Play as Collective Liberation with Ryookyung Kim

On this episode, we’re chatting with Ryookyung Kim of Party Noodles, on creating sacred space for play as medicine and a key ingredient for collective liberation. 

Ryookyung (they/them) is an alkemist and co-creator of divine ceremonies, rituals, and celebrations. You can often find them in a transition of sorts, liminal spaces of (un)becoming, and supporting other humans whose very existence disrupts the status quo.

They journey with folks in coming home to their Selves by way of remembrance and play—with disobedience, wonder, and unreasonable delight being some of the flavours they bring to their spaces.

Ryookyung Kim’s offerings and updates can be found here:

Instagram @party.noodles
Website: https://partynoodles.life

Stay in touch with all KAI YIN Spells & Skills updates by signing up to my newsletter on my website, and following me on Instagram and Facebook! I love hearing from you; let me know what you’d like to learn more about in future episodes! 🐉

Transcript

Anabel Khoo: 0:30

Hello dear listeners, Happy Spring! It's Spring in Toronto, and it is hopefully going to stay. The sun has been really nice. I am hoping to be able to feel alive again. And I hope you're all doing well. On this episode, I'm very excited to be chatting with my friend Ryookyung Kim, on creating sacred space for play as an ingredient for collective liberation. Ryookyung is an alkemist and co-creator of divine ceremonies, rituals and celebrations. You can often find them in a transition of sorts, liminal spaces of (un)becoming and supporting other humans whose very existence disrupts the status quo. They journey with folks in coming home to their Selves, by way of remembrance and play with disobedience, wonder and unreasonable delight, being some of the flavors they bring to their spaces. Welcome to the podcast, Ryookyung! Thank you so much for joining me. To start off, do you want to introduce yourself and tell folks a bit about yourself?

Ryookyung Kim: 2:00

Yeah, yes. Thank you so much for your introduction. I am terrible at intros, I always forget what work I do as soon as somebody asks me. So it's a good practice to come back and remember. And it changes with the seasons. So I think, Where do I want to start today? I have been this past season cultivating a particular flavor of medicine, around play and celebration in especially as we have been in the pandemic for the last couple of years. And with all of the things that are going on in the world, I've been thinking a lot about what it is that I want to share with people. And the more that I've been exploring that, I guess you could call it purpose, or just something that oozes out of people, naturally. And I think one of the things that I'm getting reacquainted with is my medicine of play. And I don't know that I have much more just yet besides that. But I think that's a great like, starting off point, it'll, I think it'll just weave itself as we talk. Because, yeah, I'm terrible at bios, I rewrite my bios and like, the things that I do for work, it changes every time I write it for something. Yeah, it changes a lot. It shifts and like expands and morphs very frequently.

Anabel Khoo: 3:37

I mean, I love that; it's like you're constantly evolving and shape shifting, so that's gonna be reflected in your bio. And it's nice to also... Yeah, I just feel like, I don't know, things don't have to be that formal and, like concrete, and it's nice to have that space and permission. When you mentioned play, I wonder if you want to maybe talk a bit about what you love about play. Like, I guess when I think of it, I think of those things like permission to not be any certain way, like to be super weird, to be very, I guess, honest, or even like, performative. Like whatever feels like is coming up in the moment.

