Liberated Being

Today I’m talking with Dr. Ginger Nash. Ginger is a naturopathic physician who has been in practice for over 20 years. Her practice centers around nutrition, herbal medicine and homeopathy, with a focus on personalized care and treating the underlying causes of disease rather than just symptom management. Her practice offers some of the best technology available for evaluating whole-body health and her particular specialties are women’s hormone balancing, and immune dysfunction such as allergies and auto-immune disease. She also treats a tremendous amount of patients suffering with the long-term effects of infections like Lyme and its common co-infections and many different types of chronic disease.

As you may know if you are a regular listener of this podcast, I don’t often talk with Naturopathic Doctors on the show. This show is dedicated mostly to manual and movement therapy as it relates to our being-ness or how we experience ourselves and the world. So it was probably inevitable that I would have a naturopath on the show eventually to talk about true mindbody medicine from a different point-of-view. So today we’re merging the worlds. Usually I’m coming at things from how our soma and nervous system effect our physiology. Today is a glimpse from the other side, talking about how how our physiology effects our nervous system states and mental health and so much more.

Liberated Being is at www.liberatedbeing.community and we don’t have any social media accounts anymore- so if you want to stay in touch and hear about special events in the embodied practice studio, head to the website and subscribe to our newsletter.

You can find more of Dr. Ginger Nash’s work at

www.gingernash.com


Today I’m talking with Emory M. Moore Jr. A health and fitness pioneer and innovator, he created the EM LifeWork TM & EM technique TM methods for holistic fitness, wellness  and body harmony.

Emory is a multi-certified exercise & movement master teacher and pioneer. With over 35 years of experience, Emory has immersed himself in the study of a myriad of disciplines including, but not limited to martial arts, dance, chi gong, yoga, bodywork, Pilates, Gyrotonic,  somatic training & strength conditioning systems. Not content with having a taste of all things he went for total involvement pursuing decades of study on three continents.

Emory has taught and trained hundreds of teachers in the US, Germany & Switzerland some of whom went on to sculpt the fitness landscape and help develop the fitness industry as we know it today.

A resident of Brooklyn, New York, Emory’s passion for teaching and the education of young people, led him to found the ground breaking Embora Studio and to create the wellness-arts organization EM Arts exemplifying the belief that the way to a better healthier society is through inner harmony and the arts. Currently EM Arts serves schools in New York City and we’re going to talk about their work in schools and with teachers and students a great deal today. It’s really beautiful and needed work, I’m sure you’ll enjoy hearing about it. You can read more about his work at www.em-arts.info.

Liberated Being is at www.liberatedbeing.community. We don’t have any social media accounts anymore so if you want to stay in touch and hear about special events in the embodied practice studio, head to the website and subscribe to our newsletter.


Today I’m talking with Brea Fisher. Brea is the founder of Quan Yin Gongfu and has spent the last 13 years dedicated to the disciplines of Qigong, Taiji, and Gongfu, drawing on focused study and knowledge of Daoist philosophy and lifestyle, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yin Yang theory, and Five Element theory.

Brea unites the visual arts and the written word with the Chinese internal and martial arts. She carries the lineage of Eagle Claw Turning Style (Ying Zhao Fan Zi Men), teaching Gongfu Palm + Sword, and Taiji forms handed down by Master Sing Chui. You can read more about her work at www.quanyingongfu.com

Liberated Being is at www.liberatedbeing.community. Our embodied practice studio is www.liberatedbeing.community/studio


A couple of weeks ago I was talking with David Treleaven about his book and training on Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness. If you missed that episode- it’s a good one- and you can find it in the podcast player you’re on now or at liberatedbeing.community at the podcast tab.

This episode is a personal experience with where trauma met what is often referred to as "spiritual awakening" and how my practice, my approach to the practice (and the goal), and some harmful ideas of what awakening is and what it requires dysregulated me and put me into a tough place. And also how I recovered from that and I view the subject of "waking up" these days. Spoiler: it's still in progress. I hope it can be helpful for anyone who is suffering as a result of their practice. We also go through a specific pointer you can use to make sure your practice is working for you instead of against you.

Also this month Liberated Being is partnering with David Treleaven's Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness training to bring you a chance to go through it at a reduced rate and with some support. To sign up you can go to https://bk738.isrefer.com/go/LB/LB/ and use the code LB400.

Direct download: FINAL_LBP_EP102.mp3
Category:health: holistic fitness and movement, alternative medicine -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

Today I’m talking with Isha Vela. Isha is a psychologist and somatic trauma professional who works as a somatic expressive coach with healers, weavers, change agents, bridge-builders, connectors, and other folxs who feel called to make an impact on the world. She runs the Revolutionary Rompe Reglas community and you can find more of her work at www.revolutionaryrompereglas.com. Her program for conscious leaders, Devotion, is via her work with me page.

