Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Category: Spirituality

  • Ep 250: Transformational Embodiment: Transforming Your Life, Business, and Relationships by Revealing and Expanding Into Your Truest Essence with Natalie MacNeil

    Ep 250: Transformational Embodiment: Transforming Your Life, Business, and Relationships by Revealing and Expanding Into Your Truest Essence with Natalie MacNeil

    Natalie is an Emmy Award-winning media entrepreneur and founder of The Embodiment Coaching Institute. She was listed on the Levo 100 as a “Transformer of Our Generation” and featured by Inc. as one of “27 Women Leaders Changing the World.” She has also written five books; The Rituals: Simple Practices to Cultivate Well-Being, Deepen Relationships, and Discover Your True Purpose, She Takes on the World, The Conquer Kit: A Creative Business Planner for Women Entrepreneurs, Conquer Your Year: The Ultimate Planner to Get More Done, Grow Your Business, and Achieve Your Dreams and The Conquer Kit.

     

    Creating the Success You Wanted

    Natalie is no stranger to the business and coaching world. 13 years ago, her online coaching space called She Takes On The World for women entrepreneurs started noticing patterns present in almost everyone she’s worked with. She realized that the key to creating the success you wanted is diving into your layers to reveal the truth of who you are. Weave that truth into your business to create a strategy that’s rooted in the truest of your essence.

    She studied meditation, mudras, sound healing, Reiki, NLP, and EFT, a.k.a. Tapping Tantra, and eventually incorporated these transformational tools into her coaching. And that’s how she formed Embodiment Coaching Institute.

     

    Small Pot in the Living Room

    She compares her transition from living in Canada to relocating to the US to a small pot in the living room. It’s beautiful, comfortable, and has a lot of stability, but she felt the need to grow, and for the small pot to grow, it needed to be repotted for its roots to have a place to expand.

    “Everything was going to be burned away. That for me to live from my highest potential, for me to to be living in the truth of who I am, that the life that I was living at that moment was all going to be burned away and what was going to be created was something very, very different.”

     

    Toolbox of Embodiment Practices

    Her embodiment practices allow her to be in the centre of the storm. There can be all this chaos spinning around her, yet she can stay in that calm eye. She applies the same toolbox of embodiment practices that create transformation in her own life to the lives of the people that she works with.

    Natalie is devoted to expanding human potential and inspiring people to live meaningful lives through her books, videos, interactive films, coaching experiences, and live events.

     

    More from Natalie:

  • Ep 245: Rhymecology: Helping People Express, Discover, and Recreate Themselves Using The Power Of Hip-Hop with Jeff Walker

    Ep 245: Rhymecology: Helping People Express, Discover, and Recreate Themselves Using The Power Of Hip-Hop with Jeff Walker

    Jeff Walker is a Rhyme Master, Rap Coach, and Qualified Mental Health Professional with a Masters in Educational Psychology and Counseling. Jeff uses his unique healing techniques with clients across the world for over 15 years. He is the creator of Rhymecology, which uses the power of hip-hop lyrics and culture to help people express, discover, and re-create their stories.

    “I allow the positive signs from the universe to be way bigger than my self-made fears.”

    He has worked with various talented artists such as Black Eyed Peas, Will I Am, Jamie Foxx, Randy Jackson, and the list goes on. On top of that, he’s also released three books called Rhymecology: Using Hip-Hop To Heal, Rhymecology: The Art of Hip-Hop Lyrics, and The Book of Rhymes. So, it comes as no surprise that he’s been featured on different shows such as ESPN, 60 Minutes, Fox Sports, Inside the NBA, HuffPost, and more.

    His talent and passion for lyrical rap have opened plenty of opportunities for him. In return, he wants to use Rhymecology as a platform to write, perform, and teach the art of hip-hop across the world. Writing has pulled him out from the dark times, and he hopes it’ll do the same for others.

    Of course, we wouldn’t let the episode end without hearing a piece from the Rap Coach himself.

