26. SHAUNDA BROWN | On Conscious Sexuality, Spiritual Partners, Breaking Inner Blocks + Goddess Institute
iTunes: click here.
“Responsibility is such a big word as far as ownership of what I have taken on for myself. I’ve realized that I have taken on so much more responsibility in the world than I want to, nor need to, yet I still choose that.
I’ve put a lot of responsibility on myself because I’ve been given so much opportunity to create change in the world and i’ve been given these gifts.
Once we realize these gifts, it is our responsibility to share it with the world. So it is my responsibility to share with the world possibilities for living our best lives and to help create a sisterhood through Goddess Institute.”
HERE's the known.
I was introduced to Shaunda Brown via email by Jesse Israel. He suggested we meet, record a podcast, or at the very least attend each other’s workshops. Somewhere within the message, there was probably a hidden (intentional) current for friendship but it did not need to be said. It just happened. After a few email exchanges, I attended Shaunda’s first Goddess Institute event on Conscious Sexuality. Goddess is her baby. It’s the thing she’s been manifesting, growing and birthing. I walked into a transformed space in Brooklyn, NY and took my seat on a fuzzy pillow smack dab in the middle. There was a microphone. A speaker (future pod guest - Lauren Harkness) and room full of ready-to-learn women. Shaunda spoke first.
A few things immediately resonated. Work and the need to be busy, to do, and to prove one’s worth in a male-dominated industry. Injury and the overriding of one’s bodies message. “Don’t do this,” spoke Shaunda as she prepared herself to do a snowboarding trick she wasn’t equipped to do. Shortly after that, she separated her shoulder but pushed through - because that’s what we do - and ended up having more damage done than the original injury. Slooow down it screamed. It being the Universe, God, Spirit, and Body. Lastly, I was mesmerized by Shaunda’s ability to create a “safe” space for women to access their vulnerability, their wounds, their fears, and more importantly, their desires by using conscious sexuality as a healing mechanism. This language and her ability to weave the message into those around her is innately her gift. She cultivates the very meaning of “speak your truth” on a subject that so many still find taboo.
If you don’t know who she is or have yet to hear of Goddess Institute — don’t worry…we’ll all know about it very soon. She is leading the charge to change the way we view sexuality in the mainstream and in modern times. It’s not a specific message that one needs to follow. It’s only specific to you. But to access that message, one must be willing to Show Up and to do the work of finding one’s Truth. It is the willingness that she is waiting on - not wasting time for the times to change as she is actively already in motion. When I sat down with her prior to this pod interview, I had asked her about her future goals and what she hopes for Goddess Institute. It was her desire to make it accessible for both men and women that truly solidified that this was "my person”. She, like me, is inclusive and about the people. She, like me, isn’t using foreign concepts or language to change people’s minds. She, like me, is creating safe spaces for people to collectively move through things, getting them to the other side of wherever that may be for each individual. She, like me, is opening hearts and minds without force or a specific destination.
Soul Sister — that’s as much as I knew coming into this conversation. The rest? The new partner-in-awesome relationship, her stories about Mom and Dad, her lessons-learned, her knowledge on conscious sexuality, her desires for her personal journey, and the details on Goddess Institute…well, that all showed up because we decided to Show Up for one another in conversation. Enjoy. xx
HERE’s Shaunda’s UNKNOWN(s).
I’m constantly learning every moment to trust myself more and to be in the state of flow. I’ve said that my life - since I’ve been very attentive and aware of how much the universe works for us - of just trusting that flow. I call it en Fuego where it just catches on fire. This happens and then it opens another door that had never had even been something that I could conceptualize in my tiny human mind. Trusting the unknown to unfold.
This whole path with Goddess Institute. Had you asked me a year ago if this is where I would be in my life. That would have never been a spec of what the possibility was. There are so many unknowns with what magic can be created with goddess institute that I am so excited and passionate to understand more of.
Personally, just starting this new relationship with my partner in awesome. It was so unknown to me previously about how that aspect would work in my life, and it was one of my big goals when I was mentalizing things to call in…that life partner, or whatever we want to call it. I’ve never known something so much as I know this aspect of just totally trusting. I have no idea how it’s going to look in that iteration. So that’s a big unknown for me because it’s so new. Just totally surrendering in this way is completely beautiful and having trust in whatever outcome that would be.
“When I let go, I have a goal to get goosebumps at least once a day and I recognize that when I am in this place of awe, of just this child-like wonder where my entire body reacts, I get Truth bumps. I get that when I’m completely present in whatever it is I’m doing. Whether that be sex, food, a beautiful vista of nature — nature is a big way to do that — music is an entirely other experience of getting lost in the sound and the dance and moving my body. Having that experience of just that moment allows me to do that.”
CONNECt:
INSTAGRAM: @shaundeezy_diesel
goddess
INSTAGRAM: @goddess.institute
WEBSITE: https://www.goddessinstitute.co/
