The Muse nº1 podcast – Kristen Caissie on witches, herbs + somatic healing

you can also listen on Spotify here.

In this episode, Kristen Caissie, founder of Moon Canyon Healing, joins Olivia of The Golden Thread for a conversation about the path of the healer, why it's scary, and how to turn toward our emotions and tend our nervous systems using plants and other humans as allies.

Find Kristen here.

You can read the full interview below.

Olivia –

Hi, everyone. Welcome. This is our first Golden Thread podcast interview moment. And I'm really excited to have a dear old friend – oldish friend – from herbalism school um about three years ago now. Her is Kristen Caissie, and she is an herbalist and somatic healer and founded a beautiful company called Moon Canyon Healing. I'll hand it over to you, Kristin, to introduce yourself and say a little more about that.

Kristen –

Hi, everyone. And thanks, Olivia. I'm so overjoyed to be here with you today. I love having conversations with you and I'm honored to be your first guest on your new podcast.

Yeah, so yeah we met at herbalism school and, so yes, I'm an herbalist and I'm a somatic practitioner and I really weave together those those modalities into a fusion of a healing arts practice that supports folks reclaiming their true nature, the nature of themselves through the body, through accessing connection to the planet and starting at the root of themselves and of their healing journey. It’s been a really beautiful path to walk, as you know. The healing artist emerges more and more through me. It's been a really beautiful journey to explore, what does that mean and what does that look like, and each practitioner's practice is different, right? And each healer's practice is different. And mine is alive and growing as I do as I grow and evolve.

And then I also have a herbal medicine line with another friend of ours, Sarah. Sarah and I have created a beautiful herbal medicine line together that has teas and tinctures and scrubs, which we make in small batches. They're so special and,, yeah it's another beautiful practice that I love to participate in – medicine making is really one of those embodiment practices that is really a tradition that I hope we all take up again.

Olivia –

Yes, that kind of leads into the theme of that of what I sort of want the theme of this conversation to be, which is witchcraft, because, you know, it's October, so we're exploring that a little bit in our newsletter. And I think Moon Canyon has, to me, such a sort of old world witch aesthetic to it. And I just want to hear from you, how you define witchcraft and if you believe herbalism to be a form of witchcraft, and just sort of, yeah, riffing on that word.

Kristen –

Yeah, totally. I mean, I don't, I don't have like, you know, a proper definition of what I think witchcraft is necessarily, but what I’ve explored through my own body and through my own practice and through my own life experiences, witchcraft is an ancient form of being in connection with the land and and bringing forward regenerative healing practices through connection with the planet.

Now, someone else may have a very different idea of what witchcraft looks like and is, and that's totally okay, obviously. But you know, for me, I think it's an initiatory process. And so witchcraft is like apprenticing yourself to the healing archetype, to the regenerative healing cycles that exist in nature. So you're really apprenticing yourself to nature, right? To the nature of the being, to the nature of the planet, to the cycles of the planet. And I over time have done just that and watched how magic happens, how healing happens, how alchemy occurs. And I've been able to kind of take those teachings both through my own apprenticeship, in a very real way, to nature, and then supplementing that with school and programs and mentorships and teachings. And I've been able to kind of weave an understanding that witchcraft is a live process, it's a living body of of knowledge and wisdom. So it's forever changing and reshaping and morphing. And it's not easy to nail down. But the practices are very simple. And I find that the practices are innate. So they already exist inside every one of us. We call it witchcraft, we could call it herbalism, we could call it a number of things, right? But all of that is already innate. It's already within. And so it's almost like an unlearning. It's almost like, to get to that, to access that part of your body and your being and your spirit that is alive and connected and can be in a co-creative state. That's what I find witchcraft to be.

We call it witchcraft, we could call it herbalism, we could call it a number of things, right? But all of that is already innate. It's already within. And so it's almost like an unlearning. It's almost like, to get to that, to access that part of your body and your being and your spirit that is alive and connected and can be in a co-creative state. That's what I find witchcraft to be.

