Ask Your Guides - Live - 11/2/24

Ask Your Guides! With Alejandro H., Cindy Crowe, Darice Klein, Kristof Lambregts - Akshara Soundhealing, Melanie Underwood, Olivia Jackson - recorded LIVE - 11/2/24 - An unscripted collaboration among teachers, addressing questions from the Insight Timer community.

Please join us in the Insight Timer group: "Ask Your Guides" — grounded, guided, and always growing.

Transcript

So we are here to do our usual ask your guides.

Last night we had a really awesome one,

Just a pause for peace,

Which was amazing.

But this one today is a Q&A with the teachers that you see here.

So you're going to be able to ask whatever questions you might have.

Melanie is going to be the moderator,

Who does an amazing job keeping track of questions and just moderating the chat in general.

So I'm going to let her take it away.

Hi,

Everybody.

Thanks,

Violet.

So I think to kick off,

I would love it if you guys could go around and just introduce yourselves.

Tell us about what you do and where you are on Insight Timer,

Anything that you want people to know.

Cindy,

Would you like to start?

Sure.

Thank you.

Thank you so much to Violet and Melanie for this opportunity.

I don't get to do things sort of outside my bubble very often.

So this is good.

Get me out of my comfort zone.

And yeah,

I'm an Indigenous person from Northern Ontario,

Which is in Canada.

And I love sharing messages of love and interconnectedness,

Inspiring people to follow their passions,

Which gets us to a place of freedom and abundance.

And so those are the,

I guess,

The key words.

And yeah,

And I'm very passionate about animal spirit guides.

So if people have questions about their animal spirit guides,

I'm happy to answer those as well.

There's many gifts that I carry.

But the main one I would say is being able to channel for people,

Channeling messages.

So yeah,

Thank you.

Miigwetch.

Thank you.

Deryse.

Hey there.

Took me a second to unmute.

Sorry.

So my name is Deryse Klein.

I'm from Charlotte,

North Carolina.

And my daily job is a nurse.

I actually currently work for the sheriff's office here in Charlotte,

North Carolina.

So a very,

Very stressful job.

And I also,

On my days off,

Teach yoga.

And I'm a meditation instructor.

So here on Insight Timer,

I've led sessions in regards to healing from narcissistic abuse,

Recovering from the stress of divorce,

And just in general,

Like managing stress,

Coming back to the self.

So all about self-care,

Self-forgiveness,

Self-love.

So yeah,

And I'm excited to be here.

And thank you,

Violet and Melanie for organizing this.

I appreciate you.

Thank you.

Olivia.

Yeah.

Hi all.

And thanks for holding this space.

My name is Olivia Jackson,

And I'm from South Africa originally,

But I live in the UK in Oxford for the past 10 or so years.

So I teach meditation mainly and a spiritual mentor.

And I dabble in sound healing,

Not like Christophe over there,

But I dabble.

And I'm studying transpersonal therapy as well.

And most of the practices that I teach on Insight Timer have got to do with self-exploration and healing,

Especially with trauma,

With pain,

Emotional healing and things like that.

Yeah,

That's me in a nutshell.

Thank you so much.

Christophe.

Hello.

Thank you for the invitation.

First of all,

It's really wonderful to be part of this.

I'm looking forward to it.

My name is Christophe.

I'm from Belgium,

Europe,

If you're not familiar with it.

A very small country,

Very lovely,

Very weird as well.

I'm here on Insight Timer,

Mostly I work here as a sound healer,

Creating sound journeys.

I translate everything concerning meditation and healing towards sounds,

Which is my medium to bring these healing energies to you.

So that's what I do here on Insight Timer.

Outside of Insight Timer,

I also teach yoga and I also host these sound sessions offline.

What I do.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you so much.

Alejandro.

Hello.

Hello.

Thank you,

Violet.

Thank you,

Melanie.

My name is Alejandro.

I am a health and wellness coach,

But also a meditation and mindfulness teacher.

Been on Insight Timer three years with a break in between teaching on embracing vulnerability and finding our authentic selves.

And today I just came out of my life a couple of minutes ago.

So we were talking about really awakening our inner voice and and practicing together as a community and allowing wisdom to be so.

So,

Yeah.

Thank you all so much for being here.

Thank you,

Derese.

There's a question for you.

Can you tell a little bit more about what you do with the police department and how you got into that work?

So it's pretty interesting how I got into into that work.

So a while back,

I began following and I thought,

How cool is that to,

Like,

Utilize the medicine of yoga in rehabilitation,

Right?

And so I was like,

How can I how could I possibly do that in my community?

So I reached out to some police officers that I knew,

And it didn't really go anywhere,

You know,

Went on with life.

And then I got recruited for a job that was in an area that I wasn't familiar with.

And so I did the the interview and she goes,

You know,

This is for corrections.

And I was like,

Whoa,

Wait,

What?

Corrections?

Like,

I never thought about that.

So.

So I'm always like,

You know,

Let me just try this thing and see see what happens with it.

