Chakras and Shotguns

E120: What does Quantum Physics Have to Do With African Spirituality? feat. Shanita Nicholas

• Mik & Jenn • Episode 120

Share episode

Send us a text

In this episode, we welcome Shanita Nicholas to explore the fascinating intersection of quantum physics and African native spirituality. Discover how these two seemingly disparate fields share deep connections and offer profound insights into the nature of reality. This episode delves into the complexities of indigenous cosmology, challenging conventional beliefs and revealing the scientific underpinnings of ancient wisdom. Tune in to expand your understanding of the universe and your place within it.

Follow Shanita on IG @piandespresso

Support the show

Click here to join our mailing list, support our Patreon, or check out our merch store.

Mik:

You are now listening to

Jenn:

Chakras and Shotguns. Welcome to Chakras and Shotguns, the podcast that guides you on your journey of spiritual development and personal preparedness. I'm Jenn, a former lawyer, kind of lawyer, whatever, tarot card reader, and, uh, Lover of all things wellness.

Mik:

And I'm Mik, a marketer, energy healer, and prepper. So everything that I learned about indigenous cosmology, I feel like has been wrong. I was led to kind of believe that these belief systems that were very complicated in a lot of ways, but they were said to be primitive or not very sophisticated. And so as I've learned more and gotten more educated, just, On this spiritual journey, I've learned that there's a lot more complexity and a lot more that I think is rooted in what we would consider scientific knowledge that we see with a lot of indigenous cosmology. And so our, our guest today is actually going to further that conversation. We're welcoming Shanita Nicholas to the show. And she's going to talk about. the scientific field of quantum physics and how it directly relates and has a lot of intertwined, uh, concepts with African native spirituality. So excited to get into that.

Jenn:

Yeah. But before we do that, We want to remind you about our Patreon community. That's a really amazing place to get a lot of benefits and perks and merch discounts. Discounted or free sessions with Mick and I. So definitely check that out. Tell a friend to tell a friend. Get it for a friend. Holidays are coming up. Yeah. Join the club.

Mik:

Check it out. Patreon. com slash shotguns and shotguns.

Jenn:

All right.

Mik:

Let's begin as we always do with a breathwork meditation to put us into a mindful place.

Jenn:

So as I was thinking through what to do today, it's Thanksgiving season, a good reminder to be grateful. Absolutely. We're talking about ancestral practices. It also made me think about our episode with Jemani Ashe. I forgot what episode number that was. It's a few

Mik:

back. Right.

Jenn:

But she talked about something that I think we don't think about a lot. We think a lot about. generational curses. It's always about breaking the cycle and the curse, the curse, the curse. And we don't think about generational gifts and generational knowledge

Mik:

and

Jenn:

generational insight and wisdom that is important. In our DNA and that we are a manifestation of those lessons learned. So we're going to get into that. It's a lot. That's a lot. You know, the little mini breathwork, but

Mik:

for sure, if you're not familiar with what a general generational gift might be, I just wanted to have this quick explanation because some people are like, what is that? Like I know all the bad stuff that I'm dealing with, but have you ever just tried something for the first time? And it came really, really natural to you. I have an example of playing the drums. Jim got me this lesson at this drumming workshop here in L. A. And I was playing the drum at this this lesson. At the end of it, I told the instructor, I was like, Oh, this is my first time playing drum. He looked at me, I mean, his mouth dropped. He was like. Cause I mean, I was keeping up. I was, I was in it and I got out of my head at a certain point to where I wasn't thinking about it and kind of that instinct took over.

Jenn:

Shout out to the last episode. Exactly.

Mik:

So yes, um, that is an example, I think of a, of a generational gift. And so think about those things that maybe come really easily to you. It could be some type of dish that you cook that just like you feel. easily figured out how to make it delicious or, you know, a song that just kind of pops into your head that you like, where did that come from? You know? So,

Jenn:

yeah. Or how recently people have been rediscovering things that might seem more indigenous, like farming or gardening. Um, herbalism and then find out through whether it was like directly or like, Oh yeah, my grandmother used to do that same thing and it's like, what?

Mik:

Yeah.

Jenn:

You know, the things that we may have tried to distance ourselves from, it's like, it's genetic. Like it's, it's in the DNA. It's in the blood. It's my mama. All right.

Mik:

So sorry for taking you off your, uh, Your flow there with the meditation, my bad, let's, let's, let's, let's pop back into it.

