Nina Born 00:00
And it's been really heart touching to facilitate many, many, many circles, and see how brave women are and how resilient we have been to endure the things that we have and how magical it is when the feminine can come together in collaboration. It's powerful.
Bridget Moroney 00:22
Welcome to the Performance RX podcast where the conversations are about health, nutrition and mindset for anyone who considers themselves an athlete from the most elite competitors to those who are simply seeking to improve their athletic performance. We hope the knowledge shared on this show will empower you to reach your physical potential. Thank you so much for tuning in. Now for today's episode. Hey, everyone, welcome today's show. I'm your host, Bridget Moroney. And today my guest is the wonderful Nina Born. Nina is a practitioner of the spiritual and healing arts. She's a teacher of esoteric practices, a ceremonialist and a facilitator of the womb circle, a sacred circle of self cultivation. She offers Reiki, sound healing, meditation, embodied movement and Theta Healing. Her mission is to be of divine service for humanity, uplift the Maya or illusion and restore the truth of our wholeness and holiness as cosmic beings. Today, Nia and I have a conversation around Theta Healing and how we can use it to heal ourselves and recover to perform better and reach our highest potential on a physical level. We also get into a conversation around her sacred womb circle, and things that women can do as they navigate things in life like pregnancy and postpartum and be able to again, recover and perform at their physical, mental and even spiritual best. I hope you enjoy the show. How's it going today, Nina?
Nina Born 01:52
Hello, great, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me on your beautiful podcast.
Bridget Moroney 02:01
Oh, thank you. That's that's so complimentary. Yeah, no. Gratitude, you know, reflected back to you. Thank you so much. It's, it's it's quite a quite an honor to have you and I'm, I'm super excited to dive into what we're going to discuss today. So I guess with that said, before we get started, I did a little bit of a an intro in the beginning of this podcast, or beginning of the episode with your background and bio, but is there anything else that you want to share or tell our listeners about yourself and your background?
Nina Born 02:42
Um sure we'll just do a little recap. So I'm an energy healer, I work with different kinds of tools like singing bowls, different kinds of instruments. And I really get lit up by leading sacred circles. So we have full moon circles, New Moon circles, womb circles. And the idea is to harmonize with our spirit and with the earth and with each other, because there's a huge potency in collaboration. And so this is one reason I'm so excited to just dive in and see where our conversation leads us. And, yeah, I guess my mission is just to really walk ourselves back home to our heart to our soul, back into harmony with the earth and with our mind, body, emotions, and our spirit. So here to be of service for you guys.
Bridget Moroney 03:42
Awesome. Awesome. I love it. Let's just dive in. So I've been thinking about this earlier today, and in the days leading up to our conversation here. And I had this, this conversation with with another coach and she's actually founded a clinic in the UK, kind of based more on I guess, holistic health, etc. And when people think about health, well being any sort of, you know, any anything along those lines, they always think about the first thing that comes to mind, in my opinion, I think is the physical right. And I think in recent years at least from from my experience or perspective, now people are getting into the mental, the emotional, and even social. So there's there's something called like the bio psycho social model. But she was bringing this up and again, I don't know if it's if it's a culture thing, you know, what we talk about here in the United States versus in other countries or if it's just her, you know, the groups and networks that she's involved in, but she brought up that it's not Just the bio psychosocial it's the bio, psycho, social spiritual. And she did make the comments. And this is in reference to just talk, living well, you know, living as well as we can. And as optimally as we can, with the spiritual, ah, she mentioned often only gets brought up in it as far as like end of life care. But everyone's on board with the spiritual when it's end of life, or even, or even just just illness, right? Like, you know, God forbid, someone gets diagnosed with something like cancer, right? And then all of a sudden, there's, there's all this talk about, you know, prayer circles or whatever, whatever, I guess a person's spiritual practices or beliefs may be everyone's on board with that. But what about our everyday life? Kind of going back to what you were saying? Like, why can't like all of a sudden it becomes like, Oh, you're it's woowoo? Or, you know, it's just like, oh, you know, no one, no one pays, I guess what I'm trying to say is, no one gives it as much thought or consideration in their everyday life in a, you know, as a means to to live well, and, you know, live as, as I mentioned, as optimally as possible. And so I guess I'm just curious, like, you know, your thought, because that kind of does tie into what you're doing to like, what your you know, your services are and your mission, if I, if I'm, if I understand correctly?
Nina Born 06:39
Yeah, absolutely. And I completely agree. I think that our society in the United States has a huge spiritual deficiency. And I might even go as far to say that our society is a bit godless, right. And so, there's tons of religion, but there's so many confines in religions, so many people actually have trauma from the church or from their religious practices right. And so when we can open ourselves up to our true spiritual nature, we're coming back to our innocence, we're coming back to our pure Self. Because for me, at least in my experience, in this body during this lifetime, it seems really silly to just think that I was born somehow out of like, nothing, right, Mom and Dad, and then I just die. And that's it. It's, that's really hard for me to just believe ever since I was a kid, and so I'm under the belief that every single one of us has a soul, and a spirit. And the spirit is a little aspect of the Creator of All That Is God, Goddess, mother, father, God, whatever you want to call allah, you know, whatever you want to call the highest power of love, essentially. And so when we are able to start coming back to that thought that maybe it's not just about me, maybe there's more than me, in this body, then we can be of more service to humanity, then we start being caretakers for Mother Earth and not just trashing her, you know, and who knows if we're gonna have a livable Earth, in the kind of near future for generations to come, right? So I'm totally on board with that, and integrating the spiritual aspect. And even a spiritual discipline, day to day, I think is something that can be really potent for living your best life.
