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Music.
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My name is Mary Grace and you're listening to the homebody podcast.
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Here we explore embodiment as Interstellar beings practicing how to live more fully as creatures of both the stars and the Earth.
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These spiritually and artfully minded conversations intersect astrology creative practices intuition magic healing, poetry and a deep love for the natural world my hope is to enliven you so we can co-create possible regenerative Futures to encourage you so together we can become Dynamic agents of beauty, fully awake with our power intact let us be intentional as we approach the creation and caretaking of life and let's make room for inquiry sensitivity and joy.
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Thank you for listening.
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Music.
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Hello everyone and welcome on this week's episode of the podcast Alyssa Benjamin joined me for a soft and thoughtful conversation about, aligning with nature what that means to her and her work what about when we feel resistant to that idea, and how aligning with our bodies is also an act of re-aligning with nature.
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Before we jump in if you're looking for the Astro forecast you can go back and listen to last week's episode you can also tune in next week for what you can expect for the second half of January if you'd like more from the homebody podcast I send out a very thoughtful beautiful curated email each week and you can sign up for that below if you're interested in being more in the loop of what we have going on around here.
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Back to our guests a list of Benjamin is a writer intuitive coach Back To Nature guide in the founder of our nature Studio which explores the methods systems and practices that bring us into Harmony and alignment with the natural world on behalf of our nature she host workshops and Retreats and courses and a podcast called our nature where she speaks with experts from a variety of fields about how reconnecting to the natural world around us also helps us to the nature that is within us and in this episode we talk about the idea of wintering how our culture approaches winter and winter seasons as a problem and how we can begin to relate to them differently or turn towards them with Grace as Alyssa says and we talked a lot about digestion in this episode in different ways of relating to digestion healing around digestion difficulties and how Alyssa is relates to her own healing Journey around that connecting with joy around our food and what we take in in general and how Joy is an essential ingredient and how Nature's definition May differ from our more contemporary societal view of what well-being is and nature may have its own idea of well-being that we can learn from and maybe integrate more into our lives and so much more I'm really happy to share this episode with you be sure to check out the links below for more about our guests and any of the resources we talked about in the show and enjoy this conversation with Alyssa Benjamin.
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So I like to kick off episodes by letting people introduce themselves I will have already read your bio intro and the episode introduction but I'd love to hear, just from your perspective like who you are today and what you feel kind of coming forward or at the top of the way for you as you show up would you mind kicking us off that way, no I'd be glad to and this is always such an interesting exercise because I feel like every time someone asks me that it changes which I guess is, how he are always always changing and evolving our identities so at this particular moment my name is Alyssa I am a Back to Nature guide a, intuitive coach a writer and.
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A strategist and I help guide People Back To Nature and back to themselves in the process I found it a company called our nature studio and.
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It explores the method systems and practices that bring us into greater Harmony and alignment with the natural world so underneath that like big umbrella I do, a variety of things like a podcast that I have called our nature workshops retreats.
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I'll different offerings to bring people invite people to reconnect with nature.
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Phillips I thought that was really well set and beautifully articulated and I'm interested from your perspective you know what does it mean to be in Greater alignment with the natural world what does that mean to you and why is that why is that important hmm I think I'm still exploring that.
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Hence my my description at the moment that I'm exploring but, I do think you know I'm looking outside right now and I'm watching the sun is coming up over I live in a canyon in LA in the sun's coming up over the canyon and I think it means.
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Tuning ourself into the rhythms of the Earth that we are a part of at least that's a great way to start whether that means The rhythms of the day and the night the cycles of the moon or the cycles of the seasons.
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It sort of means being.
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Intentional about and I mean I don't think this needed to be intentional many years ago but given the way that we live and, our modern society I think now it does need to be intentional so being intentional about connecting into the changes in nature because nature is dynamic and always changing and so how do we.
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Constantly connect in with the that, that shifting and then attune ourselves to the shifting that happens within us because of it so I would say that's that's sort of the way I.
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Think of it at this moment one of the.
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Major influences in my life has been ayurveda and I've studied it.
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In a very odd way and a very different way than many people might for about 10 years my first entry point into it was through cooking and I didn't know how to cook actually when I about 10 years ago I just I mean I know how to make a sandwich but I didn't really know how to hold a knife and how to put ingredients together and how to measure things and how to think about a dish and I learned from one of my teachers Divya alter who is now, I'd like to say a force in the ayurvedic world's and she taught me how to cook and so not only did I learn how to cook but I learned how to, understand and tune in to my body, and it shifts and then tune in to like what I was putting into it which is coming from nature and it shifts so it was a great, sort of window into the world of ayurveda which is all about balancing yourself, and rebalancing so that you can maintain Optimal Health depending upon what, the shifts are outside of you so that's a long way of saying that's that's sort of the way that I perceive of it but I'm still learning to.
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Yeah I love that and I love ayurvedic and I think one reason I think that it's really it's been a really beneficial practice for me over the year it is that it is dynamic right it's that like we're not necessarily like identifying with this like one thing it's that like we have some landmarks for knowing how to perceive when we're out of balance and therefore what is corrective or what is healing and.
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And I think something that you're touching on is that like alignment is something that is dynamic it's not like a fixed thing.
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It's not even a problem that we solve necessarily it's something that we pay attention to and like.
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Live into those are some of the things that I'm hearing does that feel true yeah that's totally true and the fact that it's different for everyone I mean there are cycles that we should ideally all turned towards you know I think the circadian rhythms, is one of those and I know that's like a kind of controversial or very interesting topic to get into because some people say well I'm not a morning person you know I'm a night owl and all of these things but.
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Even with that and again I don't know exactly where I'm at out but I do believe that we have evolved to wake up with the Sun go to bed when the Sun goes down I think we can condition ourselves the body's very adaptive so we can condition ourselves out of that but that's a cycle that I think.
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Ideally should be.
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You know aligned for everyone or sort of adjusted because I do think it promotes a lot of optimal functions within the body that are really supportive of our health but aside from that the idea of like balance in quotes is so different for everyone and so I think that also is something that's fascinating but it's also probably overwhelming for a lot of people myself included because we all want a road map especially when where learning something new or this is unfamiliar to us so the idea of saying someone well.
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You know in ayurveda what we always talk about is like.
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You don't really need to learn ayurveda you just learn how to connect with your body and it will show you and I think.
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Rightly so though that is so foreign to so many people that idea of connecting in and and a tuning ourselves and knowing intuitively what to do and so I understand why we all look for a roadmap and, but really that's about a lot of my work is about helping people reconnect with nature as a mirror, back to themselves to find out what their truth is and it's so different for everyone and that's what I think is really exciting.
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Yeah and I think things that used to be intuitive perhaps or like not as intuitive anymore because we haven't I mean I think I may be the last generation that remembers not having Internet, which is crazy I'm though yeah having and I'm watching sort of the Jen's ears go through all of these things like completely glued to a phone and they're having a very different experience their intuition they're sort of biome of information and right decision making is connected to something completely different, and I think there's probably pros and cons to both I'm not here to like slam one or the other but it's very different and so I think what may be felt intuitive in the past as far as like perceiving our environment noticing our own somatic awareness and like making decisions based on that is maybe now something that we have to, learn I think and it sounds like that's what you're spending a lot of time like helping people with and guiding people towards maybe remembering some of these tools for.
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What that even looks like exactly I mean you took I call it a great remembering because we're not.
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All of this it yes it feels like we're learning something new but really we're just uncovering what was already there.
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For sure I love remembering and I love I get obsessed with like breaking apart words with parentheses and dashes and I was like read Ash member like the members back together and that is my one grammar nerd thing that I throw into this episode I'm interested in that you know if we're working towards our kind of guiding people towards a journey where they can align more with nature and find.
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The home and remember an intuitive sensibility that comes from that relationship do you think that Nature's proposition for what well-being is differs from are more kind of contemporary popular version of well-being perhaps.
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It does like in what ways would you think that hmm.
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Yeah that's such an interesting question so do you mean like.
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Does what nature can see use of in terms of well-being is that different from.
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GRE like societal version I think so yeah okay yes I would say yes the word that came to mind.
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First is the idea of belonging and.
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I think in our modern society we.
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Well being feels very.
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Singular and maybe singular is not the word it feels very prescriptive and it has it has to take one form and it's a form that's.
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Sort of decided by like.
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And mass by like the culture whereas in nature what nature teaches us about well-being, and again I'm going to take it back a little bit Tire Vita is like it's so different for every person and.
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Every person.
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Has a place and a belonging to it and therefore.
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I feel like that's the opposite of what we are told.
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In in our culture.
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So that's just a baseline in terms of like what it means to be well I feel like we're.
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We're very we're given like what that looks like and we're told it looks this way or that way but that's not the case in nature because there's belonging for everyone, and everything so that's just like one you know huge point but I think other than that.
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And you touched on it a bit earlier.
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Health and well-being are not static entities you don't achieve health and then you're like okay.
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I got health I'm good things happen just like the Cycles you know as soon as you have a summer in your life there might be a winter in your life and I talked about that like not necessarily.
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Physical summer but like an inner summer and then and there might be an inner winter and need then maybe you want to.
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Rebalance so you can get back to Summer it's always changing and always shifting.
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And I think that in itself that Paradigm is super.
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What's the word.
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It's almost like it goes against it's not a very like capitalist friendly.
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Perspective because people want to have something fixed they want their problem fixed and they want it now they want it done they want to now and they want it to be over with and they want to move on and maybe like go back to the way they used to be or whatever so the idea of saying someone well you know what when you can achieve well-being, two it's not static, 3 it's different for everyone so we can't tell you what it is or what isn't for you I mean how can you mark it to someone like that it's so that's that doesn't create a good that's not like a good selling platform so I think with all of those that's why.
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It's just not a paradigm that does well in our like very capitalist Society.
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Yeah you're touching on so many different things and this came up in an episode that we released in December but just talking about how you know healing requires us to change and we often we just don't want to change right we want a pill or whatever and the way that we're so comfortable just making these like very generalized like help statement that like everybody responds like but everyone is so different like we can't make General statements about everyone's body and everyone's needs and.
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Everyone's reactions to things and this idea to like this winter and summer that you know winter is not a problem winter is not a problem it winter is just a season and it's something that we act differently to we dress differently for it we are body wants to do different things we eat different things ideally as well and it's not a problem to be fixed like winter is just a season and.
