Podcast appearances and mentions of gil hedley

SYNOPSIS:This is a recording of one of our free, live Eventbrite sessions, where Ali Mezey was joined by Jane Peterson, PhD - and you, our audience - for a live, honest, body-centered conversation about the real work of being in relationship.(Yes, this episode includes live audience questions!)Together, we explore how our bodies carry old relational patterns - what Jane calls the "social soma" - and how these hidden imprints can shape the way we love, fight, and stay (or don't stay) connected.We talk about why love alone isn't always enough to align two people's lives, and why asking deeper, more honest questions early on matters so much.Jane shares practical ways to stay close even when life pulls you in different directions: evolving agreements, repairing after hurt, setting shared goals, and building intimacy that grows with you.We touch on marriage, infidelity, and non-traditional relationships with honesty and warmth, offering grounded advice for navigating real-world love.Whether you're partnered, single, or somewhere in between, this conversation will leave you with new ways to understand yourself, your relationships, and the deep intelligence of your body in all of it.To be an angel to the podcast, click hereTo read more about the podcast, click hereMORE ALI MEZEY:Website:  www.alimezey.comPersonal Geometry® and the Magic of Mat Work Course information:www.alimezey.com/personal-geometry-foundationsTransgenerational Healing Films: www.constellationarts.comMORE JANE PETERSON:Website: www.human-systems-institute.comContact: humansystemsinstitute@gmail.comBIO:Jane Peterson, PhD, is the co-founder and executive director of the Human Systems Institute, Inc. She is the originator of Somatic Imaging and the somatic-resonance approach to constellation work. Her work is internationally respected for being tailored to meet the high learning demands of adult professionals. She was a faculty member at the International Intensive Workshop on Systemic Resolutions in Bernreid, Germany for 9 years. Jane is an INFOSYON certified Master Trainer and has served as an advisor and author for the Knowing Field journal. She has taught systemic constellation work in Asia, South America, South Africa, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and the U.S.In 2005, she organized the first U.S. Conference in constellation work. Her Institute offers trainings in Somatic Imaging and systemic constellation work, including training in organizational constellations. The institute is currently offering it's seventeenth year of training programs.Jane started her professional career as an engineer and manager in a high tech firm (the first woman engineer hired into her department) and knows first-hand the demands placed on leaders in the corporate environment. In the course of becoming a constellation facilitator, she has also been a professional ceramic sculptor and ran her own fine arts studio, Laughing Bones, Inc.Jane is a master practitioner of Neuro-linguistic Programming, a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, a Certified Professional Behavioral Coach and a member of the American Counseling Association, VOIS, OHA, and ODN. She has studied Process Oriented Psychology with Arny Mindell and Max Schupbach, Group Dynamics with Michael Grinder, Peruvian energy healing with Don Amèrico Yàbar, Attachment and Trauma work with Dan Siegel and Diane Poole Heller, a Psycho-biological Approach to Couples Therapy with Stan Tatkin (Level 2), Coordinated Management of Meaning with Barnett Pearce, and continues to learn with other research-driven leaders in the fields of personal and social evolution. She holds a doctorate in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University, and has been a post-doctoral fellow of the Institute for Social Innovation.OTHER RESOURCES, LINKS AND INSPIRATIONS:Essential Skills for CouplesAdapting Systemic Constellations to OrganizationsHuman-Systems-InstituteBurt Hellinger: “caring for desire”Elaine Debutant: compatibility is actually an achievement of love, not a precondition.”SOCIAL SOMA - our body is shaped by our social relationshipsLALAGE SNOW:  We Are the Not Dead - photographerStan Tatkin - safety in relationship = taking care of each other. The Social BiomeTerry Real - The Social EcosystemEsther Perel: Mating in CaptivityArny Mindell, Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict  and DiversityScience of TouchingEllyn Bader, the Initiator/Inquirer processStan Tatkin, In Each Other's Care: A Guide to the Most Common Relationship Conflicts and How to Work Through ThemTerry Real,

A deep dive with Gil Hedley

This episode of the Next Level Healing Podcast is the recording of a webinar hosted by Dr. Tara Perry and Dr. Gil Hedley, who answers participant questions and takes us on a fascinating journey exploring the profound connection between human anatomy, spirituality, and personal growth. Don't miss this fascinating conversation!Work with Dr. Tara PerryTune in every week for a new episode of Next Level Healing. Subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and never miss an episode!

CONTENT HEADS UP: This episode contains (among other things) a deep, frank conversation about life, death, Catholicism, the cosmos, reverential dissection, body phenomena, including orgasm, service, enlightenment, circumcision, some swear words, a lot of humor, and of course, some challenges and gifts of being bodies.And in case it's not clear, Gil dissects, with dedication, “donor forms” - no longer inhabited bodies gladly donated by their prior inhabitants - to illuminate the wonders of the human body so that we might all live ours more fully. SYNOPSIS: In this episode, Ali talks with Gil Hedley, educator and the producer of the Integral Anatomy series, who offers a expert perspective on the human body from the inside out. With a background in Theological Ethics and decades of dedication dissecting donated human bodies, Gil views the body as an archaeological site, exploring the layers of the human form and what they reflect about the near-infinite complexity of human existence. This episode delves into, as Gil calls it, a “re-branding of the human body” - giving us life-enhancing “re-conceptions” of the heart and body phenomena (fat, the foreskin, blood, orgasm) we have taken for granted and/or completely misunderstood. This conversation also explores the harmful effects of body fragmentation, and the interconnectedness of spirit and matter. Viewing the body through Gil's extraordinary professional, and personal, perspective gives us a window into our inner-universe and beyond to our cosmic identity. After listening, your experience of being a body will never be the same! A warning: the episode includes frank and loving discussions of death and human dissection.TO VIEW ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/qekoqzr-4s0BECOME A SOMANAUT!If you enjoyed what you just heard, we highly recommend you treat yourself to an Explorer Membership - the keys to the Gil Hedley kingdom – whose generous fare will include access to:– Anatomy from A to Z: a detailed video encyclopedia of the human form in 19 courses. 200+ hours of video content in production.– Live with Gil: Monthly, live online meet-up with Gil and other experts.– Video livestreams of actual dissections and his ever illuminating, and quite entertaining, narratives of his discoveriesAnd so much more that I won't list them here. Check it all out for yourself!Go to www.gilhedley.com/membership!Your experience of yourself as a whole body being will be ever-expanded!FOR MORE GIL HEDLEY:BIO: Gil has been teaching integral anatomy in the dissection laboratory, via keynotes and speaking tours, and online via his extensive website and subscription portal, www.gilhedley.com, and YouTube channel, "Somanaut," since 1995. He is the producer of The Integral Anatomy Series, the Anatomy from A to Z Project, and The Nerve Project, as well as being the author of several books and anatomy models. He is based at the Institute for Anatomical Research in Colorado Springs, CO, where he teaches, films, and serves as Board President.GIL – YoutubeGIL – InstagramGIL – FacebookGIL HEDLEY: A few favourite videos…The Amazing ForeskinPars Intima: A Rebranding Campaign for the Human BodyThe Heart-Brain (just a gorgeous 5-minute video that will transform your understanding of your heart and brain)Find Gil's published works, and oh, so much more brilliant bodied stuff here.OTHER RESOURCES, LINKS & INSPIRATION:CANDACE PERT: Molecules of EmotionMICHAEL TALBOT: The Holographic UniverseWILHELM REICH: The Function of the OrgasmPOWERS OF TEN: A FLIPBOOKHENRY GRAY: Author of Gray's Anatomy (yes, Shonda Rhymes TV series' title, Grey's Anatomy, is riffing on this guy who wrote the seminal, Gray's Anatomy1966 film “The Fantastic Voyage” trailer (some of us remember being traumatized as a kid by the white corpuscles!)

In this episode of the Next Level Healing Podcast, Dr. Tara Perry interviews Dr. Gil Hedley, who takes us on a fascinating journey exploring the profound connection between human anatomy, spirituality, and personal growth.In this episode, Gil shares insights from his transformative 30-year journey—from his bodybuilding inspirations to his groundbreaking Nerve Tour across 108 cities. Discover how Gil's unique blend of scientific expertise and spiritual insight challenges conventional perceptions and encourages a deeper engagement with the human body as a sacred vessel.Work with Dr. Tara PerryTune in every week for a new episode of Next Level Healing. Subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and never miss an episode!

Live with Gil Hedley

In this minisode, Ali guides you on a mini mapping experience to explore your heart/sexuality split - or un-split!Using her method, Personal Geometry® (explored in Episode 31 with Lauren Gleason) in mere minutes you will gain insights into what your present stance is in relation to your romantic heart and your sexuality - in relation to anyone or anything that is currently an issue for you.Find out what your body knows about it!In minutes, you'll see-feel what could help you understand, and live, a more harmonious relationship between these essential aspects of being - whether in relationship to someone else and/or yourself.MORE ALI MEZEY:Website:  https://www.alimezey.comPersonal Geometry® and the Magic of Mat Work Course information:https://www.alimezey.com/personal-geometry-foundationsTo book a session, email Ali at ali@alimezey.com

NEXT COHORT STARTS TOMORROW February 8th - Jump In!Personal Geometry® is a somatic and spatial practice that taps into the body's innate, felt-sense understanding of spatial relationships. This work can do so much so quickly. It's an amazing way to get you, your clients, your partner, other participants, to see and feel the body-truth of things in minutes. We are excited to share Personal Geometry Foundations with you as a practitioner discover how you can best tailor it to the disciplines you are already, or will be, practicing. This non-verbal, embodied approach provides a clear and immediate visual and visceral representation of a person's inner world, making it an invaluable tool for therapists, facilitators, and anyone seeking profound transformation.  A seven-week online class - perfect for therapists, sexologists, coaches, and healing practitioners. Foundations is the prerequisite for advanced classes on Sexuality and Addiction, and individuals seeking personal healing are welcome too!  PERSONAL GEOMETRY TRAININGSJoin the Next Personal Geometry® Foundations Class  (online over Zoom)Now enrolling - click here for more details. Next cohort starts February 8th, 2025.Our audience gets $250 off - just mention the show when contacting Ali. MORE ALI MEZEY:Website:  https://www.alimezey.comPersonal Geometry® and the Magic of Mat Work Course information:https://www.alimezey.com/personal-geometry-foundationsTransgenerational Healing Films: https://constellationarts.com/If you have any questions, email Ali at: ali@alimezey.com

In this special retrospective episode of The Thinking Practitioner, Whitney Lowe and Til Luchau look back season five's thought-provoking discussions, expert interviews, and groundbreaking insights into the world of massage therapy and bodywork. Reflecting on their most impactful episodes and a guest list that included Tom Myers, Sharon Wheeler, Jill Cook, Antonio Stecco, Greg Lehman and more, they explore highlights such as pain science with Lorimer Moseley, innovative anatomical approaches with Gil Hedley, and Til's profound personal and professional journey through grief. With a mix of deep dives into manual therapy techniques and candid personal stories, this episode celebrates the depth and breadth of the profession and the podcast's community. Key Topics and Time Codes: •[00:01:00] Introduction and celebrating five seasons of The Thinking Practitioner. •[00:04:00] Reflections on how bodywork has personally transformed Whitney and Til over the years (Episode 134). •[00:06:00] Gil Hedley's overview of cranial nerves, and his groundbreaking Nerve Tour (Episode 110). •[00:10:35] Highlights from the conversation with Lorimer Moseley on explaining pain (Episode 111). •[00:15:20] Insights into proprioception and fascia from Rochelle Clausen and Nicole Trombley (Episode 119). •[00:17:00] "Movement optimism" with Greg Lehman and rethinking rehabilitation (Episode 114). •[00:20:20] Rolfer Sharon Wheeler discusses the legacy of her ScarWork and Bone Work (Episode 133). •[00:25:00] Low back pain updates: A practical discussion on treatment and understanding (Episode 127). •[00:30:00] Reflections on grief and its profound impact on personal and professional life (Episodes 125, 130, and 132). •[00:33:00] Jill Cook's insights into tendon pain and the evolving understanding of tendinopathy (Episode 128). •[00:36:30] Celebrating the diversity of guests, their contributions to the field. •[00:38:00] Looking forward to Season 6 and inviting listener input for future episodes. Join us for a heartfelt and inspiring look back at the evolution of The Thinking Practitioner and a preview of what's to come in Season 6.

SYNOPSIS:In this episode, Ali Mezey dives into an enlightening conversation with financial therapist Bari Tessler. Bari, a pioneer in the financial therapy field with a master's degree in somatic psychology from Naropa University, shares her unique somatic-based financial therapy methodology.  Bari highlights the importance of integrating body awareness with financial literacy and exploring how emotions play a major role in our money decisions. She details the development of her three-phase approach: money healing, money practices, and money maps. The episode is filled with stories and practical tips about body check-ins, overcoming under earning, and learning to have empowered money conversations. To be an angel to the podcast, click hereTo read more about the podcast, click hereMORE ALI MEZEY:Website:  www.alimezey.comPersonal Geometry® and the Magic of Mat Work Course information:www.alimezey.com/personal-geometry-foundationsTransgenerational Healing Films: www.constellationarts.comAli's short description of Constellation Work: https://studio.youtube.com/video/ADAHZWOzRDM/editMORE BARI TESSLER:Website: www.baritessler.com Facebook: Bari Tessler Lindin Instagram: @baritessler Bio:Hi, I'm Bari Tessler, a financial therapist and a pioneer in the financial therapy field. I have a Masters degree in Somatic Psychology from Naropa University, 1998, and ran a bookkeeping business for therapists and artists. In 2001, I merged all my training and created a somatic-based Financial Therapy methodology that I've been teaching via my Art of Money program and a Mentor Program. I am also the Author of The Art of Money: A Life-Changing Guide to Financial Happiness and The Art of Money Workbook. In my group programs and private financial therapy, I've guided thousands of people to bring healing, un-shaming, and empowerment to our money relationships and all that it touches. I live in Boulder, Colorado with my husband, son, many cats + large puppy.OTHER RESOURCES, LINKS AND INSPIRATIONS:Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn are common trauma responses that reveal how the nervous system reacts to stress or danger. In this episode, we explore these instinctive behaviors and their impact on emotional regulation, decision-making, and relationships.The four trauma responses most commonly recognized are: Fight – when we believe that if we are able to maintain power over the threat, we will gain control. This can look like physical fights, yelling, physical aggression, throwing things, and property destruction. It can also look like balling your hands into fists, feeling a knot in your stomach, crying, being argumentative, or experiencing a tight jaw.Flight – when we believe that if we are able to escape the threat and avoid conflict, then we will not be harmed. This can look like running away and avoiding interactions with others," notes Moronu. To avoid uncomfortable feelings, you may escape the situation by staying busy or fleeing for the exit whenever things get tough. Freeze – it might look like being at a loss for words, retreating into your mind, having a hard time breaking out and being present, sleeping, dissociating/spacing out, and going emotionally or physically numb.”Fawn – people-pleasing and engaging in pacifying behaviors. It's characterized by prioritizing people above all else by doing whatever they want to diffuse conflict and receive their approval. It seems good to be well liked and defer to others to secure safety, but not when it's at the cost of losing yourself. It can reach a point where you abandon yourself and your needs by merging so thoroughly with others.“Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn: Examining The 4 Trauma Responses” – Julie NguyenTamara SlaytonPeter LevinePersonal Geometry and Family Constellation Work The Big Leap by Gay HendricksSo Barbara Stanny Overcoming Under Earning Mikelann ValterraENCOURAGE US!: Donate $5 THE WIND BENEATH OUR WINGS. DONATE $25+Sharing is free! And so is rating us! These are also incredibly helpful ways you can support us in sharing this transformative information. Thank you, Bari!

This week's episode of the Unreal Results podcast comes on the heels of attending Gil Hedley's Nerve Tour.  You know I'm a BIG proponent of always learning, especially anatomy because I truly believe anatomy and physiology are the foundations of understanding the human body.  And when you know anatomy, you'll be better at manual therapy, assessing movement, and educating the client.  You'll hear more in this episode of why I think continuous anatomy learning can improve treatment outcomes, the value of cadaver labs, relationships between tissues, and how varying anatomy perspectives can enrich a health and fitness professional's knowledge.Resources Mentioned In This EpisodeEpisode 1: My Mom's Cancer Diagnosis Changed My Whole Approach To Sports HealthcareEpisode 43: Becoming The Best At What You DoEpisode 56: My Favorite Books For Sports Healthcare ProvidersGil Hedley's WebsiteGil Hedley's Nerve TourBarral Institute courses (be sure to mention I referred you to your first course!)Get Functional Atlas of the Human Fascial System by Carla Stecco *Get Architecture of Human Living Basic by Jean-Cladue Guimberteau*Learn the LTAP™ In-Person in one of my upcoming courses*This link is an Amazon affiliate link, meaning I earn a commission from any qualifying purchases that you makeConsidering the viscera as a source of musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction is a great way to ensure a more true whole body approach to care, however it can be a bit overwhelming on where to start, which is exactly why I created the Visceral Referral Cheat Sheet. This FREE download will help you to learn the most common visceral referral patterns affecting the musculoskeletal system. Download it at www.unrealresultspod.com=================================================Watch the podcast on YouTube and subscribe!Join the MovementREV email list to stay up to date on the Unreal Results Podcast and MovementREV education. Be social and follow me:Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Hello everyone, wow have I got a wonderful interview lined up for you today.It is with great gratitude and respect, I get to share my interview with world leading anatomist Gil Hedley, founder of Integral Anatomy.Gil has been teaching “integral anatomy” in the dissection laboratory, via keynotes and speaking tours, and online via his extensive website and subscription portal, www.gilhedley.com, and his YouTube channel, "Somanaut," since 1995. He is the producer of The Integral Anatomy Series, the Anatomy from A to Z Project, and The Nerve Project, as well as being the author of several books and anatomy models.He is based at the Institute for Anatomical Research in Colorado Springs, CO, where he teaches, films, and serves as Board President.We talk about his history, what led him to this deep exploration of anatomy and how it has informed his views on life. He speaks about the work leading upto his Nerve Tour, of which there will be a special European livestream on 5th January 2025 and how all of this is relevant for those of us working with health in any modality.This was a really exciting interview to do and I know that the Bowen community will really benefit from this, as we have from Gil's work over the last 15+ years.If you would like to learn more about Gil, you can connect with his work here: https://www.gilhedley.com/https://www.instagram.com/gilhedley/https://www.facebook.com/p/Gil-Hedley-Integral-Anatomy-100064739404455/ https://www.youtube.com/@UC340xzyTs7QNDgdcJDAmUlAAnd for the book he mentioned https://channelmcgilchrist.com/master-and-his-emissary/If you would like to learn more about the work of the BTPA, your local practitioner, where to train in the UK and much more, than check out our website and socials at: https://www.bowentherapy.org.uk/https://www.facebook.com/BowenBTPAhttps://www.instagram.com/bowenbtpa/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/integral-health-with-ben-calder--3335603/support.

It took a long time to nail down a date to do a second interview with Kelly Kennedy, but here it finally is and I'm so grateful to be able to share it with you.The importance of keeping the lymph moving can't be overstated... there is a reason why this has been a main focus for Kelly for years.In this interview we get into more of the practicalities around lymph care and impress upon you how the power is really yours. Kelly provides simple tools that can really help you move the needle is your state of health.If you haven't heard my first interview with Kelly, then please also listen to episode #71 to learn more of what brought Kelly and her husband to creating their clinic, some lymph basics and so much more.In this interview you will learn:The importance of putting ourselves firstThe stillness required for healingThe practicality and ubiquitous applications of lymph supportHow to pump your nodes at the clavicle area (the termini)Why it's so important to start moving the lymph at the end and the importance of the order from thereHow the lymphatic system works as a vacuumHow the lymph can be "backed up" but can't "back flow"Best positions for pumping upper and lower lymphThe work of Gil Hedley and the uniqueness of every bodyThe dynamic nature of the human bodyHow Kelly healed the cavitations in her mouth without surgeryThe need for self care over health careThe need to address the fundamental basics or lowest common denominator when addressing health issuesLooking at regulation of cells rather than function of cells to ensure proper signallingHow we have advanced greatly in our tech yet universal understanding of water and energy lags in comparisonHow mobilizing lymph puts us into a parasympathetic, or healing, stateWhat nourishes the lymph (see the Lymph Loopholes link)Worst things for the lymph, including the clothes you wear!Why the quality of water in all its uses matersHow malabsorption increases when in a sympathetic statethe importance of moving frequently and differentlyHow to stay ahead of the toxic exposureThe Flow Vibe - how to use itQuestions to ask yourself to move your health needleThe power of being still and tuning into your posture, pains and asymmetriesThe power of daily lymph and fascia movements and careKelly's divine message of this divine body - first shared here!Major signs of lymph stagnation - strangely sound like the most common complaints out thereThe areas where people tend to get puffyand more!If you enjoyed this episode, please share and consider going to www.sovereigncollective.org/shop to check out my offerings and get a deal while supporting the podcast. I'll be adding more great offerings there over time.Join our new Telegram group and channel, Inner Alchemy Dojo, as we explore the art and science of Inner Mastery and Relationship:https://t.me/inneralchemydojoConnect with Kelly:Website: www.thetruewellnesscenter.comYou Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@EnergyFLOWwithKellyKennedynstagram: @truewellnesssglobalPodcast: FLOWE: Lymphatic Wisdom- Open Your Heart and Optimize Wellness5 Lymphatic Loopholes Guide: https://www.flowintohealth.com/top-5-lymphatic-health-loopholes560651----------------------------------------------------------Are you concerned about the future of our children?The world needs more conscious parents. Stop raising children who need to recover from their childhoods! Get your online program chock full of interviews with world renowned experts here:http://www.sovereigncollective.org/gettheguideEmail me: sascha at sovereigncollective dot org

Pop quiz: how many bones in your body can you name? How many muscles? Do you know the difference between tendons, ligaments, and fascia? We are all walking around with a supercomputer between our ears, and our bodies themselves are a biological miracle - and yet we hardly pay them any mind. How strange! On this week's podcast, we'll attempt to spark your interest. Listen and learn: About the wonderful world of fascia How we are all mirrors and snowflakes, anatomically speaking The ethical considerations with human dissections and cadavers Links Gil's site ABOUT OUR GUEST Gil Hedley is an expert in human dissection and anatomy with over 29 years of experience. He is widely known for his pioneering approach to teaching and exploring the body through a blend of science, mindfulness, and embodiment. Like the Show? Leave us a review Check out our YouTube channel

Prepare yourself for this wild ride through mind of an anatomist like none other. From philosophy to ethics and theology to poetry and from left brain to right brain, the wonder of the human form deserves to be appreciated from this perspective. The beauty of life is not hard to find, all we need to do is look.   Gil Hedley Ph.D. - ⁠workshops@gilhedley.com⁠ https://www.gilhedley.com https://www.gilhedley.com/thenervetour Dr. Nicole Wong D.O. - nicole.wong@rvu.edu Dr. Jordan Little D.O. - jordanlittle.do@gmail.com ONMM Podcast - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠onmmpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode, Ali Mezey share the concept of 'Soma' as illuminated by Master Bodyworker and Author, Thomas Hanna, in his book The Body of Life. Thomas Hanna coined the term 'somatic' now used extensively by practitioners of many body-based disciplines - he is one of the grandfathers of body therapy practiced all over the world in infinite variation. in this episode, Ali reads  out of the introductory chapter which discussing the distinction between the physical body and the living, dynamic 'Soma' and dives into the broader context of human embodiment. Hanna's body of work, and this episode, offer a profound perspective on the interconnectedness, adaptability, and intrinsic intelligence of living systems. To be an angel to the podcast, click hereTo read more about the podcast, click hereMORE ALI MEZEY:Website:  www.alimezey.comPersonal Geometry® and the Magic of Mat Work Course information:www.alimezey.com/personal-geometry-foundationsTransgenerational Healing Films: www.constellationarts.comMORE THOMAS HANNA:Website: www.somatics.org/about/introductionMore about: Who is Thomas Hanna in the world of Somatics?To purchase Hanna's book: The Body of Life: Creating New Pathways for Sensory Awareness and Fluid MovementThomas Hanna ObituaryThe bodywork community lost a vital member in Thomas Hanna, who died in a late July, 1990 auto accident near Novato, California. He was 61.Born November 21, 1928, in Waco, Texas, Hanna was the founder of the Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training in Novato, California and the editor of Somatics: Magazine-Journal of the Bodily Arts and Sciences. He also authored seven books, perhaps best know for Bodies in Revolt: A Primer in Somatic Thinking (1970) and Somatics (1989).Hanna is survived by his wife, Eleanor Criswell, and three children, daughters Tad Hanna and Wendell Zitelman , and son Michael Hanna.As an undergraduate at Texas Christian University from which he received a bachelor's in 1949, Hanna initially thought about going into theology. He continued studies at the University of Chicago, later receiving a Bachelor of Divinity and then a doctorate in philosophy.Hanna taught in Europe and several colleges throughout the U.S. At his memorial service held, Aug. 12, several people referred to his popularity as a teacher. One speaker recalled an incident while Hanna was teaching at the University of Florida. He was having car trouble and was going to be late getting to his class. He called his secretary as asked her to notify the class that he would be there but would arrive late. When he did arrive an hour and a half late, the class of 700 yoga students was still waiting for him in the ROTC quadrangle where the class met. Truly he was an engaging teacher. His commitment and involvement with his material, as well as his skill at communicating it, inspired his students.In his early seminal books, he posed philosophical questions about humanity, i.e. what is it to be human, to be embodied, to be free? Those questions run like themes though his work. They were questions he never ceased exploring.In the early 1970's, after reading Bodies in Revolt, a well-known member of the bodywork world suggested he meet and study with Moshe Feldenkrais. As a result, Hanna studied with Feldenkrais in 1973 and 1974, and organized the first four-year Feldenkrais training program in the U.S. in 1975. He also founded the Novato Institute in 1975.Hanna considered himself a writer, philosopher and teacher, not a bodyworker. He called the hands-on work Clinical Somatic Education. It was his strong belief that real change can only occur from within and not be imposed on someone from the outside. It is the difference between working on someone and working with someone. The goal was not to change tissue but to restore awareness and voluntary control over the sensory-motor system.He believed that people were affected by a condition he termed sensory motor amnesia (SMA), and his work was designed to correct this. The concept of SMA is that if you lose your awareness of a part of your body, either through trauma or habituation, you lose your ability o move that part. Restoring awareness restores voluntary control. This can then be reinforced with simple movement patterns similar to Feldenkrais movement.Hanna often referred to F.M. Alexander and Feldenkrais as important teachers for him. According to Hanna, Feldenkrais has made a tremendously important discovery about body function, but hadn't fully explored the implications of that discovery himself. Hanna used the analogy that Feldenkrais had opened the door to a vast new territory, but had not gone inside to explore. Hanna had gone through the door and was exploring this new territory in light of recent development in neurophysiology, and the implications were breathtaking. Feldenkrais had said, and Hanna reiterated, that there is no limit what people can learn.In an editorial last fall/winter, Hanna wrote about human mortality, analogizing it with his flowers:“There was only one difference between the flowers and me: the impatiens affirmed the eternity of life, and I did not. The impatiens were pure in the way they lived, and I was sullied with contradiction…I realized that, all things considered, it was the impatiens who lived life to the fullest, whereas I was living my life, hamstrung. It was not I who was superior, but they…Is total affirmation of life and growth the highest good, or is it some kind of sinful ignorance? Should I live awaiting the end that I have envisaged, or should I live expecting only life and only future?“Who is wiser? I, or the impatiens? I think the impatiens are wiser. They assume only what they know and feel. They do not assume something they do not know and feel…“And so I water my impatiens this summer and into the autumn. And I gaze at their happy innocence. They are my teachers, just as my mother is my teacher. And the water sinks down into the soil, giving life. It is the same soil from which I sprang and my mother sprang. And it is the same soil that will receive us both.“If I trusted it to give us life at the beginning, I might just as well trust it to give us life at the end. In that way, I have joined in a wisdom that tells me that my mother, my flowers, and I myself are now together and somehow will always be.”- Victoria Carmona, a student of Hanna's, contributed to this report.From Massa...

