Living a Spirit-Led Life

In the inaugural episode of Spiritual Unraveling, hosts Nate and Ashley share their personal journeys of spiritual awakening, emphasizing the importance of community, self-discovery, and the unique paths each individual takes. They discuss the role of spiritual teachers, the significance of love in the unraveling process, and the collective awakening happening in society post-COVID. The conversation invites listeners to embrace their own spiritual journeys and recognize their inherent power.

Transcript

Nate (00:12.12)
Welcome everyone to episode one of Spiritual Unraveling. We thought today we would take a moment and just talk to everyone about who we are, who Ashley and I are as friends, and what our goals and intentions are for the podcast. Basically, you you guys want to know what you're getting into. And we want to elaborate a little bit.

I think the first place we could start, just part of the history is talking about how long we've known each other and kind of our friendship. So we've known each other for 20 years and we met through my wife Kelly and Ashley. You guys worked together at a group home 20 years ago in Marin. I don't know, do you wanna take it from here and talk just a little bit about that experience and how you came into our lives?

Ashley (01:10.764)
Sure, sure. Yeah, it was a wonderful experience to meet Kelly and have this friendship really based in our sort of becoming, our spiritual awakening at that time. And we would get together on a Saturday and

spend 10 hours talking about all this stuff. And it was a really like exciting time. so yeah, we were kind of there together at the beginning and we've been through a lot with this unfolding and it's really exciting to come together now and share our conversations. Cause we've always, you know, had this

synergy in our path. And it's always been so enlivening to share what we're going through and how we're working with these spiritual ideas and incorporating them into our lives. So I'm really looking forward to seeing what we create here.

Nate (02:26.557)
Yeah, so am I. Yeah, I just, I'm gonna elaborate a little bit. You and my wife Kelly and our good friend Carmen would get together as girlfriends on Saturday and chat on the couch and it was, it was kind of just about life, but there was always a spiritual bent. And I, as Kelly's boyfriend at the time, would like peek my head in around the corner. I was listening in, I'd chime in every once in while and then finally,

I think you, Ashley, you invited me and you're like, come on, Nate, come on, you have, you want to contribute, you want to be part of this conversation. And I did. then, and that kind of was the beginning of the four of us really exploring a lot of really deep topics. And I think before we move on, I do just want to point out one of the, couple of the touchstone, excuse me, touchstones for me were when you introduced me to Abraham Hicks.

through a CD package, which was, I think, a cruise, and that was awesome. I barely understood it. I remember the words coming in, and me being like, as a recovering religious person, like, this is so much better. I feel so less shameful and guilty listening to this. It was just like so much relief. I think you also exposed us to our first deck of angel cards, which I was also just like immediately picked up and was like,

I love the energy of this. It was this way of bringing back spirituality into my life, again, as like somebody who's recovering from pretty hardcore religious upbringing, bringing back like a sense of empowerment and fun and kind of zest with all of these new things. And then we just all, the four of us, we all explored that stuff going forward.

I just wanted to put that part in because I feel like that was, for me notably, those were two really big moments that kind of unlocked a lot of my spiritual questioning and just the beginning really of my spiritual journey. And I guess that kind of brings us to a little brief discussion about where we're at with our spiritual journey. And so we had those kind of introductory times and those were like 15 years ago now and you and I have

Nate (04:50.946)
both been doing a lot of work so i don't i'll throw it back over to you what would you like to say about that

Ashley (04:58.48)
Well, as you were reminding me more about that time period and you know about the law of attraction and the angel cards, that was the time that I was really working closely with Wendy DeRosa, the energy healer. And she, that work was just opening up my whole spiritual

sort of remembering. It felt really like remembering. And it was like oxygen at that time. And there was this sort of 10 year period where I maybe was leaving the land of just pursuing ego led, you know, conditioned pursuits and transitioning more into

what you've described as a spirit led life. And so that was just a very exciting time, my late twenties, early thirties of discovering this, the world of spirit and energy. And as a, sensitive person, as an intuitive person, learning about energy medicine and the energy body and the spirit, spiritual body, and the spiritual realm was just

amazing. It changed my whole life. then in my mid 30s, I discovered Adyashanti, who is a spiritual teacher from California who, it would be hard to sum up what his teaching is, but it's a non -dual teaching. that for me was very, very life changing.

