Crystals, Chakras, and Conscious Living: Creating Your Personal Sankalpa with Jessica Hoch of Moxie Malas

Diving deep into the ancient yogic philosophy of Sankalpa, wellness guide Jessica Hoch reveals how intention-setting can transform from a surface-level practice into a profound vow between heart and mind. Unlike typical goal-setting, Sankalpa requires excavating our true motivations through practices like "the nine whys" – asking yourself repeatedly why you want something until you reach the emotional core driving your desires.

Jessica's approach to spirituality removes barriers by demonstrating how everyday moments can become sacred rituals. From blessing your morning beverage to selecting crystal jewelry aligned with your energy needs, these micro-practices create touchpoints throughout your day that return you to presence. The consistency of these small rituals gradually rewires neural pathways, making it easier to choose peace over anxiety when life's challenges arise.

As founder of Moxie Malas jewelry and a yoga teacher with 15+ years of experience, Jessica bridges ancient wisdom with practical application. She explains how emotions physically manifest in our bodies, particularly in the hips and pelvis, and how movement practices help release these stored tensions. The fascinating connection between throat and uterus tissues – formed together in fetal development – illuminates why vocalization becomes so powerful during moments of transformation like childbirth.

Whether you're struggling with stress, seeking deeper meaning in daily life, or simply curious about bringing spirituality into practical application, this conversation offers tangible practices to align your authentic self with your outward actions. By creating these bridges between heart and mind, we develop the capacity to navigate life's complexities with greater resilience, purpose, and joy.

Jessica Hoch Founder and Owner of Moxie Malas

www.moxiemalas.com

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/sky-toes/featherlight

License code: ZTXJPK8BA5WMLKSF

My new novel The Red Magus has recently been published in conjunction with the Unbound Press.  An entralling mystical adventure set across time and space, where past and current lives converge.  Find it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Jessica Oak
• 6:32 Understanding Sankalpa: Heart-Mind Intentions
• 15:16 Creating Sacred Rituals for Daily Life
• 22:15 Managing Stress and Anxiety Mindfully
• 24:50 Maximalis: Crystal Jewelry with Purpose
• 32:44 Yoga, Energy Work and Birth Connection
• 42:45 Crystal Power and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 2:30

so welcome everybody to another episode of bound to the soul, and tonight we have a new guest and her name is jessica oak. Have I pronounced that right?

Speaker 1: 2:42

yes, yep, thank you um, and thank you for coming on and supporting the podcast. It's lovely to have have on. Yeah, thank you for having me Now. I'm just going to tell you Jessica's what she's all about. So she's a wellness guide, a speaker and founder of Maximalis, a small batch jewellery company that creates intentional pieces from genuine stones and crystals. She has over 15 years of experience as a yoga and meditation teacher. She has guided individuals and groups in deepening their connection to themselves through movement, mindfulness and subtle energy practices. Jessica is passionate about helping people align with their authentic selves, manage stress and anxiety and incorporate spirituality into their daily lives. Through transformational retreats, workshops and her signature jewellery collections, she empowers others to live with intention and purpose. Sounds amazing, thank you. So we're going to talk about initially, aren't we setting intentions for personal growth? Or called sankalpa? Have I pronounced that right? Yep sankalpa? So, just um, talk to us about what does that mean? What? Where does that come from?

Speaker 2: 4:06

yeah, sankalpa is a sanskrit word, so it's coming from the yogic philosophy and yogic teaching teachings, and sankapa is it's like making an intention, but it's a little bit deeper, so it's a vow that's created between your heart and your mind, so something that you carry with you, that sort of this, this sounding board or this litmus test of is this an alignment or is this not for me, this sounding?

Speaker 1: 4:33

board or this litmus test of.

Speaker 2: 4:33

Is this in alignment or is this not for?

Speaker 1: 4:34

me. Oh, that's lovely, isn't it? Yeah, it's. It's sort of aligning with your deepest sort of you know once, or soul energy, or whatever you.

