Latest / Rise & Realign: Conversations for the Sensitive Soul / Why Does My Body Hold Stress? Scorpio: The Depths That Renew

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Why Does My Body Hold Stress? Scorpio: The Depths That Renew · Rise & Realign: Conversations for the Sensitive Soul

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Welcome to Rise and Realign, conversations for
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the sensitive soul. I'm Melissa, and this space
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is for those of us who feel deeply, love fiercely,
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and sense the world in ways that are hard to
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explain, but impossible to ignore. Here, we honor
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your sensitivity as a strength, not something
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to fix. Through reflections, realignment, and
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soul -led stories, we remember how to move through
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life in a way that feels true to who we really
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are. This is your space to rise, to realign,
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and to come home again and again to your own
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wise, sensitive, authentic self. So today I'm
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really excited to share with you something new.
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Um, I am starting, have started the body sign
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series, and this is a monthly journey through
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the Zodiac and the body. See the realigned journey
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is really all about this ongoing process of returning
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to ourself. right coming into right relationship
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with our body with our mind with our soul and
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the living world that we are all a part of so
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this body sign series is one way of walking that
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return slowly season by season through the body
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itself because i know for me as a highly sensitive
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woman um you know, I was definitely disconnected,
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right? My head and my heart were not in sync.
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There was not coherence there. You know, life
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was just hectic and busy and just that depth
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of processing that highly sensitive individuals
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have just, there was just so much to think about,
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right? And so This is really something that I
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feel very excited to walk you through as a way
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to help you to also reconnect with your body
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and understand its communication a little bit
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better. So each month as the sun enters a new
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sign of the zodiac, we turn toward the region
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of the body that that sign has long been linked.
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linked with. And we listen for what it is asking
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of us. And so this is the celestial and the elemental
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meeting in the temple of your own physiology.
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And, you know, I want to be honest, right? Like,
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you've probably heard me say before, human design
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came to me mid 2013. And I wasn't really excited
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when I first heard it. And before that, I had
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not really felt interested because horoscopes
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and astrology, it just felt like a different
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language. It wasn't for me. But I have to admit
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that, you know, it's been, well, geez, 13 and
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a half years now since I first got introduced
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to. the human design system, which does include
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Eastern and Western astrology, the Chinese I
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Ching, the Kabbalah, the Hindu Brahman chakra
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system, right? It's a synergy. But in these more
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recent years, I have to admit that, you know,
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astrology has been really pulling me in to want
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to understand it more. So I love that, you know,
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they're the zodiac you know has been mapped onto
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the 12 signs uh right like our body um for over
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2 000 years running from the head down to the
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feet and i just think that's fascinating right
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like i'm just I have a curious mind. You know,
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you've probably heard me say I have a Gemini
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sun. I'm ruled by Mercury. My podcast is on Wednesday
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because Wednesday's Mercury, right? Like, and
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my moon is Capricorn and I'm an Aquarius rising.
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So I am just in this stage of my life where all
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of this is just really speaking to my heart and
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my soul. again the the personal experience that
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i have of that disconnect between my head and
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my heart um and the journey that i've been so
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um grateful to be walking um for my my own sense
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of wholeness and reconnecting to my own uh free
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spirit um I'm excited to share it because there
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are so many women who I meet who come to work
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with me and I just love that they're able to
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acknowledge it. More and more women coming to
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me now are like acknowledging they feel disconnected,
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right? Like there is an awareness that the mind
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is just spinning and the body is not able to
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relax or even identify what the body's communicating.
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acknowledge wherever you are on your journey
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you know through this um understanding of how
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we get disconnected from our body why we end
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up living from you know our head um it's it's
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part of this human journey right um and i call
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this awakening process the realign journey because
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i am just honored to support each of you as you
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come back into alignment with your true nature,
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you know, your free spirit, your unique gifts
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and talents. So yeah, and last week was episode
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50. And I did talk about, you know, why do we
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keep pushing through what we already know is
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too much. And I just felt like this was where
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to go next. And so each month, Um, this'll be
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on my blog. You can find it at realignwithmelissa
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.com slash blog. Um, and you can have access
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to the research, you know, uh, about how the
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Zodiac, um, you know, became mapped onto the
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human body. Um, and, and then, yeah, the new
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blog is already out. Um, and this one is called,
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um, Scorpio and the body. the depths that renew.
