1 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Woke f Daily with 2 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody. Pre recording from my Brooklyn Silarium. Folks, 3 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,639 Speaker 1: I'm really excited this Friday to finally end the week 4 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: with something that is good, to leave you with a 5 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 1: feel good Friday, which is my conversation with my friend 6 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: Rici kat Oki Day, who is the co founder of 7 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:40,840 Speaker 1: the Apothecary Stroke, which I have talked about on this 8 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 1: show many times before. She's also one of the co 9 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: founders for Black Sisters Magic. We have a conversation today 10 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: about wellness, about what it means to detach ourselves from 11 00:00:55,760 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: grind and hustle culture and sing right and reading ourselves 12 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: from the guilt of needing to and wanting to rest. 13 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:09,479 Speaker 1: I know that I've talked about this with you all 14 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: many a times where I feel guilty. I feel guilty 15 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 1: taking time off. I feel guilty being in my home 16 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: and not doing something, whether it is picking up something 17 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: or folding something or putting things away like just laying down. 18 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,119 Speaker 1: I feel like I should be doing something. And that 19 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: is because of the lie that we have been told, 20 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: particularly as black and brown people, that our only, our 21 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: only worth is through what it is that we produce, 22 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: and when you think about why we were brought here 23 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: and for what function it was to serve, it was 24 00:01:54,160 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: to be human machines. And so you continue to grow mind, 25 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 1: and then we create an entire society of bullshit that 26 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: tells us that if we seek rest, that we're being 27 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: self indulgent or we're being lazy, and that if you 28 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:18,079 Speaker 1: are not booked and busy, if you are not telling 29 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: everybody like, oh my god, I'm so exhausted. And this 30 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: is something that I learned in twenty twenty, which is 31 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: that exhaustion is not a badge of fucking honor. Right, 32 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: And Risci Cat will talk to us about a phrase 33 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,119 Speaker 1: that I had never heard of until she mentioned it 34 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: in our conversation, which is weathering. You know, there is 35 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: always this joke in the black community about how black 36 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: doesn't crack, about how you can look at a black 37 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: woman who may in fact be sixty years old, but 38 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: look damn near twenty five, And that's always the joke. 39 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: But the term weathering that she will tell us about 40 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: happens on the inside from the stress, from the anxiety, 41 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: from the grief, from the trauma that wears us down, 42 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: and now our life expectancy is becoming less not more so. 43 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: While we may be holding things together on the outside, 44 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 1: we are literally crumbling on the inside. And so when 45 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: we start to think and reprogram ourselves from the desire 46 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: to just keep grinding ourselves into the ground into pulp. 47 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: You know, I had a conversation with another friend of 48 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: mine who said, you spend sixty five years right roughly right, 49 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: You not from birth, you're not working from birth, but 50 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: you know you start going to school. But from the 51 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: age of let's say twenty eighteen right to sixty five, 52 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: you are working, right, because that is the arbitrary age 53 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: that America has decided that you can not work. And 54 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: then we will give you some of the money that 55 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: you've put into the system back to you. And if 56 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 1: your life expectancy, think about this is at what maybe 57 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: maybe it's seventy five, maybe it's eighty. By the time 58 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:42,359 Speaker 1: that you have the ability to rest, you are either 59 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: sick right, exhausted, can't move, broken down because you've given everything, 60 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: every bit of yourself to capitalism, right to the grind, 61 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: to somebody else's company, organization, and nothing to yourself. And 62 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: so if we don't begin to reprogram ourselves, to strip 63 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 1: away the guilt, to find ways to rest and to 64 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:18,720 Speaker 1: restore and to recharge. Then we are going to see 65 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: not only is everything around us crumbling, but we will 66 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: crumble as well. So I hope that you enjoy this 67 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: conversation with my friend Risci Cat. Tell me in the 68 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: comments section if you've heard of the term weathering, because 69 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: I had not, and I'd love to hear where you 70 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: heard it and what that definition was. So coming up 71 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 1: is that conversation, and I hope you all enjoy. Friends. 72 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: I am so excited to welcome back to willke af 73 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: Daily after far too long. Frankly, my friend, the brilliant 74 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:59,359 Speaker 1: Risci Cat Okaday, who is a professor cultural architect, co 75 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,279 Speaker 1: founder strobe Apothecary, which, by the way, if you're not 76 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: following on Instagram you absolutely should be um, as well 77 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: as the co founder of Black Magic Sisters, also on Instagram, 78 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 1: UM that you should be following as well. Rissy. Um. 79 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:21,720 Speaker 1: You know, we are living in some god awful, precarious, 80 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: some end of days type shit, and so before we 81 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 1: jump in, I just want to ask you, you know, 82 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 1: as my friend you know and and fellow sister in 83 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: Black girl Magic, How are you doing? How are you 84 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: feeling these days? So today is a good day. Um, 85 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: I made soup. So I was really excited about that. 86 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,560 Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, the day is the 87 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 1: day that I stopped letting the butternut squash and my friends, 88 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: you know, die and to make it into sup. So 89 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: I did that. Um, it's been rough. It's been really rough. Um, 90 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: you know, we it's a dumpster fire that we're living in. 91 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: And I feel like what I suspect those artists and 92 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: those intellectuals when Ancient Rome was coming to an end, 93 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: Like I feel like we're watching that happen with this country. 