#35 - Somatic Leadership: Why Your Body Determines Your Next Level - with Constanze Witzel (S2)

In this episode, I sit down with Constanze to explore a deeper layer of leadership that most people overlook — your body’s capacity to actually hold the level of success you’re calling in. We go beyond surface-level nervous system work and into what it really means to expand your somatic capacity so your leadership, visibility, and income can feel safe in your body.

What You’ll Learn

⚡ Why your nervous system sets the ceiling for your income, visibility, and leadership
⚡ The difference between regulation vs. true capacity expansion
⚡ How female and male nervous systems require different approaches to success
⚡ Why overachieving and perfectionism can block your next level
⚡ How to identify your somatic “glass ceiling” and start shifting it

About Constanze

Constanze is a somatic coach and founder of a somatic movement studio in Dubai, specialising in nervous system work for the female body. She supports high-performing women to expand their capacity for success through her signature method, Breath Play.

Instagram: @constanzewitzel

Relevant Offers from Aimée

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If this conversation activated something in your body around expansion, this is where we go deeper. Inside the Club, I guide breathwork sessions designed to increase your nervous system capacity, regulate your energy, and embody your next level of leadership and wealth.
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Resources Mentioned

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

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Let’s Connect:
👉 Instagram: @aimeedrost | @millionairebreathwork
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Imagine walking into a room and people immediately feel your leadership. Your voice feels steady, your presence really lands. Selling your work feels easy, powerful, and natural. And not because you learned another strategy, but because your body can actually hold the level of success that you're stepping into. Most high achievers already understand that somatics and the nervous system play a big role in success. But what many people don't understand is how that actually translates into real leadership and real expansion. And I see this constantly with coaches, healers, facilitators. They know the strategy, they have the skills, they understand the importance of embodiment. They might even teach about embodiment, yet it doesn't always translate into how they show up in their business, into their visibility, into their leadership, into their ability to actually hold the next level that they say they want. And often that reason is simple. Their body hasn't expanded yet to hold it. And that is exactly why I bring Constanza onto this podcast. She works with high-performing leaders on expanding their somatic capacity for success. And her approach goes a lot deeper than the usual nervous system conversation. In this episode, we talk about somatic leadership, why high achievers keep hitting invisible ceilings, and how to expand your nervous system capacity and how that changes the way you lead, sell, and grow your business. Welcome to the Bulk Expansion Podcast. You are here because you know your business is meant for more. I'm your host, Amei Dross, and this is where you'll learn how to make more money, create transformational offers, and step into your truth as a leader. Through premium strategy, identity work, and my signature method, Millionaire Breathwork. Each week you'll get the strategy and the shifts to expand your wealth, your impact, and your freedom. This is Bold Expansion. Are you ready? And local stanza, I'm so excited to have you here on the Bold Expansion podcast. I know that you have amazing things to share about how you can actually have your somatic capacity to hold more success. And I cannot wait to dive deeper into this topic with you. Can you give yourself a short introduction for the listeners who don't know you yet?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yes, of course. First of all, thank you, Emily, for inviting me. I'm as well very excited. It's always good to chat with like-minded women that are on a path of yeah, just supporting others. And my name is Konstanza. I am German, but I live in Dubai. I grew up here and I had to come back to my roots, so to speak. And I have my own somatic movement studio here in Dubai with my business partner, and I do online coaching one-on-one. And I'm specialized on somatics for the female nervous system because there's a big distinction between male and female, which I'm so excited about to share a little bit more. And I've created my own signature breathwork method, which is called breath play. And I'm happy to as well elaborate what's that take on with the name and why I felt like the world needs another approach.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

I love that. I have my own approach to breathwork as well, so I can definitely feel you on that. Yeah, we're definitely gonna unwrap that, but let's start with what you said about men and women and how that is different. I think that's a very juicy topic, especially because my audience exists both out of women and men. Yeah, how do you see that being different in the Semitic work that you teach?

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Yeah, so I would say we can all agree on the fact that we live in a world built by men, for men, right? We live in a 24-hour cycle, and there's a lot of pushing and always just a very straight limbia approach. URNA to get to B, there's that straight line, and these are the steps. And a lot of the methods that are out there at the moment that are, even though they're called that they say they regulate your nervous system, they're made with a dopamine-driven approach. So men strive on dopamine to support guys in regulating the nervous system. Ice bass is a great thing to do, or Wim Hof breathing, right? It's that pushy energy of okay, how can we release a bit more dopamine to get that drive? But that same approach completely depletes a female nervous system because our primary regulator is not dopamine, but oxytocin. So oxytocin is the bonding hormone, the love hormone, the hormone that is being released when we nourish ourselves, when we are in connection with others, especially with other females, when we do self-touch, and when we just slow it down a little bit. But of course, in a very productive driven world, slowing down, taking it easy, living in accordance to your inner cycle is not what to the capitalistic world out there thinks is the best thing to do. A lot of the research has only been released over the last 10 years, which is pretty shocking. So we've been really living on. I always like to compare it with, as women, sometimes we wonder, I would say, especially when we hit our 30s, maybe 35s, we're like, okay, why does life feel so difficult and hard? You've been trying to run your body on a completely outdated manual. And with this knowledge, you can update it. And yeah, you don't have to run on Windows 95 anymore. You actually finally have your Mac update with a.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

And how did you discover all of this yourself? Did you come from the other side of really exploring all the male support out there in the nervous system world? How did that go for you?

