Nina Fields: Tuning In, Not Tuning Out

Ross Tayler (00:00)

Hello, I'm Ross Tayler, your host and guide for Sacred Sundays, a space to slow down, tune in, and return to what's sacred within and around you. I'm also a life coach for empaths and sensitive souls, walking alongside those who are ready to come home to who they actually are. These conversations are part of fulfilling that purpose, a collective exploration of what it means to live in connection with the sacred. Some weeks you'll hear a sound-based offering to open the space. Other times we'll simply begin in conversation. However it unfolds, this is an invitation into presence, connection, and the beauty of the unseen. If these conversations find you, please subscribe, rate, and share so others can find their way here. Pour a cup of tea, settle in, and let's begin.

Ross Tayler (00:50)

Today on Sacred Sundays, our guest is Nina Fields. Nina is a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor, intuitive healer and mindfulness guide whose work weaves together relational therapy, somatic movement and contemplative practice into a whole-person approach to healing. A long-term Theravada Buddhist practitioner and lifelong student of the Dhamma, Nina completed advanced lay training at Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery, and she leads mindfulness and heartfulness workshops throughout British Columbia. As an intuitive healer, she receives images and insights that speak directly to what her clients carry, offering a depth of clarity that goes beyond the surface. Her Buddhist name, Khema, was gifted to her by a teacher in 2015, earned through her own trials and difficult transitions. It remains a daily reminder, for herself and for those she walks alongside, that inner refuge is always possible. Nina also recently opened The Healing Space, a nature-inspired healing room for independent practitioners, offering counselling, bodywork, somatic therapies and mindful practices. Welcome, Nina, to Sacred Sundays.

Nina Fields (02:00)

Thanks, Ross, for having me. I'm excited to have a conversation with you today.

Ross Tayler (02:06)

You're very welcome. I'm excited to talk with you as well. I think I've known Nina since at least 2011, and probably before then, because if I'm not mistaken, I touched base with you when you worked in the schools, which was definitely before 2011. But we've formally known each other since then, and we've crossed paths. We worked together at the Chopra Centre in Squamish. You were a counsellor there, and I was support staff and a group facilitator, and we've developed a friendship since then. So I'm excited to have this conversation.

Nina Fields (02:38)

Yeah, I'm really excited. This has been the journey of my life, really, from my own healing to healing others. And actually, I think it was you who invited me to apply to the Chopra Addiction and Wellness Centre back in the day. That started my journey of helping people, and what a beautiful spot that was. You and I have been on parallel paths in healing others, and what a gift it is, and how much it's needed, I think, as we go on in our lives and our future here.

Ross Tayler (03:20)

And part of what you said brings up a question for me, the idea of healing others. Do we really heal others, or do they heal themselves while we support their healing? What does that look like for you?

Nina Fields (03:31)

Definitely, we are supporting their journey. I would say holding space is more what's happening, so that people can, in safety, heal their own wounding, their own trials and tribulations, knowing they're being held in that space. So it's not us doing it. We're just holding the container. I like to say we're just holding a light on the path. Sometimes that might need some gentle holding. Sometimes it might need some questions. But it allows us to go on a journey with somebody. And that's probably my favourite thing, going on these healing journeys with others, because you get to watch their process as they go through it.

Ross Tayler (04:21)

And what do you notice on the other side of that journey? What changes for people when you work with them? How do they show up differently? How does it impact their relationships?

Nina Fields (04:30)

Definitely, there's a settledness inside, where they're maybe not seeking so much, and they're able to reflect more on what's going on for themselves. They can come from a place of, this is what I'm noticing in myself, and this is how maybe I could have shown up differently. Not the blaming zone, where people can often go and blame others for the disharmony that's going on in themselves. I notice them taking a little more accountability for their own health and healing.

Ross Tayler (05:05)

How would you say your journey with Buddhism... well, actually, there are two parts to the question. One is that there may be people out there who don't really have an understanding of what Buddhism is. And the second is, how have your Buddhist philosophies impacted the way you work and support others?

