Supernaut
Supernaut is a podcast about spirituality, sobriety, suicide, and the full spectrum of being human.
Hosted by Beth Kelling, the show opens space for honest conversations about healing, identity, and the parts of life we often keep quiet.
As the show has grown, mental health has become a defining theme. Many guests have shared deeply personal experiences with anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and loss. In response, Supernaut is dedicating more space to conversations around suicide—approaching the topic with care, honesty, and compassion.
The goal is not to sensationalize pain, but to reduce stigma, encourage vulnerability, and remind people that struggling does not mean failing—and that help, connection, and light are possible.
Whether you’re sober-curious, spiritually inclined, or simply looking for real conversations that make you feel less alone, you’re welcome here.
If you or someone you love is struggling with suicidal thoughts, help is available in the U.S. by calling or texting 988. If you’re outside the U.S., visit findahelpline.com.
Supernaut
So Lonely, So Connected, So Human
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
A single song can crack open a whole conversation about being human. Starting with The Police’s So Lonely, we explore how loneliness and connection can live in the same breath—and how that breath becomes the bridge. Our guest, astrologer, yoga therapist, and sound artist Amy Jensen, shares a life woven from art school charcoal, a euphonium’s brass, Sanskrit syllables, Reiki sessions, and the steady practice of paying attention. Together we unpack what resonance really means, why humming is underrated medicine, and how simple rituals reset a frayed nervous system.
We dive into the ethics of spiritual work: how to offer readings that empower rather than imprison, why consent matters with energy, and how to avoid oversimplified astrology stereotypes. Amy traces her training through Kriya yoga, Heart of Sound, and iRest Yoga Nidra, showing how mantra and Nidra shift us from performance to presence. If you’ve ever wondered whether sound healing is for you, you’ll hear clear distinctions between analytic insight from charts and the direct experience of a sound bath where the thinking mind can rest.
We also take on skepticism and stigma with nuance. Amy has taught in communities wary of yoga or astrology, and she reveals practical language choices that keep doors open. We discuss division fatigue, Kali Yuga, and choosing unity through tiny, embodied acts: soften the jaw, lengthen the exhale, hum for two minutes, and watch how your perception changes. Along the way, you’ll pick up journaling prompts, mantras for clearing (hello Ganesha) and for love-forward living (Krishna), plus a simple frame for protecting your energy online and offline.
If you’re craving tools that are grounded, accessible, and surprisingly joyful, this conversation is your map. Tap play, then tell us what practice brings you back to yourself. If the show resonated, follow, share with a friend who needs a gentle reset, and leave a quick review to help others find us.
0:00 Opening, Loneliness And Connection
1:15 Meet Amy: Art, Yoga, Astrology
3:10 Music As A Gateway To Nonduality
5:20 A Past-Life Reading And Its Impact
7:50 Ethics Of Readings And Symbolism
10:15 Early Pull Toward Spirit And Art
13:00 From Euphonium To Visual Art
16:20 Yoga Studies And Finding Teachers
19:30 Mantra, Tantric Sound, And Healing
22:10 Breath As The Unifying Thread
24:40 Humming, Sanskrit, And Brain States
27:00 Who Benefits From Astrology Or Sound
29:00 As Above So
If my mind is a certain way, the symbols show up in my real, real physical life every day. And I mean, and that we are all connected.
SPEAKER_04:Welcome to Supernaut, where we explore the inner and outer dimensions of the self. Today Amy Jensen is joining us. Amy is an astrologer, a yoga therapist, a yoga nidra teacher, a sound and visual artist, and just an all-around, deeply creative human who somehow weaves all of those worlds together in a way that feels grounding and spiritual at the same time. I've been curious about how she got into all of this, where it started, what pulled her into healing work, and what she's learned along the way. So we're gonna ask all of that today. But first, I had you pick a song for us to listen to before we started. What song did you pick?
SPEAKER_02:Um, So Lonely by the police off their first release.
SPEAKER_04:Why did you pick it?
SPEAKER_02:Um I think it's the was the first song that came to my mind, and they were like my first favorite band. And I always love the guitar solo, and I just love like the way all the parts wind and weave, and like of course Stuart Copeland's uh drumming just drives the whole thing. Well, anyway, it's just that first that whole first album by the police is one of my favorites. But yeah, as I'm listening to it though, I'm like, I mean, obviously the repetition of So Lonely, it's like just kind of interesting, I guess, you know, just thinking about coming here and talking about spirituality and being a person and human in the world, and um just listening to the lyrics was kind of interesting as far as that goes. I guess I mean everybody's experienced loneliness, but yeah, and it is it's a lonely journey being a human. I mean, we have each other all the time, but then we also, you know, ultimately are alone, and so I do go back and forth with that a lot.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, we feel so separate from the rest of the world sometimes.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly, when all we are really is connected.
SPEAKER_04:But yeah, have you experienced a lot of non-duality moments in your life where you feel really connected to everything?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, and a lot of it comes through music and art. And of course, music and meditation are you know so much the same and overlap, but I think at an early age music was very much and being in nature, probably the two ways that I felt super connected.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, those are still the ways that I feel most connected. Definitely. So I met you back in 2015. I had to look up the email exchange that we had. Um, so I got a reading done by you, and I actually brought it up in my first episode. I talked about how you told me that in a past life I died from a drug overdose at a music festival, and that I would be spending this lifetime trying to get over my addictions, which here we are. Um, and so I mean, some people could say that that idea, you know, put me on this path, but I don't think that's true at all. I have always craved experiencing life raw and unfiltered. Even when I was younger, I mean, I love sunglasses, but even when I was pretty young, I didn't want to wear sunglasses because I wanted to see life how it was intended to be seen. Especially when I was on trips with my parents or vacations, like, you know, the sun would be, I wouldn't be so bright, so I'd want to put the sunglasses on, but I'm like, but that's not real. That's not what the world really looks like. So that's the same with addictions. Like any addiction, even you know, gambling, like when that's on your mind all the time, you're not seeing the rest of the world clearly, let alone um substances. So here we are. I'm on that journey of um let go of a lot of things that have been holding me back. Um, and since then I run into here and there. Go to your uh singing balls and mantra classes in Bram. And um, you recently got into doing raking, and I was lucky enough to get to be one of the volunteers. I got some sessions done. Um, so let's just start from the beginning. How did you get into all this woo-woo stuff? Like, what was the earliest memory that made you feel pulled into this stuff?
