Speaker Identification

Speaker 1 - Prerecorded Theme Vocal / Announcer

This speaker performs or recites the opening and closing program theme. The transcript does not identify the vocalist by name.

Speaker 2 - Host, Teresa Songbird

The host identifies herself in the opening as Teresa and is named in the theme as Teresa Songbird. She delivers the full episode discussion.

Speaker 1 - Prerecorded Theme Vocal / Announcer:

There is another way to learn,
Where questions open doorways,
Where wonder leads us home,
Where every heart remembers
The wisdom it has known.

All Learning Reimagined,
Where passion meets possibility.
With Teresa Songbird,
Come explore what learning can be
For parents, teachers, seekers, and dreamers.
Learning comes alive.

Speaker 2 - Host, Teresa Songbird:

Welcome to All Learning Reimagined. I’m your host, Teresa, bringing you a little ray of sunshine as, together, we reimagine the future of education one inspired story at a time.

Welcome back, everybody. It is so lovely to have you here again, and to any new listeners, you are most welcome in this beautiful space and this beautiful conversation.

We are in the middle of a series right now. We are on Episode 6 of 9 on embodied intelligence, and we have covered quite a few things over the last few weeks. We have looked at safety in the body. We have looked at fascia and movement and how that affects learning. The body remembers life, so we have looked at memory. We have looked at coherence and resonance, and today we are going to explore expansion.

If you are interested in going back and listening to any of the other episodes, you can always go to bbsradio.com/all-learning-reimagined. You will find all the archived shows there. There are hundreds of them, and they are only half an hour each, so they are deliberately very bite-sized and easy to fit into people’s days. They allow people to learn through micro-practices and small chunks. I feel that is a really good way to explore new topics.

Of course, I write an article each week that aligns with the topic of the week. I would say that 99 percent of the articles include activities, suggestions, or micro-practices that you are invited to play with, explore, make your own, adapt, and use either by yourself or with other learners of any age. Whether you are five years old, eight, or 80, it really does not matter.

That is the big picture, but let us get started today. I just love this word: expansion. Expanding capacity. Expansion feels really good in the body.

When we are talking about embodied intelligence, we are also talking about being in tune with yourself and noticing how your own body communicates with you. Your body is always singing with you. The question is whether we are too distracted to notice what it is saying.

The body is also listening to the words we say and use, so it is important to be aware of our language. Even when you sing words in a song, if those words carry messages that are not necessarily positive for the body, your body is still listening. It does not know the difference.

Coming back to expansion, this is so exciting. What I would like to explore is how we can expand safely without feeling overwhelmed.

I do not know about you, but over the last six or seven years my own expansion has been off the charts. It has almost taken me back to childhood, when I was like a sponge learning everything in this lifetime. I feel as though I have returned to that state, with my expansion accelerating so quickly.

Sometimes it has been too much, and I have not been able to cope with it. At those times, I have needed to say, “Okay, I need to integrate this now. No more information at the moment. I am in the process, and I am not ready to learn anything new.”

At other times, I say, “I am ready for more now. I am curious. I want more.”

I speak to myself all the time, including what I call my expanded self. I know people use terms such as “higher self,” but that expression feels very hierarchical to me. It can sound as though that self is better than you or greater than you.

For me, I know there is something beyond my ordinary sense of self that is still me. It feels like me expanded, so I call it my expanded self. I talk to it all the time because, in my perspective and direct experience, it has a broader view. It is almost as though this expanded self has a larger view of the time-space reality I am navigating and sends me my own breadcrumbs so that I can continue to expand.

That might sound a little strange, but it is my direct experience, and it is fascinating to explore. I would really love to do an entire show on this because there is so much I have learned, particularly recently. It has always been there, but this is one of the reasons I am so excited about today’s topic.

How do we expand without overwhelming ourselves? That is the key.

Growth is not about pushing harder. We have often heard expressions such as “Go big or go home” or “No pain, no gain.” Where did these sayings come from? I do not agree with them.

To me, the question is how we can increase our capacity to hold more life, because that is what learning is about. It is about life.

Our education system has moved so far away from life. It has become detached from what it means to be living and alive and from the practical skills we need. There has to be a shift beyond the familiar comfort circle, and expansion is definitely part of that conversation.