Ryookyung Kim: 4:37

Something that I have noticed about play as I have been cultivating a relationship with it more and engaging with it more, is that it doesn't really give a fuck about what you think. And like what the brain thinks it should be doing. Play, I think is such a raw expression of us being human. And it's a raw expression of the human experience. And so it looks like so many different things that doesn't make sense to the rational and conditioned parts of our brain that, you know, demands order. Yeah, it doesn't demand anything of us, which is what I love. Although what it does ask is for our attention, and our presence, but that's about it. I think anything else is superfluous, like anything else is sort of like an add on or a nice to have but isn't necessary. And I think that play is such an accessible... It's designed to be a very accessible thing. And yeah, it doesn't require money, or like what we think is required in order to do great things play doesn't ask or need that of us to engage with it in any sort of what you're saying about like performative. Like it's, we don't need to perform play like it's, it's already innate. And so that's what I really like about it, we don't need to try very hard at it. Although it can feel like that for me these days, not because play itself is hard to engage in. But because I have stuff that that prevents me from playing, the inherited stuff that I talk about often. Like capitalism doesn't want us to play, because it's like, there's no time to play in this world and society that we've all been indoctrinated into. That's the stuff that makes it difficult for us to engage with play. But I think play, when we're babies, like it's just so innate, like, that's how we learn to do things. And that's how we start to communicate with the world, and to learn about our surroundings.

Anabel Khoo: 6:59

Yeah, when you mentioned being a baby, like, it's really vulnerable. But it's also kind of liberating to tap into that experience, or to carry that over, like that innate right we have to explore and to experience and it's, it's really just pure experience at f irst. Like it doesn't necessarily... yeah, there isn't like a narrative or meaning attached to it, or like, you know, lots of thoughts going on. It's really just maybe at first sensing, you know, touching things, smelling things, experimenting, you know, throwing things and seeing what happens. And I think it's just like, we like you said, there's so many ways we're not allowed, or we're shamed. And yeah, not permitted to, to be in our bodies and to experience things in the moment. And, yeah, the whole point of being alive under capitalism is to produce and to extract and play seems to be a way you describe it, like the opposite of that. Like there is no end goal. You know, it's just like, it doesn't have to make sense. Like, it doesn't have to be even understandable to another person. And I think that's something. Yeah, really, like, there's almost like a grief, I feel like, talking about it is that that sense of like, a lot of us don't get to access that. And, you know, there's a lot of loss there, in a way, especially also intergenerationally. I mean, probably lots of people can relate to this, but you know, like, migration, or like, you know, for different reasons, like having to give up things that are pleasurable in life. It's like, you come here for a reason, and you have to like, achieve a thing. And it's very, like, rooted in survival. And I think, yeah, it's so powerful to reclaim that play and that element of pleasure.

Ryookyung Kim: 9:05

Yeah, I love what you said about that. That reminds me that the loss of play is a byproduct of colonialism. I was thinking about this the other day, about the ways in which colonialism strips people of certain things, in order to feed the capitalist treadmill. And one of the things is pleasure, and it's play, when we don't have play and pleasure, our spirits get worn down. And so that's one of the ways in which I think it's used as a weapon against people in order to extract more. And so that part about you, mentioning grief, is such a real experience in reclaiming play. There is room that I think we must make for for grief, to be a part of it. And of course, the intergenerational aspect of it too. I hear a lot of elders talking about that, like in the process of colonialism and imperialism and migration being the byproduct of that. There are demands of folks, especially the ones who came before us to give up certain things in order to make it in this world. And yeah, one of them is play and pleasure and it's that "buckle down, get serious and do whatever it takes to survive" mentality. But a lot gets lost through that. And so I think that play is a re-indigenizing. Like, it's an ingredient of re-indigenizing. And I think that the more that we have and experience harm and violence in this world, the more I think play is necessary. Because it's seen as I think that in general society, like it is seen as this, like, frivolous thing. But I think about how necessary it is, I think about the ways that our ancestors have gathered to sing songs, like in secret where they've gathered to make certain kinds of food when it wasn't allowed, like, I think that's all a piece of play that act as resistance to this colonial violence. And I think the thing about like, colonialism is like, they try really hard, right, like to kill off all of these things, but because it's so innate, like, it's impossible. Yeah. And so I think that play keeps, like threads of hope, burning too. And not just hope, like, they're, it's a little bit more than that. But it's a thing. It's fuel. And so, yeah, the way that I think about play is deeply tied to what it means to decolonize and to re-indigenize our ways of living, of reconnecting with the earth and relating to one another in, you know, in intentional, and non extractive ways, like play, I think, is incredibly essential.

