[00:00:00] Speaker A: I do believe that this place of being connected to the earth, being connected to these people who love and care about us, being connected to our plant allies, you know that all of these things are super important for our healing and growth. And I believe in the power of the inner healer. And I also believe in the power of all healing beings that are around us and within us and before us and behind us. And because like sometimes like we hit our limitations. Yes, we hit our limitations and we need, we need each other.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Welcome to Deconstructing Therapy, Transforming Therapy and the therapists who lead it. Let's deep dive into conversations reshaping therapy into a powerful tool for healing, liberation and systemic change. Join us as we challenge the status quo, reimagine care and celebrate therapists breaking barriers. Let's transform therapy.
On today's show, I have Virginia Walls joining me from Pensacola, Florida. Virginia is a licensed counselor, healer, storyteller, kindred spirit and loyal friend. As the founder of Moon Rising, she creates transformative spaces for healing that center liberation, empowerment and connection. Virginia is a story informed trauma therapist, emotionally focused therapist and supervisor, and psychedelic assisted psychotherapist. She is deeply committed to fostering inclusive spaces where individuals can reconnect with their true selves and heal from the wounds of oppression. Drawing from her own journey as an Afro indigenous woman, Virginia weaves spirituality and the wisdom of nature and plant teachers into her practice. She approaches her work with a belief in co creating safe, supportive and nurturing therapeutic spaces that empower clients to heal, grow and transform their lives. I'm so happy to do this with you today. So I mean, your story is probably the hardest for me to be like, what can I ask her? Because I feel like I could talk to you for like 30 hours on every aspect of your life. You do so many wonderful things. Like I think what we were talking about earlier was what feels important is let's start from the beginning and really dig a little bit deeper, get a little bit more vulnerable of where your journey started, how you became a therapist, what made you want to, to get into this field and how that kind of evolved to the wonderful goddess you are today.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: And for anybody listening, I'm saying that because she's literally has done so much in this field that she's just revolutionary. Just does story informed psychotherapy, does emotionally focused therapy, and has done emotionally focused therapy with me and a lot of our cohorts, is a supervisor, but is also kind of breaking a lot of barriers in that world as well. Recently went to Kenya to do decolonization work. Is that correct characterization of it? Yeah. So there's just. There's so many aspects of her story. I really want to encourage anybody. We're not going to be able to cover all of it in this podcast, so I really want to encourage you. I'll put her link in the show notes and just check her out on the work she's done. It's incredible. Let's start from the beginning. Where did you decide, Hey, I wanted to be a therapist. Mental health really spoke to you?
[00:03:25] Speaker A: It's kind of interesting sitting with some of this is.
I just realized that the age that I was when I decided to become a therapist actually was in the eighth grade. And my oldest child actually right now is in the eighth grade. So.
Yeah. So just took a moment to kind of like, wow, okay.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: But a lot of your 8th grade self start coming back up for you as she's. Yeah, Yeah. I was like, see how that happens?
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Yeah. But I remember I was sitting down at a table, this one of these, like, round tables, you know, white round tables, lunchroom. And I was taking a look at all of my friends that were around the table, and I looked at the girl who was directly across from me. I'm like, wow, she is so screwed up. And then looked at the girl next door like, wow, she's so screwed up. And then the girl next to her, and then the girl next to her. And the girl next to her. And then. And then I got to me and I was like, wow, I am so screwed up. As I sat with it, I was like, okay, well, what is. What is the difference between me and my friends here? And the thing that I could find that was different between me and my friends was that I had a mom that I knew loved me, even though she didn't always understand me and frankly, still doesn't always understand me.
But I knew that she loved me. And that was something that I felt was very different for me and all of my friends. And I decided in that moment that I wanted to be that one person who was there for somebody else when they didn't have anybody else. And I decided in eighth grade to become a therapist.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: Wow.
That's beautiful. Big. So we're all screwed up. I love the ability to even. Just really zoom out of your environment and even yourself in that moment and have that clarity of, like, we're all struggling. We're all doing this together. We all have these flaws. But I. I can still see that and be appreciative of what I have. It's not perfect. And how can I give that to other people? That's such a beautiful heart from such an early age.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: So, I mean, just. Just with my whole journey with that, I mean, it did kind of like, okay, do I want to teach? Do I love food and nutrition? And, like, you know, and I kind of went back and forth between a handful of things, but still, therapy was still, like, something that was huge in my heart and wanting to. To be part of people's change in their stories. And so. But that was something that just kind of always stuck with me and found ways to weave in some of those other pieces in terms of teaching and in connecting food and nutrition as. As I got older. So.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Okay, so sometimes it would evolve to maybe, I want to do food or nutrition. It's always some kind of healing, or then it kind of always came back to therapy and you integrated the pieces. What was your exposure to therapy in the eighth grade?
