Your Healing Journey

This is a special interview with Gabrielle Walker, a healing artist who practices Māori healing. Candice and Gabrielle talk about the difference between Reiki and RomiRomi, how to connect with your intuition, and rising through your own personal healing journey. They also touch on using healing with coaching to help you move forward in a healthier way and share some healing modalities that work best for them.

Trigger warning: This podcast does contain a conversation about miscarriage.

Please note: This talk may contain explicit language.

Transcript

Hey,

How's it going?

Good,

How are you?

I'm doing really well.

I'm so excited to have you here today.

This has been a long time coming,

I feel like.

Like a really long time coming.

Because we connected so,

So,

So long ago.

And I'm so grateful to be having this conversation with you.

Because I've always had such a physical and very visceral reaction to your work.

And to the things that you've shared online.

So like,

I just feel like having you here to discuss today is going to be amazing.

So tell us a little bit about yourself.

First of all,

Thank you for having me.

I feel the same.

That knowing and connection that can happen online is so magical.

My name is Gabrielle Walker and I call myself a healing artist.

I do a range of different healing modalities.

Mainly based in Māori healing practices.

And Māori are the indigenous peoples from New Zealand,

Aotearoa.

Although I'm based in Perth,

Western Australia now.

So my dad's Māori and my mum is non-Māori,

So she's English.

And so I grew up between two cultures.

And that's sort of how I practice the healing modalities that I do now.

I also do a form of coaching which I call co-reflective coaching.

Which allows the coach to hold space for the client to reflect on their own journey.

Where they're going into the future.

And puts the onus on them to be taking responsibility for their own path.

And moving away from that sort of more counsellor psychology model.

I know that lots of us in this space know what coaching is.

But sometimes clients still fall.

They come and they sit opposite you and they still adopt that.

So I try to represent that in what I call my practice.

So I do those probably about equally.

In terms of how I share my work.

I think the way that you just described coaching is great.

Like when you were saying it I'm like,

Yeah that's what coaching is.

But you're so right.

Just because you know something doesn't mean that everybody knows something.

And there is a lot of confusion about what is coaching and what is counselling.

And I think in some cases even within the industry there's a little bit.

The lines can get a little bit blurred between what is coaching and what is counselling.

Definitely.

When I first had a coach like early in my own journey.

You know you start getting coaches.

She said to me,

Coaches only look into the future.

We don't look into the past.

But I feel strongly against that.

I think it's very hard to look into the future without digging into the past.

And reframing what we've done in the past and where we want to go into the future.

And it's not like a psychologist or a counsellor who digs up the past continuously.

And tries to find the route.

We're not doing that.

But we are looking towards the future world digging in the past in terms of how I coach.

So yeah I found when that first coach said that to me I was like,

It just doesn't feel right for me.

But yeah we didn't last that long as a coach.

That's really funny.

I've actually had a couple of my coaching relationships break down as well actually.

Where I've been the client.

Because of just not,

Ultimately not being in alignment.

And I think it's really interesting what you say too.

Because I definitely agree.

I don't know if I spend a ton of time in my coaching practice looking at the past.

But I definitely think if you can't understand where you are now.

Then like how the hell can you possibly know where you're going?

It's just not possible.

So I do definitely think,

Or I do definitely spend time looking at where the client is showing up from.

Where they're coming from in order to kind of get to where they ultimately want to be.

Because you can project all you want into the future.

But if you're ignoring what's happening around you right now.

And like the habits that are making up your life,

Like the daily actions and the daily thoughts and the daily beliefs.

And mindset that are making up your life.

Then you're not going to be able to get ultimately to where you want to go.

So I would love to hear you talk a little bit more about your history though.

Like the difference in cultures and how you learned.

Because you practice a sort of like,

Or at least part of your practice is ancestral.

I would love to hear more about that.

Yeah so I grew up in a family.

Our lineage is called Matakiti in Rungoa.

So it's dealing with a seer or a prophet.

And so seeing spirits and talking about spirits,

Talking to spirits when I was growing up wasn't an odd thing at all.

I think on some level I probably knew,

Not talk about it publicly.

Like I don't remember talking to my friends about it massively.

But within our family history and lineage that was really common.

And I had an auntie as well who was really into body work practice,

Midi midi.

Which is an aspect of what I do.

So midi midi translates as loving hands.

So it's a form of energy work that taps into different pressure points.

And it's said to have the energy of the ocean.

