Beginner's Guide To The Third Eye

THE ANIMA VENTUS BREATHWORK EPISODE

• Krista Rauschenberg • Season 1 • Episode 1

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In this episode we explore Anima Ventus Breathwork, which is a combination of vocal toning, expression, alignment and breathwork. 

Mike Pinette and Julia Cubo Pinette are the founders of Anima Ventus.  Together, they facilitate a journey enabling participants to release limiting beliefs, reconnect with abandoned parts of themselves and rediscover their inner knowing.

Mike's expertise with breathwork uncovers and reintegrates hidden aspects of the self, promoting deep somatic release, while Julia's skill in sound therapy and vocal activation enhances the experience. Her intuitive use of voice and healing sounds is tailored to resonate with each individual's unique energy, Making every session a deeply personal and immersive experience.

Our willing participant is Gina Minardi, a licensed marriage and family therapist with a specialization in art therapy. Over the last 13 years, Gina has worked in homeless shelters, rehabs, and is now in her own private practice. She is also the host of Spaces In Between, A podcast dedicated to the spaces between laughter, tears, ego, soul, and messy growth.

Mike:

It's like the small self thinks and the true self knows. The things that we think about and the things that we ruminate with and keep us in the mind and not really truly in our hearts or truly in our sensing body, where I feel like the gnosis and the real intuition and the wisdom resides. I think it's a tug of war, we're constantly have to play that game of who. Who's in control here? So I think breathwork takes you to that state that gives you a little bit more alleviation from the heaviness and the knowing that is really within you that is like This is true for me and I feel this now and it's whether it's going to take you on a different path or not It's one of those things that helps Give a moment of clarity and whether or not it sticks and takes, we'll see.

Krista:

Welcome to the Beginner's Guide to the Third Eye, the podcast that delves into the profound realms of spiritual experiences, exploring the dedicated practitioners and various modalities that guide us on our transformative path. Together, we will explore the mystical, the magical, the enlightened, and the sacred. In each episode, we pair seasoned practitioners, spiritual experiences, or healing modalities, and a willing participant to share their experience in working together. We will explore the unique insights, stories, and wisdom gained from their own profound journeys, unveiling the extraordinary narratives that shape spiritual seekers and practitioners alike. My name is Krista Rauschenberg and my work as a healer has emerged from hundreds of hours of certified training, spiritual initiations, direct experience, and deep personal work. I have been employed in the healing arts as a postpartum doula, an advanced Akashic reader, an Akashic breathwork practitioner, and a writer. Facilitating and educating people through their personal, spiritual, and healing journeys is my greatest source of happiness.

El:

And I'm Elle Larson. I use sound and space to help balance internal and external environments. I've practiced holistic healing modalities for over 20 years, and my work includes Tibetan bull sound healing, feng shui, reiki, and shamanism.

Krista:

Welcome once again to The Beginner's Guide to the Third Eye where we demystify the mystical. On today's show, we'll be exploring Anima Ventus breathwork, which is a combination of vocal toning, expression, alignment and breathwork. We will be joined by Mike Pinette and Julia Cubo Pinette, who are the founders of Anima Ventus. Together, they facilitate a journey enabling participants to release limiting beliefs. Reconnect with abandoned parts of themselves and rediscover their inner knowing. Mike's expertise and breathwork uncovers and reintegrates hidden aspects of the self, promoting deep somatic release, while Julia's skill in sound therapy and vocal activation enhances the experience. Her intuitive use of voice and healing sounds is tailored to resonate with each individual's unique energy, Making every session a deeply personal and immersive experience. And our willing participant is Gina Minardi, a licensed marriage and family therapist with a specialization in art therapy. Over the last 13 years, Gina has worked in homeless shelters, rehabs, and is now in her own private practice. She is also the host of Spaces in Between, A podcast dedicated to the spaces between laughter, tears, ego, soul, and messy growth. It's one of my favorite podcasts and always leaves me feeling seen and inspired. Breathwork is a practice that is near and dear to my heart as I practice it on a regular basis. I teach it and I also prescribe it to my clients. So I was really excited to bring this new form to our show. I would like to mention that I participated in this session along with Gina, having never worked with Mike and Julia in this capacity before. Let's welcome our guests. Julia, I'd love to start with you. How did this work come to you and how has your life unfolded to get you where you are today?

Julia:

It's started in a very different kind of ambience. I'm an opera singer and I was classically trained since I was Eight years old, I was going to conservatory for a classical music training for piano voice. I was Really focused on technique being stylistically correct, which I really enjoyed it allowed me to travel and discover different cultures, different countries. I learned languages and about Three years ago, I started having a sort of artistic crisis in terms of why do I do what I do? And I would get a lot of feedback saying, your music transforms me and gets me to another Real. It's not just what you sing and what I hear is what I feel. And I cannot quite explain what it is. And I felt signs from the universe telling me, I think you should really think about what is your true purpose of why you're singing and why you enjoyed singing instead of just using your voice as a tool Of refinement on a technical and stylistic way, and it was then when I started being really interested in sound frequency and sound healing and how to use music and your voice to really use it as a channel to transport people to get into a subconscious where we can. Deal with and heal traumas or unresolved issues with our voice. And it was then when I started working with Alexandra Tanu, which is a master on sound frequency and really getting very in depth with the technicality of the frequency of the sound and how we can get on these subconscious layers. It was then when I started as well improvising and developing my own technique and my own way of dealing with voice at first I would just do more primal sounds and then I realized why not also using my operatic voice and the technique to use different explorations with voice. Why only, I was again, using too much of my classical mind of if I do this style and I should not do this other style. And then I said, I want to mix this. I'm going to create nasty sounds as well. Sometimes when we think of music, let's make beautiful sounds. Why? In life, there's beautiful and not so beautiful and what's beautiful and what's not beautiful anyway. So I wanted to play with frequencies and resonances in the head, in the body and try to make other people feel what I was feeling, like getting my voice in their vocal cords.

