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And yeah, I think it's really beautiful that we have this organ inside of us that moves in a similar way that the moon moves.
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I think that's really cool.
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So I just was like, wow, let's have a full cycle again.
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Let's do this.
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Welcome to Permission for Pleasure.
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I'm Cindy Sharky, your host.
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Delighted you're here in my listening community.
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I see more and more women embracing cyclical living or the practice of paying attention to your menstrual cycle and adjusting your daily routines, work, and care for yourself accordingly.
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The beautiful thing I've learned as someone who no longer menstruates is that I can embrace a type of cycle living as well through the seasons of my life.
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It's interesting to think about.
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I have a lovely guest today to talk about this with me.
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And I hope you find this conversation nourishing in whatever phase of life you're in.
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Friends, I want to invite you to my newsletter, Good Education for Good Sex, Bite-sized education, straight to your inbox.
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I hope you'll join me there.
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If you do, I'll send you a free download of me reading the initial pages of my book to you.
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Find the link in the show notes.
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Speaking of my book, it's called Permission for Pleasure, Tending Your Sexual Garden.
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It's like a sexual wellness retreat to provide you the need to know education as well as prompts and exercises to help you find more freedom on your own sexual wellness journey.
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It's available in hard back and ebook form.
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You can link over from the show notes or head on over to my website and you can find your copy there.
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I'll meet you in the pages.
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Now let's meet the lovely Danny Summer and talk about cyclical living.
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Danny, welcome to Permission for Pleasure.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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What a gift.
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What a delight to have you.
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You are a dear friend of one of my daughters.
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And I have kind of loosely watched your transformation over these years, and it's been beautiful, and it's really drawn my energy to you and your story of health and wellness and well-being.
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Well-being.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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A couple of years ago I completely left the career that I had spent years building and decided to chase my dreams and become a yoga and wellness educator and offer that to my community here in San Diego.
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And it's dream job energy for sure.
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Well, tell us, you know, just a little bit about you and your work in the world.
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Yeah.
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So I did my first yoga teacher training when I was actually getting my master's degree here in San Diego.
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And I had no idea that it would turn into such a passion of mine.
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I had no idea the depth of the practice.
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I just knew that I loved to do physical yoga asana in my body.
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And it made me feel good in my mind.
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It made me feel good in my spirit, but I didn't really know what was happening.
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And the studio that I was practicing at offered a teacher training.
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And the manager reached out to me and was like, You would be an amazing teacher.
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I can tell you really enjoy this practice.
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Do you feel called to deepen your practice?
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And I was a yes.
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And from there I started teaching and realized that a lot of what I was learning were things that I had developed in my own toolbox as I was on my own healing journey throughout my whole life.
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I was like, wow, everything's kind of clicking and making sense.
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I just now have the philosophy behind it that's been around for thousands and thousands of years.
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And to me, it is so sacred to honor and give reverence to a lineage that has had profound healing effects for people for that long.
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And from there I continued my training.
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It became my full-time job, and I started offering not only just in-person yoga classes, but retreats and trainings so that other people can integrate yoga and wellness into their lives in a similar way that I did, in a completely different way than I did as well.
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Um yeah.
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And you you have been on a pretty powerful journey, I guess, with your body, with your own wellness.
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Um, I'm curious if you might share a little bit about that and also the catalyst for you really taking steps in that direction.
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I have watched you, it is very drawing to me.
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And that's why I wanted my community to hear from you because I have watched the journey and watched you move into a really beautiful place of well-being.
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And so I'd love for you to share.
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Load full transcript
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Yeah, I'm excited to share.
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Um, I've found that, you know, everyone's journey is so, so unique.
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And my journey is unique to me, and everyone else's will be unique.
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But when someone has something that they share in common with you, of like, wow, I've experienced something similar to that.
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Not to say that it's the same, but there's so much power in being able to just feel held in that sort of like, wow, I I think I know what she's talking about.
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So I'm really excited to share.
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So my the catalyst, I'll start with that actually.
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I had my catalyst quite young.
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I grew up with a mother who was already quite versed in non-traditional forms of healing for the Western world.
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So that was really cool.
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I had an energy healer when I was young.
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I started seeing an energy healer when I was about 12 years old.
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Just for overall well-being, there wasn't anything that was happening that was too concerning at that point.