94 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 1: It's this existential crisis almost like well shit, what the 95 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: hell is this gonna look like? You know? Um? So, yeah, 96 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 1: it's been a bit rough. You know. I just released 97 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: I started the podcast back up, and I knew I 98 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: couldn't start the new season without talking about the loss 99 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: of my friend Simone Briziando, And so I was such 100 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: a nervous rut getting that thing together and putting it 101 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 1: out into the world because I was just like, I 102 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: don't even remember what I said. I just knew I 103 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: had to do it. And so that has kind of 104 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: opened up some things, and it's just been you know, 105 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: it's just it's been a lot of sleep. I've been 106 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: sleeping a lot and making soup. So it's it's funny 107 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: that you say that because I, you know, all the 108 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: time on woke AF I've been talking, you know, to 109 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: the listeners about the importance of rest, the importance of recharging, 110 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 1: the importance of grounding. And you know, I always think 111 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: about you, Riscie. I have to say, because I can 112 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: remember fifteen some odd years ago you telling me about grounding, 113 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: you telling me that rest, and me really rolling my 114 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: eyes that you talking about I don't have really, I 115 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: don't have time for that. You know, I'm politicking and 116 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: I'm doing the things I don't have time for that. 117 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: And now recognizing that, oh big sister was correct in 118 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:47,600 Speaker 1: the fact that, oh, these tools and tactics, then I'm 119 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:51,839 Speaker 1: telling you, dear young Danielle that you need to implement 120 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: are important like they you know, they are life saving. Um, 121 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: how do you? How have you? You know? And to 122 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: be fair to wait and to be fair I have 123 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:07,960 Speaker 1: to do mean to cut you off, but to be 124 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 1: fair in a true Nigerian fashion, I give unsolicited advice 125 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:13,440 Speaker 1: all the time that I myself to be taken, but 126 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: I don't always take so while when I'm telling you, 127 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,200 Speaker 1: I'm telling me too, just I just want to be fair. 128 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: No that I mean that is true. I give it 129 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,319 Speaker 1: wonderful advice to be bold. Man, I do not take 130 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: myself namely rest right like, namely actually trying these days 131 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:34,319 Speaker 1: when I tell people to take time for themselves, when 132 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: I tell people to figure out what tactics, and this 133 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: is what I want to talk about right now, is 134 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:44,319 Speaker 1: that you know, because everything is such a dumpster fire, 135 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:48,160 Speaker 1: because it doesn't look like regardless of if you're a 136 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: person that readily follows politics or not, everything everything seems 137 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: to be up for grabs and up in smoke. Right now, 138 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:01,280 Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about how one develops 139 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: these tactics and principles of living that where that allows 140 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:12,959 Speaker 1: you to both recognize what's transpiring but not become consumed 141 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 1: by it. So how how did you, you know, just 142 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:22,200 Speaker 1: begin to begin that begin these practices, you know, as 143 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: a way to kind of help guide other people that 144 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:26,320 Speaker 1: are just like I don't know what to do. I 145 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: just want to pull my hair out or I just 146 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: want to drink myself into a stupor. I just want 147 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: to do these things that at the end of the 148 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 1: day have negative impacts right on us. And so, you know, 149 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: it's all good and fine. My mother had been telling 150 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: me to meditate for you know, for for fifteen twenty years, 151 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: and I just started a practice in twenty twenty. So 152 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,200 Speaker 1: what does that look like for you? So I think 153 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 1: part of what we have to do, I think it 154 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 1: looks like so I am on a I'm on a 155 00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:01,440 Speaker 1: constant journey of you know, stay, watch, dry, repeat, you know, 156 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 1: just trying to figure out what's gonna say, what's gonna 157 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,080 Speaker 1: go In terms of my daily practice, I'm you know, 158 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 1: it's it's inner miss depends on the day. I do 159 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,679 Speaker 1: think though, part of what particularly black and brown folks 160 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,240 Speaker 1: were actually members of the global majority, who are you know, 161 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: part of a working class situation? Rest has been weaponized 162 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 1: against us. It has been made to feel like if 163 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: you sleep too much, if you rest too much, if 164 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:30,560 Speaker 1: you weep in that you're lazy. Like I had to 165 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: tell a niece, a friend, a cousin of mine recently, 166 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: She's like, yeah, I've just been really tired and I 167 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 1: just feel really lazy. I was like, You're not allowed 168 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 1: to use that word anymore. We're not going to use 169 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:43,440 Speaker 1: lazy as a word to describe who you are, because 170 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: you're anything but that. And what happens is that is 171 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:50,320 Speaker 1: a particularly an African household, that is a word that 172 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,679 Speaker 1: is weaponized at all times. The wing you never want 173 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: to be considered is lazy. But you know, most of 174 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: us then don't really rest until we're sick or dying 175 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: as a result, I don't remember sleeping in as a kid. 176 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: My first sleeping in experience happened while I was away 177 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: at college. I'd never actually slept in. I didn't know 178 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: what that meant to stay in bed longer than you 179 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:16,080 Speaker 1: know the rising time. And so part of what I've 180 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: had to do is I've had to understand how my 181 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:22,600 Speaker 1: relationship with rest is really a big part of like 182 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: a larger conditioning that is big, that is anti black 183 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, colonial in a lot of ways, 184 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: and dangerous across the board. My body is a barometer, 185 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: and what I've learned in these pasts, and particularly in 186 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:41,600 Speaker 1: this pandemic madness, is that I don't know what my 187 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: body looks like unstressed. I've been stressed most of my life. 188 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: Even as a kid, I had stress because I was 189 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 1: a latchkey kid. And so when I do get sleep, 190 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 1: it shows up in my body a bit differently. Now 191 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: I've been conditioned to believe that I don't need much sleep, 192 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:02,839 Speaker 1: Like I I will run for you know, for weeks 193 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: on three four hours a night. You know. Science says 194 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 1: that shit is insane. You're not supposed to be able 195 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: to do that, but I've learned how to do that 196 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:14,680 Speaker 1: because of this mentality around, you know, struggle and hustle 197 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:16,559 Speaker 1: and all of these things like you know, sleep when 198 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:18,439 Speaker 1: I'm dead. I used to say shit like that, and 199 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: that's not dumb, but what it is I supposed to 200 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:26,400 Speaker 1: be the grind culture, you know, And when you think 201 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:30,319 Speaker 1: about what a grind is, you're literally pulverizing yourself into 202 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: dusty bits. That's not cute. And so what I've had 203 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,439 Speaker 1: to do, and I started doing this probably about ten 204 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:38,439 Speaker 1: or fifteen years ago, not so much resting, but understanding 205 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 1: language first. So I stopped saying grind. I stopped saying 206 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: multiple jobs, like I tell people multiple streams of income, 207 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: not multiple jobs. You know. I say, I don't grind, 208 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: I don't hustle. I just do and when you change 209 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:54,920 Speaker 1: the language, I think that's how you open the door 210 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: to understand that staying still resting, because it's something I 211 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: struggle with all the time, is really necessary. It's actually 212 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,320 Speaker 1: part of the growth process to rest and really and 213 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 1: sort of you know, think about what did you do, 214 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: how well did you do it? What could you change? 