[00:06:15] Speaker A: My parents, my biological parents actually had a divorce, and I went one time to therapy with a family therapist and wasn't really much of anything. Like, talk to me briefly, like maybe 10, 15 minutes, and that was it. So, like, that was my only exposure to therapy.
Like, I knew that at the time. You know, as it was in eighth grade, it was the first time that I really could identify. You know, looking back, I can identify really struggling with clinical depression and struggling with being suicidal. And so I just knew all my siblings were going to therapy consistently, but I was the healthy one. I was the one who didn't need any help because I wasn't, like, you know, acting out in certain ways that would signify me as needing help.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: But I just knew that I wanted to be that person that was there for someone, because I just noticed so often, people don't have anyone.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: Okay. So everybody else's screw up was, like, louder. But internally, you knew there was something not okay with you as well.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: That's probably why you could connect with the parts of them that were showing up in that way. Yeah. How did your journey kind of evolve from there?
[00:07:33] Speaker A: This sounds awful, and I don't mean to be awful. I went to a program where beautiful education, lots of really great wisdom and knowledge. But I remember going to my grad school program, and when I looked around the room, there's only one other Brown person in the room, and there's about 50 clinicians. I mean, these were very brilliant people that were in the room with me. I remember hearing the professors cut down and talk very harshly to a lot of, like, my white colleagues. And that Like I said, were absolutely brilliant, what have you. And so part of the way that I got through that was like, I'm like, you know what? I'm going to shut up. I'm going to do my work and I'm getting my A and I'm going to walk out this door and I'm not going to look back. And when we graduated, it was only six of us that walked on time. And it was me just happened to be the other Brown person that was there. And then mostly everybody else had either an eating disorder or a substance use disorder. So, like, I really found that essentially that, like, I felt like I learned a lot in terms of, like, education, in terms of book knowledge, in terms of clinical skills and research. And I felt very strong in those sense of skills and also just like, very humbled by the process and surprised that I made it.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: After that, I kind of went off the radar for probably maybe about 10 years.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: 10 years.
Wow, that was a hard jump. Wait, did that mirror any of the growing up, Any of the stuff that happened growing up? Because I'm also hearing bits in your story of I was really alone and I know I was loved, but I wasn't really seen. And on the outside, there's this mask of everything's fine with me. I'm the one who's okay and healthy. Healthy, yeah. And everybody else's stuff is really getting in the way of their functioning, but inside there's turmoil. Outside, you know, I'm just doing what I'm supposed to. And so it sounds so similar to what you're saying with grad school.
[00:09:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess I didn't think of it that way, but, like, when I'm thinking of, like, in terms of, like, hit stuff to the nervous system and just thinking about, you know, my mom getting a divorce, getting remarried, that whole process, the whole blended family piece.
Then my grandmother moving in, because we are, our family background, we. We take care of our elderly. And so my grandmother moving in. I'm the oldest girl, and I just remember just, like, running to school and getting involved in as many things as I could. But so that is kind of a little bit of a disappearing act there as well.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: And your academics just saving you. Right. Your ability and your intelligence to really filter and focus into that. That's wonderful. That's wonderful that you were able to do that both times, really. Right. When your external world is full of chaos and people who don't have container to see you or really understand you, you had a beautiful ability to focus on what you had to. To get through it, even though you had to shove yourself down a bit. And so the 10 year. Tell me about the 10 years I disappeared for.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Probably, like, the first six years, I just kind of, like, kept my head down and just worked in a group practice. And some things were kind of like, they were making a lot of administrative changes that myself and several other clinicians just did not agree with. And so, like, several of us left that practice. And then I kind of was in a solo practice for a while and then started talking with some of my colleagues and ended up, like, joining another practice. But all the while, I felt it was important to kind of, like, keep my head down, not make too big of a scene and just kind of practice and hope I don't get sued kind of thing. And I share with people. I'm like, no, I've got black clinician paranoia. Like, I'm always worried I'm gonna lose my license. So, like, I just felt this need to just kind of, like, keep my head down, do my work. But all the while as I was doing the work, like, it just. Sometimes you would see people get better, but then, like, you would see people even in this process where they would, like, come back a year later saying, like, hey, I've got the same issues, or, hey, you know, do you do this or do you do that? And just feeling very limited.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Grateful for the tools that I got in grad school, yet extremely limited in terms of, like, okay, well, are we doing symptom management here or are we helping people transform their lives?
