Have you experienced trauma in the body? Do you know that the pain or achiness you have in the body doesn’t match the trauma? Sophia Wise One shares her experience and skills in learning how to release that pain.
Do not miss these highlights:
[4:37] Realizing that there was a rising disconnect between her spirituality and those in her life
[7:31] Suffering from pelvic pain in her 20s, Sophia started her journey into pelvic floor work
[8:50] Utilizing cranial sacral work to have deeper communication with your body
[13:44] Releasing the energy taken in from the people you are working on, utilizing shields and protection
[15:21] Her diagnosis of premenstrual dysphoric disorder and knowing it was an opportunity to heal that led to seek and combine different healing modalities
[25:02] A look into spider medicine and its affect on our vibrations
[29:01] A look into the process of restoring your body from the pelvic pain
[38:59] Resources on where to find information and seek assistance from practitioners
[45:37] Tips on how to communicate with your practitioner
About Our Guest:
Sophia Wise One is a Creative. Hearing the call of her own inner wisdom and the cries of humanity, she creates soulful solutions to the times. Pelvic pain and pain during sex is rampant and not talked about, Sophia knows because when hers started 7 years ago she felt very alone and under-resourced and has incredible access to western and holistic medicine. Turns out there are many, many things that can be done in your own home that can alleviate and clear the pain, shame, and blame out of your root.
Social Media & Website:
www.facebook.com/sophiawiseone
www.instagram.com/sophiawiseone
www.linkedin.com/in/sophiawiseone
Transcription of Episode #108:
Dr. Debra Muth 0:02
Welcome to Let’s Talk Wellness Now, I’m your host, Dr. Deb. This is where we talk about everything wellness, and learn to defy aging, and live our lives on our own terms.
Dr. Debra Muth 0:16
It is so great to be back here today with you guys and to be sharing with you, a amazing guest. Now I know that you guys are probably tired of hearing me say that because I say that on every show, right? Every single show I say the same thing that we have this amazing guest, but I’m so blessed to be able to interview some really great people on this show. And each week, I want to deliver for you more complete and better information so that you guys can be the people you want to be. And so you guys can have the same type of knowledge and access to things that I am so blessed to be able to do. So I am interviewing Sophy wise one today. She is an author, a keynote speaker, and yes, another fellow podcaster. And so what she is going to do, too, for us today is help us understand our inner wisdom, how this inner wisdom that we have, can actually create solutions for us how it can help reduce pain, how it can change the way our bodies function. So Sophie is a bodyworker and a spiritual healer. And for the last two decades, she has trained for over 20 years in health and wellness and spiritual work. And she’s seven years ago, she developed some pain which I’m going to let her tell her story on. And this took her to the root care of healing herself, and how this caused a significant transformational event in both physical mental and spiritual restoration in her life. So welcome, Sophie, I’m so happy to have you here today and I can’t wait for you to share your story with us.
Dr. Debra Muth 2:39
I’m Dr. Deb, founder of Serenity Healthcare Center. I want to thank you for joining our Let’s Talk Wellness Now Podcast. It has been such a pleasure to share our knowledge. With so many people. We are averaging about 25,000 downloads an episode. And that is amazing because it’s showing us how much people want to learn about health and wellness. Outside of the health care center, we have had the pleasure of changing lives for over 8500 clients, both men, women and their children. As a result of this, I have created serenity you and university Learning Center where you can access all of my knowledge that I have developed over 25 years of practice at your fingertips in an easy to find index library, you will have access to this dashboard 24 seven, it will be like having your own personal natural path at your beck and call anytime a day. I’d like to encourage you to check it out at Serenity view.com.
Dr. Debra Muth 3:54
Welcome to the show everybody. I am so delighted to have Sophie Wiseman with us today. And we’re going to talk about bodywork and spirituality. And we’re kind of just going to let whatever comes up comes up. But I want to introduce you to her because she has such an amazing background and a great story to share with us. So Sophie, welcome to the show.
Sophia Wiseman 4:16
Thank you. Um, I usually go by Sophia.
Dr. Debra Muth 4:20
Sophia. Okay, sorry.