Speaker 2: 4:45

It's a bit more than setting the just an intention it's, it's taking the intention to the next level and really bringing it into this energy of I can, I will. I must achieve this, this thing that you're setting it to your, your sankalpa too right.

Speaker 1: 5:03

So how do people go about that? You know, because they can set an intention. We can just say that's what I'm going to try and achieve. Is it? Can they just do that? Is that just the simple way that they do it, or is there something else that they need to also do?

Speaker 2: 5:20

yeah, it goes a little bit deeper than than intention, because the intention can kind of be compared to more so, like setting a goal, like, oh, yep, I want to achieve this thing. You can even create a SMART goal, you know, knowing your deadlines and things like that right. But the sankalpa requires you I don't like the word require Sankalpa invites you to dive a little bit deeper into the motivations and the inspiration, the why behind your intentions or your goals that you're setting, your intentions or your goals that you're setting. So it requires a next level of Svidyaya or self study to reflect back on where have you come from, what's going on in your life right now and how is that affecting what you want moving forward, and also allows you to take a moment to evaluate what needs to stay and what needs to go.

Speaker 1: 6:10

Okay. So it's like you almost have to dig deep and do some digging and sort out what you truly want before doing this sort of um ceremony, if you like, or this putting out this thought because it's got to. It's got to. For that deeper level, it's got to be aligned with who you really are, and a lot of people don't know who you know, don't know what their purpose is. Yeah, don't know what they truly want. Yeah, exactly so if they, if they set that intention a sankalpa without doing the work behind it, presumably that's is that still going to shift energy and move them along?

Speaker 2: 7:01

I would say yes, because anytime we put our mind or energy towards something, it's obviously going to change the vibration and the energies that are around us. Where it's different is we are taking that moment to evaluate, and taking that moment to sort through all of our thoughts and our experiences and to dig down into what is motivating us as well. So it's a way of saying you know, I want this, this thing, right and to get to that sankalpa, sometimes we can distill it down even further. So one of the practices that I've led people through is called the nine whys. One of my dearest friends introduced it to me and it's kind of an intense practice and usually it's done with two people.

Speaker 2: 7:44

So you have one person asking the why, but you create your intention or your sankalpa. You come to this place and you're like this is what I want to create, and when you want to dive to those deeper levels, you ask nine whys. So having somebody say, okay, you want this in your life, why? Well, because this, why, and they ask nothing else but why? Until you distill it down to what is that desire? That's beneath the intention that you're creating. So what is the driving force? Because when we can get down into what that driving force is, we can discern what is holding us back or why we self-sabotage, or why we hesitate, or what does motivate us and spring us forward, if we can distill down into that underlying that. Ninth, why?

Speaker 1: 8:29

right, yeah, gosh, that's really quite, that's quite hard work. Isn't it for people to really sit down and it is sort of get really aligned but very powerful how you do so. Is that something that you work with people one-to-one, or is that something that you would you personally would help people, or is it?

Speaker 2: 9:48

usually what we do. That's more of with larger events, where we have people and we can partner people up and we walk people through the entire process and there's a little bit more nuance that you can do with that as well. But it's definitely people, something people can do on their own and even asking themselves in a journal, you know, okay, I want you writing it down why, and then the answer and why, and kind of bringing it down. And sometimes it's nice to do it on your own too, because then you can allow any emotions to flow freely. We had one participant. She goes oh, the nine whys, you mean, why till you cry? Because they can get really emotional, because these hidden fears, these hidden insecurities come up or hidden motivations that you weren't expecting behind like, oh, I have this goal, I have this intention. I've said well, why do you want that in your life? Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 10:41

You know, or getting really, really focused on what you really really truly want. Yeah, really focused on what it is that you really really truly want.

