Rachel Overvoll  00:00

That was like, I remember getting the finish line and I'm like, I'm good on this. I don't. And like I've done it twice. And I've ran now over 30 half marathons. If I include like my training runs and everything, and it's like, I'm, I'm good on this. And yeah, I think honoring the place when you get to of like, I don't have to keep doing this to prove something. I'm done. Like, honoring the body when the body is like, I don't want to do it anymore. Right? Yeah. Now for me, like I find a lot of joy and going for a one or two mile run. And that's really joyful for me.

Bridget Moroney  00:38

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 to the show. I'm your host, Bridget Moroney. And today, my guest is Rachel Overvoll. Rachel is a somatic sex and intimacy coach and author living in Colorado. She works with clients to move beyond shame, stepping into safety in their bodies and to live a life embodied and pleasure using her credentials from the somatica Institute and Kinsey Institute. She works through the mediums of embodiment and self attunement to help clients step outside of shame and into the power of their authentic selves. How's it going today? Rachel?

Rachel Overvoll  01:34

I'm good. How are you doing?

Bridget Moroney  01:36

Doing Well, I'm super excited to have you on the show today. I think this is gonna be a very, very, very interesting conversation just talking about the work you do as a as a sex and intimacy coach, but also just talking about somatic coaching. Because I just you know, there's there's so much about our bodies and understanding the information, I guess, dare I say wisdom, you know, not to sound cheesy, but really wisdom, right, that comes from it. So. But before we dive into that, I just wanted to ask, you know, we did a little bit of an introduction in the beginning of the podcast here, but is there anything else that you want to tell our listeners about your background, or how you got into coaching or anything else like that?

Rachel Overvoll  02:24

Yeah, so I think one of the biggest, pertinent pieces of my story is that I grew up in a religious cult. And so when I talk about, you know, this availability to come into connection with the body to drastically heal your life and your relationship with the body, leaving out that part of my story doesn't make it as valuable to everyone as it could be. Because I really came from the exact opposite of where I am today. And growing up, being taught, my body is sinful, my body is wrong, my body is evil, my body is bad, and being that heavy indoctrination my entire life until leaving in my early 20s, about 10 years ago, and learning how to kind of do a full pendulum swing to the other end of it, and learning how to deeply trust my body to love my body to be in community and connection with my body. And so I share that for anyone listening who's like, I don't know if I can get there. I'm proof that you can like, I've done it. And I love helping people come to this place of deep connection with the body.

Bridget Moroney  03:27

Yeah, I just listening to your story. And just in I've listened to your whole story before knowing you before this podcast, but but just hearing that, that overview, just now just makes me think of so many things, like you said, you know, given your background, I was I was raised Catholic. So I definitely had the same messaging told to me in my youth, but even just, and I know, this isn't our topic today, but I just want to mention it like just thinking about people in the LGBTQ community and trans kids and things like that. And just again, like, I have this conversation often with with other people, the comment that always gets made is like, I just I just don't get it, I don't get it. And it's like, sure, you know, I may not understand it, either, like speaking for myself, but it's like, I also don't understand what it's like to live in a body that just feels wrong. And anyway, I know it. Like I said, it's not necessarily the conversation we're having or anything else like that. But it's just again, like, I guess, touching on that theme of what our bodies tell us or being connected or seeing, you know, like, like you said, like, you were told, you know, I was told, you know, our bodies are wrong or sinful and things like that. They're so there's just, there's so much messaging from within us, but also from outside from society. That that conflict.

Rachel Overvoll  04:51

Yeah, and I think that that is pertinent, right? It's like very prevalent in what's happening in our culture today. Right? So many people are being told that their identity is not legitimate that their expression is non legitimate. And it's actually one of my favorite arguments to get into with people because as a sex, also as like a sex coach and having gone to the Kinsey Institute, so much of the way people talk about this is just not actually accurate with the language that they're using when people are like, Oh, well, it's only there's two binary genders like actually, that's an accurate there's there's three biological sexes, people are born with male, female or intersex so there's not two, it's not binary.And when you're talking about gender, actually, gender is an expression and gender is also determined by cultural and social. So yes, you can choose your gender because it's not a biological piece of you. Your your sex is a biological piece of you, that can't be like argued, because that's your chromosomes and your and your hormones and everything, right? But your gender can change and your gender expression can be not the sex that you were born into. And so it's like, I love having that argument with people because I'm just like, let me actually tell you because you're using incorrect language, right? And you're using and you're invalidating someone's experience, and gender is literally socially and culturally defined. So yes, you can choose your gender because it's social and cultural context.

Bridget Moroney  06:18

No, again, going back to like LGBTQ, there's also sometimes you see LGBTQ, the number two and that refers to, two spirits, Native American indigenous people. And, and so yeah, culturally, this is this is a culture. This is a society where like, that was, I guess, normalized, right?

Rachel Overvoll  06:42

It wasn't even just normalized. It was like revered like people that were two spirits. It's in Indian tribes were like, they were the wisdom holders. They were that they were the people of the tribes in these communities that were sought out for wisdom and advice and expertise. And so yeah, it's interesting, the more you learn about like sexuality, and gender and human sexuality as a whole, the more you realize that so much of what we think is quote, unquote, normal is actually just like, white, straight Anglo Saxon indoctrination. And it's not normal. And it's also not healthy.

Bridget Moroney  07:20

Yeah, absolutely. Well, good, good segue back into the topic, like health and yeah, so I don't And, but, you know, and I know, like, I, this is kind of my, my perspective with with this podcast, I know, my podcast is on me, the health performance fitness world, but sex is healthy it is it's part of our health as part of where you know who we are, you'd like you and I had this conversation. Everyone's doing it. But but you also made the comment, and this kind of goes back into what you do as a sex and intimacy, intimacy coach and therapist is, like, you said to me, you know, if people cannot advocate for their needs, and like our most intimate of, you know, interactions with, like, how are you going to be able to do that in other parts of life?

Rachel Overvoll  08:11

It's so true. It's like, if I don't know, and this is why, like, the work I do with clients isn't just like, Oh, your sex life gets better. It's like, worldly transformational, and how you show up as a person, right? If I can learn how to communicate my needs, and my desires, with intimate partners, if I can learn how to be embodied in intimate situations, if I can learn deep levels of communication with the people I love and admire the most, which are typically the people we also can have the most conflict with, because there's deep love and like, we just want to be heard and seen. But if I can learn that in these places, the rest of my life, it's easy. Like, oh, I can definitely tell my boss that I do or don't want to do something, because I've been doing it in the bedroom for two months, right? Like, all of these external pieces seems so much easier. And so that's why this work I do. It's almost like, it's like the foundation for boundaries for self advocacy for deep understanding of yourself, your limits and your needs. If I can get this foundation, then I can build upon it in my external life outside of intimacy and outside of sex.

