Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Hi, everybody! Welcome! Welcome!
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Give us a second to get here.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): let's take a moment at the start of class today to get
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): a little centered and settled. We're gonna be looking at ritual as a coaching tool, and always it's good to have as much presence as possible, but especially on the topic of ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So wherever you are, if it's comfortable for you, I invite you to close your eyes, I'm closing mine. If not, keep them open. Go inward.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and give yourself the gift right now of taking some moments
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to arr
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to bring all of you here.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to come back home to your body
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): so that you can open up
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to receive exactly what you're meant to receive.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And maybe, as we take these few moments right now.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you can even feel
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): yourself just a little more and a little more
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): coming back home to your body.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and maybe feeling yourself just a little bit more. opening an opening
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in order to receive.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): taking a moment with your heart. bringing your heart into all of this with you, for you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): taking a moment with your belly.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): bringing your belly, your intuition. your ability to digest all things.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): bringing that into this with you for you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): maybe placing a light hand on your throat
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and bringing your voice
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): forward even more
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with you and for you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then taking a nice deep breath in. And now
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): opening your eyes, if they're not already open.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay. So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): before we dive into one of my very favorite topics, looking at ritual as a coaching and transformational tool, a couple of things first is a Quickie next week is our last class.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yes, it's our last official sacred death session. And we're gonna be doing some really big work in that session. We are. The first part of it. We're gonna take some time to go step by step by step.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to look at how to lead a next steps, call with a client. So this is for clients that are coming to the end of their
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): poaching cycle with you that you feel it might be aligned for them to continue, how to hold space for them, to make the best decision, empowered decision for themselves to continue working with you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): It's a little bit different than an enrollment conversation when someone hasn't yet worked with you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And so we'll we'll look at that step by step, and also look at some pieces of when you might not want to invite someone to continue working with you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): We'll also look at a last session. If you're not inviting someone to continue
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and how to kinda wrap up your work together. And then from there, we're gonna do our wrap up work together, and I'm gonna lead us through just a really beautiful process that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): will help us really honor
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): these 10 months that we've all devoted and shown up for and I think you're really gonna love it. And then I have a little special something gift from my heart to yours. At the end
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): we have a little bit of a longer class next week in order to do all of this, just looking at the calendar. It is we're going to meet from 11
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to 1 30 Eastern. So 2 and a half hours.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So hopefully, that's already on your calendar.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): some of you
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): already in November started asking about the embody program, and if that was still an option, some of you had heard about it in different ways, and I couldn't give you an answer yet in November.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): mostly because I was still figuring out my calendar and my priorities for 2024 and into 2,025. I just needed a little bit more time for that clarity
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to drop in the clarity has dropped in. And because embody is a program that's so dear to me. I am going to be be be creating space in my calendar for it
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): over this next year. And I wanna spend just a couple of minutes right now briefly sharing about it. With you, because it is such an easy, low, cost.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): high value way to continue our work together, and to continue to receive support from me and the incredible sacred depths
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): alumni community. It's a easy way to continue to be in the container and to continue to integrate everything that we've been learning in sacred depths as well as your own inner work.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): before I go any further. For those of you that are going to be joining me for advanced staff, and we still have a couple of spots left if you're still thinking about it. But if you're joining me in advance depth, you get the full embody program completely for free my gift for you if you want to participate in it. If you don't, that's also fine, but it it's there for you as a gift.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So basically, in the 10 months of sacred depths, you know, we look at so much, you receive so much and maybe
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): a little too much, just because the material and the curriculum is so rich and so layered. There's so much here, and a lot of graduates want more time and space with it, and to be able to work with this curriculum of these 10 months more deeply. The truth is that my secret dream from day one from the very first time I offered sacred depths.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Till now my secret dream has always been for this program to be at least 2 years, if not 3,
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and in that time I wouldn't add new content. That's for advanced steps. But instead, we would have luxurious time and space to get to more of the nuances and the details inside of the content.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): That's already here, right? So that you can move to even greater mastery on the skills of sacred depths. and also so that you can go deeper into your own personal work through the skills.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So, for example, imagine the opportunity to go deeper into the nuances of questioning skills so that you embody all of your questioning skills even more, become even more masterful at creating questions that activate breakthroughs for clients. But not only that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): What if you also have the container to go deeper into asking yourself more potent questions, and to ask yourself more potent questions more consistently.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): or imagine the opportunity to spend more time with the topic of radical self love
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to be able to explore and master the topics inside of that module that we breezed through a little bit like the connection between love, self care, and money, or sematic techniques for being able to receive so so much. Gold and magic are tied up in the details and the nuances, and then in the practiced embodiment of the sacred depths, skills, and techniques.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And I think that's one of the reasons why sacred depths graduates have really loved and
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): valued embody. Again, it's not about new content. It's about going much deeper into the content you've already received, and it's not a review
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you could just. You have these record our recordings for life. Right? You could just listen to those recordings for a review, although honestly, once you're done with sacred, sacred depths, it's oftentimes without a container. It's even if you have the best of intentions. It's hard to make time to listen to the recordings. But that's not what embody is. It's not a review.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): It's a deep dive into selected topics of sacred depths, where you get more of the nuances, more of the details and then opportunity to practice the techniques.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): we're looking at the sacred depth content. But we're going deeper.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'm giving you different options, also different ideas for the techniques.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So you know, as an example over this last year in embody, I taught an even more powerful way of the stretch, risk or die exercise. Remember that one months ago or another example over this last year, as we were in embody, as we were doing a deep dive on visioning skills.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): we also looked at a whole new, subtle aspect of visioning skills that we don't cover in sacred depths.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay, so how does it work? It's very simple.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): The the main
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): pillars of the program are 5 mini retreats
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): over a year, starting in April.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So those are mostly 4 h retreats about every 10 weeks where we do a deep dive on a selected sacred depth topic. So we're not covering all of the sacred depth topics each year and embody its selected topics.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and in those for this coming year here are the topics that we're looking at in those Mini retreats.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): strategizing skills. And along with that transforming your inner workforce, we're going to look at the archetype of that as we go deeper into strategizing skills.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): We're gonna do a mini retreat on accessing your intuition and your clients. Intuition, part of that is gonna be going deeper into the 4 levels of learning and processing.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): We're gonna do a mini retreat on the Belief bridge technique.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): which is a more advanced version of the rewiring thought patterns. Technique involves the whole body. It's really, really cool.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And it also brings in some of the myth of perfection techniques that we've learned as well. We're gonna do a mini retreat on, going deeper with radical self love
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then finish out the year on a breakthrough. Questions. Think, Tank.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So if you
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): only wanna devote time to those 5 mini retreats. That is already I think, more than the you know the value of the program itself. Some people only come to those Mini retreats.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): If you want more more of an ongoing container you also in embody, get homework to support all of the learning from the Mini retreats
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you get continued access to our 2 community calls
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): each month that you've had access to in safer depth, so can continue to bring forward your business questions, your client case, study questions, anything that you have for me. Continue to do blueprinting each month, and then the the copy, the little copywriting exercises we've been doing there.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And then you also get access to one
