Body-based Awareness: The Hidden Path to Wisdom
with Dr. Mary Sanders
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:00:02 Welcome to Heart Glow CEO®, where high achievers evolve into purpose-driven powerhouses. I'm Kc Rossi, your Integrative Leadership Coach. Join us to break free from people pleasing and burnout, exploring mindset, embodiment, and soul alignment. Discover expert insights, success stories, and actionable tips for holistic wealth on your terms. This is where transformation meets the modern female leader. Let's go!
My guest today is Doctor Mary Sanders. She is a medical intuitive and chiropractor. She focuses on helping people cultivate thriving health, happiness, and purpose through the powerful tools of energy medicine, spiritual embodiment, and meditation. We share the mission of empowering spiritual women to align with their true selves, embracing wholeness and holistic transformation. I know that you are going to thoroughly enjoy this conversation and the energy medicine that Dr. Mary so generously provides. Let's dive in.
Doctor Mary, it is so awesome to have you here. Thank you for being here.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:01:16 Sincerely, Kc, I feel as though you are one of my soul sisters. So it is my honor to hold space with you today.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:01:24 Thank you. I'm excited to dive in. I feel that you have lifetimes of experience and wisdom to share with us. And so our challenge is going to be just to, like, lean into the flow. And our little nugget of time and space together that it's all going to come through.
So I'd like to first start off, Doctor Mary, you talk about the importance of integrating the chakra system and our endocrine system. I'd love for you to just expand on that a little bit and the importance on that, especially for our female entrepreneurs and leaders. Why is that important when they're striving for balance, when they're focused on alignment, and really so many things. But we'll start there.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:02:06 Yeah. No, I think that's a beautiful place to spring from. Seriously, when it comes to female entrepreneurs, let's just say we know that we are connected with our heart. We also know that we are connected into our physical body. And as women, as we transition through time and space, we have a shift in our hormonal regulation, and our hormones are governed by our endocrine system.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:02:32 Okay. So our endocrine system takes over our adrenal system, our ovary reproduction, our pancreas, our thymus, our thyroid. A lot of us have issues with our thyroid, our pineal and our pituitary gland. And our chakra system so intimately connects into those endocrine glands. So how we're regulating, assimilating and expressing our energy with our environment completely affects how we feel emotionally and hormonally.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:03:10 Absolutely. Where do you see the biggest stumbling blocks and roadblocks when it comes this? People have that awareness and desire. Where do you see the stumbling block most often present with actually seeing results?
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:03:27 Time. People want quick fixes. You want to be able to say hey I'm done with this, this regulation. Give me a pharmaceutical medication, something that can quickly fix the issue. And what's so fascinating about the endocrine system is that it's a negative feedback cycle. So if you have issues with your adrenal system and you're stuck in a sympathetic dominant, and you're always pushing and willing and trying to force your way into prosperity or into enlightenment.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:03:58 It disregulates other hormones associated with that - the adrenal system. It's kind of hard to say. Oh, I just have issues with my adrenal issues or functions. And if not, you'll end up having a cascade of events that affect your sleep patterns, that affect your metabolism, that affects your digestion, and your reproductive issues as well. So I would say the greatest stumbling block is patience.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:04:25 Yeah, absolutely. I mean how do we stop the cycle? Because we are in this paradigm which I feel is shifting. But it has been this hustle and grind - we need to be in this space of pushing, pushing ourself. And, and I feel to it goes to that deep core wound of not enoughness. And so how do we break that cycle and lean into the patience, the feminine fluidity, trusting our bodies, body supporting our endocrine system?
