The Burping Sound Healer And The Sacred Burn Bowl

Resilience doesn’t always look like powering through. Sometimes it looks like turning the lights down, telling the truth about what your body is doing, and letting yourself be held long enough to finally let go.

We sit down with Andonia Fthenakis, a multidisciplinary artist and integrative healing arts practitioner specializing in sound and vibrational therapy. Together, we unpack how ritual and sound healing can help women rebuild inner authority, especially when life feels like it’s collapsing from the inside out. We talk about why authentic release matters, what it takes to create nervous system safety, and how community practices like moon circles give us a way back to ourselves through movement, breath, voice, and vibration.

We also get practical about how to begin if you’re new to this world. What should you look for in a sound bath or spiritual practitioner? How do you use discernment when you’re in crisis and just need help? And how do you reconcile earth-based tools like crystals, incense, and ceremony with a religious background without turning any path into dogma? We share grounded ways to listen for “true north,” care for your energetic hygiene, and step into spring with real cleansing, including a simple but powerful burning ritual for releasing what you’re done carrying.

Andonia also shares a defining resilience story: choosing a home birth without family approval, holding steady in her choice, and reclaiming “my body, my choice” as a lived spiritual practice. If you’re craving more trust in yourself, deeper community, and a more embodied relationship with healing, this conversation will meet you there. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more listeners can find these stories and tools.

Resources:

Join Andonia's Whattsapp Group Ecstatic Healing Long Island

Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akouie.alchemy/

Visit Andonia's Website: https://www.akouie.com/

Upcoming Offerings from Andonia:

Training in Sound Healing & Vibrational Therapy Certification

Sun, Mar 22 

Akouie Healing Arts Space

Transcript

Welcome And Season Theme

Elena Box 0:31

Is my name gonna be on the screen? Is your name gonna be on the screen? We're live. Here we are. Do you want it to be on the screen? Welcome, Andonia, to the O2Joy podcast. We were just doing some technical difficulty stuff, so now we're back and it's looking good. So we're gonna try again. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to have this conversation with you today.

Elena Box 1:00

So, hi, listener. I'm so happy you're here. And I'm really happy to introduce you to my friend Antonia, who is sitting in her home just a few blocks away from me here in Port Washington on Strong Island in New York. And wow, what a joy to have her on to talk about resilience, which is the name of the game this season. And you know, I've been recording a lot of solo episodes, which has been fun. And at the same time, I have just really been itching to get on some voices of people who I am really inspired by. And so Antonia is one of those people. So I'm just so glad you're here.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Elena Box 1:43

So to give our listener a little bit of information about you, I'm gonna read your little, I'm gonna read your little biography for our listener because there's so much about you. Of course. I feel like the people that I find so intriguing have so many parts of themselves. And so just a little bit about you. You she is, you are, a multidisciplinary artist, an integrative healing arts practitioner specializing in sound and vibrational therapy. Through her work with Akui, she creates immersive sound experiences that blend art, ancient wisdom, and energy work to support deep personal transformation. She leads private sessions, workshops, and retreats that invite people into a more creative and embodied relationship with themselves. You know, casual, right? Such a joy. I'm so happy that you are here as a beacon in this community. So just a little bit of background about how we met. It was in 2014, and I was teaching yoga up at Om Suido Um Yoga, which has since passed, sadly. And you would come to my classes and you were such a breath of fresh air because in this area on Long Island, it's very rare to find someone with your style, with your vibe, and you were really understood and you tapped into what I was creating, which was these sacred spaces for healing and ceremonial spaces. And I would play this medicine music, and you would just be there moving and grooving in your own way and these gorgeous, flowy fabrics, and you always smelled like essential oils, and your hair was just flowing, and it was so wonderful to have you in that space. And that was how we first met.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

And likewise, I felt like I was at home and held, really held and supported, and I and I really needed it at that point in my life.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Yeah, yeah. We always need it. We always need it.

Ritual As A Path To Resilience

Elena Box 3:47

And I think a big reason also why I wanted to bring you on here is I'm so inspired by you because I always like to say you're you're you're like the fella witchy woman here in Port Washington, which there actually are many witchy women here in our town, though we kind of like we're like uh hidden, you know, and then when you finally connect, it's like, oh, you two. And it's so nice to know that you're literally a few blocks away doing such important work. And that's what we're really going to be getting into today. And something that I really value about you and how you work is that you serve your particular kind of medicine with such integrity and with such uh reverence to the lineage and to serving it in a way where you're you're not really watering it down. And you're just kind of like, this, yep, this is what it is, and this is this is what we're doing. And I have so much respect for you. So can you tell us a little bit about how you work and what kind of like what is what is a typical workshop like for you that you host? Uh, because I could talk all about it, but I I really would love for our listener to hear about what you serve and how you serve.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Well, I I think one of the purposes of the the work I do is to bring women together in community to uh create ritual, to be, to, to see life in a sacred way. So everything that I explore, whether it's the sound healing practices, the moon circles, it's an invitation to come back into remembering, remembering where we come from, who we are, uh, and the sacredness of life. So, you know, I do these things at libraries, I do them in my home studio. Um, I'm traveling to share. But at the end of the day, it's always how can I teach and share the sacredness of life and help women understand their inner architecture and their inner resiliency and their um their capacity to hold, to hold whatever it is that shows up for them through ritual, through these sacred practices.

