From Chaos to Calm: How to Heal Yourself First with Lisa Taylor, Ep. 204

Jennifer Norman:
Have you ever noticed how quickly life can tip from 'I've got this' to 'I don't recognize myself anymore'? Not because you failed, but because everything changed all at once. Today's conversation is for that woman holding it all together on the outside while quietly unraveling on the inside. My guest today is Lisa Taylor. She is an ICF certified life coach, shamanic healer, and author of It All Begins With You. Her life shifted overnight when suddenly parenthood, divorce, loss, and the pandemic collided while she was still building a successful business. At her lowest point, she said she felt like she had folded herself into an unrecognizable shape. What transformed her wasn't escape, it wasn't hustle, it wasn't perfection. It was turning inward.

Jennifer Norman:
Through shamanic healing, kundalini yoga, intuitive intelligence, In what she calls "simple me moments," Lisa rebuilt her life from the inside out, learning that chaos doesn't have to harden you, it can refine you. Today we are talking about holistic health in its fullest sense: mind, body, heart, and soul. How to manage change without losing your center. And how to move from survival mode into grounded calm. So if you've ever been the strong one, if you've been the responsible one, if you've been postponing your own healing for later, this episode might gently challenge that timeline. I'd love to bring Lisa to the stage to help impart her words of wisdom to you today.

Lisa Taylor:
Hi, thank you, Jennifer. What a beautiful introduction.

Jennifer Norman:
I am so grateful you're here, Lisa. Oh man, gee, you have been through it. You have been through it. Yeah, and you've come through, and I think that so many people are looking for some support or some answers from the universe when they're going through it as well. And I love that you've shared your story so that others might be able to learn and gain a little bit of inspiration. So I'm curious, because you've started this work, it's become your purpose. When somebody listens today and is finishing this episode, maybe they're driving, maybe they're folding the laundry, maybe they're sitting in their car for a few extra minutes just to take a breath. What do you hope shifts for them?

Lisa Taylor:
I hope that they recognize how important it is to spend time with themselves and to go inward. And that can look in feel so different to everybody. It's so personal.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah.

Lisa Taylor:
But the basics, coming back to the basics, I find works well for all of us. Just noticing our breath, or maybe noticing that we're holding our breath. So then taking a breath, that constriction, you feel like, yes, your shoulders crunch up and you feel all tense.

Jennifer Norman:
And just if you notice, it's in your neck and in your shoulders, right?

Lisa Taylor:
We all do it. And so I wish that they to have that awareness to notice when those things happen, because that's the first step. Awareness is what leads to change. So that is my hope on a very small level. That is a big win for anyone.

Jennifer Norman:
It absolutely is. Sometimes the smallest things are the biggest things, truly.

Lisa Taylor:
Yes, yes.

Jennifer Norman:
I love how, yeah, when I was going through my trauma and starting to heal and doing that noticing, I said, you know what, everything is upside down and inside out. Nothing is what it seems, all the pain starts to transmute into that purpose. And so I wanna talk about your story first because you've gone through it and I would love to just kind of set the foundation 'cause your story begins with sudden seismic change, instant parenthood, a toxic marriage, loss, pandemic, all while building your business. And so I'm curious because for somebody listening who feels like their life changed faster than they could process it, what do you think happens to us, mind, body, soul, all the things when we're in this prolonged chaos?

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah, well, certainly there's a physical manifestation. Our posture might change, how we carry ourself changes, maybe we're frowning more because we're thinking more. And then on a more spiritual level, from a shamanic perspective, when we go through a lot of big change due to something that happens, it's most likely a trauma. And shamans believe that we lose a part of our soul when that happens. And it can be— the soul part can come back. Oftentimes it doesn't feel safe enough to come back, so we start losing our power.

Jennifer Norman:
Wow.

