Following Our Body Wisdom to Guide Us and Change the World with Susan McCulley

Episode 29 Description

What if loving yourself and deepening your relationship to self could lead to transforming the world? This is exactly what Susan McCulley believes. Susan is a mindful movement teacher based in Charlottesville, Virginia, with a passion for helping people use movement to connect with themselves and as a result, change the world.

In today’s episode of the We Rise Podcast, Susan shares how tuning into sensation helps us to broaden our tolerance of discomfort and grow as a human. She explains the importance of being an ally to our body and the power of curiosity. Feel inspired and emboldened to be present with yourself and how this is a guide for others. You are a gift to the world, and we’re so glad you’re here today. Welcome!

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Episode 29 Show Notes

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Key takeaways

Becoming an ally to our body

Do you know the difference between feeling pain and feeling discomfort?

Susan McCulley has been teaching the practice of mindful movement in Charlottesville for over 20 years, and in that time she has witnessed over and over the power of connecting to our bodies. Her own journey began with much resistance. A friend routinely invited her to a Nia movement class, and after two years she finally went.

From day one, Susan experienced increased awareness of being in her body. As she continued attending classes she discovered a “presence” as she described, that was available to her. This ability to be in discomfort with her body then began translating into increased curiosity in areas of her life she would normally run from.

Susan explains that as people begin noticing and exploring sensations through movement, they have an increase in discernment. This enables a person to sit in feelings of discomfort or awkwardness in order to expand and grow. This practice also helps a person identify pain and when to set necessary boundaries.

Tapping into our sensations results in a deeper relationship with our wisdom, intuition, and inner knowing. Through curiosity, Susan shares that we can discover what is truly taking place beneath the surface!

Showing up, over and over and over again

As a 57 year old woman, Susan has been exploring the role of society in our aging experience. When she works with women over the age of fifty, she is inspired by their drive to reject the norms of beauty, sexuality, and power in our world. Part of her work is about helping these women embrace the life force they have been gifted and see aging as an opportunity rather than a hindrance.

Susan challenges women to feel empowered in their bodies and to really consider the language they use to speak about or to themselves. This approach is also transferable to the broader community. The way we speak to others, show up for one another, and create space for others matters.

As a person learns how to be compassionate, loving, and curious with themselves, they can equally learn how to be that way with others. The key to all of this is continuing to show up over and over and over again.

For Susan, when things get difficult, it is her community and the folks she is practicing with that help her to continue moving forward. They remind her of the importance of curiosity and the reason for continuing to lean into the discomfort with curiosity. Just as she helps others to show up, it is her community that sometimes helps her to continue showing up as well.

Inspiring others by loving ourselves

Susan has a passion to integrate her practice into community work and activism work. When she started that journey, she found herself getting overwhelmed by how big the problems are. This is where her own community became a provision for her. Susan also talks about how the book My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem has been instrumental in her own learning, growth and teaching. 

People taking deep care of themselves allows them to love others well. When people show up honestly and authentically and share the unique gifts they have to offer, it inspires others to do the same. So often we don’t even realize the gift we are to others when we just fully embrace being ourselves!

We do not need to take the whole world upon our shoulders. Instead, the ripple effect of connecting to our body, learning to understand our sensations, and being true to ourselves, gives others permission to do the same. This permission is what creates change in the world.

Our deepening relationship to self is a catalyst for transforming the world around us. It’s not comfortable work, but it is powerful. Susan invites all of us to breathe deep, shine bright, and show up. 

Learn more about Susan and her work as a mindful movement coach at her website. You can also enjoy Susan’s teachings, meditations, and new 30 day course on the Insight Timer app, called Building Balance In Your Body & Life!

If you are over the age of 50 and identify as a woman, check out Susan’s online community, The Age of Becoming.

notable quotes from Susan

“What I’m interested in is getting people in their bodies, getting people into sensation. And I believe that at its root, that practice is what changes the world. It changes us and it changes the world.” 

“By choosing to drop into physical sensation, and becoming intimate, becoming fluent in the communication of the body, through sensation, it allows us to have access to wisdom, intuition, knowing, that the mind cannot touch.”

“What I have just been blown away by is the amazing strength and energy and power in women who are rejecting the narrowed norms of whether it’s beauty or sexuality or power in the world, influence in the world. Anything, just watching women step into this time of life in a totally different way. In Japanese culture, menopause is seen as, they call it the second spring.”

“Joy is not necessarily enjoyment. It’s not necessarily happiness, it is much deeper than that. Joy is the energy of presence with whatever is unfolding.”

“Think about the power in that, that nobody needs to look any certain way or move any certain way or do it any particular way. But instead, we inspire each other by being ourselves and showing up with our gifts and our talents.”

LINKS/RESOURCES MENTIONED

Learn more about Susan and her work as a mindful movement coach at her Website. You can also enjoy Susan’s teachings, meditations, and new 30 day course on the Insight Timer app, called Building Balance In Your Body & Life!

If you are over the age of 50 and identify as a woman, check out Susan’s online community, The Age of Becoming.

Book Recommendation From Susan: My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem

The Yes! We Rise is produced by Dialogue + Design Associates, Podcasting For Creatives, with music by Drishti Beats.

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The We Rise podcast features solutions-seekers, change-makers, and those creating a resilient future. We share stories and strategies to inspire action to build resilience and community transformation. To create change, people need to feel like they belong and that they are part of a growing movement. They need to know their voice matters and that they have the inspiration, agency and ability to transform their lives and their communities. They are the key to a resilient future.

From the Navajo Nation to the mountains of Appalachia, incredible work is being done by community members and leaders. Change is often sparked by inspiration: seeing what others have done, especially in similar situations and places. People see that when someone looks like them or lives in a place like theirs, and has created real, true and lasting change, change that will allow their granddaughters and grandsons to thrive — they begin to imagine what might be possible for them. No longer waiting for someone else to come and save them, they realize they are the ones they have been waiting for. But what creates that spark? What creates that inspiration? Learning through stories and examples, feeling a sense of agency and belonging, and getting fired up to kick ass creates that spark.

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