November 25, 2024 • 23 mins
What if the secret to a smoother labor could be as simple as breathing? Join us as we uncover the transformative power of prenatal and postpartum yoga with the inspiring Ifat Kent from the Yoga Nest. From her roots in Israel to her thriving practice in Cooper City, Ifat shares her journey and passion for supporting expectant mothers through yoga. Discover how simple breath work can ease anxiety and foster a positive labor experience, and learn why Ifat champions the benefits of staying active during pregnancy. Whether you're in Cooper City or connecting virtually, Ifat’s insights offer something valuable for all expectant mothers.
But the conversation doesn't stop there. We shift gears to tackle the modern parenting challenge of raising teenagers in a social media-driven world. Sharing personal stories and insights, we explore the critical role of open communication, love, and support in guiding teens through their formative years. From instilling life lessons to maintaining patience when wisdom doesn't seem to click right away, we highlight the ongoing journey of parenting with understanding and empathy. Tune in for an engaging exploration of yoga, motherhood, and the art of raising grounded teenagers.
Call: (754) 610-1660
Visit: https://www.theyoganestfl.com/
Follow: https://www.instagram.com/thenestfl/
Like: https://www.facebook.com/thenestfl
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, hello everyone , and welcome back to another
episode of the Good NeighborPodcast.
We are back and we are betterthan before.
Our guest today is intosomething that I've always had
an interest in.
This is kind of like I alwayssay north of 40, I've been very
into spirituality andself-awareness and personal
(00:33):
growth and development, and oneof the things that I've always
been intrigued by is yoga.
Not practiced it too often.
I did try it out a couple ofmonths back and it was an
interesting experience.
Our guest today is Ifat Kent,and Ifat joins us from the Yoga
Nest, so I am excited to getinto this with you today.
Ifat, thanks for joining us,Thank you for having me, as I
(01:05):
like to say.
So let's get into this.
Why don't you tell ourlisteners a little bit about
what you do over at the YogaNest, and then we shall proceed
from there?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Okay, the Yoga Nest is specifically geared toward
prenatal and postpartum.
So what I do is I get peopleready essentially for birth, but
also try to make sure that thejourney leading to and after is
(01:36):
enjoyable and hopefully lesspain, better sleep, more
connection to themselves, to thebaby and to other expecting
families, and so we kind offocus that niche is pregnancy
and postpartum.
It's really about having babies.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
That's awesome.
I can see how I mean.
Not again, I haven't practicedyoga very often, but I can see
how a practice like that wouldbe incredibly beneficial for
prenatal and post would you callit postpartum Was?
It postpartum care Cause itjust.
It just seems like something, apractice like that would be
good for that.
(02:17):
Now, is that something that youhave always specialized in yoga
, or did you start just doinggeneral?
How did you land on thisspecific niche within the yoga
practice, the yoga field?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
So I started practicing yoga back when I was
in Israel, accidentally found itthrough my oldest sister and I
really enjoyed it, the spiritualpart of it more than anything
else.
And then I started liking thephysical part of it more than
anything else.
And then I started liking thephysical part of it, but I was
never like an avid practitionerright until I got pregnant.
(02:52):
And then, when I got pregnant,I started practicing and I
noticed that, well, it gives methis hour, hour and a half of
alone time and I was able toconnect to my body, I was able
to connect to my breath and then, therefore, I was able to
connect to my body.
I was able to connect to mybreath and then, therefore, I
was able to connect with my babya little bit more, because, you
know, life is busy and we don'tnecessarily take that time to
(03:13):
sit and listen or or just to sitand be quiet, especially more
now than ever.
And so that, really, I don'tknow, resonated with me so when,
after having three kids, I saidI really I really just want to
teach that, I want to focus onthat.
Now, my yoga training wasgeneral yoga training, just
general, the 200 hour basicstuff.
(03:36):
And then I reached out to mythen teacher for prenatal yoga
and I said I really want to justteach prenatal yoga.
She said, ok, let me train youand you'll start teaching.
So, funny enough, the day afterI finished my yoga training, I
started with teaching prenatalyoga.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, so you mentioned something there.
In talking about the practice,you mentioned the breath.
That is something that I'vebeen big into.
Independent of yoga is breathwork.
I think this is hugelybeneficial for folks.
Is that common for yogapractice to incorporate breath
work in the practice?
Is that part of what you do?
I'd imagine that would be alsovery helpful in the practice.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yes, yes, yes and no.
So in pregnancy we need tofocus on simple breaths.
It's not the very complexbreathing exercises that you
might be familiar with.
There's breath practices andthere's yoga, but within yoga
there are a lot of differentbreathing methods, right.
(04:36):
But for pregnancy we try not toretain the breath.
Right, you don't want to stopyour breath, you want to make
sure that baby has a lot ofoxygen and really we focus on
deep breathing, just nice, deep,calm, slow.
