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Welcome to a Witch Amistic and a Feminist.

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We are so happy to be back this week chatting with Victoria Craig.

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Victoria is a feminine embodiment and self-love coach, plant medicine and breath work facilitator and the founder of the Soul Writing retreats.

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Victoria, welcome to the show.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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I've been really excited about this one.

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No one.

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We're excited.

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Yes, your work and what you do.

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I'm just very intrigued, especially with the plant medicine and your retreats, obviously.

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So I'm excited for this show.

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I'm really looking forward to sharing with you.

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Can you give us a little background on kind of how you ended up here with all these amazing credentials and retreats?

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And yeah, just start us there, of course.

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I mean, ultimately, I guess I turned my pain into my purpose and I've kind of brought together all of the modalities and the practices, the medicines that have helped me to heal and come back home to myself, my body, and reconnect with my feminine body, my emotions, and I put all of those together and I've been through the fire more times than most in this lifetime.

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You know I've got a lot of my own past trauma from sexual assaults, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, grief loss, abusive relationships, severe autoimmune illness and I do being completely open on this I still get the odd flare up.

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But nothing, you know nothing.

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Like I was when I got really sick.

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I had severe gastrointestinal issues, a bowel prolapse, pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic fatigue, amenorrhea, skin issues, alopecia.

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I lost three quarters of my hair, I had bald patches a couple of years ago and it's that one thing in the body kind of goes.

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It's just a cascade, it's a ripple effect and yeah, you know everything that has happened to me, or should I say for me?

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You know we never think it's for me at the time Right, I'll be a little bit later on, it really led me to my purpose and, you know, really being able to bring other women together to, you know, to heal and to rise and to regulate back into their feminine body.

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Whether you know, whether we're using part medicine, whether it's breath work, whether it's somatic practices, sisterhood yoga, you know I don't, I don't believe there's, you know, one way for everyone, like we all.

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You know we're all designed and built differently and what works for me may not work for you and vice versa.

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So it's really let's try these different things and let's let's see what my body is resonating with and also when we're working with a lot of women that come to me have experienced and have their own trauma and you know it's a very, very sensitive space to be working in and we have to be very careful not to push the body to a place that it's not ready to go.

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You know we, our body, will tell us and show us when it's ready to move through something and ready to heal.

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And you know, I've had the experience both ways where, you know, things have been pushed or I've been pushed and I wasn't ready to go to certain places and it left me in a bad way, you know, possibly more traumatized than I was prior.

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And then I've also seen on my journey, you know, having, you know, sexual assault was something that I'd had repressed for many, many, many, many years and it didn't come up at the beginning of my healing journey, you know.

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It came up through a four years later when I created the safety of my body to be able to say, okay, it's time I can move through this.

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And that's amazing to think about our bodies in such a protective way that our mind could block out such trauma to protect you because you're not ready to deal with it yet.

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And so it's interesting how, once we accept it or are able to embrace it if you will, the mind will release it so that you're ready to heal.

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And it's amazing what our bodies can do for us in a protection mode and also a connection type of feeling as well.

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So that's um.

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Yeah, the body.

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The body is so Powerful and we, unfortunately we haven't been taught that.

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Yeah and so just to dive right into it.

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I told you in our interview and actually the pre-show, that I'm really intrigued and want to hear more about plant medicine because it seems to make the most sense.

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To be very honest, we seem to be in an era of Pharmaceutical everything throw a pill at that, throw a pill at that, here's another pill, here's a shot.

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You know did to just fix the problem, but you're not fixing the problem.

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Yeah, you're masking it, you're masking it and every.

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It just seems like we're getting so much more in an era of there's a pill for that, there's a shot for that, there's, and I feel like plant medicine just seems so Logical.

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It's from the earth, it's grown, it's natural For our bodies.

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So I'm really interested in hearing about your journey with plant medicine and and what you have found.

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Of course and you know I fully agree with everything you were just saying there.

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You know, with with plant medicine, what is actually happening is we're dealing with the root cause, whereas Often Western medicine and pharmaceuticals is okay, let's, let's look at the symptoms and let's put a bandaid on those, let's try and stop symptoms, but everything is going to keep reoccurring.

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And then the piece which you said about natural right, I would watch, rather put something natural into my body, then something that is that's chemical or man-made.