Lisa Taylor:
So the way we show up in the world is now very different. Our behavior will change because of that internal trauma and the way we're responding. So that manifests in so many different ways. We start to become more clumsy, we forget things. I don't know, I was like losing things all the time. I lost my engagement ring at one point in this period that I write about. And I didn't have the consciousness to be aware of that. But if you're listening to this show and you're starting to lose things and it's uncharacteristic of you, that can be a sign.

Jennifer Norman:
And it's not just ordinary aging brain fog. That's the— that kind of stuff always happened. It's like, why did I come in this room? Or where did I put my keys? Where did I put my glasses? And they're on your head. Right.

Lisa Taylor:
Right. Yeah. Some other things might be you get into more accidents, like you're forgetting to pause and slow down and notice things, or you run into things with your car. Like, stuff like this that feels very uncharacteristic can be the manifestation of you losing your power because of lots of big changes happening.

Jennifer Norman:
I'm curious, because you entered into the world of shamanism, was it post-trauma in order to find answers and to helped to kind of make meaning out of all of this? Or did you have any of that prior, any of those learnings or any of those recognitions prior to your big moment, if, as it were?

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah, that's a great question. So when I had a lot of these big life changes and I went through that divorce and I felt best thing for me was to recover myself. I was honestly like a piece of dirt. I was very, very, very, very small and very low. Oh, and I was rebuilding, and I did that through a lot of different things— yoga, meditation. I had a psychotherapist, I had a Reiki master, and then I found shamanism. And when I studied in the coursework that was outlined there, it was very comforting to have a language to what I had experienced prior. So I recognized that I had been doing journeys to the spirit world since I was a child.

Lisa Taylor:
I would go, yeah, and play with my imaginary friends, right? That were my spirit guides.

Jennifer Norman:
Yes.

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah. And it felt so natural as a kid. Like, my parents recognized that because most kids have imaginary friends, but mine continued to stay with me. And so then when I studied shamanism, we received the methodology, the tools, because I went through coursework where a man named Michael Harner studied with indigenous tribes throughout the globe, and then he distilled down those learnings for a Western audience. And so he was— yeah, it's really cool. He found commonalities among all these tribes. And so, so this is like a human universal experience, which is so beautiful. So then when I had that language and those tools, it just became so clear to me what I had been doing all along, and then how then to use it in a specifically healing form on myself and then for others.

Jennifer Norman:
I'd love to go a little bit deeper in this, because when you were saying that a part of your soul leaves you I was curious if that's why we start feeling smaller, because part of our soul has gone, and so we start shrinking, we start feeling less than, we start feeling more like dirt, if you will, like, just as you were saying. So I wanted to ask you a little bit more about that, because when you had these spirit guides, these imaginary friends, and feel free to share any kind of clear examples or any stories that you might, I was curious about how you were able to then learn, like, oh, this wasn't just make-believe child stuff. It actually was something that is true for humans, and it's a way to interpret what's going on and what's happening, and then how to really just alchemize that and turn it into something that can be healing and more understanding.

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah, yeah, that has been a really fun process, I will say. So as I mentioned, part of my healing work was learning about myself on a more soul level first and foremost, and that's what attracted me so much to shamanic shamanic work. And when I found all these great resources and teachers and coursework, I actually bought a one-way ticket to Bali and I studied shamanic healing there for what I thought was going to be 3 weeks. I stayed for 2 and a half months.

Jennifer Norman:
Nice. Wow.

Lisa Taylor:
Went really deep. And what was so interesting and what I loved is the philosophy is, yes, being spiritual, connecting to your spirit guides, but also bringing it down to this ordinary reality and making it practical because we have these spiritual allies, these benevolent beings that want to help us and support us as humans here on the planet as we do our own work. And so when I learned that perspective, it really resonated. And it's just a lot of why I am here in the human form. I know my soul has come to learn and to grow and to share now, which is a big reason why I wrote that book. But when I take that perspective, it's so beautiful because I receive these messages, I receive the healing, and then I'm able to actually practically use it in real life. So part of the coursework I took was to receive these healing modalities on myself. So I would have my classmates bring my soul parts back to me, and I would do the same for them.

