May 8, 2025 • 43 mins
Our guest is an unstoppable force of transformation—wife, mother, and self-care alchemist—Cassandra Juniphant. From the high-stakes world of corporate HR to the empowering path of bodybuilding, martial arts, and holistic wellness, Cassandra’s journey is one of intentional evolution. She’s the founder of Ora, a self-care brand focused on helping modern women reclaim their well-being through ancient wisdom and modern practices. In this heartwarming and hilarious episode, we dive into how she went from dislocating her knee doing lunges in front of her baby to becoming a professional bodybuilder, certified personal trainer, gym owner, yoga instructor, and the voice behind The Body Ministry blog and book.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
- Cassandra’s inspiring pivot from corporate life to wellness entrepreneurship
- How one painful injury led her to the world of bodybuilding
- Why self-care isn’t one-size-fits-all—and how to make it work for you
- Her journey into motherhood, fitness, and finally holistic healing
- The story behind Ora and what it means to practice true self-care
- A sneak peek into The Body Ministry and her upcoming book
Links & Resources:
- Connect with Cassandra on Instagram: [Insert link]
- Learn more about Ora: [Insert link]
- Follow The Body Ministry blog: [Insert link]
- Cassandra’s book (coming soon!): [Insert link if available]
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Caffeinated Chaos,where business deals happen
(00:02):
between diaper changes andfriendships are fueled by
caffeine.
I'm Whitney GaN, your host, andI'm here to talk all things
business parenthood, and ofcourse keeping up with the BFFs,
whether you're juggling theboardroom, the playroom, or just
here for some coffee fuel chaos.
We've got you covered.
Get ready for real talk, laughsand a whole lot of heart as we
(00:23):
dive into the beautiful messthat is entrepreneurship,
parenthood, and everything inbetween.
So let's embrace the chaostogether.
Caffeinated, of course.
Today's guest is a true force oftransformation, a wife, a
mother, and a self-carealchemist who turned her journey
of personal discovery into amovement from the high power
(00:45):
world of corporate HR to themindful grind of bodybuilding,
yoga and martial arts.
She's built a life and abusiness rooted in holistic
wellness.
As the founder of Ora, she's ona mission to help modern women
reclaim self-care through thewisdom of tradition.
Get ready to meet the powerhousebehind the passion.
(01:05):
Here comes Cassandra Juni.
Welcome to the podcast,Cassandra.
How are you this morning?
I am doing great.
Thank you so much for having me.
Is it morning for you right now?
It is not actually, it'safternoon now.
That shows you how my day hasgone.
It's been pretty fast, but No,it's in the afternoon now.
I know we were talking before westarted hitting record, but
(01:27):
listeners, I literally was like.
I got, I have like an hour.
I can jump in the shower beforemy kids notice.
Like I'm even gone.
And my husband was like playinggoaltender, like, where's mommy?
Oh, I don't know.
I don't know.
I am so glad that you are heretoday.
'cause we have had this on thebooks and then we rescheduled it
and now we are here.
Now we are here.
(01:48):
And that's all that matters.
And it's all that matters.
Yeah.
So why don't we start off firstby you telling our listeners a
little bit about yourself.
Sure.
So, I'm also a wife and amother.
Mine are older now.
I've got two teenagers, so Oh,wow.
They know to leave me alone whenI'm in the bathroom, you know,
like I've, I've exited thatphase.
But, I'm a happy mom of twoteens.
(02:09):
I'm the founder of Ora.
We are a self-care company.
I also am the creator of theBody Ministry, which is a blog
and now a book that I'm reallyexcited to talk about at some
point.
Yay.
And I'm a self-care alchemist,which means that I take
self-care and I make it work forme.
I make it work really well.
But that's kind of like thehighlights of who I am.
My backstory is that, I was inhuman resources for many years,
(02:35):
over 20 years.
And after I had my youngest,after I had my son, I, like a
lot of women struggled to losethe baby weight.
Mm-hmm.
Just could not get it off.
And, I was doing jumping lunges,actually.
He was in his little, strollerthing or car seat thing.
And I was doing dumping lungesto make him laugh.
And I dislocated my knee and Iwas pissed.
(02:55):
Yeah.
Like, I like full out.
It was awful.
I went to Google to look forways to lose weight without
hurting my knee, and I stumbledon bodybuilding.com and I
couldn't believe what I wasseeing.
I had never seen women look likethat before and I was like,
well, let me see if you knowthere's something here for me.
So I Googled again to find acoach, and I found one coach
(03:17):
within 10 miles of me.
And the next closest coach waslike over 50 miles away.
Wow.
So to me, that was a sign.
It was like, okay, you need tobe doing this.
And so I did.
I started bodybuilding.
Even though I didn't know what Iwas doing, I couldn't really
afford the lessons.
I did it anyways.
And I ended up competing forfive years, and I got my pro
card in 2016.
(03:37):
And on that journey, I fell inlove with everything about
having a body, like everything.
I went on to become a, certifiedpersonal trainer.
I owned a gym.
Wow.
So, supplements, nutrition,martial arts, a yoga instructor.
Like, I literally went down therabbit hole because I just, I
had loved.
Having a body all of a sudden,you know, like there was this
(04:00):
idea that was discovering themagic of it.
And, the backstory to that, orside story maybe to that is
that, one I was doing all ofthis alongside my corporate
career.
This was all my side hustle.
Wow.
In my mind there was a direct.
Not even just a correlation, butthere was direct causation to
how well my corporate career wasgoing.
(04:22):
I was getting the raises, I wasgetting the promotions.
I literally went like this, butthere was direct correlation
between that and how well I wastaking care of myself and how I
was able to show up to myselffirst and then show up to my
organization and be a trueleader.
'cause I had led myself first,and so it all.
Very much translated, that mypersonal life into my
(04:42):
professional life.
But the backstory.
Also is that around that sametime that I started my fitness
journey, I started my spiritualjourney.
And it's because I used to bemarried to a minister for seven
years.
My children's father is aminister in the church, and I
really struggled with organizedreligion and so I left the
church.
And so we got divorced,obviously not that long
(05:04):
thereafter, but this is aroundthe same time that I stumble
into bodybuilding and everythingand.
I was getting ready for a show,a bodybuilding show.
It's peak week, which is theweek before you hit the stage.
And in peak week you areintentionally dehydrated, like
you dehydrate your body so yourmuscles pop more.
Not eating many carbs, you know,like some carb deprived, like,
(05:26):
I'm not a happy person, youknow, at this point I'm not
happy and I'm dying through aworkout.
And I remember getting thismessage loud and cleared from
source spirit, God, whatever youbelieve in, and said, this is
what we came for.
I got an immediate download andI was so clear and had been
clear ever since, that having abody is 100%, you know, our
(05:49):
purpose in being here.
So as I was dying in the gym,spirit was loving it'cause it
was non-physical.
Having a physical experience andall physical experiences then
are so divine.
And so since then that has beenmy mission, it's funny because
during those years that I wasactively bodybuilding, everyone
was like, oh my gosh, your abs,oh my gosh, your trophies.
(06:11):
And I'm like, yeah, that'sgreat.
Don't get me wrong.
But there's something reallyspecial happening inside of me.
Like, I'm changing.
I'm different.
There's more here than what yousee.
And as a matter of fact.
Whatever you see is simply theoverflow from the transformation
that's taking place inside.
Yeah.
And, have been on, this missionto, I guess, spread the gospel
(06:35):
of, of the body, which is why mybook in my blog is called The
Body Ministry.
But fast forward to 2021 and Iget laid off.
I get laid off.
My company's is acquired and Iwas a VP of HR at the time, and
it never, you know, like theydidn't need another HR person,
another vp.
And when I got laid off, itnever occurred to me to, go look
(06:57):
for another job.
It never occurred.
I didn't dust off my resume, Ididn't do any of those things.
I was like, you know what?
I think I'm gonna do this.
I think I'm gonna bet on myselfhere.
Like I can do this.
And 2021 is like the thick ofcovid time, right?
Right.
And so for the first time, manyof us were talking about our
health and our wellness, and itwas in 2021 that self-care had a
(07:18):
resurgence and it was like thisbuzzword that we've been hearing
about ever since.
And yeah.
I was like, you know, I amuniquely positioned, having been
a single mother, having been awoman of color, having climbed
the corporate ladder and really,intimately aware and
understanding and appreciativeof health and wellness.
I'm really uniquely positionedto go out here and help.
(07:41):
And so that's when I founded mycompany.
That's when I founded Ora and.
Has seen many iterations overthe last, almost four years.
But today, as I said in thebeginning, we are a self-care
company and we help women, byreviving traditional wellness,
and reintroducing that to modernwomen.
And so, that was a mouthful, butthat's who I am.
(08:02):
And that's what I do.
I love it for so many reasons,but I feel like you cross over
to with a lot of things that Iam so into.
I worked in the mental healthfield for 10, plus years, and
now I'm, now, I'm starting aneight actually in the HR
journey, for the company that Idid mental health for, wow.
A counselor for, so.
That's really nice and I can dothat part-time while I'm, doing
(08:24):
the podcast and doing mybusiness.
So funny that it's just weavingthrough with the self-care
because mental health too.
So much of what I try to help mycoworkers, the other
coordinators, we call themdirect support professional
DSPs, is.
You are taking care of somebodyelse who's taking care of you.
Yeah.
Like how are you treatingyourself?
(08:45):
Do you have something that youcan do right after work or do
you have we call it likemethods, mindfulness methods to,
you know, stay calm if thingsstart to go down.
Back when at my old job we did,behavioral management, so we
were constantly under stresswhere it was, we had clients who
had maladaptive behaviors, suchas aggressive behaviors.
(09:05):
And so we had to make sure thatwe were, super calm and
stressful situations.
So I love any topic of self-careand I love that it's so multi
fascinated too.
And the fact that you startedoff as this like bodybuilding
journey.
Yeah.
And then you were like, okay,outside and then.
It kind of just, it full circledinto you working on the inside
(09:26):
as well.
And now you have this amazingcompany, and so can you just
like tell me when someone, ifsomebody was to join or become a
client of your company, what'sone of the first things that you
like wanna touch on with them?
Yeah.
One of the, well, gosh, so I wasgonna answer that, um, because I
have an immediate answer, but.
It's kind of a two-prongedapproach.
(09:47):
Okay.
And so I'll give you the first,what I was gonna immediately say
is sleep is the number onething.
Yep.
I mean, it, it's, we cannot denythe power, the potency that's
transformative properties ofsleep.
But we do for some reason.
And I know with you being in themental health field.
