From Burnout To Belonging: A Journey Into Embodiment And Wholeness

What if the moment you stop proving is the moment you finally feel at home in your own skin? 

We sit down with embodiment and leadership coach Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos to explore how a life reorients when you trade overthinking for felt sense, and speed for presence. From childhood alienation and corporate burnout to a quiet, radical choice — sit in a café and do nothing — Angélique  shares how slowing down opened a pathway to enoughness, clarity, and courageous action.

Across our conversation, we unpack the core of embodiment: emotions are not problems to fix but signals to follow.  Angélique  explains how conscious movement - with an arc of slowing down, listening within and surrendering to what emerges - helps release what the body stores; the tension, fear, grief, rage.  Showing how breath can widen and the heart can soften. Instead of chasing a perpetual calm, we talk about meeting the darkness gently and consistently, letting the body change state in its own time. The payoff is practical: more capacity to navigate stress, fewer reactive loops, and choices anchored in values rather than approval. The practice is key.

Community becomes the amplifier.  Angélique  facilitates circles spanning multi cultures to face real topics—belonging, safety, microaggressions, polarisation—without collapsing into blame. We explore how witnessing in a non-judgemental space dissolves rigidity and grows empathy, and how rage, when honoured, reveals the fire of what we most care about. That fire becomes fuel for grounded leadership at home, at work, and in our wider communities.

We close with a belief that changes everything: we are not separate. Difference can be honoured without turning into better-than or less-than. When we meet heart to heart and body to body, enoughness stops being a destination and becomes a daily practice. If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to help others find their way back to themselves.

You can find out more about  Angélique at https://www.road2authenticity.com/ 

You can connect with her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/angeliquebos/

Thank you for listening and taking the time to explore our podcast.

Earthaconter: Connection, Exploration and Expansion
www.earthaconter.org

Transcript

Welcome And Theme Of Enoughness

Lyn Man 0:00

Welcome to I Am Enough, the space where we explore journeys back to our forgotten birthright of enoughness, to draw a natural wisdom along with awareness, acceptance, and compassion, to support each of us on that journey and embrace our wholeness. Despite what society tells us, each one of us is enough exactly as we are. My name is Lynn Mann, and I'd like to welcome you to this space where we explore enoughness, people's journeys along the path to feeling I am enough, and look at what can support each of us on that journey. Hello and welcome to another episode of I Am Enough, the space where we embrace our wholeness. So today I have with me Angelique Van Owen Boss. And sorry, I've been trying to practice the name pronunciation, and I do apologize if I was not very good. But anyway, um so I met Angelique a few years ago on an embodiment, coaching embodiment course. And Angelique is an embodiment coach, leadership coach, and a conscious movement teacher. It was her own experience of seeing how her behaviors and expectations meant that she wasn't leading the life she wanted to, that inspired her to go on her own journey to rewrite the story and create the life she wanted to lead. This journey took her from being an insecure, rebellious child via corporate burnout through stepping into courageous vulnerability, learning and exploration, which did involve falling down and picking herself up again, to finding the place of being able to see her own potential and knowing she could build the life she wanted to lead. Angelique's journey resulted in a passion to support others in deepening their connection to themselves so they can clear the way and follow a path that is aligned with them and the life they want to lead. You can find out more about Angelique at roadtoauthenticity.com and two is the number two and connect with her on LinkedIn. So welcome Angelique. It's lovely to have you here, and I'm really looking forward to this conversation and where it's going. You know, one of the things as well I just want to mention is that you know, right now you're based in the Cote d'Ivoire, you've lived in Tanzania, you were brought up in Holland, but you have a real kind of international exposure. You work with people internationally, and I think that's one of the beautiful things about seeing things, being able to see things from a from a different perspective, um, and and just how that influences is you. We were just talking about a few things beforehand from that perspective. But anyway, welcome and thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank you.

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 3:22

And yeah, I'm really happy and honored to join you in this conversation. Thank you.

Lyn Man 3:29

So I just want to start with your your own journey, because our own journeys always bring us to that place of being enough or not being enough. And if you could just expand to us, like how your journey of you said, have I said, that insecure, rebellious child actually influenced you to come to where you are right now and to to come from that place of wholeness.