So after about two weeks of working in there,

I realized that I was on my own prison yoga project journey.

But it wasn't the asana.

It was just being a light in a place that is so,

So very dark.

So yeah,

So that's how I came to that job.

And,

And I do.

So there's various areas that I can work in there.

Sometimes it's when people come off the streets,

We make sure that they are healthy enough to stay in custody.

And then those people will either be admitted upstairs and to into the facility or they get,

You know,

Released to home or wherever they they can go.

So yeah,

So we have like a little mini hospital in there,

There's a lot of mental health services,

There's an acute care clinic,

There's like a regular doctor's visits in their chronic health.

So yeah,

So that's what I do.

So that's also why I need so much time here.

I'm inside timer to come back to myself and not let the weight of my job interfere with my daily life and my life with my children.

So yeah,

That's amazing.

Thanks.

And I think that's a really valuable point that you brought up that I would love it if everybody would answer in a moment.

But Alejandro,

I wanted to ask you,

You could maybe explain a little bit more.

Do you do work in that sort of realm as well?

Because I've seen a lot of support that you're giving in that area.

Good question.

Right?

Yes.

So the prison yoga project,

It's really dear to my heart.

And I have mentored men who are serving in prison.

And it is,

It is probably my favorite thing to see what we want,

What I,

At one point considered the worst of the return back to love and return back to the essence of who they were created to be and to find that,

That forgiveness and self compassion and love and and not to go into the deepness of crime and why people do what they do.

But we commit crimes because it's a trauma response.

And and then we come into a place where it's supposed to rectify to only traumatize us even more.

So thank you so much to those of us who who go in to truly aid and be be sort of little lights in the middle of darkness to aid healing and restoration and see men who were completely broken and disregarded by society,

Family and friends truly find themselves and find and find their inner child and heal that and,

And be vulnerable in a place where vulnerability is not accepted.

So so so yeah,

I've mentored men and who are doing time and it is it is it is a passion of mine and prison reform is also there and in the mix.

So so yeah,

So so thank you.

Thank you for for asking and thank you for for noticing.

Yes.

And then back to what Darice said about using insight timer as a space to decompress,

Even though I'm imagining Darice that you are giving a lot on insight timer,

You're still using it as a teacher to decompress.

So I would love it if anybody wants to sort of address how you do use it as a space to decompress as a teacher and also do you use it personally where you go into lives and or even tracks or courses and look to it and use it that way.

I'm curious,

Darice.

Okay,

So I do use insight timer daily,

Whether it's just 10 minutes of meditating with the timer,

Or if I have longer amount of time,

I will do that.

I've stepped away from attending so many other courses,

But I have I have attended quite a few and attended some yoga classes and various offerings on here.

And the reason I've stepped away from that is because I felt like I was that serial student,

Which we're forever student,

But I felt like I was just like,

Oh,

Let me learn this thing,

You know,

Before I can move on to my healing journey.

So now I,

I kind of step away from all the self care and have moved into different things like creating,

You know,

Going into more creative aspects and into reading and,

And,

Yeah,

Just different projects,

Cooking,

I'm into cooking right now.

So I've just kind of like shifted.

I love that,

You know,

When you said about being,

I heard some feedback.

Yeah,

How does what work?

How does it work for you when you go on teaching?

How do you use that as a way to decompress?

I use that as a way to decompress because it puts me so focused on something that I'm not thinking about everything else that's going on in my life.

So yeah,

So I feel like it's a,

A form of like meditation,

Sort of,

And also that,

That yoga,

You know,

That one point focus of yoga.

Yeah,

I totally get that.

Violet,

I'm sorry,

What were you saying?

No,

No,

It's okay.

I think I had a little lag because I was,

I didn't,

I wasn't trying to talk over you.

I'm like,

Oh no,

Did I,

Did I,

Did I hear something?

I was saying that I loved what she said about becoming a serial student,

Because I felt like I had done that for a while too.

And I was like,

All right,

I got to stop watching or listening.

Cause I would listen while I was working and I was on overload,

You know,

Cause everybody has something different.

And I was like,

Oh,

I'm going to try this and I'm going to do that.

And after a while I was like,

Okay,

Now I'm getting overwhelmed.

So it's funny that the reason I wanted to be a teacher was because I was a serial student and I used to listen to everybody.

And I was like,

Oh,

I want to be part of this.

And I want to become a teacher,

But I didn't really know what I wanted to do.

And of course,

You know,

This evolved into ask your guides,

Which I love now,

But now I find myself being more of a kind of finding that balance,

You know,

Like occasionally I will go into a live,

But I'm not on there eight hours a day,

Like I used to be while I was working.

But it definitely,

You know,

There's certain meditations that I will listen to that help me soothe during the day.

Sometimes I need a nap in the day.

And Tom Evans has that snoozitation meditation that I absolutely love.

And I will like sit on my couch with my dog for 20 minutes and that soothes me.

And I'm like,

All right,

Now I can get back to work.

Now I can continue with my day.

So I love that question.

And I loved what you said.

Olivia.

