Heart of Motion
The Heart of Motion Podcast is an exploration of the heart, soul and science of movement - and what it means in our lives.
Movement connects us more deeply to ourselves, to our bodies and to the things and people that are most important to us. Beyond a fitness routine, why do you move? And what moves you? When we can look past the hamster wheel of ''fitness" - we start to realize that when we really live the lives of our bodies - life can be a whole lot more fulfilling, and a whole lot more fun!
Host Susannah Steers is your guide on a quest to understand how we can move better, feel better in our bodies and connect more deeply to our people and the world around us. Join her for some conversation, interviews with experts, and conversations with everyday people about what movement means to them. You might just find movement feels a little different on the other side...
Heart of Motion
Finding Inner Wisdom
The wisdom we seek is often already within us – but how do we access it? In this illuminating conversation with transformation coach and spiritual mentor Rachel Linnett, we explore how movement, creativity and self-love can becomes a powerful pathways to self-discovery, inner wisdom, and personal evolution.
Rather than seeking transformation through prescribed programs promising a "new you," she guides us toward embracing and accepting all aspects of ourselves – even those parts we'd prefer to hide. This radical acceptance becomes the foundation for genuine growth and change.
Drawing from 18+ years of experience coaching others and her own healing journey, Rachel shares how creative expression through painting unlocked emotional healing and reconnected her with suppressed aspects of herself. She offers practical insights for navigating life transitions, including the power of conscious breathing patterns to calm our nervous systems during challenging times.
Rachel also introduces her forthcoming book, "Droplets of Love: The Art of Loving Yourself into Freedom," which offers personal stories, insights, and practical tools for transforming unworthiness and self-doubt into self-acceptance and love.
Whether you're navigating personal challenges or seeking deeper meaning in your movement practice, this conversation illuminates how the journey inward ultimately leads to more authentic and purposeful engagement with life.
About Rachel Linnett
Rachel Linnett, a transformational coach and spiritual mentor with over 18 years of experience, guides others on journeys of self-healing and inner discovery.
Originally from England, and now living by the ocean in Connecticut, Rachel's own path of healing from a challenging childhood inspired her insatiable passion for empowering others to do the same.
A creative soul with a love for painting, colour and flowers, she infuses her work with warmth, humour, and deep insight. By helping clients connect with their inner wisdom, Rachel supports them in embrac ing lives aligned with their True Selves - filled with authenticity, purpose and joy.
Her first book, "Droplets of Love - The Art of Loving Yourself in to Freedom" was published in April 2025.
Rachel Linnett website
Rachel Linnett Art website
Droplets of Love
YouTube
Heart of Motion Podcast host Susannah Steers is a Pilates & Integrated Movement Specialist and owner of Moving Spirit Pilates in North Vancouver, BC. She is passionate about movement, about connections and about life.
Through movement teaching, speaking, and facilitating workshops, she supports people in creating movement practices that promote fitness from the inside out. She loves building community, and participating in multi-disciplinary collaborations.
Along with her friend and colleague Gillian McCormick, Susannah also co-hosts The Small Conversations for a Better World podcast – an interview based podcast dedicated to promoting the kind of conversations about health that can spark positive change in individuals, families, communities and across the globe.
Social Media Links:
Moving Spirit Pilates Instagram
Moving Spirit Pilates Facebook
Susannah Steers Instagram
Welcome to the Heart of Motion podcast. I'm Susannah Steers and I'll be your host as we explore the heart, soul and science of movement as a pathway to more active, vibrant and connected living. Nothing happens until something moves, so let's get started.
Susannah Steers:You may have at some point heard the phrase "everything you need is already within you. Maybe you have mixed feelings about that sentence. I mean, if you need money or a plan or some kind of support right away to solve an urgent problem, it might be hard to believe that the resources you need are already there inside you. If you're feeling powerless against something that's happening in your life, it might not feel as though you have what you need.
Susannah Steers:When you've lived life a little, you've probably experienced some solid knocks along the way, and however those knocks affected you, you learned something in the process, something that you carry forward in your life that either supports you and helps you move forward, or something that acts as a barrier and holds you back from leading the life you want.
Susannah Steers:I'm recognizing that for me, this idea is kind of about growth, about understanding who we are, what's important to us and what we need to support ourselves, and sometimes that means untangling old patterns of thought, belief and behavior, recognizing value in parts of ourselves we didn't credit before, and in doing work to learn new skills, manage thoughts and emotions and consistently do the things that give us the resources that we need to succeed, whatever that means to us.