Krista:

When someone said to you that your voice transforms me, did you have an inclination prior to someone pointing that out that you had some kind of resonance or channel what was happening for you before someone else made you aware of what was happening for them?

Julia:

First, I wasn't aware of it. And then I realized that through my voice and through music connecting to other people's energies and feeling what they were feeling and trying to pull them towards me to try to make them feel bringing them to me and then make them feel whatever emotional state, or say I was singing a song about I don't know, bringing like Casta Diva, bringing peace on earth, I would try through emotion to bring them to me and then to express that message. So we would be connected in the room because I used to do concerts for private parties where there was very few people and that would get very intimate. And that was a great opportunity for me to feel into the vibration of people. And that's when I realized if I can do this for an entertainment purpose, if I have this ability to really get them without asking questions, just from a musical point of view I think this is somewhere where I can explore and I'm still working in progress, with this experimental. And now with Mike, we're including breath, which is primal. There's no sound without breath. And I learned the diaphragmatic classical way of breathing, but he knows many different styles of breathing, which I'm now applying to my own singing. And it's allowing me to get even more deep into the subconscious.

Krista:

Yeah, the session was incredible but also grounded, unexpected in places. I'd never experienced anything like it. How did you guys come up with the idea and are you still creating it? is each session fluid where you just see where it takes you? Tell us about your experience combining your talents.

Mike:

I can tell him my side. I just remember we both had very common interests. We were both very fascinated about the same worlds. And when we started talking and discussing some of these things, we were doing some trading of her showing me how to open up the voice and use different parts of the body to open up the vocal cords. And then I was showing her breath work, like different things that I've been using to create the same feeling or sensation, but to alleviate something or to feel something or to welcome in some sort of Clearing process. So combined, we're naturally organically started to experiment. Yeah, it's been a real playground of experimenting what opens up certain parts and how do we connect this to other elements that could be out of alignment and how can we formulate it in a way that's really specific.

Krista:

And when you say open up, that is an opportunity to release, correct? Or actually receive as well?

Mike:

For sure. I think, you have to make space to receive. I think there is like a certain either clearing or opening process to actually welcome in something. How do you feel about that?

Julia:

Yes. I think you must be open to Tapping to people's energies as well. If they're confronting their own shadow. Maybe sometimes you can add even more of that shadow through sound and precaution because he's a wonderful precautionist. There's also another wonderful mix between sound and rhythm, which he would be more grounded earth element, and I would be more water and air. That really helps diving into these subconsciences, There must be a synergy of, communication receiving and given, and also intuition how much you should go there and when to stop and release and be gentle, especially when you don't know the person, if it's someone that you work for the first time.

Krista:

Yeah, that's a really good point. Cause some of the sounds you were making were really confronting, but it was meeting, parts of me that needed that connection, even if it didn't feel good, it was incredibly impactful and purposeful because we don't always reach for those parts of ourselves that don't feel good. If ever. Mike, just for context, I'd love to get a bit of your background. Tell me about your experience with breathwork, how you came about it, how long have you been teaching it?

Mike:

Yeah started out doing yoga very early on and that was like my entry point for Any form of breath work that was connected to mindful breathing. I have been about over a decade working with different practitioners, I've studied with Wim Hof, with Laird Hamilton, with XPT. I've done many different kind of experimental, more holotropic, more Stanislav Grof and like the whole. the whole crew. I've invited everybody's perspective as far as like, how do we breathe and how do we pinpoint certain experiences and altered states of consciousness through breath, but also physiologically, how are we functionally breathing or how can we use the breath to change our state in a sense? So, um, yeah, it's been just over time and just with practice and, uh, I love surfing. So breath is very important as far as that is involved. It's always been inspired by, some sort of functional use, but I found the deeper I went with breath and the more longer journeys that I took with it, the more it opened up just getting high on my own supply and not needing external things to get to be to a certain place. And so that was the. The journey that got me to this point. And then with the vocal aspect to just as this whole other dimension to it, where it's using frequency and sound to access parts that may be dormant, that the breath can't always send life energy to. So,

Krista:

Yeah, it's amazing how something that we take for granted possesses so much wealth and health and even magic. There's so much in our breath that is undiscovered. It's really interesting, the work that you're doing and Julia, before we move on, I'd love to understand. So you trained as an opera singer in Spain, in Europe,

Julia:

In Spain, in, in Boston, New England Conservatory. I did my bachelor's degree. And then I did my master's degree at Cardiff university in Wales. And then I was doing different productions for young artists programs in all around Europe. Yeah, that was pretty much what I was doing for until I was around 28. Then I started working for different agencies for corporate events to concerts with a quartet, string quartets as well. I was doing oratorio, which is more sacred music as well. So I went through different phases. Traveling around exploring different styles, like between German opera, French opera, Sarzuela, which is the small genre of Spanish opera. So yeah, it was a journey for me on many levels.

Krista:

Gina, tell us a bit about your background and experience. I'd love to know what kinds of readings or healings you've had before just to give us context in terms of what you were coming in with.

Gina:

I would say I wasn't coming in with a ton. I had done, probably a few breathwork sessions And, they were much more subtle than what we experienced And then I did take a course of holotropic breath work and working on that myself and bringing that to clients. So as far as readings, you mean like intuitive readings or.