Outsider Roots And Proving Worth

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 4:02

Well, yeah, thank you for that question. And I think there's a lot to share there. What's what comes up, if you ask me that question right now, is when I look back, I grew up in a very small town in the north of Holland. And I think the moment when we moved there, I I never really felt incredibly welcome. We came in with a very different accent. We came in from a different subculture from a Dutch perspective, and it was hard to find our place in that. I think that did fuel at a young age that sense of, ooh, I need to prove myself somewhere in this town, this small culture, to be worthy enough. Because bullying that I experienced, my sisters experienced, I think witnessing them in it, I think had even a stronger impact on me. And given the turbulence that that created, I think also being the third of four children, which is, well, in most cases, in my case for sure, someone who sort of tries to tries to create the bridge to be the connector in the family, which is a talent that I own. And equally, I think at a young age also a sort of responsibility that I felt to be sort of the good girl at a younger age to keep stuff in in my body. And I think at a very young age, I already felt that the tension was in my body that I couldn't, I couldn't let out. I couldn't let out. So at a later year, the later years in my teens, where I gained more freedom, I started studying when I turned 17. Suddenly there was all this freedom, and I almost lost myself in that freedom, right? Going over a lot of boundaries, meeting myself on the other side. And in that, really asking myself, who am I in all of this? Which I to do with alcohol, which I do again with proving myself. I think there was a lot of energy around, oh, I need to be part of certain groups or I need to be showing up in a certain way, which were now looking back, well, a lot of the times not the way who I truly am. I also remember, although I there were a lot of writ moments, there were also a lot of moments where I felt exhausted when I was younger. And that sort of created that energy of being mostly outward looking instead of inward focused. And okay, what is actually happening within me? What is my need in all of this? Because there were people within my family where the intention had to go to. And I also, maybe to add a little bit of a layer to that, which did inform a lot of my path later on in life and also informing where I live at this point, is that my parents lived in Rwanda in Central Africa for five years. My brother and sister were born there. And obviously, when I was about nine, the genocide took place in Rwanda, where millions of people were murdered in three months' time. And I still remember watching the television and seeing the impact on my parents, and it had a big impact. And equally, there was there was not full letting out of actually what was happening, the tears, the there was some holding in it. And I think somewhere from a very young age, I have programmed myself just simply by conditioning, that I need to sort of hold that in. And it sort of tuned into the theme of belonging, humanity, seeing each other. And at that age, when I was young, my the first part of my journey was about first seeing myself, because I didn't see myself fully. Um, as I was so busy in conforming to whatever expectations that were outside of me.

Overgiving, Burnout, And First Coaching

Lyn Man 8:44

Yeah, and it's interesting, isn't it? How many of us go through that? Um, you know, growing up, we we do learn to conform. And and it was interesting with what you shared about moving to a small place and being the outsider. I had a very similar story growing up, where we moved from the north of England into Scotland, a very nationalistic part, and again that that outsider. And it is interesting how you suddenly it is that how do I fit in? How can I show, as you say, I'm worthy, and at the time you've no idea that that's what's going on, you know, you you're just in it, and and then it isn't till much later in life that you start to realize, oh that's where I've you know, I've trying been trying to fit in, and the feeling the heart, as you say, the shutting in the the heart, you know, for for me, um, it showed up in in illnesses at a young age, and you know, it wasn't until a doctor eventually was like, There's nothing, it must, you know, it's psychological, and that was it. You know, there was no no help for that. But just going back to to what you're you're saying, um about coming back, you know, your story, you've the first part was actually really about coming back to understanding who you were and you know recognizing that that strength that you can be the bridge, you can be that connector between people, but almost what comes up is that can be a strength, and at the same time it can be detrimental when you put yourself in that place too much. So, how did you learn to really hold that strength but not give yourself away too much?

