How To Develop Embodied Leadership with Nadia Munla

Diane: Hey, Hey, this week's guest is Nadia Munla. She is an embodiment and intimacy coach at Embodied by Nadia. She teaches women to stop managing their bodies and start loving them instead. So we get to feel confident and sexy and powerful in our businesses. Nadia’s eighties embody cos as my go-to when work is starting to feel overwhelming so I can personally vouch for her expertise. Hey Nadia, welcome to the show. Nadia: well, thank you so much for having me. And I'm so glad that the eighties class really resonates because it's one of my favorites as well. Diane: Let's start over a little bit about your lifestyle business and how it's evolved Nadia: oh yeah, my gosh. It's changed so much. When I first entered the coaching world, I was a certified holistic health coach. And so I was primarily working in the realm of not just nutrition, but you know, there was a lot of talk around. What to eat, how to eat it, you know, that sort of a thing. And of course, I mean the overall lifestyle that comes with being healthier, which isn't just about what you're eating, but it's also about the boundaries that you have and how much self-care you've gotten. You know, all those things. And over time, I started to realize that my particular way of operating and working with clients was actually to drop them into their own bodies. And so they can hear their own body's wisdom because the truth is every single body. Needs something different in terms of nutrition, in terms of support, in terms of lifestyle, we are all set up differently. And so to go to like a formulaic, like this is the way to be healthy is just it's utter nonsense. Let's be honest. Right? And so I was really helping these, these women who were coming to me, I was guiding them back to. Using tools of embodiment really guiding them back to a deeper connection with their own body voice so that their body could lead us through the process of like what's actually going to be healthiest for her. And through that process, I started to employ a lot more essentially like sensuality tools and monument tools And so. I through doing that. I realized that actually really, really what people wanted was connection to their bodies, connection to their femininity, and understanding of where they had let go and disconnected from the feminine aspects of them and what they needed to do to actually bring that piece back so that they could be more powerful as leaders in the world and bring in not only sort of the structure and the masculine and the. But also bringing in their feminine intuition and their body was dumb and their magnetizing abilities and their beautiful superpower of emotionality and being able to feel the world around them. I mean, that's so key in terms of leadership. So yeah, that's sort of been the path that my work has naturally taken and led me to where I am now, which is primarily embodiment and intimacy. Diane: so when we think about that embodiment, Society tells us constantly. Okay. Maybe it's starting to drift a little bit now, or maybe just I'm more in your circle. So I think it's drifting, but we come from a space where masculinity is prized structure, strategy, power decision-making lack of emotion are all the things that got you places, especially in corporate jobs, it was kind of those definitions of success. Right? How do we start to make that transition to becoming a more embodied leader? If all the example that we have had of leadership, quote, unquote, success has come from the masculine. Nadia: Yeah, it's scary. Right? It's scary at the beginning because those of us that are moving into a new paradigm of leadership. Are taking big risks because the world hasn't fully caught up yet. I mean, if you look at the world around us right now, and we see where pure masculine leadership has led us and it's like, Hm, that didn't really work out so great. Did it. And that's not to say there aren't beautiful, incredibly powerful elements in that form of leadership. There really are. Is so important, like a clear clarity on getting from point a to point B very important using our minds, using strategy, formulas concepts. Like these are how cool that, like where the most evolved, you know, animal species that have that level of brain power. Of course, no one is saying let's toss that to the side. Simply what we're moving towards is a reclamation really, of some of the more old-school things. And I want to say old school, I'm talking like hundreds and hundreds of years ago, you know, our primal bodies also have a certain amount of wisdom that we have sort of tossed aside as like, Oh, that's less evolved and it's time for us to bring that back. It's time to bring back the instinct. The way that you know, there's so many animals just navigate nature and their life is through their body wisdom because their brains aren't, as developed as ours. And they're doing just great. I want to say that maybe they're doing better than us. Like, I'm not really sure. I haven't had a cup of tea with like an ant lately, but like, like my sense is that. You know, they are a little bit more aligned with nature as a whole and the cycles of nature. And I think for us, it's, we're not saying, you know, move completely away from what we've spent so much time building, but let's bring in this other piece as well. You know, let's come back to cyclical living. Let's come back to alignment with nature. Let's come back to really honoring like these different, intuitive and instinctual processes and systems that we have naturally in our body. Diane: do you think though, that if somebody is coming into this for the first time and they're listening to us talk about this and they're kind of thinking, I don't know what you're talking about. Like where is this instinct in me? You know, because it is right when you and I first met, I would have said to you, I literally no idea what you're talking about. Nadia: Yeah. Diane: Because I came from a hyper-masculine banking background where none of this was ever cultivated. So how do they first, I guess, tap into that as a very, very first step, and then we can