Jenn:

Okay. So go ahead and find a comfortable seat. You can always lie down and let's begin. I think for this one, I want to have you place your hand somewhere face up on your body. It's a more open, more receiving gesture. Go ahead and bring your awareness to your third eye. Space in between your eyebrows. Take a deep inhale in through your nose. Open your mouth, exhale back out through your mouth. Let's do that again. Inhale through your nose, open your mouth, exhale, let something go. Last one together. Inhale through your nose, seal your lips closed, and exhale back out through your nose. Allow yourself to breathe normally, watching your inhales and your exhales. Any thoughts pop up during this time, let them pass you by. I'm concerned. Beautiful. I want you to imagine yourself as the base of a tree, the trunk of a tree. Feel yourself standing sturdy and strong. And from the soles of your feet, I want you to imagine Your roots spreading deep and wide into the earth. Try to understand this feeling of nourishment of what's provided through your roots. Allows you to reach the heights that you're reaching. Allows you as the trunk of this tree, to To be strong, held upright. Imagine golden light running through your root system. It's information as a gift, a sustenance. Feel that golden light run up through the roots, into your feet, almost like electricity. Up the trunk of your tree. Into the branches, the leaves, until your entire tree is surrounded by beautiful golden light. Allow yourself to feel gratitude for the history, the wisdom, and nature that has allowed you as this tree to be here today. Everything that came before All of the nutrients, even the death, the decomposition that further nurtured you into this time of renewal, growth and expansion. Imagine your branches stretching higher, wider, stronger up until the sun taking up space. And allow yourself to feel gratitude for everyone who came before you. All of their beliefs, their decisions, their gifts, their talents, their knowledge, their wisdom that had to come before you for you to be in this moment. Take a deep inhale in through your nose, put a smile on your face, exhale back out through your nose. Maybe reach overhead, give yourself a full body stretch, point your toes. When you're ready, blink your eyes open. And come back into the room.

Mik:

Alright, hopefully everyone's feeling nice and relaxed after Jen's wonderful breath work. Let's talk a little bit about our guests. So we're welcoming Shanita Nicholas to the show. Shanita is an entrepreneur and attorney who founded Pie and Espresso. Pie and Espresso is a think tank that uses coffee as a platform to explore STEM topics through a Black and Indigenous lens. Shanita also co founded Sip and Sonder, a global Black women owned business. Coffee brand and Sondra Impact, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering black communities. Shanita has a degree in chemical engineering, a law degree, and an MBA, all from Columbia University. And I went to Columbia with Shanita and that's how I know her. So great person to have and very knowledgeable about a lot of topics. So without further ado, we will get into our conversation with Shanita.

Jenn:

Welcome Shanita Nicholas to the show. We're so excited to have you excited to be here. Thank you for having me. Shanita is a woman of many, many, many hats.

Mik:

Yeah. I joked that she has 17 jobs, Kevin

Jenn:

Gates out here, six jobs. You don't get tired, but she invited us to this amazing conversation she was A story that was right up the street, which was really nice for us. And it was on African spirituality and quantum physics. And we so thoroughly enjoyed that conversation that we say, can we do this again on the show? And so she was like, of course. And so we're excited that she's here and so excited to get into this, because It's just such a cool topic, a cool intersection of things that I think people might not necessarily put together. So I'm very excited to get into it.

Mik:

All right. So let's kind of start at the kind of base level. How would you describe quantum physics to someone who doesn't have much experience with the topic?

Shanita:

For sure. So let's see. I think of, or no, I think of quantum physics is the study of, I'm like, I made up quantum physics. It's really looking at the smallest parts of, , the world around us. So it's a branch of physics, and we usually think of physics as, um, like classical physics, so things that we can touch, how something moves, forces like gravity, um, that we consider electromagnetic forces, like really understanding how things move. in the physical world are operating. Quantum physics takes it to those, the area that we can't see. So it's the unseen area of energy movement, particle movement, uh, and the study in that realm. And then everything changes, and so it's like everything we thought we knew about how things work, um, basically goes out the door. And we have to re engage and re imagine how all of these forces, all of this energy, um, engages in those small levels.

