272: How To Communicate With Your Womb's Wisdom with Usha Anandi

It's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. Well, this episode is on one of my favorite topics, which are Yonis, wombs, vulvas, vaginas, all of the things. I love talking about this. I do a lot of episodes on it because there's just so much to talk about. I mean, the womb is where all life comes from. It is the sacred portal. That's why the word Yoni, the Sanskrit word yoni literally means the sacred portal between the two worlds. The sacred passageway. Source. We have source inside of us. It's not outside of us. It's not this ascended thing that's so far away. It's right here in the physical body, body. So the womb is the portal. But why do we not honor it? Why are we so disconnected to it? I mean, going back to when you first got your period, what was the story around that? Were you told what was even happening? Were you celebrated? Were you honored? Or was it just something not to be discussed? I know for me, it was almost like I didn't know what to do. I felt embarrassed. I felt ashamed. I didn't want to tell anyone. And then once I did, it was like, okay, now you're a woman. It's like this responsibility you gotta take on. Don't get raped. Don't get in trouble. Don't take on men's attention. Now you got your period. It's like, that's not fun. That doesn't sound joyous. That doesn't make me want to celebrate. And now we are reprogramming and doing the work so our daughters and all daughters around the world don't have to be disconnected from their wombs anymore. So in this episode, we dive deep, deep into all things being. A womb man, I get it. A woman. Woo, man, love it. So the womb is the physical and energetic chalice of our being, as Usha says. She says that all life is conceived here beyond just human life. It is the place where we create new ideas, creations, projects. Everything is conceived and nurtured into form through the womb. So if you go to India, you will actually see many temples that worship the womb. Worship the yoni. If you see on my Instagram at I am Saharrose. I have been on a Yoni painting kick where I have been painting Yonis, and it is bringing me so much great joy to just honor that Yoni for the beautiful portal that it is. So in this episode with Usha, who is the founder of Wu men wellness. Get it again, woman. I can't get enough. So we talk all about how your womb is your great teacher, the body is the teacher. How we have found that many spiritual practices have been all about disassociating with your body, but the real work is to be in your body, to be enjoying her senses, to be tapped into her intuition, and using your womb as that portal to guide you to source. So many of us have suffered from PMS period issues. I suffered from amenorrhea, which means I didn't have my period for two years. All of these different issues, which are actually issues related to deeper mental, spiritual and emotional issues that are really happening. You know, for me, it was a severe vata imbalance of feeling disconnected from my body being so up in the air, moving, doing lots of Ashtanga yoga, which is very masculine focused, which literally made my body stop having a period because I was so, so, you know, in that masculine that go. So we talk all about connecting to the wombs, connecting to our femininity, connecting to our yoni wisdom. It's so juicy. It's so beautiful. Like, when I'm talking about the subject, I feel like I'm, like, going home. I feel like I'm back in the red tents with the other sisters, and we're talking about our wombs and our cycles and all of these things, and it feels so good. And if you feel the same way listening to this, then you know, in your past life, you were one of the women sitting in the red tents where we would all sit together when we were menstruating, bleeding into the earth, sharing poetry and wisdom and story and song. And this is how women have always passed along wisdom and mythology and story and song. And actually, women, when they were on their periods, were the leaders of the tribe, and the men would come to them. Because during your period, the veils between the two worlds are the thinnest. So you're able to perceive, you're able to use your intuition, you're able to see the unseen. So when we were bleeding into the earth, the men would come and they would say, what should we do about this issue in the tribe? Where should we go? Over there? What should we do here? And we would channel the answer for them and they would trust us because we were bleeding. We have this incredible, like, source in our bodies that men simply just do not have because we are cyclical beings. So this episode really goes into connecting your womb, wisdom, owning that power, loving your body for what it is and finding the beauty, finding the joy taking control back and knowing that you are perfect just as you are. So without further ado, let's welcome Usha of Wu Men Wellness to the highest self podcast. And before we get started, check out these brands that make highest self podcast possible. Okay, Real Talk, the product I'm about to tell you about is literally the best thing I've ever put into my mouth and that is saying a lot. And this is Organifi's Gold. So essentially it is the hot chocolate of your dreams with none of the sugar and all of the turmeric and reishi with a touch of ginger as well. It is delicious on its own, just with water. 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It works to support mental clarity, reduce stress, and produce feelings of calmness. I love putting it on my temples and the soles of my feet to absorb it straight into my bloodstream. And best of all, it's 100% therapeutic grade, vegan and cruelty free. It balances all three doshas, vata, pitta and kapha. So it works for anyone. Because, you know, we could all use a little bit more help with the stress in our lives. So you can head over to Uveda.com and use coupon code Sahara for 35 off their kits and 10 off their oils. That's Uveda. Y-O-U-V-E-A.com Welcome Usha to the Highest self Podcast it's so great to have you here.

Thank you so much, Sahara. I'm so grateful to be here and excited to connect with everyone listening.

And the first question I would love to ask you is, what makes you your highest self?

That's a beautiful question. I think what makes me my highest self is my connection to the earth. And interestingly enough, what makes me my highest self is my connection to my humanness. So, yes, honoring my divinity and the goddess within me, but also honoring the different layers, colors of humanness that express themselves through me. And I think the people around me, community has been so important in my process of blossoming and becoming. So those that I hold close to me and around me support me in expressing my highest self.

So beautiful. And I think what a lot of people are awakening to right now is that your highest self is really in your body and your body is that vessel. And I think for a long time when people thought about spirituality, it was this kind of like new age, leaving the body ascension oriented, which is part of it. But also we are here in these human costumes to be in the human experience. And women especially carry codes in their body, which is exactly what you teach. So can you share with us a little bit about womb wisdom and why it is so important for women to connect to their wombs?

