June 24, 2024 • 44 mins
Our longest episode yet! Join Jody as she brings you through her BecomeOne Method. In this episode we discuss how to integrate neuroscience and Internal Family Systems (IFS) into your yoga practice. Jody has masterfully combined functional methods with yoga’s eight limbs to create a unique and holistic experience. Here we clear up common misconceptions and delve into the importance of understanding skeletal segments and muscle groups to adapt poses to individual needs.
Transitioning from a high-energy environment to a state of relaxation is no easy feat, especially for those coming from bustling cities. Jody reveals her method of easing participants into their practice through functional contemplation and movements. Discover the crucial role of interoception—recognizing internal signals such as hunger and tiredness—and how it ties into embodying yoga teachings. We'll also debunk myths about emotions being stored in muscles, emphasizing instead the nervous system’s role in emotional reactions.
The episode goes beyond the physical, exploring the Become One Method for a deeper connection to self. Learn how this approach empowers self-discovery, encouraging individuals to focus on feeling and understanding themselves rather than just feeling better. Through self-inquiry and the practice of yoga's eight limbs, Jody highlights the importance of present-moment focus and self-allowance.
We would love to hear from you! Email us at becomeoneliving@gmail.com or reach out to us on Instagram at BecomeOne Living.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Greetings.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hello everybody.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome to To.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Become One Living.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
A little information for my friends.
We are dog-friendly here, so ifyou hear growling or papers
ruffling or any little sounds,we have a little Nunu and a
little Chewy here.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
They're welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
They're welcome.
Yeah, we love them, but if youhear those things, please
forgive us, but we can't leavethese little guys home, right?
So that's what it is, thank you.
No, we can't leave you home,dan.
That was my line.
My name is JodiDahmerstadt-Boizitz.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
And my name is Dan Boizitz.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Dan is my husband.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Jodi is my wife.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
It's just we're being silly.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, you got to be silly sometimes.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, having fun, welcome.
This episode today is about thefunctional approach to yoga and
the become one method, how I'vetaken this functional approach
that I learned and synthesizedit, adding in neuroscience and
(01:45):
IFS, internal family systemswith Dick Schwartz, and brought
it together in a class and theclass then has all eight
components of the eight limbs ofyoga, so that the class that
you take is the whole system ofyoga and is not just asana and
(02:10):
breathing.
And, by the way, if you alldidn't know this, pranayama is
not breathing In the eight limbsof yoga.
Some people think pranayamameans breathing and pranayama
prana means life force.
So pranayama is actuallytechniques to enforce, enliven
(02:38):
and train and guide your lifeforce.
Now, breath does that, but itdoesn't mean breathing, so
anyway.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
It's a little just like everything else.
It's a little more deep.
Yes, it's a little more indepth, as you introduced that I
was like okay, synthesize, Okay,this is Jodi sharing the tools
and techniques she's used herentire life and that she's
embodying and sharing as apackage for people to discover,
(03:08):
explore, get to know themselvesbetter.
It's literally, you embody whatyou're offering.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yes, I do, and I don't share anything or teach
anything that I don't do.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Magnificent.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And what do I mean by that?
I don't teach.
I would not teach meditationwhen I was younger because I
didn't meditate.
And I would have teachers orstudio owners say can you teach
meditation?
And I'd say no, and they'd askwhy.
It's easy.
I said I don't do it, thatdoesn't matter.
No, it does matter to me.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
To me it matters.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
So the functional approach.
There's two aspects of thefunctional approach that I share
in my teacher training, andit's this I share in my teacher
training, and it's this.
The one is when you understandskeletal segments and muscle
(04:12):
groups, you can skillfully adapta pose according to the human
in front of you.
Now what does that mean?
It means every joint in thebody moves a certain way.
That's it.
It is not different for anyoneunless an injury and a trauma.
We realize that.
(04:33):
So let's just get that outthere.
We understand no one is ever100% ideal.
That's not what we're workingtowards.
We're looking towards allowingsomeone to function at their
highest capacity in thislifetime, with all they've
experienced.
So one in the functionalapproach is you have to have a
(04:57):
basic understanding of the humanbody Done.
When people say anatomy isn'tthat important, it is not the
names of the anatomy butunderstanding that your shoulder
joint behaves and functions ina certain way.
Right.
And some of the cues that areused in the past don't support
(05:21):
the function of the shoulderjoint.
Example pull your shoulderblades down your back.
That's not a functional cue,because when the shoulder blades
, your blades, move down yourback, when they pull them down,
they pull the arm bone down andit can create compression, it
(05:43):
could create thoracic outletsyndrome, it can create tingling
down the hands.
If you don't understand howthese joints and bones move,
your cues may not be supportive.
So one is you got to understandthe body a little.
The second thing is you have toknow the purpose of the pose.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Love it.
Why you're doing it?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Why are you doing it and what muscles are moving away
from one another that arecreating a sensation Like
warrior two?
You take your legs really wideand the reason the width of the
legs matter is to stretch andmove your adductors, your inner
(06:33):
thigh muscles, away from oneanother.
Therefore, any other cuedoesn't really matter if you
don't know the purpose.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
So the functional approach came into my life after
brain surgery.
So, january 2014, I had brainsurgery and I'd go to yoga
classes and I couldn't function.
Nothing I could do.
People were trying to align meand adjust me into these shapes.
(07:09):
I wasn't able to do it.
The functional approach allowedme to do yoga because it's this
feel this in your hamstring.
How you feel it, it doesn'tmatter.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
As long as you're feeling sensation in that muscle
group.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
That I'm offering.
So not everybody feels aforward bend in their back.
And so, let's say, a teachersays, oh, you want to feel this
in your lower back, but I don't.
I must be doing it wrong.
No, my friend, you're not.
You just don't feel it there,that's okay.
So the functional approach isone understanding again, your
(07:52):
knee joint is a hinge joint.
It hinges like a door, like adoor opens and closes.
That's what the knee joint does.
That's why going from warriorone to warrior two doesn't make
sense anatomically.
It's not that you're going tohurt your hip, but eventually,
(08:15):
if your foot is planted and youkeep moving one to two, one to
two over and over again like Danspoke in another podcast about
body work misalignment repeatedover time creates injury.
So if you were twisting yourknee or torquing it, it could
(08:36):
eventually add little tears orbecome a tear.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, and effect into the hip girdle, yeah, yeah.
I think that what you'vecreated is really intelligent in
terms of approach and in termsof honoring the uniqueness of
the bodies.
And you know, knowing how allthe joints move, how the body
(09:10):
moves and functions, allows youto then, even on a greater level
, honor the uniqueness, say, ofeach body from one body to the
next.
As you know, and you've learnedand have discovered for
yourself, you know, people'sbones, from one human to the
next, have different structures.
(09:30):
Even though it's the same bonein a human body, sometimes
structurally they're a littlebit different, which affects one
human's ability to get into afigure four position versus
another.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yes, and that's an example.
In the Become One method, whichis a therapeutic, functional
approach, we don't say line upheel to heel or line up your
feet heel to arch.
We don't use those guidelinesbecause we don't know what the
head of someone's femur lookslike.
(10:02):
So what is the femur?