And it takes a great deal deal of healing, I think, to get there, which is why I say it's an initiatory path because you learn through direct experience. You learn by the way it reorganizes your psyche, in the way that it enlivens your spirit. It's not something that you can go to school and read about and then you can do. You have to live it through your being and through your flesh. and And I think that's the place that I've always wanted to get to.

I was having this conversation with a friend on the drive home yesterday. It's the place I've always desired to get to ever since I was a little girl, which was being able to be in real time alive in co-creation with spirit. You know?

Olivia –

Yeah, I mean, as you're talking, I'm remembering this chapter that I had after herbalism school where I was really making medicine a lot and, just, I've never felt more in flow with not only nature and the elements and these plant beings, but also, just, time felt expanded and yeah, it's really an embodied art, I think.

Kristen –

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think herbalism as a practice is an embodiment practice, right? It's getting us in our body. The plants ask us to to be in our bodies in order to receive, right? And it's a reciprocal process. So we have to be in our bodies to receive their medicine and they're in their bodies and we can receive their medicine. And it's it's this really beautiful reciprocal act, you know? And I think that's where the transmission is given.

So often, especially as an herbalist – and I know you probably feel so similar – it’s like, we can definitely do it. Herbalism could be seen as this practice that is walked in a very allopathic way, where we use this herb for this symptom, right? Like, oh, you have headaches? OK, you work with this. like We could definitely do that. And that's what would maybe be helpful for some. Or we can offer relationship. We can offer to our clients a way of seeing and of being and of experiencing the relationship that they're having, not only to the symptoms in their bodies as wise messengers of unfelt needs or unfelt emotions or all of these things that are kind of calling within the body, we can also offer them a deep relationship to these plants. Herbalism is is a bridge work. It's connecting between souls. It's connecting between spirit. It's connecting a plant with a body. And that relationship more often than not is the healing force. It's the connection that's the healing force. It's not always the constituents in the plants. And sometimes it is – that's exactly what's being called of us and what that person needs. But it's also building a relationship to a ritual, if you're working with tea. It's building a relationship to mugwort and having mugwort teach you, right? and And so I love that, again, magic is very much alive and real within all of those practices.

Herbalism is is a bridge work. It's connecting between souls. It's connecting between spirit. It's connecting a plant with a body. And that relationship more often than not is the healing force. It's the connection that's the healing force. It's not always the constituents in the plants.

Olivia –

Yeah, absolutely. I'm just like zooming out to imagine who might be listening to this and, you know, if it's someone who's completely new to working with plants or even understanding plants as medicine, can you walk me through, like, how do we begin to build, or how do you think we begin to build relationship with plants? Or if someone completely new to herbalism came to you and, let's say, was struggling with anxiety or something super simple, what's the process of helping them to meet the plants?

Kristen –

Well, how I work with my clients is, we build... Definitely somebody coming into client work with me, working with anxiety – like I said, I weave together trauma-informed somatic therapy with herbalism. And, you know, often I'll start with, okay, let's begin building our our awareness, right? Our consciousness, our ability to be a little bit wider than the anxiety, than what's happening even in the body. And that isn't a process of leaving the body. It's a process of noticing the body. Noticing, where and how does anxiety live in your body? Where and how does it show up in your life? And we begin to notice, not trying to fix, not trying to change, and really giving attunement, which is loving witness and unconditional welcoming to that part of you that is holding anxiety. And that's a huge perspective shift. It sounds really simple, maybe, as I say it, but we've been indoctrinated into a culture of fixing, that medicine fixes, that when we go to the doctor, I want to be fixed, right? And healing is different. Healing is all through connection.

And that's a huge perspective shift. It sounds really simple, maybe, as I say it, but we've been indoctrinated into a culture of fixing, that medicine fixes, that when we go to the doctor, I want to be fixed, right? And healing is different. Healing is all through connection.

What we know about trauma, what we know about cultural conditioning and belief systems, and, in so many ways, disease, is it is actually our body, in all of its wisdom, going into protection – which we could call fight, flight, freeze or appease, right? It's a nervous system state. And so we can't actually access connection through that state. We can only fight flight, freeze, or appease in that state. And that's a biological nervous system response. And so what I do with clients is I build safety. I support their body in going into ventral, going into what is a nervous system state that allows our body to be in connection – it's like permission to the system that it's safe to be in relationship.