Speaker 2: 10:48

Yeah, and that's where that change is really going to happen. Because when you can bring it down into that deepest light right, that deepest motivation, that's where you can sustain it as well, because if it's up here at the surface level and things get hard or things get really challenging and then you don't have that connection to that deepest light to sustain you. That's why the sankalpa is so important, because it's that vow between the heart and the mind. The mind and the ego can be up here creating all these intentions and goals and really kicking butt and taking names right and making it happen. But is the heart aligned in it as well, right? Is it fulfilling? You hear all these people who get really, really successful and they feel completely empty and it's like. That's why that's so important to connect the heart and the mind.

Speaker 1: 11:35

Yeah, that's a really powerful practice, isn't it? That's yeah, that's really interesting. So the other thing we're going to talk about is bringing spirituality into everyday life and creating sacred rituals. And creating sacred rituals always fascinates me. I think it's a memory in me somewhere, but it just really so. How do you create, how would you create a sacred ritual?

Speaker 2: 12:07

Well, I think that there are so many small moments within our lives that provide the opportunity to be sacred ritual and what it really requires is just our focus and our intention on it, you know, and bringing our um, our presence to the moment. I, for example, so I drink cacao in the morning rather than coffee, cause I can't handle the caffeine and coffee, but I sing over my cacao and I bless my cacao in the morning and that's a sacred ritual. You know the way, the way you do, anything can be a sacred ritual and what's beautiful is that it brings you into that present moment, because so much I mean you know that everybody knows that so much of our lives were pulled in a million directions. With everything that's going on and all the stimulation and all the input, it's hard to find that quiet and and bring into the, bring the sacred really into the moments in your life.

Speaker 1: 13:08

So it can really be just little tasks that you do all day, every day. Like every day I pull a card from one of my packs so that could be seen as being a sacred ritual like I love my cards and I light a candle.

Speaker 2: 13:35

I do a little blessing before I begin and that sacred ritual and the thing about the sacred rituals.

Speaker 1: 13:37

It can be a part of your everyday and then you can also bring it into different milestones and different things like that too yeah, yeah it's, it's really powerful, and I like the fact that it brings you into the present moment, because staying in the present is actually quite hard for most people, isn't it? They're either sort of dwelling over things that have happened in the past or, you know, worrying about what's about to happen, or just making up all sorts of scenarios and possibilities.

Speaker 2: 14:11

You know that but I mean we all do that, don't we?

Speaker 1: 14:13

we all run away with our own thoughts. So to bring it all back into the present is actually um to really ground us, isn't it? And keep us.

Speaker 2: 14:23

You know, that's a really powerful um thing in itself, exactly, and tying that into the sankalpa, even, you know, using that as a grounding tool. You, you know. Okay, I'm all over. These were my intentions. I'm feeling lost and pulled in all these directions and then thinking, oh wait, this is my sankalpa, I'm bringing it in. I can, I will, I must.

Speaker 1: 14:44

Here is my intention, my deepest intention very powerful and um, so, and also I was going to talk to you about managing stress and anxiety. I've had an incredibly stressful day, so this is very apt, so, um, I mean, those what we've just talked about would would really bring, would help reduce stress and anxiety, doesn't it? It helps you come back into the body, it helps you ground, it helps you calm. Yeah, you know the vagus nerve and you know all of that. So amazing, yeah, but what would you recommend for that?

Speaker 2: 15:26

the other part of that line, that practice is really like the consistency of it too, because the more that we practice these sacred rituals, these small rituals, these small moments, the more they become ingrained in us and the easier it is for our brain to remember. Oh yeah, this is the pathway we want to take.

Speaker 1: 15:43

Right.

Speaker 2: 15:44

Versus like oh, my brain is so used to the anxiety and worst case scenario. I'm going to run into that.

Speaker 1: 15:49

Like a highway.