The femur is your leg bone,your upper leg bone or your
thigh bone, and how it sits intoyour pelvis is different.
That's what Dan's speaking on.
It's different for everyone.
Me, I can wrap my leg around myhead right now and I could do
that almost my whole life.
That means that's the way mybones are built.
(10:27):
It's where my femur ispositioned.
Now, dan is probably nevergoing to get his leg near his
head Never and he's fairlyflexible, wouldn't you say?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, it's just I have that tight spot around like
glute minimus and TFL thatrestricts.
I'm not even sure if it isskeletal or muscular.
Yeah, so I'm built differentand I'm never going to get into.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
And how do we know, my friends, if it's skeletal or
muscular?
Here's some guidelines.
One is if you're doing yoga forfive years and something's not
moving, it probably is skeletal.
And an example is in baddhakonasana, or butterfly pose,
(11:18):
you're stretching your innerthighs and in this pose, when
Dan sits almost cross-legged,his knees go to his ears, his
knees go to his ears, my legsjust fall open.
And he's been doing yoga 15years.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Maybe even longer, longer.
So I'm not going to make Danhere's functional sit in that
pose because it's not benefitinghim.
So what we also do in thefunctional approach is give
people two options of poses tosay, hey, dan, you may not feel
this doing this shape, try thisshape.
(11:55):
So that's one.
It gives freedom to people.
Yeah, options to explore.
And the second thing I want toshare is what I've done is I've
studied neurosculpting, which isfounded by Lisa Wimberger We'll
talk about that on anotherpodcast and in neurosculpting I
(12:17):
started to then take courses onneuroscience and what I've
learned is there's a way you canmove the body to help create
induction, to induce or createan environment for relaxation to
occur in your yoga practice ifit's sequenced in a certain way.
(12:38):
And that's what we share in thefunctional therapeutic method
called Become One Method.
And let me share with you alllistening how can you do that
for your students or foryourself?
One is start with movement.
People come in stressed.
People come in to your class infight or flight.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
You got to shake it out.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
You got to shake it out and for one wherever.
You're listening to this.
If you don't know, we live inNew Jersey and the traffic in
some areas and congestion,traffic and noise.
Now and we live, me and Dan,live near New York City, so we
live in hustle and bustle.
People are running into myclass.
(13:23):
Let's say, and all of a suddenI say to you lay down and relax.
Lay down in Shavasana and relax.
That is almost impossible forsomeone to change a state that
quickly, to go from rushing inor trying to get there on time
(13:44):
to complete eyes closed andrelaxation.
It's scientifically impossibleto go that quickly five minutes
into I'm relaxed, I'm relaxed.
To go that quickly five minutesinto I'm relaxed, I'm relaxed,
especially with all of thestimulus we have right now.
People are listening to theradio, they're listening to
podcasts.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Instagram, youtube, social media it doesn't stop.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So what we do instead is you come in, you sit down
and we share something called afunctional contemplation.
Other people call it a Dharmatalk.
I don't.
I'm not Buddhist.
I'm not giving a Dharma talk.
I'm giving you a contemplation.
And why is it functional?
Because it's purposeful.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeah, it helps draw you in.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yes, and it is similar to the yamas and niyamas
.
Here is something I'm sharingwith you, my friends, that I
want you to think about in yourlife, and then how it relates to
others.
So you start to inquire, oryou're invited to inquire from
this talk or offering I'msharing with you.
(14:55):
Then from there, that doesn'tlast more than five minutes.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, Unless it's, you.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Unless it's me, and then it can go on for hours and
I apologize to anyone listeningif that's happened, but I just
love this stuff and what I donext is bring you from seated to
tabletop for cat-cow and I getyou moving.
When you move the spine inflexion, that means around your
(15:26):
back and in extension, when youopen the front of your body and
you continually do that, yourneck moves.
When your neck moves, it startsto stimulate the 10th cranial
nerve, which is the vagus nerve.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
The wandering nerve that innervates all the visceral
organs.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yes, and that is the new trendy nerve that everyone's
talking about.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Sweeping across the nation.
Yeah, everyone's talking aboutSweeping across the nation.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yes, but the good news about it is, if you get
someone moving, also breathingand moving it also releases
muscle tension.
Now stay with me when you startto move and, yes, shake it out,
or just breathe and move in arhythmic matter your muscles
(16:15):
start to relax and as thetension dissolves from the
movement, it goes from your bodyup to your brain and says brain
, jodi is breathing more, deeper, longer and she's stationary.
I think she's safe.
Nice longer and she's stationary, I think she's safe, nice.
(16:38):
So the body informs the brainin that moment and says we can
relax, we can go from heightenedarousal or anxiousness and
nervousness, we can tone it downa little and take a breath.
So, cacao, and then we keepgoing and we keep moving and the
first 20, 30 minutes of class,barely any instruction, with all
(17:03):
movement linked with the breath.
I'm not saying fast, I'm sayingmovement linked with the human
in front of you's breath to getthem into their body.
So after 20 minutes I then haveeveryone pause and say notice
where you are now, what do younotice?
(17:26):
Because what I have learnedthrough IFS and studying
neuroscience we have lost aconnection with our inner
signals called interoceptionMeaning.
Most people don't know whenthey're tired, most people don't
(17:46):
know when they're hungry.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Ignore when they have to go to the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
That type of stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
If you don't know those signals, then you don't
know your body, and if you'renot listening to your basic
needs, how can we say we do yogaor even teach yoga to to embody
this practice more and more,how can you embody these
teachings?
(18:13):
That's why I like thefunctional approach, because
it's purposeful, meaning if I'mcranky or tired or my back hurts
, I can do movements of yogathat are movements I do every
day to help me function in mylife.
In my life.
(18:43):
Something else we do is westretch, and I'm going to
recommend this to yoga teachersout there hip flexors, hip
flexors, hip flexors, quads, hipflexors those are the muscles I
suggest opening as soon as youcan.
And quads are the front of yourthigh muscles and your hip
flexors are the muscles thathold your upper and lower body
(19:05):
together.
They attach in your legs and goup to your ribs, go up to your
spine.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Sorry, Into your yeah , into your low back.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
And into your low back.
This muscle is called the psoasand some people say, oh, the
psoas holds emotions, or thepsoas is the sole muscle.
And I'm going to tell you alittle secret no, it doesn't, no
(19:34):
, it doesn't.
And another little secret yourmuscles don't hold emotions.
I'm going to say that againyour muscles do not hold
emotions.
Now you have made.
How many of us have heard that?
I hear the crowd going wild.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I hear everyone going .
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I did.
I did.
What are you saying?
You're wrong.
Hear me out.
Your nervous system, yournervous system, holds the
reaction to situations.
So your nervous system holdsthe reaction and the emotions
let's say, and that informs yourmuscles.
(20:14):
Our muscles don't hold emotions.
Hey, bicep, are you happy today?
How are you doing?
Wake up, be happy.
It's so weird, but when you saythat to someone too, I've had
teachers say your pelvis is anemotional graveyard.
No, that's what they told me,dan.
(20:36):
Oh my gosh, I got so scared I'mlike wait what's happening in my
pelvis?
That's where I hold everythingthere's gravestones.
You hold your emotions in yourpelvis.
That's what someone said.