215 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: Like if there's never if there's never rest, if you 216 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: don't rest, there's no time for reflection. So if you're 217 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: only sleeping because your body absolutely you need to do, 218 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 1: then you're not actually reflecting on what you've actually accomplished. 219 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 1: And one of the things the pandemic has brought into 220 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 1: very harsh light for me is how my tendency towards 221 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 1: multiple things at the same time, which gives me joy. 222 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: I don't have rest built into those spaces. So it 223 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 1: hit me a couple weeks ago it's like, Yo, I've 224 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 1: been doing this really dope shit and I haven't really 225 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: had a chance to actually stop and be like, Yo, 226 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,200 Speaker 1: you're doing really dope shit. So there's no place for reflection. 227 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: It's just on to the next because that's part of 228 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:57,920 Speaker 1: my conditioning. So language is language shift is important because 229 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: if you don't shift your language. If you don't under 230 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 1: stand that rest doesn't mean stop, it just means reflect, 231 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: then rest feels like, oh, you're trying to hold me down, 232 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: you're not trying to let me be great. And I'm like, no, really, 233 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:11,360 Speaker 1: can you just take a minute to think about all 234 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:14,240 Speaker 1: the dope shit you did and kind of basking that 235 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: for a little bit. It's okay to you know, to 236 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: celebrate that win by you know, taking a week off 237 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: to just sleep, And it's okay if you sleep through 238 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of stuff, you know, it's absolutely fine. 239 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 1: So really kind of thinking about how racism and all 240 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: the other isms, particularly for black women, how it is 241 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: it's keeping a sleep deprived because Black women especially are 242 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: made to feel like if they're not doing this that 243 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: in third and you know, still and still looking cute 244 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 1: on top of all of that, that they're somehow failing. 245 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:48,480 Speaker 1: And the reality is that there's a term called weathering 246 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 1: that is a medical term for what happens to our 247 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: bodies on the inside as a result of of stress. 248 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: And while black does not crack on the outside, somebody 249 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: can be like, you know, fifteen, it looked like twenty 250 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 1: five on the inside. They're now starting to see that 251 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: black women are aging fashion than everyone else on the inside, 252 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: which is why people are dropping dead. A heart attacks 253 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 1: at like forty five. You know, may look good right 254 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 1: the inside your body is, Oh, this is a bullshit, 255 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: And you know what we're done? You know you said so. 256 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: I mean so many things, and I want to backtrack 257 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:32,400 Speaker 1: to one of them, which is about unpacking racism around 258 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 1: rest for black and brown people in particular, and I, 259 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:38,560 Speaker 1: you know, I want to speak to that for a 260 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: moment because even though this is still a new practice 261 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: to me, it's twenty twenty one, and this is something, 262 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: you know, resting, reflecting, recharging is something that I have 263 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: only been really doing over the last like year plus. 264 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: Right before that, if I wasn't hustling, if I wasn't grinding, 265 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,960 Speaker 1: then I wasn't making shit happen, right. I am still 266 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: struggling a year plus into this new sense of this 267 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,199 Speaker 1: new sense of rest as a way to kind of 268 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 1: delve into my creativity. I'm still struggling with the guilt 269 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: around it. Received Like I cannot tell you that even 270 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 1: you know, even over the over the you know, the 271 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: recent holiday of you know, taking time off of taking 272 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,680 Speaker 1: time off of the show, taking time off of writing, 273 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,439 Speaker 1: and you know, but then record like jam packing and 274 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: all of this recording and all of this stuff ahead 275 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,680 Speaker 1: of the rest time, so that I could leave the 276 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,120 Speaker 1: audience knowing that no, no, no no, I got you. You're 277 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:49,320 Speaker 1: taken care of, even after having done four days of 278 00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:52,800 Speaker 1: work in two days. Right, and I'm sitting getting ready 279 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,679 Speaker 1: to put my feet up on my parents couch. I'm like, 280 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: you know, you really should be using this time more efficiently. 281 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:02,120 Speaker 1: And whether like you are a person that was brought 282 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: up in the church or not, you were taught that 283 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,639 Speaker 1: like idle hands are what like the devil's playground, So 284 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,240 Speaker 1: if you're sitting around the devil's play thing, so you're 285 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,640 Speaker 1: sitting around putting your feet up, And so I want 286 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 1: to know, like, even even on the way to recognizing 287 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: that we are conditioned, how do you unpack the guilt 288 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,119 Speaker 1: so that you can get to a place of rest. 289 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 1: So that is hard. Um. I am a professor at 290 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: two schools. Um. I teach at Prince Church's Community College, 291 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 1: and I was teach a boy state And I love teaching, 292 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:44,879 Speaker 1: but teaching takes up a lot of space in my head. Um, 293 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: I am not particularly efficient when it comes to grading, 294 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: because it requires me to sit still and that is 295 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 1: just not one of my favorite things to do. It 296 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:59,359 Speaker 1: also requires me to because I'm I'm I'm an emotional 297 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: and I'm an empathetic grader. So I remember what it 298 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 1: was like being in classes with particularly white teachers who 299 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:07,919 Speaker 1: made you feel like shit because of your writing. So 300 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:10,160 Speaker 1: when I grade, I'm grading from a place of let 301 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:12,119 Speaker 1: me grade with love, and so that takes me a 302 