Nina Fields (05:23)

Mm, it's a big question. I'd say I know about the tip of a baby finger's worth of Buddhism, because it's so expansive. But what I've learned and gained from my Buddhist practice is really about being present in this moment, in this now, and tuning in. That's where a lot of the practice of tuning into your body comes in: what's here in this moment? Because if we're focusing on the past or the future, we're really losing this opportunity. So the practice in Buddhism, for me, is about how do I stay here? And when I'm in that practice, as a healer, as a practitioner, I can help others learn how to stay present in the experience of an emotion, a feeling, a sensation, so that they're not in the story of it. I think that's a big thing: getting out of the story of what's going on, and more into the felt sense, the body sense, of what's going on.

Ross Tayler (06:32)

And when I hear you say helping people stay here, I kind of chuckle inside, because we're living in a world that is so full of distraction. I think we're being programmed to be distracted in all sorts of ways, whether it's the food we eat, the social media we digest, or the media we consume in all its forms. All of those things are distracting us and spiking our cortisol, and there's so much stress. So I imagine the journey to presence isn't necessarily easy for everyone.

Nina Fields (07:07)

No, it definitely is not. I think one of the best and easiest ways to practice is really small. We think, I have to sit down and be still for an hour, and I can't move, I can't even scratch an itch. I often hear, I don't know how to meditate, it's impossible for me, or it's impossible for me to stop my mind. And in this busy world, we're learning how to be with the mind. Of course, in the Buddha's time there were things going on in the world, but not quite the same as what's going on in our every day. We're inundated, especially with our computers. What a beautiful gift it is that you and I are able to have this conversation. But there's so much information coming in all the time.

So, to be present, start small. If you get a moment's break from everything, I suggest maybe having a meal quietly, where you're not looking at your phone and you're not talking to anybody, in silence. Or take a moment when you wake up, or a moment before you go to bed. Or in nature, go to a spot that feels really special to you and just pause. Often when I walk in the woods on a beautiful sunny day, there's a spot where the sun is just beaming in, and I'll pause for a moment and just feel the sun and take a breath. That's teaching your body what presence is. So when we say we don't know how to get there, we're often already doing it. We're just not calling it that, or not understanding what it actually looks like, because we think it's supposed to be an hour long.

Ross Tayler (08:43)

And back to meditation practice, I also teach some meditation, in a minimal way, and I think there are a lot of misconceptions about what meditation actually is. There are all these ideas that it should look a certain way, that we shouldn't have any thoughts. And really, it's not that. It's about generating those moments of quiet within all the thoughts. Would you agree with that? And what would you add?

Nina Fields (09:09)

Yeah. Our minds are always going. They're doing their job, and we can't stop them completely. It's about learning how to be with the mind, understanding it, and allowing it. Okay, I'm thinking, or I'm planning. We can just label it, thinking, planning, and come back to this moment, to the breath. Or maybe we're using a visual, looking at a candle, or holding an image in our mind of a tree or something along those lines. So it isn't about sitting still with a completely blank mind. And I think that's really frightening for a lot of people, because how often are we actually with nothing in our mind? I think it's something like we have 80,000 thoughts a day, and something like 75,000 are on repeat. So our minds are constantly going.

Ross Tayler (10:03)

And there's also this piece about how we tend to leave ourselves. We tend to focus outward. This is something I notice in a lot of the conversations I have on the podcast, and when I'm working with clients. We're so externally focused, trying to change everything outside of us. And I believe some of that is escaping our inner landscape, because it is so volatile in some ways. We don't know how to be with those emotions. So what would you say about that?

