In this episode, Sacred Sounds: Diane Arkenstone on Healing Through Music and Nature, we step into the extraordinary world of a musical pioneer whose life and work embody resilience, creativity, and healing. Diane’s awe-inspiring journey—is one that began in nature’s embrace and led to a transformative career in healing music. She reveals how her life-threatening heart condition sparked a deeper connection to sound and vibration, unlocking the power of music as a healing force.

SPECIAL BONUS: In this episode, listen to the premiere of “Meditation 2,” an ethereal track, from her upcoming album to be released later this year.

Exclusive Podcast Intro and Outro tracks from Diane’s albums:

Intro: “Elements of Nature” from The Essential Diane Arkenstone

Outro: “It’s Been Here All Along” from Aquaria II – Ascension

Immerse yourself in Diane’s music for your healing. We’ve all faced seemingly insurmountable challenges, but Diane’s story reminds us that healing is possible when we trust the power within. This conversation will leave you inspired to embrace life’s symphony with an open heart and renewed gratitude.

Interview Highlights:

1. A Journey through Adversity
2. Music as a Lifeline
3. Nature as a Muse
4. The Sacred Science of Sound
5. The Creative Process
6. Resilience and Gratitude
7. Global Impact
8. Simple Beauty in Complex Times
9. Timeless Wisdom

Heart-centered Wisdom Shared:

“Always be kind—that opens every door.” i.e., Kindness is the music of the heart.

Diane Arkenstone is one of the top 10 healing artists in the world, with hundreds of millions of streams globally across music streaming platforms, her prolific discography and collaborations have resulted in over 55 albums spanning a variety of genres throughout her career.

Website and Social

Website: https://dianearkenstone.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/dianearkenstone

Links to social media & other onsite profiles:

1. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DianeArkenstoneMusic
2. Twitter: https://twitter.com/dianearkenstone
3. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diane.arkenstone/
4. TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dianearkenstone
5. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/dianearkenstone
6. Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Arkenstone
7. Bandsintown: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/118265-diane-arkenstone

Links to streaming site artist profiles:

1. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7tACdDgcOW9HHM1Z4T3L29
2. Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/diane-arkenstone/98965339
3. Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/diane-arkenstone/ARkvJ6kwjjbj9vZ
4. Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/17332
5. Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/Diane-Arkenstone/e/B000APTQBO
6. Bandcamp: https://dianearkenstone.bandcamp.com/
7. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dianearkenstoneofficial
8. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DianearkenstoneMusic

Connect With Hearts Rise Up

https://heartsriseup.com/

Sign up for our popular, weekly “Notes From Your Higher Self”

Subscribe to the podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hearts-rise-up-podcast/id1454410735

https://open.spotify.com/show/7ebcnnbCjRIeUmJWUC2hYy

Hearts Rise Up Production Team

Hearts Rise Up is a  “Best Wisdom Podcast”

Technical Director: Christopher Drummond

Key Topics

1. The Transformative Journey: from ego-driven ambition to spiritual surrender.

2. The Art of Receptivity: isn’t just a mindset but a cellular state of being. A step-by-step practice for training the body to embody receptivity, leading to emotional equanimity and spiritual breakthroughs.

3. Awakening Through Opposing Forces: the paradox of ego strengthening and ego unwinding. How these two paths intersect, and why balancing them is essential for true transformation.

4. Living as a Vessel for Infinite Awareness: shifting from goal-oriented ambition to purposeful action. What it feels like when the “earth suit” dissolves and infinite awareness takes over.

5. Lessons from the Dark Night of the Soul: reframing adversity as a sacred invitation for awakening. How life’s most painful experiences—like losing your health, home, or sense of direction—can lead to profound inner mastery.

6. Building an Elevated Community: creating a space for the spiritually mature to go “all in.” The vision and mission behind The Awakened School.

7. Practical Pathways to Peace: simple daily practices even in the most challenging moments. Training the body, energy centers, and mind to stay open and expansive, even in life’s most challenging moments.

8. Heart-centered wisdom: “Receptivity isn’t a thought; it’s an energetic state—a doorway to the infinite that opens when we soften, surrender, and allow.”

Website & Resources

https://www.lifeworkstransformationalcoaching.com/

Free Report: 5 Spiritual Superpowers

https://lp.theawakenedschool.com/5-spiritual-superpowers-special-report?sc_ref=hhGxbe7itXNquGrx&sc_vis=MMO825G5Pea2qptzSgVtP0vj0W1uj

Spiritual & Successful Event

https://lp.theawakenedschool.com/spiritual-and-successful-live?sc_ref=hhGxbe7itXNquGrx&sc_vis=kD6v38ZJ4uFlV4whGmyFSlzJ9YRAfy

“This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, Hearts Rise Up may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.”

More Info: Rachael Jayne is the Founder of The Awakened School®, a community that loves elevating conversations on spiritual awakening, human potential, and entrepreneurship. Rachael Jayne is a best-selling author of three transformative books, a TEDx speaker, and an Inc 5000 CEO. She’s also the creator of the Art of Feminine Presence® training, a revolutionary program worldwide for over 13,000 women in the last 13 years.

Hearts Rise Up Production Team

Hearts Rise Up is a  “Best Wisdom Podcast”

Audio editing by: Ann Serrie

Technical Director: Christopher Drummond

Music by: Jonn Serrie

Show Notes

1. Pivotal challenges starting at birth
2. Looking to the stars as home
3. Early awareness of energy and possibilities vibrating all around us
4. Meditation as a path to perception and understanding
5. Going beyond our five senses
6. Breaking free of “fitting in”
7. A life-changing journey to India and Nepal
8. Serving others selflessly as a volunteer
9. Faith and perseverance are keys to believing in yourself
10. Vital importance of inner balance
11. Forgiveness is the key to breaking the cycle of suffering
12. The 7 levels of wisdom
13. Illusion of control and the freedom of surrender
14. Transforming negativity to goodwill, benevolence, and cooperation
15. Becoming an expanded version of yourself through surrender and service

Book

New Book – 7 Levels of Wisdom: A Path to Fulfillment

Social Media: (all available in English and Spanish)

Monica’s Website: http://www.monicaesgueva.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Esguevaweb

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/m%C3%B3nica-esgueva-b85b9727a/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monica_esgueva/

X: https://x.com/MonicaEsgueva

Free Offers:

Helpful content is available for free on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@monicaesgueva.author

Free Ebook – http://www.monicaesgueva.com/funnel/raise/ebook/

People Mentioned:  

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama https://tibet.net/about-tibet/his-holiness/

Heart Centered Wisdom Shared:

Hearts Rise Up Production Team

Hearts Rise Up is a  “Best Wisdom Podcast”

Audio editing by: Ann Serrie

Technical Director: Christopher Drummond

Music by: Jonn Serrie

In this interview, “From Pain to Possibility,” Greg Wieting shares his journey of insurmountable anxiety, trauma, depression, and chronic pain. He talks about the path that brought him to study neuroscience and trauma, leading to his healing from debilitating Scoliosis with miraculous results.

Greg is a health consultant, energy healer, speaker, leadership, and entrepreneurship facilitator.  Through his own journey and training, Greg developed a program called Prisma Method that offers 7 steps or pillars to healing. He practices Mindfulness, Somatic Healing, and BodyTalk – a comprehensive and personalized healthcare system in tandem with Reiki. All these tools and his personalized consulting help his clients “get to the root of your anxiety, depression, and chronic pain and heal.”

Greg shares his story and mission with the world through speaking engagements on consciousness, energy medicine, trauma-informed healing, neuroplasticity, brain health, and the intersection of spirituality, purpose, and entrepreneurship.

Show Notes:

1. Reaching burnout on my way to “save the world”
2. Introduction to Somatics, India, and mindfulness
3. Trauma and neuroscience
4. A 7-step system to make healing more accessible
5. Acute, chronic, and complex trauma
6. Beyond Fight or Flight
7. Going from “pain to possibility.”
8. The orchestra of our bodies – music vs. noise
9. Depression and anxiety
10. Reconnecting to our innate wisdom
11. My arc of transformation
12. Shifting from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation
13. Defying the odds

Social Media and Resources:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Offerings:

Free Masterclass – 3 Biggest Lies Keeping You Depressed & Anxious

Free Prisma Download

Use the following coupon code to receive 10% off Greg’s courses: 

Support The Podcast

It takes a lot to produce a podcast of this quality. We would be grateful and honored to have your support! 

Click Here to buy us a coffee.

Hearts Rise Up Production Team

Hearts Rise Up is a  “Best Wisdom Podcast”

Audio editing by: Ann Serrie

Technical Director: Christopher Drummond

Music by: Jonn Serrie

Are you interested in creating and hosting your own podcast? Check out our hosting platform, bCast. We would be grateful if you would use our affiliate link. CLICK HERE for more info and to sign-up.

Show Transcript

Coming Soon

 

 

 

 

Using Fairy Tales, Ancient Arts, Sacred Sciences, and EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN, Timothy Stuetz empowers people of all ages to develop and use their infinite soul powers to achieve their full potential and “live in a world of inner magic.” Timothy is a healer, facilitator, yoga master, minister, and one of the most prolific children’s authors. He just completed his 86th Fairy Tale Of  The Heart featuring Bliss Beary Bear. He is the creator of The Magical Miracle of You—A Self-Empowerment Course for Children and Families. He also created the Power Animal Frolics—A Yoga/Tai Chi/Qigong COURSE for children where they exercise along with 7 Power Animals in Disney-quality costumes. 

