Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to Energetic Advantage, the podcast where energy isn't woo, it's your edge. I'm your host, Jessica Cerato. Intuitive strategist, lifelong pattern decoder, lover of numbers, and energetic guide for visionary leaders. Around. Here we go. Energy first, strategy second. Every episode will give you a perspective, a tool, or a timeline shift that helps you lead from your power.
Because the truth is your energy is your most undervalued asset. Until you learn how to use it, get ready. You're about to have the advantage. Let's begin.
Episode Intro: hey. Okay, I'm really excited for this conversation today. I mean, I've already had it but for you to hear it, because I know that this is one of those things that a lot of people hear about, but don't actually get or like, truly understand, and more importantly, don't realize how much it is truly impacting their results.
We are talking about somatic [00:01:00] healing today. You know, we ask the question, what if the reason things aren't working isn't because you don't know enough, isn't because you need a better strategy, but because your body does not feel safe holding or receiving what you say you want? And, you know, this convo feels especially meaningful for me.
Yeah, I even cry in it. Of course I do. Because I've known Shannon for years, and I've seen different seasons of her life, her business, her leadership, witnessing her transformation in real time in these moments, and not just in what she has built and is building, but truly how she holds it and moves through it, and there's a difference.
So now to be sitting here having this conversation with her feels just like a really cool full circle moment. So with that, let me officially introduce you to my guest today. Her name is Shannon DeSouza. She is the [00:02:00] founder of Aria Goddess Festival. She's a wealth activator for high-achieving women, and also a co-founder of multiple AI companies, which I love because we're literally talking about body and technology in the same human.
She's closed over fifty million in sales. She supported multiple seven-figure businesses, and she really blends strategy, energy work, and embodiment. And what we really explored today is why somatic healing, of all the things that she has done and is capable of doing, is actually her energetic advantage.
So let's get into it.
Jessica Cerato: Okay. So now that you've all gotten so excited to meet my, uh, guest from that intro, let's officially welcome her. Shannon, ah, we're so... I'm so happy you're here. Welcome.
Shannon DeSouza: Oh my God, Jessica, full circle moment. We've had so many lifetimes together. Thank you so much for having me.
Jessica Cerato: Of course, yeah, we were just chatting before, and [00:03:00] it's like, where do we even start? Because, as you've said, we have known each other through so many cycles, so many lifetimes. Yeah ... always connected, yet this does feel like a moment that we were meant to come back together in this conversation. So I'm... Ah, I'm so
Shannon DeSouza: how proud of you I am for like showing up, shining bright, using your voice, leading women, changing lives, saying yes to yourself? Because I think many, many, many women especially, they know they're called to serve and they are scared and they don't say yes and they don't bet on themselves. So it has been like a gift to witness you stand in your power and shine bright and lead so many others to be in their gift. So you really need to take a moment to just soak that in.
Jessica Cerato: Aw, thank you. Thank you. Same. And as you can probably imagine, everyone listening, yes, Shannon has known me prior to, prior to this decade, right? So this is like a lot [00:04:00] has happened. Okay. So let's get right into it because, you know, we're bringing through a concept here today that I feel is the energetic advantage for so many, and yet in order for it to be an advantage, you have to really own and accept it, and surrender to it in some ways.
And that is somatic healing. And I just wanna pause here for a moment because I feel that that's a term, even myself, that I hear so often. And if you're listening, maybe you've heard it many times, maybe you haven't. But it's something that I think we hear and we go, "Oh, yeah, I know what that is," when actually I feel this is where I wanna start.
When you hear or when you feel this term, this concept, this advantage, somatic healing, what is your definition of it? What does it mean to you? How would you explain [00:05:00] it in the language that we have here?
Shannon DeSouza: So I'm extremely intuitive and divinely led, and so when you ask this question it is the experience of me first getting from the mind to the body, and then once I'm able to get into the body, it's to the spirit,
right? And then it's that divine connection. And so if I had to say that in, you know, layman's terms, what does that actually look like?
For me, somatic healing is breathwork, right? That was my very, very first breakthrough As an example, to be able to get into my body, start feeling my feelings, and then releasing it off of me. And so through that release, I'm becoming lighter, and then I can start connecting to God, source, universe, whatever, pick your word,
you know? And that's only one type of somatic healing, right? You know, other things I've embarked on as I've been, you know, around the world. It could be something as simple as meditation. [00:06:00] It could be something as simple as visualization. It could be, right now I'm very much in love with getting into the feeling of my future identity and my future self.
And once I'm in that frequency, now if I have to make that plain, if I'm in that feeling like experience, what does my n- nervous system feel like or resonate in that experience, then that's how that comes into me because I'm now familiar with it. So like a big part of my journey right now is creating my own safety and then creating safety in romantic relationship.