Absolutely. So I really resonate with what you share. And the old spiritual paradigm is really about leaving the body. Know this idea that you are not your body. And in order to find the divine, in order to find spirit, source, energy, we have to project ourselves outside of our humanness, outside of our physical form, to find grace, to find serenity, to find peace. But the way of the wise woman is one who holds the teachings of the earth, the teachings of the cycles within her womb. And she knows that she doesn't have to leave her body in order to find divinity, that actually divinity is manifested within her womb, which is a portal to the mystery, the magic and all that exists beyond the veil of what we believe to be reality. So that's what feminine based spirituality, womb wisdom, is really all about. It's about honoring the lower energy centers. It's about honoring the root as the source of your power, honoring the earth as a place that we draw energy and wisdom and teachings from, and honoring all those that walk before us. So for me, sometimes new age spirituality feels a little bit ungrounded. And then when we come back to the wisdom of the womb, to the wisdom of teachings that have actually been shared for thousands of years, but have just been hidden through a Layer of patriarchal programming, we actually learn that connecting with the body and connecting with our humanness, our shakti, some call it our sensuality, our life force. Energy can not only be a way to access a deeper relationship with the divine, but can also be a way of life, a way of living, breathing, and moving through this existence.

So beautifully shared. And I agree. I mean, I think that there, there's a time and place for everything. But I think that we, because of the patriarchal fear, have really skipped over those lower chakras. And that's really where a lot of the work is. I mean, I dance a lot and I share, like, my belly dancing and twerking and all of those things. And I'm often met with this patriarchal shame, even if it comes from women of, like, moving your hips is disgusting, is slutty. You're doing it for men because we are so programmed to think that the only why you would be connected to your lower chakras is for a man. So how can we get rid of this internalized shame and programming that has made us afraid of our sacred sexuality?

That's beautiful. And I think, you know, the way to get rid of it is first to go into it. We can't change anything without actually knowing what is there. And the reason why the lower chakras are so important is because they help us to process energy of the higher chakras. So being someone who has traveled and spent a lot of time in India, a lot of the practices in yoga and in spirituality in general, especially ones that have been filtered through a patriarchal lens, focus on opening up the third eye, focus on opening up the crown before they dive into establishing the foundation that is the root, that is the sacral chakra, which allows us to actually process that information. So in order to rid ourselves of that shame, and in order to rid ourselves of the guilt that so many women hold, first we have to recognize that, yes, this is something that we may hold internally, but it is also something that has been layered on our collective consciousness through years, hundreds, thousands of years of systemic, patriarchal programming that teaches us to disregard the language of our bodies and to disregard the wisdom that flows through us. So the first step in ridding ourselves of that shame is to actually have the courage to go into it. And when I say have the courage, I also recognize that sometimes we aren't in a safe enough space in our life to go into that energy. And that's one reason that tantric practices, you know, working with that life force energy in many different lineages were actually hidden, and they were hidden for a purpose, because the sexual energy and the energy of the root, the energy of the sacral chakra, is so powerful that until our body and until our energetic being is able to channel it, we might not be ready to actually integrate that energy. So it's important to have the courage to go into it, to also have a safe space. And I mean, that being a safe space in your home, a safe place in the community where you feel supported, seen accepted, and to also be really patient with yourself. Because when we get into the root to the womb energy, not only are we dealing with what we have experienced in our own life, we're also tapping into the collective consciousness and the imprints that we carry from our ancestors as well.

I think everyone listening right now is like, yes, I feel it, I feel it, I know it. And it's something that, again, we don't have to read in a book to experience as our truth. We've all felt it. Whether it's on a colloquial, you know, level of just the competition and the jealousy that has been taught to us from the time that we are a child, a girl, from other women to right now even. I mean, the super bowl just happened, and all of the shame and the backlash that has gone against these women, of they're so sexual and they're moving their hips and they're doing this, is just kind of showing that this is still alive. But when we have the conversations and we see, like, okay, what are we really feeling and what's underneath this and understanding that, you know, our sexuality has been kind of taken away from us and sold back to us. So it is normal to. To have these reactions, because not all displays of sexuality are in alignment from our truth or it's definitely not always coming from an empowered place. But that doesn't mean we should shun all of it away.

Absolutely. You know, and I love what you said of it's kind of taken away from us and sold back to us. Especially in the Western world, we're taught that a sexually empowered woman is someone who just can have sex freely with whoever she wants. And a lot of my clients and the women I've worked with and myself including, have engaged in sexual relations that we actually didn't want, but we continue to engage with because we thought that's what it meant to be empowered.

So true.

And so it's really not uncommon, you know, and for those of you listening, if you have resistance around going into the womb, if you have resistance around being with other women in a close knit group and shedding your walls, shedding your layers and being vulnerable, that is so normal and common. And it's important to say that that is something that has been systematically programmed into us because if we feel competition with one another, and especially in a world where we're made to feel unsafe, that accesses our social nervous system. System. And the social nervous system is where we connect and bond with one another. When we're not safe in our social nervous system, we feel jealousy, we feel comparison, we feel like we don't belong. And so this world that creates that fear within us is really keeping us separate. And when we're separate, we're not able to unify and then rise up and dismantle the system that is oppressing us in the first place. So it's really done so systematically. And I think that's important. And I talk about it all the time, the patriarchy, but I talk about it so much because we have to realize it's not our fault. And once we realize that, we can take a step back and yes, take responsibility for what we're working with, what we're carrying ancestrally, but also know there's a different way to live. And once we create that space in our consciousness, in our minds, and we can find that path and find those who believe that as well.

So well said. So I want to talk about our wombs and how we hold on to imprints, especially of former lovers. Because this is something that is controversial in the spiritual community. I'm sure you've experienced it too, because on one end is this feminist movement that says, you know, you can take birth control and have sex with whoever you want freely, and that also is our right. And then on the other end is this more ancient perspective of, of everyone that we sexually engage with, we engage with their energy too. And just to be mindful of that. So I'd love for you to share your perspective.

