Ep 92: Part 5/12 Dãmasa Doyle on Touch, Trauma & Ancestral Wisdom: How to Build a Relationship with Yourself Series

Welcome to the episode where we strip self-help down to its naked, sacred roots. Our guest, Dǎmasa, dives deep into shamanic healing, ancestral wisdom (yes, your grandma’s trauma might live in your hips), and why belonging feels like both a birthright and an epic hero’s journey. Trauma? Oh, it’s here. But so is the medicine. You’ll learn why healing is sometimes more intentional ritual than a self-care spa day, and why “indigenosity” isn't reserved for a select few. You’ll hear:

-How to honor your ancestors suffering and claim your own freedom

-Plenty more proof about why your body keeps the score

-Why you belong. Even when you think you don’t. Especially then.

-The definitions of “shamanic” and “elemental wisdom”

-Why awakening is a group project

-How your ancestors can help you build a better relationship with yourself

-Practical rituals and steps to connect with your mind, body and past mentors

Learn more about Dãmasa’s Sacred Ancestral Pilgramage at Donate to Support Dãmasa's Sacred Ancestral Pilgrimage to Gabon&Ghana, organized by Damasa Doyle

Find her on IG @‌damasoul_sacred

TRANSCRIPT:

Janelle Orion 0:00

Janelle, struggling to discuss sex and intimacy with your partner, not feeling met, seen or heard in your relationships. I'm Janelle And I'm Andrea. We're two midlife Mavericks sharing our own experiences, messy AF and no regrets with marriage, divorce, polyamory and pleasure. We've learned that when you're brave enough to figure out what you want and ask for it, with partners, friends, family and most importantly, yourself, you'll feel more alive and free question everything, especially your mother's advice. There's no rom com formula for this. But don't panic. Being alone matters, honey, I can't miss you if you don't leave, what if your breakup could be your breakthrough? Our podcast is for brave hearts. Anyone who seeks or has found the courage to confront their fears and limiting beliefs about breaking societal norms in the spirit of finding their truth.

Janelle Orion 0:54

If you're seeking permission to be brave in your relationships and want to feel less alone along the way, we got you.

Andrea Enright 1:07

Wow, I had no idea how much tapping into my ancestry could help me know myself better and build a better relationship with myself. It is all woven together

Janelle Orion 1:18

on this episode, we dive in with damassa Doyle about topics that I know, for me are pretty new and in terms of ancestral communication and looking at our lineage as a way to get to know ourselves. And I'm really excited for bravehearts to feel damasha, actually, as she's talking. I think that is, yeah, she said a lot of words that were important and really clarifies what it is that she does and why this is important work for each of us to look at. But more than anything, it just to feel,

Janelle Orion 1:59

feel who she walks with, yeah, and then feel yourself as a result. She talked about how when you tap into yourself as a ritualist, she helps people feel more rooted, more witnessed, more feeling in themselves, in their body, and greater sense of belonging. Yes, yes. Just truly spectacular work, and something that is very new to me and exciting. Yay. Here it comes. Yeah, here it comes. Enjoy.

Janelle Orion 2:35

Hi, Braveheart. Oh.

Andrea Enright 2:38

Welcome to permission to be human. I'm Andrea and I'm Janelle, and sometimes we talk at the same time, and our voice sounds the same. So can you tell who's saying what? That's true. That's very true. We are really psyched for season four, and this is part five of our 12 part series about how to build a relationship with your self. Today we have our first expert. I'm just gonna go ahead and introduce her. This is actually her second time on the permission should be human podcast, yeah, she's our

Janelle Orion 3:17

one and only repeat guest so far, right?

