September 22, 2024 • 40 mins
This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in spiritual growth, the power of intuition, and the wisdom of slow living. Whether you're an introvert looking for more rest and harmony to counter a frantic, fast-paced life, or simply curious about the relevance and significance of a 'witch' in contemporary culture, Eileen March offers valuable insights and practical advice for living a balanced and fulfilling life.
Key Topics Discussed:
- Introduction to Eileen March:
- Eileen's background as a midwife and her journey to becoming a spiritual life coach and energy healer.
- The concept of slow living and how it ties into Eileen's work with introverts and sensitive individuals.
- Eileen discusses her personal experience with introversion and how she supports her clients in navigating a world not designed for introverts.
- Reclaiming the Title of 'Witch':
- Eileen explains what it means to be a "slow living witch" in contemporary times.
- The historical context of witchcraft and its association with wise women and community caretakers.
- The impact of the "witch wound" on women today and how it stems from historical events like the burning times in Europe.
- The Balance of Feminine and Masculine Energies:
- A discussion on the importance of balancing feminine and masculine energies within ourselves and society.
- The shift towards reclaiming feminine wisdom and power, and its implications for modern life.
- The Role of Intuition:
- Eileen talks about the significance of intuition in her work and how it helps individuals connect with their inner wisdom.
- The science behind intuition and its connection to the subconscious mind.
- Respecting Nature and Embracing Symbiosis:
- A deep dive into the concept of humans as an integral part of nature, rather than separate from it.
- The importance of moving towards a more symbiotic relationship with the natural world, drawing inspiration from indigenous practices.
- Creating a Balanced World:
- Eileen's vision of a balanced world where diverse perspectives are honored, and humans remember their connection to the earth.
- The concept of being "good ancestors" and leaving a healthy planet for future generations.
Key Quotes:
- "The term 'witch' for me is synonymous with wise woman, knowledge keeper, and midwife. It's about connection to nature and the wisdom that lives in our bones."
- "Intuition is almost like a superpower; it helps us tap into the immense amount of wisdom and knowing that we hold in our own bodies."
Resources:
- Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey - A book that argues rest is a form of resistance and a reclaiming of power.
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - A book discussing the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature.
Connect with Eileen March:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, I'm Serena Loh.
If you're used to hearing thatintroverts are shy, anxious,
antisocial and lack goodcommunication and leadership
skills, then this podcast is foryou.
You're about to fall in lovewith the calm, introspective and
profound person that you are.
Discover what's fun, unique andpowerful about being an
(00:22):
introvert, and how to make theelegant transition from quiet
achiever to quiet warrior inyour life and work anytime you
want, in more ways than youimagined possible Welcome.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Quiet Warrior podcast.
Today I have someone who saysshe's not really an introvert
(00:44):
but she's got some veryinteresting philosophies and
approaches to introversionbecause she works with a lot of
introverted clients.
So welcome, eileen March, tothe Quiet Warrior podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you so much for having me, Serena.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Thank you as well.
I'm really curious.
I remember when we firstconnected, you told me something
about yourself and introversion.
What was that?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh, let's think what was that?
I grew up very shy and for alot of years I thought that I
was an introvert.
My mom thought that I was anintrovert as well because I was
so shy.
And as I got older and got morecomfortable in my own skin and
(01:30):
with who I was, I realized thatI am not an introvert really.
But I have so, so much empathyfor people who are introverts in
a world that's really not setup for them.
Really, there's a lot of, youknow, a lot of emphasis on being
outgoing and social and withthe crowds, and I know that that
(01:53):
can put so much strain onsomebody who really needs that
downtime and alone time torecharge.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So how did you come to do the work that you do?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
The work that I do.
So I am, as we chatted when weconnected earlier.
I mentioned I am a spirituallife coach, an energy healer and
a slow living witch, which Ithink really ties into that
introversion piece for yourlisteners, that slow living part
(02:29):
of what I do.
And my road here was quitewinding.
I was a midwife for many yearsand I was reaching the point of
burnout.
It is a really taxing career,especially here in Canada.
It is a really taxing career,especially here in Canada.
It involves a lot of being oncall for long stretches of time
for a fairly significant clientload.
(02:51):
And while I loved the work Iloved supporting and empowering
my clients to trust theirintuition, to trust their bodies
, to have those positivepregnancy, birth and postpartum
journeys I knew I couldn'tsustain it and so I actually
kind of stumbled into a coachingprogram During COVID.
(03:15):
I was looking for something todo that wasn't just work and a
friend of mine was taking acoaching program through an
organization called the Centerfor Applied Neuroscience in
Toronto, canada, and it soundedlike great self-development,
personal development, and so Iapplied and was accepted into
(03:38):
the program and quickly foundmyself thinking about all the
ways that coaching overlappedwith what I was already doing in
terms of supporting people andempowering people, and I started
to think that maybe I couldmake a career out of this
instead of being on call, at thesame time where another midwife
(04:02):
who had worked in Calgary,where I live, had started her
own energy healing schoolBasically, it's a year-long
mentorship program after sheburnt out from the profession.
There's a theme and I decidedto dive into that as well and so
, coming out of it, I've reallycreated this really unique blend
(04:25):
of coaching with energy healingwork that I now use to support
women primarily, and to supportthem to come home to their
bodies and their intuition andto trust themselves and to slow
down and rest.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
I can hear all the different elements that are so
necessary for the well-being, Ithink, of women as well as men,
in a very chaotic and veryuncertain environment.
And it certainly feels like inthe last four years life has
accelerated in ways that are notvery healthy for us and so we
had that period of lockdownswhere actually a lot of people
(05:04):
felt relieved and I knowintroverts did because they were
given official permission to gointo their own little bubble
and take a break from the hecticroutine of life and people
really enjoyed that.
And I noticed also that fromconversations with fellow
introverts that some of themdidn't really want to come back
out of that bubble and engagewith the community.
To come back out of that bubbleand engage with the community
(05:28):
and what you're saying there is,you know from your background
of intensively supporting womenthrough a very vital part of
their life experience wheretheir emotions will be
heightened you know hormones andadjustment to this new phase of
life but at the same time youwere doing it at the cost of
your own well-being physical,mental, emotional, I imagine
from all those long shifts andfrom a very demanding kind of
(05:50):
role.
So now you call yourself a slowliving witch and I'm very
curious about that word and yourconscious use of that word.
What does that word mean to you?
What is a witch in thesecurrent times?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
word.
What does that word mean to you?
What is a witch in thesecurrent times?
Yeah, certainly.
I'm glad you asked that,because when I initially thought
about claiming that title formyself, or when I first did
claim the title, my mom was like, can you use a different word?
And I think for her it stillconjures that very stereotypical
, you know, evil cackling womanon a broom with green skin, and
(06:26):
it's so far from the truth ofwhat witchcraft means to me and
means to so many women who arereclaiming the title.
And so the term witch for me issynonymous in a lot of ways
with wise woman or knowledgekeeper, or midwife is definitely
another word.
Midwives were kind of one of theoriginal witches.
(06:48):
They were often the women withthe knowledge of the herbs that
would help the community.
They were community hubs.
They had lots of power and swaybecause they held the knowledge
and the wisdom.
And so that is for for me, whatI bring forward through
witchcraft.
So it's a connection to nature.
For me, it's a real belief thatevery body on this earth,
(07:14):
whether they are human bodies,plant or animal or even rock
bodies, are, are animate andequally deserve our attention
and care.
And so it's yeah, it's a spaceof magic and care and a return
to the wisdom that lives in ourbones.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I love the way you've explained that.
It sounds like coming home toour roots.
So how did the stereotype ofwitches and our perception of
them, how did that come about?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Old white dudes.
How many times do we have thatfor an answer?