Now, is some of this perhapscorrect?
Yes, yes and no.
We have our intestines that sitin our pelvis, and the cells
(21:01):
that make up our intestines arethe same cells that make up our
brain tissue, and that is why itcould feel like we hold a lot
of emotions there.
But we have hair in ourintestines and that's like when
your hair stands up on your armsFollicles yeah.
The hair stands up on your arms.
That's what happens in your gutRight Now interoception.
(21:24):
If you ignore when you getbutterflies in your belly, if
you ignore signals from your gutsaying I have a pit in my
stomach or I got butterflies orI got agita whatever, saying I
have a pit in my stomach or Igot butterflies or I got agita
whatever, if you ignore that,you're now cutting off your
connection to self.
And then you say I want to beintuitive.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Well, good luck you don't even know when you have to
take a poop.
Yeah right, You're not trustingyour signals.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah.
So this functional approach ofyoga is, oh my God, it's a way
of living.
It's a way of living, and Iused yoga to live life because I
was just surviving.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I lived frozen.
I lived where I wasmalnourished, even when I was
eating, where I was malnourishedeven when I was eating.
Because if you are in freeze orfight or flight especially
freeze you won't digest food.
What does that mean?
It means if you've had a trauma, an illness or something scary
a car accident your intestinescould shut down because they say
(22:33):
Jodi's in danger.
Why do we need to digest?
We need to keep her alive.
Yoga helped me realize thereason my belly wasn't working
was because I was scared todeath.
I was frozen.
The practice of the functionalapproach says we don't care what
(22:53):
the shape of the pose lookslike.
This isn't a performance.
You know handstands.
Who cares?
What I care about is can youlive in this body that you were
given for this lifetime and befriended?
Can you feel the signals, thecall and answer it?
(23:17):
And I couldn't for years.
So I kept showing up on the matand showing up on the mat and
doing asana.
So the functional approach alsoI call this.
I created neuro sequencing sowe move people to help them say
oh my God, my muscles arerelaxing, now my mind feels a
(23:40):
little clearer.
Then we stretch the hip flexorsfor multiple reasons, but
here's a major one your hipflexors connect in your spine,
where your diaphragm connectsSure.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
You can share some fibers right way up there, l4,
l5 with the diaphragm, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
So your diaphragm and these leg muscles, your leg
muscles, your hip flexors, theyshare fibers.
If you're sitting all day oryou're rounded over posture,
your hip flexors can get shortand tight.
They impact the movement ofyour diaphragm.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Okay with that.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Now what does that mean?
Short shallow breath meansanxiety.
Short shallow breath meansanxiety.
Short shallow breath means fear.
It can mean or increasedepression, Lack of oxygen.
And that's why, In this methodand the functional approach, we
(24:55):
stretch hip flexors a few timesbefore we start to open the legs
up in warrior two or triangle.
We penetrate that area and I'vebeen told, after 30 minutes of
this method, people say theyfeel complete and they can leave
.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, say they feel complete and they can leave.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Yeah.
So if you're a yoga teacher oryou do yoga, I invite you to
explore this Cat-cow.
Some sun breaths and then lowlunge, high lunge, low lunge,
(25:39):
again hip flexor, hip flexor,and then come and stand at the
top of the mat and notice what'savailable to you.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I feel like that after the first 25 minutes, the
first half hour, I feel, oh, Icould come to Shavasana.
It feels pretty complete,especially if you get a
quadricep stretch in.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yes, after all of that, we have a quadricep
stretch, because everyone'squads are tight nowadays.
So you open that and now wehave the ending poses.
And the ending poses aren'tfive breaths, eight breaths, ten
breaths, they're three to sixminutes.
(26:22):
I'm going to say that again.
How we wrap up our class iswith a three to a six minute
poses, because the person'smoving and moving, and moving
and moving.
They're focusing dharana,dhyana, focus, meditation and
dropping in.
So in yin they're yin-esqueposes, they're yin poses.
(26:46):
We do yin at the end and wehold the poses longer to allow
the person to be with themselvesin an edge, which means you
have a sensation that could beuncomfortable.
So now you're not only buildinga physical capacity to be with
(27:08):
discomfort, you're building anemotional and mental capacity to
show up for discomfort andmental capacity to show up for
discomfort.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Cool, it's been a lifetime in the making.
You've been developing this forquite some time and being
influenced, but also healthconcerns and then adding in a
great meditative meditationpractice.
Your mindfulness to yourpractice is super, super
diligent.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I never meant to do this, to create this method.
It came out of necessity tofunction, because yoga now
offers music and playlists,which is fine, it's lovely, but
(28:04):
years ago there was never music.
Traditionally there was nomusic in yoga.
Even in Ashtanga, which is oneof the first systems of yoga
created, there was no music.
It was your breath.
So now we have music whichcould add a layer of distraction
and I would have teachers.
(28:27):
Years ago I was the director ofteachers years and years ago and
when I was the director ofteachers I would ask the teacher
why did you do that?
Because it's fun.
I wanted to be creative andcreativity and choreography is
for dancing.
It's not for yoga, Because themore poses that are added and
(28:52):
the more complex poses that areadded, the more the mind is
distracted.
So something also about themethod that I teach there is no
music, it is quiet in the roomand simple, basic, repeatable
poses that are challenging.
(29:13):
My last class was simple, basic, the peak was challenging.
People left saying wow, thatwas hard.
I'm not saying make yourclasses easy peasy, but the more
poses that you have, it alsomeans the less time in between
(29:36):
or in the pose to meet yourselfand to arrive.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And that's a beautiful place to be.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
What I wanted and what I want to offer you all
that are listening.
I want my practices to impactmy life and I want to be able to
measure them to some degree,that they're measurable, that I
(30:15):
feel nicer, I feel less reactive, I smile more.
I want to know this is workingand I don't need to go to yoga
class to do that anymore.
I could do my own practice athome and I'm able to sustain
(30:38):
because I've now embodied it andI've become the teachings.
Anyone can do that.
Anyone can become the teachings, but you have to practice them.
And you have to practice them,my friends, as if it was life or
death.
It has to be your focus.
It can't be a side gig.
It really cannot.
(31:00):
Mine was life or death.
I felt like I was dying insideand I was still doing yoga.
It wasn't helping.
Nothing was helping.
Therapy, body work nothing wassticking.
And I finally said what are youdoing?
And that's when the functionalapproach came in.
I was still doing poses andtucking the tailbone and pulling
(31:23):
my shoulders down and feetparallel.
When you backbend, I lost Jodiin that.
That's not how I'm built.
I walk like a duck.
I used to walk like a duck andyou're telling me, fix my feet
and then bend back.
No wonder why I hurt my back.
So this came along, not throughwanting to create or be right or
(31:48):
prove wrong or make this better.
It's not.
You have to decide, my friends,how deep you want to go.
How deep below the surface ofthe practice are you willing to
go?
And eventually, there needs tobe stillness and silence in the
(32:12):
meeting of oneself.
Until that occurs, we willcontinually play with all these
external things.
Well, that didn't work and thatdidn't work.
And one day I sat like theBuddha.
The Buddha sat under the tree,under the Bodhi tree.
(32:33):
He sat there and said I'm goingto sit here until I become
enlightened.