And so because I know what a baseline for safety is of what I wanna feel like in relationship, when I go on these dates and I go on these experiences, if I can't rest into that, then I know it's not my person,
right? So t- that's my example experience of somatic.[00:07:00]
Jessica Cerato: I love it. And I think what's so beautiful is you just described so many entry points, right? There are so many entry points to this work, which in my mind feels so expansive, and yet there is a reason why everyone in the world isn't doing it. And so I'm curious for you, what-- I don't know if it was the first breathwork session or, or what brought you to this work, but take us back to where kind of you were, and was there a catalyst?
Was there one moment? Was there a series of moments? what really had you curious enough or... what led you to
Shannon DeSouza: Totally.
Jessica Cerato: enough to try
Shannon DeSouza: so this brings me back to maybe around 15 years ago
actually. And I was in Toronto, and I would travel a lot in sales for work. I was in tech. And [00:08:00] every time I came back to Toronto, I was like feeling restless and unhappy and "Why am I here?" And if I have to unpack that now, which I have, of course, it was my soul telling me like, "I'm not feeling grounded." So it started with this search for like more peace
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Shannon DeSouza: And to me, I could recognize that this city wasn't it. And so that begun the journey of like, where can I find peace and just like needing to go, and I manifested that. And then that brought me to Vancouver, and in Vancouver, immediately, like I could breathe because of the mountains and the water and nature.
And so that was like my first, I would say, journey to somatic healing, is realizing like I need to be in a physical environment that makes me feel safe. And so that's why a lot of men, they do their healing in nature. And a lot of [00:09:00] us women right now, especially, uh, I can only speak to single women because I'm having these conversations, we sometimes can have a frustration around like men are not doing healing work in the same way that we are, and so therefore they're not spiritual.
And it's like we're not the same sex, we're
not gonna do it the same way.
Jessica Cerato: Why can't they just do it like us, Shannon? Come
Shannon DeSouza: You know what? We need to be-- We need polarizing energy, and so that's why they don't do it the same way, right? So that was I think my first portion of that. It started bubbling in me when I was in Vancouver that I desired to learn about spirituality, and I remember this around the time that we met. And then I magnetized it to my business because at the time I had a digital marketing agency. So
then I started calling in, you know, women with gifts who did breathwork, and then I [00:10:00] learned about breathwork. And I would say that was my first really, really big somatic experience which got me hooked because in that first experience, I let go of the trauma of being, uh, bullied from grade five to grade eight, and I forgave.
Jessica Cerato: Hmm.
Shannon DeSouza: wasn't something that I was able to do in the mind.
That was something that had to be let go of, right? And so then I started magnetizing, you know, Reiki practitioners, numerologists, like different types of coaches, spiritual coach, all sorts of life coaches, like all sorts of things, where then I was like going deeper into these modalities,
right?
And then I got so curious, and then I started like digging into different types of things, you know, Akashic records, and I magnetized clients around that and it was just, it was just wild. And then I started my own practices and then I like started traveling the [00:11:00] world in search of different experiences and then I've been on a plant medicine journey now for the last three years and that broke me wide open. And I would say that is what's been able to get me to this like deeper surrender of Just saying yes to the divine and having this you know, umbilical cord style connection to God, uh, where I get messages all the time, right?
And that's how I ended up in Dubai these last three months, 'cause it-- God said I had to go there, and I said, "Okay."
Like...
Jessica Cerato: Okay, let's talk about this because what I just heard you say, and I want everyone to hear, is many times it's about the breadcrumbs. And I just heard when you said that the breadcrumbs to Dubai. And a- 10 years ago, as you're following these breadcrumbs, right? And without even knowing or connecting yet with your future self or your future identity, [00:12:00] you are trusting yourself to follow these breadcrumbs with no idea of where you are being led.
So I'm laughing because I know everybody right now is hearing like, "Dubai, wait, what?" So talk us through a little bit about some of those breadcrumbs that maybe you didn't know m- in the moment, but hindsight looking back, you're like, "Oh, breadcrumb, breadcrumb, breadcrumb, take us to Dubai." And now I feel that, again, so intuitively you are continuing with these breadcrumbs.
So like, where... Like, how are you feeling now post?
Shannon DeSouza: Totally. So my whole life, if I had to look at it, has all been divinely led breadcrumbs.
It's all connected. The fact that I started in the tech industry, the fact
that now I am, you know, a software CEO and a partner in multiple AI companies, like that's not [00:13:00] coincidence. You know? This is all preparation. This is all trainings. This is all experiences, and they're all like building on top of each other, right? You know, the fact that now even I have this like whole tech life persona, but also like how much spiritual work I've done and how I'm leading a community of women to come home to themselves, right?
