Transcript

Ani
Hi, and welcome to the Somatic Coaching Academy podcast. Hi, Brian.

Brian
Hello, Ani.

Ani
How are you?

Brian
Doing great.

Ani
Great. We are on episode 98, almost rounding the corner to our 100th episode. Very exciting.

And today we are talking about connecting the dots between somatic coaching and manifestation.

Brian
Yeah. So we’re going to be talking more about manifestation in upcoming podcasts for yet to be disclosed reasons.

Ani
Not going to do a reveal right here?

Brian
No, we’re not going to reveal right here. Okay. But more manifestation talk will be coming, something we’re leaning into right now.

So we thought it would be fun to talk about the, hey, what is somatic coaching or somatic practices or somatic stuff have to do with manifestation?

Ani
Because a lot of talk about manifestation doesn’t say much about it, to be honest.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
Or if it mentions, it’s like a little side thought.

Brian
Yeah. There’s one key feature when people talk about manifestation that slips into the somatic realm, which we’ll get to in just a couple of minutes. But I do just want to set the table here for a second on manifestation.

We did a podcast a few podcasts ago on manifestation and we did kind of like, we broke down the definition of it and that kind of stuff. So you can go back and get all that fun details on that. But what I thought might be interesting to kind of talk about is, you know, coaching is about oftentimes creating the life that you want.

So I thought, what’s the difference between manifestation and creation?

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
But I thought that might be an interesting way to kind of start. And I think you can go look at the definitions and that kind of stuff. But I think just from a societal kind of, when you look around at what’s happening in social media and writings, contemporary articles and that kind of stuff, you know, for me, what appears to leak through is that creation often tends to do something with us personally doing all the work to create something new.

It seems to be like there’s a lot of self-agency when we talk about creating the life that we want.

Ani
Okay.

Brian
Right. Where in the writings, manifestation seems to kind of be associated with, well, we talked about this a couple of episodes ago, more of a passive role.

Ani
Oh, sure.

Brian
Like the universe actually taking on or an expectation that the universe is going to do it or some outside forces are going to change our life.

Ani
I see where you’re going with that because in the coaching industry, there’s more of this, like, I’m going to do it kind of mentality.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
And the manifestation talk is usually like the universe is going to do it for me.

Brian
Yeah. Is that where you’re going? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. So there’s some differences. Now, I don’t think that those have to be black and white, and I don’t think they are black and white in practicality.

I think it’s actually, if to create or slash manifest, however you want to talk about it, the life that you want to create, you actually need a little bit of both of those things.

Ani
Yeah, I would agree. I perceive it as the manifestation topic falls more in the realm of, I’m probably talking about something about spirituality in the way that people think about it. And then the coaching space, I think people think you can opt out of whether or not you’re talking about spirituality.

Brian
Sure. Yeah.

Ani
Which I would totally disagree with. I think as soon as you’re having a coaching conversation and saying to somebody what you want or what your purpose or what’s your values and those kinds of things that all coaches do, it’s already a spiritual conversation.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
But I think that’s part of the distinction I see.

Brian
Yeah. I think to build on top of that too, some of the dynamic between those two things is that with creation, it’s very action oriented. So coaching can be very action oriented.

Like what are you going to do? How are we going to hold you accountable to it? All that kind of stuff.

And the manifestation side, it’s very positive thinking oriented. If I just think positively, if I just vision positively, it’ll happen. And again, I think that it’s important to realize that there are elements of both of these things that are really important.

When you want to create or manifest, I don’t care what words you use, the life that you want, you actually need both of those things. So I think it’s important to be inclusive of that.

Ani
That’s how life works.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
Both things always.

Brian
So what I want to say just about manifestation when it comes to somatic coaching or just the way our nervous system works, which I think is the link. Like when we’re connecting the dots between manifestation and somatic coaching, of course, the way I see those dots being connected is through our physiology.

Ani
Okay.

Brian
But that’s how I view it because that’s who I am.