Elena Box 6:07

So crucial, so necessary. And I'm actually really curious, you know, as we we talk about really the name of the game this entire season, which is all about resilience. And and you named it right there is is how do we cultivate resilience and using these these techniques and these and these tools, which have been passed down by many lineages from all around the world. And I know it's so cool to be in ceremony with you because you have such a beautiful practice and you draw from so much inspiration that I'm just like, yep, I trust you so much anytime you lead us through something. And I'm really curious because we actually haven't dove too deeply into this kind of conversation with one another as practitioners. I'm curious what you have found specifically to Long Island and our area here around, I suppose, how how you serve women in this community and how you help to build up women and build up their resiliency and perhaps what I guess blockages or or obstacles you perhaps face in translating this work to this area, which I guess I can just speak from my experience. When I've lived in places like California or Bali or Australia or being in Peru, it's sort of like you're a small fish in a big pond because everybody's a shamanic practitioner and everybody's a death doula and everybody's an energy worker. And so having to translate that work is easier in a way. And also it's also easier to kind of get lost. And I think where we serve and who we serve is very different. And sometimes my husband will say to me, Well, why don't we just move somewhere where, you know, there's more people who already get it? And I'm like, because the work is needed here. So I know that that's my own personal journey with that. But I guess, yeah, I'm really curious for you how that translates for you and how and how you approach that.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Well, I well, firstly, I feel like the people that are drawn to you are are coming in to assist in some way in understanding whether it's themselves or you. Um, so there's like a reciprocal relationship. So if they come in with fear or anxiety, you know, what is it in me that that I need to see for myself? Um, so what I'm trying to say is that these people that show up, they're on the edge. They're like at that threshold where they they know they want something, but they're not really sure what it is. They know they need something, but they may not be sure what it is. And some of them will can be repelled by it, and some of them embrace it fully. And those are the people that embrace it fully are the ones that keep coming back for more. And and those are the ones, you know, that stay. Um, and the and the ones that go away, then I it it's an opportunity for me to investigate, you know, what is it that that repelled them? Was it my burping during a session?

SPEAKER_03 9:21

You know, because they burped through my way. Was that my tuna milk coming back up? Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

I've oops, I forgot to tell them that part of the way I release is through burping. Let me next time remember in my discovery call to let them know that this is who I am and this is what I do. Like on a unsameful kind of freedom to to just be me, be me. And if you don't like it, then that's okay.

Elena Box 9:59

Right. It's okay. It's not, I don't want to say, because I really do believe this work is for everybody. And I also understand, you know, I try to meet people where they are, and I have to stay true to my work. It would not be, and I'm sure you understand this, but it would not be energetically safe for me to not release. So my way is I spit. And I always tell people I have a little silver cup that I fill with water and Himalayan salt, and I just say, listen, you're gonna hear me spitting throughout, you know, the session. And sometimes I have to scream and I have to growl and I have to curse sometimes, you know, things get things get wild, and I think it's so challenging, but not not challenging in a difficult way, but but to to translate this work in a way where I can meet people where they are. And as you said, sometimes it might just be too much on the edge for them. And either they go, wow, that was wild. This lady was burping the whole time. I don't and they go, Yeah, but I want more because I know that I know the change that I feel after a session.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Exactly. Exactly. They're they have to decide if how authentic they really want to be because the I think at we all know that this is a natural process of life. And you know, why are why are you denying your own emotions? Why are you denying who you are at your core? Um there's you know, i is there shame and guilt under there? We all burp, we all fart and and we all spit. And and it's part of it's I think it's part of reclaiming our inner authority to say, you know, this is what my body needs, this is who I am, and I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. And it it's it's an opportunity for them to discover something that maybe they weren't willing to see. You know, maybe it it's an invitation for them to burp. This is actually something that happened in the last moon circle.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

I had the whole room burping. Yes, yes, and you it's like I'm giving you permission. Can you take it? Are you willing to do it with me? Yeah, because we're gonna have fun if we do. I promise you'll have fun. Come on in, come on in.

Authentic Release And Body Truth

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Yeah, you know, like let go of all those stories and judgments, just let it go. But but some people can't, they're just not ready. I know they can't let it go. And that may have been me, you know, back in the day. I I'm not sure. I feel like I was always the the the kind of black sheep. You know, my coming from this art art artist background, going to art school and being different, if it kind of was easy. I got stuck in this town. I don't know how it happened, but I'm here.

SPEAKER_03 12:59

I gotta be here. I gotta be here.

Elena Box 13:04

And what a blessing it is that you are here. So you you touched on something which I wanted to get into as well, which was really your background as an artist, because you do weave that into the work that you do. Um, can you give us a a brief history of your life as an artist? And as I say, once an artist, always an artist.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

I was um 16 years old. I moved to Long Island from Queens, and I walk into the school building and I see down the hall my art teacher from back back in Queens. I'm like, what are you doing here? He's like, What are you doing here? I'm like, I moved. He's like, Well, I got a new job.

