💫Once upon a time, there was an enchanted series, where folk gathered to hear the tales of creators who bravely faced, conquered, and continued to conquer, the demons of fear, thus revealing their magical gifts, skills, and true essence to the world.✨
💫I’ve been sitting with wondrous souls—artists, travelers of distant lands, weavers of words, capturers of light, coaches, practitioners, and wise teachers—each one a character of great inspiration whom I deeply admire.✨
💫In this mystical realm, I believe wholeheartedly that our destined success is but a matter of time, so long as we remain steadfast, follow the nudges of our heart in spite of fear, and keep leaning into the things that bring lightness and joy to our souls.✨
Unmute Yourself - Chapter 6
About Nicola
Tune into this captivating conversation with Nicola - a remarkable, multi-faceted, multi-talented woman whose life is a testament to courage, self-discovery, and personal transformation. A body confidence coach, body-positive personal trainer, speaker, poet, women's self-defense teacher, NLP master practitioner and fire, stilt and burlesque performer, Nicola embodies the art of stepping into one's full potential. Nicola is a veritable magician, way-shower and beaming light, I tells you!
Show Notes:
Journey of Self-Expression
01:38 - Overcoming childhood social phobia from a mixed Chinese-English family
03:34 - Transforming from feeling voiceless to becoming a powerful performer and speaker
04:30 - Navigating body image challenges through bodybuilding and burlesque
Quote of the Episode:"Confidence is a side effect of courage"
08:21 - The importance of being embodied and reconnecting with your authentic self
13:57 &15:54 - Challenging societal conditioning around body image and self-worth…Exploring Neuro-Linguistic Programming as a tool for personal growth
17:12 - Understanding the power of mindset in creating life changes and learning to separate from negative thought patterns
Exciting Upcoming Project
Nicola is launching an innovative body-positive tarot card deck:
- Featuring real humans and their personal journeys, each card telling a story of transformation. The deck is designed to provide support for those struggling with body image and personal challenges.
- Expected launch in December/January
Connect with Nicola on Linkedin
Instagram: @body_confidence22
Substack:
Little Nuggets to Takeaway
- Start small: Step just outside your comfort zone
- Embrace vulnerability as a path to personal growth
- Practice gratitude and recognize how far you've come
- Your body is a storytelling instrument, not an object to be judged
A note to myself:
At one point during our conversation you'll note I'm grappling to explain embodiment. This is really interesting — do you want to know why? It's because after an unexpected rush pre-recording, I wasn't in an embodied state. I was in the very state I was trying to explain the opposite of. 😬 It meant I was living in my head throughout, and not in my body, my heart.
I was fretting about questions rather than allowing my natural curiosity to reign supreme and for the words to move through me.
The Suzy of old would have asked Nicola if we could re-record and I would have berated myself for days.
And yet, Xavier Dagba nails it yet again when he says:
“You become better at shining your light by giving yourself permission to consistently express it imperfectly.”
Yes!
The more we self-flagellate, withdraw back into the shadows, the more we imprison ourselves.
I write a lot here about bringing everything back to love and this is exactly what I mean. If we can tenderly, patiently, and lovingly become aware of, "Oooh I didn't quite handle or say that the way I wanted to. How can I do say/do that a bit differently next time?" rather than entangling ourselves with the inner critics, the more embodied we become. We become the observer, rather than the loud, often negative voices, in our head. And the more magic we'll experience.
“The more you embody your voice, the more you will change your future.”
- Lee Harris
Now go forth and shower your magic upon the world. Perfectly imperfect.
Love you,
Suzy 🪄🌌
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