Bridget Moroney 08:53
Yeah, um, I guess, just to kind of ask point blank, like, what would be like, I guess the definition of a spiritual discipline? Or what could that look like for I again, like, acknowledging that spirituality and spiritual beliefs are going to be very different across countries and cultures and even individuals? Right, but I guess, I don't know if you can answer that question. Because it's such a like, broad question, but I don't know, just throwing it out there.
Nina Born 09:25
Yeah. So for listeners in the United States, we can maybe apply the same concept to starting a new workout or a new nutritional routine, right? So you don't want to just go in and go from being a carnivore to completely vegan if that's what you want to do. Or you don't want to go from lifting zero weights to running 20 miles a day, and lifting 200 pounds for your deadlift. So little by little step by step. And so a spiritual discipline could just be be waking up in the morning and before even set your feet on the ground, saying a little prayer to the higher powers, like thank you for this day, thank you for my life, please, you know, open up the way for my highest and best expression of today. Or stating an intention like today, I hope that I have a really amazing and fluid conversation with Bridget. And that we can reach the listeners that are really receptive to what we're going to hear and hopefully inspire and open some hearts and make a difference in the world. So that's an easy, easy, you know, spiritual discipline that you can start right away. You can see this in other cultures, it can look like going to mass, it can look like doing your mantra, it can look like being of servitude throughout the week. Really, this is the beautiful part about spiritual integration is that no one can tell you what to do besides yourself. Only you and me know what's best for you and me and it can be so diverse and so beautifully diverse. That it really takes ourselves coming back home to ourselves and thinking and feeling for ourselves.
Bridget Moroney 11:18
Yeah, no, I love that. And I agree with what you're saying. I think it's It's spot on. Kind of going back to what you said about at least you know, the country that you and I are in the United States where there's a lot of religion in this country, but as far as you know, God or just spirit you know, spiritual spirituality, there's there's not as it seems to be lacking or deficient. To use your words. But using my own experience here, I love that you bring up that it that it is very individual and because just like anything in life, I mean, going back to like what I mentioned, the bio, psychosocial, spiritual model, they're like, you know, bio, well, you know, what, like, just taking something like nutrition, that's, that's highly individualized, you know, Psych, psychology, emotion, you know, all of that is highly individualized. And I think people from different fields can offer some guidance and best practices, I guess, if you will, but at the end of the day, it's up to up to us as individuals to decide, as you said, what's best for us and, and in my opinion, I think that's where, you know, that's where religion, let's say, that's where religion fails us. I'll just say it. Because, you know, there is like, if you look at just religions in general, there's, there's a set of rules and things and some things work and some things don't. But just going back to the, the discipline, part of it, and the way that someone can ease into it, I love that idea of just experimenting and experiencing things. And you know, what you mentioned, like, brings to mind, you know, just like you say, like, gratitude, intention settings and things. And, again, maybe this is just my opinion, but I feel like going back to what I said in the beginning of the episode here, people don't acknowledge that is the spiritual or existential side, whatever label you want to put on it. It's they they kind of put more of a psychological or emotional label on it again, it's like that reluctance to, to say like, Hey, this is part of our our experience our you know, spiritual or existential experience there. Oh, that's just my thought.
Nina Born 13:55
Yeah, and adding on to that it's, it's like there are no coincidences. Right. And so that is a spiritual aspect as simple as that. Like, there are no coincidences. There are probably synchronicities and when you start really paying attention, you see the signs and you see the little affirmations of like, Yes, keep going or like no don't engage with this person anymore. They're not really healthy for you at this chapter of your life. So yeah, I love that it's it's really everywhere and we just got to open ourselves up to it.
Bridget Moroney 14:27
Yeah, I I love I love that you bring up synchronicity Have you ever read the book? Dying to be Me by Anita Moorjani
Nina Born 14:39
I haven't I that was in my radar. So I'm gonna go get it after this.
Bridget Moroney 14:46
It's a synchronicity. But well, so definitely go read that book. It's it's a really it's it's a good book. It's I don't know if you're, if you know much about like kind of the premise or her background there, I guess for you and for anyone who's who's listening who may be unfamiliar. So this is a woman's memoir based on her life. And basically, she had a near death experience. After after being diagnosed, and I guess you could say succumbing to cancer, she had lymphoma, and, and it's actually this fits in perfectly. So this can be a great segue, but she tried all these different modalities of healing. And so when you I don't want to give any I don't want to give too much away. But she did have this near death experience. And she came out of it with just a new perspective on life, and who we are in the universe and in life and, and everything else like that. But using synchronicity, that was one of the things that she brought up as she's like, I now enjoy and appreciate the synchronicities of life like she, she has that perspective now, exactly what you just said, like, yeah, there are no coincidences. So I guess what that said, you know, like I mentioned, great segue into healing. And we'll maybe we can use her as an example or just in general. So she, she didn't go through the conventional chemotherapy, Western medicine, she tried all these other types of healing. And again, I don't want to give the book away. But she, I guess, one of the things she discovered is that that spiritual healing, basically. And so, I would like to just, I guess, kind of hear a little bit from you about your experiences, because you do things like Theta Healing, sound baths, Reiki, and, you know, a lot of other types of healing modalities that do kind of have that that spiritual element or energetic element there.