Lisa Taylor:
And so in that exchange, you see how, oh, that little soul part when you were a child and your mom— like, for example, my mom had a young baby by the time I was born. So she had two little ones under two. So it was very chaotic. So I was left alone a lot, even as a baby. And I saw myself in shamanic journey wrapped up as a little baby, like on the bed, left alone. And then I saw my sister and my mom was like running after her. And that was a part of— that was a trauma. And that little baby wanted to come back.

Lisa Taylor:
And it put together for me this missing piece of the puzzle as to why my dynamic with my mom has always been challenging, because she was always dealing with two children and we have, there's a lot of other things, but it's just been able to show me and fill in gaps for me for things that just didn't always make sense. Provide healing, provide messages. I get a lot of messages from my spirit team that allow me to understand the world, understand things like COVID. I ask them about stuff like this and it gives me just a greater perspective. So It's multifaceted.

Jennifer Norman:
I love that. Okay, listeners, do you have the capacity to listen to those spirit guides that we all have? Because a lot of us don't believe it. Number one, some people are like, oh no, there's no such thing, which is okay. Everybody has their own beliefs. But have there been these voices or perhaps these messages that all of a sudden pop into your head and you're like, wow, where did that come from? Maybe you're in the shower or driving. Some people, you know, it's creative, just like an epiphany or an aha moment, some people call it. You might be walking along the beach enjoying nature and then all of a sudden you just get some sort of insight.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah, yeah. And so sometimes we have different language for things, and that's why I think it's so beautiful that you were able to learn from those that have gone and been able to reinterpret it for people that are a bit more practical or maybe a little bit more left-brain minded per se, and those that need to kind of break it down into more fit of the physical, the see, smell, you know, taste, touch here versus what's kind of the woo. I myself am very much into the woo. I'm woo-woo beyond. So for me, all of this is like, yeah, Yes! But yeah, but yeah, no, and my journey certainly came after trauma to try to find meaning and, and make sense of it all too. And there was indeed such comfort in knowing that we're not alone, that we're guided, even though we in human form might feel distant from others and there might be a hard method of communicating, or COVID, for example, was a perfect example of what, how we feel when we are in isolation. But having the comfort to know, and you might call it God, you might call it angels, you might call it universe. You are surrounded by love and you are surrounded by support.

Jennifer Norman:
Tapping into that sometimes is when you are kind of eradicating the busyness of life and all the doing and all of those to-do lists that we, particularly women, have. The responsibilities of raising kids, doing this, doing that, all of those things that cause us to forget to drop in and listen more deeply to ourselves and to our spirit guides. So I think that that's magical that you were able to go through all of that intensive learning and come out of that with something to also give to others. So that's amazing, Lisa. I'm curious, was it aided by plant medicine?

Lisa Taylor:
I did not use plant medicine.

Jennifer Norman:
Oh, okay.

Lisa Taylor:
Not that I'm opposed, I just I didn't—

Jennifer Norman:
I was just curious.

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah, no, that's a great question. I didn't feel the need, and I learned that plant medicine is a small part of the shamanic population, so to speak, for, for getting into that trance state.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah.

Lisa Taylor:
For me, the drumbeat is all it takes, or like a very special rattle that I bought in Bali. It gets my clients into the trance state. Yeah, right.

Jennifer Norman:
Yep. I remember I, I actually bought myself a djembe years ago because there's something about the tone of a djembe and also the, you know, the Tibetan bowls and all of that found. Isn't that amazing how it can really just create these brainwaves that get you into those particular states? And we can talk about trance in a moment because I think that's super cool. I do want to talk to you about me moments because I love that. I haven't really heard of that in this context and in this way, but you really have kind of grounded in this importance of me moments because it does feel doable. It doesn't overwhelming and they feel like these small consistent practices that we can all do rather than these dramatic, I'm going to go to Bali for 2.5 months because not everybody has the ability to do that. So can you tell us, and breaking all of this down into the practical, I think is so great. Tell us about how you came up with that and how you yourself started to incorporate that and maybe it'll give some people some food for thought on how they might be able to do it themselves.