Nina Fields (10:32)

It's tricky, because a lot of times we've experienced some trauma in our bodies, so it can be a little scary to stay put in our bodies. That's part of the reason some people like to vacate their bodies, into emotion or thought or the future or the past. And I think the practice is about noticing that. Just even naming it: wow, I'm really noticing I'm outwardly focused. I'm focusing on X, Y and Z, or this situation, and I don't even know where I am. So when I notice that as a practitioner, or when we're together, or in meditation, I'll often ask people, where are your feet? Just tuning in to where your feet are. And people go, whoa, I wasn't even here. I wasn't checked into my body. And that ends up leading to the end of the day, where we have no clue where we've been all day. So I also invite people to do check-ins, usually about three times a day, at breakfast, lunch and dinner, or morning, midday and evening. For a couple of minutes, just pause: where are my feet? Take a deep breath and ask yourself, where am I right now, and what am I noticing right now?

Ross Tayler (11:54)

How do you think you've changed, when you think of where you were when you started this work versus where you are today? What has that journey been like for you?

Nina Fields (12:07)

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time in nature, and a lot of time with animals. I was definitely off in my own little world, I'd say. I used to talk to the trees and the animals, and I was very inward and quiet and extremely shy. A lot of people don't believe me when I tell them that. It took me a lot of work to get myself out there, so much so that I do improv and perform now. So that's one of the things that has changed: really getting out of, I've got to keep everything in. But that also allowed me to be a good practitioner, because I observed a lot. I got really quiet, and I was able to see and hear a lot of things, because I kind of floated in the background. So I feel like that was a good foundation for when I was ready to use my voice and step forward. And actually, teaching Pilates helped me use my voice, because I had to get in front of a group of people and speak and teach and help people with their bodies. So there was a lot of practice there. I've noticed less shyness, and a confidence that maybe I didn't have before.

Ross Tayler (13:24)

I can relate to that piece about voice. It's been quite the journey for me as well. Years ago, I never would have considered that I could do a podcast and have these conversations, and here we are.

Nina Fields (13:34)

Here we are, it's amazing.

Ross Tayler (13:40)

So I can really align with that as well. You mentioned improv. How has improv informed the way you are in the world? What specifically has it helped with?

Nina Fields (13:54)

It is such a beautiful modality of play. It makes me think of the treatment centre, when you did laughter yoga. It really gets you out of your head and more into your body, out of thinking things should be a certain way. Improv really allows that flexibility, where there's not so much constraint, because you can try things on and play different characters and release. For me, I hold a lot of people's stuff in my practice, so it gives me a place to dissipate my energy, and it allows me to be playful and have fun. And it allows me to come out of my shell, too. I think so many of us hide behind certain masks in the ways we are in the world. So what it does is give me a flexibility to get out of that role, perhaps.

Ross Tayler (14:50)

Improv, for me, is about being in the present moment, but also creating from the present moment. It's this dual thing, because if you're not present, you can't pick up on what's being given to you, and if you don't pick up on what's being given to you, you can't actually create from anything. So it requires both of those things, all in that present moment, which is fascinating. I've never done improv formally, but I've had some mini experiences, and I think the idea of saying yes to what's being given to you and then building on it is a really cool practice.

Nina Fields (15:24)

Yes. And that's the one thing I didn't mention: it's very much about being present. If you're in your head, it won't work. Yes, and is a big thing in improv, but you don't always have to say yes, and. There's no, but maybe, and all these different ways you can expand on it. It's a space where you're learning how to interact with another person and with a group. When you're in a troupe, you're really learning how to trust each other and play off of those moments. But if you're not in presence, the scene loses focus.

Ross Tayler (16:02)

Right, because yes, and is about keeping the ball in the air and keeping that attention flowing.

Nina Fields (16:05)

Yeah, and the possibilities flowing, yes.

Ross Tayler (16:11)

Which I'm sure impacts what you do on an everyday basis, as well as when you're running groups and those kinds of things.

Nina Fields (16:17)

Yes, for sure. Because in groups, we never know what's going to come up. When we worked together, you did groups as well at the centre. There's a whole bunch of information coming in. And that's another thing I've learned over the years: how do I navigate all these different personalities and different emotions coming into the centre, so that everybody feels held and seen? In the past, it terrified me to think about sitting in front of a group of people and talking. There was no way. I never thought it would be possible. But it's actually one of my favourite things to do now.

