Embracing Presence: Open. Open. Open.

Embracing Presence: Open, Open, Open.

In this unscripted episode, hosts Jennifer Taylor and Tava Baird explore profound themes of embracing the present moment, letting go of plans and fear, and the magic of being physically embodied. They discuss the joy and healing power of daily rituals, physical touch, and creative expression. Through a dialogue facilitated by spiritual messages from Samael, they highlight the importance of openness, the spiritual significance of lullabies, and the lessons from children and animals in experiencing life fully. The episode culminates in the reading and reflection of a powerful message about releasing shame and connecting with our inherent divinity.

00:00 Introduction and No Plan Approach

00:56 Unexpected Podcast Scenarios

01:53 Musical Beginnings and Inspirations

02:37 Messages from the Metaphysical

13:42 Exploring Openness and Presence

19:38 Embracing the Physical Experience

25:15 Grounding and Spiritual Balance

29:52 The Joy of Simple Tasks

40:10 The Importance of Physical Connection

42:51 The Importance of Physical Touch

43:22 Therapists and the Fear of Isolation

45:08 The Role of Physical Touch in Human Development

46:08 The Impact of Physical Touch Deprivation

47:06 Touch and Emotional Well-being

47:43 Touch and Teenagers

49:25 Touch and the Disembodied

51:12 Poppet Making and Doll Magic

54:51 The Power of Lullabies

01:00:27 The Soothing Nature of White Noise

01:03:03 The Healing Power of Song

01:16:24 Embracing Your True Self

01:21:35 The Blessing of Tears

01:24:04 Final Thoughts and Gratitude

Thank you joining us today, remember to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to keep up to date with your tribe.

Connect with your Hosts!

Tava Baird: tavabaird.com or https://darkflowerbooks.etsy.com.

Jennifer Taylor: Willow Ridge Reiki and Healing Arts https://www.willowridgereiki.com/

Transcript

Jennifer Taylor: [00:00:00] This is a new level of absolutely no preparation whatsoever. Like Yes. Haven't even thrown out a, a thought hasn't even crossed our mind. It's gonna be, which is fine because last time we had a plan and we didn't do anything with the plan.

So, coming in without a plan, we can't, you can't lose. 

Tava Baird: Exactly. So here we go. We'll say, good morning, Jennifer Taylor. Good morning. Tava Baird. I don't know what it is that makes me wanna start every podcast like Robin Williams at the beginning of Good Morning, Vietnam. Um, I, I wanna.

Now we wish we hadn't turned my microphone level up, right? 

Jennifer Taylor: I think it took care of it or something. Something edited that out a little bit. Oh yeah. On its own. 

Tava Baird: Before I went full Robin Williams over here. God, I missed that man. Um, uh, so we have [00:01:00] no plan folks. We have finally learned our lesson. We are not planning anything.

We don't know what's going to happen. Uh, 10 minutes from now. There may be ostriches chasing Jen through her house, and I'm swinging upside down on a trapeze while creating artwork on an et of sketch. We have no idea, is it? Boy, this sounds like a 

Jennifer Taylor: lot more fun than I had any idea of. I should, I should have stretched or something for this, it sounds like, 

Tava Baird: I dunno that the flamingos would be fun.

First, first question would be how did flamingos get on the second floor of your house? But, um, 

Jennifer Taylor: yeah, there, there are a lot of questions I have about the scenario that you just presented. 

Tava Baird: and I didn't even bring up the fact that one or both of us is dressed in a banana costume. since we have no idea what we're doing today, other than we are just really excited to be here with you all.

 we think we should do what we normally do and see what comes through. Jen, are you up for a little? [00:02:00] Singing. 

Jennifer Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, I'm really counting on the singing, bringing through something that then creates the platform for the rest of the, uh, podcast. So yeah, watch, I think I better sing.

Tava Baird: Watch. What ends up happening is you sing, I Turn and they're semi just slurping the end of a big gulp that goes, I got nothing. And then that's the end of our podcast for the day. 

Jennifer Taylor: I have a feeling that Sam Mayel would be very disappointed with a big gulp. I think he would too. The only thing that we know that he has said so far that he likes is wine.

 He's always, wine is good. Oh God. Alright, well I will, uh, I'll switch mics and get started and have a talk with Michael and, Gabriel, and let them sort it out amongst themselves of what they would like to have come through today and have us talk about.

Tava Baird: Exactly. This is just flying by the seat of our pants folks. We are on a metaphysical [00:03:00] trapeze.

Jennifer Taylor: [00:04:00] [00:05:00] [00:06:00] Ooh.

[00:07:00] [00:08:00] [00:09:00] Singing

Tava Baird: okay. He did not go get a big goal. 

Jennifer Taylor: So it looked like there was lots and lots of writing, there 

Tava Baird: was lots and lots of writing. lots to say. 

 as I was finishing writing this, I was like, what is he, where is he going with this? I think this is actually a bit of encouragement for particular listeners.

 I know there's at least one in particular who listens to the podcast regularly that, I think this will speak to. so here we go. First off, that [00:10:00] music was phenomenal. I loved that. it was very different. Was like I loved that.

It, 

Jennifer Taylor: it was very different. it's funny, I don't know if both parts were What was supposed to come through, or if it took me a while to get for them to show me exactly what it was that I was supposed to be doing. But there was one place that one higher note that I found when I was singing it.

 remember when I would talk about the water and the sounds of the beings and the water that would come through? And, Sam May was saying it was the tribes that live under the water and all the creatures, everyone who lives under the water and the tribes that lived there, that would come through and it would make this like WWWW kind of singing.

Yes. It felt like singing underwater And it had that kind of effect where I always know when I was. Tapping into that or when that they were coming through because my mouth would start making this certain sound that I'm really not capable of making otherwise. [00:11:00] And there was this one place that, felt like it was in the air, like it was a very specific place in my field and also the very specific note.

And when I was holding that a certain sound was coming through andI kept going back and I was like, I think I need to just hang out at that note. And it was like one hand was expanding that space in the air. It was like I was going like this as my voice was doing it, my hands were spreading and it was like I was.

