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Rising from a rest or a place of safety is different to getting up for another round of battle or keeping up on the hamster wheel.  We’ve finished a three-year cycle starting with the onset of Corona 19, the restrictions, and the huge squeezes and shifts in consciousness it created.  We’ve been batted about by polarized views towards personal, collective, and existential extinction and quite frankly we’re done with the narratives and the old normal. It’s time to rise into something new. In this episode, I talk with Starkeeper Morton about: - where we are rising from collectively - how to navigate feeling betrayed, let down or unsupported by society - the different nervous system responses to something traumatic happening to you or to someone you feel responsible for - the practices and resources we can call upon - the pit you have to reach to really rise - the struggle, effort and joy of rising As always you can find me and our community at https://community.grow-free.com Get email updates at: subscribepage.io/GrowFree Watch video updates at The GrowFree YouTube Channel Grow Free Community - YouTube You can find Starkeeper at: https://www.facebook.com/starsparks.org [email protected] And you can find Starkeeper's book 'How To Survive When Society Lets You Down: A Guidebook' at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Survive-When-Society-Lets-Down/dp/1959555782?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=ee5e0cba-f9d6-490b-8ad5-03fd9962e3c2

In a human world that has become a relentless stream of activity, rest has become one of the most radical acts we can take. To return our true connection to our human, and non-human, essence, it is one of the most potent acts we can make. This conversation explores 'rest' in ordinary and extraordinary ways. Emma B taps into Lorna Bailey's experience as a single mother, a devoted daughter and a seasoned shamanic practitioner. It covers :- - The ways we understand and frame life, challenge, transition and crisis - The effect of our language on our nervous system - personal and collective trauma burdens of self-reliance and longing - Surrender and bringing in support - Cultivating inner spaciousness - Rest as a portal into body consciousness and into the vastness of existence This episode was part of the GrowFree Rest to Rise Online Retreat that takes place in the winter months. There are many more seasonal, monthly, and one-off offerings, courses and events in the GrowFree calendar. Including a new trauma-informed, nature-based practitioner and peer training in 2024. You can find out more and join the GrowFree Community at community.grow-free.com, subscribe to the mailing list at subscribepage.io/GrowFree or to The GrowFree Community YouTube Channel. You can find Lorna Bailey in The GrowFree Community or at her Temple Room Website or Whatsapp Group.

Memory as Medicine is a dialogue with shamanic practitioner and poet seer Lorna Bailey that dives into the nature of memory. We discuss: - discuss how unresolved trauma disconnects us from the intelligence of memory, keeping hijacked in repeating loops of the nervous system - recognize that memory is sometimes labelled as imagination or psychosis - honour the value of re-membering ourselves into the creation process and - explore what journeys of remembering can look and feel like Lorna is a Sacred Feminine Embodiment Practitioner, Poet Seer and Ancient Voice Singer and Musician. Her work is rooted in indigenous earth wisdom, quantum medicine, and shamanism. Having uncovered her own genetic memories and light codes she takes people through her written poetry and musicality into the mythic realms of our collective past, present and future. Through communal frame drumming and singing, Lorna supports and facilitates people to begin accessing their tribal voices through working with seed sounds and heart beat rhythms. She is also the founder and co-creator of the Sacred Faces of Female embodiment programme. This is a shamanic based exploration of the ‘new archetypes ‘ of Woman, where she takes women on individual or small group ‘ immersions’ into the inner landscapes of the feminine psyche and soma where they can meet and recover the lost faces and the burden carriers of the feminine soul which are calling to be awakened and embodied. Lorna lives with her partner on the Isle of Sheppey off of the North coast of Kent, England. You can find her online in the Grow Free Community and at her own homes at:   www.thetempleroom.co.uk www.voiceofthedragon.co.uk