it brought me up to Silent Retreat, which really led me to discovering my own sort of internal access to healing and to spiritual awakening. So going on these long silent retreats and then working with spiritual inquiry and

Ashley (07:21.418)
everything that I had also learned in from therapy and the energy healing world and things I had already kind of known. Bringing all of that together in this silence, in this spaciousness was also just very life changing and has really led me to where I am now, which is leading silent retreats and bringing my

experience as a psychotherapist, also all the energy healing work that I've done and this incredible powerful experience in silence, bringing people up to the mountain and doing these silent retreats. And then just this pretty powerful way of

of living and relating to my kids, to my friends, to my family, and to life and to myself. This just kind of constant awakening experience and embodying awakening in my life. that's really where we are, I think, in this podcast is really bringing in this

practical embodied experience of awakening. And it's really exciting.

Nate (08:56.322)
it is. Excuse me, it's very exciting. Yeah, I will just, I'll quickly do a little bit of my own take on, so after you introduced me to Abraham Hicks, I really went deep with them for a number of years, read all their books, attended some conferences, loved that world, led me into

all of the wonderful authors of Hay House, went to some I Can Do It, loved Wayne Dyer, really got into. I find that I'm a consumer of lots of different ideas and books and I really love getting into different kind of approaches. And I guess one of the things that happened

excuse me, happened for me in that process was really a sense that there's no right or wrong way. I kind of did the thing for a while where I followed some dogmatic principles for a while and didn't have great results with that, whether it was like a really, really rigid practice of one particular style of kind of a spiritual teacher, and I've done more than one.

like following courses and whatnot. And all of them help and they all enlivened me, but I also felt very kind of put off by the rigidity and also felt like there was just something off in a lot of those experiences. And I think in that process, what I was noticing was off was this idea that somehow someone else has the answer.

and that the answers aren't within me. And I know that that idea wasn't necessarily even perpetuated by these teachers. A lot of it was just my own inadequacy and also kind of the indoctrination of culture, which says, you know, who are you to be a teacher? You're a student. You don't know things. You have to go to other people. But we're talking about the soul. We're talking about our own individual.

Nate (11:21.545)
kind of grace and if you really listen in to a lot of those teachers, Wayne Dyer, Esther Hicks, all of those people that I was kind of like dogmatically following, know, at their essence what they are all saying is, you know, you have the answers within you. Nobody else has the answers. This is not a one -size -fits -all journey. This is very much a unique and

heart -led experience and you have to be, know, brave enough to trust yourself and to know that you're going to be your own best guide. And so that was kind of my biggest revelation over the last 15 years of just doing lots of spiritual work is realizing this kind of big realization that, you know, I have the answers within and my new passion is really

sharing that with other people and trying to empower people so that they can find their own individual way of expressing their spirituality. I did also want to say that I think what you and I are both, what we have in common right now is this, I'll say it more explicitly, stepping out of the spiritual closet, like bringing spirituality into all aspects of my life. For many years I worked

doing animal assisted therapy with children, beautiful work, working with kids in foster care and taking abused animals and kids with histories of abuse and neglect and bringing them together and watching them heal. And yet, and I never brought in my spirituality into that, but actually watching that experience over like 15 years of doing that work, it was all soul driven and heart led.

We always used to say, just get the humans out of the way, let the animals and the kids do their thing because they will balance each other out. The air balances you out. And I think, you know this from Silent Retreat as well, we have a tendency to overcomplicate a lot of this stuff and it's just not that complicated. The complicated part is trusting that if you strip away a lot of the old stuff, the kind of...