So it's like waves of love that flow through your body.

So I sort of grow up with that in my lineage line.

But I think as all young people do we often ignore our family a little bit.

So I was always interested in that,

Especially as a young child.

But I also couldn't see in my own path how that would be a career or would fit into anything at all.

So I did not go that route until much later in my life.

And I came by chance.

I saw something,

I think it was on Facebook of some multi healers coming into Perth.

Which is where I was living maybe 2006.

And I was like,

Something in me was just like you have to go.

I didn't know what,

And I even turned up.

You know when you know you have to be there but you still turn up late because you're so nervous.

It's sort of a destiny moment.

It was really like that for me where I was like so nervous I couldn't get myself together.

But I knew I had to make it.

Anyway,

So that's when I sort of re-found my way back into the path from that moment.

But it was still a slow journey from that time to re-collecting things.

Both from my childhood but also learning new knowledge that hadn't necessarily been passed directly down.

But I feel like I channel it a lot.

So I feel like you know because it wasn't so abnormal for me to talk to spirit when I was younger.

It's so easy for me just to like connect into my lineage and ask them questions.

I get them to teach me about healing practices and to learn new modalities.

I often say that my work is guided by the ancient and the emerging.

So it's the ancient that's been handed down by physical people.

And then the emerging that's taught to us through spirit and the new energies and needs of this current time.

So what we're living in.

I love that.

Oh my god.

That's so freaking powerful.

That is so powerful.

So I would love to know what the difference is between Reiki and what you practice.

Is there a big difference between the two?

Yeah,

So Reiki I would say is more of a passive practice.

So the client lies on the table and energy or codes are being transmitted through their body quite directly.

And there's sort of a set series of movements or sequences that the practitioner will go through.

Whereas the Romidomi doesn't really operate on sequences.

It operates on what the body is asking for,

What the body is calling for.

And it's also quite physical.

So we use our body weight.

We use anything really.

We might use rakau sticks.

We might use things,

Stones.

You can literally like use the stone on bones if the bone needs cleansing or clearing.

So it's quite physical.

I don't know if you've seen the haka.

That's the energy I feel that it is.

It's a really visceral,

Quite intense practice.

Whereas Reiki I would say is more of a passive and receiving practice.

So there's obviously elements of both.

So there's elements of give and receive.

And a session isn't just all intense and full on.

There's the lead up that is more subtle like Reiki.

And I definitely always finish with elements of Reiki-like practice in terms of in our practice.

But I would say it's quite different in how you experience it.

I think even in the way that I've seen images.

I've seen images of you practicing.

And it feels different just looking at the images.

But I think it's also interesting because I've seen you.

I remember I had mentioned to you before I saw the picture of you with your elbow on someone's forehead.

And I looked at the photo and I could feel it myself.

It was just so.

.

.

I had such a full body reaction to this image.

And I just think that's incredible.

But yeah,

I love that it's physical too.

You said something really interesting earlier about how you've been speaking to spirit for your whole life.

And so you find it really easy now to connect with spirit and have a conversation with your ancestors.

And I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for how someone who's maybe not as comfortable speaking with spirit.

Or not as familiar speaking with spirit or their ancestors or guides or angels or whatever.

Whatever terminology they want to use.

If you have any tips or techniques for them maybe connecting a little bit more to that.

What I'm going to say probably sounds completely in the opposite direction.

But this is not what I normally tell my clients when they ask me this.

Because it's kind of a common question.

Is start with things.

Not even trying to speak to spirit or your guides.

But start with things you already know in your life that you like.

So for example,

What do I want for breakfast?

Do I want toast or cereal?

And feel how that feels in your body.

So you already know the answer.

So I know for me I prefer toast in the morning.

So like feel how when I say cereal or when I say toast.

Like ooh toast.

Or do I want to wear that dress or that dress?

And I already know.

So then start to understand what your body is saying.

And what the yes and the no's are.

And then it's like slowly incrementally beginning to increase your decisions in your life.

And then as that increases.

So you've been moving it to bigger decisions.

Even things like shall I turn left or right?

Or shall I go for those of us that work for ourselves beginning to play with your timetable.

Things like that.

But then start to extend it into questions for your guides.

And start to feel.

So it's like you're building that muscle of listening.

Things you already know to be true.

But trusting that that just expanding that trust bit by bit by incrementally.

And then start to move it into questions of things.

And just listening.

Sometimes you might receive an answer.

Sometimes you might not.