I'm sorry,

I tried to hold my hand up with a little yellow hand,

But it didn't seem to work.

So anyway,

Um,

Yeah,

I was just gonna comment on that,

Because I find very often we can fall into the trap.

I have this with a lot of students that,

Especially with healing journeys,

We really want to seek,

We kind of seek to find something.

And,

And the thing that I encourage is,

In the end,

Is to come back to ourselves.

Because I don't know if you've ever heard somebody talk about your inner guru.

But yeah,

Just to come back to yourself,

Because everything that you need,

Actually,

Is within you.

And although having a teacher,

Somebody that you really trust,

And somebody that nourishes you,

And then somebody that you resonate with,

Is super important in the path.

But in the end,

It's about coming back to yourself and trusting in your own intuition.

And I think that's really important.

Thank you.

I couldn't agree with you more.

Christophe?

Yeah,

I really agree to what Olivia said.

Also,

To me,

As a user of Insight Timer,

It's important for my own accountability to show up and as a teacher also practice what you preach.

So I also stepped down from following too many courses.

I have a few teachers that I really like.

Olivia is also one of them.

It's great to be here together.

And some sound exercises.

So I tried to take 10 minutes,

20 minutes,

Half an hour,

Whatever time I had every day.

And the app really keeps me accountable for doing what I'm using.

Yeah,

I love your sound.

I just want to jump in there and say that's one of the reasons why I approached you because I do love everybody's sound healings.

And you were one of the people that I did listen to often.

And I was like,

I'm going to send him a message and see if he wants to come on here.

Thank you.

Cindy,

Did you want to add to that?

Sure.

Yeah,

Currently,

I'm,

I'm serving the universe on a daily basis.

And so that is my,

That is my full time passion.

And absolutely.

You know,

Using Insight Timer as a way to decompress for me,

It's a way to serve.

That's,

That's,

That's why I'm here.

That's why I do it.

And yeah,

I have,

I'll say public,

Public opportunities each day of the week for individuals to participate in spirituality.

And again,

I'm new on Insight Timer.

So I'm still learning a lot.

But I had been praying to spirit for a long time for a larger platform to share spirits messages.

And so this,

This truly was an answer to my prayers.

And yeah,

Totally,

Totally,

Totally love it.

And the people that come to my lives know that if I cancel for some reason,

It's like a really good reason because I don't like to show up if I'm not 100% myself,

Because if I'm not 100% myself,

Then how can I be of any,

You know,

Any service to to anyone else?

But yeah,

I try to avoid that,

Of course.

But yeah,

It happens,

Right?

Life happens.

We're all on a parallel process.

We're all ascending.

And so we're all having these,

You know,

These different experiences.

So thank you.

Miigwech.

Thank you.

I don't know,

Cindy,

Something that you said made me think about when you're talking about your gifts and showing up every day.

I'm curious if you guys could just think of a word or two that sums up what you bring to Insight Timer.

What is it?

And there's no parameters.

That's up to your interpretation.

OBS.

Hey,

We all have our gifts,

Violet.

Tech is your gift,

Along with other things.

I would say community.

That's,

I think that would be my,

I think that would be my word.

Thank you.

That's what I was kind of getting from you,

Cindy,

When you said that.

Darius.

I would say recalibration.

Alejandro.

Vulnerability.

Definitely.

Olivia,

Do you want to add to that?

I would say two words would be healing and love.

Christophe,

What about you?

Certainly,

Community is a big one.

And accountability for myself as a user,

Definitely.

I mean,

I feel like so many bring all of those things,

Too.

You know,

It's hard to sort of pinpoint one thing that we do,

But I appreciate each of you.

So how has meditation changed your life?

And that can,

Again,

You know,

These questions are open to interpretation.

Someone asked us that the other day on Alive,

And I thought it was a really great question.

Alejandro.

Yoga and meditation literally saved.

I found meditation through yoga at the lowest of lowest.

When I had lost everything I had physically,

And all of this facades,

All of this masks have completely fallen off.

And I was at the worst of the worst.

A friend invited me to a really,

Really early yoga set,

Like at 430 in the morning,

Completely inhumane,

But that's okay.

Bless him.

And he was the teacher.

And I did everything the YMCA,

I mean,

The asanas.

And it was in Savasana that for the first time in my 22 years of life,

I found the beauty of stillness and the beauties of quietness.

And I was hooked.

I had to,

I had to find out more.

And I had come from a really strong religious background that said that yoga and meditation were not so good.

So having to deconstruct certain things to truly find myself was has been a beautiful journey.

But meditation has completely changed my life,

Changed the way I have relationship with myself,

And changed the relationship I have with others.

And,

And yeah,

I,

It has been life changing for me.

And for those,

It's saved my life.

I mean,

While I'm letting the rest of you contemplate that since no one's hand is raised,

I'm going to answer mine.

I,

When I was also 22,

Alejandro,

I had severe anxiety,

I was having panic attacks.

I,

You know,

Work in New York City,

And I was getting to the point where I couldn't leave my apartment.