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:05:00 Wow. If I have the answer to this question, let me tell you, Kc. It's a fabulous question, and I'm going to share from my personal experience first, and then I will share a little bit my theory behind some of this.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:05:14 I agree with you and that things are shifting. However, you and I are both of the similar age bracket where we have enough life experience to say, you know what? I did that push, I did that grind. I did that stuff in the past and it didn't work for me. It didn't serve me, it didn't serve my relationships. And so because it didn't serve all those elements, you know, I wish to show up in a different way today. Now, I can honestly say that I was self-employed for 23 years. I'm still self-employed, but for 23 years I literally it was the grind against my statistics, my numbers, my profitability, my overhead. And quite honestly, I got exhausted. I went through a burnout and the burnout cost me my physical health, well-being, and balance. It was not pretty. It was not pretty at all. And what I learned in that transition energetically, and this is important for the listeners to understand, is that I was operating from my will centers energetically, the will centers are typically located on the back side of the body, where we push in will and project our desires onto the future versus, versus another opportunity, and that is to allow more grace and ease into our lives, and so that we can be in alignment with our higher purpose, so that we can step into, step into our full essence and therefore create from a place of more grace.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:06:58 There's less force. Okay, now, in from a central nervous system perspective that comes from a place of a regulated nervous system where we know when we need to be in sympathetics, and then we also know when we need to be in parasympathetics meaning, we know when we need to be in more rest, digest and heal. So life has taught me right. I had to go through that will, I had to go through that push that force that you know, I'm, I'm after what it is that I want to achieve. And then my body said Nope, nope, nope that's not going to work for you. You need to find out a new way. So I had to go search for those new tools. And meditation and mindfulness and energy chakra balancing all came into play. So I learned how to better auto-regulate my energetic system so that I can be of a place that's in alignment and attract all that I desire.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:08:00 We have such a similar story. I parallel on a lot of the things that you mentioned, and I'm really curious, how do we bring in chakra harmony to integrate the will centers somatically? So we're more a fulfilled capsule, if you will, because for myself, for many years, and I think a lot of my listeners also struggle with, being just in the mind, being very cognitively sharp.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:08:26 And that's brought a lot of success. But at the sacrifice of a disembodiment. How do we use chakras to harmonize and embody?
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:08:36 Oh, this is so juicy, so juicy. Let's dive into it. So when we are in our prefrontal cortex, also known as the our analyzer portion of the brain, and that is literally located behind the space of the forehead. Head. Let's express gratitude. Kc, If it weren't for our ability to strategize, to organize, to execute, we wouldn't be where we are today. You and I would not be having this conversation. Okay, so that is a valuable aspect. But if we can lean further back into this space, the magical space between the two hemispheres of the brain into the space of the hypothalamus, we can begin to tap into the energy center surrounding the whole pineal so we can incorporate more intuition. We can receive information above and beyond our typical five senses that is so valuable to us, so valuable. It can help us guide us in the right direction.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:09:42 Now, when it comes to being embodied, you and I both know that neurologically, we are finding that science is proving more and more that the body is providing the information and the knowledge and the wisdom to the brain. It's not the brain down, it's the body up. So when we lean into the idea that we have energy centers within our physical body, we can look at the overarching themes of the chakras in order to find out where we are in balance. For example, listeners, if you are struggling with imposter syndrome, if you're struggling with the ability to have that self-confidence, that autonomy, that sovereignty that you so desire, you can shift your awareness into the space of the third chakra just located underneath the ribcage in the upper abdomen. And you can set the intention to auto-regulate, meaning that you can fill up more. First, you ground down, connecting into the earth, flowing way, way, way down so that the central nervous system can lean into your parasympathetic that I've already been talking about.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:11:00 And Mother Earth is so ready, willing, and able to receive any and all discordant energy which no longer serves you in present time. So once we can ground down, then we can invite more of our life force energy from above, down, above, down, meaning into the space of the seventh chakra. And we can run it through the physical body, and we can fill ourselves up with that lifeforce energy so that as we express, we express our authentic essence out into the environment, then the environment, right (the people place the things that surround us.) get a better idea as to who you are, who's Kc? Who are all the listeners out there? Who are you? And so when we can tap into this idea that our energetic system, our chakra system is assimilating, information is integrating and expressing that back out into the world that gives us so much power.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:12:10 I love it. I love it, and one of the key things that I heard you say is slow down. And I think that's so important to underscore, especially in today's world.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:12:20 It's really important - in order to drop in and enhance intuition. We do need to press pause. And a couple of things came up. One is, I love that description. I felt it when you were talking about that power in the solar plexus. And so I'd love to understand the connection of the different centers, because to know it is one thing. But immediately what came to mind was, are we speaking it? Does our identity, like, radiate out? Are we using our throat to share that authentic message? So I'd love from your perspective, what's the importance of harmonizing between the centers?