Yeah, that's a beautiful question. So this really hit home for me. After spending some time with one of my teachers who is a Burmese midwife in northern Thailand and doing some really deep womb work with her, and after being there for about 10 days, getting treatments from her every single day, working with her on other women, after years of womb work and sharing these teachings myself, I started to see the faces, have dreams, experience energetic connections with past partners. And it was so intense for me. And I knew that that was a symbol that these imprints were being lifted from my womb and cleansed out of my body. And that was a direct experience I had of a teaching that one of my teachers, my maestra from Mexico, Dona Maria Carmen, she shares. So in Zapotec tradition, she it's thought that every person we make love with, every person we engage with sexually, a part of them, a strand of them, weaves into us, weaves into our womb, and it's not until we consciously cut the cord that they are released. And so it's really important. Yes, you can have sex with whoever you want and feel empowered in that. And I think it's important to know that your body is. Is connecting with all those who you engage with, not only those who you talk to in your daily life, both on the phone and in person, but especially those who enter you. And those not only who enter your body, but those who enter your heart are held there in an energetic capacity. So in order to really lift the imprints, first we have to become aware of them. And sometimes that process can feel really uncomfortable, especially for those of us who have engaged in casual sex. And maybe we felt super empowered in that. I know I had a time in my life when I definitely did. But after some time of healing, I realized that a lot of those engagements weren't actually in my deepest integrity. And maybe I was doing them because someone else outside of me told me that if I was empowered, this is what I would be doing. And so a lot of women are just kind of following the steps. So in order to really lift these imprints, we have to notice them. We have to be radically honest with ourselves about what felt good and what didn't. And then a really powerful way to start releasing those imprints is to energetically call each partner, as much as you can, remember them, into your space and share, Whether that's just through your heart or whether that's through writing a letter, whether that's through actually speaking these words out loud. Share with them everything you need to say with them. Because when we have an energetic tie to someone, it's because some work is left undone, something hasn't been closed, and then you can almost go through your energetic body and feel like you're taking huge scissors and just cutting these cords. So that's a practice that you can use to lift these imprints, but first to lift them again, we have to be honest with ourselves that they actually exist. Wow.

Yeah. I remember after going through a breakup, literally feeling like I was cutting with these energetic scissors, like this cord in my belly that was still connecting me with him, with his energy. You know, I think. Think what's so Interesting about breakups is like, we think, like, okay, you're broken up, you're just not going to think about them anymore, like, game over. And our energies are still so entwined, especially after really loving someone for a period of time, and especially for women, because they were literally inside your body, like exchanging essence with you, you know? And I think a lot of us, we pretend that everything's okay and we ignore it and we try to put on a brave, strong face. But that's why so many people. I mean, I feel like the most googled question is like, how do get over my ex? Because we don't teach each other about holding on to energy and cutting that energy when the time is ready for it to be released.

Absolutely. And I think, you know, that highlights a really big aspect of our modern society, just our modern culture as a whole that is really lacking, you know, and every culture is different, but many colonialized cultures don't know how to grief. They don't know how to mourn. We're obsessed with newness in a way of like a new relationship, a new love, but we don't know how to actually release the energy, mourn the loss, grieve it fully, so that it's actually lifted not only out of our mental body, but out of our emotional and physical tissues as well.

So true. So I want to talk about holding trauma in our wombs from this life, from past lives, from ancestors. What does that feel like? How do we know that we're maybe holding onto something?

That's a great question. So one of the teachings that I share quite often that gets so much response is sharing an avenue of ancestral healing. So for many of us in the modern world, we often think of ourselves as quite separate from our families, you know, and that's one of the myths of old way feminism as well, that we just have to kind of lift ourselves up and create ourselves anew from whatever our dreams are or everything like that. And that's beautiful because we have the capacity to do that, to rebirth ourselves, but we're also carrying the imprint of all those who walked before us, specifically our maternal line. And there's a really interesting way that we carry these imprints so we can carry them both through our physical body. And we do that through our inheritance of the DNA, but we also do that through nurturing. So however we were raised, the emotional personality of our parents, the way that they spoke to us, the way that they speak to themselves, all of that is passed down into our psyche. And a lot of the women that I Work with. They process negative self talk or internal judgment or comparison. And when we do ancestral work, they actually realize, wow, you know, they, this is the way my mother used to speak to herself, or this is the way my mother used to speak about other women. And now I've internalized the voice of my mother and it's become my own. So it's really important when we look at the way our body is holding tension, when we look at the problems or the challenges that we've been having with our fertility, that we experience with our menstrual cycle, it's really important to remember that we have a direct connection to our ancestors. So a lot of the women who struggle with fertility or who struggle with painful periods are actually carrying and continuing to process an imprint that has been in their ancestral line for quite some time. So it's really important when we start to do womb work, that we name our ancestors. And this is something that we do. In my online course, Womb Sciences, we go through our actual ancestral tree, and this requires talking to relatives if we know them. This requires doing research online, but we actually write down the name of our ancestors and we trace our maternal and paternal lines back as far as three, four, five generations. And we learn their stories, we learn what they went through, we learn their challenges. And we have to remember this is something, this is a type of study, a type of communication that used to be shared in societies that lived much closer together. One of the things that I love when I go back to visit my teacher in Mexico is that she's living with three generations, her daughter, her daughter's grandchildren, and also when I was living in India, many different generations lived together in one. And because of that, you have this intergenerational sharing of stories, and that helps you draw connection between, oh, I feel unworthy, and my mom also feels unworthy, and my grandma also feels unworthy. But when we live in a colonial world where we're really cut off from the knowledge of where we come from, then we're unable to draw the lines, to draw the connections. And therefore, we often place the blame on ourselves of why am I carrying this huge weight of negative self talk or this internal dialogue that feels harmful to my body, or why am I carrying these physical health challenges when if we were living in much closer community or if we had knowledge of where we come from, we would realize this is something that I'm processing not only for myself, but for the entire line of women and people who walked before me. And in that way, when we bring that knowledge into the present healing gets much more interesting because not only are we processing our own healing, we're also processing our mothers, our grandmothers, etc. But we also can start to develop more self compassion for ourselves in knowing that what's being held in our wombs is not only from us and what we've taken in from this life, but what we're carrying from those who walk before us as well.

