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Nurturing Mindfulness: Sound Baths, Presence, And Inner Calm · Mindful You

0:03
Alan Carroll: Welcome back, everybody, to the mindful U
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Podcast. I'm Alan Carroll. I'll be your host. As we explore
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together this fascinating, exciting, dynamic, present time,
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awareness consciousness of this thing we call mindfulness. And
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many people have taken journeys into mindfulness and presence.
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And today we have a a healer, Blanca Ainsworth's. And she was
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a involved in the healing business involved in the health
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business. She did work with the US agricultural, Department of
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Nutrition, working on balanced diets working on physical
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exercise, and at the same time she's traveling down her own own
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journey, her own soul journey, her own journey of discovery,
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using a lot of shamanic exercises and tools. Several of
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the American Native American Indian work with sound baths and
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flutes, which is just fascinating to hear, talk about
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those things. So please welcome to the mindful you podcasts.
1:34
Blanca Haynesworth. Blanca, welcome. Welcome to the mindful
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you podcast. How are you today?
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Blanca Ainsworth: Thank you, Ellen. Glad to be here.
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Alan Carroll: Well, it's wonderful to have you. I was
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reading a little bit about your background. And I'd like you to
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share some of your background with our audience. So we have an
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idea of, of the ground from which you are growing from.
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Unknown: Sure. Thank you for that, Alan. So my background is
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in the entrepreneurial space. I used to co own several
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businesses, specifically in the restaurant industry that went
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sideways with different partners learned a lot along the way. I
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got into the financial services industry, specifically life
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insurance. And to qualify, I had to find out about my client's
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health because that's how you qualify for life insurance. And
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just working in that space. I saw so many individuals with
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lots of health issues, lots of medications. It really shocked
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me, I'm very physically active. I'm actually running a marathon,
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my bucket list marathon in Bordeaux, France and a couple of
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weeks. And I'm just seeing how so many individuals are on so
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many medications when I am not on any just really made me deep
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dive a little deeper. I ended up moonlighting with USU extension
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and they're on Department of Agriculture nutrition program,
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teaching better health eating and encouraging physical fitness
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with individuals that had poor health compromised as well as
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had food insecurities. So it was people on tighter budgets that
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were not necessarily making the best food choices because of
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money constraints. And I'm somewhere along all of this. I
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actually embarked on my own quest, soul journey. I was
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navigating a lot of trauma with a capital T had a horrific loss
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that impacted our family for years. On that quest on just
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what traditionally was suggested was not working for me. I what I
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ended up doing hypnotherapy I started doing lots of spiritual
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work. I was going to lots of sound baths
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Alan Carroll: did a lot of shamanic to sell sound baths.
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Sound bath, what's the sound bass.
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Unknown: So if you've ever seen if you've ever been to any
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meditation groups, or any kind of meditations, a lot of the
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practitioners have these bowls that are made of glass. They'll
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have different instruments as as well. Like sometimes they'll
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have different flutes or a lot of them could be Native American
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type flutes and they'll just give you a bath with sound is
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where the name comes from. They use lots of instruments. It
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brings up different vibrations, and it's just meant to get your
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body and spirit and mine in a state where you can relax and
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calm and just really ground.
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Alan Carroll: So the vibrations of the music or the vibrations
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of the instruments, create a harmony and you and are able to
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settle down the nervousness and anxiety and calm yourself. Is
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that Is that what it does?
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Unknown: You know there are there's different kinds of sound
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baths and depending on the instruments that the
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practitioner uses, the ones I attended were meant for shamanic
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journeying. So there was a lot of Native American type flutes
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to lots of other indigenous and Peruvian style type of
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instruments. But yes, the whole goal is to get your body with a
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certain resonance because the instruments are vibrating, and
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it just really helps calm you down. You know, sometimes they
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use just balls as well. Singing balls, if you've ever heard of
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those are sure whether they're metal or glass. And so it really
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is a bash with sound.
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Alan Carroll: That's great. That's great. And when and now
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we talked about the shamanistic journeys, we talked about the
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American Native American Indians. Is this did you do this
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by going somewhere? Or did you do it online?
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Unknown: You know, I started by attending events that had these
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different healing modalities. It really resonated with me. Just
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different. Native American practices have always resonated
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with me. A lot of my friends are Native American. I happen to
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make
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Alan Carroll: Can you show us something? That's great.