In this interview, Carol asks how Timothy went from being a CPA to delving deep into the healing arts to heal himself and then share his knowledge with both children and adults. His programs and services inspire everyone to achieve their full mental, physical, emotional, and heart-filled potential. They are enriched through his having held children and others at birth and death and coaching people of all ages through a various life challenges. 

Timothy also runs a Quantum Energy Training Academy, certifying graduates to teach multiple forms of Quantum Energy Healing, Meditation, Yoga, Qigong, and T’ai Chi for over 35 years.

Using Fairy Tales, Ancient Arts, Sacred Sciences, and EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN, Timothy empowers people of all ages to develop and use their infinite soul powers to achieve their full potential.

Show Notes:

1. Fairy Tales
2. Man of many careers
3. Importance of integrity
4. CPA to Chocolatier
5. Heeding signs from God
6. Flowing through the lows and highs of life
7. Reconciling the logical brain with the exploring brain
8. Diving deep into the life
9. Idea for children’s books
10. Be-yond-a Book Club
11. Tai Chi, Chi Gong, and Power Animal frolics
12. Quantum Energy Academy
13. Gratitude 

Social Media:

Website 

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Offerings: 

Free meditations, qigong exercises, children’s stories & songs, plus more: https://www.timothystuetz.com/freebies

Free Webinar: 3 Magic Wands For More Creative, Happier & Empowered Children: https://mailchi.mp/961fc3077dff/3magicwands

HRU Affiliate Link: 

https://www.timothystuetz.com/a/jhh5s

Books Mentioned:

Ballad of the Bees – Timothy Stuetz

Bliss Beary Bear’s Fairy Tales of the Heart – Timothy Stuetz

Past Lives, Future Loves by Dick Sutphen

People Mentioned:

Ram Dass

Swami Muktananda

Quotes:

“Listen to your own truth” – Ram Dass

Support The Podcast

It takes a lot to produce a podcast of this quality. We would be grateful and honored to have your support! 

Click Here to buy us a coffee.

Hearts Rise Up Production Team

Hearts Rise Up is a Feedspot “Best Wisdom Podcast”

Audio editing by: Ann Serrie

Technical Director: Christopher Drummond

Music by: Jonn Serrie

Are you interested in creating and hosting your own podcast? Check out our hosting platform, bCast. We would be grateful if you would use our affiliate link. CLICK HERE for more info and to sign-up.

Show Transcript

Coming Soon

 

 

 

 

teZa Lord’s life experience is a testament to transformation and the power of LOVE. From a Caribbean She-pirate to a public sharer of “Everything’s Sacred” — We Are ONE is her language. Everywhere she looks, she sees/feels/touches, and interprets the sacred in the everyday. Her early path was not an easy one. She learned about herself as she experienced life in a time of exploration. teZa was an early explorer of both indigenous plant medicines and meditation. She learned that recovery from addiction is a great teacher and that meditation offered her a way to tune into the bliss of being alive. She has many messages to share and this interview is just a start of a rich treasure of insights from someone who is committed to healing ourselves and our planet. 

Join Carol as she interviews teZa Lord, a sacred trailblazer! teZa is a spirit author-artist-activist, a lifelong yoga and meditation practitioner, adventurer, and nature lover. She is also a co-host of the ZLORD spiritual podcast with Carter Lord – documenting their inner and outer adventures. Spreading love, energy, and joy all around the world is teZa’s thing. She is the author of 4 nonfiction books that document the transformation available to us all. Her books are featured in the No BS Spiritual Book Club.

Show Notes:

1. Childhood of trauma
2. Running away physically and emotionally
3. Magical, mystical experiences looking for Nirvana
4. Being a botanical illustrator opened doors
5. Ego death – Exploring the psyche
6. Plant medicine – honoring the indigenous traditions
7. The Mind – our metaphysical organ 
8. Meditation becomes the way
9. Choosing love over fear
10. Tune into the breath with “mind-stillers”
11. Nature – Modern spirituality is Environmentalism
12. Fill yearning with inter-connectedness
13. It is my duty to share our connection to oneness

Social Media and Resources: 

Website teZaLord.com

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Podcast ZLord

Soundcloud

Free Offer:

The first five listeners to write to teZa at teZalord@gmail.com will receive a complimentary book from among her four published books. 

Books Mentioned:

teZa Lord’s books: Hybrid Vigor, In the I, We Are One, & Zen Love

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Into The Magic Shop by James Doty

How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan

People Mentioned:

Eckhart Tolle

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Timothy Leary

Richard Alpert/Baba Ram Dass

Support The Podcast

It takes a lot to produce a podcast of this quality. We would be grateful and honored to have your support! 

Click Here to buy us a coffee.

Hearts Rise Up Production Team

Hearts Rise Up is a Feedspot “Best Wisdom Podcast”

Audio editing by: Ann Serrie

Technical Director: Christopher Drummond

Music by: Jonn Serrie

Are you interested in creating and hosting your own podcast? Check out our hosting platform bCast. We would be grateful if you would use our affiliate link. CLICK HERE for more info and to sign-up.

Show Transcript

Coming Soon

 

 

 

 

In this interview, Kate Heartsong shares how she empowers others to realize that as they better themselves and create inner peace, they also support creating peace worldwide. Carol finds out more about Kate’s passion for “empowering people to realize their brilliance and greatness and help ignite their potential.” She shares the early influences from which she evolved to being the coach she is today. Kate says her clients “benefit from the motivational, interviewing, coaching skills, empowering growth and confidence tools, and encouragement I share with them, leading to positive change.” In addition, Kate talks about how we can all raise our vibration and in turn raise the energy in a positive way for each other and our planet as we transition into the Age of Aquarius.

Kate is the empowering and life-enhancing author of two books Humanity’s Cry For Change and Deeply We Are One. She is also a confidence coach, workshop facilitator, co-author, public speaker, and Reiki Master Teacher. For over 20 years Kate has been receiving profound insights while meditating. She is passionate about supporting her clients, audiences, and readers with these insights along with the wisdom from her vast life experiences and education.

Show Notes:

1. Childhood defining moments 

2. Hearing loss and shame

3. Taking control of myself

4. Tools to raise confidence

5. Study you – learn about yourself

6. Magic of a positive phrase

7. Meditation practice

8. Ushering in the Age of Aquarius

9. Learning to transmute stuck energy

10. Pay attention to the interconnectedness

11. Acknowledge what makes you feel good

12. Power of the ripples of self-healing

13. How do you show up?

Social Media and Resources: 

Joyful Radiance Website

Facebook 

LinkedIn

Twitter

Instagram

Offering:

Complimentary Coach Session – Ingomu App

2 Free Heartwarming Meditations: https://www.joyfulradiance.com/build-your-confidence/

Kate’s Published Books

Humanity’s Cry For Change by Kate Heartsong

Deeply We Are One by Kate Heartsong

Person Mentioned:

Dr. Joe Dispenza

Support The Podcast

It takes a lot to produce a podcast of this quality. We would be grateful and honored to have your support! 

Click Here to buy us a coffee.

Hearts Rise Up Production Team

Hearts Rise Up is a Feedspot “Best Wisdom Podcast”

Audio editing by: Ann Serrie

Technical Director: Christopher Drummond

Music by: Jonn Serrie

Are you interested in creating and hosting your own podcast? Check out our hosting platform bCast. We would be grateful if you would use our affiliate link. CLICK HERE for more info and to sign-up.

Show Transcript

Coming Soon

 

 

 

 

Sifu Rubia discovered the benefits of the ancient healing arts of Tai Chi and Qi Gong as a way to navigate the scars of loss and trauma. An orphan born in Bangladesh, she experienced abandonment early in life, creating intense anxiety in her body and mind. Later in life, the traumatic loss of a miscarriage brought her to her first Qi Gong class. There she discovered the healing and strength-building power of this ancient tradition. Since then, she has accumulated hundreds of hours of teacher training, including Yang Family style Tai Chi, Yoga, and Iron Shirt Qi Gong. 

With over a decade of teaching experience in community centers, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, private group classes, and speaking engagements at places such as the Oprah Winfrey Network offices in Los Angeles, Rubia has transformed hundreds of lives. She has given students the tools to maintain health, rejuvenate their bodies and recapture youthful energy and equanimity in their life. In addition, she has produced online courses through her website and company Wei Wu Tai Chi in the hopes to extend the reach of these ancient healing arts.

In this interview with Carol, Sifu shares the positive impact of learning the ancient practices of Tai Chi and Qi Gong to heal her traumas. Sifu is committed to sharing what she has experienced with others who have been through some of life’s traumas. Her message is clear – our intention and commitment to self, through movement and meditation, will raise our awareness and tune us into the body’s healing power. 

