Finding Your Way Home; The Secrets to True Alignment

Solo Episode - Choosing the Life you Live - lessons from Miami...

Anthea Bell

Gorgeous listeners, welcome to this week’s episode of Finding Your Way Home

Something a little different for you today; a Solo Episode, just you and me, exploring how to carve out the life you truly want to live. 

Fresh off the back of my return from an incredible, full, challenging week in Miami, we dive into what it's like to take a "Time-Out" on your day to day - and why that decision can be so meaningful and yet so confronting. What happens when we give ourselves the time to pause, reflect and get truly honest about what we want, what we're enacting, and possibly, the distance between the two....?

I'll also be sharing my biggest takeaways from this incredible transatlantic excursion - from an inside eye on Kate Northrup's incredible Relaxed Money event, to meeting my idols, flirting with a Miami Fireman (when in Rome...) and finding a sense of belonging so far away from "home". For those that have been asking for a little more personal insight into my world, life and flourishing community - this is your moment...

To find out more about Kate Northrup and the stunning speakers at Relaxed Money:

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You can also follow us on  @ab_embodiment for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and upcoming episodes, or visit our website for further information. 

And to explore working together more deeply

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Sending love, wherever this finds you.
  
 Anthea x

Anthea:

welcome to Finding Your Way Home, the secrets to true alignment. I'm your host, Anthea Bell, movement teacher, mind body coach, and lifelong spiritual seeker. This is a podcast about the depth, weight, and profound healing power of connection between mind and body, spirit and soul, and from one human to another. Together with an incredible range of inspiring guests, we'll explore just what connection and alignment mean. How to get there in a world full of the temptation to conform, and how great challenge ultimately can lead to life changing transformation. Get ready for groundbreaking personal stories, conversational deep dives, and a toolkit of strategies to build not just your inner knowing, but your outer world. Let's dive in.