Liberated Being is at www.liberatedbeing.community, and we don’t have any social media accounts anymore- woohoo! So if you want to stay in touch head to the website and subscribe to our newsletter.


David Treleaven is a writer, educator, and trauma professional working at the intersection of mindfulness and trauma. He is the author of the acclaimed book Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness and founder of the Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness (TSM) Community—a group of practitioners committed to setting a standard of care through mindfulness-based practices, interventions, and programs.

David focuses on connecting mindfulness providers with the knowledge and tools they require to meet the needs of those struggling with trauma. Through workshops, keynotes, podcasts, and online education, he is closely engaged with current empirical research to inform best practices.

His work has been adopted into multiple mindfulness teacher training programs around the world, including UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, and Bangor University’s MA in Mindfulness program in the UK.

David is currently a visiting scholar at Brown University and has worked with a number of organizations to bring Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness to their staff and programs.

You can find more of his work at www.davidtreleaven.com and his book, Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness is available all places where books are sold.

You can go through the TSM training with us this May! When you sign up at https://davidtreleaven.com/trauma-sensitive-mindfulness-complete/ use the code LB400 (code must be used by May 10th) to get $400 off the cost of training, and two live q+a sessions with David and I.


Today I’m talking with Diana Winston. Diana is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center and the author of The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness. Called by the Los Angeles Times “one of the nation’s best-known teachers of mindfulness,” she has taught mindfulness since 1999 in a variety of settings including hospitals, universities, corporations, nonprofits, and schools in the US and Asia. A sought-after speaker, she developed the evidence-based Mindful Awareness Practices or (MAPS) curriculum and the Training in Mindfulness Facilitation, which trains mindfulness teachers worldwide. She is a founding board member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association.

I hope you enjoy the conversation. You can find more of Diana’s work at www.dianawinston.com.

Liberated Being is at www.liberatedbeing.community. We are no longer on any social media, so if you want to hear about when we have retreats or other special events, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter on our website.


This is a practice-based episode that speaks more deeply to the issues that were brought up in the last episode, with Jane Clapp, about how social media is changing us. This is from the point of view of a podcast/body-centered mindfulness studio that wants to "make the world a more embodied place" and that is "in the inquiry of being fully human".

In the episode, host Brooke Thomas asks if it's possible to be more embodied and fully human and still connected to the social media algorithms with how they are designed to change our brains and behavior.

She also gives a guided practice for becoming present by receiving through the senses, a way of falling back in love with the world.

Retreat month in the Liberated Being studio begins April 1st. It will be a flexible container for disconnecting from social media and doomscrolling and most importantly reconnecting to our bodies, our beings, our natural environment, and our actual lives.

You can sign up at liberatedbeing.community/studio. It’s not an extra program, just a part of monthly or annual membership.

RESOURCES mentioned in the episode:

The Social Dilemma (documentary)

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

Jaron Lanier

Feels Good Man (documentary)

Direct download: FINAL_LBP_EPS98.mp3
Category:health: holistic fitness and movement, alternative medicine -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

Jane Clapp is a mindful strength and movement coach, an embodiment educator and a Jungian analyst in training. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to her work that goes beyond mindfulness, to enmesh each client’s physical condition with the psychological and emotional aspects of their selves while always factoring in that the oppressive systems we live in play out in every system in the body.

She has worked as an expert coach and educator that brings together expertise in the effects of chronic stress and overwhelm on the fascial and autonomic nervous systems, movement and breath patterns since 2006.
Bringing together her many years of somatic study while supporting others through their bodies, with her personal journey through Jungian Analysis and her training as a Jungian Analyst, she has developed what she refers to as Jungian Somatics.

And why do I feel like of all the episodes THIS one is a don’t miss? Well Jane and I are getting into territory that isn’t discussed that much in our circles- that being how social media is quite literally changing us, changing our brains and changing the world. It’s like we’re all hooked up to a neurofeedback machine now that works on us to make us more polarized, more in our survival/reactionistic brains and more dualistic. Among other things…
Jane and I have been swimming in these waters separately but simultaneously, so this was our chance to talk about it with each other. I think we all need to be talking about this more and finding ways, as we are able, to unhook from the algorithms.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell (book)
The Social Dilemma (documentary on Netflix)
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/the-internet-doesnt-have-to-be-awful/618079/
How Humans Get Hacked Yuval Noah Harari and Tristan Harris on Wired https://www.wired.com/video/watch/yuval-harari-tristan-harris-humans-get-hacked
It Will Never Happen to Me by Claudia Black (book)
Dr. Iain McGilchrist
James Hillman
Jaron Lanier


Today I’m talking with Master Mingtong Gu Named Qigong Master of the Year by the 13th World Congress for Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Master Mingtong is on faculty for Esalen Institute, OmegaInstitute, 1440 Multiversity, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and the Shift Network. He is the founder of The Chi Center / The Center for Wisdom Healing Qigong, a beautiful 79 acre retreat center south of Santa Fe, NM

You can find more of his work and more about the chi center for Wisdom Healing Qigong at www.chicenter.com and if you head to their website, they also have a free ebook Ancient Healing Secrets which is available to download.