But really it was.
The solidification of, or ratherthe vilification of, witches
really happened during what'scalled the burning times in
Europe, back in the kind of 15th16th centuries, when the church
(08:13):
wanted to consolidate power,and to do so they had to take
power away from the people insociety.
Who had the power, which waswomen, and the church wanted to
give the power to land owners.
Until that point, land wascommunally held, and so, in
order to control the population,they had to remove their
(08:38):
ability to care for themselves,and so taking away the people.
It wasn't just women, it wasprimarily women in mainland
Europe, though in places likeIceland, it was actually
primarily men who were targetedas witches, interestingly enough
, but they really weaponizedpeople against each other by
having it, be that knowing toomuch or knowing the herbs to use
(09:02):
to treat a fever was suddenlywell, that's, only God can do
that, and so creating thisdemonization of the witches
meant that the people no longerhad the knowledge and the
community hubs that they oncedid.
It turned women against eachother.
That's where we get this witchwound.
The distrust between women hascome down to us over so many
(09:23):
generations.
But it was really.
It was a power grab, much likecapitalism is often a power grab
these days.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And so that goes to who controls the narrative, who
has the power to change thestory, and then, if you keep
telling your version of thestory enough times, it sticks,
and I guess that's how thegenerational witch wound comes
about, when one particular groupis vilified over time.
Yeah, yeah, and it'sinteresting to see how that
(09:51):
narrative has woven itself intoculture, to popular culture, as
in those were the stories wegrew up with.
Fairy tales, disney movies, theportrayal of certain people are
the good ones, the heroes, andcertain ones are the villains
and they look a certain way, andit's wonderful to see that.
(10:13):
You know, perhaps in the last10 years or so, you know, the
narrative has started to shiftand now people are claiming you
know a different point of view,which is very refreshing and it
makes you think, it makes youquestion.
You know the kinds of storieswe've grown up with.
What if somebody else was thehero instead?
And I did notice this as mygirls were growing up too.
(10:33):
Some of their books that theystarted reading had a very
interesting, more feminist kindof approach.
You know where the girl is thehero, but in a very unusual way,
not quite an expected way, andthere's something quirky about
her.
There's something you knowshe's not part of the majority,
the popular group, and sheactually has been singled out or
(10:53):
even bullied perhaps, but thenmanages to turn that around and
assert herself in a very healthy, very wholesome way.
So it was interesting to watchthat trend starting.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, yeah, there's definitely a culture shift
happening towards a reclamationof some of that stereotypically
feminine wisdom or power.
Often.
Often, we think aboutfemininity as being weak or soft
or, you know, gentle, all ofthose things.
But if we think about thecreative power of the female sex
(11:27):
and the strength that isrequired, there's flexibility,
but it's powerful to tap intothat side of our energies, and I
believe that everybodyencompasses both feminine and
masculine energies and ways ofmoving in the world.
And the reclamation of thefeminine, the sacred feminine we
can call it, is not in order toovercome the masculine.
(11:52):
It's to find balance again,because we've really lost that
balance in our society for thelast many hundred years.
There's been a real pushtowards that more masculine,
analytical, critical, rationaland of course, we have toxic
masculinity as well, being sucha big part of our culture.
So it's really interesting tobe living in the time where the
(12:14):
shift is happening, where wemight possibly get a taste of a
little bit more of a balancedworld while we're still here.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Two questions I want to ask you for what you've just
shared.
What is, in your view, abalanced world?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I think it's one where we honor a variety of
opinion and understandings oftruth.
I think it's one where we spenda lot more time listening than
speaking generally, in a broadsense, I also really believe
that it's one where humansfinally remember because it's
(12:56):
something we've forgotten thatwe are no less a part of nature
than every other living andnon-living entity on this earth.
We aren't separate from orabove or outside of the natural
rhythms of this planet we findourselves on.
We are very much an intricatepart of it and again we have
(13:18):
this Western philosophytradition that started back with
Aristotle, that started toremove us from the natural world
, but we are of the naturalworld.
So balance has to come back toa remembering and a respecting
of the rest of the earth.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Does respecting include caretaking and
stewardship, because those termsalso imply that we are slightly
superior.
So you know, perhaps I don'tknow if this is a Western
philosophy, or perhaps it's froma religious point of view, but
the idea that humans, being atthe apex of creation, would
therefore then also have theresponsibility to take care of
(14:02):
Earth and its resources.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I would be very cautious treading in that kind
of language, because it reallydoes.
Again, it sets us apart fromthe rest of the natural world.
I think we have aresponsibility to not take more
than we need, for instance, youknow, exploitive, extractive
processes that are required forour very linear upward progress
(14:30):
or idea of progress, and I dothink that we have a bit of a
responsibility to mend some ofthe harms we've done.
But more often than not, ourattempts to steward or to fix
actually make the problem worse.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Often, the best thing we can do is reduce our harmful
practices and step back and letnature do its thing, because
it's really wise so this is anew twist on the saying of
letting nature take its course,because I think we have
developed that other reaction,the other end of the spectrum,
which is that we try to controleverything.
(15:10):
We make the decisions we, wethink we know best, and so we're
constantly solving, fixing,rearranging, and then changing
the order, the natural order ofthings, and then dealing with
consequences and then cleaningup the messes.
And then it sounds to me likewhat you're saying is, if we
leave nature well alone, natureknows what to do.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, and we get to be part of nature.
I think there's a lot of wisdomto be found from Indigenous
traditions and ways of being inthe world, and when you think
about the example that springsto my mind is the book called
Braiding Sweetgrass by RobinWall Kimmerer, and one of the
chapters in there she talksabout how, without the
Indigenous populationsharvesting and tending to the
(16:03):
sweetgrass, the sweetgrassdoesn't grow Because it was in a
symbiotic relationship withthose humans who thinned it, who
allowed it to continue toflourish because of that
thinning.
And we think about otheranimals that have those same
impacts in their niches on theplanet.
And so it's not about removingourselves to be a bubble and not
(16:23):
impacting nature.
It's about how do we move inmore of a symbiotic relationship
with nature, remembering thatwe're a part of it.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah, You're really getting me to think in a very
different way here and now thatyou mention it, the Aboriginal
peoples and the First Nations inAustralia have always known how
to take without taking too much, and how to put back and how to
restore, and so the word thatcomes to mind is harmony.
If we say that we are part ofnature and part of the natural
(16:55):
world, what we are doing isconsciously living such that all
of us can coexist, all of uscan thrive.
We're not taking too much, weare noticing, observing what
others need, and we're verycarefully making sure that we
leave things just as healthy asbefore we came.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, it's almost the sense of being good ancestors,
so that there's enough for thosewho come after us, whether
they're human kin or animal kinor plant kin.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yes, yes, and I did notice that you work very much
with teaching women to lean intotheir intuition, and I can
imagine that that would havebeen so helpful in your previous
career, but also currently,when we function so much, as you
say, from a very logicalrational, you know, always
(17:52):
thinking about how to fix things, how to make things better, but
more from a very clinicalperspective sometimes.
So how does leaning intointuition help with that?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
In so many ways.
As you were forming thatquestion, the thing that popped
right to my mind was thisknowledge that we have that only
about 2% of our reactions, ourbehaviors, everything that we do
in the world is mediated by ourconscious brain, and 98% of it
(18:26):
is being dictated by oursubconscious and it lives in our
body.
And so tapping into intuitionis almost like a superpower.
It helps us to.
Often it feels like receivinginformation or guidance from
outside of ourselves, and itcould be, and that could be
where your belief lies.
(18:46):
But if that is a bit too wooand out there for you, it also
is this sense of oh no, we'retapping into the immense amount
of wisdom and knowing that wehold in our own bodies and our
own brains and allowing that togive us different perspectives,
to give us new insight and topotentially point us in a
(19:07):
direction.