Sophia Wiseman 4:22
No, I don’t actually mind I just Yeah, I don’t know just Yeah, I don’t really I like it actually when people call me Sophie, but it’s it’s just not usually how I go by it. So I oh my goodness. It’s like always that wonder it’s like we’re how do we get here? Where are we?So I was just a little bumpy, bumpkin, mystic baby. I remember a lot of my lives a lot of my experiences kind of in this world and in other worlds and I’ve had a lot of different experiences and perspectives on my spirituality in my life. And in my mid 20s I had a realization I was dating someone and we got in this And, and they said to me, they said to me, I don’t even know what grounded means, you know, like, you got to get grounded. You know, like, I don’t even know what that means. And we’ve been dating for like, three years, you know. And it was this massive awakening for me of like, Oh my gosh, like, if that isn’t connecting, then it’s not working. You know, like, I was like, this is not all this spiritual perspective, or knowledge or approach, if it’s disconnecting me from the people that are most important to me, like, I’m missing something. And so, so I started the practice that I’ve returned to a number of times over the years of just disengaging from my my frameworks, my dogma, my, what my understanding of what spirituality was, and I just really deepen into the practice of observation and awareness, and what is my life made up of. And so I’ve slowly over the years returned to many of the same beliefs that I had, as a younger being, but from a very different perspective. And the first one being, like, I don’t need to be right, like I came back around to them, because it was the experience that I saw. But I also know that like, I’m biased, and I’ll confirm whatever I believe anyway. And so I got really co creative about making sure that if I’m going to confirm what I believe, I want my beliefs to be kind and life giving and love giving, because in the end, who really knows, you know, so I like to share a little bit about that, just so it’s like, as we get in this inviting as I share stories, or share things like I don’t have a notion of like, this is definitely the end all be all, like, it’s not my job to know how the universe works for anyone else, or even for me. And so I got into I learned body work when I first cranial sacral a subtle bodywork technique, when I was in my early 20s, before I was 15, I learned craniosacral and I became a massage therapist at 19 and studied cooperative play and live action role playing foam swords in the park archetypical kind of mythical adventure stuff, and, and just kind of wove all that stuff together. And in my late 20s, I had an onset of pelvic pain. And it was excruciating. And I was really caught off guard, because at that point, I had been familiar with bodywork for over 20 years, and it was like, I had had hands everywhere, in my nose, and my ears and my mouth, like, like, kind of everywhere, like touching the back of my tibia. You know, like, it’s like fingers deep in places behind my scapula, you know, and, but there was this, like, four inches that were off limits. And I was like, This is painful, I had a partner at the time, and I was like, This is not their job, like, this is not, this is not their job. So I need help. And I reached out to a friend and, and, and she recommended this book to me. And I started a book club. And then I went and actually studied with the author, and then integrated that pelvic floor work with all the menstrual work, I didn’t even talk about that part. And then all this kind of other stuff to kind of just keep brewing and where I am right now today, as I join you all is in a deep a deep contemplation, a deep turning point of what it is that I have to share. Now, in this brew, I’m really watching my work change its shape right now. So I’m in a deep place of curiosity. So there was a little bit.
Dr. Debra Muth 8:33
That’s awesome. Thank you. So you use the term called cranial sacral work, which not very many people understand what that is. But it’s an amazing body work technique. Can you talk to about that a little bit? What it does, how you use it, that kind of thing?
Sophia Wiseman 8:50
Yeah, I can talk a little I can talk a little bit about it from like, you know, again, in a soft way. So kind of most commonly a cranial sacral technique through the upledger kind of lineage. I’ve only been trained in the kind of lower levels of it. So it goes deeper and deeper and wider and wider and expansive, but kind of on a on a basic level, if you think about the bones in the head, like the plates on the planet. And so our skull is actually made up of all of these multiple plates, and there’s these sutures, there’s these lines between them, and that our body has a rhythm that fills with fluid, the cerebral spinal fluid and it fills in the head and then it drains down the spine, and technically fills and drains are not actually anatomically totally accurate for what’s happening. But there’s this rhythm of expansion and contraction that happens in the skull and then down the spine into the sacrum and to this pulse that happens so it’s this fluid, energetic bone and and this fascia, this tiny little That the like layers of fascia between the plates. And so cranial sacral is a very gentle, sometimes they talk about like the weight of a nickel, like just like very, very, very gentle technique that is largely about bringing just enough awareness to allow the body to reregulate create space and optimize its rhythm. So it’s very potent, and often with cranial sacral, people will have a session, and they either just pass out, it’s very similar to like Reiki in that way, or even sometimes acupuncture, you kind of get on, and you like, get the session, and then you and then at the end of it, you’re like, Oh, I wonder if anything happened. And then you stand up, and you’re like Whoa! what’s happening, or you go to talk, and you’re like, I’m talking very slowly, like what’s happening. So, sometimes it can be very kind of dramatic and expansive. Seeing colors, deep meditative states, emotional releases, can be powerful in that way. And also, it can be very, very deep relaxation, parasympathetic nervous system, you know, helping release, or like reset after traumatic experiences, you know, the vagal nerve, like being able to kind of really engage those those systems of the body that optimize us for health. So it’s, it’s an approach that is very gentle, and it’s really, really good for neck, spine, head based things. And it doesn’t has a secret, you know, it has a style, like it has a technique has certain places where you hold the head in a certain way and do a thing. But a lot of the practitioners that you’ll that have been practicing for a long time will speak. Often, it’s one of those things that it can kind of really become poetry talking about that deep, subtle listening and talking, communicating with the body. And I think that’s one of the reasons why I name it as one of the first formal trainings that I received was, when I first started to train my hands. The first technique I learned was about observing, listening, and being in deeper presence with what the body was doing, as opposed to manipulation or like pushing the body around.
