Nearly Enlightened
Ancestral Healing and Personal Evolution with Dannica Lowery
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What happens when a traumatic event becomes the catalyst for profound personal and professional growth? Join us as Dannica Lowery, a devoted yoga teacher and wellness leader, shares her incredible journey of healing and innovation. From surviving carbon monoxide poisoning in 2020 to developing her revolutionary Somævolve™ training program, Dannica's story is one of resilience and transformation. Discover how she integrates gentle yoga, intuitive movement, and her Somafluent™ embodiment technique to create a holistic approach to personal evolution and whole body wellness.
We also delve into the rich spiritual and philosophical dimensions of yoga, shedding light on common misconceptions and fears. Dannica's unique ability to weave familiar religious texts like the Bible into yoga practice helps bridge gaps and foster a sense of unity among diverse spiritual traditions. Our conversation takes a deeper look at the importance of ancestral healing, breaking generational curses, and the ongoing efforts to preserve sacred lands. Dannica's experiences working with Native American tribes to protect an ancient burial site against commercial exploitation reveals the emotional toll and inspiration of local activism.
Finally, reflect on the journey of faith and spirituality, from reevaluating traditional religious practices to embracing a more profound, personal connection with the divine. Through stories of small-town activism and the complex interplay of science and spirituality, Dannica's insights illuminate the path to understanding the kingdom of God within us. This episode is a compelling exploration of personal growth, the intersection of heritage and development, and the profound connection between our inner and outer worlds. Join us for a transformative discussion that challenges and inspires.
Connect with Dannica:
goodMedicine.tv
subtletiesoftheself.com
IG: @danni.coyote / goodmedicine.movement / subtletiesoftheself / morningstar.medicinals
Tiktok: @danni.coyote
We want to hear from you! Send us a text message.
What happens when a traumatic event becomes the catalyst for profound personal and professional growth? Join us as Dannica Lowery, a devoted yoga teacher and wellness leader, shares her incredible journey of healing and innovation. From surviving carbon monoxide poisoning in 2020 to developing her revolutionary Somævolve™ training program, Dannica's story is one of resilience and transformation. Discover how she integrates gentle yoga, intuitive movement, and her Somafluent™ embodiment technique to create a holistic approach to personal evolution and whole body wellness.
We also delve into the rich spiritual and philosophical dimensions of yoga, shedding light on common misconceptions and fears. Dannica's unique ability to weave familiar religious texts like the Bible into yoga practice helps bridge gaps and foster a sense of unity among diverse spiritual traditions. Our conversation takes a deeper look at the importance of ancestral healing, breaking generational curses, and the ongoing efforts to preserve sacred lands. Dannica's experiences working with Native American tribes to protect an ancient burial site against commercial exploitation reveals the emotional toll and inspiration of local activism.
Finally, reflect on the journey of faith and spirituality, from reevaluating traditional religious practices to embracing a more profound, personal connection with the divine. Through stories of small-town activism and the complex interplay of science and spirituality, Dannica's insights illuminate the path to understanding the kingdom of God within us. This episode is a compelling exploration of personal growth, the intersection of heritage and development, and the profound connection between our inner and outer worlds. Join us for a transformative discussion that challenges and inspires.
Connect with Dannica:
goodMedicine.tv
subtletiesoftheself.com
IG: @danni.coyote / goodmedicine.movement / subtletiesoftheself / morningstar.medicinals
Tiktok: @danni.coyote
This is the Nearly Enlightened Podcast. I am your host, gianna Girusso, and today I am joined by the lovely Danica Lowry. She is a dedicated yoga teacher, a wellness leader and an alchymal herbalist whose work is a primal call to those who yearn to live more consciously, more joyfully and in true alignment with their essence to live more consciously, more joyfully and in true alignment with their essence. She integrates yoga philosophy, somatic practices and plant alchemy to guide individuals on transformative journeys, fostering connections that ground and enlighten. Her work, rooted in both ancient wisdom and modern insights, offers accessible tools for personal evolution and encourages living authentically and intentionally.
Speaker 1:Welcome back, thanks for having me. I am so happy you're back. I didn't realize, like I told you this before, but the last time you were on the podcast was 2022. And that feels like that. Why does that feel like eons ago? That doesn't even feel right, I know. So this is like a pro. This needs to be like a proper catch up, because I feel like you have gone through an expansion period yes or no, always yeah and you've launched like some pretty amazing things online.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I wouldn't even know where to begin with all of that. Yeah, I just well. And too. Whenever you introduced me to the FG Funnels platform, I feel like it just opened up a whole world of possibility to me, and my creative juices were just like oh, I could do this. Oh, I could do that. I just started doing all these things.
Speaker 1:I know it's truly amazing what you can do through that platform. It's like actually mind blowing. And I'm not. It's crazy because I'm actually like not a tech girl at all and this anything that I do here in the digital world is like way beyond my comfort zone. So I really have to applaud you because there is literally so much that you can do in FG and it's so amazing to like just be able to share that much easier, yeah, and all in one place too.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I've done a lot of stuff. Um, since we were last on the podcast together and um, I even started my own podcast randomly a year ago that I just kind of I did like two episodes and I like let it die.
Speaker 1:No, it's not dead, it's just probably on the back burner.
Speaker 2:It's definitely uh, it's struggling. Well maybe I'll have to do like a dual.
Speaker 1:I'll come on yours and we'll just, we'll get that fire going.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm happy to be on yours, so thanks for inviting me back back, oh my gosh, I'm so happy to have you.
Speaker 1:I just love people who are doing this work, and not only talking the talk but walking the walk, and you're no exception to that. I've said that to pretty much every guest that's been on and, like you, wouldn't be on this podcast if I didn't like think that you were out there doing God's work you humble me and honor me.
Speaker 2:Thank you oh, um.
Speaker 1:So with yo, I want to talk about a little bit about your yoga work, because I feel like that's really, um, it's been my gateway kind of into the spiritual world and into personal growth and just like development, and I feel like it's a lot of people's gateway, and I know that you have recently been working on a lot working on your own training. So what does your training look like? Cause I'm really interested in what you're doing there.
