Let's Unpack It with Lauren Pearl
Conversations about decluttering our minds, getting organized and living our best lives.
Let's Unpack It with Lauren Pearl
S01E05 with Linda Gee Hesketh on designing our day intentionally, sound baths, regulating our nervous system and more...
Hi, I'm Lauren Pearl, and welcome to Let's Unpack It, where we talk about physical, mental, and emotional clutter. It's easy to see physical clutter, not so easy to see the mental and emotional clutter that we have. Packed away, but we can feel it and it's a heavy load to carry. Want to talk about how you can become aware of what you've packed away? How to let go of it to find your calm, joy, productivity, organization, and a lot more. I'm a huge fan of organizing. I started organizing when I was about six years old. I loved putting my books in descending height order. It was very calming for me. Growing up in a chaotic home that wasn't calm at all, organizing felt good to me and I came to turn it into a business. Fifteen years ago I founded Pearl Concierge Services and I have since helped hundreds of clients, primarily female clients. To get unpacked, to get decluttered and organized. So there's so many interesting conversations that we're going to be having. And I really look forward to you sharing in all of it. So let's unpack it. I am really looking forward to my conversation with Linda Gee Hesca. Linda is formally trained as a kinesiologist, which is a physics degree in human movement. She's had a lifelong passion for using a variety of healing modalities, fitness techniques, gene science, global cultural perspectives to bring her clients the best of a holistic approach on corrective and functional fitness. You could say that it's a bit of science and woo. So think gene expression and energy, east meets west. A holistic approach to combining wisdom of global cultures to optimize your transformation. Linda and her amazing team are passionate about movement, health, and wellness. Linda is a podcaster and a wellness business owner. And she just introduced me to the most amazing sound bath first time. Good morning, Linda. How are you? I'm excited to talk with you. Always. I'm so excited to talk with you too. It's nice to see your beautiful and glowing face. Ah, thank you. I have the world's best serum. I believe you because look at you. I... Had my first sound bath experience last night because of you. We will get to that soon, but I want to know a little bit about you. We're new. We're new friends. You know, when you meet somebody. And you feel like, Oh, I just, I click with this person. I like them. So that's how I feel about you. That's how I feel too. We're in the grandma club together. Yeah, absolutely. Where did you grow up? What was your childhood like? I grew up in central Canada. I was born and raised in the provinces and moved around every two or four years because of my dad's work. And so we moved around Western Canada. Um, I went to school in Eastern Canada, and then I went overseas for about 10 years to Southeast Asia. Wow. What brought you, what brought you there? Uh, my dad got transferred, and I was in university, so during one of my summers, I went to visit them, and ended up staying. The second year, I got a job there, and met a guy. Okay, the story, hey, it's like whenever you hear somebody's got, uh, some expat, long distance moves, it's like, yeah, there was a person and we got married, started a family and I really wanted to raise the girls in Canada. So I came back. What ages are your girls? 35 and 32. Oh, okay. My daughter's 36. Yeah, we're very, very, yeah, in the same like we had grandchildren arrive around the same month this year. I know that's it's yeah, it's nice. These are nice connections to have very much. And then I got remarried and we have a son also. So very nice. And he is. Twenty. Twenty. Wow. So what, when you were little, what did you dream to be? What did you think of being? Okay, so it was tough moving around. I wasn't quick to make friends, but I did find a lot of escape in books. Okay. In the library, and I really loved fiction, and I wanted to be an author. Ah. Believe it or not. Me too, you know that right? Me too. I've been a writer ever since I was a little kid, in my soul. So, anyway. Oh my gosh. I know. I love it. That's interesting. Please continue. Then later, um, I found a lot of You know, like in hindsight, I had a lot of anxiety. I didn't realize it at the time. I just thought I was kind of a funny, weird kid. And I got a lot of relief through moving my body. And I found that around seven or eight years old at school, we had a running club and, um, My family's not super active. So we didn't really do family activities like that, or I didn't have strong role models for that. But I really found that like now I have words for it, but like I had the endorphins, like I had the relief, the energy moved in my body. And, um, later I wanted to be a dancer. Uh, yeah. And then I got into studying the science of physical activity and quickly knew that that's. what I was obsessed with. And that's become my life's work. So last 40 years, I've been paid professional in that industry. Wow. That's amazing because you don't even look like you are 40 years old. So I'm not kidding. Okay, this is why we're friends. I'm speaking the truth. These are things that have just been in your soul