Your Body Is Holding On. Here's How to Let Go | Leslie Howard

Most of us are holding on — in our bodies, our identities, our relationships — without even knowing it. This conversation is about learning to let go."We're really good at holding on — to our material things, our identity, our grudges, our correctness. But letting go, that muscle is a little weak in us." — Leslie HowardLeslie is a yoga teacher, pelvic health specialist, death doula, and author of Pelvic Liberation and the forthcoming Between Breath and Death. In this wide-ranging conversation, she shares how chronic pain led her to specialize in pelvic floor health, why most people (including athletes and yoga practitioners) are too tight — not too loose — and how the same principle of letting go that heals the pelvic floor also applies to identity, suffering, and ultimately, death.We explore:• Why 75% of the people Leslie works with have a hypertonic (too tight) pelvic floor — and what causes it• The connection between trauma, breathing patterns, and chronic pelvic tension• How savasana can be a portal to genuine non-dual experience• The relationship between over-identification with the self and suffering• Gratitude as a daily practice — and why the details matter• What sitting with dying people has taught Leslie about how to liveLeslie's websiteNew book—If this conversation resonated with you, please subscribe and share it with someone who might need it.0:00 Introduction0:08 How Leslie found her way into yoga, pelvic health & death work4:08 Pelvic floor 101: what's actually going on for most people5:35 Hypertonic pelvic floor — why tight isn't the same as strong6:26 Trauma, breathing, and chronic pelvic holding7:37 Tone vs. tightness: what we actually want from the pelvic floor8:15 Body awareness, attention & the limits of knowing your own body10:24 Sexual conditioning, shame & their effect on pelvic health14:15 Are men's and women's pelvic floor issues that different?16:46 Savasana as a taught pose — Leslie's approach19:17 Why stillness has become a radical act20:48 Practical tools for a guided savasana: mantra, mudra & breath22:18 The experience of "no Leslie" — dissolving identity in savasana24:43 Over-identification with self as the root of suffering25:16 What does oneness actually imply? The no-enemy perspective27:22 Taking action without losing your center30:04 How to catch yourself and come back to awareness33:07 What generates our thoughts? The koan approach34:35 Blame culture and the difficulty of accountability36:39 What happens in the body when you switch into compassion38:45 Letting go as a practice — parallels between pelvic work and dying43:53 What death doula work has done for Leslie personally45:34 Appreciation for simplicity and the daily three-things practice49:24 Letters of gratitude — a group practice53:02 Where to find Leslie and her books Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.