Ross Tayler (16:56)

You also mentioned in your bio the intuitive gifts you bring into your practice, and I'd love to hear you say more about that. I've had the pleasure of experiencing them in a more relaxed way, and the images and messages that came through were very powerful. So what would you say about that part of how you show up?

Nina Fields (17:20)

Yeah, it's a gift I think I've always had, and I didn't know what it really was. I was always getting a lot of visualizations, and downloads of information, that I didn't quite understand as a kid. But my mom was very open, so I could really talk about these things. She was very spiritually leaning, and she kind of raised me a bit Buddhist, but didn't call it Buddhism or spirituality.

When I first moved to Kelowna after my divorce, I found a group of healers who would have weekly circles, where we would hold space for each person around the circle, and if anything came to us, we would share it with that person. I started going to these groups, and there were things I couldn't possibly know about people, and I was getting all this information and this healing. I was a bit nervous about it in the beginning, because here I was, a therapist, and I was getting these downloads of information, these gifts of things I was seeing and feeling about others. I talked to one of my Buddhist teachers, and he said, yeah, the Buddha had psychic gifts. We had a long talk about these psychic gifts and downloads and the things the Buddha would receive, and I was like, wow, that's pretty amazing. We don't really think of the Buddha that way, but there are all these stories about it, and about how we all actually have the ability to tune into these parts of ourselves when we get quiet enough to listen and clear some of that clutter. I think we all have the capacity to tune in.

Ross Tayler (19:00)

I remember back when we used to lead discussion groups in the afternoons, and one of the topics I loved talking about was spirituality. What is spirituality? Later, when I worked at a different treatment centre, it became an even more interesting conversation, because so many people were on the other side of it. They were so averse to the topic, or the idea of spirituality. So if you were to sit with someone who had a lot of resistance to spirituality, what would you say to them?

Nina Fields (19:37)

Yeah, I think I'd be curious. Some curiosity around, well, what are you noticing? What's coming up for you when you hear the word spirituality, or when you feel resistance to it? A lot of people, because our world is 60 or 70 percent Catholic, had a lot of negative experiences with the church. They were inundated with Catholicism. And of course, I'm not saying it's bad, but a lot of people had some bad experiences where religion was really pushed on them, and so they associate spirituality with that, or it has a negative connotation. So I'd just be curious about what's coming up for them and what they're noticing.

Because I think a lot of people have spiritual knowings or leanings, but they're scared to express an experience they've seen or felt. So I think normalizing things is important too, so people feel they're not losing their minds, because they've been told, through their family upbringing or society or the groups they've been in, that it's not okay to feel that way or see things that way. And I should say that's more in our Western culture. In other cultures, people are raised in a more spiritual way, where in the Western world we're not really given that so much.

Ross Tayler (21:10)

I really noticed that. I visited Cuba as an adult, and I realized that they were spiritually rich and we were materially rich, but spiritually poor. That cultural difference was very clear.

Nina Fields (21:25)

So much so. There's so much of that when you travel, and how beautiful it is to travel and see the different experiences of different cultures, and what they value. Here we have the Indigenous culture, and the beauty in the stories and myths, and how they're passed down. What we really miss in our culture is a lot of the elders teaching us and passing things down, because we're such a mix of different cultures that we're kind of losing our way, unless we're in it and fostering it. We're both in our fifties, so a lot of things have shifted and changed in the world since our upbringing. But I do think people are starting to be more aware, and to soften their edges, if there were some edges around it.

Ross Tayler (22:18)

I agree. I think it's shifting as well. Which kind of leads into this: I think we're going through a big energetic shift in our culture. We're seeing a lot of systems being challenged. I think there are a lot of things that aren't working anymore. What would you say about that? What do you think is shaking up in our society?

