 I'm excited to be here with Dylan new come today and we're going to be talking about embodiment. I know a lot of you who are watching or listening have at least heard of embodiment, if not your practice, some aspect of embodiment. And Dylan has created a new. Well, not new anymore. It's been two decades but anyway, we're going to get into all this I'm excited. Dylan welcome. Good to have you here. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, so let me just kind of share your official bio with everybody. And then we'll get into the conversation so Dylan new come is the founder and lead trainer of us a zoo embodied intelligence that spelled you z a z you and I'm going to have you explain that Dylan later. So it was a zoo embodied intelligence. It's it. Dylan is also an embodiment based coach for helping professionals and cultural creatives and is a researcher of the of all this stuff too. So Dylan has a background. He was trained in the Juilliard School, Juilliard School, you know famous for music and performance. And he was trained there in dance performance and music composition. He dance in the Netherlands dance theater for eight years was a multi award winning choreographer and composer in that country for over a decade. And for about the last two decades, he has been developing and leading this thing called as a zoo embodied intelligence, which is a personal growth modality that empowers people to identify and shift their internal state from deregulation and stress to balance and empowerment. So Dylan I'm going to stop there with the visual bio because I think we're going to we're going to get into a lot of the stuff so the first question. I want to ask you to kind of place us a zoo in a greater context is, you know, the word embodiment, you know, to be honest, I mean I've heard about it for for many years, but it really hasn't come into my, the forefront of my experience in until the last couple years. And I'm, you know, since you have been working in this field for so long now I wonder, could you give us that's that bigger context of you know there used to be mind body, you know now it's embodiment. How do those relate. I'm going to give us your take on that. Yeah, yeah. There's, when I was growing up. I'm 50 now so I guess I was growing up in the 80s ish mind body was more the term. And so yoga was a mind body practice, Tai Chi, Chigong, these types of things. And, and the sense was with that that I gathered from it was it was mind body because it was conscious movement. Right, we were, we weren't just doing it for the physical gains or the physical skill. We were doing it to shift our energy to shift our mood which would clarify our thinking was sort of like active meditation was another term right walking meditation moving meditation. I'm going to interrupt you for sex sorry about that but it's so interesting because when I thought of mind body I simply thought that they were trying to make the connection that there is a there is a connection between the mind and body. Absolutely, you're actually taking it to the level of practice now and which is which is great. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah, very true. Very true mind body was also just trying to trying to put on on the people's cognitive map like it's a it's a both way connection. Yes, at the mind affects the body the body affects my because that was not a given 30 years ago for shocking right but no I mean to us it's normal today but that was like a kind of out there alternative constant. That's right. And then of course naturally. Well if there's a connection how do we live. How then do shall we live it's like well there's we can we can practice something. There are different modalities but yeah go ahead. Yeah. So, go ahead to embodiment define that from a circle back and fill in. Yeah, that's great. Different people it's a very broad term, and it's and it's a newly in, you know, trending term it's, it's, it's trending massively in the last few years, particularly the last three years, which is great. You know when I used to go around 15 years ago saying I do embodiment I got much more puzzled looks that I do now, which is great. I hold it embodiment. There is the sense of return to the, to the body, right this body like well what, what is being embodied and who is embodying it. Right, like, so embodiment, as we use it in culture tends to have two different facets to it one is more internal one is more external. The internal is like, Oh, I now have more and more conscious awareness of my feelings of my energy of where I can feel stuff of where I'm numb so I'm aware of where I'm not aware. I'm aware of how I'm reacting in the moment, and increasingly as you get into that I'm aware of how all of that is influencing my thoughts my feelings my actions. And then the next level of skill after that is I can start to, I can start to exercise some conscious will in that I can go oh I am I'm noticing that upset I'm noticing that anxiety, and with a breath and a relaxation downwards. You know, cut that in half and just two or three breaths and carry on in a more calm way and my conversation with George in this podcast or I noticed that edge of nervousness and I can take that moment to shift my state. Right, or I'm noticing I'm a little bit back here. Oh, I can shift into more comfort. That's the internal game of embodiment. Yes, and if anyone happens to be listening instead of watching, I do recommend that you actually watch this video because Dylan lives the stuff and you can tell by the way that he is presenting to us that he is, you know, this is very. Yeah, it's it's it's integrated it's integrated in your way of expression. Locally, we also are familiar with, oh he really embodies virtue or he embodies the, the Icelandic aesthetic or, you know, or Bjork's work embodies the, the Icelandic spirit right so it sort of is a living manifested example of in the world. And people even say, oh this car embodies the, you know, this Jeep embodies the rugged American spirit or whatever, meaning it's a manifestation of it you see it it's careful. So the other part of it is, and this flows from from the internal yin to the external young of it is that. And this is for me that the full promise of embodiment and why it's becoming so popular. We can shift that state into the place that really not only helps us feel more regulated and connected and empowered, but is it is the kind of state that is a good fit for the moment for what's for how we're needing to show up to connect to actually publish that blog article to stand to our truth to whatever it is right. There are states that serve that whatever type of behavior and states that might in and of themselves