May 12, 2025 • 42 mins
Discover how a life-altering diagnosis of brain lesions became the catalyst for profound personal transformation in this powerful episode. Natalie "Nat Nat" Bedard, a single mother of three boys including twins, shares her remarkable journey from crisis to becoming an energy healing specialist and podcast host.
Through vulnerable storytelling, Natalie explores:
- Navigating parenthood in the digital age
- The power of authentic connections
- Using meditation and breathwork for healing
- Managing health challenges while raising children
- The importance of emotional authenticity
This episode is unique because I actually participated in a guided breathwork session with Nat Nat. I invite you to do it along with us! Nat Nat also shares practical insights on incorporating other mindfulness techniques into daily life. Nat Nat's story demonstrates how embracing vulnerability and practicing self-regulation can lead to unexpected growth and healing.
Key Takeaways:
- The transformative power of mindfulness practices
- Creating safe spaces for emotional expression
- Building trust in relationships
- The role of somatic healing in recovery
Ready to transform your own challenges into opportunities for growth? Listen to this inspiring episode that proves how life's biggest obstacles can become our greatest teachers.
Through vulnerable storytelling, Natalie explores:
- Navigating parenthood in the digital age
- The power of authentic connections
- Using meditation and breathwork for healing
- Managing health challenges while raising children
- The importance of emotional authenticity
This episode is unique because I actually participated in a guided breathwork session with Nat Nat. I invite you to do it along with us! Nat Nat also shares practical insights on incorporating other mindfulness techniques into daily life. Nat Nat's story demonstrates how embracing vulnerability and practicing self-regulation can lead to unexpected growth and healing.
Key Takeaways:
- The transformative power of mindfulness practices
- Creating safe spaces for emotional expression
- Building trust in relationships
- The role of somatic healing in recovery
Ready to transform your own challenges into opportunities for growth? Listen to this inspiring episode that proves how life's biggest obstacles can become our greatest teachers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you do when life delivers an unexpected diagnosis
that could change everything. For Natalie Bedard, that moment came
with the discovery of brain lesions, a diagnosis that initially
felt overwhelming but ultimately transformed her perspective on light. As
(00:21):
a single parent to three boys, including twins, and a
retired security investigator, Natalie faced the challenge head on, embracing
vulnerability and using her experience as a catalyst for growth. Today,
as an energy healing specialist and the owner of Lift Oneself,
(00:42):
she fosters deep conversations and connections through her podcast and
healing sessions. Listen in on this episode of Life Jack
the Resilience Podcast as we dive into Natalie's inspiring journey
of resilience, healing, and the power of authentic, authentic connection.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Sometimes life gives us lemons, Sometimes it gives us lemonade.
Other times it gives us something entirely out of left
field that makes us say w t F. But no
matter what obstacles come, there is most often a way
out from the other side, and we are once again victorious.
(01:31):
My name is doctor Rome, and you are listening to
my podcast about resilience. Every guest shares a tragedy to
triumph story to give listeners like you the inspiration to
push through every single day. Listen now as my next
guest shares how they were like.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Jack, Hi, Natalie, welcome. Thank you so much for being
a guest on my show. How are you?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I'm well, and I really want to thank you for
allowing me to share this space with your listeners. I
take it very sincerely and deeply because the most valuable
thing we have in this lifetime is our time. So
thank you for allowing me to be a guest and
share my story and have this deep dive of a
(02:21):
conversation with you.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
No is my pleasure, My pleasure. Now for the listeners
who may not know about you, of course, I gave
a little bit of an intro and then I'm sure
that you have your fan base that has tuned into
this episode as well. But can you share just a
little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, you know, you really touched on a lot of it.
I'm a solo parent to three boys. As you said,
there's twins, so my oldest is going to be thirty
in May, and the twins are going to be fifteen
on the ninth of February. So I'm in that teenage stage,
and you know I had to retire almost actually it's
(03:02):
eleven years now.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I just want to say something to the teenager. I
don't know if I shared with if you are aware,
but I have three boys as well, and yes, my
two older ones are in that teenage phase, and Lord
help us, I does have to say. And I don't
know if your boys or you know, maybe not your
your oldest, but at least the twins. I don't know
if they have cell phones, but I tell you that
(03:24):
the cell phone thing is a battle in his house.
And I can tell you that I always try to
figure out why I'm texting them or calling them, but
they're not answering me. But they have the phone in
their hands.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Right or when they have to do not disturb thing
on it, it's like, really, I have to call like
twice to get you this gate keeping stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yes, yes, now they know they don't do not disturb
because of school. And so I said, okay, I get that.
That makes sense. However, you're not in school right now.
You're at home thousands of times, but they have their earbuzzon.
But anyway, I know.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
We relate and even I just got off the phone
with my oldest and he's like, they never answer the
call when I call them, Like they don't only when
they need something all of a sudden they're call. They're
not answering, And I'm like, yeah, I know. It's quite
the generation and I have to look within myself of
growth because I understand what I would have received from
(04:31):
the adults back in my time would not be the
same way that I can with my regulation and breathing.
Sometimes they get a bit of the neurotic mom because
I'm at my capacity. Yet I have to ground myself
of recognizing this is a different way of communicating. We
I didn't have cell phones when I was younger, so
(04:52):
it's like, okay, how do we adjust with this and
find a middle ground in it? But let me tell you,
I have to ground myself with my breath a lot,
a lot, a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So I'm right there with you.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
So like, yeah, like I said, I was a security
investigator and I had to retire from that because of
the brain lesions. I was told I was going to
die when I was hospitalized and I was released without
a diagnosis, So that means without a plan and what
their prognosis for me if I did survive, was I
(05:29):
wasn't going to be able to walk properly, have mental
function properly, and I was going to be dependent on,
you know, assistance of medical devices and everything else. Thankfully,
you know, I had the twins and they were four
when this happened, and anybody that has children, you know,
(05:50):
when they're a young age, did they spark a different
part of life in you, A different part of vitality,
a different part of curiosity if you allow yourself to
surrender and allow yourself to release the bs. And when
I say bs, some people are going to think I'm
saying the vulgar part. Yet it's the belief systems. There's
(06:12):
a lot of belief systems that have as conditioned into
kind of a prison of what we think life has
to be. And children do not have that yet. So
that's why they can enrage us, frustrate us, make us drained,
because they're just engaging with the moments and not all
(06:33):
of these conditions. So thankfully, you know, the twins came
into this world as disruptors, so they always challenged all
of the conformity and being domesticated and questioned things. So
it allowed me to engage in a lot of things.
And you know, a year after this incident with being
(06:56):
diagnosed with the brain lesions, I discovered meditator and that's
opened up so much within my nervous system that was
stored because there was so much childhood and childhood trauma
that then just you know, it's like a tumbleweed. It
just keeps collecting if you don't address the trauma, and
(07:17):
it just keeps separating you from self and keep separating
you from your authentic self. So what meditation allowed me
is to do the somatic releases of my nervous system
and allow my body just to express and release these
energetic charges that had been stored for decades for me
to reconnect with the self and reconnect inside my body,
(07:40):
which you know, I still have to go through the
process because when you have experienced pain in your body,
it's very difficult to go back and trust your body
when it's the thing that's causing you pain. So to
rewire that relationship and ask the body what it needs,
What is it trying to signal to me that is
(08:01):
that I can remove. You know, there's some things that
you won't be able to remove yet. There are a
lot of things in our lifestyle and the way that
we ruminate and we create psychological suffering for ourselves or
deny ourselves from feeling our authentic emotions, which taxes the body,
(08:22):
and the body keeps score because emotions are simply energy.