Mik:

Yeah, I, I see quantum physics come up a lot when you start looking at, you know, more of the quote unquote woo woo authors like Dr. Joe Dispenza, he like really loves to talk about quantum physics and I, and to me in my mind, it's like, it's kind of like the the science behind a lot of spirituality, right? Like it really goes into these unseen things that that Shanita is talking about. Um, so I think when we were, you know, at your, at your talk and we were trying to figure out, like, before we got there, like, how does this kind of fit together? And you did a great job explaining it. Um, so if you can kind of talk about how you see and how you imagine quantum physics and African spirituality working together to kind of explain like the universe

Shanita:

Yeah. I mean, they're both, they're both attempts. To explain how this works. Right. And so when I think about African spirituality and indigenous spirituality, generally, we can kind of find this around different aspects of the world and indigenous practices. It, it just, it is, it's the way of engagement, um, . We are in existence with this engagement of, uh, worlds and quantum physics. Like all, uh, scientific and mathematical practices is the attempt to explain that in this very, um, uh, without using the word scientific, but, um, more sometimes Western way, I would say, um, where, you know, if we think of any math or any science, it's trying to provide a common language for what's being observed. for listening. And so African spiritualism is the act, the, the, what I would call here, the observation or the being of it. Quantum physics becomes the attempt to explain it in scientific terms. What gets interesting is because science, the world of science and this branch of physics. It's been around for quite some time. Einstein was definitely, um, forefront of like bringing this into, um, more common language and understanding. So it's been around for a while. It's getting popularized now. I think Marvel has done an incredible job of that. They've also gone through some paradigm shifts as Um, and embracing and acknowledging the spirituality components of what we exist with them. Um, but it's just, it's just trying to explain what has been, what is, and what will continue to be. all at once.

Jenn:

I love that explanation because I think a lot of people, especially people who were raised in Christianity, I guess I'll just, cause I think that's probably the biggest bucket of people who were raised in a religion who found themselves into a more generalized spirituality, I guess is what I would kind of put us in that bucket. Is that I grew up with my religion being the is like, this is how. The world works who God is, how you are saved from hell. Like this is, these are the rules. This is the is. And so it was an interesting route that me with no science background, like the science I took in college. I took the lowest level of science that I could possibly take. I hated science. I had terrible teachers in high school. So I took like science where they were like, we're going to measure the chalkboard and then take an average. I said, I like this. This is where, this is me. This is where I want to be. I don't want to think too much. Girls in STEM. But it ended up being really funny to me that quantum physics was like, Away from my thinking mind to match up with like the things that I was experiencing. And so it was like my, like quantum physics is super complex, but ended up being my route of like rationalizing all the other things that I was experiencing. So I could get to my, sorry, spiritually. So I could get to my new is. And I think that was so like, fascinating how that ended up. That was like a very strange route, but I had to make sense of it. And I was like, okay, other people are documenting things and how we experience time and how we experience the unseen and how we manifest and how we call in different realities and how we, you know, quantum jumping is like a very it thing to say on Tik TOK now. I was like, okay, this is grounded in reality. I'm not going crazy. I'm not making this up. So now I can better wrap my arms around it.

Mik:

Yeah. I'm curious as you were learning more about African spirituality, or maybe, maybe you have a background, um, from, from growing up with African spiritual principles, but I'm curious how you were able to kind of make those connections. Like what were you seeing in African spirituality that matched up with the things that you've learned in quantum physics?

, Shanita:

for, for me, it was initially kind of an An interest in understanding kind of Jenn, similar to you. And I grew up, um, in a Christian practice, uh, Baptist, North Carolina. So very, and the questioning, I kept kind of asking questions, trying to understand, okay, these are the. Um, this is the baseline for what I'm being taught on how the world works, how I'm meant to behave in this system. Um, you know, a set of rules for engagement in the world. And, and the parallel really came in that practice, of, religion. And then my time in corporate America, um, and at some point in all of this, just at the core of me was like, this doesn't feel right. Like this doesn't, it just wasn't like, this can't be how I'm meant to live out this, however, hopefully a hundred years I have, but like still short amount of time, you know, that I have in this world. And it started for me on. But if this doesn't feel right, correct for me that there's something internally not aligning with this, where is that alignment? What, what are the practices that, how are the ways that I want to exist? And that journey to answering that question, again, the continued journey and answer that question, African spiritualism came into my, uh, field of study. Um, and it's interesting to call it a field of study, especially coming from, you know, uh, many fields of studies, being in a field of study that is so personally connected, which now just brings me to, make it feels like, well, yeah, like I should be studying myself, like how I want to live in this world. Um, that's, that's where, um, more traditional African practices, ritual creation, understanding of, you know, My connection to, um, uh, ancestors and deities. And that started to feel, you know, more aligned. And I, and I think the feels, cause sometimes I was like, I don't want to just talk about, I'm feeling this way, or, you know, this is like feeling okay. But the connection then to quantum physics, like they are fields, it's all energy. Like those concepts are literally the same. And it was. You know, it's starting now and these conversations are so beautiful and I greatly appreciate, um, having it is Because they're not so disparate that jump, you know um, and then I just again left what you said about this like even not being in math and science and having this Connection to quantum physics and being able to actually see that in practice and these concepts that are really complex They're complex because we are complex because the world is complex and we're we can be comfortable in that and the level of comfort and that complexity of a system of actual scientific study that is based on the feels, you know, on the energy and the gems. And that allowed me to even more be okay within myself to say, okay, there's an actual energy alignment that is not correct for me right now. What are practices? What's, what are ways of being that my energy aligns with? And so that's kind of my journey.

