An Inspired Chat with Joey Bothwell of West Hollywood

Joey Bothwell shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Joey, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Ballroom dance lessons! Dancing brings so much joy to the brain, the body, the soul! So good as a method for preventative care for a healthy brain and makes you sweat! And how fun to connect with a real human being in such a fun practice of movement. Highly recommend!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Joey Bothwell is the founder of Sentience, a wellness organization that helps people locate and heal themselves through medicine guided journeys, 4 day wellness retreats and psychology based therapeutic practices. Joey helps bring people into their own relationship of the “curriculum of what it means to be you” and helps people develop the tools to help navigate the highs and lows of the human experience while co- creating with the energy of life.
Joey‘s path in the healing community has been anything but common. Joeys 30 year career as a professional dancer and actress sparked her curiosity for the exploration and the understanding of the body and the human psyche. Studying the craft of acting, went hand-in-hand with studying the understanding of what it means to be human as well as her elite relationship to her body being one of a professional dancer. There’s a certain embodied understanding and unique wisdom that these two crafts have provided that is rare to say the least and incredibly potent. Joey became a medicine guide long before she ever experienced the medicine healing herself. She was teaching a dance class in Los Angeles when a psychologist from a progressive addiction recovery center in Venice, CA attended her class and immediately offered her a job to create a somatic program at the center.
Joey jumped at the chance and embraced the opportunity to explore and grow as a practitioner in the somatic space. Her generous knowledge of breathwork, Reiki, yoga, dance, stretching, and self regulation therapy allowed Joey to create a unique space for people to embrace their own internal wisdom and encourage a relationship to the body that is generous and sustainable. Joey then started being welcomed into the medicine space and had the privilege of sitting next to some of the best therapists and psychologists on the planet, learning, listening and receiving a top tier eduction by osmosis and doing. A truly guided education, that cannot be bought or earned at any university or college. Joey‘s hands-on experience for over a decade in the medicine space and the therapeutic container makes her not only a knowledgeable resource but a gifted practitioner and space holder for deep, sustainable healing to emerge. Her playful approach, lack of confinement and commitment to the joy enable her access to limitless practices and teachings that can only be embodied by a truly gifted guide.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
The navigation of childhood and the adaptations that are created at an early age, can not be bypassed or missed. This IS what it means to be human. As the child of an alcoholic, little me had to learn very early on that in order to receive food shelter and water (AKA “love” ) from my caregiver, I had to accept that that came with the feelings of unavailability and abandonment. So as a result the adult version of me has become hyper- independent! Really great for building a business and a career… not so great when it comes to developing intimate, secure relationships.
What’s great about this adaptation/ superpower is it will never leave me, but as I’ve worked on myself I’ve been able to put that hyper independence down and choose to be able to create spaces where I can allow people to show up for me and help make life a little easier. Through the constant commitment to healing the parts of myself that needed a voice I’m now able to receive the gifts of support of community. Who knew I didn’t have to do it all on my own? It’s incredibly liberating.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
You are not behind. There is nowhere “to get” and the idea that you think that you can control your outcome will not help you. Never abandon your inner knowing for anyone or anything. It’s there as a guide that will always lead you back to you so no need to chase anything other than your joy. That’s the superpower. That’s the flex of life and once you really value yourself and that commitment to joy, life WILL come through for you in ways you couldn’t even imagine.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
We are energy in motion. Energy is all around us and inside of us. We are all connected to the energy of life, the planet, plants, animals etc. Imagine the ocean, if I take a glass and scoop up ocean there is ocean inside the glass (the body) AND ocean still exists outside the glass (life force, energy). We are connected to the “ocean” even though we are individuated in the body. Our nervous system is how we access both the internal “ocean” and external “ocean”. The real purpose of life is to learn how to use, regulate and trust your nervous system. To learn how it communicates with you internally so it can guide you to the alignment of what is meant for you in the external environment. This is your blueprint to your innate peace, love, joy and purpose. We all matter in the divine tapestry of life. The whole goal is to heal so you can find your perfect thread in the make up of the tapestry of the universe.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
That she never abandoned herself. Her dreams, her purpose, her bright light. That’s what made her glow. That’s what made her so easy to be around. She honored her light at all costs and she never fell for the lies of the ideas that sold a false sense of safety.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thesentienceretreats.com
• Instagram: @sentience_retreats
• Other: tiktok @sentienceretreats

Image Credits
Joey Bothwell
Brooke Lawrence
John Arnestan