Laura 0:00
Welcome to this episode of the Akashic musings podcast today. I have Cassandra quick here with me. She is a trauma therapist and coach, and we are ready and rolling to talk about presence today. So what's alive for you around presence, my friend?
Cassandra 0:16
oh my goodness, it my energy field just lit up. It just lit up when you suggested this discussion this afternoon. And you know, I think about the importance of holding space, not only for our clients, our friends, ourselves, whatever that might look like, our community, the world, there's just sometimes so much on our shoulders, I think about that, like that shoulder energy that Laura and I were just kind of debriefing before we got on this episode, and my shoulders just lit up, and I'm like, yeah, like, there's a lot on my shoulders, but they're, you know, just holding space and being present for conversations, being present and just to be, that's what you had said, just to be, and Maybe not even say anything. Just be energetically with with ourselves and with people around us, and how powerful that can be. You know, I think about that for sessions that I'm having with clients now as a trauma therapist, particularly, I'm having some really, really deep conversations, and sometimes some heavy energy is present, and just being with that like there isn't going to be lightness in that sometimes, and just acknowledging that and validating that, yeah, we can't breathe our way out of collective trauma. We can't ground when there is, you know, there's just so many atrocities going on around us, and that can be just such a tough space to be. And I was reminded about the power of presence. I saw this social media post. I can't remember where it was, but there was, there has been research on all these different therapies, right? All these different modalities, all these things that we do that are really, really so impactful for our clients, but the number one thing, the number one thing, regardless of modality, regardless if it's EMDR or if it's you know, you're using internal family systems, or you're showing up and you're doing young Ian approaches with a client, or there's all these different modalities in therapy, the number one thing that creates a sense of growth and grounding and healing is presence. It is the relationship that you develop with your client, and that space, the safety of that space, that is literally the number one thing, regardless of anything else,
Laura 3:33
absolutely, and it's We talk all the time. I mean, obviously I'm a therapist as well, and was taught in grad school. It's all about that relationship, you know, that exists between the practitioner and the client, and establishing that, that foundation so that you can extend and open from there. And I really love that you mentioned, you know, this concept of the fact that we don't even have to speak, because that's one of the things that's been coming forward so clearly for me lately is, you know, we don't have to use words as much as we do in presence with one another, and especially when we can experience things that are mind blowing on whatever end of the spectrum, right, like mind blowing, whether we're talking about collective trauma, whether we're talking about huge aha moments and massively beautiful, expansively conscious. You know, openings, all of them, are mind blowing, and we're not necessarily meant to understand them, but we are meant to experience them because we wouldn't be experiencing them if we weren't meant to. And so it is being in presence with them and recognizing that, whether alone or in regulation, with another human being or with spirit or your spirit guides, you can tolerate the sensation of the energy that is present, and so sometimes it's we will sit here together
Cassandra 4:58
that's right
Laura 4:58
until this moves. Because it is going to move. And I think that's such an important point coming forward right now, is that those of us who do know how to do this and have practiced this for so long and have this on lock, there's a lot of people who are shaken right now, a lot, and it is our, in my opinion, responsibility to hold that vision and faith of what is and the infinite resources that we do have in this moment, as well as our our capacity and our resilience and our ability to meet ourselves and to receive one another in a way that amplifies impact?
Cassandra 5:42
Yeah, absolutely, that's right, right? I mean amplifying impact that that is like the power of presence, isn't it?