It's something that your psyche has processed. Yet you know,
when we were young, when we were crying, most of
us were told don't cry, or give me something to
cry for, so we didn't even know how to feel
these dense emotions in an authentic way. We were told
to feel something other than what we were feeling. So
(08:45):
then that added doubt, and we didn't know how to
trust ourselves, didn't know how to trust our body.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
No, absolutely, And I love what you said that we
have to release the DX. But like you said, it's
the belief systems, and I hardly agree with you because
sometimes we don't understand the reactions that people have to
certain events or certain things that may be said, and
we don't see eye to eye, but we all have
(09:10):
our own belief systems, and that belief system guides our
behavior and how we respond to things. So I like
how to phrase that.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Now?
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I know you do a lot of breath work. You
mentioned it earlier that you do a lot of breath
work working with your children, and I think I've had
to do a lot of breath work as well, even
just life in general. Yeah, but I know that you
do certain things in you can we do maybe one
of the pecciallyisms.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Yeah, I would love if you would join me in
a mindful moment, and we can also you know, invite
the listeners because many people talk about, you know, taking
a moment, yet when are we really engaging to bring
this in our every day? And so I would be
honored if we can do a mindful moment and ground
ourselves so that we can open ourselves even further into
(10:01):
being vulnerable and open with this conversation now.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Absolutely, And if you are listening in your car, because
I know a lot of you listen to this podcast
while you're traveling to and from destinations, So if you are,
I would say go ahead and just pause it and
then pick it up later when you make it to
a place where you can sit and be focused. You
know that you're not driving or and you're not able,
so you're not in an area where you're going to
be distracted. Because I tell you doing this breath work
(10:25):
with Natalie right here. It really is beneficial. And I
hope that you don't just do it with us on
this during this episode, that you do it pretty much
throughout your life. So anyway, so if you are driving,
just hit pause and just come back to the episode later.
But those of you who are in a safe space
and you can do this breath this mindfulness medification with us,
(10:49):
please please join us.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
All right, thanks, so thank you for that that caveat,
because I do the same thing. Safety first, so please
don't close your eyes if you're driving or needing your
visual so Doctor Rowe, yes, exactly. So Doctor Rowe will
ask you and myself to get comfortable in our seating
and if it's safe to do so, I'm going to
(11:12):
ask you to gently close your eyes and you're going
to begin breathing in and out through your nose, and
you're going to bring your awareness to watching your breath
go in and out through your nose. You're not going
to try and control your breast. You're just going to
bring the awareness of watching the rhythm and allowing it
(11:34):
to guide you into your body. There may be some
stun faf feeling, Okay, let them come up. You're safe
to feel surrender, the need to control, really the need
to resist and ens.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Not yet fofol mm hmm bring your way. Yeah, you've
been the way.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Mm hm.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
M m.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Mm hmmm, yeah, mm hmmm mm hmmm.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
I'm taking while m wa.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Mm hmm. Sally through.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, oh yeah, doing wonderful. You know, Natalie, I didn't
even realize I was as tense.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
As I was.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Amazing. Thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
One of the things that's difficult for people to do
is to be vulnerable. I was vulnerable right now in
this moment. I've never done breathwork in practice during a
podcast episode. This is wonderful. So you had to learn
to be vulnerable and accept that vulnerability was okay. So
(13:38):
can you explain kind of how vulnerability has played a
role in both your personal life and as you've been
doing your work with lift oneself.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
The vulnerability has been my superpower. Thankfully, since I've been young,
I've been pretty authentic and I was always told that
was quirky or kind of weird. Yet I always had
people wanting to share their most vulnerable stories to me,
and I couldn't understand, like what is it about me
(14:12):
that you're going to tell me something that you've never
told anybody yet. What I've recognized is the vulnerability allows
us to be seen in a world that we feel
that we have to armor up and paint ourselves in
a certain way to feel that we belong. We've done
and we kind of guard the vulnerability. Yet once we
(14:37):
can be in our vulnerability, that's where our authenticity is.
You know, the buzzword right now is being our authentic self.
Yet to be your authentic self requires you to feel
your authentic emotions, and that's where vulnerability is. And once
you can start to allow yourself to feel those emotions,
(15:01):
to hold space for it, that's where you have such
a most deep enriching relationship with self. Yeah, within yourself,
And once you can do that, you can then begin
to listen to other people, not judge them, be able
to listen. And just like me, you may not be
(15:22):
aware of something, or just like me, you're making mistakes,
or just like me, you're successful in this, or just
like me, you may not even see your light. Yet,
the vulnerability requires you to go within yourself and be
honest with yourself, which if we're really honest about it.
(15:43):
That is really a lot of warrior work to do,
because we want to be perceived as perfect as all together,
that we don't make mistakes because of the conditionings that
we have, that if we are these things, we're not
good enough. Yet, Once we can be in our worst,
not intellectualize and think, oh, I got it all together,
(16:06):
actually feel it in our body that we are safe
in this moment just as we are, then we can
hold the space of the messiness of life, and we
can engage in having relationships and relating with each other,
not attacking each other.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
No, absolutely, absolutely. You know it's hard to be vulnerable,
but I do believe that it's very streeme to be
vulnerable when we hold on to so many things and
keep ourselves guarded and propected. I don't know if it
really allows others to get to know us. I know
(16:48):
I was a much more guarded person when I was
younger in my professional career. With my coworkers, I just
look like I just don't want to share much about
my life, you know, I don't think it's any of
their business. Then I learned when I started opening myself
up and sharing, not you know, being careful to not
be an oversharer. That's also not good. But I learned
(17:10):
that once I opened up a little bit more to
allow people in and to allow people to get to
know me, and really it it wonders on me building
relationships with people it at work outside of work, just
by being vulnerable, just by saying, hey, I don't have
it all together, and you know, saying hey, I do
(17:32):
make mistakes. I you know, I am a person that
a lot of people think I do have it all together.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Don't you Like it's like some of the pedestals that
other people put on you. It's like, brilliant if you
only saw a sneak peak of what my life looks like.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And it's like there are other people that when I say, like, no,
this is what I've gone through, like it wasn't that bad,
You're fine, you haven't gone through and things like that,
And I was like, yeah, I have, like I really
really have. I just haven't shared it, you know, out
in the world. I mean I have now I'm now
I'm being very very vulnerable with this. So I've shared
a lot of things about my life and me and
(18:12):
my children and past relationships and my family. But if
it helps someone, I'm I'm with it, and I can
be as vulnerable as I need to be.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Where we're talking about vulnerability and it sounds real easy,
and for the listener that's like, yeah, that sounds real easy,
But I'm not doing that. I get you. If there's
not safety there, you aren't to bring your vulnerability out
there because there are people that will harm your vulnerability,
and your nervous system can detect certain things. We have
(18:44):
been told not to trust our intuition or our gut instincts.
Yet when we can listen to that and we can
honor our body, then it can start to disarm. Yet,
if you are going to go against your nervous system,
that vulnera it will not be able to be revealed.
So it takes a lot of work to be able
(19:05):
to understand your body, understand your nervous system, and allow
yourself to regulate, to acknowledge the fear of feeling your
feelings and revealing secrets or things about yourself or even
your naked truth with people. Yet it's recognizing that when
I reveal this to this person and I've created some
(19:26):
sense of safety, the biggest thing is not what they're perceiving.
It's that I don't separate from self within myself when
the turmoil of emotion start coming up, Because when we
feel embarrassed, when we feel rejected, when we feel abandoned,
there's this tsunomi of energy and turmoil and overwhelm that
(19:48):
goes on in our psyche and in our body, and
it's defining tools to be able to navigate that.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
And I think that's what prohibits people from being vulnerable.
