What We've Learned So Far
Women, wizened by experience, presence, and attention, gather to discuss topics of depth in a world deeply in need of softer, fiercer, clearer perspectives.
What We've Learned So Far
Embodiment
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What We've Learned So Far gathers a group of wise women around life's big questions and everyday experiences. We explore what we're learning about life, relationships, purpose, community, and what it means to be human in a rapidly changing world.
Listen, subscribe, share, and join the conversation. We'd love to hear what YOU’VE learned so far.
In this episode our wise women explore Embodiment. And these are some of the questions we’ve posed for ourselves:
- What does the term embodiment mean to us? Why is embodiment important for us to understand?
- How do we know when we are embodied, and how do we know when we are not?
- What helps us feel more “in tune” with our bodies? How do we reconnect with our bodies once we become disconnected?
- How does being present in your body relate to the spiritual path? What is the difference between awareness of the non-physical world and escaping our body to avoid discomfort?
- What practices help us feel more alive, more sacred, more here?
Our panel of wise women:
Our moderator for today’s episode: Ashley Phoenix Guastalli www.ashleyphoenix.net @ashleyphoenixofficial (IG) ashleyphoenixofficial (FB)
Kay Eck kay@kayeck.com @kayeckwrites (IG) Kay Eck (FB) @kayeck1040 (YouTube)
Joan Advent joanadvent.com @joanadvent7171 (YT) @joan.advent (IG)
Meggan Riley: www.megganemily.com
Video Production by Cyber Citrus Creative: https://www.instagram.com/cybercitruscreative/
Music and Performance by Keith Hill: https://www.instagram.com/khillcorp/
Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. This is what we've learned so far. Good evening, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us for our panel chat on embodiment. We have some regular panel members here tonight. And Ashley Phoenix is going to lead our discussion. So take it away, Ashley, and thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03Thank you so much for this opportunity. Hello, everyone out there in Facebook Land. We're so excited to be here. I wanted to start by introducing everyone that's on this panel chat. So I'd love to kind of go around the Zoom room and if you could share what your name is, where you're located, and what is something you would like to say to your body right now. And this is really inspired from a quote that um that I'm gonna get her name wrong, but I think it's um, oh gosh, I can't remember it right now, but I'm gonna find it and I'm gonna quote it. But the her saying is I said to my body softly, I want to be your friend. And the and her body exhales and says, I've been waiting my whole life for this moment. And so coming from that space, I'm inviting you to tell us what is something you'd like to say to your body right now. So I'm gonna start with Megan.
SPEAKER_02Oh, good evening. So uh my name's Megan. I'm uh really excited to be in this body in this life because I think right now what I'm experiencing the most is um the creativity, right? The like just keep creating, keep creating, keep creating. That's what I would tell my body. Uh and I'm coming onto this panel chat live for the first time from Arkansas. So I'm in northwest Arkansas. Uh I live on a lake and I'm really happy. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_03Excited to have you here. Thank you so much. And now I'd like to move over to Joan.
SPEAKER_01Hi everyone, I am Joan, and this is Molly. And we are in Richmond, Virginia, and we're having a big old thunderstorm. So if I just go, you'll know why. Our power goes out. And what I would like to say to my body is I'm sorry. I love you, and I appreciate all you have carried me through.
SPEAKER_03I love that so much, Joan. Thank you. And I actually love that Molly's with us because she's speaking her truth right now through her embodiment of wanting to be close to you during a ruckus moment of a storm. And so, what a beautiful representation of embodiment in the here and now.
SPEAKER_00Kay, same question. Thanks, Ashley. So I'm coming from um the state of Michigan and also near a lake, which is something that my body really craves is natural fresh water and uh or or salt water too, any kind of any big body of water. Um, but what I would like to say to my body is I'm amazed and I'm grateful. And I think that this has become extra poignant for me as I age, and I'm I've sort of I'm I'm starting, I I found myself needing to um, you know, supplement and really pay super close attention to what was going into my body. And of course I still do that, but I've been backing away from from the supplements and watching my body take over. And um I've I've been watching it heal things and accomplish things that I never knew it was capable of, or or just let kind of took took it for granted, and I'm not taking anything for granted anymore. So that's what I have to say. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03So good. Thank you. I I'm excited to hear more about that journey. Like, thank you. Uh, and for me, for those of you who don't know, my name is Ashley Phoenix. I am located near Sedona, Arizona. And something that I would like to say to my body right now in this moment is thank you. I just have so much gratitude for the journey that it's been on. And I was definitely very rough and neglectful and hateful, honestly, like in in younger years, but I've I've started to kind of learn how to um to break free from some of that programming that kind of exists as you're as you're going through the arc of your evolution. And I'm in a much better space about it now. And it's why I'm passionate about teaching women uh feminine body movement and and how to read their bodies um to help kind of relinquish some of those stories. So, thank you all for coming here tonight. So excited to have this conversation. And so, the first question that I would like to pose to the group, and we'll just start with a quantum popcorn of like who feels inspired to answer this question, and then I'll kind of go around the Zoom room. And so uh my first question is what does it mean to consciously be in your body? And how do you know when you are?