Mik:

Wow. Yeah. For, for folks who may be listening and haven't listened to episode one and like know the origin kind of, of our story. I think it's interesting that a lot of this journey for us kicked off when we actually went to West Africa ourselves and had this like feeling, this, this, This kind of inner knowing that, that awoken, um, in us while we were there, that led us down this path of eventually, you know, starting this podcast, right. And talking about what we've been experiencing in, in the journey, right. So it's just, it's beautiful kind of to, to see how people arrive there in, in different ways. Um, but it kind of all centers on this idea of reconnecting with your, your heritage and your ancestors and, and then utilizing the tools we've learned kind of in the West, um, to kind of make sense of it all, right? Like at least intellectually make sense of it. Yeah.

Jenn:

And I like that it's not either or.

Mik:

Yeah.

Jenn:

But it still becomes and like, even when you're, I think some people depart religion, they're like, I'm, you know, or I'm a person of science and like, you know, then they, they might become. Atheists or that they don't believe in anything. They believe in science, but like science still ends up getting you to like, you know, the divine wonder of the world around you, the universe around you, and that the universe is moving and the universe is growing. And you're just like, wait, somebody, somebody has to be doing something around here. There has to be some type of understanding and programming almost in a sense of like how this is all happening. Yeah. I just think about how there's people who are very religious, maybe like even far right who have gone to the point of denying climate change, denying science, you know, just like completely abandoning it when it, when, what you said is it's an attempt to explain the world around us and that it's not, You can't have one without the other.

Mik:

Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, one of the things that we talked about, or you've talked, you talked about and there was a discussion around was the concept of entanglement and not talking about Jada Pinkett, uh, but, but wanted to give you an opportunity just to kind of explain what entanglement is, and then let's have a conversation about how it shows up in spirituality.

Shanita:

So in quantum physics, there are, there's the ability to, um, have, it's all about probabilities, you know, we're working in like wave functions, um, and so any potential outcome, um, of an, , let's call it an atom might be, um, you want to observe, let's do color so we can get to entanglement. It's either going to be red or blue. And if we're not looking at it, it's kind of just existing. There's no, it's not connected to any part of our world. The red or blue, it's, you know, it's both red and blue, right? Like, it's just doing its thing. Um, it has what's called a spin, which means the probability of it being in this instance for kind of binary and get red or blue. Um. or really any color, but let's, um, locate it to red or blue until we actively observe it. And that observation can come in a lot of different ways. Um, one easy way I like to think of observation is like light, right? Like you shine a light on something, it's, either you're gonna see it because it was in the dark and now you're like actually seeing it or you're using the light to like excite a proton in some way or an electron and so it's having an energy jump and you see the aftermath of that energy jump. Let's say we shine a light on this particle and when we shine that light what we see because we're visibly observing it it's going to have a color because we're receiving it and let's say it's red. So we shine the light it could have been Either color. We don't know. It's both colors at all times. Um, until we observe it, shine the light on it and see it. And we've seen that it's red quantum entanglement gets interesting because when let's say two particles are interconnected, they've kind of come together in some energy filled, attached to one another and said, we are, we are together forever. And, um, what happens to you. Either happens to me or the opposite happens to me, but whatever, whenever you're observed. And so when we shine that light on the particle and it's red, let's say it was the same, uh, parallel or they're connected, um, And a, and a same for same way, wherever that other particle is anywhere, and doesn't even have to be the world, wherever that particle is in any time or space. will also then immediately be observed and will also be red. And so what gets, uh, even more interesting to me about, um, quantum entanglement in that way is that it, it, it challenges space and time. Because it doesn't actively have to be there's no distance requirement. There's no time frame requirement. They're just connected forever. And unless there's like some harsh, um, moment of disconnect, um, which not to go too far, but that kind of comes up more when we talk about quantum computing things, um, the parallel of that and spiritualism, I think it's so Incredibly beautiful. Um, because then we start to help people to like identify our ancestors and our connection to our ancestors and the work that we get to do directly impacts their observation and vice versa. We are in this like beautiful cycle of impacting one another regardless of time and space. It's, I'm like getting personal chills cause it's just such a, like, it pulls everything. I think also one thing that I've gotten to be more attuned to in my spiritual practice is the. role of community and our impact on one another, um, and how that continues to, to build itself again, regardless of time and space. Um, but I'll pause there before I start going on to, uh, that's a long answer.