And I've had to go through my own darkness in order to be able to get to the light, in order to understand and have empathy and make recommendations for these women who need leadership and guidance, right? And sisterhood. So how did the breadcrumbs... essentially I would say as soon as I left the judgment, as soon as I decided to stop needing to control and create meaning of everything and just decided to be open and want to connect to my intuition, it all showed up.
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm. [00:14:00] I just wanna pause here because I think this is a huge aha moment for a lot of people. Everyone, I believe, has these breadcrumbs, but unless you are able to see them for what you are and be willing to go down and examine and pick them up without looking around you to see who is watching, that judgment, like what you just said is so key.
Because I think many people tell the story of, "Well, I don't have these," and it's I don't want to be this direct, but I will. You do, you're just not noticing them or you're not willing to notice and act.
Shannon DeSouza: Well, you're just-- I would say they're paying attention to the noise
instead of listening to the signal,
Jessica Cerato: Mm. Ooh.
Shannon DeSouza: static everywhere, and so if you pay attention to the static, you'll hear the static. Like, Pay attention to the message, you'll hear the message. So we [00:15:00] all get to decide because we all have, you know, the same baseline of gifts, but then we also have our super gifts that are unique to each of us.
And we have to want to uncover them
because as soon as you ask for it, you will receive.
Jessica Cerato: Yes. And that is identity work, right? building that capacity to really be able to receive and embody what it is you want and that's exactly, again, the polarity of why I say many women aren't really... They don't fear failure. It's really a fear of success because knowing kind of that identity on the other side, it's so hard, right?
Because even if you want it, it will require some type of shift or change or outside of your comfort zone. Talk to that.
Shannon DeSouza: about mine. Let's
Jessica Cerato: Yes. Let's talk about yours.
Shannon DeSouza: You know, I've moved three, six times. You know, I moved [00:16:00] Toronto to Vancouver, Vancouver to Kelowna. Like I now-- I'm going to create, I am creating a tri-continental lifestyle. You know, I am a mother, so let's just have that. Let's just take a look at that because that was deep shadow work I had to do for this last three months that I was away in Dubai and India. I publicly got attacked for, you know, leaving my child and creating chaos of you know, leaving my husband and what that has-- how that's traumatized him, you know? And this was someone from a person who hasn't talked to me in 20 years, who's just you know, watching me since university, never talked to me, and then just decided, was triggered by what I'm doing and what I'm creating. So what she said to me was not something I, I didn't
already know, that wasn't already in my awareness. And I had already had to like work on that and what that meant. And I had to decide, do [00:17:00] I want to be, you know, the same woman that has been in my lineage for thousands and thousands of years who is just self-sacrificing and in servitude to their family and, you know, doesn't know themselves and doesn't impact the world at their deepest capacity? Or do I say yes to God's calling and stand up and do difficult things and show my child that I can be resilient and I can create in any, you know, global atmosphere, and I can build relationships, and I can do business and you know, I can decide what my life wants to look like at any point in time?
I have that power. Do I wanna embody that? And that's my decision. And so it's unfortunate that, you know, we live in a time where-- or we've lived in thousands of years of a time where we have been controlled into a specific narrative. And in fact, you know, women who have these kinds of powers, we've been burned, we've been drowned, we've been set on fire. But there's a reason why we're remembering, right? 'Cause this [00:18:00] is not Shannon. This is, this is deeper. This is bigger than me.
And it's just my job to say yes, and when I say yes, it all unfolds in a million times more of a beautiful way than I could have ever dreamed myself, the human version. And so every time that I've now said yes, like for example, in 2024, I've just rocketed a desire.
I'm like, "I wanna speak on a stage in Dubai." Okay, great. And then I just left it there, and then all of a sudden, you know, a year later and I'm like, "Oh, that Dubai thing hasn't happened yet." And then, and then the next month it happened. And, uh, then I-- we went there, I got sucked into the vortex, and I saw the opportunities and, you know, I'm at the forefront of AI right now.
I was like, if I want to be, you know, a leader in this space, I need to go where everyone's congregating. That's where Du- that's where Dubai [00:19:00] came in. So I said, "Okay, let me go and explore this." What, what opportunities can we get clients? What can we do? The-- and granted, these are all the gifts I already have, so this isn't some, like out of nowhere, like I just got this idea.
Like I've been in enterprise sales, right? I've b- I've done over $50 million in business already. You know, I've made a shit ton of money, so I know how to have these conversations. Now it's just let me push myself to the global stage because I very much can see what's happening here in North America versus, you know, Middle East versus Asia versus this, versus that, and there's a huge shift happening. And so I, again, I'm being intuitively led to do this work So no surprise, I get there, I start building the relationships, the contacts, the connections. I'm getting in front of you know, massive, massive hotel brands with, you know, 400 locations with ease. With ease.