Susannah Steers:I see this in the Pilates studio all the time. People will often come in looking for exercise that will improve their core and do all the things Pilates is famous for, and when people come in expecting the exercises to do all the work, they'll get some kind of results. Pilates is good that way. But when they can take the next step, when they can sink into the quality and nuances of their movement, explore their patterns and start to recognize where those influence their movement beyond the Pilates studio, a whole new range of possibilities becomes available, and that growth means that they can engage in their worlds differently, with more confidence and capacity, and suddenly the work they've done to improve their physical health becomes a tool in how they navigate the world. They had what they needed inside of them that knowledge, that understanding and they figured out a way to use it to support themselves differently.
Susannah Steers:So I know that movement can be a powerful tool into self-knowledge and self-care and as a way to improve health and well-being. But when we widen the lens, we can often find our way to a deeper understanding, and I know that today, my guest is going to help us do just that
Susannah Steers:.
Susannah Steers:Rachel Linnett is a transformational coach and a spiritual mentor of over 18 years. She guides others on a journey of self-healing and inner discovery. Originally from England and now living by the ocean in Connecticut, rachel's own path of healing from a challenging childhood inspired her insatiable passion for empowering others to do the same. By helping clients connect with their inner wisdom, rachel supports them in embracing lives aligned with their true selves, filled with authenticity, purpose and joy. Rachel, welcome to the Heart Emotion Podcast
Rachel Linnett:Hi Susannah, thank you so much for inviting me onto your podcast. It's such a pleasure to be in conversation with you today.
Susannah Steers:I'm so thrilled to finally have a chance to talk to you in person. There are so many passions we seem to share. We're both coast dwellers and nature lovers, we're both into Pilates, and it's pretty clear that movement plays a big part in your life too. So I'm curious what movement means to you. Is it purely a physical thing, or does it connect you to different parts of yourself or to other people?
Rachel Linnett:Great question. For me, movement has so many different aspects, depending on the mood I'm in and what's going on in my life. I mean, I've always been somebody who has loved to move. I rarely sit still, so in part it's a physical exercise, in part it is just to really look after myself and my overall well-being in terms of health and things like that. But it's also that what I've discovered is it is a great way to be able to access my inner wisdom, which was sort of interesting to me because I had always assumed that you years ago, that you needed to be still and sit in meditation and be quiet to gain access to that wisdom. And I've come to realize for me that's not true, and I believe that's the case for a lot of other people too. And so movement also is great for moving energy and particularly stuck energy.
Rachel Linnett:So if I've got some big stuff going on I was, you know it's really great to just be able to move, whether it's literally shaking your body or dancing. I mean that is usually my go-to because I can do that wherever I am Just a quick boogie around, bit of disco going on, and as the moment I start to dance, my heart lights up and I just am flooded with this incredible feeling, with a great big smile on my face. That takes me back to my teenage years and my early twenties when I was out clubbing and having a great time. So it's also wonderful because it reconnects me to those parts of me that didn't have all of these sort of serious things going on in life. You know, as we become adults and the responsibilities, so that's lovely too. I get to reconnect with those other parts of me.
Rachel Linnett:So I think it's multifaceted exercise for me,
Susannah Steers:It sounds like there's that piece of play inside there too that, again, as adults, we kind of forget about sometimes. I feel like one of the other things we share is the ability to partner with people in their own healing journeys. Now I'm a Pilates teacher. I may not always know the full details about healing journeys my clients are on, but I love the fact that I can be present with them as they navigate their bodies and their movement over time, because you see the changes and you see the growth that people experience. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about your work and how you support people in creating lasting change in their lives.
Rachel Linnett:Yeah. So for me, I've moved through different phases with my work, I suppose, and starting out with in the world of Pilates about 20 years ago now, and then morphing into other things with Reiki was hands-on healing and things and moving to many other modalities. But what I've really come to realize and experience on a visceral level is that so much profound change, and lasting change, happens when we connect with our deeper selves inside, and my personal experience with that is particularly with the heart energy, and I'm referring to the heart of hearts, which is not the biological heart, but it is really the core of our being, and our logical mind has no idea where to find that. It's not got a clue. But when we can just ask within ourselves where to be in this place, to be asked to be shown this place, then it all becomes apparent. It's all right there. It's in fact, as one of my teachers says, it's so close that it's closer than your own breath, and so of course that's the spiritual side.
