Raji Thron – Stories Lived Through a Lifetime of Yoga

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Special guest, Raji Thron, shares stories from his life lived in the pursuit of yoga. Raji is full of interesting tales of adventure from his birth in India that started him on the path of yoga.

During this conversation he speaks about:

  • Living in an India as a youth.
  • What was the state of yoga in Boulder in the 70”s and 80’s?
  • Making the decision to become a yogi.
  • How he met Richard Freeman?
  • Falling in love with ashtanga.
  • Guru Barometer and respect for elders.
  • Reframing the guru/ yogi dynamic.
  • The rise and fall of John Friend.

Raji is the co-owner of  Yoga Synthesis studios and Program Director of YS Teacher Trainings, which since its inception in 1999 has had hundreds of graduates who have earned certifications. He is registered with Yoga Alliance as a E-RYT 500, lead trainer and continuing education provider and certified through International Association of Yoga Therapists (CIAYT) as a Yoga therapist.

Visit Raji at his website: https://www.yogasynthesis.com
Also on his personal website: https://www.rajithron.com
Follow him on Instagram @yogasynthesis : https://www.instagram.com/yogasynthesis/?hl=en

Todd Mclaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. My name is Todd McLaughlin. I have the pleasure of bringing Raji Thron to the podcast today. And Raji is the founder and co director of Yoga Synthesis in Ramsey, New Jersey, which was founded in 1999. Please visit his website, yogasynthesis.com. And you can also check out his personal website Rajithron.com.  And I had a really incredible discussion with Raji, I’m so excited for you to hear this. And he’s got a very rich and vast history of personal practice experience with yoga and the world of yoga. And I’ve heard amazing things about Raji years ago from a student that came and visited and I happened upon his website. And I thought, I wonder if this is the Raji that my friend Tim was talking about? And it is! All right. I’ll let him speak for himself here. Let’s get started. 

I’m so excited to have Raji Thron here today with me. Raji, thank you so much for joining me. How are you doing today?

Listen to the full episode for free here.

Raji Thron

I’m great. Thanks.

Todd Mclaughlin

Just to get started here, you’re in New Jersey. Is that correct?

Raji Thron

Well, actually, yeah, we live just over the border in New York. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Okay. 

Raji Thron

Rockland County. So pretty much like Northern New Jersey, it feels the same.

Todd Mclaughlin

Yeah, I bet. I bet I hear you. And you have a yoga studio called Yoga Synthesis. Right? 

Raji Thron

Yeah in Ramsey, New Jersey. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Wonderful. I feel like somewhere along the way, someone has come in to our studio and told me about you before. And I feel like I’ve heard about you over the years. The way that I found your website actually was I had purchased that an anatomy coloring book by I believe…. a woman that may have practiced or taught for you at your studio. 

Raji Thron

Yes, she was one of our main teachers for a while. 

That’s right. 

Todd Mclaughlin

And in the process of looking to see like, where she was, I found your website. When I saw your bio, and I was like, Wow, he looks really interesting. You have a really rich history of practice and teaching. So I’m excited to have this chance to ask you some questions about your yoga journey. On that note, can you give me a little bit of a historical perspective about how and when you started yoga practice?

Raji Thron

Well, I guess I should go back to I was born in India, in Chandigarh, and my father was a mathematics professor. He was teaching at the university in Punjab, which is in northern India. So we traveled there on a number of occasions. And the time I first learned yoga was when I turned 12. And we were living in San Diego at the time. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Wow. 

Raji Thron

And so then coming back to the United States, I kind of got into it and got really hooked. This is like mid 70s. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Nice. 

Raji Thron

That’s the short answer.

Todd Mclaughlin

That’s the short answer. That’s good. That paints a really cool picture. You learned yoga in India at the age of 12! What an incredible age to have such a  eyes opening experience.

Raji Thron

Exactly. 

Todd Mclaughlin

And then you find what type of yoga class or yoga teacher experience? What was that like?

Raji Thron

Well, in India, I studied with an old man. He was actually in his 80s. He was a friend or our family. And he, he passed away that year. And so it was what I would call a classical hatha yoga practice. And it was a very kind of intense time, as you might imagine, for me, coming from Boulder, Colorado, where we lived, where I grew up, when went back to there. That’s where my dad, you know, was teaching, was a professor. So basically, the teaching that I got from my teacher there was when I turned 12. By the way, his name was Yogendra Paul, which is kind of wild.

Yogendra Paul Yogananda. Paul. So he

was he was a yogi named Yoginder. Yeah. He was an older man, and he taught me just basic, hatha yoga. Let’s just say, that’s what I call a classical hatha yoga. Now, I know not everyone uses that terminology. I like to use that. Because, you know, when you have kind of the standard form that you might see in India, it’s not Ashtanga. It’s not Ashtanga vinyasa anyway. And it’s not Iyengar. And it’s just, you go to any town, any village, you’re gonna find yoga that has a certain in the way it’s kind of come to the modern world, modern yoga, modern India. It’s what I would call a classical hatha yoga.

Todd Mclaughlin

Can you paint a picture what a practice session with him would look like then? I’m guessing classical positions, such as like a triangle?

Raji Thron

Yeah. classical sense. Fluid is different from the Ashtanga sense. You’re probably familiar with that, like stepping back, going to cobra, upward dog. And then stepping into the lunge. You know that whole form? And then classical poses. Really actually, in the beginning, it was way less standing poses. And more just sitting, you know, doing forward bends, twists, and hip openers, some back bends, and inversions was covering a framework of these basic poses. But I mean, at the time, I was really young. 

Todd Mclaughlin

So did he try to impart any information regarding theory or philosophy? 

Raji Thron

Interestingly, after he passed, I was still living in India for a little while before we moved back to the United States. And so, I mean, he was less philosophically oriented. He was definitely oriented in a certain way, telling me about Mahatma Gandhi, and like Indian saints, and that sort of thing. Yeah. Then I met a younger man, whose name was Surindir who was a Sikh member in Punjab in India. Those are names of a lot of Sikhs. So, this guy was definitely a major influence on me philosophically. He was actually a cricket player at the university, you know, being in shape and he wasn’t doing so much yoga per se, but he did all kinds of exercise and we’d sit and he would talk to me about basically the reality of existence. And you know, how and you know, being 12 years old, is definitely it was a shaking up, transformational time for me, because there I was having come from, you know, being in this very, kind of like, what would you call it upper middle class kind of situation and maybe middle class, whatever you call it, professorial? Yes, University, you know, yeah. And going living in India, and the first time I ever really saw poverty, and, you know, living at a standard of living that was much lower than I was used to. Sleeping on cots with, with a concrete floor. Yeah. And just the whole, the whole thing of seeing India. I could look over the wall from where we lived. And, you know, there were shards of glass on the top of the wall, right. And on the other side was a slum. I could see it from our balcony, and I’d see these people like, basically living right there. So for me, there was this whole interesting Awakening on so many different levels, you know, to really the blessings of life. Knowing that life can be hard. Yeah. You know, and it’s like, how do we learn to relate, personally and collectively, to this, this existence, this human existence? So there’s a lot of conversation I was having with Surindir. Questions like why is this happening? Why are people living like this? You know, yeah. 

Todd Mclaughlin

So did he have an answer for you? Did he offer you any more insight? 

Raji Thron

Yeah.

It was really into how he personally had gone off to travel around India. And he was like, he was in his 20s. And he said, he left home, he traveled around India. And that’s why he was so kind of philosophically inclined. Yeah. And he is like, yeah, you know, you get out there and you see what’s going on. And it makes you realize certain things like being a wandering Sadhu, you know, yes, you go. I think this is, this is part of what yoga, you know, in a way, the essence pointing to the essence of it is to let go of all these outer trappings. Yeah, this holding on to sit really almost anything at a certain point, you know, yeah. But, I mean, we do love our creature comforts. Yeah, it’s still, it’s definitely you know, there’s a certain pointing towards, you know, austerity are asceticism. And, for me at the time, I was questions like, What are you? So then, you know, actually, as I got further along, I realized, you know, what, what the implication was, and even now, I’m still still trying to, you know, integrate. I don’t know, I’m not sure if I’m giving you the nutshell of it very clearly. But it’s, it’s, it’s really a lot of different aspects.

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 

Free Grow Your Yoga Live Webinar – Every Thursday at 12pm EST
➡️ Click here to receive link


Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Robin Martin – Blissful in Seattle

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I am so delighted to bring  Robin Martin on the podcast. During this conversation we discuss topics like:

  • How she got into yoga.
  • The decision to become a yoga teacher.
  • Balancing social media pressure and social media stardom.
  • Passive flexibility vs active mobility.
  • Advice for budding yoga teachers.

About Robin
I’m Robin Martin, a certified yoga teacher based in Seattle, WA, USA. My practice and my teaching are ever evolving. While vinyasa yoga is my favorite style of yoga to both practice and teach, I have studied many different methods of yoga with numerous master teachers and appreciate the beauty in all styles.
I earned my 200 Yoga Alliance certification through Tiffany Cruikshank of Yoga Medicine. Additionally, I have 4 advanced training certifications in shoulder, hip, spine and myofascial release through Yoga Medicine. I am also certified to teach paddleboard yoga.

Visit Robin on her website: https://www.robinmartinyoga.com
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinmartinyoga/

Listen to the full episode for free here.

Todd Mclaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I’m so excited to have the opportunity to interview Robin Martin. Robin Martin is a yoga teacher that lives in Seattle, Washington. She teaches locally in studios around where she lives. She teaches on Zoom and she also leads international retreats where you can join her. One of them’s coming up in Greece actually. Check her out on her website, RobinMartinyoga.com. And also follow her on Instagram at @RobinMartinyoga. All right, let’s begin. I’m so excited to have this opportunity to speak with Robin Martin and Robin, how are you? How are you doing today?

