Are you feeling exhausted, bloated, and trapped on a restrictive diet that barely seems to help? If you’ve been approaching your digestive wellness solely through macros, probiotics, and elimination diets, you might be missing an essential part of the picture. In this episode of Where Science Meets Self-Care, host Ida Fanelli sits down with Holly Blazina—founder of Big Gutsy Life, flamenco guitarist, and Ayurveda educator—to offer a fresh perspective on conventional digestive wellness.
Holly introduces us to the gut-heart-mind-Spirit connection, showing how supporting our well-being often means looking beyond the plate to tune in to our nervous system, creativity, and emotional health. Whether you are an over-giving entrepreneur, an empath experiencing burnout, or simply ready to feel more at home in your body, this deeply layered conversation will inspire a gentler, more integrated approach to everyday wellness.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
The Gut-Heart-Mind-Spirit Connection: Why digestive comfort is closely tied to your mindset, stress responses, and overall sense of balance.
The "Wolf vs. Deer" Metric: How modern stress affects your digestive system, plus a simple 60-second exercise to help relax your nervous system before meals.
Ayurveda Decoded: The distinct difference between a "reset" and a "detox," and how to better understand your body’s unique energy and natural rhythms.
Reclaiming the Hearth: Simple strategies to turn meal preparation from a stressful chore into a grounding, nourishing routine for the whole family.
Sound for Stress Relief: How Holly uses the rhythm and frequency of live flamenco guitar to help release emotional tension and foster deep relaxation.
Breaking Ancestral Patterns: How to honour your heritage by prioritizing personal well-being rather than repeating cycles of stress and sacrifice.
About Our Guest:
Holly Blazina is a Calgary-based practitioner, lifelong flamenco guitarist, award-winning composer, published author, yoga teacher, and Ayurveda educator. As the founder of Big Gutsy Life, Gutsy Yoga, and the Gutsy Type Method, Holly blends ancient wisdom with modern stress-management practices. Having navigated her own complex health journey, she now helps sensitive individuals support their digestive wellness and vitality from the inside out.
Connect with Holly: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/holly-blazina-82385376 Email: hblazina@gmail.com
Website: www.biggutsy.com Free Reset: recipes.biggutsylife.com/reset-registration
Support the Show: If this conversation resonated with you, please leave us a 5-star review on your favourite podcast platform! Your support helps others discover holistic approaches to everyday well-being. Like, share, and subscribe to the Channel for more episodes.
Important Consumer & Medical Disclaimer: This podcast episode and associated content are for educational and informational purposes only. They do not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, nor do they replace the care of a qualified healthcare professional. If you suspect you have a medical condition, chronic illness, or health emergency, please consult a licensed healthcare provider.
Connect with Ida Fanelli: Link in Bio
#GutHealth #NervousSystemHealth #AyurvedaLife #HolisticWellness #EmpathBurnout #SomaticWellness #WhereScienceMeetsSelfCare #VataBalance #SoundAndWellness #DigestiveWellness #BigGutsyLife
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Welcome to Where Science Meets Self -Care with
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 Ida Fanelli. With over 30 years in beauty and
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 wellness and a background in medical science,
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 Ida blends clinical knowledge with holistic care.
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 Each week, she and her guests share insights
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 to help you achieve healthier skin, balanced
00:00:19 --> 00:00:23 energy and empowered self-care. Now, here's
00:00:23 --> 00:00:32 your host, Ida Fanelli. Today we are diving into
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 a beautiful and deeply layered conversation about
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 the gut, the nervous system, emotional healing,
00:00:38 --> 00:00:43 creativity, Veda, ancestral patterns, and what
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 it really means to reclaim our body wisdom. My
00:00:46 --> 00:00:50 guest today is Holly Blazina, founder of Big
00:00:50 --> 00:00:54 Gutsy Life, Gutsy Yoga, and the Gutsy Type Method.
00:00:55 --> 00:00:59 Holly is a Calgary -based healer, lifelong flamenco
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 guitarist, award -winning composer, recording
00:01:02 --> 00:01:07 artist, published author, yoga teacher and Ayurvedic
00:01:07 --> 00:01:12 educator. Her work brings together yoga, Ayurveda,
00:01:12 --> 00:01:16 embodied vision, coaching, dream work, nervous
00:01:16 --> 00:01:20 system regulation and the healing power of music.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:25 What makes Holly's approach so unique? is that
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 she does not look at the gut health as simply
00:01:27 --> 00:01:31 a matter of diet, supplements, or food sensitivities.
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 She views healing through what she calls the
00:01:34 --> 00:01:38 gut, heart, mind, spirit axis. The understanding
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 that our digestion, emotions, beliefs, nervous
00:01:41 --> 00:01:45 system, energy, and purpose are all deeply connected.
00:01:45 --> 00:01:49 Holly's journey is also very personal. She has
00:01:49 --> 00:01:53 overcome chronic fatigue, candida, food sensitivities,
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 repetitive strange injuries, insomnia, childhood
00:01:57 --> 00:02:02 PTSD, and the long road of reclaiming her health
00:02:02 --> 00:02:07 from the inside out. After more than 25 years
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 of figuring out how to heal her own body and
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 life, she now helps over giving entrepreneurs,
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 empaths, and sensitive individuals resolve the
00:02:17 --> 00:02:21 deeper roots of gut pain, weight struggles, food
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 intolerances, exhaustion, and disconnection from
00:02:24 --> 00:02:28 their own wisdom. Today we'll talk about why
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 digestion is never just about food, how stress
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 changes the way the body receives nourishment,
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 why the kitchen can become either a place of
00:02:37 --> 00:02:41 depletion or healing. How music and dreams can
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 reach part of us that words cannot and why true
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 healing requires us to listen to the body rather
00:02:47 --> 00:02:51 than fight against it. Holly, I'm so excited
00:02:51 --> 00:02:55 to have you here. I'm so excited to be here,
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 Ida. Thank you so much for inviting me into your
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 conversation. Holly, before we dive into your
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 work, I'd love for listeners to understand your
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 personal journey. You've described a moment where
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 you stood in the kitchen with a short food list
00:03:09 --> 00:03:13 from your naturopath and cried from overwhelm.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:17 Can you take us back to that time? What was life
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 like that before you found your healing path?
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 I would describe my life as stressful. I didn't
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 yet realize that I was a workaholic on top of
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 everything else. I was in university. I was in
00:03:28 --> 00:03:32 a stressful relationship. And I had also had
00:03:32 --> 00:03:38 mono. when I was in high school. And so by that
00:03:38 --> 00:03:42 point, I was already, you know, like five, six,
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 seven years into the recovery from that. So I
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 had recovered from the acute phase of it, but
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 I hadn't recovered from the long -term effects.
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 of having had mono. And there wasn't as much
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 known about it at that time as there is now.
00:03:57 --> 00:04:01 And so in that moment, I was just crying because,
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 I mean, literally I was making my lunch, getting
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 ready to go. I was still in university, getting
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 ready to go to school. And I was just like, oh
00:04:08 --> 00:04:12 my goodness, what am I going to eat? And so,
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 yeah, my partner at that point said, you know,
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 you can, you don't have to start right now today.
00:04:17 --> 00:04:21 You can just wait. You know, get your head around
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 this first. And that was the very beginning of
00:04:24 --> 00:04:30 just a battle with food and food restrictions
00:04:30 --> 00:04:35 and cravings. And it was just so hard. Feeling
00:04:35 --> 00:04:39 left out a lot of the time. If we had a dinner
00:04:39 --> 00:04:43 invitation, I had to bring my own food. I had
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 to tell people every single time they would put
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 something on the table, I would say, I can't
00:04:47 --> 00:04:52 eat that. And it was just, I would say, one of
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 the most difficult and lonely times in my life,
00:04:55 --> 00:04:59 you know, because I just couldn't participate
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 the way most people were participating. And people
00:05:02 --> 00:05:06 didn't understand it either. I remember my former
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 husband's family saying, oh, you know, Holly's
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 a nice girl, but she's got some funny ideas about
00:05:11 --> 00:05:16 food, right? And it's just how it was. You've
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 mentioned that yoga became part of your solution
00:05:18 --> 00:05:22 in a very unexpected way. You noticed that after
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 repeated yoga classes, you simply didn't have
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 the same food struggles you'd experienced before.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 What was it like to discover that connection
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 and how did that shift the way you thought about
00:05:34 --> 00:05:38 healing? We know this now about yoga, for those
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 of us who practice it, that it is a great stress
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 buster. So a lot of my stress went down almost
00:05:43 --> 00:05:48 immediately. I had finally found something that
00:05:48 --> 00:05:52 I could do physically that worked for me. Prior
00:05:52 --> 00:05:57 to having mono, I ran track in high school. And
00:05:57 --> 00:06:02 I was scouted for an Olympic team, which that
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 didn't end up coming to pass. But I had a strong
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 body that was athletic and needed to move. And
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 at the same time, here I was dealing with this
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 aftermath. where I didn't have the same energy
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 levels and I couldn't push myself in the way
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 that I was used to doing. So it was a real relief
00:06:19 --> 00:06:23 to be able to come back into my body. And I think
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 this is something that we really miss in the
00:06:26 --> 00:06:30 gut health conversation altogether is that it
00:06:30 --> 00:06:34 is an embodied path. We have to begin to inhabit
00:06:34 --> 00:06:38 our body. to in a different way, to a different
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 degree than what we've been doing. And so for
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 me, it was a great relief to find that I could
00:06:44 --> 00:06:48 do that. It was also a great relief. I just found
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 that I had so much more freedom with food. So
00:06:51 --> 00:06:56 that was really exciting. And at one point, I
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 was in physiotherapy for one of the many repetitive
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 strain injuries that I'd had, except that this
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 time it was quite a serious one. And I was sidelined
00:07:04 --> 00:07:08 for nearly a year. When my physiotherapist found
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 out that I did yoga, she said, you have to never,
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 ever stop. Because if you do, she said, everything
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 that's going on in your body and all of the muscle
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 pathways, the nervous system pathways, she said,
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 your playing career will be over if you do. And
00:07:22 --> 00:07:27 so it was in that moment that I just said, okay,
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 that's it. I'm never going to be without the
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 tools. I don't want to ever have to. find a new
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 yoga class or find something that may or may
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 not work for what I need. So at that point, I
00:07:38 --> 00:07:42 embarked on a 600 hour two year yoga training
00:07:42 --> 00:07:47 program. So it was instrumental in what I'm doing
00:07:47 --> 00:07:51 today. And no pun intended. Well, that was really
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 great advice she gave you. Yes, it was. Most
00:07:54 --> 00:07:58 people have heard of gut health in terms of probiotics.
