Ep 447: Healing Conversation with Kate Orlofsky

Our healing conversations have been consistently beautiful, challenge our conditioned perspectives on healing, and invite us to embrace diverse and individualized paths. Today’s chat with Kate Orlofsky is no different. Kate is an ecologist, dog musher, and wilderness enthusiast living in rural Alaska. Kate has participated in almost everything we offer at the School of Sacred Embodiment over the last few years and she shares how her anxiety has decreased, she’s been able to release her tendency to control, and now uses her voice to openly express her desires.

We discuss the evolving nature of healing and how Kate is a big believer in the power of movement for processing emotions. She also explains why living in embodiment and having a greater awareness and respect for her body has significantly enhanced how she shows up in the world.

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In episode 447 of the Embodied Podcast we discuss:

(4:56) Kate’s Holy Consistency and what it means to her

(9:18) Why the layers of healing take time and how to face them with grace

(15:14) The relationship between perfectionism and anxiety

(20:12) Finding the courage to make significant life choices

(24:30) The role of titration, integration, and community in Kate’s healing process

(31:21) The nonlinear nature of healing and tips for finding the right community for you

(34:28) Kate’s experience as a lifelong athlete and how her physicality meets her embodiment practices

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Quotes from this Week’s Episode of the Embodied Podcast:

Letting go of the control that came out of perfectionism and letting go of the source of anxiety did so many wonders for me, how I related to other people to, and to all pieces of the world. – Kate

I’ve always been somebody who has felt very much in my body and been a very athletic person. That was always the way that I processed my emotions or found support before I discovered things like embodiment. So that’s where it always goes back to. – Kate

It’s easier for me now with in person gatherings to interact in my own introverted way, give myself permission, and also communicate what my needs are. – Kate

I’ve challenged my body and new ways this year. Having that greater awareness, reverence, and respect that I do for my body has made those experiences so much better.- Kate

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About the Embodied Podcast with Elizabeth DiAlto

Since 2013 I’ve been developing a body of work that helps women embody self-love, healing, and wholeness. We do this by focusing on the four levels of consciousness – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

In practical terms, this looks like exploring tools and practices to help you tune into the deep wisdom of the body and the knowing of the heart, which I believe are gateways to our souls. Then we cultivate a new relationship with our minds that allows the mind to serve this wisdom and knowledge and soul connection, rather than override it, which is what many of us were taught.

If you’ve been doing self-help or spiritual development work for a while, these are the types of foundational things that often people overlook in pursuit of fancier concepts that often aren’t practical or sustainable. Here, we will focus on building these strong foundations so you can honestly and thoroughly embody self-love. If you’re feeling it, subscribe to the show, and leave us a review wherever you listen from. You can also keep up with show updates and community discussions on Instagram here.

Transcript for Episode 447 “Healing Conversation with Kate Orlofsky“:

Kate Orlofsky 0:00

It’s always been about going back to the body. I’ve always been somebody who has felt very much in my body and been a very athletic person. And that was always the way that I processed my emotions or found support before I discovered things like embodiment. That’s where it always goes back to.

Elizabeth DiAlto 0:21

Kate, welcome.

Kate Orlofsky 0:28

Thank you.

Elizabeth DiAlto 0:29

I’m so excited to have you. And for anyone tuning in, you know, we’re just here having some healing conversations with community members from the school of sacred embodiment people who have been working with us for years, whether working with me privately doing our programs, courses, trainings, and stuff like that, not necessarily to just illuminate what we do with the school, but also to have conversations about how healing works, how it takes time. And there are peaks and valleys and plateaus and dark nights of the soul and completely blissful illuminating moments and everything in between. So my opening question for you, Kate, is, what are you most proud of yourself for healing?

Kate Orlofsky 1:09

I think right now, the thing that I’m feeling most proud about is something that is still in progress. And that’s even just having the courage to be here and use my voice to express this sort of stuff. For a long time, I feel like I’ve had this insecurity and this disconnect, and being able to communicate about experiences that I have in my body, and putting that into words that can actually make some sense to other people. And starting to build that bridge is something that I’ve been working on, really, for the last couple of years. And I’m currently in sacred embodiment, specialist training. And I think that’s one of the things that has really been helping me to build that bridge more. It’s letting me not just speak, what I’ve been learning, but also letting the show and having both of those pieces there has just really helped build those connections. For me. It’s been very healing, I’m still reading that.

