Kari Samuels: I am so excited about our guest today, Tony LeRoy. I've known of Tony — actually I'm more of a fan. This is the first time we get to meet in this capacity. I had a reading with Tony back in 2008, and at the time he told me I was a teacher and that I was going to be doing all this media. And here we are on a podcast together, his vision coming true. Tony has been on lots of TV shows and major newspapers — the New York Times — and he's been on the Today Show. Without further ado, welcome Tony.
Tony LeRoy: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
Kari Samuels: I'm so happy to share your unique way of being, your love, your light, your sparkle with everyone.
Tony LeRoy: I appreciate it. You are a testament of manifestation. I was just talking to a friend of mine — I haven't done a lot of media since COVID and I said, you know what, I'm putting it out there that I'm going to get back into media. Then the next week you sent me an email and I was like, thank you, universe.
Kari Samuels: Well you teach manifestation, don't you? Isn't that one of the many things you're doing now?
Tony LeRoy: If I were to put things in a nutshell, I say that I remind people of their inner greatness. We're all manifestors, we're all healers, we're all lovers, we're all wealthy and healthy on all levels. When we really allow ourselves to be balanced and tap into that greatness within, everything falls into place.
Kari Samuels: And what I've experienced with manifesting — and I know that word is used in so many ways that feel off — is that in more of a creative and spiritual psychic process, everything is already created and we're tapping into it. It's kind of like Michelangelo when he said, "I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free." So it's there, we're blessed with these downloads, and we have to trust and put the energy into uncovering them. Is that how you experience it?
Tony LeRoy: Yes. My version would be that there are multiple universes, and there is that version of you that's already where you want to be. What needs to happen is to take your current self and align to that timeline where that outcome already exists. The way to do that is to let go of your mother's voice, let go of that grandparent who told you no, let go of society saying you can't be who you want to be based on your gender, your race, your background. The best way is to really tap into what it is that you desire, but also to become aware of what the resistance is. When you look into the resistance and accept it — when you can see the version of you that really wants something AND the part of you that doesn't feel deserving — then you do whatever healing work you can to take that resistance down a notch. That's what leads us to the outcome.
Kari Samuels: I love that. Manifesting is a broad term that gets overused and often not used correctly. When I met you back in 2008 in New York — we're both native New Yorkers — I was living in Pittsburgh at the time, visiting for Thanksgiving, working a full-time job and doing readings at night.
Tony LeRoy: I haven't left New York. I go to lots of places, but New York is still home.
Kari Samuels: It's so diverse and exciting and cultural. So back then — I called myself an intuitive counselor from the very first day I started doing readings back in the nineties. You're also an intuitive counselor. It's more healing oriented, would you say?
Tony LeRoy: My elevator pitch for why I call myself an intuitive counselor versus a psychic is that it gives the client permission to have free will. I hold up a mirror to show people what's going on with them, and whatever they see, they can make choices to create the change they desire. When it comes to the word psychic — being a New Yorker — there are a lot of neon signs with crystal balls, and unfortunately that's created a certain stigma. I remember when people would come to my office having heard of me through word of mouth and I'd open the door and they'd say, "This guy is just normal." I utilize intuitive counselor because I am a counselor. A lot of the work I do is really about helping a person recognize that they have permission to be who they want to be.
Kari Samuels: You and I call ourselves counselors because it is counseling. It's a lot of looking at the past and your current habits, beliefs, and expectations. I noticed since 2008 that you've added a lot of new healing modalities. How do you use intuition for healing?
Tony LeRoy: Out of all my gifts, I am first and foremost an empath. I feel everything in my body. The very first thing I do when I meet somebody is close my eyes and ask their soul to come into their physical body. Then I see how their body reacts to it, and I feel that in my own body. Most people live outside of their bodies. When I visualize and feel someone's energy come into themselves, I can feel where the blocks are in my own body. If I feel a block in the navel, that represents a very specific type of story. A block in the throat is another. As a kid, this led me to developing a drawing practice — I create a drawing that helps me see what's going on around a person mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. As an empath I can see and feel patterns, and then I work with those patterns in the counseling. I'll say, this is a pattern of someone who's been through abandonment, for example. Then the psychic part comes in — my guides might say she was 12. I'll go into it: I'm seeing you in a room, there's a small dog, you're 12. That's where the psychic element comes in, and at the same time I'm utilizing traditional therapeutic tools to bring the person into acceptance and help them find inner peace.
