0:19

Hi everyone, Larissa Russell of

0:19

CreativeU Healing and today I

0:22

have with me Stacey Maney.

0:22

Stacey's work brings the great

0:26

mother's teachings into the

0:26

world through her paintings,

0:29

murals, film, children's art,

0:29

and podcast. Stacey is an

0:32

artist, yoga teacher and mom of

0:32

two. She works with people who

0:36

are looking to love and express

0:36

themselves in a bigger way than

0:39

ever before, Stacey holds space

0:39

for a new generation of

0:42

creatives who are empowered,

0:42

fully supported and nourished as

0:45

they become powerful channels of

0:45

unconditional love. So welcome,

0:49

Stacey. I always want to say Amen to

0:50

that. True, and as I really I'm like,

0:57

yes, yes, please. Exactly,

1:04

exactly. So it's wonderful to

1:04

have you, you've been a part of

1:08

some of our summits. And I just

1:08

think the work you do is

1:11

amazing. So can you share some

1:11

of your story in the path that's

1:14

brought you to where you are now? Yeah, absolutely. So it's

1:16

interesting, I've had a

1:20

revelation recently about how

1:20

all of these pieces of my path

1:24

have come together. And you

1:24

know, I've always identified as

1:28

a creative person, as an artist,

1:28

even since childhood, I

1:32

remember, like, I would still

1:32

have my favorite colored crayons

1:34

and take them home. But it

1:34

wasn't until college, I actually

1:39

started in fine arts. And I did

1:39

the foundational theories there,

1:44

and then switched to design. And

1:44

they were just such a huge

1:47

shift. For me, it was five years

1:47

of a design degree. It was very,

1:52

it was like a love and hate at

1:52

the time, because it was taking

1:55

my fine artists brain and trying

1:55

to figure out the whole design

1:58

world. But what it gave me at

1:58

the end was this whole other

2:02

side, it almost feels like the

2:02

masculine side to creativity,

2:06

where their structure there's

2:06

like, I won't say more meaning

2:10

but it was like more

2:10

functionality where you have the

2:14

beauty, and then the design

2:14

brings the function with it. And

2:18

it brings these these new

2:18

systems almost like languages

2:21

into what I then turn into, like

2:21

my creative work after college.

2:27

But it really was kind of

2:27

activating the other side of my

2:30

brain and learning to use both

2:30

sides. And then after college, I

2:37

was very burnt out go figure,

2:37

like five years of rewiring. And

2:43

so I found yoga. And at the

2:43

time, it wasn't really to lose

2:47

weight or anything, it was just

2:47

because I knew I needed

2:50

something, to kind of

2:50

recalibrate myself my system.

2:55

And I fell in love, I became a

2:55

yoga teacher. And what yoga

3:00

taught me was that it's like our

3:00

physical body is the structure

3:04

that we can then move energy

3:04

through. And that was huge. I

3:09

have chills because like having,

3:09

knowing that I have that

3:13

ability, you know, I would have

3:13

these huge breakthroughs during

3:16

a yoga class, and I would come

3:16

home and create art and I would

3:19

be so inspired. And then

3:19

recently, well, almost five

3:24

years ago, so maybe not that

3:24

recent, but it was still feel so

3:27

so new. I became a mom. And you

3:27

know, that was my one of my

3:33

revelations lately is that it

3:33

was that introduction of

3:37

unconditional love. Right? Like

3:37

I thought I knew what I meant,

3:41

but I didn't fully until I had

3:41

kids. But that was like this

3:45

huge activation. And it brought

3:45

all those pieces together for

3:49

me. So that's kind of has

3:49

created this triangle that I

3:53

like to use as my like support

3:53

system. And yeah, it's

3:57

spirituality, movement, and

3:57

creativity are the three pieces

4:02

that finally came together. And

4:02

I've just noticed, like when I'm

4:06

really in it, and each one of

4:06

those is when I'm, I'm producing

4:11

work that I'm proud of, or

4:11

meaningful work and my life

4:14

feels in balance. So yeah,

4:19

I truly love that. That triangle

4:19

concept. And that's been coming

4:23

up so many times for me lately,

4:23

right. And yeah, so yeah, my

4:27

mind is like healing, creativity

4:27

and spirituality are my main.