Elizabeth DiAlto 2:22

It’s also been amazing. It’s been like, amazing to watch that happen, like, makes me wanna cry. I will try not to cry during the interview. But we’ll see. So I know the answer this because you’ve shared, you’ve given us many testimonials over the years. But for the people listening, what was going on for you, when we officially connected when you really came into the community, which I think the first thing you did was join the membership. I could be wrong about that. But you know, what were you dealing with? What was going on for you? What kind of work could you already done? And what were you looking to do?

Kate Orlofsky 2:50

Though, I joined the community in 2020, just a few months after discovering the podcast, I can remember where I heard my first podcast interview that you did, I was driving down this highway in the spring trying to just get a little bit of peace during the pandemic. And it was evening, there’s nobody else on the road, it was this beautiful golden light. And I decided to give a listen to the interview that you did with Jess fish. And I was absolutely blown away. I was like, oh my goodness, people are having conversations about these things and things, so many things that I need to hear in this moment. And it kind of took my breath away. I’ve always identified as a spiritual person and a spiritual seeker, but I’ve never really had community around that growing up or in my early adult life. And when it was suddenly illuminated to me that oh, there are other people who are like this out here and other people who I can actually learn from because exploring my own spirituality was never something that was super encouraged for me by the people who were around me. And so when you opened up some of the early mighty networks, opportunities, I was like, Oh, I’ll go and check that out. I’ll see what it’s like. And I remember doing my first ever low class with you. And I was like, oh, I need to go and sign up for a year long membership right now. I’ve been there since

Elizabeth DiAlto 4:35

I love that. You’re one of our most consistent practices, right? Like some people will come in, and they’ll use the medicine here and there. They’ll kind of treat it like spa treatment, right? Like I got something going on what’s let me take a class let me do a meditation. But I know you have made a very consistent practice out of using everything in the archives and the libraries. So I’m wondering if you would say anything about for you and your healing journey. You know, we talked about it in the school, and I’ve talked about on the podcast before we call it holy consistency. And for anyone who might not have heard us talk about that before, that’s just finding a way to be consistent within your own capacity desires and the way you’re built, right, because, whereas some people might tell folks wake up at five o’clock every morning, make your bed, do an hour meditation do this like, and that’s what people think consistency needs to look at, look like, we’re just like, hey, something is always better than nothing. Right? If you’re a more regimented person, great, do a regimented thing. But if you’re more of a flowy person, like find something to do everyday, maybe or three or four days a week, that gives you what you need, what’s your holy consistency, by

Kate Orlofsky 5:42

Holy consistency has looked a lot like doing a practice once or twice a week, I need that baseline to feel like I’m staying in my body in an authentic way. I’m someone who has struggled with anxiety over the year. So my energy can sometimes be like really high and really ungrounded and wild soul movement. And having that consistent connection that brings me back down and grounded. And in my own authentic expression of who I am is something that’s become pretty much a necessity for me to feel like I be and I’m whole, and I can meet the world in the way that I want to. It has also looked like in recent years, I’ve started doing Healing Meditations almost every night before I go to bed. And as someone who has also struggled with insomnia as a spin off from their anxiety, that’s something that has also allowed me to just initiate myself into really deep and canted and actually restful sleep. So that’s been really important to me. And then, two years ago, after being someone who had never once prayed in their life, I also started at first saying a prayer that I got from Tosha silver from her book, it’s not your money. And then that started feeling really good having that to say every morning. Then over the years as you Elizabeth’s have added prayers into the different embodiment journeys that are part of the membership. I’ve started incorporating different prayers into kind of my morning ritual, and I love it.

Elizabeth DiAlto 7:31

Oh my god, that is gonna make me cry. I love when people pray. It makes me so happy to hear and I didn’t actually didn’t know that about you, until just this moment that you had never prayed in your life until two years ago. You know, people who listen this podcast regularly or who have heard that how to pray episode, we’ll link to it in the show notes. For me, I just believe like not even this isn’t even belief. It’s a knowing that for people who are spiritually oriented prayer was absolutely one of the most potent, powerful alchemical magical, important things we could be doing. And I would never force prayer on anyone, but just hearing someone be like, Oh, I pray now, and I have all these different prayers and like, it’s a thing I just got that makes me so

Kate Orlofsky 8:11

happy. And I spend another thing that’s then this is another bridge, that’s helping me with my expression in my communication of these things to vocalizing it out loud and building a connection to something that’s greater than me and exploring that in new ways. That’s something that prayer is really opened up for me as well.