Andrea Enright 3:21

Yeah, yeah, she spoke about Burning Man A while back. So for 15 years, ritualist damassa Doyle has been an embodied shamanic healer and sensuality guide who leads transformational experiences rooted in ancestral ritual, elemental wisdom and intimacy dynamics. What is that her work, via ceremony, space, holding and mentorship, supports those seeking deeper connection with themselves, with their lineage and with the sacred. The result is a return to belonging, truth and expression as well as joy, presence and purpose. She's certified in multiple somatic modalities, as well as being a graduate of the priestess of Eros with om Rupani and Lauren Harkness. Damassa is also passionate about being in service to community and three hour lovemaking sessions, yay. She loves a good flogging, and she likes a buttery Chardonnay domicile. Welcome to permission to be human,

Damasa Perry Doyle 4:29

yay. Thank you.

Andrea Enright 4:33

Did you like your intro?

Damasa Perry Doyle 4:34

I did. I've totally forgot about the fact that I put in there about my, my joy of vlogging, but yes, oh yeah, hi everybody. Yeah, welcome to me. That's true,

Janelle Orion 4:52

which is perfect, since that's what we're talking about today, is the permission to be ourselves. Yeah? Dom So what I'd love to start with? Just because your bio, it's so rich, but there are some words in there that some of our brave hearts might be a little bit less familiar with. So can you speak to I'm gonna just, we'll go one at a time. What shamanic means when you're a shamanic healer. Yeah,

Damasa Perry Doyle 5:16

shamanic actually, technically, the word shamanic actually comes, I believe, from Eastern Europe, Russia, area, and it actually means drummer, something similar to that. I'm not quoting the Webster Dictionary, though. And in indigenous practices, the Shaman is the person who is leading, who communicates with spirit, connects with the energies that are surrounding us in nature and also within ourselves, right? So a Shaman can connect with medicine spirits, Earth Spirits, cosmic spirits. I say it's like I'm a conduit. I'm a conduit. I am not healing happens and it's supportive healing, but I'm just the conduit to support that healing. That's what it means for me.

Janelle Orion 6:25

And then the term elemental wisdom,

Damasa Perry Doyle 6:28

elemental wisdom, that is a great question. So in the dagger tradition, in our medicine wheel, which is West African tradition out of Bucha Fauci, the elements are fire, nature, water, mineral and earth. So what that means is that I use those elements in all of my rituals in some way, somehow, because those are also the elements that exist within all of us. We we walk in our bodies, physically, scientifically, and all of those elements,

Janelle Orion 7:11

all right, I can see, I can feel the richness of this conversation and all these layers here. And the last one I'd love to just define is ancestral communication. Okay?

Damasa Perry Doyle 7:22

I really love these questions, right? Because a lot of people are, you know, they come to me and they're confused. They're like, what do you do? I want you to do what you do, but I don't know what any of this means. So ancestral communication is the connection to our ancestors. And I've said before that we have at least 2500 major ancestors for us to exist today. That's only if you go back probably 10 generations. As 10 generations. If you go back even further, there's even more so within our our ancestry, all of that is in our DNA. It's in our bones, right? And so how do we communicate with that? How do we tap into our ancestors to learn more about ourselves, our ways of being in the way we walk in the world, the way we see the world, our culture. And that is ancestral communication and connection and and I would add that there are rituals around that. There's something that you have to do to activate that communication. And so I support people in the activation of connecting with their ancestors. I just learned

Andrea Enright 8:51

so much just in those three definitions. I've heard those words for years, mainly through you and Janelle, and that was very clarifying, actually. Thank you,

Janelle Orion 9:06

damassa, how do you utilize all those different modalities and ways of being and activating to help people build a relationship to themselves?

Damasa Perry Doyle 9:18

I would say the first thing like building a relationship with oneself, which I think almost all wellness practices, demonic practices, medicine journeys. It's all about that. It's all about everything is about building a relationship with yourself, understanding who you are and what is your purpose, or why are you doing these things? And so for me, when I work with people, I'm just saying, like, sit with me. Can we look eye to eye? Right? I have a practice with clients where, especially when it's ancestral connection. Where I ask them to stand across the room from me with their back to me. And then we turn and we face each other, and we walk towards each other. And then I ask, Can you see me? And then, can you see me seeing you? And then this, this is like this. One seems like such a small thing to be witnessed without words, just looking at each other, and so I feel that that helps people, right off the bat, to connect with themselves and to understand something about themselves, of how they are witnessed, and how they're able to witness others. So that's that's a beginning. So

