EP101: Saying YES to Healing & Transformation with Jessica Glose

LISTEN HERE!

LISTEN ON YOUTUBE!

What does it really mean to say yes to healing? In today’s episode, Aimee Takaya sits down with Jessica Glose, a somatic breathwork practitioner, yoga teacher trainer, and wellness retreat leader, for a deep dive into the power of retreats, nervous system regulation, and honoring the full spectrum of human emotion.

Together, they explore the nuances of personal healing, the importance of facing discomfort, and how our bodies hold the keys to releasing old patterns.

Jessica takes us through:

- Her journey from small-town beginnings to world traveler and wellness facilitator

- How saying “yes” to retreat initiates deep personal transformation

- How retreat experiences create neurological expansion and lasting transformation

- The parallels between childbirth and personal healing journeys

- Why uncomfortable emotions surface during transformative experiences

- The connection between somatics, nervous system regulation, and emotional release

- Jessica's approach to holding space for others through breathwork and retreats

And so much more!

Jessica is a certified Somatic Breathwork Practitioner with over a decade of experience helping people reconnect with their bodies and breath. Her workshops offer a safe and transformative space for participants to release stress, regulate their nervous systems, and tap into emotional and energetic healing. With her holistic approach, Jessica blends breathwork, sound healing, and mindfulness practices to create an immersive experience that nurtures both mind and body.

Beyond her breathwork expertise, Jessica is also a yoga teacher trainer, spiritual wellness retreat leader, and luxury travel designer, curating transformative journeys that inspire connection, exploration, and growth. Whether guiding a somatic healing workshop or crafting a retreat in an exotic location, Jessica’s passion lies in creating supportive, intentional spaces where people can thrive.

As a mama of three, Birth and Postpartum Doula, and Reiki practitioner, Jessica understands the importance of balancing life’s demands with mindful self-care. Her workshops are designed to meet you exactly where you are, offering tools to help you feel grounded, empowered, and aligned.

Connect with Jessica:

IG: jessica_glose & beyond_wanderlust_travel

FB: Jessica Glose

Connect with Aimee:

Instagram: @aimeetakaya 

Facebook: Aimee Takaya 

Learn more about Aimee Takaya, Hanna Somatic Education, and The Radiance Program at⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.freeyoursoma.com⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠

LISTEN WHILE READING!

A: Hey there, listener. Have you been on a healing quest of some kind? What does it take to truly heal and transform? Does it mean pushing your boundaries? Does it mean slowing down and backing off? 

On today's podcast, I have Jessica Glose, somatic breathwork practitioner, yoga teacher trainer, and wellness retreat leader who has been guiding people through powerful life-changing adventures for over a decade. We are going to explore the nuance of the dynamic journey of healing from the inside out. So stay tuned. 

A: Every day, there is a forgetting, and every moment there is the possibility of remembering. Remembering who you truly are, awakening to your body, to the inner world, to the experience of being alive. Here is where you find the beauty, the joy, and here is where you free your soma. I'm your host, Aimee Takaya. I'm here to help you move from pain to power, from tension to expansion, and ultimately from fear to love. 

A: Hi, Jessica. It's so great to finally have you on my podcast. I've been just so enjoying getting to know you and work with you over the last half a year that we've been spending time together and it just seems like perfect timing to have you come on the show and have this conversation today. So welcome. 

J : Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here to have this conversation and to share more about what I do, what we do, and to collaborate.  

A: Absolutely. Yeah, it's my pleasure. And you know, it's fun because I think right around this time last year I started messaging you, right, because we have a mutual friend through yoga, because we both taught yoga in foreign countries and different places for a long time, but you had a friend who was my friend in Norway, and she's like, oh, if you're moving to Buffalo, you got to reach out to Jessica. 

So I started texting you, but we didn't actually meet each other until six months later after our first initial text, just life happening and busyness, right? But once I met with you, that first time I was like, wow, this woman is amazing and there are things I'm going to learn from her. 

Like I knew that right away. You know, like some of the things that really impressed me about you were that you found a way to integrate the retreat experiences with your family life, and I found that really inspiring, you know, and then furthermore, you being a birth doula and someone who is guiding other women through a really, you know, really powerful transition in their lives, right, into motherhood. 

I also found that incredibly inspiring. And then now I'm getting to actually learn even from you about retreats and, you know, you have this retreat training that I'm currently in. And there's just so many things I could say about how well you hold space in the world for others and just what a joy it's been to get to work with you. 

J : Thank you so much. That means so much to me. And likewise, I absolutely love your work. I that day that we met, it was so like synchronistic and how we like tried to connect for the few months before, but it was such divine timing, the moment that we got together and same, I just am fascinated about, you know, by what you do and how you work with the body and how you relax the nervous system. And yeah, I get people in their bodies. So the feeling is completely mutual. 

A: Fantastic. Well, you know, let's orient our listeners a bit to your personal journey, right, because like me, you've been a nomadic person, and then you found this perfect way, right, as a retreat leader to bring people into a world that you had already become very comfortable with through your own travels all over the world. So maybe orient us a little bit to like, where did your personal healing quest journey adventure start? 