Speaker 2:Are you talking about some evolve and what you're doing there? Yes, are you talking about SomaVolve? Yes, somavolve, yeah. So SomaVolve is a. It's kind of a fusion of all of my favorite things. It's a gentle yoga with intuitive movement, but it also incorporates my SomaFluent embodiment technique, which is kind of a combination of personal quantum healing work but also scientifically proven somatic techniques that bring you into biological embodiment. And I can't remember exactly what we talked about last time whenever I was on your show, but it was kind of the thing that I just intuitively created when I was healing from carbon monoxide poisoning, and I don't remember if we talked about that or not.
Speaker 1:When did that happen? Actually, was it like 2020. Okay so, yeah, so a couple years after I think we touched on it. Yeah, maybe. So everyone will have to go back and listen to that episode Well.
Speaker 2:I can give a short version here. At the end of 2020, in November, basically, we had a defective fireplace in our home and we didn't know it. And my husband is a ship captain, so he works offshore, so I was home alone, he was gone out offshore and I woke up early that morning. I was getting ready to go to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving and I was cooking and blah, blah, blah. Around 10 AM I was like man, I've got a headache. I feel really weird. I'm going to go lay down. So I set the timer on the oven so that it would wake me up and I went to go lay down and right whenever I went to go lay down, the carbon monoxide detector went off in the house that I had been being poisoned and it finally got to um, such a, such a level of carbon monoxide in the home that the the um detector went off.
Speaker 2:And anyway, without going into all the details, immediately after that, um, like 24 hours later, I ended up getting hives all over my body and I was diagnosed with mast cell activation syndrome, which is like an autoimmune disorder with like a histamine overload in your body, and it was. It was absolutely like deteriorating on every level of my body. I. It was psychologically damaging to me, not just like because I was physically compromised, but I couldn't wear clothing. The seams of my clothes were creating pressure hives all over my body. I couldn't work anymore because even just walking on the floor, the bottoms of my feet were swelling up and breaking out in hives. I couldn't play guitar, so I couldn't perform anymore, because my joints and stuff were swelling and I could not walk up and down the stairs to our house without feeling like I was going to pass out, Like I wasn't getting enough oxygen. So basically, what happened there was I wasn't able to practice yoga anymore. You know, like what I thought was yoga, which was just awesome, Really Right.
Speaker 2:So um and I was one little limb, I know right, that's mentioned like twice in the yoga sutras of patanjali and it's like important enough to be mentioned like once or twice, but it's not the entirety of yoga, right. And so I wasn't. I wasn't able to practice at the capacity that I had previously like prided myself on. I was was, you know, I was. I was great at the physical practice and I loved it and it forced me to go into the other limbs. And when I started just kind of incorporating what I was doing in my work with myself and I started to kind of fuse it all together, soam Evolved was kind of born out of that. You know I had already been playing with some of the aspects here and there, like before this all happened, but it kind of brought everything to a culmination point and it was the single practice that I used on myself to heal my body, so that I could live a normal life again after the carbon monoxide poisoning. And then I started bringing it to my local community and the people that started doing it were seeing the benefits that I had seen in myself.
Speaker 2:I had one student in particular who was a chronic pain patient. He had been shot several times in his abdomen and when he was coming to classes, like he had like a compression, like a compression belt I almost said a girdle, a compression belt, like same, same, yeah, and he was like having to hold his abdomen in right and he had like mesh in there. He had a lot of like reconstructive surgeries and stuff and he started coming to some of all of class. He was also doing my Kundalini classes too and, um, he, he just saw so much physical restoration in his body that he was like I never thought this was possible for myself to to actually be pain-free and to start seeing like restoration, not just in his physical body but in his mind and in his emotion, like his emotional intelligence and stuff too.
Speaker 2:So there's some really wonderful, you know, a myriad of benefits that I think come from it and you know it's not just something that I've seen in my own, you know, personal journey, but it's it's it's happening for other people too and um, so, yeah, I love the practice and I started to uh put together all of the kind of tenants that I created the the practice on, and I created a likehour, three-day weekend training for yoga teachers, and so this last year, this past autumn of 2023, was my first training ever and it went so wonderfully. But this year, now that I've got that under my belt, I'm expanding on it and I'm doing more labs, like a Soma Fluent Lab and stuff like that, to really get people to practice and understand that embodiment technique. So I'm really excited about that. This is only going to be my second year training, but I'm you know I'm looking forward to the longterm and potentially offering it multiple times per year eventually.
Speaker 1:So yes, I've seen that in my own teaching as well. I've been teaching two classes a week that are like we basically roll around on the mat for an hour and like breathe and take mini shavasanas in between, like every single movement. And I've really also come to know that, like the magic is in the stillness, it's not in like these fancy crazy poses. I mean they're fun to do, they're like essentially party tricks really, when you get down to it.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that there's magic in all of it.
Speaker 2:There's magic but when we're in such a hyper mobile young type of society that we're accustomed to, I think, like the real, like juicy magic is, like you said, in the stillness. But there's a type of magic that comes from all the other types of postures too, because it takes a certain level of determination to get to those points, and so there's merit in all of it. But yeah, I tend to, I tend to kind of lean where you are, just because of American culture and the way that this culture is designed, that the real juicy magic is is in the stillness, because we don't get a lot of it.