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So yeah, the sun moved into Scorpio just last
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week. And so this season, we turn our gaze towards
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the depths. And so in the language of the body,
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right? Scorpio's territory is actually our reproductive
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organs and the colon, right? The places within
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us that are designed for transformation. and
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release. And these are the organs that complete
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cycles. And in that completion, they make room
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for what wants to begin, which, you know, again,
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there's so much that we can take from each of
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these mappings, right? And so I just want you
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to be wherever you are, you know, if you're in
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that kind of curiosity of like, What does that
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mean? What do we do with this information, right?
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Like, and again, as highly sensitive individuals,
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right, this higher intelligence just kind of
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just peaks, right, and just starts trying to
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connect the dots. So I just want to encourage
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you to just relax, right? Like I'm not asking
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you to learn the astrological signs and the body.
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Like I'm just presenting, this is my own creative
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way of sharing a way to reconnect with your body,
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right? And with this present moment, because
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there's nothing wrong with you or your journey
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or whether this resonates with you um whether
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you could care less about astrology right like
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i just want this to be something that supports
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you in understanding you and helping you come
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back to yourself so if you don't already know
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like i've been a licensed independent clinical
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social worker since 1998 massachusetts I think
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it might be the only state, but I'm not sure,
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has two different licensure levels. So LCSW is
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our first licensure, which I got in 1997. And
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that's the same licensure that a lot of other
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states use. But Massachusetts also has that LICSW.
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And I just feel really grateful and honored to
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have started my career. you know, 30 years ago.
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Oh my God. I graduated 30 years ago from grad
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school. Okay. So that gives you an idea of, uh,
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what stage of life I'm in, if you didn't already
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know. Um, but I just really want, you know, to
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connect with how stress right like stress is
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something that we all experience right we have
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positive stressors like you know getting married
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or having children right but there's also you
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know the the heaviness that comes with those
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stressors so um i just want to Have you tuned
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in? You know, how do you feel when it comes to
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stress? Like, are you able to talk about it and
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explain it, but not really feel connected to
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your body and how your body communicates? Because
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that's where I see the biggest gap for many,
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many highly sensitive, high capacity, high functioning,
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sensitive women. And anxiety is what I most often
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encounter with women coming to me for holistic
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psychotherapy, right? And so I just want to talk
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a little bit about how, you know, research, right?
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Scientists have called the gut the second brain,
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right? Because there's this constant two -way
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conversation with the brain and the gut. I have
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had gut issues since I was an infant and was
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diagnosed with IBS, you know, before I graduated
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from high school after missing so much school.
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And of course, I never heard about any of this.
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I didn't know about high sensitivity because
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the research wasn't out yet. Hadn't heard about
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the vagus nerve because, right, there wasn't
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really a lot of information about that either.
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But, you know, the more we understand that the
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vagus nerve, which is, you know, this wandering
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thread, it runs from the base of your skull.
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through the throat, your heart, your lungs, and
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into your belly, right? So a lot of times, like
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I can remember when I was a young adult. And
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I started to fly on planes. Like that was just,
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there was going to be total, you know, abdominal
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discomfort. And I had no idea, you know, why
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that was. But that was, you know, clearly the
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anxiety that I was experiencing with this more
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finely tuned central nervous system. you know,
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fear, all of that. But when we start to understand
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that this vagus nerve, right, that's what our
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gut is communicating, right? Sometimes we just
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think like, oh, what did I eat? What did I come
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into contact with? We don't necessarily think
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about like, am I feeling stress about anything?
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Is fear creeping in, right? Like what are the
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thoughts? What are the memories, right? Like
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it's important to understand that we have memory
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on different levels, right? We have sensory memory,
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right? Like our cells literally have memory.
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So it's just the more we're aware of these things,
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the more we can tend to our self and connect
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with our body, right? so below then we have another
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set of messengers that rise up from the sacral
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nerve roots and those are cradled in the bone
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and the ancients named that sacred right so carrying
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sensation to the pelvic organs and the colon
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and i did put some research in my blog post that
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you can read if this is the first time you're
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hearing about this because I've certainly been
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studying it and talking about it for years, but
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this may be the first time. So I really want
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you to know that there's resources available
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for you to continue with any of these interests.
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Um, but why again, like this series I think is
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helpful and especially, you know, the Scorpio
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one is because some nervous systems are born
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to take in more than others, right? You've heard
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me talk about this countless times, unless this
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is your first listening, right? Researchers,
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um, Elaine Aaron and many others, the scientific
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term is sensory processing sensitivity, and it
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is a trait. It is normal yet invisible in approximately
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20 % of us, and it's in over 100 species. So
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if you're somebody who, you know, you feel the
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emotional weather of the rooms that you enter,
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you know, and why sometimes rest just doesn't
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fully regenerate you, you know, this could be
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why. And I call this, you know, sensitivity is
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intelligent design. right? There's absolutely
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sensory intelligence to those of us who have
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it. And the more we understand it and come into
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relationship with our nervous system and our
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body, the more we can navigate with greater ease,
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right? So that's really important because, you
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know, What we don't fully process from our days,
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from, you know, any traumatic experiences or
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again, just high stress, it ends up being cargo
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that we carry forward. And that's something,
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you know, gosh. We need to be releasing, right?