Laura 5:54
Yep, exactly, because you're not, you're not forcing, you're not trying to be productive. You're not forcing an agenda. You're not saying we have to go to a certain resolution. What you're doing is you're saying I'm taking responsibility for what is present within me and in my environment right now. I'm coming into space with it. I'm allowing the energy to move, and then I am moving from there, and sometimes that's going to be using my voice, and sometimes that's going to be showing up with a different energy that has a ripple effect, and sometimes it's going to stay in this space between us, and it's simply going to be just like a softening of the body or a soft self recognition that contributes to greater self love, and then you do it again, and then you do it again, and it becomes an embodiment that doesn't waver with so much chaos,
Cassandra 6:52
right? Yeah, presence is grounding. Presence is yes, mindful. Presence is non judgmental, it's non striving. It's not trying to be anything, but just what it is,
Laura 7:07
yeah, and that's exactly it, right? It's, that's, that's the match to spiritual energy, right? It's just being, just just being what it is, without judgment, you know, without assessment or scrutiny. And when I think about this for the listeners, and how do I get into presence, like, how do I even practice this? You know, we're talking about this in the space between two people. We're talking about this from a therapeutic perspective. And I think it's important to invite people into a presence practice. So one of the things that I do to come into presence is I ground myself in the body with a hand on the belly and a hand on the heart, and I take a nice deep breath in, and I allow my jaw to loosen and my shoulders to move back and down, and I just breathe. And I'm curious about and kind of scanning the body for sensation, and just noticing the sensations that are here right now, it could be a physical sensation in my body. It could be an emotional sense, like right now I have an emotional sensation in my body. I have an emotional sensation that's between my solar plexus and my womb space, so kind of just below the heart and right below the belly button, just like in that area, and I just breathe into that and I always ask myself, you know, how much of this is mine? Like, what percentage of this is mine? This one is saying that 40% is mine. Your body always knows what to do with that energy that is yours. So the part that isn't that isn't yours, you get to just witness dissipating, dissolving into Mother Earth, releasing into the ether, whatever feels good for you. And you take this energy that is yours, and you breathe into it, and you just, you offer it love, like, I'm offering it love, I'm offering it presence, attention, compassion, and just kind of giving it space, right? Like, say whatever you want to say, do whatever you want to do, say what you need to say, whatever you need to do. We move from there, because sometimes that's going to want to chat with me, come into conversation.
Cassandra 9:13
Sometimes we're just going to belt out in song,
Laura 9:17
exactly
Cassandra 9:18
It’s how we express ourselves.
Laura 9:21
Sometimes you just want to sing so but it's like, Let that energy move you right, let that energy move.
Cassandra 9:28
It’s that throat chakra being activated. Oh yes, yeah, I was feeling it in my heart space as you guided us through that that was really beautiful. And just acknowledging the beauty of how presence is felt in different ways for different people. And you know, I think about CO regulation. I think about getting into that coherence, like that heart coherence, that's been really strong for me today, particularly. Literally. So I think that's probably why I was feeling it, that there, but yeah, that coherence, the energy field and presence that we feel around others, can be really can feel expansive and connecting. And I yeah, I felt that thank you for that. That was really…
Laura 10:24
You’re welcome, and I love that you just use the word coherence, because that's exactly why presence has been pinging in my field so much lately. Is because of that coherence. It's like you come into this exchange with your own responsibility for self. I'm going to come in with my own responsibility for self. We're going to show up in our fullest essence as we know ourselves in this moment. And just don't even talk to me. I don't even care. We can hold hands if you want. We can just sit next to each other, sit across from each other, just breathe, because I'm going to feel you, and you're going to feel me, and it's that essence to essence coherence, that's what informs collective consciousness. That's what packs a punch, that people kind of wake up and have self recognition, and they don't know where this came from, and they don't know why, and it's because of this impact on an energetic level. And so I think that especially if you're having conflict with someone, or you desire more connection, I tell couples that I've worked with like literally, shut your mouths. Just shut up. Stop talking, sit down and just breathe together, because you can be pissy and you can be pissy, you can be raging at each other. I don't care.
Cassandra 11:42
Yes,
Laura 11:43
But sit there until the energy dissipates, because it will.
Cassandra 11:47
That's right
Laura 11:48
every time. And guess what? The clarity comes on its own. The energy does the work for you. The problem is we're not patient enough as humans, to sit in presence long enough for the answers to arrive
Cassandra 12:04
that can be so scary,
Laura 12:07
correct? And this is where I would love for you to speak on that, because that's a piece I think that creates avoidance for people
Cassandra 12:14
well, right? Because think about the pacing of life and the constant go the constant, I've got to do something. I have to be perfect. I have to show up. I'm going to fail all these like core belief systems that have, over our lifetimes, accumulated as this gunk and mud and all these things that slow us down or weigh us down, or whatever it might be. And yes, it's what do we do about that? What do we do about that? We keep going and we keep going and we keep going because then if we slow down, it exposes these wounds and these these challenging emotions that are really uncomfortable for us to feel, because we don't like feeling them as humans. We like comfort, even if the comfort is toxic and unhealthy, we like the comfort and so presence can teach us to just be and not to judge the messages that we're getting, not to to maybe get curious about it, and for it not to be something that has to be beyond 30 seconds of awareness, like, you can just, just take a little taste of it, like, take a little taste of it. It doesn't have to be this, like deep, 30 minute Transcendental Meditation. It doesn't have to be that you can just tap into that presence for 30 seconds.