Speaker 1:Yes, and you notice it. It's hard for me to do so. Obviously it's hard for people to do who aren't working on practicing stillness on a daily basis. So I see it in my own practice and I see the necessity of it, and the more people are resistant to it, I'm like, oh, but that's what you need, that's what you need.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's still something that I'm working on and I find myself wanting to like I take my own recorded classes, because it's different whenever you're teaching and holding a space and when you're actually like receiving in it, and so I'll take my own some of all of classes that I've recorded and I'll do my classes and I get so much out of it that way too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, that's kind of cool. You can be your own, you can be a student and your own teacher and that right there is the practice of yoga. Yeah, all together. I think that's important to talk about because we do, especially here in the west, like I teach a lot of right now I'm teaching a lot of like power yoga classes, which, like, like you said, it's great, it's awesome, it's for a of people, it is the gateway for. It was for me. But I do see that we have watered down the practice here in the West and when you give people a little more than just their fitness power yoga class, there's like a little bit of resistance there, and I see that. I mean it's been a learning opportunity for me too, cause it's like, okay, well, how, like why is this showing up for me? And like, where am I doing this and how, how can I bring it back to my classes, where we're still getting like a great workout, a great sweat. But we're gonna, we're gonna learn some, some ancient principles.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think I've found in my own reflections that I think American culture, and maybe just modern culture in general, has kind of taken the spirituality out of everyday life. But as someone who comes from a multicultural background, my dad's family traditionally being Native American, one of the hallmarks of Native American culture that people seem to be so enraptured by but they have issues kind of actually implementing it in their lives is that everything about us being alive is spiritual and how you do your life is how you do your spirituality. Your spirituality is not just once a week going into some place and, like you know, praying or whatever it's like you're into some place and like you know praying or whatever it's like you're, you being in your body and being you know. I've got my little squishy block right here that I'm holding.
Speaker 1:No, that's okay. I'm always like sniffing my spearmint or like something silly. So, do what you need to do.
Speaker 2:But you, being like an aspect of the tapestry of God's creation, is spiritual in and of itself. So we're inherently spiritual and how you do your life is how you do your spirituality. And you know, I, I, I really share the sentiment that you um, that you that you just said, is that we kind of in here in the West, we Western culture kind of um, wants yoga to be just a workout. And I think, oh, that's my cat. I thought so, Um, I think that I think I lost my train of thought because my cat is trying to get out of the room.
Speaker 1:So no, it's okay, they're little coworkers. I have two and they are always like in everything I do.
Speaker 2:I was thinking that she was going to go to sleep because she was trying to get in, and then now she wants out.
Speaker 1:So I just I don't know it's okay, I think I can help you jog your train of thought. Um, so we were talking about how, like here in the West, we kind of want yoga to be just a fitness class, but actually it's like meant to be so much more than that. The fitness is like one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so what I've found causes the resistance is that there's there's a fear of that it might be some sort sort of religion underneath it or a portal or something to the occult, like through the cyber streets and just trying to like, you know, like stone and besmirch the practice as you know, some sort of portal to like demonic activity or something.
Speaker 2:And it just couldn't be further from the truth. And when I and perhaps this is because I come from a multicultural background, but I see the similarities in Muskogee culture, in Christianity, in yoga philosophy, and I feel like part of my duty here on earth is to start to bridge the gaps between all of these different places and start to kind of weave them together. And so I actually, like, when I was teaching Kundalini classes on Sunday, I would often bring in a biblical scripture that would support the yoga philosophy that I was teaching that day. Oh, I love that. Both of them and I had people that would come to my classes that would bring their church clothes and after Kundalini they would get ready in the bathroom and they would go to church again. It was their second time going to church, because the first time was at my class, right, and I just try to kind of like calm the fear that people feel around, not really understanding what the philosophy is. But it's a user's manual.
Speaker 2:To the body Well, and how to live your life in relationship and to remember your divinity as a child of God and the God of your understanding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's not a religion, although it was created by a culture that had a religion so I love that you're bringing this up, because this is something that I have kind of been grappling with too. I come from like a christian background. I grew up roman catholic but you know, with that, uh, I kind of had like my, my grandparents, my dad's side of the family. My grandmother could definitely be labeled as probably like a straga witch, like she knew some like crazy herbal things, dream work, like all that stuff. So my view of christianity has always been a little like oh well, we practice this, but like don't tell the family priest, because that could be labeled something that like looks like witchcraft.
Speaker 2:Well, if you wouldn't have been burned in? You know the 17th century, are you even living life?
Speaker 1:Exactly, I think, where I think there's a lot of us that are moving past that wound. It's funny I've talked to a few people about that lately. It's like I came in with throat chakra, stuff. It's like, oh, how many times was I hung right.
Speaker 2:yeah, I definitely feel like our generation is the generation of curse breakers that are really like maybe the first generation that have the tools to actually work through some of our ancestral stuff that's being like carried down in our family lines and stuff.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's where all of this work kind of was like how I'm here, it's why I'm doing what I'm doing. So, yeah, I totally feel that too. You feel the shift happening and it's it's kind of exciting.
Speaker 2:It was just all exciting yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's so good to catch up with you. I know it's good to be here. Yeah, I'm so um this, it's good to be here. Yeah, I'm so um this. This whole theme of this season has been me like moving through grief and loss and just coming back to this place of center and you know I'm a big I've said this in a lot of episodes recently like I'm not part of that positive vibes only crowd, but I am here to shift the narrative and to show that there's a better way of living, a more connected way of living.
Speaker 1:And until you start to do the work, to clear the channels and to move past those things that are programming, find the work, find the practitioner for you, do it. It's important and you know, that's why I'm here, that's why all of my guests are here. I think that's the work that you're doing. Even, um, you've been talking about I'm not sure if you want to get into this, but I kind of hope so Um, you have been doing some work in your community to preserve, um, some sacred land. Yeah, and I like for one, as a friend, like, I'm so proud that you are not being bullied by the man and you are, you're preserving not only this historical site, but the sacred, the sacred land yeah, I think I am actually.