For those of you who listen regularly, you know I love to begin with a story. Today’s story is very short.

Imagine weightlifting at the gym. You have never gone before. You walk into a gym for the first time and attempt to lift weights. The weight feels very heavy. Your muscles are shaking, and you feel as though you will not be able to do it.

Yet you go back again and again. You rest for a few days, and then you return. A few weeks later, if you have been consistent, something remarkable happens. The weight has not changed, but you have changed. Your capacity has increased. In this case, you can lift more, but the analogy applies broadly because life works in much the same way.

Speaking from direct experience, a challenge that once felt overwhelming can become manageable. I think about the first time I tried to drive a car. I bunny-hopped all over the place. It was hilarious. I was dealing with the steering wheel, trying not to hit another car, and attempting to process so much at once. It was overwhelming.

Today, I can get into a car and drive almost by default. Sometimes I arrive somewhere and wonder, “How did I get here? Was I sleepwalking or sleep-driving?” Have you ever experienced that? You do not remember taking a particular turn or driving down a certain street because your body is almost doing it automatically.

That is expansion. The activity is manageable now.

A conversation that was once difficult can become easier. An opportunity that once felt intimidating can become exciting. The situation itself may not have changed. What changed was you. In my case, I changed, and that showed me that growth is not always about changing the circumstances.

Many people today say the world is changing and that it is not the same. There is a lot of doom-scrolling. Yes, to a degree, many things are changing, but perhaps much of what we are seeing is simply being revealed. It may always have been there, but technology now gives us far greater access to information.

Perhaps growth is about increasing our capacity to meet the circumstances.

Whenever I develop a topic for a show, I like to sit in nature. I sit beside a large tree or on the beach and ask, “What needs to come through? What conversation do I choose to have at this time that could help others reflect on the same thing I am experiencing?”

One thing I have been considering is that many people associate growth with effort. You have to push harder, do more, try harder, keep going, get the A, and improve the report card. There is constant judgment.

I feel that growth is less about force and more about adaptation. True expansion, in my opinion, involves helping the nervous system, body, mind, and fascia safely adjust so that something new can be held.

It seems to me that, particularly in Western cultures, we currently associate growth with achievement, productivity, success, and performance. I feel the idea that we always need to be productive is a programming loop I am choosing to delete, because it is not productive and it is not the way life is meant to be.

Personally, I think we have been sold a bill of goods around this belief system. I do not want to see another generation of children grow up with the superficial sense that they need more money, more fame, or more of whatever the culture happens to promote.

They are enough. They simply have to be.

Everyone has a frequency. Everyone has a gift, a passion, or something to contribute in their own way. It does not have to look like the model we have been sold.

Then I return to nature, because nature offers a different perspective. A seed does not force itself to become a tree. Grass does not strain in order to grow; it simply grows through stages.

Nature has seasons and cycles, periods of rest, and periods of expansion. We have the same. Why are we forcing ourselves to get up, enter the rat race, and do the same thing repeatedly because we have been programmed to believe that we must?

We could choose to live and learn in seasons and cycles, including periods of rest and periods of expansion. That feels like common sense to me, yet when I look around at the society I live in here in Australia, it is not built that way.

We are not machines. Are we meant to work for 50 or 60 years, suddenly retire, and only then begin to have a life? Who came up with this? It is crazy.

I know what some people are thinking about propaganda and so-called conspiracy theories. I do not like the term “conspiracy theory,” because many such claims are based, at least in part, on some form of truth or fact. The entire subject of propaganda is something we could examine deeply, but that is not today’s conversation. Today’s conversation is expansion.

Let us return to capacity and the nervous system.

When I think about learning, I imagine introducing a learner to something completely unfamiliar. If the challenge is too great, overwhelm can occur. It is important that learners feel safe and have a sense of self-efficacy—a sense that they can do it.

If the challenge is too small, boredom can occur. That is where many behavior problems arise. Often, highly intelligent children are completely bored and uninterested in whatever they are being force-fed to learn.

Growth happens at the edge. I really love that phrase: growth happens at the edge.