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): practice. Call a month where you get paired with a partner on the call and practice a technique.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): There are also bonuses in embody. So the first is, even though it doesn't for you, it wouldn't start until April. That's when the next Mini retreat is, you would get access to all the ongoing community calls and practice calls in February and March.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So that's an extra 6 calls and 2 months of support.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then you also, anytime, I do little things throughout the year you get access to it. So, for example, in the beginning of February, I'm doing a private training on how to do, how to put together preview presentations for marketing for your work and your programs. So things like that pop up throughout the year
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the prices, if you pay in full, it's $2,080 for the whole year.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): or if you want to break that up into a monthly payments. It is only $139 a month for 15 months. Starting this month
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): goes April through next March, but you also get February and March this year
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of those bonus calls.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So I'll just pop the
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the Pdf. Into the chat if you have any questions.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): You know. Just let me know. Get in touch. I'll send a couple of emails out about it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): But I hope some of you will join me there. It's it's just also the graduate community is incredible. The the sacred depth alumni. You will just like the people here in this circle are amazing. You will meet a lot of incredible people in that circle.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Alright.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): let's talk about
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'm so excited for us to look at this today. And really with ritual. We're we're getting even more off the beaten path of traditional coaching. But I actually, many of you know, I started off as a ritualist. So all before getting trained and and being a coach, and so everything that we learn in sacred depth all the ways that I approach
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): coaching and transformation and holding space are informed by ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And today I really see ritual is one of the most powerful coaching, healing, facilitation tools that you can have for your clients and for yourself. And so today, we're gonna ritual in some ways has been embedded in a lot of everything we've looked at over these 10 months. But we're gonna look specifically
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): ritual today.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And of course, we could spend many, many months just on this topic alone.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): But
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): we're gonna spend just today on it to kind of get our feet wet. Even if you have experience with ritual, you're gonna pick up different new things today.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And Jennifer, just to answer your question in that pdf, that I dropped in the chat. I think all the dates are there, if not
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I think they're all there, but I'll double check. If not, we'll get them to you, and especially, you know, if you're in advance we'll send them out so you can put them on your calendar.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay. when you use ritual with your clients.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): it is a way
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of tapping into a cognitive level of learning and processing.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): The emotional and heart level of learning and processing.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the spirit level of learning and processing and the somatic body level of learning and processing all at once.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): This is one of the
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): magical things about ritual. It hits all 4 of the levels
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and similar to journaling. We looked at last week.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): It brings together a lot of different skills. And also you can do it in session with a client like devote a session to a ritual
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): or
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and I do this more often, although I do have sessions with clients where we do ritual together. But more often what I'll do is use a session or part of a session to co-create
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and craft a ritual with my client, and then they may go off and do it on their own, and then we follow up
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): on it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So it just depends right on the situation, always coaching the what? Based on the who.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): But let's take a step back first and define what is
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): ritual?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): There are a lot of different ways that we can define it. For this for our purposes today. In the simple way, here's some
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): ways that I want you to think about it or offer you to think about it
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): first.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Ritual is a way
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of making the intangible.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): tangible.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Ritual is a way of making the intangible tangible. So what I mean by that is ritual is a beautiful elegant tool
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to support a client, to take
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): intangible things like commitments.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): desires to release something
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): wanting to start anew. wanting to connect with parts of themselves.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): etc. It's a new ideas, new visions, right? These are all intangible things inside of us. A ritual is a way of taking an action
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and making that that intangible thing tangible. And in doing this, in taking this action
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of making the intangible tangible.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): we are signaling to our Psyche
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that we are ready to play this thing, whatever that intangible thing is into being.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And so that's another definition or way that I think about ritual. I learned this from my very first
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): ritual mentor, Susan Mary Heller. She always used to say, ritual is sacred play.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Ritual is sacred by, and
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): how I understand that is again in ritual. We are playing ourselves into being much like little kids, play house or play doctor or library, or whatever it is, and it's in the play that they're becoming more of who they are.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Ritual is also an opportunity
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to create and be in sacred space.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): We could talk about this forever. But I'll just briefly say
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): It is my belief that in our modern patriarchal capitalist society.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Even when we know better, we don't create enough intentional and sacred space to be
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to be with ourselves, to be with spirit to be with nature, to to feel that connection just
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for the sake of being.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and when we
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): either take a coaching session
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for ritual with our clients or help them craft one, and then, you know, have them go do it. It's an opportunity to simply just
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to to receive from the experience of sacred space, which, no matter what the ritual actions are just on its own. To to be in that space is so important, similar to how we've looked so many times
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): here in sacred. That's how there's the conversation going in. A session, which is, you know, one thing the client is receiving, but then the container is the whole right that they're receiving from the container and the relationship with the practitioner. Well, when we create space for ritual, just that space itself is a container to receive from.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then, of course, it's an opportunity to to connect with Nature with the cycles.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then the other thing that ritual
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): can really do is
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): give us an opportunity to mark important transitions.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): which are are also often intangible. Right? A birthday. a new job, an anniversary, a loss
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): becoming a mother, becoming a business owner, whatever it is. So it's, you know, it helps us make those intangible things more tangible.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I am
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I? Really, you know.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and you can check this out for yourself. But I really feel like we don't have enough rituals in our lives and in our culture, our culture has really become devoid of ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And I think
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that contributes to so much of the lack of meaning that so many humans experience
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): these days.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then also that lack of connection to self, to spirit. to nature.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): One of the things I often say is before therapy. There was religion.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and before religion there was ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Alright, that was a mouthful. I'm gonna pause on that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'd love to hear some shares on what is sparking for you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): What's resonating?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Kristen is saying? Yep, those transitions are rights of passage, Katherine saying. I think that's one of the things that I find so powerful about coaching. It's a way of holding people through transition. Yeah, whereas we used to have those rights of passage. Exactly.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Mika, there are resource sheets for today. Lara who posts them. It was just her birthday, and she was out of town for the long weekend, so I'm guessing if they're not in the member center yet. It's just because she's catching up this morning. So I apologize for that and they'll be there soon. And also, as I'm listening to a share. I'd love to hear a voice to voice share. Let me see if I can. Also just pull the
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Pull it up. Okay, you'll check back later. Okay, good.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'd love to hear a voice. So far it's just been my voice. I'd love to hear a voice. What? What is sparking for you on this. What is exciting to you about this, even just I don't know. I oftentimes find just talking about ritual. It evokes a feeling of of ritual as well.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Anyone want to share voice to voice
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): who would like to
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Kristen?
