SHOW NOTES for Episode 4 with Evelyn Brodie
(Shamanic healing, therapeutic work in Rottingdean)
INTRODUCTION
Welcome back to Inspirations from Brighton podcast, episode 4!
My guest is Evelyn Brodie, a cranio-sacral therapist and shamanic practitioner and author of several books, such as “Corporate Bitch to Shaman” or “A Better Pill”. Evelyn’s work and mission is to link the world of modern science/ medicine and the ancient healing practices of the indigenous peoples around the world.
Make a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy our conversation with Evelyn!
This episode is on Spotify
YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THIS PODCAST ON YOUTUBE
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT EVELYN AND HER WORK
https://www.balanceandpurpose.co.uk/
BOOKS: Corporate Bitch to Shaman
A Better Pill on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpaKE-lFJzA
EPISODE 4: INSPIRATIONS WITH EVELYN BRODIE
Klara: Hello Evelyn and welcome to Inspirations from Brighton podcast.
Evelyn: Thank you very much indeed for inviting me.
Klara: Thank you for being here with us. Would you like to introduce yourself and tell us about your background? I know there may be lots of listeners, especially from Brighton and Hove or generally in Sussex know about you, but would you like to share more about your background.
Evelyn: Okay. My name is Evelyn Brodie and I work as a shamanic practitioner mainly. I came from Scotland initially, so if you catch a Scottish accent, I was brought up in Scotland and I worked in the corporate world for many years. Corporate communications, financial services, and also then media training, message development for big corporate companies, but back in sort of 2005.
I had an experience that forced me, really, to change my belief system. Until then, I just thought, when you die, you die. And the point of life, really, you know, was to be as joyful as possible. But I didn’t have any spiritual or religious beliefs. And then, I did have an experience that forced me to change my mind. And since then, I’ve kind of been on a dual track. One track is to really understand, because I do like to understand the science and the technology, the medicine, and the other side, to have altered states of consciousness experiences. So all the work I do and teach and train now is that dual track. The work I do is not hippie, new age nonsense, it is modern science, it is modern medicine, and there’s an avalanche about that these days, which is a big change since actually when I started doing this.
Klara: That’s very interesting. And actually, you said if I come back to your origins, you said you are originally from Scotland have you been living in other parts of England and what brought you here to, to us, to Sussex?
Evelyn: Well, so pleased to be here. I just love living on the coast. We live in Rottingdean on top of the cliffs and you see the seasons, you see the sun shifting over the different parts of the year, you see the moon shifting over the cycle. And it never seems as dark in the winter because sunset, it’s still light for a while. Sunrise, it’s light before. But I lived in London for many years after I left Scotland. I left Scotland after university. I lived in London for many years. I lived in the United States for a while because I did my graduate training in Economics at Stanford in the USA. And 2015 was when I came down to live in Hove, and then since 2019, I’ve been in Rottingdean, but I am so pleased to be out of the city. I mean, I love London, it’s got some great things, but Brighton is known as “Little London by the sea”. So it seems to have all the good things and not the bad things. Love it here.
Klara: We are very pleased to have you here. It’s so close to Brighton. You’ve mentioned that your journey started being different in 2005. Currently, you work as a shamanic practitioner. You also do Reiki and craniosacral therapy. What brought you to this journey?
Evelyn: Well, that’s a very long story, but the work I do now, I try to put all the different strands together. So there’s actually something I’ve developed called temenos touch, which is a mixture of body work using the Reiki and the craniosacral, but also I’m trained as a constellations therapist and the shamanic work. And we live in a sea of collective and personal trauma, and the shamans always saw people, not just as individuals, but as part of a system, a village, a community. A family, and that is coming through now. People recognize more and more that there is systemic trauma. And a lot of the work I try to do is really about healing sources. Because Western medicine deals a lot with trying to cure symptoms.
The work I do is to really try to get to the source of the problem. An obvious example is depression. People can go to the doctor, say they feel depressed, and the doctor will prescribe them pills. Without saying, well, why are you depressed? In which case you just keep on popping those pills, which may or may not make you feel better, but you’re not actually dealing with why. So all the work I’m trying to do is why. And it seems like the ancient traditions knew, but only now is modern science coming to the fact that what we often carry is not just our own, it is from the family system. It is from the tribal system, it is from societal conditioning. So that’s where the shamans always worked in a more collective way. I’m always trying to deal with people in the best way I can, using any tools I have in the toolbox. And I never thought I would be doing this, you know, I worked in the corporate world for many years.
