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Breathword
Breathword is a podcast about breath as a tool for living and the ways life breathes back. Each episode explores the insights that come from slowing down, tuning in, and letting yourself feel. Through intimate conversations, poetic reflections, and grounded breaths, host Annie Janssen invites you into a more authentic, wiser way of moving through the world. This is a space for healing, humor, imperfection, and the quiet magic of being alive.
Breathword
Holistic Transformation: Exploring "The Artist's Way" & Self-Expression with Elizabeth Armistead
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What happens when you embrace change and creativity as tools for transformation? Today, you'll meet Elizabeth Armised, a breathwork facilitator and feng shui coach, whose guidance helped me rediscover my creative spirit during a turbulent chapter of my life. Elizabeth's Artist's Way group became a sanctuary where I learned to navigate my struggles with drinking, finances, and mental health through the power of breathwork and poetry. Our conversation is a heartfelt exploration of self-love, empowerment, and the liberating act of trusting life's journey.
Ever wondered how shifting your career path could lead to unexpected yet profound personal growth? Elizabeth's transition from management consulting to feng shui coaching unfolded with surprising twists. Writing practices like morning pages offered her clarity and courage during pivotal times, particularly when grappling with self-identity. The Artist's Way became her compass, guiding her through moments of uncertainty and teaching her to find faith in the unfolding process of life.
Creating intentional spaces isn't just about aesthetics—it's a reflection of your self-worth. With Elizabeth's feng shui expertise, we unpack how curating your environment can boost magnetism and foster personal growth. These principles, combined with breathwork and artist dates, serve as powerful tools for connecting with our inner selves and manifesting the life we desire. Join us as we journey through spiritual growth, self-discovery, and holistic transformation, where every breath and each intentional step has the power to unveil your true essence.
To connect with Elizabeth visit:
- https://www.elizabetharmistead.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/iamelizabetharmistead/
I think the juiciest morning pages are breakups or job changes or just true suffering. That's really what brought me to the Artist's Way.
Speaker 2Welcome to Breath Word. Today's episode is a conversation with Elizabeth Armised. During a sit down at a podcasting studio last month, I met Elizabeth during what felt like a random coaching call, but looking back, it was anything but random. It was a pivotal moment for me. I had hit rock bottom with drinking, my finances weren't in shambles and my mental health was on edge. Joining her Artist's Way group felt serendipitous and it came just when I needed it most. Three months ago, I bought a simple wall calendar to track my half marathon training, sobriety and weekly commitments, like the artist way meetings and my church rooted group. That small step became transformative as these practices came together to help me reconnect with my creative self and deepen my sense of purpose and spirituality.
Speaker 2And none of this would have been possible without elizabeth. She's a fellow breathwork facilitator and a former corporate coach and consultant who has transitioned into feng shui coaching and consulting. Elizabeth has an incredible gift for holding space, offering deep empathy while gently guiding the journey. Her leadership of our group has been a big reason it has such an impact on me. I'm grateful for her and the energy she brings to every session. She's one of those people who inspires transformation simply by being present. I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Speaker 1Okay, do some breath work.
Speaker 2Yes, exactly Start with. I wanted to start with because we always start our sessions with some breathing, so I thought we could start. So some breaths that I will do Just a few breaths, and then I have a little poem to drop us in that I wrote today Like a little poem.
Speaker 1Beautiful, what a gift Breath and poem Breath and poetry.
Speaker 2That's a breath word. Welcome to breath word. Here we are, yeah, here we are Okay. So just do some nice gentle. Inhales and exhales. So we're going to inhale, taking in the emails, the traffic, the noise, exhaling, letting it all out, letting it drift away, inhaling all the expectations that we might have for this and exhaling into the present moment, inhaling some love, letting it all out, knowing that there's nowhere else to be but right here, right now. A little poem inspired by our artist's way group.
Speaker 2You stand at the river's edge upon a comfortable bank. The rushing ripples hold your gaze, admiring their fluidity and their strengths Jump in. You hear the river say I can't fear, says back impulsively why. The river wants to know Because I don't know where you'll lead. Just then a gust of wind pushes you in. Call it God, the universe or fate, release your fear. The river hums. I'll guide you. As you wait, the days stretch on the river. Winds through forests, lush and deep. Its current whispers lessen softly of truths. You're meant to keep Among the driftwood stones and wildlife. You're swept towards the sea Like a pebble worn by water's touch. Its smoothing sets you free. The destination matters less. As shores slip out of view. What stays are the edges worn away, revealing what's uniquely you. With every turn, you learn to trust this flow that lets you see that rivers know not just where, but also who you're meant to be.
Speaker 1It's so beautiful and just the visual I loved of following the river and the part where it leads to the sea. I feel it's so meaningful to me because my morning pages have brought me to all like ocean metaphors and analogies and I work with like so much of water. But that's such a beautiful poem and it's such a good reminder of like the trust and where it takes you and being able to go with it, and also such a more narrow way and then being in the vastness of the ocean, which is where I like to call like the big fish swim. Oh, I like that. That.
Speaker 1Yeah, I've had this visual one time I was going through a breakup. I was going through a breakup and I often think, ever since I've had this vision, I couldn't unsee it. Uh, it was in a sound bath, just like my mind just went to this place and then I saw myself in this like net of this fish and like I was the fish and I got caught in a net and almost the symbolism of like, oh, I want to be hung on the wall like a trophy, like right, like I want to be caught as a fish. I want to be caught, I want to be. And then I was like no, you don't like no, actually what just happened is you got out of the net and now you get to swim deeper into the sea which is like your own, like self-love, you know, and you and you're like, yeah, thank you for letting me go Right, I got the gift of goodbye.
Speaker 1Exactly you got to take some warrior depths. And you go deeper every time. I feel like with every breakup and like, do you know TD Jakes? No, he's a pastor who's pretty well known, but he has this sermon. That's like I got the gift of goodbye and I'll share it with you. I feel like it is the, if you're going through a breakup, that is the ultimate, like let me out of the net and let me swim deeper into the sea. And I got the gift of goodbye and I feel like that's just all you need to really move through a breakup. Good sound bath and little TV jigs and you're good.