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I think you're touching on so many things here that it isn't something that we accomplished or are by necessarily but and it's something that can't happen without us like we can't like heal without our active participation, which I think is something that's touching on like a cultural thing as well at least in America.
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Totally yeah I completely agree it reminds me of I don't know if you've read the book wintering.
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Hi Kathryn my list for this this winter it's literally sitting in the cart right now well I've been reading it and, it just really set off like a light bulb in me and and because she talks about the very thing that you mentioned like, societally we do not know how to handle a wintering and by wintering she means like.
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You know not only the coldness we resist the like physical winter you know we always have people are like oh you know what's happening this is horrible instead of kind of.
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Turning towards it with like Grace which is hard to do believe me I was someone who liked, did not like the physical winter but I've actually learned to soften to it and it's been such like an interesting internal process but aside from the physical resistance or the resistance to like the actual winter as a season she talks about this idea of like wintering as.
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A season in our lives where we go through a really hard time whether it's, loss of a family member or someone we loved or the loss of a job or the loss of our Identity or an illness a physical illness or just some type of.
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Darkness like a darkening and a in during those periods of time.
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A lot of times many people feel very isolated and alone.
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Because we live in a culture that teaches us that there's something very very wrong if we're going through a wintering period, and I know I felt this personally with my own Journey I've had oh my Lord I've had so many Winters in my life I just let her retreat.
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Last week, last weekend and we winter was the theme like we do these one day seasonal Retreats and I talked about my one of my own wintering experiences and.
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You know that feeling of feeling like well what is wrong with me like what have I done or what am I being punished for or why did this happen to me a very much like a victim mentality, and what she says in the book that I find so powerful and also empowering is that what exactly what you said it's just another season.
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And we can't have the summer without the winter and wintering.
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When you soften to it instead of hard and becomes the Catalyst for your own transformation and that's where you can you know it's like the bear that comes out of hibernation.
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And is kind of you know Springs to life and by the way the bear was not dead during render there was just kind of you know turning inwards and resting and sometimes we need that too and it just was such.
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Nice way to remind ourselves that these periods of time not only are ordinary.
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And acceptable but they're necessary for.
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Any kind of emergence and are on our personal Evolution and transformation and they in some ways like.
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There's something so beautiful and something to be honored in that experience and she kind of says in the book that she sometimes, she's like looking for.
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She says this more beautifully than I that then I will share it but she's looking for she like wants a harsh winter she's like ready for it because she knows that it can become that, that springboard for something new to come out so.
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That's just been really sitting with me especially as we are in the.
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Winter season at least in the northern hemisphere yeah I was thinking as you were talking that.
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We had when we lived lives that were just more directly dependent on what the land and the weather was doing winter is something that you spent all year preparing for.
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Like you knew it was coming you know it's not like a surprise you know is coming and so all year was spent in preparation of knowing that it's coming and how do we make that something that's possible and survivable and I think there is something cultural that.
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If you're not if you're not making something if you're not generating things if you're not being out in the world if you're not being visible if you're not pushing out if you're not making more money than you did last year that there's a probably you for not being like happy, you know actively happier feeling like you know this is my best day yet there's like there's a problem and there's not this that we're not we don't live linear, life's really or we can try but that's working against something a greater thing that's happening I think there's so much shame that we.
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We sort of we don't like ever maybe really directly but the culture kind of is like, yeah it's all geared towards hey this thing is going to make you better happier you have to be happy or something's extremely wrong and I remember I've gone through periods where I've had, really harsh Winters inside and one of them started, I can't I feel like I've rapidly evolved over you know over the past.
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Ten plus years and I say evolved just like internally because of all of these like Winters that I have the universe has sent me but one of the first I went through was I was in Boston I had just graduated from college it was 2009, you're like yes I never remember that I think everyone remembers the economy was and we are in a recession no one had a job I didn't have a job I had like a 12 dollar internship after this like you know really expensive school and I was suffering from like a really horrible health issue and I was having a lot of trouble with my digestion and no doctor could tell me what was going on and I just felt really really really defeated and I remember my dad was like I think you should go on antidepressants.
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And I looked at him and I said Dad I'm not depressed I'm sad I said I'm just sad and he.
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He kind of looked at me and he just like nodded but I remember it was almost like.
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In that moment I realized that like it wasn't okay.
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To just be sad sometimes and whenever you're sad people were like oh that means you're depressed and of course I was like sort of I maybe had the symptoms of depression.
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But it just almost like surprised me when I said it because I'm like wait.
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Yeah like I know the difference I've been depressed before too so I'm saying every time I'm I'm feeling that way I'm like I'm just sad I've definitely like been in a depressed cycle but at the time I was just sad I was going through a lot and I didn't want to be in Boston either and, and then things eventually changed and yeah I just, I felt happier because things had changed that needed to change but in that moment I just needed to be in that sadness and.
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Yeah and there's things that we find down there I think I've had similar experiences for sure I'm sure many of us have better listening to this as well.
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And I remember someone else suggesting antidepressants for a hard time that I would and I was I was having a very hard time and I was really sad and I was really end but when someone suggested that to me.
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I remember thinking the same thing was like I'm just sad like I know exactly what I'm sad about and it's just going to be until it's not and.
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So I relate a lot to what you're saying there and it definitely it did just catalyze some things and increase my capacity for a lot of life in general and.
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I don't know that I would go back and change it now.
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As we're sort of bridging this gap between like alignments and balance and ayurveda which is a conversation I'm totally here for like think about I feel like something that I really learned from ayurvedic that's helped me some is just this idea of digestion and general and like really learning how to pay attention to that and learning my own patterns not to say that I don't do the bad pattern sometimes and then mess up a whole bunch of things but now at least I know how to make a big pot of Kittery and start over which is what I've got to do and.
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Yeah I think I'm interested in your some of your perspectives and alignments on what you've learned about digestion from it being something that you've had to work on and heal around in your own life and.
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Yeah I think what you've learned from that and with that it's such a.
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The universe really spoke through you on this one because it's admittedly for me still an ongoing experience and.
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I I actually am glad you asked that this is not something I have talked about very much lately on my podcast but I'm still going through my own, healing Journey with digestion and it's funny because whenever we're given something physically.
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I think we can I like to see it symbolically I often do because.
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The Bots you know the body includes our emotions and.
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You know our thoughts then become emotions and Phi and and the root of all this is energy and they find places in our body and if that energy can't be expressed.
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You know to makes a home somewhere in our system and often that like tension or that unexpressed feeling can create, a blockage over time and that's where we begin to develop this the seeds of an illness and.
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So for me I also live with a somatic healer so like this is what we talk about all the time I do need to say that so.
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You know he'd much he'd be a he be able to articulate that much better about like the energetic root of everything but I that's what I believed in what I've experienced to be true and so for me.
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The the weakest system in my body is my digestion and.
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I love that you mentioned ayurveda because there are so many things that you can do in ayurveda to help your digestion from.
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Just eating the right things a lot of people who struggle with digestion actually have like what we call an ayurveda aloe digestive fire and what that means is that, imagine that, you know you have a lot of acid in your stomach and that is what is necessary to break down food and having sort of a strong.
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Energetic.
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The best way I can describe it is kind of like this fire inside that area.
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Helps break down the food and move it through your body now yes you have a lot of acid in your stomach to digest your food but actually having a weak digestive fire usually means that you have low.
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Stomach acid you don't have enough so it's like this interesting thing so I like to sort of think about it in that way but.
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Anyways that's like a very technical part of it but.
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A lot of us just by the way that we live a lot of times not in alignment with the natural world or the way that we eat at sort of, weird times or we eat in balancing Foods.
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Creates and lowers that digestive fire and then you know there's all sorts of things that can happen systematically with that, you know it becomes kind of like a Cascade usually and that's not the only cause of digestive issues is a low-dose to fire but I think in a lot of people that's actually what's happening.
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And it's no one's fault this is like kind of power culture culture creates a lot of the things that when we follow that pattern.
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It breeds you know challenges for us so there's all sorts of stuff that can happy you know and I could get into like how we're not eating for a microbiome and all that.
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Let's just say that's one aspect of digestion but I think the other aspect is is more where the energetic.
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Comes in and that's for me what's been so interesting because for me the way that I carry my tension is in my stomach.
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And so I've been really working on an interest in ER sort of Journey around.
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Understanding what it is in my past or in my life that I have trouble digesting, and that because I do believe for some of us not all of us but I could eat, all of the food and I have done this all of the foods that I'm supposed to eat and I are fated that will be good for my digestion that will be optimal and they will help, for sure but for some people and this is like my path until I.
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Dig into that root cause for me which is like about.
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Why I'm holding so much tension and what what in my past or what a my life that I have trouble digesting I won't heal my digestion.
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So for me I think that's actually something important to mention because.
00:34:06.145 --> 00:34:21.030
Again not for everyone but some of us who have some chronic illness may be doing all of the things that were told we should be doing you know like eating the right foods and doing this and doing that.
00:34:21.297 --> 00:34:25.621
And actually sometimes it's not about doing all those things it's about.
00:34:26.266 --> 00:34:35.532
Sort of turning Inward and and really getting to like what's what is my body really trying to tell me right now.
00:34:35.898 --> 00:34:42.833
And that's why I like to use symbolism and so that's the journey that I've been on and.
00:34:43.514 --> 00:34:49.170
I do know there have been times where I felt really just.
00:34:50.905 --> 00:35:04.088
Relaxed and at peace and digestion you need you know it's rest and digest that's the system that we tap into so, when I feel that way I could eat I can eat whatever and I'm like.
00:35:04.418 --> 00:35:18.670
Working well you know my whole body is just like digesting but it can be the opposite when I'm in a state of like tension and stress where I could be eating all of the things that are technically balancing and supportive.
00:35:18.911 --> 00:35:31.193
In that moment but still have digestive issues so it's just sort of an interesting path that I've been on and I really do believe that when I can.
00:35:32.081 --> 00:35:40.032
Work through you know my own patterns around certain things that I haven't been able to digest in my life.
00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:49.827
That part of me will just heal and the body wants to so it's a it's just asking I think me to be to me to acknowledge it.
00:35:50.347 --> 00:35:54.635
And that's what I'm I'm working on yeah.
00:35:54.956 --> 00:36:16.601
You know it's coming like a somatic perspective and thinking about like the nervous system and thinking you know like trauma is stressed that we haven't digested right at the stress they get stuck you know and so it's like thinking of digestion and all these multiple ways whether it's like stimuli or information or data or food like we're and now we're just taking in so much and I'm.