Rachel Linnett:But I also work with a range of people, because some people come to me and they're not spiritually minded, and so with my coaching side, and I also love the fact that it's really easy to work with people who don't want to explore going into the core of their being, necessarily, and that change can happen using all kinds of other tools that have been created by wonderful people over the years and so sure I use, depending.
Rachel Linnett:So I suppose what I'm saying is it's so dependent upon the person, who they are, what their background is, whether they're really in the mind or whether they're, you know, really are somebody who's very kinesthetic and feels feelings. You know some people who some person who's very in the mind will be like well, feelings, no, don't want to go there. If you start saying, go into the sadness, they're like what are you talking about? I don't know where that is, I can't connect to that. So you know, you really have to just be flexible and go with the flow, and it really is pacing with the other person and meeting them where they are. So I firmly believe there is no single way that you can assist somebody in creating that transformation. It really is such a unique journey based on who they are, what their background is and what they want to experience.
Susannah Steers:Yeah, that personal connection is so important and the understanding of where they are. I remember having a conversation at one point with a surgeon I was working with and I was young in my career and I was giving him all kinds of beautiful imagery about body and movement and he sort of gave me a side eye and said honey, that's very pretty pictures, but please just give me the anatomy. I could do that. So we went a different road.
Susannah Steers:I have a question for you, and I hope you're okay with me asking this question. It's about transformation and I hear you talk about transformation and transformative change and I have to admit sometimes I have an issue with the idea of transformation.
Susannah Steers:Now, sometimes I feel like the idea of transformation has, in a way, been hijacked by the wellness industry, using people's pain to promise elusive results or results that probably aren't, as you say, connecting with them on that deeper level.
Susannah Steers:The lure is a kind of a whole new you arrived at, usually through an eight-step process or something, and it's been used for years in weight loss and in fitness and in all kinds of different spaces, and I have to confess I used to use that word a fair bit, but I've grown a bit weary of the term because it seems to be thrown around so casually and maybe it makes people feel like they're not enough just as they are. They've got the theme FOMO now. Oh, I have to be optimizing and improving and doing all these things to make myself better, but I know that transformation is possible and change is important if that's what people are wanting and ready for. My belief at this point is that it takes a fair bit of self-knowledge, compassion and really just letting go sometimes to allow it to happen. So I'd love to ask you to weigh in on the idea of transformation from your perspective, both in your personal journey and as a coach a lot in there.
Rachel Linnett:I know sorry, no, I loved it really great, and I love your question about transformation. I really do, because I grow so tired as well of this idea of there being an end goal, of there being a perfect human being. And if only you do this, this, this and this, whether it's read my book, follow my approach or whatever it might be, whatever the deal is, do my course, you will be X, y, z, and I don't ascribe to that. I think that puts so much pressure on people and, as you said, has people believing they're not okay as they are.
Rachel Linnett:Now. I come from this place, at this point in my life, which really focuses on acceptance acceptance of every single part of who we already are as we sit here today in discussion, are good bits that well meaning the bits we like, the bits we really don't like and the bits we detest and never want to show to anybody. And we all have them. We do, and so I think for me, transformation centers around accepting oneself. That in itself is a transformation from somebody who is so firmly like no, that's not me, no, I'm fine, I'm wonderful, my life is perfect. Thank you so much. I'm fine as I am, and I think so much transformation, healing let's use that word healing can come from, really that pure acceptance of all that is, whether we like it or we don't like it, and to do our very best to detach from the story that we're creating about whatever is going on in our lives, and I think that is also a very, very powerful piece. I'm just backtracking to transformation. I suppose for me you asked about that we're creating about whatever is going on in our lives, and I think that is also a very, very powerful piece. I'm just backtracking to transformation. I suppose for me you asked about that with me on my journey.
Rachel Linnett:For me I really needed to transform, and I recognized this back in my mid-30s when I had a really big argument with my best friend. At the time I absolutely lost my temper big time. I was furious and was really screaming and shouting at this person, and this is way before I got on a spiritual journey. In fact, it was the beginning of my spiritual journey because I realized something's got to change. I cannot continue in this way any longer, and so I think, like with what happened with me, with a lot of people there can be a tipping point and whatever that is in their life that's not working for them or it could be anything loss of a job, a relationship or a health crisis, or, like me, with realizing I cannot continue with this anger that's inside of me, and my anger related to my childhood, my very painful childhood that I had not healed from, and I was carrying a lot of emotional baggage.