It's the they don't have the trust in the relationship
with the person that you know they would like to
be vulnerable with. I mean, just you got to have
this trust. Like like you said, everybody, you can't hold
your you can't give your vulnerability to everyone because some
(20:15):
people will weaponize what you tell them, and so you
do have to be careful. You do have to use
your intuition. And I love that you said that for
the listeners because there are I have young listeners out
there who are still navigating you know, life and you know,
trying to figure out their career and trying to figure
out relationships as a young adult. And they we do
want you all out there to know that, yes, vulnerability
(20:38):
is beautiful and it's amazing and it can do wonders
for your relationships, but also be careful who you are
vulnerable with. Is very true, as Natalie said, because everyone
does not deserve your vulnerability exactly. So besides the meditation
and mindfulness, what are some other practices that you've had
to incorporate in your life to help manage them with
(21:00):
your brain lesion?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Well, like you said, the mindfulness meditation. You know a
lot of people have the wrong definition of meditation. They
think it's going to calm you down, when it actually
it's it's helping you have the capacity to experience life.
It's not like life isn't a healthy nervous system isn't
about always rest and peace and just kumbaya. It's being
(21:21):
able to have the capacity to feel the pain, to
feel the life changes, to be able to pivot and adapt,
and so in that, you know, I've had to re
you know, for me, healing is being able to shift
your perception because our nervous system, when it is disregulated,
(21:43):
it is all in negative biases. It's trying to find
all of the problems. Yet when you can find the
regulation when it's being disregulated and look for the possibilities,
But that takes a lot of work and a lot
of self awareness of recognizing that you are triggered or disregulated.
(22:05):
So there's been a lot of bodywork of somatic healing
and the theematic in being able to do dancing, doing art,
doing nature walking. I also am a big fan of
cold plunges of heat and cold, and so the cold
really helps me to regulate and offload a lot of
(22:27):
the stress I may have been holding on and allows
me to come back into my body because there's such
a shock with it that you need to anchor in
your breath to go through this veil that your mind
creates to want to jump out of it and allow
there to be a regulation in adapting to that cold.
(22:49):
It's not fun, it's very uncomfortable. It took me several
years to be able to do these cold plunges or
walk bare feet in the cold. Yet when you do,
there's such an enriching, great relationship with reality, with nature
and with your body and using your body as an instrument,
(23:12):
not disregarding it and chastising it, actually honoring it and
meeting it. You know, with the lesions, my whole life
changed upside down, Like retiring at forty was not in
my plan. Not being able to engage with my twins
full on was very frustrating. So anytime I wasn't able
(23:33):
to do what I could do before I was met
with grief, and when there was that grief, it was
having to re shape my perception of well, what's here
right now that I can appreciate, what is it that
I can be grateful for and appreciate it even when
my mind wanted to shut it down and there's nothing
(23:54):
to be grateful for. It's like you're breathing. You're alive,
even though you may not appreciate your life right now,
you are alive. So when the suicidal ideation would come up,
it was meeting it and allowing it to have space,
yet allowing myself to go through that veil and recognize
the vulnerability. Just doesn't know how to feel that expression
(24:18):
and that depth of helplessness. So there's been a lot
of tools, but it's been always surrounding the body, the
mindset and not rejecting reality.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
No, absolutely, because it's so easy for us to want
to go and hide when things us right. You just
want to get in the bed and pull the covers
over your head and just wait until it all is
all over when.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
And sometimes you need to. Yeah, some sometimes you do
need to right right, just you do. Life has some
big things that go on. Yeah, in your nervous system.
You know, when you are in that fawn or freeze
state or you know, or overwhelm, it's like okay, well
your your nervous system and your body is shutting down
(25:05):
to protect you. So there is a part where yeah,
you are going to be under the covers and you know,
go through that. Yet to piggyback like you were going
to say, you still have to meet yourself to keep
showing up and getting up and making that first up
and moving. And that's why having accountability partners and not
doing this alone will help you. That you can open
(25:28):
up and talk to somebody and let them know what
you're feeling so that they can reflect to you what
you were, what's possible for you, and allow there to
be safety to feel these emotions that are all that
is overwhelming your nervous system with so much turmoil and
so much energy that you don't know how to come
out of this looping or this dense energy.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, no, most definitely. So you created your company Lift Oneself,
and you also have a podcast, so inspired you to
create Lift Oneself.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Well, once I started, you know, coming back into homeostasis
and you know, being released from my neurologist and them
saying like, I don't know how you got the lesions,
and I don't know how the lesions reversed. It gave
me a sense of openness and as I mentioned, like
since I've been young, people would talk to me and
(26:25):
feel seen and feel empowered, and so it just there
was an inner calling of Okay, create this space for
other people that a lot of people think it's on
the outside of them for healing, where they're not being
empowered to really understand themselves, understand their body and their uniqueness.
(26:45):
So I meditated on, okay, if this is what is
needed of me, you know, provide me the path. And
while meditating, that's where lift when self came from. It
was lift the ego, which for me is the defense
mechanisms of the nervervous system that barricade you from vulnerability.
And once those defense mechanisms are surrendered and you can
(27:07):
enter into vulnerability, you're in the oneself, in that one
connection that we're all connected in. So and the reason
why I have the butterfly is a metamorphosis that you know,
it's not just the butterfly, it's understanding the caterpillar has
to eat itself to get to the butterfly, and it's
always a cycle. There's no arrival in this journey. There's
(27:30):
always going to be this part where you're going to
be the caterpillar. You're going to have to eat up
a whole bunch of stuff, and then you're going to
have to eat yourself and turn into goo in this cocoon,
and then to get into being the butterfly. Yet being
the butterfly, you lose your capacity to eat because all
you can do is drink nectar. So there's always going
(27:51):
to be grief and there's going to be rebirth with
things in life, and being able to hold that balance
allows you to serve in still showing up with life.
So lift oneself. I wanted to hold this space, especially
with the podcast, was removing the stigma surrounding mental health,
that we could have open conversations like we're having right now,
(28:14):
where people can see that there's other modalities that they
can access, not just the mainstream of talk therapy, because
for me, talk therapy is great. It does it's part.
Yet you unpack a lot of things. Yet the majority
of people they repack it back into the suitcase. They
don't get rid of the things. And how I mentioned
(28:34):
what talk therapy does is it's like rocking in a
rocking chair. You're doing some movement, but you're not getting anywhere.
You have to get into your body and start feeling
these emotions so that you can relate with yourself better.
And you're not shutting down these emotions because emotions are data,
they're information, they're releasing. And if you had an experience
(28:57):
and you shove down these emotions and didn't let yourself feet, well,
when they come up, it's going to be painful. Yet
just because it's painful, it doesn't mean that you don't
have the capacity to go through that. And when you
have somebody that can mentor you to remind you go
within yourself and you can feel this, You're okay, you're
not alone, you're safe to witness this. And so I
(29:20):
just wanted to be a witness to empower people to
go back within their bodies and get into that connection
within themselves.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Now, you also do energy healing sessions, So how do
you help people navigate their own challenges and embrace resilience
during your energy healing session.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Well, as we did at the beginning of this podcast,
I start them off in a mindful moment, so we
always have this meditation to ground. And as you were
vulnerable and transparent, you had said, I didn't even notice
the tension that was going on, and I could have
led into that to have you unravel a little a
(30:00):
little bit more into that to better understand. Yet in
my sessions, I will intuitively read the energy of what
they're holding on to and allow them to give them
the space that they give themselves permission to feel the energy,
to feel what the body is storing so that it
can be released. And a lot of times in my sessions,
(30:22):
people do release tears because tears are not just sadness.