Speaker 2: 15:51

Right, I'm going to run into that right Like a highway right, but yeah, so, having that and having just that coming back, I think one of the other things that's really important with. You know, I have struggled with anxiety and stress in the past and still now, in that you know we're all humans. It's also I love the idea of this is happening and this could happen, and especially like so let's talk about stress, right, it's like I'm having all this stress, all of this is happening, and if we can zoom out just a little bit and see what else is happening at the same time, so that we can move from that far spectrum of stress back into the center of peace, right, and see all these little pieces, that's where, like, gratitude practices are beautiful because they come in and bring you into wait. What is going right again, let's refocus, refocus, yeah.

Speaker 1: 16:44

I've just been reading about gratitude practices, actually, and it was really, um, quite powerful. It was about actually sitting down and writing a letter to yourself, to someone you love and to someone that's really causing you stress, but in a way of you know, being grateful for it and really, um, so it's very it's. That is a, a mindset, isn't it a mindset shift?

Speaker 2: 17:10

mm-hmm a mindset shift and a choice, right?

Speaker 1: 17:13

yeah, yeah, absolutely a choice to stay present yeah, but all these little individual, um, you know, coming into the present and creating these rituals during the day, that becomes a habit, like you were talking about, eventually, doesn't it? So you know, we can stick to that. Your mind goes to that, rather than, um, going off on different scenarios or worrying, or you know. I found, though, that I'm nine to five, I'm a lawyer, so, um, it's completely different to. You know my spiritual practices, but I found that my spiritual practices create that balance, for that stress in an environment that can be quite toxic, can be full of ego, but actually doing these sort of practices is essential to just keep that balance, and I've seen it myself, you know, or I felt it myself, and that's how I survive, really.

Speaker 2: 18:20

Absolutely. That makes me think of like the topic of dharma and our purpose and our inner truth and how, no matter what role we inhabit, it's how we show up to that role is our dharma and our purpose. So it's like taking the way that you show up for your spiritual practices is also the way you're going to show up for your lawyer work or for anybody, not necessarily. I know a lot of lawyers and it's intense. Who's going into any intense job or or career or experience of any kind? How you show up for these practices practices right because you've practiced showing up in that way is how it's going easier show up in these other roles, for sure yeah, and to not be triggered.

Speaker 1: 19:06

To not be triggered by people and things that people say, and I was one of my episodes. I was talking to an Maori healer and he was saying, when somebody behaves badly, you just love them more.

Speaker 1: 19:20

And that just made me laugh and I feel like, oh, that's easier said than done every time somebody kicks off at work now it just makes me laugh because I think of him saying that. So it's really good to have got that. Yeah, but it's not taking it personally and just getting perspective really, but very, very powerful habits that um are really really useful to get into, the habit of doing basically part of your routine absolutely.

Speaker 2: 19:52

And when you talk about not taking it personally, I grew up in a flower shop and you know, and we see people, you know people think, oh, it's flower shop, it's retail. But we see people from all walks of life. We see people at their best and we see them at their worst. Right, we have, you know, for funerals and sick illness, things like that, and also for birth and weddings. But when we have these extremes of events, we also get extremes of emotions.

Speaker 2: 20:17

And I just remember, there was this woman. I used to call her Ma Jair. She's since passed. I love her, loved her dearly, but she would always say I was 16, you know, I'd be like you know and she's like don't take it it personally.

Speaker 2: 20:31

Everyone is in their own thing. This has nothing to do with you and being able to hold that separate space of self and their experience and being able to keep your peace because of your practices and your rituals yeah, you know, and allowing people to have their experience. You can be there and witnessing, but you don't have to be enmeshed in it.

Speaker 1: 20:52

Right, yeah, exactly, you don't have to get lost in that drama. Yeah, I found that that's an incredibly powerful way to be able to step back and just watch what's happening, but have empathy for that person, you know for sure. Absolutely. What we do is stressful for the clients as well as for us, so yeah, yeah absolutely very powerful. So, um, let's talk about your jewelry, because that's very different to be mixed in there as well, right? So is it all crystal jewelry? Do you make the jewelry? What? How has that come about?