Elizabeth DiAlto 8:33

This is an amazing point. And this is actually something I love about prayer, journaling and contemplation practices so much, which is for some of us to be witnessed, is a little too vulnerable, or a little too intense, in some cases across the board, in some cases, just at certain times in our lives. And in some cases, just when it comes to certain categories, or certain ways we feel or think or going through just like something in particular. But the divine can’t judge us like if it was we wouldn’t even know. So we really can just say things out loud, feel like we have this infinite, omnipotent, incredibly loving witness. And at least it’s another way that we’re like getting things through and out of our system. You have also been so diligent, so amazing at working our frameworks, and I’ve seen you go through things a few different times. So I’d love to hear from you. Because you know, something I’m always harping on about healing is how it happens in layers over time, and how unfortunately, it takes longer than most of us would prefer. So as someone who’s just been going through and facing your layers with Grace is how I would really describe watching you and your journey. How has that been for you? Because I know, on the outside, it looks like Oh, look how graceful This is. But I know that’s not how it feels while you’re doing it.

Kate Orlofsky 9:51

It looks graceful. It does feel graceful to you. And I feel like the iteration that I’m in right now has felt extremely great. For most of the time, the first of your frameworks that I did was the self love framework. And I had been trying to do self love for so long. But it felt like this, fake it till you make it, I could project a sort of image to convince other people at some level that I had self love. But inside I was like, oh, gosh, things are not lining up. And I would have moments of, yes, this is real. But then so many moments of like, nope, Brio and up and down this cycle. And then stay in the self love framework, I’ve also got to do your self liberation framework, and the soulful prosperity framework that you have also put out. And every time I go through the frameworks, I go into it thinking, Oh, I’ve done this before. I’m sure this will be easy. I think I’ve got it all. And then it is just really layers over time. And each time I get to access something that is even deeper, and even more powerful. And it’s always stuff that I wouldn’t have been ready for the last time I went through the framework. And there are so many layers. And over time, I get to see even more the connections between the different pieces. I feel like for the last couple of years, I feel like more focused or more in the depths with surrender, release trust and receptivity from the self liberation framework, which I’ve heard you describe as kind of the allowing use of the framework. And right now, after reaching a little bit of a turning point, over this summer, just having a lot of things in my life finally fall into place, and open up a lot of space. For me, I feel like right now, I’m experiencing the evolving portion of that framework, the wild dreaming, the desire, the love the truth, I’m experiencing those pillars in ways that I haven’t before and accessing much deeper pieces of those because I am not in this place of survival, like I had them for quite a while. And I’m finally getting to feel into what is it like to thrive and what’s open and available to me now. And it just feels like this wide open space that I get to explore. And I’m really trying to spend a lot of time with those pieces. So I can figure out where I’m going with a lot of intention. And keep myself open to all of the different possibilities before I figure out which one feels true to me.