SPEAKER_02:Well, and I kind of want to go back and say, I hope I didn't like when I heard you say that on your first podcast, I like I do have these moments where like, oh my God, you know, what did I say? Did I so I've really tried to be more careful in my wording because I'm like, I hope you took that.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I might have interpreted it way different than what you even said.
SPEAKER_02:No, because I got back when I heard that, I'm like, oh, I'm sure, you know, I'm sure that you know, some of the symbolism that was probably present, I can I can imagine that. And then I'm like, but I think I have to, I do really, I mean, I hope that that landed, and I think that carries me through with a lot of my work. Like, oh my God, I have to really make sure that I don't say the wrong thing, or that the person hears me and doesn't carry that in an unhealthy way, or uh like um, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, like you just said, like, did that position you to do this or whatever?
SPEAKER_04:Like, one has to be very I don't think it will click with somebody unless it's something that would resonate with them, anyways, though. Like, because you hear so much that isn't going, you know, I've had different readings before too, and I haven't remembered every single thing because there's a reason when it sticks.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and I think that's now when I phrase what I do, and then then we will I will answer your question then too. Um, but I really am careful, like saying, like usually I just say what I see or the symbols that come forward, and it is each person, it's like something in in each person will resonate, and that will be kind of like a ding ding ding, or like a pinball thing that like activates, and that that's what yeah will like whatever. Everybody knows what's true, yeah, for them.
SPEAKER_04:Whatever you had said, I was like, that makes so much sense, and it had always made sense, and it felt really real. And I don't think I mean I I continue to drink and party for another 10 years or 2015. Well, I yeah, I felt like we met earlier than 2015, but that's when the emails were so, anyways, yeah. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, um, well, cool. Well, I just wanted to clarify that because I think that's one thing I'm always really trying to be careful about, even as I talk with people about because the last reading I got, they told me he told me I was a Nazi in a past life.
SPEAKER_04:So yeah. Oh you can't take can't take everything super literally. I was gonna see that super specific.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know if that's something a person could really say. Yeah. Well, and then I'm also wondering about like just in general with psychics or readings, and like sometimes they just pick up energy fields too, like it might be something a person's thinking about or had seen a movie about. So you don't know if that's just in your energy field or if that's an actual but yeah, not right anyway, not to digress. But well, I so how did I get started in this? Um well, I you know, I was thinking about kind of that before I came here and uh thinking back to when I was a little kid, and you know, some music and nature and and art as well. Um, but they were really big parts um of my being. And um, but I did have um, you know, a couple spiritual things that happened to me when I was little, and um I was always kind of drawn into spirituality or even religion, but I remember like my mom, I remember saying, um, I wanted to be a nun at some point, and she was like, Oh, that would be so boring. Like, you don't want to do that, then we couldn't go shopping. And I'm like, but in my mind, if I could have like envisioned like a Spanish like monastery, like where they were sandals, I could imagine my room, like this room, the little single bed and a study table and a kneeler, and like sandals, but like in my mind, I envision like brown orthopedic shoes, and I'm like, yeah, I can't be a nun. I can't wear brown orthopedic shoes. Isn't that weird? Okay, see, these are the parts that you're probably gonna have to edit. But like, I just I've always was drawn to that, but like, but but not like I I knew I'd I would love to be absorbed into that or sitting in church, always like, I don't think they have this right. I don't think they've got this right. Even as a little kid, I'm like, I don't think they're doing this right. So that was part of what like early experiences, and then um I really was a music major and much very performance-oriented. So, like people from my hometown, like picking the police, they'd be like, Oh, that's Amy. And I just everything I did was surrender, uh, surrounded, probably and surrendered to um, I played euphonium, uh, it's a tenor tuba. Um, I don't know if you watch Southern Charm, but Molly on Southern Charm plays a euphonium. Um, so now I can kind of drag that in for pop reference because most people don't know what a euphonium is. But I mean, I picked up, it was a baritone horn when I was younger, and minute I picked it up, I could play it. And I that was everything I did, and I loved it. I played it all the time, and I realized it was the breath. Like piano was a little too far and scared me a little bit, and um even though I played piano contests, etc., um, but just really got involved with playing my instrument. But then when I went to college, like that shifted, and I like and I've had these shifts throughout my life. Like, I don't like um if I get too identified with something, I think my ego became too identified with it because that's what I would have identified as. Like, oh, I play bare tone horn and I do performance, and like that's what I do, and then it would come along, life would come along and kind of like nope, you don't, like just switch gears.
SPEAKER_04:Most people's egos want to stay in the same exact pattern and keep looping, and because that's safe for the ego, but your ego's like leaves.