Speaker 2: 21:32

yep, so, all the jewelry that we have is genuine stone and crystal. We have you make the jewelry. What? How has that come about? Yep, so all the jewelry that we have is genuine stone and crystal. We have it in the bracelet form, and then we also have malas, which are the longer beads with 108 on them. This one's actually a necklace that has a larger stone at the bottom. Everything that we create is genuine stone and crystal because, with those vibrations, we can create a talisman or a really specific, you know intention behind each bracelet. This was a custom one for a client, and she supports women through menopause and perimenopause and she wanted a bracelet that represented all of this support that they have while going through this big life change. And life experience.

Speaker 2: 22:14

And so you know, the jewelry that we have is more of a vehicle for the broader message of that svedyaya, that self-study, that healing, that sankalpa and what you're looking to create in your life as well.

Speaker 1: 22:26

So they all tell a story so you do you, you sort of you met, you make them, we make everything here. Yeah, so you do. But you also do custom for people who want it for a specific reason so the custom runs are?

Speaker 2: 22:44

we usually work with coaches, businesses, brands, tv personalities and creating, like a, a custom piece that's going to represent their brand and their messaging. We don't do a lot of what we don't do any one-offs no but we do offer, we do a lot of bracelet workshops where we walk people through the process of you know the reflection, the energy centers in our body, the stones and crystals and how they can support a sankalpa or an intention that they're creating.

Speaker 1: 23:17

Yes, that's a beautiful one that you, you're wearing that.

Speaker 2: 23:22

Yes, thank you, I did not make this one. I'm learning how to do silver work. I do all the. I do a lot of beaded work like this, but this is yeah, this is uh chrysocolla. So it helps with our chakra and expression and personal transformation it's beautiful, it's really beautiful.

Speaker 1: 23:41

So did you get into your jewelry? Because, um, you're into crystals, you, you, you know? Were you doing work with crystals before you got into your jewelry, or did it come around the other way?

Speaker 2: 23:53

I think it's interesting because I get asked this all the time like, oh, is it because you love crystals? I grew up around like stones and crystals at my grandpa's house all the time. We had amethyst, malachite, all kinds of agates everywhere. So crystals and stones have always been very second nature to me. But really I started building this brand and Moxie as that vehicle for that message because I was teaching yoga, teaching meditation full time. I'm talking like 28 classes a week within studios and people. People would not come to yoga, they did not want to come to their math, and everyone has their reasons and they're all valid. Those are. That's their life experience and where they are. And I wanted people to understand the power of self-reflection and the power of sorting through all your junk so that you can really create those intentions and live on purpose. You know.

Speaker 1: 24:48

Yeah, doing that extra work, yeah.

Speaker 2: 24:52

Yeah, Doing the extra work and the, you know the practice of yoga, the asanas, the physical practice, is so powerful for that? Because we're moving. It's all about moving energy in the body, Right yeah? But if people aren't wanting to move their bodies in that way, then you know what's another way that we can bring them into this reflective place, right yeah?

Speaker 1: 25:17

And help them to understand what energy healing is all about, because it can be on so many levels, can't it? So many, yeah, but it does involve. It's not a quick fix either, is it? It does involve reflection, digging, doing all of that maybe slightly more difficult stuff.

Speaker 2: 25:37

Oh yeah, unearthing and sorting through and forgiving, Let it go, all the big things you know. Yeah, there's a lot in there, for sure.

Speaker 1: 25:52

So what sort of yoga do you do you teach? Do you teach like flowing yoga or different types of yoga? I'm sorry, I'm a complete novice on yoga.