Elena Box 13:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

I was like, oh my God, this is meant to be. And the trajectory of my life was like, I have a guide who I feel safe with in this new environment, and I can be held and nurtured in a way that I didn't feel possible coming from Queens, being the weirdo, right? And then art became this way to express and and and heal. Yeah. And and eventually my parents were like, of course we're gonna support you and and go to art school. My grandmother was also an artist, and that was very rare. You know, coming from a an island in Greece, my my dad's from Crete, uh, it was a very rare to see a woman in that time and place being schooled in the arts. She went to the French Academy and she was a painter, and and my dad was, I think, excited to see me following that path. And I have her name. Um, and so it felt really natural to go down that road. And art school was amazing. So many beautiful experiences there.

Elena Box 15:06

Mm-mm-mm. I think there is a really interesting thread between the work that you do, that I do, where it's easily accessed by artists. Because I think so much, at least from my experience, is you have to first have a base level of understanding of really how to access the imaginal realm. And that's even, you know, even before I went through meditation training and yoga training and all of sort of like those deep uh you could say like austere practices, I always had that ability to transport myself into other places and to have profound empathy and to also be able to express it. So it makes so much sense that this is like, of course, it's just a natural trajectory. And I think it also just adds layers upon how you serve. So something that came to mind, specifically when we think about women and resilience. And, you know, when it comes to being an artist, right, we have this really natural, innate ability to tap into emotions. So as you were saying before, you're like, well, it was easy for me. You know, and I went, I went to acting school. So laying on a floor, rolling around and moaning, like that was my four years in school. And so for me, people are like, all right, on a Friday night, we're gonna get together and we're gonna moan and there's gonna be sound bowls and a gong. I'm like, sign me up. You might be growling, yeah, let's go. You know, I love that sense of improvis improvisation and noticing and listening to spirit. And I feel that like spirit speaks in very similar ways to the muse uh that comes to us as artists. And so now this might be a really big question. So feel free to take it wherever you feel called. But I suppose the question is specifically for the women that you serve, how can you and how do you begin to teach them how to open themselves up? You know, as you said before, people can be really scared to even, you know, yell, scream. I always tell my clients, I'm like, you can fart. I have yet to have a farter, but I let them know that's what the sage is for. You know, but how do you begin to teach this? And what tools have you found that you've cultivated that help you to bring this about in in women?

SPEAKER_02 17:45

That's a great question. That's really a great question. You know, in ancient Greece, um, there were women called um, I think they were called mo mourners. I I'm not exactly sure on that, but their role, and they were hired to oh, sorry, the whalers. They're called whalers. Their role was to cry during um funerals, to elicit the response, to help others feel their feelings and and start crying. And so I feel like that is kind of like the gateway into allowing. When I per when I take on that um archetype of the the wailing mourner, in a way, I mean, I'm not saying I do this every time, but the freedom that is needed in order to feel your emotions, right? To to kind of imbue the room and the space with that energy, like giving people permission to feel what they feel. When I turn on the music and turn off the lights, the inhibitions go down like 75%. So now there we set the stage, and then I bring in a tool, like a rattle, and I give everybody a rattle and they start shaking that thing. The lights are dim, the music's on, nobody's watching. So what do we do when nobody's watching, right? We can just be more free and more in our healing space, and it's working, it's working really well. It's giving permission where, you know, even though permission's not needed, um, it's helpful, it's a helpful tool to have.

Art School Roots And The Muse

Elena Box 19:33

And that leads me to my next question, which is what do you feel women in our community? And perhaps we could widen it, widen the the lens, perhaps worldwide you could maybe out to the aliens who are watching us as well. What do you feel that women are really needing right now in March of 2026?

SPEAKER_02 20:05

The first thing I thought of was hearts, the back of the heart. Um, every single time I smudge uh someone, I notice that there's a kind of holding in the back of the heart. And it feels very old, maybe almost like generational trauma, something that's been held and tucked away for a very long time. And so your question was, what do they need? Or where do they need it?

Elena Box 20:35

What do they want? Why not? What do they need? Where do they need it? Where's it coming from? Where's it going? What do they need? Like what is the main message? You know, I love in your moon circles when you share what's going on even astrologically and and making it very accessible for for us as as householders.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

I think they need to let go and rebuild. I imagine, I love this um proverb um 25-28. It's it's about the walls collapsing in the city. Like when we have this fortified city, which is who we are, right? And and then we we crumble and all the walls have collapsed, what do we need to do? We need to rebuild the architecture. And so there's this internal collapsing that's happening where we've where we've lost our authority. And the invitation is how can I soften enough to really crumble, to just become ash so that I can rebuild. And so when I think about that that that spot in the back of the heart, it's that's the holding, the gripping for dear life to say, I, you know, there's like I'm holding on to this stone because that's all I have left. Um, instead of just fucking let it go, just crumble, just let it go and and watch how you know this this new opening can appear, this new awakening, this new way of being. It's like the apocalypse, you know, and then like out of that ash comes maybe there's gonna be a beautiful new blossom, right? And it's gonna be stronger and more resilient when it finally comes out. I think we we don't realize that.