SPEAKER_02:My ego is like things, yeah. It kind of throws it out, and I'm sure it drove my mom and dad crazy because it's like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, but even and then I went into art school, so that was like an I'm like, okay, I can I'm I really like to do art, I'll I'll follow that path. And then in that path, I went to MCAD, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and like super open to influences and you know, different artists, but different, even spirituality, because like super great um staff and professors and access to um sunset books was a big I didn't live that far from Sunset Books, so I'd get like books on the Kabbalah or Kabbalah, I still don't know how to pronounce it, so that's on the record, but just astrology even then, and um wow, I hope I'm coming around to my point here, but I always like that was something that's always kind of wound through and symbolism. So symbolism in my artwork and colors and um like numbers, and I'd always listen to music when I would do art, and did a lot of figure work with charcoal. That was probably my most comfortable medium media, and I still work in that. Um, but probably the uh most comfortable, I would take art figures and then I would like distill them down to just arcs and lines and shapes, and that would always be done to music and specifically uh one piece each time. Um and so and and learned about synesthesia where people would hear sounds and it would relate to a color or numbers to colors. And then when I started learning about astrology um through yoga, so gosh, this is really a convoluted path. So I went to art school, graduated, met my husband. Um, we got I worked in like graphic arts for a few years, and then uh we got married, um, had kids. I got to be a stay-at-home mom, which was awesome. So I got to do all of that, um, and started studying yoga. I had um always loved, I did dance a lot when I was little, ballet, and loved movement. Um, started doing yoga after reading Carlos Castaneda's books, those Don Juan books.
SPEAKER_04:I don't know, um the way The Four Agreements. Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_02:No, um Don Juan, the oh, I I should remember the teachings of Don Juan, Carlos Castaneda, um, about shamanism.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:So I will bring this home. And I I read some of those series. Sorry, I read those series, that series, and it was then it became all about power, like power this, power that. And I'm like, well, I don't know, that doesn't seem like power. Like, why are you seaching, you know, searching for power? And I think that kind of led me into power yoga. And then I was like, well, that wasn't quite right, and started reading everything I could about yoga, and led me to um Yoga Nanda's book, um, autobiography of a yogi, Ram Das, just every single thing I could read about yoga. And then, you know, I'm doing yoga, I'm reading about it, started. Um a friend of mine worked at Bram Community Ed at the time, and she was like, hey, we need a yoga teacher. And I'm like, hey, I haven't been doing yoga for like more, like it was probably a year or so, and so I'll do it, but I'll get training because I don't want to do anything not being properly trained. And so then I looked into uh like yoga journal, they have all the ads, and there was the Temple of Korea Yoga, which had a homestudy program, and I ran it by Sherry, our mutual friend, and she's like, Wow, this looks great! And I'm like, Well, cool, I think I'll do it. And then she also went through the same school about six months later, and that set me off on the yogic path, and through that I started studying astrology because I went into their philosophy, the creology program after I did the teacher training. And um, one of my spiritual teachers there um was an astrologer, as well as Kriananda was, and so I went through all of their astrology courses and just really got into that. Studied with Stephen Forrest, went to see him out in California several times, which was really awesome. And Adam Gainsberg um went to Sky Astrology Conference once, but I've done a lot of online studies with him. So I just love to learn. I do, I just kind of like keep going with that, and then um mantra, so music kind of came back into the picture. Um there was always mantra in the yogic studies and in the traditions, um, in the traditions I studied, and I'm sure all traditions, but specifically with the Kriya yoga. And so, and actually the first retreat I went to, I the um Swami program was also um having their retreat at the same time, and we were able to go to their morning meditation and mantra, and I'm like, oh, like I'm in, you know, this is great, and so that was something that always um was interesting to me. And then I took an Ayurveda wellness course, and one of the weekends was a weekend of mantra with Nikolai Bachman, and that was like turned something on in my brain. I'm like, oh, this is cool, this is really cool. And so um that I kind of left. I looked him up to see if I could study with him, and he really didn't have anything. And then this Heart of Sound study program, which was also remote. Um, I was I did go to India right during as COVID started to study in person, but uh went to India, was there for like a day, came back right as COVID started. Yeah, I yeah, I got there and I came home. You know, I even spent the money to get a better ticket, etc. etc. Got home and my dad's like, so now do you believe that there's a pandemic? And I'm like, too soon, too soon, dad. But everything was fine, obviously, you know, that's a whole other thing, and glad we're through all of that collectively. Um but um yeah, so I started with that program and could do that at home because they switched to online, have met a lot of great people internationally because of that. Um, but I think through the mantra um studies, and they were kind of um based more on the tantric tradition of uh being in the world, like the world is a playground, and um each experience isn't bad or good, it's just an experience. And there was this um more of an emphasis on just resonance and how you feel when you do music instead of that performative aspect. And so I feel like that was really healing to reclaim my love of music without getting into the perfectionism that I had when I was a performer. So that's how I got into it, and yeah, just along the way, um, loving energy work and stones and you know, just all the symbolism that really I got into when I studied astrology. I just couldn't get enough. And sadly, like I was so into it for a while, I would just remember everything, and now I'm a little more like, hmm, you know, I'll have to look it up. But yeah.
SPEAKER_04:That's great. I have so many questions. Okay, so were your parents artistic? Or anybody in your family?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, my mom was very musical and artistic, and then I was thinking we have quite a few musicians and artists in our family, like my grandpa and all his brothers were in a band. We've got all these old pictures of them being in a band back in like World War I or something era. Um, but yeah, and quite a few visual artists in the family as well.