Robin Martin

I’m doing well. Thanks so much for having me on your pod…..on your Toddcast, if you will.

Todd Mclaughlin

Thank you so much. My wife, when I said I was gonna do a podcast, said you have to do a Toddcast. I couldn’t argue with her. So thank you.

Robin Martin

It’s very cute. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Thank you. I appreciate that. And where are you joining us from Robin?

Robin Martin

Seattle, Washington. Northwest Coast USA. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Are you born and raised there? 

Robin Martin

I actually am. I’m one of the few natives I think of the area. I was born in Seattle. I grew up in Olympia, which is the state capitol. It’s about 90 minutes south of the city. Both of my parents grew up in the city. But my dad got a job for the State Department of Fisheries. And that was located in the Capitol area. So that’s where I grew up. And then I headed right back to Seattle. I went to University of Washington, and I’ve stayed in the area ever since. I travel a lot. I travel all over the world. But Seattle is home. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Wonderful. Are you in downtown Seattle? 

Robin Martin

Actually, no, I’m on the east side. I did live in the city. For a while after college, I lived on an area called Queen Anne, which is right in the city. And that’s actually where my mom grew up. And then I moved to the east side, which is for those who know the area Bellevue, Washington. It’s on the east side of Lake Washington.

Todd Mclaughlin

Nice. 

Robin Martin

I am about 30 minutes outside of the city. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Awesome. I’ve never been but my sister used to live there. And she loved it and just always raved about it. I wish I had gone and visited her while she was there. 

Robin Martin

Where was she living when she was there? 

Todd Mclaughlin

Oh, that’s a great question. You stumped me. I don’t remember the suburb they were in to be honest. 

Robin Martin

Yeah. I am always curious.

Todd Mclaughlin

That’s cool. Do you teach yoga in a studio? Or are you teaching more on a retreat basis? 

Robin Martin

Oh, I teach all of it. And everywhere. I teach retreats, I teach in several studios in the city, and I teach at home. I have regular zoom classes leftover from the COVID era when they all kind of started but I have a relationship with iHeartMedia. So I teach for those guys a couple days a week and then I have privates that actually come to my home. So yeah, it’s a pretty full and and interesting schedule. And I really like it because it’s such a variety of places, temperatures, vibes, you know, all of that. And traveling, I have taught at lots of festivals and workshops around. I taught in Saudi Arabia in October of this past year. It was a wonderful opportunity to teach at an event that they were hosting there. The Crown Prince was hosting. So yeah, I have a very colorful teaching history and hopefully going forward, it will continue.

Todd Mclaughlin

Yes, that’s amazing how many years have you been teaching?

Robin Martin

I’ve been teaching for about 12 years I think.

Todd Mclaughlin

Cool. Yeah. And how about practicing? When did you start practicing?

Robin Martin

May of the year 2000? So it’ll be it’ll be 23 years in May. Yeah. Hard to believe considering I’m only 24 years old. (laughter)

Todd Mclaughlin

Yes. A miracle. That is incredible, right?

Robin Martin

My mother practiced yoga when she was pregnant with me in utero.

Todd Mclaughlin

Yes. 

Robin Martin

Don’t you love that one? That’s like the best yoga answer. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Right. I’ve been practicing since in utero. Have you heard the theory that while in utero, we practice every yoga pose that’s ever been created? 

Robin Martin

I’ve never heard that. No, 

Todd Mclaughlin

I’ve heard someone say that. This idea that 84 number and that there’s 84,000 different yoga poses or Shiva practiced something within the realm of 84 million yoga poses. And that in utero, we actually go through all of those positions before we actually come out. I don’t know how true that could be?

Robin Martin

And, you know, I mean, then as the baby is forming in the uterus, it is changing and moving around and right. Who knows? I don’t know.

Todd Mclaughlin

That’s a good point. I know. It’s kind of fun to think about.

Robin Martin

However, I do have to question that one. Because, like Padmasana for example, Lotus Pose would require a lot of maneuvering to get into. It’s the one where your heels are tucked up by the creases of your hips. So I don’t know. I can’t really imagine that.

Todd Mclaughlin

Yeah, yeah, I think it’s a myth. It’s a fun myth.

Robin Martin

Yeah, it’s interesting. I mean. They’re not gonna be grabbing their foot doing a Dancer Pose.

Todd Mclaughlin

Are you a mom? 

Robin Martin

I am. 

Todd Mclaughlin

How many children do you have? 

Robin Martin

I have two. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Nice, awesome. Do you mind me asking how old they are?

Robin Martin

No, I don’t. They’re 16 and 18. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Oh, cool. I have a 16 year old and a nine year old. 

Robin Martin

Okay. 

Todd Mclaughlin

Yeah, is your 16 year old driving?

Robin Martin

Well, I have two daughters. And, and it’s funny, they just didn’t seem to be in any rush to get their driver’s licenses. My 18 year old finally got hers at some point. But she also had the whole issue where she did her driving school during COVID. And so she had to wait till the drivers were available to do her drives. And they were very backlogged. And my younger one is kind of in the same situation, though, she was done with her whole driving school while still 15 And she’s just anxiously waiting to do her drives and she wants to get a driver’s license. My older one just didn’t seem to be in any hurry. And same with my nephew. I was just reading an article just today, oddly about how how kids today don’t have this sense of urgency or drive. I mean, I couldn’t get mine fast enough. I mean, it was like, the day I turned 16 I think was at the DMV getting my driver’s license. 

Todd Mclaughlin

100% What would you, if you had to take a stab in the dark, the reason is that kids at age 16 aren’t chomping at the bit the way we were?

Robin Martin

You know, well, I don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t make any sense to me. I know that I lived a bit out in the sticks. And for me, it was freedom to be able to drive. When my daughter and her closest friend drives drives her around so maybe that’s the reason why she’s not in such a hurry. It’s easier to get around now. They can Uber. They’re just closer to everything than I was to anything where I grew up. I can’t really explain it because I think it’s crazy. 

Todd Mclaughlin

I hear you. I kind of pushed my son. I was like, when you are 15 you are getting your learner’s on the day. Because you’re gonna want your license when you’re 16. Let’s go.

Robin Martin

Does he have his license?

Todd Mclaughlin

He does. Yeah, he’s cruising. So far. So good. Knock on wood. 

Robin Martin

When did he turn 16?

Todd Mclaughlin

July 11. So he’s been going now like eight months already. Yeah.

Robin Martin

Yeah, mine just turned 16 last month, but she’s just waiting to do the drives with the driving school. When when I was 16 we had driver’s ed in high school. I think I had to pay extra for it. But it was like it was something you could do. Right, and like teachers volunteered to do the drives with the students. It’s different. 

Todd Mclaughlin

You’re right. You’re right.

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 

Free Grow Your Yoga Live Webinar – Every Thursday at 12pm EST
➡️ Click here to receive link


Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Caitlyn Burkhardt ~ Transformational Breathwork

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Check out the new podcast with Caitlyn Burkhardt titled Transformational Breathwork. During this podcast we discuss topics like:

  • How she became inspired to practice transformational breathwork?
  • The pros and cons of Ayahuasca and breathwork.
  • What is transformational breathing and how does it work?
  • How breathwork helps with depression and anxiety.
  • The four pillars of trauma release.
  • Nutrition training and training.

Caitlyn has worked in the wellness industry for over 15 years and embodies whole health by nourishing her mind, body, and spirit using all of the same tools that she offers her clients. She is a Transformational Breathwork Facilitator, Polarity Therapist/energy medicine provider, massage therapist, and functional mobility coach. By offering these well rounded services, she seeks to empower people through knowledge, self discovery, and movement so that they may better care for their bodies and love themselves just as they are. 

Visit Caitlyn’s website at: https://www.bodacitysportandsoul.com
Follow her on Instagram at: @Bodacity_sportandsoul

Sign up for workshop here.

Listen to the full episode for free here.

Todd McLaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. My name is Todd McLaughlin. And I have the pleasure of bringing Caitlyn Burkhardt on to the channel today. And so check Caitlyn out at her website, bodacitysportandsoul.com. And also her instagram name is at @bodacity_ sportandsoul. She’s going to be teaching a Transformational Breathwork workshop here on Sunday, March 5, just two days from now. If you’re listening to this after March 5th, don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll be having her back. You can join in via zoom no matter where you are. It’s gonna be 1:30pm Eastern. We cover all this to throughout the conversation. So on that note, I’m so excited to have you here. Caitlyn, how are you doing?

Caitlyn Burkhardt

I’m so excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Todd McLaughlin

You’re welcome. You know, today is this podcast release and in just two days on Sunday, March 5 at 1:30pm Eastern, you’re going to be offering a Transformational Breathwork workshop here at our yoga studio. But it’s also going to be live streamed so that some anyone can join anywhere in the world. So I’m excited to have you on the podcast today just to introduce our listeners to you and to you our listeners and learn more about what you’re interested in. So I’m curious, can you first of all, tell me how you got inspired to practice transformational breathwork and or study transformational breathwork?

Caitlyn Burkhardt

Sure. In a nutshell, I basically was suffering from really chronic suicidal depression and nothing worked. I had been in therapy for like 25 plus years, I’ve been on and off medication. And I had always taken really good care of myself like physically. And so when I started to feel suicidal and sad again last year, I was like, “This just doesn’t make any sense.” Like I shouldn’t be feeling indifferent about living. And so I tried, I decided to do something different. And I booked a retreat down in Costa Rica, where I did ayahuasca, but they also offered us two breathwork journeys on the first day and the last day. And so that was my first experience with Breathwork. And the second like that, after that first class, I was so blown away with the results of it. I was like, I have to learn how to do this to give this to my clients.

Todd McLaughlin

Nice. Amazing. Can you explain? There’s a lot there. 