Elena Box 22:30

Which of course. Just brings to mind the whole best cycle ever, the whole death and rebirth cycle is allowing yourself to die so that something new can be reborn. And the whole death part of it can be really freaking intense and scary. And I know for me it's so crucial to have people who have the ability to hold it and witness it and are able to hold it in a way that doesn't that not only doesn't scare them, but who also have the capacity to sit with it and not feel the need to rush in and fix it.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Who can hold it? Yeah. This is a big one. This is a really big one. Like, stop giving me that box of tissues, please.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

You're it's it's breaking the process. You're kind, you're kind, you're like telling me underneath that you're saying, I'm so afraid of your tears that you need to wipe them off your face. That makes me so it just like oh stirs me up.

Elena Box 23:36

Oh yeah. Like I don't care if I'm here in a puddle of spit and tears and sweat and it's nasty. Like, can you just hold it down?

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Yeah.

Elena Box 23:51

And wait, because there will come a moment when you can move in and you can begin to offer support and you can begin to help things shift in a way that is supportive to the natural flow of what's coming out. But that general, you know, I think people have that discomfort because they haven't taken the time to really get to know themselves and to allow themselves to turn to ash and witness their own death and to be with that. So they're kind of like, I haven't done my own homework. I I can't even begin to help you here.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Right, right. So it's like uh can slow baby steps, baby steps to get there. Are probably important for for that kind of person. I'm I'm like the deep diver, you know. I just was like, I gotta do this. This is the work that needs to be done right now. And but some people don't have the the inner the inner authority. I think it goes back to that. Some people don't have the inner authority to claim who what and and what's what's happening internally. And so they're they're numbing out in other ways, they're ignoring it, they're holding and they keep holding and holding and holding. Um, and then it becomes harder and harder, and then they and then I think sometimes you see it as like people just like raging and and crashing, and and then they come and they could they find the way to you and there they become more open to it.

Elena Box 25:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, it's time. And I think what's important, you know, if someone who who's hearing this is listening and they're kind of like, yeah, that sounds like me, where do I begin? You know, because it's easy from the perspective that we have to be like, yeah, and then you gotta go and you gotta die and you gotta turn to ash, right? Uh for those who are perhaps completely new to this, how would you say they begin? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_02 25:51

Well, for me, it begins with coming to one of my classes, like at the library. It's really safe. It's feel so safe there. And or at you know, Port Washington's continuing an ed class, like there's a level of safety. Uh, it feels familiar. So establishing that safety, I think, is essential. And once we can establish safety through dialogue, through understanding, helping them see that they're seen, then um, maybe they come into the moon circle and then they experience these monthly rituals, and then they can take it a step further and and do a one-on-one. Once they receive the one-on-one and they feel the relief, they then they know that this is possible. And then the real journey begins. And that would be like committing to the path of reclaiming your authority, which is so huge. It's huge.

unknown 26:56

Yeah.

Permission To Feel Through Ceremony

Elena Box 26:57

It's life-changing. And so for someone who's perhaps not in our local area, if they were to be looking out for something. So say they're like brand new to the path, and you know, they're just kind of like, well, I don't know. I can't make it to your to your events, or I can't make I can't come to your moon circle. Like, what kinds of things would you recommend that people look out for if they're really new on this path? And, you know, something that you mentioned that I'm actually really curious about. Perhaps, you know, you mentioned uh quoting the proverbs, and I find sometimes people who perhaps have a particular religious upbringing hear about this work and perhaps are kind of like, yeah, I don't know. This, I don't know if I if this is gonna be right for me. What would you suggest people look out for? Like if they were to do, they're gonna get onto Google right now, what would what would you recommend how people should start to find?

SPEAKER_02 27:51

I I for me, I think the my my way in was it started with yoga um and then it moved, it moved into sound healing. When I when I was able to see how effortless um going into like the spaciousness of my beingness happened through sound, like I I knew this was a way. I knew this was a way in. So going to a sound bath um in person, because I think the vibrations are essential. That for me is a great starting point into this kind of realm of tapping in to the unconscious blocks and and the and the deep healing work. Yeah. Letting the vibrations move through you.

unknown 28:36

Yeah.

Elena Box 28:36

And I think what's great now is more and more often we are seeing sound baths being offered, which is a great thing. And so if you're listening to this and you're like, okay, I'm gonna find my local sound bath, I would say go and meet the practitioners, have a conversation with them, and most importantly, notice how your nervous system feels when you're around them. Does this feel like a safe person that I can dissolve around?

SPEAKER_02 29:03

This is the other part of the what I think you were leading up to when you were talking about the religious upbringing. One of my best friends from childhood is super religious. Yeah, maybe she'll frown upon the oracle cards and she'll think it's a little weird. But she gets it, she knows she knows how God-selected my work. There will be a judgment, and and I do it to myself sometimes. I'm like, well, according to my religious upbringing, that would be a what is it called a vice or I can't remember the word right now. Like not good. Not good. The church would condemn that. These earth practices, the church would condemn that. Yeah, but I'm not talking about the church. I am talking about my connection with the Creator to the Christ consciousness. When Christ was teaching, he was not interested in how many crystals you have in your house. He was trying to show you how to connect the source to God to love, right? If you're worshiping crystals, well then you're not worshiping Christ or God. Like we cannot bypass what Mother Earth has given us. We cannot say that it doesn't have an intelligence. Like when I look at my Hercomer Diamond, that I went Hercomer New York and mined myself and and saw that it had it was like in a room and it had an ability court and it grew into this multifaceted thing.