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You know, with plant medicine and we are working with the earth, we are working with mother nature's medicine and I see part medicine is.

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It kind of shows us the truth.

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I was being able to see that there is so much more to the world, to the universe, than maybe we've ever, we've ever been shown or learn, and it's showing us the truth of who we are and that actually, you know, even in the Western medical system and and you know, looking not just physical health but mental and emotional health as well we often go down that route and we're made to feel, or we think that there is something wrong with us and we need to be Fixed.

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And actually plant medicine shows us that there is nothing wrong with us.

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We know that you know we don't need to be fixed and we're whole and worthy already, and that actually we have the ability With the right support of course to be able to heal ourselves.

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That's something I just love about plant medicine.

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So with that, how do you guide people through, like different plant medicine Ceremonies, okay.

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So the key medicines that I work with or we work within retreat is ayahuasca, also cambo shanga, which is DMT for anyone that's not familiar with that and obviously DMT is an element within ayahuasca.

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And then we work with that Bay, which is a sacred tobacco, but the the key ones here would be ayahuasca and cambo.

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Ayahuasca is a psychedelic cambo isn't.

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The way we hold ceremony with ayahuasca is like, say, like we like to do things differently.

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We hold a very trauma Sensitive and safe and safe space.

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So often you know you could go to journey with plant medicine and you could go.

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This could be ayahuasca or a different medicine, but you know, specifically with ayahuasca, you know you might be completely sat in the pitch black, in the dark, on your mat, on your own.

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You could be with Five people, ten people, fifty people.

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You know you could have space to move.

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We might be stuck on a.

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You know the size of a yoga mat with, with people either side of you and for some people that can feel quite Intimidating and it doesn't feel safe in itself and especially when you're you're about to take a Plan, a medicine that you have never experienced before, and there's a lot of fear.

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So when we're holding ceremony.

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We are Like I say, we're looking at it being a trauma, safe and sensitive space.

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We're right there for the women through anything and everything that they need in that ceremony.

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We are in darkness but we're not in pitch black, so they are all of us.

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You are still able to see what is going on around you and navigate, like when you want to go to the bathroom or if you need to get up and move or if you want to go outside by the fire, and we, you know.

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If you're going through a difficult experience and no, not everyone does.

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You know I was.

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I see I was a little bit like the energy of Carly Doga.

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She's, it's like a card.

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She has the energy that she can come in and and kind of fall down everything around you that's not serving you and it's for your greatest of good.

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But when you're in that tower moment, whether that's in your life or in Iowa school journey, it doesn't feel good.

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Now, not, you know.

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Some people just have amazing journeys from start to finish.

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But you know, just being really open and honest, you can have a difficult time.

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It can be challenging.

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Your body might be going into a moment where it's purging, where it wants to physically vomit or some noise wants to come out.

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There's a big emotional purge to be had and there's often some resistance in the body, not consciously.

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This isn't great, you know, you can't say to someone stop resisting, and I had that said to me once.

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I'm like what?

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Why don't you know?

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I'm resisting what you're talking about Well like surrender.

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What is a?

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render and you don't know until you experience it.

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You know if someone's going through something challenging, we are there, we're by their side.

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We've got tools to help someone get through a purge.

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If there is, if we can see that there is resistance, right, we've got modalities and tools that will help them get that purge or that release up and out.

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Sometimes it is just patience, but we will stay with them.

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If there's an emotional purge, you know, for some sadness or grief that's coming up or coming out and someone just needs the mother energy or the sister energy and they need to be held, you know we will sit there and we will hold them while they cry and we will hold them while they have that release.

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Because I believe, you know, we heal through love, we don't heal through suffering, and a lot of people, including myself, going into ceremonies is because there's an element of that love missing in our life, whether that's in connection with other people or whether that's self-love and being in a space where all of you is welcome, whether this is in ceremony or in any other part of the retreat we are like.

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Everything is welcome, all expression.

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You know we encourage women to use their voice, even, you know, in ceremony, for example.

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So we're very aware of what can happen.

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You know we can see someone go into a trauma response implant medicine, and I feel this is a piece that can often be overlooked, you know.

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So someone can go into that sympathetic response, whether it's fight, flight, freeze, fall.