Anabel Khoo: 12:09

When you were speaking about the group that you're running around play, you mentioned this, like desire for connection, and how the theme of connection was also a big thread or foundation to wanting to hold the space, you know, for folks. And, you know, I think connection is the thing that is, I mean, it's like that word in English doesn't really capture like what I'm trying to say in terms of connection. Like I think it's like a deep relationality and responsibility to each other, and the earth that colonialism has, as a system has tried to eliminate in all these different ways, and especially, like you mentioned, like, spiritually, like trying to, you know, target spirituality and sacredness and ritual, and these practices that are very much about connecting to our senses, and each other and sensing each other. And that's, that attunement is so powerful, and it obviously has, you know, survived colonialism, and I believe, will continue to just get stronger, but it still is this constant thing, unfortunately, that, yeah, like needs to be practiced and deserves to be really celebrated as fundamental versus like, this extra thing to be added on the side, you know, if there's enough time.

Ryookyung Kim: 13:38

Oh, I love the word that you used. You were saying something around sense like it, the word sensory. And it reminded me of what play... like play is a sensorial experience. And so is connection, because we feel it in our hearts, like, we feel it deeply. Yeah, nourishing parts of ourselves that it's like feeding our souls in a way, like connecting to others, that like eating food is a part of it, like connecting with other people that we love and that love us like that is a part of like, it's all a part of feeding ourselves and nourishing each other. And that's, that's what came up for me as he said that and the word connection to, like you said, when I think of the experience of connecting with others in deeply profound ways, it it feels like a web. I see it like a web. Like when spiders weave this really beautiful web. And I also think about the way mycelium networks exist and communicate like it feels like it's not just this surface level thing. There's so much more to it and, and I'm like in the process of exploring it and cultivating a relationship with it too. So I'm definitely not an expert by any means of any of these things. But actually, I'm going to bring this back around to a part of my introduction is that what I love about getting to cultivate a practice with play is to share what I've been exploring not on my own like in a silo where I am like this scientist that like is in a lab and doing things by myself like, no, this is, this is something that I get to experience and practice relationally with people like talking to you, like seeing where our conversations go. That's a part of play, we get to play through conversation. And that is something that fuels relationship, like this relationship that I have with you. And I don't hold a PhD in anything. I'm not studying this from a, like, brain perspective, if that makes sense, like I'm learning to embody it and practice it as a way of living it, and then sharing that with others. And learning alongside people like as we play together. And so this is something that I've been exploring in the way that I introduce my work to is that it's not this completely flushed out 100 page like thesis on what play is, but rather, how I've been partnering with play, to live my life in a way that I have always wanted to, and that I've always longed for, in ways that have felt good. And it turns out, like doing all of these things, is a part of like the decolonizing process. And the re-indigenizing process. I used to kind of come at this sort of work through a very, like mind focused, it's like leading with a mind of like, trying to intellectualize and, but I've always felt like something was missing. And I think the more that I practice it, embody it, like do the thing that I say I want to do. But like, instead of just talking about, like, I actually practice the play component. I can only learn so much through textbooks or through somebody else talking about it. And that's only a part of it. And there's like another world waiting to be explored as I like, throw myself into the pool. It's like learning how to swim technically, like through a textbook versus like, feeling the body, like in the water, like feeling you move through the water, the way that your body, like, interact with the water like that can't be taught. You learn it by doing the thing. And so by when I say you can't be taught, I mean, like, the relationship that you have with water is unique to you. And so you can only find that out for yourself by doing that. And that's how I've been seeing play as well. It's like play looks so different for everybody. My version of play will look the same as somebody else's, it could look similar. Like there will be overlaps, for sure. But I think what I've been exploring is like, this idea that we get to practice together if you want to, the field is there, and it's available to us. And we can jump in and play if you know you feel called to do so. And I think that leads back to the container that you were talking about my container that I recently launched is all about that. I wanted it to be a container of co creation because I don't have all the answers. And what happens when I invite people to play with me, and they get to share what play looks like for them like that adds another layer like then that turns the space into something more than I could have ever planned for.

