Writing & transmissions
Music + Intuitive Movement = Grief Medicine {Grief•Flow}
If I don’t make space for my grief to flow, the greater flow of my mental and physical energy stagnates, as does my connection to the Divine and to creativity. If grief doesn’t have space to flow, I feel muted and closed off to intimacy with my loved ones, without words to express and share my heart. If I haven’t made space for grief to flow, my body and energy feel flat and my eyes tired.
Finding the ways and spaces where I feel free to really sink into grief, sometimes for 5 minutes, other times for as long as needed, has been a work in progress. I find it is so much easier to connect to it and offer it space when I don’t feel alone, when I am held in love by someone else, or by music…
If I don’t make space for my grief to flow, the greater flow of my mental and physical energy stagnates, as does my connection to the Divine and to creativity.
If grief doesn’t have space to flow, I feel muted and closed off to intimacy with my loved ones, without words to express and share my heart.
If I haven’t made space for grief to flow, my body and energy feel flat and my eyes tired.
Finding the ways and spaces where I feel free to really sink into grief, sometimes for 5 minutes, other times for as long as needed, has been a work in progress. I find it is so much easier to connect to it and offer it space when I don’t feel alone, when I am held in love by someone else, or by music.
The idea of a GriefFlow ceremony was born in Fall of 2021. As the shock of saying goodbye to my mom began to wear off slowly, 6 months later, the heaviness in my body felt stifling and unrelenting.
I was extra sensitive to stimulation and realized that music without lyrics met me in my broken-open heart with softness, in ways nothing else could. One afternoon while sitting out in the autumn sun, my Spotify ‘Discover Weekly’ playlist introduced a piece that instantly captivated me.
Within a few moments of listening I could hear the grief alive in the song - I could feel the yearning, missing, dreaming, remembering, and the connection to all that was, is and will or won’t be.
I went on a Google deep dive to find the story that went with it, and quickly learned that the artist had written it shortly after his mom passed away from cancer. I was stunned and in awe of how my body and heart could feel the source of the creation.
I played the song over and over again, and as I listened, my body wanted to move with the music. It felt so good to be held by the dancing melodies, which seemed to represent the many faces of grief, loss, hope, love, and peace.
Tears would flow in some moments, and in others my lips would form the biggest smile. I would often start the song seated, and at some point something inside of me would lead me up and into movement. Then a few minutes later, it would call me back to the floor to simply lay there and receive the medicine of the music.
The medicine of knowing I was not alone in this pain.
During the 8 minute song, I would go from feeling dull and disconnected, to feeling my body and heart fluid and alive again. Like I could breathe deeply and see life again, within and without.
Sometimes I would feel called to clean afterwards, or fold my clothes (things that were hard for me to find energy for at the time). Other times I would feel hunger rumble for the first time in days and be inspired to cook something new and fresh, or I would move to my easel and paint.
Sometimes I would just lie there and rest.
Sometimes messages would arrive, other times I would receive the nourishment of the silence.
Each tiny little ceremony the music helped me hold liberated a little bit of energy that had been suppressed, without forcing, expectation or agenda. No need to be any way or place that I wasn’t. I could let all my emotions arise and move.
As I found myself in this GriefFlow over and over again, I began to dream of a space where we could honor grief like this in community. Where lyrics and words wouldn’t be necessary, because let’s be real - grief often extends beyond what words can reach.
And here we are.
During the next GriefFlow Workshop, we will begin with a short introduction and reflection, and then I will guide you into an opening meditation that allows you to feel into any ways or places grief might be alive for you right now.
As we soften into our inner landscapes, I will press play on a curated playlist (all songs without lyrics), and then will guide you as you listen to your body, to how the music meets you and moves you. Most people will want their cameras off during this part, to feel free to be in their space as they wish.
As the music concludes (about 25 mins in total), we will transition into a time to circle and share anything that arose. There will also be space to ask questions or for guidance from me.
While I can't predict what will arise and move within you during this workshop, I can tell you that people are often surprised by how light, refreshed, grounded yet energized they feel at the end.
The grief that moves and transmutes in these workshops may be everything from the loss of a loved one, or a relationship, to the loss of a home or homeland, a season of life, job, a dream, of health, or the grief of living in an imperfect world as imperfect humans.
I believe we all harbor grief in one or more ways.
This workshop is for everyone that is willing to open to it, even if you don’t consciously know the where, why, and how.
I invite you into the mystery and all that awaits, with deep trust it will be nourishing to your soul and beyond.
Ep #7. Recalibrating Our Bodies to Be Vessels for Emotion + An Autumn Energy Read and Prayer {Podcast}
This is one of those episodes that feels like a meditation or a transformational session**. The energy current that's flowing right now is one that is calling us to presence, to slow down, to open ourselves to FEEL, and be in awareness of our bodies, thoughts, emotions, and the conditioned contractions of our inner system. I start off the episode by offering an energetic read for this season and what I feel we are being called toward.
This is one of those episodes that feels like a meditation or a transformational session**. The energy current that's flowing right now is one that is calling us to presence, to slow down, to open ourselves to FEEL, and be in awareness of our bodies, thoughts, emotions, and the conditioned contractions of our inner system. I start off the episode by offering an energetic read of this season and what I feel we are being called toward. Then I share a prayer* that helps me empty and make space to be fully present in my day.
The second half of this episode is all about learning to recalibrate ourselves to our emotions, and allowing our bodies and energy systems to be clear and open vessels through which emotion can flow. I speak to how to begin this recalibration, beginning with Awareness and then using the breath to gently unblock the body and create safety to experience what we are feeling more fully.
*Prayer goes from 11:00-19:58 minutes. Please note I do use the word God. I often pray like this in more specifics to me as I walk in the morning. Feel free to adapt to your needs.
**Helpful Note: This episode is RICH, and the cadence of it is slower than usual. As I was editing this one, it didn't feel right to shorten the pauses like I usually do. I highly recommend listening to it as is, but if you need to, feel free to increase your player to 1.1x+ speed if it's easier for you to take in that way.
Full Episode Show Notes
WORKSHOP ANNOUNCMENT:
I am so excited to start offering workshops to deepen into the topics I share about here, live and in community. The first two are on the calendar:
October 11 @5pm ET / 4pm CT / 2pm PT: GriefFlow LIVE Workshop - REGISTER HERE
October 25th @5PM ET / 4pm CT / 2PM PT: Embodied Acceptance LIVE Workshop - REGISTER HERE
REGISTER FOR BOTH WORKSHOPS & SAVE $10 HERE
Use the special code only for podcast listeners, FOUNTAINLOVE5 for $5 dollars off when you register for one or both workshops.
I would love to hear what arises for you as you listen, and anything specific you'd like to hear on the show. Shoot me a note via email (hello@ellieflow.com), or respond to the episode directly via the feature on your podcast app.
Book your exploratory session with me here
Join my newsletter
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Episode Music credit:
Embrace by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic
Music promoted on https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Guided ‘Explore Your Essence’ Meditation
This centering meditation is a gentle and connective practice that is perfect to use any time (even daily) during the 'Emergence' or 'I am ALIVE' spheres of transformation, as explored in the last episode (episode 6) of The Fountain with Ellie Thomas podcast. Along with relaxing music, this meditation leads you through a simple visualization practice to release energy that isn't yours, call your energy back to your body, and then attune to what's ready to emerge and what's ready to release.
*Scroll down to listen to the meditation
This centering meditation is a gentle and connective practice that is perfect to use any time (even daily) during the 'Emergence' or 'I am ALIVE' spheres of transformation, as explored in the last episode (episode 6). Along with relaxing music, this meditation leads you through a simple visualization practice to release energy that isn't yours, call your energy back to your body, and then attune to what's ready to emerge and what's ready to release.
This practice will support your awareness in what's brewing energetically for you, and help you move throughout the day in connection to your body and energy. Use daily or as you'd like.
This is an original meditation. Music for this meditation can be found here.
If you prefer to meditate through the Insight Timer app, you can find this meditation there as well.
WORKSHOP ANNOUNCMENT:
I am so excited to start offering workshops to deepen into the topics I share about here, live and in community.
The first two are on the calendar:
October 11 @5pm ET / 4pm CT / 2pm PT: GriefFlow LIVE Workshop - REGISTER HERE
October 25th @5PM ET / 4pm CT / 2PM PT: Embodied Acceptance LIVE Workshop - REGISTER HERE
REGISTER FOR BOTH WORKSHOPS & SAVE $10 HERE
Full Episode Show Notes
This is an original mediation that supports connecting to, honoring, and releasing your pain in a healthy way.