And enlightenment to me is notlevitating or floating or living
in the ethers, it's being ableto live in this world, be of
this world with consciousness,compassion, consciousness,
compassion and clarity.
(32:54):
I am of this world, I pay mybills.
And neutrality.
How can I stay neutral inwhat's happening and not be a
victim to the world?
So these practices formedbecause I thought how can I make
75 minutes, 90 minutes of alittle eight-limb practice, so
(33:16):
that people can take this anduse it when they leave the room,
not say, oh, I feel good afteryoga and they keep coming back
to feel good.
But feeling good isn't enoughif you have to keep coming back
every day to yoga class, yogaclass.
(33:44):
What can you do off the matthat will change your life and
relationships?
Because when you go to class,you go, you shake it out, you
jam out because there's not manythat don't use music, and then
you leave and you're like, oh myGod, that was great.
And then someone cuts you offand you flip them, the bird.
Yoga goes out the window.
I invite you to turn towardswhatever you're doing with
(34:09):
everything you have and not letgo.
That's what changed my life.
So when people say you meditateevery day, so when people say
you meditate every day, I sayyes, I meditate every day, every
day, every day, even onvacation.
It's a lifestyle.
Even when we visit my mom, evenwhen we go anywhere, I wake up
(34:35):
and I meditate for me, for therituals and the relationship
with self.
It's a relationship with self.
It's not a regiment.
Yoga is not a regiment, it is arelationship with self.
So the functional approach addsthis freedom, not for you to do
(34:55):
whatever you want, but anexploration to get to know
yourself in this body as it isright now, because, yes, I do
believe everybody can do yoga,and I know some people don't
like that.
Everybody can do yoga.
I can teach anyone yoga becauseI understand the body, how it
(35:18):
works, and so if you come in andyour body doesn't work, I know
how to adapt it, or I know howto guide you to adapt it.
That's the functional approach,not hanging on cues.
(35:43):
Cues navel to spine.
Don't say that, because that'snot how the body functions.
Navel to spine will draw yourbelly button into your back.
Your upper body hinges forward,your shoulders round.
Your tailbone tucks.
Now you're shortening the frontbody and you're saying walk
around like that.
If y'all could see me, I'd getup and demonstrate what that
looked like, and it's weird.
You would not want to hang outwith me if I did that.
(36:03):
You'd be like what's wrong withher.
So a different cue is belowyour belly button.
Draw your belly in towards yourspine and up towards your ribs.
Below the belly button, though,that's where your abdominals
start.
They start at your pubic bone,not at your navel.
(36:24):
Dan is still here, by the way,but I could just keep going and
going and going.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
I love this stuff and I wanted you to get really
thoroughly explain what you'redoing to become one method, but
there's plenty of times throughyou explaining this that I think
of energy work and body workand how they interrelate with
one another.
It's a lot of these things are,like I said before in another
(36:56):
episode, is like simultaneous.
You get to explore and discovertwo very powerful things all at
once and get to know yourselfdeeper.
You get to know yourself sowell that you be kinder to
yourself, that you be kinder toyour greater world and you
impact that way your entire lifeand its trajectory.
(37:18):
And so you know you get to aplace where you just won't I
don't know, I don't knowwhatever it is there's things
that we all do that you get to aplace where you're like okay,
you know I've had enough of that, that just doesn't suit me
anymore.
And this journey helps youdiscern what you'd like to have
in your life and what you'dprefer not to do with and deal
(37:38):
with.
And it's not good or bad, it'snot judging, it's actually
feeling.
It's deeply feeling, it'sdeeply listening, it's deeply
experiencing for yourself whatyou'd like to be around and what
you'd like to be in and howyou'd like to be in the world.
This is your life in a nutshell.
To me, and our life is thatpursuit, by way of the tools, of
(38:04):
bringing calm and ease to life.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
The functional approach, the Become One Method,
isn't about feeling better.
It's about getting better atfeeling and knowing who you are.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
That's it, it's't about feeling better.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
It's about getting better at feeling and knowing
who you are.
That's it.
It's not about feeling betterand some people say, well, yoga
makes me feel better.
I'm not saying that.
I'm just saying these practicesI don't do to get a result.
I know scientifically it'sproven and from the people that
have walked the path before meit's proven.
(38:38):
These eight limbs, these eightsteps work.
If you don't inquire aboutyourself, you're never going to
change and you become a victim.
If you don't know who you arein relationship to yourself and
other people, you will become avictim or a martyr.
They did this to me.
They did that.
It's not psychologically based,but it is in this way.
(39:03):
When you do asana, the thirdlimb, you're with you.
So if you're angry at the world, you're angry at yourself on
the mat.
If you bully yourself like go,you could do it, go, go, go, go,
you're going to bully yourselfon the mat and you probably
bully other people.
So the mat is the reflection.
(39:25):
Now the functional approachalso does this.
This is how it becomesempowering.
It says do you feel this here?
And you could say no, we'll trythis, try that.
And you don't just let someonedo whatever they want.
You have the shape low lunge.
And if you said, dan, I don'tfeel it there, I would say well,
(39:45):
try to go wider, left, right orlonger.
Do you feel it now?
No, bring your hands here.
How about now?
Yes, perfect, stay with that,stay there.
So I use questions.
Here's the other technique inthe become one method.
Or as a yoga teacher askquestions, don't tell them.
I tell people what to dobecause I want them to do a sun
(40:09):
breath.
Right, do this, do this, dothis, do this.
But if I'm in a pose, I say dodo you feel it here?
And I point to your innerthighs and they look at me and
say no.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I say okay, move your feet try that and you get to
the try this and but and Iinquire and then I inquire.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Now they have to answer, and answering is
empowering because most peopledon't even know what they want,
they don't know what they feel,and after my class they'll say I
don't know what just happened.
They don't even know thecomponents that went into it.
But all I did was potentiallyhelp them down-regulate their
(40:49):
nervous system, calm down alittle and then take a bigger
breath, then stretch their innerthighs, move their spine in six
movements and then hold poseslonger so they have an
opportunity to be withthemselves and ask them what's
here now?
(41:09):
That's the IFS piece.
The internal family systems isasking what's here now, not what
happened 40 years ago.
What's here right now.
Notice this and is this helpful?
The other day I was doing yogatherapy, my yoga therapy and I
(41:32):
was listening to a recording ofa colleague and she said at one
point allow your body to guideyou.
And I felt like I got smackedin the face and I said allow.
What does that mean of doingand teaching yoga?
(42:00):
Allow?
And I asked myself do I allowmyself anything?
Do I allow space?
Do I allow time?
Do I force?
And in that moment I wasreminded that I was so caught up
in construction and life, andleases and business that I
didn't allow Jodi to be, andbusiness that I didn't allow
(42:23):
Jodi to be.
That's why I do yoga, so thismethod is based in neuroscience.
It's based in the philosophyand practicality, because if it
ain't applicable to my life, Idon't want it.
If I can't apply this stuff,then take it away.