That is more true to us.
When we're in our thinking brainall the time, analyzing, making
, making pro-con lists, all ofthat stuff, we forget to listen
to what we truly want or trulyneed.
And so, tuning in and learningto feel safe, listening to your
(19:29):
intuition how to hear it?
Even so, many people don't evenknow.
So many people don't even know,and then learning to trust it
in the face of a culture thathas told you for centuries that
it's not real knowledge, that itcan't be trusted, that it
shouldn't be trusted.
These are some of the reallydeep work that I do with my
(19:51):
clients, and it's such abeautiful process walking with
women Again, I'd be happy towalk with men through this
journey too, but I primarilyseem to attract female clients.
But as they come home to theirbodies, as they start to
recognize the wisdom that liesthere and as they start to
really trust it, the whole waythat they move in the world
(20:14):
starts to shift.
The way that it feels to be ahuman on this earth alive,
starts to soften.
In a way there's an ease thatcomes with it.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I love that.
The word that stood out for mewas trust, and I think we've
lost a lot of that Trust withourselves, trust in other people
, trust in the world, trust thatlife is here to support us and
that divine knowing orintelligence or wisdom that
comes to us.
As you said, it's a gift, it'ssomething we receive, it's not
(20:46):
something we have to strainourselves to go looking for.
For me, it comes sometimes likea divine download.
You know just a word or oh, goring this person or reach out to
that person or do that thing.
I find that when that happensand when I allow myself to go
with it, to follow that flow andget curious and like, oh, I
(21:08):
wonder where this is leading me.
Let me just say yes, and thenyou know, let's see what happens
next.
And there's always somethingmagical that follows Connecting
with the right person at theright time.
The right book pops up a phrase, you know, some bit of wisdom
or some forgotten memory orsomething just drops in, and
it's always the right thing.
And that's how, for me, I'velearned to trust by trusting
(21:30):
first and simply.
I guess it's a bit like whenyou're swimming, when you allow
yourself to float as opposed tostraining really hard because
you think you're going to drown,but you think the water's not
going to be able to support yourweight and so you fight and
then you end up really sorebecause you've overexerted when
(21:52):
there wasn't really a need to,because the water is designed to
help you float, but it needstrust, and I know this
personally from my swimminglessons.
When I don't trust, I drop, Isink right, but when I allow the
water to support me, that'swhen I enjoy the sensation of
floating.
So that has been very helpfulfor me as an analogy for
(22:16):
understanding what trust isabout.
And I've noticed a lot of us,consciously, unconsciously, we
strain more than we need tobecause we have forgotten how to
trust.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, yeah, it's true .
And what I love about the wayyou described following your
intuition and trusting yourintuition is the examples you
were giving, for the most part,were low stakes, and that's
something that I often willencourage my clients to practice
with.
Right oh, I should call thisperson, you know it's a friend.
(22:48):
Okay, well, what's the harm,right, when we start to trust
our intuition in those ways like, oh, this book is calling to me
, what's the harm in picking itup?
Trust our intuition in thoseways like, oh, this book is
calling to me.
What's the harm in picking itup?
And you might find out the magic, the thread that's there, when
we've spent our livesdisconnected from our intuition
or not trusting it, finding safeplaces to start practicing,
(23:08):
trusting it, to experience thatmagic, to increase the trust so
that when it might pop itslittle like head up in a more
high stakes situation, you havethat foundation of trust so you
can go.
Oh, like everybody's saying, goover here.
But I know I need to go thisother direction and I'm going to
and I love that you mentionedit as a scale, as something
(23:33):
progressive.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
It's something we develop and we need to feel safe
, like you mentioned it as ascale, as something progressive.
It's something we develop andwe need to feel safe, like you
mentioned before, and thatincreases safety.
When we can trust ourselveswith the little things, we start
to think perhaps next time Ican trust myself with something
bigger, with a bigger decision,something that is a bit more
high stakes, I can go there andI'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, baby steps.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, you've mentioned also helping people to
live in alignment with theirenergetic cycles.
Tell me more about that.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, yeah, I used to call myself a cyclical living
guide, but it's a bit of amouthful so I took it out of my
title.
It's a bit of a mouthful, so Itook it out of my title, but
basically the premise, or thatpart of my work I really lean
into.
Again, coming back to thispoint I made about us being part
of nature, we have cyclicalenergies and they are mirrored
(24:34):
in the energies of the earth aswell, and so one of the most
beautiful permissions I found asI started to move into this
work was the permission of restin the winter and this sense of
the seasons and the the naturalworld showing us how we can ebb
(24:57):
and flow throughout our lives.
Again, our world, the way thatour capitalistic society is
built, is very much on like aman's hormonal cycle, really.
It's this 24 hour peaks at thebeginning of the day, energy
drops towards the end of the day.
(25:18):
We sleep, we get up, we do itagain, but it's very consistent.
Day to day to day Doesn't meanthat men don't have ebbs and
flows.
They're impacted by the seasons, by life events, by the moon,
but women, especially likebiological females in
menstruating bodies, but women,especially like biological
females in menstruating bodieshave this 28-ish day cycle of
(25:39):
hormonal changes.
That means that we ebb and flow, our energy ebbs and flows, the
types of activities that ourbrain is most suited to changes
throughout our cycle, and thenthat's mirrored on that larger
scale by the seasonal energeticsas well, and I think it's
(26:03):
interesting.
I was speaking to somebodyrecently who also works with the
wheel of the year that's whatwe call the seasonal calendar
that I follow and she was saying, or she described it as a
society that is in perpetualspring and summer.
We plant the seeds, the plantsare grown, we harvest.
We plant the seeds, we harvest,we plant the seeds, the plants
are grown, we harvest, we plantthe seeds, we harvest, we plant
the seeds, we harvest, but wenever leave time for the autumn,
where we look around and seewhat needs to be cut back, to
(26:26):
fall to the ground, to lie underthe snow and become compost and
fertilize the soil as we restfor the next spring, when we're
in a season of perpetual harvest.
The earth can't sustain that.
We've dumped so many chemicalfertilizers on fields to try to
sustain perpetual harvests andwe're reaping the consequences
(26:46):
of that now and our bodies arethe same way.
We can't always be in springand summer.
We need to have our innerautumns and our inner winters in
order to assess what's notworking.
Let it fall, rest, recuperateand then move into spring.
After that restful period.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I would say that in this conversation that has
already enriched me on so manylevels that what you just shared
there stands out as the biggestgem and epiphany for me today
the idea that we are inperpetual spring and summer.
I don't know how, I've notthought of it that way, but yes,
(27:29):
I think we all intuitively knowthat there is something wrong
with the way we live way.
But yes, I think we allintuitively know that there is
something wrong with the way welive and that is why people are
pushing back and that is whyworking from home, being
flexible, that awareness aroundthat, having experienced that,
we know how good that is for oursouls and for our mental
well-being.
And yet the predominantrecommended way of working in a
(27:52):
corporate environment is stillthat you need to show up, and I
do understand of working, youknow, in a corporate environment
is still that you need to showup.
And I do understand, of course,that there are jobs where you
know being location, you knowpresent, is very essential to
the role.
But for those where there is anoption, there is still that
pressure to be somewhere for afixed period of time and
constantly reporting in and the,the KPIs and the idea of
(28:15):
constantly being producing.
I always have to produce, Ihave to have billable hours, I
have my KPIs.
I need to meet all thesetargets and I'm measured.
I'm constantly measured by that.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, that word producing I'm glad you mentioned
it, because even rest hasalmost been co-opted by this
productivity culture.
You know that.
I've seen the slogan and thehashtag.
