Lifeyness: A Joyful Embodiment Podcast

Do you remember what it feels like to be comfortable in your own skin? Not just confident, but also pain-free, relaxed, healthy, and carefree? Think about the most robust version of your childhood body. This is what “lifeyness” feels like–a joyful spirit and a vibrant physical state of being. It’s about being grounded in the natural world, like many of us were as small children. For many women, reintegrating girlhood into grownup life can be a great way to kickstart their own feelings of joy and vitality. Join me, Professor Sarah, as I discuss books, films, and leaders in the field of wellness and spiritual growth, especially those that help us get in touch with the more joyful and playful side of womanhood. Get the latest insight on holistic trends, nourishing food, and spiritual goodies that support female embodiment and fun! We focus on best practices for healing from disordered mental health and maintaining good physical health—after all these two go hand in hand. This is not a platform for analytical criticism, but we may point out the shadow sides of certain wellness trends. There are some teachings out there (both traditional and current) that were developed with a masculine experience in mind. Many of these are wonderful approaches to health, but some don’t make sense within a feminine context. Some women are paralyzed not only when it comes to sexuality, but when it comes to all desire and appetites. We emphasize fun, play, relaxation (without consumer goods), laughter, and simplicity in the context of mature womanhood (ages 20-120!) Use these concepts to alleviate anxiety, heal trauma, and help you on your path to recovery. Embrace the magical components of girlhood! Some background on the host: I'm an author and professor of English and film. For years, I’ve been into nutrition and biohacking, anything I can get my hands on that leads to optimum physical and mental operation. Medicinal mushrooms, tai chi, Wim Hof breathing, mindfulness, runners highs, probiotics, intermittent fasting, powernapping–you name it! Many of these practices are still part of my daily routine, and more recently, I’ve drilled down to more foundational issues, and my interest lies specifically in “soul hacks” and relationship tweaks. Cover art photo credit: @RobertoNickson