Dr. Debra Muth 12:12
That’s a great description, I love cranial sacral work. I love it when I find a massage therapist that just automatically incorporates it into their massage technique. And I’m one of those people that all of a sudden start feeling my head bouncing back and forth, like a like a ping pong ball going across my head. And in some, I won’t say that they’re good or bad. But some cranial therapists can actually feel that just like you can feel it, they can feel it too. So they have a sense of what’s going on. But they don’t have to necessarily feel it to know what’s going on, they don’t have to take on your stuff. One of the first experiences I had with cranial sacral work was when I first started into functional medicine, I had a great learning opportunity. And it was every time a patient came to me with this really bizarre symptom, I would adopt their symptom. And so before I knew it, I had 15 or 20 different symptoms that I knew didn’t belong to me. But I didn’t know how to release that. And I saw a cranial practitioner, and I said, you got to do something to me here. Like, I don’t mind taking on this and learning but I don’t want to walk around with all their stuff all the time. And I said, Can you block me? Can you do something? Can you lower the rate, I just do something. And she kind of looked at me from across the room and went hey I’m not so sure I could get so close to you. And I’m like, okay, just release all of it. And it was amazing. Like, by the time she was done, almost every symptom was gone. And I no longer had to experience everybody else’s stuff, in order to help them and it was so helpful for me as a practitioner, just to kind of let some of that stuff go after a while.
Sophia Wiseman 13:59
That’s amazing what that reminds me of, when I do teachings on people talk to me about like, energy possession, right, or taking on other people’s energy or entities, right, all these different things. And my kind of my principle teaching around that is although shields and protections, those things like exist, and they’re real, and they’re helpful. That the you’re you’re the kind of I don’t want to make it hierarchy, the way that I recommend and lead people through this process is, is inhabiting your own space so that there aren’t openings, something vacuous. You know, so, so the process of, you know, filling in and releasing out and so I just have this image of you kind of on the table, and all of these places where, you know, for whatever reason, you weren’t totally in that space. And so this energy resonated hooked in and stayed there and then when you cleared it, you came into yourself, I came into yourself in this way and that that radiance or that self presence or being yourself is absolutely your greatest and Energetic protection.
Dr. Debra Muth 15:01
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So you talked a little bit about an experience when you were younger with pelvic pain. And I’m assuming that that experience kind of transitioned you or led you down some of the paths that you were learning bodywork and spirituality. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?
Sophia Wiseman 15:21
Yeah, for me to really get in to that it’s kind of previous to the acute pelvic pain that I had in my late 20s is like, if we go farther back in time, we go, I was 19. And I had a mental breakdown. And I dropped out of college, and I went back home, and I took up a bunch of odd jobs. And I went back to see my absolutely fabulous therapist. And, and I was running these cycles that were incredibly painful. And she said to me, I think you might be bipolar, manic depressive. And I, I can’t diagnose you for that. But I want you to track your menstrual cycle. And I was like, Okay, and so I did for three cycles, I tracked my menstrual cycle. And I found that my rhythm of expansion contraction and write ups, my downs, everything down to my hiccups were entirely rhythmic. And that’s what I got the little handy dandy diagnosis of pmdd, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, which is like take PMS and like put it on, like, hyper accelerators. And that was it. So I basically would kind of run these massive, up and down cycles that would really kind of destroy my life, I would destroy my life, and then I’d take a couple weeks rebuilding it, and then I didn’t, then it would kind of get destroyed again. And that combined with my kind of my upbringing that was kind of in that alternate TiVo hippie creative world, I was already exposed to the practice of red tenting. So menstrual sacred practices or moon Lodge and creating a sacred space where you were you menstrate. And so I had this other piece where I I fundamentally understood that if my body was out of balance, it was, it was an opportunity for healing. It was a gift. So I had this practice of the red tent, I had this fundamental belief that my body was not against me, but trying to tell me something. And I had this diagnosis that was absolutely wrecking my life, it completely took derailed me from my, like, studying Theatre in New York City, you know, like, it was just like, Nope, I was not what was happening. And I began to very intentionally reconnect to my body and my womb, and my vagina and my vulva and kind of work my way into that space. And so I started to have a very strong connection with my menstrual blood. And so I continued down the bodywork kind of world in that I was trained in New York, which is 1000 hour training program, which a couple states have that, but that’s almost double what most states require. In some states, it’s like, way more, so I had a lot of various bodywork techniques that I came out of, in that time. And when my pelvic pain hit, again, I was inside this practice of like, deeply listening to my body. And I kind of tried to, I remember having this like, I mean, it’s like, really, it was like us. It’s like, when people talk about having like their neck go into spasm, or their calf go into spasm. It was my pelvic floor, my vagina went into spasm. I was in a hotel, I was on a road