J : That's a great question. I have always had a yearning for new experiences. And I found that traveling was a great way to fulfill this need to continue to have new experiences. And, you know, I'm from Buffalo, New York. I'm one of four. My dad's a mechanic. My mom cared for us. And we didn't really travel much as children. And like, I wasn't even on a plane till I was 16 years old. And so once I, you know, went to college and whatnot, I just started traveling and I studied abroad in London, England. 

And that really honestly and truly changed my life. Every weekend we went to a different country and we traveled and, you know, saw all of Europe, which was amazing. And it was actually in college as well that I took a yoga class that sort of piqued my interest with the world of yoga and, you know, different modalities of movement other than what I was used to playing sports growing up. 

And I feel like those two journeys throughout my college experience really kind of just catapulted me into wanting to see the entire world. And as I continued to grow, I continued to dive deeper and deeper into the wellness space and especially continuing to travel like seeing other countries and different ways of doing things and different medicinal systems and just different ways of living. 

And I found that often suffering as severely with certain aspects of health that we are in the US. And so having that firsthand experience really again just kept diving me deeper and deeper into different modalities and different ways of living. And I felt like everywhere I went there was always a new destination that I wanted to go to and everything that I learned I felt there was a new like topic and new avenue that I wanted to continue to educate myself on. 

And so I just kept doing that, which was wonderful. I have lived and traveled again all over and I came back to Buffalo, New York. I was actually living in South Africa and I was running my friend's yoga studio and she was having her baby ironically enough. And I started dreaming of my grammar school boyfriend who I hadn't seen in 20 years. 

And lo and behold, about 18 months later, we were getting married and having babies. And so I was deeply rooted back in Buffalo. I found it so interesting that he had stayed in Buffalo for so many years and never got married and settled down. 

And I had lived and moved all over the world and never settled down. And so getting deeply rooted back into Buffalo was a blessing because it really helped my retreat business thrive and to be able to have a family and a home life here in Buffalo, while still exploring and traveling the world and guiding others to destinations all over the world to incorporate adventure wellness, travel new experiences in different modalities of health and wellness to help them on their journeys. So yeah, it's been really, really beautiful. Beautiful. 

A: Yeah. And in my personal opinion, like having been also a traveler myself, like when someone is on the healing journey, part of that journey involves getting into a space where they're ready to explore, right? When they're not trapped in like their fear, you know, pattern anymore, they're breaking that open and, you know, exploring but in a way that feels safe. 

And so I think retreats especially are a really excellent way for people to do that, you know, because it's yeah, they're going to go outside their comfort zone in one sense of it, maybe traveling to a country where they don't speak the language or, you know, traveling into a place where there's a bunch of people that they don't know yet. But at the same time, like there's the kind of safety of being held in, you know, a container with a professional and with people who, you know, hopefully know what they're doing and can manage the energy of all of the people together. 

And so I think it's a wonderful way for someone who is at that point in their journey where they're ready to start exploring and opening up the doors that had previously been closed inside of themselves, right, to have a really transformative experience. 

A: Did you know that your muscles are holding on to thoughts, memories, and feelings? If you have a tight neck or back, you're not just getting old, you're experiencing a buildup of tension from the life you've lived. Most people don't know this, but there is a part of your brain that can reverse and prevent chronic tension. 

When you relax your muscles, you not only move better and regulate your nervous system, but you also free yourself from the grip the past has over your body. So you can live with freedom, confidence, and enjoy your life now. How does that sound? Join me, Aimee Takaya, and discover what my clients are raving about at youcanfreeyoursoma.com. 

J : Absolutely. I feel like once you say yes, there's so many different elements about retreat, like you said, going to a destination that you might not be comfortable in being, you know, concerned about the group dynamics and the people that you're traveling with, opening up yourself to a world of wellness or different activities and philosophies that you're not very familiar with. 

So there's, you know, finding the money and the time and the resources to actually make it all happen, like saying yes and committing to retreat just opens you up in so many ways and allows you to be in this flow and this energy that allows more things to open up in your life. I feel so fortunate and blessed to be in this position that I am because I've traveled so much and because I've navigated so many different terrains of this world, I'm able to host and lead retreats in places that I haven't even been before, because I'm just familiar with what it takes. 

And so we always go to new destinations, places I've been and places that I haven't been. And it's really wonderful to see the group of people that come together and how everything comes together. And we all really co-create this experience together. 

You know, all the different people and the personalities, the conversations, the energy that comes together to create is just wonderful. And I always tell people it doesn't matter if you come because you want to do yoga, or because you want to see the destination we're going to, or because you want to travel with a group of people and you don't want to go alone. 