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But right around when I was 12, 13, things got a little bit volatile in my childhood.
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We were moving a lot, divorces, things of that nature, and that's also when you're going through puberty around.
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My body was changing a lot.
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I was feeling pretty insecure about my body, and I was really looking for something to control.
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And so I started controlling my eating.
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I developed a pretty severe eating disorder by the time I was 14.
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Before I started going back to my energy healer, I saw a traditional talk therapist, and that's where I was diagnosed with anorexia.
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And my whole body when I was a kid contracted, and I was like this, I don't know how to even conceptualize this.
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And I had a lot of resistance to identifying with a diagnosis, which I know is common for people when they receive their diagnosis.
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So I conveyed this to my mom, and she was like, Okay, maybe we'll go back to our energy healer and see what happens here.
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And I was like, okay, great.
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And I think that helped me get away from the fear of continuing my sessions as being the girl with anorexia and allowing myself to be like a whole soul that needed healing when I went to my energy healer.
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And that was really profound for me.
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That's not everyone's journey, but that's specifically what happened for me with mine.
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So when I started seeing an energy healer and a hypnotherapist, I was able to go back a little bit farther to, you know, things that even happened in the womb, things that happened maybe even in a past life that I could have been carrying energy with me into this life, and how I could find that maybe this thing that I was experiencing, anorexia, was something that has a thread in my early, early childhood and development.
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And that's when I realized I have this deep fear of abandonment.
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I really, really get scared that somebody's gonna leave, that somebody that's been in my life is gonna leave one day, and that's just the scariest thing in the world to me.
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And so I try to control, I try to control.
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And it was really, really beautiful for me from a young age to realize how holistic healing can be.
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Like, wow, I can really, really zoom out and find a thread and realize how that's influencing my present moment programming, my present moment consciousness, and better support myself.
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Yeah, so that was my foundation, and that in a way is practicing yoga for sure.
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So when I started practicing physical asana yoga and realizing that there was all this philosophy about the way that our conditioning and the way that our mind um thinks and tries to control situations, I was like, wow, there's a philosophy kind of for the healing that I've been doing since I was a kid.
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This is really, really powerful and really, really cool.
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So yeah, I started that yoga journey that I briefly touched on, and then from there had a whole new healing journey with my womb space.
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Right.
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I'm gonna pause you just for a moment.
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Yes.
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Because we are gonna delve into you know, your cyclical living, which is so many people, you know, we didn't do this back in the day.
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Totally.
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Can you believe I say back in the day now?
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Okay, but we didn't have a lot of framework for cyclical living, you know.
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Totally.
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Even as a nurse, like I I had all the nuts and bullets in education and and what have you, but we didn't we didn't approach it the way you approach it.
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And a lot of a lot of younger women are much more in tune with this.
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So I want you to share about that.
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But before we do, I just want to say, you know, backtracking to your early story, that I just find so many of us don't look for the thread.
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Danny, it's really it
takes so much inner work and in you know, inner reflection and sitting with sitting with ourselves, right?
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Which is often painful, right?
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Uncomfortable, and we're also we're not modeled this.
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People we we aren't modeled how to do this, and that this is a healthy practice, and that totally this can help serve you to keep yourself well.
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So I just wanted to kind of put that in there because my listeners are of all ages and all over the world, and we all come from different places.
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I you know, I appreciate how you frame that.
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And I just want to say, you know, I too have found that looking for those threads and being willing to pull them has really served me too, though it is not easy.
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It is not easy, yeah.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Let's pivot then after I interrupted you.
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Because I think that's such a I just think that's such a um important piece to sort of parse out there because uh I find this in my practice with women and just asking them questions around you know, early things or things in their childhood or that really activate them and and then why.
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And often they don't know.
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Totally.
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Yeah, this is a new paradigm for the healing space, it seems like, to really go back this far and follow a thread all the way through.
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It's beautiful that it's becoming more common, but yeah, it's it's new for a lot of us, very, very new.
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Yeah.
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And yeah, I can absolutely see how that translates to your work.
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You know, a lot of the shame that we can feel when we're exploring intimacy, a lot of that is really far back.
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It's really deep.
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It's not it's not new.
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Oh, a hundred percent.
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I I just had a consult the other day, and I was talking to her about this exact thing about this.
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How far back does the shame go?
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And and how can we uncover the roots of that?