You know rest is productive andthe idea of taking rest in
(28:48):
order to be more productive justrubs me the wrong way.
In order to be more productivejust rubs me the wrong way.
And it's something that I workwith my clients a lot around,
because there's a lot of guiltwhen we rest, we don't feel like
we've earned it, we're notworthy of rest because we
haven't accomplished enough orproduced enough.
And the reality is that each ofus deserves rest innately,
(29:14):
simply for existing.
You don't have to do or produceanything.
And, yes, good rest and itdoesn't have to be sleep to be
restful but good rest may meanthat after your rest you are
more productive, but that's notthe goal of rest.
But that's not the goal of rest.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
The goal of rest is to be present and to be in your
body and to be well.
It sounds to me like rest isactually a human right.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yes, yes, it is.
Yeah, there's an Americanauthor, her name is Tricia
Hersey, and she wrote a book.
It's a manifesto, called Restis Resistance, and it's
wonderful.
If any of your listeners areinto reading, I would highly
recommend that one.
It's easy to read, it's shortbut it's powerful.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
That will be two book references you've shared today
which we will put in the shownotes for people that want to
check them out.
So thank you for those.
So the idea so rest isresistance.
Rest is a human right.
We rest because we need it ashumans.
We don't have to earn it.
We don't have to make enoughmoney before our rest is
(30:25):
justified.
And growing up I remember Inever saw my grandma actually
sit down and have a rest otherthan the occasional nap here and
there.
She was always doing and busyabout the house and I grew up
with the idea that rest was forthe lazy, yeah, that you have to
be really sick to rest, youknow.
(30:47):
And I remember this got so badthat even when I was working
full-time as a lawyer, Iremember there were times when I
had to take myself off to thedoctor to get a medical
certificate for a very validreason.
But in the minutes, while I wassitting in the waiting room
waiting to see the doctor, Ikept going over in my head what
my symptoms were so that I couldarticulate them properly to the
(31:07):
doctor, so the doctor wouldn'tthink I was faking it, and that
I was justified in having thatmedical certificate and I was
justified in not working thatday.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
How crazy is that, yeah it's so common and how
inhumane our corporate world isthat we can't simply believe a
human when they say they'reunwell and need time.
And it's appalling with theinformation that we have, the
studies we have too that showthat when we treat adult humans
(31:41):
as people who are capable ofmaking autonomous decisions,
deciding how much and when theywork and all of those things
taking as many sick days as theyneed or want and leave days
that those companies that treattheir employees like that they
have better output Like.
The end result is actually moreproductivity, better employee
(32:02):
retention, all of that.
And it's interesting that weactually see companies that are
led by women.
So, having women in theC-suites, they actually
outperform companies that areled by men pretty much
universally, and a lot of it isto do with this treating their
employees as humans who can makeautonomous decisions and are
(32:26):
going to show up and do theirbest as they can, and that
culture of care that has beenpassed down as a as a female
realm, and so women come by itquite innately.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
I think that men are carers as well, but our
societies kind of robbed them ofthat skill set in the way that
we raise boys what would youradvice be to the quieter women
who have trouble connecting withintuition, finding their way
(32:59):
back to the sacred feminine in avery masculine world?
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I would say that kind of coming back to what we said.
You know, practicing small,carving out a little bit of time
to be alone, and I think thatthat's probably something that
most of your listeners aspire todo anyways, but not filling it
with distractions.
So, especially those of us withphones all of us, you know there
(33:29):
is that dopamine hit we getfrom picking up our phone and
seeing a notification, and so ifeverybody listening is anything
like me, it almost becomeshabitual to grab for it and fill
our time, even just a fewminutes, waiting at the line at
the bank or, you know, waitingfor the water to boil for the
kettle and so it's consciouslydeciding to pause and take some
(33:51):
of those moments of stillnessand aloneness to just be with
yourself and start to listen into what your body is saying.
And that might look like areally conscious body scan,
perhaps a guided body scan onmeditation apps so you know
there's lots of free resourcesout there in that respect or it
(34:12):
might just look like a fewmindful breaths while you make
your coffee, tuning in and justnoticing those body sensations.
It's the first place to start,because that's where your
intuition lives.
It's in your body, not in yourmind.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Thank you for that.
Helpful, because it's thosebaby steps that we take, that we
decide to take, that actuallystart shifting the trajectory
for us, and they accumulate overtime.
They have a cumulative effect,don't they?
Speaker 2 (34:43):
they do compound yeah , yeah, I think it's really
important not to try to do itall at once.
Um, even when I think about mypath into witchcraft, I call
myself a lazy witch because Icannot be bothered to like
follow a spell and like do allthe pieces.
It feels overwhelming to me tolearn what all the crystals mean
, or learn what all the herbsmean, and I I have used
(35:05):
intuition to kind of guide mydeepening of that practice and
just going like picking thethings based on what feels good.
I'll look it up later, but thesame goes for any kind of new
practice.
You don't want to overwhelmyourself with trying to do it
right.
That's another big one that many, many women and men you know
(35:28):
trying to achieve and do a goodjob and do it right With
intuition.
To achieve and do a good joband do it right with intuition,
you can't really do it wrong.
Another thing I often say to myclients or in chats with
friends is you know, letyourself be right as you start
to make the changes.
Can you just let yourself beright?
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Wow, that is incredibly powerful yourself be
right.
Wow, that is incrediblypowerful and that is such a
beautiful antidote to ourtendency to be really hard on
ourselves and very critical.
In my online course, which wewere just talking last night,
about this and this idea ofhaving to be perfect, having to
get it right the first time,having to do it quickly, having
(36:15):
to tick all the boxes that, Iwonder, does that come again
from that very masculinethinking being right, being
perfect, being excellent?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, to some extent it is that critical, analytical,
achievement-based, and some ofit is very, very again falling
into the almost more toxic,toxic masculine realm.
It's also a product of ofcapitalism and and this world
we've lived in for so long,where output is the only measure
(36:46):
of success and perfection isexpected, and and again I I find
so much comfort in nature whenI think about nature doesn't do
it perfect, have you like if, ifyou don't go to a supermarket
but you go to a farmer's market,like the carrots are all sorts
of different shapes and like youknow that squash has a weird
lump growing out of it.
(37:07):
It's not perfect, it's stilldelicious and nutritious and and
it doesn't happen fast.
You cannot hurry along thegrowth of a plant.
Well, you can with chemicalfertilizers a little bit, but
out in nature she's not in arush.
Everything in its time,everything in its season.
And again, when I get caught,I'm very much a recovering
(37:29):
perfectionist and a recoveringpeople pleaser.
Those are two of my bigidentities that I've been really
working on and over and over,coming back into that more or
into that, remembering that I amnature helps.
So much.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
It sounds to me like all of us need a few moments
today to go into nature andreset ourselves few moments
today to go into nature andreset ourselves.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Yes, yes, I highly encourage daily nature contact,
some description, you know,putting your feet, bare feet, on
the ground.
We know that that has reallypositive, like biological
impacts for us.
It lowers blood pressure, itreduces stress.
Forest bathing is another thingthat's gaining popularity, that
Japanese practice.
I think it's called Sho oh, I'mnot going to get the name right
(38:20):
, but anyways they have a wordfor it.
But there's so many studiesshowing the positive impact of
being in and with nature on thehuman body and it only makes
sense because it's it's fromonce we came ashes to ashes,
dust to dust.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
So my last question for you today how do people get
in touch with you to learn moreabout what you do?
Speaker 2 (38:45):
thank, you for asking um either through my social
media.
Um, right now I'm most activeon Instagram at.
I am Eileen March, which is myname.