Show Notes:

1. Trauma of abandonment and loss

2. Alchemy of movement

3. Building a strong body through Yoga

4. Life force practice of Qi Gong

5. Qi Gong, Tai Chi, & Yoga

6. Melding forms of healing

7. Importance of breath to movement

8. Crystalized emotion

9. Where do you hold your emotions

10. “Mirror time”

11. Experience your dimensional self

12. Breathe, slow down, commit to a practice

13. Find your “Energy Management System”

Social Media and Resources: 

TaiChiWellness.Online  

WeiWuTaiChi.Online 

LinkedIn

Offering:

Qi Gong Course – Live online – use code HRUQI to access at TaiChiWellness.Online

Book Mentioned:

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz 

Quote:

“It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity.” – B.K.S. Iyengar

Support The Podcast

It takes a lot to produce a podcast of this quality. We would be grateful and honored to have your support! 

Click Here to make a financial contribution.

Hearts Rise Up Production Team

Hearts Rise Up is a Feedspot “Best Wisdom Podcast”

Audio editing by: Ann Serrie

Technical Director: Christopher Drummond

Music by: Jonn Serrie

Are you interested in creating and hosting your own podcast? Check out our hosting platform bCast. We would be grateful if you would use our affiliate link. CLICK HERE for more info and to sign-up.

Show Transcript

00:00:04

(Carol Chapman) Okay, thank you for tuning your heart’s in for another episode of the Hearts Rise up podcast. I’m Carol Chapman, your host along with my co-host, Ann Serrie and Concetta Antonelli. We share our own personal experiences, tips and strategies along with powerful stories and compelling insights from guest interviews. We’re here to inspire and empower your conscious evolution, help you tap into your inner wisdom and rise to your heart centered higher self Together we can rise to a higher level of consciousness, an elevated state of being and experience more love, joy and freedom. Well, hello again and welcome back heart centered listeners. I’m carol chapman, thank you for coming back once again for another episode of the Hearts Rise Up podcast where you’ll always find heart based wisdom to inspire your conscious evolution.

00:01:21

(Carol Chapman) My featured guest today is Sifu Rubia. Sifu Rubia discovered the benefits of Tai Chi as a way to heal herself. An orphan born in Bangladesh. She has navigated the scars of deep loss and trauma, creating intense anxiety in her body and mind, including the traumatic loss of a miscarriage which brought her to her first child gong class where she discovered the healing and strength building power of this ancient tradition. Since then, she has accumulated hundreds of hours of teacher training, including yang family style Tai Chi yoga and iron shirt qigong with over a decade of teaching experience in community centers, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, private group classes and speaking engagements at places such as the Oprah Winfrey network offices in Los Angeles. Rubia has transformed hundreds of lives.

00:02:23

(Carol Chapman) She has given students the tools to maintain health, rejuvenate their bodies and recapture a youthful energy and equanimity in their life. She has produced online courses through her website and company. Wei Wu Tai Chi in the hopes to extend the reach of these ancient healing arts. Rubia, welcome to the show.

(Sifu Rubia) Hi, it’s nice to be here. Thank you for having me Carol. It’s really an honor. I’m happy to be here.

(Carol Chapman) It’s wonderful for you to be here. And I have personally taken your Tai Chi course and I must say that you have such a confident, calming, engaging style of teaching. I love your soothing voice and of course the choreography.

(Sufi Rubia) Thank you, I’m glad you took it.

(Carol Chapman) Yes, it was wonderful and it was a really nice introduction to Tai Chi. I’ve never done Tai Chi before and I definitely want us to delve into the work that you’re doing and the benefits of Tai Chi and she gone and how they connect to heart centered awareness, the opening of the heart and releasing trauma and stress.

00:03:32

(Carol Chapman) But first I would love for you to share your amazing story of challenge and opportunity that you went through in your life, to heal some of the deep loss and the trauma because, you know, none of us ever really escape trauma me included. We’ve all experienced it in various degrees and you have a story that I think others will appreciate and then can learn from you as to the experience that you had that lead you to the work that you’re doing today.

(Sufi Rubia) Well you said a lot of it in the bio. So my healing journey started from that moment of abandonment by my biological mother and you don’t realize that your nervous system is kind of set up for that trauma and that grief, it took me a long time to realize what was actually going on with me. So that’s where it kind of started. Yeah, the abandonment issues that come from there, the anxiety that my body held because of it and the triggers and all of that stuff.

00:04:37

(Sufi Rubia) So for me, as I was just growing up, I discovered that movement was a really nice way for me to navigate some of those emotions, so it’s very athletic and I like to be in motion. So that helped me, you know, kind of move some of that energy that, you know, not necessarily I even knew was being moved at the time, I can only say all of these things in hindsight, right? But if we speak to yoga practice and Tai Chi and Qi Gong and how all of those have kind of helped me Malcolm eyes those traumas, then yeah, we, I think that’s what we’re here to speak of today, right?

(Carol Chapman) Yes, as we kind of go through our discussion today, I’m sure that you can bring out points in your life as we’re talking about Tai Chi and Qi Gong and what the work that you’re doing, how it has helped to release certain emotional triggers for you over time. But I think it would be helpful to really understand the differences between Tai Chi and Qi Gong.

00:05:38

(Carol Chapman) And also I think yoga as well, because you’re well practiced in the art of yoga and those are all ancient practices, so it would be helpful to really understand the unique differences between them.

(Sufi Rubia) Sure. So, you know, I’m always just gonna be speaking from my point of view and my experience, that doesn’t mean that I hold you know, ultimate knowledge on any of these ancient practices, but I’ve been practicing yoga longer than Tai Chi and Qi Gong and I actually don’t teach yoga, even though I’ve done trainings and you know, I have developed yoga practice. I’ve mindfully not decided not to teach yoga just because it was, it’s my personal space to heal. My yoga practice is where I go to deal with myself. And when you teach what I know, and I think I’ve always known this that when you’re teaching something, you’re ultimately giving your practice away, you’re giving your pieces of yourself away

00:06:40

(Sufi Rubia) And I was just never ready to do that. But for whatever reason when I was doing my Tai Chi and Qi Gong practices and trainings. I didn’t have that same attachment to those practices, the bigger part of my healing, I think came when I was melding all three of them together and finding this really this beautiful internal flow in my body that was started with my yoga was kind of harnessed in my Qi Gong and just really bloomed with my Tai Chi practice. So all three of them are very important and they hold different spaces. So Coming back to what you were asking about the differences between the three. If we start with Qi Gong, Qi gong simply means well Qi means vital force, vital energy prana and the yogi language and gong means to cultivate, to work to you know to toil. So Qi Gong is you know, a prana, life force practice and discipline and there are many different styles forms, lineages.

00:07:51

(Sufi Rubia) It’s really a question of finding the one that suits you best. I work specifically with grounding Qi Gong practices. So they’re very rooting and you build a solid base for yourself in your energy body and then Tai Chi is a martial expression of your Qi Gong. So in simple form, that’s what Tai Chi is and someone who knows martial arts will know the martial applications will be very obvious. Otherwise you see Tai Chi being demonstrated in the park and it’s a very fluid movement exercise usually done in groups. So you don’t, you’re not necessarily looking at martial applications, but it’s more of an expression as moving meditation or a dance, you know a gentle dance. It’s multilayered and multifaceted and then the yoga has just always, it’s always a curious place, I’ve been doing it for over 20 years and it’s still it’s still some place where I go and I discover something.

00:09:03

(Sufi Rubia) It’s a place of discovery. I mean they all are, but that one specifically an Asana practice is really there to strengthen and align your body for deeper spiritual practices. And so it’s part of an eight limbs system. And Asana practice is just one of those limbs. It’s there to build, build a strong body essentially.

(Carol Chapman) And particularly since you’re well versed in what you’re, what you’re teaching, let’s just put it this way, the Tai Chi and Qi Gong. That’s really what you’re mostly focused on in terms of helping others. How do these ancient practices activate heart centered awareness and the opening of the heart? Because what I have found particularly in today’s world, a lot of people have a real hard time because sometimes there’s a lot of trauma that has rests in the heart and they really have a hard time opening the heart. Many people are walking around with a closed heart.

00:10:08

(Carol Chapman) So I think it would be helpful to understand a little bit more about these practices and how they benefit us and why it’s important to open the heart and have that heart-centered awareness.

(Sufi Rubia) That’s a great question and I love how it’s focused on your audience and your own mission. So yes, if we’re speaking of the heart chakra or the heart center or the heart meridians specifically my experience with it in a yoga practice a can, there’s you know, Asana’s, one of them is called fish pose, where you’re literally opening up your heart from very deep, deep place and it can be a little jarring, it can be pretty intense. Whereas in my experience, anytime I do too much yoga with heart-opening Asana, I end up crying a lot. Like I’m just to open that can create another whole other issue when you walk through the world with, with that kind of open heart. But what I found with Tai Chi and Qi Gong is that the same physicality with certain movements open the heart center and the heart line and heart meridian in a much more gentle way.

00:11:24

(Sufi Rubia) Again, this is based on my experience. That’s not to say that’s going to happen for everybody. It’s really, I’m just sharing with you how it’s affected my experience. So Tai Chi is just been a softer way to, to fall into a heart-opening space. It’s just been gentler for me based on the movements with the arms flowing gently, there are certain Qi Gong movements where you’re opening up your arms in a horizontal line, like wide open as if you’re about to hug someone. So it’s just gentler, it’s just a gentler way to keep your heart open and because we sit a lot and we’re hunched over our desks and were not made to live the way that we’re living right now. So these practices are important to keep those lines open and not close us off to the world around us or even, you know, internally to ourselves and going against ourselves. So these practices are definitely they’re beautiful practices in keeping your body more fluid and more open and receptive.