All the elements of retreat trickle in, you know, the spiritual aspect, the physical aspect, just, you know, mentally, emotionally, physically, all the different layers that are combined within the retreats have effects on everybody who decides to come. And another thing that's my favorite part is seeing how all the work that we do on retreat starts to come to fruition in people's lives. So, you know, if you didn't know you were coming to manifest your dreams into reality, like that's a piece of it. And so to see all that again start to come into action when people return back home is so rewarding and so fulfilling. Right. 

A: Well, it's a bunch of like brain building that they're doing. When we think about that expansion, it's happening neurologically. Like our, you know, the plasticity of your brain is you're seeing all these new places and you're experiencing things, you know, outside your normal box. 

There's this opening that's going on, you know, and that's going to continue to play out over the next, you know, year, two years, three years of your life, right, as you continue to look out at the world, even now that you're back in your, you know, daily rhythms of whatever you do when you're at home, right, you're now looking at it with new eyes, you're experiencing it with a different kind of brain structure that sees more possibilities. Right. 

And so I think it's really true. I've been running retreats for about two years now. And I have seen just exactly what you're talking about. I've seen people, you know, come to the retreat and a bunch of stuff is coming up, you know, like, I'm holding space for this person and there's all this fear and anxiety that's coming up because they're around a bunch of other people, you know, and their triggers are showing up, right. I mean, the work I do is a little different. 

I'm having like a one-on-one session with someone, right. And all this stuff is coming to the surface. But then a year later, the stuff that came to the surface that during that retreat is like not just resolved, but like been blown past. And this person is now, you know, in this case, it was someone who was really afraid to be like seen and heard because of all the rejection they had experienced early in their life, right. 

And then now, a year later from that retreat, they were like recording in a, you know, recording studio with other musicians, which is something they could not even have imagined doing, you know what I mean, because that stuff comes up. So I'd love for you to speak on that, you know, as a another somatic practitioner. 

You know, we did a beautiful event together just this past weekend. And I loved some of the things you said about things that are coming to the surface, the emotions, the memories, the intense sensations, they are coming to the surface to be moved because they're moving, right. It's not like they just appeared out of nowhere. 

They were in your body and now they're moving. So maybe you could say a little bit more about, you know, how you've experienced that for yourself, but also, you know, for the people you work with and, you know, the people on retreat. 

J : Sure, absolutely. And I feel like that's something that we mentioned at the very beginning of the retreat because you arrive to paradise and you're in this beautiful, exotic, amazing location. And you find yourself irritated or agitated and anxious and or upset, depressed, crying and all these things. 

And that's what it's meant to like the holding the space and creating this container. So healing and transformation can occur. And when we can be still and sit with ourselves and honor and bring light to the things that we're feeling, we can release them so we can create more space for the things that we want in our lives to show up. 

And so it can be disorienting if you don't have awareness around this because then you get again to these places and you're like, why is this happening to me? Or like, I should be happy. I just, you know, I'm in this great place with all these people and we're having the best time, right. But again, a big part of what we do and why we do it is to be able to reveal the things that we need to release and, you know, the things that aren't serving us. 

So again, we have space to create and manifest and to call in all that we want. I found that so deeply within my own travels and my own journey. And I would again find myself living my dreams and accomplishing things that, you know, were really sort of terrifying, but they were these like, just burning desires within me that I just had to fulfill because my brain just wouldn't stop until I did it. 

And then I would get to the thing that I wanted for so long and all of this stuff would start coming up for me. And, you know, it took me years to like realize why that was happening. You know, it was happening because it allowed me to then shed those layers. So I could move on to the next thing, you know, and for so long, people would say that I was running and I wasn't running away from anything. 

I was running towards stuff and everywhere that I've been and every experience that I've had has allowed me to shed layers and to step into a higher version of myself into, you know, I feel again so blessed and so fortunate to have had so many experiences because I've come across so many amazing, you know, practitioners and healers and educators. And so while I'm doing all of this, as you said, undoing all of this unlayering within myself, I've been surrounded by really inspirational, amazing spaceholders. 

So I have been able to learn and to step into who I am today. Now, when that continues, it's a never ending process. We are always evolving, we are always learning, we are always shedding, we are always becoming new. And so, yeah, I just, I love that I'm able to be a spaceholder of these portals where people can come to feel safe and held and, you know, be able to, again, release shed uncover whatever it is that they're needing in the moment, you know, and again, it's always shifting and changing. 

A: So, well, and you know, we both really, it's been really wonderful collaborating with someone who understands, you know, nervous system regulation and what that actually means in terms of the ability to expand and contract and that we need to be able to do both, you know, and as you're saying, like, the stuff that's coming up, you know, to be released that is no longer needed, you know, you could say like the compost, the recycle, like the waste of the waste of the waste. And so, it doesn't just matter that, oh, this isn't relevant anymore, this pattern or this conditioning that I've like, just adapted to. It's not relevant anymore and I'm ready to like, off let it or move it out. 

Right. And sometimes that is like an uncomfortable or difficult experience to be in and I definitely had a similar experience traveling where people would say like, Oh, what are you running from, you know, you're traipsing all over the world and what are you running from where you're afraid of and I was like, I just feel this like intense need as you say. And so, I think that's what I said to like explore. 