Speaker 2: 25:58

Oh, that's okay, yeah, no, I've taught all different styles of yoga. Mostly I've done the vinyasa flow and that's where my original training was in. I've've also taught a lot of chair yoga, which is great for seniors or people in an office setting or people with mobility issues. You know, chair yoga is a fantastic option, prenatal from a somatic sort of aspect of yoga, where I really invite people to come into their body and move and see what feels good in their body and also invite them, you know, bringing in that reflective aspect to it, so that it is more than just oh, now we're doing a chaturanga tricep push up into a backbend. You know it's. It's like well, why are we doing these postures? What?

Speaker 2: 26:48

is this doing within our body and how can we work with that in order to move these things that are no longer serving?

Speaker 1: 26:55

Yeah, that sounds fascinating. It's nice to have that extra sort of level. I did flowing meditation once when you went flowing yoga sorry, flowing yoga so you went from one pose and then you moved into the next and it was all uh, um, and it was incredibly hard work.

Speaker 2: 27:15

for a start, right, I know people, people are like oh you do yoga that's so relaxing, I'm like depends on the class well, this was exhausting, can I say.

Speaker 1: 27:27

And then, but I think it really triggered something in me because then, when we had the lying down and reflection time and I almost felt like I exited one of my chakras, I had this really weird experience, um, and then the next thing I knew she was saying oh, come back into the room and and um, so I mean it can, although it's hard work, it can be incredibly, um, effective, I mean it can be, and very powerful, that sort of moving that energy in that, yeah, it was.

Speaker 1: 28:02

It was quite incredible and that experience has stayed with me. I don't quite know what happened, but it certainly stayed with me right is that?

Speaker 2: 28:10

that's the beauty of it too, is that you know, when we talk about subtle energy and and the chakras and and and healing and doing the work right, sometimes the work is happening behind the scenes in ways that we don't even, yeah, mentally comprehend, like you're talking about. With that experience, it's not even that you necessarily needed to comprehend exactly what, what were the ins and outs, and maybe the intellect intellectualization of it might have even dampened the experience right it's like just allowing the energy to do some of this work that it needs to do without having to know exactly what's happening.

Speaker 1: 28:50

Yeah, yeah, exactly, and I don't know whether it was clearing something or I was talking to somebody about it afterwards and saying I can't recreate it, and she said to me maybe you don't need to maybe that's all you needed to just show you you know what was capable, sort of thing. So yeah, it was very powerful but very exhausting.

Speaker 2: 29:16

Most things are right, no.

Speaker 1: 29:18

I'm just kidding. It is actually very hard work, isn't it? Yeah?

Speaker 2: 29:23

The flowing, the vinyasa, and the power vinyasa that people call it. That can be very intense, yeah, and also, actually, you know, I had one of my teachers who's phenomenal. She's from India, indu Aurora, and she was talking about how, you know, power vinyasa is all about let's build the heat in the body and she goes. You barely need to move to build heat in your body. You don't even you know, and she's like leaning back and having us do this thing. And she's like leaning back and having us do this thing, and she's like lean back until your body shakes and then you're just flush hot and she's like, see, we barely moved. You know, and if you think about it, in like the Hatha Yoga, pradipika and all of these texts, the yoga postures, the standing postures, were only invented in the last hundred years. Everything in the ancient texts is all seated.

Speaker 2: 30:10

Oh wow, so it sort of evolved into something slightly different to the ancients yeah exactly, and I think that probably my interpretation, my humble thoughts on this is you know, with our modern life, we sit in a chair a lot, and so, in order to, so, the asanas are for us to come into a place of stillness and meditation, right.

Speaker 2: 30:34

So the asanas are to move excess energy, balance it out in the body, so that we may sit for an extended amount of time, right, and I think that a lot of these standing postures have served a very sedentary lifestyle because we need to get into our hips, we need to strengthen our legs and lengthen and move things in ways that would have back then, you know, without the standing poses, yeah, yeah I I also have done quite a bit of is it restorative yoga, where you hold the pose for, or yeah, and what I found was which was really interesting, was that I stored a lot of emotion in my hips, um, and I actually think after three children it's because, you know, I sort of dumped emotion there because it was quite a weak area of my energy field because of that stretching etc.