[00:12:28] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: And I just was sick, you know, of just, you know, helping people manage symptoms and went through burnout several times in that process and really had to take a look at myself as a human and as a clinician and really trying to figure out, like, okay, okay, okay, this is. This is what I have. And I have the best. Like, but the best is not enough right now, so what do I need now? And so I just started doing a lot more soul searching. I had some. Some sicknesses and things in my body that I just could not figure out and started going back to, you know, that. That very precious time that my grandmother was living with us, and we were taking care of her and going back to some of those things, like dusting them off in my memory of, like, oh, yeah, remember she said this? Oh, yeah. I remember she said that. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And started to find that essentially healing and transformation is not anything new.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: And wait, I just want to stop. That image is so beautiful to me, it's like, I went to a great grad school. I had all the knowledge. I'm collecting more and more knowledge, and it wasn't enough. And I have the best. The best. And then the pausing and where do I go from here? And the fact that you were able to just tap into your ancestors with that and it gave. It fed you. Oh, it's already been here. I just needed to slow down and listen to it.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: And I didn't appreciate it, as, you know, much as, you know, like, you hear so many younger people say, like, you had all this wisdom and knowledge, like, right at your feet and did not appreciate the precious gift that I was given. And so I've just been taking a lot of time and energy in that process of, like, going back, dusting some of those things off and really owning them and really becoming more embodied with them and becoming more embodied with myself and my lineage and.
And helping others do the same.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, that's. That's so beautiful. And I can see the emotion in your face as you have this, of connecting with her, pulling from her, and then also a little bit of that pain of I didn't appreciate it, as I wish I had. Can you tell me about her?
[00:15:06] Speaker A: Yeah, she's like 4:10, Spitfire.
She was born in the 1920s. And it's funny, like, I, you know, because I went with my mom all doctor's appointments and what have you, and would look at birth certificates, and I said, mom, I said, my birth certificate says that I'm black, right? She said, yeah.
I said, grandma, her birth certificate says colored, right? She said, yeah. I said, yours says Negro. You didn't tell me you was a Negro.
So some pieces of just, you know, kind of being able to laugh and to tap in. But like, my grandmother, you know, lived in a time where black people were called colored, and it was very elegant Spitfire that consistently got in a lot of trouble. And I don't know if I got any of that, but she consistently got in trouble. But she was known for being a volunteer and helping people in her community.
She was known for always knowing the right herb that people needed to be able to heal any ailment. She was also known for being an extremely spiritual woman and being a powerful prayer warrior. And so a lot of people went to her and would call her all hours of the night.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: And I would just sit at her, the foot of her bedside, and I would just listen to her talk on the phone for hours.
So, yeah.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: What's her name?
[00:16:44] Speaker A: She's my best friend. Lily.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Lily oh, okay. You named your child after her. Okay.
And you would just sit and listen to her, talk to people as she. She was a healer. That's so beautiful. And I. I hear you saying, oh, I was. I'm not like that. I kept my head down and kept doing the right thing. But I. I see that spitfire in you. I think it was. It was just waiting to come out. It knew it wasn't safe to come out for so long. It's shining bright now, though. That's so wonderful. Oh, that's so much of you in that story.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I remember, like, you know, there were times where, you know, when she was healthy or somebody in the neighborhood didn't have money to make their rent or what have you, she would say, oh, don't worry about. We're gonna have a dinner. And she would cook dinner. And then just people from the neighborhood would just come in off the streets and come and pay her cash for food, for a plate. And she'd be able to help people make their rent over and over and over again. And she was instrumental in helping start, like, one of the first soup kitchens in New Orleans. And she was a consistent volunteer. And even though I didn't always appreciate how she gave of herself, because I feel like she gave too much a lot of times and didn't always take care of herself.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: You noticed a lot. Even as a young child. You're so observant. You have a lot more clarity than most.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: Little had to, had to, had to when she was dying and knew she was dying. And I remember telling her again, laying by her feet, you know, you can't die.
And she said, oh, no, it'll be fine. And she's like, you'll be fine. And I remember saying to her, you have to be here until you see my first child be born. And she said, well, when your first child is born, I'll peek through the clouds and I'll make sure that I'm there.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: And so did you feel her when she was born? Yeah.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: And then my daughter, my first child after her.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: There's so, so much of you in her story. Just even the interview, the food, wanting to take care of people in all the ways and being able to see people, understand people in a different way that most people don't. Just that all encompassing, kind of holistic healing.
