Head to Heart

Our recent culture has been obsessed with self-love, including me over the years. But something never set right with me about this self-love, separation language.  "I love myself."  Who is the "I" and who is the "self" when I AM Love?  That language still denotes separation and is a false reality.  I don't love myself...I AM. I AM LOVE. Love in my truest state and nothing has ever been separated from this love. Only the mind can separate us from love, never the heart.  So do I need self-love OR...as the Sufi mystics tell us, along with countless Judeo-Christian and Buddist teachings...learn to BECOME Love that wipes away the illusion of separation? These are deep, mystical concepts that, if embraced, contemplated, and meditatated on, can set us all free.  (@womanscircle, (@christablackgifford @iamlukegifford)

These past two weeks have been intense. I've been invited into the reality of my inherited defintion of 'being enough,' and to be honest, I've discovered that I'm never enough based upon my definition of success and failure. So what does it mean to FEEL like you're enough in every moment? And how do we change the program? In today's podcast, we'll get to the core identiy of 'not enough' and begin to learn tools to uplug from that narrative, embracing who we are in the moment and acknowleding the resentment that comes when we don't.  I don't want to just know I'm enough as a mental contruct, I want to feel it in every part of my being.  It's our birthright, and we can get there. (@womanscircle @christablackgifford @iamlukegifford)

Wow, do I feel like a failure on a daily basis. Failure as a mom, a wife, a spiritual person, a businesswoman.  Failure when I let myself stop and take care of myself, failure when I lose approval. In the past few weeks I've been faced with the reality that I've lived in such terror of being a failure that I've sabotaged my own success. I've been so petrified of FEELING like a failure that I actually do all the time--staying busy to run from the feeling. Today, I let you all the way into my pain, the bottom of my darkness. Learning to finally challenge my inherited definition of failure--& changing it to ACCEPTING myself, in every moment, no matter what she looks like. And when I do that...I'm a total success. (@womanscircle @christablackgifford @iamlukegifford)

I opened up the @womanscircle in Instagram, asking them for questions they wanted me to respond to. In this weeks episode, we talk about the energy of money, the energy of abundance, & how to break a poverty mentality--no matter how much money you have in the bank! We chat about tools in the moment to heal nervous system dysfunction, what happens when betrayal crashes & I can't get out of heavy emotions, how to practicaly use meditation & prayer to change your world, & why I use Instagram filters at times! At the end, I put out a charge to everyone listening of your role in the changing of the world--& it begins with you diving into your inner darkness, becoming a master of your internal realm, & changing your INNER state before your OUTER state shifts.  You are the healer of your life, the liberator, the Creator. So what are you creating? (Make sure & follow @womanscircle @christablackgifford @iamlukegifford for more resources!)

For a majority of my life, I had let life's past disappointments numb me to what I loved, or even liked. Which meant, I couldn't FEEL the love of all the little things I enjoyed every day. But what if we could retrain ourselves, very simply, to FEEL love for what we already have? What if we could choose a feeling we love to experience, & then identify 3 simple things to consciously FEEL that feeling every day?  You CAN, I do this every day, and in today's podcast, you're going to learn how to do this. When we practice the feeling of love for the small things every day, we live in our Spirits--creating a FULL LIFE that we love.  (Mentions: @moonrisecreation @anjelahjohnson) Reach out to us if you'd like personal support navigating some of life's tougher circumstances. @christablackgifford, @iamlukegifford, @womanscircle)

So what do I do when I can’t feel forgiven for the really, really, really BIG things I’ve done and am doing? What do I do when I feel stuck in my cycles of guilt and shame, & my little practices of self-forgiveness aren’t getting to the massive boulder of guilt that’s stuck in my body? Sometimes we can't forgive ourselves. We need help. We need an outside gesture of forgivenss to come into the mistakes we've made, cleanse us from the inside-out, replace the blackness we're holding onto, & make us new. And this is possible for anyone, no matter what you've done in the past. In today's teaching, we'll learn 3 new practical steps we can take to prep ourselves to recieve forgiveness, and then the 2nd half of this podcast is a meditative practice to EXPERIENCE it. (Follow @womanscircle for live Monday teachings, @christablackgifford and @iamlukegifford for annoucements of new offerings, retreats, & experiences!)