00:36:16.931 --> 00:36:26.889
Also someone who will tends towards slow-digesting fire to stay out of like the technical lingo and.
00:36:27.778 --> 00:36:41.554
Yeah it's something that really makes me have to like slow down and remember and I think some of what you're talking about would like aligning with nature part of that is also like learning to be in alignment with like our body like I think so many people and myself.
00:36:42.065 --> 00:37:03.943
Included until I learned like oh this makes me feel like shit and leads to at least have a Cascade of problems and like yes yes the Cascade you know do actively doing things that don't feel good, and they have no idea it doesn't feel good and like in real and I think that is something that I noticed a lot.
00:37:04.282 --> 00:37:17.293
And just kind of missing out on that like cause and effect and like the invitation of healing is like a learning like we're here to learn and healing is a huge multi-dimensional process learning about our body learning about.
00:37:18.110 --> 00:37:21.309
Being a soul in a body and all of these other.
00:37:21.603 --> 00:37:30.148
Different capacities and how that plant how that's playing out yeah yeah it's it's a.
00:37:30.507 --> 00:37:40.898
It's a it's a powerful Journey for me my health is very karmic I believe it's always been the system or the thing in my life that.
00:37:41.371 --> 00:37:46.659
Is most easily thrown off even though you know.
00:37:47.664 --> 00:37:54.545
And my friends could confirm this like I don't really do a lot to throw it off you know like I'm not.
00:37:55.262 --> 00:38:09.525
Yeah I'm just but it but it does and I believe the reason why it does is because it is there for me to teach me so many things and it has but I think we all have.
00:38:10.088 --> 00:38:21.255
Things or the thing whether it's like money or relationships or family I mean I think I have multiple things but definitely my health is one of those things that.
00:38:21.873 --> 00:38:28.583
Is just proportionately challenging or disproportionately challenging.
00:38:29.534 --> 00:38:36.927
Based on just like my lifestyle which is pretty supportive in a way so I've.
00:38:37.438 --> 00:38:44.804
I've really worked on like not letting that trigger a victim.
00:38:45.405 --> 00:38:54.922
You know experience in me and and really just seeing it sort of as a blessing and a gift because.
00:38:55.235 --> 00:39:03.322
My body is talking to me and it's it's there for me like there are so many lessons.
00:39:03.824 --> 00:39:12.532
In what it's saying and so that I've just been really working on this idea of like.
00:39:15.617 --> 00:39:25.630
Um I think something that and I was just talking about this with someone else a few people but the thing that's been coming up again and again is like.
00:39:26.563 --> 00:39:34.885
For myself dealing with my health issues I don't even want to call problems I was about to say problems but.
00:39:35.385 --> 00:39:50.619
How do I like what am I holding onto in terms of, being sick and what am I able to let go of so I think when we feel well we become attached to that identity of being well.
00:39:51.094 --> 00:40:09.327
And then when an illness comes were like, kind of like we were talking about it everything is the the health is dynamic but as soon as something comes it's so triggering for our ego and we're like, this is not okay I'm healthy you know my identity is I'm healthy so this can't be happening.
00:40:09.568 --> 00:40:14.369
But then the opposite can happen which is something that's happened to me because I've dealt with.
00:40:14.789 --> 00:40:24.163
Health issues for at least ten plus years now in some form or another that I feel like I've I'm working on you know.
00:40:25.735 --> 00:40:29.114
Detaching my identity from being sick.
00:40:29.543 --> 00:40:41.275
And like can I let that go you know can I let that go and it doesn't mean you know ignoring my symptoms but what it means is not attaching an additional story.
00:40:41.670 --> 00:40:42.726
Two.
00:40:44.594 --> 00:41:19.094
What's in what's presented in front of me so yes I have digestive issues but how can I not then make it more than, okay I'm working with my digestion I'm healing instead of I'm sick, I have chronic issues I'm chronically ill and I think that that can be a really limiting experience when that becomes something that constantly you're talking to yourself and also like sharing that with others I hope that makes sense of what I'm saying.
00:41:20.045 --> 00:41:29.204
Yeah I think you know what you're talking about like without adding an additional layer of story yeah you know and teaching people systematically.
00:41:29.742 --> 00:41:40.789
That's sometimes like one of the four like it's hard because I mean we have different you know I also like I'm an astrology practitioner where we're very much getting into story right but when we're coming into things with like the body it's more like.
00:41:41.373 --> 00:41:47.856
Can we learn to just feel what's happening yeah I feel this yes feels warm this is happening and it's without.
00:41:48.512 --> 00:42:41.789
Making a story out of it and just let our body to be in relationship with our body which is something that as we get more technologically inclined as we get more, kind of personal identity inclined like everyone's just so individual identity Avatar and how we go about the world, these days that that is I think a skill that's that I think it will need more practice with I think, totally and I also want to say that you know I by no means Master this and working I'm working through this and but and I think, many of us if if you're listening and you're in the midst of you know some chronic physical symptoms or even even chronic mental, whether it's like depression anxiety or any kind of mental illness.
00:42:42.695 --> 00:43:01.882
It's natural to feel kind of like a victim you know kind of like why is this happening to me because it's horrible it's so challenging and I think I'm not I'm not dismissing that experience I think we all have to go through that experience I needed to be in that experience for years.
00:43:02.257 --> 00:43:07.509
Because I needed to like grieve what was.
00:43:07.739 --> 00:43:39.197
You know the loss of my health for a period of time but I think what's happening now is like a new a new Evolution for me in this which is yeah saying okay, how can I bring more neutrality bring more of a neutral perspective to what's going on and how will that shedding of this identity around being sick, really helped me be well and I think that's where I'm I'm exploring right now yeah.
00:43:39.590 --> 00:43:53.519
I think something that I'm interested in is that this Evolution that you're talking about where we sort of we learn things and we realize things and we become different people in response to the things that have like hurt us or.
00:43:53.804 --> 00:44:00.056
Created challenges or illness Etc and I think there's a way that we can.
00:44:00.871 --> 00:45:13.811
You know the world is not made for winter the world meaning like late capitalist Western contemporary society that is trying to dominate the world, but I think I'm interested in is like what if we stepped more into a place of like but what steps can I take to make the world so that it could serve someone like me or that I could be a person who and I think the creative prompt around that is something that I'm really interested in it's like well yeah there's no business that you participate in or that if you've created a business yourself but doesn't allow you to take care of your health and that's what is that right so how do we start to create things that can contain winter that can contain seasons of illness that can contain Challenge and I think that is a creative prompt Just For Life in general that I'm kind of interested in and it's radical oh for sure it's I mean I take and challenging and challenging yeah and I take two months I mean a small example is I take I mean sometimes I have taken almost six months I think unintentionally off from C's in between seasons of my podcast and like.
00:45:14.132 --> 00:46:01.784
That I mean you're not supposed to quote unquote do that but I do it because I need a break that's okay and I'm just sort of like all right if people can't, remember me enough after a couple months then like it's okay then maybe it's not for them and I, and you know I know I've seen the way you do your business too and like, I know this is something that you think about as well for yourself and we've talked about it before and it can also be hard as like a solo entrepreneur so I'll say that like we only are one person and like we don't have we do tons of capital to like play with and hire people so you know you have to work within the parameters that you have but.
00:46:02.168 --> 00:46:13.117
It can be the small things and it's something that I've been really working on because yeah we deserve to have periods where we slow down and rest and.
00:46:13.376 --> 00:46:16.413
Give space to.
00:46:17.336 --> 00:46:25.820
Just living being in the moment hopefully every day we do that but it's not easy.
00:46:26.817 --> 00:46:30.213
Yeah and I think it has to start on that sort of micro.
00:46:30.489 --> 00:46:40.746
Level or it's never going to happen because even you just taking those two months off it gives permission to someone else to not do something for two months it starts to.
00:46:41.210 --> 00:46:53.123
I guess trigger at the winter hashtag in the energy world to be like oh winter is allowed winter is okay you're not dying you're not dead you're just shedding leaves like so.
00:46:53.418 --> 00:47:26.864
So I love that and I guess circling back to what I was about to ask you before I remembered myself was I was reading a post that you wrote about taste when it comes to digestion and I love this because I think it's coming it brings in the senses and also brings in how we relate to again pleasure and like what feels good and reorienting towards that end and sometimes we have to sort a little bit to get to what actually feels good as opposed to what we think feels good and that's probably a whole podcast in and of itself.
00:47:27.365 --> 00:47:55.780
And you were talking about you know how your teacher was telling you that it sort of doesn't matter if it's like super healthy and you're doing all the right things if it doesn't taste good then like how nourishing is it and I think I'm interested in that lesson from your perspective and sharing a little bit about that yeah that I mean that came from when I was, in a really tough place with my physical health in my digestion and.
00:47:56.307 --> 00:47:59.840
Yeah this is pretty this was pretty.
00:48:01.016 --> 00:48:11.867
This reframe was pretty life-changing for me and I actually got a few responses from people who read it and it was really powerful for them too.
00:48:12.143 --> 00:48:48.992
And it's basically about this idea of you know again thinking about that the, the do out you know not Duality but the difference between like well being in nature versus well-being in our capitalist Society so I had gotten to a place at that moment, and this is what the different ayurvedic, teacher of mine but I was really struggling with my digestion I was told you know you can't eat this you can't eat that you can't eat this you can't eat that so I was like okay I can't eat all of these things I felt so restricted.
00:48:49.222 --> 00:48:52.682
And I felt like I could only eat such a limited and narrow.
00:48:53.148 --> 00:48:59.335
Quantity and such a limited narrow like.
00:48:59.782 --> 00:49:08.059
Group of items and things that I lost my enjoyment of eating.
00:49:08.596 --> 00:49:50.496
To be totally honest and I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that this is so sad because I love to eat so much of that just makes my heart to be like oh my God me too yeah I mean this is I literally wake up thinking when am I going to eat today or this and that but when you're dealing with especially digestive issues and I know people listening can relate because a lot of people have them and you can't eat certain things it's it's sad and I had gotten to the place where I was like I just am not, enjoying anything and this gets back to what I was talking about how digestion is a somatic experience my teacher was like Alyssa if you're not.
00:49:50.853 --> 00:49:59.164
You don't like what you're eating and you don't feel good about it you're not going to digest it and so again it's like it's not.