Speaker 2:I think the man is is attempting to bully me. Um, but it's funny that you bring it up, because I actually have a meeting with one of our county commissioners tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Um so would you like to tell our listeners a little bit about the backstory and just a little bit about the story?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't want to get too much into it. I am working directly with the chief of staff of some of the tribes out west and so, basically, there's this historical site here on the island, and whenever they were developing one of the major resorts here, they uncovered an archaeological site which ended up being a cemetery for the Native Americans that were indigenous to this area, which would be a Muscogee tribe, and my dad's family, just for context. They, like I, have lineal descent of Muscogee and people and I personally am not federally recognized indigenous person, but my I do have family that is and I've been practicing ceremony with them for, oh my gosh, since I was in my late teens and, um, just learning more about you know my ancestry and the culture. I did not grow up in the culture, um, but some of my cousins did, and some of them live on the reservation, and so there was a tribe and I use that term loosely. There was an organization here that had presented themselves as a tribe, and when I began working there to help them kind of bring their records and things into the digital age, they were presented to me as a legitimate tribe. Um, I didn't really know anything until I started going through their records and I started to kind of see things for my, for myself, what was going on. And I think you know, back in the 80s that they were a, you know, they were a state recognized tribe. At the time they were working towards their federal recognition.
Speaker 2:Some things happened.
Speaker 2:They're no longer state recognized, um, there's a rift between them and some of the federal tribes out west and anyway, so, long story short, this in theies, when they were developing this um, this resort, and they found this cemetery, they, uh, they kind of turned it over to the local tribe in the area and was like hey, you know, this is an archeological site.
Speaker 2:This, you know, these artifacts belong to your people and you can preserve it as you see fit. Well, the woman who is now managing the tribe she put a cell phone tower on it and just saying that there's so much wrong with that because she's getting paid for leasing that land out to the cell phone company. But it's literally on an ancient burial ground and that was not congruent with the deed restrictions of that land, congruent with the deed restrictions of that land. And so, anyway, this land was given to them for like $10 is what it says on the deed. And so now that there's all of this development going on in the area because we're now this area is known as the Hamptons of the South, so we are one of the most iconic tourist destinations in the United States. Now there's been movies that have been filmed here and all kinds of stuff, and I mean the average home price here is like $3 million.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's crazy yeah.
Speaker 2:And it wasn't always like that whenever we moved out here, but it's I mean, it just continues to like skyrocket out here. So this woman decides that you know this acreage that she owns. She's ready to sell it now for a development opportunity. So she's listed it on the mls as a development opportunity for six and a half million dollars and the county was entertaining buying it, which is interesting in and of itself, because when, since when, does the county acquire land for? That's a development opportunity.
Speaker 1:What are the, the for what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like they're. They're not contractors, you know what I mean. So, anyway, it was being presented at this meeting and my neighbor, who's an environmental scientist, she reached out to me because she knows that you know, my indigenous heritage is in Skokie and she she was like, did you see this? This is, this is actually going to be on the agenda for the county meeting tomorrow. So I, as soon as I saw it, something lit up inside of me and I called all of my family, everyone that I knew, to get in touch with some people who could go there and stand in solidarity with me against what's happening here, because anybody with two brain cells to rub together can see what's happening Like this is a land grab, money grab, right. And so immediately they started contacting our relatives in our kin out west, and I only spoke two times at the county, and the second time one of the county commissioners thought it was appropriate to try to disparage me in front of the entire room, which is a public meeting that's recorded, and he whispered I think he didn't realize that the mic was hot and he tried to whisper that I was a liar and basically a charlatan, but it was like you could hear it. And then yeah, so it's just been really interesting.
Speaker 2:The whole thing has been super enlightening because I had I felt like I didn't really realize that there was such corruption at the local level where I, where we lived, and it's just been really eyeopening and frustrating really, because it's become very apparent that money is the driving force behind this, and if you don't have money to pass hands, it's really hard to get anything done here. And so the benefit of all of this is that I've been working directly with some of the tribes out West. So we actually are like at a standstill right now. Actually are like at a standstill right now. The land cannot be touched until, um, until I think their their general attorney or attorney general is contact is like working with the County attorney and um, so I haven't gotten an update in the last week, but the last update that I had is that, um, there's some forensic auditing being done and to try to get gain a clear picture of, like, what's going on like monetarily here wow he's getting money and see that's.
Speaker 1:I'm from Rhode Island and this has always been a problem here, Like since who knows how long I mean the mafia ran the whole state for like a very, very long time, and people would argue that that was probably when Rhode Island was run the best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I mean, when I first moved out here, like so, originally I'm from Pensacola, which is only like two hours away, so you know, I'm a panhandle native, literally in the sense of the word. And when I moved over to this neighboring county, you know, people had told me they were like Walton spelt backwards, spells not law. This place is lawless. And I was like whatever you know. And now, yeah, it's like, now I'm in my 30s and I'm like what the hell is going on here?
Speaker 1:oh, I think it's just. It goes to show like on every level, like all of these things are being shed to light so that we can start to clean up this mess, like I really feel like that's what this decade is. We're like this big cleaning crew coming in being like, okay, all this is getting brought to light and now we gotta do something with this shit, yeah, and here's the thing I don't want to be involved in politics at any level, any level.
Speaker 2:It is like I don't even know how to even describe the feeling that it gives me, because it's like that's not the arena that my energy is best spent or the arena that I used to be a local performer and we live in a very big tourist area and so I played music in a lot of the venues down here and I know almost everybody. It's a small town life. I can't tell you how. First of all, I didn't know that these meetings were recorded and live streamed, and I also didn't know how many people locally watched them. But when I got up there and I spoke, so many people reached out to me and they were like, oh my God, I had no idea this was going on. This is amazing.
Speaker 2:You got up there and just gave it to the commission, and so I think it was enlightening, not only for me, but for a lot of people too, and it's actually excuse me, it's actually inspired some people of you know, our generation, the millennial generation to get involved locally, because so many of us and I think we probably make up the majority of the population, so many of us are just apathetic and we don't want to be involved in it. And so these old geezers are like running the county into the ground, you know. And so it's inspired some people locally to kind of get involved and take action in what's going on. But then, you know, I feel kind of divided and conflicted because it's like I want to be, you know, I want to be active in it too, but just the two times I spoke up there was absolutely exhausting and I actually don't want to do it again. But tomorrow I have a meeting with a commissioner.
