It's kind of like, when you think about the fawning kind of thing that's often, I think, connected to performance, like, oh, if I just do better, maybe then they'll like me, if I just do better, maybe then that promotion will make me feel better about myself. Like, perform, perform. What's a micro-patterning kind of thing they could do, do you think?

Monica:

no-transcript only before bed. You do it through the day, right. So, for example, in my book I have breathing exercises or meditation or mudras, so whatever it is. For example, I give them a mudra this is Hakini Mudra, this is one of my favorite ones you make a little circle and then you put it just in front of your solar plexus or just just on your thighs and you take like three breaths and try to inhale and exhale and through the nose, and I just have to do it right now right now, everybody take a breath.

Sheila:

We're breathing for those joining. Just just take a breath. This is your invitation to take a breath.

Monica:

Yes, and for example. So I teach them okay, do it first thing when you wake up in the morning, take three breaths. Do it at noon before you take your lunch, and then do it take five, 10 breaths before bed. So then you're teaching your body what you want at the end of the day. Right? And it's like for those go-getters and overachievers.

Monica:

I'm like, and that's too simple, do it every hour and honestly like, just like, even if you imagine putting your hands there by the end of the day, if you do it for 10 times during the day, you're going to feel grounded and strong and your body is going to recognize. So most of the tools out there are good, but if you don't practice them they might not work. But if you don't practice them they might not work. So this is like a way I started introducing that to my clients of mini little breaks during the day, like I don't have the time. I travel 40 minutes to get to work and then when I'm there, I have meetings after meetings. I'm like can you breathe while you're in the car?

Monica:

can you don't have to put your hands there, but can you breathe? Can you focus and be like even if you're listening to music singing loud like can you focus intentionally on your breath and, for example, every time you have a new meeting, can you just get up and stretch and just say, can we take a breath together? I, my therapist, told me to do this. If you put it out there, it's going to happen easier instead of you trying to, you know, not do it because, oh my gosh, I can't do it. Like if you really live, have an environment that is chaotic and toxic and whatever, go to the bathroom, take three breaths.

Sheila:

Right, there's always a little escape and that is like so true for so many people. Just, it's the patterning in our minds that I just, I just can't do one more thing, I just don't even think I can do it. And something so simple as just taking those breaths and really being aware of them. And and actually I find too, like you know, we can get so focused, like whether we're at a desk or just working on a project or something, and we look up and it's just like just really taking in the atmosphere around you and appreciating it, like wow, I perhaps maybe not in all cases, but in a lot of cases I asked for this, I worked for this, I dreamed for this and this is now mine, and we get so commonplace with things. But that gratitude of just okay, this was once just an idea in my mind and now I'm here, it is Right, I love that.

Sheila:

And you know, we've seen I mean, you've experienced it, I've experienced it, we've witnessed it like what happens when women push beyond capacity, and so how do you help them unhook from that? You know, maybe I'm good enough if I just try a harder loop, like without, because at the same time we want to say, like good for you that you have made it this far, and like that can feel performative too. So how do you help people get out of that loop? I imagine it has to do with like body first type of practices.

Monica:

But you tell me it's going to surprise you, but what I tell clients the first thing, after setting the goal, what we do is set a way of celebration. I was just talking to a client today and I was telling him that you start now and you set an intention of what do you want to do, but then you look for a way to celebrating right, and that is going to align that doing and playing, because we're used to doing. And then when you have to play or take care of yourself, you're like no, no, I don't have time for this. But then if you set the intention since the beginning of this is what I want and this is how I'm going to celebrate and not actually achieving the goal, because sometimes there's things that you can't not control. So you're going to focus on the things that you are going to control when you finish those things.

Monica:

That's how you celebrate. You go get a lollipop, you go get a massage, you go buy yourself like flowers and one thing that I was telling him like it doesn't matter if you can afford 10 lollipops, you're just going to go buy that one and savor it, just because you said you will. And entrepreneurship and life it's just, it gets chaotic, it's never linear. So you need those celebration points to actually kind of anchor you, to focus on your goal, because life gets complicated and you need those little reminders. So that's like the first thing that I do.