Jenn:

That was great.

Mik:

That was great. And it, it sparked a lot of thoughts as I was listening to you. I was thinking about just even like the word ancestor, right? We think of that word as meaning someone who's come before us because we think of time in a linear fashion. But when you were talking about how there's two particles that are connected regardless of time and space, we can think of an ancestor as basically being another being, another particle, a being, that is existing in another time and space. Thanks. That we're entangled with, right. And not necessarily thinking about it from like the timeline perspective of they, they came before us, but they're just existing somewhere else in time and space, and we're connected to them. And entangled with them. I think back to the episode we did with Jamani. So we did an episode with a woman named Jamani Ashe and she talked about reclaiming indigenous and ancestral knowledge when it comes to like, uh, outdoors activities. So like, like being out in nature and knowing things about the land. Uh, and she talked about the skills that our ancestors had, they, they survived through us. Right. And so just this idea that we are so entangled with our ancestors, that their skills are embedded in our DNA, um, just came to mind as you were just talking about this, this idea of quantum physics.

Jenn:

Yeah. It made me think of a couple of things. I think sometimes there's this argument that can come up about hoodoo. Like specifically like the Black enslaved practice of hoodoo and like, Oh, if they were so powerful, why didn't they get themselves free? And it's like, but you don't know what seeds they were planting for us to even be having this conversation of like that type of entanglement of us being able to look back at this moment. But because we're so focused on day one, day two, day three, day, you know, that we're like, Oh, well. They didn't kill everybody in two days. So must not have been able to do anything.

Mik:

Yeah. Um, that brings me to thinking about Nat Turner. Um, was it his birthday or the anniversary of the revolution? That was a couple of days ago. I can't remember. It's, it was a day commemorating Nat Turner recently. And people talked about how he utilized the energy of the eclipse to help. Ignite the, the, the, the revolt. Mm-Hmm. that led to eventually, I mean, people a lot of times will say that was one of the first stepping stones that led to emancipation. Right? Like him having that rebellion. Uh, and a lot of that was fueled by African spirituality. Mm-Hmm.. So very just like interesting as you were talking about that I, I, I immediately went there because we were utilizing the tools we had at the time the hoodoo. To eventually lead to us being able to have this conversation

Jenn:

right

Mik:

as free people today, right? Yeah.

Shanita:

Yeah, I mean, it's, um, the idea of, uh, kind of use the word community here, but the, the knowledge that we are part of this web, right, of life together. And what I do is going to inherently impact. what happens in your everyday life in some way and everyone that I touch, um, or that I've have touched and now impart as part of my web. I think it, um, to be aware of it, I think necessitates or provides an outcome of, um, responsibility. In ways, and not behavioral change, um, but I think when you, when you know that you're impacting others and you're being impacted by others, uh, it, it shifts how it has shifted. I'll speak from an I perspective. It has shifted how I engage with people. Um, how I think about people if I don't ever see them, because I know that whatever energy I'm putting out and however connected I am in this web, that's what I'm, that's what I'm giving to the web of our interconnectedness. And if I can provide, if I can do my part in this web, uh, moving towards harmony and a way of being that I want to exist in. Then that allows for a greater manifestation of what that looks like. And if I'm surrounding myself, people that are aligned in that way, and we are able to, um, create a coherence here, and I'm using these terms because they're the same terms using quantum physics, which I think is, um, just, um, something to acknowledge that, uh, by being connected, by being coherent. by understanding who and what is important and valued in this web. Then we can start to like balance things. Then we can start to amplify, uh, the energies that we want to be ever more present, um, and move in that way. And I, and I'm talking about people in this, but that's like nature too. Like, how do I Engage with, you know, the plants and I, how I'm looking at my plants, but when your plans, you know, how are we connected? Uh, we're all having this conversation together right now. Uh, we're all sharing energy together right now. If I'm not treating and, uh, connecting with my plants in that way, then that's the energy that I'm building around myself as well. And that's what I'm, that's the web I'm creating in that interconnected, uh, world that we're living in. And the shift. Um, and my journey, partly through African spiritualism of being ever more interconnected with the things around me and seeing, um, I want to use the word manifestation because again, this is a word that comes up in both spaces manifestation of that intent. Um, is present as well. It's, uh, there's so many concepts here to try and like mumbling over myself, but to your direct question on interconnectedness and, uh, African spiritualism. That's what it looks like to, to, in my everyday engagement with life.