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Yes, so I've been on a very long journey myself. I'm 38 now. I started exploring the self-development scene when I was 18. So I started with a very spiritual path of Freiki, Titani Ling, became a yoga teacher, meditation teacher, tried out all the things out there. It was a very essential focused path about actually disconnecting more from the body with the goal to be, so to speak, yeah, enlightened and to leave everything behind, the ego, et cetera, et cetera. It only got me so far because I realized, okay, no, there's a reason why we have a body, why we're here on planet Earth, and it needs to be balanced. So at some point when I had a lot of chronic issues like endometriosis, migraines, lower back pain, anxiety, depression. Despite doing all the right things, I realized, okay, there needs to be another way. This is when I found somatics, the nervous system, and suddenly everything fell into place. And I was like, oh wow, okay, I've been constantly overriding my body and I didn't really listen to it. And all the ice bathing I've been doing religiously, like church on a Sunday morning, was just completely frying my nervous system. All the plan medicine journeys left me with debilitating anxiety. And yeah, I literally tried out everything myself to be like, okay, there needs to be another way. And then I got connected to my teacher in the US, and she's the first one that studied all of this. And then I was like, okay, this is it. And now I'm teaching this myself and yeah, see the results. And it needs a lot of rewiring of the brain at first, because of course I work with a lot of high-functioning women who've come very far with the very masculine approach. And I always say, maybe Barry's bootcamp, right? These hit workouts in a dark room and with like loud music. I always say at my workshops, if you're in your early 20s, you think you know, nothing is gonna deplete you ever, and you go to 5 a.m. Barry bootcamp workouts or high work, high-intensity workouts, but then you hit your 30s or 35s, and you suddenly start to realize okay, I think I'm running on Tumes, and there needs to be a different way.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yeah, yeah, I recognize a lot of the things that you're saying. Oh, even my journey has been a little bit different. I got a burnout when I was 25, so I was forced to really sit with myself quite early on. And then that was actually when I started the path of doing a lot of healing, and a lot of that still came from the doing energy and doing more to heal. But I think for about two years, I've been really deep into somatics and also in tantra work and also in really understanding my nervous system on a whole new level. And I think this is yeah, where everything shifted for me, where I really allowed myself to work with my nervous system instead of seeing it as a sign that I wasn't going where I wanted to go, but really leaning in, okay, what do I need right now? And is this actually good for my nervous system? Which is an incredible filter in life when you're building your business, when you're dating, when you're hanging out with people. It really shows you, okay, does this work for my system? I love systems, and I think you're also quite in that range of being very practical with things. So, yeah, what would you describe as what what includes like the somatics, the nervous system, and how is that different from what you did before? Because when you started off sharing about Raiki and yoga, I thought, but those are the more feminine elements actually of the healing tools that I have been using, especially Raiki. So what do you see exactly as the things that are not so good that you would change if you knew what you knew now, versus what are the things that you still use today?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Yes, I would say everything has to be taken with a nuance, right? Like we all are born with different nervous systems as well. You're a female, I'm a female, and so many listening today. Still, we have different wirings depending on how we brought up, what happened in our mother's wound, like a whole nother topic we could open up here. We're not gonna get into that. So I would never ever say to a client or to anyone, oh, Ashlandia yoga is bad because it's very masculine and very linear. But I would look at, okay, where you're actually at in your cycle at the moment. What does the phase of your cycle need to be supported? So, like you said, you love systems, and there has been this trend of, oh, we're just gonna live in our feminine embodiment. We've got to flow through life. I've tried that out myself, but it didn't lead me anywhere because you just scatter it all over the place. So I think there's a beauty of bringing the masculine and the feminine together and really attuning to where am I at in my cycle. Is it okay maybe to do a HIT workout when I'm around ovuration or when I just came out of my bleed and I have a lot of energy? And then to look more towards luteo phase, menstruation phase. Okay, now I'm gonna do more yin yoga and maybe give myself a nice Reiki treatment or just self-touch. So I'm not against all of this. It's more about finding that sweet balance, which is very individual for every single one of us. But I would say the main thing is stepping out of that doing, like I'm doing yoga or even Reiki, like such a gentle healing method. But you can as well go into, oh, I have to do this every single day. Otherwise, I'm not good. And this is where we come to the mental body. What is your attitude and what is your intention of doing something? Does it come from a place of I'm not good enough, I need to fix myself? Or does it come from a place of really attuning to, oh, beautiful, this is what my body needs right now. And it comes more from a place of nourishment and appreciation and acknowledgement, and not from that very, oh, I'm broken, I need to fix myself.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Yeah. So what I'm hearing you say as well is this big shift from the 24-hour cycle that men have dominated in this world towards actually living more with the cycle again. And it depends on our energy levels, on where we are in our cycle to really use certain tools. How would you I know your expertise is more with women, but for the men out there, I know that they have their rhythm for them in this world. It works for them because it's how they are designed. But a lot of them also don't have a healthy nervous system. But would you then say that all the masculine things that you've been trying would be a match for them, like the ice baths and all those different tools that they are much more effective for them?