00:12:31

(Carol Chapman) So how did they activate healing based on your experience in your body and your mind and even your heart? I mean, how do they activate that.

(Sufi Rubia) breath to movement anytime you’re linking your breath to movement.

And that’s with any given discipline, You know, swimming, basketball, like the all of these athletes have the mastery of their breath to movement to be able to sustain, you know, the physical demands of what they’re doing. I mean, they’re not necessarily in a therapeutic setting, although, you know, the sports is therapy for many people, but the healing aspect in soothing the nervous system is really linking the breath two gentle mindful movement. And it’s really it’s the synergy of all of it happening together and the repetition. So that’s where we get into the physical healing.

00:13:32

(Sufi Rubia) But if you understand that your body, your body is basically crystalized emotion and that you’re kind of chipping away through the physical body at the emotional distress, then you’re bringing it all together in a in a holistic approach to healing the mind. The body and the spirit, the spirit is taking on the responsibility of developing an ethical practice, you know, in your daily endeavors, whatever that means to you through religion through volunteer work and generous practices and giving and offering and all of that. So that’s the spiritual process. But we’re addressing the well, we can address all of it. We’re right now, we’re talking about the physical part, Right?

(Carol Chapman) What else would you like to share with respect to that interesting term that use crystallized emotion. Maybe we can talk a little bit more about that and how it releases that and maybe even transforms it.

00:14:32

(Sufi Rubia) I feel that you have to approach these technologies and modalities with intention. You can move to move for the sake of moving and you’ll benefit from, you know, from the movement. You know, you do an hour class and you moved for an hour and there’s a benefit there. But if you know internally that you’re dealing with some stuff, then it’s locating it in your body with mindfulness, gentleness, self-compassion and allowing the movement and the breath to become the tool by which your healing that within that that physical space. So some people hold their emotions and their hips and their bellies, you know, in their chest and their shoulders. You know, like we have the warnings the warnings are there. So it’s really taking the time to acknowledge something’s going on. And then mindfully peeling back the layers of the stagnation or the points of tension.

00:15:43

(Sufi Rubia) Again, Still, in my experience, I think yoga creates more tension than release for me. For whatever reason, it’s really through my Tai Chi practice and Qi Gong practice that I find it’s a gentler place to release the tension.

(Carol Chapman) Yeah, I was going to say softer, a little bit softer, more gentle. Whereas yoga is a bit more rigorous.

(Sufi Rubia) If you have a Vinyasa practice, even yin practice yin yoga is very intense. Yes, you’re going deeper into the connective tissue and you’re holding these Asanas for a longer period of time and they’re useful. It’s useful. Again, I don’t shy away from yoga, it’s just I don’t know, Tai Chi is a gentler place to start if you’re on a healing journey.

(Carol Chapman) How did it heal you? Or let’s put it this way, I don’t think we’re ever fully healed. How has the healing occurred for you as a result of these practices?

00:16:47

(Carol Chapman) Number one and number two, how has it changed your perception of yourself and the world?

(Sufi Rubia) Those are two big questions. You might have to repeat the second one. Let me address the 1st Yeah. Again, coming back to mindfulness, I wanted to hell, I knew there was something, you know when you’re when you’re dealing with trauma, you are often find yourself in a reactive state because you’re protecting yourself. So it’s transcending that reaction in your body and again, the Tai Chi practice and the Qi Gong practice when you first start, it’ll activate it, it’ll trigger those responses, but then you breathe through it. What it has done is that it’s created a soft place for me to work on those triggers and because I’ve created that mindfulness and awareness in your breath and in your body in these moments of being triggered, I know how to breathe through it, how to pause in order how to slow down and become less reactive to the situation at hand.

00:18:06

(Sufi Rubia) So in that sense, it just soothes the body in the moment of a reactive situation. So that’s one way and I think the most important way that it’s helped me, it’s an energy management system. That’s one way I put it, is learn how to manage your energy and tap into a different way of existing and moving through the world. And again, when you’re dealing with trauma, you’re dealing with very reactive behavior. Yeah, I’ve done some psychotherapy and that hasn’t always helped for me, moving meditation, moving mindfully has been my therapy.

(Carol Chapman) And that second question was how has it changed your perception of yourself and the world around you?

(Sufi Rubia) When you start moving through the world differently because of these practices. I think this is a place where I would add that I’ve recently started studying astrology and you and I we’ve spoken about that off mike and I feel that even with the decades of these physical practice is the practice of reading the sky and understanding the archetypes of planets and planetary alignments and transits.

00:19:27

(Sufi Rubia) Understanding that in addition to having that body cosmic connection has made me a much more compassionate person in dealing with people and dealing with the chaos that is our humanity essentially. So it’s cultivated more compassion. So it’s a combination of all of it. And it’s only because I’ve been doing it for a long period of time with the discipline, with the repetition, with the willingness to move through the world in a different way, with less aggression. Again, another thing that trauma ignites his aggression, I walked through the world very angry for a long, long time and not all the time. But, you know, there are certain situations that just triggered, you know, a rise of anger and I just I just didn’t want to do that anymore. So when you don’t want to do something anymore, you look for what what’s the, what’s the alternative to that?

00:20:31

(Sufi Rubia) So, you look to peaceful practices meditation again, Movement. But I wanted to do it. So it starts with the desire for change and the desire to transcend the circumstances, right? So, those were the circumstances of my life and that those were the challenges that were given to me without my permission. Right? I didn’t ask for this and trauma will do that to you, that you’re like, well, I didn’t ask for this. Why are you impressing me with that, that belongs to you? So it’s separating yourself from that and the laws of non-attachment. I’ve read a lot of books. So, you know, The Four Agreements is a really beautiful book to understand, you know, your place in the world and the relationship that you hold towards others and vice versa. It just comes back to me for you have to want to do it and commit to the practice. Commit to yourself, commit to your healing. That in itself is very difficult, especially when you’re hardwired for self-destruction, which is, you know, I feel like in many ways I was hardwired for that and I had to go against that to find something different or at least create something different for myself.

00:21:54

(Sufi Rubia) It’s ongoing. You find systems to help you manage.

(Carol Chapman) That is true. I have to admit my go to system has been meditation which has really helped me to become more aware of, you know, certain aspects of myself that were triggered because of trauma in my life. And it’s a way of processing it and calming the mind and moving beyond it. And it really is a matter of just finding the right practice for you that is going to fit your nature for what you need at any given point in time. Because sometimes we even moved through different practices, You know, even different meditation practices. You know, you started out with yoga, but you have really gravitated more towards Tai Chi and Qi Gong for the work that you’re doing with others and you’re getting the benefit of all three of them just in different ways. It’s interesting how these kinds of practices can help us become more mindful and aware of ourselves, not just what’s going on emotionally and mentally, but also what’s happening in the body.

00:23:07

(Carol Chapman) Because all of that builds up in the body and if we don’t find ways to release it, I think that’s really, in many respects, is occurring within the world. More people were to be involved in practicing some of these ancient practices. We might have a gentler kinder world today. That’s not really the case at the moment.

(Sufia Rubia) No, but what’s happening is necessary also, you know, you need to burn everything down to rise again. There are Hindu philosophies and you see it even in cosmology, all of the cycles of humanity, the cycles of planetary alignments and all of that stuff. I mean, I don’t want to necessarily get into all of that. But what we’re seeing is not unusual. We’re in the phase of humanity. That is, we’re right on time, I guess, destroying ourselves. We’re right on time and destroying the narcissism, the greed, the need for materialism, all of that is being burnt to the ground or it’s being brought to the front, but it’s also being burnt down at the same time.

00:24:20

(Sufi Rubia) We’re not going to see it fully diminish in our lifetime. We’re going to see a process. We’re going to see the beginning of the transcendence of all of that. And the alchemy. And it’s our responsibility to do this work. Mm hmm. I mean, I would say google Kali Yuga, you know, I don’t want to speak out of pocket, but the information is out there. Google Kali Yuga. Kali Yuga—the Hindu speak of, you know, the four major cycles of humanity. And so we’re in the last one. We’re in the fourth one, which is self-destruction. And before we go back to the top to them.

(Carol Chapman) Rebirth.

(Sufi Rubia) Yes, exactly, exactly. I mean, it’s not pleasant. It’s not pleasant to watch. It’s not pleasant to be connected to. But you have to also consider its necessity to move forward. And until then do your work, do your part to heal yourself because we are ultimately responsible for our own healing.

00:25:23

(Sufi Rubia) And it’s in that healing that we expand that outward. So it starts small, it starts within your own family. It starts with yourself, your own family, your own lineage, your community. And then, you know, everything expands outward from you. So start there.

(Carol Chapman) What’s the biggest lesson that you’ve learned about yourself.