Bridget Moroney  09:19

Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, you brought up boundaries. And I mean, like, yeah, again, like our most fundamental boundary as our as our is our physical body, like, don't touch me that way or not even like it that it's just like, I prefer to be touched this way. Or, or I don't want, you know, whatever it may be. And then yeah, extending, like, extending that to the outside world of like, Hey, don't talk to me that way. Or, you know, speaking to your boss, like, I'm not willing to do that for for, you know, my job or this project, or whatever it may be. Um, I guess really quick, you kind of touched on this, you know, like you said, it's not just about having good sex but I I do want to bring up so yeah, because I've seen you talk about this on social media and everything else like that, you know, people learn that you're a sex coach, and they, they do automatically assume it's all about sex. And I, you know, I've, I've heard you or seen you, you know, talk about, like, you know, people will will say things to you that are anywhere from just kind of misguided to just completely inappropriate and disrespectful, in my opinion. And so, yeah, like you said, the, the education goes much deeper than that, especially with talking about, like, what we're seeing with somatics. And in our bodies. Um, so yeah, I guess what, what sort of, I guess what kind of like overview, could we? What else could you add to that overview that maybe would clear up these misconceptions,

Rachel Overvoll  10:45

Well there's so many misconceptions, and it's wild, because I used to get really frustrated with them. And now I'm just like, this is just proof that this work needs to be here because these misconceptions are around like, Oh, so you watch people have sex? No, I don't watch people have sex, you know, or I get typically like white hetero men that are like, Oh, you want to watch me have sex and tell me how good I'm doing? That's when I've gotten a lot or from women who have not done their work to step outside of patriarchy. They'll be like, Well, I don't want you near my husband or my boyfriend. It's like, I'm not trying to have sex with your partner like, and so these like deep myths, but what does it all come back to it comes back to fear, it comes back to fear, right? I'm scared of this. Because I, if we grew up, if your listening to this and grew up in the US, like you don't have any, there's no sex education. There's, there's wasn't like if you wanted it, you had to seek it out. So it on some level, it makes sense that there's these deep misconceptions, because there's this deep fear around sex. There's deep fear around talking about sex. It's there's this deep fear of having open, honest conversations about what is going on in your intimate life and not like shaming it or putting it down, right? And so like, those are the misconceptions I get all the time. But really what I do with clients is like talking to them, about how do I get into my body? How do I experience deep levels of pleasure, that's the biggest thing I work with. And so Dr. Tammy Nelson says this best, and her research points to that you cannot heal trauma unless you experience pleasure. We have to experience pleasure in the body in order to heal our trauma. And so a lot of what I work with clients on is like, let's learn how to experience pleasure in the body. And what is pleasure, it's peace in its presence. So it's also learning how do I be at peace and presence in my body. Because if we're going through this, like, you know, healing of our trauma, we're on our healing journey. And all we're focusing on is this deep level of healing, it can feel really overwhelming to be in the body, because it might not feel good. It's like, oh, I'm digging up all of this stuff. And my heart is breaking and my stomach feels sick, right? And there's these deep levels of emotional distress that can come into the body. So especially for when we're healing, it is so important for us to make sure that we're infusing our bodies with pleasure, so that we're telling our bodies like yes, this was our experience. This was painful. This was trauma. But now I can choose pleasure. And so a lot of what I do with clients, too, is like how do I live a life of pleasure? And yes, that's masturbation, and yes, that self touch. But it's also like drinking your coffee in the morning or for me, because I love coffee, and sitting and like, feeling the warmth and the taste and just being like, wow, this feels so good in my body, right now it's going for a walk with no destination in mind, and just feeling the sun on your skin. Pleasure is vast and all around us. And so learning how to experience that in the body is a key part of what I do.

Bridget Moroney  13:49

Absolutely. And I guess kind of, you know, taking, taking it from the side of people who are into fitness or athletes or whatever. And I've had this conversation with you. And then also other coaches, like, I think what you said, like taking a walk with no destination. And I've been thinking about this a lot, just maybe in my own training recently, but just playing, playing like physically, like so many people just in general use exercise as punishment or, and one of my coaching mentors, Rod Francis, he's he, you know, he's a coach and he also incorporates embodiment practices into his coaching style. And so I learned that through him and he, when he brought up somatic practices, he you know, mentioned Qigong, Tai Chi, Yoga and things like that, because these are, these are meant to be somatic practices. And I think I think it was me that question like, Well, what about exercise? And he's like, Well, I don't necessarily agree with that. Because in his perspective, and and I agree, I think this is like maybe adding to the societal viewpoint of like, exercise is like making your body, you know, submit to you for a lot of people again, like way up to even just like people who are a little bit more competitive or intense with their training. It's business, right? But again, it's like, where's that play? Like you look at children, they play sports, they don't necessarily have an objective. They're, they're just experiencing. And they were like, oh, let's do a cartwheel. Oh, I fell. Let's try it again. And they're just experimenting and playing.

Rachel Overvoll  15:30

And it's like, because it's that presence. But it's also this like, which is really hard. I think for people socialized women, pleasure and being in the body also does not have an outcome. It's it's not outcome focused, right? It's just I'm here with my body. That's it. And people socialized female, we have learned growing up that so much of our value in this world in this world is what we produce, what can you produce? How much can you get done? How much can you give me, right? I'm only valuable if I clean the house. If I do laundry, if I make sure that I have a meal on the table, right? I'm only valuable and my worth is only if I'm doing these things, right. And pleasure says like, I don't have to have an outcome. I am just allowed to be in my body.

Bridget Moroney  16:24

Yeah, I mean, it's, I guess I'll just speak for myself. It is kind of a an odd concept there. Because again, like, having that narrative and just like it's like, wait, I'm just supposed to be here. Like, I'm just supposed to be experience. Like, there's nothing like it's not toning any, you know, speaking specifically about like female female narratives, or people who are socialized as female, like, yeah, like, I'm not supposed to be toning this or anything or another. Another thing that I see, speaking specifically with with women and women who are who are mothers and wives is like, I want to do this for me, I want to go to the gym, I want to do it for me, but dot dot, dot, you know, there's the children, the partner, whatever that you know, I feel guilty. It's, there's this conflict here, again, it's like, I want to go do something and be strong or whatever, just like, again, get that that sense of pleasure or satisfaction of doing something with their body physically, like talking about exercise in this case. But again, there's that production of like, like, I helped the kids with their homework, or I have to clean or, Oh, my goodness, like, I spent 90 minutes away from my house, my family, my job, whatever.

Rachel Overvoll  17:38

And it's like, it's a deep levels of guilt, because we've been socialized to be these like, immense caretakers and forget about ourselves. Like, we've been socialized, like as, as women to be martyrs. It's like, I'm a good wife, and a good mother and a good partner, if I put everyone above myself, and I'm martyr myself. And it's just like, so inaccurate. It's patriarchy, it's capitalism. It's all of these systems of oppression that are telling us these things. It's not systems of freedom that tell us that it's systems of oppression.