Always make sure you are in a safe place, and not operating a vehicle, when playing meditations such as this. Music used in this meditation can be found here.
Book your exploratory session with me here
Join my newsletter
Find me on instagram
Episode Music credit:
Embrace by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic
Music promoted on https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
EP #6. The 5 Spheres of Inner Transformation {Podcast}
This is such a special episode because it is my first public teaching of the process of transformation, and the five spheres that comprise it, which I received in the middle of the night 9 months ago. These five spheres (Release, Dancing with the Unknown, Emergence, I am ALIVE, Here I am) each carry potent and powerful teachings that will ground you in your process, and I hope offer reflection, permission, guidance, clarity, hope, and grace in your current moment.
This is such a special episode because it is my first public teaching of the process of transformation, and the five spheres that comprise it, which I received in the middle of the night 9 months ago. These five spheres (Release, Dancing with the Unknown, Emergence, I am ALIVE, Here I am) each carry potent and powerful teachings that will ground you in your process, and I hope offer reflection, permission, guidance, clarity, hope, and grace in your current moment.
Each sphere carries its own energy and asks us to surrender to our process in new ways as we reclaim and align with the soul.
In this episode I break it all down for you. I can't wait to hear how it lands.
In a few days I will post another supportive meditation that compliments this process.
Full Episode Show Notes
WORKSHOP ANNOUNCMENT:
I am so excited to start offering workshops to deepen into the topics I share about here, live and in community. The first two are on the calendar:
October 11 @5pm ET / 4pm CT / 2pm PT: GriefFlow LIVE Workshop - REGISTER HERE
October 25th @5PM ET / 4pm CT / 2PM PT: Embodied Acceptance LIVE Workshop - REGISTER HERE
REGISTER FOR BOTH WORKSHOPS & SAVE $10 HERE
Use the special code only for podcast listeners, FOUNTAINLOVE5 for $5 dollars off when you register for one or both workshops.
I would love to hear what arises for you as you listen, and anything specific you'd like to hear on the show. Shoot me a note via email (hello@ellieflow.com), or respond to the episode directly via the feature on your podcast app.
Book your exploratory session with me here
Join my newsletter
Find me on instagram
Episode Music credit:
Embrace by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic
Music promoted on https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Meditation for Emotional release
The Meditation for Emotional Release is incredibly gentle, soothing, and offers guidance to begin to feel into parts of you that might be more ready to surface and be expressed than you realize.
*Scroll down to listen to the meditation
This Meditation for Emotional Release is incredibly gentle, soothing, and offers guidance to begin to feel into parts of you that might be more ready to surface and be expressed than you realize.
When I first shared this meditation in a program I led in 2021, one of the participants said she began to sob halfway through, releasing deep sadness she didn't even realize she was carrying, and felt so much lighter afterward.
The magic of release is partly about basking in the fertile emptiness and silence that is created by our letting-go, and this meditation will help you access this space within.
Full Episode Show Notes
This is an original mediation that supports connecting to, honoring, and releasing your pain in a healthy way.
Always make sure you are in a safe place, and not operating a vehicle, when playing meditations such as this. Music used in this meditation can be found here.
Book your exploratory session with me here
Join my newsletter
Find me on instagram
Episode Music credit:
Embrace by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic
Music promoted on https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
EP #5. The Power of Emotional and energetic release {Podcast}
Fall is officially here in the US, and as we begin to explore the slow loosening and letting go of this season, I'm sharing all about The Power of Emotional + Energetic Release on the podcast this week (along with a bonus meditation on the podcast feed).
In episode 5 of the podcast, I take you on a journey, exploring the importance of releasing stuck and repressed emotion in order to: liberate VITALITY, tap into CREATIVITY, and connect with YOUR AUTHENTIC ENERGY.
*Scroll down to listen to the episode below
Fall is officially here in the US, and as we begin to explore the slow loosening and letting go of this season, I'm sharing all about The Power of Emotional + Energetic Release on the podcast this week (along with a bonus meditation on the podcast feed).
In episode 5, I take you on a journey, exploring the importance of releasing stuck and repressed emotion in order to:
⛲️liberate VITALITY,
⛲️ tap into CREATIVITY, and
⛲️ connect with YOUR AUTHENTIC ENERGY.
I personally have a loooonnnnggg history of repressing emotion – I'm talking almost 30 years of holding lots in, pushing pain down, overriding my needs and feelings in the (subconscious) name of survival.
A certain circumstance in my life right now reminded me of how important finding a safe way to release is in order to arrive at clear energy and live from deep Self connection.
In this episode, I share what the process of unraveling this has been like for me over the last 7ish years, how different I feel in my body now, and I also break down the energetics and alchemy of safe emotional expression and the rejuvenation it offers each of us.
I believe this episode is powerful for everyone, and I'd especially like to dedicate it to the sensitive, deep feelers that have not felt safe to show and share your emotions.
Full Episode Show Notes
In this episode I take you on a journey, exploring the importance of releasing stuck and repressed emotion in order to liberate vitality, tap into creativity, and connect with who we really are. I share what this process has been like as a client and a coach, and break down the energetics and alchemy of safe emotional expression and the rejuvenation it offers each of us, especially deep feelers or those of us that have not felt safe to show and share our emotions.
I work with many high achieving women that have learned how to cut off or override their flow of emotion as a survival strategy. If this is you, this episode is extra pertinent.
If the pulse of this episode hits your heart, try out the meditation for pain I have added to the podcast feed, and book your exploratory session with me here.
To explore my work more, visit www.ellieflow.com.
I would love to hear what arises for you as you listen, and anything specific you'd like to hear on the show. Shoot me a note via email (hello@ellieflow.com), or respond to the episode directly via the feature on your podcast app.
Book your exploratory session with me here
Join my newsletter
Find me on instagram
Episode Music credit:
Embrace by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic
Music promoted on https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
EP #4. Allow Your Inner Wisdom to Emerge (+ Guided Meditation) {Podcast}
Last night I had the pleasure and honor of leading a short contemplative meditation at a community dinner. Afterwards, my seat mate asked me how I got into meditation and mindfulness. I shared with him that early in my conscious transformational journey, about 5 years ago, guided meditation really helped me connect with parts of myself beyond my (very active and quick) mind - which was in constant panic and overwhelm at the time.
I also shared with him that now in my own practice, and in my work as a facilitator, I've learned that all I need to do is create space to return to (and attune to) the heart.
THE REST WILL UNFOLD NATURALLY…
Last night I had the pleasure and honor of leading a short contemplative meditation at a community dinner. Afterwards, my seat mate asked me how I got into meditation and mindfulness. I shared with him that early in my conscious transformational journey, about 5 years ago, guided meditation really helped me connect with parts of myself beyond my (very active and quick) mind - which was in constant panic and overwhelm at the time.
I also shared with him that now in my own practice, and in my work as a facilitator, I've learned that all I need to do is create space to return to (and attune to) the heart.
THE REST WILL UNFOLD NATURALLY.
This is the essence of everything I share on The Fountain podcast, and this week's episode, called Allow Your Inner Wisdom to Emerge, especially focuses on the process of creating space to be a loving witness to the needs and tones of our intellects, physical bodies, emotional selves, and spiritual selves.
In my experience, in order to hear the greater wisdom of our beings and beyond, we often need to release of the energy, thoughts and tensions that keep us occupied and looping in the same way over and over again.
As the space for release, without an agenda, is created, we are able to touch into a stillness – a fertile emptiness – through which greater wisdom can emerge, be heard, received and integrated.
The second half of this week's podcast episode is a 16-minute guided meditation/practice that will help you create this space and allowance.
It my version of the simple, yet profound, guided journey that my mentor used with me as I was slowly tapped into my heart-centered flow and opened to greater connection with myself, and beyond.
This is a practice you can do daily, even while walking, with a journal, or anyway that (safely) helps you attune to the subtleties of your energy.
Full Episode Show Notes
In this episode I share lingering thoughts on opening to our fullness that came up after the last episode, then I dive into my first invitation into feeling my fullness 5 years ago and what that looked like. I reflect on the power of being guided into connection with our intellect, physical bodies, emotional selves, and spiritual selves, and how it can help you begin to understand and feel into your wholeness more. I also speak on the power of learning to listen deeply to our many dimensions, and how it frees up space to allow your intuition and greater wisdom and energy to emerge and guide you.