4:33

But it shows up in so many

4:33

things that triad, and it's

4:38

really fascinating how that

4:38

happens. But I just want to go

4:40

backwards to a comment you made

4:40

about the masculine energy of

4:44

design. And this is something

4:44

I've been focusing a lot on

4:48

lately is the masculine and

4:48

feminine energies and that

4:51

masculine energy of producing

4:51

grain and very structured and

4:56

things like that. absolutely

4:56

needed. It's gotten a little

5:01

taken, it's taken, it's taken

5:01

over a little bit. But, you

5:05

know, we need that balance of

5:05

feminine and masculine energy.

5:09

And so, you know, like you said,

5:09

trying to rewire your brain from

5:12

the creative, which is that

5:12

feminine energy to the masculine

5:15

and then being able to settle,

5:15

do you feel like you've settled

5:18

into some sort of a balance? Or

5:18

more balanced since then having

5:24

both? Absolutely, yes. My, my husband

5:25

had to warn me like sometimes,

5:29

but I it's like my OCD

5:29

tendencies, you know, the house

5:33

and things, you know, wanting

5:33

things straightened or looking a

5:36

certain way, but then

5:36

acknowledging there's like this

5:38

flow of life happening all the

5:38

time, I actually had one moment

5:43

when I was pregnant, with my

5:43

husband. And I just wanted, I

5:46

feel like the need to share it

5:46

right now. Because it was such a

5:50

powerful healing moment. For me,

5:50

I was pregnant with my, with my

5:54

first so like, totally awkward

5:54

and not knowing what was going

5:58

on. But I had enough of a belly

5:58

that my balance is starting to

6:03

go. And we were at, like a river

6:03

creek area one afternoon. And I

6:10

just remember, like, I really

6:10

wanted to go in the water, but

6:12

we're so paranoid that I would

6:12

slip. And so I just kind of like

6:15

ended up kind of crawling out

6:15

and like laying backwards, and

6:19

my husband was behind me. And he

6:19

was just holding me. And I was

6:24

just like belly up, you know, in

6:24

the sun. And it just was like

6:28

that moment of feeling the

6:28

support of the masculine. But I

6:32

have never really like leaned

6:32

into him in that way. And just

6:36

been that vulnerable. And I just

6:36

think it's such a beautiful

6:40

image of what that looks like,

6:40

when it's imbalanced. It's like

6:43

I had these precious, this

6:43

precious baby and all this and

6:47

he had like, that strength and

6:47

protection around me. So.

6:51

I love that. I can see that

6:51

image. And it just is like, Yes,

6:56

that's what the balance is.

6:56

Right? Yeah. And it's not the

7:00

man and the woman. It's that

7:00

masculine and feminine energy.

7:03

Exactly. Yeah. And that's, that's a

7:04

beautiful, yeah.

7:07

Yeah. Because like, that extends

7:07

to the way I see it, it's like

7:10

you have this creative vision

7:10

that you're bringing through.

7:14

And then, you know, it's almost

7:14

like your responsibility as the

7:18

creator, is to find the

7:18

structure that's going to

7:21

support that vision. So maybe

7:21

that structure is a book, maybe

7:25

it's a podcast, but I think

7:25

that's something that we're not

7:28

taught as artists to how to find

7:28

that structure. And like, even

7:33

acknowledging what a structure

7:33

is, that would, you know, which

7:36

one would be best supportive. So, it's interesting that you

7:37

say that, because I talked to so

7:41

many people who've been to art

7:41

school, and they, they weren't

7:45

given any of sort of the tools

7:45

for the art business, right.

7:48

And, and so, what would be the

7:48

masculine energy, the producing

7:52

and, and, you know, sharing and

7:52

all of that, because they get so

7:58

immersed in that feminine energy

7:58

of the creativity and, and flow

8:02

and, and all of those things,

8:02

the intuitive part, and so

8:06

again, we need the balance,

8:06

right. And we see it in our

8:11

world with the patriarchy, and

8:11

how, you know, we have become so

8:16

sort of skewed in our thinking

8:16

even as women who are tend to be

8:22

more feminine, centered, not

8:22

always, but tend to be more

8:25

feminine, feminine, centered, we

8:25

are struggling to fit into this

8:29

world of patriarchy that we

8:29

don't fit into. Because the

8:33

balance is off for everyone.