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Unknown: Okay, to make my own. You made. I made this Yes. Yes,
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this sounds like buffalo skin. I have friends that ethically
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procured the different skins on. So everything on my path just
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just led me to just going deeper and deeper into the soul journey
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of different shamanic practices for trauma healing, I'm actually
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doing a course right now. To help with that. And what I
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learned along this is that, um, I think a lot of times alternate
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ways of healing are not taught for trauma. I also did
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hypnotherapy and put me on my own path, to just become a
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healthier me, not just through my physical exercise, the food I
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eat, which is nutrition, but just things that feed my soul,
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that traditional mode modalities, traditional therapy,
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or not really addressing or helping with,
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Alan Carroll: wow. And what are some of the practices so that my
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audience is listening to your talk? And they said, Wow, what
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can I do, sitting here in Washington, DC, to help me
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become more present and mindful? Or do you have any tips or
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tricks or exercises?
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Unknown: What really helped me is just being out in nature,
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because I'm very physically active. It's just part of what I
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do. It's part of my lifestyle. But I would just say, regardless
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of whatever your level of physical fitness is, I'm just
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being out in nature being with trees. You know, being on the
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grass, if you happen to live by the live by the ocean, you know,
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just getting out and really being a nature. It's very
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calming, it's very peaceful. For me, running is very meditative.
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I get into a zone. I feel like, all my problems are left behind.
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And I really do have to be present. I trail run. So if I'm
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not in that moment, I can really, Bev and fall. So it
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really makes me just think of what I am at that present
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moment, not about my past, not about the future, just where I
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am.
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Alan Carroll: So mindfulness, you're talking about
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mindfulness, you're talking about presence. Absolutely. How
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would you define mindfulness in your in your point of view? But
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Blanca, what's mindfulness mean to you? And my.
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Unknown: So mindfulness for me just means being very aware of
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where I am in the present moment. A lot of times it
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involves just taking, talking to myself asking where I am
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emotionally. In the past, I did not always have the best habits
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about you know, taking stock and became very reactionary versus
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just really calming myself and responding with calmness versus
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reactionary, so So just really taking a deep breath, a lot of
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breath work goes into these sound baths, as well as running
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makes me breathe, walking, just being in tune with my own
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breath. But mindfulness and just knowing I'm thinking about what
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I'm going to do at this present moment, and how that is going to
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leave me feeling, or others that are around me how it will make
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them feel. So just really being aware of how I can affect others
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for good, or for negative if I don't choose to be calm, and
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respond, and instead I'm reactive.
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Alan Carroll: I like that a lot. Because in that's a big
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distinction, you're pointing to Blanca, where the, there's an
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automatic reaction based on your conditioning. And then there's a
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pause, breathe, relax, center, ah, respond to what's going on.
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And so you said the word react, and you said the word respond.
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And there are two different two different words that are
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important. So go ahead and, and talk to our audience about the
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differences between reacting to things and responding to things.
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Unknown: Sure, so I'm just for my own healing journey, I really
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delve into trying to heal myself from trauma. And a lot of what I
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learned whether it's the Body Keeps the Score, I listened to a
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lot of Dr. Levine's teachings as well, on different modalities on
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just the fight or flight response. And I know a lot of
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times, I was an either fight flight freeze, just, you know,
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my my brain functioning, just completely went to the lizard
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brain, because that's what we do when we survive. And as I went
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on this journey to heal myself, on through exercise, through
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eating through mindfulness practices, just really calming
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myself first and knowing that I'm not in that danger zone,
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right now, I'm out of it, I don't have to react, the bear is
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not hunting me. So just really calm me and being present on not
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being reactive. Reactive is when it's a life or death situation.
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And a lot of it is just, you know, getting to that place
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where you're not living in the trauma anymore. And that was a
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journey in and of itself. But just knowing the difference
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between you're under attack right now, or, and all that
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happened. Now, you're just healing and calming yourself. So
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you don't need to be reactive.
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Alan Carroll: And the, the the quality of the behavior, in
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terms of no mental health, I suspect that the quality of the
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behavior, if it's responding to something, it comes out of a
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more calm space. Whereas the reactive, as you said, comes out
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of more, I'm agitated, I'm upset, something is threatening
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me, my identity is being threatened. I'm upset about
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something and out of that space, I want to talk to you. So what
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what I hear you saying is that you've learned that, you might
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want to do that. But take that breath. So let's talk about
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breathing. Because you mentioned that a couple of times. Do you
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have any breathing exercises that you found very useful, and
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in becoming more calm and still.