SPEAKER_04:And uh, so do you think things just kind of came to you and and that would spark your interest more? And then you would just kind of go that way instead of like I think sometimes I like look too hard for something I'm interested in, and then when I just kind of sit back, it kind of comes to me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, everything kind of like fell into place. It would be, and when it didn't, that was kind of a sign for me that I was pushing too hard because that could happen too. But yeah, it was amazingly simple to find the yoga online yoga thing. Somebody, like I said, the friend asked me to teach yoga, the teaching program appeared, the next step with astrology. You know, somebody I was interested in would have a retreat or a training. So yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Of these things that you're into now, is there one common thread through all of them?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I think it's the breath. I think it's the breath. And I um so as so doing mantra, very um, my voice for speaking, I'm very comfortable with teaching, and um, that always feels like it kind of just flows through because I feel like I'm more of a vessel when I'm teaching. And I like that feeling, which is the way it felt when I play my horn, it would just like flow through me. Um and then um, but singing, I had to really like get rid of that mind again because um that's so vulnerable. Everybody's voice is so vulnerable. Um, but then when I reframed it as, well, it is, it's just breath again and just guiding people. I love that feeling of guiding, or the terms like sharing or inviting to let people have their own experience, and I don't have to like make it, I can just set the boundaries or the framework for them to have the experience. So I don't have to make anybody believe in anything, or like um it yeah, it just gives everyone their autonomy and have their own cool experience from it. So that would be the thread of the breath and creating the framework and like the invitational aspect.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that's huge for me right now because I just got a drum. Um, not uh my goal is a hand pan, um but those are more expensive and I think gonna be harder to learn. So this one looks like I forget what it's called, but um it's got some tools to go with it. Um and I'm excited to learn that instrument. But now that you say that, maybe I do want some kind of flute or something that I can use my breath with because we take our breath so much for granted. I mean, it is why we're alive and we never breathe deep down to our toes. And we, you know, I think we all have problems with our nervous system right now because we're not breathing the air into our whole body. So maybe I will that will be my next instrument. Because it hadn't really been on my radar, but I like that. So thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you're welcome. And also I'm thinking, too, you could hum while you play your new instrument.
SPEAKER_04:That's true. It's crazy how humming can make you feel so good, your whole body vibrating. And yeah, your mantra class uh in Bram, especially the first one, it's like you just kind of lose yourself in a way. It's it feels so spiritual and so so beautiful.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, there's something really magical about that. And it's like you said, even just humming, and you know, obviously the sounds of Sanskrit, like Hebrew and Latin, you know, it's a sacred language. So each sound has a resonance and it does. It's really cool if you look up videos about doing Sanskrit and it lightning, lighting up or lightning, lighting up your brain, but um even just humming everything, like it's the cheapest medicine. Like I go out and I'll practice and just have to be by myself, so I don't have to worry about anybody hearing me. I feel better, 100% better every single time. So I love it. Everybody could save a lot of money, just go out and hum.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that puts you back in your body. Yeah, that's so great. Um, so for new people, for people that aren't kind of into this, what are some signs that someone might benefit from astrology or sound healing?
SPEAKER_02:Um, well, I think astrology is wonderful just because everybody can learn more about themselves. And now I think it was the astrologer Grant Louis, could be wrong, it who said it's not something to believe in, it's just something to know about. So I think if someone just thinks like, hey, this is a way I can gain insight, because um if you just know more about yourself, we can accept more because we all have those things that go really well and the things that don't. And like you said, repetitively, we all have those karmas and it just helps us with that guidance. But um, sound healing is great because you don't have to, you just go and experience so the thinking mind can be set aside. So I guess if a person loves that, and you know, the astrology is more analytic, it's definitely a little more leaned that way. You have to want to go that route, whereas a sound bath you can just lay back and breathe and experience.
SPEAKER_04:My favorite, yes, my favorite work ever, like is you just lay and relax and your body's being healed. It's the best. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:When you think about how simple that is in like Shivasana in a yoga practice, the last, and I remember my teacher Kim Schwartz was amazing. You know, that's the most important pose of any practice.
SPEAKER_04:Wow. So just laying on your back, completely releasing and being intentional about it.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly. It is, it's the releasing and receiving the hands up. And I'm saying that and reminding myself of that as well, which I think is a lot of my teaching is I'm just reminding myself.
SPEAKER_04:That's great. Uh, on your website it says as above, so below, as within, so without. How do you interpret that in your daily life and and with your clients?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I mean, I do see the correlation all the time, and I'm sure you do too. Like if my mind is a certain way, the symbols show up in my real, real physical life every day. And um as within, so without, as above, as below. I mean, and that we are all connected. That going back to that theme of inner connectivity, inner and inter, um, really, because we do see how how our resonance affects other people. It's like so many times, it's like, oh, that person, et cetera, et cetera. And it's like, that's not that person. I'm holding that vibration, and I just happen to draw that person to mirror it back to me.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:And so again, it's like this non-judgmental thing, though. It's like a very acceptance-based, um, it just is what it is. Like it literally, to me, it's that flow. So that's why sometimes if I have a problem, I'll try to work it out, you know, with mantra, that vibration, or I will try to take the steps like I can see this symbol appearing. Like, Amy, slow the F down, you know, or whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_04:So true. Like every time I saw this co-worker for like months, I had this feeling of them judging me. And it took me so long, but I finally figured out it was what it was that I was judging myself. But I kept getting stuck because I kept thinking they were judging me about something else, or I was judging myself about something else. But once I realized what it was that I was judging myself about, I'm like, oh, that's where this is showing up. And now, like, everything's fine. It was never ever anything about him. He was just a good mirror. And I started being thankful for him being a mirror before I figured out what it was, and then it was so quick before I realized, oh, okay, that is completely different than what I thought. But being open to it, I think, is um the biggest part.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, definitely. And I think when you said that about being thankful for him, I think gratitude is such a huge practice, a huge practice and so simple, so accessible. And again, you don't have to believe in anything, but just being thankful for these people and what they bring up in us, which is kind of what I think we're all here to do, to be honest with you, if you're gonna put it in a nutshell. Like, let's learn from whomever in the world who is really annoying us or who we love amazingly, like, oh my god, they're amazing. What is it? That's the only reason we're here, and okay, that's really simplistic. But you know what I mean? I mean, we're just here to learn from each other, and then till we get to that non-reactive point at a critical mass, like we're just here for a long time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I always tell my sister that I'm like, I know, I know that person might annoy all of us, but um, we have to like transcend that because yeah, we're feeding it.
