Root + Rise is a space for embodied exploration, where rooting down and rising up happen together. Hosted by writer, mentor and consultant, Rohini Walker, this podcast invites you into the nuanced terrain of inner truth, interdependence, and the sacred relationship between land, body, and Self.
Consider this an antidote to a world that wants you in a state of perpetual, unsustainable and disembodied urgency. Through depth, slowness and embodiment, we compost constricting homogeneity, embrace difference, and reclaim alignment with soul through rooting down and rising up.
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This episode is an exploration of manifestation through a decolonial, Nature-aligned, trauma-informed lens. Moving beyond the hyper-individualistic, transactional narrative, this is a call towards a more relational understanding of co-creation – one rooted in ecosomatics, nervous system capacity, embodiment, and interdependence with the more-than-human world.
I talk about why we don’t create from thoughts alone, how unprocessed trauma and stress can influence what we’re able to call in, and how bypassing, toxic positivity, and formulaic manifestation practices can reinforce a culture of pathology. This is about manifestation as a crucible for integration, evolution, and becoming – not performing or fixing and not a measure of our worth.
We also look at the role of values in the process of manifesation, the importance of nervous system safety in holding big visions, and what it means to steward dreams that are in service to life, rather than extraction or ego.
For the humans with big visions who are feeling disillusioned with the hype of mainstream manifestation culture, and sensing there’s a more natural, relational, and truthful way, this conversation is an invitation back into right relationship with yourself, your values, and Nature’s creative rhythms.
Hello there, and welcome to root and rise the space where we slow down and attune to the deeper, vaster nature aligned currents that govern life and that govern creation. I'm Rohini Walker, and I'm so happy you're here. So let's drop straight into this conversation and see where we end up decolonizing your manifestation. Practice and manifestation is such a buzzword these days in coaching and self development spaces. And honestly, I cringe a bit when it comes to talking about manifestation and manifesting in the way that it's currently understood, and the transactional and extractive energy behind the word these days, I extra cringe when I hear people say, I manifested this, and I manifested that, because from a decolonial, relational nature based lens, I am not manifesting anything. I'm participating in a process, and I'm co manifesting in collaboration with a myriad of physical and non physical, more than human sentient beings. So decolonizing our manifestation process begins with evolving out of that hyper individualistic I me mine perspective towards a more holistic, relational, interdependent one. It means locating ourselves in the larger context that's playing out more and more for me as I attune somatically and not just conceptually, to nature's larger context and conversation that I'm also a part of. I feel my whole sense of self expanding into my larger ecological identity. And this is stepping into the Eco somatics of creation and manifestation, which is a big part of the work that I do. And this eco somatic approach is inherently relational, and again, beyond a romantic, left brained concept into an actual visceral, felt experience. So from this space, when I'm calling something in that's deeply aligned for me, it's not just about me, but about the larger living ecosystems that I'm a part of. I evolve from trying to, quote, unquote, build an empire, because nature doesn't do empires. And as an expression of nature, I'd rather co create and steward an ecosystem that's in symbiotic relationship with other ecosystems. But let's start with the word manifest itself. To manifest something is to make something apparent or evident that was previously unmanifest. And this makes me think about the unmanifest field of all creation, the implicate order, as the quantum physics pioneer David Bohm called it, the implicate order, is what I also spoke about in episode 10, that unmanifest field of all potential, where all that could ever be conceived of and imagined and thought about and felt and experienced by our physical senses already exists on an energetic level, in a deeper layer of reality, in a totality, field of unity. So manifesting something is calling something up from the implicate order to the explicate order into 3d manifest physical reality, which also happens to be just one layer of reality, sorry to burst the bubble of the myopic materialist worldview our physical 3d reality that's perceived by our physical senses is just one layer or dimension of reality out of multiple dimensions, the very tip of the iceberg. It's by no means all that there is okay, so far so good. Mainstream manifestation teachings also subscribe to this for the most part, although this inflated sense of ownership and appropriation of nature and her processes is still present, rather than stewardship and participation, which feels closer to the truth for me, which leads me to the next thing. Manifestation is an inherently natural, nature aligned process, because we are all inherently creative beings, and we're always taking part in the process of manifesting, whether consciously or unconsciously or collectively and individually, it's like breathing. It's just happening. We're being breathed and we're being manifested through we're instruments of nature's creative evolutionary process, and just like our breathing is impeded and becomes shallow and contracted when we're holding on to stress, our capacity to be conduits of creation is also impeded when we're holding on to unprocessed trauma and stress in our bodies and in our nervous systems, all to say that we are never co manifesting on the level of thought and thinking as certain law of attraction. Teachings would have us believe the only think positive thoughts, toxic positivity thing, while our nervous systems are holding on to unprocessed trauma, overriding our nervous systems is a losing game, because we're always co manifesting on the level of our nervous systems. It's where our underlying signal and energetic frequency is coming from, deeper than any surface level thoughts and thinking, and this is why things like affirmations don't work if our systems are holding unprocessed trauma, and they can often create more trauma because we end up pathologizing ourselves for things not working for us like they seemingly do for others. So let's talk about the culture of pathology that's formed around this bypassing overriding