We want to keep everything ascalm as possible.
So the practice is mainly deepand cooling breathing, cooling
(05:00):
type of breath, because inpregnancy there's a lot of work
that the body is doing to grow ababy.
There's a lot of heat that'screated in the body.
So we try to cool the body andwe try to quiet the mind and
that essentially helps withstress reduction, anxiety
reduction and better labor,because labor is tough.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
stress reduction, anxiety reduction and better
labor, because labor is toughNow.
Are your classes primarily inperson, or do you do any virtual
work with women?
I imagine you probably dothings virtually as well for
pregnant women.
It's probably more convenientfor them to do this from home in
some cases.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
So I do both.
I do what people need, but Ilove people and so I love.
You know, during COVID it wasonly online, obviously, and then
I also discovered that I couldreach people that are far you
know, and just be online.
But I love the interaction withwith people, so I love doing
(05:57):
the classes here locally inCooper city.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So you're in Cooper City?
Yeah, really, whereabouts areyou located?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So I used to have a studio here in Cooper City that
I owned until COVID and then Iclosed it.
Now I just use studios.
I rent local studios to teachmy classes.
So I have a dance studio righthere in the neighborhood across
from the high school, and I rentit out on specific days,
sundays mostly when I teach theclasses.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Very, very cool.
So I was going to ask yousomething and then it totally
escaped me.
I totally blanked out.
It's going to come back to meshortly, Okay, so it just came
back to me as I was talking.
I think a lot of people outthere have misconceptions about
the practice, about yoga.
When it comes to, like theseEastern healing modalities
(06:51):
meditation, yoga, breath workthere seems to be, at least in
our country, a lot of skepticism, a lot of you know again
misconceptions that peopletypically have about this.
Can you speak to that?
Like, what are the things thatyou typically hear from people
about what you do in terms of,like, myths or misconceptions?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
So funny enough, not too many, honestly, sometime.
One time one person told methat they were Christian and
they they didn't want tonecessarily practice yoga
because of their religion.
And you know, yoga is not areligion and you can make yoga
as spiritual as you want toright Yoga can be.
(07:33):
Yoga has different aspects.
One of the aspects is physical.
So if you wanted to make itjust physical, then so be it.
You know you do it for yourhealth, right?
If you wanted to take it alittle further, like you
mentioned, you can get into morebreathing practices.
If you wanted to take it evenfurther, you can add a good
(07:54):
amount of meditation andawareness and you know, maybe
then the yoga philosophy andlifestyle, but it's not a
religion, it's more of aphilosophy and it has different
ways of practices.
So not too many these days.
The funny thing is that a lotof doctors are actually sending
their clients to me and they'resaying you should go practice
(08:16):
yoga because it's really goodfor your pregnancy, which makes
me really, really happy.
But a lot of the misconceptions.
Actually, people tell me well,I'm not flexible, so I shouldn't
be practicing yoga.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
I'm like well that's why you should be to get more
flexible.
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
And you don't need to be a pretzel to be practicing
yoga or you don't need to.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You got to start somewhere, yeah exactly, and you
don't need to.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
You know, have a quiet mind Again.
That's why we practice.
Nobody has a quiet mind.
Nobody's too flexible to startwith Well, some people are, but
most people are not, and wedon't need to be there.
The whole point is the practice.
Just like if you were to go tothe gym daily, it's going to
take some time before you havereally big muscles.
Yoga is the same thing.
It's all about the practice.
So I think that people get intoyoga sometimes just for the
physicality of it, and then theydiscover that when they slow
(09:07):
down, they find other prizes andgifts.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, not about the destination, it's about the
journey.
What do you say to a pregnantwoman out there that hears about
doing yoga?
Maybe it sparked an interestbut, like you said, they have in
their mind like, well, I'm notflexible, I'm carrying around
this baby, I don't know if Iwant to get into that.
Speak to a woman like that.
What would you say to somebodylike that?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Well, first of all, I say that, especially in
prenatal yoga, we take it slow,we don't try to build too much
heat no one is against the clock.
We don't try to rush things.
We try to really listen to thebody and slow things down.
We want to get stronger, wewant to get flexible, we want to
(09:56):
slow down our breathing, like Imentioned before, and we want
to have a good experience.
So it's all about having fun,meeting people, connecting with
yourself and with other pregnantmoms, no pressure whatsoever in
our classes.
And so I tell people don't beafraid, come try one class.
(10:18):
So I tell people don't beafraid, come try one class.
That's it.
You just try one class.
If you absolutely hate it, thenit is what it is.
Then at least maybe you can goand find other things that you
can do.
I think that pregnant moms needto understand that movement is
very important in pregnancy.
(10:38):
They used to tell us to restand relax.
Oh, you're fragile, you'repregnant, you're not fragile.
Labor is so hard.