Good evening gorgeous listeners. I say good evening because I'm leaving you this fresh on the return from a visit to Miami, which was to attend a beautiful event called Relaxed Money Live with Kate Northrup, who is the most phenomenal. a magician in supporting people to restructure, um, revision their relationship with money. And it was a pretty momentous trip. It's the first time that I've taken a week, a whole week away from client work, the whole week away from the program that I run, and kind of a whole week away from London since really making the decision off the back of a big trip to Costa Rica and the States to relocate myself here, to rehouse. And it's interesting because I had intentions to leave this Fair Bonney Isle before. And every time that I planned to or attempted to, something would come up to bring me back to ground. And I know that a huge number of you listening relate to this question of how do I allow myself to stay still? How do I stay? It's um, it's so wonderful in the world that we live in to have so much diversity and opportunity and experience at our fingertips and one of the things that we talk about on here is the way that we have cultivated both temperaments and nervous systems and businesses that really orient towards the new and the exciting and the momentum and all of that. And actually I adore that, especially as someone that Went through waves of more of that dorsal, vagal space where you kind of are a bit immobilized for a time. I don't know if my experience is kind of relevant for anyone that's listening, but um, I know that for me I have often stayed in environments and contexts for a lot longer than I needed to, for a lot longer than The time when I really had the nudge to jump and the reality is that for a lot of us, certainly for me, I grew up in a, in an environment where leaving was not a possibility. And so I learned from a very early age, these wonderful tools of adaptation and management. And from a sort of adaptation, nervous system angle, what I really did was go inwards, but in a way that was relatively dissociated. And of course that's really useful and I don't want to diminish, um, all of the beautiful ways in which that cultivated a human being that was fantastic at being a chameleon, fantastic at making any opportunity and circumstance really work to her advantage. Um, I grew a lot through all of those early growing experiences. And, and I am someone that knows things so quickly, that knows so quickly if something is right, or if something is beautiful, or if something is inspired within me, and I feel the nudge. Oof! And then I often convince myself out from the perspective of rationality, or adult responsibility, or what will people think, all of those things. So my journey into this place of far deeper authenticity and, and much braver voice actually has been really validating my instincts. Really, really validating them and really understanding that from a neurological perspective, a lot of what I think of as rationality is really just social protection, is really just habit, is really just the early beliefs that I grew into that said that I had to defer my want. Really, that I had to defer any desire to what was appropriate led me to, uh, to a realization a couple of years ago that what I needed most of all was permission. Permission to do and be exactly who I was and who I was growing into. So as you're listening, you know, you might just notice what of that story or that context is resonating for you. Do you notice yourself to be someone that tends to defer to the opinions of others or tends to overlay your own wishes? for the benefit of keeping it all together. Keeping a family together, staying in particular roles. And I'm not diminishing the necessity or the validity of that. I would maybe question the necessity, but I'm not diminishing the validity. Because there are always huge gains to be had from the investments that you're making. The investments that you're making are the best representation of your true values and beliefs. And what we get to question is when I drop into silence, when I drop into peace, when I drop into a place where I'm only really considering what's deeply authentic to me, then does the way that I live stack with the human being that I know myself to be in my quiet times. And that's really the topic today. So I'm going to tell you a little bit about Relax Money because for those of you that don't know Kate, I'm going to include some information here on how to join her next round of trainings. I am not sponsored to do this. Uh, I gained so much from them and I've known about Kate for about five years. She's been sort of in my space, swimming around with her energy, her beautiful dancing joy. in describing how it's possible to live a life of deep, unbelievable abundance, and structure, and freedom. And I think we often forget the relationship between those last two. That structure facilitates freedom, and freedom facilitates structure. I know that a lot of the people that listen to this, their structure leans more into the place of control, and it leans more into the place of people pleasing. And that it has a slight negativity bias. It's this little taint of fear. If I don't do this or if they don't get that, then XYZ negative thing will happen. And so the invitation for all of us is, if I was to design my life right from scratch, and if I was to offer myself the beautiful foundations and framework that really would facilitate my biggest expansion, my deepest heart desire, even if that's, okay, I don't want to expand visibly into the world, but I want to be the most present and potent and capable and loving in my family life. Like, what are the structures that I would need? in order to facilitate that. And those structures might be really practical things, like Okay, so I need a certain amount of meditative rest time on my own, so that when I'm then with my kids I'm really there, not resenting them for overstepping my own boundaries but I'm truly present. It might be that that structure is actually, I need a new structure of beliefs. I need to really consider the storylines that I am continuing to tell myself or inhabit or embody or live through. And I'm going to take some radical action, radical compared to the action I have or have not been taking, to really set that framework. It could be that your foundations also speak to inviting more people in, so getting others to really support you in dividing the load, really leaning on that idea that, um, the