I don't know. It was expanding whatever the energy of that was coming through. But it was like very specifically that note and that space in the air around me that, was doing that. And then once I really did that, I went back to singing And then on the other side I don't even remember what it was doing.

my voice was going up and down and I was making this big [00:12:00] spiral, with my left hand going like over and over or more like a, almost more like a coil kind of thing where it was going around and down and down. You mean 

Tava Baird: like the little spiral I drew at the beginning of this? 

Jennifer Taylor: Oh my goodness.

Yep. Yeah, look, I, I actually finished and I drove. It was like there was the spiral on this side. Then there was this upper note thing that I had expanded, and then at the end making this sort of thing. 

Tava Baird: Ah, well, we both got spirals coming through, that's for sure. .....For those people listening, we basically drew the same thing in different places.

Jennifer Taylor: Oh, that's really interesting. And it would go back and forth between making that spiral.

Was that like, um, I think it was, I was doing, mm-hmm. And then that high note was that place that, that was sort of expanded and it was going back, I was stirring around like the spiral sort of thing. And then the upper side, and then everything created this shape in front. That to me, actually, as I was making it, I was thinking, is [00:13:00] this like a uterus or like a birth canal, and then when I drew it, I was like, no, I think maybe it's almost more like birth canal, that was being created with my hands as I was singing it near the end.

So I'm really interested to see what the words were that came along with that, because it was really fascinating,

Tava Baird: the words. So here we go. it's. A lot. I'm afraid this is gonna be like that. Eating the elements thing where it then turns into four episodes. The next 10 podcasts will be unpacked.

The next podcasts will be this thing that we did not plan for. Um, okay. Here is what I have. Open, open, open. What does it mean to be truly open? Um, Shaah to not live in the past nor the future, but to exist in the now of each heartbeat, each beating of the drum. To be here, present in the now [00:14:00] to let tumultuous emotions fall away.

To let the chores of the world settle and dissolve into the dust. This is the place of flow. Place many are conscious of, but struggle to find the Place of loving past the protestations of your mind and immersing yourself in connection.

The journey to openness is different for everyone based on their current state, but some of the path markers may be found commonly.First, you must let go of fear. The fear of losing your identity. So much of how you see yourselves is grounded in earthly things, plans and gossip, distractions and apprehension.

Who are you without these? Contemplate this and let go of [00:15:00] your hold on them. You can be both. An individual and part of the whole understand and rejoice. Second, find the divine near you. Go into the wild, make an altar there, and in the work gathering your ritual items, you will begin to tap into your creativity, sculpture, and paint and clay.

Use your human hands to feel all of these provided to you by the earth. The berries, the roots, and the trees. Bring inspiration into form and feel the flow. Third, have some time in silence and seclusion. Create your own monastery as the holy have done for centuries. [00:16:00] Camp under the stars. Shut the door to your rented room.

Turn off the voices that seek to sell you and influence your thoughts. Listen, discover again the flavors of your food and the wonder of your own embodiment. Until you think my soul is embodied and I rejoice in this realm, you often think divine state is living outside this corporal form. Revel in the now.

Boom, shaah, find glory in your being. You possess the magic. I do not hold. You can summon the metaphysical into the physical. You chose this power for a reason. Use it, enjoy it. Heal with it. And in doing so, [00:17:00] remember. 

Jennifer Taylor: Wow. That was fantastic. I love it. The 

Tava Baird: one thing, well there's lots here to unpack, but the thing that hits me the most was the part at the end that you possess the magic.

I do not hold, you can summon the metaphysical into the physical and him saying, you often think divine state is living outside this corporal form. Okay. That really hit me in the gut because it's true. We spend a lot of time talking about this remembering state and state of connectedness and how, we want to be there again, and we want to be in that flow.

And I think in talking about that, I often then think. Ugh, I'm [00:18:00] in this painful human body that, you know, craves cookies all the time, and I am in a state of forgetting. And after I die, I'm gonna get to remember all of this and I will somehow be better than I am now. And if you look at the religious practices that a lot of us around the world do, we often equate holiness with denial.

You know, give up all your possessions, go take vows, live in a hut.one of my favorite writers is, Henry David Thoreau. You know, I went to the woods because I wish to live deliberately, and he doesn't even keep rocks inside his house because they became knickknacks and they would have need of dusting.

So he, chucks. We have this idea that holiness and [00:19:00] being, um, denied things that that's the path to it. so much of our society says you're not supposed to enjoy your body. And if you deny the things that your body wants, you are somehow become greater and closer to God.

Right? He is arguing against that here, he's still telling us to go into nature, to feel the divine, telling us to set aside, the voices, what does he say? The voices that which to sell to you and influence your thoughts. turn off the tv, turn off the computer, all of these things. And listen, he's reminding us that we're not in this body as a penalty.

It's not because we did something wrong. So now we're supposed to be cut off from the divine source or struggle to find it. He tells us a lot of times that we are divine, [00:20:00] but what he's encouraging us to do is to spend more time with our personal divinity than we do. And in doing so, that's how we're going to become empowered.

That's how we're going to feel connected and that we chose to be in a physical form right now, and we did it. in exchange for a power that unbodied entities, don't have. We can manipulate the physical world. We can take the concept of a painting and put it on paper or canvas.

We can take the concept of a song and make a recording that can be shared in a material form with others. We can take thoughts, put them on paper and preserve them and pass them on. We can take, the feeling or [00:21:00] concept of hunger and satisfy it with, material things. this is a superpower.

We can exist in this world in a way that unbodied entities cannot. We need to be excited about this time and use it. And that's just really reframing things for me. 

Jennifer Taylor: Yeah, and it's interesting. There were so many, that really, really resonated. being in the now, the heartbeat, the drum, the space between these things that being really present to the now is,how we kind of step into that flow and unbind ourselves and that, the first step in that is releasing the fear.

And it, it strikes me so many times how often our actions are based in fear. I have rheumatoid arthritis [00:22:00] and I'm always trying to figure out how to and, um, Sam Miles', words unstick my bones, like, how do I let go of it?

And so much is from this intense holding on, like holding on too tightly and to control, to how do I control things in order to keep everyone safe? And, um, how, this kind of hyper vigilance of trying to make sure everybody's, everything and emotions are, you know, everybody is taken care of.

And that it's like literally grasping onto tightly and my hands are filled with, with arthritis and how many times I've thought, If I had no fear, like absolutely no fear, if I let go of all of the fear of all of the what ifs, what would my body feel like, what would my existence and my incarnation in this physical body feel like?