Lisa Taylor:
Absolutely. So I'm such a big fan of a daily practice. I'm very spiritual, but I'm also a Capricorn, so I'm very practical. Systems are important, and repetition and routine and habits are part of being human, and we do them whether we're conscious of it or not. And so I have always made a point to really take care of myself physically, and then I've been layering on more habits, more daily practices. So now it's a morning meditation, some journaling, maybe tarot. And then I always have something physical going on throughout my day, whether it's walking my dog or Pilates class or lifting weights, whatever. So that is my insurance policy of life, having a daily practice.

Jennifer Norman:
Very good.

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah, things are going to come up, right? No matter what. And so I want to be ready for them. So that's just something I started at least 10, 15 years ago. It's changed over time. So what I like to share with clients and with friends and, and now in my book is that you can create that for yourself at any time. And it's important to remember that as a resource. So giving yourself time for you, your me moment of the day, so to speak. It feels like self-care for some.

Lisa Taylor:
It feels like a daily practice for some. It's just a resource, a tool, something to remember, something healthy to remember to do. So I wanted to put together a really easy assortment of that that's mostly free, less than a few minutes if that, and just requires you to again have that awareness and take the time to do it. So breathing for 2 minutes, inhale, exhale, 2 minutes of that. It creates coherence with your mind, with your heart, with your nervous system. Your organs get to rest. You move from that sympathetic fight, flight, or freeze to parasympathetic rest and rejuvenation, which is what you need when we're stressed out, right? We create— our body craves that, actually. I have other me moments that, that do involve travel.

Lisa Taylor:
It's more just like taking the time out of your day to imagine what that amazing vacation would be.

Jennifer Norman:
Juicy.

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah. And then journaling about it because we know how it works, right? What you think about, you bring about. So, so giving yourself that space. And when I share that with others, I share that with my clients, they just eat it right up because they're craving it. And they're, they may not be aware that they're craving it. So it's just about giving them that tool and that resource.

Jennifer Norman:
I love getting into that energy because sometimes we get caught up in just the mundanity of the everyday and it can feel like a to-do list or boredom or just my life is not what I pictured it to be, and how did this happen? And we get stuck in that kind of just a little bit more stagnant energy. And just that ability to take a me moment and envision and use that joyful imagination, just like you were a child, and, and imagine just your vision board of life. And of course, people do carry vision boards, or they still use Pinterest, all of the things. But feeling the warmth of the sun as if you were in Bali or in Fiji or the South of France, feeling how good it would be to have all of the love that you have and that zest for life and bringing a little bit of that into your body and noticing how excited that makes you feel and how energized that makes you feel because it does. Living your life as if that is already within you, there is just something magical to your point about being being able to just inhabit that feeling, that expression, that emotion, and that joy and that abundance. And then so sooner or later it happens. It's like, that's just the magic of the way that it happens. Yeah, yeah, I know.

Jennifer Norman:
It might not be on the timeline, like instant, you know, that you expected. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's like, yeah, you're ready. Um, and but sometimes, yeah, you've gotta— it might take a bit for the quantum to kind of pull forward into your present. So yeah, that is super cool. Okay, listeners, what What is one thing that you're imagining? What is that thing that you're closing your eyes and you're like, and it makes you go like either, ah, and take those breaths. That's, you know, where you're getting all of this working at the same time. You're getting that visualization, you're getting that enthusiasm, and you're getting that breathwork.

Jennifer Norman:
And it's like that your body, your, you know, your parasympathetic system is just like relaxing and going, ah, and you're letting that serotonin come in. You're letting all of those those good love, excitement, joy molecules, happiness molecules do their work. That's what those me moments can do, and they can spark a little bit more, a little bit more happiness, a little bit more wellness, mind, body, heart, soul in there. That is super cool.

