How Breathwork and The Enneagram Help You Come Home to Yourself with George Ramsay
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Casey Berglund: [00:00:00] Hello, you incredible soul. Welcome back to the purpose map podcast. I'm Casey Berglund, your host and the founder of where the end. Well, and this is round three of recording this intro. I, I. I am so thrilled to introduce George Ramsey to you that I, the first time had my mic on mute, forgot to unmute my mic.
Casey Berglund: The second time, I just fluttered over all of my words. And this time third, time's a charm, right? George Ramsey. He's the founder of the breath works and. It's an incredible, incredible facilitator. Um, and one of the most loving human beings, I think I've ever met on this planet. I first met George, I believe synchronistically, cause I don't even recall how I landed there, but in an online class and it was my first time doing breathwork online.
Casey Berglund: I'd done breathwork [00:01:00] before in person with a friend of mine, who's a local facilitator. And let me tell you, it's kind of an out of this world. Sort of experience. We talk about this in the episode where I say like, it's so hard to describe with words because you have to experience it. It's a felt sense experience.
Casey Berglund: And I said that there's nothing to compare it to. And like the closest thing that I can compare it to is sort of like. I using psychedelic plant medicine or something, except you're just using your breath. And it's altering your state of consciousness and bringing about various sensations experiences within the inner world.
Casey Berglund: You know, anyway, we're going to talk about it in this episode. Breathwork as a tool alongside the Enneagram and, um, Um, I'm jumping around a little bit, but the Enneagram is a tool that George has been studying and practicing and learning about and living by behind the scenes. And he actually like talks about it and weaves it into this conversation about how to use breathwork and the [00:02:00] Enneagram as tools for self discovery and coming home to yourself and listening to the inner whispers.
Casey Berglund: So, um, we go into it in this episode, but back to my first class with George, I'd only ever done this practice in person. And because it is a, um, Sort of other worldly experience. Sometimes, sometimes breathwork is like super peaceful, super, just like calming in my body. Like sometimes it's totally chill.
Casey Berglund: And other times like wacky shit happens in a breathwork session that is so transformative and so illuminating. Um, so I was like, how is this going to go online? Because. You know, I'd only done this before with like a practitioner in the same space as me. There was lots of hands-on touch to support my leg, nervous systems regulation and all that stuff.
Casey Berglund: And gosh, it's just like, you can't quite do the same thing on zoom. And here I was on zoom about to embark in this breathwork session with someone I'd never met before, [00:03:00] amongst a quite large group of people. And. Immediately, as soon as George started to speak and share his energy and guide the practice, my whole system just like softened and I dropped in and was like, wow, this is transformative.
Casey Berglund: Even through zoom. And in that moment, I knew that George would be a supporter facilitator, um, healer for me as I navigated. Through some really hard. Stuff related to COVID-19 related to business related to my, uh, emotional world, my relationships, like in an integrative way, I knew that I needed support with, with clearing and with, uh, processing emotions and processing just life experiences as a sensitive empathic person, navigating a global pandemic for the first time.
Casey Berglund: You know? And so I think that week I got [00:04:00] on a phone call with George and shared with him a little more about. What I needed and. We worked together for quite a chunk of time, months on end. So George, um, saw a lot of intimate parts of me and my process and held me with a non-judgemental compassionate, loving presence.
Casey Berglund: Oh my gosh. George's loving presence is his special gift who he is, um, is a gift. I mean, Every single person on the planet is who each individual is, is a gift in and of itself without even doing anything. Um, and that's for you to you, who's listening. Like you have a gift in who you are, that when you come back to yourself and you own and claim your authenticity, your being.
Casey Berglund: Is in part your purpose, your being is what offers, what the world needs. Whew. That was a little soap box moment, but it's true. And I guess that's why I care about the [00:05:00] purpose piece. Like that's why this is called the purpose map and why it's about like, at the end of the day, everything's about self discovery.
Casey Berglund: Whether we're talking about self care, wellness, relationships, making money, getting paid, finding a career, you love. All of the conversations have an undertone of alignment and authenticity and doing from a place of being connected with who you really are and what you're really here for, because that is powerful.