SPEAKER_01Okay, I feel like we're hitting the buzzer.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, I'll I'll I'll start us off. Um, I don't know if I'm the best person to start us off because um my experience of being consciously in my body began very, very young for me. I was a tomboy and I ran around and climbed trees. And um, one of the things that I really enjoyed doing was testing my strength and testing my courage. And um so I feel like that was that was the beginning of it. Um, and then I continued to be an athlete through my life, and so I have always known that there's there was a there was a meditation and movement, and that um, you know, this body-mind spirit connection, I always had a really strong uh sense of that, even when I was quite young. And so um to for me, I feel like my default is is consciously being in the body. And I actually probably need to become more aware of when I'm not in my body. That's a that's less common for me. And I have found myself these days, um, I went through a period of four and a half years of really severe chronic pain. And at one point I thought to myself, well, it would be really good if I could get out of my body right now, because it's really painful to be in my body. But um, and and I think that that maybe, you know, we'll we'll talk about that later. But um I think being a hu being a divine human, it it's both. There's there's some element of both. So I'm I'm looking forward to exploring a little bit of that other side tonight.
SPEAKER_03So I love it. And I love that you were sharing there. It seems that it was experiences, like when you're talking about courage and adventurous, it seems like there were really experiences that were allowing for you to um to feel that presence in your body, whether it was thrill or cold or hot. Uh it seems that was like the inspiration where you were like, I'm in my body, I'm experiencing. How about how about you, Joan?
SPEAKER_01Well, uh for me, it it was later. My conscious embodiment came later. Um and it's it's really it came online with what I would call like sensual embodiment in part, like beginning to orient consciously to my senses, but then also sensing um the sensation within me. So where I might be constricted or holding or you know, like holding my breath or um feeling numb or like an absence of sensation. So it really started with my, I would say, healing journey, which began in my 20s. And the way that I know that I'm in my body is is really just being able to register that. So, you know, like being able to register whether it's um sensate experiences uh in relationship to the outer world or to my inner world.
SPEAKER_03I love that. I love that you kind of talked about this bridge between the outer world and the inner world world and using that sensate body. And it it sounds like it's something that you kind of developed in your 20s. So there was sort of a period of being out of your body. And I'm I'm curious, in reflection, do you know what was happening when you were out of your body?
SPEAKER_01Maybe for those who may not know what that feels like, what was there a particular sensation or um I know that the quality of what I would call like spaciness or um flightiness, which in the the common um kind of the common way of saying it these days is being ungrounded. So my energy was not in the lower part of my body, it was much more up here. Um yeah, and I know I I do have a history of um trauma, and so just the idea of completely like leaving the body and checking out. Um that's a part of my story as well.
SPEAKER_03Thank you, Joan. Thank you so much. How about for you, Megan?