Kristin Jensen: Of course I'm going to want to share this. I'm literally starting priestess school in a couple of weeks. So I'm very excited about this.
Kristin Jensen: That's awesome. Thank you. Yeah. So ritual has been a important part of my life since I trained as a circle facilitator about 7 years ago.
Kristin Jensen: and I was, I've been able to use it with some coaching clients
Kristin Jensen: in particular, like one. She was working a lot with her anger, trying to become more comfortable with that, and we co-designed a ritual
Kristin Jensen: together that we did in my living room, and it was so powerful, and she told me afterwards that she has had lasting impact of feeling more comfortable with her experience of feeling that emotion, and not being terrified of it and shutting it down and closing down herself.
Kristin Jensen: Yeah, we just created a space where she could just rage and feel it, and like not have any
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): need to tamp it down. Very, very powerful tool. Yeah, it is. I love that. I love that. You're using that with clients. And I really wanna underscore this piece that you're seeing is she told you she hasn't forgotten it. She's still it's still a touchstone for her. It has made lasting impact. And one of the, you know, the reasons are really so many things we already spoke about. It's the being in that held state
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): space. It's the activating of the 4 levels of the learning and processing. It's it. You take it in in a deeper way.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): beautiful.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And we don't like rituals to me. I see them as special things. We're not gonna do them every week with clients, or even once a month. It's kind of like after a big piece, you know. We've been working on a big piece for a while, and it's it's a it's a moment them for them to like. Make the the next transition
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with it. Susan.
Susan Engel: So sorry.
Susan Engel: I love ritual so much because I know that all the steps that you have taken I can see everything that you're doing, because you give us tools to get to this space, to get to that sacred space where we can
Susan Engel: pull off another layer, and having come from a traditional church background.
Susan Engel: I see the need for the divine
Susan Engel: female to come through in this way, like last week, when we were doing the practicum. The flow was not patriarchal, whatsoever. It wasn't step by step, 1, 2, 3,
but it was bringing in with intuition the tools that you've given us
Susan Engel: to help, not only ourselves, but there was a healing both of Catherine and oh. I forget her name.
Susan Engel: Catherine and
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Lara.
Susan Engel: That's right, that's right, Laura, which was so beautiful. And this is what we need as women.
Susan Engel: And I wanted to say, too, that I honor the men that come into our presence and learn all of this.
Susan Engel: However, it's women teaching women. A man cannot teach this. I don't feel
Susan Engel: because it's so feminine. However, the men who come in
Susan Engel: tap into the value of that feminine spirit.
Susan Engel: and I just want to say that it amazes me so much. My husband was a pastor, and he just passed away in October. Bless him! Because now he finally has peace. But what I have learned from the years of building churches, and such as I have done.
Susan Engel: The Holy Spirit is the female.
Susan Engel: If you go through Scripture, you can find so many Scriptures. And he taught this, which was so amazing. However, any. I know he hears me speak, and blesses me from the other side, because he knows it's true the woman is coming through, but she's always been there. However, our vocabulary, our way of speaking, is so tainted.
Susan Engel: I run circles of women, beautiful women I've met through the years like in classes like we're taking who I value. Oh, my gosh, they're my treasures, right?
Susan Engel: Because they're like minded
Susan Engel: And through that I see how we're healing ourselves. by going in and finding our own power. So thank you very much for all you do. I just I love witnessing your passion. I can just feel your passion and your commitment, and and
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the depth of all of this for you, and it's and it it brings up even more excitement. Thank you for sharing that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Let's take one more for now, Maria.
Maria Chowdhury: this is really a question.
Maria Chowdhury: I I joined because you self described as a Ritualist like you described yourself as a ritualist. So I was like, Well, I'm going to join her stuff, you know, cause I would use the description word a ceremonialist, and then maybe somehow, you're gonna bring it in. But I'm so curious of the nuance between ritual and ceremony.