Speaker 1:I know that is. I mean, that's a lot of energy to take on Because, like you said, talk about like, first of all, breaking generational curses and like you're so you were touching on quantum healing, like that's healing, like many, many, many lifetimes, just getting up there and being a voice so that's why, when I saw your post I was like cheering you on.
Speaker 2:I was like, heck, yeah, girl, get it well, because those people that are buried there could very well be my ancestors and who was going to speak for them? You know, absolutely honestly, when I got up there and I was talking, it felt like there was like spirit coming through me that felt ancestral yeah yeah, oh my god, I got goosebumps.
Speaker 1:I feel like that was. Yeah, I like felt that.
Speaker 2:I mean, I felt it too. That's what it felt like whenever I got up there and and was was speaking, you know, and they, this one county commissioner like literally in front of everybody, tried to deny my civil right to speak. He wasn't going to let me speak. And yeah, I look back and I watch those videos and I'm like dang. I really did handle that well because I could have showed my ass.
Speaker 1:I mean just the level of courage it takes, like you said, to be like, okay, I don't want to be involved in politics, I don't want to be doing this, I don't want to be doing this, but like when you look at it through the lens of, like, what's right and wrong.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just kind of, you know, talking about this with my one of my friends earlier, like putting on your big girl pants and just being like, okay, let's rally, we got to do this yeah, because at that point, you know, even if I don't choose to be involved moving forward, I've already done something that has catalyzed the community and enlightened the community, and people have not stopped talking about it since. I was walking down the road the other day and somebody stopped and they were like I saw you at the meeting, can I have one of those packets that you were going to hand out? And I was like, oh yeah, of course I'll put one in your mailbox. So yeah, it's been a wild ride and it's not something that I ever saw myself being involved in and I have no desire to be involved in it truly. But just like you said, when it comes down to what's right and what's wrong, there comes a moment where you can't keep your mouth shut because silence is being complicit, right?
Speaker 1:I mean, we've seen it throughout history what happens when you just like be a bystander and just say, well, this doesn't affect me, so I'm going to keep moving this way. It's like I think a lot of us are having that wake up call of like, okay, now we have to really like step into what we've been talking about, what we've been. I mean quite literally, like when you're a yoga teacher and you you're doing this work for yourself and then you're teaching other people how to do this work, you're igniting it in the hearts of many. So at many levels, you have been living this for a long time.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think the thing that you know, god doesn't call the qualified, god qualifies the called. And when you feel the calling on your heart to do the thing, sometimes you have to put logic and like comfortability aside and just do the damn thing you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, we weren't promised comfort, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Right of uncomfortability. Discomfort is the word I'm looking for. That comes with, you know, putting yourself on a podium and talking against what seems like the majority of of people would just allow happen.
Speaker 1:You know, and yeah, and I think that's been going on way too long on on many multiple levels of of government here in the united states of like people just turning the other way and being like, oh well, it doesn't affect me, and this little like boys club or whatever it is making all of these decisions for the many with their best interest at heart. So I feel like a lot of people are starting to wake up and realize like it's not going to be the government that's going to save you right, exactly, there's no salvation by legislation.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, oh well, I love a hot take, and this is the uncomfortable conversations that a lot of people don't want to have, and I'll gladly have them because you know, like I said on the podcast before, right before this, like we don't all have to have the same views, but we have to learn how to come to the table and talk about those different views and not feel attacked by somebody else's different point of view or just like a different perspective.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that a lot of those feelings of like personal attack come from when people identify with their beliefs, as if that's like, you know, an identity marker for them, which we're seeing a lot of and you know modernity and you know modern times people are like putting their beliefs or their opinions as identity markers in their Instagram profiles and stuff, you know. And so then when you disagree, it's no longer just a disagreement on an opinion. Now it's become a personal attack, because now you're like, you disagree with me fundamentally as a human. You know this is a personal attack against who I am and that's actually not true, that's an illusion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's like if we can't come together and have these uncomfortable conversations and come to some kind of like perspective shift on some way, shape or form, like no progress is going to happen whatsoever, there's going to be no moving forward, we're only going to backslide from here yeah, I feel similarly and especially like well, I'll take it here, but like, especially with like what you're seeing, after what happened this weekend, um, it's, yeah, it's crazy, like it's crazy.
Speaker 1:I saw I you know what. Maybe I shouldn't even go there, but let's just go there let's see what happens so I saw this post and it was basically like you should care this much when a third grade classroom is getting shot up and I was like what?
Speaker 2:what if? What if we cared this much all the time when somebody's shot at?
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, how about we stop shooting at each other? Like how about, how about we work on a collective mental health?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know this is. I have. I have shared the same mindset for as many years as I can remember. When people were celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden, I posted something it may make the world a safer place, but to rejoice in somebody's demise is a terrible, terrible emotional state to be in and it's going to affect everything around you. I feel the same way now. It hasn't changed. You know what I mean. I have, you know, I'm not even going to get into, you know, personal opinions about politicians or anything like that. Right, because it doesn't matter had no personal feelings or opinions about Osama bin Laden, but the posts that I was seeing especially from Christians or religious people you know that were supposed to supposedly embodiments of God's love and Christ's love and all this kind of stuff sitting here and rejoicing of the fact that somebody is dead, that somebody was not given any type of redemption or opportunity for redemption whatsoever, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Right, Like what happened to, like fair trial or like you know whatever. I don't know.
Speaker 2:You know, and the guy was a terrorist, supposedly, it's like. But also it's like. What can we even believe coming from the government at this point? It's like who? Even really knows. I don't know. I know the propaganda that is shoved down my throat here in the United States, you know, and I just I choose to. You know, I don't believe everything that I see is what I'm saying. You know what I mean. I don't believe everything that I see. However, when people die, it's not something to celebrate, right?
Speaker 1:Or when people are injured, or when there's a malicious attack on someone's life, yes, it's not something to celebrate Going back to the religion thing, like if your religion is telling you to accept all people but not those people. Like maybe you should look at your religion.
