The Embodiment Project

In this episode of The Embodiment Project, I dive into a deeply personal journey as I prepare to return to the stage in a production of Matilda—alongside my daughter! I’ll be stepping into the shoes of Miss Trunchbull, the notorious villain of the story, and sharing what it’s like to embody such a monstrous character. I explore how playing Trunchbull is not just an acting challenge, but a cathartic release of the darkness we all carry within us. I’ll also talk about the trauma at the heart of Matilda and the emotional depth this story holds.

You’ll hear a bit about my history in acting, the tools I’m using to prepare for this role, and, most importantly, how this experience has brought me and my daughter closer as we share the stage and do what we both love.

Whether you’re a fan of theater, a parent, or someone who has wrestled with their inner darkness, this episode has something for you. Tune in, and join me on this exciting and transformative journey!

In this compelling episode of The Embodiment Project, Dane delves deep into the transformative power of weightlifting beyond physical strength.

Join Dane as they candidly share their personal journey of discovery, uncovering how the act of lifting weights became more than just a physical exercise—it became a gateway to understanding and processing heavy emotions. Through introspection and vulnerability, Dane reveals how she discovered weightlifting would offer her a unique avenue to connect with her body's sensations and navigate through heavy emotions.

Through engaging anecdotes and insightful reflections, this episode explores the profound connection between mind, body, and emotion. Discover how embracing the challenges of lifting weights became a transformative tool for emotional resilience, allowing Dane to navigate life's ups and downs with newfound strength.

Tune in as Dane's lift the veil on the incredible emotional depth and resilience that can be cultivated through the practice of weightlifting, offering a unique perspective on personal growth and self-discovery.

Follow Dane on IG @themultidimensionalmami

Subscribe to Dane's newsletter

Don't forget to leave a rating and review in your preferred listening platform!

Danellia "Dane Reál" Arechiga is back for a new season of The Embodiment Podcast with the first of many video episodes. Dane shares updates on her personal life as an unschooling parent for the last 6 years, changes in her relationships, and what is to come from this podcast in the future. Tune in and share with a friend!

Don't forget to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify if you are loving what you are hearing!

In this episode, I welcome Eddie Peña from Critial Thinking Dog Services. Eddie was born in East LA, grew up in the city of Lincoln Heights, and I currently lives in Chino Hills, CA.

He’s been working with dogs all his life and has been professionally training dogs since 2015.

As a dog trainer, Eddie helps build communication, confidence, obedience, and clear boundaries to cultivate healthy relationships for dogs and their owners so they can live confidently together in any environment.

Eddie’s philosophy is creating balance and trust through relationship-based dog training. One of his famous catch phrases is “less correction and more direction”.

Eddie’s work is medicine for the community! He believes that we build long term guidance, leadership, communication skills, and confidence when we help children understand how to clearly communicate and build a relationship with dogs. For adults, Eddie provides clarity around their dog’s behaviors and traits that they may be misinterpreting or overthinking. Eddie helps his clients understand that dogs need us more than we need them before we start to form expectations from them. He is passionate about providing clarity for the whole community in how to guide our companions and believes that if we guide them now, they will guide us into our spiritual home later! Ometeotl!

Main Topics Discussed:

*How we fail our dogs by not providing proper guidance and direction

*How we can work with our dogs to create a loving and trusting relationship

*How children can teach us about caring for our dogs

*How to welcome your dog into your home with boundaries and consistency

Learn more about Eddie:

Listen to Eddie's favorite song: https://youtu.be/72XMkeeY53k

Follow Eddie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/critical.thinking.dog.services/

Trigger Warning: This episode contains mentions of violence, suicide, and self harm. Listen with care!

In this episode, I welcome Amy Lee, birth worker and founder of Musa Mama Apothecary. She is a Birth Anarchist mama to five Freebirthed babies. She is a defender of birthing bodies and physiological birth and is grateful + honored to guide families during the sacred journey of labor & birth as well as sanhüjori, the traditional indigenous Korean postpartum practice of honoring and caring for the new umma. A creatrix through and through, her nearly 17 years of being an industry professional in Natural/Organic Foods & Products has benefited many clients and customers as she uses her ever expanding knowledge base to create effective products and give trusted counsel for individuals and families. 