It's like, I think I started traveling before YOLO was like a thing but basically YOLO almost like kind of encapsulated, you know what I mean that like except it was this like passion to just like, Oh, I just I'm really driven to experience all there is to experience. And luckily, you know, and I feel like you're Sagittarius right? Yes, major Sagittarius vibes for me. But like with Sag, it's like that energy of I'm also willing to explore the things that make me uncomfortable. 

I'm also willing to explore the pain. You know, right. That is also an experience as an adventurer. Right. You can't have adventure without a little danger. You can't have adventure without a little like intensity. Right. 

J : Absolutely. And it's hard like I lived in La Mucana on an all sand island in an African village where I was only one of four expats or Mizungo, they called us like that's really hard to like go away from everything that you've ever known and you know the comforts of your home and having community and support and like, you know, and all the places like I wasn't vacationing I was like traveling and living places for extended periods of time. You know, I've moved, you know, I moved to Australia, I went all by myself. 

I didn't know anybody, you know, and like just opening up yourself to like step into that place of unknown and to like face your fears like this is really big and this is really scary, you know what, but I'm just I'm going to do it and, you know, and the great part about anything when I always tell people is you can always turn around and come right back home. 

And you can go right back to what it is that you were doing prior to that, you know, but chances are, you know, you're going to have this really great experience and it's not going to be all, you know, rainbows and butterflies. There are going to be some hard times, but it's in the discomfort that we really grow, you know, and can you be with that discomfort? 

Can you be with yourself? Can you be in the silence, you know, and so I often find it's in, you know, those moments that were again a lot of girl transformation and healing occur. 

A: Yeah, what's on the other side of our pain and our struggle, you know, is often peace and joy. Like you said, I love this what you said in our somatic awakening event this last weekend was, you know, as people are moving through their releasing process and they're facing the things that have been limiting them and holding them back then, you know, the next step when there's all that open space, that new, you know, new space that's been cleared, it's like, what would you like to feel? You know, how good could you feel? How good could you let yourself feel? 

I don't know if you're familiar with this concept of like an upper limit problem. Have you heard that book by Gay Hendricks? I know. Basically, yeah, like, like we only give ourselves this much that we can feel, you know, good. And I think that travel and having these kind of like short periods of time where there's like, okay, this is like outside my comfort zone. 

I'm doing something different than what I normally do. This really helps us kind of increase that upper limit so that we can feel more and more, right? And that's also the, you know, the difficult but wonderful thing about like painful experiences is they have the capacity to also increase our upper limit if we can get through them. 

Like you said, if we can move through it and not try to avoid it or shut it down, but let the, let the rhythm of our body kind of like move through that experience. You know, how does this, I feel like what I'm saying right now relates very much to like childbirth in and of itself, right? And moving through waves of experience. Would you say a little bit about, you know, as your experience as a birth worker, you know, how does that journey compare to what we're talking about now? 

J : Yeah, birth is such a beautiful, expansive, intense, raw, vulnerable experience that you have to surrender to. We say the only way out is through. You can't back away from it. You can't, you know, you have to move towards it. And you have to move towards the sensation. 

You know, of course, we all choose different birth journeys and how we're going to move through them. And so, but really finding that like surrender and like being, like, being with the discomfort, being with the sensations, you know, being with the pain, essentially, and like having tools and resources to help yourself soften and, you know, and moving energy. 

Like I feel like a lot of the somatic breathwork comes into it because sound moves energy, your breath moves energy, movement moves energy, surrender moves energy. So throughout the birthing experience, we use these different modalities to help move the energy through the body. 

And sometimes the things that worked at the beginning of labor doesn't don't work at the end and vice versa. But throughout the whole experience, we're using these different tools to help us move through the experience. And yeah, it's such an honor to support women and babies and families through through the birth portal. It's such a unique calling. And I'm so truly grateful every time I'm in a birth, I am just amazed at the strength and the capacity that we have as women. 

And when things get tough in my own life, and I need to pull strength from places, I think about my own birthing experiences, and the experiences of the women that I've supported. And I know that I can do anything because we as women can and we are so strong and so resilient. And we have this inner reserve of energy and strength and power that if you're able to access and go to the depths, will carry you through your birth experience and will also then continue to carry you through postpartum and mothering and everything that comes after. 

A: Yeah, beautifully said. And, you know, it's an interesting thing because I've started thinking about it also from like the baby's perspective, like a baby is going through their own journey. You know, there's all these reflexive movements that a baby has programmed into their nervous system, right, that help them move down the birth canal. 

You know, and so the baby as the mother is going through her birthing process, the baby is also struggling in its own way to be born, you know, is moving its little form, you know, even though it doesn't even know where it's going. I think of that sometimes in like, when we're in our really dark moments or like when I was in my birth process with my son, I got to a point I had like just a vague memory of my doula being like, you'll know that you're going into deep labor when you say things like, I can't fucking do this. You know, and that moment happened and I was like, Oh, I'm doing it. 