Janelle Orion 10:45

one of the things that I know you bring into your work, from my own experience and from witnessing you, is you offer touched, based experiences to bring people's bodies into connection, and I'm curious how how that supports people's relationship with themselves. So

Damasa Perry Doyle 11:08

my belief is that touch is is one of the first pillars of connection. It's what we receive as babies. That's actually what we need to feel nourished, feel loved. And so when I'm working with someone moving energy feeling into their systems, right? I am a channel. I know you're going to ask me about that in a minute, because people look what and so I can channel an idea and feeling around someone, but I need to touch them. I need to feel into their systems, to see what's there, what's present, but also to see where they're holding in their bodies, right? And and most practitioners, masseuses, and all of that they do that we do that you have to feel the body. You have to feel the system before you can start working on anything. And so that supports people, especially around the things that I do around intimacy, but also as a sexual connection, is, can you feel yourself? Can you feel your ancestors? Can you feel your pleasure? Can you feel your joy? If I touch you on your heart and you don't feel anything, that's information. If I touch you on your belly and you feel all of a sudden closed down or afraid. That's information. So then we can map with types what's going on in the body and where people are connected to themselves and where they disconnected. And then that gives a kind of pathway to the, okay, this is where we need to work. This is what we need to lean into. This is the area that, you know, I might need to drum around or sing to. There might someone's, someone's inner child might be stuck in their knee, because when they were a kid, something happened there that was painful, and there's just so much pain there. So it's like, we work on that. We we find out what's present, and we I also asked the body, and I say we because, I say we because I work with I don't. I'm not just doing this because I'm a channel, and because I'm a conduit, I'm I'm tapping into the energies of the person, their ancestors, their spirits, and I'm also working with my guides and my spirit. So

Andrea Enright 14:02

I think I'm hearing that, just to really break this down, that this

Andrea Enright 14:10

awareness and knowing of yourself is the first step. What's in there, what's going on? Who am I? What do I need to be aware of in my being? That maybe have it has escaped my attention. Maybe I've looked at it, maybe I've never looked at it, but what is there that needs to be witnessed and understood? So

Damasa Perry Doyle 14:30

vessel van de Coe, I said that right, has a book called The Body Keeps the Score, and what he's saying is that everything that has happened to us lives in the body. It is present there, whether it's hiding or not. So in order for us to have a relationship, a deeper relationship and connection with ourselves, our desires and all of the things. We want to create in the world, we have to just get into the body first. And for me, as a ritualist and as a shaman and as a medicine woman, when we get into the body, we get into the spirit. We get into the soul. We get into what is this? The soul desire? What is the so? Because the body speaking, and then underneath that, once the body is acknowledged and touched, the soul starts to stir. And the soul is like, Hey, this is what I want. This is what's underneath all of this. And

Janelle Orion 15:42

one thing I've heard you say, damassa, is that our ancestors also live in our bones, right? They're also in our DNA, and so it's our souls. But then it's also like, those who are this, like walking with us are kind of the foundation of like, here's who we are getting to a relationship with ourselves, but then who's supporting us in this relationship with ourselves?

