- What are some things women can do to maintain their breast health?
- What can we do to keep ourselves healthy in an ever-changing and toxic environment that we as humans are creating on this planet?
Did you know that breast cancer is the most common cancer in women globally and the second most common cancer overall? Chances are you know or have met someone in your circle who has had breast cancer. These statistics underscore the importance of women taking a proactive role in managing our breast health, especially by adopting preventative measures. So what does this look like?
In this episode, I sat down with Shannon Knorr, a phenomenal woman, movement and somatic-based teacher, and breast cancer survivor to discuss her healing journey from the disease, the effects of our environment on breast health, and what we can change in our daily lives to get our bodies and souls to a healthier existence.
We hope you come away with the information you need to make the changes in your environment that will help you stay healthy and thrive.
Subscribe to HerCanvas today to get your answers to the questions that matter most to you, and ultimately, find the inspiration to live your best life.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Did you know that breast cancer is the most common
cancer in women globally.
And the second most commoncancer overall, according to the
American cancer society, breastcancer, death rates have been
steady in women younger than 50,but have been decreasing for all
the women largely because ofearly detection and better
treatments.
These statistics underscore theimportance of women taking a
(00:22):
proactive role in managing ourbreast health, especially by
adopting preventative measures.
So what does that look like?
What are some things women cando to maintain their breast
health?
What can we do to keep ourselveshealthy in an ever-changing and
toxic environment that we ashumans are creating on this
planet?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
[inaudible] Hey everyone, welcome to her canvas,
our podcast, where we discussthe topics that matter most to
women and help us find theinspiration to live our best
lives.
I'm your host, Judy DECA Rodger.
Today I am joined by Shannon orShannon has been a movement and
somatic based teacher for 20years.
She has a degree in dancemovement therapy, and is
(01:12):
currently completing a master'sin somatic psychology.
She teaches rehabilitatedPilates aligned based yoga,
somatic meditation, restorativeyoga, and other various somatic
healing arts practices.
She is a breast cancer andtrauma survivor and found that
her movement and meditationpractices truly saved her during
(01:33):
that time of healing.
She's among the amazing group of3.8 million breast cancer
survivors in the us and 6million across the globe.
She's here today to share whatshe learned during high
experience with a disease, herhealing journey and what women
can do to maintain the healthand protect their bodies.
(01:54):
Welcome to the show.
Shannon.
I'm so excited to have you ontoday.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Thank you to do that.
I love the introduction.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Oh, you know, so it was easiest to do it now, before
we start, I should probablymention to our listeners that
you and I are friends and I'vebeen dancing together for many
years.
Maybe you can start by tellingeveryone how we met and then go
a little deeper into yourbackground, how you became a
movement and sematic basedteacher.
(02:22):
And when you were diagnosed withbreast cancer.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Okay.
Well that's a lot.
Um, but I love, I love the segueinto it.
So, um, yes.
I remember meeting you in danceclass.
I think it was East, same asclass on Friday nights and we
both had little lens.
Um, and you know, I, yeah.
I mean, you're just one of thosepeople that you have this
amazing smile and energy.
(02:46):
So I think, you know, as soon asI met you, we were smiling and
it just felt like instantconnection just because you're
one of those people.
Um, and yeah, and I think youand I both having children and
is like going to that nightdance class was like a huge
savior, right.
It was like, Oh my gosh, Ifinally get to just let some
tension out and stress.
(03:06):
And it was just like so much funand, you know, oftentimes he
would even call it church or,you know, just kind of a way to
prayer and praying and movingyour body and just a joyful way.
So that's how I remember meetingyou.
Yeah.
And I remember that.
Um, and yeah, so I've been inthe movement arts space for a
while.
Um, I mean, it's such a longstory, so I'll try to condense
(03:30):
it.
Um, but after, you know, I had ahard time, really forgot what I
wanted to do with my life.
So, um, for many years I juststudied different things in
community college.
And I was studying at a lots ofI'm very creative.
So it was a lot of creativestuff, you know, dance and art
and music and writing and just,I just didn't really know what
path I wanted to take.
Right.
(03:50):
So, um, and then I kind ofstumbled on dance movement
therapy.
I did some work with AnnaHelprin at, to Melba.
I did a workshop with her and Iwas like, Oh my God, this is
like, this is it right.
It was like this combination ofdance and movement writing,
drawing, and just this wholekind of creative process, but
all about our bodies.
And I had always been a verykinesthetic person.
(04:12):
I danced as a child and I wasextremely, extremely shy as a
child.
Um, they would probably call itselective mutism.
Now I didn't speak for like twoyears.
And yeah, so I had a lot oftrauma as a child, but like I
just was extremely terrified.
Right.
As a kid, really, I just didn'thave a lot of, um, different
things that I probably needed inmy life.
(04:34):
And so movement to me was alwaysa way for me to like, connect,
right.
So even in my dance classes as akid.
So then, so anyway, after that,I just went to school.
I started studying dancemovement therapy.
I got a degree in that.
Um, and then afterwards, I, Ijust, as I only had a BA I could
only really teach aninstitution.
So I was working withpopulations that was really
(04:55):
challenging for me, and I reallywant to work in institutions.
And so, um, then I startedactually teaching Pilates.
So I, I found rehabilitativePilates, and I realized that
really filled this creative needfor me to be able to help people
move and really be embodied andto really heal these deeper
layers of themselves by comingmore into their body.
(05:18):
Um, and then from there, youknow, it just kept going and
going.
It's like, it's like this ballthat keeps it rolling and it
keeps collecting as it'srolling.
So I just started studying moredifferent movement modalities,
lots of different dance, um, uh,younger based yoga continuum,
movement, um, Gyrotonic, andjust, just a lot of it just kept
piling on and, um, really gotinto meditation and somatic
(05:41):
meditation, which is based onthe body.
Um, yeah.
And then now I'm actually goingback to school to finish my
masters in somatic psychology.
So coming back to kind of whereI started from, and yeah, so I'm
, I'm more about now kind of afull body healing approach.
Um, you know, so because Pilatesand yoga offer a certain avenues
(06:02):
to enter the body, but it'sreally more kind of almost a
physical level.
And now I'm at the point whereI'm really wanting to integrate
kind of emotional, spiritualkind of body mind, soul.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
That's amazing what a journey.
Wow.
Yeah.
It's amazing how much you havebeen growing and evolving and
really giving back with, withwhat you're doing with dance and
movement.
Now, can you tell us a littlebit about when you were
diagnosed with breast cancer andthen we'll dive into our
(06:33):
question?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Sure.
Um, I was diagnosed, I believeit was 2017.
It was, um, I remember it waslike the fall and, um, yeah, I
think, you know, it was a hugeshock, um, because I was already
quote healthy and, you know, Iwas in shock, everybody that
(06:55):
knew me was in shock because itwas like, I wasn't the typical,
you know, cancer person.