Jennifer Norman:
I know that some of you are like, hey, okay, I took a moment and now it's gone. Now it's time to move on. My kids are screaming. My dog needs a bath. Like, how Do you think that people can connect to this and keep it going and then also just like feel like if I take time for me, then I'm going to fall behind, like something is going to— the shoe is going to drop, something is going to happen, it'll all fall apart if I don't keep up with it. How do you respond to that?

Lisa Taylor:
I have been there too. And I ask you, how is that working out for you? And I also bring to you scientific scientific studies that say when you take a break, you come back more rejuvenated, more productive, and more ready to accomplish. You're faster, you're better, you're stronger. So let that go. It's an old story. You don't have to live this way. It can be better.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah, it's that internal state because regeneration is so important.

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah.

Jennifer Norman:
Giving yourself that time to recover and refill your... Yeah, all of those things are super important. So one of your core messages is, and this is also kind of going along the same lines, is like healing yourself first is not selfish, right? It is foundational. So there are so many people that do feel guilty about prioritizing yourself, and we're like, yeah, well, how is that going? How does somebody get into that frame of mind? Like, okay, without going through, all right, this major trauma, because sometimes people are like, I don't want to have to go through all of that. I love you, But it's like, you know what, I don't want to have to go through a catastrophe in order to find myself and to like finally say, okay, uncle, I got, you know, my arm is twisted. I need to take time for me. How do you help people figure out how to not feel guilty about prioritizing themselves? What would you say directly to her?

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah. So guilt is a really challenging one. And I know from my own experience too, that is something that is often learned. So it is just a weird program that again, you don't have to accept. But also think about this: when you are healthy and healed and whole, everybody in your life benefits. Not just you. Everyone you touch feels you differently. You're in a different energetic frequency and that shows up differently in the world.

Lisa Taylor:
We know how this works because we're woo people, but you're in that higher frequency. So people now want to be around you. Opportunities come your way. Your kids may be happier, your partner's happier, and you get to lead by example for your community and your family. You get to show people, oh hey, it's okay to do this work, and actually it's beneficial to do this work. So yeah, there's just so much benefit.

Jennifer Norman:
I would also love to ask you about Kundalini yoga because I feel like that has such a special part in all of this healing as well. And it is a very— for those that don't understand or don't know about Kundalini, perhaps you can describe it.

Lisa Taylor:
Sure.

Jennifer Norman:
Because some people might be more familiar with, you know, vinyasa yoga or like more traditional, but Kundalini is actually very— well, it's quite different. So it's quite different. Yeah, it's quite different. So I'd love for you to explain that and how you felt that it was kind of activating your body into a stage of healing.

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah. So Kundalini is an ancient form of yoga. It used to be kept away and reserved for only special people. And there was a man that brought it from India to Los Angeles named Yogi Bhajan in the '60s, and he was using it as a tool to create more teachers with the hope of helping people heal. At the time, there was a lot of people taking drugs and a lot of like really intense mind-bending things. And so some people wanted to come out of that. And they used Kundalini yoga to do it. So it's a very powerful form of yoga.

Lisa Taylor:
It's a lifestyle, I would say, as well. Some people even call it a technology.

Jennifer Norman:
Really?

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah. So it's Kriya yoga, which means it has multiple elements to each class, so to speak. So you're gonna have mantra, you're gonna have asana, physical movement, you're gonna have pranayama, which is breathwork, and you're gonna have mudra, which is hand positioning.. And it's all very intentional. It aligns to the different planets with different movements, different positions of your hands, 60-degree angle, focus on your brow point, focus on your moon center. All these very intentional things that are meant to activate your glands, your pineal, your pituitary, which are the master system of the body. And when you move in this way, when you breathe in this way, when you do these complete it's almost like you're cleansing from the inside out is how it feels. So your glands get a workout, your blood, your lungs.