talk through how to develop it further. Nadia: sure. That's great because I still have days just FYI to everyone listening. I still have days where someone's like, you know, a friend will be like, just, what does your intuition say? I'm like, I don't know. Like, it's not it's not like you suddenly press a button and now you're like this intuitive, like body-wise like creature. It doesn't work that way. I am a very heady person, which is why I do this work. I love strategizing. I love overly intellectualizing and pulling apart all these different pieces. And so. I really understand that mode of operating. And I would say that, you know, step one in the process is like, feeling yourself. So feeling myself, I'm feeling myself, right? Like it's the, that is the first step. And what I mean by that is literally creating a practice for yourself that can take 30 seconds in the morning. It doesn't need to be complicated where you slow down enough and. Feel what is going on in your body. So it could just be a simple as a body scan. Right. And just noticing, huh? Okay. Let me start with the tips of my toes and slowly start to just bring my awareness up into my ankles, through my calves, up into my knees, et cetera, et cetera. Right. All the way up your body and just notice like where's their tightness. What different textures are you noticing? What different temperatures are you noticing in your body? What's coming up. Is there an emotion once you hit, like your solar plexus or your heart? Maybe there's just like so much around your neck and shoulders because you feel like you're like the whole world, like the burdens of the world are on your shoulders, which can often happen for us when we are disconnected from nature. And the rhythm of nature is that we feel super individualistic and very like, it's just me and I got to do it all versus like, Oh, I'm part of like a bigger. System. And so if you just start with something like that, or if you want to take it one notch further and get a little bit more I guess tactile with it. Instead of you're doing this through your mind's eye, you can actually allow your hands to travel across your body. Which can be like an edge for a lot of people. How crazy that likes for so many of us, like even just touching our own bodies is like, Ooh, I don't know about that. Right. I know that was the case for me many years ago, when I first started to move into, you know, the work of being a essential movement student. Going there loving your body, or just even being a curious observer of like what sensations come up, what emotions come up as I'm just taking a very simple little journey from the top of my head down to my toes. And that's the place to start. And you can do that for a really long time and you don't need to complicate it more than that, because that alone is you building the sematic muscle, the sensation muscle of like. Oh, right. This is how I drop into what's going on in my body. it's like, literally going to the gym, right? Like day one, you start very slow. And like, it's never going to not be good for you to do like some bicep curls, like, and they're simple and they're classic, but like, that's sort of the, this is an exercise that's similar to that. But in the realm of like your own embodiment, Diane: It's so interesting that you were saying that even that can be an edge for people when we're trying to put all this reliance on intuition, you have to start that small before you can be like, okay, well, I'm just going to trust whatever my guts saying. We just completely, almost lost that head and body connection completely. Nadia: Yeah. And, and I think that, you know, the thing is like listening to your intuition is actually very complex. I feel like we could do a whole episode just on this, because the truth is that different people's intuition comes to them in different ways. So some people will feel it in like literally in their gut. For some people, when they say something out loud, there is then the ping of like, Oh yeah, that's the answer. Right. For some people, it's just an emotion that they feel in their heart. So we actually all have different ways that we listen to our intuition. But what I would say is the same across the board is that intuition tends to come as like a soft whisper and just like a clear. image or word or message and then or just a tug even can feel like, just like, I don't know, but for some reason I just feel like going to this city next month is like where I'm supposed to be or hiring this coach is what I'm supposed to do or bringing on this team members. What's right. Even though your head is like, wow, I don't know about that. Right. So sometimes it just feels that way. So intuition has that like sort of whisper calm energy to it. And then usually when your mind is trying to take over, it's slightly more like frenetic and chaotic and louder. And if you just feel the energy it's, it's not calm. It's more like you should do this. You gotta do that. It's really important that you do this leave now, you know, and lots of times it's like leave now. It's like, Oh, that feels like. That must be my intuition. Right. But it's like, no, that's probably like some, either there's like, you know, trauma in your body, that's coming up. There's like an old programming. There's something that's going like, okay. Your fear stimulus is coming up and you're like, okay, got, gotta go. But often that's not actually like intuition is just so calm and quiet and clear. And I find that's been really helpful for people to sort of get a sense of, okay. How do I know when it's my fear? How do I know when it's my intuition? And so going back to the body and why it's important to touch yourself or to just do a body scan and start to connect to this piece of you is that if you can't quiet down and feel the sensations in your body, if you haven't cultivated that capacity, then it's going to be really hard to hear the quiet, calm voice. Right or the sensation, if it comes out as a sensation for you. Diane: So how does this impact us from a leadership perspective? How do we step into this in business and in the world, and really cultivate