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:14,600 Speaker 1: lot longer, and it actually takes a lot out of 303 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 1: me to grade like it's a it's a thing for me. 304 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:22,239 Speaker 1: And what happens is I had said on Thursday, I 305 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 1: am going to dedicate that entire day to writing, because 306 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:28,640 Speaker 1: That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get 307 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:30,399 Speaker 1: all of my grading that I want to get done 308 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,640 Speaker 1: on Wednesday by Wednesday, and on Thursday, I am going 309 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 1: to dedicate my entire day to writing because I have 310 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 1: this essay that I just got to get out of me. Girl, 311 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: when I tell you, Tuesday night, I was knocked out. 312 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: I slept halfway through Friday though, slept halfway through Wednesday, 313 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,000 Speaker 1: slept all of Thursday, woke up just to eat something, 314 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:55,359 Speaker 1: slept most of Friday, so much so that I missed 315 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:57,760 Speaker 1: one of my coaching sessions. That's how out of it 316 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:01,400 Speaker 1: I was. Slept on Saturday, did not grade a single 317 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: damn thing. And there is a there is a guilt monster. 318 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 1: One of my members, as I refer to them, is 319 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:14,639 Speaker 1: she's she's very much about keeping your word and setting deadlines. 320 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: I'm a Sagittarius, but there is a little Virgo trying 321 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: to get out of me that's driving me. She wants 322 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 1: to do things on time and she wants to be linear. 323 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,200 Speaker 1: I was like, look, man, we can't do that. That's 324 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,359 Speaker 1: not where we are. So that fact that fight is real, 325 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 1: and I stress out all the time about what I'm 326 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,800 Speaker 1: not doing. It takes up a great deal of space. 327 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:39,920 Speaker 1: So I haven't I haven't figured out how to quell 328 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 1: the noise. As much as I've said, okay, consequences be damned. 329 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: If that means that I'm gonna give up two days 330 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,600 Speaker 1: on the other side of this to catch up for grading, 331 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:51,159 Speaker 1: and that's what I'm gonna do. But what I'm not 332 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:53,679 Speaker 1: going to do is give up the sleep. So I 333 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 1: don't think that it's an easy The guilt is gonna 334 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: be there because it's a lot of conditioning that you 335 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: gotta get through coming into that understanding a year or 336 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: two years into it, when you're like plus thirty, that's 337 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:07,240 Speaker 1: a lot to go, that's a lot to shift. But 338 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,280 Speaker 1: what you can make a decision of is Okay, that 339 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:11,720 Speaker 1: little voice in your head is like, oh, we should 340 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:13,159 Speaker 1: we do this, we should be doing that. All right, 341 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:14,720 Speaker 1: you can keep talking, but I'm gonna get this sleep, 342 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: I'm gonna eat this pie, I'm gonna watch this Netflix 343 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,720 Speaker 1: because the rest of me needs the rest. And over time, 344 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,400 Speaker 1: what has happened for me is the voice is there, 345 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:24,919 Speaker 1: but it's not as loud as it used to be. 346 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,359 Speaker 1: So before I would be resting or hanging out and 347 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:31,640 Speaker 1: it'd be this constant worrying, like, oh, you should be home, 348 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:33,840 Speaker 1: you're not using this time. Wisi da da da da 349 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:36,640 Speaker 1: dah rah rah rah. Now what happens it's like, Hey, 350 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:39,640 Speaker 1: are we gonna grade papers today? Nope? Okay, I'll try 351 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,440 Speaker 1: back a few hours. Hey, you know this might be 352 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 1: a good time to do this. You want to do that? Nope? Okay. 353 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: So it's a bit different. It's it's not the worrying 354 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: that it used to be. And what happens really is 355 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:52,880 Speaker 1: that I've made a conscious decision that if that means 356 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: if I'm sleeping on my couch for two days, then 357 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna trust that my 358 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,159 Speaker 1: body needs it, because what I have realized is that 359 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:06,160 Speaker 1: our disconnection to rest. I'm very disconnected for my physical self. 360 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,480 Speaker 1: I live in my head and I live my higher self. 361 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:11,679 Speaker 1: I don't live in my body. So that's one of 362 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: the reasons I'm able to function the way I do 363 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: is because I don't really live in my body the 364 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,840 Speaker 1: way I should. I'm now the pandemic has forced me 365 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,679 Speaker 1: to live in my body, and it's like, what the 366 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:24,480 Speaker 1: hell is going on in here? This is a bit 367 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: much like, oh my god, what have we done? What 368 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:29,879 Speaker 1: if we allowed to happen? So living in my body 369 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 1: now has become sort of the main focus, which means 370 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,240 Speaker 1: then that I'm aware of all of the swellings and 371 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,080 Speaker 1: the aches and the pains and the weight that wasn't 372 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: there or that I've never felt before that I'm feeling 373 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:44,439 Speaker 1: now because I'm actually living in my body, and it's like, Okay, 374 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:46,840 Speaker 1: this is a mess and we need to we need 375 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: to clear it up. And what I noticed is that 376 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: when I don't sleep. That's when I feel heaviest. When 377 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,399 Speaker 1: I get rest, when I eat really good food, you know, 378 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,200 Speaker 1: I don't feel as heavy. I feel lighter. So even 379 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:02,919 Speaker 1: the difference between you know, when I trained, I have 380 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,479 Speaker 1: a trainer that we do yoga when I when I 381 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,360 Speaker 1: that whole weekend, when I just slept from like Thursday on, 382 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:12,360 Speaker 1: when I sat in my meditative post on Monday, I 383 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,919 Speaker 1: actually felt like overall smaller pop. It was just different, 384 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:18,880 Speaker 1: like I was like, did I shrink? What is going on? 385 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 1: And it's because I got rest. My my movements were 386 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,159 Speaker 1: a lot more fluid. I wasn't getting hemmed up in 387 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,439 Speaker 1: certain poses. And it was really because my body's like, 388 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: can we just please, I beg. We've we've done, We've 389 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:35,240 Speaker 1: done a lot, so let's just can we just sit? 390 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: And so that this because my body speaks to me 391 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:44,160 Speaker 1: in a Nigi accent um. You know, it wants it 392 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:46,880 Speaker 1: wants to rest, it wants to sit. It's like, yo, 393 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,040 Speaker 1: I have been there for you this whole time, Like 394 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,480 Speaker 1: I've shown up, I've healed fast when you've torn through things, 395 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,199 Speaker 1: I have you know, accommodated for your love of cereal. 