You really want to prepareyourself for it.
It's kind of like preparing fora marathon.
Are you going to go and run26.2 miles without training for
it?
That is not a smart thing to doand most people will quit
(11:03):
without training for it.
That is not a smart thing to doand most people will quit.
And so, in order for you not toquit, you want to practice, not
just yoga, I mean anything thatyou want to practice, any way
that you can prepare yourselfmentally, physically,
emotionally.
You want to do it.
So be nice to yourself, be kindto yourself and just do
something every day, every dayhonestly.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, it seems like a while ago now.
It's probably 10, 12, probablymy kids are 10 and 12.
I remember back to when my wifewas pregnant with my kids.
She was very active.
She was doing like full blownexercise, gym classes up till, I
think, like eight months.
I remember seeing her with thisgiant belly.
I'm like go to the gym.
She's like, yeah, I got to getthe reps in.
Like you said, it's only abenefit to stay active.
(11:46):
Obviously you don't want to gotoo aggressive on the active
side, but just to keep movingand keep your blood flowing is
going to help you, I'd imagine,prepare for labor, which is the
ultimate.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Of course, and if someone's used to going to the
gym, I tell them go to the gym,keep going to the gym, don't
stop.
You might have to modify and asyou grow you have to listen to
yourself.
You might end up picking upsmaller weights and smaller
weights, but don't stop and thendo different things like walk
and stretch, do the yoga, do thegym.
(12:17):
You know, take care of yourbody, eat healthy, drink a lot
of water, especially down herein Florida, but do it, don't
stop, just do something 100%Florida.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
But do it, don't stop , just do something A hundred
percent.
All the stuff that seems likeit should be so easy to do
consistently.
But then building the habitsand doing these things daily is
always, always an issue forpeople.
Uh, but it's just so importantright To exercise and diet and
just keeps you so.
So well mentally.
Um, you mentioned you had threekids.
Yeah, well mentally.
You mentioned you had threekids.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yeah, how old are they?
My oldest is 17, almost 18, Iguess.
16 is my middle and 14 is myyoungest.
(13:09):
So getting closer and closer toan empty nest.
Pun intended on that one.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, so 14, 16 and soon to be 18.
So you got to.
You got to give me some, sometips and some words of advice.
I got a 10 year old son, 12year old daughter, or.
First of all, are they, what'sthe?
Are they boys, girls?
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, two boys and a girl.
The girl is in the middle.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, perfect, perfect.
So what am I in store for hereas my kids enter the teen years?
I mean, I'm alreadyexperiencing some of it with my
daughter, and it's been up anddown More good than bad.
But what am I in for?
Give me some words of wisdom,some advice.
Oh my gosh, tell me all thesecrets, let's go.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I don't have any secrets.
I let.
I have three kids, right, andthey're very different.
Each one is a whole new world,right, and I just try to let
them be themselves and wrap themwith as much love as possible.
It's funny because this morningI went to Vista View with a
(14:12):
couple of my mom friends and wewere talking about the teenagers
these days and they have a lotof anxiety and they have a lot
of I don't know.
I feel like the phones arecrazy and social media is crazy
and it's hard to keep them awayfrom it, and I feel like I know
we always say it because itsounds like we're really old
people, but everything is sodifferent now, I don't know.
(14:36):
Everything is so different nowand it's really hard for them.
I feel like life is actuallyharder with with the social
media and how they comparethemselves.
So I feel like all we need todo is try to create enough time
where we spend a face-to-face,no phones time together and then
try to help them talk, and Ifeel like everybody needs a
(15:01):
therapist.
So I don't know, maybe sendthem to therapy.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Like, have time where you, you bond and communicate
and just I don't know.
Try to understand that this is,this is really a different
world these days.
Just wrap them with as muchlove and openness, allow them to
come and share with you,because there's just a lot going
on, um and and just keep makingthem.
(15:27):
You know, try to instill thethings that you find that are
helpful for you now, after 40,right, and teach them about, you
know, being disciplined anddoing things even when they
don't want to, but but you know,finding their passion and and
working on it, because thingsdon't just come with a click of
a button, you know, and somethings do require work and it's
(15:52):
hard.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
It's so funny.
You said instill them with thewisdom.
So this is something that I'vesaid several times now to guests
on the show and justconversations I've had.
I find myself more and morejust talking to my daughter and
really trying to, like you said,instill these life lessons and
wisdoms that I've learned, andit just does not seem like
(16:13):
anything's registering with herand every time I talk about this
the guard goes up and she justdoesn't seem.
Nothing seems to resonate.
I know some of it's probablygetting in, but it's just not
clicking.
And I was talking to my mom andI said hey, you know, mom, why?
I told her the same thing thatI'm talking to her and she's not
listening.
I said when I was young, whydidn't you ever sit down with me
(16:33):
and give me some life wisdomand lessons?
