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Moon Magic and Healing Vibes With Aly · #BeMoreLobster

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine if we all tapped more into the natural cycles around us, whether it's aligning with the moon, our menstrual cycle, or just the rhythm of the season.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: What change could that bring to our lives?
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: How would acknowledging these cycles help you feel more connected and grounded?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: In today's conversation with Ali, we dive into this and so much more.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Ali shares with us her transformative journey from being a healthcare professional to becoming a guide for women seeking to reconnect with their natural cycles.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: She opens up about her personal struggles with a broken healthcare system, her journey of hailing from mold toxicity and being told that she was failing to thrive as an adult, and how she discovered the power of cycles in nature and within herself.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Grab yourself a cupper and come join us for this magical conversation.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Hello Ali, welcome to the Seeking Simplicity podcast.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm great.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Very well.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just glad we finally got to meet up after all this time.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so let's dive right in.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: And as I always start, I would love for you to share with the listeners what your definition of seeking simplicity is.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: I love this so much.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: So very grateful for this question.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, a theme throughout my life, something that is simple, that keeps me connected to myself, say more than anything is finding play in my everyday experiences, whether I am cleaning the house, putting on music, finding moments to dance, move, sway, swing my cats around.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Safely, of course.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Playfully and safely.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then as I've started deepening into myself, really getting back to syncing with my cyclical nature as a human, as a woman, and for me, in the simplest forms, that looks like resting during for me, my bleed time, and being more outwardly focused and productive during my ovulatory time.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: And this coincides with the moon as well.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And in terms of my favorite practices, I love to use sound.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So getting out in nature, listening to the sounds of nature, listening to the birds, the cicadas, if it's raining outside, going outside and just immersing myself in the rain, sitting on the beach, you know, allowing the sounds of the ocean waves to just wash over me and cleanse my whole being.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then probably my favorite thing is to look up at the night sky, to remember the vastness of the universe and my place within it, looking at the moon and just bonding across space and time to our ancient ancestors who also used to look at the very same moon.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing when you put it like that.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that's I've never even thought about that before.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So what a powerful thought that is.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for that.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then so much juice, it's like it's made my eyes water, listen to all that like juiciness in there.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I really value people's um definitions of seeking simplicity and how they activate it because I think it gives so much more option to different people because I think it can be again something just gets defined in a certain way, and we all think we've got to follow it.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm super excited to go into the whole cyclical thing, which is why I was like, I have to speak to you in the first place.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: We'll dive into that in a second.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now I know that you said that this kind of like movement and swaying and moving your body has been something you've done for a long time, but I I'm curious about whether you there was there has been a more defining moment or maybe not in your life where you've lent into um seeking simplicity as a as a bigger life experience, if you like.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of movement, movement's always been there for me since the time I was little.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: And even when I sit, when I try, when I attempt to sit in stillness, I usually end up in movement if it's not a sway, you know, a slow sway or a rotation.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: And when I drop into my body and check in with myself, which I've started doing more consistently, certainly over the past year, but I'd say over the past four to five years, I've really started dropping into my body.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I just notice when I check in with myself, I find that central pillar down my being, and I just sway back and forth and just kind of feel into what is present for me right now.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I'd say that's that's a mainstay.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's so simple, but it feels good.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it I feel like even in those moments, I'm reconnecting with the greater cosmic wisdom.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: When I came into this awareness within the past four to five years, that everything is a cycle, everything oscillates, everything moves from our heartbeats to our breath, to the seasons, to the rotation of the earth, the planets around the solar system, the guy, the galaxy spinning, everything's a cycle.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so when I want to just reconnect with myself, I find my center and then I allow myself to ebb and flow, just gently sway back and forth.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd say it's so simple, but that doesn't mean it's not powerful.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure that you've discovered that here.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I love what you're doing because now you have this whole library of these seeking simplicity practices that um inspire and give ideas to the women that you're here serving.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I just really commend you for that.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love as well.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, on in the book club, I run a free book club, and we were talking about that very thing last night.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the ladies on the call said she calls it her system check.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: So she doesn't get out of bed before she's done her system check.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, she'll she's just in the habit now of doing that several times a day, bringing herself back to the present, bringing herself back to that power.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love that um that sort of the joining of that with those cycles, you know, the cycles.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I talk about working with women, the seasons and cycles of life.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: So all of that, even when we, you know, you you gave some great things there about like, you know, the planets and the and our site, you know, our female cycles and the moon cycles.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And even as a mother, you've got your, you know, you've got the cycles of the term times, and you've got, you know, all of these other things.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like the the the image that I'm getting now and the feeling I'm getting in my body is that for a lot of people, we feel like we're very rigid moving through this fluid life, and that's what makes the the journey so challenging.