Speaker 2I've always. I think breakups are one of the things I've struggled with most in my life not to make it about me, but Make it about you. I've always wondered. I used to have a greeting card company after college and I really wanted to have a nonprofit along with a greeting card company, I don't know, but anyway called Heartbreak Club, because I was like how do you cure heartbreak? It feels so hard and it does seem like what you're saying. You know these analogies and like just realizing that it is a gift in the reframe, but then also things like the morning. I could see this artist's way process being super great for something like a breakup and writing through it and forcing yourself out of your comfort zone, where it's where the growth happens, and then you kind of leave behind those ideas or the desire, I guess, of wanting to be caught in the net and being the trophy and everything, yeah, and I think it's feminine as we.
Speaker 1I've considered myself very femininely empowered, but, like we all kind of do as I fix my hair, yeah, I mean I don't care. Yeah, I think we all want to be like claimed right, and the morning pages is perfect for a way to reclaim yourself, like to like, see, you know, like. Yeah, I think the juiciest morning pages are breakups or job changes or just true suffering.
Speaker 2That's really what brought me to the artist way yeah, I wanted to know more about what initially brought you to the artist's way, how, when.
Journey to Self-Discovery and Transformation
Speaker 1Yeah, deep suffering at work, and actually it was. I was reflecting on this. I was working with a coach Kim Jones shout out to her because, bless her soul, she had just like. I forget how. I think we met at like a HR conference or something. I was still in.
Speaker 1I was in management consulting for 10 years and kind of climbing the ladder and I got certified as a coach back in 2015. And I was so certain of like I really just want to do coaching and so when I found a full-time coaching role in a consulting firm, it felt like my dream job. So it felt like I'd been climbing this ladder and then I got my dream job. But then I was really unhappy and it was like, well, shoot, what's going to happen? Like where do I go from here? And this coach was so beautiful and working with me. And you know I was a coach already for years and so working with a coach like you, you are more receptive. But I wasn't because I was too deep in my own suffering and my own like no, that can't be possible for me. And you know we've worked with clients who are just really resistant to the possibility even going through things like Landmark and I mean OK, I've done Landmark. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1I like Landmark couldn't break me.
Speaker 2Right Same. I feel like I was faking it.
Speaker 1I wasn't faking it and I got in trouble for not faking it. Okay and yeah, but I it's just an example of like where how stuck I was is. I was working with this coach as a coach, knowing I couldn't break through, having them mirror that back to me, and basically we got to a point where they were like why don't you just try the morning pages? Like just don't even start with the artist way.
Speaker 2So interesting, okay, well, actually I had the same experience too, did you? Interesting, yeah, anyway, so you had the coach, and then you're just like, okay, I'm going to write three pages. Are they told you to write three pages every morning?
Speaker 1Yeah, and I realized, looking back on that too, I think that was my own authority complex and maybe why I struggled with other people telling me what to do and I am just a rebel with the cause of like. I think the morning page is really stuck for me and has been over six, seven years now. Wow, yeah, because I can listen to me. No-transcript, couldn't. I couldn't let anyone in until I got really in tune with me.
Speaker 2Yeah, and do you feel like you were challenging yourself through the morning pages, like with what you were writing and your beliefs, or that you started to kind of see some of the cracks, I guess?
Speaker 1Yes, that's the beauty of the morning pages when you start seeing the same thing over and over again, year after year, but morning after morning, especially with my unhappiness at work and being so hilarious as a coach right Like you would think a coach could coach the way out of if something's not working for you. Let's take some actionable steps. But I was so locked into the golden handcuffs of like having such a large salary that I didn't know how I was going to make it any other way. And I think we yeah, we can get really, really stuck. And so I think the artist's way not only got me in my truth and got me to really look at it long enough that I had to change. I think that's when I started opening up to really surrendering to this higher power and the higher power working with me and me working with this higher power, and then really things opened up that way. So it was, I think, a combination of a more faithful journey, but also a journey of, like, true surrender and offering, wow.
Speaker 2So when did you decide to go from just doing the morning pages to then reading the Artist's Way, the book?
Speaker 1Yeah, that happened around the time I finally left corporate is when I dived into the book and so probably like around I think it was, it was actually before, it was around 2020. And then in 2021, when I finally stepped away from that secure job, that that's when I like it became a Bible and it became like, oh my gosh, because it was, maybe it was the right time, right Of, like I realized like this is my blueprint to step into, what I'm stepping into, which I'm still stepping into, but at least there's some movement to how stuck and stagnant I was and what I thought was possible.
Speaker 2Yes, I actually. I want to read a part that I highlighted recently, and I think I said it in the group too, but I feel like it's hard to describe. I think, the morning pages, potency, and it also feels like this mystical, magical thing that you just can't really explain. Um, oh, no, no, I'm not going to find it. I'm going to have to edit this out. You'll find it, will I? Yes, I highlighted way too many things.
Speaker 2Oh, yeah, you may well be experiencing a sense of both bafflement and faith. You are no longer stuck, but you cannot tell where you are going. You may feel that this can't keep up, and so the reason why I highlighted that and kept it is because, yes, it's such a simple act to write or I mean, it's harder than it seems, but to write these pages but then you do start to feel this momentum and these shifts happening in your life and, like the river, you're not sure where it's leading you and it almost creates this fear in the sense like, okay, I'm gonna, I need a jump ship. I need a jump ship. You know, I just need to go back almost to ways that you were comfortable with before, whether maybe that looks like the guy or the career or like whatever you know um. So I guess have you experienced that before, where you feel all this momentum with it but you get almost scared because you're not sure where it's taking you and it has. Have you felt like you've arrived? You know somewhere that you were meant to be.
Speaker 1I think for me I got to a point where I didn't care where the river was going to take me. I just couldn't stay on the bank Like I couldn't not jump in because I was just so miserable Like I. But it wasn't. It was like a background, miserable, you know like it looked. It was really good on paper and I had a great social life, probably partied too much, and you know it was just like it was working. But it wasn't working.
