Episode 17 - Wanna Be a SMFer?

In this episode of 'Magical Midlife Crisis Podcast', we talk about our incredible experience practicing a mind-body movement called Steel Mace Flow!

SMF is a unique form of fitness, aimed at connecting the mind & body creatively. For Court, it began with a recommendation from a friend at their yoga studio. Despite her initial reluctance, with all kinds of insecure thoughts, she now regularly practices Steel Mace Flow and even performed in a public showcase, which proved to be an emotionally exhilarating experience for both her & Meg!

Meg shares more about an intense experience on the drive home from the show. Extreme emotions from high vibe ecstasy to what felt like could have been a near-death experience!

We end with a message urging those tuning in to break their limiting patterns, dare to try new things, and emphasize owning your mind!

00:15 Discovering Steel Mace Flow

01:56 First Experiences and Challenges with Steel Mace Flow

02:51 Becoming a Certified Steel Mace Flow Instructor

04:26 First Public Performance of Steel Mace Flow

06:24 Reflections on the Performance and Overcoming Fear

10:09 The Science and Philosophy Behind Steel Mace Flow

18:13 Near Death Experience After the Performance

21:58 Overcoming Limiting Beliefs and Embracing New Experiences

23:40 Invitation to Join Steel Mace Flow Classes

Want to have your own discovery on how the mind & body are interconnected? We've got a few ways for you to try on and see how it fits! It's ALL about you having your own personal experience to know how exactly you feel about anything! In the Palatine, IL area - try Steel Mace Flow with us!

And learn how food can lead to a more sustainable & vibrant life? --> *** Click here to learn more and/or message us on the 30 Days to Healthier Living! *** <--

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Tune in to you next time!

Want to have your own discovery on how the mind & body are interconnected? And learn how food can lead to a more sustainable & vibrant life? --> *** Click here to learn more and/or message us on the 30 Days to Healthier Living! *** <--

Directly connect with Meg: @meg.itate.8itch
Directly connect with Court: @coco.compassion
Connect to us both: themagicalmidlifecrisis@gmail.com --- Write to us! We'd love to learn about a magical midlife crisis story of your own or someone you know!

