December 17, 2021 - EyeClarity Podcast
Today we have a special guest, Emma Destrubé. She is a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist, and physician of East Asian medicine, as well as a somatic movement therapist and Continuum teacher.
Beginning in her teens, she apprenticed under somatic movement pioneer Emilie Conrad, founder of Continuum. Together they researched and developed fluid movement/sounding protocols for neuromuscular compromises and other therapeutic applications of somatic movement and breathwork practice.
Emma holds a private holistic health care/healing arts practice in Los Angeles, where she helps to cultivate vitality with patient-empowering, poetic medicine including acupuncture, herbalism, somatics, and energy work. Her patients are a broad mix of creatives, celebrities, athletes, artists, activists, meditators, and even children.
She also teaches weekly online classes called Soma – a Continuum-based subtle movement, breath, and embodied meditation practice that sources somatic inquiry in the wisdom and poetry of Taoist medicine.
Learn more about Emm through her website: https://www.emmadestrube.com/about or her social channels: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn
Hear more from Emma at my upcoming Whole Health Summit! She is one of our amazing speakers! Save your seat: https://www.drsamberne.com/summit/
Enjoy the show. If you want more, sign up for my newsletter at: www.drsamberne.com.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
bodies, solstice, movement, inwards, sensations, emma, intelligence, mysterious, practice, world, featured speakers, life, question, classes, winter, continuum, move, innate intelligence, moment, summit
00:05
Hey, everybody, it’s Dr. Sam and I want to welcome you to another EyeClarity podcast as part of our summit special. Yes, we’re having the summit. Oh, health summit January 14 to the 16th 2022 and one of the featured speakers is a guest today. Her name is Emma Destrubé, and she is a colleague and friend of mine, wonderful person. And she just a little background about her. She’s an acupuncturist, herbalist and a physician of East Asian medicine. She also teaches weekly online classes called Soma, a continuum based subtle movement, breath, movement and embodied meditation practice. She studied under Emily Conrad, our, our distinguished colleague, founder of continuum. And together, this is interesting, she and Emily actually researched and developed fluid movements, sounding protocols for neuromuscular compromises and other therapeutic applications. And I know when I used to go to the studio, I used to see Emma there. And it was it was great to be with her and Emily. So, Emma, it’s great to have you on the program today. How’s it going? How are you doing?
02:07
Great. I’m so well, thank you for having me. It’s great to be here.
02:13
So we’re coming into the solstice season. And I know we both feel there’s a certain harmony harmonization. And we with our communities, we bring them together this Solstice time. What does Solstice mean to you? And how do you express it? How do you you know, integrate it in your practice in you know, in your personal life? Yeah, so
02:38
the solstice is a seasonal node here in the middle of the winter, the shortest day of the year. And when we look at the world around us nature changes according to the seasons, we see this so clearly. And when we look at our bodies, our internal worlds are a microcosm of the universe. So as the seasonal turning happens externally, a seasonal shift is also happening within our bodies. So as an acupuncturist, one of our primary diagnostic tools is reading the radial pulse of the wrist. And we see that a normal pulse or a healthy pulse changes according to the seasons. So we’re not separate from our environments. And one of the most primary tenets of Chinese medicine is that when we can harmonize our way of living and our bodies with the external world that is health. So when we’re living out in concert with the natural world, that’s when this harmonies that lead to disease tend to arise. So for me, the solstice is this incredibly important time to allow ourselves to come in we see that in nature, everything is coming inwards, there’s this entropic contracting movement that started in the fall, the trees, dropping their leaves, drawing their nutrients down into their trunks and into their roots for storage through the winter. We see animals scurrying around and collecting their their fruits and berries to last them through the winter. And it’s just this this moment of coming in culminating at the solstice this darkest, darkest time. So it’s an opportunity to allow ourselves to slow down to rest in words to incubate and to come together with our communities to celebrate in the solstice moment, the returning of the light. So it marks this tipping point between an inwards contracting energy and an outward expansion of energy that we start to see visible in the springtime, but that is seated in this depth depth of the Dark Winter.
04:41
And I see that you’re doing a gathering called the mysterious Pass, which is coming up because you talk about that. I know a lot of my community is is very intrigued in and what you’re presenting.
