The Revelation Project - Episodes Tagged with “Trauma”

Episode 131: Dr. Dorothy Neville - One World Community and the Future of Women’s Leadership

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 -0400

I’m thrilled to introduce you to Dr. Dorothy A. Martin- Neville, Ph.D., a powerful visionary, who is also a pioneer, mover, and risk-taker who is faith and humor-driven as well as committed to transformation and growth.

Dr. Dorothy’s story is incredibly inspirational and you’ll connect immediately to the warmth and humor she exudes as she tells her story of resilience after growing up in an orphanage from birth till age 3 as an illegitimate daughter of an unwed mother in South Boston. Once she was adopted, she lived in a playpen on the outside porch until she was 6 years old so that her grandmother didn’t have to acknowledge her existence inside the house.

Fast forward and Dr. Dorothy is the author of several books such as Real Women Change The World: Letting the Good Girl Die so the Real Women Can Live, where she shares the importance of emotional intelligence, mindset, mindfulness, and communication as imperative tools for women in leadership.

She is also an international speaker, author, consultant/master coach, and frequent radio, podcast, and television guest is also Past-President of the National Speakers Association – CT and the founder of 4 companies.
In this episode you’ll hear:

Why do so many people choose to live in illusion- stuck in jobs that they hate or lives that don’t fulfill them.
We stay in situations that deplete us because there is a payoff in staying.
What is the story of “the victim” and how can you get out?
Why stagnancy in your life will eventually make you sick
What women’s leadership makes possible in the world.
How Dorothy’s traumatic upbringing informed her life helped her become who she is today.
What is the “risk” of transformation?
Why women are uniquely suited for helping the world to unify in a global community.

A psychotherapist, Dr. Dorothy was in practice for 25+ years. As a motivational speaker, Dr. Dorothy brought a history of living in an orphanage, being adopted and raised in the housing projects of South Boston in a violent alcoholic home. She later became a Catholic nun, an international airline stewardess, and so much more, showing that faith, humor, and passion make anything possible.

Today, whether supporting individual clients in recognizing and living their Purpose or supporting CEOs in creating a culture of Purpose within their organization, Dr. Dorothy brings first-hand knowledge of the challenges facing those who want to live and work in a culture that feeds rather than drains them.
In that light, Dorothy has supported highly successful women from all levels of success, from Park Ave, NYC to a small town in Maine. Consequently, patterns and similarities in leadership are readily understood as she brings extensive wisdom, knowledge, and experience to the table. Combining her recognition that mindset and communication skills set us apart, with her ability to make the complicated simple, Dr. Dorothy is someone to learn from whether as a speaker, trainer, coach, or consultant.

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Episode 129: Sophie Strand - Where the World Gets In

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:00 -0400

I’m back with another dose of the enchanting Sophie Strand. Listen in as we dance in the magic of storytelling, ecology, revelation, and contemplation.

Sophie is someone who understands the power of myth-making and storytelling. She honed her abilities when she learned she had a life-threatening disease and began to write as if her life depended on it. What she came to realize is that all of our lives depend on it. Unless we generate new myths to live into, we will surely stay fast asleep in the culture of make-believe, where we consume everything without implication or consequence.

In this episode, Sophie and I continue where we left off. We meander into the wilderness where we make new connections, access revelations, and enchantment abounds- Join us! You won’t be bored!

Why should we compost old stories?
How can we understand disability, illness, and PTSD as a portal into greater ecological sensitivity?
What is ecological storytelling, and how can we begin to weave more awareness into our stories and our lives?
How does the story of Rabbi Yeshua teach us about ecological storytelling?
How can we become more ecologically embodied?
What does myth have to teach us about our specific locales?

Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Her first book of essays, The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine, will be published by Inner Traditions in Fall 2022 and is available for pre-order. Her eco-feminist historical fiction reimagining of the gospels The Madonna Secret will also be published by Inner Traditions in Spring 2023. Subscribe to her newsletter at sophiestrand.substack.com. And follow her work on Instagram: @cosmogyny and at www.sophiestrand.com.
Ecological Storytelling. Healing beyond hope and the human.