Elizabeth DiAlto 12:56

I love this so much. I want to come back to the piece I was like cheering, where things that you wouldn’t have been ready for before. Because this is why I love frameworks. A framework is not a formula. A framework is a map. A framework is a map that someone can go through as many times as they need to, in order, they could take different routes through the map or around the map to get to whatever they’re in a place to get to. At the moment without excavating, right. It’s not an excavation, it’s an invitation. So I love I love hearing you describe it that way. And the difference. And I will say that, you know, the wild soul liberation framework is the first framework that I created 10 years ago. And I didn’t understand I had reverse engineered my own healing journey. And that’s where that map came from. And it’s when you’re already on the other side of things. It’s hard, luckily to remember what it was like before you are. And I’m sure I struggled with surrender, release and trust and receptivity much more intensely than I can remember. But while dreaming, desire, love truth, those things felt so fun at the point at which I was creating the framework. I was just not prepared for how much people who could resist those things. Until they had deeply done the allowing part before the evolving part. Right. Surrender release trust receptivity. That should is so hard for people. Yeah, yeah. So it’s amazing to see people swipe away, swipe away and then begrudgingly go through the other part. And then finally get to a point where they’re like, all right, I mean, and usually for most people, it takes years, like three years, five years, I’ve seen people who have been around for like eight years who this round this year. We’re like, Okay, I’m doing wild doing now I’m getting into this desire ship. So fascinating. So I want to go back also, I was jotting down some things as you were saying, first of all, Jessica fish is like my best friend. And that interview that you mentioned earlier, it was called divesting from perfectionism. And it’s actually one of my favorite conversations, not because she’s my best friend, but because the number of people who have told me something like you said that they can remember where they were when they heard that it was such a pivotal, I’m constantly trying to get home, like, take that show on the road, like teach that workshop, like go places like this, you know, because people, perfectionism is so debilitating for people. And I think that goes hand in hand. So I’m curious for you, how had a tendency towards perfectionism related to, if it did at all anxiety? Was Was there a relationship between the two? Absolutely,

Kate Orlofsky 15:26

I was definitely stuck in this constant striving to attain perfection. And a lot of that came from this my own questions about my own worthiness and not believing in my own worthiness and feeling like if I proved myself by being perfect, being so good at everything, having it all doing it all, then I would be worthy of things like love, or having people help me having community having support. And so surrender really worked. That few of the framework right off the bat was like, All right, we’re going to break these paradigms that are not serving you at all. And it was really hard work. But letting go of the control that came out of perfectionism, letting go of the source of anxiety, that so many wonders for me, and so many wonders for how I related to other people to and just to all pieces of the world? I

Elizabeth DiAlto 16:41

have a question for you. And it might sound like a leading question. So before I ask, let me just say I’m not attached or like excited for an answer to be one way or another way regarding a connection to the divine. But something I’m just curious about as a person who’s never really dealt with much anxiety, has fortifying a connection, some kind of spiritual connection, divine connection, spiritual practice, has that helped with your anxiety at all? Or is that not really a thing? Oh,

Kate Orlofsky 17:05

absolutely. That has also been a big thing. Feeling like, I have divine support and protection, especially in times when I am struggling to receive or perceive the more earthly support that’s available around me or when I’m a little too stubborn to accept it. I feel like there’s something about divine support that has started to be just so easy to welcome in. And part of that is the prayer practice. Part of that is also a lot of my connection to the divine is through nature. And five years ago, I moved back up to Alaska after having lived there for about six months earlier in my life, and I’m just surrounded by these mountains and rivers and this landscape and wildlife and plant life that this inspires me so much. And so now that I’m here in this place, and I have this connection to the place, and I feel the spirit of it. I feel like it’s opened me up to other types of divine support to and other divine beings. Archangel Michael has also been a really big source of support for me over the last couple of years, and I was connecting with him this morning. That’s just like, You got this. You can be here and do this podcast interview, you can take a break. I’ve got you in my wings. And yeah, that’s been so helpful for just taking off the edge of my anxiety. So I can just be here, be a person, be connected. I love that. Did

Elizabeth DiAlto 19:01

you listen to this week’s podcast yet? Because I talked about you? I didn’t say your name. But

Kate Orlofsky 19:04

yes, I did.

Elizabeth DiAlto 19:09

I mentioned eating out about all the different things that the women in our community do. And we have some people like you who do these amazing nature jobs that I just never would have thought about. So Kate is a dog musher, y’all, it’s Kennedy, if you heard that episode, and I was really and some of her like adventure stories, the trips that she takes with her partner and like, she will post pictures and shit and I’m like, this is a world I’m, I’m a city slicker. You know, like, I love nature, but I just never imagined some of the stuff you share. It’s so cool.

Kate Orlofsky 19:44

Thank you. Yeah, it’s it’s life giving for me. I love it so much.

Elizabeth DiAlto 19:49

Here’s why I also bring that up and geek out on it because that’s not a conventional pass. No, and I know you had like a pretty you don’t have to go into details if you don’t want or specifics. But you had a pretty, like life altering career choice decision, school quitting moment at some point in your life. Yeah. And that takes a lot of courage. And so I’m curious what any healing work you’ve done again, this isn’t just about healing work you’ve done with us because that you’d that was way before we ever had you on our community. Courage, tell me about courage to make these big choices. And then, as it unfolds, accepting and becoming a person who like meets your amazing life now?

