anjua maximo's electric life is just what your body ordered

Ya know that energized, electric feeling that seems to stem from the cellular level, igniting your entire body, rippling through your world and dripping it with passion, pleasure and purpose? If you don't, you need the hook up from life and embodiment coach Anjua Maximo, who uses sensual movement as a luscious, you-centric tool to help you reconnect to yourself and power up radical self-love. Through her groundbreaking work, she'll empower you to shed the mental, physical, emotional, social and energetic drains holding you back and emerge with a deeper, richer understanding (and ownership) of who you are as a sexual being, your likes, dislikes, desires and boundaries. If that sounds electrifying, that's only the beginning. Follow her on IG for an addictive taste of her magic. 

xxx

What did you think was missing in the life coaching world that you wanted to bring to the space?

Anjua Maximo:

I saw an opportunity to coach the whole person and in my case, the whole woman. People had physical trainers, life coaches, and then a spiritual advisor. What would happen if there was an opportunity to offer all of that to one client in my own unique way? And that was really the catalyst to creating Pure Mvmnt, my sensual embodiment and personal development course.

Love your north star about not dimming your light. What can we do when we find ourselves in situations or with people where we habitually dim? How can we disrupt our own sabotage and shift in order to shine regardless of how we’ve always done it?

Anjua Maximo:

Dimming our light begins the minute we feel push back or rejection from outside sources directed at us. For example, you may want to make friends so badly as a child that you're willing to conform and people please to fit in. Even if that means dumbing down your intelligence or interests, we're willing to erase our personality or dim it down to be liked. That typically begins when we don't have a strong sense of self. Finding new friends can be challenging as a kid and as an adult but I believe we have far more power and room to walk away from anyone, any situation or anything that may be dimming our light when we're adults versus when we're kids. So it has to begin with believing that who you are is quite great just as you are and just as you're not right now. Find the people who vibe like you and appreciate what you bring to the world. They're out there but we have to be willing to believe we're deserving of being seen in our truth.

There’s living a purposeful life, a happy life, a curious life… what is an “electric life”?

Anjua Maximo:

An Electric Life is actually inspired by a song lyric from one of my favorite artists, Prince. "Electric word life. It means forever and that's a mighty long time." Not really sure what he meant exactly by it, but I always loved it and felt like to me it was about life being this big magical gift we're given. But an Electric Life is not a perfect life. There is no such thing. An Electric Life looks like living and creating with purpose, pleasure, passion in every aspect of your life. It's about understanding that there is gold to be mined from the dark as much as there is from our brightest moments, sometimes more. It's a true love of life as something sacred and to be honored and lived to its fullest. In a nutshell, it's leaving this Earth with no shoulda woulda coulda's left behind. 

You’ve said that we should back ourselves with the same “ride or die” energy we back others with? What’s a good place for us to start if it’s challenging to not just put ourselves first but do it passionately?

Anjua Maximo:

Ride or Die for you is not about being selfish and abandoning ship and everyone on it. It's the opposite really in the big picture. There are many of us out there that are constantly putting others before ourselves and then wondering why we crash. Well, there's a reason the flight attendant asks that you fit your oxygen mask on you before you attend to anyone else. You can't be of service and continue to elevate yourself and the people around you if you yourself are choking for air. It's not noble, it's abusive. You can be sure to check your vitals first and still be a loving and caring person. I think we've done a lot to celebrate the martyrs in our society and it's really done a lot of damage to the idea of self-preservation and self-care, especially, I believe, with women. There's an expectation by some that in order to be a good mom you need to bleed out for the family and that just makes no sense.

Movement seems to be at the core of your practice. Why is that critical in our self-fulfillment and pleasure?

Anjua Maximo:

Movement is medicine. Period. No really, any type of movement has the ability to heal us depending on what your heart, mind and soul need. It's crucial in my practice because your body doesn't lie and as I am teaching you to trust your intuition, I am teaching you to listen for it in your body. If you're not moving your body much, chances are you may be missing an opportunity to connect with yourself on a much deeper level. There is also the fact that words are not always possible to express ourselves with and movement gives us the opportunity to tell our story and feelings without words.

One of your strategies is to “friend” that “gremlin voice” in your mind… how is that different than getting rid of the voice?

Anjua Maximo:

Let's get this straight — you can't get rid of the voice in your head, but you can manage it. It's a part of your ego and the way I teach it to my clients, it's really not a gremlin but your inner child acting out. So I stay away from expressions like "kill that voice in your head" or "tell that voice to fuck off". My approach is to make it your business to understand your inner child turned gremlin. What's the overriding message that you hear that keeps you from shining greatly? Dig into where that belief came from, think back to you as a kid. There was the you when you knew nothing and were free to let your inner light shine, you were enough. Then there was the version of you that learned to dim it down to be MORE — lovable, cool, likable, _____ — you can just keep filling in the blanks. Now I am speaking in general terms, not everyone's story is the same. Not everyone may have a gremlin or unhealed inner child. In my 15 years of working with people on personal development (from both the movement end and the life coaching end) the gremlin is the most common light blocker for most of us.

How do you help women gain more confidence in their sensual and sexual energy?

Anjua Maximo:

Knowledge and Permission are important to helping women regain their self confidence. The knowledge of what caused you to lose your confidence and then the permission you need to give yourself to get it back. The knowledge is understanding the gremlin, but also the difference between sensual and sexual energy. What is sensual energy and what is sexual and what do they mean to you? I really focus a lot on the mind and how we were taught to think. Many of our blocks around confidence stem from what we have come to believe about ourselves or what we were taught through our social circles — family, friends. The media plays a big role in undermining our confidence by telling us this is sexy and this is not. This body is desirable and this is not. Start with dismantling the narrative and exposing the lies. Doing this makes room for what YOU have come to believe to take priority over what you were taught. Now through the slow, intentional sensual movement we are learning to breathe and listen to our body. However, there has to be the permission piece. Permission to move my body a certain way, permission to feel desirable, sexy, sensual, fierce, vulnerable, sad, joyous, bliss, etc. We've been taught to hold so many of these things in check or hidden that permission is really THE start of it all.

How important do you think sensual and sexual energy is beyond the bedroom ie what is that link between your sexual fire and your fire in all areas of your life?

Anjua Maximo:

Sexual energy is life source energy. Feeling connected to that energy or disconnected from that energy is going to affect you in every part of your life potentially. I have seen women who struggled with finding their voice or expressing their opinion finally find the confidence to speak up once they begin to connect sensually to their bodies. Women I've worked with have left unhappy marriages after having regained their confidence from this movement and connection. Owning yourself sexually, owning your body fully — just as it is and just as it isn't — is part of your sense of self. That comes with committing to making this a daily practice of affirmations, self-compassion, patience and being with good to yourself, however, you decide that looks for you. This is not an overnight remedy type of thing we're talking here. You have to figure it's been years of you believing all the B.S., so it's going to take time to unlearn it. Then it becomes the practice of making it your way of living. Just like yoga, martial arts, spirituality are a practice, so is your Divine Feminine reclamation.  

How is Anjua Maximo's sensual movement classes and spiritual mojo inspiring you to live an Electric Life? 👇💋