Episode 9: Embodiment Practices and Emotional Awareness with Sandy Gee Dixon

Show Notes

Tune in to learn all about ways to develop emotional awareness and use embodiment practices for well being. Sandy Gee Dixon shares her knowledge from over 30 years of teaching and practicing yoga, mindfulness, movement, emotional awareness and embodiment practices with children, athletes and adults.   She shares her journey in exploring the use of embodiment practices to process emotions and she provides simple strategies that anyone can immediately use.

 Embodiment practices incorporate the mind-body connection to facilitate our awareness of what we are experiencing so we can connect to the present moment and honor and observe the physical sensations, emotions and thoughts.                         

 During the pandemic, Sandy co-founded a personal growth company and app that utilized the practices of visualization, mindfulness, breath work, and journaling. Although she has chosen to step away from that start-up,  Sandy continues to emphasize the importance of the mind/body connection for overall well-being in her ongoing ventures.

Listeners of the Holistic Wellness and Wisdom Podcast can contact Sandy at sandygeedixon@gmail.com to inquire about purchasing customized visualization recordings. She also is available for speaking engagements and trainings.

Website: sandydixon.net

Highlights from the Episode:

An Embodiment practice to try at home

1. Tag how you feel (use words) (Ex: I feel anxious)

2. Focus on where in the body that feeling lands (Ex: neck)

3. Acknowledge the feeling

4. Feel it (stay with it/observe) (Ex: observe/feel the anxiety in the form of tightness in your neck)

5. Honor the feeling

6. Shift mentally to intention of what you want to experience when you feel ready. (Ex: I feel more relaxed, peaceful, grateful etc.) If you don't feel ready to shift remind yourself that you are safe and  you are loved.

Sparks of Wisdom from Sandy

1. Honor that your emotional body wants to express itself.

2. Emotions are energy and as long as they are not repressed or controlled they will move through and transform into the next piece of emotion

3. Start using your senses every day to help you come into the present moment. The more present you are, the more aware you will be of the emotions that come up.

4. Honor where emotions express themselves/ show up in your body. The more you practice, the more you understand that the tensions in your body don't have to stay because they are just remnants of emotional states that haven't been addressed.

Sandy’s suggested reading list:

1. Coming to Our Senses - Jon Kabat-Zinn
(Mindfulness and stress reduction management)

2.The Body Keeps Score - Besser van der Kolk
(How trauma can stay in the body and what to do about it)

3. Altered Traits - Daniel Golemann and Richard Davidson
(Mindfulness, meditation, and contemplative practices and how they change our brain)

4. You Belong - Sabene Selassie
(Connecting to others as well as yourself)

5. Yoga for Emotional Balance - Bo Forbes
(Movement and mindfulness combined for emotional resiliency)

6. Broken Open - Elizabeth Lesser
(Mindfulness through life’s challenges)

7. 10% Happier - Dan Harris
(Learn to meditate with easy-to-understand and accessible practices)

Sandy Gee Dixon Bio

Sandy has been a practitioner of yoga and meditation for over 30 years. Before the pandemic, she led classes and workshops focused on mindfulness, movement, and emotional awareness in her yoga studio as well as onsite locations. Her teaching experience since 1997 has impacted school-aged students, athletes, and adults of all ages. Sandy’s skills in personalizing instruction have been nurtured through her continued studies and certifications in embodied practices, practical astrology, energy work, and anatomy. During the pandemic, she co-founded a personal growth company and app that utilized the practices of visualization, mindfulness, breath work, and journaling. Although she has chosen to step away from that start-up, Sandy continues to emphasize the importance of the mind/body connection for overall well-being in her ongoing ventures. 

Listeners of the Holistic Wellness and Wisdom Podcast can contact Sandy at sandygeedixon@gmail.com to inquire about purchasing customized visualization recordings. She also is available for speaking engagements and trainings. To learn more about Sandy, visit sandydixon.net

You can contact Sandy at : sandygeedixon@gmail.com

Website: sandydixon.net