But just beginning to sort of play with that muscle.

Because it is a muscle that we build.

It's not something that just happens like that.

And I think for me it is that fact that that wasn't something that was programmed into me.

That this wasn't true.

No one ever said to me,

Oh don't be silly.

They're just imaginary friends.

I was like,

OK.

You know that it was very really.

Or my Nan would be like,

I'm just going to talk with my sisters who had passed.

Her sisters had passed.

So she would say that she would go to talk to them.

So it was normalized for me.

But when I really dropped into how other people could do it.

It felt like just building that as a muscle.

So that it's allowed.

And so then obviously the answer will be different for everyone.

But I'm curious to hear what is an answer for you?

Because it's a physical response I feel like.

How do you know the difference between the answer and maybe you talking your mind,

Your ego,

Responding instead?

That's why I suggest you start with things that don't really matter.

So it doesn't really matter what you have for breakfast.

You can start to just notice the subtle nuances of things.

I think what you wear is a good thing because you want to go outside feeling good.

Whereas like food sometimes we can go,

Oh I should eat the apples or the fruit salad.

I shouldn't eat the toast.

So maybe not food but things like wanting how you want to dress.

They start to feel in your body really and truly just start to notice the subtle differences in what you're being told.

And then we extend that to other greater decisions.

So it's like then your mind isn't always making the main decision.

But you've got to build the muscle though because you can't just go to some huge decision like should I move overseas and start to feel your body.

Because there's going to be so many different things taking place in that decision.

And whether the decision is the right decision or not there will be a certain amount of fear in a decision of that magnitude.

And then up-leveling.

Like every time we up-level,

Every time we step into our next level of expansion,

Every time we step into our dreams there's fear.

Like it's inevitable.

We've created these energetic class boundaries or ceilings and we have to step through them.

So fear is going to arise.

It's just part of the process.

Exactly.

It's really funny that you mention about the clothes because today when I woke up I had it in my mind what I was going to wear.

I literally had already decided before I even got to the bed.

I was like I want to wear this.

And then I thought,

You know,

I'm going to be interviewing and everyone's going to see me wearing this.

And like maybe it's not professional.

But it's really interesting because it was a full body yes that today wearing the outfit that I'm wearing was like this is the fullest expression of myself today.

And that was like such a gift to give myself because I really considered like,

Okay,

But you need to do the quote unquote professional thing.

You know,

You need to look a certain way.

You can't wear the Kid Rock shirt with the skull cheerleader on it in an interview because that's not okay,

Right?

I mean based on whose perception but still.

And it was really interesting because I felt that this morning.

I brought up other options of what to wear even though I had already seen myself wearing this and I had already gotten the confirmation of it.

And so that's really like funny that that's the example that you eat and that was exactly my experience this morning.

Yeah,

That's crazy.

When do you think you first got interested in healing?

You kind of mentioned that you drifted back and forth from it,

But is it that moment in 2006 that was kind of like your reawakening your reentering into the.

.

.

Even then I think then was when I realized I was open to it,

But it wasn't until maybe I was 27 when I sort of had a few things happen in my life.

I had a breakup and I ended up having a miscarriage and I was so distraught.

Yeah,

It was really full on and I'd been working a lot.

So I was in this real corporate sort of space and I was quite,

I would say I was actually quite shut off from Spirit during that time before then.

And it was just like,

It wasn't uncommon for me to get home at like 9 or 10 at night.

When we're getting in the office.

Yeah,

Sort of running up now I look at it,

I'm like running away from things that I was experiencing in my life.

But at the time I thought I was just doing the thing,

You know,

Getting my life where I wanted it to be.

The hard work would get me there.

That's what I should do.

All these shoulds,

Right?

I was living and I hear people say this all the time,

But it's so true.

I was living what I thought was the life I should be living and from the outside it looked like it should look,

You know,

The apartment in the city.

The good corporate jobs that we had and all these sorts of things.

And after that experience,

It was just like I literally could not get out of bed for like three weeks.

And then the channeling started again full on.

It was like,

Then I was like before then I hadn't,

Like I would tap into my ancestors,

But I wasn't really in a communication with them.

It wasn't like a back and forth like it is now.

Like now it's sort of like I feel like I'm in communication with my guides constantly about my life and how it's going and my calling and my path.

But then it was more like if I was at crisis point,

I might reach out,

You know,

That sort of thing.

But during that time where I literally sometimes I could get out of bed to go to yoga.