That is absolutely like numberone to mental health, to
medication efficacy, tobalancing our hormones, I mean
(10:11):
to everything.
Yeah.
Sleep literally changeseverything.
And so, most women coming intomy world need a good night's
rest.
We often say, I wanna gethealthy.
And so the first thing we thinkabout doing is getting on a diet
or exercise program, which is.
Completely the wrong move.
Let me say that as abodybuilder, as someone who's
been in nutrition, that isabsolutely the wrong move.
(10:31):
Most of us need sleep, to beginwith because, we're
undernourished in thatparticular facet of health.
We're undernourished in health.
And so I say consume sleep com,consume it abundantly, and it'll
change your world.
A diet or an exercise programwill take weeks, months, if not
years, to really transform yourhealth.
(10:52):
But one, good night's sleep willimmediately make you healthier
when you wake up.
So that's where most women needto start, but that's on a
tactical level.
More on that internal, levelwhere most women need to start
is understanding theirworthiness.
Love it.
It starts with, I have ninepillars of wellness that I go
over in the body ministry, andthe very first pillar of
(11:14):
wellness, believe it or not, isunderstanding your worthiness.
We often, you know, believe thatour health or our wellbeing is,
it's worth it for.
The vacation that we've gotcoming up, or the reunion or the
wedding or the, any of thesespecial events, these milestones
that we have throughout ourlife, usually one of those
things is good enough for us toknuckle down and do the hard
(11:37):
things and lose the 15 to 20pounds or whatever it is that
we're trying to lose.
That's usually where we find ourworth.
A lot of women who, like I usedto be super ambitious.
Super ambitious, you know, themaster's degree, the chief
officer sweeps, all of thethings.
And I used to find my sense ofself worth by those
accomplishments, those titles,my paycheck, all of these things
(11:59):
that I could point to and saylike, well, look, clearly I'm
worthy.
I love the hair toss.
I mean, but that's kind of howwe feel about it.
I'm like, who are you eventalking to?
Of course, I'm, I believe inmyself.
Of course, I'm worthy of all ofthe good things.
Look at all of these good thingsaround me.
Yeah, but the question is whoare you without all of those
things, you know, where is theself-worth?
(12:20):
You know, where are you on thatscale?
Then?
What happens when you don't havesomething to get ready for?
What are you worth then?
And many times in the absence ofthose catalysts or those
activations, we don't have asense of self-worth.
And our ability to achieve andthen maintain results is 100%
rooted in our belief that wedeserve them.
Our sub, and you understand thisalso, our subconscious only
(12:42):
allows us to have what webelieve we deserve.
So the question that begs to beasked is, what do you believe
you deserve?
What do you feel that you areworth?
And so that's the actual, like,that's the, when I said I had a
two-pronged answer, that's whythere's like the, the physical,
tactical stuff, but there'sreally the internal work that
needs to be done.
That helps us get in touch withour ability to have a desire for
(13:06):
an external transformation andthen maintaining that external
transformation.
Yeah.
Okay.
So, it's so interesting that youmentioned like the, like all the
accolades and the trophies andall that, because back when I
was studying psychology, one ofmy professors asked the class a
question, and it, it was like,something along the lines of
(13:27):
like.
Who are you, this and that.
And so some people were like, Iam a student, I play on the uc,
football team, blah, blah, blah.
And he goes, okay, now imagineyourself in a room, and that
room has no shelves, so youcannot display anything.
Yeah.
Right.
And it's only a mirror ofyourself.
What.
(13:47):
Who are you now?
If you don't have all of thataround you and all you're
wearing is jeans and a whiteT-shirt, you know?
Yeah.
And so.
Then everyone's like, oh my God.
You know, like, yeah, you don'thave the, you know, the UCSC
sweater.
You're not, you don't have yourleatherman, you know?
And so that when you weretalking about that, it totally
(14:07):
reminded me of this.
This teacher I had not eventhought about in years and this
exercise that he made us do,where it was just like, all
right, everyone picturesyourself in white room, you
know, in a room, blah, blah.
Now write down who you are ifyou can't display anything and
it's just you in a mirror.
And I'm like, oh yeah.
Yeah, well go on anentrepreneurship journey.
(14:29):
That'll also help you.
Oh my gosh, yeah.
Really begin to understandbecause my master's degree, my
six figure paycheck, my, mynetwork, all of that stuff
doesn't matter when you're outhere in these entrepreneurial
streets, just on your own tryingto make an impact.
To be of service, to findsolutions to bring to the
collective.
None of that matters.
All of that matters is your trueeffectiveness.
(14:52):
Can you pierce through thenoise?
Can you pierce through and thethings that we used to rely on
to help us pierce through thatnoise?
Don't matter here, I.
Right.
Don't matter at all.
And so I tell people like to,it's entrepreneurship is not
just a business journey or afinancial journey or a freedom
journey.
It is absolutely a self-worthjourney.
Oh yeah.
It's a spiritual journey.
It's a personal growth anddevelopment journey.
(15:13):
It's like all of the otherthings, but what it really comes
down to, to answer that questionthough, like who are you in the
absence of those accolades andall of those things that we can
point to outside of ourself, theanswer to that question is that
you're a, you're a beautiful,beautiful spirit that came here
to have a experience in yourbody.
It shows your specific body andall of the things that come with
(15:35):
it, whether you love thosethings or not.
Your spirit chose to experiencelife through you.
That's who you are wheneverything else is tripped away.
And it was really sitting withthat understanding that I, I.
Am an aspect of God, theuniverse, the divine.
Again, whatever you believe, I'man aspect of that.
And because I came here as awoman, I'm expressing through a
(15:57):
woman's body.
I'm the feminine divine on topof that.
And so my lens to the world isthrough that as the feminine
divine.
What does she want?
How do we wanna experience life?
What are these as we makedecisions about what to eat,
what to drink when they go tosleep, and how to rest our body,
who we wanna engage with, howmuch energy we wanna share.
(16:18):
All of those things are donethrough that lens of answering
that question, who am I really?
I'm a divine feminine, and.
That's, how I show up to theworld, that is the perspective
and the lens through which I,view and make decisions in this
world.
Oh gosh.
He would totally give you an A.
(16:39):
Okay.
I'm totally the, A student kindof chick, so I love that.
Gimme my a.
So I'm gonna backtrack a littlebit.
You mentioned your book, andthen I know you were mentioning
it when we were talking about,and you said you have nine
pillars.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
We probably don't have enoughtime to go through.
All of them in detail, but doyou wanna just run us through
what your book covers?
Yeah, absolutely.
So the book is called The BodyMinistry.
(17:01):
It's based off of my blog, theBody Ministry, which is out
there, on my site.
It covers the nine pillars ofwellness and, the nine pillars
are, well, they're in threedifferent realms as well.
Okay.
So there's the mindset real, thespiritual realm, and the
physical realm.
So in the mindset realm, thefirst three pillars are.
Oh my goodness.
Our worthiness, trust anddiscipline.
So it's our sense of self-worth.
(17:23):
It is how much we not just trustourselves to make decisions, but
trust ourselves to thrivethrough whatever the outcome of
that decision is.
It's discipline with ourself andreally def redefining discipline
so that it is really protectingour desires at all costs and a
practice of devotion toourselves.
(17:43):
Then we move into the spiritrealm with our fourth pillar of
wellness, which is breath andbreath being literally our life
force and our firstcommunication with spirit.
You know?
Okay.
Our source, we begin and end ourlife with our breath, and it's
really powerful for all of themoments in between and creating
space for us to be reallyintentional.
The fifth pillar of wellness isconnection, and this is really
(18:05):
diving into the connection thatwe have with our.
Self with our intuition and withour body and usually the cleaner
and more pure our body is as achannel.
The more we trust our gut, themore we trust our intuition.
'cause it's not clouded and.
Trying to get to us through theinterference of all the gunk
that we do to our body.
(18:25):
Yeah.
Then there's presence and that'sthe connections is more towards
yourself versus presence is toyour environment and being able
to be fully aware and fullypresent with whatever emotions
or physical environment you findyourself in.
Because the only way to get frompoint A to point B is to be
fully aware of where you aretoday.
Right.
Then the navigate.
To, but if we are cloudy orunsure or not willing to pay
(18:48):
attention to where we are, it'sreally hard to start that
navigation.
So it's really being present.
Then we move into the physicalrealm with our seventh pillar of
wellness, which is rest.
Mm-hmm.
Rest is and I titled it, restnot sleep because there's rest
and then there's sleep, and thenthere's stillness and all of
those things are important, butthey fall under the overarching
(19:09):
kind of category of rest andmaking sure that we are giving
that I.
To ourselves in the manydifferent ways that we have an
opportunity to, and that itshows up to us.
Then, the eighth pillar ofwellness is nutrition because
the energy transfer of foodchanged my life.
Food alchemy is real and assomeone who's been challenged
(19:29):
and battled mental health verypublicly for a long time, and
it's on both sides of my family.
At the highest of degrees.
It was something that I alwaysthought that I was just
inevitably going to suffer with.
But it's something that I'veabsolutely, you know, thrived
through really intentional foodchoices.
So I get really passionate aboutnutrition.
And then finally, last, butcertainly not least, is the
(19:52):
ninth pillar of wellness, whichis movement and our, you know.
Soul remembers to dance andrejoice every time we move.
And so movement.
And it's not exercise.
'cause I don't want people,specifically women to limit
themselves to thinking this is agym or a class.
It literally is just movement.
And I'll just share that, one ofthe most powerful, not even just
(20:13):
most powerful and effective, butpreferred methods of movement
for our body is simply walking.
Walking every day.
And I really like to point thatout to eliminate the resistance
and the stress and the, anxietyand intimidation about workout
programs and what that has tolook like.
It literally, the call to actionhere is just movement and
(20:34):
walking is a beautiful way tohonor that.
So those are the nine pillars ofwellness.
And in my book, the BodyMinistry, it's a.
Playbook that takes womenthrough the first 12 weeks of
their health and fitnessjourney.
For anyone who's been on onebefore, well, you probably have
an awareness that the gym, thehour or so that you spend in the
gym is not the hard part.
(20:54):
The hard part is the lifestyleoutside of the gym.
That part where we're not payinganyone to really coach us
through, to cheerlead usthrough.
To guide us through.
Well, this book does that.
This book is that cheerleader,that coach, that sage that wise,
you know, b, f, f, that you'vegot kind of like you've locked
arms with, to walk you throughthe internal transformation that
(21:15):
supports the external transtransformation.
Okay, so I love this'cause I'mjust getting out of postpartum.