Nina Fields (22:41)

Everything. I think so many things are being shaken up, and I think it's causing all of us, as humans, to be shaken up too. A lot of the systems, like the school system, the healthcare system, these different systems that have been running a certain way for a very long time, are being disrupted in some way. I'm not someone who goes down full rabbit holes. It's just a feeling in my system that I know something is changing. And we can always look to the things that are pretty constant, meaning nature or animals, just how they show up in the world. In nature, a cloud is just a cloud. So when we become our present selves, that's when we can start to see and feel a shift. And I think if you asked most people, they'd notice that something is different. Something is changing. It's like there's something in the air.

I like to really watch animals outside, and how they interact with the nature around them. When they notice something, like a smell, and I'm talking about my dog in particular, there's just this pausing. And I can tell she knows something's going on. It's kind of hard to explain.

Ross Tayler (24:08)

I had a recent conversation with an elder, and the theme of slowing down and being present showed up a lot. And when I think about what you just said, we notice the details of things when we're not moving so fast.

Nina Fields (24:25)

Yeah. And I think that's what is going to change the culture: people understanding that really basic principle. If I'm going so fast, I'm missing so much. Going slow isn't something we've been taught in this culture. And with the practice of slowing down, sometimes people feel like they're not doing enough and they should be doing more. So I think that's a big piece of what I notice in my sessions: teaching people that it doesn't have to be this grand, big thing. Sometimes you literally just need to stop and smell the roses, go for a walk, just go around the block. Just go slow. Nothing has to be so grandiose: I have to have this item, and this music, and these clothes, and all these different things. It's so basic, and that's where we've lost our way. And how beautiful, that we don't need a lot.

That was one of the big teachings of the Buddha. He was a prince on his way to becoming a king, and he gave up everything. He really challenged his body, and followed really strict eating and all these different practices, and he discovered that you just have to be minimal. And when you're minimal, so much more greatness is there, in that minimalist way of being.

Ross Tayler (25:48)

There is a lot of suffering in the world, I think: in our inner landscapes, in our communities, and in the bigger picture of the world around us. And a big premise of Buddhist practice is the reconciliation of suffering, breaking it down. What would you say about suffering in our everyday lives?

Nina Fields (26:11)

Yeah, we all suffer. We all suffer. There's so much suffering, and we suffer because we crave. And when we crave, we can lose our way. So I think it's about finding some reconciliation inside of self. Am I really okay? Do I really need all of these things, or this person, or this situation, to actually be okay? That takes time and practice, to find that reconciliation, or maybe that's not the right word, that equilibrium in self, where I'm okay just as I am. And even if I don't have those things, I'm going to be okay. That's a practice. It's a practice I'm personally on a journey with every day, around certain things in my life that I would like that aren't here.

And the more we bring attention to it, because where attention goes, energy flows, the more we can allow that energy, and practice being in the discomfort and tuning in. Tuning in and not tuning out, I like to say, or checking in and not checking out. So you're really tuning in to what's going on in this moment. Okay, the suffering from that craving feels like this pain in my body. Instead of attaching it to a story about how this person did that, or I didn't get this job, or whatever it might be, it's about what is actually right here, right now. Maybe it's disappointment. So let's just sit with the disappointment. How does that feel? We start to work with the craving in a way that removes the story, and actually come to what's underneath the craving. And we can also say that's what underpins so much of the craving and addiction in our society. Let's distill it right down to what's actually underneath all of that.

Ross Tayler (28:07)

It really is that complicated, and that simple, to just see the feeling. I've had those moments where it's like, I'm feeling anxious, and just recognizing it, being with it, acknowledging it and seeing it, shifts the energy quite quickly.

Nina Fields (28:22)

And it's very simple.

Ross Tayler (28:26)

So how have your life experiences influenced who you are when you show up to work with people?