And there's a lot of stigmaaround that, that I found that,
you know, you really have tobreak through because we have
these assumptions, like who getssick and who gets diseases and
who gets cancer.
So, um, yeah, it took me on ahuge journey to kind of learn
one more about cancer.
And I, I basically did that.
(07:16):
I just read and listened topodcasts and everything as much
as I could about cancer andbreast cancer specifically,
Speaker 2 (07:24):
You know, it's interesting because you kind of
already answered our first twoquestions, which was, you know,
as a professional already in thehealing arts, how was it for you
when you discovered you hadcancer in your body?
Now?
I know you said that for a lotof people, it was, you know,
very surprising, but what aboutyou?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Oh yeah.
I mean, I was very surprised,but it was, it basically took me
on a huge, very deep healingjourney.
I mean, I would kind of call itlike the, um, the night of the
dark night of the soul.
Basically I had to really gounderground and kind of really
uncover and dig up these veryold things in me that were, you
(08:03):
know, kind of, probably not evenfrom me, but really inherited
kind of a lot of ancestraltrauma and my own trauma in my
own life.
Um, and it really made me lookat health and just a different
way, right.
Because like I said, with thequote health, because yeah, I
was exercising every day.
I was eating really well.
You know, I already didn't eatred meat and gluten and sugar,
(08:24):
you know?
And so, but you know, it took meon this whole different ideas of
health because health is,there's so many layers of
health, right.
And so there was so manymultiple layers for me to
explore and unfold.
So it was like having to all ofa sudden look like, well, how,
how am I relating to my foodwhen I'm eating it?
And I eating this healthy foodand still hating my body, or am
(08:46):
I eating this healthy becauseI'm still trying to fit into
this, you know, whitepatriarchal idea of what my body
should look like.
Right.
That's, that's still, you know,we're all born with this imprint
of our society and how we havethis such a twisted relationship
with the body.
Right.
And so we live in this binary,in our culture that we're
(09:08):
separate, we're separate fromour own bodies.
We're separate from each other.
We're separate from the earth.
We're, you know, we're separatefrom nature, you know, and the
thing is, that's not true.
We're nothing separate.
And so this that's what reallymy journey was about was really
making these connections of, youknow, all of the systems in our
body, our endocrine, ourmuscular, our nervous system.
(09:32):
They're all speaking to eachother all the time.
Right.
And so my journey was that oflike really like, you know,
yeah.
I might look healthy on thesurface.
Right.
And, but I was carrying a lot, alot of stress.
And I think I talked to youabout this when we were speaking
about the podcast of stress istotally normalized in our
(09:53):
culture.
Right.
I was a working mom.
I had my own business.
And when people would say to melike, Oh, you know, you're
stressed and blah, blah.
It's like, you know, I was like,everybody I knew was just the
way I was.
I was like, I don't knowanybody.
Who's not stressed.
Who's a working mom.
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
And then sometimes it's even, you know, almost
championed.
It's like, you know, I don'twork this many hours.
Or when people say things like,Oh, work-life balance.
And I'm like, what is that?
You know, that's trying to havework.
Life balance is stress initself.
Yes.
As a mom, you know, even formost people, you really cannot
(10:30):
like have that.
You have to make sacrifices andyou almost have to like
constantly prioritize.
There's no such thing I believewith work-life balance and
stress huge.
And people are like, well, youknow, I work 60 hours or 70
hours is almost like, Oh, shouldwe be applauding that?
(10:51):
And then if you're a mom, you'relike, Oh my gosh, maybe I'm not
Speaker 3 (10:56):
As a mom.
Never ends really.
So, I mean, I think for me, Iwas one of those people that I D
I didn't like asking for help.
And I just, I just grew up like,learning that you had to, you
had to just push through, youknow, it's like, whatever, you
know, you just keep doing it,keep going.
And, um, and a lot of this stuffis learned.
Right.
I just kind of, uh, you know, I,that's what, I mean, we learn
(11:17):
these imprints in our bodies,right.
From our culture or family, butlike, you know, a lot of it, I
feel like it was, I had tounlearn.
It was a lot of unlearning I hadto do, because honestly we can
find that balance, like, in myopinion, because it's going to
look different for everybody.
But if I didn't find thatbalance, I wouldn't be here.
So for me, it was a life ordeath situation.
(11:38):
I had an aggressive breastcancer.
Right.
So it was like, they all theykept talking to me about was my
death.
Right.
Like my probability of death.
So I was of course, scared, likeI have to change something.
And what this means is like,what you're referencing Judy,
that is like, I had to take cutthings out of my life.
Right.
Like kind of the detoxificationI talk about a lot is like detox
(12:01):
.
I had to first figure out mydetox pathways in my own body.
But then again, I was speakingall the different systems,
looking at the detox in my life.
Right.
Like maybe like for me, I don'treally go on social media that
much I post, but I can't reallyscroll because for me, it just
is toxic for me a little bit.
And I just, I had to reallythink about, like, if I'm
(12:21):
spending 20 minutes a day doingthis, I could be doing this 20
minutes doing something else.
Right.
And if there's so many thingslike that, you just have to
become so much more discernibleabout how, what, what do you,
what do you value?
Like what is, what is of valueto you?
What matters to you?
And like, when I was in thehealing process, like, that's,
(12:42):
it became apparent, likeeverything that I needed to
change.
Right.
It was like, okay, I need toreally clear this out.
I need to figure this out.
Um, just so much like kind ofshadow work.
There was so many layers oflike, kind of going through what
I needed to do.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And that is such a great point.
And so key, you know, being ableto say, what do I need to get
rid of, um, to just, to makemyself feel better and be
healthy and really focus on thethings that are benefiting to me
and my body.
You know, you mentioned aboutsocial media, which takes up a
(13:19):
lot of our time and which can bea huge source of stress.
You know, one of the things thatI, uh, you know, in my field, in
my profession, I need to know,uh, about social media.
You know, I need to know about,you know, the current trends and
what's happening out therebecause I'm a marketer.
So I pick and choose what I'mgoing to be interested in or
(13:41):
what I'm going to pay attentionto.
And it's been really helpful.
Um, I, I completely agree withyou and, you know, I wanted to
say, so you kind of touched andwent into our next question,
which, which is what were someof the changes you made in your
life at this crossroad?
And it's really great to hear,you know, that you started to
(14:03):
prioritize and say, Hey, uh, Idon't need this in my life.
I need this in my life.
What are the other things thatyou have done?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Um, well, I think it began with kind of, it's like a
huge wake up call.
So as soon as I found out and Iheard, you know, kind of the
seriousness of it, um, it waskind of like, I just felt, it
was like kind of a spiritualcrisis.
Like I felt my spirit justimmediately come into my body.
