Wisdom Rising

You Are Not Broken: Shifting from Healing to Aligning

• Christine Renee, Isabel Wells, and Shantel Ochoa • Season 2 • Episode 26

Share episode

Send Us a Message!

What if the way we talk about our spiritual journey is keeping us stuck? For years, we've embraced the concept of healing—diligently working to release trauma, overcome limiting beliefs, and fix what's supposedly broken within us. But there's a subtle, disempowering message hidden in that language.

Today, we're proposing a radical shift from healing to alignment. When we constantly frame our experience as a healing journey, we unconsciously reinforce the belief that we're broken and one day we'll be fixed. This perspective puts our worthiness perpetually in the future—we'll be enough when we're finally healed. 

Alignment acknowledges that you are already whole. You're not broken—you're simply experiencing the natural fluctuations of being human. Instead of trying to fix what's wrong, alignment focuses on reconnecting with your true self, with Source, with the natural flow of life in each present moment.

In this episode, we cover:

  • How healing language can reinforce a sense of brokenness
  • Why chasing healing can leave us feeling unworthy
  • The shift from a healing mindset to one of alignment
  • How to start embracing wholeness in the present
  • The power of reconnecting with your true self
  • The transformative nature of liminal, in-between spaces
  • How presence opens you to unexpected possibilities
  • A 30-minute practice to anchor into now
  • Recognizing worthiness as your natural state
  • Healing vs. alignment
  • And more!

Ready to explore this paradigm shift? Start listening now! Your wholeness is waiting to be recognized, not created.

........

Register for the May 29th webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/5X-ujPueQQufyjdCwMeoUQ

Join the Reiki Fusion Master Teacher Training: https://moonrisinginstitute.circle.so/c/reiki-master-teacher-training/

Moon Rising Shamanic Institute Links:
Website: https://moonrisinginstitute.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/moonrisinginstitute
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/moonrisingmystics
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moonrising.institute
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@moonrisinginstitute

Book a session with Isabel: https://calendly.com/into-the-deep/schedule

Book a FREE 15 minute connect call with Izzy: https://calendly.com/moonrisinginstitute/connect

Book a session with Christine: https://calendly.com/christinerenee/90-minutes-intensive

Book a FREE 10 minute connect call with Christine: https://calendly.com/christinerenee/10-minute-connect-call-srpt

Speaker 1:

It's time to remember your divine purpose and limitless potential. Welcome to Wisdom Rising, the official podcast of Moon Rising Shamanic Institute. Join shamanic Reiki practitioners Christine Rene, isabel Wells and Chantel Ochoa as we guide you on a journey of radical self-discovery and spiritual guidance. Each week, we'll dance through the realms of shamanism, mysticism, energy, healing and personal development to illuminate your path to true healing and self-sourced wisdom Through weekly inspired conversations and interviews with leading spiritual and shamanic practitioners. We are here to help you acknowledge, reconcile and balance your energy so that you can awaken to the whispers of wisdom rising from within. Welcome back to another amazing episode here on the Wisdom Rising podcast. I'm your host for today, isabel Wells, and in this episode, I'm joined with Chantel Ochoa as we talk on a topic that has become really near and dear to both of our hearts the concept of healing versus aligning. Why we need to shift from the concept of healing to the concept of aligning versus aligning. Why we need to shift from the concept of healing to the concept of aligning, and exactly how to do that. If you've watched some of our recent YouTube videos, you have heard me share why I'm calling for a movement to shift us away from healing and towards alignment. The spiritual community is known for supporting spiritual seekers through their healing journey, and this journey is valuable and important and empowering. But when we constantly are telling ourselves that we are in the midst of healing, we're also subconsciously installing the belief that we are in need of fixing, that we're broken and one day we'll be healed, and that belief can often shift us away from living a truly empowered and embodied life. And so in today's conversation, we talk about why shifting away from healing and towards aligning is so important in helping us walk our passion and purpose, and how we can recalibrate in every moment so that we can truly experience the beauty of being alive here on this earth at this time and allow ourselves to fully experience the life that is happening right in front of us. So I hope that you enjoy today's episode, but before we dive in, I do want to give you an update on some of the amazing offerings that we have for you all here in our community.

Speaker 1:

If you are part of the Moon Rising Shamanic Mystics Facebook group, you'll know that we have a fantastic webinar coming up on May 29th with our visionary Christine Rene. Christine has spent the last several weeks in Japan on a pilgrimage to the birthplace of Reiki and on May 29th, at 5 pm Mountain Time, 7 pm Eastern Time, she's offering a free webinar diving into the question why did Usui go to Mount Kurama? If you've ever wondered why he took this journey, what the purpose was, or how Reiki's roots in Japanese Buddhism and shamanism influenced the practice, this is your chance to find out. This webinar will dive into the origins of Reiki, how and why Eastern and Western Reiki divided, what the original Reiki teachings tell us about the practice, and so much more. So if you are interested in joining Christine for this free webinar on May 29th the link will be in the show notes Please be sure to register so that you can get the link both to join us live and for the recording.

Speaker 1:

If you can't make us live, and if this topic is really fascinating for you and you want to learn more about Eastern Reiki versus Western Reiki and receive your Reiki master teacher training while you're at it, christine does have a Reiki Fusion master teacher training starting on June 5th. You guys will be meeting every Thursday and Christine will be offering all of the insights, knowledge and wisdom that she is bringing back with her from Mount Karama and infusing it into her Reiki master teacher training. So, whether you're looking to re-sit your master training or you're a level two ready to step into that master teacher training so whether you're looking to reset your master training or you're a level two ready to step into that master teacher role, this class is a fantastic place to start. The link to learn more and save your seat is in the show notes as well. And, of course, if you haven't already, be sure to join us in our Moon Rising Shamanic Mystics Facebook group. This amazing community of over 4,000 individuals are walking this path with you, asking the questions you're asking and experiencing that alignment and healing that we're going to be talking about in today's episode. Along the way, be sure that you subscribe to us on our YouTube channel, but also to this podcast, so that you can get access to new episodes sooner. We would love to hear your top takeaways from today's episode over in the Facebook group, or you can send us an email at mystics at moonrisinginstitutecom.