But It was at a remote viewing conference, which I’d been fascinated by the remote viewers, because they seemed to be viewing things non locally at different time and place. And it was the military that was running these programs. It was not new age people, spiritual people. It was hardline defence people.
And I was at a remote viewing program in 2005, and we were given targets. And something could see those targets. And I wasn’t there. Different time, different space, and yet I could do it. And that just flipped my mind. And that is nonlocality. And post quantum physics now is all about nonlocality, which is interconnectedness.
Consciousness is primary, not material objects. And that led me into all this investigation of post quantum physics and non-locality and consciousness and altered states of consciousness. And so that’s been the ride.
Klara: Wow! Actually, what you mentioning, you also wrote in one of your books, which is the Corporate Bitch to Shaman. And you describe your story in this book and on the science and your journey. I wanted to ask you, because you also worked in the corporate world and in television for many years. It’s written in the book, but would you like to share your story also a little bit with the listeners? How was the transition for you from the corporate person to a shamanic practitioner?
Evelyn: Well, it was a long journey and it started in 2005 with remote viewing when my brain was just going How is this possible? So that’s when I started reading about post quantum physics and non-locality and I started going to lots of trainings, but I still had my corporate job. I still had teenage children, I still had to pay the bills and the trainings all cost money so I worked with Alberto Villoldo who was one of my main shamanic teachers, The Four Winds, he’s very well known. I did that cycle of shamanic training and I started going to Peru because he teaches in the Peruvian lineage.
And 2010, my children were no longer children, they were adults. So a “weird hippie mom” went off traveling around the world, and I went to Peru for a while, I went to India for a while, I went to Thailand for a while, and it was after I came back in 2010 that I really stepped into doing this work full time. And it’s amazing because in that period, things have really changed. Neuroplasticity, the fact that the brain can change, was not a thing in 2010. The Nobel Prize for Neuroplasticity was only given in 2004. But more and more, we recognize now that we are in charge of how we feel, how we heal. Known as the placebo, the pharmaceutical companies hate placebos, because placebos work.
So, the power of the placebo is now well known. The body, mind, meditation, yoga, all those kinds of things, breath work is now escalating tremendously. And that’s all using the body mind. There’s a very famous book by Bessel van der Kolk, I really admire Bessel van der Kolk. The Body Keeps the Score. It’s been a bestseller for about the last eight years. The Body Keeps the Score. That is the title. It has revolutionized therapy, in particular trauma therapy and stress therapy, because all those stresses and traumas are held in the body. So that’s the part, that’s really come through now into some degree of acceptance.
But the non-local stuff, the altered state of consciousness stuff, it’s still not quite made it. Although, part of my journey was to the Amazon and to work with Mother Ayahuasca and hallucinogenics, also San Pedro and psychedelic assisted therapy is gaining huge traction again. It’s probably going to be legalized in the United States this year. It will probably be legalized in the United Kingdom next year or the year after, because there is an epidemic of stress and trauma. Everybody knows that. Depression, anxiety, complex PTSD, OCD, addiction. And we don’t really have any tools in the toolbox to deal with it. And it seems from all the clinical trials that psychedelic assisted therapy can make huge progress. And I’m not talking about just freeing up psychedelics, I’m talking about psychedelics used within a therapeutical setting, so let’s just be clear about that now.
Klara: Yeah, sure. Thank you for clarifying. You mentioned also that you were learning in different countries, from different teachers. In Peru, South America… Which destination, which country was the most profound for you? Which journey?
Evelyn: Well, I think it has to be working with the plant medicine in the Amazon, working with altered states of consciousness. And that’s what led me to psychedelic assisted therapy and my interest in that. Although, it is only now starting to become legitimate again and the techniques of the shamans are very much non local.
So there’s one process I do called soul retrieval, which is well known within the shamanic community. But again, it fits into modern psychotherapy that when something traumatic happens, we make a contract with life to survive, necessary at the time, and we split a part of ourselves off, necessary in order to keep it safe. But as we get older, that old contract may no longer serve where we are today, and that split part, you know, we don’t want our parts to be split, we want to be reintegrated. So soul retrieval is to look at the source of the split. And if possible, write a new contract and bring back the lost part. And that’s very much in line with internal family systems, which is all about parts.
Richard Schwartz came up with internal family systems, and it is taking the psychotherapeutic community by storm. And, you know, nothing is new. All these things are given different labels, different names. But many of them are really interconnected and interrelated.
Klara: Hmm. That’s a very interesting because for example, for me, it’s new what you’re saying. Maybe for some of the listeners as well, it’s definitely good to know. How do you work with your clients? Do you work individually, or do you do some weekend retreats?