Anabel Khoo: 18:56

Yeah, just trying things out with another person where you feel, you know, or with others, or you know, channeling the presence of people you feel loved and loved by and safe with. That almost creates like that space where you can feel like you can really absorb a sense of possibility. And what was the thing I was gonna say? I guess I just really love "Party Noodles". I really love the the name that you have for what you do. And when you were talking about different people coming together and not knowing what is gonna happen. Like, I don't know if this would apply to party noodles, like as a thing where it's like there's different ingredients. And there's a general structure for it. Like there's a recipe but then you can also kind of improvise and add whatever and like you don't actually know what it's going to turn out like but you know that it's better having more than one ingredient, you know, like you want all the different things and just the process of putting it together. Like a celebration or a fun thing, like just coming together to see what happens.

Ryookyung Kim: 20:14

Yes, short answer. I was thinking about all the regional variances of the party noodles dish that served in Korea. As so it's literally called like banquet or festive, that's the "janchi" part, and"guksu" is the noodles. And so it's often served at birthdays, like, traditionally served at like birthdays and weddings. And specifically, like 60th birthdays. I got this off of Wikipedia. So I don't actually know if this is still relevant. But it is a dish that I'm very fond of. And it's always the noodle dish that I go for when I'm at a Korean restaurant. Not a lot of restaurants here serve it. But there's a couple that I that we go to that I'm always like, oh, yeah, like, that's the one. And it's not this monolithic dish that is served the same everywhere. It's like every person makes it differently. There's regional variances, like I was mentioning, before there is this beauty of like, the environments influencing the dishes itself, right. So if you're by the coast, it's going to have a different flavor. Maybe it has more like seafood elements, than perhaps a noodle that's made inland, that's not surrounded by a body of water. And so I'm thinking about, like, all of that is beautiful. Like, all of that is amazing. And it's just different. And there's no, I think that a lot of cooking shows get really caught up in like, what's the best one? Like, what's the number one? And it's like, there's no fucking, there's no number one anything, like, they're all just really different. And they're all really beautiful. And it's just a matter of preference. Like, if you don't like seafood, and maybe you like the other versions that are that don't have as much seafood in them, or, you know, what have you. I've only had like the one type of party noodles like here in Toronto. So I don't, I don't know if there's like a seafood variation. But I imagine, you know, that there is there's so much more that I don't know. But when I was thinking about the embodiment of, like you were saying, my work itself, like what is something that embodies me, and I feel like it's totally, I mean, there's, my work has so many names, but this is like the most recent iteration in the and, and it's like, because it has the word party. And like festivities kind of embedded into it, it just works so perfectly. And yeah, it can be anything. And it changes, like, my work looks different with every single person because everyone that I work with has different things. So I think I describe our work as something like I'm the bowl and the soup, and you are the noodles. And then our work together creates the toppings. And so that is going to look different for everybody. Like the things that I do with one person or with even one cohort is going to look different from the next cohort or the next person because everyone brings in their own flavor. And that's something I'm going to cultivate more and more specifically to within the queer, trans, BIPOC community. There is this like, sacred space that I want to cultivate in working with people who want to play but also are thinking about play as an ingredient for collective liberation.

Anabel Khoo: 24:09

Definitely, yeah. I'm like salivating thinking...

Ryookyung Kim: 24:14

I know, I'm getting hungry!

Anabel Khoo: 24:16

It's nice to have that aspect to it, where it doesn't have to feel like the struggle and focusing on those things that are just really painful and hard. But yeah, just feeling like this warmth and comfort and a sense of like,"I'm really looking forward to doing this thing". You know, it's liberating as an experience, just to enjoy something and taste deliciousness. For me, sometimes I forget, like, the things that I have on my list of things to be anxious about or things that I've internalized, like I have a whole list of things I have to shame myself for, like every day. But when I eat something delicious, or I'm laughing or I'm just like really enjoying like a hug or just anything like that. It's like for a second I forget that like I hate myself and I have to hustle to exist. And it's beautiful. And I think that's a practice. Also sometimes because of capitalism like co-opting pleasure or like beauty, it feels fake. Like it feels kind of like an escapist thing. But actually, it's like, that's kind of part of the work, is like remembering that this is ours, like, pleasure is already ours.