The guided 4 Part Meditation for Wholeness begins at 15:30 (FYI it purposely does not have music so that you can simply listen to yourself and anything happening for you more acutely).
Book your exploratory session with me here
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Episode Music credit:
Embrace by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic
Music promoted on https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
EP #3. Open To Your Fullness {Podcast}
Welcome back to The Fountain! This episode is an exploration inspired by a session with one of my clients and gets into the energetics of "making space again" after periods of massive inner (and life) shifts, grief, and loss.
I explore the importance of allowing ourselves to fully grieve and mourn, to fully be in our process of release, to arrive into the gift of opening to life again. I touch into the nuances of what this opening can feel like, and how to observe and work with the energy of "making space again" when it arises for you.
What does opening to our fullness even mean or look like?
This episode of the fountain explores what our "fullness" even means, reclaiming it from the idealized vision that is often touted in the current personal growth or spiritual world, and offering space to invite pieces of yourself that you've shut out to slowly reincorporate. The episode begins and ends with a brief meditative and breathing practice to anchor into your energy and to embody this message in your own way. I also explore energies of resistance, expansion, flow, and letting go.
You can enjoy the Fountain Flow Playlist here (on Spotify).
Please note: there is a tiny bit of static at the beginning and end of the episode that I was not able to edit out fully, but it only lasts a few seconds - continuing to work on improving sound quality for you!
Book your exploratory session with me here
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Episode Music credit:
Embrace by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic
Music promoted on https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
EP #2. Making Space Again After Grief, Loss, and Immense Inner Shifts {Podcast}
What does opening to our fullness even mean or look like?
This episode of the fountain explores what our "fullness" even means, reclaiming it from the idealized vision that is often touted in the current personal growth or spiritual world, and offering space to invite pieces of yourself that you've shut out to slowly reincorporate. The episode begins and ends with a brief meditative and breathing practice to anchor into your energy and to embody this message in your own way. I also explore energies of resistance, expansion, flow, and letting go.
Welcome back to The Fountain! This episode is an exploration inspired by a session with one of my clients and gets into the energetics of "making space again" after periods of massive inner (and life) shifts, grief, and loss.
I explore the importance of allowing ourselves to fully grieve and mourn, to fully be in our process of release, to arrive into the gift of opening to life again. I touch into the nuances of what this opening can feel like, and how to observe and work with the energy of "making space again" when it arises for you.
Book your exploratory session with me here
Join my newsletter
Find me on instagram
Episode Music credit:
Embrace by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic
Music promoted on https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Presence: The Golden Key That Unlocked My Flow
Last week in an Instagram story I shared that at the crux of giving and receiving love (and what I believe is at the core of all love languages) is PRESENCE. Later that day, a loved one asked me on the phone what had helped me in becoming and being more present in my life.
The full answer comes in a long and winding healing story that spans the last 5 years (and continues on, of course), but I loved her question because
PRESENCE is the golden key that unlocked my flow.
Last week in an Instagram story I shared that at the crux of giving and receiving love (and what I believe is at the core of all love languages) is PRESENCE. Later that day, a loved one asked me on the phone what had helped me in becoming and being more present in my life.
The full answer comes in a long and winding healing story that spans the last 5 years (and continues on, of course), but I loved her question because
PRESENCE is the golden key that unlocked my flow.
While offering my presence and energy to others was more natural years ago (and now I can see that the quality of that presence was not always of my highest offering as I was often in my head and not embodied), cultivating presence with myself and everything swirling inside of me did not come easy to me.
I was the Queen of avoidance of my inner workings, pain, needs, desires, and more, and I needed A LOT of support in the early years of working with my coach to feel safe enough to really allow presence in - to really allow myself to slow down, to deeply listen to myself , to feel and tend.
As I found my footing and slowly walked through the presence initiation, there was a lot of pain and grief asking to be held and seen, but there was also incredible and immense love, wisdom, breakthroughs, and liberation. This unlocking process was one of great release of all I had been holding in for so many years, offering me more inner space to breathe and be, to explore and evolve, to experience contentment, peace, and joy. It unlocked my ability to FLOW with all of me and all of Life.
In my experience, without presence there is no conscious flow.
Without presence, there is no embodied acceptance.
Without presence, we miss out on the magic of our continued becoming and soul evolution because instead of seeing and working with life as a great teacher and mirror, we feel distracted and trapped by all the challenges that come our way.
Presence opens the doorway to deep listening, to attuning our ear and heart to our knowing.
Presence opens the doorway to liberation and healing as it brings us into connection with emotions that want to flow through us and create space in us.
Presence connects us to the grace, Love, compassion, and vibrancy that is already alive within us, no matter how disconnected we have felt from it.
Presence offers humility in our humanness and opens us to the awe and wonder of our Divinity.
Presence allows us to hear the subtle (or not so) knock of the needs and desires that have been over-ridden or pushed away, sometimes for years.
Presence is the key that opens to the doorway to abundant paths of possibility, the key that unlocks the patterns that keep us operating in survival mode, and then offers us a vision and steps toward thriving.
Presence invites intimate tending, budding, blooming and shedding of all that is ours to steward and grow.
Presence gifts clear sight to see what isn’t ours and to embrace what is.
Presence guides us in receiving higher consciousness, and offering from wholeness all that we are here to offer.
When we say yes to presence, no matter how scared we are of what might be on the other side of its doorway, we say yes to ourselves - to our hearts, to our soul journey, to our pain, to our passions, hopes, and dreams, to connection in all direction - to our unique Flow of being and living and natures and nourishes all that we wish to create in this life.
Ready to deepen into presence? Book your Exploratory Coaching Session here or get on the waitlist for one of my upcoming programs.
Big Uplevel energy at work (A seasonal reflection)
I've felt a subtle, yet also HUGE, up-level happening internally in the past 8 weeks, and wow, it's been a really beautiful and an often intense ride. I am thankful to feel present to it all even if it's brought up all sorts of things to be with, and this week I wrote a reflection on this to share with you!
I have felt rooted in my relationship with myself for a quite a while now, and more so than ever in the last 9 months. Yet even so, this transitional Spring season has challenged (read: fiercely called) me to sink into deeper trust in myself, in who I have become, and in Life as I continue to explore and embody the much greater capacity I now hold.
I've felt a subtle, yet also HUGE, up-level happening internally in the past 8 weeks, and wow, it's been a really beautiful and an often intense ride. I am thankful to feel present to it all even if it's brought up all sorts of things to be with, and this week I wrote a reflection on this to share with you!
I have felt rooted in my relationship with myself for a quite a while now, and more so than ever in the last 9 months. Yet even so, this transitional Spring season has challenged (read: fiercely called) me to sink into deeper trust in myself, in who I have become, and in Life as I continue to explore and embody the much greater capacity I now hold.
It's wild to think back to April 2022 Ellie (enter some 3rd person because it doesn't feel right to call that version of me “I” anymore) – she was just peeping her head out of her grief hibernation cave and learning to be known and seen in what felt like a totally transformed existence (compared to any version of myself I had perviously shared publicly). Today I can hardly feel the trepidation, overwhelm and rawness she felt daily as I simply moved through life one year ago, yet I am so immensely grateful to her, her courage and bravery, for taking the steps back out into the world little by little.
As we entered 2023, I received a message in a meditation indicating that the energy of this first quarter of the year was to be My Coming Out Party. Yes, I lol'd with joy the first time I heard that too, but I knew exactly what it meant; it was time to share myself fully, to let others see and know what I am about, who I am, and what I am here to teach, guide, and share. It was time to remove any fluff I'd placed, like bumpers in bowling, as protection from being misunderstood or disliked. It was time to say, “Here I am in all of my rawness and glory” and let the potency of my work and words be felt on a new level.
It was no coincidence that I walked out of the second year and into the third without my mom during this season, and that I began to feel and know my resiliency, strength, and rootedness on a whole new level. The More Myself program was born from in this time, and sharing it felt like allowing my soul to spill onto the page and integrate into what I offer even more deeply.