Krista:

Sure. So I consider this more of a metaphysical practice. Certainly working with energy and you're opening up to something that you can't really see. So in that realm, what other things have you done or did you have any apprehension or expectations coming into this?

Gina:

Yeah, great question. I think that I just had a lot of excitement because I was really in a, I think I said this when we were meeting, I was in a really funky sort of stuck space. So I knew that Breathwork was really going to open me up. My main emotions going into it were excitement and and I think any deep dive that I've done, it's that surrender into, you don't know how you're going to respond. But this is like what I live for is stepping into these unknown spaces where you just don't know emotionally what's going to come up and what's going to be shown. So yeah, I was blown away with you guys.

Krista:

Mike and Julia for someone that's never experienced breath work, how would you describe it? What is it? And what is its purpose? Fundamentally,

Mike:

for me, it's a bit of a palate cleanser as far as like our emotional debris that we may have still residing within us. I think it's really one of those things that really does help reset and whether you're feeling or coping with something at the moment, it gives you a little bit of space to look at it with a little more depth or clarity or have a wider. Like peripheral gaze as to what is actually important or what needs to focus. For me, breath and the way that we kind of work with it has been that to create a space that is welcoming and inviting for that type of release and ability to go into the things that are uncomfortable to help get through that whole idea of on the other side of that type of emotion is some sort of euphoric bliss.

Julia:

Yeah, I would even consider as a daily emotional hygiene, and use your voice to communicate and to teach people. Cause there's a lot of people that don't use their voice for anything and how to become more familiar with this. I always invite people in the sessions to sing along with me to use the voice because we're all singers. We all know how to sing. It's such a primal thing is one of the most primal things. And we have this judgment whether it should be pretty sounds or not pretty sounds, there's no such thing, we all have a voice and we should all be able to use it for different purposes, emotional purposes, communication. So I think I consider this as emotional hygiene. And if we could do this on a regular basis, I think our life would really change on many levels.

Krista:

I think the world would change. And I think it's no accident that your throat chakra is your truth, right?

Julia:

Absolutely.

Krista:

It's a way to express your truth instead of hiding your truth or denying your truth. Yeah, I like the way you say that though, Julia. That's It's powerful.

El:

I always tell clients that, especially whatever I teach vocal toning, that your voice is the most intimate experience of sound that you have. It, it really is because otherwise sound is always coming from an external source, but to hear it coming from an internal source and actually resonating your body centers, your energy centers. Because your head is basically a speaker. Nobody else hears your voice and experiences your voice the way that you do. That's one reason why it's weird to hear a recording of yourself because you're missing all that additional resonance that happens in your head that you don't hear when it's recorded and played back to you. So, Encouraging clients to participate in that with you can be super transformational.

Julia:

absolutely. Yes.

Krista:

Yeah. I had no idea that Sound and toning and singing and all of that frequency could impact me in that way. That sound really took me. It was wild. It was wild to allow it to take me to feel it take me. I learned a lot about what we can do with our own bodies using breath and tone and sound and movement and all of it. I think that so much of what we can do and who we are is Undiscovered,

El:

it's a really powerful way to extract emotion using your voice to latch on to aspects of energy or emotion and then express it and release it and going back to this concept of your voice is the most intimate experience of sound and vibration that you'll feel because you're creating it inside of you. So then To grab on to something, dislodge it using your voice. Grab onto it, whether it's a concept or energy, anxiety, can be super powerful.

Mike:

Absolutely.

Krista:

Funny when you say that, I remember. Immediately that I coach people to use tone and sound in breathwork sessions in grounding sessions so that they can, use it as a tool is a vehicle to release energy. What I think I wasn't aware of is how someone else's tone and sound can do that for us to. But how did I not know that? I mean, That's what music is and that's what, singing along to the radio is that's what, crying is. Yeah, it just it, this experience opened me up. To a completely different level of understanding of it or understanding of the power of it. I would say how effective it is. It's far more complex than I gave it credit for. Gina, I would love for you to tell us about your experience bring us into your world.

Gina:

I giggle because I know that you and I have been, sending each other voice memos, both from Our immediate experience of it and then what has unfolded post session. I would say I felt the biggest emotional release that I had in such a long time. And I would say the level of intuition pouring through me. Just felt crystal clear about the direction I needed to head in my life, where I need to be living my relationship with my son. It was just so much. I was like, okay, ding ding. The next day I went surfing and I swear I was almost like borderline. I don't want to use the word manic because that kind of puts a little bit of a negative connotation, but I was. Just like one of my girlfriends, we had a tea after and she was like, what did you, what did these people do? You are just, and I was like, I've got everything sorted and blah, and I was just like, and she was sitting there and she's you really Gina seem so, and I'm like, yep, and I think I'm going to be living half the year in Mexico and I'm going to spend the rest in Ojai. So fast forward to where I am now. This is a vulnerable, honest, where I'm like, am I allowed to swear on this show? No. Okay. No. Some people actually, it's really, it's a thing. There's Oh yeah. Yeah. You

El:

can totally swear on this show.

Gina:

Okay. What the fuck? That space of that, it was the most euphoric 24 hours that I think I've had outside of doing some like medicinal stuff or drugs in my past. And now I'm just bumping up against Lots of shadow, stuck material, relational patterns in my relationship. I feel like, I don't know if you guys, you probably witnessed me, I was shaking on such a level when we were doing it, That, and you probably both could speak to this more. For me, it felt like this insane kind of Kundalini rising or something. That, yeah, I felt like it blasted my world a little bit. And and I don't say this with any negative connotation. I say this with just like things that I've needed to face with my partner or, who I am as a mother. And even though all those very crystal clear intuitions came through, I assumed all of that was going to be easy, and I assumed that I was just like, yeah, I've got the clear direction, but now I'm like really facing I'm just facing a lot is what I want to say.

