10: Opening Your Creative Energy with Sacred Cacao

As an entrepreneur ceremonial cacao can be used as a tool in your business to support expansive thinking, creative work, out-of-the-box design, and strategy. But what is the difference between chocolate and sacred cacao? How can this plant medicine help you expand in your business and creativity? In this episode, I am going to walk you through where, why and how sacred cacao can be so influential in your business and mindset, let's dive in.

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Transcript

 [00:00:00] 

Gabrielle: You're listening to expand with Gabrielle, where you will learn how to use ancient wisdom and new age science to create your dream life. Here I ground the woo and demystify powerful spiritual concepts to support your spiritual entrepreneur journey. We are talking out with the old toxic, masculine boss, babe culture of hustle, burnout, and anxiety and with the creative energy of creating through ease, magnetism, and flow.
 Let's get into it. 

Gabrielle: Ceremonial cacao can be used as a tool in your business to support expansive thinking, creative work, out of the box design and strategy. As a business owner, this is definitely an episode you're going to want to tune into. This is a beautiful one. for you to use. And I'm going to explain where it came from, why it's a plant [00:01:00] medicine, how you can use it in your business And also my personal journey as a business owner working with mama cacao So let's get started with what is cacao? So there's a lot of mixed information out there about what chocolate is. What is cacao? What is sacred cacao? Let me kind of just take it back for a second and outline the basics. So there are different varieties of the cacao tree that produce the bean, which is then ground up to either make sacred ceremonial cacao or modern day chocolate.

Gabrielle: And why I differentiate the two is because they are vastly different, even down to the molecular structure of the bean, which is one of the most important aspects. in the varietal of tree that produces sacred cacao

Gabrielle: There is a compound called theobromine and theobromine is the spiritual part of the cacao it's the part of cacao responsible for a lot of the [00:02:00] Mind opening the creativity the tingling in the body the expansive thought and the aha moments These are all related to theobromine and theobromine translates to food of the gods And so this property is present inside of sacred ceremonial cacao in larger quantities and is either not present or is present on a very, very, very small scale in modern day chocolate.

Gabrielle: So that is one of the biggest, biggest differences between the ceremonial cacao and modern chocolate is this presence of theobromine. Now, how do you know which is which? It has to do with the varietal of tree and it has to do with how the trees were adapted to live in different regions of the world to supply the demand of Modern day chocolate.

Gabrielle: So basically what happened is that when cacao was introduced to Europe, there was this craze. People fell madly in love with cacao. So the demand skyrocketed. So some people took the trees from Central and South [00:03:00] America and they brought them over to Africa and then to Indonesia. And when they did this, the structure of the tree had to change.

Gabrielle: You know, they did some of that splicing and they basically modified the tree so it could survive better in these new environments. And when they did this, the compounds that are present inside of the cacao and then now chocolate changed. And one of the things that changed is this presence of theobromine.

Gabrielle: That is just one aspect that is different between cacao and chocolate. There are many other aspects that have to do with the processing, with the chemicals added, with the milks and the sugars and the pesticides and all sorts of things like that. Which I don't really want to dive into. So right now I'm talking about the sacred cacao specifically.

Gabrielle: Now, when you are a business owner, it is very likely that you experience times when you want to be creative, when you want to come up with a new offering or a new way of selling or a new way of pitching, or want to create new [00:04:00] design aspects for your business, maybe related to graphic design or your social media.

Gabrielle: Uh, Whatever. However, creativity is showing up for you in your business. There are times that we experience. A lack of creativity where we're having a hard time tapping into this creative energy Now I have an entire master class on this if this is something that you're struggling with Definitely check that out because I go way deeper But one tool that I want to offer you here is working with sacred cacao with mama cacao.

Gabrielle: Now, why is this? When you sit down and you have a cup of ceremonial cacao, you experience several different things on the biological and psychological level, but you also experience many things on a spiritual level.

Gabrielle: On the biological level, you will experience an increase in serotonin, in tryptophan, and in these bliss chemicals, [00:05:00] so you will feel happier. You'll feel lighter, you'll feel more inspired and more uplifted on a chemical level. On a spiritual level, what is happening is that your heart space is opening and so is your third eye, your intuition.