Jessica Cerato: With ease. Mm-hmm. Okay, my mind is going [00:20:00] so many different directions because I just think there's so much goodness here. two questions that I think will really help people really embody and understand this that I wanna ask you. The first is, when you're sharing all of this, what I am hearing is a dissolving of duality or bringing things together that historically have been separate, right?
So you talk about even from an outsider's perspective, if someone were not to know you, right, they might have the view of, oh, AI technology, and then look on the other side, and we're gonna get into it, and like women's goddess festival. Like true feminine... And it's whoa. That feels, you know, like a paradox.
And then going back to the example you shared of someone looking at you and essentially judging you and saying, "Oh, Mother" [00:21:00] on one side and making a definition of what that meant to her, and then let's just go completely in the opposite direction of like global traveler experiential like learner, like what you were being divinely led to explore and experience.
So can you talk to us about has this, always been a gift of yours, kind of this, this blending of duality or seeing things as a whole, not separate? Has this always been a gift, and maybe even have there been times in your life where you resisted that and in the resistance you were like, "Oh,
I am embodying that"?
'Cause I feel that's such a gift you have, like seeing this whole, seeing everything as a whole.
Shannon DeSouza: So I-- Stray, my ex, has definitely highlighted that I have this ability to look at everything like 50,000 feet out, like
just-- And I [00:22:00] understand how it's all working together.
So that definitely, I think I've had that gift for a very, very long time. In regards to duality, I will say like I am a believer of and.
You know, I'm, I'm a woman of God, but I am also a witch. You know, I, I'm a tech CEO, but I am also very rooted in divine feminine You know, like in the goddess, right? So I don't feel I need to be one thing.
Jessica Cerato: Yes.
Shannon DeSouza: given my pr- pr- myself permission to be everything, to be all-knowing, to be omniscient, right?
Like omnipresent, right? Omni-channel, like all of the damn things. But that's also because I think one of the things you said was the work that I've had to do in this lifetime right now is about removing things that are on me, right? It's not so much let me carry more. The work that I've done is deep womb [00:23:00] work, , in my lineage to get rid of the gunk, to get rid of like the things that have been passed down to me, the narratives that we've been indoctrinated into of what motherhood looks like, what women's life looks like, what single life looks like, what marriage life looks like, right?
And I very much have played to those narratives, right? Like I come from a lineage of arranged marriage, so as much as my parents wanted me to have a love marriage, they stewarded me to find a partner in the exact same way they were taught,
which meant that I had a checklist.
Jessica Cerato: [00:24:00] Yeah.
Shannon DeSouza: deep with myself and looked in the mirror and decided what's important to me.
Well, guess what? Freedom is very important to me, and I think because I'm now the first woman in my entire lineage that has created financial freedom, created freedom from a relationship that doesn't serve her,
right? Created this... I'm the only woman on my father's side who is this big of an entrepreneur, right?
Who desires to create legacy and generational wealth, right? If I have to look at my other cousins, and there's nothing wrong with this at all, they are the neck in their relationship. You know, but the, the earner is, is the man, right?
The significant earner is the man. And so I'm just breaking so many different types of barriers in this [00:25:00] lifetime.
And the gift that I've had to give myself is to tell myself what someone thinks of me is none of my business.
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Shannon DeSouza: So just sit with that line, right? Too many of us are so concerned about what our mother-in-law thinks or, you know, what our neighbors think or what our kids' teachers think, whatever. Who the hell knows? You know, like
Jessica Cerato: Yep. Yeah.
Shannon DeSouza: none of my business.
Jessica Cerato: that. Okay, this is a really big question that I think a lot of people struggle with, and I'm super curious. It's so funny that we're getting so into these things that you always hear, and we always hear this, and it's but what does it actually mean? So you hear a lot in this space, "Just let go of whatever's not yours.
Just release it." And it's okay, I have, I think, my own way, but I think this is the key. I think everyone has their own unique way, so I'm asking you about your unique way. How did you explore and truly discern and [00:26:00] find out for yourself what was or is yours and what is not? Is it... Was it a process for you?
Is it a feeling? Take us through how you were able to, to do that, to first... Because I think even before we can release it or let it go, we have to identify and discern, "Oh, that is mine. That is not mine."
Shannon DeSouza: Okay. So there's two things coming up for me. The first is bringing me back to if it's been put in your heart, if it's been put in your mind, if this is like a deep desire, it's yours.
Jessica Cerato: Yes.
Shannon DeSouza: it's just about you listening to it because you're, again, breadcrumbing, you're being guided somewhere.