Speaker 1And I think that's what the morning pages does is it brings you back into your soul's truth and once you see the truth, then you can't really unsee it in a really beautiful way. So for me I feel like I just couldn't keep doing what I was doing. So I almost welcomed the momentum of like, take me, and I think that's where you kind of offer your purpose and your life to something bigger than you and in a way it kind of takes a little bit off your shoulders and of course we don't want to like, not take full responsibility. But I think there's it became a bigger vision of like how can I be in service and how can I feel good about what I'm doing at like my core of helping people versus, yeah, working for pharmaceuticals and you know.
Speaker 2Department of Defense and right, yeah, yes, just so that I'm clear and everybody else is a little bit more clear on what type of coaching you were doing before versus the type of coaching that you're doing now. So what did your corporate coaching look like?
Speaker 1That was more performance management, leadership development, and I think that's when I like really came to terms with what God I was working for, like the God of money or the God that's all powerful. And I actually had I think I've shared that with you I had a boyfriend at the time like asked me that question and because he overheard some calls that I was on and, yeah, just like really getting clear on that. So I was coaching in performance management, leadership development in a pharmaceutical like sales and marketing firm. So I had people really come to me with their concerns and then also just complete career trajectories, so just focused on the business and how they can align their performance to meet the business goals, so less holistic.
Speaker 2Right Now you have transitioned beautifully into something that is more holistic, and so I've taken one of your breathwork classes, which was amazing and so transformative. And I've done a lot of breathwork and it was the type of breathwork that I needed in that moment, and just the way that you held this space and just like feeling your presence and all the little synchronicities that happened during these experiences with right where the song was playing, and like feeling you hovering over me and just like releasing so many emotions that I had then was really powerful. So I've gotten to experience you in that way. I've gotten to experience you as a leader of our artist weight group and the way that you, yeah, help us through this book so wonderfully and make everyone feel very comfortable and just open to share their experiences, while also encouraging us to keep going. And then the feng shui part. I have not experienced yet, so could you explain a little bit about your? Is it feng shui consultations? Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1Yeah, I do consultations, but I'm really starting to include. You know, and that's the beautiful part of the river right. Like I remember when I first left corporate, I loved feng shui because, after coaching in corporate environments for five years, I was just so tired of us hanging out in the maze of the mind. I was just so tired of us hanging out in the maze of the mind and I wanted to get. Feng shui to me became more of an embodiment practice. Understanding.
Speaker 1In feng shui they believe the home is a body that holds the body right, that holds the soul. So we know breath work is like an embodiment practice, more somatic work, and I just I felt like there was such power and using the home as a 3D vision board, especially when you start to reinvent yourself. And now, who am I? And as we do our yeah, our own evolution in life, I feel like, is the home coming along with you. And even in our day-to-day age with, like social media, we can have goldfish brains of like three seconds you don't catch my attention, I'm moving on and I think the home is such a great like steady force to remind us of who we are and to mirror back to us who we're becoming, and so I feel like that was also me coming out of my super masculine and moving more into my feminine and giving myself, yeah, permission to go to interior design school and study feng shui with a teacher, because I got lost on YouTube University, like most of us.
Speaker 1You have to, you know, pick a lineage and go deep, and I did that, too, because I was feeling so stuck, and sometimes it came to me in my morning pages as well of like you need to and Julia talks about it in the book like, move something around, get rid of these clothes. Especially, I love the quote about like the, the low self-worth clothes, like that. And and then when we think about low self-worth clothes, we all can think of one um, and then it's like low self-worth furniture or things in our home that are mirroring back to us. If they're not mirroring back to us our worth, they can't, they should not be in our space, and I think then it extends out into relationships and you know, really getting firmer boundaries as a people pleaser of like, if you are not mirroring back to me my worth, I really don't want you in my space, because it's so important that we only have things mirrored back to us that help us value ourselves, because it can be so easy to be like well daggone.
Speaker 2I love when you say daggone. That makes me so happy. That's my virginia coming out, yeah so, yes, because your home it's a reflection of yourself. Um, when my mom watches this, she'll be like okay, annie, exactly that's why you shouldn't wear that old sweater anymore that I'm wearing right now, but I love this sweater, I feel good high.
Speaker 1High self-worth sweater.
Speaker 2This makes me think of, though, of, I guess, a question that I have that would be good for you. That's something I've thought about is a lot of times when I think, ever since I've been in my space now that I told you I called the little house of love yes, which could definitely this conversation is making me want to go throw some stuff away, but I do find that I am very particular about who I let into it, especially with guys too, and I guess is there anything feng shui about that, just my, I guess, my tendency to just not want people in my space, or you think it's just the tainting, the energy, or I don't know, I haven't really been able to put my finger on it.
Speaker 1Yeah, I would say there's like there's multiple lineages of feng shui and then there's just our own inner knowing of, and even the connection of, like breathwork and feng shui of moving, when you're moving the energy and you're being so intentional with what's in your space and where things are placed, in what directions, understanding your personal energy directions.
Speaker 1There's like so much to it. And so I would say to your question how it relates to feng shui, is the intentionality that you have in your space of love. Is that what it's called the space of love, the little house of love, the little house of love, and like who gets to come in, is such a to me it's just like high self-worth or like you know, not everyone gets to come in and um, I think that's so symbolic too of like who gets to come in our hearts and and we can have an open heart right and uh, without was just boundaries, and boundaries is like what we talked about. What was it? Week five, and being able to come back into our self-presence of yeah, I think that's when we really get to be in our our true genius too so I actually don't know a lot about feng shui and I.
Speaker 2one of the reasons for wanting to record this is so that I can educate people about it myself.
Speaker 1So if you were to sum up the basics of feng shui, yeah, okay, so there are, like I said, there's black hat, there's Tibetan Buddhism Excuse my accent, tibetan Buddhism. There's eight mansions, which is really the teacher I studied with is rooted in eight mansions, and there's also time space. So there's many different lineages, but I would say what they all have in common is the balance of the yin and the yang, and you know, we know that classic symbol, so it's the masculine and the feminine. So if you think about a space, it could be like circles and squares, right, circles is the feminine, squares is the masculine. So just as simple as that of just taking in a space of like having those you know balanced or in harmony. And then the five elements are also most and most lineages of feng shui, so really being able to understand, just like in traditional Chinese medicine, which support each other and which, like, take energy from each other. So once you understand those five elements, the feng shui that I practice is then using your birthday. So it's kind of like astrology your birthday will tell us what archetype you are, which is like an energy direction, and so that kind of gives you similar to astrology, like a high level of your type. And then also there's either East people or there's West people. So, depending on your personal energy directions, then I can tell you, based on your birthday, your directions for health. So that's like wellness, your health goals, your relationships, both in the living room relationships so more community and family and then relationships in the bedroom and then wisdom. So if you have a meditation practice or yoga practice, what direction to hone that practice? Or even if you like learning right, it doesn't have to just be spiritual and then success.