Like the strongest I've everfelt.
It kind of like, okay, Shannon,you gotta get the right kind of
(14:35):
just like, you gotta really likepull through.
And I mean, that's why a lot oftimes when I speak about it, I'm
like, you know, my body wasreally telling me what to do.
I felt like I was really beingdirected, you know, by something
bigger than me, because that'skind of just what it felt like,
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Um, in tune with your body is what you mean.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah.
I mean, I was, I mean, I feellike in 10 minutes, something to
work with all the time, but itwas more like I had to just make
these changes and like this,like in order to beat this, you
need to like, do a, B and C.
Right.
So I'm kind of just trying tocome around to your question of,
um, I just, so it was a lot ofchanges I had to make a first, I
had to really look at the, myamount of stress, my emotional
(15:16):
level.
And I had to really kind ofdissect my body and untangle all
of these things, right.
Looking at my health and thisdeeper level, looking at like
this really tracing my healthback to my birth and looking at
what environment I was birthedinto looking at the environment
of my childhood and looking athow that affects my health,
looking at my spirituality andwhat am I doing with that?
(15:38):
Right.
And just kind of reallybalancing out for me, the
different bodies, like thephysical, emotional, spiritual,
the dream body, that creative,and just kind of really, I had
to like start to that.
To me, that's balanced, likeworking on how I had to know
what my soul needed to thrive.
Right.
It's going to be totallydifferent what yours needs.
Right.
(15:58):
And I had to really put that asa priority.
And so that was the one bigchange.
Right.
And the other change was really,I had to like really cut out a
lot during my time in chemo.
I mean, I could barely talk topeople at that time.
I had, I mean, if in this typeof chemo, you're just extremely
sick and it took like two yearsafter the chemo to feel even
kind of more normal.
(16:19):
So it's a lot of cutting thingsout.
Right.
Of kind of like, it's like, youreally ask your car, the
question, like, is this, is thisgonna help me live?
Right.
And it's like, I, everythingcame to that point.
Like, is this something I reallywant to do?
Because a lot of it was likesaying no to things.
Right.
Which I know there's a lot ofthat around like saying no is
like saying yes to yourself andit's not like, you know, kind of
(16:41):
in a, in a mean way, but it'slike, it is learning to have
boundaries for yourself.
Um, that was a lot of it, a lotof about speaking truth, finding
my voice, um, changing my work.
Yeah.
There's a lot, I mean, just kindof leaves the layers and layers.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
You just touched on save so many good things.
It's amazing.
Like when you talk, when yousaid untangle, I love that like,
like untangle things.
Cause sometimes you feel likeyou're like in a knot and then,
and then also being able to sayno.
And I think as women, that'sjust tough.
Sometimes we're always sayingyes to everything and you know,
(17:21):
it's hard to say no, but thefact that, you know, you were
learning to say no is not onlyempowering, but it actually just
makes a huge difference becauseyou free up time, not just
physically, but mentally andemotionally as well.
And the other thing that wasreally like, kind of took me
aback, as you said that a lot ofthe, um, you know, people in the
(17:45):
medical profession were focusingon death instead living, I think
that is so critical, right.
That they, they shift thatnarrative because no one wants
to be told, Hey, you know, thisis what this is, this is, you
know, what's going to happen toyou.
It's so dire instead of focusingon how can we help you live?
(18:10):
Right.
It's not like, how can we helpyou die?
It's like, seriously, the issue.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Well, the medical assistant, a whole nother
podcast if we went under that.
Cause
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah.
I mean, that just struck me as
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Yeah, well, no, it was very, there was many things
that were wrong.
I mean, in general I avoid theWestern medical system.
I don't even go to the doctor.
Um, I, this is the first time Iactually, like, I was on
steroids and inhalers my wholelife for really bad asthma.
And I, when I got, I worked witha homeopathic doctor to get off
of it in my thirties because myadrenals were completely shot.
(18:47):
And so I actually don't reallyaspire to Western medicine.
So all of a sudden having to bein this place of like how they
look at health was disturbing.
Like it was like verydisturbing.
I have to say like, and I don'twant to go into it cause I'll
just start going off a littlebit.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Um, yeah.
I, I hear you.
I mean, I, I don't know what theexperience was like, because I
haven't been through it before,but I can certainly empathize
that.
You know, having, having asystem that doesn't is not
really trained to offer peoplethe support that they need is
not helpful at all.
Um,
Speaker 3 (19:28):
If they're not looking at the whole body.
So really like when I wasspeaking about all the layers,
they look, they look at thesymptom, like, as we know, big
farm, they want to just mask thesymptom and the thing with
cancer, like, like you'll,they'll even say 90% of cancers.
They don't understand why.
So when I was asking them, like,why do I have cancer?
They would say, we don't know.
(19:49):
And I was like, what?
I mean, I was like, terrifiedthat here are these like, you
know, top oncologists tell methey don't know why I have a
young person, healthy person hascancer, but they're saying
there's more and more of thesecases coming up, young, healthy
women, like in their thirtiesand forties getting cancer.
Um, but then when I would go tomy acupuncturist or, you know,
other alternative practitioners,they would explain to me kind of
(20:11):
how, you know, cancer is lookedat in the traditional Chinese
medicine world.
And like, and it's a lot aboutthese layers.
It's not just one thing thatcauses cancer.
It's not like I drank water andI got cancer.
It's a, it's a multiple layerthing.
And you know, I think when we'retalking about the environment,
that's the thing, it's a, it isan environmental disease, but it
(20:32):
also has to do with then ourinner terrain, the environment
of our own body has to do withour lifestyle and our eating.
And it has to do with ourthoughts and beliefs, our
emotions.
It has to do.
There's a lot that goes into it.
And unfortunately we're livingin a more and more toxic world.
Right.
And that's the part that I thinkis scary, right.
Because, and that way I don'thave control so much of this
(20:55):
environment, right.
The, the world, the physicalenvironment.
So I have to really focus on thethings that I can control my own
environment.
Right.
Like if my body,
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yes, yes.
That that's key.
And it's actually a good segueinto, uh, I'm going to skip to
the next question, because youwere talking about the
environment and how theenvironment impacts that it has
an impact on the diseases thatwe see.
And so, uh, the diseases and theimmune disorders, which we know
(21:26):
on the rise, so what can we do?
And I think you've touched alittle bit on this in terms of
like, uh, focusing on the thingsthat we have control over like
our bodies.
So what else can we do to keepourselves healthy in this
ever-changing and toxicenvironment that as humans we're
creating on this planet?
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Well, the number one thing I would say is to really
switch the narrative.
So we got to get out of thisbinary way of thinking.
That's, that's like to me, thenumber one way.
So most of us don't even have arelationship with our bodies,
right?
This inner terrain of our body.
Most of us don't even reallyrealize our, our organs are like
all talking to each other.