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yes, I would say especially the ice bath, right? It's a very big topic. And just when we look at the data, the ice bath temperature between maybe three and five degrees, that you know, is usually usually what I see, is good for men. Women, they would need a temperature between 12 and 14 degrees to have the same effect, by the way. And I actually work with a lot of men in one-on-one. And even with men, I tend to bring in a little bit more of the female approach because lots of these men are very driven. They come to me, they say, Okay, Constanza, I'm actually feeling pretty good. I'm very successful, but I want to widen my capacity. How can I do more? And sometimes I really have to stop them and be like, okay, I love that you're so ambitious. I love that you have all these visions, especially Dubai is a place where it's like nothing is impossible. But I sometimes really need to pace them and be like, okay, if you're gonna continue like this, now you're maybe 35, but you're gonna hit 40, 45, 50 at some point, you're probably gonna burn out. So even for men, I do like to bring in some of these female qualities of really attuning to where they are at in their cycle. Yeah, because not every day we have the same energy output. And then as well to bring in some of that gentle swaying, maybe some self-holding. So a lot of these tools that at first could be quite vulnerable for men to as well bring more softness into their rituals and routines while still going back to maybe some Wim Hof or some ice bath or yeah, to just give them as well that dopamine kick that they need to be more focused and centered. So it's again, it's all about the balance, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yeah, I love that. I do the same when I'm guiding people in in business and in business growth. It's really, yeah, there's masculine strategies and there's feminine strategies. And I don't believe that you need either one of them, you need both. You really need to be attractive and to be magnetic and to have content that really attracts, which is more the feminine approach. But then also, how do you lead someone towards actually making a sale? Which is then the masculine, the leadership energy, those type of qualities. So it makes a lot of sense that both men and women they need probably more feminine energy and more feminine tools because there's a lot of male and masculine energy already in the world, in the environment. You said something really interesting about the widening their capacity. And this is something I would dive so I'd love to dive a little bit deeper in with you because yeah, the nervous system has a certain limit, how I see it. I don't know if you know the book The Big Leap from Kay Hendricks. Yes, I've read it, but I don't really remember. The main idea is that it's like this thermostat of goodness and that the capacity to hold things in your life, in your business, your friendships, your partner, your clients, everything is all in that thermostat of goodness. And when you reach the limit, you start to self-sabotage, you start to create problems that are not there, you start to be a smaller version of yourself because you don't fit anymore in the image that you have because you're expanding so much, you're widening your capacity, but your nervous system is not on board with it yet. So is this also what you mean by widening the capacity? Like really working with the nervous system to be a bigger version of yourself, just to put some words to it.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Yes, totally. And I love using the word capacity and expansion because regulation, nervous system regulation is a word that oh, I'm so over it, right? Instagram is full of nervous system regulation, but we actually don't want to be regulated because if we would be a super regulated person, I just would be talking like that, and there wouldn't be much energy. Sometimes, yeah, sometimes we need that fire to maybe start a new project or to power through when we see okay, there's an obstacle, like I need a little bit of this sympathetic activation to get and get shit done, right? But we want to have a balance, so we want to like slow. I always like to say we want to surf the waves of life. And what happens when we don't have a lot of capacity in our nervous system, that we hit the walls, right? If we think of a river, our riverbed might be very narrow. So if we move towards expansion and our riverbed is very narrow, we will maybe always hit at that threshold when we make more than 10k a month, we can't hold it and we collapse again. Because maybe we have that, and I'm just making up examples, we have that belief from our ancestral line that rich people are bad people. So that belief is in your nervous system. And the moment you hit that threshold of maybe making 20k a month, your nervous system will be like, no, wealth is not safe. It will mean loss of love. So let's bring you back into what feels safe. And what we do with nervous system expansion or capacity work is we slowly widen the capacity of your nervous system to realize, oh, interesting. If I make 20k, yes, maybe there are people in my family that might judge me for it, but I'm not five year old anymore. Even if I get thrown out of the tribe, right? I always make these air quotes, I will survive. And it's really about reclaiming that inner safety and sovereignty that I can hold myself. But our nervous system is like an animal. So I know there used to be this big trend with affirmations and just say out loud all these affirmations, I'm abundant. I'm not making fun of it, but it's only accepted to a certain extent because the body will always kick it out again, and he might yeah, mind you could tell me anything, but this doesn't feel safe. So let's go back to what feels safe. And that's usually the more contracted, contracted state.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Yeah, yeah. I recognize a lot of this. This is my core offer is called expand mastermind for this reason. It's not about just regulating, it's not about staying who you were, it's about really expanding your being, which is actually something that comes really natural to us humans, like us growing. My my twin brother just had a daughter, his first daughter. And I've seen now how fast that changes. Every week something else changes, and it's so natural to expand, to grow, to become a different version. But somewhere along the lines, we get programmed and we don't do that anymore. So yeah, I I also created my own breathwork method to work with this, to really go into how you can work with the body, because what you say is so true. And I think there's a lot of business coaches out there who teach strategy, but they don't teach this, and you need both. It's not one or the other. You really need strategy to know what to do, but then as you're doing it, you need to be able to hold yourself and to go through that. I would love to hear a little bit more about your breathwork methods.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yes, I've created breastplate, which is uh somatic breath work, but I didn't really like many breathwork approaches that I've seen out there because they've been very forceful, pressuring to have people, pressuring to have a cathartic release, a lot of pushing harder, faster, and work more. And I feel like we all work enough, at least I would say the people we work with, yeah, they're usually very driven naturally and they want to achieve stuff. So I started to realize okay, it completely fried my nervous system. And I actually often left these sessions feeling very dissociated, up in my head, or so fried that I would then sleep for hours. So I was like, okay, interesting. Something doesn't feel right here. Yeah, it can't be that I go for a breath work session, and then afterwards I feel worse than I did before. And then I started to explore a little bit, trained with different teachers, made my own explorations, and created breath play, which, yes, there are phases where the music is a bit more motivating, a bit louder, more intense, but it's always about coming back to your own right relationship to the breath. So every single one of us, when I have a ceremony, we reach there at a different state. Some of them might be super relaxed, they already come in, they just had a great day, everything is going well in their life. So they already bring more capacity to maybe breathe faster and deeper. Others might come in after just going through a breakup or just having some difficulty in life, and they start at a different starting point. So my approach respects your starting point. And I will never push you because my ego says, ah, I need to be a good breath work teacher. Let's make everyone like hyperventilate so they feel they have a big release. Yeah. But it's really more about okay, can I hold space for whatever you need in that moment without bringing in so much of my ego that something big needs to happen? I always like to say, what is nothing needs to happen, but everything can. Yeah, I love that. So yeah, a much more feminine approach as well. Even though as well I do it with men and women.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