Maria Chowdhury: and because to me they feel very different. But I would love to hear what this conversation has to say, and I was always curious. Who is this Joanna
Maria Chowdhury: calling herself a Ritualist when she behaves like a ritualist and teaches us things that are ritual, but it's all encoded and embedded in. And it's not obvious this is a circle, a ceremonial priestess. I'm in temples, you know I'm in those trainings, and so they're called. We're called to walk as a priestess, right? But you didn't call us to do that yet you're encoding us with ritual
Maria Chowdhury: and saying you are, but without doing it obvious. So I'm just really curious. I'm just kind of picking apart, creating space. Maybe, as you share
Maria Chowdhury: as this goes on, I would just like to kind of
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): yeah. Explore that. I love all of that. You're making me chuckle, too, cause you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): That's one of my stealth missions. So you're naming it. And I love this question of what's the difference between ritual and ceremony? I have thoughts on it, and it sounds like you have thoughts on it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Let's let's like you said. Let's see how it unfolds, and then let's circle back at the end and talk about it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I wanted to just share.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): It's funny. This has to do with Maria's share and also with Susan's share.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I just wanted to share a little bit about my origins as a ritualist.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Because I think it speaks to some of the the things that we've been talking about so far, and I'll share really, briefly.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): was back in my twenties. I was living in New York City, my masters in art history. I had great, great job as a curator. I never thought, you know. And
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Anyway, there's a place in New York called the Open Center, which some of you might know about. It's just not just. It's an organization that teaches meditation classes, and you know, just different kinds of new ag classes. Anyway, I was leaping through their catalog
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): one day. and I came across
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): this 6 week course called Woman Ritual. One word Woman Ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and it was a 3 or 4 sentence description of this class. I don't remember really what it said other than
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): women had been the keepers of the community rituals for millennia.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): but whatever these 3 or 4 sentences said
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): as I read them.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I remembered something that I knew when I was a little girl
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that I had forgotten.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and that is
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that the world is a magical place.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and that each one of us is part of that magic.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I could feel it viscerally inside of me.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and that was enough, even though I had no money back then that was enough for me to, without even thinking about it. Sign up for this woman ritual course.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and over the course of those 6 weeks started to learn about how women had been the keepers of ritual for millennia, started to learn about the cycles of the moon and the Earth little ritual pieces, and then, without even blinking an eye, when that was done, I stepped into being an apprentice in that teachers, women's community.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and and then spent a number of years learning and apprenticing on all sorts of women's
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): rituals. Maybe ceremonies will see Maria. But new moons, full moons, earth holidays, cycles of life.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): mystery, blood mysteries, you know all of it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): But the truth is that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): even before that I hadn't realized it. But Ritual had already played a huge role in my life through Judaism.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And and so many of our religions. You know, I'll speak just for Judaism. It's rich with ritual and so much meaning. And that was one of the my most favorite things about the tradition, without even realizing that it was one of my most favorite things about the tradition.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Maria. Her name is Susan Mary Heller. You're not gonna find her online. She's like a a witch in a cave. You're not gonna find her too much online.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I don't have a website or anything like that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): anyway, I could go on and on, but I'll just say that was a transition for me in in my life. And
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I never thought I would leave the art world but that that led me to to where I am with all of you today.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And I've used ritual in so many different ways, not only professionally so within coaching, leading also circles as well as I was. For a long time I was a celebrant. I was a wedding officiant. You know. Officient at funerals, etc., for people that really wanted
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to bring certain kind of meaning into those
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): moments of transition. And then I've incorporated it
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): into my own life in various ways, and I'll just share with you 2 different ways, just because I think it sparks ideas. One is, I had in some ways. I had my wedding ceremony, had a lot of all the the
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Jewish traditional Jewish rituals in it, but
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): being, you know who I am, and all that I knew. Ii incorporated a couple of things to even heighten those rituals. So one is. Jews get married under a wedding wedding canopy called a hupa
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): what I what we did before our wedding was we reached out to family and loved ones, and asked them each for one word of what they wanted for us in our marriage.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And then we had an artist paint all of those words onto the wedding canopy, and we got married underneath that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): one other example, and this is a very, very personal one. Before
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I got pregnant with Penina I had another pregnancy, and I had a miscarriage.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and which was
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): a lot, you know. A really really big loss and
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): but being the Ritualist that I was, and I'm sorry this is, we're getting into some intimate details here. But being the Ritualist that I was, I did think, to catch
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): some of the blood
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): as I was miscarrying, and I kept it until I was ready to do a ritual to really honor that spirit and to honor the loss.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And I
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you know the the short story of that ritual was, I went to one of my favorite places, upstate by this beautiful massive rock, and did a ceremony, and ultimately buried that blood as an honoring.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you know I'm sharing this very quickly. But I will tell you that absolutely. That helped me process
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that experience. and
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): it helped me have the courage to decide to get try to get pregnant again.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I share just a little bit of this to to, you know for those of you so many of you here already know, and then for those of you that are new to this, to say it is so powerful, and also
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): we. for as much as our culture is devoid of ritual. We do have rituals right like blowing out birthday candles.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): graduation ceremonies, the handing of a diploma is making something intangible, tangible, right? Blowing out candles, making a wish. It is making something intangible, tangible, throwing a penny into a fountain and asking for what you want making the intangible tangible.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Right?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay.