for such a long time. And then it, it grew into a business of helping people. I think one of my biggest teachers was my kids. Because when I would take these science concepts and I wanted to apply them to high performance of my kids, it's like, well, for you to, I'm not going to say to them, for you to feel optimally, you know, working through your day, I had to oversimplify it, but it really honed my skill to take a complicated subject. and simplify it so it was easy to understand, had a, had a good metaphor and they could grasp it. It was memorable. And so now they don't realize how much they know. They don't realize how much they know about the human body or, um, feeling good or regulating the nervous system or nutrition. It's really interesting. Yeah. I can remember one of the, one of the girls came home and she goes, And she wasn't lifting weights at the time or she would say to set the dinner table, she'd just be like making conversations and she'd say, um, you probably shouldn't be lifting weights for more than 45 minutes, right? And we're like, okay, we know you didn't do that today, but okay, yeah, why are you asking? She's like, right, I just fact checking. And then we realized she started seeing a guy who was spending two hours in the gym. And it's like, you don't know how much you know, just by sitting around listening. Right. Oh, I love that. I I relate to and love the idea of regulating one's nervous system. It's a daily job, right? I feel that it's a daily job, part of morning rituals or evening rituals to do that regulate us hopefully throughout the day. Part of the reason that I. Started this podcast is because I wanted to talk about that and how, when our nervous system is regulated, how it's connected to having, um, less clutter in our brains, in our hearts and in our homes, the physical stuff. So I've been talking a lot lately about. Morning rituals and meditating and incense and, and incorporate little snippets, little bits into my life. It's just making such a huge difference. And last night for the first time, I was introduced to sound bath and because of you, I'm kind of speechless about the experience. It was amazing. It was just so happy for you. I am so happy for you. I'd love to know like what, how did you get first involved in the sound bath and what is your feeling about what it does for people? Oh my gosh. Do you want the long version or the short version? I want whichever version you want to share. I have time. I have my coffee. I'm ready. Uh, when I was, I was 19 and I went overseas to Asia to see my parents. and I land, it's like more humid than I've ever felt in my life, right? I'm in the northern hemisphere and then I'm like really close to the equator and it's August, it's humid, it's like 40 degrees. The people, like the The congestion of high density living. It was like, Oh my gosh, what's happening was jet lag, right? So you've got jet lag, culture shock, all of the things massive overload on your system. Yeah. It was like, okay, it's your one and only trip. We're gonna see all the sites. So you know what that's like? Yeah, yeah. I wanna like go up to the monastery and we're gonna show you this big Buddhist temple. And like all the things, there was this lineup of people with ailments, like physical ailments, waiting to get into the monastery and, uh, I just thought, Oh, the placebo effect in, you know, cause I'm raised in Western thinking, even though culturally I I'm raised in an Eastern philosophy family, but I watch people walk in lame. And they walk out without a wheelchair or without a cane. I see people, their, their eyes are all like, like you can't see the white of their eyes. They're either like rust colored or, or red. And they walk out and the whites of their eyes are clear. Like marble and it is the most amazing thing. I'm like, okay, there's the placebo effect quick. And there's like this. So. That would be a lot of placebo. Yeah. Every single one. How did they placebo every. Wow. What is happening is they're going in and they are saying what. They would like the monks to help them address and the monks are chanting around them. They're singing songs and some of them are hitting these, um, Tibetan bowls. They look like they're brass. They're metal bowls of different sizes and some of the bowls are resting on their body. Some of them are around their body and I'm like, what is going on? And I realize it is the vibration. Oh. So, different songs, different chants, different bowls resonate at a hertz, or an amplitude, a vibrational frequency, right, corresponds with a different tissue. Yeah. Wow. I have done some work. Before going with these long haul truck drivers that drive these big rigs and they had three complaints. I strain. An upset gut and low back pain. And we think, Oh, they drive too long. They eat truck or food. They sit too long. Right. Found was that there were three points of contact in the driver's cab, the steering wheel, where your sit bones hit the seat, and where your feet contact the floorboards. Right. Vibrating. In a frequency that corresponded to the eyes, the gut. Oh my God. Yeah. So I had just kept Wow. Doing that study and um, being exposed to the sound and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is the 5,000 year old version of the same thing. It's just like, this is where east meets West and it Right. Blew