The Coffee Shop Choice And Slowing Down

Embodiment Over Cognition

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 11:03

Yeah, I and I exactly to your to your point, it's that moment when you realize I'm a choice. I think that's first of all where it started. The moment where you sort of you can almost fly a little bit out of your own life and think, what is happening? Like that sense, that realization, like, wow, I am so overgiving. I was so programmed, and also because I was rewarded for that. I was the one who always asked questions, who was there, who who yeah, people loved being in that space, right? When somebody offers a lot of attention. And again, I honored that part of myself. But in my case, a little bit to what I said before, I think I felt so much exhaustion and a lot of years in my, especially around teens, studying, um, which I totally sort of put away. I suppressed that and just continued going into this frenatic overdoing in all of what I was experiencing. And I think it it started, well, actually, when when I joined into a, which was more or less my second job, into a management development program, and where I got a coach. Which is a little bit well, how how a lot of people sort of somewhere get a re-root in life. But that's that's the moment where she was listening to me, reflecting back what I was saying, reflecting back what my belief systems were, what I was actually how I was hurting myself in life in different ways. And she said, Is this what really serves? And I think that is where she helped me first of all to slow down. And I think slowing down was something that I was not familiar with. Having conversations later with my mother specifically, and I love her to death, but also holding a belief, which is most of the people of that generation, that emotions, you should not give too much attention to it. Right? It's okay to notice it and then to sort of park it and then just get yourself distracted, which certainly certain extent. But eventually all that's suppressing, yeah, somewhere will come out. And I think that's that moment where I do remember where my coach asked me when I was just in a phase where I was crying a lot. I was sort of like, what we would say, from a societal perspective, being very successful. I was doing different assignments at different corporate companies, and they were going to be happy with what I delivered. And I was just not happy. I was just not happy. And that was where I thought, hey, what's the disconnect here? And that is her point in that phase where she asked, Angelique, what do you long for right now? And I said, Well, I just long to sit somewhere in a coffee bar and just have a coffee and do nothing. Which sounds like the most, I would say, the most basic, mundane thing you can think of. And that was what I longed for. She said, Okay, then we could stop here. You go, go somewhere, and you stay there. And I think I stayed there for the following five hours just being there, sitting there without anything that has to happen, or I should do, and then just feeling how a level of calmness arrived a little bit in my system. And I think that started a strong rewiring that I thought, what am I doing to myself? Oh ooh. So I think that's where the the path, the path re-rooted. Um well on a on a conscious level, where I noticed, okay, hey, first of all, I have a choice, I can act upon it, and hey, it it brings me like a level of calmness that I've never experienced. And I would say I think in an there were there was a time, a few years before that, that did create a strong re-rooting, but I think at the time I didn't have the level of consciousness to adjust my life in it, is when I um, as part of being part of groups, where a lot of alcohol was involved, ending up in hospital, and then waking up in hospital, having my parents next to me, and really looking at me like, well, first of all, thankfully you're still here. But also then later on having a conversation with my father looked at me crying, why are you doing this to yourself? And it still touches me if I if I talk about it just in this moment where and I was so I was so young at the time and where he really felt, oh I'm losing my daughter somewhere. Um so I think that moment really had a big impact, in the sense that I thought, okay, this has gone too far, it's time to reconnect. It's also more where I started or started to study psychology, which already had a bigger impact. But I think it's really when I started working with a coach that the real rerouting started from a more conscious level.

Lyn Man 17:23

Thank you for sharing that. And I think it does sometimes, you know, it's it's interesting. It's like there becomes that conscious awareness at different stages. That's what you're sh saying. And it's only when we're almost like we're ready to see certain things that we can actually take or move into that that next step. But I love your description of sitting in the coffee house, but it's a choice. So you chose to go and sit there. You could have chosen to ignore what the coach had suggested. You know, it's like, yes, this is what I want, but no, I've got to go back to work right now because I've got to do this, this, this, this. But you made that choice. So starting with that that choice and giving yourself the space and then allowing the calm to come in and being there for five hours, you know, that to me just is an incredible experience to to gifted yourself to have. Because as I say, it's it's not not that easy to do that when you're so from coming from that place of I have to do, I have to prove myself, um and then moving to that. What really jumped out were the words choice and then peace and finding that peace. And it links almost go as well, going back to, as you say, with your what happened with your your appearance and what you were conditioned to bring up with, of that keeping everything inside. And that we hold on, and when we hold on, it's so difficult to find that peace until we learn to let go. Now, recently you I know you've done a lot of work around embodiment and the conscious movement. Can you just take some time to really explain how that how embodiment, how conscious movement, how any of this helps somebody come back to themselves, but also just to help them move through the emotions because often it is the emotion. People are scared of. They're scared of going there. So for you, you know, just I just want to acknowledge the courage you took. And one, recognizing your father's emotions and how that was a wake-up call for you, but also recognizing your own emotions later on and just taking that, making that choice. But it is, emotions are hugely scary to many people because we're not brought up with a, you know, with the ability to accept it's normal. It's just how we're wired. So how has embodiment work really supported you and have you seen it supporting others?