They're a plethora of all of the emotions that are
going through and it's the communication of things that you're
experiencing that cannot be put into words because it's too vast,
it's too big. So the tears are the language of
(30:42):
the heart, the language of the energy that the body
needs to express, and it doesn't need to be understood,
it's just that it needs a space to have expression
and a release and then all of a sudden, people
are like, Wow, it's like a ton of bricks have
been released from my body. Like I didn't know that
I could be so light in this Yes.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
That's exactly how I was feeling, like I said, Like
you mentioned that that I said that, I was like,
oh my gosh, I hadn't even recognized that I was ten,
you know. And I don't even know why. I mean,
it could just be coming from work today or whatever,
and you know, who knows, but I will I would
be right now lighter.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
But like if we if we're really vulnerable right now,
the state of what's going on right now, we're bombarded
with so much in the media, the things that are
going on in the world, and you being in the
States right now, and everything that's going on politically, and
things are shifting. We energetically feel that even if we
(31:46):
may not listen to certain things, your body is reading
the nervous systems of other people. And we don't even
hold space of allowing our body to release what it's
been in taking from all the interactions that we've been doing.
It's from our day and so when we can the
hold and I just have a gift of my voice
(32:07):
my tone that allows that nervous system to regulate itself,
and it's like is it safe to release? Yeah, it's
safe to release, and that your analytical mind isn't shoving
it back down.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Well, no, you definitely have this gift, Natalie. I mean, I,
like I said, I can't thank you enough for that.
And listeners, if you went through that mindfulness you know
exercise with us, thank you And I hope it was
freeing and liberating for you as well. And I hope
that you know, maybe your heart felt a little lighter
(32:41):
as you you know, went through the exercise as well.
And if you need to, you know, Natalie will share
her contact information at the end of this interview and
you can contact her. And you know, I, of course
I do resilience coaching, so you know, to lift people
up and help them and be a cheer partner and
a cheer coach, you know, a life coach, but cheer
them along and you know, different through different things. But
(33:04):
you know you can contact Natalie if you need that
part and the mindfulness because you also need that in
this journey of resilience through life. For sure.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
What you know when I say energy healing, what the
basis is is feeling your emotions, and a lot of
us don't even we we think are emotions, we don't
feel them.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Well, like you said earlier, when you start crying, and
when you're young and people say stop crying, or I'm
gonna give you something to cry about, or what are
you crying for? I'm guilty of it myself. I have boys, right,
and even you have boys, and we are guilty sometimes.
I don't know about you, but I have of saying
to my boys, well, why are you crying? Like you
need it tough enough?
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Right?
Speaker 1 (33:46):
And now I realize and I recognize me because my teenagers,
because their world is very different from our world, right,
and so they're like, Mom, like it's okay for us
to cry, like we're we're showing our emotions like it's okay.
And I was just like, wow, you know, that's really
cool that you know that my children are young men
(34:08):
that can't say I love you, can't embrace someone, can
embrace another man and our another, you know, friend of theirs,
a boy or you know, and tell them that they
love them and that it's okay to express the emotions
for one another in a safe way, in a safe space,
and so I've learned a lot from them and this
generation because I guess we are doing the social emotional
(34:30):
work for them that we needed and our ancest.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Ignited for us.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Because that's what I was gonna mention. Yeah, even as
world it is still stilled with a lot of hate
and it's going on time right now. It's a little
weary and we got four more, Like you still got
to go through this for three and a half years,
but I know it's gonna happen. But yeah, most definitely
you were gonna say something.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
And that reactivity like to come back to you know,
it's ingrained that boys aren't supposed to cry, and if
we understand nervous systems, you know, create other nervous systems,
and that generational trauma the reaction that we as you know,
African American people of color, we if you go back
(35:19):
and if you understand instinctively, slavery didn't allow for tears
and vulnerability, so that work to allow that to happen.
It viscerally feels like a threat in the body. So
we get a reaction when we see that because it
signals to us that is unsafe. You will be harmed
in the world. I don't know how to allow you
(35:42):
to feel that right still we can connection in our
body right because.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
You'll be perceived as weak, right and they don't want
someone who's weak. We're supposed to be strong and sturdy
and push through. And although we know I have this
podcast about resilience, but sometimes I do, you know under
like but where do we have the conversation where we're
not always you know, hard and carrying the world on
(36:08):
our shoulders, and that we kind of get to live
the soft life sometimes that they say.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
That you see me for me, worror work is allowing
yourself to be soft and opening your heart when you've experienced.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Pain yea, and vulnerable that's it.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Yes, it's really difficult. And the resilience is having the
courage to face the pain, yes, when you we don't
want to, like you know, I know before we had
this call, I shared with you my friend just recently transitioned,
(36:45):
and when she was in hospice for eight days and
even just the two years of me being her you know,
caretaker and being by her side for the cancer journey,
I had to have a lot of courage to face
the pain, to know that she's going to transition and
I don't know how my psyche's going to deal with that.
I don't want that to happen. That took a lot
(37:07):
of resilience and a lot of courage to keep showing
up and not cowarding and wanting to shrink. And when
my mind would want you it was okay, use your
tools and breathe and be in this moment because she's
still alive, but knowing that, oh, death is right here.
(37:27):
So that you know that soft life. We have to
give ourselves that permission to change the narrative that vulnerability
is strength. Yeah, Yet vulnerability doesn't mean to be passive.
We can still give people knows. We can still hold
our boundary and hold and you know, honor our energy.
And when you're giving other people know, it's recognizing you're
(37:48):
finally giving yourself a yes.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Absolutely, well, Natalie, it's hard to believe that this conversation
at our time is Oh my goodness, this has been
such a wonderful conversation. But you have to ask you
before we close out, in your opinion, what is the
best way for someone to start building resilience in the
face of adversity?
Speaker 3 (38:07):
What is the best way feeling your emotions. Yes, feeling
your emotions little by little, allowing yourself to feel them
and let them pass through, not keep shoving them down
or numbing them. Start feeling them so that you can
stretch your capacity, and that that's where the resilience come
(38:29):
is stretching the capacity to experience life and all of
its changes.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Well, thank you Natalie for sharing your incredible story of resilience,
vulnerability and healing with us today and carrying me through
mindfulness be mindfulness exercise, because I feel so differently than
I get at the beginning of this call, so I
really appreciate it. I needed it more than you know.
(38:55):
Your journey is a powerful reminder that even in the
face of don making challenges, you can find strength and purpose.
By embracing your experiences and using them to inspire others,
you are making a meaningful impact in the lives of
those who speak support through lift Oneself, their company, and
your podcasts. So how can listeners find and connect with you?
(39:18):
On my website www dot lift oneself dot com. On there,
I have free meditations, so if they appreciated that mindful moment,
there's a whole bunch that are free on my website.