And so we start with noticing, because noticing allows us to do just that – notice what's happening in my body. We're building an awareness and giving ourselves a right distance between that which is running at fight, flight, freeze, and appease, and that which we can hold a little bit wider to notice that we're in that state. So we have to build our witness capacity, or the part of us that can really be a little bit wider than the feeling tone, right? And notice that we are not our feelings. There are feelings in the body, there are emotions in the body, and those are meant to flow through us and guide us and be, you know, way-showers, but it's not true that you are anxiety, right? And so we really start to differentiate and that builds capacity in the nervous system and in the body to access that ventral state, to access the part of our bodies and our beings that can be in connection.

And so I start there always, right? And the herbs are so beautiful for that because oftentimes our healing journeys are exhausting. First, it's really exhausting to push away feelings or to repress parts of ourselves. That's tiresome. And then it's really exhausting to walk in a world where we're being asked so much… it's really tough and painful, right? Can be. And so I love herbalism as a practice because herbs come in and they just remind our bodies.

It's a very easeful practice to make a cup of tea and let that resource you. And it teaches you about allyship. It teaches you about connection from the inside out. And so I ask my clients to trust me, to trust that, okay, we're going to work with this herb or we're going to work with this tea blend, and I really want you to commit to doing it for two months, or, you know, give yourself two weeks because by two weeks you're going to notice so much change that you're going to trust this process. And what I'm really asking is them for to trust themselves, and to trust the process of building that witness state that I just spoke about, and to trust that they can access a ventral state. And we're basically tipping the scales. We're tipping the scales from so much fight or flight, so much anxiety, so much, you know, holding and not able to touch it, to – okay, if I touch it a little bit and I build witness around it a little bit, it doesn't destroy me it's not annihilating I can do this. And that happens through resource, and I love when resource comes in in the ways of very simple practices, not like, okay I've got to do this huge, you know, whatever practice to try to get in my body. That's not going to be sustainable for a long healing journey or any healing journey. So herbs can come in and they just remind our bodies that we're a part of something that's regenerative, that your feelings are a part of that regenerative cycle, that you can heal – all of that's already within you.

And so I often say with with that, like, how to start with herbalism is just the way that I just described, which is – just notice. Is there a plant on your walk that is calling to you? Notice it. Pull your eyes up, notice the trees, notice the flowers because beauty and joy, those are our compasses, right?

So herbs can come in and they just remind our bodies that we're a part of something that's regenerative, that your feelings are a part of that regenerative cycle, that you can heal – all of that's already within you.

And so I often say with with that, like, how to start with herbalism is just the way that I just described, which is – just notice. Is there a plant on your walk that is calling to you? Notice it. Pull your eyes up, notice the trees, notice the flowers because beauty and joy, those are our compasses, right?

Our nervous system is forever in an infinite bi-directional channel of information and communication with our environment. Access that. If you're sitting there with a plant and it's feeling good, let it feel good. Let it feel good. And so it can be as easy as going on a walk and noticing what's in your environment. And, if you really want to bring it into your human practice, work with an herbalist or work with someone who can build a custom formula for you, you know, and begin to work with a tea blend and have that ritual and let those herbs nourish you physiologically and spiritually.

Olivia –

Yeah, so beautiful. I mean, I wrote down a few of the things you said just as notes to myself. But what you said reminded me of this quote that I saw on Instagram the other day by Gabor Mate. He says, “All of Western medicine is built on getting rid of pain, which is not the same as healing. Healing is actually the capacity to hold pain.” And I think, you know, this is something I'm – I've been obviously on a journey of in my own life and my own path as a healer – it feels revolutionary to just decide to sit with our feelings and to sit with grief and anxiety and all of the things, especially at this moment in the world that is so overwhelming. It's like, that's the only way. The avoidance game is not is not working. And it's not ever going to work.