best things in creation come from co creation. So, Let me tell you a little bit about the event, let me tell you a little bit about Kate, and tell you a little bit about what came up for me in the hopes that it's useful for you guys. I think the first thing to start this story with is sort of what I started with, which was it has been 18 months since I went away. Right? And in the life of a human being, and a human doing, 18 months is a really long time. And it was 18 months because when I got back from my last big five month excursion to Costa Rica, to San Francisco, to LA, to Texas, and then back to Costa Rica, when I came back, I was so pregnant with ideas, so full of the possibility. that was within me, and it was the first time really that my creativity launched. I'd been living up until that point a life that was fantastically constructive and contributory, but it was not at that stage before I left, it was not alive for me. And I think it's important to know that we can still be of phenomenal service and not quite truly be alive. And again, as you listen, just notice if that statement lands for you. Am I really alive in my life right now? And if I'm not alive, how much of that relates to a feeling of pressure? of internalized stress and how much of it relates to The load that I place on my shoulders to support others and how much of it relates to not taking time for myself you guys hear me talking about this a lot and it's a huge part of the Embodiment coaching set that I run head to heart. It's about How can I really come home in me? How can I deeply, deeply, deeply connect to the soul and the vessel of me as a practitioner to allow me to do my deepest work, my biggest work, in a way that feels easeful and joyful and without strain? How can I place myself in a position where I am of huge impact, really touching the lives of others, and I love it? And I'm in balance and equilibrium, and my digestion is good, and my physical homeostasis is good, and I take the time to move for myself, and I take the time to connect deeply with myself and to create. You know, the podcast for me is about creation. It is my deepest joy and wish to do this every week. It is my form of expression, the form that feels the most authentic to me. And it came from giving myself some space and time. So what happened when I took this time away in Miami was first of all, Oh my god, it's really uncomfortable. It's really uncomfortable to take time away from my clients. And I will be fully transparent with you. I did not go cold turkey. I was still in touch, you know, when I enter into a one to one partnership with people, I make it very clear that when we partner, I'm as committed as they are. And so when they need me, I'm there. And of course, over the span of time, they don't need me. They just come to enjoy the resource and really adore this time that we share together. And so we grow alongside their own growth, that's a huge part of the aim of embodiment, that they get to embody this bigger, more expanded, more capable, more beautifully self reliant version of themselves. Not self reliant from feeling that they have to do it all, but really knowing that they're capable of doing it all. But I definitely stuck a little bit more to my phone, and the reason that I did that in those first two days, before the event started, before this big community of women gathered, Was that it was hard to be by myself. Oh, the irony. That someone who teaches how to be beautifully with yourself can still find it hard at that junction point between a very full, like, seven day a week stunning schedule of people and places and experiences and support to then be, wow, I'm on my own and I'm free. And what is that like? And I want to really normalize that for the first couple of days in that transition, it is not easy. Um, my body was twitchy. I needed to move more. I was trying to acclimatize from deep cold and winter here for what has felt like forever to sunshine and sweat and yoga and walks by the water. Continues to, uh, astound me how deeply my soul comes alive when I'm by the water. Even just, much of Miami is, is kind of a harbor. But just sitting on the deck. My second morning I, I went and I, I sat on the deck of a harbor. Like at 6am. I was still on London time. And uh, And as I was there, I was just watching the chaps with their boats, and I got talking to this lovely Miami fireman who was, you know, exactly as you would imagine. This man with giant arms and an unbelievable tan and so, so, so friendly. And he got into his boat with all of his fishing gear and he was like, Yeah, I'm a fireman, I've got one day off and I'm gonna spend all day on the water fishing. And I could so feel, I could so feel how necessary that would be, you know, in the job that he's in, in the flames, in the heat, in the community, in this place of service, you need time to step away. And it was lovely, we had a chat, we had a flirt, and all of the things that I adore, and then I asked him for some recommendations of beautiful restaurants to go to, and then I went on my way. And what was really beautiful for me was that I had a ton of those sorts of conversations even just within the first 24 hours, you know, if you approach the world with an open heart, really interested in connection, which is basically where I operate from, then people notice that and they gravitate towards you, and of course being in America, it's a place where people talk more freely anyway. You know, I've joked with you guys about how greating it was for me that, um, declaring oneself and claiming one's vision was so common in the States. And when I first went last year, I was like, what is this? This is horrendous degrees of self promotion. And I sent a message to Uh, one of my dearest friends back, back home, who's actually, he's recorded an episode on the podcast, so I'll link it in the show notes. And gorgeous Robbie, I was mentioning this, this kind of thing about, you know, my god, there's so much, uh, self claiming, and, and he just sent a really sweet message in that form of honesty that people that we love have for us, where he was like, yeah babe, maybe there's something you need to learn from that. Maybe there's something stunning in seeing other people be so open with their talents. Maybe that's something that God wants you to see. And he is a celebrity nail artist, right? So he's besie mates with a ton of people that are really well known, and so he's been in that field for a long time. And he sees the fact