Disclaimer:This episode includes some graphic discussions about the insides of bodies. If you're squeamish or prefer to keep your anatomy lessons less hands-on, you might want to grab a pillow to hide behind or listen with a friend for moral support. Otherwise, dive in with us for some fascinating and occasionally gooey details!SYNOPSIS: In this episode Ali Mezey welcomes Dr. Madhav Gramke, a chiropractor and anatomist known for his innovative approach to bodywork. Madhav shares his journey into the world of anatomy, starting from a fascination with bodybuilding in middle school to becoming a chiropractor influenced by a profound encounter with a specialist. The conversation spans the uniqueness of human anatomy, the emotional dimensions of physical ailments, and Madhav's intimate experience working with the body of his late father in a nerve dissection project. They also discuss the importance of holistic approaches in chiropractic care and the often overlooked significance of the coccyx in overall health and the sometimes mysterious connection between physical ailments and emotional states. MORE ALI MEZEY:Website: www.alimezey.comPersonal Geometry® and The Magic of Mat Work Course informationTransgenerational Healing FilmsTransgenerational Healing With Stephan Hausner (Trailer)MORE MADHAV GRAMKE: Website: www.integratechiro.comAnatomy ClassBook with Madhav BIO: Madhav received his Doctorate of Chiropractic from Life University and a Bachelor's in Health Sciences from the University of Central Florida. He has extensive training in cranio/sacral therapy, pediatric and pregnancy techniques, and various chiropractic methods, with broad exposure to cross-disciplinary modalities.In addition to clinical education, Dr. Madhav has researched, explored, and taught anatomy, instructing doctoral students at Life University and currently teaching in Colorado Springs. This deep knowledge base informs his exceptional practice.His health journey began in high school with exercise and nutrition. A chiropractor's health talk profoundly influenced him, revealing a science aligned with nature that resolved not just back pain but also complex issues like digestive problems and neural disorders.LINKS, RESOURCES & INSPIRATION:The Body is a Gift with Gil Hedley: A Reverential Journey into the Human Body (audio)The Body is a Gift with Gil Hedley: A Reverential Journey into the Human Body (video)Our Sacred Hearts: Learn Integral Anatomy with Gil Hedley (video)The Heart-Brain: Learn Integral Anatomy with Gil Hedley (video)Integral Anatomy Heart: Unwinding the Heart Center, with Gil Hedley, Ph.D. (video)Stanley Keleman: EMOTIONAL ANATOMY (book)Louise Hay: HEAL YOUR BODY: THE MENTAL CAUSES OF PHYSICAL ILLNESS (book)Gil Hedley's Nerve Tour: 2023-2024“Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity." This quote is attributed to Roman philosopher, Seneca. [From time to time, a word or phrase goes wonky. Please forgive my wandering wifi.]

Today on the show I get to speak with Laura Victoria Ward, CMA, RSME, a dancer, choreographer, movement teacher, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, musician, painter, consciousness explorer, somanaut, and meditator.She is the artistic director of Kingston Contemporary Dance Theatre (formerly Octavia Cup Dance Theatre), a multi-disciplinary, multi-generational company. She has been creating dance theater and performing in New York City, the Hudson Valley, and internationally for over 25 years.She regularly creates and performs with Tonus Maximus and the Glam Rock Cabaret, The Goddess Party, and she is in your grandmother's punk rock band–a.k.a. Dick Pinchers. Recently, she played Columbia in Rocky Horror Picture Show with R'Ville Stage Creations.She holds a BA from SUNY Empire State in Dance, Theatre, and Movement Studies and has studied with Irene Dowd, Liz Koch, and Gil Hedley. She studied the Meisner technique with Michael Harney.  Her teaching experience includes Wagner College, Gina Gibney, Dance New Amsterdam, Equinox, Dutchess Community College, Manhattan School of Music, the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, Cornell Creative Arts Center, and privately. She has received several KCACTF Awards for her choreography at Ramapo College in New Jersey, as have the ensembles she has worked with. Her Ramapo choreography credits include Spring Awakening, Twelfth Night, Urinetown, Church, Ride the Cyclone, and Church.This year Laura received a Dance Force Choreographer's Initiative grant (NYSCA) which she is just beginning to work on. She has 2 paintings in a show at the Berkeley Alembic.She shares her early memories of movement and how her awareness of the body has developed and shaped who she is and the work she does. It's quite an inspiring conversation as Laura is steeped in body wisdom while being playful and open about how that weaves into her life. We learn about her own practices in both movement and stillness and what she offers to others as their guide. She indulges my questions about toddler movement, the nervous system and truth and offers a short yet powerful practice towards the end of the show. Connect with her via Facebook or Instagram for updates on classes, Dick Pinchers and Tonus Maximus and the Glam Rock Caberet.You can also check out her YOUTUBE Channel, Somatics with Laura V Ward here!See you at The Goddess Party performance this Saturday. And here's the info on costume designer Ramona who we gushed about!Today's show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.Our show music is from Shana Falana!Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IThttp://iwantwhatshehas.org/podcastITUNES | SPOTIFYITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-want-what-she-has/id1451648361?mt=2SPOTIFY:https://open.spotify.com/show/77pmJwS2q9vTywz7Uhiyff?si=G2eYCjLjT3KltgdfA6XXCAFollow:INSTAGRAM * https://www.instagram.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcast/FACEBOOK * https://www.facebook.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcast

check out www.themassagementorinstitute.com

Gil Hedley is a dedicated anatomy professional and teacher who has dedicated his life to studying the human body through cadaver dissection. He is known for his integral approach to anatomy, focusing on the interconnectedness of the body and the importance of understanding the whole person. Gil  has been teaching anatomy workshops and dissection courses for over 25 years. He is passionate about helping people develop a deep understanding and connection with their own bodies.Visit Gil on his website: https://www.gilhedley.com/Key Takeaways:Gil Hedley's integral approach to anatomy focuses on the interconnectedness of the body and the importance of understanding the whole person.The nervous system is a complex and interconnected network that extends throughout the entire body, and it is essential for self-regulation and overall well-being.By developing a deep connection with the body and understanding its intricate structures, individuals can take control of their own nervous system and cultivate a sense of empowerment.Gil's Nerve Tour aims to educate and inspire individuals in the yoga, massage, and bodywork communities to deepen their understanding of the nervous system and its role in overall health and well-being.Thanks for listening to this episode. Check out:

We frequently encounter challenges in conveying the depth and breadth of our experiences of being our bodies, using everyday language, particularly when newly popular terms become “buzz” words quickly obscuring, or not continuing to explore, what they even mean. At the end of each episode of The Brilliant Body Podcast, I pose a simple yet profound question to my guests: "How do you define embodiment?" I've combined the responses to form this mini-sode, offering you a mosaic of perspectives and language used to describe embodiment by pioneering body masters who have studied their own, and others bodies for years.Enjoy listening to what they have to say, and hopefully enrich your definition, and understanding, of what embodiment means to you.In order of appearance in this trailer (full episode of each guest is on the way if it isn't linked below):Philip Shepherd, Embodiment LeaderSarah Peyton, Neuroscience EducatorMarcella Boterro, Continuum Movement & Somatic EducatorHolden Zalma, Master Bodyworker & TrainerMona Wind, Spiritual Teacher & HealerBarry Krost, Family Constellation Facilitator & BodyworkerJoseph Culp, Walking-In-Your-Shoes Co-Founder & Actor/Director Rachel Fell, Business Coach & Creative StrategistCameron West, Aquatic Integration Founder & EducatorGil Hedley, Integral AnatomistRose Mary Riggs, Equine TherapistTo watch The Brilliant Body Podcast, head HERETo subscribe now, click hereTo be an angel to the podcast, click here To read more about the podcast, click here FOR MORE ALI MEZEY:ALI - WebsiteALI - LinkTreeALI's Course Information: Personal Geometry® and the Magic of Mat WorkALI's Transgenerational Healing Film Series

THE BRILLIANT BODY PODCAST w/ ALI MEZEY:"Embodied Intelligence with Philip Shepherd: Wholeness, Sensitivity, and the Pelvic Bowl"TO VIEW ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/RjXbXboi6m8To subscribe now, click hereTo be an angel to the podcast, click here To read more about the podcast, click here FOR MORE ALI MEZEY:ALI - WebsiteALI - LinkTreeSYNOPSIS:In this episode of The Brilliant Body Podcast, Ali Mezey interviews Philip Shepherd, a luminary in the global embodiment movement. Together, Ali and Philip explore countercultural aspects of embodiment, the importance of challenging societal norms, and the need to advocate for a shift towards present-centered awareness.Central to the conversation is the profound impact of the pelvic bowl, a core element of Philip's teachings. Drawing inspiration from cultures that value the body differently, Philip highlights the concept of Hara in Japanese Noh theater. He traces the historical shift in Western culture from the belly as the thinking center to the current emphasis on the head, revealing a narrative of mistrust in the body.Sensitivity emerges as a core theme of the conversation, which Philip positions as the foundation of intelligence. Ali and Philip delve into the subtleties of staying “dropped in” to the pelvic floor, stressing the gentle and patient approach required for restoring sensitivity, especially in individuals who have experienced trauma. Throughout the episode, the exploration of embodiment, cultural shifts, and the profound connection between the body and the world converges into a call to action. The duo inspires listeners to nurture sensitivity, embrace radical wholeness, and reclaim their true intelligence, fostering the evolution of both individual and collective consciousness.EXPLORATION POINTS:Ali and Philip discuss the geography of intelligence and the significance of the pelvic bowl as the base of experiencing our wholeness.Philip traces the d/evolution of Western culture from valuing the belly as the center to the current emphasis on the head and mistrust of the body.They discuss sensitivity as the foundation of intelligence and explore the nuances of restoring sensitivity, particularly in trauma survivors.Philip unpacks the fallacy of independence, and vividly describes the self as being in constant felt-relationship with the world.The conversation ultimately advocates that we recognize and learn to live from our full intelligence as a key to cultural evolution. FOR MORE PHILIP SHEPHERD:BIO: Philip Shepherd is recognized as a leader in the global embodiment movement. He is the creator of The Embodied Present Process™ (TEPP), which provides both potent insights into how our culture desensitizes the body, and a series of over 150 practices to help people renew their sensitivity to the world and reclaim their calm, centred presence in it. He shares TEPP worldwide through in-person workshops and Facilitators Trainings, and has articulated the need for a new, more embodied way of being in two books: Radical Wholeness and New Self, New World. Both books identify the causes, perils and challenges of our culture's disembodiment. Philip's personal path to embodiment includes a two-year journey as a teenager, during which he traveled alone by bicycle through Europe, the Middle East, Iran, India and Japan. He has also studied classical Japanese Noh Theater; co-founded an interdisciplinary theatre company; written two internationally produced plays and a television documentary; designed and built several houses; co-founded an arts magazine called Onion; played lead roles on stages in London, New York, Chicago and Toronto; and earned a reputation as a coach, both with individual clients seeking a deeper experience of embodiment, and for corporate clients seeking to improve their presentation skills. He developed TEPP with his co-director and wife Allyson Woodrooffe, who also shares the practices in person. His website and online courses are found at EmbodiedPresent.com. His newest book, Deep Fitness, was co-authored with Andrei Yakovenko and offers a revolutionary and highly effective approach to fitness.And my website, as you may have gathered from the above, is EmbodiedPresent.comPHILIP – Facebook PHILIP – InstagramPHILIP BOOKS: (these links are to Amazon, but all distributed by Random House (yay, Philip!), you can find them in your friendly, neighborhood bookstores)Radical WholenessNew Self, New WorldDeep FitnessOTHER RESOURCES, LINKS AND INSPIRATIONS: IAIN McGILCHRIST – websiteILARION MERCULIEFF – Aleut Nation TedTalks: Native KnowingThe Womb at the Center of the Universe RICHARD LATTIMORE – his translation of The OdysseyNOH THEATRE:A short National Geographic filmA Noh play called Tomoe  BYRON ROBINSON: The Abdominal and Pelvic Brain PDF selections The Abdominal and Pelvic Brain book TANDEM:

Hello everyone, I  want to thank you for taking the time to listen to S5 and a very special thank you to my subscribers, Buttercup Sally, Li-Ma, Rachel and Pat. Please consider supporting this podcast as I hope  you agree with my subscriber's sentiments, “Darien, you consistently produce quality shows that are filled with information and inspiration.” A very special thank you to my audio engineer, Fabian and my music composer, AKA Johnny. I'm also looking for a show assistant, please contact me if you might be interested! And finally, as we leave 2023 behind, let's envision a world that focuses on health, healing and most of all, peace. Wishing you an inspiring 2024. See you next year for Season 6 of All Things Pilates. As always, please feel free to reach out if you're interested in joining my Pilates class email list or if you simply want to contact me and say, "Hi!."About Darien Gold ~  https://www.dariengold.comMusic credits ~ Instagram: @theotherjohnmayer Email: mayerranchrecordings@gmail.comSupport the show

In episode 1019, Gil Hedley, Mark Bell, Nsima Inyang, and Andrew Zaragoza talk about everything Gil has learned from 30 years of cutting into human cadavers and the lessons that can be learned from the dead. Follow Gil on IG: https://www.instagram.com/gilhedley/   Official Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw   Special perks for our listeners below! The Athletic/Casual Clothes we're wearing!

In episode 1019, Gil Hedley, Mark Bell, Nsima Inyang, and Andrew Zaragoza talk about everything Gil has learned from 30 years of cutting into human cadavers and the lessons that can be learned from the dead.  Follow Gil on IG: https://www.instagram.com/gilhedley/ Official Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw Special perks for our listeners below! The Athletic/Casual Clothes we're wearing!

CONTENT HEADS UP: This episode contains (among other things) a deep, frank conversation about life, death, Catholicism, the cosmos, reverential dissection, body phenomena, including orgasm, service, enlightenment, circumcision, some swear words, a lot of humor, and of course, some challenges and gifts of being bodies.And in case it's not clear, Gil dissects, with dedication, “donor forms” - no longer inhabited bodies gladly donated by their prior inhabitants - to illuminate the wonders of the human body so that we might all live ours more fully. SYNOPSIS: In this episode, Ali talks with Gil Hedley, educator and the producer of the Integral Anatomy series, who offers a expert perspective on the human body from the inside out. With a background in Theological Ethics and decades of dedication dissecting donated human bodies, Gil views the body as an archaeological site, exploring the layers of the human form and what they reflect about the near-infinite complexity of human existence. This episode delves into, as Gil calls it, a “re-branding of the human body” - giving us life-enhancing “re-conceptions” of the heart and body phenomena (fat, the foreskin, blood, orgasm) we have taken for granted and/or completely misunderstood. This conversation also explores the harmful effects of body fragmentation, and the interconnectedness of spirit and matter. Viewing the body through Gil's extraordinary professional, and personal, perspective gives us a window into our inner-universe and beyond to our cosmic identity. After listening, your experience of being a body will never be the same! A warning: the episode includes frank and loving discussions of death and human dissection.EXPLORATION POINTS:-Ali and Gil dive into intricate topics related to the human body and consciousness, challenging conventional views of the body and exploring the existential complexity of human anatomy.-Gil shares his unique journey from considering priesthood to becoming a different kind of "priest" on a mission to rebrand the human body as a gift. This conversation critiques dualism, discusses integral anatomy, and emphasizes the need to shift away from body as a problem.-Gil reconceptualizes anatomy, challenging mechanistic views of the body specifically by exploring: 1) how the heart is not a pump, 2) how fat is intelligent, and 3) how the foreskin is precious.-Gil and Ali challenge cultural aesthetics, explore what “somanaut” means, and share personal stories and challenges related to embodiment with a lot of humor. TO VIEW ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/99A3uNDtLlMTo subscribe now, click hereTo be an angel to the podcast, click here To read more about the podcast, click here FOR MORE ALI MEZEY:ALI - WebsiteALI - LinkTreeFOR MORE GIL HEDLEY:BIO: Gil has been teaching integral anatomy in the dissection laboratory, via keynotes and speaking tours, and online via his extensive website and subscription portal, www.gilhedley.com, and YouTube channel, "Somanaut," since 1995. He is the producer of The Integral Anatomy Series, the Anatomy from A to Z Project, and The Nerve Project, as well as being the author of several books and anatomy models. He is based at the Institute for Anatomical Research in Colorado Springs, CO, where he teaches, films, and serves as Board President.GIL – YoutubeGIL – InstagramGIL – FacebookThe Nerve Project/The Nerve Tour - Find Gil in a town or city near you LIVE! Don't miss this fantastic opportunity to rock your world and the way you see and experience bodies!THE NERVE PROJECTGIL HEDLEY: A few favourite videos…The Amazing ForeskinPars Intima: A Rebranding Campaign for the Human BodyThe Heart-Brain (just a gorgeous 5-minute video that will transform your understanding of your heart and brain)BY GIL HEDLEY: The Sacred StuffNo thing  is made sacred  by being set apart,  separated,  hallowed. No one  becomes holy.  From adulation,  pomp, or prayer,  what clump of this,  or lump of that, what bits of flesh,  or outcast,  does not hail directly from the same precious source of holy waters and holy men.  Flesh, too, aches.  from the divine stirring within  and the scraps flung to dogs  turn to light  and scat alike  all beyond comprehension  perfect  the sacred stuff is all  every yearning  star and burr  the exalted and the lowly  songs cries  and moans  the fleeting and the lasting  everyone  a turning wisp of smoke  rising from the altar  burned sweet  holy  and acceptable. GONE IN THE EPISODE ALONG WITH A LOT OF LAUGHTER, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: ALI: “Is it on Amazon or on your website or where can you get it?”GIL: “It's on my website. I don't want to give Jeff Bezos anything more to do. He's got a lot covered, you know, so I'm thinking: Oh my god, Jeff, God bless you. You came up with a big idea there.” ALI: “You're hilarious, Gil. You're fucking funny, man.” Find Gil's published works, and oh, so much more brilliant bodied stuff here.OTHER RESOURCES, LINKS & INSPIRATION:CANDACE PERT: Molecules of EmotionMICHAEL TALBOT: The Holographic UniverseWILHELM REICH:

Wellness expert Heather Grzych interviews Gil Hedley about what he has seen in decades of dissecting human bodies, and what we can glean about spirituality through studying the body's tissues when they aren't animated. You'll learn about how no two bodies are truly the same, and how to look at a body with fresh eyes. Gil Hedley has been teaching integral anatomy in the dissection lab, lecture circuit and online since 1994. He is the author of several books, has taught thousands in the fields of bodywork, movement and fitness. His subscription site gilhedley.com offers hundreds of hours of approved continuing education for massage therapists, yogis, Pilates teachers and more. https://www.gilhedley.com  Heather Grzych, AD is the author of The Ayurvedic Guide to Fertility and the host of the Wisdom of the Body podcast. A board-certified Ayurvedic Practitioner at the Ayurvedic Doctor level, Heather serves on the Board of Directors for the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA) and has been a consultant for doctors, governments, and insurance companies. She offers virtual consultations and programs worldwide. www.heathergrzych.com   Connect with Heather: Instagram.com/heathergrzych Facebook.com/grzychheather   Read the first six pages of The Ayurvedic Guide to Fertility for FREE: https://www.heathergrzych.com   Connect with Heather to balance your health for your fertility: https://www.heathergrzych.com/book-online   This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only.

Gil Hedley, Ph.D., has been teaching integral anatomy via dissection labs, keynote events and lecture tours since 1995. Gil has created an approach to anatomy coherent with the holistic body philosophies of body explorers from various treatment modalities, as well as teachers from the yoga, pilates, and fitness industries. He has documented this approach extensively through this website, gilhedley.com, which contains hundreds of hours of content explored from the Integral Anatomy perspective. Gil is committed to ensuring that Integral Anatomy education is accessible to all, worldwide, and offers free education through Easy Rider membership on his site as well as his YouTube channel to support his mission of "rebranding" the human body as a gift. In 2023-2024, he is embarking on his international "Nerve Tour" to bring his recent findings in the lab to communities across North America! Find out more at gilhedley.com.

Every Monday morning while having my coffee in bed, I log on to my Youtube account and listen and watch Gil Hedley and his Monday morning anatomy offering. Two human forms he respectfully refers to as Anna and Zee, help him share his vast anatomy knowledge. So whether it's a joint in the body, the heart and lung relationship or the nervous system, Gil's compassion, wisdom and humor fills my morning. In case you haven't heard of my guest, Gil Hedley - he is the creator of Integral Anatomy, an online educational platform. For the last 29 years through Hands-On Human Dissection Workshops in the laboratory, worldwide lecture presentations, and online events, Gil has encouraged thousands of fellow "somanauts" to appreciate, explore, and embody the wonders of the human form. About Darien Gold ~  https://www.dariengold.comMusic credits ~ Instagram: @theotherjohnmayer Email: mayerranchrecordings@gmail.comAbout Gil Hedley - https://www.gilhedley.comBecome a show supporter! https://www.buzzsprout.com/332675/supporters/newSupport the show

Gil Hedley of Integral Anatomy talks to us about his upcoming 111 city Nerve Tour! Is he coming to a town near you? Find out here, and maybe also help him find the prefect location. All the details and downloadable flyers. Listen to the pod, sign up for teh class and spread the word! https://www.gilhedley.com/thenervetour Visit our sponsor www.anatomyscapes.com Get 20% off the 2nd edition of David's book: Fascia: What it is and Why it Matters. Use PromoCode: BODYTALK20 Order here in the USA UK and Australia ! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-lesondak/message

From our 'Best of The Embodiment Conference' series. In this episode an 'embodiment legends' panel answer these two clarifying questions.  A great one for optimists, skeptics and those who are new or old to the term, practices and field of embodiment. For the purposes of this episode the embodiment legends are: Ken Wilber Michaela Boehm Philip Shepherd Michelle Boulé Steve Hoskinson Leslie Kaminoff Ilan Stephani Dylan Newcomb Gil Hedley   If you are interested in becoming an embodiment coach visit www.embodimentunlimited.com   And for this year's Live Embodiment Coaching Certificate / LECC https://embodimentunlimited.com/lecc/        

Welcome to another episode of Yogalebrity, the podcast where yoga teachers share their incredible origin stories. I'm your host, Angelica Govaert, and this week, I have the pleasure of interviewing Niki Saccareccia. Niki is a Los Angeles-based, trauma-informed yoga teacher and forever student. In 2010, she founded her private practice, Light Inside Yoga, leveraging her background in Clinical Behavioral Psychology. Today, Light Inside Yoga is a Registered 200hr Yoga School (RYS200), offering a wide range of trainings, workshops, seminars, retreats, private lessons, and group classes both online and in person, reaching students all around the world. Niki's passion lies in guiding her students practically, helping them build an age-appropriate wellness lifestyle for each stage of life. Drawing upon her expertise in Behavioral Psychology, she empowers her students to overcome excuses, fostering consistency and discipline so they can witness the tangible results of their efforts firsthand. Niki's teaching approach is evidence-based and systematic, ensuring that the transformative effects of yoga practice are not merely coincidental, but purposefully and reliably recreatable day after day. One of Niki's specialties is a therapeutic and trauma-sensitive approach to yoga and wellness. Through education and mindset training, she equips her students with the tools to navigate old habits, pain, aging, and real-world stressors. By embracing the physical body as an ally in spiritual wellness, her students develop their spirituality in a refreshed and inspired way. Niki's impressive educational background includes a Bachelor's degree in Psychology with a focus on the nature of consciousness. For eight years, she worked as a clinical behavioral therapist, effecting life-changing behavior modifications for special needs children and their caregivers at the personal, social, and academic levels. She holds the designations of eRYT-500, YACEP, and has been a Level 1 trauma-informed yoga teacher, sound bath practitioner, and Yoga Nidra facilitator. Niki's commitment to knowledge extends to her extensive anatomy training, encompassing over 350 hours with a special focus on Integral Anatomy under the tutelage of Gil Hedley. She has shared her expertise by teaching anatomy in various teacher trainings across southern California and is currently a co-leader of the 300hr YTT at One Down Dog in Los Angeles, CA. In addition to her teaching endeavors, Niki is currently co-authoring a book slated for release in August 2023. This book aims to revolutionize the academic landscape for middle and high school learners, offering mindfulness, contemplative practices, and Ayurveda principles as tools to understand, accept, and develop stress intelligence within the classroom environment. Niki is also the author and developer of "Roadmap to Mindful Living: Turning Good Intentions into Long Term Habits." This research-backed curriculum for creating sustainable changes in wellbeing has been successfully implemented at Van Nuys Medical Magnet High School and the University of Southern California's Novus Think Tank for Social Change between 2017 and 2019. The program is available for individuals and organizations alike, offering a transformative journey towards mindful living. Now, let's talk about how you can connect with Niki and take advantage of the incredible offerings she has for our listeners. First, she has an exclusive monthly community membership available for only $27. By joining, you gain access to over 200 videos ranging from 5 to 75 minutes in length. The membership includes breathwork, meditation, a Patanjali's Yoga Sutra study course, and a variety of yoga styles, such as yoga for back pain, yoga for people over 55, and assistance with anxiety and sleep issues. Use the code "Yogalebrity333" to get 25%. Connect with Niki at https://www.lightinsideyoga.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/yogalebrity/message

From our Best of The Embodiment Conference series the outstanding Gil Hedley. Watch the full length video and subscribe to our podcast youtube channel here: https://youtu.be/Cpl7uWRRz8I Free stuff: www.embodimentunlimited.com Join the community on our app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/embodiment-app/id1631331117   Embodying your fascia in movement.  Time stamps: 0:00 mins Expand our experience of our embodiment. Embodiment anchors us to our human body and we are all connected by that human experience. The body is a gift to be received and explored.  We notice differences to appreciate that which unites us all.  Embodiment as being present, consciously aware of our bodies and beyond.  Where it all began going from an academic who spent most of his time at his desk to studying massage and anatomy and then moving to the lab and science to exploring fascia - in this atom in the universe and from that the human form. 07:00 - Superficial fascia  Integral anatomy  Using it in meditation - concentration going into the body with the mind  Rejecting and accepting your resources - the psychology of this vital component of the body Nourishing, nurturing, protecting  Your consciousness having a focused awareness in fascia  Fascia or fat in the face and integral part of communication  Expression within the body and movement  Appreciation for that which our culture diminishes  22:00 mins - Fuzz Peri-fascia Connective tissue Wet membrane Anatomy of differential movement 31 mins - Fluid potential vs stuck Social  Cultural  43:00 Deep Fascia Q & A   Bio Gil Hedley For the past 29 years, through Hands-On Human Dissection Workshops in the laboratory, worldwide lecture presentations, and online events, I have encouraged thousands of fellow "somanauts" to appreciate, explore, and embody the wonders of the human form. There are plenty of free resources here for those who are simply curious to learn more about our shared human form. For those of you who are interested in deeper and more specific anatomical explorations, my Explorer Membership includes hundreds of hours of continuing education to support your professional work from an Integral Anatomy perspective.  https://www.gilhedley.com/                    

I recently saw an incredible video Anatomy of the Clitoris: Learn Integral Anatomy with Gil Hedley. I smiled, I had met Gil many years ago when he was having his children, I trained his sister as a doula and have loved following her path as she is now a midwife. Even Gils mother trained as a postpartum doula with me and we worked together for several years. So now to see his work so well describe the clitoris describing in his words ‘a beautiful gift and the blessing of the clitoris', I knew I had to reach out to invite him to join me to share with you all his thoughts about the clitoris and any thoughts about the role it may play in labor and birth and his insight for an Orgasmic Birth    In this episode: The episode explores the clitoral complex with Gil Headley PhD, who shares his thoughts about the clitoris and its role in labor and birth Gil Headley's extensive knowledge of Integral Anatomy is showcased as he shares his story of discovering the clitoris and demonstrates the complex structure of the organ Birth can be orgasmic for some individuals due to factors like nerve distribution, pleasure potential, and habituation to pleasure Hospital birth practices are not conducive to orgasmic birth, and most people feel inhibited by the hospital experience, which can impact both birth and pleasure   Key Takeaways: The clitoris is an essential and crucial part of human anatomy that is still not well understood The structure of the clitoris is more complex and intricate than commonly known. There are several parts to it, including the glands, shaft, legs, and vestibular bulbs, among others Clitoris anatomy varies between individuals. Clitoral stimulation can be experienced through anal penetration or pressure during birth Habituation to certain pleasure doesn't reflect pleasure potential. Nerve distribution and position during birth can affect orgasmic birth experience   Tweetable Quotes: “There's nothing in our body that is of of single purpose Everything is multipurpose and it's beautiful.” -Gil Hedley   Connect with Gil: Website: https://www.gilhedley.com/ Social Media: Youtube   Connect with Debra!   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debra.pascalibonaro  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orgasmicbirth/  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-pascali-bonaro-1093471/  Visit https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/ for more information on how to have fulfilling and enjoyable births. Check out Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret, the film creating buzz around the world!   Orgasmic Birth Podcast: Pleasure in pregnancy, birth, and parenting. I believe pleasure is our birthright - from our sexuality, birth, parenting, and beyond, we can find pleasure when we create space for joy and intimacy in our lives. Join me to have deep conversations about breaking the taboos of Sexuality + Motherhood/Parenthood.    Listen to leading experts in sexuality, healing, and childbirth as well as stories from new parents, doulas, doctors, midwives, and nurses. We will discuss how to positively prepare for childbirth and parenting by expanding love and intimacy in your life. 