00:49:59.576 --> 00:50:17.206
We can't think about digestion or any process in the body just as okay what's physically happy know this physical thing and this physical thing in this physical thing I mean I would argue some, you know energy is a physical process in you know in in a certain form but but.
00:50:17.824 --> 00:50:26.199
Yeah it's really like how are we you know what are the thoughts that are happening as we.
00:50:26.465 --> 00:50:38.423
Experience the process of eating or as we, you know experience any kind of process that we're doing because those are really powerful and they play a huge role in.
00:50:38.771 --> 00:50:44.509
How that affects you know multiple systems in our body including you know mine was digestion.
00:50:44.813 --> 00:50:49.469
And what's so interesting is like all of this is I think.
00:50:49.827 --> 00:51:01.226
Pedo it's such a paradigm shift and it's one that my partner David again who's a somatic healer has really brought into my life around this idea that.
00:51:01.610 --> 00:51:06.798
So much of what we experience physically has a somatic route.
00:51:07.155 --> 00:51:29.467
And if we can really explore that you know the body keeps score it's like that book I haven't read it because, most of afraid not afraid to but it's just I I store a lot of tension and things in my body and I know that, it really affects the you know it's been the root of a lot of my health Journey so.
00:51:30.175 --> 00:51:37.460
I think basically that experience with my teacher she was really inviting me to.
00:51:38.726 --> 00:51:48.001
Bring more joy in the process back into my experience because when you bring that.
00:51:48.351 --> 00:51:58.012
The body you know it's ready to digest in that moment when it feels relaxed and joyful and excited about what is eating and.
00:51:58.414 --> 00:52:06.780
What you're eating and everything like that and so I just really appreciate that lesson and.
00:52:07.128 --> 00:52:15.440
I think it's important for everyone especially if you're working with some type of restricted diet.
00:52:15.735 --> 00:52:20.311
And again it's not like throw the tide out the window but like how can you.
00:52:20.632 --> 00:53:01.731
Joy what you're eating even if it is restricted something that I remember thinking around it's bringing up a lot of things but one of the ayurveda things and I was learning about just for my particular Tendencies and with my body it was like well are you eating why you're anxious yeah are you eating was like oh yeah I'm always eating in a hurry and my car on the way to an ex-client you know which is a very vodka thing just like I'm on the Go Guys I'm like I'm the wind give me some food I'm on the go and so so that makes sense it's also really I do want to get into a whole thing about it but it's coming up that we're not a machine like we're not a transaction we have this way that we like oh I just put calories in and then calories go out and like we have this very transactional way that we think about.
00:53:01.782 --> 00:53:52.918
Pretty much everything but also like our food and like you're not like a cal machine you're an ecosystem and it's not about like you put certain things in and then certain things come out it's like no are you like fertilizing the soil are you giving yourself are you literally eating Joy or are you eating something that's nourishing are you eating the way that we've totally like somehow like demonized carbohydrates in the world which is mind-blowing to me but like that's a thing and then learning for me I've always been I just feel like I need potatoes and then like we're in for my for what my body tends like yes I need like these heavy like grounding earthy foods and just like again it comes back into leaning into that taste or that Joy with your experience and letting your body sort of tell you what it's meeting and I think that's a really important lesson yeah again it's all coming from this like somatic.
00:53:53.329 --> 00:54:12.065
Place for many of us I digest better when I'm feeling joyful and happy and relaxed I would say all of us do and so you know whether you're dealing with illness or anything that you want to change coming from like a place of wanting to give to yourself and bring more Health in the way that you conceive of it.
00:54:12.342 --> 00:54:39.280
How can you just keep that in mind yeah but joy is an essential ingredient exactly it's part of the recipe yeah no that makes sense as we start to wrap up I would like to make spaces there anything that you feel like I didn't make room for that you would like to say or anything that's on your heart to share with the listeners before, wrap up the only thing I would like to say.
00:54:39.762 --> 00:54:44.663
Is that returning to nature this idea of like.
00:54:45.335 --> 00:54:51.882
Reconnecting is not an easy process and.
00:54:53.545 --> 00:54:59.804
I find that for a lot of people there's resistance.
00:55:00.378 --> 00:55:08.672
And whether you're conscious of the resistance or not it doesn't really matter but it will be there for a lot of people.
00:55:08.947 --> 00:55:26.108
And I just want to normalize that aspect and it's something that I'm going to talk more and more about in my work, in the next I mean forever but probably but it's just something that I haven't I've touched on a little bit but you know.
00:55:26.340 --> 00:55:42.925
I feel resistant every single time I connect with nature I don't know if everyone does maybe some people really don't I do, and I think a lot of people do again whether they're whether they're conscious of it or not and that's so normal.
00:55:43.291 --> 00:55:59.210
Because for a number of reasons one because nature for many of us still unfamiliar, I mean I'm I'm in it everyday but I'm still learning and uncovering and I will be for the rest of my life but.
00:55:59.550 --> 00:56:02.063
The other thing is it.
00:56:02.818 --> 00:56:10.228
Doesn't let us numb out or hide in the way that many of the other.
00:56:10.757 --> 00:56:18.123
Interactions we have in our like modern cotton good Tech based society do and.
00:56:18.797 --> 00:56:25.505
That there can be a lot of resistance to that because for me I know every time I step outside and every time I go for a walk.
00:56:25.746 --> 00:56:35.760
I'm going to be more connected to my current experience to my feelings to my body to maybe some difficult emotions or difficult.
00:56:36.081 --> 00:56:40.827
And challenging somatic experiences.
00:56:41.193 --> 00:56:50.001
And we're not given the tools to turn towards them with Grace and and.
00:56:50.521 --> 00:57:06.260
Softness and I think that's, normal but I just wanted to mention that because I think sometimes it can be so easy to romanticize like returning to nature it's like oh you know and.
00:57:07.472 --> 00:57:30.449
It is a magical and beautiful process but I also think there's resistance there for a lot of people and for me included, thanks for sharing that and for like sharing your story and your experience do you mind sharing with us where we can find out more about your podcast stay in touch with what you're doing and all the things that you're doing in the world if you have anything.
00:57:30.679 --> 00:57:36.318
Coming up sure thing won't my podcast is called our nature oh you are.
00:57:36.557 --> 00:57:54.295
Nature and you can find it on all the podcasts platforms if you would like to follow me on Instagram it's at our nature always, and my website is our nature podcast.com.
00:57:55.030 --> 00:58:00.164
Depending on when this comes out I will be.
00:58:00.458 --> 00:58:17.961
I will be offering a course that I call home coming in the spring, so on the west coast so that feels really exciting it's a retreat afford a retreat and a six week course and its really it's like.
00:58:18.751 --> 00:58:35.858
It's really like my I consider it like my greatest offering it's really helping to guide people back to their inner nature, connecting with the nature around them and reconnecting with their intuition and.
00:58:36.170 --> 00:58:39.181
That to me is the most.
00:58:40.204 --> 00:59:07.528
One of the most important practices that we can do in our entire life I mean I feel like this whole podcast episode is really about, connecting with your intuition and your truth like there's no one way it's your way, that's what's coming up I mean I have a bunch of other stuff but you can follow our nature always and And subscribe to my newsletter and I'll be sharing stuff in the new year but.
00:59:08.210 --> 00:59:21.500
Thank you so much no thank you so much and I'll have all of that for the links in below in the show notes that people can find out more and thank you so much for being here it's been really fun thank you it was so so wonderful to talk to you I feel like we.
00:59:21.920 --> 00:59:28.621
Have talked for hours thank you so much for listening.
00:59:29.023 --> 00:59:35.570
If you enjoyed the episode please leave us a 5-star review subscribe to the show and share the episode.
00:59:35.873 --> 01:00:02.344
Check out the links below to learn more about things we talked about and find free resources, if you'd like to continue the conversation please join us inside of the home body portal, a free online community where you can talk more about the episode learn with us and connect with others let us be in service to life with courage creativity and connection, thank you for being here be well peace.
01:00:02.639 --> 01:00:32.001
Music.
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Music.
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My name is Mary Grace and you're listening to the homebody podcast.
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Here we explore embodiment as Interstellar beings practicing how to live more fully as creatures of both the stars and the Earth.
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These spiritually and artfully minded conversations intersect astrology creative practices intuition magic healing, poetry and a deep love for the natural world my hope is to enliven you so we can co-create possible regenerative Futures to encourage you so together we can become Dynamic agents of beauty, fully awake with our power intact let us be intentional as we approach the creation and caretaking of life and let's make room for inquiry sensitivity and joy.
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Thank you for listening.
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Music.
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Hello everyone and welcome on this week's episode of the podcast Alyssa Benjamin joined me for a soft and thoughtful conversation about, aligning with nature what that means to her and her work what about when we feel resistant to that idea, and how aligning with our bodies is also an act of re-aligning with nature.
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Before we jump in if you're looking for the Astro forecast you can go back and listen to last week's episode you can also tune in next week for what you can expect for the second half of January if you'd like more from the homebody podcast I send out a very thoughtful beautiful curated email each week and you can sign up for that below if you're interested in being more in the loop of what we have going on around here.
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Back to our guests a list of Benjamin is a writer intuitive coach Back To Nature guide in the founder of our nature Studio which explores the methods systems and practices that bring us into Harmony and alignment with the natural world on behalf of our nature she host workshops and Retreats and courses and a podcast called our nature where she speaks with experts from a variety of fields about how reconnecting to the natural world around us also helps us to the nature that is within us and in this episode we talk about the idea of wintering how our culture approaches winter and winter seasons as a problem and how we can begin to relate to them differently or turn towards them with Grace as Alyssa says and we talked a lot about digestion in this episode in different ways of relating to digestion healing around digestion difficulties and how Alyssa is relates to her own healing Journey around that connecting with joy around our food and what we take in in general and how Joy is an essential ingredient and how Nature's definition May differ from our more contemporary societal view of what well-being is and nature may have its own idea of well-being that we can learn from and maybe integrate more into our lives and so much more I'm really happy to share this episode with you be sure to check out the links below for more about our guests and any of the resources we talked about in the show and enjoy this conversation with Alyssa Benjamin.
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Music.
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So I like to kick off episodes by letting people introduce themselves I will have already read your bio intro and the episode introduction but I'd love to hear, just from your perspective like who you are today and what you feel kind of coming forward or at the top of the way for you as you show up would you mind kicking us off that way, no I'd be glad to and this is always such an interesting exercise because I feel like every time someone asks me that it changes which I guess is, how he are always always changing and evolving our identities so at this particular moment my name is Alyssa I am a Back to Nature guide a, intuitive coach a writer and.
