By Kelsea Mazzocco

I think it’s time I officially come out of the woo-woo closet.

Although, if you ask my dad or my brother, they’ll tell you I’ve been out for decades. They’ve been lovingly making fun of me for most of my life.

I suppose it all started when I was nine years old.

I grew up Catholic, and my mother was reading Shirley MacLaine’s Out on a Limb. She was discovering a world of spiritual ideas, consciousness, and possibilities beyond what we’d been taught to believe. And she had a choice: keep those discoveries to herself or invite her young daughter into the conversation.

Lucky for me, she chose the latter.

That decision opened a door that never really closed.

Over the years, I found myself immersed in the teachings of Marianne Williamson’s A Return to Love, A Course in Miracles, Caroline Myss, Eckart Tolle and countless other explorations of consciousness, spirituality, and energy.

And yet, for much of my adult life, I kept that world in my back pocket.

For nearly three decades, my public-facing identity was in real estate. I was building a business, raising children, and doing all the things we do as women trying to hold it all together. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, I was studying, practicing, teaching, and exploring the relationship between our bodies, minds, and energy.

Now, in my 50s, I finally get to bring that part of myself fully into the world.

So welcome to The Woo Woo Edit.

A little ancient wisdom, a little modern science, a little humor, and hopefully some practical magic you can use before your next parenting meltdown. Yours or theirs.

What if woo woo is simply awareness?

Here’s something I find fascinating.

I’m Gen X. I remember life before the internet. If someone had told us decades ago that we’d eventually communicate through an invisible worldwide network, accessing information and connecting with people instantaneously, it might have sounded like science fiction.

Now we don’t think twice about it.

And today we have AI… artificial intelligence… changing the way we live.

But I like to talk about another kind of intelligence. I call it GI: God Intelligence.

You might call it God, spirit, universal consciousness, your higher self, or simply intuition.

For me, it’s the intelligence I believe connects and animates life. It’s not something I expect everyone to define or experience in the same way. It’s simply part of how I understand the world.

And I believe we can learn to become more aware of it.

Which brings me to something every mother has experienced.

Is that your energy, or someone else’s?

Have you ever walked into a room feeling perfectly fine, only to find yourself irritated, anxious, or overwhelmed five minutes later?

Your child is upset. Your partner is stressed. Someone’s running late. The dog is barking. Suddenly, the entire atmosphere has shifted.

And now you’re feeling it, too.

In energy medicine, we might describe this as picking up on someone else’s energy. In psychology, there’s a related concept called emotional contagion, the way emotions and stress responses can influence the people around us.

Different language, but an interesting place where the woo and our understanding of human behavior meet.

As mothers, we’re often extraordinarily attuned to the emotional states of our children. We’re constantly reading the room, anticipating needs, and responding to everyone around us.

But here’s something I think we need to talk about more:

Sometimes it’s not our children who need to regulate first. Sometimes it’s us.

Children are deeply influenced by the nervous systems of their caregivers. Our tone, facial expressions, breathing, and responses all contribute to the emotional environment in which they learn to navigate their own feelings.

This doesn’t mean every difficult behavior is a reflection of the parent. Children have their own temperaments, developmental stages, and individual challenges.

But it does mean that our own regulation matters enormously.

We often become the emotional barometer of our homes.

And here’s the beautiful part: we don’t have to be perfectly calm parents.

In fact, one of the greatest gifts we can give our children is letting them see us recognize when we’re overwhelmed and intentionally practice coming back into balance.

“Mommy’s feeling a little overwhelmed right now. I’m going to take a moment to breathe.”

Imagine how powerful it is for a child to grow up knowing that adults have big feelings, too, and that there are tools to help us move through them.

Regulation isn’t about never getting upset. It’s about knowing how to return to yourself.

Three little woo-woo tools you can use today

1. Hot Cocoa Breath: A nervous system reset

This is one of my favorite breathing practices, especially because it’s something you can teach your children.

It’s inspired by pranayama, the ancient yogic practice of consciously working with the breath.

Bring your hands together in a gentle clasp in front of your heart.

Take a comfortable inhale through your nose.

At the top of your inhale, gently hold your breath for a count of three.

Now imagine you’re holding a delicious cup of hot cocoa covered in whipped cream.

Slowly exhale through pursed lips, as though you’re gently blowing the whipped cream off the top. But be careful! You don’t want to blow so hard that the cocoa spills over the edge.

Make that exhale slow, soft, and controlled.

When you’ve comfortably exhaled, pause again for a count of three before breathing in.

Repeat a few rounds.

The pauses and extended exhale are intentional parts of this practice, designed to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, our body’s “rest and digest” response, helping us shift out of stress and back into calm.

For children, keep it playful. Never force or strain the breath, and if holding feels uncomfortable, simply practice the slow exhale.

Practice together when everyone is calm, so this becomes a familiar tool when bigger emotions arrive.

2. Give Yourself a Head Hug

Okay, this one might sound a little woo woo!

In Kundalini Yoga, covering the head is an ancient practice used to contain and focus our energy. The crown of the head is considered our connection to higher consciousness, and covering it can help create a sense of energetic containment.

Think of it like a head hug! Similar to how a weighted blanket can help us feel secure, a scarf or beanie can give us a sense of being held within our own space.

This is a great little trick for empaths, people who feel everyone else’s energy.

I can be aware of what’s happening around me without taking it all on.

It’s about becoming clear on where you end and someone else begins.

Try it out. See how it feels.

3. Stop Time Traveling! Come Back to Your Heart.

How often are we actually present in this body, behind these eyes?

So much of our time is spent carrying the weight of the past or ruminating about the future. This is time traveling!

I bet you’ve never thought of yourself as a time traveler, but that’s exactly what you are.

And here’s the thing: the present moment is where our power lives.

So pause. Take three deep, comfortable breaths. Move your awareness out of your busy mind and down into your heart center. Imagine breathing directly into the eye of the heart.

Right here. Right now.

Presence is where we reconnect with our own divine intelligence, where we find the ability to pause and choose rather than react, and where we recognize what’s ours and what isn’t.

This is where the miracles happen. This is where our power is restored.

We can care deeply without carrying everything.

So whether you’re a little woo woo, a lot woo woo, or still rolling your eyes at the whole thing, give it a try.

You might just discover there’s something to this woo woo after all!

Your frequency matters.

Until next time, stay curious.

 XO Kelsea

About the Author

Kelsea Mazzocco is a mother, teacher, energy medicine practitioner, and entrepreneur with nearly three decades of experience exploring the relationship between the mind, body, and energy. A longtime real estate professional turned full-time practitioner, she brings together Kundalini Yoga, Spinal Energetics, breathwork, meditation, and integrative energy practices to help people reconnect with themselves. Through her work in Long Beach, she makes ancient wisdom approachable, practical, and relevant to modern everyday life.