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You know, we talk about this on the show, friends.
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Like, you know, I can reference a couple episodes for you if you're new to the show today, but because this is a really important piece for healing in our lives and especially for all things related to sexuality.
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It is just oh yeah, it is shame, is the it hates you to be free.
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Shame doesn't want you to be free.
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So yeah, yeah, that's a beautiful way
to put it.
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Let's talk about it doesn't want you to be free, it doesn't think that it wants you to live in the dark, it doesn't want you to bring your truth to the light.
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Right, it wants you to just simmer in there in the dark and be not free, frankly.
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Totally.
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So absolutely.
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So let's talk about you were talking about your womb, and I know you're gonna move into you're gonna tell us about your cyclical living.
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So let's let's move into that the area of your platform in life.
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Yeah, yes.
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I had been on birth control for a really long time.
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I want to say almost a decade before I decided to get off birth control.
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I don't think it was necessarily a bad decision for me at the time to get on birth control.
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I think for a lot of people it's a great decision to get on birth control.
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I just think that there's not enough education about women's cycles.
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I think that I got on birth control because I was like, I don't want to have a period anymore.
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And what I realized in the last couple of years, I just had an intuitive nudge where I was like, maybe I wanna, maybe I want to bleed again.
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Maybe that would feel good for me.
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So I decided to see what it would feel like to get off the pill and fall in love with being in every season of life, fall in love with bleeding, fall in love with feeling contraction again, and fall in love with the high of ovulation and being in the fullness of myself again.
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And yeah, I think it's really beautiful that we have this organ inside of us that moves in a similar way that the moon moves.
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I think that's really cool.
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So I just was like, wow, let's bleed again, let's have a full cycle again, let's do this.
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When I got off birth control, I had very severe health issues.
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I was losing all of my hair.
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I had pretty bad acne in my gut, I was not digesting things properly, and I think the most impactful part, the one that yeah, the one that changed the way that I lived the most was the pain that I would have around my period.
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It was like during that time I was so sick, I would throw up for my period pain.
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It was sharp pain.
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It wasn't the kind of pain where I could, you know, take a few deep breaths and try and lean into it.
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It was like I was on all fours crying, nausea, horrible period pain.
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And so I was like, okay, this is gonna be an initiation coming back into having a full cycle again.
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You know, I I don't know if I'll ever know exactly what happened or what I was experiencing, if maybe those symptoms would have come on earlier if I hadn't taken birth control and kind of, you know, numbed those symptoms.
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I don't know.
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I also don't think there's enough research to know.
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The female body is very understudied, and you know, it's very expensive to get tested for PCOS or endometriosis, and sometimes getting diagnosed with endometriosis is a surgery that a lot of insurances won't cover.
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It's a whole thing.
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We just had an episode about that.
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Yeah, so I was, I think, in a situation that a lot of people with womb were in like, wow, I'm sick, I I don't quite have the resources as someone in my early 20s to figure out what's going on, but I'm just gonna do my best to take care of myself and my body.
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And I had a friend at the time who was going through school to be a cycle coach, which I thought was really cool.
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So she offered me support because she needed to see clients as part of her schooling before she graduated.
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And I was able to spend a lot of time with her, going through all the phases of my cycle, learning what they were and how they are related to the seasons of life and how I can embrace them in my day-to-day life.
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And I worked a lot with affirmations and how, even though my body was in so much pain, how I could infuse the essence of certain affirmations into my life to just keep me going.
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Yeah, I worked a lot with different teas and herbs that I could use in different phases of my cycle, things that I knew I could afford and integrate into my life to get me back on track.
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And since then it's been a very slow, non-linear journey.
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Still have painful periods sometimes, but you know, I I feel myself coming back to center, and that's been the most beautiful part.
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Okay.
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Wow.
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That is you know, I appreciate you saying it's not a linear journey because I do think that these themes around our cycle and our womb and and just each of us being so individually different.
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We just we do not fit in a box.
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Right.
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And very true, we don't have research around women's sexual health, women's health in general, uh in any way, shape, or form.
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Don't get me started.
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Okay.
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And so it's really unfortunate that that young people, young women, you know, battling pain or lack of education or symptoms around their period, or endo, like you mentioned, or PCOS, or you know, they don't have the resources, like you said, to so then here we are with young women trying to figure out for themselves how to take care of themselves.
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Right.