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Episode 108: Stella Eisenstein - The Resonance of Healing

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 00:15:00 -0500

I started making appointments with Stella this past summer through the recommendation of a friend because I had recently had mercury fillings removed from my mouth. It seemed that even though I was on a detox regimen, my body was still having trouble, and my migraines were getting worse vs. better.

After a couple of sessions, I noticed that my body responded to what Stella would say and do in our sessions. My curiosity and fascination led me to start asking deeper questions about what she was doing and how she was doing it, to which she generously shared with me that I, too, could learn to help my body heal.

This led to a number of discussions about bringing attention to my body, how I could access the energetic field, and allow the healing to occur by “getting out of the way,” as Stella will often say.

Over months of getting to know her more deeply, I am often struck by her gentle but deep wisdom and her perspective on certain things that are happening in the world in mainstream medicine. I marvel at how she orients herself in the world of healing, with respect for multiple modalities and room for contemplating the larger questions that continue to invite us to seek our own answers.

Stella is not a woman of small intellect. She is professionally trained in multiple modalities and an apt pupil of her own healing experiences and the miracles that have occurred in her presence through her understanding of how to communicate with the body. She has healed herself twice of cancer and has also healed herself of autoimmune thyroid disease and scoliosis. She believes that we can heal anything if we are willing to reveal what’s wanting our attention and why it’s calling us into the invitation in the first place.

Stella also happens to be one of the most genuinely loving people I have ever met. I have witnessed and experienced her generosity and integrity, not only for how she holds her work as a practitioner but also as a wife to her husband Charles, a mother to her son, and a teacher and a friend.

I’m proud to bring you this interview because I believe Stella's work in the world is incredibly relevant, especially at a time when many seek to unentangle themselves from the medicalized world of experts, prescriptions, and diagnoses that often leave us with nothing but frustration, inflammation, and a bottle of pills to suppress the symptoms vs. reveal the root cause.

In this great time of revelation, we are making our way back to ourselves, our intuition, and our bodies. We are trusting the body's innate healing potential through the quantum energy field - where all things are possible - especially miracles.

In this episode, we will reveal:

Stella’s story of healing breast cancer and what she had to first reveal in herself in order to heal.
What Stella means by "re-skilling” medicine and why she wants to teach others how to heal.
We are in a time of spiritual emergence, and we are being invited to reclaim the middle path in our communities.
Why Stella changed her name, and how she shifted her work over time into the realms of energy and spirit.
How “allowing” plays a profound role in healing.
How Stella developed her intuitive skills over time.
Why Stella believes the body holds the wisdom and why Integrative Manual Therapy is the next frontier of energy medicine.

Stella is a writer and intuitive bodyworker. Her work draws from her training in multiple modalities, including Oriental Medicine, Esoteric Acupuncture, Ortho-Bionomy, Depth Hypnosis, and Integrative Manual Therapy. Before becoming a bodyworker, she was in publishing in New York, mainly as a travel writer. Her first memoir, Star Sister: How I Changed My Name, Grew Wings, and Learned to Trust intuition, was published in 2012. Her new memoir, about healing from breast cancer, scoliosis, and autoimmune thyroid disease, is currently being serialized at resonantattention.substack.com.

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Episode 101: Maggie Moore - Its All Happening For You

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:15:00 -0500

Visiting with Maggie in this episode felt like dipping my cup into a crystal-cool spring of delicious water because she is so refreshing.

Her playful, fun, engaging way of being is contagious in the best way. She’s someone who occurs to me as vibrant, open, and alive, and she brings laughter and light everywhere she goes.

In this episode, we explore death, fear, hiding, transforming, embodiment, and allowing love to bloom in our lives.

