Story & Lesson Highlights with Terri-Ann Russell of Gilbert

Terri-Ann Russell shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Terri-Ann, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
My mornings begin softly, the way a prayer rises before it’s spoken. I wake up and take time to breathe before I even open my eyes. I pause and feel the subtle glow of my soul waking with me. I place one hand over my heart and the other over my womb, whispering a quiet thank-you for another day to serve, to heal, to create beauty, and to be guided. I ask what my body, mind and soul need from me today and then I listen intuitively throughout the day.

I move slowly, deliberately… I sit at the edge of my bed and take three deep breaths, calling my spirit fully into my body. With each inhale, I invite in peace. With each exhale, I release whatever isn’t mine to carry or that i picked up during my nighttime travel through other dimensions..

Next comes water. I drink it with intention, imagining it cleansing my energy from the inside out. Sometimes I add lemon, sometimes just gratitude. As I sip, I listen. My intuition always speaks to me in the quiet, and I honor whatever whispers to me. I spend a few minutes journaling, letting my pen move without censorship. I write what I’m feeling, what I’m calling in, what my soul wants me to know. Often this is where the healer in me receives her guidance for the day. The veil feels thinner in the morning; the messages come through like soft golden threads.

After journaling, I move my body. Nothing forceful just stretching, gentle swaying, maybe a few minutes of breath-led kundalini yoga that opens my chest, hips, and heart. This is where I reconnect with my feminine presence. I let my body lead. I let her express. I trust her wisdom.

Before stepping into the world, I close my eyes and offer myself a grounding ritual. Sometimes it’s Reiki flowing through my palms. Sometimes it’s a short invocation to my guides. Sometimes it’s placing my feet firmly on the ground and declaring, “I am in my power. I am in my purpose. I am ready.”

I feel centered. rooted, and aligned. I feel spacious inside. I feel guided. I feel held.

And because I begin my day in devotion rather than distraction, the rest of my day flows with ease. My creativity opens. My intuition sharpens. My emotions soften. And I move through every interaction from clients to conversations to sacred work with clarity, presence, and grace.

This ritual isn’t just a routine. It’s the way I return to myself every morning a woman, a healer, a guide, walking in her full feminine power.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a healer, intuitive guide, and spiritual activator who helps men and women remember who they are at the soul level. My work weaves together energy healing, spiritual hypnosis, grief alchemy, and feminine embodiment to support deep transformation. Much of my mission was shaped by my own journey through profound loss, awakening, and rebirth after the passing of my son, Anthony Joseph. A journey that taught me how to walk with grief while still choosing life, love, and purpose.

Through my brand, I create sacred experiences for people to reclaim their voice, awaken their inner power, and rise into the next version of themselves. This includes my Soul Passages sessions, my teachings on DNA, my podcast series, online courses, healing circles, and a growing body of written work.

What makes my work unique is the way I blend depth with softness, spirituality with practicality, and healing with empowerment. I don’t just guide you through your pain, I help you activate the you, you are becoming. Right now, I’m focused on expanding my podcast series, creating transformative workshops, and preparing new offerings designed for those who are ready to step into their voice, their truth, and their divine feminine presence.

Everything I create is rooted in one intention: to help others move through their own soul journeys with more grace, clarity, and heart.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My husband has been one of the greatest mirrors of my soul, reflecting back to me the woman I often forgot I was. This man is my soulmate and was brought to me much later in life. After years of living in an abusive relationship, i began to awaken and knew i had to get out. Not long after, when i said never again, this beautiful man walked into my life and its been a relationship of growth, love, and support. We are two sides of the coin, two pieces of the puzzle. Through his steady love, patience, and unwavering belief in my gifts, he helped me see my own strength, softness, and sacred purpose long before I fully claimed them. He loved me through my grief, held space for my awakening, and reminded me, again and again, over and over that I am capable, powerful, intuitive, and worthy of the life I’m creating. His presence has shaped how I see myself not by changing me, but by showing me the truth of who I have always been. In his eyes, I learned to recognize my own light. In his eyes I saw myself.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me a depth of truth that success never could. It stripped away every illusion of control and invited me into the raw, exposed places where my soul could finally speak. I remember the exact time that the veil of illusion was ripped away from me and how much it hurt. I was devastated yet, I couldn’t unsee what i was shown.
In my darkest moments, I learned how to sit with myself, how to listen, how to surrender, and how to rise without needing to be polished or perfect. Suffering softened me, opened me, and revealed a strength I didn’t know I carried. It taught me compassion, humility, presence, and the power of simply being with what is. Success celebrates who we become, but suffering revealed who I already was, a woman capable of loving, surviving, and transforming even when her heart was shattered. It was in the ache, not the achievement, that I found my most sacred truths.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What truths are so foundational in your life that you rarely articulate them?
One of the deepest truths in my life is that I am guided; always, even when I can’t feel it. I move through the world held by something greater, and that quiet trust shapes everything I do. I also know that my intuition is never wrong; it has been my compass through grief, healing, love, and purpose. Another truth I rarely speak aloud is that my softness is not a weakness but a sacred power, one that allows me to feel, to sense, to heal, and to lead. And woven through all of this is the knowing that my soul chose this path. That means that every joy, every ache, every awakening, my soul chose, to help me become the woman I am meant to be. These truths live so deeply within me that they rarely need words; they guide me from the inside out.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. How do you know when you’re out of your depth?
I know I’m out of my depth when everything in me starts to feel tight, rushed, or disconnected from my own breath. My intuition gets quieter, my body feels heavier, and I find myself trying to force what normally flows. I become less present, more reactive, and I start abandoning my own needs in order to keep moving. There’s a subtle ache. I often feel it within my bones. Its like a whisper that something is off and I feel myself drifting away from the woman I truly am. When I’m out of my depth, I feel ungrounded, like my energy is scattered instead of centered. But the moment I pause, breathe, and return to my heart, I can feel my alignment again: soft, clear, intuitive, and deeply rooted in my truth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/TerriAnnRussell
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sassysoulhealing
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sassysoulhealing
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@terri-annrussell9547