My baby is six months, so I havea 3-year-old and a six month
old.
And so I'm like starting to likebe like, okay, I have the energy
to do stuff.
Now I feel like I'm finallylike.
Flush in my cheeks again, youknow?
(21:36):
And the brain, the mom, brainfog.
Yeah.
You know, that's definitely,yeah.
Yeah.
So now I'm just like, I'm readyto go.
Where can people find your book?
I will also put all the linkslisteners down below.
But for anyone who can't accessthe show notes right now, where
can we find your book?
Sure.
Please visit my website,ora.com.
(21:56):
O-R-I-A-R a.com.
There's literally a button thatsays, you know, are you looking
to start your self-care journey?
Start here.
So all you gotta do is click.
The button and it takes you toeverything.
And so you'll find awesome.
The blog, you'll find the book,you'll find a bunch of other,
resources.
I know this is gonna airprobably after the fact, but I
do have it, a donation basedmasterclass coming up, in the
(22:19):
beginning of March because, it'sa great way for people to get a
feel of what the book will walkyou through.
It's a body ministry masterclassYeah.
That I do.
And I do donation basedworkshops once a month because,
I.
Feel really strongly abouthaving accessibility to true
self-care and it having nobarriers to entry.
(22:39):
So at least once a month, evenif you, whenever this airs and
you don't make that one, therewill be another one.
'cause I do them about once amonth.
Awesome.
That's so nice.
That's so great too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm happy to like, I'm genuinelyhappy to That's great.
Yeah.
I mean, I can tell you fromlike.
How much we have to advocate inthe mental health field for the
(23:00):
tiniest little thing.
The fact that someone like youhas all this knowledge and
you're like once a month, likecome all you know, as you are.
Amazing.
Cassandra, you are amazing.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's so funny because when yousaid that you have a 3-year-old,
three and a half, and a sixmonth old, that's about the same
age difference between mychildren.
(23:21):
And so I just feel, I very muchthink I can kind relate to the
position that you're in rightnow.
And, yeah.
I remember, yeah.
Was it your first born or yoursecond born that you were doing
jumping lunges in front of?
It was my second one.
It was my son.
Yeah.
My daughter, I don't know.
She must have been sleeping atthe time.
And my son, you know, babies,they get up early.
(23:41):
Yeah.
And so he was up early, he wasin his car seat.
I was doing jumping lunges,making little funny faces,
trying to get him to laugh andmake this fun for the both of
us.
And I literally dislocated myknee.
Gosh.
Oh my gosh.
You've got to be kidding me.
But it led, it's one of those,you know, beautifully.
Um, what's the word?
Like one of those beautifulinterventions, you know?
Yeah.
That you feel like is literallygonna take you out, but it ends
(24:04):
up being the thing that liftsyou, you know, higher than I
could have ever imagined andever dreamed just from
dislocating my knee that onetime.
So, yeah.
I mean.
Yeah, it's like one of thoselike multiverse like theories
where it's like, where would yoube if you weren't trying to
entertain him and work out atthe same time?
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
For sure.
(24:24):
No, definitely.
I think about that, what do theycall it?
Um, sliding doors, moments.
Yeah.
Right.
Like and you have the two.
Yeah.
Do, I think about that quite abit.
And then even just my HR career,if I hadn't dislocated my knee,
stumbled into bodybuilding, doneall of those things, then, who
would I have been in hr?
How would I have shown up to,and I'm sure you're getting a
(24:45):
good dose of the stress andbeing pulled mm-hmm.
In different directions and thedemands that are being placed on
you, both from management andfrom the employees.
Like, it's a lot.
It's a, and I just think aboutwho would I have shown up as,
you know, if it weren't who Iended up showing up as, which
was a woman who had highstandards for herself and then
therefore, you know, everyoneelse around her.
(25:06):
And thank goodness, because Iembodied those standards,
everyone else was willing tomeet me there.
Mm-hmm.
And it's funny because we talkabout this a lot now, but 12
years ago, personal brandingwasn't a.
Thing.
You know, we didn't run aroundour personal brand, but that's
what I realized it was, is thatI was personally branding myself
as someone who had disciplineand project management and, who
(25:26):
was able to strategize and timemanagement and all of these
things that come with leadingyourself.
Again, definitely translated to,everything I was doing in hr.
Okay.
Nice.
Yeah, I think about that.
Okay.
We have to squeeze one inbecause we are caffeinated
chaos, so we can't have alittle, we need a little tea, A
(25:47):
little chaos.
Okay.
So it can be parent related,business related.
Just a funny.
Funny story, if you have a, Imean, it's like, when did, I
don't know if the chaos everended to be with you.
I feel like I'm in chaos, allthe time.
But I'll tell you, well, do youwant a historical story or like
a current one?
Surprise us.
(26:07):
So currently I have a senior inhigh school and an eighth
grader.
So I've got two graduations thisyear.
And like all of the graduationpreparation stuff is happening
right now.
And they're both track athletesand so.
They're running in, track meetsthat aren't always together.
(26:28):
They're practices are completelyopposite schedules.
And so this is gonna be aninteresting year on top of the
fact that I'm a newlywed.
I remarried in late 20 11, 1123.
This is so our first full yearof, being married.
And so there's all the newnessof this being in my house.
Everything is new.
And it literally, when we movedhere, picked up my kids from
(26:49):
their original, schools andfriendships, place that we had
been their entire life.
I brought both of my kids backto the home that, you know, I
sold to, to move here.
And so, like, literally, when Isay everything is brand new, I
mean, everything is brand newand really, really chaotic.
And so, you know, as I look atwhat's.
Ahead of us.
And I'm trying to strategize,you know, the track meets and
(27:10):
the practices and the dinnersand then my self-care and time
with my husband and all of thesethings.
What is front and center thereis me.
I'm taking myself into all ofthose things.
Every single thing that I justmentioned that is, you know, on
my mind and is a stressor I'mtaking myself into.
And so I'm making sure to,prioritize my wellbeing so that
(27:30):
I can show up as, all of thethings that I need to be over
the next three months, until thekids graduate.
And so, yeah.
Life's pretty chaotic right now.
Like it's really chaotic rightnow.
I know.
Wow.
I mean, and that's also a goodlesson for anyone listening is
like to have yourself also be anon-negotiable that like you can
give so much to everyone, butyou do need to make sure that
(27:52):
you're giving to yourself andtaking care of yourself as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I guarantee you, the peoplewho love you, want you to,
right?
Yeah.
People who love you, they knowyou're worthy.
Let me have 20 minutes for, youknow, meditation, 20 minutes to
go do a walk, 20 minutes,because that's all you have for
whatever it is that you need.
The people who you were askingthat of, I guarantee you.
(28:13):
Believe that you're worth that.
Right.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
I recently, in the past likemonth, I have been able to carve
out time for myself and myhusband is like, go, and I
actually finished two books andI swear I haven't read a single
book since before I was pregnantwith my second Jasmine.
(28:34):
And I'm just like, I just readtwo books.
Like, I was so stunned that Ieven finished them and he's
like.
We're going back to Barnes andNoble.
It's only been like two weeksand I was like, yeah, let's go
back to Barnes and Noble.
That is the best feeling in theworld.
I love that.
Yeah.
He now has bought me five booksso that I don't have to keep
(28:56):
going back to the store.
And it's really interesting.
I also recently got into audiobooks and I finished my first
like 19 hour audiobookyesterday.
Ooh, wow.
That's cool.
I know.
Book wow.
Yeah, it was good.
I know it, it was really long.
I am now like convinced that Ionly like audio books if it's
(29:17):
dual narrations.
I feel like it keeps me likeoccupied and it's not like, you
know, I.
One person having the same toneof voice the whole time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Unless of course it's like abiography or anything like, you
know, yeah.
By the person.
That's a good, but yeah, to lookinto that, yeah.
The dual, narratives.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's really, it's really nicetoo, like even if it's just
(29:39):
somebody doing voices for theother characters and actually
having people who areprofessional voice actors do it.
'cause they can change theirvoices as they go, you know?
Yeah.
So yeah, that's my little likefun little self-care thing is I
got back into reading andreading is huge.
I love that.
I am like, I am total like Bellfrom being the beast.
(30:01):
Like I want the bookcase withthe swinging ladder.
Like I have so many books andI'm just like, I will get to you
again one day.
You know?
Yeah.
It's fun.
I have a, I do have a.
Big in my office, a couple ofbig bookcases.
And, sometimes I'm like, oh, Iwant a new book.
And I'm like, no, let me just goshopping in my own little, you
(30:21):
know, bookstore here.
And I pick up something that Ihaven't read in a gazillion
years and I reread it again andI'm like, oh.
It's a whole new book.
Yeah.
This, I'm reading this from sucha different perspective and such
a different mm-hmm.
Layer of myself, like it casts awhole new tone to that same
book.
And I, that's one of my newfavorite things is just going
shopping in my own littlelibrary.
(30:44):
Yeah.
I mean, if you, if you got it,why not?
Because books are meant to beread.
They're not meant to like alwayscollect dust, you know?
Yeah.
Yes.
And you're an author now too, soI am an author now.
Yeah.
That feels good to say.
Thank you for saying that.
That was like wild.
Yeah.
Do you have like a specificplace in your library for your
book?
No, actually, I was justthinking I don't have it on in
(31:05):
my bookcase.
They don't have it in my office,and so I, I need to do that.
I, my, my whole thought is like,let's get these book out into
the world, but you're right.
I need to put it someplaceprominently on my own bookcase,
so I'm gonna do that.
Actually, when we get done hereis like, yes, you belong here.
Yeah, yeah.
Somewhere at eye level so thatit's like a reminder to
yourself, you know?
(31:25):
Yeah.
I love that.
I love that.
Yes.
And, and this is hopefully thefirst of many books, you know,
being, in the bodybuildinghealth and fitness world is,
it's, I know it so intimatelyand so well, so I thought my
first book, I want this to bekind of like a love letter to
any woman who's ever been on adiet or exercise program and
felt like.
(31:46):
If she didn't get the resultsshe wanted, she felt like
something was wrong with her.
Like I'm talking to that woman,like, there's nothing wrong with
you.
We're not live living in asociety where our health or
humanity is really supported,and I want women to understand
that.
So I wrote this first book tothem, but the next book.
It's gonna be the same ninepillars of wellness, but
targeted towards corporatewomen.
(32:08):
'cause the other thing I knowreally well is climbing the
corporate ladder and what thatlooks like and what it takes and
how to personally brand yourselfand make self-care a
non-negotiable part of yourprofessional development.
Because that's what I see it as.