Speaker 1:

But without further ado, let's go to the show. Welcome, welcome back to another amazing conversation. I am so excited, as always, to be joined with Chantel today, and today we're going to be talking about why we need to, why we're calling for a shift from saying that we're on a healing journey, or saying that we're healing, to focusing on alignment and saying that we're in the process of aligning. We recently talked about this, christine and I, on a YouTube video where we were answering a community question asking if we ever have days where our energy just isn't flowing. So if you haven't seen that YouTube video, check it out. Link is in the chat in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

But today's conversation is really an encore to that of really exploring why we're calling for this shift from healing to aligning, and this is something that I have been really passionate about lately. If you watch that YouTube video, you'll hear me kind of call for a movement about this shift, and it's because, yes, there are absolutely certain times where we truly are healing. Right, like, let's say that we have, you know, if you're in the middle of a season of PTSD or if you have a physical illness like a broken arm or a chronic disease or an autoimmune or something like this. Right, there are times in our lives where we truly are healing. We're in a state of crisis, we're in a state of really acute imbalance and we need to take immediate action to restore that balance.

Speaker 1:

But when we say that we're on this healing journey, right, or you know it's coming up so it can be healed, all of these things, and we continue to do this for multiple, multiple years at a time, or even our entire lifetime what ends up happening? Is that what we're really saying? When we say, well, I'm healing, or I'm on my healing journey, et cetera, et cetera, is what we're actually saying is there is part of me that's broken and needs to be fixed, and one day it will be fixed, aka one day I will be better than I am right now. And so we've got this multitude of implications that we don't even realize. We're saying right, but to imply, to say this needs healed, I need healed, I'm on my healing journey is implying one, that there's some part of us that is broken or less than or not enough. Two, that at some point that part will be fixed or that we will finally be good enough. And three, that at some point our healing journey will be done right. And I know that everybody listening is probably going no, that's not at all. What I mean when I say I'm healing, and that's the point is, it's not conscious right, it's not the front-facing side of that affirmation.

Speaker 1:

It's a beautiful thing to say that you're on a healing journey, to have that self-compassion of saying I'm working on myself, I'm trying to get better, I'm working on releasing all of these things that are holding me back, but the subconscious implication is that something's broken and one day will be fixed. And I really firmly believe that if we kind of hold on to this idea of healing as a chronic life sentence, if you will right, like this thing that we're always constantly doing, we're doing ourselves a disservice because we are, little by little, reinstalling the belief that we are not enough as we are right now. We're reinstalling the belief that we're not enough as we are right now. We're reinstalling the belief that we're going to be done one day and therefore, right now we need to be fixed. We need to do more, we need to be more, we need to release this limiting belief. We need to love ourselves more, we need to love others more. We need to do more in order to be worthy, in order to be enough, in order to be worthy, in order to be enough, in order to be accepted or okay. And we also use it as this almost like making up for ourselves of like I can recognize that that needs to be healed, right? How many times do we use that in your own words, right? But this idea of I see that that's on me, I'm working on it or I'm healing it or it's just part of the process, and feel like if we didn't say that, then it's uncomfortable because we kind of have to explain, we have to justify yes, okay, I did this thing, but I can recognize it's part of my healing journey and it's a little bit of spiritual bypassing sometimes, right, and these are broad strokes, generalizations that we're making here.

Speaker 1:

Obviously, there are exceptions, obviously everyone is on their own journey. But what we're talking about in today's conversation is this kind of epidemic that we're in right now of believing that we constantly need to be healed, and I really do think that in a lot of ways, it's holding us back because, again, it's reinstalling that belief that somehow we're not enough right now. And so we're calling for this shift towards saying that we're aligning, or saying that we're focusing on alignment, to really recognize that every moment is an opportunity to come back to balance, that we're never going to be done because we're not broken now, we don't need to be fixed because we are whole as we are right now. Yes, there are going to be times where we're welcoming parts of ourselves home or we're coming back into connection with ourselves, but it's all in service of that alignment, because every single moment in your life is just as valuable as the next. But oftentimes we put ourselves kind of on a shelf, saying that we're healing so that one day, when we're healed, then we'll be able to fully enjoy life, then we'll be able to step into the role that we really want to do or have the job we really want to have or live the life that we're going to have, because we'll be healed, we'll be enough, we'll be done.

Speaker 1:

And I think if we could shift from that perspective into saying what does alignment look like for you right now? What would it look like to come back into connection with yourself, with source, with nature right now, not saying that you're going to be done, not saying that this is going to last forever, not saying that there's even something broken or needing to be fixed in this moment, but just saying that as humans, we are constantly searching for balance and can we bring this idea of a healing journey that spans everything we experienced in the past and says that in the future it'll be healed and bring it back into the present and say what do we need right now to come back into alignment, to come back into connection. And so that's, at 1111 my time, what we're talking about today. Chantel, what thoughts do you have on that?