Let me let me first dig back a little bit on into at what point in your life was depression something that was apparent that you had? Like, are we going back to high school days? Are we going back to like, eight years old? When do you remember having that recognition that I have something that I’m trying to deal with here? That’s serious?

Caitlyn Burkhardt

Yeah. Yeah. It started well, it started with eating disorders when I was like around 11. And then my behavior started to also spiral. But the depression probably reached its peak in high school, and I was hospitalized for that and my eating disorders three times. During high school. I was put into foster care because my behavior was so uncontrollable that my parents were like, we can’t keep her home. I was engaging in very risky behaviors. I never did drugs, that wasn’t my thing. But I was like hitchhiking and hanging out with pretty bad people. And just putting myself in harm’s way, like pretty regularly. And so, um, depression and anxiety just became like, a part of my life forever. After that, I maintained therapy with two therapists. And it would kind of come and go, like, I would manage it and be like, Okay, I need to make an appointment with my therapist, and then it would just, but it was never like gone, it was always there. And as an adult, I have suffered from Adrenal Fatigue, which is basically when like, you have a nervous breakdown and your whole your nervous system gets so over fried and overworked that your body kind of starts to shut down. Yeah. And I just decided back in 2020, to like, the everything I’ve tried so far, isn’t working, like why don’t I feel better yet. So going to that retreat in Costa Rica is a place called Arrhythmia. It’s a medically licensed retreat, and they actually code a lot of data on everybody that goes there. And one of the most interesting facts they told us is that they turn away 22 people a day from doing Ayahuasca journeys, which is a pretty hardcore psychedelic plant medicine. Yeah. So they have to turn away people daily from there, for whatever reason, medical or whatever. And those people, they gave them five nights of Breathwork instead, and all of them have the same exact outcomes and comparable experience that we all had taking the Ayahuasca. Yeah, it’s powerful. And I can attest to that. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin

So you had the opportunity to participate in an Ayahuasca ceremony as well? When you were not under the influence of the Ayahuasca you also underwent these breathwork sessions? And then if you were to make a comparison of the experiences from each, what were the pros and cons?

Caitlyn Burkhardt

So the way that plant medicine and breath work, the way that they work on your brain is actually very similar. Because there’s basically you have your amygdala, which is like your fear center of your brain that holds a lot of your emotions. And then you have your logical center or prefrontal cortex. And normally, they’re not talking to each other. They’re just like this one, the fear, one is getting information first. And then this one, the logical one gets information second. And when you’re doing ayahuasca, or plant medicine, or breathwork, what happens is those two parts finally converge. And so you’re kind of able to have a conversation with parts of yourself, like as a third party, so you can go back into a moment in your childhood and go, Oh, I didn’t have the capacity to handle this as a child because I wasn’t in control. But now I’m an adult, and I can see how this story no longer serves me. I’m gonna let that go right now. Yeah. And the other thing about plant medicine and breathwork, the way that they’re similar is they’re deeply somatic. So it’s a very visceral experience with both of them. However, with Ayahuasca, you’d purge a lot differently, like there’s vomiting, there’s, there’s pooping, and you’re stuck. So when things start to get too heavy, you’re stuck on that trip for like, who knows on 6,10, or 12 hours sometimes. And with breathwork, you are much more in the driver’s seat, because you can just switch up your breathing. And you can take a break if you need to, and then go back into it when you’re ready.

Todd McLaughlin

Are you open to speak about what your Ayahuasca experience was like?

Caitlyn Burkhardt

Sure. I did four of them. While we started with breathwork on the first night, and I didn’t know it at the time, but I had three rheumatoid arthritis flare ups in my wrist, hip and shoulder. It was to the point where I was limping. I couldn’t lift my arm up and I was kind of concerned. I’m like, how am I going to be able to do anything this week? How will I do yoga? And after that first breathwork class, all three of my flares were pretty much gone. And I was able then they were gone completely the next morning. So the next morning I was fully functional able to do yoga. It was like they never happened.

Todd McLaughlin

Amazing. That’s cool.

Caitlyn Burkhardt

Yeah, yeah. Because what breathwork does is it makes you so alkaline, temporarily that all of your cells become extra oxygenated. And disease really can’t live in an alkaline environment. Yeah. So it’s like an incredible anti inflammatory. Nice. And then on my Ayahuasca journeys, what I discovered was, I mean, I just covered a lot of stuff, but like the first place we went to was back into the womb. And I learned that a lot of my depression wasn’t in fact, mine. It had been passed down to me, generationally through the womb. Yes. And so I was able to purge that and get that out. But the thing that a lot of people often mistake with things like Ayahuasca is that it’s gonna make all of your problems go away. And it doesn’t do that, because my life, in fact, completely fell apart in the next three months after returning home from that retreat.

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 

Free Grow Your Yoga Live Webinar – Every Thursday at 12pm EST
➡️ Click here to receive link


Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Nat Flood – Shamana Wisdom in Bermuda

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Meet Nat Flood of Shamana Circle Studio in Bermuda. Nat is the founder and director of Shamana and she weaves her history of dance, yoga, pilates and birth doula into her teaching. During this podcast hear Nat speak about:

  • Dealing with postpartum trauma.
  • What does a tongue tie mean?
  • The Bermuda Triangle and it’s history.
  • The story behind the Shamana Circle studio space.
  • How she pivoted her business during the pandemic.
  • Pilates practice before and after birth.
  • How she turned her understanding of physical rehab work into yoga.
  • How she structures her yoga certification program.

Please check Nat out at her website: https://www.shamanacirclestudio.com
And follow her on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/shamanacircle/

Listen to the full episode for free here.

Todd McLaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I’m so excited to have you here and also to introduce you to Nat Flood. Nat is a yoga and pilates and much more than just that teacher that owns a studio in Bermuda on the island of Bermuda out in the Atlantic. She has a studio called Shamana Circle studio, and you can find her on her website, shamanacirclestudio.com, also on Instagram at @shamanacircle, and also on her personal page on Instagram at @natofshamana. Also, I do a free live webinar on YouTube every Thursday at 12pm Eastern. If you join in live, you can ask questions of which case I’m happy to answer during, and it’s recorded. So you can always check it out afterwards as well. Check in the links below for all those details. Again, remember to look for Nat at Shamanacirclestudio.com. All right, let’s get started. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to converse with Nat Flood. Nat, How are you doing today?

Nat Flood

I’m great. I’m so happy to be here and chat to you.

Thank you. 

Todd McLaughlin

This has been several months in the making because you are a new mom, or a recently, again new mom. And I know that when I reached out to you and said you can do this, but you just need a little bit of time. And so thank you so much for carving out time. I do know how busy you are and as a parent how hard it is to carve a little bit of time for ourselves. Can you tell me a little bit what it’s like being a new mom again?

Nat Flood

Yeah, my pleasure. I’m so happy to chat. Yeah, it’s amazing over and over and over again. I feel like we learned so much about ourselves over again. You know, we have maybe as a second time mom, for me, like an expectation of how things are gonna go. And of course, none of it went the way that I expected. So it’s just nice to be put in that position with new variables. I love having stuff just thrown at me and dealing with new things. So it’s been great.

Todd McLaughlin

What is an example of something that you tried to premeditate that did not go according to your plan?

Nat Flood

Yeah. So I mean, luckily for me, the second birth was so much more fluid and on the level that I wanted. I was successful, this time in my home water birth, which I’m just so grateful for, took a lot of preparation. It’s just not a done thing here in Bermuda. Not not to say that you can’t do it, but it’s not regulated, and it’s not legislated. So it’s a personal risk that we take on to do it here rather than birthing at the hospital, which is like the major option. But I did long extended breastfeeding with my first son. So we made it to about 15-16 months breastfeeding. And so I was really looking forward to the breastfeeding journey with my second and it was discovered, I kind of knew that there was a problem. He was kind of having a hard time latching on. I knew that it wasn’t right. And then we discovered a massive tongue tie issue for him decided to go ahead with revision and even with revision, he was so guarded and he would not let the dentist in there to do it. So it wasn’t successful. And I ended up pumping exclusively and bottle feeding him. And I mean he’s only nine months so luckily I have a great supply so I was able to pump in store for six months, and he’s still living off my supply. So hopefully I’ll get into a year with my with my breast milk supply. So for me that was just such a new way of thinking or like seeing motherhood you know, you especially as a business owner, it’s it was so time consuming, so body consuming.

Todd McLaughlin

Oh my gosh, I can’t even imagine. I mean, obviously, I can’t imagine being a male, but at the same time being a dad and what all goes into it. 

Nat Flood

Yeah. Oh my gosh, right. Like I remember just even if we were attempting to get a night off in the process of needing to try to have enough supplies ready to go was was a lot of a lot of extra work. A lot of extra work! Just  doing the bottle sterilizing process, oh my goodness, I never did that with my first.

Todd McLaughlin

Can you explain to me what tongue tied is? I can guess what that means. But can you further clarify? 

Nat Flood

Yeah, so he has it’s called a sub lingual, sub lingual mucosal tongue tie. I’m probably butchering that, for anyone knows a lot about tongue ties. So it’s quite deep in the back and hard to see. And so what it means is that they can’t get their tongue up to the roof of their mouth to perform that perfect latch. So anytime he would latch on to my breast, it was a couple of sucks and a release and a release, and he could not get a good flow going. So when you have your let down, you know, he had basically trained my body to be two to three ounces of a letdown. And then he would just stop feeding. And he was actually doing something similarly to a bottle. But obviously, with a bottle, it’s a whole lot easier to get the suction, the latch going. So luckily, the tongue tie reversal, what she could do, what the dentist could do, made it a lot easier with a lot less clicking on the bottle. But he was still never able to like develop that positive relationship with breastfeeding. He was very, it was it was traumatizing for him to breastfeed. Yeah. So for us, it was like, You know what? Yes, we could have potentially gone off Island and found another dentist that would have done another revision, but like, you know what? We just whatever’s best for him. And right now, this seems to be his happy place, feeding from a bottle. 