There's other resources and tools, and if they want to
see if we can do one on one sessions, they
can book us fifteen minute discovery calls and see if
(39:40):
we can work with each other. I'm presently working on
a course so that people can you have better relationship
with their emotions and do that inner work in a
container of community. I'm also, like you said, the podcast
is Lift Oneself, where I have guests around the world,
and I'd love to have you doctor Rowe as a
(40:01):
guest on my podcast to share yeah, your experiences and
bless my listeners. Also, I'm also on Instagram, TikTok and
Facebook Underlift Oneself also, so just putting L I F
T O N E S E LF and you'll be
able to find me. And the majority of people which
(40:21):
we didn't get into and I didn't really address.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Is a lot of people call me mat neat. My
name is Natalie Bedard, yet a lot of people just
call men net. Because when you want to do this
resilience and when you want to do this inner healing,
you need to have play in your life. So it's
getting re engaged with that inner child and that playfulness
of untethering your curiosity so I want to thank you
(40:46):
for honoring me with this conversation and this delight, and
I'm looking forward to having you on my podcast.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Absolutely well, Net, I appreciate your insights on building resilience
and the importance of mindfulness and authentic conversations. I look
forward to seeing how you continue to uplift and empower
others through your work with list oneself. Thank you for
being with me on Life Jack the Resilience Podcast. I
wish you and your family nothing but blessings and abundance.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Please take care you too, and please remember to be
kind to yourself.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Natalie Nat Nat Bedard. Everyone be sure to join me
next time for more uplifting stories and insights on resilience.
Until then, keep pushing forward, embrace the journey, and remember
that every setback can lead to a greater comeback. Doctor
Rowe signing off.
What do you do when life delivers an unexpected diagnosis
that could change everything. For Natalie Bedard, that moment came
with the discovery of brain lesions, a diagnosis that initially
felt overwhelming but ultimately transformed her perspective on light. As
(00:21):
a single parent to three boys, including twins, and a
retired security investigator, Natalie faced the challenge head on, embracing
vulnerability and using her experience as a catalyst for growth. Today,
as an energy healing specialist and the owner of Lift Oneself,
(00:42):
she fosters deep conversations and connections through her podcast and
healing sessions. Listen in on this episode of Life Jack
the Resilience Podcast as we dive into Natalie's inspiring journey
of resilience, healing, and the power of authentic, authentic connection.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Sometimes life gives us lemons, Sometimes it gives us lemonade.
Other times it gives us something entirely out of left
field that makes us say w t F. But no
matter what obstacles come, there is most often a way
out from the other side, and we are once again victorious.
(01:31):
My name is doctor Rome, and you are listening to
my podcast about resilience. Every guest shares a tragedy to
triumph story to give listeners like you the inspiration to
push through every single day. Listen now as my next
guest shares how they were like.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Jack, Hi, Natalie, welcome. Thank you so much for being
a guest on my show. How are you?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I'm well, and I really want to thank you for
allowing me to share this space with your listeners. I
take it very sincerely and deeply because the most valuable
thing we have in this lifetime is our time. So
thank you for allowing me to be a guest and
share my story and have this deep dive of a
(02:21):
conversation with you.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
No is my pleasure, My pleasure. Now for the listeners
who may not know about you, of course, I gave
a little bit of an intro and then I'm sure
that you have your fan base that has tuned into
this episode as well. But can you share just a
little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, you know, you really touched on a lot of it.
I'm a solo parent to three boys. As you said,
there's twins, so my oldest is going to be thirty
in May, and the twins are going to be fifteen
on the ninth of February. So I'm in that teenage stage,
and you know I had to retire almost actually it's
(03:02):
eleven years now.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I just want to say something to the teenager. I
don't know if I shared with if you are aware,
but I have three boys as well, and yes, my
two older ones are in that teenage phase, and Lord
help us, I does have to say. And I don't
know if your boys or you know, maybe not your
your oldest, but at least the twins. I don't know
if they have cell phones, but I tell you that
(03:24):
the cell phone thing is a battle in his house.
And I can tell you that I always try to
figure out why I'm texting them or calling them, but
they're not answering me. But they have the phone in
their hands.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Right or when they have to do not disturb thing
on it, it's like, really, I have to call like
twice to get you this gate keeping stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yes, yes, now they know they don't do not disturb
because of school. And so I said, okay, I get that.
That makes sense. However, you're not in school right now.
You're at home thousands of times, but they have their earbuzzon.
But anyway, I know.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
We relate and even I just got off the phone
with my oldest and he's like, they never answer the
call when I call them, Like they don't only when
they need something all of a sudden they're call. They're
not answering, And I'm like, yeah, I know. It's quite
the generation and I have to look within myself of
growth because I understand what I would have received from
(04:31):
the adults back in my time would not be the
same way that I can with my regulation and breathing.
Sometimes they get a bit of the neurotic mom because
I'm at my capacity. Yet I have to ground myself
of recognizing this is a different way of communicating. We
I didn't have cell phones when I was younger, so
(04:52):
it's like, okay, how do we adjust with this and
find a middle ground in it? But let me tell you,
I have to ground myself with my breath a lot,
a lot, a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So I'm right there with you.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
So like, yeah, like I said, I was a security
investigator and I had to retire from that because of
the brain lesions. I was told I was going to
die when I was hospitalized and I was released without
a diagnosis, So that means without a plan and what
their prognosis for me if I did survive, was I
(05:29):
wasn't going to be able to walk properly, have mental
function properly, and I was going to be dependent on,
you know, assistance of medical devices and everything else. Thankfully,
you know, I had the twins and they were four
when this happened, and anybody that has children, you know,
(05:50):
when they're a young age, did they spark a different
part of life in you, A different part of vitality,
a different part of curiosity if you allow yourself to
surrender and allow yourself to release the bs. And when
I say bs, some people are going to think I'm
saying the vulgar part. Yet it's the belief systems. There's
(06:12):
a lot of belief systems that have as conditioned into
kind of a prison of what we think life has
to be. And children do not have that yet. So
that's why they can enrage us, frustrate us, make us drained,
because they're just engaging with the moments and not all
(06:33):
of these conditions. So thankfully, you know, the twins came
into this world as disruptors, so they always challenged all
of the conformity and being domesticated and questioned things. So
it allowed me to engage in a lot of things.
And you know, a year after this incident with being
(06:56):
diagnosed with the brain lesions, I discovered meditator and that's
opened up so much within my nervous system that was
stored because there was so much childhood and childhood trauma
that then just you know, it's like a tumbleweed. It
just keeps collecting if you don't address the trauma, and
(07:17):
it just keeps separating you from self and keep separating
you from your authentic self. So what meditation allowed me
is to do the somatic releases of my nervous system
and allow my body just to express and release these
energetic charges that had been stored for decades for me
to reconnect with the self and reconnect inside my body,
(07:40):
which you know, I still have to go through the
process because when you have experienced pain in your body,
it's very difficult to go back and trust your body
when it's the thing that's causing you pain. So to
rewire that relationship and ask the body what it needs,
What is it trying to signal to me that is
(08:01):
that I can remove. You know, there's some things that
you won't be able to remove yet. There are a
lot of things in our lifestyle and the way that
we ruminate and we create psychological suffering for ourselves or
deny ourselves from feeling our authentic emotions, which taxes the body,
(08:22):
and the body keeps score because emotions are simply energy.
It's something that your psyche has processed. Yet you know,
when we were young, when we were crying, most of
us were told don't cry, or give me something to
cry for, so we didn't even know how to feel
these dense emotions in an authentic way. We were told
to feel something other than what we were feeling. So
(08:45):
then that added doubt, and we didn't know how to
trust ourselves, didn't know how to trust our body.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
No, absolutely, And I love what you said that we
have to release the DX. But like you said, it's
the belief systems, and I hardly agree with you because
sometimes we don't understand the reactions that people have to
certain events or certain things that may be said, and
we don't see eye to eye, but we all have
(09:10):
our own belief systems, and that belief system guides our
behavior and how we respond to things. So I like
how to phrase that.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Now?