Speaker 2:

I actually have a lot of thoughts on it. I truly do believe in the power of our words, and how we state or how we call in our healing, how we call in our alignment, is that they're kind of like spells, if you will right. So the words that we state is are we chasing or retracting, are we in this space of being, or are we always like looking for something more? Like kind of what you're explaining it's when we are healing? Yes, it is, there is time and space for that. But really every time, like ING, right, that is in process, we are doing it, we're moving forward with it. So you're always chasing that healed version of yourself, versus saying I am in alignment right now, Even if we are dealing with a chronic illness or an autoimmune or a cold or something, that in itself is still in alignment because there's a lesson, there's a something in it that we are learning from, whether it's learning how to communicate with our body. So our body is telling us hey, you know what we're not doing really well right now, like you're too stressed, you're too overwhelmed, you got too much going on, so I'm going to shut down by becoming sick or having a cold or whatever. So there's rest, so there's time to take care of yourself, to nurture yourself, and that is the process of healing. But it's also the process of being in alignment with where you are and where your life is. So sometimes, like getting sick is kind of a chin check in life to say hey, it's too much, this is way too much, or you are bypassing your healing and you're not looking at your physical health and you're not saying you know what? I got to clear some stuff from my plate. It is overwhelming, right. And so it is talking to ourself in a way that is in alignment to where you want to be and where you are currently. And so I don't think that. And it doesn't just mean onaling, it can be with work, it can be family situations, it really is in flow with so many aspects of our life. But it's knowing that wherever you are right now is in alignment where you're meant to be.

Speaker 2:

And so, if we're always chasing something, we're never in the present moment. We're always worrying about the future, we're always depressed about the past. You know, we bring in a lot of different emotions of you know, like shame or guilt or sadness, whatever the past has provided. And then, when we're chasing the future. We don't know what the future holds, so we might have this expectation of what we think is going to happen and then suddenly, everything changes and what it could either become better than we expected changes and what it could either become better than we expected, right or it's it doesn't meet the expectations that we had. Therefore, disappointment comes forward.

Speaker 2:

So it really is tuning into the alignment of where we are right now and knowing whether it's we're feeling good about it or we're feeling excited about it. Either way, there's something in it for us to to learn about, to recognize, to kind of you know, I don't want to be like analyze it in the mental body of it, but in your heart, you know, come to it from a heart based perspective and analyze it from there. Why am I feeling this? Why am I, you know, why am I being like, expressing this emotion or experiencing this? And so it really is coming to alignment so that we can stand in our true, authentic position right now.

Speaker 1:

And I love what you said about there's always something that we can learn from this. So there's always something we can pull from this situation, because I think so often, when we're focused on healing right, if a negative emotion comes up or we have a difficult experience or we're having a situation or a pattern that's a little bit chronic or recurring come up again, we start to beat up on ourselves a little bit, we start to should ourselves about well, I should be better by now, I should be healed by now. I shouldn't be feeling this because, again, I should be healed, I should be in alignment, and we start to take away from the value of that moment. One of the most common times that I see this come up in our students is if they're in a period of questioning, right, so maybe they want to know what to do about their job, or they're unhappy in their relationship, or they have something happening with their physical body and they just can't quite find the answer right. So there's this negative pattern, in whichever area of life it's in, and they can't find how they're going to resolve it, how they're going to untie the knot, and a lot of times I think everybody can relate to that feeling of feeling like I need to figure it out, I need to fix it, I need to resolve the negativity, resolve the energetic block, resolve the limiting belief, whatever it is, so that I can get over it, so that I can get through it, I can get to the next stage. And I always remind them of two things. First is that, from a shamanic perspective, this period in life where you were between two places you weren't quite where you used to be, but you're also not quite where you're going was called the betwixt and between stage, and it was considered this amazing time of personal transformation and potential, because it was in that in-between stage that all of the magic was manifested, that all of the unknown could come through.

Speaker 1:

We talked in a previous podcast episode about when you go shopping at Target right, and you have your list and, yeah, you get the stuff that's on your list. But what we all really love about Target is the fact that you walk in and you have no idea what you're going to walk out with. Right, the magic of Target happens and you find something that you didn't know you needed until you see it. And that's that theory of the betwixt and between is. We can think we know what we want, we can think we know, like you said, what's going to happen next. We can think we understand where our life trajectory is supposed to go, but until we step into that phase of betwixt, and between, there are unlimited potentials that our mind has never even thought of, let alone thought that we were worthy of, that, were possible, et cetera, et cetera. And so that period is this really powerful and potent time of transformation. We have to let ourselves sit in the unknown in order to feel those things come to us.

Speaker 1:

But the other thing I remind them of is, typically, as a spiritual seeker right, we have this belief that we are exactly where we're supposed to be in every moment. Right, and that means that we have this belief that in every moment, we have everything that we need. Right, that means that in every moment, we have all of the answers, we have all of the information, we have all of the healing, we have all of the resources, we have all of the information, we have all of the healing, we have all of the resources, we have all of the everything that we could ever need. And so, if we are feeling an intense emotion, if we are stuck in a period of questioning. If we feel like we're a little out of balance right now, it's not because we're doing anything wrong, it's not because we're missing something. It's because there is something for us in that discomfort, in that questioning, in that emotion, in that situation that, if we allowed ourselves to be present with it, to be curious about it and to have true compassion for ourselves, in that, that's where the learning is going to come from, that's where the shift is going to come from is allowing ourselves to sit exactly where we are in the present and really look at what do I need in this moment? What is coming to me in this moment?

Speaker 1:

I always like to ask my students what's the present of the present moment, what's the gift that this situation is giving you? And I think so often when we're focused on healing, we're focused on fixing the negative emotion, we're focused on letting go of the limiting belief or finding the root and digging it out or fixing the situation. But when we can come back into a focus on alignment and what we mean by alignment, I'd love to explore that with you a little bit too. When we talk about alignment, we mean again that reconnection to your true self, that reconnection to the divine, that reconnection to all that is whatever that is for you, and getting back into alignment with the flow of life, so you're not resisting it, right? It's not like we're a rock in the middle of the river. We are the river, we are back and connected with that flow, and that looks different for everybody.