And I participated in a study at Columbia Presbyterian.

And one of the doctors there said to me,

I think you need to try to meditate.

I think it's going to really help you.

And obviously,

There are other things that are involved,

Released in my anxiety.

But that was life changing,

Because it really helped me so much learn coping skills and strategies to deal with it.

And then fast forward,

I mean,

One of the things that it's helped me later on in life was calming my very fiery personality,

And realizing I don't need to be so reactive to everything,

Because as a Scorpio,

And somebody who's already got all that,

And my background,

And not wanting to be silenced.

So that's one of the biggest,

Most helpful things for me that I've that I have.

Olivia.

So I got interested in meditation when I was a teenager.

And it was always a really important part of my life,

To the point that even when I was a teenager,

I dreamed of becoming a Buddhist nun,

But didn't want to shave my head.

So I didn't take that path.

But so I've had a very strong Buddhist path since I was about since I got out of school when I was 18.

But we're about nine years ago,

When I was 34,

I had a really bad accident at work,

Which left me like this.

And so I lost pretty much everything in my life.

And that's when meditation really,

Really came to change my life.

Because,

I mean,

As I'm sure most of you would understand,

In that situation,

It's like mental suffering,

Emotional suffering,

Spiritual suffering,

The whole physical,

The whole lot.

And even right from when I was in hospital for many months,

I really tapped into my meditation practice.

And it became a really strong resource for me in my life.

And that's just grown over the many years,

All these past nine years.

And yeah,

As you guys have said,

It actually saved my life,

Really,

And just really taught me how,

How to be able to be in this body that's full of pain,

And how to be in this life,

Which is full of suffering.

But in a way that I can hold that with love,

Be in it with a sense of peace and calm.

Yeah,

So it's been life saving for me,

Really,

Like you guys.

Anybody else?

I'm going to jump in and say that for me,

It's been just to learn to breathe.

Because I grew up in a very tense household,

Angry dad.

Then I married my first husband,

Angry man.

And I did not realize,

I want to say until about 10 years ago,

How often I hold my breath.

And now,

Like,

I literally walk around telling myself,

Breathe,

Violet.

I'll be sitting like at the hair salon,

And I'll realize,

Why am I so tense?

I'm not breathing.

And I'm sure,

You know,

We could go into like,

Kids growing up with trauma and stuff like that.

And that's not uncommon.

But what is uncommon is how many of us don't realize that we walk around and we're not breathing.

It was,

It was not something that anyone ever said to me.

So for me,

It's definitely been the breathing.

And it's amazing how I can just calm myself down,

Just just by breathing.

Sometimes if my husband annoys me,

I'll breathe really loud on purpose.

But that's like,

That's like my signal,

You know,

I'm trying to calm down,

Stay away.

Oh,

Yes.

Anybody else?

Jerese?

Hey,

So for me,

I found meditation at a very difficult point in my life where I was at that time contemplating divorce.

So I literally turned to Google one day because I was like,

I am so unhappy in my life.

And why?

Because I have all the things,

All the material possessions,

Anything that I thought anyone could want in their life.

And I was like,

Wow,

Why am I so just ungrateful for what I have?

And so it was a very,

I was going through a lot of turmoil at that time.

So I turned to Google,

And I said,

How can I be happier in life?

And it said,

Well,

Practice yoga and meditation.

And I'm like,

I'm not going to practice yoga,

Because my mom did yoga,

And I knew how my mom was.

So I'm like,

I don't know about that yoga stuff.

So since my mom did it,

Like,

I'm not going to do that.

So I found Insight Timer,

I think,

On another Google search and began meditating with guided meditation and saw just these little glimmers of light in my life.

So I thought,

Wow,

Like there's something to this.

So I believe everything has an enhancer,

Right?

So if you go get your toes done,

They can enhance your experience with hot stones or whatever,

You know,

Food wise,

You can get a sauce for your steak.

So I thought,

What is the answer to meditation,

There has to be something else.

And that's how I discovered yoga.

So I finally broke down practice yoga for the first time and like Alejandro,

Like that first time from when she queued Child's Pose is the very first pose.

I wasn't woo woo back then.

But there was and I don't really feel like I'm woo woo now.

But there was just this spark.

And I was like,

What is this magic that I'm about to experience?

So then I was hooked from there.

And then six months later,

Went to yoga teacher training.

So it's all been a an amazing journey since then.

And similar to Alejandro as well,

I,

In those yoga classes,

I wouldn't go up and ask the teacher questions,

You know,

But I would hear them mention the yamas and niyamas or,

Or just little things that would go home and Google and just buy the books and learn everything that I could learn.

And I think that's where I kind of got into that cycle of like trying to absorb so much information and learn all these things.

And,

And it's almost like you're a kid that has so many toys that you're like,

I don't know what to,

You know,

Use next.

So you have to dial that in and say,

What,

What can I use in this moment,

You know,

We have these toolboxes and,

And just learning what is serving us in our life in the present moment for what we're going through.

Yeah.