Casey Berglund: And again, like when you do that work, your presence is the gift. So George's presence is so loving and I can't help. He'll or soften in his presence. And so you can imagine how. Thrilled. I was to have the opportunity to meet George in person, to go to his home in Venice, California, to sit and drink tea in his backyard.
Casey Berglund: And then to have this conversation that you're about to [00:06:00] listen into about using breathwork and the Enneagram as tools for self discovery. And I pull out more of George's story and George's journey, which I hadn't learned before. And it's so fascinating to hear people's stories. Um, and then I. Did an in-person session one-on-one with George immediately afterwards.
Casey Berglund: So you'll hear us talk about all things breathwork and the Enneagram, uh, George's nine ness, his harmonizer furnace, and my eight on the Enneagram. I just kind of learned about this, the challenger and how that plays out. And, um, when you tune in, I am sure that you'll also wonder like, Ooh, what's, what's my Enneagram type and how do I wing out?
Casey Berglund: And how could I use breath work to maybe release stuck patterns in my system and emotion, et cetera. Without any further ado I've been talking forever. Um, third, time's a charm. Here we go. I think [00:07:00] this recorded without further ado. Let me introduce to you George Ramsey. Uh, you're going to be delighted by this conversation.
Casey Berglund: All right, here we go.
Casey Berglund: George. I'm so excited to host you on the purpose map podcast while you're hosting me in your home right now.
Casey Berglund: Yeah. So fun. Thank you so much. The, the gift of being able to meet you in person and like look into your eyes and feel your love bubble energy. In this like IRL sort of way is like making my day today. So I'm so appreciating it. And, uh, you know, if you're listening, you're in for a treat because. I mean, I've already introduced George and told you how wonderful he is.
Casey Berglund: Um, but we're really gonna dig into some fun things that will help you come back to yourself. And you used the word storage earlier, connect with your inner whisper.
Casey Berglund: I just want to [00:08:00] start by asking you about where you're at in this moment in your self discovery journey and how breathwork and Enneagram and whatever else you're exploring is like helping you integrate and come back to
George Ramsay: yourself. Absolutely. I was reflecting yesterday on this actually, and noticing two tools have really helped me in the journey of coming back home.
George Ramsay: And that's all we're here to do is just continue to rediscover ourselves and land deeper in ourselves breath work. And the Enneagram for me have been the most transformational tools to do that. Enneagram in 2015, I was a middle school math teacher and I would be in sessions with my therapist weekly, really struggling, totally overwhelmed by the job had gained 20 pounds is drinking every weekend and about all the emotions.
George Ramsay: I didn't know how to feel. Uh, therapist started to notice a pattern in any [00:09:00] time. Student would quote unquote, get in trouble. And I have to call home. I would have nightmares about it. So afraid of talking to the parents and so afraid of these calls that we'd have to practice them in therapy. He was like, George, I think you might need to find your Enneagram type.
George Ramsay: And I had no idea what it was at the time, and this was 2015 and I typed and figured out I was a nine, which is the mediator or the peacemaker. And I read the description back and it's one of those moments kind of like human design, where you're like, oh, if you've been following me around and in my, in my thoughts in my head this whole time, and you're like, know me so deeply and my body softened, and it was one of those moments of being totally seen and understood, um, by a tool.
George Ramsay: And that tool helped me realize I was deeply afraid of conflict and so much of my way of operating in the world with. Doing everything I could to avoid conflict and by doing so, it was missing out on a lot of life. Um, and that was shown shut up with these calls home. I would do everything I could to avoid them.
George Ramsay: It led to less [00:10:00] deeper relationships with my students and their families. It's flowed to. Bailing on folks after the second date every time, because when we started to see what we were both human, that might mean conflict could be around the corner. So I'd dip out until it was just pulling back from full liveliness, a lot of areas of my life and steadying, the anagram realized.
George Ramsay: There's a healthy nine and there's an item stress, and it has a beautiful job of showing what it's like when you're in both and helped me realize where I was and kind of check in moment to moment. Where am I right now? And the rest was really gift for me as well.
Casey Berglund: So the Enneagram is a newer tool for me and probably for some people listening.