Nina Fields (28:35)

Yeah, I feel like I've had so many varied experiences: being raised by a single parent, having a father on the narcissistic scale and being separated from him, and being raised by my mom, who had bipolar disorder and was unmedicated during my childhood. So I learned a lot about how to be really present in myself, but I also became a people pleaser, making things work and taking care of everybody all the time. On this path, I've had so many experiences that it's hard to label them all. But when you put them all together, being married and divorced, relationships, being a single parent, trauma, jobs, different places I've lived, I think what it really does is shape you into an individual who has experienced resilience. I think that's the word: resilience.

That's what I've learned. Not resilience in the sense of being resilient because of all the things that were good and not good in my life, but really sitting with the understanding that resilience created this integrated human. Am I perfect? No, and none of us are. But it's that integrated part of learning that when the boat is rocked, you don't need to keep rocking it and creating more destabilization. Just really coming into that space of, how do I keep coming back to this breath, this moment, this time?

Ross Tayler (30:26)

And we do have an inner wisdom that we aren't tapping into when we're focused outward. When we get present, when we slow down, our own natural gifts and natural awareness start to percolate. I remember when I got divorced, I started journaling, and I noticed there was a different voice writing when I was journaling. The voice was more positive. I thought that was really interesting. We can access that when we slow down enough.

Nina Fields (30:58)

So true. Just like I was saying about when we're craving, or we're outside of ourselves, or, how could this happen to me again? The woe-is-me, the woes that come over us. When we slow down and maybe take some space from it, it doesn't mean we can't cry, or be upset, or be angry, or any of those things. But when we slow down enough to ask, what is going on, what are we noticing here, and then really ask that part, what is the need? A lot of us don't get asked that question. What is it that you need right now, and how can I support you? How lovely would it be if a lot of people asked that? I think people are going to start to seek it more.

But it's a big thing in my practice that I don't want people to become reliant on me. Back to an original question you asked, I'm trying to teach people that they have all those skills and resources in themselves, and that they know how to access them, because we're talking about them. We're talking about the things we may have wanted to tuck behind the shelves.

Ross Tayler (32:07)

Sure. At the end of the day, as practitioners, we're just helping people through a short period of time. We can't be there for them every day, every hour, as much as some clients might want us to be. Teaching them how to use those tools is really beneficial when they go back out into their lives, and they get to experience the benefit.

Nina Fields (32:26)

Yeah. And it's about hearing their own inner wisdom. That's part of watching the journey: you really notice the person tuning into their own little inner dial, and then they're speaking from that place, instead of, what did Nina say? What did Ross say? I've got to follow exactly what they said and how they said it. It's about finding your own way to navigate, because we're all going to navigate it a little differently.

Ross Tayler (32:55)

I totally agree. And we each have our own unique way of solving our problems as well, when we allow ourselves to. What kinds of clients do you work with? When you think about who's showing up at the moment, who is it that comes to work with you?

Nina Fields (33:12)

Yeah, I definitely notice people who have a willingness and a curiosity. I get a lot of clients who are curious about Buddhism, and about somatic therapy, tuning into their bodies, because they've been hearing about it. Those tend to be the clients who are really seeking to show up in a different way, because it's not working the way they've been going. I work a lot with men, women and couples. I do work with teens, though not as much as I used to. I used to work a lot with teens in the alternative school system. But I really do notice people who have this willingness and curiosity. Those tend to be the people coming across my path in Pilates and in counselling.

Ross Tayler (34:02)

Okay. And perhaps you could say a little more about somatic therapy. I imagine some people out there are thinking, what is that? What does that mean? How is it different from talk therapy?

Nina Fields (34:12)

So when we're talking, we tend to just chatter about things, and I do that too. But we're also pausing and talking about what's going on in the body. Even in our whole conversation today, you and I have been talking about tuning into the body and asking our bodies, because our body is probably the wisest thing we've got, and it's telling us things all the time. We have that gut feeling, or we notice a pain. It's how the body talks to us. So in somatic therapy, we're learning how to get really curious about what the body is saying, as opposed to what the mind is saying. Because the mind can chatter away and tell us all kinds of stories, based on what's happened in our lives, but our bodies start to tell us the truth. And sometimes people don't understand what their body is trying to tell them, or they have chronic illness, or chronic pain, or they're always getting injured in one spot. So it's about tuning into that.