Bridget Moroney  18:10

What about Dad bod? Versus mom bod? Again, like, women, wives mothers are told to to sacrifice themselves to to be martyrs and things like that. And are that is your body?

Rachel Overvoll  18:23

Yeah. Yeah, it's so true. Because like, society still so much views women as a consumable? Yeah, right. And in this idea of consume ability, we have to play into capitalistic and white Eurocentric views of beauty. And if we don't play into it, then we're not able to be consumed. And so it's a radical act of self love and self acceptance to say, and also a radical act of resistance, and abolitionism to be like, I love my body. And I don't have a six pack and I have stretch marks and I have scars on my stomach from surgery. And one breast is way bigger than the other whatever like, and it's like a radical act to say like, I love the way I am, because my body carries me every day because my body is the body that wakes me up and gets me out of bed and allows me to walk my body is the body who's helped me survive through trauma. My body is the body who loves my body is the body that is able to hug and hold, right and it's a radical act to say like, I love my body in a world, especially for women that is telling us left right up and down. You better hate your body.

Bridget Moroney  19:45

Getting into maybe a little bit more of the the somatic practices going back to what you were saying like being in our body and being present. That's it basically is a way and while there's maybe multiple ways to access that, but it goes into basically calming down our nervous system, right? Because anyone who has experienced like kind of that centeredness that groundedness, that presence there, they can tell you or at least they can sense that that parasympathetic nervous system goes down. Again, I think that's like a skill for anybody to learn, what are some of the techniques that you teach? Because I know, I know, one, and I pulled up my notes from the workshop that I did with you back in. But I would love to hear like, yeah, what are some, like maybe basic techniques, or, I don't know, more advanced practices, or just an overview.

Rachel Overvoll  20:32

Some of the simplest somatic techniques or are forms of breath work, right? That's, it's like very simple, but it can feel incredibly complex, especially if we've never sat with trying to regulate our nervous system. But deep, deep breaths, feeling in and out of your chest, moving the breath into the belly cycling from chest breaths to belly breaths than I do pelvic floor breathing, right. And that's another piece of grounding. Also, like, so much of somatic practices is also just listening to the body, and knowing like the body, what the body wants, like, Oh, I'm feeling restless right now, my body probably wants to dance. So I'm going to go dance, right. And one that I love to use with clients, and I teach them especially people that are coming out of cycles of martyrdom, or like heavy people pleasing tendencies, is, I give them assignments to sing loudly, like I want you to sing loudly in your house really are. Because what you're doing is you're practicing using your voice, you're practicing using your voice without shame, you're practicing using your voice with joy, and with assertion. And so even things like that, you know, I'm not a good singer, it's I don't care, like practice, use your voice, allow your voice to be strong and proud. You know, another somatic exercises writing, like literally just like writing, thinking, so often, we just get into our heads, and we're in these like, Hamster spiral Doom circles, right? And getting down on the paper and writing it out, moving out of the body. Cymatics is literally moving things out of the body, it's like, this does not belong in my body. So I'm going to move it out of my body, right, or I'm going to process with engaging my body. Some of the best somatic practices to is like, really slow yoga practices. So Yin, right, not core power. I love yin yoga. Yeah, like, you know, yin, um, what's the other I can't think of it, the yoga nidra or things are great, like practices for somatics as well. So lots of body based practices.

Bridget Moroney  22:44

I love that you brought up writing because not necessarily somatic coaches, but just kind of coaches, productivity coaches, business coaches in general. They will, you'll often hear I've often heard them advocate for when you're writing down goals, when you're writing down plans strategies, whatever, like old school pen and paper, like if you if you want to, if you absolutely must use your phone or computer to type, that's fine. But there is something and as you mentioned, you know, there is something about that act of putting pen to paper and just physically like moving your hand. And I guess also Maybe, and maybe I'm reaching with this, but I feel like it's more present. I mean, if you just simply think about, especially if you just have like you yourself, your desk, piece of paper and a pen, you don't have anything, you know, your phone or anything there and you're more centered, you're more grounded. And I've experienced this and I know the coaches who advocate for this, bring this up, but it's like, I feel like it's more authentic. It's more from the heart, from the gut, you know, from all these places of our body that have and, and I guess also just kind of speaking from my own experience, like, things will come up spontaneously that your brain hasn't thought of, because again, in my opinion, that information is coming from somewhere else, you know, whether you call it intuition or anything else like that.

Rachel Overvoll  24:06

Yeah, absolutely. And it's also like this practice of stepping outside of perfectionism, right? I'm just gonna write what's coming to me, I'm not gonna worry about my sentence structure or my grammar or my spelling. I'm just gonna write out what is going on in my brain. And so it's also this practice of like, just like exactly what you said, being with yourself being with myself without judgment of like, this is just what's coming through me right now. I don't have to have perfect grammar or spelling or, like eloquently write this all down. I can just write it.

Bridget Moroney  24:39

Have you ever heard of the concept of or the I guess it's a book now mourning pages by Julia Cameron. Yeah. So it's totally that right. It's like, stream of consciousness like yeah, don't worry about spelling perfect, like the perfect phrasing or anything else like that. Like just write it there.

Rachel Overvoll  24:56

Yeah, absolutely. And they talked about in the artists way too. That's like part of. Yeah. And it's part of the practices that you do in the artists way.

Bridget Moroney  25:06

That's awesome. Well, yeah, so talking about so you're gonna have to, I guess kind of fill in the details for me, because when I when I so for anyone listening, I met Rachel back in I think it was March of this year. And I think it was, I think it was a breathwork. You It was titled A breathwork workshop there. But it was like also somatic. And like you said, you, as you mentioned, there were some kind of like breathing exercises that you took us through, which by the way, the whole pelvic floor breathing, that was like a new experience for me, like I had been doing the deep breathing, deep belly breathing and everything. When you have us go in to the pelvic floor, it was it was a new just kind of, yeah, sense of grounding and everything else like that. And it was really intense. And I need to revisit that because like, like I said, it was it was very interesting. This is one of the things that I wrote down in my notes here, because I thought it was such an interesting exercise, at least what I took away from it. And I kind of wanted to borrow it from my own coaching with people there. And I don't I don't know what you would call it there. But it was one where we like you you kind of breathe. And it's it's checking in with the body. So it's the first level is what do I sense? And and then what do I feel in my body? And then the third round of breathing is what do I notice has changed. And I'll just share this really quick. And then I'll let you kind of maybe fill in the details there. But what I took away from that is in that experience is like the first one what do I sense my Oh, and I guess part of the practice was also just scanning the room, I believe. But yeah, I noticed as the cycles of breathing continued on and I kept kind of feeling deeper deeper into my body. I felt like more relaxed, more comfortable kind of exploring the room more. And again, this was this wasn't even a high stress situation like this was a you know, a safe space there. Like everyone was there relaxing, chilling, like Rachel was leading us like there was no reason to feel threatened. And yet, during that first kind of round, like my my vision, my gaze was just very kind of like just straightforward. Maybe looking out the corner of my eye. And then by the end, I was like turning my body like I felt like I said like I guess more comfortable exploring the space there not feeling threatened. So would love for you to explain more about that.