But yeah, it's again a bit more of that feminine approach of playing and finding joy in the breath and not being so focused on off in and out and yeah, I think there's so many breathwork coaches out there who miss a lot of potential when they show up in guiding because they've learned it a certain way and they only know to hold space in a certain way, and they don't want to do anything different than that. I've had people not trust my methodology that I've had so much success with. Hundreds of people have gone through the transformation because there was once a friend of a friend, not even a facilitator, that told them you'd need one spaceholder per six people. You need one spaceholder per six people. Otherwise, it's not safe in a room. I've seen so many different approaches to breath work. There's so much that we still need to discover. There's rooms with 500 people, there's rooms with thousands of people doing breath work at the same time. I personally also don't use the approach of using trauma and focusing too much on trauma. Sure, there's some elements because I also guide with voice, but I think a lot of people with breath, because of the intensity that people bring and the breakthroughs and the crying, it can be addictive. I think there's a lot of people in the world that are so addicted to trauma and to going deeper into it and to digging a deeper hole of self-healing. But what I love most in my sessions, and I think it's similar, it's a different flavor of what you do. I love having people remember their power and to have a room filled with that energy. I don't know if you've ever been in a breathwork session, probably where there was a lot of people coming to get something because they were in survival mode, they were in trauma, they needed a quick fix, which I think it's beautiful and it's amazing that these spaces exist. But have you ever felt the energy in that room afterwards?

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Totally.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Yeah. It's almost painful sometimes. It's really, and I know an example of a I think he retired already, but someone who does big spaces, 500 people in in the US, and he focuses on the deep trauma. And for me, that enhanced so much what happens in that room. He actually has a whole other method again where he doesn't interfere with anyone. So even though I don't even know, there's probably spaceholders in the room, but during the breath, nobody gets touched. They're all in their own process, which I think it's actually good in some cases. It's all different flavors. And what he does when he like all these people, they're also filmed afterwards, sharing their experience. And there's a lot of emphasis on trauma. And it's like the people who have the most severe trauma, they show up in that room. So it's not just someone with a broken heart, it's someone who was raped when they were five and had a whole life of horror after that. And then they came to that breathwork, and it's like the first big thing that brings them into their body. One of those, but then a room of 500 people, which I think 100 people matching a story like that. I would not feel comfortable even holding space there because I know that's the type of energy. And he's very young. I don't know what the reason is that he retired, but it's very heavy to hold those spaces and to be in those spaces. And I think with the work that we do with high achievers, with leaders, with people who are here to really make a change and not to be that much anymore in their trauma body. Sure, there's things that we all need to work through and that needs to shift still, but there is there's two sides of a coin to breath work, I would say. One is the trauma and one is the power, the play, the pleasure. And I think activating that matches a lot more with the capacity expansion and not just how can I manage what I have created right now. How how do you see that?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