There was a yoga studio like 10 minutes down the road and my only achievement in the day would be to get out of bed to go to yoga.

And for someone who'd been working all those hours and doing all the things,

Collecting all the achievements,

It was like liberating,

But also so soul destroying.

I had,

You know,

So I felt like the only way that I knew how to rebuild myself was actually to go back to what I initially knew and what I grew up with.

And a series of sort of funny things happened in that time.

Like not funny,

But I enrolled in a business development course thinking it was an art course.

So I didn't have a business then I was just like,

You know,

Enrolled in this course thinking it was an art course,

Like doing art will help me get out of this and found out that it was about building your business.

I was like,

OK,

Stayed in that.

And I also started I think during that relationship,

I didn't really share on Facebook because my ex didn't like,

You know,

Wasn't very public about his life,

Our life.

So it was like I suddenly it was like this stream of spout of just like,

This is what I'm going through.

Here's all my pain.

It was sort of this sharing.

But in a weird way,

That authenticity allowed people to connect into me and reach out.

And so that combination of the course I was doing and then that sharing ended up with a few people asking me to coach them,

Which is hilarious given that I was literally,

You know,

Not really able to get out of bed.

But that's sort of how it began,

Actually thinking about,

Oh,

This is an alternative.

And I think in my heart,

I always wanted to do this work.

And I always look back now when I'm more stable and it's been happening for a while and I'm like,

OK,

I can see that everything in my life led to this point.

But at that point,

It was like,

What does that even mean?

I had no idea.

That's just wow.

I mean,

I want to I want to go back and I first want to say thank you and really like honour you for sharing what you shared about having a miscarriage.

Because first off,

It's something that just it's not talked about enough.

And I know that there's a lot of movements online with women like sharing their experiences to really normalise this.

The fact that,

You know,

We all go through these kind of challenging and difficult situations.

And I think that like being able to say it the way you said it is really powerful.

And I think it's really good that we're talking about it.

And obviously I don't have that in my experience,

So I can't I can't share anything like that.

I'm really grateful that you brought that to this space.

So thank you.

I think it's like 25 percent of women that have miscarriages and especially for their first one.

So it's actually really like once I started telling people,

They were so like,

Oh,

Yeah,

I've had one or like it is so rampant and we don't talk about it.

So yeah,

And your hormones that you go through when it happens is like I literally I couldn't decipher what what was actually happening to me.

I didn't know how to even describe those emotions.

So it's pretty intense.

And the fact that,

Yeah,

Then we don't talk about it and you've got that level of emotionality going through your body.

It's it's it's a pretty,

Yeah,

Full on experience for any woman that isn't able to talk about it during that time.

So,

Yeah,

So that's that's powerful.

And I think it's amazing that like more and more people are talking about it because it's something that deserves a lot more attention.

And I'm yeah,

I'm really grateful that you brought it here.

So thank you for sharing that.

And now I've lost my thought in what you were saying.

You you had mentioned that.

No,

It's I was going to comment on something else that you said,

And it's completely gone now.

I don't know.

I got so like caught up in the emotion of what you shared that I just my question is gone.

I kind of want to ask you then now if what I guess this ties into what I was going to say before,

But what did you learn about your own healing through that journey that you would want to share with with someone now that you share with clients or that you'd like to share with the audience?

I think I learned what I mostly learned is that it's possible for anyone to come out of anything and face it.

And it's not necessarily directly related to that experience.

But when you get to that rock bottom place,

It's as though you don't have the strength anymore to wear the masks that you were wearing before then or to have the protection mechanisms.

And so everything comes up.

Any old traumas that you have experienced comes up.

Anything that it's as though.

And that in that rock bottom in that moment,

It's actually this Phoenix moment.

It's this moment of like emerging from the ashes.

And so I think what it gave me that I can hold space for clients now is knowing that that moment is actually so important and so necessary and that you'll look back on it and go,

Whoa,

You'll know that it's that changing point if you choose to use it as that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's given me the trust that that's what it is because I think we're presented with these moments or opportunities a number of different times in our life.

And it's a choice each time how we react to it.

But I think it's made me see it in a completely different way because I'm so much happier now than I was before then.

And I actually I actually look at that experience as a blessing because it worked me out deeper than I had ever been working before in terms of like,

What are we here for?

What is your life for?

What do you want to do?

Do you just want to go to the office and like work crazy hours and all that sort of thing?