this different form of leadership? Nadia: well, there's many pieces to it. So I'll, I'll speak to first, like you and your business, like as, you know, as like one entity, and then I'll talk about leadership in the world, because I think they're there it's the same and it's very different. So. The way that it's really helpful to be more embodied and to be able to connect to your intuition with you and your business with your business goals, with just the project in front of you or whatever it is you're working on in your life is that it's going to be a hundred times more efficient. It's going to save you a ton of money. So if. Often, we just go right into something. Like we have an idea and then those of us who love to execute, I know I'm one of those people. I'm just like, I get so much satisfaction out of completion and moving through a process, like from ideation to conceptualization, it's like my favorite. And a lot of us entrepreneurs and CEOs and stuff like we, that's how project managers, like, we love that process, but. What happens is if you are also the visionary. So if you are running your own business or you're working with a small team and you're sort of the head. it's really, really important to take enough time before you decide to go like Greenlight, a project or green light, a path to really be with. Okay. Is this really the next thing that we need to create? And is it in alignment with me? Is it in alignment with what the world needs? Is it in alignment? So many different questions to ask and sit with, but I think often what I see is this is the piece that sort of jumped over and we're like, okay, it's a great idea. Let's go for it. Let them that, like my head thinks this is very logical and we're going to make a shit ton of money and dah, dah, dah, and then you pour all this money and time and resources and effort into it. And it's like, so often I'll hear some entrepreneurial friends come back like two, three years later and be like, And I dissolve that whole thing because I'm realizing now that I just didn't listen to my intuition from the beginning. And so on a very on, in an, on an individual level, it's really important to be connected because you're going to save yourself a ton of money and time and mental sanity and you know, all the things. If you actually slow down enough. And sometimes we're like, Oh my God, I can't wait another week. Like we must execute. We don't have money coming in. Like, right. There's so many pressures that come up. But often that one extra week of just being in. Solitude and slowing down and being with your body and listening could save you years of work. So I think that's, that's important to know. And then on a much larger scale embodied leadership and intuition is important because as leaders in the world, especially imagine a lot of people who are sort of circling in the sphere and listening to this are people who are. Trying to create an impact in the world who are very soulful in their mission who want to have some sort of social impact. You know, they're not just here just for money's great. We all want more of it. The EA and we are trying to upgrade elevate and evolve humanity as a whole. And so connecting to our intuition, being more in our bodies is so important. Because it connects us to the rhythm of nature, which then is going to help guide us on a much bigger macro level, two words, like in the direction of like, where is humanity, like actually supposed to be going? Which, you know, can be a little like, Whoa, that's a little overwhelming, right? For a lot of people, but that is the responsibility we have as leaders nowadays. I mean, we look around and things are not going great. There's some stuff that we need to work out, you know, and it's coming from nature. A lot of it is coming from nature and because of the imbalance that we have created and we have to clean up our own mess because we did get a little too, in my opinion, we got a little cocky. We're like, okay, great. All this technology. And like, we're just going to build cities everywhere and like, who cares about the trees and who cares about the animals that are going extinct and who care? You know? And then like, nature's like, all right, do you want to do that? Let's have an X extra number of hurricanes and earthquakes and virus. That's like basically puts you all in a home that we can never leave. And, you know, I mean, all these things are going down and of course, like I understand that a lot of people may not have that perspective. However, there's something to be looked at. Like it feels like it's a, it's a big enough issue at this point that we should just question like maybe what we're doing. Right. Isn't exactly in alignment with the cycles of nature. The good news is nature is incredibly resilient and if we get it together, we can readjust and we can live in more harmony. But I, to me, this is actually why I do the work that I do in the world. Yeah, I want. I want to feel better on a day-to-day basis. I want you to feel better. I want everyone listening to feel better because that alone is awesome. And by you feeling better, you're actually going to be more connected to the world and the system that you live in. And by doing that, we can elevate us as a collective. And that's really important as well. I think. Diane: is there an element of sustainability to it as well? Like if we're in this more embodied leadership, is it easier for us to maintain? We see a lot of people going super hard in their business, sprinting through a launch. Sprinting through something that's happening in their life and then just Epic levels of burnout. That's what I'm seeing at the moment is people coming to me, having chased the money, having chased the hustle and going well, I hate my business. I'm exhausted. I don't know which way is up. So is embodiment a, let's say a tool. I don't want to say a cure, but is it a tool that we can use for sustainability as well? Nadia: Hundred percent. And here's where I'm going to get really granular about this thing that I keep talking about, which is like your, you know, the cycles of nature. So when we look at