Nate (13:47.375)
the core of you is gonna know where to go and what to do. And I think what you and I want to explore in this podcast is how do we support ourselves and support other people in bravely stepping into that when we don't see a lot of, we don't see that modeled everywhere. There's a lot of people teaching this stuff, but you and I have a real interest in talking about what it is like to actually live it. So.

That was my little spiel. I'm curious what you think of that.

Ashley (14:18.328)
Well, I just as you were talking, I just kept thinking of the title of the podcast, Spiritual Unraveling. And, you know, as we work, as we talk about different topics or different things that we're working with in our actual lived lives, what we're really talking about is sort of the unraveling to what you are talking about, which is your

your soul, your heart led life, your journey. It's unlike anybody else's. And so all these teachers are, these beautiful teachers are just pointing you back to yourself, pointing us back to ourselves over and over and over again. And you know, our practices, our, you know, the ways that we're working with our thoughts, the ways we're working with our emotions.

how we treat our bodies, how we treat each other. Everything comes back to this heart led, spirit led life that is your masterpiece. It's your creative endeavors every moment of your life. It's working with your own creative impulse, your own...

soul's voice and then taking action.

I'm excited about the opportunity to talk about this and invite other people into exploring their own process, their own practices, their own places where they could even move more into that space. That's just the invitation.

Ashley (16:22.594)
There's no right or wrong for any of us. And that's kind of the good news and the bad news, isn't it? There is no one right way. And as a recovering perfectionist, it's hard to take these leaps of faith into what does my heart want? What does my heart want for me? And take the risk to try it and see where it goes. And that's...

Nate (16:27.594)
Mm -hmm.

Ashley (16:50.7)
really the essence of this podcast. We're doing this about that space, but also from that space.

Nate (16:59.201)
Yes, I love that, about that space and from that space very much. And there is, I just want to echo that, what you just said, that sentiment. There is both incredible freedom and maybe a little bit of terror in the idea that there's no particularly right way to do any of this or a path or a way.

It's really moment to moment trying to stay heart centered and live in a way that is brave because you're not following anyone else's dictates or mores or whatever you're looking within. You're trying to touch into your emotions, to your body, to your heart.

in all of these things, you know, because there's lots of different facets and you're trying to, you know, integrate all of that into daily living when I'll be honest, I don't see a lot of people doing that and I'm not knocking anybody. I'm just, you know, I think when we're in this place, there is a little bit of stumbling around trying to find how to do it, you know.

How do I show, just, my kids are going back to school this week. on the East Coast, so we start later than you guys do. And like going to orientation, know, going to the first, you know, showing up with your kids and looking at the classrooms. hundreds of people in the hallway, walking around, you can feel the nerves, you can feel all of the energy and my kids are nervous and I'm a little nervous and how do I slow things down a little and...

try to take in those moments. There's nothing to get through. It's trying to be present in those moments, you know? And it was hard. It was not easy, you know? It's a lot of old programming and a lot of old body, somatic stuff comes up. And that's really where I think just talking about this stuff, supporting each other in that is going to be

Nate (19:21.132)
really big deal. It's and we were talking about this before we got on the podcast. How do we create things in our lives? Whether they're moments or activities or different things that just reflect back to us reminders to be in a spirit -led life. And I think for me that is one of the things that I am both hoping I can provide through this podcast.

for other people, but I know we'll inherently do it for myself and for you, which is like just creating a moment, a spot, a landing place where it's like, this is gonna be something that reminds you, you know, we're walking this path and we get to do it our way. for you and I, we really wanna be doing it from a spirit led, heart led, kind of soul driven way.

Ashley (20:18.39)
Yeah, you just said a lot. That was my first thought when you were talking is this phrase came to me, don't abandon yourself. So that in each moment, we have these opportunities to not go into that condition of self abandonment. When you were talking about, you know, the answers being with the teachers or

you know, as a sensitive person going into back to school, the first day of school and feeling the anxiety in the space or even, you know, the risk of following your heart comes with a lot of, is this okay? Am I allowed to not abandon myself? Am I allowed to stay with my experience, whatever it is?

in this present moment, whether it's anxiety or insecurity or joy or excitement or whatever it is, can I simply not abandon myself? And, you know, one of the things we were talking about before the podcast was how simple these ideas are and that how we'll probably be coming back to the same core concepts that are so simple over and over again as we explore different topics. But I like

that phrase that just came to me, which is not abandoning yourself.