Transcript

0:02

This is the magical midlife crisis podcast, where your hosts, I'm court, a compassion activist, animal lover, nature, nut and entrepreneur in the mind, body, spirit connections. And I Meg a free thinker with a passion for non toxic living, a dedicated hockey mom and a multi business owner. We are a couple of friends who met through health and heartache. We discovered through our crisis moments, we all have magic within us. This podcast is about awakening to a different perspective and being the creators of our own reality. Every Sunday, you can expect an abundance of stories from all kinds of kinds in their different layers of awakening. We hope you expand your heart and minds and create the shift with us. So unplug from the matrix and tune in to this magical mystery ride. Beep, beep. Honk honk. Court and Meg here. The convenient Queens of 2024.. Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? I mean, how many times have you heard that before? I know I've heard it a million times, but I lived it. And so did Courtney. Are you tired of feeling your life is too busy and too hectic and crazy to instill healthy habits into your life? I thought that exact same thing and I'm pretty sure Courtney did too. Oh yeah. Well, let me tell you, we have just the system in place to help you instill healthier habits into your daily hectic life. It's your discovery, but we have had such an amazing last month with our 30 day solidly living group and If you are ready to try something different because nothing is working for you, this has worked for me, the last five years, for Meg the last, three years. It's all about, as everyone knows, becoming aware, and then you get inspired, and then you get motivated, and then you take action, but then life This gets lifey. So there's a missing link to lasting change. Everyone wants to feel their best health as well. Meg says it all the time. Health as well. Health really as well. If you don't spend the time now to invest into yourself, you're going to spend the time, money and doctor appointments later. So do it now. Do it now. We will help you. we're running another 30 days to healthy living. Right on the backside of this 30 days we just started. So it'll be 60 days for lots of peeps. They're super stoked. We're stoked. We feel amazing. We felt like crap after the holidays. And now We feel amazing. Come on the track with us. The GI track, baby. Choo choo! Beep beep. Hey, hey, welcome back to Magical Midlife Crisis Podcast. I'm Court. And I'm Meg. We, uh, we had a really cool experience couple weeks. Yeah. Well, 10, exactly 10 days ago, um, we performed in a public recital, I guess. I mean, it was actually called a recital, but the performance we did was a movement. Um, I like to call it a mind body movement called steel mace flow. Um, my personal experience of getting into this movement was. Um, two years ago, I was recommended by a friend to try this new class out at our studio or yoga studio. And, um, I was, I had never heard of it as I'm sure if, if I haven't talked to you about it, then you probably have never heard of it. And. I watched a video of the instructor and I was like, no way, that's, that is not for me. I don't know why my friend thought I would be interested in it. But like literally week after week, I saw her at the gym and she's like, you gotta try it. So then my workout buddy, Tina, shout out to you and shout out to Denise. She's the friend that turned me on to this. Crazy, awesome movement called Steel Mace Flow. Tina was the one who was like, we should just do it. And Tina is not always the open minded one. And for me to be out minded by my friend Tina, I was like, oh man, I gotta try it. So then we go to our first class. Austin Levine, shout out to you as our instructor. And we were hooked after the first class. So then we just moved our lives around and opened up three days a week to go to melt yoga studio, downtown Algonquin. And it was just one of the coolest, most different types of movement because. It's all about connecting your mind to your body in a really creative way. So we were going to yoga pretty regularly, um, for same kind of thing, mind, body, like health. But steel mace is different, especially steel mace flow, because it is about creation. So after, I think it was like six months of practicing steel mace flow, my, my, my teacher, Suggested that I get certified to teach it and I was kind of blown away because I had never thought of doing anything like that. But just like I started my business, I had never thought of doing anything like that. And it's like the universe is putting another thing in front of me to help me get out of. Old patterns that I don't want to practice anymore. And I was like, fuck it. I'm going to do it. Actually. I think Joe had to talk me into it as Joe talks me into everything that I'm like second guessing. So, uh, yeah, got certified. Um, almost exactly a year ago, January of 2023. And then I, I talked to one of my clients who has a dance studio. And I just was curious of how this kind of movement would work, if it would work in a dance studio. Um, and shout out to Cash, Catherine Siegel, and the KB Dance Studio. She was more than open to it and got me on the summer registration. And then Meg was like my first client sign up. So yeah, we got this opportunity to perform in the winter showcase with a bunch of other, uh, different dance artists. I mean, there's