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm really curious about um your your career and you know what you did and what you do now.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: So could you just share with the listeners because I'm really, really excited by this.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: So please sort of talk about where you started and how you transitioned and what you do now.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm all ears for this one.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's been quite a journey.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I went to high school, went right to college, got my bachelor's in nursing, and just did all the things that I was told to do, right?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Got into healthcare.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: I worked on labor and delivery in the hospital for five years until I decided to go back to school and become a women's health nurse practitioner, and I assumed the role of becoming an OBGYN.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I was working in healthcare for almost a total of 10 years at that point, and I just started asking questions, seeking more, seeking more meaning in my life.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so unrelated yet very related, of course, I ended up volunteering at this observatory.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: My husband took me for my birthday and fell in love because I love looking at the night sky, love the moon.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we went and we became friends with the owner, and we just started showing up every Friday.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually we got offered a position.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would do my long work week, and at the end of my long work week Friday nights, we'd go up to the observatory and we would teach astronomy to the public.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And we were looking at the moon a lot, and it didn't take long for me to start to pick up on this correlation between when the moon was full and I was bleeding.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, What is this?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I worked there for almost two years, and I went back through all my cycle tracking, and sure enough, you know, looking at the moon cycle, it kept lining up, and I was like, What's that about?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's new, that's different.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like all these things in my life started collapsing and crumbling at the same time, right?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's how it happened.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: I the pressures of work, the stress of working in healthcare started climbing.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: I started to get sick.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my body was screaming at me to stop, saying something was wrong.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I started slowly waking up to my place in the healthcare system and the system as a whole, and how it's a broken system that teaches women to outsource their power to us.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: That is a game with insurance companies and having to fight for your patients to get the right care.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then as I continued this spiral, I also noticed that we didn't actually know how to care for women's bodies.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I started realizing where my education was really limited.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I thought I was told everything that I needed to know to support these women that I was here to serve.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And turns out that wasn't quite true.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: If I had a dollar for every time somebody asked me a question and I had to say, oh, we don't know why that happens.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, we don't, we don't have a solution for that, but we can try birth control, we can try this medication.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I did my best to give holistic support in terms of lifestyle and diet and exercise and even stress.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I really went into the depressive episodes with my patients too, and offered the best that I could, but I started realizing, you know, over and over how limited it was.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I started to get sick because I didn't know it at the time, but I was living out of alignment with my soul.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so my body continued to spiral.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I ended up being diagnosed with failure to thrive as an adult, which is crazy, right?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: I dropped down to 95 pounds and was seeking support through health care, you know, seeing GI doctors, checking out my colon, making sure I was absorbing food.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: I ended up in an oncology office being tested for cancer because they thought, well, we don't have an another explanation.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like you could have lymphoma because I had these inflamed lymph nodes.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thankfully, they didn't find anything.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thankfully and unfortunately, right?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because then I still didn't have answers.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I I didn't really have answers until years later.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then I kind of reflected and looked back, and yeah, like I had failure to thrive as an adult, which was crazy.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: And all at the same time, I started waking up to my childhood trauma and my nervous system being dysregulated, and how having to show up in this system that expects me to see more patients with less time and work through my lunch and stay late and without extra pay, my body was screaming at me to stop.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you don't listen to your body, eventually your body will make you stop, right?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: So she made me stop and I quit.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: I quit my job.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: My husband and I made uh this plan to move across the country.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we moved to Florida.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: I really dove deep into my healing journey, worked with my inner child, regulating my nervous system.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: I started going on women's retreats.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: I started, you know, experimenting with plant medicine, experienced breakthroughs with that.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: And after assimilating into Florida, I got sick again.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: I got mold toxicity.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was being invited again and again to look at how I viewed our healthcare system.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because even through that, I was told, oh, that's not real, that's not a thing.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I had to push and push and push till I ended up with a naturopath who found that I was riddled with toxic mold in my system and began my two-year journey of recovering from that, you know, diving into holistic ways to support my body through supplements, learning that our food is severely nutrient deficient, and supporting my liver to process all the crap, you know, that we consume.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it was very slow, you know, it was scary.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: I got to some really scary places, scary, crazy neurological conditions that arised from that.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: And the recovery was very, very, very slow.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I knew I wasn't going to go back to healthcare.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: I knew that all of this was a sign for me to really look at and evaluate how do I want to show up in the world?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I knew I wanted to still show up for women.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: I knew that was still my favorite area, my mission.