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Manders Mindset

Manders Mindset

Written by: Amanda Russo
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Are you feeling stuck or stagnant in your life? Do you envision yourself living differently but have no idea how to start? The answer might lie in a shift in your mindset.


Hosted by Amanda Russo, The Breathing Goddess, who is a former Family Law Paralegal now a Breathwork Facilitator, Sound Healer, and Transformative Mindset Coach.

Amanda's journey into mindset and empowerment began by working with children in group homes and daycares. She later transitioned to family law, helping people navigate the challenging emotions of divorce. During this time, Amanda also overcame her own weight and health challenges through strength training, meditation, yoga, reiki, and plant medicine.

Amanda interviews guests from diverse backgrounds, including entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, and wellness experts, who share their incredible journeys of conquering fears and limiting beliefs to achieve remarkable success.


Hear real people tell how shifting their mindsets and often their words, has dramatically changed their lives.

Amanda also shares her personal journey, detailing how she transformed obstacles into opportunities by adopting a healthier, holistic lifestyle.

Discover practical strategies and inspiring stories that will empower you to break free from limitations and cultivate a mindset geared towards growth and positivity.

Tune in for a fun, friendly, and empowering experience that will help you become the best version of yourself.

© 2026 Manders Mindset Alternative & Complementary Medicine Hygiene & Healthy Living Self-Help Success
Episodes
  • Healing From the Inside Out | Christine Ruch | 222

    Healing From the Inside Out | Christine Ruch | 222
    Oct 5 2026
    Feedback on the show? Send us a message!What if healing isn’t about controlling your body, but learning how to listen to it?In this powerful conversation, Amanda sits down with holistic transformation guide Christine Ruch to explore what it really means to heal from the inside out. After a childhood marked by health struggles and difficult family dynamics, Christine eventually found herself facing a multiple sclerosis diagnosis that challenged her to question the conventional path in front of her. What began with changes to her nutrition ultimately became a much deeper journey into the connection between the body, nervous system, emotions, and the way we move through our lives.Christine shares why she now believes healing goes far beyond food, supplements, or finding the “perfect” wellness routine. Together, Amanda and Christine explore the hidden cost of restriction and hyper vigilance, the importance of building emotional capacity, and why learning to allow rather than constantly fix our experiences can change our relationship with ourselves. They also dive into people-pleasing, choosing yourself, redefining success, and what can happen when we stop searching outside ourselves for all the answers and begin coming home to our own truth.💡 In this episode, listeners will discover:🌿 How Christine’s childhood experiences with chronic illness, family dysfunction, and being parentified shaped the way she moved through the world🥕 How an unexpected love of food led Christine from restaurant operations to culinary school, holistic nutrition, and eventually a completely different understanding of healing🩺 Why working with a naturopath after the birth of her son became Christine’s introduction to alternative approaches to health🧠 How being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2006 became a major turning point in Christine’s life and why a food allergy test ultimately changed the direction of her healing journey🥚 What happened when Christine removed gluten, dairy, eggs, and other foods from her diet—and why her perspective on food sensitivities has evolved dramatically since then❤️ Why Christine believes restrictive diets can carry an emotional cost and how guilt, shame, fear, grief, and hyper vigilance can become part of our relationship with food✨ The difference between restriction and allowance and why creating more space for ourselves may be more powerful than constantly trying to force change🌊 How the nervous system, emotional capacity, childhood wounds, relationships, and the way we speak to ourselves can all become important pieces of a healing journey💭 Why learning to sit with uncomfortable emotions without immediately fixing, suppressing, or escaping them can help us develop a deeper relationship with ourselves🙌 How Christine learned to choose herself, question the traditional definition of success, and recognize when the life she had created was no longer aligned with who she truly was💕 Why people-pleasing can leave us emotionally depleted and how choosing ourselves first can actually give us more to offer the people around us🏡 Why Christine believes the healing we continually search for outside ourselves may begin by coming home to ourselves⏰ Timeline Summary:05:00: Christine opens up about her childhood, growing up around trauma and dysfunction and navigating years of health struggles.14:00: How Christine’s curiosity about food grew into a career in restaurant operations, culinary education, leadership, and eventually holistic nutrition.24:00: The health challenges Christine experienced after becoming a mother and how meeting a naturopath introduced her to an entirely different approach to wellness.30:00: Christine reflects on her multiple sclerosis diagnosis, discovering celiac disease and food sensitivities, and the dramatic changes she experienced after changing her diet.39:00: Why Christine’s understanding of food and healing has evolved and how the nervous system, restriction, hypervigilance, and our emotional relationship with nourishment can affect the healing process.49:00: The power of emotional capacity and “allowance”learning to sit with our experiences instead of constantly suppressing or escaping.To Connect with Amanda:Schedule a 1:1 Virtual Breathwork Session HERE📸 Instagram: @thebreathinggoddessFollow & Support the Podcast:📱Instagram: @MandersMindset👥 Join the Manders Mindset Facebook Community HERE!To Connect with Christine:Website: https://www.christineruch.com/
    Show More Show Less
    53 mins
  • The Cards You Were Born to Play | Alexander & Viki | 221