We all live in a story about our lives, and often we are unaware of it. Once we become aware, we can narrate it and author it how we want to live it.
To bear witness to someone's darkest moments and not look away is so healing and is the greatest gift we can give one another.
To be a truth-teller is courageous and contagious.
Maggie has been able to use her embodiment work with her bonus daughters, which has been a gift.
Pain in the body has something to tell us, and there’s information waiting to be released if we can lean in and listen.
Chakra Shaking is all about moving energy, tuning into the body, and engaging with the tools of the divine feminine.
Change isn’t about changing the pain but the story around the pain.
Maggie says that Reiki to her is the permission to self-heal.

Visionary Healer, Sacred Jewelry Maker, and Chakra Shaking Creator, Maggie Moore is an unstoppable force of good.

Maggie manipulates metals with intention. Her hands move energy as an empath and channel to spirit. She is directed by laughter, and her path is one of the soulful, playful teacher.

She brings her wit and good humor to all she does and gives her clients permission to laugh and release their past while holding them in a sacred space of healing.

Well-versed in hands-on and long-distance healing, Maggie has been a Reiki Master and intuitive healer for 18 years. She has crafted a career as a fine arts jeweler since 2007, which she creates into sacred talismans which work in tandem with the divine combination of her healing work. She has created a new form of healing movement called Chakra Shaking to enhance her blended gifts.

Episode 99: Ron Cecil & Daniel Penner Cline - Cutting for Sign

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 16:15:00 -0400

Cutting For Sign is a tracking term that is a metaphor for becoming aware of, finding, and following the way of one's happiness, balance, calling, or more our more whole and authentic self.

Ron and Daniel have quickly become two of my favorite people. I truly love to be with men who are remaking what it means to be a man in the world and who are exploring ways of being and relating outside the status quo.

Listen in as we explore:

Healing modalities and plant medicine can help us access deeper wisdom, play, and levity.
How much does our conditioning from childhood hardwire us to feel guilt and shame?
How do our inner child and other parts within work to keep us safe, and how do we integrate them and heal as we grow?
How does religious conditioning play a role in how we experience marriage, work ethics, and masculinity?
The middle path is an exciting part of our human evolution.
Teaching men to have access to magic and mysticism is important to Ron.
Leaning into the Divine has given Daniel a whole new understanding of love and co-creation.
Bringing play into our lives brings us closer to the divine.
Listen to how Ron had a magical opportunity to experience the truth of reciprocity on a plane while he was flying over Victoria Falls in Africa.
Daniel practices witnessing and acknowledging others- even men, to normalize appreciation and to forward the healing process.
How can we create more opportunities and rituals for expansion and appreciation?
Daniel is a survivor of childhood trauma. He regulates his nervous system by taking conscious deep breaths starting with exhaling and emptying his lungs.

So, have you cut for sign in your life? Have you sensed the small clues, details, intuitions, and serendipitous moments that have revealed the path to your truer self?

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Episode 85: Ximena Vengoechea - Listen Like You Mean It

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:00:00 -0400

I have long believed that the most powerful, useful, and underutilized skill we have at our disposal is the skill of listening.

If you want to help heal the world and create peace on earth - learn to listen!

Meet Ximena. She’s brilliant, articulate, and passionate about helping others develop this powerful skill. We had such a rich conversation about how learning this skill can quite literally change everything for the better.

Ximena Vengoechea is a user researcher, writer, and illustrator whose work on personal and professional development has been published in Inc., The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Huffington Post. She is the author of the new book, Listen Like You Mean It: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection (from Portfolio Books/Penguin Random House). She is a contributor at Fast Company and The Muse and writes "Letters from Ximena," a newsletter on tech, culture, career, and creativity. She is best known for her project The Life Audit. An experienced manager, mentor, and researcher in the tech industry, Ximena previously worked at Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

In this episode:

Learn why listening is the key to intimacy and connection.
Why listening can be such a gift and such an act of generosity and love.
Why when people don’t feel heard, they often escalate their behavior and lash out.
Why listening is a “slow” skill and how to bring more peace into our lives by learning to do it.
There are layers to listening, and often if we are paying attention, we can hear other important things that get revealed when we truly listen.
How to protect yourself from being a listening martyr and getting listening fatigue. In other words, how can empaths protect themselves when they are deeply listening to others?
Learn how to listen with compassion without taking on the emotional energy of someone else.
Why awkward silence is such an important part of the listening skill set.
Conduct a relationship audit to determine where you have energy leaks.