I do have a Facebook presenceand it's my Luminous Life
Coaching on there and I'm notactive on there, but I check it
(39:06):
daily and if email feels easierto reach out via eileen at
myluminouslifeca is my email andthat's my website as well
myluminouslifeca.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Fantastic.
We'll make sure all those linksare in the show notes for
anyone that wants to reach outto you and learn more about how
they can tap into theirintuition, be more connected to
their energetic cycles, learn torest without feeling guilty and
learn to trust themselves muchmore.
To rediscover, I think, thepower of trust, self-trust,
(39:40):
trust in life, trust that otherpeople are supporting them.
So thank you very much, aileen,for joining me today and for
sharing your wisdom.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
You're so welcome.
Thank you so much for having me, Serena.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
And that was another episode of the Quiet Warrior
podcast.
If you so much for having me,serena.
If you found this contentvaluable, please share it on
your social media channels andsubscribe to the show on your
favorite listening platform.
Together, we can help moreintroverts thrive.
To receive more upliftingcontent like this, connect with
(40:23):
me on Instagram at Serena LoQuiet Warrior Coach.
Thank you for sharing your timeand your energy with me.
See you on the next episode.
Hi, I'm Serena Loh.
If you're used to hearing thatintroverts are shy, anxious,
antisocial and lack goodcommunication and leadership
skills, then this podcast is foryou.
You're about to fall in lovewith the calm, introspective and
profound person that you are.
Discover what's fun, unique andpowerful about being an
(00:22):
introvert, and how to make theelegant transition from quiet
achiever to quiet warrior inyour life and work anytime you
want, in more ways than youimagined possible Welcome.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Quiet Warrior podcast.
Today I have someone who saysshe's not really an introvert
(00:44):
but she's got some veryinteresting philosophies and
approaches to introversionbecause she works with a lot of
introverted clients.
So welcome, eileen March, tothe Quiet Warrior podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thank you so much for having me, Serena.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Thank you as well.
I'm really curious.
I remember when we firstconnected, you told me something
about yourself and introversion.
What was that?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Oh, let's think what was that?
I grew up very shy and for alot of years I thought that I
was an introvert.
My mom thought that I was anintrovert as well because I was
so shy.
And as I got older and got morecomfortable in my own skin and
(01:30):
with who I was, I realized thatI am not an introvert really.
But I have so, so much empathyfor people who are introverts in
a world that's really not setup for them.
Really, there's a lot of, youknow, a lot of emphasis on being
outgoing and social and withthe crowds, and I know that that
(01:53):
can put so much strain onsomebody who really needs that
downtime and alone time torecharge.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So how did you come to do the work that you do?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
The work that I do.
So I am, as we chatted when weconnected earlier.
I mentioned I am a spirituallife coach, an energy healer and
a slow living witch, which Ithink really ties into that
introversion piece for yourlisteners, that slow living part
(02:29):
of what I do.
And my road here was quitewinding.
I was a midwife for many yearsand I was reaching the point of
burnout.
It is a really taxing career,especially here in Canada.
It is a really taxing career,especially here in Canada.
It involves a lot of being oncall for long stretches of time
for a fairly significant clientload.
(02:51):
And while I loved the work Iloved supporting and empowering
my clients to trust theirintuition, to trust their bodies
, to have those positivepregnancy, birth and postpartum
journeys I knew I couldn'tsustain it and so I actually
kind of stumbled into a coachingprogram During COVID.
(03:15):
I was looking for something todo that wasn't just work and a
friend of mine was taking acoaching program through an
organization called the Centerfor Applied Neuroscience in
Toronto, canada, and it soundedlike great self-development,
personal development, and so Iapplied and was accepted into
(03:38):
the program and quickly foundmyself thinking about all the
ways that coaching overlappedwith what I was already doing in
terms of supporting people andempowering people, and I started
to think that maybe I couldmake a career out of this
instead of being on call, at thesame time where another midwife
(04:02):
who had worked in Calgary,where I live, had started her
own energy healing schoolBasically, it's a year-long
mentorship program after sheburnt out from the profession.
There's a theme and I decidedto dive into that as well and so
, coming out of it, I've reallycreated this really unique blend
(04:25):
of coaching with energy healingwork that I now use to support
women primarily, and to supportthem to come home to their
bodies and their intuition andto trust themselves and to slow
down and rest.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
I can hear all the different elements that are so
necessary for the well-being, Ithink, of women as well as men,
in a very chaotic and veryuncertain environment.
And it certainly feels like inthe last four years life has
accelerated in ways that are notvery healthy for us and so we
had that period of lockdownswhere actually a lot of people
(05:04):
felt relieved and I knowintroverts did because they were
given official permission to gointo their own little bubble
and take a break from the hecticroutine of life and people
really enjoyed that.
And I noticed also that fromconversations with fellow
introverts that some of themdidn't really want to come back
out of that bubble and engagewith the community.
To come back out of that bubbleand engage with the community
(05:28):
and what you're saying there is,you know from your background
of intensively supporting womenthrough a very vital part of
their life experience wheretheir emotions will be
heightened you know hormones andadjustment to this new phase of
life but at the same time youwere doing it at the cost of
your own well-being physical,mental, emotional, I imagine
from all those long shifts andfrom a very demanding kind of
(05:50):
role.
So now you call yourself a slowliving witch and I'm very
curious about that word and yourconscious use of that word.
What does that word mean to you?
What is a witch in thesecurrent times?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
word.
What does that word mean to you?
What is a witch in thesecurrent times?
Yeah, certainly.
I'm glad you asked that,because when I initially thought
about claiming that title formyself, or when I first did
claim the title, my mom was like, can you use a different word?
And I think for her it stillconjures that very stereotypical
, you know, evil cackling womanon a broom with green skin, and
(06:26):
it's so far from the truth ofwhat witchcraft means to me and
means to so many women who arereclaiming the title.
And so the term witch for me issynonymous in a lot of ways
with wise woman or knowledgekeeper, or midwife is definitely
another word.
Midwives were kind of one of theoriginal witches.
(06:48):
They were often the women withthe knowledge of the herbs that
would help the community.
They were community hubs.
They had lots of power and swaybecause they held the knowledge
and the wisdom.
And so that is for for me, whatI bring forward through
witchcraft.
So it's a connection to nature.
For me, it's a real belief thatevery body on this earth,
(07:14):
whether they are human bodies,plant or animal or even rock
bodies, are, are animate andequally deserve our attention
and care.
And so it's yeah, it's a spaceof magic and care and a return
to the wisdom that lives in ourbones.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I love the way you've explained that.
It sounds like coming home toour roots.
So how did the stereotype ofwitches and our perception of
them, how did that come about?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Old white dudes.
How many times do we have thatfor an answer?
But really it was.
The solidification of, or ratherthe vilification of, witches
really happened during what'scalled the burning times in
Europe, back in the kind of 15th16th centuries, when the church
(08:13):
wanted to consolidate power,and to do so they had to take
power away from the people insociety.
Who had the power, which waswomen, and the church wanted to
give the power to land owners.
Until that point, land wascommunally held, and so, in
order to control the population,they had to remove their
(08:38):
ability to care for themselves,and so taking away the people.
It wasn't just women, it wasprimarily women in mainland
Europe, though in places likeIceland, it was actually
primarily men who were targetedas witches, interestingly enough
, but they really weaponizedpeople against each other by
having it, be that knowing toomuch or knowing the herbs to use
(09:02):
to treat a fever was suddenlywell, that's, only God can do
that, and so creating thisdemonization of the witches
meant that the people no longerhad the knowledge and the
community hubs that they oncedid.
It turned women against eachother.
That's where we get this witchwound.
The distrust between women hascome down to us over so many
(09:23):
generations.
But it was really.
