In episode 26, we drop into deeper layers of ease, enoughness and somatics with Julie Ann Otis, an intuitive healer and artist committed to an experience of ease for every body. Through Samana Consulting, she offers civic engagement art, courses, and one-on-one sessions for leaders all over the world in universities, non-profits, lobbying organizations and social justice spaces to change the landscape of what is possible in healing, pleasure and innovation. After 10+ years in nonprofit management, Julie Ann now dedicates her life’s work to supporting her clients embody what they know is already possible -- her modalities range from focusing-oriented therapies, creative visualization, meditation, neurobiology, somatic feedback, and Metta meditation practices. She has published two poetry collections -- elastic union and Sermons of the Real.

In a culture that perpetuates separateness and gives rise to systems of oppression we know all too well, Julie Ann bridges East and West (or in other duality, materialist and spiritual) to language a much needed reimagining of our times -- the importance of taking up space in our birthright states of being, with as much pleasure, joy and ease as possible. After grappling with her own existential crisis and subsequent healing journey in Bali, Julie Ann emerged with a new window into the world that very acutely discerns “accomplishment-oriented” healing with the possibility of healing outside a consumerist Western lens steeped in grind culture, fixing a thing, and over-efforting. For her, spiritual breakthrough comes from travelling into the body to resensitive ourselves to the wholeness of our being, on the levels of physiological, energetic, emotional and intuitive. Like a tour guide into the inner unseen landscape, Julie Ann shines a curious light on all of ourselves with a touch of poet, artist, healer and social justice activist. In the dance between inner and outer worlds, she asks of us, “How do we make peace as captivating as conflict?”

In this soul-alivening conversation, we peek under the hood around:

The legacy of Amanda Gorman during the Presidential Inauguration and her gift of embodied presence as a cultural leader of our times
The journey from a hardcore materialist to an intuitive healer, artist and pleasure activist (and the role Bali played in this life-changing sojourn)
How to embrace somatic-intuitive intelligence in the body, and the power of this energy
Knowing the felt difference between over-efforting and enoughness (especially if you find yourself hopping from one healing to the next)
Reimagining culture if love and power were to take up the same space
Reflecting on the ever-abundant question, “where can we do less?”

Julie Ann Otis: https://www.julieannotis.com

Sermons of the Real: https://www.julieannotis.com/sermonsofthereal

More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast

Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow

This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.