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 fiber, fermented foods, or food sensitivities.
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 But your gutsy type method goes much deeper.
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 Can you explain what the gut -heart -mind -spirit
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 axis means and why gut healing cannot be separated
00:08:11 --> 00:08:15 from emotions, beliefs, the nervous system, and
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 spiritual alignment? 100%. I'd love to speak
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 about that. And, you know, the diet that I had
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 been on that my naturopath gave me, I was on
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 that diet for over two years. I mean, if I stuck
00:08:26 --> 00:08:31 to it perfectly, it wasn't terrible. But I wouldn't
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 say that I actually felt healed or felt like
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 there was enough of an improvement to warrant
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 that level of commitment. And I was also dealing
00:08:38 --> 00:08:41 with cravings like all day, every day. It was
00:08:41 --> 00:08:45 a real struggle, especially if I would be with
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 friends and there's dessert on the table or there's
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 a bottle of wine or something like that. I just
00:08:49 --> 00:08:53 found it so hard to say no. And then... There's
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 that inner conflict every time because you know,
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 I mean, for myself, it didn't take alcohol for
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 me to feel hungover the next day. Even if I had
00:09:01 --> 00:09:04 sugar or if I had bread, I would feel hungover.
00:09:04 --> 00:09:09 And so when I started doing yoga, that was the
00:09:09 --> 00:09:13 first moment where my nervous system started
00:09:13 --> 00:09:18 to settle. And at the time, I didn't realize
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 that that's what it was. That's just what was
00:09:20 --> 00:09:24 happening. And so that nervous system piece was
00:09:24 --> 00:09:28 absolutely massive. And so then it wasn't until
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 a number of years later, as I was working on
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 some of the emotional content, and this is the
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 thing that I realized as well from doing yoga,
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 like over the time that I was studying it and
00:09:37 --> 00:09:41 doing it, I experienced firsthand that our emotions
00:09:41 --> 00:09:45 do get stuck in the body. And so I would be in
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 some kind of a pose and immediately start crying.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 which now I understand that a lot better than
00:09:51 --> 00:09:55 I did at the time. So I think one of the things
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 that we get stuck on in our culture is that we
00:09:57 --> 00:10:03 have the misguided idea that if an emotion comes
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 up, we have to know, we have to go back to where
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 does it come from and why is it there, and we
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 have to unpack the whole thing. We actually don't.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 All we need to do is be present with it. And
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 then it will move. And at the same time, what
00:10:17 --> 00:10:21 I've learned in myself and with my clients is
00:10:21 --> 00:10:25 that there are subconscious beliefs that are
00:10:25 --> 00:10:29 connected with these emotions. So I'll give you
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 an example. And actually with cravings, too.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 So the example is craving sugar, for example.
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 So I did. I became certified in the embodied
00:10:38 --> 00:10:43 vision method. and did a healing for myself on
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 the dichotomy between I eat sugar and I don't
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 eat sugar. And what I discovered in that deep
00:10:49 --> 00:10:53 process was that I was holding the belief that
00:10:53 --> 00:10:57 if I stopped eating sugar, that I would lose
00:10:57 --> 00:11:01 my grandmother. Because I used to go to their
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 home all the time as a child and their home was
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 not stressful. And my grandmother, she always
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 had cinnamon buns, bread, and it was always fresh
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 baked. She had made that with so much love. And
00:11:13 --> 00:11:19 so it was for me, sugar meant safety. And so
00:11:19 --> 00:11:23 I had it confused that if I gave up sugar, I
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 would have to give up my grandmother's love.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 And I'd have to give up that sense of safety,
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 which, of course, when we get to a certain point
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 in life and these things are sort of coming up
00:11:33 --> 00:11:38 for our observation. then it actually is maybe
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 even the opposite, that I'm going to lose safety
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 if I keep eating all this sugar because it's
00:11:43 --> 00:11:47 having this terrible effect on my body. So that
00:11:47 --> 00:11:52 is how vital that process is, to be able to look
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 at some of those things and, like, why are the
00:11:54 --> 00:11:58 things that we struggle to maintain, why are
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 they so difficult? When you work with someone
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 who is struggling with gut pain, food sensitivities,
00:12:04 --> 00:12:07 weight changes, fatigue or digestive issues,
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 how do you begin to uncover what is really underneath
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 the symptoms? How do you tell whether the body
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 is reacting to food, stress, nervous system patterns,
00:12:17 --> 00:12:21 emotional wounds or deeper energetic roots? Well,
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 it's all one thing. When I work with a person,
00:12:23 --> 00:12:27 it's not a matter of finding out whether it's
00:12:27 --> 00:12:31 one or the other. it's always all of it and.
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 I have yet to meet a person who has gut issues
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 that doesn't also have all of that that we've
00:12:38 --> 00:12:42 been talking about. And so then the question
00:12:42 --> 00:12:46 becomes for that person, where do I start for
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 that person? And it's individual. For some people,
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 they're more comfortable starting with food.
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 For some people, they really need that input
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 in terms of I mean, if somebody comes to me and
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 they already have a really good diet and they've
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 already worked, they've already done a lot of
00:13:02 --> 00:13:04 work, they're mostly working already with whole
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 foods, then a lot of times I just start with
00:13:06 --> 00:13:10 those other components. And with almost everybody,
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 and of course, living in the world the way it
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 is, we're all multitasking. We're all eating
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 in front of screens. We're all dysregulated at
00:13:19 --> 00:13:23 different times of the day. Every single person
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 who comes through the door, like there is that
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 square one. There are those things that I work
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 with with every single person, you know, taking
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 a deep breath or two or three deep breaths before
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 you eat, sitting down, making sure that you're
00:13:36 --> 00:13:40 settled before you eat, making sure that your
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 gut is hydrated. Those are the things that I
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 always start with. And then from there, it's
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 just individual. Where do we start? Is it more
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 with food? Is it more with the healing sessions?
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 We implement all of it actually fairly quickly.
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 You've used the powerful example that digestion
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 does not work when the deer is running from the
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 wolf. How does living in modern day survival
00:14:03 --> 00:14:06 mode affect the gut? Well, we're all living in
00:14:06 --> 00:14:10 survival mode. And I would say that if we're
00:14:10 --> 00:14:14 not consciously working with that, then it's
00:14:14 --> 00:14:18 going to be operating on us in that way. And
00:14:18 --> 00:14:22 so it's just a fact of modern life that we have
00:14:22 --> 00:14:26 to, I mean, when people lived closer to the land,
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 for example, and when we didn't have all of these
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 screens, which for sure, we've got all this technology
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 that is helping us in so many ways. I mean, here
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 you and I are having this conversation and it's
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 a conversation we probably wouldn't even have
00:14:38 --> 00:14:42 met had it not been for that. And at the same
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 time, it's a thing that has to be managed. We
00:14:45 --> 00:14:50 have to we have to attenuate it definitely and
00:14:50 --> 00:14:53 now we'll take time for a commercial break welcome
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 back you've written about a simple experiment
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 where people can notice what happens in their
00:14:58 --> 00:15:02 belly when they feel threatened or soften their
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 eyes would you be willing to guide listeners
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 through that awareness exercise and explain what
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 it teaches us about the nervous system and digestion
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 I'd love to. Thank you for asking. So if you
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 put your hand on your belly, like just above
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 the belly button, and that's the place where
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 the ribs, so there's almost like a triangle between
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 the ribs and the belly button. If you have your
00:15:25 --> 00:15:32 hand there and just feel your breath. And so
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 in the most ideal sense, you're going to notice
00:15:35 --> 00:15:39 that that space. goes up it goes up and down
00:15:39 --> 00:15:40 with your breath as you breathe in it's going
00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 to push out as you exhale it's going to push
00:15:43 --> 00:15:47 back in so now that you've connected with that
00:15:47 --> 00:15:52 imagine that you just saw something in front
00:15:52 --> 00:15:56 of you that's like oh my gosh right so where
00:15:56 --> 00:16:00 your where your eyes get big notice what where
00:16:00 --> 00:16:04 maybe your breath stops notice what happens with
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 that space right there Did you feel the way your
00:16:07 --> 00:16:11 eyes, as soon as your eyes get big and as soon
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 as you have that fright moment that you just
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16 imagined for yourself, did you feel the way that
00:16:16 --> 00:16:20 space in your belly automatically caught and
00:16:20 --> 00:16:24 stopped your breath? Well, I can't say that I
00:16:24 --> 00:16:28 did, but I'm a little bit nervous. Oh, OK. Yeah.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:29 And that's the thing, too, is that you actually
00:16:29 --> 00:16:35 have to like really. If we were in a different
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 setting, maybe I would notice. Yeah, exactly.