Ani
Sure. I had another thought, but go ahead and tell me what you mean by that.

Brian
Well, kind of the umbrella here is that when we’re manifesting something, and also manifestation oftentimes is just kind of akin to the law of attraction. So people talk about the law of attraction. So I think about it and then I’m going to attract that thing to me, where the truth is manifestation really isn’t about attracting something to you.

It’s about becoming aware of the opportunities that are around you that would give you, again, the opportunity to become the kind of person who can have the thing that you want to have. Right. So it’s already around you.

Like everything that you ever need is already around you because everything is already around you. Just because the way our nervous system works is we’re not seeing it because the nervous system filters out 99.9999999% of all the information simply so we can function. And what it filters out is everything that’s outside of our current experience or knowledge.

And so we’re constantly just filtering what we know already. And what we know already, if we don’t like what we know already, then we’re not seeing something outside of that known. And so the thing that you actually want to manifest or create is actually already around you right now.

You just can’t see it because of the way that your brain and your nervous system, you could even say your mind, I guess, how you want to use those terms, is filtering things out.

Ani
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Brian
Yeah. What were you going to say?

Ani
Oh, well, I was going to say that the reason that people can’t become aware of and take advantage of opportunities that are right around them all the time is usually some kind of emotional reactivity or defensiveness that comes up because of how our subconscious mind is programmed to help us to stay the same. And so not necessarily somatic coaching, but our brand of somatic coaching, the sensation based motivation coaching is really that key that connects the two, because when you know how to break down emotions rather than emotional constructs, but into sensory experiences in our body, we can move through, move towards and create things without being hoodwinked by our subconscious defenses that come up emotionally.

Yeah.

Brian
So let’s dig into that. Actually, the physiology of that’s really fascinating. And I think really important when we start talking about why is somatic coaching actually critical if you want to manifest something in your life?

Ani
It is critical. I think that’s one of the missing pieces that we see out there with so many people talking about how to create the life that you want. I mean, there’s so many influencers and people talking about how to create the life that you want, but so few people are actually able to do it.

You know, and I think that the key aspect of that is, well, oftentimes we hear, yeah, these people talk about what it is, but not how to do it because really the how must include some kind of somatics.

Brian
Absolutely. And so to manifest what you want in your life, to create what you want in your life, to have it show up in a way where it’s useful to you and you can use it and create what you want, it requires, it’s a contingent on at least two things, at least two things. And it can actually be a process beyond this, but these two things are really important.

The first thing is you have got to be able to relax your nervous system. If you cannot relax your nervous system, then manifestation, manifesting something different in your life is outside of your ability. It just is.

And that’s just an absolute truth, right? Now, you might be able to, if we go back to that creation side, you might be able to stay in action long enough to hammer out a result. But if you’re looking for manifestation, again, manifestation is I’m going to take action, but I’m also co-collaborating with the universe to support me in my process.

So if we’re cutting off the universe and you’re just hammering it out yourself, then great, but that’s going to take a lot of energy, a lot of time, it’s not going to be very much fun, all that kind of stuff. Where I think most people would agree that if support would just show up magically for them somehow, that they’d probably say yes to it. That’s the manifestation piece.

Ani
They think they would, but go ahead.

Brian
Right? Yeah. So if you cannot relax your nervous system, you will not be able to manifest.

Ani
Right.

Brian
That’s like bottom line, number one. So let’s connect the dot between somatic coaching, that’s something you do with somatic coaching. The very first you do is learn to relax your nervous system.

So that should be pretty clear.

Ani
Okay. And let’s just say this too. I think a lot of people think they can relax their nervous system, but to really relax their nervous system is a totally different thing.

And I say that because it’s like for a lot of people just taking a little bit of pressure off the top and they notice that it feels like a difference and they’re like, I’m done.

Brian
Yeah, right.

Ani
They’re so freaking jacked up in their system and it’s patterned to be like that every damn day that if they really had a nervous system reset, they’d realize like, whoa, I am really.