Speaker 1: 31:30

But if I did um restorative yoga, I often couldn't sleep that night because, yeah, my, my mind would be going 19 to the dozen, which it doesn't normally do. It normally sleep well, but I found that I couldn't and I realized it must be releasing stuff, you know, emotions that was held in my hip muscles, in my actual physical body.

Speaker 2: 31:56

Oh, absolutely, yep, we talk about. I did. Our last fall retreat was based on the Navarasa, the nine human emotions, and it was all about where do you feel this emotion in your body? When you think of this emotion, where does it show up, does it move in this kind of thing? And all of the emotions do live in the pelvis and in the hips.

Speaker 1: 32:22

Yeah, I find that I I particularly feel that's a weak area of mine physically, but I feel like I dump everything there and I wonder if there's a connection with that, that, so that if you have a physical weakness somewhere, it becomes a bit of a dumping ground for some reason.

Speaker 2: 32:34

maybe, maybe it's not as resilient. I mean, that's a thought. Yeah, I was like, oh, that's a really good perspective of that.

Speaker 1: 32:40

Yeah yeah, maybe the emotions can sit there. You know, they sort of adhere to it more easily.

Speaker 2: 32:46

I don't know, just my sensation well, when I know I love that and you know, when we talk about the chakras and, um, when I teach about them, like the root chakra and I do a lot of work with the antepartum department at the hospital, so women who are in the hospital with complications with their pregnancies, and we talk about the energy of the pelvic floor, the root chakra, the sacral chakra and all the stuff that's happening, and when they talk about like mom brain right and how, after birth, you're like, oh, I can't even think straight because your root chakra and your sacral, your foundation, has been blown wide open you know no matter your birth experience.

Speaker 2: 33:26

However you birth your baby, that energy center is still just. You know it's out of balance.

Speaker 1: 33:33

Yeah, you've got to bring it back into I am. I also trained as a doula, but I've never practiced it. But I did train as a doula I after three children, you know I I was very interested in that. But what I discovered was that, um, sort of the uterus and the throat form in a fetus together they are the same tissue so that when you know when it separates eventually as the fetus develops. But if you chant and you use your throat and use you, you have a direct reaction with the uterus, which is so interesting.

Speaker 1: 34:17

so we need to get all the women chanting you know, as much noise as they want to make, they don't have to be quiet. Yes, exactly especially in the birth scenario. Right, yeah, but here so that it triggers the uterus in the same way fascinating stuff.

Speaker 2: 34:36

It's so fascinating and that goes into like the um, if you have tightness in your hips, maybe you have tightness in your jaw or in your you know, or the tops of your shoulders. So that's a direct kind of connection from the sacral to the throat.

Speaker 1: 34:50

I mean it's so fascinating. Yeah, and women who are very frightened and very tense because they've got a lot of anxiety which, like you say, you talk about the jaw they often have more difficult births because you know, everything is you know, so we need to get them shouting, singing, humming, anything.

Speaker 2: 35:12

Yeah, I know my second son. So my second son was born within like 15 minutes of getting to the hospital and my husband in the car was like I know this is going to sound crazy, but please don't have that baby in the car. He's like whatever you have to do and I go. Well, then it's about to get really loud in here, because either that is going to go down and out or up and out. And so I was just like ah, you know, the thing is if it's going to happen.

Speaker 1: 35:38

You really can't stop it. It's in the car or whatever. I know.

Speaker 2: 35:43

So true, so true. I was just lucky. We got there in time.

Speaker 1: 35:49

It is such. It's a miracle, though, really, when you start looking into it. So, whatever you can do to help, and yoga, I suspect. Do you actually teach pregnant women to do yoga?