20. The LIFEYNESS CAPSULE: 10 Best Practices 03/08/2024

20. The LIFEYNESS CAPSULE: 10 Best Practices Ask Lifeyness: You can What is the origin of lifeyness? And how is it best practiced? Welp, I thought you'd never ask! Welcome to the season finale of Season 1 of Lifeyness. In this final episode, Professor Sarah examines various ways to support a holistically healthy life. She summarizes her research, which combines academic study, guest interviews, and her personal experiences, into ten main principles. These include sound healing, conscious embodiment, breathwork, temperature therapy, and barefoot living among others. She leans on her interviews and readings from notable experts in psychology, spirituality and holistic health, such as Michael Singer, Dr. Tracy Alloway, Dr. Peter Levine and Dr. Rhonda Patrick. All in the name of enhancing general wellness, emotional health, and a vibrant physical state of being! Takeaways (with links)! Get started here with some suggestions from each practice: Conscious Embodiment , , , Breathwork , , Surrender and Flow: , Alan Watts, Ram Dass, Byron Katie, Temperature Therapy: , Nature Immersion 6. Barefoot Health 7. Play Therapy , 8. Somatic Healing Peter Levine, 9. Touch and Sound Therapy 10. Belonging and Sanctuary Contact: Tiktok @book_of_lifeyness Instagram Email: [email protected] 00:00 Introduction to Lifeyness 02:01 The Journey Begins: Interviewing Alexis 02:50 Exploring the Roots of Addiction 03:50 A New Life: The Family's Second Chance 04:08 The Lifeyness Project: A Lived Research 04:48 The Power of Nature and Body Harmony 05:18 The Struggle Against Nature: Society's Influence 05:45 The Joy of Letting Go and Embracing Nature 06:27 The Lifeyness Capsule: Distilling the Research 07:12 The Lifeyness Assistant: An AI Wellness Guide 07:58 The 10 Key Practices of Lifiness 11:39 The Power of Breath Work 15:03 Surrender and Flow: Embracing Life's Currents 16:56 Temperature Therapy: The Biohack 18:09 Nature Immersion: Returning to Our Roots 20:23 Barefoot Living: Grounding in Nature 21:35 Embracing Play: Learning from Kids 21:57 Somatic and Trauma Healing: Addressing the Nervous System 24:40 Therapeutic Touch and Sound: Healing Through Sensation 26:04 Belonging to Place and Creating Home: Bridging Inner and Outer Worlds 30:10 Conclusion: The End of Season One Image Credit: DigitalMarketingSupport.org Music Credit: Song for a New Beginning by William Claeson Full script: This season has been an exploration into all of the ways I can support this kind of life. From sound healing, to play experts, to the teachings of Michael Singer, it was a research project made social by way of podcasting. My background is in academia and typically research and writing are done in solitude. So this speaking with friends and colleagues in public on shareable bits of audio has been a treat. And now I want to distill all of the research into a capsule here. I call it a capsule because I'm reminded of those time capsules that you bury in the ground and then you pull them up 20 years later to see what was important to the family at a moment in time. But this one I don't want to bury. I want to remember it. daily if possible and share it with anyone else who may find it beneficial as well. So I've compacted all of the books I've read and episodes I've researched into the 10 best practices of lifeyness. Do you remember what it feels like? Comfortable in your own skin? Not just confident, but also pain free, healthy, and carefree? Think about the most robust version of your own childhood body. This is what lifiness feels like. A joyful spirit and a vibrant physical state of being. I'm your guide, Professor Sarah. Storyteller, teacher, and wellness enthusiast. Reach into the vitality of your own girlhood to supercharge your grown up life. Hello listeners, and welcome back to Lifiness. In January of last year, I had an idea. I wanted to interview my daughter, Alexis. She'd been sober for a year and living with us again for six months. After having gone through the grief and constant pain of being separated from a child and not knowing if she would return from the grip of addiction, This turn of events seemed like a dream. It was a new life. No matter what happened from that point, which I had learned that I had very little control over. That's the typical takeaway from the ruins of addiction. But no matter what happened, I wanted to document that point in time. I also had thoughts of creating a podcast. But these two things were not necessarily one in the same until I actually did the interview, that first interview. The conversation I had with her was more of an exploration of what the heck happened. I had family members and perhaps the larger community in mind when we recorded it. An explanation of sorts. But what I found was there was this nugget of truth I had been discovering on my own about myself. And that was the joy of embodiment and the hell of disembodiment. So when we got to the question, what made you start using? What made you start down this path of addiction? It was clear to her that feeling uncomfortable in her body and disconnected was key. At the time of that first recording, I was kind of in the middle of reconfiguring my home life. My son, her younger brother, was starting high school, you know, and she was here starting her whole new life again. And starting college. Um, so for all of us it was a whole new life. It was a second chance at family. We were going to do it together. I had the blessing of a sabbatical from work. And I was making sure our home felt like the sanctuary that it could be. I was also finishing my first novel. And nourishing other creative projects. And lifiness is one of those. It became this lived research project in which I was trying out concepts and practices on myself. And realizing life could be so much fuller, more comfortable, more joyful. I actually abandoned my novel revisions at the time, um, because I was so inspired by the non fiction books that I was reading, and by my peers who were doing amazing things, and by the results I was getting in both mind and body, that I borrowed a mic. I downloaded some software and I set up shop as a podcaster. Like I said, I decided it would be a research project. In a nutshell, what I learned is that living in harmony with nature and the nature of your body is a sure way to find peace and achieve health. Inspired by my daughter's sober living, I wondered, Do I really need to be on antidepressants? Like I have been for 15 years. So that was a big shift for me, one that I didn't take lightly. I did under the supervision of my doctor, but now I've been antidepressant free for over a year. The thing is, there are so many messages coming in that tell us to fight against nature, whether that's ads for processed foods or antidepressants. Or anti aging propaganda, or social media and TV, keeping us rooted to the couch and not moving the way our bodies are built to move. There's also the push to constantly self promote, acquire more and more, and work around the clock. You may not even realize you're under this spell. I know I didn't fully comprehend it until I started practicing letting go, playing, and spending unrestricted time in nature. I started feeling more relaxed and playful and carefree. And it began to feel like this direct route to health and happiness. And I wanted to name it, and write it down, and create best practices for myself. I just didn't want to forget it because it served me so well. Reading and interviewing, trial and error, research and practice. It all became what I call lifeyness. And at this point, I think I've really found a good mix. And now I want to distill all of the research into a capsule here. This is not a summary of all the episodes, by any means, but rather a thoughtful distillation of everything I've learned over the past year or two, really, as I've journeyed into health and happiness. I'm giving 10 basic tenets here. I've actually also created Lifeyness Guided Meditations that live on YouTube that I will mention as well. But I'm dumping an exhaustive list of valuable insight into a brand new genre and tool, the GPT. As I continue to work on this as a book, which I am also doing as well, I thought it could be cool to create my own lifiness assistant. I've been playing around in the AI space lately, so I thought it'd be interesting to see how to create a GPT that is a wellness assistant, specifically a lifiness assistant. Since I can only include so much here as a podcast. Episode, I've uploaded all of the knowledge and books and thought leaders and my own ideas about emotional health and spiritual health and wellness. into this GPT. So you can go to OpenAI if you want to ask Lifeyness a question. I hope this is helpful and I hope that it enhances your life in some way. Please reach out to me on Instagram at bookoflifeyness or TikTok at bookoflifeyness to let me know. All right, so here we are with the 10 key practices of Lifeyness. Number one, we have to start with conscious embodiment. This is kind of the key to everything else, or a goal to get to, with some of the other tactics I have here. So, embodiment is the awareness that body, thoughts, and emotions are all aligned components that have an effect on your overall health. So, a lot like animals, young children, they really inhabit themselves fully. But injury or neglect can sever the mind body connection over time. So some of my ideas are that through loving attention and support, we can come back to our bodies again. I um, interviewed Abigail Rose Clark, who just published a book called Returning Home to Our Bodies, and she