Thank you,

Christoph.

I can relate to Alejandro and Darcy as well.

It happened through yoga to me as well.

The first time I'm coming from a lot of anxiety as a kid and having a very low self-esteem,

It has been quite a journey to become the way I am now.

And well,

Meditation has been key to this.

So that's a wonderful,

I,

It happened to Shavasana to me as well,

After yoga teaching,

And it was like magic.

My teacher used to sing at the end of yoga class.

And really the way these mantras came to me during the Shavasana was so magical that right then I started looking,

I started learning,

I went into yoga philosophy.

And more and more it became clear that this ego,

This is in the way of evolving and becoming of or learning to know who I really am.

And I'm coming from that having very low self-esteem to now speaking in a foreign language to a group of people.

I'd say this has been a huge transformation.

I'm very thankful learning this yogic method of meditation changed my life.

That's beautiful.

Alejandro.

To what both Darice and Christoph were saying,

I,

I commented and there's such a spirit of,

And I know I say it all the time,

But there's such vulnerability in this group.

So thank you to all of you teachers holding space.

I feel at home.

I feel at home.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Here we go.

Here we go.

Are you going to make me cry?

I'm trying not to,

But it happens.

It happens,

But,

But it's,

It's,

It's just to what Darice says,

That first child's pose for me,

I'm in a group of completely,

You know,

Someone who came from a background of pretending perfection,

Pretending everything was great,

Pretending everything was fine.

That first child spoke,

Not knowing what I was just following instructions under a teacher who really cared submitting myself under the energy of,

Of,

Of surrender.

Just,

It was,

It was anyways,

All that to say all of you,

Cindy,

Olivia,

Christoph,

Thank you for holding.

I feel at home.

So thank you for,

Thank you for showing up just as I,

This yesterday and this,

That's all I wanted.

Love it.

I love it.

Violet,

Did you want to add anything?

No,

I was just saying,

I love it.

Well,

Actually that,

That,

I wait,

I do,

I wait,

I was thinking one thing though,

You know,

How they're talking about yoga and how it's been so life changing.

I'm going to have to try the yoga that you all tried because I just went to restorative and all I did was fall asleep,

But it kind of,

You know,

I'm thinking I need to try a different method rather than sleeping.

Sleep is good too.

It's what you need.

So Alejandra,

What you were talking about,

Actually what you all were saying sort of led me to a question because I get asked this question a lot when people interview me is what makes a great teacher?

Because I do think I'm a great teacher.

And I think that most of the teachers on Insight Timer are,

And it's a complicated answer because there's a lot of things that go into it,

But just like one or two things,

Like obviously,

Alejandra,

What you said,

Being vulnerable is a huge moment for teaching and it's showing that you're not above everybody and you're bringing to the table a lot.

So I think that that's a really something that most people on Insight Timer bring that's really special.

Cindy.

I think Violet had her hand up first,

But I'll answer.

Okay.

I'll talk whenever you go ahead.

Okay.

Yeah.

So I hear lots of comments from people.

I've been doing this for a while,

Not on Insight Timer,

But I've been doing this work for a while.

For me,

It's not meditation,

It's ceremony.

And so it's ceremony in our traditional way through our Anishinaabe culture,

Our Indigenous culture.

It's very much about ceremony.

I remember one of the first few ceremonies that I attended.

So I'm talking inside a lodge built with saplings and tarps,

And there's a sacred fire in the middle,

Like we're talking on the dirt,

Right?

We're in the dirt,

You're on the earth.

And I remember the very first time the elder who was much younger than I am,

He passed me an eagle fan and he basically told me it was my turn to speak.

And all I remember was standing there holding this eagle fan and saying,

I heard myself say,

I am home.

And it's been like that since then.

And of course,

I'm on a very high learning curve,

Have been,

I'm sure I always will be,

Because I wasn't raised with the language,

I wasn't raised with the practices or the culture.

So it's very,

Yeah,

It's exploratory,

It's discovery all the time.

But what I do hear from individuals is that they like the fact that I do share my vulnerability.

So like Alejandro,

You know,

I do share my vulnerability in the classes,

On the tracks,

In the lives.

Because to me,

When I do that,

I open up the door for everybody else to be able to do the same.

And so it has been one of my gifts,

For sure.

I talked earlier about a sense of community.

It's very important to me that everyone feels welcome in the circle,

Whichever circle it is that I'm conducting.

I want to make sure that everyone feels welcome in the circle and to assure,

You know,

Reassure them that we all belong in the circle and that we all bring value and gifts to the circle.

And so,

Yeah,

I would say that those are probably,

You know,

My greater strengths being a teacher.

And,

You know,

Of course,

We're always a student as well.

I mean,

Again,

If people notice that,

Yeah,

I'm not that bubbly,

Or I'm not that vocal,

Well,

It's because I'm going through something myself.

And I'm always very honest with people when that's happening.

I'm a mom to five,

And three of the five are addicts.

And so it's a daily roller coaster.

And,

You know,

How do I care for myself during those times?