Speaker 2:Well, maybe you should stop allowing man-made religion to actually gatekeep God. And why don't you seek a personal relationship with God and stop waiting in the shallows of what religion is teaching you a superficial relationship with God and actually dive into what it means and heal yourself?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then come back to it and see if your perception has shifted a little bit. I have so many opinions on organized religion that I, like I don't even. I don't know if I can, even right now.
Speaker 1:I, I, I know I went to Catholic school my entire life. So first grade through 12th grade, that is like a lot of Bible study. Let me tell you, and what the Bible is telling you and what religious institutions are telling you are two totally different philosophies.
Speaker 2:Exactly, I love the Bible I love. So at the beginning of the year I started reading the Bible. I started with the New Testament and you know, I was raised Pentecostal. I grew up Pentecostal. My mom was Pentecostal and thankfully, however, she my dad was in prison most of my childhood, and that's the indigenous side, but he was also Pentecostal to my childhood and that's the indigenous side, but he was also Pentecostal. It wasn't until my late teens when I started exploring traditional Muscogee culture. But anyway, I digress. I was raised Pentecostal and so I know the Bible.
Speaker 2:By the time I was about nine or 10 years old, my mom was working so much that she wasn't going to church anymore, and I was able to be like nine or 10 years old. My mom was working so much that she wasn't going to church anymore and I was able to be like I'm not going either because this shit scares me. I don't like it, you know. But this this year, at the beginning of this year, I started reading the new Testament from the beginning and I'm going through all the way to the end and I have a journal where I'm going verse for verse, and I have this app on my phone called Parallel Plus where I can take each verse and I can compare it with other translations of that verse.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love that yeah, because I want to understand with the Eastern ancient mind which was how the Bible was written, like what know the context of these things, because some of the most damaging ideology that I've seen come out of, like organized religion, is people teaching scripture out of context.
Speaker 1:And making it right. It's so funny because right in the Bible it says like do not put your own spin on this. Like yeah, this is the way it is and do not use your human mind to create assumptions upon this. Like, yeah, this is the way it is, and do not use your human mind to create assumptions upon this. Yeah.
Speaker 2:They may. You know the preachers and people. They make it fit their own narrative. And so I'm going through verse for verse, and what I'm understanding in the Bible is that there's spiritual layers to it. It hits you wherever you're at and you get what you need out of it. It hits you wherever you're at and you get what you need out of it. And so, like my husband takes it very literally, he sees just the surface level of it and he just applies it in the most basic way to his life that he can. When I read the Bible, I see a wildly esoteric, mystical text that is talking about the psychological drama that human consciousness goes through when it's going through cycles of enlightenment.
Speaker 1:And if you compare it to other texts, like you were saying, like the yoga sutras, it is very much saying the same fucking thing.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly, and so what this has done for me is not only has it deepened my relationship with God, it has and maybe we talked about this two years ago but God is no longer a personality to me or a character for worship. God is a pure principle, it's the driving force of creation. God is alive in me, and it says it in the Bible over and over again that I'm the temple. I'm the dwelling place of God and Christ, and Christ lives in me, and it says it in the Bible over and over again that I'm the, I'm the temple.
Speaker 1:I'm the dwelling place of God and Christ, and Christ lives in me. And again, going back to the yoga sutras, it says the same thing your body is your temple. Clear and cleanse the temple, keep the temple clear Like it is the same thing. This is the house of.
Speaker 2:God, yes, do not look here, do not look there, don't believe anybody, whenever they tell you the kingdom of God is here or there, because it won't come by observation, it is within you. That's what Jesus said. Right, I and my father are one, but my father is greater than I. Right, and I had this. I had this dream many years ago and I, and when I woke up I wrote an entire poem about it. But in the dream the one line that kind of stuck with me is the second coming of Christ is the becoming of mankind, yeah, and so I got the goosebumps again, and so the I and my father are one.
Speaker 2:Like when you really understand that and you understand what faith is because I thought I knew what faith was it's one thing to conceptualize it and try to explain it to someone and for it to click viscerally in your body and understand that it is done because God said Like it almost makes me emotional to say it, because it's like that the faith piece is a part for me that only clicked recently, whenever I started reading the Bible this year again and I, like I said, I love the Bible, I love God, I love Christ, I love the archetypes that are in the Bible and the stories that are in there and how they apply to my own personal journey through the psychological drama of becoming an enlightened being. And, just like you said, when you understand or when you know or familiar with other cultures, they say the same things in a different way based on the locality of where it was written.
Speaker 1:Right, and it's just modern day demographics.
Speaker 2:Right, and so that's what I love so much about teaching classes is incorporating all of that, because in one class I'll be teaching about a yoga tenet, right, but I will use stories from Muskogee culture and from the Bible to bolster it and talk about my traditional culture, but then also in a language of Christianity that people here in the Bible Belt are very familiar with, and so it helps them to embody it and have a better understanding of what's being conveyed to them and have a better understanding of what's being conveyed to them, and it makes it more applicable.
Speaker 2:I think because I think and not just Christian people, but I think that's something that we all crave is that spirituality has become this kind of abstraction of our mind and we don't really know how to apply it in a practical way into our everyday lives. And I think the bridging of the gaps and putting it in a language that people can relate to and understand in their own culture and their own understanding of a higher power makes it that much more applicable so that they can practically apply it in their life, Because if it's not practically applied, it's always going to stay a mental abstraction.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm going to bring it up because you actually posted about something yesterday that I reshared and I actually screenshot it because I just felt it so deep in my bones. Um, but it was a quote by Werner Heisenberg.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he posted yesterday.
Speaker 1:the first gulp from the glass of natural scientists, of sciences, will make you an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass, god is waiting for you. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's what I love so much about quantum physics too, is like because I'm a quantum physics and metaphysics enthusiast. I'm a quantum physics and metaphysics enthusiast and I talk about a lot of that in my classes too, because in yoga, philosophy, like the Ganas, like that stuff is science, but they're explaining it in the language of that time, right.
