ANDREA L. BORDENCA

The inflection of our voice, the mood we convey and the presence we embody are how others assess us and a reflection of how we see the world around us.

When we are under pressure, fear or anxiety may show up if we are not trained how to come from a grounded and centered place. When inundated with images of perfection in the media, in addition to the lack of equality that is a part of our current political landscape, we see that incidents of isolation, fear, anxiety and depression are on the increase.

When reacting to breakdowns, we are unable to learn and reflect in a deeper way and more pressure mounts. The ability to navigate through the pressure becomes difficult and burdensome ,leading to disengagement.

Further, our cultural conditioning rewards us for being “rational”.  This reinforces the disconnection of mind from body. When we are intellectualizing, we are creating stories that build on our already-present anxiety and fear.  As technology and time evolve, things take us less time, we are rewarded for efficiency, acquiring certain material goods and moving faster and leaner.

This distances us further from our body and gets us caught up in the external influences.  When we are distanced from body, a story of “not enough” gets in the way of the bigger impact we can serve. There are many reminders that there is so much more out there, more to gain, more to achieve, more to be and to get there faster.Becoming distanced from the body, living in fear, anxiety or a story of “not enough”  is not going to serve ourselves or the impact we seek to make.

When tuned in, we have many reminders that allow us to engage in life more fully.

This is the new common sense I seek to include in organizations & school systems.

Questions my collaborators and I seek to answer:

How can we train leaders & kids to better cope with fear, anxiety and to embody safety when this is not what we are taught to be or do?

How can we institute “what matters to us” as common sense in the fabric of conversations as we evolve & grow?

How can we help people of all ages embody dignity when we're inundated with images of perfection?

How can we teach acceptance & empathy when racial & gender inequities are commonplace?

In order to better navigate life’s rejections, losses and major transitions, a shift in how we learn & how we educate will be the new common practice.

The more we are present to our felt sense and what is occurring both in our body and the story we are building around it, the more we become tuned in to how to become aware of what is so now and then we can have choice in building a body that is less rational, and more intuitive and soulful, connected to spirit.


Andrea applies The Institute for Generative Leadership’s generative linguistic discourse to all coaching & curriculum, as well as Strozzi Institute’s somatic & neuroscience applications.