SPEAKER_02Um so so earlier you introduced this question using the phrase quantum popcorn, which is fantastic. Really registered, I think I'll be using that regularly. Um, but I feel like my answer is going to be a little bit of that same popcorn because I think um in and out constantly all the time, all day. Uh part of that an implication of um, you know, the the overstimulation, right, of you know, all of it, all the things that that are in our day-to-day lives now that we have to like or or attempt to process through, even asleep, continuously processed through things we don't even want to process through, right? It's like programming that you dip in and out of. And it's like, oh my gosh, I'm like being present. No, I'm not being present, right? And so for me, um, especially as a yogi, especially as someone who's who's who's very purposely practiced embodiment for for many, many years, um, it's about presence. And I know I'm consciously in my body when I am present. Um, and so I know that when there's this like chaos, right? Being in the body, out of the body, in in consciousness, out of consciousness, being asleep versus being awake, yada yada, it all boils down to this presence for me. And one of the main um ways that I know, another way I know that I'm in the body, besides being present, is my nervous system seems to be regulated in a state of regulation. Even if there's heightened embodiment, like dancing or um drumming, my nervous system is under control. So there's presence and there's this like this the sense of self-control, right? Um, and that's another thing that yoga teaches us is to control the senses. And Joan was talking about the senses. And when we are are present with our senses and we're navigating them, and we're kind of like the the the captain of the ship, right? We're actually like navigating it, creating it as it's happening. Um, that's that's you know, that's how I would explain both, you know, how I know I'm in the body and how it feels to consciously be in the body. It's this radical presence, this, this, this, the shedding of regurgitating things as opposed to just being authentic in the moment, right? I know I'm not in my body when I'm regurgitating other people's ideas and concepts and thoughts, and they're not original or mine. I feel very estranged, if I'm honest, when I'm doing that.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. Um, thank you for that, Cher. For for me, I agree. I think there's with everything that's been shared, I think there's something about sensation experience when we're talking about, I love the term radical presence. Hello, that's such a good. I I love that because I think that in the modern world, with all of the technology that exists, it feels like there's a lot of sort of encouragement to disassociate and to move out of the body and to be more in a cognitive head space. And so um, for me, I kind of ask myself the question what are the things that I do to find presence in my body? And sensuality uh and senses to your point, Joan, can be it can be very triggering to talk about that um because it's been distorted. Sensuality has become sort of an erotic term in some ways, like, and but actually when you get down to the true definition of senses, it's it's coming to the five senses of taste and sound and um uh touch. And you know, I don't, I'm not gonna be able to name them all because I'm nervous, but it's like uh it's actually getting into those senses to bring you into this fully present moment. And I also agree, I think that it's why breath is such a profound uh process. I think it really pulls us into our bodies and pulls us into the present moment when we're focusing on breath. And uh same with these other sensations that sort of are like a guiding system for our for our lives. And so I'm curious when you think of the five senses, um, what are some ways that that you utilize sensuality uh just on a daily basis to bring you into presence if you're if you're feeling like out of your body? And I'd love to ask that to Joan who who highlighted the sensate body.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. So what came to mind initially is um the use of essential oils for me, um because the sense of smell is according to my human design, it's my strongest sense, which I'm I'm not sure what that even means in that context, but there is there is a way that it allows me to um I would say come into a tender relationship with my body or a devotional honoring relationship with my body. Um I am also someone who having a dog am routinely outside in nature and walking with her. So both the sights and the sounds that I hear and nature are very powerful ways to engage with my senses, as well as like music. I love music both to move but also um to feel moved, you know, to feel moved emotionally or to feel moved uh or invited into movement. So and and taste, of course. Who doesn't love like a delicious whatever the case may be, you know, a dark chocolate or a sumptuous meal or or um something like that. So pause at that.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. How about you, Megan?
SPEAKER_02So I'm I I'm gonna have to just lean into the obvious, like the sense of touch and feeling. Um for me uh it's uh BKSI anger has that that well-known phrase that it's through the body that we experience a spark of our own divinity, right? And and so um, you know, historically for me, that physical sense, it's it's been a bit of a mastery for me professionally, and not only that, similar to what Kay was saying earlier, when you kind of grow up like with this like almost athletic tendency, and then you find yoga, and you're like, oh, that's what you know, I wasn't a softball player, I was a yogi all that time. I just was playing softball or doing gymnastics, right, in the wrong place. But it's um I I feel I have felt that for a very long time, that spark of divinity. I have been able to know joy in the body, joy through movement of dance and um and the empowerment that that comes through through this self-discipline, right? This discipline of the senses, so that your body can can do just so many things, right? Like it could climb like like with little claws like up rocks to get to the top of the waterfall for a photo, you know, that not everyone who who is alive right now gets to go to the top of the mountain and actually have climbed there with their body, right? So when you do kind of big things like that, you can't help, but but oh my god, like feel it, right? Um, and so so for me, it's it's just been like a second language being able to use um my body. And I think um that the other way that that that happens, again, we we've just every one of us opened and explained like the present, the current time right now, like what's going on. Because Kay I'm with you, I'm not taking anything. I went and collected molen today um because I think I need to use some mullen for my lungs, but I'm not taking any supplements and I'm just kind of feeling it because I have always been um very hesitant not to feel illness. I don't want a numb illness. I don't want to take the Tylenol for the headache, right? I want to feel it because there's so much communication that is coming through that headache or through that icky joint, right? And if if we don't feel it, then we're completely going to miss the the messages and we won't know which plants to go collect, etc. etc. Right. It's um feeling feeling the body is is like yeah.
