By Summer Aguirre
Melanie Verstraete lives a life of positivity and fulfillment despite challenges life has thrown at her. She says she is called to help others do the same.
The Phoenix resident and single mother entered her newest chapter as a mindset and relationship coach, which she says she believes is her life’s purpose. Through her program The Wild Heart Life and newly released “Silence the Sh*t Talker” podcast, Verstraete takes her own experiences to help men and women break free from negative cycles and attract positive energy to attain what they desire in life.
“My hope and my gift and my purpose is to enlighten and awaken people to the real truth of who they are and to step into that and to raise the consciousness of this world,” she says.
“I worked with the best of the best coaches and mentors, reprogrammed my subconscious mind, my way of thinking. I just did exactly what I teach my clients, and it’s just so beautiful to be on the other side of that and then be able to share this and to understand that.”
Verstraete’s “Silence the Sh*t Talker” podcast, which drops two episodes a month, focuses on battling energy blocks and fears of everything from relationships to finance.
She says negative inner voices are the root causes of fears, patterns and mindsets that tell us we are unworthy and unable to achieve our goals. The essence of her work is to silence that negative voice, as the key to attracting positive energy boils down to having a good relationship with oneself.
“You are the only problem you will ever have, and you are the only solution. That’s it,” she says. “That all begins and ends with you, and the relationship you have with you will be indicative of the relationship you will have with everything else, including money, humans, the world, the earth, everything.”
Through The Wild Heart Life, Verstraete coaches individuals, groups and businesses in person and virtually.
Men and women of all ages approach her for assistance, mostly regarding unhealthy relationships. Many clients are between 35 and 70 years old and have experienced a failed relationship or a divorce.
Verstraete uses the same approach she did. Describing it as “science meets spirituality,” she works with individuals to reframe their way of thinking, replacing negativities with thoughts of their desires.
“It’s like an unlearning. It’s an unbecoming. It’s learning how to think properly,” she says.
Verstraete also teaches her clients how to step into their “divine masculine” and “divine feminine,” which helps them embody the idea that they can have everything.
During her clients’ time with her, she says that they see their relationships improve, which in turn improves other parts of their lives. They make more money, find fulfillment, achieve healthier physical lifestyles and, sometimes, they even meet their soulmate.
According to Verstraete, society is the root cause of the “huge collective of manipulation and fear” that is ensuing in modern relationships.
She urges others to be aware of what they are exposed to, such as the ideas and media they encounter and their resulting opinions, to combat this.
“We are very, very, very easily persuaded as humans, so you always have to be on guard about what you allow yourself to consume,” she says. “What I mean by that is what you allow your five senses to take in: what you see, what you hear, what you taste, what you touch and smell.”
Verstraete’s knowledge is drawn from her personal encounters with toxic relationships, which began when she was young.
Born and raised in Michigan, she grew up with an emotionally unavailable mother who introduced a handful of unsuitable stepfathers into their lives. Verstraete says her unstable upbringing instilled in her a low sense of self-worth and confidence, which in turn influenced a cycle of her own relationships.
Verstraete experienced a revelation following her second marriage, which led to her focusing on improving her relationship with herself and her career.
Then, around six years ago, she stumbled upon coaching.
“When coaching found me, it found me in a way of who I became, and then in my ascension, my growth, my unbecoming and stepping into my power,” she says. “I have to share this with the world. This is why I’m here. This is my purpose. This is my passion. This is why I went through that storm of a path to get me right here. I pushed here to share this.”
Verstraete denounces the falsity that once one becomes a coach, they don’t need any assistance. As she continues her new venture as a coach, she works on herself.
“Who I am is always trying to be better, and I think ‘better’ is such a beautiful word. … It’s just about being better than me, being better than I was yesterday, being better than I was the day before, continuing to grow, to learn to be open,” she says. “So that I can keep expanding who I am so I can keep helping more and more people, and be the best version of me for everybody in my life, including myself.”
Verstraete is writing her debut book, and is hosting her first retreat later this year.
She hopes to release episodes of “Silence the Sh*t Talker” more frequently. Her goal is to reach as many people across the globe as possible through her podcast.
Melanie Verstraete