SPEAKER_04:There's another quote on your page from Ram Das. Um, it says we're all just walking each other home.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:That's so great. Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Um, do you think that there's misunderstandings or stigmas about alternative healing and astrology that you constantly need to address? And how do you handle that skepticism?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, astrology for sure. I run into a few roadblocks. Um, actually, I think it was the summer of 2023. I was at a restaurant outside of Mora, and the people I was with asked me about astrology, and I just, and they were like, hey, we don't know anything about astrology, just give us something simple. And I just gave some really blanket, like, oh, Aries, da-da-da-da-da, or this, you know, very simple. And the waitress comes up later and tells me that um that that's like God doesn't approve of astrology. And I mean, like this was like two years ago. It was so random. But I just, you know, I didn't react because that has happened a bit with astrology. But you know, I've been teaching yoga so long that happened in Cambridge with yoga when I first started. Yeah, you know, so but I just said, well, hey, there are Christian astrologers. There always have been. And I mean, and by the way, the Vatican holds like most of the astral astrological texts in its library, so it's just as weird. So there's that, there's like, you know, I mean, obviously there's a connection with astrology and magic and people using times for magical things, but that's not necessarily bad, you know. I mean, what people do with that, I think it's for timing, etc. You know, I don't do that, but it doesn't mean it's bad. But there's that stigma. There's also the stigma that I ran into, or not a stigma, but um a belief that I'm telling somebody because of these blanket statements, like, oh, Aries, you know, oh, they're angry all the time and they like to use knives, you know, or Taurus just sit on the couch and eat ice cream, you know.
SPEAKER_04:Well, that's kind of chill for me.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I was gonna say I've got a Taurus chunk in my chart. I mean, as we all do, you know, it but like the energies of um again, it's like the stars incline, they don't decide that old saying. It's like, yeah, so sometimes this it's great that so many people are into astrology now and it's so widespread. But because of that, it can become a little simplified. And just because I'm an Aquarius doesn't mean I'm gonna be kooky all the time, or that I don't care what people think, you know, because I've also got, you know, a big chunk of Virgo and I've got all these other things, and everything is interacting with each other. So um, so the oversimplification on a lot of different levels is hard for astrology. Um, and I think it's interesting, and I love that I live in Cambridge or outside of Cambridge because it took me literally years to realize that one quarter of a block or one quarter of all of Main Street in Cambridge is a huge Baptist church. Like I just didn't understand that at first until I did, and then I'm like, well, thank you for like realizing that that's where the fear was coming from some people. But then I conversely, like a lot of my kids' friends were Baptists, and I used to work for um a person who owned a yoga studio or fitness studio, and she was Baptist, and she was lovely, and she was totally fine with me teaching yoga, etc. etc. So I just had to learn to like not be too um, I had to be more careful with how I coached things or termed, um, use different terms, and I think that really helped me be a more effective teacher because when you'd come to yoga class, at first I didn't know I would ohm at the end, and I didn't realize the next class I taught, this was early on, like half the people showed up, and I'm like, ooh, didn't realize that offended people. I'm like, we don't have to do an ohm, like that has nothing to do with Hatha yoga, you know. So just making it more open to more people. Um, so that's what I've had to in my time teaching yoga or being in the like East Central Minnesota community.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, which is weird because like growing up in South Dakota, I didn't have that. Um, but I think South Dakota now is way more conservative than it was. It would be very different. It was much more open, the community I grew up in. I shouldn't say open, I mean, you know, grew up Catholic, but like we weren't um anyway, just no one ever yeah, I didn't have those problems, I guess, of like somebody thinking I'm doing something. Yeah, which exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_04:But yeah, yeah well, thank you for being brave enough to open um more minds around in this area because I feel like you've made a huge difference in the last few decades.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you're thank you, but I I think it's uh funny because I I know I ran into um a chiropractor in Cambridge and we were joking about Cambridge being more open, and then we're like, oh I guess, yeah, it's been like 25 years.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Time does go fast. But there had to be some people leading that, leading the way for that.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, well, thank you. That it makes me feel it makes me feel good. It makes me feel like um, and not in again in an egoic way, it's like, but I think that's kind of part of what my path is, which is interesting because I I would um I don't really teach Hatha Yoga much anymore. So it's like other people are doing that. So it's kind of like my horn playing. I still practice it, but I don't teach it much. And now I do the sound baths, I do the mantra, I do the yoga nidra, and I'm kind of thinking eventually somebody else will do those, probably, you know. So where am I going with that?
SPEAKER_04:Maybe you're always gonna be doing like the cutting edge thing because you are so open to the new things. Yeah, obviously, you always have been, so the new things will come in as we evolve as humans, as this area and community evolves.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, because there's part of me that's a little foolish and a little brave, and a little like, oh, that's exciting, and I'm curious, and then I'll do it. And like I said, then I realized, like, oh shit, I didn't know that was gonna offend a bunch of people, yeah. Or have them think, like when my kids were little, like my son didn't experience this, but my oldest daughter did. Like when I first started teaching yoga, I mean, she, you know, people did say things to her, like, Well, does your mom even believe in God? You know, yeah, and it's like so weird because like everything I did was kind of about God, you know.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, but right, you're feeling him, not just sitting in church, yeah, learning.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so that was a little weird. So I'm like, oh my god, later they told me that the kids did, and I'm like, Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that you know, my interests affected you like that. But right, yeah, but thankfully by the time my son went through, his friends were totally different and was totally, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, but uh, so yeah, everybody's nervous system is being jacked up right now. Like, why do you think that is? And what can we do?