my mind. Wow. And it always stayed with me. And then I have a very, Dear friend who had a very serious stage four diagnosis with cancer over the lockdown and when everything opened up I thought what kind of natural healing modality could we maybe do together now that on the on the repair part of like no longer the acute phase of treatment but adapting back to Lifestyle and, um, and my husband was dealing with some joint issues and I think everybody's dealing with like some degree of anxiety or stress after being locked down and reintegrating. It was interesting, wasn't it? Yeah, I found a sound healer out in the mountains and I knew that I couldn't like bring my friend and my husband and my family members all out every single time. So I started to bring them in to the city. Why not invite more people? And so I made them public. And so it has grown to workplace wellness, privates, sports teams. Um, and public sound baths and this is resonating with people's chakra system is helping regulate hormones and helping find calm in so many ways, like the, the mind chatter and it's upping up intuition and problem solving. This is why. It's really popular in workplace wellness. Creativity and problem solving is really heightened when the mind body connection is more cohesive. Right. More coherent. And so we are offering at least, um, three a month that are, um, public. Right. In Canada. Well, yes, and they can join us through Zoom. Yes, I was on Zoom last night, and it was amazing. So, it might be a reason for me to come to Canada, too. And visit you, of course. Yeah. And then, um, yeah, so it's become another arm of my business, another offering. I love it. Yeah. Well, so my sound bath was last night at 6 p. m. Pacific standard time, laid down on my bed and I just closed my eyes and it started, um, can I just say, as an aside, the guys. They're very handsome. I had to say it out loud. The sound bath guys, you can tell them I said so. Okay. So anyway, I closed my eyes because I know Lauren, the point is not to stare at the sound bath guys. Close your eyes. So I did. Very, very faint and this sound and that sound and then another sound. And it just, it kind of, um, it filled the room. It, I felt it like filling me in. It was, I, I just, I felt so relaxed, losing my voice, I felt so relaxed. And then at a certain point, I was in Italy. I was not like, I feel like I'm in Italy or I want to go to Italy. No, I was in Italy. I was walking barefoot on cobblestone streets and the sound, the church bells. We're all around me in Italy. This is such a transformative sound journey. I love it. It was such an amazing feeling after a while. Then I came, felt like I came back and I just, I, it was. It was so peaceful. It was so beautiful. All the sounds at one point I had when I had my eyes closed and I started seeing like just lights of different colors. I've heard that experience. I've had people mentioned that. Yes. So this is very interesting because different vibrations, not to get on the lines geeky. No, less. They match colors, Lauren. Oh, I just got chills. Wow. Chakras have different frequencies. Oh, I have chills. Which match a musical note, which also match a color, which also match a hormone. energy center, like a, an organ, like a pancreas, a thymus. Wow. And yeah, I don't think I remember what the colors were. It doesn't matter. It was so it was. It's really amazing. I definitely want to do that again. I had a really solid, peaceful night's sleep and that's a big, big deal for me because I have a lot of problem, um, not so much falling asleep, but staying asleep. That's a beautiful thing. It's so rejuvenating. I think one of the things that, um, People don't appreciate in its fullness is the restorative value of nighttime sleep. This is something that hasn't changed as we've evolved. Like, and so we kind of think, well, why, why hasn't it changed? Why don't we need less sleep? If we have less physical activity, if we have more comfort, if we have more conveniences in life. Right. Because we still have a resetting process. Like the brain literally shrinks 10 percent and the brain literally shrinks 10 percent at night. Yeah. When you're sleeping. So it's like wringing out a face cloth and the toxins come out and it gets into your lymph and we need to do the lymphatic drainage, which is why one of the things that we do when we wake up is we stretch or we contract our muscles or like we naturally kind of squeeze the muscles because that lymphatic system. Depends on gravity or, um, muscle contraction. It doesn't have a pump like, like the heart has a pump for right. Oh, see, we have to do it. It's not on automatic. Yeah. So there must be a reason. Yeah, if you believe in a higher power, you believe in God, whatever it is, but we're designed. a certain way and that's very interesting that we need to participate in that part of wringing out the toxins and unpacking from what's in our brain it's really essential to do um things that regulate our nervous system right that we were talking about in the morning help things that will clear out the toxins yes and i would almost go one step further and in Like, there might be things that we desire to do. It's not the point of these things that are personal, like what works for you might not work for me. Right. But it's not so much to do so that I can check it off the