8:33

That's why we see what we call

8:37

toxic masculinity, right?

8:37

Because the balance is off for

8:41

everyone. It's not a men and

8:41

women. Right, everyone's

8:44

balances off. Right. And it affects men too.

8:45

You know, I think like, a lot of

8:49

times, they're vilified. And

8:49

it's like, well, you know,

8:52

they're, they're searching for

8:52

community and their own places

8:54

to be safe as well. Like, this

8:54

is a collective shift collective

8:59

coming back into balance. But I

8:59

think it's noticing like, what

9:02

area? Do you need more guidance

9:02

or more information? And to

9:07

understand how to work with

9:07

that? Yeah. Because I believe we

9:10

we all have the masculine

9:10

feminine energy. And it's just

9:14

learning how to really work with that. Yeah, yeah. Hot Topic for me,

9:16

because that's I'm definitely

9:21

working with that right now. So

9:21

yes, I love that. So one of the

9:25

questions I asked everyone who

9:25

comes on the show is What does

9:28

healing with creativity mean to you? Hmm, yeah, I love that. So just

9:30

going back to my own journey, I

9:36

think I wasn't healing. I know I

9:36

wasn't healing. From from

9:42

college, you know, there was a

9:42

bit of a trauma in that being

9:45

the artist with all the

9:45

designers. It's like I look at

9:48

it, that was a gift and I could

9:48

see the gift of it, but I had so

9:52

much inner healing inner work to

9:52

do and I didn't realize it. And

9:58

it really wasn't until I got

9:58

pregnant that I started to see

10:02

like, that my body is this

10:02

channel. And it's like our

10:08

natural state, as children when

10:08

we're born is that we are these

10:11

pure channels, you know, are

10:11

connected to this physical world

10:15

and the spiritual world. And

10:15

we're meant to just channel

10:18

love, but so much stuff like

10:18

happens to us. And I think parts

10:23

of that channel get closed off.

10:23

And for me, you know, the things

10:27

that block it, I noticed are

10:27

like, if I'm not eating healthy

10:31

foods, or having healthy

10:31

thoughts, you know, habits,

10:36

whatever it is, you know, they

10:36

are beyond what happens to you,

10:40

you know, quote, unquote, but is

10:40

learning to work with that

10:45

energy and clear it, instead of

10:45

letting it get stuck. And I

10:49

guess what I would tell people

10:49

who are looking to heal, is that

10:53

it's so important, we realize

10:53

we're not broken. And for the

10:56

longest time, I thought I was,

10:56

you know, I started to feel like

10:59

this paralysis in my work. Even

10:59

though I was creating a bunch,

11:04

like, I just didn't feel the

11:04

meaning, or the connection. And

11:08

it wasn't until I started

11:08

working with all the things that

11:11

were blocking the channel, that

11:11

it was like, it was like this

11:15

huge opening. And to me, that's

11:15

healing. It's like just figuring

11:19

out what's blocking you. And

11:19

getting, you know, working with

11:23

that energy, not bypassing, but

11:23

just sitting with it. And I

11:27

think that the key to that, for

11:27

me was unconditional love. I had

11:31

to bring unconditional love back

11:31

through my system.

11:37

You know, just as you're saying

11:37

that, it made me think of some

11:39

times in my own work. I think of

11:39

like, I still say to this day

11:46

was my best work. But after my

11:46

partner died, and I was creating

11:51

just to like, from sheer, I

11:51

don't even know if it was sheer

11:55

grief, but just processing,

11:55

right. And I was creating and

11:59

creating. And like to this day,

11:59

my favorite pieces are, are in

12:03

that collection. And I've never

12:03

felt that I've tapped quite as

12:08

deeply as I did back then.

12:08

Right? Even though I do many

12:12

different things, to bring all

12:12

of that together, that absolute

12:18

letting go couldn't hold on.

12:18

expression was amazing to me.