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Episode 83: Bethany Harvey - Dipped In It

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 00:00:00 -0400

In January of 2017, Bethany’s father passed away, and she was tossed into the deepest, darkest well she’d ever imagined—without warning or ceremony.

Something inside of her told her: “The only way out is to write.”
She started with a gratitude journal to remind herself of all of the people she should be grateful for in her life. She realized, however, that grateful people didn’t feel the way she felt — angry, anxious, depressed, confused, disillusioned, desperate (to name a few of grief’s cohorts).
Looking back, she realized that what she was actually doing was trying to avoid her grief.

Like many of us, she didn’t know that gratitude and grief are not mutually exclusive. She learned that she couldn’t skip over the emotions that make her uncomfortable and recognized that there is a complicated cocktail of emotions swirling inside each of us that makes us feel alive.

I talk to Bethany about the launch of her new book "Dipped In It," her odyssey into writing her book after the loss of her father, and the wisdom her emotions have brought to her life. Listen to her read a few excerpts and hear about how her daughters played a role in bringing her book to life.

In this episode we talk about:

Postpartum depression & how this shared experience brought Bethany and I together after the birth of her daughter Ruby.
The cracking open that happened after her divorce and then the death of Bethany’s beloved father.
How the expression “Dipped In It” came to be and what it means to her.
Our tendency to want to skip over difficult emotions or spiritually bypass the ones that have the most to teach us.
Grief does not have an expiration date. There isn’t a specific time in which grief can be completed. It doesn’t work that way.
Why sharing our stories with others is so vitally important and why daring to go within ourselves to dip into our own well of grief is where we can find the greatest treasures.
How allowing ourselves to be where we are in our darkest human emotions is sometimes the greatest gift we can give ourselves.
How normal it is for us to want to look like we have it all handled, but how much it can hurt us when we don’t tell people that we are struggling.
Sometimes being a good friend is looking more closely at those around us and asking, “are you ok?” - because drowning doesn’t look like drowning, literally or metaphorically.
It’s ok for us to normalize not being ok. We can’t always be ok. That’s not how life works.
Grief and gratitude are not mutually exclusive. Our human emotions can exist within us simultaneously; all of it gets to belong.

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Episode 81: Dr. Valerie Rein - Patriarchy Stress Disorder

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 -0400

When I first heard the term “Patriarchy Stress Disorder,” I had a gestalt moment. In an instant, it seemed, I experienced a revelation of magnitude in which I could see the formerly invisible structure that I had existed within and that had impacted me for my entire life, but for which I had no name.

Listen in as Dr. Valerie Rein exposes the system of oppression the majority of us have been impacted by, but few of us have a context or a name for. Hear for yourself why her work is being hailed as the most important work of our time.

Dr. Valerie Rein has discovered Patriarchy Stress Disorder (PSD) and created the only science-backed system for helping women achieve their ultimate success, happiness, and fulfillment by healing the intergenerational trauma of oppression. She holds an EdM in Psychological Counseling from Columbia University and a PhD in Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Her bestselling book, “Patriarchy Stress Disorder: The Invisible Inner Barrier to Women’s Happiness and Fulfillment” has been heralded by Amazon reviewers as "the most important body of literary work of our modern times" and "perhaps the most important book of the century for women." Her cutting-edge programs have helped thousands of women shift from survival to thriving and master the game of "How good can it get?" in their work and personal lives.