     

    Jeff’s Impromptu Spoken Word
    Poetry

    The road less traveled

    Might have more gravel

    But if you stick with it

    It’s like winning the raffle

    Everyday joy can

    Spin around like a tire

    That’s what happens

    When we live life on fire

    I FOUND it’s real that

    words and sounds can heal

    In fact, maybe you should get on a track

    And start dropping a verse about entrepreneurs

    I’m shocked with words cuz I spent my life

    Trying to find the right ones

    Words can be used for spite, to fight or to IGNITE FUN

    People just might need some guidance

    I’ve helped migrant clients go from indictments to assignments

    From defiant to reliant just with some refinements

    Cuz where some see black holes and coal, I see diamonds

    We gotta keep trying…Cuz life’s not a bitch

    she’s a goddess and we should hold her

    This is Jeff Walker from Rhymecology

    Connecting with Jules Schroeder.

     

    Topics Discussed In This Episode:

    • What Rhymecology is about
    • How he brought the science of Psychology and his passion for rhyming together
    • What it’s like growing up in a free metaphysical minded family
    • His methodology
    • More of his spoken word poetries
    • How Rhymecology has helped his clients move the needle forward

     

    Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

    • Therapy, spoken word poetry by Jeff Walker that started it all
    • Restless Soul album releasing on October 22

    More from Jeff Walker:

     

  • Ep 235: How Being Yourself Translates with Canadian singer/songwriter Tara MacLean

    Ep 235: How Being Yourself Translates with Canadian singer/songwriter Tara MacLean

    Tara MacLean has experienced a few game-changing synchronistic encounters of “right place, right time” in her successful career. In fact, these events came as a direct result of the way Tara has chosen to live her life, in deep and dedicated service to her own originality. She’s a Juno-nominated artist, a Zen meditator, a Mom of three whose career started with one fateful moment of leaving every ounce of her soul in a song that would change her life forever.

    It was the mid-90s and Tara had just gotten out of jail, ended a relationship, and found herself on a ferry, in the Gulf Islands, singing her heart out when she was first discovered. She says singing is what she knows how to do when everything else seems to be falling apart. It was this surrender back into herself that started it all.

    “I think the most important thing with your art is to fully express yourself. Because the only thing that can make you unique is your own voice.”

    Fast forward approximately twenty-five years to today. Tara has just signed a book deal.

    In the middle of a yoga class, she had a thought. A moment of clarity around a part of her personal story. That thought made its way into a social media post that inadvertently went viral. The result of the viral post? A book deal.

    What do the song on the ferry and the social media post have in common?

    Tara doesn’t “put it on”, she just does…Tara. You’ve heard the old saying, march to the beat of your own drum? Well, Tara has been marching and we can all hear her.

    “Be what you are and work hard at it.”

    It’s not been all horseshoes and fate for Tara, it’s been a heck of a lot of work. And after writing and performing albums for decades, she’s just broken free and produced her own album (go Tara!). Here are a few tips Tara’s shared with us on how to get yourself and your art out there.

     

    Sharing Your Art With the World

    1. The most important thing is to put it out there! Get it out on the streaming sites. If you can make it into some kind of video, that’s great. Video is such an incredible way to reach people in shareable snippets for social media.
    2. Work on your social media strategies. Find someone who is really, really good at it.
    3. Find your brand. Know who you are and what you have to offer. Focus in on that.
    4. Figure out who your audience is. Now, try to find them.

     

    Resources:

  • Ep 233: Don’t Waste Your Life Worrying About Cellulite with Taryn Brumfitt

    Ep 233: Don’t Waste Your Life Worrying About Cellulite with Taryn Brumfitt

    Do you catch yourself looking in the mirror and sucking in your stomach? Flexing for the camera? Grumbling at your cellulite? Comparing yourself to people at the gym, pool or beach?

    This state of mind can eat us alive, turn us into our own worst critic and can be a sign of a very real and very commonly unacknowledged issue, body dysmorphia. The “imperfections” of your body are normal, a part of being alive and according to this week’s guest, ultimately insignificant to the human experience.

     “I want people to understand that they’ve got 28,000 days on the planet, if they’re lucky, and that is not a lot of time, so let’s not waste them worrying about cellulite or our stretch marks.”

    Taryn Brumfitt started her public career by doing things unconventionally. In 2012 she casually posted a photograph of what her body looked like years after competing in swimsuit competitions. With pure embrace, love and fearlessness she posted a nude photo that showed skin folds, cellulite and the realness of a woman’s body without the spray tan and photoshop. The act was almost as beautiful as she is. And it went viral. 100 million people kind of viral.