SPEAKER_03 30:59

It has no value. That's like saying God made a mistake.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

And so I I think it's like understanding that what are we really worshiping at the end of the day versus you know, is it am I worshipping it or is it a tool that I'm using? Because okay, you know, Jesus walked the path and he only had all he had was a satchel right and a hands.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

But he was in Laden.

SPEAKER_03 31:30

I'm gonna use my bowls. Yeah, why not? I'm gonna use whatever it takes. Yeah, hell yeah. But I'm not a slave to it.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

I I'm not gonna enslave myself to to this feel to this idea that that's that's that's my that's my um my go-to all the time.

Elena Box 31:53

Yeah. I think what's most important is direct experience of connection to God. And that can be done from wherever you are, whenever you are, just as you are. And if that's all you have, you're it you're starting in a really good spot. You know, like you're literally in a light body vehicle, like use it. And why not? If there are tools, there's a reason why. And and you know, I I've recently started reading the Bible. I'm in a whole, it's very interesting because I've never read it. And so I'm I'm I'm a total beginner's mind over here. And as I'm reading it, you know, they talk about incense, then they talk about the the essential oils and the all of the tools that we already use in these practices have been used really for thousands and thousands of years. So we're not reinventing the wheel here. And there's nothing, there's nothing to be afraid of, dear listener. Like it's it's all the same. And and if anyone is gonna sort of steer you in a different direction to say, well, you need to buy this one strand of you know, crystals, quartz of pink quartz, crystals, mala, whatever, in order to gain direct connection to God, right? No, walk away.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Or like Reiki is the only way in. I must, I must um tattoo these symbols all over my etheric field, you know, like that's that's the way to do it. No, no, it's not. I don't need to to tattoo any symbols on my etheric field.

Elena Box 33:31

I need I think the moment we get too stuck on one particular path, it's like you've lost you've lost like you've lost, and and yet let's learn from all paths and also let's not be dogmatic about it and like this is the only way, because there's there's really no wrong way to pray, is what I've always said.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

There is no wrong way. There is no wrong way, but at the end of the day, it all leads to one place. Yeah. It hopefully. Hopefully, yeah. He is hoping. Yeah, yeah. And that's go back to the question, which practitioner do you choose? And how do you choose them? Right. Are they working, are they working with that the frequency that you're that you are desiring?

Elena Box 34:12

And I think that's really important as well, because you might meet a teacher, and they might come, you know, with with many accolades, and people might be saying, wow, and and and this was amazing, and this, this, this. And you might get in front of them and just go, listen, I understand that this is hidden for you, but it's this isn't my person. And that's okay. You don't have to fit yourself into this box of, okay, now I have to learn from this teacher. Use discernment and find the person that's going to guide you in a way where you feel already at home with them. And that's a really it's a good place to start. And remember that also there'll, there, there will be many teachers on this path as well.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Yeah. I think my question is though, like, how do we find discernment? How do we, how do we know we're discerning? And then then, you know, it goes back to the idolization that ties into idolization for me. Discern. Um, and like when I'm in my victim state, right? When I'm in that place of deep need, do I really have discernment?

Elena Box 35:21

It's hard. It's really hard, especially when you're in crisis and you know, bringing it back to resilience. It's like you know you perhaps are feeling that you don't have any resilience in that moment. So you're kind of like, I know I need to build it, but how do I do it when I am in shambles and I don't know my, you know, true north. So I'm curious for you what practices you have to know your true north.

Letting The Old Self Collapse

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Right. It's cultivating the relationship to the inner listening. I think this is the foundation of my practice. Like I I even named my you know healing practice um akoi for that reason. It's like listening to to God, listening to the sound of your creator. It's not always easy. And you know, pure heart, pure soul, pure mind. It's like my my mantra. If I can purify my body, my mind is purified, my heart becomes purified, my soul is purified. So fasting is essential to um being able to listen in and moving the energy through the sound vibrations has been pivotal to like that healing process and and internal cleansing, literally getting rid of the parasites that are becoming personified in our lives. The in the physical parasites and the spiritual parasites.

Elena Box 37:02

Huge, which are easier to pick up than you think. Yeah, a lot of us are walking around and then we have no idea. That's why general energetic hygiene is crucial. And I'm actually really curious. And then I do want to lead us into what you had shared in your intake, which is pretty juicy. Uh, I'm really curious for you. What practices are you bringing into your life right now as we transition from winter to spring? I'm thinking specifically energetic hygiene for you, for your home. What are you doing? What tools are you bringing in?

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Well, I'm cleaning. I'm cleaning up, cleaning the yard, connecting to the earth and in a in a more um cleansing kind of way. Like, you know, what needs to be moved around, what needs to be planted, internal cleansing, fasting. I'm thinking like connecting with the spirit of the Ecuadorian jungle right now, like drinking my cacao and my cerebral mind. It's also kind of tapping into the essence of the um of the rebirth. Like we're we're we're like the seedling that's trying to come up out of the ground, or that's actually come up and like, oh, I see the sun.