This must mean I'm doing it. But there were those moments where it's like, you don't see the end in sight. You know, and we feel that way sometimes when we're going through a really heavy dark time, like we can't see the end in sight. And in so many ways, that's like, Oh, actually, this means that I'm right in the middle of possibly birthing something new, you know, just like that baby who has only instinct sending them to the light, you know, at the end of the time. And that's like, I'm like, I'm in the tunnel. Yeah, it's fascinating. 

J : And yeah, absolutely. You know, I feel like the baby's journey is well and like orienting them to their experience too, after they come through the birth canal and mama sharing their birth story is so powerful for moms and for babies. And, you know, and then like the implications of our births and how we carry that through our lives too is just so powerful again for mom for baby for everybody involved. 

And like you said, you know, the universe or higher power, however you feel only gives us as much as we can handle, you know, and just like the experiences that we move through that takes us to the depths, just like birth, you have to take it one breath at a time, one contraction at a time, one sensation at a time. And just continuing to do the work to move forward because what's on the other end of that is so much, you know, love and joy and happiness. 

And like you said earlier, like the ability to expand in all directions. So the more sadness and grief and despair you feel the more happiness, joy and love. and really allowing yourself to feel the full range of emotion, to express the full range of emotion. 

I feel like somewhere along the lines, we just got a little bit lost. And it's really hard for us to hold space for our own emotions and for others' emotions. So when people are angry or upset or cry, we get uncomfortable. And when did we become a society that you're not able to be angry or happy, sad, mad, scared, or even someone's too happy around you and you try to dim their light or whatever the emotion is. And every emotion is just energy and motion. 

There's nothing that's good or bad. It's just energy that needs to be moved through the body. And we should be able to have these expressions. And again, just like contractions, we have this big outburst and we come back. We have this big output of energy, no matter what direction it's in. And then we come back to balance. And I feel the more work that we're able to do with ourselves and the more we're able to sit with our anger, grief, happiness, sadness, whatever it is, the more we're able to hold space for others and being okay with that. 

We always want to fix things too. Can you just sit with someone and let them cry without offering advice or without trying to make them stop or fix it? Can you hold space for again, anger or pain, suffering, whatever it is? So yeah, I feel like I do that in a lot of different areas. Again, with the birthwork, with the retreats, with the somatic breathwork, with my children, mothering, and of course, in my own journey as well. 

A: Yeah, well, it's got to start within us because I really relate to what you're saying. There was a particular time in my early 20s where I had a friend and while I was staying with her, she really started having a breakdown. And I was really uncomfortable with it. And I look back on how I behaved and I'm like, oh, God, I wouldn't do that now. 

She's sitting there sobbing in front of me, clutching her chest, and I'm just awkward and walk away and go into my room. And I'm like, oh my God, how could I be that way? But when I really look back on it to understand myself and not just judge myself for being callous or whatever the first word that comes to mind is, it's like, at that time, I was struggling. 

But I was struggling deep down, like struggling. I wasn't letting it come to the surface. And so witnessing her letting it come to the surface was very uncomfortable for me because I wasn't at the point where I knew how to access that stuff unless it was like an explosion. And here she was letting me see it. And I was very weirded out by that at the time. 

But even those kind of experiences, I feel like looking back on that and feeling sadness, feeling regret, feeling that I wish I could have just held her in my arms is just what she probably needed, that I just could have just reached out and hugged her. We have to go through what we have to go through, including times when we are human and we don't live up to our own understanding of what's needed in that moment. 

J : Sure, absolutely. And so we're in we're mirrors for each other as well. And so often, like you said, you get triggered by the experience and the situation that you're in by the other person's emotions or reactions and whatnot. And so there's so much work and magic and information in those experiences. And the other thing is that healing happens in the space of an empathetic witness. 

So like being there and being able to hold space while someone's upset or angry or whatever it is that they're moving through and just being there as that sounding board, that witness to things move and shift through the body at a much faster rate than if you were to just go into your room and journal and cry about the experience that you've had. So when you are able to allow yourself to be vulnerable and open up again in the space of another human, the way that your body processes and releases energy and emotion is different than when you're on your own. 

A: And so co-regulation is the first thing that comes to mind and having that many of us didn't get to have a calm centered parent who just let us have our tantrum and held space for our emotions to move. 

We had parents and I've even been like this with my son where it's like, oh, but we have to get in the car right now. Your emotions are inconvenient. Sure. And so a lot of us, we get to repair or revisit that experience as adults in the situation where it's a practitioner like yourself or a therapist or someone who holds space for our energy, our emotional energy to move that maybe we didn't get enough of that when we were kids. Absolutely. 

J : And when we are parenting, we're sort of reparenting ourselves and the things that you know, that we know a little bit better about now that we want to do differently, but we still have things ingrained in us from, you know, when we were raised that start to show up as well. And yeah, I always tell my kids, cry, let it out. You know, get your frustration out, get your anger out, whatever it is and really try and hold space for that. 