So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with all of that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): like, I said, we could spend forever like so so much on this
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for today.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): what I what I think is most helpful is I'm gonna talk a little bit about different kinds of rituals
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and some things that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you can think about incorporating into those rituals for yourself with clients.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): If we have time, we'll do like a case. Study ritual like we did with our journaling class. Well, I'll ask you to brainstorm
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): as we go into this I do. It is important to say this, and you can do your own research on this, because I'm not an expert on it. But it's important to say
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): a lot in our
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): new new age transformational culture, you ritual gets
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): discussed. And there's a lot of cultural appropriation inside of the rituals that are offered.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): it's important to not culturally appropriate to honor traditions, to know what's yours to offer, and what's yours not to offer? And again, I don't. We're not have a discussion of it, because we that could take the whole rest of this class.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): But
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you can Google this. And there are a lot of different websites, particularly native American websites that are very clear and explicit on what cultural appropriation is and how to really honor traditions.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay, so that being said.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): let's talk about different types of rituals. And again, Maria, I don't know. Maybe these are ceremonies like, but we'll see
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): release
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): rituals. And, by the way, I'm because my Virgo brain likes to car compartmentalize where I'm saying different things, but oftentimes powerful rituals can combine a few of these purposes
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): at the same time.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): The way I was originally taught is any kind of ritual
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): has 3 ritual actions
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): inside of it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay, release rituals. So you might be working with a client, and they or for yourself, right, and they are ready to release
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): something. maybe
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): a relationship that they've been clinging on to that is just no longer aligned for them.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Maybe a job
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that they're ready to move on from
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): maybe a habit
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that is not working for them
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): anymore.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Maybe a belief right? Maybe you've been working over a number of sessions on really rewiring a belief, and the rewiring is happening, and a ritual can be a moment to really mark that transition
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): into the into the right, more fully releasing it. A divorce is a kind of release.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with releasing. And now, O almost always, the the ritual actions inside of a ritual, or maybe a ceremony and call it a oftentimes they're gonna involve the 4 elements, one of the 4 elements or more. So earth, fire, water, or air not always, but a lot of the times.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So as an example. one way of releasing something is to burn right through fire.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So if it's a belief you can write it on a piece of paper
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and burn it. I'm sure we've all heard of, like the mattress burning ceremonies with divorces right like. Set that that symbol of the marriage. Right? We're we're making something intangible, a marriage tangible.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the mattress
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then burning it. For example, right
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): burying things involve the earth or soil
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): so similar to how I buried the blood after the miscarriage.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Burying stones. collecting flowers or leaves, and then infusing whatever that thing is that you want to release.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then burying those things to. And and the idea there is that the earth takes it
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with all of these things and alkalizes it right. The the fire alchemizes the thing, the earth alchem uses it for whatever purpose it needs to
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): through the release.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Ripping things up.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I once did a ritual with a client where she had an old blanket that symbolized a part of her relationship with her mother, that she was really done with and part of the ritual she she cut and ripped, you know, piece by piece, that that the yarn in the blanket and just watched it unravel super powerful.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): flushing things down the toilet water, any kind of water, throwing things into a body of water. Watching them go down the drain, flush down the toilet.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): shaking, shaking things out right?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): We do a lot of fun kind of shaking releases when I'm with people in person, in groups
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): again. This is just a little bit of a survey through things we could go much deeper into releasing. But what I'll say for right now just one little tip
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): is whenever I'm working with a client on a release ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): there are 2 things that I let them know. So one is sometimes when we
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): do the release through the ritual. The thing is gone forever, and that's awesome when that happens.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): But other times the release ritual is initiating the next level of release. So it's not that. Then the belief is completely gone. Right, but it's a it's a deeper invitation to the the Psyche, the heart, the soul, all of it, that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'm ready to be even more committed to the releasing
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of this thing
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that make sense
good.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): The other little tipper flourish, I'll add on releasing, for right now is.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I find that it is really important to honor something
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): before you release it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): even if you think it's the shittiest thing in the world, and there's nothing to honor from it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): What did you learn? Right? That is an honoring that sometimes comes up with like,
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that relationship was terrible, and there isn't right. But who? What did you learn about yourself that you can honor before we release this as an example. By the way, that's why funerals which are release rituals in a way right. Not that we ever release another human being, of course, but who they were in their physical form, but that's by the way, why funerals
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): have eulogies. We need to honor a life
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): before we can consider releasing what needs to be released.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And let me pause on that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): thoughts, ideas that are sparking around release.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): We'll keep on going
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): honoring rituals.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): By the way. as we look at these different
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): types of rituals, you'll notice the 4 seasons in them.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So releasing kind of like the with the the winter
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): right letting go creating space.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): just, you know, for a new cycle to happen by letting go honoring rituals, I would put all in the same category honoring rituals, owning rituals, celebrating rituals. We're looking at the harvesting here
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the autumn.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): moments for honoring rituals and owning celebrating rituals is when it's time for a client to really own or honor either something that they've done or a part
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of themselves.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So, for example, let's say, a new program.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): If if one of my clients like they're creating programs, a new program was created
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and launched
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and filled, and it was something that was a huge labor of love for my client. They they never believed that they would ever be able to do this thing, and they did it, and they've put so much of themselves into it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): We might do an honoring ritual
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of that a celebration ritual of that, so that they can more deeply embody and cement inside of themselves
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the accomplishment, so that they can have more of the pleasure and satisfaction of the accomplishment
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): inside of themselves.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I often with clients, do queen rituals. This is honoring a part of themselves, like their mastery in something or their brilliance in something, or how they've reclaimed their power
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): around. Something
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): can honor a New year. Birthdays are a beautiful time for honoring, owning, and celebrating.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and part of that ritual can be releasing. What from the year before do you want to release? Right?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): again, think about the 4 elements. Think about nature, and also beyond. I'll share everything. And I should say also.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): sky's the limit, I mean. Ritual can be so creative. Sky's, you know. I'm just naming a couple of things. But really, sky's the limit on what you can do and what you can create. And when I'm working with a client.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'm not gonna just say, Oh, hey! Why don't you go burn that right or this or that, where I'm using all of my coaching skills to help them see
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): what would be meaningful for them.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): What is a symbol? You know, I might suggest a symbol to burn or to barrier whatever. But I'm gonna ask first, you know, what is a tangible SIM symbol for you? What? How do you envision yourself? Releasing? I might offer some ideas, but we're always going with what the clients.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): what they're drawn to, what their Psyche is drawn to, what is going to be meaningful for them.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I love it. And Maria, sharing in the chat. And please anyone else that wants to share other ideas. Because, like, I said, we're not getting, you know, to all the different ideas. But releasing can be with environmentally safe balloons and lanterns that fly away. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Susan is saying, ritual is making inner space so powerful. Yes. so I'll just. I'll describe