Lisa Taylor:
Of course, you can focus on the different organs of the body. So it's kind of this like activation system. And my body just responded so well to it because I had what felt like buildup, like years and years and years of toxic buildup, whether it's a toxic relationship toxic clients, just bad habits that we all pick up. And the body said, no, enough. We have to cleanse you of all of this stuff. And I remember, so I became a Kundalini yoga teacher in 2018 after divorce, which meant you cleanse yourself so that you can hold space for others. And it's beautiful. So it's different in other yoga teacher trainings, even that philosophy.

Lisa Taylor:
So we would spend every weekend like 6 hours each day in meditation. And I'm talking, you're sitting, you're doing a breath pattern, like you're, you're inhaling through your mouth and you're exhaling through your nose. And then 10 minutes later you switch it. It's all these like really interesting ways to breathe. So it's challenging physically, but it's mostly your mind. So your mind gets cleared. I remember sitting in meditation of a 30-minute meditation we were doing, and I saw this this movie of like me and my mom fighting, and then I was like, I'm letting that go, and I just breathed it away. It went away.

Lisa Taylor:
So, and I— not everyone has an experience like that, but my classmates in my program, they had amazing experiences also. Like, they looked so different after our teacher training. So it works on a really deep, deep, deep level. Wow. And it's so powerful and it's so beautiful. And it's the other thing about it, which I love, is like it helps you. It feels like you're keeping up with the pace of life when you're able to remove stuff from the inside.

Lisa Taylor:
You know what I mean? Like things that maybe you have been hanging on to. It's almost like I was carrying a bunch of weights with me. Yeah. And those weights just like got snipped away when I did that internal work. Uh-huh. So you're just more efficient, you're lighter, you're happier.

Jennifer Norman:
That's so cool. I had taken a few Kundalini classes, not knowing all, of course, that, that you know as, as a master. I felt rounded. I felt that it was— it's not flow, and it's not like the traditional yoga that you think about with, like, you know, different poses and whatnot, which is also beautiful and has its space. But there was something very ancient in its feel, I have to say. There is something almost primitive, primal about it. For sure. There's like this athletic, sinewy nature about it.

Jennifer Norman:
And so when you say cleansing, I'm like, yes, I can actually— that's a great, great word. Like detox. There, it just feels like you're getting rid of all that muck that's been stuck inside your fascia, inside your, your breath, inside your head, and clearing all of that out. And certainly, you know, taking sessions from somebody who really knows how to masterfully think about the conduit of spirit and mind and all of that, I think is just so beautiful because the body does keep the score. The body does keep all of this stuff trapped inside, and when you release that, you can release sometimes those emotions that go along with it, just as Lisa had described. And so it could be very healing and very therapeutic as a modality for those that are interested in trying that.

Jennifer Norman:
I remember this one teacher, she used to say, "I want your toes spread. There are no codependent toes." That just made me— I remember that for years after that because I was like, oh, I want to make sure my toes aren't touching each other. There are no codependent toes.

Lisa Taylor:
That's a really good cue, actually.

Jennifer Norman:
I thought that was super cute. Okay, so let's talk a little bit more about the shamanism aspect because again, I mean, we could probably talk forever about it because there's so—

Lisa Taylor:
forever—

Jennifer Norman:
there's so much wisdom in it that I think is perhaps lost on people. So what are some of the other things that perhaps a, like, a Western gal or a Western guy who's listening might be able to say, okay, spirit guides, sure, I've heard of that, support and all of that, but this idea of soul travel or of like reintegrating soul, is there something in that which through the healing journey, maybe there are cues, maybe there are mantras or things that you had talked about before, are there certain aspects of shamanism that you've been like, wow, this has been so enlightening for me and I must share it with the world?

Lisa Taylor:
Oh my gosh, there's so many. Well, as it relates to me personally, I have connected with my ancestors that have transitioned. Oh, I knew them in, in physical form, and then I got actually very close with my grandmother from my mother's side after she had transitioned. It turns out she has been my number one angel all along, and, and I didn't know that until I went to Bali and took this class, and I learned— basically it was a shamanic dreamwork class, and it was so beautiful. It was just the most unique experience, and I'll share. So I'm in a cohort of 30 people from around the world, and we're all staying at this resort, and we're having meals together, and we're taking class together. And then we get the assignment: remember your dreams, write them down at the end of this week week we're going to share a message that you are meant to receive from one of your classmates. You don't know who yet.

