In deep gratitude, we reflect on one of our most powerful conversations yet with Sania Khan, a Liberation Artist-Alchemist, Elemental Somatics Guide, Futurist and Multimodal Storyteller, where we explore what it means to live embodied futures. Sania's work centers around safety in the body and accessing the limitless creativity, joy, pleasure, sensuality, and imagination that are vibrating within us so that our inherent wisdom and cosmic knowingness can be shared with the world with full integrity.

This week we learn about Sania's work and how she guides others through a journey of somatic reconnection to safely come back into their bodies in order to understand their energetic experiences beyond the confines of language.

"What I'm doing in my practice is merely giving language to, in my own unique way, the practices that have existed long before me, practices that care to be in right relationship with the natural world, with the unseen world."

Through embodied futurism, a concept rooted in intergenerational healing and collective liberation, Sania walks with others to explore the depths of ancestral trauma and memories etched within their bodies to discover the transformative power of embracing our authentic selves. We reflect on moments in our personal journeys where we embraced unconventional choices, and explore the link between the profound power of sacred deviance and the liberation that arises from breaking away from normative structures.

In this very sacred and divinely inspired episode, it becomes undeniably clear that Sania's work is ushering the world forward into a new and liberated future. A future where we're fully embodied and in right relation with ourselves and the world around us, wholly connected to the ancient wisdom of the past, and the future we want to create.

"As you soften into your expansion, I just want you to be able to rest in the knowing that you're supported not only by other souls who want to experience you in your sovereignty and expansion and will celebrate you for exactly that. You are also held and supported by your benevolent ancestors, both human and cosmic. You're supported by this ecology that you're within and surrounded by this ecosystem of, again, the natural world, the unseen world that also wants the best for you. You're ultimately supported by this most vast, infinite energy that is our reason for being here, that also wants the best for you."

Learn more about Sania's work and connect on IG at @heysaniakhan.

This week's episode with Jess Lieu, who is a Somatic Sex Educator and Sexological Body Worker, is a really special one for us. Jess and Ellen met at a recent Death Doula Retreat with Going with Grace, and we're honored to share this incredible episode.

Jess has an infectious love for life and pleasure, we both felt it so deeply in this conversation where we dive into all the facets of pleasure. We explore the inextricable connection between death work and pleasure work. We talk about societal expectations around pleasure, and how often those expectations don't align with our experiences. And we dive into all the emotions and experiences that can come up in this work, especially if shame is present. Jess helps us understand the importance of boundaries and trust through this process, and how helping others reconnect with their bodies through pleasure and sensation opens the doors to deeper understanding of ourselves, more connectedness in relationships, and feeling more alive day-to-day.

"Often I work a lot with desire and consent. Oftentimes there's a disconnect between what we want and how our body is responding. Through working with the body, somatic practice, we're able to begin wiring and creating a congruency between what we really want and externalizing that through valuing what we want, trusting what we want, and then finally being able to ask for what we want. Yeah, pleasure, boundaries, feeling more pleasure, feeling more aliveness day to day or explicitly with sex and relational things, boundaries is a big one."

In this very special conversation, Jess shows us how powerful healing through pleasure can be, and how we can use our senses to savor sensations as a way to connect with our bodies and cultivate more pleasure in our lives.

If you'd like to learn more about Jess and her work visit www.sensingsoma.com.

Connect with Jess on IG at @sensingsoma .

Ep. 99 - Healing Through Pleasure is now streaming on Apple and Spotify.

We absolutely adore this week's guest on Woo Knew. Eva Liao is a Consciousness and Spiritual Growth Mentor who helps others experience more calm, happiness, and connection in their everyday lives. We were brought together through a divine connection and this conversation was so much fun.

Eva just turned 39 and is starting a whole new chapter of her life in Austin, Texas where she lives in an Airstream trailer and fulfills her dream of starting an intentional community with a friend of hers. Eva's story is wildly inspiring, and in learning about her journey we got to excavate all of the layers in our very real, and often challenging experiences that came up when making a life changing decision like hers.

This is such a special episode because we really explore the liminal spaces, the in-between, and what those moments mean for us. We go into the depths of all of the emotions that come up, the questions we ask ourselves and the uncertainty that comes with not knowing what the future holds. Eva's strength and vulnerability takes us on this journey with her, and her experience is so inspiring because it's something that we'll all go through at some point in our lives. And through example, she teaches us the power of learning to trust and surrender in these messy liminal spaces.

"There's been no moment, actually, where I could not trust life. Again, I don't want to say this flippantly. Like, it's easy. This does feel like trust boot camp. Like, I'm living on a moment by moment basis of being like, every time I notice tension and it is a meditation, if I notice tension, it's like, okay, can I trust life right now? And it's just been really beautiful, actually. It's been so beautiful because then I can let go and surrender and be like, oh, my God, I don't have to control everything. It's a weird mix of, like, I'm not in the driver's seat, but not to say that I don't have responsibility, but I don't have to be hyper vigilant."

We talk about the importance of having community and tools to navigate these transitions, how major life changes can affect our nervous systems and our need to feel safe, as well. And if we're open to it, how these moments offer beautiful opportunities for growth and learning.

Ep. 98 - The Messy Liminal Space is not streamng on Apple and Spotify.

If you'd like to learn more about Eva and working with her, visit evaliao.com.

You can also connect with Eva on Instagram at @iamevaliao.