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I know you do a lot of breath work. You
mentioned it earlier that you do a lot of breath
work working with your children, and I think I've had
to do a lot of breath work as well, even
just life in general. Yeah, but I know that you
do certain things in you can we do maybe one
of the pecciallyisms.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Yeah, I would love if you would join me in
a mindful moment, and we can also you know, invite
the listeners because many people talk about, you know, taking
a moment, yet when are we really engaging to bring
this in our every day? And so I would be
honored if we can do a mindful moment and ground
ourselves so that we can open ourselves even further into
(10:01):
being vulnerable and open with this conversation now.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Absolutely, And if you are listening in your car, because
I know a lot of you listen to this podcast
while you're traveling to and from destinations, So if you are,
I would say go ahead and just pause it and
then pick it up later when you make it to
a place where you can sit and be focused. You
know that you're not driving or and you're not able,
so you're not in an area where you're going to
be distracted. Because I tell you doing this breath work
(10:25):
with Natalie right here. It really is beneficial. And I
hope that you don't just do it with us on
this during this episode, that you do it pretty much
throughout your life. So anyway, so if you are driving,
just hit pause and just come back to the episode later.
But those of you who are in a safe space
and you can do this breath this mindfulness medification with us,
(10:49):
please please join us.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
All right, thanks, so thank you for that that caveat,
because I do the same thing. Safety first, so please
don't close your eyes if you're driving or needing your
visual so Doctor Rowe, yes, exactly. So Doctor Rowe will
ask you and myself to get comfortable in our seating
and if it's safe to do so, I'm going to
(11:12):
ask you to gently close your eyes and you're going
to begin breathing in and out through your nose, and
you're going to bring your awareness to watching your breath
go in and out through your nose. You're not going
to try and control your breast. You're just going to
bring the awareness of watching the rhythm and allowing it
(11:34):
to guide you into your body. There may be some
stun faf feeling, Okay, let them come up. You're safe
to feel surrender, the need to control, really the need
to resist and ens.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Not yet fofol mm hmm bring your way. Yeah, you've
been the way.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Mm hm.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
M m.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Mm hmmm, yeah, mm hmmm mm hmmm.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
I'm taking while m wa.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Mm hmm. Sally through.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, oh yeah, doing wonderful. You know, Natalie, I didn't
even realize I was as tense.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
As I was.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Amazing. Thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
One of the things that's difficult for people to do
is to be vulnerable. I was vulnerable right now in
this moment. I've never done breathwork in practice during a
podcast episode. This is wonderful. So you had to learn
to be vulnerable and accept that vulnerability was okay. So
(13:38):
can you explain kind of how vulnerability has played a
role in both your personal life and as you've been
doing your work with lift oneself.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
The vulnerability has been my superpower. Thankfully, since I've been young,
I've been pretty authentic and I was always told that
was quirky or kind of weird. Yet I always had
people wanting to share their most vulnerable stories to me,
and I couldn't understand, like what is it about me
(14:12):
that you're going to tell me something that you've never
told anybody yet. What I've recognized is the vulnerability allows
us to be seen in a world that we feel
that we have to armor up and paint ourselves in
a certain way to feel that we belong. We've done
and we kind of guard the vulnerability. Yet once we
(14:37):
can be in our vulnerability, that's where our authenticity is.
You know, the buzzword right now is being our authentic self.
Yet to be your authentic self requires you to feel
your authentic emotions, and that's where vulnerability is. And once
you can start to allow yourself to feel those emotions,
(15:01):
to hold space for it, that's where you have such
a most deep enriching relationship with self. Yeah, within yourself,
And once you can do that, you can then begin
to listen to other people, not judge them, be able
to listen. And just like me, you may not be
(15:22):
aware of something, or just like me, you're making mistakes,
or just like me, you're successful in this, or just
like me, you may not even see your light. Yet,
the vulnerability requires you to go within yourself and be
honest with yourself, which if we're really honest about it.
(15:43):
That is really a lot of warrior work to do,
because we want to be perceived as perfect as all together,
that we don't make mistakes because of the conditionings that
we have, that if we are these things, we're not
good enough. Yet, Once we can be in our worst,
not intellectualize and think, oh, I got it all together,
(16:06):
actually feel it in our body that we are safe
in this moment just as we are, then we can
hold the space of the messiness of life, and we
can engage in having relationships and relating with each other,
not attacking each other.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
No, absolutely, absolutely. You know it's hard to be vulnerable,
but I do believe that it's very streeme to be
vulnerable when we hold on to so many things and
keep ourselves guarded and propected. I don't know if it
really allows others to get to know us. I know
(16:48):
I was a much more guarded person when I was
younger in my professional career. With my coworkers, I just
look like I just don't want to share much about
my life, you know, I don't think it's any of
their business. Then I learned when I started opening myself
up and sharing, not you know, being careful to not
be an oversharer. That's also not good. But I learned
(17:10):
that once I opened up a little bit more to
allow people in and to allow people to get to
know me, and really it it wonders on me building
relationships with people it at work outside of work, just
by being vulnerable, just by saying, hey, I don't have
it all together, and you know, saying hey, I do
(17:32):
make mistakes. I you know, I am a person that
a lot of people think I do have it all together.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Don't you Like it's like some of the pedestals that
other people put on you. It's like, brilliant if you
only saw a sneak peak of what my life looks like.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And it's like there are other people that when I say, like, no,
this is what I've gone through, like it wasn't that bad,
You're fine, you haven't gone through and things like that,
And I was like, yeah, I have, like I really
really have. I just haven't shared it, you know, out
in the world. I mean I have now I'm now
I'm being very very vulnerable with this. So I've shared
a lot of things about my life and me and
(18:12):
my children and past relationships and my family. But if
it helps someone, I'm I'm with it, and I can
be as vulnerable as I need to be.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Where we're talking about vulnerability and it sounds real easy,
and for the listener that's like, yeah, that sounds real easy,
But I'm not doing that. I get you. If there's
not safety there, you aren't to bring your vulnerability out
there because there are people that will harm your vulnerability,
and your nervous system can detect certain things. We have
(18:44):
been told not to trust our intuition or our gut instincts.
Yet when we can listen to that and we can
honor our body, then it can start to disarm. Yet,
if you are going to go against your nervous system,
that vulnera it will not be able to be revealed.
So it takes a lot of work to be able
(19:05):
to understand your body, understand your nervous system, and allow
yourself to regulate, to acknowledge the fear of feeling your
feelings and revealing secrets or things about yourself or even
your naked truth with people. Yet it's recognizing that when
I reveal this to this person and I've created some
(19:26):
sense of safety, the biggest thing is not what they're perceiving.
It's that I don't separate from self within myself when
the turmoil of emotion start coming up, Because when we
feel embarrassed, when we feel rejected, when we feel abandoned,
there's this tsunomi of energy and turmoil and overwhelm that
(19:48):
goes on in our psyche and in our body, and
it's defining tools to be able to navigate that.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
And I think that's what prohibits people from being vulnerable.
It's the they don't have the trust in the relationship
with the person that you know they would like to
be vulnerable with. I mean, just you got to have
this trust. Like like you said, everybody, you can't hold
your you can't give your vulnerability to everyone because some
(20:15):
people will weaponize what you tell them, and so you
do have to be careful. You do have to use
your intuition. And I love that you said that for
the listeners because there are I have young listeners out
there who are still navigating you know, life and you know,
trying to figure out their career and trying to figure
out relationships as a young adult. And they we do
want you all out there to know that, yes, vulnerability
(20:38):
is beautiful and it's amazing and it can do wonders
for your relationships, but also be careful who you are
vulnerable with. Is very true, as Natalie said, because everyone
does not deserve your vulnerability exactly. So besides the meditation
and mindfulness, what are some other practices that you've had
to incorporate in your life to help manage them with
(21:00):
your brain lesion?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Well, like you said, the mindfulness meditation. You know a
lot of people have the wrong definition of meditation. They
think it's going to calm you down, when it actually
it's it's helping you have the capacity to experience life.