Because one of the brilliant things [00:23:00] about our body, it's both incredibly brilliant and incredibly frustrating, is that our bodies are like the canary in the coal mine. they show us the patterns that we've picked up, the things that we're doing. And so a lot of times then we curse our bodies for failing us.

it's arthritic and I can't walk well, and I have a hard time doing things with my hands and everything hurts and it's so easy to turn it. Around on our bodies and be like,how hard it is to be in a physical body, but our bodies are showing us, or speaking to us, or communicating to us and letting us know what's going on in a spiritual, on a spiritual level and on a mental level and an emotional level.

And the more we ignore those things, the louder it shouts and it shouts typically through pain or disease or some kind of injury or something to [00:24:00] get our attention. And it's funny. It, it is such a blessing to be in a body, you know? And when we can look at it as it is absolute magic to be able to take all of these divine energies and bring them through into our bodies and through and then manifest into this physicalized kind of existence where people can feel it and touch it and shape it and see it, and, experience it in a different way and what, you know.

So I love that way of looking at our bodies and the think the idea that, we have an magic, an ability that angels don't have. there's not a lot in the world. when I would think, oh, well, yeah, I can do this, and Angels can't do that. Where you've got, an ability that they don't, and the idea that.

That's what we have. We have the ability to bring all of these incredible vibrations [00:25:00] and frequencies in and bring them into this physicalized existence and share them and interact with them in a, in much more concrete kind of way. Then we, we would be doing outside the body. And it, I, it reminded me a lot of what you were saying there, reminded me too ofa talk that I was just giving in, a reiki one and two class about grounding in, 'cause I'd sent out a reminder text saying, be sure to ground you can use your reiki to help you ground and, um.

She was like, you know, I keep hearing people talk about this and using, using this term, but I don't really know what they mean by it. And I had ex, I had a whole little thing of, how, specifically how to ground and how does ground using reiki. And then we talked about it more in class and it was like so many times when people get into these more [00:26:00] metaphysical kinds of ideas and things and start becoming aware that, you know, there are angels, there are divine guides, there's all of this incredible energy out there.

 we can astral travel, we can do shamanic journeys, we can, sing ourselves into these other realms and experience them and create them and do all of this stuff. It's,we, you get a high, you get a high from it. It is not kind of a high, and I know you and I talk about that all the time.

It's like we get that in the podcast and then afterwards it lasts for about 30 minutes and then we crash really hard when we've been doing that for like four hours. And that a lot of times people tend to get addicted to that high, that like out of your body up in those really high vibration kinds of things.

But that it's so important. like you said, we chose to be in a physical body. We came into the, to have an [00:27:00] incarnation and that it's really important for us not to think that's all there is. that. these, out of body spiritual kinds of experience, the ones that get, get us so excited that our job is to bring that in.

And,the magic that Sam Miles talking about is bringing that into our physical bodies and really incorporating that and then being able to use it and spread it in the world. And one of the ways of doing that is through grounding and being really grounded. And it's interesting because a lot of times, especially when I first started out, I've thought of the idea of being really grounded as, not being able to fly.

they talk about you're just like, flights being grounded. it's like you can't fly. You're, stuck down here on earth kind of thing. And. The more we've started getting into these higher and higher vibration [00:28:00] kinds of works, these other, working in other realms, the more samo keeps sending messages through you saying that I need to ground, ground, ground.

And there's a, a saying and energy work that you can only hold as su it's much, much light as you can ground. And so I was using the um. Analogy of a tree. So if we think of ourselves as trees and all of this upper work is, our branches reaching up and the leaves taking in all of this light and we're, we're expanding and we're reaching up to the heavens.

If you have all of that, if you think of it as a tree, you can only have this huge canopy that's reaching up towards the heavens and branching out everywhere. If you have an equally. Strong, deep and broad root system. without it, that tree's gonna, it's never even gonna have a chance to expand that way.

Like you ha it [00:29:00] has to be equally balanced under the ground with a big, deep, broad root system and really it should mirror the top. So it is, every time that tree is growing up higher and more broad, the roots need to be growing deeper and more broad as well. And I feel like that's a lot of what I was feeling in the things that he was saying is that, and to look at that as magic, not as like, oh, alright, well now I have to ground and I need to be in my physical body and, I need to do these things as a, as the kind of bummer side of.

 having to try to balance it or as a, something that has to be done so that you can do all the spiritual work. Yes. But seeing that as part of the spiritual work as part of that magic that we're meant to be here embodying. And it, it's funny, I think the more, we've had so many of these really intense, out of like more [00:30:00] expanded kinds of experiences, the more I've started like enjoying folding laundry, certain things that it's like, this is just being in my physical body and doing something, mundane seeming.

And I've started doing more gardening and being just in the ground, just you working out in the yard and tending to things and it feels better and better because I'm starting to really appreciate the need for that part of. the manifestation as well. 

Tava Baird: I, uh, spent, quite some time among a Zen community and as a result, of course, read lots and lots of, books on Zen Buddhism and, talked a lot with people who were, practicing zen.

And if you go to a Zen monastery and you look their day, they have something called work practice, right? there's actually a saying that saysthe most, highly developed and spiritually [00:31:00] elevated monk is the one in charge of cleaning the toilets. the idea behind it, it's not humble.

You, it's the idea that, you can meditate and you can be having a spiritual experience, while you are doing these simple things. So while you are working in the kitchen, preparing dinner. That is a form of trying to get into the flow and appreciating the food and where it came from, and the fact that you are using, your talents and your energies.

It's going into the food that will feed others. There is a period of day for these monks, period, every day for these monks where they are gardening or folding the laundry or doing all of these things. But the idea is that it's not something you just get through because the laundry needs to be done. You are doing it in a mindful and centered way, and I think it's doing exactly what you are talking about.

It's bringing you back into that [00:32:00] body. You are manipulating things with your physical hands. You're moving physical things with physical things, that unbodied creatures don't have. One of the things that really kind of struck me as I was reading this aloud. Was, I spent many years as a teacher of very young children.