trip with my best friend and my partner at the time, and I was in excruciating pain. And I sat there and I was like, Okay, well, like, let me like, put a finger it’s like, I’m a body worker. Let me see, you know, and I kind of went in there and just, it was so intense. It was just the pain was just so intense. And I was like, I can’t do this alone. Like, I just can’t do this alone. And, and so yeah, so it was it was it that that was I gathered. A couple years before that I had gone through a deep apprenticeship with my Reiki teacher, I took about three years for me to get my Reiki Master Teacher Training, because it did long form like regular, deep, long form study with her. And so I kind of had all of these various tools and, and then I went and learned Tammy Lynn Kent’s holistic public care technique. And, and then I began to bridge that technique with all of my other techniques. And that’s been a very powerful process of kind of understanding. I have this perspective of this understanding that, that our body and our life wants to be a sanctuary, a safe place for our soul for our sacredness, and so all the things that are like torn asunder, wrecked, you know, alarms, sounding, they are indicators that we’ve lost touch that there isn’t space for our soul to be there. And so what kind of everything, all my bodywork techniques, all my energy techniques like all of these things really became about how can I support myself or how can I support my client or my student to create a space and a connection in their being where it feels like it’s disconnection and pain and loss, when that’s actually the doorway to come home to themselves. That, that when they come in, when I come in I when I come into that space, and that most of the time, when we come in, there’s information and there’s a request. And it’s about living a different kind of life where my soul can stay those big places, you know, I had one after years and years and years of doing deep work with this pelvic floor stuff, and the pain was not letting go. And I did a session in the full moon in a bath on myself. And I heard this little voice that just said like, I can’t remember the exact quote. Now that’s funny, but it was like three words, it was like, I want out, like I want out. And my wife and I at the time were separated, and we were contemplating a divorce. And it was it was this quiet voice and I was like you’re not going to you’re not going to let go to light, literally and living a different life like that you are sounding that alarm. So I don’t think that’s really the question you asked me. But that’s what came up when you asked me a question
Dr. Debra Muth 22:05
I love that. So do you find oftentimes as a body worker, that some of the physical manifestations that we’re feeling or presenting with such as like neck pain, or muscle pain in the leg or whatever? Those are not always true physical traumas or spasms from something that we did physically, it can be an emotional trauma or an emotional thing that we haven’t worked through, correct?
Sophia Wiseman 22:35
Yeah. So one of my favorite teachings from a meditation teacher who’s like an underground meditation teacher, and I was like, go to try to track him down. And I’m like, he doesn’t have any books doesn’t have a website, it’s been around for like 40 years or so his name is Robert Kest. If you ever see him around, go for it, go hear him speak powerful teacher presence. And now that I say that I’m like, I should probably that probably now i don’t think I haven’t looked in five years. But anyway, remember, kids teaches that the mind is not over the body, that that they are facets of the same being. And the more I took in that teaching, the more I really understood, like, if you take a if you take anything and you look at it from one perspective, like you look at the palm of your hand, it looks one way. But if you turn your hand, and you’re looking at the side of your hand, it looks completely different. But you’re looking at the same thing, if you turn your head over and looking at the back of your hand. And imagine if you’re really close up looking at the back of your hand, or you’re looking really close up, I mean, the texture, the skin, the shape, the lines, they’re totally different landscapes, but you’re looking at the same thing. And so, when we look at our body, from that perspective, then our mind is one perspective, our emotions, our perspective, our spirit as a perspective, our body as a perspective, and they are all tell you’re all looking at the same thing. And what’s radical about that is that when you get injured, you know, whether it’s repetitive, or one big instance, that changes the shape from one perspective, it’s changed the shape, from all the other perspectives as well. And so when we have a huge physical injury that affects our emotional body that affects our mental body that affects those things, you know, but the magic of it is that it works the same in the healing perspective as well. That if you heal and work with the physical body, and that physical body changes shape, then that mental body is changing shape, that emotional body is changing, that spiritual body is changing shape. And one of the spiritual perspectives that I talked about is you can use vibration to shift physical form. And when we change that vibration inside of ourselves, we’re also changing that vibration that we’re putting out into the universe, right to right, because it’s a continuum. I mean, this is the point it’s like soup. It’s like this. You want to know what I’m really up to these days. For the past couple years, I’ve been really working in deep spider medicine. So the spider, one of the teachings that came to me is that the this is like a, this is like a playful one, which is like the lion may be king of the jungle, but the queen, spider is Queen of the cosmos. And so that spider medicine is about weaving consciousness and unweaving consciousness, it’s this thread, it’s also goes into kind of quantum field notion, this idea of, you know, string theory or whatever this kind