00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 And I just want to say for listeners, if you're
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 not feeling that difference, then just bring
00:16:43 --> 00:16:46 your fingers up into that space between like
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 right where the ribs come together, putting your
00:16:49 --> 00:16:53 fingers right there. If you have that, I mean,
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 even for me, as soon as I do this, I feel that
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 space just harden. And so, yeah, so that's something
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 that you can try maybe when you have your own
00:17:01 --> 00:17:05 moment. to do so. And so then what, what does
00:17:05 --> 00:17:09 that tell you about your nervous system? Well,
00:17:09 --> 00:17:13 this is an ancient fight or flight system that's
00:17:13 --> 00:17:17 already online. It happens for animals. It happens
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 for people where, and so immediately, like if
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 an animal is threatened, the first thing that
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 happens is that their bowels evacuate and then
00:17:26 --> 00:17:29 they run. So that's the fight or flight response.
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 And so for people where we're in this constant
00:17:33 --> 00:17:38 state where it's stress upon stress upon stress
00:17:38 --> 00:17:42 upon stress, and a lot of times we're not working
00:17:42 --> 00:17:46 physically anymore. So we're not actually running
00:17:46 --> 00:17:50 that stress through our body physically. And
00:17:50 --> 00:17:53 then it's just an accumulation of stress throughout
00:17:53 --> 00:17:58 the day that never gets released. Great. How
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 can gentle rituals like candlelight, silence,
00:18:01 --> 00:18:04 breathing before meals, warm water, or unhurried
00:18:04 --> 00:18:07 eating physically support the nervous system,
00:18:07 --> 00:18:11 digestion, vata balance, and nutrient uptake?
00:18:11 --> 00:18:15 All I can say is that it just does. It just does.
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 And if anyone is saying, oh, I need some of these
00:18:18 --> 00:18:21 tools, it's like you just listed A number of
00:18:21 --> 00:18:24 them right there, Ida. The thing that is most
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 interesting to me that I've noticed over time
00:18:26 --> 00:18:29 is that even if I'm not doing it perfectly, if
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 I get into the habit, whenever I'm in the habit
00:18:32 --> 00:18:35 of taking those three breaths before I eat, I
00:18:35 --> 00:18:39 could be doing the next meal imperfectly. Suppose
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 I am in front of a screen, but I will start to
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 notice much more quickly. It's like, oh my gosh,
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 my nervous system is not selling. You can just
00:18:46 --> 00:18:50 feel that you're kind of vibrating up here. You
00:18:50 --> 00:18:53 start to want that. You want that regulation.
00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 You just want to be able to come down and be
00:18:56 --> 00:19:01 in a state of rest and digest. For listeners
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 who are new to it, how do you explain Ayurvedic
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06 types and how can understanding your type help
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 personalize food, digestion, emotions, energy,
00:19:10 --> 00:19:15 and lifestyle choices? So let's start with this.
00:19:15 --> 00:19:20 Ayurveda is the ancient lifestyle and naturopathic
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 system that prepares the body for the enlightenment
00:19:23 --> 00:19:27 that the yoga system promises. You don't have
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 to be a yogic practitioner any longer. We've
00:19:29 --> 00:19:33 got so many wonderful modalities. You know, people
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 are reaching that enlightenment. I mean, we're
00:19:35 --> 00:19:39 ascending as humans. And the Ayurvedic practices
00:19:39 --> 00:19:45 support that. The basis of Ayurveda is the five
00:19:45 --> 00:19:48 sacred elements of earth, water, fire, air, and
00:19:48 --> 00:19:53 ether. Every aspect of us, of our bodies, of
00:19:53 --> 00:19:57 our mind, of our environment, of the weather,
00:19:57 --> 00:20:00 of the climate we live in, of the food that we're
00:20:00 --> 00:20:04 eating, they all contain those five sacred elements
00:20:04 --> 00:20:09 in whatever proportions. And so that breaks down
00:20:09 --> 00:20:14 into three. ayurvedic types so and we all have
00:20:14 --> 00:20:17 all the types to one degree or another so the
00:20:17 --> 00:20:21 kapha type is the qualities of earth and water
00:20:21 --> 00:20:25 and we know we have kapha because we have bodies
00:20:25 --> 00:20:29 right our bodies are depending on who you talk
00:20:29 --> 00:20:33 to 60 to 80 percent water and the the bones and
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 the minerals and all of that that's the earth
00:20:35 --> 00:20:40 element the quality of pitta is the quality of
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 fire. It relates to the fire element. And so
00:20:42 --> 00:20:46 that element is what allows us to digest food.
00:20:46 --> 00:20:50 It allows us to keep our body warm. It allows
00:20:50 --> 00:20:54 us to be insightful about things and to transform.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 And there are a number of different types of
00:20:58 --> 00:21:01 digestive fire, and only one of them is for digesting
00:21:01 --> 00:21:04 food. The rest is for digesting impressions and
00:21:04 --> 00:21:08 experiences. And so we digest our experiences.
00:21:09 --> 00:21:12 in the same manner that we digest food, where
00:21:12 --> 00:21:16 we filter out what is useful from what is not
00:21:16 --> 00:21:19 useful. We put it in its rightful place. We release
00:21:19 --> 00:21:22 what we don't need. Whether we're talking about
00:21:22 --> 00:21:24 life experiences or whether we're talking about
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 food, it's really very much the same process.
00:21:26 --> 00:21:29 And it's pitta, the quality of pitta. And we
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 all have that to one degree or another. Now,
00:21:31 --> 00:21:36 those of us who are a chilly penguin, well, the
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 penguins, they actually are not. They're pretty
00:21:38 --> 00:21:41 much immune to the cold, right? Versus like the
00:21:41 --> 00:21:44 little baby chick that needs to be in the incubator,
00:21:44 --> 00:21:48 that is... Also dependent on the Ayurvedic type.
00:21:48 --> 00:21:49 So there's one of the types. In fact, if you're
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 a Pitta type or you have a lot of Pitta, you
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 may find that it's easier for you to stay warm.
00:21:55 --> 00:21:58 Or you may find that you dislike too much warm.
00:21:58 --> 00:22:01 You don't like it when it's too hot. So let's
00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 move on to Vata, which is the quality of air
00:22:03 --> 00:22:06 and ether. That's the type, the Ayurvedic type
00:22:06 --> 00:22:11 that allows us to breathe, to literally be inspired,
00:22:11 --> 00:22:14 whether that's mentally, emotionally, physically
00:22:14 --> 00:22:17 or spiritually. to be inspired, to do spiritual
00:22:17 --> 00:22:20 practice, to create something new and to move.
00:22:21 --> 00:22:24 So as you can see, we all have all the types
00:22:24 --> 00:22:28 and it's a fairly somewhat involved process,
00:22:28 --> 00:22:32 I would say, to figure out what I call your gutsy
00:22:32 --> 00:22:35 type. And so that's what I work with my clients
00:22:35 --> 00:22:39 on. And then once we have determined what their
00:22:39 --> 00:22:41 gutsy type is or what their unique combination
00:22:41 --> 00:22:46 is, then I give them a food list. that is going
00:22:46 --> 00:22:49 to be balancing for their type. So as an example,
00:22:49 --> 00:22:52 if you're a type who's fairly fiery and your
00:22:52 --> 00:22:55 digestion is fairly fiery, you're going to want
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 to eat things that are going to be cooling for
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 that. You're going to want to eat foods that
00:22:59 --> 00:23:03 are fairly grounding. So that's a very in -depth
00:23:03 --> 00:23:06 understanding of that person's type, but not
00:23:06 --> 00:23:09 just of the physical components, also of the
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11 mental and emotional and spiritual components.
