What happens when you spend your whole life in your head—and finally learn to trust your body? Nancy Yu and I sit down for an honest conversation about the journey from "head mode only" to embodied living. We both grew up with immigrant parents who taught us that achievement and academics were everything. The body? Not part of the equation.
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In this episode, we explore:
- Why it took heartbreak and difficulty to finally crack us open
- Anger as the emotion we both struggle with most—and why we metabolize it alone instead of feeling it
- The practice of noticing without intellectualizing everything
- How personal growth work can become a weapon against ourselves
- What "surrendering" actually looks like (spoiler: it's harder than it sounds)
- Five rhythms dance, warm baths, and other practices for getting out of our heads
- Intergenerational patterns around food, safety, and scarcity
- Learning to accept emotional support, not just tactical help
- The question underneath it all: can we just be with our feelings instead of fixing them?
Nancy talks about her journey through conscious leadership training and what it took to finally feel something below her neck. I share my experience at an emotional release retreat where I discovered just how much anger I'd been suppressing. This conversation is for anyone who's been the "good student," the achiever, the one who has it all figured out—and is now learning that the body knows things the mind hasn't caught up to yet.
About Nancy Yu:Nancy Yu is an entrepreneur currently emerging from a season of sabbatical and new motherhood. Her work now centers on women's circles, feminine leadership, and motherhood—creating grounded spaces for connection, depth, and presence. She also teaches yoga in San Francisco. Previously, Nancy was the CEO and cofounder of AllStripes, a patient-centered healthtech company partnering with biopharma and families with rare diseases. The company supported over 4,000 families, raised over $65 million, and was acquired by PicnicHealth. Earlier in her career, Nancy led corporate development at 23andMe and worked in private equity and investment banking on Wall Street.