It's not like life isn't a healthy nervous system isn't
about always rest and peace and just kumbaya. It's being
(21:21):
able to have the capacity to feel the pain, to
feel the life changes, to be able to pivot and adapt,
and so in that, you know, I've had to re
you know, for me, healing is being able to shift
your perception because our nervous system, when it is disregulated,
(21:43):
it is all in negative biases. It's trying to find
all of the problems. Yet when you can find the
regulation when it's being disregulated and look for the possibilities,
But that takes a lot of work and a lot
of self awareness of recognizing that you are triggered or disregulated.
(22:05):
So there's been a lot of bodywork of somatic healing
and the theematic in being able to do dancing, doing art,
doing nature walking. I also am a big fan of
cold plunges of heat and cold, and so the cold
really helps me to regulate and offload a lot of
(22:27):
the stress I may have been holding on and allows
me to come back into my body because there's such
a shock with it that you need to anchor in
your breath to go through this veil that your mind
creates to want to jump out of it and allow
there to be a regulation in adapting to that cold.
(22:49):
It's not fun, it's very uncomfortable. It took me several
years to be able to do these cold plunges or
walk bare feet in the cold. Yet when you do,
there's such an enriching, great relationship with reality, with nature
and with your body and using your body as an instrument,
(23:12):
not disregarding it and chastising it, actually honoring it and
meeting it. You know, with the lesions, my whole life
changed upside down, Like retiring at forty was not in
my plan. Not being able to engage with my twins
full on was very frustrating. So anytime I wasn't able
(23:33):
to do what I could do before I was met
with grief, and when there was that grief, it was
having to re shape my perception of well, what's here
right now that I can appreciate, what is it that
I can be grateful for and appreciate it even when
my mind wanted to shut it down and there's nothing
(23:54):
to be grateful for. It's like you're breathing. You're alive,
even though you may not appreciate your life right now,
you are alive. So when the suicidal ideation would come up,
it was meeting it and allowing it to have space,
yet allowing myself to go through that veil and recognize
the vulnerability. Just doesn't know how to feel that expression
(24:18):
and that depth of helplessness. So there's been a lot
of tools, but it's been always surrounding the body, the
mindset and not rejecting reality.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
No, absolutely, because it's so easy for us to want
to go and hide when things us right. You just
want to get in the bed and pull the covers
over your head and just wait until it all is
all over when.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
And sometimes you need to. Yeah, some sometimes you do
need to right right, just you do. Life has some
big things that go on. Yeah, in your nervous system.
You know, when you are in that fawn or freeze
state or you know, or overwhelm, it's like okay, well
your your nervous system and your body is shutting down
(25:05):
to protect you. So there is a part where yeah,
you are going to be under the covers and you know,
go through that. Yet to piggyback like you were going
to say, you still have to meet yourself to keep
showing up and getting up and making that first up
and moving. And that's why having accountability partners and not
doing this alone will help you. That you can open
(25:28):
up and talk to somebody and let them know what
you're feeling so that they can reflect to you what
you were, what's possible for you, and allow there to
be safety to feel these emotions that are all that
is overwhelming your nervous system with so much turmoil and
so much energy that you don't know how to come
out of this looping or this dense energy.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, no, most definitely. So you created your company Lift Oneself,
and you also have a podcast, so inspired you to
create Lift Oneself.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Well, once I started, you know, coming back into homeostasis
and you know, being released from my neurologist and them
saying like, I don't know how you got the lesions,
and I don't know how the lesions reversed. It gave
me a sense of openness and as I mentioned, like
since I've been young, people would talk to me and
(26:25):
feel seen and feel empowered, and so it just there
was an inner calling of Okay, create this space for
other people that a lot of people think it's on
the outside of them for healing, where they're not being
empowered to really understand themselves, understand their body and their uniqueness.
(26:45):
So I meditated on, okay, if this is what is
needed of me, you know, provide me the path. And
while meditating, that's where lift when self came from. It
was lift the ego, which for me is the defense
mechanisms of the nervervous system that barricade you from vulnerability.
And once those defense mechanisms are surrendered and you can
(27:07):
enter into vulnerability, you're in the oneself, in that one
connection that we're all connected in. So and the reason
why I have the butterfly is a metamorphosis that you know,
it's not just the butterfly, it's understanding the caterpillar has
to eat itself to get to the butterfly, and it's
always a cycle. There's no arrival in this journey. There's
(27:30):
always going to be this part where you're going to
be the caterpillar. You're going to have to eat up
a whole bunch of stuff, and then you're going to
have to eat yourself and turn into goo in this cocoon,
and then to get into being the butterfly. Yet being
the butterfly, you lose your capacity to eat because all
you can do is drink nectar. So there's always going
(27:51):
to be grief and there's going to be rebirth with
things in life, and being able to hold that balance
allows you to serve in still showing up with life.
So lift oneself. I wanted to hold this space, especially
with the podcast, was removing the stigma surrounding mental health,
that we could have open conversations like we're having right now,
(28:14):
where people can see that there's other modalities that they
can access, not just the mainstream of talk therapy, because
for me, talk therapy is great. It does it's part.
Yet you unpack a lot of things. Yet the majority
of people they repack it back into the suitcase. They
don't get rid of the things. And how I mentioned
(28:34):
what talk therapy does is it's like rocking in a
rocking chair. You're doing some movement, but you're not getting anywhere.
You have to get into your body and start feeling
these emotions so that you can relate with yourself better.
And you're not shutting down these emotions because emotions are data,
they're information, they're releasing. And if you had an experience
(28:57):
and you shove down these emotions and didn't let yourself feet, well,
when they come up, it's going to be painful. Yet
just because it's painful, it doesn't mean that you don't
have the capacity to go through that. And when you
have somebody that can mentor you to remind you go
within yourself and you can feel this, You're okay, you're
not alone, you're safe to witness this. And so I
(29:20):
just wanted to be a witness to empower people to
go back within their bodies and get into that connection
within themselves.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Now, you also do energy healing sessions, So how do
you help people navigate their own challenges and embrace resilience
during your energy healing session.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Well, as we did at the beginning of this podcast,
I start them off in a mindful moment, so we
always have this meditation to ground. And as you were
vulnerable and transparent, you had said, I didn't even notice
the tension that was going on, and I could have
led into that to have you unravel a little a
(30:00):
little bit more into that to better understand. Yet in
my sessions, I will intuitively read the energy of what
they're holding on to and allow them to give them
the space that they give themselves permission to feel the energy,
to feel what the body is storing so that it
can be released. And a lot of times in my sessions,
(30:22):
people do release tears because tears are not just sadness.
They're a plethora of all of the emotions that are
going through and it's the communication of things that you're
experiencing that cannot be put into words because it's too vast,
it's too big. So the tears are the language of
(30:42):
the heart, the language of the energy that the body
needs to express, and it doesn't need to be understood,
it's just that it needs a space to have expression
and a release and then all of a sudden, people
are like, Wow, it's like a ton of bricks have
been released from my body. Like I didn't know that
I could be so light in this Yes.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
That's exactly how I was feeling, like I said, Like
you mentioned that that I said that, I was like,
oh my gosh, I hadn't even recognized that I was ten,
you know. And I don't even know why. I mean,
it could just be coming from work today or whatever,
and you know, who knows, but I will I would
be right now lighter.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
But like if we if we're really vulnerable right now,
the state of what's going on right now, we're bombarded
with so much in the media, the things that are
going on in the world, and you being in the
States right now, and everything that's going on politically, and
things are shifting. We energetically feel that even if we
(31:46):
may not listen to certain things, your body is reading
the nervous systems of other people. And we don't even
hold space of allowing our body to release what it's
been in taking from all the interactions that we've been doing.