ballet, there's tap, there's, um, I think it's called lyrical. I should know this, but yeah, we had our first performance and it was. Such a wild experience emotionally. Yeah. Like, so nerve wracking up to the point. Because I didn't practice. I mean, I practiced a little bit at home. I think I tried to use a hockey stick. I was like, this isn't working. So, I gave up. But no, practicing before helped out a lot. But like, the nerve. Uh huh. Beforehand, I'm like nervous diarrhea, just thinking about it right now. Oh, I don't, I just have diarrhea because I have diarrhea, but yeah, the, the rush. Yeah. Oh my God. And I was like a performer growing up. Like I never got nervous to go on. Like I was a figure skater. Never got nervous to go out in the ice being doing solo competitions. Never got nervous. Didn't give a fuck. But this was like a whole nother level. Like adult life, like. Oh, my God, I'm on a stage. People can see me stretching so far out of our comfort zones. Yeah, but it's fun because like I just kept saying because I was really nervous. Because I'm not a performer, but then it's like, I was so grateful that I was doing it with you. And then there was four other students that were planning to do it with us too, couldn't do it last, the last kind of minute. So it was like four of us up there, just all, just not giving a fuck and just doing our best. Yeah, I think it was honestly, I think that's what made it so cool. And like, The thoughts and the emotions I had come over me like before just standing there knowing like, because obviously I know you so well and like what a big deal this is for me and you to do it together was like the coolest fucking thing. I know. Like, even if I didn't want to do it I wouldn't that have, I would have forced myself to do it for you. But man, talk about that. Like the dopamine high afterwards. I was like, I want to get up there and do it naked. I want to just bring this fucking. Sort around. So the steel mace, like we practice with 10 pound steel maces and then there's seven pounds that we use to. So explain what the mace is. So it's basically a, um, I don't know how long the bar is, but it's, it's a bar, it's one sided weight. So there's a bar and of what we call a globe on the other end. And it's balanced so that you can utilize it with a lot of different functional movements. Um, my coach Austin, he is like the mobility king. He's all about using the mace for really cool different types of mobility and then flow as well. So I mean, we, I teach a lot of the basic moves, which helps with your balance. That helps with your connection to your body. It helps with your alignment. Like for me practicing as a dental hygienist, I've got a lot of spinal issues with my neck and my shoulders and my back. So this really helped me personally with a lot of my. Just joint problems that I've had from years of craning my neck forward. Like if you drive or you sit at a desk for your job, you get a lot of like this craning of your neck forward. So personally, I just increased my mobility a ton, my awareness of my posture. Um, I mean, what's cool about the Mace is you can use it in a lot of different ways. But for us, we do a lot of basics. Um, but then you can get really creative. And once you know the basics and you use the basics over and over and you practice them, there's like a mind body remembering of the basics, then you can really Put them together, the moves, the basic moves together and get into a flow state. And that's kind of what my goal is to just let go enough where I don't think about it and I get into flow. And I had such a perfectionist mind that like, I've been blocking that Flow ability for a long time. So that's my personal goal with practicing steel mace flows is Just getting into flow state as much as possible. But um, yeah flow state is just like free styling. Yeah Yeah, yeah yeah, letting go and not giving a fuck and just let your body move to whatever you're listening to and just feel feel the Movement and yeah connect. Yeah. Yeah, it's a really Really just interesting, unique type of fitness or whatever you want to call it. It's very different. Nothing that I would ever be like, Oh, I'm going to go and do that. You know, yes, really, it's really neat. It's the creator. His name is Leo Savage. He lives in Austin, Texas, and his story is really cool on how he put this movement together, and it has a lot to do with. His journey through mental health problems, and he talks a lot about it. Um, depression and the detachment of your mind and body. And so the movement is really to connect your mind and body. And like move energy through you so it's not stuck inside and it's actually like coming out and coming forward and moving through the mace even because it is steel and so metal has a really good way of transferring energy. There's, I mean there's some deep thoughts and practice behind the actual movement but you can make it as basic or as complex as you want. So yeah, the day that we performed. It's funny because in the morning when I showed up for, um, the dress rehearsal, um, the clothes that I wanted to wear for the actual performance, there were two performances, one at four o'clock, one at seven o'clock. Um, and our dress rehearsal was at like 10, 15 in the morning. And I just, I don't know. I didn't, I didn't make time to like iron the clothes that I wanted to wear. So I just like showed up in my Sweats and no