In Flow & Free Podcast

Here we are, after taking this time off to uplift our sense of well-being and tendin' to things in need of tendin'. And so we are utilizing this month to examine just that…are we well-beings…being well? We hear the word “wellness” plastered on everything these days, usually referring to this emotional place or space we're meant to get to. Hey Briana, are you following your gimmicky ass 3 steps to wellness plan? Hey V, did you journal every second of your wellness journey today? : / We eat this wellness shit up, consuming all the things to supplement our well-being journey, with an expectation that wellness is some safe and stable destination that we are meant to settle into. Maybe it's the journey... Recently well-being, at least for me, has been a moment-by-moment choosing of myself as honestly and compassionately as I can. It's a listening to my needs, allowing my path to unfold before me without the language of something being wrong navigating my choices. It's showing up like my most present self…without controlling or “trying” to fix anything in the "me" that is presently being here, now. It's allowing the stories I spit up to rest when rest is what I need or maybe it looks like me being willing to allow the pain and pressure to build, taking me to whatever emotion or experience awaits me. I am blessed to have built a safe community of support around me so that if I fall in too deep, I know someone is willing to jump in to grant me their spaciousness until I reach the shore. Maybe it's simply time... the wandering we will do for a lifetime, as we develop ourselves through all the endless alchemical shifts and fiery aches, slowly forging the magic that is us and within us as collective beings. Listen in as Vanessa & Briana ebb in, out of, and through the many hues of their journeys as well beings. We are always so grateful for your time and your attention. Drop us a like or a comment and share your wellness journey with us, whether it be the journey of a day, year, or a lifetime...we'd love to hear from you. Visit www.inflowandfree.com to learn more about our offering this month If you'd love to support us further, donate to the cause and help us grow our offerings of yoga and meditation. We love yall. Ep Art by Thom Milovic on Unsplash

It's been a minute yall, and we're back from an enriching podcast hiatus to offer you a mini audio series we call "Sitting With Intention." These are lil gems and nuggets of inspiration and intention that have been living through us lately. These intentions stir up all the feels and explorations of what's been happening in Briana and Vanessa's lives. We share, we question, and challenge how we navigate various aspects and facets of what it truly means to learn how to live, as we are and as we can be. This week's Intention is a personal share on Freedom from Briana Fails. All throughout July, Vanessa and Briana have been exploring the movements of freedom, and often lack of, in their relationships and within themselves. This share is a minute snapshot of Briana's experiences, as she reflects on what freedom feels and looks like and how this freedom, and all its movements, are shifting and shaping her own life, flowing far beyond her own nourishment. Tune into more lil gems with The In Flow & Free Podcast. To join us at our online donation-based meditation, yoga, and communal sharing this Sunday (July 25, 2021) beginning at 9:30am CST. Links can be found on our IG @inflowandfree or head to our website to see what other good shit we're up to at www.inflowandfree.com

What we are presenting today is a candid and impromptu conversation between V and I centered around how we try to ground and re-root ourselves into some sense of safety, love, and kindness. We found ourselves in a beautiful exchange about how we sometimes feel overwhelmed and consumed by the narrowness of our emotions and how that feeds into how the ways we attempt to create and nurture our relationships. We share hard experiences and the possibility of shifting from moments of stuckness and rigidity into the freedom of speaking our truths and being open to creating new paths for ourselves and the worlds we inhabit. We are so grateful for your support. Share us with your loved ones or better yet, we invite you to create your own explorations around how you come back to your own sense of love and safety and then maybe, share that with people you care about. Invite them to share with you too. & who knows...maybe we'll begin to listen deeper and share more openly about what it takes to truly care for ourselves and one another. We love yall...be well. TO join our donations-based yoga and meditation classes or our communal events, follows us on IG @inflowandfree or go to www.inflowandfree.com Episode Art: by Billy Williams on Unsplash

When I say the word "spacious" what does it mean for you? How does the word spaciousness move through your words, within your thoughts, and through your body? In this short conversation and meditation, Briana asks questions to stir a curiosity around how we play and empower the spacious creator within ourselves. This is a beautiful and brief exploration into what becomes possible when we, like the inhale, expand into the richness of the space all around us. This month, Vanessa and Briana dive into the "Impressions" we make in our lives. We will spend April sifting through the impact and footprints we leave upon this world, and upon ourselves, and check-in with what's there. To join our weekly meditations or yoga classes, or Bi-weekly Communal Calls go to www.inflowandfree.com OR follow us on IG @inflowandfree to get more deets. Image by Ram Gopal on Unsplash

This Get Free Meditation is an invitation to be in the moment, allowing time to share space with you. This is a practice that can be done seated, lying down, or while creating a safe walking meditation for yourself. Vanessa guides us to connect our breath and ourselves at this moment and into the next, inviting us to explore what's possible for our peace and self-restoration. We are grateful for your sharing and your practice. For more meditations, offerings, or to support the growth go to www.inflowandfree.com. Thank you. Be well Friends. Photo by Annie Spratt https://unsplash.com/@anniespratt

Today, Briana and Vanesssa offer an episode about the complexities of Integrity. We are joined by our good friend, author & astrologer, Thea Anderson. Thea shares with us the value of community as we navigate this word "integrity" and how essential it is that we tap into our own truth-telling, our own stories, to dismantle the oppressions of the outer world's influence over our own integrity. Thea is even so kind to share her Astro Forecast for the end of the year which leaves us with so much to call forth in 2021. This conversation ebbs and flows through so many feels and we offer to you the space to explore the freedom that can be summoned by creating and uplifting our own stories through integrity. For more of her writing, Astro forecasts or to book your own reading (we highly recommend) head to her website: http://theanichelle.com/ OR follow her on IG @theaastrology for daily doses of the astroweather and her writing https://www.instagram.com/theaastrology/ As always, we are grateful for your support. Listen IN and support our yoga and meditation offerings at www.inflowandfree.com

Vanessa guides us through a meditation for undoing our "do the most" energies. Find a place of rest and comfort for this meditation and explore your own spacious sense of getting free. For more meditations, our yoga and Reflect & Release communal call schedule, or to find out how you can join the community go to www.inflowandfree.com May we all expand into the spaciousness of love and true liberation. Be Well.