Casey Berglund: Um, And I'm curious if you can just share a little bit about it as a tool in general. And I love that you, it sounds like it was really validating for you to discover your nine ness in making sense of that scenario as a teacher. Um, so I think that's [00:11:00] a perfect example, but if you give like the sort of bird's-eye view of the Enneagram.
Casey Berglund: Specifically, that would be super helpful for me and probably for the folks that are
George Ramsay: listening to. Yeah, absolutely. So many of us have probably heard of Myers Briggs, common personality tool. Can we give you where you are right now? I find the Enneagram is another personality tool, but it goes way deeper.
George Ramsay: So it maps nine different types in the vision. As we all know. Have all of these nine types are energies within us. And because of our life circumstances or some experience, usually younger in life, we lead with one of us nine times. Um, and because of that, we focus on certain things. We walk into a room we're really tuned in to how we can get our needs met in one specific way.
George Ramsay: And then create a personality structure, your tape structure, and that kind of becomes the box. You put yourself in and then carry that box around through life. One of my Instagram teachers will say people with like, I don't want to be boxed in, I can't be boxed into [00:12:00] one specific type more multi-dimensional than that.
George Ramsay: And yes, but still say you chose this box. So this is the box you chose at a young age because he didn't know any better. And then it helps you see your box so that you can actually take it off and dissolve the structure of the personalities.
Casey Berglund: So I'm in the eight box
Casey Berglund: Yeah.
George Ramsay: So the challenge is a fun one, very big energy challengers. When they walk in any room are tuned into, who's got the power and they're incredible leaders because they are very loyal to the people around them. It's once you're in their tribe, they're going to look out for you. They're going to protect their people.
George Ramsay: They're going to protect themselves. And they have was incredible way of helping us arrive at a more just society. And they see all that's unfair in the world and want to make it right. And they, I have to play a role here in making this. Um, and are pretty fearless. Sometimes all the eights. I know I'm like, wow, you're really dove right into that [00:13:00] conversation.
George Ramsay: Or you really navigated that conflict that almost seemed like alive as you were doing it.
Casey Berglund: That makes so much sense. And I feel like that's true for me, um, different from what you shared earlier, but like really trying to avoid conflict as the harmonizer. I feel like I really lean into it. Like, I'm the one to start the hard conversation with the person I'm dating or the friend where there's like a bit of an off energy.
Casey Berglund: I tend to be like a leader in that, and it's not like it's. Uh, not uncomfortable for me, it's uncomfortable, but it's kind of like, this is right. That digest part of it. It's like, I just care about the truth and I will lead and lean into the discomfort in order for us to get that together, which surprises people sometimes, like, I, I really get a lot of feedback that either it's refreshing that level of like truth.
Casey Berglund: Um, and. A word that's sometimes used to describe me as intense, which makes sense. Based on what you've [00:14:00] shared, I'm curious about, um, this is a little bit of a selfish question. We'll get, we'll get back to the intersection of Enneagram and breathwork soon, but I'm curious about like the shadow side, cause you share.
Casey Berglund: You shared about that when you were talking about your, um, but like what would the shadow side of the eight be a fighter starting a fight. This is like my area's energy too. Like a little burning shit down. Okay. Yeah.
George Ramsay: Got it. Got it. Got it. And so the word vulnerability. Yeah. This hard exterior. I might project into the world that can get things done and.
George Ramsay: Me and my tribe forward. And then usually the there's this really tender inner world that just wants to be taking care of that supported and cared for until you're assessing other people. Where's the power because you wouldn't be able to soften. Yeah, I really
Casey Berglund: do. Oh, I really do. It's true. I, I feel like I've learned just in the last couple [00:15:00] of years, what true vulnerability is, you know, people have projected onto me that I'm really vulnerable.
Casey Berglund: Like, oh, that's so vulnerable for you to do that. You know, like share about my personal life or struggles or whatever, but I've always been kind of like, I don't know, it doesn't really feel vulnerable because I'm comfortable in that uncomfortable space. Like what would be vulnerable for, for you is a safe zone for me.
Casey Berglund: And in the last couple of years I've learned, I mean, definitely in the, obviously in the context of relationships, what that truly means. And it's like, I want to hide under the covers and not be seen, like that's vulnerability like that emotional exposure. And it was kind of surprising for me that I, like, I thought I knew what it was before and I'm like, oh, this discomfort, different type of discomfort.