396 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: Even though your lactose intolerant, like I put up with 397 00:23:58,640 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff. I need you to do this 398 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: for me. And so being in my body more has been, um, 399 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 1: it's been traumatic. I'm not gonna lie. There have been 400 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: some moments where it's been really traumatic. But what it 401 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: what it is, what it is doing for me. It 402 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,679 Speaker 1: is helping me deal with that understanding that that guilt 403 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,159 Speaker 1: is conditioning, it's not truth. My body is truth. The 404 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,000 Speaker 1: physicality of my body is truth. So my goal is 405 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,159 Speaker 1: to light in my body at all times and that 406 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: means that whatever I need to do, that's what I'm 407 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: gonna do. Hopefully that answers your question. You know, it's Oh, 408 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:34,199 Speaker 1: it does, and it's and it's really interesting because you know, 409 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:39,159 Speaker 1: want what I have realized right over the past or 410 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,920 Speaker 1: over these where it headed into two years, it's been 411 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,520 Speaker 1: nineteen months that we've been living in this health pandemic 412 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,480 Speaker 1: that in this you know, in this close to two 413 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:52,640 Speaker 1: year time period, I too have felt more in my 414 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 1: body and have wanted to be more in my body, 415 00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:00,439 Speaker 1: whereas everything else prior was a place of this escape. 416 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,360 Speaker 1: I don't have time to sit and meditate. I don't 417 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,320 Speaker 1: have time, you know, to be even even the exercises 418 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,480 Speaker 1: that I would do were in fact those that were 419 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:14,000 Speaker 1: pounding and of everything came from a place of aggression. 420 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:17,639 Speaker 1: And I realize now that that is a great point. 421 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,120 Speaker 1: It did that, it did, And I said, and it's 422 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,640 Speaker 1: just like the questions that I've been asking myself now 423 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:30,040 Speaker 1: is why, right whereas before I wouldn't even pause to 424 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 1: ask the why. But it's like, why is everything so aggressive? 425 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: Why do you feel like you're running out of time? 426 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,639 Speaker 1: Why do you feel the need to beat yourself into 427 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:43,560 Speaker 1: submission instead of loving yourself into into that space of lightness? 428 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 1: And I think that for me, one of my most 429 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: reflective moments over the past you know, almost two years 430 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 1: has coming has really like coming to the stark realization 431 00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,720 Speaker 1: that this world wants to kill people that like us, 432 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,760 Speaker 1: that they will do it in every single conceivable way 433 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:11,479 Speaker 1: and unimaginable way possible, and that I cannot, like, I 434 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:16,919 Speaker 1: cannot look at myself with the same aggression and forcefulness 435 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,400 Speaker 1: that the rest of the world sees me if I'm 436 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,400 Speaker 1: to survive it, and not just survive it, but get 437 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: to a place of genuine thriving, you know. And I 438 00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:33,719 Speaker 1: say that to people because it's good, and I mean, 439 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 1: go ahead, finish thought. No, he's gonna say I say 440 00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:42,480 Speaker 1: that people, because you know what you said, we have 441 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 1: an overlap ahead. I think it's a lag, so it 442 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:52,400 Speaker 1: is yeah, okay, okay, So when I tell you that 443 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: that that thing just should What you just said shook 444 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: me to the core. I was because of how we 445 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:00,920 Speaker 1: look at our bodies, um and because of how black 446 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,480 Speaker 1: women's bodies I think absorb stress in particular, and the 447 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:09,960 Speaker 1: judgments that come with black women's bodies that go to 448 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,320 Speaker 1: the gym and run really hard and do all these things. 449 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: My trainer and I we worked for a while and 450 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,040 Speaker 1: I was busting my ass in these sessions and I 451 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: was like, I'm not seeing any results. This is like 452 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 1: I'm tired, Like why am I doing bear claws for 453 00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 1: what freaking reason? Why am I doing this to myself? 454 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,240 Speaker 1: And I did. I was doing some research and I'm 455 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 1: a woman of a certain age. So what's happening is 456 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: that you know the stress hormones. I'm just saying, I 457 00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: know what I look like, but I know if you 458 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 1: if you slice me open, you count the rings, it's 459 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: a completely different number. But what happens is that as 460 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,120 Speaker 1: we as we stress out, we build these stress hormones 461 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:52,240 Speaker 1: called us all. A lot of people are familiar with that. So, like, 462 00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:55,119 Speaker 1: I have a stress body. And so one of the 463 00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:59,479 Speaker 1: things that you learn is that aggressive exercise is actually 464 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,119 Speaker 1: not good for people who produce too much cortisol. Like 465 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 1: what you're supposed to do, what I should be doing 466 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:07,959 Speaker 1: is walking three miles a day. Like if I just 467 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,240 Speaker 1: walked three miles a day for a month, my body 468 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: composition would would shift. And so I told him, I 469 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:15,639 Speaker 1: was like, yo, I don't want to do these aggressive 470 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:19,199 Speaker 1: exercises anymore. Like we had started doing yoga one of 471 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,080 Speaker 1: the three sessions, and I really liked how I felt 472 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: in my body when I did the yoga sessions versus 473 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: the other two. And I had to really build up 474 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,240 Speaker 1: the confidence to say, you know what, I don't want 475 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,719 Speaker 1: to do those exercises anymore because I didn't want him 476 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,119 Speaker 1: to think that I was like copying out because the 477 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: conditioning is telling me that, oh, woa, you're lazy. You're 478 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,120 Speaker 1: not you're not trying to do this, You're not serious. 479 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,120 Speaker 1: But it's like no, my body's like, well, I don't 480 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,920 Speaker 1: want to do this. We like yoga. Can't we just 481 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: do yoga. So that's what I've been doing, and it's 482 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 1: like the best love letter to yourself, you know, gentle movement, 483 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 1: you know, because everything that I've done it's been aggressive, 484 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: Like I wake up and it's like, let's go. Because 485 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,320 Speaker 1: my mother when I was a kid, she would never 486 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: let us sleep in. When you wake up, She's like, 487 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 1: don't you know, move You don't sit in bed, you 488 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:09,120 Speaker 1: don't think about it, just get up, you get dressed, 489 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,719 Speaker 1: you move when your day starts. The day starts almost 490 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:13,800 Speaker 1: like it was almost military in a way that she 491 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,400 Speaker 1: that the way she raised this. And so when I 492 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:18,640 Speaker 1: do get up, it's like, let's go. But now what 493 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:20,800 Speaker 1: I'm learning to do is like stay in bed a 494 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 1: little bit longer. You know, I've created a life where 495 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: I don't necessarily have to get up at the crack 496 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:28,400 Speaker 1: of dawn because as an African, we assume crack of 497 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:29,920 Speaker 1: dawn means that's when the day starts, you know what 498 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 1: I'm saying. So even the way we associate our time 499 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: with how much light we have, you know, some of 500 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,600 Speaker 1: that is DNA. Like you know, if I was a farmer, 501 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,360 Speaker 1: if I come from a family of farmers, daybreak, you 502 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:43,160 Speaker 1: you gotta be up. There's things that need to be done. 503 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: But I'm like, I'm not a farmer. I don't have 504 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:51,280 Speaker 1: a farm. I actually am a suburban dweller, actually a 505 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:54,560 Speaker 1: suburban dweller who was a teacher and who was an artist. 