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So we need to be able to see that and to be able to help them to move through that.

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And, for example, one that's really common with women is the fall response, right, which is the teasing and the pleasing, the shutting down.

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I can't use my voice, I can't speak up for myself, and we sit in this where you know someone might like they really want help.

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So maybe they're in an ayahuasca journey and actually they're.

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Just they've got a lot of fear that they're feeling that's inside of them and an ayahuasca.

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She is just amplifying something that is happening in your day to day life.

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But you don't necessarily know this.

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But we see women, they can sit there in that fear and it's really uncomfortable and it's really scary, but someone else is having a bigger experience or a big purge.

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So they in their head it's like well, I can't ask for help because I'm not worthy of help.

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My experience isn't as big as this.

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Other people need it more than me.

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You know these.

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I'm worth less dialogues.

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You know we have been, you know, often conditioned with as women.

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So we're aware that not everyone is able to.

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You know, we'd say like, speak up, just say you want help, but they can't do that.

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So we have these little nightlights, these little purple nightlights.

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They just flick on and if we see a nightlight, go on.

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We know that someone is in the fall, response and they want some support.

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So we'll just go and sit with them and maybe what they need is a perspective, because they don't understand what's happening there in their journey.

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So I've seen it before where the mind, you know, they're really stuck in their head and in their mind and that monkey mind and their thoughts just feel chaotic and hectic and too much and it's like when is this going to be over?

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And it's like there's a big resistance there and I'm able to sit next to them and say what's your mind like in your day to day life?

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And then they have this like ah ha moment, like this is what ayahuasca is showing me.

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They understand it, they have the release.

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The whole journey changes.

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They go from the challenging, the difficult part into the love, the joy, the happiness.

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Because this is it with ayahuasca.

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She shows us everything you know we can experience, and it, you know, everyone's experience is going to be different, every journey is going to be different, but we can experience the whole range of human emotions in one night, all at one time.

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So we often have, when the women leave the present, like I didn't realize I had the ability to feel so much.

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And that's one of the beautiful things about medicines is they reconnect us to our emotions, to our feelings, which is a huge, huge part of the feminine right Of us being able to find safety in our emotions.

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And I believe the plant medicine can give us that if we're held in the right environment and we're held safely.

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But actually, oh, it's okay for me when I go home, it's okay for me to feel, you know, I'm not going to die.

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If I've got some shame coming up or some fear or some sadness, I can have a good cry.

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Through the retreat we teach and we give them the tools.

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You know somatic tools and embodiment practices and different ways to work with emotions when they go back into normal life.

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And I love that, that support, because I've spoken to a number of people that have gone through ayahuasca ceremonies and some have had, you know, very amazing experiences and experience that afterwards, and some people have gone through spiritual psychosis following that and because they weren't supported during that ceremony.

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And so to be able to support, you know, these women through their ceremony and also give them the tools I think is very important.

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And it's you know, it's not something I've been through myself, but I have been through ceremonies where I wasn't held safely and it actually retraumatized me for a good good few months.

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To the point, I did think I was going crazy.

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And it's very important One.

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You know even the intake process.

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You know really understanding what is going on in someone's mental, physical and emotional world.

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What's their support network like once they get home?

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Are they in severely dysregulated?

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If they are okay, is that there's something you know there needs to be, something prior to coming into into that space and then how they are held in that ceremony and being able to watch what is happening.

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And this is another reason I don't for me, I don't want my ceremonies in pitch black, because I want to be able to see what's happening in someone's body language, in their speech and also being responsible with how much medicine people drink, because we don't all need to drink three or four cups of ayahuasca.

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One of my best friends who also supports and she holds a space with me in ceremony and supports me throughout the whole retreat I mean she's really building these with me now and she is super, super sensitive and obviously we, when we're in ceremony, we take ayahuasca to, you know, not three or four cups, not anywhere near what the participants are drinking.

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But she is so sensitive she can micro dose and have like one or two drops and she is fully connected to the medicine.

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If she was to and actually she had one ayahuasca journey which put her off ayahuasca for a very long time because she was given medicine that was far too strong and far too much and her body could not cope with it we have to look at people's you know the different levels of sensitivity and also allow people to have their own control to a certain extent about how much they consume and they drink.