SPEAKER_02:Well, honestly, this is probably gonna put me in the the nutball community, but um I don't think it's an accident that our nervous systems are getting jacked up, and I don't think it's an accident that everything is super divisive, but karmically it's a really big gift. I think it's just the age we're in. We're in this Kali Yuga, which is a long, you know, period of we're the farthest away from the golden era where everybody, you know, it's all sunshine and unicorns, etc. You know, but um so it's an opportunity. So I so that I shouldn't say that. It's it is an opportunity, it's not like it's a big plan. I shouldn't say that. It's just the age we live in and the karma we're presented, which is one of divisiveness, which is like 180 degrees away from really being united. So there's this divisiveness, and and it's really sad because I do think a lot of people's minds are, you know, a lot of people are resonating with hatred and anger and um prejudice, and it's sad that that's being like encouraged. Um but conversely, anytime we get to act in a way that helps unify people or like see past, like when you said acceptance, like seeing past that, like that's a huge uh opportunity for everyone to grow. Um, so every time I have like a really I'm sorry, amazing experience with people, um, somebody who goes out of their way to do something super kind. Um it happened in a Walmart in Aberdeen, South Dakota when something happened in my vehicle. It was like 20 below 8 a.m. on Sunday morning last year, and this young man working the service counter just went above and beyond. And like his name was Robinson, and so my sister and my niece and I were like, we're gonna be Robinsons, like just went out and he just did all this. I went above and beyond. So, where am I going with this? So, what can we do? Really look beyond the differences, try to find commonality, um, not be pulled into the duality, and to like go back and find that connection. And I'll go back to the breath, I'll bring back full circle, grounding into the body, relaxing the tongue, the throat, the jaw, breathing, and you know, humming, moving some type of grounding and flowing thing will help us regulate the nervous system. So again, the I really, yeah, I guess I'm going hard for like. mantra and sound but it's an easy way to do it and everybody can do it yeah yeah writing journaling I I've been calling it flow journaling lately where you can just just write down how you feel you know I'm feeling metallic black this that you know these every feeling and sit with those let yourself breathe or hum for a while and then you can feel them release just like again like the clouds in the sky and and a find you know maybe what the opposite of that is what you're really looking for is the communion which is the peace and the calm um which might have a color or a memory.
SPEAKER_04:Oh that was another thing I was gonna ask so can you say colors with sounds? I don't I don't you know I should take that back when I do Reiki colors will come to me or images um quite often so but I don't see them around like I don't see auras it's more of um just a feeling I'm more of a feeler yeah and perfect I wanted to get into Reiki next can you explain um to people who don't know what Reiki is what it is and I'll just say yeah when I've came to you to get Reiki I won't even tell you like hey I'm I'm but I'll think to myself like I want to hear color I want a word or something like that and yeah you always do deliver like something and if I'm some a lot of times I'm like tell my guides I don't need anything today but the days that I say like please tell me something it's like yeah you give me something to work with afterwards. And then my question with Reiki is um do you get burnt out taking on everybody's energies?
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Um so Reiki is just a form of energy work. You use these symbols um it started like from uh Japan um and basically you just yeah call in your guides the person's guides and you can either put your hands above them or on them or do it distance and basically it's just uniting the person's intention and I love it because you just let the energy flow. It's not like I have to do anything um because that always yeah I just love the flow. So yeah we it always does come back to that flow and breath. So yeah it's a session where the person's fully clothed and on a table and yeah you just go around checking the chakras and the energy field and then just kind of move to where I'm called on the body there are specific you know areas that you move to but I kind of have already decided to just do it however it comes um but then yeah it just is amazing what kind of comes through um let's see I don't know and then taking on and that's I don't know is that enough did I say enough yeah I'm sorry yeah um and yeah taking on people's energies you have to watch that so I always try to ground afterwards try to ground before and after and then usually take a salt bath that night too like a 20 minute salt bath and um yeah just kind of setting those boundaries that it's a certain time you you close it off afterwards and um and then they're closed off too so that they're you know when you leave like your energy field is yours and mine is mine. Because I think you have to be really respectful of that. I think that's kind of one of my pet peeves with all types of spiritual work that people do is like don't be in somebody's energy field. Don't be like oh I can feel this from you like if I go over to you know yeah someone else in the room like oh I feel that yeah yeah it's like no you I didn't ask you to yeah don't tell me you know so I really try to do that with my kids or people in my life too it's like if you want me to yeah I will look up your chart I will do energy work for you but I'm not gonna do it you know yeah like you have good etiquette with it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah exactly um what was that mantra that you gave me a while ago with the elephant and um it was to get out of my own way and I listen to it all the time and it really works. So it's probably a Ganesha mantra was it the Ganapataye Yamaha Omgam Ganapata and there's a certain one that I really like um when I know I'm the one causing my own problems.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah Ganesha's the big elephant god and either with his big trunk or his tail and just and the rhythm too it's got a nice rhythm to it like clearing stuff out like yeah he's a good go-to do you have a favorite right now mantra yeah I've been really well anything Krishna like for a while but um just um well yeah so a couple of Krishna mantras and I know it's it's kind of funny so the you know the Hare Krishna but they've got some beautiful melodies so Krishna is very much the Christ energy so it's just love and I love the simplicity of that it's been really nourishing for my soul and my heart because sometimes when I get in my own way and really with the whole world situation or things that have been going on in you know my life or family it's like oh my God maybe I can't do anything but I can just love and so that's like my fallback.
SPEAKER_04:I'm like yeah somebody that I had invited to mantra um was like well I don't know I don't want to like call in evil spirits and vote you know because I don't know what the words mean but like the words are all so beautiful so healing there there can't be any evil in these words.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly and especially since okay so I love the the heart of sound teachings um it was really more about like you know you'd know the meaning and you could look up each letter which is really cool. So that's in the um the tantric sound tradition is like the A has a bliss meaning and the long A, you know it's each has a vibration but don't let me tell you about it. Like you do it and like you you'll have your own experience which again I love because you know I don't want to be telling somebody that like I can tell you hey Ganesha's awesome and it'll help you clear the path but you're gonna have your own experience with it and you're gonna start vibing with it and your experience is like yeah it did clear my path but it does it in this way and like that's how you make it yours. And so um but you know see this is me but I can see where your friend might be like because it is it's a foreign language and it can sound weird and I mean I can see where that misconception can come into play.
SPEAKER_04:So but yeah well from my experience it is nothing but love and light.