Elena Box 38:27

Yeah. It's coming. If you're listening to this, dear listener, here on Long Island in New York, we're on like maybe day three of the sun coming out. The snow has melted, and we've got a lot of snow. We had a lot of snow this winter. So so many of us are like, oh, it's coming. It's coming. So I wanted to lead us into. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

Oh, sorry. Sorry. No, you're okay. But I I just remembered another practice that was super beneficial this this season was the burning ritual, burning the shit ritual. Just letting Let's talk about it.

Elena Box 39:07

The sacred burning the shit ritual.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

Where's my bowl? The bowl of of uh dust that yeah. I I took I so we I just wrote everything down on a piece of paper, you know, everything I want to let go of. And I lit that thing on fire and I watched it burn, and then I buried it under the Buddha. I was like, you take care of it now, Buddha. It's all yours.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

Um, you know, send it back to where it came from.

Elena Box 39:48

Mm-hmm. And I think that's so crucial because maybe our listener has done a burning ritual or some kind of, you know, I feel like in a lot of circles, sometimes they'll be like, and we're going to write one thing on a piece of paper and light it by our single tea light candle, which is great. And and we're in this moment of rebirth in spring, where, as you were saying, it is a moment of cleaning your SHIT up, you know, like let's clean the house. We're gonna open all the windows. That's what I have going on in our house today. We're doing the Luften, you know, in Germany when they open up all the windows and, you know, I want to clean off the baseboards and we're doing a deep clean. And not only that, it is an opportunity to actually do a big ceremony like this. So call up your friend who has a fire pit or a fireplace. I mean, outside, I think now is best. And maybe you get together, create a ritual and a ceremony with a group. And even if you're like, I don't know what I'm doing, I promise you, intention is everything. You can make it up as you go, as long as what you write down is something that you're genuinely ready to let go of. Like, don't be like my car keys, because we want to keep those around. Right. But so stupid. But, you know, things that you're really ready to let go of, we're gonna write it down. We're gonna burn it up. It's huge, and now's the time.

unknown 41:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

And these are the rituals that we've we've forgotten about because we're like, well, I got an Instagram scroll right now. Yeah, sorry. I'm very busy, you know.

Elena Box 41:22

Get your eyes off the screen, get your hands in the dirt, even like, you know, get get get get working on cleaning up your space. And I promise you, you'll begin to notice the shift and also go easy on yourself as this happens because this is a rebirth. And so, in order for that to happen, first a lot of things must die, which is oh, like I love it, I love it, I love it. We love the death and rebirth cycle. And to remember, it happens over and over and over and over again and over again.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

And and as you say this, I'm thinking, well, what does the seedling do?

SPEAKER_03 42:01

He like moves up, like move your body, shake it up, like let it go. This is like part of why we're we have our body so that we can use it, right?

SPEAKER_02 42:15

But let's not sit still anymore. We're out of this dark winter when we rebirth. We wanna like burst and fly.

Starting Safely With Small Steps

Elena Box 42:23

It's time. It is time. Move that body, shake it up, put on a good song, maybe go for a little walk and like dance, find yourself. I love a little gazebo or something to dance in. Patrick and I are gonna go to ecstatic dance next Wednesday, which we're very excited about because that's like our way as a couple to connect and or not even connect with each other, but to just reconnect with ourselves and then come back together. Uh, so we're very pumped. We got a babysitter and I love that.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Okay. Now's the time. Everybody, everybody's happy danced.

Elena Box 42:57

Get out there. There's so much to go into. And I am really curious because I do want to talk about what you had shared, though I know we are we're low on time in terms of the episode goes. Though I am curious if we could lead into what I had asked you, you know, in the intake for my guests uh for this season, all about resilience, which was is there a story or a moment in your life that best reflects resilience? So I'd love to hear a little bit for yourself, a little bit about what you shared of this story of how you cultivate or cultivated and resilience and how that continues to inform you in your life. Well, no pressure. Let's hear it.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

No pressure. So underneath this story is like layers and layers of stories where I was tested, and and I got to this point where I'm I'm like eight months pregnant, and my mom decides that she's gonna have all the cousins gathered to tell me that it's dangerous to birth. And I'm sitting there and it's like, you know that moment where every fucking everybody's attacking you sorry, Chris.

Elena Box 44:20

It's okay. We'll put explicit on this podcast episode. It's fine.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Go for it. Tell your speak your truth. I had a circle of women who were my family. My cousins, I have come from an extended family of like many, many females, and they all sat there telling me their their stories about why I should not be birthing at home. And I was like, hold on a second, like who signed me up for this one? Um, and there was like a bit of anger there and and also a lot of grief knowing that I wasn't supported and that I was alone in my decision. And it was I was strongholding my belief, I knew that my body is healthy and capable of birthing at home, and everybody wanted me to do something different, um, and I felt very alone in that. And I was, but it was a moment in my life where I was like, wait a second, I'm not gonna make a mistake on this one. I've made one, two, three, four, five, however many more mistakes. Like when they put that hole in my head, I woke up and said, I've just given my power away. I will never do this again. And and that strength, I had to be a steel beam and a pillar for me to get through that and to say, this is happening in my home, on my terms, my body, my choice. And I did it. And I celebrated it. I felt like the warrior woman. I I took my placenta juices, and I was like, I am a warrior, I accomplished the impossible mission that no one was cheering me on, and I was able to get through it. At that, at that moment, I realized that you have to reclaim your authority. It is up to you. Stop playing victim, move into freedom. It was really hard, but I had a lot of practice.