Because if I don't care for myself,

Then I can't be of any use to anyone else.

So it's always about how do I,

How do I invite joy into my life?

How do I invite freedom into my life?

And what can I do today to feel like that?

So yeah,

I would say that those are part of my,

My strengths.

Thank you.

Cindy,

Jamie asked in the chat,

Are you talking about sweat lodges?

So sweat lodge and teaching lodge.

So sweat lodge is more of a circular kind of a wigwam shape.

And I don't only do four rounds.

When I do my lodges,

I do seven rounds.

And so spirit can channel their,

You know,

Spirit names or clans or spiritual purposes for individuals.

And I can share that with them.

But I can do that anytime.

It doesn't necessarily need to be the lodge.

But the first lodge that I learned of and I am also responsible for is what's called a teaching lodge.

It's part of a really old society and practice.

It's called the Midewin Lodge.

And yeah,

That's my,

That's my other responsibility.

And so the Midewin Lodge is,

You know,

60 feet long by about 20 feet wide.

It takes us a couple of days to build it.

And thankfully,

My son does all the building now.

So that's wonderful.

And I'm really,

Really relieved about that.

And so I feel good that you know,

He's going to carry on the practices,

Even though I wasn't brought up that way.

We're still we're still moving forward with those practices.

So it makes me really happy.

And I feel very grateful.

And I appreciate the question.

Thank you.

I was gonna say before having been a serial students,

I watched a lot of teachers.

And you know,

Of course,

Now with Ask Your Guides,

I've gotten to know a lot of teachers and I,

I will pop in and check out what they're doing.

And for me,

The teachers that engage with their students,

I think are the best ones.

Because if I go into a live and you don't even acknowledge me,

Or you're not hearing anything that I've put in the chat,

I leave,

I feel like,

Well,

This is not like,

I don't want somebody to just talk at me.

I don't want somebody to come in there with their bullet points and just talk and not acknowledge me.

So I feel that the teachers that engage,

You know,

That genuinely engage,

And I feel like a lot of the teachers,

Obviously,

That we interact with on Ask Your Guides,

Are those kinds of teachers that will listen to the students.

They're not just there to talk about whatever it is that they're an expert at.

They're,

They're really paying attention and really having these great conversations,

Where you maybe you came on to do one thing,

But you kind of got off track because somebody asked a question.

That's what I love.

And that's where I'm,

I'm totally unscripted.

Like I will go on camera having no clue what we're going to be doing.

And Melanie's like,

Hey,

Do you want to meet beforehand?

So we can go over and I'm like,

Well,

I don't really have any plans.

So yeah,

Sure.

I'm like,

Whatever happens,

You know,

I'm going to go with whatever conversation people want to have.

And that's what I love.

That's what I feel makes a really good teacher.

Yes.

And Violet,

I always want to go over what I'm going to say beforehand.

Just so you know,

Violet refuses to meet with me,

Everybody.

She's like,

Oh yeah,

Let's meet.

And then she's like,

Oh,

Sorry.

I know I'm terrible that way.

I'm like,

I don't really have anything planned.

Do we have to talk?

Yeah,

We do.

I'm trying,

I'm trying to be better.

I'm trying.

Hey,

I was ready 20 minutes early today.

She did text me and say,

I'm on if you want to come on now.

I fly by the seat of my pants.

DeRese.

So what I feel makes a good teacher and what I try to bring to my lives and to any time I'm teaching,

Regardless if it's online or,

Or in real life is authenticity,

Vulnerability,

And sharing stories.

Because sometimes we feel like we're the only people that are going through what we're going through,

Or,

You know,

Not everyone is as conscious or spiritually connected as others.

So sometimes we feel like we're,

We're those only kind of lone sheep out there.

So yeah.

So I love that this platform especially brings us together and,

You know,

Realize this,

That we're,

We are the weird ones,

But like in such an amazing way.

Does anybody else want to share Alejandro?

Yes,

Yes,

Yes.

And,

Um,

I think I know for me,

Other than what everyone has said,

Especially vulnerability and realness and showing up just as we are and sharing the stories and sharing the,

The realness of the journey,

It's intimacy,

Intimacy with the divine intimacy with self intimacy,

With love itself,

A teacher.

I was just talking.

And I know one of them is here in the comments,

Maisha and Gloria Chibet.

You go into their lives,

Even,

Even online,

And there's an aroma of intimacy,

And there's a price that has been paid for that.

I love a teacher who you can,

You can sense whose,

Whose frequency is a frequency of intimacy.

And that to me,

That is a good teacher.

And of course,

That's not to neglect the knowledge and not to neglect the,

The study and everything that goes outside of what we do here in person or in front of students.

There's,

There's a process,

But it's that intimacy.

It's that,

It's that connection with love itself really,

Really touches me as a student.

And that is something that I,

I,

As a teacher,

I,

I want to walk towards and aim to be just to,

To in my,

In my quiet place,

Have that intimacy that it,

That when I teach,

There's an aroma of intimacy.

