Holly and I come from the same beautiful lineage of young women who opened themselves to the rigor and learning of inner motivation, persistence, and responsibility, hard work, and dedication, who have poured their hearts and souls into a team effort: high school competitive cheerleading team at Rochester High School. We met years after both of us graduated, as we are both cheerleaders in another way to our selves and to our clients that want to do deep healing and growth work with themselves.

Holly is a multi-passionate creative entrepreneur who wants to elevate the world through the power of words and connection. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in broadcast journalism and has a specialization in Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. She has completed a series of advanced coaching and leadership certifications as well as a KRI-accredited Kundalini Yoga certification. Her mission is to help others master their desires through inner-connection, outer-clarity and daily consistency.

On top of coaching, Holly is a writer whose work has been featured on popular online publications like the Huffington Post, Thrive Global and Thought Catalog. She authors a weekly Q&A Lifestyle Column titled “Hey Holl.” Holly also regularly posts tips and inspiration on Instagram @hey.holl.

I am delighted to have Holly today on the show, where we talk about her personal story of driving towards being a magazine writer, to writing towards her gifts of the soul and self-help, connecting with the angels and using other spiritual tools (even if you are a skeptic), the practice of working out your intuitive muscles, and how to have fun getting to know yourself and shift your life.

Enjoy!

Links, Article, and Resources

All Show Notes for This Episode

Everything feels like it is dismantling; falling apart. Parts of me feel that they are disintegrating, lost, shattered, untethered.

• I don’t know who I am anymore.
• Why do I exist and what am I here for?
• What is the meaning of life - of everything?
• I don’t know why I feel sad and fearful.
• Reality feels like it is blowing apart.

These are some of the thoughts and feelings I’ve had in the last few weeks as I’ve been on a spiritual roller coaster. At times I have felt I have been in spiritual or existential crisis, and other times it’s been more like spiritual flu.

Luckily, I am aware that these are just parts of me and more grounded inner parts of me are able to stay calm.

The soul is speaking or screaming loudly, ready to share its story and lesson for us when we have intense emotional and physical symptoms. The chance to experience profound healing and expansion, energy and a return to our truth is waiting to be reclaimed within an existential and spiritual crisis.

But it can be terrifying and overwhelming! Especially if you’re not sure what’s happening. Some of the feelings one can have related to archetypal, ancestral, past life, or collective unconscious material that may have no words to describe.

In this week’s episode of the Embody Podcast, I share my personal and present experience of spiritual flu and crisis, what has helped me through it, and what might be helpful if you or someone you know is experiencing emotional intensity, physical symptoms/illness, or other experiences that may be hard to give a name or find the cause of.

Enjoy!

~Candice

Links, Article, and Resources

All Show Notes for This Episode

📝https://candicewu.com/spiritual-and-existential-crisis

Podcast Homepage

🎧https://candicewu.com/podcast

Newsletter & Embody Community

💌https://candicewu.com/embody-community

Candice Wu Page on Facebook

👫https://facebook.com/EmbodyYourNature

Follow Candice on Instagram

📷https://instagram.com/EmbodyYourNature

Show Notes

00:47 Sponsored by the Sound Sleep Alchemy Album by Yours Truly

01:11 Intro of the Episode / Setting the Stage

02:15 “Even Monkeys Fall Out of Trees” Quote / is Candice Actually Human?

03:11 Wandering and Exploring as a Healing Act

03:37 Sharing a Real Human Experience

03:52 When I Think of Vulnerability

04:04 Brené Brown’s Definition of Vulnerability

04:17 Exploring Spiritual Flu

04:29 Being Playful and Open While Healing

05:04 Why I Am Sharing This Today

06:05 We Are All Human: On Being Messy and Unpolished

06:24 My Experience Going From Box to Box

07:12 So What Have I Been Going Through?

07:35 Dismantling and Existential Questions Pouring Out of Me

08:08 How It All Started

08:29 Handling Pain in the Body - to Go or Not to Go to the Doctor?