She goes, jeremy, I used totell you that all the time you
never listened to me and it setin.
I was like, okay, so theproblem is it's not, it's that
I'm not connecting with her inthe right way.
And what I found is that thebest way to connect with people
in general, communication-wise,just ask.
Don't tell them the thing.
You have to ask questions toget them to uncover these things
(16:54):
on their own, and many timesit's not going to happen through
a conversation.
It will happen through making amistake in life or learning a
valuable lesson, by whatevermaking the wrong decision, and
that's how you learn right, andthat's how you get to the point
and it's something that when mymom said that to me, it went off
in my head and it clicked and Irealized it was very helpful
for me in communicating with mydaughter because I had to
(17:14):
understand that you have tolearn to see things from that
other perspective, and it'stough.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Like you said, they're plugged in all the time.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
But one of the things I'm incredibly grateful for is
that she's now into soccer andshe's got the bug and she's
loving it.
So it gets her out of the house, gets her moving.
The sports and athletics are soimportant.
I would say that to parentsright now with young children,
with everything that's going onwith technology get your kids
involved with the sports, someextracurricular activity,
(17:43):
something to get them out of thehouse and get them away from
the screens.
I don't know where we're goingwith this stuff, but it seems to
me like fast forward 10, 20years.
We're all going to have thesethings implanted in our head
anyway.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Yeah, yeah.
And then I think also just be agood example, like live your
life fully and take care ofyourself, and I mean, they're
going to learn something fromyour actions, not just your
words.
So, whatever you do, just bethe best that you can be, and I
think that that's going toinspire them.
You may not notice, but they'relooking right.
(18:15):
They're looking at us all thetime.
They're learning from us allthe time.
So just try to be really happyand do everything that's healthy
and good for you, and I thinkthat they'll absolutely learn
from that.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
So, speaking of learning through life lessons, I
find that, looking back throughmy life, some of the most
impactful experiences I've hadthat have shaped me to who I am,
are some of the mostchallenging experiences not
necessarily the rewards or thethings that went well, but the
things that I struggled withalong the way, that helped
define who I am today and helpedteach me some of the most
valuable lessons.
(18:50):
Looking back through yourjourney, is there something that
comes to mind, a definingmoment, something that you
struggled with at the time?
But now again, looking backwith hindsight, you could say
you're grateful for having gonethrough that or experienced it.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah, yes, I mean many things, many things.
But if I had to pick one,because I thought about it
before and I was like you know,something that shaped who I am
today and why I'm doing what I'mdoing is some of the failed
attempts that I had.
I mean my well, I had pregnancylosses a couple of times.
(19:26):
I had, you know, my know, myfirst pregnancy.
I knew that I wanted to have anout of hospital experience.
I really wanted to have a homebirth and that was not
successful.
So I ended up having my firstin a hospital.
Then my second was a redemption.
You know, I had a water birthand these are things like when I
(19:46):
failed miserably or at leastthat's how I felt back then.
I wanted to develop tools thatwill help me, but then I
realized, oh, I can help someoneelse too, and it just made me
more compassionate person.
I feel like I realize how hardit is right, because I've been
(20:07):
there, done that, and then now Ican come with an open heart and
a lot of compassion but kind ofbe a cheerleader for others to
go through that.
No regret.
Actually, I keep telling myclients you know, I had one baby
in a hospital.
I had one baby in a birthingcenter.
I had one baby at home.
One baby in a birthing centerhad one baby at home.
So I have experience with that.
(20:28):
Right, I ended up taking drugsthat I didn't want to, you know,
like epidural or Pitocin, formy first labor.
I didn't necessarily want that,but it didn't kill me, I'm okay
, everything's all right, andlife gives you also chances to
kind of redeem yourself and do alot of good things.
One of the good things is thatuse whatever you learn to help
(20:48):
others right.
So I'm like you know sometimes,sometimes if you really have a
hard experiences, it makes youbetter at helping other people.
So I feel like no regrets, I'mhere, I'm strong, I'm, I'm good,
I'm able to use whatever Iexperienced to help moms now,
(21:08):
and so I'm like this is, this isgreat.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I love it, paying it forward.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
So for anyone out any any pregnant mothers out there
or pregnant folks out there, oranybody that's planning on
getting into this what's thebest way to connect with you
guys?
How can our listeners reach you?
Maybe share your website, yourphone number.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, so they can go to the website, which is
theyoganestflcom or thenestflcom, and they can find us on
Instagram as the Nest FL.
On Instagram as the Nest FL.
They can reach out through thephone 754-610-1660.
(21:56):
And, yeah, just findinformation.
This way they can sign up toclasses online.
They can do in-person.
We're here.
They can also ask questions.
It's a nice community.
I feel like there's many waysto connect with us and sometimes
just find videos.