I mean, Jen, I taught your daughter when she was a wee little thing. And it was reminding me when he was talking about going into the woods and just taking what you had on hand, the soil and the acorns and the branches and the flowers and the stones, and building an altar with it, and that, that you were bring, the littlest inspirations that you got, oh, I'm gonna stack these stones on top of each other.

You were bringing your, taking your inspiration and turning it into form and feeling the flow. And I kept thinking that's what little children do. when I was an infant, toddler teacher and, striking me just now that I've retired from [00:33:00] that, how many opportunities I missed 'cause I didn't think of these little people.

As souls that have recently become incarnated, right? We're looking at a divine soul that just got popped into a body in the last couple of months or years. How do they look at the world? Well, babies are so excited about their own toes. They just look at these, I've got these, wow. Let me get really into my toe.

Let's see if that can fit in my mouth. There's this sense of wonder in little children as they go out into playground or the yard and they watch a beetle crawling through the grass, or they, pick up a dandelion and realize with delight that all those little white things fly away.

They will [00:34:00] spend hours. Contemplating the soles of their own feet. And we lose that as we become more accustomed to being in body and being in the world. And soon we start to forget that sense of wonder, that sense of discovery. We think we know it all. We're like, yeah, yeah. That's a butterfly. Yeah. Yeah.

That's a lady bug. Yeah. Leaves fall, right? We see it every season. But you know, as scientists who study nature know, pretty much everything is either nature or a reaction to it. there's an endless font of new things to discover there. And with each of those discoveries can come wonder if we put ourselves in that frame of mind.

And I feel like that's what he's telling us to do here. If we're having trouble finding the creative flow or finding the flow of our days or finding, [00:35:00] hearing our spirit guides, turn off the internet, go out into the yard, sit down and say, if I were two years old again, how would I observe that earth? How would I observe how much my fingernails have grown since yesterday?

What delight would I have in taking off my shoes and walking on the warm earth? It's the joy of being embodied and you're absolutely right. we overlook that joy and we've, a lot of times I think we've become jaded. 

Jennifer Taylor: Yeah. And one of the things, and I'm pretty sure this is a quote that you told me that was also a Buddhist thing that was.

 before enlightenment was it fetch wood carry water after enlightenment, fetch wood carry water. Carry water. 

Tava Baird: And 

Jennifer Taylor: I know there was a period of time in which I think you were saying that on Marcos a lot, and it was like, fetch [00:36:00] wood carry water. And I, I think, I feel like more and more, I'm starting to really appreciate that the balance between, the expanded, enlightened, incredible energetic out of our body experiences and then the incredible pleasure of fetching wood and carrying, carrying water.

 I think I, it's really evident if you ever have cared for, farm animals. there is a peace and a joy that comes from caring for farm kinds of animals. That is really, it's very hard to describe. But I feel like that's, that just fully embodied, fully connected, fully present, um, kind of energy that it's so pervasive when you're standing amongst, a group of, cows or chickens or goats or horses, [00:37:00] that you just, they just have such a grounded present and there's kind of a magic to it too.

 it just, it feels so wonderful that I could just sit,and be surrounded by these for forever. There's a, a place called Serenity Farm Virginia that I teach a lot of animal Reiki classes at, and it is Serenity Farm's, about the perfect, the most perfect title I I can think of.

Um. Because it is, it, there is a peace there and you're standing and there's, there are goats and pigs and chickens and turkeys and donkeys and they're all just kind of hanging around being themselves and they've all been rescued. So they're also, working through some things, but at the same time, there's just this peace there.

And I feel like exactly the sort of state of that, you that peace, the, throwing away the fear and [00:38:00] being in the present and in that space between heartbeats is what you get when you're really with a lot of, especially, balanced, happy out in the field, kind of farm animals.

Um. And I was talking to a neighbor about that yesterday where she has all these different animals and she was like, I love to just sit down there, just sit down there with the chickens and the donkeys and the pigs, and it's just the happiest place to be. And it's like somehow they help to bring you back into that and tap, help you to tap into that more animal kind of nature.

And it's funny because we talk a lot in the animal reiki classes about how our society, everything is about getting away from your animal nature and that the, our, our natural wild selves are talked, there are so many negative terms, it's like being animalistic or you're an animal, all these different things, but.

That's ideal. You know the animals, you watch them, they are completely [00:39:00] connected, and the more wild they are, the more completely in tune and completely connected. And they listen with their entire bodies. Every part of them is tuned in to each other and all of the other little signs and things that are happening in nature.

And the more we can tap back into our animal nature, the more we can really experience the, the magic of being in these bodies. Because, you know, animals, they listen with every part of their being. they're not just listening with their ears for a specific thing. Every part of their body is, is fine tuned to be able to tell exactly what's happening and where.

 it's not really in a hypervigilant kind of way, the way that we might be if we felt like if we imagined all of our senses being turned on. Mm-hmm. It's in this just completely tuned in, tapped in kind of way. [00:40:00] 

Tava Baird: Right. It's one of the thing this is, um, that being in a physical state and making it part of your day.

This reminded me of something my husband actually said to me, and it was one of the saddest things I ever heard, um, recently, is he was talking about coming to visit me when I was working at school. And he said, he's been in an office environment for his entire career, and he said, the first time he saw me teaching at school, the thing that shocked him was the number of hugs

I received in a day. He said, you walk into a classroom and a bunch of little children come over and give you a hug. You,pass another teacher outside and say, how you doing? And they go, oh, you know, it's been a day. And you stop and hug them. He's like, you [00:41:00] were hugging your administrators. You hugged parents, you hugged.

He said, I don't think I've ever hugged anyone at work in my entire career. And he is in his late fifties, he's in computers. He says, I don't hug anybody. Nobody offers me one and I don't offer it to them. You had, in the one hour I was there, you have 15 hugs. And he said, I wondered how my life might have been different if that was the environment that I lived in.

now I was very lucky. I was at a very warm Montessori school, small school. Everybody knew everybody else. The culture there that the people who own the school set up was a, if you wanna hug, we have one for you culture. that's one of the reasons why COVID was so hard in that environment was trying to tell children [00:42:00] who usually jumped outta the car and ran up and gave you a hug that they had to stay six feet from you.

You know, here's a pool noodle kid. Use it to keep distance. It was heartbreaking during that time. but for my husband, he essentially has carried a pool noodle of distance between him and everyone he spends his days with for decades.