list. It's so that I can be a better version of myself, an intentional act as opposed to a firefighter who's responding. So, I want to design my day from An intentional version of who I am being, not just, you know, add four things to my already very busy to-do list for the day. And it's like, oh, did I brush my teeth? Yes. Did I meditate? Um, I did deep breathing for two minutes. Yeah. So, you know, but if it doesn't bring you into a state of calm or restoration, Then just take it off the list. Yeah, we don't need to add stress, right? We want to take it away. To create a different state of being, not to add to more busyness of doing. And I think that's subtlety, but it's a very powerful distinction. Because people, like I have people who lose 50 pounds, and they come back, and they say, I kept 50 pounds off for like a year and a half and it all came back plus more. What should I do? Or what did I do? Or what went wrong? And that question in itself indicates like it's not right or wrong, good or bad. It's just a perspective because it's not who they were being. They weren't being The version of themself that was 150 pounds lighter. Right. They were just doing all the things, so when they stopped doing all the things right. Yeah. Does that make sense or is it a hundred? It does, yeah. It completely does because I, I myself have personally experienced times in my life where I was heavier and then I lost weight. I was really fat when I was a kid. And I went to, I, I earned money from babysitting and I, when I saved so I could pay half to go to this, uh, diet camp for kids. And I went and that's a whole other story into itself. It was quite an experience, but I learned some really great tools. But anyway, I've definitely had times in my life where I put the weight back on. Right. And then it's like, you know, what did I do? It's like, well, I know what I did. I know. I just, I felt good. So then I thought I can just have whatever I want. Exactly. The kiss of death sentence begins with, I've been really good, so now I can have whatever I want. Right. Or like, it's the weekend now, so I can have whatever I want. Or, I haven't been to a movie theater in three years, so I can have the movie theater popcorn. And anything I eat in the dark doesn't count. I'm sure you see it in your, Your area of expertise, because people will say, I always have this chair is covered with clothes and it wasn't for two months, but now it is again, but it was because it was something they were doing. They were putting everything back. Right. But if they were just being the uncluttered version of themselves, they wouldn't even the first item on the chair on the second and the third layer. And then the Yeah. It's so, yeah, it's, it's so good. So true. That's definitely going to be in, uh, in the takeaways because it's so true and it's, it is, it sounds like what's the difference. It's subtle. I agree. It's more than mindset. It's identity work. I organize a whole house, can organize a whole closet and they love the way it feels. But yeah, that's, I guess, not holding on to their, not being that identity that lives in a closet, has a closet that is Open. Peaceful. Yeah. Peaceful. Joyful. Available. Instead, they allow themselves to go back to the person who, I can't find anything. Call Lauren again. Call Lauren again. I'm happy to come back again, but honestly, I really, I want people to. Stay. Enjoy it for longer. Yeah. Enjoy it for longer. Enjoy the, enjoy the, the calm. It's really interesting because right now is, it's the time between the Jewish New Year, which is Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which is like Rosh Hashanah, we get written into the book of life and Yom Kippur is sealed into the book of life for the For this, for the coming year, and it's a fast day. It's important. These are, it's an important time. And one of the things that this makes me think of, there's a word called tshuva, tshuva, and it means to return. It got to be known for like repentance and being, you know, sorry for what you've done or what that kind of thing. So that's one way to look at it. But another way to look at it, which the word really means is to return to ourselves. Isn't that beautiful? It is. I know, it makes me want to cry. And right now, people, Jewish people have the custom of doing something called Tashlif, and it's where you go to the ocean or water and you take actual breadcrumbs or little stones, depending. I'm not going to throw little stones into somebody's pool. But anyway, it's a, it's a physical act of letting go, letting go of. Pains or regrets or things we wish you would have done differently or said or not said like It's so powerful So interesting how so many things come together fitness transformation a lot of people So I have a whole team of healers who work with our fitness clients, so the transformation can be very long lasting and sustainable but also harmonious with the rest of their lives. And some of these rituals. Um, like throwing the stones or putting things in the journal or writing letters and then burning the letters and then forgetting, you know, everything was in the letter. It's not held in our minds. It's held in our bodies, our issues are in our tissues. Yeah. The casting away, like that, even that action is very clearing. Like it's powerful because we're doing a movement with our