For most of my life, I punished myself severely on a daily basis. Criticizing, judging, shaming, berating myself for the mistakes I made, consciously & unconsciously. This culture of punishment isn't something I wanted--it was something I had INHERITED. And I didn't have to recielve that inheritance anymore, retraining my mind, my heart, my body to have grace for myself when I made mistakes, when I looked in the mirror, when I hurt those I loved. In this episode we will learn where our inherited culture of punishment came from, how to unplug from it, and receive our spiritual inheritance of forgiveness & grace where we experience it on a daily basis.  (Follow @womanscircle for upcoming practices on this teaching!)

Looking at Ruthie Lindsey's radiant smile, you'd never know she lives in chronic pain. After being hit by an ambulance at 17 & given a 1% chance of ever walking again, she defied all odds to heal. But debilitating pain left her bedridden for 7 years until she decided to find joy inside the pain. Her wisdom will inspire the hopeless in hopeless situations. Her new book 'There I Am,' releases April 21. www.ruthielindsey.com @ruthielindsey

Head to Heart is back with Season 3!  After taking a long sabbatical, Luke & Christa share about the recent tornado that ripped through their community of East Nashville, the trauma that came with it, celebrating the recent birthday of their deceased daughter Goldie, their decision to quit drinking alcohol for a season, and catching up on all they've done during their break! Christa's Woman's Circle begins March 23! To register, www.christablackgifford.com/womans-circle/

If you aren't following @The.Holistic.Psychologist on Instagram, you're missing out.  Dr. Nicole LaPera has dedicated her life to working herself out of a job, creating a world of #SelfHealers. We watched Dr. LaPera explode into a spiritual & emotional influencer garnering over 600k followers in a short number of months. Her mission is show each person that they have the power to heal themselves & equip them with practical tools for doing so in daily life. We chat with her about her own journey through depression, how she is healing her anxiety, gut health, breath work & why she feel the traditional model of mental & emotional health needs a serious upgrade. 

In this episode, Luke speaks to men (and any woman interested in a man's journey) unpacking his pursuit of identity and his lifelong obsession with something he didn’t have: a clear sense of who he was. He uses his journey from insecurity to a grounded identity to show a listener the first thing you can do to gain clarity on who you are how to hack your doubts, fears, insecurities and anxieties in order to plant the new truths of who you are inside your nervous system. It's a must listen for any modern man (and their partners)!

Does your body tell a story? And can it tell you what it needs & is holding onto?  In season 3 of Head to Heart, we sit down again with Dr. Christopher Motley, chatting about frequency medicine, the organs of the body that process certain emotions, lineage pain in the body, and how to clear emotions.  Prepare, again, to be wowed, challenged, and blown away! @doctormotley https://www.doctormotley.com

Parenting is hard--especially when you're trying to heal as an adult without hurting your kids! We sat down with award winning author, speaker, and expert on children's emotional health, Maureen Healy, to ask her tips every parent needs to know while raising emotional and highly sensitive children. She gives practical tips that you can immediately implement into your home, helping your children thrive! https://highlysensitivekids.com

When Alison Armstrong decided to study men in 1991, she wanted to find out why she seemed to bring out the worst in them, hoping to learn how to bring out the best! Her work has been integral in our lives, showing us the stages of development of both men & women, how to maneuver through each stage, while providing brilliant resources for connection, intimacy, & relational growth. Get a pad & pen, because you'll want to take notes on this one! www.understandmen.com

We all have places we feel stuck--parts of our lives that seem as if we're trudging through mud. In this candid conversation, Christa chats with Luke about all the places she feels stuck in life, confessing certain parts of herself she not only has a hard time loving, but still hates. But what if the places we feel stuck are the places we need to learn to love? What if we can take the energy we've used trying to move forward, & instead, sit down in the mud and learn to play? www.masterheart.com/warriorweek