And sometimes people ask, how do you start, how do you work with that? Sometimes it's just movement. I notice that a lot of my Pilates clients aren't tuned into their bodies, and then we start moving, and they start telling me things, about something that happened, or an accident, or things like that. It's really amazing, because the body so desperately wants to be heard, all the time.

Ross Tayler (35:40)

And another layer of that is that we store trauma in our bodies, so somatic therapy helps with that, right?

Nina Fields (35:47)

Yes, it definitely helps release that. I had no understanding of it when I used to teach Pilates back in the day, but I intuitively held space for people. As we moved, the body would naturally release. Sometimes people would cry, or get angry. All kinds of things would start to happen. And we don't necessarily have to have words for it. I think that's where a lot of people get stuck. I often have clients say, I don't even know how to explain it. I don't have words for it. And I say, that's okay. Does it have a colour? Does it have a shape? Does it just have a sound? It can come in so many beautiful ways, and it's okay that you don't know. There's no right or wrong way to express yourself in this.

Ross Tayler (36:32)

Yeah. When I did somatic therapy years ago, one of the interesting things was not being able to put words to what was shifting and what was being worked on, because I couldn't link it to a place, a time or an event. Sometimes you can, but you can't always. So it's just working with that feeling and that energy in the body, and shifting it that way.

Nina Fields (36:56)

Yeah, for sure. And it's really interesting. There's something I noticed before I really understood it. When I was in my troubled marriage, when I was around my ex-husband, I would get a lot of body pain, in my stomach in particular. I was telling somebody this story recently. I went to the doctor, and the doctors said there was nothing wrong with me. And I was like, but this is doubling-over pain. And then I noticed that when we were apart, it would go away. Like, what is this about? So I started to tune into that kind of thing. That's a very obvious example, but a lot of times the things we've experienced in our bodies are much subtler than that, and we don't quite know. It's like, I always have a pain in my jaw on this side, and we just think it's an injury. And often we're getting injured in the places that need attending to for some other reason, which is very interesting.

Ross Tayler (37:52)

Yeah. It's interesting, because Louise Hay wrote that book, You Can Heal Your Life, about all the ailments and how they relate spiritually to what may be going on in your body, with a mantra for shifting each one. That was written so long ago, and yet this somatic approach, this idea that the body holds our traumas and is trying to tell us something, is fairly new, at least in the last 10 or 15 years, and it's really at the forefront now. Everybody's talking about it.

Nina Fields (38:27)

Yeah, everyone's talking about it. What a forerunner she was in her way of looking at those things and experiencing them. Something I say about anxiety is that it's like a little bell ringing, like a dinner bell, trying to get you back home. Panic attacks are trying to bring you back home. And we're trying to stop it, trying to stop that feeling and slow it down. Oh my gosh, nobody can see this about me. And we're suppressing it. But actually, it's just asking you to notice it. Say hi. Hi, anxiety. There you are, you're back for the 12th time today. How can we just acknowledge it? That's all it's asking. Our bodies are constantly asking us to acknowledge them. It's like a re-parenting of ourselves, which most of us probably didn't get, though that's not true for everybody, of course. Hey, how are you? What is it you need? How can I support you?

Ross Tayler (39:33)

And that brings up such an interesting conversation, because I've been talking with someone recently who really advocates that the body is brilliant. There's nothing wrong with it. It's giving us signals, it's speaking to us, it's giving us messages we're meant to listen to. And these messages get more intense, and because they get more intense, we become more averse to the feelings, and we try to make those feelings go away. Which is really the same as putting a piece of black tape over the check engine light in your car. We have the same wisdom giving us these signals, trying to inform us, and we're at war with them. We have all sorts of metaphorical black tape we're using. I'm not saying some of that black tape isn't helpful, but ultimately we're at war with our own system, which is brilliantly designed to navigate this experience of being human. It's fascinating to watch.