Kristen –

Yeah, I really, I really love that quote. And it's really so true. You know, our pain is a gateway. I say this to with my clients all of the time too. It's like, that feeling is the gateway to the next feeling is the gateway to freedom, you know? And healing isn't fixing and it isn't pushing away and it isn't, you know, a band-aid over something. It's through. And all of that happens through the body, which is why I love somatic therapy so much, why I love somatic healing.

I also want to say, in response to what you just spoke to, which is – it is a revolutionary act. It is a radical act right now to to allow, to give permission to, to turn toward that which hurts. But not doing it from a place of judgment and criticism. You know, It's a revolutionary act to sit with it in attunement and accompaniment in a vulnerable state of validating it, of giving it time and attention and listening, which is attunement. And we want to do that from a place of safety, of a place of permission and of a place of willingness to have the feelings. Because if we do it from a place where we're hijacked, as what I like to call it, where we are pain, we're not watching the pain, we're not listening to the pain, but we are pain, then we're not able to heal it from that state.

It is a revolutionary act. It is a radical act right now to to allow, to give permission to, to turn toward that which hurts. But not doing it from a place of judgment and criticism.

And that's the beauty, you know, this is one of the things that I love so much about the healing arts, is we need each other. We deeply need each other to heal. Actually, physiologically and neurobiologically, we need each other to heal. We need a grounded, loving witness in their ventral state sitting in front of us that can hold the capacity, that can help you build your own capacity to do that, right? If we've never been taught to turn toward our pain. Even the best of us, at times. My teacher, who has so much practice in this art, she still needs someone to hold her when she's accessing the depths of this. It's a beautiful way that nature has set it up so that we're never alone. We're never alone in the darkness. We need each other there. We need each other to hold us, to pull us out, to hold the ground, to build that attunement, to build the space of safety. You don't have to do it alone, and in fact, I recommend you don't, right?

And that's the beauty, you know, this is one of the things that I love so much about the healing arts, is we need each other. We deeply need each other to heal. Actually, physiologically and neurobiologically, we need each other to heal. We need a grounded, loving witness in their ventral state sitting in front of us that can hold the capacity, that can help you build your own capacity to do that, right?

Olivia –

Yeah. Well, and it gets back to what you were saying about like plants too and feeling their support, which is something I also wanted to touch on because we are so taught and in this society that nature isn't sentient, or that trees and flowers not beings, and in fact they are and they have beautiful energy fields around them and personalities, even wisdom, and most people in Western society would never sit and talk to a tree or a flower but that's an ancient practice and it is something that is actually very healing. When there isn't a person around to hold that, like, go sit on the earth, go sit with a tree.

Kristen –

Yeah, I mean, co-regulation is an essential need, meaning, we need it to be healthy and happy and to grow. If you think of a plant that wasn't receiving sunlight, it's not going to grow, right? It's just it's not going to happen. And I think co-regulation from non-human allies, from the non-human beings in the world, is as needed as those relationships we have with humans. I see it often as an organ system that's gone malnourished in our beings, right? Like we have this organ that can connect to trees, that connect to the soil, that connect to the weather, that connect to the elements –we have it. We've evolved from these beings. So it's not it's not even a matter of, like it's silly, right? It's like, we've come from the trees. There are our ancestors. We have a direct channel of communication, we just don't use it. So it withers, it goes malnourished. But I I know from my experience in my own life and from my client work and from being in group work that the number one thing that people yearn for is that connection to spirit, to the aliveness of the planet. That when it’s validated that that exists, people flourish. People's nervous systems change. People's lives change when they nourish that direct communication with the living planet again. I see it. And it's something that, I believe, we all really crave in our lives.

It's like, we've come from the trees. There are our ancestors. We have a direct channel of communication, we just don't use it. So it withers, it goes malnourished. But I I know from my experience in my own life and from my client work and from being in group work that the number one thing that people yearn for is that connection to spirit, to the aliveness of the planet. That when it’s validated that that exists, people flourish. People's nervous systems change. People's lives change when they nourish that direct communication with the living planet again. I see it. And it's something that, I believe, we all really crave in our lives.