Rachel Linnett:And so for me, I would say I wanted transformation, and I wouldn't have said I want to look a particular way, but I certainly wanted to feel better. So for me, the transformation was to feel better about myself and to show up differently in the world, and so I suppose, over these 19 years, it is now of having been on a spiritual journey, that has been my transformation. I used to walk around with a great, big, heavy black cloud, dense cloud above my head, like a weight, and I had a very closed heart. I found it. I didn't want to let anybody in, I didn't trust anybody, and who I am today is so massively different from who I was back then. So I have experienced true transformation, and for that I am extremely grateful. So that's what I say about transformation.
Rachel Linnett:I'm not about the perfect human being. I'm really about whatever it is somebody is looking for in their life, what it is perhaps they're experiencing that they don't want to anymore, or what it is perhaps that they want to bring in. But I personally don't focus on coaching people, working with people who are after a particular image in there of who they want to be and what they want to achieve. That doesn't get my juices going at all. I focus very much on the what is it that you want to experience? And for those people who are more kinesthetic or emotion-based, like how do you want to feel? What is it that you want? What are these qualities that you want in your life?
Rachel Linnett:without attaching it to a particular form,
Susannah Steers:It sounds as though for a transformation of the kind you're talking about there often is sort of a rock bottom. People get to a point where there is an event like a job loss or a breakup or a painful childhood or those kinds of experiences. I'm curious, I don't know how to put this. I know sometimes in movement, when I'm working with someone, you'll show them a different pathway and they'll sort of start to move along that line and then they'll retreat and then it's like they're kind of peering over the wall and seeing what might be there and they're not sure they're ready for it yet. So they back up and then sometimes they back up and I don't see them again. Sometimes they back up and then they come back and they take a few steps further along the path. Do you find that that's true in your work as well?
Rachel Linnett:Very often it is, I think, the person who throws themselves in the deep end and just goes for it, regardless of the fear, the terror and the panic that can arise when you're facing your inner demons.
Rachel Linnett:Most people, yes the moment that they feel change is happening and the world isn't as it was previously, can really fall back into the fear mindset and just go yeah, no, thanks. No, no, no, no, thank you is on wanting to survive at all costs, and it doesn't want change, it wants to keep things as they are, and so there can often be this inner battle between part of you that is like I really want to feel better, and then the ego will play along for a little while is how I would say. It's like, yeah, sure, we'll play along with this ruse, this idea, but the moment you start to hit up against some serious change and that can have massive ramifications in our life, so relationships can fall away, we might decide to move country or any number of things we might decide, and so the ego is like, yeah, that's not happening, no, thanks. And so it will create some form of resistance, which could show up in this backing off and yet not going there.
Susannah Steers:Yeah, it's like the angel and the devil on your shoulder, chatting to each other.
Rachel Linnett:Yeah, but the interesting thing is, a lot of people make the ego out to be the enemy and I really I don't believe in that at all. It's simply a part of us. It's a part of us that actually has good intention. It's trying to protect us and help us to survive, and it's a part of us that actually has good intention. It's trying to protect us and and help us to survive. And it's often caught up in old programs from much younger versions of ourselves and and often you can actually give it a new job in life.
Rachel Linnett:Instead of like, okay, like if it's stopping you from moving forward because it keeps going, yep, not doing that, no, not doing that, so I can say, okay, what's your, what is it? That is to be in conversation with it, which is part of what I do with clients in session it's like okay, what, what, what's going on here? What does it want to say? Why is it scared? And you know, let's, let's communicate with it, let's find out what it wants and what it doesn't want and what's going on here. And so we get into conversation and it's really interesting that the person is having this conversation.
Rachel Linnett:I throw in the old questions, sort of guide, but it's wonderful how these conversations just begin and then blossom, and then we'll get to a place where it will often settle down and be like, oh okay, but it will want another job. So we can say, well, what job do you want? And sometimes, if it's a younger version of us, it might be as simple as I just want to have a bit more fun, I want to do some painting, for example, or I don't know crochet, and so it's like all right then. But we have to follow through with those things. We don't just go yeah, sure, and then forget all about it, because it will kind of creep back in. So it's interesting that conversations we can have within ourselves between these different aspects of who we are.