of that, that it’s not just vibration happening in a vacuum, that it’s this network, that it’s this vibration, it’s these, these tunnels, these forms and so understanding that when we shift our vibration, that’s never happening in isolation, that’s always happening in relationship to the physical world that we’re interacting with, to our internal mental, emotional, biochemical hormonal, as though our hormonal world is an art chemical, like our body where it’s like, our emotions, our hormones, things running through the body, you know, through, you know, and so and we can shift those that we can break down those hormones through vibration, literally just vibration, light passing through us, we’ll break it down, or our organs can digest and break down those hormones, or we can cry them out, because let them go, they come out, or tears that come out, or spit that come out or come like, you know, that they just they they move that they can break down and be released. And this is this is the same thing that we can do with our own energy, or they can keep their form and be let go from where they are inside us. And then they’ll continue to release their form. You know, I mean, that’s what happens if we don’t, if we don’t, that’s one of the wild things about creation, it’s like, if we don’t continue to support intend the things that have form, then then then the nature of existence is vibration and expansion, which means break down, you have what was, you know,
Dr. Debra Muth 26:56
So powerful, so powerful. So, you know, a lot of women suffer from various pelvic pain. And yeah, we’re just told that it’s normal, you know, normal , PMS is normal, right? Right. Now. And, and it’s really not, you know, periods aren’t meant to be painful. They’re not meant to be crazy times in our lives. We’re not meant to be craving things during our menstrual cycle, or just prior to that we’re not meant to have these horrible migraines that lastethe entire week of our period or half the month. So can you talk about some of the things women can do to start to identify what’s going on on a different level for them with these things?
Sophia Wiseman 27:43
Yeah, absolutely. I think the place that I like to start here is like, the first thing I just want to say anyone who’s like leaning in, because you are have suffered from pelvic pain is just like, I love you. Like, I know what it is to feel betrayed and confused by this part of the body that we’ve been told is just meant to bring us so much pleasure. And we should feel you know, culturally feel ashamed about it. But like, we know, we’re supposed to, like, have a good time and it the exact opposite. Like I just, I just appreciate that. And if I had a quick fix for you, I promise I would give it to you like, I promise I will give it to you. And truth be told in that vibrational field way, I have dedicated all of my healing to anyone else who is on this journey. And so I invite you, if you’re into that kind of thing to receive any of those blessings that may benefit you. Like, if any breakthrough I’ve ever had serves you like you’re you can have it you can have it now in its entirety and, and be healed in that. So that being said, I’m going to talk about this process, how it is that we restore, because that I think pelvic pain is so much more of a call to restoration, a call to reclaiming a call to coming home, a call to coming out coming into ourselves. And so so it’s it’s a it’s a journey. So I really understand that the body is symptoms are like a telephone ringing. And so the first thing you need to do is pick up the phone. And, and that means giving up denying it. Oh, no, I don’t hear phone ringing. There’s no phone ringing. There’s no problem here. That means giving up muting. You know, so if you if you know that you and I, I’m not saying you can’t, you know, take a pain reliever in some context or whatever. But if you’re if you’re constantly muting, and denying receiving your pain signals, you’re missing really important information. So if you are overall numbing, it’s very difficult to actually get access. So if you have an overall numbing practice Any kind of addiction working out or, you know, drugs or alcohol or relationship, codependence, you know, looking at that level of going, what kind of support Do you need to be able to not numb a little bit, take an edge of that so that you can feel because your feeling is going to give you the map, your feelings are going to give you the map to what you need and what you need to be doing. So for those of you who aren’t having extreme pelvic pain, maybe have a twinge or maybe you are concerned that it could happen, like I had a baby. And sometimes I things feel a little bit off, you know that there’s a range, okay, and so there’s things that we can do for optimizing our health, that’s gonna help if you’re hurting and is going to support you if you’re kind of already healthier in that in between if he zone. And the first thing is to learn how to touch yourself, and to touch yourself in a therapeutic way. And so whether that’s in the shower, or whether that is with some coconut oil, or a lubricant that you like working, and to my recommendation is that you get in a practice of having conversations with your body. So what I’m going to say is, if your body feels really good in that area, that I encourage you to start there, if you have a lot of pain there, this might be a really hard first step. And so I would invite you to start with a more meditative practice, I have a, I have a video series that is, for practices that you can do that are kind of help you get connected with your route that don’t involve you even like going inside your vagina. So for some people that can be really helpful, and I’ll be sure to share that with you all. And so you can do that in a more meditative way with a little twinge or something or even parts of your body that aren’t in pain, but that you can get connected with so holding your breasts or rubbing your ears and having a dialogue getting in this practice of just being kind of silly and playful, and