Speaker 2: 36:03

Yep, I have. I don't currently have any classes, but I used to do a lot of prenatal prenatal yoga. I've had two live births myself and it was you know, I taught prenatal yoga a lot, yeah when I was pregnant.

Speaker 1: 36:29

Yeah, yeah, lovely so lovely example, it's a relaxer. It is just relaxing the muscles and going into that meditative state, isn't it?

Speaker 2: 36:39

um, yeah, a lot of it is about the mind-body connection and yeah I'm preparing pregnant women to experience birth, yeah, and also allowing them to detach from any expectation of what's going to happen. You know you can have, you can have a plan, you know you can have your hopes and your outline and all of that, and you know the divine is going to come in and things are going to happen yeah, especially for your first one.

Speaker 1: 37:08

I think sometimes expectations are just not realistic at all. I know they weren't for me. I think I went into shock afterwards. I was slightly just not what I was expecting at all.

Speaker 2: 37:19

I didn't sleep for 72 hours after my first son was born. No, I was like I didn't even know that was possible. I'm like I have this baby. I'm awake for three full days. What do I do? What do I do? And it won't stop crying.

Speaker 1: 37:36

Oh my goodness, I know, but worth it all oh yeah, it's pretty amazing, absolutely well, thank you, jessica, it's been an absolute pleasure to teach, to talk to you about all the things that you do and your jewellery. I shall definitely be going to have a look because I love my crystals. My house is full of them. I have sold them in the past and I teach crystals as well, so they are very much part of my life. So I do love them and I do absolutely believe that they have, um, a place in energy work.

Speaker 1: 38:13

I think they're really absolutely a huge place in energy work, yeah in fact, I don't think we use them properly. Um, I think there's more to crystal crystals than we sort of presently, um sort of use them, for. I feel like there's more information stored in them or we can store information in them in a different way, but we just haven't got there yet we haven't unlocked that piece.

Speaker 2: 38:41

No, no, I agree 100%. Don't get me on my crystal soapbox. I'm like step up, lady it, I love it. I'll be the one clapping in the audience bless you.

Speaker 1: 38:58

I love it yeah no. So I love your jewelry. I think it's lovely and I think actually that it's a great way of getting crystals into your energy field, isn't it so? I always say women, you know, put tumbles in your pockets or your bra, but to actually, if you've got a lovely bracelet and it's a bit more, it's our rings you and I wear yeah, yeah definitely.

Speaker 2: 39:21

Bracelets are great because they're so easy to wear and it's a touch tone so like yeah, you're you know, if you're thinking about something, you can kind of play with it or just it. I notice, when I'm not wearing my bracelets, I'll reach for my wrist and I'll be like, oh no you know yeah you know yeah and also if you've got something coming up that's really stressing you.

Speaker 1: 39:42

It's actually a real it's, it's helpful to have that, whatever it may be, when maybe it's an exam, an interview, uh, whatever it might be, but it's. It's a comfort, isn't it? And it's doing its work, whether, like you say, in the background, whether we know it or not, there's something yeah, you know something going on it's all part of that subtle energy work that we need to be doing daily, basically yep, and that's those little rituals that you can create for yourself.

Speaker 2: 40:13

I mean, I have people who have created rituals even around picking their bracelets or putting them on. You know, they'll have, they'll own a few dozen bracelets, right, but then they make a ritual of tapping into their energy which one is calling to me today and then they pick their stack.

Speaker 1: 40:29

You know, yeah yeah, no, I think that's lovely. Yeah, brilliant. Well, thank you, jessica. It's been an absolute pleasure to have you. Thanks for having me and thank you for supporting balm to the soul, and I will put up all your information underneath the episode um, so if people want to get in contact or have a look at your jewellery, they can do that. Excellent, thank you very much for joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me. So if you've enjoyed listening to Jessica and I chat, please like and subscribe to the podcast and I will speak to you all soon.