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so I made the decision to start my own business, which has been slow moving because I've been in recovery.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I'd say over the last six to eight months, I'm finally like feeling like myself again, really brought myself back from the dead and really had this decision to shift from OBGYN healthcare provider to medicine woman and sacred feminine spirituality and womb healing and thinking with the cycles of nature.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I in person started doing healing ceremonies and attending and holding new moon and full moon women's circles.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I right now I have a container for a group of women, very special women, that agreed to come on this journey with me of creating a community around syncing with our cycle.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's like in development in beta right now.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: And really all of this has brought me to this point of really finding my power and rooting into my purpose and creating the pathway for true fulfillment in my life where I have a say in who I serve and how I serve and how long I serve.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's been it's been a journey, and I am so incredibly grateful to be where I am now.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are so many, but you're gonna have to come back because there are so many things in that that I love so much.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I wanna, I'm gonna, I've just I wrote some notes here so I can remember to come back.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I love how you said that the system teaches women to outsource their power.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it got me thinking a little bit today.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: I saw a post on social media and it was very much about kind of um this was specifically around a woman in business and money.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it was very much leaning into, you know, when you when you um value yourself, when you remember who the F you are, I think the words were, then you you know, you can kind of like charge what you want.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that for me is just another bit off piece, but you're talking about building your business.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I also think that's another part of the system that says, well, if you earn this, if you look like this, if you do this, if you follow this path, if you then you are worthy, you are enough.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just so controlling.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: So the fact that you are sitting here telling us all that your body, your your somatic experience broke down to to and because you were, I mean, that whole failure to thrive.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've never even heard that statement before.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: But as an adult, it's like it, you know, I've just got a vision of ET in the movie, and it's like I'm not getting what I need, I'm not getting that nourishment of my soul, yet alone, like you say, the the food that we put into our mouths that people often don't realize what's inside of it and how it's having that impact.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I want to just kind of like I love also the fact that you reiterated that when you decided to take matters into your own hands, because we know our bodies, when we tune in, we know our bodies, and our bodies are talking to us all of the time.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: When we turn in like that, number one, we have to play detective, which is what you did.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you sought you did your own research and you sought help outside of the traditional, you then put that into practice.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't wait for somebody to heal you, you was an active participant through choice with that, and you knew it was gonna be slow.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I would be really, you know, I think if you could just share maybe were there a couple of thoughts that kept you going in those times when you thought, oh my god, I'm never gonna get back, I'm never gonna feel like I did before, or maybe even better than I did before.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, was there some thoughts that you could practice that kept you on that pathway?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: First, I mean, I definitely was at that point many times where it felt like it was never gonna get better, where it felt hopeless.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and if my experiences throughout my life have taught me anything, it's that when we reach our lowest low, when we reach our darkest dark, we can also allow a sense of hope and relief because after the darkness always comes the light.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I kept reminding myself of that.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: I kept reminding myself of how creation, how existence itself unfolds, and it very much oscillates between darkness and light.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I knew that this was a season, not just a moment of darkness, a season of darkness.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I just trusted in the divine intelligence of my body to heal because that's what my body was designed to do, even when I didn't fully believe it yet, when I didn't have the evidence in front of me.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: I just used that.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: I looked at other people's stories of healing and knew that's possible for me too.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was another one.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is possible for me.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Healing is possible, healing is what my body is designed to do.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: After darkness always comes light, and I can trust myself to carry through.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: I can do this, I trust my body to carry me.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: My body has carried me my whole life.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: My body wants nothing more than for me to heal, for me to grow, for me to expand, for me to succeed, whatever succeed means.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: And surrender too.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of it was surrender.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: It is safe to surrender.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: It is safe to surrender to my inner knowing, to the intelligence of my body, the intelligence of the universe.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that yeah, really, after darkness comes light, always.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I those were key anchors for me.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: There was some big statements in there, so I'll be sure to pick those out and put those in the show notes because you know, practicing those thoughts in those times is so important.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: And and that is a big one at the end, they're like safe to surrender because again, we're in we're in a world that wants us.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't say I'm gonna say it for want of a better word, that wants us to believe that everything that we create comes from our brain and that we have to have this level of control.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, in reality, we control next to nothing.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we can control how we show up and we can control the attitude that we do that with and the actions that we take.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um But having that surrender and therefore that trust in something outside of ourselves, and then lining up with that.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you talked about, and we'll go into that a little bit more in a minute, but you know, the the moon cycles and you know honoring the cycles of our body, and I know there's a lot of people here saying, I can't do that because you know, you've got a corporate job or you've got a young family to look after, and I get that.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I what I would say to that, what I would say to my community is what is available to you?