Brian
Yeah. So it’s not just like releasing the vent.

Ani
Yeah. It’s not taking a top 5% off.

Brian
Right. It’s like actually, actually, yes, I agree with that. It’s actually relaxing your nervous system fully.

Yeah. Right. So you gotta be able to do that regularly, consistently.

If you want to manifest, then you have to be able to do that. That’s number one. Number two is you have got to be able to retrain your subconscious as you pointed out already to become aware of something that is currently outside of your awareness.

Right. And you might think, well, how do I see something that’s outside of my current awareness? Well, that’s a matter of retraining the nervous, the subconscious mind and the nervous system to do that.

You’ll never be aware of something outside of your awareness until you’re aware of it.

Ani
Right.

Brian
And so you’re either hoping to have that happen kind of like randomly or coincidentally, or you’re doing it consciously.

Ani
And building the skills to be able to continually be able to do that.

Brian
Right. So what we’re saying is number one, you’ve got to be able to relax your nervous system. And number two, if you want to do manifestation consistently, you have to know how to retrain your subconscious mind to consistently become aware of things that are outside of your current level of awareness.

Ani
That it’s not just a brain thing because your subconscious mind is your body.

Brian
Exactly. That’s, again, connecting the dots between subconscious and, or not subconscious, somatic coaching and manifestation. Right.

And the thing is, is that once you become aware of something that’s outside of your current like awareness, it looks like it appears magically.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
That’s where the manifestation piece comes in.

Ani
That’s where you think it’s manifestation, right? Where it was there.

Brian
It was there the whole time.

Ani
Right.

Brian
It was actually there the whole time. You just couldn’t see it. But to you, it looks like it just appeared out of nowhere.

And so then you think, oh my God, it appeared out of nowhere. But the fact is it was always there. You just became aware of it kind of thing.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
Right. And then it looks like it’s magic.

Ani
Yeah. Yeah.

Brian
Sort of thing.

Ani
I remember a manifestation that I had where the opportunity had been in front of me, literally right next to me for seven years. And it just occurred to me one day, poof, this connection. And it seemed to just go poof.

But it was literally right there for seven years.

Brian
Yeah. Amazing. Right.

So.

Ani
Yeah. It’s awareness.

Brian
Yeah. So somatic, you know, using somatic coaching, the sensation-based motivation coaching, what we teach here is one of the fastest ways to do that. One of the fastest ways to effectively retrain your subconscious to become aware of something that’s outside of your current realm of awareness.

Ani
And repeatable when you learn how to do it for yourself.

Brian
Yeah, exactly. Okay. So there is a recipe here.

There’s at least a part of this recipe.

Ani
I really like recipes.

Brian
I love recipes.

Ani
Recipe? What was it, last week?

Brian
Yeah, last week or before. I just got, I’m on the recipe train.

Ani
Recipe for that.

Brian
Yeah, we’re doing recipes.

Ani
So funny, because in reality, like you can cook smash burgers and sloppy joes and chili.

Brian
I just made quesadillas for lunch.

Ani
But they were very good. But, you know, recipes.

Brian
So it’s a key feature to be able to successfully manifest is to be able to align your intentions. Hey, we just talked about intentions last week, didn’t we?

Ani
We did.

Brian
Ah, there you go.

Ani
It’s like somebody’s planning.

Brian
Wow. All right. So if you want more information on intentions, you scoot back a week.

But you have to be able to align your intentions. And here it is, with expansive emotions, which is what you kind of noted before. Like restrictive, constrictive emotions actually shut down our capacity to manifest.

Ani
And become aware of, which is what you just said. Yeah.

Brian
Where when we align. And so if you look at anybody in the world out there who’s doing manifestation work or teachings, like these are two components everybody talks about. You have to have that clear intention.

And you must pair it with expansive emotions. Which, by the way, are in essence expansive sensory states.

Ani
Correct. And note that Brian did not say positive. Why didn’t you say positive, Brian?

Positive emotions.