Lisa Taylor:
And so it's this fun game our teacher was playing with us. So we go about our week not sharing with one another our dreams, like being very, yeah, cautious about that. And we come into the classroom at the end of the week, he puts us all in a circle, and he's outside of the circle. He throws his drumstick behind his back into the circle. It lands and it points at me first, and directly across from me, this beautiful woman named Charmaine. And she's like, oh my gosh, I got the dream for you at the beginning of the week, and I've been holding it in. And so we pair off, and I had a dream for her. So we pair off magically, we're paired off, everybody else pairs off, we go and have our, our session together.

Lisa Taylor:
And she does a sound healing on me as part of the message from the dream. Then she ends and she says, there's more. Your grandmother came through. And at the time I was like, I was confused. I didn't know which grandmother she meant. Obviously it's the one that passed. And I said, oh, okay. I met her 3 times in my life physically.

Lisa Taylor:
Didn't have a big connection with her. She said, in the dream, you and her were sitting across from each other at a table. Your mom was there too, but she was in the back and you got up and you left the table. And she called you back and she said, "Remember, this is what we do." I was like, whoa, there's a lot of power there. I don't know if I fully understand this yet. And so that message, I, yes, exactly. I come back to LA, living there at the time, and it all kind of hit me and it all clicked and made sense.

Lisa Taylor:
And so I start to do healings for all my friends. I'm like, guys, I'm not doing marketing anymore. This is it. I'm— this is what I'm meant to do. Like, I've practiced this, it's so powerful, I've got to give you a healing. And so I start doing healings for friends through the techniques that I've learned. And to this day, they still tell me how some of those messages are starting to make sense to them. So there's like this unfolding that happened.

Lisa Taylor:
So that moment was really an opening and a just divine message from her to show that she's there for me and she's always been with me all along. And then she was kind of giving me a preview of where my life was going to go, because from there I started to develop my coaching program, which involves some healing work too. Started writing my book the following year, and on and on.

Jennifer Norman:
And this is what we do. Sit at the table with Grandma. I love it. Oh my gosh. Let's talk about your beautiful book. It All Begins with You. I see that you have it there right beside you, right behind you. Yep.

Jennifer Norman:
It All Begins with You. Somewhat of a memoir, and then all of a sudden, uh, you kind of slip into some life lessons. Can you tell us a little bit more about what's in the book, what people can expect when they read it?

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah. So it is the hardest years of my life. Documented. I am a big journaler. I journal every single day. Helps me process, helps me release. And when I was in the thick of these really challenging moments, I would share little tidbits with friends. They're like, oh my gosh, are you writing a book about this? I'm like, I don't know, I'm in it right now.

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah. And then life went on. 2020 hit, pandemic hit. Still more challenges. Like, I was parenting this, my niece, who was very troubled emotionally, physically, spiritually. And then her mother passed away suddenly. So I was really coming in as an aunt and a mom. And, and then we had to do Zoom school.

Lisa Taylor:
And anyways, lots of like really big nasty things. Yeah. And then I was like, wait, I am resourced. I have practices. I know what to do in these moments. Me moments, and I documented everything. I just wrote in my journal about the challenges I was experiencing, like with my ex and with work and with life and being locked down, and it ended up becoming chapters of the book. So there's these challenging stories that are true, and then there's a me moment at the end of each chapter, and it's the tool that I recommend and that I use when I am in those.

Jennifer Norman:
Oh, I love that. I think I hear someone in the back.

Lisa Taylor:
Yeah, it's my dog, he's like, Mom, what's going on? It's playtime.

Jennifer Norman:
Super cute. Are there any mantras, maybe from your Kundalini practice, that you think might be important or helpful for those that are going through a hard time, or maybe they need to take a me moment? Are there any that you use that you find particularly supportive?