In this episode, I explore the relationship between connection and reverence - what they are, where we lost and found them - with three Grow Free Community Members. We start the conversation by looking at some quotes and definitions from Brene Brown's Atlas of the Heart, and in particular the comparison of admiration and reverence. 'We feel admiration when someone's abilities, accomplishments, or character inspires us, or when we see something else that inspires us like art or nature'. 'Reverence, which is sometimes called adoration, worship, or veneration, is a deeper form of admiration or respect and is often combined with a sense of meaningful connection with something greater than ourselves ... characterised by the capacity of feeling deep respect, love and humility for something sacred or transcendent. What's interesting is that while admiration fosters self-betterment, reverence seems to foster a desire for connection to what we revere - we want to move closer to that person or thing. In what is another personal conversation with insightful peers and practitioners who honestly share reflections and moments of their journey, we get to hear about the ways that nature fostered safety and reverence when the human world seemed confusing. You can find me, my guests, and our community at https://community.grow-free.com www.facebook.com/GrowFreewithEmmaB YouTube - The Grow Free Community [email protected] Madeleine Besson www.madeleinebesson.com Lorna Bailey Health | Banchory Body Sense (thetempleroom.co.uk) Georgia Brooker - Permaculture Teacher & Humanist Celebrant https://portal.humanism.scot/celebrant-profile/georgia-brooker [email protected]

Archetypes and attunement are resources that are significantly affected by trauma and key to moving beyond it.   Attunement can be described and experienced in many ways.  It is essentially our ability to receive, feel and respond to the flow of energy or information within and around us.  I love how Thomas Hubl describes attunement. When we are carrying significant trauma burdens however, which most of us are, our internal system has us pinched off from direct sensory experience.  A mechanism that kicked in when we first experienced something too overwhelming – in this lifetime or in previous ones – that prevents us feeling the level of threat and vulnerability it perceived us to be facing.  This is dissociation.  It’s common and collective.  Another field of forgotten embodied resources are our archetypes; constellations of qualities, knowledge and skills that have often been communicated in stories and myth in human form, but also as totems or power animals, plants and planets.  My sense is that our inevitable journey is to bring planetary and plant archetypes and ways of attuning into human form. In this episode, I speak to this theme with a Grow Free Elder Lorna Bailey who is highly and deeply attuned and an embodied activator of many an archetype.  Having started her adult life living in an indigenous community in the United States, she is one of the most guided, surrendered and reverent people I know.  Her work over these recent years has been to receive and journey with a universal set of burden carriers and archetypes (they don't like this term but were happy to turn up for the conversation!). Lorna is developing this work into a package of resources, activations and retreats.  Lorna's events are listed in the Grow Free Community Platform .  Her Lotus Woman Retreat on Sunday July 9th and her Cygnus Moon Drumming Circle on June 25th in Aberdeenshire. Both are being held in Aberdeenshire, yet Lorna lives between here,  Kent and Suffolk and is working on offering much of this online too.  Find Lorna at community.grow-free.com and message her directly using the member search and chat function.  You can email at [email protected].  You can also find her through www.thetempleroom.co.uk and The Temple Room Whatsapp Group. Find me as usual at community.grow-free.com, facebook/growfreewithemmab and email at [email protected] 

In this episode, I speak with a firm favourite in the Grow Free Community.  One of our practitioner members, Jon Cree was one of the key pioneers of Forest School in the UK, a director of The Forest School Association UK and co-author of The Essential Guide to Forest School & Nature Pedagogy.  He is also an emerging expert in nature-based approaches for working through trauma.  Jon is delivering three workshops with us in Aberdeenshire in May this year. Together in Nature - nervous system attunement in nature for practitioners and peer supportersInvolving All, Evolving Play - consent-based , play-led learning for practitioners, educators and parentsThe Power of Connection - a weekend immersion exploring somatics and storytelling. This conversation teases out some of the language we have used to describe the workshops, finding the phrase 'Fit to Play' as a common thread connecting them all.  We cover themes such as: - how the multi-sensory world of nature helps us to hold BIG feelings and share life experiences - the neurobiology of healing - relational attunement and how it helps to re-focus attention and re-discover delight in the energy of life - how to walk alongside each other and the more than human to feel our natural state as one of profound interconnectedness, feeling it counteract anxiety A beautiful conversation with a beautiful bloke, igniting our excitement for him coming in May.  For more information  you can email [email protected]