So beautifully said and completely, I think a lot of us, you know, there's so much shame. I think many of our mothers never even spoke to us about sex, let alone what their sex lives were like, you know, so we don't really even know what the patterns were. We think that it's just this weird thing that's showing up for me. And, and then when we're able to have those convers and we're able to see the pattern. So how does one go about even bringing that up to your family? Especially if your family really does not talk about sex, wombs, all of that stuff?

Well, that's a great question, you know, so when I first started doing this work, I come from a Catholic background, so growing up, sex, you could say that, like revolutionary sex and women's health education just in general was definitely not accessible to me or at my fingertips. And that really got me asking questions. And in the beginning, asking questions wasn't welcome, you know, and my parents both felt really uncomfortable talking to me about sex. I remember when I got my period, my mom just kind of threw some pads at me and was like, good luck, you know, you're on the rag, which is what they used to call it, like, good luck with that. And so, so many of our parents hold shame that keeps them from actually talking to us about this stuff. And if you're someone whose parents did talk to you, that's an amazing privilege. And maybe even still you felt uncomfortable about it at the time, which is totally normal. So for me, because that wasn't available, I had to do my own internal work. And once I started to do my own work, and when I say my own work, I mean I went into my physical body, I went into my energy body, I meditated, I did a lot of different types of ceremonies, I went into the mountains of medicine, Mexico, and sat with my teacher. And because my physical body holds the imprints of all of my ancestors, I was able to access that information. And once I started to work on it, interestingly enough, then my mother started to come around to it. And it's interesting actually, as womb and wellness has grown as thousands of women have been changed by this womb wellness movement that we share, my mom is starting to share on our Facebook group about her experience of birth and about her experience of having her period. And now I can talk to her about it. So for me, it actually happened where I had to do the work first, and then my mother, through my healing, because she's in my lineage, when I heal, she heals whether she knows it or not. Through my healing, she started to open. And so for those of you who are confused as to how to go into your body, how to start to do this work, and for those of you who want to actually or feel that you're at the point where you want to open a conversation with your parents, with your loved ones about this, I think it's important first to recognize that this might be quite uncomfortable for them. And if it's uncomfortable for them, remember to have compassion. Because it might not be their personal discomfort, it might actually be that they're quite comfortable with it, but they feel programmed that they should feel uncomfortable about it. And because of it, they're unable to fully express what they have to share. One way to do it that can feel really beautiful is to just not put any pressure on them to give a certain answer or to remember a certain detail. To just. Just gather around a table in your home, to just sit with them womb to womb, or hip to hip, heart to heart, eye to eye, in a really casual way so that they feel comfortable and to start to ask about the stories, you know, what are the stories that they can remember about their childhood? And you can do it in a way that feels like you're reminiscing, or what are the stories that they can remember about their parents. And that way of sharing in a casual manner feels like it's recognized by our biology because we as humans, and we as women especially kept tradition alive through oral transmission. So to sit around and to ask questions in a really casual manner can be a beautiful way to start the healing. And to also keep a dialogue or a record in your journal about what you're learning about your ancestors can be a beautiful way to continue to record the wisdom that you're learning.

So true. And I find that often it's easier for them to speak about something like childbirth, like, tell me what it was like when you gave birth to me or my brother, sister, etc, versus, like, actual sex. I think that that can still hold a lot of shame. But if they're able to speak about their birth journey, you're able to even just See what was their energy like when they were pregnant with you? It's amazing, and I'm sure you've seen this in your work too, that the way that a woman might have been feeling during her pregnancy could create an imprint in how. How we are in our lives. Do you see that happening a lot?

Oh, absolutely. And there's so much emerging research on perinatal and prenatal trauma just to show that, you know, when we are in the womb of our mother and when we are babies, we are not only absolutely sentient, but there's a lot of research that proves, and clinical studies that prove not only are we absolutely sentient, which means can feel everything, but we're also unable to be differentiated from our mother. And what that means is we don't recognize ourselves as separate. We recognize ourselves as our mother. And so whatever she is feeling, whatever the people in the birth room are feeling, whatever the partner or co parent or relatives are feeling, not only is the mother interpreting that, but the baby is also absorbing that. And because before age 7, our social nervous system isn't fully developed, we're actually intaking this through a really primal way where these imprints are going directly into our body. And because of that, many of us have these emotional triggers or these emotional knowings of like, wow, something feels really implicit in my body, or there's a tightness here, or I feel anxiety here, and we don't know where it comes from. And that can trace back to memories or emotions that were being processed by our mother while we were in the womb or even while we were outside of her as an infant, unable to process our external environment because we were so intimately connected to her.

So true. Yes. A friend of mine, she had always this really bad anxiety. And it wasn't until she realized that her. Her mom was, you know, going through a really difficult time when she was pregnant with her. And then suddenly her anxiety dissipated because she realized it wasn't her anxiety to hold. This was something passed on to her. Therefore, she doesn't need to buy into it. She could say that that was my mother's and I am here and there's nothing for me to worry about. And sometimes all it takes is just awareness of knowing that it was passed on to you. But it doesn't mean it's yours to carry forever for it to go away.

Absolutely. And in the, you know, in the yogic teachings, there's a saying, awareness is the flame that burns up the mind. And so once we bring something to the light of awareness, it already starts to transform. And I think that's something that's really important to mention on a healing path. Because a lot of times when we're doing deep work, especially into the womb, I mean there are layers and layers of imprints that exist within us us. And once we start to do the work, sometimes it can feel really overwhelming what's coming up. But we have to remember when something is arising once we notice it. Like your friend noticing her anxiety. Once it's brought into our awareness, it's already starting to change. It's already starting to shift. The roots are already starting to be pulled up from the fertile ground of our unconscious mind.