Ryookyung Kim: 25:42

When you were talking about the beauty and pleasure being co-opted by capitalism, yeah, like it feels fake, because it's really, it's missing a lot of things. It's very surface level. And it's, it's like half baked. And especially around pleasure. I know that there's a lot of focus, like, equating pleasure with sex. And I think it's one of those like, the square and the rectangle thing where it's like, sex is pleasure. But pleasure is not always sex like pleasure, is again, it's all about, like, the senses and my mentor, and teacher, Joy, talks about pleasure being freely available and abundant. And I've never thought about it in that way. But in one of her Instagram posts, she describes pleasure as like the wind singing into your hair. It's like the sunlight on your face. It's that delicious, comforting food that you have. And then your body feels really, like not just full, but it feels like open and comforted and held like, pleasure is so much more than this, like tiny little, like, lint, like event that we call pleasure. And it's like, oh, and pleasure is just limited to these like two things. But yeah, it's like, I'm looking at the window right now. And it's like the way that the branches are swaying. And it it just looks so nice. And walking by the water. And like the smell of spring, the smell of summer, like all of these things are deeply pleasurable. And this is a way that I'm interpreting her words. It's like, that's, I think what she means by when she says pleasure is freely available and abundant because it's there. But we've been taught to disengage from it. My brain is doing a thing where it just has so many things to say, but it's coming out all at once. So I just wanted to name that too of... as I'm sitting here and talking, I'm like, oh, yeah, like, I'm struggling at certain parts, because I'm like, wanting to say this thing. But then something else is like being downloaded. And I'm like, wait, but there's this thing about play and that thing about play, and it's like all connected... And how do I say all of these things all at once? And I can't and so if you hear me struggling for things, like that's what's happening.

Anabel Khoo: 28:08

I mean, yeah, I'm just trying not to interrupt you constantly with my own millions of thoughts. I'm with you. I mean, all the things are connected. It's kind of like there's a lot of stuff that is just wanting to be unraveled, and everything is connected. And I think that's part of the excitement, too, is like, of maybe playing in the way that we've been talking about it is that it's nonlinear. And it's whatever is happening in that moment. For you. And yeah, I feel like yeah, I'm holding back interrupting you telling you about a million things... Like how we tried to the same type of bubble tea yesterday, at parallel cafes, they were the same one but a different locations. And we tried the brown sugar ginger milk tea, except it was non caffeinated. And that was really exciting. Because it didn't, it didn't feel non caffeinated in like, flavor and body.

Ryookyung Kim: 29:15

It was so zingy, like that ginger hit and now I was like, I came home yesterday. And I was like, I need to make that for myself. Because, like, I need this more in my life.

Anabel Khoo: 29:28

It's also nice, because it just surprised me to try something new that I actually really liked. And I don't know, I kind of don't know why I thought like my bubble tea experience was like, just like done, like, I thought like, Oh, I know what I like and like, that's kind of what I go for. But also it did change last week, because... I didn't tell you this before, but now everyone's gonna know but yeah, there's this new Vietnamese bubble tea place. I'm not sponsored by them but they're amazing. I went there once and I got the pennywort mung bean, coconut boba, and I didn't get the regular pearls, I got the crystal boba. It's made of agar, it's somehow crunchy, but squishy at the same time. And I've been craving it ever since that day, like every day for the past week. So yeah, I'll link them but it's called K-Sweets, but I just have to say that. That was a tiny moment of joy that shattered all my internalized systems of oppression. So thanks, K-Sweets! Yeah, does that help you remember what you were gonna say?