Speaker 1And I really started noticing, I started studying feng shui back in consulting days, because, let's be honest, I don't know if I was ever the best management consultant, but I had good energy and I worked with energy and I could. I always got myself in the power position to see, and even in networking events I can remember because I'm so sensitive to energy, which is like I think our gifts is then I could tell who the most important person was in the room by the way people were moving in the room. The most important person was standing still and usually towards the back and everyone was moving around them. And so in consulting you had to network hard to get the next project and high stakes, because if you didn't do well on a project. No one wanted to work with you again.
Speaker 1So I always remember, just like always, like tuning into the energy of the room to be able to sense. And then I've been doing it as a child too. I think I shared like I reinvented myself going from middle school, from elementary school to middle school. Um, but okay, I was in this square pink room and pink is not my color that's right, and then I okay.
Speaker 1My brother went to college and I moved into my brother's room and pink is not my color, oh, that's right, that's right. And then my brother went to college and I moved into my brother's room and I really did. I like I used to get made fun of for being overweight as a child and you know they called me Shamu on the bus. I'll never forget it. And like getting made fun of and then like declaring with the universe of, like, I'm going to reinvent myself, I'm going to my brother, anyone, every sibling's cool, right, but that was the cool room, that was a different part of the house, it was a big room, it wasn't pink and I got to reinvent myself in a middle school. I made friends with the people that used to bully me and I got on the bus with a different energy.
Speaker 1And I think that's what really started this, yeah, this passion for you know the essence of feng shui and then how it's so much more of like we're co-creating with our unseen forces and our energies. But when we understand what our personal energy directions are, I think that's a perfect place to start, because it can be really overwhelming. And feng shui always says like, don't do anything drastic right. Like move with the energy, kind of like water. Feng shui stands for wind and water. So you really want to flow with the space. You don't want to necessarily tear everything apart, and that's what I like to do with clients is really like muscle test within their space before we even start moving things around.
Speaker 1To come back to you, as the powerful healer that we all are of, I can give you these energy directions and we can take inventory. For example, if there's a trash can in your success direction, maybe we want to move the trash can. And before we move the trash can and put it in another direction, let's just muscle test. Are you familiar with muscle testing? No, so basically, you can test yourself by like, my name is Annie, you'd be strong. My name is George, you might be a little looser. And so, using muscle testing to kind of say this trash can, like right there, I'm going to move it over here and like, feel into, like, does that feel strong or does that feel more weak? And if it feels weak, then we, just as an example of like, especially with bigger items, so does that explain? Keep going.
Speaker 2No, I love it. Okay, so when you so you work with somebody, you come into their home, you are doing these practices and balancing and all that and personalizing it to them. And then what type of feedback have you gotten coming out of it? Like the differences that people see.
Harnessing Energy Through Intentional Spaces
Speaker 1Yeah, it's the momentum that you speak of and the morning pages. It's like okay, when we shift and move the energy in the space, especially coming out of a breakup or a divorce. I've worked with a lot of people who are going through professional reinventions, like I did, and it basically gets to remind you. I had a client recently that they were sleeping almost like underneath their stairs in a way, and we moved them into a bedroom and then they which maybe sounds like not the best example, because maybe most of us are in bedrooms but it's a beautiful example of just the way the space was laid out. It made sense, right, the space was laid out. It made sense, right, um, but then like helping them contain their energy, um, with door.
Speaker 1It like changed how contained they were in life and then they manifested relationship, and even the word manifest is a little. It's like I 100 believe in it and I 100 don't think that's a healthy place to be um, but I think it, regardless if you believe in manifestations or not, it's the subconscious mind and we're reinforcing what we're our containment, and when we're contained, I believe we're more, we have more magnetism because we're not leaking our energy and it's not all over the place, and so the home can be such a powerful place to contain your own energy and to remind yourself your values and to reinforce your worth of just what you keep around you.
Speaker 2Because that's what it sounds like in your example of growing up. It sounds like you made some changes and it built up your self-worth and your confidence at home and then that shown in other parts of your life.
Speaker 1Exactly yeah, like I didn't lose weight, nothing changed, but my energy changed, and I think that's where sometimes we can. It's the true sense of embodiment. Right, we can have these things, but if we're not embodied with them, they don't show us, we aren't mirrored back to them, they aren't being mirrored back to us in our experience.
Speaker 2I don't know if this is a good analogy to put here, but it's just something that's coming to mind. That I was telling a friend last night at the gym is in the book, when it says that running a half marathon makes you more likely to write the screenplay. And writing a screenplay makes you more likely to run the half marathon, because it's basically just the act of taking on a challenge or a risk and proving to yourself that you can do something makes you more able, or like more likely, to challenge yourself in other areas. That's exactly it.
Speaker 1I was actually running this morning thinking just that. I was like what else can I do? Right, like, I hit a run goal this morning. It was just like, okay, like, and it's also my energy is moving right. And when your energy is moving, you are more likely to keep it moving in the direction that you want, versus when your energy is not moving. And that's where I believe feng shui, the artist's way, and breathwork, all like, live under the same umbrellas, like once we get it moving, we get to shake off what's not ours, we get to process what we haven't processed, we get to witness ourselves as a loving witness, and then we get to really step fully into our power and the life that we really want to create that we might be still stuck in stagnant energy that not creating.
Speaker 2That's a really great way to sum it up. So I guess, similarly, the artist dates, the concept of that, which is essentially taking yourself on an artist date once a week and in our group I feel like we've summed up really nicely where it's anything that your inner child or you as a small child would have loved doing said differently, because it doesn't mean you necessarily have to be getting out pains. What are some other examples, would you say, for the artist dates for people that aren't familiar?