I see self-care being an a, a,an aspect of.
Professional development.
Yeah.
The book after that's gonna befor Fit Moms because I know all
(32:30):
about being, a fit mom.
Yes.
Now that my kids are older, Ican say with a lot of confidence
what works because my kid, myson was turning one, I was
trying to lose the baby weightfor my son turning one years old
when all of this started and nowhe's 13.
And so, wow.
My kids have, you know.
Been raised only knowing reallythis version of me and, and
(32:50):
those lessons.
Now that there are older adultswho are athletes and making
their own decisions, I can say,yeah, these things I did with
them when they were little.
These things worked because lookat, who they are today.
And then finally, believe it ornot, my fourth one, I know is
gonna be about mental health,and care for mental health that
I wanna work with a mentalhealth practitioner because as I
(33:12):
was going through my mentalhealth challenges and even
today, all of our conversationsabout mental health.
Are from, they act as if wedon't have a body that our
emotions and our mental healthis living in.
Mm-hmm.
And we completely disregard thephysical health of the body in
every conversation about mentalhealth.
And I'm like, this is thebiggest elephant in the room.
(33:33):
I can't believe we aren'ttalking about here.
Right.
How can you have a conversationabout mental health when we're
not talking about whether or notyou're sleeping, if you're
eating ultra processed foods,whether or not you've moved your
body in the last 30 days.
You know, like these things makea mati.
At least when I was goingthrough mine, I.
Huge difference.
And so I wanna talk about selfcare, in relation to, mental
(33:55):
health.
And so those are, I just want awhole mouthful there, but that's
what I for.
No, I love it.
That's what I've got lined upfor the year.
In the next series.
'cause again, they're all basedon these nine pillars of
wellness.
But depending on who I'm talkingto, I've got a really specific
message for you and a really, adepth of understanding of that
thing that I hope helpstranslate it to a really
(34:17):
palatable language that makesyou feel inspired and that you
can take action and feel likeyou can actually create positive
outcomes in your life.
Like that is the whole goal.
Yeah, I love that.
You need to carve out a biggerspot on your shelf now because
it's gonna be four bucks thick.
I do, I do.
I love that because when I wasworking, and we were doing
(34:39):
behavioral management, we wouldbreak up our client's day, into
three aspects.
So they were with us from nineto two, and we would do,
exercise or movement in themorning, followed by a, life
skills building session.
So whether that was volunteerismor actually like working on math
or reading or that kind ofthing, we would have lunch and
(35:00):
then we would have socializationhour where they can go into
whatever groups they wanted to,with their peers.
And so every day was thatroutine, Monday through Friday
for them.
It really like helped find somepeople were like, I have
purpose.
I am gonna go here.
I'm gonna go to work.
You know, they call it work andI forgot to mention that I
(35:20):
worked with adults withdevelopmental disabilities and
so that's the population I wasworking with.
And so I.
We breaking it down and thenmeeting with the rest of the
people who care for this, thefor them, their team, whether
they're in a group, home,parents or their regional,
service coordinator.
It was always like, okay, whatare the main goals?
And then we're like, I.
(35:41):
We would listen to all theirgoals and then we would help
build that plan into those threesegments of our program.
And then, so each day it waslike, okay, yeah, you wanted to
do this more so you're gonna bepart of this group who goes on a
hike in the morning or yoga inthe morning, that kind of thing.
Mm-hmm.
And then you wanna volunteer oryou want to earn money and so
(36:02):
you would do that and, and solike the fact that.
You're talking about, you know,in your fourth book, going and
relating it to mental health isso important because you are
right.
A lot of people just when theyhear mental health, mental
brain, you know, thoughts andbrain.
Yeah.
That.
It is a full circle.
(36:24):
It's the whole person.
We used to call it,person-centered care.
Yes.
Where it's the whole person andtheir whole being.
Yeah.
You're 100% right.
It is person-centered,human-centered care, and that
mm-hmm.
I don't know why we don't talkabout it more fluidly or at
least mainstream that way.
Mm-hmm.
We talk about mental health asthough it happens in a vacuum.
(36:45):
And so there's no outsideforces.
Like you're just born with amental health issue or a
developmental, you know, delayor something and then therefore
like, that's it.
And I'm like, there's so many.
Contributing factors there areenvironment, you know,
upregulates or downregulate,some of those, those aspects of
ourselves, right?
Yeah.
That we might, so don't even getme started.
You get it, but, oh God, wecould me, we could start a whole
(37:07):
podcast about this.
I'm telling you.
'cause it's a real thing andit's really, I feel like it, it
hurts my heart.
'cause I just remember how muchI hurt.
Mm-hmm.
I just remember, the agonyliterally that I was living
with.
And I was actually prescribedmeds and I'm not mm-hmm.
Giving medical advice, but Iknew that wasn't for me.
I knew that this wasn't the stepthat I wanted to take,
especially'cause when I wasfirst prescribed, I was,
(37:29):
bodybuilding.
I didn't know, I had to hit thestage.
I didn't know how that was gonnaaffect my body.
And so I needed to find morenatural ways of dealing with
what I was going through.
And, that was when I turned tonutrition to really as my form
of medication.
You know, like that, that sayingthat, that food be thy medicine
and medicine be thy food.
That's not, again, just somequippy, saying it's, it's
(37:49):
really, really true.
And I leaned on that to heal me,not to numb me, not to, you
know, create a bridge to get mefrom day to day, but to heal me,
to truly heal me.
And here I am all of these yearslater and I can say, absolutely
it works.
And yeah, it's just, it'sfascinating to me that we treat
mental health as being thisisolated.
Thing that we compartmentalizeand I think about all of the
(38:11):
people, and my heart is withwomen who, on top of just having
mental health challenges thatare challenging in and of
itself, but then the messagingthat we get from the world and
it really feels so oppressiveand it really can feel so.
Just dark.
Yeah.
It can feel really, really darkwhen you're in those spaces.
And so my heart, my whole heartis with women who might be
(38:33):
experiencing that and just notknow where to turn.
And I want them to know that youcan turn to yourself like you
are endowed with all of thecreative abilities and power.
To make a better way foryourself, but it literally
starts with yourself.
And I don't mean just, you know,like love on yourself, but I
mean literally like, giveyourself rest.
Give yourself, you know, cleanwater.
(38:54):
Give yourself high vibrationalfoods, like really turn to your
physical vessel and give thebest that you can to yourself,
and that will help you reallybegin to climb out of that dark
space.
Like the light will shine reallybright for you to be able to.
Follow to navigate your way out,I promise.
Oh my gosh, Sandra.
(39:16):
So many good things.
Okay, so I know that you have afreebie you wanna tell everyone
about.
So why don't you tell us aboutyour freebie that we have?
Yes.
And then also, how people canconnect with you.
Okay.
Yeah.
I didn't realize all this timehad already flown by.
My goodness.
I, that's what I said.
Like, we could, we couldliterally start a whole podcast
about.
Seriously.
No, you were so easy and fun totalk to.
So my freebie is called, I thinkthis is, I think I called it the
(39:38):
Gym Girly guide.
But, it's the other 23 hours ofself-care that we're often not
thinking about or talking about.
When we start a health andfitness journey again,
oftentimes we think aboutgetting healthy and the first
thing we think about is a dietor an exercise program when, the
fact is health.
Means wholeness and you cannotcut or diet your way to
(39:58):
wholeness.
The only way you can arrive atwholeness is by adding to by
nourishing, and this guide helpsyou learn how to do that by
starting with three simplethings.
It's nourishing yourself andconsuming in abundance rest.
It's nourishing and consuming inabundance water.
It's nourishing and consuming inabundance, high vibrational
foods, and you do those thingsfirst to be.
(40:20):
To get yourself in alignmentwith the lifestyle that's just
gonna be required of you inorder to obtain and then
maintain any results you'retrying to get in the gym.
So I say, before you even thinkabout stepping foot into a gym,
spend a good two to three weeksnourishing yourself with those
three things.
Spend a few weeks doing thelifestyle piece because once
(40:40):
you've got the lifestyle going,your body's gonna crave
movement.
Your body's gonna, be aching tomove and go do things.
If you're thinking about, and asspring comes, it's getting warm.
We all wanna be outside and becute.
Yep.
Right now I say it's winterstill.
Use these dormant months, theway they're supposed to be a
force of nature.
You've gotta work with nature.
(41:00):
And right now the entireuniverse is screaming at us to
slow down, nourish ourselves.
And that's what this guide helpsyou learn how to do, is how to
nourish yourself so that comespring you can be all the way
outside.
Side in Bloom, be beautiful andbe happy and confident.
So that is the freebie, thatI've offered.
And then, again, you can findme@ora.com, O-R-I-A-R a.com for
(41:22):
the donation based workshopsthat are once a month.
The blog that I mentioned, thebook that I mentioned.
And along with the book, I'mlaunching a self-care collective
because one of the questions Igot was.
Well, but if I have questions,how do I, you know, where do I
go?
And I thought, you know what?
I really wanna create a spacewhere women can follow along.
I love that if you don't havethe book, you can still follow
along.
The idea is it's come one, comeall, whether you've got a diet
(41:45):
or exercise program that you'reon, but you don't have anyone to
keep you accountable.
That's where I come in.
Or you're looking for somethingto start.
You don't know where to start.
That's where I come in.
That's where this collectivecomes in.
Because again, I've noticed,women, as we heal and we evolve
and we're shedding past layersof ourselves, we're like, well,
who are the new people that I'maligned with?
(42:06):
Where are the women who, youknow are on this health journey,
on a self-care journey, on ahealing journey?
On that level up, we're.
They're in the self-carecollective.
And I know if they're anythinglike me, you know, I was looking
for new friends, I was lookingfor my new tribe.
I was looking for women who,were gonna support me in my new
healthy lifestyle and stop beingthat one healthy friend in the
(42:28):
group.
You know,'cause that just wasn'tfun.
So, I created that space forwomen.
So all of that though is on thewebsite or ari.com.
Awesome.
And it will be in the show notesas well.
Cassandra, thank you so much forcoming on.
I'm so glad that we connectedbecause I would talk to you all
day if we could.
I would love that.
And I feel like we were juststarting to like peel so many
(42:50):
layers back on the conversation.
So.
You are always welcome back andI would love to have you back
again when the next books comeout.
Maybe next time we'll have likeyour book in the background on
that, like I wanna see it on theshelf.
Cassandra, you okay?
Your book deserves to be on yourlibrary shelf.
Feel, feel good?
Done.
Yeah.
(43:11):
But yeah, thank you so much forjoining us.