Ryookyung Kim: 30:43

Yes, it did. Okay, because you said something before around how this took away from hating yourself for a moment... And I had some things I wanted to see around that which I don't know what it is, but I'm going to let it come out of me and see what happens. But there's something that happens, like, systemic oppression, and colonialism and capitalism, like this fucking concoction of shitty shit. The way that it takes a toll on on so many levels. And one of the ways is what you what you said is that all of this shit is designed to make us hate ourselves so much, that we lose our sense of self, we forget how powerful we are. So that we participate, and grind and hustle. And we partake in the system. Because the more we are tuned to ourselves, the more we like, the more it naturally just takes us away, because it's gravity, like it takes us away from the center of all of that concoction of shit I was just talking about. And so I love that you said that about these moments where you forget. And that's precisely why they don't want us to do these things. Because then we would drop whatever it is that we're doing to go and pursue fun, whatever it is that that we feel called to do, like because our innate... The things that we get up to innately, the calls that we get to go out and, like enjoy the sun. All of that takes us away from the treadmill of all the things that we're talking about. And so these pleasurable things, and, and not as an as, like you said, not as an escapist way. But the thing that, like, pulls us closer.

Anabel Khoo: 32:47

You were reminding me of this video you made that I talk about to you all the time. I'm a big fan of the YouTube video you made. Because before I knew you, before we met and became instant friends, I watched that video and I like I watched it on a loop probably like five times in a row. And I cried so much; it was so healing, just like the words you shared were... They're just so honest. Like I can tell like, you know, you wrote them, because you were really just like feeling them. It was really personal. But yeah, it was beautiful. And one of the things you mentioned was, you know, you were talking about celebration as the opposite of punishment. But I think that yeah, like it's was such a beautiful way of thinking of celebration as like this really deep, as you mentioned in your video, a homecoming like coming back. So just talking about like how those moments like they make us forget about, you know, all the shit. And then there's also a remembering that happens too. And like that homecoming of like, you don't even know how to name it. But it's just like a feeling. There's something so magical about those things that we can't really describe.

Ryookyung Kim: 34:11

Yeah, a lot of these practices that move away from the distraction of colonization, and I use the word distraction as because it literally distract us from what's present and what is available. And it makes us feel like we're in this incredibly narrowed, field. And that's I think that's the piece that you were talking about in terms of survival, because that's what survival feels like. It feels like you're hanging on by a thread. And the options don't feel available to us. And I want to mention too, is that as you were talking, there's this thing that my mentor says... So Joy says, and she got this from her mentor who says that all healing is war. And so it most definitely feels like we're swimming upstream because, yeah, we're all fighting different battles depending on where we are, and what sort of identity markers that we carry in this world. Some of us are going to have are going to be facing different battles, but she says that we are all fighting the same war especially those of us who are like in the process of healing, because it takes a lot of work to undo the internalized oppression that we carry within ourselves. Like, I still hear it, like when I'm doing things. If I'm resting, and it's like,"we should be doing something else", like that is a way of punishing myself to get myself to do something else. And something that she relayed to me, I think, last week or the week before, she was like, "keep up the good fight." And I felt really, like that just felt really good to hear because it felt like, Okay, I'm not just fighting for the sake of fighting. But oh, this felt like a reminder that, right? Like, this world is not built to support someone like me, on this journey. This world is built, actually for, like, five people, like it's not really built for many of us. I don't know, it feels very energizing to me to think about it in that way of, yeah, it feels hard. And it feels almost validating to the kind of work that I'm doing. Because this kind of work is hard to describe to like, my aunts and uncles, you know what I mean? It is a work that feels like, I'm still stitching together language to this work that I'm just starting to get to know. And so this, this is me, like going against, like, what the world would rather have me be doing.

Anabel Khoo: 37:06

It's all encompassing the way that you're kind of describing, like, that kind of way of looking at revolution. And also, I guess, yeah, I was just really thinking of this feeling of not feeling alone. And I think there's just something that is really powerful when we don't feel alone, and we're able to connect in that way.