is a somatics expert. She is someone who has a background in yoga, but she has a lot of tactics to get embodied and to know what that really feels like. The background for me is that I didn't realize in the past that I would almost, like, lose consciousness in a way and forget what I would say when I was in a social setting or, like, speaking publicly. Like, I would go to parties, um, and have to drink a lot so I would feel comfortable just, like, speaking. Like, I would almost black out and have this sense of not being in my body at all. So I've had to practice kind of, like, Keeping mind and body together while I'm out in public and social situations. Even to this day, I'm, like, when I'm speaking in front of an audience, um, or even more so when I'm kind of, like, socializing, um, one on one, I have this feeling of disembodiment. And, um, I've gotten better at it, but sometimes that connection between mind and body is very tenuous. The episode with Sarah Sohn on sex and embodiment, um, in that episode, which is number 13, she has a practice on embodiment and sexual wellness, which is kind of a fun one to do. And then also, Jessie Fisk, she is the teacher of Koya, which their motto is, we remember that our essence is wise, wild, and free. And one thing I've learned over the past few years is that freedom, security, play, and relaxation are necessary to a good life. So Koya was a good way of me coming back into my body and going to the Koya dance classes that Jessie would put on here in Jacksonville, and she still does. So I just want to give you one practical takeaway for each of these. Practical way to practice conscious embodiment. It's to just set aside time each day for a body scan meditation, and you can Google that. There's plenty of them out there on YouTube, but basically it systematically brings awareness to each part of your body without judgment. Um, I have some meditations on YouTube for this kind of thing as well, but really it's just a body scan because a lot of times we go day after day after day without even kind of paying attention to certain parts of our bodies. Um, whether, you know, we don't touch them, we don't stretch them, but just not having awareness can kind of sever that mind body connection. So number one is conscious embodiment. That's a really important one. Number two is breath work. Breath work starts with a really simple premise. Just by directing attention toward the inhale and the exhale, we can tap into our parasympathetic nervous system to counter anxiety and stress. So, I came to this from Wim Hof's methods to in breath serving this highway between mind and body. So, like I said from last time, you know, I would kind of have this severance between mind and body, especially in social situations. And one way to really kind of disconnect and not have to feel that is using alcohol. And I feel like I used that a lot when I was living with a former boyfriend. And especially when his friends would come over, it made me feel very uncomfortable. And so either I would go out for a walk, kind of run away, or I'd go to the alcohol if I couldn't leave, right? It was at his house during COVID that I discovered breathwork. It would, it was a way for me to really alleviate anxiety, whether that was anxiety over COVID. And thinking about the oxygenation of my bloodstream for the first time ever, or if it was a social anxiety just kind of having to be with him all the time and we weren't really aligned in our personalities. And I was teaching from home and I would do, I found these Wim Hof breathing methods and it would help me reduce anxiety about whether it was work, working from home, our relationship, the kids working or doing their schoolwork from home. A lot of it, it was just very stressful. And what I found is after three rounds of this breath work, I discovered this feeling, not just the feeling of reduced anxiety, but a feeling of euphoria that I had never achieved, you know, without drugs or chemicals or running. Running is one of them, but it's a harder to get there. So this felt like a magical biohack. And that's when I went kind of down the rabbit hole of intentional breath work and I began healing myself from the outside in, rather than the inside out, meaning, I was calming down my body physically so that my spirit could feel safe and that's kind of my way of getting closer to like a spiritual healing. I had to start from the kind of physical side. So breath work is a really good way of doing that. If you're not somebody who is into meditation or spiritual kind of work. You're, you kind of respond better physically. I have a meditation, a Wim Hof meditation on YouTube, but it's also based on Rob Limfeste's work, and he does Wim Hof breathing. You can find him on YouTube as well. Another way that I really got into breath work and learned a little bit more about it, um, this is kind of another takeaway, is reading the book by James Nestor called Breath, The New Science of a Lost Art. Um, and that teaches readers a lot about kind of the anatomy of your sinuses, your mouth, your um, your breathing, and how it supports health or how it can support health. Number three, I call this one Surrender and Flow. So I want to begin with a quote by Michael Singer. He says, you gain nothing by being bothered by life's events. It doesn't change the world. You just suffer. There's always going to be something that can bother you if you let it. Only you can take inner freedom away from yourself or give it to yourself. So basically here he's talking about unconditional happiness. Just going to the source of happiness, going into happiness. Something that everyone can potentially do. Not putting conditions on your happiness. Like saying, once I feel better, I'll be happy. Once I'm wealthier, I'll be happy. Once I have this relationship, I'll be happy. So thinkers like Michael Singer, Ram Dass, Alan Watts, Byron Katie. Um, Martha Beck, they all are about non resistance, non attachment, flowing with life's currents. Um, so rather than exerting force or tension, you go to what the tradition of Daoism talks about is the middle way, there's balancing ease and effort so that you're meeting every moment kind of openheartedly. Um, so this is really important. And it's The knowledge that suffering is optional, because a lot of the suffering that we do is just pushing back on life. It doesn't mean you don't participate in life, that you don't try. But that all that trying and pushing and exerting is not conditional for your happiness. And I would definitely put, um, Eckhart Tolle in this, in this category, that with the power of now, you know, if we are embracing reality and taking it for what it is rather than putting our preferences on the world constantly, then we can be much happier. So number four, temperature therapy, what I'm calling temperature therapy. Um, I began following Dr. Rhonda Patrick on this one, um, dry saunas at around 160 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 15 minutes a day. This can be really helpful for human growth hormone, um, for sleep, for symptoms of perimenopause, for muscle recovery. I've been practicing this and this has kind of changed the game for me. I had already known that cold plunges, so this is why I call it temperature therapy, because it could be hot, it could be cold, but basically exposing your body to a little bit of stress, a little bit of controlled stress. And like I said, I'd known that I was really into cold plunges after doing the Wim Hof breathing and program. Um, so I have a little cold bath outside that I keep on the balcony, but only recently have I been doing the hot saunas, and that's really changed things. So, ritualizing sauna, cryotherapy, cold showers, um, this can all boost your immune system and boost your mood. That's a big one for me. Number five, nature immersion. This one I'm so excited about. I'm really happy that I have returned to nature after so many years thinking that I was a city girl. I'm really not. Um, but I don't even like those distinctions, those labels. We're all nature people, right? We all belong to the biological world, uh, it just kind of depends on how many barriers you've put against the natural world. Um, but tuning into nature's wisdom really returns us to our senses. This is a really good way to get embodied. So those visual cues from the outside, the textures of the natural world, this grounds us in something that's larger than our narrow human affairs, right? Like when we think about the world these days, a lot of times we're just thinking about the little human part of the world. All of our stories and our technology, but really the world is so much bigger than that. Um, so I think opening up and immersing in nature as Dr. Jean Larson of the University of Minnesota, I had her on the show. Um, she talks about nature based therapeutics, which she's the developer of. She emphasized how important it is to integrate nature into healing, right? She has these fancy names for it. Therapeutic horticulture, animal assisted interventions, facilitated green exercise, therapeutic landscapes. But it's basically just getting out and being in nature. It really has a profound physical, emotional, and psychological side effect, positive side effect. Just engaging with natural environments. This reduces stress, and there's so much research to back this up, including Dr. Larson's research, but by engaging with natural environments, you can reduce stress, improve mood, obviously increase your physical activity, um, you can even enhance cognitive... /episode/index/show/5155ad8e-8614-4ab6-8599-574e53f48803/id/30241463