09:56 the Feminine Archetype and Pain Carried by Women

10:40 Body Shame

10:56 Personal, Ancestral & Archetypal Wounding

12:17 Unconscious Energies - Not Everything Can Be Named or Makes Sense in Spiritual Crisis

12:31 Feeling Unanchored

13:00 Underneath the Physical Pain

14:14 How Spiritual and Emotional Work Was Shifting the Body Symptoms

15:33 a Wildfire in My Body.

15:56 Riding the Wave of the Feelings and Symptoms

16:42 in Better Spirits

17:29 Grateful for Past Learning 🙈

18:31 Feeling Grounded, Knowing Myself, and Feeling the Intensity

19:07 Pendulation

19:23 Shout Out to Birthday Podcast Episode

19:53 Not Attaching the Experience to My Identity

20:41 Opening Up Internally - Trauma and Pleasure Can Surface

21:07 a Nervous System Perspective of Crisis

21:36 Helpful Practice of Voice Dialogue

22:53 Shifting Gears and How I Almost Saw It All Coming for Myself

24:23 What Do I Mean by Spiritual?

25:24 Spiritual Crisis, Sickness, Flu, and Everyday Experiences - a Spectrum on the Lens of Spirituality

26:19 the Spiritual is the Most Subtle Level

26:53 Layers of the Physiology - Koshas in Yoga

27:56 Belief Sets We Hold

28:21 Healing at the Root - the Most Powerful Angle

29:30 More About Existential & Spiritual Crisis

29:34 Transpersonal Psychology and Dr. Stanislov and Dr. Christina Grof

30:31 Symptoms You Can Experience in an Existential Crisis

31:23 Some Triggers of Spiritual Crisis

32:25 on the Other Side of Crisis (Big S-Self and Small S-Self)

34:17 Mention of Marlyse Carroll (Author of Am I Going Mad?)

35:36 Cultural Misunderstandings Around the Transpersonal | Creating Ease and Understanding Around Spiritual Crisis

37:04 Quote by Dr. Carl Jung - “...Attempt of the Mind to Find Wholeness”

37:39 Spiritual Madness

38:02 "What is Psychosis"?

38:34 Self - Care and Getting Through Spiritual Crisis | What I’ve Been Doing | What You Can Do

40:56 Calling Upon Angels and Spirit Guides

43:22 Voice Dialoging - Talking to Parts That Are Screaming

44:18 Some Other Ideas for You in a Crisis

46:44 Outro

Everything feels like it is dismantling; falling apart. Parts of me feel that they are disintegrating, lost, shattered, untethered.

• I don’t know who I am anymore.

These are some of the thoughts and feelings I’ve had in the last few weeks as I’ve been on a spiritual roller coaster. At times I have felt I have been in spiritual or existential crisis, and other times it’s been more like spiritual flu.

Luckily, I am aware that these are just parts of me and more grounded inner parts of me are able to stay calm.

The soul is speaking or screaming loudly, ready to share its story and lesson for us when we have intense emotional and physical symptoms. The chance to experience profound healing and expansion, energy and a return to our truth is waiting to be reclaimed within an existential and spiritual crisis.

But it can be terrifying and overwhelming! Especially if you’re not sure what’s happening. Some of the feelings one can have related to archetypal, ancestral, past life, or collective unconscious material that may have no words to describe.

In this week’s episode of the Embody Podcast, I share my personal and present experience of spiritual flu and crisis, what has helped me through it, and what might be helpful if you or someone you know is experiencing emotional intensity, physical symptoms/illness, or other experiences that may be hard to give a name or find the cause of.

Enjoy!

~Candice

Links, Article, and Resources

All Show Notes for This Episode

In this episode, I share an intimate and enriching conversation with a dear friend, Rachael Huttner, who is Thai Body Worker and Reiki Practitioner.

Rachael and I talk about how basketball inspired her Thai Body Work, the importance of tribe and teamwork, how to be in touch with synchronicity, and nurturing and valuing intuition and spirit guides.