Speaker 1:

But when we're focused on that idea of alignment, we're no longer trying to get rid of the negative emotion or to fix the situation or to negate everything that we're experiencing right.

Speaker 1:

We're no longer saying, in some capacity, this situation is wrong or bad or needs to be fixed. We're saying this situation, this emotion, everything I'm experiencing right now is worthy, it has value. There is a reason for this. Can I let myself sit with it to discover all of the potential and, like you were saying, all of the lessons that this has for me, so that I can really not only honor this situation and honor what it's bringing up for me, but I can come back into alignment by not putting myself in the past and trying to figure out where it's coming from, or projecting myself in the future and trying to figure out what happens next, but truly sitting with what is happening right now, because at the end of the day, that's really where any kind of healing or aligning, or peace or joy or happiness or anything else comes from is when we can let ourselves sit in the present moment with ourselves, and I think that's part of why this shift from healing to aligning is so important.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that Because it projects the idea that we're broken, right, and if we're broken, then we're always trying to fix it, we're always trying to heal from it. And so we aren't broken, we're just learning. We're just on this human journey of experiencing ourself and the different things that come into our life. And so, yes, there are, like we said, periods of healing, but beyond that, it's just self-awareness and knowing and being able to sit with yourself, and that can be a scary thing. There's a lot of people that you know don't want to sit with themselves. They're afraid of their thoughts, their ideas, their emotions, and you know our emotions, yeah, they can be really scary. We don't want to sit with themselves. They're afraid of their thoughts, their ideas, their emotions, and you know our emotions, yeah, they can be really scary. We don't know what's going to come up. We don't know what's going to show up from the past. Or you know, why are we feeling anxious? Why are we feeling all these emotions? But that when we feel it, it's because we it's ready to come up. And so what we do is we tend to pack and suppress our emotions and we hold on to them and then they go and they have to right. And so that is alignment. When you're in alignment with your own self, you can sit in your emotions, you can sit with your thoughts and you don't have to be afraid of yourself, because ourself is who we are, with 24 seven. You know 24 seven all the time. And so, recognizing that in yourself, if you're afraid to sit, do little things, you know, even if it's like turn the TV off, turn the radio off, you know. Sit in silence just on your couch for 15, 20 minutes, let whatever needs to come up, come up journal on it, write it down whatever it is you feel you need to do to release it, Do those little things. It's a step by step, but before you know it, you can sit in your silence all the time and it doesn't matter, it will be okay, because you look forward to what is ready to come out and ready to be released, because you feel so much lighter. And then you go back to the TV, you go back to scrolling whatever it is, but it's really sitting in the moment for a minute and just saying I got me and I get to hold space for me right now, because no one can hold space for you better than yourself, and so when we can really hold space for ourself, our emotions, our experiences of life, then that is when our power really gets to show up for us and that's when we really do feel like we're in alignment.

Speaker 2:

But what we a lot of times, as humans, what do we do? We're very external. We're taking that external world. We're seeking, you know, friendship and um, you know, like, um, collaboration with people, conversations. We take all of our internal world and we want to bring it out into the external and let's talk about this. But really talk with yourself, and going within is so powerful that you have all the answers, Like you're talking about. Everything you need is already in you. You just have to ask yourself what are the answers that you're seeking?

Speaker 1:

And what you said about that feeling of I've got me right. I got chills with that because we don't think about this, right. We talk about self-love and self-compassion all of the time, right. But again, if we're really looking at from a psychological perspective, what we're saying when we're saying I'm healing or I'm on my healing journey, is again that idea like we've been saying from the start that there is part of me that needs to be fixed. There is part of me that is less than. Does that sound like self-love to you? We think that self-love comes from healing by saying I want to get better, I want to do more, I want to release the parts of me that aren't in alignment, the limiting beliefs. I want to heal the trauma, I want to release the negative emotions so that I can have a happy life right. But what we're really saying again at the end of the day is there's part of me that isn't worthy as it is right now. That's not self-love, not true, unlimited, agape self-love, right, that unconditional self-love that comes from alignment, from the ability to say no matter where I am, whether it's a joyful moment or a beautiful moment or a sad moment or a scary moment or a limiting moment or something that I could have maybe possibly done better, doesn't matter. No matter where you are, you are worthy to be seen and to be witnessed in that, and you are the only one that can fully witness yourself in that. Yes, going to other people and talking and sharing your story and listening to them is an amazing first step because it brings us back into that sense of community. It allows you to be seen. But when we're talking about alignment, we're talking on a deeper level, about your ability to see and witness yourself, which is the true roots of self-love and self-compassion is. Can you sit with yourself, no matter where you are? And I always like to bring this back because I'm me to like a scientific, physiological perspective.

Speaker 1:

Right, we're all taught in high school about homeostasis, our body's ability to compensate for what's ever happening physiologically to bring us back into balance. And that doesn't mean that everything's going to compensate for what's ever happening physiologically to bring us back into balance. And that doesn't mean that everything's going to be in harmony. Right, sometimes our adrenals make up for the stress that we're experiencing and that's how we get back into homeostasis is by producing more stress hormones. Right, because we're coming back into balance. Balance doesn't necessarily mean harmony, but what that does mean is that our bodies. Balance doesn't necessarily mean harmony, but what that does mean is that our bodies not only physically, but also psychologically, energetically, emotionally we are primed to try to come back into balance, to try to come back into that state of homeostasis, of optimal functioning.

