Healing Through Mindfulness Practices: Reconnecting with Your Body and Emotions for Midlife Wellness

Have you ever felt emotionally disconnected, only to find that it manifests in your body in unexpected ways? Join host Heather Carey in this enlightening episode of Real Food Stories as she welcomes Brittany Sesser, a practitioner of somatic activated healing (SAH), who shares her transformative journey of healing through mindfulness and body awareness. Brittany’s story of overcoming eczema—a physical manifestation of emotional disconnection—serves as a powerful reminder of the connection between our emotions and physical health. Through the lens of the SAH method, which beautifully integrates breath, movement, and meditation, Brittany reveals how these practices can help us reconnect with our bodies and process our emotions in a healthy and nurturing way.

As women, we often face societal pressures that encourage us to suppress our feelings, leading to emotional turmoil and physical discomfort. This episode dives deep into the importance of being present and aware of our emotions, especially during midlife transitions. Brittany emphasizes that somatic practices provide a safe space for emotional release and healing without the need to analyze or relive past traumas. By embracing mindfulness, we can foster emotional resilience and create a sense of calm in our lives, which is essential for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Listeners will discover the significance of nervous system regulation and how simple practices like mindful breathing can lead to profound changes in our overall well-being. Brittany and Heather discuss the essential role of mindfulness in navigating the complexities of menopause health, weight loss journeys, and the emotional eating that often accompanies these life stages. This episode is not just informative; it’s empowering, encouraging women to embrace their emotions and explore somatic healing as a means to achieve balance and well-being.

Whether you’re seeking nutrition advice, healthy eating tips, or insights into sustainable eating, this episode offers a treasure trove of knowledge. From personal food journeys to cooking techniques that promote culinary wellness, Brittany and Heather guide listeners on a path toward nourishing their bodies and spirits. Tune in to real food stories that inspire, uplift, and empower women to take charge of their health and embrace the beauty of their midlife experiences. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how mindfulness and somatic healing can transform your relationship with food, emotions, and your body.

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Transcript:

Speaker #0
Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back. And if you are just tuning in with me for the very first time, it’s so nice to meet you. And I’m really glad you’re here with me today. I am your host, Heather Carey, nutritionist, chef, mom, and a woman who has been around the block with food. I want to open up about real food in relation to health, weight, and our bodies so you can make peace with what you eat. Hi everyone and welcome back to the Real Food Stories podcast. Today I’m joined by Brittany Sesser, a guide and practitioner of somatic activated healing, a movement-based practice that helps people come back to their bodies through breath, dance, and meditation. Brittany’s path to this work came from personal experience, a time when on the outside everything looked fine, but inside she was living out of alignment. saying yes when she meant no, pushing through when her body needed rest, until that inner disconnect finally showed up on her skin as painful, relentless eczema. So through the SAH method, Brittany found a new way to process emotions, not by thinking her way out of them, but by moving through them, allowing her body to complete emotional patterns and return to a sense of safety and connection. Now she helps other women. especially those in transition or navigating chaos, learn how to regulate their nervous systems, reconnect with their bodies, and cultivate compassion for themselves, even in the hardest moments. So we’re going to talk today about what somatic activated healing really looks like, why so many of us feel disconnected from our bodies, and how presence, movement, and emotional awareness can help us feel more grounded and alive. So Brittany, welcome. I’m so happy to have you here today and just talk to you about your story. And, you know, you described a time when everything looked fine on the outside, but you felt completely misaligned inside. So take me back a little bit, you know, give me a little bit about your background and what was the turning point that brought you to this practice of somatic activated healing?