In today's episode Whitney shares her experience using fertility awareness to track her cycles, and incorporating fertility awareness into her professional practice! Whitney Tucker is a diversely-educated movement trainer and practitioner that utilizes yoga, Pilates, and various modalities of athletic training to support people in their physical journeys. She is founder of Embodied Potential® and creator of Sync To Thrive®, which supports hormonal literacy for women. As an educator, she draws from experiences as a professional dancer, certified life coach, public school teacher, and birth worker (birth doula/placenta encapsulator). Throughout her education, she has performed multiple cadaver dissections with Gil Hedley, publishing of articles in peer journals on training techniques and movement as a healing modality, and presented at Congress on Research in Dance on her movement work with prostituted women. As a volunteer, Ms. Tucker has focused on reproductive justice with The Doula Project (2011-2015), services for homeless women and children through Hearts Of Gold (2017-2018). She lives in Mexico with her husband, has two dogs (Ava and Pelon) and is mother to her first amazing baby Onyx. Today's episode is sponsored by Tempdrop. Tempdrop makes fertility awareness accessible to all women - even if you don't have regular cycles or sleeping patterns. Save 10% when you use code FertilityFriday  at check out! Today's episode is sponsored by the Fertility Awareness Mastery Mentorship program, class of 2023!  Early-bird registration is officially open for next year's class of 2023. Will you be joining us? Click here to register now! Topics discussed in today's episode: Whitney's menstrual cycle and contraceptive history When did Whitney decide to include FAM into her practice Whitney's personal experience with a medical abortion Whitney's experience with reproductive health issues Symptoms Whitney experiences with the Mirena What is infradian rhythm and how Whitney incorporated it into her practice Connect with Whitney: You can connect with Whitney on her Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and on her website. Resources mentioned: The Fifth Vital Sign: Master Your Cycles & Optimize Your Fertility (Book) | Lisa Hendrickson-Jack Fertility Awareness Mastery Charting Workbook Fertility Awareness Mastery Online Self-Study Program Related podcasts & blog posts: FFP 199 | Fertility Law | Assisted Reproductive Technology | Sara Cohen FFP 121 | Fertility Awareness Method | Reproductive Justice | Association of Fertility Awareness Professionals | Ilene Richman [On-Air Client Session] FFP 115 | Fertility Awareness Reality Series | Overcoming Fertility Challenges | Infertility | Vegetarian Diet & Fertility | Aarathi & Lisa FFP 109 | The Reality of Aging & Fertility | IVF & Assisted Reproductive Technology | The Future of Fertility Treatments | Dr. Marjorie Dixon Join the community! Follow Fertility Friday on Instagram! Subscribe to the Fertility Friday Podcast in Apple Podcasts! Music Credit: Intro/Outro music Produced by J-Gantic A Special Thank You to Our Show Sponsors: Fertility Friday | Fertility Awareness Programs This episode is sponsored by my Fertility Awareness Programs! Master Fertility Awareness and take a deep dive into your cycles and how they relate to your overall health! Click here to apply now! Fertility Awareness Mastery Mentorship Program (FAMM) This episode is sponsored by FAMM! Are you a women's health practitioner looking for a solid way to incorporate comprehensive fertility awareness chart analysis into your practice? If yes, FAMM is the program you've been waiting for. Click here to apply now!

This is an incredibly important episode of The Art of Move Podcast - it signifies a turning point in our conversations, a new approach to understanding ourselves as both physical and conscious entities. Our guest today was the exceptional Gil Hedley, PHD Gil Hedley, Ph.D., has been teaching "integral anatomy" in the lab, lecture hall and online at www.gilhedley.com since 1995 to professionals from the whole range of healing and fitness modalities. He is the producer of The Integral Anatomy Series, the author of several books of poetry and prose, and has now created the "Anatomy from A to Z" project, a comprehensive 200+ hour on-camera tour of human anatomy based on his integral, whole body approach, all available online at www.gilhedley.com. Gil is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he presides over the Board of Directors of the Institute for Anatomical Research, a 501(C)(3) non-profit corporation focused on expanding the study of integral anatomy through cadaver studies. Beyond that, we found Gil to be an incredibly tapped in human being who has explored incredible nuances of the human being and how it exists as a conscious and physical entity. The Art of Move Foundations Course We took some of our favourite ideas from the multiple functional fitness systems we've learned about, and combined them for a fundamentals of movement course. Get it here: https://www.aomfoundations.com Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebodymoves https://www.instagram.com/theartofmove And send us a DM to let us know you're listening! Get biomech nerd merch: https://theartofmove.myshopify.com/ AOM in audio format: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/73TId0X... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Anchor: https://anchor.fm/the-art-of-move --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-art-of-move/message

Sherry & Theresa travel from last episode's conversation about separating from feminine energy into identifying with male energy and coming into balance with both.  They listed masculine qualities and talked about how they show up in different circumstances.   This conversation would not be complete without mentioning notable women in history and female superheroes who reveal, to varying degrees, how powerful these two energies can be when understood & well-balanced. Since the conversations are centered on feminine & masculine energies, it brings up other models of duality.  Below are different ways of expressing the nature of what it is to live in a dichotomous world.  They are deliberately left unlinked & undefined so you can follow the breadcrumbs under your own direction. Concepts covered that may have inspired curiosity to pursue deeper exploration, study & understanding: Shiva & Shakti Sthira & Sukha Ida & Pingala Yin & Yang Purusha & Prakriti If these dual energies intrigue you, there is a ton of information on the Web. Go play! Links to mentions in this episode: Heart/Mind/Brain in Sanskrit from Chitkala – (FB link). https://m.facebook.com/495091273884352/photos/chit-is-the-sanskrit-word-that-means-mindheart-by-heart-we-mean-not-the-four-cha/1298753883518083/ (https://m.facebook.com/495091273884352/photos/chit-is-the-sanskrit-word-that-means-mindheart-by-heart-we-mean-not-the-four-cha/1298753883518083/) Both hosts read from an Elephant Journal article entitled, How to Balance our Shiva (Masculine Energy) & Shakti (Feminine Energy): 6 Tips, by Shayna Hiller.  https://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/02/how-to-balance-our-shiva-masculine-energy-shakti-feminine-energy-6-tips/ (https://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/02/how-to-balance-our-shiva-masculine-energy-shakti-feminine-energy-6-tips/) Sherry mentioned her parents' film, http://sisters-shoulders.org (Standing on my Sisters' Shoulders), about ordinary women whose courage and love made indelible imprints on the Civil Rights Movement. Gil Hedley's YouTube video, The Heart-Brain: Learn Integral Anatomy with Gil Hedley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTYPxFqsimk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTYPxFqsimk) https://www.herculture.org/blog/2019/4/29/super-women-a-brief-history-of-female-superheroes (History of Female Superheroes) in our culture. *** Anecdotal Anatomy's Amazing Team: http://www.tobereel.com/ (Judith George) - Editor (video & audio) https://www.keithkenny.com/ (Keith Kenny) - Music http://cindyfatsis.com/ (Cindy Fatsis) - Photography

Welcome to the Live Your Yoga Podcast!Our guest today is Gil Hedley. Gil is the developer of a field of study which he calls "integral anatomy." He has been teaching in the lab, lecture hall and online since 1995 to professionals from the whole range of healing and fitness modalities. He has produced videos documenting his whole-body approach to anatomy with on-camera dissection. Gil is the author of several books, and he is presently in the postproduction stage of the "Anatomy from A to Z" project, a comprehensive, and very detailed on-camera tour of human anatomy based on his integral, whole-body approach. Gil also presides over the Board of Directors of the Institute for Anatomical Research, which is a non-profit corporation focused on expanding the study of integral anatomy through cadaver studies.He is based in Colorado Springs, and we are so happy to have Gil on our podcast today.To find out more about Gil:Website: Gil HedleyYoutube: @somanautFacebook: Gil Hedley, Integral AnatomyVisit our Website

The last episodes were about looking back, synopsizing the first two seasons (Koshas & Embodiment) in order to prepare listeners for what's coming. In many respects the foundation has already been poured and is beginning to set for what Theresa & Sherry are building - a wholistic neighborhood designed to use as a teaching tool & metaphor for optimal wellness & more. Today's episode sets the tone for Season 3, revealing a bit of how they intend to frame the upcoming conversations, starting with the Fascia System. To whet your appetite for this topic, they both highly recommend checking out https://www.youtube.com/c/somanaut (Gil Hedley's videos on YouTube) (they're not long and are as interesting as they are informative), as well as his https://www.gilhedley.com (Website). Click here for Gil Hedley's YouTube video on the https://youtu.be/vJgJhBv26Jo (Structure of Perifascia) (where he explains the term "interstitium," coined by Anatomic Pathologist, Neil Thiese, MD, that Sherry & Theresa mention briefly in this episode). Another wonderful resource for Fascia is Rachelle Clauson (S2 E4 - guest on Archetypes & Patterns) whose website, https://www.anatomyscapes.com/Ebox (AnatomyScapes), offers a beautiful way to dive deeper into anatomy. This link takes you to the eBox, but click around and enjoy the view. A former glitch in the system regarding the gift of Theresa's Yoga Nidra has been rectified (we hope!). Please click here for your free gift https://www.anecdotalanatomy.com/yoga-nidra-beach (YOGA NIDRA). See you next week at the Wholistic Neighborhood!

Today's conversation is with Ally Gonzalez Ally was born and raised in Colombia until the age of nine. As a result of the political climate of Colombia in the early 2000's, Ally and her family fled their homeland as a result of death threats and sought out political asylum in Canada. In middle school and high school Ally engaged in sports to balance her academic workload. At the age of 16, Ally began practicing track and field and discovered that she was a very talented runner. Her love for track and field paved a path to what is now her current life.  After graduating high school, influenced by the difficulty of overcoming sport injuries and her curiosity for movement, she went on to study an undergraduate degree in Kinesiology/human kinetics from the University of Western Ontario (London, Canada). she furthered her studies at the Guild for Structural Integration in Salt Lake City, after experiencing such profound transformation with her first Structural Integration Ten-series. Ally graduated as Structural Integration practitioner in 2018, and has been in practice since. She lives, trains and holds her practice in Bogota, Colombia serving her local community. Ally's continual education focuses on understanding movement through the experiential lens of renowned Structural Integration practitioners such as Mary Bond and Judith Aston, the marriage of connective tissue through the speckles of Gil Hedley, and the metaphysical exploration of herself in elite athletics. Her desire for the future is to continue expanding her knowledge of structural integration while acquiring knowledge and putting together the bits and pieces from the puzzle in her ample inquiry for life. One of Ally's ultimate life goals is to attend the Olympic games and to be an ambassador of the Structural Integration community as she gains recognition on track. This year she is training hard in hopes of qualifying for the World Championships that will take place in Oregon, USA in the month of July; making this World championship team is a stepping- stone for Ally to achieve her ultimate goal of making the 2024 Olympic games in Paris.     In today's conversation we spoke about the backstory of what brought Ally to track and field and then to Structural Integration, SI with psychology, being a professional athlete and how SI has kept her healthy in this field, being a younger practitioner in a field of many older practitioners and more.   You can learn more about Ally at the following links Her website: https://dynamicposturesi.com
 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Dk3uFaHGQ&t=3s Instagram: NATHIAAH
 GoFund me: https://gofund.me/59c43f26  If you enjoyed today's episode, we'd appreciate it if you would leave a positive review of the podcast and subscribe to it through the platform of your choice. When you do this it really helps other people find us, and we greatly appreciate your support. You can find more about Andrew at andrewrosenstock.com and rolfinginboston.com And more about Nikki at nikkiolsen.com Many thanks to Explorers Society for use of their song " All In" from their majestic album 'Spheres' Please check them out here https://open.spotify.com/album/1plT1lAPWEQ1oTRbWOiXm3?si=eAL08OJdT5-sJ6FwwZD50g

In this episode, Kimberly and Gil discuss human anatomy and Gil's years of dissection projects and publications. Gil offers a wealth of information he has learned about the body through his dissection work and how his reverence for the human form fuels his projects. Specifically, they discuss various aspects of fascia, nerve trees, adipose tissue, and more, as well as how culture both politicizes the body and dispossesses various aspects of it, perhaps leading to a larger spiritual issue and evolution of our time.   Bio Gil Hedley, Ph.D., earned a doctorate in theological ethics from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, and also became a Certified Rolfer at the Rolf Institute in Boulder, CO. His combined interests and training has supported his personal exploration of the human body to develop an integral approach to the study of human anatomy. Through hands-on human dissections courses in the laboratory and lecture presentations, he has encouraged thousands of fellow "somanauts" to appreciate, explore and embody the wonders of human form. He has published a number of books, created online access through livestream courses to the wonders of the dissection process, and produced The Integral Anatomy Series, a set of four feature-length videos documenting my whole body, layer-by-layer approach through on-camera dissection. His current project, Anatomy from A to Z, is a comprehensive and inspiring year-long exploration of two forms through the Integral Anatomy lens. What He Shares: –Dissection and anatomy projects –Complexities of nerves and fascia –Differences between male and female forms –Difference between natural tears and incisions –Spiritual components of dissection work –Dispossession and politicization of the body in culture   What You'll Hear: –Explains Anatomy from A-Z Project –Comprehensive archive of human body recorded –Dissected bones, muscles, tissues, and vasculature on camera –Shares experience dissecting cadaver –Traumatic experience over dissection work and had to adjust emotionally –Intentionally making body connection through dissection work –Connection with families of donors of bodies for project –Learned accidents, traumas, various issues, and emotional experience regarding donors –Nerves are structural, have physical context (not abstract) –”Underdog fascia” and multilayered fascia –Native connective tissue density –IT band structures –Emotional components associated with superficial fascia –Female form has denser, deep fascia and thicker, superficial fascia generally –Dispossession of fat as suppression of feminine in our culture –Culture has problematized and medicalized birth disrupting the process –Traumatized doctors try to control birth to avoid ongoing trauma related to death –Psychological pall thrown over women give impression not capable of birthing –Tears in birth assist with natural process –Episiotomies damage nerves in ways that natural tears do not –Increase in tears and severity in connection with culture –Oversimplification of tissues and meanings such as vagus nerve –How he came to dissect genitals –Took years of dissecting to find erectile tissues of clitoris –Wants to film nerve system dissection, process important –Vaginal work with reverence –From PTSD to helping others process anatomy work –Group processing and shared experiences assisting in dissection work –Energetic relationship to forms –Experiencing the whole form –Self-acceptance and rejection of cultural standards –Politicization of bodies and spiritual problem in identity politics   Resources Website: gilhedley.com

Find out what fascia is, how to have healthy fascia, and learn ways to effectively care for your body through self massage. Also, discover various recovery practices that you can test out to enhance your quality of movement. Ana Maria is a clinical massage therapist and yoga teacher. She specialises in the treatment and management of chronic pain conditions and supports people who are attending therapy through yoga based emotional regulation and embodiment practices. She loves sharing knowledge and inspiring curiosity around body, mind spirit practices as a way to support people on their journey towards healing and wholeness. She is also the host of the A way to Live Well podcast where she interviews wellbeing experts and finds out what it means to them to live well. Ana Maria Conneely's website: www.awaytolivewell.com Ana Maria Conneely's podcast, A Way to Live Well: open.spotify.com/show/5krJWw8kvU4QmToC9EJduB Ana Maria Conneely's instagram: @awaytolivewell Ana Maria Conneely's recommended resources: Gil Hedley (anatomist and educator) / Joanne Avison (yoga teacher, author, and fascia expert) / Dr. Janet Travell (myofascial release and trigger point pain patterns) / Dr. Ida Rolfe (creator of rolfing, a pioneer in fascia research). Coping with injuries, Precision Nutrition: https://www.precisionnutrition.com/coping-with-injuries Mobility videos, The Ready State: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheReadyState Connect with me on instagram.com/charlietunmore Connect with me on email: charlietunmore@gmail.com DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor so please do not substitute this information for medical advice.

In this episode of The ABMP Podcast, Kristin speaks with Gil Hedley about his philosophy around integral anatomy, the different layers of fascia, why fascia responds better to a gentle approach, and how working in the dissection lab helped him to appreciate, explore, and embody the wonders of the human form. Gil has been teaching “integral anatomy” in the lab, lecture hall, and online at gilhedley.com since 1995 to professionals from the entire range of healing and fitness modalities. He is the producer of the Integral Anatomy Series, the author of several books of poetry and prose, and has created the “Anatomy from A to Z” project, a comprehensive 240-hour on-camera tour of human anatomy based on his integral, whole-body approach. All of his content is now available online. Gil is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he presides over the Board of Directors of the Institute for Anatomical Research, a 501(C)(3) nonprofit corporation focused on expanding the study of integral anatomy through cadaver studies.   Sponsors:     Anatomy Trains: www.anatomytrains.com    Universal Companies: https://www.universalcompanies.com/   Handspring Publishing: https://www.handspringpublishing.com/   Anatomy Trains is a global leader in online anatomy education and also provides in-classroom certification programs for structural integration in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan, and China, as well as fresh-tissue cadaver dissection labs and weekend courses. The work of Anatomy Trains originated with founder Tom Myers, who mapped the human body into 13 myofascial meridians in his original book, currently in its fourth edition and translated into 12 languages. The principles of Anatomy Trains are used by osteopaths, physical therapists, bodyworkers, massage therapists, personal trainers, yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonics, and other body-minded manual therapists and movement professionals. Anatomy Trains inspires these practitioners to work with holistic anatomy in treating system-wide patterns to provide improved client outcomes in terms of structure and function.                      Website: anatomytrains.com                        Email: info@anatomytrains.com             Facebook: facebook.com/AnatomyTrains                       Instagram: www.instagram.com/anatomytrainsofficial   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2g6TOEFrX4b-CigknssKHA         Universal Companies has everything the spa professional needs for success, including massage tables and accessories, linens, tools, pain relief products like arnica, and a range of lotions, oils, and gels. The products we offer help the independent practitioner save on their everyday expenses, as well as provide the convenience of shopping across broad categories. Recognized as the “Favorite Distributor” in the American Spa Professional's Choice Awards for the past 17 years, we see this as a continuous challenge to provide the best products that pros trust the most. Beyond our extensive selection of spa products, equipment, and tools, we have an education and marketing site for our customers to develop their skills and promote their business. The UCo Learning Network offers CEU courses, marketing kits, and business tools.   Universal Companies website https://www.universalcompanies.com/   Universal Companies on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/universalcompaniesinc   Universal Companies on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/universalcos/   Universal Companies on Twitter https://twitter.com/Universalcos   Universal Companies on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/universalcos/_shop/   Universal Companies on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/universal-companies/mycompany/   About Handspring Publishing   Handspring Publishing specializes in professional-level books for massage therapists, osteopaths, yoga and Pilates teachers, physiotherapists, and other professionals who use touch or movement to help patients achieve wellness. Handspring Publishing's books are written and produced to serve the professional and educational needs of health and medical professionals, musculoskeletal therapists, and movement teachers. Its list includes bestsellers like Fascial Stretch Therapy by Chris and Ann Frederick, Traumatic Scar Tissue Management: Massage Therapy Principles, Practice and Protocols by Nancy Keeney Smith and Cathy Ryan, and Fascia: What It Is and Why It Matters by David Lesondak and the recently published Myofascial Induction™ – An Anatomical Approach to the Treatment of Fascial Dysfunction, Volume 1: The Upper Body by Andrzej Pilat. Handspring's books combine attractive and accessible presentations with an evidence-based approach to writing, including referencing the latest research findings. Authors are drawn from the ranks of highly respected teachers and experts in their area of specialization including Janet Penny, Rebecca Sturgeon, Jim McCormick, Til Luchau, Robert Schleip, Graham Scarr, Gayle MacDonald, and Carolyn Tague among others. ABMP members save 20% off regular list prices. Visit handspringpublishing.com and use discount code abmp20 to order. Shipping is free to all addresses in the United States and the United Kingdom.   Website: https://www.handspringpublishing.com/   Email: info@handspringpublishing.com   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/handspringpublishing/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/HandspringLtd   Facebook: handspringpublishing   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiD4TybAPVTbCL_xvCrwNOQ  

How does a priest-in-training end up educating the world on anatomy? In today's Founder Wisdom we speak with Dr. Gil Hedley, Creator and Producer of the Integral Anatomy Series. Beginning his adult life receiving a PhD in Theological Ethics, Gil felt a calling to the priesthood... but at the same time he didn't want to be a priest. Gil describes the winding path that led to discovering the beauty of human anatomy and the courage it took for him to share his knowledge with the world. https://www.youtube.com/user/somanaut/ Subscribe to our Newsletter! https://findingfounders.co/subscribe Website: findingfounders.co Follow Sam: https://www.instagram.com/samueldonner/ Follow Finding Founders IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingfounderspodcast/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support

What can a cadaver reveal about the living?   In this episode of the Align Podcast, Gil Hedley, Ph.D. shares his mind-boggling insights from a lifetime of navigating what he calls the "inner space." We discuss how the body of the deceased leaves tracks that lead us to a deeper understanding of life and how the living should exist. We also talk about body shaming and ways to overcome it, why you should deromanticize pain, how external pressures can distort your tissue organization, and how to finally release yourself from that feeling of being a victim of your surroundings and emotions.   Besides being a prominent expert in human dissection, Gil Hedley, Ph.D., is also an author, teacher, and a nationally certified Rolfer and massage therapist.   What we discuss: 0:00 - Introduction to Gil Hedley 4:20 - Developing a non-emotional relationship to pain 9:50 - Why Movement means Mobility & Motility 16:40 - Cultural & religious roots of body shaming + ways to overcome it 23:00 - Should you feel guilty about seeking rest & pleasure? 34:30 - Life lessons from cadavers 41:20 - What's the "fuzz" & why do we need more differential movement? 50:30 - How tissues bind together & cause inflammation 54:00 - Piezoelectricity & how external pressures disrupt our inner space 57:50 - "You can't expect to get a different result from the same thoughts, emotions, or behaviors." 1:00:05 - How to detach yourself from a victim identity 1:05:30 - Break these thought patterns to rise above victim mentality   Learn more from Gil Hedley: Website: www.gilhedley.com/ Instagram: @gilhedleysomanaut Youtube: Somanaut    Related links: The revised version of the Align Method book is now available with 22 brand-new exercises! Pre-order here: alignpodcast.com/alignbook alignpodcast.com/alignmethod for a special discount  www.organifi.com/align and use ALIGN during checkout to receive 20%

Anatomy teacher Gill joins me to talk, Holism, mechanical models, how we cut things up, what's normally left out, vagina awe, diversity in anatomy, tone, habits and personality, technology and his mission. Some anatomy surprises here! https://www.gilhedley.com/Home

In this episode, Nisarga Eryk Dobosz hosts Gil Hedley, a researcher of the human body and anatomy practitioner. They talk about fascia, health and spirituality. Since 1995, Gil Hedley, Ph.D., has explored the inner space of human form with thousands of participants in the dissection lab, lecture hall, and online. Gil is the producer of The Integral Anatomy Series, the author of several books, and has most recently begun releasing "Anatomy from A to Z," a comprehensive 200+ hour on camera dissection series documenting two beautiful donor forms in extreme detail. Gil is committed to developing the field of integral anatomy as a playground for somanauts for years to come! Check our website: https://integralbodyinstitute.com/en/ FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/Integral.Body.Institute NEWSLETTER - https://madmimi.com/signups/172011/join This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Today, Dr. Hedley on his discovery of peri-fascia, what kinds of movement are most healthy for mind, body and spirit, what inflammatory emotions do to the body, and why nothing is separate, in the body or the universe. Find free cadaver lab videos on fascia and anatomy and more at www.gilhedley.com 8:35 What is fascia? 11:02 Superficial fascia near the skin layer 12:17 Why our fatty layer or adipose tissue is important 13:17 Superficial fascia's properties 13:49 Deep fascia and peri-fascia 16:29 Dissecting in a curious way 17:37 More on peri-fascia 20:55 Bringing tissues into health and consciousness 22:35 -27:45 The importance of moving in different ways 28:40 What movement is best? 29:52 Tiger Woods and neurological ruts 31:28 Keep moving differently, even if it's being a “lefty” 39:52 Anatomy books dupe you, why words and labels hinder curiosity 44:05 Social stigma of dissection and “dead bodies” 50:18 Inflammatory emotions are bad for the physical body 53:44 Rolfing and influencing the tissues gently 58:42 Nothing is separate in humanity, or in the body.