George Ramsay: And I distinguish between the intellectual vulnerability and the body-based vulnerabilities. One is like, I can say the [00:16:00] right things and I can speak about my experiences and right. Other people think, oh, wow, it's so vulnerable. You're sharing of yourself. But the lived experience of being in emotion and let it move through your body, in the presence of other people.
George Ramsay: So totally different thing
Casey Berglund: you just described with words. Exactly. What I've just learned, like the body of vulnerability is to me, what I would say is true vulnerability for me, it's terrifying.
George Ramsay: It's
Casey Berglund: terrifying. Absolutely. So where did breathwork come into this picture for you?
George Ramsay: Yeah. So I think Enneagram caught me at one of my first moment to be really stuck and helped me get on stock and kind of laid this mental map and framework to become really self-aware and then I'd be in therapy.
George Ramsay: And the following years I was like, I'm so self-aware, it would show my therapist how self-aware I was, I know this pattern where it comes from the childhood experience is linked to, but it was all in my head. And so I wasn't actually, I don't think I cried in therapy until you're five[00:17:00]
George Ramsay: and I described the emotion and total detail, but just like we talked about moving it down into my body and actually feeling the feeling was a totally different thing. I would intellectualize everything I was experiencing. As a protection mechanism, cause it was scary to feel those things. And so I would keep myself in loops again and then get to another point where I'm stuck again and other job.
George Ramsay: At one point, I remember I applied for 23 jobs in one week and the following week just got back all these automated rejection emails. None of these jobs were aligned or meant for me, but I was spiraling and then applied to business schools. It was like I had to go to grad school and then find my. At this man in Venice, in his garage randomly one Wednesday night, and yet his breathe in a repeatable pattern.
George Ramsay: There's big music playing all around. IMS gone, my partner, who I've been dating for like three or four months, the time of sitting to my right. And they start saying, And the more we did the breath, the more sadness finally moved out of my body. And I just cried for a good 45 minutes. And [00:18:00] at the end there was this peace.
George Ramsay: I felt my body in a very long time. And, uh, my little inner whisper was able to come out. It was like, Nope, no business school. Just keep practicing doing breath work and I'll keep coming back. And every time I practice that little inner whisper would get a little bit louder. And then I'd start to listen and actually start to make changes in my life based on what I was hearing.
George Ramsay: And that was my intuition. And I was so disconnected from it because I was so afraid of feeling that layer of emotion between me and the voice that wanted to come out. Um, so I was living through other people, what they thought I should do with my. Um, totally tuned out of what I actually wanted. So
Casey Berglund: breathwork really connected you to that inner whisper, the intuitive voice that it sounds like you said was like beneath the emotion that needed to be felt and cleared.
Casey Berglund: Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Cool. What is breath rec really for the new cover here. Who's like, [00:19:00] so is this like, I don't know, into the nose, out through the mouth, what are we doing here? Talk to me about breathwork in its basic sense. Like what it is. And obviously it helps us to clear emotion and connect with intuition, but what else can it
George Ramsay: support?
George Ramsay: Yeah. So breathwork is such a big umbrella term and I describe it as any technique you do that manipulates. So that could be a quick inhale for four exhale for four that you do before you jump on a zoom call on one end, a more technique based practice. And on the other end there's breath work for healing.
George Ramsay: That's a full journey like session where you're doing this practice for 30, 45 minutes. Really going deep into your own transformation. And we don't have to do either at any point in the day and you get to tune in, what do I need in this moment? Sometimes we just need a quick clearing breath work before meeting.
George Ramsay: Sometimes you're ready to dive in, feel all those feelings that are getting stuck, a lodge in your body and do a full session. Um, I teach mainly a three-part breath, which is on the healing end of the structure. [00:20:00] Or we dive in. Longer breathwork sessions and journeys, um, to experience what wants to come out and through to get you tapped back into that intuition.
George Ramsay: And one person said recently, it was just clear the pipes, they clears the bank.