19. ART and EMBODIMENT in Northeast Florida: A Roundtable of Artists 02/09/2024

19. ART and EMBODIMENT in Northeast Florida: A Roundtable of Artists Artistic Lifeyness: Exploring Place, Body, Art and Identity Across Cultures In this conversation, three artists based in the Jacksonville area, Jennifer, Shameera, and Thorne, share their unique perspectives on place, embodiment, and art. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, these women discuss how their work is influenced by their identities and their sense of location, both in a physical and spiritual sense. They talk about the dual experiences of feeling embodied and disembodied as artists, referring to the process of bringing ideas from the abstract world of imagination into the physical reality through their art. The artists also touch upon the idea of home and the importance of creating cultural bridges through art. What are the pros and cons of living in Jacksonville as a creative soul? And how do you become more embodied as an artist? Listen up and find out! _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Connect with host Professor Sarah @book_of_lifeyness on TikTok and Instagram Thorn works in graphic design, jewelry making, theater and screen acting, origami and more. See her work and connect with her here: Shameera Din Wiest is a digital artist, poet, sculptor, weaver, former diplomat and political analyst. See her work here on Instagram: Jennifer Chase is a storyteller, musician, professor, producer, and playwright. See more here: A special thanks to the Community Foundation of Northeast Florida whose Ignite program first brought these artists together! Episode Outline: Part I: Introduction inspired by birds, Jacksonville, and the words of Rick Rubin Part II: Art and Place--We can smell you from here, Jax. Part III: Embodiment--Make a body for your idea! Part IV: Take from the spirit world and bring it down to Jacksonville Part V: Identity--How your own prism informs your work...and pajama party :-) Part VI: Disembodiment and Embodied Art Part VII: Taking up space in Northeast FL And here's an AI-created Timestamp Outline: 00:00 Introduction: The Search for Self 00:21 The Power of Acceptance 00:55 Finding Home in Unfamiliar Places 02:34 Exploring Northeast Florida 03:23 The Role of Artists in Society 03:59 The Struggles of Living in Jacksonville, Florida 04:55 The Journey of Self-Discovery 05:33 The Power of Art and Creativity 06:07 The Connection Between Place and Art 07:01 The Importance of Being Present 07:06 Art as a Form of Self-Expression 07:34 Interview with Three Talented Women Artists 10:54 The Influence of Geography on Art 11:46 The Role of Motherhood and Womanhood in Art 12:45 The Power of Listening and Being Present 16:54 The Impact of Jacksonville on Personal Growth 18:18 The Role of Spirituality in Art 20:02 The Importance of Nurturing in Art 25:36 The Connection Between Art and Embodiment 33:51 The Power of Conversation in Art 35:07 The Power of Listening and Connecting 35:43 The Journey of Self-Reflection 36:17 Shamaya's Artistic Journey and Cultural Heritage 38:19 The Struggles and Triumphs of Shamaya's Life 39:21 The Intersection of Femininity and Art 40:53 The Power of Personal Stories 42:57 The Influence of Identity on Art 46:34 The Power of Art in Public Spaces 49:51 The Role of Art in Society 56:46 The Importance of Embracing Failure 01:06:20 The Power of Art in Building Cultural Bridges Full script below, generated by Descript What I've been learning is that everywhere I go, there I am, I am a home, you know, you're, we're always looking outside of ourselves. I think it was Wayne Dyer that, um, said something along the lines of, we're always looking, we've lost our keys and we're looking for our keys outside the house when the keys were sitting there at the front door. You know, you have to decide that you're going to leave this behind and say just no to it, or you have to kind of change your space. Or, you know, you. Acceptance. You, you have to accept it. Yeah. You have to fully accept it. Mm-Hmm. . And once you do that, then all of that energy that you, that took up your spirit saying, well, I don't really like this town. Like this isn't, you know, where are all the people, and all of that. Yeah. The people, it goes to another place and you start building it yourself. Yeah. I definitely feel that, like I'm going through that whole. I don't belong here. There's no one that looks like me there. I can't find my food Like I mean, it's just yeah, it's hard But I am trying to find ways to and no one's telling me to leave this time. So that's also hard Yeah And this will be your place in some way, you know, because it was the place where you decided to take care of your people. It feels like comfortable skin, not just confident, but also pain free, healthy. Think about the most robust version of your own childhood. This is what Lifeyness feels like, a joyful spirit and a vibrant physical state of being. I'm your guide professor, Sarah storyteller, teacher and wellness enthusiast. Reach into the vitality of your own to supercharge your grownup life. So I think I'm being kind when I say I live in a slightly dysfunctional city, marked with a lot of cultural blanks. It's this place where. We all just kind of landed somehow or another. It's not really even designed like a typical American city. They say it's a city of neighborhoods, which really means it's a giant, sprawling suburb. But stay with me. I love this place. And today, on this episode of Lifeyness, I'm going to be exploring Northeast Florida. It is a home for many of us, and we've made it sacred by filling it with our children, artwork, our classes, our educations. Our activities. Like any body, we adorn it and try to keep it healthy, but more than anything, we live inside of it day in and day out, and that is what makes a city a city. It's what makes a human life have meaning. So welcome back to Lifeyness. This is Professor Sarah, and I'm super excited about this episode and the next, which will conclude the first season. Today, we're talking about place, body, and art. Specifically, how do artists find embodiment both in their work and in their geography? If you've listened to any of this podcast, you know that staying grounded in your body, staying playful in your space and in your work, and accepting the moment in front of you with a whole heart, these are some of the keys to living the good life and to finding joy. So I'm going to give you a little bit of insight into the place that I live. I always thought that Jacksonville, Florida lacked a sense of the sacred. And I think to a certain degree, it still kind of does. It doesn't have that ritualized admiration that you see in cities like New York and Toronto and San Francisco, like where tourists go, they know where to go, they know what to love and how to dress. Northeast Florida in general can feel like a cultural wasteland at first. In fact, not long after moving here in 2007, I wrote a short story about a young woman who had gone mad from the cultural void. Flintstoning her way through the same desolate strip mall freeways, the backdrop always the same tire shop, Best Buy, Walmart, Michaels, and Winn Dixie. It was not far off from how I was actually feeling about this weird town. To be clear, I hated it. And yet, I managed well enough to get permanently stuck here by way of marriage, children, divorce. Later, I would learn that many of my friends and colleagues have had similar experiences. Jacksonville, the present place, is a liminal space for some, an in between. Perhaps what we're feeling is that we haven't yet made Jacksonville as sacred as we could. We haven't worshipped it enough, or worked our fingers over it like a sculptor works clay. Rick Rubin, the producer of countless music artists, says that the reason we're alive is to express ourselves in the world, and that creating art might be the most effective way of doing so. So the quote I'm about to share with you from his book, which is called The Creative Act, it makes me think of the artists that are on the show today. He says, the artwork is the point where all the elements come together, the universe, the prism of self, the magic and discipline of transmuting idea to flesh. What I didn't expect to hear from these artists today is how a sense of place and their particular sense of place is so entangled with their art and also with this feeling of embodiment or disembodiment. Years ago, I remember a veterinarian who specializes in birds told me that when they are singing or calling to one another, that the gist of what they're saying is simply, I am here. And then calling to others, asking, are you there? And then of course the reply is, I am here. Are you there? And so on and so forth. And to some degree, I feel like this is what humans are doing all the time. This is all we're saying to one another. Whether it's through a book or a TikTok video or, or whether you're just reaching across the couch to your loved one, it can all be boiled down to this. I'm here. Look at me. Are you there? Art is the embodiment of a moment in our energetic human experience. It is that emotion and energy of life that's captured in an artwork, whether it's a collection of words, a pattern of music, or a painting. It's basically the artist saying, I am here, just like the birds do, but they're saying it through paint or piano or an arrangement of flowers. To discuss this idea of art as embodiment and self expression, I'm speaking with three talented women from northeast Florida. Thorne is a passionate activist. She's a graphic designer by training. She's a jewelry maker. She's a community