    Since that day, Taryn has dedicated her life to sharing a simple message: get your relationship right with your body. She’s an internationally recognized keynote speaker, founder of The Body Image Movement, a best-selling author, creator of a documentary called Embrace, 2019 Australian of the year and a mother of three.

    “If we truly want to be the best entrepreneurs and friends and husbands and wives and all of those things, having an exceptional relationship with yourself and your body is everything.”

     

    Ways to Shift Into Right Relation With Your Body

    1. Move your body for pleasure, not punishment! Exercise doesn’t have to be a drag, find things to do that you enjoy. Go swimming, go for a hike, find things that light you up and get you moving at the same time. Don’t move your body because you ate the cake, move your body because you love to.
    2. Your body is not an ornament, it’s a vehicle to your dreams. Find the reasons to love your body. Find a part of your body that you hate and find the love for it. Love is there, but you might have to search a little.
    3. Notice the messages of body-hate around you, but don’t take them in, don’t take them on.
    4. Treat your body like a temple. Eating 20 donuts on the couch isn’t loving your body, its sabotage. Nourish your beautiful body with beautifully nourishing food.

    “I just want people to understand the true power that comes from not anchoring yourself down and weighing yourself down inside your own head by talking negatively about your body. It’s a superpower that we can all tap into and it’s very possible for everybody.”

     

    How To Be a Good Role Model to Kids Around Food & Body Image

    • Show children positive body image by having a positive body image and being that example for them
    • Don’t demonize food. Don’t talk about good food and bad food
    • Don’t talk about dieting
    • Throw out the scales.
    • Enjoy our bodies, enjoy life and have fun!

    “We were not born into the world hating our bodies, this is a learned behavior. We bought into the messages that told us to be anything other than what we are and it’s made us miserable and disconnected to our lives.

     

    More of Taryn:

  • Ep 232: The Remote Control to your Nervous System with Max Gomez

    Ep 232: The Remote Control to your Nervous System with Max Gomez

    You need it to survive. You can only live a few minutes without it. It controls your brain activity, your mood and your psychological state. And most of the time, we do it without even noticing.

    Breath is literally life.

    Did you know that there is a right and wrong way to be breathing? Did you know that you can manipulate your state of mind with breath? Breathing techniques have been used by different types of people from all different backgrounds for completely different uses. Breath can be used to withstand extreme cold, manage extreme trauma or high-stress/high-stakes situations. For others, it can be a magical key to a restful sleep or stopping the cycle of endless anxiety.

    This week’s guest, Max Gomez, harmonized his degree in neuroscience, his love of breathwork and his entrepreneurial mind to create a platform where over 10 million people can harness the power of breath.

    What is breathwork, you might ask? Breathwork is an umbrella term for powerful breathing techniques. The incredible thing is that depending on the kind of breathwork being done, one can either eliminate stress and anxiety, increase energy, improve endurance or help you fall asleep.

    “We consider the breath to be the remote control to the nervous system and we want to give everyone all of the channels to the nervous system. So if you’re looking to calm down from an anxiety attack, if you’re looking to go to sleep, if you’re looking to wake up, you should be able to control that very quickly just with your breathing alone which is a very healthy alternative to all of the other vices we have out there.”

    Enter Max Gomez. Max took his love of breathwork and his entrepreneurial senses and blended them together. What he co-founded was the Breathwrk app. Now the CEO of Breathwrk, Max has helped bring various forms of breathwork into the lives of over 10 million users.

    “True freedom is really living your mission and living your purpose. I really think that I’ve found that with breathwork.”

    Breathwork has some very powerful effects on the brain. For example, navy seals use breathwork techniques to manage high-stress situations. Some pro athletes use breathwork in altitude training and multitudes of performers and public speakers use breathwork to calm the nerves backstage. Not to mention yogis!

    Now, let’s get down to it.

    Controlling the rate and type of breathing used can have 2 major effects:

    1. Slowing down breath, can put your body into a parasympathetic nervous system response, also known as “rest and digest”. This can be used for relaxation, managing stress/anxiety or preparation for sleep.
    2. Increasing the rate and pattern of your breathing can increase alertness, focus and energize the body. This is great if you’re sluggish to get out of bed or trying to tackle that 3pm slump.

    “Something that we take for granted most of the time, something that happens automatically most of the time, unless you actually control it, can really have a powerful, powerful impact on your life and wellbeing.”

     

    More of Breathwrk:

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