nature, because this is really, this is a tool that so many of my clients are like, Oh my God, life-changing so nature has four seasons. We have been operating lately in the modern world and especially in Western society in only summer energy, sun energy. Masculine energy. Right? And there's some, there's a time and space for it. So no one is again saying like, we're just going to kill summer. We all like summer, I think we all love summer. The problem is we've been stuck in the cycle of summer only. So if we didn't have these periods of rest, if you look at the entire, every part of nature, except us as like takes the time to get quiet to, you know, to go into hibernation, to go through the, all the differences. Seasons to come back, plant the seeds for the next, you know, for spring and so on and so forth. And so. If we look at the way that the structures and systems have been created and you know, the different, you know, capitalism and patriarchy and like this, this whole world, the way that Western systems are set up, it's very much like summer, summer sun, sun masculine, masculine, and all we're saying is like, no, okay. We tried that, that clearly didn't work. Cause everyone is burnt out. We need to actually have cycles and seasons and we need to come back and bring in the wisdom and the beauty that comes with our own, you know, all the other cycles, there's there's medicine and fall there's medicine and winter there's medicine in spring. And this is when we zoom out on a macro level, but specifically with. Women who are in leadership positions. This is also something to honor in your month because as women in our cycle, we have seasons every single month we go through all four seasons and often we have been taught because we were in a lot of these corporate jobs where we had to show up the same, like. Or masculine counterparts where it was like, we would push against what our bodies needed, which is sometimes that we need to get introverted. We need to rest. We need to lie in bed when we're menstruating, we shouldn't be at the office. and yet we had to, in order to get sort of social equality and credibility, we had to be like, no, we can tough it up and just be like a man. And we had to prove that we could get the same amount of money for the same job that we could show up just as good, that emotionality wasn't going to get in the way of our work. Right? Like all these things that we did that actually went against our nature. And so we're coming in now and going, actually, this is part of the wisdom of being in your feminine and that the emotionality perhaps is actually like a super power if used in a particular way with structure. The sustainability piece is 100% part of this whole process, because if we don't, if we stay in summer forever, we will just crash. Diane: how do people dive into this? So I think a lot of people are going to listen to this and be like, that makes so much sense to me. I get where it's coming from. Do I read a book on this? Yes, I can start off small, but how do I grow into this more embodied person? Nadia: Well specifically on cycles and seasons. There's one book that I absolutely love that I recommend to everyone. And it's called the optimized woman. By Miranda gray. And I remember picking this up years ago and like, it was just life changing for me because it really goes through the process of what are the different tasks you should or should not be doing during different phases of your cycle as a leader, as an entrepreneur. So it's really very pragmatic and great for anyone who's in a leadership position. And as a whole for embodiment, I think that the best. way to start is obviously follow me. But there is, I mean, there is a an experience that I've created called embodied by Nadia, and it's a process. It's a movement experience that I lead peoples through. Sometimes we have sort of express classes that are about 20 minutes long, and sometimes we'd go for a full hour if you want to go deeper into the process as they, Anna was talking about at the very beginning, she loves to do the one hour eighties version, but essentially these are. Movement experiences that allow you to slow down and drop in that allow you to start to explore your own body, how you feel in your body. And specifically, in this process, we go through three different energies, the energy of pleasure, the energy of power and the energy of play. And the reason we I've chosen these three in particular, and we do it over and over again is because. Every single woman who comes to me has got something she's got to work workout in one of these buckets and one of these energies because really we have been living in a very patriarchal world that has taught us these three different universal messages that I keep hearing over and over again from women, which is that pleasure is dangerous that, you know, Our emotionality is weak and that play is unproductive. And so chances are, if you're listening, one of these is at least an area that you're like, Oh yeah, it's sort of, I can feel myself having something around that. And so moving through these experiences is a really great way to start to. Unveil and explore, like, what is it in my system that stops me from playing as much as I would like to, what is it about my system that doesn't allow me to drop deeper into my sensuality? Because I learned early on like, Oh, I can't be taken seriously if I'm central. Right. So there's all these different things that come up. So that's obviously the world I work in. And so it's very exciting. For me to be moving people through this process. And it's obviously the first thing that comes to mind for me, but there's 101 different ways to get a little bit more embodied, go to yoga class, start dancing more. Or even as you're washing the dishes, slow down and go, what am I feeling right now? It's really mindfulness. Like just asking yourself, like what is going on in my body today. Diane: I just wanted to clarify for people because if you're listening to this and you're thinking I do not ever want to go to a dance class in my life, like I can't keep a beat. I completely feel you. But even if you're