George Ramsay: Yeah,
Casey Berglund: totally. And, and gosh, Even as I'm listening to you talk about breathwork because I've done it. And with you many times, and in the middle of some of the hardest moments during COVID, um, it's like the words don't do it, justice, you know, like you're describing it so beautifully and articulately, et cetera.
Casey Berglund: And my, my body is kind of. And you got to do it. Like it's like a felt sense experience that doesn't have words, you know, like nothing has offered me what breathwork does. Like it's, I can't really compare it to anything. You know, it like [00:21:00] alters my state of consciousness and offers a whole new perspective.
Casey Berglund: I'm feeling called to just share that. I started breathwork in the months leading up to doing my Ted talk and a close friend actually facilitates it. And this was before, obviously before the days of quarantining and masks. And we were together in a group, in a room. And part of the, you know, if you've watched my Ted talk, uh, there's a part of it.
Casey Berglund: That's about like doing what I thought I should during it and how, when I connected in with my body, I received a deeper wisdom around what really needed to be shared or spoken on the stage. And. I can so clearly recall this moment in the middle of a breathwork session where, I mean, I felt this like tingling all through my body, almost like a merging of, uh, you know, where you can't feel where your skin ends [00:22:00] and where the space around you begins.
Casey Berglund: It's like emerging, uh, losing, uh, Definition in my physical form, I guess. Um, but just like totally different physical sensations than I'd ever felt. Almost like an opening in my mind that I felt in a new way in that breathwork session. And then I got this vision of taking off my shoes, being barefoot and kneeling on the stage in the middle of a red dot.
Casey Berglund: And that's how I started the talk. And so breathwork. Wrote part of my Ted talk, because I got these like visions, these lines or words that would come in those states. In fact, the whole talk was, came to me in meditation, on walks in breathwork in these embodied practices, which like, ha of course, like it's called let your body lead.
Casey Berglund: Right. So I just think that's so fascinating how a tool like this can connect you with. [00:23:00] A different state of consciousness that can offer like a direct download of what needs to happen next, call it like you will intuition, uh, divine communication. I don't know, but it's just fascinating to me. And it really is beyond words.
George Ramsay: That's beautiful.
Casey Berglund: Yes, exactly. Like a line. Yeah. So how do you see breathwork and the Enneagram working together to support people with connecting back in with themselves and, you know, accessing that inner whisper that you talk about?
George Ramsay: So I think the Enneagrams incredible map for the mind. It gives our mind something to understand about ourselves, how our patterns operate, how we behave, typically even our patterns of thinking.
George Ramsay: And then the breath work is way less intellectual. It's more about being in the body and a great body-based practice. Dissolving the patterns [00:24:00] and clearing out the accumulation that we naturally have in our bodies from living out these patterns, which means for me as a nine, uh, always avoiding conflict, doing everything I can to not be Annette and my work is getting more comfortable in conflict.
George Ramsay: So moving into the pandemic, I had just moved in with my partner. My nightmare was that I would be trapped in the homeless cell, but having no alone time to do my practices and to clear out the stress in my own body. And when I do breath work, I go big there's tears. There's moving around. There's sound, usually a yell.
George Ramsay: Um, and I was like, oh gosh, I'm doing this in this tiny little home with my partner in the room. Next door. Facing conflict was my work during COVID. We are having somebody to decisions about our house, how to settle in to routines together. And there was constant conflict. And when I get into conflict, my body feels like it's on fire.
George Ramsay: Um, and it's so physically uncomfortable. And so being able to be with the physical sensation in my body in a new way [00:25:00] and relate to it different. The breath work allowed me to do, and I could drop in and experience those sensations and experience them in I controlled space, a breathwork session, and then let my brain have the experience of, oh, this is safe.
George Ramsay: This is okay. There's not going to be disconnection. No, one's leaving. And the more I could feel all the feelings that needed to be felt around that and get comfortable in the sensations. I get then start to open up little moments. When I would go into a conversation with my partner about what kitchen table we had in my mind, she conflict.
George Ramsay: And it was like, this is the end. It's really dramatic and bad. And come back to my. And starting to have an experience in my body. I felt experience of, oh, this is safe. This is a chance for more connection, actually stay in the conflict is actually about a conflict. This is just a dialogue we're just, and then over time, more and more of these quote unquote.