having this dialogue. So getting some coconut oil, you know, being in the shower, and starting off the body and saying like, okay, body, like I want to touch you because I want to connect with you, like I’m here to connect to the point of this is, and it doesn’t have to take hours, though, you’re welcome to spend many, many hours, this can be five minutes, this could be two minutes could be 10 minutes, start off the body. And especially if anyone’s ever touched you when you didn’t want to be touched, it’s really important to ask yourself to feel for that and say, like, I would like to touch you, you know, I would like to touch you now and feel for that, like, I want to be touched like feel for that space. And placing your hand outside your route just like a palm palm to your pelvic fingers lying over your vulva, just holding, touching the edges of your vulva. And just really being in this affectionate greeting place and saying like, Hi, I’m here, I’m here. And usually just this alone will bring up feelings for people will bring up information because it’s a radical thing. The fact that we’re having this conversation and it could feel edgy is indicative that there’s stuff there, right. And so maybe this is easy. And that’s beautiful. And I love that and blessings on that. That’s the word, I’m going for it easy. And then again, asking yourself permission or telling yourself that you want to go inside listen for that, and placing your finger inside. And there is a couple of different directions you can go for this. If you’re just feeling like you really want to be more like emotionally or energetically connected, then just literally just doing sweeping and breathing, linking your breath to like inhaling. And then as you exhale, like running half a circle, and then inhaling and then running half a circle. So just making contact, just making contact and breathing with the in betweens, so that you can hear anything. And that hearing of things may not be like I say the word here, but I want to be really specific here, which is that when we get information from our body, when we pick up the phone, most of us it’s a language we don’t understand. So it’s like you’re literally picking up the phone talking to someone in another country in a foreign language. And you’re like, I really want to hear what you’re saying. But I have no idea what that means, like, Are you saying make a left? Are you saying my foods here, like I don’t even know what this message is about. So to recognize that you’re probably in the process of learning the language of your body. And so that’s why I say starting in places that are not super upset is like because you’re learning a new language. And so you may see colors, you may feel sensations rippling down your body, you may see images in your mind. You may think words you might want to talk and say things or make sounds or move your body. And so that is that’s this process of you know, discovering and learning this language. So All of the senses plus, we have more senses than we even kind of know or appropriately talk about in this culture. And so recognizing that, it’s going to be a combination of any of those, that you’re getting information. So I know this is a lot, I know this is a lot to kind of, like, throw on someone, but I feel like a bunch of you are like, okay, and if you can just take one piece of it, like, put your hand on your route over your pants, and take three breaths, do that for the next three weeks. You know, just start there, just start there and say I have permission, I have permission to touch myself, you know, and, and from there, what happens is, when we start to have that communication with our body, we will get the guidance on what our body needs. And it’s okay, if the message you get is I need help. And I need support, it’s very common that our roots because our roots have been wounded in isolation, their remedy is in community. Because the wounding is the isolation, the remedy is community is connection. So a practitioner or a group of people or a group of program, or reading, taking in new information, hearing other voices. Very, very complex, very common, very, very common. So that’s a lot of throw out there. But I think the thing that I want to end with is that one of the wild things about the vagina, the womb, the vulva root, in general, all the genitals, all the all the genitals, and they’re been there are many various forums are when we listen, like they’re not quiet organs or tissues, right, they run the show a lot, a lot of that they are, they were very communicative. And so. So once you start to bring your attention there, you’re going to get more information a lot of the time than you might expect. And so in that way, it can be easier to start there, than other places in your body that may feel more abstract like your, like your shoulders, or something, you know, the generals are like, I want this, I don’t want that, more of that less of that, you know, like, when you can kind of get into that. And playing with your sexuality or getting turned on and playing with that can be a really wonderful way to also learn some of that language with yourself. Like I promise you, there are places where you do understand the message, like I need to go to the bathroom, or slow down speed up a little to the left, right. So like there are places where you do know that and so I’m noticing those and giving validity to those messages, and then exploring and listening for other messages.
Dr. Debra Muth 37:35
I think that is such great information. Because so many times we think that we don’t understand our bodies are we don’t know. But if we just tune in, if we’ve not been listening to our bodies for a while, and we just tune in and listen to it, those messages will come. And probably the bigger challenge is now that you know what the message is. You have to verbalize that sometimes. And that can be a real challenge for people because it’s just such taboo in our society to ask for what we want, and be willing to accept what we want. It’s such a challenge.