And what I've found as well with my journey with Semantic Breathwork is that I have been able to hold so much more space for myself as well. You know, there was a time in my life where I was all sunshine and smiles, and I was always just happy and positive. And I, I wasn't able to hold space for my own anger, my own emotions and anything else. And so with Semantic Breathwork, I have been able to accept all emotions and all parts of myself that want to arise. And I don't hold so much guilt when they come up. 

And if the people around me aren't able to hold space for what it is that I'm moving through, like that's not on me. Expression is a healthy response to the experiences around you. And so even with my own kids, you know, if I'm upset or if I'm angry or if I need to, you know, move some energy through me, I'm really good about vocalizing that with them and telling that, like, you know, I was just really upset and I need to let out some tears so I can move some energy through my body. 

Or, you know, I'm sorry, I had to pound my feet or whatever the case may be, you know, because if that's healthy to show that you have an experience, you have an expression, and then you move on from it. And, you know, one of my teachers said that you spend a third of your life in connection, a third of your life in disconnect and a third of your life in repair in all relationships with all humans, right? And connection is great. It's awesome, right? Disconnect, not so fun, right? 

But it's always going to be there. But it's really what we do in repair and how we, you know, explain and how we repair the situations that maybe didn't go as we wanted. That's like where the real, you know, magic and healing and like acceptance is to just to help repair the things. And so we don't hold so much guilt and shame around our actions or our emotions and the things that have happened. 

A: So yeah, well, I would agree that, you know, repair in, you know, of all three of those things, like repairs, like the most hopeful and profound experience, because, you know, you can be around someone when they make you feel good and you can walk, you know, well, many people can't, but some people can walk away when something doesn't make them feel good. But to sit with whatever's coming up and work through it, you know, and that's what I hear when you say repairs, like how do we go through this? 

How do we, you know, instead of treating each other like the enemy, and we hold hands here and figure it out together, you know, that takes a certain level of like, I would say, you know, sophistication of our nervous system, it takes a certain development of ourselves, it's a sign of maturity to be able to move through a reparative process with someone, you know, and yeah, I think, you know, kind of going back to retreats, right? Like as, how many retreats have you hosted? Roughly? 

J : Oh, gosh, probably close to 25. Wow. I've been doing two or three a year for a little over 10 years, so. Yeah. 

A: And so let's just get like a couple of interesting, like, sides of the spectrum here. So you don't obviously don't say names and protect people's privacy, but have there ever been times on the retreat where you really had to like mediate some kind of dispute or some kind of challenge that was going on with participants or people, you know, that was like moving through it kind of process? 

J : Sure, absolutely. And I think it kind of goes back to like what we said earlier is sometimes when people mirror each other, I find that sometimes their energy clashes. And I find that sometimes there needs to be some massaging of energy and like making the energy kind of mutable and transforming it and helping to like hold space. I do find that generally most people get along on retreat and the energy does work pretty well. 

And a lot of times people kind of gravitate to certain people or certain groups as well. So I generally do find that everybody gets along pretty well and it is pretty rare, but it definitely has happened, you know, but again, I feel like again, that co-regulation piece. So then like how you come in and sort of move the energy and kind of soften the experiences can be supportive for everybody. Yeah. 

A: And for them to get that experience that they can, you know, have something come up and that it can be resolved and that it doesn't have to like stay unpleasant, you know, or ruin the trip or something like that. I had some things come up at my retreat that were like that and it was really interesting to get to see how, you know, at the end of the day, I felt like, oh, this was actually part of what this person was meant to experience here. It was part of their journey to have this trigger come up and to be able to like come back from it and feel safe afterwards. Exactly. 

J : I'm always like, how is this group going to come together and how is everybody going to get along? And now that I've done enough, I'm always like, it's the right group of people at the right time and the right place. And everything that happens is meant to be and stuff usually always happens. Like everything does not go as planned all the time. And so you need to be very adaptable and to think on your feet. 

And, you know, sometimes you go to these places and people get like bit up by bugs or, you know, they get sunburn on their first day or there's like different things that happen that again, sort of like penetrate the the fields to again, bring different things up. And so, yeah, I really am in full trust that again, the right people, the right place, the right time, and everything is exactly as it should be. 

A: Beautiful. Yeah. Well, it's been such a pleasure being in your retreat training that just ended a six week retreat training to, you know, host your own retreat and then receive mentorship from you and all of the amazing resources that you have. It was an absolutely wonderful experience. And, you know, every, like they were two hour calls, but it was like, oh, you had so much information for us. You had so much knowledge for us, like I don't even know how it would fit, you know, into two hours. 

And so I'm really excited as you continue to develop this training for more and more people to have access to resources and to the incredible wisdom and experience that you have, because I could imagine that people could burn out pretty quickly in this field if they don't have the resources and they don't totally know what they're doing, you know, oh yeah, sounds great to like go to Italy for five days and make, you know, like 6k. But like the amount of work that goes into it, some people aren't really even aware or prepared for the energy, the energy that goes into creating that experience. 