There were also multiple opportunities to say YES to life in renewed ways in February and March, including embracing things I knew I wanted to do even if I felt a afraid or nervous. It was fascinating to observe myself begin to enter into fear or anxiety, but to a much lesser level than I had in the past, and then remind myself that I have a completely different relationship with my body, my capacity, my abilities, my intellect and my emotions now. When I reminded my self of this, the nervousness lessened significantly and what came through more prominently was vibrant curiosity. “What would it be like to try this again as I am now? I know I can pause, or rest, or stop at any time, and what if I love it?!” And everything I tried again, I loved.
In March, I lived a powerful full circle moment teaching two, 2-hour Sacred Grief events in one of my mentors' membership. Almost exactly 3 years prior, my grief had been held in one of her containers in a way that opened me to the possibility of being fully seen and known in my pain amidst community, and returning to offer this same witnessing and space was one of the most natural and incredible “dreams come true” moment I've lived.
The first event I taught was a class where I shared my story with grief, recalling the 25 years it's energy has been intimately part of my life even though I didn't have a conscious relationship with it for 20+ of them. I spoke of the potential grief has to aid destruction when we are denying it or pushing it away, and the potential it has to support expansion when we are willing to fully be with it. I reflected on how grief is the most simultaneously expansive and contractive process I've experienced. I taught the EllieFlow 5 Spheres of Transformation (more to come on that soon as part of a special secret project I'm working on), and what is available to us when we are pushed to our edges and have no other option but to fully surrender.
The preparations felt peaceful while also demanding all of me, and teaching the class probably kicked off the “Ellie, you're stepping into something bigger, you're ready, it's time, here you are” energy that has been stirring since.
The second event was a GriefFlow Circle, where I guided a space to connect with the grief present and then move intuitively to music, allowing it to transmute and release energetically. After the movement portion, there was space to share about the experience and what people were feeling. The shares were so rad, so liberated, full of depth and yet equally light and refreshed. As soon the event finished, I turned on some EDM and grooved in celebration and gratitude for the amplified ownership and embodiment of my journey through this opportunity. I felt, yet again, more me, more alive, more full, more whole, more woman, more complete.
A few days later, as accidental integration of this experience, we traveled to visit my dad and make maple syrup with him on the farm where I grew up for the weekend. Our time was sweet and rich (beyond the syrup), and I took time to sit in the room my mom died in to cry, talk to her, and listen. As I enjoyed the bright sun warming us on a windy and cold day, as I saw my dad smile with excitement while showing us the sap-boiling-setup in the sugar shack my husband designed and built with him, as I chatted with the wind chime now hanging above one of my mom's wildflower gardens, and as we tasted the syrup and bottled it into jars to be enjoyed and shared, I was able to breathe in the abundance of my homeland and the gifts that have continued to come with the patient love and tending.
The end of March unexpectedly rocked me with some hard family stuff, and the up-level energy grew in intensity as new challenges tend to be portals for big internal updating. Since, this last month has been all about revisiting my foundation of safety and well-being amidst hard moments, and allowing my mind and self-concept to update fully and match who I have become instead of staying calibrated to a past version of me.
Through this process, and allowing myself the FULL space to be IN (messy) PROCESS with myself, I feel like I have once again capitulated into another realm of existence in the last week. Thinking back to the ‘6-weeks ago Ellie’, I already feel anchored in a different place, and remain in awe of the constant shifts and expansion available when we are willing to stay open to Life and to what is underway amidst our organic evolution.
This week I have taken many long walks in the spring sunshine, which is powerful medicine to my mind, body, and soul. On Tuesday mid-walk, I began to see myself like a budding tree with an ample root system that had been growing and establishing itself for many years, often silently. I began to feel how acknowledging, owning, and enjoying my rootedness allows me to sway freely (and even enjoy!) with the winds as they come, knowing that I will stay firm and rooted, continuing to grow my branches and offer upward and outward.
What do you resonate with most in this reflection? Does anything call to your depths in an unexpected way?
How do you find yourself relating to this season? Does it feel like a time of unleveling, a time of integration, or even a void season for you?
I wish you loving acceptance and vibrant curiosity as you reflect on the last few months.
My journey from Broken-open to More Myself
This morning I cried so. many. tears. Through the phone, my dad read me pieces of his journal from the weeks leading up to my mom’s death 2 years ago (almost to the date). He beautifully recorded things I said, things Mom said, etc. Then, I sent him photos I have of her from 6 days before she departed. What we couldn’t see or know then, for our own protection so we could stay hopeful and present, always amazes me. There are so many deeply private and indescribable pieces of being with someone as they die, and in beginning the journey into a life without them. There is no way to prepare. Those weeks broke me open beyond words and understanding. I have been forever changed and carved by the past 2+ years.
This morning I cried so. many. tears. Through the phone, my dad read me pieces of his journal from the weeks leading up to my mom’s death 2 years ago (almost to the date). He beautifully recorded things I said, things Mom said, etc. Then, I sent him photos I have of her from 6 days before she departed.
They are painful to look at, odd yet potent memories, and looking at them now I can see things I couldn't then - I can see she was so much further ‘advanced’ in her process at that point than I remember.
What we couldn’t see or know then, for our own protection so we could stay hopeful and present, always amazes me. There are so many deeply private and indescribable pieces of being with someone as they die, and in beginning the journey into a life without them. There is no way to prepare. Those weeks broke me open beyond words and understanding. I have been forever changed and carved by the past 2+ years.
One year ago I still felt like I was drowning in the dark many days - wondering who I was, what life would be - without vision for the future, and it scared the hell out of me. At the same time I could also feel a very faint call to life that I was willing to keep holding on to as I surrendered to the void of grief.
I didn't know how to talk about it, nothing I could say felt profound enough to match everything I was feeling inside.
The day before the 1st anniversary date last February, I was sitting in my sister's apartment in silence, taking a moment to reset after a particularly hard few days, and I felt a nudge that said “Stay present to the breaking open.”
I didn't quite understand it but I could feel the importance of once again inviting compassion into the heartbreak that was so palpable in and around me. I could feel the importance of allowing myself to be as I was, painfully blown open by love and loss, without needing to be glued back together again.
Last March, I felt like a baby being born, slowly exiting my grief cocoon with tiny (or not so tiny) steps I could commit to one-by-one; first a trip to Chile to be with our family. While we were there, I was able to see myself from a new light as I realized that I had more energy and capacity than my fears and inner-protections had allowed me to see. When we returned from our trip, I felt called to go back to yoga, and from there the next tiny steps unfolded.
Each month of 2022 built on the previous, guiding me into deeper trust, surrender, and belief that while I would carry and honor my story and my mom very closely forever, through this experience new ways of being and living were available to me. And actually, most felt more alive and true to my being than life before (tangible) loss.
Today I am in awe of this on-going journey as I continue to hold space for the pain, AND I feel free and open in my expressions of joy, creativity, curiosity, uncertainty and grief. This is particularly beautiful, as I remember the 30+ years of my life when this wasn’t the case- when I was exhaustingly holding it all in, just trying to manage life and “keep it together”.
There are of course still moments when I feel the inner ‘crunchiness’ (contraction) of my system trying to suppress or numb, but after many years of practice and cultivation, I now know how to work with myself in every moment.
I openly listen inward for the voice that is crying out in pain, despair, anger, or fear. I welcome presence into those places because I trust myself with myself.
I lead myself through the overwhelm and moments that make me want to harden, and follow my breath and pulse to guide me back my soft, open, Ellie Flow state.
And when I get to parts I don’t know what to do with, I allow them be and invite Divine love to pour into those corners of myself.
I am imperfectly free to feel, and through the feeling the power of my energy-in-motion (emotion) releases. As it does, space is liberated for a deeper connection with mySelf and Life, for more wholeness that is SO ALIVE I can feel it vibrating in my body, for More of Myself.
I’m so proud of the foundation I have cultivated. With each day of the past many years, a new brick has been laid, and the More Myself experience was silently being created.
It is such an honor to stand on solid ground today, forever still ‘in process,’ and offer this container so that you can be held and guided in your broken-openness as you open to the faint call of life again. I know there is so much available to you through what you have lived – pieces of yourself to release, and pieces of yourself to welcome in.
I know that the foundation for your next steps forward, no matter how large or small, can be created with love and gentle intention, making space for all of you, at a pace that is born from your heart and body.
This is a sacred journey, one that probably feels scary (better read: TERRIFYING) to say yes to. What if on the the other side of this terrifying step there was….
+ Safety to feel yourself and your experience fully.
+ Trust that you can learn to be with all of yourself - your pain, your joy, your dreams, your fears…all of it.
+ So much space and energy liberated in your body and being because you allowed yourself to release what you’ve been holding.