04:55
Yeah, I’d be happy to welcome you. So this is a workshop. It’s a four hour workshop. This coming Sunday the 19th 930 to 130 Pacific Time. And this is a chance for us to come together as a community and rest into some very gentle soft breath and movement practices that can allow us to rest into that in Cuba Tory space to take some time out of all this dross and clamor of the outside world that sort of gets so loud at this time, which is so contrary to really what’s needed out to what we see in nature, and allows us to invest in and I named it the mysterious past because it refers to this mysterious turning of life where this moment from death or the coming inwards of things to this fresh life. From a Chinese medicine perspective, we’re in the water element. We know that water is fundamental to all of life, that there’s this mysterious intelligence and quality to water. It has the capacity to spark new life. So we’re entering that mysterious paths.
06:01
Wonderful, wonderful. I’m so excited when I saw it, that you’re doing something like this. And you know, it is sorely needed because this is the time of year when we go in. But I see so many people frenetically, you know, on the road and the stores shopping, and everybody’s still so externalized. And so what you’re presenting is an opportunity for us to follow the rhythms of nature. And in doing that, it’s such a, I would imagine a rejuvenation, you know, reset as we move into the new year, and it will definitely
06:40
go ahead and place to plant these seeds that we can then begin to cultivate and then give rise nurture in the spring. You Yeah.
06:51
So we’re here, we’re here with Emma desk, Drew Bay, who’s a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist. She’s also a somatic movement therapist and continuum teacher colleague of mine. And she’s going to be one of the featured speakers at my upcoming whole health summit in January. So Emma, let’s move to the body, the soma. And one of the questions that I get a lot I would love to hear your perspective is what is the body for why do we have a body?
07:24
Here we are with a great question. You know, the great question,
07:28
why are we here? Here we find ourselves embodied that
07:32
this here my physical body is the locus of my experience. And and why, you know, we really don’t know. But all of the practices that I’m interested in engaging are ones that are enquiring into that question. I think that our bodies represent a living process, an extension of billions of years of a planetary process that have somehow arrived at this moment, here I am Emma, and this sort of size and shape and this part of the land right now, right here. Again, why we don’t know. But when we when we inquire inwards. When we turn the awareness of our attention, that light of our attention, outward direction to an inner one, we can start to illuminate what’s inside and discover or be be delivered into an experience of, of life that in some way our body contains this mysterious intelligence, this bio intelligence that grew us in the first place that moves this process this growth and development of life, and that we do have the opportunity to participate with that, and be moved by it and be informed by it. So I think the answer to the question is, I think something that isn’t really translatable into language, but that we can start to learn to sense the movement, which carries the message of what is the body? Why am I here? Who am I?
09:01
And I think some ingredients of that well said his body sensations slowing down. And the components of continuum especially can help us access that. I’m curious to know what what you observe and what your inquiry is around. Body intelligence for healing. What? What’s all that about? People ask me all the time. I’d love to hear your opinion on it.
09:29
Yeah, so the intelligence of our bodies is sovereign. There’s nothing that we can do as humans with our little brains, that can that can trump the intelligence of our bodies, any healing process is always always it has to support the internal innate and intelligence of our bodies. That really is what grew us in the first place. There’s no way that each of us could have grown ourselves, you know, that’s happening, you know, with this innate intelligence. So I think that that intelligence is his primary for any healing process, whether you’re repairing a limb, or a cut or a broken bone, or you’re healing from mental illness, no matter what it is that we’re working with, we’re always working with that innate intelligence. And most of the time it, all it requires is for us to get out of the way. So the things that we can do to support the movement, event intelligence, are slowing down, like you mentioned, softening, creating a context where that intelligence and that movement can move us can be uninhibited. It’s always about setting the table creating a context.
10:42
Yeah, so, so true. I appreciate hearing free from you on this, you know, because especially when we get into our classes, and we start, you know, showing different sounds or different movement motifs or breathing processes, the magic really takes over. And when we get out of the way, as you say, amazing things can happen. And we both have seen that, which is so inspiring. And I know it’s it’s something that people will automatically get during the health summit, that just your presence and energy will convey that. And I think it’s so needed today, because there’s so much frenetic energy going on and a lot of fear. So I appreciate your, you’re validating the perspective that I hold. So we are here with Emma das true Bay, she is a licensed acupuncturist, she actually has a holistic health practice healing arts practice in Los Angeles. So if you live in Southern California, I highly recommend you connect with Emma. She’s also doing a workshop this Sunday called the mysterious pass. And you can find her both on Instagram and her website, which I will put in the notes. I’d like to shift a little bit and talk about as we move into 2022. What are some of the things on the horizon that you want to convey to your students in your classes? What are you going to be focusing on what’s inspiring you in terms of your teaching?
