Slow Flow with Sonia - Episode 2
Showgirl Shaman: Kellita Maloof on Burlesque as a Spiritual Practice
What if the most sacred thing you could do for another person is simply witness them?
This week I'm joined by Kellita Maloof, performing and teaching artist, embodiment facilitator, and self-described "showgirl shaman." Kellita's medium is conscious burlesque, but her work is really about ritual, healing, and helping people come home to their true selves.
We met years ago online - she's in San Francisco, I'm in the UK, and we've never met in person - and that's exactly where this conversation begins: what it means to bring intention and attention into a video call, and how "the degree to which I feel you would be different, but not more" than meeting in the flesh.
From there we go deep into:
Why witnessing, not analysing, not evaluating, is the doorway to healing, and how Kellita teaches audiences to witness before anyone performs
The difference between the "instrumental brain" (am I getting what I want?) and the "relational brain" (what does it feel like to be me, here, with you?)
Her signature program, Burlesque From the Inside Out, and why burlesque, for her, has nothing to do with removing clothing and everything to do with becoming more visible to yourself
Consent with your own self: learning to trust and follow what's true in your body moment to moment, even mid-performance
Individuation, spiritual bypassing, and why "the glass ceiling on a spiritual life" can't be transcended without doing the inner work first
And - because you asked for it - a live shimmy lesson, hips to shoulders to jazz hands, with Kellita explaining the "dusting" each one does for body and spirit.
Subscribers on Substack can also watch the video of Kellita and I shimmying together.
A practice to try: Next time you're witnessing someone - at work, at home, in the grocery store queue - invite your inner analyser to sit down. Just notice: what's one physical sensation, and one emotion, that arises in you? That's the whole practice.
About Kellita Maloof: Kellita is the founder of Showgirl Awakening, a San Francisco-based mentorship and performance practice for people ready to be seen on their own terms. A TEDx speaker whose work has been featured by NBC, Fox, and Dance Magazine, Kellita believes our greatest gift to the world is simply the beauty of being seen, and has spent years helping people rediscover that through movement, ritual, and conscious burlesque.
Instagram and Facebook @kellitatheshowgirlshaman
www.showgirlawakening.com
Work with Sonia: I offer deeper, one to one, spiritual direction work with individuals. Find out more soulflowwithsonia.com
Follow: Instagram @soulflowwithsonia
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