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You know, I always if someone, if we're offering more, if someone's coming up for more, I'm like how much would you like?

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It doesn't have to be a full cup, if you want a third of a cup, if you want a half a cup.

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Because also, when we're working towards trauma right, we've had and we've all experienced, you all know this, we've all experienced some kind of trauma, just at different levels.

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But when we experience trauma, we have our choice and agency taken away from us and we have our boundaries crossed.

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So through sharing me, through the experience, we want to put this power back within women and that's in giving them choice in every single thing that they do.

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That's a key piece of it.

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That's having boundaries, you know.

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So we, you know we can be quite physically hands on, but we really honor anyone's boundary.

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We speak up.

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If you don't, you know, if you don't want us to sit next to you, if you don't want us to touch you, then you can say so.

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Even if you know you want to be held and then you decide you don't, then you may not feel that you can speak up.

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Just tap us, you know, tell us a couple of times in the body, we'll step up and we'll walk away.

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I had a client actually who came to one of our retreats last year and we've been working together prior to the retreat really beautiful souls.

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She has some incredibly deep, powerful, transformative journeys and one of her journeys she was often calling out for me quite a lot in ceremony and she did have some very intense experiences.

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So I go and be with her and then at one point I just went over to her and I was, like, you know, just checking on her.

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How are you doing?

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She just turned around to me and she had a reason about my life.

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So she just went oh, oh, victoria, okay, and I was waiting for her to laugh and I just walked away with a big boob on my face and you know we had a little bit of a giggle about it the next day and she was like I'm so sorry.

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I was like you've got nothing to be sorry about.

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It's like I'm really celebrating you because you set a boundary and you spoke up for yourself.

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And actually she said in that moment what she'd realized is, you know, we'd be working together for a period of time and she had been putting a lot of her healing like in me as in like I'm always there, I can go to Victoria, you know, like almost that outside of herself, it was like a reliance on me being her healer.

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And she said in that moment she realized it was her, she was the one that was healing herself, it wasn't me.

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But just the way it all came out was just really funny Right, you can lie.

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That was her saying I got this, go, go away yeah.

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I loved it.

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I was like yes.

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How do you know when you are fully connected with the medicine?

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Because you said you know you start off small and some people have more and some people have less.

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Is there a moment where you're like, okay, that's enough.

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I'm just trying to think how you judge that.

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Well, you tend to.

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I mean, you'll know when you're connected, you'll feel it, but it's like the level of you know, you start to feel things shifting and changing in your body and in your mind.

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But the level of connection obviously it's different for everyone.

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When it comes to like, have I had enough?

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Should I have more?

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I always say try and understand.

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If you can Like.

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If there's resistance there, for example, right, if my body is saying no, no more, then like.

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If it's a body feeling, it's a no, it's a hard no.

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But if it's the mind, don't know if I want to go deeper, I don't know if I want to do this.

00:20:13.060 --> 00:20:14.471
Well, you know, if it's the monkey one, I'm like.

00:20:14.471 --> 00:20:22.378
If it's mind resistance, I would say step through that and it's a yes, my personal feeling and personal advice.

00:20:22.378 --> 00:20:24.577
But again, it's different for everyone.

00:20:24.577 --> 00:20:32.855
But most people tend to, you know, resonate with that, because our mind is ultimately often it's the ego, right, so I don't want to go there, I don't want to face this stuff, I don't want to do this work.

00:20:32.855 --> 00:20:39.695
But if the body's saying no, it's like it's a hard no, it's like I'm not ready for anymore.

00:20:39.695 --> 00:20:41.255
What I have now is a no.

00:20:42.490 --> 00:20:43.211
But we've had.

00:20:43.211 --> 00:21:01.839
You know, I have had it actually quite recently where one of the women she just really felt like nothing was happening and she had a reasonable amount of bio-asca and I was like, hmm, like nothing is happening and she started to feel like there was something wrong with her.

00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:06.838
So she actually sat out with a fire and I went out and I was like you know, how are you doing what's coming up for you?

00:21:06.838 --> 00:21:09.796
Or actually your Hannah had kind of told me that what was coming up for her?

00:21:09.796 --> 00:21:14.076
And she was like, oh, just, you know, I'm not feeling like, I feel like there's something wrong with me.