Today's episode is a really special interview with my very own dissection teacher Gil Hedley. When I walked into my dissection lesson with Gil I had no idea what kind of experience it would be and the connection I would feel to the person I was dissecting. Listen to us talk about all things anatomy, dissection and lots of other juicy topics. Gil's perspective is one to be heard and he is transforming the way you can access his amazing teaching online.About Gil:Gil Hedley, Ph.D., has been teaching "integral anatomy" in the lab, lecture hall and online since 1995 to professionals from the whole range of healing and fitness modalities. He is the producer of The Integral Anatomy Series, the author of several books, and is now in the post production stage of the "Anatomy from A to Z" project, a comprehensive on-camera tour of human anatomy based on his integral, whole body approach. Gil is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he presides over the Board of Directors of the Institute for Anatomical Research, a 501(C)(3) non-profit corporation focused on expanding the study of integral anatomy through cadaver studies.Website: https://www.gilhedley.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gil-Hedley-Integral-Anatomy-120301201315055You tube: https://www.youtube.com/user/somanautAbout Natasha:Natasha de Grunwald is a subconscious transformation coach, a mentor, a teacher, trainer, breathwork facilitator and a Mum to a 19 year old daughter. She has been teaching and training and holding space for people in the wellness industry for over 30 years.To sign up for my newsletter you can click hereFind me at:Website: www.natashadegrunwald.co.ukFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/londonthaiyogaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thaiyogamassage/

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast 237: Scope of Practice & Compassion with Drew Hume   Description: There is a lot of fear, misconceptions and misinformation about the COVID vaccine being shared in online spaces. As yoga teachers, what lies within our scope of practice when it comes to talking about vaccination, and how can we approach this topic with compassion? Shannon Crow and Drew Hume discuss a recent post by Gil Hedley in the broader context of conversations happening in the yoga community around vaccination and related topics.   Drew Hume is Founder & Director at Navina, where he and his team offer training and certifications in Thai yoga therapy. Drew's background is in Human Biology, and he holds a degree in Applied Science of Human Biology. While not specifically an expert in virology, public health and in vaccines, he has studied all of those topics to a degree at the university level. As a trained yoga instructor, Drew also teaches certain courses to yoga instructors specifically in anatomy, physiology and also in manual therapy.   In this honest and open conversation, Shannon and Drew discuss the harms caused by comparing vaccination to non-related, unequivalent events, and how we can react when we encounter misinformation or falsehoods online. They also explore whether requirements and policies put into place about vaccination are a form of coercion, what truly is within our scope of practice as yoga teachers, and dispel some of the myths around being “healthy” as sufficient protection against COVID. These are tough conversations and difficult decisions - we invite you to approach them with compassion.   Key Takeaways: [2:26] This week's episode is a recent live episode with Drew Hume. [4:47] Shannon opens the interview by sharing her stance on vaccination against COVID, and shares how we can approach these difficult and uncomfortable conversations. [5:47] Drew introduces himself and his background. [6:45] Shannon and Drew are having this conversation in light of a recent post by Gil Hedley, and in the broader context of conversations happening in the yoga community around vaccination and related topics. [8:53] One of the things mentioned in the post was a comparison of the vaccine to the Holocaust, intersex surgery and circumcision. Why is that harmful? [15:55] Drew brings up the idea of informed consent in the context of the vaccine. [18:29] Are some of the policies being put into place, like vaccine passports and requiring proof of vaccination to participate in certain activities, a form of coercion? [23:43] Shannon and Drew explore the idea of scope of practice. Who are the experts we should be listening to, and how can we find that expert information to guide our choices? [29:25] Shannon gives a shout out to Schedulicity. [30:55] What should we do if we see misinformation being posted or shared? [34:47] Shannon addresses some dangerous misinformation about the vaccine. A common misconception is that the vaccine is not FDA approved. Drew debunks this myth. [37:19] Another fear-based statement is that people are dying from the vaccine, not COVID. Drew addresses this untruthful statement. [38:08] Shannon and Drew discuss another common comment that a healthy body and immune system is an alternative to vaccination. [40:33] The pandemic has brought to light how our society has normalized the idea and verbalization that chronically ill or disabled people's lives don't matter. [44:30] Shannon brings up the confusion around vaccinated people wearing mask, and the importance placed on being "healthy". [47:52] To what extent is a fully vaccinated yoga class safe? [50:16] Shannon and Drew explore concerns around disclosing health and medical information. [51:54] A listener shares their fears about not being able to visit with elderly parents for fear of breakthrough infections. [53:26] A listener asks: How are children being affected in all of this, because they can't be vaccinated? [55:05] Drew addresses a final point about relying on our immune systems and appropriate supplementation. [56:33] This is a very divisive topic and we may be faced with tough conversations and difficult decisions as we navigate this situation. Shannon and Drew discuss approaching with compassion and openness, and really being aware of the nuances in this complex time. [59:04] Find out more about Drew, his work, and bees in Costa Rica on Instagram and Facebook. [60:22] Shannon shares her reflections and takeaways from this interview.   Links: Drew Hume Drew Hume on Social Media: @drewhume on Instagram, @navina.community on Instagram, @beesfirst on Instagram, Drew Hume on Facebook Dissection Time with Drew Hume - Live Video Live Video with Drew Hume in The Connected Yoga Teacher Facebook Group Schedulicity (Coupon Code: CYT2MONTHS) The Connected Yoga Teacher Facebook Group Shannon Crow on Instagram   Gratitude to our Sponsors Schedulicity and Conscious Marketing for Yoga Teachers Training with Tristan Katz.   Quotes from this episode: "To a degree, there is a certain amount of fear for everyone regarding something, whether it's fear around infection from the virus or fear around all of the other things that have been said about the vaccine."   "Intent and impact are two very different things."   "The reality of the situation is, we all do have the choice to either take the vaccine or not."   "Scope of practice, especially when we have influence with other people is really important. It's a really important boundary to set for ourselves and therefore a boundary with which we protect the people that we're in contact with."   "All evidence is not equally weighted. All perspectives are not equal, and validity is not encapsulated in the presence of an opinion. Validity is based upon the weight of evidence, as opposed to simply being an idea that's present or presented."   "Actions taken for the benefit of other people are incredibly valuable, in some cases, life saving."   "[We need to] think about also how our actions and decisions influence other people in all aspects of our lives. We are in no way isolated from the existence of the people who surround us, in no way, shape or form."   "Your own right to privacy is not more important than another person's right to safety.    "The idea of medical intervention is not a new idea, nor is it having minimal impact. It's having a substantial impact."

Gil Hedley and The Massage Mentor --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this rebroadcast of an episode from December 2020, Cal and Cathy talk with the inimitable Gil Hedley about anatomy, bodies, wholeness, acceptance, and the ultimate wisdom inherent in the human body. ********** Interdisciplinary will be on hiatus until July. We have a great Season 3 already in the works, and hope you will join us there. ********** About Our Guest: Gil Hedley, Ph.D., has been teaching anatomy with an integral approach in the dissection lab for the past 26 years. He is the producer of The Integral Anatomy Series, the author of several books, and has spent a great deal of time on the road inviting folks to witness the gift of their human body with appreciation. Gil has a whole pile of free resources available to those who join his website, www.gilhedley.com where you can also find his teaching schedule and online courses. Gil has recently launched the Explorer level membership on his site, granting access to all of his for-credit online courses, all of his books, his comprehensive "Anatomy from A to Z" project, as well as monthly "Live with Gil" sessions, all for just $15/month.

During this episode I had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Gil Hedley. Gil is an integral anatomist from the United States and has spent much of his life examining, and teaching others to appreciate, the textures and layers of the human body. Our conversation allowed us to dive further into to depth on some of his well known analogies pertaining to the human body including the onion tree, his refined definition of "fuzz" and the heart centre. Gil also shared how his years of work in dissection have caused him to view stress, his life and how "slipperiness" is essential. Did you learn anything new during this episode? Comment below and we'll see you in the next one. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/concast/message

Gil Hedley, Ph.D., author, Director of Somanautics Workshops and producer of the The Integral Anatomy Series, talks with J about the substance and meaning of existence in a human body. They discuss theology and ethics, the models with which we view our bodies, denial of the feminine and releasing dogmas, “the fuzz” and “perifascia,” understanding interconnectedness of all things by observing it within our own systems, and fully embodying the majesty and grace that imbues our cells. This episode is sponsored by Karmasoft.   To subscribe and support the show… GET PREMIUM.   Check out J's new podcast… J. BROWN YOGA THOUGHTS.  

Colette Darville is the creator of Yin Yoga Lifestyle.com, Yin Yoga Lifestyle Videos, Blog and Yin Yoga Lifestyle Podcast. She is a Transcendental Meditator, Silva Method Graduate (training with the late Jose Silva), a Deepak Chopra Primordial Sound Practitioner, and Bio-Energy practitioner. Colette combines these practices with her training as a certified Yoga Teacher and Arts Educator and has been described as a renaissance yoga practitioner with a healthy, meditative, and creative twist. Colette is inspired by her teacher training with scientist and Yin Yoga guru and author of 5 books, Bernie Clark. Workshops with Dr. Gil Hedley, fascial anatomist and author, and Bio Energy Healing training with author and teacher Csonger ( pronounced CHONGER) Daniel. Colette holds degrees in Advertising/Graphic Design, a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Arts Education and taught Visual Arts at a University School in Vancouver, Canada. She now teaches primarily Yin Yoga and Visual Art from her studio in Hollywood, Florida.Website: www.yinyogalifestyle.com***View this Episode with Additional Notes on Shannon's WebsiteDialed In PodcastInstagram

Carpal tunnel has become the blanket term for any wrist pain. But the carpal tunnel is a totally normal structure that all of us have. So why does it hurt and what can you do to prevent it? If you have wrist or hand pain and are interested in exploring all of your options beyond surgery - today's episode is for you. You'll learn: All about carpal tunnel, including  What causes wrist pain And easy and pain-free ways you can build strength and avoid surgery All the links: - Gil Hedley's “Fuzz Speech” - Improve Grip Strength with Hanging [VIDEO] - www.aewellness.com/mavens - Movement Mavens waitlist - www.aewellness.com/podcast - Show notes, links and more. - Join the free Body Nerds FB community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/aewbodynerds/  - Come hang out with me on Instagram @hollaformala : https://instagram.com/hollaformala/  - Bodywork Starter Guide - learn the 6 places you need to roll right now for quick-relief, plus the reason why what you've tried so far has only given you a temporary fix. Download the guide for free now at www.aewellness.com/bodywork  - 818-396-6501 is the Body Nerd Hotline - how do you build consistency and/or where are you getting stuck? Drop me a line and let me know your body nerd hacks - you might just hear your voice on a future episode!

Today's Conversation is with the amazing and lovable Gil HedleyGil Hedley, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in theological ethics from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, and also became a Certified Rolfer at the Rolf Institute in Boulder, CO, back in the early '90s. His combined interests and training has supported his personal exploration of the human body and led him to develop an integral approach to the study of human anatomy. Through hands-on human dissections courses in the laboratory and lecture presentations, he has encouraged thousands of fellow "somanauts" to appreciate, explore and embody the wonders of human form. He has published a number of books, as well as produced The Integral Anatomy Series, a set of four feature-length videos documenting his whole body, layer-by-layer approach through on-camera dissection.The material available at www.gilhedley.com represents his current intention to bring Integral Anatomy to the world via online courses, presentations and content designed to cultivate a deeper experience and appreciation of the human form on the part of all who share an interest in the gift of the human body.You can find out more about Gil at  www.gilhedley.com/If you enjoyed today's episode, we'd appreciate it if you would leave a positive review of the podcast and subscribe to it through the platform of your choice. When you do this it really helps other people find us, and we greatly appreciate your support.You can find more about Andrew at andrewrosenstock.comAnd more about Nikki at nikkiolsen.comMany thanks to Explorers Society for use of their song " All In" from their majestic album 'Spheres' Please check them out here https://open.spotify.com/album/1plT1lAPWEQ1oTRbWOiXm3?si=eAL08OJdT5-sJ6FwwZD50g

Anatomist Gil Hedley joins me to discuss what makes anatomy interesting, somanaut, objective vs. experiential anatomy, regional vs. integral anatomy, Tom Myers, nouns vs. verbs, humbling, nobody is not the standard, variation, cutting up celebrities, charisma, FUZZZZ, “rebranding” the body and more. A pleasure playful yet deep one. https://www.gilhedley.com/