And once those us don't evenknow where organs are, right.
(22:09):
There's so many layers, but evenjust knowing your breath, like
tuning into your breath andhaving that be kind of a signal
to you, like how what's going ontoday?
Like what needs tending to,like, what do you need to take
some rest?
Do you need to move?
Do you need to take a danceclass?
I mean, there's, you need tocall a friend, you know,
attending to your needs right.
(22:29):
On this very deep level.
So that would be like the numberone thing I would say, um, is
this relationship with yourbody?
And I think also just withlifestyle changes, like, it can
be really simple.
Like for me, I already atepretty healthy, but I started to
add different things.
I had to really learn what myfood sensitivities were because
a lot of this is like, if byinflammation is gonna, you know,
(22:52):
up your chances of any of thesethings.
So I have to really realizewhat's inflaming me, right.
If I don't know that I'm goingto be constantly exposing myself
to things that inflame me.
Um, so changing your diet inthat way, I had to change, like
my exercise for me actuallystopped doing some forms of
dance because I realized my, soyou have to know your
(23:13):
constitution.
I know I'm already kind of liketype a, I kind of go hard and I
don't probably need to be doingthings that's telling me to go
harder.
So I actually had to do, Iactually started doing like Tai
Chi gone and, you know, I teachslow Pilates and yoga, but like
for my exercise actually toreally slow it down, like taking
walks and hikes and things thatfed me on a different, like, you
(23:36):
know, multiple levels, not justphysical.
Um, I think, you know, for me,that's a lot of it is just, and
you know, everyone's healingprocess is different.
Um, for me it was a lot gettingin touch with my creativity.
Again, I think just reallyacknowledging what parts are we
like leaving out?
Like, you know, we have thesepieces of ourselves that we
completely neglect, right.
(23:57):
These shadow parts.
And for me, a lot of my healingwas like bringing that piece
back in.
Right.
And it's like, you know, justkind of that otherness again.
And if we other ourselves, we'regoing to be othering other
people, right.
If we other ourselves, we're notgoing to feel that we are a part
of nature, right.
We're not separate from nature.
And I think, you know, this isthe thing this, even though we'd
(24:19):
speak about the environmentbeing toxic, it's, it's our,
it's our relationshipenvironment that is toxic as
well.
Right.
So that needs to be healed.
And I know this might kind ofsounds, it's like, well, what do
I do then?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
No.
I mean, I think it's, it'sreally powerful, but, and what
you are talking about, I thinkis really not that hard to do,
because it just requires a, andI don't want to minimize it or
anything like that.
But what I'm hearing is that itrequires a certain level of,
self-awareness not just ofyourself and your own body, but
(24:55):
of your environment.
Right.
And what you are bringing to thetable, what you're contributing
to the environment and howyou're impacting the
environment, and then also beingaware of your body and what
you're putting in your body andwhat your body is saying to you.
I think all of those things, orrather, I believe all of those
(25:17):
are things that we're allcapable of.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Right?
I mean, you think about aschildren, we know the
environment that a child growsup in, right?
The nature nurture thing, butthe environment has a huge
impact.
That's going to shape thatchild's behavior and how that
child expresses itself as well.
You can say the same thing withdisease, right.
That you could say the symptomis cancer, but cancer is not the
problem.
(25:41):
The problem is the terrain andthe environment that we're,
which we are living in.
So you can even start to look atsome of the environments of your
relationships.
Right.
And this is a thing of like,really, I, I had to really like,
just like, again, that boundaryof like, is this really good for
me?
Right.
This, this relationship, maybeI'm, maybe I've grown and maybe
(26:03):
I've moved on from this person,you know?
And just, it just, and not in amean way, but it's like, you
know, we're constantly growing,we're constantly adapting and
evolving and it's like,sometimes some of our
relationships are not.
Um, yeah.
So I think it's like treatingthe terrain really is like more
than trying to treat thissymptom.
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
So important.
And you know, like what you saidabout being able to like give
up, even some of the things thatyou love, um, like the ability
for you to say, okay, I can't dothis dance anymore.
Knowing how much you love dance,but I'm not going to do it
because it's not good for me.
(26:43):
Or it's not benefiting my bodyor even giving up a
relationship.
I remember hearing somewhere, Ithink, think it was Oprah.
I'm not sure, uh, saying thatsometimes it's okay to realize
that you can love someone fromafar.
So in order to protect yourselfand to protect your heart,
sometimes you have to severrelationships with even people
(27:06):
who are in your family.
But that doesn't mean you don'tlove them.
You just love them from afar.
And I thought that was sopowerful,
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Right?
Yes.
I mean, I agree with that.
It's just the shifting andchanging.
Right.
We have to allow ourselves tochange and shift and transform,
you know, that's like the way oflife.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I agree.
And it's a way of evolution.
And like you said, that how wegrow, Oh my gosh, this has been
awesome.
Shannon.
You're amazing.
We could go on forever and ever.
Well, thank you.
Thank you so much for joining usand sharing your powerful story
(27:44):
and experience, um, as a breastcancer survivor and just as a
human, um, yeah.
It was extremely helpful andinspiring to me and I'm sure to
a listeners and you know, I hopeto see you on the dance floor in
person.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Yes.
I don't know me too.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Um, and um, Oh, before we go, I wanted to ask if
our listeners want to learnmore, how can they get in touch
with you?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Um, they can go to my website is and body Pilates,
studio.com.
So it's three words put alltogether.
E M B O D Y Pilates studio.
Um, that's also my email addressand body potty studio@gmail.com
and yeah, so it feel free toreach out and that I respond to
emails.
Um, I'm also on Instagram atembody polities yoga.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
That's awesome.
I love your ID for sure.
Videos.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
You're always so positive.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I know we do.
It's not easy though.
There's sometimes I don't wantto be positive, but you know, I
think the old,
Speaker 3 (28:51):
The balance.
So again, like, you don't wantto be positive all the time
either, because then it's like,you're one of those people like
stay positive.
It's like, sometimes you gottabe negative too, right?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah.
I don't want to be, I want tohave a little pity party.
So anyway.
Oh my gosh.
This was great.
Thank you again, Shannon.
I have to have you back on foranother topic.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Of course.
I'm happy to.
Okay.
Thanks.
All right, bye.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Whether it's relationships, food work or the
activities.
We love our environment, bothinternal and external has an
impact on our health acceptingthat we're, multi-layered
focusing on the things we cancontrol, eliminating the things
we do not need to live andbalancing our physical,
emotional, and spiritual needsare the, to a healthier
(29:42):
existence that feeds our souland our body.
Every day.
Before you go about your day,ask yourself, what does my soul
need is five and then prioritizewhat you need to do to feed it.
That's all for our show today.