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And without any, often, oftentimes, so often, without any education growing up.
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Right.
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I had none.
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I had none.
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I I didn't know, I've never I don't think I ever heard the word follicular or luteal.
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I think I knew maybe that what ovulation was, and then I knew what what it was happening when I was bleeding.
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Okay, so go through the phases for the listeners who are like, I have no idea what you're even talking about.
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Like, I know I have my period and I know I ovulate, but I mean I'd like it from your perspective, Danny.
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Just just briefly each one and give me it, give me just a few little tidbits to share with the I'll give it to you from my lens as well as for anyone listening that's also like not a psycho coach or you know, not a doctor trained in women's health.
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This is my perspective of someone that has just been trying to reconnect with my womb space and fall in love with every season of my womb.
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So we'll start with follicular.
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This can be viewed as your spring.
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This can be viewed as when things are starting to feel like they're coming alive again and blossoming.
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For me, it feels good to romanticize this season of being and existing by, you know, maybe doing a more spicy yoga class or doing a dance class or something of that nature.
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This phase can be around two weeks, but it's different for everyone.
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And then we have ovulation that will come from that, which is like your summer.
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This is like when you're feeling perhaps your fieriest.
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Some people feel a little bit of ovulation pain.
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I do still.
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Um, so sometimes there can be a little bit contraction and ovulation when you're releasing the egg.
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But yeah, this is a beautiful time to plan something invigorating for yourself or something that feels spicier.
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Big solar summer energy.
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And then from there, ludial, that can be viewed as your fall.
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It's when things are starting to kind
of die off, the leaves are changing, they're falling.
00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:33.839
Um, especially late luteal is a really, really good time to prioritize introspection, moving slow, noticing what it's like to bring your gaze inward and just be with your body as it's starting to slow down.
00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:38.720
And then we have menstruation, which is the winter where everything is just shedding.
00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:50.480
Sometimes the process of the kind of dying off in luteal can feel actually more slow and be more of a need for rest in luteal for some people, even than in menstrual menstruation.
00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:53.680
Sometimes it's like day one of menstruation, it's like, oof, I'm really bleeding.
00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:58.319
And then after that, it's like, okay, I'm I'm actually starting to feel lighter, so it's different for everyone.
00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:04.319
But yeah, late luteal beginning menstruation is my time where I'm like, privacy, please.
00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:07.519
I'm going to be in meditation.
00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:12.480
I'm going to allow myself to binge watch a Netflix show today.
00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:19.920
I'm going to allow myself to do whatever I need to be in like deep, deep care for my energy and for my body.
00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:22.160
Appreciate that, Danny.
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:23.119
Yeah.
00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:32.960
And the seasons, I think it's it's such a relatable way, you know, to think through your cycle.
00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:34.160
Totally.
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:39.680
I'm wondering, you know, for someone that's listening to you.
00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:59.599
Or for or I'm also thinking about a parent who has a pre, you know, pre puberty or close to puberty child that may want to kind of approach this in a different way than they did themselves or they were taught.
00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:10.000
And get excited about that, like thinking, you know, I wish I had done this a little bit differently with my own girls, you know.
00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:20.559
I I mean I have three daughters and you know, we just I just approached everything so medically, you know, I hadn't really gone on this whole journey with my own body until later.
00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:31.359
And so I'm wondering if you're a parent listening, if this might resonate with you and how you want to approach educating and supporting your child.
00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:32.480
Yeah.
00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:39.039
One thing that was offered to me that I thought was really sweet was having a cycle journal.
00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:49.839
Just like day one of my cycle, this is how I'm feeling, and then you can kind of reflect back on it and just see how you are maybe changing with your cycle, or maybe how you're not.
00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:58.240
I noticed when I was going through it, I was like, whoa, I'm inluteal and I should be tired, but I woke up with so much energy this morning, and then I'm like, I should be this way.
00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:08.000
Then it's like, no, that's cool that you can just see where you're at and just have a little journal that just is your space to communicate where you're waking up each day in alignment with your cycle.
00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:19.200
I'm just thinking that it would be so helpful to teach our children how to pay attention to their bodies early, right?
00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:31.519
And for those who are going to have going to menstruate, this is such a beautiful way to help them stay in touch with how their body is talking to them and how to listen.
00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:32.400
Totally.