SPEAKER_03I love that. Thank you so much, Megan. How about for you, Kay?
SPEAKER_00So I I think that uh in listening to all of this, I feel that I may have had a very deliberate intention to uh come into a full experience of the sensual body because everything that I love is sensual. I love to cook, I love to make stuff, I love to swim, I love to move my body. I so I think that um, and also I've had some very dramatic uh negative experience, you know, so quote unquote negative experiences with the body. I've been hit by a car, I had a ruptured artery, I um had this. About of chronic pain. So I I I'm under this impression that as we incarnate each time we have a different experience of the body. And I feel like I came here to be really physical in my body. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03Love it. What an inspiration to feel all of that, both the dark and the light that exists within embodiment in this, in this lifetime. I want to come back to something that Megan said. Um, so you were talking about touch, you know, and you were talking about this healing, healing power is what I was really feeling in regards to touch. And then you were also talking about the functionality, like being able to climb the rocks to get to the waterfall for a picture was an example that you shared. And I guess my my question is there's a lot of taboo around touch that that like either self-touch or or touch in general. Um, and I'm curious what your experiences have been in regards to breaking down maybe the the taboo of touch in your own life. Um, because I I do find that um, you know, I have the gift of working with with women in movement, and I do find that there is a hesitation uh to touch the their body, whether it's like, you know, like putting their hands through their hair or massaging their shoulder. I'm not talking an intimate touch, but I am talking about just sensing the body or or ownership, like saying this body belongs to me, like even some of those things can be really difficult. And I'm curious if any of you have had that experience personally in your life of feeling like you weren't allowed to touch your body, or if you've seen it in clients and how you um, I don't know if the word is mitigate, but how do you how do you start to break down that um I feel it feels like restrictive to me. Megan?
SPEAKER_02Um the place where I've I've seen the least of this permission to touch one's own body or to just know one's own body, just to know one's own body, is in the the sort of tween teen years. Um it it it's it's very hormonal, but it's also very uh psychological uh for the for the age group, um the awkwardness to to the point where like if I'm teaching yoga or or or whatever, that's the the main movement that I've taught, it's this like this almost like let's let's lift our arm and and there's and and people will actually freeze sometimes in this, not only in this age group, but but this is what really came to mind was that particular niche um in terms of age. And I think that we're you know, wow, one of the the early sort of traumas that takes place, uh, especially in our culture, because I often will compare what is the difference between the US and like right over the border in Canada. Why, while why so many more homicides and so much more violence? And it's because of what we do in the first year of life. Um, in the United States, you know, oftentimes newborns aren't with their birth parent after just six weeks. They're going to daycare, white parents go back to work. Um, and I know this because I worked for a Canadian company. And so through the years, I would see the very, the, the very startling difference between my family life and their family life. Like the they're home for a year, you know, fathers get two months paternity leave, mothers get 12, or one parent, it doesn't matter. One parent gets 12 months, and I think it comes down to like who is touching this baby? How was the baby born? How was who caught the baby? What was happening in the room when the baby was born? I think it kind it's it begins from the birth canal when all of our senses burst open. What is happening? Right. And so these very young years, I think, are formative in terms of our boundaries, our barriers, um, what what sort of auric field we might be emitting because of our energetics and our frequencies. And so I think we're born with all of the senses, alive and balanced and vital and safe. And then there's this life that takes place, and there's you know, several billion versions of it. And so that's why we're all over the place with embodiment. Um, and when it comes to why is one person totally comfortable and and somebody else isn't, um, I think the work for me has been, especially in classes where I have a captive audience where we're working on this sort of embodiment stuff, is giving permission, giving permission, inviting people in. What what where are you looking? Like close your eyes, it's look at yourself. Are you looking at yourself from outside of yourself or from within yourself? Like just that very quick practice. Am I in or out even? And and then start inviting people in, you know, to feel, you know, you could do things like you know, self-massage, you know, roll on tennis balls, very deliberate, but it's also trying to get people to feel that energetic body. And so I know I said a lot, but I think I'm boiling it down to to when in a leadership position anywhere or a position of influence, it's about inviting people, giving people permission. Because that's a different language altogether when someone's inviting you to your body.