Krista:

Yeah, that it opens you up and now you're facing the obstacles that are in your way to get to that place became crystal clear. It gives you access to all of it. But in all of it, there are barriers and limitations and beliefs and behaviors. So it's regulating and moving through. But I think what a gift to see all of it. The good and the bad. What's not allowing you full access. Full liberation, let's say, does that feel true?

Gina:

It's very true and very well said what you just shared because I feel like, all the things that I felt, whether it was my own podcast and these certain things that I was like yes. And then, when you go back to your normal daily life. And bump up against your wounded parts, your shadow material. It's these things where it's okay, Jean, are you really going to, lovingly hold, but face this stuff so that you can move through to these other spaces that were very clear. So it was almost like I don't want to say this. The experience for me was like Candyland. It was just like, yes, and then now I'm, yeah, in a scary ride. No that's a dramatic, it's You're in a real ride. I'm on a real ride. Not scary. That wasn't the right word, but I'm on a real ride with my life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It reminds me quickly. I had an experience where wild dolphins sonar my heart and blasted it open. And I immediately burst into tears and my heart was so open and I was in the highest state of bliss and love I've ever experienced. But in opening my heart, everything that I had suppressed, like all the pain in my heart came up, like the next day, I was like, Oh, there's this too. And I've got to deal with this. It allows you access to, the most magnificent realms that we as humans can a cane, there's the contrary, right? There's the pendulum swing to the other side as well, which is also magic. I always say our one job on this planet is to feel our feelings good and bad. And we live in a culture that gives us, a gazillion opportunities to distract ourselves and not feel. So yeah. Yeah.

Mike:

Gravity tends to take effect. Like even though you can fly up really high, it's like there's something that does, there's a density that comes in that wants to ground us again, too. And sometimes that can be a pattern that can be like a, some sort of emotional thing that we're going through, or just. I don't know. I think it's our ability to confront it with a new perspective, or even like knowing that higher that, that peak state is also still available on as we're moving through these different things.

Krista:

That's why we move through the deeper things to get to that place. I think we lose perspective when we're in the heavy or the shadow of like, this is it. This is my life. This is all I've got and forget that we're processing to alleviate so that we can really raise our vibration, our frequency, our existence into a more blissful state.

Mike:

Absolutely. It's like the small self thinks and the true self knows. The things that we think about and the things that we ruminate with and keep us in the mind and not really truly in our hearts or truly in our sensing body, where I feel like the gnosis and the real intuition and the wisdom resides. I think it's a tug of war, we're constantly have to play that game of who's in control here? I think breathwork takes you to that state that gives you a little bit more alleviation from the heaviness and the knowing that is really within you that is like This is true for me and I feel this now and it's whether it's going to take you on a different path or not It's one of those things that helps Give a moment of clarity and whether or not it sticks and takes, we'll see. but I hope it absolutely does keep unfolding.

Gina:

I hope I'm still moving to Mexico. Yeah. To your point, Mike, I think that my small self started to go into this space of questioning, like questioning were those really like real intuition? Was that just this false, totally, otherworldly. And then I was like, wait a second what, and I had to really check myself and that small self creating that story of maybe those weren't really real things and you were creating some story of this, like magnificent, you know, but I've watched a lot of my clients who go deep into ceremony, and have really intense euphoric, you know, are dancing in other realms and other dimensions and then have to come back and have to integrate and ground and, really find where does the information apply in this. In this physical realm and in this experience in our life and, I was shocked that the breath work and, Julia's voice really took me there was, yeah.

Krista:

So, powerful. I was with you in the session and had my own experience of it felt like there was angelic presence, and I don't go to angels that's not my go to. So to say that for me is. and It was the most loving and benevolent mother. Angel energy came in and held me and allowed me to, I'm going to cry, allowed me to, huh, interesting um, allowed me to be healed in a way that I obviously really needed, but it was so unexpected. It was such a journey. It was like a plant medicine journey. It took me all these places. And then sometimes when you were toning, I was like, I couldn't, it was so confronting and you were singing, right? That's so incredible to me that you have that ability through your voice, through your body, and I consider what you were doing and we had a conversation about it that we should open up now, but that you were channeling something.

I don't know what this song is about, but please do it.

Mike:

Starting to bring your awareness back into the room back into this moment, knowing that whatever came through today was exactly right for this moment, for this day, no more, no less, just allowing it to be without judgment, without it having to be a certain way, but just accepting and allowing Trusting that everything right now is in its perfect place, in its perfect order. Bringing yourself back, and when you're ready, without rushing, coming up to a seated position. At your own pace, slowly and gently.

Krista:

Hi. Hi. Welcome back. Wow. How

Julia:

was it?

Gina:

I've done some breath work before, but nothing quite like that. That was Yeah. That was incredible. Thank you guys. I felt an immense amount of gratitude and to you, Krista, for having me join. So incredible. Wow. Yeah.

Julia:

Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for being up for this. That's great. So special.

Gina:

I don't know about Krista, but I feel like it hit all the points. Like I felt like when I was like really like in the arc, as you were describing, it was. Yeah. The music was beautiful.

Krista:

Yeah.

Gina:

I feel

Krista:

like If I start talking, I'm going to cry. Yeah. Um, Julia, I mean, you're not human. Yes. There were moments. I don't love, I don't know if I can put into words, but I was held with such a like pure feminine motherly healing Yeah. I, I, I, I, I can't, I don't know if words can express, but it was incredible. And thank you.