Gabrielle: On the chemical level, what is causing this is the blood vessels and capillaries in your body are opening and expanding. The theobromine opens up these areas and it helps to move the blood throughout the body. And when we're moving the blood, we're also moving stagnant energy. And when these capillaries and blood vessels are expanding, it's literally opening up your heart space.

Gabrielle: So what does this mean? This means that when you were previously in a space where maybe you're being very cerebral, you're being very in your, left brain, you were maybe thinking very linear, maybe thinking very goal oriented, maybe even on the competitive plane, which means that you were a [00:06:00] little bit worried about the competition or about losing the client or things like that.

Gabrielle: You've snuffed out your creativity in some capacity, right? This sitting with a cacao will help you tap back into your heart space Tap back into feeling not just thinking. I'm not trying to villainize the mind here I want to be very clear. I'm not villainizing the mind. I'm not villainizing class Thought.

Gabrielle: I love our mind. I love thought. They're critical. They're so important, but there has to be a balance of thinking and feeling. And sometimes we become very out of balance, especially growing up in Western society where we're taught that there is a specific way to be a successful entrepreneur. And it usually has everything to do with grinding and hustling and pushing and completely disconnecting with feeling and completely disconnecting with your body and therefore completely disconnecting with creativity.

Gabrielle: Which is why there are ginormous organizations out there like Apple and Google who are [00:07:00] producing all of these Ideas and content and they have the tiniest Imagineering departments, the tiniest creativity departments don't because they're a rarity. It's not because there's all these people on the planet and only a tiny fraction of them are can be creative.

Gabrielle: It's because us as a society have stifled that connection to creativity. And we've done this through pressure, through competition, through, being so fearful of lack and,

Gabrielle: doing things wrong. So that's a whole nother basket of worms that we could dive into on another day But I really just want to focus on if you are struggling to connect with your creativity It is most likely because you are on the competitive plane and you have disassociated from feeling in your body.

Gabrielle: And this is where Mama Cacao comes in, is she really, really helps facilitate the connection, the reconnection back to feeling, back to your body, back to spaciousness. [00:08:00] And back to being in your parasympathetic nervous system. So not in fight, flight, fawn, or freeze. Not in the competitive attack play. Not in the I need to hurry up and do this or somebody else will.

Gabrielle: Someone's going to take it from me. Someone's going to win. There's not enough of it. Etc. Helps you move out of that and into the creative. Into this grounded present place. And it is magical. I have had some of the most beautiful creative sessions on my business, thinking about strategy, thinking about my deliverables, thinking about, you know, my products, what I'm teaching, what I'm sharing, how I'm going to organize the information, thinking about like deep concepts.

Gabrielle: And how these deep concepts interweave into areas that maybe aren't so obvious but are very profound, working on graphic design, anything visual, anything artistic, writing. I've had sessions in all of these areas, sitting with Mama Cacao that have [00:09:00] been so, so helpful. So working with Cacao can really support your creativity.

Gabrielle: Another way that Mama Cacao can really support your business is by recognizing that our businesses are mirrors. And if you don't know what I mean by this, check out the episode where I dive into detail about how our business is a mirror. But basically the cliff notes is, is that our business is a mirror.

Gabrielle: it's mirroring back to us all the parts of ourselves that are not in harmony, not in alignment with the vision of the business. So if you are holding this vision of the business where maybe currently you're making a hundred thousand dollars a year and you want to be making 300, 000 a year, you're scaling, you're growing, you're moving in that direction, right?

Gabrielle: Now there are going to be parts of you that are not in harmony with this new direction where you have limiting beliefs, where you have wounding, where you have self consciousness. Where you do not feel confident you not believe in [00:10:00] yourself you have these Belief systems that are literally holding you back these blockages and Your business is going to show these to you Because as you take steps in the direction of building your business out the way you want it to be These are going to surface.

Gabrielle: These are going to show up. They're going to show up on that sales call. They're going to show up when you try to start filming things for social media. They're going to show up when you have that big meeting. They're going to show up when an opportunity presents itself and you, you freeze. You don't take advantage.