I'm so with you, and it's and I love what you said about tapping either into that trauma focused vortex or the way you do it and I do it is more the healing vortex, right? It's I feel like we can create the right conditions, and this is what I try to do. And of course, for some it might work, and for some it doesn't work, to create the right conditions that whatever wants to show up shows up. So I'm very open, right? If your biggest, deepest trauma shows up, great, I'm there to hold space for it. But interestingly, especially for the female nervous system that thrives on oxytocin, we need to bring in more pleasure, more play, more joy, and then we have the right conditions for whatever wants to bubble up without that strong emphasis. Today we're gonna heal your biggest trauma. And it's funny because I myself have been diagnosed with complex PTSD. So I know very well what it means to live a life very focused on trauma. And I've been there myself. I was like, oh, I need to fix this and I need to heal this trauma and I need to overcome this. And then luckily I found a different path. And now I'm realizing, oh, beautiful. I can totally work on pleasure and play and softness and gentleness. And then sometimes, like I've had a beautiful session on Friday where I just sat there and then I shared something with my partner. I cried because I integrated something that has happened 20 years ago, and then I could just move on with my day, but I didn't need to stay in that dark trauma suit.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is something I see happening so often. And it I know it's not the type of clients I attract or you attract because it's just not a match. But yeah, this is like when I when people come to my breath work, I always give this disclaimer of afterwards, like for me, I think a different flavor to what you do is that I do bring a lot of intensity, but it's not around trauma. It's like activation, it's empowering. And how you get there, like you said, it's completely up to them. I might give suggestions about breathing strongly, but it might not be your vibe that day. If you normally breathe very strong, maybe this is a chance to not breathe strong or the other way around. And it focuses a lot on either some have more themed sessions with release, some are more activating. So there's yeah, there's a lot of self-responsibility. How you show up in the room is what you're gonna get from it. And it doesn't mean showing up more forcefully, but it does mean whatever is alive may come and be shared. And I do my breath, it's very themed towards business, but a lot of other things come up. I've had people after sessions where, yeah, it's a my method is called millionaire breathwork, and it's about expansion in your business for coaches, healers, facilitators. I've had people come out of a session wanting to break up with a partner or what actually feeling for the first time the truth of, yeah, really being gay. And these are insane things that I never thought in my sharing circles at the end would come up, but it's something important. It's something that might be blocking the path of business expansion because it's so present. So whatever comes up, whatever comes through, that is what needs to be shared. And yeah, there is a level to that where there's space holding needed, but there's also okay, how deep am I willing to go and where am I looking? Because sometimes it might also be, oh, I'm so used to being more in the trauma that I'm only gonna look there and that I'm only gonna stay there. And when I look at you and I see your okay, of course the sun is hitting your face beautifully right now as well. But I see a very light being. So I can imagine that when you actually gave yourself permission to not be in that trauma all the time anymore, that it was just this big exhale of, oh wow, I can look in a different direction.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Totally. And it's the same thing with the nervous system when I said earlier around capacity and what feels safe. My trauma identity just felt so safe. Yeah. So I kept on going back there until I really shifted that and I was like, no, I have that other vision, how I want to live, and this is what I'm moving towards. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

And when you say trauma identity, are there specific trauma identities that you've seen with yourself or with your clients where it's very easy to slip into for the type of clients that we work with? Because yeah, it's easy to think, oh, I don't have a trauma addiction, I don't have this and that. But most of the time it has a different flavor. And one of the examples I have been working with this year a lot is I like the version of I don't feel like I'm good enough versus I have enough. And telling yourself the story of I have enough, which could also mean actually I don't feel safe enough to ask for more.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Yeah, when you said about being good enough, I can definitely see this in my clients and myself included, by the way, right? The archetype of the overachiever, the archetype of the perfectionist. These two I see quite often. And it's it sounds so noble, right? Oh, I want to be perfect, I always want to be my best, but it actually comes from that deep core wound of not being good enough, or maybe you've always been praised when you had good grades and when you look pretty and when you were successful at tennis or whatever we did as children. And it's so coupled with the identity. And this is what I actually see in a lot of high sex, high, high-functioning people that are very successful, that have a perfect life, at least that's how it seems like, right? From the outside, that they're like, oh no, but it's a good trait. I love overachieving and I feel so proud, and uh, but then I'm like, yeah, but this is exactly the cause why you can't hit that next ceiling. Because it's pulling you back, because it's pulling so much of your life force energy out of you that you don't have that extra energy to funnel it something that would bring you one step closer where you actually want to go to. So even dismantling these beliefs, sometimes it highs something achieving people, is sometimes more difficult because they're like, oh, but it's a good trade.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Yeah, it got them that far. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