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:13:03 Yeah, and I do want to second the fact that slowing down is counterintuitive. In today's society, where we are programmed with that go, go, go mentality. And quite honestly, if we can just program that into Be, Be, Be, and instead of Do, Do, Do I think we would be much better off. So when I talk about harmonizing and synchronizing, when we look at the listeners, I'm going to back up and just give you a basic chakra 101.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:13:32 So I can talk about the point that Casey wants me to discuss, and that is how can we harmonize the various different chakra centers within each chakra, which essentially is just a vortex of energy that is associated with an overarching theme, associated with a specific plexus of nerves, associated with specific body parts and specific emotions. We know that the seven lower chakras that are located within the physical body. Okay. The first one being deeply rooted within the pelvis. The second one being just underneath the belly button. And the third one, as I've already mentioned, being just underneath the ribcage in the upper abdomen. Those three energy centers that are focused around number one deep within the pelvis. Trust. Number two is creativity. Number three is autonomy. Those three themes are focused primarily within the physical body. Then heart space. The heart space which Kc loves, I love because it's such a magical space that talks about compassion, compassion for self and others. And if we dig a little bit deeper, Kc, will find that forgiveness is in there as well.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:14:52 And so that focuses around that within the heart center. And that's a bridge that energy centers the bridge between the physical and the spiritual. Then we have energy centers located within the throat. Is number five. Number six is the forehead. Number seven is on top of the head. And there we have authentic expression, clear seeing, and direct connection to the knowing.
And so when we talk about harmonizing and I see this so frequently, so frequently with women within my practice, women that are coming in saying, oh, I'm so frustrated, no pun intended, frustrated with my metabolism, and I have an underactive thyroid. And, you know, I'm just kind of going through some hormonal transitions and I start to look at these women and hold space for them and realize that harmonizing the second energy center, which is associated with the ovaries, harmonizing it with the thyroid, which is in the energy of the fifth. So this is the idea of harmonizing and getting these women to really identify what are their deepest, deepest desires.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:16:06 And then how do they express authentically, express their deepest desires in this world? So we're talking about the physical body, the physical plane, as well as starting to connect in to the purpose, the divine purpose of how we choose to show up in this world. So I see harmonizing the space of the 5th energy center with the 2nd energy center will allow the balance hormonally, allow us to fill ourselves in authentic ways, to be able to express our true essence out into the world. That's one example.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:16:47 I love it. Thank you so much for that overview. It's so helpful. And it really starts to show the linkage of befriending these different energy centers. I'm sure there are unlimited algorithms and configurations of how they link up and what that can bring you. What came to mind when you were talking about opening and holding the space for women to dig deep into their real desires… What I have found is that brings up so much anxiety for them. There's so much fear, even to allow themselves to dream big, to dig deep, that someone's even asking them.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:17:26 Because we're often in a space of doing for others, caring for others. And so to be like, oh wow, I'm actually getting presented this question, how do you navigate that?
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:17:37 That's a great question. And I'm going to say that we have a lifetime, a lifetime of exchanging energies with our environment. And when I say our environment, I'm talking about people, places, and things. Those people that raised us, those people that were married to, those people that we raised. And so we're housing their energy within our own energetic system. So when we're confronted with that question, we're like, oh, wow, wait, wait, time out, time out. From which lens should I answer that question? Because it becomes really confusing. If you're holding all these other energies in these frequencies within your own physical body, then it's hard to become really clear about what your voice says, what your desires are. You have to shed and release all that no longer serves you in order to really kind of dig deep and say, oh my goodness, that's in there.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:18:32 That's my desire. Oh, is that juicy!
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:18:35 Yeah, yeah. So it's almost like unearthing the layers of dross and material that have covered your brilliance. That's what I'm hearing.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:18:43 Yep.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:18:44 And do you do that through things like you mentioned meditation or journaling or the chakra cleansing? Or are there other ways that you have found that polishes the diamond?