Elena Box 46:35

Huge. Huge. And I feel like that story is so important for so many women to hear, which is to trust yourself, to trust your body, to trust that your decision and what feels right and resonant, like your North Star is saying, Yep, this is this is my truth, to trust it. And it can be so tempting to wait for someone else, especially an elder as well. And I'm so sad that that happened for you. But we often wait for someone who's perhaps more accomplished than us or knows more than us in certain ways, you know, to give us that approval and to give us that permission. And at the end of the day, we have to answer to ourselves and and to God, really. It's it's it's us in our relationship with God. And are we moving forward in a way that is aligned?

SPEAKER_02 47:30

Right. And and under underneath that, what I understood was that my mom was just scared. She was just scared for her daughter, for her little girl who was gonna do this life, who was in this life-changing transition. And she just wanted me to be safe. That's all she wanted, right? But my idea of safety is not your idea of safety, right? Yeah, and having that discernment and that inner uh willingness, it's like that sacral center energy where and the solar plexus where they're so connected, and the the mind and the heart are in such alignment that nobody can nobody can tip you over into their direction. It doesn't always happen. Yeah, I know.

Elena Box 48:21

I know. Sometimes we get tipped, sometimes we get a little bit tipped. And I feel like especially when it comes to birth, which is really the ultimate surrender and the ultimate death and rebirth, to establish that inner trust and resilience with yourself and within with your relationship with your baby, is number one that no matter what happens, you know you guys have each other and you're gonna go through this together.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

Exactly. Huge. And your baby knows and your body knows, and your body is is the perfect size for your baby.

Sound Baths And Spiritual Discernment

Elena Box 49:04

Yeah, it's it's so wild, and I could literally nerd out about birth forever. Me too, and love it for so long, you know, and I I was a I I am a home birth mom. I had everything set up for the home birth. I had my whole mid-woofy team, and we had a different journey that required, you know, didn't even, I didn't even get the opportunity. I want to say I didn't get the opportunity, but like my birth was such that when I went into labor, I started bleeding and I went, it was straight to the hospital. There was no, once you saw what was happening, there was no gray area of in-between. And I've spoken about this in the past of in past episodes, and obviously I had to mourn the fact that I wouldn't have that experience of the home birth. And so many people who witnessed my birth and or at least even heard about it, you know, they would say to me, Well, oh, you had a really traumatic birth. And I'm like, No, actually. I say, you know, it was dramatic, yes, but there's nothing in how do I say this? It's sort of like the only guarantee we have as we go through this process is that you will have to surrender. And so it is really a practice and a test of how can I maintain my own sense of that North Star, that grounded yes, no, this is right. That's not, you know, connection to self, connection to baby. And to go through that process, surrender, and also be kind of steering the ship at the same time was wild. And it was just the best. And I was like, and it was the perfect thing. And it was exactly how it was meant to be. And I think as women, particularly who have given birth, it's such a gift that, and it sounds like from your experience, I mean, what an experience you had was like to not have what we call like the elephant circle of women around you supporting you, and you did it anyway. So that after that experience, I always say it's kind of like we become unfuckwithable. It's like the ultimate test of inner resilience.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

It is the ultimate test of inner resilience as you said it. Oh my God, your body, your mind. Like, who is going to get? How do you get through the ring of fire? Right? It's like that when the head is crowning and it's burning so badly. You're in this moment where it's like, am I gonna become elastic and soften? Or am I gonna collapse? Right and break. And you can go, any birthing mother knows this moment where she can feel that that desire to expand and then the decision to actually allow for the expansion to happen.

unknown 52:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

That is that that point where you realize that it's all up to you. That if you want this baby to come out, you need to surrender so that you don't tear in half.

Elena Box 52:16

Huge, huge, huge, huge, huge. And you know, I mean, it it all comes back to this work that that you're doing, you know, for women specifically. And I feel that so many of us are are more powerful than we give ourselves credit for. Yeah. And so it's this, it's in conversations like these, it's your moon circles, it's it's gathering together as women or or or trusting a healing uh practitioner, a woman to hold you in these spaces. Like this is how we start to move forward when we remember really this ancestral wisdom of this is how we've been supporting each other for millennia.

SPEAKER_02 52:59

Exactly. Exactly. Coming back to these practices of coming together in community, eating together, singing together, dancing together, crying together, holding each other. I love it when we just lay each other down and do like a six-hand massage.

SPEAKER_03 53:19

You know, if I don't do that in my moon circles, who is going to do that for me?