SPEAKER_03I agree. I love the term invitation. Uh Kay, is there any any thoughts that you have in regards to this conversation?
SPEAKER_00Well, this is such a big topic, Ashley. I don't think it was on your list, but I'm happy to follow in the conversation. Yeah, I mean, it's a it feels like it's such a such a vulnerable, um, touchy subject. And I'm realizing, despite what I said earlier, that uh, you know, I'm there are I found that there were acceptable ways for me to touch and and move, and then there were sort of unacceptable ways. And I think that we get a lot of, especially as women, we get a lot of mixed messages about what's um what's okay and what's not okay and what's valued and what's not valued. And so I continue to have a struggle with um, you know, breaking outside of my regimented way of moving in the world, whether and and I think that the part of the disembodiment is the awareness or the concern of how you're being perceived rather than being completely in your body and moving from your true self. And um so the process of of being present and getting back in your body is is not having as much perception of what people are are thinking about you, I think.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, I love that you're highlighting that point. Joan, is there anything that's coming up for you in regards to this conversation?
SPEAKER_01I feel deeply moved by what's been shared what Megan brought through about the intimacy and yeah, it's so powerful and touch. I don't know if other cultures are different, you know, in our culture it is you know, it's sexualized, and on the one hand, that is um promoted everywhere, and on the other hand, we're like so freaking puritanical, you know, so we're like caught between these two extremes. And I I know I remember growing up with like self-consciousness around having a body, you know, just like being self-conscious about having a body. And thankfully, um, when my daughter was born, I had um a former nurse who would come in and stay with her while I would go to work. And so my daughter got like much different messaging about her body and about like feeling good in her body than I did. And and I was so grateful that she had that, that it wasn't just coming through the template of my own experience. Um, the other piece I want to say about touch is this is the idea of like this body, like this is my body, you know, and I I decide like I get to consent as to whether it's whether I'm gonna touch myself, whether I'm gonna invite or allow someone else to touch me, that that sense of consent and safety and uh permission giving and and taking it, you know, like taking it really slow in terms of like how present can I be when either I'm I'm touching myself or someone else is touching me, even you know, even in a non-sexual way. Because I think for so many of us, particularly if there's trauma present, just touch is you know one of the primary ways that trauma, sexual trauma, or other kinds of trauma can come in, whether it's violence or whether it's um sexual-based trauma, and and so being able to slow things down, you know, to be present and to say um yes to this or this feels good and discerning those kinds of things. So I I think about myself as a middle schooler, and you know, by that point, it's like things are are reaching a deafening pitch in terms of culture and messaging and the awkwardness and all of that. So thank you.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. I I appreciate the conversation and and just in a practical way in regards to touch, when um Megan was sharing about invitation, even when I take a yoga class, I really appreciate it when the instructor asks if I want an adjustment, if I if I want to explore like a different, you know, and some days I'm a yes and some days I'm a no. You know, sometimes I'm like, no, thank you. I don't I don't need that today. And then other days I'm open to the invitation and it changes. And I think to your point, Joan, I think it comes from that. Um, if you want to call it ownership, if you want to call it just like really being present in regards to this body belongs to me, and I get to decide who I'm and how I'm gonna engage, whether it's a massage therapist or uh a yoga instructor or you know, a chiropractor or whatever modality we're working with, it's like knowing that you have that autonomy to be able to say yes or no, and that it may change from minute to minute and day to day. So, my next question for the group is how does, you know, we've talked a lot about the the yogi path, we've talked about a lot of different things in regards to kind of becoming aware of a spiritual journey that has brought us more into presence. And so I'd like to talk about that. How does being present in your body relate to the spiritual path? How do they do they move in simpatigo? Are they separate? Are they together?