Most people aren't set up well to succeed in the most important relationship they might have...marriage. In this 2 part series, Luke & Christa sit down with author/speaker Jonathan Martin to chat about divorce in our culture, when to separate & how divorce can be necessary, the redemption of marriage, how many Christians get married to have sex, & the ways God can use anything. Part 1 of this podcast is on Head to Heart, and Part 2 is on Jonathan's podcast, Son of a Preacher Man. @jonathanmartin

How many men hope their marriage will fix their 'porn pull?' And how many women hope the love of a man will make them finally feel complete? In this week's episode of Head to Heart, we discuss the realities of porn and some of the reasons it pulls on the hearts of men (specifically), giving practical tools to heal the pain behind the compulsions and help with sexual energy by connecting to the heart.  

We all have darkness inside...things about ourselves we can't see.  Things we hope no one will ever see.  But could this inner darkness that we've been afraid of be our greatest superpower?  And might it give us the tools we need to become who we are meant to be in the earth? In this weeks episode, we talk about the importance of our inner shadows, how to access and transform them into light, the purpose of the millennial (selfie) generation to help us live in authenticity, and embracing our inner masculine/feminine.  

Have you been spiritually abused?  Hurt by leaders, parents, or authority figures and can't find that full healing and release?  Wondering how to balance the masculine and feminine in your body and soul?  In this week's podcast, we explore the cycles of healing and talk about how to move stuck emotions out of the body and soul.  

When someone uses terms like energy, vibration, and frequency, most people immediately give it a 'whoo-whoo' label.  But what if your emotions create energy, your cells vibrate, and your physical body has a frequency? In this weeks episode, Chiropractor, Clinical Kinesiologist, and Chinese Medical doctor, Dr. Christopher Motley, sits down to discuss how different organs in the body process different emotions,   how stress manifests in your cells, and how to clear trauma out of your fascia. Prepare to be 'wowed,' challenged, and find answers you didn't even know you needed.  For more information on Dr. Motley, follow @doctormotley on Instagram and www.doctormotley.com online to book a session!

In this episode we talk about the difficulties and successes that we have found in pursuing a life of open heartedness. 

Open hearted love, sex and living is one of the hardest and most beautiful pursuits we have embarked on. 

There are perspectives shifts and intimacy deep dive to be had along with a deeper sense of connection and relationship and fun! 

This week we talk about men and the heart. 

Masculinity is going through a reckoning right now.

Manhood is being redefined.

The world is crying out for men to do the work of inner connection and self-leadership.

We talk about what has caused men to distrust and destroy their hearts and how they can begin to regain that place of inviolable peace, confidence and limitless opportunity that exists within them. 

It is true...the power is inside you!

We can get bogged down with the details of our personal life. This meditation allows you to zoom out into the order of the cosmos, experiencing the safety of a universe set in motion and in complete order.

Experience the order of your world in surrender to the order of a greater plan.

In this episode we are going to explore the dark side of church leadership, the dangers of putting humans on pedestals and the pain that's possible when you trust someone else's voice over your own heart.

We did! We hosted our first ever retreat/experience.

In this episode we let in you in on all the things that went wrong so that everything could go right! From a hole in our roof to the intense anxiety of doing something we'd never done before.

In the end we showed up and you showed up and we learned a lot about what we are capable of when we show up in LOVE!

SEX!

This week we go all the way in!

From what parts of the body we love to practices that have made our sex life amazing! We discuss the beauty, intimacies and discoveries we've made as we've pressed deeper into what fullness of sex in our marriage!

In this episode we bare all about our sexual legacy.

We discuss how religion helped us lose at sex, how our childhood informed our marital sexual troubles and we get into some pretty funny stories of getting caught while "making out" while we were dating.

Get ready though because we ask you to join in on the dialogue with yourself to explore your own sexual legacy and how you might be able to improve your own sex life!

We've taken you outside your religious world, now we're going to let you into our personal world. 