Exactly. So true. Are you that person that all your friends and family members come to when they need wellness advice? Are you constantly looking up new ways to heal and balance your mind, body and spirit, including listening to this podcast? Well, have you ever considered having a career becoming a holistic health coach where you get to decide your own hours, work with people, tap tackling the subjects that you are the most passionate about and having financial freedom along the way? Well, I'm so excited to be teaming up with my very own alma mater, Institute for Integrative Nutrition to offer their biggest discount yet. You'll receive $2,250 off tuition, an extra bonus that they're offering just with my high self Podcast listeners on how to launch your dream book. This course is going to get you super clear on what your book is about and how to bring it out into the world. I've created a webinar for you on how to have a thriving business as a health coach. So using social media, creating passive income, how to have a wait list of clients and become the best known coach in your niche with raving testimonials, Tickets to a live upcoming IIN conference where I will be meeting you over there. Super excited to connect and a bundle of all digital wellness guides like Ayurveda, Self Love, Whole Food Eating, etc so all you have to do is head over to my show notes. You'll see the link over there. It's a little bitly link. It'll take you right there. You'll be able to receive a sample class, check out the curriculum, get all your questions answered and I'm so excited to have you on this mission. Raising the vibration of the planet together as a health coach. Again, head over to my show notes, you'll see the link right there and I'll see you inside. So I am all about activating my brain. I need it for a lot of things and I Also love to play and have fun. So I recently came across a game called Best Fiends which you can just download on your phone and it is so much fun. So basically you are the bugs and you're here to defeat the slugs, but you're doing it through puzzles. So though it looks like this like beautiful colorful kids game, it's actually made for adults and it's helping you. You use your brain in new ways every month. They change the levels, they change the event, so it never gets old and it doesn't require any Internet to play. So when I was stuck on my flight, I was playing it the whole time. I love the cute characters and it's just such a good game to get you out of your, you know, busy, hectic headspace. And sometimes playing a game is the ultimate act of self care that you really need. So you can download it on the app store. It's called Best Best Fiends, like friends but without the R. So that's Best Fiends. And let me know what level you're on. I'm on level seven. So how can someone begin listening to their womb? When you speak about womb wisdom, how do we talk to her?

That's a great question. So the precursors to listening is to relax. And this is so important because if we're not relaxed, then we're getting so much feedback from our muscles, from our organs, from our tissues, that we're stressed and we're in tension. And when we're stressed, our body will always prioritize that over the deep wisdom or instinct or intuition that needs to move through. So before we can listen to our body, we have to fully relax. And to relax, we have to go into the tension. So we can do that through body mapping, through laying down in Shavasana, or just a prone position with your palms up and your belly and your face facing the sky and just going through your body and inviting different parts of your system to relax. One of my favorite ways to invoke relaxation and just use as a foundation and a precursor that I use in my trainings for womb work or listening is restorative yoga, which is just complete and total relaxation with the support of props that manipulates the nervous system into a state of parasympathetic relaxation. So to listen to the womb, the body first needs to be totally relaxed. And for many of us, relaxation can only be accessed in a safe space. And so when you're starting to do womb work, create the that sacred space for you. And for some of us, that's outside, near a source of water. Water is especially sacred to the energy of the womb because it's the element of the sacral chakra. Many traditions talk about how women are the keepers of the sacred waters of life. So going outside near a river, a stream, an ocean can feel really nice. For womb work, you can also do it in your home or your apartment. And to do so, just make sure you the doors, turn off your phones. That's really important, because in order to do womb work, we have to pull away. Pull away from the external to start to go internally. So one of my favorite practices that is really great to just begin a dialogue with your womb is to guide your left hand to the center of your heart. And if you're listening, you can do that, if that's available. If you're driving, please do. Don't do this. So drive. Put your hand on the center of your heart, your left hand at the chest, and then your right hand can land in the low belly and just start to cradle the womb. And if at any point you don't feel like touching your hands on your body, that's okay. You can always hover them above your physical space to just feel into the energy that exists within you. And then before you start to deepen the breath, just notice how the breath is moving in and out of your physical form. And then once you've noticed, without judgment, without need to change, you can start to deepen the breath. And the intention here as you breathe is to feel the energy of the root, the energy of your womb, what exists beyond your right hand. And as you inhale, you start to draw it up into the heart through the spine, all the way up into the chest. And then as you exhale, you're moving the energy of the heart down to the womb. So as you breathe, you're tracing this feedback loop between the energy of the womb and the energy of the heart. And then once you've developed a softness, a sense of openness in your mind, sense of ease in your body, you can start to listen to your womb. And sometimes answers will arise. Sometimes she'll just speak to you. Sometimes you need to ask her questions. And when you do that, you can ask things like, how can I serve you today? Or my personal favorite is, what do you need right now? And then make sure that you act accordingly. And you can do this as long as you need to. Not only to just. Just talk to your womb, but also to come into your body. So actually, before this podcast, I did that for, like, 20 minutes to just Feel into my womb and ask her what is it that she wanted to share today with all of you. So this is a great practice that you can use at any time. And just remember that the more you speak to her, the more she speaks back to you. And it's not that the body is silent. A lot of the women I work with have numbness, disconnection, pain in the womb. And if you're someone who experiences that too, know that that's really common. And it's not that the body is actually silent. So if we're numb, sometimes we may feel like the body's not talking. The body's always trying to communicate with us. The womb has a song she's always trying to sing. And it's just about opening up our mind, quieting our external environment enough so that we can actually list to the internal dialogue that our body, the narrative that our body is sharing with us. Each body has a story, and it's just time that we listen.

So beautiful. Thank you so much for guiding us through that incredible practice. And it's such a good reminder for all of us in this crazy fast, beautiful age to just take a breath, slow down and connect to that womb. And I think a lot of us now we talk about meditation, but taking it a step further and connecting, connecting to your body's wisdom is just exactly what our souls are craving. I'd love to know, do you recommend people working with jade eggs, yoni wands, cervical wands, or just more of a breath and energetic practice?

