This is part 2/3 of my series: “Something Magical Came Together at Big Ears Festival
The Gap Between Knowing and Living
I can explain cellular biology. I can teach you about epigenetics, the role of perception in gene expression, and how beliefs literally reshape your biochemistry.
But here’s what I’ve learned after 25 years of developing these organically grown practices: understanding something intellectually doesn’t mean you’re living it or getting any value out of what you know, for that matter.
That gap—between knowing and embodying—is where most of us get stuck. And a big part of that stuckness is due to cultural beliefs that we need to unpack. (Hint: Bruce’s four myth-perceptions in his book directly point to this, and we’ll have practices for each myth in our upcoming book.)
Bruce Lipton’s work opened my eyes to how powerful our biology is, especially when we engage with it. But the real transformation didn’t come from reading about it. It came from finding simple, daily practices that helped me access that cellular intelligence in real time.
Not during formal meditation sessions. Not in workshops or retreats. In my actual life. While walking to my car. Standing in line at the grocery store. Lying in bed before sleep.
In my last post, I shared the embodied practice that started 16 years ago when my son was born:
10:10 Embodied Practice – how a number became a doorway back to presence and love.
In this second installment, I’d like to tell you about a practice that started back in 2019:
Bookmarking – The practice of consciously storing moments in your hard drive so your nervous system can access them anytime.
Remember, these aren’t complicated techniques. They don’t require equipment, training, or extra time carved out of your day.
They’re just ways to drop from your head into your body. To interrupt the mental noise and land in the moment. To access the wisdom that’s already there.
Your cells have been adapting to life on this planet for over 500 million years. That intelligence is in you right now. These practices are simply ways to listen.
Try them. See what resonates. Let them become your own.
Because embodying the biology of belief isn’t about perfect execution—it’s about finding your way home to your body, again and again, in the small moments that make up a life. And that all translates to an embodied cellular consciousness that is your best biofuel.
The Bookmarking Practice
This one started on a camping trip with five of my closest friends to an incredible spot in Arroyo Seco, California.
It was a three-day expedition — seven hours of hiking through some of the most treacherous terrain I’ve ever encountered, including traversing waterfalls, to reach our destination deep in a massive canyon: a place known as the Mother Pool. Best experienced in early spring when the waters are running full and alive.
Inside that canyon is a stretch of connected pools joined by gentle waterfalls, making it easy to drift upstream or downstream and explore. Completely remote. No noise from the outside world. Just my tribe and that place.
It was there, slipping in and out of pure bliss, that I became aware I could bookmark the moment — consciously lock it in — so I could return to it anytime and receive the same value from it as if it were happening right now.
I can feel the peak of whatever moment, breathe into it, feel the ground beneath me, and bookmark it, like I do with a good read where I mark the special places I want to return to later.
The cool thing? This works.
Even right now, writing this, I can feel myself back in that canyon. Held perfectly by a rock shaped like a natural La-Z-Boy. Feet resting in the cool running stream between two pools. Face turned toward the hot sun. A perfect breeze caressing my body, feeling nestled in Nature’s arms.
I can feel it. And feeling it makes me feel good. Which means I’m actively doing something right now that benefits my health and well-being — simply by choosing to tune into a memory that brings me joy, ease, and peace.
Now, if I add the sense of ‘feeling safe’ to this moment, it boosts the value of my physiological reset. My autonomic system gets the signal that things are good, there’s no threat happening here.
That’s the practice. Conscious. Simple. Available to you anywhere, anytime.
Because no matter how much chaos looms in the world, there is always the eye of the storm — and you can choose to live there.
Even, and most importantly, just for a moment – because these moments add up. If at the end of each day we tallied up the “safety in me” cues (SIMs) and the “danger in me” cues (DIMs) and we can get to a threshold that’s just a little more okay than not, we would lead a more salutogenic life (vs. pathogenic).
Another way to think of it: if 51% of my daily lived experience is feeling okay/at ease/overall well and 49% is being triggered/defensive/feeling unsafe, that would still tally up to a healthy overall physiology – the soil needed for living a good, happy life.
Obviously with continued practice and awareness we want to widen the gap between our DIMs and SIMs. The more time we spend in SIMs, the more we support a healthy, relaxed and resilient bodymind designed to be the best version of itself, with all its uniqueness and gifts to share in community.
This is part 2/3 of my series: “Something Magical Came Together at Big Ears Festival
- Part 1: 10/10 Embodied Practice
- Part 2: The Gap Between Knowing and Living
- Part 3: Making the Invisible Visible