Conscious Movement And Raindrop Method

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 20:46

It it has had a tremendous impact. I think if I if I come back to that moment of making the choice to go maybe to take you back a little bit to that moment where before making that choice, there was the need of that letting go, which I think is the most used term out there and the most challenging, equally. How it looked like in that specific moment was just a lot of tears coming out, which is also to what I shared before, unknown, like wow, that it can allow this, this sort of realization, like, oh wow, this this can be welcomed in like a quote unquote professional space. And then not only that, that that it's that it's welcome, that it's held, but that it holds so much. Like, because after that, after that release, it became so clear, like I need to breathe here. I just somewhat forgot to breathe. And that contraction in the body, which at the time I didn't identify as I do right now, but I already felt so much like I'm folding in so much at this point. And then with that release, and then the choice showed up from the release. I think that's where that's where my my whole profession moved towards more embodiment work, because the answers to our deeper longings will not come from the cognitive. It will come when we allow ourselves to listen within, to allow to that that wants to be felt, that wants to be released, to be released. And I think that is where choice and that choice to sit there didn't become a choice. It didn't become like there are other options. This is the only way, at this in this moment. This is what's important. And it has informed a lot of the years after, and to maybe sort of move a little bit quicker to the present, where I see over and over again, and I'm trained in the raindrop movement healing method, which is a conscious movement method, where I guide women through an arc of slowing down, of really listening within, and then surrendering to what wants to get space. And that's an arc that I, well, if you would have asked me like 15 years earlier, I would have no idea, first of all. But and equally there was certain craving in it. And just every time when women arrive in the space, and equally to my own practice, because it's part of my practice, right? Sometimes I think I create the circles just because I long for them as much as the people are joining. Showing up with pressure, with tension, especially as I showed before we started with the elections that happened recently and the uncertainty in the space and the sense of unsafety that was felt in the community. And then to allow that to be, not to fix it, to allow it to be and to move with it. And then to not on a cognitive level, but on a felt sense, body level, to feel like wow, I still can feel peace. I can feel calmness, I can feel some opening within my body, even though there's this storm happening around me. Um, and then walking away again with that um sense of okay, I am, I am a choice. And hey, walking away from here, noticing what wants to get space, what's to be felt, and what is important in this given moment, okay, what what's then the next thing to do? And I think that trouble has shifted all of my path, all of how I show up in the spaces at workway, and have served me to step into spaces with a lot more authenticity, with more groundedness in my values, in what I believe in, which I think in the state of our world right now feels more important than ever to be of service of something bigger than me.

Community Circles And Safety In Feeling

Lyn Man 25:39

It's interesting you're talking about space, but there's with what you're working with, there's almost there's different elements because there's community, and in that community, so with your circles, you know that allows people to be there with others and almost having it's like a support. So with you're bringing people back to themselves to allow whatever's there to move within them, but not making it right or wrong, it just is. And I think in a world where we're very much often judged or things are looked like are neither polarities or the dualities, there's always is this right, is this wrong? But to actually be able to to sit with yourself, to sit with others and just go in and let that something move within you and accept it for what it is is to me it's sounds like it's a practice that does support us to come back to ourselves. And I then it's like what you're describing is it's a it's a path. So when we can come into that space to allow things to move to be be the calm in the storm, we can then take that next step forwards. I know before because you you just brought in service, and earlier you talked about serving yourself, and it is that coming back to yourself first. And before we came on, we were talking about that. How it's that once you've come back to yourself, once you let yourself be who you are, you can then allow yourself to be that person in the world and to step into your purpose, the technique, the impact you want to, the change, whatever it is for you. And it can be in even in that circle, that recognition that just even being there and community, being a witness for other people is so powerful. Or it can be out in the the greater collective and as you said, just showing up authentically and going back to what you said earlier, being that bridge, having the compassion, letting people be themselves is so powerful because just being able to sit with somebody and actually make it okay for them to be themselves, to feel what they're feeling is actually a huge skill. And sitting in that uncertainty not knowing what will arise but holding that space for them. And I know sometimes even you know, we talked about you said before letting go is that it's hard, but it's a a phrase that is used a lot and holding spaces, but actually truly holding space is actually something um I think almost more than what people infer to it to at times. Um so yes, there's a there's so much there, but just coming back to you and the people you work with, you know, but being then in that position to actually create your life and to know that this is what I want to do in the world. How do you take the step being in yourself to then stepping out with that courage, with that authenticity? And allow yourself to be yourself rather than what you've been conditioned to do all through life.