506 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:56,880 Speaker 1: I am not planting yams in the back. I don't 507 00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 1: need to get up at four o'clock in the morning 508 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: unless I absolutely fine and getting up at four o'clock 509 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 1: in the morning helpful. So some of it is the 510 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,040 Speaker 1: word the languages that we use, but some of it 511 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:09,400 Speaker 1: is also just even making that decision to shift to 512 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 1: a different way of moving and not every like somebody 513 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: made a good point. I was researching um traditional yoga 514 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: as it was done in India. In terms of the 515 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:21,760 Speaker 1: way it was practiced, it's very different from this capitalistic 516 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 1: Lulu lemon esque approach that we have in the States, 517 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:29,040 Speaker 1: and it has kind of changed the way yoga is 518 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,280 Speaker 1: like yoga and now the way that yoga has become 519 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:37,320 Speaker 1: sort of monetized, it doesn't it's it's it's it's turned 520 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: been turned into like an aggressive workout, which is not 521 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: what it that's not what it's supposed to do. So 522 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 1: working with people who understand the real foundation of what 523 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: yoga is supposed to look like, and understand that like 524 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:53,200 Speaker 1: real yogis don't look like finally tone you know, you 525 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 1: know fitness models that they look like regular human beings, 526 00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: you know, who have a lot of longevity because they're 527 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: not weathering on the end inside. So that's the focus, 528 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:04,320 Speaker 1: that's the goal. And I think what you know, when 529 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 1: you said that point about moving away from us like 530 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,720 Speaker 1: pounding and running and all of that. I like to run. 531 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:11,560 Speaker 1: I actually enjoy running now because I've learned how to 532 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,320 Speaker 1: do it. But just me jumping up and down in 533 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,320 Speaker 1: my house, you know, doing craziness, I was like, I 534 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,040 Speaker 1: don't want to do this anymore. And so when I've 535 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,480 Speaker 1: made the decision, I shifted like a whole mindset. And 536 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,160 Speaker 1: even my trainer was like, yo, this three times a 537 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:27,880 Speaker 1: week is he's actually because he does it with me, 538 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:33,080 Speaker 1: he's actually found it much more beneficial because he has 539 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:36,120 Speaker 1: to create whatever the rounds we're going to do, he 540 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: creates that. So he's like, you know, one of we 541 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: give thanks at the end of a session. He's like, 542 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 1: I'm just thankful because if you I'm doing yoga three 543 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,080 Speaker 1: times a week and That's something I never would have 544 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 1: you know, outside of a teaching space, I wouldn't have 545 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: got to do that for myself. So yeah, I do 546 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: think it's important for us to think about how we 547 00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: how we use our bodies, and when you're in your body, 548 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:00,240 Speaker 1: you know, letting it be the barometer that it's meant 549 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 1: to be. It will tell you what it likes and 550 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 1: what it doesn't like. You know. You know, after now 551 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:11,280 Speaker 1: this time of you reconnecting with your body and being 552 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 1: in your body and feeling this lightness, how has that 553 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:21,080 Speaker 1: helped you with your creativity? How has that helped you 554 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 1: delve further into your art? It's actually asking me to 555 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:33,280 Speaker 1: do to think about myself a little bit more expansively. 556 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 1: My art traditionally is in bringing people together. It's experiences 557 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,680 Speaker 1: like that's the first place that I think my creativity. 558 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:45,520 Speaker 1: I'm always like, yo, let's get together, let's grab people. 559 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: I'm always gathering folk, and so the pandemic forced me 560 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:54,280 Speaker 1: to really reconsider, like what what that could possibly look like. 561 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:57,000 Speaker 1: I don't like zoom get Together. I absolutely hate them. 562 00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: And you know, I'll do things through Zoom because I 563 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 1: have to, But you know, I get invited to really 564 00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: sweet zoom parties all the time, and I just decline 565 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:07,880 Speaker 1: because I don't That's not how I want to enjoy people. 566 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 1: And I'm willing to wait until we can all be together. Um, 567 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:13,840 Speaker 1: the zoom just feels like for me, it just doesn't. 568 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: It doesn't feel good in my body to be sitting 569 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:19,440 Speaker 1: here having an animated conversation with someone I love via 570 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,000 Speaker 1: zoom just feels like I need to be on a 571 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 1: couch with some cocoa, you know, prograp you know, feed 572 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 1: on top of each other, talking and like, you know, 573 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:32,080 Speaker 1: all of that. So, um, my art has you know, 574 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:33,960 Speaker 1: what has happened is some of the things that I've 575 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,200 Speaker 1: been doing digitally or things that I play around with, 576 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:40,240 Speaker 1: things that I used to to do as as because 577 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:42,800 Speaker 1: I needed to create something for whatever I was doing. 578 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:45,960 Speaker 1: I'm now re examining as art and I'm sharing a 579 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 1: little bit of the things that I'm doing, and it's 580 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 1: you know, I'm getting some really great feedback. I think artists, 581 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,560 Speaker 1: you know, especially visual artists, because I work with fine 582 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,680 Speaker 1: arts artists. I'm loath to refer to myself as such 583 00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: because these people have put in years and years of practice. 584 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,240 Speaker 1: But that's the condition, you know, what I'm saying, that's 585 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:03,120 Speaker 1: part of the conditioning that I have to fight. And 586 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: so being in my body has really helped me see 587 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:12,239 Speaker 1: myself differently, Like I actually like this training this week 588 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:15,480 Speaker 1: this morning, and I actually positioned to have a mirror 589 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:18,160 Speaker 1: that's like a carousel. I never look at myself in 590 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:20,160 Speaker 1: the mirror, Like that's something I've never actually been a 591 00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:22,200 Speaker 1: fan of, Like I would, you know, one of the 592 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:24,279 Speaker 1: biggest complaints my friends always have, like you have no 593 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,040 Speaker 1: mirrors in the house, Like, you know, how do you 594 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 1: know if your clothes look right? I was like, I 595 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:30,960 Speaker 1: just go by field. So I now have this full 596 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:34,400 Speaker 1: length mirror, and I've been forcing myself to look at myself. 