Speaker #1
Yeah, of course. So, um, I found the practice before I actually developed eczema, but, um, and thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here. So, um, I found the practice, actually because I was already teaching an emotional, like I was already an emotional wellness coach and I found this practice, because I felt like I was… you know, supporting women, but it felt so like analytical or all in the head. Like it didn’t feel like we were really feeling the emotions. It was just like learning about them. And so when I found this practice, it clicked like a light bulb went off and I was like, that’s it. We need to bring this practice into our bodies and actually feel these emotions and learn and teach how to feel them, not just what they are and you know, what they’re doing, but also like how to just be with them, even when it’s really hard. And so I was so grateful that I had learned this practice, got trained in this practice before I started really developing eczema. But the other thing that’s really great about this practice is that it had helped me heal other emotional things that I was building up. So I was building up resentment towards my roommate. I had had long, difficult relationship with my mom. And so I was working through those things. But when you ignore emotions for too long, and they had kind of just been stacking up and I was just going along life like normal, like there’s nothing wrong with me. Like, you know, I’m going to work. I’m doing this, you know, filling the day with, you know, your regular life stuff, but not actually taking the time to be with the emotion. So when I started learning this practice, I started stepping into it. However, my body, I think, had already built up too much. And so during it’s almost like coinciding with it. And I really sometimes think that I had to go through all of that so I could understand and teach even better what it’s like to be in a really uncomfortable body.

Speaker #0
Yeah. Well, that’s a that’s a really great point. I mean, sometimes. Right. The teacher kind of comes to you, right? And so probably having your own personal experiences makes you a great teacher because you know exactly how it feels, right? And then how it feels to have something like eczema, you know, and right when we don’t process our emotions, it’s going to come out somewhere.

Speaker #1
Yeah.

Speaker #0
So it might be eczema, it might be back pain, it might be a million different, you know.

Speaker #1
Any kind of like, you know, disease, you know.

Speaker #0
Right. So. Okay, so for listeners who are new to this somatic practices, can you just give a little background on that, on what does somatic even mean, you know, and then somatic activated healing, and how is it different from other mindfulness practices or movement practices or, you know, just going to yoga class or just give me a little, yeah. a little bit on what that is exactly.

Speaker #1
Yeah. So I feel like somatic has become like this, like super big, like buzzword right now. And so, but all it really means is like bringing things back into the body, like a body based practice. So there’s lots of different somatic practices, just like even being with your breath is being somatic. Yoga is a somatic practice. You’re moving your body. You’re, you know, um, there’s different like nervous regulation. regulation moves that you can do, honestly, just like swinging your arms heavy is a somatic move. So, um, I think because it’s so buzz, it sounds like, Oh, it’s like how, I don’t know how to be somatic. Like you’re doing it. Just take a walk. Like that’s a somatic practice. So it’s, it’s not, um, a tricky move or anything like that. And then, um, the guy, Saudi Simone, he’s the gentleman that created somatic activated healing or the saw method. And you He, you know, did lots of training in Tibet with meditation teachers. And so he took all of these traditional modalities that we’ve done for, you know, since the beginning of time, like, you know, doing a trance dance, doing a dance where we come together and we move our bodies as a tribe. You know, so bringing dance together, bringing meditation that has been taught for years and bringing breath work, coming back to the breath. you know, using it in different ways. And then he just sort of made it more contemporary and we do it to a musical playlist and we kind of move through all of the modalities, switching it up. And the main point of our practice is to just keep you in the present moment. So to not really give your mind a moment to go wander off into story. And so sometimes that’s very easy if you’re just trying to sit in meditation still for a long time, it can be really hard practice for someone who’s just starting. So we do that by doing like a little bit of a body scan. And we’re really just trying to connect with our inner world so that we can, you know, show up in the outer world, like with less reactive and that kind of stuff.

Speaker #0
So is this a way of just getting your emotions out? I mean, you described it as like guided emotional, an emotional healing practice. So what kind of emotions, you know, during the. the session, what kind of emotions normally come up? Yeah. Is it hard for, because a lot of people don’t like emotions, right? They get very scared of, of emotions. And, and if you, if you are saying to people, like, you might start crying, you might like, and you’re in a group study, a lot of, yeah. Right. I mean, am I like that people get a little, yeah.