From Rage To Fire: Transmuting Emotion

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 30:50

Yeah, I think it if I sense into my path, I think the given the high level of uncertainty and inhumanity that we're facing every single day in our world, I think my practice has become more of an anger than ever before. I believe that our world at this point is so oriented towards the polarization, towards the disconnection. I also see it in groups, in clients, and probably the same experience where the level of fear is so elevated in the past years. And all that fear, one way or another, is going to be stored in that body, which eventually leads to contraction. And that authenticity, that purpose doesn't get space in contraction. It doesn't mean, and I think that's what I that's why I think I fell in love with this approach. It's not about sort of ignoring contraction, say, okay, no, I don't do that. I just only do opening and expansion because that's just not how it works, right? It's not sort of think your way through the body. That's the that's the brilliance and the challenge equally of the body. If you want to allow it to expand, you have to go through the emotions or the feelings that often we human beings, including myself, I love to ignore, right? Yeah, because being in rage, being in anger, frustration, in sadness is not sort of like walk in the park half of the time. It's it's really about holding, that's I think where the courage starts, to holding the courage to be with all of that. I I also sometimes sense in our world within well-being and personal development and leadership development, there's there's a little bit of an overleaning into we need to be zen, we need to be calm, we need to be grounded. And although I use those words as much in our conversation right now, that can only happen if we allow ourselves to be with the darkness, to be with the harder parts of ourselves. And I think what so speaks to me, this approach is the gentle approach to that, for sure in the feminine body, but eventually for anybody, because I also do it with my male clients, is to through gentleness is where our body allows us to be with the hearty emotions or quote unquote hearty emotions. Uh, because rage, how often I'm in the space with women, and they feel all that rage, and they feel like I cannot, I cannot let that be seen. I cannot that be seen. Like we're so programmed that now we become these hysterical women. And I think this world longs for more hysterical women in service of reconnecting to that authenticity. So the courage starts already by witness, just really allowing yourself to feel all of that. Move with it. Like if you feel numb and you don't feel anything, move with that. If you feel rage, move with that. How does it look like in the body? How does that breathe? What's the sound? So it's all of these elements to allow the body to release, and everybody is unique and different. There's a different way of releasing, there's not one way. And that's again, also another point that I love that there's not never one way of doing a practice in this space with me. Because there's not one way for you or one way for me to release, and our bodies respond differently and have different ways of allowing, of listening, of surrendering. So that's it, so speaks to the uniqueness of everybody, everybody, but also everybody, and then to allow that to move. So I almost think that when people when women, but people in general have the courage to be with that disease of the rage, of the frustration, of the tears, it creates a foundation for the courage to actually act upon it.

Lyn Man 35:28

Yeah.

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 35:29

When they leave.

Lyn Man 35:32

Totally. And I can see when you're describing all that, and well, you're obviously you're moving through it, but I can just see the the the movements and how different people would move move through it. But just going back to what you were saying at the end, and it's those those emotions that we we class as the ones we have to hide, but that actually act as the spark. So you said and you you use the word courage to step into where we're going next, but they're the spark. And for me, it's how we can transmute those. So, how do we take that rage, that anger, that frustration, that grief, and allow it to transform or to allow ourselves to be able to use that to then transform it into what we can imagine something being. So if it was different, because often the those emotions are coming because we're reacting to something in a certain way. But if that's different, how would it be different? And how can we move towards that? And it is almost using those for me is the spark to then, as you said, take that courage to move move forward and to create something that you want to create.