So,

So intimacy for me makes a good teacher.

And that Alejandro is one of the things that I loved the first time I went into one of your lives was how I felt like you were talking right to me.

And then you said something and I started crying and that was it,

It was over.

Anybody else to share?

Christophe?

On top of everything that has already been said,

I totally agree to all of it.

I think it's also extremely important for a teacher to create a safe space where you can really feel safe enough to open up and to get into this connection and level of intimacy.

That's a really hard thing to do sometimes to really earn the trust of students,

Extremely important.

And also being able to really listen,

To really listen to what the student has to say and understand what is,

They are going through or what they are really meaning,

What's behind the words.

To me,

That's very important.

Like,

I want to jump up and say yes to everything you just said.

I know Melanie had an issue with the teacher who we will not name,

Who definitely did not embody any of that,

Did not make her feel safe,

Did not listen to what she had to say.

And,

You know,

If I'm in a situation like that,

I definitely don't want anything to do with that person.

So I love everything that you said,

Making people feel safe,

Making people feel heard,

Huge,

Huge for me.

Cindy?

Well,

I want to add to that,

Cindy,

Hold on.

Because I think that's important.

And I think that's part of what makes a great teacher is that was a teacher moment.

He had a very different opinion about cancer and where it originates from.

And as someone who has cancer,

I addressed that in the live and he did slightly attack me to the point where five people reached out later.

But I use that as just fuel to be proactive and schedule lives on the flip side for people who have cancer and want a safe space to be in.

And for people who have chronic illness and want to be respected,

Just as Jamie wrote in the chat,

Because at the end of the day,

We're all humans.

And I don't have to agree with you,

But I'm going to respect you.

And I think that's a really important safe space builder.

If you're not respecting people and the differences,

No matter what I believe,

I'm going to respect someone else.

So that Violet,

As you know,

Is where that came from.

Because Violet,

You had said,

Like,

Don't get upset.

And I'm like,

I'm,

I'm actually fueled in an amazing way to make change.

And I think that's something that really a teacher can embody.

And hopefully,

That's what I did.

You did.

I internalized that because I would have been upset.

You used it as a teaching moment.

And I'm the type of person who gets very upset.

And then later on,

I'll be like,

Well,

What can I learn from that?

You know,

So that that's why I was saying to you,

Don't don't let it upset you.

Because I'm thinking,

If this was me,

I'd be like,

I'm going to,

You know,

Get them.

Thank you,

Cindy.

Sorry,

Go ahead.

So just,

I noticed there was a comment,

And I can't remember who it was,

I should have jotted it down,

Was asking,

You know,

If anybody wanted to do any readings about the rest of 2024.

And I wanted to,

To chime in there that I think for me looking at,

You know,

Now it's now we've got November and December,

Right,

We've got November and December left in 2024.

To me,

This can be a tricky time of the year,

Because,

You know,

Family members can get triggered or activated during the holiday time.

And so it can be a little bit tricky navigating that.

But what I would like to spend my time doing is reflection,

Reflection on,

You know,

Sort of,

Yeah,

What were the experiences during 2024?

And just as Violet was just saying,

You know,

What are some teaching moments in there?

How can I move forward in a good way?

And the other thing I wanted to share,

Because it was a message that came through the last sweat lodge that I did,

Spirit is saying to us,

You know,

It is our we have free will now to move from a healing stage into a freedom stage.

And so that's why I'm asking myself those questions as much as I can to say,

Okay,

Well,

How can I invite joy into my life today?

How can I invite?

How can I invite freedom into my life?

Because as someone who basically spent her life triggered and activated,

You know,

I want to spend the rest of my life in a more peaceful and,

And freedom state.

And the other thing is just reminding people that when you're going through these reflections,

And you're looking at,

You know,

What do I want to have happen in my life in 2025,

This is a good time to set those foundations and to,

And to be clear with your mindset,

What is it that you really want to experience and,

And move forward with that.

So I love doing that.

I will do it several times throughout the year.

But I love putting my focus into that at this time,

Rather than thinking about,

You know,

The chaos that can happen,

The dysfunction that can happen with families around,

Around the holiday time.

So thanks for letting me share that,

Olivia.

And I was just going to add one thing.

And on the question of what,

What I think,

Or what do we think makes a good teacher.

And I think that's a very personal thing.

And that's why it's amazing,

Like you see on Instagram,

The vast array of different types of teachers,

Different personalities,

And different offerings.

And because there's endless different types of people looking for something,

And so they need all different types of teachers.

But one thing,

And I agree with what all of you guys said,

You know,

Listening,

And I can't remember who said it,

Violet,

Maybe,

Instead of just coming there and wanting to,

To,

To talk,

To teach,

Well,

To,

You know,

Give your opinion,

It's about listening.

And as Christoph said,

Holding a safe space.

And I think one thing that I feel really passionate about is for a teacher to be really compassionate,

But not compassion is as an empathy or outward going compassion.