Julia:

Thank you. I felt really, you were very receptive. Yeah. I felt it really the receptivity. That's why there was receivers, resp, reciprocated, yeah.

Mm-Hmm.

Julia:

Yeah.

Krista:

Would love to understand your experience as the practitioner. What are you feeling? What are you looking for? What are you honing in on in terms of how you're holding space for the client? Because I had my own wild experience. Gina had her own wild experience was very separate. So how do you navigate that for both of you as practitioners?

Julia:

I think we've, we start by creating a, an atmosphere, making everybody comfortable through breath. We stabilize everybody. And then for me, he provides the rhythm. Rhythmic pattern that gets me on a trance. I start getting a certain type of euphoria which is good, but again, you see this, we play with this duality and I start really sensing you. He really keeps me grounding because I think he's more earth element and more air. So I need that type of groundness that it's safe because I have this tendency of going very much with the energy of the room and there has to be a sort of a Space, you know a safe space between I'm here and There so because I need to really being charged in control of the situation

Krista:

Exactly. And you're taking the room somewhere, so you can't be too of the room. Correct. Yeah.

Julia:

So breath provides the stability and sound allows you and enables you to take you into this insinuating space. Sound frequency that enables us to, whether you're in a state where maybe I feel we need to go deeper there and then back and also playing because everybody, as you say, is experiencing different journeys, different emotional journeys. Yeah. Dancing. But even if everybody's experiencing, I always sense this, even if everybody's going through their own journey, there's always a general energy within the room. Yeah. It's like a synchronicity between everybody.

Krista:

What does that feel like? How would you describe that? Is it like a kind of a pitch or a level.

Mike:

It's like a temperature change. Yes. If we're like in water, it feels like when you're swimming in the ocean, it's oh, that's warm all of a sudden. Like what? It feels almost like that. It's very interesting.

Krista:

That's a beautiful way to describe it.

Julia:

Sometimes we go with everybody. We need to release we do a lot of release cleanse keeping focused with our breath as well. That the breath really keeps us sane and, staying there. And then the sound is what is driving us where we want to go. And if maybe we need to switch between one, one energy to another. That's where sound takes us also with with percussion, with different rhythmic patterns and different instruments. If we need to alleviate, if we need some sort of water and refreshment, you use other instruments to, to change the the color the color of the room the temperature of the energy. And I also, there's really, there's an intuition. How much you can push and when you should hold back and push back and say, Okay, that's enough. It's about being gentle and not so gentle sometimes, and the duality and the beauty of sadness and trauma as well. There's a, people with their movement, like Gina, we saw you, you were so beautiful. Your body was a wave. Your breath, your body was so synchronized that allowed me that inspired me as well. So I'm not just on a healing point of view, but on a musical point of view. So there's a symphony occurring, not just on a healing point of view, but on the musical point of view. That inspires me to go somewhere where, I don't know, where I stop using this and something channels in the room and something is guiding us, all of us. So it's not just us, it's all of us, guiding this.

Mike:

It isn't interesting because we have a structure for sure. There is this journey in the arc and there's like points that we know we're going to hit, but it's very like jazz. It's always different. We're always going to be playing it slightly unique to whatever the room is asking for, it's wildly different every time.

Julia:

We learned so much from each session.

Krista:

I'm sure. How do you prepare for each session to allow yourself to be open and fluid, but also to create a protection for your energy? How do you prepare? How do you step into each session?

Mike:

We do a lot of grounding techniques time in nature meditating. Usually in the space, I would open up the directions and Colin support and we ask all the ancestors from different lineages different parts that we've all. Inherited it's welcoming them in to help heal and alleviate any pains or traumas that maybe we have on from them. And what can we learn and what can we gain? And how can we like walk in a good way with this information? So for me, like connecting to those forces and elements really helped me ground. As much as I can be an anchor for the group, that's really what I do to really focus my energy. But it's a little different for you. You have a little more warming your tones. Yes.

Julia:

I vocally warm up, obviously from a vocal point of view, there's warming up. I try to also do breathing exercises to really warm up all the core, because sometimes it's very intense vocal sessions of one hour, almost nonstop. I need to take breaks where he really helps me grounding again through breath because the tendency with me is to really go and take off and I really need this grounding moments to, go back and reset, so I can be in better, better service for everybody.

Krista:

Beautiful. And you have us at the beginning of the session, we did some manual massage around our diaphragm, and then you had us warm up our voices as well. And I'd never experienced that in a breathwork session before.

Julia:

This is a little warm up to activate our diaphragm, we're going to start massaging the muscles behind the rib cage, feeling them, unlocking any sort of tension we have there.

Mike:

If you follow the sternum right under the breastbone and you go under the ribs between the ribs and the abdomen, you can get into those tight spots, give yourself a little massage. As you exhale, you'll be able to create a little more space. You feel how that expands. Sidewise. Focusing on belly breathing deep down into the lower diaphragm, creating more space in the spine and the side body.

Julia:

Now we're going to activate our vocal, head resonance through different exercises. The first one will be through a hum. We start with four takes in, they're gonna be like short, quick inhales. And then we're gonna pause and then we're gonna do the

hum. Which is hum. So we hear this buzzing kind of sound. That helps us, being familiar with the head resonance.

Julia:

So we'll exhale all the way out.

Mike:

Inhale for five, one,

Julia:

hold it.

Mike:

Mm. Pause. Inhale for 5 1 2.

Julia:

Now with the mouth open, we're going to hum as well, making an NG sound like, We're going to use

the root of the tongue against the soft palate.