And so when he comes home from work and says, can I have a hug? You know, and I'm like doing something else, and I'll be like, yeah, yeah, I'll be with you in a minute. That has really made me think differently about the fact that that's the only hug he gets today. Right? And being to able to be in a physical body and give a physical hug or receive one is a tremendous gift.

Our bodies are designed for touch. Um, I remember at the beginning of C-O-V-I-D-I read this article. there are [00:43:00] therapists who are like touch therapists. They deal with people who are starved for physical touch, and it starts to wear away at them. maybe they are, isolated in some way, either from medical condition or socially or what have you.

But if human beings don't ever touch other creatures, they, they start to become unwell. And so there are therapists out there and literally their job. Is to see clients and part of that, seeing them is embracing them. And I read this article from this, uh, therapist who was talking about how terrified she was for her clients and as a shutdown was starting.

She was racing around trying to get to all of them and give them a hug or spend some time holding hands with them 'cause she didn't know when they would get it again. And then her wider fear of what happens to us as a [00:44:00] society when we get so fearful of being embodied that we, we can't touch each other, we can't.

Bug. We can't embrace, we can't hold hands. I would very much like to bring back the culture where holding hands with someone is not romantic in adults like we do it for little kids going, I'm trying to keep them from running out in the road. But there is a certain special beauty to seeing a friend you haven't seen in a long time and just sitting next to them on the sofa and holding their hand or walking down the street, holding their hand.

I, my, one of my grandmothers was very much like that when I was, even as a teenager, she would sit next to me and hold my hand. Or if we were both riding in the backseat of a car, she would just sit and hold my hand. And I think especially with COVID, we've gotten away from these, these small tender affections [00:45:00] and they are part of the joy and part of the comfort that we need while we are embodied.

Jennifer Taylor: Yeah, there are some amazing studies and I wish that I had them pulled up now and, and could refer to them, but, and I learned a lot about the need and importance in humans for that physical touch and when, I had a baby and there's so much research on the need that we have for like skin to skin contact and all of these incredible things that it does for an infant to be just bare skin against, uh, you know, against someone like up against bare skin to bare skin and all of these major physiological functions in their bodies.

Are like brought to life. They're awakened. They're strengthened. Their immune system is strengthened. [00:46:00] All of these incredible things are strengthened just by having physical touch and being right up against them. And there was some kind of study that they did with, I think it was like chimpanzees and basically, and it's really horrible when I think about this being done to them, but they, they essentially took various things from them.

Like they weren't allowed to be, like, I think there were maybe babies that, they didn't get any touch, and the ones that were deprived of food and nourishment and these different kinds of things, and they were studying what effects it had. And the ones that didn't have physical touch failed to thrive to a much greater extent than the ones that were denied food.

And it was more important that they had that physical close touch than it was to have actual, food in them. Wow. And I think [00:47:00] we,we tend to forget how important it is that we have that physical closeness. We are designed to have it, it is a, a necessary, nutrient for our bodies.

 we have to have certain amounts of, vitamins and minerals and proteins and these kinds of things. We also need a certain amount of physical touch in order to thrive. And there's so much research and so many unfortunate things that where we learn, what happens when infants and young children don't get the kind of, of closeness that they need.

And I remember learning something. And I think it was like Oprah or something when I was maybe in my late teens. And I remember hearing some expert talking about how so much of the, um, of like sexual promiscuity or what that word they were calling at that time, basically like teenagers. Teenagers, especially females going out and [00:48:00] having sex early, was that they were actually craving just physical contact.

Like they just needed, they wanted to be held and in order to be held, it was like a transactional sort of thing. It's like, in order for me to get the kind of closeness that I need, I'm gonna have to trade sex for it. And they were saying that if you continue to, snuggle and embrace and.

 you can provide that physical closeness that your children need into their teens. that's kind of an age when you don't think of, snuggling your kid or hanging out on the couch and having your arm around them, or having them lean over on you or rubbing their back or, the things that you do when they're maybe five, where you're kind of all snuggle up under a blanket and you watch something, or you're scratching their back as they go to sleep, or you're rubbing their head and running your fingers through their hair when they don't feel well.

But that tends to, [00:49:00] wane as you, um, as they get older. But how important it is. And I remember thinking, okay, I'm gonna make sure that I continue snuggling my children so that they're not, they're not out there looking for something when what they really need is a longer hug or somebody to just hold them when they're not, when they're feeling down.

 that's all stuff that you only get from being in a body. Yeah. And it's, it, it strikes me, I was thinking about like at the end that you were inviting these spirits to come into a puppet if they wanted to just be able to experience being held, you know? Yeah. That's something that like, they're out of their bodies and they cannot get that sensation of being held anymore.

Right. Without it. And that's something that, you know, we kind of take for granted. The, the fact that we have the ability to feel a hug, 

Tava Baird: Right. And if you are, you know, if you are a spirit or a dis [00:50:00] somebody's soul that has recently been alive or and you are now in this realm and you don't have that kind of closeness, I imagine that would be.

Quite difficult, hard to process if you are not immediately going back to this place of all remembering if something has happened and you are still working on a material plane or yougot jolted out of your body and you don't actually fully realize that you don't have it anymore, it's gonna be hard to soothe you.

You know? Yeah. And, and how disconnected you might feel. And so this practice, I'm doing this class at both, uh, Greenhill Cemetery and the Blue Ball in later this summer. Um, and if you would like to be part of either of these classes, here's a little plug for it. They're both fundraising classes for these two beautiful, [00:51:00] historic and, and haunted properties.

If you go onto tava bear.com and go under, I think it's happenings or events, you'll see a classes, uh, icon. In both of these. What we're gonna be doing in class is we talk about the history of puppet making and doll magic. We're going to both make a puppet for, you to take with you for whatever purpose you want, but we're also going to be making a simple corn husk doll pocket and then going into.

The house or the cemetery and saying, putting on lots of protection, in terms of, but saying if you'd like to touch something that I am touching, if you'd like to feel that commonality of, embrace anyone who's around, who's disembodied, who would like to put part of their consciousness temporarily [00:52:00] into this doll, I will hold it and I will put my energy into it so that you can understand and be reminded that while you may be out of your body, you are not alone.