Main Topics Discussed: 

*How to conquer imposter syndrome 

*Inhabiting your truest self without shame while being mindful at the same time 

*Why should not hide your authentic self even if your highest self is “not for everyone” 

Why do you call yourself a “birth anarchist”? 

Amy: I do not work with everyone. I am not for everyone. I work with people who really need that reminder to tap in and know that they are not the sum of their abuse, their trauma, and everything else that they have had to do to survive. We’re freaking badasses: We birth human beings. We keep lineages going. I’m just here to remind moms that I’m not the only warrior. All of our ancestors are warriors because they’ve all gone through attempts at colonization, and they’ve endured all that pain to become badasses. 

What other choice do I have but to take that on? What is impostor syndrome? 

Amy: Impostor syndrome is figuring out who you are in the world. A lot of us feel impostor syndrome, especially us immigrants, indigenous folks, and people of color—the global majority: We’re in a space where we don’t belong. We’re trying to figure out if we meet the requirements to belong here. We’re scared of being found out. A lot of the time, it has to do with our upbringing. We’re either supported growing up, or we’re forced into studying or working in something that we didn’t want to for the sake of bettering our family. Our generation finally has the luxury to prioritize our mental health, self-care, and filling our own cups. We have serious impostor syndrome because our ancestors never had these opportunities. 

How do you fight impostor syndrome? What do you put your energy into instead? 

Amy: I put my energy into fine-tuning on just being myself. I have five kids. I homeschool. I don’t have the energy. I just want to be myself. That may be the reason I had impostor syndrome as a birth worker: I’m a very rebellious person. I literally believe that birth is physiological. I’m not just saying I trust the body and the process. I really know that this is how shit works if you just let the body do its thing. 

How do you embody your highest self? 

Amy: What I should be doing to embody my highest self is self-discipline. I’m lacking that a lot. Self-discipline is an action towards betterment of self. I embody my highest self when I am doing the work to become a better version of myself. It’s never-ending because I’m always striving to be a better version of myself, even if that means taking a million steps backwards just to take the right step forward for my growth. 

Learn more about Amy: 

Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musa_mama/

In this episode, I welcome clinical psychologist Michael Martinez. Dr. Michael Martinez is a gay Latinx father of three and psychologist. He earned his Doctor of Clinical Psychology degree with a focus on Community Psychology at the University of La Verne. His graduate program helped him view his clients as a product of their environment and how their environment contributes to their mental health. Michael has dedicated his academic and professional career to work with many types of minority groups (LGBTQ*, Latinx, Asian Americans, African Americans, economically disadvantaged people, and unhoused people). Ultimately, Michael views his clients as their own experts and is dedicated to helping his clients find balance, control and a voice in their everyday lives.

Main Topics Discussed:

What is alive for you right now?

Right now the major focus for me has been my own healing journey of repairing generational trauma, and also trying to be the best parent partner that I can be and trying to be as present as I can be as well.

What does presence look like for you?

Presence means that there is not only just joy, but also the willingness to do things like this: have these difficult conversations, as well as the joy that comes with living life and enjoying life that I feel really makes up adulthood.

Tell us about your relationship and your family now and how your upbringing has influenced how you are as a parent and a partner.

I grew up outside the traditional makeup of a family. My grandma was a primary caregiver. She was there after school cooking, cleaning, doing laundry. I also tend to kind of take up more of the cooking, more of the laundry, more of the cleaning up around the house. Of course not to say that my husband doesn't help out, but I think I tend to kind of take those on a little bit more.

Do you have a chosen family who helped you become who you are today?

Throughout my college years I had that steadfast group of friends. My best friend who I've known since high school, we always joke that she didn't go to college with me to do classes. She partied with us. She's been an integral part of my life and, for her in particular, I think she's really been there to help me in my coming out process and helping me make sense of my sexuality. I have to give my family credit because I think they really come from the stance of understanding that when you become an adult, you decide who you want to spend your time with.

How have you healed your core wounds?

Presence. Taking the time to reconnect with my family is a big one. Another was becoming more present in my body and moving and stretching and just doing something, because I think it's so true that trauma is stored in your body.

How has your upbringing influenced your work as a clinical psychologist?