like if you were in a meditation session or something be a great state, but it's not the state it's not the energetic vibe right that you need for that moment. So, if you can shift your internal state into the state that will serve you in that moment you can not only have, you know skillful internal environment but you can embody something in the world. You can be that that doer that not just that beer, but also that. It's so interesting. I feel like I've kind of intuitively sensed into that over the years. I talk about this thing I call joyful productivity which is essentially embodied embodied values in our day to day moments of work. And that's kind of what you do and I you and I do focus made sessions together sometimes I see you do some movement to be able to kind of bring this bring the the moment, you know bring bring your intention into the moment center. So, embodiment you've done a fantastic job of explaining that what what that means now. Let's go into was a zoo if it feels right now. So you've developed this this technique your researcher of embodiment you've developed this technique called us a zoo. UZ AZ you so couple things one is why is it called that. And what is it. Yeah, yeah. And I think that the more slightly more deluxe explanation of us as you is good to circle back on how did I transition from being a dancer choreographer to what I do now, because the answer to that question is in there. Yes. So my first piece in the ecology of this I grew up with singing and dancing my mother's a dancer. I actually grew up with West African dance that's my mom's was my mom's obsession, all when I was growing up. So my pathway into dance was through through American contra dancing and folk dancing and West African dancing. So I went to modern and then ballet and then went to Julia already got into a ballet companies was a very and then got into puto and contact improv and so like I've run the gamut in terms of movement which has been wonderful. But another thread for me was meditation. When I was 12, I, my parents weren't into it necessarily I just, I just identified Japanese culture and Zen, particularly when I was 12 became obsessed with it and started meditating. And then when I was 18 I got into the passion Buddhism insight meditation and went really deep into that for about eight years. To the point where when I was about 26 2728 I was really torn between do I go to a monastery, or do I live this, you know, non monk life, and risk, you know getting caught up in illusion and samsara and craving in a version. You know, make it through and still, you know, get enlightened or be here, or, you know, reach, whatever in the answer is authentic marketing. Oh is it. But no it's brilliant and I love that your history includes both. Well and you know the dance and choreography and performance is almost like the development of consciousness through active expression. It's really the meditation and the Zen and the compassion as like development of consciousness through stillness. Yeah, exactly. One felt very in the body very visceral whether it was the sensual aesthetics of sound and movement. Yes. And also I, you know I got to do that in a dance studio with other people and on stage and so. My life wasn't like that necessarily like my relationship to finances wasn't a joyous sensual dance, my relationship with my significant other was not well a string of breakups wasn't like that. How can I, how can I integrate this more you know I've learned so much through meditation in these states but they're not integrating into the moments where I most want them, or if they are there. They're in it but in a way that is removing me from it, like my sex life was messed up because I just felt like kind of in and out of it like I wasn't able to integrate that non attachment with enjoying sex. So I decided well I feel like underneath sound and movement is energy is just like conscious energy integrating into the flow of life. And how can I research that and understand like take what I'm learning and weave it together in a way that I can explore how things want to move in these other contexts. So I got a grant from the Dutch government to research the effect of vowel sounds on thought emotion and behavior, which is where I thought that's where it's concrete it's it's researchable and it's where sound and movement and awareness come together. We had hundreds of people for three years come into the studio, and it was a large grant, and make vowel sounds and chant them and then just close their eyes and intuitively move. And we documented 40 different vowel sounds with multiple cultures and genders and patterns very clear patterns started to emerge of how the body moved, depending on how the mouth was and what feeling states. Very importantly, and this was sort of the unexpected gift where people were loving certain vowel sounds and feelings and where people were very uncomfortable with them. So some people like really liked you give them an eye and say go play for 10 minutes with that. They're like a pig and shit. Other people are like become really self conscious. Right. That's a little too out there. Other people you give them an ooh, they're like, ooh, this is intimate and sensual and grounded gets me into it somebody else like this feels stuck. This feels limited this feels like. It started to become this language where somebody would even walk into the studio you look at their body language you go, and be able to make a pretty good prediction of what types of movements and qualities and sounds would be would be a fit for their natural tenancy. So, fast forward 20 that was 20 years ago fast forward 20 years ago this is evolved into a very sophisticated modality of understanding different states. What are these states good for, so to speak from a sort of practical point of view. And what vowel sounds breaths and body postures and imagery help people activate these states, and then another layer of how to work through any resistance or trauma, or limiting beliefs that might be presenting them, preventing them from activating and utilizing these states in a in a constructive way, where their system isn't going. It's not safe for me to feel this it's not safe for me to be this way in the world. But I, you know, it's so powerful because you're integrating so much of the human experience. You know, not not not just movement not just thought, both the movement thought and expression, both, you know vocal and bodily expression into into something that's practical and that you can actually use on a day to day basis. So what do you use when we when we do focus made session you're just you're you're working but you're also embody that so that you