I really, really appreciate youbeing here.
And I will like, we willdefinitely be connecting for
sure.
Good, good, good.
Thank you so much for having me.
That's a wrap on another episodeof Caffeinated Chaos.
I hope you're leaving with alittle more clarity, a lot more
inspiration, and maybe even anextra shot of motivation.
(43:34):
If you love today's episode,don't forget to follow us.
Leave a review and share it witha friend who could use just a
little chaos at caffeine intheir life.
Until next time, keep embracingthe mess.
Chase your dreams and make magichappen.
One caffeinated, chaotic momentat a time.
I will see you all soon.
Bye now.
Welcome to Caffeinated Chaos,where business deals happen
(00:02):
between diaper changes andfriendships are fueled by
caffeine.
I'm Whitney GaN, your host, andI'm here to talk all things
business parenthood, and ofcourse keeping up with the BFFs,
whether you're juggling theboardroom, the playroom, or just
here for some coffee fuel chaos.
We've got you covered.
Get ready for real talk, laughsand a whole lot of heart as we
(00:23):
dive into the beautiful messthat is entrepreneurship,
parenthood, and everything inbetween.
So let's embrace the chaostogether.
Caffeinated, of course.
Today's guest is a true force oftransformation, a wife, a
mother, and a self-carealchemist who turned her journey
of personal discovery into amovement from the high power
(00:45):
world of corporate HR to themindful grind of bodybuilding,
yoga and martial arts.
She's built a life and abusiness rooted in holistic
wellness.
As the founder of Ora, she's ona mission to help modern women
reclaim self-care through thewisdom of tradition.
Get ready to meet the powerhousebehind the passion.
(01:05):
Here comes Cassandra Juni.
Welcome to the podcast,Cassandra.
How are you this morning?
I am doing great.
Thank you so much for having me.
Is it morning for you right now?
It is not actually, it'safternoon now.
That shows you how my day hasgone.
It's been pretty fast, but No,it's in the afternoon now.
I know we were talking before westarted hitting record, but
(01:27):
listeners, I literally was like.
I got, I have like an hour.
I can jump in the shower beforemy kids notice.
Like I'm even gone.
And my husband was like playinggoaltender, like, where's mommy?
Oh, I don't know.
I don't know.
I am so glad that you are heretoday.
'cause we have had this on thebooks and then we rescheduled it
and now we are here.
Now we are here.
(01:48):
And that's all that matters.
And it's all that matters.
Yeah.
So why don't we start off firstby you telling our listeners a
little bit about yourself.
Sure.
So, I'm also a wife and amother.
Mine are older now.
I've got two teenagers, so Oh,wow.
They know to leave me alone whenI'm in the bathroom, you know,
like I've, I've exited thatphase.
But, I'm a happy mom of twoteens.
(02:09):
I'm the founder of Ora.
We are a self-care company.
I also am the creator of theBody Ministry, which is a blog
and now a book that I'm reallyexcited to talk about at some
point.
Yay.
And I'm a self-care alchemist,which means that I take
self-care and I make it work forme.
I make it work really well.
But that's kind of like thehighlights of who I am.
My backstory is that, I was inhuman resources for many years,
(02:35):
over 20 years.
And after I had my youngest,after I had my son, I, like a
lot of women struggled to losethe baby weight.
Mm-hmm.
Just could not get it off.
And, I was doing jumping lunges,actually.
He was in his little, strollerthing or car seat thing.
And I was doing dumping lungesto make him laugh.
And I dislocated my knee and Iwas pissed.
(02:55):
Yeah.
Like, I like full out.
It was awful.
I went to Google to look forways to lose weight without
hurting my knee, and I stumbledon bodybuilding.com and I
couldn't believe what I wasseeing.
I had never seen women look likethat before and I was like,
well, let me see if you knowthere's something here for me.
So I Googled again to find acoach, and I found one coach
(03:17):
within 10 miles of me.
And the next closest coach waslike over 50 miles away.
Wow.
So to me, that was a sign.
It was like, okay, you need tobe doing this.
And so I did.
I started bodybuilding.
Even though I didn't know what Iwas doing, I couldn't really
afford the lessons.
I did it anyways.
And I ended up competing forfive years, and I got my pro
card in 2016.
(03:37):
And on that journey, I fell inlove with everything about
having a body, like everything.
I went on to become a, certifiedpersonal trainer.
I owned a gym.
Wow.
So, supplements, nutrition,martial arts, a yoga instructor.
Like, I literally went down therabbit hole because I just, I
had loved.
Having a body all of a sudden,you know, like there was this
(04:00):
idea that was discovering themagic of it.
And, the backstory to that, orside story maybe to that is
that, one I was doing all ofthis alongside my corporate
career.
This was all my side hustle.
Wow.
In my mind there was a direct.
Not even just a correlation, butthere was direct causation to
how well my corporate career wasgoing.
(04:22):
I was getting the raises, I wasgetting the promotions.
I literally went like this, butthere was direct correlation
between that and how well I wastaking care of myself and how I
was able to show up to myselffirst and then show up to my
organization and be a trueleader.
'cause I had led myself first,and so it all.
Very much translated, that mypersonal life into my
(04:42):
professional life.
But the backstory.
Also is that around that sametime that I started my fitness
journey, I started my spiritualjourney.
And it's because I used to bemarried to a minister for seven
years.
My children's father is aminister in the church, and I
really struggled with organizedreligion and so I left the
church.
And so we got divorced,obviously not that long
(05:04):
thereafter, but this is aroundthe same time that I stumble
into bodybuilding and everythingand.
I was getting ready for a show,a bodybuilding show.
It's peak week, which is theweek before you hit the stage.
And in peak week you areintentionally dehydrated, like
you dehydrate your body so yourmuscles pop more.
Not eating many carbs, you know,like some carb deprived, like,
(05:26):
I'm not a happy person, youknow, at this point I'm not
happy and I'm dying through aworkout.
And I remember getting thismessage loud and cleared from
source spirit, God, whatever youbelieve in, and said, this is
what we came for.
I got an immediate download andI was so clear and had been
clear ever since, that having abody is 100%, you know, our
(05:49):
purpose in being here.
So as I was dying in the gym,spirit was loving it'cause it
was non-physical.
Having a physical experience andall physical experiences then
are so divine.
And so since then that has beenmy mission, it's funny because
during those years that I wasactively bodybuilding, everyone
was like, oh my gosh, your abs,oh my gosh, your trophies.
(06:11):
And I'm like, yeah, that'sgreat.
Don't get me wrong.
But there's something reallyspecial happening inside of me.
Like, I'm changing.
I'm different.
There's more here than what yousee.
And as a matter of fact.
Whatever you see is simply theoverflow from the transformation
that's taking place inside.
Yeah.
And, have been on, this missionto, I guess, spread the gospel
(06:35):
of, of the body, which is why mybook in my blog is called The
Body Ministry.
But fast forward to 2021 and Iget laid off.
I get laid off.
My company's is acquired and Iwas a VP of HR at the time, and
it never, you know, like theydidn't need another HR person,
another vp.
And when I got laid off, itnever occurred to me to, go look
(06:57):
for another job.
It never occurred.
I didn't dust off my resume, Ididn't do any of those things.
I was like, you know what?
I think I'm gonna do this.
I think I'm gonna bet on myselfhere.
Like I can do this.
And 2021 is like the thick ofcovid time, right?
Right.
And so for the first time, manyof us were talking about our
health and our wellness, and itwas in 2021 that self-care had a
(07:18):
resurgence and it was like thisbuzzword that we've been hearing
about ever since.
And yeah.
I was like, you know, I amuniquely positioned, having been
a single mother, having been awoman of color, having climbed
the corporate ladder and really,intimately aware and
understanding and appreciativeof health and wellness.
I'm really uniquely positionedto go out here and help.
(07:41):
And so that's when I founded mycompany.
That's when I founded Ora and.
Has seen many iterations overthe last, almost four years.
But today, as I said in thebeginning, we are a self-care
company and we help women, byreviving traditional wellness,
and reintroducing that to modernwomen.
And so, that was a mouthful, butthat's who I am.
(08:02):
And that's what I do.
I love it for so many reasons,but I feel like you cross over
to with a lot of things that Iam so into.
I worked in the mental healthfield for 10, plus years, and
now I'm, now, I'm starting aneight actually in the HR
journey, for the company that Idid mental health for, wow.
A counselor for, so.
That's really nice and I can dothat part-time while I'm, doing
(08:24):
the podcast and doing mybusiness.
So funny that it's just weavingthrough with the self-care
because mental health too.
So much of what I try to help mycoworkers, the other
coordinators, we call themdirect support professional
DSPs, is.
You are taking care of somebodyelse who's taking care of you.
Yeah.
Like how are you treatingyourself?
(08:45):
Do you have something that youcan do right after work or do
you have we call it likemethods, mindfulness methods to,
you know, stay calm if thingsstart to go down.
Back when at my old job we did,behavioral management, so we
were constantly under stresswhere it was, we had clients who
had maladaptive behaviors, suchas aggressive behaviors.
(09:05):
And so we had to make sure thatwe were, super calm and
stressful situations.
So I love any topic of self-careand I love that it's so multi
fascinated too.
And the fact that you startedoff as this like bodybuilding
journey.
Yeah.
And then you were like, okay,outside and then.
It kind of just, it full circledinto you working on the inside
(09:26):
as well.
And now you have this amazingcompany, and so can you just
like tell me when someone, ifsomebody was to join or become a
client of your company, what'sone of the first things that you
like wanna touch on with them?
Yeah.
One of the, well, gosh, so I wasgonna answer that, um, because I
have an immediate answer, but.
It's kind of a two-prongedapproach.
(09:47):
Okay.
And so I'll give you the first,what I was gonna immediately say
is sleep is the number onething.
Yep.
I mean, it, it's, we cannot denythe power, the potency that's
transformative properties ofsleep.
But we do for some reason.
And I know with you being in themental health field.
That is absolutely like numberone to mental health, to
medication efficacy, tobalancing our hormones, I mean
(10:11):
to everything.
Yeah.
Sleep literally changeseverything.
And so, most women coming intomy world need a good night's
rest.
We often say, I wanna gethealthy.
And so the first thing we thinkabout doing is getting on a diet
or exercise program, which is.
Completely the wrong move.
Let me say that as abodybuilder, as someone who's
been in nutrition, that isabsolutely the wrong move.
(10:31):
Most of us need sleep, to beginwith because, we're
undernourished in thatparticular facet of health.
We're undernourished in health.