SPEAKER_02It's like the temple, right? Like what's gonna whoa this body becomes a temple for for spirit, for the mystical, for um, you know, for for the connection with the multiverse, right? It's it is the tool, it's what has the energetic charge, right? This is like the electric pole that we are, right? To to to reach out to everything that is outside of us. And and it was sort of a segue because um it what a miracle, how amazing! Like when we are safe and experiencing body work, Reiki, um, hands-on healing of any sort, um, even just in circles, when you're evoking spirit, you know, together. Um, wow, the conduit our body becomes, the antenna our body becomes, um, and how miraculous it is how we can like you know, cast this like web between ourselves and share our our bodies, our embodiment together. Um so, so yeah, when when it comes to matters of the spirit and the body, I think um, you know, we we we most of our day is is the the sort of biological, right? The animal that we are. And um I think sometimes we can get lost if we do too much, right? If we bring our body into the spiritual realm too much, meaning we we kind of live on that plane, that could be problematic because then you're not grounded, right, to this earth uh as frequently as you need to be. But wow, what a gift! What an amazing uh conduit we are for spirit. I mean, we're made for it. That's what it's all about. And when we can keep it balanced and healthy and vital, um, wow, you know, it's the launching pad, it's pretty miraculous.
SPEAKER_03I love that. Thank you so much. And I love comparing the body to a temple. What a profound uh image to experience. Kay, is there anything you'd like to add to the conversation?
SPEAKER_00I love this um this topic because um I've been this is what I've been thinking about most of all in relation to to embodiment. And first of all, I feel like there is no body without the in spirit in without the spirit of it. You know, it's it's literally animated by an invisible life force that we may or may not connect to a divine source or a source at all. Um, so it it's it's a moving spirit, it's a moving physical spirit. And I think that this um, you know, since we come from the spirit realm into the body, the process of becoming the divine human or becoming human at all requires us to be to be fully in the body. And that that's just part of the experience that we've signed up for on this physical plane where matter exists. But there's there's also the the awareness that there is a there is a reality that is that is not that does not contain matter. And we we head there afterward because we drop the body. And so um, even if we don't drop the body, I feel like in my own experience, the spiritual path is acknowledging the sacredness of every molecule of my body, every movement, every expression of it. And yet I'm becoming less and less attached to it. And so um, you know, there's this sort of you're you're out, then you're in, and then you're out, and there's it's this beautiful cycle. And um the so we want to treat the body like a temple, we want to honor it and to um experience it, but we don't want to get too attached to it because it's not the totality of us, it's a it's a fractal of us, it's a small portion of us. So um that's kind of where I'm at on my journey. And I find that the more I let go of my own desire to control my body or to figure it out, the more inspirited it becomes. It's operating on its own and it's um, you know, it's it's connected to something that I don't fully understand. And uh it's it's miraculous beyond my understanding, as Megan pointed to. So um I just I'm so in love with this process and the the uh the idea of dropping my body excites me because I don't have a I don't have a conscious memory of of necessarily being pre-body. And so um I'm looking forward to exploring what what comes after the body, whether I'm gonna come back to a new body or or do something else. I don't know. So love it. I love this conversation.
SPEAKER_03I I love so much what you shared. Like there's so many pearls that you just dropped right now in the ocean of consciousness. Um, but I especially love this in and out. It reminded me of breath. It reminded me of like the inhale and the exhale, the contraction and the expansion, like like and and the space in between where we're not necessarily attached to the rhythm, even when the rhythm is present. So such a beautiful, beautiful um share. Joan, how about for you?
SPEAKER_01What I've been thinking about is um kind of the height of we'll say like the spiritual ecstatic experience. And for me, in many ways the practice of communion, communion with light, and I was having this sense of like my senses being the senses of God in this static dance with the world, the the natural world around me. So I have been orienting more recently into um you know, kind of into deep diving into the sacred within this eye, and whether it's the wisdom that it holds or like the inner landscapes, or even I'm remembering there was a time when my daughter needed to have a um, I guess it's sound of her heart, or the ultrasound of her heart, or one of those things where we could together in a room witnessing her beating heart and uh the power of witnessing your own beating heart, and as her mother, you know, her beating heart was like it blew my circuit in terms of the spiritual and the sacred of the absolute.