And then our corn husk dolls are very easily, you just cut the bonds on them and return the husks to nature so that the spirit can then go back to, um, its place and continue its work, and isn't tempted to, piggyback on the doll with you home, uh, and all of those things. Mm-hmm. But it is a beautiful little ritual for simply saying, you are divine.

I am divine. We are all divine. Let me use the magic of being in a corporal form to, to soothe you and to reach out through the veil and touch you. And, uh, that's what we'll be doing with those dolls. 

Jennifer Taylor: I think that is just [00:53:00] so, so beautiful. I cannot even imagine how comforting and soothing that would be for, a disembodied soul that has been, who knows how long.

Without, without that feeling of touch and being held and to be given that, that opportunity to be seen and heard and held, um, and just recognized, being held is, is such an, a magical, wonderful thing. And to be able to offer that to something, someone who hasn't experienced that and yeah, could be hundreds of years is, is pretty amazing.

And I, I realize time is not, I have no idea how time, what time is like outside of, these bodies that seem to make everything linear. But, um, I imagine it's still a, a really amazing gift. 

Tava Baird: One of the things when I, I was at the Inn a couple of weeks ago and, I've been [00:54:00] learning to, to speak with the spirits and be a semi all started this off.

Open, open, open. Um, and they were talking about that they wanted energy, they needed energy, that, um, and that, there's a whole nother story behind that, but that they wanted music. And, Jen, I've been taking recordings of you and playing it in the house and it really seems to be helping, but I did ask them, what kind of music do you want?

Um, and it was interesting because since I've told this story to other humans in the house, and soon as I start to say, they said they wanted to hear music, people go, someone will go, oh, classical or someone else will go, oh, rock and roll, or music from whatever time period they lived in. Someone else will go, how about some jazz?

And like everybody's got sort of their own take. The thing that the spirits asked for were lullabies and it's just now dawning on me. I thought, oh, 'cause [00:55:00] there's, there's children's spirits in the house. But it wasn't just the children's spirits that were requesting it. When you hear a lullaby, you are in a safe and soothed place.

You feel like someone is watching over you and there has probably just been touch, or is touch happening. At the time. Lullabies really conjure up this idea of, that heavy protective hand on your or being robbed. Right? And we all know, there's so many people who, rock themselves for comfort, right.

Rocking it. That sensation of moving, of moving the body, it hearkens back to when you were, before you were born and your mom was walking around and you were in her belly. You're being rocked [00:56:00] with every step. It's that feeling of being killed in a place of compassion and protection and warmth, and there's a physicality to it.

And I'm now realizing that that's maybe why they ask for lullabies. They want to conjure the memory of that sort of being that place of touch. 

Jennifer Taylor: Uh, and when I think about, the quality of a lullaby and what is, what is in, what is the energy that's in a lullaby and what does it do for you, you know, it's.

It's first, it's very soothing, it soothes and it calms. And it also is one of the first things that Sam Iel was saying, which is the, it releases fear. the whole idea of a lullaby is that it calms your fears. And especially, we think of it at a lullaby is when you know you're going to sleep at night and singing, a lullaby to a child when they're going to sleep.

And it's a [00:57:00] time when so many fears tend to come it's like the fear of the dark or what sort of, monsters under the bed and something getting me, or whatever. Those things, they tend to really come to the surface as. as you're laying down to sleep a lot of times, and so the lullabies are designed to help to give such a sense of comfort and safety that you can release those fears.

All of those fears just kind of dissipate and you feel soothed and safe and it's like it's okay to let go of all of those things and to open to sleep and allow sleep to come and overtake you or drift into another state. it's like when we're going into to dreaming, we're going into sleeping.

We're actually going into this other realm. We're going into a state where we travel. We do all kinds of. Out of our body kinds of [00:58:00] traveling and work. And the anticipation of that can be frightening. And so when I think about lullabies in that sense, these are spirits who are here and many of which are still around because there's probably some degree of fear of surrendering to that transition into another state.

You know that that really going ahead and moving into that. And so a lullaby would help to soothe and calm and release the fears and give them a sense that they're held and they're safe, and that it's safe to allow themselves to let go and, drift into this other state. And when you think about too, dreams.

It's really going from a state when you feel like you have control over things, I know what my body's gonna do, I can walk out of this room, I can do whatever. there's a, a level of control in our [00:59:00] waking life that we don't have in our dreams. we kind of shift into this other brain state in this and actually go into other realms and travel where we tend to have much less control over it.

And that fear of all of that is significant too. So when I think about the lullabies and that being what they want, it's entirely the energies of helping them to relax and be soothed enough to let go and be open to the unknown and what may be beyond the veil as they, they shift into another, another state.

Tava Baird: It's also interesting because so many lullabies are a connection to our ancestors. people tend to sing to their children the same songs that were sung to them. You know, it, it's not like a lot of these, and a lot of these songs are very old, it's not like you, go onto Spotify and it's,Cardi B's, uh, [01:00:00] album of brand new lullabies.

It's just not something we generate very much. a lot of them are old, old tunes or old songs that came from the cultures that we were raised in, and then they're passed on and passed on. So there's also that lovely sort of connection to family that's there. Um, another thing I wanted to bring up with the lullaby was something neat that I learned.

 When I was working with infants and toddlers, think about the number of times that someone is holding a baby and the baby is crying or the baby's upset or tired, and you hear people make a sound, they tend to make that little whooshing sound right a lot of times while they aregently bouncing the baby.

And I would see people do this the more, 'cause you know, I was spending lots of time observing parents with children and, and working in infant rooms with people who are really [01:01:00] experienced. And I would see this happen a lot. This, hushing white noise sound 

And I actually asked somebody about it, one of my trainers, and she said, those people are simulating the sound of water. And when they gently bounce the child. They're simulating what it feels like to be in the womb. So when you're in the womb, you're getting bounced around at a steady pace a little bit.

