Linda Zurak/Embodied Living

17/12/2024

05/07/2024

So excited to share this podcast! Huge appreciation to for having me.

If you are curious about how Somatic work can benefit all areas of your life this is a great conversation that covers loads of topics. Link in comments. Enjoy.❤️

Listen to this episode from The Psychedelic Couch on Spotify. In this insightful episode, Linda Zurak delves into the transformative realm of somatic movement therapy, offering her perspective on healing and self-awareness. Drawing a distinction between traditional talk therapy and somatic movement...

05/07/2024

I do not want to be remembered as a woman who was always exhausted. I do not want to be remembered as a woman who was always stressed, always busy, always rushing, always holding herself together and pushing through.

I would like to be remembered as a relaxed woman, a compassionate woman, a curious, joyful, pleasure-loving woman. A woman who works hard and rests deeply, who loves fiercely and lives peacefully.

A woman who knows her worth and her power, who accepts her imperfections and her vulnerabilities, who embraces her limitations and her possibilities.

A woman who laughs and cries and aches and loves and is enchanted by the mess and magic and mundaneness of this beautiful, shimmering life.

- Nicola Jane Hobbs

03/06/2024

Most of my life I struggled in relationships. I was a chameleon and knew how to behave to fit in anywhere.

I had a great social life and was always in a relationship. It all looked great on the outside but on the inside I felt resentful, angry lonely and disconnected from myself and others.

I was sure that the problem was my current partner, or being in the wrong job or the wrong city, country.

Eventually I realised that I was the common denominator in all these unhappy experiences and started many years of coaching and talk therapy. This really helped me understand why I felt this way and things did get a little better.

Even though I understood WHY it was hard to express my upset or ask for what I needed in my relationships, it still didn’t help me change my withholding behaviour.

Somatic Therapy was the missing piece for me. I learned how my body and nervous system carried messages from the past that kept me from getting the love and intimacy I wanted.

Updating my nervous system to match my altered mindset was a game changer.

I learned to listen to my body, trust my intuition and communicate from my heart. I became less reactive and more responsive to what was happening around me.

My relationships became a place for me to grow and experience deeper connection.

I finally had permission to feel free to be ME!!!

It’s my passion to share what I have learned over the last 35 years and support people to feel free in life and love.

If you want to learn more please join me and my dear friend Armand Botha for this upcoming workshop.

Details and booking link in comments below.

08/05/2024

Dearest Women

I know you are strong and capable of doing it yourself.

I also know how tiring it can be and the frustration and pain that is buried underneath the “doing”

You don’t have to be alone with it. Please join us May 18th for an afternoon of compassionate connection and self care.

Give yourself pernisison to have this❤️

06/05/2024

So excited to offer this work with one of my favourite people in the world. In this interactive, fun workshop we will;

♥️Explore the importance of nervous system regulation in dating and relating

♥️Learn why you keep attracting the same partners

♥️Provide simple Somatic tools for better communication

♥️Learn to harness the power of emotions

♥️Connect to the wisdom of your body and your deepest desires

♥️Practise communication skills needed to establish heartfelt boundaries

♥️Develop emotional resilience so you can better manage the rollercoaster of emotions that dating and relationships bring up in us.

You will leave with a clear roadmap for creating emotional intimacy, connection and safety in any relationship.

Booking link in comments😁

29/04/2024

Embodiment/Somatic work isn’t some kind of woo woo new age fad. It’s a practical and effective tool to help us navigate all areas of life. Bring your body on board and see how life and your relationships become more authentic. ❤️

21/04/2024

Does this ever happen to you?
You know it’s time to have a difficult conversation with your partner. ❤️

In your mind you have rehearsed a thousand times exactly what to say. Then when the moment comes you feel like a deer in headlights and can’t get your words out.

It feels so frustrating because you’re confident at work and with your friends yet in your romantic relationship that all seems to disappear.

Even though you know better, in these difficult situations you become a nice, people pleasing, “don’t rock the boat” kind of person. Although your partner walks away seemingly ok you feel awful inside and there is a constant tightness in your jaw and tension in your throat.

Maybe you are wondering why am I so worried about keeping them happy? It’s so exhausting. Why can’t I just say what I want to say?

At the same time you don’t want to be considered selfish or difficult. It feels like a no win situation. So you keep things light, stay smiling and practice more positive affirmations and meditations. But things stay pretty much the same.

You want to be honest and free to express your feelings, but somewhere deep down inside you feel terrified of rejection and being abandoned again.

At the same time there is a longing for a deeper connection with yourself and your partner and the possibility of a more intimate relationship. It feels like being stuck between a rock and hard place.

Can you relate to this?
Let me know in the comments…

16/04/2024

Win a FREE one hour virtual private session with me! 🏆

To celebrate YOU end thank for you being a member of my community, I’m offering a contest to win a completely FREE one hour

Somatic Solutions for Dating and Relating session. 💖

In this 60 minutes together, we'll look at your current dating and/or relationship struggles and how a body oriented approach can give you new insights and understanding of your attraction blueprint.