organizer. My name is Tracy and I work under the moniker Thorne. I grew up here in Jacksonville, um, and I do realize that being from here has It's really made a huge impact on the work that I do. Um, I do a number of different media. I actually went to school for graphic design and printmaking. I started making jewelry because I wasn't finding what I wanted to wear. And at that point in time, I had just come back from Peace Corps when I first started. And a lot of the things that influenced me at that point. And her family's been rooted in this town for many generations. Jennifer Chase is a playwright, a musician, uh, she's a writer and college professor. And her latest book, I Can Smell You From Here, explores her relationship with the city of Jacksonville. But I grew up in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and have been most of my adult life in Jacksonville. And went back to college as a non traditional, um, adult single mother right here in Jacksonville at FSCJ, where I now teach. Yeah. Like Thorne, um, I did. Adopt a, a pen name has Shaina. Um, so some of my work is under. And then in contrast we have Shaira Dean Weist, um, she's a mixed media artist. She's a sculptor and a weaver. Um, and she's been here less than three years. And I'm an Indian American artist. I came, I'm an immigrant and I moved to the U. S. in 1982 when I was 12 years old, so you can do the math. I create visual performance, poetry, photography, and digital art, and I feel like each of these are embodied in some way with the female, where my choice of imagery in the tapestries, sculptures that I create have elements of woman. I use my body as a vehicle in performance art. Um, I write poetry that, um, touches on elements of being an Indian woman. And I worked in Washington, um, as a political analyst. Um, I traveled overseas as a diplomat. Today we're having a conversation in person. In the flesh, at my dining room table together, in downtown Jacksonville, um, in my well loved historic home built in 1911. So we all gathered here on a winter day, when even in Florida it was chilly outside and cozy inside. Thorne and Jennifer and Shamira are from diverse backgrounds, but they all show up in their art with the bravery it takes to say, I am here. Are you there? Welcome to our conversation about being an artist www. artistrenjitha. com In a body, in a city, don't forget to connect with me at Book of Lifiness on TikTok, where you can see images and videos of this wonderful conversation and these amazing artists. Let's start with place because I am invited you here to talk about embodiment, embodied art. Right. But I think, you know, like we're sitting here in Jacksonville, Florida. All together in the same space, which I think is so special considering, like I said before, a lot of my interviews I do virtually today, you know, but you know, we all met at Ignite, right? And that was such a special morning, you know, where we all came together. And, um, so I want to ask each of you kind of how do you use your geography in your art? Where does it show up in your art? And we'll start with Jen because she had the show the other night. Your story felt so parallel to mine and it made me feel, when I looked around the audience, I was like, how many people here feel this way? And part of that is. Motherhood. I think part of that is being a woman. Part of that is not feeling at home in Jacksonville because I, I'm not from here either. You know, and I think a lot of us are not from here. Um, but there were so many different like touch points that I was like, Oh, wait a minute. Not only did I feel like now I know you and you were able to tell your story, but I feel known. Even more. And a lot of that had to do with that, this antagonistic relationship that I've had with Jacksonville, where I feel kind of stuck here. But also this is where I do my nurturing and raise my children and make my, my own art. So tell us a little bit about that. Well, I think first we have to be sure that we're telling ourselves the truth. Um, and I had to take a look at sifting through the excuses, the fears, the, um, empowerment of all the experiences that I've had here. Um, I think it's a complicated question because James Baldwin, for example, talked about this idea of cultural assumptions, and the idea that, um, we don't realize the assumptions that we're living under until we live under another set of assumptions, and I bet Shamira has a lot. To add about that, I'm sure Thorne, too. Ironically, a lot of the, the empowerment and the appreciation of the present in Jacksonville involves the concept of time, which I learned a lot more about in places like Senegal, living in Senegal and living in France for shorter periods of time, but enough that I thought, oh, There's a different way, and it's not related to money, it's not related to earning money. There's a different way of appreciating the present and a meal and a conversation. And every time I come back from another place where the concept of time involves shutting everything down at two o'clock and having a two and a half hour lunch with your family, I come home. gung ho to adopt that. And I have varying degrees of success with that, but I find that for my artistic expression, for happiness, for real connection and feeling a sense of place, it involves being aware of the present. being aware of the ability to get outside of the assumptions I've lived under and look back into them and I can see myself in my life a lot more objectively when I'm able to look at it from the outside. And then you come back and you feel differently about your surroundings and you look at things. and yourself differently. So it can be a painful experience sometimes. Um, when I looked back over 30 years at raising children, one of the lines of my song says, um, these are the days that will be memories someday. And the whole song is just about hanging clothes on the line and watching my little girl who was then three dancing around to a Beatles song. And the whole song is about that. Yeah. It's called Mundane. Yeah. And now I'm, I just finished re recording that song and I thought, that's funny because these are now gonna be someday the moments that I think That was nice when your husband made you a coffee after work and just looked you in the eye and asked about, you know, and got you a special cloth napkin and a little, the way you put out, it's more about the present and how we view it. So I think that's my, my thing. And it resonated. It really did. Thank you. It was beautiful. Thanks. Shamira, do you want to say something about kind of the way that geography informs your art? Yeah, that's um, I mean, having a fact that I've been moving for, you know, since, since I first moved as an immigrant, almost every three to four years I've moved for the last 34 years of my life, I think. There is no specific place for me. I mean, I know I think the place that I most connect to is the place I was born and everything is always trying to pull me back to that. You know, having my mother live with me definitely brings that back every day. Um, so It's like I'm not connected to any place and yet I try to make the most of the opportunities that are in that place. Um, the last place I lived before moving to Florida was China and I was there for three years and I was a complete outsider. Not only, you know, it was either the western community or the Chinese community and then there's me, brown, you know, and they're not sure whether I'm Mexican or where I'm from but, and then having Not having the language, um, and not having, not being able to, or allowed to work because these are the laws of the diplomatic community where you're not, the spouse doesn't work on the local economy. So either you work in the embassy much lower than your education level, or you. Um, and then I decided to become an artist. So that's what I did. Yeah. Yeah. So that's when I started making art is when I started moving. But so as far as place, I mean, I don't have, I don't feel a strong connection to a geography, but I feel like the personality that I bring to each place taken from another place connects me to everyone new. And yet keeps me in contact with all my old contacts. And so I keep building these relationships with new people and keeping old people. Yeah. I don't know how that works out, but we're certainly happy to have you in our community now. How about you, Thorne? I think it's funny. I'm the only one that's from here. Yeah. And so, but I have, I've traveled away from here, um, a number of times. I've lived in San Francisco and I've lived in Philadelphia. And then of course, as I mentioned earlier, I was in the Peace Corps. And so, So having grown up in the Bible Belt, spirituality, spirit, gospel music, all the things that you would stereotypically connect to the South are a huge part of my work, huge part of what makes me, me. I was singing a gospel song with my mom this morning and we were just reminiscing about a church we used to go to. Music is such a huge part of my life, like, Jen, and I just actually got through, not just got through, but recently read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. And so understanding, right, really good. I'm a fan. Yeah. And so understanding that where we are now in this moment is the most important place we're ever going to be. As opposed to leaving pieces of ourself out in the future, you know, where Shamira's going to a new place, or anticipating going to a new place, and thinking about the places where we've been. And what I have realized is Jacksonville, for me... /episode/index/show/5155ad8e-8614-4ab6-8599-574e53f48803/id/29795153