Rachel Overvoll  27:21

Yeah, I love that practice. It's called them scanning for safety. And so I use it a lot with clients who I mean, it's great for anyone, particularly I use it with clients that have high anxiety. Because what happens when we have high anxiety, right, or I'll speak let's just speak generally social anxiety, especially after coming out of like being locked inside for two years, right? I think everyone has some level or has experienced some level of show social anxiety coming back. And so what happens is like when we walk into a room, our eyes scan like crazy. And we actually, like you're probably not even aware of it. And basically our eyes are scanning for threats. It's it's a caveman. Yeah, practice that we have just like, can I be safe here. And basically, our eyes are crazy scanning, looking for anything that could be a threat. This practice basically says like, I'm in control. And is a reminder to the body that you are keeping the body safe, that the body doesn't have to go into overdrive, trying to keep you safe. And so you go into the room, and the first thing you do is you just scan the entire room, and then you answer the question of like, what do I notice? Take a moment, and then you scan the entire room again, and say, What do I notice in my body? Or what do I feel in my body? And then scan one more time and say, What do I notice in my presence? Or what do I notice that's changed in my sense of presence. And really what it does is just calm the nervous system and allows your body to know that you're that you're supporting the body, the body doesn't have to be in overdrive. The body doesn't have to be hyper aware or in the state of high anxiety because you're with the body and you're keeping the body safe.

Bridget Moroney  29:02

It's so interesting. And I guess like I guess I told you that I kind of wanted to borrow it from my own coaching with people there because just knew about Yeah, oh, sorry. Please do Yeah.

Rachel Overvoll  29:14

I want these practices to be widespread. Like I don't want to be gatekeeper of this knowledge.

Bridget Moroney  29:20

No, no, I'm well, it's it's so valuable. Right. You know, I've said this before with other people like that's what coaches do. We're here to kind of help people. But I was just thinking like, from the from the athlete perspective, because I've experienced this myself. And then also it's a common theme that people talk about when they're competing, and just kind of the mental spiral there like so scanning for threats again, like, and I guess that's something you brought up like it's part of our evolution, like, and I've said this in other podcasts or with other coaches too. It's like it's all there for like, you know, once upon a time, we did have to scan for very real physical threats like a tiger are a dinosaur cliff that we may or may not have fallen off of. And so that's still ingrained in us. But again, like you're talking about social anxieties, like, people walk into rooms now it's like, oh my God, my ex is there, or you mentioned COVID. Like, that was like a very uncomfortable, like, surreal, like going to a restaurant for the first time. And it's like, again, logically, it's like, I've been doing this for decades now. But all of a sudden, it's like, Oh, my God, that person just sneezed. Like, it's just all these triggers. But um, I guess all of that to say is that it's now more psychological, right? And if you want to, you know, COVID aside there, but just going back to maybe like walking into a social situation where like, Oh, my ex is there, or this person who I think judges me Is there, like, it's more psychological, and are they actually real threats, that's something also to be discussed, we're talking about athletes and people who are competing, you walk up to the starting line of a race, and it's like, oh, my gosh, this person is here, who is so much faster than me or this person, it's like, you start sizing yourself up. And it's, you talk about mental performance, and like, it knocks you off your game, because you're more worried about what this person's doing. Or if you talk about, like a race, like, they're ahead of me now. And it's like, again, I guess, I found value in that, because it's like, if someone can just who is entering a competition, if they could just go through this quickly, you know, it brings them back into their skin, you know, and they can just run their own race or, you know, play their own game and not worry about these other, you know, whether they're real or not, but perceived threats around them from their other competitors, right.

Rachel Overvoll  31:47

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And, yeah, because what you're doing is like, be like, I'm here in my body. And that's what matters, right? These people around me, do not matter at this moment, I matter.

Bridget Moroney  32:00

Exactly. Well, and speaking specifically about the body, it's like you've, you've done your training, your, you know, you've worked really hard to to make your body as strong as fast as as capable as it is. And so lean into that, like, lean, you know, trust your body trust, what it's capable of, you know, appreciate, you know, have that gratitude, even for what it is capable of, and what it's about to do.

Rachel Overvoll  32:27

Yeah, absolutely. Right. operating out of appreciation. That's the hugest thing, appreciation over judgment, that's where that's when you win, that's when you go far. It's like I'm operating out of appreciation for my body instead of judgment of my body.

Bridget Moroney  32:41

I'm just thinking again, it's just like, in that that athlete world there, it's like always comparison. And it's like you could talk about like the aesthetics, but just even capabilities of like, oh my gosh, you know, this person is stronger than me. Or they can do that. And just like the narratives that get in this, maybe it's a little bit more inner critic work there. But it's like, I see someone who is maybe more capable of something, you know, in this moment, and it's like, the narrative that comes out is like, well, I suck. You know, I'm terrible at this. And then you just beat yourself down. I think again, it's like, maybe just like, kind of like that protection. They're like, you're, like you said, operating out of fear.

Rachel Overvoll  33:19

Right? Yeah. And like, it's so easy to get into those mindsets, right? I ran for like, all of my 20s I was a huge runner. I did marathons and half marathons all the time. And I was never a fast runner. Like never, that's just I'm not a fast runner. I think my fastest marathon was like 4:20. So it's like a nine and a half minute mile, 10 minute mile, like I'm not a fast runner. And I and that was like training like crazy for that time, my first marathon. It was like 5:30, like, and so getting into those and I would get really, really down on myself. Like you're so slow. Why are you doing this? You're embarrassing. Like, everyone's better than you. And it's so hard to step outside of that critic mode, especially when you're competing, right? And so what helped me a lot was remembering like, I'm competing with myself, and I'm also honoring the fact that my body can do this. So what I'm not fast I'm going to the Boston Marathon is not a goal of mine. winning this race is not a goal of mine running 26 Miles is a goal of mine, right? And like, operating out of appreciation that my body could do that is really what changed and allowed me to let go and release that inner critic.

Bridget Moroney  34:35

It goes back to kind of just that sense of playfulness or even curiosity there like, being curious of like, what can my body do? How far can I run like, people who know me personally, I will probably like gufaw at this but I really want to do Ultra running. I know people like I said people who know me personally would be like really, Bridget, really? You're gonna run 100 miles but I really do. I There's a part of me who's curious, like, could my body do this? Like, I don't know, it's and then and then there's other people who see it. It's like, what are you a masochist? Like, what are you? Like? I guess that's a good question like, What are your thoughts or perspectives on that, like for people who maybe do these more extreme or whatever, like big challenges, there from a place of curiosity, because you talk to these some of these people, like, I feel like any sort of physical feat of strength or endurance is a is a form of self actualization, because again, going back to like, our nomadic ancient times, like no one needs to run a marathon anymore. We have cars, right. And yet, millions of people do that every, every year throughout the entire world. And the question is, like, why why I just wanted to try, I wanted to try and see what would happen.