There are some free videos onthe website as well, so kind of
(22:17):
get to know me a little bitbefore joining a class.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Well, we will, of course, drop a link in the
description to all of yourcontact information so folks can
reach out.
Ifat, thank you for joining ustoday.
It was a pleasure getting thedescription to all of your
contact information so folks canreach out If thought.
Thank you for joining us today.
It was a pleasure getting theopportunity to meet you and
learn about the value that youadd to our community through
your business.
So again, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Of course, and thanks as always to our listeners for
tuning in, and we will catcheveryone next time on the next
episode of the Good NeighborPodcast.
Everyone take care, have awonderful day.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
Cooper City.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperCitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, hello everyone , and welcome back to another
episode of the Good NeighborPodcast.
We are back and we are betterthan before.
Our guest today is intosomething that I've always had
an interest in.
This is kind of like I alwayssay north of 40, I've been very
into spirituality andself-awareness and personal
(00:33):
growth and development, and oneof the things that I've always
been intrigued by is yoga.
Not practiced it too often.
I did try it out a couple ofmonths back and it was an
interesting experience.
Our guest today is Ifat Kent,and Ifat joins us from the Yoga
Nest, so I am excited to getinto this with you today.
Ifat, thanks for joining us,Thank you for having me, as I
(01:05):
like to say.
So let's get into this.
Why don't you tell ourlisteners a little bit about
what you do over at the YogaNest, and then we shall proceed
from there?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Okay, the Yoga Nest is specifically geared toward
prenatal and postpartum.
So what I do is I get peopleready essentially for birth, but
also try to make sure that thejourney leading to and after is
(01:36):
enjoyable and hopefully lesspain, better sleep, more
connection to themselves, to thebaby and to other expecting
families, and so we kind offocus that niche is pregnancy
and postpartum.
It's really about having babies.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
That's awesome.
I can see how I mean.
Not again, I haven't practicedyoga very often, but I can see
how a practice like that wouldbe incredibly beneficial for
prenatal and post would you callit postpartum Was?
It postpartum care Cause itjust.
It just seems like something, apractice like that would be
good for that.
(02:17):
Now, is that something that youhave always specialized in yoga
, or did you start just doinggeneral?
How did you land on thisspecific niche within the yoga
practice, the yoga field?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
So I started practicing yoga back when I was
in Israel, accidentally found itthrough my oldest sister and I
really enjoyed it, the spiritualpart of it more than anything
else.
And then I started liking thephysical part of it more than
anything else.
And then I started liking thephysical part of it, but I was
never like an avid practitionerright until I got pregnant.
(02:52):
And then, when I got pregnant,I started practicing and I
noticed that, well, it gives methis hour, hour and a half of
alone time and I was able toconnect to my body, I was able
to connect to my breath and then, therefore, I was able to
connect to my body.
I was able to connect to mybreath and then, therefore, I
was able to connect with my babya little bit more, because, you
know, life is busy and we don'tnecessarily take that time to
(03:13):
sit and listen or or just to sitand be quiet, especially more
now than ever.
And so that, really, I don'tknow, resonated with me so when,
after having three kids, I saidI really I really just want to
teach that, I want to focus onthat.
Now, my yoga training wasgeneral yoga training, just
general, the 200 hour basicstuff.
(03:36):
And then I reached out to mythen teacher for prenatal yoga
and I said I really want to justteach prenatal yoga.
She said, ok, let me train youand you'll start teaching.
So, funny enough, the day afterI finished my yoga training, I
started with teaching prenatalyoga.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, so you mentioned something there.
In talking about the practice,you mentioned the breath.
That is something that I'vebeen big into.
Independent of yoga is breathwork.
I think this is hugelybeneficial for folks.
Is that common for yogapractice to incorporate breath
work in the practice?
Is that part of what you do?
I'd imagine that would be alsovery helpful in the practice.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yes, yes, yes and no.
So in pregnancy we need tofocus on simple breaths.
It's not the very complexbreathing exercises that you
might be familiar with.
There's breath practices andthere's yoga, but within yoga
there are a lot of differentbreathing methods, right.
(04:36):
But for pregnancy we try not toretain the breath.
Right, you don't want to stopyour breath, you want to make
sure that baby has a lot ofoxygen and really we focus on
deep breathing, just nice, deep,calm, slow.
We want to keep everything ascalm as possible.
So the practice is mainly deepand cooling breathing, cooling
(05:00):
type of breath, because inpregnancy there's a lot of work
that the body is doing to grow ababy.
There's a lot of heat that'screated in the body.
So we try to cool the body andwe try to quiet the mind and
that essentially helps withstress reduction, anxiety
reduction and better labor,because labor is tough.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
stress reduction, anxiety reduction and better
labor, because labor is toughNow.
Are your classes primarily inperson, or do you do any virtual
work with women?
I imagine you probably dothings virtually as well for
pregnant women.