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): briefly one client in a queen ritual that we did
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and this was completely, you know, tailored to her. She was really ready to own. She had at this point she had built an incredible coaching business, and we had worked so much along the months of her feeling the confidence, and and really owning all of her mastery, and it was time to kind of embody it all
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in a ritual. And so I'll just give a couple of like details of it. She wanted to start
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): by drawing a bath
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with oils
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and before going into the bath, naming for herself. The things that she was ready to release and cleanse herself of.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): That had her thinking she wasn't this incredible entrepreneur and practitioner that she was. And so she took this ritual bath and she cleanse herself. That's another category of ritual. We could talk about cleansing also different than releasing. But she she cleansed her cell.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then, after the bath.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): she anointed different parts of her body.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with power, she invited, you know, related to the chakras, her in her, her intuition and her third eye, and her voice, and she really spent the time initiating each of these parts of her body, talking specifically about how she's using using these different energy centers already in her work, and how
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): she's masterful. And then
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): From there she had. She created a throne for herself, and she had decorated it, and, you know, had an opportunity to ceremonially sit back in the throne.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): crown herself, and named herself the Queen the different things that she was queen of.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So back to what I was saying before
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): sacred play, right playing ourselves into being
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): she was had now that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And this is important. That ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Would it have had nearly as much meaning to it
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): if a. It wasn't personalized for her? But B. We hadn't been doing work for months for her to be on this precipitate
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): right. The the reason why that ritual was so powerful was because it wasn't random or just like, Oh, you want this. So then let's do that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): There was work that was built in our coaching and in her own
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): practice right? That that was building up to this ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I need to
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): watch time because I was beginning to ritual. I could just keep on going on and on and on.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Nisha Singh in the chat. Thank you, Nisha. And this goes back to the cultural appropriation piece that I was talking about
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): earlier, Nisha saying as someone who grew up Hindu and a culture that has been appropriate a lot. I think it's important to name how it's important to regard and consider the lineage and history of certain rituals. If you use a deity. Yes, absolutely.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And again, as I said before, I really recommend researching and learning, you know, learning more on this topic.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): couple other just little ideas for now to to get you thinking about honoring and owning and celebrating rituals, I gave some in that queen ritual
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): creating a drawing or a piece of writing on a really
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): pretty piece of paper to symbolize the thing that you're honoring, and then infusing energy into it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): buying a new piece of jewelry, or picking a piece of jewelry that you already have, and ritually infusing that piece of jewelry with the energy of the thing that you want to own, and then you get to wear it
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): every day.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): eating something. So one of the the rituals we have in the Jewish tradition is on on the Jewish New Year. We dip an apple in honey
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to symbolize a new year.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then you eat it to honor and celebrate the sweetness
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of the New Year.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): In my family we extrapolate because I'm Ritualist. We extrapolate that ritual at the dinner table. Every person goes around and speaks to what it is that they want. You know about their year that they're looking forward to that. They want to be sweet and then they very intentionally dip the apple in the honey, and really take the time to savor the sweetness
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in wedding ceremonies. Exchanging of rings is
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): an honoring and owning ritual. Right? It's symbolizing what what this marriage is about and and honoring this new commitment
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that's being made.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Intention rituals. This is spring
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): sprint, the season of spring, right? New habits.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): new beliefs. new project. your relationship. So it's, oh, again, a way of making something intangible like those things that I just mentioned.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Tangible.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Even house blessing ceremonies. Obviously a house is a tangible thing, right? That
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): back in the days where I used to do so much more of this with clients like as as the the ceremonialist.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): we would go from room to room and honor each room with the 4 elements, and I would have the the client would either have a specific candle that they bought for each room where they carved an intention for that specific room in. They'd light it right like in the dining room. I want a lot of family and friends to come together
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): over great meals right? Right? So anyway.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): why did I mention that? Oh, so anyway.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): even with a house, right? Okay, we're moving into a house. That's a tangible thing. But there's intangible desires and hopes and dreams that come
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with that right
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): same with a marriage. Yes, there's a marriage certificate that the State issues.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): but there are so many hopes and dreams and wishes
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that we can ritual lives
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with? Asked
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Anyway? So okay, so new in intentions, we can create an object?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So is there something that can be created, whether it's a picture or a drawing, or a craft. or a sculpture, or you know, whatever it is that symbolizes
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the new intention. You can buy a vase and fill the vase intentionally with the new intentions.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Candle carving like I just mentioned, and then sometimes we'll anoint the candle with oil ceremonially, and then light the candle, and then you light the candle. Every time you light it it resarks the new intention.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Planting seeds right. The seeds become, then intention of the new thing, and then you put you plant them, and then you get to water them over time, growing symbols on rocks
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for new intentions, etc.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay, I know I'm I'm moving Quebec.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'm gonna keep on going. One more type of ritual, for now I mentioned earlier cleansing rituals so similar
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to release. But I see them as a little bit different. Release. And like we're getting rid of this thing. Cleansing is we're kind of. We're washing ourselves of this thing. You can use water to cleanse.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): You can use incense and air to cleanse we this is like some kitchen witchery, but you can use some little brooms or dusters, dust
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): things off yourself and others that are ready. Right? You just saying smudging like literally cleaning out drawers can become a ritual
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of cleansing and making way for new.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay, let me pause on that. There's some other things that I want us still to take a look at
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Kristen. I'd say cleansing is probably still winter.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I didn't
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): really speak to a summer type of ritual here which would be around growth.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So it's kind of like on the cups. Cusp of the intention rituals. What is something new that you want to grow
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): alright. Let me pause on all of this. I'd love to hear what's sparking for you so far. What's coming together. Bruce?
Bruce | artichokedove.com: So I had to take a couple breaths around this quite a few breaths around this.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: And I had to call it out because I'm very passionate about this.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: I work with both male and female clients.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: In many different ways.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: and
Bruce | artichokedove.com: you know we talk about energetics as the basis of
Bruce | artichokedove.com: our practice. I don't know.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: I grew up with 5 older sisters, right?
Bruce | artichokedove.com: So I'm very used to this environment that I'm in today or have been in the sacred depths, and most the trainings I take. I am the minority
Bruce | artichokedove.com: from a gender standpoint, right?
Bruce | artichokedove.com: But it can also be seen as having privilege mail. All of that, you know, comes to mind.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: But I really felt like I needed to call this out today, because
Bruce | artichokedove.com: thing is important.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: that all of us are aware of our biases when it comes to coaching
Bruce | artichokedove.com: and gender bias
Bruce | artichokedove.com: can be
Bruce | artichokedove.com: very underneath the surface.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: Like I said, I worked with both men and women.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: I work with a lot of men on getting to a place of getting connected to themselves, emotionally.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: getting connected to that spirit inside of them. right?