SPEAKER_02:Well and that's what I think you would go to the person who resonates that and that's the intention and I think the people who would be using anything which can really be anything for not good as we see with social media and chaos magic and all of that. I mean let's face it television is programming you know I it's there's thought behind ads and there's energy behind ads and words and symbols that are chosen in everything we watch and that is in our aura and it's not unlike a dream watching a movie I mean it's not unlike the astral plane so I mean so there is that but I think a person you know you would go to someone who you would trust like I'm not just gonna go through the internet like oh hey I'll pick this person to study mantra with um yeah or whatever. I mean I think you can get a pretty good read on that. Right.
SPEAKER_04:So can you explain yoga nidra?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah that's another thing you can just lay there. That's my favorite yeah well and that um interestingly it has been super studied um that's great grammar isn't it super studied so I spent time in California um but um well actually that's kind of now that I say that it's gonna sound really weird because it's um Richard Miller IRES Yoga nidra um they did a lot of studies for that in the military and actually my friend um I now I won't mention her name but she just told me recently because I had sent a yoga nidra to her um and her dad said when he was in the army that was some of the stuff they practiced to help them relax and be mindful.
SPEAKER_04:Oh I think I heard Napoleon did yoga nija.
SPEAKER_02:I think you're right. Wow yeah so use it for good people know right basically it is really great because it does help focus the mind but it does so by um so you get into shavasana or a seated position. And really with my meditations too over the last few years I've switched from always having to have your eyes shut some people are more comfortable with their eyes open and like just looking and that gives their mind something to do also. But traditionally you close your eyes and then you're guided into like a rotation of consciousness so I'll you know say you know your right eye your left eye left ear etc all through the body and you just envision your awareness going there maybe you envision a circle of light at each point or a colored or something um but that just gets you aware of your whole body and then we'll do a little breathing a little of feeling opposites like can you bring into your mind a feeling of being cold or hot um really contracted really relaxed and so it just gets the mind and the body on the same page and then the recordings I have then I had um done a little like a little guided journey for each of them and I did kind of base them on each of the astrology astrological signs um for each of the chakras um but that you don't have to you could just go through the body um feelings and thoughts and it's really about watching thoughts and feelings arise come into view and then go away again. And um after you're done with Yoga Nidra it is equal to like four hours of sleep. So it's a wonderful practice to do. And then usually like an idea comes to you afterwards too if you have a little something you've been thinking about well you know how that is but it's just a way to get yourself into it. So it's just another way of um guided meditation.
SPEAKER_04:Well I was sold and then you send the sleep thing like every single day Veda put this in my schedule make it happen. My gosh okay and yeah so your website um yeah I saw a lot of different classes stuff that you have going on workshop like the allness workshop that's next August?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah well wasn't last August it was and I will be doing those again. Okay I and I would also like to figure out how to do them online. I haven't done that yet but um I so I stopped doing those when we had this health crisis in my family um so I will be back to doing that again and and that was kind of fun because I you know had been using writing as therapeutic like the flow journaling and then I started using that to write some poetry but really the heart of it is the flow journaling just letting like putting words out there and then the act of creating art and not for a finished product but the act of image making so I'll get on my soapbox about image making and sound making and how we as humans have given that up to the select few who are professional painters or professional musicians. It's like no every person is an image maker and every person is a music maker. And those are things I want us all to reconnect to before we got to be like maybe fourth fifth grade when oh well so and so can draw but I can't or so and so can sing and I can't it's like no like that's it can still be a hobby.
SPEAKER_04:Me and Veda talked about that yesterday like like the deep realization that I can still write for myself as a hobby. People make things all the time as a hobby that they're not trying to make money off of or show anybody like why why would I think the writing has to be anything else that's so exactly and and all writing starts that way anyway who's to say 20 years from now you don't publish something if you wanted to after writing for all those years.
SPEAKER_02:But it's like everything just starts so I kind of combined so part of the class would be writing part would be art making part would be mantra and part would be yoga nidra to like integrate everything. I love how it says there's only one you and that's the one the world needs to see and that's what I keep coming back to as well like that's a core belief that I have it's like the world like needs all of us to show up.
SPEAKER_04:Right like yeah and I was gonna say earlier when we were talking about journaling that the journaling I've been doing lately is as soon as I realize a core belief that I have I will write it down and then dissect it and you know okay why do I believe this? Why and then like just keep going the next layer the next layer the next layer um and so that's been really helpful because there's some beliefs that I have that I don't want to have or I feel bad about and if I can dissect it and see why I believe then like oh I don't have to feel bad about having that thought because my true intentions I will find by the end of this journaling. But um yeah so that sounds like a great class and then there's an iRest co-meditation dyad.
SPEAKER_02:I know that's a mouthful isn't it yeah yeah so that was from the iRest Yoga Nidra training so okay weirdly I I think I studied Yoga Nidra well I know I studied it in my um yoga therapy education part and that's when I recorded those and then I took the iRest like after that um which is really nice just because it kind of simplified it in my mind and um the co-meditation dyed is like you and I meeting up and just kind of walking you through a meditation program. So like you might just start talking about what what's alive in you right now what feeling is it and then I might just you know pull on that thread a little bit well you know what can you tell me more about that feeling and and and it just allows you to like wind into the experience with someone kind of walking you along and kind of taking notes too so that you have um kind of resolution as you go um and coming to the end of the journey together and just giving you that um kind of calming and grounding sense if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_04:So yeah it's kind of a it's a dialogue so well I'm really excited about that and I'm gonna have to sign up because I'm obsessed with the dyad like the Star Wars is the only place I've ever really heard that term used. Okay. And I'm not uh in what do you mean in in the Star Wars in the in the episode seven eight and nine um there's dyad and the force these two people that can like talk when they're not near each other and oh interesting okay I did not know that yeah yeah um okay and you have meditations on insight timer and anybody that doesn't know about insight timer that is my favorite meditation um app okay so and I only have a couple on there so I need to put more on but yeah cool and your website is amijensen.net yes right for anybody that wants to check out these classes um and I do have the Yoganidra recordings on YouTube so you can look up Amy Jensen Healing Arts channel on YouTube so you can listen to them for free on there. Wonderful yeah I'm excited for tonight now um in the next five to ten years what do you envision for your work? Or you're just gonna keep letting things come in I think I think I'm just gonna yeah yeah because I have this moment of terror when you ask and I'm like oh I don't know I really don't know. I I really feel like um then you don't have to go through the pain of it not going how you don't want it to right so perfect uh if you could give people only one piece of advice to stay aligned with their own inner guidance system what would you say?