It's probably more convenientfor them to do this from home in
some cases.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
So I do both.
I do what people need, but Ilove people and so I love.
You know, during COVID it wasonly online, obviously, and then
I also discovered that I couldreach people that are far you
know, and just be online.
But I love the interaction withwith people, so I love doing
(05:57):
the classes here locally inCooper city.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So you're in Cooper City?
Yeah, really, whereabouts areyou located?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So I used to have a studio here in Cooper City that
I owned until COVID and then Iclosed it.
Now I just use studios.
I rent local studios to teachmy classes.
So I have a dance studio righthere in the neighborhood across
from the high school, and I rentit out on specific days,
sundays mostly when I teach theclasses.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Very, very cool.
So I was going to ask yousomething and then it totally
escaped me.
I totally blanked out.
It's going to come back to meshortly, Okay, so it just came
back to me as I was talking.
I think a lot of people outthere have misconceptions about
the practice, about yoga.
When it comes to, like theseEastern healing modalities
(06:51):
meditation, yoga, breath workthere seems to be, at least in
our country, a lot of skepticism, a lot of you know again
misconceptions that peopletypically have about this.
Can you speak to that?
Like, what are the things thatyou typically hear from people
about what you do in terms of,like, myths or misconceptions?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
So funny enough, not too many, honestly, sometime.
One time one person told methat they were Christian and
they they didn't want tonecessarily practice yoga
because of their religion.
And you know, yoga is not areligion and you can make yoga
as spiritual as you want toright Yoga can be.
(07:33):
Yoga has different aspects.
One of the aspects is physical.
So if you wanted to make itjust physical, then so be it.
You know you do it for yourhealth, right?
If you wanted to take it alittle further, like you
mentioned, you can get into morebreathing practices.
If you wanted to take it evenfurther, you can add a good
(07:54):
amount of meditation andawareness and you know, maybe
then the yoga philosophy andlifestyle, but it's not a
religion, it's more of aphilosophy and it has different
ways of practices.
So not too many these days.
The funny thing is that a lotof doctors are actually sending
their clients to me and they'resaying you should go practice
(08:16):
yoga because it's really goodfor your pregnancy, which makes
me really, really happy.
But a lot of the misconceptions.
Actually, people tell me well,I'm not flexible, so I shouldn't
be practicing yoga.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
I'm like well that's why you should be to get more
flexible.
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
And you don't need to be a pretzel to be practicing
yoga or you don't need to.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You got to start somewhere, yeah exactly, and you
don't need to.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
You know, have a quiet mind Again.
That's why we practice.
Nobody has a quiet mind.
Nobody's too flexible to startwith Well, some people are, but
most people are not, and wedon't need to be there.
The whole point is the practice.
Just like if you were to go tothe gym daily, it's going to
take some time before you havereally big muscles.
Yoga is the same thing.
It's all about the practice.
So I think that people get intoyoga sometimes just for the
physicality of it, and then theydiscover that when they slow
(09:07):
down, they find other prizes andgifts.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, not about the destination, it's about the
journey.
What do you say to a pregnantwoman out there that hears about
doing yoga?
Maybe it sparked an interestbut, like you said, they have in
their mind like, well, I'm notflexible, I'm carrying around
this baby, I don't know if Iwant to get into that.
Speak to a woman like that.
What would you say to somebodylike that?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Well, first of all, I say that, especially in
prenatal yoga, we take it slow,we don't try to build too much
heat no one is against the clock.
We don't try to rush things.
We try to really listen to thebody and slow things down.
We want to get stronger, wewant to get flexible, we want to
(09:56):
slow down our breathing, like Imentioned before, and we want
to have a good experience.
So it's all about having fun,meeting people, connecting with
yourself and with other pregnantmoms, no pressure whatsoever in
our classes.
And so I tell people don't beafraid, come try one class.
(10:18):
So I tell people don't beafraid, come try one class.
That's it.
You just try one class.
If you absolutely hate it, thenit is what it is.
Then at least maybe you can goand find other things that you
can do.
I think that pregnant moms needto understand that movement is
very important in pregnancy.
(10:38):
They used to tell us to restand relax.
Oh, you're fragile, you'repregnant, you're not fragile.
Labor is so hard.
You really want to prepareyourself for it.
It's kind of like preparing fora marathon.
Are you going to go and run26.2 miles without training for
it?
That is not a smart thing to doand most people will quit
(11:03):
without training for it.
That is not a smart thing to doand most people will quit.
And so, in order for you not toquit, you want to practice, not
just yoga, I mean anything thatyou want to practice, any way
that you can prepare yourselfmentally, physically,
emotionally.
You want to do it.
So be nice to yourself, be kindto yourself and just do
something every day, every dayhonestly.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, it seems like a while ago now.
It's probably 10, 12, probablymy kids are 10 and 12.