+ Belief that others in your life can meet you in your pain and in your joy.
+ Love and compassion for your past versions of self and who you are today.
+ Liberation in not needing to compartmentalize your life anymore because it can all flow together.
+ Creativity and (re)new(ed) vision (with time).
+ Confidence that you can move at your attuned pace, without pushing or force, and you will be in lock step with your soul.
While I can’t tell you exactly what awaits you (because only through your openness, capacity, and readiness will that be revealed), I believe you will be met, held, and guided exactly where you need to be. I believe you will be invited in to awe of yourSelf and process, and all that is possible.
You are invited into a path of healing and freedom, and you will be supported and equipped every step of the way.
If you’re ready to say yes to the call into More of Yourself, join me here.
~ 6 weekly calls starting Tuesday, including intimate guidance and tending, expansive teachings and coaching that will help you cultivate your new foundation for Life
~ $999 pay in full or 2 payments of $511
~ Hit reply for any questions.
Also, I recorded a great Instagram live yesterday with teachings and explorations of two foundational areas we will sink into during the first weeks of the program. No matter where you find yourself today, I believe it will support and enlighten you in your process.
You can watch the replay (even if you don't have social media) or listen to it in podcast form here!
finding your attuned pace & creating spaciousness to sink in to acceptance in an embodied way
Yesterday, I recorded an instagram live to explore and teach on the power and cultivation of ‘Attuned Pace’, and how Awareness, Acknowledgment, and Acceptance work together to free up energy in our emotional, physical, and energetic systems. I loved how it turned out, and it was a perfect peak into the first few weeks of my More Myself Group Program the begins next week.
Yesterday, I recorded an instagram live to explore and teach on the power and cultivation of ‘Attuned Pace’, and how Awareness, Acknowledgment, and Acceptance work together to free up energy in our emotional, physical, and energetic systems.
I loved how it turned out, and it was a perfect peak into the first few weeks of my More Myself Group Program the begins next week.
Listen to the replay podcast style here:
Watch the replay on Instagram here:
In the first few weeks of the More Myself Group container, starting 2/21, we will lay the foundations for the program by deeply engaging with the energy and healing available through each of these areas.
Allowing Life to break me open (& INTRODUCING THE MORE MYSELF GROUP PROGRAM)
When life broke me open, everything I knew it to be was shattered. Not only had I lost my Mom, but huge pieces of who I thought I was felt like they were stripped away with her. I had already been engaged in deep internal renewal for years leading up to this time, but when she died, things that used to matter didn’t matter at all anymore. Things I used to like and want in my life no longer felt alive and important at all…
Doors are fully open to my new LIVE Group Program Experience, ‘More Myself’.
You can dive into the complete exploration of it here. We begin on Tuesday February 21st, and I'm offering $111 off the price through Sunday, 2/12 using the code REBIRTH.
This program is a 6-week group experience for those that have walked through things they didn’t (consciously) choose, and are willing to honor the pain and grief of this process, while simultaneously opening to all of the ways it has profoundly changed and expanded them.
When life broke me open, everything I knew it to be was shattered. Not only had I lost my Mom, but huge pieces of who I thought I was felt like they were stripped away with her. I had already been engaged in deep internal renewal for years leading up to this time, but when she died, things that used to matter didn’t matter at all anymore. Things I used to like and want in my life no longer felt alive and important at all.
A year later I still felt incredibly lost, alone, and confused- this was a piece of loss no one had ever told me about. Probably because the ‘in between’ of who you used to be and who you are becoming is quite indescribable.
While I'll forever be deeply engaged in the life-long processes of both living with loss and expanding into to my own becoming, I now know that when we allow ourselves to be fully broken open there is tremendous pain and there are astounding gifts.
We don't get to control what breaks us or when it happens, but if we are willing to move through these times in our lives and the remains they leave with an open heart, they can offer us so much.
The transformation and the grief don’t need to compete, they actually go hand-in-hand.
Together they open a portal full of possibility - seeing, being, and leading through a different lens - one that I believe has the potential to change the world.
If we make the space for our breaking-open to be a conscious process, it brings deeper connection to ourselves and deeper connection to life as we move through it.
If we tune in and make space, there is so much richness alive in the messiness of it all, included but not limited to vibrant creativity, passion, meaning, full-being gratitude and awe…aliveness.
The More Myself program was created for those that are open and ready to both honor the pain and be awe-struck by the gifts. This program is for those that can feel something within saying, “there is no going back to who I used to be” and who desire to trust and explore the potent medicine of their experience.
Maybe you’ve lost a loved one.
Maybe you’ve received difficult news or a diagnosis about your health or that of someone important in your life.
Maybe you’re unsure if you’ll be able to have kids.
Maybe a relationship you treasured has concluded.
Maybe a career or dream you poured yourself into has been challenged.
Maybe you did all the ‘right things’ but it doesn’t’ feel like you thought it would and you're not sure how to move forward.
It doesn't matter what has broken you open, or how long it's been, if you feel called to more of yourself, this is for you.
“HOW IRONIC THAT THE DIFFICULT TIMES WE FEAR MIGHT RUIN US ARE THE VERY ONES THAT CAN BREAK US OPEN AND HELP US BLOSSOM INTO WHO WE WERE MEANT TO BE.”
— Elizabeth Lesser
All the details are here & the More Myself doors are wide open.
Use code REBIRTH for $111 now through Sunday, 2/12.
I am incredibly humbled and honored to create this program, and I can't wait to meet you inside.
Questions about the program or working together? Reach out here.
Releasing Survival Mode & Coming into Authenticity {Audio Newsletter + Transcript}
Last week I sat down and recorded an audio newsletter (think 30min podcast sans the fancy intro, etc.), which had been swirling for about a month. It felt so fun to explore topics and themes the end of 2022 brought up for me out loud - it all flowed out beautifully and I’m excited to share it with you!
Last week I sat down and recorded an audio newsletter (think 30min podcast sans the fancy intro, etc.), which had been swirling for about a month. It felt so fun to explore topics and themes the end of 2022 brought up for me out loud - it all flowed out beautifully and I’m excited to share it with you!
Listen here or scroll down to read the transcript:
In this audio newsletter, I explore:
Being in commitment to creating and sharing from authenticity;
Pausing, releasing more layers of long-engrained survival modes, and readjusting in order to do so;
The journey from drained to stable energy;
Theme “Allow yourself to be here fully, now” from my last newsletter and how it carried out for me in December;
Getting in touch with our ‘Gumby’ Selves;
Beginning to more fully own my journey with grief and loss as part of the work I share with clients and the world.