Mason and Tahnee (the dream team) join forces on the podcast today, to introduce us to Shen, the Third Treasure of the Daoist system. Mason and Tahnee reveal our new SuperFeast baby - the SHEN blend, journeying through the herbs present in the formula and the actions and virtues they afford us when we work in harmony with them. We're beyond thrilled to finally have our beloved SHEN blend launching ready for our SuperFeast community to explore, completing our propriety Treasure series, sharing the stage with our darling JING and QI blends. If you're new to the Three Treasures and want to learn more, check out our JING podcast here and QI podcast here. Mason has also written a brilliant article on the Three Treasure so you can read it here. Enjoy!  "Shen.. It's just you, without the bullshit"  - Mason & Tahnee   Mason and Tahnee discuss: The Three Treasures of the Daoist system. The treasure of Shen, what it is, how it is embodied. The East vs West approach to the mind, the Heart vs the brain. The importance of building strong foundations within the body in order to cultivate Shen. The healing profiles of the herbs in the new SuperFeast SHEN blend. When to use the SuperFeast SHEN blend and why. The difference between the Poria in our Masons Mushrooms and the Spirit Poria in our SHEN blend. Harvesting our Poria and why we source all our herbs Di Dao. The beautifying effects of the SHEN blend.   Who Are Mason Taylor and Tahnee McCrossin? Mason Taylor: Mason’s energy and intent for a long and happy life is infectious. A health educator at heart, he continues to pioneer the way for potent health and a robust personal practice. An avid sharer, connector, inspirer and philosophiser, Mason wakes up with a smile on his face, knowing that tonic herbs are changing lives. Mason is also the SuperFeast founder, daddy to Aiya and partner to Tahnee (General Manager at SuperFeast). Tahnee McCrossin: Tahnee is a self proclaimed nerd, with a love of the human body, it’s language and its stories. A cup of tonic tea and a human interaction with Tahnee is a gift! A beautiful Yin Yoga teacher and Chi Ne Tsang practitioner, Tahnee loves going head first into the realms of tradition, yogic philosophy, the organ systems, herbalism and hard-hitting research. Tahnee is the General Manager at SuperFeast, mumma to reishi-baby Aiya and partner to Mason (founder of SuperFeast).   Resources: The Video Of Mason Harvesting Poria In China   SuperFeast SHEN Blend Product Page Superfeast SHEN Blend Blog  Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast?   A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or  check us out on Stitcher, CastBox, iHeart RADIO:)! Plus  we're on Spotify!   Check Out The Transcript Here:   Mason: (00:01) Hey, everybody. Here with Tahns.   Tahnee: (00:02) Hi.   Mason: (00:03) So we're going to be talking about Shen today, Third Treasure.   Tahnee: (00:06) Mm-hmm (affirmative). Exciting time.   Mason: (00:08) Yeah. It's finally about the combination of the Three Treasures of blends in the superfoods range, so it's been awhile.   Tahnee: (00:15) Jing, Qi, and Shen.   Mason: (00:18) Very good, Tahns.   Tahnee: (00:18) I've been spending too much time with Aiya.   Mason: (00:21) Yeah, Daoism for kiddies.   Tahnee: (00:29) All right, boys and girls. Yeah, I think it's exciting because we really like this Daoist idea of Jing, Qi, Shen. It's such a great way to kind of view the body and our experience as a human on this earthly plane. The Jing holding our DNA and our kind of, I guess, connection to our ancestry and the strength of our constitution, our bones and our body and the Qi being the animation of that, the metabolism and the fire of our life and then Shen being that which is eliminated by those forces being in harmony, right?   Mason: (01:07) Yeah, exactly. I mean there's so many different ways. It's such a colourful conversation. I've been thinking about Jing, Qi, and Shen a lot lately and how to make them as something that doesn't seem theoretical like you have to remember, but something-   Tahnee: (01:21) Lived?   Mason: (01:22) Yeah, exactly. It's why metaphors are so good. It's why I've been enjoying talking about thinking if you take the human body and it's just a bunch of bones and DNA and hips and marrow. And you just lay it there and it's not moving and it's got all this potential, but in order for it to have potential, you need to put the batteries in and the batteries need to have charge. Batteries being the Kidneys, the Jing is so if you just take that human body and all its potential, it can't do anything yet, it's just pure physical potential, and then you plug the Jing in by putting the batteries in and they're charged batteries. They're not batteries that are Jing deficient, smashing coffees and absolutely flogging yourself. Put the batteries into the Kidneys and then all of the sudden, you have the rising of Qi.   Tahnee: (02:08) The lights go on.   Mason: (02:09) Exactly, the lights go on. Qi moves. That body can get up and animate and move around. Then to really drop into Shen and live and for me to be feeling Shen. Because I used to use analogies about the candle, which I still enjoy. Talking about it like this in the human body, then from there, if you just have potential in the physical body, the Jing, amazing. You've got life.   Tahnee: (02:31) Lights are on but nobody's home, right?   Mason: (02:34) Exactly. You're animating and you're moving, but where's the personality and the soul and the lessons and the enjoyment and all that? That's Shen, and that's why it's important, it's an important distinction that the spirit, because that's one spirit, your spirit can emerge from your heart, come through. Therefore, you have your soul present and you can become wiser and more virtuous. These are all things that are your Shen, and it's an important distinction that Daoism, Classical Chinese medicine before it was modernised and colonised in the 50s, to turn it into what's known as Traditional Chinese Medicine currently.   Mason: (03:11) The Spirit was cut away and definitely in the Western medicine, there's no Spirit that's present. It's just all... Literally a scalpel's gone and cut away the spiritual elements of medicine, but Shen, you can't really talk about health long term from a Daoist perspective or yogic perspective, any of these that will kind of have ancient roots, without acknowledging that the spirit and the spirit of organs and one's own soul and spirit, it's pivotal to understanding how we can become healthy long term.   Tahnee: (03:45) Mm-hmm (affirmative). It's funny you talk about analogies because I've been studying a bit with Nevine Michaan from Katonah Yoga, and she talks about the body as a house. And if you've got the architecture and the structure, which is your Jing effectively. And then you've got the lights on and you start to move in, that's the Qi. And then, if you make it a home, you make it a place where you want to be where it has a comforting essence of pleasure and joy and warmth, then that's the Shen.   Mason: (04:17) You weren't there on our last retreat at Tanya's when I used that exact analogy. I said, "Look at this room. This is the Jing. See how there's nice things and people. Put flowers over here and some incense on. It keeps it moving, the doors are open. That's the Qi. There's life moving through it. But then, only over years can laughter settle in, and oils settle in to the kitchen, that have actually been lived in."   Tahnee: (04:44) Yeah. And that's what makes something beautiful. And that's what the Daoists say. When someone's Shen is harmonised in their body, then they're lit up from within. And they're attractive, and they're expressed. They're just full of purpose and intention and presence, but it's not seeking or striving. It's just like a nice home where you go in and you're just... It's nice to be in their presence.   Tahnee: (05:12) I think that's such a beautiful way to think about it.   Mason: (05:15) You can't fake Shen. You definitely can't. You might be able to on Instagram, but not in real life.   Tahnee: (05:21) Well, I think when we look at what Shen even does, if you have a Shen disturbance manifesting as a symptom of anxiety, well that's the opposite of a comforting, safe environment. You don't feel safe. You feel unsettled and unhinged and stressed and out of alignment. Well that's a Shen disturbance. And so yeah, absolutely. We want to support this in ourselves and in others. And when we see it, when we recognise it in ourselves and in others, it's a nice thing to cultivate and build.   Tahnee: (05:56) And that's what all these practises are about. Meditation and even the Qi Gong and the cultivation exercises are about stabilising the Shen so that energy, that soul lives in the body and is expressed through this life. And then, we move on to whatever, higher points of consciousness, whatever you want to do. After that, it's up to you, guys. We're here for the Shen.   Mason: (06:17) Yeah, I've been talking about the fact that it comes when Shen is in harmony and able to consistently express itself. Obviously guys, at the end of this, you'll see Shen isn't something to be developed overnight. It's certainly not something you get. Everyone's just got their Shen, and it's highly correlated. It is literally like emerging from the Heart organ system, so the Heart Fire. So the Heart is the emperor organ. And all the other organs are essentially serving the emperor.   Mason: (06:51) When the Heart Fire Qi is flowing harmoniously... That's the idea behind the Shen herbs and all these practises, to ensure that we've got enough Blood so that the Shen can travel through the Blood. The Blood's Shen's home-away-from-home.   Tahnee: (07:07) Envoy.   Mason: (07:08) Heavy envoy.   Tahnee: (07:09) Take it around.   Mason: (07:10) To take it around to ensure that we're enlivening and bringing light and soulfulness and consciousness to every little area of our body. Tahns is just getting some water because water is needed to build Blood. These herbs and practises are also ensuring that we've got Qi tonics to support the movement of blood; therefore, the movement of Shen through the body because life requires movement. If the waters get stagnant, Blood gets stagnant, then we're not able to bring in life to ensure that there is a harmonious flow of the surrounding organs, which is all of them, but especially the Liver. We really want a smooth Liver flow, the Liver being the mother.   Mason: (07:51) The Liver-Wood, being the mother to the Heart Fire to ensure that... The Liver is ensuring that we've got strong strength through the capillaries and ensuring that we've got that uprightness so that Blood can move through and get through as well as Qi can get through and move through the body, as well as creating that suppleness, especially through those Blood vessels which means that we can bring curvature to the way that the Blood is moving, and therefore, cool the Blood down.   Mason: (08:19) And so, if you don't have those things, if you're stagnant, which is something I'm prone to, as you know, Tahns, if you're stagnant through your Liver Qi and especially if you lack that Yin and that suppleness through your Liver, Liver-Wood, then you're going to get a downstream effect where there's going to be a lot of Heat through the Blood, therefore, a lot of potential excess Fire.   Tahnee: (08:43) Yeah, when you think about friction, right? If you're rigid, so this is a thing. The Blood moves in spirals or vortexes. When you go and check out Gil Hedley's work, he talks about the heart not being a pump but being a valley where the vortex water layer... It's just spring water does in nature.   Mason: (09:00) Creating more of an implosion suction.   Tahnee: (09:03) Yeah. Exactly. More like your circulatory organ than a pumping organ. And if you think about rigidity, if you think about the vessels becoming really rigid and you think about a movement along that, rigidity creates this friction which creates Heat in the body. And so, that's not idea. That's going to burn up your Fluids. It's going to create all sorts of implications down the track.   Tahnee: (09:26) And yeah, the Hun as well. There's a spirit in the Liver called the Hun which can invade the Heart, can invade the Shen and cause mental disturbances and the psychological aspects of that. So when we're looking at a Shen, harmonised Shen in a human is like a person who's healthy mentally and not got a lot of psychological disturbances. But when we do have these imbalances, we can end up with the Liver invading the Heart. We can end up with all sorts of troubles.   Mason: (09:58) So the Hun is the part of our... It's more of our infinite Spirit guys, that travels after this lifetime, the Spirit that goes on.   Tahnee: (10:07) Yeah. Well I always think of the Shen as my universal consciousness, the part of me that came down to be, to animate the form. My Shen is that. My Hun is my astral self, so the part of me that can travel the realms. And it's one thing to take it to a really advanced, philosophical level. But the way it works in the body is why we're here. We want a clear path for consciousness, a clear channel for consciousness to come through. And it shines out of us. That's the idea.   Tahnee: (10:44) And then, this Hun is meant to keep connecting us to this astral self that can live beyond the physical realms, I suppose. So it's the creative. It's the vision. It's the future seeing. It's time doesn't exist because I live in all time.   Mason: (11:03) Yeah. Part of our intention here is to bring our higher consciousness, our Shen, and bring it through and crack it through into this reality that we're at now. What I was talking about, all the things that these practises and Shen herbs do in bringing a smooth flow of that hot Fire Qi, ensuring that we've got a smooth flow of the Liver cooling the Blood, so and so forth, stabilising the Heart.   Mason: (11:26) What happens then, the Heart as the emperor that all the other organs serve, that is when you get a smooth flow of Qi through that organ system, that's when the spirit of that organ system may express itself. So it's the same when we have a smooth flow of Qi through the Liver, then the Hun may express itself.   Mason: (11:47) If you have disturbance, if you have Heart Fire disturbance, what happens is it's like frustration that's going to get expressed from the Liver, but I just use that term. It's frustrating for the Qi. And then Shen's going to... The spirit of that organ system is not going to be able to express clearly. And therefore, we're going to see that expressed in anxiousness, mental disturbance, depression, insomnia. And then, going down the line, psychosis, so and so forth.   Mason: (12:23) As you know, you can see the Shen is the window... The eyes are the window to the Shen or to higher consciousness or to the soul, as we say. This is what our Daoist herbs are doing. This when you need to be working with someone clinically if you have this level of psychosis or mental disturbance. But you can see as someone moves down that line of having extreme anxiety, extreme depression, mental disturbance, and psychosis, you see the eyes starting to glaze over or to grey or to dull, and that's where Daoist would immediately go, right there's a direct Shen disturbance.   Mason: (13:06) And then, you'd need appropriate diagnosis at those points.   Tahnee: (13:10) Well that's when you lose your grip with reality. Right? And that's the Hun because the Liver's also the outward expression of... I would say they eyes are the outward expression of the Liver. I don't understand the psychology of TCM as well as I would like to, but from what I understand, the Hun... Because the Liver does invade and overtake the Shen, we sort of lose touch with reality. Because that sort of sense of schizophrenia and a lot of those... Because Chinese medicine doesn't talk about symptoms or diseases like we do in the West. It talks about patterns that would be Liver Heat or Liver invading Spleen or whatever.   Tahnee: (13:57) But what I understand is something like a schizophrenic episode would be literally a case of the Hun becoming more dominant. Or when you have poor Blood to anchor the Hun, you don't sleep well, and you have wild dreams where your Hun will wake you up, Liver will wake you up in the middle of the night at 1:00. That's a really common thing we hear here in customer service a lot of the time.   Tahnee: (14:20) It's like, "I wake up every night between 1:00 and 3:00."   Tahnee: (14:23) And it's like, "Oh well, that's a sign that you probably don't have enough Blood to anchor the Hun, so you're not getting a really good sleep. So when it starts to move, that Liver time, it wakes you up because it's such a burst of Yang energy through the body."   Tahnee: (14:38) So the psychological stuff's super interesting and definitely something I'm still learning a lot about. But just understanding these kind of energies that animate us and create our experience is really interesting. So we would not look at... Even when we go to talk about the herbs and what they do from a Daoist expertise, if you nourish the Fire, if you nourish the essence of the Heart, if you work with that energy, if your intention and your presence and your practise is about that, it's going to feed it.   Tahnee: (15:11) I know Tony Robbins hijacked it, but intention, Qi, Blood, those things all follow one another. I think it's where your energy intentionally goes, your energy follows.   Mason: (15:21) Where the mind goes, energy flows.   Tahnee: (15:25) Yes. That ability to focus your intention, your energy, your mind. And then, let your energy follow that. And then, your Blood will follow that because Blood follows Qi. That's how you do a Qi Gong practise. That's how you do even when you practise the medicine. You have to be so focused on so present because you're conducting the flow of Qi and the flow of Blood. You're giving Shen to that practise, whether it's your Qi Gong practise or your healing practise or your herbal practise.   Tahnee: (15:52) So intention is such an important part of what we do of Shen because it's bringing Shen into your life.   Mason: (15:59) And guys, when we're looking at Shen, the mind is put in there in terms of the definition, within the definition. And it's kind of like the mind is definitely a tool used in the personality. It's something that's used in order to express our personality, process what's going on in life so that we can gain more and more wisdom, when Tahns talking about being there and being a practitioner bringing Shen to the table.   Mason: (16:26) In order to offer a healing space for someone, people around you, be a good person, be less of an asshole, I think we'd all agree that continuing to cultivate our virtuous nature, which isn't an easy thing to do but it is considered a dividend of developing your Shen, that you cultivate those that are associated with strong Shen. Forgiveness, compassion, love, like deep love, deep gratitude, and the capacity to really have that virtuous nature be a part of yourself.   Mason: (17:07) And so, the mind and Shen have an interesting relationship. Because if you are extremely Shen deficient, and if you're shying away from that part of yourself which is more than just the physical, then you see the mind take over the show more and more. And therefore, you move into this place of the way that you get virtuous, you have less... You put a glass ceiling on yourself, I find, in terms of your capacity to really tap into your higher self. And over years and decades of work, have that higher consciousness emerge through your organ systems and be embodied so that forgiveness and that love and that gratitude is something that's just... You don't have to think about it. It's just there, and it's just dripping from you. And that's when you see that in 90 year-olds and 100 year-olds.   Mason: (18:02) They just come to work, and they're just legends. And they're just beautiful white lights to be around. And you see when you don't do that work or don't allow that more mystical aspect of yourself that the mind can't grasp, whether you really want to go into Daoist thought or be religious or spiritual or whatever it is, it doesn't matter. Just let go, just that little bit. Then the mind needs to go into morality.   Mason: (18:23) And so, you do the right thing and be forgiving. Whereas, Shen is where you start to dissolve any sense of right and wrong. And when you can move into that place and get to that, when you can get away from wrong and right, you really do have an opportunity to discover that part of yourself which is virtuous that's outside of the morality and the right and wrong of what you're current clique is telling you, how you should be and how you should be a good person.   Tahnee: (18:53) That reminds me of Rumi, "Out beyond the idea of right doing and wrong doing, there is a field, and I will meet you there." It's just like my teacher says the more spiritually aware you become, the less you'll subscribe to cancel culture and woke movements and all of this stuff because we start to see that everything, depending on your perspective, exists in shades of grey. There's no... I could say I'm right, but I could just as easily say you're right, really if I start to think about it.   Tahnee: (19:27) I think one thing I wanted to quickly make the distinction on too is the mind as in the brain, and the mind as in the Heart. Because in Daoist thought, the Heart is the mind, but it's not how we think about mind. So we think about the cognitive machine that whirls around in our heads which is more associated with the Kidneys. In Chinese medicine, it's called the Sea of Marrow. So it's literally an extension-   Mason: (19:54) The brain.   Tahnee: (19:55) Yes, so the brain is literally an extension of the marrow in your bones. It's kind of this blood-filled goopy thing floating around in your skull. And if you think about your skull as being a bone, it could really be the marrow because it's literally encased in bone on most sides. But yeah, the Heart is more the perceiving mind that is beyond that logical idea of things being rational. Because if you've ever had even a kind of heart-based experience, it's not a rational experience. It's sublime, and it's feeling-based. And it's intuitive, and it's everything that the mind is not.   Tahnee: (20:37) So there's this... I guess the best analogy I have is from yoga, but it's this idea that yeah, we have the functions of the mind which are useful and essential. We can't get through life without them, and great, but we don't want to live there and limit ourselves to that. We want to remember that there's this bigger self that is perceiving all of this and living all of this as well, and that can hold all of this even though the little mind might not think it can.   Tahnee: (21:05) And that to me, is sort of what Shen and the Heart hold in our... No matter how much weird shit goes on around us or what traumas we experience, there's this part of us that's bigger than all of that that can hold it. Like I said, the language I have for this is more out of yoga than out of Daoism, but I've seen this stuff in the Daoist texts as well. From working with Mantak Chia, I know that he also speaks about these things too. That's kind of the big, capital S, self. So that's what the Heart really projects, I suppose, and holds for us in this lifetime.   Tahnee: (21:40) So it takes us out of this small s, selfish self that has greed and wants to be pissed off at someone and wants to be right, and wants to be at war with the world in some ways. The best example of that I think of is a meta-meditation, like a Buddhist where you make all beings be happy. And then, make people that hate be happy, people that are evil be happy.   Tahnee: (22:04) It's this kind of practise where you practise being grateful and being compassionate to people you would normally not like to yourself, which is a massive thing for a lot of people. "can I truly be loved and be happy?" So I just wanted to distinguish between the mind and the brain which we would naturally link to as Westerners, having been raised in our culture and the mind to be the Heart, which from an Eastern perspective, is a little bit more out there and broad and big.   Mason: (22:34) Yeah. Well the taking of Shen herbs, I'm glad you brought that up. And just to keep it really simple, it is associated with the Shen herbs if you are feeling what we call that monkey mind, you'll find that through developing Shen and through taking Shen herbs and focusing on bringing your virtuous nature through. I find it to become evident, we all have this experience. But especially we can think about having a chip on our shoulder.   Mason: (23:05) In business, it's the best dojo, having resent towards competitors or someone that's wronged me. I'm not saying it takes... Forgiveness isn't something that just is done. The capacity needs to be developed. And over the years, I've experienced that nature of, "Do I really want to live with this resentment of someone because they're ripping this off, or they're not doing it the way that I think they should be doing it?"   Mason: (23:36) And it's the classic, spiritual one-on-one lesson that you're the one that needs to live with it. I don't need to live with it. But in order to calm yourself enough, just quiet that monkey mind. And as well, go through and do that deep work over decades and decades so that the monkey mind can be quiet to begin with. You see the pay off. You can see why the Daoists are like, "Yeah look, of course we need a strong body. We start with Jing, and we start with a strong body so that the Qi can move, and we want to cultivate lots of Qi and life."   Mason: (24:10) But what's the point if you don't develop your Shen and your virtuous nature? The reason we do that, the reason we want to be athletic and athletically apt is because you see a lot of people say, for example, a lot of people whose parent here. You'll see they'll get to 60, say 65 or 70, and there is just no way they've got the Jing and the Qi to get in there and do some deep psychological work and create forgiveness or get off the right or wrong. So just say politically, be able to get to the point where they can open up and take more of a broad view of life for their capacity to be happy, not have a monkey mind, not have resentfulness.   Mason: (24:54) And therefore, it kind of goes a little bit further with the dysfunction, if you don't develop your Shen. All of the sudden, you're stuck with your dysfunctions. You haven't developed a virtuous nature, and therefore, you become one that projects onto children, other family members, society, "This is what's wrong. This is why I'm right." Or you become extremely timid and don't have the capacity to stand for yourself and express your spirit. And it's an absolute, to be really blunt.   Mason: (25:24) I don't think it's right or wrong that people end up that way. But when you look at an objective level, if you have people who don't go into maturation, which is what Shen is, a lot of wisdom, then you become a burden. Right? And you become someone that projects, and it's not my job to be like, "That person's making me a victim."   Mason: (25:47) That's not what I'm saying. But if I'm saying from myself, if I got to the point where I'm 70 and I've got my anger issues that I haven't really worked on, "I don't like being judged," I know how much of a problem I'm going to be and a drain I'm going to be for Aiya. And that's really a harrowing feeling, and the Daoist and all these wise cultures saw that's the point. I don't care how big your muscles are, how much Qi you've got in your Spleen, if you can't really embody compassion, then what was it for?   Tahnee: (26:22) That's interesting because this phase of life... I think I'm right on this. I think earlier, when you're a little kid, you're in the Wood phase. And we're in the Fire phase now which is really about the soul learning through living and learning through trial and error and making mistakes. And it is kind of like a student-ship of the soul, ideally. And it's interesting given our culture how little people invest in their own spiritual development, I guess. I'm sure the people in these podcasts are slightly different, but in general, it's just not really a priority for people until they get a lot older. And like you said, the baggage is so heavy by then, yoga talks about every experience we have creating an impression. And if you dig the same line 100 times in the sand, it becomes a very deep line, and it's very hard to get rid of.   Tahnee: (27:12) And I think that's these kind of... You see people as they age becoming really stuck on certain ideas or certain things just loop and loop. It's because early on, when they had the opportunity, I think, to become conscious of that and to start to shift their perspective and their behaviour and their patterns, they've chosen not to do that. And the Bhagavad Gita talks about you want to put the reins on the horse and teach the horse. And then, learn to control the horse so it pulls the chariot in the right direction, not too fast, not too slow. And that's what I think this Shen stage of life is about.   Tahnee: (27:48) And then, we hit the declining... Oh sorry. I think we're always ascending. We hit the declining years, and then we hit the deep wisdom years in the 70's. And all of the things have to happen for us to end up there. And I think that's where-   Mason: (28:03) A lot of opportunity's lost.   Tahnee: (28:04) Yeah. If you've just hustled and made sure there's money and done your thing and whatever, you've not spent a lot of time on yourself and worked through your own stuff that you've brought through, which we all have. That's part of living. Then, you're going to end up in a bit of a shit fight later on, I think. And I think that's a lot of the people I talk to with menopause and when I spoke to Jane Hardwicke Collins about this. We talked about how women have that transition period in their late 40's, early 50's where suddenly their life catches up with them. And they realise all the places where they've bent over and not given to themselves first, and where they've been taken for granted or prioritised the things that weren't in service to them.   Tahnee: (28:53) That's the teaching of that time, and it's an invitation. The Blood has stopped. The Blood remains in the body, and that's when the Shen really rises in a woman if she's willing to meet it. But it means looking at all the things that are uncomfortable and all the things... Shen isn't all just sunshine and rainbows unfortunately. Sometimes for it to shine through, like you're saying, we have to do a bit of work. Peel away some of the layers.   Tahnee: (29:15) And that's why meditation is correlated with Shen building. It's being able to sit there. And again, I don't know the Daoist language for this, but in yoga, you've got the higher mind and the lower mind. And the lower mind is always there. It's not like you're calling it, the monkey mind. It's just monkeys are monkeys. No point trying to stop a monkey, but you don't want to live from that place. You want to live like you're watching the monkey and going, "What a funny monkey," and giving it a banana and being kind to it, but knowing that monkeys will do what monkeys will do.   Tahnee: (29:48) And living in this higher place that takes a bit of practise because A, it's not common in our culture. It's not really celebrated to not be easily reactive, and people love drama. How much do people love drama? Netflix is just drama to the enth degree, and it's fun.   Mason: (30:07) Drama's fun.   Tahnee: (30:07) It is fun. But it also catches us, and it spirals us through these emotional things. And it really can be damaging to our health.   Mason: (30:15) Well it's distracting. I think the biggest thing, if you start looking at the fact that you've got... You're saying we're in our 30's. We've got a good 10 years to dive in there and maybe do some therapy or do some... For me, it's do some integrating from a crazy amount of plant medicine I did in my late 20's and actually allow that to maturate into something. Consistently catch myself, consistently make decisions about where I dramatise. And just get in there and get really gritty. And you only have a certain amount of time.   Mason: (30:48) I'm not saying we're not allowed to do anything that's completely entertaining or total drama-dom.   Tahnee: (30:53) Well it's supposed to burn.   Mason: (30:54) Yeah, exactly.   Tahnee: (30:55) It's meant to be fun as well.   Mason: (30:55) Exactly. Oh, god to be meant to be fun. But in terms of just how distracted we let ourselves go, without going into morality, it's right or it's wrong kind of thing. But at some point, you go, "Shit, I better get on the horse here and develop myself a little bit."   Mason: (31:14) So the nature of meditation, the nature of why the Daoists saw Shen herbs... These are the herbs that tonify the organs associated with Shen, mainly the Heart, Heart Fire. But also, we're seeing the correlation between Shen tonics, Liver-Wood tonics. And then, you see some supporting herbs in there that are doing some work on the Spleen and Lung, and then, the Kidneys of course. Because you were talking about the lower mind and the upper mind, being the Kidney associated with that monkey mind.   Mason: (31:52) You can't really correlate the way the mind is seen the West with the way the Daoists see it.   Tahnee: (31:56) Oh yeah, where the brain is the Kidney.   Mason: (31:58) Exactly. So if the brain is the Kidney, and then the Heart is our higher thinking and our Shen, that's why there's herbs like polygala root that are in the SHEN blend that are actually running along the psychic vessel, the penetrating vessel from the Kidney to the Heart in order to connect those two styles of thought and bring sexual energy and bring a virtuous way of relating to our sexual energy, and merging that with the heart. It's also called our Will Strengthener, and it brings pure will power to our way of being.   Mason: (32:31) So you'll see herbs like polygala being some of the most potent Shen tonics because it brings a calming effect, not because it's a carminative, not because it down regulates the nervous system, but because you come integrated in a way. That without, you're not going to be able to spiritually develop yourself because you've got this drive and this sexual hunger and this power to create. Yet, that's not merging necessarily as smoothly as it could with this loving, forgiving, jovial, non-judgmental, non right and wrong, non shame-based way of living.   Mason: (33:06) And so it's really just calming. So these Shen herbs, you can see quite often, you start taking a herb like reishi, many people have felt it, but especially if you take SHEN blend with herbs like polygala. You can immediately feel, due to all the various actions, a calming effect. And that's good, but we're not taking this so you can be calm today. The idea of the SHEN blend and Shen herbs is we're going to be taking them either sporadically or over time. Maybe it's week on, week off, however. I don't know how you're going to take it.   Mason: (33:41) But in conjunction with meditation, doing your work, doing your practise, showing up with self, going to therapy, just being real. Taking that trajectory towards being someone who is, in their older age, able to have a laugh and a sense of humour. When life hits them, have water go off a duck's back. What happens if you lose a million dollars? Are you going to be able to let that go?   Tahnee: (34:06) Well that's the thing with the Heart because it's so much about... So the Heart has four... Normally in Chinese medicine, all the organ systems are in pairs. But the Heart is two pairs, four in total. And it's administrative role of the Triple Burner, the San Jiao, which is about regulating temperature and fluids across the three Dan Tien. So around your Heart-Lungs, around your digestive function, around your reproductive function. So that's one aspect of it.   Tahnee: (34:35) Then you've got the Small Intestine, which is about the ability to be discerning. So that's a really important function of the Heart, not judge but to just discern, to know the difference between what's true and what isn't true, it's own perception, which is assimilative and eliminative, getting rid of, a function of the Small Intestine. And then you've got this pericardium which is this protection around the Heart because the heart gets damaged by our interactions with humans.   Tahnee: (35:06) If we get heartbroken or even if we're just treated poorly in any way, every little cut starts to go deeper and deeper. And so, that's so much of the Fire years. Like I said, the human is also learning to relate and learning to forgive and not be hurt by our interactions with each other and to find the people or the types of people that are going to be the most suited to us, and this idea of remaining open-hearted throughout our lives.   Tahnee: (35:40) And that's something you see again in older people that have been hurt. They close off from love. They close off from receiving any goodness from anyone because they've been hurt once, or twice, or three times. So that's one of the offerings of working with the Heart energy and Fire energy, to stay in the space of open-hearted-ness and to remember that the Heart is protected. It has this whole meridian designed just to protect it from overheating, from being hurt, from being damaged.   Tahnee: (36:09) And when we do get broken-hearted, to honour that, and to let ourselves time to heal instead of rushing on. So I think that sometimes the Shen can get hidden when we've become so damaged that we won't let ourselves be seen.   Mason: (36:25) So heart-broken.   Tahnee: (36:26) Yeah. It's a classic thing, but this is just our relating and our ability. If you think about a saint, they're able to sit with anyone and not judge. The leper comes to Jesus, and he's like, "I love you. I love you like my child." The rich billionaire, fat person, the whatever, everyone comes, and they don't care. They sit there, and they love them. And there's no judgement , and there's no story.   Tahnee: (36:54) They accept things for what they are, and that's something that is an offering, I guess, of this Heart energy. So yeah, that's what I thought would be a useful thing to remember. As well, it's our relating and our inter-relating, and our joy in being social and being with others and being a part of a tribe. And again, it's what these years are about. Finding our tribe, finding the people that we want to be with, finding our place in the world, finding the people we want to share our lives with.   Mason: (37:27) And remember that there's no definition. We're not looking at important... I can feel Tahns is really honing in and giving you an example of what the pure energy of Shen is terms of a saint. That is within us, but integrated with all the other parts of our body. That's there and can be purely expressed while you're a smart ass, while you're just enjoying what's... You don't have to walk around being-   Tahnee: (37:51) Yeah. Whatever your personality is.   Mason: (37:52) Exactly.   Tahnee: (37:53) And most saints are very funny, give them half a chance. That's Buddha, you have a sense of humour. I think people forget that the cosmic joke is very funny.   Mason: (38:07) One of the virtuous things when you're high in Shen is extreme political incorrectness.   Tahnee: (38:13) I've never met a Daoist that wasn't funny, ever. They've all been f-ing hilarious.   Mason: (38:18) Uh-huh (affirmative). So Shen herbs, the way they're going to generally work is to bring a stability to the way that Fire rages. Remember, Tanz was talking about being comfortable within your body. It's like the fire in the hearth, the fire in our home, that is the Heart. And if it's raging too high or if it's erratic, it's going hot and cold. And when you think about it, you're sitting next to that fire. The flames are licking out. You're not going to be able to sit next to it.   Mason: (38:49) Now, that's your Shen. Your Shen is you, your Spirit, sitting next to the fire in that home. And if it's raging, it's going to be start and a bit fiery itself. And it's not going to be able to sit there and be calm. You're not going to be able to have calm emotions. You're going to have erratic emotions. You're going to have an erratic mindset. You're going to be cracked out.   Mason: (39:07) If it's too cold, how are you going to really... You're really cold long enough, you are not going to allow joy in your life. You're not going to be able to express it. And that's what Shen is about as well. So a lot of these Shen herbs are about bringing a stability to that Fire. And that stability, a lot of the time, is coming directly through the Heart, maybe moving the water Qi from under the heart in the case of spirit poria.   Mason: (39:33) Pearl, a great stabiliser, especially because it's a real cold herb for the Liver Yin. Therefore, it's going to ensure that we don't have this excess Fire, Yang, within the Liver-Wood, which is going to create these brittle branches that are then going to excessively feed the Fire very fast. We have suppleness and cooling within the Liver-Wood so that we don't have as much Fire. And Wood being fed into the Fire; therefore, we're more stable.   Mason: (40:01) And then the other way that they work, they're basically nourishing of the Shen. So the reishi mushroom, the asparagus root, the albizia flower, these are Shen nourishers. And so, that's literally about cultivating that Fire and going and building in a way that's going to be burning appropriately for the season. And this is why our practises, our spiritual practises, our meditation, the way that we're interacting with nature and our emotions, it needs to be seasonal. Because you remember, everything is really coming down to us developing Shen.   Mason: (40:40) And different seasons, you need your Fire to be doing different things that requires you acting in very different ways. Remember, all organs and practises are essentially serving the emperor of the Heart eventually. So just being aware of that and remembering Shen, developing your own Shen. Getting to know you and your Shen, you're going to keep on hitting brick walls in terms of being the way you think you should be, the way you think is virtuous. And you might have to go and do some... You might have to have some real dark nights of the soul as you go along. And they get easier as you go along to really learn, "Well, that's just not going to happen. This is the nature of who I am and how I act. I'm going to have to go and deal with it and express myself in a way that isn't the Disney version or the picture-perfect way."   Mason: (41:23) And if you can do that on the other side of it, there's this ease where all the crap, more and more... It's never perfect, I'm being idealistic. But more and more, all the crap falls off you like water off a duck's back. And there's some things with us, and now it's a funny time to bring up relationships since I just put that post up on Instagram about us quitting SuperFeast and being an official power couple.   Mason: (41:49) But one thing I've just noticed, like most relationships, it's always the amount of Shen you can develop in a relationship... And it's chalk and cheese if you look four years ago to something you'd say, and I'd take it personally and bring it up in a hostile way. Verse now, if you bring it up, a lot of the time it can just be, like I said, water off a duck's back.   Mason: (42:15) And the same with you. I can feel adjustments to the way that you say things, and I feel less and less when you bring them up. I don't feel them as injustices. Not all the time, but I can bring things up a little, with a little bit less charge and a little bit more forgiveness. And I tried doing it the right way for a couple of years and being a better man, and it just wasn't working. I had to go in and be like, "Far out, what's actually going on here?"   Mason: (42:42) And sure enough, after a while, as everyone's experienced with relationships and at work and with their children, things start smoothing out a little bit more. And since we've all had the experience of seeing ourselves develop and potentially becoming less erratic or less timid or something like that, you just go, "Wow, I've got the opportunity to take this and run with it, make this the main driver of my life to make sure I end up as an 80 or 90 year-old that's super functional and fun to be around, or at least carries a little bit of wisdom, has the energy and the capacity to share my wisdom and be a joy to be around."   Mason: (43:20) That's why the Shen herbs... That's why reishi was depicted in Heaven by the Daoists. It's why the Shen herbs were considered... They were the most revered. And it's why they were the ones that would eventually be consumed the most. You can just get yourself and your lifestyle set where you're developing your Jing, and you're not leaking a battery. Easy. You've just got your sleep practises, cool. Eventually, you don't have to think about that quite as much.   Mason: (43:50) And the same as Qi. You've got your practises. You've got your Qi Gong. You're allowing your emotions to move smoothly. You're eating an appropriate amount, appropriate for the body. You've got deep breathing going on. You're spending time in the sun. You're charging. You're developing that Qi. Then, you're free to just go in and actually just consistently work on your Shen. It's always where it ends up. It seems boring in the beginning of the journey. But at some point, you're like, "God, this is where it's at."   Tahnee: (44:26) Boring to whom? I think it's such a pleasant outcome, I suppose. When you start to feel like you've integrated and settled and grounded, and obviously a continuing process. But I remember the first time I took reishi. I think I took it to... It wouldn't have been vipassan. It must have been a non-vipassana, but it was a 10-day retreat. I think it was a tantric retreat in Thailand. But just the grace of the herb with the practises, it was just so beautiful and really connecting to yourself in that way, I think there's something really beautiful about when you start to experience your Shen. It's definitely not boring. I think there's an ideological thing, perhaps it's a little bit virtuous sounding. And a bit like, "Oh."   Mason: (45:27) It sounds wanky.   Tahnee: (45:28) Yeah. I get that.   Mason: (45:29) Me too.   Tahnee: (45:29) I definitely thought that as well sometimes. But I think the lived experience of it is really beautiful. And when you're living in that place, even if it's for periods of time as it becomes more integrated, you tend to sort of move in and out of your own evolution. I'm sure many of you can relate to that. But yeah, there's this real beauty and grace in sitting and resting in that kind of awareness of the Heart. You look at all the traditions from the Christian traditions, I may argue that they all came from the same place, possibly the Vedas. But they're pointing to this union of fire and water, this Heart, Kidneys, the Daoist example of this.   Tahnee: (46:17) And yeah, when we've nourished ourselves on this level, which many of you have working with Jing herbs, and working with changing lifestyles and building more functional ways of being, and you start with herbs. Herbs in the SHEN blend or just Shen herbs in general, it's a very quick and powerful transition, I suppose, into that more conscious state, without sounding like a total douche.   Mason: (46:48) But you're easy to be around.   Tahnee: (46:49) Yeah.   Mason: (46:50) Way easier to be around. And the whole factor, we talk about personality. Because we're not talking about an idealistic way of being or a spiritual way of being.   Tahnee: (47:00) It's just you.   Mason: (47:01) It's just you. That's the whole point of it.   Tahnee: (47:03) Without the bullshit.   Mason: (47:04) Without the bullshit. We can't reiterate that enough. And I think everyone has to go through their experience of trying to develop themselves towards an ideological way of being. To think, "I'm going to be accepted by this little cult here if I act in this way." And that doesn't just count towards spiritual hand-on-heart stuff, which for some people, that's-   Tahnee: (47:25) Their truest expression.   Mason: (47:28) Exactly. But it's in all manner of ways. The guy who's working on Wall Street and thinks that he's gotta be a hustler and work that way his entire life. It's same deal. Its just like, "Pop your head out of ideology a little bit. Maybe you have to stop being so Jing deficient to begin with. Get your lifestyle where I can see you can have some Qi. And all of sudden, you've got the energy to actually get some Shen coming, developing, and cracking through."   Mason: (47:50) And that's what the Shen character is, the written character. It's the sun, moon, and stars with a rope coming up to them. The two hands pulling down to signify the connecting of the supernatural and that part of ourselves that's way beyond this.   Tahnee: (48:09) Yeah, highest consciousness.   Mason: (48:11) Bringing it down here and merging it with us. So you're going to like this blend, guys. It tastes bloody delicious.   Tahnee: (48:19) Which is lucky because Shen herbs are bitter usually.   Mason: (48:22) Yeah. And of course, we've got reishi in there as a big one. It's the queen of the mushies. So you can already see, it's going to be working on the nervous system, immune system, Kidneys, Liver health. It's going to be doing a bunch of other things. But in terms of calming the monkey mind, bringing some calmness to yourself, less erraticness in the emotions, giving you the capacity to express a bit more happiness and develop that Shen and everything else that we've talked about. Go deeper in meditation. For some of you, it's going to be really, really good for sleep.   Mason: (48:53) We've had a couple of people who have just been atrocious with their sleep. And Shen's been able to come in quite immediately and help them go super deep with continued usage. For others, it's not a sleep blend. For some people, when you get your Shen expressing, perhaps too quick sometimes, the dreams can become quite out there. Some people love it.   Tahnee: (49:20) Especially if you're Blood deficient, I think.   Mason: (49:22) Yeah.   Tahnee: (49:23) Yeah. It's good to check up with a practitioner if you're not sure.   Mason: (49:28) Don't try and treat any kind of psychosis or extreme insomnia or depression or anything with this SHEN blend. And we're not just saying that as a disclosure.   Tahnee: (49:41) Disclaimer, yeah.   Mason: (49:42) I said disclosure. No, that's like a UFO podcast is next. Talk to your practitioner. But the Shen herbs can be used in conjunction with other treatments you're doing. But just go slow with it. But reishi's in there, so of course, that's just opening the heart wide open. I'm very excited that a bunch of you... Another major herb in the blend is the albizia flower. It comes from the tree of happiness.   Mason: (50:05) This flower is an absolute shining light. You just smile. I smile when I look at it. It's just a great mood elevator. And then we've got asparagus root as the third major herb in there.   Tahnee: (50:22) She's a legend.   Mason: (50:23) Yeah, shatavari's a legend. And so, there's a lot going on, integrate hormone regulator, integrate Jing tonic in itself. But asparagus root was used by the Daoists in order to allow us to fly. And so, with our meditations and in life, the idea is in life, if something happens and shit's hitting the fan, you're going to be able to fly up, rise above the situation. Look down, get a more of a bird's eye view so that you're not just reacting to it down on this animalistic level, this reptilian level.   Mason: (50:52) And it's the same in your meditations. You bring this buoyancy so you can fly through yourself with greater ease and just get a couple of, "Ah yeah, all right. I can see how I'm doing that and doing that." Such a great herb. But that's the one sometimes people... I don't think you like that at night.   Tahnee: (51:09) I was laughing because it makes me fly at night, only if I take large doses. I remember taking three teaspoons one night, and I was up till about 4:00 in the morning.   Mason: (51:19) Jesus.   Tahnee: (51:19) Do not do that at home.   Mason: (51:21) Oh I'm sorry. I wasn't Jesus in exclamation. I was just like, "I'm pretty sure that's what Jesus did when he went to India and studied his spiritual practises." But whatever.   Mason: (51:29) And then, we've got some more support, a secondary, bringing in spirit poria. So spirit poria, medicinal mushroom, bringing in that secondary medicinal mushroom magic.   Tahnee: (51:41) Not to be confused with regular poria.   Mason: (51:41) No, it's a much more precious, I guess I'd say. Poria's one of my favourite herbs by far. Spirit poria is the sclerotium that makes up about sometimes 10, 20% of the actual... You break off the fruiting body-   Tahnee: (52:03) Which is regular poria.   Mason: (52:04) Which is regular poria growing off the pine. The mushroom was inoculated into the pine, then put under dirt. But right there, normally you can't get access to the mycelium, the body, the inside. But with spirit poria, that is just that 10% or maybe 20% where it's emerging from the pine. And it's in that transformation. It's in that process of transforming the pine.   Mason: (52:31) And you can also get to access to the body, which you can't get in the wild of any other herb. And so, it's got this otherworldly quality. So it's got all the Qi, Spleen tonifying-   Tahnee: (52:43) Functions.   Mason: (52:44) Water metabolism functions and immunological functions. But it's just got this additional bringing of transformational light into the Heart.   Tahnee: (52:54) So just a quick fun fact, because chaga is also a sclerotium. So that means they aren't true mushrooms in terms of the actual expressed fruiting body, which is what you would normally get. So just for people that are interested. Because I think a lot of the time, we say chaga mushroom, we say spirit poria mushroom. And we say that because it's easier than saying chaga sclerotium and explaining that to someone. But this is what makes these particular herbs really special, chaga and spirit poria because you can't really cultivate sclerotium.   Tahnee: (53:33) Chaga's never been able to be cultivated. Spirit poria isn't cultivated in a lab or anything like that like you can get with most medicinal mushrooms. They can grow them in an artificial environment. You can't do that with these guys. So these are cultivated in an outdoor setting, like how they would grow in nature. So just a fun fact.   Mason: (53:52) We'll put a video of me-   Tahnee: (53:55) Harvesting.   Mason: (53:57) Yeah. At the poria farm. And I explain what spirit poria is, and you can actually see me pointing out. So go to the show notes for that.   Tahnee: (54:04) And they grow in tropical parts.   Mason: (54:06) Yeah. Yunnan.Yunnan provence. There was a hotter region, they were growing in the middle.   Tahnee: (54:13) In the grass. In the middle, yeah.   Mason: (54:14) In that middle belt of China, but it poria was becoming more popular. And the local government or the provincial government, wasn't regulating the harvesting of pine. And so, 95% of the herbal world doesn't give a shit about that, and they continue to do that there. But those doing Di Dao, who were doing true Di Dao, part of Di Dao is sustainability or leaving it intact. And so, it moved to secondary preference. And we moved to a secondary preference, which is Yunnan Province. It's still Di Dao. It's still said, "You go get your herbs from Yunnan Province in this micro-climate in the ancient text."   Mason: (54:56) But it's just not our first-   Tahnee: (54:58) Preference.   Mason: (54:58) Preference. Which is as always, guys, with the sourcing. We're going to prioritise the environment.   Tahnee: (55:03) Longevity of it. Yep.   Mason: (55:05) And so, yeah. So the farmers who I was meeting, they moved their whole operations and their whole family. And they moved to Yunnan. And there, the government's like crazy regulatory. And that's why there's a cap on how big your farm can be because you can only go and harvest so much wild pine. And they send helicopters over. You've got to prove and show that you've used all your tags. And they go through, and basically if they find that you've taken any other additional pine, then you're going to get some serious fines.   Tahnee: (55:36) Fine-age. And I think too, when you think about what sclerotium is, it does have this part of the tree still in it. That's where a lot of these medicines come from. Because if you look at pine and you look at birch were chaga grows, they're both very potent trees in their own rights. Spiritually, the pine is the Daoists' favourite bloody tree. I talked to Master Chia about the pine. He loves a pine. But incredibly medicinal trees as well.   Tahnee: (56:07) And then, even oak, which is what lion's mane is grown on.   Mason: (56:10) And reishi.   Tahnee: (56:11) Yeah, really medicinal trees. So for us, having that tree energy is really important.   Mason: (56:19) Tree Qi.   Tahnee: (56:19) Yeah. So we don't work with grain growing or anything like that which is, again, another thing that's commonly done in cultivated environments. So you've just got to think about what the energetics are going to be of these herbs when you consume them. So again, another fun fact.   Mason: (56:38) Yeah. Then we start getting to the assistant herbs. Pearl, I've talked about. That is a micro-ground pearl.   Tahnee: (56:50) Yeah. So it's not an extract. Sometimes people get confused, but it's literally ground up pearls.   Mason: (56:51) It's ground up pearls, very ancient medicine, very mineral rich, energetically Cold. Just a beautiful Shen tonic, so calming to the mind, and one of the most beautifying. It's a really beautifying blend as well for the skin. Between the asparagus root, the pearl, and all the Blood building herbs that we've got in there, plus no scrunching with anger. No crow's feet. That's what happens when you're a bit more happy, but pearl, and yes-   Tahnee: (57:22) Just smile lines.   Mason: (57:22) As always. Yeah, just smile lines. And pearl, as always, sustainably harvested, because we've had a few people ask where they're farmed. In the wild.   Tahnee: (57:28) In fresh water.   Mason: (57:29) Yeah, fresh water. Polygala, I talked about. It's one of my favourite herbs, the will strengthener, connecting the Kidney sexual energy, the Waters, as Tahns was saying before. The ideal behind this life is taking the Water, mixing it with the Fire, creating alchemy. And polygala is one of those herbs that is taking the Water of the Kidneys and connecting it with the Fire of the Heart. And of course, the Kidneys are the regulators, kind of like the grandma of the Heart. Just clipping it, we need Water in order to keep that Fire under control and keep it grounded and rooted.   Mason: (58:06) So I'm very excited that you're all going to be taking polygala when you take this blend. Got rehmania in there as a Blood builder. Beautiful Shen tonic in itself, but especially grounding in bringing that Yin Jing Water energy and that building of Blood so that we can get the Shen moving around.   Tahnee: (58:22) Love rehmania.   Mason: (58:22) Rehmania's amazing. And then, some aged citrus peel. That's in there as a Spleen-Lung tonic as an augmentor of the Spleen, Stomach, and Lung to ensure smooth integration of the other herbs. It's a beautiful assistant herb. And then, the other assistant which goes in, which is a pretty typical one traditionally in Shen with other Shen herbs, is longan. It's a beautiful Blood and Qi tonic. Heart and Spleen energy, so longan is used in smaller amounts. It's considered in its own right, the longan fruit, as a Shen tonic just to be taken on its own.   Mason: (59:03) In terms of when you put it in there as an assistant to other Shen tonics, you see this amplification of the nourishing of the Heart. It's palpable. I've tried it without the longan, and then with. And it's super palpable.   Tahnee: (59:22) So that's probably why it tastes good because longans are delicious.   Mason: (59:26) Longans are delicious. That's the dragon eye energy coming through, guys. So it's also a Qi tonic. So it supports the Blood moving through the channels because you can't just build the Blood. You need the Qi tonics there moving it around.   Tahnee: (59:43) It's a really good women's herb too. And it is kind of like a lychee if you've never seen a longan before.   Mason: (59:43) A little lychee.   Tahnee: (59:43) Yeah, like a little, round, brown lychee. But they grow around this area and in the tropics.   Mason: (59:51) You find them at Harris Farm when they're in season.   Tahnee: (59:56) There you go. Harris Farm.   Mason: (59:58) Yeah, I know.   Tahnee: (59:59) First time they've been mentioned on the SuperFeast.   Mason: (01:00:00) Yeah. I know because every time... My mum was at her old place, Harris Farm was up the road.   Tahnee: (01:00:07) Yep. I've been there.   Mason: (01:00:10) Yeah. You've been there.   Tahnee: (01:00:11) They have some good organic stuff actually.   Mason: (01:00:13) Boronia Park.   Tahnee: (01:00:14) Shout out Boronia Park.   Mason: (01:00:15) Yeah, shot out Harris Farm, Boronia Park yeiiiiiwwww! Down in Sidney there. Mom's moved on up the road to Putney since then. But guys, any questions let us know, in terms of taking the Shen. I personally like it in the morning. It sets me up for a really calm, it's not calm as in a floppiness. When you have your Shen tonics coming through, there's a calmness. But I feel really my value, I feel principled in that sense, just to give you that little bit of a sense of how I feel. It's not just calm and just like, "Yes. Sweet, man. My thoughts are slow."   Mason: (01:00:56) No, no, no. My thoughts are kind of like... My mind is calm. My thoughts are able to come through real clearly. I feel crispy, and I feel my principles. I feel virtuous in hopefully a non-egoic way.   Tahnee: (01:01:10) You're tuned in, like the radio channel's clear, it's coming through. You've got that connection. I think that's the feeling of being dialled in to yourself, which I think is not a... The calm is from the steadiness of the mind instead of the doubting mind, the kind of the mind that is not completely satisfied is a very agitated state to be in. And so when we're calm, when we're just clear and we're getting the frequency right for ourselves, it's a really beautiful feeling.   Mason: (01:01:45) Mm-hmm (affirmative).   Tahnee: (01:01:45) I think, and I agree. I personally like it in the morning, I've taken it at night while we're trialling it. I didn't have any issues with it, but I just feel like it's a really nice way to start the day.   Mason: (01:01:55) Yeah.   Tahnee: (01:01:57) Beautiful intention to set.   Mason: (01:01:59) And it's good. It's like smoothies. Adjusting hot water with a touch of milk and honey works that way. Goes in with any teas. You can do hot chocolates and coffees with it and smoothies with it. Same deal. If you're doing it at night... As I said, I've got to reiterate, for some people, they didn't love it in the morning. Some people were just like, "Nah, I didn't really need to be that... " They didn't need that Shen tonifying steadying.   Tahnee: (01:02:23) Stillness.   Mason: (01:02:23) But at night, was when they really benefited and really were able to go deep into a Yin state for them. So find, pick your time. Pick what's appropriate for you. Chamomile tea at night, beauty. You're laughing.   Mason: (01:02:37) Hit us up if you've got any questions.   Tahnee: (01:02:38) Yeah, really excited to hear your feedback your all, and experiences and all those things. So let us know. We love hearing from you guys, and-   Mason: (01:02:49) Shen on.   Tahnee: (01:02:49) Shen on. I also say [shu-yage 01:02:51], bon voyage.