00:23:13 --> 00:23:16 And so then that person is going to nourish themselves
00:23:16 --> 00:23:19 not only with food, but also with their experiences
00:23:19 --> 00:23:23 in a way that brings them back into some sense
00:23:23 --> 00:23:27 of balance or equilibrium. You make an important
00:23:27 --> 00:23:31 distinction between a reset and a detox. Why
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 does that difference matter, especially during
00:23:33 --> 00:23:36 winter, after the holidays, or after a period
00:23:36 --> 00:23:40 of high stress? So a reset, I think of a reset
00:23:40 --> 00:23:43 as being something that you're going to do short
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 term where maybe you've been indulging a little
00:23:45 --> 00:23:48 bit. You've been, and especially after the holidays,
00:23:48 --> 00:23:52 most of us have indulged. our cravings come up
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54 a little bit because we've been indulging over
00:23:54 --> 00:23:56 a little bit of a longer time like it wasn't
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58 just one meal it might have been several meals
00:23:58 --> 00:24:01 where you know you had dessert every time and
00:24:01 --> 00:24:03 the meal was a little richer than it normally
00:24:03 --> 00:24:06 would be or you'd be eating things that normally
00:24:06 --> 00:24:09 wouldn't be on your menu so the reset is something
00:24:09 --> 00:24:12 that's going to allow you to come back to your
00:24:12 --> 00:24:16 good habits and so it provides a little container
00:24:16 --> 00:24:20 that way A detox, well, and actually what I will
00:24:20 --> 00:24:23 say about a reset is that it's not appropriate
00:24:23 --> 00:24:27 for us to try to detox for most people in the
00:24:27 --> 00:24:30 wintertime because the body is still holding
00:24:30 --> 00:24:36 on to, it's just still, it's holding on. Calories,
00:24:36 --> 00:24:38 all of the nourishment that we've taken in over
00:24:38 --> 00:24:41 the fall. When we get to the winter, the body
00:24:41 --> 00:24:45 is in storage mode. And so if we try to release
00:24:45 --> 00:24:49 weight at that time, it may not be very successful.
00:24:49 --> 00:24:53 I've had clients who they do their reset after
00:24:53 --> 00:24:54 Christmas and they think, oh, they're going to
00:24:54 --> 00:24:58 start losing weight. And I always assure them,
00:24:58 --> 00:25:01 don't worry too much about the number on the
00:25:01 --> 00:25:06 scale initially because in that... winter time
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 your body is still holding on and it's still
00:25:09 --> 00:25:13 cold out there's especially here in calgary canada
00:25:13 --> 00:25:18 um the the light is still really low so it's
00:25:18 --> 00:25:21 when the light starts to come back and we get
00:25:21 --> 00:25:24 more into toward that spring and summer where
00:25:24 --> 00:25:27 or the equinox where there's as much light as
00:25:27 --> 00:25:30 there is dark in the day that our digestive fire
00:25:30 --> 00:25:35 comes up at that time. And so it's always good
00:25:35 --> 00:25:39 to wait until after that equinox or around that
00:25:39 --> 00:25:43 equinox time to start to think about detoxing.
00:25:43 --> 00:25:48 And it's a really valuable thing to do because
00:25:48 --> 00:25:51 there is that storage and that stagnation that
00:25:51 --> 00:25:55 occurs over the winter. And so in the springtime,
00:25:55 --> 00:25:58 Typically, in a more land -based culture, our
00:25:58 --> 00:26:00 food stores would have been used up and there
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02 would have been a period of time, depending on
00:26:02 --> 00:26:07 how much got stored from last year, there would
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 be a period of time where there is no food. So
00:26:10 --> 00:26:13 we would naturally fast until there's new food
00:26:13 --> 00:26:17 growing. And so then in that situation, that's
00:26:17 --> 00:26:20 like a natural detox. Fortunately, we don't have
00:26:20 --> 00:26:22 to do something quite that austere. We don't
00:26:22 --> 00:26:25 have to fast for 40 days to do our detox anymore.
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29 So, but that's something that kind of, it happens
00:26:29 --> 00:26:33 in time with the natural seasons. You also talk
00:26:33 --> 00:26:35 about how some bodies need nourishment before
00:26:35 --> 00:26:38 cleansing, while others may be ready for gentle
00:26:38 --> 00:26:42 detoxification. How can someone begin to recognize
00:26:42 --> 00:26:45 whether the body needs building, reducing, cleansing,
00:26:45 --> 00:26:48 rest, or rhythm? What I've noticed for myself
00:26:48 --> 00:26:52 is that when I feel like I need to do detox,
00:26:52 --> 00:26:56 there can be a feeling of sluggishness. There
00:26:56 --> 00:27:00 can be things like achy joints and maybe your
00:27:00 --> 00:27:03 skin isn't as nice as you'd love it to be. Maybe
00:27:03 --> 00:27:06 you've got a little bit of brain fog. On the
00:27:06 --> 00:27:08 other hand, if your body feels as though it's
00:27:08 --> 00:27:11 seriously depleted, in other words, you don't
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 have the energy to do the things you normally
00:27:13 --> 00:27:17 would do, then that's a sign that you may need
00:27:17 --> 00:27:20 to nourish a little bit more before you detox.
00:27:20 --> 00:27:23 One of the things I noticed for myself this last
00:27:23 --> 00:27:27 year, my digestion changed a little bit. It went
00:27:27 --> 00:27:30 from being fairly pitta, where I was not able
00:27:30 --> 00:27:35 to eat very much spice, to being more vata, where
00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 the thought of eating something that's too cold
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40 would just... And when I say cold, it doesn't
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42 necessarily mean that it just came from the fridge,
00:27:42 --> 00:27:46 but maybe the herbs that I was normally... really
00:27:46 --> 00:27:50 enjoying I would not just turn up my nose at
00:27:50 --> 00:27:54 them but I would almost feel like in my body
00:27:54 --> 00:27:58 from that for me that was a sign that my body
00:27:58 --> 00:28:01 wasn't really ready to do a detox another sign
00:28:01 --> 00:28:06 that can be really important is if your stools
00:28:06 --> 00:28:09 are very pale then that's a sign that the liver
00:28:09 --> 00:28:11 is depleted and that it's not functioning well.
00:28:12 --> 00:28:14 So in that situation, you don't want to go and
00:28:14 --> 00:28:17 do something where now the liver is going to
00:28:17 --> 00:28:20 be expected to detox. You need to do something
00:28:20 --> 00:28:22 like that much more slowly and much more gently.
00:28:23 --> 00:28:26 What clues can cravings, stool changes, bloating,
00:28:26 --> 00:28:29 low energy, food sensitivities, or feelings,
00:28:29 --> 00:28:32 both overloaded and undernourished, give us about
00:28:32 --> 00:28:35 digestion and liver support? A lot of times,
00:28:35 --> 00:28:39 well, I mean, we know that there is this thing
00:28:39 --> 00:28:41 called the microbiome. That's all of those really
00:28:41 --> 00:28:45 beautiful little gut bugs that either take great
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 care of us or that make us sick. A lot of times
00:28:48 --> 00:28:53 if we've got those cravings for, let's just use
00:28:53 --> 00:28:55 my example where I was trying to eat less sugar.
00:28:56 --> 00:28:59 You've got this craving for sugar. Well, a lot
00:28:59 --> 00:29:02 of times that's going to be because the microbiome
00:29:02 --> 00:29:06 is craving for you. So cravings often tell me,
00:29:06 --> 00:29:09 and just depending on what the person is craving
00:29:09 --> 00:29:14 it tells me a little bit about their ayurvedic
00:29:14 --> 00:29:17 type and it tells me that maybe that type is
00:29:17 --> 00:29:21 out of balance another example that comes up
00:29:21 --> 00:29:25 for that is like oftentimes kapha types would
00:29:25 --> 00:29:29 crave sugar and then if i ask them i mean almost
00:29:29 --> 00:29:33 anybody could end up craving sugar but If I ask
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 a kapha type, oh, do you crave sugar? Then they
00:29:35 --> 00:29:38 might say, oh, no, I don't crave sugar, but I
00:29:38 --> 00:29:41 do crave things like bagels and cream cheese.
00:29:42 --> 00:29:46 So in the Ayurvedic understanding, there are
00:29:46 --> 00:29:49 like most foods actually are sweet. So bread
00:29:49 --> 00:29:52 is considered to be sweet or bagels would be
00:29:52 --> 00:29:54 considered like grains and nuts and even meat
00:29:54 --> 00:29:57 actually is considered to be sweet. And so if
00:29:57 --> 00:30:02 a person is. craving things that are most unwholesome
00:30:02 --> 00:30:05 for their type, then that tells me that there's
00:30:05 --> 00:30:07 something off. And a lot of times it will give
00:30:07 --> 00:30:10 me information about what they need to do to
00:30:10 --> 00:30:13 get back on. And it happens surprisingly quickly
00:30:13 --> 00:30:16 that people can get back on track once they start
00:30:16 --> 00:30:19 eating the foods that really work for them, and
00:30:19 --> 00:30:23 especially the spices. I find that when people
00:30:23 --> 00:30:26 start to really take the tastes and spices that
00:30:26 --> 00:30:28 work for them, then a lot of times that alleviates
00:30:28 --> 00:30:32 their cravings. fairly quickly and then whatever's
00:30:32 --> 00:30:34 left after that then i look at that and i say
00:30:34 --> 00:30:37 okay what are what are the emotional components
00:30:37 --> 00:30:40 behind it and now we'll take time for a commercial
00:30:40 --> 00:30:44 break welcome back you've written beautifully
00:30:44 --> 00:30:47 about how the kitchen has become a lonely or
00:30:47 --> 00:30:50 depleting place for many women and you speak
00:30:50 --> 00:30:53 about reclaiming the hearth what does the hearth
00:30:53 --> 00:30:55 represent to you on a practical emotional and
00:30:55 --> 00:31:00 spiritual level To me, the hearth is almost like,
00:31:00 --> 00:31:04 it's like the home fire. And it's where people
00:31:04 --> 00:31:07 come to be nourished. It's where families come
00:31:07 --> 00:31:12 together. And it's where, I want to say, even
00:31:12 --> 00:31:16 that's where women used to gather. Nowadays,
00:31:16 --> 00:31:20 it's every woman in her own kitchen. Whereas
00:31:20 --> 00:31:23 before, it used to be like in not even that far
00:31:23 --> 00:31:27 back, just a few generations back. Or sometimes
00:31:27 --> 00:31:30 in more traditional cultures, women get together
00:31:30 --> 00:31:32 and they cook all the time. They work with their
00:31:32 --> 00:31:36 hands. They might, you know, shell peas from
00:31:36 --> 00:31:38 the garden or they might make cabbage rolls together
00:31:38 --> 00:31:41 or they might make, in your family, they might
00:31:41 --> 00:31:44 make gnocchi together or something. And so that
00:31:44 --> 00:31:47 kind of community, the Harthak, it represents
00:31:47 --> 00:31:51 community and it represents the divine feminine.