Speaker 1Yeah, I would say the artist date is really a time for you to connect with you and, even back to the containment that we just mentioned, it's like nobody's invited, not even my dog, which sometimes can be like like it would be really convenient to take my dog and my artist dates. But, um, yeah, and it's such a different experience because you're not in the energy of anyone or anything else and you're fully dropped in, with you having some sort of creative inspiration or a creative process yourself.
Speaker 2So you're being inspired or you're being the creator, and that's what it's like, I feel like it reinforces, week after week, being the creator of your life, like the creations are a reminder of us, of like we get to many times. We're on week eight, I believe, and there's been so many times where I'm like I'll text a friend. I'm like do you want to just cheat? And like you can come with me on my artisting, but it's never happened.
Exploring Self-Discovery and Spirituality
Speaker 2I never. I have not cheated yet. But yes, I know hair mumps, um, but yeah, I, because one of my other friends is doing it as well um, just separately, on her own. But I do see the value. It is kind of like what you're saying, like around boundaries and just time with yourself to get to know yourself, and also just so many times I realize, like when I do think through the logistics, of what that would mean if I did invite a friend. It's that thing in LA where you're saying, oh, let's do this, and then it never really comes to fruition.
Speaker 2And then there's the like someone like yes for someone who bailed at the last minute and then you're like stuck with those emotions. It kind of also protects you to where you don't have to like worry about any of those other factors and you can just show up for yourself, you know. So, yes, there's that. And then also, I think we've been talking lately about in some of the exercises that we've been doing, things that you would do if you didn't have fear. Or you know, if you could strip away a lot of the things that hold us back, what would you do? You know, if you could strip away a lot of the things that hold us back, what would you do?
Speaker 2And last night I was watching Dancing with the Stars and it was like, oh my gosh, I want to be able to dance like that, and other people in our group have done dancing related artist dates. But then I was like, Okay, I should do an artist date. And then I found myself once I was looking at these potential classes trying to find every excuse for me not to do that this week because there is a fear around it, you know. And so I do think probably part of this artistry thing is like going back to what we were saying with, like challenging yourself, and just knowing that if I can show up in a park with a random woman to teach me hip hop on, you know, a Sunday afternoon, then that probably opens the door for feeling like you can do other things.
Speaker 1Yes, it's meeting that edge and we see that all the time with breathwork, when people first start breathing and the first couple songs, that's when and I've come to now see my resistance to exactly what you're saying of like finding noticing. I'm coming up with a lot of excuses now, seeing that as like I think that's why I should lean into it, just like with breathwork, because we know our reptilian brain is just trying to keep us safe and in the what it knows. And if you start doing hip-hop in park on a Sunday, who are we? Right, and that's the beautiful place to be, because we want to be in that place where, yeah, I do hip hop in a park on a Sunday regularly now and that's also who I am.
Speaker 2That's also who I am.
Speaker 1Let me reintroduce myself, and because I started doing that, then I started doing this and this, and that's when we get our power back, and I think that's at the root of my mission, and all my work is like helping people get back in their power in such a culture that, yeah, I don't believe is really set up to have us in our power, exactly.
Speaker 2And I also think exploring so many different parts of ourselves or wanting to have all of these different hobbies and interests and everything, because it does feel like our society or world or whatever it is, really wants you to be one thing and that's how you're going to find success, because you're this and you do that really well. You know, versus having all of these different interests and there's a million things that you could do, like I get very overwhelmed. All the things I want to do, you know, versus having all of these different interests and there's a million things that you could do, like I get very overwhelmed with all the things I want to do. You know, and I'm sure you're the same type of way. So this is almost a way to feel like you're being productive by doing all these different types of things. Yeah, because you're checking your artist's date box.
Speaker 1You know, yeah, and I think productive is also, like you know, can be heavy. You're right. Expression feels like the most productive thing we can do is to allow ourselves. I gave myself a year to explore, and that's where I did interior design school. I even did real estate. I don't know what I was thinking.
Speaker 2I remember you mentioning that, Was that? Do you think that was tied to the home or wanting to help people with their homes.
Speaker 1It was me trying to make sense of how I was going to make money. Okay, I was like, how am I going to make money? And yeah, it goes back to just like the journey of jumping in the river and like seeing where it takes you. But I had a friend at the time who invited me on to be her assistant with her real estate practice and I remember I even did home organizing, did this like big project in Ojai, and I just remember sitting in these open houses and sitting in these home organizing like hourly, like on the clock, like go, go, go, go, don't stop, and I was like, wow, this is. I hadn't been an hourly worker in a long time and it was really dysregulating to my nervous system.
Speaker 1And then also just like being in these open houses and feeling like God was using me, like you know back to like who I work for of, like I can serve God in this way, like hi, how are you? And just feeling like spirit speaking, like girl, this ain't it, like this isn't your highest and brightest path, and so eventually you just have to. I was actually I was supposed to do an open house when I did the breathwork certification oh, really, and I decided to choose the breathwork over the open house and she never invited me back again and looking back I'm like I'm so glad I chose breathwork because I needed money and it was kind of like it was another question of like, what God do you serve? Like the God of money or the all powerful God that is taking you down?
Speaker 2the river. There's so many interesting things about money. I feel like I just want to reference those quotes, because you know that I've been on this money journey. The recovering a sense of possibility are a couple that I highlighted too. Which is one of the chief barriers to accepting God's generosity is our limited notion of what we are in fact able to accomplish. And then also, if we learn to think of God, receiving God's good, as being an act of worship, cooperating with God's plan to manifest goodness in our lives, we can begin to let go of having to sabotage ourselves. So that's, I mean, it's not directly related to the money part, but I think that this does correlate with something that I did want to get into a little bit is that one of the most beautiful things about the artist's way to me is getting closer to God and your idea of God, and also I think that this you know showing the way that it points out to you that the God that's generous, who's creative, who makes snowflakes in his spare time you know, of course, that God would want you to be doing wonderful, beautiful, intricate, whatever you feel would want you to be doing hip hop in the park, you know what I mean and just feeling like you're not doing anything wrong or like too extravagant or whatever by doing those things and also just leaning into his generosity, his, her, whatever generosity and yeah. So I mean I think that I've been very something I wanted to explore here because I feel like you're I don't know someone that I would like to talk to about it Just I have this fear lately about I've been getting to know God a lot better, and myself, obviously, through this practice and others and I have this real fear of discussing God with people, with people in church, like Venice I shouldn't pinpoint Venice, but it does feel like here, where it is such a spiritual place, but a lot of times it feels like spirituality and God I don't know that might just be something that I'm making up feels like two separate things, you know, and I'm kind of coming to a place where I'm accepting this like Holy Spirit, as spirituality.