PATRIARCHY STRESS DISORDER (PSD) is generational collective trauma or oppression that women have experienced in the patriarchy for thousands and thousands of years. It manifests in multiple ways but ultimately creates an invisible barrier to women’s ultimate success, happiness, and fulfillment.
Most of us are socially conditioned to be “Good Girls,” “A Good Wife,” and “A Good Mother,” and as long as we live a life of compliance, we don’t experience a lot of friction.
Most women are not in touch with our desires; we simply follow the tracks laid down by the Patriarchy in terms of what roles we can fill and how we can live.
However, once we can see the invisible barrier, we begin the “jailbreak” journey, where we start to reach for our authentic desires and access our inner liberation.
One of the most significant issues women face is not having role models of women living fully actualized lives who have stepped fully into their own sovereignty and feeling whole in all areas of their lives.
Women may have mastered their lives in one area but still have trouble relaxing, being playful, or considering themselves successful. They can’t identify what’s wrong or what’s holding them back, and this is when the psychology of PSD really begins to get interesting because this oppression lives in our nervous systems, and it must be released and expelled.
When women go from surviving to thriving, once this hidden system of oppression has been revealed, a daily practice and community are essential to keeping the work alive.

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Episode 75: Gayle Nowak - The Heart Knows The Way

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 19 May 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Have you ever noticed that ever since your business showed up in your life, so have your deepest fears and false beliefs stories and wounds buried deep in your subconscious as well? There's a reason for that. Our guest today, Gayle Nowak says that when you dare to listen to your wounded heart, you begin to heal and free yourself from the pain, fear and false belief that are keeping you stuck in your business.

Gayle is a transformational retreat leader and founder of the story stylist and award winning expert positioning consultancy for speakers, authors and mission led entrepreneurs. She's passionate about creating experiences for messengers, healers, and entrepreneurial lightworkers that help them get real about how they truly feel so that they can find the message and story that best positions their magic.

As a result, her clients clear their visibility blocks and show up powerfully. To speak and lead from a happy, loving heart

Listen in and learn why our biggest mess is also our most powerful message and how Gayle discovered vulnerability as the source of strength for her clients.
Our business’s success is often directly proportional to our willingness to do our healing work.
Our wounded hearts hold a resonance for truth telling and that by revealing our true story, we directly attract the clients who are meant for us.
Learn why getting out of your head and into your heart is the quickest path to showing up powerfully.

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Episode 67: Carole Marie Downing - Tune to Joy

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 00:00:00 -0400

I love this conversation so much because it’s about the transformative power of singing and music for healing and attunement to ourselves and others. It’s about creating connections and daring to use the instrument of our bodies to bring our voices more fully into the world.

How beautiful is that?

Meet Carole Marie Downing, a coach, song leader, and facilitator passionate about creating resilience through challenging times. Her initial career was in nursing, working in areas of hospice and integrative medicine. She then shifted to coaching after receiving a master's degree in psychology, emphasizing consciousness, health, and healing.

She utilizes both her professional background and personal experience to gently support clients to tune in to their capacity to thrive. After a loss and significant life transitions, her most recent work as a song leader and music guide encourages people to sing and learn music in a way that creates connection and cultivates the transformational act of bringing our voices fully into the world. Carole Marie lives in Portland, Oregon, and loves hot cups of tea. She enjoys making music out of everything life offers up and going barefoot in the sand.

** Carole believes we can use music as a way to create more connection and bring our voices to the world.**

Attunement - If we were to look at an instrument that was out of tune, we wouldn't say that it was broken or hopeless; instead, we would tune it, and I feel this is the same with people.
If life isn't going exactly as we would like, and we are out of sync with the world, it’s simply a request for re-attunement and noticing where we need to come back into alignment.
We can look at our relationships with ourselves and others as being out of tune or in harmony.
Initially, Carole experienced music as a way to heal from the grief of loss.
Sometimes, life experiences can’t be captured in words, and only music can help us express and move through our pain. When we allow ourselves to feel that deeply, we become wise to the fact that there can even be other emotions felt while we are in pain, such as beauty and gratitude.
Our culture influences whether we feel safe enough or confident enough to bring our voices into the world. Many people have this idea that they have to sound a certain way to sing, which is not true.
It’s so important that more of us access our voices in this way and that we look at a chorus as a metaphor for our humanity. Sometimes there is disharmony, and this is always true; before we have harmony together, it’s a necessary part of the process.