J : It is a lot of work, a lot of space holding. And they are amazing experiences. And I truly do love them, but they are a ton of work. It is so much work leading up to it and making sure that everything's in order, marketing, getting people to go. You know, I am really full service and I really take care of my guests and participants from the time you say yes to, you know, after you get home. And so just navigating all of that, I mean, you're putting in, you know, 100 hours before you even land on the ground. 

And then you're holding space for the entire retreat, which is usually a week or 10 days, typically my retreats are that long. And so, and then you're always on, you're facilitating. And so now you're facilitating the whole thing and you're, you know, doing movement and workshops and creating a container for people to heal and for other stuff to come up. 

So it definitely is a big responsibility. And again, I truly love it. And I'm very happy to be helping other humans lead retreats. You know, at first I was like, it's, you know, I'll help other wellness professionals. And I'm saying it's really anyone, if you, it's really about building communities. That's what we're doing. We're building communities and creating experiences for people to come together to have these transformative experiences. 

And so, you know, for so many years, I'd be like biting my nails, like, till we like land and get on, you know, get into the villa or get at the resort, like, is this like the pictures, you know, are they delivering on what they said? So like not having vetted resources. 

So because I've been doing this for so long, and because of my position now as a travel designer, I have so many different vetted resources all over the world, from my travels, from my teacher trainings, from my retreats. And so to be able to help others create communities, to have these amazing, you know, magnificent experiences just feels like the next right step. And so, yeah, I mean, obviously, you were there, I could talk about retreats for ages. 

And there's just, there's so many different destinations, there's so many different places. And so, yeah, it was really awesome. I was really happy with how it went. And I'm excited to continue to help you guys grow and to take all of the work that we did within the training and put it into action. And to see you guys leading, you know, more retreats and bigger retreats and, you know, being successful and all of that because awesome. 

A: Yeah, well, and we have our own collaboration, you and I, because we're both doing the somatic work, but from just like different lenses, right? And the somatic breathwork, and then, you know, I'm speaking kind of to the experience that we just had, our somatic awakening event this past weekend. But it's like, the somatic breathwork is so like intense. 

And your way of bringing it forward is so powerful, in the way that you're kind of getting everyone to really push through that discomfort or that, you know, layer of holding back that they've had going on throughout their body, throughout their life, right? And then what I do is so soothing and calming and gentle and like tiny, you know, little movements. And I think that the whole combination is going to be like incredibly powerful for people to get both of that idea of expanding beyond their boundaries, but also like coming back home to their safety, like in their own physical body. Absolutely. 

J : I, like you said, I absolutely love the work that we do and how it's through completely different lenses and how it regulates the nervous system. And when I was introduced to somatic breathwork, I was like, I have done so many different practices and have again, been around to experience so many different things. 

How is this just being introduced into my life now? And I just, I couldn't stop thinking about it and I had to do more of it. And I was amazed at how this simple breathwork practice deeply restored and recalibrated your nervous system at such a deep level and how you were able to move and shift stories, memories, tensions, you know, storylines, all the things from your body poof gone and to have such big like releases was incredible. Like just absolutely fell in love with it. 

And then when we met that synchronicity of I had fallen that day. And so again, just divine timing and how when we sat down, I could feel the sort of whiplash settling into my body and then sharing what you do and then getting to experience the movement in the bodywork that you do and how I felt after and how again, you were able to like completely relax the body and the nervous system and release tension patterns and holding and just the action in the body while doing the bodywork is just so cool. I just love it. 

It's like, you relax like a superficial layer and then another layer and another layer and every round of movement that you do goes deeper and deeper and deeper. And it's just, yeah, it's so cool. I absolutely love it and combining and joining forces. I think it's incredible because it's just so deeply regulating. 

And again, at a time where humanity needs it, like everyone is just wound so tight and so stressed from the modern day societal responsibilities that we have. And so this work is accessible to everybody. It is gentle. It is, you know, I feel like everybody able to work with the movements that you do while the breathwork is a little bit more intense. 

Like you are in the driver's seat, you can speed it up and go deeper. You can slow it down and be gentler, you know? And we're only going to release and go to the depths that we allow ourselves, right? And so although I'm there guiding and holding base, like you're in control as to what you want to release and where you want to go. So absolutely. 

A: And I like to tell my clients that as well, like your nervous system is guiding this experience and you're going to get the signal when you want to slow down or when something hurts and we're going to listen to that signal. We're going to respond to that signal as a piece of really valuable wisdom and information that's coming through about what your body needs at this moment, right? 

And, you know, you're really fun to work with as a client on the table because you have such great intercept of awareness, you know? And just everybody's different. Some people have less intercept of awareness. And so they're taking their time to build the awareness, you know what I'm saying? Like they're like, oh, yeah, my leg feels like slightly different. I think it's a little bit more relaxed than the other one. 

Whereas you're like, oh, all the muscle fibers are, you know, lengthened and I can feel all this space between my joints and you have like so many things to say about what you're sensing in your legs. So that's really fun for me, you know? And it can be fun the other way too when I'm sort of helping someone come into their body after a long time that they've been out of their body or not present in their body, you know? 

