Since lockdown began almost a year ago, many of us have come face to face with lots of time to be with ourselves, and the isolation of that has asked us to contact our emotional landscape without much distraction in a really intense way. What emerged, I thin, was an invitation, and (for me) a pretty significant inquiry into the nature of how we hide from ourselves, and how intentionally practicing emotional sobriety might inform how we show up in intimate relationship — specifically with ourselves.

This conversation will mean something to anyone who’s ever had the experience of shutting down — however unintentionally — their feeling function out of fear that what you feel is too big for you to hold, witness or heal. In this episode, Jessamyn Turgesen and I speak intimately — knee to knee on my couch in Southern California, with the sounds of life orchestrating around us — about this most tender, intricate web of human emotion and healing.

Jessamyn is a trauma-informed, body based healing facilitator using her training in massage and somatic therapies to assist clients in their healing & recovery journeys. She’s literally the perfect person to have this conversation with. Jessamyn and I talk about how we reconfigure our lives after loss, and the very real biological threat of grief as it often tells us, “If you feel all of this pain, you may not survive.”

In this episode, we redefine “safety” from a trauma-informed lens, and get raw about how shame occupies the space where our inner agency might otherwise call us forward when we are in deep, primal suffering. We’re talking about how the wisdom of our bodies can communicate what we need to midwife ourselves through the birthing of who we might be beneath our habits of hiding.

Jessamyn trained as a birth doula as well as a death/grief doula which has informed her capacity to be “with” humans in spaces of high transition. She is a poet, writer and photographer. These skill sets play a significant role in how she shows up with and moves in the world. As certified transformational life coach, she focuses on the work of self-intimacy as a powerful tool of transformation and growth. To get connected with more of her work and writing, you can find Jessamyn on Instagram at instagram.com/jessamynsara and her website jessamynsara.com.

You can also join Morgan's free video series on Emotional Sobriety and watch past videos by subscribing here.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

+ The Focalizing Practitioner Training both Jessamyn and Morgan just began.
+ Jessamyn and Morgan’s mutual friend (and future DHC guest) Jeannette LeBlanc.
+ Rumi’s poem, The Guesthouse.
+ Gabor Maté and his work with addiction.

Listen and subscibe to Dead Hearts Club on Apple podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. Leave us a review or shoot us a message about the episodes that impact you. You can DM us on Instagram @deadhearts.club, or send us a good ol’ fashioned email (deadheartsclubpodcast@gmail.com) or click CONTACT.