(Sufi Rubia) I think I’m still learning. I don’t think I’ve learned the biggest one yet. I don’t know. That’s a big question carol. I don’t know that it’s about myself, but the biggest lesson that I’ve learned is that everything is it’s an illusion. First of all, everything is an illusion. And the biggest gift is experiencing my dimensional self. I’ve experienced myself dimensionally. Which that shapes you. That definitely that’s an experience that changes you forever. And when you go through that I think you move through life differently more mindfully more purposefully and with a lot more clarity.

(Carol Chapman) Don’t always believe what you see and question what you believe.

00:26:26

(Carol Chapman) Always, Always, always. And I think that that’s really interesting that then we can save that for another conversation. But life is an illusion in many respects. Everything that was experiencing, thinking, feeling, seeing and what we believe is affected by actually you know what we believe?

(Sufi Rubia) We’re limited. We’re limited with the five senses and that’s fine. That’s the experience of being here on this planet and this body. We’re here to experience those senses. But those senses are limited. And it’s through meditation and discipline. It’s through discipline practice that you experience something else. Again, it’s only through practice that this what I shared with. You didn’t happen overnight, right?

(Carol Chapman) No, it doesn’t even what I have gained through my meditation has been years and years and years of meditating for most people.

00:27:30

(Carol Chapman) That really is the way it is. It’s a process of unfoldment. It’s a process oven peeling all these layers, these heavy layers. And once we peel them, we’ve become a little lighter and in some respects we find some things that we don’t really like about ourselves that we have to.

(Sufi Rubia) Oh yeah, You have to go through that too.

You have to take a long hard looks and some serious mirror time. But that’s what I love about Tai Chi is that it will always meet you where you are. It’s a discovery process. And when you approach it, I would hope that people would approach it that way that you walk into a class or you start your courses or what not and that you approach it with the eyes of a child in the eyes of a beginner and excitement and discovery. And okay, I want to discover something new today. I want to feel something new today. And it requires you to be in the present moment at every single moment. So, that’s another gift of when you’re dealing with anxiety separate from trauma.

00:28:35

(Sufi Rubia) Sometimes you’re in your head a lot where you’re overthinking and you’re projecting you’re thinking back so you fluctuate between anxiety for the future and depression of the past. And so when you have these places where you can kind of settle into, you don’t want to be anywhere else. Once you discover certain sensations and certain feelings and realizations, small things at a time. It’s not an effort to practice. It’s not an effort to be disciplined. It’s a place where you’ve committed for yourself, allow that to happen.

(Carol Chapman) Yes. And it’s a place where you feel and experience the benefits and because of that, it encourages you to want more of it. Because it fuels and fills the soul and the heart with the mending that it needs.

(Carol Chapman) I would love to know what you’re most grateful for right now.

(Sufi Rubia) The air in my lungs, for whatever reason, I’m always grateful for the air in my lungs.

00:29:41

(Sufi Rubia) The gift of sight, I think seeing color is really is a gift, wonderful, grateful for you in this moment.

(Carol Chapman) Yes, me too. Tell us a little bit about your future endeavors and the online courses that you’re offering.

(Sufi Rubia) Sure, thank you for the opportunity for me to share that. But right now I’ve produced a Qi Gong course, a full Qi Gong course, a short Qi Gong set that I’m offering for free and I’ll speak to that more in a second and a Tai Chi fundamentals course. So all of those are live online. I’m currently working on producing an intermediate Tai Chi course to the one that’s already up there, Tai Chi fundamentals, which is the one you experienced and working on bridging Qi Gong with the yamas and the yamas. So bringing my Yogi and my Tai Chi practice together, which is really beautiful.

 

00:30:45

(Sufi Rubia) So we’re working on that and I spoke of astrology earlier. So, I’m trying to speak to astrology, transits, planets and archetypes and, you know, helping people navigate through their birth charts, we go through different things at different phases in our lives and you can always link them back to planetary alignments. So, movement for those things and the house systems and stuff like that. So, working on that, circling back to the courses that are available and I’d like to offer this to your listeners today. There’s a short Qi Gong for grounding course that I’m making available for free. The website is Tai Chi wellness dot online. So T A I C H I I W E L L N E S S dot online. And you can find the short Qi Gong series for grounding and use V. I. P code: HRUQI

00:31:48

(Sufi Rubia) Okay, so for your audience and HRUQI. That course and they’ll get 100% off,

(Carol Chapman) Wow, that is so generous of you.

(Sufi Rubia) And I’ve also just started last week, I’m offering a sliding scale, so I’m trying to make it as easy and accessible for everyone out there. You’ll see that on the website.

(Carol Chapman) We’ll be sure to include all of this in our show notes, all the details. Any anything else that you’d like to share just in terms of your future endeavors?

(Sufi Rubia) There’s always something on the burner. But right now I definitely encourage people to try the Qi Gong. It’s a beautiful short practice for the morning to get you grounded. There’s some tapping in there and then the Tai Chi class, you know, the Tai Chi course. Again, it’s available on the sliding scale if you’ve ever wanted to learn Tai Chi, It’s a beautiful introduction to it, you know, getting into activating the waist, you know, learning how to move and step in that fluid motion that you see.

00:32:53

(Sufi Rubia) And I think there are eight minutes long, the little chapters. If you’re restricted with time, you can take one module at a time and they all build on each other.

(Carol Chapman) So that’s kind of how I did it. I carved out some time for some of those modules and then I had to go back to them.

(Sufi Rubia) Once you have access to the portal, then you’re in.

(Carol Chapman) Before we wrap up one final question. Do you have any words of advice or just insight for others that you’d like to share on their journey?

(Sufi Rubia) I can share other people’s wisdom. I mean I have quote, I look at every day and then one of them is from BKS Iyengar and he says “it is through your body that you realize you’re a spark of divinity,” explore your body in new ways, explore movement in new ways and those sparks of your divinity will come through somebody else’s advice. I don’t, I’m not really good with that awesome.

(Carol Chapman) Well I know that you’re a fabulous teacher because I’ve experienced your online courses firsthand and I want to thank you so much for joining me today Rubia.

00:34:02

(Carol Chapman) Been a pleasure and I wish you well as you move forward on your continued journey.

(Sufi Rubia) Thank you carol. It’s been an honor to meet you and I know that we’re going to keep in touch. I’m grateful for the friendship that you’ve extended and this opportunity to share. Thank you.

(Carol Chapman) Well, feelings are mutual and so thank you so much. And I just want to say to all of you listeners out there, I encourage you to definitely check out Rubia’s site. You have some fabulous courses there and certainly that free offer is available to you. And I just want to thank you for joining us today and listening in until next time. Just keep rising up. Bye for now.

(Carol Chapman) We hope today’s show helped to bring a bit more joy and happiness into your heart. We hope it inspired you to unleash your inner power and rise up to your best and loving heart centered, highest self. We’d be grateful if you’d leave us a review on itunes. Those reviews are important to spreading this valuable message.

00:35:14

(Carol Chapman) We’d love for you to subscribe to our podcast and share the show with others. Visit hearts rise up dot com for heart-centered courses, guided meditations and are popular notes from your higher self until next time. Keep rising up and may all that you love thrive.

 

 

 

 

 

Christine Samuel is the founder, coach, and facilitator of Inner Work Matters. In this interview, she shares her journey from Indonesia to Canada and the awakenings she experienced. After discovering the effects of stress on her health and exploring the causes, she began a healing journey of new and healthy routines, journaling, and dialoguing with her inner child. As her realizations expanded, Christine began living from the heart space instead of the mind space. She left her corporate career of 20+ years to follow her heart path. Even the uncertainty of COVID led her to look to a new strategy for living, trusting the unknown of creation, and “move purposefully one step at a time”.

Christine is working on a book, hosting workshops, writing, facilitating training and meetup groups, and “co-creating” new services to assist others through Inner Work Matters. She finds delight in sharing her ever-growing understanding of living from the heart space. She defines the Heart Space as follows – “gently holding space where all feelings, thoughts, and sensations are welcome. It is a space where we can have a loving relationship with our complexity and our contradictions.” 

Show Notes

1. Meandering laneways leading to connections
2. Ways of seeing and early dreams
3. Learning to start over from zero
4. Who Am I?
5. Journaling to awareness
6. Left-handed stigma
7. Autoimmune wake-up call
8. Meeting our inner child
9. COVID as a catalyst for change
10. Making the most of uncertainty
11. My 6-month experiment 
12. Walking a “coddiwomple” path forward
13. Power of the Heart Space
14. Essence of Joy
15. Build the skill of returning home
16. A new view of success
    

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Show Transcript

00:00:05

(Carol Chapman) Thank you for tuning your hearts in for another episode of the Hearts Rise up podcast. I’m Carol Chapman, your host along with my co-host Ann Serri and Concetta Antonelli. We share our own personal experiences, tips, and strategies along with powerful stories and compelling insights from guest interviews. We’re here to inspire and empower your conscious evolution. Help you tap into your inner wisdom and rise to your heart-centered higher self. Together we can rise to a higher level of consciousness, an elevated state of being, and experience more love joy, and freedom. Welcome back to all of you. Heart center listeners. Thank you for joining us again for another episode of the Hearts Rise Up podcast where you will always find heart-centered wisdom to inspire your conscious evolution.