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:18:55 Yeah. so I'm going to share my own personal experience. For me, when I went through my healing journey of, recovering from burnout, the number one tool that I had, and I had over 30 years of yoga in my background. The number one tool that I had access to was meditation. and then I went through life, and then I was blessed with another gift. And that is grounding the ability to ground not only my physical body, but my energy centers. And that's such a powerful tool. And so once I was able to learn how to do that, then I stepped into the idea that I could just possibly separate myself from those other people that surround me so that I could then become more sovereign so that I could become more of an autonomous individual.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:19:51 So then the neutral separation then became an integral part of my daily practice. And then what helped me, the cherry on the top was to set my timing clock and energy center just located behind that frontal lobe, the analyzer that we drive from so that I could become more in present time consciousness. And so when I'm more in present-time consciousness, I'm not holding the past in depressive tendencies or looping thoughts, or I'm not projected too far forward in anxiety for the future. So to answer your question, grounding, neutral separation and also regulating my timing clock with a very strong, solid foundation for meditation.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:20:42 That is gold, my friend. I feel like that should be front-page news.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:20:47 It's something that I live by. It's not, you know, a cookie-cutter technique that was just taught to me. Life presented it to me. And then the tools came at the time that I needed them in order to find, to fine-tune the system.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:21:02 And what I really feel and admire is the sense of commitment.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:21:07 Commitment to yourself and the path and the layers. And it kind of goes back to that slow process that you referred to before, where it's just like, and now it's in front of me. Okay, let's lean in. Be in the present moment. Be a detective, you know, look, look all around and be like, what is here for me and what isn't here for me? And I think I heard you say that a couple times of letting go of what no longer serves you. And even in our off-camera, we talked about, like, having the earth realchemize all of that energy that doesn't serve us. And I think that's often overlooked, especially for the go-getters where we're looking at that to-do list of what do I need to add? What else should I do? What am I missing? That other flip side is like what can I release?
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:21:59 So with permission I'd like just to take a moment of just geeking out Kc. Because I do come from a heavy science background.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:22:06 Okay. and I hold space, I hold space for the science that has yet to be proven. But the one thing, the one thing that I want every physical, beautiful spirit living in a human body on this planet to know is that the Earth, Mother Earth, is the most sustainable energy that we have available to us as humans. And I believe humans resonate that 7.83Hz that is found within the ionosphere, that connects that that cavity, that resonant cavity surrounding the Earth, that purpose, the purpose of the Earth is to hold that frequency so that we as beautiful humans can entrain. And when I say entrain, meaning that we can get our brain to slow down, that's like getting our brain to shift away from, you know, that high, that high resonance of, of critical thinking from like 30Hz down, down, down, down, down into a very light sleep. So if we can operate that slowly, then we have access to so much abundance. And that's the purpose of Mother Earth.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:23:21 That's the purpose of this human resonance.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:23:26 Yeah. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. And I love that. Thank you. And I'm sure our listeners feel that you can feel even in your tone. It allows us permission to entrain with you, to drop in and to listen. And I know for myself, whenever I hear truth, I either get goosebumps or there is this just deep sense of like, yep, and that's what I got. When you were saying that, it was like, yes, this is truth, you know? So I, I love that.
There is a question that has been on my mind because I've heard you talk about trauma leaving imprints in our auric field and on our chakras and something that can leave us holistically vulnerable. My ears perked up when I heard that and I was like, Holy crap, what do we do about it? So yeah, what do we do about that?
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:24:18 I'm so thankful and so grateful that you're asking this question because again, I think that this is a nugget that if people can assimilate and integrate into their wellbeing, then I think that we're on our way.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:24:33 We're on our way collectively from a humanitarian perspective. And so let's go back to the idea that the second chakra, right connected into our ovaries is really connected into our creativity and our emotional body. The second energy center is also where our clairsentience comes into play, where we pick up and receive or perceive other people's emotions. And as women, we are so tuned in to this. We carry somebody else's emotional stuff because we think that we are helping them, and this is something that we're conditioned to do. I'm not, you know, there's no blame, ladies. I've done it. I've done this for years. And so now I'm saying, no, you know, I'm robbing another person's experience. If I hold it as their own, then they don't get the journey and that doesn't serve them in their growth. And so let's say that I am still stuck and without the tools that I know, and that I really am attached to holding on other people's energies, that's going to slow down the frequency of my second energy system.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:25:42 So what I receive and what I express is altered. So when you talk about trauma okay. So when I say holding other people's energies, let's use a common trauma perhaps as young girls, we were traumatized, whether it be a small T trauma or a big T trauma. We have experienced trauma, perhaps just even from our parents, our mother or our fathers. And we hold those frequencies, okay? We embed them within our tissue. So within our tissues associated with the second energy center, we're talking about a portion of the intestinal system, the bladder, the reproductive, the uterus. those are areas in which we will carry those traumas, and if we hold them long enough, it will cause and create dysfunction. And ultimately Dis-ease within those organs. So if we choose to hold on to trauma, we can potentially create illnesses within our physical body that don't serve us just because we're unwilling or unable to release all that which no longer serves us in present time. And we attract more and more and more of it.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:27:19 It makes so much sense. Is it possible, and I may be asking too big of an ask, but is it possible to do a very short exercise that could help sweep away some of those unwanted imprints in our second energy center?