Transcript:
"Hi everybody. Happy New Year. I have been wanting to record this audio newsletter style thing for quite some time. I am an old podcast and am a podcast lover, and I'm always toying with the idea of bringing something like that back. But for right now, I just wanted to share some thoughts and some explorations from the end of the year with you in an audible form. And if you prefer to read this instead of listen, I will include a transcript and you can do that, whatever works best for you. I personally am an extremely audible learner and processor and I really appreciate having a variety of ways of engaging. So let's see how this goes. Let me know if you like it. And I've had a lot on my mind recently that I've been wanting to share and it feels really good to speak these things out loud for a long time. Writing felt better and more complete, and I think I'm finding a time of my life where both speaking and writing feel really good, and I feel called to them for different reasons. I'm just going to take a breath. I invite you to join me in that breath if you need that right now. And I wanted to share that the last time I sent a newsletter was at the end of November and I sent it with this really powerful message that had come through. It was in a long meditation at the end of a yoga class and it just kind of became so clear. The words were really clear in my body and as I shared them at the time because always what's for me seems like it's for others too. Not for everybody, of course, but for many. And I'd like to make it available. And as I sat with it and shared it, I was very encouraged by the message and I'll read it to you. It said, everything you desire stems from fully and lovingly being who, where and how you are right now. Letting yourself fully be here, fully owning being in this body, in this moment, feeling how you feel, loving what you love, breathing, fully feeling yourself here. I love being here. All that you desire will not change who you are. It will only add to your life and the beingness as you are now. So how fully can you be here right now? How fully can you be you right now? What needs to be set down so you can fully be here? What needs to be embraced to fully be here? What needs to be seen and acknowledged to fully be here? What is here to be embodied? What ownership can you bring to this moment? How fully can you sink into this day? How fully can you trust who you are and all that you have cultivated? I invite you here. Be here with me. Be here. It was a really powerful message for me to receive and at the moment that it came in. I didn't necessarily know the bigness of what it would mean for me in the month of December. I didn't know with clarity how important my willingness to be exactly where I was, because I tend to be somebody who wants to be a couple of steps ahead of where I am or thinks I should be a couple of steps ahead. And that's constant sole curriculum for me - to release into the trust and acceptance of being where I am. And that's something I wholly incorporate into my work with clients as well. And yet, here I was again, being called to simply let go of the moments in front of me and to be and in the being, not just resting, but allowing myself to deeply feel the depths of what I was feeling. And as the days went on, after this message came through, it all started to become clear. There were some really, really big shifts happening in the internal landscape of myself that I've been working with for many years now. And after a very important family therapy session that I had with my dad and my sister, there was an awareness of kind of the crux of some of my things. Let's just say that some of my defense mechanisms, some of my survival mode activating moments. None of these things were new to me. But the way it was processed and talked about that day really opened something up. And more than ever before, I really, really needed to be exactly where I was feeling myself. So I kept asking, how fully can I feel this right now? How fully can I feel it? And I'd be on walks, and there would be moments of deep grief and moments of liberation and moments of exhaustion, because where we tapped into also required a lot of energy to be processed.It felt kind of like we hit the core of my Earth and let out just this incredible amount of beautiful energy. But also, holy moly, getting to the core of that place again and letting that happen required a lot of rest. And it's a really powerful feeling that's happened to me many times. But this one was even potentially more powerful. So when the exhaustion would come, how can I release all the resistance to this exhaustion and just let myself feel the tiredness? And when the moments of overwhelm or fear would come, how can I let myself feel the fear and release the resistance towards this fear, really sink into it? Can I trust myself to be here fully with it? And even though it was not always perfectly smooth, I always was able to. Thankfully, that is something that I have cultivated.And as I sat with all that was happening, part of what I needed to be willing to do was sit with the trust that my tune in and connect calls, which were something I was so excited about beginning and still am excited about needed to be put on hold for the month. They needed to be potentially revisited in a new way. I always am asking myself my why. Why am I doing this? Not my why in the way of what is your why? The way that kind of the self development world tells you you have to have a why for your life. But like really making sure that I am doing things from a clear place within myself because one of my biggest commitments is to never as long as I can consciously and I'd say never doesn't mean it doesn't happen.It means consciously I do not want to act out of survival mode or inauthenticity. And the journey of living and doing business this way for me started a couple of years ago and it is pretty raw because it means that in different moments I learn new things about myself and I can see things that I couldn't see two weeks ago or two months ago. And I realized that there were places of inauthenticity. Of course my human imperfections and my desires to fulfill my own needs for things sometimes coming out in offerings and most of what I could feel from the tune in and connect calls was just really beautiful connection and offering a home for that and offering a space for people to come into that within themselves. And the one that I hosted, that was attended by a friend, she said to me, "you've never quite held space for me in that way. And it was really powerful for me", and it was a really natural session, but it really left a mark on her. And she came back multiple times to tell me how powerful that had been, even though it had just been the two of us. And I held that close because I knew that there was a lot of beauty and power in these calls and yet there was still some of the bumps and some of the inauthenticity of offering them that I needed to work through in myself, and a lot of that and the releasing of that survival place even more. That's one of, I think one of my biggest life missions is to unravel years and years and years of living in survival unconsciously which so much of the world is doing. And now that I don't live in that place constantly, I see it so much. And this season of my life is really about continuing to let that dissolve and continuing to trust into and to grow into and to expand into a grounded, calm, collected, connected nervous system capacity and way of living that I can thrive in on all levels. I could go on and on about how living in survival mode -there's a lot that can be said but it taxed me, and oftentimes we don't have a choice. I wasn't choosing to live that way. I wasn't even aware that I was living that way so fully until about nine months ago when I started to feel my energy come back. And I had been taken a year of sabbatical pretty much since my mom had passed. And a lot of the time, for the first six months, there was a lot of activity happening some days, and some days I could hardly move. But about six months in, the shock of the loss started to wear off, and I started to settle, and I couldn't do anything. And it was very obvious that my body had harbored so much adrenaline and so much survival mode that, yeah, I just was so drained. And I had been for a really long time, but I hit the bottom of the drain, of the well. And so as I committed to not doing anything except for rest, because I literally could not do that, and committed to that over and over again, even though I'd be pulled different ways in different moments and different months, about six to nine months later, I started to feel, oh, I'm feeling some natural energy come back. I think this is maybe what it feels like to not be in constant survival and drained mode. And I guess 2022, for me would be a year of rejuvenation slowly, very slow, slow and steady rejuvenation with lots of peaks and valleys and oh, my goodness, lots of still months of needing to go so slowly and tend so slowly and remind myself it was okay to be where I was. And so as we're closing out the year, and I'm in this place of connecting again with, why am I doing this? Is this coming from a place of proving or needing to be something? Is it coming from a place of authentic heart and guided power? Is it coming from somebody else's expectations? Where is it coming from? That was really what I was sitting with in December. Where was the desire for the tune in and connect calls coming from? Where was the basis of my business at the time coming from? Where was EllieFlow being created from and being poured into from? And while most of that was purely authentic, there's, of course, lots of little places that weren't, and there will continue to be. That is a lifelong journey. I'm not ever planning on getting to 100% authenticity, because what would be the point of that? But it was a new place. A new place from which I could evaluate and see how much is ready to be birthed and shared, how much is ready to be owned, how much is ready to be an invitation for myself and others. And in order to see all of that, I needed to sit exactly where I was, let myself be here as the message came through, fully owning where I was, fully owning the places where, yeah, it's okay. I created something from a place that wasn't quite right. So let's just sit with it. Its essence is still beautiful. It's just like us humans, like the creations, like a tune in and connect call. The essence is incredibly beautiful. The essence and the reason that it's here and the reason that it came through is incredibly powerful. And there's layers to strip away, to get down to or as close as we can to that core. And you could call that ironic because that's exactly how I explain my one on one work with people is imagining themselves wearing millions and millions of layers of clothing, and they can't even see themselves or feel themselves underneath it anymore. They might have so many clothes on they could hardly move, but they don't know how to take them off. Or they try to take them off and they just come back. And in the container of my one on one work, we invite and make the space for the exploration of allowing them, each layer, to just fall away naturally, allowing each piece of clothing to dissolve off, to be stripped off, to be ripped off. However, it needs to come off. And over time, we touch into the crux of who we are. That rock or gumby inner middle part of us. I call that our gumby self, sometimes just to give a visual.And then when we hit the gumby self, we often need to sit with our gumby self. And the rawness and the whoa. I've never lived like this before. I've never felt myself here before. Let me breathe here. I'm scared to be seen here. And also it feels really good. So we dance with that. And I felt like, once again, I connected with my gumby self in a different way, on a new layer, on a new level in December. So as we walk into the beginning of the year, it's become really fun. After having sat in the silence and just letting myself be kind of in the undoneness of also so much grief, the holiday season, this surprised me once again with how grief filled it was and also being in that really called me to owning it more fully. And I've been doing this for quite a few months. But it hit in a different way, really owning fully how much my work in EllieFlow is here to intertwine with the process of moving through loss and being changed by loss and being changed by the things that we have to walk through that we did not choose. And allowing this to be a conscious process that brings deeper connection to ourselves and deeper connection to our life as we move through it. And it can feel like this huge internal and often external mess, in my experience. And everything in your life and everything in mine is touched by loss when it comes. And no matter how close the loss was to you, everything is touched by it. And so much of what's been shown to me in the past year is working with my clients, is the ways that grief is presenting itself and asking to be seen and held and acknowledged and allowed to transform, given. Space to transform given space to sit in the undoneness that it creates. To sit in the places of mess and then to compost what's ready to be composted and then to nourish what's ready to be sprouted from that place. And this is a process that can't be rushed. And when I first started, I mean, it wasn't really a start, I guess when my mom died, I said to my coach, I don't want to work with grief ever. I don't want anything to have to do with grief. This is not I don't want it to inform my work. I don't want it to inform my clients. I don't want anything to do with it. And we laughed about that a couple of months ago because it was kind of grief was knocking on my door of "hey, when are you finally going to let me in? To be part of what you're doing, to be part of what you came here to share, to teach and to guide?" And I obviously am doing that from a place of someone that is in commitment, walking with my grief forward even though I don't like it sometimes. And what I realized when I really sat with it over the end of the summer and into the fall and now even more in December, is, yeah, I wanted nothing to do with grief in my work, but my greatest kind of superpowers and commitments are working with life. And nothing says working with life more than working with grief. And as we open to grief, we open to life. And I recently found this beautiful, beautiful poem that I wrote and the last line says, "but do not push the grief away, for it is a sign of life." And so rounding this out and coming back to the reflection of this message that I received and shared and then sat with very fully and very potently in December of allowing ourselves to be here, breathing, fully feeling yourself here, fully owning, being in this body, in this moment, exactly how you feel, loving what you love, not loving what you don't love.This is the underlying invitation to so much that will be shared through EllieFlow in 2023, beginning with some refined and updated tune in and connect sessions, one of which will be themed, and we'll see if the other one is too. I'm not quite sure yet.And for all those that are ready to step into an exploration of their "gumby" self, of their rawness, of their aliveness without the clothes on, even though it's scary and takes time and takes patience and attention and grace and we will just be with each of the layers until it's ready to go. You are so welcome in here. So I'll leave this here. I will leave information about joining those next tune in and connect sessions. Leave information about working with me one on one this quarter or this semester.And I'm so happy to be walking into a new year with Rejuvenation. And I will continue to nurture that rejuvenation and I hope to continue to nurture it in everybody that I interact with through Ellie flow and in my life, truly. In the fall, Ellie Flow really showed me this beautiful imagery and showed me the words sanctuary and oasis. And underneath that I could feel just like this deep restoration of our beings that can happen as we move with her and dance with her. And I am so honored and excited to invite all that desire to come in, that feel ready for this space, in. So I am wishing you space to be, to fully be as you enter the new year, to check in with your mode of being in terms of survival versus thriving drained or energized where you're needing rejuvenation and what you're ready for. As you walk forward, may the rhythm and the pace be perfectly attuned to your heart and where you are in your life and what you're needing. And if that is somewhere that you would like to meet, I would be honored to do so. All the blessings as we begin January, and if you like the audio newsletters, podcast things, let me know. Thanks so much. Take care. All my love, be well."there is Grief in every Layer of healing
Written originally on August 5th, this is a stream of consciousness writing that came out of me in a moment of deep realization. It is meant to witness, open, and offer compassion to any and all that are moving through a grief or loss process. I do still have a powerful relationship and connection to my mom, when I speak of her absence in this writing, I am referencing her physical presence and life.