I remember back to when my wifewas pregnant with my kids.
She was very active.
She was doing like full blownexercise, gym classes up till, I
think, like eight months.
I remember seeing her with thisgiant belly.
I'm like go to the gym.
She's like, yeah, I got to getthe reps in.
Like you said, it's only abenefit to stay active.
(11:46):
Obviously you don't want to gotoo aggressive on the active
side, but just to keep movingand keep your blood flowing is
going to help you, I'd imagine,prepare for labor, which is the
ultimate.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Of course, and if someone's used to going to the
gym, I tell them go to the gym,keep going to the gym, don't
stop.
You might have to modify and asyou grow you have to listen to
yourself.
You might end up picking upsmaller weights and smaller
weights, but don't stop and thendo different things like walk
and stretch, do the yoga, do thegym.
(12:17):
You know, take care of yourbody, eat healthy, drink a lot
of water, especially down herein Florida, but do it, don't
stop, just do something 100%Florida.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
But do it, don't stop , just do something A hundred
percent.
All the stuff that seems likeit should be so easy to do
consistently.
But then building the habitsand doing these things daily is
always, always an issue forpeople.
Uh, but it's just so importantright To exercise and diet and
just keeps you so.
So well mentally.
Um, you mentioned you had threekids.
Yeah, well mentally.
You mentioned you had threekids.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yeah, how old are they?
My oldest is 17, almost 18, Iguess.
16 is my middle and 14 is myyoungest.
(13:09):
So getting closer and closer toan empty nest.
Pun intended on that one.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, so 14, 16 and soon to be 18.
So you got to.
You got to give me some, sometips and some words of advice.
I got a 10 year old son, 12year old daughter, or.
First of all, are they, what'sthe?
Are they boys, girls?
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, two boys and a girl.
The girl is in the middle.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, perfect, perfect.
So what am I in store for hereas my kids enter the teen years?
I mean, I'm alreadyexperiencing some of it with my
daughter, and it's been up anddown More good than bad.
But what am I in for?
Give me some words of wisdom,some advice.
Oh my gosh, tell me all thesecrets, let's go.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I don't have any secrets.
I let.
I have three kids, right, andthey're very different.
Each one is a whole new world,right, and I just try to let
them be themselves and wrap themwith as much love as possible.
It's funny because this morningI went to Vista View with a
(14:12):
couple of my mom friends and wewere talking about the teenagers
these days and they have a lotof anxiety and they have a lot
of I don't know.
I feel like the phones arecrazy and social media is crazy
and it's hard to keep them awayfrom it, and I feel like I know
we always say it because itsounds like we're really old
people, but everything is sodifferent now, I don't know.
(14:36):
Everything is so different nowand it's really hard for them.
I feel like life is actuallyharder with with the social
media and how they comparethemselves.
So I feel like all we need todo is try to create enough time
where we spend a face-to-face,no phones time together and then
try to help them talk, and Ifeel like everybody needs a
(15:01):
therapist.
So I don't know, maybe sendthem to therapy.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Like, have time where you, you bond and communicate
and just I don't know.
Try to understand that this is,this is really a different
world these days.
Just wrap them with as muchlove and openness, allow them to
come and share with you,because there's just a lot going
on, um and and just keep makingthem.
(15:27):
You know, try to instill thethings that you find that are
helpful for you now, after 40,right, and teach them about, you
know, being disciplined anddoing things even when they
don't want to, but but you know,finding their passion and and
working on it, because thingsdon't just come with a click of
a button, you know, and somethings do require work and it's
(15:52):
hard.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
It's so funny.
You said instill them with thewisdom.
So this is something that I'vesaid several times now to guests
on the show and justconversations I've had.
I find myself more and morejust talking to my daughter and
really trying to, like you said,instill these life lessons and
wisdoms that I've learned, andit just does not seem like
(16:13):
anything's registering with herand every time I talk about this
the guard goes up and she justdoesn't seem.
Nothing seems to resonate.
I know some of it's probablygetting in, but it's just not
clicking.
And I was talking to my mom andI said hey, you know, mom, why?
I told her the same thing thatI'm talking to her and she's not
listening.
I said when I was young, whydidn't you ever sit down with me
(16:33):
and give me some life wisdomand lessons?
She goes, jeremy, I used totell you that all the time you
never listened to me and it setin.
I was like, okay, so theproblem is it's not, it's that
I'm not connecting with her inthe right way.
And what I found is that thebest way to connect with people
in general, communication-wise,just ask.
Don't tell them the thing.
You have to ask questions toget them to uncover these things
(16:54):
on their own, and many timesit's not going to happen through
a conversation.