Speaker 2You know all this stuff, but it's really hard. I have this fear of talking to people about it, because I do recognize that religion and people's like past experiences can be very triggering for them and they might relate God to these past times that they had in their life or something like that, yeah. So anyway, I think that you, it was really nice how the group started where it didn't. It didn't feel like this scary topic or super taboo or anything like that, and I don't know. I just wanted to get your thoughts on the topic of God and your experience with leaning in something like the artist's way that does talk about God.
Navigating Spiritual Growth and Self-Discovery
Speaker 1Yeah, well, I think the artist's way, the way we kicked off, is also the way you know, julia, names of like in the beginning it's it can be triggering and just naming that and naming that God can be so many things. And the word G-O-D is, you know, it's interchangeable and I personally identify with being very spiritually polygamous and that's been part of my journey of even as a child. I remember my mom tried to, not tried, but she did try. I was really excited to get confirmed to church because I grew up reading the Bible and I remember I did like the 30 days of Proverbs one time in like middle school.
Speaker 1And it was like life. It was actually when I moved into that new room. I was like to the moon High school, here we come.
Speaker 1And just feeling so connected to spirit. I can remember as a child like seeing angels. I also grew up in Yorktown, virginia, where it's basically a battlefield, but I've always felt so connected and I would cry in church because I would just like I cry, even talking about remembering crying in church because it's such a feeling when you feel the Holy Spirit it's like wow, and there's no denying that feeling when you start crying because it's so real. And when I got confirmed I was so excited. I was in a Methodist church and I was like, oh my gosh, this means we're going to learn about all the different religions. This is so exciting.
Speaker 2I didn't know that's what that meant for in a Methodist church. It doesn't Okay.
Speaker 1It actually means we're just going to learn the Methodist church. It doesn't Okay. It actually means we're just going to learn the Methodist way and I that was my first time really holding my own of like no, I'm not going to do this. Instead, I want to go to every church in town Like let's experience what's Baptist like and I want to hear gospel. And you know like I and I refused to get confirmed and the preacher was coming to my house mentoring me. I remember my mom leaving church crying.
Speaker 1I was a real problem child, but that's how I think at a very young age I realized this is so much bigger than just what you're telling me.
Speaker 1And maybe, again, it's my not always listening to authority for better or for worse, and also just having an open mind, but greeting the church and feeling the holy spirit and crying as a, as a kid, like there was a knowing that this is way bigger and um, I think that's where our souls just remember. It's, it's and that's what all this work is. It's just a remembering and I think the artist's way is we get to remember the way God sees us and how we get to see God and get to reframe maybe some of these narratives of a lot of judgment and if you aren't doing this then you aren't serving God and I think it just kind of gets down to like, who's to say like and even different bible verses. I can get so frustrated because I hear a verse and then I try to go find it and it's said 3 000 different ways and I'm like daggone, like can't we just there's, no, there's, so there's no.
Speaker 2I think dogma just has nothing to do with our connection with spirit and in ven you, yeah, there can be also a lot of like emptiness in this high vibe that actually doesn't have soul to it Right, and I do think, because soul is the depths, like soul is it is the depths and I think it's the depths below ego that's sitting so high up right, and so much of it we can find ourselves doing is serving ego and our egotism, which, yes, is something that I've been exploring or thinking about a lot, I guess through my church group that I was in and this book which you know, there's like I'll highlight the little places that it says ego, um, because, yeah, it's like stepping outside of that, and I think that's such a beautiful way to say it, because when our ego is attached to our spiritual identity, we actually are missing what being spiritual can be.
Speaker 1I can remember working this dance for a dear friend, um er Rose Warren, who I love. She does these amazing dances in Topanga and when I was kind of you know, real estate design school, figuring my, I was working, not work. I was, yeah, volunteering and taking names in the door and these fabulous people would come with, like feathers in their hats, you know, spiritual people ready to dance, and they were so rude to me at the door, checking them in, and then I went and danced with these people and I found myself being in my ego of like, take that feather out your hat, take the feather out your hat, you're not nice. You are not nice and you're dancing the spiritual dance. But you were not kind to me. Actually, you were very, not nice, not kind.
Speaker 1I worked in a daycare and that's like what we learned how to speak and it just makes me remember we're all just children walking around. But I wanted to say like, not nice and, at the end of the day, like, perhaps spirituality and God is. You know, there's a course of range, of being nice, and it's not all about being nice, but I think being kind and humble and considerate of the other human in front of you, that's also God in human form, like my word. And, yeah, we're all on our journeys and I'm by no means perfect, but I do really try to, yeah, take that into consideration with how I treat everybody.
Speaker 2Yes, same, I know it's really hard. I mean, I find it hard Everyone's in a different area of the spectrum here but my gap I find between how I am deep down and how I want to be and everything, and then how I present myself. Sometimes there is a gap, you know, and I think some of that is natural, but then some of it is. I think I mean, again, going back to the morning pages and all of these things, it's like just the awareness of even the gap that it exists, you know, and that, yeah, because I do find myself, even when I go to church I will be snappy with people and then, but I think I like, I'm like, oh, but they don't really know me. You know what I mean and it's like, no, that's me. Still, that's me. Yeah, you know, like presenting myself in that moment, you know and you are, it's like who you are is like moment by moment.
Speaker 1Yes, I found myself cursing someone out on the driving to teach breath work and it's just like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, who are you? And I think it goes back to remembering how the divine sees us. It's like you are still lovable. That's one of the messages I got one time in the bathtub when I had gone through a breakup and I made this protest of leaving a bracelet he'd given me with this note that I rewrote a thousand times.