one, everyone was dressed up and makeup and I like literally look like I rolled out of bed and I'm like the old me would have been like mortified and like probably, I don't know, run back into the car and put makeup on at least or something like that. And I'm like, fuck it. I am here and I will be, this is how I am right now. It's not a big deal and I will look presentable when I need to. So then we get up, get up on stage. And nobody's in the audience, there's like two other, like, groups that are gonna be performing, so, there's nobody out there. And I freeze, and I, I was like, oh my gosh, the lights are on, the music starts, it's loud, there's like, and I'm like, oh my god. And you weren't there, because you couldn't be. So I just felt like, like, so scared. And then I just started moving, I was shaking, I could barely hold my poses, I forgot a few things. It And I'm just like, okay, that's over. Thank God. Got that out of my system. We did it again. We did another run through. It was maybe better. I'm not really sure. It was all kind of a blur, but I'm just like, wow, it really reminded me of this analogy that I've learned in creating anything new in your body. It's like these. Pathways in our mind, if you think about it, it's like a fresh, like, fresh road. Yeah, like, like, yeah, fresh road just covered in snow and like those first few steps, like, create the new pathway. But if you, like, don't walk that path again, like, it can easily be snowed over and so it was like, I was That path was there, but it was a little bit snowed over with fear so like if if things aren't in your like deep understanding and knowing and like in your habit then Then it could easily just when you're not when you're afraid like that that fear takes over and then you Like you lose your belief or your confidence or whatever it is But luckily I had walked that path enough that that initial fear, I just had to like literally shake it off and then find my path again. And then like before we actually did our performance, we practiced a bunch of times and like we knew it. Like there was. There was no question and, and then, yeah, after we performed the first one, we were all just like insanely high on like, it was like, it was like a high, it was like the chemicals inside our body, our body made for us. I was, we were ecstasy at that moment. I was reliving my youth. It really didn't feel like that for all. Four of us, and then we had to kind of sit around and then we all crashed. Yeah, we felt like we literally hit a wall. Yeah, we all ate something and then crashed. And then we had to, luckily, I mean, luckily what we were doing is movement. So we just had to practice a couple more times. Then we're back on the road. ready to go and performed again. And it was just exciting. But I think because we're so high vibing the whole day. Yeah. That it was like, okay, we're ready for bed. Yeah. And I went in a little too cocky that round. You know, I was like, you know what, I blew the stage away the first round. I was an all star SMF. Okay. I'm trying to remember the part that I screwed up, but I'm not like mad about it. You know what I mean? I'm actually like, wow, like I think I covered it up pretty good, you know, and I didn't drop it, but yeah, it was like, so it's so funny how you could feel after one and then I could feel after the other, but it's like what you want to take away from that. I'm going to take away the exciting moment, you know, and like not harp on where I fucked up. Yeah. No. Yeah. Yeah. And. That, I mean, when I've talked to other performers, they're like, people don't know when you do fuck up. Like, you're performing, and we know, we know that we did something wrong, but, um, but even when you did say that you fucked something up, like, you weren't even mad about it. You were just like, yeah. Mm hmm. Oh, I've done double axels and fallen on my head in front of a whole stadium of people and gotten back up and continued to ice skate, so. That was nothing. That's it. Got my little screw up. Wow. I remember when I was very little, I think, I don't know, seven ish, when I was in ballet and tap and jazz and I had my little yellow tutu and gold sequins and I wore lipstick probably for the first time ever. And I have my little glasses and my little, my little, um, teeth that were so, I was so embarrassed at the way my teeth used to look when I was little because I had like that huge gap between my two front teeth because I sucked my thumb till I was 10. Um, yeah, and I performed and I, I was so scared and I never wanted to do it again, but I did want to dance. So it's like, it's so cool how this came into my life, as an adult, for me to like, move my body. And perform. And perform. And beat that fear that I let take me over when I was so young. All right. Then we got to get a gold tutu, a gold sequins and yellow tutu for the next performance. You're going to, oh, you're doing camo. That's right. I don't know. Maybe we can find some yellow and gold camo. That would be fun. Okay. So then your drive home, well, if you guys are out here in Chicago, it has been that weekend was below freezing temps, right? Yeah. We had like, How many inches did we get? I know I got at least a foot. Yeah. At my house. Yeah. Yeah. So I was driving home on route 53. For those of you that know that, do you know which way I was going north or south? So, okay. So I was going south on 53 heading towards 90 West