like, Oh, this sounds a bit woo. And I'm not like that. And you're like, masculine brain is talking to you about why you shouldn't do this. I want to recommend, and everybody knows that I am really not. The most woo person in the world. So I'm just giving it my super practical stamp of approval for anyone who's feeling like a little, Oh, I kind of wonder, but I'm a little scared or a little shy to try this and definitely follow Nadia as well. That was amazing. I feel like I'm always refreshed and ready to try something new and we chat. So I usually end with a couple of questions for all of my guests, and I'm really interested to hear your answers to these. So, first of all, what is your number one lifestyle boundary for your business? Nadia: mm, my number one lifestyle boundary for my business. I would say. That for me what's most important is being able to say no. So being able to say no is so key because it's honoring of my body. I am someone who You know, I don't know how many people listening might be familiar with this, but there's something called human design. And in that I'm a projector and it doesn't matter if you've never heard of it. It's basically just means that I don't really generate an excessive amount of energy. I get tired really quickly. And my body's incredibly sensitive, which means that even though my head loves new ideas and new projects and doing all the things and my body can not keep up. And she will let me know very quickly when I'm going too fast. And so I would say, you know, constantly saying no, even though my heart and my head really want to do things has been the number one thing that has allowed me to simplify and focus my energy on just two or three things that I'm primarily working on at a time. Diane: I have to ask, did your body always let you know that you were running too fast or is that as a result of all the work that you've done? Nadia: My body has always been telling me, I just didn't speak the language. So I didn't know what she was telling me. So earlier on in my life, when I was still a film producer, which meant that I was sleeping very little eating, really horrible food onset and working yeah. About 18 hours a day. Yay. I. disconnected so consciously from the different things that were not working in my body. My digestion was a mess I had like back acne. I was like, just things were not going well. And And I just wasn't listening. I just kept taking a lot of Advil. Every time something ached, I would drink more and more coffee because I needed to stay up. I didn't have time to like, relax and like a natural way, like, Oh, let's go to a yoga class or go to the spa. And instead it was like, okay, I'm going to drink a glass of wine to like, you know, be able to wind down from them. Five cups of coffee. I had onset today. So, she was always talking. I just wasn't hearing it Diane: Did she eventually win? Was there a moment of like burnout Nadia: a hundred percent. That's when I shifted. That's when I shifted my career, I basically I hit a point after making my first feature film, which I love doing right. I love doing it. And my body was like, if you keep going. You're just, you're going to die. Like you're just, it's usually going to literally kill over one day. It's just not, it's not going to be good. And and I, I really listened and it was so difficult because I had put years and years and so much money into taking the path of being a film producer and I just killed. my dreams and I killed so many like networking contacts and like things that I'd spent years building, because I just knew on a deeper level, if I kept going this way, I wasn't going to be on earth that long. And my body was just so tired. I couldn't, I couldn't move anymore. I literally just had nothing left in me. And at that point, You know, I stopped and went RA we're shifting out of this completely. And I actually think, I want to help women get more connected to their bodies and become healthier because that's where I'm noticing is like the biggest upgrade in my life. Diane: So last question. What is the worst piece of cookie cutter advice you've ever been given as a lifestyle entrepreneur? Nadia: I would say that the worst advice I've ever been given is essentially like follow the formula. And it's like, what the F what formula, like, what are you talking about? Every person is different, you know not only are our bodies designed differently, not only do we have different dreams and desires and, and what it is that actually will have us. I feel successful. We have different missions on this earth. We have different like, you know, karma in this lifetime, different things. We've got to work out from our childhood. And so there's absolutely no way that you can go, you know, buy the course that, you know, says follow these 10 steps. To make, you know, six figures next year. And it's like, I don't know about that. Right. Because again, what that does is it, disowns your own unique power and it again is going to have you push against your body's needs by following what the prescription of someone else's world, which like worked for them. But it doesn't mean anything about it. It may not work for you at all. And so I would say that is a hundred percent, the worst advice that I've ever gotten that I got trapped. I mean, I initially really got sucked into that. Diane: Yeah. I think that's really common that a lot of people get sucked into it and then realize that actually they didn't see this piece of the puzzle that doesn't work for them, or they've got the result and the result still doesn't fit them. And they're like, I don't understand why. And it's like, well, you put on somebody else's clothes. Of course they don't fit you. Like they were custom made for you. I love that. Thank you so much for all of this today. I feel like woo. I feel just pumped to go back out into the world and finish my day off in a different way. I love when we get to connect and we get to talk about this so differently. You know, I think a lot of business conversations are strategy, ideas, strategy idea, and I love this kind of refreshing break from it all. Nadia: yay. Me too, obviously.