Susannah Steers:And is that how your artwork like? You're a painter. Is that how you came to paint, or have you always painted?
Rachel Linnett:I painted as a child. I used to love art and then when I was in secondary school which in the UK is up to 16 years of age my art teachers used to say that I was terrible, that was a lost cause. Oh, it's funny now, but at the time I was like I didn't bother me. At the time I was like, okay, I just kind of gave up, which, sadly, is what a lot of people do. When they're told they're not really good at something, they just give up on it really. So I put it away for a while and in my 20s I started to do watercolor painting. Something deep inside was just nudging me. It wanted to be creative. So I did some watercolor lessons and then went on to acrylic and then onto oil.
Rachel Linnett:And it's so interesting that you asked this, because the big resurgence for my creativity, and my painting in particular, came after I'd moved to America in 2006, when I had a really big dark night of the soul moving to America no offense to any Americans who are listening to this. There were lots of reasons why that happened and that's when I really moved into getting into painting again and I found that as I was painting I was releasing emotionally. I would paint for a while and the emotions would just bubble up so strongly that I would have tears pouring down my face and really experiencing this deep, deep, deep, deep, deep release of inner pain. And so that really got me interested. And the more I painted, the better I got at it and I got excited by that and decided I wanted to go big with my canvases.
Rachel Linnett:And so I learned all about oil painting, because with that, with those particular paints, it's much easier to go to a very big size. So, yeah, and it just sort of developed from there. But really this painting has been an enormous part of my healing journey and my transformation and it also enabled the sensual passion at me to come forth. That I'd kind of locked in the basement as, yeah, don't go there, she's wild, she's crazy. Let's just let's keep her out of the scene.
Rachel Linnett:I'm an adult now.
Rachel Linnett:She's dangerous, she's pretty wild. You've got two kids and I'm married over 30. It was sort of like, yeah, that's not happening. And so she started to come back online and that has been amazing, as more of me has come back. It's more of a unification, more of a coming together rather than splitting off parts of my psyche.
Susannah Steers:Do you think that creativity is often a doorway to rediscovering that inner wisdom?
Rachel Linnett:Absolutely. Definitely.
Susannah Steers:And if I were to ask you what does inner wisdom mean for you? What is that?
Rachel Linnett:Inner wisdom. So for me, I think at its core, that really means connecting with who you are at a much deeper level than your conscious mind, as I previously described as the egoic self of it is an aspect of the divine, the collective consciousness. So it's really hard to actually give it an exact definition per se, but for me I take that as something which is not my mind thinking this is a good idea, that's a good idea. Oh, don't go there. Don't go there. When I really center down into the heart and make this connection, I find that I'm getting inspiration that just sort of pops into my mind. I'm getting insights. If I have something big and difficult going on in my life, I ask questions about that and have a very open sense of waiting to see what comes to me rather than me going looking for it. So I think that's how I describe inner wisdom. It's something that is often not even logical, and so what might come? My logical brain goes are you kidding me? I'm not going to do that. That's insane. And so that stopped me doing a lot of things in years gone. But then I really realized that, even if it doesn't make sense to our logical mind, if we follow that nudge, whatever it is like.
Rachel Linnett:Go to the supermarket, like right now. You find that you meet somebody incredible. You just have a short connection, a conversation, or who knows. Or you just happen to bump into somebody who you a really lovely friend and you have a hug, or who knows? Or you just happen to bump into somebody, a really lovely friend, and you have a hug and you're like that's so nice, that's made my day.
Rachel Linnett:We just never know why we get sent to these sort of nudges, as it were, to act, to do things, go places. So I kind of take that as my inner wisdom and I think that I've learned over the years practice, the art, let's put it that way of really sensing when it's coming from the mind or when it really truly is something much deeper, whether it's our intuition, we might call it, or this inner wisdom, all the same. Also, I walk clients through that process so that they learn how to do that and by repeating that they become more and more comfortable with that, begin to trust it so much more. And so now I can be anywhere. I'm on my bike, I can be like am I going to go left, am I going to go right? And they check in. Am I going to have this tea or am I going to have this herbal tea? I use it all of the time. It just becomes a natural navigation tool.