Speaker 1:

And what that means is that if we allow ourselves to, like you said, tune in and ask ourselves what do I need in this moment? That's as simple as it gets to be. What do I need in this moment? We inherently automatically know why. Because our systems are set up to bring us back into balance, to keep us healthy, to bring us back into connection with the flow of life. Yes, our mind can have all of those stories and all of those thoughts and all of those limiting beliefs that pull us flow of life. Yes, our mind can have all of those stories and all of those thoughts and all of those limiting beliefs that pull us out of it. But when we truly take a moment to tune in, we know already what we need.

Speaker 1:

And this is where cognitive dissonance comes in right. Cognitive dissonance happens when your intuition is telling you one thing and your mind is telling you something else. And so anytime a student comes to me and says, well, I don't know what my intuition is saying about this, or I don't know what I'm supposed to do, or I don't know how to fix it, it's like, yeah, you do. You wouldn't be struggling if you didn't. What's causing that discord, what's causing that discomfort, is not letting yourself hear the answer. That's coming from within you, and I think so often the reason that that happens is because we have a society that is so rooted in keeping us from feeling self-love right Like, even when we're talking about it.

Speaker 1:

In healing, we never think about it that way. But then it's like you say it and you say yeah, but when we say we're healing, that means there's part of us that's not worthy right now. And when you hear someone say it, it's like, oh shit, no, that is true. Saying that we're healing, being stuck in this chronic healing cycle, is constantly saying that I'm not good enough as I am now. That's not true, unconditional self-love. When we can recognize that and we can feel, even if it's just that teeny, tiny piece of you within, that's saying you are worth, that you do have value, you are allowed to feel that self-love and compassion. That's when the big shift starts to happen, where we can, yes, continue on our journey of expansion. Right In that YouTube video I mentioned Christine and I talk about the shaman's ladder right.

Speaker 1:

So, if you think of a spiral, we start at the middle and as we're walking, as we're having this human experience, we start to spiral outward and we start to gain awareness and we start to gain understanding and we start to have a broader scope of experiences. And that's why you know there are times where you come back to a trauma that you thought you healed or a limiting belief that you thought you had quote unquote fixed. It's not because you didn't do it right the first time, it's because you're back at that point on the spiral with an expanded awareness, with more understanding, with more experience under your belt, so that you can see it from a different perspective. And when we can take that approach, there is no end, there is no purpose to I'm going to heal so that one day I can be healed, because that's a myth.

Speaker 1:

Being healed doesn't exist. There is just you on this experience, exactly as you are and exactly as you will be in the next step and the next step and the next step, not because that you is more worthy or has more value or has somehow been fixed, but because you are inherently worthy as someone having this experience. What makes you worthy isn't what you do or what you've healed, or what you think, or what you say, or how you're acting in the world. It's the fact that you exist, the fact that you are breathing, the fact that you are alive, makes you inherently worthy. The joy of walking along that spiral is the fact that we get to experience this lifetime, that we get to experience this time-space reality, that we get to be this spiritual being having that human experience. And the human experience is that unfolding, it is that progression, it is that evolution. But it is not going from broken to fixed, because none of us are broken, even when we feel like it.

Speaker 1:

Right and I say that as someone who has felt broken many, many times in my life right, but when we can let ourselves sit with that feeling, when we can sit in the betwixt and between where we feel like maybe I'm not enough, maybe I'm not doing the right things, maybe I should be doing something different, when we let ourselves sit with that and recognize that just because we're having those thoughts, just because that's happening in our mental reality doesn't mean that that's what's actually happening in our physical reality or our spiritual reality. It's a potential, right, because the thought is there. It's a potential, but just because it's real up here doesn't mean that it's true. And when we can allow ourselves to recognize that and sit with it and say what do these thoughts have for me right now? Where are they leading me? Where, on this spiral, on this journey, not of healing but of alignment of experience, where is this taking me? And can I have true compassion for myself, no matter where I am in that process, to recognize that where I am right now has value, who I am right now has worth. I am right now has value, who I am right now has worth, that I am okay and enough. And I get the joy of experiencing all of the emotions and all of the questions and all of the answers and all of the everything.

Speaker 1:

And I was talking to someone about this at the retreat that I was just teaching at this idea that we're not trying to transcend, we're not trying to escape, we're not trying to get out of our human selves, because if we were, we just wouldn't have embodied in the first place. Right, we start as spirit, we'll return to spirit. This is like a nice brief vacation from our non-embodiedness, right it is. It's a vacation from the spirit world. Is it an easy vacation? No, probably not. But for all intents and purposes it's a pause button where we get to come in and we get to experience time. We get to experience space, we get to experience physical reality, we get to experience what, in the spirit world, would happen in an instant. Right? Our lifetime, our 80 to 100 years of human life happens now in the spirit world.

Speaker 1:

And so, when we become embodied, we step into this place where time exists, where we get to see the transitions and the emotions and the growth and the evolution that, when we're in the spirit world, just happen.

Speaker 1:

There is no process, there is no in between, it just is.

Speaker 1:

And so, as human beings, we get the chance to step into this and feel the discomfort and experience the questioning, and notice the emotions and see the beauty that comes through when we have those moments of clarity and of alignment and of saying, oh my gosh, yes, that that's what I want, that's who I am, that's where I'm going, not because where we are isn't good enough, but because we are given this gift of being able to experience the process.

Speaker 1:

And how often are we shorting ourselves of that experience of the process of the experience, by saying that I'm healing, by saying that where I am right now isn't enough. I'm going to get where I need to go. There's nowhere you need to go except where you are right now. And that, to me, is the most powerful part of shifting from saying I'm healing to saying I'm aligning. In this moment, I'm coming back into alignment, I'm reconnecting with that understanding, I'm reconnecting with the flow of life, I'm reconnecting and maybe reconvincing myself of the fact that where I am right now is enough, that I am enough and that when I can drop into the present, what's meant to happen next, the next step on that shaman's ladder, on that spiral, will make itself clear, not because I'm trying, not because I need to go somewhere next, but because what happens next can only be revealed to me if I'm letting myself fully be in the present.