Damasa Perry Doyle 16:07

Yes, yes, because relationship is not an individual thing across all time. The indigenous way is that to be in relationship with the self is to be in relationship with everything and all things, to be in community and connection with all things. We are not separate from anything. So we are not separate from our ancestors. That energy, you know, is in there. So for example, for me, I've had to do work around some of the pain. In order to get to myself and my relationship with myself, I had to do work around ancestors on my mother's side, on that lineage that had been broken, stolen, enslaved, those women, right? Were passing down this trauma that was unspoken at that time. Right? It's only recent that we do all of these things, and remember these women were also separated from their traditions. And so there was this feeling in my bones, right when I was really working to connect with myself. I'm like, where's this like, bitterness? Where's this anger coming from? What is this? It doesn't feel like it's mine, but I'm carrying this. What is this sadness? And so I needed to tap into that. I needed to be curious about that. I needed to call in those energies and say, Hey, what's here? What's here? To the women of this, this, this lineage, allow me to see the grotesque. Allow me to see the pain, but also allow me to see the joy. Allow me to see how you survived, and then how you were able to thrive long enough for me down the road to even exist. And so there is the beauty of that right, the ancestors being in the bones, the story that they have to tell to support us in our beingness in this present day is so full. It's a big picture. It's kind of actually, it's more like a puzzle, and we don't know all the pieces are not all in place when we're born, right? Actually, maybe we know, but we don't know that we know, and so we have to remember. So also working with ancestral beingness and all the wisdom that is in our bones is inviting or remembering, like, remember how you got here? Why? Why you're here? Very

Janelle Orion 19:06

fresh. Just take a deep breath. She just named a lot of things, and for some of us, that might be the first time we're hearing some of that. And so this is an invitation to, like, feel into your body right now, as you even close your eyes, take a deep breath and feel where those words land in your body, what comes up for you and just with the noticing without judgment, because I know when I didn't know any of this before I met damassa, she has been a teacher and a guide for the past, you know, almost two years that I have known her, to build my awareness around this aspect of of of my beingness. And so this is an invitation to maybe have got one, one layer revealed to yourself. To each of us listening.

Andrea Enright 20:01

Damasit, you talked about the body tapping into the body, and how that gets us to spirit. And the way you spoke about it felt very fluid, as though tap into your body, you're going to tap into your spirit, or that's what I heard. And I think I anticipate, and perhaps I've heard before in some brave hearts or clients of mine, that they're like, Yeah, I'm in my body, like, I'm working out, I'm running, I'm dancing, like, or I'm I'm totally in my body, and that feels really good. But I don't know what you're talking about, the spirit thing, right? So can you help tease out the difference between being in your body, working your muscles and not feeling good, and being in your body that leads to a spiritual presence, the physical

Damasa Perry Doyle 20:56

things that you are speaking about, really serotonin and all of these things, you know. And so it can feel, it can feel really good. It's so good. It's actually necessary for the physical body to really tap into the spirit. There is an intentional presence. And by presence, I mean, I'll be breathing like the breath is the life force of our bodies. It is the gas, actually, of our bodies, right? It makes all the engines go. And within the just within the breath, the Spirit lives in the breath. It's moving. It's moving, and it's cycling. And usually we don't even pay attention. It's just something that's just like, oh, like, I'm it just happens. And so to be present in spirit and to reach the soul is through intention. Is by sometimes sitting in stillness, actually, not thinking that you have to do anything, that you can be like if I sit for a second right now, and I really feel myself, and I feel the air around me, and I can hear all the things that I can hear. I feel my heart is still a little bit excited, and I'm just feeling into the energy of me, inside of me, but also what's around me, right? Because I'm vibrating. We vibrate like sometimes inches, sometimes feet, from our actual physical body, and that is our presence. And so we if you tap into that and you start to feel, where is my presence? Where is my life force? Right now, where am I? That's not just this physical part of me, right then, you can start to feel your spirit and your presence. And of course, you know so many traditions and meditation like that is what it's about, is connect with the spirit of all things. And then once you start to feel into your own spirit. It's an individual thing, and you start to realize your connection to all spirits, all energies, and that your presence is a part of something so much bigger,

Andrea Enright 23:57

amazing. Thank you. Wow. Yeah, yeah, that was very clear. So

Janelle Orion 24:03

in order to get there, I'm sure there's some people who are listening, who are like, I have no idea where my presence is and where that is in relation to my body. So what are the obstacles that prevent people from building a relationship with themselves? Okay,