Nina Fields (40:34)

So fascinating. We were born perfectly imperfect. And I love that analogy of the tape over the check engine light. They're distractions, and a lot of times they were there to keep us safe in some way, from something. That's where some of those things came from. But then, in safety, when your heart is safe, you're able to come to those places of, okay, here's some anger. I know a lot of men sometimes have resistance to anger, because they're scared they'll scare somebody with it. But it's a necessary emotion to be in touch with, in a safe, healthy way. There are healthy ways to dissipate and work with anger.

That was something beautiful about working at the centre: we had space outside. I'll never forget one client who was very angry. She had a lot of anger, and we went under a beautiful maple tree with moss-covered ground, and she really let out her anger. I just held the space, but I knew I was being held too, by nature and by the space. It was powerful just to be able to be with that emotion, to be seen and held, and not ridiculed or shamed, so she could be in touch with that anger in a healthy way.

Ross Tayler (41:57)

Absolutely. So you've opened up a healing space in Britannia Beach, and it's so exciting. What would you like to say about it?

Nina Fields (42:05)

I'm so excited about it. It's so fun. It's been a dream for a long time to have a collaborative workspace. So I've opened a little boutique, one-room space with a bathroom, in the heart of Britannia Village, which has been revitalized. Britannia Beach just received a BC Heritage Award, because they've restored and revamped a lot of the buildings and brought life back to the community. This space is a space for healing. The way I like to explain it is that it's like the muster point where people go when there's an emergency. The Healing Space is going to be that for energetic healing. I'm doing therapy and counselling there, Pilates mat and equipment work, and meditation. And other practitioners are offering somatics, breathwork, meditation and different modalities, including osteopathy, out of the space. So when you come in, it's a one-stop shop, and you know you're being held not only by the practitioners, but by the energy of the space. We're literally a two-minute walk to the ocean, flanked by mountains and rivers. It's a really held space, this little cocoon of healing. So yeah, I'm excited.

Ross Tayler (43:32)

That's amazing. So this feels like a good place to pause our conversation. It's always hard, because I know we could keep going, and there were lots of places where I could have asked more questions. But I think we covered some good ground. I always like to close with the same question: what's one simple way someone could connect with the sacred today?

Nina Fields (43:56)

Yeah. When I think of the sacred, I think of the sacredness of self, and the sacredness of the nature around us. And the way to connect with it is to slow down, take a deep breath, and just allow whatever arises to arise. It's okay, without judgment, just observing. Being in that moment of pure knowing that it's okay in this moment.

Ross Tayler (44:28)

Thank you. So thank you, Nina, for making the time to have this conversation. It's been great to connect in this way, to get to know a little more about you, and to have you share that with our listeners. I'm just grateful you made the time.

Nina Fields (44:44)

I'm so grateful to you, Ross. Thank you so much. I think this is such a great project, and I love listening to all the different people you have on. There's so much diversity, and I love being part of this crew. And I love the one where the script got flipped on you, so we could hear your voice a little more.

Ross Tayler (45:02)

[laughs]

Nina Fields (45:03)

But thank you for the opportunity.

Ross Tayler (45:06)

You're very welcome.

Ross Tayler (45:07)

Thank you for joining us on Sacred Sundays. I hope something in today's offering spoke to your spirit, stirred something true, or simply gave you a moment to breathe. If this conversation resonated, please subscribe, rate, or share. It truly helps this work reach the people who are meant to find it. If you'd like to step inside my world a little further, I host a free live practice three mornings a week called Start With You. Just 20 minutes on Zoom to return to your own energy. Everything you need can be found at the link in the show notes. Until next time, may your day be slow and sacred.