I always tend to kind of go back to figure out those childhood roots and understand those and to kind of do that inner child work cause that's what's needed. And I think the one thing I got right was understanding that caregivers are the foundation to the rest of relationships for the rest of your life.

Learn more about Michael:

Check out his favorite resource, Latinx Parenting: https://latinxparenting.org/

Follow him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikial013/

In this episode, I welcome Cynthia Perez, a first generation Chicana therapist based in Los Angeles, CA. Cynthia is a mother of 3, an author, and a clinical supervisor for LCSWs in a clinic setting. In 2021, After realizing she had workplace burnout, Cynthia left healthcare to start her private practice, Rooted in Reflection, LLC. Cynthia created 4 virtual groups in the Covid-19 Pandemic to address the real time need for collective healing. From Storytelling Workshops, Shame Resiliency Trainings, to a 10-hour workshop on Reparenting, Cynthia has been honored to create spaces that she has only dreamed of holding and people showing up every week!

Main Topics Discussed:

What are you up to nowadays?

Cynthia: I left my full-time healthcare job, which broke such a mold for me. I started my own business, where I work part-time. Now, I can’t stop dreaming. I can’t go back to it anymore. It’s all systems. It’s more of the same. So, I have a happy problem. I want to incorporate CRT into my work now to offer historical information on communities of color but applying it to mental health, so we can see ourselves in the historical context and how that looks now in our generational problems. So, I’m now in that gap.

What do you love about what you do?

Cynthia: If you asked me that last year, I wouldn’t know what to say. I really thought I was going to give up mental health. It sounds so cliché, but I had to reach an epiphany to find what I really love to do. I had to discover my calling and deliver it to the people that want to receive it that are on this journey, too, and do it in a way that honors them. I love that I can now be my authentic self, and I love having honest, meaningful conversations. I get to do that in the spaces that I create. 

When I met you, we were both participants of the Latinx Parenting series. At that point, where were you on your journey?

Cynthia: I always caught myself yelling at my kids and was having a tough time overcoming that impulse. I loved being with the community because it was such a beautiful place to bring up my feelings. I was actually triggered when I saw you with my mom, not because I had anything against you, but because I thought I could never bring my own mom to that class. I thought she would make me feel worse if I asked. I grew up in a violent home; so, this was an opportunity to look at my inner child. 

What was it like for you to implement that work into your family life?

Cynthia: It’s been really hard. When I was there, it was so powerful and palpable; and now that I’m back home, I have to give myself a grace period because it’s so tempting to go back to the way it was before. I also had to honor my inner teen to teach myself to slow down and scale back those big adult expectations.

As we know, gender is not a binary, and we can embody all of these energies—the masculine and the feminine—as we grow as parents.

Cynthia: Gender constructs has been another big one for me. Gender constructs oppress everybody. We don’t even realize the depths of it. This was a subconscious breakthrough I had to have. I had to stop caring about what people think, focus on my inner child, and embrace that I’m probably gender-fluid. I needed to give myself the freedom to choose.

Learn more about Cynthia:

Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellmama_lb/

Happy New Year!! It's 2022 and I'm taking a look back at the last year and sharing in this episode how COVID-19 amongst other foundational changes in my life have impacted my mental health and my capacity for holding space for others. I share what has led to my departure from my role as Co-Founder of the community space La Fuente: Birth, Postpartum, y Más and all the lingering emotions that has come with that decision. I also dive deeper into how these experiences have challenged me to practice what I preach in regards to self-love and self-compassion, especially in one of my darkest moments.  How do you embody your highest self when you are struggling with your own mindbodyspirit wellness? If you or someone you know is in need of affordable mental health services, please check out Open Path Collective and Better Help.

In this episode of The Embodiment Project, Danellia speaks with Carolina Adame, fellow homeschooling mom, educator, extremely talented photographer, and Educational Facilitator for homeschooling families. We discussed how we Build Connection Through Homeschooling and shared tips for how to cultivate meaningful connection while we are with our children whether we homeschool or not.

Listen all the way to the end or skip to the end for a visualization offered to us by Carolina!

Are you interested in participating in the next Live Embodiment Session? Email me at [email protected] or join my newsletter to receive exclusive love letters from me and to keep up with upcoming events.

Keep up with me!

@themultidimensionalmami

www.danelliaarechiga.com