For me,

It's more about being just a compassionate presence,

You know,

So that you hold,

As Christoph was saying,

You can really hold that space in a loving way,

So that the student or students can really feel that they can open and completely themselves.

And this will really help,

You know,

With growth or healing,

Whatever it is.

So I think that's something that's really important that I just wanted to add.

Well,

It's hard to believe that it's 124.

It's gone by so fast.

I would love it if we could just everybody share a little bit about yourselves,

Whatever you want people to know,

Where they can find you,

The best ways to support you,

Whatever,

Whatever you're called to share.

And you can unmute yourselves and just speak.

It's okay.

You don't have to raise your hand.

I'll go.

I saw you.

I saw you.

We were all waiting.

So again,

My name is Alejandro H.

Here on Insight Timer.

You can,

The best way you can support me is and all of us,

I think it's by listening to our tracks,

Leaving a review.

And I have a course here on Insight Timer.

It's only three days and it's Embracing Vulnerability,

A Journey Towards Authentic Living.

So yeah,

Come to the lives.

You can find us.

But follow us and really engage,

Engage with our content if it resonates.

And let us know,

Let us know what you think.

I think for me,

Feedback is really important when it comes to the tracks,

The lives we can do,

You know,

On the moment feedback.

But when it comes to the tracks,

Feedback is important for us to know either to edit that one track or to what to look at for the next track or the next course and so on.

So the best way you can engage,

Support me is engaging with my content here,

Coming to the lives and,

And yeah,

Alex Alejandro H.

Here on Insight Timer.

Hey,

Derese Klein here.

So for me,

The same as Alejandro,

Like come to the lives,

Send,

I love it when people send me like messages or questions,

Right?

There's a lot of wisdom in this group and a lot of wisdom amongst the teachers that we love to share because I,

I strive for people to like take the shortcut,

Like it took me decades to get to where I am now as far as like authenticity and the peace that I,

That I have that I was,

You know,

Oblivious to for like four decades.

That's a long,

Long time.

So if I can help someone take like little shortcuts and provide them with the tools,

But it's also up to the student to use those tools,

Right?

To use that discernment,

Like what is going to work for me in this moment in my life.

So yeah,

So just show up to our lives,

Give us feedback,

Engage,

Like we're always,

I mean,

I'm seeing for all of us,

But I am happy to like answer,

You know,

Answer questions and I'm sure other teachers are too,

Like we're here to help.

That's,

That's why we're on Insight Timer to help.

So yeah.

Oh,

And my info is up in the bio on Insight Timer.

So all the links to all the things and yeah.

Yeah.

If I can weigh in there,

Of course,

As you both spoke for all of us,

It counts for everyone here to listen to our tracks.

Reviews are very,

Very nice to receive as well.

I also really like to connect and receive messages.

So I know what's going on and what are topics that are living inside of you,

How I can help you better.

So I usually ask that after the lives as well.

What do you want the next topic to be?

And then it's lovely to receive messages about that so I can get creative and be of more help as well.

So I'd love that.

Cindy.

I can share that.

Yeah.

You'll find me as Cindy Crow on Insight Timer.

And aside from the tracks,

And I have one course up so far,

I do two lives,

Usually Monday morning,

And spiders helping me again,

Usually Monday morning and Thursday morning at 10am Eastern Standard Time,

And I usually do two hours.

And it is about a lot of spirituality questions,

Including animal spirit guides and,

And other questions.

And basically,

I'm doing readings for individuals.

But again,

Because we're all on a parallel process together.

When I'm doing those readings,

They will usually resonate with others.

And lots of times,

I'll say,

Oh,

That one's for me.

And so you know,

I take Olivia.

Yeah,

Pretty much what everyone else said.

My name is Olivia Jackson.

Search my name on Insight Timer if you want to find me.

I have a few courses.

I'm quite new on Insight Timer.

Actually,

I've only been on it for six or seven months,

I think.

So I have a few courses on there specifically with healing,

Or mostly.

And I have a live every Tuesday at British time.

I don't know what that's called.

2.

30 in the afternoon.

So it's like morning American time.

I know you have different times.

But yeah,

That's it really.

That's where you can find me.

Thank you.

I just want to say thank you to all of you,

Teachers,

Students,

Everybody that showed up.

And I see that everybody really resonated with everyone in the audience.

I don't know if you guys saw the chat.

But it was definitely a very special,

Special Ask Your Guides,

Violet.

Yes,

Thank you.

Thank you to all the teachers,

As always.

And adding to what Olivia said,

I agree.

There's so many different types of teachers.

And you know,

I don't always resonate with everybody.

But it's,

I said to Melanie yesterday,

It's always nice to know that even if we don't resonate,

Somebody else does.

There's always somebody,

Even the teacher that was not very nice,

Melanie,

He resonates with some people.

And I'm like,

You know,

It's great to have a place where you can find your tribe,

Whatever that tribe may be.

So thank you,

Everybody for being here.

Thank you,

Everybody who participated in the chat.

And you know that we will be back.

So you'll see actually we have some one next week.

So we will see a lot of you again soon.

Thank you so much.