Tuesday Nov 05, 2024

114. Tracy Harward on Creating Ishtara & the Power of Connecting to Your Body

Today’s episode features Tracy Harward, the creator of Ishtara, a movement method that promotes body awareness and healing.

Stacey and Tracy explore the importance of connecting with your body, and the transformative power of listening to what your body has to say. Tracy shares how she created Ishtara, and explains how processing your feelings in your body can lead to healing, freedom, and self-love.

Tracy is the creator of Ishtara - an embodiment method that balances emotions and gives you a way to become your own healer. Tracy created Ishtara from her own journey of healing herself from childhood trauma through the wisdom of her body. After years of searching for answers, she healed herself by learning to listen to her own body's guidance in meditative movement. What began as her personal practice gradually evolved into her life's work—empowering others learn to heal themselves. Through a decade of following her body's wisdom, Tracy created a method to naturally transform patterns held in the nervous system. She also validated her method by studying with experts she deeply admires, including Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, Dr. Peter Levine, Dr. Stephen Porges, and Dr. Pat Ogden. These studies, along with her exploration of gestalt psychology, trauma therapy, attachment theory, Jungian psychology, and yoga, helped her understand the science behind what she was experiencing. Ishtara grew from Tracy's desire to share what worked for her, offering simple, body-based practices that make healing accessible to everyone. Today, she feels grateful to see Ishtara being shared by compassionate, trauma-informed teachers and embraced by people around the world who are discovering their own path to healing through movement.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

(0:20) Grounding practices & connecting to your body

(2:30) How we become disconnected from our bodies

(7:14) Tracy’s story & the origin of Ishtara

(12:35) Finding the spark to keep trying when nothing is working

(17:18) The pivotal experience that taught Tracy to go towards what she was feeling in her body, instead of running away

(25:43) Why processing emotions in your body is safer, faster, and freeing

(32:20) Finding complete love from within, beyond romantic relationships

(35:00) Stacey’s experience of healing through Ishtara & what she learned about herself in the process

(43:10) Your body is the source of your intuition

(45:45) How to know if Ishtara is for you

(52:30) The power of listening to your body & following its wisdom