Laura 13:49
Well, honestly, that's all it takes, especially if you practice it consistently. If you practice it consistently, that is all it takes. And you are going to feel your mind and body fight you. You're going to feel it absolutely.
Cassandra 14:01
It's totally
Laura 14:02
Sorry dude, you're, you're a human. Your soul signed up to be a human. You're on a very overstimulating planet. You got a lot of shit going on. So it's like, give yourself some grace and realize, like when I first started doing this, it took me a while. I had to sit there for a while, but now it's almost instantaneous, right? And so it is a rewiring and a re pattern of the nervous system. And so if it's a practice that you need to do with someone else, to kind of hold you and anchor you as you are settling into this, please do it. Please do it, but do it right, like don't give yourself reasons not to because the awareness that comes from this and the ease and the peace and honestly you want to know who you are, that's how you know who you are.
Cassandra 14:55
That's right. And then what happens to our bodies when we fight that? What. Happens to our immune system? What happens to how that builds up in our bodies? And we both you and I know that story,
Laura 15:12
and I will say very clearly on the edge of that story, right where our bodies get affected by this, is that you were just talking about giving ourselves space slowing down,
Cassandra 15:26
right?
Laura 15:27
And that's when awareness has come that we don't necessarily want to face and be with and things like that. The other thing is this, people, you can go the other way, because when I started to do this, and I did slow down, and I was super present. I was like, hyper present. I was hyper present to the point where, number one, I was fixating a little too much on what was present with my mind, and I got my ass stuck in lack of momentum, because I was so present and spacious. And I was like, you know, this is a key piece here, dudes, yeah, come into presence. All right, if you have to set a timer, set a timer, but come into presence. But then move from what you receive in presence, because you can easily make this a pendulum swing back to, like, laying on your ass and not having momentum, and then you say, see, this is why I don't meet myself, because then I get stuck and I don't move, and so I'm just gonna keep going, going, going in the hamster wheel.
Cassandra 16:26
Oh my gosh. This conversation, I'm sure will resonate with so many, because we have probably all been there. Yes, I could take I could take myself back to so many moments, maybe on the yoga mat, right? Like I think about that we're in yoga, we are like, very present. And then what happens? We leave the yoga studio, and then we're smacked in the face with reality. We're smacked in the face by, you know, EMFs, and we're smacked in the face with our agendas and our our schedule, and like, you know, this negative energy from someone driving next to you on the highway, or whatever it might be, we're going to be constantly bombarded by that, and we can't always be in that space of presence and calm. And, you know, that's that like spiritual bypassing energy, like, oh, just like, drop into the presence and you'll be fine. Or, you know, and that's not what we mean. It's like getting present with yourself. Is this titration? It is this, these little micro moments of just getting into that, like the resonance of who you are, and recalibrating.
Laura 17:52
Yes, that is so beautiful. This is where. And if you don't resonate with the word God, that's fine. I do. It's interchangeably, source, spirit, universe, God, but this is where I say invite God into the small moments, right? Invite spirit into the small moments where it's like, it's not just, oh my gosh. You know, my house is flooded. Let me see if God can help me. You know, it's like, invite into the small moments. Because it's like, it's like, use the perfect word of recalibration. It's like, let me just redial this. Let me adjust this style just a little bit multiple times each day. If you do that every day, like three or four. Do you have any idea? Yes. Do you have any idea how much your trajectory can shift with that?
Cassandra 18:35
Totally
Laura 18:36
If you're doing this at all, please pat yourself on the back right now and do a happiness because I'm celebrating you like these are these are such important shifts that we do not recognize in ourselves, and that's the other important thing about presence. Are you present with how far you've come? Are you present with who you've cultivated yourself to be? Are you present with the fact that you're still listening to this freaking podcast right now and receiving what's coming through like, are you present with the fact that you are self aware enough to receive this and desire this and incorporate it into your life,
Cassandra 19:13
right? I literally have reminders in my phone. I have scheduled reminders every three to four hours, just little alarms that go off, and they're vibe boosters.
Laura 19:25
I love that.