And I think I see that in many people in different versions,

Their experiences may be different.

It may not be work for them.

It might be whatever eating or whatever thing that they're using.

But that those moments crack that wide open and you can either hide from yourself or you can dive in and come out.

And it is that choice.

And it is scary because like,

I mean,

There's memes about this too online about like what everybody thinks personal development work looks like and what it actually looks like.

And it's a girl with like mascara running down her face.

Like,

Why?

And I think it is that.

And you have to be willing to get to that place.

Like you have to be willing to go through the kind of ugly or like I always say,

Like you need to be able to like,

You know,

Kind of stand with your galoshes on in the thick of your own shit.

And like,

Be like,

Do I want this anymore?

Like,

Is this serving me?

And if it's not to kind of pass on and ask a better question,

OK,

If this isn't serving me,

Then what do I need and how do I move forward from here?

And yeah,

It's absolutely a choice.

But isn't everything?

Isn't absolutely everything,

Whether we want to admit it or not.

And I know I find myself in a lot of instances where I don't want to because it means I have to take responsibility for something that I don't necessarily want to take responsibility for.

But I do believe that it is it is our responsibility and it's our choice.

Yeah,

I always feel that whenever anything,

Now this is how I see it,

Not in that moment or not in those earlier years of processing through the backlog of ignoring things.

But now I see it as when something arises that you haven't been aware of a habit or pattern or a block,

It's coming up for you to clear it.

It's not to trigger you or something.

It's like every emotion,

Everything is like it's clearing.

So it's exiting the body.

So it's an opportunity.

Every single every single thing is an opportunity.

And that's the mindset trick right there,

Too,

Because viewing it as happening for you as opposed to happening to you.

And I agree with you.

When I was at the beginning of my journey,

Which was like well over a decade ago,

And like I that was when I first heard somebody say,

Like,

You know,

Take a look at take a look at your life,

Take a look at everything around you.

You chose that.

And I'm like,

Bitch,

I did not choose this.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Somebody else handed me this like crap on a stick and the consequences.

But now I look back or even when I'm in a bad moment today,

I can look at it and be like,

Well,

Maybe I made a choice or didn't make a choice,

Which is still a choice.

But in any case,

That led me to where I am now.

And yeah,

You use of course,

When you start off on your journey,

It's a hard pill to swallow to hear things.

And then it comes comes with a lot more grace and a lot more ease.

As you move as you move through,

You know what I mean?

And as you gain skills and as you start to see and accept and own and step into the power that you really do have over your life and to create whatever it is that you want.

And that you are creating whether or not you want to.

It's happening in any case.

So,

Yeah.

I'm wondering if you have any other tips that you'd like to share with our audience of how they could kind of move through their personal journey.

Let's use the words with grace and ease one more time.

I think whenever you're encountered by something that is challenging you,

It's about feeling into what is your responsibility and what you may need help with.

So you'll have your own tendency.

You might reach out for help all the time or you might just do things on your own.

And I'd say lean into whatever is the opposite of what you would normally do.

So if you're someone that's constantly reaching out to other people,

Can you fix this?

Can you help me?

Going to your healer,

Going to your coach.

Then lean into yourself and try and drop into that space a bit more.

Whereas if you're someone who tends to be like,

Don't help me,

I can do it on my own.

I'm an independent person.

Then maybe start trying to reach out.

That would be one thing.

And then the other would be whenever you're feeling,

If it's a thought pattern especially,

Don't try to reach for.

I'll use an example from today that someone was telling me that they've been using the mantra,

I am whole,

I am whole,

I am whole,

I'm full.

You know,

Which is beautiful mantra,

But they really don't feel that right now.

They feel that they're still recovering from what they're going through.

And instead,

I was like,

Well,

What is something that you can believe?

So reaching for the next belief.

So in that example,

I don't know,

But for me,

If I was feeling really like,

Oh,

Broken,

I'd be like,

Everyone goes through this sometimes.

Instead of isolating myself,

I've been connecting myself to the collective.

So everyone goes through this sometimes.

I'm not saying,

Yeah,

I'm whole.

I'm not saying I feel healthy because I sure as hell don't.

But I'm moving,

I'm moving the dial a little bit.

I'm all about those incremental steps.

You'll notice the pattern.

For me,

It really is about building our muscle so that those pathways are really strong for us.

So those are the two that come to mind.

Yeah,

It has to be about small steps.

It has to be.