22: Anatomist Gil Hedley discusses fascial debacles, debates, and dissection with Til Luchau.  In this episode, Gil Hedley’s Fuzz Speech: facts, fantasies, and furor; Sexuality in the dissection room; Conspiracies: pattern of meaning, or menace? Get the full transcript at Til or Whitney's sites! Resources discussed in this episode: Gil Hedley’s Fuzz Speech on YouTube Gil Hedley’s site: gilhedley.com Til's “patternicity” reference: Finding Meaningful Patterns in Meaningless Noise: Why the brain believes something is real when it is not (Michael Shermer) Whitney Lowe’s site: AcademyOfClinicalMassage.com Til Luchau’s site: Advanced-Trainings.com Sponsor Offers: Books of Discovery: save 15% by entering "thinking" at checkout on booksofdiscovery.com. ABMP: save $24 on new membership at abmp.com/thinking. Handspring Publishing: save 20% by entering “TTP” at checkout at handspringpublishing.com.  About Whitney Lowe  |  About Til Luchau  |  Email Us (The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies: bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, chiropractic, myofascial and myotherapy, orthopedic, sports massage, physical therapy, osteopathy, yoga, strength and conditioning, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice.)

In this episode, we meet Jeffrey Shoaf; an Internationally Certified Yoga Therapist and a Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist. His interest in the human form began at the young age of 8 years old when he would open up encyclopedias and learn about and practice drawing anatomy. As a young adult, he followed in his family's footsteps and became a Carpenter, Builder, and eventually a General Contractor. Around 2003, he shifted his career focus to become a Massage Therapist and was a student of yoga. He recognized that Yoga teacher training did not provide enough depth of anatomy. In 2005 when he spent time in a cadaver lab his fascination continued to grow. "Everyday I get up and I'm really happy that I do what I do and I find that there are so many areas that I'm still interested in and they all seem connected." In his practice today, he intuitively combines Yoga Therapy and Bodywork for each client he works with. Specifically with Bodywork he uses myofascial release techniques. He describes fascia as a biologic fabric that all over the body. It has a memory of its own and holds where the body puts it. He uses static pressure to release "trigger points" of fascia that are stuck or dry due to inactivity. Yoga therapy he describes as the science of using yoga principles to help in therapeutic applications with a combination of movement, meditation, and/or breath work. Jeffrey also teaches therapeutically based studio classes at Noda Yoga and the Cornwell Center. He also is part of a 300-hour Therapeutic Yoga teacher training(Integrative Yoga Studies) where he leads many of the modules. "We are looking at yoga as a model of total wellness. It's not just asana(movement), it's not just the postures. It's looking at the body as a holistic organism. And really offering that question to ourselves as teacher is "how can I get this person to function better in their body." He has recently partnered with Novant Cancer Center to lead a pranayama(breath work) program for patients with cancer. Jeffrey is excited about the partnership and providing support to those battling cancer. He also loves working with yoga teachers as they have a deep understanding of the body. He cannot wait to get back into the dissection lab as he has joined the local club "Experience Anatomy." Jeffrey is inspired by Dr. Gil Hedley who is an anatomist and researcher and one of the most well-known dissectors of fascia. He is also inspired by all of the yoga teachers at Noda Yoga and especially the co-owner, Jillian Longsworth, for her kindness and generosity. In Charlotte he is also inspired by Acupuncturist, Dr. Kevin Kim who did his first treatment on his grandfather at the age of 5.

