EP 230: Mothering the Bones: Repairs, Reflections, and Radical Gathering with Elisa Mary Haggarty

In this episode, Kimberly switches roles to be in the interviewee seat herself while Elisa asks and reflects about Kimberly’s Mothering the Bones retreats. They just finished one retreat in Wales and reflect on how moving and transformative it was for the gathering to be holding one another. They also discuss the origins of Mothering the Bones–how Kimberly came to this work and why she feels it is the apex of all of her expertise, knowledge, and purpose.

Bio

Elisa Mary Haggarty is an Executive and Conscious Leadership Coach, host of The Soul Podcast, and fellow jaguar. She coaches leaders to become more aware of how they are operating and the impact of how they relate to those around them through Conscious Leadership. She also has a diverse background in somatics and holistics and nutritional wellness. She is based in NYC but serves globally.

What She Shares:

–Mothering the Bones origins

–Nuances of session work in community

–Non-traditional approaches to gathering

–Making space for spontaneous emergence

What You’ll Hear:

–One week out from Mothering the Bones retreat

–Level of intimacy and vulnerability in Kimberly’s work

–Why Kimberly does Mothering the Bones

–Kimberly’s background in body work and nervous systems

–Session work in group

–Elise’s experience at Ghost Ranch 

–Lay practitioner defined

–Taking care of people, people of place, and the land

–Range of grief and joy

–Meta-level analysis not needed when sessions occur

–Tactile practice has emerged

–Next step beyond ROLFing and body-work

–Holding the pelvis and witnessing

–Decentralizing role of practitioner

–Importance of witness space as recipient

–Conscientiousness about care and support

–Not all trauma work is intense

–Allow the body to be in blue

–Distributing weight of session with multiple people

–Pairing experts with novices

–Witnessing a freeze

–Repairing with other women’s presence

–Resourced to receive, give, and listen

–Burnout and unsustainability in community work

–Impossibility of birth work and community care in these times

–Value of midwives and second-generation births

–Upcoming book for Mothering the Bones work

–Touch, touching the pelvis non-sexually, sitting, consent

–Bringing whole self to bodywork

–Radical touch

–Listening, presence, story

–Value of artistry in trauma-work

–Non-traditional ways of learning

–Giving space for emerging creativity to come out

–Sexuality and birth require emergence and spontaneity

–Being responsive to group’s needs

–Loosening control in community gatherings

–Art of embodiment

–Opportunities to be spontaneous and surprised

–Tending to place and land of retreats

–Depth and saturation of place 

–Different approaches to in-person versus online

–Bodies that need held the most

–Bone holding practice for presence and healing

Resources

Website: https://www.elisamaryhaggarty.com/

IG: @elisamaryhaggarty