18. EMBODIMENT & SOCIETY: "Returning Home to Our Bodies" with Author Abigail Rose Clarke 01/05/2024

18. EMBODIMENT & SOCIETY: "Returning Home to Our Bodies" with Author Abigail Rose Clarke Connect with me on In this episode of Lifeyness, Professor Sarah dives into a powerful conversation with Abigail Rose Clarke, a somatics practitioner, teacher, and author. They discuss how embodiment—the practice of feeling present and alive in one's body—helps us navigate life's challenges and can create more joy. Abigail shares her own struggles of disembodiment and how it related to her past eating disorder. Sarah and Abigail explore how societal pressures, gender expectations, and capitalism can force us into a state of disembodiment. Abigail offers tips on how to regain trust and comfort within our own bodies. As a special focus, Abigail presents her new book, 'Returning Home to Our Bodies' and its revolutionary views on somatics and embodiment. Listen to uncover how getting in touch with your sensing body and with nature can change your quality of life and help lead you to a happier, healthier existence. This episode covers an array of topics, touching on the impact of societal norms on our perception of self, the concept of embodied life, and the interconnection between addiction and disembodiment. Abigail shares her personal journey and how she developed her own practice, The Embodied Life Method, from her studies and personal experiences. We also grapple with the experiences of women in Western culture from the lens of embodiment. Timestamps:00:00 Preview clips 00:40 Welcome to the Lifeyness Podcast 01:25 Personal Journey and the Importance of Listening to Your Body 02:05 Introducing Guest Abigail Rose Clarke and Discussing Addiction 05:43 The Embodied Life Method and the Impact of Capitalism on Our Bodies 08:03 The Experience of Living in Mexico/ Understanding Whiteness 13:08 The Embodied Life Method: A Deeper Dive 19:21 The Impact of "Extractive Capitalism" on Our Bodies: A Closer Look 38:45 The Connection Between Disembodiment and Addiction 41:47 The Romantic Body and the Journey to Reclaiming Playfulness 45:11 Book Release, Book Tour, and Future Plans Links: Abigail's Instagram: Keywords: Lifeyness Podcast, Abigail Rose Clarke, embodied life method, somatics, yoga, wellness, body, addiction, Western society, privilege, Returning Home to Our Bodies, Momo, comfort, capitalism, book Music Credit: William Claeson, "Song for a New Beginning" /episode/index/show/5155ad8e-8614-4ab6-8599-574e53f48803/id/29345418

17. NATURE-BASED THERAPEUTICS: Healing in Nature with Dr. Jean Larson 11/13/2023

17. NATURE-BASED THERAPEUTICS: Healing in Nature with Dr. Jean Larson In this episode, Dr. Jean Larson shows how the outdoors has healing powers! Nature-based Therapeutics, similar to integrative medicine, is a collection of practices to support a healthcare program. In NBT patients find healing by engaging with the outdoors, animals, and other sensory experiences in the "unbuilt world." Dr. Larson, a faculty member at the University of Minnesota and Developer of Nature-Based Therapeutics, joins the conversation to talk about the profound benefits of nature in therapeutic contexts. She shares her journey from studying therapeutic recreation to founding a program in horticulture therapy at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The discussion delves into the importance of relaxation and self-care found in nature, and the tangible metrics in therapeutic horticulture, animal-assisted interventions, and facilitated green exercise. Dr. Larson reflects on her educational path and how she encourages students to integrate nature-based therapeutics into their marketable skills. She touches on her vision for the future of the field along with practical ways for anyone to incorporate nature into their daily life. Today's episode: 0-5 minutes: Introduction to Lifeyness and how nature supports health 5-10: Exploring the Concept of Nature-Based Therapeutics The Journey to Developing a Nature-Based Therapeutics Program 10-15: The Role of Nature in Therapeutic Recreation The Impact of Nature-Based Therapeutics on Patients 15-20: Personal Experiences and Motivations in Nature-Based Therapeutics Understanding Biophilia and Biophobia, Animal-assisted interventions 20-25: The Role of Nature in Hospital Design and Patient Recovery The Intersection of Nature and Education 25-35: Practical Applications of Nature-Based Therapeutics 35-40: Incorporating Nature into Daily Life 40-47: The Future of Nature-Based Therapeutics Follow me @book_of_lifeyness on TikTok and Instagram Referenced: Larson, Jean Marie. “A Partnership with Nature.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies, vol. 5, no. 2, 2018, p. 4–, https://doi.org/10.24926/ijps.v5i2.1074. LINKS! Learn more about Nature-based Therapeutics: More about Dr. Larson: Dr. Jean Larson began her work for the University of Minnesota in 1992, where she developed the Nature-Based Therapeutic Services (NBT) a partnership between the Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. NBT provides a range of services including direct programming, training, education, research and outreach in the fields of therapeutic horticulture, animal-assisted interventions, facilitated green exercise, and therapeutic landscapes. The partnership provides opportunities to better understand and ensure students, professionals and general public will have access to the most current research and practices. The unique partnership recognizes the strengths and expertise to make the best use of resources from both integrative medicine and nature-based science. /episode/index/show/5155ad8e-8614-4ab6-8599-574e53f48803/id/28607463

16. MOTHERHOOD: Playful, Successful, Impactful Moms--A Talk with Melissa Llarena 10/13/2023

16. MOTHERHOOD: Playful, Successful, Impactful Moms--A Talk with Melissa Llarena Do you know what YOUR "momscript" is? Are you simply following a script that has been handed down for generations? Or are you living your most authentic life, both at home and at work? If you're looking for a llittle help in this department, listen up! In this episode of Lifeyness, host Sarah Clarke speaks with Melissa Llarena, author of the new book Fertile Imagination: A Guide for Stretching Every Mom’s Superpower for Maximum Impact. Today we talk about how to be playful, imaginative, and successful, both in your career and in your family. Here are some key points: How Melissa worked to retain her pre-parent identity after having kids, playing a “mental game” to keep life feeling un-mom-like Melissa’s 3-step Imagination to Impact Method for rediscovering your sense of wonder and playfulness as a parent Ways moms can “wake up” their imagination again and rebuild trust in their creative side The power of play for bonding with your kids and unleashing the inner child in yourself Stretching your imagination to make a difference and share your vision with others Melissa’s outlook on learning from those outside the typical mom sphere to expand perspectives Overcoming “inherited motherhood scripts” that feel inauthentic to who you really are Embracing your quirks and giving yourself permission to explore weird ideas Finding fulfillment as a parent by nurturing your passions and gifts The influence moms can have on kids by pursuing their own creativity and purpose Quotes: “Your imagination does not like to be ignored, pushed down or said you're not cool.” “There’s something to just finding that thing...that tickles you, whatever that means to you.” “Why not give this a chance? What’s the worst that’s gonna happen? You’re gonna stub your toe ‘cause you were dancing like a wild person?” "The more you [use your imagination], the better a mom you are." Mentioned in this episode: Fertile Imagination by Melissa Llarena Unimaginable Wellness podcast The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron Connect with Melissa: Website: Instagram: @melissallarena More about today's guest: An online entrepreneur since 2011, Melissa Llarena launched her business in parallel to becoming a mom the first time around. One set of identical twins later, Melissa brings a decade of experience working for Fortune top-50 brands and over another decade as a solopreneur. She holds a psychology degree from New York University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and a Transformational Coaching Academy certificate based on Tony Robbins’s principles and Landmark Education insights. She’s becoming a meditation practitioner, enrolled in The Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. Her perspective has also been influenced by having lived for three years in Sydney, Australia, as an ex-pat family, and prior to motherhood, she worked and lived in NYC, London, and Paris. You can read her story “Imagine A Better Way” (Woodhall Press, 2023) in the anthology Fast Fallen Women. Melissa currently lives in Austin, Texas. Visit www.fertileideas.comfor resources (including a free book chapter) and speaking opportunities. Music Credit: William Claeson, "Song for a New Beginning" /episode/index/show/5155ad8e-8614-4ab6-8599-574e53f48803/id/28310888