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 37:12

Yeah, beautiful, beautiful question. I think for myself, this would be an unfolding, continuous evolving and unfolding of being in practice. I think it is, it's in the word practice already. It's a continuous practice, right? It's the same as well, going to the gym, and you cannot hold the weight of 50 kilos straight away, right? As much that we cannot hold the biggest weight of what life is giving us straight away. We need to expand that capacity by consistently coming back to the practice. And I even as we're speaking to the parts of us that are often there to be hidden or pushed away, the rage is there for a reason. It's first of all, so connecting to what's the what's below there, what what value, what fire, like creates that rage. And that's actually what you want to expand.

Lyn Man 38:17

Yeah.

Building Capacity And Holding Polarity

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 38:18

So it's through allowing the rage, you're offering space for the fire. And I also in the in the circle, in these circles or in individual working with clients, it's about expanding that fire and expanding the qualities that want to get space in the body and have a felt sense of it. So, in my case, for example, what I've felt in with everything that's happening around me in the country, beyond that, and working with so many different cultures that are directly or indirectly involved in the current wars, genocides, and inhumanity. It's it's the quality of expanding my capacity to be with it. Being grounded, being grounded in what's true to me, what are the values that I wanna, that I believe in, that are at the essence of who I am, and keep coming back to that and doing the allow myself to consistently practice all of the emotions that are created by everything that's happening to flow through me, play with it, move with it, cry with it, dance with the shout with it, whatever I do. And then to feel, and that's and that's always, and to be honest, it's always where I it's I find difficulty in finding all of the words for the this work. Right? It's almost too hard to vocalize it, but to then so From a bodily perspective, then feeling space, then holding, like, for example, at the school of my kids, I'm holding circles with parents, which is outside of my work. But because of the there are 83 different cultures, and I wanted to have real conversations on real topics like racism, like belonging, like microaggression, like safety. And then noticing year over year that I hold more capacity to be with the polarity in the space because the people in these circles come from different cultures that are sometimes in conflict in this moment in time. And then noticing, not being overwhelmed by it, which would have happened 10 years ago, but being able to be with it, inviting it in the space. And then to see, hey, in all of those perspectives, in all of those emotions and lived experiences, where can where's the space for us to grow as a community? So then also to make the segue for community, I think this time more than never asks us to do our individual work, yes, to work with ourselves, to face our dark parts and everything that has been conditioned out, I would say, to bring that back in. And to really meet in community, because I think the witnessing in community does have to work of the healing of what would happen in individual work. Um, and then to your point, people sharing it. That's over and over the response of people often coming into these spaces, like it's so new to not be judged. It's so new that people are not looking at me like, are you crazy? But then actually leaving this space with a lot more compassion, with a lot more empathy than when they entered. And I think that really fuels my work at this time. And that requires me to consistently do my own work. And that that never ends, right?

Lyn Man 42:23

Yeah, an ongoing journey. But I love what you shared there, and and while you're you're talking here, we tr I brought in holding the space before, but it's like actually what your practice is doing is allowing the space to expand and continually expand. And and with it, you know, we we talked about grounding, so it's interesting for me. My immediate connection was to the elements of the the earth is that container that's holding the space, the fire, that energy that's coming through you, you kind of your your energetic body, the emotions, the water that flows through you, the cognitive side, you know, we've talked a lot about embodiment, but we can't forget our cognitive side, you know, that's what gives us the ability to, you know, to think, to share. It's all of it comes together and and really comes back to that wholeness. But as you said, it's the it's the practice that allows us to just constantly expand and hold more of those and bring them all together in a way that supports not only ourselves, so you're talking about you're supporting yourself, you're supporting your community and beyond. And it's that then becomes that ripple effect out there, which is always almost incalculable because we never know what the impact is there. Um so, yes, thank you for sharing that.