Speaker 1:So for people who might not be backing up, just a little, for people who might not be familiar with that, just briefly explain, like, what the Ganas are.
Speaker 2:So did you just like putting me on the spot right now. We can google it too if we want. Like exact, yeah, it's basically like inertia and um, these these different aspects of physics that are explained in yoga philosophy in a in an way, and if you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear, you can actually bridge the gap between science and spirituality, which is what I love to do in a lot of my work, like in my Kundalini Decrypted class and my Vocal Pelvic Correlation course. I'm bridging the gap between science and spirituality. I bring aspects of physics and quantum physics into the spiritual teachings to show you the parallels and like what they're talking about. And so, yes, I love that quote so much because I went.
Speaker 2:Quantum physics has brought me full circle back to God. I had questioned whether there was a God much of my childhood, just because of what religion had done to me and what I'd seen organized religion do in the world. The atrocities that had been committed in God's name made me reject God and so I moved into the worlds of science and, like occultism and the deeper, I got into those aspects of myself and started peeling back the layers. I found God and, just like the quote said God was waiting for me there, underneath all of that stuff, and so I think the personal journey is so important, and to not just do what these religious zealots are telling you to do. You have to embody it, you have to understand it, or you're never going to have the type of relationship with God that you're craving.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I go back to talking about this. I've talked about it a couple of times on this season alone Jesus was a renegade, like he was flipping tables in the temple and he was calling Pharisees hypocrites and he was a, he was a criminal of the time, like he was considered a criminal, and I mean he stood against the Pharisees and he stood against the Romans.
Speaker 2:Like you said, he was a renegade. Yeah, absolutely he was a renegade. Absolutely he was a renegade.
Speaker 1:It goes back to what you said, too, about God qualifying the calls. You're not born qualified.
Speaker 2:No one is Right and see, a lot of people would argue that Jesus was born. That way, you know what I mean. And when you start looking at the Bible with different eyes and understanding and you start looking at it from the perspective of different archetypes, you understand the immaculate conception as something that happens in your mind and your spirit and your psychology. Like something that happens in your mind and your spirit and your psychology, like what you conceive of something as a creator made in the image of god, is to is. Is the immaculate conception of a reality or a thing or yeah?
Speaker 1:there we are. It's always at the end where we just like go, really go there Go deep Now everyone on the other end of this podcast is like questioning everything. I question everything daily. I know Same.
Speaker 2:I come back to like I know nothing, like I'm just a mere little mortal, like I might as well be plankton in the ocean, the more that you think you know, like the the more you I feel, like the more that my consciousness expands, the more I realized that I actually know nothing and I think I might know some things and that I'm like I don't even know. And it has actually gotten to a point of paralysis where I stopped posting or teaching for so long because I'm like I'm not even qualified to do this, like I can't I think you know this about me.
Speaker 1:But I stopped teaching for like two and a half years. I was like, uh, yeah, no, and if, if, like this is what teaching is all about. Like this, like I know, I don't want to be part of it, I don't want to do it, and I stopped teaching for two and a half years and then, you know, you get that call again and then here you are, because well, because the truth is that all you can, all you can do, is share from your own experience, wherever you are and share, keep embodying those things, and that's what I try my hardest to do, like I'm faithfully practicing the work, and I know that people who are on this podcast are also people who, like lean on this work through thick and thin, like now that it's literally part of their DNA.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I found in my teachings I'm not here to convince anyone to have a relationship with God or to push God on them, but all I can do is share the profundity of my own experience with God, my own relationship with God. And when it starts to activate people, it's like relationship with God. And when it starts to activate people, it's like it's it's awakening the truth in you that God is also in you, you know, and it's like my relationship with God's going to look completely different. And so that has been kind of the driving force behind me coming back into my, you know, taking up space as a teacher, because there for a while I was like I can't, I can't do this. I'm like I feel like I know nothing.
Speaker 1:but you know, then I, then other people are out there, and then there's like so much more to know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but then I'm watching all these other people who are like they actually know nothing. You know, and I and because they haven't embodied any of the work and they're out here leading people off a freaking cliff. You know what I mean? And it's like the people with imposter syndrome often are the ones that should not have imposter syndrome. You know, it's like there comes a moment where you actually have to take a self audit and be like is there a reason for this or is it because you feel like there's so much more to know and you feel afraid to share where you are because it might change?
Speaker 1:Yes, See, I think so I will own this. I get a. You know, geminis get a bad rap because we are often like, seen as the flip-floppers of the zodiac or like whatever the hell you want to say flaky, like whatever. Aquariums.
Speaker 1:Get a bad rap too and I'm curious it's that air sign, energy, um, but I think that for the most part, I, I, I can, I'm really good at taking in information and allowing it to question my personal beliefs. Does this align Like? Does this shift the way I'm feeling? And, if it does, like I have become okay with owning that Like I, you know, I, I look at posts from when I was a baby yoga teacher and I'm like, oh my goodness, like I would never say that now and I would never do that now and, oh my God, but yeah, I don't know where I was even going with that, but yeah, I just thought the shift.
Speaker 2:I think your ability to shift and your belief is a sign of true intelligence.
Speaker 1:That's such a flattering compliment, especially for a Gemini. That's like always of the mind and that thirst for knowledge Like that's why I do have like a thousand hours of yoga teacher trainings. It's because there was always that I want to know more. I want to learn from people who know more than was always that I want to know more, I want to learn from people who know more than me. And I still feel that way and I'm, you know, I'm kind of glad my first like 20 episodes of the podcast were deleted and I'm kind of grateful for it because four years ago I was a very different person than I am now and I don't know that I would have aligned with those beliefs. So they accidentally am now and I don't know that I would have aligned with those beliefs, so they accidentally got deleted. But I think that you know, nothing is an accident and God kind of takes over sometimes and he was like, yeah, we're just gonna get rid of that.