Be sure to subscribe to ourpodcast on Apple podcasts,
Spotify, Google podcasts, andPandora want to continue this
(30:03):
conversation connect with ourFacebook community at gap news
women also head on over to ourblog app, use.com to discover
more resources on how to live ahealthier lifestyle.
Oh, and one more thing before wego, Shannon has changed her
website to body root andsoul.com and her Instagram
handle to body route.
And so until next time, staysafe and find the inspiration to
(30:28):
live your best life.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
[inaudible].
Did you know that breast cancer is the most common
cancer in women globally.
And the second most commoncancer overall, according to the
American cancer society, breastcancer, death rates have been
steady in women younger than 50,but have been decreasing for all
the women largely because ofearly detection and better
treatments.
These statistics underscore theimportance of women taking a
(00:22):
proactive role in managing ourbreast health, especially by
adopting preventative measures.
So what does that look like?
What are some things women cando to maintain their breast
health?
What can we do to keep ourselveshealthy in an ever-changing and
toxic environment that we ashumans are creating on this
planet?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
[inaudible] Hey everyone, welcome to her canvas,
our podcast, where we discussthe topics that matter most to
women and help us find theinspiration to live our best
lives.
I'm your host, Judy DECA Rodger.
Today I am joined by Shannon orShannon has been a movement and
somatic based teacher for 20years.
She has a degree in dancemovement therapy, and is
(01:12):
currently completing a master'sin somatic psychology.
She teaches rehabilitatedPilates aligned based yoga,
somatic meditation, restorativeyoga, and other various somatic
healing arts practices.
She is a breast cancer andtrauma survivor and found that
her movement and meditationpractices truly saved her during
(01:33):
that time of healing.
She's among the amazing group of3.8 million breast cancer
survivors in the us and 6million across the globe.
She's here today to share whatshe learned during high
experience with a disease, herhealing journey and what women
can do to maintain the healthand protect their bodies.
(01:54):
Welcome to the show.
Shannon.
I'm so excited to have you ontoday.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Thank you to do that.
I love the introduction.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Oh, you know, so it was easiest to do it now, before
we start, I should probablymention to our listeners that
you and I are friends and I'vebeen dancing together for many
years.
Maybe you can start by tellingeveryone how we met and then go
a little deeper into yourbackground, how you became a
movement and sematic basedteacher.
(02:22):
And when you were diagnosed withbreast cancer.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Okay.
Well that's a lot.
Um, but I love, I love the segueinto it.
So, um, yes.
I remember meeting you in danceclass.
I think it was East, same asclass on Friday nights and we
both had little lens.
Um, and you know, I, yeah.
I mean, you're just one of thosepeople that you have this
amazing smile and energy.
(02:46):
So I think, you know, as soon asI met you, we were smiling and
it just felt like instantconnection just because you're
one of those people.
Um, and yeah, and I think youand I both having children and
is like going to that nightdance class was like a huge
savior, right.
It was like, Oh my gosh, Ifinally get to just let some
tension out and stress.
(03:06):
And it was just like so much funand, you know, oftentimes he
would even call it church or,you know, just kind of a way to
prayer and praying and movingyour body and just a joyful way.
So that's how I remember meetingyou.
Yeah.
And I remember that.
Um, and yeah, so I've been inthe movement arts space for a
while.
Um, I mean, it's such a longstory, so I'll try to condense
(03:30):
it.
Um, but after, you know, I had ahard time, really forgot what I
wanted to do with my life.
So, um, for many years I juststudied different things in
community college.
And I was studying at a lots ofI'm very creative.
So it was a lot of creativestuff, you know, dance and art
and music and writing and just,I just didn't really know what
path I wanted to take.
Right.
(03:50):
So, um, and then I kind ofstumbled on dance movement
therapy.
I did some work with AnnaHelprin at, to Melba.
I did a workshop with her and Iwas like, Oh my God, this is
like, this is it right.
It was like this combination ofdance and movement writing,
drawing, and just this wholekind of creative process, but
all about our bodies.
And I had always been a verykinesthetic person.
(04:12):
I danced as a child and I wasextremely, extremely shy as a
child.
Um, they would probably call itselective mutism.
Now I didn't speak for like twoyears.
And yeah, so I had a lot oftrauma as a child, but like I
just was extremely terrified.
Right.
As a kid, really, I just didn'thave a lot of, um, different
things that I probably needed inmy life.
(04:34):
And so movement to me was alwaysa way for me to like, connect,
right.
So even in my dance classes as akid.
So then, so anyway, after that,I just went to school.
I started studying dancemovement therapy.
I got a degree in that.
Um, and then afterwards, I, Ijust, as I only had a BA I could
only really teach aninstitution.
So I was working withpopulations that was really
(04:55):
challenging for me, and I reallywant to work in institutions.
And so, um, then I startedactually teaching Pilates.
So I, I found rehabilitativePilates, and I realized that
really filled this creative needfor me to be able to help people
move and really be embodied andto really heal these deeper
layers of themselves by comingmore into their body.
(05:18):
Um, and then from there, youknow, it just kept going and
going.
It's like, it's like this ballthat keeps it rolling and it
keeps collecting as it'srolling.
So I just started studying moredifferent movement modalities,
lots of different dance, um, uh,younger based yoga continuum,
movement, um, Gyrotonic, andjust, just a lot of it just kept
piling on and, um, really gotinto meditation and somatic
(05:41):
meditation, which is based onthe body.
Um, yeah.
And then now I'm actually goingback to school to finish my
masters in somatic psychology.
So coming back to kind of whereI started from, and yeah, so I'm
, I'm more about now kind of afull body healing approach.
Um, you know, so because Pilatesand yoga offer a certain avenues
(06:02):
to enter the body, but it'sreally more kind of almost a
physical level.
And now I'm at the point whereI'm really wanting to integrate
kind of emotional, spiritualkind of body mind, soul.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
That's amazing what a journey.
Wow.
Yeah.
It's amazing how much you havebeen growing and evolving and
really giving back with, withwhat you're doing with dance and
movement.
Now, can you tell us a littlebit about when you were
diagnosed with breast cancer andthen we'll dive into our
(06:33):
question?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Sure.
Um, I was diagnosed, I believeit was 2017.
It was, um, I remember it waslike the fall and, um, yeah, I
think, you know, it was a hugeshock, um, because I was already
quote healthy and, you know, Iwas in shock, everybody that
(06:55):
knew me was in shock because itwas like, I wasn't the typical,
you know, cancer person.
And there's a lot of stigmaaround that, that I found that,
you know, you really have tobreak through because we have
these assumptions, like who getssick and who gets diseases and
who gets cancer.
So, um, yeah, it took me on ahuge journey to kind of learn
one more about cancer.
And I, I basically did that.