Speaker 1As a lover of poetry, I'm sure you can understand my last words. It was so dramatic, it was so dramatic and I hung it on the door handle and I left to never return. And then I got in the bathtub and I immediately started regretting it. I was like dang, that was a really immature way to like end the breakup. Like I could have had a conversation, could have like leaned into here's what my needs aren't being met, and I just wasn't there yet. But I remember hearing my angels in the bathtub being like you are still lovable. Like you could have slashed his tires, you could have stole his plants off the front porch, you could have burned his house down and you'd still be lovable. All you did was leave a bracelet with a note.
Embracing Holistic Transformation Within Wellness
Speaker 2Like, wow, that's such a good reminder. That is such a good reminder because, yes, I think a lot of us, myself included, don't it's. It doesn't even come on a radar to extend that grace to yourself, like, especially in those types of moments. You know, like right before this, actually, I had my day scheduled out, you know, and it's been slow at work, and so I was like, you know, I don't have to tell anyone that I'm taking this time to come do this podcast. And then I had a working session with a co worker for an hour. But then he's like, can you go long? I should have just put my boundary up and said I can't go long, but I decided not to.
Speaker 2And then not only was I, you know, like as time crept on into that next half hour, I was like really hungry because I hadn't planned, you know, for like I plan to stop then and eat my food. So like I'm lightheaded from being hungry, I'm stressed out because I'm like I have to get off, like I have to. And then I start spiraling into this like whole thing Once I get off the call with him, that like I should have done this and I should have done that and I should have, like you know, taken off for the afternoon and had it officially be PT, all these things. And it's like, instead of just being like you know what, annie, that's okay, you're just trying your best to get to this podcast interview to just spread some love, and it's okay, like it's okay that you're hungry and like whatever. Yeah, you know, but it's like I think that a lot of times it's like the natural reaction is just to like, beat yourself up for sure, and I think that's our way of like, trying to quote-unquote do better.
Speaker 1But I think it's so fascinating when we show ourselves that grace of like you're still lovable, and when we really embody how lovable we are, it's like we we start to make different choices and it's like the the quickest way to get the, maybe the shift that we're wanting, from being hard on ourselves when actually we can just love on ourselves more.
Speaker 2The shifts happen on their own of yes it made me think, now that you're off on your own, as like having your own business and everything. I think it's something that people come across a lot whenever they are trying to start out like that. It's a lot of times I don't know if you experienced this, but like maybe you're on a call with somebody and they're like oh well, I want this and like like basically, I'm selling yourself short, just because you feel like you have to. For some reason, you know, or you feel like you've grown and like really established good boundaries with like this is my price, this is the package, like take it or leave it, kind of thing.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's that's been. It really is a journey. I think, as of lately I've gotten really clear to answer your question of not selling myself short I'm realizing more and more it's kind of like the evolution that I went from my passion and love of coaching and like leadership development and performance management was really helping people step into their fullest potential and like the journey of that and it's such a personal one because, like we said, with the complexities of our own developmental experience and, you know, traumas getting stuck in time in our body and then being able to move from coaching to interior design, to feng shui, to breath work, to now back to the way I'm now holding this is I actually don't want to just feng shui your home, Like I want to support your whole life and really truly, I don't see a lot of people in the wellness space talking about the home supporting them. I don't see anyone. Actually, we feel like we talk about I don't see a lot of people in the wellness space talking about the home supporting them. I don't see anyone. Actually, we feel like we talk about I haven't seen any. Every yeah, but like that's such a holistic part and it's a daily practice, just like the morning pages, Like if you do morning pages and move the energy in your home in an intentional way every day. That is the momentum that you're talking about.
Speaker 1So I now want to work with people who want the whole shebang, who want to use tools like breathwork and feng shui, but really want to break out of the stuckness that I was in for years, of true change. Like, if you want to go from A to B, then knowing will get you to B and B getting to B includes all of these things. And so because I found myself being less fulfilled when I only have a feng shui client and they just want to do feng shui, they don't want to look at what else is there. And I think feng shui is also deeply shadow work Like I recently had a client just working with their bedroom alone and we spent a lot of time just moving the energy of tears, of just staying with right, and that's where gestalt psychology is so helpful in the work of feng shui. It's just being able to stay with the emotion that's attached to the bedroom furniture until it can transcend and it can move, and then we can move the actual furniture or we can sell it and get new furniture, right. So it's all transformational work.
Speaker 1But I think wanting to hold my own on, like I wanna work with people who want the feng shui and want the breath work and want the somatic coaching, but like really are willing to look at all parts of themselves, not just one area, yes, and it probably goes back to like you actually care about people a lot you know, and it's like if you care about the person, really, you want whatever is best for them, like whatever approach it's going to take, or like, however, they should be looking at something you know to help them and resolve whatever needs to be, or heal whatever needs to be healed.
Exploring the Artist's Way
Speaker 2Yeah, yes, help them and resolve whatever needs to be, or heal whatever needs to be healed. Yeah, um, yes, because as you're saying this, it's like I'm realizing in the back of my mind that, like my messiness, clutter everything and my lack of wanting to clean, probably, like you, could probably go so many different directions with that. You know, um, whether that is feng shui or just like like childhood trauma. You know, like all these different ways that I think that could probably be approached and I feel like someone like you would probably know you know what I mean like the best way based on your client. You know, um, where to start.
Speaker 1I guess the best starting place yes, and the starting yes, and it's really like getting to the root of where it lives and staying with that until we, you know, I always think of like the dandelion example, of like you don't just cut the dandelion, which could be an example of just a traditional coaching container, where we just talk and talk and talk.
Speaker 1Maybe the dandelion gets cut, but the roots are still there and like a million other dandelions are going to pop up, and so it's really getting to the point where we pull out the root of the dandelion so it doesn't grow back and we get to go through the process. And I think that's where everyone's so unique of their own experience with exactly the example that you're given. It can be so many things, a lot of times compiled on top of each other, that create this new behavior, habit, thought, feeling, right, and then we just get to the core of it and then we get to reinvent it or really transcend it and then, with a flat, no dandelion soil, we get to decide what do we want to plant there? Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2Well, I want other people to experience the artist's way, because I feel like I've been trying to tell my friends and family about it and I that's why I was hoping to have this conversation, because I'm like, well, one of the reasons yeah, reasons is just because it's really I find it being overwhelming for me to try to sum it up, but so you're planning to offer the artist way In January?