Damasa Perry Doyle 24:19

there's so many obstacles. I don't mean that to be scary or to make it sound daunting, but I don't want to underplay the amount of work it takes. Right? That it's uncomfortable to the journey to oneself can be a very uncomfortable path, and that is why some people don't choose to take it. They choose to just be in there with like, one dimension of themselves, because obstacle could be, could have happened. At birth, how are you born into the world? How were you received by your parents? Were you like, say, if someone was adopted, and so their obstacle might be a sense of belonging to this like, where is their seed coming from? Where is the root of who they are? So they might feel loved and cherished right by their adoptive parents. And yet, there's this yearning for that understanding, where did I come from? Who Am I? That could be an obstacle. There is trauma. Something might have happened, something physical, emotional, mental, that can be an obstacle for me. A lot of it of coming back into myself, was dealing with trauma that happened to me as a child, and the things that I had to do to protect myself to survive those moments became blocks in my adult life, the relationship to connection, to feeling like I belonged, right? So I really had to work on that. And it's scary, because it's like there's a wound there, if the if the body holds all of the things and keeps the score when you start to open those doors and say, Okay, I feel an obstacle, right? I sense I feel an obstacle. I'm working with this woman. I'm working with damassa, I feel this obstacle. Now, what do we do with that? Yeah, how do we tap into that? And so sometimes religion can be an obstacle, sometimes culture can be an obstacle. Expectation can be an obstacle, the way the people around you see you and how they expect and have known you to show up, and then here comes this other person that is diff what feels different to everyone. So then there's a feeling of, oh, my community is going to alienate me if I say I like to be flogged, and that is my deep desire, and they don't understand why that would be a pleasurable thing for a black woman to say, given the history of black women in this country, right, and what they've gone through so that that for me to speak for myself, that was an obstacle for me to own that, and I had to do work around that so obstacles can come and dip different, and for everybody, it's different, even if Janelle, we went through the same exact thing When we were 10 years old, because of conditions, culture, expectation, mores your blocks that might pop up from that experience if it wasn't immediately handled and you weren't immediately cared for and acknowledged and it now it's a block might be different than mine, and it might show up in a different Type part of the body and a different part of way we move through the world and through our spirit.

Janelle Orion 28:48

And it can even be if we had actually, like we're actual siblings, right? Like our siblings can have different experiences, like they can have the same quote, unquote childhood and have those blocks speak

Damasa Perry Doyle 29:02

up, yes. And I would say, also, speaking about familiar, familial connections, I can have an experience, and my parent can have a view and an idea and a totally different experience, even if, if they were there with me. And so then, if they don't remember how I remember, and they're like, What are you talking about? I was a great dad. I was a great mom. I gave you everything you wanted. What do you mean? You are stuck in this place, but that can also be a block, because we want to be witness. We want people to acknowledge us and our beingness.

Andrea Enright 29:48

I just want to tease another one more thing out. This is fascinating. You mentioned that culture, expectations, religion, different people's experiences can be an obstacle. Able to building a relationship with yourself. And I think, though we are basically saying that building a relationship with yourself is being the real you. Yeah, you equating those two things, yeah, okay, yeah. But

Damasa Perry Doyle 30:16

if you don't know who, who is the real you when you strip you, so you have to strip away the expectation. You have to actually separate yourself, even if it's just for a short amount of time, from what culturally, religiously, relationally, is expected of you. Yeah, and say, Wait, am I Janelle and I were talking about this, am I in action? Is this my true? Am I acting out of my own accord, or am I reacting at an expectation, out of culture, out of religion, like, what do I really believe? What do I really like if I was fed chocolate cake? I love chocolate cake. If I was fed chocolate cake all the time when I was a child, and I continue to eat it, and then somebody says, Oh, you really love chocolate cake. And then I have to say, Do I really love chocolate cake, or was it just fed to me? And now I just eat it, and now it's just a habit. Maybe I should try strawberry cake. And then I'm like, Oh, I love Oh, wait a minute, I actually love this. This actually makes me feel my love it. This is so juicy, or whatever, strawberries and juicy, right? And then we start to learn what we desire within ourselves. And so then this is the self.

Janelle Orion 31:57

A courage is required to be willing to question everything that you were fed, that you were exposed to, that you were told, that you were taught, yes, and it's then not only questioning other people's expectations of oneself, but what are Our expectations of ourselves that are also not true.