Todd McLaughlin

So yeah, so I hear you and you just use the word off island. So on that note, I want to mention that the reason that I was able to find you is I have someone who comes to our studio that she travels to Bermuda. And she just every time she comes back, she’s just raves about how beautiful Bermuda is? That the energy there is just so incredible. And she’s piqued my interest. So in the process of finding you and a yoga studio in Bermuda, I guess I’m just really excited to actually talk to someone who lives in Bermuda. Yeah, can you tell me what Bermuda is like?

Nat Flood

For me? It’s awesome. So we’re a subtropical island that’s about 700 miles off the coast of North Carolina. So we’re like right in line with North Carolina. We are kind of the halfway in between the US and, and really like the continent of Africa, like it’s on the other side, obviously. And then we have Britain above us. So we are at an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. So kind of like how Jamaica was before they went independent, essentially. And it’s beautiful. It’s a 21 square mile island. It’s a mile wide. at its widest point. If you look at a map of Bermuda, it looks like kind of, I’ve heard it described as like a hook. Or like someone said to me recently, I had a teacher, one of my best friends came and taught here for me, back in October, she’s like, it looks to me like a witch’s finger, that’s like curling in telling you to come here, like come here, that sort of thing. So it’s a really cool shape. It’s actually a volcano, we’re living on top of an inactive volcano. And so there is like, you know, it’s just kind of the island and then everything below it is inactive volcano. So we have incredible reef surf. And then we have this insane drop off point. So all of the fishermen here, they go out to the drop off, and that’s where they do their fishing. But when they go out that far, you can’t even see the island anymore. That’s how far out it is.

Todd McLaughlin

Wow. So it’s cool. It sounds amazing. I know everything I’ve heard about it. And the pics I’ve seen have from the surf culture as well just looks like this really incredible.

Nat Flood 

It is like super hush hush to a lot of people that move here and don’t know that you can surf here. And there’s like the small contingency of surfer dudes and super surfer girls that go out and they, you know, they’re watching the weather radar, like crazy to make sure that the conditions are right and they go out and they paddle and they go for it. So it’s cool. It’s like it’s starting to become a real thing. Like people are coming here to surf.

Todd McLaughlin

Nice. So yeah, so um another reason to go I’m What drew you or When did you move to Bermuda? Are you born and raised there?

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 

Free Grow Your Yoga Live Webinar – Every Thursday at 12pm EST
➡️ Click here to receive link


Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Tara Stiles – Lead & Lean with Love

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I am so excited to share this podcast with you. ⭐️ Meet the amazing TARA STILES!⭐️

Tara Stiles is the co-founder of Strala Yoga, best-selling author, and well-being expert. Tara revolutionized yoga for millions, transforming a practice so often seen as dogmatic, and guru-based, into an everyday movement that supports ease and well-being. 

Strala Yoga is practiced in more than 100 countries, thousands of Guides lead Strala classes around the globe, and Tara shares yoga with thousands of people on the Strala Yoga app. She has been profiled by The New York Times, Times of India, The Times (UK), and featured in most major national and international magazines.

Vist Tara on her website: www.tarastiles.com
Also on here Strala Yoga Website: stralayoga.com

During this conversation we covered topics like:

  • How she got started in yoga.
  • The importance of sharing your passion.
  • How  you can create your own path.
  • Teaching the foundation of movement.
  • The easiest mistake yoga teachers often make in class.
  • How to “lean on yourself.”
  • Connecting the dots in the chakra system.
  • Is it legal to touch people in yoga class?

Listen to the full episode for free here.

Todd McLaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy you are here. My goal with this channel is to bring inspirational speakers to the mic in the field of yoga, massage bodywork and beyond. Follow us @nativeyoga, and check us out at nativeyogacenter.com. All right, let’s begin.

Well, yeah, I’m so excited to have Tara Stiles joining me today on the podcast. Tara, thank you so much. How are you? 

Tara Stiles

I’m doing good. Thanks so much for having me. I’m excited to chat with you too. Thank you.

Todd McLaughlin

So for those of you that listened to the podcast with Yulady Saluti, she spoke so highly of Tara, that it got me excited to reach out to you Tara and get a chance to speak with you. So thank you for being so gracious in accepting my invitation. I know you have a busy schedule. Are you in New York City currently? 

Tara Stiles

Oh, I’m not actually I just got back from Singapore yesterday. But we’re in Illinois. We got this place in Illinois a couple of years ago to be close to family and kind of support everyone here. So we’ll be going to New York in the fall for Daisy’s school. But we’ve been here for a couple of years, kind of based out of hometown America. So that’s been really pretty sweet. Actually. 

Todd McLaughlin

Wonderful. Not in Chicago? It sounds more like in a rural setting. 

Tara Stiles

Yeah, you got it because you know America. A lot of friends in Europe are like, Oh, Illinois, Chicago. But yeah, we’re pretty far south. So the weather is actually a little bit warmer here than in Chicago. But yeah, all my family’s here. They’re farmers and hanging around the place. So it’s been nice to catch up with everybody and just be together. 

Todd McLaughlin

That’s so cool. Is that the town that you grew up in? 

Tara Stiles

I didn’t. I grew up a little bit closer to Chicago, but everybody is from here. So my parents got a place down here a few years ago. So everybody’s kind of in the same location. So it’s nice to just be around for sure. 

Todd McLaughlin

I hear you, that’s cool. And especially having farm life is pretty amazing. Do they have like a big farm? Are they more like cottage farmers? Do they have chickens and veggies? Are they more of like big time farmers? 

Tara Stiles

I mean, I don’t know how big time but kind of all of it. My aunts and all my relatives have gardens and things like that. So come summertime and late fall, you’ve got everything and they can at all for the winter.

Todd McLaughlin

That’s awesome! 

Tara Stiles

Yeah, they do the veggies for the personal consuming. And then they do corn and wheat and things like that. I remember a few years ago asking my cousin who’s a few years older than me, she does a lot of the big kind of combining and stuff, and we get to ride along. But I asked her where the corn goes, you know, after reading Michael Pollan’s book and all of these kinds of things. I know there’s a lot of the problems with America, but they found a way to sell their corn for hard plastics and windshields. So I thought that was kind of cool. Just everybody’s trying to do better. 

Todd McLaughlin

Yeah, I hear you, that’s amazing. Are you an organic gardener? Or a do you have time for a garden? Or do you just get to benefit from your family’s efforts?

Tara Stiles

To be honest, I would love to. But you know, we’re not here in the summers all the time. I’d love to actually do a greenhouse. I’ve seen that you can kind of buy these pop up greenhouses. They’re becoming more easy and economical and fun. You kind of pop that up in your yard now and just buy these things for a few 100 bucks. And maybe I’ll pop one of those up at some point. You know, see if I can get that going. 

Todd McLaughlin

Very cool. What was it like over, you said, Singapore? 

Tara Stiles

Yeah, Singapore. 

Todd McLaughlin

How was Singapore? 

Tara Stiles

Yeah, it was great. This festival called Glow Festival brought me out for about a week and I got to lead classes there, which was really fun. And I’ve been to Singapore a few times. So first of all, it was really fun just to catch up with old friends and new friends and just be back in person with people you know, I’m just one of the millions that are so grateful to just be together with people and and do yoga and they have a great festival and I got to kind of feel like that studio affect again. It was a couple of classes a day and there was other teachers

and other experiences and lots of people. So it was just really nice to hang around and practice and just talk with people and hug people and things like that. 

Todd McLaughlin

That sounds really cool. Was it structured sort of like a Yoga Journal type conference where you have a couple of teachers were teaching in different rooms at the same time, or was it one room and then you would take turns teaching with the other teachers? 

Tara Stiles

Yeah, it was just one big room and they did this cool thing. It was inside. And they had these large kind of interactive screens that were like almost like a jungle. So they did this really neat tech thing. And at first, I thought everybody would be overwhelmed seeing these screens, but the room was really humongous. So kind of in the distance, you’d see an elephant kind of walking by and things like that. So it was pretty unique and, and fun to just hang around and be together with people for sure. 

Todd McLaughlin

Cool. When you had a chance to teach, what type of class did you teach? Did you do like a Vinyasa flow, or what is on the forefront of your specialty these days?

Tara Stiles

Sure, I guess that I’ve always loved to lead. It was a really cool opportunity to have so many different time different time slots, you know, it’s kind of like a regular studio. And they wanted a variety of classes. So some a bit more energetic, some more gentle, some kind of in between. And everything that I love to lead is based in easygoing movement, breath, body connection, this kind of

almost East Asian influence in the yoga, but it doesn’t need to come across that way so much. But really, the idea of moving well comes from Tai Chi and shiatsu and things like that. But everybody usually says, Oh, that yoga class felt really nice. Or I didn’t know I could do something so challenging without forcing myself or It felt nice to move from my center and harmony. So I usually don’t, especially in just an open class, say, okay, now we’re going to be doing tai chi and shiatsu and learning all of these things. I just think that’s, you know, kind of too much located in the mind. So we just move and breathe and, and feel good. In that way. 

Todd McLaughlin

That’s really cool. What is your timeline in terms of how long have you been practicing? And how long have you been teaching?

Tara Stiles

Oh, gosh, well, I think like a lot of people’s yoga story, I got really lucky, finding yoga was in my ballet program growing up. So I was thinking I was going to be a contemporary dancer. That was my whole life’s dream. And my ballet teacher brought yoga into our program, I guess I was 17 or 18. And instantly, just like everybody else, felt like this is amazing. And, and then my second thought was, why don’t all my friends do this? Why, you know, I felt like my family, had these values had these philosophical ideas about life. But we weren’t doing this physical practice that I felt could just kind of crack everything open and really guide life. So I just wanted to learn more and share this kind of movement all at the same time. So that kind of just kicked me off and learning more about it. And then at first kind of casually sharing what I was learning with people. And then more and more things led me to doing that with more of my time. So yeah, it’s the beginning of my life, my teenage life

years ago. 