Ashley (21:54.058)
And you said something else and now I can't remember what the other thought I had was and this might happen a lot.

Nate (21:56.176)
Yeah, well and I like that idea too about not abandoning yourself and it's Yeah, this stuff isn't it isn't Complicated but I do I can speak from my own personal experience and say that I feel like Those kind of high moments when there's a lot of stuff going on and you're being pulled in multiple directions

It's there's such a weird irony there that those are the moments where you really want your spiritual practice to support you. from experience, those are the moments that I so often kind of lose it. It's like it floats away. I'm like, yeah, where's my presence? I don't know. I'm now 10 minutes in ahead, like just hoping to get through this thing. And I'm, yeah, and I'm just, you know, I think it's practice. It's practice and it's just...

Ashley (22:48.13)
Survival mode.

Nate (22:55.776)
It's a muscle, you know, and that's another thing that I think I'm wanting to gain from this podcast experience and sharing it with you and everybody else is this reminder that it feels hard at first, but it just gets easier and easier the more you just have that moment of recognition. And you can even still let yourself float off and have that kind of

survival mode or just get through it moment. And each time you're gonna get a little bit more of yourself back into that experience until hopefully the goal, and I'm not there, I'm not the guru, I'm living this experience. So you know, I get more and more moments of really slowing things down, staying present, being able to move into the heart space.

come a little bit down from the head. I want that for myself because I want to feel good in every moment. And I also want that, like in that moment, I wanted it for my kids so that I could be fully present for them, these little people going out into the world and they're looking to all the adults. And I want to be somebody who can be in my heart space.

present in the moment so that I can model for them as well, which I certainly didn't have modeled for me. I think that's another piece to this puzzle that informs my decision to try to live a more spirit -led life. Hopefully not teaching, not forcing, not doing anything, just modeling.

a little more presence and a little bit more heart for everyone. Anyone who's willing to pick it up. And anyone who's not, that's okay too. But definitely for my littles.

Ashley (24:59.544)
Yeah, you're, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think you're, when we go back to the kind of energy medicine, we're talking about a transmission and the energy transmission of presence is very powerful. The energy transmission of a heart centered life is probably a lot more powerful than a lecture about.

heart centered life and.

And I also feel that way about, it's not an urgency, but an essential value of modeling and being that for my kids and sort of opening up a different path than the one that I was exposed to as a kid. And it's kind of exciting.

how in one lifetime that those paths seem so drastically different that we can offer to the next generation. that's really, it actually grounds you.

I imagine, you know, it's harder when you're working with your own insecurities or your own ego, it can be hard to find that ground. It can be hard to find that space. But when you're offering it, when you're thinking about somebody else or even just the larger world, it can be easier to find that ground and that sense of purpose or commitment or devotion.

Ashley (26:52.278)
I know for me that's true. And I was also, this was the thing I forgot that I just remembered was how important it is when you're on this path to have community, to help remind each other, to reflect each other, because it isn't the mainstream. It isn't what we're gonna get support around. We're not living in a culture that's guiding us and has ritual and...

Nate (26:56.499)
Mm -hmm.

Ashley (27:22.064)
ingrained experiences for spiritual awakening. It's actually the opposite. We're having to do it despite the culture. so to have these, know, just to have this time for you and I to get together, to reflect each other and remind each other and ourselves, and then whoever's listening to kind of be part of that community. And I think that's

so important because so much of this work is you with you. So much of this work, you can't do it without really spending time doing self -inquiry and self -exploration. There's just, you can't. But I also think you can't do it without some community. So yeah, that was one thought that came up around sort of why we're doing this podcast.

Nate (28:12.817)
Mm

Ashley (28:20.631)
and to begin with.