One of my first ever mentors was a personal mentor, and he said something write down your number one core belief about yourself, like the thing that you're really proud of. So I wrote down, I can do everything. That that was my core belief. And then he said, How can you now dismantle this belief and see all the parts where this belief is not serving you? And to really write that down and to look at every word in the sentence, that completely changed my life. Because I can do everything. I, me as an individual, need to do it on my own. I can do everything, so I need to do everything, I need to do it, or everything, like literally everything, holding it all. So, yeah, that would be probably something that for the listeners, they can do themselves to really find that belief for them and see where it is their glass seating. Do you have any other tools to really identify for who's listening? Okay, what might be my glass ceiling that I still carry as a pride?

SPEAKER_01 33:18

So I would say as an easy tool to take away from today's episode is really to maybe look at different life areas business, love, health, and to write down, okay, what is it what you want? And then to tap into the body and to notice, sense, and feel, okay, how does that land in my body? Because your mind can be really good at, yeah, of course I want more money, right? But then to actually tap into okay, what is my emotional body saying? Maybe the emotional body shows up in the tummy and there's a little arc, like a kind of squeeze. What is the physical body saying? Maybe you suddenly feel there's a bit of tightness and tension in the shoulders. And then at first, not change anything. Just like record data. I'm a big fan of recording data and noticing, okay, this and this is happening. And then you can place a hand on the body and just be like, okay, interesting. What are you trying to tell me? And to go into a body dialogue. And maybe, depending on how well our listeners are connected to their bodies, maybe suddenly there's a dialogue and the body responds and says, Oh no, we don't want more money. The last time we had more money wasn't that corporate career and we were burnt out. And then to go back to the body and be like, hey, I see you, I hear you, and yes, I listen. What is it? What would you need to feel more comfortable with more money? And then maybe the body says, make sure that you take one, two, three days a week off, or that you make sure that you don't work after 8 p.m. or that you're not so addicted to your phone, whatever it is for you. So I think that's a really nice somatic dialogue that people can get into with their body to uncover their limiting beliefs, how they show up in the body, and what is the truth behind that blockage?

SPEAKER_00 35:05

I love that. So practical. Is there a moment where you were doing this exercise for yourself? If you feel like sharing that really shifted a lot for you.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Yes, I had a big visibility blockage, even though in my former career I was a model. So interestingly, you would think that I'm very comfortable with being seen. But I remember I was talking in front of a big group of women, I think it was 25, here in our studio in Dubai. And I could feel how I'm actually leaving my body, how I'm really good at presenting, very perfect. But it's almost, ooh, she's so perfect. Where is she? Is she really here? And I was so exhausted after the workshop. And I was like, wow, like it went really well. Everyone was happy, but I wasn't happy because I could feel I'm not really there. It's almost, yeah, I'm really good at performing, but something was lacking. And then I went into that somatic dialogue, and then I had images come up from my modeling career, right? When I would enter a big space of 500 women, gorgeous women from all over the world, we all want that one same job. So everyone would look at you and judge you and duh. And I could see that every time I would step in front of many women, and especially if I don't know them, I would have that same body me fear come up of being judged. So it was easier for me to be Miss Perfect, because then I'm untouchable. So I had to like work through that on my own and with my coach, because I do strongly believe, even if we're coaches ourselves, it's always good to have someone else guide us, because we all have our blind spots. And it really needed a lot of rewiring. And still sometimes today, when I have big events with a lot of people that I don't know, I really need to talk to my inner little girl and be like, hey, you're safe. It's okay. Even if not everyone likes you, you've got your own back.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

Beautiful. Yeah, and I think there's a lot of people right now settling for not being in their bodies while having big milestones, while speaking to big groups. But when you know yourself on this deep embodied level and you know what your inner child needs, it's not that you wouldn't be able to do it otherwise, but now you get to fully experience it and enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Yeah, and even the audience, if they're a little bit further ahead on their own journey, they can see into is this person just performing well? And I get a lot of their knowledge and wisdom, or is this facilitator really embodied? And I feel like now with the rise of AI and so many coaches out there that have just taken a weekend course, I think it's so nice to work with people that can really transfer their true embodiment over to you. Yeah. So this is again co-regulation, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:53

Yeah, yeah. And there's something really powerful in transmissions. And I think women are more sensitive than men to this, although a lot of men are also sensitive. But yeah, there's a conversation that's happening without words. And this is also something that happens when you're selling premium offers, which is what I teach my clients. It's not the same as selling something low-ticket. There's a different dialogue that you're having, both on the internet with your messaging, that yes, you can hide behind messaging if you want. But as soon as you reach a certain level in your business and you want to expand this type of work as a coach, a heater, facilitator, it asks for even more embodiment, even more depth. And this is something that for me, my business model, the premium expansion model, it allows that to grow. Because when you meet yourself in different layers in your business, when you're raising your prices, when you're showing up on stages, when you start your podcast for the first time, when you write your book, all these moments, how you show up and how you present yourself somatically as you do it, that is the nuance. That is what separates you from being just another coach, just another healer, towards I am the authority, I create the niche, I create the market, I'm here. I yeah, I'm still playing with these words. But what comes through now is I dominate this space. And it's from this point of feminine leadership. It's from this point of I know who I am, I know I'm worth a lot, I know I'm just being here, and I don't need to prove anything anymore. I'm this is me. And when you come from that energy, when you have that embodiment, everything else hits differently.