Todd McLaughlin

That’s amazing. Can you give me a timeline view of an order of different modalities that you then started to pursue and study?

Tara Stiles

Sure, yeah. Yoga was the first big practice for sure. And then I got to New York pretty shortly after to dance and do other things. But I was always kind of asking people, Hey, do you do yoga? Where do you do yoga, if you don’t do yoga, let’s do a little bit together….. this kind of a thing. And I think because New York has everything I was starting to find shiatsu places, and some ayurvedic practitioners, and all of these kind of, you know, modalities one by one. And I think like a lot of people who have started to learn one and then learn the others, you wonder, okay, are these connected? How are they connected? They don’t appear to be in isolation from each other. How can we, or how can I live in more harmony with myself and not just practice to be more knowledgeable about these modalities, but to integrate them actually in my life and to feel better and live a good life of purpose? And how can I start to communicate that in a sensible way to other people if that starts to make sense to me?

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 
Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Melissa Friedman – Natural Connection Through Yoga and Art

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Episode 102 with Melissa Friedman – Natural Connection Through Yoga and Art

We hope you enjoy this conversation about all things yoga and bodywork with Melissa Friedman.

Follow Melissa on IG @themedicinebeads and @nectarofthebee

About Melissa
Influenced in my early yoga days by concepts of Iyengar and Ashtanga lineages, Vipassana meditation, and the study of structural bodywork, my yoga practice was cemented through a dedication to the Ashtanga system which since 2003, has taken me on journeys around the world to study with senior teachers.  I am forever grateful to my teachers Victoria Laws, Annie Pace, R. Sharath Jois, Ruth Harting, Lee Joseph, Christopher Beaver, Dawn Eagle Woman, and the teachings of S.N. Goenka among others for some of most my profound learning journeys. I consider my path as a mother to my daughter and puppy dog to be my greatest teacher, and greatest gift, yet. I aspire to meet my students where they are in the support of healing and growth. I am in the process of obtaining my E-500 RYT status to reflect my years of study and teaching since my initial certification with Yoga Alliance in 2011.  I look forward to seeing you on the mat!

Listen to the full episode for free here.

Todd McLaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I’m really pleased to bring to the channel today, Melissa Friedman. Melissa is a mom. She is an Ashtanga yoga teacher. She also teaches yoga therapeutics. She is an artist, and she is a naturalist. And you can find her on Instagram @nectarofthebee. Which she also has another Instagram handle called @themedicinebeads, where she showcases her artwork, which can also be found on Etsy. If you have any questions reach out to her. And so I’m so happy that you are here. Thank you so much for your support. Your feedback is so motivational to me, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. So, on that note, let’s just go ahead and get started here. I’m so excited to have Melissa Friedman here today. And Melissa, you’re joining us from Telluride Telluride, Colorado. Is that correct? 

Melissa Friedman

Yes. 

Todd McLaughlin

Well, thank you so much for joining me. I have been watching you post about teaching primary series in Colorado. And so I’m really excited to ask you questions about yoga and all of those great things. I also just want to make mention that people can find we can find you on Instagram, and you have a handle called at @nectarofthebee and also at @themedicinebeads. And so I’m curious if you can first explain what the @nectarofthebee site is?

Melissa Friedman

So that’s my paintings. I’m a painter. And yeah, it’s so I had a little yoga studio a few years ago that I actually turned into a little art gallery at one point. And the art gallery was called Nectar Arts. So my name Melissa means honeybee and I’ve always had an affinity to honeybees. So a lot of the names of my things have centered around bees and nectar and so @nectarofthebees is my Instagram for my for my paintings for my artwork.

Todd McLaughlin

Cool. Did you own a yoga studio in Telluride?

Melissa Friedman

Yep, it was just a tiny little space. And I originally had opened it to do yoga therapy and just one on one work with people. And then I had other teachers using it and teaching really small classes for a while.

Todd McLaughlin

What time frame was that during?

Melissa Friedman

Um, gosh, that’s a good question.

Todd McLaughlin

It’s it’s 2023 right now. I’m kidding.

Melissa Friedman

I’m trying to think…. so it was a space I had for body work. I was a body worker for a long time I had a studio and this little space opened up right next to it in the same building. And I just kind of jumped on it and because I needed a place to do my yoga therapy and I had a space for it, but it wasn’t quite big enough. So I want to say it’s 2012. Yeah, something that too until I went on maternity leave in 2019 In so yeah. 

Todd McLaughlin

And so I’m curious what came first bodywork or yoga practice?

Melissa Friedman

Um. bodywork came first. I mean I had started exploring yoga before that for sure. I probably got into meditation first when I was just like 14 years old or something like that. And so I started exploring Yoga I would say in college for a little bit. And then I think the bodywork, my interest in bodywork kind of led me into a deeper interest in yoga and just the body in general. So, yeah, I became a body worker before a yoga teacher before I was like crazy passionate about yoga. Yeah. 

Todd McLaughlin

Where did you grow up?

Melissa Friedman

I grew up outside of Boston.

Todd McLaughlin

How did you find yourself landing in Telluride?

Melissa Friedman

Um, my sister, I have two older sisters, and one of my sisters moved here first. And I came to visit her and just fell in love with this area. 

Todd McLaughlin

So that’s cool.

Where did you go to bodywork school.

Melissa Friedman

I went to a school called Pacific College of Bodywork and Awareness. It was in Kauai.

Have heard of that? 

Todd McLaughlin

Yeah.

Melissa Friedman

The founder, Lee Joseph. He passed away a couple of years ago, a few years ago now. But he was just an amazing human being. And that was kind of where my journey started with it. And it just, you know, evolved from there

Todd McLaughlin

Was that in Hanalei, Kauai?

Melissa Friedman

His school at the time? I’m not sure if it stayed there after years after I left. It was. Have you been to Hawaii?

Todd McLaughlin

I have not been to Kauai. I’ve always wanted to go to Kauai because it’s a pretty epic surf destination.

Melissa Friedman

It was kind of in between towns. So I don’t know technically where it was. It was like in between Kappa and this the other small town. I can’t think of what it’s called right now. But it was just like it was built down a long winding road. And he had this beautiful property. And so the school was a separate building on his property.

Todd McLaughlin

Had you known that you wanted to get licensed as a massage therapist or certified and then consciously went to Kauai to study there or were you just hanging out on Kauai and realized this is what you wanted to do?

Melissa Friedman

Actually, I was living here and started looking into massage schools and I had heard about Kauai and that I had to go there. I asked around and another therapist here said oh my goodness, you’ve got to check out my teacher that I studied with and I looked at several schools and the second I had a phone conversation with Lee Joseph I just knew that he was my teacher. 

Todd McLaughlin

Were the fundamentals in Swedish massage or was was he trained in everything and blended everything into the training?

Melissa Friedman

I would say that the fundamentals were more Rolfing based structural bodywork and he also part of the program was hypnotherapy. So a lot of what we did was very psychosomatic centered. You know, getting into the body and finding what was stored there emotionally and really getting to the root of why we get stuck.

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 
Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Veronique Ory – Shine On and Off the Mat

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Episode #101 – Veronique Ory – Shine On and Off the Mat

Have a listen to this informative and inspirational conversation I had the pleasure of having with Veronique Ory.  

Visit Veronique on her website here: www.yogawithveronique.com
And follow her on IG here: @veroniqueory

Originally from Montreal, Quebec, and currently living in Vero Beach, Florida. Veronique studied theatre at Russell Sage College and discovered yoga as a way to calm her mind and feel good. With over 500 hours of training as a RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance), she is inspired off the mat to create unique and creative yoga classes. Classes are tailored based on the setting, students, and inspirational themes. Her goal is to empower and inspire her students to shine their light. She offers precise alignment cues, as well as modifications for students who are healing an injury or expressing beginner to advanced levels of practice. When guiding, she uses descriptive words and tune in to when to be silent, so that each student can simply breathe.

You can listen to the full podcast here for free.

Todd McLaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I’m so excited to introduce to you Veronique Ory. She has a website yogawithveronique.com. She has an Instagram @VeronicaOry. All of those links are in the description below. She has a brand new book Shine On and Off the Mat, which we speak about during this podcast. Also, she has a virtual program called Coming Home. And she’s offering a yoga retreat in June down in Costa Rica. That sounds amazing. So I really enjoyed speaking with Veronique. She’s so nice. I loved it. I can’t wait for you to hear it. Let’s begin. 

I’m so happy to have Veronique Ory here today. How are you? 

Veronique Ory

I’m so well. How are you, Todd? 

Todd McLaughlin

I’m doing really well. Thank you so much for joining me today on our podcast. I really appreciate it. 

Veronique Ory

Thank you for having me.

Todd McLaughlin

I can hear some birds in the background. I can see you and I can see your house behind you…. but what are you looking at?

Veronique Ory

Yes, I’m facing this beautiful preserve. There’s a giant oak tree right in front of me that is protecting me with a beautiful orchid that’s in bloom attached to the side of it. And there’s amazing Cardinals and mockingbirds and all the Florida wildlife that emerges from the trees from time to time. Squirrels and bunnies and sometimes bobcats and armadillos.

Todd McLaughlin

Yes. That’s cool. And I noticed your dog came up to you since we’ve been chatting. Is that your dog?

Veronique Ory

Yes, my Yogi pet Bowery. He likes to sit with me when I am in baddha konasana, butterfly pose. He thinks that is the perfect place to sit on my meditation cushion with me.