00:01:21

(Carol Chapman) I have an absolutely delightful guest today. Her name is Christine Samuel. Christine is the founder, coach, and facilitator of inner work matters. She left her corporate career of 20 plus years to follow her heart path, permission is to be a living example and help others to become the fullest expression of who they are while navigating their path to transition with unwavering peace and clarity. She finds delight in sharing her ever-growing understanding of living from the heart space. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two young kids. Christine. Welcome to the show.

(Christine Samuel) Hi Carol. Thank you for having me here. I’m really happy to be able to speak with you today. Oh I just am excited and I love your energy and your heart-based approach to life and work and I wanted to say I enjoyed your deep listening practice a few weeks ago.

00:02:24 

(Carol Chapman) That is, was quite an experience. And I think more and more people could really benefit from that practice and I hope that we get an opportunity to share a little bit about that practice today. It’s one of many tools that you have right now. You have quite a personal story that I would love for you to share. You know, our life experiences always contribute to who we are and who we are becoming, and sometimes that can be helpful and sometimes not so helpful, especially as we develop patterns and habits and behaviors and sometimes limiting beliefs that no longer serve us. And it’s important for us to recognize that I know based on our previous conversation that you had the courage to step into the unknown with such curiosity at a turning point in your career and I to follow your heart’s desires. So I would love for you to share your story because oftentimes we don’t follow our heart’s desires because we follow what others or the world perhaps has in store for us or wants for us.

00:03:37 

(Carol Chapman) So I would love for you to just share your story from an early age.

(Christine Samuel) Yeah, I’m quite a bit because I’m thinking where should I start from? How long do I have time or you know, time to speak about it? I grew up in Jakarta Indonesia and one of my favorite times I spent was exploring, you know the laneways. I don’t know if you’ve been into traveling to Southeast Asia. Yes, quite a bit because I lived and worked in Southeast Asia. I don’t think we ever covered that. Maybe we did. We did. Yeah, I remember you worked in Singapore. So the road is not as organized here where it’s like north, south, southeast, or east-west, it just meanders around and what I love to do was just to walk through all the laneways and then find out where I can go back home. So basically connecting the ones that I had never been to before to what’s familiar to me and I never knew that that become kind of ways I’m seeing things or I’m exploring thing is just to find out what is unexplored.

00:04:56 

(Christine Samuel) So when I was 16 I had a dream to live abroad. It just has to be abroad. I don’t know why. So I’ve been working towards it my dream. And finally, During 1998 where There was a big riot economic collapse 1998 my parents were able to say, you know, you want to go, let’s go. So with this luggage, I flew to Toronto but I had already prepared all the immigration work and I apply for my permits and everything like that and I start my life from zero again because I never, ever left my family before. You know, just for a trip, but like never lived by myself through that shocking drastic change. Where suddenly I didn’t have anyone any family here where I was the first six months in Toronto, and I moved seven times where before that I moved two times in my life, I was like 20, and at that time I have two questions about who I am.

00:06:07 

(Christine Samuel) I have to really find out my real value. What is my value? What is me, Who am I? Because before I always knew it from my parents, my siblings, my friend and now I came to this place where the culture is different, the way people react is different and I have to find out what is the culture, what is the real human connection? I experienced so much uncertainty at the time there moment where I only had $3.23 in my bank account and a foot in my fridge. And you know, a friend of mine gave me a bicycle, the racing bike, and I never by right a bike with a place that has a streetcar track. So, a friend of mine told me to be careful on the streetcar tracks, I didn’t know what that means. So one day I was late going to work and then my wheel stuck into the track and I fell and I didn’t have health insurance at that time.

00:07:16

(Christine Samuel) So it was shocking, but to make it short, I made it so I got a full-time job, I start saving some money and I built up my career from scratch then I didn’t realize that I had actually high functioning anxiety And when I found it it was in my early 30 I always feel nervous about things. I always felt that if I do something I might message that. So one day I was on a business trip in the States to lead a very important workshop and I was so nervous because this is the first, it was the first time I did it and for some reason, I developed a lot of like rash on my body. It was so painful then because of nervousness, I thought I just can’t afford to go for a job. So I went for a job and when I came back I started writing a journal and then I realized the connection between why I was nervous all the time to my childhood trauma and I didn’t know it was trauma.

00:08:29

(Christine Samuel) I grew up left-handed. I was born left-handed, but during that time, not anymore. Now, you know, it’s only different worlds, but it was impolite to speak or interact with other people, you know, shake other people’s hands with your left hand, you have to do it with your right hand. So what happened was I was about 345 years old and I have many cousins, and relatives older than me. So they told me don’t use your left hand, don’t use your left hand, I got confused as four or five years old and like and I broke down plates, glasses because I just have to use the other hand and you know as a child, of course, my cognition is limited. So I thought you know something wrong with me, there’s something I hold gonna break. So I developed attention that I really have to be careful and make sure everything is right and I went through my career challenges, but then I get so tense in my muscles, stress, you know, stressing job and I developed an autoimmune disease and that was my basically a wake-up call, like something I gotta fix.

00:09:54

(Christine Samuel) Like there’s something wrong here. It’s amazing what those experiences that we haven’t, particularly in early life, and if they continue to perpetuate how can have a significant impact on us health-wise, you know, mentally, emotionally, and physically. So I can just imagine what you were experiencing but go ahead and share, share some more. So the idea is basically, I, instead of looking out, I start looking at what is this inner world means, what is my feelings, what is my body trying to do, what is my mind trying to do and through that kind of healing journey, I met my inner child, you know, the one who is always scared and afraid that she’s going to mess things up and have a dialogue with her because I noticed as you know, there’s nothing wrong with me. Actually, I am going through a lot of challenges. But I made it. So I have a talk with her and said, you know what I love you, let me handle everything now, you can relax.

00:11:01

(Christine Samuel) So that was the first time were kind of into my healing journey where I kind of less anxious, less worried, and be able to have a journey of accepting myself more, and through also the autoimmunities I learned about food balance, emotional balance, and apply a lot of self-care in my daily routines. So things are going well, then I met my husband and you know, kids went through my career then coffee, yep. Yeah, right. And so what happened with coffee it is, I always felt I need a certain thing, you know, I need a certain amount of money, I need a certain amount of freedom. I need a certain amount of a lot of things basically. And through the coffee, we cannot as you know, we can’t really do much and we don’t really need to go to restaurants every time. We don’t really need to buy clothes.

00:12:06

(Christine Samuel) That’s right. It turned everything upside down in terms of how we had to reconfigure our lives and the things that we could do, we could no longer do and we had to find a new way of doing and being yeah, through that I’ve been wanting to make a change in my life. I know I need to follow more of my passion and my purpose, but I had no guts to do that because it’s nice to have paychecks. Yes, I know the feeling. Yeah, it’s hard not to, so I was not there, but the universe kind of forced me into no, this is your time is up, You need to do something else. So things are happening at the end of, you know, coffee, it also the career that really helps me to focus and not exactly without a doubt what I want to do because you know, I think my life experience taught me how painful it is to worry to doubt ourselves to fit in, to feel powerless to feel disconnected to be in the world of dominance, where we have to fit in to be successful, then there’s a point where I said, you know what, I have enough of this.

00:13:36

(Christine Samuel) If it’s not now when and through coffee, I know you know, if I can deal with uncertainty a little bit more then I can kind of okay too, take a little bit more of uncertainty. So at that moment, I decided before I thought like you know what, I’m going to try six months, something different if I if not now when And I went through six months and I thought, you know what, I don’t want to go back, this is so good, this is so fulfilling, this is so where I can be in my inner genius, this is where I can really serve others, not because of you know I have to be somebody else, I just have to be myself and moved from the expression of my being and all my pain, all challenges that I have all the uncomfortable feeling that I have, it’s kind of transmutes into this is maybe like a cliche to really laugh force.

00:14:45

(Christine Samuel) Like you know I have fear so much fear of course of going to uncertainty but that fear is often come by, you know there’s something bigger, something better than I have experienced myself because I let it let go of everything in a way that others can experience the same thing. I have no idea this is like a very powerful action, inspired action that I never thought I could do before because before right, always have doubts. Oh maybe it doesn’t work, you know who I am, that’s the ego. Yes, just protect trying to protect us, you know, is really what it’s all about and it’s I think the first, the hardest step is the first step, it’s always the hardest step. But once you take one step and then you take another step and then you keep going and you found yourself at the end of that six months that you were in a good space, you knew that you could do it and if you know the more steps you take the more courage that we muster up within us.

00:15:56

(Carol Chapman) So at that point, you knew that there was no going back, no turning back. So what happened at that point? How did things shift for you?

(Christine Samuel) So the reason why I know it’s possible is because I’ve been through, you know that $3.25 I’ve been through, this is like this is what I want, I want to go abroad, that’s right. And there is no, like at that moment, you know the first year I was in Canada, it was tough, but I knew there’s no turning back, there is no failure. I cannot fail and go home. I have to keep moving forward. So really you have already faced fear faced your, your biggest fears at that point in time and you really were thrust into a situation where you had no choice but to move through it and cycle through it and move to the next level in your life. Yeah. It’s interesting though because looking back now, I just felt, oh, this, I was so young and so naive.