Evelyn: It’s mainly individuals. Although, some people do decide to take a deep dive and come to work for 24 hours or 48 hours, not just to do a single session, but to do a succession. And they can stay in the house and work, you know, really intensively. It’s really bespoke trying to work with where everybody is, what work have they already done? What is their belief system? What is their trauma? And, It’s horrifying to me, but I get people who have maybe been on psychiatric medication, or at least antidepressants or anti-anxiety pills, for years and years and years, and it’s not doing any good. Might have done some good at the beginning, but you’re not supposed to be on them for years and years. And they come because maybe they want off them, and they’ll say: people just keep giving me pills. Nobody asks: what happened to you? I mean that’s mind-boggling. Nobody asked what happened.
And there’s ACE scores, Gabor Maté, The Wisdom of Trauma, very famous documentary and
Gabor has written many famous books about trauma. And there’s something called ACE scores, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and the more adverse childhood experiences a person has, the more likely they are later in life to have physical problems, mental problems, addictions, incarcerations, whether in the prison system or the mental health services. And so it’s really important to get to those sources. Not just try to medicate the symptoms. Does that make sense?
Klara: Yes, I absolutely agree. Yeah, it’s a very deep topic. I totally agree. And I think what you’re mentioning, you also wrote in the book. So I believe it would be very helpful for us some listeners if they read your book as well about those topics and you go very deep into certain parts.
Evelyn: And as I said, I mean, that book was largely autobiographical, but things have changed so fast, which is hugely positive. So that book scientifically is a bit out of date, to be honest right now, because things are changing so quickly. Neuroplasticity, the body, mind, and even consciousness which was banned from science for several hundreds of years. People could not talk about consciousness. That was deemed to be metaphysical, not scientific. Consciousness is back on the scientific agenda in a huge way.
Klara: It’s exciting.
Evelyn: It’s exciting, yeah. But it is a revolution. And it’s hard. Post quantum physics is hard.
Klara: Because people need to go out of their comfort zone, understand themselves, and really go inside.
Evelyn: And go into the shadows. The work is done in the shadows, the work is not done in the light. So, there is a lot of spiritual bypassing, where people just want to live in their deep meditative state, or their psychedelic state, or whatever it is, out there, but we walk our path in our bodies on the earth.
Klara: So the most important is to be in balance, to be in centre part.
Evelyn: Not just to ignore the shadows. And again, Gabor Maté, the Wisdom of Trauma, I cannot recommend highly enough because, and he writes a lot about addiction as well, the hungry ghost. And it is about how the work has to be done safely in the shadows. So safety, safety is massive. We cannot do deep work when people don’t feel safe. So a lot of the work I do is to make people feel safe. You can only do the shadow work if it feels safe. It’s absolutely critical, absolutely critical.
Klara: You’ve got another book.
Evelyn: A bit more up to date (laughing).
Klara: A bit more up to date. It’s called A Better Pill. Would you like to share more about this book with your listeners? Maybe they would be curious also what this is about and if you go through some topics also in a different perspective.
Evelyn: So the first one was largely my journey, not entirely autobiographical, but largely autobiographical. The second one, some people say it’s too hard because it’s referenced and referenced and referenced. I didn’t want anybody to say this is unscientific. This is nonsense. This is hippie new age, whatever, whatever. So it was referenced and each chapter goes through a different belief that people have who are perhaps stuck in the old scientific or medical paradigm, and actually to go: no, no, no, there is now a mountain of evidence that is not the case. But even that, but like I was saying, things have moved so far, so fast. That I do keep thinking I should perhaps revise that one and bring it more up to date. And it’s great that things are shifting so quickly. And you know, even GPs (General practitioner, author’s note) now will often suggest some kind of eco therapy for people or some sort of community therapy, like going to an art class or going to a yoga class or going cold swimming down on the beach.
If you go down to the beach in Brighton, there’s loads of people doing cold swimming. Did the GP suggest that? Many times, yes. Because especially kids who are stuck in front of their screens. And, they get bogged down in the horrors of social media and likes and ticks and everything else. But also they’re not outdoors in the sea air, communing with nature. So, ecotherapy is all about getting people back out into nature, growing their own food, getting their allotment, going swimming, taking the dog for a walk or whatever it is. And that is coming through into community prescribing, social prescribing.
So again, that’s the body mind is really coming through in a way that hadn’t quite happened when I wrote that book. But the non-local work, which is the real shamanic work, is still less accepted, which is really powerful. And there’s bits that I still can’t explain scientifically, although I love, my scientific journalistic mind loves to be able to explain, and there’s some bits that I still can’t explain, but I know they work.