Nina Born 17:15
Yeah. Yeah. So I guess regarding sickness, sickness is, and this will segue into, like what I do. So sickness is also dis ease disease, right. And when you break that down, it's dis ease within the body, or a lack of harmony in the body. So if we think about our body, our temple, our instrument for the divine, we need to tune it up, just like you see a guitar player tuning the strings on their guitar, we need to do that for our body. And so if we are acting like a machine, just going, going, going going, never taking time to rest and go through the seasons of our life, then we're inevitably going to get burnt out, and hopefully not but you know, we see disease, disease or disease happen at that point. So one of the ways that is the most easy that I'm just obsessed with, and I love and it's so easy, is sound healing. And so all we have to do is lay down, try to relax our mind, open our heart and just receive. And that can be the hardest thing to do, right? In a society of like giving and producing, like when do we truly allow ourselves to receive. So this is a great practice of receiving and active relaxation and active rest. sound healing uses different kinds of frequencies, that can create harmonic resonance within our body. So we already have some of these different frequencies within our body, whether it's an organ, or an energetic system, like a naughty or a channel within our body, or even the vibratory frequencies within our chakras, which are energetic centers in our body. And these instruments that we can activate can kind of activate those frequencies within our body. And so it's blending science and spirituality, and that can get kind of petty and so that's why I tell people like let's just breathe and relax.
Bridget Moroney 19:28
Yeah, yes. Oh, it's I mean, I yeah, like talking about just like the science and everything. And I think just like, what it takes to execute, I guess, as a human like, yeah, like, for anyone out there who is trying to like explore some of these things. Yeah, like, just experience it. Like don't worry about the science or something like, like, I think about like my own education or certifications in nutrition, right. Like, my, one of the things I had to study was just Like the entire body from like the cellular level, all the way up to our organ systems and it's but the the message that keep that kept getting repeated was like your clients not going to really care about the Krebs cycle or mitochondria or even like, like, but it's good for it's good for us to know as, as, I guess, coaches or service providers, but it's just like, for the client, or anyone who is who is seeking to experience these things or find healing or whatever live, live their best life live optimally. Like, don't worry about the science just just, you know, go through an experience, like breathe and relax, as you said, so, so perfectly.
Nina Born 20:38
Yeah, and the experience is the real juice of it, right? Because then you can see if it's for you, and also it's different every single time, or two different chapters of life, right.
Bridget Moroney 20:51
So, um, I have experienced sound bowls, in general. And then of course, I've experienced Nina's wonderful sound bowls experience or sound bath experience, I should say, not the bowls, the bowls are the instruments, the the bath is the experience there. And I told, I'll use myself as as my own experience as the example here. You mentioned, the hardest part is receiving. Um totally agree, because that was, that was the one thing that I struggled, or I do kind of struggle with, and I'm getting better at it. But it's, I can I can, you know, with the guidance of yourself, or whoever's leading the meditation, or that the sound bath, like, you know, breathe, meditate, get into a centered state there. But it's, it's difficult for I think our human minds, especially coming from a Western culture there, where it's like, okay, I'm supposed to be doing some I'm supposed to be supposed to be getting something out of this, right? Like, what
Nina Born 21:59
am I producing?
Bridget Moroney 22:00
Yeah, what am I producing? Like, what's what's, what's the outcome? And that's another thing to just like, I guess, maybe a small side note there. It's just like, anything in life, whether it is like, exercise, health, work there, it's like, we get so focused on the outcome, that which, which may or may not even happen. You know, like, that's something that I think people neglect to acknowledge. And I heard this from like, another speaker and coach, there's like, you're, you're not entitled to an outcome. In Yeah, right. Like, it is. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and I'm someone who listen, I, I coach people towards goal achievement, things like that. And I and I personally believe like, that is a great human experience to have is these aspirations. Like, my, my coaching company is aspire to coaching, I think that's what gives our, our lives meaning or it can give our lives meaning and but, again, you're not entitled to that just because you want to achieve something doesn't mean that you you are going to or in the timeframe that you're that you think you should. And so, yeah, so going back to like outcomes here, like, again, it's kind of like the the old saying, like, enjoy the journey. Yeah. Right. So and
Nina Born 23:32
also from a spiritual perspective, regarding outcomes. Maybe our ego thinks that this is the outcome, that is the best outcome, but actually, like the universe has something way better that you couldn't even imagine from the beginning of your journey that you will get, and you'll be able to receive once you go through the whole process.