Rachael’s bodywork practice draws from her studies in Reiki, Thai Bodywork, Trigger Point Therapy, Chinese Medicine and her latest introduction to Shamanic studies. Two components ultimately lay the foundation for the effectiveness of these modalities: making energy and spiritual work approachable to everyone, and creating a collaborative environment. She considers the best teachers and practitioners to be the ones that you need to see less and less as time goes on because they give you the tools needed to draw from your own inner knowledge for health and well-being.

Having spent over a decade recovering from a surgery and back injury in her teens and 20s, Rachael discovered that lasting healing truly begins once you address the emotional, mental, and spiritual components. Rachael saw countless doctors and specialists and became very frustrated with the brief visits, multiple diagnoses, and feeling of helplessness over the decline in her quality of well-being. Thankfully, she was young and stubborn at the time and promised herself that she would find a way to heal that was less confusing and invasive. This desire carried her to a community acupuncture clinic in her late 20s. There, she felt deep compassion from her practitioner, she felt heard and was truly supported for the first time on her quest towards a pain-free life. What an empowering approach! This was the turning point in Rachael’s journey of healing.

Rachael continued to receive care from some holistic practitioners, and each contributed in their own way towards lasting healing and full recovery (in a mere two years). The lessons she learned from this journey have left their imprint on Rachael’s vision for her bodywork sessions. She attunes herself to her client’s goals and works with the relevant information that presents itself during a session. She also encourages her clients to listen to sensations and emotions following a session, as this not only prolongs the benefits of bodywork and Reiki but also empowers them to develop true autonomy over their bodies and well-being.

Rachael is sincerely grateful to everyone that helped her as she healed and embarked on this mission to have her own bodywork practice. Compassion, patience, and encouragement were the special ingredients expressed by loved ones. Rachael carries this support in her heart each day with the sincere wish to share these gifts with others.

Links, Article, and Resources

All Show Notes for This Episode

📝https://candicewu.com/rachael

Podcast Homepage

🎧https://candicewu.com/podcast

Newsletter & Embody Community

💌https://candicewu.com/embody-community

Candice Wu Page on Facebook

👫https://facebook.com/EmbodyYourNature

Follow Candice on Instagram

📷https://instagram.com/EmbodyYourNature

In this episode, I share an intimate and enriching conversation with a dear friend, Rachael Huttner, who is Thai Body Worker and Reiki Practitioner.

Rachael and I talk about how basketball inspired her Thai Body Work, the importance of tribe and teamwork, how to be in touch with synchronicity, and nurturing and valuing intuition and spirit guides.

Rachael’s bodywork practice draws from her studies in Reiki, Thai Bodywork, Trigger Point Therapy, Chinese Medicine and her latest introduction to Shamanic studies. Two components ultimately lay the foundation for the effectiveness of these modalities: making energy and spiritual work approachable to everyone, and creating a collaborative environment. She considers the best teachers and practitioners to be the ones that you need to see less and less as time goes on because they give you the tools needed to draw from your own inner knowledge for health and well-being.

Having spent over a decade recovering from a surgery and back injury in her teens and 20s, Rachael discovered that lasting healing truly begins once you address the emotional, mental, and spiritual components. Rachael saw countless doctors and specialists and became very frustrated with the brief visits, multiple diagnoses, and feeling of helplessness over the decline in her quality of well-being. Thankfully, she was young and stubborn at the time and promised herself that she would find a way to heal that was less confusing and invasive. This desire carried her to a community acupuncture clinic in her late 20s. There, she felt deep compassion from her practitioner, she felt heard and was truly supported for the first time on her quest towards a pain-free life. What an empowering approach! This was the turning point in Rachael’s journey of healing.