00:31:51 --> 00:31:55 And it doesn't mean... that women should be in
00:31:55 --> 00:31:58 the kitchen all the time. I think what we're
00:31:58 --> 00:32:02 struggling to do as women is to be in that place
00:32:02 --> 00:32:05 where we're producing and we're offering our
00:32:05 --> 00:32:08 creative gifts to the world and then on a daily
00:32:08 --> 00:32:10 basis switching back and saying, okay, now I
00:32:10 --> 00:32:14 did that part, now I'm going to do this other
00:32:14 --> 00:32:17 thing and I'm going to reclaim the desire and
00:32:17 --> 00:32:21 the right to rest and relax and enjoy. Many women
00:32:21 --> 00:32:24 want to eat in a way that supports their body,
00:32:24 --> 00:32:27 but they face pushback from family members who
00:32:27 --> 00:32:30 are used to packaged foods, quick meals, salty
00:32:30 --> 00:32:34 or sugary flavors, or what you call big food
00:32:34 --> 00:32:37 palates. How can women honor their own body's
00:32:37 --> 00:32:41 needs without turning dinner into drama? That
00:32:41 --> 00:32:44 is a tightrope, and I want to acknowledge that
00:32:44 --> 00:32:48 every family is different. And at the same time,
00:32:48 --> 00:32:51 what I've seen with myself and what I've observed
00:32:51 --> 00:32:55 in my clients is that very often when we claim
00:32:55 --> 00:33:01 what it is that we need and we start to gently
00:33:01 --> 00:33:05 introduce those things to others, as long as
00:33:05 --> 00:33:09 we do it in a way where we're not forcing somebody
00:33:09 --> 00:33:11 else to eat something that they don't want to
00:33:11 --> 00:33:15 eat, then people come along with us. I've seen...
00:33:16 --> 00:33:20 many many people around me make better food choices
00:33:20 --> 00:33:23 because when they're eating with me they feel
00:33:23 --> 00:33:25 so well nourished by what's on the table and
00:33:25 --> 00:33:28 so i think for women we need to stop waiting
00:33:28 --> 00:33:31 for others to do it with us and we need to take
00:33:31 --> 00:33:35 the lead and and then we also need to create
00:33:35 --> 00:33:39 space for others to make their choices and that
00:33:39 --> 00:33:41 doesn't necessarily mean that we have to work
00:33:41 --> 00:33:45 harder We also have to empower others to make
00:33:45 --> 00:33:48 their own choices and to see them through. How
00:33:48 --> 00:33:50 can meal preparation shift from being a thankless
00:33:50 --> 00:33:53 tour into something sacred, grounding, nourishing,
00:33:54 --> 00:33:57 and supportive of the nervous system? It's something
00:33:57 --> 00:34:04 that I have worked at over many years. I know
00:34:04 --> 00:34:08 I was in my relationship with my husband. It
00:34:08 --> 00:34:10 was something that was very difficult for me.
00:34:11 --> 00:34:14 because he did not want to participate in it
00:34:14 --> 00:34:18 he only wanted the the results from it so it
00:34:18 --> 00:34:21 was a dynamic that I feel like I would be in
00:34:21 --> 00:34:24 a better position now to do the emotional work
00:34:24 --> 00:34:27 in that relationship to say hey we need to change
00:34:27 --> 00:34:31 something here and to give myself a break from
00:34:31 --> 00:34:33 the whole thing too because when we're responsible
00:34:33 --> 00:34:37 for nourishing others it can feel like it's thankless
00:34:37 --> 00:34:40 and we can it can feel as though We have to constantly
00:34:40 --> 00:34:43 be pushing or prodding or making the decisions
00:34:43 --> 00:34:48 or whatever that is. And I think in other cases,
00:34:48 --> 00:34:52 for me, it's been very much about being flexible.
00:34:53 --> 00:34:57 I don't necessarily expect myself to cook a five
00:34:57 --> 00:35:02 -star Michelin meal every day. When I've developed
00:35:02 --> 00:35:05 some simple ways to cook something that's beautiful
00:35:05 --> 00:35:08 for myself or for guests, if they're present
00:35:08 --> 00:35:12 in my world that day. And there are other days
00:35:12 --> 00:35:16 where I'm just, the flexibility comes in and
00:35:16 --> 00:35:18 I'm just quite happy to open a can of tuna and
00:35:18 --> 00:35:20 whip it up into a tuna salad and say, okay, this
00:35:20 --> 00:35:24 is dinner. So I think making sure that we're
00:35:24 --> 00:35:27 not rigid and making sure that we create ways
00:35:27 --> 00:35:30 of expanding and contracting the output. for
00:35:30 --> 00:35:33 ourselves is i would say that's one of the ways
00:35:33 --> 00:35:35 that i've been able to do that for myself and
00:35:35 --> 00:35:38 for the people in my world you've been a flamenco
00:35:38 --> 00:35:41 guitarist and composer for nearly four decades
00:35:41 --> 00:35:44 at what point did you realize that music was
00:35:44 --> 00:35:47 not separate from your healing work but actually
00:35:47 --> 00:35:52 part of it so when i had chronic fatigue i knew
00:35:52 --> 00:35:54 i was healing because i could sleep 10 hours
00:35:54 --> 00:35:58 a night and feel rested when i started studying
00:35:58 --> 00:36:02 flamenco And I was classically trained, but when
00:36:02 --> 00:36:05 I started studying flamenco, my first waking
00:36:05 --> 00:36:11 thought was, when can I practice? And it was
00:36:11 --> 00:36:15 then that I felt that energy, that life force
00:36:15 --> 00:36:18 come back into me. It was like I had a reason
00:36:18 --> 00:36:23 to get up and get out of bed. So it was, and
00:36:23 --> 00:36:26 in fact, my partner at the time, I remember him
00:36:26 --> 00:36:29 saying to me, Like, what have you done with Holly?
00:36:29 --> 00:36:33 I've never seen you practice so consistently
00:36:33 --> 00:36:37 with what you do. So with classical guitar, it
00:36:37 --> 00:36:39 was always like a battle with myself. I had to
00:36:39 --> 00:36:42 force myself to play. With flamenco, I didn't
00:36:42 --> 00:36:46 have to do that. I just wanted to do it. Clients
00:36:46 --> 00:36:48 have described your DreamWorks sessions with
00:36:48 --> 00:36:52 live flamenco guitar as magical. What is it about
00:36:52 --> 00:36:55 sound, vibration, rhythm, or the guitar that
00:36:55 --> 00:36:59 reaches places words can sometimes... You know,
00:36:59 --> 00:37:03 I think that comes back to the fact that we were
00:37:03 --> 00:37:08 actually meant to be embodied. And words are
00:37:08 --> 00:37:11 not always there. They're not always coming from
00:37:11 --> 00:37:15 our deepest level. One of my mentors when I was
00:37:15 --> 00:37:19 in university described language as fallen poetry
00:37:19 --> 00:37:24 and that poetry is fallen music. I think music
00:37:24 --> 00:37:27 is something that goes, and vibration and rhythm,
00:37:27 --> 00:37:32 it goes directly into our being. And it's something
00:37:32 --> 00:37:36 we don't have to overthink it. I know for myself,
00:37:36 --> 00:37:40 I have been in situations where maybe I was at
00:37:40 --> 00:37:43 a concert that... I didn't necessarily love the
00:37:43 --> 00:37:46 music or there was like my intellectual mind
00:37:46 --> 00:37:48 didn't love the music. And at the same time,
00:37:48 --> 00:37:51 it was just affecting me and I could feel, and
00:37:51 --> 00:37:52 it was, it was palpable. One of the musicians
00:37:52 --> 00:37:55 actually came to me and said, you are having
00:37:55 --> 00:37:57 a whole different experience here than everybody
00:37:57 --> 00:38:00 else, because I was allowing the music to affect
00:38:00 --> 00:38:04 me physically. And so I always encourage that
00:38:04 --> 00:38:06 for people. It can be a savory process is what
00:38:06 --> 00:38:08 I want to say. And if we allow ourselves to savor
00:38:08 --> 00:38:12 that experience. then it's a very rich thing.