Todd McLaughlin

That’s great. You would have to pay someone to assist you like that normally, but it sounds like you have a full time personal assistant.

Veronique Ory

Yeah, yeah, we have a fine exchange going on.

Todd McLaughlin

Nice. I was really excited to see that you’re located in Vero Beach, Florida. We’re not far away from each other. There’s so much building and development going on around here that the wildlife is getting pushed out. To hear beautiful bird sounds like that I’d maybe think you are in Costa Rica or down in the Amazon or something. To hear that you’re right here in Florida and there’s so many birds in the background reminds me of how much natural beauty there is here in Florida. You’re originally from Canada, is that correct?

Veronique Ory

Yes, Montreal in Quebec.

Todd McLaughlin

How did you make your way to Florida?

Veronique Ory

Oh, my so many different cities along the way. I was

In a theatre company called Athena theatre and was very much immersed in the arts, which then led me to New York City for nine years. When I was in the world of immersion and a vibrant and energetic feeling that was so alive with all the different languages and feeling so just lit up by culture and all that there is to explore I also was confronted with a lot of anxiety. And as I found yoga and was getting older and really was craving the house with the yard and a bit of sunshine boost. I’ve landed in Florida four years ago, just really wanting that upgrade and quality of life. I really feel that Vero Beach is just so peaceful. It’s such a quaint little beach town and I really love it here.

Todd McLaughlin

I love Vero! My son and I will go up there and go surfing. The waves are often a little bit better up there. Depending upon which angle the swell it can vary greatly in relation to here in Palm Beach County. I love taking a road trip to Vero. It always feels a little bit more like Old Florida to me when I go there.

Veronique Ory

Hmm, cool. Yeah, it’s, it’s a little tucked away. And it’s a little bit far from the major airports. So it isn’t so congested, like the major cities on the east coast of Florida in particular, I’ve noticed though people have started to fly down. The snowbirds are definitely here in full effect. This year I’ve been definitely feeling the difference for sure.

Todd McLaughlin

Big time. I mean, the weather here right now is so amazing. Like lately, the skies have been like crystal clear blue. And it’s like in the high 70s. It’s been absolutely amazing. So I agree the traffic is just so much more intense right now because of it.

Veronique Ory

Yeah. Yeah, there’s definitely a trend of wanting to embrace more sunshine. It definitely affects the way that you just stand and breathe and walk around. Yeah, I was marveling yesterday walking Bowery, like, there isn’t a single cloud in the sky. Am I living in a reality?

Todd McLaughlin

Was the weather absolutely amazing yesterday or what? I was like, Oh my gosh, I had that kind of moment, like, so nice. I agree. I agree. When did yoga come into the picture?

Veronique Ory

2012 is when it really landed. I had sort of nibbles over the years and I really came into it in 2012. At the sort of wake of Hurricane Sandy in New York City where all the subways closed down and we were just holed up in our apartment just waiting for the sign that it was safe to move around. And the yoga studio called the Yoga Room in Astoria and Queens opened up and my roommate Matt at the time said, “Do you want to go to this class?” And it was just sort of like this off handed…. Do you want to do this? And he probably could have said anything. And I would have been like, Yeah, let’s go. And it was one of those everything in life coming together kind of moments. That class rocked me to my core, it was so beautifully done. And one of those moments, you know, for anyone who’s landed into this sphere, it’s like you show up and you’re like, how did this teacher know exactly what I needed to hear at this precise moment, and I just signed up for a 30 day unlimited pass on the spot. And I just thought I want to feel like this all of my days. And I’ve been really into that rhythm ever since.

Todd McLaughlin

That’s cool. What type of practice was it?

Veronique Ory

It was a Vinyasa style class for the first 60 minutes and then the ending 30 minutes was restorative. And so we were just snuggled up with bolsters and blankets and just steeping in all of the movement that we moved through.

Todd McLaughlin

Very cool. Did you have like an emotional experience? Sometimes a lot of people will talk about the first time they go into Savasana after their first yoga class….. that they’ll have like a coming home experience and or feel their senses in a way that they’ve never felt? Can you explain a little bit more what you remember of that first practice?

Veronique Ory

Absolutely, I felt so much during that time because I was operating at such a high functioning, stress building rhythm. And I very much attribute myself lovingly as Type A, OCD and high achieving. I wanted to do all of the things and check off all of the tasks. And I think because I had been operating at that pace for so long, it wasn’t until I slowed down that I was able to objectively see how very much that this lifestyle isn’t healthy or sustainable in the long term at all. And I realized how much of those emotions I was storing in my body. And so much of what I’d call happiness, or my level of contentment was like so much in relationship to validation outside of myself, being in the entertainment industry. If I would receive praise in one moment I would be feeling jubilation. Then someone could give me shade and I would be wrecked. This could happen in like a 15 minute window where like I’m so ecstatic one moment, and then like bawling on the floor, in my kitchen like a puddle the next moment. And I think, you know, depending on any industry one is in, there could be that tendency you know. Like you’re seeking a raise, or you’re seeking a kind word from your boss, or whatever it is. And it’s like, when we’re constantly reaching for something outside of ourselves, we are really giving our light and our magic away. And also just like, playing with that area of where our own control habits reside. It’s really, really toxic, ultimately, in terms of finding that sense of peacefulness, and remembering what it is to actually be in this deep contentment. That is devoid of the exterior, which is, you know, so much easier said than done. But, you know, it was some of the things that started to kind of plant the seed in those regards of moving through these emotions. Unlocking so much stress and anxiety and also like, really noticing where the triggers show up. The triggers are like very at the surface when you’re living in an urban environment in particular, because you’re just like, wrestled, and sort of jostled, and with so much different energy all of the time that if you’re an empath, or you know, in tune with other people’s emotions even a little bit, you know, as human beings, we’re sponges, we tend to like pick up on the energy that we surround ourselves with. And so to be in that frequency for an extended period of time, the yoga practice was just like, so soothing. And it was just this amazing breath of fresh air. I could feel a resonant connection to the breath. I don’t know that I was breathing with any kind of awareness until then. And the breath part was actually also one of the main components that really awakened a lot of my personal yoga practice as well.

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 
Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Yulady Saluti – Be Kind All of the Time

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⭐️ S-P-E-C-I-A-L ⭐️ E-P-I-S-O-D-E ⭐️ #💯

I am pleased to present to you…….. YULADY SALUTI!
It is with great pleasure I can bring to you yoga and running celebrity Yulady Saluti. Yulady is an inspiration and motivation to thousands of yoga practitioners and running enthusiasts. She is an Ostomate and Breast Cancer Survivor who has beaten the odds many times. During this podcast she shares her passion and enthusiasm for motivating the masses.

 

During this podcast she shares:

  • what got her started in yoga
  • the catalyst that got her started on her journey of healing and recovery
  • how she became addicted to drugs and found sobriety
  • getting past the fear of honestly telling her story
  • Yulady’s mission to share and spread kindness
  • what her vision is for the future &
  • how to find balance in your life

Follow Yulady Saluti on Instagram here: @yulady

You can listen to the full podcast here for free.

Todd McLaughlin

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I am so excited for today because it marks an anniversary. Today is episode number 100. Yes! I had the goal of getting here. And I’ve made it. I can’t believe it, and I remember after my first episode, which when I go back and listen to now I’m like, “Oh…. I’ve learned a little bit since then.” I remember thinking when I saw other podcasters that have 100 episodes and thinking, “oh my gosh,” I just gotta get started with one here. And then two, and then little by little, interview by interview, person by person here we are. It’s just been such an incredible experience for me. Every time I get a chance to interview somebody around the world who has passion for yoga and has learned something from their experience with yoga I get so inspired. I enjoy hearing their passion for bodywork and their ability to teach and to share. The stories that I’ve heard over these last 100 episodes, about overcoming challenge and the willpower that exists in us as human beings is phenomenal. The ability to jump hurdles and or to get knocked down and to come back up again and, just be here for each other and to listen and to foster open communication. For me, this is just an honor, a privilege, and I love it so much. Because of you and all of your feedback and all of your encouragement and support, we’re all here together still trucking along. 

On that note, as a special guest for episode number 100. I am pleased to announce that today’s guest is you Yulady Saluti. There’s so much I could try to say to introduce you to you Yulady, but she’s going to tell you everything that you need to know. She’s incredible! She’s inspirational! And I love her passion and her honesty. So without hesitating. Let’s go ahead and begin…..

I’m so excited to have this opportunity to bring you Yulady Saluti to the podcast today. Yulady, how are you doing?

Yulady Saluti

I’m great. How are you? Nice to meet you.

Todd McLaughlin

I know, I’m so excited, because we tried to get this to happen for a little while now. So now that the moment is here, I’m just thankful. Thank you very much.

Yulady Saluti

No, thank you for being so understanding, of course, of course. 

Todd McLaughlin

So I have a lot of questions for you. I’ve been following you on Instagram. And I find that you have a very inspirational message. And I guess to get started, the first thing I noticed on your Instagram, the very first thing you have written is Noli Stan, and so obviously that you’re your baby? 

Yulady Saluti

Yes, that’s my granddaughter. 

Todd McLaughlin

That’s your granddaughter! Okay. All right.

Yulady Saluti

So a little background on me. My husband and I have been together 20 years and we are a blended family. So when I met him, I had a daughter from a previous relationship. And he had three kids from a previous relationship. And then we have two together. So we’re like six altogether. And we’re a big family. So my my oldest, I call them all my kids. I hate this term stepchildren because I grew up with a stepdad myself and he hated when I called him stepdad. He said that and you know, eventually I was like, Yeah, I get it. I get it. So I call all of them my kids. So my older son Jerry got married during the pandemic to a lovely girl and they had a baby on last September. So I decided that I was going to turn my Instagram account into a Noli fanpage.

Yeah. She’s the best. 