Speaker #1
So I think you’re, you’re going to like, you’re not going to. do anything that you’re not going to allow your body to do. So, right. You’re going to show up at the level of comfort that you’re going to put yourself into. So you’re not just going to show up and then like, just start crying. You know, it’s like you’ll, it’s letting go and just shaking and all this stuff. It may come up if you feel like you’re, you’re okay to allow it. So there’s, um, all these practices, we try to be very trauma informed. You know, we give you choices, Like you can. close your eyes or lower your gaze, you know, things like that so that you feel safe. And when you feel safe enough in the room that you’re in, then I think you’ll allow yourself to be in this practice to process your emotions. So most times if you show up to this class, that’s kind of your intention. You’re like, I’m finally ready to just get this out. So I haven’t had anyone show up to class. I mean, I have had people that are like, I don’t know what this is, but they’re coming to a yoga studio, they’re coming somewhere where they’re like, I want some sort of healing. So typically I haven’t run into someone who’s just like, I haven’t given this practice to someone who was not even remotely ready for any healing. So, but, yes, you can cry, but it’s not like it will happen. We could also like, I’ve seen people like bust into like, you know, different, like, like laughing. Cause we do bring out joy and stuff too. We bring up that, Um, We do bring up anger, but I have had students like have a breakthrough and just cry and they just feel so much better. They’re like, I just moved so much from my body and I didn’t even know. So it will bring things up. But again, if you’re staying in your comfort zone through the practice, it probably won’t, you know, bust you through.

Speaker #0
Yeah. Well, that’s a really good point. I guess no one’s going to show up to this class not right with being completely naive and like I don’t they don’t know what’s going to, you know, come up for them. And I think that right there they’re there to for this purpose to sort of activate some emotional response or just to move some energy.

Speaker #1
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker #0
So what do you feel like, you know, for the most part, like what begins to shift with people when someone learns to just regulate their nervous system? And like, why don’t you? share your story about maybe your eczema story, you know, about how you’re using this practice, you develop, I think, really painful eczema.

Speaker #1
Yeah.

Speaker #0
Has it helped you?

Speaker #1
Yeah. So having this practice really helped me because if you’ve ever experienced eczema or if you haven’t, it’s just, it’s almost like impossible to want to be in your body. I mean, just imagine having like your whole legs and arms covered in insane mosquito bites or something, but then these mosquito bites like leak and there’s just, yeah, there’s a lot to excellent that I don’t think like is really known if you don’t have it. Cause I never knew anything about it. So I was like, Oh, you have dry skin. Like that sucks, you know, put some more lotion on it, you know, but it’s really not that at all. It’s a complete gut issue. So it all has to be healed with your, with, with food and, you know, obviously removing, emotional baggage from your body also helps process this. beyond just trying to heal whatever ailments out there, being able to be in your body when it’s uncomfortable and not, um, you know, feeling like you have to fix it. Like I need, what’s the next thing? What, what else can I take? What else can I do? How can I numb this? How can I, you know, take some sort of drug to do a quick fix? Because you’re going to try all of those things. And then you’re still going to have to, you’re still going to have to be in your body. Like after the, you know, the dust has settled, you’re still in your body. So. How it helped me was because in our class, we don’t just shake and dance. We also go back into meditation and we scan our body. And we also take moments to feel the emotions that are happening right there. And technically, emotion just stands for energy and motion. So what is moving through my body right now? So being able to sit and be with whatever is here. And so having that practice, I was able to sit with really, really uncomfortable sensations that were happening in my body, like an insane itch. And I still have to do that today. Like I haven’t completely healed my eczema, but I’m no longer in the like debilitating. I can’t wear clothes because everything sticks to my skin. So, but I still have to do that. And I had to practice it the other night. I was like, you know, I haven’t done it in a while. So I’m like, oh, I don’t want to do that. And I’m like, okay, no, just listen to your body. It’s just really wanting you to listen and tune in and it will pass. That’s the beautiful you thing is even when I had my tooth pulled, this was like a really crazy experience for me. I had my tooth pulled. It was like excruciating pain for days. I was, you know, taking the pain meds and I had run out of pain meds and it’s like late at night. And I’m like, okay, I can’t get a prescription filled. Like nothing’s going to happen tonight. So I just had to sit there and be with the throbbing, insane pain until I fell asleep. And I woke up and it just was never painful ever again. It just was like gone. And so sometimes I think there really is magic in being with your body and just listening to it and like giving it a moment of your attention, your love, and just letting it know like, hey, I’m here with you. So that is more the beauty that this practice has given me than necessarily just like, you know, a cool somatic practice.

Speaker #0
So you use the word magic. So is it magic or is it that you have been practicing this and that you know how to calm your body down and, you know, regulate your nervous system? I mean, right. Because I mean, magic, I, I, I’m with you. I like, you know, I, I like magic and all that stuff, but I also like science. So I think I want to know, like, yeah,

Speaker #1
that’s perfect.