    The Cards You Were Born to Play | Alexander & Viki | 221
    Sep 7 2026
    Feedback on the show? Send us a message!What if the answers to understanding purpose, relationships, and personal patterns have been hiding in plain sight... in an ordinary deck of playing cards?In this fascinating conversation, Amanda sits down with sacred strategy guides Alexander and Viki to explore the 52-card system they use to help people better understand themselves and what they describe as their “cards to play.” Alexander shares how a lifelong search for deeper meaning took him from religion and seminary to Wall Street, India, meditation, shamanic practices, and eventually an unexpected encounter at a Brooklyn party that completely changed the direction of his life.Viki also opens up about her journey from modeling into energy healing, including how childhood experiences continued influencing patterns in adulthood and why healing became such an important part of her path. Together, Alexander and Viki explore how the cards can offer insight into personality, relationships, challenges, strengths, and purpose, while emphasizing the role of free will in how those energies are expressed. Amanda even receives a reading of her own cards, revealing some surprisingly accurate insights along the way.💡 In this episode, listeners will discover:🃏 How Alexander unexpectedly discovered the 52-card system during one of the most difficult moments of his life✨ Why he believes an ordinary deck of playing cards contains an ancient language and blueprint for understanding life❤️ How Viki uncovered the connection between childhood experiences and patterns that continued showing up in adulthood🌱 How an experience with energy healing helped lead Viki from modeling toward a completely different path💭 Why understanding personal patterns can create greater self-awareness without removing the power of free will🤝 How Alexander and Viki use the cards to better understand relationship dynamics. and the surprising role the cards played when they first met👑 What Amanda’s Queen of Hearts birth card reveals about emotional intelligence, nurturing, self-care, and heartfelt expression🧠 Why the 10 of Clubs points toward curiosity, knowledge, mental activity, boundaries, and the importance of creating stillness🗺️ How birth cards, personality cards, challenge cards, gift cards, and yearly cards create what Alexander and Viki describe as a map for navigating life🌟 Why “playing your cards right” isn’t about predicting the future, but about understanding personal strengths, challenges, and choices more deeply⏰ Timeline Summary:05:00: Alexander and Viki share the childhood experiences, family dynamics, and unexpected paths that helped shape who they are today.15:00: Viki opens up about her modeling career, struggles surrounding body image, and the health experience that led her deeper into energy healing.27:00: Alexander reflects on a spiritual search that took him through religion, seminary, Wall Street, India, meditation, shamanic practices, and numerous systems of self-discovery.38:00: A devastating moment followed by an unexpected encounter at a Brooklyn party introduces Alexander to the Nine of Hearts—and changes the direction of his life.50:00: Alexander and Viki share the synchronistic story of meeting at a Manhattan café and how the cards revealed something surprising about their compatibility.59:00: Amanda receives a personal reading of her Queen of Hearts and 10 of Clubs, uncovering themes of nurturing, emotional expression, curiosity, knowledge, boundaries, and mental stillness.01:09:00: Alexander and Viki reflect on authenticity, self-love, letting go of perfection, emotional expression, legacy, and what it truly means to “play your cards right."To Connect with Amanda:Schedule a 1:1 Virtual Breathwork Session HERE📸 Instagram: @thebreathinggoddessFollow & Support the Podcast:📱Instagram: @MandersMindset👥 Join the Manders Mindset Facebook Community HERE!To Connect with Alexander & Viki: Website: https://www.thesourcecards.com/Book: Play Your Cards Right: A Sacred Guide to Life on Earth Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesourcecards/
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 21 mins
  • Turning 30: What My 20s Actually Taught Me | 220

    Turning 30: What My 20s Actually Taught Me | 220
    Aug 31 2026

    Feedback on the show? Send us a message!

    What if turning 30 isn’t about having life figured out... but becoming more intentional about how you experience it?

    For the 30 days leading up to my 30th birthday, I shared one thing every day that I know now that I didn’t understand or didn’t understand in the same way at 20. What started as 30 individual lessons quickly became something much bigger. When I looked at them all together, I realized there were a few themes that kept showing up, and those themes tell the real story of what my twenties taught me.

    In this episode, I’m reflecting on the lessons underneath those 30 lessons. From learning how to trust myself and speak up in the small moments, to accepting that some people are only meant to be in our lives for a season, to understanding grief, change, and the importance of actually experiencing the life happening right now, this episode is about entering a new decade with intention. I’m also sharing the question that has stayed with me for the past two years and helped guide some of my biggest decisions and might just change the way you think about your own life, too.

    💡 In this episode, you'll learn:

    💜 Why real confidence is built through self-trust and keeping promises to yourself.
    🗣️ How speaking up in the small moments helps build the courage to advocate for yourself in the big ones.
    🤍 Why temporary people can leave permanent lessons and why missing someone doesn’t always mean they belong back in your life.
    🫂 How my understanding of grief has expanded beyond death to relationships, identities, futures, places, and past versions of ourselves.
    🌱 Why you’re allowed to change your mind and let your life look different than what your younger self imagined.
    ✨ How to stop saving joy for special occasions and start making ordinary days meaningful.
    🌎 The powerful question that has helped me make big decisions and think differently about what makes a life meaningful.

    ⏰ Timeline Summary:

    [4:00] How keeping promises to myself, getting quiet, and listening to my own guidance helped me build genuine self-trust.
    [7:09] Why speaking up about something as small as my birthday nails reminded me that self-advocacy is built in everyday moments.
    [10:09] What my twenties taught me about temporary people, friendship, boundaries, and why missing someone doesn’t always mean reconnecting.
    [15:06] How loss changed my understanding of ordinary moments, grief, and showing the people who matter how much they mean while they’re here.
    [19:34] Learning to let life change shape, embrace different seasons, and release the idea that changing the plan means something went wrong.
    [22:09] Why anticipation for tomorrow shouldn’t cost you today and the importance of actually experiencing the ordinary days of your life.
    [25:13] The question that changed how I approach big decisions and what it means to create a life that feels deeply meaningful.

    To Connect with Amanda:

    Schedule a 1:1 Virtual Breathwork Session HERE

    📸 Instagram: @thebreathinggoddess

    Follow & Support the Podcast:

    📱Instagram: @MandersMindset
    👥 Join the Manders Mindset Facebook Community HERE!
    Show More Show Less
    32 mins
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