00:38:13 --> 00:38:15 Is there a piece of music you've composed that
00:38:15 --> 00:38:17 feels like it came directly from your healing
00:38:17 --> 00:38:20 journey or holds a particular emotional truth
00:38:20 --> 00:38:24 for you? All of them. There's one in particular,
00:38:24 --> 00:38:26 though, that I'm thinking of. This is, of course,
00:38:26 --> 00:38:29 exactly how creation works, is that I had started
00:38:29 --> 00:38:34 writing this piece and I didn't know when I started
00:38:34 --> 00:38:38 writing it. I think it was about... 80 % finished
00:38:38 --> 00:38:43 when my grandfather passed. And I recognized
00:38:43 --> 00:38:45 that that piece, I had been writing the piece
00:38:45 --> 00:38:48 the whole time in dedication to him. So I completed
00:38:48 --> 00:38:53 that piece and played it at his celebration of
00:38:53 --> 00:38:57 life. And there's a second one that I would say
00:38:57 --> 00:39:01 was also really representative of my healing
00:39:01 --> 00:39:04 journey because it didn't happen right away.
00:39:05 --> 00:39:09 But at one point after it was recorded, I was
00:39:09 --> 00:39:15 performing it and I was just so free in the expression
00:39:15 --> 00:39:18 of it that I felt like I had just left the whole
00:39:18 --> 00:39:20 thing on the stage. I didn't feel like, oh, I
00:39:20 --> 00:39:23 held back there. Oh, that part, I just wish I
00:39:23 --> 00:39:25 would have nailed it a little bit more. And it
00:39:25 --> 00:39:27 wasn't about necessarily playing every note perfectly,
00:39:28 --> 00:39:32 but it was about that full expression. And so
00:39:32 --> 00:39:35 I would say that for me and for so many people,
00:39:35 --> 00:39:39 too, our healing journey is about becoming more
00:39:39 --> 00:39:42 and more expressed. You describe many of the
00:39:42 --> 00:39:44 people you serve as overgiving entrepreneurs
00:39:44 --> 00:39:48 or empaths. What does overgiving look like in
00:39:48 --> 00:39:52 real life? And why do you think gut issues, exhaustion,
00:39:52 --> 00:39:55 food struggles and emotional overwhelm are so
00:39:55 --> 00:39:57 common in people who give so much of themselves?
00:39:58 --> 00:40:02 Okay, so overgiving, let's start with a definition
00:40:02 --> 00:40:05 of what that is. And I want to say there's always
00:40:05 --> 00:40:08 going to be a moment in life where it's time
00:40:08 --> 00:40:11 to deliver something and you feel like you don't
00:40:11 --> 00:40:14 quite have the energy for it. But when we're
00:40:14 --> 00:40:18 doing that day in and day out, where we're constantly
00:40:18 --> 00:40:22 mustering and we're constantly feeling like there's
00:40:22 --> 00:40:26 something else driving our attention, driving
00:40:26 --> 00:40:31 our need to show up, that is not heartfelt, that
00:40:31 --> 00:40:34 is where we're just constantly craving to have
00:40:34 --> 00:40:36 more downtime or we're constantly craving more
00:40:36 --> 00:40:42 rest, then that's a moment where we really do
00:40:42 --> 00:40:45 need to look at what's going on. So I believe
00:40:45 --> 00:40:47 that one of the reasons that gut issues are so
00:40:47 --> 00:40:51 prevalent in that is because our gut is our own
00:40:51 --> 00:40:53 personal power center. Like if you look at the
00:40:53 --> 00:40:58 chakra system, The third chakra is exactly where
00:40:58 --> 00:41:02 the stomach is, which is connecting with our
00:41:02 --> 00:41:04 earlier example of when you're putting your hand
00:41:04 --> 00:41:08 in that space above the navel. That is where
00:41:08 --> 00:41:12 your stomach is, like the physical stomach. I
00:41:12 --> 00:41:13 mean, we've got intestines and everything below
00:41:13 --> 00:41:17 that. But that third chakra, that is our power
00:41:17 --> 00:41:21 center. And so if we're, let's say we have...
00:41:21 --> 00:41:24 10 points of energy every day, and we're giving
00:41:24 --> 00:41:29 to 11, we're depleting that power center. And
00:41:29 --> 00:41:31 we're not listening to ourselves, we're not honoring
00:41:31 --> 00:41:35 ourselves. And so that personal gut wisdom that
00:41:35 --> 00:41:39 might even show up as I don't feel like making
00:41:39 --> 00:41:41 anything right now to eat, or I'm just going
00:41:41 --> 00:41:46 to grab this quick thing, or even noticing what
00:41:46 --> 00:41:48 would be the most nourishing thing for me to
00:41:48 --> 00:41:51 have right now? Though that emphasis on looking
00:41:51 --> 00:41:56 after ourselves is absent. And I would also acknowledge
00:41:56 --> 00:42:00 that when we're living in that way, we're not
00:42:00 --> 00:42:03 serving as beautifully as we could. We always
00:42:03 --> 00:42:06 are going to serve better when we're in a place
00:42:06 --> 00:42:11 of being replete, which it's a tightrope for
00:42:11 --> 00:42:13 sure. And now we'll take time for a commercial
00:42:13 --> 00:42:17 break. Welcome back. You've written about the
00:42:17 --> 00:42:20 difference between an empath who unconsciously
00:42:20 --> 00:42:23 absorbs energy like a sponge and one who becomes
00:42:23 --> 00:42:27 radiant by using energy consciously. What does
00:42:27 --> 00:42:29 that shift feel like from the inside and how
00:42:29 --> 00:42:32 does someone begin to make it? What it used to
00:42:32 --> 00:42:36 look like when it was not in place was I would
00:42:36 --> 00:42:40 go to the grocery store and I would just come
00:42:40 --> 00:42:43 out with my eyes glazed over. Or I would be in
00:42:43 --> 00:42:46 a crowd of people and then I would be exhausted
00:42:46 --> 00:42:53 afterwards. I can say that for myself, attending
00:42:53 --> 00:42:56 to self a lot more, reclaiming that life force
00:42:56 --> 00:43:00 a lot more. That's the thing that has allowed
00:43:00 --> 00:43:04 me to now go to the grocery store and feel like
00:43:04 --> 00:43:06 I'm still holding myself in integrity here. It
00:43:06 --> 00:43:08 doesn't mean that it's bad for me to go to the
00:43:08 --> 00:43:11 grocery store if I'm tired. It's like when I'm
00:43:11 --> 00:43:14 feeling as though I'm replete again. And again,
00:43:14 --> 00:43:19 that very act of making daily choices like this
00:43:19 --> 00:43:21 is nourishing for me. That is not what I like
00:43:21 --> 00:43:26 to say. Yes to this. No to that. That daily choice
00:43:26 --> 00:43:31 for me to do a yoga practice or to go for a walk
00:43:31 --> 00:43:33 or do those things that are going to nourish
00:43:33 --> 00:43:37 my body and allow my body to release whatever
00:43:37 --> 00:43:41 it doesn't need. Those things allow the life
00:43:41 --> 00:43:45 force to come back in. And the more that comes
00:43:45 --> 00:43:48 back in, then the easier it is to contain and
00:43:48 --> 00:43:52 the easier it is to be that radiant version.
00:43:52 --> 00:43:55 And again, that I think comes back to as well,
00:43:55 --> 00:43:58 doing things every day that you love or that
00:43:58 --> 00:44:00 you enjoy. And it could be as simple as going
00:44:00 --> 00:44:03 for a walk in nature. You also say never waste
00:44:03 --> 00:44:07 a good trigger. How can a conflict, health scare,
00:44:07 --> 00:44:09 emotional hit, or difficult interaction become
00:44:09 --> 00:44:13 a roadmap for healing rather than another stress
00:44:13 --> 00:44:16 cycle? So in this stress cycle, those things,
00:44:17 --> 00:44:19 they may pass, but the stress of it doesn't get
00:44:19 --> 00:44:21 resolved, right? This is, again, the nervous
00:44:21 --> 00:44:26 system thing. What is behind the deeper triggers
00:44:26 --> 00:44:28 in the nervous system or where those nervous
00:44:28 --> 00:44:32 system set points are is whether we take the
00:44:32 --> 00:44:37 time. to notice that trigger that comes up and
00:44:37 --> 00:44:41 to resolve it on a deep level, to shift our beliefs
00:44:41 --> 00:44:44 underneath it. That's the piece in question,
00:44:44 --> 00:44:48 isn't it? And so for me, if I'm looking at a
00:44:48 --> 00:44:51 moment where I'm just going, oh, wow, that feels
00:44:51 --> 00:44:56 gritty to me, then I start to investigate. And
00:44:56 --> 00:44:59 so as I carry through that investigation, I've
00:44:59 --> 00:45:01 done enough of the healing work that I may not
00:45:01 --> 00:45:03 have to go and do like a deep healing on every
00:45:03 --> 00:45:08 single trigger that shows up. But just working
00:45:08 --> 00:45:11 through that process in some fashion, it starts
00:45:11 --> 00:45:14 to dismantle that residual stress and then it
00:45:14 --> 00:45:16 allows me to come back to the next situation
00:45:16 --> 00:45:20 with more clarity. What roles do boundaries play?