Bridget Moroney 23:55
Yeah, the the ego part that kind of came up, I thought about that, in the beginning of our conversation, I think when you were just talking about, like, I forget what it was exactly, but just kind of this whole idea of how we see ourselves, as you know, it's kind of like me versus, you know, anyone else out there, that's that is what the ego is,
Nina Born 24:21
And I think it helps to know like, within your own self awareness of what is the voice even who's the voice inside of your head, maybe it's your ego, maybe it's your survival self. Maybe it's your inner child, you know, screaming out for attention or love or acceptance, whatever it is, and so, it helps to have that level of self awareness that is a symptom of, you know, spirituality, and really be able to define like, okay, is this just like my ego wanting revenge, to have some outcome? Or is it like actually my higher self stuff Being in so that I can actually fulfill my, my divine purpose on earth, this this lifetime.
Bridget Moroney 25:07
Ego seeking revenge? That's a that's such a good comment there because I do feel like, there's yeah, there's certain things that we I don't know, do or want to do as this kind of inspired of, you know, certain, I guess, certain experiences and motivated by to this is what Theta Healing, I guess kind of strives to, to, I guess help us overcome or? Or move through?
Nina Born 25:40
Yes. So, Theta Healing is ultimately getting down to the root of beliefs that we are, well, and so it goes into the subconscious mind. And so you can think of our the theory of mind like a computer, right? So, like, right now, we are talking on this platform on our computers, and maybe there's also other programs running in the back taking up space in the computer. Same thing goes for our mind. So if maybe we don't have a spiritual discipline, right, this is another reason why I'm trying to convince you, not very listeners, to have a discipline is because we can really have that single point of mind, and not have all of these other chitter chatters going on in the background, influencing and taking up space in our mind. And so theta healing goes down to the root of the trauma or the issue, or the belief of like, I'm unworthy of love. Well, why are you unworthy of love when did that first happened? Who was around during that time, and we can change that because it's not an ultimate truth. And so Theta healing is using a meditative technique, to really clear beliefs and thought programs and traumas that don't align with our highest and best good, and can bring us back in to a deeper alignment of truth of like, the capital T truth. And so it can be really life changing and powerful in many, many different ways.
Bridget Moroney 27:18
Talking about though, like you say, capital T truth, and just the stories in our head, and again, I've, I've learned this, I think, both from the psychological but also the spiritual level, but I think a lot of people, as I, as I mentioned, you know, focus on that psychological part there. But I was having this conversation on another podcast episode with with a coach, and it's, yeah, these these narratives in our head. And so the, the example that we were discussing, or dissecting was people who do want to get into fitness or living a healthier lifestyle. And it's this, there's the topic we rob is like, someone's like, Okay, I'm gonna start working out at at 630 in the morning, and yet, they struggle with that. And so and we, like I said, we talked about, like, maybe how to help someone get into that habit, but ultimately, it's also like, what's making you decide that you the word I use is should, right? Because there's a lot of shoulds that get put on us or we put on ourselves. You know, in life, you know, that, that come from society and other things, but it's like, you know, I should be working out at 630 in the morning, because that's what whatever healthy motivated, disciplined people do. And um going back to like that idea of awareness that you brought up in it and I think that's what people don't realize with with spiritual practices is it brings about this awareness about how we, we interact and in our own thoughts and everything, but like, having many people don't have that awareness of like, where did the story even come from? You know, again, like who said that and even more so like, if I if if you if you don't do this or you don't want it like it's like a moral failing, right, so we have these stories in in our head of like, Oh, I didn't get up at 630 this morning. I'm you know, lazy and things like that. And again, it's like that that ego part there just kind of beat ourselves up. And it's just like, No, it's just not what works for me like, here's something else that works for me, but again, it's that should there so
Nina Born 29:50
yeah, should is a dangerous word.
Bridget Moroney 29:54
Yeah, I I heard this, this quote a long time ago. Oh, I liked it. It's don't should on yourself. Nice. Yeah. Um, well, well talking about shoulds and expectations, especially from the societal part there. And I think he brought it up already, but just like these, this expectation of like, always having to produce always having to do something. And I guess I'm specifically thinking about just since you focus on, or you lead womb circles, and, and kind of the experience of that, like, let's dive a little bit deeper into that, because I think it's such an in you and I have had had have had this conversation before of just, you know, women in general, again, I guess, kind of using just, you know, our society, our country here, but there's, there's a lot of expectation and emphasis on production there. I mean, I guess, just to kind of state, you know, very, very blank, or very directly, um, you know, we live in a country where there's no maternity leave, like not not, you know, on the federal level. There's, there's people, there are women who have the privilege to and in the accessibility to work at companies that provide, you know, some sort of maternity leave, but it's, it's it's definitely not across the board. And, and I don't know, there's, there's so much that we can dissect there. But I guess I'll just kind of start with that with like, yeah, the womb circle and this whole idea of, you know, constant production.