Lisa Taylor:
That's such a great question. The one that's coming to mind is Ramadasa Sase Sohang, which is in Sanskrit, and it's beautiful. I can send you the chant of that, but it is a healing mantra. So the beauty about mantras in Sanskrit is they are designed to be to hit different parts of your mouth using your tongue, which activates a part of you, right, and activates your frequency. So it's, it's so well created, I guess, or well-divined, these mantras. So I love the Sanskrit mantra because it has that kind of innate connection to source. And when you chant it, you feel it.

Lisa Taylor:
It feels different than an English word per se, even though English words can also do that for you. But for me, I think having that like traditional language that it was intended for is special. It's a little different.

Jennifer Norman:
I was so intrigued to learn about the sound and the way that the mouth shape and the resonance of those, as you were just mentioning, and how healing that they are and how they arrive in language. For example, oh, oh, oh, oh, omega, and then the ah, ah, ah, alpha. Allah, Yahweh, God. Like, that sound is so powerful and healing. So the mantra, the idea of repeating it and those frequencies, the vibrations that they make throughout your body as you're doing it unto itself, is a form of healing.

Lisa Taylor:
Oh my gosh, I know. And then even more, you'll love this, Kundalini, we do a lot of weird things like we start laughing in the middle of the session to evoke joy.

Jennifer Norman:
Oh my gosh, yeah.

Lisa Taylor:
But humming, using, which, you know, affects your gland system, it's actually an easy way to calm yourself down is to hum.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah, everybody try that now. Let's do it. Let's go. And that's part of the Om, right? Carrying that through. Cool. Oh gosh. Well, Lisa, this has been such a grounded and expansive conversation.

Jennifer Norman:
I would love to ask you just 3 more questions because these are 3 questions that I ask every guest at the close of the podcast. They remind us of what connects us all, our beauty, our humanity, and the truths that we live by. So Lisa Taylor, what makes you beautiful?

Lisa Taylor:
That's such a great question. I think it's my soul. My soul makes me beautiful.

Jennifer Norman:
Soul beauty. Yeah. My second question: what does it mean to be human?

Lisa Taylor:
It means a limited experience of learning, of growth, of love, and, and hopefully transcendence.

Jennifer Norman:
Yeah. To be human is to recognize that we are not really human, so we're so much more than human, potentially. And my final question: what is one truth that you live by?

Lisa Taylor:
Oh, well, love is the most beautiful and expansive and healing energy and, and a reason to be human.

Jennifer Norman:
Oh, love that. Yes, it is. I am taking from this conversation that there's just so much calm that you exude now, and I think it's because, you know, we're so busy chasing things, but the calm is that magic that we feel when we can hold space for ourselves and then hold space for our lives so that there's not as much chaos going on around us. And it is something that we cultivate. Attending to ourselves isn't a luxury. It's not something for us to feel guilty about. It is really being the leader of our lives. It's being that true empowered person that we know that we can be.

Jennifer Norman:
So my listeners, if this conversation stirred something in you, don't rush past it. Maybe your me moment begins right here, one breath before you move on to the next thing. Thank you so much that, you know, we have this remembrance of taking these me moments. And to everybody listening, this is the time that you deserve. This is the time that you can for yourself, and it will change everything. Truly. Thank you so much, Lisa, for being my guest today.

Lisa Taylor:
It was such a joy. Yes, my honor. My honor and pleasure.

Jennifer Norman:
Thank you, beautiful humans. I'm Jennifer Norman, and this is the Human Beauty Movement. Until the next episode.

Jennifer Norman:
Thank you for listening to the Human Beauty Movement podcast. Be sure to follow, rate, and review us wherever you podcasts. The Human Beauty Movement is a community-based platform that cultivates the beauty of humankind. Check out our workshops, find us on social media, and share our inspiration with all the beautiful humans in your life. Learn more at thehumanbeautymovement.com. Thank you so much for being a beautiful human.