Rachel Overvoll  35:51

Yeah. And I think that's how I felt too when I ran my first and like, second marathon was like, I want to know, like, Can I do this? And I was like, Can I do it faster? Like, I was curious, like, do you do this, and then I did it in the last marathon I ran was in 20, I think it was in 2018. And since then, that was like, I remember getting to the finish line. I'm like, I'm good on this. I don't like I've done it twice. And I've ran now over 30 half marathons, if I include like my training runs and everything, and it's like, I'm, I'm good on this. And I think honoring the place when you get to have like, I don't have to keep doing this to prove something I'm done. Like also, honoring the body when the body's like, I don't want to do it anymore. Right? Ya know, for me, like, I find a lot of joy and going for a one or two mile run. And that's really joyful for me. And I think a big thing that I focused on is like, how do I infuse my life with joyful movement, what feels joyful to me. Um, and I really had to actually take like, I took almost two years off of working out during COVID. Because when it happened, I was freaking out. Like when we're shut down, I used I went from running really intense all the time, for almost 10 years to really intense spin, I would like was always at the spin studio doing like two a day like I loved. So like high intensity cardio is my jam. And when COVID happened, I remember being oh my god, I'm gonna get fat. I'm gonna hate my body in it. And I'm thinking, Why am I so focused on my body right now? Like, why is this my focus. And so I actually took like, two years off of working out because I was like, I actually don't want to work out again, until my motivation is not about the way my body looks. Wow. So because I was like, I am not that like I'm just been like laying on the couch, I realized that I really love long walks, I love listening to Audible books. And going for like a five mile walk is like so joyful for me. Or doing like really slow restorative yoga. And I realized that kind of like stepping out of that punishment. But I had to kind of for me, I had to just kind of like cut off totally and reevaluated like, why am I working out? And I don't want to work out of punishment, and I don't want to work out of this place. If I hate my body, I want to work out of this place of like, I appreciate my body so much.

Bridget Moroney  38:17

Yeah, no, absolutely. So um, I guess could you like, what was that process like for you? Or if you've worked with anyone, because they're because I think that experience, you know, you're not alone in that experience. And again, like, there's been so much commentary of like, oh, you know, the pandemic 15 or things like that, who? And again, like that guilt of like, people letting themselves go. And it's like, well, that some major shit went down.

Rachel Overvoll  38:45

It's like, did we let ourselves go. Or did we just all experience collective trauma? Like exact? We didn't let ourselves go. I think we survived in that exactly. All the bodies that survived this, which was incredibly hard. Like this is going to be something that if we have kids right there, they're going to ask us about this time and be like, how did you survive? Right? Yeah. I don't think that there's but it's also like, a huge thing is taking morality out of weight, like you're not good or bad. Because you weigh an extra 15 pounds, you're not good or bad because you've lost weight. There's no morality involved in your weight. And that's a huge lesson that I think most of us can learn is that weight does not equal morality. It does not equal good or bad. It does not equal strong or not strong. It does not equal, like fastest or not. It just is right.

Bridget Moroney  39:42

Yeah, it's a metric. You could even argue you know, a metric of health it's one metric of health and you know, this is this is a point that gets made quite a bit in the nutrition and health coaching space there. But a skinny body doesn't necessarily mean a healthy body.  Exactly. Yeah. And yeah, exactly. And vice versa there maybe just focusing for a moment on biologically female bodies because I'm thinking specifically of like menstruation, there like, and going to these extreme levels. And even and even I, you know, I will also include physiological or biological biologically male bodies as well, because any body I guess, we'll say here does experience hormonal disruption, you know, whether it is like a cease in menstruation or even just sex drive again, like erectile dysfunction, all of that there because our bodies need need a certain amount of fat to survive and our hormones are built from from fat and everything else like that. No, that was that was a tangent.

Rachel Overvoll  40:48

But it's so true. And like one of the things I remind my, my female clients all the time is like, our bodies are literally made cyclically like we were made to, like our bodies operate like just our menstruation, we operate on cycles, for us to go through cycles of weight gain and weight loss, like not major, right about like, five to 10 pounds, that's normal for our bodies. It's not unhealthy. It's not bad, like we are cyclical beings. And like honoring that, and not being scared of it. I think one of the things that I tell my clients too, is like, and this is a mantra I use for myself, my weight is the least interesting thing about me. Hmm, they're like, that should be the least interesting thing about me.

Bridget Moroney  41:32

Also, just to kind of add, you're talking about like the cyclical nature of a female bodies, they're just talking about like, energy ebbs and flows to like another coach, she's, I guess, I'll call her like a female hormone specialist there. She was talking about how you know, women who are experiencing I think it's the luteal phase there your estrogen dips, and so therefore, serotonin dips. And so this is where you get depressed, you get unmotivated, you crave things that are going to maybe, you know, boost that serotonin. And the point that she was arguing is, you might go to a traditional Western doctor, and but I think just society in general, it just gets dismissed. It's like, well, here's some hormonal hormonal birth control, or here's an antidepressant. And then, again, going back to that comment of what you were saying, like we're meant to produce, it's like, no, no, no, don't take time to like, be tired, or a little bit unmotivated, or a little bit, you know, not clinically, like I don't want to minimize depression, but you know, there is kind of that that little bit of lull there, it's like, nope, get back to work, get back to training, get back to, you know, actual career work, they're like, You can't stop, you can't take this this time to just be, even if it's less than ideal.

Rachel Overvoll  42:48

That's why this idea of just being in presence is like so radical, because it's again, a capitalistic society that's like, you have to go you have to produce you have to do you have to do you're not allowed to rest, you're not allowed to take care of yourself, you have to just keep producing, right?

Bridget Moroney  43:02

Or even on the emotional level there. It's like, the only things you know, if you are going to be it's like the expectation is, you're going to be peaceful and happy and contented. Like, sometimes when I'm just being it's just kind of sitting in some like, kind of shitty feelings there. And I think it was Glennon Doyle, who like, pointed this out. And in her memoir, there, it's like, that's, that's the expectation is like, the only feelings that we're allowed to feel, especially as women is we're only allowed to feel happy. Like, you know, don't talk about how you're sad, don't talk about how you're frustrated, don't talk about how you're fed up, don't talk about how you're experiencing postpartum depression, because and this was the conversation I had, and another podcast episode with Nina Born like, in American society, where women aren't given that time to recover from pregnancy. And so that's, you know, what she noted was like, postpartum depression, you know, kind of stems from this here. Not allowing the physical, the emotional selves to recover.