Speaker 1Yes, yes, is that what you're asking? Yes, yes, the next one will start January 15th. And did you want me to give a summary of the artist way? That would be great. Let me have it. Yes, it really is a beast to try to.
Speaker 2It's so hard because I wasn't expecting it to touch so many different areas and I think, maybe just starting with the idea that the definition of artists is like what you know, because I think, just like how we were talking about how God can have certain stigmas, or can you know, people can have different ideas of that it's like there's many different ideas of what an artist is. I was telling a friend who's a nurse and she's going through nursing school. I was like nursing can be an art, right, sure, because you are, there's a science. But then the creativity of how you're caring for patients, you know, and and work with them, you know, yeah, and I was just gonna add on to that.
Speaker 1In the intuition, yes, I think I see the artist way personally as a gateway to our own inner knowing, which is heightened intuition, like a nurse knows what to do and when they're, just like an artist knows what paint to use and what brush to use. There's like a knowing that I feel, like the artist way. It does touch so many areas of all the parts in ourselves that we may have lost connection with and that we get to reconnect with, to remember our knowing and so understanding exactly what you're saying everyone is an artist because everyone is a child of the triggering word, god and um or not triggering, right, like I, yeah, god is love, yeah, and I think it's always, you know, we always gotta like name too that when we can't tiptoe around what trigger others because we're denying others their process with it, like let it trigger them.
Speaker 2That is such a good point. Yes, well, yes, say what is authentic and yeah, and then maybe it's meant to trigger somebody.
Speaker 1Yeah, to have their own process with it, because a lot of times we just get triggered and triggered and triggered and triggered until we finally realize daggone. There's something here. I've said daggone a couple times now. Now I'm realizing how much I say it, but there's something to look at, right.
Speaker 1And yeah, I think maybe the artist's way even supports that of being less worried about triggering others with either our decisions, our expressions, our poetry, our writing and fearlessly sharing ourselves.
Speaker 1Because at the core we got us, like I got you, and for the longest time I wasn't there, like I didn't have me in a way that I could express myself fully. And I think that's just a journey within a journey. But I would say the artist's way is really a way to come back into your fullest expression and that gets to be really felt. I believe in the areas for me of work and relationships and deepening communication, because even the practice of writing every morning that heightens, I feel, my ability to you know I wasn't the best Toastmasters speaker, but I feel like there's more of a flow that gets to come online because I'm strengthening the muscle, just bringing science into the space of neuroplasticity of the muscle, of connecting my emotions to my thoughts to my words, right. And that's a wiring that's happening, that gets to be easier and easier as we strengthen the muscle of oh, this is how I feel and oh, this is what I'm going to say about that.
Speaker 2And another thing and you just open up the channel, the vessel, yes, and I yeah, and even I feel like you describe it well too. Even if you are, do you feel stuck, just flowing through that as a way it does, inevitably you become unstuck at certain some points.
Speaker 1you know what I mean just by the, the flowing words, and you know pen and everything yeah, and what you said in the beginning too, of like, not only do you get unstuck, but you get less fearful of where the river is taking you, you, you. There's trusting, there's a trusting in yourself, there's a trusting in a higher power, and there's a trusting in the magical unfolding of even finding the artist's way at the right time, and I feel like that's also just magic in itself. And when we really take an inventory, I'm at the ripe old age now where I can look back on my life and be like I have enough evidence at this point where you can't convince me otherwise. There isn't some wild orchestration happening here, because there's been too many examples of how perfect everything actually is, when we can return to our present moment and who we are and where we're going.
Speaker 2Yes, yeah, our present moment, and who we are and um where we're going, yes, and it opens up so many your awareness of synchronicities, I think too, which is, yeah, just, I guess, more um encouragement that you're heading in the right not the right direction, but, but there's hope.
Speaker 1Yes, I feel like there's been so many hopeless days for me and I have prayed, I have asked to like give me a sign just last night actually, Really yeah, and I got it, and I think that's what's such a great reminder, with the artist's way that helps us remember of like. Oh yeah, we are co-creating here. Like it's not just me on an island and it's not just God who calls all the shots, Like it's there's a, there's a relationship here, and like I can ask and, and oh my gosh, and sometimes, when things do feel hopeless and something small serendipity that doesn't even turn into anything but that little hope of like this can't make that up, right?
Speaker 2Exactly, you're being listened to by something, yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, and I'm in control. I think that's so much about the artist way too is like you get to end feng shui, you get to reclaim what you have control over. It's the ultimate serenity prayer of I can control my morning pages, that I'm at least show up to them. I don't know what's going to come in them, but I can, I can do that. And then I can control my morning pages, that I'm at least show up to them. I don't know what's going to come in them, but I can. I can do that. And then I can also control my environment. And I think those are two really good places to start and controlling my breath.
Speaker 2Yes, yeah, are we close to time? Oh yeah, sorry, I got to there.
Speaker 1So how can people learn more about your next session for the Artist's Way and your breathwork and your feng shui and all the things? Workshop coming up, um. Two coming up in january, where we'll be using the home to support as a 3d vision board and to really step into 2025. So I have a workshop on january 12th at mudwater and I have a workshop on january 19th at anna namundi and um. The next artist way starts january 15th and um. You can find me on instagram at underscore Elizabeth Armstead, and my website's always a work in progress, but there's also my website. And, yeah, if you're looking to have support or if you're feeling stuck with work or relationships or really wanting to reinvent, I'd love to help support people and stepping into their power and coming back home to themselves.
Speaker 2I can attest that it works.
Speaker 1Thank you. Thank you so much. You're so welcome. Thank you so fun.
Speaker 2Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of Breath Word. If you enjoyed the conversation, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. It helps more people find the show. You can also follow us on Instagram at heybreathword, for updates and behind the scenes content. Until next time, take care, breathe easy and enjoy life as poetry.