15. SPIRITUAL CARE: A Hospital Chaplain on Grief and Loss....and Joy! 09/06/2023

15. SPIRITUAL CARE: A Hospital Chaplain on Grief and Loss....and Joy! How often are you drawn into your most ridiculous, joyful, vibrant, SINGING self? Do you include Taylor Swift music and the Barbie movie as part of your spiritual practice? This Methodist chaplain does! Meet Melissa Bortnick, mother of three, clinical spiritual expert, and pastor in training. Currently a chaplain fellow with the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Melissa just finished a year of chaplaincy at Harborview Medical Center. (fun fact: this is the hospital in downtown Seattle that inspired the fictional Grey's Anatomy medical center.) Melissa also happens to be a girlhood friend of mine, who I haven't seen in decades! It's funny how some things (and people) never change. We're the same girls as always :-) Join us for a fun and meaningful conversation about how to take special care of your own spirit. Book Recommendations: Here are Melissa's top five! Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing Paperback February 12, 2016 by Andy Crouch The Back Side of the Cross: An Atonement Theology for the Abused and Abandoned by Diane Leclerc , Brent Peterson, et al. | Jun 29, 2022 Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others by Barbara Brown Taylor | Mar 24, 2020 Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Hardcover – October 9, 2018by Brené Brown Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others Paperback – May 4, 2009by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky (Author), Connie Burk OUTLINE of this Episode Introduction Melissa Bortnick is a Clinical Spiritual Chaplain. She works with patients, families, and medical staff to provide spiritual care. Spiritual care is not limited to religious beliefs, but rather focuses on the whole person's well-being. Melissa believes that everyone has a spirit that needs to be cared for, regardless of their religious beliefs. The Work of a Clinical Spiritual Resident Melissa's work as a chaplain is very diverse. She may be called to the bedside of a patient who is dying, to provide comfort and support to a family member who has just lost a loved one, or to simply sit with a patient who is feeling scared or alone. She also works with staff members who are dealing with the emotional and psychological stress of working in a hospital setting. Where Melissa works, spiritual care is integrated into the clinical support of each patient. They take a holistic view of the patient's health and well-being. She says that it can help patients to feel more connected to themselves, to their loved ones, and to something larger than themselves. Spiritual care can help patients to cope with difficult emotions such as fear, anger, and grief. Grief, Loss, Death...and the Importance of Finding Joy Melissa's work is challenging but also very rewarding. She is grateful for the opportunity to help people in their darkest moments. She also says that she is constantly learning and growing in her role as a chaplain. The episode ends with Melissa talking about the importance of finding joy in life, even after experiencing loss, and we talk a little bit about Internal Family Systems, a kind of therapy that acknowledges all of the different inner selves of each individual. She says that she finds joy in spending time with her family and friends, in doing things that she loves, in music (Taylor Swift concerts!) and in helping others. "That is the entire purpose of why we are here on Earth in the first place-- to constantly be moving towards being the fullest, most joyful, most exuberant and lively version of ourselves we can be." -Chaplain Melissa Bortnick Please follow me on Instagram and TikTok @book_of_lifeyness Music Credit: William Claeson, "Song for a New Beginning" /episode/index/show/5155ad8e-8614-4ab6-8599-574e53f48803/id/27950004

14. FOR FUN'S SAKE! The Power of Play and the Flying Seagull Project 08/19/2023

13. SEX: Embodiment and Sexual Wellness 08/07/2023

12. LETTING GO: Shed the Weight of Self-Consciousness and Radiate Beauty from Inside 07/21/2023

11. EMBODIMENT: Healing from Trauma with Somatic Experiencing 07/06/2023

11. EMBODIMENT: Healing from Trauma with Somatic Experiencing Please welcome Efu Nyaki to Lifeyness! Efu is a seasoned a therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with Dr. Peter Levine's Ergos Institute of Somatic Education. We are talking about overcoming personal trauma and anxiety to live a happier and more joyful life. SE® is a healing modality that takes a more holistic approach to mental health, a psychologicaltherapy that takes the body into consideration. Soma means body. This mind/body approach comes in different forms but one of its guiding principles is that trauma can be trapped in the body and expressed in posture, facial expressions, tone of voice, and even muscular pain. Invented by renowned psychologist Dr. Peter Levine, "The Somatic Experiencing® method is a body-oriented approach to healing trauma and other stress disorders. It is based on a multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, psychology, and indigenous healing practices, together with over 50 years of successful clinical application." Today's episode is all about embracing playfulness, healing from trauma, and the transformative power of embodiment. Efu, originally from Tanzania, is a legacy faculty member of the Ergos Institute of Somatic Experiencing and a co-founder of AFYA, a women's holistic healing center where she now lives in Brazil. Efu has dedicated her life to helping people reconnect with their bodies and find healing from trauma, especially women from war-torn areas and underserved communities through her work with the Maryknoll sisters. Somatic Experiencing focuses on the body's innate ability to heal itself from trauma, allowing individuals to restore their sense of safety, resilience, and aliveness. One of the key goals in healing trauma, as Efu will explain, is to get back to a state of playful curiosity, the same way that animals in the wild can quickly return to equilibrium after surviving a would-be predator. Humans seem to hold onto trauma more so than other animals. So listen up for tips on how to overcome everyday stress and trauma such as anxiety and become more functional in your own life! To find more information about and to see the website for Dr. Peter Levine's Please connect with me /episode/index/show/5155ad8e-8614-4ab6-8599-574e53f48803/id/27395916

10. SOUND: Healing Vibrations for Body and Soul 06/23/2023

9. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY and the Science of Joy 06/09/2023