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Episode 61: Vironika Wilde - LOVE & Gaslight

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 00:00:00 -0500

Vironika Wilde is a poet, spoken word artist, award-winning author, nomad, feminist, cat fanatic, and activist.

More than a poetry book, Love and Gaslight is a story. Divided into five chapters, it sparks with one woman's decision to leave an unhappy relationship. Her choice begins a painful unraveling. Poem by poem, she searches for lost innocence and unpalatable truth.

Veronika is also a sexual assault survivor reclaiming her body. She is an immigrant climbing into the home-sized hole in her heart. She is an adult comforting her inner child. She is a woman questioning the social conditioning that governs her freedom.

Love and Gaslight is raw, political, and transgressive. It's edgy, feminist, and relevant. Most importantly, it's honest. You will feel it. Whether it makes you feel sad, glad, or attacked, it will also make you feel brave enough to speak your truth.

Show Notes:

Poetry can reveal truth and heal trauma. Vironika has been writing poetry since she was a child and after publishing two self-help books, she decided to dive more deeply into her poetry.
As a woman, your healing process comes up for you each month when you have your period. So once a month, when you're on the progesterone part of your cycle, it comes back and it gives you an opportunity to process whatever it is that hasn't been processed.
Toxic relationships are crazy making.
Vironika realized that she and her partner were recreating childhood traumas with each other. He was casting her into this role of his mother, and she was casting him into this role of her father, which tends to repeat itself over and over again until you learn to heal your inner child.
Vironika came from the former Soviet Union to Canada with her parents as immigrants.
Vironika had to learn to empty herself in her friendships with others in ways that would not re-traumatize herself.
It’s really important to find a friend that can hold space for you.
In the former Soviet Union there is a big culture of repression, so much so that many people have throat issues and thyroid issues that have to do with voice suppression.
Sometimes we are doing the right thing but with the wrong person.
Love and Gaslight is a collection of poems that share the process of healing.

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Episode 57: Rebecca Gold - Yogic Writing

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0500

Rebecca Lyn Gold has been writing since the age of 6 when she found a floral cloth covered 5-year diary (with a lock and key) in her Christmas stocking.

She is now an author, editor, writing coach and the founder of Yogic Writing-- a practice that utilizes the philosophies and disciplines of yoga, meditation and journaling for writers of all levels to break through resistance, uncover memories, and find story nuggets buried within.

Her books include: "Till There Was You: An Adoption Expectancy Journal," "A Wizard Called Woz: a biography of Stephen Wozniak," "That's Why We're Here: Stories from passionate James Taylor fans," "How To Write It Funny" with author/humorist Amy Koko, and "A Friend Named Sunny Skies: A Memoir of Trauma, Healing, and the Music of James Taylor."

She is currently writing: "From Your Mat to Your Memoir: Creating a yogic writing practice to find and write your life stories."

Rebecca believes that writing is a spiritual practice, much like yoga or meditation. It takes courage to forge ahead, even when you have no idea where you are going.

You step on the mat, you greet the page, you meet your resistance, and then you Let. It. Go.

Rebecca has 3 children (who live in 3 different states-- although she tries not to take that personally), three grandchildren, and a 4th on the way. She lives with her husband Osvaldo and their dog Brownie in Providence, Rhode Island (for now).

She leads workshops, retreats and online programs using Yogic Writing as a tool for women to find and write their life stories.