SPEAKER_03I love that. I love that what what a miracle the heart is when we think about it. It's it's beating without without our effort, and and it does bring forth that feeling of like a God breathing us and and and moving energy through our body. And I'm curious about so, you know, a lot of times in our in our modern world, we talk about masculine and feminine energy within the body. And some people define masculine as like the framework or the stillness, uh, while the feminine is kind of defined as expansion and and creativity and fluidity. And I'm just curious, um, is balance important when we're talking about these potential polarities? Is it a construct? And if it is important to balance them, what helps us balance these energies within our own body? Case case giving me the eyes. I'll go first. So just give you all a minute. So for me, I actually I actually don't think it's about balance. I actually think it's about the ebb and flow that exists within the body. And if we want to define it as feminine and masculine, if we want to define it as stillness or in motion, uh to me, it's actually important for there to be kind of a rhythm and a flow to it. And I think once because we're all a unique, well, in my opinion, I feel like we're all a unique um sort of holo hologram of source that is so much bigger than us, and that is all the all and everything. I think each one of us is a unique blueprint. And so within that, I do believe that our flow, uh, that flow between the two is gonna shift and it's gonna be different. Um, and I think sometimes if we focus too much on one or we focus too much on the other, it can be sort of a way to continue to actually separate from our body and not and not to live in an authentic space. Uh, and so for me, it's not so much important about if they're harmonious and balance, but but are we flowing between the two? Because there are some days where stillness is critical to my embodiment and to my presence. And then there are other days where movement is important to release whatever emotions have happened that day. Movement is something that allows for me to release whatever it is that isn't serving me any longer. Um, so from that, would anyone like to add to the conversation?
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah, I I I think this is uh is so interesting. Um because so many people are are not in their body. And so that means to me that their experience of themselves is mental. And um I I feel like that's tends to be a more masculine trait. I'm not I'm not really sure about that. Um and so I just I think there's some value in in getting into into your body and and figuring out who is in there, who that is that's in there, whether that is, you know, and I don't we're not talking about about gender here. We're talking about um we're talking about these uh fundamental uh I don't know what to call them, constructs or something, where you know, like you said, it's it's flow versus structure, and um I don't I don't know what all the other ones are. And I I think that balance is always nice and good, but um we're sort of like you said, what like you hinted at Ashley is like we're given a package, and then there's this this there's what's going on inside, and it's our puzzle to figure that out. And it's as you said, uh each person is so unique, you couldn't possibly figure that out for for someone else. But um, so I yeah, that I mean I that's that's basically what I have to contribute, whether or not whether or not it's anything.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It's it's fantastic. Thank you. I love that you shared that. Megan, is there anything you'd like to add?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, at first I I I was stumped, to be honest. So I'm really glad the the two of you talked it through a little bit because I, you know, in a in a super quick comment, and then I'll come to the deeper thought, you know. Um I'm I'm I'm blessed and in a really um loving relationship right now, where I think I'm experiencing for the first time this like sort of uh balance masculine feminine in terms of like these like almost roles, these domestic um roles that we have. Uh and I'm literally, I was literally like weeding the garden beds as he was like champing down an oak tree. Like, I'm not kidding, like an oak tree. And so there's the very obvious, and to me, like wow, what a miraculous like I keep using this word today because being in the body, these are those wow moments where it's like I don't have to deal with the oak tree because believe me, if he wasn't here, I'd deal with that damn oak tree myself, and it's not that I can't, it's just that this feels a lot more like it's in in the in some sort of balanced order, right? So there's that very like obvious answer, that that sort of gendered, you know, partnership answer. But then there's there's this other like thing that really came through. And in yoga, there is the the idea of the Shiva Shakti, right? The balance that's that lunar solar. Um, and we've been coming into these dualistic comments a lot. We are talking about being in the body and out of the body. You've talked about the inhalation and the exhalation in yoga as well in Sanskrit, that's spanda, right? That's this pulsation, right? And so what I'm like kind of boiling it down to this masculine feminine energy has that spanda, that pulsation. And and if we are embodied, if we're including more of the mind, body, spirit, right? This whole conglomerate, and we're experiencing this pulsation, that is balance. If if we're with it, you know, and and it's okay. Sometimes it's happening to us, sometimes we're with it as it's happening, we're kind of guiding it. Um, but when when we feel again, like vital, alive, present, um, I think that's when we know balance. And and I think part of self-awareness in the embodied state is understanding, oh my goodness, like now I'm in a place where I'm not feeling well, where I'm like there is the imbalance has come to a place where I'm not exploring anymore. I need to do something, you know, I need to either do something in my physical body, or I, you know, I need to rest, I need to read, I need whatever, whatever you need. What uh uh a task it has become a life mission to try and know how to translate what my body's telling me, right? Oh, you need rest or you need a vacation, or you know, that's tricky, but that's the life work.