(07:16):
I just read and listened topodcasts and everything as much
as I could about cancer andbreast cancer specifically,
Speaker 2 (07:24):
You know, it's interesting because you kind of
already answered our first twoquestions, which was, you know,
as a professional already in thehealing arts, how was it for you
when you discovered you hadcancer in your body?
Now?
I know you said that for a lotof people, it was, you know,
very surprising, but what aboutyou?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Oh yeah.
I mean, I was very surprised,but it was, it basically took me
on a huge, very deep healingjourney.
I mean, I would kind of call itlike the, um, the night of the
dark night of the soul.
Basically I had to really gounderground and kind of really
uncover and dig up these veryold things in me that were, you
(08:03):
know, kind of, probably not evenfrom me, but really inherited
kind of a lot of ancestraltrauma and my own trauma in my
own life.
Um, and it really made me lookat health and just a different
way, right.
Because like I said, with thequote health, because yeah, I
was exercising every day.
I was eating really well.
You know, I already didn't eatred meat and gluten and sugar,
(08:24):
you know?
And so, but you know, it took meon this whole different ideas of
health because health is,there's so many layers of
health, right.
And so there was so manymultiple layers for me to
explore and unfold.
So it was like having to all ofa sudden look like, well, how,
how am I relating to my foodwhen I'm eating it?
And I eating this healthy foodand still hating my body, or am
(08:46):
I eating this healthy becauseI'm still trying to fit into
this, you know, whitepatriarchal idea of what my body
should look like.
Right.
That's, that's still, you know,we're all born with this imprint
of our society and how we havethis such a twisted relationship
with the body.
Right.
And so we live in this binary,in our culture that we're
(09:08):
separate, we're separate fromour own bodies.
We're separate from each other.
We're separate from the earth.
We're, you know, we're separatefrom nature, you know, and the
thing is, that's not true.
We're nothing separate.
And so this that's what reallymy journey was about was really
making these connections of, youknow, all of the systems in our
body, our endocrine, ourmuscular, our nervous system.
(09:32):
They're all speaking to eachother all the time.
Right.
And so my journey was that oflike really like, you know,
yeah.
I might look healthy on thesurface.
Right.
And, but I was carrying a lot, alot of stress.
And I think I talked to youabout this when we were speaking
about the podcast of stress istotally normalized in our
(09:53):
culture.
Right.
I was a working mom.
I had my own business.
And when people would say to melike, Oh, you know, you're
stressed and blah, blah.
It's like, you know, I was like,everybody I knew was just the
way I was.
I was like, I don't knowanybody.
Who's not stressed.
Who's a working mom.
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
And then sometimes it's even, you know, almost
championed.
It's like, you know, I don'twork this many hours.
Or when people say things like,Oh, work-life balance.
And I'm like, what is that?
You know, that's trying to havework.
Life balance is stress initself.
Yes.
As a mom, you know, even formost people, you really cannot
(10:30):
like have that.
You have to make sacrifices andyou almost have to like
constantly prioritize.
There's no such thing I believewith work-life balance and
stress huge.
And people are like, well, youknow, I work 60 hours or 70
hours is almost like, Oh, shouldwe be applauding that?
(10:51):
And then if you're a mom, you'relike, Oh my gosh, maybe I'm not
Speaker 3 (10:56):
As a mom.
Never ends really.
So, I mean, I think for me, Iwas one of those people that I D
I didn't like asking for help.
And I just, I just grew up like,learning that you had to, you
had to just push through, youknow, it's like, whatever, you
know, you just keep doing it,keep going.
And, um, and a lot of this stuffis learned.
Right.
I just kind of, uh, you know, I,that's what, I mean, we learn
(11:17):
these imprints in our bodies,right.
From our culture or family, butlike, you know, a lot of it, I
feel like it was, I had tounlearn.
It was a lot of unlearning I hadto do, because honestly we can
find that balance, like, in myopinion, because it's going to
look different for everybody.
But if I didn't find thatbalance, I wouldn't be here.
So for me, it was a life ordeath situation.
(11:38):
I had an aggressive breastcancer.
Right.
So it was like, they all theykept talking to me about was my
death.
Right.
Like my probability of death.
So I was of course, scared, likeI have to change something.
And what this means is like,what you're referencing Judy,
that is like, I had to take cutthings out of my life.
Right.
Like kind of the detoxificationI talk about a lot is like detox
(12:01):
.
I had to first figure out mydetox pathways in my own body.
But then again, I was speakingall the different systems,
looking at the detox in my life.
Right.
Like maybe like for me, I don'treally go on social media that
much I post, but I can't reallyscroll because for me, it just
is toxic for me a little bit.
And I just, I had to reallythink about, like, if I'm
(12:21):
spending 20 minutes a day doingthis, I could be doing this 20
minutes doing something else.
Right.
And if there's so many thingslike that, you just have to
become so much more discernibleabout how, what, what do you,
what do you value?
Like what is, what is of valueto you?
What matters to you?
And like, when I was in thehealing process, like, that's,
(12:42):
it became apparent, likeeverything that I needed to
change.
Right.
It was like, okay, I need toreally clear this out.
I need to figure this out.
Um, just so much like kind ofshadow work.
There was so many layers oflike, kind of going through what
I needed to do.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And that is such a great point.
And so key, you know, being ableto say, what do I need to get
rid of, um, to just, to makemyself feel better and be
healthy and really focus on thethings that are benefiting to me
and my body.
You know, you mentioned aboutsocial media, which takes up a
(13:19):
lot of our time and which can bea huge source of stress.
You know, one of the things thatI, uh, you know, in my field, in
my profession, I need to know,uh, about social media.
You know, I need to know about,you know, the current trends and
what's happening out therebecause I'm a marketer.
So I pick and choose what I'mgoing to be interested in or
(13:41):
what I'm going to pay attentionto.
And it's been really helpful.
Um, I, I completely agree withyou and, you know, I wanted to
say, so you kind of touched andwent into our next question,
which, which is what were someof the changes you made in your
life at this crossroad?
And it's really great to hear,you know, that you started to
(14:03):
prioritize and say, Hey, uh, Idon't need this in my life.
I need this in my life.
What are the other things thatyou have done?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Um, well, I think it began with kind of, it's like a
huge wake up call.
So as soon as I found out and Iheard, you know, kind of the
seriousness of it, um, it waskind of like, I just felt, it
was like kind of a spiritualcrisis.
Like I felt my spirit justimmediately come into my body.
Like the strongest I've everfelt.
It kind of like, okay, Shannon,you gotta get the right kind of
(14:35):
just like, you gotta really likepull through.
And I mean, that's why a lot oftimes when I speak about it, I'm
like, you know, my body wasreally telling me what to do.
I felt like I was really beingdirected, you know, by something
bigger than me, because that'skind of just what it felt like,
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Um, in tune with your body is what you mean.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah.