Brian
Because we’re not talking about value judgments around the experience that we’re having. Because positive, negative, the value judgment associated with that. Then we’re in kind of a polarized state.

And that actually shuts off our ability to manifest. It doesn’t actually matter so much how we judge the state that we’re in. It’s got to feel expansive.

Ani
Right. So if you’ve been trying to manifest by feeling positive emotions, it’s not going to work.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
And this is why. It’s not because you’re doing something wrong. It’s just a really key word to describe what we’re trying to experience here.

Brian
Yeah. So now that doesn’t mean that what you might call positive emotions, they may feel expansive.

Ani
They may.

Brian
And though that’s okay. So that’s right. That’s where you want to be.

You want to be in that field.

Ani
But I would invite people not to use that word.

Brian
Correct.

Ani
When you’re trying to work this out, because it’s going to eventually stick you somewhere.

Brian
It’s going to muck up the process. Where if you’re focused on creating positive or I’m sorry, scratch that. If you’re focused on experiencing expansive sensory states.

That’s where you’re really going to launch this thing for yourself. So now it’s combining your clear intentions. What it is that you want to manifest.

What is that you want to create and pairing that with expansive sensory states. As if what you’re intending to manifest is already occurring. That’s the basic recipe.

Now, what’s the physiology of that?

Ani
What is it?

Brian
That’s, this is, this is so cool. Right. So this goes back to something that happens in your nervous system and in your brain called value tagging.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
Right. So value tagging, we do this all the time, by the way, right. We’re always doing this.

Your brain is already value tagged things. And what a value tag is, it’s your nervous system prioritizing what is the most important thing to pay attention to. So you think about value tag equals what you’ve been trained to pay attention to.

Ani
Now, doesn’t that probably have something to do with threat?

Brian
Well, it could. Right. I mean, oftentimes we’re trained to pay attention to threat.

So we have value tag around threat. And many of us pay attention most, pay attention most quickly to fears and limitations. And so that’s what we’re value tagging.

Now, the value tag is your, what you’re focusing on in conjunction with the sensory state that you might call emotion and emotion. We call it a sensory state because we want to kind of get the story of the emotion out of the way and just deal with that. So if during the day, say you want to manifest a million dollars, just as an example here, but most of the day, what you’re focused on is not having enough money and it feeling restrictive in your body.

That is what your nervous system is value tagged to pay attention to. So what you will actually do reflexively is pay attention to the not enough money on a daily basis and not to the million dollar opportunity that must also be right around you right now, based on what we just talked about a little couple minutes ago.

Ani
Right.

Brian
Because the opportunity, if you have a transformational intention and it includes to expand your wealth to whatever number, then the opportunity for that must be present right now. It must be around you. But you’re not value tagged to see it.

What you’re value tagged to see are the fears and the limitations. So how do we change what we’re value tagging essentially? Because if we want to do this consciously, right?

So value tagging happens again, most readily when we are experiencing, when our experience is combined with this strong emotional or sensory component. So we have to find a way to start changing what our nervous system is tagging as being valuable.

Ani
So does the nervous system tag more readily things that are painful?

Brian
Oh, yeah. We did a podcast on debunking negativity bias. You remember?

It was, I don’t know how many podcasts. I think it was like, I actually haven’t shot it right. Episode 84, if you want to go back and look at it.

Um, yes, our nervous system is designed to more rapidly value tag, um, threatening things because it’s a survival kind of thing.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
So we’re just normally kind of geared for that.

Ani
Well, I just think it’s so interesting because people say all the time, I don’t get it because I don’t want to feel like this and I want to manifest a million dollars, but I feel like this and I can’t stop myself from feeling like this. And they just like, can’t figure that out or they can’t see it.

Brian
Yeah. And so it’s a, it’s a repatterning that has to take place. Just as an example about value tagging, though, I think that would probably make sense to most people is, can you remember when, um, if value tagging is about paying it like what you’re training yourself to pay attention to kind of thing and value tagging happens most readily when you’re, what you’re paying attention to is paired with a strong sensory experience.