And there comes a point where you have to say: well, I don’t understand. But it makes people feel better. And it works. It works.
Klara: I’m wondering, are you planning to write another book?
Evelyn: I think if anything, right now, my feeling is I might update. Do a revised second edition, but I’m not feeling anything brand new right now.
Klara: Sounds great! And in the meantime, where our listeners can find these books?
Evelyn: On Amazon, or they can contact me directly through my website. You can buy them from me. I do have copies that I can hand out or post out, but the electronic versions are available on Amazon. Because lots of people prefer electronic versions this year. I haven’t got audio versions, sorry.
Klara: Are you planning to do an audio version?
Evelyn: No. Not at the moment.
Klara: This was so interesting and full of information. Thank you so much for sharing all these facts with us, with our listeners and with me as well. I learnt lots of new things as well. And if the listeners would like to come to meet you or to join your work where they can find any information? Do you have any websites or social medias?
Evelyn: The website is www.balanceandpurpose.co.uk. And I think, it’s a long journey, I’m quite old when I was growing up, there was a real stigma about going for therapy, there’s horrible labels attached to not fitting in or being different or whatever.
I think now there’s much less stigma. And there are so many people suffering from stress, to trauma, to complex post-traumatic stress disorder. And it’s really important for those people, I think, to know there is hope. Don’t be afraid to reach out. You are not alone. There are things available now that were not available even just a few years ago. So, you know, don’t feel there’s no hope. Don’t feel you’re stuck in your anxiety or your depression, reach out for help. And I wish more of this was available under the NHS, of course, but there’s huge waiting lists, which is why people resort to medication. Which really may be helpful for people in the short term but was never ever designed for the long term or really to heal source. But don’t be afraid. It’s my kind of message to people.
Klara: Thank you so much. Thank you for sharing it because that was actually one of my questions if you would like to share something.
Evelyn: No, thank you.
Klara: And before I let you go, I always ask my guests for five questions just for our listeners to get to know you a little bit better.
So my first question is, do you have any pets?
Evelyn: Yes, I have a lovely dog who was a rescue dog and I get out with her all the time on the beach and on the downs and she loves working with clients. She tries to come in and sit on people’s knees. She thinks she’s a therapy dog and she is.
Klara: What was the last book you read?
Evelyn: It was a heavy book. Just Mercy. Bryan Stevenson, I think, is the author. Trouble is because I get things on Kindle now, you don’t see the cover page. It’s an American book and he set up a legal organization to help prisoners on death row. And it’s a horrifying book about the class and racial divides in America and about the way people are incarcerated for life and the prison system has become a financial institution, a financial money maker. It was a real eye opener for me. Not an easy read, but something that people should know.
Klara: My third question is what place in nature is your favourite to go to relax?
Evelyn: The beach. I love the beach. And it’s funny because I don’t do cold water swimming, but I love going down and swimming. Watching the sun rises, the sun sets, and the ocean. No, definitely beach.
Klara: And what is your most favourite season in the year?
Evelyn: Summer! I love the heat. Yay! The long days.
Klara: And my last question is if you would like to give any piece of advice to our listeners about mindfulness, for example what, what would you do, what they could do to incorporate into their everyday life. It can be only one thing out of I know, I know that there are lots of things you could do to improve your life.
Evelyn: Many, many things. So if I could give two, one is get out every day into nature, even if it’s just stepping out your front door and looking at the sky. And I guess the second is gratitude. Gratitude meditations are so powerful and people often get stuck in anxiety or depression but actually what do they have to be grateful? Maybe it’s a tree, a flower, they can turn on their tap and clean water comes out. They can go to the shops and buy food because many people can’t. And there’s all kinds of science now about why gratitude meditation actually creates a virtuous cycle rather than a vicious cycle.
All to do with the dopamine receptors. Gratitude.
Klara: Thank you so much once again, I really appreciate your time.
Evelyn: And I thank you for inviting me to do this. Thank you so much.
Klara: Thank you so much and have a nice rest of the day.
THE END OF THE EPISODE
We are at the end of this episode of Inspirations from Brighton. Thank you so much for joining us. If you have any comments or suggestions, or if you If you just want to reach out, please get in touch with me via my website travelbrighttours.com where you can also find show notes for today’s episode. If you enjoyed the show, please share the podcast with your friends and family and don’t forget to subscribe and review the show.
I also invite you to Inspirations from Brighton: Motivation & Podcast group on Facebook where you can interact with other inspiring people and be motivated with different content shared out there. for listening. Thank you so much and as always, I look forward to share inspirations from Brighton with you very soon.