Candice Wu 0:00
What an interesting time to be alive. Right now, the world is facing a huge collective experience with the Coronavirus, COVID–19. And this episode is about some thoughts I have, what I'm going through, and some ways that we can harvest the wisdom and cultivate the medicine from the underbellies of what we're experiencing.

Hello and welcome. You're listening to the Embody Podcast, a show about remembering and embodying your true nature, inner wisdom, Embodied Healing, and self-love. My name is Candice Wu, and I'm a holistic healing facilitator, intuitive coach, and artist sharing my personal journey of vulnerability, offering meditations and guided healing support, and having co-creative conversations with healers and wellness practitioners from all over the world.

This episode is brought to you all the way from Mexico. When I first chose to come here, I came on the intention that I wanted to surrender, surrender to what my inner guidance said for me, which meant not making a million plans. But I still made one plan and that was to come home, well, go back to the US on April 1st and go to spend a month in California with my mentor with Horse Constellation, Sarah Fancy, and learn more from her.

So I made that plan for myself to come back and here I am, going along on my trip, and every bit of the way, I'm asking myself, what feels aligned now? What do I want to do now even if I had a previous idea, or desire, what is it now? Where am I called to go now?

And what happened when I continue to commit to that was I landed here south of Puerto Vallarta, on the ocean, on the Pacific, through a family friend, and I felt incredibly lucky. And as I arrived here, I needed a huge rest. This happened right before the US began to feel or began to make changes and feel the concern for coronavirus. And so here I am. And as time goes on, and I'm watching everything happen, Mexico's not quite responding the same way to the virus, everything seems to be going on, as “normal” here, but a few cases popping up.

Then, just last week, the border closed. The Mexican US border closed to non-essential travel. And I knew, looking ahead, prior to that happening, I had seen what happened when the border close to Europe and all the people flooded into the States, and I just thought I do not want to be stuck in that. And I thought, well, I'll definitely miss that and then still try to go April 1st. Well, I don't think so.

So when I chose to surrender, I surrendered here in the feeling that I actually wanted to stay and as the border closed, it gave me that uncomfortable feeling of: Do you really, are you really doing this?

And I did.

So I'm still here and there's a way in which I don't want to get stuck here. You know, some people are asking me, are you going to get stuck over there? Well, I kind of want to. And when I just claimed it, I want to be here. That felt really good and it felt right. It felt aligned with my whole body.

And in fact, it's quite a safe place for me to be considering my circumstances here. And what you're hearing is the Pacific Ocean, the waves crashing against some rocks. You might be hearing some birds here and there. There are lots of pelicans that make their dive, their beaks go straight into the water to catch the fish. It's so fun to watch, delightful.

Today, it's sunny but with a soft, hazy, clear sky look across the water.

So I'm hoping that this ocean sends you whatever you need in this great mystery of what's happening for us as a collective and for you individually, just imagining all of the mystery underneath the waters and how the ocean washes ashore back and forth and cleans up what it needs to all on its own and houses the depths.

What an extraordinary time we are living in and right now, people are experiencing all sorts of things. It's a giant range. I've heard people feeling the best they've ever felt in 10 years. And I've heard people are experiencing really scary, painful experiences like their loved ones getting sick, losing their job. We see the headlines in the news and for many that feeds the fear, it makes it build inside. And what I like to do is just slow down and pause, and feel where that fear is really coming from, is it mine or is it the collective? And see what you want to do with that?

If you want to release the collective fear, the collective emotions, do so. You can imagine that as color releasing from your body. Notice where that is in your body and release it and if it's yours, see what you want to do with it, you can be with it and be present, really look at it. And if it feels overwhelming, take a break.

When there is a big collective experience like this, there is a giant chance for a reset and lots of messages that can be collectively and personally harvested.

Our interconnectedness is one that many people have spoken about how interconnected we are not just with people, but with the planet and animals and the effect that we each have, and that businesses have and that groups have, countries have on the planet and each other. And we're seeing this play out in a very mass massive effect.

Some people are learning about self-sustainability and going back to the basics, discarding, trimming out the fat, doing only what's essential, maybe learning to cook for the first time. And some people are experiencing a lot of time for self-care, to put themselves first in a way where they experience the world slowing down and freeing them up in this way. But all this can stir. All this that's happening can stir up different fears, beliefs, past life stuff, ancestral stuff, relationships with money, relationships with ourselves, what we're going through with death.

When I think about past life and ancestry, I think about all the things that we have gone through as a collective. I think about what my specific ancestry has gone through. I think about the wisdom that I've heard through many people in their ancestors, of the things that they've gone through, and how they've been resilient through them.

So our ancestors have gone through stuff like this immigration, war, seeking refuge, death, illnesses, having to be minimalistic, or perhaps even starvation experiences or near starvation.

And the thing is, you're here. If you're listening to this, you are here. You are alive and your ancestry made it. And what this brings me to is the question of what can you draw upon in the wisdom, in the medicine of your ancestry, and the resilience and the strength of your ancestry, to support you in the now, even if it's just being present with them and imagining them, feeling their presence.