12:24

Not in the moment, in the

12:24

moment. But you know, after the

12:29

fact. Absolutely. And so, you

12:29

know, even though through all

12:33

the work that I do, yeah,

12:33

there's pieces that I think are

12:36

excellent. Or I can really see

12:36

that connection, but nothing as

12:42

deep as what I experienced at

12:42

that time, because I just let go

12:46

and I think we get so caught up

12:46

in and not even so much what

12:52

does it look like but what I

12:52

should be expressing what I

12:55

should be expressing and not

12:55

being able to fully let go into

12:59

what I need to express. Yeah, that that makes me think

13:01

of the postpartum stage for me

13:04

with my daughter was I had never

13:04

had such, like profound healing

13:08

to do, like physically,

13:08

mentally, emotionally, all of

13:12

the above. I won't go into

13:12

detail, but it was it was a

13:15

rough time. I'm with you, trust me, I

13:16

struggled.

13:19

Is that for another discussion?

13:19

Yeah. And it was the same, I was

13:24

making this really potent work.

13:24

And I don't even think I knew at

13:27

the time. Like, it wasn't until

13:27

I look back where I was like,

13:29

Oh, my gosh, you know, feeling

13:29

there. And even some of the work

13:33

like, I found images imagery in

13:33

it a couple years later that I

13:38

didn't even realize it's on the

13:38

page all the time. And so you

13:41

bring up a good point, too, is

13:41

like just getting it out on the

13:44

page is, first of all, it's so

13:44

powerful. It's so healing. But

13:49

then like you have this whole

13:49

trail of your process and your

13:52

journey. And I wish I dated

13:52

everything, I would add that

13:56

small tip to just get into the

13:56

habit of dating things, because

14:00

I wish I could put them on

14:00

order. I have a rough idea. But

14:03

yeah, it's because then you have

14:03

all of that in front of you to

14:06

work with. And that's your story. I'm one of those people too,

14:09

that doesn't even work in my

14:12

journal in a linear fashion. I

14:12

just flip it open. And then I

14:15

don't date it. And then

14:15

afterwards, I'm like, I have no

14:19

idea what was happening. Right.

14:19

And so now I'm trying to get

14:22

into the habit. The habit, if

14:22

I'm if I do a page to write on

14:26

the back of it, yes, the date

14:26

and maybe what I was feeling and

14:30

what was happening, just so I

14:30

have some context when I go

14:33

back, I may or may not look at

14:33

that, you know, but at least if

14:37

I'm going what was happening

14:37

here, flip it over and go oh,

14:42

that's what was happening here.

14:42

That totally makes sense. Or,

14:44

Wow, that was you know, whatever

14:44

it was so yeah, I'm with you on

14:49

that one. I learned very slowly.

14:52

Right. 30 years into creating I finally

14:54

am like oh, it was for.

14:59

It's only 30 years of stuff to

14:59

put in order, it's fine.

15:01

Exactly, exactly. Well, and there's something you

15:04

mentioned too, about wanting to

15:07

be back in that depth. And I

15:07

agree, I know I feel the same,

15:11

you know, there's, it's the

15:11

difference between birth and the

15:14

creative process where the

15:14

baby's coming. But with your

15:17

creative work, you know, you can

15:17

kind of get lost in that process

15:21

sometimes. And what always helps

15:21

me, and it's so simple, but it's

15:25

been so profound. I just

15:25

imagine, like, the heart of the

15:30

earth underneath us, or, you

15:30

know, whatever represents just

15:35

the highest frequency of

15:35

unconditional love. You know,

15:39

maybe that's more like the a

15:39

cosmic heart or something like

15:42

that. But connecting to that

15:42

frequency, and I love imagining

15:47

myself like a tree. And just

15:47

like growing my roots, even

15:51

deeper into that. And there's

15:51

been so many moments and

15:55

motherhood and all of the above

15:55

where it's like, when you feel

15:59

just not capable or not big

15:59

enough or strong enough. I'm

16:03

always like, okay, just go

16:03

deeper. And then I, and then I

16:07

can feel like, you know, when a

16:07

tree's roots grow deeper, the

16:10

ability to have that expansion.