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A strategist and I help guide People Back To Nature and back to themselves in the process I found it a company called our nature studio and.
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It explores the method systems and practices that bring us into greater Harmony and alignment with the natural world so underneath that like big umbrella I do, a variety of things like a podcast that I have called our nature workshops retreats.
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I'll different offerings to bring people invite people to reconnect with nature.
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Phillips I thought that was really well set and beautifully articulated and I'm interested from your perspective you know what does it mean to be in Greater alignment with the natural world what does that mean to you and why is that why is that important hmm I think I'm still exploring that.
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Hence my my description at the moment that I'm exploring but, I do think you know I'm looking outside right now and I'm watching the sun is coming up over I live in a canyon in LA in the sun's coming up over the canyon and I think it means.
00:05:44.752 --> 00:06:07.711
Tuning ourself into the rhythms of the Earth that we are a part of at least that's a great way to start whether that means The rhythms of the day and the night the cycles of the moon or the cycles of the seasons.
00:06:08.221 --> 00:06:11.348
It sort of means being.
00:06:13.201 --> 00:06:37.050
Intentional about and I mean I don't think this needed to be intentional many years ago but given the way that we live and, our modern society I think now it does need to be intentional so being intentional about connecting into the changes in nature because nature is dynamic and always changing and so how do we.
00:06:37.281 --> 00:06:52.975
Constantly connect in with the that, that shifting and then attune ourselves to the shifting that happens within us because of it so I would say that's that's sort of the way I.
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Think of it at this moment one of the.
00:07:00.057 --> 00:07:05.317
Major influences in my life has been ayurveda and I've studied it.
00:07:05.639 --> 00:08:24.555
In a very odd way and a very different way than many people might for about 10 years my first entry point into it was through cooking and I didn't know how to cook actually when I about 10 years ago I just I mean I know how to make a sandwich but I didn't really know how to hold a knife and how to put ingredients together and how to measure things and how to think about a dish and I learned from one of my teachers Divya alter who is now, I'd like to say a force in the ayurvedic world's and she taught me how to cook and so not only did I learn how to cook but I learned how to, understand and tune in to my body, and it shifts and then tune in to like what I was putting into it which is coming from nature and it shifts so it was a great, sort of window into the world of ayurveda which is all about balancing yourself, and rebalancing so that you can maintain Optimal Health depending upon what, the shifts are outside of you so that's a long way of saying that's that's sort of the way that I perceive of it but I'm still learning to.
00:08:25.372 --> 00:08:53.434
Yeah I love that and I love ayurvedic and I think one reason I think that it's really it's been a really beneficial practice for me over the year it is that it is dynamic right it's that like we're not necessarily like identifying with this like one thing it's that like we have some landmarks for knowing how to perceive when we're out of balance and therefore what is corrective or what is healing and.
00:08:53.729 --> 00:09:00.033
And I think something that you're touching on is that like alignment is something that is dynamic it's not like a fixed thing.
00:09:00.687 --> 00:09:06.028
It's not even a problem that we solve necessarily it's something that we pay attention to and like.
00:09:06.322 --> 00:09:36.187
Live into those are some of the things that I'm hearing does that feel true yeah that's totally true and the fact that it's different for everyone I mean there are cycles that we should ideally all turned towards you know I think the circadian rhythms, is one of those and I know that's like a kind of controversial or very interesting topic to get into because some people say well I'm not a morning person you know I'm a night owl and all of these things but.
00:09:36.499 --> 00:09:55.902
Even with that and again I don't know exactly where I'm at out but I do believe that we have evolved to wake up with the Sun go to bed when the Sun goes down I think we can condition ourselves the body's very adaptive so we can condition ourselves out of that but that's a cycle that I think.
00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:59.384
Ideally should be.
00:10:00.427 --> 00:10:38.211
You know aligned for everyone or sort of adjusted because I do think it promotes a lot of optimal functions within the body that are really supportive of our health but aside from that the idea of like balance in quotes is so different for everyone and so I think that also is something that's fascinating but it's also probably overwhelming for a lot of people myself included because we all want a road map especially when where learning something new or this is unfamiliar to us so the idea of saying someone well.
00:10:38.686 --> 00:10:42.524
You know in ayurveda what we always talk about is like.
00:10:42.926 --> 00:10:51.688
You don't really need to learn ayurveda you just learn how to connect with your body and it will show you and I think.
00:10:52.514 --> 00:11:24.700
Rightly so though that is so foreign to so many people that idea of connecting in and and a tuning ourselves and knowing intuitively what to do and so I understand why we all look for a roadmap and, but really that's about a lot of my work is about helping people reconnect with nature as a mirror, back to themselves to find out what their truth is and it's so different for everyone and that's what I think is really exciting.
00:11:25.389 --> 00:12:25.356
Yeah and I think things that used to be intuitive perhaps or like not as intuitive anymore because we haven't I mean I think I may be the last generation that remembers not having Internet, which is crazy I'm though yeah having and I'm watching sort of the Jen's ears go through all of these things like completely glued to a phone and they're having a very different experience their intuition they're sort of biome of information and right decision making is connected to something completely different, and I think there's probably pros and cons to both I'm not here to like slam one or the other but it's very different and so I think what may be felt intuitive in the past as far as like perceiving our environment noticing our own somatic awareness and like making decisions based on that is maybe now something that we have to, learn I think and it sounds like that's what you're spending a lot of time like helping people with and guiding people towards maybe remembering some of these tools for.
00:12:25.849 --> 00:12:34.071
What that even looks like exactly I mean you took I call it a great remembering because we're not.
00:12:34.456 --> 00:12:41.380
All of this it yes it feels like we're learning something new but really we're just uncovering what was already there.
00:12:42.017 --> 00:13:10.836
For sure I love remembering and I love I get obsessed with like breaking apart words with parentheses and dashes and I was like read Ash member like the members back together and that is my one grammar nerd thing that I throw into this episode I'm interested in that you know if we're working towards our kind of guiding people towards a journey where they can align more with nature and find.
00:13:11.149 --> 00:13:28.148
The home and remember an intuitive sensibility that comes from that relationship do you think that Nature's proposition for what well-being is differs from are more kind of contemporary popular version of well-being perhaps.
00:13:28.549 --> 00:13:33.827
It does like in what ways would you think that hmm.
00:13:35.193 --> 00:13:40.562
Yeah that's such an interesting question so do you mean like.
00:13:41.739 --> 00:13:47.899
Does what nature can see use of in terms of well-being is that different from.
00:13:48.246 --> 00:13:58.539
GRE like societal version I think so yeah okay yes I would say yes the word that came to mind.
00:13:58.951 --> 00:14:04.841
First is the idea of belonging and.
00:14:05.730 --> 00:14:11.017
I think in our modern society we.
00:14:12.309 --> 00:14:15.904
Well being feels very.
00:14:16.253 --> 00:14:29.011
Singular and maybe singular is not the word it feels very prescriptive and it has it has to take one form and it's a form that's.
00:14:29.351 --> 00:14:31.317
Sort of decided by like.
00:14:32.268 --> 00:14:49.195
And mass by like the culture whereas in nature what nature teaches us about well-being, and again I'm going to take it back a little bit Tire Vita is like it's so different for every person and.
00:14:50.110 --> 00:14:51.706
Every person.
00:14:52.774 --> 00:15:00.196
Has a place and a belonging to it and therefore.
00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:05.750
I feel like that's the opposite of what we are told.
00:15:07.557 --> 00:15:11.863
In in our culture.
00:15:13.373 --> 00:15:18.192
So that's just a baseline in terms of like what it means to be well I feel like we're.
00:15:18.539 --> 00:15:39.932
We're very we're given like what that looks like and we're told it looks this way or that way but that's not the case in nature because there's belonging for everyone, and everything so that's just like one you know huge point but I think other than that.
00:15:43.071 --> 00:15:45.937
And you touched on it a bit earlier.
00:15:46.807 --> 00:15:54.903
Health and well-being are not static entities you don't achieve health and then you're like okay.
00:15:55.773 --> 00:16:10.585
I got health I'm good things happen just like the Cycles you know as soon as you have a summer in your life there might be a winter in your life and I talked about that like not necessarily.
00:16:11.004 --> 00:16:17.994
Physical summer but like an inner summer and then and there might be an inner winter and need then maybe you want to.
00:16:18.485 --> 00:16:25.429
Rebalance so you can get back to Summer it's always changing and always shifting.
00:16:25.787 --> 00:16:31.695
And I think that in itself that Paradigm is super.
00:16:35.995 --> 00:16:37.403
What's the word.
00:16:38.291 --> 00:16:46.378
It's almost like it goes against it's not a very like capitalist friendly.
00:16:47.328 --> 00:17:31.820
Perspective because people want to have something fixed they want their problem fixed and they want it now they want it done they want to now and they want it to be over with and they want to move on and maybe like go back to the way they used to be or whatever so the idea of saying someone well you know what when you can achieve well-being, two it's not static, 3 it's different for everyone so we can't tell you what it is or what isn't for you I mean how can you mark it to someone like that it's so that's that doesn't create a good that's not like a good selling platform so I think with all of those that's why.
00:17:33.933 --> 00:17:39.769
It's just not a paradigm that does well in our like very capitalist Society.
00:17:40.776 --> 00:18:08.506
Yeah you're touching on so many different things and this came up in an episode that we released in December but just talking about how you know healing requires us to change and we often we just don't want to change right we want a pill or whatever and the way that we're so comfortable just making these like very generalized like help statement that like everybody responds like but everyone is so different like we can't make General statements about everyone's body and everyone's needs and.
00:18:08.817 --> 00:18:37.204
Everyone's reactions to things and this idea to like this winter and summer that you know winter is not a problem winter is not a problem it winter is just a season and it's something that we act differently to we dress differently for it we are body wants to do different things we eat different things ideally as well and it's not a problem to be fixed like winter is just a season and.
00:18:37.490 --> 00:18:57.892
I think you're touching on so many things here that it isn't something that we accomplished or are by necessarily but and it's something that can't happen without us like we can't like heal without our active participation, which I think is something that's touching on like a cultural thing as well at least in America.
00:18:58.276 --> 00:19:04.904
Totally yeah I completely agree it reminds me of I don't know if you've read the book wintering.