It was a power grab, much likecapitalism is often a power grab
these days.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And so that goes to who controls the narrative, who
has the power to change thestory, and then, if you keep
telling your version of thestory enough times, it sticks,
and I guess that's how thegenerational witch wound comes
about, when one particular groupis vilified over time.
Yeah, yeah, and it'sinteresting to see how that
(09:51):
narrative has woven itself intoculture, to popular culture, as
in those were the stories wegrew up with.
Fairy tales, disney movies, theportrayal of certain people are
the good ones, the heroes, andcertain ones are the villains
and they look a certain way, andit's wonderful to see that.
(10:13):
You know, perhaps in the last10 years or so, you know, the
narrative has started to shiftand now people are claiming you
know a different point of view,which is very refreshing and it
makes you think, it makes youquestion.
You know the kinds of storieswe've grown up with.
What if somebody else was thehero instead?
And I did notice this as mygirls were growing up too.
(10:33):
Some of their books that theystarted reading had a very
interesting, more feminist kindof approach.
You know where the girl is thehero, but in a very unusual way,
not quite an expected way, andthere's something quirky about
her.
There's something you knowshe's not part of the majority,
the popular group, and sheactually has been singled out or
(10:53):
even bullied perhaps, but thenmanages to turn that around and
assert herself in a very healthy, very wholesome way.
So it was interesting to watchthat trend starting.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, yeah, there's definitely a culture shift
happening towards a reclamationof some of that stereotypically
feminine wisdom or power.
Often.
Often, we think aboutfemininity as being weak or soft
or, you know, gentle, all ofthose things.
But if we think about thecreative power of the female sex
(11:27):
and the strength that isrequired, there's flexibility,
but it's powerful to tap intothat side of our energies, and I
believe that everybodyencompasses both feminine and
masculine energies and ways ofmoving in the world.
And the reclamation of thefeminine, the sacred feminine we
can call it, is not in order toovercome the masculine.
(11:52):
It's to find balance again,because we've really lost that
balance in our society for thelast many hundred years.
There's been a real pushtowards that more masculine,
analytical, critical, rationaland of course, we have toxic
masculinity as well, being sucha big part of our culture.
So it's really interesting tobe living in the time where the
(12:14):
shift is happening, where wemight possibly get a taste of a
little bit more of a balancedworld while we're still here.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Two questions I want to ask you for what you've just
shared.
What is, in your view, abalanced world?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I think it's one where we honor a variety of
opinion and understandings oftruth.
I think it's one where we spenda lot more time listening than
speaking generally, in a broadsense, I also really believe
that it's one where humansfinally remember because it's
(12:56):
something we've forgotten thatwe are no less a part of nature
than every other living andnon-living entity on this earth.
We aren't separate from orabove or outside of the natural
rhythms of this planet we findourselves on.
We are very much an intricatepart of it and again we have
(13:18):
this Western philosophytradition that started back with
Aristotle, that started toremove us from the natural world
, but we are of the naturalworld.
So balance has to come back toa remembering and a respecting
of the rest of the earth.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Does respecting include caretaking and
stewardship, because those termsalso imply that we are slightly
superior.
So you know, perhaps I don'tknow if this is a Western
philosophy, or perhaps it's froma religious point of view, but
the idea that humans, being atthe apex of creation, would
therefore then also have theresponsibility to take care of
(14:02):
Earth and its resources.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I would be very cautious treading in that kind
of language, because it reallydoes.
Again, it sets us apart fromthe rest of the natural world.
I think we have aresponsibility to not take more
than we need, for instance, youknow, exploitive, extractive
processes that are required forour very linear upward progress
(14:30):
or idea of progress, and I dothink that we have a bit of a
responsibility to mend some ofthe harms we've done.
But more often than not, ourattempts to steward or to fix
actually make the problem worse.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Often, the best thing we can do is reduce our harmful
practices and step back and letnature do its thing, because
it's really wise so this is anew twist on the saying of
letting nature take its course,because I think we have
developed that other reaction,the other end of the spectrum,
which is that we try to controleverything.
(15:10):
We make the decisions we, wethink we know best, and so we're
constantly solving, fixing,rearranging, and then changing
the order, the natural order ofthings, and then dealing with
consequences and then cleaningup the messes.
And then it sounds to me likewhat you're saying is, if we
leave nature well alone, natureknows what to do.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, and we get to be part of nature.
I think there's a lot of wisdomto be found from Indigenous
traditions and ways of being inthe world, and when you think
about the example that springsto my mind is the book called
Braiding Sweetgrass by RobinWall Kimmerer, and one of the
chapters in there she talksabout how, without the
Indigenous populationsharvesting and tending to the
(16:03):
sweetgrass, the sweetgrassdoesn't grow Because it was in a
symbiotic relationship withthose humans who thinned it, who
allowed it to continue toflourish because of that
thinning.
And we think about otheranimals that have those same
impacts in their niches on theplanet.
And so it's not about removingourselves to be a bubble and not
(16:23):
impacting nature.
It's about how do we move inmore of a symbiotic relationship
with nature, remembering thatwe're a part of it.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah, You're really getting me to think in a very
different way here and now thatyou mention it, the Aboriginal
peoples and the First Nations inAustralia have always known how
to take without taking too much, and how to put back and how to
restore, and so the word thatcomes to mind is harmony.
If we say that we are part ofnature and part of the natural
(16:55):
world, what we are doing isconsciously living such that all
of us can coexist, all of uscan thrive.
We're not taking too much, weare noticing, observing what
others need, and we're verycarefully making sure that we
leave things just as healthy asbefore we came.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, it's almost the sense of being good ancestors,
so that there's enough for thosewho come after us, whether
they're human kin or animal kinor plant kin.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yes, yes, and I did notice that you work very much
with teaching women to lean intotheir intuition, and I can
imagine that that would havebeen so helpful in your previous
career, but also currently,when we function so much, as you
say, from a very logicalrational, you know, always
(17:52):
thinking about how to fix things, how to make things better, but
more from a very clinicalperspective sometimes.
So how does leaning intointuition help with that?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
In so many ways.
As you were forming thatquestion, the thing that popped
right to my mind was thisknowledge that we have that only
about 2% of our reactions, ourbehaviors, everything that we do
in the world is mediated by ourconscious brain, and 98% of it
(18:26):
is being dictated by oursubconscious and it lives in our
body.
And so tapping into intuitionis almost like a superpower.
It helps us to.
Often it feels like receivinginformation or guidance from
outside of ourselves, and itcould be, and that could be
where your belief lies.
(18:46):
But if that is a bit too wooand out there for you, it also
is this sense of oh no, we'retapping into the immense amount
of wisdom and knowing that wehold in our own bodies and our
own brains and allowing that togive us different perspectives,
to give us new insight and topotentially point us in a
(19:07):
direction.
That is more true to us.
When we're in our thinking brainall the time, analyzing, making
, making pro-con lists, all ofthat stuff, we forget to listen
to what we truly want or trulyneed.
And so, tuning in and learningto feel safe, listening to your
(19:29):
intuition how to hear it?
Even so, many people don't evenknow.
So many people don't even know,and then learning to trust it
in the face of a culture thathas told you for centuries that
it's not real knowledge, that itcan't be trusted, that it
shouldn't be trusted.
These are some of the reallydeep work that I do with my
(19:51):
clients, and it's such abeautiful process walking with
women Again, I'd be happy towalk with men through this
journey too, but I primarilyseem to attract female clients.
But as they come home to theirbodies, as they start to
recognize the wisdom that liesthere and as they start to
really trust it, the whole waythat they move in the world
(20:14):
starts to shift.
The way that it feels to be ahuman on this earth alive,
starts to soften.
In a way there's an ease thatcomes with it.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I love that.