And do you feel like you're bringing that into your practice in the way you're practicing now where it doesn't feel like I'm just doing.
Have you always been like that? I guess as a Clinician or did that evolve for you?
[00:19:24] Speaker A: It evolved for me because, like, very early on, you know, I just felt like I have to survive and I'm lucky to even be here. And I shouldn't even be here looking at people that, you know, these are all people who wanted to be doctors and medical doctors. I'm like, I don't belong here. With these groups from, you know, either they were very well off or higher middle class and like, these are not my people. I don't belong here. But I was there and watching them get spit up and chewed out and dropping out of the program, and I'm like, ah, I'm still here. Like, so I did everything that I could to just like, okay, how can I survive? What do I have to do? What hoop do I have to jump through to survive?
[00:20:15] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: And so I did that just to. To make it. But then once I kind of came out of that program and then, like, had that. That time of just, like going off the grid, I had some time to kind of sit with myself and sit with some hard questions, sit with some burnout. Burnout's lovely.
[00:20:31] Speaker B: Yeah, it really can be. It's like, it can make you.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Coon yourself and sometimes come out as that butterfly. And that's exactly what it's sounds like you did. It's. It sounds like such a huge shift of gotta keep my head down, just make it through. I don't belong here. I don't want to ruffle feathers. The environment's not fully safe for me. I mean, you've had that your whole life. And then to come out, emerge and say, no, I. I need to transform things here. And that comes at the cost of not being as invisible.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Not keeping your head down. I mean, that to me feels so scary for someone who's always done it the other way. How did you make that transition?
[00:21:13] Speaker A: I think at the end of the day, you know, like I said, it went through burnout several times as a clinician. At the end of the day, I really had to sit with me and I had to sit with like, what are you doing?
Is it something that you feel connected to? It's like the way I was even taught to. To be a practitioner was to be very removed, very distant, very cold. And it just felt life sucking in a lot of ways. And I was like, I can't keep doing it this way. Just those words of my grandmother and just watching my grandmother, you know, visit the sick, helping people and pulling our family together, all of those things started coming back to me. And started, you know, I started saying, like, you know what? Some of this stuff has been here a long time. And, like, you know, maybe I need to not just throw away things that are old just because they're old. And maybe. Maybe there's a better way that's already been, and I just need to go back and find it.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: Wow, that's so beautiful. Look at the beauty that comes from just slowing down and sitting with ourselves. Themselves. Just so much wisdom.
That's. It was hard.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: I call it depression. But, like, all right, we'll go with that. I'll go with that.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: There can be so much beauty. And I know that's probably, like, horrible to hear from somebody who's listening this and, like, sitting in the midst of it.
Probably want to slap me when I say it, but I had some of the most wonderful growth from, like, the most excruciating community periods of depression.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: No, no. But seriously, though, I feel like, you know, those are the times that have grown the most, have been in the hardest times where I was just. Felt like I was just pressed on every side, and I didn't have any other choice but to sit down and just be like, you can keep going the way that you're going, or you could be honest with yourself here. And the way that I was going was killing me. It was literally killing.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: You can keep going the way you're going, or you can be honest with yourself. That's so true. Yeah. Sometimes for me, or the episodes I've had of depression, too, it. It's just a cue of my body saying, I can't. You can't do this anymore. This way. It's not working.
You have to change your operating system. This is not working for you anymore. You have to change something. You have to kill certain parts of yourself.
[00:23:44] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: Which are scary and hard and necessary. And necessary.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Not everything hard isn't beautiful.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: That's something that I've consistently seen as kind of.
If I were a character in a movie, I would say that would be part of my story arc, just in terms of, like, you know, so anytime I see something that's just really hard and I'm like, oh, I need to give up. I'm not really sure. It's always a sign for me that there's something that it just doesn't serve me anymore and it's okay to leave it behind.
[00:24:20] Speaker B: Yes. That's kind of beautiful. Our bodies just shut it down. They're like, nope, if you're not going to shut this down, I will shut it down. For you, this is not serving you anymore. Slow down. Go a different direction. And it sounds like you did in such a beautiful way. And we're able to really hear something that's always been. Been there.
Yeah. I keep having that image of you sitting at the foot of your grandmother's bed and just soaking it in.