I say that all the time,

Even like on the podcast,

I say it's not always quantum leaps.

There's a lot of coaches that talk about quantum leaps and quantum leaps are real and they exist and they happen.

And that's great.

But what do you do every single day?

That's where you have to start.

It's the choices that you make every single day.

And then one day you arrive to the point where you look backwards and you're like,

Holy shit,

That was a quantum leap.

I don't look forward and you say,

OK,

I'm projecting myself to the next quantum leap.

You don't get to decide that,

Unfortunately.

I mean,

You're in control of the actions that you take.

But there's so many things like universally that are at play that it's not just that you get to say,

OK,

Ready for a quantum leap now?

I'll have a quantum leap inside of fries.

Like it's about the small steps and showing up for yourself and doing what's necessary for you to live well and be your best self,

Essentially.

And I often say bodywork in particular,

It clears the space temporarily for you to start making those cognitive shifts.

So we're clearing the energy from the body and from your field and from the system.

And people do make quantum leaps,

But it's when they take the opportunity that's been presented with them.

If you just go back and do the same old patterns that you've always done,

You're reinforcing those patterns,

Not the new patterns.

So using that energy of clarity that in this,

I think,

Would apply for any healing that we receive.

It's like that's just this moment of time that allows you to make changes.

And it's a supporting mechanism to make those changes.

It's like our healing in general is like this all round system.

And I especially emphasise that when people are doing mindset work that they do get healing because our nervous system needs to readjust.

It's like we've got neural pathways in our body as well as our mind.

They're not only in our mind.

Our body is also used to tensing when it feels stressed.

And so we're trying to use specific points that change those patterns as well.

So for me,

It's sort of like use all the resources.

And I think we're in the most blessed time to be able to have all these resources,

People channelling things that are so helpful to us,

Like ancient knowledge is coming through.

How lucky are we that all this stuff is here for our healing?

So use it.

And it exists.

So it's so easy to gain access to it,

Because if somebody wants to work with you and they're not located in Australia,

It's a possibility now.

It exists.

And I think that is just in and of itself a type of magic.

So like we have all this information,

But we have access to it and easy access to it,

Which is incredible.

I love that you were just talking about healing,

Because one of the questions I really wanted to ask you was,

How can we begin to work on our healing on our own?

Or in addition to working with a healing artist like yourself or a coach or a reiki practitioner,

Whoever it is that you're working with,

How can we foster and enhance our own healing?

I think for me,

And it's probably similar advice that many people give,

But it is really clearing your field in the morning and night from influence.

So we're carrying a lot of things that aren't our own.

So when I wake up,

I tend to do eight breaths and then I clear my field.

And then it's eight breaths,

Gratitude,

Eight breaths,

Forgiveness,

Eight breaths.

I try to manifest.

I've sort of created this practice for myself because there's all these things that I want to be doing in the morning and it's just taking that time to tap in.

But I'm also really aware of my field.

So like of the influence.

I guess my pathway is aiming towards being the least influenced by society as I can be and trying to work on myself to be as sovereign as I often talk about sovereignty in my post in terms of like not reacting to what other people think.

I do still.

But that's my aim is to move away from that.

And I feel like energetically,

Those expectations can cling to us as well.

So clearing that in the morning and at night,

It doesn't take that long.

That would be where I would start if you are just starting on your own.

And aside from that,

Free writing,

Journaling helps.

Yeah,

That those would be the two that are quite,

Quite good.

I love dance as well,

Just to shift energy.

And it's something you can do in your kitchen or wherever you want to.

Yeah,

But I guess I guess for me,

I sort of view my ecosystem of healers and coaches and all those sorts of things is so necessary in terms of achieving the goals that I have in my life and clearing the pathway and continuing to rise because it's not enough for me just to stay in the status quo.

So whenever I'm aware of something,

I'm like,

OK,

What's what's the tool that we're going to use to move this?

I'm the exact same way.

Right now I'm obsessed with tapping.

Like I can't stop tapping.

I tap multiple times.

I'm just tapping on everything.

I'm like alone everywhere.

That's what's clearing the energy the most for me.

And another thing,

Too,

That you mentioned dance.

I really love that because I feel like we get really bogged down in like the maybe the quote unquote traditional modalities or the things that we're always talking about as coaches or in this industry.

And I think that dance is something that like that movement,

But not movement like necessarily yoga or something like scripted or structured,

But just moving and allowing your however you feel called to move.

