We’ve all had a coach or mentor who has inspired us through their knowledge, experience or charismatic and unique character. But what if I told you there’s a coach achieving all three? A coach so ambitious, she wrote a self-published book at age 15 and graduated college at 19. Later, she became a writer, web designer, businesswoman and earned many certifications in therapy.
What if I also said this coach was bold enough to howl at the moon like a woof, flip off a Shaman and once danced shirtless in public? Not to mention, taught stripping 101 and a class on how to orgasm without using your hands called, “Look Ma! No hands.” This same coach persevered over hardships such as loss of a spouse to suicide and life-threatening brain surgery.
This was an adventurous enough coach to travel throughout America and over seven countries mostly by herself. Published in multiple newspapers, appeared on radio shows and podcasts, These unique accolades are my way of introducing the founder and coach of the program “Feral Female,” Isis Leeor. This is the woman who started a movement to inspire and uplift women.
The Interview
As I began my Sunday morning eating breakfast and looking over questions in my notebook, I was excited for my first interview with Isis Leeor. Though given her amazing accolades and the subject matter for discussion, I couldn’t help to wonder what a guy like me was in store for. Adding more questions to my pad, I wanted to make sure I was as prepared as possible when my interview started. As I sat down with her, we initially made small talk disarming each other with sincere intentions. Her personality was lively, joyful, intriguing and of course raw and unapologetic. She had a warm bright smile with a laughing nature and was direct, with glaring eyes that were truthful. Ready to begin, Leeor’s keen eyes studied my posture, mannerisms and voice as if she was peering into my inner thoughts.
At the start, I slowly realized that in her intuitive and witty nature, my so-called “interview” quickly did a 180, instantly turning into “Isis’s interview.” The next thing I knew, I was answering her questions without firing any off, it seemed as though she was the better prepared journalist than I was. I could only laugh, as did she, because I knew it was only in her good-hearted intentions and she graciously gave me back my interview.
Also, she was very open in the interview and entertained the later in the week follow up questions I missed. Right out the gates, Leeor expressed the purpose behind her program.
“This is a movement of whole and unapologetic women who are finally coming out of the closet,” Leeor stated.
She highlighted the societal negative stigmas and pressures placed upon women within their sexuality, body, self-expression and most of all, according to Leeor, voice. Leeor reassured me that this wasn’t about bashing men (as I wiped the sweat off my forehead and adjusted my collar), it was about gender equality and uplifting women. In fact, she worked with men as well with couples and highlighted a common insecurity all sides have.
“It’s f*cking scary… is this person going to reject me?” she said.
Leeor’s background
Growing up in a dysfunctional home and subjected to abuse, Leeor came from a rough upbringing. She explained to me and also said in 2018 in her appearance on the Waking the Wild Show podcast, that in early childhood she often felt disconnected from her own identity, especially in the realms of feminism.
Though her parents advocated for feminism, it was a misconstrued version of it they and other women pressed upon her at an early age. This concept mimicked the misguided masculine concept in which self-reliance should never be surrendered for help, even to one’s own demise. Mimicking this notion disconnected Leeor from her identity, sexuality and teenage relationships.
The desire and self-awareness in wanting to find more of an identity led Leeor to leave the house in her early teens. On her own path, the 15 year old Jersey girl self-published her book called Dominos, which was about an artistic reflection of dysfunction in society. She stayed with spiritual gurus, learning the good and bad in teachings along the way. Meanwhile, she was pursuing an educational journey as well.
Finishing high school early, Leeor excelled in college, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts/English, which was just the beginning of her educational pursuit. She became certified in hypnotherapy, thought pattern management, massage therapy, energy work, Qigong and Core Energetic among many other forms of spiritual therapy.
As we talked, she dove deeper into her personal life. The pain in losing a husband to suicide and the recovery process after a life-threatening brain surgery, was present in her voice. These tragic events among many others were experiences she doesn’t shy from using in her work as learning tools. According to Leeor, it’s the personal touch of being vulnerably open and caring that creates a unique bonding experience with the people she coaches.
“I love them like a parent,” she expressed.
What is a “Feral Female?”
When people first hear the word “feral,” they may think of “feral cat,” said Leeor in 2018 on the Creating Magical Relationships Radio Show.
“This is definitely not a movement of men and women digging for trash looking for trash,” said Leeor. The definition of the word she places emphasis on is the meaning to return; “in a wild state, untamed or undomesticated.” In other words, the name represents women rediscovering true self in which society has negatively attempted to cultivate. “The rewarding part is seeing them open like a flower and becoming themselves,” she said to me the joy in seeing her clients prevail.
What’s this program all about and how does it work?
As we laughed about Leeor dancing around my questions in my attempt to simplify her work to a specific name, the dynamics of it all revealed to me that this was something new. Perhaps, because her program is just as dynamic as society pressures can be, it doesn’t do it justice simplifying it down to one name. Though, Leeor poetically framed it; “passionately teaching people how to connect both hearts: the one in their chest and the one in their pelvis.”
Feral Female is a virtual online program in which people pay to take one on one or group live coaching sessions taught by Leeor herself. She also has a YouTube channel, Instagram and a Facebook page. The purpose is to help women shed the negative societal and personal limiting factors hindering any goals they desire to attain. Using her skill sets, she helps clients strategize their goals into working concepts that fit their identity.
There’s no one specific area of focus. The coaching sessions can span from relationship problems, lack of self-confidence, sexuality, career goals or whatever the imagination of the client seeking inspiration to focus on. In these live online classes Isis incorporates tools ranging from breathing techniques, body posturing, yoga, talk therapy to prioritizing career goals, management and many more tools from her background.
We laughed as Leeor explained using unorthodox teaching methods such as clucking like a rooster to break defensive barriers of clients in a session.
“Hey, it worked; they smiled and began to open up,” she said. The point was that any tool she could use to get people to initially open themselves, she was willing to do. There was no denying her caring commitment to this cause.
Is this beneficial and who has it helped?
Now, I must point out that Leeor’s program isn’t meant to serve as a replacement for any standard therapy, mental health or medical services, and nor does it attempt to be. In fact, Leeor has been a strong advocate for those services.
I was able to sit in on a few of her live Facebook streams and lectures, and the overall feedback was mostly positive. She has accumulated over 2000 Facebook followers, not including on her other platforms. There were many women and men alike who felt they had a positive life changing experience from her classes. Many expressed their praises through live commenting. Her teachings were positive for both women and men, though it didn’t sugar coat the inequality of the genders.
I must admit I gained a lot of insight as a man and as a journalist in valuable new perspectives. Leeor explored topics such as how the female orgasm gets thought of as unimportant when compared to males in society. Also, she spoke on the pressure society has placed on men within their ability to perform in sex. Things like the societal body shaming of women,the controversies within gender roles and what’s “masculine” or ‘feminine” were discussed. As you can imagine, this invoked a lot of comments in the livestream, though healthy and seemingly productive.
So, is this program beneficial? Well, I know I’m stalling, but in truth, only time will tell. This is still a relatively new program, though moving in a positive direction, so for now I will leave it up to readers to navigate this question. Or, as Leeor would better say it; “the Feral Female in navigating the wild.”
You find more about Isis Leeor at:
https://feralfemale.com/ https://www.instagram.com/feral.female/https://www.facebook.com/FeralFemale/