Rachel Overvoll  44:04

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Because we're just expected to keep going. But we've created a life and pushed it out of our bodies. I need a break.

Bridget Moroney  44:15

Like, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I had a client who was postpartum. And she was seeking nutrition coaching. And I was like, let's just stop and just acknowledge the fact that you just did something super incredible. Super hard. Like, childbirth is not an easy thing. Just kind of sit with that reality for a minute.

Rachel Overvoll  44:39

Yeah. And recognizing like, I think I have a friend right now who's going through IVF and we're talking over the weekend and she was like, I feel like she just had the embryo implanted it last weekend. And so now and she's like, I feel so exhausted. I've done anything all weekend. I've just been laying I feel so lazy and I was like, your body is literally working. So hard for you right now your body is working so hard to make a life. And that is incredible. And I know that you can't see it. So it's hard to remember that but like, allow yourself to rest because your body is working in overtime right now to try to create a being.

Bridget Moroney  45:17

I mean, yeah, it's it's, you know, I guess kind of talking about the whole production thing. There's and we see this in, in the natural world and nature, there's, there's so much that goes dormant that you don't see. And then all of a sudden, it's like, there's a beautiful flower, or a tree and again, like human life, like Yeah, you don't see it. But as you point out with your friend like hormonally, biologically, physically, physiologically, like, yeah, no wonder you're exhausted, or this isn't maybe necessarily the same thing. But nutritionally, people, people always criticize, because this is like, where people advocate for low carb or whatever they're like, Oh, you shouldn't be, you shouldn't feel tired after eating. It's, it's crazy. It's bad to crash. And it's like, well, you realize that we get energy from the food that we consume. And so in order to get that energy out, it doesn't just like automatically happen, the body has to break it. Well guess what that's work. That's, that's your metabolism at work, you know, there's something called the thermo thermogenic effect of food. And so yeah, you're you aren't going to feel tired, especially if you do consume, you know, a heavier food because it's your body, as you mentioned, is, you know, with the case of IVF, your body is working right now to turn that Apple or piece of chicken or whatever, into something that will create something else in your body. And again, people like society, just just ignore that they don't be like, maybe I should just kind of take a 30 minutes after, after my lunch or whatever, to just relax. You know, they do that in other countries, but not here. If we were talking about this, before we started recording my past, my previous profession and teaching, I taught ESL, and I taught a lot of students from other countries, and they were appalled at how short our our lunchtime was. They're like we don't we don't even have time to eat, let alone like eat, relax, you know, go for a walk, smoke a cig or whatever. Like, again, going back to that idea of pleasure. Like, it's very transactional for us as Americans, like consume food, get back to work. And if you're tired, well, there's something wrong with you, you're eating, you know, you're eating the wrong foods, which may or may not be the case. But it's also like, again, that that morality.

Rachel Overvoll  47:29

Totally like, it's just there's not morality attached to this, like think that's one of the biggest thing I tell work with my clients, like, our bodies are not moral, like they're not good or bad. They're not right or wrong. They're just, they're our bodies. That's it. Yeah, bodies, then they're a part of us. And really working too is like when you're starting to talk to the body, when you're starting to listen to the body and learn to the body, learn from the body. It's so important that we use language that also doesn't include morality. And you're like I gave at the workshop that I met you at, like everyone that vocabulary list. And it's this vocabulary list of created of all of these words that are just statements of being they're not morality based. So it's not like I feel fat, I feel sad, I feel all of these statements that we could use that in imply morality, instead of just like, My chest feels tight, right? My hands are shaking, my head feels light, right, talking about the body too. And these like, neutral phrases are just statements of being instead of statements of morality allows us to step into self compassion.

Bridget Moroney  48:38

Something that just came up for me and I thought about this also, just the need to, I guess, justify or make sense out of it. Another experience that I had with with a different coach who was going through somatic training there. We were doing kind of, I guess, an embodiment practice. And I was I was the client as I was kind of going through and experiencing different things like yeah, using the vocabulary of like, oh, it's tingling, or shaking, or like kind of goose bumpy, Goose bumpy and things like that. But then, during the, during the experience, I was like, I think I said something about like, Oh, my chest is tight, or I feel my pulse racing. And I was like, but maybe I'm just nervous right now. Or it's just, uh, you know, I just had a spike in adrenaline. She's like, don't try to make any sort of sense out, don't don't try to justify it. She's like, because our brains want to do that. Right. Versus like, again, being in I think this maybe this is something that we can kind of get into a little bit deeper right now. But I don't think people really understand what it's like to be in their bodies without going up to the brain. And as I mentioned, you know, trying to make any sense logic, you know, justify, oh, I'm feeling this. Well, it's just because of that, and again, going into like, just that dismissive narrative or, or whatever it may be.

Rachel Overvoll  49:56

Yeah, it's so true. It's like we try to apply logic to it. all the time. And like, is there logic to some of the ways the body is feeling? Absolutely. But we can also just observe and be in it and we don't have to create logic out of it. It could just be like, This is what's happening in this moment. Right? And no, people don't know how to be in their bodies, everything around us, it teaches us disassociation, literally everything, right? You know, to be thinking about like, heavy endurance workouts, right? Where, like, you know, and we've talked about the center own personal time together, but like, heavy endurance, CrossFit workouts like don't listen, like not everyone, not all the CrossFit workouts, but some coaches and some gyms are like, don't listen to the body, push through the pain, disassociate, right? Just go heavy, you know, work work balance, right? I'm so exhausted, but I have to get this to my boss, right. So I have to disassociate from my exhaustion and work and power through. Um spending time with family, if our family and I and us have like complex relationships, I have to disassociate because I just have to get through this. So so much of our lives, we are taught that survival is disassociation, but survival is actually dependent on us associating with our bodies so that our bodies don't move into fight flight or freeze all the time, so that we can talk to the bodies and calm the nervous system.