Kate Orlofsky 20:33

Yes, yes. So the event that you alluded to, kind of the quick and dirty of it, I got into this fully funded PhD program, that was everything I had spent my whole perfectionist existence working towards. And it was really bad, I got in a really dangerous situations. And after a year and a half, exploring so many different options and solutions. And having experienced so much gaslighting and violence, I, like, I gotta go, I am going to light everything on fire that I’ve worked my whole life working for. So I don’t have to burn alive. And it was this really deep inner knowing that was like, this isn’t a hard decision to make, it is a hard decision to execute. But it is the one that I have to. And then after that, which was it 2018 I just kind of had to go dark for a while, I feel like I wrapped myself in a cocoon, I took a job as a wilderness Ranger. And so I was going out on usually eight day patrols into different wilderness areas, just hiking, doing resource protection efforts. And sometimes I’d see a lot of other hikers on the trail, sometimes I would see no one. And I just got to be in my own safe space and be in nature and let myself almost die a little and then come back to life from the pieces in the ashes of everything. Yeah. And it was around six months after that, that I started to feel like, I think I need to go back to Alaska. And I did. A year after I left the program, I was driving myself through northern Canada, making my way into Alaska. And that’s where I’ve been here since. And the thing that really pulled me back to Alaska was dog sledding. So I started the dog sledding in 2011. And I did it pretty heavily for several years before, not really having access to my own dogs or equipment to be able to continue that passion. And I just started feeling like that’s the missing piece. That’s what I need to go back for. Once I got to Alaska and made some connections, and I have a little dog family now, and we get to go on amazing adventures together. And they are also these great teachers of mine, we get to explore so much together, they’ve taught me so much I teach them so much. We just have this really supportive relationship and the people that I work for, in connection with the dogs, we also just have this very anti capitalist way in which we support each other’s dreams and support the dogs and it’s been so beautiful. So I feel like my courage through that. It almost didn’t feel like a conscious thing that I needed to tap into. Like it just it appeared for me because it was something that was deep down in me that I had just started to lose some connection to and then it kind of popped up when I needed it. And I was able to receive it in that moment because I recognized how important it was for me. Yeah. I love that.

Elizabeth DiAlto 24:32

So one of the things I have wanted to ask everybody is in all healing work, we need to titrate we need to take things incrementally so our nervous systems can adjust. We need to integrate, which goes hand in hand with titration. And we need community we cannot heal on our own. But I’m also glad you mentioned sometimes we do have to go inward. Sometimes we do need to isolate. I’ve had to do that several times in my life both voluntarily and involuntarily, I really needed that time, but then always having to come back out of that cocoon. How have those things been important for you? titration, integration

Kate Orlofsky 25:12

and community. So kind of after I did that period of darkness, I was kind of in that for a year and a half, just really in my own space, not feeling like I could be in community. And then it really wasn’t until 2020, when I came into the wild full community that I opened myself back up, and it’s been the most sure, just like wild, dreamy to me the experience that I could have ever hoped or dreamed existed. I feel like I’ve always struggled with feeling like I belong in a lot of in person communities that I’ve been in, like, I found my a couple of people. And that’s what I’ve had. And I’ve loved that, like, I pour everything into them, they pour everything into me. But having this wider community of people, like I have with the wild soul community, that’s been the thing that catalyzed so much of my transformation and taught me so much. Because when I came in, I didn’t know how to be in community, I was stuck in this programming of like, oh, I need to compare myself to where I am in my journey and where they are in their journey. And I had a lot of indoctrination into just being very judgmental from my family of origin. And I had to really unhook from that. So I could be healthy and community and be in reciprocity in ways that I had never explored or even thought were possible. And so the community aspect has been really, really huge for me. And it’s been in community that I’ve been able to explore integration and rest as part of healing, because I was someone who is always go, go, go, go, never stop, just gotta keep powering through everything. And coming to a place where other people could be in those integration periods, too. And see that modelled by other people was so helpful for me, because that was also something I had never seen modeled for me anywhere. And integration has been so helpful. Just getting to be a person for a minute, getting to see all of these ways that I can implement all the work that I’ve been doing and all the tools that I’ve learned and then just getting to do them. That’s what it’s all about.