In terms of healing and inner work, ‘Release’ used to feel quite a heavy term with dense emotions and experiences surfacing.  Now it feels as much about the energy of the new as the letting go of the past.  This is nothing short of miraculous, for me at least.   I tied up the threads of my years of healing work at cellular, energetic, DNA levels during the days and Imbolc  I got to a moment where I could say 'I am clear'.  The core wounds have been heard and held, often by Grow Free members in our Sanctuary. Where I am triggered, it feels more hollow.  New challenges or adversity are coming into a clearer space now, and I can transform those conditioned patterns into creative responses quite quickly. I wanted to discuss this phenomena of release with someone who works first and foremost through the body.  Nicola Harkins based in Aberdeen came to mind instantaneously as the practitioner to approach.  She is an incredibly gifted 'bodyworker' who uses techniques such as Kinetic Chain Release and Hawaiian Bone Washing. She also brings in a full set of modalities from breathwork to plant medicine ceremony.  She would prefer not to need a label for her work these days, but says something like a metaphysical practitioner would probably be close. We discuss: - her pathways into her purpose and practice - Hawaiin Ho’oponopono prayers - Fascia - what it holds, how it releases - cellular memory - Quantum healing - Old systems, new ways - Working with children Nicola works one-to-one at her new centre in Pitstruan Place, Aberdeen as well as holding ceremony and group work.  She also teaches Kinetic Chain Release. You can find her at: [email protected] Instagram & Facebook: body_kinect Website: BodyKinect – Body Kinect Aberdeen 

In this episode, I introduce you to two practitioners who are among the pioneers in growing beyond trauma and the matrix it has kept us in and in supporting others to do the same.  We have a conversation about the exciting theme of Re-birth & Renewal.    I welcome again Vicki Rebecca who describes herself as a story-healer, and who brings a lifetime of experience that includes professional work as hypnotherapist, almost a previous life as a glamour model as well as an author whose autobiography is soon to be published.   Vicki brings with her Rakasa Lucero who is coming to Aberdeenshire to run a series of workshops with Vicki at her home studio in Aboyne.  Rakasa and Vicki met in India in an OSHO ashram.  Vicki joined Rakasa's Somatic Experiencing (trained with Peter Levine) and Family Constellation workshops and feel in love with the approached and with Rakasa.  Rakasa comes originally from Colombia and now travels to facilitate Trauma Healing work with those who need it. She calls Scotland 'the refrigerator' but is happy to be coming in January-February to deliver 2 4 day workshops.     We speak about:  1)    The impact and legacy of early attachments and environments 2)    The practices and modalities that support people to process and transform the imprints and gain freedom 3)   This time of radical ‘re-birth’ and renewal    Contact Vicki Rebecca at:  www.vickirebecca.com  OR Whatsapp: 07714459692    Find me as always at:  www.community.grow-free.com  [email protected]  facebook/growfreewithemmab  instagram/grow.free.with.emmab 

In this episode, I explore the theme of death, detox and re-birth with nutritionist, naturopath and fellow plant-enthusiast Rebecca O’Reilly.  To grow – and to grow free – means to continually let go of anything that gets too small or restrictive. Like a snake shedding its skin, we humans can shed personality forms and habits that worked in one moment, but no longer serve us. Only we often don’t shed these skins. Why not? Trauma – unresolved – keeps us stuck on repeat. The process of healing from trauma can be an uncomfortable and intense shedding of emotions and experiences that were too overwhelming for the resources we had and got stuck within us. The physical, bodily aspect of this process has been becoming clearer in recent years.  Never have we lived in a time with so many toxins and stressors. Many of us are experiencing chronic health issues.  Yet we live in a time where our emotional intelligence is rising, and our knowledge base is shifting rapidly and radically into a new paradigm.  I decided to explore the issue of allowing old, toxic parts of ourselves to ‘die’ with someone who is at the forefront of nutrition and the quantum intelligence of plants to support our healing and wholeness.     Rebecca O’Reilly is a certified holistic nutritionist, naturopath, and health coach. Her purpose is to help you transform your health; to overcome chronic and mystery illness and find freedom from the symptoms and conditions that hold you back.  Long COVID, Autoimmune dis-ease, Chronic Fatigue, Adrenal Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, SIBO, IBS, Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema, PCOS, Fibroids, Endometriosis, UTIs, Anxiety Sound familiar? Maybe you suffer with just one of the above or a combination of seemingly disconnected symptoms, just like Rebecca did. Either way, these are just a few of the issues that are greatly misunderstood in the health community, where diagnoses are doled out without real understanding of the true cause or how to treat them. But there are answers and that’s what Rebecca is here to share.  Based in Bath, UK, she works with clients both locally and all over the world, through my online and in-person practice.  In this episode we discussed: Rebecca’s journey with trauma, healing and food The correlation between psychological death and re-birth and cleansing and re-building our bodies.  The specific contribution of certain plants like wild blueberries, elder, and dandelion for supporting detoxification and nourishment.  I LOVE recording this episode. I hope you find it helpful. We are hoping that Rebecca may join us to create courses and community that members of Grow Free can benefit from. You can find Rebecca at: www.rebecca-oreilly.com  Email: [email protected] As always you can join the community at: https://community.grow-free.com And contact me at: [email protected] 