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Where can you start?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like what can you manage?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are in a in a full-time job as an example and you can't do what you said, like take that time to rest during your period or something, then maybe you can just get more sleep that week or maybe eat better.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's always something that we can do.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I love that you're such an advocate for taking that responsibility and being curious and finding your way back to that center.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that um, so when I at the beginning, I said to you, like I saw this very sort of rigid box and flowing through, and now this conversation, I can see the the everything flowing and everything sort of being cavacious rather than very structured.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you've talked about that you have a container that you're um in beta with at the moment that's super exciting where you're taking women through and helping them to kind of like sync with their cycles.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you if somebody was coming to you and they had no concept of what this is or what benefit it could give them, what would be just a couple of the things that you would share with them?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like what are the benefits of them going on that discovery for themselves?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Hmm, well, I love this.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: So whether you're talking about aligning with the moon cycle or your menstrual cycle or the seasons, first they're all the same, really.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: We're all it's all fractals within fractals within fractals.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so when I look at aligning with these cycles, I really see it as a practice.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a practice, but it's an act of remembrance of who we really are.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's a return to a way of being that our ancestors knew very well and has been buried and forgotten into our conscious awareness and is a way of honoring the natural cycles of life.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And when you think about the moon specifically, what's great about that is that it's for everyone.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: We all look at the same moon.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's for whether you bleed or whether you don't bleed.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: And everything that you can apply to the moon, you can apply to your personal menstrual cycle, and vice versa.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: And when we do this, it helps us reclaim our right to honor and embrace our cyclical nature versus suppressing ourselves.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's an invitation to and a permission slip for us to be in our fullness, the full range of who we are, to surrender and accept change, that we're not gonna be the same every day.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's an opportunity to restore and embody balance.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: And when we do this, we heal, we prevent burnout, we experience greater energy, we experience more ease, and we flow quite literally with the cycles inside of us and outside of us.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: This helps relieve stress.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: We can more easily tap into our creativity because our creativity flows in this same cycle.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: We experience deepened intuition when we're in alignment.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: We find our power.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: We experience a deep, deep sense of belonging within our bodies, within the earth, within the greater cosmic scale.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's something that I see so much.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: We all just want to belong.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: We all just want to know that we belong here.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: We want to know where our place is, that we have a purpose.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that that's what I've primarily found by doing alignment work, work, cycle alignment work specifically.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: And like I feel like that in a sense only scratches the surface because it becomes this cyclical journey of returning to the same points over and over again, but from a higher perspective, you are always approaching the same spots, but from an elevated, more experienced point of view, and you learn deeper and deeper layers every time, and you just continue to blossom and expand.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: And this doesn't end, it doesn't end when you stop bleeding.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: This this is infinite, and I what's so beautiful is it it connects you to the infinite nature that we are and the infinite nature of all that is, and it's absolutely priceless.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's finding our place within existence.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: I love I love that finding place, and you're right about the belonging um that's so important and that purpose.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think I feel like somehow purpose has become a bit of a warped word because people think that the purpose is something external, it's outside of ourselves.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: I need to have this big mission that's been given to me.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I feel like so many people are unhappy because they haven't found that, because they don't realize that the purpose is to live their life on and have purpose.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: They are purposeful for their you know to to express themselves fully and have a life that that that that reflects that.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I just did a reel this morning actually, because I went to bed last night and I I have I heard the saying, um, none of us get out of here alive.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we've all have heard that before.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: But then this other voice said, But how many of us leave here living?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought that's so true.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: So many people are just existing, trying to get through day to day because we are so disconnected.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's a um a book that I read about somatic healing, and the guy says the distance that with the distance from which we live, the distance that we live from our bodies, a distance we live from our own life because we are so so disconnected.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: So bringing that all back in, and there was one other thing that just kind of first of all, that's the third time I've heard or read that whole thing about the cycle when we just get to a different vantage point with in in a week.