00:45:20 --> 00:45:22 Forgiveness, compassion, and self -respect play
00:45:22 --> 00:45:25 in healing old emotional patterns without becoming
00:45:25 --> 00:45:28 a doormat. I always like to tell people that
00:45:28 --> 00:45:32 boundaries start with ourselves. And so that
00:45:32 --> 00:45:36 self -compassion, which is ongoing work for all
00:45:36 --> 00:45:40 of us, I think, starts with, because we talk
00:45:40 --> 00:45:42 about food, looking at something that you're
00:45:42 --> 00:45:44 about to eat and say, how is that going to nourish
00:45:44 --> 00:45:47 me? How am I going to feel if I have that? And
00:45:47 --> 00:45:52 making that choice. To say, yes, I'll have it.
00:45:52 --> 00:45:56 No, I won't. And there's no judgment on my part
00:45:56 --> 00:46:00 whether one should eat the cinnamon bun or leave
00:46:00 --> 00:46:03 it. Sometimes it's the most nourishing thing
00:46:03 --> 00:46:09 to eat the cinnamon bun. And it's that attenuation
00:46:09 --> 00:46:12 with self. To say, is this the right thing for
00:46:12 --> 00:46:14 me right now or is it not the right thing for
00:46:14 --> 00:46:16 me right now? And to make our choices on that
00:46:16 --> 00:46:20 basis. As soon as we start doing that and we
00:46:20 --> 00:46:25 start to honor our own wisdom, others around
00:46:25 --> 00:46:30 us notice this. So an example, and for sure,
00:46:30 --> 00:46:32 sometimes it can take people a while to update
00:46:32 --> 00:46:36 their mind map. I had a situation a number of
00:46:36 --> 00:46:38 years ago where we were celebrating Easter with
00:46:38 --> 00:46:42 my grandmother and she had bought chocolate bunnies
00:46:42 --> 00:46:45 for my two cousins and we were all adults at
00:46:45 --> 00:46:47 that point but that was something that she loved
00:46:47 --> 00:46:48 to do is to buy the chocolate bunnies and my
00:46:48 --> 00:46:52 mom had told her that I don't eat chocolate so
00:46:52 --> 00:46:55 it was years ago that I wasn't eating chocolate
00:46:55 --> 00:46:58 and I was back to eating chocolate again but
00:46:58 --> 00:47:00 at the same time it's a really good example of
00:47:00 --> 00:47:02 people noticing oh Holly doesn't eat chocolate
00:47:02 --> 00:47:08 so then my mom was Either telling my grandmother
00:47:08 --> 00:47:11 that to protect me or saying that because she
00:47:11 --> 00:47:12 didn't want my grandmother to spend the money.
00:47:12 --> 00:47:15 I'm not sure which, but I'll take it. Because
00:47:15 --> 00:47:18 when we set those boundaries for ourselves and
00:47:18 --> 00:47:20 we live by our own example of what we want, we
00:47:20 --> 00:47:24 don't have to fight with others about it. Your
00:47:24 --> 00:47:29 work includes embodied vision, TM, coaching and
00:47:29 --> 00:47:32 dream work. Many people dismiss dreams as random
00:47:32 --> 00:47:35 or meaningless. Do you believe dreams are communicating
00:47:35 --> 00:47:39 and how do you use them therapeutically? So dreams
00:47:39 --> 00:47:42 are a doorway into the subconscious mind. Sometimes
00:47:42 --> 00:47:45 they can also be spiritual guidance as well.
00:47:45 --> 00:47:49 So I would say that the embodied vision work
00:47:49 --> 00:47:53 and the dream work, those are two separate modalities
00:47:53 --> 00:47:56 that I use, but there's crossover between them
00:47:56 --> 00:48:00 in that the subconscious mind is involved. For
00:48:00 --> 00:48:03 dreams, A lot of times, and I don't like to tell
00:48:03 --> 00:48:07 people what a dream means. That's for them to
00:48:07 --> 00:48:10 do. But I will often ask them questions about
00:48:10 --> 00:48:15 what those symbols represent to them in their
00:48:15 --> 00:48:19 life or what does that mean to them. And so,
00:48:19 --> 00:48:22 yeah, there can just be like, and there is like
00:48:22 --> 00:48:26 a very wonderful and delicious process by which
00:48:26 --> 00:48:29 I lead people through working with their dreams.
00:48:30 --> 00:48:32 Sometimes there can be a bit of crossover between
00:48:32 --> 00:48:35 that and the embodied vision work. Also, what
00:48:35 --> 00:48:38 I would say about the dream work is that we can
00:48:38 --> 00:48:41 do a dream analysis process on a real life situation.
00:48:42 --> 00:48:44 You know, I've had people say, oh, I don't need
00:48:44 --> 00:48:46 to go to the dream workshop. I don't remember
00:48:46 --> 00:48:48 my dreams. And it's like, it's OK. You have all
00:48:48 --> 00:48:52 of us have some kind of a life situation that
00:48:52 --> 00:48:55 we might look at. We can view it as a dream and
00:48:55 --> 00:48:58 then look at the components of it from there.
00:48:59 --> 00:49:00 I'm not sure if I answered that question or not.
00:49:01 --> 00:49:04 You also work with ancestral patterns and the
00:49:04 --> 00:49:07 idea that unresolved energy can travel through
00:49:07 --> 00:49:10 generations. For someone new to that idea, what
00:49:10 --> 00:49:13 might an ancestral pattern look like when it
00:49:13 --> 00:49:17 shows up in the body, the gut or someone's relationship
00:49:17 --> 00:49:20 with food and self -worth? A really good example
00:49:20 --> 00:49:23 of that is one that one of my clients recently
00:49:23 --> 00:49:27 said. So her family used to use like their family
00:49:27 --> 00:49:30 name and like in my, this isn't true for my family,
00:49:30 --> 00:49:31 but I could use it as an example. It's like,
00:49:31 --> 00:49:35 oh, that's the Blazina gut. So anytime there's
00:49:35 --> 00:49:37 something like a pattern that runs through the
00:49:37 --> 00:49:40 family, then that's a situation where there's
00:49:40 --> 00:49:45 an ancestral pattern at work. And yeah, so then
00:49:45 --> 00:49:49 we've got the opportunity to resolve that. Does
00:49:49 --> 00:49:52 that make sense? Sure. Like I know some people
00:49:52 --> 00:49:54 say that even the type of foods you like to eat
00:49:54 --> 00:49:57 can be ancestral. It's just something you inherited.
00:49:57 --> 00:50:03 Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Holly, you shared
00:50:03 --> 00:50:06 a powerful message that came through from your
00:50:06 --> 00:50:09 ancestors that we don't honor them by continuing
00:50:09 --> 00:50:13 to suffer or sacrifice, but by living life fully.
00:50:14 --> 00:50:17 For many, the idea of generational healing feels
00:50:17 --> 00:50:21 like an overwhelming, endless task. How can we
00:50:21 --> 00:50:23 shift our perspective to see self -actualization
00:50:23 --> 00:50:27 as a completion of our family's dreams while
00:50:27 --> 00:50:30 staying grounded so we don't feel responsible
00:50:30 --> 00:50:33 for healing every single branch of the family
00:50:33 --> 00:50:37 tree? What I would say about that is that if
00:50:37 --> 00:50:42 there's a family pattern that is alive in you
00:50:42 --> 00:50:44 and that is playing itself out, It's yours to
00:50:44 --> 00:50:49 heal. If it's alive in someone else in your family
00:50:49 --> 00:50:52 and not alive in you, then it could be theirs
00:50:52 --> 00:50:55 to heal or somebody else's down the line for
00:50:55 --> 00:51:00 theirs to heal. And so I see the ancestral healing
00:51:00 --> 00:51:03 as being very, very connected with our personal
00:51:03 --> 00:51:07 healing. We don't have to go and take on anything
00:51:07 --> 00:51:13 that is extra to our own healing. And I believe
00:51:13 --> 00:51:16 really, really firmly. In fact, I've experienced
00:51:16 --> 00:51:20 it myself, where if I heal something within myself,
00:51:20 --> 00:51:24 I mean, we heal seven generations forward and
00:51:24 --> 00:51:26 seven generations back when we do our own healing.
00:51:26 --> 00:51:30 And I've seen this with my own family, that when
00:51:30 --> 00:51:33 I do the healing work, my parents have come to
00:51:33 --> 00:51:36 me and all of a sudden our relationship is moving
00:51:36 --> 00:51:40 differently. That's great. You talk about retrieving
00:51:40 --> 00:51:44 hidden gifts from subconscious patterns. What
00:51:44 --> 00:51:46 does that mean and how can old wounds sometimes
00:51:46 --> 00:51:50 contain strengths we are meant to reclaim? The
00:51:50 --> 00:51:53 way the subconscious mind works is that it holds
00:51:53 --> 00:51:58 on to, well, I'll come back to the work that
00:51:58 --> 00:52:01 I did with the cinnamon buns and with sugar.
00:52:02 --> 00:52:06 So even though there was a part of me that was
00:52:06 --> 00:52:08 saying, I shouldn't be eating sugar anymore.