Speaker 2:So one time I was on Facebook and I was looking through my Facebook memories and I had been scrolling through. I had a like a particular, particularly large amount of memories on this day and I was scrolling and I forgot that I was in my Facebook memories. It got down to the bottom and I was like, oh my God, this girl is so cringy and I went to go click the three dots so that I could unfriend who it was and it said delete post and I was like that was me. I was so humbled, but I was like that was me. I was so humbled but I was like, wow, you know what?
Speaker 2:nothing says, memories are like trying to unfriend yourself on Facebook.
Speaker 1:I don't know this girl, I don't know it was, yeah, I was.
Speaker 2:I was just like oh my God, who am I friends with on here, delete?
Speaker 1:And I was like what's crazy is, facebook is now old enough where, like, some of my memories are from like 17 years ago and it's like, should this be a thing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I got Facebook in like 2011. I held out for as long as I could and then I remember someone convinced me to get it because I was performing a lot, and they were like we need to know where your shows are. You can't just put, you know pamphlets up all over town. You need this. Is like, this is what we're doing now and I'm like, okay. So some of my stuff is like, yeah, 2010, 2011. And I'm just like, oh, my God, what was I doing? But you know, it's a poignant reminder of how far I've come.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, it is, and that there's always room for growth and improvement.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And, like you said, the, the flexibility in your mental capacity to actually question your beliefs and the things that you hold dear. One of my friends, shannon, said this sometime it's kind of morbid, but she was like kill your darlings, which is like those thoughts and beliefs that you think are your darlings, that you hold dear. It's like can you put them under the microscope and dissect them and figure out if you still align with them and the current iteration of where you are and can you adjust them. And I think that that is, like I said earlier, a true mark of intelligence when you are presented with new information and you can make adjustments when you are presented with new information and you can make adjustments.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I think that is the practice. It is literally what we're learning through, even at the most basic level. If we're just talking about asana, I think we can relate it even back to that. It is the basis of being a human Like that is evolution.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what it is, you know. And when I say intelligence, I'm not just talking about psychological intelligence, I'm talking about emotional intelligence, physical intelligence, energetic intelligence, you know, multidimensional intelligence of what it means to actually be an intelligently designed, being Capable of evolution.
Speaker 1:Right, Because if we, even if we stayed the same and did the same things all the time for our whole entire lives like what a boring fucking life.
Speaker 2:Well, and that's the definition of insanity, right, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We want to improve. It's something in our genetic information that's like we really desire to improve, and so that's going to require us to get out of our own way and be open to shifting and changing and evolving.
Speaker 1:And putting these things under a microscope just to wrap this up. But earlier I went for a walk on the beach with my best friend before I met up with you virtually here, um, and I was thinking about this company that I've been using their products, plain products, and they have like flipped what we know is like shampoo companies kind of on their head, because they come in in like aluminum bottles and you use them up, you ship them back, they get refilled, you get them back and there's no waste. They there's no plastic waste to this company, aside from like if their pumps break, which I've had some of the same pumps for like six years now and they still work.
Speaker 2:So they're doing a very good job reducing waste.
Speaker 1:and what I was thinking on my walk back here was was like wouldn't it be amazing if all companies started to look at their products this way, like how can we have the most impact and reduce the most waste? And it just it kind of relates back to what we were talking about is like if we're not constantly innovating and questioning and looking for growth and how to beautiful things like that happen. Like these women were gifted with this amazing idea that's changing the world and now they've reduced the plastic by like I think they've saved I think their meter is close to like 700,000 bottles. So they're kind of a fairly new company.
Speaker 1:I've been using them since pretty much their inception, but I think that it's awesome and I hope that we can start seeing that ripple out on a county level all the way up to the top.
Speaker 2:Well, I think sometimes the old beliefs, the old paradigms, the old ways of doing things, they serve us up to a certain point and then there needs to be a revolution of them, and not just like on a physical level, but internally. You know, ideas, beliefs, and not just physical practices, but the practices internal that do reflect out into the ways that we make moves in the world, and this just goes back to doing the same thing and expecting a different result is insanity. And evolution spiritually leads to evolution physically and the process of emergence and becoming is always going to be maximally efficient. God is maximum efficiency, god is logic, right.
Speaker 1:So intelligent design, intelligence logic, it makes sense yeah, the natural order of us is to actually enlighten, evolve and move towards god yes, and that's why it's important to stay grounded right now and to, we said in the last episode like, look at everything that's coming to light with the observer's mind, which is going back to like yogic practice, like looking at it with an observer's mind, and you know, like you said, we need to put these things under microscopes and see does this, does this serve the greater good? Like, yes or no? Like, let's make some shifts. Yeah, well, thank you for being a catalyst of that shift.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. I love connecting with you and just chatting with you and riffing, and we should do it again sooner than later. Let's not wait two years.
Speaker 1:Let's not wait two years. No, definitely not. And if you ever want to resurrect your podcast, you know uh always uh a message away.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, I think the thing I struggle with is like well, what am I going to talk about? And then I have so many things I want to talk about that I get experienced the overwhelm.
Speaker 1:I know I think I got that a little bit at the beginning of this podcast and then I had to be like okay, like let me move myself out of this. And right before I always meet up, I always say, like God, work through me, like whatever you want to talk about, like let's move through me, I'm the conduit.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, I'm looking forward to the next time that you'll have me on.
Speaker 1:You have my schedule anytime okay, sounds good. I'm just gonna like come on weekly I love that we can start talking about like local politics, like maybe we just become like commentators on the current uh, uh just like what's going on um out in the world or in the world in the world, yeah or how it relates.
Speaker 1:Oh, there we go so stay tuned for that. Um, if you want to connect with danica, I will share all of her links in the show notes so you can find it there. She's got lots of good stuff. You can work with her virtually as well as in person if you are in the upper Florida region. And that is all I got for you this week. Thank you for listening to the Nearly Enlightened podcast and I will see you next time.