00:21:14.530 --> 00:21:18.919
Or you know, and I said, oh, where, you know, where in your life does this show up at a harm moment?

00:21:18.919 --> 00:21:22.760
And it was all, it was all linking her to her relationship.

00:21:22.760 --> 00:21:29.318
And in that moment then the floodgates opened, she started to cry and she suddenly began to journey.

00:21:29.318 --> 00:21:30.971
What it actually was?

00:21:30.971 --> 00:21:36.296
She's been in an unconscious resistance for probably three or four hours.

00:21:36.296 --> 00:21:40.613
She's had enough and it was.

00:21:40.613 --> 00:21:51.140
It was just that bit of resistance and then it was like, when she allowed the emotion to come up and that kind of aha moment, she just went on a really big, beautiful journey after that, wow.

00:21:51.430 --> 00:21:54.140
So real quick with your retreats, you know.

00:21:54.140 --> 00:21:58.897
So you do have your ceremonies, but what is a retreat experience like?

00:21:59.329 --> 00:21:59.590
Okay.

00:21:59.590 --> 00:22:04.031
So the soul rising retreat is it's eight days, seven nights.

00:22:04.031 --> 00:22:15.490
We are in the jungle in Mexico, quite close to where I am, in a place called Puerto Morelos which is, I'm trying to think, where people would know, maybe pleidale carbon.

00:22:15.490 --> 00:22:18.979
It's quite close to there, half an hour between pleidale carbon and cancun.

00:22:18.979 --> 00:22:21.369
Little bit further away is Tulum.

00:22:21.369 --> 00:22:28.069
So it's that kind of area, pleidale carbon, and we have got so much happening.

00:22:28.069 --> 00:22:29.192
We've got three.

00:22:29.192 --> 00:22:32.238
We do three ayahuasca ceremonies, we do one cambo ceremony.

00:22:32.278 --> 00:22:34.548
Cambo is a frog medicine.

00:22:34.548 --> 00:22:37.958
It still comes under the kind of plant medicine, still muminatious medicine.

00:22:37.958 --> 00:22:41.767
It's the venom of a frog and not a psychedelic, it is a psychoactive.

00:22:41.767 --> 00:22:50.325
Cambo works with the if we allow it to the physical body, big detox, the physical body but also the emotional body.

00:22:50.325 --> 00:22:59.393
We can really tap into and open up the emotional body through cambo as well and work with, maybe, past experiences, suppressed emotions, wounds and trauma.

00:22:59.393 --> 00:23:01.881
The experience is much shorter than ayahuasca.

00:23:01.881 --> 00:23:11.867
You know you're looking at, rather than being in ceremony for a night, you're looking at being in ceremony for maybe an hour, a little bit less, maybe a little bit more Quite, an intense experience.

00:23:11.867 --> 00:23:14.772
You know we apply the medicine to the body.

00:23:14.772 --> 00:23:20.790
You would drink a reasonable amount of water maybe a liter and a half ish, depending on someone's size.

00:23:20.790 --> 00:23:25.445
At least you're full of water prior to sitting with cambo, because you're going to have a purge.

00:23:25.445 --> 00:23:40.758
For 98% of the time people will physically vomit and that really is the idea of cambo and it's a and having the water is so that we've got something to throw up and ultimately what it's doing is it's pulling out the toxins from your body.

00:23:40.758 --> 00:23:45.353
So it works very, very heavily with the organs of the body, especially at the liver, the gall body.

00:23:45.353 --> 00:23:55.662
What we can often see is like bile coming up and out and you can generally tell by looking at the color of your vomit of how toxic you know the body has been.

00:23:55.662 --> 00:23:58.167
But it can be quite an intense experience.

00:23:58.167 --> 00:24:01.719
You know, when we apply it to the body we make these little burn marks.

00:24:01.719 --> 00:24:03.424
It sounds worse than it is.

00:24:03.424 --> 00:24:04.666
They're superficial burn marks.

00:24:04.666 --> 00:24:09.877
Just so that we can, we can remove the top layer of the skin and then we'd apply the medicine Again.

00:24:09.984 --> 00:24:13.270
Person dependent on how much anyone that's new to cambo.