Gil Hedley joins Tahnee on the podcast today. Gil is an anatomist and self proclaimed "Somanaut" - a person who is "dedicated to exploring the inner space of human form". Gil has encouraged thousands of fellow "somanauts" to appreciate, explore and embody the wonders of human form through his lecture presentations and hands-on human dissection courses in the laboratory. Tahnee and Gil dive deep today, exploring the intricate nature of the of these bodies we call human. The pair share their insights through the lens of anatomy, philosophy and spirituality. This one is a bit of a mind bender folks, but in the best possible way. Tune in to be taken beyond the linear understanding of the human body into the expansive realm of universal connection. Tahnee and Gil discuss: Integral vs regional anatomy, embodied understanding vs intellectual analysis. The heart as a factual vessel not a 'pump'. Taoist sexuality and sexual anatomy. Religion and spirituality. The intricacy and non symmetrical nature of the human form. The human body as a whole, each individual as a cellular representation of the whole - the universal body. Martial Arts and the textural foundations of the body. The fascial system.   Who is Gil Hedley? Gil Hedley is an anatomist and certified Rolfer who holds a PhD in theological ethics. Gil's combined interests and training have supported his personal and professional exploration of the human body, which has lead him to develop an integral approach to the study of human anatomy. Through hands-on human dissections courses in the laboratory and lecture presentations, Gil has encouraged thousands of fellow "somanauts" to appreciate, explore and embody the wonders of human form. Gil has authored a number of books, as well as produced The Integral Anatomy Series, a set of four feature-length videos documenting his whole body, layer-by-layer approach through on-camera dissection.   Resources: Gil's Website Gil's Facebook Gil's Youtube   Gil's Free Online Courses   Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast?   A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or  check us out on Stitcher :)! Plus  we're on Spotify!   Check Out The Transcript Here:   Tahnee:   (00:08) Hi everybody. Welcome to the SuperFeast Podcast. Today I'm really excited to introduce Gil Hedley, who's joining us from Colorado. Hi Gil.   Gil Hedley:   (00:15) Hi, Tahnee.   Tahnee:  (00:16) Nice to have you here with us.   Gil Hedley:   (00:18) And everybody listening.   Tahnee:  (00:19) Yeah, the whole listening world. Gil is the founder of Integral Anatomy and he's a really amazing anatomist and somanaut which is a great word that I'd love for you to explain for us later if that's okay. But also you've studied theology and you have a PhD in theology. Is that correct?   Gil Hedley:   (00:37) Theological ethics, actually, yeah.   Tahnee:  (00:38) Okay. And you've done some rolfing things. You've kind of got this interesting mix of I guess the spiritual, and the tangible physical, and then obviously, like through the hands-on human dissection that you do. I feel like that's such an interesting combination of worlds to weave. But what I've seen you express, I suppose is this really beautiful and profound philosophy that I guess has arisen through your physical dissections and actual extractions of human form. But how does one go from actually doing theology, which I understand is like the study of religions and theological ethics, which is I suppose, I saw your piece on marriage. Is this around the role religion plays and how we create ethical constructs in our society. Is that right?   Gil Hedley:  (01:28) That's exactly right. Yeah, exactly. Looking to see the moral systems that are rooted in religions. So that's my master's degree. It was in the study of religion. My BA was also in the study of religion, and my PhD. All ethics throughout actually, I was studying ethics throughout. But basically, yeah, looking at ethics is a meta study where you look at people's ways of being in a world and trying to see how they reason about their moral-   Tahnee:  (02:05) Conduct sort of thing.   Gil Hedley:  (02:05) Conducts, and preferences, and choices, right? So.. And then theological ethics is where you look specifically to the moral systems of religious systems and ask like, "How do they come to believe that? What's their rationale for holding that position," or what have you. So actually, I brought my spirituality to the University of Chicago, certainly didn't get it from it. In fact, when I showed up, they're like, "What are you talking about God? we don't know God," because it's a very academic and abstract mental place.   Gil Hedley:  (02:37) That sort of intentionally drives you out of your body. My attempt to claim a body there was, was amusing I think, to my professors. I started doing Tai Chi and then I learned massage and rolfing while I was in my PhD program, in my own effort to just ground myself because I felt that although grounding was not a appreciated pursuit in my field, actually quite the opposite. I felt that it was ridiculous to try and come to moral positions or study ethics about the body, for instance, and make rules and such about the body or even evaluate rules about the body without knowing what a body is, or even living in one because it wasn't really valued to actually live in your body at the University of Chicago. I went into Tai Chi to try and just ground myself and get a little physical and explore my movement and such. I went to massage training and my rolfing training.   Gil Hedley:  (03:46) I got a little more body connection. I kind of realised that I couldn't speak to the body without having a more intimate understanding of the body. Before you knew it, I wasn't so much into the rolfing thing as I was into the anatomy that was helping me be a good rolfer. I sort of switched my career choice out of the rolfing upon the shoulders of which I continue to stand and into the the body exploration in the laboratory, where I found myself swimming in a universe that both terrified me and compelled me completely.   Gil Hedley:  (04:28) I found that when folks found out what I was doing, friends and other people, I was in a healing school as well after my rolfing training, did five years in an energetic healing school, kind of psychodynamics and energy healing and that kind of thing. My friends were like, "Teach us anatomy." I was like okay. I kind of told them what was going on in the lab. When I was in the lab, I kind of brought the energy of the healing school to that. That's much more how spirituality made its way into my anatomy laboratory as opposed to anything I ever got at the University of Chicago studying theological ethics, where I basically just fought the popes in Latin. It wasn't really particularly spiritual.   Tahnee:  (05:15) Well, and religion has such a history of denying the body because I mean ...   Gil Hedley:  (05:20) Exactly.   Tahnee:  (05:21) Do you have anything to say to that? Because I mean, I've got lots of thoughts on that.   Gil Hedley:  (05:25) Absolutely I mean the ease with which I engaged in the intellectual pursuits at the university and in graduate school was grounded, it was founded I should say, in my own disconnection to my body that was definitely fostered by my religious upbringing as a Roman Catholic. With all due respect to Roman Catholics, some of my best friends are Roman Catholics, my mum for instance, the modelling of the body in the church that I was raised in as liberal and 1960's kumbaya religion that I was raised with, still had a beloved saviour crucified, right, as the model of the body, and a virgin mother of him. So when you put those two together, you start scratching your head. You don't even have to scratch your head.   Gil Hedley:  (06:24) It's so deep. It goes in so deep to your psyche and to your way of moving, literally it affects how you move when your heroes, when your spiritual heroes, are naked but murdered and his mother weeping at the foot of the cross, actually never had sex, according to the story. So this is strange, and it's a strange way to model by the people you value most are void and have broken their bodies and offer their bodies as a sacrifice etc. When you take that seriously and I did, I took it so seriously, I got a PhD teaching Catholic ethics.   Gil Hedley:  (07:06) You get massively conflicted around your body and around your body's urges, around sexuality, around physicality, and many people just never worked through that. I've actually used the study of anatomy and the exploration of movement through something like Tai Chi for years. Then just like life and sex and family to become embodied. So that when I speak an anatomy word, it's not just an intellectual thing for me. I have a relationship with that tissue, an intimate relationship with a tissue. I know what it feels like, I know where it is. I can go there. I can call out its name and it calls back to me with sensation. So that's the embodiment that I've pursued and it's their integral anatomy.   Tahnee:  (08:02) So do you feel like there's this deeper sense of like introception and self-awareness, I suppose through the work that you've done, like it hasn't? Because I think a lot of people-   Gil Hedley:  (08:13) Yeah, I can go in there.   Tahnee:  (08:15) Let's go. Yeah. Because I mean, I see a lot of people. I've done a little bit of work in wet labs and stuff. It's almost like people become disconnected from the body when they do that work. It becomes this body I guess.   Gil Hedley:  (08:29) There's a risk of that when the approaches is regional and not integral. That's why I've developed integral anatomy because a regional anatomy, when you're parsing the body out literally into parts, bits, pieces, naming them, that's an intellectual process. It's a mental construct, and it doesn't have a whole lot to do with what's in front of you. But if you give a little time for the body to talk to you and tell it a bit about itself, and this was kind of my point as an ethicist was I keep learning about people and systems that are ordering the body around. They haven't even stopped to listen to what it has to say, or how it's organised, and what it might speak to the moral life because it's the moral life is lived, is a bodily lived experience.So what does the body speak to that? Because if the body is a gift and not a curse, then it can possibly inform the moral life rather than be its subjugated-   Tahnee:  (09:25) Vehicle of fear almost. Yeah.   Gil Hedley:  (09:28) And bedraggled partner or servant or mule as it were. Yeah, so if you're just doing regional anatomy, you really do run the risk of of getting disconnected. When you come into a lab and the body's head, and hands, and feet are wrapped, and they're faced down, and you never connect with them as even though the housing of a person but it's just like you're on day one of medical school. You're told to go in and find the integration of the trapezius muscle, meaning you have to hack a panel out of the skin, superficial fascia, deep fascia, flip the muscle over, find the nerve, then you get your A. Now, what happened to you in the process, right?   Gil Hedley:  (10:16) So chances are, you're disconnected or as I bring people into a room, we stand around the table holding hands in a circle. We give thanks and we bring ourselves into a state of appreciation. We acknowledge that this form is a gift, and this is came from a person who had an intention or the family who has an intention. We look them in the eye, and we sit them up, and we stand them up, even and we meet them in a vertical so that we can we can acknowledge, "Oh, this isn't just some dead body. This was someone's body." It's not a person on the table by any means. I'm not a surgeon. I don't work on living persons.   Gil Hedley:  (10:58) But I do work on the artefacts, and the footprints, and the old shoes of persons. I learned a lot about them as a result of that. I learned more about myself, my own fears, my own disconnections. I invite the people in the room to constantly, step up to that mirror and look in it. And see, do you hate what you see in the mirror? Do you love what you see in the mirror? Do you hate some of it and love some of it? Some of it you can't even see because it's literally outside of your ability to see. So I try and help people to see more. Then to just observe what their relationship is to what they see. Because if it's unappreciative, I'm going to work my hardest to to point out aspects of appreciation that can bring that person into a positive relationship with the gift that's in front of them and hopefully the gift that they're walking around with.   Tahnee:  (11:54) I had a close friend about maybe 2013, do your training in San Francisco. She sent me these emails while she was there, and it was like witnessing a breakdown, and then a breakthrough, and then this kind of rebuilding of her identity. I mean, I just looked at them again, when I knew I was going to talk to you. I remember them, they was so visceral for me when I wasn't there. I can feel how visceral it was for her and this process of spending six days, going back to her hotel alone and just processing. I think about how we're so removed from natural processes, death, birth, like all of these things.   Tahnee:  (12:36) I remember when I had my daughter, I had an experience meditating where I could almost feel this energy stream between her and I. Even though I was across the room from her. I remember reading in one of your posts about like fat being the fascia, sorry being the receiver like a transmitter of energy. I could feel how like my body had softened so that I could have this deep connection with her. I think those little little insights, they just they change your experience so much. How could I hate my chubbiness? If I was deeply connected to my little baby.   Tahnee:  (13:14) I mean, for me, that was just such a beautiful, getting even emotional talking about it. It was such a beautiful change because I've spent my whole life with eating disorders and various forms of that even if they weren't avert. That's what I saw with Kate, her respect for her body and for her students and how she was able to just see differently, I can just imagine you must have these huge transformational experiences going on every day in your work, right?   Gil Hedley:  (13:44) At least in my courses, I definitely set them up as opportunities for transformation and healing, I like to say that my classes are transformational, not traumatic. Because I mean, I was brought into gross anatomy laboratory when I was 17 years old in high school and in an advanced biology class. The guy who took us around the lab, at the Harlem School of Pediatry was basically like John Belushi, it was a joke. He was going to make us laugh and we did laugh, but it was simultaneously horrifying.   Gil Hedley:  (14:22) There were bags of feet on shelves around the room. There were hammy pelvis and legs lying on the table. He's yanking on tendons, showing, making toes move like a chicken. I didn't eat chicken for two years after that visit to the lab. It made a tremendous impression on me. When I came to study in a lab myself, I was like, the fact of the matter is that when you enter the laboratory, you actually go into altered states of consciousness, just by dint of the circumstances.   Gil Hedley:  (14:48) So you don't need to take anything magic to have your consciousness altered when you go into the lab. If you're brought in mindfully, with consciousness and awareness. I felt and do feel a keen responsibility when I have a room full of people in an altered state of consciousness instead of to jerk them around or mess with them, to serve them. From my Catholic upbringing, I have a service mentality. That's my ethics. That's my religion, my religion is service, right? That's the core of my own ethical structure. I do take the opportunity to serve the people in their altered states of consciousness in the laboratory for their sake, as opposed to what often happens in workshops where people are brought into altered states of consciousness and then the leader manipulates them for their own sake to take the next workshop. I hate that. I can't stand that.   Tahnee:  (15:55) Welcome to the yoga industry, yeah.   Gil Hedley:  (15:58) Yeah. It's so mean to start enrolling people when they're in the middle of their ecstatic experience. I would much rather have you calm down and realise here, and two years later think would you ever want to do that again? Most people are like, "No, that was plenty. I got that down." Now, there are the occasional people who come back and come back and back and back. Some people come every year. But they've made it their own practise. That's their own practise. I've made it my own practise as well.   Tahnee:  (16:27) Well, I mean, it seems like an endless task almost to try and map the body. I mean, it's so complicated.   Gil Hedley:  (16:38) It is. Things don't hold my attention for very long unless they're very interesting. So I found like with ethics and the moral life while I was studying that still am, I haven't stopped, observing, making observations and tinkering with my own set of ideas around how it is to be in the world and what I am in the world. What is going on here? These questions still drive me, who I am and what is my body. But when I think about how long I've been doing this for at this point, if you'd asked me, I would be like, "You're crazy." But it turns out that it really is the universe that we're exploring here. Whether you do it in macrocosm or microcosm.   Gil Hedley:  (17:23) I mean, I am like a kid in a candy shop in the lab every day because I'm seeing stuff, making observations, seeing details that have escaped me for all these years or details that I saw and then forgot. To be able to do that is quite a privilege, but also just speaks to the complexity of the subject. Even at the gross anatomical level, because people I mean, many people just dismiss gross anatomy like, "Oh, we already know all that stuff. That was figured out 400 years ago, right?" There it is. It's in the book. It's done there's nothing more to say. If you were getting a PhD in anatomy right now, you'd be hard pressed to find a professor who would support PhD level work and gross anatomy. No, you're going to be doing molecular biology. You're going to be working at nanometer level sizes of anatomy, cellular anatomy, gross anatomy is passe.   Gil Hedley:  (18:28) They'd rather have it out of the building actually because it smells and it's expensive and scary. But I have found actually that working at the gross level, I'm exploring the same questions that people are exploring at the micro level about movement and interfaces and relationships and continuities. But I find that the gross anatomical level provides a mirror for transformation that may be the microscopic level might not. You might not see yourself there quite as easily as you do when you're looking at a bedraggled old man on the table or a sweet old grandma.   Tahnee:  (19:06) Yeah, you see humanity reflected back at you, don't you?   Gil Hedley:  (19:09) Yeah.   Tahnee:  (19:09) I mean, I've read just recently actually read that you were talking about, you've even got theories that challenge, I guess, our gross anatomy conceptions that say like the heart is a pump, like you see it as more of a fluid. Is it that pressure dynamics, is that kind of what you're ...?   Gil Hedley:  (19:30) The heart is definitely not a pump.   Tahnee:  (19:30) Yeah. So speak to that.   Gil Hedley:  (19:32) By design, but the heart can be reduced to a pump, under the untoward circumstances of a stressful life. You can force your heart to become nothing but a pump to maintain homeostasis, but by design the heart is more of a, I see it as the place where the blood spins itself, where it refreshes its movement.   Tahnee:  (19:55) I guess centrifugal force kind of a thing is that what you ...   Gil Hedley:  (19:59) I think it's more about ... Well, there's that for sure, because I would say one of the primary functions of the heart is to facilitate the restoration of the vortex, the lamination of the blood and its flow as opposed to forcing it through smaller and smaller tubes that terminate 30,000 miles away and then make a 30,000-mile road trip back. That ain't happening with that little bit of flesh inside your chest. If you saw the kind of a pump that would be required to force a fluid through pipes with increasingly smaller diameters, the mathematics of it results in the need for an absolutely large machine, which is not located inside your chest.   Gil Hedley:  (20:43) If you've ever seen a heart lung machine, just look it up on Google, heart lung machine. It's like a big ass machine that is forcing blood. It's really the the amazing fluid dynamics and fractal form of the vascular network that's actually a reflection of the movement of fluids rather than its cause that results in the blood being drawn to the periphery and then being drawn back to the centre.   Tahnee:  (21:19) Like a tide, kind of?   Gil Hedley:  (21:21) Yeah, maybe like a tide. But there's a wonderful, wonderful Austrian naturalist whose name was Viktor Schauberger.   Tahnee:  (21:31) Yeah, I was about to say. Because he was all about the water needing to spin in vortex. We have an egg at home that our water-   Gil Hedley:  (21:37) Do you really? That's so cool.   Tahnee:  (21:38) Yeah.   Gil Hedley:  (21:39) How wonderful.   Tahnee:  (21:39) That's the thing. Because like nature is if you look at a coastline, it's all fractals, if you look at anything in nature, it's water streams like and the way water-   Gil Hedley:  (21:48) Yeah, so is the heart rhythm, the heart rhythm is fractal, we are fractal. We are mirrored best with fractal forms. We don't need a pump to make the water go around the planet or to make a vortex form in a stream nor do we need to control the streams banks. Similarly, if left to its own devices and if the heart is free, the blood will flow beautifully for your whole life. But if you resist that flow, if you resist the movement of life within you, literally through hypertension, emotional states and dietary duress is supplying your form, you can actually, I use the phrase canalyzing.   Gil Hedley:  (22:38) Which I mean to make a canal out of literally. So, if you put a canal and put walls, canal walls on a stream, you stress it basically. You dispermit its normal flow of movement, and yet it's still on a spinning planet. So what happens is there's friction, right? Instead of there being sort of a frictionless passage of the fluid, you have friction against the walls of the canal, which will be broken down by the fluid friction and also by the altered chemistry of the water, which when not moving in the same way has an altered chemistry. It's no different in our bodies, when we enter into emotional states that stiffen our otherwise flexible river beds, then we can analyze the path of the blood, generate friction of the blood against the vessel walls, which abraids, destroys them along with the altered chemistry, which chemically abraids them.   Gil Hedley:  (23:36) You have that combination of things, and then homeostasis kicks in and says, "Well, you promised to stay on this planet as long as I could keep you here, and so I'm going to proliferate cholesterol from your liver, the purpose of which is to be an antioxidant, and I'm going to take the oxidised cholesterol. I'll pack into the fissures along the vessel walls and I'm going to ... Oh well that's not enough. We're going to going to a hole in this thing eventually. So you really do want me to build a canal and your body will actually lay down bone basically," it'll calcify a literal canal, a little calcified canal inside the blood vessel. Then your blood will try and flow through that but you've created is no longer being sucked to the end and sucked back.   Gil Hedley:  (24:24) You're actually demanding like I said, at the beginning of the story, that your heart be a pump then, and then you'll get megalocardia, right, the heart will increase it and literally, increase in size as it worked for the first time in your life to move the blood. It never had to work before, it just happened. The ocean doesn't work to draw the rivers into it. The clouds don't work to form, and rain over the mountain tops, and soak into the soil and turn into spring water and bubble back up. There's no work involved. It's all just happening on a spinning planet, in a spinning galaxy. We are that.   Tahnee:  (25:03) Spinning bodies.   Gil Hedley:  (25:04) Yeah, we our bodies, are participating in that potential fluid movement on the planet. Unless we decide to hell no. I'm going to do it this way. I'm going to do it the hard way I'm going to resist the moment of life within me, and show it better. We never do we always show it worse.   Tahnee:  (25:28) I mean, it sounds like you're talking a lot to the Taoist world view. Would you say that's fair? Because it seems to be, like if we resist the flow of life a lot of this stuff, I guess is reminding me of like the Tao Te Ching and those kinds of concepts.   Gil Hedley:  (25:42) Yeah, there's a lot of good stuff in there, huh? Definitely. I would say when the Tao is lost, morality arises. Yeah, that's a little Tao Te Ching for you. I read it many times as a boy.   Tahnee:  (25:54) Yeah.   Gil Hedley:  (25:55) Man. I love the Tao Te Ching. I was like, "Wow, what's this all about?"   Tahnee:  (26:00) This idea I mean, because I have a little bit of a background in Chinese medicine too. I'm thinking like one thing, Paul Grilley who's a yin yoga teacher, I think you know him.   Gil Hedley:  (26:09) I know, Paul, he's pretty good.   Tahnee:  (26:11) Yeah, yeah. Well, he was talking recently about how one of his theories is that the fluid around the organs changes, and that gives rise to deficiency or access patterns and stuff. That makes sense when you're talking about the chemistry of the fluid. If it's altered by stagnation or by excess flow or whatever, getting flushed out too quickly, then we're going to end up with physiological effects from what had happened.   Gil Hedley:  (26:37) Absolutely.   Tahnee:  (26:39) Yeah, and then those manifest health symptoms and things, is that phenomenon visible in the fashion, not just in organs, obviously be it all through the body, right, that we'll be seeing this kind of stiffening?   Gil Hedley:  (26:51) Absolutely, I see. Well, what I call perry fascia I see as a fluid reservoir in our body. I like Peter Fritos word of a conduit. It's both a pathway as well as a reservoir. It's chemistry is dependent upon levels of hydration, which can be altered, but not only hydration, but the entire chemistry is altered by dehydration, right? You start to get you know, hydrogen bonding and cross fibre linking in the tissues that are designed to facilitate differential movement. When that happens, then at some level, the function is mitigated.   Gil Hedley:  (27:53) I don't know what percentage is required. I'm not saying dehydrated like cardboard, I'm saying like 2% of lack of fluidity and what does that do to the cells or the slipperiness of the tissue. When there's this level of drag generated mechanically throughout your body, how does that alter physiology? How does it alter movement? How does it alter mood or how does mood alter? It goes both ways, right?   Tahnee:  (28:24) Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's so easy for us to be either or with these things. When you start to really look into them, it's always both, there's a great F. Scott Fitzgerald, quote, it's like, the sign of advanced intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas at the same time. It's one that we constantly have to remember where we because ... You try and conceptualise these things, and it's so easy to want to know the truth which and then realistically it's always both. We're physical beings, we're emotional beings, we're spiritual beings. We're all of these things at once. I mean that idea that you say of I guess just reclaiming the body as a positive kind of a thing because I think so much of our culture like movement practises are ... I see some of the stuff people are doing, especially on social media and it just seems like it's abuse. It's like we're flogging our bodies.   Gil Hedley:  (29:22) Oh yeah, for sure.   Tahnee:  (29:24) I mean, you have some movement practise of your own. Right? Or you speak to movement quite a bit like, is there a ...   Gil Hedley:  (29:34) I walk.   Tahnee:  (29:34) Well, I mean-   Gil Hedley:  (29:34) I usually walk when I'm on the telephone. At the moment, I'm plugged in, I hover over cadavers in uncomfortable positions for hours a day, tormenting myself. Then I come home and collapse on a soft gushy sofa and do four hours of admin on my computer. While we make popcorn and eventually relax by watching something on Netflix. I'm pretty much in the loop of-   Tahnee:  (29:57) Of life.   Gil Hedley:  (29:59) Earlier. By the way, I think F. Scott Fitzgerald must have been a Libra.   Tahnee:  (30:03) I'm a Libra, so maybe that's it.   Gil Hedley:  (30:06) You're a Libra? I'm also a Libra, like a triple Libra.   Tahnee:  (30:10) Oh, no, are you?   Gil Hedley:  (30:12) Yeah. I'm as Libra as they get. I'm a Venusian, they're like man are from Mars and women are from Venus. Gil is also from Venus.   Tahnee:  (30:21) This explains a lot though because you also have the poetry and the beautiful philosophical musings, which I think is a very Libran trait to always look at the beauty in everything.   Gil Hedley:  (30:30) That is very true.   Tahnee:  (30:34) There was something you actually said. No, I think he taught a workshop on it overseas. I think a friend of mine from England went, I think that's why I knew about it. It was Sex and the Sacred Heart. Is that something you did?   Gil Hedley:  (30:48) That was recently, yeah.   Tahnee:  (30:50) I was not there, but yeah. I think a friend of mine from England who I'd done one of Paul's training's with was in attendance.   Gil Hedley:  (30:55) Yeah. Jo Phee.   Tahnee:  (30:57) I love them.   Gil Hedley:  (30:58) I held a yin teacher training in Berlin, actually.   Tahnee:  (31:02) Yeah. She had a whole bunch of you though that were pretty next level guests.   Gil Hedley:  (31:05) Yeah. Robert Schleipe was there. Jupp Vaanderwall, John Sharkey, and there was a gentleman, an acupuncturist fellow who I didn't have the pleasure of meeting. He was gone by the time I arrived. But anyway, yeah, When Jo says come, you got to go.   Tahnee:  (31:23) For someone so teeny, she's definitely got a authority.   Gil Hedley:  (31:27) Yeah, well, Jo's been coming to my class for years. I figured I owe her.   Tahnee:  (31:31) Yeah. Look, I mean, she's a wealth of information and hardworking.   Gil Hedley:  (31:36) She's wonderful, wonderful teacher. Yes, so I did teach a workshop called Sex and Sacred Heart. It was a kind of an experiment. I was thinking I might tour that talk. I was trying to see could I actually teach a class without my computer and without an image from the lab, and just tell stories that use toys such so I did. I did twisty tie balloons.   Tahnee:  (31:59) Okay. I thought you might made ...   Gil Hedley:  (32:01) I made a giant clitoris and a giant penis, and we had a great time.   Tahnee:  (32:06) Well, because one of the things my Taoist teacher talks about is how the Heart is expressed in the head of the penis and the clitoris. That's one of his big things. He's like-   Gil Hedley:  (32:16) I believe him.   Tahnee:  (32:18) Yeah. All of his work is around sex is a healing practise instead of as something to be-   Gil Hedley:  (32:23) Wonderful.   Tahnee:  (32:24) Yeah, was that the name of what you were talking about? Basically?   Gil Hedley:  (32:27) Well, for me, I wanted to basically offer, have a frank discussion about sexuality that wasn't so reductionistic as well. It's like well, first let me share with you some of the basic anatomy of our sexuality that may be overlooked or misunderstood because people haven't gotten that Sex 101. I found the more I talk about it, the more I realised that folks really don't know anything at all about their sexual anatomy for starters. And that's understandable, it's just not around. Where it is being taught, it's very difficult to comprehend the dimensions, the dimensionality and relationships, the anatomical structures are poured over it for years.   Gil Hedley:  (33:15) I think I can offer, I can make those connections with people but then also to be like, "It's not about these body parts. It's nice to know that and to be able to meet and connect with the actual qualities of our parts intimate," as I call them, but also that ultimately good sex is a function of the Heart. Not everybody wants good sex, but if you look at some people just want trashy sex, whatever you want to say. That's fine too. I'm not the judge. But in our culture, at least in the American culture which is all I can really speak to, the disconnection that we spoke of earlier with regard to our religiosity actually produces its opposite in the culture with as much or greater strength.   Gil Hedley:  (34:11) So to the extent that you deny, suppress, repress, revile, hate, and control sexuality, you create the largest porn industry in the world because literally, the porn industry is a function of our religion in the same way that the devil it's himself is a creation. If you have a pure God, that's only love and you and you subtract anything else from that God, you build a devil, right? If you go to the Indian religions, Kali Maas, terrifying, and sexy, and murderous and terrifying. You know what I'm saying? So it's all wrapped up into one thing. It's a little more psychologically rich. Similarly, if you banish an aspect of the human body to a lesser status. You cut off your very experience of the human body at the waist, you will not know the fullness of your Heart.   Tahnee:  (35:21) Even at the shoulders, like so many people who are living from above the neck, right?   Gil Hedley:  (35:27) Absolutely. Not even in the head. They're actually above the head. It's too terrifying to even come into the body. If you just ask people to a number, "Where do you feel yourself to be?" There will be people who will put their hand over their head. They don't feel themselves to be inside their bodies. If you've actually judged the body to be dangerous or if the body is perceived to pose a moral risk to the soul or salvation or however you want to construct it, then you're going to have a very busy porn industry.   Gil Hedley:  (36:15) In the same neighbourhood, because it'll be right next to the church. So there'll be the church, and then there'll be the dirty movies shop, right? Because you can't part yourself from that. You can't divide your heart like that. So for me, the is heart sacred and it infiltrates every cell, makes up to every cell of my body, the capillary network infiltrates my below the waist as well as above, it's the same Heart. I can't believe that a kind creator God would would give me a zone one of my body that was forbidden somehow or that was somehow less than any other aspect of my body. My mouth can't say to my dick, "I don't need you," to crudely paraphrase, the Apostle Paul.   Tahnee:  (37:14) That might be the headline. Kidding.   Gil Hedley:  (37:19) Yeah. You might have an establishment coming. Just saying.   Tahnee:  (37:22) Same intention.   Gil Hedley:  (37:24) Yeah, it's like the eye can't say to the hand, "I don't need you." There's nothing, there's no part of a body that is a gift that is unwelcomed or dirty or doesn't belong. And once you actually embrace the whole of the body as a gift, then you could say, "Well, then I gotta unwrap it all. I have to be open to the potential, the entire potential of this form and not just part of it." If I fall down on my knees, and literally straightened my body up and cut my pelvis, the energy off of my pelvis, above the pelvis, it's a strange thing. It's a very strange thing.   Gil Hedley:  (38:10) I don't feel like that justly demonstrates gratitude to the gift of the whole body. I feel that kind of, then so we actually have a culture that's split on those lines, right? And you end up, because of that split, the spirituality, actually a kind of spirituality, that splits the body in two and considers part of it great, that part of it good. That kind of spirituality literally drives the negative and empty expression of sexuality in the culture, right, because then everyone who actually goes for it is like, "Well, this, this can't be that." They're just the other side of the coin. By bringing the heart or the idea of a sacred heart into the story of sexuality is to say that we can't split our hearts in two and expect ourselves to feel whole. The heart is no less present in your [inaudible] than it is anywhere else.   Tahnee:  (39:16) And I mean when you're... Because that's something I think I've heard you say that even the separateness of our bodies is something you've brought into question recently. Is that something? Have I understood that correctly? Because I've been thinking about I guess, again, looking from the Taoist perspective, and even some of the tantric practises , that sacred union has been transformational for people. I've certainly had that experience in my life where I've had the good and the bad sex, where part has been really healing and empowering. That's, I guess, my current relationship,. It is like a transcendental experience where you actually do sort of dissolve almost, then there's that experience of like meditation or altered states of consciousness.   Tahnee:  (40:15) I mean, that's what my experience has been when I've managed to kind of unify through sex. I think that's there's a reason that subjugated because that's very empowering. You don't want to be a part of a ... You become kind of less able to be controlled, I think, when that's a part of your experience, because if you think about advertising, and politics, and all of these things, they really come out of this, these ideas. I know we're getting into deep territory, but that's been my experience. I think about if I'm repressed, and suppressed, and afraid, and don't trust myself, and don't trust my power and my body, then I'm much more easy to control. It's an act of sovereignty and liberation in a way.   Gil Hedley:  (40:58) That's beautifully put, I love it.   Tahnee:  (41:01) Yeah, well, I'm getting there. So could you flush out that idea for me about because we're all so different, and that's something you mentioned before we got on, you've been in the lab a lot lately. You've been taking apart two bodies simultaneously, and recording it so people can actually see even side to side, we're different. This is something I literally have to hit people over the head with. You won't be able to assume the same shape on one side that you do in another side in a yoga class.   Tahnee:  (41:29) It might be minutely different, it might be vastly different. I think people think we kind of have like those butterfly prints you do it at school when you're a kid. We're like clone from side to side. But that's not how we grow to my understanding. We kind of spiral out. That fractal nature of us. We aren't perfectly symmetrical, and none of us are perfectly-   Gil Hedley:  (41:52) Very true.   Tahnee:  (41:52) Yeah, well, none of us a perfectly symmetrical, but then you're also saying that we're very similar. So can you explain what's going on for you there? What's that line of thinking?   Gil Hedley:  (42:02) Well, we got a head. I have a head, we both have a couple arms, most of us do, a couple of legs, some hairy bits here and there. That's kind of like the basic map, right? Then literally to a number, every one of us kind of is a spin on that basic format that we call the human body.   Gil Hedley:  (42:31) But when I think about the human body, I mean, I've thought about the human body for years and years and years now. I keep kind of shifting my idea of the human body. Now when I say the human body, I tend to include yours with mine. I tend to include all the bodies as the human body. There's this body of humans on the planet. There are many, many cells to it, right? This human body, We're actually, all those human body cells that we are are governed by the same sun, the same moon, the same stars, the same spinning planet. Those are the master glands and the master physiology of the whole human species. And believe me, when the sun throws some crazy ass cosmic rays at this planet, we behave differently. When the when the moon is full, we behave differently.   Tahnee:  (43:33) Luna speaks.   Gil Hedley:  (43:35) Yeah, exactly. Our skins are producing in response to the sun, everything, whether we're hungry or tired is based on the sun. You can't get off the planet. Just try, jump. See how far you get. You snap back down like a magnet. There's substance to the space between us. Just because it's not our, our sensory habit of perceiving the content or substance of the spaces that we imagine are between us in the same way that when I went to the lab at first, I didn't really expect the muscles to be connected to each other. I mean, I knew they were connected to the bones or something, but I thought there was kind of, I don't know, maybe some juice in between them.   Gil Hedley:  (44:42) I didn't expect it to be a facial connection. I didn't expect it to be a substantial connection. I was basically surprised and in denial of the connection I was witnessing. Isn't that true about all of us? Aren't we surprised and in denial of connections between us? Right? Such that we keep forcing our minds to imagine ourselves separate in spite of the intimacy of our mutual connection across the planet with one another, regardless of telecommunications or whatever. There's a substance that's a continuity that is the relationship of the whole human body on the planet.   Gil Hedley:  (45:32) I don't really need to even stop it there. Why stop at the human body? Why not just talk about the planetary body or the body of consciousness? Right? Then you can just include everything. Why not? Because I don't know, I don't really. I'm not really a big, big bang kind of guy. You know what I'm saying? I find that to be a very amusing story. Right. Whether it be true or not, I don't even care. But I just see it as, as a nice metaphor for connection really. Right? So if you do conceive of a beginning or of a beginning that was the end of something else or a new beginning that is a very concentrated mass of atoms without so much space in between them that that spread out, formed our universe and our bodies and our stars at the star dust.   Gil Hedley:  (46:34) If there's any truth to physics, the proximity of those generated a mutuality such that at a distance, they remain connected in their behaviours and in their substance, even electromagnetically or however else that happens. I don't really know. But just as a story, I'm willing to ramp that up at the macro level. I can easily extend the notion to our mutual connectedness. I also know that I can feel people at a distance. I don't automatically deny that experience. Any human can, with a little practise view remotely and extend their consciousness. So the the field of consciousness that we share may be our body, may be my body. I don't say that egotistically, but as just a simple fact of reality.   Tahnee:  (47:37) That's very yogic. Well, that's sort of the map I've learned of what Paul teaches is actually, where ideas and energy and form, but we're all the same thing all the time. It's just we choose to perceive ourselves this way right now.   Gil Hedley:  (47:59) It's not the worst choice in the world, it can be interesting.   Tahnee:  (48:06) If you do believe we chose it, then we chose it. There has to be a reason on some level that we're here for this experience. Again, ideas and stories.   Gil Hedley:  (48:16) Punishment. You're being punished. You've come to the earth because you suck.   Tahnee:  (48:22) I heard a spiritual teacher stay the other day. He said, "You've been very naughty. That's why you're here." And it made me laugh, and it was in the time of Coronavirus. I was like, maybe it's our great punishment or something   Gil Hedley:  (48:38) Yeah, I don't think so. I have sneakingly suspicious that we're not being punished.   Tahnee:  (48:45) Yeah, I mean, my partner and I talk about these things a lot. We both feel that, I've always used the analogy of like Super Mario. I had a little Gameboy when I was a kid and it's like, why am I putting myself through this? It's because I learn and I grow and I get better. It's that self-development that motivates my life and obviously motivates yours. It's like that constant curiosity and questioning. I think that's fun.   Gil Hedley:  (49:13) Yeah, some of us are cursed with that drive to grow. What is that about?   Tahnee:  (49:20) Maybe we did something naughty.   Gil Hedley:  (49:21) Yeah. We must have done something naughty.   Tahnee:  (49:24) I have one sort of last question that which is curious to me as a movement, as somebody who I guess practises yoga asana as well as other things. You talk a lot about textures and about feeling textures. I know like bodies. Actually, I have a couple of questions in here. So I know you do like fixed dissections and then also gooey ones, which Joe and I actually talked about last year when I saw her she was saying that she'd done, like the brain was just like a puddle. It was very different to a normal brain.   Gil Hedley:  (50:00) Very different. Yeah. It's moving. Why is it moving?   Tahnee:  (50:03) So this idea that because most of us, even if we've seen anatomical models, they've been quite fixed by the formaldehyde and that kind of processing that goes on. You work with bodies that are quite fresh sometimes. We are really just sacks to goo and space and water and stuff, right?   Gil Hedley:  (50:27) It's pretty well differentiated in there actually.   Tahnee:  (50:29) Okay.   Gil Hedley:  (50:31) Yeah, I guess I'm not a massive goo, but tubes of goo. Is that kind of ...?   Tahnee:  (50:38) Yeah, well, there is a very watery quality to the body that's not fixed. There's a very, well for lack of a better word, sort of chickeny quality, cooked quality to the fixed bodies. Neither of them really capture the, the true tone of the human form and its textures. There are advantages and disadvantages to studying both. That's why I like to do them both because they're complementary rather than one better than the other. I couldn't work for seven straight weeks on an unfixed body because it would be rotten by the end of it.   Gil Hedley:  (51:16) The decay is too rapid and the fixed bodies, if it's done well, you can read into them the properties of the unfixed body. So the textures that I'm feeling into also represent differences, right? I can extrapolate from textures that are slightly off differences that can be palpated in the living form, right? So although the textures might not be the same, there are relative differences conveyed to the living form, whether it be a fixed or a unfixed body. can I can make use of the donated forms, the models as I call them, to interpret and read into the living body in the same way that a good tracker can read into the hoof prints of an antelope herd and pick out the the young and the weak, and walk after those hoof prints. Sure enough, come upon the young and the weak that are worn out, that just lie down and then the Bushmen of the Kalahari, just they can just dinner is served.   Tahnee:  (52:40) Got served.   Gil Hedley:  (52:43) I basically consider myself a tracker. You know, I don't I don't take the track for the being, right? I don't mistake the track for the antelope, but I can learn a whole lot about the antelope from the track. I can learn a whole lot about movement dynamics, fluid dynamics, structure function from the track that is the deceased human body.   Tahnee:  (53:14) So this idea of then movement, it becomes more about experiencing or developing this ability to perceive the textures. Is that what you're kind of getting at when you talk about movement practise and bringing this stuff in? Because there is that sort of Taoist idea that junk kind of congregates at the joints. I guess being dense and less full of goo perhaps, maybe is where that idea is coming from on a physical level.   Gil Hedley:  (53:45) The joints are pretty full of goo too actually. I just had a handful of synovial fluid this afternoon and my hand. I was like, wow, this is serious goo.   Tahnee:  (53:55) I guess that's more goo than what I'm imagining, because I'm imagining if there's a fluid and then a junction that's gooier, you can imagine things getting trapped there as opposed to like moving through muscle tissue where maybe there's more blood, it's more dynamic, there's more access. In my body, I can feel that those movements have a different texture and I guess a different experience. Is that kind of what you're talking to? I guess I'm just trying to comprehend how I would experience texture in my body.   Gil Hedley:  (54:28) Touch, just grope around.   Tahnee:  (54:30) Just touch it.   Gil Hedley:  (54:32) Yeah, just touch it.   Tahnee:  (54:32) Yep. I've got some rope up here in my shoulders.   Gil Hedley:  (54:35) Well, exactly. That's exactly right. So it's like, oh, I feel some rope up there. What's moving or not moving their? Or oh, this is kind of mushy, no matter how hard I try and contract it. What's going on there? Or when I turn this way, I feel stiff. When I turn that way, I can keep going. What does that texture feel like or what does it mean to move from my bones or what does it mean to move from my deep fascia versus my superficial fascia or from my membranes? Can I actually ... Actually when you can begin to sort of get a sense of those textures in your movement. We see this in the sort of traditional movement arts around the planet. Someone who's doing Xing Yi is moving from their sinews, from their tendons, and their deep, deep fascia. Very different than someone who's practising Aikido or something, right? Or someone who's doing Kung Fu or Karate or Taekwondo.   Gil Hedley:  (55:51) Those all the martial arts are actually deep explorations and moving from different textural foundations in the body and exploring their power, and the individual's relationship to the movement potential of those different layers. I find that fascinating, and fun to explore. and easy to see. For me, from my vision when I'm looking at, I'm like, "Oh, wow, that's a real muscley movement I'm looking at there," or wow, I look at my friend Russell Malphite, who's a choreographer in London and man that dude is liquid, he's just moving. He enters into the, the fluid potential, the fluid surfaces that are inherent within his body, and then he projects that out into space for all of us to witness.   Gil Hedley:  (56:48) Your jaw drops and you're like, wow, how can that even be? How can a person move like that? With that as your mirror, it confronts your own movement way of being in the world. This is ethics, your own movement way of being in the world which may be conserved or stiff or held in textures that are more wooden. That might be conveying a wooden mentality or a wooden religiosity or disdain for your own sexuality so that you can't actually get a wave going through your spine or an infinity wave going through your pelvis because that would be judged as seductive or something. Yeah. So that's kind of what I'm getting at.   Tahnee:  (57:36) Yeah, we have a friend who's, his name's the Movement Monk. But he teaches just those explorations. When I was practising them, and I heard you speak to that, I thought about it, because I mean, practising a lot of Yin. You really feel like that deep fascia, those rebound kind of sensations, and that's something I think for me, in my eyes, I think I was, must be early 20s when I first practised Yin. It was such a visceral and distinct sensation versus like the muscular action I supposed I was used to from athletics and life, and even regular yoga. I feel like we've lost a lot of that, I guess kind of exploratory function in modern movement. So it's nice to feel like maybe it's coming back a little bit. Yeah, well, that's probably a nice place to wrap up. So thank you. I mean, I really appreciate you taking the time. You must be knackered. The Australian, I don't know if that's an American word. Very tired.   Gil Hedley:  (58:42) Yeah, it's a very American word. Knackered, we say that all the time. Yeah.   Tahnee:  (58:46) Yeah.   Gil Hedley:  (58:46) We say, "I'm wasted. I'm so tired. I'm wasted."   Tahnee:  (58:50) In Australia, that means you drunk too many beers.   Gil Hedley:  (58:53) Yeah, that means that here too actually.   Tahnee:  (58:56) Yeah, so thank you so much. I really appreciate your time.   Gil Hedley:  (58:59) Thank you, Tahnee.   Tahnee:  (59:00) Yeah, I'll put all the links to your work on our webpage so that people can find you. But do you want to just rattle off your website for us? GilHedley, right?   Gil Hedley:  (59:10) Www.GilHedley.com, G-I-L-H-E-D-L-E-Y dot C-O-M. There's tonnes of free stuff there. So enjoy it.   Tahnee:  (59:16) Yeah.   Gil Hedley:  (59:17) Yeah.   Tahnee:  (59:17) Also you're on YouTube, you've got your famous fuzz speech, which I know you've probably copped a lot slack about it.   Gil Hedley:  (59:23) Very kind to not ask me for a whole hour about the fuzz speech.   Tahnee:  (59:27) I figured you've probably been there and they'll be stuff out there about it.   Gil Hedley:  (59:32) Yeah. It's not a problem. I'm happy to speak to that anytime. But actually I do on my website, if you join it, which involves putting your email down. I won't email you back unless you have beg me to, basically I have three free full length video courses that amount to about 16 hours of teaching an on camera dissection. That'll give you my learning curve over the years and a whole lot of cool content, then I put that up there, especially for you Australians, because-   Tahnee:  (01:00:02) I know. I've been dying to come for years.   Gil Hedley:  (01:00:06) I always feel bad. I mean, I'm honoured that the Australians come to my courses. They're always like, "When are you going to come to Australia?" I'm like, never. Just do that.   Tahnee:  (01:00:16) The logistics must be difficult to arrange a cadaver in another country.   Gil Hedley:  (01:00:20) It is. Yeah. I'm so busy with what I'm doing now that I'm not really looking to-   Tahnee:  (01:00:26) Yeah, expand in that way.   Gil Hedley:  (01:00:27) Multiply, multiply the number of times, the number of weeks I spend in the lab each year.   Tahnee:  (01:00:33) But don't worry we come to you.   Gil Hedley:  (01:00:35) Thank you.   Tahnee:  (01:00:35) Australians like travelling.   Gil Hedley:  (01:00:37) I'll be coming to you because all this stuff that I've been doing in the lab, I'm basically shooting footage for a massive online course.   Tahnee:  (01:00:45) Yeah, awesome.   Gil Hedley:  (01:00:45) Yeah, that'll take people-   Tahnee:  (01:00:46) Is there a timeline for that, Gil, in terms of ... Do you have a ...?   Gil Hedley:  (01:00:51) Give me a year, about a year, maybe less. I mean, the stuff on my website, I give away and it was just so I could learn how to make a website that could contain this massive thing that I'm building. Right now, we're shooting it. So there's a whole lot of other levels to making good education than just shooting the excellent video. I want to have it be flushed out as a whole course of study into the human body that's not exclusively laboratory based, but that has other elements to it as well in terms of exercise and exploration that can facilitate folks all over the world having a totally different experience to what it means to learn anatomy.   Tahnee:  (01:01:37) Yeah, I think that for me is such a gift. I mean, I'm sure I'm speaking for other people, but to not have to go through a traditional route to learn this stuff. I was looking at do I go back and do another degree and study. I'm like, I'm not going to learn what I want to learn as well. So that's really amazing we have these kind of independent options. That's something I can't imagine how much work that's been for you at the backend. So very grateful. Thanks.   Gil Hedley:  (01:02:11) I can't even tell you. I can't even tell you.   Tahnee:  (01:02:13) I mean, look, we sell herbs in a country and it's hard enough, I can't imagine what it's like moving tissue around. Yeah. I've heard some stories over the years of what you've jumped through. It's always impressed me. Anyway, on behalf of anyone out there who's listening, thank you. Yeah, I'll see you one day when the Coronavirus ends and the world is open again.   Gil Hedley:  (01:02:37) I look forward to it, Tahnee.   Tahnee:  (01:02:39) With existential experience.   Gil Hedley:  (01:02:39) Yeah.   Tahnee:  (01:02:42) All right. Thanks, Gil. Have a beautiful afternoon.   Gil Hedley:  (01:02:44) You're welcome. You too. Bye bye.