But yeah, I just wanted to acknowledge that like you're a very fun client and it's been really a privilege to work with you and get to kind of see you so excited about the new things you're getting to experience in your body that there's still new things after, you know, all that you've discovered and been through, right? 

J : I know, I truly love it. And it's so cool to see and to feel that difference in the body when, you know, you've only worked on one side or one part and to like really feel that is just amazing. And it's so cool because again, I feel like it is so subtle and so gentle and the way that you feel before, during and after is so, you know, I feel like, you know, you used to like deep tissue massages or things like that where this, it's just, it's absolutely fascinating to me how you feel in your body, in your mind after a session with you. 

And I love it. I, you know, obviously I signed on and I was like, oh, I have to do more of this. And, you know, to relax me, like this like go, go, go. Like you said, tons of sage energy. Yeah, I always feel leaving amazing. And I share it with everyone because I feel like everybody needs to experience this modality. And so so grateful that you're here in Buffalo to share your work with our community. It's really awesome. 

A: Oh, yeah, thank you. Well, like I said, I'm so excited for our collaborations for the things that we have coming up and you've got some other things coming up this year too. Where can people find out about your retreats and follow you if they're ready to go on like an adventure with you? Yes. 

J : So of course, social media is a great way. My Instagram is @Jessica_Gloss. I might also have a website beyondwanderlusttravel.com. My Instagram is linked to my Facebook. And yeah, for birth work and birth support, you can find me at carry house. 

carryhousebuffalo.com is our website, an amazing resource for mamas and, you know, for families for all things birth and postpartum. So yeah, and exciting stuff coming up this year. I had to Bali and just about two weeks time and then Iceland and Joshua tree. But I'm really excited to be hosting our first local retreat, which I haven't done. And so super excited to be collaborating with you on that June 12 through the 15th at the Zen River. 

So it's just a short drive away from Buffalo. Yeah, really excited to have a more immersive experience. So we can join forces and have this really beautiful nourishing relaxing retreat where everybody recalibrates and restores and creates community, right? Yeah, so super excited. 

A: Yeah, I love taking people on the whole idea of a kind of a somatics based retreat where it's like we're really getting into ourselves and into our bodies in a new way is that, you know, people are going to leave with an understanding of, Oh, there's a new level of like calm and embodied that I could be. 

I could be more calm and embodied than I even knew was possible. My muscles could relax, my back pain could disappear, you know, and I could be a different person and they get that really deep experience of it. And what I find is like you said, that plays out over the next year or two of their lives, they have now like, it's like they can't unsee it, they can't unsee who they really are. 

J : Absolutely. And what's beautiful about this work too is once you do it, and once you have more exposure to it, it's simple practices that you can do at any time. 

Yes. You know, I find myself incorporating these movements in when I'm flying, when I'm sitting at my desk, when I'm you know, in the parent pickup line, same thing with the breathwork, it doesn't have to be this like full hour 90 minute journey every time, we can take smaller doses of this work and, you know, tap in and regulate, you know, on the spot in just a few moments, you know, so I'm really excited to have this immersive experience and to share, yeah, these modalities with others to help them feel better in their bodies, to feel better in their minds or nervous systems and, you know, and then of course, better in their lives because of that. So yeah. 

A: Wonderful! I mean, I feel so blessed all the time that I like, oh my God, like I get to do this, like this is what I get to do. And people need this that I'm providing a service that is also of like such a great privilege and joy to me, and so I feel so fortunate, I feel so grateful for all the wonderful people that I get to talk to, like on this podcast, you know, including you today.

And just sending a lot of gratitude for, you know, for all those years that I spent confused and in pain. That was my personal journey, so many years confused and in pain, because the gratitude that I feel for finally having the windows, you know, it's like spending 10 years in prison and you get out and it's like, oh, the world is so much more beautiful because of all that time, you know, that I wasn't available for this. So, just appreciating you and appreciating this conversation today, Jessica. 

J : Yeah, same, same, same. Thank you so much for having me on. Thank you so much for supporting me in my journey, to help me feel better in my body. And so I can help support others, you know, because we are in this together, we are meant to help one another, to part one another. I'm so grateful for your work, for our collaboration, and yeah.

A: Thank you so much, Jessica Gloss, for this incredible conversation, for sharing your wisdom, and I cannot wait to collaborate with you at this upcoming retreat.  Bye for now, we’ll talk again very soon.

A: Hey there, friend. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I would love to hear your thoughts. Follow me on Instagram @AimeeTakaya and send me a DM about this episode. I'd like to thank you for being part of this somatic revolution. And if you'd like to support the podcast and help more people learn about somatics, consider leaving a review or a rating. And finally, if you'd like to have the experience of relief in your tight hips or back and learn to understand what your body is really saying to you, visit youcanfreeyoursoma.com. I can't wait to share with you what is truly possible. Bye for now.