And so I say consume sleep com,consume it abundantly, and it'll
change your world.
A diet or an exercise programwill take weeks, months, if not
years, to really transform yourhealth.
(10:52):
But one, good night's sleep willimmediately make you healthier
when you wake up.
So that's where most women needto start, but that's on a
tactical level.
More on that internal, levelwhere most women need to start
is understanding theirworthiness.
Love it.
It starts with, I have ninepillars of wellness that I go
over in the body ministry, andthe very first pillar of
(11:14):
wellness, believe it or not, isunderstanding your worthiness.
We often, you know, believe thatour health or our wellbeing is,
it's worth it for.
The vacation that we've gotcoming up, or the reunion or the
wedding or the, any of thesespecial events, these milestones
that we have throughout ourlife, usually one of those
things is good enough for us toknuckle down and do the hard
(11:37):
things and lose the 15 to 20pounds or whatever it is that
we're trying to lose.
That's usually where we find ourworth.
A lot of women who, like I usedto be super ambitious.
Super ambitious, you know, themaster's degree, the chief
officer sweeps, all of thethings.
And I used to find my sense ofself worth by those
accomplishments, those titles,my paycheck, all of these things
(11:59):
that I could point to and saylike, well, look, clearly I'm
worthy.
I love the hair toss.
I mean, but that's kind of howwe feel about it.
I'm like, who are you eventalking to?
Of course, I'm, I believe inmyself.
Of course, I'm worthy of all ofthe good things.
Look at all of these good thingsaround me.
Yeah, but the question is whoare you without all of those
things, you know, where is theself-worth?
(12:20):
You know, where are you on thatscale?
Then?
What happens when you don't havesomething to get ready for?
What are you worth then?
And many times in the absence ofthose catalysts or those
activations, we don't have asense of self-worth.
And our ability to achieve andthen maintain results is 100%
rooted in our belief that wedeserve them.
Our sub, and you understand thisalso, our subconscious only
(12:42):
allows us to have what webelieve we deserve.
So the question that begs to beasked is, what do you believe
you deserve?
What do you feel that you areworth?
And so that's the actual, like,that's the, when I said I had a
two-pronged answer, that's whythere's like the, the physical,
tactical stuff, but there'sreally the internal work that
needs to be done.
That helps us get in touch withour ability to have a desire for
(13:06):
an external transformation andthen maintaining that external
transformation.
Yeah.
Okay.
So, it's so interesting that youmentioned like the, like all the
accolades and the trophies andall that, because back when I
was studying psychology, one ofmy professors asked the class a
question, and it, it was like,something along the lines of
(13:27):
like.
Who are you, this and that.
And so some people were like, Iam a student, I play on the uc,
football team, blah, blah, blah.
And he goes, okay, now imagineyourself in a room, and that
room has no shelves, so youcannot display anything.
Yeah.
Right.
And it's only a mirror ofyourself.
What.
(13:47):
Who are you now?
If you don't have all of thataround you and all you're
wearing is jeans and a whiteT-shirt, you know?
Yeah.
And so.
Then everyone's like, oh my God.
You know, like, yeah, you don'thave the, you know, the UCSC
sweater.
You're not, you don't have yourleatherman, you know?
And so that when you weretalking about that, it totally
(14:07):
reminded me of this.
This teacher I had not eventhought about in years and this
exercise that he made us do,where it was just like, all
right, everyone picturesyourself in white room, you
know, in a room, blah, blah.
Now write down who you are ifyou can't display anything and
it's just you in a mirror.
And I'm like, oh yeah.
Yeah, well go on anentrepreneurship journey.
(14:29):
That'll also help you.
Oh my gosh, yeah.
Really begin to understandbecause my master's degree, my
six figure paycheck, my, mynetwork, all of that stuff
doesn't matter when you're outhere in these entrepreneurial
streets, just on your own tryingto make an impact.
To be of service, to findsolutions to bring to the
collective.
None of that matters.
All of that matters is your trueeffectiveness.
(14:52):
Can you pierce through thenoise?
Can you pierce through and thethings that we used to rely on
to help us pierce through thatnoise?
Don't matter here, I.
Right.
Don't matter at all.
And so I tell people like to,it's entrepreneurship is not
just a business journey or afinancial journey or a freedom
journey.
It is absolutely a self-worthjourney.
Oh yeah.
It's a spiritual journey.
It's a personal growth anddevelopment journey.
(15:13):
It's like all of the otherthings, but what it really comes
down to, to answer that questionthough, like who are you in the
absence of those accolades andall of those things that we can
point to outside of ourself, theanswer to that question is that
you're a, you're a beautiful,beautiful spirit that came here
to have a experience in yourbody.
It shows your specific body andall of the things that come with
(15:35):
it, whether you love thosethings or not.
Your spirit chose to experiencelife through you.
That's who you are wheneverything else is tripped away.
And it was really sitting withthat understanding that I, I.
Am an aspect of God, theuniverse, the divine.
Again, whatever you believe, I'man aspect of that.
And because I came here as awoman, I'm expressing through a
(15:57):
woman's body.
I'm the feminine divine on topof that.
And so my lens to the world isthrough that as the feminine
divine.
What does she want?
How do we wanna experience life?
What are these as we makedecisions about what to eat,
what to drink when they go tosleep, and how to rest our body,
who we wanna engage with, howmuch energy we wanna share.
(16:18):
All of those things are donethrough that lens of answering
that question, who am I really?
I'm a divine feminine, and.
That's, how I show up to theworld, that is the perspective
and the lens through which I,view and make decisions in this
world.
Oh gosh.
He would totally give you an A.
(16:39):
Okay.
I'm totally the, A student kindof chick, so I love that.
Gimme my a.
So I'm gonna backtrack a littlebit.
You mentioned your book, andthen I know you were mentioning
it when we were talking about,and you said you have nine
pillars.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
We probably don't have enoughtime to go through.
All of them in detail, but doyou wanna just run us through
what your book covers?
Yeah, absolutely.
So the book is called The BodyMinistry.
(17:01):
It's based off of my blog, theBody Ministry, which is out
there, on my site.
It covers the nine pillars ofwellness and, the nine pillars
are, well, they're in threedifferent realms as well.
Okay.
So there's the mindset real, thespiritual realm, and the
physical realm.
So in the mindset realm, thefirst three pillars are.
Oh my goodness.
Our worthiness, trust anddiscipline.
So it's our sense of self-worth.
(17:23):
It is how much we not just trustourselves to make decisions, but
trust ourselves to thrivethrough whatever the outcome of
that decision is.
It's discipline with ourself andreally def redefining discipline
so that it is really protectingour desires at all costs and a
practice of devotion toourselves.
(17:43):
Then we move into the spiritrealm with our fourth pillar of
wellness, which is breath andbreath being literally our life
force and our firstcommunication with spirit.
You know?
Okay.
Our source, we begin and end ourlife with our breath, and it's
really powerful for all of themoments in between and creating
space for us to be reallyintentional.
The fifth pillar of wellness isconnection, and this is really
(18:05):
diving into the connection thatwe have with our.
Self with our intuition and withour body and usually the cleaner
and more pure our body is as achannel.
The more we trust our gut, themore we trust our intuition.
'cause it's not clouded and.
Trying to get to us through theinterference of all the gunk
that we do to our body.
(18:25):
Yeah.
Then there's presence and that'sthe connections is more towards
yourself versus presence is toyour environment and being able
to be fully aware and fullypresent with whatever emotions
or physical environment you findyourself in.
Because the only way to get frompoint A to point B is to be
fully aware of where you aretoday.
Right.
Then the navigate.
To, but if we are cloudy orunsure or not willing to pay
(18:48):
attention to where we are, it'sreally hard to start that
navigation.
So it's really being present.
Then we move into the physicalrealm with our seventh pillar of
wellness, which is rest.
Mm-hmm.
Rest is and I titled it, restnot sleep because there's rest
and then there's sleep, and thenthere's stillness and all of
those things are important, butthey fall under the overarching
(19:09):
kind of category of rest andmaking sure that we are giving
that I.
To ourselves in the manydifferent ways that we have an
opportunity to, and that itshows up to us.
Then, the eighth pillar ofwellness is nutrition because
the energy transfer of foodchanged my life.
Food alchemy is real and assomeone who's been challenged
(19:29):
and battled mental health verypublicly for a long time, and
it's on both sides of my family.
At the highest of degrees.
It was something that I alwaysthought that I was just
inevitably going to suffer with.
But it's something that I'veabsolutely, you know, thrived
through really intentional foodchoices.
So I get really passionate aboutnutrition.
And then finally, last, butcertainly not least, is the
(19:52):
ninth pillar of wellness, whichis movement and our, you know.
Soul remembers to dance andrejoice every time we move.
And so movement.
And it's not exercise.
'cause I don't want people,specifically women to limit
themselves to thinking this is agym or a class.
It literally is just movement.
And I'll just share that, one ofthe most powerful, not even just
(20:13):
most powerful and effective, butpreferred methods of movement
for our body is simply walking.
Walking every day.
And I really like to point thatout to eliminate the resistance
and the stress and the, anxietyand intimidation about workout
programs and what that has tolook like.
It literally, the call to actionhere is just movement and
(20:34):
walking is a beautiful way tohonor that.
So those are the nine pillars ofwellness.
And in my book, the BodyMinistry, it's a.
Playbook that takes womenthrough the first 12 weeks of
their health and fitnessjourney.
For anyone who's been on onebefore, well, you probably have
an awareness that the gym, thehour or so that you spend in the
gym is not the hard part.
(20:54):
The hard part is the lifestyleoutside of the gym.
That part where we're not payinganyone to really coach us
through, to cheerlead usthrough.
To guide us through.
Well, this book does that.
This book is that cheerleader,that coach, that sage that wise,
you know, b, f, f, that you'vegot kind of like you've locked
arms with, to walk you throughthe internal transformation that
(21:15):
supports the external transtransformation.
Okay, so I love this'cause I'mjust getting out of postpartum.
My baby is six months, so I havea 3-year-old and a six month
old.
And so I'm like starting to likebe like, okay, I have the energy
to do stuff.
Now I feel like I'm finallylike.
Flush in my cheeks again, youknow?
(21:36):
And the brain, the mom, brainfog.
Yeah.
You know, that's definitely,yeah.
Yeah.
So now I'm just like, I'm readyto go.
Where can people find your book?
I will also put all the linkslisteners down below.
But for anyone who can't accessthe show notes right now, where
can we find your book?
Sure.
Please visit my website,ora.com.
(21:56):
O-R-I-A-R a.com.