Nina Born 31:56
Yeah. So womb circle is a woman's circle. And so this circle was birthed at right in the beginning of COVID, because I realized that, you know, we're also animal beings we're still in an animal body. And so we are not meant to be secluded, we are not meant to be separated from each other. And to really get through this just kind of came through as a channeling to bring women together. And then I saw that this was more than just pandemic symptoms, this is actually, again, a deficiency in our society of women, holding hands and really respecting each other and having a tight sisterhood. And so, like, culturally, here, at least women are, in my experience, at least are normally seen as competition, or, or something to an object right to talk poorly about, or to criticize, or you're not good enough, or you should get the boob job, or you should get the lips or you should get a spray tan, or you should have children, or you should get married, you know, there's so many of those that we can go into that we don't need to you because everyone has personal experience. Whether you're a womb bearer or not, I'm sure you've witnessed that it's a support system for creating body sovereignty for recognizing that a lot of us are not alone in the issues, or the challenges that have really separated ourselves and isolated ourselves and you know, held us secrets within our wombs or within ourselves like if you've had an abortion you know a lot of people don't talk about that. Even if you've had a miscarriage, there's a lot of shame about not having a good enough body, right to have a full pregnancy and there's, there's divine lessons in all of these things. And that's what this circle is about. Um, specifically, you know, with Roe v Wade, I feel like this is a really the overturn of it. I feel like this is a really beautiful and potent opportunity for womb bearers to reclaim sovereignty within their own bodies. Like, what does your cycle look like? Do you do people know the four phases of their cycle? Because I certainly was not taught that in grade school, which is enraging right and then how do we take that anger and that rage into something that is actually creative and constructive and can birth a new paradigm not only for ourselves, but for future generations? Rather than taking that rage and burning the masculine or or burning our inner masculine right? So it's kind of a it was just channeled once In the afternoon, and been really heart touching to facilitate many, many, many circles, and see how brave women are and how resilient we have been to endure the things that we have and how magical it is when the feminine can come together in collaboration, it's powerful.
Bridget Moroney 35:24
The maybe the essence of this of this womb circle, and just kind of like what we can learn in life in general is like, there can be competition, but there can also be support for each other. Right. Like, I think there's a difference, as you mentioned, between competition and criticism. Totally. Right. And so going back to what you mentioned, like, I, it's, in my opinion, I think it's lose lose for women, like, totally there. Yeah, whatever a woman does, in my experience, and what I've observed, whatever she does, is it's going to be criticized. And, and even you brought up like, you know, like, our inner masculinity, like, I'm sure you've heard this, this, this commentary before, whatever, but it's like, yeah, like a woman like, Okay, if, you know, I might be just repeating things that that that people are aware of, but it's like, okay, if a woman becomes too feminine, well, now she's criticized for that, you know, from everything from like, maybe being too demurrer, to too weak to, too sexual, you know, to all the way to like, if a woman becomes you know, if she swings over to the masculine side, like, I talk about this often with my, with my wife, because she's in corporate America, and, and she's in leadership, and, wow, the challenges that she faces, from, you know, trying to advance herself in her career, you know, to pay to just the commentary and criticism that she receives, it's like, If a man were doing this, like, would, would he be receiving the pushback that she gets? Or you know, the critic? No, absolutely not. Right. Like, it's.
Nina Born 37:17
But it's, this is another thing that I think is important for us to talk about as women is finances. Because for so long, even in maybe just a generation ago with our parents, for some cases, right, it was the male's responsibility to provide. And so a lot of us are in this current timeline, breaking those patterns, and like reclaiming our currency, our abundance and prosperity, which is our birthright as women, and to be able to have conversation about our finances, like, Oh, what are you doing for work? How much do you get paid? What does that look like? What is your cost of living and really opening up this conversation is part of claiming soul sovereignty, in my opinion, is the spiritual practice. Because if we're only like having dreams, or like doing womb work, but we're not going down to the root and creating a stable, secure foundation for ourselves, if we don't have her finances in order, then you're not, you're not fully integrated spiritually. And so as women, it's really time to start talking about that, like, what's your rate? Why do you charge that? How much? How did you come up with that? Are people paying it? Are they not willing to pay it? And really open up that conversation? Because otherwise, if we don't, and we just keep hushed and we keep quiet, like everything else, nothing will change. And so the conversation first starts with ourselves, then conversations like this with each other, and then that just starts rippling out. And before we know it, you know, ishallah God Willing things change for the better and are more just and equal?
Bridget Moroney 39:08
Yeah, I mean, it's, you're absolutely right, it you know, it does start on I guess, you know, the individual and then you know, micro level, and then it stems out there. And you didn't say this, but I guess the the thought that kind of just came up is just like claiming or reclaiming power, I guess, just use another quick example from corporate, the corporate side of our society at least and kind of looking at the the differences between men and women or, you know, male versus the the female. There was this this TED talk, or or some sort of speaker, I don't know if it was a TED talk specifically, but she was talking about So, how going back to those, those interviews for, like leadership and, and even I think, like, using my own example here, like just, it doesn't have to be from a corporates side, I think it just like anything in life maybe like from like the creative side here. But by using that, that, that that corporate example specifically, there was some sort of study done where women will apply for a job or position or in a broader sense take a risk or do something. Only when everything is like 100% aligned, I guess, using the Yeah, right. Like, I guess using the the job example, like your resume has everything, you know, any experience?
Nina Born 40:55
Say, again, you put in the 10 years.
Bridget Moroney 40:58
Exactly, exactly. Yeah. And even then, and even then there are there are still, you know, some women who are who are reluctant to, but, and that's a very, you know, you could get into things like the inner critic and confidence and things like that, that's a very just general human experience. But here's the part that was that was interesting, is that they didn't they then looked at at male colleagues or male workers, and they would apply for those positions, or, or those those roles, like 70% qualified, or less, or less, yeah.