Todd McLaughlin

Can you share what it’s like to be a grandparent?

Yulady Saluti

Oh my god it is so amazing! I was just saying to my husband, because I was babysitting, how incredible this feeling is to be able to be with her. I babysat her for a few hours, all by myself. I just had her here it’s like, this cannot get any better than this. This also goes for people that have their own children. Like picture that feeling when you have your own baby and then magnified by like, 100. That’s the greatest feeling. And you just like I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be part of like this. This baby is mine, like not mine. But like it’s it’s my baby. Because my grandkid is a different type of love than a child love. It’s like bigger. I don’t know if that makes it any justice. Does that give your question any justice?

Todd McLaughlin

Yeah, that’s a great explanation. It’s funny. I have a friend who was a grandpa and he used to always say, it’s double happiness. Double happiness because I’m so happy when they show up. And then when their parents come to pick them up on I’m even happier.

Yulady Saluti

You get you get to do all the hanging out and then I get to drive home and sleep all night.

Todd McLaughlin

Right, you get a full night’s sleep, and then have the joy the next day. Oh, that’s amazing. Yulady. That’s cool. Yeah, yeah, awesome. Well, you know, I mean, where do I even begin? How about can you talk about what got you started on the journey of yoga practice? I know you have a lot of talents. And I definitely want to go down the track of what you’re really passionate about right now as a runner. But I want to kind of start with what was your intro into yoga and how did your healing journey begin?

Yulady Saluti

Well, yoga is my, I guess, was my my number one passion. My first passion and probably will always be my number one passion. My husband and I would get out of work and our first thing was to get to our favorite yoga class, and it was this wonderful reward at the end of the day. And so, two weeks into it, I mean, no, two months into it, I got sick. I noticed that like, I just couldn’t handle any physical activity and not the heat, and the physical part of it. There was nothing like it and I was in and out of hospitals, and in a lot of pain. I mean, like maybe like 10 out of 10 pain in nobody could figure out what was going on. And I had to I have had a surgery. Two years prior to that and then another one a year later for these masses that they found in my colorectal area. So very high up into the rectum, like right where the colon the rectum meet. I didn’t have great health insurance. So I didn’t question anything. I said, Okay, let’s get a biopsy in. I went to get the biopsy. And that night, I got really I got really sick. And it got really, really infected. And I ended up with more pain and another surgery to fix it. And then another surgery and then that gave me like a year of relief. And that’s in that year is when I met my husband we met shortly after that we moved in together and then he and then that’s how I found yoga. So my yoga life took a pause for many years because I was sick for many years after that. And then I went to have children what happened in this part of my medical journey was I needed a colostomy bag, which is for those who don’t know what a colostomy bags is, they essentially pull your intestine out of your body and sew it to the outside of your stomach and you poop out of there. They cut the intestine out and they put it out so you don’t no longer poop out of your rectum you know your your don’t use that area anymore, you poop into a bag that you change all the time. Like a couple times a day if you need to. Yes. And I was very young I was in my early 20s, I was very uncomfortable. Having that, like, I didn’t want to share it with anybody and I kept it all very to myself. Many people that knew me, wouldn’t ever know that. I wouldn’t ever mention it. And I so that kept me from ever going back even when I started to feel better. Ever going back to a yoga class. 

Todd McLaughlin

Do you feel like because of the fact that it would be noticeable through your outfit that that is why you didn’t want anyone to see you?

Yulady Saluti

Yeah. And also another thing, which I’m very comfortable with now, and it actually took me many years to get where I am was, when you have this, when you pass gas, you have no control over it, you know, because there’s no muscles holding. So it just comes in it makes the noise in same thing with poop it comes whenever you want to. So that always made me so uncomfortable. So to me that was like, “Oh my God.” Now it happens all the time and I’m with clients. And I’m like, “Oh, I’m sorry.” And it just we just laugh, you know? Yeah, yeah. So it took me a long time to get comfortable with it.

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 
Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Dr. Michael Shea – Embodiment of the Senses Through Yoga & Meditation

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Join my special guest, Michael Shea PhD, for a discussion titled Embodiment of the Senses Through Yoga & Meditation. During this conversation we discussed Michael’s new book titled, The Biodynamics of the Immune System: Balancing the Energies the of the Body with the Cosmos. You can preorder his new book on Amazon by clicking here.

Michael and I are pleased to announce the launch of our new course called All Levels Meditation & Yoga Course.Check out this new course by clicking here.

Visit Michael on his website here sheaheart.com

You can listen to the full podcast here for free.

Todd McLaughlin

Wow! I’m really excited to have Dr. Michael Shea again here in person at Native Yoga Center for today’s episode of Native Yoga Toddcast, which is titled Embodiment of the Senses Through Yoga and Meditation. Michael, how are you doing today?

Dr. Michael Shea

Well, it’s been a busy day because I spent the morning at the car dealership and looking at their giant aquarium waiting for the tires to be rotated and for an oil change to happen. So an entire morning at a car dealership gave me a really good opportunity to meditate on an aquarium.

Todd McLaughlin

Nice. Do you have any profound realizations in the process of staring at the fish?

Dr. Michael Shea

Always the profound realization is how wonderful space is, you know, when I get caught up and you know, not wanting to be where I’m at, at a car dealership, because I got better things to do, of just releasing my attention out into space. But in this case, it was the biggest aquarium I’ve ever seen. And just releasing my attention to the aquarium and then looking out into space as well. 

Todd McLaughlin

That’s cool. You know, we have two really big announcements to share today. Number one, I’m so excited to have a copy of your brand new book called the Biodynamics of the Immune System: Balancing the Energies of the Body with the Cosmos. Whoa, that’s a lot. 

Dr. Michael Shea

Yeah, he’s a big, thick steak if you’re a meat eater, but it’s also a big soy burger if you’re a vegetarian.

Todd McLaughlin

And so I’m really excited to have the chance to ask you some questions about your most recent publication. Also, you and I have created a course and today on the launch of this podcast are launching our course together called All Levels Yoga & Meditation Course. And so you know, I had a lot of fun filming this with you. And I’m excited to release it today. And it’s available on our platform nativeyogaonline.com. The link for that is in the description below for anyone listening would like to check it out. Michael, from us filming that course do you have any takeaways from the experience? What are you excited to share with people that are interested in taking that course.

Dr. Michael Shea

I think meditation in general, and yoga, is constantly evolving in our culture. And when you study yoga and meditation, because I’ve been studying it now for 45 years, something like that, is just realizing like it’s so highly nuanced. And the next teacher says, Well, have you tried this? And the next teacher well why don’t you try this to refine your practice? So there’s never really an end game. That’s the one thing I learned. But there’s a continual opening, you know, as long as you have that willingness to be open to a teacher and to a new class. And as I said, you know, earlier when we were just talking, before we started, I just like to stay with what I know versus what is trending and what’s current. I have to tell you just a short story. I’ve been studying all year with with a Lama from Tibetan medical background. But he was in Sikkim, and then in Bhutan in the summer, and he was broadcasting from there. And he was at a very high level. It’s called advisory on a tantric Buddhist conference in the capital city of Bhutan, in which all the heavy hitter Lamas from Tibet and that area of the world you know, we’re coming together for this conference, and the one thing he said is that because it was going on our planet these days, the veil of secrecy of all of these different meditation practices need to be lifted, and the secrecy needs to be taken away because we are in such an important time on this planet right now with the intensity of the polarization and duality. So, you know, one of the things I share in my book is, not necessarily sharing secrets, but sharing the techniques that can help. But I understand why some of that knowledge, some of the mystical knowledge, or the meditation knowledge, or yogic knowledge, in general, is secret. It’s just because teachers want to have you go through a progression. Because of your aptitude. Some students can’t go to the end game right away. They can’t, you know, go right out into space, you know, and stay grounded at the same time. So, at any rate, it’s exciting because I feel liberated in wanting to share more and more and that book is one vehicle of sharing more, in terms of what was formerly considered to be secret knowledge. And again, that veil has been lifted. I’ve never been good at holding secrets anyway, even my mother knew that. 

Todd McLaughlin

There is a term in a book that you had given me a while back ago called the phenomenon of basic space. Can you explain that?

Dr. Michael Shea

Well, my teacher who was originally the Dalai Lama wanted all of his students to do Buddha scholarships. So I spent 10 years doing very intense Buddhist scholarship. And now I’ve even lost track of the question, explaining basic space and phenomenon. Yeah, see, I went into basic space just now.

Todd McLaughlin

I’ll pull you back in if you drift too far over there. 

Dr. Michael Shea

I’ll thank you. 

Todd McLaughlin

I’ll reel you in.

Dr. Michael Shea

Right, right. So it was because I want my answer to link to, you know, this discussion of, of yoga and meditation. And so as a scholar of Tibetan Buddhist literature, there’s really the two highest level people that you know, those are the writers you go for, in the Kyagu and the Nyingma, tradition, or sometimes it’s known as the Xhosa tradition. It is from the book The Precious Treasury of The Basic Space of Phenomena by Longchenpa. It’s also called Yoga. But he’s considered to be like the most incredible Lama that could give words to the ineffability of the infinite nature of our mind, and so forth, and all those things that we hear about and that we’re trying to achieve. And that’s one of his books. So that was recommended to me and I gave you a copy. And it basically explains the view of Tibetan Buddhism, before you get to meditation, it’s helpful to understand the view. And I think that’s also an important thing to understand about Buddhist meditation, you don’t just jump on a cushion and sit in cross legged position, and so forth. But it’s an understanding that there’s a view here, and the view is basically that all phenomena is infinitely equal. And we hear that as no self, you know, that we don’t have a solid self, and so forth, and that we’re all interconnected. And it’s described as being empty and other metaphors, you know, that are used, but he explains it the best. He explains it the best of how you rest into the element of space. And I’m talking about the element of space from Indo Tibetan point of view, you know, space, wind, fire, water, earth, and so forth. So how you rest your mind. That’s the sea, this is yoga and meditation, how do you rest your mind and body into the element of space where it all began?