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:27:35 Absolutely.
Kc Rossi: Let’s do it!
Dr. Mary Sanders: Absolutely. It would be my honor. Okay, so my disclaimer for those of you that possibly might be engaged in driving or a highly focused task, you may want to hit pause and come back to this podcast at a at a later time. So for those of you that have the ability, I'm going to invite you to sit and invite you to sit with your feet firmly planted on the ground and feel the surface area of your bum making contact with the chair upon which you sit. Begin to shift your awareness to the back side of the body. You can feel the surface space between your shoulders, on your cushion, or on your chair, and then shift your awareness gently into the space of your breath set the intention to lengthen through the exhalation of your breath, which simply guides your central nervous system, your autonomic nervous system more into a rest and digest phase.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:28:46 First, let's connect into the soles of our feet. Open up the energy center located on the soles of your feet. Just allow your feet to be heavier, to sink to cover more surface area on the floor. Regardless what's underneath the soles of your feet, whether it be a floor, a cement, a foundation. Drop your awareness so that you can find the Earth's crust. And then begin to deepen to where there's more softness and forgiveness within the hard layers, the external layers of the earth and a little deeper. Beautiful from here set the awareness that slow, rhythmic, organic, nutrient-dense brown liquid energy can enter in through the soles of your feet, travel up from the feet, ankles knees, hips into your lower abdomen into your pelvic bowl. Allow that liquid brown energy to be picked up by the space just underneath your belly button. I'm going to invite you to imagine the gentle wash cycle on your washing machine as you put the soap in, as there is a spin and water generated within the washing machine, there's a cycle of slow spin cycle.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:30:33 Imagine that that's happening within the space of your pelvis. And the liquid has kind of a pearlescent golden quality. The gold will act as an electromagnetic conducive property. The gold will pick up any energy which no longer belongs to you.
And just like the washing machine magically picks up the dust within the particles of the clothing, the energy centers, the gold will pick up all the debris that no longer serves you. Begin to imagine some liquid water, a gentle waterfall coming out of your pelvic bowl, being released back down to Mother Earth. Any time we add water to our earth Earth's surface. The surface becomes softer, more pliable, more receptive. Allow Mother Earth to receive all this liquid. All this water. Any emotional discordant. Back down to the center of the earth. Allow Mother Earth to work her magic. Recycling this energy. Recharging this energy. This energy will be available to another sentient being in the future.
Bring the awareness back to your breath. Back to your heart space. Back to your pelvic bowl.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:32:36 And all the way down to your feet. When the time is right. Gently, gently open your eyes.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:32:52 Thank you so much, Doctor Mary. That was such a generous gift of your energy medicine.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:32:58 Thank you, my honor.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:33:01 Really, such a blessing. Thank you. How can people step further into your world?
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:33:08 Well, I'd like to offer your listeners a gift which can be found free of charge on my website. And that is a combination of three guided meditations that I alluded to earlier in the show. Number one, it's packaged and called the ultimate meditation guide to finding your authentic self. The first meditation is grounding. The second meditation is a technique that I call neutral separations. And then last but not least is a timeless presence meditation so that you can align your timing clock and be more present time consciousness. And all of that can be found on my website which is https://www.drmarysanders.com/.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:33:56 Beautiful. Thank you so much. I'll make sure to put that link. So it's a super easy access in the show notes.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:34:02 Listeners, I highly recommend that you connect with Doctor Mary. She is a light leader. She's living her truth, inspiring us, shining the way and really being a radiant exemplar. So honestly from my heart. Doctor Mary, thank you for the work that you do and your generous spirit. This is the second time we've crossed paths, and both times I've really felt this watering, this nurturing of my soul. So I really appreciate you.
Dr. Mary Sanders 00:34:30 I appreciate you as well, Kc. You have a beautiful, radiant heart, I feel it.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:34:35 Thank you so much. Until our paths cross again… beathe joy. Thank you. Thank you.
I hope you enjoyed today's episode and feel a sense of peace and clarity after hanging out with us. I'd be grateful if you took 30s to leave a review at love the podcast.com/brilliance. It helps other conscious leaders like you decide where to spend their valuable time. Oh, and did you know that Doctor Mary also hosts a podcast? It's called Energy Medicine, where she talks all about the things that align the body, mind, and spirit.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:35:13 I'll be a guest on our show this April, so be sure to catch our conversation. Until then…breathe, joy.