In this episode we get as real time as we ever have. 

I(Luke) went with my gut as we sat down to record this episode and asked Christa how she was feeling in the moment. 

What comes of this raw, vulnerable conversation is a couple choosing to find healing, transformation and awakening through infidelity, heartache, ownership, dedication and trusting that there is always light to be found within darkness. 

In this meditation Luke guides in a simple heart-focused gratitude meditation designed to help your body, mind, heart and emotions come into congruence. 

Be sure you are in a place that you won't be disturbed. Place both your feet on the ground and put you hands over your heart. Prepare to get connected!

After two years out we are coming out hot! In this episode we dig into the some our hard truth. 

If the truth sets us free then why don't feel free, live free or act free?

Are you free? Really free?

Or are you managing your issues? Have you resolved that you’re destined to live in a prison so you might as well decorate with some flowers and curtains? Do you dress up your cage to imitate freedom because you’re never really going to be free of your issues?

Or are you actually, legitimately free. Do you KNOW and are you experiencing a transformed life...for real? 

In this episode we take a look at what hasn't been working. We walk you through our stories and the steps we take on our journey towards freedom. 

We're back!

The last time you heard from us we dove into our lives while picking up the pieces after the death of our daughter Goldie. 

We are so thankful to the 300,000 of you that became a part of our story and community as we uncovered our hearts and walked you through our journey of integrating Goldie's death. What an honor and pleasure it has been to be a part of your journey's as you have been a part of ours. 

After a 2 year hiatus, a new baby and the deconstruction of our bad christian theology. 

In this episode we let you in on where we've been and start to unpack the long road of hurts and healing we have been walking. 

From deep-diving our spiritual belief systems, reorienting the dynamics of our marriage, to recovering a love we could never imagine...we talk about it all. 

Tears, laughter, tension and love. We are glad to be back with the Head To Heart Podcast!

For most people, the word 'wholeness' is a pipe dream. But in this final episode of a 9 week series through the book 'Heart Made Whole,' Christa and Lucas share the reality of heart-wholeness through raw acceptance of each moment, keeping the heart connected to intimacy and love during the worst circumstances. As you learn to stay conscious of your present moment through raw acceptance, you can finally learn to stay present with the presence of God, who heals and restores everything.

When people talk about living from the heart, some fear that you're asking them to turn off their brain. In Chapter 8 of 'Heart Made Whole,' Christa and Lucas discuss the importance of the heart-brain connection, and how brain development and attachment proves how desperately the heart needs to experience love.

Did you know you're heart is constantly speaking to you? Most people live as though their hearts are foreigners, unable to decipher what the heart is trying to say (or scream) at them. In this weeks podcast, Lucas and Christa describe 4 languages that your heart is always speaking, and teach the listener how to finally understand their inner dialogue.

Do you understand the parts of your heart, knowing how to reconcile each part into connection with the Love who lives inside? In Chapter 5 of 'Heart Made Whole,' Christa and Lucas describe the Emotional Heart, Guardian Heart, and Function Heart, explaining how to understand each part and reconcile them into a conscious connection with love.

If God is good, then why are people abused? Why is there war? Why do people die tragically? In this weeks discussion in Chapter 4 of Christa's upcoming book 'Heart Made Whole,' Luke and Christa dive into the heavy (and somewhat controversial topic) of God's goodness in the midst of horrible suffering.

This is an installment of Head to Heart by Christa Black Gifford and Lucas Gifford. For more information, please visit: www.christablack.com.

Most of us don't enjoy emotional pain.  We pretend it's not there, move into denial, or live to avoid it. But what if pain isn't the enemy, but instead, simply a signal that points to the real problem? Learn to uncover your emotional pain, move towards it, and uncover the real source of the problem--your broken heart. Christa and Lucas discuss Chapter 3: The Doubting Heart from her upcoming book 'Heart Made Whole,' released June 7.  

This is an installment of Head to Heart by Christa Black Gifford and Lucas Gifford. For more information, please visit: www.christablack.com.