[00:24:48] Speaker A: So that's one of the things I'm trying to do now with my own kids and, you know, with the people that I have the privilege of working with is like, okay, can. Can we. Can we move through all of the smoke and the mirrors and can we. Can we just get really real?
And my hope is that my kids don't have to work so hard to be able to integrate things that's their inheritance.
And that they could just move in it much more boldly and beautifully and freely and not have to wait as long as I did.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: And the work just feels simpler the way you're putting it. It's like it's all already there. It's already in you. There's a wise soul in each one of us. Can we just move through the smoke and mirrors, calm it down, slow it down, really get in our bodies and just listen?
I feel such a faith in you for everyone that they can just do that.
Yeah.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: And then that kind of can go against, you know, how I was originally trained in the sense that the therapist is the expert. When we start to decentralize the therapist as the expert and start to empower and truly believe that each and every single person that we work with, that they are the expert, truly. Not in just some sort of theoretical sense, like they are truly the expert and we truly need to listen to their nervous system and what works for them.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: It is a very different place.
[00:26:33] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:26:34] Speaker A: And I said that for so many years and did not have a clear understanding of that.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: I was just about to say that because that's exactly what came in my head too, because we're taught that too in school. Oh, they're the expert. Tell them the expert. Put that on your paperwork. But there's this anxiety almost, of you don't really think they can do it without all of you, your wisdom. And then you think you can't even really do it either. You have your imposters. It didn't.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: And they don't feel like they can do it without you either.
[00:27:04] Speaker B: Yes. Yes. And so where. Because I've had so many levels of change there, I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no. The human body, the human spirit is really remarkable. I have to do less and less and less in the therapy room, everybody is just so. They already have it in them.
It's already there, waiting to be unlocked.
How did you get there? How did you really, like, hey, I've said that, but I'm embodying it in a deeper way. Tell me about that journey.
[00:27:34] Speaker A: I think that for me, a huge part of that was me starting to learn how to do it with myself first.
And, you know, I always tell anybody that I'm working with, like, hey, look, like, everything that I'm going to tell you, everything that we work on, like, I've already done practice regularly, like, hit my head up against million times over. And I will never tell you to do something that I don't already do or have practiced for years.
I really had to do that with myself because I kept having these recurrent episodes of clinical depression. I did not realize I had an eating disorder for so long. I was like, oh, oh, that's me. Okay. Oh, oh, I don't know how to get out of this. Okay.
And so part of my own healing journey and just watching, like, you know, I went to all the different professionals and things and went to my doctor and like, hey, I think I have an eating disorder. I think I need help. And, you know, medical providers giving me various things that actually were making my eating disorder worse. And I'm like, what is this? Like, I, like, I'm going to die. Like, I'm going to die like this. And so it really came a lot of it from me slowing down and me really needing to work on my own stuff that I didn't realize I was as sick as I was.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: And, oh, my goodness. Oh, wow, my heart hurts just even hearing the amount of struggle. So it's like, you, you had these struggles, you didn't even know you had them. And then even after they were named, you were going to all these resources and it's still was not getting worse. And you went to therapist. Is that what he said?
[00:29:17] Speaker A: I was a therapist.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: You were a therapist? Like, yeah.
[00:29:19] Speaker A: And I was going to all of these people that. These are the people that you go to, these are the people that you work with. And I was just getting sicker and I was like, I have got to do something different. Like, it was a life or death thing for me.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: Wow, that is huge. And. And that you got out of also, as well as by kind of just slowing down with yourself.
[00:29:42] Speaker A: Yeah, because I, you know, in addition to, like having the reoccurring episodes of depression, I was also bulimic and.
And I Couldn't, like, you know, I was compulsively engaging in behaviors. I just could not stop on my own.
And so, like, I really had to sit down with some of the compulsions that I was having that were literally killing me. And.
[00:30:08] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness.
[00:30:10] Speaker A: Yeah. And at the time, I had kids, like, my kids were really little, and I was like, I want them to be able to grow up with their mom.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: What a scary time. And you were not getting that help outside at all.
You had to force yourself to sit through it.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: A lot of it ended up me.
I didn't share it much with many people. Just, you know, like, there's just so much shame with it. Or, like, if you start to say something about it with somebody, everybody's like, oh, yeah, me too. Me too. And I'm like, no.
Like, no. Like, it's like, it's.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: I was literally dying, and I couldn't.
[00:30:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, there's disordered eating, and then there's an eating disorder, and I am definitely in the latter. And.