George Ramsay: Just became dialogues and chances for deeper connection. And my [00:26:00] pattern is a nine is so afraid of disconnecting from others. That conflict to the way that'll happen, it's rewiring our brains and our bodies to experience a sense of safety in the world so that that type of structure can dissolve. And so that I can actually be in more dialogue with other people which builds more connection in my life.
George Ramsay: So the thing I was running from so much was obviously the thing I wanted the most in breathwork helped me find a felt sense of safety of my body to actually experience that.
Casey Berglund: That's so fascinating. And I'm also like you being a nine and me being an eight, it's just fascinating to me that you're harmonizer and I am kind of a fighter, right?
Casey Berglund: Like the thing that you're most scared of. I do probably most effortlessly of all the types. Would you say that that's true. Yeah. And I'm just noticing, like I'm so attracted to you and your energy and like, I'm just like, that can't be a mistake, right? Like that. We also see and [00:27:00] call in what we maybe want or need.
Casey Berglund: In ourselves that we're not getting and we see it in another person. Yeah,
George Ramsay: absolutely. So this is other fun Enneagram thing. If you imagine nine numbers around a circle, you can wing into the two numbers on either side. So you would wing and to seven or nine. And so they say over the course of your life, you're developing your.
George Ramsay: So that you can drop into those types
Casey Berglund: so that you can be a more integrated human.
George Ramsay: Exactly. So I'm probably attracted to you so I can develop my eight, my talents here, and there's some attraction to me, the peacemaker, the harmonizer as well. Oh, it's
Casey Berglund: like my favorite thing about you are there so much to love about you, George, but like that, that energy that you bring.
Casey Berglund: So loving and fluid and peaceful is like such a gift to be around. Yeah. I love that. Um, I'm just realizing that. We haven't shared about like how people even figure out their [00:28:00] Enneagram.
George Ramsay: Yeah. It's a bit of a journey. So they say the best way to do it as two approaches itself steady. Um, many folks you can do a quiz to start the quizzes have about like a 30 to 60% accuracy rate.
George Ramsay: Well, that's not that high. No, because it's really about how. Your inner experience of how you see the world. And so you can't type someone based on the behaviors. I would just see a new externally. We will have to get in there and see how they're experiencing things. So you can do a quiz to start. And then I recommend folks go read about the types.
George Ramsay: The narrative Enneagram has a great test where you can read through different paragraph description. And then start to rank and prioritize which ones align and the real way, you know, you've found your type is you'll read the description and be like, oh no,
Casey Berglund: that's exactly how I feel. I'm like, I don't want to be a challenge or a challenge, everything.
George Ramsay: It's a bit of like cringe and I'm like, oh, don't look at me. Stop, [00:29:00] look away.
Casey Berglund: Wow, that makes so much sense. I'm having a moment thinking about, so I'm, I'm doing a breathwork session with George immediately after we hit end recording on this podcast episode. And when I was driving over here, I was thinking about.
Casey Berglund: What my intention would be for the breathwork session. And also I was thinking about how excited I was to meet you in person for the first time. Um, and I think that intention is sort of evolving and developing as we. Converse in this episode. Um, because I, I don't know. I guess I'm, I'm in a moment of transition.
Casey Berglund: This California trip is a bit of a reset for me. And in some ways I feel like I'm coming back to myself by accessing the challenger again, like, I feel like me again, because I feel feisty again, you know,[00:30:00]
Casey Berglund: Uh, even though I just said that it's like, I don't want to be the challenger like cringe. I also really love that part of me because I can lead and I can be powerful and I can, uh, Stand up for what's right. And lean into conflict and all of those things. And so in some ways, I guess maybe my intention for breathwork is to, well, I mean, sometimes you just have to be open and see what the body shows you, but I find having an intention can make it more meaningful, but it's almost like I want to own and claim those parts that are really supportive and serving of me right now.
Casey Berglund: And also maybe discover the ways in which. I lose the positive parts of that type and or can fall into an unbalanced form of that energy. You know, I'd just be curious to almost go into the breathwork session [00:31:00] with this. Maybe question about like, Hm, what am I meant to see or let go of right now as that nine
George Ramsay: archetype?