industry of mainstream manifestation. From my own personal experience and with several clients, I've witnessed how this culture of harmful pathologizing has played out in my time. I've done several online courses with coaches, as well as some one to one work using those formulaic step by step processes, which included pushing away and bypassing any quote, unquote negative thoughts. Eventually I was told that I wasn't trying hard enough and there was something wrong, and they couldn't figure out what was wrong, because these processes were simple and effective and work for everyone, except, of course, we're not all the same. Our nervous systems are not all the same. We each have unique ways in which we're meant to live life, and so at that time, I was left feeling broken and alienated from myself, or rather my pre existing core wounds around that were inflamed because this was before I had begun my own trauma healing journey, and not one person mentioned trauma and the nervous system, presumably because they had never had to overcome things like Complex PTSD or worked with anyone who did, and in the absence of unprocessed trauma, these step by step manifestation practices and affirmations can work, sure, but there's no real transformation happening or participation in a larger context and conversation. It's just transactional and hollow, and I me mine, it's like a factory line of manifestation. And I've had clients who have experienced similar things, including one who went through quite severe anxiety because they became convinced that there was something terribly wrong with them. But of course, there was nothing wrong with them. They were holding a lot of unprocessed stress in their body and system, which had then become exacerbated and in time when they were able to meet and process their wounds and become more embodied. When they started to feel safe, to be in their bodies, they were able to drop into this experience of a larger unfolding, a larger process that they were participating in, and CO create and CO manifest what was aligned for them. From there, it becomes more holistic and natural without any overriding and bypassing. And this doesn't mean that you have to be completely healed and perfect and free of all trauma before you can co create and CO manifest what's aligned for you, that's just another iteration of the culture of pathology. What it means is that the process of manifesting itself becomes the crucible of integration and evolution and transformation, and less about getting the thing, because integration and evolution and transformation is the whole point. It's about who we're becoming in the process, and our willingness to step into cycles of shedding and growing, of contracting and expanding. We expand and we grow by deepening and meeting deeper layers of ourselves, our shadows. And instead of pathologizing these parts, we call them in and home and for humans with a taste for depth, and who have frankly, gone through some shit in their lives, the overriding, performative, transactional, I me mine ways of manifesting can cause more harm than good, and unhooking From these pathologizing ways is decolonial practices, because colonialism is the culture of pathologizing. It's the lens of what's wrong with me, and how can I fix myself, and how can I get more to prove that I'm worthy and valuable. Sometimes, when I speak to a prospective new client, and I say we're not going to be doing anything to fix you because there's nothing wrong with you because you're not broken. There's a complete cognitive dissonance. It doesn't land anywhere for them, because it sounds completely insane, because we've been steeped in the culture of quick fixes, and that's okay. It doesn't have to land yet anywhere, because the inner terrain has been planted with the seeds of wrong and bad and broken because of the unnatural and frankly ridiculous fallacy of original sin, which has colonized the Western psyche and then which now plays out in our dominant culture of pathology, of pathologizing our humanness and our human experience. The living legacy of Original Sin is that we're wrong and bad and broken just just because we are, just because we exist. We should be ashamed just for existing in these sinful animal bodies, and we have to spend our whole lives redeeming ourselves and proving our worth. No The Goddess and I call big BS on that patriarchal mumbo jumbo. We're worthy and valuable just because we are, just because we exist as miraculous expressions of Nature herself, and we're here to co create our lives and the world from this space of inherent worthiness, and this really is the core of this work. For me, it's not about adding more and trying to fix anything or improve anything. It's about removing anything that's not in alignment with our essence, with the truth of who and what we already are, and when that's allowed to happen, the act of CO manifesting and CO creating organically follows without us having to force or fix or override ourselves, we get into step with our own natural rhythm, which we discover is not so very different from nature's rhythms and cycles, just like with soil that's being degraded and poisoned by industrial agriculture and toxic chemicals and fertilizers for it to be restored back to health and regenerated. It doesn't need more industrial strength fixing protocols. It needs to be tended to in specific ways that gently restores and realigns it back to its original healthy state before it was eroded. Regenerative farming doesn't approach the soil with how can I force the soil to be more productive, but how can I help support the health of the soil and from that space, what's created and produced benefits the whole ecosystem, from soil microbiome to human microbiome and everything else in between. I also want to bring embodiment into the conversation, because we create from the level of our nervous systems and what we have the capacity or the internal space for. So when I say embodied manifestation, I don't just mean holding the feelings and sensations of what it is we're co creating. Yes, there's that. But again, if our nervous systems aren't feeling safe to co create whatever it is we're calling in, there's going to be distortion in our frequency, and we're going to end up feeling like there's something wrong with us. I see far too many manifestation gurus saying things like, just hold the feeling, stay in the feeling. But when the system is not fully on board with this feeling, it's going to feel off, because we're overriding our capacity. And yes, we can totally create from overriding our capacity. The culture of burnout is built on that, but what happens as a result is that when said thing does manifest for us, we don't have the capacity to hold it and experience it. We can end up blowing a