Olivia –

And so many of us just don't even know that it exists.

Kristen –

Exactly, that it's possible. Yeah, totally.

But everyone's inner child does. Everyone's inner child knows because they sat next to that tree and they got its medicine. It's that little inner child sat on the soil before it forgot, before it was conditioned out of that remembering, out of that knowing. And it it does know, every one of us has that within us somewhere – we know.

Olivia –

Well, I think that I'm going to bring us to kind of a closing question because it just feels like an organic place to ask it, which is – what is the world that you're dreaming into being? And I think I want to preface that with, that is sort of the project of the golden thread is bringing together people who are dreaming and weaving a new world into being, and I would love to to hear your vision, through the work that you're doing. What is a world that you can imagine that comes of people connecting to plants and to their nervous systems and of learning to have that capacity?

Kristen –

Such a beautiful question, Olivia. I love this. I think that something I'm really deeply passionate about and a world that I'm dreaming into is one where we are really cultivating the spirit of the healing artist in a whole new way. I feel really deeply called to support healing artists, to support healers, to build safety in their bodies and permission for them to live out their wildest fantasies of what healing could be and what's possible in the healing arts. I often say, you know, the medicine the earth needs now is you. We need bodies, we need embodied healers connecting to nature, connecting to the nature of themselves and bringing that forward. And there are healing modalities that haven't even been invented yet, right? How I really feel about healing is that it's it's a deep, connective process that is taught through both mentorships and trainings, but also through, like I had shared before, an initiation process. I really want to support, and and I do support, healers kind of walking and stepping more deeply into their magic and medicine and power. And so that is the world that I'm dreaming into is one where healers have permission to to be living and embodied in their medicine. I think the healing archetype on the planet itself has been under attack for thousands of years, so I think that's the world I'm dreaming into. And, you know, that has nothing to do with capitalism. And so I think that's that's where it gets a little sticky and tricky – it's hard because it's not a business model, right? It’s an awakening into a remembering of ourselves.

And so that is the world that I'm dreaming into is one where healers have permission to to be living and embodied in their medicine. I think the healing archetype on the planet itself has been under attack for thousands of years.

Olivia –

Oh, wow. Awakening. So beautiful. I mean, okay, we're gonna keep rolling for a minute because I think that this ties back into the witchcraft theme a little bit. Just what you said about the way the healer archetype has been under prosecution for thousands of years. And, you know, I feel it in my own life stepping into being a healer, there is so much fear that surrounds stepping into that archetype. And also the initiation of just, you know, if you decide to be a healer, it often means that you're initiating your own profound, deep, terrifying healing journey by proclaiming that and being called to that. So I guess I'm curious if you want to speak to that and your own journey with that. And maybe if you feel like touching into the terminology of" “the witch” and your relationship to that.

Kristen –

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'll start with that. I mean, “witch” is a word that is the example of that which I just spoke to, right? There’s this healing archetype that has been under attack, and the word itself has been flipped so many times into a bad word and into a good word. Like, you know, even today: I have a seven-year-old daughter, and sometimes she'll be like “I'm gonna I'm a bad witch,” or “I'm a good witch.” Like the fact that that exists as a thing, that's wild, right? The word itself has been something that I shied away from for a really long time because I didn't want to identify as anything. I was like, I don't want to take on the burden of “good witch” or “bad witch.” I don't even want to have to do that. I'm a healer. I'm a practitioner, you know? And that's how I feel or I identify. But the word itself is something that, to the point that I was just making, I'm kind of wanting to reclaim. I think it's easily shared between folks. If you say, oh, I'm a witch, people are like, OK, I got it. It's not just one thing. I feel like when you identify with the word “witch” or with the archetype of witch, it's innate that there's some nature connection. It's innate that you're working with transmutation of energy, of alchemy, of energy. So I enjoy that. I like that part. And so in some ways, so my daughter doesn't have to think if she's a good witch or a bad witch, I'm a witch, right? Witches aren’t good or bad. That's not even a thing. We don't need to polarize it or or, you know, bring duality to it at all. And I think same with medicine women and Oracle and all of these words that, you know, labels, so to speak, have gone the way of of patriarchy. So I'm just like, I'll take it back.