This week, we talk with our dearest friend Nailah Griffin. This Brooklyn-born beauty wears many hats as an artist, mother, food activist, and community builder. Her art speaks through moods and food, reverberating the joys and injustices of living as a black woman navigating American life. She currently is working on building a community garden to help feed those in the community who need it most in New Orleans. We had the privilege to catch up with Nailah and explore how we elevate, and often sabotage, our growth through "Integrity." We discuss the challenges and empowerment that inform how we try on our fullest, most seen, and authentic self-expression in our work, relationships, and for ourselves. We acknowledge that often our integrity isn't "for us" and how that generational and the trappings of our society shape how we self-express. Honoring our Integrity has the power to uplift us, especially when we feel like we can show up and truly honor our word and intentions, but integrity also has a shadow side that can heighten our insecurities, and minimize our efforts to love ourselves. We explore "who our integrity is for" This conversation is an ode to spiritual growth, friendship, and the journey we are all on to amplify our truths. To find out more about Nailah's latest art exhibitions, how you can support the community garden, and her growth as a mother, artist, and food activist, follow (@msmowgli) her on IG: https://www.instagram.com/msmowgli/ We are forever evolving, growing our lives to live into our purpose with honesty and fulfillment. We open our arms, welcoming in the abundance life has so graciously gifted us. Thank you for riding this wave with us. However you need to heal and ground, we got you covered, head to our website to view September's Meditation & Yoga Schedule. www.inflowandfree.com Follow Us @inflowandfree https://www.instagram.com/inflowandfree/ Photo: Louise Knight Gibson https://unsplash.com/photos/YOly-wDkZLM

This week we attempt to get free around our money mindsets. Needless to say, it's funny until those $6 in my savings account weren't laughing. Hmmmm… We talk with our good friend and financial advisor Derek Polley, who's been working within the financial sector for over 13 years. Derek has learned many of the money traps and lessons along his journey and works to empower others to uplift their bank accounts, and their knowledge in more mindful ways (I dunno, my money kind of stubborn tho). Derek helps us sort through some of the pitfalls that we make when approaching investment opportunities and growing our financial literacy. As a black financial advisor, he seeks to build bridges to financial health within black communities and offer more education for growing our wealth. He talks about just how predatory many investment and advisory firms are and how we need more collective know how to navigate being black and brown annnnnnnd financially healthy in this economy (this is key right here). The f*cked up side to learning about money, is that we now know we all never truly learned about money. Whether through systemic oppression, predatory banks, or the perpetuation of inequity, it's understandable why we lack clarity and any real healthy engagement with our financial selves. As black and brown beings, we often get left out of this education, which only furthers the financial insecurity that so many of us feel. We share our struggles, our insights, and our goals for creating more equity within our businesses. We explore how we might be able to infuse more compassion into our relationships with money and how choosing more sustainable and inclusive practices could serve our communities and our livelihoods. Comment, share and support the work. If you are curious about getting financially free and empowered within your own money mindset, you can reach out to Derek Polley for support. He has a website in the works, but until then you can DM him on IG @derekpolley8 (https://www.instagram.com/derekpolley8/?hl=en) or hit him up by Email at dereklpolley@gmail.com For More In Flow & Free Goodness and to learn more about this growing community head to www.inflowandfree.com Appreciations & Gratitude: Thank you to Derek Polley for showing up and sharing his knowledge. Thank you to Dirtbag Mcgee for providing our podcast with such dope music Thank you to this community for holding us down and loving us through all of our growth. Beautiful photography by Szabo Victor (https://unsplash.com/@vmxhu)

This week, Vanessa and I talk choices. It's a seemingly small idea...that we are always consciously, and unconsciously, choosing our life's direction. While we all know sh*t happens, we wonder what is there about "choice" that can often feel overwhelming. What is it about making choices that keep us lit the fu*k up and sometimes tuned the fu*k out. Whatever is guiding us, may we all be free of the prisons of our choice-making. May we be lighter by the possibility that dwells in each moment, each choice...revealing our light on our path ahead. Listen & Subscribe. Join the conversation now. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support. Learn more about our yoga and meditation offerings, and to contribute to the cause and help grow this community, head to www.inflowandfree.com Acknowledgments: Music by DirtbagMarley Image by: Gabriel at https://unsplash.com/photos/E-b_VNmtGJY

Whoop Whoop! We made our first muthaf*ckin podcast episode. This lil ear nibble introduces you to the team of Briana Fails and Vanessa Cartagena of their new wellness community, In Flow & Free. We're about uplifting our collective selves and expanding what true wholeness and wellness looks like. Through community, connection, and storytelling, we bring you all the feels, with all the love. Recording quality is a work in progress...(this ep is a lil boo boo on the quality front) but we're broke and more focused on the content right now so why hold back this love? Take a listen, send us some love, and let's get to growing. To learn more about In Flow & Free, our yoga and meditation offerings, and our communal events currently held through Zoom, head to www.inflowandfree.com Shout Outs & Gratitude Intro Music by DirtbagMarley Outro Music by Langston Blvck Image by Jovis Aloor on Unsplash