00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:40.400
And start this early so that they can be paying attention and I mean doing what their body tells them to do.
00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:41.279
Absolutely.
00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:42.880
I didn't learn this growing up.
00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:49.039
I learned to ignore my body, not listen to her, and to only be in my mind and my head and my brain.
00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:57.200
And so maybe we've gotten some away from that, you know, now culturally, but maybe we haven't.
00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:04.880
Yeah, I think in many ways we are learning how to come back into our body in all of the micro moments.
00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:11.440
You know, um, this wasn't a part of the podcast, but before we started our conversation, the first thing we did was close our eyes and breathe.
00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:12.000
Yes, we do.
00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:19.440
No, it's just there's micro moments where it's becoming more normal to just be like, let me let me take a moment to go inward.
00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:26.079
And to teach a kid at a young age to take a moment, go inward, and see how you're feeling before you start the day.
00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:27.680
Wow, what a tool.
00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:29.279
Yeah.
00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:45.119
And my parent workshops, I always teach a few breathing techniques for parents to use with kids because you know, a a child who learns how to regulate their own nervous system is a much healthier child.
00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:47.839
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:48.720
Absolutely.
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:57.440
So I get kind of excited thinking about this, Danny, for the parents that are listening as a really beautiful tool that they can use with their with their kids.
00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:58.160
Yeah.
00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:00.960
I was also hesitant to bring up technology.
00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:07.519
I don't know if what age kids are getting phones these days, but I have an app on my phone that I love.
00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:12.559
It's a little bit witchier, so maybe it's like the parents a little bit more woo-woo.
00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:16.160
But there's plenty of apps that aren't, you know, on the witchier side.
00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:22.079
Mine's called Stardust, and it literally links my cycle to the phase that the moon is in right now.
00:25:22.319 -->
00:25:24.079
And I think that's really cool.
00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:28.319
And you can also like connect your partner on the app.
00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:38.480
So I have my partner connected to my app so he can always see where I'm at, and I can cast spells on him and say, like, I need chocolate today, and it'll send it to him.
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:46.480
What a fun way to kind of educate a partner about you know your own cyclical living.
00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:49.359
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:49.599 --> 00:26:04.240
It's really sweet to be able to have this resource where it's like, okay, I I get to check in on where I'm at in case, you know, I forgot, and then also like this is how I'm in alignment with the moon, and also this is how my partner can be a part of this experience.
00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:05.119
That's really sweet.
00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:21.440
Yes, yes, and you know, I think the more we have conversations around this, the more we normalize our periods, our cycles, our bodies, the the better off we're gonna be.
00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:29.599
Absolutely, and I think that's wonderful language with a partner to normalize the conversation, you know.
00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:30.640
Yeah, yeah.
00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:31.759
Absolutely.
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:46.000
Even in my friend group, which I know it's not like this everywhere, but in my friend group here now, full of every gender, I can say, I'm late luteal, I don't feel like doing that today.
00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:48.240
And everyone knows what that means and respects that.
00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:49.359
How cool is that?
00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:50.559
So cool.
00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:52.720
I know that's just great.
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:53.920
That is just great.
00:26:54.160 --> 00:26:57.599
So let's let's talk about you said journaling.
00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:02.799
You have a like a cycle journal, you have an app that you use.
00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:07.519
I guess if someone's listening and they're like, Well, where do I even start with this?
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:17.519
This sounds fascinating to me, but I don't have anybody in my life who's investigating this way, or where where would you encourage them to start?
00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:30.240
Whenever someone is integrating something new into their life or into their routine, what I typically do with my students or my clients is start with what you're doing already.
00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:42.480
If someone has a movement practice that they like, whether it's doesn't have to be yoga at all, it could be cycling, it could be running, and kind of place your movement practices like on some sort of spectrum.
00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:46.720
Maybe like some days you like to run, but maybe some days you just like to stretch.
00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:57.839
Think about maybe like, oh, I'm ovulating, I'm gonna go on that run that I love to do because that's typically when I feel the best, and you can kind of live in accordance with that knowledge
that you have about yourself and your body.
00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:03.359
Like, oh, this is typically when I'm gonna be feeling my most vibrant, I'm gonna go do my my five-mile run or whatever.
00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:06.640
And then it's like, oh, I I could be starting my period soon.
00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:12.720
Maybe I'll do some low back stretches, that one forward fold that feels really good in my low back that I that I do all the time.