We know how it’s set up. Have you ever had, uh, like a, a mega crush on somebody or like at the beginning of a relationship?

Ani
Definitely.

Brian
Yeah. Like it was me. So right at the, you know, right at the beginning of a new relationship that often feel very intense, right?

They’re highly charged. They often feel really good, really expansive.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
And so when you’re not with that person, you can’t, you can’t get your mind off that person and that’s all you think about. And then you see other people that remind you of that person and you see the car that that person drives that remind you of that person. And then you see the sandwich that they want to eat that reminds you of that person and you see a shirt that, and it’s a, they’re there all the time because now your brain is because you’re…

Now you’re paying attention to the intention that you have, as long as the strong, along with that strong sensory experience. And now you can’t help but pay attention to it all of the time and you’re at work and you can’t stop thinking about the person. You’re like, I got to get my work done, but they’re on my mind.

But you know how that goes. Right. Sort of thing.

Yeah. So I know you sit in your office and just daydream about me all the time, but that’s the, that’s an example of a value tag, how it happens. Yeah.

So what if, what if we had that same level of sensory intensity with what we wanted to manifest? We would start paying attention to everything associated with that intention.

Ani
Like your camper van situation.

Brian
Like my camper van situation that I’m like, just like focusing on right now.

Ani
You don’t know the situation.

Brian
It’s a situation. It’s like a barely, highly charged, in love situation. It’s your crush.

It’s my crush right now.

Ani
You’re definitely crushing on camper vans.

Brian
I’m crushing on camper vans right now.

Ani
We see them everywhere.

Brian
We do. See them every place.

Ani
And we think about them and talk about them all the time.

Brian
All the time. Yeah, exactly. So it’s like, I am value tagging camper vans right now.

And it’s like, that’s what I want to do.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
Sort of thing. So you can do that with, with anything, but you have to create that, have to create that pairing. Okay.

But we also have to tell you, just as a side note here, and I mentioned this before, is that manifestation is not usually about, so I’m value tagging camper vans. I’m pretty sure I would welcome it if it happened, but I’m not expecting that a camper van is going to show up in my driveway tomorrow.

Ani
If we woke up and saw a camper van in the driveway, I think we’d be a little suspicious.

Brian
Yeah. I’d be a little suspicious of it. Now, maybe I won a lottery that I didn’t join.

I don’t know. But what I know is more likely going to happen is that an opportunity to become the kind of person who can own the camper van will happen.

Ani
The camper van.

Brian
Exactly.

Ani
That’s the camper van.

Brian
That’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to be presented with an opportunity to step in, and it might not look like it’s connected to the camper van, but I’m wary enough to know that that’s what’s going to show up as an opportunity. Now, if a camper van just showed up, great.

I’m not going to say no to it. I’m going to think about all that kind of stuff, do my due diligence around it. But at the same time, what I know is more likely to happen is an opportunity to get closer to having that camper van sort of thing.

So that’s really the trick about manifestation that we want to be just kind of aware of. But the piece with somatic coaching, it’s really about that physiological piece around value tagging. Because your brain does not know the difference between the real or the imagined.

So when I am doing my visualization practice, my somatic visualization practice about being in the camper van, like I am in the camper van. I can feel my body in there. I’m visualizing myself in there.

I can feel myself connected to the seat if I’m driving it, or laying in the bed in the back, or looking out the windows, looking at Moab in the Southwest, which is where I’m going to take my camper van to, kind of thing. I haven’t quite got to the place where I’m visualizing the cat with us yet.

Ani
Am I in there?

Brian
Yeah, you’re there. But I think I told you this morning, part of the visualization is too, is you’re off the hook of being in it all the time, that I’m going to drive around and pick you up at airports when you want to be there and not be there. Kind of like if you owned a yacht, and I’m the captain of the yacht, and I kind of take it to places and pick you up wherever you want to go.

Ani
Van Boy?

Brian
Yeah, exactly. In the camper van boy. So that’s okay too.