Damasa Perry Doyle 32:22

Yes, yes. This is what a whole podcast

Andrea Enright 32:26

is about. Like, thank you for being here. I mean, we're just like, basically circling back to the main core, yes,

Damasa Perry Doyle 32:32

and that is where you know, ancestral work actually can come in as well, because what was expected of my ancestors. What did they have to do? Where did they have to abandon themselves to survive? And how can we connect to that wisdom or or where? Again, where? Where Where did they? Question, where were they, and resistance to what was happening to them, and then realizing, like, oh, actually have resistance and some righteous indignation and this energy also in my bones, and I can tap into that so I can start to say, You know what? Fuck that. I'm not doing that. I mean, I don't want to do that. I'm not going down this road anymore, because it's not a road that I paved. And I have within my lineage examples of how my ancestors have found a different way of being in West African culture. It's called Sankofa. It's going back to the past to find the wisdom, retrieving the wisdom there to support our beingness in the present moment that will help us and our future lineage,

Janelle Orion 34:10

so that like leads into like. When you are working with clients, what happens when they start knowing themselves? It feels like they're Yeah, healing something for for themselves and the future,

Damasa Perry Doyle 34:26

yes, generations, yes and and the past. It is all of those things, right? It's across all time when we start to be inquisitive about ourselves and what we truly, really desire and who we truly are, there's a feeling of liberation. That is what I feel most of my clients start to to see this like, Oh, wait. Minute they start to see a couple of things they will realize, Wait, I am rooted in something. People tend to think that only black and brown folk are indigenous. This is not true. Indigenosity is in all of us. We all come from somewhere. We all have practices that are beautiful. Once we start to remember them, then we start to feel like we belong. And I feel that belonging is one of the core wounds of our lifetime. And so you root down into your ancestry, and you're like, wait, I came from somewhere. Oh, that's amazing. I belong to people. I what we say in the tradition we walk with our people, so people that a client might feel all of a sudden, oh, I'm not alone. I'm not in this by myself. And that feeling of connection, like I'm connected, I'm connected to the trees, I'm connected to the water. Actually, I am water too, right? I'm connected to Earth, the fire inside of me. The fire is people calm, and their fire is like, like a little bit lighter. And then we stoke that fire right, by rooting in the sense of belonging by being witnessed, and then all of a sudden, it's like, wait,

Janelle Orion 36:48

I have

Damasa Perry Doyle 36:50

not only do I belong, but I am worthy of having all parts of myself be known and seen by me first. It's always starts within and then showing up and saying, Hello, this is who I am. This is what I want. These are my needs. People could start to dial in to what they need and realizing what where they abandoned themselves and they weren't asking those questions, or also maybe where they were, you know, centering themselves in a way that was not supportive to those around me. What people receive when they work with me is they start to feel a sense of belonging to themselves. First, they start to feel rooted in how they got to this world. You know, through their ancestry. Through their lineage, they start to feel connected to their desires and to be able to be witness, to be able to speak and to be able to show up as the fullness of themselves, and that creates a sense of liberation, of not being shackled to this kind of part of ourselves that we didn't choose. And so it's just like releasing those shackles and saying, Oh, I'm free. I'm free to be me.

Janelle Orion 38:46

So damsa, I'm curious you speak to this dagger tradition of the West African lineage, but as a white woman, I know that I have worked with you, and I'm not of that lineage, so I just want to ask the question directly, right? Does it do I have to be of your lineage to work with you? Or can anybody work with you? Because you're having them tap into their ancestral line, not

Janelle Orion 39:13

yours?