We Are Not Separate: A New Belief

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 44:17

Yeah, and I I love what you're saying about that expansion. I think it's by if we talk about quote unquote the spark or courage, it's about when we can face the polarity within ourselves. Because like I have all these dark parts within me, and I have all these light parts within me. And the more I allow myself or I'm courageous to witness that, I can witness the polarity outside of myself, and I can bring more compassion to what's what's happening outside of myself instead of yeah, falling into the same polarization that's happening anyway already. Yeah, but coming in from more awareness, uh, more open-heartedness. Um I remember the last circle, one of the women she joined for the first time, and she held a lot of tension in her body, and and it was hard at the start, you just saw the rigidity of the body moving, and it often happens when people in this space for the first time because our body is not is not programmed on vulnerability and opening up straight away and feeling safe. No, so it's completely normal, and then normalizing that the rigidity, normalizing the earth. We always start on the ground to really allow ourselves to be held by Mother Earth and to really lean into that support a little bit more. And then as we were moving to the practice, just seeing her move more and more freely, and you just see the body do the work. It's not her sort of thinking around it, it's just her body creates a space, and then finishing the practice, and she's saying it's it has been so just healing for me in this practice to tend my, what we would say, younger parts that needed attention because they're afraid and what's happening, and just to be with that, and then from that acknowledging and holding compassion for all that's happening within ourselves, and suddenly feeling the expansion outside of ourselves, and then literally taking space in our space together, and then walking out with more possibility. And I found that such, I don't know, that's why I love this work. The body holds so much wisdom, and it's the practice will do whatever needs to be surfaced already, uh, and that will be different for every person who enters.

Lyn Man 47:00

Yeah. Yeah, that that's beautiful coming out with the possibilities, but just having let the body do what it knows what to do and allowing those that wisdom to emerge from in this, because we all have that wisdom that we have shut down. Exactly. Yeah. So I've got one final question for you. So if you could change one societal belief that would benefit humanity as a whole, what would that be?

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 47:39

That would be the belief that we are different. And that needs a bit of context because I I completely acknowledge the diversity of the women that I or and men that coming into my spaces, their lived experiences, their cultures, their languages, their shaping, fully embracing that. But the societal belief that we're different, where creates some better than, less than belief that flows from that, is I think is where we lose each other. And I think every over and over again, any stage that I have guided or I have been part of as a participant always shows it over and over again. But when we need each other in humanity, in open-heartedness, then we then we see ourselves as someone else, even if the lives are completely different.

Lyn Man 48:52

Yeah, absolutely beautiful. And and it is so true because it's that it's seeing ourselves as separate when we see ourselves as different, we see ourselves as separate. And if we can see that we are all just we are all the whole and if you I'm just looking outside at and to my garden and all the trees, and I can say they're all different. But and they are to look at them, but at the same time, they're part of the bigger picture, and I don't judge them on being different. I see them for what they are, and that's how I'm see what's hearing what you're saying is that it's seeing the humanity in each one of us. Because going back to what you were saying, we all have what we class as light and dark, we all have the whole within us, and we're reflecting it out. So if we just it's almost like letting go of all the the layers of the the judgment of our preconceptions or whatever it is, and just allowing that connection. Almost actually, what's coming is that allow it going back to what you said about the heart, it's allowing the connection of the heart first before anything else.

Angélique van Eeuwen-Bos 50:41

Beautifully said, and I think the sentence we are not separate connects even better than the the phrase I use. And it's really that heart to heart, body to body, gut to gut, is is where where the real shift is. And I always sort of at moments where I would forget, quote unquote, or I get into my reactive or my old conditioning with the humanity that evolves for myself, reminding yourself always first that that phrase, that science behind it, right? That 80% of the communication in our bodies happens from the bottom to the top. It's only 20% of the communication happens from the from the mind, from the head to the body. So if we really want to expand, then it will only happen if we allow the wisdom, uh, the love that can pass and the empathy to flow from the bottom up.

Closing Reflections And Resources

Lyn Man 51:52

Yeah. I love that. Yeah, beautiful. Exactly. Lovely way to end. Well, thank you very much for joining me today and sharing your wisdom and allowing it to come through. I do appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this episode of I Am Enough. We hope you enjoyed it and are inspired to see yourself as enough and create possibilities. If you would like to discover more, please visit earthaconter.org.