I believe that each of us has a very special message, many messages locked within this experience that we're going through and on a deeper spiritual level that we even co-created this to learn something.

The virus says to me, I'm the energy of making radical change. I'll make a sharp and quick impact and accelerate and magnify whatever it is you're already needing to learn, and that you actually deeply know.

So here's a chance to become very present with your real lived experience. And, all the stuff that stirs up because of it that is part of perhaps what's been undigested from the past, in your history of life, whatever wants to be looked at might come up right now. Where you have dependencies and attachments might come up right now and the beliefs underneath that, past life stuff and ancestry stuff might come up, to be looked at, to be integrated, to be brought into the mix of what you can see and be with, and notice within your embodied visceral experience.

So while there are real functional things that need to happen, or that you may need to support you, like yes, get food, yes, wash your hands, and all of those things, when you have a feeling of fear or anxiety or sadness or something, if you stay a little longer, what reveals itself? If you honor the sensations in your body and listen without trying to push it, what happens next?

If you don't take all your thoughts for face value, but witness, what is it like to be in my body with these thoughts?

Then some of these, can begin to digest and integrate, and perhaps it can reveal more for you.

So whatever it is you're experiencing in this time, I wish for you: presence with yourself. I know that we all wish each other to be healthy and I absolutely wish you to be healthy and at peace and well and safe. And if you're not feeling that or if you're not feeling healthy, or you are sick, or someone you know is not well, notice how it's touching you. Perhaps, let it change you. Be with the process, be with the transformation, and experience it in and of itself, for the most part of our human experience.

So I invite you to look whatever it is you're experiencing in the face. And even if it's for just one moment, one breath, that's great. Take a break. Come back and try it again and see what happens.

I'm here today too, if you'd like to take a moment with me and just tune into your specific alignment and what you need to be doing right now, what your focus of energy and attention is, we can do that together.

So I invite you to place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly or see what's right for your body. And with a few breaths, that you notice, if this part isn't on already turned on the part of you that witnesses and observes. Say hello to your body. Just being here in this quiet little moment with yourself.

And now I invite you to look from an outsider perspective at your life, at your soul, and spirit, the span of your soul's life and notice any information that you're given.

Notice what you see, what you're aware of, and how you feel. Go deeper than the emotions that you feel. Get to the core and the source of what it is that you're experiencing even if it means just inviting yourself to go to those origins, and also ask yourself, where is my attention best place right now? How can I best support myself and those that rely on me? What do I deeply know is for me to do here and now?

If there's anything for you to write down to take note of, feel free to do that so that you're reminded of it as we close our time here today on the podcast.

And as we do close, just send you a sense of peace and grounding, and the reminder to touch into beauty and what's going well, so touching into beauty, what's beautiful in your life right now, whether that's something in your emotional relational life. Something literally that you can see in the space around you, that gives you a sense of beauty. And if there's nothing, you can imagine something that's beautiful. That just helps give your body a sense of safety.

And the second piece being touch into what truly is here right now, that you're alive, that you're breathing. And if you are having trouble breathing, if you have some symptoms, notice how much your body can breathe, focus on what's going well and just take it in. Allow your selves and your energy to connect with that and then go tackle the hard stuff.

So, as we close today, just wishing you all that sense of presence with yourself with whatever's coming through, and what you're here to do right now, what is in alignment for you.

And I want to send a shout out to all those that are out there in the health care world, supporting others. A thank you to all of you, to the scientists, to the people that are running grocery stores. Also, to all the parents out there who are toughing it out at home with their little ones. That's not always easy.

And in some ways, many of all of you that I mentioned are working double time where others are resting and trying to find something to do with their time. So we have very different experiences here all across the board.

And lastly, if you want some more resources to support what you're feeling right now, to work through anything you're experiencing, I recommend a few podcasts, parts work, working with the different parts of you at CandiceWu.com/partswork. The episode on overwhelm and polyvagal theory, to help you feel grounded and resilient through this time. That's at CandiceWu.com/overwhelm. And also, the episode on emotions and the experientials that go with it that support taking breaks, resourcing strength that's at CandiceWu.com/emotions. And there are so many million resources out there of people and wellness practitioners that are offering meditation, yoga, writing, all sorts of things. If you just take a peek and open to whatever it is you need it's likely out there.

Thanks so much for joining me today. And again, I'm wishing you all the presence with yourself that you can possibly have, and with your loved ones with what's happening.

And I'll leave you with a little anecdote that I recall vaguely from a documentary I saw a long time ago. I think it was about the Dalai Lama or monks or Buddhism.

And there was a monk with a group of people and this car was beeping, this car alarm was going off.

“Beep. Beep.”

And it was utterly annoying and it was going on and on for a long time and I heard the monk just saying over and over: The beep is reminding us to be present, the beep is reminding us to be present.

So I want to leave you with that thought that everything you're experiencing is reminding you to be present.

Thanks so much for joining me today and see you next time on the Embody Podcast.