The functional approach to yogaand the become one method is a
method of wholeness, and it'sabout living yoga, and the word
(42:48):
yoga means communication of themind and the body, so you start
to live this life, in which youare led by something way deeper
than yourself, and it's thatinnate energy that lives and
thrives within you, and they'reall practical pieces, so, if you
(43:10):
have any questions about thefunctional approach or the
method, you can reach out atbecomeoneliving at gmailcom, and
you can follow us atbecomeoneliving on Instagram.
Yoga is a gift that was passeddown thousands of years and then
(43:36):
asana hundreds of years ago.
If you commit to the practicedaily, even for five minutes, it
will change your life.
You, though, have to be willingand wanting to actually change
your life, because yoga willpropel you into change and shift
(43:59):
over time.
May you invest in yourself sothat you can live your fullest
potential.
My friends, thank you so muchfor joining us.
Greetings.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hello everybody.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome to To.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Become One Living.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
A little information for my friends.
We are dog-friendly here, so ifyou hear growling or papers
ruffling or any little sounds,we have a little Nunu and a
little Chewy here.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
They're welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
They're welcome.
Yeah, we love them, but if youhear those things, please
forgive us, but we can't leavethese little guys home, right?
So that's what it is, thank you.
No, we can't leave you home,dan.
That was my line.
My name is JodiDahmerstadt-Boizitz.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
And my name is Dan Boizitz.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Dan is my husband.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Jodi is my wife.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
It's just we're being silly.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, you got to be silly sometimes.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, having fun, welcome.
This episode today is about thefunctional approach to yoga and
the become one method, how I'vetaken this functional approach
that I learned and synthesizedit, adding in neuroscience and
(01:45):
IFS, internal family systemswith Dick Schwartz, and brought
it together in a class and theclass then has all eight
components of the eight limbs ofyoga, so that the class that
you take is the whole system ofyoga and is not just asana and
(02:10):
breathing.
And, by the way, if you alldidn't know this, pranayama is
not breathing In the eight limbsof yoga.
Some people think pranayamameans breathing and pranayama
prana means life force.
So pranayama is actuallytechniques to enforce, enliven
(02:38):
and train and guide your lifeforce.
Now, breath does that, but itdoesn't mean breathing, so
anyway.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
It's a little just like everything else.
It's a little more deep.
Yes, it's a little more indepth, as you introduced that I
was like okay, synthesize, Okay,this is Jodi sharing the tools
and techniques she's used herentire life and that she's
embodying and sharing as apackage for people to discover,
(03:08):
explore, get to know themselvesbetter.
It's literally, you embody whatyou're offering.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yes, I do, and I don't share anything or teach
anything that I don't do.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Magnificent.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And what do I mean by that?
I don't teach.
I would not teach meditationwhen I was younger because I
didn't meditate.
And I would have teachers orstudio owners say can you teach
meditation?
And I'd say no, and they'd askwhy.
It's easy.
I said I don't do it, thatdoesn't matter.
No, it does matter to me.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
To me it matters.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
So the functional approach.
There's two aspects of thefunctional approach that I share
in my teacher training, andit's this I share in my teacher
training, and it's this.
The one is when you understandskeletal segments and muscle
(04:12):
groups, you can skillfully adapta pose according to the human
in front of you.
Now what does that mean?
It means every joint in thebody moves a certain way.
That's it.
It is not different for anyoneunless an injury and a trauma.
We realize that.
(04:33):
So let's just get that outthere.
We understand no one is ever100% ideal.
That's not what we're workingtowards.
We're looking towards allowingsomeone to function at their
highest capacity in thislifetime, with all they've
experienced.
So one in the functionalapproach is you have to have a
(04:57):
basic understanding of the humanbody Done.
When people say anatomy isn'tthat important, it is not the
names of the anatomy butunderstanding that your shoulder
joint behaves and functions ina certain way.
Right.
And some of the cues that areused in the past don't support
(05:21):
the function of the shoulderjoint.
Example pull your shoulderblades down your back.
That's not a functional cue,because when the shoulder blades
, your blades, move down yourback, when they pull them down,
they pull the arm bone down andit can create compression, it
(05:43):
could create thoracic outletsyndrome, it can create tingling
down the hands.
If you don't understand howthese joints and bones move,
your cues may not be supportive.
So one is you got to understandthe body a little.
The second thing is you have toknow the purpose of the pose.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Love it.
Why you're doing it?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Why are you doing it and what muscles are moving away
from one another that arecreating a sensation Like
warrior two?
You take your legs really wideand the reason the width of the
legs matter is to stretch andmove your adductors, your inner
(06:33):
thigh muscles, away from oneanother.
Therefore, any other cuedoesn't really matter if you
don't know the purpose.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
So the functional approach came into my life after
brain surgery.
So, january 2014, I had brainsurgery and I'd go to yoga
classes and I couldn't function.
Nothing I could do.
People were trying to align meand adjust me into these shapes.
(07:09):
I wasn't able to do it.
The functional approach allowedme to do yoga because it's this
feel this in your hamstring.
How you feel it, it doesn'tmatter.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
As long as you're feeling sensation in that muscle
group.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
That I'm offering.
So not everybody feels aforward bend in their back.
And so, let's say, a teachersays, oh, you want to feel this
in your lower back, but I don't.
I must be doing it wrong.
No, my friend, you're not.
You just don't feel it there,that's okay.
So the functional approach isone understanding again, your
(07:52):
knee joint is a hinge joint.
It hinges like a door, like adoor opens and closes.
That's what the knee joint does.
That's why going from warriorone to warrior two doesn't make
sense anatomically.
It's not that you're going tohurt your hip, but eventually,
(08:15):
if your foot is planted and youkeep moving one to two, one to
two over and over again like Danspoke in another podcast about
body work misalignment repeatedover time creates injury.
So if you were twisting yourknee or torquing it, it could
(08:36):
eventually add little tears orbecome a tear.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, and effect into the hip girdle, yeah, yeah.
I think that what you'vecreated is really intelligent in
terms of approach and in termsof honoring the uniqueness of
the bodies.
And you know, knowing how allthe joints move, how the body
(09:10):
moves and functions, allows youto then, even on a greater level
, honor the uniqueness, say, ofeach body from one body to the
next.
As you know, and you've learnedand have discovered for
yourself, you know, people'sbones, from one human to the
next, have different structures.
(09:30):
Even though it's the same bonein a human body, sometimes
structurally they're a littlebit different, which affects one
human's ability to get into afigure four position versus
another.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yes, and that's an example.
In the Become One method, whichis a therapeutic, functional
approach, we don't say line upheel to heel or line up your
feet heel to arch.
We don't use those guidelinesbecause we don't know what the
head of someone's femur lookslike.
(10:02):
So what is the femur?
The femur is your leg bone,your upper leg bone or your
thigh bone, and how it sits intoyour pelvis is different.
That's what Dan's speaking on.
It's different for everyone.
Me, I can wrap my leg around myhead right now and I could do
that almost my whole life.
That means that's the way mybones are built.
(10:27):
It's where my femur ispositioned.
Now, dan is probably nevergoing to get his leg near his
head Never and he's fairlyflexible, wouldn't you say?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, it's just I have that tight spot around like
glute minimus and TFL thatrestricts.
I'm not even sure if it isskeletal or muscular.
Yeah, so I'm built differentand I'm never going to get into.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
And how do we know, my friends, if it's skeletal or
muscular?