00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:15.279
I can integrate that when I'm about to bleed.
00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:23.039
So find the things that you already do, find the things that you already know you like, and then just kind of place it with what you know about your body in your cycle.
00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:23.920
Beautiful.
00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:28.880
And I'm thinking also, could I I'm gonna add one little nurse tip, right?
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:35.759
Because I'm just still so fascinated at how many people who who don't track their cycle.
00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:41.200
I mean, in the sense of I'll say, Well, do you know when your last you know period started?
00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:45.359
And no, no, I no idea, like there's no track no tracking.
00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:47.039
That was neat, yeah.
00:28:47.519 --> 00:29:09.440
And they'll say, Well, I don't know, I had it some I I think even just learning to track your cycle in the sense of I started bleeding this day, I actually felt ovulation pain on my right side, on my left side this day, you know, that kind of paying attention can help you get more in touch with your cycle in your body.
00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:12.160
Totally, totally, yeah.
00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:21.359
And that comes back to like that sacred moment each day that you just close your eyes or soften your eyes and see what you're feeling in your body.
00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:27.759
Yes, and boy, we need to we need to do that more and more.
00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:29.440
Yeah.
00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:32.960
You offer retreats, Danny.
00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:33.920
I do.
00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:44.640
I have been on a couple retreats myself, not yours in particular, but there is something like my whole body just got warm.
00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:57.839
There is something so nourishing about attending a retreat that's something like what you're doing or some of the ones I've been to.
00:29:58.000 --> 00:29:59.839
I literally have the whole body chills now.
00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:05.200
There there's there's just nothing like for me, I've always done them with women.
00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:16.960
For me, it's like just being with women and uh paying attention to my body and being in community uh uh around nourishing ourselves.
00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:28.240
So I'm intrigued about your retreats and what you find people come away with, what what they uh uh integrate from that.
00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:32.240
Yes, I couldn't agree more.
00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:51.920
There's something very special about retreats, there's something very special about there being a really held container for navigating internal processes, somatics, moving our body together, and then also being in community to process all of those things that come up for us.
00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:55.039
It is truly one of the most powerful experiences.
00:30:55.759 --> 00:31:08.960
If I were to say I had one takeaway coming out of retreats and what I hope people integrate into their day-to-day life, my first answer is tools and resources.
00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:10.319
That's what's coming up for me right now.
00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:13.279
I actually haven't thought about an answer to this question.
00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:17.759
And I say that because it can be so many things.
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:23.200
It could be, you know, the philosophy of yoga that I I do like to bring into my retreats and my trainings.
00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:25.039
My trainings are very philosophy-based.
00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:27.839
It could be this piece of philosophy that just stuck out with you.
00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:38.400
So the next time you're feeling like, man, I can't get out of my head, I'm having a really hard day, there's that one piece of philosophy that just landed with you, and that could be a tool, can be a resource.
00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:41.839
Or if it's a breath practice we did that you can come back to.
00:31:42.079 --> 00:32:07.279
If there's a moment that you shared in connection with somebody, if that can serve as a reminder of how possible it is for your heart to connect with another person, those are all things that can be tools and resources that make a positive imprint on your brain to say, like, wow, I did something that was really helpful, and I can continue to refer back to that to remind myself that I'm still on this journey, even though it's nonlinear.
00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:11.359
I have more tools and resources now than I did before to keep going.
00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:13.440
And to build on.
00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:15.680
To build on, absolutely.
00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:16.160
Right?
00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:17.039
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:19.759
When is your next retreat?
00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:21.920
Do you have one on the schedule?
00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:24.960
I have a couple on the schedule right now.
00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:30.160
So my next retreat is it's gonna be Majorca.
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:51.359
That one's March 9th through 14th, and then after that, I have a 200-hour yoga teacher training, which is a full initiation into the lineage of yoga, which I think is one of the most transformative things someone who, you know, has a passion in yoga can can do is take the 200-hour training.
00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:53.039
It's not just me that offers them.
00:32:53.119 --> 00:33:04.720
If anyone doesn't know how yoga works, a 200-hour training is kind of like a foundational yoga training that people offer all over local studios offer them, and then I'm personally
offering mine in Guatemala.
00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:10.240
And then I also have Bali, August of 2027.
00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:12.720
So those are those are all on the schedule.