00:52:09 --> 00:52:12 The gift was the safety and my grandmother's
00:52:12 --> 00:52:17 love. And so, again, those two things were subconsciously
00:52:17 --> 00:52:21 linked. When I understood what that was and went
00:52:21 --> 00:52:25 through a process to unhook them, now I realize
00:52:25 --> 00:52:28 that I can have the gift of safety and have the
00:52:28 --> 00:52:31 gift of my grandmother's love, whether I eat
00:52:31 --> 00:52:34 a cinnamon bun or not. Sometimes listening today
00:52:34 --> 00:52:37 may be exhausted, bloated, reactive, on a restricted
00:52:37 --> 00:52:41 diet that barely helps, and unsure where to begin.
00:52:41 --> 00:52:45 What is the first gentle shift you would invite
00:52:45 --> 00:52:48 them to make physically, emotionally, or spiritually?
00:52:48 --> 00:52:52 I would certainly invite them to take a few deep
00:52:52 --> 00:52:56 breaths. Just take a few deep breaths, see how
00:52:56 --> 00:53:01 that helps. Also, hydrate sufficiently. We're
00:53:01 --> 00:53:05 told this over and over and over again. And I
00:53:05 --> 00:53:09 think so few people do it. And it is one of the
00:53:09 --> 00:53:11 most key things that we can do is to make sure
00:53:11 --> 00:53:14 that because if your gut is not hydrated, it's
00:53:14 --> 00:53:17 not safe enough for it to produce enough digestive
00:53:17 --> 00:53:21 fire to digest your next meal. And of course,
00:53:21 --> 00:53:23 the other thing I would love to invite your listeners
00:53:23 --> 00:53:28 into would be my five day gut brain reset. It's
00:53:28 --> 00:53:31 an opportunity for them to just come in. find
00:53:31 --> 00:53:34 out what's possible for them in five days. And
00:53:34 --> 00:53:37 if the worst thing that happens is they come
00:53:37 --> 00:53:39 away with one new habit or they come away with
00:53:39 --> 00:53:42 a few recipes that they're happy to serve their
00:53:42 --> 00:53:46 families, then that's a win. What type of people
00:53:46 --> 00:53:49 are designed to take that type of a program?
00:53:50 --> 00:53:53 It can be, I think anyone with an open mind can
00:53:53 --> 00:53:57 take it. I mean, for sure. I have people who
00:53:57 --> 00:53:59 come in and they want to do it exactly the way
00:53:59 --> 00:54:01 that it's written. They want to follow the meal
00:54:01 --> 00:54:05 plan 100%. Because for them, that's what makes
00:54:05 --> 00:54:08 it easy for them. And I have others who come
00:54:08 --> 00:54:13 in and they're overwhelmed. They're unsure of
00:54:13 --> 00:54:16 what to do and what not to do. How perfectly
00:54:16 --> 00:54:18 do they have to do it? And I would always say
00:54:18 --> 00:54:22 to people, if you can come in with an open mind
00:54:22 --> 00:54:26 and be... Give yourself grace for what works
00:54:26 --> 00:54:27 and for what doesn't. If you're willing to come
00:54:27 --> 00:54:31 in and celebrate your wins, then that's great.
00:54:31 --> 00:54:34 And I've also had people say that they're on
00:54:34 --> 00:54:36 such a restricted food list that they wouldn't
00:54:36 --> 00:54:38 be able to do it. And I tell them, come in anyway.
00:54:39 --> 00:54:42 There are yoga tools there. There's the welcome
00:54:42 --> 00:54:44 call that's going to give them some ideas of
00:54:44 --> 00:54:46 things that they can do that are going to help
00:54:46 --> 00:54:50 their digestion, even in terms of digesting their
00:54:50 --> 00:54:53 next meal. You are literally living a big gutsy
00:54:53 --> 00:54:56 life. You've built multiple businesses, recorded
00:54:56 --> 00:54:59 music, written, taught, performed and healed
00:54:59 --> 00:55:02 while holding a lot of creative and entrepreneurial
00:55:02 --> 00:55:06 energy. How do you personally stay regulated,
00:55:06 --> 00:55:09 nourished and connected to your own purpose?
00:55:09 --> 00:55:13 You know, I think it's a misnomer to say that
00:55:13 --> 00:55:15 we can all be regulated all the time. I'm certainly
00:55:15 --> 00:55:19 not regulated all the time. And I think especially
00:55:19 --> 00:55:23 for women, that's a term that I know I have used
00:55:23 --> 00:55:25 quite a bit in the past, and I'm starting to
00:55:25 --> 00:55:28 move away from it because women are meant to
00:55:28 --> 00:55:31 go with flow. And it doesn't mean that I'm going
00:55:31 --> 00:55:33 to show up on your podcast not being regulated.
00:55:34 --> 00:55:37 And at the same time, if there's something that
00:55:37 --> 00:55:39 I'm going through, I'm going to allow that to
00:55:39 --> 00:55:44 move through me. So that's one thing that I would
00:55:44 --> 00:55:47 say is just to notice. from one day to the next,
00:55:47 --> 00:55:50 one week to the next, what needs to move within
00:55:50 --> 00:55:54 me and allowing that to move. And if I'm in a
00:55:54 --> 00:55:57 phase of doing a lot of work where I maybe don't
00:55:57 --> 00:55:59 have time to put my hands on the guitar, I'm
00:55:59 --> 00:56:02 always listening to music and always enjoying
00:56:02 --> 00:56:06 that and allowing myself to be lit up through
00:56:06 --> 00:56:10 music or in the kitchen or outdoors. Where can
00:56:10 --> 00:56:13 listeners find you experience your work and connect
00:56:13 --> 00:56:17 with your programs, music, or community? They
00:56:17 --> 00:56:21 can go to big gutsy life .com. That would be
00:56:21 --> 00:56:25 the primary place that I would send people. Also,
00:56:25 --> 00:56:27 if they want to connect with my music, they can
00:56:27 --> 00:56:33 go to hollyblazina .com. If they want to connect
00:56:33 --> 00:56:35 with me on social media, whether it's LinkedIn
00:56:35 --> 00:56:39 or Facebook or Instagram, then. Look for me.
00:56:39 --> 00:56:42 I'm there. If there is one message you would
00:56:42 --> 00:56:45 love listeners to carry with them after this
00:56:45 --> 00:56:48 conversation, especially those who feel like
00:56:48 --> 00:56:51 their body has been working against them, what
00:56:51 --> 00:56:53 would you want them to remember? I would want
00:56:53 --> 00:56:56 them to remember that their body is full of intel
00:56:56 --> 00:57:00 and that it's not working against them. Maybe
00:57:00 --> 00:57:02 they're the one that's working against their
00:57:02 --> 00:57:05 body and it doesn't have to be like that. They
00:57:05 --> 00:57:09 can learn. to understand the intel that their
00:57:09 --> 00:57:12 body is giving them. There is so much wisdom
00:57:12 --> 00:57:15 in the body, and there's so much that their body
00:57:15 --> 00:57:19 can give them in terms of helping them to heal,
00:57:19 --> 00:57:22 that the seeds of healing are actually right
00:57:22 --> 00:57:26 in the messages that the body is giving. Thank
00:57:26 --> 00:57:28 you, Holly, for sharing your story, your wisdom,
00:57:28 --> 00:57:31 and your beautiful way of connecting the gut.
00:57:31 --> 00:57:34 the heart, the mind, the spirit, music, food,
00:57:34 --> 00:57:38 nervous system healing and deeper self -awareness.
00:57:38 --> 00:57:41 For everyone listening, may this episode remind
00:57:41 --> 00:57:44 you that healing does not have to be harsh. It
00:57:44 --> 00:57:48 can begin gently with one breath, one meal, one
00:57:48 --> 00:57:51 moment of awareness, one boundary, one rhythm
00:57:51 --> 00:57:54 and one decision to stop overriding your own
00:57:54 --> 00:57:57 body's wisdom. You can find Holly at BigGutsyLife
00:57:57 --> 00:58:01 .com and across her social platforms. All of
00:58:01 --> 00:58:04 her links, programs, and music are in the description
00:58:04 --> 00:58:07 below. I encourage you to explore her world.
00:58:07 --> 00:58:09 This episode is available on many platforms.
00:58:09 --> 00:58:14 Thank you, Holly. Thank you so much, Ida. Thank
00:58:14 --> 00:58:16 you for tuning in to Where Science Meets Self
00:58:16 --> 00:58:20 -Care with Ida Fennelly. Ida bridges clinical
00:58:20 --> 00:58:23 science with holistic wisdom, guiding you toward
00:58:23 --> 00:58:27 radiant skin, balanced energy, and lasting well
00:58:27 --> 00:58:30 -being. Don't forget to subscribe, share the
00:58:30 --> 00:58:33 show, and join us next time for more inspiration
00:58:33 --> 00:58:36 and practical tools to help you live beautifully
00:58:36 --> 00:58:41 inside and out. To connect with Ida, visit linktr.ee.com
00:58:41 --> 00:58:46 /idafanelli Until then, take good care of yourself.
00:58:46 --> 00:58:49 And remember, self -care is where science and
00:58:49 --> 00:58:50 soul meet.