Sheila:

I love that. I love that it's the beginning. We don't celebrate enough. I think we are always very often and maybe it's culturally, it might be just Westernized culture like where we are so focused on what's next, what's next, where we do not root into actually celebrating what we've achieved already. And I think just the idea of celebrating an intention that you've set, the fact that you've come to the place in your life where you believe that you are capable of doing this thing, and so you're setting the intention like that is huge, allowing yourself to grow and expand yeah, let's celebrate it. I love that you do that. It's so good. And so I would love to know, um, right now, I see you in nature a lot when you're on your, on your socials, and you love to be outside. I know I do too, as much as I can, and it just roots you right back in. What is your favorite thing to do outside now? Is it hiking? Is it swimming, like what? What is your favorite thing right now?

Monica:

right now it's hiking. I'm moving a lot into swimming because it's 110 degrees here. Gladly it rained yesterday and it's like in the 80s right now, but I love going for walks in the afternoon and I haven't done that because it's been so hot, um. So I'm trying to like get into my schedule going swimming because I know that's going to be very cooling for the body yeah, and there's something about that floating.

Sheila:

I feel like and and again. I'm not like a major swimmer by any stretch, but when I am in water and I allow myself to float, it is the most beautiful practice of trust and allowing and feeling supported, because you're literally just floating in the water and like you're not. You're just there, like you're not doing anything to support yourself. You're being supported and I think so often we can go through life and feel like we've got everything on our shoulders and it's like Atlas right, like oh, better not shrug, the world's going to fall off, and we forget actually that we are supported. And it may not look like it in the moment, but I mean truly, like I always, I always say to my kids like I'm not the one making my heartbeat right now, like yes, I can do things to have a healthy heart, I can live and try and do all these good things, but at the end of the day it's beating. I don't know, it's not up to me. So that very thing, like that breath that we have, that we get to really savor because we get to breathe For those of us some of us it's harder to breathe than others, like some of I have some dear ones going through some breathing issues, like who are in their older years and and it's a tough thing, right. And so when we really can just say, you know what, if I don't stop and take those three breaths throughout the day, what am I even doing? Like we're, let's savor it.

Sheila:

And if we can root into those really basic things, I think they help us look at all the other things that feel so big, so complex and just kind of make sense out of the world and help us realize like it's going to be okay, like we will figure this out, and conversations like this always make me feel great. So we had to really lean into the people that that are thinking this way and that can help remind us of things like this as well. So, monica, I would love to hear, before we part, what is exciting for you right now in the business. What are you doing? What are some programs you're doing? Are you speaking anywhere? Are you traveling? Like what's happening?

Monica:

I want to know. I'm actually staying home for the next month Well, not this weekend, but I have a lot of good things coming up. I have my first painting exhibition this weekend. I'm really proud of that my mom, my sister, my aunt and a bunch of good friends for having that together. It's a beautiful painting group that I was doing when I was living in Mexico and also, like I started that painting class the day after my 40th birthday, so technically the day after launching my book, it was like go out and play. The day after launching my book it was like go out and play. And my audio book for Sleep Simplified it's actually out now. It's starting to upload to all the platforms, so be patient, but look into your favorite platform. That's going to be it and I have what am I working on? My next book now and a revised edition for Sleep Simplified. So a lot of work, but I'm also doing kind of just giving people a taste of what I do to be able to support the community.

Sheila:

I love that so much. Well, congratulations on all of it. It's so beautiful to witness, just like being able to see you through the before you even had the book out in the world, like when it was just like an idea and a thought, and then see it go all the way through to now you've got it in audio. Oh, my goodness, okay, and we get to hear your beautiful voice speaking it. I love that. That must've been fun Cause that's not a.

Sheila:

it's not a thin book Everyone it's. It's got stuff in it. Okay, it's like that's it. That's the one. It's thick, so be sure to go grab the book wherever you buy books, right, it's pretty much everywhere.

Sheila:

Amazon's a good place to get it as well, right? And you know, please, if you're watching this, obviously here on Instagram, you'll see the handle. So it's Monica M-O-N-I-C-A, dot L-E, dot B-A-R-O-N. For those of you who hear this on the podcast, I will also have a link to the show notes. I'm so thrilled to see you here. Thanks for reaching out again. It's always a pleasure. And um, any parting thoughts before we go on our way well.

Monica:

Thank you so much for having me, thank you everybody for listening, and just remember that you don't have to have it all figured out. There's people around you who want to love you and support you and you don't have to have it all figured out. There's people around you who want to love you and support you and you don't have to have the whole vision or the whole hour to do something. Start by taking three breaths and let your body and your intuition guide you. You got this.

Sheila:

Yes, you do, and I'm sending you all my love, monica. Thank you so much for watching and listening everybody, and we will see you once again on another episode of the connect with Sheila Botelho podcast and over here on the ground. Thank you.