Speaker 2:

I really like the idea of time-space and the shaman's spiral for sure, but with the time-space, when we're talking about, that is knowing on the spiritual realm. Yes, it is like a pinpoint, it's like one dot within our spiritual experience, right, but in our human experience, with time spaces, like that one dot is being straight. This stretch is being expanded into all of these slides of our life, right, all of these experiences of our life, and so at any point we can feel trapped or stuck or stagnant in our life as we are expanding through this time space. But when it's collapsed it's just like a moment, it's a blip, and so the invitation is to take each process of life and be in that moment and let you process through your emotions and your thoughts, because our mind really can keep us trapped and stuck in that moment. And then those energies are the emotions that follow with us when we carry them into the next like segment of our life. Really, we're just dragging that past energy with us, and so we can see it kind of like here on Zoom, when we're in our own you know our own square or in our own bubble. We're standing in our own hoop. We do not need to drag all of the past experiences with us into the present, into the future, because that one's already done. It's kind of like watching a movie. You know when you have the beginning, the middle and the end, the movie doesn't keep wrapping it up, it doesn't keep dragging the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie. You know there's segments, you're going through it and so for us, as people, we need to recognize that in ourself.

Speaker 2:

Am I dragging the past with me? Am I making my healing process even more, like more of a struggle, more strenuous? Or am I able to be in alignment and know that all the experiences I've had were with purpose and reason and I learned through that? Or certain people had to be removed from my life because they weren't in alignment with where I'm going? And if it isn't in alignment, let it go, release it.

Speaker 2:

The people or the experiences that are meant to stay with you will stay and if at some point somebody drops away, they will come back if their alignment, if their frequency is meant to match yours. But if not, let it go, release it for a while and see where life takes you Right. And so it's really playing with these different ideas and concepts of what, like this time reality is what being in this physical really means. Like go enjoy the food joy, enjoy life. Go travel to places you haven't seen. Like go enjoy the food joy, enjoy life. Go travel to places you haven't seen. Go laugh at things that you know might be inappropriate, but they're fun to laugh at.

Speaker 2:

You know, like, whatever it is that you're feeling, this is your life to do it.

Speaker 2:

And so, when we do return back to spirit, when we do go back to our natural, like essence of who we are, we have to reincarnate and recycle through this whole process to fill this again.

Speaker 2:

So it is like be who you are, the energy that you are here, the personality, the avatar, however you want to put it. You are embodied in this body and this personality for a reason. So enjoy that. It's not just to be through going through struggle all the time, right, and yes, we might have chosen really difficult soul contracts to come into, but even within, knowing that we can alchemize our soul contracts by learning through the process and the healing of that, and knowing that you are in alignment with it. And so, if you don't know what your soul contract is, it's like kind of start to pinpoint certain aspects of your life. Who did you meet that brought you here, that created that that you know? If I wouldn't have done this, this could not have happened, right? So what we do sometimes is we become the victim of that and we're like well, that happened, so this happened, and it becomes this domino effect Instead, reverse it, bring it into power for yourself and find the messages in it and say, oh, if that didn't happen, I would have never been in alignment for this opportunity, for that job, to meet that person, to meet my husband, my wife, whatever it is, because that's how life works. We have to go through certain experiences to get us where we're needing to go, and that's how life works. We have to go through certain experiences to get us where we're needing to go, and that's always in that full alignment.

Speaker 2:

So when you're sitting in traffic and you're angry and you're feeling all these emotions and you're in your own box, you're in your car, feeling all these emotions. That's you speaking to you Like calm down, right. You speaking to you like calm down, right. Whatever's going on out there is not as important as what's going on in here. So if you're screaming at yourself in the car because you think the person next to you is going to feel or hear that they're not, they're not paying attention to you because they're paying attention to themselves. They're wrapped up in their own emotions and their own reality, right? They probably don't even know you exist and that you're even mad over there.

Speaker 2:

So it really is coming back into that balance of self. And why am I feeling what I'm feeling? What in me is so angry that I got to be having road rage or I got to feel like I'm pressed for time to hurry up, to get like nowhere really. You know, it's like the journey is the process, and that's what we need to focus on is what is your journey, where is it taking you and what is the end goal for you? And if it's to be pissed and angry all the way to the end, that's a really difficult way to get through life. So, find that balance within yourself so that you can be in harmony the best way that you can. So when you arrive to your destination, you're as put together as you can be right. It's not fragmented out. You are a whole being, and coming is showing up in your whole experience and your whole energy.

Speaker 1:

And knowing that you are worth, that you are worth the experience of not feeling fragmented Again. Not that you're ever broken, not that you ever need to be fixed, but we can feel that way. Right, and there's this amazing book called the Four Agreements, which, if you guys haven't read, highly recommend. He talks about exactly what Chantel and I have been talking about, especially this idea that our words have power, that they are like spells or like contracts that we're making not only with the world around us, but especially with ourselves. And we can see this mirrored in neurology, with the fact that our brain doesn't know the difference between a thought or a memory or a daydream and what's actually happening in the world around us. So think about the fact that when you're sitting, we'll go with Chantel's example in your car, feeling angry. Right, it's not having an impact on the person that you're angry at. Maybe it is through, you know, the ripples of energy. Maybe it knocks them a little bit out of alignment too, but what it's really doing is it's pulling you out of alignment and it's making your physiology, your psychology, your energy feel that negativity, feel that discord, feel that fire that is so destructive and that can pull us out of alignment, when we could be spending that time coming back into connection with the flow and one of my favorite ways to do this, as we're talking about alchemizing things and coming back to ourselves, because I think it is so important to have tangible tools that we can walk away with from conversations like this. First, we have that, like we were saying, just asking yourself, what do I need right now. But I also really love bringing this into the shamanic realm with the four elements and thinking about we have air, we have fire, we have water, we have earth from a shamanic perspective, and so we can see anger, to use that example, as that fire, that flame, is burning. It is burning you up. It is burning up your energy, it's burning up all of your happiness. It's burning up all of your joy. It's burning up a little bit of your soul. It is leaving you feeling fragmented. So what does that fire need to come back into balance?