00:19:05.325 --> 00:19:31.191
Hi Kathryn my list for this this winter it's literally sitting in the cart right now well I've been reading it and, it just really set off like a light bulb in me and and because she talks about the very thing that you mentioned like, societally we do not know how to handle a wintering and by wintering she means like.
00:19:31.944 --> 00:19:43.777
You know not only the coldness we resist the like physical winter you know we always have people are like oh you know what's happening this is horrible instead of kind of.
00:19:44.998 --> 00:20:09.739
Turning towards it with like Grace which is hard to do believe me I was someone who liked, did not like the physical winter but I've actually learned to soften to it and it's been such like an interesting internal process but aside from the physical resistance or the resistance to like the actual winter as a season she talks about this idea of like wintering as.
00:20:10.753 --> 00:20:29.796
A season in our lives where we go through a really hard time whether it's, loss of a family member or someone we loved or the loss of a job or the loss of our Identity or an illness a physical illness or just some type of.
00:20:30.604 --> 00:20:38.050
Darkness like a darkening and a in during those periods of time.
00:20:39.038 --> 00:20:43.255
A lot of times many people feel very isolated and alone.
00:20:43.567 --> 00:21:02.861
Because we live in a culture that teaches us that there's something very very wrong if we're going through a wintering period, and I know I felt this personally with my own Journey I've had oh my Lord I've had so many Winters in my life I just let her retreat.
00:21:03.498 --> 00:21:19.839
Last week, last weekend and we winter was the theme like we do these one day seasonal Retreats and I talked about my one of my own wintering experiences and.
00:21:20.340 --> 00:21:42.732
You know that feeling of feeling like well what is wrong with me like what have I done or what am I being punished for or why did this happen to me a very much like a victim mentality, and what she says in the book that I find so powerful and also empowering is that what exactly what you said it's just another season.
00:21:43.054 --> 00:21:49.654
And we can't have the summer without the winter and wintering.
00:21:50.021 --> 00:22:02.565
When you soften to it instead of hard and becomes the Catalyst for your own transformation and that's where you can you know it's like the bear that comes out of hibernation.
00:22:02.849 --> 00:22:17.796
And is kind of you know Springs to life and by the way the bear was not dead during render there was just kind of you know turning inwards and resting and sometimes we need that too and it just was such.
00:22:18.082 --> 00:22:25.430
Nice way to remind ourselves that these periods of time not only are ordinary.
00:22:26.661 --> 00:22:30.579
And acceptable but they're necessary for.
00:22:31.107 --> 00:22:40.815
Any kind of emergence and are on our personal Evolution and transformation and they in some ways like.
00:22:41.396 --> 00:22:53.346
There's something so beautiful and something to be honored in that experience and she kind of says in the book that she sometimes, she's like looking for.
00:22:53.586 --> 00:23:10.108
She says this more beautifully than I that then I will share it but she's looking for she like wants a harsh winter she's like ready for it because she knows that it can become that, that springboard for something new to come out so.
00:23:11.059 --> 00:23:17.067
That's just been really sitting with me especially as we are in the.
00:23:17.515 --> 00:23:24.907
Winter season at least in the northern hemisphere yeah I was thinking as you were talking that.
00:23:25.301 --> 00:23:34.702
We had when we lived lives that were just more directly dependent on what the land and the weather was doing winter is something that you spent all year preparing for.
00:23:35.294 --> 00:23:50.771
Like you knew it was coming you know it's not like a surprise you know is coming and so all year was spent in preparation of knowing that it's coming and how do we make that something that's possible and survivable and I think there is something cultural that.
00:23:51.704 --> 00:24:22.117
If you're not if you're not making something if you're not generating things if you're not being out in the world if you're not being visible if you're not pushing out if you're not making more money than you did last year that there's a probably you for not being like happy, you know actively happier feeling like you know this is my best day yet there's like there's a problem and there's not this that we're not we don't live linear, life's really or we can try but that's working against something a greater thing that's happening I think there's so much shame that we.
00:24:22.942 --> 00:24:55.246
We sort of we don't like ever maybe really directly but the culture kind of is like, yeah it's all geared towards hey this thing is going to make you better happier you have to be happy or something's extremely wrong and I remember I've gone through periods where I've had, really harsh Winters inside and one of them started, I can't I feel like I've rapidly evolved over you know over the past.
00:24:55.494 --> 00:25:52.825
Ten plus years and I say evolved just like internally because of all of these like Winters that I have the universe has sent me but one of the first I went through was I was in Boston I had just graduated from college it was 2009, you're like yes I never remember that I think everyone remembers the economy was and we are in a recession no one had a job I didn't have a job I had like a 12 dollar internship after this like you know really expensive school and I was suffering from like a really horrible health issue and I was having a lot of trouble with my digestion and no doctor could tell me what was going on and I just felt really really really defeated and I remember my dad was like I think you should go on antidepressants.
00:25:53.127 --> 00:26:01.394
And I looked at him and I said Dad I'm not depressed I'm sad I said I'm just sad and he.
00:26:01.904 --> 00:26:09.227
He kind of looked at me and he just like nodded but I remember it was almost like.
00:26:10.888 --> 00:26:14.807
In that moment I realized that like it wasn't okay.
00:26:15.255 --> 00:26:25.449
To just be sad sometimes and whenever you're sad people were like oh that means you're depressed and of course I was like sort of I maybe had the symptoms of depression.
00:26:26.003 --> 00:26:30.391
But it just almost like surprised me when I said it because I'm like wait.
00:26:30.775 --> 00:27:01.332
Yeah like I know the difference I've been depressed before too so I'm saying every time I'm I'm feeling that way I'm like I'm just sad I've definitely like been in a depressed cycle but at the time I was just sad I was going through a lot and I didn't want to be in Boston either and, and then things eventually changed and yeah I just, I felt happier because things had changed that needed to change but in that moment I just needed to be in that sadness and.
00:27:03.173 --> 00:27:13.026
Yeah and there's things that we find down there I think I've had similar experiences for sure I'm sure many of us have better listening to this as well.
00:27:14.355 --> 00:27:23.630
And I remember someone else suggesting antidepressants for a hard time that I would and I was I was having a very hard time and I was really sad and I was really end but when someone suggested that to me.
00:27:24.114 --> 00:27:33.659
I remember thinking the same thing was like I'm just sad like I know exactly what I'm sad about and it's just going to be until it's not and.
00:27:34.574 --> 00:27:45.479
So I relate a lot to what you're saying there and it definitely it did just catalyze some things and increase my capacity for a lot of life in general and.
00:27:45.737 --> 00:27:49.952
I don't know that I would go back and change it now.
00:27:50.462 --> 00:28:24.603
As we're sort of bridging this gap between like alignments and balance and ayurveda which is a conversation I'm totally here for like think about I feel like something that I really learned from ayurvedic that's helped me some is just this idea of digestion and general and like really learning how to pay attention to that and learning my own patterns not to say that I don't do the bad pattern sometimes and then mess up a whole bunch of things but now at least I know how to make a big pot of Kittery and start over which is what I've got to do and.
00:28:25.662 --> 00:28:37.070
Yeah I think I'm interested in your some of your perspectives and alignments on what you've learned about digestion from it being something that you've had to work on and heal around in your own life and.
00:28:37.365 --> 00:28:42.211
Yeah I think what you've learned from that and with that it's such a.
00:28:42.576 --> 00:28:53.463
The universe really spoke through you on this one because it's admittedly for me still an ongoing experience and.
00:28:53.712 --> 00:29:15.970
I I actually am glad you asked that this is not something I have talked about very much lately on my podcast but I'm still going through my own, healing Journey with digestion and it's funny because whenever we're given something physically.
00:29:16.390 --> 00:29:21.865
I think we can I like to see it symbolically I often do because.
00:29:22.593 --> 00:29:28.132
The Bots you know the body includes our emotions and.
00:29:28.390 --> 00:29:38.609
You know our thoughts then become emotions and Phi and and the root of all this is energy and they find places in our body and if that energy can't be expressed.
00:29:39.741 --> 00:29:57.289
You know to makes a home somewhere in our system and often that like tension or that unexpressed feeling can create, a blockage over time and that's where we begin to develop this the seeds of an illness and.
00:29:57.538 --> 00:30:05.184
So for me I also live with a somatic healer so like this is what we talk about all the time I do need to say that so.
00:30:05.559 --> 00:30:18.950
You know he'd much he'd be a he be able to articulate that much better about like the energetic root of everything but I that's what I believed in what I've experienced to be true and so for me.
00:30:19.775 --> 00:30:24.917
The the weakest system in my body is my digestion and.
00:30:25.806 --> 00:30:34.019
I love that you mentioned ayurveda because there are so many things that you can do in ayurveda to help your digestion from.
00:30:34.728 --> 00:31:01.926
Just eating the right things a lot of people who struggle with digestion actually have like what we call an ayurveda aloe digestive fire and what that means is that, imagine that, you know you have a lot of acid in your stomach and that is what is necessary to break down food and having sort of a strong.
00:31:02.275 --> 00:31:04.528
Energetic.
00:31:07.684 --> 00:31:12.692
The best way I can describe it is kind of like this fire inside that area.
00:31:12.960 --> 00:31:26.854
Helps break down the food and move it through your body now yes you have a lot of acid in your stomach to digest your food but actually having a weak digestive fire usually means that you have low.
00:31:27.643 --> 00:31:35.613
Stomach acid you don't have enough so it's like this interesting thing so I like to sort of think about it in that way but.
00:31:35.906 --> 00:31:40.519
Anyways that's like a very technical part of it but.
00:31:40.912 --> 00:31:56.903
A lot of us just by the way that we live a lot of times not in alignment with the natural world or the way that we eat at sort of, weird times or we eat in balancing Foods.
00:31:57.656 --> 00:32:17.996
Creates and lowers that digestive fire and then you know there's all sorts of things that can happen systematically with that, you know it becomes kind of like a Cascade usually and that's not the only cause of digestive issues is a low-dose to fire but I think in a lot of people that's actually what's happening.
00:32:18.388 --> 00:32:26.692
And it's no one's fault this is like kind of power culture culture creates a lot of the things that when we follow that pattern.
00:32:26.994 --> 00:32:37.818
It breeds you know challenges for us so there's all sorts of stuff that can happy you know and I could get into like how we're not eating for a microbiome and all that.
00:32:38.095 --> 00:32:47.117
Let's just say that's one aspect of digestion but I think the other aspect is is more where the energetic.
00:32:47.565 --> 00:32:58.442
Comes in and that's for me what's been so interesting because for me the way that I carry my tension is in my stomach.