Julia:

Inhale again for five. 1, 2, 3, 4. Five. Hold.

We're gonna do it again The next exercise, we're going to try to release through a, I call it upwards and downwards siren. So we're going to try to get the resonance of the voice, the high resonance in the third eye through a nym nym. Very tiny sound. So we take a breath. Near, near, near, near, near, near, near, near.

Mike:

This should open up some of the pineal gland. Some of the third eye should activate, feel the vibration.

Just starting really small very small in order to really get the vibration and the placement of the the third eye, this is where exactly the resonance point of the sound starts. So it's like a threading, like a needle thread, and then it expands. That's how you get to hit the right resonance for any sound that you're going to make whenever we use our voice.

Julia:

Mostly just to warm the body up, get yourself acclimated, calm the nervous system also. It's a little bit activating but it also gives you an understanding of how the different breath and the sounds can maybe open different things and unlock parts of you. And so throughout the whole breath work, there is an opportunity and invitation to just explore that. Let this be a playground. And see if certain forms of toning or sounds can allow something new to appear or to release. Because each one of these particular sounds and shapes that we're making with the mouth, access different parts of the chakra systems and the frequency allows for more space to heal. I think it's very important on a vocal point of view, if you're going to use your voice throughout the session to be more open to it to have the throat chakra more open. And as I always say, I invite everybody to join me through singing and I've experienced that the people that join me, they use my voice to link to my voice. Their voice with mine, Some clients have told me, I felt your voice in my voice, and the things that I couldn't express, I could express through you as well. I really invite people to always use the voice in the sessions. I think it's crucial cause breath takes you on a very subconscious level very, very deep. But if you combine that with sound It takes you to even a deeper level.

Krista:

It's as if you're allowing us to piggyback or tack on to you as you take us higher. Yes, exactly.

Julia:

I want everybody to use my voice in order to Lift off with their own voice. As I even make more inviting sounds, not so pretty, I'm going to make nasty sounds. So everybody joins me, see, I don't need to sing pretty as when we say sing, I don't know, I should call it another name. So everybody would feel more welcome and be invited to join with their vocal cords.

Krista:

I think we live in a state of performance, right? We want to be accepted. We are people pleasers to some degree. And I think we all live. In some facet of performative life. So if I'm going to sing or make noise in the world or open myself up into the world, it's got to be acceptable. So doing the contrary and then, Seeing that, I'm safe and that's okay. It's just expression. I think that's so important, especially for women too. To be

Julia:

absolutely. Yes.

Krista:

Small or coquettish or demure or pretty is such a big thing.

Julia:

So getting rid of any form of. Mental judgment that we have is a daily hygiene, for, or your spiritual well being.

Krista:

I'd also extend that into that we all connect to source and spirit through a channel. We all have that wiring in us. People are more aware of it and practice it on a bigger level than others, but same kind of thing where other people have no awareness of it or don't think they can do it

Mike:

on top of that, the different resonance points and where the vibration is really most impactful with certain of the exercises that we shared. And that kind of builds on what Elle was saying how. We don't often hear our own voices and we're in these kind of chambers and music and vibration. I love the saying architecture is frozen music and it's like some of these vibrations and tones and frequencies help unlock parts and bring music or some sort of orchestration for the body to give movement and fluidity to these parts that are usually locked up and we only just have our one tone or we're just singing one note, but this helps open up the whole cathedral in a lot of ways.

Krista:

Beautiful. Gina, what do you think?

Gina:

I was actually just thinking about my girlfriend, Katie, who's very active, had a stroke within the last six months. And it was shocking to us and her obviously the most. So she recently wrote an article on how she. Re established a relationship with herself because she didn't really know who she was after the stroke so I, I said to her what were your top three things? And she said, number one was singing and this was a couple of days after our session, she said, singing, looking at pictures of when I was a child. And there was something else, but it all for me to what you were saying, Krista was like opening up her channel and her connection to source. It was so beautiful, but yes, so to all of this, I think that singing is incredibly impactful.

Krista:

what do you think the scope of breathwork is? What can it do for someone or why would someone practice it?

Mike:

Not everybody's a good fit for a lot of these things. It can be really unsettling or disruptive. Typically there is an intake form and we do make sure that people are in a good state to actually participate in these things. If someone is like on the edge or having a hard time coping This can amplify a lot of those things. If there is a certain trauma or something that hasn't been fully processed, it can put somebody into a retraumatized state that breath can actually trigger and they can relive those moments.

Krista:

Does that have to do with the central nervous system? Is it disregulating them in a way that then circulates a pattern of thinking that's overwhelming.

Mike:

Yeah, I think hyperventilating and what that does to the body and the mind. So what, when we do our practice, it's all through nasal breathing. We try to activate the parasympathetic nervous system that gets people more into a state, and they can be more in a calm state to process these things. It's usually not as activating if you're taking mouth inhales, which is during this the like fight or flight and getting people in a more aroused state. This is more of a subtle, a slow, gradual climb with the nasal breathing. But it, choose your own adventure. There's nothing wrong with doing the mouth breathing and going more of a activating breath. But the nasal breathing helps with that to help bring that kind of calm uplift. With anybody with any type of really hard to cope with trauma that they're trying to process, it has to be under really, Close care or something in person and breath work, I wouldn't say is the first place to start for sure. So it's like being able to sit with yourself, sit in contemplation and confront some of the hardest parts of ourselves is really important before going into a session that might just throw everything in your face and be very unsettling for somebody. But yeah, physically there are other contraindications, whether it's like kidney disease or anybody that's had detached retina or blood pressure, or cardiovascular disease or anything like that, there are things that it can be unhelpful for, but there are things that you can do that aren't what we practice that are still steps in the right direction or towards that, that just aren't as. intense, I would say.