597 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 1: And so I was watching myself pull out a tiger pose. 598 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:39,600 Speaker 1: It was called tiger pose, and I was like, oh 599 00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:41,920 Speaker 1: my god, you're such a badass. Like I had a 600 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,200 Speaker 1: moment while I was looking at my body. My body 601 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:46,040 Speaker 1: was like see and I was like, you're right, and 602 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:50,120 Speaker 1: it was this really beautiful moment. And so being in 603 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,160 Speaker 1: my body is helping me see myself more expansively. And 604 00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 1: it's also while I've never felt like I had limitations, 605 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: it's making me more courageous to like put stuff out there. 606 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:03,600 Speaker 1: I'm somebody who will create a whole bunch of stuff 607 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,880 Speaker 1: and nobody will ever see it. And now I'm feeling like, yo, 608 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:08,799 Speaker 1: I'm going to throw it out there and see what people, 609 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:11,000 Speaker 1: you know, whether they like it or not, because I'm 610 00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 1: doing it for me, you know, it's a win regardless. 611 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:16,680 Speaker 1: So I am trying more things, and you know, ideas 612 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 1: that I've been sitting in my head, I'm actually pulling 613 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:22,759 Speaker 1: them out and like sketching, and it's just being in 614 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:26,840 Speaker 1: your body. It changes how you see the world because 615 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:31,160 Speaker 1: now you're you're processing things temporarily, You're not just processing 616 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 1: them in terms of how you see it. Like I'm 617 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:37,640 Speaker 1: literally energetically, you know, taking it all in, and I'm 618 00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:40,200 Speaker 1: looking at my body and how it reacts and saying, Okay, 619 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:41,959 Speaker 1: this is why I like, this is why I don't. 620 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:45,360 Speaker 1: And it's just like it's like it's like discovering like 621 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:47,759 Speaker 1: you have like a seventh sense or something like an 622 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:49,960 Speaker 1: extra sense, or like all of a sudden you have 623 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 1: an antenna that you didn't know that you had. So 624 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:58,160 Speaker 1: it's it's deep, like it's powerful because for me, it's 625 00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:00,920 Speaker 1: not based. It doesn't matter what my outside looks like 626 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:04,120 Speaker 1: like I'm not concerned with that. I'm really concerned with 627 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 1: with what's going on inside because I want to be 628 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:09,200 Speaker 1: here for as long as I possibly can. Yeah, and 629 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:10,839 Speaker 1: I also want to be here in a way where 630 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:12,880 Speaker 1: I can move, Like I don't want to be like 631 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:14,839 Speaker 1: I want to be the seventy year old woman who 632 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:16,600 Speaker 1: rocks a heel high, you know what I'm saying, Like 633 00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:19,400 Speaker 1: that's one of my goals. I don't necessarily want to 634 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:23,280 Speaker 1: be here. And my body's not working, so doing yoga, 635 00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:27,600 Speaker 1: paying attention, like I'm catching things that I normally wouldn't catch, 636 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,239 Speaker 1: you know, so I'm able to like, oh, okay, I 637 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:32,600 Speaker 1: need to drink more water. Things are feeling a little 638 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:34,960 Speaker 1: tight here. What's going on there? You know? I need 639 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,040 Speaker 1: to do this. So it's it's a good thing, you know, 640 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:38,879 Speaker 1: And in a lot of ways, it's like a silver 641 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,520 Speaker 1: lining in terms of what the pandemic has brought. Like 642 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:43,720 Speaker 1: there's a lot of terribleness that has come with the pandemic, 643 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:46,279 Speaker 1: but there are so many silver linings in terms of 644 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:52,000 Speaker 1: self evaluation, um just you know, emotional intelligence, how you 645 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:54,919 Speaker 1: engage with you, with the people around you. It's it's 646 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,440 Speaker 1: been really it's been it's been a lot, but it's 647 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:01,960 Speaker 1: been that kind of good, like, Okay, by the time 648 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:04,600 Speaker 1: we are fully done with this, I will actually be 649 00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:07,399 Speaker 1: a better person, you know, And that's that's the part 650 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:10,560 Speaker 1: that I'm excited about. I think that that, to me, 651 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,680 Speaker 1: has been one of the most beautiful I say that 652 00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:17,440 Speaker 1: this has been a beautiful mess, right. That has been 653 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 1: a beautiful part of this, of the entirety of this 654 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 1: journey is recognizing that I feel more like myself now 655 00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,320 Speaker 1: than I did in twenty nineteen than I did in 656 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,919 Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. And yet you know, if you look back, 657 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:36,600 Speaker 1: there wasn't There was a different type of angst and 658 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 1: a different type of anxiety. But I feel more in 659 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:45,720 Speaker 1: my skin than I do now. Before I let you go, Rissie, please, 660 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:48,400 Speaker 1: you know, what is your advice to people who are 661 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:52,200 Speaker 1: listening to this conversation and they are thinking to themselves, yeah, 662 00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:55,520 Speaker 1: that sounds nice, but like it's way too hard and 663 00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:58,960 Speaker 1: I can't do that. What advice do you have to 664 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:02,400 Speaker 1: that person who you know they're listening to this and 665 00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:05,479 Speaker 1: they're saying, you know what, I want to get into 666 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,640 Speaker 1: this journey. I want to continue on this journey that 667 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:12,279 Speaker 1: I'm fearful of. But this nagging voice is telling them, 668 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:19,839 Speaker 1: don't do it. It's too much. Right, So I cuts 669 00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:21,640 Speaker 1: at that little voice when she starts to get a 670 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:23,600 Speaker 1: little crazy, I'm like, look, you're gonna shut your ass up. 671 00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:27,080 Speaker 1: Not doing this with you today. You can talk back, 672 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:28,719 Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. When the voices are trying 673 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:30,200 Speaker 1: to get at you like, oh it's too hard, it 674 00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,920 Speaker 1: is too much, you can be like, nah, man, I'm 675 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:35,279 Speaker 1: doing this. And I think for me, the biggest what 676 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,960 Speaker 1: I would say to someone what I well, there's two things. 