It will happen through making amistake in life or learning a
valuable lesson, by whatevermaking the wrong decision, and
that's how you learn right, andthat's how you get to the point
and it's something that when mymom said that to me, it went off
in my head and it clicked and Irealized it was very helpful
for me in communicating with mydaughter because I had to
(17:14):
understand that you have tolearn to see things from that
other perspective, and it'stough.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Like you said, they're plugged in all the time.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
But one of the things I'm incredibly grateful for is
that she's now into soccer andshe's got the bug and she's
loving it.
So it gets her out of the house, gets her moving.
The sports and athletics are soimportant.
I would say that to parentsright now with young children,
with everything that's going onwith technology get your kids
involved with the sports, someextracurricular activity,
(17:43):
something to get them out of thehouse and get them away from
the screens.
I don't know where we're goingwith this stuff, but it seems to
me like fast forward 10, 20years.
We're all going to have thesethings implanted in our head
anyway.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Yeah, yeah.
And then I think also just be agood example, like live your
life fully and take care ofyourself, and I mean, they're
going to learn something fromyour actions, not just your
words.
So, whatever you do, just bethe best that you can be, and I
think that that's going toinspire them.
You may not notice, but they'relooking right.
(18:15):
They're looking at us all thetime.
They're learning from us allthe time.
So just try to be really happyand do everything that's healthy
and good for you, and I thinkthat they'll absolutely learn
from that.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
So, speaking of learning through life lessons, I
find that, looking back throughmy life, some of the most
impactful experiences I've hadthat have shaped me to who I am,
are some of the mostchallenging experiences not
necessarily the rewards or thethings that went well, but the
things that I struggled withalong the way, that helped
define who I am today and helpedteach me some of the most
valuable lessons.
(18:50):
Looking back through yourjourney, is there something that
comes to mind, a definingmoment, something that you
struggled with at the time?
But now again, looking backwith hindsight, you could say
you're grateful for having gonethrough that or experienced it.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah, yes, I mean many things, many things.
But if I had to pick one,because I thought about it
before and I was like you know,something that shaped who I am
today and why I'm doing what I'mdoing is some of the failed
attempts that I had.
I mean my well, I had pregnancylosses a couple of times.
(19:26):
I had, you know, my know, myfirst pregnancy.
I knew that I wanted to have anout of hospital experience.
I really wanted to have a homebirth and that was not
successful.
So I ended up having my firstin a hospital.
Then my second was a redemption.
You know, I had a water birthand these are things like when I
(19:46):
failed miserably or at leastthat's how I felt back then.
I wanted to develop tools thatwill help me, but then I
realized, oh, I can help someoneelse too, and it just made me
more compassionate person.
I feel like I realize how hardit is right, because I've been
(20:07):
there, done that, and then now Ican come with an open heart and
a lot of compassion but kind ofbe a cheerleader for others to
go through that.
No regret.
Actually, I keep telling myclients you know, I had one baby
in a hospital.
I had one baby in a birthingcenter.
I had one baby at home.
One baby in a birthing centerhad one baby at home.
So I have experience with that.
(20:28):
Right, I ended up taking drugsthat I didn't want to, you know,
like epidural or Pitocin, formy first labor.
I didn't necessarily want that,but it didn't kill me, I'm okay
, everything's all right, andlife gives you also chances to
kind of redeem yourself and do alot of good things.
One of the good things is thatuse whatever you learn to help
(20:48):
others right.
So I'm like you know sometimes,sometimes if you really have a
hard experiences, it makes youbetter at helping other people.
So I feel like no regrets, I'mhere, I'm strong, I'm, I'm good,
I'm able to use whatever Iexperienced to help moms now,
(21:08):
and so I'm like this is, this isgreat.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I love it, paying it forward.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
So for anyone out any any pregnant mothers out there
or pregnant folks out there, oranybody that's planning on
getting into this what's thebest way to connect with you
guys?
How can our listeners reach you?
Maybe share your website, yourphone number.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, so they can go to the website, which is
theyoganestflcom or thenestflcom, and they can find us on
Instagram as the Nest FL.
On Instagram as the Nest FL.
They can reach out through thephone 754-610-1660.
(21:56):
And, yeah, just findinformation.
This way they can sign up toclasses online.
They can do in-person.
We're here.
They can also ask questions.
It's a nice community.
I feel like there's many waysto connect with us and sometimes
just find videos.
There are some free videos onthe website as well, so kind of
(22:17):
get to know me a little bitbefore joining a class.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Well, we will, of course, drop a link in the
description to all of yourcontact information so folks can
reach out.
Ifat, thank you for joining ustoday.
It was a pleasure getting thedescription to all of your
contact information so folks canreach out If thought.
Thank you for joining us today.
It was a pleasure getting theopportunity to meet you and
learn about the value that youadd to our community through
your business.
So again, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Of course, and thanks as always to our listeners for
tuning in, and we will catcheveryone next time on the next
episode of the Good NeighborPodcast.
Everyone take care, have awonderful day.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
Cooper City.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperCitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
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