Speaker 1:

Maybe you need to add in some more of that water element. Where can you add in that flow or that creativity? Or maybe you can even just drink a glass of water, right? Or if we're feeling really down in the dumps, right, we're just feeling really heavy, we're feeling like there's no point. We're just feeling like I don't even want to move, I don't want to get up, I don't want to get out of bed. That's a very heavy earth feeling, right, there's too much grounding happening there. So what do we need?

Speaker 1:

Maybe we need more of that air. Maybe we need to take some deep breaths. Maybe we need to think about how can we bring more of that whimsy and that lightness into our life. Can you go connect with the sun? Right, we see sunlight connected with the air because those beams are carried through it, right? Where can we bring in that energy? And we can even bring this into our Reiki practice.

Speaker 1:

From a shamanic perspective, if we want to lean into the shamanic Reiki side of, if you're experiencing a lot of that anger or that heat, can you kind of cool your Reiki with that water? Can you bring in the intention of water? Can you imagine filling up your body with a cool stream of water? Or, again, if you're feeling that grounding, can you visualize that air blowing through and blowing away the leaves, blowing away the dirt, blowing away the muck, so that once again you can come back into balance? And maybe this looks different for you, right? Maybe you don't use the four elements.

Speaker 1:

I just love that one because I think it's a really tangible, easy example of how we can start to notice ourselves in the present moment and notice what do I need to come back into balance, not what do I need to heal, not what needs to be fixed, but in this moment, how can I balance this? How can I allow myself to release, to let go of what needs to be let go of, to bring in that balance and that alignment where it needs to be brought in, so that I can fully experience this moment in the wholeness of who I am? Exactly like Chantel was saying what about you, chantel? What are some of your favorite ways to come back into alignment?

Speaker 2:

Definitely I love the element, so that's always like on fire with that. I love to. My rituals are to burn things and to let it release. That way. I love sitting by water. I'll go and just put my feet in the pool or go to a river, go somewhere. There's always. Waters are always calling me.

Speaker 2:

This weekend, when I was at my retreat, we were in the wind and you know it's funny, it's like the wind really upsets people sometimes and I find that so interesting. I'm like, oh, there's so much emotion around you and being in wind, but I love it because it's the only time you really get to visualize the earth being fully alive. Right, the leaves are moving, the bushes are moving, everything is moving in a flow. And so when my son was here and you know he was deaf and everything that's one of the things that him and I would go do and that was a great like bringing in harmony and balancing between us because we would go outside and be in the wind and connect with the earth and just watch everything move. And so this weekend or this week when I was sitting in, that it was just a great reminder for me and it really brought in that balance because you get to tune in, kind of like, to your inner child, right, and so if you're going to any of the elements, be playful with it.

Speaker 2:

It's not.

Speaker 2:

It doesn't always have to be serious work, and I think a lot of times we create such seriousness and we become so serious about everything that we're doing.

Speaker 2:

And it is about being fun, it is about bringing in that inner child aspect of yourself and saying I really am creating this into being something so much bigger than it was, you know, and that's our ego, that's our mind, that's us trying to control the situation. So when we release that and we allow ourselves just to be in flow and harmony and balance, there's so much more magic in that than trying to control every aspect of our life and feeling like we have to and process everything that we have gone through. And that is that healing process, right when you feel like I got to be here, I got to process, I got to analyze, I got to heal it, and sometimes you can just release it. Sometimes you can just say I can pick that up later, and if I don't need to pick it up later, that's perfect, because that's also in alignment with me and so let yourself, just be in the moment of fun and go out and connect with all the elements, because they all are so powerful in their own way.

Speaker 1:

And notice how, if, in that idea of can I just let myself release it, can I let myself experience it now, let it go if I want to come back to it, if I want to, is there a feeling of, oh no, I can't do that, I have to fix it now. Is there something about your self-worth or your identity that's caught up in the idea of how would it feel if you let yourself just let it go for a day, instead of trying to fix it, instead of trying to get to the root, instead of digging at it, if you just let yourself feel the emotion, acknowledge it, breathe through it, bring yourself back into balance, however that looks for you, and then move on? How would that feel? Are you allowed to let yourself let things go is a really interesting question that comes up when we have this conversation. But all of these, all of these tips, are amazing ways to start shifting from this idea of healing to aligning, knowing that, at the end of the day, the core message here is that there's nothing wrong with you, you're not broken, you don't need to be fixed, you're never going to be done, because there's no me now and me then. There's no broken me and whole me. There's no in need of healing and healed me, there's just you, exactly as you are right now walking along that spiral, experiencing this life. So please don't miss the experience of living, thinking that when you're finally healed, when you've let this thing go, when your trauma is gone, when this limiting belief isn't holding you anymore, then you'll get to experience is gone, when this limiting belief isn't holding you anymore, then you'll get to experience. Don't treat wherever you are in life as this transition or as this pausing point or as this place where you're in process. Right, it's okay to be in process, it's okay to learn.