Speaker #0
Say like, oh, my toothache just went away. Like I want to know what happened, why, you know, and. So it sounds like you probably, I mean, are confident that you can calm yourself down.

Speaker #1
Yeah, you can. Exactly. There’s different. ways to calm your nervous system. But one way is obviously to just be with the sensations and feelings. There is, you know, it’s a traditional medicine meditation called the body scan. So doing that over and over and over again, you’re teaching your body how to regulate and how to, you know, be with the sensations. You can sometimes pull energy from a calmer part of your body so you can tune into the calmer part of your body. And then kind of focus back again on like where you’re feeling dysregulated, where you’re feeling the tension, where you’re feeling the tightness. And just kind of like notice going back and forth until you can use the breath as well, right? Using the breath to sort of imagine pulling some of the calmer energy into the more tense energy. And, you know, the more and more that you practice these like different modalities, you will, of course, get better at them and be able to do them when things are really, really tough. You know, if you can do it when it’s OK and semi comfortable to be in your body, then if it’s really uncomfortable, then you’ll have. Yeah. The toolbox there. Of course, it’s not like actual magic, but it felt like that. And it felt like I had like discovered like, oh, my gosh, I can’t believe this is happening. You know, and so I can’t like. Right. I mean,

Speaker #0
the practice isn’t it worked. Right. Yeah,

Speaker #1
exactly.

Speaker #0
You know, I work with a lot of women, and my listeners are… women in midlife. So we’re going through menopause transition hormones, a lot of stress. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on at this age and years of being disconnected from our bodies. So it’s just been like kind of ingrained. So and overriding your body signals and just ignoring things, pushing through, staying busy, wearing busy as a badge of honor. you know, and so I think that’s probably true for just a lot of women, no matter what the age you’ve just mentioned, you know, just when you had your severe toothache, is what is that a good way to start? What’s one like gentle way that you can just begin, you know, as a beginner to tune in and start listening to your body?

Speaker #1
Yeah, I would say, you know, connecting to your breath, you know, slowing down your breath. I mean, that’s very easy and very accessible and it doesn’t cost any money and it doesn’t take like, you know, training. Like, of course, there are modalities of breathwork that get more and more complicated and you do want to have a facilitator. But, you know, just the general, I need to calm my nervous system, like let’s connect to the breath. You know, we just kind of want to discard that because it just sounds so easy. Like, why isn’t it more complicated? It has to be.

Speaker #0
to be it right doesn’t yeah just like that right just take three deep breaths i i know sounds like but i it can be really effective i guess right yeah absolutely of course immediately i mean we could do it right now like we could all just you know take a moment take

Speaker #1
an uh if you want to lower your gaze or close your eyes whatever feels safe take a nice long deep breath imagine it starting at your stomach and then pulling it through your chakras imagining it like a long straw coming to the top of your head. And if you can hold it there for three, two, one, and if you can audibly sigh it out, doing an audible sigh also really, really helps just move that energy out of the body. So, you know, like that was pretty simple and I’m sure you semi feel a little bit lighter.

Speaker #0
Absolutely. I know it’s like something it’s so simple and it’s doesn’t cost anything. And I know there’s many, many times that I can I definitely catch myself. I’m like, I’m not breathing. Like, I don’t even like taking like a full breath in the past hour. Like you can like almost feel yourself, you know, when you’re like getting yourself stressed out or tensed up that like you’re almost like you’re not breathing fully. So that’s a great first.

Speaker #1
I think that’s a good first step. The other thing I would say is try to be more present in everything that you’re doing, no matter what it is. Like if you’re writing a paper, write that paper and just really be with it or, you know, whatever you’re doing. Brushing your teeth, like feel what it feels like, the sensations of brushing your teeth. You know, notice what the water looks like as you’re, you know, letting it drain down the sink. Like just trying to be like so crazily present and doing one thing at a time that will really help your nervous system. calm down and be able to just take in what you’re doing in those moments. And all of these things are free. They just, they don’t sound fancy and fun. You know, it’s like, what? I have to slow down. I have to breathe. I have to pay attention to what I’m doing, you know?