and I hit black ice and I have a big truck, so I always feel safe in my car, but if you hit black ice, there's nothing you can do about it. So I just remember I was just in my car and I was like, Oh fuck, this is it. And I was just swerving all over the expressway. Then I went up on this big snow bank and luckily that stopped me because my truck would have gone down into the ditch. But I instantly, like, as that was happening, I told myself like in my head, I was like, well, this is it. All right. This is my time. And I literally envisioned myself in my car and this whole light came in my car. It could have just been a spotlight, but I'm going to say it was my angels because it was really fucking weird. And all of a sudden I was tumbling. Like I envisioned myself tumbling in my car down the ditch, but then all of a sudden I came back to like reality and I was just stuck there. Then all of a sudden my car slid back down and then I spun back around on a 53 and then I slowly like just grazed up against the wall. But the fact that like all the cars, there was about six cars behind me. They were all behind me just far enough. And you like, you didn't come close to swerving into any of them? No, they were all behind me just far enough. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. That's like the second time that's happened to me. Yeah. Yeah. I used to have like a little pickup truck. And when I used to live in Lyle, I spun out on 53, um, 355. And, um, yeah, it's scary, but yeah, but yeah, that's, so yeah, for Meg, she went from one extreme. Well, yeah, just feeling like, like ecstasy and then feeling like you're about to die. Yeah. In one day. Yeah. It's really weird though. When you just like have this whole conversation in your head in a small, like within a second. You know, you can't like explain it so weird. It's like, I don't even know what was real or not at that moment. Well, and you, you're so like into the near death experiences stories, which I mean, I am too. I think they're absolutely fascinating. And if you have a near death experience, please, please share it with us. Cause. It's just absolutely amazing when you hear from like different realms of where, and that's what's crazy. Like the mind is the coolest thing that we have. Oh, I love dreaming. It really is like people spend so much money investing in their home and yet like they don't tap into the power that is their real home, like their mind. And like where we live all the time, you're calcifying their home, their third eye, all you, all you fluoridated folks out there. You're calcifying your third eye. So, I mean, yeah, we could, um, we could go down so many different rabbit holes right now, but, um, yeah. Just, if, if you are interested in doing something new and experiencing something new, do it. Like, listen to your friend Denise or Tina. And just try it, because you never know. And that's another thing, like, if people ask you to do something, obviously, you know, lay down your boundaries, if you don't want to do it, don't, don't do it. But if you, like, have an interest in the least bit, but you're scared because you don't think, because for me, I didn't think I was creative enough, or coordinated enough, or Like, I just thought of all these reasons. Because you told yourself that. Yeah, I just thought of all these things that I'm not enough. Whatever it was. Not flexible enough. Not, whatever. It's, it was, and it's been one of the coolest things that I've done. As an adult, especially. Is just. Will not allow those limiting patterns that are rolling over in my head over and over to, to own me like I owned them. Yeah, sure. You sure did. And it's like addicting, like imprinting new pathways. It's like, yeah, yeah. If we haven't said it enough, we're literally addicted to newness and deep deprogramming. Yeah. If there's something like that, I look back and be like, Oh my God, I would never do that. Now I'm like, I want to fucking do it. Yeah, like just because I said I wouldn't want to do that. Like I'm not a laundry person. I'm doing laundry now. Hilarious. So our next session of Steel Mace Flow starts. February, the first Wednesday in February. So that is February 7th. So exactly two weeks from now, if you are in the Palatine area and you're interested in trying this cool movement that we call Steel Mace Flow, I would love to share it with you. Meg would love to stand next to you and she has some really creative moves that she does with the steel maze. So you must come and experience it. I will post it in the show notes so that you can take a look. thanks for tuning in to the Magical Midlife Crisis. Make today great. Own your mind, people. Own your mind. If you made it to the end of this episode, that means you either just appreciate our messy, awkward life experiences, or you're truly up for finding more magic in your life like we are. Definitely tune in every Sunday for more reality shifts that we explore between us and with many special guests that join. If you feel it, please subscribe so you don't miss your seat on our magical earth school bus. Your experience with this show really means a lot to us. So we want to genuinely welcome you to leave an honest review. Your voice matters exactly how it is. You can follow us on social media, check the show notes, and if you really want to get in the action, send us a message directly through our email. We'll connect with you next week.