There's literally a button thatsays, you know, are you looking
to start your self-care journey?
Start here.
So all you gotta do is click.
The button and it takes you toeverything.
And so you'll find awesome.
The blog, you'll find the book,you'll find a bunch of other,
resources.
I know this is gonna airprobably after the fact, but I
do have it, a donation basedmasterclass coming up, in the
(22:19):
beginning of March because, it'sa great way for people to get a
feel of what the book will walkyou through.
It's a body ministry masterclassYeah.
That I do.
And I do donation basedworkshops once a month because,
I.
Feel really strongly abouthaving accessibility to true
self-care and it having nobarriers to entry.
(22:39):
So at least once a month, evenif you, whenever this airs and
you don't make that one, therewill be another one.
'cause I do them about once amonth.
Awesome.
That's so nice.
That's so great too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm happy to like, I'm genuinelyhappy to That's great.
Yeah.
I mean, I can tell you fromlike.
How much we have to advocate inthe mental health field for the
(23:00):
tiniest little thing.
The fact that someone like youhas all this knowledge and
you're like once a month, likecome all you know, as you are.
Amazing.
Cassandra, you are amazing.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's so funny because when yousaid that you have a 3-year-old,
three and a half, and a sixmonth old, that's about the same
age difference between mychildren.
(23:21):
And so I just feel, I very muchthink I can kind relate to the
position that you're in rightnow.
And, yeah.
I remember, yeah.
Was it your first born or yoursecond born that you were doing
jumping lunges in front of?
It was my second one.
It was my son.
Yeah.
My daughter, I don't know.
She must have been sleeping atthe time.
And my son, you know, babies,they get up early.
(23:41):
Yeah.
And so he was up early, he wasin his car seat.
I was doing jumping lunges,making little funny faces,
trying to get him to laugh andmake this fun for the both of
us.
And I literally dislocated myknee.
Gosh.
Oh my gosh.
You've got to be kidding me.
But it led, it's one of those,you know, beautifully.
Um, what's the word?
Like one of those beautifulinterventions, you know?
Yeah.
That you feel like is literallygonna take you out, but it ends
(24:04):
up being the thing that liftsyou, you know, higher than I
could have ever imagined andever dreamed just from
dislocating my knee that onetime.
So, yeah.
I mean.
Yeah, it's like one of thoselike multiverse like theories
where it's like, where would yoube if you weren't trying to
entertain him and work out atthe same time?
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
For sure.
(24:24):
No, definitely.
I think about that, what do theycall it?
Um, sliding doors, moments.
Yeah.
Right.
Like and you have the two.
Yeah.
Do, I think about that quite abit.
And then even just my HR career,if I hadn't dislocated my knee,
stumbled into bodybuilding, doneall of those things, then, who
would I have been in hr?
How would I have shown up to,and I'm sure you're getting a
(24:45):
good dose of the stress andbeing pulled mm-hmm.
In different directions and thedemands that are being placed on
you, both from management andfrom the employees.
Like, it's a lot.
It's a, and I just think aboutwho would I have shown up as,
you know, if it weren't who Iended up showing up as, which
was a woman who had highstandards for herself and then
therefore, you know, everyoneelse around her.
(25:06):
And thank goodness, because Iembodied those standards,
everyone else was willing tomeet me there.
Mm-hmm.
And it's funny because we talkabout this a lot now, but 12
years ago, personal brandingwasn't a.
Thing.
You know, we didn't run aroundour personal brand, but that's
what I realized it was, is thatI was personally branding myself
as someone who had disciplineand project management and, who
(25:26):
was able to strategize and timemanagement and all of these
things that come with leadingyourself.
Again, definitely translated to,everything I was doing in hr.
Okay.
Nice.
Yeah, I think about that.
Okay.
We have to squeeze one inbecause we are caffeinated
chaos, so we can't have alittle, we need a little tea, A
(25:47):
little chaos.
Okay.
So it can be parent related,business related.
Just a funny.
Funny story, if you have a, Imean, it's like, when did, I
don't know if the chaos everended to be with you.
I feel like I'm in chaos, allthe time.
But I'll tell you, well, do youwant a historical story or like
a current one?
Surprise us.
(26:07):
So currently I have a senior inhigh school and an eighth
grader.
So I've got two graduations thisyear.
And like all of the graduationpreparation stuff is happening
right now.
And they're both track athletesand so.
They're running in, track meetsthat aren't always together.
(26:28):
They're practices are completelyopposite schedules.
And so this is gonna be aninteresting year on top of the
fact that I'm a newlywed.
I remarried in late 20 11, 1123.
This is so our first full yearof, being married.
And so there's all the newnessof this being in my house.
Everything is new.
And it literally, when we movedhere, picked up my kids from
(26:49):
their original, schools andfriendships, place that we had
been their entire life.
I brought both of my kids backto the home that, you know, I
sold to, to move here.
And so, like, literally, when Isay everything is brand new, I
mean, everything is brand newand really, really chaotic.
And so, you know, as I look atwhat's.
Ahead of us.
And I'm trying to strategize,you know, the track meets and
(27:10):
the practices and the dinnersand then my self-care and time
with my husband and all of thesethings.
What is front and center thereis me.
I'm taking myself into all ofthose things.
Every single thing that I justmentioned that is, you know, on
my mind and is a stressor I'mtaking myself into.
And so I'm making sure to,prioritize my wellbeing so that
(27:30):
I can show up as, all of thethings that I need to be over
the next three months, until thekids graduate.
And so, yeah.
Life's pretty chaotic right now.
Like it's really chaotic rightnow.
I know.
Wow.
I mean, and that's also a goodlesson for anyone listening is
like to have yourself also be anon-negotiable that like you can
give so much to everyone, butyou do need to make sure that
(27:52):
you're giving to yourself andtaking care of yourself as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I guarantee you, the peoplewho love you, want you to,
right?
Yeah.
People who love you, they knowyou're worthy.
Let me have 20 minutes for, youknow, meditation, 20 minutes to
go do a walk, 20 minutes,because that's all you have for
whatever it is that you need.
The people who you were askingthat of, I guarantee you.
(28:13):
Believe that you're worth that.
Right.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
I recently, in the past likemonth, I have been able to carve
out time for myself and myhusband is like, go, and I
actually finished two books andI swear I haven't read a single
book since before I was pregnantwith my second Jasmine.
(28:34):
And I'm just like, I just readtwo books.
Like, I was so stunned that Ieven finished them and he's
like.
We're going back to Barnes andNoble.
It's only been like two weeksand I was like, yeah, let's go
back to Barnes and Noble.
That is the best feeling in theworld.
I love that.
Yeah.
He now has bought me five booksso that I don't have to keep
(28:56):
going back to the store.
And it's really interesting.
I also recently got into audiobooks and I finished my first
like 19 hour audiobookyesterday.
Ooh, wow.
That's cool.
I know.
Book wow.
Yeah, it was good.
I know it, it was really long.
I am now like convinced that Ionly like audio books if it's
(29:17):
dual narrations.
I feel like it keeps me likeoccupied and it's not like, you
know, I.
One person having the same toneof voice the whole time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Unless of course it's like abiography or anything like, you
know, yeah.
By the person.
That's a good, but yeah, to lookinto that, yeah.
The dual, narratives.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's really, it's really nicetoo, like even if it's just
(29:39):
somebody doing voices for theother characters and actually
having people who areprofessional voice actors do it.
'cause they can change theirvoices as they go, you know?
Yeah.
So yeah, that's my little likefun little self-care thing is I
got back into reading andreading is huge.
I love that.
I am like, I am total like Bellfrom being the beast.
(30:01):
Like I want the bookcase withthe swinging ladder.
Like I have so many books andI'm just like, I will get to you
again one day.
You know?
Yeah.
It's fun.
I have a, I do have a.
Big in my office, a couple ofbig bookcases.
And, sometimes I'm like, oh, Iwant a new book.
And I'm like, no, let me just goshopping in my own little, you
(30:21):
know, bookstore here.
And I pick up something that Ihaven't read in a gazillion
years and I reread it again andI'm like, oh.
It's a whole new book.
Yeah.
This, I'm reading this from sucha different perspective and such
a different mm-hmm.
Layer of myself, like it casts awhole new tone to that same
book.
And I, that's one of my newfavorite things is just going
shopping in my own littlelibrary.
(30:44):
Yeah.
I mean, if you, if you got it,why not?
Because books are meant to beread.
They're not meant to like alwayscollect dust, you know?
Yeah.
Yes.
And you're an author now too, soI am an author now.
Yeah.
That feels good to say.
Thank you for saying that.
That was like wild.
Yeah.
Do you have like a specificplace in your library for your
book?
No, actually, I was justthinking I don't have it on in
(31:05):
my bookcase.
They don't have it in my office,and so I, I need to do that.
I, my, my whole thought is like,let's get these book out into
the world, but you're right.
I need to put it someplaceprominently on my own bookcase,
so I'm gonna do that.
Actually, when we get done hereis like, yes, you belong here.
Yeah, yeah.
Somewhere at eye level so thatit's like a reminder to
yourself, you know?
(31:25):
Yeah.
I love that.
I love that.
Yes.
And, and this is hopefully thefirst of many books, you know,
being, in the bodybuildinghealth and fitness world is,
it's, I know it so intimatelyand so well, so I thought my
first book, I want this to bekind of like a love letter to
any woman who's ever been on adiet or exercise program and
felt like.
(31:46):
If she didn't get the resultsshe wanted, she felt like
something was wrong with her.
Like I'm talking to that woman,like, there's nothing wrong with
you.
We're not live living in asociety where our health or
humanity is really supported,and I want women to understand
that.
So I wrote this first book tothem, but the next book.
It's gonna be the same ninepillars of wellness, but
targeted towards corporatewomen.
(32:08):
'cause the other thing I knowreally well is climbing the
corporate ladder and what thatlooks like and what it takes and
how to personally brand yourselfand make self-care a
non-negotiable part of yourprofessional development.
Because that's what I see it as.
I see self-care being an a, a,an aspect of.
Professional development.
Yeah.
The book after that's gonna befor Fit Moms because I know all
(32:30):
about being, a fit mom.
Yes.
Now that my kids are older, Ican say with a lot of confidence
what works because my kid, myson was turning one, I was
trying to lose the baby weightfor my son turning one years old
when all of this started and nowhe's 13.
And so, wow.
My kids have, you know.
Been raised only knowing reallythis version of me and, and
(32:50):
those lessons.
Now that there are older adultswho are athletes and making
their own decisions, I can say,yeah, these things I did with
them when they were little.