Bridget Moroney  51:24

Yeah, I guess speaking about that nervous system. That's something that I think I've realized and not coming from a place of judgment at all, but I because I've experienced this in my own life, you know, before kind of going through, I guess, you could say, a healing journey and just kind of learning the things I've learned in recent years is that so many people are in that fight or fight or flight state, continually, perpetually, that sympathetic state, they're that and and it's because of that disassociation, that they don't even realize it, it's just this is normal. And so again, like and then once they are maybe in a more of a state of being that it's it feels foreign to them, and it's like, what's wrong with you, you know, and so then that narrative kicks, you know, it's like you said, the hamster wheel of doom, they're like, it's like, wait, no, no, I should be doing so like, what am I doing? Oh, I'm just sitting on the couch. Yeah, like, my body needs rest, and I'm just laying here and it's like, well, maybe I should go do some or maybe if I if I am laying here, maybe I should read something, it's like, maybe just be here, just feel the air, you know, on my skin or just rest, God forbid, we just rest speaking about I did want to bring this up earlier talking about like listening to your body, because that is always the phrase that does get brought up in training, you know, talking about like, fitness and exercise and training, listen to your body. But then there's also, as you mentioned, it does get kind of dismissed there, things like that. I think people get that on a superficial level of like, Ooh, I just did something to my arm and it hurts really bad. I should stop there. I think people understand that, like I said, on the on the superficial logical level there. But again, like really listening to your body. And I think especially in the context of training, exercise, anything or even in the middle of a workout like the Have you ever heard of the concept of the pain cave pain cave is like, referencing specifically CrossFit, it's like, you're in the middle of an intense workout. It's basically like that threshold of I would say like the lactic acid is building up in your body. And then you know, the brain chatter goes on, where it's like, you need to like your, your, your mind, your body is like kind of in this crisis mode, right? Because it's, it's getting so intense. So people always say like, don't go into the pain cave, or stay out of the pain cave or whatever I had experienced this just, I was just doing a really intense workout. And I guess instead of as you brought up instead of disassociating, instead of just pushing through or criticizing myself, I actually actually did some some breathing some somatic breathing. So I like actually got out of my head, I went into my body and it was actually less I guess, less of a crisis there because there wasn't that mental chatter, but kind of going into that like yeah, listening to one's body like how to use that skillfully. Because I think people we can move with joy and for pleasure, but there are people out there I'll put myself, myself included who do train with specific outcomes.

Rachel Overvoll  54:18

Right? Yeah, and that's totally like what the we should all be allowed to use our bodies in the way that we want there's not like I think once again taking the morality away from it there's not a right or wrong there's not a good or bad maybe check in with our motivations our motivations like because I had five margaritas and I'm worried about getting fat or is my motivation because I have this like, ideal body type that I think if I don't achieve it, I won't be worthy, right? Or is my motivation I really want to see how far I can push my body. I really I'm curious to see how I can do this. I'm curious to see if I have a friend who like. He is a nutritionist and like he will do different nutrition plans, because he's like, I'm curious to see like how I can get my body into different physical fitness levels. And really, and it's not about this aesthetic. It's about like, I'm just curious of like what my body could do, I think that's very different than operating out of this, like, I hate my body. And I'm punishing my body. Right? Taking that out of it, and just saying, like, what? How do I want to be with my body? And how do I want to use my body in this world. And there are people that love high intensity workouts, like I did that for a long time, and I really loved it. And then I got to a place in my life where I'm like, I don't really like those anymore. Right? And instead of pushing through and continuing to do it, I was like, No, I'm just gonna stop because I actually, they don't bring me joy anymore.

Bridget Moroney  55:47

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up again, because you mentioned it earlier, like, just people who do certain modalities of exercise or sports. And then they reached that that point of like, Yeah, this is good enough. And not having that sense of shame, or whatever to walk away. Like, yeah, like I mentioned, I brought up like, the whole ultra marathon 100, like, I was reading an article from from one person, and she's like, Yeah, it was a one and done. And that's it. And it can be okay. Like, doesn't mean you sucked at it doesn't mean like you're, you know, a flake or anything. Like, I think that's the other thing, too, is like people like or, society expects people in general like to, like, do the same things over and over again. And like you said, like, using your own example, like, I don't want I don't want to run anymore like this. You know, it was fun while last and that's it like now to move on to something else.

Rachel Overvoll  56:39

Yeah. And just like not shaming ourselves when they feel that right. And allowing ourselves to move in a different way. In all this was the one thing I keep thinking about is like, in the motivation aspect of like, Am I doing this? Because, because I feel like my sense of worthiness is coming from this. If I feel like my sense of worthiness is only available to me, because I do a high intensity workout because I run an ultra marathon. Then maybe that's a reason to step back and remind yourself that like you're innately worthy, you're worthy, whether you do the high intensity workout or the ultra marathon or don't like, so making sure that like your sense of worthiness is not derived from that. So much of what I teach clients is like you're innately worthy, you don't have to do or be anything you were born worthy. Like, yeah, and when we learn that there's so much freedom. And so, like, Am I doing this ultra marathon because I really want to do it. And I just want to see like, what happens with my body? And I want to see if I can do this and maybe it's one and done. Maybe I like do it and I love it. And I love what I did. But am I is my sense of worthy, worthiness going to be dependent on if I complete this, is my sense of worthiness gonna be like dependent on if I do it again, right? Or am I able to believe I'm innately worthy, and this is something I want to try.

Bridget Moroney  58:02

So I'm just thinking again, like another thing that just came. So you and I are both live in Colorado, and there's something here called a fourteeners. Right? Have you done one yet?

Rachel Overvoll  58:13

I did. So I did. Another thing I did a bunch when I first moved here, I think I've done four. I've done five or six actually. Because I did the one that's two where you like I forget which one that is like, and you like go you summit one and then you summit of the other? And I'm like, oh, no, no, my Yeah, that was the other thing. I'm like, I'm good on that. I've done enough of those.

Bridget Moroney  58:36

Well, no, it's interesting. And so I'm going to do one in a couple of weeks here. For my birthday. I'm gonna be I'm gonna be 40 And so it's something that I wanted to do for me, you know, Mark this this milestone this part of my life. But also, I it's either going to be one of two ways. For me, it's either going to be like, Okay, let's go and conquer all 58 Possibly, or it's gonna be like one and done like, wow, that was like, because my nephew took his girlfriend. And she was like, that was traumatizing. Nope, not doing it again. But I guess just also thinking about the experience side of it and not the outcome because it's like, it only counts if you make it to the summit. And so also just having that part of my mind that's like worried like, well, what if the weather is is bad, and we don't get to summit? Or, you know, again, that sense of morality that we put on ourselves? Like, what if I don't make it what if it is like too hard or I get to like the top where it because for people who don't know, there's something called like scrambles there where you're like, kind of like crawling over rocks, and it can be very scary. And so yeah, going back to that mental chatter of like, Oh, you're such a wuss or get over it. And I guess what I'm trying to say is like, if if that happens, does that invalidate the rest of the hike and the beautiful experience and this you know, again, intention of me wanting to do something to mark this point in my life. And I guess that's kind of the lesson there of what your you know, when you work with your clients.

Rachel Overvoll  1:00:11

Yeah, absolutely of like, you're worthy whether you achieve it or not, it's not some morality attached to it you. There's no morality, like, we have to take that out. And, um, yeah, and maybe like, right, maybe you do and you're like, I'm addicted to this. And this is so fun. And I love challenging my body in this fight. And this felt really good and I loved it. Or maybe it was like, that was it? I'm good. I'm good on that. I don't need to do it again. And like both are okay. And both are fine. Neither answer that you've come to at the end of it is good or bad or right or wrong. It's what you decide for you. Right?