George Ramsay: Yeah. Beautiful, beautiful. Embrace the eight. I love it.
Casey Berglund: I love it. Yeah. So for people who are getting started on their journey, maybe they've been on a self discovery journey for quite some time. And they're deep in a different form of exploration right now. Maybe learning any ground for the first time or curious about breath work, what would you suggest as their next step?
Casey Berglund: If, if they're say Enneagram and breathwork curious.
George Ramsay: Enneagram take an online quiz. That Enneagram coach is a website that has a good quiz, super short breathwork come try a 20 minute breathwork class on open grade teach breathwork [00:32:00] and that's a great entry to the experience to,
Casey Berglund: oh, I love that. Um, and then how can people go deeper with.
George Ramsay: Yeah, so I do one-on-one sessions. So if you're ready for that, we can do a full hour session virtually in person. If you're here in LA. And then I work with about six folks in a three-month container, did that with Casey, which was beautiful. And if you really want to go deep and see. This tool can support you in your own transformation.
George Ramsay: We'll meet biweekly into a session and you have time to integrate the sessions and actually start to take action as an inner whisper starts talking to you. Yeah.
Casey Berglund: And for people who are not in LA, where George is and are kind of like, how does this work in an online capacity? Um, I, I mean, I'm gonna, I'm going to just speak to that a little bit, because I first met George at the start of COVID where I was processing a lot of emotion sensations in my body.
Casey Berglund: And it was such an intuitive poll to you. I feel like I, I got to [00:33:00] experience, uh, a class that you facilitated online and immediately I was like, I think he's my guy, you know, I think he's the one right now. And we got on a phone call and I just shared with you some of what was going on in my life. And we did our first breathwork session online.
Casey Berglund: And it was the first time for me doing it online. So I wasn't sure because it's, I don't know, like you lie down and I usually get cuddled up with blankets and have an eye pillow, and then you breathe in and out of your mouth and you know, like it could be intimidating to someone who's just starting. Um, but I.
Casey Berglund: Felt like I could immediately drop in with you, George, because you just like have this presence. That's so nonjudgmental and so spacious and you don't give advice. Like you really do hold space for someone to let their bodies lead. And I felt like any fears that I had going into that online space.
Casey Berglund: [00:34:00] Melted immediately. And in some ways, for some people it's almost safer to start in that way. It's less vulnerable perhaps because you're in the comfort of your own home and you know, and there's music and you're facilitating George in a way. That's just so guided and held. Um, anyway, I could go on and on, uh, if you're not in California and you don't get the chance to meet George in real life.
Casey Berglund: Doing a private session online is so beautiful. So.
George Ramsay: I loved working with you real dream to work with. Cause you do listen to your body and it just flows right out.
Casey Berglund: Yeah. Thank you. You really helped me with a lot. I'm so excited. Cause we haven't done breathwork together for a little while and I was just thrilled that you had availability today and that one day that I'm here in Venice.
Casey Berglund: So yeah, maybe I'll I'll need to report. Report back to the listeners about how this experience [00:35:00] goes, but, um, where can people find
George Ramsay: you? Um, my website is george-ramsey.com. Ramsey, R a M S a Y. Now Instagram at the breath work.
Casey Berglund: Beautiful. Check them out. And, uh, any final words before. And record, just keep breathing, keep breathing.
Casey Berglund: What wise? Wisdom. Thank you so much, George. It's such a delight to chat with you. Thank you. You're welcome.
Casey Berglund: I was just thinking about how even just sitting down with George makes me breathe deeper. I hope you enjoyed that episode. And, um, in a moment, I'll share a few words to help you integrate and take your next step. And first I felt called to update you on how my breathwork session went with George. Um, I mentioned that my intention for it.
Casey Berglund: I was so processing in our episode, in our conversation that you just heard, uh, what it was that [00:36:00] I was actually intending for my breathwork session with George, but, um, it had to do with really seeing or feeling the light supportive sides of my eight architects. And also noticing or feeling or sensing how the kind of shadow sides are at play.