Rebecca has a deep connection to the music of James Taylor due to a healing she experienced through his music, and would turn to music and storytelling as a way to comfort and connect to herself when she felt depressed or lonely.
Rebecca was 13 when she experienced a traumatic event that forced her to keep secrets. it’s also when she discovered journaling as a tool to access her deeper feelings process her emotions, and taking back her power.
Rebecca teaches her Yogic Writing Method that allows women to first connect to their body to access its deeper wisdom, and then to write from that deeper place.
If 100 Women were surveyed and asked if their lives dream were to write a book that at least 85% would share the desire to tell their story through a book.
Every woman has a story to tell, they just need to believe that their story is worth telling.
Initially Rebecca was doing a lot of surface level writing until she discovered yoga and began combining the practices of Yoga and Writing, and what she found is that the two were beautifully suited to one another.
Yogic writing helps women to break through to deeper levels of story-telling, and to stand in the center of their story as survivors and thrivers, vs, victims.
Breath practices, prompts, and yoga poses are all part of her writing retreats given throughout her programs.
Women who have experienced trauma ( and many of us have) are able to use this method because it’s gentle and self-guided, but also very effective at moving the stuck or trapped emotion through and helps women tap into deeper insights that come through in their writing.
When the pandemic started, Rebecca and many others found solace and comfort when she created a group called “The Corona Chronicles” on facebook and each day she would write a prompt and the group members could share what they had written.
From your mat to your memoir is a workshop Rebecca offers a few times a year, and she keeps it to a small and intimate group so that they can share their writings with each other and get the individualized attention to their writing.

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Episode 54: Coral Brown - The Biology of Belief

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 00:00:00 -0500

Coral Brown was one of our top podcast episodes of 2020, so I thought it fitting to invite her back at the close of what has been an incredibly challenging year for most of us. Today we talk about The Biology Of Belief and how our beliefs shape everything, including what we perceive, how we live and move in the world, and how our beliefs even biologically impact our health.

I want to mention that being with Coral is also like sitting in a hub where you experience a whirlwind of connection points that simultaneously come together. I often leave our conversations feeling as though I have shifted on a cellular level. I feel more expansive, aware, and tuned-in to deeper wisdom about what’s happening in the world that, I am convinced more than ever, is happening not to us but for us.

Coral Brown is known and loved in her local community and around the world. She is a mother, a dharma dweller, and a teacher of teachers. She is known for her integrative, lighthearted approach that fuses vinyasa yoga's vibrant, creative energy with her experience as a holistic counselor.

Coral is a licensed mental health counselor and draws on twenty years of experience in yoga, philosophy, and holistic counseling to provide fertile, open space for the processes of healing and transformation.

Coral’s teachings are fueled by the desire to reveal and cultivate the essence of our individual and collective dharma and instill it into every aspect of our being. Coral leads worldwide teacher trainings, retreats, and workshops. She is a regular contributor to Yoga Journal and has featured classes on YogaGirl.com.

*Show Notes: *

Our belief system is shaped by our families, society, culture, education, and religion.
Awareness is the beginning of everything.
If you don’t believe it, you don’t perceive it.
We live in a dualistic world: right or wrong, heaven or hell, black or white, but there is a whole spectrum of experience and intelligence we miss when we perceive the world in this way.
We have been in a collective triggering of sorts, and many of us have lost friends and family members due to our beliefs. The higher your level of emotional intelligence and empathy, the more you can feel the collective pain.
Emotional Intelligence is just as important as intellectual intelligence and is more critical than ever as we navigate relationships and connection at a deeper level.
Often, we experience a contraction before an expansion, which is happening in our world right now.
Awareness of our beliefs is where our work is, and fealizing (feel + realizing) what we are feeling in each moment and choosing our response from a place of compassion for ourselves and others.
Conducting an inventory of beliefs is a great place to start noticing what your belief system is.

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Episode 50: Andrea Powell - Stopping Traffick

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:00:00 -0500

"In 2016, an estimated 1 out of 6 endangered runaways reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were likely child sex trafficking victims. Of those, 86% were in the care of social services or foster care when they ran.” - Polaris Project

This episode was as incredibly emotional as it is deeply inspiring and important.

I’m so grateful to Andrea Powell for honoring my request to create this episode on the subject of sexual exploitation and human trafficking in America. Not only is Andrea an incredible resource, but she’s also a beautiful human being with a fierce heart and a sharp mind. I have no doubt you will see what a powerful advocate she is for those she serves and why this issue is such an important one for all of us to become involved in solving.