Speaker #0
Right. Exactly. Right. Just write these simple act of paying attention. And I think. But for so many women, right, we’re multitasking, doing three things at one time. And again, that’s another like badge of honor, right? Exactly. Right. We can get five things done at once. We can, you know, check things off the list. And yeah, I think it’s just really important to back up a little bit and just practice that mindfulness and doing one thing at a time and paying attention to everything that you’re doing.

Speaker #1
I mean, that is a meditation practice. It’s kind of like a movement one where you’re active in the meditation. You’re not closing your eyes, but you’re just really active and present. And so the more we can stay present, the less we stay out of the stories in our head and we can stop ruminating on things that either haven’t happened yet or, you know, you happened earlier and that’s creating. I mean, it’s the thoughts in our minds that are usually causing that stress response and that. Because nothing, if you can stop and look, is really actually happening in front of you. Of course, sometimes there might be. But in generality, like nothing’s actually happening in this moment. And so if you could just be present here. And so sometimes I have to remind myself if I catch myself being lost in stories, I’m like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m driving my car right now. Everything’s good. You know, like, yeah.

Speaker #0
Yeah. Yes, I know. Right. You can go drive for 50 miles and like, don’t even remember how you like. Exactly. Because you’re so stuck in your head and like stuck in stories and everything. I totally have been there before. I know. And you realize you’re like, I need to focus and like stay present, you know, just to like drive safely. But but I mean, for every right for just everyday life, it’s a good practice to have. Well, so tell me what a typical class, you know, we’ve talked about meditation, mindfulness. We’ve talked, we’ve breathing.

Speaker #1
Yeah.

Speaker #0
So we’ve talked about a couple of these modalities, but tell me what a typical class looks like.

Speaker #1
So we’ll definitely start with checking in with our body. So kind of like a little body scan, and then we’ll move into, you know, shaking. So shaking is another really easy practice you can do to just like, you know, animals naturally do it after something happens and just shake their body really quick. So you can do a full shake. You could just flick your wrist. All of this is helping you move different energy out. And if you can do it, we kind of do it with like, you know, let go of the week, let go of the day, you know, all of that. And so we just do that for a minute or two. And that really helps just shift you out of whatever was going on earlier in your day. And you’re ready to be more present and in this practice. And then we have these moves called body keys. So each body key kind of taps into a different emotion. And so, um, We’ll do, we’ll mix the body movement. They’re typically just with arms and they’re very easy movements. Like one of them, you can just scoop your hands and take a breath in. And then you’re going to act like you’re pouring it over your head and then you breathe out and allow it to trickle down your body with your hands. So like that’s an example of one move. So that’s a body key. And that one’s actually for more love. So you would just kind of breathe in and exhale and let it go. We do these moves to different songs and it’s curated. And then we speak mantras out loud while doing the move. And then we move into an ecstatic dance practice, which just means you get to dance however it feels good in your body. Or if you’re a little more advanced and ready, you can go into like a trance dance. So where you can kind of move chaotically or repetitively so you can try and get completely out of the mind. That’s the. point of the entire class is to stay out of the stories, stay in the body and the present moment.

Speaker #0
Is this a practice? Because I know that for me, when I’ve been in workshops over the years, they were like, and then they’ll say at the end, we’re going to do like a kind of something like that, you know, like a movement thing and like everyone get up and, and I know for me, I’m like, oh, there’s no way I am. dancing in front of people or you know like or feels very vulnerable okay yeah like you know you get definitely out of like my comfort zone at least so for someone who’s like you know a beginner at this what do you what do you suggest or is it is it not something for me I mean maybe it’s it’s something I have to uh you know maybe I just go and do meditation and breathe breath work rather than dancing but do you feel like the dancing part you is the significant part of the class.