Mik:

When it comes to manifestation, are there any things that kind of you gravitate towards like as you try to manifest things, do you try to weave in elements of spiritualism as well as quantum physics and how you approach your manifestation practice?

Shanita:

So, uh, in African Spiritualism, and this is, and I'm not taking myself on as an expert by any means, this is my journey, my understanding, and, um, I just wanted to be clear on that. There are a lot of people with a lot more knowledge. This is just my journey. Um, in my journey of, uh, uh, engagement, it's been, uh, a lot on rituals. The, that practice of, um, like I, I light a candle each morning and at night and, um, I journal, like there's ritualistic practices that I take into my everyday experience that, um, parallel to me there's intentionality behind it. So I'm putting the intent in that and I'm, um, moving towards, um. The, the ability to make that manifestation by, uh, these rituals that I practice are also, uh, parallel to me of like ways of observing and quantum physics so we can. Create observations. Um, what I've basically gone to is like intent, um, and so in both of those areas, observation to me is like intentionality. Um, there's an intent to shine that light on that particle. There's the intent to think about something. There's the intent to visualize, like, how am I, how are my intentions aligning with that, um, ultimate outcome of a manifestation? Um, Practice. And so, they're aligned to me. The idea of observation from a quantum physics, um, if that's a tangible observation, um, and that light example, and also intentional ritual practices, because I, and I think what you said earlier, um, with Nat Turner and that movement, um, including Hoodoo in spiritual practices and to the, um, ultimate goal, like the observation of like, or the intentionality through ritualistic practices and interconnectedness and movement into a space that you ultimately want to go. Um, it just, uh, it's become so much less, they're, they're not different things. It's hard to even try to like talk about them as like this and then it's because they're like, it's just the same thing. Um, and we get to use, like, even the same words now at this level, um, between these ways of, um, articulating what it is.

Mik:

So you mentioned ritual and working with rituals, and I think that they're, at least in my understanding and how I, I, I understand ritual and view ritual, um, to me, it's like a physical manifestation of a prayer. And, and for, for prayer, I even think of that as trying to work with unseen forces, right? You're, you're, you are putting energy out, uh, to, uh, request assistance from, from unseen forces, from the divine, from the universe, whatever, whatever entity you choose to kind of, to label it. Um, and, and so I'm just, Curious how you see that connection with quantum physics, uh, if you see one.

Shanita:

Yeah, I mean, they're both, both of these all about unseen forces and how we engage Um, I think in from a ritualistic practice If we're looking at and I have very similar thoughts on prayer, a lot of thoughts on prayer, um, which is having another word for manifestation, which is another word for like, it's all words, um, for grace, similar, if not the same things, um, in quantum physics, if we are wanting a particular outcome, and we know that all possibilities are are in existence and we are trying to observe like observation can be so many different things. Um, I use that light, but that's like a very tangible physical in this broad observation. The practices that we put into, um, into a system also become part of that observation. And so if we're looking at, let's say, um, a quantum computer, if we, so classical computers, we have zeros and ones, right? Binary quantum computers are much faster and able to do, uh, calculations infinitely quicker that we would never be able to do in our lifetimes because it would just take thousands of years to solve problems based on what available and the power system and a quantum computing system. So all things are possible, right? Like. We haven't identified so we can kind of do all these, um, infinite abilities of calculation until we observe something in the system that we want to like nail down on for an outcome. When we're working through those practices, like whatever practices were including into that system to come to a final outcome, we're putting in variables and to that still, we're still, there's, it's still data that we're giving into the system. When we're giving data into a system, intentional practices into what that data is and how that data is provided is going to influence our outcomes as well into the system. And it's not saying that we're, I think it both is not and is saying that we are, um, creating the world that we're going to step into. So if we're providing information into a system, of infinite possibilities that it can now aggregate into a final answer. The practices that we include in that are so important. The ways in which we do that are so important. The intentions with which we do that are so important because they're going to impact the outcome of what our answer is into the world that we live in. And so that tie in for me and rituals is We're taking that time, for me at least, and lighting my candle and If I can do that in community, how much even more powerful is that? Um, it's a placement of intention. Like that's the, like, word. We're actively putting in the content of the world that we are wanting to step into, hopefully wanting, if I think if it's, it's still, it's still intentional, even if you don't have intentions, you know, it's, um, because the things themselves are, are intentional. And so if we can move that in a way of, um, present intention, it becomes the ability to create revolution. And I, I'm just tying it back to the Nat Turner conversation.