Nate (28:20.838)
Yeah, and I think I'll take it a little step further and and and you can add your own piece to this if you'd like but I would say even within that Subgroup of trying to live a spirit -led life I think another aspect for me in particular and I think you share this but is creating that even sub sub category of

being really into spiritual stuff, trying to live a spirit led life and also not falling into kind of a guru trap with some of our favorite people. And I say that as someone who has done that. not like over, not idolatry and not like, but putting people on a pedestal and

thinking that certain people who are writing books or spiritual teachers are somehow better than me and that I don't have the answers and I really want this podcast to be a place where we dismiss all of that nonsense and we just acknowledge that we are all sparks of the divine. We are all unique sparks of the divine. No one is better or worse. There's no separation. We're all just these

these unique reflections of source reflecting itself back through our lives. And anybody out there who is teaching is really reminding you of an essential truth you have stored within you. That's the role of the teacher and that's the way I like to envision teachers.

So I'm not saying anything bad to people who are doing a lot of teaching. I thank them and I have learned so much. I'm putting it out there to myself and to people who are consumers of all of this stuff. Let's remember that we also are our own best teachers. And I think that that kind of, I don't hear that.

Nate (30:43.179)
as represented in kind of like the YouTube space or in the book space or it's not always made explicit and I really want this, for me this is a big reason why I'm doing the podcast is to just really encourage people to remember, know, you are so freaking special. know, you are, I'm special, Ashley's special.

The tree's special, the earthworm is special, it's all, we all, we are all perfect and special in our own way because we exist. That's why we're here, you know? So that, and then how do we live that and how do we gently remind ourselves of that when we want to give our power away? So I guess that's another, for me that's little goal.

Ashley (31:35.938)
Right.

Nate (31:39.549)
of the podcast is just to serve as a reminder to myself and to everybody else. Don't give your power away. You've got it. You've got it all within you. Your soul, your higher self knows the best way to get you to where you want to go. You just have to trust that any other person can help you get there and you can work really hard at it or you can touch in with your soul and it can be like,

Here's the shortcut for you. And it's your shortcut because I know how to get you there faster.

Ashley (32:16.706)
Yeah, I'm so glad you said all of that because that's also, you know, that's actually something that I'm unraveling as well. So we're talking about the unraveling and that sense of your power is outside of you. This this hierarchical world that we grew up in, like your teachers know more than you. I mean, we we do need teachings. We do need guidance.

We're all here doing the best we can. And there is something about people holding these values and these truths and these lived experiences that are so, they spark, like you were saying, they spark something in us and we wanna move more and more towards that because when the light goes on, you're like, I'll follow that. I want more of that. And then there's this real,

like part of a big part of awakening is really recognizing that that spark is you, whether it shows up outside of you or it's inside of you or it's in the earthworm or the tree or whatever, that it is all, we are all of the same and from the same and coming back home to the same source. And so these ideas of hierarchy and power over

and that are so based in our school system, our healthcare system, our capitalist society, we're unraveling that inside of ourselves in order to discover our own freedom to live our own heart -centered life. And until you really can unravel some of this stuff, it's really hard to find your soul's voice, to really listen to it, to really...

have the courage to and the humility to just forge your own way from your truth. And I think that's why we came to the word unraveling because that's kind of what it feels like, this process of spiritual awakening. Yes, it's about the light turning on and it's about that spark. But then there's work to do really around

Ashley (34:44.136)
unraveling what's gotten in the way of that. And we're all carrying conditioning and wounding and confusion around this. So it does take a lot of courage to live a spirit led life because there is a lot of that stuff that's in the way and recognizing it can cause a lot of pain.

Nate (35:10.952)
Yeah.

Ashley (35:11.04)
and grief and fear and anger and frustration. So, but it's worth it.

Nate (35:19.407)
Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, we both we we both have spent many, many years working with people who have pretty severe trauma. We both have our own histories as well. And we know that those things that we are unraveling are, you know, there are things that at one point worked for us. You know, they kept us safe. They were they were things that we pulled into ourselves because at the

Ashley (35:20.856)
It's worth it.