Elena Box 53:25

Who's gonna do it? Ain't nobody, right? I mean, yeah, it's so true. And I have to say, you know, after I gave birth, I think the baby was like three weeks old. And she, we were lucky we got to come, you know, when she was that young, literally fresh out. And then we came, I think like every month of her life for the first few months of her life, and then things got crazy and sleep schedules changed. But to be held by other women and to have her in that space too was so important for my postpartum healing as well. Because here I was. Yeah, go ahead. No, no, yeah, go ahead. Just sleep deprived, achy, you know, emotional, everything. And I managed to get myself out of the house and over to you. And I remember I even like changed her diaper for the first time in a place that wasn't our home at in your home. And I remember feeling so like, I don't know what I'm doing, and da-da-da. But I also just felt so at ease around you all, too, because I was surrounded by mothers.

SPEAKER_02 54:31

And and Telula was our angel. I she she was holding all of us as we held her, she held us. When we have all the different versions of the feminine in one space, right? We have the the newborn baby and the crone and and the the maiden all together, we see we can we can understand ourselves better. I was once that little girl, I was once that baby girl, right? I will become that wise elder, right?

Elena Box 55:07

1000%.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

It's really special having her with us.

Elena Box 55:10

Yeah. When when the time allows, hopefully she'll come back soon. But right now she's going to bed early. But you know, we'll see. We'll see. Maybe if we do like an afternoon, an afternoon moon circle before bedtime, and she'll be running around.

unknown 55:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:27

But it's the little girls have these moon circles, right? I know in Brooklyn there was a friend of mine who was doing these really cool circles for kids. Um fairy, fairy themed. Um, yeah.

True North Through Listening And Hygiene

Elena Box 55:42

My friend also, she was, yeah, she was doing something similar. Yeah. They get it. She's still a little too young to totally get it, but she would get it in her own way. They're gonna get it. They're gonna get it. Yeah. And it's so crucial. I think you named something that I think is really, really important, especially as women right now, March 2026, is to tap into the resilience of the elephant circle of women, the lineage of women that goes back, that goes back seven generations and more, and forward seven generations and more. So sometimes when I feel a little lost and a little bit like, what the heck am I doing? I remember and I orient myself back into my place right now. As you just said, you know, once I was the little girl, the little baby, and I will be the crone. And that helps to reorient and to know what's important, what I can let go of and put in the burn, the burn bucket and burn bowl, and what I'm going to be armed with for the future so that I can become that wise crone, so that I can be of use as an elder. And to know that in the meantime, I have the ability to show up and hold space for other women who perhaps have never even tasted what that feels like to be held in that way.

SPEAKER_02 57:16

That's that's the work. That's the good work. And what else are we here to do? Yeah. Huge. Huge. To hold each other, to learn to love and hold each other.

Elena Box 57:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:26

And to feel held even when you don't have the community, to feel held by forces that are be greater and and bigger than we could ever imagine.

unknown 57:37

Yeah.

Elena Box 57:38

That's the ticket. That's the real ticket. Because when you're walking alone, you know, that you have that ability to tap in and to know that you are loved and you are held and not only by God, but then also by your actual ancestry and all of your guides and your spirits and angels. And they're all really, I call it like the celestial crew. They are rooting you on. And I know it can be sometimes really hard to hear them when you're like, just give me a sign, gosh darn it. And they're like, All right, the best I can do is a couple of angel numbers on a lay sense plate. There you go. 4444.

SPEAKER_03 58:12

And you're like, that's not enough. I need more. I need 500 feathers on the floor. It's too good. It's too good. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:24

Wow. It's like the it's the ebb and flow. It's like the inhale and the exhale, like coming into circle, retreating back to self, coming back out, coming, going back in. And this this is the cycle of the rebirth, right?

unknown 58:40

Yeah.

Elena Box 58:41

Um, casual, super casual and cute. And here we are doing life together. So we're gonna wrap it up, dear listener. And I know you have enjoyed this conversation as much as I have had in having it. And my qu my last question for you is for our listener, how can they find you? How can they work with you? And do you have anything coming up that you want to let our listener know about?

SPEAKER_02 59:09

I do actually. I have my next uh introductory sound healing training coming up on the 22nd. I also, you can find me on my website. You can book a free introductory call. We can chat it up and see if it's a right the right match. And I will be offering a lot of online things in the near future. Amazing, beautiful.

Elena Box 59:33

And do you do distant sessions as well? I do. Or only in person. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:38

No, I have a distant healing session right there. You can book with me right after you we have that conversation and or go straight ahead and click that button.

SPEAKER_03 59:48

She's available. She's available.

Elena Box 59:50

So all of her links are in the show notes. And so you can go and you can check her out. Give her a little follow on social media. And she's such a delight to follow because she shares really honestly from her experience. And it's such a joy to watch how you share and how you connect with the community.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:12

So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's wonderful.

Elena Box 1:00:17

All right, dear friends. Thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you, Andonia, for coming on to share your voice, share your heart, share your words.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

Thank you for your beautiful listening and all the great questions.

Elena Box 1:00:32

We love a good question. Wonderful. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. All right, dear listener, thanks for coming along for the ride. And please let us know how this landed for you. I am so curious to hear how this resonated for you and what you took away. And perhaps if you even have any questions for either of us, we are always here. Yeah. Come on and join the conversation. And we'll be talking again very soon.