fuse, metaphorically speaking, and I have first hand experience of this when my nervous system and body just didn't have the capacity to fully inhabit an awesome new reality that had emerged into my Life. It was a valuable learning experience, for sure, like when we go straight for the heavy weights without building up our strength, first and worst case scenario, end up injuring ourselves or just being in a lot of pain afterwards. Sure, we lifted the heavy weights, and if we weren't in such a rush, we would actually have saved ourselves more time and energy. But we receive valuable lessons, like I said, and that's definitely worthwhile. It's not that we don't co manifest our big visions. I'm here for the big visions, an impossible dream. But we do it from a place of embodiment and from building our nervous system's capacity by letting it come to a place of safety with what we're calling in this means not bypassing our present moment experience by feeling what's here now for us, both the quote, unquote good and the bad, and allowing those to be the smaller weights, if you will, that build up our capacity for what we're calling in this is really a key part of how I work, and a key part of decolonizing our manifestation practice, because it's not just barreling towards more better now and Then burnout, it's building a strong foundation to hold our big dreams. So as you can probably tell, I could talk about this topic for quite a while, but I'm going to end with a final word on values is what we want to manifest into our lives and subsequently into the world in line with our core values, our souls. Values are we wielding our powers of creation with responsibility? Because one of the things we're witnessing as this old paradigm crumbles is just how unsustainable things have become, how unsustainable they've always been, which is why the ways that they are, sooner or later rotten, systems and institutions of harm will self destruct. So are we here to engage our powers of creation in service to evolution and to nature's bigger vision. And if so, the best way to get in step with that is through our authentic values. And this isn't about having some over inflated, overly serious puritanical sense of self righteousness. Please. No. Thank you. The world requires joy and levity as much as it requires depth. And can we intentionally align ourselves with our values? Can our values be a filter for everything we're co creating, whether it's a state of being, a state of consciousness or an actual physical manifestation of something, because with this culture's strange obsession with social media, something I have tried and tried to get behind, and I just can't, so I've stopped trying To do the old square peg, round hole thing because of this strange obsession, or rather addiction, to social media's lurid allure, there are far too many shiny objects being dangled in front of us to perpetually chase After, be like this person or that influencer or that guru, and oh, look, they have a step by step process that will make me just like them and have a perfect life just like them and so on. Except, of course, your soul didn't come here to be like anyone else and live your life like anyone else we might feel inspired by others, sure, but inspiration feels very different to that tug at the wound of unworthiness that can feel like a sort of insistent urgency and has us trying to abandon ourselves to be like someone else, I found that rooting in your authentic values is one of the simplest and most efficient ways to access the creative frequency of your soul. I've devoted a whole episode to this episode three called your values are a portal. And this is pretty non negotiably central to the way I choose to engage my powers of co creation. And it's also a central part of my work with clients and in my membership group, root and rise, we're each here to do things in our own way, not follow someone's formula, so we can be like them, and our authentic values help us access the way. We're here to navigate life and CO create, which in turn aligns us with our souls frequency, which is also nature's frequency working through us. We might have shared values with others, but the ways in which they want to express themselves through each of us will be unique and different. There's a quote I love by Richard Rudd all through the gene keys. He says, Every decision we take in life either connects us to something greater than ourselves or cuts us off from our true and vital inheritance, leaving us feeling isolated and alone. This is relevant on so many levels, including living and creating in alignment with our values. We Rob ourselves and the world of something valuable when we don't. And again, this isn't about rigid perfection. It's about making mistakes and attuning and re attuning over and over again to our core essence and our inner authority, until at some point it starts to feel viscerally off when we're trying to march to the beat of someone else's drum. Because that's a big motivation for me, for myself and the people I work with for us to be attuned to our own innate rhythm and pace and autonomy. And I found that living in alignment with our values and with the ways that they want to express through us keep us in right relationship with our souls and with nature's evolutionary trajectory, especially when we feel lost or like nothing's working and feel tempted to chase after a shiny object that's not right for us. So I leave it here for now, I'd love to hear your thoughts and reflections. Ways to connect are in the show notes. And for those of you who are ready to start stewarding your big soul, created nature aligned visions into the world, especially those ones that feel impossible, but that have been calling you. You're invited to join my online membership group, also called root and rise, which is open for winter enrollment now until December 31 I'm calling in the humans with visions that feel like heresy to the old materialist world order, and who want to co create their lives and the world in a radically different way. The link to join is in the show notes you and that's all from me for today. Thank you for tuning in, for listening, for your presence. I appreciate you as always. Take what feels aligned for you and let the rest go. If any triggers arose, spend some time feeling them, witnessing them, tending to them by gently offering them some breath as an antidote to becoming identified with them. Notice what happens when you relate to your triggers and constrictions with compassion and curiosity. This is a first step to dismantling and composting the culture of pathologizing that's alive in us and seeding a culture of care, and remember to stay rooted in your Air and remember to stay rooted in your inherent worthiness until next time, until next time you i.