I mean, I was, I mean, I feellike in 10 minutes, something to
work with all the time, but itwas more like I had to just make
these changes and like this,like in order to beat this, you
need to like, do a, B and C.
Right.
So I'm kind of just trying tocome around to your question of,
um, I just, so it was a lot ofchanges I had to make a first, I
had to really look at the, myamount of stress, my emotional
(15:16):
level.
And I had to really kind ofdissect my body and untangle all
of these things, right.
Looking at my health and thisdeeper level, looking at like
this really tracing my healthback to my birth and looking at
what environment I was birthedinto looking at the environment
of my childhood and looking athow that affects my health,
looking at my spirituality andwhat am I doing with that?
(15:38):
Right.
And just kind of reallybalancing out for me, the
different bodies, like thephysical, emotional, spiritual,
the dream body, that creative,and just kind of really, I had
to like start to that.
To me, that's balanced, likeworking on how I had to know
what my soul needed to thrive.
Right.
It's going to be totallydifferent what yours needs.
Right.
(15:58):
And I had to really put that asa priority.
And so that was the one bigchange.
Right.
And the other change was really,I had to like really cut out a
lot during my time in chemo.
I mean, I could barely talk topeople at that time.
I had, I mean, if in this typeof chemo, you're just extremely
sick and it took like two yearsafter the chemo to feel even
kind of more normal.
(16:19):
So it's a lot of cutting thingsout.
Right.
Of kind of like, it's like, youreally ask your car, the
question, like, is this, is thisgonna help me live?
Right.
And it's like, I, everythingcame to that point.
Like, is this something I reallywant to do?
Because a lot of it was likesaying no to things.
Right.
Which I know there's a lot ofthat around like saying no is
like saying yes to yourself andit's not like, you know, kind of
(16:41):
in a, in a mean way, but it'slike, it is learning to have
boundaries for yourself.
Um, that was a lot of it, a lotof about speaking truth, finding
my voice, um, changing my work.
Yeah.
There's a lot, I mean, just kindof leaves the layers and layers.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
You just touched on save so many good things.
It's amazing.
Like when you talk, when yousaid untangle, I love that like,
like untangle things.
Cause sometimes you feel likeyou're like in a knot and then,
and then also being able to sayno.
And I think as women, that'sjust tough.
Sometimes we're always sayingyes to everything and you know,
(17:21):
it's hard to say no, but thefact that, you know, you were
learning to say no is not onlyempowering, but it actually just
makes a huge difference becauseyou free up time, not just
physically, but mentally andemotionally as well.
And the other thing that wasreally like, kind of took me
aback, as you said that a lot ofthe, um, you know, people in the
(17:45):
medical profession were focusingon death instead living, I think
that is so critical, right.
That they, they shift thatnarrative because no one wants
to be told, Hey, you know, thisis what this is, this is, you
know, what's going to happen toyou.
It's so dire instead of focusingon how can we help you live?
(18:10):
Right.
It's not like, how can we helpyou die?
It's like, seriously, the issue.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Well, the medical assistant, a whole nother
podcast if we went under that.
Cause
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah.
I mean, that just struck me as
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Yeah, well, no, it was very, there was many things
that were wrong.
I mean, in general I avoid theWestern medical system.
I don't even go to the doctor.
Um, I, this is the first time Iactually, like, I was on
steroids and inhalers my wholelife for really bad asthma.
And I, when I got, I worked witha homeopathic doctor to get off
of it in my thirties because myadrenals were completely shot.
(18:47):
And so I actually don't reallyaspire to Western medicine.
So all of a sudden having to bein this place of like how they
look at health was disturbing.
Like it was like verydisturbing.
I have to say like, and I don'twant to go into it cause I'll
just start going off a littlebit.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Um, yeah.
I, I hear you.
I mean, I, I don't know what theexperience was like, because I
haven't been through it before,but I can certainly empathize
that.
You know, having, having asystem that doesn't is not
really trained to offer peoplethe support that they need is
not helpful at all.
Um,
Speaker 3 (19:28):
If they're not looking at the whole body.
So really like when I wasspeaking about all the layers,
they look, they look at thesymptom, like, as we know, big
farm, they want to just mask thesymptom and the thing with
cancer, like, like you'll,they'll even say 90% of cancers.
They don't understand why.
So when I was asking them, like,why do I have cancer?
They would say, we don't know.
(19:49):
And I was like, what?
I mean, I was like, terrifiedthat here are these like, you
know, top oncologists tell methey don't know why I have a
young person, healthy person hascancer, but they're saying
there's more and more of thesecases coming up, young, healthy
women, like in their thirtiesand forties getting cancer.
Um, but then when I would go tomy acupuncturist or, you know,
other alternative practitioners,they would explain to me kind of
(20:11):
how, you know, cancer is lookedat in the traditional Chinese
medicine world.
And like, and it's a lot aboutthese layers.
It's not just one thing thatcauses cancer.
It's not like I drank water andI got cancer.
It's a, it's a multiple layerthing.
And you know, I think when we'retalking about the environment,
that's the thing, it's a, it isan environmental disease, but it
(20:32):
also has to do with then ourinner terrain, the environment
of our own body has to do withour lifestyle and our eating.
And it has to do with ourthoughts and beliefs, our
emotions.
It has to do.
There's a lot that goes into it.
And unfortunately we're livingin a more and more toxic world.
Right.
And that's the part that I thinkis scary, right.
Because, and that way I don'thave control so much of this
(20:55):
environment, right.
The, the world, the physicalenvironment.
So I have to really focus on thethings that I can control my own
environment.
Right.
Like if my body,
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yes, yes.
That that's key.
And it's actually a good segueinto, uh, I'm going to skip to
the next question, because youwere talking about the
environment and how theenvironment impacts that it has
an impact on the diseases thatwe see.
And so, uh, the diseases and theimmune disorders, which we know
(21:26):
on the rise, so what can we do?
And I think you've touched alittle bit on this in terms of
like, uh, focusing on the thingsthat we have control over like
our bodies.
So what else can we do to keepourselves healthy in this
ever-changing and toxicenvironment that as humans we're
creating on this planet?
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Well, the number one thing I would say is to really
switch the narrative.
So we got to get out of thisbinary way of thinking.
That's, that's like to me, thenumber one way.
So most of us don't even have arelationship with our bodies,
right?
This inner terrain of our body.
Most of us don't even reallyrealize our, our organs are like
all talking to each other.
And once those us don't evenknow where organs are, right.
(22:09):
There's so many layers, but evenjust knowing your breath, like
tuning into your breath andhaving that be kind of a signal
to you, like how what's going ontoday?
Like what needs tending to,like, what do you need to take
some rest?
Do you need to move?
Do you need to take a danceclass?
I mean, there's, you need tocall a friend, you know,
attending to your needs right.
(22:29):
On this very deep level.