00:17:02

(Christine Samuel) Sometimes it’s better when we’re doing things when we’re younger and we’re naive because then we don’t talk ourselves out of it Tony. I also want to share why I don’t talk about it. It was difficult because I have a choice to I have 20 years of career so I can look for jobs that I want, but I kind of tired of feeding in. So what I, what happened was in the beginning at the same time. Again, nothing is a coincidence. I stumble upon a word and then through people in the co-creation space, the word that is, become my philosophy until now is called D C O D D I W O M P L E Cody. I never knew about that before. It’s an English slang, which means to move purposefully toward an as yet unknown destination.

00:18:07

(Christine Samuel) So, I thought, wow, that’s totally perfect because I had no idea. You know, I have, I have some idea, but it’s very fake of what I want to do, but I can move purposefully one step at a time. That’s not a big deal for me. I can commit to that. I cannot commit to like, yo I got to be this or that I’m going to make this much, But I can commit to one step at a time. And what happened during that time, also I do an experiment with this work because, you know, I’ve done things and it works in my professional job, right? And consulting’s and my background is too so experienced is you find discovered problems and then find a solution. So you have to start with a problem, and find solutions. And there’s always like this proven methodology that you do with your work and that’s how you sell it to other companies. We solve this problem with this. These are the steps and they buy because they know the steps, but life doesn’t have those steps.

00:19:13

(Christine Samuel) That’s right, It’s not a lab, right? It’s not this one project, it’s just so interconnected with other stuff. So I knew and I try to use those steps, you know, find out what strategy I feel because I get afraid of, Oh, is that the right steps to do, What do I do the right thing. So I knew when I left my job and do this heart space or hard path, I cannot use that strategy anymore. It has to be totally new. That doesn’t that unknown. So what I said for myself was Alguna do with one restriction, meaning like when you want to be creative, creativity happens when there’s a constraint, you know, when this constraint you become creative to solve, you know, to get a different way. So my constraint instead of like constraint is a financial constraints problem. My constraint is I got to do this with joy.

00:20:17

(Carol Chapman) Joy has to be there no matter what I love that. Absolutely. You have to feel that that joy is what really kind of moves you forward and keeps you going. If you’re not following your joy or doing things that bring you joy, there’s going to be lots of resistance and there’s going to be a lot of anxiety, a lot of worries. That’s amazing. I think that’s an amazing revelation.

(Christine Samuel) Yeah. And this is the thing, right? When I follow Joy, what I have to do, I have to get up from my head from my thinking because when joy is feeling in the body, joys and experience. So joy is not a concept, it’s a being. So I have to get out of my head and get more into my heart to feel to sense. And I think that’s how I kind of lean towards. Oh, there is another space beside the head, there is some more spacious.

00:21:24

(Christine Samuel) So what I’ve been doing was I unlearned, this is my process of unlearning, not learning or applying because what I knew what is the right way, that feels good, not the right way, is it the right way or wrong way in terms of intellectual, you know, measuring it, but if it feels good, does it give me more energy? Right for example? Oh maybe I do this, you know, and then I start women in transition meet-up groups within a year. There are Right now until now it’s like 466 people and I start doing this or maybe I can do this talk, Maybe I do this group quoting session, I did it and I didn’t think about what if it’s failed because it just feels good, so write it down, you know like to kind of set it out and be in the process because when I’m in the process and allowing not knowing and I get this sense of ah meaning that it’s a nice surprise, Suddenly I set up like this sentence, wow, I never knew where it comes from it Read or it sounds so good.

00:22:38

(Christine Samuel) So I start getting this excitement and fun with going into not knowing, let’s say I do a talk, I already know this is my theme, I already know a little bit more about the structure, but I don’t know what to fill in and then allow that, deliberately not to know what to say every single sentence, so that at the moment I’m co-creating with what wants to emerge and when you start playing with that, when you, that has to come from the trust, right? Because I think my trust comes also from the joy it comes, it’s just so much more fun to be in this space to create not because oh is it going to be good or not?

(Carol Chapman) It’s more like I’m creating this because it’s fun and it’s really aligned with my purpose and you’re allowing yourself to tap into your inner wisdom and allow that to shine through as opposed to having the ego fill in all the details because the, you know, the ego wants to, you know, control and protect, but when you get out of that, that space, the headspace and into the heart space and just trust what you’re doing in the moment, I found the same thing for me when I used to do quite a few facilitation and speaking engagements and I found that if I got out of my head I was in my head.

00:24:11

(Carol Chapman) Oh my gosh, I would mess up left and right. But if I could just get out of my head and just allow the wisdom to just come through at the moment, I did much better and I had much better success stories with my facilitation zoos and my speaking engagements and there’s really a lot to be said for that. Things don’t have to be preplanned. It’s best to just be in the moment. I’d love for you to share a little bit more about heart space. It’s a beautiful term and words are so important. We drive meaning from words. I’d love for you to share more on that. And the work that you do with the heart space.

(Christine Samuel) So this is my own experience. And also coaching others by listening to others. What’s been happening is the only thing that prevents us to get to where we to go to be fully ourselves to go through all challenges is that we don’t know how to deal with our feelings.

00:25:20

(Christine Samuel) And then because we don’t, you know, there’s a bad feeling. And then we stuck into trying to solve that feeling instead of moving forward. We don’t like feeling uncomfortable. And then we use our heads Two get rid of those feelings which just don’t work. So we end up being stuck in these official cycles of feeling bad. Trying to very rough feeling bad again. Trying to get the raw feelings without even moving forward. What I found about this heart space is when we will allow ourselves to give a space of not knowing. Do you know? Because our head is always wanting to know are all when we rely on our head. We always get to the history of what we know. So what we create, we create. We create paths in the future because we rely on what we know we’re just coming from the history and then in ourselves, there are so many parts you know, there’s part of me that wanting to be in control.

00:26:30

(Christine Samuel) It’s part of me that want freedoms. So how can we deal with we’re not just this one single feeling or aspect. We have so many layers. And can we have this peaceful relationship even within ourselves with our good feeling bad feelings? What we call good or bad. Forever with our shadow and light. And there is space that is not in the head because the head is very small and rigid. There should be something else closer to our body which is our heart. So for me are the heart. Space is a gentle holding space where all feelings, thoughts, and sensations are welcome. It is the space where we can have a loving relationship with our complexity and contradiction. And in that space, there’s no pulling or pushing just Yes, this space is very powerful because it has that gentle holding.

00:27:39

(Christine Samuel) You know the head has to be no right bad. This has gentle holding that can sustain or suspend the judgment so that a different kind of intelligence and clarity can emerge because we have in the wisdom unique well being imagine elastic. So what we did is we tried to push the elastic until it’s very tense, like expanded attention with our hands to control it and we said oh this is so tight, I want to fix it but we’re not allowed. We don’t let go of what we thought we have to control. These elastics. And what happened was we kind of like going in and out in and out this like tension tension tension. But actually, when we let go of our hands to control that elastic, let’s go back to normal. And when you don’t expand elastics have become very gentle. That is our true nature.

00:28:42

(Christine Samuel) It’s just like that. And we’re able to if we want to expand it because drama is cool. You know, we watch movies because there’s drama and we did it to ourselves. You know, once in a while we think about bad it is or how good it is, it’s totally fine. But then we return to that that state. Indeed that’s our natural state. Yes. Yes. And as long as we usually we like when it’s not there like oh no it’s gone. I have to take it. Where is it? I don’t have to get it. But it’s actually the thinking that gets in the way of it. Alright. It’s always there. Well, we know it’s always there. Even me. Sometimes I get into my drama myself in my thinking because it’s fun. Uh and then, you know, and then okay. Oh I got too far, that’s enough drama, I’ll return then I returned back and that’s basically building skill of returning. Yes, returning home because we all go out, go out, go out all the time.

00:29:49

(Carol Chapman) And yes, I love that term returning home. Not everyone can do that. And this world today, how do you help others move from out of their head and be more in their heart space. What are some key steps or strategies are just tips too? Start listening and working with your heart space as opposed to the headspace.

(Christine Samuel) Yeah. Um, I’m even still contemplating on these questions because I feel like I want to blah blah blah. You know, there are so many things, but it’s really hard to put them down into simple words because the word doesn’t teach. Only experienced teach. So what I’m always trying to do is how can I in the presence of others. How can they feel that in me when I speak when I talk when I do whatever when present so that even though it’s not intellectual, they start feeling it because this work is not about thinking.

00:31:05

(Christine Samuel) We always think if we understand it intellectually and there are so many people who understand intellectually what mindfulness is, what heart is. It doesn’t work meaning that you don’t touch it. You only concept you don’t have the relationship in a way that is intimate where you feel the others or feel whatever it is. That the way you learn this is to touch it, to encounter it in a body felt and heartfelt experience, meaning that the simple step is to understand the nature of the mind, it’s limited and not really relying too much on its information is not you, your mind is not you, it’s just a tool. So thinking is one of the tools I always have this term. The mind cuts the heart connects. That’s a beautiful term. Yeah. If you really want to cut things that are analyzed, find the problem.

00:32:10

(Christine Samuel) Use the mind because when you cut things you get into the tiny details of the problem and it has a purpose.