677 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:42,160 Speaker 1: Part one is if you believe that you can't, then 678 00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:44,680 Speaker 1: you're right. Like if you're if you've listened to all 679 00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:47,839 Speaker 1: of this and you walk away saying, oh I don't 680 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:49,359 Speaker 1: I don't know if I could do that, then you're 681 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:54,800 Speaker 1: right and it stops there. If you want to do different, like, 682 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:57,000 Speaker 1: it's not about better, it's about different. If you want 683 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:01,600 Speaker 1: to do different, pick one thing. The way I started 684 00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:04,120 Speaker 1: was I realized how dehydrated I was. I didn't realize 685 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:07,200 Speaker 1: how dehydrated I was until I saw you know, I 686 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:08,960 Speaker 1: went and saw a friend and she was like, you 687 00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,600 Speaker 1: just look like you aren't drinking enough water to just 688 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,440 Speaker 1: start by drinking water. Like it sounds crazy, but like 689 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:18,759 Speaker 1: if you can start with just committing to like I 690 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:22,120 Speaker 1: wake up in the morning, I do oil pulling with 691 00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:24,399 Speaker 1: sessame oil. It's an aguvatic thing. It's a great way 692 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:25,960 Speaker 1: to kind of pull all the taxins out of your 693 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,439 Speaker 1: mouth before you brush. And then I have a really 694 00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:32,680 Speaker 1: big glass of water and water in the morning. I 695 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:36,919 Speaker 1: don't think we realize how important water is, but water 696 00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:39,799 Speaker 1: in the morning, it just that's the day. Like it's 697 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:42,320 Speaker 1: just like, okay, it's like an evolution. It's like a 698 00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:45,600 Speaker 1: blessing to be able to have that water in the morning. 699 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:48,319 Speaker 1: And when I do that. The next thing I'm learning 700 00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:51,399 Speaker 1: to do is I kind of sit and I say, Okay, 701 00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:54,680 Speaker 1: what do I want my data look like? And there's 702 00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:57,120 Speaker 1: no shame or harm if you don't get everything done. 703 00:39:57,360 --> 00:39:59,480 Speaker 1: But I think about what I want my data look like, 704 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:01,120 Speaker 1: and I think about how I want to feel at 705 00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:03,440 Speaker 1: the end of the day. And so if it's like 706 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:06,279 Speaker 1: I just want to be productive, what productive looks like. 707 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:08,200 Speaker 1: It could be that I cleaned out my closet. It 708 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,759 Speaker 1: could be that you know, I, you know, cleared some old, 709 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:14,920 Speaker 1: you know, expired food out of my fridge, whatever productive 710 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:17,160 Speaker 1: feels like. So what I would say to anyone who 711 00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:20,719 Speaker 1: wants to try something different is understand that everything that 712 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:22,719 Speaker 1: we're thinking about what we can't do is part of 713 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:25,320 Speaker 1: the conditioning. There's a great conditioning that we have to 714 00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:27,440 Speaker 1: we have to pull out of, you know, we have 715 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:29,480 Speaker 1: to we have to kind of pull away from. So 716 00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:33,359 Speaker 1: when you say, oh, I can't do it, what does 717 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:37,440 Speaker 1: that actually mean? Because physically you can unless you can't, 718 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,359 Speaker 1: and if there's a physical limitation, then find something else. 719 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:44,560 Speaker 1: But a lot of what we say we can't do 720 00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:48,040 Speaker 1: is conditioning. And the mind is a powerful thing. So 721 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:50,520 Speaker 1: if your brain says if you say I can't do it, 722 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:53,520 Speaker 1: and your brain accepts it, then it's true you can't. 723 00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:56,200 Speaker 1: And I know that kind of that might sound flippant 724 00:40:56,239 --> 00:40:58,040 Speaker 1: to someone who's like, what the hell's all about, but 725 00:40:58,200 --> 00:41:00,800 Speaker 1: it really does boil down to that. You know, I 726 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:03,120 Speaker 1: teach students all the time, and they I spend a 727 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,439 Speaker 1: lot of time trying to decondition my students from thinking 728 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:09,120 Speaker 1: they're terrible writers because they had that one bad experience 729 00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:12,120 Speaker 1: with a teacher. Yeah, it's like, no, you can write. 730 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:14,360 Speaker 1: Everybody can write. You know what I'm saying you just 731 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:16,680 Speaker 1: have to figure out how to make sure you're saying 732 00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:20,800 Speaker 1: what you want to say in your voice. So I 733 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:25,040 Speaker 1: would say to anyone, just start with morning. Just start 734 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:28,000 Speaker 1: with morning water, because I don't know what it is 735 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:31,640 Speaker 1: about that first drink in the morning. It literally kind 736 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:34,640 Speaker 1: of it's like this cool sort of wash of everything, 737 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:38,240 Speaker 1: and it really says to me, new day, new opportunities, 738 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:44,520 Speaker 1: Let's go. And then I just go and I celebrate. Yeah, 739 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:47,479 Speaker 1: and I celebrate. I sell it. I mean, I made soup. 740 00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:49,919 Speaker 1: I feel really good about the fact that I made soup. 741 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:53,799 Speaker 1: I'm so proud of myself because I do, because I mean, 742 00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:56,520 Speaker 1: that's that's one less thing that's spoiled in the fridge. 743 00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:58,759 Speaker 1: You know, I'm picking up my nephew soon and so 744 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:01,439 Speaker 1: he'll have something to eat. But I actually spent time 745 00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:03,960 Speaker 1: and I cooked for myself. I get I'm gonna give 746 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:07,239 Speaker 1: my body food that I'm made, and so that is 747 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:10,480 Speaker 1: that's a powerful symbol of love to one's self, is 748 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,080 Speaker 1: to cook for oneself. And so yeah, it all started 749 00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:16,560 Speaker 1: with that drink of water. I had the drink of water, 750 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:18,440 Speaker 1: and I thought about what I wanted the day to 751 00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:20,160 Speaker 1: look like. I knew it was on my calendar, but 752 00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:22,320 Speaker 1: I thought about how did I want to feel? And 753 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:24,920 Speaker 1: I'm telling you today has been a really good day. 754 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:28,719 Speaker 1: It really apps and not always gonna be this great. 755 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:33,239 Speaker 1: But that water, that water makes a huge It's just 756 00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:35,680 Speaker 1: a beautiful reset to try it. Try the water and 757 00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:37,960 Speaker 1: tell us what, tell us what happens when you drink 758 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:40,040 Speaker 1: the water in the morning. I love it so much. 759 00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:43,439 Speaker 1: Riscie got okay day. Thank you so much for making 760 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:47,279 Speaker 1: the time to join Willkate app daily. Folks, if you're 761 00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:52,320 Speaker 1: not following Strobe Apothecary on Instagram as well as a 762 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:56,600 Speaker 1: Black Sister Magic, please do follow them. Riscie is creating 763 00:42:56,800 --> 00:43:01,920 Speaker 1: just beautiful energy and beauty and art into the world 764 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:05,400 Speaker 1: and and and you should all connect with it. Thank you, 765 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:11,360 Speaker 1: my dear friend. I appreciate you. Thank you for having me. 766 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,080 Speaker 1: It's always an honor. I'm so proud of you. You 767 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:16,279 Speaker 1: seem to have been you're you're being like the water, 768 00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:18,319 Speaker 1: and I can hear it in your podcast, like you're 769 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:21,160 Speaker 1: you're you're you're managing things a lot better. So I'm 770 00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:24,160 Speaker 1: excited because I was worried child, you know, I was 771 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:26,120 Speaker 1: worried for you, Like what is some baby? Do it? 772 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:37,480 Speaker 1: It's just true. It's true. That is it for me 773 00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:42,040 Speaker 1: today here on Woke f As always, Power to the 774 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,279 Speaker 1: people and to all the people. Power, get woke and 775 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:46,919 Speaker 1: stay woke as fuck.