can you can bring a more powerful, more purposeful states so that's that's amazing so we're already flying by so fast but I want to I want to wait a minute, do we have left roughly. Well we have we have. Yeah, we have like seven or eight minutes left. Okay. So I definitely want people to know how to how to learn more about this obviously we're going to have all the links below but I would say let me ask you this one question. You've noticed, what kinds of changes have you noticed within students or practitioners of the Zazu and I know you've done this for so many years or so many people that it's hard to pick out. But if you're any general patterns you've noticed what tends to happen to somebody as they practice this. Yeah, and they practice it correctly track. Yeah, sure. So the word that comes to me as less reactivity. It's like, imagine, I like to think of it as as a as a full color palette. Zazu is a model, there's different ways you could slice and dice it but it's a very full spectrum color palette of the different states that we go through neurologically and relationally by systematically routinely going through the mall. Like imagine if your spine you can bend this way and this way but a lot of people they get really stiff this way because they don't use it that much. It's like recovering those degrees of freedom. So that when life is asking you to move this way your system sure right now like oh I can't move that way. I'm sort of externalizing the metaphor here to make it. Yeah, it's like if you the more powerfully flexible you are, the more you can flow with the callings of life, instead of break because yeah. Right so like the shift from assertiveness to empathy and back again that's a really good one that can be really hard right like oh I need to be assertive but now I need to just drop that and empathize with the other person's point of view. The system is freaked out to do that no it's not safe to give up my own point of view because I blah blah blah. Right then that stress that's a form of stress and strain on yourself on the relationship. So that not that greatly reduced reactivity, much more sense of flow. Right because as you can imagine then it's like, Oh, okay, like what is the moment asking of me. Great, let's do it. And then being able to enjoy that more. Your body isn't going to hell. But your body mind. Yeah, so and then the next thing I would say is energy, just much more energy because all of that resistance costs energy. Right. Yes. Right. And so when when you're not only not losing energy to resistance and sort of friction, but you're actually starting to gain energy like yeah. Oh, I like that. Oh, I like that too. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Well, the last few minutes I want to just how what is what are the next steps for somebody who's interested to learn more. Yeah, let me just frame that first by saying we've evolved is also really over the last 10 years I focused on a sort of a bifurcation of our customer segments, which is personal and professional. Okay, so I am certain and some months and some years I'll focus more on on serving the personal use side of a Zazu because it's really important to me that this is, you know, it has such such power I really want to give that as a gift to the world that we use this so we have like a one day online training that you know that you can get that just teaches you all the basics of it. We have a personal assessment that's for free, the embodied intelligence self assessment, which you just answer these questions about your life and it, it sort of deduces therefore which types of balanced and imbalanced states, you frequent more and helps you understand the ecology of those states which has really helped that sort of the starting point in what states are going on right now and then you know which ones do you want to target to work on. So it can be both a general practice and very much a specific practice because everybody's different in their pattern right. So that's personal use. It's like I do a coaching program now if somebody wants to go in a longer personal growth journey with that. And then there's the professional side which is for coaches and therapists and other helping professionals. So we have a three day training for them we have a nine month certification training. So it's pretty much a balance of psychotherapists or therapists and coaches which I really like. I teach together with a psychotherapist who's trained in somatic psychotherapy and trauma therapy, and somatic is another word somatic is another word that's been become it's been trending over the last probably decade or more. Yeah, which is related which is, you know, somebody. Thank you so much Dylan for this amazing work. I see so much potential in it, and grateful that you, you brought this out into the world based on research. And of course, decades of practice and with so many students and professionals doing this so those of you who are interested. So, you know, we'll we'll we'll link to the assessment will link to sort of the personal training was well as a professional. And maybe there's is there any kind of send us off with with some some encouragement or some insight or anything you want to you want to share here. Just to take those moments to pause. When you're like sitting down at your computer about to engage in a new or a next task, or about to go off to an appointment, and just inquire into okay that that situation or endeavor. Okay, there's that. There's my state here. How aligned do they feel. Right, not just in isolation how do I feel right now but how do I feel relative to the task at hand. And is there anything and then it was also of course equips you with how to, but already just intuitively asking that question and then is there anything that wants to happen right now that I can do just with with breath or a shift or some movement that would help me feel ready and aligned to go into this. Just taking that moment can make all the difference. Excellent, excellent. Thank you so much for your work and I hope folks who are watching or listening will check out the links below and follow up with this powerful method. Thank you George for for this interview and I want to take a moment to thank you for your something about your, your quality of, of gentle strength and compassion that for someone being in the marketing world is is just such a reassuring anchor to know that those qualities can be held in this space. It's a, it's a gift to people like me, who are often asking ourselves, can we market effectively with integrity and compassion. Well, it is certainly a mutual admiration society here. Thank you Dylan. Yeah, thank you for your work. Thank you.