The Democratic Body with Ali, Sarah Peyton, Amber Gray & Rachel Fell
EPISODE SYNOPSIS: The Brilliant Body Podcast – 50th Episode Panel Celebration
In this special 50th episode of The Brilliant Body Podcast, host Ali invites three previous guests – Sarah Peyton, Rachel Fell, and Amber Gray – to join in a first-ever panel discussion. Each guest brings decades of experience in somatic education, neuroscience, neurodivergence, and trauma healing across diverse cultures and communities.
Together, they dive into the deep connections between body intelligence and democracy, unpacking how embodiment influences everything from individual healing to collective social structures. From reclaiming the intelligence of the body to exploring how dissociation impacts global citizenship, the conversation weaves personal insight with profound societal reflection.
Whether you’re new to somatic awareness or deeply rooted in body-based practices, this episode promises to challenge, inspire, and expand your understanding of what it means to live as a “brilliant body” in today’s world.
FOR MORE ALI MEZEY:
Website: https://www.alimezey.com
Personal Geometry® and the Magic of Mat Work Course information:
FREE Guided Body Mapping Taster: Heart/Sexuality Split
Five-films series (made by Ali Mezey) on Stephan Hausner’s work with transgenerational influences on illness
ALI IN THE HOTSEAT OF TBBP:
https://thebrilliantbodypodcast.transistor.fm/episodes/giving-the-body-language-with-personal-geometry-ali-in-the-hot-seat-with-lauren-gleason
ORIGINAL EPISODES WITH MY THREE GUESTS:
SARAH PEYTON:
https://thebrilliantbodypodcast.transistor.fm/episodes/your-resonant-body-with-sarah-peyton-brain-circuits-childhood-contracts-reconceiving-addiction
https://thebrilliantbodypodcast.transistor.fm/episodes/the-neuroscience-of-love-and-addiction-live-audience-q-a-recording-with-sarah-peyton-and-ali-mezey
AMBER GRAY:
https://thebrilliantbodypodcast.transistor.fm/episodes/amber-grey
https://thebrilliantbodypodcast.transistor.fm/episodes/earth-prayer-meditation-rooting-into-beloved-ground
RACHEL FELL:
https://thebrilliantbodypodcast.transistor.fm/episodes/bridging-divides-with-rachel-fell-neurodivergence-conscious-body-awareness-inclusive-intelligence
https://thebrilliantbodypodcast.transistor.fm/episodes/neurodiversity-the-body-inclusive-intelligence-live-audience-q-a-recording-with-rachel-fell-ali-mezey
FOR MORE RACHEL FELL:
WEBSITE: https://rachelfell.com/
BIO: Rachel Fell is an independent coach, consultant, and educator decoding true identity in organizational leadership, strategy, brand, and communications. Engaging embodied intelligence, she helps her clients find the core and congruent truth of what they have to offer the world.
Rachel is a champion of radical inclusion, recognizing and celebrating diversity, both seen and unseen. Uncommonly creative and capable, she excels in challenging self leaders, entrepreneurs, and organizations to go beyond theIr prior prejudices and preconceptions of what is possible. Her sweet spot is where the interconnectedness underpinning evolution, living systems, embodied psyche, and expressing identity meet.
In addition to working with organizations and businesses on their most complex challenges, Rachel coaches neurodivergent and neurocomplex adults, guiding them on their journeys to understanding, acceptance, and success.
Herself assessed as neurodivergent in 2018, she's also a published author and speaker on the topic.
FOR MORE SARAH PEYTON:
WEBSITE: https://sarahpeyton.com/
BIO: Sarah Peyton, Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication and neuroscience educator, integrates brain science and the use of resonant language to heal personal and collective trauma with exquisite gentleness.
Sarah teaches and lectures internationally and is the author of four books: Your Resonant Self: Guided Meditations and Exercises to Engage Your Brain’s Capacity for Healing, the companion Your Resonant Self Workbook: From Self-sabotage to Self-care, and Affirmations for Turbulent Times: Resonant Words to Soothe Body and Mind, and The Antiracist Heart: A Self-Compassion and Activism Handbook, co-authored with Roxy Manning, PhD.
FOR SARAH’S DISCOUNTED GIFT TO YOU:
Nearly 75% off her eight-week Introduction to Resonant Language Online Self-Study Course. It's already on a two for one promo, too, so you can sign up with a friend. Just use the coupon code, BodyBrilliance35 at checkout. After you make your order, add a note in the checkout box or shoot an email to help@sarahpeyton.com. Tell her your friend's email and name and you're all set for an incredible journey together. You can find the details in the show notes below. And have fun resonating!
MEDIA:
- 10 Key Concepts of Resonant Healing
- 9 Types Of Resonant Language
SARAH’S BOOKS:
- Your Resonant Self Meditations Exercises Ebook:
- Affirmations For Turbulent Times: Resonant Words to Soothe Body & Mind
- The Antiracist Heart: A Self-Compassion and Activism Handbook
MORE AMBER GRAY:
Website: https://ambergray.com/
To be with Amber and the whales:
BIO:
Amber is a Human Rights Psychotherapist and a Somatic and Dance/Movement Therapist who has worked with survivors of interpersonal, collective and intergenerational trauma, particularly torture, war, and human rights abuses, for 25 years. Amber provides clinical and transformational training on her Right to Embody trainings integrating refugee mental health and torture treatment with creative arts, mindfulness, and body-based therapies for programs serving survivors worldwide. She, with her clients, created a resiliency-based framework and clinical approach (Restorative Movement Psychotherapy) for somatic and movement therapies with survivors of trauma in multi-cultural contexts, and they also co-created Polyvagal-informed Somatic and Dance/Movement therapy, based on 24 years immersion in Polyvagal Theory. The latter is the subject of her upcoming book, Roots, Rhythm and Reciprocity, to be published by Norton. She regularly facilitates WildZeNess Eco-somatic Body of Change retreats for survivors, and caregivers and practitioners, serving communities affected by injustice, oppression and trauma.
OTHER RESOURCES, LINKS AND INSPIRATIONS:
CARTESIAN DIVIDE: The conceptual separation between mind and body, coined after René Descartes, emphasizing a dualistic view of human existence, isolating mental and physical aspects.
Our bodies and Our thoughts: The Cartesian divide
René Descartes (1596–1650): French philosopher, mathematician, and key figure in modern philosophy. Known for "Cogito, ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am) and contributions to the scientific method and analytical geometry.
Neurodivergence (Rachel’s definition): “How we process is markedly different – different enough to be experienced, different enough to be reflected back to us by somebody outside of our experience.”
Updated Autism / ADHD / Giftedness Venn diagram – Tending Paths
High, Exceptional & Profound Giftedness - InterGifted
The Polyvagal Theory/Stephen Porges:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec3AUMDjtKQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWVgXQKrqQ4
Iain McGilchrist
Family Constellation Work brief explanation
Bert Hellinger, founder of Family/Systemic Constellation Work
MORE NOTES ON THE WAY!!!
[From time to time, a word or phrase goes wonky. Please forgive my wandering wifi.]