Heart of Connection Podcast

The sense of nature and community connection calling me home Great to connect by the magic of the Web.  Andrew introduced himself and his working life in Social Work and Counselling (Southern Beaches Counselling) are his passion for working in communities for past 20 years.  Andrew and I trained together with our ATEP (Association of Transpersonal Experiential Psychotherapies).  He is a passionate gardener and Dad with a beautiful 4-year-old son.  Live in an ideal location in Tasmania moved there 2 years ago.  Tasmania is home to Andrew having grown up being born and bred.  He moved to Melbourne to study and work, a lot of Tasmanians in doing the course of their lives. The landscape and community kept calling me back home.  Could you describe the calling as a connection?  Absolutely, there is something about the mountains way the light falls, the shape of the landscape feels like home.  Like a coming home? Yep. In your body all of the above, definitely heart connection, it’s definitely cellular something that infuses my being and mental and psychological too and emotional.  It’s a land of opposite great light and great darkness here too and the land holds that energy.   This Connection creates authenticity and grounded Self Does it facilitate a connection to yourself?  It’s a good question, certainly feel a sense of belonging, a  groundedness, a sense of authenticity, feeling more authentic in myself its landscape, it’s the people, it’s the climate, it’s the way I live here. Brings forth all those connections. What does the connection to self, mean to you?  I don’t really think about self particularly anymore not a concept that I am relating to very strongly.  Do I have a self? Perhaps. Do I have an ego? Perhaps and at the same time, they don’t really exist they are labels because useful as they point to certain things.  Not really. What happens at a heart level for you?  Where does that take you, where does it resonate with you?  At heart level, there is a sense of peace and simplicity.  Is there the opposite to that in the heart as well?  Not really, no.  If still talking about connection to place – it’s at a deep level living simply and experiencing life as it, just a clear peaceful simplicity. From Calling Connection of Place to the Person From place to person more to you?  What happens, where does the heart of connection fit into the person into you?  How often coming into your Self/person, the heart representation of an emotion, a person’s love, vulnerability at heart level maybe. How do you connect to all of that manifestation?  All those things are there, fear, vulnerability anger, all the emotions.  I guess tends to take me away from that would be overwork, over-analyzing, over-thinking and what brings me back into that connection are the simple things in life.  Bushing walking, getting into nature, chopping firewood in the morning, lighting fire, maybe cooking a meal from scratch getting all ingredients – Just the act of living life in a wholesome way. Busyness takes us away from our heart of connection In a wholesome way seems to lessen the busyness? It does.  The Podcast conversations are showing how busyness takes us away from the heart of connection.  Absolutely, busyness, stress, those sought of things, seeking recognition striving for something outside of myself I find it takes me away from the heart of connection. It is a challenge as we live in a capitalist society and have to pay bills.

Open Heart is the Heart of Connection Wonderful to introduce Vicki Newman, from Mackay, a mother of 4 children and work in my own clinic, Connectology Natural Health Center and enjoy life as much as I can.  In North Queensland about days drive from Brisbane and a day’s drive to Cairns.  A lovely temperature at 24, beautiful weather.  We poor Victorians miss out on it – LOL.  Cold down here but we get through it. What does Heart of Connection mean to you?  Remaining open which can be difficult when we get triggered and there is pain and want to close over and disconnect.  Understand openness which is different to vulnerability – give choice when I am contracting back from someone and have a reaction to something.  Giving myself space and time to look into it. Space, time and silence to look within. How do you look into it?  I suppose giving self-space and time and space and still nothing else to listen to my own chatter.  Understanding what hurt or pain might be buried there could be fear it could be guilt and lots of different things that can close me off.  And loving myself and It’s okay doing that as a person. In the understanding is that a healing thing? – Sometimes it’s a recognition, it is a past pain and do I really need to react from it now.  Sometimes it is a recognition of a dilemma or difficulty and mindfully navigate it.  Because I’m not out of it yet.  It is healing in a way it takes pressure off my body to carry trauma to carry tension. Connecting to our pain in my body – the body doesn’t lie Are you connecting to it – the pain the wound?  To the pain?  Yeah, usually in my body the body I think the body never lies it carries what it carries.  It keeps score that our brain and thinking can’t – sometimes going down into the body emotion of something – often it will show up as a pain or discomfort in my body.  Do like working with body-oriented psychotherapies Do you go past it?- it does it change – Yes, I think it is the connection to it – just being connected to it allows it to change the connection at the beginning.  I think it is the connection to it that allows it to change. Is the connection like a nourishment a loving kindness?  It is all those things. A gentle holding in a loving way.  Is that giving it what it needed back then?  Sometimes not, sometimes that comes later. Sometimes there’s an acknowledgment that I need to enact something in my life and that helps heals it further.  Allowing it to evolve, to find the need and then to start living and giving myself f permission to understand what that is and give it to myself, look for it out in the world, live it out in the world. The Broader Base to Live Life From More happiness, I can feel more connected to other people, contentment, I feel like a broader base to live life from.  From a body perspective where might that be in your body?  I suppose that Is from a Soul level that one – I just have a broader capacity that helps me live better, feels good, and it feels comf