But often we're too much in this like 3D mind world where if they-- if you don't see the how, [00:27:00] you don't do it. And I will tell you, get used to not seeing the how because your brain is too small.
Like it just doesn't have the capacity to dream up what is about to happen to you when you say yes.
Jessica Cerato: Yes.
Shannon DeSouza: have to get used to that. That's the first thing. Now, what you're talking about more specifically, I think, is like our traumas, our ancestral burdens, like all of those pieces, what is ours and what is not ours. Guess what? All of it is not ours. We are created in, you know, God's perfect form and everything is available. And so it is only us saying yes to the things that are not ours That is holding us back. And instead of focusing on letting them go and becoming lighter, the majority of us are focused on the fear and scarcity of having to hold onto it and having to carry it in this impossible [00:28:00] backpack that drives us into the ground. People don't realize there's a choice. There's a choice to hold the backpack or drop it. It's up to
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. Okay, so many things. That first concept, I just want everyone to really embody that. Whether it's in a visualization... I, I get this all the time, where I'm leading through clients through visualizations, and they get, you know, something, and right away they're like, "Oh, but that's so out there.
That's and I'm like, "What?" There is no way you would've been able to see it, feel it, dream it, if it were not possible for you.
Shannon DeSouza: The universe is not on a budget.
Jessica Cerato: Yes. Yes. Okay. And now I wanna come back to that second point, which is so beautiful, of it is always this choice. And I love how you say it is, nothing is ours in the beginning in this creation.
And I wanna talk to you, because I think you're a beautiful, beautiful example of this. [00:29:00] So this false narrative that if we don't carry something we will lose connection to someone if we release what not is ours. So let's use this backpack analogy, right? If we're holding something in a backpack that attaches us to someone else, right?
let's just use a really physical metaphor. We're hiking up a mountain, and we have a backpack, and we're carrying someone else's water, we feel responsible for that, because we know they're gonna be thirsty. Eventually they're gonna need it, right? And we fear that if we put that down, number one, that they might not pick it up.
But of course, that's not our business, but that is something that our mind shares. And then it's well, if I don't have something they need, or if I put this thing down, will I lose connection, right? Especially with ancestral lines. if I decide that I do not want this, our mind is like, "Okay, well, you're going to lose [00:30:00] connection."
And I believe that- Is false. But sometimes to believe that, we need physical evidence and proof. And luckily for everyone here, Shannon, you are physical evidence and proof of this, that you have released these things, and yet, I would say that you are even more connected to those that matter in your life now than you were when you were holding onto that.
So can you speak to that? Can you maybe give us some examples of... to really allow this to shift for people,
Shannon DeSouza: Yeah. So I wanna-- the first thing I wanna do is question, because what you're doing is you're defaulting to the negative, that it can
only be bad to let it down. What about these two other options that we never talk about? It could be completely neutral of nobody even noticed that you even ha-had the bag or didn't have the bag, or it can be [00:31:00] incredibly beautiful and this gift that this man that you're hiking with is like, "Oh, you need me to carry that?
Thank you. Thank you for giving me purpose," and like allowing that ease in your life.
Jessica Cerato: Yes.
Shannon DeSouza: There's always three options, and nobody tells us that because we're just pumped with all of this toxic negative narrative, especially through media. And having traveled the world now, Middle East and Asia, I see how much propaganda is being fed to us.
It's, it's wild. It's absolutely wild. And so that is how they keep us scared and not connected to ourself, because we do have this power. We are born with this power.
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Shannon DeSouza: is-- we're in the Age of Aquarius since la- not last November, the November before, which-- and the Age of Aquarius is the rise of technology and the rise of spirituality. And so no surprise, I'm, I'm in that journey, right? So you're gonna very clearly see people coming back to God, people coming back to like [00:32:00] non-traditional, like necessarily institution, but like knowing they're connected.
And then we're seeing already like how fast AI and all these other technologies are happening, right? And so it's so important to honor and balance ourselves in this,
as opposed to you know, very soon they're gonna offer us some sort of microchip or something in our body. It's happening. It's coming, right? And so many people are gonna see the benefits of that. But we're always connected to that, that we don't need something external to be put in our body to get these messages and these downloads and these visualizations, whatever el- they're gonna sell us, 'cause I don't know. But
It's coming.
Jessica Cerato: be something.
Shannon DeSouza: It's coming, right? So le- let's first talk about there's always options. There's always options. And so I am a perfect example, I'll say, of that when you do say yes, it can only get better. But [00:33:00] that's also my belief.
If you believe it's only gonna get worse, law of attraction, it's only gonna
get worse, right? And so really one of the tools that I have that is super easy to use is what is the worst thing that's gonna happen here? So like with this AI business, you know, lots of fear of course around that. It is a, it's a very expensive type of business to have. And so I had to look at what's the worst thing that's gonna happen
to me here?