Krista:

Gina, as a therapist, what are your thoughts? in terms of breathwork. I'm thinking breathwork would be in the same vein as plant medicine. Anything that takes you to an altered state can be incredibly dysregulating because you are journeying into parts unknown, parts in yourself. So Love to hear your thoughts on the mental component to this.

Gina:

I feel like Mike articulated it really well, I look at talk therapy as a container, and it's a limited container so we go to deeper things like the plant medicine or the breath work. To really access these spaces of deep trauma. Not that we can't access that in normal talk therapy, but that's also why I do things like EMDR and things that really access the body and the subconscious mind. I don't really like to stick to diagnoses or the DSM but maybe somebody with tendencies that might shoot somebody into a manic episode yeah, that would be my gut would be just to use with caution.

Krista:

It goes back to an earlier thought of there's. the experience of being in the intellect, and that's what a lot of talk therapy addresses, intellectualizing and understanding our traumas. But then this brings us into almost the home of the trauma. I believe our trauma lives in our body and our feelings. And so it's taking us into a different, space I think the, Intellect gives us the illusion of control. And in journeying into these spaces, we are actively releasing our Intellectual conception of control and surrendering. We're surrendering into parts unknown. And I think that can be incredibly dysregulating if someone doesn't feel like they have, solid ground or never established solid ground.

Mike:

But it reminds me of, I think it's MDAs for somebody. It's if you try to bring who you think you are into infinite consciousness, you're not gonna have a good time It's. That surrender, it is, it's like a full let go, a full send, that can be the heart of it.

Krista:

And that's incredibly scary.

Gina:

Yeah,

Krista:

This work certainly had a big impact on Gina and I it opened up things that I now have access to that I'm so grateful for. I think anytime we can pull back the curtain or change the lens, have you seen anything that you'd like to share with your work in terms of the impact it's had on your clients?

Mike:

Yeah. We've worked with a good range of people. Some people that were like confronting cancer diagnosis and really like deep grief and loss and

Julia:

grief and a lot of trauma really locked in their body. Some people really. Somatized to a level that, causes all these physical illnesses to people that feel trapped, feel they're not able to communicate to express things and they feel so subdued in a way and breath and voice really helps them on a subconscious level to really speak their truth. For artists that feel stack this is a great exercise to really reset on an artistic level.

Krista:

Yeah, any kind of artistic block to transcend and reconnect. That's beautiful. Tell us what clients actually come to you for, in addition to what you just mentioned. Why would clients seek you out?

Mike:

Yeah, I think it's a combination of curiosity to explore themselves deeper I think what we do is we provide the space and we play a certain part, but it's really for people to go in and become their own healer and really work through and come to their own inner knowings and sense making and self creation. We really do promote and try to help attract and be on that frequency of we're not here to heal anybody. We're here to create a space for you to explore and experiment with. Parts of yourself that may be dormant or be hindered by some sense of who you think you should be.

Julia:

Go back to their inner child, the playfulness of things where their true identity really emanates. And that we lose, as we grow and we experience different circumstances and events and traumas and life itself. But there's a personality that we form. And then there's our inner core identity that is to most of us. I speak for myself as well, dormant on many levels, because we think that's not allowed and accepted because we've got this sense of judgment. And to provide this safe space where you have the freedom to express on any level, on an emotional level, on an identity level as well, where we don't judge if that's accepted or not accepted by society.

Krista:

That just made me so happy to think of it in that context. That's so beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for that. Gina, I'd love to include you in this because I consider you a healer, If you could tell us all why you do the work you do what does it mean to you? What does it give to you?

Gina:

I think, if I'm to say this in the most succinct way possible, getting people back to their inner essence. I'm going to sound maybe rom dos y in just like bringing people back home. I think that's why I do what I do. And if I'm to go a little bit deeper into it, losing a mother to cancer at 17 and then really not understanding because there wasn't much language for grief in Western culture. And, as a teenager not understanding God, my emotions are so big. And. Navigating that territory for years yeah, just helping people walk through their pain, because as humans, we're going to experience in this incarnation suffering and pain and we try to avoid it at such deep levels, but yeah There is a part of me that I just really love the journey of just being with people in all moments and all spaces of their life and yeah, that's why I do what I do, We need to heal, the level of conflict, the level of aggression, and this tribal family system of where we're just not healed,

Krista:

Funny you say that. After this session, I said to all of you, what came through for me is that I've been fighting so much all my life. And I so got the message of, I don't have to fight anymore, but it didn't occur to me. I was in such a routine or a discipline even of everything's a fight. And I got this big wave of God, what if I don't fight? What if I don't have to fight? What if the fighting is over? But, you look at the landscape of our world and It's a fight everywhere, in every way, we're all fighting, mike and Julia, whoever would like to go first in terms of what this work means to you, why do you do it, what does it give it to you?

Julia:

To me, it's not a work, it's my identity it's my passion, it's my way of expression. And it's something that I always knew what I wanted to do. I remember before I was even able to speak, I would hear music and I would hear voices like singers. And I knew I could do that. I knew I could sing. I knew I could use my voice to express. So it was a very innate instinct for me. And I think if I could use this tool to help other people and to connect, which there's so much, I feel there's so much disconnection between us in the world. I don't think there's any other way for me. This is my little grain of sand, you know, towards not little, but

Krista:

okay. Beautifully done. Thank you.

Mike:

Uh, the question, what does this work mean to us? And what does it do for us?