Sophia Wiseman 38:13
It’s such a challenge and confusion is a powerful protective tool. Yeah, we use it’s very powerful, I don’t know, is incredibly protective. Because once we know, then what are we going to do about it? And so compassion and patience with ourselves, if you’re hitting a lot of I don’t know, energy, that I would say back up and ask yourself, what do you need to know? What do you need so that it’s safe for you to know? Yeah,
Dr. Debra Muth 38:41
Yeah, that’s so good. That’s good. So can you share a few resources with our listeners, if they want to discover more of this information, where maybe they can connect with practitioners connect with yourself? Where’s a good place for them to start?
Sophia Wiseman 38:59
Absolutely. So my teacher, Tammy Lynn Kent has a beautiful book, actually, she has a number of beautiful books, called Wild feminine. And the second chapter of that book are instructions on how to do pelvic floor session on yourself. And the rest of that book is just exercise after exercise that anyone can do that are completely, it’s literally a guide to transforming and healing your route. I mean, it’s just incredible if you it’s just like it’s just exercise after exercise of writing exercises or guided meditations or practices to do that are so so powerful, and she was a very kind of by the book PT. And then it’s the story as I understand it, she learned cranial sacral and took her cranial sacral approach to her pelvic floor clients. And they started talking, they started telling stories, and after working with 1000s 1000s of vaginas, and people there are some real patterns and so The patterns and the teachings and the lessons that are so shared, she’s put into her body of work. So that’s one place that I highly recommend.
Dr. Debra Muth 40:07
Yeah, I would tell you guys, I’ve read her books, and they’re amazing. You can even get them on Audible, but they are very, very, very high quality. So yeah, she’s, she’s ready. Oh, yeah,
Sophia Wiseman 40:20
Yeah, I love that. And then on her website, she has a directory of practitioners that are certified that have done clinicals and have come through. And then the other thing you can do is, you put in your area, whatever that is, you’re kind of larger area and put in holistic pelvic care. And just put that in a search engine. And if somebody who is trained, has that on their website, you’re going to be able to find them. Because there are a lot more practitioners than there are on her website. Those are people that have gone through her process to kind of get her stamping on their their website, which there are many, many more people. I am I talked about how my work is evolving right now. One of the things that’s brewing in me is I do small group, healings and ceremonial work, and that is just in the cooker right now. But if you want to stay informed around all of that, then going to my website, http://www.sophiawise one.com. And signing up for my newsletter is the best place to kind of get that information. I have a podcast called Vagina Talks. And I talk a lot about this kind of periodically. And I have a playlist on Spotify, specifically for pelvic pain for interviews that I’ve done on, this will be a great interview for me to add to that playlist interviews that I’ve done that are either episodes from my show, or interviews that I’ve done on pelvic pain. And so it’s a playlist of podcasts on the subject. And the other thing I want to say is that pelvic floor physical therapists are covered by most insurance. And so if you go to your general practitioner, and you say, I want to see a pelvic floor physical therapist, most practitioners will go, Okay, and then write your script, they will not think of it, if you do not ask for it. Some practitioners won’t know that it’s a thing, but it is a thing. And you can tell them that. And if you have a therapist, you can look them up also through your insurance, and then take a name like to your doctor and say I found this therapist, you know, this is what it is, and then they’ll do an assessment and they’ll work with you. Physical therapy can be a little bit, the technique can sometimes be a little bit push and hold till it releases. It has definitely matured in its in the past 30 years is a little different than it was when I first got installed and encountered it. But I want to say, you know, when you go into a physical therapist or our office that may not be certified in a holistic approach, I want you to go in with your guardians out front, and make the conversation very clear with your practitioner and say, I need you to know that this is a space that I am looking to connect with my body. And so I may need you to go slow, often. Okay, and, and what I said to my physical therapist was if I make a request that you do not respond immediately to, I will get up off the table and walk out in the middle of a session. And she reset and was like, I hope that doesn’t happen. She said I I hope you’ll give me a chance to adjust. And I said I absolutely will and I’ll do my best and I just need you to know that I’m I’m recovering from trauma. And I’m not here to tolerate some borderline trauma therapy, medical business shit. So I just want you to know and also many physical therapists that are out there physical pelvic floor, physical therapists are amazing and they do amazing work and they can help you with your pain. Amazing. And if you combine that kind of physical therapy with the work of Tammy Kent’s work, or the work off the the meditative body connection, stuff that I offer people, you know, you’re going to transform, but don’t hesitate to take that wisdom, I used to take my essential oils and my stones into this physical therapy office, you know, I take my own music, I took a Bluetooth speaker, and I put on mantra, because I was like, this is a sacred space for me, I’m bringing my soul back into my root and my wounding of my root is not just mine, it’s centuries and, and collective. And so I need to be diligent in my care and my sacred building in the space and so don’t hesitate to bring help in but also don’t hesitate to bring help in to bring yourself in and, and make a sanctuary for this space.