Speaker #1
Yeah, and also keep in mind this whole class, you’re never like, oh, we’ve been sitting and journaling or, oh, we’ve been doing this really calm practice on the mat. And then. Get up and dance. So the whole time we’re all together looking crazy throughout the whole class. We’re shaking together. We’re, we’re moving our arms and active breath work. Like we’re doing this over and over again. So then after you’ve already loosened your like comfort zone, you are then asked, go ahead and move your body now, however you want. So it can, some people dance, some people like kind of slowly stretch. Some people kind of go back into a shake. It’s whatever you’re comfortable with. We don’t make it like that. That’s the one part where there is no rules. So like, yeah, if you would move as much as you’re comfortable, I have definitely seen people come into my class who are not comfortable with dancing and they kind of just, you know, do what they want to do. Now, when you’re ready to like actually have the breakthrough and freedom, you’re going to move your body. So you look insane because this is not a dance practice. This is not a dance to like, look pretty. Like that’s you. It’s really just like a wild. body movement practice. Like, can you look as I try to tell people to look as crazy as you can, because that’s where the emotional freedom comes when you can like get into a trance state and literally like move your body. That’s when you’re going to have big breakthroughs. You’re going to like, I’ve seen like different visions of people have, you know, you know, that’s where they start crying and breaking down and like moving all these things. Is this a typical class every single time? No. But I have been to classes like that as not the teacher, but the guy that created it, where we all come who are teachers and we’re really, really ready to move to the next level. So of course, my first class of it’s your first class, like this kind of stuff isn’t happening usually yet. It’s just really like, can you just get comfortable moving your body? You know, that’s really where we start. So, so I wouldn’t like want to deter anyone being like, oh my God, I’m never going to that wild class. But if you come to them weekly, then you’ll be more and more ready to move through more of your stuff. It’s like a fast track instead of having to go and talk about all of your traumas and stuff, which I’m not saying to go to therapy is not good. That is a good thing to do as well. But instead of having to just keep looping on the stories and talking about it over and over again, you’re coming here and you’re basically taking out the trash without digging through it. You’re just moving it out of your body and moving on. And we don’t actually even care what was in the trash can or just letting it go. So when you want that, you’ll do it. If you’re showing up and you’re just like, I don’t really want to do a practice. I’m too scared. I’m not doing this. It’ll probably take you a while. But you know, but if you once you’re like, no, I want healing. I want this stuff out of my body. I don’t want to keep ruminating on, you know, my relationship with my mom all over and over again, like I want. change. So if you’re like craving change and you’re ready, then like you’ll show up for class in yourself. I believe it.

Speaker #0
Right. That’s a really good point. And I, and I love the analogy of just taking the garbage out and like getting, moving it out and not having to sift through it and dig through it.

Speaker #1
Yeah.

Speaker #0
Because we could get caught up in therapy, right. For you didn’t loop around and yeah. And therapy and our stories. And, and so it, yeah, I like, I like that. It’s an action step, right? Rather than a thinking step. So, but beyond like your, you know, just back to you for a second, you know, beyond your eczema and stuff, how has this work just on a daily basis helped you like meet challenges or triggers that just come up on a daily basis? Have you seen, have you noticed, you know, from just being a master at this practice, you know, that when like things come up, I mean, you’ve mentioned your mom. you know, that in that relationship and, and your physical eczema, what about the little, just micro triggers that come up on a daily basis? Like someone honks at you or swears at you on the, on the road or like,

Speaker #1
Oh yeah, totally. Yeah. So I, I think it’s given me a, like, you know, a longer reactive, length, you know, where I’m not like, as like flipping my lid, if something happens so fast. I can take that back in a moment and see that there’s no time for reflection later and be like, hmm, what sort of old story in me happened in my childhood where this is still affecting me today? And it creates more of this space, I would say, more of a gap between what’s happening and my reactions. So the more you practice and the more you regulate your nervous system, the less you’re just going to start. flipping your lid whenever something happens. And then it also, this practice,

Speaker #0
has just taught me so much more compassion for, of course, myself, but for others. And so when I can look at someone and see like what they’re doing is also just their inner child, like, you know, reacting and freaking out and in a different, you know, seeing a different emotion, they’re just scared. They’re just depressed. They’re just feeling grief. You know, the more you can attach those like, oh, they’re going through these emotions right now and not that day. are bad or what they’re doing is them, you know, they’re just also being reactive. And so when you can see others that way, then you can not be as reactive in yourself.