The word that stood out for mewas trust, and I think we've
lost a lot of that Trust withourselves, trust in other people
, trust in the world, trust thatlife is here to support us and
that divine knowing orintelligence or wisdom that
comes to us.
As you said, it's a gift, it'ssomething we receive, it's not
(20:46):
something we have to strainourselves to go looking for.
For me, it comes sometimes likea divine download.
You know just a word or oh, goring this person or reach out to
that person or do that thing.
I find that when that happensand when I allow myself to go
with it, to follow that flow andget curious and like, oh, I
(21:08):
wonder where this is leading me.
Let me just say yes, and thenyou know, let's see what happens
next.
And there's always somethingmagical that follows Connecting
with the right person at theright time.
The right book pops up a phrase, you know, some bit of wisdom
or some forgotten memory orsomething just drops in, and
it's always the right thing.
And that's how, for me, I'velearned to trust by trusting
(21:30):
first and simply.
I guess it's a bit like whenyou're swimming, when you allow
yourself to float as opposed tostraining really hard because
you think you're going to drown,but you think the water's not
going to be able to support yourweight and so you fight and
then you end up really sorebecause you've overexerted when
(21:52):
there wasn't really a need to,because the water is designed to
help you float, but it needstrust, and I know this
personally from my swimminglessons.
When I don't trust, I drop, Isink right, but when I allow the
water to support me, that'swhen I enjoy the sensation of
floating.
So that has been very helpfulfor me as an analogy for
(22:16):
understanding what trust isabout.
And I've noticed a lot of us,consciously, unconsciously, we
strain more than we need tobecause we have forgotten how to
trust.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, yeah, it's true .
And what I love about the wayyou described following your
intuition and trusting yourintuition is the examples you
were giving, for the most part,were low stakes, and that's
something that I often willencourage my clients to practice
with.
Right oh, I should call thisperson, you know it's a friend.
(22:48):
Okay, well, what's the harm,right, when we start to trust
our intuition in those ways like, oh, this book is calling to me
, what's the harm in picking itup?
Trust our intuition in thoseways like, oh, this book is
calling to me.
What's the harm in picking itup?
And you might find out the magic, the thread that's there, when
we've spent our livesdisconnected from our intuition
or not trusting it, finding safeplaces to start practicing,
(23:08):
trusting it, to experience thatmagic, to increase the trust so
that when it might pop itslittle like head up in a more
high stakes situation, you havethat foundation of trust so you
can go.
Oh, like everybody's saying, goover here.
But I know I need to go thisother direction and I'm going to
and I love that you mentionedit as a scale, as something
(23:33):
progressive.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
It's something we develop and we need to feel safe
, like you mentioned it as ascale, as something progressive.
It's something we develop andwe need to feel safe, like you
mentioned before, and thatincreases safety.
When we can trust ourselveswith the little things, we start
to think perhaps next time Ican trust myself with something
bigger, with a bigger decision,something that is a bit more
high stakes, I can go there andI'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, baby steps.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, you've mentioned also helping people to
live in alignment with theirenergetic cycles.
Tell me more about that.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, yeah, I used to call myself a cyclical living
guide, but it's a bit of amouthful so I took it out of my
title.
It's a bit of a mouthful, so Itook it out of my title, but
basically the premise, or thatpart of my work I really lean
into.
Again, coming back to thispoint I made about us being part
of nature, we have cyclicalenergies and they are mirrored
(24:34):
in the energies of the earth aswell, and so one of the most
beautiful permissions I found asI started to move into this
work was the permission of restin the winter and this sense of
the seasons and the the naturalworld showing us how we can ebb
(24:57):
and flow throughout our lives.
Again, our world, the way thatour capitalistic society is
built, is very much on like aman's hormonal cycle, really.
It's this 24 hour peaks at thebeginning of the day, energy
drops towards the end of the day.
(25:18):
We sleep, we get up, we do itagain, but it's very consistent.
Day to day to day Doesn't meanthat men don't have ebbs and
flows.
They're impacted by the seasons, by life events, by the moon,
but women, especially likebiological females in
menstruating bodies, but women,especially like biological
females in menstruating bodieshave this 28-ish day cycle of
(25:39):
hormonal changes.
That means that we ebb and flow, our energy ebbs and flows, the
types of activities that ourbrain is most suited to changes
throughout our cycle, and thenthat's mirrored on that larger
scale by the seasonal energeticsas well, and I think it's
(26:03):
interesting.
I was speaking to somebodyrecently who also works with the
wheel of the year that's whatwe call the seasonal calendar
that I follow and she was saying, or she described it as a
society that is in perpetualspring and summer.
We plant the seeds, the plantsare grown, we harvest.
We plant the seeds, we harvest,we plant the seeds, the plants
are grown, we harvest, we plantthe seeds, we harvest, we plant
the seeds, we harvest, but wenever leave time for the autumn,
where we look around and seewhat needs to be cut back, to
(26:26):
fall to the ground, to lie underthe snow and become compost and
fertilize the soil as we restfor the next spring, when we're
in a season of perpetual harvest.
The earth can't sustain that.
We've dumped so many chemicalfertilizers on fields to try to
sustain perpetual harvests andwe're reaping the consequences
(26:46):
of that now and our bodies arethe same way.
We can't always be in springand summer.
We need to have our innerautumns and our inner winters in
order to assess what's notworking.
Let it fall, rest, recuperateand then move into spring.
After that restful period.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I would say that in this conversation that has
already enriched me on so manylevels that what you just shared
there stands out as the biggestgem and epiphany for me today
the idea that we are inperpetual spring and summer.
I don't know how, I've notthought of it that way, but yes,
(27:29):
I think we all intuitively knowthat there is something wrong
with the way we live way.
But yes, I think we allintuitively know that there is
something wrong with the way welive and that is why people are
pushing back and that is whyworking from home, being
flexible, that awareness aroundthat, having experienced that,
we know how good that is for oursouls and for our mental
well-being.
And yet the predominantrecommended way of working in a
(27:52):
corporate environment is stillthat you need to show up, and I
do understand of working, youknow, in a corporate environment
is still that you need to showup.
And I do understand, of course,that there are jobs where you
know being location, you knowpresent, is very essential to
the role.
But for those where there is anoption, there is still that
pressure to be somewhere for afixed period of time and
constantly reporting in and the,the KPIs and the idea of
(28:15):
constantly being producing.
I always have to produce, Ihave to have billable hours, I
have my KPIs.
I need to meet all thesetargets and I'm measured.
I'm constantly measured by that.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, that word producing I'm glad you mentioned
it, because even rest hasalmost been co-opted by this
productivity culture.
You know that.
I've seen the slogan and thehashtag.
You know rest is productive andthe idea of taking rest in
(28:48):
order to be more productive justrubs me the wrong way.
In order to be more productivejust rubs me the wrong way.
And it's something that I workwith my clients a lot around,
because there's a lot of guiltwhen we rest, we don't feel like
we've earned it, we're notworthy of rest because we
haven't accomplished enough orproduced enough.
And the reality is that each ofus deserves rest innately,
(29:14):
simply for existing.
You don't have to do or produceanything.
And, yes, good rest and itdoesn't have to be sleep to be
restful but good rest may meanthat after your rest you are
more productive, but that's notthe goal of rest.
But that's not the goal of rest.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
The goal of rest is to be present and to be in your
body and to be well.
It sounds to me like rest isactually a human right.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yes, yes, it is.
Yeah, there's an Americanauthor, her name is Tricia
Hersey, and she wrote a book.
It's a manifesto, called Restis Resistance, and it's
wonderful.
If any of your listeners areinto reading, I would highly
recommend that one.
It's easy to read, it's shortbut it's powerful.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
That will be two book references you've shared today
which we will put in the shownotes for people that want to
check them out.