That's a great question. So I think it's really important first if you're going to work with jade eggs or rose quartz eggs, obsidian, onyx, whatever stone you're choosing that first you verify the source. So there's been a lot of confusion with sourcing for these types of internal healing instruments. And it's really important when you are purchasing this instrument that you're verifying its source. Not only that, it's what it actually markets itself to be so that it's safe for you, but also that it's safe for the earth. Because a lot of crystal distributor is actually sourced really unethically, which is kind of the opposite of what we're trying to support in our womb healing journey. So actually, personally, myself, I prefer to work with the energy of my body. And if I do internal work, it's with my own fingers, because fingers or tissue on tissue provides, provides feedback to my brain. Whereas if I'm working with a yoni wand or even with a yoni egg, although I Believe them to be, yes, very healing. For me personally and many clients that I work with as well, there's not the same response of the body because the body doesn't recognize crystal as it does body tissue. And so when I touch myself internally, I have that feedback from my own hands to my brain and to allow my body to respond accordingly. So I really important. Before you go into working with yoni eggs, before you work with yoni crystals, wands of any kind, you need to have a strong foundation in your body. So you have sensation, you have a sense of self regulation, you know how to co regulate, you have systems of support. Because a lot can come up when we start inserting foreign energy into our body. And even if this foreign energy is healing, even if it's jade or rose quartz or obsidian, it's still foreign energy and it can bring a lot up within us. And so before we dive into that healing path, we have to make sure that the systems are in place to integrate and process whatever arises during that journey with the crystal, with the egg, with the wand.

I think that is really important to say because, you know, a lot of people right now are using so many, many beautiful tools and it's important for us to have, you know, it's like before you start lifting weights at the gym, like make sure you got your cardio right, like make sure you, you know, exercised a little bit. I did this yoni yoga course which was different Taoist practices and she said the exact same thing, like just keep working with the breath and working with awareness. And they were teaching us something called clitoral flutters. I don't know if you've done this, but it's kind of like Kegels, but with your clitoris. And just to, if you can even just focus on that and like just the different parts of your vulva and just having the awareness and that. I mean that's really what we need, the subtle awareness. And often in our society we go towards whatever is extremely gross. Right. Like whatever we can really feel tangibly. But what we need more of is, is just the very subtle energetic feeling.

Exactly. I mean it literally caused costs nothing for you to go into your body. And I think we have to be really weary. Women are often sold things to make us feel better, to make us feel more attractive, to make us feel more connected to ourselves. And these material items can often just be a fad or even bring us further from ourselves. So for you to know first, before you add anything on, that you have everything you need within you to feel Pleasurable sensation in your yoni, to know the different parts of your genitalia and your female sensual anatomy. For you to touch yourself in a loving way, for you to send awareness into your clitoris, for you to send awareness into your vagina, into your sacred spot. You know, that costs nothing. And it can remind you that you are totally safe, self sufficient. And of course, we always use different supports from the earth to take us deeper, but to also be really aware that you have everything you need within you. And knowing that and feeling into your body can create a foundation to consciously add whatever other elements into your practice that you desire to.

Yes. And I think that it comes down to a lot of us still carry that shame of not wanting to touch ourselves, being disgusted by ourselves. You so many women have never actually seen what their vulva looks like. And you know, it's this internalized shame and disgust that is really the reason why we feel like we still need a tool or something in between ourselves and our rooms. Because we're too afraid to go there.

Absolutely. And that's something. In our online course, we do something called pelvic floor mapping, which is a guided practice where I guide my students to actually put their fingers inside of themselves if they feel comfortable and press in different areas and feel whether there's tension, feel whether there's pleasure, feel whether there's numbness or sensation. And I'm always astonished by the amount of people who feel so unable and nervous to even go there. And what I think is fascinating, you know, honoring all stories, knowing that those with trauma who have been violated will definitely feel uncomfortable, possibly going in there and honoring that, honoring where everyone is at, but also posing the question, why do we allow others to touch us when we ourselves cannot touch ourselves? And why do we expect others to know what we want to know how to give us pleasure, to know how to bring us into states of orgasmic ecstasy if we don't know how to bring ourselves there ourselves. And I think that it's really, really important to have patience as you explore this journey, because it takes a lot of compassion, self kindness and patience. But to also know that you starting to touch yourself and starting to learn what it is that makes you feel good. Especially because every woman is different. Some women have more nerve endings than their clitoris. Some women have nerve endings, endings intervaginally. Some women have more nerve endings in their anus. And so what feels good for you will be completely different than what feels good for another woman. And for you to start exploring, that can be a really Powerful way to open up the portal to deeper pleasure and deeper fulfillment. Because sexuality isn't just about sex. It's our vitality, it's our creativity, it's our ability to express, as you say, Sahara, our higher self, who we are is so connected to that energy of shakti, to that energy of aliveness that really moves through the portal of our sexuality.

Absolutely. 100% agree with all of that. I think a lot of listeners are resonating too. So I'd love to talk about the cervix. A lot of people speak about that as a spiritual gateway. Tell us about it.

Oh, I love the cervix.

So the cervix.