Connecting to the Heart of Peace, Freedom and Love Is a counsellor and I was lucky enough to be a student with Mark (me).  Started my private practice Soul Pristine Counselling after I finished my degree 2 half years ago and it is going really well.  Amazing working and I love it. Helping people see people grow and change and get to know themselves and connecting to themselves is powerful.  So it is the learning to explore all feelings of the heart from love to our hurts. Sitting with people in the tough times is a privilege.  It can be triggering something in you as well.  Yes, it can be and that is reality and that other peoples stories can trigger us.  Sometimes its positive thing as when we do we truly relate to someone at that level – it is pure empathy and love of their journey. Where does the pure empathy come from in the body?  In the heart.  How much of mental illness is derived from heart stuff?  Probably a lot more than we know and realise. Children want to be approved of and validated.  What happens to children when they don’t get what they need? What impact does this trauma have on the neural wiring and self-development? Connecting At A Heart Level How do you connect to yourself at a heart level?  That probably a tough question to put into words.  Sometimes need to recognise what’s in your heart and what impact that is having on you whether it is positive or negative.  Both of them are in there!  I wonder does the negative serve as a block in your heart?  Yes it does block. It makes things really difficult and probably when you are in that space that it can also harder to sit with other people who are in that space as well.  Recognising the Pain in the Heart To Heal  Having moments where I am recognising it what am I going to do about this rather than just hide it or avoid it.  What is the cost? Pushing things aside they don’t stay pushed aside, they need attention and healing.  When they come back they are less painful.  Can come back – dealt with less painful – is there a thread?  I think, recognising what has been really hurtful and important to take time to explore the pain and learn from it.  To learn from it and heal from it? We can victimise it.  We can have a victim moment, recognise we are and then move on. Healing At a Heart Level brings a peace In the healing what is the result of the healing at a heart level?  I say to clients that the hardest things we go through in our lives teaches us the biggest lessons.  Certain things have happened in my life.  The healing is most probably ‘acceptance’ of what sits right there.  At what level of acceptance?  Is it an intellectual, emotional, mental, or spiritual acceptance – I like to think of acceptance at all those levels? What do you experience inside yourself, your sense of being?  I get a more of a sense of peace about everything.  I am feeling now. It’s a nice place.  You know, I could see you just accessed the peace then?  Yes, how often do you remind yourself to access this place?  I want to be there more often. What do you put in place in life in each day to remind yourself?  Is it always there? I have the thought process to sit with it, I know that sound silly to think about a feeling something.  Mindfulness is obviously amazing.

Soul Sings Through My Open Connected Heart Gidget is originally from Tasmania and proud of it. It is a beautiful place.  I have been here since I was 25 years old.  Worked at Ford for a while.  Started teaching swimming and had my two children.  When my youngest went to school I went to back teaching as a swim teacher.  Teach a lot of young kids 6mths to 5 years.  I can do school age or adult but choose to focus on the younger children. I am in my soul element teaching swimming to young children.  I need to have a lot of patience for teaching young children as everyone is different.  You can jump from kids who are confident to those who are not so confident. There are also kids who are scared.  From my experience, I can now judge their experiences or ability within the first 20 seconds of seeing them. Building Their Trust In Time provides A Heart Reward I find it very rewarding and the biggest reward is to have the scared little ones and building and gain their trust.  When they can’t do something and when they thought they couldn’t do it and then over time they can!  That what makes me happy as a swim teacher. Is the connection to these young children in a felt sense?  I think I usually no matter what the age – I give them space allow them to feel comfortable without me approaching their personal space. I have found it grows from there.  Really enjoy the reward it is amazing. The reward of them putting their faces under the water and being so proud of themselves.  That is them doing it when they are comfortable doing it.  Safety is prime in swimming.  We go to the deep pool and some fear it.  But after 3 weeks they ask to go over and want to go over.  Important to give them the life skills around a swimming pool. Gidget, I could see the joy of your connection in your eyes and there is such passion there as you describe the teaching. Meaning of Heart of Connection The concept of the Podcast – I think just getting in touch with what makes you happy.  Happiness if you doing what you love.  It makes your heart happy and it radiates from the inside out.  To be able to have room to do that and be comfortable enough.  I believe we are pushed down and not enabled to grow.  It is in the growth where you find yourself.  It makes your soul sing and your heart sing – it takes the time to do that. Happiness Is Opening Her Heart and Our Soul Sings I don’t make the time as I would like to and I don’t want to say I shouldn’t.  I had a property on 2 acres out of town and it was a big 30 square house and I found it hard to find the time.  In the last 12 months thinking of myself, what I would like and what makes me happy.  I use to find time for myself and my heart has been hidden for a while. Coming Out Of Hiding and Connected Heart Opens Up Scary to start off with.  To come out – you hide for a reason and you stay hidden f