Elizabeth DiAlto 27:56

Yeah. And I’m actually curious, did you ever do big swings? Did you ever, like bite off more than you could do and be like, Oh, I got to tone it down, pull it back or whatever? For

Kate Orlofsky 28:04

sure. Yeah. I’m also somebody who can just get so excited and into healing and healing frameworks. So I can get into this like, kind of insatiable frenzy like, oh, like, I really want to dive into this. And sometimes that’s really good. And I can handle it. And then sometimes I’m like, Whoa, yeah, take a step back. This will still be here, or you. You don’t have to do it. All right now. Yeah,

Elizabeth DiAlto 28:33

I can certainly relate to that. I also just as a very introverted person, I know you self identify as an introvert. I’m also curious how that has worked for you. I tend to notice that in online community spaces. They’re kind of ideal for introverts, because you can like log in and log out, right? Like how? Because I know you described you know, in real life, you have like your small kind of intimate group of people, which I know a lot of introverts roll like that. Just and I know not all introverts are the same. But again, for you, as an introvert, how has the community also been Invitational or helpful or healing or anything like that? Because you’ve mentioned that I’m asking this because I know you’ve mentioned it before. Yeah, of

Kate Orlofsky 29:16

course, of course. Yeah. virtual community. Who else? Look, I mean, they were very, very well, for me, as an introvert, like you said, logging in, logging out, getting to have a little more, say, and when I engage and when I don’t and what the level is, that’s really helpful for me because it also allows me to stay comfortable when I’m in a place of needing to stay comfortable and it also allows me to take risks that feel more easily titratable Yeah, that’s heard. Yeah. And that that I’ve been in the community for A few years, I feel like kind of along with my introversion, I also have in my anxiety is social anxiety that kind of is a Venn diagram between the two. And so it’s easier for me now with in person gatherings to interact in my own introvert way and give myself permission and also communicate what my needs are, instead of just being a little overwhelmed and being a wallflower somewhere, I can just be like, hey, I need to go. Just walk around outside for five minutes, or I’m gonna go into this room by myself and and read a book for a couple minutes. And then I’ll come back. And people are usually like, okay, yeah, cool. Instead of me, just disappearing, building, like, Did we do something wrong? Yeah.

Elizabeth DiAlto 30:59

I don’t know that anyone’s ever said this before. It’s possible that I never even thought before, how our kind of way of being in and doing community could totally translate into how you carry yourself in, in person community out like out in the, in the real world, not the digital world. You know, that’s amazing. Absolutely. Yeah. That’s so cool. Here’s something else. I know that people can flippantly be like, you need therapy, or I hope you heal or whatever. But healing paths aren’t linear, as we’ve talked about. Finding practitioners or communities isn’t always easy for all kinds of reasons, alignment, time, budget, stuff like that. Anything that you can share about that, like, in your experience, like some thinking about people listening, and maybe they’ll want to like come check out what we’re up to, which is great, please come. But you know, if we’re not their style, or they don’t necessarily resonate with our offerings, at times when you’ve needed support, and you’ve looked what’s kind of guided you and you’re looking,

Kate Orlofsky 32:01

this has really been my biggest experience with having a healing community or support. I’ve tried talk therapy at various points in my life. And that never quite did it for me. But for me, it’s always been about going back to the body. I’ve always been somebody who has felt very much in my body and been a very athletic person. And that was always the way that I processed my emotions or found support before I discovered things like embodiment. That’s where it always goes back to in kind of that cocoon dark phase that I mentioned earlier. Everything that I did, or sought out, like what I did for work, it all had me in my body. And that was just where I needed to be to be able to find safety again, I think on a level with how just naturally a body of a person I’ve always felt getting stuck in the analysis of my mind has never been something that’s gotten me anywhere good. So it’s always about movement for me. And that used to always be really intense movement. And now what I know the thing is getting to slow it down and being more sensual types of movement and also welcoming in other types of sensuality. Like I have a candle lit right now that smells so lovely, and the flame is really comforting and mesmerizing to me. Little things like that have also been really big for me.