Nina Born 41:36
And all that men that were talking to my girlfriends, and they'd be like, Oh, just make something up. Like, you can obviously do this, just make it up. And so, oh, my goodness, like so many men are just out there making bullshit and, like, supporting each other through that, where are the women that like we need to really believe in ourselves
Bridget Moroney 41:59
You mentioned, yeah, so So going back to the womb circle there. And you mentioned our cycle as as women or as as, as women who who have wombs there. As far as like, truly understanding my body as as a, as a female as a, you know, a woman who has a womb and understanding like, like, I guess, the only thing that I took away is like, once a month, you bleed. And I don't even think I knew what ovulation was until maybe college or anything else like like, there was so much misinformation there. But I guess kind of going into the, the physical side and how that affects our, our energy, and our ability to perform, I guess I'm coming from like, kind of the the fitness and athletic perspective there. Like that was that's, that's even another layer that I think a lot of women don't realize, and something that and I've even seen, like, kind of dismissed recently, but you mentioned like the four phases of a woman's cycle there. And there are it's not just, it's not just about having babies, I guess, is what I'm trying to say like there is this, the cycle the these processes that that happen in our womb, and in our body, like, affects the whole body, even down to our connective tissue. Um, yeah, like something that I experienced recently, and I learned but also experience firsthand recently is just like the potential for for injury because of the way you know, depending on where a woman is in her cycle, you know, that can have an effect on I guess, the laxity, of ligaments and tendons and things like that. And so, what the point that I'm, I'm driving down to is or drilling down to is, again, we don't acknowledge that, at least in the first place, or at least or at the very least, we don't acknowledge that enough as society, but it also individuals again, like just thinking about exercise, like, you know, just just like just keep going, just keep pushing through it. And it's like, well, and I mentioned, you know, I've recently heard podcasts and then seen studies where people just dismiss it, it's like, well, it doesn't really have that much an effect. And maybe it doesn't like the general overall outcome of a woman's ability to perform and maybe that's the message but again, if you look on like those micro levels, they're like, I'll be honest, and I struggled with this mentally because it's that psych psychological like, oh, I have to I have to be doing this but like there's a certain there's certain days in my cycle where I am exhausted, I am exhausted and for no other reason other than just is my body is going through this transition, so then there's, of course, that narrative of that guilt of like, oh, you're not really that tired, or it's just your period, just get over it just go go workout, and it's like, I really just want to take a nap. Like, so. Um, yeah, I guess there's, you know, again, in my opinion, there's just there's not enough acknowledgment of it. Or if it is acknowledged, there's there's that little bit of shame around it, because again, it's just a period.
Nina Born 45:27
Yeah, periods are totally shamed. Can I go a little bit deeper in on to that process?
Bridget Moroney 45:32
Yes, please, please. Absolutely.
Nina Born 45:36
So first of all, I actually eliminated the word period from my vocabulary. Because what is that and who created that terminology? Yeah, so I call it bleeding that's what it's happening. My body is bleeding. And, and to make it more sacred, I actually call it the sacred bleed. And so a lot of people think that the point of our cycle is to bleed but it's actually ovulation. And so this is the whole 28 Day hormonal cycle that we are going through. And to have optimal health, you actually want to make sure that you are ovulating, because if you're not ovulating, something is off. And if that happens for too long, then you might get fibroids or you know, some other type of dis ease and disharmony in the body. So, when you're doing your workouts, our first day starts on the first day of our bleed. And so this is like, winter, our inner winter. So this is the time to rest. In winter, everything is normally snow covered. If you're in the northern hemisphere. It's quiet, there's stillness, nothing is growing. There's seeds underneath the ground, but they're all hibernating. And so if we can take a note from nature, from Mother Earth herself, take at least one day out of the month, one day, while you're bleeding to just do you, like just do, you don't have to do anything. And this is actually a renaissance, like this is a whole ass revolution. When you take one, just one day out of your 28 day or so it's not always 28 days cycle, to honor your body and really recharge yourself and fill up your Holy Chalice that is your body with rest, we need it. And so then we go into our follicular cycle. For those of you that aren't familiar, and this is a great time to really get your workouts in, start dreaming big, it's time to schedule those interviews that you want. Because on a biological level, we are actually magnetic our pheromones are starting to go and people are physically more attracted to us. We are physically more radiant. Thank you estrogen. And so if you start tracking your cycle, the follicular phase is the best time to have your party have your social engagements. And then ovulation is actually the pinnacle. And this is like your full moon or your summer your full blossom. So go on your date if you're single, and you're wanting to attract the right person because your pheromones will help navigate biologically is this partner a good partner for me or not. And then our luteal phase, which is about two weeks. That's when progesterone is the key hormone. And that's when we start slowing down, we naturally start thinking more internally, we start reflecting on what happened in the cycle in the first part of our cycle and the follicular and ovulation. What was going on, what didn't work, what is working, and what can I shed and get rid of well while I start bleeding, and then what can I impregnate myself with, like, if this 6am workout is truly working for me, then I'll take that into the next cycle. If I tried it three times, and I got bummed out at 6am in the morning, and I started my day off that way, I probably should just get rid of that program. So there's there's a lot of tools nowadays for us to empower ourselves and start taking back our actual power. So for anyone that's feeling anger and rage about this stuff, that anger and rage comes from a sense of powerlessness. And so if you feel powerless, or what is your relationship to the word power, what can you do to get it back? And this is a super beautiful way to reclaim your power of really understanding your cycle really understanding how your body and your hormones work. Like why do I feel like shit today? Oh, it's because I've been burning myself out and I've been in my luteal phase and I haven't stopped to slow down. Maybe you just need three days. Have rest and not talking to people, you don't want to talk to you. Yeah.
