Ep 26. Moving to Stories of Freedom: Birth, Religion, and Ancestors (w/ Stella Udeozor)

Freedom. Birth. God.

These are all words that have become quite loaded and contentious topics of conversation… and yet, in this episode, we dive in.

Joining me around the fire is Stella Udeozor - a first-generation Nigerian-American, mother of two, digital content Creator, storyteller, photographer, and birthkeeper backed out of Cincinnati, Ohio; who, through her business, Freedom Birth Story, aims to capture the true, and free, essence of every story, especially those of birth and motherhood.

Neither of us expected this conversation to go where it did, but, as you’ll hear Stella say, that’s what happens when you gather around the fire!

Join us and you’ll hear us lovingly question the stories we’ve been told to find stories that feel more free (and other musings) on subjects like:

• shifting from dogma to a personally-aligned relationship with spirituality;
• looking through the systems to find the heart and integrity untouched by corruption;
• language, place, and belief as as sites of freedom and sites of oppression;
• storytelling as medicine;
• the complexities of allowing stories to be living processes while making sure you’re writing your own (not someone else writing it for you);
• God not as fixed entity but as myriad faces and aspects;
• how honoring our ancestors and praying to saints can be the same thing;
• discernment, embodiment, and not outsourcing our power when it comes to birth, death, and everything in between;
• what ‘freedom’ means to each of us…

and much more.

While these subjects can, in some situations, feel large and heavy, there’s a lightness and joy pervading every moment of this conversation; reminding us curiosity and wonder are key, unlearning can be fun, and, in the end, it’s all about the stories we believe and the ones we tell. 

If you’re in a place of unlearning or deconditioning from a system or identity you didn’t choose or grew to find oppressive; if you’re feeling trapped and wondering how to feel more free; if you’re tired of living stories of wounds and limitations and want to write stories of possibility… join us around this fire. I think you’ll find something grounding, touching, inspiring, and reparative. 

You can find Stella:

Website: https://www.freedombirthstory.com/

Instagram - @stellasfreedomstory; @freedombirthstory

And if you've come for Stella, I hope you'll stick around for more conversations to access, repair, inspire, and evolve our humanity and serve the wild, tender aliveness of our personal and collective hearts.

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