You Don't Need a Retreat: Tracee Stanley on the Power of Rituals and the Space Between Who You Were and Who You're Becoming on “She Thrives” Podcast hosted by Katia Khomich

In today's episode, I sit down with Tracee Stanley — bestselling author, yoga nidra teacher, and founder of the Empowered Life Circle — to talk about her new book, Living Ritual: Infuse Each Day with Purpose and Spirit.

This conversation is for anyone standing in a chapter of transition — a fertility journey, perimenopause, a shift in career or relationships, or simply that quiet feeling that something is missing even when life looks full on paper. Tracee's work centers on "householders" — people with jobs, families, and full lives — and her core message is that you don't need a retreat, hours of free time, or perfect conditions to access something sacred. You only need to learn to see what's already there.

We talk about:

• Why so many successful, accomplished women still feel like something essential is missing

• Tracee's own story: her years as a Hollywood film producer, and the moment she realized her life had to change

• The difference between a habit and a ritual — and why presence, not time, is the only real ingredient

• Micro-rituals: small, doable practices you can weave into an ordinary day, from how you wake up to how you pour your morning coffee

• Liminal space — the pause between the inhale and the exhale, between who you were and who you're becoming — and why learning to notice it changes everything

• Menopause as initiation: Tracee's beautiful reframe of a transition our culture rarely honors, including her own experience with hot flashes, sleep disruption, and letting go of shame

• Why ritual matters most in uncertain seasons of life, and how to mark transitions our culture no longer marks for us

• Permission — to rest, to slow down, to give yourself grace through every season of becoming

This conversation isn't about adding more to your plate. It's about noticing the sacred that's already woven into your ordinary day — the doorway, the cup, the breath, your own body.