Kari Samuels: A theme that has run through every episode of this podcast so far is being in your body. Most people think they are in their bodies. Can you explain what it means to not be in your body?
Tony LeRoy: In my experience, most people are not grounded. When we talk about being grounded, it's really about allowing the totality of your energy field to be connected to this physical plane of existence. When your energy is grounded here, you have access to your nervous system, your energy bodies, the different chakras, the totality of who you are. A lot of people find it uncomfortable to live in the heart. It's uncomfortable to be here on earth, especially if you're an empath. So we start to live outside of our bodies. It's safer to be more in your head, in the fantasy world, the astral plane, a probable future that hasn't manifested yet. When I'm anxious, when I'm uncomfortable, when I'm hitting blocks everywhere I go — that's when I'm not grounded. That's when I don't have access to the totality of my gifts.
Kari Samuels: To access intuitive information, I didn't have to reach up more. I had to get down into my body.
Tony LeRoy: Exactly. We already have access to that knowing — call it the Akashic records, whatever resonates with your belief system. It's about bringing that knowing here, to this moment, and then making a choice about how you want to utilize it.
Kari Samuels: You brought up something really important about bringing the soul back into the body. Can you talk about that and how people can do it?
Tony LeRoy: What I do first is close my eyes and invite the soul to come into the body. By virtue of the fact that a person has made an appointment with me, they've already given me permission. The moment they make that appointment, our souls have made an agreement. And yet I still ask: do I have permission to talk to your spirit guides, connect with your energy, access your Akashic records? In asking that permission, it becomes an invitation. There have been many people who, as soon as I close my eyes, burst out crying — sometimes because they feel themselves, maybe for the first time ever.
Kari Samuels: I want to make clear that we as intuitives don't go around doing this with our loved ones. This is only in these settings because everyone has free will.
Tony LeRoy: Yes. And it's manipulative to try to move anyone else's will or soul against their own desires. It's insanely karma-building to attempt that. So just don't do it.
Kari Samuels: Can people do this when they wake up in the morning — just say "I invite my soul to be in my body"?
Tony LeRoy: Absolutely. Intention creates universes of possibility. It can be done as a prayer or as an affirmation: I am embodying my true self in this moment, today and every day.
Kari Samuels: So instead of asking for a specific thing, it's asking to be more of yourself — an interesting take on manifestation.
Tony LeRoy: Yes. When we are whole, when we are complete, when we are healed, everything that's for our highest good starts to show up with ease.
Kari Samuels: The key to happiness is to be yourself, and the key to manifestation is to be yourself. When you love yourself fully and completely, the world can support you fully and completely. Is healing, in one way, about uncovering and releasing the layers that are keeping you from being yourself?
Tony LeRoy: When we come back to balance, we are healed. When the body is out of balance, that's where there's dis-ease — on an emotional level it manifests one way, on a physical level another. Healing manifests and shows up in many different ways. When one heals their emotions, the body gets healed. When one heals their mind, the emotions and body get healed. It's holistic — mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. Even having this conversation is healing. Finding balance and having the intention to be your best self — that is healing.
Kari Samuels: So maybe an intention or prayer for every day?
Tony LeRoy: Yes. One of my favorites — I got this from Instagram: I am the most powerful I've ever been. I'm walking into the healthiest and wealthiest version of myself. Everything I desire is on its way because everything I desire is already mine.
Kari Samuels: That's really beautiful. And you're also ridiculously generous — you give a lot away for free. A lot of empaths do. That's a balance we all have to look at.
Tony LeRoy: Exactly. And this amazing healer I know taught me another prayer. She said, listen, you can't help but be generous, you can't help but be giving. So when you recognize you're doing it, just say: may this giving be the cause for me to have all the health, wealth, and resources that I need to continue to support myself and others.
Kari Samuels: Tony, that's so important. As empaths we have a tendency to give more than we receive. To have a prayer that lets the giving be a blessing is a beautiful thing.