So that would be like the numberone thing I would say, um, is
this relationship with yourbody?
And I think also just withlifestyle changes, like, it can
be really simple.
Like for me, I already atepretty healthy, but I started to
add different things.
I had to really learn what myfood sensitivities were because
a lot of this is like, if byinflammation is gonna, you know,
(22:52):
up your chances of any of thesethings.
So I have to really realizewhat's inflaming me, right.
If I don't know that I'm goingto be constantly exposing myself
to things that inflame me.
Um, so changing your diet inthat way, I had to change, like
my exercise for me actuallystopped doing some forms of
dance because I realized my, soyou have to know your
(23:13):
constitution.
I know I'm already kind of liketype a, I kind of go hard and I
don't probably need to be doingthings that's telling me to go
harder.
So I actually had to do, Iactually started doing like Tai
Chi gone and, you know, I teachslow Pilates and yoga, but like
for my exercise actually toreally slow it down, like taking
walks and hikes and things thatfed me on a different, like, you
(23:36):
know, multiple levels, not justphysical.
Um, I think, you know, for me,that's a lot of it is just, and
you know, everyone's healingprocess is different.
Um, for me it was a lot gettingin touch with my creativity.
Again, I think just reallyacknowledging what parts are we
like leaving out?
Like, you know, we have thesepieces of ourselves that we
completely neglect, right.
(23:57):
These shadow parts.
And for me, a lot of my healingwas like bringing that piece
back in.
Right.
And it's like, you know, justkind of that otherness again.
And if we other ourselves, we'regoing to be othering other
people, right.
If we other ourselves, we're notgoing to feel that we are a part
of nature, right.
We're not separate from nature.
And I think, you know, this isthe thing this, even though we'd
(24:19):
speak about the environmentbeing toxic, it's, it's our,
it's our relationshipenvironment that is toxic as
well.
Right.
So that needs to be healed.
And I know this might kind ofsounds, it's like, well, what do
I do then?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
No.
I mean, I think it's, it'sreally powerful, but, and what
you are talking about, I thinkis really not that hard to do,
because it just requires a, andI don't want to minimize it or
anything like that.
But what I'm hearing is that itrequires a certain level of,
self-awareness not just ofyourself and your own body, but
(24:55):
of your environment.
Right.
And what you are bringing to thetable, what you're contributing
to the environment and howyou're impacting the
environment, and then also beingaware of your body and what
you're putting in your body andwhat your body is saying to you.
I think all of those things, orrather, I believe all of those
(25:17):
are things that we're allcapable of.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Right?
I mean, you think about aschildren, we know the
environment that a child growsup in, right?
The nature nurture thing, butthe environment has a huge
impact.
That's going to shape thatchild's behavior and how that
child expresses itself as well.
You can say the same thing withdisease, right.
That you could say the symptomis cancer, but cancer is not the
problem.
(25:41):
The problem is the terrain andthe environment that we're,
which we are living in.
So you can even start to look atsome of the environments of your
relationships.
Right.
And this is a thing of like,really, I, I had to really like,
just like, again, that boundaryof like, is this really good for
me?
Right.
This, this relationship, maybeI'm, maybe I've grown and maybe
(26:03):
I've moved on from this person,you know?
And just, it just, and not in amean way, but it's like, you
know, we're constantly growing,we're constantly adapting and
evolving and it's like,sometimes some of our
relationships are not.
Um, yeah.
So I think it's like treatingthe terrain really is like more
than trying to treat thissymptom.
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
So important.
And you know, like what you saidabout being able to like give
up, even some of the things thatyou love, um, like the ability
for you to say, okay, I can't dothis dance anymore.
Knowing how much you love dance,but I'm not going to do it
because it's not good for me.
(26:43):
Or it's not benefiting my bodyor even giving up a
relationship.
I remember hearing somewhere, Ithink, think it was Oprah.
I'm not sure, uh, saying thatsometimes it's okay to realize
that you can love someone fromafar.
So in order to protect yourselfand to protect your heart,
sometimes you have to severrelationships with even people
(27:06):
who are in your family.
But that doesn't mean you don'tlove them.
You just love them from afar.
And I thought that was sopowerful,
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Right?
Yes.
I mean, I agree with that.
It's just the shifting andchanging.
Right.
We have to allow ourselves tochange and shift and transform,
you know, that's like the way oflife.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I agree.
And it's a way of evolution.
And like you said, that how wegrow, Oh my gosh, this has been
awesome.
Shannon.
You're amazing.
We could go on forever and ever.
Well, thank you.
Thank you so much for joining usand sharing your powerful story
(27:44):
and experience, um, as a breastcancer survivor and just as a
human, um, yeah.
It was extremely helpful andinspiring to me and I'm sure to
a listeners and you know, I hopeto see you on the dance floor in
person.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Yes.
I don't know me too.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Um, and um, Oh, before we go, I wanted to ask if
our listeners want to learnmore, how can they get in touch
with you?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Um, they can go to my website is and body Pilates,
studio.com.
So it's three words put alltogether.
E M B O D Y Pilates studio.
Um, that's also my email addressand body potty studio@gmail.com
and yeah, so it feel free toreach out and that I respond to
emails.
Um, I'm also on Instagram atembody polities yoga.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
That's awesome.
I love your ID for sure.
Videos.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
You're always so positive.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I know we do.
It's not easy though.
There's sometimes I don't wantto be positive, but you know, I
think the old,
Speaker 3 (28:51):
The balance.
So again, like, you don't wantto be positive all the time
either, because then it's like,you're one of those people like
stay positive.
It's like, sometimes you gottabe negative too, right?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah.
I don't want to be, I want tohave a little pity party.
So anyway.
Oh my gosh.
This was great.
Thank you again, Shannon.
I have to have you back on foranother topic.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Of course.
I'm happy to.
Okay.
Thanks.
All right, bye.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Whether it's relationships, food work or the
activities.
We love our environment, bothinternal and external has an
impact on our health acceptingthat we're, multi-layered
focusing on the things we cancontrol, eliminating the things
we do not need to live andbalancing our physical,
emotional, and spiritual needsare the, to a healthier
(29:42):
existence that feeds our souland our body.
Every day.
Before you go about your day,ask yourself, what does my soul
need is five and then prioritizewhat you need to do to feed it.
That's all for our show today.
Be sure to subscribe to ourpodcast on Apple podcasts,
Spotify, Google podcasts, andPandora want to continue this
(30:03):
conversation connect with ourFacebook community at gap news
women also head on over to ourblog app, use.com to discover
more resources on how to live ahealthier lifestyle.
Oh, and one more thing before wego, Shannon has changed her
website to body root andsoul.com and her Instagram
handle to body route.
And so until next time, staysafe and find the inspiration to
(30:28):
live your best life.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
[inaudible].
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