00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:16.240
Um most of your retreats are uh international.
00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:19.519
So I have so many listeners around the globe.
00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:27.200
So I I wanted you to to talk a little bit about that just to whet someone's appetite who's listening and thinking, oh wow, she's gonna be near me.
00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:29.279
I might want to look into that.
00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:31.279
Yeah, absolutely.
00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:32.079
Absolutely.
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:43.119
We have space available, and yeah, the venues that I selected for this go-around, they're really special, and there's something really nourishing about everything that they offer.
00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:49.839
A lot of them are farm to table, or they offer um, you know, very local cuisine to where we're staying.
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:52.559
So yeah, I'm really excited for these experiences.
00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:54.240
That is exciting.
00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:54.799
Yeah.
00:33:55.039 --> 00:34:13.280
Well, as we wrap up, Danny, what would be your encouragement to anyone listening around, listening to their bodies, around nourishing themselves?
00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:25.280
And it's my show, so giving themselves permission, real permission, to do a work around this.
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:32.320
What would be your affirmation for them or exhortation or whatever you want to your what would you say?
00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:34.800
Beautiful question.
00:34:36.719 --> 00:34:45.599
I had one answer come up in my head that just like blatantly was like, that's what I'm thinking right now, but it was before you even finished your question.
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:48.960
So I want to make sure I answer the wholeness of your question.
00:34:49.440 --> 00:35:01.679
But I think my kind of through line that I hold on to because of my background, because I I'm not a doctor, although like I I feel very in touch with my body.
00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:14.239
Um, my work is very much through because at the end of the day, for anyone that doesn't know, yoga is very much a practice of learning how we can overcome suffering caused by our own mind.
00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:42.159
And something that I hold very, very dear to me when I'm going through health struggles, when I'm experiencing the heaviness of life, the depths of life, is to remind myself that although, and I have the control thing, although there's so many things happening around me that I can't control, I am going to take the seat of the creator of my reality and give myself all of the positive, loving affirmations that I can.
00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:54.320
And when I notice the limiting, harmful thoughts come online of like, I can't do this, I can't get through this, how I can meet myself as the creator of my reality with something a little bit more loving, something a little bit more tender.
00:35:54.559 --> 00:36:02.320
And yeah, really how powerful my mind can be when I'm in the depths of what I'm feeling.
00:36:02.480 --> 00:36:09.920
How can I acknowledge that and meet, you know, that stickiness, that depth with love, you know?
00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:11.360
That is beautiful.
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:16.159
How can we meet ourselves in that way, talk to ourselves that way?
00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:17.840
Totally.
00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:24.639
Often I'll say, like, I wouldn't talk to my friend that way, I wouldn't talk to my daughter that way, right?
00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:25.360
Right.
00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:30.079
Especially when they're in the depths of their healing journey, you know?
00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:32.000
Of course you wouldn't talk to them that way.
00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:35.280
You would be as nurturing and as supportive as possible.
00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:38.320
So, how can I do that a little bit more for ourselves?
00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:38.960
Yeah.
00:36:39.280 --> 00:36:41.679
Yes, Danny, thank you.
00:36:42.559 --> 00:36:43.679
Thank you so much for having me.
00:36:44.079 --> 00:36:45.039
How can people find you?
00:36:45.119 --> 00:36:46.719
And I'll link that in the show notes.
00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:49.119
What's the best way to connect with you?
00:36:49.760 --> 00:36:56.400
So my Instagram is Danny Summer, Danny's D-A-N-I, and then Summer Like the Season with the underscore.
00:36:56.719 --> 00:37:00.320
I have all of my offerings listed on my Instagram page.
00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:04.559
And then also I have a yoga academy called Divine Play of Life.
00:37:04.719 --> 00:37:11.039
So if anyone wants to connect through my yoga academy, take a training, or deep in their own practice, that is also a resource.
00:37:11.360 --> 00:37:12.000
Beautiful.
00:37:12.159 --> 00:37:13.440
Thanks again, Danny.
00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:14.719
Thank you so much.
00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:30.000
And listeners, I hope that you found something here to help nourish yourself or someone around you, or perhaps this is a conversation you want to share with somebody near and dear to you.
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:40.880
And let's keep thinking about how we talk to ourselves, listen to our bodies, and certainly give ourselves permission for pleasure.