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: So clearly I was meant to hear that.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I was listening to something from Gabor Mate at the end of last year, and he was on a podcast, I can't remember who he was with, and he talked about women's menstrual cycles and perimenopause and menopause.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, It's become, I think he said something like it's become very medicalized because you know it's because of this.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: We call them the symptoms, right?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Premenstrual symptom.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, But in my in my view, he said, these are times when women's hormones change, they're so much more sensitive, and things that they have put a barrier up against and just pushed through, they don't have the availability to do that, so they become truth tellers.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, even saying it again, I know my I've got goosebumps and everything, and I and I feel like they've I'm in the perimenopause stage, so I hit 50 next month, and so lots of people in my community and my friends, we're all in that sort of same age group, and some of the comp the well, many of the conversations are the same about what am I doing?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: Am I doing the things that I want to do?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Why am I why do I keep making these same mistakes?
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: It it's almost like you you you're being you're being offered a completely different experience, and it's up to us if we step into that.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I I find it absolutely scary, but at the same time so exciting because there is such a call for us to come back to our truth and to realize how powerful we are just because of what we are and who we are.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's just amazing.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, now I know we said we wanted to kind of keep it about 30 minutes, so um, so you definitely definitely got to come back.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so could you just, I mean, obviously you've shared with us how you've gone on this amazing, incredible journey of healing.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so glad to hear that you're saying, you know, for the last six to sort of nine months, you felt so much more you.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: You look amazing, your energy is gorgeous.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the way that you talk and articulate about your work is just it's like music.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: When you I hope the other readers and listeners, it really is.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's just the way that you talk, you it's like you was meant to have this conversation.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so and that's where we have to come back to those hard times are to bring us here so that we can be the truth teller for somebody else.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: So before we wrap up, please tell people what it is.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's in beta, but kind of what is it, this program that you're taking women through?
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: I will make sure that I put all of your links in the show notes so people can come find you.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I would just be curious about you because I other I also want other women to realize that we've all got a story that's that's going to help somebody else somewhere.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter what it is, somewhere we're gonna help another woman.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, what are you how are you taking what's the sort of the journey that you're taking these women through on your on your beta program at the moment?
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it's within a container of sisterhood.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's the key piece.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like going back to the concept of the red tent where women gather around our natural cycles, and we are going through each of the inner seasons.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I love to use the framework of the seasons of earth, so winter, spring, summer, and autumn.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm giving a lot of ideas.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: The challenge I've had is finding this balance between giving them structure, but also creating space for them to have their own experience.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because the last thing I want to do is tell women, you know, when you're in winter, when you're bleeding, like this is what happens and this is what happens in spring.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's so much less about that, and so much more about tuning into what's real for you because it's gonna change throughout throughout your life, throughout what season of life you're in, what's showing up in your life, what's happening with your health, your relationships is all gonna affect how these different seasons show up.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's really a container of exploration of our seasons.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm giving lots of ideas and we do rituals and um meditation practices, and it's really a playground right now.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's a mystery box to see what it wants to become based on the needs of the container, but it will be an online community that's off of Facebook, that it's probably gonna have its own app.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we're just gonna support each other, we're gonna celebrate each other, we're gonna figure out how we can best support ourselves in each season.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's about discovering what our strengths are in each season, our challenges, our needs, and practicing honoring them because it is a practice.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said earlier, it's hard, you know.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: This life isn't structured for this, it's not structured for our cyclical way of living.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's very much centered around masculine productivity, doing all the time.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: And earlier you mentioned too, you know, it's so hard to find time.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so I say, what's the one percent?
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how can you give yourself one percent of that?
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you can't rest your whole bleed, but can you can you rest for an hour?
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: Can you rest for five minutes?
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, can you choose one bleed your in your year that you actually give yourself a full rest?