Susannah Steers:It's amazing. It's funny how nonlinear it is too, and maybe that's why it's tricky to talk to people about sometimes, because it's not a pathway that goes directly from A to B to C, in my experience anyway. Maybe this isn't everyone's experience, but there's lots of meandering along the way as you follow those nudges and it might not take you where you think you're going. It may take you in an entirely different direction. I just find that interesting, especially when I'm working with people and again, my explicit work is not healing journeys, we're working with bodies and there might be healing journeys along that pathway. But to hear when people get frustrated when it doesn't go to the next place that they thought it was going to go, how do you talk to people about that?
Rachel Linnett:It is a very big piece of the world of transformation. Let me put it that way, because I found with my own personal experience, and that with clients, is that we get nudged to to make a decision to do something and it and in our mind, something goes horribly wrong. We're, we're guided to go and work with a hire, a particular person, right, and we're like cannot believe the showering of awful things that are taking place. And then then that leads on to me shouting at the universe what were you thinking, did it? You're like what the heck? Is this all really serious? Right now, because I think there can be. Of course, we want everything to go smoothly. We want life to be lovely all the time. Yeah, no bumps, thanks very much. But when we ask for that in life, there's a very limited chance that true evolution is going to take place.
Rachel Linnett:Now, a lot of people are maybe not even interested in evolution. I'm all about evolution, I'm all about moving through old stuff from this lifetime, other lifetimes, whatever I go for it. And so I think that what happens when things are not going our way and we feel like, oh my God, I could have sworn. This is what my intuition was saying. I've made this decision. It's all going horribly wrong. What is this all about that?
Rachel Linnett:Actually, this is where the most incredible growth and change and evolution comes from, because events like that will show us what's unresolved within us. Limiting beliefs, for example, about it might be a theme of unlovability or unworthiness or something like, ah, or everything always goes wrong in my life, belief like, okay, so within the darkness, the tricky times, it's like what? What is this showing me? What is this really about? Because it's never about the person, the thing, it's like. What's the underlying theme here? And then, with that recognition it, it's really easy to sort of be able to begin to be in relationship with that energy, because everything has its own energy field to effect change.
Rachel Linnett:So, yeah, I think that's my answer. We get a nudge and it works out beautifully. Yesterday I was nudged to go to Sherwood Island, near me at the beach, go for a walk, and I did meet an incredible person, the real soul sister. It was amazing, it's wonderful. And then other times I get a, you know, I get a nudge and things go crashing down all around me. But I, you know, some of us have signed up for a lot of evolution in this lifetime, and I seem to be one of those people.
Susannah Steers:We're learning all the way right. We're learning If we're open to it. We're learning from whatever that, whether it's a fabulous experience or a not so fabulous one. You sort of endure the not so fabulous stuff and figure out how to move forward from it. You know, change is one absolute constant in our lives. We can't get away from it. We can acknowledge it and accept it and try and work to navigate it, or we can try and hold it back and in my experience then it sort of hits me later like a freight train in one way or another, and I love that. You've said that every challenge is an opportunity for personal evolution. That really resonates for me and it lands a whole lot more softly and makes a whole lot more sense than that. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger idea.
Rachel Linnett:Oh yeah, I totally agree with you. The number of people who will say you have the rough knocks in life, it's like I'll make you stronger. It's like no, no, no, that for me I feel that that is an attempt of the ego to build a stronger fort around your heart, like I'm just going to be stronger when actually, for me, I sense that it's the opposite. It's actually open to it all, be vulnerable, meet it, meet it all and experience the totality of life, because it runs from the whole range, from the sublime to the absolutely truly horrific that can happen. And my belief is that we're here to experience all of that and, of course, we prefer the lovely stuff. But there are gems in all of the difficult things that happen in our lives and I think sometimes we can put pressure on ourselves about that too, to sort of think what's the gem? Come on, come on pressure on ourselves about that too to sort of think what's the gem?
Rachel Linnett:Come on, come on Some of these things. I'm thinking it will all then just sort itself out. Once we've got the gem, okay, let's move on. Like we're on some sort of game board or something right? It's like, okay, hop over that little challenge onwards. And so sometimes it can take people a really long time to get to that gem, especially if they are not accepting what's taking place and being in the victim mentality rather than the whole this is what has happened and just letting go of the thoughts and like, okay, show me what is this about, what is the gem in this? For me and very often it can be things about just great. You know, whether it's greater self-awareness or it's an opportunity, as I was saying earlier, to love ourselves more. You know, it can be literally anything, but that's my take on that.