This season we are bringing in guided meditations, activations and yoga nidra practices to the podcast. This episode is the first such practice. It guides you into a state of relaxation and receptivity to remember our natural cycles.  It's just me. No guest. I invite you to sit back and go deep.  To find out more about our monthly themes, course, practices and community join us at: https://community.grow-free.com/ You can also email me at [email protected]. I always love to hear your feedback. 

In this episode I explored the nature of darkness with Catherine Björksten a holistic practitioner, specialising in supporting people who are going through a Spiritual Awakening. Her motto is integrated and embodied awakening. Following a career in marketing & advertising and becoming a mother of two, she went through a major awakening herself, which led her to study psychotherapy, spiritual counselling, shamanism and apprenticing with Indigenous leaders and mystical masters worldwide.  In line with this month’s theme in the Grow Free Community, the episode teases out what heavy emotional energy – like depression and shame – can offer us when we learn to accept them.  These energies are called different names in different traditions – dukkha in Yogic and Buddhist approaches – and we explore the path of healing – through our own experience - as one of accepting these feelings and learning how to balance the light and dark within us. We speak about:  -          What it means to ‘bypass’ these emotions  -          The importance and nature of practice -          Catherine’s personal journey and the teachings she has received  -          Her perspective and approach to supporting others -          What it may mean for us to accept more light and dark culturally Catherine believes in activating and empowering paradigm shifters by helping them remember who they truly are in essence as they are key representatives for the change Humanity needs. This is done through reconnecting with an animistic way of life; showing people that they are part of the greater web by reconnecting them with nature, spirit, the Divine and each other.  She is the author of “You are Loved: Essential Spirit Guides and Guardians”, part of the Now Age series (Random House), which aims at introducing different topics of spirituality to the wider public. “This book is an invitation into the realms of spirit in which I share from my own experience, and teachings from various ancient sacred lineages.”  Catherine has a private practice and consulted many years at the College of Psychic Studies in London, where she lives. She offers individual sessions, public speaking and facilitates workshops and retreats. She provides a practical and grounded approach to spirituality to help people experience daily life as sacred; because it is!    Web akasha-awakening.com IG @akasha_awakening As always you can find out more about the Grow Free Community at https://community.grow-free.com/ You can also contact me directly at [email protected] if you would like to join our courses or be a guest on this podcast. 

This was one of the most exciting podcasts I have recorded.  My guest is the illustrator of the new Grow Free Animation 'Connection is Everything'.    Working on the animation with Lina has supported the formation of the whole Grow Free approach; transforming knowledge and ideas into a creative medium crystalizing and refining it. In this episode, we talk over: the epic task of representing the connection between everythingthe process of researching and forming the final illustrationsthe directions that we would like to take it furtherand the nature of life on this planetYou can watch the animation on our YouTube channel: Connection is Everything (Animation) - YouTube You can watch this podcast episode to get a fuller appreciation of when we're discussing aspects of the illustration: (2) Season 2 Episode 10 Connection is Everything Illustration with Lina Kusaite & Sahajo - YouTube You can find out more about Lina Kusaite and her work here: www.cocooncharacters.com Lina Kusaite on Behance