I'll lose a couple hundred thousand dollars and I'll have to go get a job. That literally was The worst? thing. The
Jessica Cerato: What?
Shannon DeSouza: The-- And then when I looked at that, I'm like, "Okay, I've been an entrepreneur for 11 years. It's not possible for me to get a job. Like I'll just call somebody and I'll get some opportunity."
Okay, so that's not real. And then, okay, I spent a couple hundred thousand dollars investing and believing in my dream. Like what a gift. What a gift for me to be able to have the proof that [00:34:00] says I said yes to myself. I said yes. So I'm like, I'm willing to pay that price tag because I want that life experience. I want the lessons that come with it because that's what's enriching me.
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I love that because when you can allow yourself to go there, just like you did, and I'm just... I know you are, too. We are just firm believers in laughter, in lightness, and humor. And I just love how like, many people, I think, would say Well, if I envision what the worst thing can happen, then I'm just gonna cry and be so sad."
And it's no. Hear what Shannon just said, because this happens to me all the time. We imagine the worst thing that could happen, and we burst out laughing because it's that's,
Shannon DeSouza: it?
Jessica Cerato: it's so silly. Really? That's it? And in that laughter, in that release, in that [00:35:00] movement of that stagnant energy, which is fear, you come to the other side of this beautiful opportunity.
Mm-hmm. But it comes through the laughter. It comes through the lightness.
Shannon DeSouza: But that's somatic healing.
Jessica Cerato: Yes. Okay, so bring this full circle. Yes. Yes.
Shannon DeSouza: That is somatic he- that's why we have the festival. It is literally a buffet. The Aria Goddess Festival is a buffet of different opportunities that I have traveled the world and experienced, but I'm bringing here locally to BC so that you can move this energy out of you and you don't have to try to figure it out yourself.
You just have to say yes to showing up and doing something you may or may not have tried before, right? So an example of that is a rage ceremony. A rage ceremony is let's move, uh, the sounds and the anger out of your body. Let's yell. When's the last goddamn time you've yelled? Probably not counting your children, 'cause you
Jessica Cerato: Yeah, I was gonna say, uh, [00:36:00] that is not fair because I yell all the time at softball.
Shannon DeSouza: But no, no, no, it's a
Different kind of
Jessica Cerato: time. Yes.
Shannon DeSouza: Yeah, right? Like, when's the last time you've danced like nobody's watching you?
When's the last time you've really let yourself have an ugly cry, right? So many of us have been just bottling it all in and hoping
it gets better. Does that ever happen when you take a bottle of pop and you shake it and it gets better?
No.
the pressure just keeps getting bigger.
Jessica Cerato: Yeah, 100%. Okay, so we're gonna come back to the festival in a bit 'cause I wanna talk more about it. But first, I really want to... Because I also, what I love about you is you are so embodied that you're not thinking about what you're gonna say before you say it. You simply say it, which is... I love that we can both do this.
So I wanna do a bit of quick fire of, And I think because quick fire, it allows people listening [00:37:00] to also shift so quickly. So I'm gonna maybe just jam on a short sentence, and I just want you to take over and finish it. Okay. Somatic healing is not blank.
Shannon DeSouza: Bullshit.
Jessica Cerato: Love it. Okay. The biggest lie or the biggest myth that high-achieving women believe about success is?
Shannon DeSouza: be a man.
Jessica Cerato: Boom. Oh my gosh. More strategy will never fix blank.
Shannon DeSouza: A fucked up mindset.
Jessica Cerato: So good. You know your body is leading or you know your body is online when?
Shannon DeSouza: You get divine [00:38:00] intervention and all the downloads and all the messages that are leading you where you've asked to go.
Jessica Cerato: The best part about following the breadcrumbs and trusting yourself is?
Shannon DeSouza: The journey and the adventure and the fun and the presence of the experience.
Jessica Cerato: Yeah Yeah. And I just want everyone to hear that. The journey, the fun, the excitement without, as you were saying before, fully knowing the how, and just allowing yourself to be in the moment because you trust that whatever moment is coming next is for you.
Shannon DeSouza: L- ladies, we're here
Jessica Cerato: Yeah.
Shannon DeSouza: nowhere else to go. There's nowhere else to be. There's no more mountain to climb. We're, we're here. This is it.
Jessica Cerato: This is it.
Shannon DeSouza: This is it.
And that's the [00:39:00] the darkness is always wanting us to continue to push, continue to not be available for the beauty of what you've created.
Jessica Cerato: Ooh, that is... Oh, my gosh, I'm laughing because I feel that what you just said there is something that will land for me even more deeply after. Because, again, it's seeing the whole picture. Ah, can you say that again for me? Not, not that the listeners need to hear it again, but for me. Of that darkness, what?