00:24:13.270 --> 00:24:28.575
I will always do a gradual application, so I will not apply, you know, a big amount of medicine and really shock their body, will take it a little bit slower and we'll do a couple of dots and then we'll add another, and we'll add another until we get them into the full experience, ready to purge.

00:24:28.575 --> 00:24:37.186
But once you feel it instantly, whereas something like ayahuasca will take maybe an hour to kick in, often you get like a rush of heat coming through the body all the way up to the head.

00:24:37.186 --> 00:24:39.672
You know the face can get very red.

00:24:39.672 --> 00:24:42.818
The you know your face can even swell up and become puffy.

00:24:42.818 --> 00:24:54.173
Where you know you know I've done it where I look like a frog and I'm in the journey as well and the heart rate increases, blood pressure increases, which is very, very normal.

00:24:54.173 --> 00:25:02.633
But if you're not aware, you haven't been told these things, it can be quite scary and then you're likely to start to feel kind of uncomfortable and nauseous.

00:25:03.233 --> 00:25:19.941
Until that, until that purge comes, whether that's physical vomit, which you're likely going to have, but have had people that have just had a big emotional purge through cambo and that was what they, what they needed at the time, but very, very powerful medicine for the physical body and the emotional body.

00:25:19.941 --> 00:25:21.184
So we have one cambo journey.

00:25:21.184 --> 00:25:29.986
We did used to have two, but I actually feel there's too much of an intensity, with two cambo journeys and the ayahuasca, and we really have to balance.

00:25:29.986 --> 00:25:32.151
You know we're working with different medicines.

00:25:32.151 --> 00:25:33.934
You have slightly different diets as well.

00:25:33.934 --> 00:25:42.125
You know, in ayahuasca we don't have salt, so I'm like having to make, I'm making sure everyone's having electrolytes pre ceremony, post ceremony, whether that's cambo, whether that's ayahuasca.

00:25:42.125 --> 00:25:52.830
And you know we can have these intense experiences, but we also need some really regulating and grounding experiences and this is where you know the yoga comes in and somatic work.

00:25:52.871 --> 00:26:12.381
We have a Temescal ceremony, which is a traditional Mexican sweat lodge again a physical, emotional and spiritual detox of the body, really, really powerful Still, you know, intense in some ways, but can be very, very grounding as well.

00:26:12.381 --> 00:26:22.118
We actually have the Temescal on one of our integration days, when we're not working with the other medicines we do we've got a lot of other medicines we do womb healing, so really connecting with the womb space.

00:26:22.118 --> 00:26:34.625
We go into a womb healing workshop where we're reconnecting women with their, with this space, with their womb and actually the power that we hold as women within our feminine body, within our womb.

00:26:34.625 --> 00:26:36.009
And we do that.

00:26:36.009 --> 00:26:37.069
We actually.

00:26:37.069 --> 00:26:49.518
I never I don't actually do that at the beginning of retreats Because I'm always like just before sitting with ayahuasca, I'm never sure I want to open up that space just yet, you know, because it can be a can of worms.

00:26:49.518 --> 00:26:53.136
And when we're working with plant medicines as well, we're not just healing for ourselves.

00:26:53.136 --> 00:26:55.403
You know we've got we ancestral.

00:26:55.403 --> 00:27:07.809
You know we're doing the whole lineage and you know women having experience and locks, oppression, oppression and violation Often what we see once we've been working with the womb.

00:27:07.809 --> 00:27:12.679
That area gets opened up and comes up a lot in the air journeys, which is just incredibly.

00:27:12.679 --> 00:27:15.548
And then you're also there's the power of all being women.

00:27:15.548 --> 00:27:25.292
In that space too, we do daily integration in group and then also we're available one on one if anyone needs additional support.

00:27:25.292 --> 00:27:36.435
But we also include post retreat integration so once you leave the retreat it doesn't end there Again, something that really does feel like it's missing in the in the space.

00:27:36.977 --> 00:27:41.131
You know, we often say the work starts after the ceremonies.

00:27:41.131 --> 00:27:45.780
We get a lot of insights down those clarity, understanding, healing.

00:27:45.780 --> 00:27:46.923
We have the afterglow.

00:27:46.923 --> 00:27:50.253
But we have to then go back and integrate this into our normal life.