The edge is just beyond what feels familiar. It is not so far beyond familiarity that your whole system goes into fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown. It is also not so close to the familiar that nothing changes.

That is where expansion lives.

Expansion means holding more. Our capacity grows, and our container expands.

I often think of pouring water into a very small cup. Eventually, the cup will overflow. There is nothing wrong with the cup; it is simply full. At some stage, you need a bigger cup. You need room to grow and expand your capacity. With a larger vessel, the same water can be held with ease.

Many of our experiences work this way. Sometimes the opportunity is not too big. Sometimes our current capacity simply has not expanded yet. That is how I see it at the moment.

I love considering how ancient wisdom meets modern science, and nature teaches this everywhere. Trees expand through seasons. Rivers gradually carve valleys. Muscles strengthen through adaptation. Neural pathways develop through repetition.

Repetition is also why we see so many television advertisements and other messages designed to program us. The brain can be influenced through repetition, which is one reason we must include the body in learning. Learning cannot be only about the brain or conventional intelligence. The brain is part of it, but it cannot be the whole of it.

Growth rarely happens instantly. It unfolds over time.

Modern neuroscience speaks about neuroplasticity. I remember when I began teaching, literally in the last century, and we learned that you were born with all the brain cells you would ever have. We were told to “use it or lose it” because the cells would die off if they were not used.

There is still some relevance in the idea of using our capacities, but neuroscience later revealed neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to change, adapt, and form new connections. We also began hearing about neurons in the digestive system and the heart, leading people to describe the body as having three interconnected centers of intelligence.

That expanded our knowledge and opened new possibilities.

Nature speaks through seasons, while neuroscience speaks through adaptation. Both point toward growth.

I feel that, particularly during the last five or six years, humanity has been experiencing accelerated growth. I will not even begin threading artificial intelligence into the conversation and how much it is shifting us right now.

I can see what I describe as a split between people choosing a transhumanist direction and people choosing to return to more natural ways of living. It is very interesting to observe the different choices being made in society.

Everyone is free to make their own decisions. I am not forcing my opinion on anybody. As an observer, however, it is fascinating to see expansion accelerating in different directions.

Why does expansion matter for learning? Children are constantly expanding their capacity. They are amazing. I am in awe of them. When I think of children, I think of wonder—wonder at what they are and what they are able to do.

I am particularly struck by the children who have been coming through during the last couple of decades. The skills they have, their changes in perspective, and the frequency they carry are remarkable.

They are learning new skills, developing emotional awareness, building resilience and inner authority, and navigating relationships.

Adults are learning and expanding too. The difference is that many adults, in my experience, assume they should already know how to do everything. Sometimes we were simply never shown. We may not have had the right models.

We do not know what we do not know until we know better. Then we can choose differently.

We can ask, “What is my body telling me about this expansion?” If it feels uncomfortable, do I shrink back and contract, or do I move through the discomfort and beyond the comfort zone, knowing that growth may be waiting there?

Expansion is not only for children. Expansion is for all of us, wherever we are in the world, whatever situation we are in, and whatever our age. We all have the ability to expand.

Expansion is not something you receive with a graduation certificate.

I have seen people expand until public speaking becomes easier. Starting a new job can feel awkward at first because you do not know the processes, systems, or workplace. If you are starting your own business or creating your own systems, everything can feel new, clunky, and uncomfortable.

You continue expanding until it becomes natural and second nature. You grow into that extension of yourself.

The same is true when you move house or enter a new community. You need to discover how to get to the local markets, the forest, the trees, or whatever places matter to you. You navigate until the new environment becomes familiar.

All of these experiences require expansion. It is part of life. It does not happen only between four walls during certain hours of the day.

Here is a question I invite you to reflect on: Have you noticed that life often presents opportunities that are slightly larger than the person you currently believe yourself to be?

Perhaps growth is not about becoming someone else. Perhaps it is about discovering the greater capacity you already have within yourself.

Think of an acorn or another seed. It contains the potential it needs to grow into a magnificent tree. It does not say, “I need to run down to Bunnings and buy this,” or, “I need to go to the shops and get that.” The seed carries its potential within itself.