00:32:59.313 --> 00:33:07.570
And so I've been really working on an interest in ER sort of Journey around.
00:33:08.278 --> 00:33:42.221
Understanding what it is in my past or in my life that I have trouble digesting, and that because I do believe for some of us not all of us but I could eat, all of the food and I have done this all of the foods that I'm supposed to eat and I are fated that will be good for my digestion that will be optimal and they will help, for sure but for some people and this is like my path until I.
00:33:42.550 --> 00:33:47.981
Dig into that root cause for me which is like about.
00:33:48.465 --> 00:33:58.371
Why I'm holding so much tension and what what in my past or what a my life that I have trouble digesting I won't heal my digestion.
00:33:58.710 --> 00:34:04.473
So for me I think that's actually something important to mention because.
00:34:06.145 --> 00:34:21.030
Again not for everyone but some of us who have some chronic illness may be doing all of the things that were told we should be doing you know like eating the right foods and doing this and doing that.
00:34:21.297 --> 00:34:25.621
And actually sometimes it's not about doing all those things it's about.
00:34:26.266 --> 00:34:35.532
Sort of turning Inward and and really getting to like what's what is my body really trying to tell me right now.
00:34:35.898 --> 00:34:42.833
And that's why I like to use symbolism and so that's the journey that I've been on and.
00:34:43.514 --> 00:34:49.170
I do know there have been times where I felt really just.
00:34:50.905 --> 00:35:04.088
Relaxed and at peace and digestion you need you know it's rest and digest that's the system that we tap into so, when I feel that way I could eat I can eat whatever and I'm like.
00:35:04.418 --> 00:35:18.670
Working well you know my whole body is just like digesting but it can be the opposite when I'm in a state of like tension and stress where I could be eating all of the things that are technically balancing and supportive.
00:35:18.911 --> 00:35:31.193
In that moment but still have digestive issues so it's just sort of an interesting path that I've been on and I really do believe that when I can.
00:35:32.081 --> 00:35:40.032
Work through you know my own patterns around certain things that I haven't been able to digest in my life.
00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:49.827
That part of me will just heal and the body wants to so it's a it's just asking I think me to be to me to acknowledge it.
00:35:50.347 --> 00:35:54.635
And that's what I'm I'm working on yeah.
00:35:54.956 --> 00:36:16.601
You know it's coming like a somatic perspective and thinking about like the nervous system and thinking you know like trauma is stressed that we haven't digested right at the stress they get stuck you know and so it's like thinking of digestion and all these multiple ways whether it's like stimuli or information or data or food like we're and now we're just taking in so much and I'm.
00:36:16.931 --> 00:36:26.889
Also someone who will tends towards slow-digesting fire to stay out of like the technical lingo and.
00:36:27.778 --> 00:36:41.554
Yeah it's something that really makes me have to like slow down and remember and I think some of what you're talking about would like aligning with nature part of that is also like learning to be in alignment with like our body like I think so many people and myself.
00:36:42.065 --> 00:37:03.943
Included until I learned like oh this makes me feel like shit and leads to at least have a Cascade of problems and like yes yes the Cascade you know do actively doing things that don't feel good, and they have no idea it doesn't feel good and like in real and I think that is something that I noticed a lot.
00:37:04.282 --> 00:37:17.293
And just kind of missing out on that like cause and effect and like the invitation of healing is like a learning like we're here to learn and healing is a huge multi-dimensional process learning about our body learning about.
00:37:18.110 --> 00:37:21.309
Being a soul in a body and all of these other.
00:37:21.603 --> 00:37:30.148
Different capacities and how that plant how that's playing out yeah yeah it's it's a.
00:37:30.507 --> 00:37:40.898
It's a it's a powerful Journey for me my health is very karmic I believe it's always been the system or the thing in my life that.
00:37:41.371 --> 00:37:46.659
Is most easily thrown off even though you know.
00:37:47.664 --> 00:37:54.545
And my friends could confirm this like I don't really do a lot to throw it off you know like I'm not.
00:37:55.262 --> 00:38:09.525
Yeah I'm just but it but it does and I believe the reason why it does is because it is there for me to teach me so many things and it has but I think we all have.
00:38:10.088 --> 00:38:21.255
Things or the thing whether it's like money or relationships or family I mean I think I have multiple things but definitely my health is one of those things that.
00:38:21.873 --> 00:38:28.583
Is just proportionately challenging or disproportionately challenging.
00:38:29.534 --> 00:38:36.927
Based on just like my lifestyle which is pretty supportive in a way so I've.
00:38:37.438 --> 00:38:44.804
I've really worked on like not letting that trigger a victim.
00:38:45.405 --> 00:38:54.922
You know experience in me and and really just seeing it sort of as a blessing and a gift because.
00:38:55.235 --> 00:39:03.322
My body is talking to me and it's it's there for me like there are so many lessons.
00:39:03.824 --> 00:39:12.532
In what it's saying and so that I've just been really working on this idea of like.
00:39:15.617 --> 00:39:25.630
Um I think something that and I was just talking about this with someone else a few people but the thing that's been coming up again and again is like.
00:39:26.563 --> 00:39:34.885
For myself dealing with my health issues I don't even want to call problems I was about to say problems but.
00:39:35.385 --> 00:39:50.619
How do I like what am I holding onto in terms of, being sick and what am I able to let go of so I think when we feel well we become attached to that identity of being well.
00:39:51.094 --> 00:40:09.327
And then when an illness comes were like, kind of like we were talking about it everything is the the health is dynamic but as soon as something comes it's so triggering for our ego and we're like, this is not okay I'm healthy you know my identity is I'm healthy so this can't be happening.
00:40:09.568 --> 00:40:14.369
But then the opposite can happen which is something that's happened to me because I've dealt with.
00:40:14.789 --> 00:40:24.163
Health issues for at least ten plus years now in some form or another that I feel like I've I'm working on you know.
00:40:25.735 --> 00:40:29.114
Detaching my identity from being sick.
00:40:29.543 --> 00:40:41.275
And like can I let that go you know can I let that go and it doesn't mean you know ignoring my symptoms but what it means is not attaching an additional story.
00:40:41.670 --> 00:40:42.726
Two.
00:40:44.594 --> 00:41:19.094
What's in what's presented in front of me so yes I have digestive issues but how can I not then make it more than, okay I'm working with my digestion I'm healing instead of I'm sick, I have chronic issues I'm chronically ill and I think that that can be a really limiting experience when that becomes something that constantly you're talking to yourself and also like sharing that with others I hope that makes sense of what I'm saying.
00:41:20.045 --> 00:41:29.204
Yeah I think you know what you're talking about like without adding an additional layer of story yeah you know and teaching people systematically.
00:41:29.742 --> 00:41:40.789
That's sometimes like one of the four like it's hard because I mean we have different you know I also like I'm an astrology practitioner where we're very much getting into story right but when we're coming into things with like the body it's more like.
00:41:41.373 --> 00:41:47.856
Can we learn to just feel what's happening yeah I feel this yes feels warm this is happening and it's without.
00:41:48.512 --> 00:42:41.789
Making a story out of it and just let our body to be in relationship with our body which is something that as we get more technologically inclined as we get more, kind of personal identity inclined like everyone's just so individual identity Avatar and how we go about the world, these days that that is I think a skill that's that I think it will need more practice with I think, totally and I also want to say that you know I by no means Master this and working I'm working through this and but and I think, many of us if if you're listening and you're in the midst of you know some chronic physical symptoms or even even chronic mental, whether it's like depression anxiety or any kind of mental illness.
00:42:42.695 --> 00:43:01.882
It's natural to feel kind of like a victim you know kind of like why is this happening to me because it's horrible it's so challenging and I think I'm not I'm not dismissing that experience I think we all have to go through that experience I needed to be in that experience for years.
00:43:02.257 --> 00:43:07.509
Because I needed to like grieve what was.
00:43:07.739 --> 00:43:39.197
You know the loss of my health for a period of time but I think what's happening now is like a new a new Evolution for me in this which is yeah saying okay, how can I bring more neutrality bring more of a neutral perspective to what's going on and how will that shedding of this identity around being sick, really helped me be well and I think that's where I'm I'm exploring right now yeah.
00:43:39.590 --> 00:43:53.519
I think something that I'm interested in is that this Evolution that you're talking about where we sort of we learn things and we realize things and we become different people in response to the things that have like hurt us or.
00:43:53.804 --> 00:44:00.056
Created challenges or illness Etc and I think there's a way that we can.
00:44:00.871 --> 00:45:13.811
You know the world is not made for winter the world meaning like late capitalist Western contemporary society that is trying to dominate the world, but I think I'm interested in is like what if we stepped more into a place of like but what steps can I take to make the world so that it could serve someone like me or that I could be a person who and I think the creative prompt around that is something that I'm really interested in it's like well yeah there's no business that you participate in or that if you've created a business yourself but doesn't allow you to take care of your health and that's what is that right so how do we start to create things that can contain winter that can contain seasons of illness that can contain Challenge and I think that is a creative prompt Just For Life in general that I'm kind of interested in and it's radical oh for sure it's I mean I take and challenging and challenging yeah and I take two months I mean a small example is I take I mean sometimes I have taken almost six months I think unintentionally off from C's in between seasons of my podcast and like.
00:45:14.132 --> 00:46:01.784
That I mean you're not supposed to quote unquote do that but I do it because I need a break that's okay and I'm just sort of like all right if people can't, remember me enough after a couple months then like it's okay then maybe it's not for them and I, and you know I know I've seen the way you do your business too and like, I know this is something that you think about as well for yourself and we've talked about it before and it can also be hard as like a solo entrepreneur so I'll say that like we only are one person and like we don't have we do tons of capital to like play with and hire people so you know you have to work within the parameters that you have but.
00:46:02.168 --> 00:46:13.117
It can be the small things and it's something that I've been really working on because yeah we deserve to have periods where we slow down and rest and.
00:46:13.376 --> 00:46:16.413
Give space to.
00:46:17.336 --> 00:46:25.820
Just living being in the moment hopefully every day we do that but it's not easy.
00:46:26.817 --> 00:46:30.213
Yeah and I think it has to start on that sort of micro.
00:46:30.489 --> 00:46:40.746
Level or it's never going to happen because even you just taking those two months off it gives permission to someone else to not do something for two months it starts to.