00:27:50.253 --> 00:28:12.388
And you know, for example, in a sense many times where someone might see that maybe their relationship is they've I mean they've kind of known it, but they've been pushing it away and suppressing and pretending that everything's okay and and just, you know, accepting and staying where they are, and then it's come very clear to them that that relationship is not for them or the future, for their highest good.

00:28:12.388 --> 00:28:25.096
It's not easy then going home and you know, and then if you've got kids and you know You've got assets together and it's like that's not an easy journey to do on your own and that's just one example.

00:28:25.770 --> 00:28:29.198
So you know, we offer the post-intubation support.

00:28:29.198 --> 00:28:31.082
We do group online workshops.

00:28:31.082 --> 00:28:34.233
We obviously have a Community chat group, so they can.

00:28:34.233 --> 00:28:51.702
One of the big pieces as well is that they get to support each other, you know, and they have that connection, that sisterhood, and when you go that deep With other women like you, really you really bond In a way that that you don't with with many people because there's so much, you know, vulnerability.

00:28:53.292 --> 00:28:57.890
We also we kind of throw in like workshops here and there, like seeing what's coming up.

00:28:57.890 --> 00:29:08.644
So at the beginning we'll always do something around nervous system and nervous system regulation and like how do we, how do we regulate Into our body, how do we connect with our body?

00:29:08.644 --> 00:29:22.954
Also connecting with Feeling and sensation that's happening with us, because all of this helps Once we're in the journeys connecting with our breath, like how do we breathe and how do we breathe if something feels quite difficult, let's start to get into that deep breathing.

00:29:22.954 --> 00:29:31.101
And then we have breath work journeys, conscious, connected breath work journeys, which can be like plant medicine journeys, but maybe without puking in a bucket, you know.

00:29:31.101 --> 00:29:39.173
You know you can have these really powerful big experiences and releases through through breath work journeys as well, and also depending on what.

00:29:39.295 --> 00:29:43.815
So we offer integration support and someone said this to me a couple of days ago Well, how do you plan that?

00:29:43.815 --> 00:29:55.380
And I was like I don't, you know, I I just see where you know, where is everyone out, and if I feel like, okay, well, maybe we need a breath work journey, then that's what we'll do is as part of their integration.

00:29:55.380 --> 00:29:57.365
So, yeah, that's the retreats.

00:29:57.365 --> 00:29:58.147
There's a lot.

00:29:58.328 --> 00:29:58.829
It sounds amazing.

00:29:58.829 --> 00:30:05.028
I love that post-retreat integration support because you know, honestly, it's something you just you don't think about.

00:30:05.028 --> 00:30:11.939
Like you have these Huge aha moments and all the things you need to change and you're like, well, shit, I just realized I shouldn't be in this relationship.

00:30:11.939 --> 00:30:12.740
Now, what am I gonna do?

00:30:12.740 --> 00:30:14.699
Like you don't think about those kinds of things.

00:30:14.699 --> 00:30:16.809
Those are some huge and it can be overwhelming.

00:30:17.330 --> 00:30:26.260
Yeah, especially if you're like, okay, well, I've got this and this and this and this, or I'm like, oh, actually Every area of my life is like this stuff I need to change.

00:30:26.260 --> 00:30:28.412
Well, you know, I had a.

00:30:28.412 --> 00:30:42.034
I spent six weeks in Peru working with my teachers and I wasca back in October last year, october November and one of the things that came through clear as day there was like I was not meant to be staying in Playa del Carmen, where I live right now.

00:30:42.034 --> 00:30:44.342
It's like I'm not a little bit isolated.

00:30:44.342 --> 00:30:46.750
It's not my energies, but too much kind of party.

00:30:46.750 --> 00:30:48.836
I don't really have the community that I want here.

00:30:48.836 --> 00:30:50.461
I've known all of that.

00:30:50.461 --> 00:31:00.130
But my comfort zone right, it's familiar and but it came through so clear that I couldn't ignore it anymore.

00:31:00.130 --> 00:31:05.202
But even I was slipping a little bit and it wasn't till maybe six weeks and I went hang on a second.

00:31:05.289 --> 00:31:08.196
What am I not integrating that piece of?

00:31:08.196 --> 00:31:14.218
I'm not happy in my environment and I'm staying in that comfort zone.

00:31:14.218 --> 00:31:18.256
But it took me Three months to start.