Susannah Steers:Yeah, Well, and a lot of times I think we don't see the gems in front of us. We see them in hindsight. You know it's after you've experienced it. You've felt the feels. I'm not an expert, but it seems in my life. That's how I see those gems. As I've moved forward in various ways, I've done my best to feel what I needed to feel, and a lot of the time in my life I was one of those just charged through. I can get through this and lots of armoring and all of that.
Susannah Steers:But I find that I'm getting a little better at it now, but a lot of the time I'm seeing what the gems were in hindsight and understanding them differently going forward.
Rachel Linnett:yeah
Susannah Steers:f someone is experiencing big personal changes or transition in their lives, what are some of the most impactful ways that people can navigate those?
Rachel Linnett:Well, the number one thing that always comes to my mind, which might sound super simple but is conscious breathing patterns and obviously, being in the world of Pilates as you are, I know you'll probably have a lot to say about breathing. It is so powerful at calming us down and encouraging the body to enter into the parasympathetic nervous system rather than the sympathetic out of the stress fight or flight and into the relaxation response and I think, hands down in the moment. That is extremely powerful. And I particularly love the 4-8 pattern for that which is breathing in through your nose for a count of four and out your mouth for a count of eight. So that is one of them.
Rachel Linnett:And I think that there are other tools that people can learn really simply and quickly and easily things like tapping emotional freedom technique. There's loads of information on that on the Internet. You don't have to go and see a tapping person for that. So I think there are different tools and I think the most important thing actually is to really see what resonates with you individually Because, as I was saying earlier, there isn't a one size fits all. Or you must do this or you must do that.
Rachel Linnett:Except breathing is the exception. For that I really believe I'm sold on this breathing stuff.
Susannah Steers:I really am, I'm with you 100% on that one.
Susannah Steers:I have another question for you because I like to look at the scales of things. We were talking about the fractal nature of things. So much we see and experience around us and it feels to me that around the world right now we are experiencing a real global time of transition. Now I'm not interested in giving fuel to the fires of discord in this conversation, but I'm wondering if you have any ideas now about how we could navigate these challenging times, maybe on a personal level, and does that scale up to communities, societies, nations? I mean, maybe the whole world just has to take a deep breath.
Rachel Linnett:Yeah, I think that obviously I have been giving this a lot of thought too of late, and what I find is very helpful for me again, I cannot speak for anybody else other than myself in this is noticing what my response is, as I am, whether it's reading the news or hearing things from somebody else. What is that creating in me, which could range from panic to terror to who knows right All sorts of feelings that can come up and to simply meet that within myself, it's like oh okay, because if we look at it as it's just a trigger, meaning everything, the events that are taking place in the world, I believe that we have our own personal responsibilities to ourselves. I'm looking after our inner environment, and that's actually not like somebody might perceive that as being a very selfish thing, like well, as long as I'm, fine, so everybody else? I don't mean that. But actually change happens when we meet everything inside of us, and by that I really simply mean kind of it's not pushing anything away, not saying that over there, that's wrong, that is and when we can have a really radically honest conversation with ourselves and say where is that in me? And I'm not talking about the actual actions, of what taking place, because most people go. Of course I'm not doing that, I don't do that, I don't but where the energetic thread exists in all of us, or we would not be responding to it in that way if it didn't. So when we have that radical honesty and we just be with it, sit with it like okay, and let go of any stories about that and really just be present with ourselves, the totality of all of who we are. As we do that, I believe I sense that the heart expands and as we do that, our vibration rises and that is what we are sending out into the world. That's what we are radiating out into all the people that we meet, and so I'm really feel very strongly about spreading love in the world.
Rachel Linnett:I'm on a mission to be spreading love in the world. That's what my book is about, that's coming out, and so for me, when I'm out and about, I will stop and have a conversation with somebody. I look people in the eyes and I about. I will stop and have a conversation with somebody. I look people in the eyes and I ask them how they are and have genuine conversations, not because I feel like I'm a good citizen, I'm spiritual, I need to be doing. I like none of that.