Ryookyung Kim: 37:26

Something that I've, that I've been practicing more intentionally, in the last couple of months to maybe subconsciously in the last couple of years is to continuously, intentionally practicing like expanding, and sort of dancing at the edges of my comfort zone, to foster connection. And, yeah, it's something that I feel like I've known for a long time, it's like, I know that we can't do this alone. But a part of this programming that I think many of us have received in this life is it's that individualist like siloed container, where you're by yourself. It's like, it's like a habitual response or habitual way for me to like, keep myself from other people, the more that I break away from that habit, and to continue reaching out. And it's not to say like, every time I reach out, like it goes anywhere, or that it like turns into this, like, super floral, like bestie friendship, and it's like, we grow, you know, we hold hands, and we like dance happily ever after. Like, there are some times, like people that I'll reach out to, and they might not be available to be friends with me, or they might not be available to like, have this level of connection that I desire with them. But that doesn't matter. Because the end result isn't what's important. It's the me... It's a practice of me continuing to defy that voice I have in my head, that's always saying, like "stop bothering people," like "do this," like, "do it on your own". But I wouldn't be here today, if I didn't have the web of support and connections. And I don't mean connections of like, oh people, I'm connected to, people that I'm intentionally cultivating relationships with, and like every relationship looks different. But yeah, it's, again, it's a practice of coming back to living out the values I have, or I don't even know values is a word. But when people talk about community care, like how do we actually practice that? How do we embody that, and not burn ourselves out in the process? Because there can be this thing that happens where we like, talk about this grandiose thing of collective liberation, and community care. But if we're doing things on our own, and we don't, like, reach out for help, or we don't like... we isolate ourselves from community, like, that's not how it works. Because we are a part of the sacred web of community too. So how do we take care of ourselves, and sometimes taking care of ourselves like, it's not this like, solo thing? Sometimes it is. It's like me taking a walk is a solo experience. But a part of that experience is like me reaching out to him be like, hey, I want to be friends. Do you want to be friends? Like how do you want to hang out? Like do you want to grab tea? Do you want to do something like pleasurable together? Like all of these things are is like a practice. I think I feel I feel like I'm saying the same thing like over and over again. But it's like me trying to like remind myself of, oh yeah, this is what I'm doing. This is what I'm up to. I wouldn't be here without community. And by that I mean like, I wouldn't be here if I didn't have people to support me and people that I could support. Like, there's this like reciprocal thing that happens. And not just like this like tit for tat, like "equal exchange", but what I mean is just like, if I'm taking care of then I feel like I have the capacity to extend that outwards. And it doesn't have to be like the same people, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, like I have, I work with a mentor as a teacher because our work together like nourishes like the both of us. And then that ripples outwards.

Anabel Khoo: 41:33

And that wraps up this episode for today. You can find out more about Ryookyung's upcoming offerings and updates on Instagram @party.noodles, and also on their website at party.noodles.life. I hope you enjoyed this episode on play and pleasure as part of collective liberation. And for this episode's prompt, I'm going to invite you to take at least five seconds to do something to remind yourself of your aliveness. So this could be connecting with your senses, connecting with your breath, smells, sounds or even silence, textures, tastes, really enjoying a particular color. Anything that evokes a sense of curiosity, joy, or wonder. And as you savor those five seconds, remind yourself how worthy you are just for existing in this moment. And I hope it goes well. I hope you get to enjoy those five seconds, hopefully more. But we're just going to see what it feels like to even just take five seconds. And sometimes even just taking a few seconds can feel like we can take a little bit of that time back. And like we were talking about in the episode, sort of for a moment forget, like that illusion that we have to keep proving our worth and ignoring our needs and ignoring our bodies. And we can remember that we belong to ourselves and that we're in this together. And so yeah, thanks again for tuning in. And I'll see you next time. Bye!