Mik:

Yeah. I felt it. Love that.

Jenn:

Yeah. Cause we can be almost flippant with how we move through our day. Like to be going back to what you said, Shanita, about Being intentional, even about how you interact with people. We can be so flippant about it. Like, Oh, this person pissed me off. They honked at me. I honked back at them. I flipped them off or whatever. That customer service lady was, I was rude to the person who was trying to help me check out or whatever. And how we just, and because there's so many inputs. I talk about this all the time. Just so many things trying to grab our attention and demands and emails and your kid needs something and the school's emailing and you got to do this and you got to make this appointment that you're not even taking that time at the top of your day to be like, okay, what is my intention for the day? I think the only time people semi regular, I don't even know if I would say regularly, probably for me, the, The time that I'm like very intentional is in a yoga practice of starting my, starting my practice with a, with an intention, but to even just start your day with an intention and remind yourself of that intention. What, what things are you calling in? Yeah.

Shanita:

It's, um, I was telling someone the other day, so I won't leave my bed until I have an intention that I feel on my body. I just fully, there are some days I'm like, all right, but I lay there and I'm like, I can't, I can't leave my bed. I haven't felt my intention yet. And it's a newer practice and it has colored, um, the day. And I know that there was a privilege of being able to just lay there and I'm aware of that. Um, but it, it is a practice to your, what you just said, um, that has been very impactful for me.

Mik:

No, I love that. We talked to, I think it was Kira, Kira Buckley. She was talking about, you know, not wanting to even wake up to an alarm because that puts you immediately in like the kind of fight or flight, like your nervous system is immediately kind of, uh, and activated in a way that isn't, isn't the best energy you would want to take into your day. Right? And so, I think it's tough for us, um, particularly just being parents and having to get kids out to school in the morning, but I think we can try to find ways to where we can just be a little bit more intentional in the morning. So it's something I think I've been reflecting on for a few days and trying to figure out how we can better do that. I would love to, you know, To have a more intentional waking hour or so when I get up in the morning.

Jenn:

The kids are my alarm. A little pitter patter. I turned off my alarm though after that conversation. Oh yeah you did. And it has been a lot more easeful. Yeah. I want, the last question I want to ask is we touched on these concepts in quantum physics that are very familiar to us in new age or wuwu spirituality. Could you briefly talk about vibrations and resonance and how that appears in quantum physics?

Shanita:

Absolutely. Um, so everything is it's a vibration. Um, and I want to touch on, like, the wave particle duality and then move into that real quick. So under wave particle duality, the big example is like, um, light. Light is such a powerful, in many ways. I could have a whole conversation just on light. Uh, but light is, um, seen, um, has been, uh, in experiments. More easily seen as a wave and a particle. Um, and the way that, the most famous way is the double split experiment in which, uh, beam of light is shown through a split of paper and onto a wall that has some distance away. Um, and you kind of see these. dots of white. Like it's not just, um, a single dot that goes through. There's a pattern that appears, um, on the wall, and that is a physical expression of Um, a light particles being both, um, a wave as how they're flowing, which is why they kind of appear in different places on the wall. Um, and also a particle because we do have that like moment of observation where we have a single dot and that moment of movement, um, as a wave. So one thing waves can do that particles can't. Is, um, come together, amplify one another, or cancel one another out. And so you have these, like, spaces between the dots of light on the wall, um, and areas where the wave particles, um, someone gave a great example of this, like, if you're in a boat and there's waves. Um, if you have, um, two waves that are both kind of high coming together, your boat's gonna go up really high. If you have kind of the trolley of a wave and two trolleys come together, your boat's gonna go down super low. If you have a large wave and a trolley come together, they're gonna cancel one another out and your boat's gonna stay the same. And it's that, that ability to cancel out, um, that gets observed into the split where you're actively not able to see like any, any change at all, like anything. Um, and so this wave particle duality experiment, um, allows us to see that, okay, we are, things are, are moving in this world like a wave. And we know how differently waves engage than particles. And just, uh, the world that we live in, um, generally. And so if we have a world of waves around us, now we can start thinking of like, again, back to the water, like how, how does water engage with anything? Right. It's all vibrations. It's like, if I'm playing music, I can see. The water interact, right? And the way that I couldn't see, um, I play water to my book here. It's not going to do anything actually under the surface. There might be a lot of things happening with that book. Um, and the more wave of like, uh, nature of it, um, the way that we engage, um, and to connect this to, like, African spiritualism as an example, when we are, um, my understanding, and this is not yeah. A practice I have not been to, um, the continent. So I'm very excited to hopefully go in the next year. Um, but even in Leimert park, we have drum circles, right? Uh, and so when, um, I go or have gone, um, in different places of my life to a drum circle, um, I am bringing the whole of me and everyone's bringing the whole of themselves. And we are, now we know fundamentally and the smallest parts of ourselves are waves. And we are together and maybe we want our vibration to get to how those ways are moving, how they're vibrating to be, um, to resonate with one another. And so we can do that in a few different ways, like through collective meditation. Um, through, and these are things that I just, when I feel like I have now resonated with the community around me from like a physical perspective, um, uh, just having intention of resonation is, um, is one way as well. And then when we're all resonant, we're all, all of our vibrations are aligned in that way. And you have a third party,, amplification moment, a drum. And we get to amplify that collective, like that resonance together. Um, we're increasing our vibration, like literally, and I know there's like the. word choice increasing a vibration, which I also agree with. They're the same thing, right? Like it's like that's the whole point. Like they're, it's all like the same thing. The, the scientific physical manifestation or explanation rather of that is the actual, like, we are wave functions. Everything around us is a wave function. We can start to align with one another. So when we say like, Get on my vibration, you know, or we want to be around people who vibe with us. Like, it's literally like we want to have that resonance of, you know, with those waves. Um, and then we can start to like amplify that when we're in harmony, um, and ways that are most positive to us. And so it, again, it's, and I love that question. It's another area that just It shows how, I mean, it's the whole point here, right? Like they're the same thing. Like we're describing it through this scientific observation are these words. That now are becoming the same for the energies and the fields that like we know to be true as well.

Mik:

Got it. Got it. So Shanita, I always feel smarter when I, when I hear, you know, you, you discuss some of these things. I appreciate you coming through and sharing that with us. For folks who are listening, if they want to sip some coffee and, and listen to you talk about this more either in person or on the internet somewhere, Where can they go? How can they, they follow you?

Shanita:

Yeah. So I, um, I'm I've been doing pop up conversations around LA right now. I'm I also spent a lot of time. I own Sip and Sonder with Amanda Jane in Inglewood. So I'm often there as well. Probably do another talk in that location. But yeah, I'll probably, I am usually either in my own coffee shop or someone else's coffee shop. Um, I had to get my social media up because I don't have a really clear place to send anyone. Yeah, there's Sip and Sonder. And then, um, I do have a new account called Pi and Espresso. Um, P I A N D E S P R E S S O, which is complicated in itself, but at Pi and Espresso, I think I have one follower. Please follow, like, become my friend there, if you want.

Mik:

We'll make sure to link that in the, in the show description. So hopefully you'll get at least a couple of followers.

Shanita:

I can talk about quantum physics, but my social media presence is, uh, yeah.

Mik:

Got it. Got it. Got it.

Jenn:

Cool.

Shanita:

Thank you so much. Thank you both.

Mik:

We'd like to thank Shanita again for joining us today on the show. Please go and follow her. Again, she drops a lot of amazing gems on her social media. So go and check her out.

Jenn:

All right. That's the show friendly reminder to check out patreon. com slash chakras and shotguns. So you can find out all of the benefits of being part of our community. We would love to have you

Mik:

help us pay some of these bills. And finally, if you're loving the show, please subscribe and give us five stars wherever you watch or listen to show

Jenn:

Namaste.