Elizabeth DiAlto 33:44

I love this. And you know what, you’re a great person to ask this question to. I’m always so fascinated between when people who have been athletes like fitness folks, or like exercisers or people who just challenged themselves physically, maybe they do races and things like this. What is your thing I did Arad? Is that what it’s called. Y’all I cannot even describe to you the amount of things that I know now because okay. And as a person who loves learning it like delights me animals that didn’t know existed that she was that little tiny one that time.

Kate Orlofsky 34:22

The pica

Elizabeth DiAlto 34:26

magical little creature. I’m always so curious people who have like kind of been lifelong like in their body, people with like physical intensity. How do you experience those same things now? Now that you have an embodiment practice,

Kate Orlofsky 34:43

I am so much more aware of how what I’m doing affects my body and where my limits are any given day when it would be good or okay or have available for me to push further and not directly there. And when I really need to back off and take a rest, she’s something different. She’s something shorter, I’m so much more kind to my body. And I’m also so much more aware of how all of the different pieces connect together and where I tend to hold tension in my body and where I need to try to release it more often. And that’s definitely, I’ve challenged my body and new ways this year, and having that greater awareness. And also having the reverence and respect that I do for my body has made those experiences so much better. I also I struggled with an eating disorder for a long time. So I, I did really violent things to my body. And now I get to do so many more loving things for my body. And that’s just so beautiful. So beautiful.

Elizabeth DiAlto 36:02

All those things, you share it, I want to say thank you for that. Because you know, as a person who used to be in the fitness industry, and even, you know, now I’m working with a biomechanics specialist to deal with some back pain and some imbalances and things I developed over the years. And there are times when I’m having pain, and I need to stop. And like you said, this has been in my own experience, too. So I just want to affirm it, and offer this for anyone listening as another just reason why embodiment practice is so valuable. Knowing when to push and when not to knowing when it’s like my brain or myself wanting to be like, not fragile with myself with the word, maybe coddle myself a little bit or treat myself like gingerly when I don’t need to write when it’s like no actually, like, I can keep going. And I’ll be really glad I did. Or when I’m like now wrap it up, like, yeah, we got to stop. And what’s actually been amazing, over the last two months, especially, I’m noticing, you know, even after all my years of doing this, I am able to distinguish the difference between types of pain I’m experiencing, if it’s like pain from inflammation, or if it’s pain because of like the muscle imbalance and disk stuff I have going on. And also in my digestive system, like something’s in my stomach, or something’s in mindset, like, whereas before, there were certainly years where I was just like, I’m uncomfortable, like I couldn’t like, like even my own about it. That was a frontier for me, that like the physical the shit that I didn’t that I was just like, so frustrated around, I also wasn’t being able to like, sense it and therefore address it in appropriate ways. So that’s just a cool thing to think about. And even for anyone listening who has an embodiment practice, whether it’s with us or somewhere else, how it really just helps you be better at having a body.

Kate Orlofsky 37:54

Yes. Turns out that skill. Yeah.

Elizabeth DiAlto 37:58

And again, anyone listening, we’re living through Wild Times, some of it is unthinkable things that we’re watching unfold on the world stage, you know, and each individual person at any given moment, who knows what I’m thinkable thing might be having in your might be happening in your own life. We all need healing, there’s a level on which all of us need healing. And one of the big reasons I wanted to have these conversations is because now that these industries, these overlapping industries of self help, personal development, spirituality, New Age, spirituality, healing and stuff like that have been around for a while. A lot of people have had healing experiences where just as we take in the conditioning of patriarchy, colonialism, capitalism, white supremacy, all these things, a lot of us have also been conditioned around how healing works. And so I just wanted you to be able to listen to people speak about their own, like their unique individual healing journeys, perhaps find yourselves in it, perhaps find inspiration in it. Obviously, I’m always an advocate for embodiment, and integrating the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. So I really hope these conversations might be illuminating for you how and where those things might be beneficial to you again, whether or not you want to pursue them with us, or anywhere else out in the world. So Kate, thank you so much for being here.

Kate Orlofsky 39:08

Thank you so much for having me.

Elizabeth DiAlto 39:09

And you know, just thank you for existing. I love you so much. And it’s great to have you in the community. All right, we’ll see you later. All right.