8. CELEBRATE: Joyful Parenting and Self-Care in an Uncertain World 05/26/2023

RELAX: A Meditation Retreat with Wim Hof Style Breathwork 05/19/2023

RELAX: A Meditation Retreat with Wim Hof Style Breathwork Don't forget to follow me! For someone who talks so much about meditation, I’m not very good at sitting still or quieting my mind! But when I use certain breath techniques--like the one I'm showing you today--the game totally changes. Today I'll be guiding you in three rounds of breathing-- 30 big, powerful inhalations followed by a two-minute breath hold. If you can't hold for that long, no worries! Continue the inhalations until we start the next round. It's all about getting super oxygenated and then relaxing. This guided "meditation retreat" is inspired by Wim Hof, the Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete known as The Iceman, and this teachings on breathwork. I've also borrowed inspiration and ideas from Convergence Lifestyle's Rob Lenfestey, who creates excellent Youtube in this same vein. Music Credit: "Lunar Waves" by Rob Lenfestey where his music and his own guided meditations can be found. In this episode: 10-minute intro describing the style of breathwork, how I use it, and what you can expect. The guided breathwork begins at around 11 minutes. Begin by lying down comfortably, perhaps with legs elevated. Sitting is good too, especially for the third round. Take it at your own pace. Breathe when you need to. Round 1: In the first round of breath, I sometimes have an exaggerated feeling of blood pumping through my veins. It’s a good feeling! If you’re just starting out, or you haven’t done it in a while you may have temperature changes in your body-- that’s totally normal. The important thing here is just to be safe go at your own pace! The top priority is that you begin to calm your nervous system. Don’t hold your breath beyond what is comfortable. The key is to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, and not aggravate your sympathetic nervous system, but you can’t do that if you’re holding your breath too long. If you can't do the entire 2-minute hold, just take extra breaths and catch up with us on the next round! Round 2: And this brings me to round two, which is one of my favorite points of the breath work and that’s when I start feeling the pay off of that deep breathing. When you stop and simply relax into the breathhold, some magical things can begin to happen! This second breathhold usually feels VERY still and peaceful. But please breathe when you feel the need. Round 3: At this point you may want to sit up and sway with the music. This is the most pleasurable of the rounds, especially during the final breath hold and the last inhale! Enjoy the stillness. /episode/index/show/5155ad8e-8614-4ab6-8599-574e53f48803/id/26868039

7. INTUITION: Embodiment and Intuitive Movement 05/12/2023

6. LOVE: the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine 04/29/2023

5. PLAY! Managing Anxiety, Part II 04/14/2023

5. PLAY! Managing Anxiety, Part II This is the second episode of a two-part series about coping with anxiety. We discuss how it feels, what can help alleviate symptoms, and how the arts and movement can play a role in managing stress and mental health. (Normally I release every two weeks, but since this is a two-parter I wanted them closer together!) In this episode of Lifeyness Jessie Shternshus, CEO of The Improv Effect, discusses her personal journey with anxiety from a young age. Also find out how a simple game of hot potato inspired a lifelong friendship! ;-) We discuss: The art of improvisational theater How anxiety can feel from a young age How Jessie has managed her symptoms What helps interrupt the downward spiral of overwhelming thoughts How improv plays a role in boosting mental health What does play mean to Jessie? How you can be a more playful grownup! A summary of tips and advice from both episodes 4 and 5 Follow me! IG: TikTok: Jessie Shternshus is the owner and founder of and is committed to helping individuals, teams, and companies reach their full potential by helping them break free from conformity and adapting to our rapidly changing world. With her interactive and inclusive exercises, Jessie inspires a shift in mindset and creates collaborative environments that empower people to be their best selves. With a focus on connection, curiosity, trust, and play, Jessie has been a driving force behind internal training and coaching for global organizations such as Netflix, Tyson Foods, The United Nations, PGATour, Ocean Spray, HP, Transferwise, Macy's, The Department of Defense, Getty Images, Adecco, CapitalOne, and many more. As the co-author of "CTRLShift: 50 Games for 50 *** Days Like Today" and "No More Meetings: Unlearn 'bored room' Practices to Change the Way We Connect," Jessie is passionate about embracing more effective and engaging ways of working. With her dynamic approach and infectious energy, Jessie has also been a sought-after keynote speaker at conferences worldwide. Disclaimer: the host and guests of this show are not mental health professionals. The discussion and interview here are for educational purposes only. Please seek professional help if you're experiencing distressing mental health symptoms. Music credit: William Claeson "Song for a New Beginning" /episode/index/show/5155ad8e-8614-4ab6-8599-574e53f48803/id/26543694

4. DANCE: Managing Anxiety, Part I 04/10/2023

4. DANCE: Managing Anxiety, Part I This is the first episode of a two-part series about coping with anxiety. We discuss how it feels, what can help alleviate symptoms, and how the arts can play a role in managing stress and mental health. Part I focuses on dance and movement; part II will focus on improv and play. In this episode of Lifeyness, we explore the intersection of dance, movement, and mental health in this episode. Rebecca R. Levy, co-founder of Jacksonville Dance Theatre, discusses her personal journey with severe anxiety. Choreographer, performer, and educator Rebecca Levy (aka Becca) has firsthand experience with inexplicable feelings of panic, anxiety, and even terror. Most of the time these emotions seem to arise from nowhere. But she hasn't let those pressures get the best of her. Instead, she's developed a toolkit of techniques for managing anxiety and staying grounded in the moment, both on and off the stage. Becca offers insights into how to cultivate a healthy relationship with stress and the pressures that coming with growing up, building a successful professional life, and even dealing with extreme challenges such as the Covid lockdown. In this episode of Lifeyness, we explore the intersection of dance, movement, and mental health in this episode. We discuss: Symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder Common symptoms and treatments of anxiety What anxiety can feel like Becca's management of symptoms How movement plays a role in boosting mental health Pilates and yoga Dance Follow me! IG: TikTok: Featured Youtube LINK! In this episode we refer to a short film titled in collaboration with filmmaker Will Darden and composer Mark Snyder. It is a choreographic film project about mental illness based on her personal experience with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Rebecca's Bio Rebecca R. Levy, a choreographer, performer, and educator based in Jacksonville, Florida, creates dance works that explore the complexities of the mind, feminism, bodily autonomy, and the forces that bring people together or drive them apart. As the artistic director of Jacksonville Dance Theatre, Rebecca co-founded the company in 2012 and has been working to change the art culture of the city. Her role includes creating dances, mounting performances, commissioning new and innovative artists, and providing dance training to company members. She is also an esteemed professor of dance at Florida State College at Jacksonville, where she serves as Director and teaches a diverse range of students. Her contributions to the arts community have been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2020 Art Educator of the Year Award from the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, a 2019 40 Under 40 award from The Jacksonville Business Journal, and the Outstanding Faculty of the Year in 2016. She is also a registered Certified Yoga Instructor, a certified Pilates instructor, and has experience with aerial acrobatics. Additionally, she was awarded a 2019 Individual Artist Grant from Community First Bank and a 2020 Art Ventures Individual Artist Grant for her new choreographic work, Disorder, which investigates mental illness. See JDT's Intro and outro music credit: "Song for a New Beginning" by William Claeson Disclaimer: the host and guests of this show are not mental health professionals. The discussion and interview here are for educational purposes only. Please seek professional help if you're experiencing distressing mental health symptoms. /episode/index/show/5155ad8e-8614-4ab6-8599-574e53f48803/id/26482563

3. FRIENDSHIP: Grownup Girlhood Girlfriends...and other Friendly Females 03/23/2023

2. NOURISHMENT: Joyful Eating and Holistic Nutrition 03/10/2023

RELAX: A Meditation Story Retreat 03/02/2023

1. HEALING: Recovery and Embodiment 02/16/2023

Trailer 01/12/2023

Lifeyness: A Joyful Embodiment Podcast

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