Casey Berglund: Anyway, I'm almost like forgetting exactly what the intention was, but what I will say is, um, This was a calmer breathwork session than I've had before. Sometimes there can be all, a lot more, uh, sensation or visions, et cetera. And this time with George person, it felt very like gentle and calm. And what I noticed was this like holding pattern on the right side of my body, like all the way down the outside of my right leg and into my hip, it was [00:37:00] like, I just couldn't relax.
Casey Berglund: I like couldn't let that part go. Uh, there was just like physical tightness that I felt like such a sematic experience of tightness, almost like I could sense and feel while I was breathing. Energy trying to move through, but it feeling sticky or blocked or stuck, or like there was sort of a hard shell on the outside of my right leg.
Casey Berglund: And, um, and I guess what it felt like for me was just like armor, you know? And I just think about the, the challenger archetype, the eight on the Enneagram and, um, my. I guess box that I've chosen to use Georges languages, teachers language, um, how it does often mean that I have a armor or protection, not just for myself, but for my, my people, [00:38:00] you know, like I care to stand up for my people.
Casey Berglund: And I think I connected in that breathwork session, how that is stored in my body. You know how that. Energy of holding and protecting shows up as tightness and specifically, it was like right side of my body. And, you know, gosh, I it's like not something to read into too much. It's like the body knows. And I just need to trust that my body's working some stuff out.
Casey Berglund: Um, I also processed with George afterward that that tightness felt like, you know, this California trip. Was, uh, is, uh, was a reset, you know? Um, and that I'd been on the go, like I'd been traveling quite a lot, even before I landed at his house. And it just felt like I couldn't fully relax yet. Like there was nowhere that I could just drop in and you know, when you're traveling and you're sleeping [00:39:00] in hotels or Airbnbs or other people's homes, and you're not in your own bed, how.
Casey Berglund: It's sometimes hard to like fully relax. And I guess I felt that show up in my body and, you know, it was interesting because this experience in breath work really illuminated that sensation. And there were other things that happened too. Like George put his hands on me and oh my God, I could just like feel energy from his hands, like whoosh into my body.
Casey Berglund: Um, so that was pretty cool. But, uh, in the end it was kind of this thing of like, Hmm. I don't know yet what this is about and it will be revealed to me. And how much can I trust the sensations and the experience in my body for what it was and use it as a way to check in, like, what was really illuminated was.
Casey Berglund: Um, my body's not relaxed or at least that part is not relaxed and I'm holding a I'm [00:40:00] efforting. I am armoring in order to move through at least this period of my life right now, or at least this time traveling. And how can I check in with myself to see. Where I'm at in terms of my holding or my letting go, as it relates to that sensation that I felt on the right side.
Casey Berglund: Um, yeah, there was lots of tension that I became aware of through doing the breath work and, um, some release, but almost more. So the wisdom of like, it's not time yet to release like this protection or this armor serving a purpose, keep holding on. And luckily throughout my own embodiment journey, I've learned a lot about self compassion and acceptance and presence and timing, you know, and as much as you might have an expectation going into a breathwork session that you have this like massive experience, sometimes that's.
Casey Berglund: What's right in that moment. And the body always knows, you know? And so I feel like I left George's house with this, like ha [00:41:00] almost like a pulse check, like a self assessment of what my body is holding and carrying. Yeah. I'll pause there. Oh, and it was so nice to just like be in-person let me just say that you just can't replace in person.
Casey Berglund: So that's my little update on the breathwork session. Now, back to you back to helping you integrate this wisdom. So. I always think at the end of a podcast episode, like if you can take an immediate next step, you'll integrate the wisdom better and, or make it real for you. You know? So there's a couple different approaches.
Casey Berglund: Um, you know, George mentioned taking, uh, an Enneagram quiz. If you feel like you're guided to explore that pathway, and maybe you're not as much guidance. To explore the Enneagram, but more so guided to explore breathwork and, you know, he teaches on open of course. So that's a great like gateway in to a breathwork experience.
Casey Berglund: Um, one of [00:42:00] those two places might be places for you to start. And I just invite you to kind of follow your own curiosity. I hope you enjoyed this episode and that you continue to engage with George and I about your experiences. And we're just like so excited to bring more of this wisdom to you, different tools that can help you to discover yourself, have a beautiful rest of your day.
Casey Berglund: And I can't wait to chat with you soon. Bye-bye.