Nate (35:48.526)
at the moment we needed something and in that it's just like anything else in life you just you don't need to hold on to those things you know they work for the moment and you can let them go and this intentional I love how you keep bringing back our word unraveling this intentional unraveling disentangling pulling apart all of these bits that aren't our true self takes courage you know and it doesn't

it takes presence and it takes courage. won't even necessarily, I'll say it's hard just because it's gonna expose you to things that haven't seen the light of day in a long time and that can be scary, but I don't actually know that it's like determination kinda hard. It's more just be willing to what you said, not abandon yourself. Be willing to

bravely pull some of these things out and see what's under there, you know? See what's at the core. You're gonna be pleasantly surprised. And when that stuff has a chance to be exposed to the light of day, to come out and kind of play a little, those pieces of you, those forgotten pieces are gonna start to, they're gonna enliven you so much more. they're, I don't know.

This whole process is a lot about moving into uncharted territory. And so I guess as we're talking about this, was making me also think we could just kind of touch base a little bit on what themes I think are gonna be showing up as we start talking about these things. And immediately, just like when you're talking, when I'm talking, it makes me think we're gonna be spending some time talking about judgment.

and separation and how that can be a huge stumbling block on the spiritual path and just in general. I think another piece that I've heard us both talk about, maybe not directly, but I know that we both have a passion for this, which is touching in on the body, the somatic experience. You we spend so much time, we're kind of over invested in the brain as a culture. And I think

Nate (38:14.233)
A lot of people in the spiritual world have known for many years that there's so much intelligence in the body. And as we're coming online, I think, exploring how some of these topics, sadness, fear, grief, how do they live in the body? Just the somatic experience. And I don't know, I'm sure you have a couple of things. This is just a few of the things that we're going to be talking about going forward. I don't know if you want to add anything to that.

Ashley (38:44.29)
Well, it was funny when you were talking earlier, I was thinking that it all comes down to love. So was thinking like, know, because when you were talking about, and then I was thinking that would be, that's like a whole episode is really talking about how love comes into play as we're working with the discomfort of the unraveling.

Nate (38:54.678)
Mm -hmm

Nate (39:12.994)
Mm -hmm.

Ashley (39:13.496)
having love online because often what can happen as you begin to unravel your conditioning and your wounding is there can there can be a secondary rejection of self abandonment of self and that conditioning and that wounding is the initial abandonment of self right we come into these bodies and we're taught separation initial abandonment of self.

Nate (39:42.818)
Yeah.

Ashley (39:42.856)
when we get in touch with that conditioning and wounding and we're willing to see it, can unconsciously or not knowing we can do a secondary abandonment of self and try to reject those parts. And so that's where for me, love and compassion and acceptance come in just to embrace what wants to be reclaimed in yourself. So I was thinking about

It's all about love would be a good episode. But yeah, we're, you know, you and I are both so committed to workiness in our lives that as we, as we move week to week, coming into these conversations, I think her commitment is to really explore what's alive for us. But we're always working.

Nate (40:12.874)
haha

Ashley (40:39.692)
with so many cool things and our conversations are always so rich. So I'm really excited actually just to see what appears, what arises in our lives that we are excited to talk about that bring us that spark, that light, that aliveness and share with each other and with the listeners and.

Ashley (41:08.854)
and remind each other, remind ourselves about our path.

Nate (41:13.609)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and so I mean, kind of as we're wrapping up here, think also just want to put it out there to people. We'd love to hear your feedback if there are things showing up in your life, big scary issues or whatever is going on.

have this intention to be creating community into supporting each other, into supporting anyone out there who needs support. So please drop us a line and let us know. We would love to do some topics that are generated by the listeners, as well as the things that are showing up in our own lives. And you can reach us at spiritualunraveling at gmail .com. Very easy. It's going to be in the outro as well. Feel free to just...