SPEAKER_03That is the life work. Thank you, Megan. Joan, is that there anything coming up for you?
SPEAKER_01Yes, uh, there is. So rather than balance, um what I would the word I would use is really partnership um in terms of in inner masculine and inner feminine. That in just like in any partnership, it is this dance, which is the word I keep using. It is this back and forth and this dance in terms of how they uh move together to forward the cause of um the intention or or whatever it is that we're creating. And the other piece is I have studied different embodiment traditions, and uh one that I've been exploring recently is the the ancient Mu and Hawaiian lineage. And in various traditions, there has been this sense of like the energy centers, like the sacral, sacral and the heart, and then the third eye. And in a few of the traditions I've explored, the the sacral is associated with the feminine and the heart is associated with the masculine. And in this uh Hawaiian lineage, there is a correlation specifically as it relates to the vertebrae of the spine. And the first 14 vertebrae of the spine are what they call the unihipili, which is the feminine, which is the container that's holding, and then the masculine are the next 12, which is called the uhane. Um, and they're codes related to each of the vertebrae, and then from the cervical up is the androgynous, so it is that like blending of the two. So that is a very in some ways concrete way of looking at what is the essence of the masculine within me. What is the essence of the feminine?
SPEAKER_03Thank you. I I've not heard of that practice. Very interesting. So, my final question, um, and then we'll wrap up for the evening, is I'm curious what practices like breath, movement, stillness, sound help you feel more alive, feel that life force energy, vitality, make you feel that more sacred connection to your body and feel kind of more here in this in this planet. What's what's one or two practices that just are the thing for you? And I'll go around uh starting with Joan.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. What came to mind, which I think has always been my natural go-to, is it's really just the stretching process. So more like um I am a Leo, so it's like that cat like stretching, and there's nothing I like better than pulling out the yoga mat and not to do yoga, and to lay on it and to you know, to stretch and move in a very slow, intentional, and sensual way with music.
SPEAKER_03I love that. How about you, Megan?
SPEAKER_02Um for me, traditionally, I'm it it is yoga meditation, but right now it's it's gardening. I just I'm just constantly playing with dirt. It's just the most important movement to me is just like barefoot, I'm hugging trees and literally doing all the little things out in the garden.
SPEAKER_03I love it. I love it. How about you, Kay?
SPEAKER_00I could go on and on and on about this um particular topic, but um, what's a what's a coming for up for me is that is the transitional period. So when you first lay down on a hard floor after a long day, like that, oh that delicious release of the tension, or you know, when I first put my hands on the wet clay, it's like, oh, so juicy and rich and earthy. And then, you know, when you when you first throw the the onions and garlic in the pan, and you know, you can it it's like that's the best smell, and it fills the whole house and everybody gets hungry. And so it's like these, you know, these moments where you're the or when you first jump in the lake or you lay on the hot sand. And so I think that it's those those transitional moments for me that um make me so grateful to be in my body. And similarly, the the the absence, a moment with the absence of pain is like, oh, you know, it's so um, or even sometimes when the headache comes on, you know, I've I've had these experiences with migraines where it's like I'm observing myself in this, you can't do anything but feel that pain. You cannot get away from it, and so it's like, wow, what is happening in my body right now? This is such an intense, bold experience. And so I think maybe as a Taurus, I'm just you know, born sensual and like all those things feel so good to me.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, I love that. I loved all of your examples, all of them had like a sensory memory to me, and so I I appreciate that. And for me, similar to Joan, it's dance. I I love to dance, and you know, when it's cold outside, I love a good cup of tea, a warm cup of tea and a soft blanket. You know, it's it's a lovely, lovely thing that really pulls me into the present moment and feeling more alive in that sacred space. So thank you so much for being a part of this panel chat tonight. It's been an honor. And I would love to hand it back to Kay to kind of wrap us up.
SPEAKER_00Okay, thank you so much, Ashley, for moderating for us this evening. It's been a really delightful exploration. Thank you to all of our panelists. And also just a reminder that uh you can view all of our videos on my YouTube channel. And I think there's some really valuable information for anybody who might be struggling through this difficult um period that we're in. So thank you all. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Bye, friends.