Thanks. Yeah, sort of thing. I’m letting you off the hook around that.

But it’s really about that value tag has to have all those components with it, right? You’ve got to be able to have that intense emotional experience, not emotional, sensory charge associated with it. You have to have that clear visualization along with it on a regular basis.

And then that starts to tag your nervousness to pay attention to things that are associated with it that would bring it closer to you and you to it. That’s kind of the basics around the neurophysiology of it. Now, where does somatic coaching come in?

Ani
Well, geez, you’ve been talking about somatic coaching the whole time in my book, haven’t you?

Brian
Yeah. Well, as a somatic coach, or if you’re being somatically coached, right? If you’re being coached, you’re learning that process of relaxing your nervous system on demand, on consciously shifting your energy states on demand, to choose your energy state on demand, to be able to clearly bring in a very clean intention that’s not mixed up with a bunch of limiting garbage in there as well.

And then now you’ve got to be able to hold your attention in a very clean way, as well as have a very clean sensory state that goes along with it. That’s what the keys are for manifestation of why somatic coaching is so powerful with this.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
Yeah. So does that connect the dots?

Ani
Very well connected in my mind. I mean, it’s like the same dot is what I’m really hearing. To me, it’s not like two dots.

It’s obvious. It’s so obvious the way you’re describing it. And how do you not have somatic components?

I think it’s just so interesting that we think that anything in our lives has nothing to do with our body, especially the process of manifestation must have something to do. It’s about making something tangible. And our body is the tangible aspect of ourself.

Of course, it would have to be involved.

Brian
Yeah.

Ani
Yeah. Yeah.

Brian
So just, you know, again, so for you, if you’re thinking about, hey, I want to manifest like, you know, how am I going to bring the somatic coaching in? The basic steps are here. You know, it requires you to be able to value tag associations that go along with your intentions, right?

So it’s expansive sensory states with your intentions. Your brain does not know the difference between real or imagined. So when you’re focusing on that, focusing on it as if it’s actually happening with the sensory state that occurs with that, that you need to be able to do again, on demand, not as a byproduct or not once in a while, you have to be able to do it consistently to be able to create the life that you want.

Okay. You got to combine that positive visioning, positive by positive, I mean, the thing that you want regularly with the expansive states on a regular basis to be able to kind of work through that. And then here’s another key point too.

If the expansive sensory state that you are experiencing is dependent on external circumstances, that’s a red flag, right? So in other words, for me to feel my sensory state the way that I intend to feel that’s associated with being in the camper van, if that’s dependent on like you being in the room with me, or I’m not saying it has to be completely detached from having activators that can help me do that.

Ani
Sure.

Brian
Right?

Ani
But help, not dependent.

Brian
But not dependent. In other words, if you’re having a bad day and I make that make me feel a certain way, then that’s going to boggle up my manifestation project.

Ani
Right.

Brian
Right? Kind of thing.

Ani
Yeah.

Brian
Or if I feel like you’re upset with me, and so that affects how I feel internally, and I have to have you, I have to feel like you are happy with me, or you’re supportive of me in order for me to feel the way I want to feel in order to create my manifestation, then that’s a problem. So this is really key. And again, this is where somatic coaching comes into play, because it really helps you to own your own internal sensory states consciously and not have them be wholly dependent on what’s going on outside of you.

Ani
Yeah. And that’s truly empowering.

Brian
Yeah, that’s really empowering and important. But there’s a whole bunch of relationship dynamics in there we could talk about more. We’re not going to do that right now sort of thing.

Ani
Right. Well, we know you are going to be doing this with your camper van. Thanks for sharing that story with us.

And we want to know if you’re listening what you are manifesting. So let us know. Put a comment below if you can.

Send us an email. Let us know on social media. You know, what’s your camper van?

Brian
What’s your camper van? Hashtag, what’s your camper van?

Ani
Yeah. Thanks for joining us today. And we look forward to seeing you next time.

Brian
All right. See you next time. Bye.