16:10

Yeah, and I do when I'm doing

16:15

the dishes, like, it doesn't

16:15

have to be a fancy thing. That's

16:20

what I find. Well, and especially when you're

16:22

doing sort of a repetitive task,

16:25

it's a wonderful time to do it.

16:25

Because you can sort of dig into

16:28

things that you wouldn't

16:28

normally give yourself space for

16:32

writing. And you can do it in

16:32

your art, you can do it, you

16:35

know, washing the dishes, or

16:35

whatever it is. Right. And, and

16:40

just allow yourself that space

16:40

to, and I find it interesting as

16:44

I work with people, women, I

16:44

work with women, but we they'll

16:49

start with, oh, yeah, this no,

16:49

this is deep. This is really

16:53

deep. And then as you work, oh,

16:53

this is what deepens. I don't

16:57

like it here. It's like, no,

16:57

it's unpleasant sometimes. But

17:01

just once we dig into that, it

17:01

just opens up so many things. So

17:07

if we can get past that

17:07

uncomfortable, and, and settle

17:11

into that the truth of it.

17:11

Right. And I think maybe that's

17:16

the missing key is that always

17:16

having that unconditional love?

17:20

Feeding that can maybe help with

17:20

that comfort, discomfort. And

17:25

but allowing yourself to go past

17:25

the comfortable right into the

17:30

discomfort to move through.

17:34

Yeah, and sometimes it's as

17:34

simple as just remembering to

17:36

breathe. You know? It's, it's

17:36

Yeah, living in that discomfort

17:42

because there's something there.

17:42

There's something there for you

17:46

for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Well, I

17:47

just want to thank you so much.

17:51

This was like, I just love this.

17:51

So I see you have a free item, a

17:56

free guide. Do you want to just

17:56

tell us a little bit about it?

17:59

Sure. Yeah. So it's my quick

17:59

guide to working with this

18:03

frequency of unconditional love.

18:03

And in the guide, I kind of I

18:07

referenced my triangle, but I

18:07

also invite you to come up with

18:11

your own triangle or your own

18:11

shape, you know, maybe it's a

18:14

different shape for you. But

18:14

just to really get clear about

18:18

what is going to support you to

18:18

become a bigger channel, a more

18:22

powerful channel for

18:22

unconditional love and, and just

18:25

see like how that ripples out

18:25

into your life. And I'm actually

18:29

going to add to that the visual

18:29

visualization I was talking

18:33

about, just like a quick two or

18:33

three minute visualization that

18:36

you could put on your phone or

18:36

somewhere if you just want to

18:39

listen to it and have a guide

18:39

for that process.

18:43

That sounds perfect. Well, I

18:43

can't wait to share this with

18:46

everybody. And is there any

18:46

final thoughts before we go

18:49

today? Ah, you know, I do want to share

18:50

a quote. Okay.

18:53

I haven't pulled up here. Let me

18:53

pull it. Is it Rumi? I'm

18:56

probably saying that wrong. The

18:56

poet. It's a Rumi quote. Okay.

19:03

I'll just read it. And yeah,

19:03

it's, so it says "May what I do

19:07

flow for me like a river, no

19:07

forcing and no holding back the

19:12

way it is with children that

19:12

just let it flow, whatever it

19:17

is." Whatever it is, yes. It's

19:18

interesting that you said that

19:21

like just even, you know, we

19:21

forget, like we're so we're so

19:25

hard on children. I was just having this conversation with somebody, because we have this

19:27

expectation that they should

19:29

behave in a way that we're not

19:29

even capable of right? Like,

19:34

don't cry, don't, you know,

19:34

don't react to all of these

19:37

things. We have these

19:37

expectations of children. And

19:41

yet, we really should be

19:41

striving to be more like them,

19:44

instead of forcing them to

19:44

strive to be so much like us,

19:47

because we don't have it right.

19:47

I think they haven't they're

19:50

much closer to where we should

19:50

be at.

19:52

Yes. So yes, I love that quote. But I want to

19:54

thank you again so much for

19:58

being here today. And and sharing. Yes of course.

20:03

And to our listeners we will see

20:03

you again next time and in the

20:06

meantime, I wish for you

20:06

amazingly creative days.