What did you say? That...
Shannon DeSouza: never repeat the same thing, but the
Jessica Cerato: I know. Oh, my gosh.
Shannon DeSouza: it-- we're being manipulated by the darkness to always want more, so we can never really land
presently in what we've created. We can
never really [00:40:00] appreciate our own creations.
And we're here. We've done it. There's nothing more.
Jessica Cerato: What's
Shannon DeSouza: Like, Nothing. Like, Right here. Oh, my
it's it now. It is right now
in, you know, the beautiful, cozy reading nook you have in your house, right? To, you know, being able to drop your phone and just be present with your kid at the park. This
is it.
Jessica Cerato: This is it. This is
Shannon DeSouza: race is a choice. You don't have to run it
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It is such... And, you know, what, going back to something you said earlier in the conversation is, I'll just speak for myself. I learn best through experience, right? And when we, when I embody, and choose, and do [00:41:00] what I want, and follow the breadcrumbs, and really embody this belief, which is true, which is I always have a choice, we are, by example- Showing the next generation and a- also, like we're in this sandwich generation, I feel.
That I felt this more strongly over the past few years. I have-- You know, before that, I was very focused on this next generation. But also, the more I'm in this work, I'm like, "No, I also can influence the generation that came before me," and that and that, right? And it's like there's no better way to teach than to embody and simply
Shannon DeSouza: you're not embodied, don't teach
please. Because
Jessica Cerato: Yes.
Shannon DeSouza: AI can tell me whatever the hell I want. If I'm gonna be a human, if I'm gonna listen to a human, I wanna see it in your
action, in your demonstration, and your energy. I wanna [00:42:00] feel
Jessica Cerato: And the frequency, feeling the frequency.
Shannon DeSouza: it in you. I don't want you to have to tell me from the brain.
I wanna ex- know, you know?
Jessica Cerato: Yeah. Yeah, and I just think, again, this is why I think you are just a beautiful example of this because you do that, and you also have this AI technology background where you're not saying, "Not this, this." You're saying, "And all." And also I think that it's the frequency that I think is...
Shannon DeSouza: Permission is the word
that is coming to me, that you get to choose.
Jessica Cerato: Yeah.
Shannon DeSouza: It's not
from your parents, it's not from your spouse, it's not from your children, it's not from your lineage, it's not from the media, it's not from the government. You get
to choose.
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Shannon DeSouza: a part of the journey, I wanna talk about something that I, I wasn't prepared [00:43:00] for or most people are not prepared for when they say yes to this, and that is reason, season, and lifetime.
Jessica Cerato: Okay.
Shannon DeSouza: Not everyone is meant to be with you on this journey forever, and you have to be very okay with that. You have to be able to appreciate The reason, the season, the lifetime, whoe- whatever it may be they've shown up for, right? And be ready and willing to release. And so many people are being called into this next version of themselves, but they cannot let go, whether it be their friends, whether it be their family, whether it be their partner, whether it be their child, whatever it may be.
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Shannon DeSouza: Relationships are a living thing. They are meant to evolve,
Jessica Cerato: Yes.
Shannon DeSouza: just like seasons, just like wintertime, you know, the flowers die, [00:44:00] right? You have to make room for the new flowers.
Jessica Cerato: Ooh, I just... This just hit because you know, in our charts we are different energies, but we overlap. And I just wanna share this for you, this evolution of relationship. If anyone is a numerologist listening, the five of hearts is in your chart, in Saturn, as you... It is a lesson in this lifetime that you are here to embody and share.
So right when you said that I pinged, you can't see me listening, I look to the side, I look at my charts that I have on the left, and I was like, boom. This is why it lands when you hear it from Shannon, because you are... But the thing is, is again, this breadcrumb in... This is full circle. In order to teach that, right, in order to embody the Saturn [00:45:00] energy, you first had to live it.
You first had to experience it. And so really, truly, thank you for being... Oh my gosh, you know me. Can I get through any conversation without crying? No, never. But thank you for being willing to go into this experience, to allow yourself to live this, and being brave enough and bold enough and sure of yourself to share it, because this is for everybody.
Your lived experiences, it is different for each person. But when you can not only go into that with surrender and curiosity, but also be willing and called to serve and share that on the other end, this is how we [00:46:00] collectively shift and change and evolve. So thank you for being willing to do this.
Shannon DeSouza: I receive that so deeply. And I will share if you follow me on social media, my life looks very glamorous. But I will also share I have never been more alone, right? Through this experience of what I'm being called to do, it was very clear that it was time to say goodbye to my marriage, that it wasn't actually serving me. And this was not a new revelation. This was something that had been sitting and yelling at me for years. We were together for 14 years. You know, this journey that I'm on right now is deep work to finally learn how to love myself. I've been separated for two years, and I think I'm only just scratching the surface of that,
Jessica Cerato: Mm-hmm.