Here's some guidelines.
One is if you're doing yoga forfive years and something's not
moving, it probably is skeletal.
And an example is in baddhakonasana, or butterfly pose,
(11:18):
you're stretching your innerthighs and in this pose, when
Dan sits almost cross-legged,his knees go to his ears, his
knees go to his ears, my legsjust fall open.
And he's been doing yoga 15years.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Maybe even longer, longer.
So I'm not going to make Danhere's functional sit in that
pose because it's not benefitinghim.
So what we also do in thefunctional approach is give
people two options of poses tosay, hey, dan, you may not feel
this doing this shape, try thisshape.
(11:55):
So that's one.
It gives freedom to people.
Yeah, options to explore.
And the second thing I want toshare is what I've done is I've
studied neurosculpting, which isfounded by Lisa Wimberger We'll
talk about that on anotherpodcast and in neurosculpting I
(12:17):
started to then take courses onneuroscience and what I've
learned is there's a way you canmove the body to help create
induction, to induce or createan environment for relaxation to
occur in your yoga practice ifit's sequenced in a certain way.
(12:38):
And that's what we share in thefunctional therapeutic method
called Become One Method.
And let me share with you alllistening how can you do that
for your students or foryourself?
One is start with movement.
People come in stressed.
People come in to your class infight or flight.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
You got to shake it out.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
You got to shake it out and for one wherever.
You're listening to this.
If you don't know, we live inNew Jersey and the traffic in
some areas and congestion,traffic and noise.
Now and we live, me and Dan,live near New York City, so we
live in hustle and bustle.
People are running into myclass.
(13:23):
Let's say, and all of a suddenI say to you lay down and relax.
Lay down in Shavasana and relax.
That is almost impossible forsomeone to change a state that
quickly, to go from rushing inor trying to get there on time
(13:44):
to complete eyes closed andrelaxation.
It's scientifically impossibleto go that quickly five minutes
into I'm relaxed, I'm relaxed.
To go that quickly five minutesinto I'm relaxed, I'm relaxed,
especially with all of thestimulus we have right now.
People are listening to theradio, they're listening to
podcasts.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Instagram, youtube, social media it doesn't stop.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So what we do instead is you come in, you sit down
and we share something called afunctional contemplation.
Other people call it a Dharmatalk.
I don't.
I'm not Buddhist.
I'm not giving a Dharma talk.
I'm giving you a contemplation.
And why is it functional?
Because it's purposeful.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeah, it helps draw you in.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yes, and it is similar to the yamas and niyamas
.
Here is something I'm sharingwith you, my friends, that I
want you to think about in yourlife, and then how it relates to
others.
So you start to inquire, oryou're invited to inquire from
this talk or offering I'msharing with you.
(14:55):
Then from there, that doesn'tlast more than five minutes.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, Unless it's, you.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Unless it's me, and then it can go on for hours and
I apologize to anyone listeningif that's happened, but I just
love this stuff and what I donext is bring you from seated to
tabletop for cat-cow and I getyou moving.
When you move the spine inflexion, that means around your
(15:26):
back and in extension, when youopen the front of your body and
you continually do that, yourneck moves.
When your neck moves, it startsto stimulate the 10th cranial
nerve, which is the vagus nerve.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
The wandering nerve that innervates all the visceral
organs.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yes, and that is the new trendy nerve that everyone's
talking about.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Sweeping across the nation.
Yeah, everyone's talking aboutSweeping across the nation.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yes, but the good news about it is, if you get
someone moving, also breathingand moving it also releases
muscle tension.
Now stay with me when you startto move and, yes, shake it out,
or just breathe and move in arhythmic matter your muscles
(16:15):
start to relax and as thetension dissolves from the
movement, it goes from your bodyup to your brain and says brain
, jodi is breathing more, deeper, longer and she's stationary.
I think she's safe.
Nice longer and she's stationary, I think she's safe, nice.
(16:38):
So the body informs the brainin that moment and says we can
relax, we can go from heightenedarousal or anxiousness and
nervousness, we can tone it downa little and take a breath.
So, cacao, and then we keepgoing and we keep moving and the
first 20, 30 minutes of class,barely any instruction, with all
(17:03):
movement linked with the breath.
I'm not saying fast, I'm sayingmovement linked with the human
in front of you's breath to getthem into their body.
So after 20 minutes I then haveeveryone pause and say notice
where you are now, what do younotice?
(17:26):
Because what I have learnedthrough IFS and studying
neuroscience we have lost aconnection with our inner
signals called interoceptionMeaning.
Most people don't know whenthey're tired, most people don't
(17:46):
know when they're hungry.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Ignore when they have to go to the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
That type of stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
If you don't know those signals, then you don't
know your body, and if you'renot listening to your basic
needs, how can we say we do yogaor even teach yoga to to embody
this practice more and more,how can you embody these
teachings?
(18:13):
That's why I like thefunctional approach, because
it's purposeful, meaning if I'mcranky or tired or my back hurts
, I can do movements of yogathat are movements I do every
day to help me function in mylife.
In my life.
(18:43):
Something else we do is westretch, and I'm going to
recommend this to yoga teachersout there hip flexors, hip
flexors, hip flexors, quads, hipflexors those are the muscles I
suggest opening as soon as youcan.
And quads are the front of yourthigh muscles and your hip
flexors are the muscles thathold your upper and lower body
(19:05):
together.
They attach in your legs and goup to your ribs, go up to your
spine.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Sorry, Into your yeah , into your low back.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
And into your low back.
This muscle is called the psoasand some people say, oh, the
psoas holds emotions, or thepsoas is the sole muscle.
And I'm going to tell you alittle secret no, it doesn't, no
(19:34):
, it doesn't.
And another little secret yourmuscles don't hold emotions.
I'm going to say that againyour muscles do not hold
emotions.
Now you have made.
How many of us have heard that?
I hear the crowd going wild.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
I hear everyone going .
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I did.
I did.
What are you saying?
You're wrong.
Hear me out.
Your nervous system, yournervous system, holds the
reaction to situations.
So your nervous system holdsthe reaction and the emotions
let's say, and that informs yourmuscles.
(20:14):
Our muscles don't hold emotions.
Hey, bicep, are you happy today?
How are you doing?
Wake up, be happy.
It's so weird, but when you saythat to someone too, I've had
teachers say your pelvis is anemotional graveyard.
No, that's what they told me,dan.
(20:36):
Oh my gosh, I got so scared I'mlike wait what's happening in my
pelvis?
That's where I hold everythingthere's gravestones.
You hold your emotions in yourpelvis.
That's what someone said.
Now, is some of this perhapscorrect?
Yes, yes and no.
We have our intestines that sitin our pelvis, and the cells
(21:01):
that make up our intestines arethe same cells that make up our
brain tissue, and that is why itcould feel like we hold a lot
of emotions there.
But we have hair in ourintestines and that's like when
your hair stands up on your armsFollicles yeah.
The hair stands up on your arms.
That's what happens in your gutRight Now interoception.
(21:24):
If you ignore when you getbutterflies in your belly, if
you ignore signals from your gutsaying I have a pit in my
stomach or I got butterflies orI got agita whatever, saying I
have a pit in my stomach or Igot butterflies or I got agita
whatever, if you ignore that,you're now cutting off your
connection to self.