Tony LeRoy: That's one of the most powerful lessons I've learned — when giving, to set the intention that may this giving be the cause. When I talk about balance, I talk about peace. Balance is what happens when I meditate. Balance is what happens when I forgive myself or accept myself.
Kari Samuels: A lot of people think balance means getting a massage or making time to read. But when you talk about balance it seems to mean something deeper.
Tony LeRoy: Right now one of the biggest challenges in my life is my elderly mom and the stage of life that she's in. When I'm in her presence I watch myself fall out of balance. I constantly find myself finding ways to not be angry, or demanding she be in a different space, because that's her choice. I have to be solid and whole on my own. That's deep breathing, that's tapping, that's calling a friend who can hold space. There are so many ways to find that balance and inner peace.
Kari Samuels: And with that comes a layer of profound acceptance.
Tony LeRoy: I think acceptance is key to all forms of healing. It's like, this is where I am, this is what I am feeling, this is what's happening in this moment. When we truly come into a place of acceptance, then we have the choice whether we're going to allow it to affect us or be an instrument of change. Especially empaths are motivated by guilt — I should be feeling a certain way. But it's a matter of accepting that you're human. There's no way you should feel. The benefit of real true acceptance is sometimes that inner six-year-old will come up and say I need a hug, and then I'll get to give little Tony a hug, or I'll say, hey, why don't you come live in my heart where there's all kinds of toys and you can play and I've got your back.
Kari Samuels: I've been having conversations about the family of choice versus family of birth. When you are whole and complete you start attracting people who really lift and support you.
Tony LeRoy: Yes. I have people who are my sisters, my brothers, my mothers, my fathers — really healthy people in my life now who lift and support me in ways I never experienced as a child. It's because I really allow myself to become. It's a work in progress, obviously. But when we really come into that place of wholeness and I fill my cup with the healed, loved version of Tony, then I attract really amazing things in my life.
Kari Samuels: This idea of balance and accepting yourself is not about seeking something outside yourself. You find it outside yourself when you accept who you are — accepting your feelings, accepting that you have stuff to work through and you're still showing up to help people.
Tony LeRoy: Right. I'm just gonna put this out there — we are all our inner gurus. Even the word guru: G, you are you. And if you ever come across anyone who says they are a hundred percent healed and have no issues, walk the other way.
Kari Samuels: There's no shame in having help. If anything, we'd better be asking for help. Empath lesson one. Please ask.
Tony LeRoy: Whenever someone comes to me and I watch their guides saying, oh my God, can you please help this person listen to me — I tell them there's this ancient prayer. Can I teach it to you? Repeat after me. This is the ancient prayer: Help. Help me. That's it. Help me to see what my next step is. Help me to communicate with you better. Help me to be more open to inner peace. Help me to find my love. Help me. Just help me.
Kari Samuels: I love it so much, Tony. You're like a spirit guide on earth. I'd love to have you back — there's so much more to share. In the meantime, how do people get in touch with you?
Tony LeRoy: You can reach me via my website, tonyleroy.com. My Instagram is @intuitivetony. Those are the two main places. My website is the hub that will really help you see all the things — courses coming up on connecting to your spirit guides, on soulmates and how to attract them, book ideas, lots of things in the hopper.
Kari Samuels: And we always end with a magic lesson. We've had so many today already, but what's one more thing people can easily incorporate?
Tony LeRoy: Feel what it feels like after. Feel what it feels like after the relationship you've been wanting. Feel what it feels like after you have that money in the bank account. Feel what it feels like after this really stressful time in your life is over. Feel what it feels like after you've received what you want. What does it feel like after you're holding a baby in your arms? What does it feel like after you're giggling watching a movie with the partner you've been waiting for? What does it feel like after dinner with your besties? Whatever it is that you desire — what does it feel like after? Once you have that feeling, visualize it being grounded from your body down into the earth.
Kari Samuels: I love that so much. After you've achieved it, you're already in that place of peace and joy and comfort and delight — and normalcy. Because it's normal for me to be in a relationship, it's normal for me to have money in the bank account. And it comes full circle back to being in your body. Tony, you are such a delight. I'm so happy you joined us and so grateful you're sharing your magic with all of us. You can find Tony at tonyleroy.com. Thank you all for listening. Lots of love. Bye for now.
Tony LeRoy: Peace. God bless. Thank you.