that all of these people that we place on pedestals, this is my other big learning from Miami, all of these people that we place on pedestals, they are exactly the same as us. They're just you. You're just seeing you. You're seeing you in a shinier form. Maybe you're seeing you on Instagram or Facebook or in the news or you're hearing them on a podcast and you're getting to know them. And sweet things, they are just you. They've just maybe been on the road a little longer and maybe they're a little bit more confident with their voice, but they are just the same. You know, I was During the event, we had this two, three day run of stunning speakers, beautiful, beautiful humans, um, talking about their areas of passion, talking about their areas of expertise, and really how developing a more abundant relationship with money has allowed them to redefine the lifestyle that they live. To really choose a more optimal lifestyle for them and to really implement, um, a lot more in their business life. So one of the premises of the course and of this event was that the more that you allow yourself to rest and nourish, the more targeted and productive and phenomenal you will be. And I have absolutely found that to be the case. And I needed to be reminded of it on this trip. I needed to be reminded of it because I am someone where when my life grows, which it has, it's really It's probably, volume wise, it's probably tripled or quadrupled in the past 18 months, and I've wanted all of that. I've wanted all the people, and the opportunities, and the experiences, and what I tend to do from families, generations of workaholics, is I tend to kind of go into the doing mode, and go into the incubation, and I prioritize all of my embodiment work because it is such a big part of my work work that I can't not do it. So that brings me back to ground. But, there was something different about giving myself the time to go away. You know, I learned very early on that when you take a holiday, if you're doing it from a place of needing a holiday because you need to escape your current existence, then that is a signal for you. It doesn't mean don't go on the holiday, but it does mean, A, you're going to take yourself with you, as we know. That's why they call it a geographical. And, B, that there is a lesson there in how to cultivate a life back home that is more sampa to what you need. And, I want to just remind you guys of that, that the life that you live right now is way more plastic than perhaps you have allowed yourself to believe that it is. Even if you've got dependents, even if you've got a partner, even if you have a business that's phenomenally successful, but that you feel a little bit contained within, that you can change things in a heartbeat. And actually much more difficult than changing things is the courage to change things. To really listen to that authentic intuition that I mentioned at the beginning that says I need to do this This is this is for me. This is calling me and I'm not gonna try and justify it for my brain And I'm not gonna try and justify it from what my parents think or what my family think I'm gonna listen to the deep dark signal in my body that says this this thing and I'm gonna share with you Well, I'm gonna share with you a couple things As far as mine. So, Emily Fletcher, the divine, the gorgeous, the sumptuous Emily Fletcher, she took us through a stunning experience of Ziva magic, which is her wonderful course. I was in Moving Into Mastery, which went through its final round while I was in it, and it then morphed and evolved into, um, into Ziva magic, and That program is just beautiful. It's harnessing, well, in Emily's words, it's harnessing head, heart and hoo ha, which is really to speak to this profound importance of sexuality and sexual potency in creating our lives, in the process of manifestation. So I'm gonna, again, include the links that you guys have access to her work. And even if purely what you do is pop on and join Ziva online, which is a beautiful meditation practice, um, I would really highly recommend it. I've been in it for a three years and have gained so much from it. And, um, Emily and Kate and a bunch of other people that I really admire. They all know each other. They're really good friends. Um, and of course they are because they're all speaking the same message, which is when we really come home and we really nourish on every level, then what gets to come through us, what happens when we allow ourselves to be a fully full. vessel to channel. And Emily took us through this experience where one of the invitations after meditation was really to tap into our dream. And what I, what I saw, which was not expected, was I saw myself in the middle of a forest. Everyone else was dreaming about probably their businesses or their ideal partner and that was definitely there. I have an image of a beautiful partner to come and I kind of can't wait for that. A woman of deep love that's ready to give it. Um, but what I, what I saw was I was in the middle of a forest. And it's in the middle of a forest, and I have goosebumps as I say this, I was the leader of a community of about a hundred people, fifty to a hundred people. And we were all there in the woodland together. And this woodland is like North American, gorgeous wood. And the feeling of being part of a movement that is potent and powerful, and the feeling of being deeply in love and feeling such profound purpose. It just, it really stayed with me. And I think it's important to recognize that sometimes our dreams, they are surprising and symbolic for all sorts of reasons. And there is something so beautiful about deciding that you're going to capture the energy of that, even in the life that you're currently living. That you're going to capture that sense of purpose, that you're going to be as brave as you would be in that space in the future. I recognize that even doing the podcast and even in this beautiful one to one practice I have and even in the embodiment course. I can be shy about stating the profound impact that this work has on people's lives. And what's interesting to me is that whenever someone refers me for someone, I get a lot of referrals in the work that I do. Um, whenever I read the introductory referrals, they're so glowing about the change that this mind, body, nervous system, visioning, spiritually connective work has. You know, there is not a day that It goes by that I do not connect to spirit in some way, and that can mean whatever it means