Bruce | artichokedove.com: Getting connect, connected, or allowing for that
Bruce | artichokedove.com: back to that connection of who they are, which includes ritual.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: right, which includes spirit.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: We all have that within us. It's not male or female.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: It's Yin or Yang. We all have both of those in us.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: and I needed to call it out today because,
Bruce | artichokedove.com: you know, do a lot of tapping, and I needed to calm down a little bit.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: because it's something that I'm working with
Bruce | artichokedove.com: both men and women on is to recognize that.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: you know, because it creates this divide between us. and I hear it come up sometimes.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: and it really
Bruce | artichokedove.com: I needed to honor it within myself.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: Yes, and
Bruce | artichokedove.com: I love ritual
Bruce | artichokedove.com: right.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: and it deeply
Bruce | artichokedove.com: pains me when I hear
Bruce | artichokedove.com: females have more spirituality, or then yet there may be parts of it, but they're definitely more into ritual than men. But trust me, men want it
Bruce | artichokedove.com: just as much. But we've been culturalized
Bruce | artichokedove.com: to not allow for it.
Yes.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: so I want to just leave that with. I needed to say that I needed to call it out.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: I believe we all have
Bruce | artichokedove.com: both yin and yang energy with us. I worked with women who struggle to get there with ritual to struggle to get to their emotions.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: More than some of the men I've worked with, who are very.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: you know.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: So I just I wanted to call out that bias because we talked about it, and we talked about it from the very beginning, Joanna and I
Bruce | artichokedove.com: II love the fact. You talked about the energetics. But it's just really a bias that I think
Bruce | artichokedove.com: I always want to be aware of.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yeah.
Bruce | artichokedove.com: So
Bruce | artichokedove.com: thank you. So indulging me in that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of course not indulging at all. Thank you for sharing it. Thank you for being willing to take the deep breaths
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and to share it. And I want to apologize if I said anything that activated or triggered that for you, I agree with you 100. I'm sure I have biases that still need to be looked at inside of me. And when I was talking about woman ritual, it's cause that that is the tradition that I learned in was the the women's rituals. But
Bruce | artichokedove.com: I so appreciate you sharing this, and inviting all of us to look more deeply at those biases, and thank you for sticking with it and the class and being willing to share
Bruce | artichokedove.com: it. Just, it's important for me to to. It's something that I'm really passionate about, and that I work with all the time needed to
Bruce | artichokedove.com: something I'm trying to work with men and women. I believe all genders need
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): this work.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and all genders have the capacity for this work.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Culture has maybe molded some more than others, for sure. yeah. And it's important
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to honor the the full spectrum of the experience
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): while also honoring that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): but maybe because of culture. Historically, that has been a contribution of women as well.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): thank you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Hmm.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I feel so grateful that we have a space here
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): where we can call out and call in
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and feel so important.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): so I want to make sure that there are a couple other things I want to make sure we lightly touch on today about ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): one is containers.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I ritual and
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): works even better
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): when there is a container around it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): That really separates
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in some ways. In in many ways there's no separation between the sacred and the mundane, because everything is sacred.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And I also look. I see ritual as kind of an elevated
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): an opportunity for an elevated experience that looks and feels different than the everyday.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the best way I can kind of metaphorically explain hopefully. You all understand what I mean by this. But the best way I can metaphorically explain. This is in in Jewish culture, before a Sabbath or a holiday.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): We take a moment to light candles at the at the beginning, on the eve of it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and the lighting of the candles is about bringing in light and and fire, and all of that. But it is also an action where we're making the intangible tangible. We're separating
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the sacred and the mundane. We're creating sacred space.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And so along those lines. I recommend whatever ritual
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you are crafting or leading, or whatever it is, to think about. What is the container that you're gonna set for that ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Will it be in a special room, will you? When I do my own personal ritual? I have a space in my bedroom. II put a pillow on the floor. I light a candle.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Is it about taking breaths to come in to that held space?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Is it about reading something inspirational that creates a different mood, that about putting twinkly lights around the room. But what what is? How are you creating
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): a container? That also have is a little bit of a physical container as well, not just internally, that that can help hold
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the work of that ritual.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Let me pause on that any thoughts or questions on that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that make sense.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So in the time that we have.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): let's open up for
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): thoughts or questions. So, Maria, this would be a good moment to come back to ritual versus ceremony, or any other thoughts or questions that are coming up.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): or ideas
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): inspired ideas, or if you want to share a ritual that you've done
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for yourself, or with a client or a group. Maria?
Maria Chowdhury: Well, just right there, your last little piece about lighting the candle and the breath. I really feel like it's calling in the divine like recognizing that it's here in like presencing and like
Maria Chowdhury: bringing the divine into the space. It's always there. But just like you said, just really
Maria Chowdhury: almost like invoking it almost. And like connecting to the 3 we and we always connect to the earth, and to the divine, and to the nature, and then being that, and like presencing it, and like sending your love into that space far before somebody else comes.
Maria Chowdhury: But I kind of really feel like, more importantly than that is what's happening. What I'm feeling is this, what Bruce brought in, and what Susan is saying in the chat so like, that's kind of more important, because what we can go through right here is a real life
Maria Chowdhury: healing and a real life coming on the same page or something, and so like my heart is a little bit beating because I'm presenting the divine. And in our circle right now. There is something that's
Maria Chowdhury: being touched. And I feel like, since we're in ritual and we're talking about it. It's almost a great space for
Maria Chowdhury: for all this to unfold.
Maria Chowdhury: yeah.
Maria Chowdhury: So I just feel like there is and another piece that Susan is about to bring into. And and so there is part of that. And I will just say briefly, I
Maria Chowdhury: I've worked mainly with women, probably mainly because I work with blood mysteries. I work in the womb I work with like menstrual, and birth and blood and men are a huge part of it, but they kind of don't really want to be in the womb temple all the time with me. But when we're doing qi gong and stuff that that's a whole different thing. But I always bring the womb, front and center as like the center.
Maria Chowdhury: It's my access to all these places. So it's an interesting place that I find, and I realize I push away men
Maria Chowdhury: because I don't know that they really want to be in the place. I actually want to go, and so I don't know if I can go there
Maria Chowdhury: with a you know.