As you know, mama's walking around. But there's also the sounds of what's going on in her body. There's, heartbeats and blood rushing and that sort of staticky white noise wave sound often brings young children back into that state of feeling like they're in the womb. And if, and I'm, if you think about it, how many of us love to listen to 

 recorded wave ocean sounds that [01:02:00] white noise to help put us to sleep. I can't help but think that that is targeting back to a part of our brain that remembers what it's like to be in the womb. That rushing water sound, that was actually, what we were hearing in staticky noise. That's what we were hearing inside when we were inside, um, another body preparing to become embodied ourself.

 it's amazing how many of the things that, that are soothing to us are things that harken back to being in the womb. Yeah. even people, you know, becoming really scared. It's it's like I was in the fetal position.it's really amazing how many things really harken back to to that, which is so funny.

 if you've had a hard day get under a warm blanket, pop on your ocean sounds and go fetal. 

Jennifer Taylor: Yeah. And maybe get in a hammock like rock Do, do something rocking. [01:03:00] 

Tava Baird: That's funny. So that's a great idea. 

Jennifer Taylor: as we were talking, I've been looking at the drawing that I made right after I, I sang and it's really interesting because that there, it seems to encompass.

The various things that we ended up talking about. So it, there's this drawing and the, the drawing is really just a visual representation to help me remember the motions that I was doing when I was singing. And so there was the sort of expanding this space in this kind of higher other, realm kind of thing and, and really developing that, which was the, the high notes and this motion that I was making with my hands.

And then there was this other side lower that was that was like spiraling it down toward, closer to the earth. And it was like I was, and I would go back and forth. It was like taking that. all of that higher [01:04:00] vibration and healing and all of the, that kind of information. And then taking and stirring it around and mixing it around.

And the spiral, my hand would start at the top and almost like, if you've ever seen like a marble maze thing where you put it in the top and it goes around and around and around and around until it comes out the bottom. It was kind of like that, like my hands were tracing that and going around and around, but getting lower, with each time it went around.

And I would go back and forth. So it was like I'm bringing this higher, vibration. Like all of that wisdom and healing and bringing it slower, like cycling it around and around bringing it closer to earth. And then at the end I was making this big thing, and I remember saying it was like, I felt like I was making a uterus.

Oh yeah. And so I'm looking at the drawing there. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm going, oh my gosh. it really did have so much to do to with what Sam Ile was saying, where [01:05:00] it's we need to be embodied. We need to take all of that and take advantage of really bringing all that through and being in a physical body and kind of birthing it into the world.

'cause I remember saying, I don't know if it was a uterus or it feels also like a birth canal. It's our job here in this physical, these physical bodies, is to take all of those energies and vibrations and information and remembering and bring it around, spiral it around and bring it in and birth it into the world in a physicalized kind of way.

And then we were talking, it's like the ended up talking about the womb and stuff. And I've been looking down at this going, oh my goodness. It was all like, it was all in this song too. 

Tava Baird: There it was. There it was. Speaking of song. Would you mind singing for us again? 

Jennifer Taylor: Absolutely. I was just about to say, it feels like it's time to sing again.

Yes. All right, let's do [01:06:00] it.

 I think it would be nice to remind everyone of Sam Miles's words from the beginning, because we've talked about so many different things and there was so much really good stuff in there to think about that Maybe before we go into the next song, which is also gonna, bring its own, closing words.

Maybe you could read that for us one more time.

Tava Baird: What does it mean to be truly open? Salah to not live in the past nor the future, but to exist in the now of each heartbeat, each beating the drum to [01:07:00] be here, present in the now to let tumultuous emotions fall away, to let the chores of the world settle and dissolve into dust. This is the place of flow place many are conscious of, but struggle to find place of loving past the protestations of your mind and immersing yourself in connection.

The journey to openness is different for everyone based on their current state, but some of the path markers may be found commonly. First, you must let go of fear. The fear of losing your identity. So much of how you see yourselves is grounded in earthly things, plans and gossip, distractions and apprehension.

Who are you without these? Contemplate this and let go of your hold on them. You can [01:08:00] be both an individual and part of the whole, understand and rejoice. Second, find the divine near you. Go into the wild. Make an altar there. And in the work of gathering your ritual items, you will begin to tap into your creativity, sculpture, and paint and clay.

Use your human hands to feel all of these provided to you by the earth. The berries, the roots, and the trees ring inspiration into form. And feel the flow. Third, have some time in silence and seclusion. Create your own monastery as the holy have done for centuries. Camp under the stars. Shut the door to your rented room.

Turn off the voices. Let seek to sell to you and influence your thoughts. Listen, discover again the [01:09:00] flavors of your food and the wonder of your own embodiment. Until you think my soul is embodied and I rejoice in this realm, you often think the divine state is living outside this corporal form. Revel in the now, um, shaah, find glory in your being.

You possess the magic. I do not hold. You can summon the metaphysical into the physical. You chose this power for a reason. Use it. Enjoy it. Heal with it and in doing so, remember, 

Jennifer Taylor: thank you so much. Of course.

[01:10:00] Oh.[01:11:00] 

Oh.[01:12:00] 

Oh,

[01:13:00] oh.

Tava Baird: that song, it was really unusual. I don't know why, but I had this, uh, it reminded me of whistling in an empty room. there was a cleansing quality to it, but at the same time it was bothmelancholy and uplifting, almost like you're whistling in an empty room and you hope someone's gonna whistle back.

I don't know what it was about it, but it had that feeling for me. Yeah. 

Jennifer Taylor: Very interesting. Yeah, it had, I, I felt, as I was starting to put on the mics, I thought [01:14:00] a lullaby is coming. And it was interesting because I felt like it was meant to be a lullaby, and yet it also had this quality to, like, the beginning part of it was not what I thought, but it, still felt like I don't know, maybe like an adult kind of lullaby.

Tava Baird: Yes. Yeah. It had that, that wanting for connection. So there's like the soothing and the hope connection there, but there was also like a longing for it 

Jennifer Taylor: in it. Yeah. And at the end I had, and the whole time I'm going from up above me to the right, which is where. That was like the, sort of heavenly other realms kind of thing.

And then down to the left, which seems to be the earthly place. And the whole time I'm making this sort of, um, like waterfall over rocks and hills and valleys. Yes. And [01:15:00] things motion from my right down into like the earth and swirling it around. And when I was done, I felt like there were, there was a message in it that was coming through to me and I wrote down, at the last minute I wrote down what I feel like is a message from maybe Michael and Gabriel that said, allow the blessings to flow from the heavens in and through you into this corporeal realm and allow yourselves to be held and rocked and soothed.