00:31:18.256 --> 00:31:20.494
Right, I'm gonna look for somewhere else.

00:31:20.494 --> 00:31:21.940
And now I'm actually moving to the loom.

00:31:21.940 --> 00:31:24.212
Yeah, fantastic.

00:31:24.212 --> 00:31:27.930
You know, it really does take time to to integrate and integrate.

00:31:27.930 --> 00:31:38.941
Integration for some people could be a couple of months for some people, yeah, yeah, years, oh yeah Well, victoria, thank you so much for joining us.

00:31:40.271 --> 00:31:46.269
If you could promote yourself a little bit, give everybody your website how they can contact you, that would be fantastic.

00:31:47.270 --> 00:31:48.854
Of course, and just thank you.

00:31:48.854 --> 00:31:54.404
You know so much for holding this space for this conversation, I think second talk about.

00:31:54.404 --> 00:31:55.874
Yeah.

00:31:56.609 --> 00:31:58.317
Yeah, you can listen to you forever.

00:32:01.050 --> 00:32:07.211
So the best way to find me is either through my website, which is WWW.

00:32:07.211 --> 00:32:08.835
I am Victoria Craig.

00:32:08.835 --> 00:32:18.939
Craig's felt like the boys name see our AIGcom and on there you will see the, the landing page for the sole rising retreat as well, which has all of the information.

00:32:18.939 --> 00:32:30.063
I mean, it's a it's a long landing page, but I really recommend when I read it through from top to bottom, because it will tell you every single piece of the retreat and and it Really, you know, even when I read this now, I'm stuck.

00:32:30.063 --> 00:32:34.099
It speaks to my soul, like there's a particular woman that it speaks to.

00:32:34.099 --> 00:32:38.382
So all of the information is on there about retreats and how to apply.

00:32:38.382 --> 00:32:41.471
You can also the.

00:32:41.471 --> 00:32:53.049
The platform that I'm most kind of, regular and consistent on is Instagram and my handle is I am Victoria Craig and I will say anyone that follows just drop me a message, drop me a DM if you haven't heard from me first.

00:32:53.451 --> 00:33:02.536
I love just building relationships and connecting and and you know, and also for anyone that's interested in the in the plant medicine space or the breath work will come into a retreat.

00:33:02.536 --> 00:33:11.509
It's really important to feel Trust and feel that the people that you're going to work with is like energetically is aligned for you.

00:33:11.509 --> 00:33:14.351
So I'm happy to chat back and forth on DMs we do.

00:33:14.351 --> 00:33:17.898
Also, when you apply for a treat, we have one coming up in August on.

00:33:17.898 --> 00:33:19.963
Next one is the 15th of the 22nd of August.

00:33:19.963 --> 00:33:31.330
Part of the application process is having a one-on-one call with me as well, so that we make sure that you know everyone's happy physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

00:33:31.330 --> 00:33:32.334
You're in the right place.

00:33:32.374 --> 00:33:32.515
It's.

00:33:32.515 --> 00:33:39.782
You know that there's plant medicines not for everyone, and that you feel that you have a trust and connection.

00:33:39.782 --> 00:33:40.565
And we also do.

00:33:40.565 --> 00:33:42.089
I say we've offered post support.

00:33:42.089 --> 00:33:48.002
We do pre as well, and actually getting ready for the retreat and connecting with all of the other women to help.

00:33:48.002 --> 00:33:51.917
You know we all have some like fears and nervousness come on.

00:33:51.917 --> 00:33:54.063
So we work with the pre bit as well.

00:33:54.063 --> 00:34:10.429
And then you know I do work online, whether it's with breath work shortly I don't have a date, but myself and my best friend solstice to your Hannah, who's with me in retreats we're actually putting together a micro dosing and breath work embodiment program for the online space as well.

00:34:10.429 --> 00:34:15.922
Um, so yeah, that's that's me sounds amazing.

00:34:16.751 --> 00:34:21.909
Well, thank you so much again for coming on our episode and thank you to our listeners for listening.

00:34:21.909 --> 00:34:25.568
If you want to connect with us, go to you WMF podcom.

00:34:25.568 --> 00:34:29.693
We'll get all past episodes and we will see you next week.

00:34:29.693 --> 00:35:00.121
You.