Rachel Linnett:But because I want to connect with this human being and looking them in the eyes, having this moment, and if somebody looks like they're having a really rough day, I use this sort of a concept like a bath bomb, like an absolutely deliciously scented bath bomb you would pop in the bath to have a lovely relaxing time. I call them love bombs, so that just want you to know. It's not an aggressive kind of bomb. It's like a bath bomb, an effervescence that I will pop into people. I'll just be out and about someone looking like they're having the worst day or they're shouting at somebody in the bank, you know, or whatever it is, and I have a moment.
Rachel Linnett:Instead of like oh, instead of judging or trying to go, no, not me, I'm like, okay, it is what it is, and kind of send some lovely energy their way in forms of like a little bath bomb, dropping it into them. So I think we all, we all have a role to play because with with these events that are taking place globally, it can make us very fearful and make us want to retreat further within either our tiny family clan or within ourselves or both, and actually there's a real calling to do the absolute opposite to that, to really come home to who we are in ourselves, to meet these energies that exist within us, and as we begin to release and release more of these energies, really, an emotion is just energy that changes the way we present in the world. It just changes who we are, and I feel it's really important to then be sharing that with the world.
Susannah Steers:Yeah, I have a sense that as we show up more as ourselves and with that fullness of who we are, and then we do the work that is ours to do. I'm not a politician, I'm not a diplomat. That's not my work but there is work that I can do, as you say, by showing up fully and in a non-judgmental way and doing as much as we can to shower love and goodness and connection to the world. That's sort of how I look at that.
Rachel Linnett:Yeah, yeah, I absolutely agree with you. And I think the other thing is there is also a calling to really connect with ourselves, because I think it's a bit of an epidemic going on at the moment of looking outside of self to experts, supposed experts, or their right, the authority, their right, this is what they know that, and whether it's also on the level of going to an intuitive and asking them what do you think? What's this? You tell me Everything seems to be geared towards looking outside of self instead of really, really. This is interesting. It brings us to a full circle of what you mentioned at the beginning, which is that really, it's all within us, but our society has us believe otherwise.
Rachel Linnett:No, it's me, hey, I'm the expert, come out, come and ask me, and so, really, again, there is also an invitation to really come home to oneself as you are, exactly as you are, with all aspects of who you are, and the more that we do that, and building this connection within ourselves. Again, interestingly, it doesn't create a sort of selfish person who's like well, I'm in here and I'm fine, thank you very much. It naturally, it naturally migrates out of us. It goes everywhere we go and people, people are like well, I don't know what she's got, but that's really nice because we're glowing, we're truly radiating, and so I think, as well, that's a really is coming up. I feel to be a challenge for a lot of people to choose to rise to or not.
Susannah Steers:It's down to the individual. I think this is a perfect segue into your book. You've just written your first book it's about to be released entitled Droplets of Love the Art of Loving Yourself into Freedom. Tell us about the book. What inspired you? I can't wait to hear more.
Rachel Linnett:Thank you. So really, it's an inspiring and an uplifting guide about transforming unworthiness, unlovability and self-doubt into acceptance something that we've been talking about into full acceptance and into people loving themselves is really what it's about, and so it takes the form of compelling personal stories from my life, as well as insights and wisdom that I've gained from 19 years of being on this healing journey. And also thrown in are some really simple, effective tools that people can use to help them to just thrive a bit more. Let's put it that way Let the goal be thriving a bit more.
Susannah Steers:Where can people find it? Can they find it at the bookstore on your website? Where do they look for it?
Rachel Linnett:It's available on Amazon in all different countries, and it's also available in bookstores through Barnes Noble, and there's a link on my website as well that will ping people out to places that they can buy that. So that's where it is available. It's also available in ebook format for those people who love to read electronically, as well as in paperback.
Susannah Steers:Fantastic. Well, I will make sure you can find Rachel Linnett at her website, rachellinnett. com, and on YouTube and LinkedIn and so many other places, and I'll make sure to put links in the show notes so that people can find them after the fact. I want to thank you for spending some time with me today. It's been an absolute pleasure.
Rachel Linnett:Thank you so much. I've really enjoyed our our conversation. I think we covered a lot of ground there, Susannah I think we did it was really wonderful take care.
Susannah Steers:Bye, bye, thank you and you bye.
Susannah Steers:I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Subscribe and if you love what you heard, leave a five-star review and tell people what you enjoyed most. Join me here again in a couple of weeks. For now, let's get moving.