Speaker #1
True. Yes. That, that, that sounds like right. It reverberates then kind of out. Now, what if something comes up that’s just triggering that you really weren’t prepared for? You know, there’s one thing to say, Like, I just want to get my, like, baggage, like, out. But. There’s things that like come up that I wasn’t even realizing, you know, we’re sort of stuck in there. And how do you, you know what I mean? Like, you know, my relationship with my mom then really goes ties back to something else in my past. And, and I’m having some pretty like deep emotions. I mean, how does the class help that?

Speaker #0
So is it like you’re saying you’re having like deep emotions like by yourself and they’re just like coming up or like you’re having a reaction with your mom and she’s triggering you really bad in that moment? Is it more of a that type of thing?

Speaker #1
I think what I’m asking is, you know, things that are kind of buried deep inside of you that you really didn’t realize in like through the practice. It sounds like it can move a lot of energy.

Speaker #0
Yeah.

Speaker #1
And how do you, I guess, how to… How do people deal with that? Or how do you handle clients who then come up with like some bigger emotions than they had thought that they were going to come up with?

Speaker #0
Like in class, is that what you mean?

Speaker #1
In class, yeah. I mean, do you, then do you see people then beyond that? Or is it, is it just your class or do you recommend therapy or, you know?

Speaker #0
Absolutely. We do recommend that. I’m not a therapist, so I don’t. necessarily go into any sort of stories with people. Like if they have something coming up and they want to explain what’s going on, absolutely. Like we’ll hold them in that space. I personally haven’t had anyone yet get to the point where it was just unbelievably awful. I’ve had people break down and cry, but they almost felt more relieved afterwards versus like this stirred up some insane trauma because again, we’re not actually like. talking about it. So we’re not reliving the trauma in that moment. We’re just moving out these old emotions that are stuck in there. So they’re not attaching it. As long as they’re not attaching it to a story in that moment, they’re typically not like going to be looping and spinning out. Like they’re just going to actually have that energy release. However, it decides to come out. Typically, you know, it’s crying or laughing or screaming or whatever. And we actually invite you to like scream sometimes too. if that’s what we’re doing in the class, not every class is this intense, you know, so with these things come up, of course. Um, but if someone were ever to come to me and be like, wow, I don’t have a therapist. This was really strong for me. You know, of course we would recommend that they go and, um, you know, seek additional support. Um, I am highly recommend that. Now, if you’re just talking about like, um, what happens if you get triggered by your mom and you weren’t just chill, you know, about it. I would say in any conflict or whatever, you’re quicker to repair. So like you’re quicker to come back to the situation. Even if in the moment you freaked out, you can come back. Because I’m like, I’m a mom. I have a 10-year-old, you know, if she’s nagging and nagging and nagging, I only have so much gap there where I’m just going to be like, you know, like spit or whatever. So, but then if you can repair and go back and be like, look, You know, I was stressed out. I was thinking of 10 other things. And then you came in and I wasn’t prepared for your energy. Like, I’m so sorry. This had nothing to do with you. I apologize. And sometimes that can happen with your your your mom, too, or anybody, really your boss, whatever, whoever’s you feel like is, you know, attacking you or whatever. Once you have a moment to reflect on the situation, you’ll have… a quicker repair time, I would say. Like you’re like, oh, I can go and fix this. I don’t have to not talk to my sister or my mom for 10 years because they did one thing. You can go back and fix the relationship sooner, I think.

Speaker #1
Through the class that all feelings are allowed, even if you were needing to scream it out and cry and laugh. And I love that because I think in this day and age, big feelings are not allowed. I mean, they’re too scary looking. People might think you’re weird, especially for women, right? We’re not allowed to have these like giant feelings. And now even in midlife, you know, going through like menopause, I just, I see a lot on social media, a lot of joking about women being like bitchy or, or just, you know, being too emotional and yeah and I and it just just annoys me so much because it’s like, I mean, because we’re not, we’re just never allowed as women, I think to have like feelings, right. Yeah.