These things worked because lookat, who they are today.
And then finally, believe it ornot, my fourth one, I know is
gonna be about mental health,and care for mental health that
I wanna work with a mentalhealth practitioner because as I
(33:12):
was going through my mentalhealth challenges and even
today, all of our conversationsabout mental health.
Are from, they act as if wedon't have a body that our
emotions and our mental healthis living in.
Mm-hmm.
And we completely disregard thephysical health of the body in
every conversation about mentalhealth.
And I'm like, this is thebiggest elephant in the room.
(33:33):
I can't believe we aren'ttalking about here.
Right.
How can you have a conversationabout mental health when we're
not talking about whether or notyou're sleeping, if you're
eating ultra processed foods,whether or not you've moved your
body in the last 30 days.
You know, like these things makea mati.
At least when I was goingthrough mine, I.
Huge difference.
And so I wanna talk about selfcare, in relation to, mental
(33:55):
health.
And so those are, I just want awhole mouthful there, but that's
what I for.
No, I love it.
That's what I've got lined upfor the year.
In the next series.
'cause again, they're all basedon these nine pillars of
wellness.
But depending on who I'm talkingto, I've got a really specific
message for you and a really, adepth of understanding of that
thing that I hope helpstranslate it to a really
(34:17):
palatable language that makesyou feel inspired and that you
can take action and feel likeyou can actually create positive
outcomes in your life.
Like that is the whole goal.
Yeah, I love that.
You need to carve out a biggerspot on your shelf now because
it's gonna be four bucks thick.
I do, I do.
I love that because when I wasworking, and we were doing
(34:39):
behavioral management, we wouldbreak up our client's day, into
three aspects.
So they were with us from nineto two, and we would do,
exercise or movement in themorning, followed by a, life
skills building session.
So whether that was volunteerismor actually like working on math
or reading or that kind ofthing, we would have lunch and
(35:00):
then we would have socializationhour where they can go into
whatever groups they wanted to,with their peers.
And so every day was thatroutine, Monday through Friday
for them.
It really like helped find somepeople were like, I have
purpose.
I am gonna go here.
I'm gonna go to work.
You know, they call it work andI forgot to mention that I
(35:20):
worked with adults withdevelopmental disabilities and
so that's the population I wasworking with.
And so I.
We breaking it down and thenmeeting with the rest of the
people who care for this, thefor them, their team, whether
they're in a group, home,parents or their regional,
service coordinator.
It was always like, okay, whatare the main goals?
And then we're like, I.
(35:41):
We would listen to all theirgoals and then we would help
build that plan into those threesegments of our program.
And then, so each day it waslike, okay, yeah, you wanted to
do this more so you're gonna bepart of this group who goes on a
hike in the morning or yoga inthe morning, that kind of thing.
Mm-hmm.
And then you wanna volunteer oryou want to earn money and so
(36:02):
you would do that and, and solike the fact that.
You're talking about, you know,in your fourth book, going and
relating it to mental health isso important because you are
right.
A lot of people just when theyhear mental health, mental
brain, you know, thoughts andbrain.
Yeah.
That.
It is a full circle.
(36:24):
It's the whole person.
We used to call it,person-centered care.
Yes.
Where it's the whole person andtheir whole being.
Yeah.
You're 100% right.
It is person-centered,human-centered care, and that
mm-hmm.
I don't know why we don't talkabout it more fluidly or at
least mainstream that way.
Mm-hmm.
We talk about mental health asthough it happens in a vacuum.
(36:45):
And so there's no outsideforces.
Like you're just born with amental health issue or a
developmental, you know, delayor something and then therefore
like, that's it.
And I'm like, there's so many.
Contributing factors there areenvironment, you know,
upregulates or downregulate,some of those, those aspects of
ourselves, right?
Yeah.
That we might, so don't even getme started.
You get it, but, oh God, wecould me, we could start a whole
(37:07):
podcast about this.
I'm telling you.
'cause it's a real thing andit's really, I feel like it, it
hurts my heart.
'cause I just remember how muchI hurt.
Mm-hmm.
I just remember, the agonyliterally that I was living
with.
And I was actually prescribedmeds and I'm not mm-hmm.
Giving medical advice, but Iknew that wasn't for me.
I knew that this wasn't the stepthat I wanted to take,
especially'cause when I wasfirst prescribed, I was,
(37:29):
bodybuilding.
I didn't know, I had to hit thestage.
I didn't know how that was gonnaaffect my body.
And so I needed to find morenatural ways of dealing with
what I was going through.
And, that was when I turned tonutrition to really as my form
of medication.
You know, like that, that sayingthat, that food be thy medicine
and medicine be thy food.
That's not, again, just somequippy, saying it's, it's
(37:49):
really, really true.
And I leaned on that to heal me,not to numb me, not to, you
know, create a bridge to get mefrom day to day, but to heal me,
to truly heal me.
And here I am all of these yearslater and I can say, absolutely
it works.
And yeah, it's just, it'sfascinating to me that we treat
mental health as being thisisolated.
Thing that we compartmentalizeand I think about all of the
(38:11):
people, and my heart is withwomen who, on top of just having
mental health challenges thatare challenging in and of
itself, but then the messagingthat we get from the world and
it really feels so oppressiveand it really can feel so.
Just dark.
Yeah.
It can feel really, really darkwhen you're in those spaces.
And so my heart, my whole heartis with women who might be
(38:33):
experiencing that and just notknow where to turn.
And I want them to know that youcan turn to yourself like you
are endowed with all of thecreative abilities and power.
To make a better way foryourself, but it literally
starts with yourself.
And I don't mean just, you know,like love on yourself, but I
mean literally like, giveyourself rest.
Give yourself, you know, cleanwater.
(38:54):
Give yourself high vibrationalfoods, like really turn to your
physical vessel and give thebest that you can to yourself,
and that will help you reallybegin to climb out of that dark
space.
Like the light will shine reallybright for you to be able to.
Follow to navigate your way out,I promise.
Oh my gosh, Sandra.
(39:16):
So many good things.
Okay, so I know that you have afreebie you wanna tell everyone
about.
So why don't you tell us aboutyour freebie that we have?
Yes.
And then also, how people canconnect with you.
Okay.
Yeah.
I didn't realize all this timehad already flown by.
My goodness.
I, that's what I said.
Like, we could, we couldliterally start a whole podcast
about.
Seriously.
No, you were so easy and fun totalk to.
So my freebie is called, I thinkthis is, I think I called it the
(39:38):
Gym Girly guide.
But, it's the other 23 hours ofself-care that we're often not
thinking about or talking about.
When we start a health andfitness journey again,
oftentimes we think aboutgetting healthy and the first
thing we think about is a dietor an exercise program when, the
fact is health.
Means wholeness and you cannotcut or diet your way to
(39:58):
wholeness.
The only way you can arrive atwholeness is by adding to by
nourishing, and this guide helpsyou learn how to do that by
starting with three simplethings.
It's nourishing yourself andconsuming in abundance rest.
It's nourishing and consuming inabundance water.
It's nourishing and consuming inabundance, high vibrational
foods, and you do those thingsfirst to be.
(40:20):
To get yourself in alignmentwith the lifestyle that's just
gonna be required of you inorder to obtain and then
maintain any results you'retrying to get in the gym.
So I say, before you even thinkabout stepping foot into a gym,
spend a good two to three weeksnourishing yourself with those
three things.
Spend a few weeks doing thelifestyle piece because once
(40:40):
you've got the lifestyle going,your body's gonna crave
movement.
Your body's gonna, be aching tomove and go do things.
If you're thinking about, and asspring comes, it's getting warm.
We all wanna be outside and becute.
Yep.
Right now I say it's winterstill.
Use these dormant months, theway they're supposed to be a
force of nature.
You've gotta work with nature.
(41:00):
And right now the entireuniverse is screaming at us to
slow down, nourish ourselves.
And that's what this guide helpsyou learn how to do, is how to
nourish yourself so that comespring you can be all the way
outside.
Side in Bloom, be beautiful andbe happy and confident.
So that is the freebie, thatI've offered.
And then, again, you can findme@ora.com, O-R-I-A-R a.com for
(41:22):
the donation based workshopsthat are once a month.
The blog that I mentioned, thebook that I mentioned.
And along with the book, I'mlaunching a self-care collective
because one of the questions Igot was.
Well, but if I have questions,how do I, you know, where do I
go?
And I thought, you know what?
I really wanna create a spacewhere women can follow along.
I love that if you don't havethe book, you can still follow
along.
The idea is it's come one, comeall, whether you've got a diet
(41:45):
or exercise program that you'reon, but you don't have anyone to
keep you accountable.
That's where I come in.
Or you're looking for somethingto start.
You don't know where to start.
That's where I come in.
That's where this collectivecomes in.
Because again, I've noticed,women, as we heal and we evolve
and we're shedding past layersof ourselves, we're like, well,
who are the new people that I'maligned with?
(42:06):
Where are the women who, youknow are on this health journey,
on a self-care journey, on ahealing journey?
On that level up, we're.
They're in the self-carecollective.
And I know if they're anythinglike me, you know, I was looking
for new friends, I was lookingfor my new tribe.
I was looking for women who,were gonna support me in my new
healthy lifestyle and stop beingthat one healthy friend in the
(42:28):
group.
You know,'cause that just wasn'tfun.
So, I created that space forwomen.
So all of that though is on thewebsite or ari.com.
Awesome.
And it will be in the show notesas well.
Cassandra, thank you so much forcoming on.
I'm so glad that we connectedbecause I would talk to you all
day if we could.
I would love that.
And I feel like we were juststarting to like peel so many
(42:50):
layers back on the conversation.
So.
You are always welcome back andI would love to have you back
again when the next books comeout.
Maybe next time we'll have likeyour book in the background on
that, like I wanna see it on theshelf.
Cassandra, you okay?
Your book deserves to be on yourlibrary shelf.
Feel, feel good?
Done.
Yeah.
(43:11):
But yeah, thank you so much forjoining us.
I really, really appreciate youbeing here.
And I will like, we willdefinitely be connecting for
sure.
Good, good, good.
Thank you so much for having me.
That's a wrap on another episodeof Caffeinated Chaos.
I hope you're leaving with alittle more clarity, a lot more
inspiration, and maybe even anextra shot of motivation.
(43:34):
If you love today's episode,don't forget to follow us.
Leave a review and share it witha friend who could use just a
little chaos at caffeine intheir life.
Until next time, keep embracingthe mess.
Chase your dreams and make magichappen.
One caffeinated, chaotic momentat a time.
I will see you all soon.
Bye now.
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