Liberated Being is at www.liberatedbeing.community, and on Instagram we are @liberatedbeing


Today I’m talking with Betsy Polatin. Betsy Polatin, is an Alexander Technique teacher, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and has her MFA. She is An internationally recognized breathing and movement specialist,, has been teaching for more than forty five years and is currently a master lecturer at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. She has worked with numerous individuals and institutions and some of her teaching experience includes Berklee College of Music, the Boston Ballet, and the Opera Institute of Boston. Her background includes movement education and performance, as well as training in music, dance, yoga, meditation, trauma resolution, and the broader healing arts.. She is the author of two books, The Actor’s Secret and her most recent book which we are discussing today: Humanual: A Manual for Being Human.

I hope you enjoy the conversation. You can find more of Betsy’s work at www.humanual.com and her book again is also titled Humanual.

Liberated Being is at www.liberatedbeing.community, and on Instagram we are @liberatedbeing


This is a practice-based episode. We are so inundated with information all the time! Even information about being less conceptual and more embodied, as on this podcast lol.

Within Liberated Being we also run an embodied practice studio, where we can engage with practices that help us to make the shift into embodying what we know, becoming more real, and changing how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world.

So this week I'm sharing two 15 minute practices that I taught in the studio last week. Take a break from the firehose of learning about things and instead have a chance to digest things by connecting with the home inside yourself.

These practices are for inhabiting the head and the heart- and seeing how locating within those areas shifts the way the world shows up to us.

More information about the embodied practice studio can be found at www.liberatedbeing.community/studio

Direct download: FINAL_LBP_EPS94.mp3
Category:health: holistic fitness and movement, alternative medicine -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

Liam Bowler is a teacher, bodyworker, and a somatic philosopher. He’s also the creator of The Body Awake podcast which, if you’re listening to this podcast, I can highly recommend!

He is most recently the author of the book A Creator’s Companion: A Handbook for the Practice of Creation. I found it to be a wonderful read, and a highly experiential book, as opposed to ideas about the process of creation. I believe life itself is a process of creation, and this book is a wonderful guide in how to be more immersed in that.

His book, A Creator's Companion can be found here thebodyawake.com/book/cc

You can find more of Liam’s work at

www.thebodyawake.com

and

www.dynamicalignmentbodywork.com

Liberated Being is at

www.liberatedbeing.community

You can read about the embodied practice studio on the studio page. On Instagram we are @liberatedbeing


Today I’m talking with Caprice Taylor Mendez. Since getting her Masters from Harvard in education, administration, planning and social policy, Caprice has spent the last 30 years supporting social justice in the nonprofit sector.

She works to support strategic grant making and nonprofit collaborations to co-create systemwide impact.

She has done a great of work in policy advocacy, coalition building, and grassroots organizing experience with diverse populations to support low-income communities.

She is also the host of Together, We Can / Juntos, Podemos a bilingual radio show celebrating co-creators and initiatives for a kinder and more just world.

She teaches Journey Dance and practices Cosmohealing Energy.

We’re talking about how she came to be in these parallel worlds of social justice through the non profit sector and advocating for policy change, alongside her own embodied healing practices for herself, and how she came to also provide that work for others.


This week’s episode is with Amoda Maa Jeevan. It is an outtake from a longer guest teacher gathering that happened with Liberated Being members on November 14th of 2020. We talked about her recent book, Falling Open in a World Falling Apart. A fitting title for the times we are living through! In this talk, Amoda connects some important dots between embodiment and spriritual awakening. She gets to important inquiries like- Awakening from what? To what? And what does this have to do with being spiritual or not spiritual (more concepts, as you’ll hear…). What Amoda is pointing to, and what embodiment work is also for, is about shedding conditioning and coming home more deeply to our own internal space and experience.

You can find more of her work at

www.amodamaa.com

Liberated Being is at www.liberatedbeing.community and on Instagram @liberatedbeing. The embodied practice studio is open with live classes all week.