Speaker 1:

But when we say that, you know, we kind of put ourselves on the back burner until we're healed, until we're done, until whatever it is that we think is going to happen at the end of this happens and then we can finally live life. Don't do that because you're going to look back and think there wasn't an end, it didn't stop. And I missed so much because I thought that if I could just get it all out of the way, if I could just dig it all up, if I could just do all the work now, then I'd be able to enjoy things more. That's not how it works.

Speaker 1:

That enjoyment, that experience, that presence comes from being in the present exactly as you are, knowing that, no matter how much excavating or processing or anything you do, it's not going to change your ability to reconnect, to realign, to sit in the present and find the joy in that, because you are just you, wonderful, beautiful, worthy, you having this experience exactly as you are right now and no matter what that experience looks like for you, it's worthy and it's enough because it's you and it's your experience and you're allowed to let yourself be exactly where you are never an end to it.

Speaker 2:

You are, in some ways, sabotaging your experience and your life, right, because we're just following that one stream of thought and healing and so we don't need to do that. You just go through the seasons of what it is, but at some point we do just need to say I am good, exactly where I am, and whatever I have experienced has no reason to be controlling my life right now. Right, because it's already passed, it's already done. So being in our moment really does bring forward the life experiences that we want. So it's creating it. It's creating it and letting whatever has happened go, but just create whatever you need in the moment, and that is living. That is exactly what you need, and it's okay if you're just sitting with your tea, if you're sitting with your food and you're eating with intention, you're loving with intention.

Speaker 2:

If you're living life in an intentional way. There is so much power and grace in that and so much like gifting to yourself because you are being intentional with it instead of being like, oh, go, go, go, go, go and oh, I'll fix that and I got to fix that. No, no, no, come back. I'm going to be intentional, like today. Give yourself a period of time where you sit with your intention of just being in the moment, whatever it is that you choose to do, but be intentional and see how you feel. Give yourself a timeline. I'm going to sit with intention for 30 minutes and whatever you choose to do in that 30 minutes and see how you feel at the end of it and if your mind keeps trying to take you somewhere else, redirect yourself. Come back to intention and sit with yourself whatever it is and be in your present moment and let us know how you that felt. Let us know if you see anything within yourself that shifts within a 30 minute period.

Speaker 1:

I love that. I love that idea of 30 minutes of intention and the flip side of that that I want to bring up before we close out this conversation is in the midst of that being intentional, in the midst of being present with yourself, in the midst of allowing yourself to come back into alignment and balance, however that looks for you in the moment. Can you also allow yourself to trust yourself, your soul, the divine universe, god, source, spirit, whatever word resonates for you? Can you allow yourself to trust your soul, the divine universe, god, source, spirit, whatever word resonates for you? Can you allow yourself to trust your soul and the divine to bring up the things that need to be healed, when they need to be healed?

Speaker 1:

I think so often we continue to push, we continue to search, we continue to heal, thinking again that if we can just pull it all up, then we'll get to be done.

Speaker 1:

Can you allow yourself to trust that what needs to come up will come up when it needs to, when it's ready to be healed, and that you can just let yourself sit in the journey and the flow of that?

Speaker 1:

We know this with our nervous system right. Our nervous system brings up emotions and experiences when they're ready to be processed, when we have enough stamina and capacity for them to be healed. Can we do the same thing with our trauma, with our limiting beliefs, with our emotions, with whatever it is for you, that thing that your brain is always trying to fix or make better? Can you let yourself lean into trust as you're doing your 30 minutes of intention, as you're looking to the elements to bring balance back in, as you're asking yourself what is it that I need right now, and allowing yourself to hear the answer? Can you also allow yourself to trust that in that process, in that experience, in that shaman's ladder, what needs to come up will come up, what needs to be processed will be processed, what needs to be healed will be healed. But let yourself know that that's not the point. The point is to experience it and trust that you'll experience everything you need to experience along the way, exactly when you need to.

Speaker 2:

Yes, beautiful, this was a great conversation. Yeah, this was wonderful, there's a lot of insight in it?

Speaker 1:

Yes, and we would love to know what resonated for you. Did you do your 30 minutes of intention? Have you started thinking more about the shaman's ladder or asking yourself what you need in this present moment? What parts of your self-worth are tied up in this idea of constantly healing? How would it feel to shift from healing to aligning? All of these questions we would love to hear your answers to over in our Moon Rising Shamanic Mystics Facebook group, or you can send us an email at mystics at moonrisinginstitutecom. We would love to hear from you and keep this conversation going, because we really are calling for a movement here, people, of let's shift from healing into aligning, into knowing that we're worthy, knowing that we're enough and allowing ourselves to fully experience this one wild and precious life that we have, this one chance to experience this human, this life this time, this unfolding exactly as it is, and allowing ourselves to know that it's enough, no matter what it is.

Speaker 2:

I love that this human Connect with this human, this one, right here, right now. I love that this human, this human, connect with this human, this one, right here, right now.

Speaker 1:

Beautiful, so we would love to hear from you. We hope that you enjoyed today's conversation and took some insight and hope and inspiration from it, and until next time, may you awaken to the whispers of wisdom rising from within. Thanks for tuning in to today's show. The Wisdom Rising podcast is sponsored by Moon Rising Shamanic Institute. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcasting app and be the first to know when we release a new episode. You can find us on Instagram, facebook, youtube and TikTok at Moon Rising Institute, or visit our website moonrisinginstitutecom to learn more about our mission and find future opportunities to connect with our community of shamanic mystics. Once again, thank you for sharing space with us today, and until next time, may you awaken to the whispers of wisdom rising from within.