I urge everyone who comes across this episode to listen in and understand the ingredients that perpetuate this epidemic across multiple industries in America. My hope is that by listening we become empowered to help put an end to this practice once and for all.

Note: While we did not discuss the QAnon conspiracy on this episode, Andrea has dispelled these myths repeatedly on other shows. For more information on this subject please contact her directly because it presents a dangerous distraction to the real issues of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Those on the front lines of this epidemic are deeply perplexed by this complex and disturbing narrative.

Andrea Powell is the co-founder of Karana Rising, a survivor-led nonprofit that dares to support survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation for life. With her team, she offers survivors a chance to lead in their lives while healing from their past. She is also the Director of Survivor Engagement at UNITAS and is the founder of FAIR Girls, an organization offering safe housing to young women survivors of human trafficking. Andrea is an author and artist; her work has been featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times, BCC, and NBC Think. She enjoys creating multimedia art and writing.

Show Notes:

Human trafficking at its core is about exploiting people’s vulnerabilities.
Our vulnerabilities at home are much deeper than most parents realize because of online apps and unregulated and insecure gaming.
The pandemic amplifies this vulnerability even more because so many kids are home, feeling lonely, and therefore vulnerable based on their hunger for connection and attention.
The vast majority of those trafficked are women and minorities.
Our society is disabled, not those who survive trafficking.
A trafficker's worse nightmare is an empowered kid.
Andrea’s goal is to see every woman feel valued and loved and to stop human trafficking.
Many women who are survivors of human trafficking have a continuum of trauma which also involves a continuum of healing.
Andrea also works with UNITAS and has written a parenting guide so that parents can know how to deal with threats as well as what to look for.
Roblox is an online gaming app with faulty security that endangers children to sextortion and Andrea wishes someone from the organization would respond to her outreach.
Andrea was afraid to start a non-profit for human trafficking but a wise woman said to her, “Even if you only help one person, your organization will have been worth building.”
“My Octopus Teacher” is a film that metaphorically represents the case of Tiffany Simpson to Andrea. Tiffany is a survivor of sex trafficking that was convicted to 17 years in prison and is still currently serving the sentence with seven years to go vs. the trafficker that exploited her. This shows how backward our laws are and how they perpetuate the cycle of exploitation.
People are conditioned to silo their experiences, and experiencing trauma is often at the heart of many mental health issues.
Money is a trauma source for many survivors of human trafficking.
Being trafficked is like a disappearing act because it happens slowly to many people who are already feeling invisible. Andrea shares that her job is to help human trafficking survivors reappear and reclaim their wholeness.
Online dating apps, online gaming, and insecure apps are all sources of exploitation. Ending human trafficking is an act of love.
The International Labour Organization estimates that there are 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally. 81% of them are trapped in forced labor. 25% of them are children. 75% are women and girls. (Source: Polaris Project)

Links:

Karana Rising
Surviving Now — Karana Rising
The Soul of Money Institute and Lynne Twist
My Octopus Teacher | Netflix Official Site
Petition · Free Child Sex Trafficking Survivor Tiffany Simpson · Change.org
Survivors Share This — Karana Rising
Shop — Karana Rising
DONATE — Karana Rising
UNITAS Parent Resource Guide
Free to Be – We Prevent Trafficking
Facebook | Anka Christine
Instagram • Anka Christine (@ankachristine)
Free Tiffany Simpson / Change.Org — Tiffany Simpson was trafficked as a child by a man who she thought loved her. She was 17 when her violent trafficker lured another 13 year old runaway into his car offering help. Tiffany and this young girl were brutally assaulted by multiple men. She was bleeding out after being stabbed while 8 months pregnant by her trafficker. However, the police arrested Tiffany and her trafficker in 2012. She was sentenced to 20 years in adult prison for trafficking another minor. It is hard to believe she has already served 8 of these years. She deserves justice and healing. Now more than ever, it is time to set her free.