SPEAKER_01 39:27

Oh, for sure. And I see like people are yearning for that, right? They've been burned with investing in mentors or teachers that just have a cookie-cutter approach. There's so much bullshit out there on Instagram. Yeah, and luckily, the more embodied you get, the more you can like track it and be like, okay, sometimes you don't actually need the coach that has two million followers, but it's sometimes niche coaches that have 5,000 followers, 10,000, 12,000. I know some great coaches that are not even on Instagram. Yeah. But it's really the people that have done the work and not just since three months, but actually consistently didn't give up, even when the business got difficult. But yeah, people who are really committed to not just talking about it, but living it.

SPEAKER_00 40:13

Yeah. And I think what you said here is also interesting, like when the business got difficult. Because there's two elements towards having a successful business is your embodiment, who you are as a coach, as a healer, as a speaker. But then there's also the business side of things. And are you willing to actually learn that and to be that version of you that can hold not just yourself, not just your clients, but the business? Is that something where you've seen your own journey expand over the last couple of years? Is there a moment where you decided, okay, I'm not just gonna be doing this work, but I'm actually going to own my power as a businesswoman as well?

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Oh, for sure. Everything shifted because I was working online as a digital nomad for a couple of years, and then actually moving back to Dubai, saying yes to my co-founder, building the studio, which brought so many different challenges, allowing myself to be flexible required a lot of nervous system capacity from both of us. And we are so proud that we've made it so far. We are super proud that we kept the flexibility of not just being like, oh, but this is how we wanted it, oh, it doesn't work out like that. Oh, we're just gonna give it up. But always continuing to be like, okay, interesting. That's a challenge. Okay, what can we do with it? Oh, interesting. Okay, this idea and this idea, okay, this idea feels better. So definitely having a brick and mortar business, having lots of more responsibility. That was definitely my shift from being a digital nomadic coach and thinking I'm just gonna earn money in my sleep to being like, okay, this is now the truth and the reality, and it equipped me really well with yeah, having suddenly systems in place, more structure and yeah, maybe growing up.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

Yeah, not just believing the dream of your thought of being rich while you sleep, but ruining your own. This is what it takes. Because a lot of people forget to mention, okay, this is what it really takes. And one of the things for me that changed everything is with systems and with structure, your nervous system can relax so much more, and your capacity to hold more will expand as well. Yeah, I think maybe you can yeah, talk a little bit about this. But for me, having a business, being a business owner, choosing to be a leader in my space, it also comes with more opportunities to work with my nervous system and to expand.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Yeah, I would say many of us, especially when we start this business, we just start it because we have a passion for something and then we learn along the way. But if we stay on that loop of learning along the way and don't stop, we will always keep on perpetuating that cycle of just reacting, right? Very reactive business. Or we actually sit down and say, Okay, what is working, especially the feminine being with my cycles? What feels really good to me? There's so many different strategies out there. Oh, you can do SipStack and a podcast and this and that, and really to sit down. Like, like I had this one point where I'm like, oh, do I need to be on TikTok? So we tried TikTok, and then I was like, no, I'm just not feeling TikTok. I don't even like TikTok myself. So it's not something I want to offer my clients or even collaborations. There are some people who maybe reach out, and I love this about you. You were really clear about your standards, what you want, and this is a known show, it's a no-show. I love that. And that's the same for me. It's okay, what are you bringing to the table? Okay, interesting. Yeah. And then there needs to be like an energetic resonance. And when I look back at my first days of being a yoga entrepreneur back then, it's like I would just say yes to many collabs that they didn't feel aligned at all. But I thought, oh, I need to be everywhere. The more you are in tune with your body, and the more you live in your ventral vagal state, which is like that green state of being really connected and grounded in yourself, you start to realize, okay, no, I'm actually safe. I don't need to follow every trend. I don't know to collab with everyone, even if you have five million followers. Like what feels aligned will come to me naturally. And that's like such a nice place to be in, and that place of trust and resonance and alignment.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Yeah, yeah. And for me, it's the same like what is aligned will come to me, but there's also going to be tests of what do I really want and what don't I want. And sometimes it also takes trying it and just seeing, okay, how does this actually feel? But there's a big difference from running around doing all the things, hosting all the workshops, which there's a lot of clients who find me in that state, but they're doing everything for the bare minimum. And the thing that I teach is to not be reactive, to have a bigger vision, because any strategy can work. But how do we integrate it? How do we see the bigger picture? How do we actually show up with the right strategy that compounds and that doesn't just stop when you stop working? So yeah. Yeah. I would love to hear from you. What do you see for yourself in the future? If you think maybe a year ahead, maybe five years ahead. I know you mentioned something about AI. Is that gonna impact your business?