Written originally on August 5th, this is a stream of consciousness writing that came out of me in a moment of deep realization. It is meant to witness, open, and offer compassion to any and all that are moving through the softer, less traumatic moments of a loss and grief yet still feeling the pain. I do still have a powerful relationship and connection to my mom, when I speak of her absence in this writing, I am referencing her physical presence and life.
Today I tapped into the grief of this week. It is a gentle sadness, ever existing with this state of calm and peace I have arrived to as I sink into the expansion this summer has opened me to.
It is a low grade sadness, there but not bubbling to the surface with a vengeance.
I can feel it put it isn’t sharp like it sometimes is.
A few times this week I noticed myself thinking about how I was getting used to daily wife with out Mom alive, and in a lot of ways I’m so grateful to have arrive here - to a place I feel free to look forward with excitement and potential - and this place also comes with a new layer of deep sadness, sadness that I am used to life without her, sadness that starting to dream forward means I’m more ready to imagine a full life without her.
In my journal I wrote about it being like a timeline jump that is both extremely relieving, expansive, and natural, while simultaneously devastating.
I have arrived to the state I wasn’t sure I’d ever arrive to - a state of deeper integration of acceptance that allows space for the new, the possible, hope and excitement. And also there is grief that I have arrived to this moment of peace and acceptance, where every step and dream forward naturally exists without my Mom in it, where I know that every step forward means a step further from the reality when we had her with us.
This is a new kind of heartbreak.
The Power of Deep Coaching + walking a path of committed limitless becoming and transformation
You see, walking a path of committed limitless becoming and transformation, and meeting and guiding others on their version of that path, does not release anyone from the human experience and the healing available in fully embracing it. Quite the opposite actually. Personally, in many ways I feel it intensifies the journey, reconfirming over and over again that I am willing to walk through my darkest valleys, no matter how short or long, to reconnect with my light. That I am willing to stand in the fire, lay down and surrender, open and receive, over and over again. Each time on a new layer, a new level.
Part of the reason I love what I do is that is challenges the status quo on growth, personal development and coaching as the world knows it currently…
This was originally written on July 14th, 2022
It’s been an intense last few days of all of the feels (I see you full moon) - grief, resisting my grief, self doubt and criticism, blah-ness, tears and more tears, fear, irritation… - feeling the overwhelm of it all, releasing each piece and part as I am ready, and then opening to and allowing the energetic shift that is ready to unfold.
This week has been a practice of recognizing new layers of my deep and long-lived survival patterns and being able to finally observe them from a new lens and energy - instead of reacting our of a survival loop, finding more peace in simply holding and being with the reactivity this patterns stir up in my mind and body. I am immensely encouraged by this, as this feels like a ground for healing on this new layer and level.
And as I always do, I have landed in a place of clarity and open heartedness once again. A place from which I can my make clear, aligned decisions and offer myself grace, permission, and immense love and compassion once again.
From achievement orientation to process orientation
You see, walking a path of committed limitless becoming and transformation, and meeting and guiding others on their version of that path, does not release anyone from the human experience and the healing available in fully embracing it. Quite the opposite actually. Personally, in many ways I feel it intensifies the journey, reconfirming over and over again that I am willing to walk through my darkest valleys, no matter how short or long, to reconnect with my light. That I am willing to stand in the fire, lay down and surrender, open and receive, over and over again. Each time on a new layer, a new level.
Part of the reason I love what I do is that is challenges the status quo on growth, personal development and coaching as the world knows it currently.
We are conditioned to focus purely on the achievements, measuring ourselves and others against what is and isn’t accomplished, but when that is all we focus on, we are missing so much of the magic of life! The truth is that there is no “there”, no “arrival” on this path. We may reach new levels and states, but there is no end to all we can grow into and become.
The theme of moving from "doing-ness" to "being-ness" is something I explore a lot with my clients, and as that transition happens, we naturally begin to move from what I like to call moving from "achievement orientation to process orientation".
When we open and shift into process orientation, we can take in and allow all of the gifts that bloom along that path, instead of being so tunnel vision focused on the outcome. In my experience, it truly opens us to life fully and there is magic and beauty even in the really challenging and trying times.
The Energetic Shift
As I have worked with this transition in my own life in the past 4 years, one of the most powerful shifts I have observed is that the way I interact with myself and life is SO DIFFERENT than it used to be, and because of this, I love being me. Even though there are of course hard days, I love who I am today. I love this version of me, this “open and here for it all” Ellie.
I see that in my clients everyday as well. Even when nothing is “figured out yet”, resolved, or clear - even when the relationship with someone is difficult or strained, even when uncertainty or grief hits harder than ever before, even when pain arises once again - the shift in being that Deep coaching and transformational work facilitates and supports truly opens us to a powerful relationship with all parts of ourselves, life, others, and beyond that is filled with possibility, with freedom, with energy, and with LOVE.
It facilitates an energetic shift that changes everything. How we feel with ourselves. How our inner life feels. How our body feels. How our outer life feels. How our relationship to God feels, as well as our own humanness and divinity. Nothing goes untouched.
One of my mentors of the last few years, Pilar Lesko, a woman the feels like a deeply connected soul friend, recently wrote in one of her beautiful newsletters, “Life doesn’t become ‘perfect’, absolved of difficulty, contrast, tension, mistakes, and pain. You do not get everything you think you want. But rather, you become more available to interact with life, as it is - and through that, meet the wise, sacred and meaning-filled energy that permeates each moment. You receive the lessons, transformation, and healing that’s available and reality consistently re-orients to that devotion. You naturally generate more authenticity, kindness, and generosity. You experience more peace, joy, play, flow, and clarity. Everything seems more beautiful.”
Those words ring so true and depict this never-ending experience of becoming and transformation so well.
I often say to one of my friends, “As we expand into one part of ourselves, all parts of us expand - even when we can’t see it all yet.” Despite what we must walk through, the fullness and the beauty only multiplies if we are willing to make room for it.