Cassandra 19:26
Yeah, it's recap. It's recalibration. Because what does like, you know, the quantum tells us that, okay, every three to four hours we sort of reset like we reset into our monkey minds, into, you know, this, this, whatever it is, right, like this, this way of being that we are wired to be in this moment in our lives, and that can change, but if we can recalibrate, if we can drop into presence, if we can be in that. State of recognition of where we are, right, like that presence and then the vibe booster,
Laura 20:08
yeah. And you know what, I love this, because what this just brought forward for me is that, let's clear, clearly delineate,
Cassandra 20:18
yes,
Laura 20:19
the power of presence with not just what we've been talking about with self body, what's alive in the body, what's in your environment, but also presence with your higher power, with higher consciousness, because that, that's your holistic attunement, right there. And when I, like you just said, this three to four hour reset, right? For me, it's like we can easily get these blinders on and what we are experiencing in this present moment. But there's also a fresh energy coming in every moment, from the quantum, from spirit. Energy is always moving, is always being patterned and redesigned and adjusted based on the decisions we make and who we are, and so the more that this is why I tell my clients I'm like, when in doubt. Channel, when in doubt channel as many times per day as you can, because this is so important for people, especially who have had a history of trauma and have a pattern of dissociation. There's a part of me, right? There's a part of me that says this, and this is, of course, assuming that you are safe and you are already kind of working with somebody and kind of CO regulating in this but where I'm like, go ahead and fucking dissociate, right? Because, to a degree, this is part of presence. Can you practice both where you are, quote, unquote, dissociating, separating yourself from this plane and allowing yourself to access higher conscious and receive energy from a plane that we don't understand and we perceive as dissociation, and yet remain present within the body as well at the same time, that is like Quantum ass high level presence. I don't have a song for that, but I wish I did.
Cassandra 22:04
Okay, first of all, I have never, I don't think I have ever in I'm having a moment right now. Take your moment so you know, I tell, I tell my clients, dissociation doesn't mean there's something wrong. Dissociate. Dissociation can be protective. It has protected you.
Laura 22:40
Yes.
Cassandra 22:41
And even in that, you know, maybe, yeah, maybe dissociation is actually presence,
Laura 22:49
correct with a higher plane
Cassandra 22:52
there we go
Laura 22:54
with an inner self that has a purity to it, that is not distracted or distorted or contaminated by anyone or anything outside of it,
Cassandra 23:05
yeah, and how powerful is that for our listeners to hear and receive that and be validated. You are not broken. There is nothing wrong with you. Your body is intuitive. There is wisdom within you,
Laura 23:24
and there's purpose to its antics.
Cassandra 23:29
Yeah,
Laura 23:30
there's communication, there's invitation,
Cassandra 23:32
yeah, oh, that's powerful,
Laura 23:36
and we cannot receive those unless we come into presence. So there is a book called The Presence process, which I started reading and never finished because it felt repetitive to me. But you can definitely look it up. If you guys want some literature,
Cassandra 23:50
I will look it up. I will look it up.
Laura 23:52
You can look it up. It's kind of thick in my opinion. I'm like, could we have done this in like, 200 pages, but, but that's a good resource for you guys, too. And obviously, if there's anything that you need or take from this episode that you want further guidance on, or you're like, you know what? I just need a little tip. Or this is kind of where I am with this, or I'm trying that, but this is happening, reach out to us. Both of us are available. You can access our contact information in the show notes. Is there anything else that you want to kind of drop or share with our listeners, or wrap up here before we close,
Cassandra 24:23
I would invite just a reflection of how this is resonating with you. So for our listeners, how is this resonating, and how can you drop into presence today in a way that's safe for you. How can you then move into action with that
Laura 24:47
that's beautiful
Cassandra 24:48
into the next moment? And so I think that's really a an embodied way to move forward with the intention of this moment.
Laura 25:04
and listen to what she just said. She just said, move into the next moment. This doesn't mean move into, you know, the house with the white picket fence that you've been playing with for 20 years, that you know what I mean, like you this doesn't have to be a quantum leap, people. It's like, make that movement, because what we trust is that we make that we make that movement that's going to open our energy, and then we're going to be guide, guided into another moment or another movement. And what I would suggest is I want you to make a list of where you are already present, because I'm telling you right now, you're already present. You're already present with yourself. You're already present with your life. You wouldn't be at where you are in life if you have no presence practice whatsoever. So I want you to identify, where am I already present? Like, where have I been really present before? Where do I desire to be present? Like, write down a whole host of things if you want, but get clear on what's already here that I can maximize, that I can deepen, that I can enrich.
Cassandra 26:06
Oh,
Laura 26:06
yeah,
Cassandra 26:09
I'm receiving that. Laura,
Laura 26:11
good, right? Oh, good. Let's receive ourselves like we're already present. It doesn't have to be like you have to do more. You have to do more all the time, right? Yes. So thank you everyone so much for receiving us on this episode. We love you. Reach out if you need us, and we will talk to you very, very soon.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