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And many don't understand the importance. You
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know, many don't feel comfortable feeling their
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feelings. They don't feel comfortable sitting
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in silence. And so what happens is we suppress,
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right? And everything just goes under the surface.
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But, you know, something will happen. Too many
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things are going to overload your system. And
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then there's going to be a blow, right? Whatever
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that looks for you. It could be a blow of tears,
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right? Emotion. It could be anger and yelling.
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Like it looks different for each of us and at
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different stages of our life. So the important
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thing to know is again. We want to connect with
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our bodies, right? We want to be aware of what's
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coming up. So we do not keep pushing through
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and performing and trying to keep things together,
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right? We want to be able to sit with the emotions,
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sit with the sensations, right? And allow that
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space to release what's not ours to carry sometimes.
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And sometimes it is that we've just not processed
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something fully. So this is why I teach, I call
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it heartwave breathing, because for me, I love
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the physiological sigh, right? I love that the
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research in 1930 showed that this is a natural
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breath practice that our body does when we've
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been crying, when we're sleeping, right? If you're
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not familiar with it, it's a nice deep inhale
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through the nose, second inhale, and then a long
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and slow exhale out your mouth. What I like to
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do is pair that with one hand on your heart and
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one hand low on your belly over that womb space,
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right? That's the center of transformation. That's
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where that creative life force energy just can,
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uh, just, I'm really grateful for, um, having
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discovered this practice, and just how grounding
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it is for me, and how it tunes me in, and I feel
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absolutely in alignment with my highest and greatest
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good. I feel coherence between my heart and my
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brain. Again, just so helpful. And when I teach
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this, it's not uncommon for women to just feel
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a little awkward, uncomfortable, because they're
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not used to being asked to touch their body in
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this way. But I really want to help you understand
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that when we touch our body, when we put our
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hand on our heart, it helps bring our attention
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there. And focus seems to be another one of those
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things that many people struggle with. And the
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way I like to explain it is, you know, think
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of your ability to focus as a muscle. If we don't
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use it, if we don't strengthen it, right, then
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it becomes loose. It atrophies, right? And then
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we just are even more distracted than we may
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already be as highly sensitive individuals, right?
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So there's a lot of things that we can do. um
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as sensitive individuals to tone down you know
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the distractions right and i know phones can
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be one of those very distracting things um so
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i use do not disturb on my phone and my computer
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every time i'm working every time i'm meditating
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anytime you know i have any kind of appointment
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or meeting So I definitely, you know, suggest
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that women, you know, just consider like, where
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are you getting easily distracted where you can
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make an easy change there, right? Because again,
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your ability to connect and focus on your breath
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and your body is what's going to reestablish
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that connection and relationship, which is so,
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so essential. for our wellbeing. So let's take
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a break and breathe love. I've talked about it
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a little bit. Let's do it with this heart wave
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breath. Okay. So again, I invite you to place
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one hand on your heart and the other hand on
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your lower belly, and then take that first deep
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inhale through the nose and just feel that belly
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rise. And then take that second quick inhale
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and just feel the lift in your chest. And then
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you exhale long and slow, completely out your
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mouth. And there's no rush, right? Like I really
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want you to be aware that that exhale, we want
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that to be longer and slower. But again, honor
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wherever you are. You know, it does not have
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to be a certain number. I want you to just begin
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wherever you are. Just again, ideally, you want
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to be exhaling long and slow, a little bit longer
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than that double inhale. And so once you've done
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that, at least three heartwave breaths, I want
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you to ask yourself, what is ready? to finish
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so something new can begin. We never want to
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rush the answer, right? These deeper questions,
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they speak in their own time and sometimes they
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come up with a memory, a word, a symbol, an idea.
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It's different for everyone. Sometimes you'll
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feel a sensation in your body, right? But whatever
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is released from the body, it becomes the soil
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for what wants to grow next. So again, so important
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to be able to release and relax. And you can
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certainly, again, reference the blog if you want
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to do this a little bit more slowly. You know,
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maybe have a journal handy. Whatever works for
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you. I really want you to see that each post...