to you. It can mean the universe. It can mean the waves, the ocean. It can mean a god of your understanding. I don't mind. I don't even really know what mine is. I just know that it is a wrapping force that lives around me that I feel and that sometimes speaks through me. And so I know that connecting people back to that and connecting people back to the essence of who they are is literally life changing. Oof. And so one of the calls for me in coming home has been to be more open with that. And really call people into their version of that. Really call them to step out of shyness and into love. And into unity and into connection. And if you want to do any of that work with me or with myself and the team, We just have some unbelievable opportunities coming up this year. It's such a stunning year. Um, the next round of the container is starting in end of May, beginning of June. And we're making that into a certification. We're in conversation with the ICF right now. So for anyone that's an existing facilitator, this is for you, my friends. This is taking people with an existing stunning repertoire, people that know what they do is meaningful, people that know that they have deep power within them to change lives, to support other people in their own growth. And it's giving you the resourcing and the ways of connecting to self and the ways of optimizing mind, body, nervous system, vessel, to be the most potent bringer of evolution for others. And we run through advanced relational dynamics, we run through self hypnosis, we run through a whole stream of somatic practices that you can use yourself, you can use with your clients. The intention is really to launch you and launch your business within the space of six months in deep intimacy with each other. So really, it's an intimate group, we're only accepting a certain number of people. So I'm going to give you guys the link to apply. The site is now live. So you can apply through, uh, the link in the show notes. Um, we will be reviewing, I will be personally reviewing every single application to make sure that it's a really beautiful fit for you and what you want to achieve and. We're building it as a community, so the women that have been in this year's container are being given the opportunity of joining us in the next wave for our group coaching calls, for our special masterclasses, and bringing in some incredible international experts, from breath work, to sound healing, to vocal activation, to hypnosis, um, to deep trance, to, uh, resetting some of your nervous system imprints. It's going to be phenomenal and what it includes or it links to is this beautiful retreat in Costa Rica, which is my deepest heart wish and the Costa Rican experience is called journey into the heart. So, all that to say that if you want to be with us, I would just adore meeting each and every person that feels called to this. I don't tend to, I don't tend to appreciate or kind of emphasize the pressuring to, to Do something that doesn't feel aligned. And I know that when you feel the nudge, it is time, my friends. And it is a sign that there is something here for you in whatever way. And the key is just taking the next step. It's having the opening conversation and seeing where that takes you. And it might take you to somewhere completely different. And it might just be that you and I are meant to meet. But if you feel the bud, the budding feeling, I want you to get in touch. So if we come back to Miami, I think the big thing that landed Alongside all of the things that I've shared so far is this idea of styling a life. And I'm gonna let you guys know a little bit about the life that I'm seeing because I know that in and amongst all of the busyness, in and amongst all of the people in, in and amongst the now hundreds of people that I support, um, on any given month or year, that, uh, the universe wants me still to be happy, joyous, and free. And what that means, oof, what that really means, you're getting a lot of oofs today. What that really means is that I need space. I need the space to wake up with dawn. And I need the space to go to sleep with dusk. And I need the space away from a computer for a good chunk of the day. And I need walks out in the open woods. And I need the deepest feeling of human connection. And what that tells me is that the structure of my life gets to facilitate that. The way that I eat gets to facilitate that. The way that I move my body, the delicious freedom that I give myself to move in any one given day, it gets to reflect that. And the bravery and joy with which I get to approach each and every humble being on the earth because we are all the same gets to reflect that. You know, if you're sitting here and you're listening and you have forgotten that you are an utter delight to know and to be in the presence of, notice how often you forget that when you interact with the world, where the first thought is, they're not going to like me, I'm going to be bothering them, or will they think I'm intruding? Am I burdening them with my thoughts or my fears or my problems? None of that is true. And even if it were in the rare instance where someone is having a day, It's reflective of them. It's their day. You're just in the gentle, inadvertent firing line. So please, if you take nothing from this episode but this, please, please remember the divinity of who you are. Please, please remember that if you resonate with this, then you're just hearing your own magic. Please, please remember that you are never a burden or a bother. You are a gift, most of all to you. So I'm going to love you and leave you with this, a little cheeky voice note, and it really feels as I record these as though you guys are right there with me, which is kind of all I ever wanted. The sense of being a part of a community of deep, precious, like minded people. And if I choose to see the world in this way, then everyone is like minded and I get the opportunity to learn day after day. The special, unique quality of each and every person, and to know that ultimately we are all the same. I send you so much love. You will adore our next full episode of the podcast, but for now, please relish this. Look up all of the people that I mention. Have a play in their worlds. Let me know if you want to come into ours, and I will speak to you soon, my doves. Gorgeous listeners. Thank you. So. So. much. For your ears. I hope. You enjoy today's. today's. episode. To find. More about our. Featured guests. Have a look in the show. Notes.