Shannon DeSouza: I was constantly, and I still am, I'm constantly seeking outside of myself. And this is a lesson in self-trust, [00:47:00] right? And embarking on a huge entrepreneurial journey that is very expensive and very challenging and very risky. Again, , another way of learning how to self-love and self-trust, right?
And so I know where this is gonna lead me because it has been placed in my heart. And so now my journey is about being excited, right? Every single day I get to walk one step closer to that, right? God gave me my life's purpose two years ago, and so I have complete visualization of what this looks like, what this feels like, how, how it's going to be, how joyful it is. Spoiler alert, it's seniors communes for healers around the world in all the blue zones.
So
Jessica Cerato: sign me up. Yeah,
Shannon DeSouza: everyone else.
So so
Jessica Cerato: course.
Shannon DeSouza: I know how much fun is coming, but I have to do these things [00:48:00] first, right?
Yeah.
Jessica Cerato: Beautiful. Oh my goodness. And just one example of how you serve and share and create space for other women is the festival. So take a moment and talk to us about this festival coming up,
Shannon DeSouza: Yeah. So this is not Shannon's idea. 'Cause the festival is another type of risky endeavor where you carry a lot. So I literally in, you know, Costa Rica, I went to sit with plant medicine. On the second night you know, I received a message from God that said, "There must, there must be a festival." It was like a lightning bolt. And immediately I was like- Okay, I understand. And then I like went to create that, and within four months we had the festival last year. And so 150 women have gathered now to really focus on themselves and their own, you know, journey of coming back home. And the festival is an [00:49:00] opportunity over three days to sample different experiences with different types of practitioners, to be in sisterhood, to laugh, to get some time away to reflect and think and get clarity to laugh and to dance and to play.
And this year we have a property that has water, so we're gonna do a whole bunch of water therapy as well.
And this year we're gonna have two full days of festival, and then we'll have an integration day for the VIPs.
So we can actually, you know, get one with ourselves and get centered and grounded, and then reintegrate back into life.
So for those women who have always dreamed of going on a retreat, this is that in a may- more beautiful community setting. It's very affordable. It's camping or glamping, depending on the type of person you are. If you have an RV, bring your RV. It is a very open, loving, accepting community, very [00:50:00] supportive. So for those of you who are like, "Oh my God, I don't know who to come with," but you're feeling like, "I, I'm really interested in learning more," guess what? You're not meant to drag somebody else on your journey. This is your first initiation to saying yes to you.
Jessica Cerato: Yes.
Shannon DeSouza: to aryafestival.com. You can see all of our facilitators, our practitioners.
You're gonna be able to get healing hands, so like different sessions and ceremonies like cacao and a rage ceremony, release ceremony yoni steaming, things like that where you're like, "I don't even know what this is." Well, yeah, guess what? You get to sample it.
Jessica Cerato: I love it.
Shannon DeSouza: it,
Jessica Cerato: Oh, okay.
Shannon DeSouza: but most importantly, like this is an investment in you. This
isn't music and drugs. This is like literally getting some time and space to really look at yourself, and I know you've been craving it. We've all been craving it, right?
Everyone's "Oh, I'm gonna do that thing next year, next year, next year." When did next year ever [00:51:00] come?
Jessica Cerato: Yeah. Yep, I love that. Okay, we'll put all of that in the show notes for everyone. And as we close here, you know, we've talked about so much of really the magic in the present moment, and so I'm just feeling really called to ask you right here, right now, in the present moment, is there anything else that you are feeling called to share?
Shannon DeSouza: We are all important. We all have a message. We all have a gift. We are all here to change the world, raise the vibration, and remember our power. And the only thing stopping you from stepping into your dream life is you.
Jessica Cerato: Beautiful. Nothing more to say Let it end there. Thank you, Shannon, so much for being here. So appreciate you, so love you, so just, I'm so grateful [00:52:00] for you in this world. Please everyone connect with Shannon. Again, we'll put all of her information in the show notes, whether that's coming to the festival, connecting with her on Instagram, just allowing yourself to receive the beautiful gift that she shared with us today.
So thank you, Shannon, so much.
Shannon DeSouza: Thank you, Jessica, for your work and what you do
Jessica Cerato: Always. Okay, talk to y'all later
Outro: Thanks for being here inside The Energetic Advantage. If today's episode open something for you, share it, tag it, or send to the person who popped into your mind. And remember, energy first strategy second. Your advantage has always been in you. Now it's time to lead with it. See you next time.