I feel like when you identify with the word “witch” or with the archetype of witch, it's innate that there's some nature connection. It's innate that you're working with transmutation of energy, of alchemy, of energy. So I enjoy that. I like that part.

The healing arts is a calling. Do you know how many years I really tried not to be a healer? I really tried. I really was like, gosh, I don't know. It seems like that's a tough path, right? Like. My own journey still is very much one of building safety in my body to be a channel for Gaia, to be a channel for these teachings, to be a channel for healing. I work with my own limiting beliefs and my defense mechanisms and I work with also my ancestral trauma and the way that it feels in my body at times – the unsafety and the terror I feels to walk this path – and that's something that we all have to kind of speak about and share more about because it's real and it's there, and oftentimes it comes out sideways and we don't notice it as “I'm afraid to walk in my medicine, in my power.” We notice it as, “I can't,” or “that's not allowed,” or “that's not going to make me money.” Or, you know, all of the reasons we talk ourselves out of it.

The healing arts is a calling. Do you know how many years I really tried not to be a healer? I really tried. I really was like, gosh, I don't know. It seems like that's a tough path, right? Like. My own journey still is very much one of building safety in my body to be a channel for Gaia, to be a channel for these teachings, to be a channel for healing. I work with my own limiting beliefs and my defense mechanisms and I work with also my ancestral trauma and the way that it feels in my body at times – the unsafety and the terror I feels to walk this path – and that's something that we all have to kind of speak about and share more about because it's real and it's there, and oftentimes it comes out sideways.

But yeah, I think it's an initiatory process because you have to go through each stage of your own healing. You can only take your clients, so to speak, as to the depths that you've gone. And that's great. It's just saying, the medicine I have to offer is embodied.

Olivia –

It's the and poison you've taken in and digested and turned into medicine.

Kristen –

Exactly.

So I think that that's the beauty of it. Part of what I was speaking to before is, like, I really want to bring mentorship back into this to the realm of the healing arts. I think, you know, yes, there's schools and there's certificates and trainings, and that's lovely. And have all the education. Get it all. And also, walk next to someone. Body to body transmission is huge. That's how we that's how these these lineages were passed down originally, right? It was from one person to another person to another person, and through coven, through connection, through group. That's how it was fostered, bolstered and shared. And that's sort of how I'm i'm navigating and walking is, you know, I do mentorships with folks and it's important. I think through my journey of being a mentor, I've learned so much and It's something that I think really is missing and it was missing in my on my path and it's something I did find and and I still nurture my relationship with my mentor very much.

Someone you can go to, someone you can call on, you know, someone who is really sharing their teachings with you from that embodied place, a body to body transmission is so important.

Body to body transmission is huge. That's how we that's how these these lineages were passed down originally, right? It was from one person to another person to another person, and through coven, through connection, through group. That's how it was fostered, bolstered and shared.

Olivia –

Yeah, and I think that's the feminine model that that was really cut down from passing on wisdom. And so many people who are healers just go the clinical route because that's the safe way, that's the way the patriarchy goes.

Kristen –

It's acceptable.

Olivia –

Yeah, it's acceptable and you know that people in this society understand the label of “clinical psychologist.”

Kristen –

Do it all. I'm educated, I'm schooled up, but, I've also gone the esoteric route as well. I have a multifaceted way of, you know, walking the healing path. And I think that there's an opportunity, you know, when we widen our perspective on what healing is, I often say like, in so many ways, I'm like an emotions doctor. Like I help people get back in touch to with their body and their emotions. It's like feeling school when you're working with me. There's space for everyone in this way. like. There are acute doctors. We need that. Absolutely. We need Western medicine. That's a beautiful practice. But when we start going to doctors for things that like healers can do, we're taking our care, we're putting it into a system that it it doesn't work. It's not the right system for it. thats That's not how that system is set up. And I think we have a really big gap between acute Western care and what healing is and what our needs are. And there's a place in there for folks like me, folks like you, folks who like those of us who are listening here, where the support I give is is a beautiful way to bring healing into your life. But you would never find that at a doctor, but you may go to someone, you know, a psychologist or a doctor and and go visit to them with anxiety and they will use what they have in their resource bag and in their toolkit to support you. But I'm gonna offer something else, right? And it's gonna be a little different. and And I think that's beautiful in the, we need a spectrum of healing. And in our culture, especially, you know, let's say in the United States, we just have one. We just have one option. It's doctor, it's therapist. And I'm not trying to compete with that. I'm simply saying there's there's other needs and there's other ways and that those particular practitioners can't and shouldn't and don't need to hold it all.