Topics Are you confused? Join the club! Yoga Energy’s Power Yin courses can be found here: 50-hr Advance Power Yin Training Blended Format (https://squareup.com/store/training-courses/item/hr-power-yin-training-blended-format) Yin yoga is Taoist yoga and possibly the original hatha yoga that the ancients used to practice Restorative yoga is fairly new, designed by contemporaries such as Iyengar Paulie Zink, a contortionist, was the main person to introduce Taoist yoga into the United States Paul Grilley was the next main influence on bringing Taoist yoga to the West Sarah Powers changed the name of Taoist yoga to Yin yoga What is the difference between a yin pose and yang pose? Yin yoga is not Iyengar based yoga which means yin yoga is not restorative yoga For those of you who remember anusara yoga, yin yoga is not alignment based yoga, so anusara teachers, quit yelling at us When you are practicing proper yin yoga you should be experiencing moderate to intense discomfort while in the pose When you are practicing proper restorative yoga, you should be extremely comfortable while in the pose The source of the moderate to intense discomfort during yin yoga is key Both a yin yoga practice and a restorative yoga practice have one thing in common and that is heating up the body in preparation for the specific practice We created hot yin for our hot yoga studio Out hot yin was created using the concepts of John Barnes, Gil Hedley, Paul Grilley and Gerald Pollack The water has four phases, not just three The key to phase transition of our fascia is pressure over time which generates heat You can help support our Podcast by giving as little as $1 per episode, our PayPal account is here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=7FDYKCGSKL3NL&source=url (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=7FDYKCGSKL3NL&source=url) May we all be well, adapt and thrive! - Tim and Vie Resources Brought to you by Paleo Ayurveda - Ayurveda Designed for Thriving Our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/c/asktimandvie (https://youtube.com/c/asktimandvie) Paleo Ayurveda's Training Library can be found at: https://squareup.com/store/training-courses (https://squareup.com/store/training-courses) The Spartan Mind Strength Calendar: https://spartanmindstrength.com/events (https://spartanmindstrength.com/events) For YA & AAPNA Registered Instructors Earn non-contact CEUs here: https://squareup.com/store/training-courses (https://squareup.com/store/training-courses) Disclaimer All information provided here is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not to be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action should be taken solely on the contents of this Podcast. Please consult your physician or a qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health and well being or on any opinions expressed within this Podcast. You assume all responsibilities and obligations with respect to any decisions, advice, conclusions or recommendations made or given as a result of the use of this Podcast. Support this podcast

yes, we talk about fascia, and integral anatomy, and also about examining beliefs, eradicating dogmas, paths to the divine, and finding beauty amidst the muck and mire of life. here […] The post Ep.30, Gil Hedley: Integral Existence, Integral Anatomy appeared first on Wisdom and Folly.

Gil shares with us insights he has gained from working with the human body through his hands-on human dissections courses in the laboratory. For years he has encouraged thousands of fellow "somanauts" to appreciate, explore and embody the wonders of human form. Today Gil helps us to rehabilitate our relationship with fat, explain how tissues of the body can act like a 6th sense, and how the interconnectedness of the human body is a mirror for the interconnectedness of our world. Here are some highlights: What is required to optimize the function of our fascia? How do scars affect our bodies? How our bodies and our worlds are based on interconnection. How the tissues of our body actually act as a receiver of information from the world around us like a sixth sense. A renewed perspective on how to look at fat. The connection between fascia and our emotions. The most valuable lessons and insights that Gil has learned from the human body over his years in the cadaver lab. How appreciation for ourselves opens to appreciation for others and the world around us. Contact: www.gilhedley.com

Gil Hedley, PhD, is the founder of Somanautics Workshops, Inc., providing professional continuing education to both physicians and allied health professionals for the past 16 years and is one of the most world's foremost experts on human dissection. He is the author of Reconceiving My Body, which explores how transformed perspectives can alter our embodied experience. He has also written numerous feature articles for Spirituality and Health magazine.

In Episode 1 of Series 2 Gil Hedley talks to Doerte Weig about how discovering our inner bodies allows us to experience our bodies as continuous, to accept muscles as scientific mental creations, to understand how our connective tissues fascia enables movement, and how with appreciation for our bodies we can even come to love our fat.

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast 098: Many Layers of Fascia with Gil Hedley   Description:   How often have we said that we can't do certain movements because of old age? What if that's not a result of old age, but “fuzz” - a by-product of not enough movement in our bodies? Gil Hedley of The Fuzz Speech fame joins Shannon to bring the concepts of fascia, anatomy, movement and scar tissue to a whole new light.   Gil is a Rolfer, an author, and a strong proponent of encouraging somanauts to explore Inner Space a.k.a. the wonders of the human form. He became a Certified Rolfer at the Rolf Institute in Boulder, CO in the early ‘90s, and has also studied massage and tai chi. He has since developed an integral approach to the study of human anatomy, and published a number of books including The Integral Anatomy Series.   Our bodies receive a lot of flak for not being perfect or adhering to societal standards - Gil encourages us to approach our bodies from a place of appreciation and fascination instead. Whether it's fat cells, scar tissue or any other perceived imperfection in our bodies, approaching it with appreciation is the key to understanding what's going on inside our bodies.   Gil takes us through the three different layers of fascia, the key role of movement, massage, and grounding in our well-being, and why scar tissue is good and beneficial, in this incredibly enlightening episode. If you've ever wondered about the human form or movement or just need a push to appreciate your body more, this episode is sure to be an eye-opener.   Key Takeaways: [5:06] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Gil Hedley. [6:09] What started Gil's journey into fascia and understanding the human body? [6:47] What does the word "somanaut" mean? [8:47] How does Gil wish people understood fascia? [11:53] There's nothing wrong with noticing differences, but it must be done with the heart to remain connected. [13:53] Gil explains more about the superficial layer of fascia, not just thinking about it in the head space, but also integrating the heart space. [17:47] How are intuition and superficial fascia related? [23:06] Gil dives into the next level of fascia - the perifascia. [29:36] What are some methods that can help reintroduce slipperiness between tissues? [34:21] How does grounding help fascia? [36:17] What is the third layer of fascia - deep fascia? [38:09] What happens to fascia when there is an injury? [40:30] What can be done to heal scar tissue and improve the fascia? [43:58] What are some of Gil's questions about fascia that remain unanswered? [45:31] Shannon and Gil discuss the need to balance between movement and relaxation. [49:15] What does massage offer the body that movement can't? [52:02] Our bodies tend to fall into certain limiting movements. How can you invite new movement into your life? [55:39] Check out more of Gil's videos and courses on his website. [56:31] Shannon shares her key takeaways and would love for you to do the same.   Links: Gil Hedley Gil Hedley: Fascia and Stretching: The Fuzz Speech Emilie Conrad - Founder of Continuum Rolfing The Yoga Conference and Show, Toronto March 2019 Mama Nurture Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training Yoga for Pelvic Health Teacher Training, November 2019   Gratitude to our Sponsor Schedulicity   Quotes from this episode:   "A somanaut is someone who navigates the body, who sails the inner seas."   "For movers, fascia is key. If you, I feel, have no conception of what's going on inside your body, it's a little trickier to embody what's going on inside your body."   "You've got one body, many textures, differential movement, without any separation."   "I always invite people when they're wanting to learn about the gift of the body, to start with a place of appreciation."   "Our superficial fascia, we can approach it from a place of appreciation."   "Scars are good. Scars are a blessing. Scars represent our healing function."   "If you want to move differently, you have to move out differently."

We are kicking off the new year with one of Kathryn's all-time favorite speakers. This conversation begins with a definition of fascia, what it is, how it can be described, and how much things are changing as our knowledge of the body grows. Gil talks about how he came to learn about the body from a very disembodied place himself and how dissection made him realize that what we see in the books is not what we have under our skin. He also talks about body diversity and human variation, not just on a joint level but every aspect of the body. They talk about bodywork and foam rolling, and Gil remarks that the body is like a baby, we can't beat up on it. He also comments on the western approach to yoga and how a practice that is void of interoception can cause people to force their bodies into shapes that might not be meant for them.  If you are loving this podcast please consider leaving a review in iTunes or in your podcasts app.  For information about retreats, workshops or online courses you can email Kathryn at hello@kathrynbruniyoung.com

Physical therapist and yoga teacher Libby Hinsley discusses the significance of the psoas muscle and how yoga teachers can most effectively work with it in their classes. Highlights The primary role of the psoas muscle (it’s probably not what you think) Symptoms of psoas dysfunction Two reasons why modern humans have more problems with the psoas than our ancestors How the psoas shapes the body Two neuromuscular principles for supporting the psoas to lengthen A formula for working with the psoas in yoga classes The problem with most anatomical cues and what you can do instead   Invitation for Inspired Action Write a sequence using Libby’s psoas love formula. Who is your audience? Will they benefit from indirect strengthening or can you target the psoas major muscles directly?   Share it on the Yoga Teacher Resource Facebook Group! Email subscribers get a bonus download: Links and Resources Yoga Teacher Resource Facebook Group Join the Yoga Teacher Resource Email list to get access to bonus content for all episodes, both past and future. Gil Hedley anatomical dissection videos Libby's website

Amy Matthews, CMA, IDME, BMC Teacher, RSMT/RSME has been teaching movement since 1994. She is a Certified Laban Movement Analyst, a Body-Mind Centering® Teacher, an Infant Developmental Movement Educator, and a movement therapist and yoga teacher. Amy leads the Embodied Developmental Movement and Yoga and the Embodied Anatomy and Yoga BMC℠ programs in the United States. She co-taught with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen in Berkeley, CA for five years and was on the faculty of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies for ten years. She has taught embodied anatomy and movement workshops for programs in New York, Philadelphia, Berkeley, and Nebraska, and internationally in Canada, Switzerland, Ireland, England, Israel, Slovakia and Japan. Amy co-authored with Leslie Kaminoff the best-selling book Yoga Anatomy, and together Amy and Leslie teach The Breathing Project's Advanced Studies courses. Amy also works privately as a movement therapist and yoga teacher, integrating Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, yoga, Body-Mind Centering® and Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF). Amy is certified as a yoga teacher by Yoga Union and Heart of Yoga, and as a Motherhand Shiatsu practitioner. She is registered with ISMETA as a Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator, with IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists) and with Yoga Alliance as an E-500 RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher). Amy has studied with a range of inspiring teachers: dissection workshops with Gil Hedley, neuro-muscular reeducation with Irene Dowd, Body-Mind Centering with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, full-contact karate with Michelle Gay, and yoga with Alison West, Mark Whitwell, Genny Kapular and Kevin Gardiner.

In this episode, Jared and Alex chat with Elizabeth Wipff of Strong and Bendy (http://www.strongandbendy.com/) on finding your WHY and how she teaches people transcend the BS and do awesome things. Elizabeth offers tips on: What it means to be working from your built in operating system How you can have multiple mission statements but only one Why How to master the artistry of teaching and coaching How to select a coach or teacher and many more ways to become more in tune with what makes you tick and how to manifest it through your work. Elizabeth Wipff is a personal leadership coach, movement and mobility specialist, CrossFit coach and Yoga Tune Up® teacher trainer with an insatiable eagerness to help people upgrade their bodies and their lives. Her athletic endeavors started early: she walked at 7 months, was roller skating at 3 and did her first yoga pose at 4! As a kid she played soccer and studied dance, voice, theater, Iyengar yoga & therapeutic movement modalities. She is now crazy about about competing as a masters level Olympic Weightlifter. This lifelong passion for movement; years of performance studies; enthusiasm for fostering healthy functional movement  in her clients; and knack for communicating  information concisely and convincingly make her a sought after teacher and coach. Certifications and trainings  include: CrossFit Level 1, CF Gymnastics, CF Kettlebell, CF Coaches Prep, CF Olympic Lifting, CF Movement and Mobility,  USAW L1, Gil Hedley’s Compassionate Cadaver Lab, Yoga Tune Up® and multiple yoga teacher trainings. Elizabeth has been coaching and teaching nationally since 1999 and has presented trainings and workshops at Kripalu Center for Yoga, YogaWorks studios and CrossFit boxes throughout the US.  Her Personal Coaching clients come from all over the world. www.strongandbendy.com For references of everything mentioned in this episode, head over to http://behindthepodiumpodcast.com/. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review! (more…)

This "How I Broke Into" interview is filled with stories of courage and self-discovery, and provides tremendous insight into how a global brand can result from the initial efforts of one person’s decision to forge a new path. Here are notes from the show: Jill's love of yoga and fitness began early on. She has a love/hate relationship with business--she grew up in a solar community and her family's business was solar. She worked in the family business from a young age. As a child, Jill was on the standard American diet, was overweight, teased, scrutinized. She discovered Jane Fonda's Workout and Raquel Welch's Yoga Program (Total Beauty and Fitness). She discovered how important a teacher, even one on video, is. But she overdid t with the videos and became anorexic. We discussed "The Best Little Girl in the World" (1981) with Jennifer Jason Leigh (I wrongly said it starred Ally Sheedy). Anorexia/Bulimia is the #1 cause of death in teenage girls. For Jill, falling in love led to a path to self-love. She started studying shiatsu while attending Northwestern University, and this led to healing. The Coregeous Ball is part of her product line; it's a soft, grippy pliable ball meant for self-healing. She never planned to teach. But she was inspired by her mentor Glenn Black at the Omega Institute. Shortly before 9/11, she decided to explore teaching. She enrolled in the 200 hour Teaching Program for yoga. She felt inhibited by the rigidity of the teaching program's failure to take time for body and tissue sense. She started to change the way she taught. Jill became known for her lateral abdominal churning--Nauli Kriya--and had an 8 page spread in Yoga Journal. Her mother worked for JetBlue, which has a family program of flights all over the U.S. Jill offered to fly to yoga studios all over the country. "I had balls. And now I have a ball products business." She does compassionate cadaver labs with Gil Hedley so movement educators can see the anatomy on the inside. Yoga Tune Up does not stay in the yoga space. Center for Pain Rehabilitation - Mitchell Prywes, MD, Danbury, CT Hospitals are finally embracing all parts of well-being. Tune Up Fitness has 500 teachers worldwide. Jill's husband Robetr is a serial entrepreneur. 6 months into dating, he came to a 3 hour core workshop and couldn't believe how fast it flew by. He said, "We need to bottle this." The collapse of her mother and step-father's business made Jill reticent to build a business. She licenses materials and products globally. The Roll Model is being translated into other languages. "Self care health care." She has shared perspective with Dr. Kelly Starrett, best-selling author Becoming a Supple Leopard and Katy Bowman, author of Move Your DNA. She doesn't quite feel like she's arrived yet. We discussed the school system and deskbound kids. She recommended Starrett's Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World.  I mentioned how much I enjoyed Starrett's appearance in 30 Days of Genius on Creative Live, in which he mentioned Jill. She did programs on breath, fascia, and pre-natal fitness for Creative Live. "We met at a time when all of us were trying to reach people." Robert is her business backbone, loves building businesses. It's scary to go along with new initiatives. Jill knew, in writing her first book, that she need to capture the soft-tissue soft tool market, so she did The Roll Model instead of a book on breath. That will be her second book. She has become known as a go-to expert in the field of fascia. She is impressed with Wim Hof's breathing method. Her daily practice involves soft tissue self-care, walking, range-of-motion exercises. Josh Landis is a strength and conditioning coach that has been helpful. Web sites include YogaTuneUp.com and TuneUpFitness.com. Subscribe to "How I Broke Into" on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, or Google.

Gil Hedley is a world renowned dissector of human cadavers and teacher. He has been a virtual mentor of mine for years and I am honored to have him on the show! He teaches physical therapists, massage therapists, doctors, yoga instructors and just about anyone interested in human movement. We discuss the intricacies of human connective tissue and how to maintain your health. We chat about injury prevention and how to get to source of pain in the body and much more! This conversation is a must listen...

Gil Hedley is an ethicist and anatomist who runs unique human dissection labsthat are much more about discovering the reality of our connectedness than about finding the separations between things. We talk about how our model of the body determines our relationship with it, the superficial fascia and what’s up with everyone ignoring it?, different tissue layers as different antennea of the body, insights into the famous “fuzz speech” and more.