00:46:41.210 --> 00:46:53.123
I guess trigger at the winter hashtag in the energy world to be like oh winter is allowed winter is okay you're not dying you're not dead you're just shedding leaves like so.
00:46:53.418 --> 00:47:26.864
So I love that and I guess circling back to what I was about to ask you before I remembered myself was I was reading a post that you wrote about taste when it comes to digestion and I love this because I think it's coming it brings in the senses and also brings in how we relate to again pleasure and like what feels good and reorienting towards that end and sometimes we have to sort a little bit to get to what actually feels good as opposed to what we think feels good and that's probably a whole podcast in and of itself.
00:47:27.365 --> 00:47:55.780
And you were talking about you know how your teacher was telling you that it sort of doesn't matter if it's like super healthy and you're doing all the right things if it doesn't taste good then like how nourishing is it and I think I'm interested in that lesson from your perspective and sharing a little bit about that yeah that I mean that came from when I was, in a really tough place with my physical health in my digestion and.
00:47:56.307 --> 00:47:59.840
Yeah this is pretty this was pretty.
00:48:01.016 --> 00:48:11.867
This reframe was pretty life-changing for me and I actually got a few responses from people who read it and it was really powerful for them too.
00:48:12.143 --> 00:48:48.992
And it's basically about this idea of you know again thinking about that the, the do out you know not Duality but the difference between like well being in nature versus well-being in our capitalist Society so I had gotten to a place at that moment, and this is what the different ayurvedic, teacher of mine but I was really struggling with my digestion I was told you know you can't eat this you can't eat that you can't eat this you can't eat that so I was like okay I can't eat all of these things I felt so restricted.
00:48:49.222 --> 00:48:52.682
And I felt like I could only eat such a limited and narrow.
00:48:53.148 --> 00:48:59.335
Quantity and such a limited narrow like.
00:48:59.782 --> 00:49:08.059
Group of items and things that I lost my enjoyment of eating.
00:49:08.596 --> 00:49:50.496
To be totally honest and I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that this is so sad because I love to eat so much of that just makes my heart to be like oh my God me too yeah I mean this is I literally wake up thinking when am I going to eat today or this and that but when you're dealing with especially digestive issues and I know people listening can relate because a lot of people have them and you can't eat certain things it's it's sad and I had gotten to the place where I was like I just am not, enjoying anything and this gets back to what I was talking about how digestion is a somatic experience my teacher was like Alyssa if you're not.
00:49:50.853 --> 00:49:59.164
You don't like what you're eating and you don't feel good about it you're not going to digest it and so again it's like it's not.
00:49:59.576 --> 00:50:17.206
We can't think about digestion or any process in the body just as okay what's physically happy know this physical thing and this physical thing in this physical thing I mean I would argue some, you know energy is a physical process in you know in in a certain form but but.
00:50:17.824 --> 00:50:26.199
Yeah it's really like how are we you know what are the thoughts that are happening as we.
00:50:26.465 --> 00:50:38.423
Experience the process of eating or as we, you know experience any kind of process that we're doing because those are really powerful and they play a huge role in.
00:50:38.771 --> 00:50:44.509
How that affects you know multiple systems in our body including you know mine was digestion.
00:50:44.813 --> 00:50:49.469
And what's so interesting is like all of this is I think.
00:50:49.827 --> 00:51:01.226
Pedo it's such a paradigm shift and it's one that my partner David again who's a somatic healer has really brought into my life around this idea that.
00:51:01.610 --> 00:51:06.798
So much of what we experience physically has a somatic route.
00:51:07.155 --> 00:51:29.467
And if we can really explore that you know the body keeps score it's like that book I haven't read it because, most of afraid not afraid to but it's just I I store a lot of tension and things in my body and I know that, it really affects the you know it's been the root of a lot of my health Journey so.
00:51:30.175 --> 00:51:37.460
I think basically that experience with my teacher she was really inviting me to.
00:51:38.726 --> 00:51:48.001
Bring more joy in the process back into my experience because when you bring that.
00:51:48.351 --> 00:51:58.012
The body you know it's ready to digest in that moment when it feels relaxed and joyful and excited about what is eating and.
00:51:58.414 --> 00:52:06.780
What you're eating and everything like that and so I just really appreciate that lesson and.
00:52:07.128 --> 00:52:15.440
I think it's important for everyone especially if you're working with some type of restricted diet.
00:52:15.735 --> 00:52:20.311
And again it's not like throw the tide out the window but like how can you.
00:52:20.632 --> 00:53:01.731
Joy what you're eating even if it is restricted something that I remember thinking around it's bringing up a lot of things but one of the ayurveda things and I was learning about just for my particular Tendencies and with my body it was like well are you eating why you're anxious yeah are you eating was like oh yeah I'm always eating in a hurry and my car on the way to an ex-client you know which is a very vodka thing just like I'm on the Go Guys I'm like I'm the wind give me some food I'm on the go and so so that makes sense it's also really I do want to get into a whole thing about it but it's coming up that we're not a machine like we're not a transaction we have this way that we like oh I just put calories in and then calories go out and like we have this very transactional way that we think about.
00:53:01.782 --> 00:53:52.918
Pretty much everything but also like our food and like you're not like a cal machine you're an ecosystem and it's not about like you put certain things in and then certain things come out it's like no are you like fertilizing the soil are you giving yourself are you literally eating Joy or are you eating something that's nourishing are you eating the way that we've totally like somehow like demonized carbohydrates in the world which is mind-blowing to me but like that's a thing and then learning for me I've always been I just feel like I need potatoes and then like we're in for my for what my body tends like yes I need like these heavy like grounding earthy foods and just like again it comes back into leaning into that taste or that Joy with your experience and letting your body sort of tell you what it's meeting and I think that's a really important lesson yeah again it's all coming from this like somatic.
00:53:53.329 --> 00:54:12.065
Place for many of us I digest better when I'm feeling joyful and happy and relaxed I would say all of us do and so you know whether you're dealing with illness or anything that you want to change coming from like a place of wanting to give to yourself and bring more Health in the way that you conceive of it.
00:54:12.342 --> 00:54:39.280
How can you just keep that in mind yeah but joy is an essential ingredient exactly it's part of the recipe yeah no that makes sense as we start to wrap up I would like to make spaces there anything that you feel like I didn't make room for that you would like to say or anything that's on your heart to share with the listeners before, wrap up the only thing I would like to say.
00:54:39.762 --> 00:54:44.663
Is that returning to nature this idea of like.
00:54:45.335 --> 00:54:51.882
Reconnecting is not an easy process and.
00:54:53.545 --> 00:54:59.804
I find that for a lot of people there's resistance.
00:55:00.378 --> 00:55:08.672
And whether you're conscious of the resistance or not it doesn't really matter but it will be there for a lot of people.
00:55:08.947 --> 00:55:26.108
And I just want to normalize that aspect and it's something that I'm going to talk more and more about in my work, in the next I mean forever but probably but it's just something that I haven't I've touched on a little bit but you know.
00:55:26.340 --> 00:55:42.925
I feel resistant every single time I connect with nature I don't know if everyone does maybe some people really don't I do, and I think a lot of people do again whether they're whether they're conscious of it or not and that's so normal.
00:55:43.291 --> 00:55:59.210
Because for a number of reasons one because nature for many of us still unfamiliar, I mean I'm I'm in it everyday but I'm still learning and uncovering and I will be for the rest of my life but.
00:55:59.550 --> 00:56:02.063
The other thing is it.
00:56:02.818 --> 00:56:10.228
Doesn't let us numb out or hide in the way that many of the other.
00:56:10.757 --> 00:56:18.123
Interactions we have in our like modern cotton good Tech based society do and.
00:56:18.797 --> 00:56:25.505
That there can be a lot of resistance to that because for me I know every time I step outside and every time I go for a walk.
00:56:25.746 --> 00:56:35.760
I'm going to be more connected to my current experience to my feelings to my body to maybe some difficult emotions or difficult.
00:56:36.081 --> 00:56:40.827
And challenging somatic experiences.
00:56:41.193 --> 00:56:50.001
And we're not given the tools to turn towards them with Grace and and.
00:56:50.521 --> 00:57:06.260
Softness and I think that's, normal but I just wanted to mention that because I think sometimes it can be so easy to romanticize like returning to nature it's like oh you know and.
00:57:07.472 --> 00:57:30.449
It is a magical and beautiful process but I also think there's resistance there for a lot of people and for me included, thanks for sharing that and for like sharing your story and your experience do you mind sharing with us where we can find out more about your podcast stay in touch with what you're doing and all the things that you're doing in the world if you have anything.
00:57:30.679 --> 00:57:36.318
Coming up sure thing won't my podcast is called our nature oh you are.
00:57:36.557 --> 00:57:54.295
Nature and you can find it on all the podcasts platforms if you would like to follow me on Instagram it's at our nature always, and my website is our nature podcast.com.
00:57:55.030 --> 00:58:00.164
Depending on when this comes out I will be.
00:58:00.458 --> 00:58:17.961
I will be offering a course that I call home coming in the spring, so on the west coast so that feels really exciting it's a retreat afford a retreat and a six week course and its really it's like.
00:58:18.751 --> 00:58:35.858
It's really like my I consider it like my greatest offering it's really helping to guide people back to their inner nature, connecting with the nature around them and reconnecting with their intuition and.
00:58:36.170 --> 00:58:39.181
That to me is the most.
00:58:40.204 --> 00:59:07.528
One of the most important practices that we can do in our entire life I mean I feel like this whole podcast episode is really about, connecting with your intuition and your truth like there's no one way it's your way, that's what's coming up I mean I have a bunch of other stuff but you can follow our nature always and And subscribe to my newsletter and I'll be sharing stuff in the new year but.
00:59:08.210 --> 00:59:21.500
Thank you so much no thank you so much and I'll have all of that for the links in below in the show notes that people can find out more and thank you so much for being here it's been really fun thank you it was so so wonderful to talk to you I feel like we.
00:59:21.920 --> 00:59:28.621
Have talked for hours thank you so much for listening.
00:59:29.023 --> 00:59:35.570
If you enjoyed the episode please leave us a 5-star review subscribe to the show and share the episode.
00:59:35.873 --> 01:00:02.344
Check out the links below to learn more about things we talked about and find free resources, if you'd like to continue the conversation please join us inside of the home body portal, a free online community where you can talk more about the episode learn with us and connect with others let us be in service to life with courage creativity and connection, thank you for being here be well peace.
01:00:02.639 --> 01:00:32.001
Music.