Krista:

Why do you do this work? Um, what does it give to you? What does it mean to you?

Mike:

Yeah, I do this work just to continue exploring. One of our mutual friends calls himself an experienced beginner treating everything is he's just starting out. And I love that. And I think that's super humble. And I come to everything, every part of this work or anything that I approach I'm here to learn and I want to help other people and that feels good to selfishly, it feels good for me to help people. I'm here for that. And I really love just, it is music. It doesn't feel like work. It's definitely play and providing a space for people to open up and explore their own parts really is fulfilling, so it's a selfish endeavor.

Krista:

Having not much knowledge of what the session was going to be or what your work is, I now want to do it all over again. Now that I have experience of it and know more about it, I want to dig in deeper.

Julia:

Yes, that would be even a much more powerful experience.

Krista:

Yeah. So expect that phone call. As practitioners, as humans, as beautiful beings, what are your self care practices or your spiritual practices? how do you balance your energy and what kinds of things knock you out of alignment?

Gina:

For me, surfing is number one. But it's an interesting thing because I have to watch. I'm a bit of an addict with it. I think there's worse things that I could be addicted to than being in the ocean. But for me, It's been a practice ever since I went to grad school, just getting into the ocean. And I imagine, client's energy, anything that I've maybe picked up, I just imagine it dripping out. But yeah, the ocean for me is number one. The other big ones, obviously meditation. I chant, chanting is a really big one for me. What knocks me off? I would say in years prior, even a few glasses of wine, and I've gotten to a space at 42 years old now that I'm like, alcohol is not. So I would say that was something in the past that I could really feel like, Oh no, I can just have a glass of wine. And it really, would knock me off. And so I think another part of my self care is really honoring how sensitive I am. And I think any of us who do this work, we're sensitive for a reason. Yeah, I can be a little bit type A about how I'm taking care of my energy field and just my body. But that's what works. And when I fall off of that it's hard to show up for clients. So not sleeping for a year with my baby was, that'll be the last thing I say that threw me off big time. Just, really. Yeah. So I had to find other ways to ground in that space. Cause you're like in an alternate state. Yeah. So those are my things.

Krista:

Beautiful.

Julia:

We were discussing this, because we do tarot reading as well. And we were talking about the ethic and the the commitment towards clients, whether you're going to give a reading to feel committed to come from a neutral place where you're balanced on an emotional level. So you can have the presence to channel what comes because, if you're not in a healthy state on a spiritual level, on a mental level, on an emotional level, you're not going to be able to provide, whether if it's a acoustic breath session, tire breathing psychotherapy, any form of healing practice. I think there is a commitment and an ethical code that you should have to take care of yourself in order for you to be able to provide the best service you can possibly provide. Absolutely.

Mike:

What is that for you?

Julia:

Meditation, grounding. I need a lot of grounding. Emotions, sometimes can lift us. I need a lot of grounding, routine it's very crucial for me. Even if I'm here or there or traveling, I need some form of even silly routine. I like to write things I'm grateful for on a daily basis. And people I send my love to and more things I. wish, to the universe. And they're just little practices, that set me on a good vibrational state. And that, that helps setting the color of the day, especially in the morning. Beautiful.

Krista:

Yeah. I love a routine. I've always loved a routine and I can feel so it's a grounding technique for me. Mike, anything you'd like to share.

Mike:

Similar to Gina, I just love nature, being near the ocean, surfing. That helps me ground breath work, obviously. Movement, very important for me. I just need to stay physically active. Routines with that is really important. And doing art, my form of mindful meditation is just doing my painting and things like that. Things that knock me off balance are definitely Julia's emotions.

Yeah.

Krista:

Good work, Julia.

Julia:

I left him off. Yes.

Krista:

Yeah. Gina, have you seen Mike's artwork? No. Oh, my God. No. Take a look. It transcends or transforms you. You'll have a visceral experience just looking at it. You'll really love it. Surfer to surfer. I think you guys will have that connection. Yeah. this has been so beautiful. I'm just so grateful to all of you, such incredible individuals and seekers and healers and adventurers. Is there anything else that anyone would like to share?

Mike:

We're studying an online course so people can go through these. Different exercises and practices to help open up their voice and explore everything. Yeah, that'll be, that's coming soon. It'll be, by the time this is out, it'll be ready. So yeah, excited to share that and make it, more available to people. But yeah, we're also we're just equally as grateful for all of you and to make this possible. Absolutely. For the work that you're doing, we're just shining that light back at you. Thank you.

Julia:

Absolutely. Thank you so much.

Krista:

And then where can people find you?

Mike:

Animaventus. com is our website.

Krista:

And that'll be on our website and Gina I mentioned at the top of the show your podcast, but tell us a little bit about where we can find you and what you're working on.

Gina:

You can find me at Gina minority. com. Or people can find me on spaces between social media.

Krista:

All right guys. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you so much. This thank you. An honor and a pleasure. Yeah. Thank you guys.

Gina:

Very inspiring. Yeah. Hope to see you all in the flesh.

Krista:

Yes.

Soon.

Krista:

Yeah, soon. Yeah. Love you. Love you. Love you. Okay,

Love,

Krista:

love. Bye bye. Thank you. Thank you for joining us for this episode of The Beginner's Guide to the Third Eye. For more information about the show, visit our website Beginners guide to the third eye.com. For show inquiries, email us at Guide to the Third i@gmail.com and visit the shop page on our website to find many of the products suggested by our practitioners and participants. And if you would be so kind, please leave a review and follow us on your go to podcast platform as it helps build our audience. Thank you. See you soon.