Damasa Perry Doyle 39:14

Yeah, so you just answer the question beautifully when I work with anyone, I am tapping I'm calling in that person, person's highest form, first. And I am calling in their ancestors. I'm calling in their guides, whatever they are connected to. So you don't have to be from the West African tradition. And actually, in my lineage, I have European lineage as well. I have Asian lineage as well, Afro Cuban lineage. And so it. Is not, and it doesn't even matter what religion you are, right? I tell people, I've had clients come to me and they say, oh, but do you believe in God? And what about Jesus? And I said, Well, Jesus is an ancestor. Jesus was in a body, and there's so much wisdom there, too. And so if that is what, I work with people where they're at. So if you come in, whoever you come in with, whatever traditions you come in with, I honor those, and I don't try to replicate those, because I don't feel like that's my place, right? I ask people to come in with a photo or with an intention or anything they know or feel that is important for them, for their spirit and their spiritual connection, and to bring that and so that energy of that is what I amplify, what is already there

Damasa Perry Doyle 41:03

for them. So I hear that so that anyone can work with you. But I also do want to call out that the reason why you're able to do this, and this is been my experience, is like as a black woman, right, that black women have kept this lineage of being conduits, of being connected to the ancestors, that they haven't lost that and so that that's a service that they are providing to all of us on the planet, because they chose not to forget where in my lineage I it was forgotten. I would say

Damasa Perry Doyle 41:38

yes, and to be fair, globally, many people have forgotten they have forgotten their lineage. They have forgotten the indigenous way, their indigenosity. As Elder maladon Patrice Summit, who was my teacher, would say, who is still my teacher. He's an ancestor now, but many of us, I had to remember, I, you know, I started the first time I channeled a spirit or saw a spirit, I was seven

Damasa Perry Doyle 42:17

years old. Can you define channeling now, at this moment? Yes, channeling

Damasa Perry Doyle 42:21

is just opening yourself. You're a vessel, and so spirits either speak or show themselves. It's like you're a portal. And around that, there are permissions and boundaries and all of that stuff. But at seven, I didn't know that. I didn't fully feel connected because I didn't understand and I didn't have a mentor, and so I was just kind of in this weird I have all this energy, and all of these things are happening. I don't know what to do with them. And I bring that up because I'm I'm going to travel to Gabon in West Africa to do initiations in the buite tradition, to help support my expansion of remembering and connecting, right I'm always working on that, and so I don't think that anybody should feel any lack the way we are, specifically in the Western world, is it's everything's fast. Everything is individually centered. We've lost our sense of community in some points and togetherness and you know, and we all have to remember how to bring that back, having said that a lot of the traditions and wellness practices are rooted in black and brown ritual and traditions, and that's what needs to be acknowledged, is that there are people, specifically women, who are walking in these traditions, and they are sharing and they are supporting, because that's the indigenous way is to not withhold and Not to put a paywall in front of of supporting healing. And I think that if we all remember that, where is it coming from, where is the wisdom coming from? Who are we receiving this wisdom from? How are we finding our way to ourselves, right? I speak about elder malo, his wife at the time so bonfu, also very wise. I speak about Pichette, who is my teacher in Thailand. I speak about chief Montana, who is now my my current mentor. Are in teacher, I speak about all of the the spirits of the land and the people who carry in North America right, the wisdom and tradition and the ways and how I have benefited from that, how I have benefited from being in circle with other Shaman from different traditions. And so it's important for us to honor that and to speak that out and to name it, and to name it, and to remember, because I, I had a there's a shaman in Peru, and I was my first time doing plant medicine, and I'm not going to go into which ones, because then I'll have to do a definition thing. But I was, we were sitting in plant medicine, and this is a shaman that I met. And I said, oh my goodness, this was so beautiful. Thank you so much. What can I do to, like, continue this for myself? And he said, Take Take this that you received, and go back to your land, and go back to your people, and find your ways and find your practices, and be curious about your ancestors and the way they walked this earth, and tap into that, and always honor all of your teachers. And so I would definitely say, Yeah, honor black and brown indigenous people, right where we are getting all of this wisdom from all of this support of us helping, coming home to ourselves, where we learned, you know, how to do yoga. And funny, like the a lot of the Sanskrit is taken out of yoga practices nowadays, and I think it should be put back in. I don't think that we should homogenize these practices. We should honor them as they are, and where do they come from. I learned

Andrea Enright 47:08

all those Sanskrit words when I was doing the poses, yeah. And there's so much more interesting,

Damasa Perry Doyle 47:13

yes, and it's also it has a vibration when we say, and we use this and we honor it, and we speak where it came from. There's a vibration, and that is what is so, so beautiful. And so no matter what tradition, I appreciate that there's, there's an ally ship in a white woman saying, I learned this from this person, from this culture, and that's why I'm speaking it and I'm sharing it on behalf of my learning from as always welcome, always appreciate it.