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Unknown: And you know what, thank you for asking this
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because I sometimes still fall into patterns where I forget to
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do those things, which is why I find it so helpful to often go
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to meditative groups with practitioners that remind me how
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to breathe again. So I just actually even recently did that.
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And I know a lot of what they say is how you breathe in
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through your nose, and breathe out through your mouth and
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through your nose and through your mouth. I know sometimes my
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breathing pattern changes. When I run, I catch myself breathing
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a lot in and out through my mouth as well. And I know for
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calming purposes, I'm just even sitting down and just really
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trying to be present. Just the cycle of the breath. And there's
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different modalities of like breathing I've done several
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different I guess it down healing session so the
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practitioner will have us breathe differently. When I'm
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consciously just trying to calm I actually do either put my hand
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on my heart and calm. And another thing and my other hand
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on my belly to breathe. And that helps me. Other things that have
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helped me what else like that? Thank you. The other things I
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learned that have helped me is I became a practitioner of the
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tapping method. I had my hypnotherapist helped me through
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that. And Nick Ortner and his sister Jessica Ortner are the
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people that pretty much introduced me to the health
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benefits and Cami benefits of tapping when I'm in that
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reactive mode. My hypnotherapist introduced me to that modality
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but just the tapping. And I know there's lots of science
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speeches, and yes, it just really comes. And a lot of times
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that you say different mantras. For example, if I'm stressed
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right now, I'll say I am calm. This doesn't have to worry me.
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Nothing's to worry, this doesn't have to worry me, I am calm.
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This doesn't have to worry me. I am calm. This doesn't have to
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worry me. I am calm can be calm. This doesn't have to worry me. I
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know how to calm myself. I can I can be calm. I know how to. But
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just tapping on the different meridians that really helped me.
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And that was part of what also facilitated just not being so
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reactionary. When I was not in a good state.
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Alan Carroll: Yep, yep. The the, you're pointing to the
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unimportant part of mindfulness is that aware witness observer
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of what's going on. And the problem with the awareness
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observer and witness is that requires you to have a space
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between the event that's going on outside of you and the
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observer. And if there's no space, then you are the event
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you are the thought you are the emotion. But if there's a space,
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then you can observe the event, you can observe the emotion, you
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can observe your mental reaction to it, and you don't need to
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act. But most people don't take the time to practice one step at
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a time creating a little space, a little space, a little space.
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So every day you have a practice, you have a time every
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day, where you sit down for 510 1520 minutes, sighs closed,
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just calming the body and practicing. So when when stuff
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shows up, you've done your push ups, you've done your exercises,
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you catch yourself. You take that breath. You don't vote like
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that you catch yourself and realize boom is not what my ego
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wants to boom, but I know it's not going to handle the problem.
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So it sounds like you've done a wonderful job and in dealing
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with your own trauma, dealing with your own emotions dealing
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with your own mental and physical issues. And that's
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congratulations on your journey. And I wish you success as you do
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your do your marathon in France. That's what's a wonderful
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memory. And people who who listened to us today Bellanca
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wanted may want to reach out and connect with you. And we'll put
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your information you send to us that mindful you will put them
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in the show notes. Yet right now, what would be ways that
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people could connect with you if they wanted to have another
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continuing conversation?
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Unknown: Thank you, Alan. Um, the best way for people on your
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podcast to mind for you to connect with me would be through
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you. I am still in the germination stage of my podcast.
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Hopefully what this product Palooza event, it will launch
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soon. But I'm just here to really connect with wonderful
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individuals like you who are already getting the message out
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there. And I'm just very appreciative to be here and
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connect.
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Alan Carroll: Wonderful. Do you have a title for your podcast?
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Unknown: I do. It's your health is your greatest? Well,
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Alan Carroll: I do have greatest wealth. Your
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Unknown: health is your greatest wealth. Yes. And I do have that
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as a domain. So I'll see it coming soon.
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Alan Carroll: Wonderful. Well, thank you very much for being a
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wonderful guest on the mindful you podcast. And I wish you a
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happy mindful day Blanca. Thank you, Alan. You're welcome. Thank
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Unknown: you. You're welcome.