Speaker #0
No matter what it is, it’s too much, right. You’re either you’re too like, you know, in your masculine, you’re too, and you’re feminine. You’re not doing this. You’re, you’re should be doing more of this. Like, yeah, we, we never can get it right according to society. So it is this really cool space. And when you do feel safe, then. you do feel like I can let this out. I mean, I’ve heard of other, you know, practitioners out there like doing like rage retreats where women can just go and literally, you know, scream and beat things out like in nature, because they’re not allowed to like get any of this out of their body. And a lot of your emotions that you have in your body aren’t necessarily just yours. They can be ancestral. They can be from your lineage. They can be from, you know, epigenetics say that like. these emotions are not just yours or like these, these traumas and things that you’re holding in your body. So that’s why we say like, you can go to therapy and you can talk it out, but it might be your great grandmother’s problem that’s still in your body. So if you can move it out and like, um, you know, tribal culture. always was doing the tribe dances and they were moving the stuff out of their body and they were singing and they were doing mantras and they were doing this stuff to get this energy out of their body. So sometimes digging, like we were saying through the trash, it doesn’t necessarily move it somatically. Like you’re still like, that’s what I was saying when I found this class. I’m like, we can talk and learn about anger and like, yes, anger is here. It’s here to show you there’s a boundary that’s being probably overstepped. But what do I do about that? How do I get this anger out of my body? So,

Speaker #1
yeah, I think, I mean, it sounds like such a great way to do that, you know, in a safe way, right? Where no one’s going to judge you and laugh at you while you’re dancing. You’re not dancing right. And you’re screaming and that person’s not. So I think, yeah, it sounds great. So how do people work with you? How do they attend one of your classes?

Speaker #0
and get get into this practice so the other thing I was going to say is a lot of it I do teach classes online so a lot of this can be done in the comfort of your home you can be like hey guys go away I have an hour class or a 45 minute class like you know family I’m going to be in my room screaming and stomping and dancing and you don’t have to worry about anyone being there that’s the beauty of them that’s how I originally learned how to do it was um online you And then of course I do teach live classes, which have a completely different feeling and vibe. And it depends on who you’re with and your comfort level, but you can get a lot of breakthrough healing when you’re doing it in your own bedroom. So I do have an online membership. I have a bunch of recorded classes in there and I teach it live in the membership either once or twice a month, kind of depends on the month. And then I do teach a free class at the beginning of every month. So if you’re like, okay, this is interesting. I just want to kind of dip my toe in. I want to see what this is about. So we do it on the first of every month. I kind of do it as like a refresh. So it’s the new month. We can let go of whatever stories you had from last month. This is a fresh start. Let’s, you know, it’s called second bloom. Let’s bloom again. This is your time. So that’s my free class on the first of every month. And we just do it on Zoom. So, you know, you can have your camera on. I love it if you do. But if you don’t, you know, you’re in your room by yourself. So you can look as crazy as you want and no one’s going to know.

Speaker #1
So that’s great. I love it. I love it. I mean, that’s a great like intro into just maybe even feeling safer if you feel like me more intimidated by like the answer to people.

Speaker #0
So watch it, girl. Do it in your room.

Speaker #1
Yeah, no, that’s great. And where are you for in-person classes?

Speaker #0
Yeah, so I’m in like the East Coast of Florida. I’m in Melbourne is the actual city. So I have local classes here right now. They’re like Tuesday night at 630 p.m. at a place called Soul Journey. I am looking to probably in the new year kind of maybe find some more places to teach. But right now it’s kind of just whatever pop up sound about right events that I want to do and then consistently right now at Soul Journey. So.

Speaker #1
Okay. Well, Brittany, this has been a very enlightening conversation for me. And I know for a lot of people, because I just know that most women who I speak to who are listeners are just on the move. We’re like pushing our feelings aside in lieu of like, you know, just being busy, busy, busy. And I’ll get to that later. And I think this is so needed and necessary to just move our energy and just feel regulated and. like peace inside of our bodies. I think that, yeah, I think it’s a really great modality and I’ll definitely link you in the show notes so people can find your classes.

Speaker #0
Perfect.

Speaker #1
And thank you so much. I appreciate your time and educating us.

Speaker #0
Yeah, this is so great. I really hope that you guys take a deep breath today.

Speaker #1
Thank you. I definitely will. I know. Good reminder. Thank you.

Speaker #0
Okay. Thank you. Have a good day.

Speaker #1
And as always, if you loved this podcast, please consider gifting me with a five-star review. It is so helpful for me to get the word out on real eating, our real bodies, and real food stories. Thank you so much and have a great week. Bye for now.