12:32
Hmm, one theme that’s been really coming up, I’m seeing it in my patients and my students is the theme around receptivity, that the culture we live in is so externally driven, and is constantly asking us to go out and affirming that are, are inferring that our our value is in our outward movement in our productivity and our capacity to make and produce. And I’m really interested in I see a lot of people struggle with these themes of receptivity, how can we allow ourselves to let things and let good things in, let care and let touch and let good sensations and nourishment nurturing? You know, self care is kind of such a big moment. But oftentimes, the things that are listed under that category are still very external, and still create one more thing to sort of check off your list. So I’m interested in creating spaces that allow us to really practice what does it mean to allow ourselves to simply receive the support of the Earth, always here for us? Always help? How can we let that in? How can we allow ourselves to receive a nourishment of our breath, just practicing these themes in these very subtle, very tangible, somatic ways that bring us into a deeper relationship with ourselves with our sensations, and allow us to then move into the world in a more grounded, more nourished place very literally.
13:59
And what do you say to people when they they maybe start feeling pleasure, but they they stop themselves? Or they don’t? They don’t know what to do with that sensation? How do you help them go into pleasure?
14:16
This happens all the time for all of us, you know, we all have the defenses in place and, you know, kindergarten when they said like, sit down, sit, still don’t move, don’t play, you know, this this way, or so many rules to how we need to engage as a civilization as a culture which are important for its functioning. And they do lock us in into what’s appropriate and what’s not. And I think especially when it comes to pleasure, culturally, we have this like pleasures permitted in the bedroom, and anything else needs to be sort of conventionally uncomfortable, sort of stiff and polite. And, you know, there’s a reason for that. It’s important that we have clear boundaries that you know, all of that of course, and when we look to our animal friends, we just watch them lounging in the sun and receive that warmth on their bodies, just these simple moments of enjoyment. You can watch a kid’s splashing and water. So how can we start to give ourselves the permission it starts with just permission to allow good sensation. I see this so often with my patients like someone yesterday, I was treating neck pain in their neck felt so much better. But then immediately they’re looking for the pain. So we have this angle. Yeah, I go, where is it? Where is Oh, I found it. Yeah, no, it’s how this kind of Yeah, angle I’m looking for pain. So one question that I find really helpful for that is to ask what else is here? Yes, I feel the pain that yes, I feel the discomfort. And what else can I feel right now? Oh, I can feel the texture of my shirt on my skin or my sits bone sit bones sinking into the pillow I’m sitting on those things feel nice, I can feel the air around me. So starting with these just very simple, good sensations, neutral, good sensations, and allowing ourselves to just stay with it, keep returning to it. And to to enjoy, it really starts with the most simple things a lot of the practices I offer are like a laboratory, you know, giving us a place to practice these very simple elements that have big ripples.
16:21
Yeah, and I’ve taken some of your classes and you create such a safe container for people to feel those things. Because you know, when we do slow down, a lot of times, if it isn’t a safe environment, we move into a recoil. And you know, that, that really freezes us but in taking your classes I have experienced such a level of spaciousness, but there’s also a container and, you know, for anybody out there, I highly recommend connecting with Emma and either through her holistic health practice, or her classes and workshops because she offers such a such a vast spaciousness that you know, you can really move through some things that maybe have been chronic in your in your life. And so I’m so looking forward to having you at the summit and how can people get in touch with you, Mr. What’s the what’s the best way to connect to you?
17:28
The best way to reach me is through my website https://www.emmadestrube.com joining my newsletter is a wonderful way to keep in touch with what’s going on. I send missive note very infrequently, to let you know what I’m up to, as usually before they say announce things. Um, yeah, that’s when you can reach out by email.
17:48
And Instagram. You’re very active on Instagram. So that’s yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. So well, we look forward to having you at the health summit and I’m sure will connect before thank you for your generosity of spirit and being part of the show today and I wish you the best and have a great Solstice and as we move into the new year. Thank you so much, Sam, you too. Take good care. Okay, bye now.
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