Send us a note, let us know what's going on in your life. It doesn't have to be things that are going wrong. It could be the things that are lighting you up too. I think that you and I, as we're having these conversations, we're gonna have these moments too where it's just like, let's do an episode on what's lighting us up as well.

Ashley (42:30.998)
Yeah, I, yeah, I love that. love the idea of building community in these conversations. I really love that. and I also wanted to just highlight what you're doing in your career. Now you're, you're, you know, you're not doing the animal assisted therapy anymore. You're actually, you have a coaching practice. That's really cool. Do you want to just talk about that real quick?

Nate (42:57.307)
Yes, sure, thank you. It's very similar to what we're doing here on the podcast and it's just supporting people on their spiritual path, in their awakening. My website is SpiritualStewardship and I really, chose that word very carefully. I believe that I am not the spiritual steward for other people.

I am there as a compassionate mirror and as an encourager and a supporter to help you develop your own relationship with you. When I think of stewardship, I think about my time spent doing the animal assisted therapy, working, I also did horticultural therapy, so we did a lot of work on the land. And stewardship is, it's proactively taking control of something. It's like, you you...

own your spirituality, don't give your power away, pull it back in and you have to, there is a responsibility to cultivate a practice that is in alignment for you. And that's really my passion is not the shoulds, not the coulds, but what are things that are actually things you want to do that liven you up that really make your heart sing.

Because I think that that is the true path to people living a more heart -centered, soul -filled life, is finding that unique way that these things work for them. And so I'll turn it back for you as well. You have been a practicing therapist for over 20 years, and now you're moving into a different phase of your career as well. And you've been doing silent retreats now for how many years?

Ashley (44:36.642)
you

Ashley (44:50.604)
Yeah, about three years and started maybe in during COVID doing silent retreats. My teacher was no longer doing, nobody was doing silent retreats. So I just pulled some friends up to Mount Madonna up in the Santa Cruz mountains. And it's just been amazing to have an excuse to get back up there and be in silence and with community. And so yeah, that's really exciting.

Nate (44:52.804)
Okay.

Ashley (45:20.736)
And I also do, I have a small spiritual counseling practice and I've been doing some sanghas, meditation groups in my home office and hoping to do more of that in person, know, day longs or things like that. Just giving people an opportunity to meditate together and share, share deeply with each other and connect to themselves and to each other and community.

But I wanted to just give you a plug, is, you I love the way that you have, you know, created your coaching practice. And I just wanted to highlight your kind of unique offering, which is deeply intuitive. You're just a very deeply intuitive person and you have a very warm and

Ashley (46:21.0)
engaging and kind of powerful, you know, powerful reflection for people. And at the same time, you're just so practical. So there's this kind of way that I think people can walk away with sort of a practical, not overwhelming, you know, what am I going to do with this? Like, but just a very practical, but deep.

sense of how to move forward on their path. And so I just wanted to say that because I do think it's unique. Yeah, yeah, of course.

Nate (46:54.989)
Hmm.

Nate (47:01.143)
Thank you. I appreciate that. And I think the last thing that I wanna say, and if you have anything to add you can too, the other, the kind of bigger, broader goal, and we've kind of danced around it a little bit here, is that people are waking up. People are in a place, I think we all, post -COVID, we have all...

examined our lives, people have made some pretty big changes or have thought to themselves, I need to make some big changes. You know, you and I have seen it both in our personal lives with our friends and just out there in the broader world. And that is, to me, the kind of broader reason that we're doing this podcast, which is, you know, there's just a big swell of people who really want to do life differently. And I think that is

what you and I get really excited about. So I wanted to say that as well as we're kind of wrapping up here that that is the broader theme is that we're so excited to see so many more people who just want to live a more fulfilled and meaningful life and really be part of supporting that and doing it ourselves.

Ashley (48:22.456)
Totally, I love it. I think that's a great note to end on.

Nate (48:25.599)
Alright, okay, well join us, yeah, and join us next time and we'll see what we're gonna talk about. We're gonna see what we're living. Alright, bye bye.

Ashley (48:27.404)
Go spiritual awakening.