And honestly, the relationship that I have with my husband was super beneficial during that time, and me being able to kind of, like, start to work through my own shame and just really starting to disclose to him in those moments where, like, I could not stop myself, and. And I just. I needed help, and so was that.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: Hard to say out loud? Did that take a while for you to. Oh, for sure.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: Oh, for sure.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: From doing this?
[00:31:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: Wow. And I'm a therapist, and there's. I.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: And I can't.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: Oh, man.
[00:31:38] Speaker A: So I think that's another piece that I'm just noticing as I'm sharing with you, that it wasn't even just me, like, discovering myself or understanding myself. It was definitely me being connected to people who love me, cared about me deeply, and were able to see me even in moments of my own shame, and to still accept me and support me.
[00:32:03] Speaker B: So, so happy you had that. It saved your life. And I'm so happy that you were able to be vulnerable enough to say that.
I'm happy you're sharing this story. I. I know it's. It's a big risk on your part, but it's. I think it's so important for therapists to hear this because we struggle with all these things ourselves, like, to. I know better.
I should know better. And there's something that I'm doing that is hurting me, and all the knowledge in my head knows the way out, but I cannot change this pattern. I don't know what to do that is. That can be so. That's hard for anybody but as therapists. And there's this other barrier to it of we should know better.
[00:32:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
And again, that kind of fights against all the theories and things that I was taught is that, like, oh, if people have this insight and if they just know, then all of a sudden everything gets better. And I'm like, yeah, it didn't work for me. And it wasn't working for the people, not long term, that I was seeing.
So it really was this process of not only just connecting, slowing down, and trying to, like, understand my body screaming at me consistently.
Also was this. This interconnected piece of being able to be connected with people who love me. And at the time I was married, my grandmother was no longer living. And so even just taking time and being, going back and being connected with parts of things that she had tried to show me, tried to tell me, and as a grown woman, you know, with my own kids, like, some of those things were like, oh, okay, okay, okay, okay, I get it now. So even just connecting back with her and her wisdom. And so it wasn't even just, you know, because sometimes I think we can almost get almost like, oh, well, I'm the only one and it's just me. But I do believe that this place of being connected to the earth, being connected to these people who love and care about us, being connected to our plant allies, you know, that all of these things are super important for our healing and growth. And I believe in the power of the inner healer, and I also believe in the power of all healing beings that are around us and within us and before us and behind us. And because, like, sometimes, like, we hit our limitations. Yes, we hit our limitations, and we need. We need each other.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Wow, that is so powerful. That's just a picture you're painting of all kinds of healing that our inner healer, our inner wisdom, the people that came before us, the people that are around us, that plant, like, you need all of it. You need to be embedded in all of it. And it. It really goes to show how limited that traditional view of therapy is of you're going to be healed in this little isolated box from this wise therapist, feeding you some knowledge from book that's. That's so limited. That's such a small piece of the picture. You need connection at all these levels. Proud of you. I'm so proud of you. The level of strength that you've done, levels on levels.
Did. Were you vulnerable like this with your grandmother? Did you have that modeled for you with her?
[00:35:27] Speaker A: In a lot of ways, yes, because, like, she was one person that, you know, she would say, you sassy thing.
So, like, she was one person that I could, like, push back with, like, be a little bit sassier with and, and, and, you know, and she would just give it right back at me. And I just appreciated her being very real and.
[00:35:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: Her being in present.
[00:36:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So you got that, you got your body, had that experience with her, and then the world around you kind of made you keep it locked up for a little bit and you're kind of returning back home now. So that little spitfire inside you. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for sharing this. I mean, I.
It's so impactful on so many levels of. Is there anything from what you're sharing today that if you were to give kind of one nugget that you'd want to share with some clinicians who might be listening or anybody who might be listening?
[00:36:36] Speaker A: Embodied wisdom, I believe, is not only just something that's just solely locked up inside of us, but I believe that it also is connected in our relationships. So even if we don't have a human to connect with in those moments, finding that place of connection and that becomes a place where we can become even more rooted and grounded with that inner healer.
[00:37:02] Speaker B: Beautifully said, Beautifully said. Thank you so much.
Love to pick your brain on other stories some other time.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: Sounds good.
[00:37:12] Speaker B: And I will put your website on the show notes. Is there anything else you want to give a shout out to? Do you have any social media? Do you have any other resources that you'd like to draw attention to?
[00:37:21] Speaker A: No, just my website, moonrising llc.com so if you want to connect or reach out, what have you like, I would love to. To connect with people there.
[00:37:34] Speaker B: All right, wonderful. Thanks, Virginia.
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