(Carol Chapman) Yes, the mind does have a purpose. It does serve us in many ways in many ways where the heart can’t. But the heart should always lead and the heart is much more expansive. And I love that the term you said connects and I love what you were saying about you’ve got to feel it and that’s one of the things that I have to say about this podcast is people when they listen to the podcast and they listen to the stories and the insights they feel it, it’s not just ahead of exercise, but they start they tap into the emotion within themselves that is connecting to the emotion that is within you and whatever you are sharing. Whatever you’re sharing in terms of how you’re feeling who you are and what you are and that’s so important. It’s important. The learning point for each of us is to pay more attention to whatever we’re engaged in when we’re connecting with others, really connecting with them. 

00:33:24

(Christine Samuel) You cannot think through it. only can feel through it now. This is the thing I want to bring it up about thinking because it’s very important. The feeling has a bad rap in Western societies, you know, feeling romantic and feeling cannot be accountable. I don’t mean that. You know, we have emotions that we kind of enter used feelings with emotions. Feelings. Is another way of sensing that might Mhm. What I meant is, you know, even like say you listen to me that you kind of feel or sense something, maybe a sense of softness or if you talk to someone their sense of if you touch your skin or is it soft, is it hard? Is it the raft that kind of sensitivity that we need to develop? It’s going to hurt us. But like feeling and sensing what is it right now? Right?

00:34:27

(Christine Samuel) It’s more than just the five senses because that’s how we actually receive or transmit connection with one another, right? We feel I feel you feeling me. It’s not like I agree with you, I agree with your opinion. I agree with you you know, principle. You know, even when I talk like this you probably feel it it’s different. But like when you, when you talk to me and I feel you feeling me, it’s I see you seeing me is that the hard way of living and being in this world and when it comes from that place of Usaid expensive nous, then the mind can come down because otherwise it always feels it has to figure things out because otherwise we cannot really function. But when the heart is there feeling the connection the mind actually if you want to come down to mine be in your heart because when the heart leads the mind at ease and that’s to come down to mine, it will then work together united with your heart.

00:35:35

(Christine Samuel) So the mind, what we’ve been using these days in this era for 500 years is a mind is a tool for analysis 2 4. Remember to remember the past tool to collect information. There’s a bigger function of the mind. A mind is an emergence tool, meaning that if you keep it calm and open, something will emerge. There’s so much that we do. Sometimes we don’t really have to plan because suddenly we know what to do. We thought we have to plan its feel we feel good. We kind of do something but actually a lot of things we do, we just do it, especially with the way we talk right now, everything has come up. I don’t have to think about it. I just, I will just be in it and words come out. Can we upgrade our minds in a way instead of a tool to remember the past? A tool to collect information, a tool that is so open, new wisdom or insight our ideas emerging.

00:36:47

(Christine Samuel) Can we cultivate that environment from her heart to a new future? That because when it feels seen, it feels accepted, it doesn’t really think about what you’re lacking this, you’re lacking that it will come and when it’s come, you know like when we are in joy when we are and feel freedom, we figure out things, we have ideas and what I like to fight everyone is just to bring that to upgrade that sense. Make our minds more powerful by being and learning how to be in the heart space.

(Carol Chapman) That is just some wonderful insights And I think that if more people were to do that, I think people would be a lot more in their joyful space as opposed to an unjust joyful space. What advice do you have for others? Because I’m really curious, we all have our own view of what success looks like for us.

00:37:52

(Carol Chapman) I think it would be helpful to know what does success look like for you now and what advice do you have for others to feel like they’re being fulfilled and more successful in their lives?

(Christine Samuel)  Yeah, thank you for asking that because I, I felt I have a drastic way of seeing success right now, I don’t see success as one day I will be this one day I will be there, I do have a vision, I do have dreams that one day is very different, I don’t know if you can feel me, but like I have a dream, I have a dream and my dream is bigger than my success. My dream is to create a world where everyone can fully show as the highest nature to show up fully themselves, because only that we can have a better world, so that’s my dream, so my dream is bigger than my success, my success, you know, it would be nice and I’m, I’m starting course I’m making you know, a lot of ideas, it would be great if people response, it will be great if you know for example, I see growth, I don’t call it business, but it’s a life calling, I see growth in that, but for me, success is more about moment today right now, so success for me, not in 10 years in three months in one week it is now, am I tune in to what want to emerge in me and my tuning in to my heart because then everything that I do today is so much meaningful if I’m in it and I’m with it and what I do doesn’t come from a place of fear or maybe I should do this because, you know, I’m afraid that if I’m not, I don’t want to live like that anymore, so, so success for me is like, if I can live today as if I get to the the end is now, you know, the end where, you know, maybe my book is launched, there’s more people in my courses and then I get email or response, like, Christine, thank you so much for, you know, things that you did, that that changed my life, you know, once in a while I got that, but I love getting that, but also be able to be open to that success, meaning that as long as I’m in tune with my dream and what I do today in alignment with who I am with the place, from a place of love, place of vision and mission and you know, once in a while my survival brain come up.

00:40:41

(Christine Samuel) Yeah, but you know, you’re not doing this yet, Those are just old habits and patterns, just kind of trying to surface and make their way to the surface for sure, but you know, better, that’s just the mind playing tricks on you. I think that’s wonderful advice and I think there’s a lot to be said for living in the moment because the past is done and gone and what’s in the future 25, 10 years from now, that’s a destination and there are all sorts of possibilities as to what might happen. Everything we do today predicts what happens in our future. So we must live each and every day to the fullest. And b as I guess, as experiential as we possibly can with being in that moment and feeling alive at that moment, feeling our own essence, because that’s what really matters the most.

00:41:43

(Christine Samuel) It’s not some destination or something that we have done in the past, but it’s what we are feeling and living today. And I want to add to what you said carol. There’s no past, there’s no future. There’s only eternal now. Tomorrow is now. That’s right. It is. It is they’re all one of the same because there is no such thing as the past or the future. There’s only now. So it’s better to be in the line one now. Instead of worrying about the future. This is what we have. This is what we have right now and look at what you have created and what you’re creating. Even at this moment, as we’re having this conversation, it’s beautiful. How can people find out more about you? I know you have a website, you’ve got social channels, and you have meet-up with groups. Yeah. So people can find me on my website on our work matters dot com. I also have blogs and even my events are there to my story.

00:42:50

(Christine Samuel) I also have to meet up groups that I’m I ran right now, one called women in transitions to help women, so they don’t feel alone and I know there’s a lot of overthinking and the unknown that we experiencing transitions. So those there and I used to do group coaching sessions and a talk once a month in that and beginning of last month I started a group called Deep listening practice circle. I did this last year with a close community. Again, I want to create an environment where people can feel that they are being seen and heard and how does it feel to be in that, and how to respond to others in a way that you hear and listen from the depths of your being to them because that way it’s creating this, oh, I can be myself, that’s what I found about, you know, I do a talk but a lot of things that I do in my course or facilitation experiences, you experience how it feels to be in the moment you want to be.

00:43:58

(Christine Samuel) So I had that as well and I start also thinking about this again, this is coming very sensing because next week was the second session for deep listening that I opened up And there were already 70 think about 79 people sign up for that. So what I know I tap into the need of the world, we think this is what people need. So, I was planning to create because of that, seeing that feeling that, sensing it, I know it’s what people’s needs. So I’m Creating another more like close group where people can be practicing at a close community, the same amount of people like, you know, less than 12 or six weeks weekly. So stuff like that, that comes not all because I planted in three years or planet just like, Okay, what do I see right now? What do I feel where you want to go? Yeah, you can find me on websites in meetups. I have Instagram as well, Christine Samuel here, and a Youtube channel.

00:45:03

(Carol Chapman) Okay, alright, we’ll be sure to include all of that in our show notes and anything else. I think you’ve got a course as well we’re happy to share a link to your course. I have personally experienced your deep listening practices, very, very powerful practice. I think people really need a lot of people really need that very helpful and certainly, right now in today’s world, we’re all in transition, and many, many people, especially women, could benefit from your women in transition group as well. And I know your delivery style and how you engage people within these groups. I can attest to the fact that this is a very beautiful experience. So I will just put that out there to any of our listeners that this is a very powerful experience with the way that Christine facilitates these groups and so Christine. I just want to thank you for joining me today. This has been a wonderful discussion. I want to wish you the very best of success as you move forward with inner work matters and living moment to moment.

00:46:10

(Christine Samuel) Thank you carol. It’s my deep gratitude for finding space for me to speak and to be invited to your amazing space.

(Carol Chapman) Well, thank you again and I just want to thank all of our listeners out there. Thank you for all of your heart-felt listenings in. It’s beautiful and we just want to say, for now, we’ll be back for another episode whenever that happens and at this time just keep rising up to your best and highest self, Bye for now. Yeah. Mhm Yeah, we hope today’s show helped to bring a bit more joy and happiness into your heart. We hope it inspired you to unleash your inner power and rise up to your best and loving heart-centered, highest self. We’d be grateful if you’d leave us a review on Itunes. Those reviews are important to spread this valuable message. We’d love for you to subscribe to our podcast and share the show with others, visit hearts rise up dot com for heart-centered courses, guided meditations, and are popular notes from your higher self until next time.

00:47:27

(Carol Chapman) Keep rising up and may all that you love thrive.