Bridget Moroney  1:00:45

I'm still gonna have pizza and beer afterwards.

Rachel Overvoll  1:00:51

The only reason why I did so many because I was like, I'm gonna have a beer when I'm at the end of this. Oh, yeah.

Bridget Moroney  1:00:57

That's actually that is the that is the that is like, my motivation for getting to the top is like, I'm gonna have like, my Yeah, my beer at the top there. And my friend Lisa is coming with me. And I told her like, we're gonna get pizza and bread. She's like, that's the only reason why I'm even coming anyway.

Rachel Overvoll  1:01:12

Oh, go ahead. No, I was just like, Yeah, I did a bunch of them when I first moved here, because I lived here for 10, almost 10 years. And then I kind of like the running, I was like, I don't really feel the need to do those. Again, like I've done enough. I don't really want to do them. Again. At this point, maybe in a year or two. I'm like, I really want to do another fourteener. That's okay. It's okay to change your mind. It's okay to say you want to pick something up again, it's okay to take a break. Like when we operate in just this idea of like I'm innately worthy, regardless of outcome, regardless of output. We allow ourselves to step into freedom outside of shame. And when we step outside of shame, we step outside of sickness. Shame was what will keep us sick and stuck.

Bridget Moroney  1:02:00

Well, we talked about, we talked about all things. And I guess, you know, really quick, or if there's anything else that you want to add, but I guess just kind of one last thing to ask. You know, again, going back to for anyone who is listening, who is curious about like maybe stepping into their body or being more present their body, you mentioned breathwork, and things like that. You mentioned like using different types of vocabulary. We talked about the scan for safety. Are there any other like just kind of basic practices or anything that you know, for anyone who does, like, let's say, they listened today and they're like, I'm going to, you know, start experiencing my body, like, what can they do

Rachel Overvoll  1:02:43

Something even as simple as like, self touch when you're putting on like, I love to put on lotion, because I have really dry skin and so like even just like putting on lotion in the morning and like touching your body with gratitude as you do it instead of just this like, Okay, I'm putting on lotion, I'm going to go get dressed and do this and go doo doo doo. Like, that's a very simple practice to have, like, I'm just gonna put lotion on my body. I'm gonna notice what it feels like to touch my own body. I'm gonna notice what it feels like to say moment, say pieces of gratitude, like legs. Thank you so much for getting me out of bed this morning. Heart, thank you so much that you always beat for me. Hands. Thank you for typing and writing for me today, right? And just practicing bodily gratitude as you work your way through putting on something as simple as body lotion.

Bridget Moroney  1:03:29

Yeah, I love that. I love the gratitude part too, because I think it's kind of a perfect way to kind of bookend our conversation and just kind of this whole, like, how our bodies do so much for us. And yet the appreciation isn't there. And yeah, it is it is a very simple practice. And it's a very profound thing to just like you said, like, thank your legs. I think I was in another maybe meditation class or whatever. And the the teacher the guide there, she was, like, thank your feet for bringing you here. That's like, yeah, absolutely.

Rachel Overvoll  1:04:07

Yeah. And like, we forget to think our bodies so often we're in like, negative self talk mode, right? Especially if we're in these cycles of like heavy I'm only worthy if I perform right? And so take a moment just to thank your body for working for you is huge, right? Thank you stomach for digesting my food and getting nutrients.

Bridget Moroney  1:04:30

Before we sign off. I wanted to ask you like if people do want to learn more about you and your coaching and what you do, like where can they find you like where's the best way to reach out to you online or anywhere and

Rachel Overvoll  1:04:45

Yeah, so on Tik Tok and on Instagram. I'm just at Rachel Overvoll. So just my name. And then also if you're interested in learning more about if you resonate with a little bit of my story of growing up in high control Religion, I have a memoir that's out and you can buy it on Amazon might at some local bookstores in Denver too, if you're here. And so those are the best ways to reach out to me follow and ask questions, or we can talk about working together as well.

Bridget Moroney  1:05:13

What's the name of your of your book of your memoir? Finding feminism. Alright, that's awesome. And what about I have to because I, you, you and I have talked about this? Are you still making a transition over to sun room? Or is that

Rachel Overvoll  1:05:27

Yeah, so sun room is a new app that I've been using, and it's really cool. So it's like for female and non binary creators. And it's kind of a mix of like, TikTok with Patreon, so you can scroll it and consume content and discover people just like TikTok or, or and then like someone, you can go to their page, and everyone has about three to four free posts. But if you want to consume more of their content, you subscribe to like a monthly membership. And it's really great because we're like, honoring women and non binary creators, emotional labor, and time and energy into this. Because maybe, like, right, like, one on one coaching isn't accessible, or it's not for you, but honoring the fact that I know, you know this too, Bridget, that like we spent hours and hours creating content that is consumed for free. And so feeling like there's an actual energetic exchange is so valuable in this and it's $4 a month, I post like three to four times a week. And you can also ask me questions, and I can create video responses to all of them too.

Bridget Moroney  1:06:29

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, it's a good point about like, yeah, just again, talking about production in general there but people take for granted how much like creators and coaches like yourself and the things that you put out like, are highly valuable and highly educational. I was having this conversation with my wife in general this morning, but it's like social media now it's I think this is a positive thing. The the focus has now changed from vanity to value. But again, like taking for granted like how much mental energy emotional energy physical like it's, it's a lot there. On top of everything else. So yeah, that's really cool. I yeah, I was looking when you when you mentioned sunroom to me I was looking at then I noticed Yeah, that you said female and non binary, which I think is awesome. And as a creator, you have a little bit more control over what you're you're able to post especially social media likes to censor things that are educational.

Rachel Overvoll  1:07:28

Yeah. Oh, I've gotten my Instagram shut down like three or four times for saying the word sex. And so like, even though Yeah. And so Sundaram is great, too, because I can actually share my sex education knowledge without getting censored and without trying to like, come up with very creative ways to say things and not get flagged, which is exhausting. So yeah, that's another great way and reason why I'm loving Sun Room, too.

Bridget Moroney  1:07:53

Yeah. So anyone who's listening, like like Rachel said, uh, you know, if, if her story and what she's spoken about, like has has resonated Yeah, definitely reach out. She's, she's an awesome person to work with there and chat with and everything else like that. So all right, well, again, this has been super fun, you know, really, really great conversation and, and I loved how you know, where we went with with the conversation. And, and yeah, it's, it's been great. So lots of gratitude to you, Rachel, for being on here and sharing some of your story and, and your thoughts and the information and everything that you shared with us.

Rachel Overvoll  1:08:30

Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure. And I loved having this conversation with you.

Bridget Moroney  1:08:35

All right we'll see you next time. All right. That's all for today's show. Thank you so much, again, for listening. And be sure to head over to aspiretocoaching.com/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 enjoyed 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. And 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.