So thank you for those.
So the idea so rest isresistance.
Rest is a human right.
We rest because we need it ashumans.
We don't have to earn it.
We don't have to make enoughmoney before our rest is
(30:25):
justified.
And growing up I remember Inever saw my grandma actually
sit down and have a rest otherthan the occasional nap here and
there.
She was always doing and busyabout the house and I grew up
with the idea that rest was forthe lazy, yeah, that you have to
be really sick to rest, youknow.
(30:47):
And I remember this got so badthat even when I was working
full-time as a lawyer, Iremember there were times when I
had to take myself off to thedoctor to get a medical
certificate for a very validreason.
But in the minutes, while I wassitting in the waiting room
waiting to see the doctor, Ikept going over in my head what
my symptoms were so that I couldarticulate them properly to the
(31:07):
doctor, so the doctor wouldn'tthink I was faking it, and that
I was justified in having thatmedical certificate and I was
justified in not working thatday.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
How crazy is that, yeah it's so common and how
inhumane our corporate world isthat we can't simply believe a
human when they say they'reunwell and need time.
And it's appalling with theinformation that we have, the
studies we have too that showthat when we treat adult humans
(31:41):
as people who are capable ofmaking autonomous decisions,
deciding how much and when theywork and all of those things
taking as many sick days as theyneed or want and leave days
that those companies that treattheir employees like that they
have better output Like.
The end result is actually moreproductivity, better employee
(32:02):
retention, all of that.
And it's interesting that weactually see companies that are
led by women.
So, having women in theC-suites, they actually
outperform companies that areled by men pretty much
universally, and a lot of it isto do with this treating their
employees as humans who can makeautonomous decisions and are
(32:26):
going to show up and do theirbest as they can, and that
culture of care that has beenpassed down as a as a female
realm, and so women come by itquite innately.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
I think that men are carers as well, but our
societies kind of robbed them ofthat skill set in the way that
we raise boys what would youradvice be to the quieter women
who have trouble connecting withintuition, finding their way
(32:59):
back to the sacred feminine in avery masculine world?
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I would say that kind of coming back to what we said.
You know, practicing small,carving out a little bit of time
to be alone, and I think thatthat's probably something that
most of your listeners aspire todo anyways, but not filling it
with distractions.
So, especially those of us withphones all of us, you know there
(33:29):
is that dopamine hit we getfrom picking up our phone and
seeing a notification, and so ifeverybody listening is anything
like me, it almost becomeshabitual to grab for it and fill
our time, even just a fewminutes, waiting at the line at
the bank or, you know, waitingfor the water to boil for the
kettle and so it's consciouslydeciding to pause and take some
(33:51):
of those moments of stillnessand aloneness to just be with
yourself and start to listen into what your body is saying.
And that might look like areally conscious body scan,
perhaps a guided body scan onmeditation apps so you know
there's lots of free resourcesout there in that respect or it
(34:12):
might just look like a fewmindful breaths while you make
your coffee, tuning in and justnoticing those body sensations.
It's the first place to start,because that's where your
intuition lives.
It's in your body, not in yourmind.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Thank you for that.
Helpful, because it's thosebaby steps that we take, that we
decide to take, that actuallystart shifting the trajectory
for us, and they accumulate overtime.
They have a cumulative effect,don't they?
Speaker 2 (34:43):
they do compound yeah , yeah, I think it's really
important not to try to do itall at once.
Um, even when I think about mypath into witchcraft, I call
myself a lazy witch because Icannot be bothered to like
follow a spell and like do allthe pieces.
It feels overwhelming to me tolearn what all the crystals mean
, or learn what all the herbsmean, and I I have used
(35:05):
intuition to kind of guide mydeepening of that practice and
just going like picking thethings based on what feels good.
I'll look it up later, but thesame goes for any kind of new
practice.
You don't want to overwhelmyourself with trying to do it
right.
That's another big one that many, many women and men you know
(35:28):
trying to achieve and do a goodjob and do it right With
intuition.
To achieve and do a good joband do it right with intuition,
you can't really do it wrong.
Another thing I often say to myclients or in chats with
friends is you know, letyourself be right as you start
to make the changes.
Can you just let yourself beright?
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Wow, that is incredibly powerful yourself be
right.
Wow, that is incrediblypowerful and that is such a
beautiful antidote to ourtendency to be really hard on
ourselves and very critical.
In my online course, which wewere just talking last night,
about this and this idea ofhaving to be perfect, having to
get it right the first time,having to do it quickly, having
(36:15):
to tick all the boxes that, Iwonder, does that come again
from that very masculinethinking being right, being
perfect, being excellent?
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, to some extent it is that critical, analytical,
achievement-based, and some ofit is very, very again falling
into the almost more toxic,toxic masculine realm.
It's also a product of ofcapitalism and and this world
we've lived in for so long,where output is the only measure
(36:46):
of success and perfection isexpected, and and again I I find
so much comfort in nature whenI think about nature doesn't do
it perfect, have you like if, ifyou don't go to a supermarket
but you go to a farmer's market,like the carrots are all sorts
of different shapes and like youknow that squash has a weird
lump growing out of it.
(37:07):
It's not perfect, it's stilldelicious and nutritious and and
it doesn't happen fast.
You cannot hurry along thegrowth of a plant.
Well, you can with chemicalfertilizers a little bit, but
out in nature she's not in arush.
Everything in its time,everything in its season.
And again, when I get caught,I'm very much a recovering
(37:29):
perfectionist and a recoveringpeople pleaser.
Those are two of my bigidentities that I've been really
working on and over and over,coming back into that more or
into that, remembering that I amnature helps.
So much.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
It sounds to me like all of us need a few moments
today to go into nature andreset ourselves few moments
today to go into nature andreset ourselves.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Yes, yes, I highly encourage daily nature contact,
some description, you know,putting your feet, bare feet, on
the ground.
We know that that has reallypositive, like biological
impacts for us.
It lowers blood pressure, itreduces stress.
Forest bathing is another thingthat's gaining popularity, that
Japanese practice.
I think it's called Sho oh, I'mnot going to get the name right
(38:20):
, but anyways they have a wordfor it.
But there's so many studiesshowing the positive impact of
being in and with nature on thehuman body and it only makes
sense because it's it's fromonce we came ashes to ashes,
dust to dust.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
So my last question for you today how do people get
in touch with you to learn moreabout what you do?
Speaker 2 (38:45):
thank, you for asking um either through my social
media.
Um, right now I'm most activeon Instagram at.
I am Eileen March, which is myname.
I do have a Facebook presenceand it's my Luminous Life
Coaching on there and I'm notactive on there, but I check it
(39:06):
daily and if email feels easierto reach out via eileen at
myluminouslifeca is my email andthat's my website as well
myluminouslifeca.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Fantastic.
We'll make sure all those linksare in the show notes for
anyone that wants to reach outto you and learn more about how
they can tap into theirintuition, be more connected to
their energetic cycles, learn torest without feeling guilty and
learn to trust themselves muchmore.
To rediscover, I think, thepower of trust, self-trust,
(39:40):
trust in life, trust that otherpeople are supporting them.
So thank you very much, aileen,for joining me today and for
sharing your wisdom.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
You're so welcome.
Thank you so much for having me, Serena.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
And that was another episode of the Quiet Warrior
podcast.
If you so much for having me,serena.
If you found this contentvaluable, please share it on
your social media channels andsubscribe to the show on your
favorite listening platform.
Together, we can help moreintroverts thrive.
To receive more upliftingcontent like this, connect with
(40:23):
me on Instagram at Serena LoQuiet Warrior Coach.
Thank you for sharing your timeand your energy with me.
See you on the next episode.
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