body and yeah, we can release a lot of things that we hold on to. I love that. It's so wonderful how you've built this whole business with your team. So you're helping people in so many different areas of their life. And it's all connected. Yeah, it's a privilege. And it's a real lifestyle approach. Because, especially in North America, we think of things in isolation. When they're not at all. We think of nutrition as separate from activity. And activity is different from sleep. And, you know, I tell my clients, if we think about a certain Nationality, we have kind of like a caricature, like it can stereotype them, right? How the rest of the world looks at North America and kind of laughs in our, we want to be independent. It's like, I'm doing it all. It's like the rest of the world doesn't think like that. They have the extended family, like, you know, the grandparents take care of the kids and, and I help take care of my grandkids. Yeah. I don't live with them. In other, in other countries, extended families live together. Yeah. I talked to a lady who's from Portugal and she said, our, our elders are held in reverence. I came here and what is elder abuse? Like, we don't even have words for those in Portuguese. Like, we don't, we don't, that's not a thing. Like is this, you know, like, because everything's so separate. That's really sad. I went a few years ago to Vietnam and it was so beautiful when people were so lovely and It was just, it was very interesting because when I was a little girl was when the Vietnam War was happening so I would come home and on my mom's little TV in the kitchen would be the Vietnam War on TV. Yeah, it was. So it was, it was quite an interesting and, um, meaningful trip in, in a lot of ways. Uh, but one of the things that they said is that, you know, we, we bow to, to everyone out of respect so that the, the higher, the. Hands are the elder, the person. So the great grandparent, the grandparent, the parent and others and children. So when I came home, I told my children that they needed to implement. That ritual, because I think it's very important, I think nobody listened. And I think it's a great idea. But they'll tell that story. Remember that? My mom came back from Vietnam. And she wanted us. Of course, I know they're bowing to me in their hearts. Respect is, it's a whole concept, right? Yeah. It's a respect of self, it's a respect of others. In yoga philosophy, when people say Namaste, the highest and best. in me sees the highest and best in you. That's what it really means. The highest and best in me sees the highest and best in you, Linda. I mean it. I know that you have a meeting to hop onto, but I, I want to say to you again and to everybody that that soundbite was fantastic. Thank you very much for sharing that with me. I definitely want to do it again. I'm going to put a link so that people can click on it and then experience it. Very good. Yeah. Headphones, snuggle in, relax. And this is Every sound bath is different. It's kind of like you don't dip your toe in the same stream twice. And you're in this really beautiful window, like three, four days where you're integrating it, your body, your energy, your tissues. is all recalibrating, and that is subtle, and it continues to happen for a few days, if not continues after. I actually believe it's more than four days. Yeah, so whatever you feel like doing as far as self care, I encourage you to listen. There's no wrong way to do it. It's not a performative thing. You don't need to see it. You just need to listen and allow the vibrations of the sounds. It's just to be accepted into your body and just relax and if you feel like you nap the whole time, that's great too. If you transport to Italy, that's, that's great too. I'm so happy that you say that and I, I encourage you, I welcome you to future ones. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much. This was just. Wonderful. Really nice getting to see your beautiful smiling face and talk more. I always love when we talk. So thanks. I'm excited to share this with others. I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Have a lovely day. Here are some takeaways from my very interesting conversation with Linda. Takeaway number one, soundbaths are amazing and it's very interesting how they work. It's a vibration, so different songs, different chants, different bowls resonate at different vibrational frequencies and correspond with different tissues. Takeaway number two, our issues are in our tissues. Linda and I were big proponents of self care, whatever it is that lights you up whatever it is that makes. You feel good. Takeaway number three, you can design your day with the intention of being the best version of who you are. Isn't that a nice realization that you can actually design your day? You are not at anyone or anything's mercy. Takeaway number four, namaste means The highest and best in me sees the highest and best in you, and I do, and I thank you for being here, and I look forward to chatting again soon. Thank you for listening. I feel so blessed. To have these amazing conversations and then share with you. So if you feel something that we spoke about resonated with you or would with someone that you know, you're more than welcome to share and please follow us. Free to leave comments. I'd love to know your thoughts. Thank you so much.