Today I’m talking with Marika Baxter. Marika has a Masters of Science in Physical Therapy and for 17 years practiced as a physical therapist and Pilates teacher working in particular in the dance medicine world.

She is a Realization Process teacher and is currently studying through Internal Family Systems with Richard Schwartz. Marika is also a dear friend, and a teacher in the liberated being embodied practice studio. You can find out more about her work at www.mb1wellness.com

The Liberated Being embodied practice studio is at www.liberatedbeing.community, and on Instagram we are @liberatedbeing


Today I’m talking with Kimberly Ann Johnson. Kimberly is a Structural Integrator, a Sexological Bodyworker, a birth doula and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner.

She is the author of the book The Fourth Trimester, and her forthcoming book which we are talking about today is Call of the Wild: How We Heal Trauma, Awaken Our Own Power, and Use it for Good.

You can find out more about Kimberly’s work at www.magamama.com. Maga means sorceress in Brazil, so that THAT maga...

Liberated Being is at liberatedbeing.community, and on Instagram we are @liberatedbeing

Our embodied practice studio is at www.liberatedbeing.community/studio


Today I’m talking with Steve Hoskinson. Steve is the founder of Organic Intelligence® (OI) and the nonprofit Organic Intelligence Outreach Institute. OI’s Human Empowerment And Resiliency Training (HEARTraining®) is an international personal and professional development training program using OI’s strengths-based, trauma-safe approach for resiliency.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, The Organic Intelligence® (OI) clinical protocol suggests that, from a systems perspective, what’s wrong with therapy is the focus on what’s wrong — including the focus on trauma.

Organic Intelligence brings a necessary shift in perspective from pathology and trauma to the proven methods drawn from the wisdom of mindfulness and the science of self-organization.

OI teaches how healing happens from the nervous system up and makes it possible to imagine freedom from suffering. Freedom from suffering becomes freedom for living an authentic, vibrant life in the here-and-now.

Steve has trained thousands of trauma therapists, health professionals, mindfulness experts, and teachers. He presents at conferences worldwide, is Adjunct Faculty for JFK University’s Somatic Psychology program, a founding member of the Northern California Society for Integrative Mental Health and the International Transformational Resilience Coalition.

You can find out more about Steve’s work and Organic Intelligence at www.organicintelligence.org

Liberated Being is at www. liberatedbeing.community, and on Instagram we are @liberatedbeing.

The Liberated Being embodied practice studio is now open!


Today I’m talking with Constance Clare-Newman. Over 30+ years of teaching embodiment, Constance has developed a trauma-sensitive, neuroscience-informed approach to embodiment practices that focus on wholeness of being.

Foremost in her work is a pedagogy of pleasure. The cultural norm of working hard at improvement is relinquished for a slow pace of enjoyment and feelings of pleasure that facilitate healing, creativity and unity of self.

Grounded in her own deep study of somatics, dance, meditation, trauma work, contemplative practices, deep ecology, social justice work and addiction recovery, Constance facilitates a path to wholeness.

She has been studying and teaching movement practices her whole life, as a horse trainer and dressage trainer, as a modern dancer and as an Alexander Technique teacher since 2001.

She is a co-founder of Desert Movement Arts, an intergenerational collective based in Coachella Valley, CA. Constance has taught in performing arts departments of Academy of Art University, University of Redlands, and ACT in San Francisco.

In 2001, Constance completed a three-year Alexander training program in San Francisco with Frank Ottiwell, and has continued her study with master teachers over the world.

I'm also thrilled that Constance is a regular weekly teacher in the Liberated Being online embodied practice studio, which opens to new members this Friday the 15th of January 2021.

You can find out more about Constance’s work at

www.constanceclare.com

Liberated Being is at www.liberatedbeing.community, and on

Instagram we are @liberatedbeing


Today I’m talking with Steve Haines. Steve has been a bodyworker for 20 years primarily in the field of craniosacral therapy. He is now a senior international teacher of craniosacral, and together with his colleague Ged Sumner he wrote the book Cranial Intelligence and founded a training program at bodyintelligence.com. He is also a lead TRE Certification trainer.

He is deeply interested in pain, trauma, and anxiety and the links between them. As an author, he is the creator of the “...Is really strange” graphic books series which I adore. Titles in that series are: Pain is Really Strange, Trauma is Really Strange, and Anxiety is Really Strange. If you’re looking for simple and straightforward explanations about the current “really strange” science behind these experiences, I highly recommend the books. Today we are talking in particular about trauma and anxiety.

This is my second conversation with Steve, the last one was many years ago. It was great to catch up with him.

You can find out more about his work at

www.bodycollege.net

and

www.bodyintelligence.com

Liberated Being is at liberatedbeing.community, and on Instagram we are @liberatedbeing


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