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you know, is an invitation. It's not an assignment.
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I never give assignments. And when I'm working
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with women one -on -one, you know, I just, I
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love highly sensitive women because, you know,
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they're so efficient, right? And it's like their
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memory is so, so strong. You know, I will hear,
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they'll come to a session and tell me what they
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know I suggested and then whether they did or
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didn't do it yet. I love the feedback and I always
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like to say, you know, there's no expectation.
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Like I am here to continue to, you know, speak
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about the why something's recommended and to
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keep inviting you to explore whether it resonates
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for you, whether you put it into practice and
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just be curious if you don't, like, is it because
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it doesn't resonate with you or is it because
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there's resistance, right? Is it just challenging
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to rearrange your day? Like I get it. I've been
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through it. And I do not judge because we all
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have such very unique and different journeys.
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But I just want you to know that each month I
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will write a new blog that talks about that sign
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and what correlation to the body it is so we
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can start connecting with that. Okay, so a new
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body sign series blog post comes each month as
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the sun enters a new sign. And so you can revisit
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it, you know, throughout the month. Get yourself
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into your own rhythm there, right? Doing it weekly.
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Maybe I'll talk about it again next week. I don't
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know. I always let that day guide me. Um, but
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you know, I, I definitely want to continue to
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support each of you, um, in understanding that
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you have your own just incredible and unique
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brilliance and we don't have free access to our
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own creative, um, brilliance when we are overloaded,
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right? When our mind is spinning on, you know,
25:15
same old records, patterns, whatever that may
25:17
be, right? When we're disconnected from our body
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and we're not knowing what it's communicating,
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right? Things just compound. And when that compounds,
25:28
right? Overwhelm just becomes chronic. And when
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we're in chronic overwhelm, We become the least
25:35
aware individuals, which is something that I
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just, I love that there's something we can do
25:43
about it, right? Like coming into right relationship
25:46
with ourself is so important. And this is just
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my offering each month on the blog and each week
25:55
here on this podcast, because I know I can't
25:59
work with every sensitive woman who feels resonance
26:03
with what I'm sharing. But, you know, this is
26:07
a way for me to support more of you, because
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I know whenever I found someone or something
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that supported me while I was navigating the
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depths of you know, my under the surface information,
26:24
I always felt so appreciative, you know, I definitely
26:29
just would cry a lot, just feeling less alone.
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And so I do, I want to share as well for others.
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Because we're really all in this together, whether
26:46
we understand it or not. And I think it's important
26:53
that more of us acknowledge that, you know, that
26:58
American dream that many of us think we're striving
27:03
towards, you know, and many of us get to and
27:06
realize like, oh my gosh, that was not the American
27:11
dream. Like that's, there's so much more to being
27:15
a human on this planet, right? That's why I call
27:19
my work the realigned journey. because there's
27:23
so much more than meets the eye. There's so much
27:27
more than is talked about in most circles. And
27:31
this podcast is for the sensitive souls who I
27:35
know are feeling things deeply, caring, you know,
27:39
loving fiercely, curious, open, ready. And I
27:45
just want you to know that, you know, you have
27:48
a space that you can come to. whether it's listening
27:51
to the podcast, whether it's reading a blog.
27:55
I also have the realigned circle for sensitive
27:59
and strong women in their twenties. We now meet
28:03
the first and third Mondays of the month. And
28:07
this is open to, you know, it's a global offering.
28:11
It's not therapy. And I also have the realigned
28:17
circle for sensitive and strong women in midlife
28:20
starting in January. And that will be, um, the
28:25
third Monday of the month. Um, and I, I of course
28:34
have my embodied somatic therapy intensive and
28:37
weekly holistic psychotherapy that is for. sensitive
28:42
women in the states of Massachusetts, California,
28:45
and Arizona, the three places where I feel most
28:49
at home. So I am, again, just always so grateful
28:55
to be here with you. And so before we close,
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I do, I want to invite you to keep returning
29:04
to your breath, to your body, to what feels true
29:09
and right for you. There's nothing you need to
29:13
fix. Just notice what's here. And you can explore
29:20
all the paths to work with me at realignwithmelissa
29:25
.com. Where the heart leads, the body remembers,
29:30
and the soul awakens. As a reminder, we are here
29:37
together to rise, reclaim, remember as always
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i'm super super grateful that you're here i'm
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honored that you return and just keep keep it
29:54
in the forefront you are important you have infinite
29:58
value your voice matters your presence matter
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keep shining your unique light so take good care
30:07
of you much love and light