I do not merely believe this about human beings; I know it through my own experience. Men, women, children, and our offspring carry what we need within ourselves, across all aspects of ourselves, including what I understand as our multidimensional selves.

It is magnificent to observe. Yet we are often so distracted by life that we do not even consider that we may carry the answers within us.

We need to communicate with our own bodies. The body will tell us. It shows us the way when we develop a relationship with ourselves, rather than always asking someone else to tell us what is happening.

You can begin to do this yourself.

This week’s micro-practice, which will also appear in the accompanying article, is about distinguishing expansion from overwhelm.

Think about something in your life that is currently stretching you—something pushing you beyond your comfort zone and perceived limits.

Sit with your body. Breathe, center yourself, and become fully present. Ask, “Does this feel exciting? Does it feel overwhelming?”

For me, it often feels like both. It does not have to be one or the other.

I usually place my hand on my chest, take three slow, deep breaths, and ask, “What is one small step that feels supportive today?”

Take just one tiny step in the direction of the expansion you choose. You are choosing your direction and the path you want to follow.

This is a valuable activity because, throughout history, people have used spoken words, songs, prayers, mantras, and storytelling to influence how they feel, think, and respond.

In my opinion, these practices are powerful because they involve the whole physical self.

You have breath because you are centering yourself through breathing. You have voice, which is vibration. Vibration and frequency are everywhere. We are energy.

You also have movement, which is energy, and you have attention. Attention is your superpower. Wherever you place your attention, things grow. What you stop feeding with attention can begin to fade.

I am going to create an entire mini-series on attention because of the enormous amount of distraction in the world. I can see that many people have forgotten how to hold intention and attention. Watch this space; I am developing that series now.

For this micro-practice, stand comfortably and allow your knees to soften. Begin to sway gently from side to side. The body loves to move in cycles and spirals.

You can slowly twist through your torso. Do not force anything or exaggerate the movement. Simply move in a way that feels natural.

Then speak aloud. If the expansion is beginning to feel overwhelming, you can say:

“I am safe to grow.
I am safe to expand.
I can hold more of myself.
I can hold more of my gifts and abilities.
I can express myself with confidence.
I can move forward one step at a time, as I am ready.”

When you speak those words aloud, notice what happens inside your body. Notice your breathing, your posture, and any shifts or sensations.

The goal is not to convince yourself of something through thought alone. The goal is to experience safety while exploring the concept of expansion.

I do this practice, and it has helped me enormously. It is very powerful. It seems simple, but often the simplest things carry the most power.

One reason is that I am not only saying the words inside my head. I am speaking them aloud. I need the sound and vibration at that creative level.

When you hear your own voice, something interesting happens. The body recognizes your voice as home base. Your nervous system recognizes it as your home signal.

You are receiving information from yourself, not only from something or someone outside you. You are participating in the experience.

The most powerful messages are often the ones we learn to embody ourselves. We learn to trust our own voice and our own frequency. This is an amazing practice.

I will include it in this week’s article so that you can explore it. I will also add other reflection questions and a weekly integration practice.

Connecting this with universal law brings me to the law of evolution. Life appears to grow through adaptation. Nature evolves. Skills evolve. Understanding—and inner-standing—evolves. Learning itself is an evolutionary process.

Expansion is not something we force. It is something we allow.

Every tree was once a seed. Every skill was once unfamiliar. I think again about myself bunny-hopping in the car. Every learner was once a beginner.

Growth is not about becoming someone else. It is about expanding your capacity to be more of who you already are. There are so many possibilities within that.

I will leave you with that today. Explore the expansion you are experiencing. Try this micro-practice and share it with others. It really works.

I am very passionate about embodied learning and embodied intelligence. It is a form of intelligence, and it is fascinating.

Thank you, everybody, for joining me on All Learning Reimagined. Until next week: explore, experience, express. Go out and live learning.

Speaker 1 - Prerecorded Theme Vocal / Announcer:

Carry the wonder with you.
Carry the questions home.
Every seed of understanding
Has a life of its own.

All Learning Reimagined,
Where learning comes alive.
With heart, with hope, with courage,
We help the future rise.

With Teresa Songbird,
Until next time,
Keep exploring,
Keep creating,
Keep remembering.