Dr. Debra Muth 44:55
It’s so true. You know, I think because we’re having work done and Help done by other people, I think we think that we have to do everything according to their rules and their way. So I’m so glad that you brought that up. Because it’s such a good point, like you want that to be a good memory for you, not another traumatic event for you, collaboration, healing. So that’s really great information. So, and for so many of us, when we’re healing in those kinds of traumatic areas, it’s because we don’t know how to speak up. So it’s a good exercise for you on both fronts to help you heal and mature and be stronger.
Sophia Wiseman 45:37
And if you have a hard time vocalizing, I would recommend either emailing ahead of time or writing it out and bring it to you and on paper. It’s not a problem that’s just taking care of yourself. So any guilt or shame or fear, like it’s a good idea, and you don’t have to know don’t use my words exactly. Like you can use my words exactly. And I don’t know exactly what words I said here. So if they’re really choppy and awkward, and you want to send me an email and be like, What am I supposed to say to my PT that was a little awkward. So I could probably give you another but, you know, go ahead and just write yourself a script, or bring it on a three by five card and say, like, you know, trauma informed care is a real thing. And the medical industry is getting better at it. And you can be part of that. And I really, I look at all of my practitioners, my dentist, my therapist, my quantum gamma wave healing person, we’re teammates, you know, we’re there, we’re all on the team, because I’m the authority over my body and my soul sacredness, because I am, I’m the, I’m the landscape, I’m the center of it. I’m not the authority over anyone elses. I am the authority over mine. And so when I take that, and doing this work has been a huge part of coming into I say, the seat of myself, right, like literally coming into the seat of myself. So be super generous with yourself and super gentle. everything I just said it’s like a it’s like a bunch of like words that come out my mouth. And I make it sound really easy. And it can be really easy. It really can. And it can be really challenging. And so when it’s easy, give yourself permission and celebrate that. And when it’s hard. No, you are not alone, you’re not alone, that we are all rewriting this together right now, and and finding a sweeter way to be in our bodies and to be with each other’s bodies.
Dr. Debra Muth 47:22
That’s really wonderful. That’s so good. That’s so amazing. So, um, how can our listeners reach out to you and connect with you if they have questions, or they want to work with you? How do they get in touch with you?
Sophia Wiseman 47:36
Yeah, like I said, the best thing to do is to sign up for my email list, because that email comes straight to me, you can literally just hit reply, and my email, I’m on social media. But I for the past six months have not really been on social media. And I’m, I’m not so sure how much I’m going back to it.
Dr. Debra Muth 47:54
So I agree with you.
Sophia Wiseman 47:56
So sliding into my DMS and Instagram is not a bad idea. It just may take some time before I get back to you. And connect at Sophiawiseone.com. And that is a great place to send your questions, I will often do show content or do a little you know, shoot a video or do something like that, if you have a question. Other people have that question. So I’ll use that. And then yeah, and if you want to work together, send me an email and let me know. And I’ll, I’ll let you know what i have available. And mostly what I do now is actually guest teaching. So I come into other people’s programs and teach other practitioners and yeah, teach people that are learning about these various things. And, and speaking in education, so any, if there are any places that people want to kind of bring me in to speak, that would be, that would be my, my pleasure, we got to share it, we just you know, it’s like I’m just filled with my teachers. And I honor them as best I can by passing, passing it on where I can.
Dr. Debra Muth 49:01
That’s great. Thank you so much for doing that. I love that. So I know that you have a busy schedule. So I’m going to let you run to take care of everything that you need to do today. But it’s been such a pleasure having this conversation.
Sophia Wiseman 49:14
Dr. Deb, thank you, this was really, really lovely. It’s a real wonderful presence. And I’m so grateful just for all of your work and your dedication to really giving people the education and the re-education and the un-education. Like the process of unlearning. You know you you have dedicated your voice and your platform to create incredible resources for people and I just I respect and appreciate all that you’ve done and I am honored and grateful that you had me here today. Thank you.
Dr. Debra Muth 49:43
Thank you so much.
Dr. Debra Muth 49:46
Hey, it has been really great sharing this time with you guys on the Let’s Talk Wellness Now podcast. If this episode has helped you or you feel as though this episode would help someone else we’d love for you to leave us a review Share this podcast and if you don’t want to miss the most exciting episodes we have coming. We’d love for you to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or Google Play. Until next time, live every day to the fullest