My area of expertise is using embodiment and somatic tools to help uncover the blocks that keep you from having the relationship you want. We can then look at how an embodied approach can shift your experience of dating and relating.

Only one person can be the winner - and it could be you!

My only ask is that you fill out a short survey (just a few multiple choice questions - less than 5 minutes) and that will give you an entry into the draw.

We’ll draw a random number from the respondents - and hope YOURS is the lucky one.

Link is in the comments below.

Remember you don’t get an entry unless you click the link above.

👉The contest ends Friday April 26th though, so don't delay in filling out this short survey.

Thanks for your participation!

Linda

17/03/2024

How a Somatic Therapist Travels

Nervous system regulation and pleasure is my Number 1 priority when I travel. If I don’t take care of myself and my needs everybody around me suffers. Here is how that looks for me

- [ ] Ensuring I am not too hot or too cold, being well fed, watered and rested all makes for a seamless travel experience.

- [ ] Prior to that my routing looks something like this;

- [ ] Check destination weather daily to pack appropriately

- [ ] Make a list of possible daily activities to pack accordingly

- [ ] Try on all clothes to maximise
outfit combinations

- [ ] Wear only stretch, comfort clothes on the plane. No belts or shoes that need removing so I can breeze through security

- [ ] Pack creature comforts of home; my special tea, travel mug and water bottle, healthy treats.

- [ ] Make sure to take multiple charging cables and adaptors

- [ ] Bring body care essentials myofascial ball, foot roller, skin brush, massage oil

- [ ] Clear out any food from fridge that may go bad.

- [ ] Let my family know where I am going and that I love them.

- [ ] Leave early for the airport; enjoy a leisurely breakfast and complete any loose ends so I can focus on fun and pleasure during time away.

- [ ] Smile and thank all airport personnel

- [ ] Keep earplugs and eye cover in handbag to ensure a refreshing nap

- [ ] Listen to sensual playlist to get me out of “getting stuff done” mode and into fun and play mode.

- [ ] Change of clothes in backpack to seamlessly ebb into warmer climate upon arrival

Arrive and enjoy!!! I would love to hear what your secrets are to having a great time away.

02/03/2024

We are responsible for our own pleasure. So if your partner or lover, isn’t “turning you on” you can blame them, feel angry, resentful and withdraw your touch and affection.

Or you can be curious about what happened to your turn on? How has pleasure become last on your list of priorities in life? And what small changes can you make to start bringing in small “pockets of pleasure” throughout the day?

Not for anybody else but simply because purely for your own enjoyment.

Here are a few of my favourites
♥️ sleeping in super soft sheets
♥️ dancing to my favourite song
when I get up
♥️ only wearing clothes that feel good against my skin
♥️ using a deliciously scented oil on my body
♥️ walking in nature even if it’s only on my way to the tube
♥️ having a piece of decadent dark chocolate every day

All of these small things awaken my senses so I can move through the day in a more delicious way. I wound love to know what ideas you come up with. ❤️

26/02/2024

Incredible.

❝Since her death in 1979, the woman who discovered what the universe is made of has not so much as received a memorial plaque. Her newspaper obituaries do not mention her greatest discovery. […] Every high school student knows that Isaac Newton discovered gravity, that Charles Darwin discovered evolution, and that Albert Einstein discovered the relativity of time. But when it comes to the composition of our universe, the textbooks simply say that the most abundant atom in the universe is hydrogen. And no one ever wonders how we know.❞ — Jeremy Knowles, discussing the complete lack of recognition Cecilia Payne gets, even today, for her revolutionary discovery. (via alliterate)

OH WAIT LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT CECILIA PAYNE

• Cecilia Payne’s mother refused to spend money on her college education, so she won a scholarship to Cambridge.

• Cecilia Payne completed her studies, but Cambridge wouldn’t give her a degree because she was a woman, so she said to heck with that and moved to the United States to work at Harvard.

• Cecilia Payne was the first person ever to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy from Radcliffe College, with what Otto Strauve called “the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy.”

• Not only did Cecilia Payne discover what the universe is made of, she also discovered what the sun is made of (Henry Norris Russell, a fellow astronomer, is usually given credit for discovering that the sun’s composition is different from the Earth’s, but he came to his conclusions four years later than Payne — after telling her not to publish).

• Cecilia Payne is the reason we know basically anything about variable stars (stars whose brightness as seen from earth fluctuates). Literally every other study on variable stars is based on her work.

• Cecilia Payne was the first woman to be promoted to full professor from within Harvard, and is often credited with breaking the glass ceiling for women in the Harvard science department and in astronomy, as well as inspiring entire generations of women to take up science.

• Cecilia Payne is awesome and everyone should know her.

(OP: Matthew Gardner)