SPEAKER_02:The first thought is be honest but it is hard to be honest but I better clarify that it is hard to be honest really be honest about what it is that you want to do and be and just be honest about who you are even if it's scary um be honest and then I'm gonna go back to just love because I know during this health crisis of a family member um you know it was pretty pretty close to not the person not being there and the only thing that matters at that point is love. I mean it it's the only thing that matters so maybe the loving yourself and being honest with yourself and being honest with other people but like coming from that like love base.
SPEAKER_04:So that makes sense anything else new that's lighting you up right now that's you know bringing you goosebumps or any kind of fulfillment um not let me see I don't know if there's anything new I'm really excited
SPEAKER_02:To utilize the things I have set in motion and just do it. Maybe that's probably what I'm excited about. I think through this experience of this last fall and this health crisis, you realize you just don't have time. Like you may have time, but you don't know if you have time. And so like I'm letting go, so I am excited about this. I'm letting go of the thinking about it, and I just want to do it. Like, you call me up to do Reiki, let's do Reiki. You want to do the diad, let's just do it. And instead of like, oh, can I, you know, might do a good job for Beth? You know, there's always a little bit of that in me for people. And I'm like, oh girl, just there's no time for that. Just do it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Because I love doing it. And I just want to keep doing what I'm doing. And who knows what that'll be next year. But for now, I am super excited about all my things I'm doing and just sharing it with people and their experiences.
SPEAKER_04:It's so wild because during my meditation today, I um was kind of maybe starting to fall asleep a little bit, but then I woke up kind of abruptly, and the words do it was in my head, and then I watched a video, a YouTube video that is only about five minutes long that it reminded me of where he says do it, but for this too, yeah. We stop using our brains and thinking so much and just do it. Yep. Mm-hmm. That's so great. Okay, so now we will get into the segment where um I asked you to give me the names and numbers of people that I could reach out to, and so I reached out and asked them to describe you in six or seven words, and then I put all those in the themes so that you could see how people perceive you because I think it's just nice to see ourselves how those around us do, because we have a hard time seeing ourselves in good light. But um, yeah, your themes are so obvious and easy, and everybody just couldn't stop saying enough about you. They did not listen when I said six or seven words, they gave a lot extra, and they had paragraphs of just telling me how much they love you and how great you are, and I'm like, yeah, I know, I know, I know how great she is. So your first word is tenderhearted, because a couple people said kind, a couple generous, a couple said caring and compassionate, and then loving, warm, gentle, thoughtful, sensitive, comforting, sincere, and honest. Honest. And the second word is creative, because I don't think anybody can think of you and not think of creativity. Um, artistic, musical, talented, vibrant, etherall, bohemian. And your third word is analytical, smart, wise, a couple of people said, intelligent, knowledgeable, resourceful, perceptive, inquisitive, scientific, disciplined, diligent, and transparent. And which I think is so great that you know, a lot of people might think that you're not scientific. People who are not you, but people who are woo-woo are not scientific. But you are so, I mean, your word is analytical. So, and then your fourth word is soulful. A couple of people said spiritual and intuitive, seeker, understanding, mystical, precious, authentic. A couple people said genuine, transparent, true, open, radiant, and lovely. And then your fifth word is uplifting. Couple people said funny, couple people said joyful and witty, fun, optimistic, energetic, playful, amazing, encouraging, bubbly, and luminous.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_04:Um, and our mutual friend Sherry said also she has total trust with you, which is so nice to have people that you can trust so much.
SPEAKER_02:So I feel the same about Sherry.
SPEAKER_04:So AI and I together wrote a synopsis about you. Uh, you're not one thing, you're a constellation. You don't just create art, you create portals, and you don't just help people meet themselves. You walk back, you walk them back to their own light. Also, please remember that you are not these words, you are not your thoughts. You are the space between the words, the space between the thoughts. You are the one who knows you have thoughts, observe them, reflect them, but no, you are not them.
unknown:Thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Anything you want to say about that? I don't know if I can say anything about that.
SPEAKER_02:That's pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Well, the last the last couple of questions um are what do you do right now that you hope your grandkids do when they're your age do silly things.
SPEAKER_02:Do yeah, just yeah, and don't care. And grandkids, don't listen to your mom and dad. And be naughty. But yeah, just a little be a little bit of a troublemaker. Have keep people on their toes.
SPEAKER_04:Love that. And what do you do that you hope that they don't do?
SPEAKER_02:Is there anything that oh yeah, don't um don't be hard on yourselves. Don't yeah, just you are you are enough. But yeah, just don't don't let that critical don't let the critic into the room. Just just have fun. Be creative.
SPEAKER_04:Beautiful. Beta, did anything come up for you that you want to ask? No, I think you kind of touched on everything that I had thought of prior to recording. So yeah. Anything else that we didn't touch on that you were hoping to talk about?
SPEAKER_02:No, I don't think so. Thank you. This was such a lovely gift doing this and uh assembling. I'm so sorry. My hand I've been trying to not use my hands too much because I'm a terrible hand talker. But um, that list and that um writing was just a gift. And I appreciate that a lot. So thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, well, um, I hope that you come on again sometime. I'm sure we could just make a million of these. And um yeah, I'm sure I'll see you again soon. Thank you so much for everything that you've brought into my life. Thank you, Beth. I really appreciate you. I do.