Olivia –

And, in the beginning of the conversation spoke to symptoms often pointing to where there's deeper work and healing to do. I don't want to call it work – where there's, where there's maybe gentler healing to do than just taking medication or, you know, putting a bandaid on it. Like, what are these symptoms showing me and how can I invite myself into a container that expands my knowing of myself.

Kristen –

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And not everybody wants to do that. That's okay too. I get it, you know, it's not the easiest of paths and , you know, I don't know, i you gotta be ready to kind of go into the, you know, what I call like, the bodies are subconscious and so when we have all of this material that's gone, you know, dark or so to speak, like there's shadow work and there's inner child work and there's all these these places that we can go to access more of yourself. And I do find that so often that's just so healing and that's really at the root of what so many diseases come from and imbalances – we've been locked out of the nature of ourselves. We've been locked out of we've learned to not feel anger. Anger is bad. To not feel sadness. Sadness makes love go away. If I'm sad, mom gets overwhelmed and I don't want to overwhelm mom. We learn these habits very, very young – ways in which to navigate our own emotional landscape, our own beingness in the world.

Western medicine is not offering that gate, you know what I mean? That's not where you're going. And if you feel called to that work, because your body is letting you know, through certain ways and through visions or symptoms or feelings, you know, there’s just a whole other world of healing that gives permission to that to. And like I said at the beginning of the call too, like it's all a natural process.

I have been an apprentice of nature. I know that a feeling fully felt through takes 90 seconds. How long have you been holding back that feeling for whatever reason, limiting beliefs, you know you know reasons that we get to go through all those gates too of like, why are we holding our anger back? But when we're in flow, when we have our roots back down in the soil, when we know how our nervous system works, understand our timeline and the ways in which maybe we built our defense mechanisms around safety, built up our protection mechanisms, and when we get a handle on that through understanding, when we resource again, when we feel full of spirit and of life force, the body naturally heals. it does. It It knows how to heal. And that's why I often say, trust your body. Trust how much your body is letting you share right now, how your feelings are flowing through your body. It's never going to throw too much your way. And so I think, you know, through my particular lens, that's what I offer is just support and accessing that which is already natural within you, which already is happening, so that you can have a wider understanding and frame and some safety around letting it, giving it permission to happen, right?

I have been an apprentice of nature. I know that a feeling fully felt through takes 90 seconds. How long have you been holding back that feeling for whatever reason? But when we're in flow, when we have our roots back down in the soil, when we know how our nervous system works, understand our timeline and the ways in which maybe we built our defense mechanisms around safety, built up our protection mechanisms, and when we get a handle on that through understanding, when we resource again, when we feel full of spirit and of life force, the body naturally heals. It does. It It knows how to heal.

Olivia –

Yeah, so beautiful and so simple, but so difficult in this world.

Kristen –

Oh, I know, I know, it is.

Olivia –

But yeah, I think I think that's a great ending point. You know, we could talk forever and hopefully we can have another conversation again soon, but I'm going to put Kristin's information in the notes in the blog post that this will be shared in so all of Kristen's offerings and her website will be in there. um Thank you so much, Kristen.

Kristen –

Thank you.

Olivia –

This has been a sweet, special moment in time, and I'm so excited for everyone to hear.

Kristen –

Thanks, Olivia. This is a beautiful offering. I love everything you're doing with The Golden Thread and I'm so grateful to be asked to be here today.