Maria Chowdhury: So that's why I tend to work mainly with women. But I see it really hurting me. I see it really cutting me off from love. I can consciously notice that I am. I'm separating an aspect, and I'm not connecting with
Maria Chowdhury: them on the assumption that they wouldn't want to go into the Blood mystery where I want to go and where they are from. They are from the blood. They are there, and so it's within my own self. I'm creating these divides. And so so I'm gonna stop. Yeah. You know, I'm so glad you're bringing all of that forward. I think those are. Those are great.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): just additions, or you know, from what Bruce brought up this whole, and I know folder you wanna share also, and I'm and we'll make space for that in a moment. And I'll just say, like, this whole thing is also
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): 2 things on this one is also to remember that not to think in the binary when it comes to gender that there is a a whole spectrum. And I think.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Bruce said this, that we all hold all of the qualities. Some might be more predominant in some moments than others, etc., but just for us to to watch for any binary on that. And all of this is reminding me I didn't include it in this cycle of sacred depths, but I will put it in the Member Center for all of you, one of our graduates.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Stan Stanley, I can never pronounce their last name.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): There's a Polish last name that I can't remember
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): but Stanley, one cycle. This is their work is to really look at gender bias and they created for for sacred depths. And I've used the recording for a few cycles, just ways of going deeper into looking at gender bias. So I will
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): include that in the member center. And also it's time for me to give it a re. Listen as well for myself. So I'm so glad that this is being brought up.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Golda.
jodigolda: Yeah, I think what I'm taking away from this conversation is permission, like, I'm I live in ceremony, and I do ceremony every month with my moon blood and done so just so much.
jodigolda: and and it's touching me in a way to like bring my authenticity of who I am, more into my coaching session, appreciating the like encouragement and suggestion. Because there's it's so, it's so meaningful. And it's who I am. So I'm grateful.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yes, I'm so happy to hear it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and I think it's who so many of us are.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Maybe we just haven't had the time and space, or the permission to tap into it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Beautiful. Who else? What wants to be shared? What wants to be spoken or asked.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): what's feeling exciting, or what do you want to add to the conversations that we've been having Kristen.
Kristin Jensen: Yeah, II wanna speak for a moment to what Bruce has shared.
Kristin Jensen: I feel because there has been such a suppression of the feminine, and such a devaluation of the feminine that we're seeing a massive wave and a rise of awareness and of pro feminine spiritual practices.
Kristin Jensen: That seems like it's displacing the masculine. But I feel like it's part of the journey into us, finding a balance between the wholeness
Kristin Jensen: of the masculine feminine dichotomy and blending and integration.
Kristin Jensen: And
Kristin Jensen: thank you for speaking to the pain that this has been for you
Kristin Jensen: and
Kristin Jensen: II want, like we have to honor that, like men, have been devalued just as much by the patriarchal capitalistic system that we have been part of. They have been stripped of their sacred masculinity. They have been stripped of the ritual. They've been stripped of their authentic power in the sacred masculine just as much as the women have been, but then they've been pedestalized and put. Well, they've been put into the positions of power without the spiritual
Kristin Jensen: an energetic strength that they need to do it wisely. And I think that's one of the reasons why we have so much
Kristin Jensen: just
Kristin Jensen: awful stuff going on in the world. So I like feel like as women. We're start. We're helping to bring back the sacred in a very different way. But we also need the men who are on similar in alignment with this
Kristin Jensen: movement and this growth
Kristin Jensen: to also ground in the sacred masculine energies. And I just feel like that's really, really powerful and very important.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Thank you so much for speaking to that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And one of the things one of the many things I hear from that is, how do we hold both? How do we
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): hold this honoring of the women to to create balance while also still
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): honoring the men, you know, and the full spectrum and everybody's place
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Thank you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Feel like we have time for one more share. If there is one more voice that wants to be heard. And again, I'm
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): so so grateful
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for the conversation.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Any last share
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): feels like there's one more thing that wants to be spoken and just want to make space.
Susan Hagan: Oh, I'll I'll speak. I think you didn't see my hand? Oh, it's all fine, and it's and I really appreciate Kristen sharing as well. And so what I have to offer is a little bit on a lighter note.
I actually was just. I always
Susan Hagan: find it fascinating to look into the some of the etymology of words. And so it got me curious, and I just looked up.
Susan Hagan: The background of ritual and ceremony which are used interchangeably a lot. But I was just fascinated by a couple of little things I thought I'd share, and one is that although both words came like in the Middle Ages from old French, and before that from Latin that the ritual meaning done as a right. The Latin word that that came from.
Susan Hagan: Oh, I thought I jotted it down, and now I don't see it. It was. It was like it was the base of arithmetic. So the right rit that's in arithmetic, is it? It's about something done as a sequence.
Susan Hagan: And there's that's cognate with like old German, you know, room for sequence or numbers. I just thought that was kind of fascinating, and then the word ceremony. Ceremony was defined as like a writer ritual, but particularly the meaning of the Latin meaning of ceremonia was something done with reverence and sanctity, and that it was. There's also at a a Etruscan city, Serre, capital of Etruria that was associated with that. So that was just some of the historical background that just
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): just a way to give a little context to both words. I love it. I'm so glad to bring that forward, and that makes me think that you know, according to that, what we've really been looking at today is more ceremony than ritual. If ritual is about this sequence that you do over again, that it like becomes kind of a a sacred habit versus in different moment.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): It's kind of creating from scratch. Something very personalized
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): doesn't have that arithmetic sequence.
Susan Hagan: Words do change. They sometimes flip inside out.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Rituals like we said, or ceremonies, I'll say, now created, you know, for a particular. They're kind of a one-time thing for a particular transition.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): But with our clients we can also think about
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): are there rituals more things that they, you know, do more than once
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that support them, to create the intangible tangible. That's why people have meditation practices.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for example. But we can also think about these rituals that we're talking about as is there
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for a way to ritualize them more than once. Small things that will work
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that kind of signaling to the Psyche on a regular basis.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Awesome.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): all right. I hope that whether you have a lot of experience with all of this or this is something new that today is activating whatever the next level or evolution or commitment is for you around this
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'm sending you all lots of love, and if anything comes up during the week, let me know, or also see you next week.