The cervix is. So the word cervix means neck. And it's actually the bottom most part of the uterus. But it is the neck that connects, the sheath of the vagina. And just so you know, those of you who don't know vagina, actually the word vagina is, means sheath. And it comes from the etymology, means sheath for someone else's sword, so for a penis. And that's why I think we really need to rename practically all of female genitalia because so many of them are named for in relation to male genitalia or to the patriarchy. So just little side note there. So the cervix is the neck that connects the vagina, the muscular tube of pleasure, the birth canal, some may say, to the uterus, the fallopian tubes and the ovaries. And the cervix is really interesting not only because it's the portal that those of us who are born vaginally pass through in order to enter this physical world, this physical existence. So when your mother was giving birth, her cervix was dilating up to 10cm to allow you to pull, pass through it. Even if you were a cesarean section, this still happened as well. So not only is it the tube, or I call it a portal, because it's what we enter to come into the physical world, but it's also the epicenter of deep emotional knowing, deep instinct, and holds a possibility for so much pleasure as well. So when you look at the way that the cervix is connected to the nervous system, what we see in is the cervix is connected to the vagus nerve. And the word vagus means wandering because it runs through our larynx on either sides of the throat, underneath the major muscle of the neck called the sternocleidomastoid, through our heart, through our internal organs. And for those with a womb, it runs into the cervix. So when we are in a state of relaxation, when we are taking time with our self pleasure, whether it's with ourselves or whether we're engaging with pleasure with a partner, the cervix has the possibility to be deeply orgasmic. And when I talk about pleasure, it's so important that you understand how important patience is for female pleasure. For male arousal, it takes around, around 30 seconds to 2 minutes for a female body to be fully aroused. It takes 35 to 40 minutes. So that's a big difference there. And in order to be fully aroused, the female's autonomic nervous system has to be fully engaged, which means her senses, all of her senses have to be enveloped in pleasure. So when our body is relaxed and when arousal is working, when patience is one of the major virtues that we're holding with us or major intentions that we're carrying with us on the journey of self pleasure or engaging with a partner, then the cervix can relax. And when the cervix relaxes, when it releases its internal tension, not only do we have the possibility to orgasm through our cervix, but we also have the possibility to open, open up a lot of deep internal, instinctual knowing that exists within the womb as well. And one of my favorite things to remind women, so for those of you who feel like uncomfortable going into your vagina, for those of you who actually feel pain when your cervix is touched during sex, one of the best ways or the easiest ways, I'll say my favorite way that we can actually access the cervix is actually through the practice of singing. So when you sing and you relax your jaw, if we look evolutionarily at what happens inside of the womb, one single cell is divided into two. When you're in your mother's womb, one single cell split into two. And those two cells create the area of the pelvis and the area of the jaw in your body. So from the beginning, from your conception, those two areas of your body are connected. And if you take a picture of the cervix, of the pelvis, the pelvic floor, and then you take a picture of the vocal cords, you'll see that they look pretty much identical. And this isn't just a coincidence. This is a symbol of magic. You know, this is a clue from our anatomical body. There's a connection here. So when you sing, not only are you relaxing your jaw, but also when you hum, you're creating a vibration and that vibration allows for the muscles of your face, the muscles of your jaw to relax. And that relaxation is then mirrored in your pelvic floor. It's mirrored in your cervix as well. But you're also creating a vibration. And that vibration, the small tremors of the energetic medicine of that vibration actually tone your nervous system so that activate that nerve I was talking about, the wandering nerve, the vagus nerve. And they tone it into a state of calmness. And that's why birthing mothers, for those of you who have given birth, for those of you who have attended or supported birth, for those of you who have just watched birth. Birth, you'll know that mothers, often, without guidance, even will make these low guttural sounds where their jaws are open, where they're just releasing. Never thought I'd make a birth sound on a podcast, but here I go. And when they're releasing, that's not only helping them to relax in their jaw, but it's also helping their cervix to relax as well. So there's a huge connection between the cervix and the nerves, nervous system. And what that means is when we're relaxed, we can access pleasure in our cervix. Also, when we access pleasure in our cervix, that has the ability to guide us into deeper relaxation. And when we're in that deeper relaxation, that's when we access a flow state. That's when we access deeper intuitive knowing. That's when our body begins to really heal.

So beautifully expressed and it's so, so interesting because in my shamanic dance teaching, she would say the same thing, that an open jaw is an open yoni. And that is how you drink in the earth's energy that we are always connected to. But most of us, we have these tight jaws, these tight lips, and these very straight legs. But you have to loosen, bend your knees, open your jaw, let your jaw feel loose. And that is exactly what just taps you into that Pachamama energy that is available for all of us. So it's incredible that that, to an even deeper level, is connected to the cervix. And, and for me, cervical orgasms are very profound. I've, I've read that they release DMT in the mind, which makes total sense, but it definitely has to be an extremely relaxed state. It has to be. It's not even something to strive for. Like the moment that you put something, like, I try. I feel like a lot of times in our, in our culture, we're like checking off even the Types of orgasm, like, okay, a G spot orgasm this, orgasm that. And it becomes another thing to, like, achieve and to do. And I've been in conversations with women of, like, have you had this orgasm and that orgasm? Like, as if it's, like, something on your resume? And I definitely don't want any woman to feel like that. Of, like, oh, like I'm an inferior woman because I'm not yet relaxed enough to have the cervical orgasm. But it is inviting that this is possible for you and this is possible for women, and you don't have to do anything. In fact, it's the opposite. All you have to do is surrender.

Absolutely. And that brings us to, like, kind of a paradox. Like, okay, this is my intention, but also I don't have to do anything to reach it. And I think one way that we can become more aware of the tension we're holding in our pelvis and the tension we're holding in our cervix is to bring more awareness to our jaw. So if you're listening right now. No. Notice how is your tongue resting in your mouth. There's a huge connective line of tissue called fascia that runs all the way from the tip of our tailbone to the tip of our tongue. So how is your tongue resting in your mouth? Are you holding stress in your tongue? Then notice if you're clenching your jaw. And throughout the rest of your day today, just notice how relaxed is your tongue and can you allow a little bit more softness into your jaw? Jaw. And that's why not only bringing relaxation into the jaw is so important, because it helps us to access pleasure in the cervix, but also doing your investigation, going into your body whenever you feel comfortable, because everyone's body is innervated differently. So some women have a lot of sensation and therefore have the potential for a lot of pleasure in their cervical cervix. Some women have more sensation in their G spot, or I like to call sacred spot, since that too was named after a male doctor whose last name started with G. And it's crazy. Yeah. And some women have more nerves in their clitoris. So for you to know where it is, you feel good in your body. Some women have more nerves in their anus. That's something that's unique to you. That's like your unique, unique blueprint, and that's something that's very unique to feminine physiology. Whereas men are pretty much made the same with their nerves and erectile tissue, Every woman is uniquely different, and therefore she is a mystery that needs to Be unraveled both by herself and with those who love her.