We hold you as you hold each other. It is all a blessing. 

Tava Baird: Remember last week you had Michael in the upper right and Samuel on the upper left reaching towards each other. 

Jennifer Taylor: Yeah. 

Tava Baird: continues. The reaching of, that higher state and then the earthly realm towards each other.[01:16:00] 

Jennifer Taylor: Yeah. And in this last one, the flowing, it was just this gentle, steady flowing from these like higher realms down into the earth and surrounding us 

Tava Baird: here is what came through doing the ending song. This has got a slightly different flavor to it, but also not really. Shame is a weapon. How many of your choices, even in your most private moments, are powered by shame?

Small children, the recently embodied do not possess it. It is not healing for you. Um, shaah, a small child runs out laughing to dance in the rain no matter what others think appropriate. A small child has to be reminded not to strip off their clothing, to feel the sun on their skin. The [01:17:00] recently embodied like what they like when celebrated, whether society says it's in fashion or not and they thrive.

Find those stolen moments for yourself at this time. Collect stones and sleep unclothed and jump into mud puddles with both feet. Place your. I'm sorry. Adorn your body in a way that delights you. Dance with abandon. Give yourself permission. Children give yourself permission to be a child. it is good medicine for the ill of the world.

Oh no, Jen, are you crying?

It is a good thing. And I am, I am so grateful for Sam Miles words, and he's so masterful with them, and I have no doubt that those words are going [01:18:00] to be deeply meaningful for each and every person that hears them.

Jennifer Taylor: And everyone will hear them a little bit differently and will hear exactly the part that's really speaking directly to them, in them. And for me, as soon, it was like, as soon as he started talking. I felt very, very personal bits of it, like speaking into the depths of me, and it was really related.

I know before we started the podcast, I was telling you how I had been struggling with what I was gonna be wearing to this wedding. And it's a, very fancy black tie wedding with a lot of people who are very much in fashion and, their appearance is, current and, cultured and, all of those things.

And, so as I was preparing for it, I've been trying [01:19:00] to figure out how I was going to be able to wear shoes that were in any way appropriate for a black tie wedding. And so I was explaining, you know, to tava beforehand that I had come down to, I'm wearing a pair of high top Gore-Tex, waterproof, hiking boots 

And because they're the only shoes that I can walk in. Um, and I tried to walking in heels and that I was not able to walk at all since then because of the arthritis in my feet. And, I've really been struggling with it, and I tried a million different ways. I tried hiding them and getting long dresses to hide them so you couldn't see them and all these things.

And then finally last night was like, you know what? this is just ridiculous. I can't hide them. And hiding them is gonna mean that I'm likely going to, trip over this dress and I'm gonna fall, or I'm gonna tear it up. And I would, I was explain telling TMA that I decided I was just gonna wear the dress that I would wear if I had these, nice, sexy heels on.

Only I'm [01:20:00] wearing them with these, I mean, big heavy boots because that's what I need in order to be able to walk. And yet I'd had such a sense of struggle with the, will they even be able to understand, you know, and not think that I'm being disrespectful to their event or, um.

Anything and all of the various things. And I realized when, when Samuel started talking through you and you were reading the things, about the shame and he, there were specific things, something about what you wear and how you cloth yourself and the way that children move through.

And there were these multiple points that felt like it was just going straight through into the core of me. And I just started sobbing from about like, I think maybe the third word in talking of there's just been just tears and, but it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. The, that feeling of the release from shame, just letting [01:21:00] go of all of it and doing what, it's like I, I'm gonna wear something that I'll be able to walk in, that's going to support my body and my ability to bring things through and not tear me down because of other.

 expectations and things, and it just, it felt like exactly what I needed to hear. And I am, I am so grateful. 

Tava Baird: And I didn't even see that you 

Jennifer Taylor: were 

Tava Baird: upset. I'm so sorry. 

Jennifer Taylor: No, and I'm really, I'm truly not upset. Like it is the tears are not at all upset. It is a, release and a blessing. And I was thinking about this last night, oddly laying in bed, that how Samuel was saying that salt was a blessing.

Mm-hmm. And how crying and tears. it's a blessing. It's like you are like a blessing. And I think, Jennifer from the, gathering was, had sent something to you about. Tears as a blessing. 

Tava Baird: Yes. Yes. It [01:22:00] was really incredible actually. I can try to see if I can find the quote if you want. Although, sure.

Although I will butcher the name of the person who it is attributed to, because I'm just not great at that. Let me see if I can find. Yeah, it is, it 

Jennifer Taylor: is definitely, I mean, the tears are entirely a release and a gratitude and a release of the shame and, a freedom from it. they're blessing.

My face 

Tava Baird: here. I, I do have the quote. this was sent to us, by a friend of ours, Jennifer j it says, crying is one of the highest devotional songs. One who knows, crying knows spiritual practice. If you can cry with pure heart, nothing else compares to such a prayer. Crying includes all the principles of yoga.

And I know I'm going to mispronounce the name, so I'm going to spell it for our listeners, quote is attributed to [01:23:00] K-R-I-P-A-L-V-A-N-A-N-D-A, if you want to write it down. But, um, yeah, 

Jennifer Taylor: love that. I was laying in bed last night thinking about that and how interesting it was the, um, the blessing and how Sam kept talking about how salt is a blessing.

Yeah. our tears have the salt and are flowing with sacred waters from our body. 

Tava Baird: Exactly. Exactly. when you think about, we use salt for. Consecrating spaces. We use salt or warding away evil, so those are all blessings. thank you so much, Jen, for everything, for the beautiful songs today and for sharing your holy tears with us.

Jennifer Taylor: Oh, it is my pleasure. Thank you so much for bringing yourself and Sam Miles's [01:24:00] words through and yeah, being my partner in all of this. And thank you to all of you who are still with us and, and listening and supporting this taking in these words and these lessons and reaching out to us with how you are using them in your life and how they're affecting you.

 there would be really no point in what we were doing if there wasn't, people out there to, to listen to and to take it in and, take this information, uh, forward. So thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Tava Baird: Absolutely. And so until next week, everybody go dance in the rain. Go walk without shame.

Go find a place in the forest and play with your toes. 

Jennifer Taylor: Amen.