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you start bleeding on the weekend and then call out Monday, because why not?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like choose one and gift yourself that experience.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because once you see it, once you experience it, you'll see, you'll feel the value, and it will naturally become more of a priority.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're looking at how we can make this sustainable for us.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I think one of the most beautiful things about cycle work, whether you're working with the moon, whether you're working with the menstrual cycle, is that it has built-in sustainability in it when we actually honor it in those ways, when we take the moments for rest, when we take the bold action to express ourselves when we're ovulating or when it's summertime seasonal-wise.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: And we are learning how to hold this together.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: We're not alone.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: We are sharing our experiences, we are becoming mirrors and reflectors for each other.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I always say that you can accomplish in community in community what would have taken you years by yourself.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes it just takes one other woman, one other being saying something to trigger a remembrance, a knowing, an insight, an understanding of yourself.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: And when we all gather, we amplify this energy.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so when you're first starting out with this, it's really about developing a relationship with it, developing an awareness around it.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Don't create pressure to be perfect, to do it all.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: Choose awareness, choose noticing.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: Start there and hold that, hold it, practice holding it for several months.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: Get to know yourself, your patterns, your needs, and then you look at where can I gift myself at least a little bit of that?
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: And where can I be a little generous giving that to myself too?
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: And play, like play, have it be an experiment, have it be a playground for you to learn how to be in yourself, how to be with yourself, and allowing it to happen and unfold within a container of other women who are on the same journey as you.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think it can be simple.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: Just gathering, just being aware can spark change, can spark revelation.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then it happens in layers.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: You find what works, and then you build.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's so much more important to start and you know, even if it's small to be sustainable than it is to just do it all at once.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think when we do that, we set ourselves up to be overwhelmed in a world that's already so overwhelming.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have to really reel it in.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean I said to um, I don't know who I was speaking to today, but I just said, you know, it's that that thing of the only strategy that works is the one that you can execute.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: So make it as simple for yourself as you can to build consistency because it's it's the constant breaking of promises to ourselves that again that robs our power.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: So if we give our self permission to go slow and to be present to the journey and to trust in the in the process, we're actually probably gonna move quicker anyway, but that's not necessarily the point, it's not the pace, it's just the being present to it.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and what you said there as well about offering these ladies, you know, this is kind of like the generic thing.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is what kind of, but you know, something else might happen for you.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like I the first two days, if I've got a period, I'm there's nothing out of me, like I'm just resting.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I sort of build up.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've been doing intermittent fasting around the my cycle, but being pre-menopausal, it's a bit hit and miss.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, but if you can give people that permission to to to be in their body and trust that somatic intuition so that they can feel guide of themselves, it's the whole thing of pitch a man to fish, and they will be able to to notice those nuances and notice that when things are different and and have but that just be normal, like they're just it's they're not trying to fit into a into a category for the sake of fitting into a season.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, well, my love, there was a huge amount there.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I will make sure that all of your uh your social media things go on the show notes, people can come find you and um keep doing your amazing stuff in the world.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot wait to see where your program takes.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that everyone listening is gonna be like, that was amazing.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh I will just keep following you.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for your time.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully I'll see you again on the podcast soon.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, would you like me to quickly give uh a really cool app that for women that want to keep up with the moon?
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, and where it's at.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I really love this is from my astronomy days, but I really love the sky live.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's S-K Y L I V E app.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: And it tells you what phase the moon is it's in, what percentage full the moon is, it tells you when the moon rises and sets, because sometimes the moon rises during the day.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it in that way, it your practice can be as simple as just check the app, see what, see where the moon's at.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: I love that get in tune um with how it changes.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: It usually changes about an hour every day, like it shifts when when it rises and and sets.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that's you know, something and and get out and look, go look at the moon.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: And they just reminded me that you know that we're getting to the time now.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, I could it's still pretty cold over here, but with a wetsuit, I can probably start going in the sea again.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, the moon and the tides and all of those things, you know, and it is, and I just thank you so much for that reminder that when we look up at the moon, it's the same moon that all the people before us looked at.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: Every time I say it now, my eyes water.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: So there is, I needed to hear that today for some reason.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Ali, it's been an absolute pleasure.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for sharing your energy and all your knowledge and your story.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope to speak to you again soon.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, it's been a pleasure.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me, and I look forward to thank you.