Sonya Looney wears many impressive hats. She’s a world-champion mountain bike racer, an international speaker and coach, a mom of two, and my new friend! In this episode, we talk about how to show up as working moms, the importance of balancing values and strengths, competition and collaboration, values-based eating, and strategies we’ve used in building our friendship. You are going to love this one!

Listen and Learn:

• Knowing when to do it over
• How to balance motherhood and ambition
• How Sonya Looney came to mountain biking
• The intersection of strengths and values
• The importance of connecting to our body’s wisdom
• What is Wise Effort
• How to know when to grit and when to quit
• Values-based eating
• How to build a wise council
• Valuing friendship
• Why more is not always more

About Sonya Looney

Sonya Looney is a professional athlete, podcast host, health and mental performance coach, writer, speaker, and mom. As a professional mountain biker, she’s raced in over 25 countries, been World Champion, 4x USA National Champion, and amassed 20+ career wins in endurance mountain biking. Her podcast, The Sonya Looney Show, has been running for nearly 6 years. Her work encompasses the intersection of performance, health, and well-being. Her dynamic experience racing around the world, paired with a graduate education in Electrical/Biomedical Engineering, her Health Coaching Certification, and extended personal studies in Neuroscience, Positive Psychology, and Plant-Based Nutrition, have been a powerful way to connect and understand herself and others.

About Diana Hill

Diana Hill, PhD is a clinical psychologist, international trainer and sought-out speaker on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and compassion. Host of the podcast Your Life in Process and co-author of ACT Daily Journal, Diana works with organizations and individuals to develop psychological flexibility so that they can take wise action toward fulfilling and impactful lives. Integrating her over 20 years of meditation experience with yoga and psychological training, Diana blogs for Psychology Today, and guest teaches at InsightLA, Blue Spirit Costa Rica, PESI, Praxis Continuing Education, Yoga Soup and Insight Timer Meditation. Diana practices what she preaches in her daily life as a mom of two boys and bee guardian.

Related Resources

• Become a MORE Life in Process member to support the show.
• Find out what kind of Striver you are and get your free Skillful Striving Toolkit
• Want to learn more about ACT? Take Diana’s on-demand course Foundations of ACT
• Listen to the Sonya Looney Show
• The Sonya Looney Show: The Paradox of Expectations, Pressure, Comparison, in Sport and in Life
• The Sonya Looney Show: Rethinking Competition: What if it wasn’t only about beating others
• Psychology Today: What is Wise Effort? Put your values and strengths into practice by Diana Hill
• Your Life in Process: How To Use Polyvagal Theory To Retune Your Nervous System and Feel Safe Enough To Be Yourself With Stephen Porges
• Your Life in Process: Lessons from the Harvard Health Study on Happiness with Dr. Robert Waldinger

Diana’s Events

• Get on the waitlist for Diana’s Reset and Restore Retreat in Costa Rica in Spring 2024!
• Meditate with Diana at Yoga Soup
• Register for Diana’s ACT workshop at Yoga Soup!
• Sign up for Diana’s From Striving to Thriving Summit!
• See Diana at an upcoming event

Connect With Diana

Thank you for listening to Your Life in Process! Subscribe to the podcast for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. If you have any questions or feedback you can submit feedback for the show, email podcast at yourlifeinprocess dot com or leave Diana an audio message at (805) 457-2776. Follow Diana at YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Diana’s website.

Thank you to the team Craig and Ashley Hiatt. Thank you to Benjamin Gould of Bell & Branch for your beautiful music.

Remember when you become psychologically flexible, you become free.