Being with Yourself (+ Free Meditation)
A few weeks ago, I found myself going through all of the meditations I have created over the last few years on my computer. There are A LOT of them, so I pressed play on each one, listening to the tone of my voice and the connection of heart and mind carried through in every practice.
I came across a 6 minute audio titled “Being with Yourself”. The title alone surprised me, as the practice of being with myself is so integrated into who I am today that I don't really need to consciously think those words anymore. But it wasn’t always this way…
A few weeks ago, shortly after revealing Ellie•Flow, I found myself going through all of the meditations I have created over the last few years on my computer. There are A LOT of them, so I pressed play on each one, listening to the tone of my voice and the connection of heart and mind carried through in every practice.
I found some I had forgotten about and still really love - meditations that still ‘hold up’ – a loving and powerful energetic invitation is felt from the moment I press play. Others I enjoyed finding and listening to again because they felt a little less energetically full, which allowed me to, yet again, reflect on how much I have deepened, evolved, and grown in my connection, gifts, and leadership over the past few years.
Within seconds of pressing play on each meditation, I could feel the energy I had created it from. Sifting through each recording reminded me of every stage of the few years. I remembered weeks where I made things happen through ‘push and force’ energy and sheer determination to not give up. I remembered weeks where my heart had been peeled (or cracked) open on yet another layer. I remembered that through that pain, I had opened, connected with myself and beyond, and felt feelings deeper than I had ever allowed myself to feel. I remembered how from that soft and vulnerable inner place something beautiful was always born, no matter how tiny it felt in the moment. In the tone and frequency of my voice and words, I remembered it all.
Maybe about 10 meditations in to my memory lane listening exhibition , I came across a 6 minute audio titled “Being with Yourself”. The title alone surprised me, as the practice of being with myself is so integrated into who I am today that I don't really need to consciously think those words anymore. But it wasn’t always this way, and simply seeing this title brought the memories of all of the years I didn't know how to be with myself; all of the years I disconnected, distracted, denied what felt true within me, rushed to the forefront of my mind. This title brought back the hundreds of times that the simple practice of reconnecting with myself - layer after layer - felt hard and heavy with resistance.
Yet with intention, desire, and deep deep KNOWING that there was more to live, I returned.
Layer by layer, I practiced inviting in breath, inviting in sacred love and attention to each part of my being. I practiced inviting in willingness, to come back to feeling and wholeness when I felt myself hardening from fear, anger, grief, pain, or uncertainty.
From the moment I found the practice on my computer, before I even pressed play, I felt excited to share it with you. What a gift it would have been to past me to have a 6-minute practice I could turn to every day, no matter how or where I found myself. Something so minimal, just to help get the ball rolling in the direction of reconnection when everything felt hard and empty.
A simple and accessible offering and invitation to re-arrive in your body, in your Self - to come home, over-and-over again.
I of course needed to listen to it again before sharing. So, I pressed play and heard this stream of consciousness intro:
"The theme of this week’s meditation is ‘Being with Yourself’. Often when we are in times of stress, chaos, or feeling unsafe or having lots of uncertainty, we look for things outside of ourselves to sooth and calm ourself, instead of simply being present with what’s going on with in us, with our feelings , and with what’s coming up. So making a small space for yourself everyday to literally sit in silence, in love with yourself, to hear yourself, and to be willing to allow what desires to surface, to surface so you can be relieved of it, is a powerful daily practice. And this will be a light way to do this for 5 minutes at a time, and lead you into it. Know you are not alone, I am holding space with you, I am here with you breathing along side you, and you do not need to journey through any of what you are walking through alone."
There is a lot coursing in us and around us right now, and I believe that taking moments to be with yourself, with the fullness of all you are and feel, has never been so important.
The art of being with ourselves isn't just for hard moments - it is powerful and important to fully be with all of our joy, delight, fun, play, and beyond too - but learning to open to the hard moments and pain is where the depth of my transformative walk began, and I know that may be true for others as well.
If this practice calls to you, if a guided 6-minute practice would feel like a supportive gift, then I invite you to press play and begin now:
(Please Note: this practice intentionally does not have any music to help guide you into a place of stillness and presence with the totally of your being)
Soon I will have multiple longer meditations and recorded practices (options with and without background music) up for sale on my website, to be purchased individually or as a bundle. Keep your eyes peeled if that is your sort of thing!
I will leave you with this:
I like to imagine a planet where everyone simply had or created 6-minutes of space to be with themselves before heading out into the world. I like to imagine how different things would be if we knew how to hold ourselves, to let ourselves FEEL and connect before we act. If we individually and collectively knew how to feel the pulse of our own energy moving through our bodies and beings - if we felt clarity on what isn't really ours and how to release it with love to reconnect with the truth of who we are.
I am holding a vision for that world, for all the possibilities alive there, for all of us. May it begin now with 6 loving minutes of opening today.
If you are ready to dive deeper, I would love to welcome you into a coaching session. Learn more and book here.
I don’t simply want to be alive, I want to LIVE.
My pain led me to the water of living. More specifically, my pain carried me to a point of internal collapse in 2018 where I found myself saying “I can’t live like this anymore” over and over again. Despite my deepest fears, in order to consciously choose life, I had no other option but to open to my pain – to open my arms to it, and embrace it fully for the first time ever. I couldn’t run from it, block it, push it down any longer. If I wanted to live fully, which I did (even though I didn’t really know what that meant or felt like), I no longer had room in my being to do ignore my pain.
I have been led on a sacred path of opening to the daily unfolding of life, of connecting to the essence of life and engaging with it a little bit more fully each day, for many years now.
My pain led me to the water of living. More specifically, my pain carried me to a point of internal collapse in 2018 where I found myself saying “I can’t live like this anymore”, over and over again.
Despite my deepest fears, in order to consciously choose life, I had no other option but to open to my pain – to open my arms to it, and embrace it fully for the first time ever. I could no longer run from it, block it, push it down. If I wanted to live fully, which I did (even though I didn’t really know what that meant or felt like), I no longer had room in my being to ignore it.
I turned toward my pain with fear at first, afraid of what it would do to me. But the irony is that when I actually found the right support, and allowed myself to look at it and hold it with love, I began to see it with beauty and tenderness that not only allowed healing, it also began to transform my way of life.
I kept this journey private on many levels for many years, marveling at the possibilities of reaching new states of living as I encountered or approached them time and time again. Over time, I’m sure the magic of this process started to bubble up and spill out out of my Ellie fountain. Others around me observed and felt shifts they couldn’t pinpoint, and I couldn’t quite find the words to share fully yet.
leaning into the shifts in being
Even when the days and weeks felt dense, each month offered new teachings. The deeper and deeper I dove inward, following the calling of the Spring of Life, the deeper I could breathe.
I felt clear and open, connected to an energy inside that I learned I could tap into any moment, knowing my heart and God within was all right there. The feeling was was indescribable – an undeniable energy of being and becoming led me forward with hope, to an empowered passion to guide others to the possibilities of living, even though I still had so much to walk on my own (and perhaps always will).
I thought, “Oh the possibilities for the world if everyone had space to feel their version of this inside of them.”
It was beyond wholeness; it was living wholeness.
Perhaps it was meant to be a private journey until now, until I could process, understand, and hold it on new levels. Until I could truly embody and dance with the powerful platter of sweetness, rawness, pain, joy, peace, divinity and humanness all combined into each moment.
I am still being initiated into new layers and levels of living everyday, and even though I need moments of pause to play and rejuvenate along the way, I hope it never ends.
I’ve dreamed for years of sharing this process. This week I found a special reminder I had written on a sticky note at a business retreat in 2018. While doing a meditation around connecting with our businesses and selves, I tapped into a vision of what my spirit felt like and desired for the first time; I saw myself dancing down an empty street and as I passed the houses, people started flooding out, joining me and welcoming more and more people to join us as we grooved forward together.
Afterwards I wrote: “Spirit: A leader, dancing through the street, having fun, inviting + encouraging others. Leading the way.”
I was years from connecting with Ellie Flow, still very much at in the infancy of my own process, just arriving to the point of collapse I referenced above. And yet the energy that I aim for Ellie Flow to hold was already alive inside of me: an inviting place for encouragement, expression of the soul, and dancing through life together.
There is so much alive inside of you, I promise. Maybe it’s ready to pour out now, or maybe your soul is ready to leave you a clue for later - for the perfect future moment when you will be fully ready for it.
If you feel called, book your first session and let’s tap in, explore, and dance forward together.