And I know that like this is also extremely personal for each individual,

Because for me,

One of the things that helps me move through energy is singing.

And I love it.

I love singing and I do it all the time.

And like when I feel something like really heavy,

If I can like sing a song that maybe has words that are related to the emotion that I'm feeling,

It's like I'm like singing it out of me.

I don't know.

It's really weird.

And it's probably the modality,

Though,

That I forget the most because it's not something that anybody talks about.

But it definitely works for me.

And yes,

I love that you said dance because it's just another way,

Dancing however you want to dance and moving however you want to move to move the energy out.

Yeah,

I think every single like we are healing is our own responsibility.

So everything is available to us on our own.

But it can be faster sometimes if you reach out to others and you just get that like mirror.

It speeds up the process.

You get someone to like reflect back of you,

You are where you're at in your journey and allows you a bit more of your own space when you are in your own space instead of you being the one solely responsible for that.

But I think for those who don't feel yet ready for whatever reason to reach out to others,

Whether they're just scared or they're financially not able or feel they're not financially able or whatever reason or if it's just like not where they're at in their journey.

All of these tools like journaling is free,

Dance is free,

Self massage is free.

There's those sorts of practices that you can do to just move your own dial.

Yeah,

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I couldn't agree with you more,

But it is a conversation we've kind of cycled back to to this idea of like responsibility,

Like,

Yeah,

And yeah,

No,

We'll just just leave that one there.

So my last question for you before we kind of finish up is one that I'm going to be asking all of my guests on the podcast,

Which is what does living wild free well mean to you?

For me,

It means taking responsibility for yourself,

Being open to giving and receiving and setting the foundations for future beyond what we've known before.

And it's that sort of interaction and flow of all of those elements.

Oh,

I like that.

I really I love that.

Juicy.

And like,

Yeah,

It's the I love that the future and the past,

Like the combination of it all and moving forward.

I just yes,

Yes to it all.

The last thing is where can our listeners find you?

So my website is www.

Wonderkind.

Com.

Au And that was for me a combination of the one wandering person,

Kindness,

Human kind.

I sometimes wonder where these words come from through me and my Instagram and Facebook are Wonderkind Energy.

So if you put those in either of those platforms,

You can find them there.

So,

Yeah,

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions at all that came up from from this discussion.

I'd be more than happy to engage.

I love connecting with people.

Instagram is sort of my main home that I spend the most energy and time on.

But yeah,

I'm findable through through any of those two platforms.

Love that.

And I can attest to how open and willing you are to connect because that's exactly how we connected was on social media.

I don't even know,

Maybe five years ago,

I feel like it had to have been at least that long.

And and like I remember just not being nearly as far along on my journey now as I would like or then as I am now.

And like how much engaging with this,

Like the social project that you were kind of doing at the time,

Which was posting every day in your group.

How much that influenced me and how much how much I feel you gave to me on my journey,

Just in terms of like responding to posts or like me responding to something that you shared and I remembered and I will remember forever.

You responding to me saying that you could see me lying down with angels stroking my hair or maybe you didn't use the word angels.

I don't remember spirit or guides.

I feel like maybe it was guides,

Actually.

And just like that image has forever stuck with me.

And I just yeah,

I think you are a wonderful human being and that you're bringing so much light and healing to the world.

And it is an absolute gift.

And I feel blessed to to know you and to be able to engage with you in this way.

This has been wonderful.

Thank you so much.

I really received that.

And I want to gift you with it has been such a pleasure to see your journey that I know we connected some time ago.

And I really seen the growth and I could see the strength and the power that you've fostered and what you're gifting to your clients and your community.

And it's so beautiful.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for being here today.

It just means so much to me and inevitably to every beautiful human who is listening to this right now.

So thank you.

Have a really good day.

Reviews

I tend to get a bit verbose when excited, but I am going to try and sum this up as best I can in brief -
This was a great, honest, REAL sort of interview. I was interested initially because I spent some time a number of years ago in New Zealand and Australia, and had the wonderful honor of the ability to spend time in both countries with the native people there.

In New Zealand, we were guests at a hangi (which in my reading on culture and religion and such before and after our trip, I knew was a more watered down touristy version...powerful nonetheless) and watching the haka gave me chills and goosebumps. I have a few YouTube videos of the haka being done in a few situations, and it never fails to elicit that reaction. The one of the schoolboys doing the haka as a farewell to their beloved teacher as the hearse passed them and left the school grounds also added a level of viscerality that had me crying and my heart hurting.