SPEAKER_01 45:11

So that's an insight. Interesting one because I know now, especially in the US, a lot of coaches have their AI clones. I'm actually going back to more in-person work and hosting as well retreats in Europe since I'll be spending the summers in Portugal. So I'm now focusing on a lot of like how can I combine somatics with performance coaching and really creating a new area almost because there are these performance coaches out there who are very mindset focused. Then they're purely somatic coaches, but how can we really bring somatic success into the world? And with the wellness industry booming, and Dubai is a great market for that. We have so many different wellness events here, and it's a really growing market. I feel like I want to create a new era of self-leadership. So leadership that involves the body that can lead to success, but success on your terms. So when I work with a lot of women, not everyone wants to have a business. Some women just want to be happy mothers. Like I can see a big transition in my business partner. She's now stepping away from the business because she realized through all the somatic work that she can stop performing and that she doesn't need to prove anyone anymore her worth. But she's actually so happy to be a mother of twin boys. And this is for me real empowerment to for others. It might look like, oh, why is she stopping? But for her, that's her biggest value: more family time and being in the garden and doing things at home and just living a very simple, easy life. For others, like myself, like I want to grow, I want to tap into the Saudi market. So I really want to bring like this wave of somatic leadership for the whole Middle Eastern region. And that's my dream. But I don't have kids and I have my cats, I always say, so I have a different capacity as well. And I feel like there is not just one measure of success, right? At the moment, there's this big trend on social media. You used to be either the boss bay or you become a trad wife. And I feel like, no, there's a third part. And the third path is the path of the woman that is self-led. And however that looks like for you, maybe you want to be super, super successful, run size businesses, great, go for it. As long as it's in alignment with your cycle and you're not selling yourself out. And for another one listening, maybe she suddenly realizes, oh yeah, success can mean being a stay-at-home mob. Yeah. Yeah. And to really give that power back to women. So that's like my my long-term vision.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

It's like the conversation of truth with your body so that you don't just choose what the people around you are doing, but really it comes from within.

SPEAKER_01 48:02

Yeah. Yeah. And even for myself, right? Being 38, I have a lot of people from the outside. I just got married saying, Oh, don't you want to have kids? And I look at them, I'm like, no, my body never wanted kids. I love that clarity. And I can see it in your face. Yeah. And I could now go into this, oh, but what if that? And it's no, I hasn't. My clarity. And yeah, then not to get influenced by others. Because in the end, it's my life and my body. And it's really about connecting women to that deep inner bodily truth.

SPEAKER_00 48:32

I love that. If anybody is listening right now and they're like, Constanza, I need to find you. I want to know about the retreat in Portugal. I want to connect with you. Where do they find you?

SPEAKER_01 48:42

Yeah, they're very active on Instagram, Constanza Witz. Yeah, and I would actually say that's the best place to find me. Just send me a DN if you have any questions. Yeah. I don't really, I don't have an assistant answering my messages, no chat bot like I respond. So yeah. Could they ask me about the AI thing? So for me, it's really about I want to have more true human connection.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

Yeah. Yeah, I work with both. I I also do in-person events and I'm doing my first retreat this year as well. But I also really like how AI can leverage and amplify who you are, but it needs to be nuanced. I know there's a lot of people out there who decided not to hire the business coach and just do everything with ChatGPT, and they've been doing that for a year now and they haven't gone anywhere because ChatGPT at this point, I don't know if it's ever going to change, but especially for premium, it misses the nuance. It misses speaking the same dialect as whoever you want to reach. And it doesn't fully give you the shadow that a coach, a really good coach or mentor can actually bring you. So yeah, there's benefits to AI, but there's also downsides where you miss out on what actually is the juice.

unknown 49:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

I think AI is great for outsourcing, repeating tasks, all of the stuff. Happy for AI to take over it. But like you said, the nuance and to actually have a human nervous system relate to you. That's something that AI can never give you.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

Yeah. Yeah. That's a beautiful close for this episode. Thank you so much for being here today.

SPEAKER_01 50:18

Thank you for the invite. Yeah, it's very great to chat with you.

SPEAKER_00 50:22

Thanks for tuning in into another bolt expansion podcast episode. If this episode inspired you, then hit subscribe so you won't miss any of the upcoming episodes. Write a quick review and share it with one friend who really needs to hear this. And if you really felt a big shift, then share it on your Instagram stories and tag me with at Mdros. I would love to celebrate with you about your breakthroughs, and it helps me reach more people with my work. See you next week for another bolt expansion episode.