Bridget Moroney 50:08
I love that, um, truth be told, I started tracking my cycle out of years ago. For those reasons, although not as I didn't take it, or I haven't taken it as deep as you have on, like, the psychological or spiritual level there, but I'm totally inspired to. Yeah, because, and it is like, such a great, like you mentioned, we have so many tools now. You know, to be able to help help us, like, live our lives, like so much more well and optimally, and, you know, as someone you know, who is tracking their period, not in the interest or not for reproductive purposes, but to learn my body and to learn, like you mentioned, like, Oh, I'm in, you know, I'm feeling really burnt out, and I'll go into my period, you know, my bleeding tracker gonna start changing my vocabulary. And yeah, it's, it's, it's like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. Um, but yeah, I like how you took it a little bit deeper. Really quick, going back to what you mentioned, you know, the first day of our cycle is the first day that we bleed. And you mentioned, it's like winter there. Something that came up and referencing the, so maybe I'll have to, I'll have to post this, I'll post this in the in the show notes or on my blog, but I found this very clever, I think clever, way for a woman to manage her nutrition, at least in terms of quantity. And also exercise. So again, kind of like taking those rest days or, you know, like, When can I push myself a little bit more. But the thing that I remember from this, this chart, or this, this approach to to diet and nutrition is during your your, your bleeding phase is, this is a good time to take in extra calories. In fact, I forget, like, I don't know if this this statistic is is accurate or not. But I feel like I had heard or read at one point like women burn up to like, 300 calories more per day when they're bleeding. Yeah, yeah, I know. And it's, and then it makes sense. Like anyone who, you know, any woman who, who goes through this experience or has gone through the experience, you can remember, you know, cravings and, and things like that. And I guess my messages and using that example of winter to winter is, you know, things are dormant, but it's also a time where we take in extra calories like you're taking, using the Mother Nature example that you mentioned, like, you know, animals take in extra calories and things like that. And so I'm just bringing this up one because I think it's interesting, but too, because women are people in general who are afraid to consume. Yeah, we're always on that product side like us that time. us like, you know, and I guess like mentioning cravings. Like, I think that's another thing that that people that women fight when they're experiencing is like, oh, you know, like, No, I'm craving this or, or maybe they give into those cravings. And then again, the narrative in our mind from our ego starts beating us up, like, just, you know, this ice cream, and it's like, it's okay, your body is, you know, asking for this. So, giving yourself that permission and, and, you know, through understanding wha it's going through.
Nina Born 53:57
Yeah, yeah, and understanding what foods can nourish you. Like, a lot of times when we're bloated and we're bleeding. Like, it's, it seems counterintuitive of like, No, I'm not gonna drink so much water, because I'm so bloated. But you know, the water actually helps the bloating go down. And I'm not going to eat too much because I don't want to get fat. Like no, eat the rice and beans during your period. Eat as much beans as you want. Maybe don't go for cake, or have a cake and just don't be shameful about it. You know, get as much dark chocolate as you want. Make sure like hopefully it doesn't have milk or processed sugar or whatever your dietary things are. And let that be your discipline and, and treat yourself.
Bridget Moroney 54:46
Yeah, I guess that's kind of it at the end of the day, right? Like these are these are natural things. These are normal things or common things and it's just like don't ignore it. Don't Don't dismiss it. You know,
Nina Born 55:01
yeah. Listen to those cravings.
Bridget Moroney 55:06
Yeah, again, yeah, yeah, they're there for a reason, everything from like, yeah, the extra food to to the rest of the day, you know, or taking time, like, it's your body needs it, it's asking for these things, um, I guess on the same topic, and speaking of that, like going, so speaking of reproduction there, that's another thing, especially in the, in the world of health and fitness, that is a challenge or that women face, right is they get pregnant. And then on a societal level, it's like, pre pregnancy body, like getting back there. And, and I shared, I had this conversation with you before, but I had a client. And I think she had a pretty realistic expectation there. But you know, about, like, what she wanted to do health wise, and, and everything else like that, like she was looking to to be as healthy as she could for herself for her baby, she was breastfeeding and things like that. But there was still a little bit of that narrative of, you know, I would like to start, you know, losing the baby weight. Um, and the thing that I said to her is like, like, first of all, like, let's just acknowledge what your body just did and created there. So, I guess kind of going back into the, the sacred or the spiritual aspect of it all. And, you know, just recognizing and honoring that, like, you know, like we said in the beginning, like talking about outcomes and expectations, like, don't be in such a rush to, to, to, whatever, get back to that, that, that, that pre body or pre pregnancy body there. You know, just just acknowledge it, acknowledge what, what's, what has happened, and appreciate it and honor it.
