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I Like Who I Have Become.” - Geralyn Gendreau Interview

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Master story-teller and author Geralyn Gendreau joins the show today to share the inspiration behind her new book ‘Jungle Jean’ and how her near-death experience changed her life forever. Together, they discuss the life of Jean Liedloff, how to get into a flow state and why being human is messy!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • In the collective unconscious, everybody has experienced everything. You can tap into the past lives of anybody and everybody if there is a reason to.
  • When we are dealing with the unknowns, it is hard to say what is the absolute truth. The only real truth in the world is that everything is always changing. There is a science to prove everything, it is a challenging thing to ask people to think more deeply about things. Critical thinking is something much needed in our world.
  • Everybody makes mistakes. When there is a rupture, it is as important how you repair it as how you did the damage. If you get dysregulated you have to know how to regulate yourself, that is a key skill. Being human is messy.
  • There is something very beautiful about being born into a different phase of life where sensuality and sexuality morph and change as your body morphs and changes.
  • We go toward what satisfies our needs and there is often confusion about what satisfies us long term and short term. Impulse control is difficult.
  • There is nothing more satisfying than waking up in the morning and being in a flow state, this may not happen every day and sometimes it is a matter of being patient. The unconscious is always working on whatever it is that you want to create. When you show up consistently, it has a place to flow through.

 

BEST MOMENTS

“I am my mother’s daughter.”

“Is this your belief or is this just objective truth?”

“Being human is messy. Let's face it, it's a mess.”

“Stories are such a powerful teacher.”

“I miss my precious estrogen but I do not miss the monkey on my back.”

“When I leave, my name will still be here.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

A master storyteller, author Geralyn Gendreau speaks to the core of what it means to be human, offering provocative insight into our current dilemma. As a direct result of an unusual near-death experience (elaborated in the additional info section below), Geralyn became keenly interested in the conditions that lead to optimal human development. Her studies convinced her that these conditions, little known in our society but prevalent among our tribal ancestors, create an evolutionarily appropriate (i.e.: species-specific) family structure and social ecosystem that allows human nature to work successfully. Geralyn’s inquiries into optimal mother-infant bonding and her critique of “attachment theory” provide powerful insights into how we can form enduring, harmonious love bonds as well as dynamic, high-functioning relationships in our professional lives. Geralyn spent many years under the tutelage of Jean Liedloff, author of THE CONTINUUM CONCEPT (TCC). Now a torch-bearer for Liedloff’s world-changing ideas, Geralyn is intent on creating a renaissance for TCC. First published in 1975 and still popular 46 years later, Liedloff's seminal book about her experiences living with "original peoples" deep in the jungles of South America gave birth to the baby-wearing trend and attachment parenting movement. And while TCC is widely regarded as a childrearing classic, Gendreau is quick to point out that the book is a treatise on human nature. Paradoxically, the friendship between Geralyn and her mentor became a quagmire of unmet needs and unrealistic expectations. But it was these very relationship difficulties that gave rise to Geralyn’s fascination with what she calls the blindspot phenomenon. “Most of us repeatedly shoot ourselves in the foot, unaware of how or why we are doing so. This blindspot is what makes unwanted behaviour patterns so resistant to change.” In her 2021 book, JUNGLE JEAN (the authorized biography of Jean Liedloff) Geralyn explores these and many other topics in depth.

Audience takeaways include:

1) insight into the core wound that alienates us from our true self keeps us separate from others 

2) a radically new understanding of the underlying cause of our struggles and stubborn blocks

3) a glimpse of common “blind spots” that keep people stuck and prevent them from living with the wide-eyed wonder and unshakable sense of “rightness” that is our birthright

4) an embodied experience of the subtle, stable joy that is our natural state

5) a perceptual shift that makes it possible to let go of senseless worry and transmute the underlying anti-self feelings that feed anxiety

6) a framework that revolutionizes problem-solving by applying the law of miracles

7) the courage to embrace cooperation as the key to our survival as a species

 

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

At the age of 29, Geralyn nearly drowned in heavy surf after getting slammed by a rogue wave. After an unusual near-death experience and dramatic rescue, she was spared the life of a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic by a divine intervention that gave her a key to unlock the power of miracles. In addition, she was afforded a direct encounter with the sentient intelligence we call “evolution,” and allowed to glimpse the blueprint of her divine design.

 

Geralyn believes that Liedloff's evolutionary perspective, which she revisits in JUNGLE JEAN, has the power to restore our faith in humanity. Anyone who is a mom knows a mom, or has a mom will be deeply moved by the ideas Geralyn unfolds in her writings and interviews. In her work with clients, Geralyn helps people see their self-defeating behaviours in a new light so they can begin to dismantle the false self and transform the negative ego into a source of creative juice and personal power. Her perspective on trauma and trauma healing is informed by ancient yogic practices as well as modern brain science. She has studied interpersonal neurobiology with Dr Dan Siegel, founder of Mindsight Institute.

 

As a direct result of having worked alongside Liedloff for fifteen years, Geralyn’s worldview traces back to the Stone Age. Intent on sharing what she calls a “biological-evolutionary perspective” on our deeper nature, she believes a new understanding of what it means to be human could very well become the lifeboat we need to survive should civilization as we know it collapses.

Biography

A licensed psychotherapist since 1995, Geralyn is a playful, soul-provoking life coach who believes one of the keys to happiness is being able to laugh at yourself. She is the author of JUNGLE JEAN, the biography of her mentor, Jean Liedloff, who travelled into the pristine regions of the Venezuelan rainforest back in the 1950s and subsequently wrote a seminal book, THE CONTINUUM CONCEPT, which became a childrearing classic.

 

In her work with clients, Geralyn assists adults who did not have a fully enriched infancy and childhood (i.e.: most of us), to see and feel the very real impact of “missing experiences.” The insight, understanding, and self-knowledge gained to give them new freedom and the courage to live a fully actualized life. She shows people how to "transmogrify" their everyday experience by leaning into the joy that is our natural state. Geralyn loves to share the story of how she learned to turn life’s many challenges into sources of energy rather than energy-sucking problems that put the kibosh on her life force.

 

Geralyn has been deeply influenced by a decades-long fascination with Littlewood's Law of Miracles, which states that any individual can expect to experience an outrageous event every thirty days. She is a blackbelt martial artist, salad aficionado, and renowned hair chameleon. Her favourite brain hack is jumping out of an aeroplane.

https://junglejean.com/

https://www.instagram.com/geralyn_gendreau_/?hl=en-gb

https://podmatch.com/guestdetail/1621729330351x502112987662880260?return=true

https://www.linkedin.com/in/geralyn-gendreau-lmft-7802495/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geralyn-gendreau-lmft-7802495

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