Gabrielle: You don't step up. You don't raise your hand. These are all the times that your paradigm, that these limiting beliefs are showing up and they're blocking you from hitting those new levels of success in your business. Now, when you sit with mom cacao, knowing that your business is a mirror, knowing that things are surfacing for you, maybe something specific happened.

Gabrielle: Maybe you had a call with a potential collaboration and maybe the person you wanted to collaborate with, maybe they own this business that would really help [00:11:00] skyrocket your business, right? The collaboration would be huge for you. And maybe you self sabotaged a bit, maybe you didn't prepare properly.

Gabrielle: Maybe for whatever reason you showed up on the call and you just were fumbling with your words You were not confident and the deal didn't go through Because they picked up on that the messaging and they for whatever reason just decided not to do it with you Even though it's kind of a no brainer and you know, you played a role in that right?

Gabrielle: That is the perfect opportunity for you to sit out in nature with mama cacao and feel Into what was surfacing there feel Into your body feel into the emotions. You're gonna have emotions about this situation That's the other thing about our business is that it is emotionally triggering. It is confronting it is Difficult in the sense that it can show us these emotions that sometimes as humans we've been trained to avoid Avoid the emotion of shame.

Gabrielle: Avoid the emotion of disappointment. Avoid the emotion of fear, [00:12:00] disgust at all costs, right? So then the natural, the natural path is to suppress them. But with Mama Cacao, what you're doing is you're holding space for yourself. You're allowing these emotions to surface and you're looking for the wounding beneath them.

Gabrielle: You're allowing your business to be a mirror and you're processing them. And if you don't know how to do any of that, don't worry. I have other masterclasses and courses where I can guide you through that, but just know that you can sit with Mama Cacao right now, not knowing how to do any of that and follow your intuition.

Gabrielle: You can follow your inner wisdom, your inner guidance, and you can have a really, really powerful, profound experience that'll have a lot of aha moments. It'll shed a lot of light on things you were confused by. And this is how I've worked with cacao with mama cacao. I say mama cacao because she has like a spirit.

Gabrielle: She has like an energy. She's very nurturing. She's like a warm hug. I often say she's like a hug and a mug. [00:13:00] And this is a really beautiful energy to sit with when you're feeling vulnerable, when you're feeling scared, when you're feeling confused, when you're feeling frustrated, when you drink in this energy of this, Divine mother of this nourishment of this safety.

Gabrielle: It's easier to explore the depths. It's easier to feel the fields. So some people would say it's easier to allow yourself to think about maybe that memory that surfaced while you were on that call or maybe, that correlation between how you felt in that moment and then how you felt when you were little and your best friend's dad yelled at you or, you know, whatever memories and correlations and patterns are popping up.

Gabrielle: showing themselves to you. Mama Cacao can support you on that journey.

Gabrielle: So if you would like to sit with Mama Cacao, if you would like to start exploring this relationship with her, check out www.cacaowisdom.com. That is a space where you can find a booklet that teaches you recipes and rituals and practices. It is [00:14:00] also cacao that is beautifully produced in either Guatemala or Bali.

Gabrielle: I import this cacao from these very very amazing Small farms in both of these countries where the intention is absolutely beautiful the process in which the cacao is created and made and packaged is very intentional is very supportive of the local community and is very, deep in the practice of honoring the sacredness of this plant medicine and of the cacao.

Gabrielle: So if you are interested in learning more about cacao, check out cacao wisdom. com. I will have some links below in the show notes. And if you have any questions, please message me. My handle is @expandwithgabrielle on Instagram and Tik TOK. And then there's also an Instagram for cacao wisdom. It's @cacao.wisdom On Instagram. And I would love to hear any questions that you have. And I would absolutely love to hear if you sit with Mama Cacao and have any [00:15:00] realizations or creative sessions. This is another thing that you can do is set an intention for your day and decide, am I going to work on creative things today?

Gabrielle: Or am I going to use more of my left brain today? And if it's more creative work, start your day with cacao instead of coffee. Coffee is more left brain thinking. It's very supportive for a linear thought for the analytical mind. But if you're doing creative work mama cacao is very supportive of this.

Gabrielle: So I hope you enjoyed today's episode I would love to hear from you And as I said before if you want to learn more about this material check out the show notes