In Australia, I was able to do a sunrise hot air balloon trip over the Outback, watching the brumbies and kangaroos waking up below us as the sun rose over the horizon. Later that trip, we went to Uluru, where I did not climb, but circumnavigated the entire base and had an incredibly momentous spiritual experience. The elders nearby noticed; I had asked them earlier about some elements of the Dreaming I did not yet understand, and they had told me it could not be explained, only experienced. I experienced it, and after my return, we talked long into the night around the campfire. In the morning, I was gifted with one of their spirit paintings, the dots all forming a unique image I was given. I don't know that it was truly unique, but it felt that way to me, so I accept it as such. The artist named the piece "Woman's Ceremony" and when I returned to the US, I framed it. It has been on my wall in every home I have had since then, in a place where I see it and have time to look at it and reflect every day.

In the description for this interview, the mention of the Maori healing technique, then the compare/contrast to Reiki was of great interest. I have been contemplating studying Reiki but it has not felt right for me at this time. I also knew little of that aspect of Maori culture, and wanted to know more.

I learned quite a bit, and am grateful for that knowledge. I felt deep in my spirit the essence of the sensation when the haka was mentioned, and knew immediately just how powerful the healing modality could then be.

But the thing that rocked me back on my heels and had me pause the playback was, oddly enough, not really related to any of this except tangentially. I am a person on the autism spectrum ("the diagnosis formerly known as Asperger's," I like to joke), and am also a graduate level mental health and disability service professional working in vocational rehabilitation for over 20 years or so. It has always been a bit frustrating to me that I can help others sort out how they are feeling and how to respond/express themselves, but I can't seem to apply this effectively to myself. I studied the body-centered modalities in counseling a lot while in grad school, Hakomi being a favorite, and I have been doing accupressure and EFT (tapping) for a few years with slow but detectable progress. Still not sure of how to process emotions though, or identify them, etc.

I realized about 5 months ago, after a series of three daily deaths and the death of my workplace secretary all within about 16 months, that I was going back to basics. I was listening to my body and simply letting myself feel "good" or feel "bad" while not attempting to label the feeling. I am hyperaware of my bodily states at most times due to a number of medical conditions I must manage daily, many of which can change for no obvious reason at any time and with varying severity. So I was familiar already with the sensations but could not seem to link them to my mind and the emotions being expressed within the body.

In some of the crisis work I have done, and also with my clients, I use an example from the movie, "The Runaway Bride" with Julia Roberts. I have only seen it a few times, years ago, but one scene was extremely powerful to me and has been useful over the years in my work with others. Julia Roberta's character has been a relationship chameleon, and she had list sense if who she was inside. She would order whatever her boyfriend/latest fiance was having to ensure compatibility, but somewhere along the line, she lost her own knowledge of her personal preferences as a result. The scene I use it towards the end. She has been asked what kind of eggs she liked. (Scrambled, hard boiled, fried, sunny-side-up, etc.) She didn't know. And so she set out to find out who she was again - starting with how she liked her eggs. Towards the end, she is with the person who asked her that, at a restaurant. She smiles, and orders eggs with confidence, then looks at her dining partner and states the way she likes her eggs.

A very simple, easily relatable moment. It works for so many. It half-worked for me too, only I had trouble figuring out to I knew what my preferences were.

And here we arrive at this talk/interview. Key takeaway for me - listen to my body. Relate it to things I already know the answer to. THAT is the master key right there, for me. I have tried this in novel situations, but not in my daily known situations. I know what feels good and what doesn't. I know what I like and what I don't like. Now I can combine the two and see where they align, where they conflict (noting and setting it aside for later exploration), but essentially building a catalogue of dictionary of physical sensation and known emotional reactions to my current environment, which can then be consulted in new ones to help me identify how I feel and how to best honor that feeling.

This was that missing link for me, and it hit me with tremendous force. I paused the playback for about ten minutes while I processed this and let it settle in before I resumed the playback. It is such a gift and I can now offer this insight to my clients as well as using it for my own self.

I seem to have fallen short in the "keeping it concise" department. LOL I felt strongly about this, though, and felt led to provide this information as an expression of my gratitude and how deeply it has affected me both now and in the time ahead of me in my life journey.

Thank you both, so very much, for sharing this wonderful gift of this interview with us here in the Insight Timer community. I see you and the light within you both. Thank you again. 🤲🏻❤️🤲🏻