Yes. It reminds me of this workshop that I went to where it was called the pussy worship ritual. And woman had. You know, it was the first time I had ever done this. But you were paired with a random partner, and you, with consent, if you wanted to be in the room, revealed, opened up your legs and let your yoni be seen. And for 20 minutes, you stared into your partner's yoni, and for 20 minutes, she stared into yours.

And it was.

It was very challenging because, you know, first of all, it's really even hard to look at someone's eyes for 20 minutes, let alone, you know, looking at something that maybe you haven't even seen in yourself. And then also seeing the diversity of. Of just our setups there and how you. How you mentioned some people have more sensitive clitorises or. Or just larger clitoris is more apparent clitorises. And just how different all of our. All of our yonis are and how we don't know this. Like, we just think, oh, there's something wrong. And it's so sad how much I think it's called labiaplasty. But the surgery of the vulva happens because we watch porn where they pick specific types of looking ones, and then we think, if it doesn't look like that, then there's something wrong with it. So it was extremely healing and beautiful and profound. It made me so much more connected to women in general.

That's such a beautiful practice. And I think it's important to know. Labiaplastic is the second most popular surgery for women in the United States, and so many young girls. A lot of my friends were thinking about doing it, and thank God they didn't go through with it. But a lot of women get their labias. For those who don't know, you get your labia cut, and then it's made to look what it's made to look like. And what we're worshiping in the porn industry is a prepubescent female vagina. So one of the purposes of estrogen is to create bonding between a mother and her kin, a mother in her community. But it's also to help our organs mature. And when we get enough estrogen, through the process of puberty, the onset of puberty, our labia begins to grow and take shape. So a large labia is actually a symbol of a fertile woman. And I think it's so interesting that we are worshiping these very small prepubescent labias and the porn industry really leads the way with that. And we're trying to find a place within us with the surgery where we can go back to a prepubescent body while simultaneously honor our sexuality, honor our womanhood. It just doesn't make much sense. And a lot of those who have labiaplasty, if you're someone who has had that surgery, you're totally welcome here. But those of you who have had it, you may want to start working with someone who does scar tissue remediation. Because anytime we cut a tissue with a surgical instrument, our body responds and tries to heal it through scar tissue, which can spread very quickly and also affect our experience of pleasure as well.

Yeah, it actually reminds me of even, you know, pubic hair, how it's kind of like collectively desired for women to have no pubic hair or very little. And that also comes down to worshiping a prepubescent body.

Absolutely. And if we just look at the way that cultures have worshiped women throughout time, we see that the desired woman and the archetype of what a woman is, is meant to be, is always changing. And so I feel it for myself and I feel for those who I love, for the women that I serve. Why don't we create our own archetype of who we want to be and why don't we go for that? And I think that's what being your highest self is about. It's about stepping away from this archetype of this is who society says I should be. This is what my body's supposed to look like. These are the traits, traits I'm supposed to have to be attractive. These are the traits I'm supposed to avoid in order to be a good, empowered, independent woman. Why don't we sit so deeply in ourselves that we get to decide who it is we want to be, how it is we want to express ourselves. Knowing that the body is a temple, is a vessel. But at the end of the day, it is just a costume here to channel and. And to share the message of who we truly are and express it into the world.

So beautifully said, 100% resonate. Where can listeners connect with you, learn from you? Sign up for one of your trainings.

So we have a special gift for all of you, especially those of you who want to start diving into your womb. Wisdom. And you can access that by visiting womenwellness.com that's w o m b e n wellness.com start and at that address you can begin your journey with us. And yeah, we do trainings all around the world and online immersions as well. So you're always welcome to join the collective.

Well, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us, for sharing your gifts with the world, and for leading the way forward for women to connect with their wombs in a deeper way.

Thank you so much for having me, Sahara. I feel so grateful to have connected with you and to have shared this space with all of you listening. Thank you so much.

How beautiful was that episode. I so love talking to women about our bodies, wisdom, our wombs, our. Our life force, our yonis. It's such an important topic to speak about as we are reclaiming our feminine power and recognizing the wisdom that we hold inside of ourselves. It's not anywhere outside of us. It's not in a book, it's not in a man, it's not anywhere. It's in us. So all it takes is tapping in. You know, even the other day I was, I was had a question that I was wondering about and I just tuned into my womb and I did the womb meditation that I have and rose gold goddesses. You can find that meditation there. And in that meditation, I guide you to understanding what your womb's message is for you. And when I tuned into my womb's answer, it was so clear and so simple and so loving and so like, why are you stressing yourself out about something that even society is telling you to do? You don't have to do anything. You're perfect as you are. And it was just such a motherly, loving wisdom that exists in all of us. So if you're interested in connecting more to the womb, definitely check out Usha, check out my womb yoni and moon cycle meditations and rose gold goddesses and talk to your womb. Love your womb. Dive into tantra, dive into the divine feminine, dive into the goddess work. It will all bring you closer to home. If you loved this episode, I would love to send you a free gift which which is the first half of my unreleased book, Eat Right for your mind body type. This is a different book than Eat Feel Fresh, my first book ever which is not released anywhere and I am gifting it exclusively to those who leave a review of my podcast in the itunes store. So all you gotta do is head over to itunes where you may be listening to this podcast and leave a review. Take a screenshot that you've left it and email it over to me@saharaat feel fresh.com Again, that's Sahara S A H A R A at eat feel fresh.com and I will send you back the first half of my unreleased book, Eat Right for your Mind, Body Type, which goes all into Ayurveda, doshas, plant based nutrition, body types, all of the things in a really fun and engaging way. So this is my gift to you for free for supporting the podcast. Every single review I personally read. It really helps the podcast be listened to by more people so we can raise the vibration of the planet together. And I am so grateful to have you on this journey. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you on the next episode. Namaste.

K.