Rachael continued to receive care from some holistic practitioners, and each contributed in their own way towards lasting healing and full recovery (in a mere two years). The lessons she learned from this journey have left their imprint on Rachael’s vision for her bodywork sessions. She attunes herself to her client’s goals and works with the relevant information that presents itself during a session. She also encourages her clients to listen to sensations and emotions following a session, as this not only prolongs the benefits of bodywork and Reiki but also empowers them to develop true autonomy over their bodies and well-being.

Rachael is sincerely grateful to everyone that helped her as she healed and embarked on this mission to have her own bodywork practice. Compassion, patience, and encouragement were the special ingredients expressed by loved ones. Rachael carries this support in her heart each day with the sincere wish to share these gifts with others.

Links, Article, and Resources

All Show Notes for This Episode

Sound Sleep Alchemy AlbumGuided Healing, Meditations, and Resources for Sleep CareQuality Sleep is so important. It can make all the difference in daily life, self fulfillment, well - being, work, and relationships to have good rest each night.

This is why I have created the Sound Sleep Alchemy Album. This Album of resources, meditations, and self-exploration was born from inspiration of my own, clients', friends', colleagues', and family's struggles with stressful or restless sleep, insomnia, waking up in the middle of the night, night terrors and nightmares, and more, as simple sleep hygiene tips did not always work. In my own experiences of terrible insomnia, I needed to go deeper to get to deep sleep; to the root. I am happy to share that I now have restful sleep and when I don't, I have ways to support myself.

Enjoy this culmination of many ancient and modern traditions including Somatic Experiencing, yoga tantra, Ayurveda, spiritual and energetic practices, scientifically-informed and embodied healing techniques, Chinese Medicine, and Family & Systemic Constellations.

Buy the Album @ candicewu.com/soundsleep Links, Article, and Resources

All Show Notes for This Episode

📝https://candicewu.com/shifting-out-of-self-betrayal/

Podcast Homepage

🎧https://candicewu.com/podcast

Newsletter & Embody Community

💌https://candicewu.com/embody-community

Candice Wu Page on Facebook

👫https://facebook.com/EmbodyYourNature

Follow Candice on Instagram

📷https://instagram.com/EmbodyYourNature

Show Notes & Timestamps

0:07 Birth of the Album

1:05 Culmination of Different Practices

1:29 What's Included for You

1:54 The Resource Guide

2:21 Levels of Your Being

2:57 Purpose of the Meditations

3:04 Down to Earth Body Scan

3:30 Organic Breathing

3:58 Resourcing Safety, Love, and Peace

4:38 Southing Self Touch and Body Care

5:27 Digesting the Day

6:08 Taking Internal Inventory

6:50 Yoga Nidra / Yogic Sleep

7:59 A Dose of Moonlight

8:36 Rest Recovery & Middle of the Night Release

9:42 Loving Kindness Meditation

10:12 Illuminating Your Ancestral Sleep Story

11:30 Additionally Also Includes

11:44 Marma Points

12:42 Journal Exploratories With Questions

13:25 Letting Die What Is Decaying

13:40 Yoga Poses

14:01 What This Album Is Meant to Give You

14:52 Outro

Sound Sleep Alchemy AlbumGuided Healing, Meditations, and Resources for Sleep CareThis is a sample meditation included in the Sound Sleep Alchemy Album for better sleep. For more information on this album, please have a look at the site linked below. There you will find more samples as well as a podcast episode about what's included in the whole album.

candicewu.com/soundsleep

Sound Sleep Alchemy AlbumGuided Healing, Meditations, and Resources for Sleep CareThis is a sample meditation included in the Sound Sleep Alchemy Album for better sleep. For more information on this album, please have a look at the site linked below. There you will find more samples as well as a podcast episode about what's included in the whole album.

candicewu.com/soundsleep

This is a sample meditation included in the Sound Sleep Alchemy Album for better sleep. For more information on this album, please have a look at the site linked below. There you will find more samples as well as a podcast episode about what's included in the whole album.

This is a sample meditation included in the Sound Sleep Alchemy Album for better sleep. For more information on this album, please have a look at the site linked below. There you will find more samples as well as a podcast episode about what's included in the whole album.