Nina Born 57:05
Yeah, it's, it's a rite of passage. And so, with the birth of a baby, there's also the birth of the mother, because the maiden archetype or you know, the being that you were pre baby is never, it's not going through the portal of birth into motherhood, there might be aspects, but women are totally changed when they go through this process. And that's something that we can really start acknowledging and, and attending to and nurturing as the birth of a mother. And those 42 days after birth are so important, it really prime's how the rest of motherhood and postpartum or the fourth trimester.
Bridget Moroney 57:53
Tell me more about that. Because that is definitely something that I'm unfamiliar with is those 42 days post and you mentioned the fourth trimester.
Nina Born 58:01
Yes. So I would call postpartum the fourth trimester, it's a part of pregnancy, and it completes the whole cycle of becoming a mother. So the first 42 days, you really need to make sure that you're getting all of the right nutrition to support your body and coming into the new body that it's going to be, so that you have the right hormones so that you don't slip into a severe postpartum depression, which is so prevalent in our society. Making sure that you have the proper care when I was talking to another woman, and she was telling me the story about a Nepalese woman, and so in Nepal, they lived in this giant house, it was like 50 of them, you know, a lot of people in this house, but the process for motherhood was so beautiful. And so the mother wouldn't do anything but breastfeed and sleep, the first 42 days. And all of the younger women or women that didn't have babies did all the dishes, they did all of the cooking, they did all of the household things that needed to happen so that the mother could just focus on her body, what's going on in the body, focus on baby focus on this transition and this birthing process because you know, birth isn't easy. It's really intense and primal, animalistic thing that we have to acknowledge. We cannot be capitalistic machines when we're giving birth. And then the elders would attend to the new mother. And so the face it takes a tribe to raise a child is true, but also it takes a tribe to raise a mother in my opinion, you can like it's really difficult to do it on your own and my compassion and heart goes out to every single single mom out there that's fucking holding it down because man, you guys are super women like you guys are the leaders through this and yeah, that's just a little perspective shift of how different it is just across the sea and it really connects us back to our deep primal reverence. You know, like, how often do we just really rever in our primal animalistic ways. Because as spiritual as we are like, we're also animals, let's not forget. And it's beautiful how instinctive baby and mom can be given that space and trust because you know, in the medical system, there's not always trust trust of the mother, like, Oh, you want to be in this position? Sidenote, we're not supposed to be birthing horizontally. This was for a king to watch his birth and then it just caught like wildfire. We are supposed to be squatting down, uprights and squatting out, just like how you poop. You know, that's how our organs work. It's a primal thing. And moaning and groaning and moving around and spiraling as you're opening yourself up. You're a whole portal, when you're giving birth. It's mind blowing. We're here to break.
Bridget Moroney 1:01:34
Yes, yeah. Break up, literally, totally. Well, it goes back to what you were saying. Like, you know, it's it starts with, you know, we as individuals having these thoughts and ideas, and then having these conversations, you know, one on one, and then having these conversations in groups, and then all of a sudden, it's like, you know, it, it spreads. So that's where it starts. Awesome. Well, this has been a really wonderful conversation that I got to have with you today, Nina. Really quick if people want to learn more about you or Theta healing, or the womb circle and or all of that, but also and also, where can where can people find you?
Nina Born 1:02:23
Yes, so I'm pretty much on all platforms. And you can find me by my name Nina Born N-I-N-A-B-O-R-N. My website has pretty much everything that you would like, I do have a womb workbook coming out soon. At the end of the year. So if you're interested in womb, sovereignty and really understanding your body on a holistic level and you know, physical, emotional, spiritual energetic, this is a great resource for you. So stay in touch. Instagram is IamNina born. And I would also just love to hear any listeners feedback or you know, things that came up for you. So feel free to either comment on Bridget's socials or on my socials or reach out to either of us personally, and would love to see what kind of things came up for you guys. And if you would like support then I am of service. So thank you so much, Bridget. This was a really beautiful way to spend the morning and I really appreciate your inquisitiveness and your openness, and your willingness to get uncomfortable and edgy. It's so important.
Bridget Moroney 1:03:50
Oh, thank you, thank you for bringing Yeah, everything all your knowledge and perspectives there. And this has been really, really awesome. It's it's always a lot of, I always get a lot of enjoyment and fulfillment, you know, listening to you speak and speaking with you. So so thank you for being on here.
Nina Born 1:04:14
The feeling's mutual.
Bridget Moroney 1:04:21
Alright, that's all for today's show. Thank you so much again for listening. And be sure to head over to aspire to coaching.com backslash podcast, check out the show notes for today's episode. There you'll find some of the links we've mentioned on today's podcast, as well as some of the previous episodes we've done. And while you're there, please make sure you sign up for our show updates. I am always updating the show and bringing in bonus content so you do not want to miss out on any of that. One last thing. If you loved this episode, and you think a friend would really enjoy it as well. Grab the link and share it out for me please. It really does help spread the word of this podcast and the topics that we discussed on our episodes. At the end of the day, my goal is to empower as many people on their performance journey as possible. Thank you all so much again, and we'll see you next time.