And then you say I want to beintuitive.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Well, good luck you don't even know when you have to
take a poop.
Yeah right, You're not trustingyour signals.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah.
So this functional approach ofyoga is, oh my God, it's a way
of living.
It's a way of living, and Iused yoga to live life because I
was just surviving.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I lived frozen.
I lived where I wasmalnourished, even when I was
eating, where I was malnourishedeven when I was eating.
Because if you are in freeze orfight or flight especially
freeze you won't digest food.
What does that mean?
It means if you've had a trauma, an illness or something scary
a car accident your intestinescould shut down because they say
(22:33):
Jodi's in danger.
Why do we need to digest?
We need to keep her alive.
Yoga helped me realize thereason my belly wasn't working
was because I was scared todeath.
I was frozen.
The practice of the functionalapproach says we don't care what
(22:53):
the shape of the pose lookslike.
This isn't a performance.
You know handstands.
Who cares?
What I care about is can youlive in this body that you were
given for this lifetime and befriended?
Can you feel the signals, thecall and answer it?
(23:17):
And I couldn't for years.
So I kept showing up on the matand showing up on the mat and
doing asana.
So the functional approach alsoI call this.
I created neuro sequencing sowe move people to help them say
oh my God, my muscles arerelaxing, now my mind feels a
(23:40):
little clearer.
Then we stretch the hip flexorsfor multiple reasons, but
here's a major one your hipflexors connect in your spine,
where your diaphragm connectsSure.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
You can share some fibers right way up there, l4,
l5 with the diaphragm, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
So your diaphragm and these leg muscles, your leg
muscles, your hip flexors, theyshare fibers.
If you're sitting all day oryou're rounded over posture,
your hip flexors can get shortand tight.
They impact the movement ofyour diaphragm.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Okay with that.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Now what does that mean?
Short shallow breath meansanxiety.
Short shallow breath meansanxiety.
Short shallow breath means fear.
It can mean or increasedepression, Lack of oxygen.
And that's why, In this methodand the functional approach, we
(24:55):
stretch hip flexors a few timesbefore we start to open the legs
up in warrior two or triangle.
We penetrate that area and I'vebeen told, after 30 minutes of
this method, people say theyfeel complete and they can leave
.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, say they feel complete and they can leave.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Yeah.
So if you're a yoga teacher oryou do yoga, I invite you to
explore this Cat-cow.
Some sun breaths and then lowlunge, high lunge, low lunge,
(25:39):
again hip flexor, hip flexor,and then come and stand at the
top of the mat and notice what'savailable to you.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I feel like that after the first 25 minutes, the
first half hour, I feel, oh, Icould come to Shavasana.
It feels pretty complete,especially if you get a
quadricep stretch in.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yes, after all of that, we have a quadricep
stretch, because everyone'squads are tight nowadays.
So you open that and now wehave the ending poses.
And the ending poses aren'tfive breaths, eight breaths, ten
breaths, they're three to sixminutes.
(26:22):
I'm going to say that again.
How we wrap up our class iswith a three to a six minute
poses, because the person'smoving and moving, and moving
and moving.
They're focusing dharana,dhyana, focus, meditation and
dropping in.
So in yin they're yin-esqueposes, they're yin poses.
(26:46):
We do yin at the end and wehold the poses longer to allow
the person to be with themselvesin an edge, which means you
have a sensation that could beuncomfortable.
So now you're not only buildinga physical capacity to be with
(27:08):
discomfort, you're building anemotional and mental capacity to
show up for discomfort andmental capacity to show up for
discomfort.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Cool, it's been a lifetime in the making.
You've been developing this forquite some time and being
influenced, but also healthconcerns and then adding in a
great meditative meditationpractice.
Your mindfulness to yourpractice is super, super
diligent.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I never meant to do this, to create this method.
It came out of necessity tofunction, because yoga now
offers music and playlists,which is fine, it's lovely, but
(28:04):
years ago there was never music.
Traditionally there was nomusic in yoga.
Even in Ashtanga, which is oneof the first systems of yoga
created, there was no music.
It was your breath.
So now we have music whichcould add a layer of distraction
and I would have teachers.
(28:27):
Years ago I was the director ofteachers years and years ago and
when I was the director ofteachers I would ask the teacher
why did you do that?
Because it's fun.
I wanted to be creative andcreativity and choreography is
for dancing.
It's not for yoga, Because themore poses that are added and
(28:52):
the more complex poses that areadded, the more the mind is
distracted.
So something also about themethod that I teach there is no
music, it is quiet in the roomand simple, basic, repeatable
poses that are challenging.
(29:13):
My last class was simple, basic, the peak was challenging.
People left saying wow, thatwas hard.
I'm not saying make yourclasses easy peasy, but the more
poses that you have, it alsomeans the less time in between
(29:36):
or in the pose to meet yourselfand to arrive.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And that's a beautiful place to be.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
What I wanted and what I want to offer you all
that are listening.
I want my practices to impactmy life and I want to be able to
measure them to some degree,that they're measurable, that I
(30:15):
feel nicer, I feel less reactive, I smile more.
I want to know this is workingand I don't need to go to yoga
class to do that anymore.
I could do my own practice athome and I'm able to sustain
(30:38):
because I've now embodied it andI've become the teachings.
Anyone can do that.
Anyone can become the teachings, but you have to practice them.
And you have to practice them,my friends, as if it was life or
death.
It has to be your focus.
It can't be a side gig.
It really cannot.
(31:00):
Mine was life or death.
I felt like I was dying insideand I was still doing yoga.
It wasn't helping.
Nothing was helping.
Therapy, body work nothing wassticking.
And I finally said what are youdoing?
And that's when the functionalapproach came in.
I was still doing poses andtucking the tailbone and pulling
(31:23):
my shoulders down and feetparallel.
When you backbend, I lost Jodiin that.
That's not how I'm built.
I walk like a duck.
I used to walk like a duck andyou're telling me, fix my feet
and then bend back.
No wonder why I hurt my back.
So this came along, not throughwanting to create or be right or
(31:48):
prove wrong or make this better.
It's not.
You have to decide, my friends,how deep you want to go.
How deep below the surface ofthe practice are you willing to
go?
And eventually, there needs tobe stillness and silence in the
(32:12):
meeting of oneself.
Until that occurs, we willcontinually play with all these
external things.
Well, that didn't work and thatdidn't work.
And one day I sat like theBuddha.
The Buddha sat under the tree,under the Bodhi tree.
(32:33):
He sat there and said I'm goingto sit here until I become
enlightened.
And enlightenment to me is notlevitating or floating or living
in the ethers, it's being ableto live in this world, be of
this world with consciousness,compassion, consciousness,
compassion and clarity.
(32:54):
I am of this world, I pay mybills.
And neutrality.
How can I stay neutral inwhat's happening and not be a
victim to the world?
So these practices formedbecause I thought how can I make
75 minutes, 90 minutes of alittle eight-limb practice, so
(33:16):
that people can take this anduse it when they leave the room,
not say, oh, I feel good afteryoga and they keep coming back
to feel good.
But feeling good isn't enoughif you have to keep coming back
every day to yoga class, yogaclass.