Todd McLaughlin

So when you were talking about being at the Toyota dealership today, and staring at the fish tank, and being able to let your mind go into space, is there a way to explain a technique that allows one to achieve that release into space?

Dr. Michael Shea

Yeah, the basic technique is, well, again, you know, it’s relatively simple. And it’s one of these things it’s been secret for a while. It’s called looking into the wisdom of the universe, or looking into the center of the universe or looking into the center of space. All these are metaphors for the same thing, the infinite nature of the totality of life, and the universe. In general, so, but the technique is actually quite simple. And you know, you’re a yogi. And as a practicing yogi, I’m kind of a want to be yogi. I call myself a bogey, you know, kind of indulgent yogi. But the posture is always the first thing, you know, you said, You’ve got to embody your senses. And that means not labeling what you’re seeing, not labeling what you’re hearing, not labeling what you’re feeling, you come into a posture that allows you to sit still, and just be with your senses. Because you have to notice if you’re labeling a lot, oh, this is that, that is that, this is that. Labeling takes us into the head and out of our body and out of the experience of meditation and yoga.

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 
Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com

Day Christensen – 2 Day with Day 1

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This is a conversation I had Day Christensen of Day1Yoga Method. Day seeks the truth and has been foraging her path in the forest of yoga and fitness for many years now. She has been able to heal her back of chronic pain by looking outside the box and being willing to try new things. She is an inspiration in the yoga community and I am excited for you to hear her philosophy on life and her career.

Please visit Day at her website here: day1yoga.com
Follow her on Instagram here: @day1yoga
Visit her on YouTube here: @Day1Yoga

You can listen to the full podcast episode here.

Todd McLaughlin

I’m so excited to have this opportunity to speak with Day Christensen. Day, how are you today?

Day Christensen

Yeah, I’m good. Thank you.

Todd McLaughlin

Did I pronounce your last name correctly?

Day Christensen

Not totally correctly, but almost correctly.

Todd McLaughlin

Can you correct me?

Day Christensen

Yeah, it’s Christensen

Todd McLaughlin

Christensen. I knew that, I’m sorry. Thank you. Where are you joining me from today?

Day Christensen

Um, secret location?

Todd McLaughlin

Is it planet Earth? 

Day Christensen

Yes, I am on earth.

Todd McLaughlin

Fair enough. I’m really excited to have this opportunity. I had a chance to meet you many, many years ago when you were teaching in Miami. And I’ve been following you on social media over the years. And I really appreciate how, from my perspective watching you, I get the feeling that you don’t want to just be satisfied with the mediocre. I get the feeling you really tried to make yoga authentic and personal and not just accept the status quo for which you really inspire me. So I’m just really excited to have this opportunity. I’ve been wanting to reach out to you for a while. And I’m glad that this day is here. On that note, can you give me a little bit of an idea about what you are up to these days?

Day Christensen

Yeah, so basically, I’m exclusively working online at the moment. I’m not super opposed to going back to traveling and doing some workshops or seminars here and there. But for the most part, online is the thing. It’s just what happened to most of us, I think, and it was good for me, just because I was traveling a lot and it was getting to the point where it’s getting exhausting. So this has been a really nice way for me to connect with people all over the world at the same time. So it’s been really good.

Todd McLaughlin

Cool. Was your switch to online because of COVID? Or were you already on that trajectory prior to?

Day Christensen

Um, it was the thing that kicked me in the butt to do it. Yeah, I probably wouldn’t have. Honestly,

Todd McLaughlin

I understand, me too. Did you already have a YouTube channel going?

Day Christensen

I did. But truthfully, I neglect my YouTube channel. I shouldn’t, but I do.

Todd McLaughlin

Why do you say you shouldn’t?

Day Christensen

Uh, you know, it’s, it’s just another resource. It’s just another way to reach people. It’s a good way to get some of those ideas across. But yes, I’m a little bit lazy about about some of that stuff.

Todd McLaughlin

Do you feel like it’s a lot of work? 

Day Christensen

It’s totally a lot of work. And it’s not really my wheelhouse. My thing is just teaching and coaching and helping people get better. YouTube doesn’t quite feel like that same interaction, you know, it’s one step removed. So it’s harder for me to do it.

Todd McLaughlin

Do you mean, you feel like you can connect with students more via zoom? You know, where it’s a live experience where you can see people through the camera?

Day Christensen

Yeah, all the people that I work with, are doing live classes, their group classes via zoom, and everybody that I work with I try to get people on the phone. I try to call and talk to every single person regardless of location. And I just do it via WhatsApp. And just to get a sense of, you know, where people are coming from, if they’re, if they’re hurt, if they’re injured, obviously, but also what their goals are, and what they’re really interested in. And, you know, sometimes what comes across on my social media is handstands and jump backs, and some of those vinyasas and some of that stuff, but that’s not all that I do. Sometimes people are just feeling lost in in their own yoga practice or feeling. You know, like, they’re, they’re not progressing or they’re not happy, or they’re not loving what they’re doing anymore. And I also feel like that’s a good place for me to step in and say, Hey, you can do this differently. And obviously, I just speak from experience.

Todd McLaughlin

Yes, cool. I’ve had the pleasure of being able to watch your career unfold. But for you that’s listening…..Can you give me a summary and or snapshot of where and when you first interacted with yoga and how you fell in love with yoga?

Day Christensen

Oh, yeah, I mean, I don’t know if I ever fell in love with yoga. It’s not the honeymoon phase is over because, there was never a love affair. What my experience was, was for me kind of a quarter life crisis and kind of hitting a metaphoric rock bottom, where I was feeling really disconnected from my body. Really physically unfit, feeling unhealthy, feeling unmotivated. And I went from being in high school to being more of a jock, more athletic, to going into college. And I went into art school, which was, it’s not physical. I mean, there are physical elements of it. But you know, it’s very cerebral. And I think that, through all of that, it actually put me into a little bit of an emotional mental downward spiral. Wshere I was just feeling really disconnected and unhappy with where I was. And so when I graduated, I kind of realized that I wasted a lot of years doing something that really didn’t make me happy. And I just wanted to feel good. I just wanted to feel healthy. I felt beyond the point of being able to participate in team sports, which is what I really loved. And I became kind of interested in this idea of chi or prana, or energy, or quantum physics or whatever. I was very attached to that. That philosophy and that way of living. And so yoga seemed like the thing versus let’s say something like Tai Chi. Yoga seemed like the thing that was athletic enough that It sort of filled that void. And the philosophy portion that I was kind of interested in, in a more intellectual way was there. And so I started doing yoga. Because I was really hoping that I would feel better that I wanted, I just wanted to feel better. I wanted to feel healthy, I wanted to be fit. And I thought, well, let’s dive in this, this is going to have to work. No choice because it felt like my only option.

Todd McLaughlin

You know, that’s really cool that you said that. I’m listening to the Howard Stern interview right now with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And they were, Howard was asking a question of like, Why do you think some musicians make it versus those that don’? And the guitarist for the chili peppers said that he’d heard a theory that if we were given a pill that said, if we didn’t make it, we wouldn’t survive, that we’d be shocked at how creative we could become. And the way you just explained that reminded me of their comment where it feels like you had a similar type of… I have to do this, like I have to figure something out, or else. Or else I don’t know what the other side is, or the other outcome. So that’s interesting, because, obviously, you have to be really passionate about what you do. You’re obviously really passionate about what you do to be as successful as you are. That’s cool. What was the first style of practice that you fall into? What did you gravitate to or what door opened for you?

Day Christensen

I really had no idea that there was so many different styles of yoga when I started, you know, when I started doing yoga, social media wasn’t a thing. It didn’t exist other than My Space. 

Todd McLaughlin

What year was that? 

Day Christensen

So I started in 2004. And so I really didn’t, like I said, I really didn’t know that there were so many different sort of physical takes on what yoga was, I just thought yoga is yoga, right? So it tried a whole bunch of different things. Not really knowing that I was trying different things, especially in the beginning. And then the most accessible. The most available type classes that I wound up in were vinyasa classes. So I started taking them and I liked the fact that they were, you know, kind of faster paced, and, you know, it felt like I was more physically engaged in those type of classes than maybe some of the slower, what people call, hatha classes. It all happened, I guess. So that’s what I was doing. And then I started doing like a work trade at work study with the yoga studio…..

You can listen to the full episode for free here: https://nativeyogacenter.buzzsprout.com

Thanks for reading this blog post from this YouTube video. Check out: 
Native Yoga Teacher Training – In Studio and Livestream – for info delivered to your email click this link here: https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/native-yoga-teacher-training-2023/

New Student Livestream Special ~ Try 2 Weeks of Free Unlimited Livestream Yoga Classes  at Native Yoga Center. Sign into the classes you would like to take and you will receive an email 30 minutes prior to join on Zoom. The class is recorded and uploaded to nativeyogaonline.com ~ Click Here to join.

New Student FREE 30 Minute Yoga Meet & Greet ~ Are you new to Native Yoga Center and have questions that you would like us to address? Whether you are coming to In Studio, Livestream or Online Recorded Classes we offer a one time complimentary 30 minute zoom meeting to answer any questions you may have. Schedule a time that is convenient for you. Click Here

Native Yoga website: nativeyogacenter.com
Online Yoga Class Library: nativeyogaonline.com
Thai Massage info: palmbeachthaimassage.com
Native Yoga Blog: toddasanayoga.com
Instagram: @nativeyoga
YouTube channel: Native Yoga Center

Listen to the podcast here on our Podcast website: Native Yoga Toddcast

Please email special requests and feedback to info@nativeyogacenter.com