It's from our day and so when we can the
hold and I just have a gift of my voice
(32:07):
my tone that allows that nervous system to regulate itself,
and it's like is it safe to release? Yeah, it's
safe to release, and that your analytical mind isn't shoving
it back down.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Well, no, you definitely have this gift, Natalie. I mean, I,
like I said, I can't thank you enough for that.
And listeners, if you went through that mindfulness you know
exercise with us, thank you And I hope it was
freeing and liberating for you as well. And I hope
that you know, maybe your heart felt a little lighter
(32:41):
as you you know, went through the exercise as well.
And if you need to, you know, Natalie will share
her contact information at the end of this interview and
you can contact her. And you know, I, of course
I do resilience coaching, so you know, to lift people
up and help them and be a cheer partner and
a cheer coach, you know, a life coach, but cheer
them along and you know, different through different things. But
(33:04):
you know you can contact Natalie if you need that
part and the mindfulness because you also need that in
this journey of resilience through life. For sure.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
What you know when I say energy healing, what the
basis is is feeling your emotions, and a lot of
us don't even we we think are emotions, we don't
feel them.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Well, like you said earlier, when you start crying, and
when you're young and people say stop crying, or I'm
gonna give you something to cry about, or what are
you crying for? I'm guilty of it myself. I have boys, right,
and even you have boys, and we are guilty sometimes.
I don't know about you, but I have of saying
to my boys, well, why are you crying? Like you
need it tough enough?
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Right?
Speaker 1 (33:46):
And now I realize and I recognize me because my teenagers,
because their world is very different from our world, right,
and so they're like, Mom, like it's okay for us
to cry, like we're we're showing our emotions like it's okay.
And I was just like, wow, you know, that's really
cool that you know that my children are young men
(34:08):
that can't say I love you, can't embrace someone, can
embrace another man and our another, you know, friend of theirs,
a boy or you know, and tell them that they
love them and that it's okay to express the emotions
for one another in a safe way, in a safe space,
and so I've learned a lot from them and this
generation because I guess we are doing the social emotional
(34:30):
work for them that we needed and our ancest.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Ignited for us.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Because that's what I was gonna mention. Yeah, even as
world it is still stilled with a lot of hate
and it's going on time right now. It's a little
weary and we got four more, Like you still got
to go through this for three and a half years,
but I know it's gonna happen. But yeah, most definitely
you were gonna say something.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
And that reactivity like to come back to you know,
it's ingrained that boys aren't supposed to cry, and if
we understand nervous systems, you know, create other nervous systems,
and that generational trauma the reaction that we as you know,
African American people of color, we if you go back
(35:19):
and if you understand instinctively, slavery didn't allow for tears
and vulnerability, so that work to allow that to happen.
It viscerally feels like a threat in the body. So
we get a reaction when we see that because it
signals to us that is unsafe. You will be harmed
in the world. I don't know how to allow you
(35:42):
to feel that right still we can connection in our
body right because.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
You'll be perceived as weak, right and they don't want
someone who's weak. We're supposed to be strong and sturdy
and push through. And although we know I have this
podcast about resilience, but sometimes I do, you know under
like but where do we have the conversation where we're
not always you know, hard and carrying the world on
(36:08):
our shoulders, and that we kind of get to live
the soft life sometimes that they say.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
That you see me for me, worror work is allowing
yourself to be soft and opening your heart when you've experienced.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Pain yea, and vulnerable that's it.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Yes, it's really difficult. And the resilience is having the
courage to face the pain, yes, when you we don't
want to, like you know, I know before we had
this call, I shared with you my friend just recently transitioned,
(36:45):
and when she was in hospice for eight days and
even just the two years of me being her you know,
caretaker and being by her side for the cancer journey,
I had to have a lot of courage to face
the pain, to know that she's going to transition and
I don't know how my psyche's going to deal with that.
I don't want that to happen. That took a lot
(37:07):
of resilience and a lot of courage to keep showing
up and not cowarding and wanting to shrink. And when
my mind would want you it was okay, use your
tools and breathe and be in this moment because she's
still alive, but knowing that, oh, death is right here.
(37:27):
So that you know that soft life. We have to
give ourselves that permission to change the narrative that vulnerability
is strength. Yeah, Yet vulnerability doesn't mean to be passive.
We can still give people knows. We can still hold
our boundary and hold and you know, honor our energy.
And when you're giving other people know, it's recognizing you're
(37:48):
finally giving yourself a yes.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Absolutely, well, Natalie, it's hard to believe that this conversation
at our time is Oh my goodness, this has been
such a wonderful conversation. But you have to ask you
before we close out, in your opinion, what is the
best way for someone to start building resilience in the
face of adversity?
Speaker 3 (38:07):
What is the best way feeling your emotions. Yes, feeling
your emotions little by little, allowing yourself to feel them
and let them pass through, not keep shoving them down
or numbing them. Start feeling them so that you can
stretch your capacity, and that that's where the resilience come
(38:29):
is stretching the capacity to experience life and all of
its changes.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Well, thank you Natalie for sharing your incredible story of resilience,
vulnerability and healing with us today and carrying me through
mindfulness be mindfulness exercise, because I feel so differently than
I get at the beginning of this call, so I
really appreciate it. I needed it more than you know.
(38:55):
Your journey is a powerful reminder that even in the
face of don making challenges, you can find strength and purpose.
By embracing your experiences and using them to inspire others,
you are making a meaningful impact in the lives of
those who speak support through lift Oneself, their company, and
your podcasts. So how can listeners find and connect with you?
(39:18):
On my website www dot lift oneself dot com. On there,
I have free meditations, so if they appreciated that mindful moment,
there's a whole bunch that are free on my website.
There's other resources and tools, and if they want to
see if we can do one on one sessions, they
can book us fifteen minute discovery calls and see if
(39:40):
we can work with each other. I'm presently working on
a course so that people can you have better relationship
with their emotions and do that inner work in a
container of community. I'm also, like you said, the podcast
is Lift Oneself, where I have guests around the world,
and I'd love to have you doctor Rowe as a
(40:01):
guest on my podcast to share yeah, your experiences and
bless my listeners. Also, I'm also on Instagram, TikTok and
Facebook Underlift Oneself also, so just putting L I F
T O N E S E LF and you'll be
able to find me. And the majority of people which
(40:21):
we didn't get into and I didn't really address.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Is a lot of people call me mat neat. My
name is Natalie Bedard, yet a lot of people just
call men net. Because when you want to do this
resilience and when you want to do this inner healing,
you need to have play in your life. So it's
getting re engaged with that inner child and that playfulness
of untethering your curiosity so I want to thank you
(40:46):
for honoring me with this conversation and this delight, and
I'm looking forward to having you on my podcast.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Absolutely well, Net, I appreciate your insights on building resilience
and the importance of mindfulness and authentic conversations. I look
forward to seeing how you continue to uplift and empower
others through your work with list oneself. Thank you for
being with me on Life Jack the Resilience Podcast. I
wish you and your family nothing but blessings and abundance.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Please take care you too, and please remember to be
kind to yourself.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Natalie Nat Nat Bedard. Everyone be sure to join me
next time for more uplifting stories and insights on resilience.
Until then, keep pushing forward, embrace the journey, and remember
that every setback can lead to a greater comeback. Doctor
Rowe signing off.
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