(33:44):
What can you do off the matthat will change your life and
relationships?
Because when you go to class,you go, you shake it out, you
jam out because there's not manythat don't use music, and then
you leave and you're like, oh myGod, that was great.
And then someone cuts you offand you flip them, the bird.
Yoga goes out the window.
I invite you to turn towardswhatever you're doing with
(34:09):
everything you have and not letgo.
That's what changed my life.
So when people say you meditateevery day, so when people say
you meditate every day, I sayyes, I meditate every day, every
day, every day, even onvacation.
It's a lifestyle.
Even when we visit my mom, evenwhen we go anywhere, I wake up
(34:35):
and I meditate for me, for therituals and the relationship
with self.
It's a relationship with self.
It's not a regiment.
Yoga is not a regiment, it is arelationship with self.
So the functional approach addsthis freedom, not for you to do
(34:55):
whatever you want, but anexploration to get to know
yourself in this body as it isright now, because, yes, I do
believe everybody can do yoga,and I know some people don't
like that.
Everybody can do yoga.
I can teach anyone yoga becauseI understand the body, how it
(35:18):
works, and so if you come in andyour body doesn't work, I know
how to adapt it, or I know howto guide you to adapt it.
That's the functional approach,not hanging on cues.
(35:43):
Cues navel to spine.
Don't say that, because that'snot how the body functions.
Navel to spine will draw yourbelly button into your back.
Your upper body hinges forward,your shoulders round.
Your tailbone tucks.
Now you're shortening the frontbody and you're saying walk
around like that.
If y'all could see me, I'd getup and demonstrate what that
looked like, and it's weird.
You would not want to hang outwith me if I did that.
(36:03):
You'd be like what's wrong withher.
So a different cue is belowyour belly button.
Draw your belly in towards yourspine and up towards your ribs.
Below the belly button, though,that's where your abdominals
start.
They start at your pubic bone,not at your navel.
(36:24):
Dan is still here, by the way,but I could just keep going and
going and going.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
I love this stuff and I wanted you to get really
thoroughly explain what you'redoing to become one method, but
there's plenty of times throughyou explaining this that I think
of energy work and body workand how they interrelate with
one another.
It's a lot of these things are,like I said before in another
(36:56):
episode, is like simultaneous.
You get to explore and discovertwo very powerful things all at
once and get to know yourselfdeeper.
You get to know yourself sowell that you be kinder to
yourself, that you be kinder toyour greater world and you
impact that way your entire lifeand its trajectory.
(37:18):
And so you know you get to aplace where you just won't I
don't know, I don't knowwhatever it is there's things
that we all do that you get to aplace where you're like okay,
you know I've had enough of that, that just doesn't suit me
anymore.
And this journey helps youdiscern what you'd like to have
in your life and what you'dprefer not to do with and deal
(37:38):
with.
And it's not good or bad, it'snot judging, it's actually
feeling.
It's deeply feeling, it'sdeeply listening, it's deeply
experiencing for yourself whatyou'd like to be around and what
you'd like to be in and howyou'd like to be in the world.
This is your life in a nutshell.
To me, and our life is thatpursuit, by way of the tools, of
(38:04):
bringing calm and ease to life.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
The functional approach, the Become One Method,
isn't about feeling better.
It's about getting better atfeeling and knowing who you are.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
That's it, it's't about feeling better.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
It's about getting better at feeling and knowing
who you are.
That's it.
It's not about feeling betterand some people say, well, yoga
makes me feel better.
I'm not saying that.
I'm just saying these practicesI don't do to get a result.
I know scientifically it'sproven and from the people that
have walked the path before meit's proven.
(38:38):
These eight limbs, these eightsteps work.
If you don't inquire aboutyourself, you're never going to
change and you become a victim.
If you don't know who you arein relationship to yourself and
other people, you will become avictim or a martyr.
They did this to me.
They did that.
It's not psychologically based,but it is in this way.
(39:03):
When you do asana, the thirdlimb, you're with you.
So if you're angry at the world, you're angry at yourself on
the mat.
If you bully yourself like go,you could do it, go, go, go, go,
you're going to bully yourselfon the mat and you probably
bully other people.
So the mat is the reflection.
(39:25):
Now the functional approachalso does this.
This is how it becomesempowering.
It says do you feel this here?
And you could say no, we'll trythis, try that.
And you don't just let someonedo whatever they want.
You have the shape low lunge.
And if you said, dan, I don'tfeel it there, I would say well,
(39:45):
try to go wider, left, right orlonger.
Do you feel it now?
No, bring your hands here.
How about now?
Yes, perfect, stay with that,stay there.
So I use questions.
Here's the other technique inthe become one method.
Or as a yoga teacher askquestions, don't tell them.
I tell people what to dobecause I want them to do a sun
(40:09):
breath.
Right, do this, do this, dothis, do this.
But if I'm in a pose, I say dodo you feel it here?
And I point to your innerthighs and they look at me and
say no.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I say okay, move your feet try that and you get to
the try this and but and Iinquire and then I inquire.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Now they have to answer, and answering is
empowering because most peopledon't even know what they want,
they don't know what they feel,and after my class they'll say I
don't know what just happened.
They don't even know thecomponents that went into it.
But all I did was potentiallyhelp them down-regulate their
(40:49):
nervous system, calm down alittle and then take a bigger
breath, then stretch their innerthighs, move their spine in six
movements and then hold poseslonger so they have an
opportunity to be withthemselves and ask them what's
here now?
(41:09):
That's the IFS piece.
The internal family systems isasking what's here now, not what
happened 40 years ago.
What's here right now.
Notice this and is this helpful?
The other day I was doing yogatherapy, my yoga therapy and I
(41:32):
was listening to a recording ofa colleague and she said at one
point allow your body to guideyou.
And I felt like I got smackedin the face and I said allow.
What does that mean of doingand teaching yoga?
(42:00):
Allow?
And I asked myself do I allowmyself anything?
Do I allow space?
Do I allow time?
Do I force?
And in that moment I wasreminded that I was so caught up
in construction and life, andleases and business that I
didn't allow Jodi to be, andbusiness that I didn't allow
(42:23):
Jodi to be.
That's why I do yoga, so thismethod is based in neuroscience.
It's based in the philosophyand practicality, because if it
ain't applicable to my life, Idon't want it.
If I can't apply this stuff,then take it away.
The functional approach to yogaand the become one method is a
method of wholeness, and it'sabout living yoga, and the word
(42:48):
yoga means communication of themind and the body, so you start
to live this life, in which youare led by something way deeper
than yourself, and it's thatinnate energy that lives and
thrives within you, and they'reall practical pieces, so, if you
(43:10):
have any questions about thefunctional approach or the
method, you can reach out atbecomeoneliving at gmailcom, and
you can follow us atbecomeoneliving on Instagram.
Yoga is a gift that was passeddown thousands of years and then
(43:36):
asana hundreds of years ago.
If you commit to the practicedaily, even for five minutes, it
will change your life.
You, though, have to be willingand wanting to actually change
your life, because yoga willpropel you into change and shift
(43:59):
over time.
May you invest in yourself sothat you can live your fullest
potential.
My friends, thank you so muchfor joining us.
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