Janelle Orion 47:58

So someone listening to this today, right? You're at the end, you're going to tell them how they can find you and learn more. But what can they take away with today as part of their journey or start to their journey of building a relationship with themselves,

Andrea Enright 48:13

like a few concrete steps would be awesome.

Damasa Perry Doyle 48:17

I love giving homework. I love giving ritual, because I'm a ritualist, and so that just means everything to me is like sacred. I would love for people to listen to. Look around your home. Do you have a spot where you can sit and be with yourself? If you don't find a spot, it's nice. If the sun is shining in a little bit, it's okay. If it's not, you can have a little a little cloth to put on a little rug, or anything, a candle, a bowl of water, preferably spring water, not out of the tap and take a cushion or a chair and sit there and take a few deep breaths and say this out loud, my name is, and so I would say my name is. I would like to connect deeper with myself. Like to connect deeper with the wisdom where they are. I know their names. I don't know that light the candle, that stick of incense, is always nice. So you have at this makeshift altar, a candle or fire and sense for sweetness water. If you have a stone or a shell that represents Earth, you're also sitting in the earth. You are the earth. And just sit and let. Listen and pay attention and do that practice. I would say, do that practice for four days. Just go. Light the candle, light the incense, sit to connect with yourself, with your ancestors, with the energies around you, and see what comes up and journal about that, and see a name might come up, a feeling you might all of a sudden say, Oh, I feel like I need to go to oh, I need to go get this. I need to call so and so. I need to go get in a bath. Listen to that. Trust yourself. Trust your intuition. A lot of this work is intuitive, so just trust your intuition and see see what comes up and journal about it every day. That's the easiest homework.

Andrea Enright 50:51

Okay, thank you beautiful.

Janelle Orion 50:53

Thank you. Thank you so much for your willingness to share your wisdom and come on our podcast and to set the found this, like foundational like peace, as for people who are starting out to wanting to build a relationship with themselves, so I'd love for you to just to share any projects that you have going on right now, and he asks that you have, and Also how people can get a hold of

Damasa Perry Doyle 51:21

you. I am taking a pilgrimage. Took a bone for some ancient ritual and initiation in the Bucha tradition, there are two very big initiations that are happening. I have started a gifting fundraiser for community to support me and and getting there to support my journey, because I believe that we can't do any of this without community. I've already received some beautiful donations, and so, yeah, that would be my ask, is to be supported in that journey so that I can retrieve the wisdom and bring it back to my communities here in the US. If anyone wants to work with me, I really tailor my work to the person. So you can go to domicile, sacred.com and you can check out my offerings, knowing that I love to create sessions built on the desire of the person who's in front of me. So yes, so if there's something that's not there. We can create it

Janelle Orion 52:41

on her website, damasol sacred, that's D, A M, A S, O, U, L, S, A, C, R, E, d.com, and her Instagram's on there as well. Thank

Andrea Enright 52:53

you so much, damassa. I really learned a lot today, and feel I feel your presence. Thank

Damasa Perry Doyle 52:59

you. It was a pleasure to be here and to share this with you all, and I'm excited for your listeners, and yeah, they're so lucky to have you too, supporting them in this this work. Love you. Thank you. You

Janelle Orion 53:24

Hey, Bravehearts, looking for permission. Work with us. Andrea offers permission coaching, and Janelle offers erotic wellness sessions. Follow us on Instagram, meet us in real life at permission to be human workshops in Denver. Subscribe to our newsletter. Do all this and more at our website, permission to be human. Dot live. You.