November 12, 2022 • 57 mins
I am so excited to release this podcast with Lindsay Gonzalez titled Yoga, Surf & Breathwork in El Salvador. Lindsay and her husband own and run a Yoga and Surf retreat center in El Tunco, El Salvador. She specializes in yoga, breathwork and leading surf adventures around El Salvador. Lindsay has an adventurous spirit and is full of enthusiasm for life. Please send Lindsay some LOVE on her channels to show your appreciation for her taking the time to share with us.
Check her out at:
lindsaygonzalezyoga.com
elsalvadoryoga.com
sunzal.com
on Instagram at: @lindsaygonzalezyoga
@balancesurfyoga
YouTube: Lindsay Gonzalez
During this conversation Lindsay and I discussed topics like:
- yoga
- breathwork
- birth doula
and so much more!
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LinkedIn: Todd McLaughlin
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:33):
Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast.
So happy you are here. My goalwith this channel is to bring
inspirational speakers to themic in the field of yoga,
massage bodywork and beyond.
Follow us @nativeyoga, and checkus out at nativeyogacenter.com.
(00:56):
All right, let's begin.
Welcome to the Native YogaToddcast. I'm so excited to
introduce to you LindsayGonzalez. Please check Lindsay
out at her website,lindseygonzalesyoga.com. I'm
(01:16):
gonna put multiple other linksin the description below places
that you can find Lindsay. Youcan find her on Instagram, the
handle @lindsaygonzalesyoga, youcan also check out her yoga and
surf retreat center in ElSalvador Central America called
Balance Surf and Yoga on awebsite called
(01:38):
ElSalvadoryoga.com. They alsohave a website called
sunzal.com. And there'll be acouple of other links in there
as well. I'm so pleased to havethis chance to meet Lindsey and
to talk about her life down inEl Salvador taking people
surfing teaching them yoga, as abirth doula and in leading
(02:03):
transformational breathworkworkshops and classes. And so
with that being said, also, ifyou all enjoy this show, if at
the end, if you can write aquick review and or leave a
rating and review. I really,really, really, really
appreciate it. Thank you. Allright. So let me go ahead and
(02:25):
let's get into the discussion.
Here we go. I'm so happy to havethis chance to speak with you.
This is Lindsay Gonzalez andLindsay, you're joining us from
El Salvador. How are you today?
I'm doing well. Thank you somuch for this connection.
Um, I'm really appreciative myfriend Alexandra, who lives down
(02:47):
in El Salvador, She recentlywrote me and said, You got to
come do a yoga and surf retreatdown here in El Salvador. And
she sent me your informationwhich led me to be able to get
in touch with you. And thereforeI'm so appreciative for you to
take time out of your busyschedule. Can you tell me how
(03:08):
your yoga journey began?
Oh, so it's actually come fullcircle in, in a way. I was a
young girl just out of highschool and I moved to Costa
Rica, and kind of did it on a ona whim, I thought, I don't know
if I'm gonna go to college rightaway. But I know I need to go
(03:29):
and get better at surfing. Andso I bought a one way ticket to
Costa Rica, almost over 20 yearsago. Wow. And I lived on the
beach with these two women thatwere just a few years older than
me. But they were both yogateachers from California. And
they were they're doing thetraveller thing. And they had a
(03:52):
little tiny yoga room set up.
And we would invite all thelocal surfers over and they
would teach yoga. I had come offof a, you know, life of being
young life of being an athlete.
And I was really flexible. Sothey said, Lindsay, you have to
be a yoga teacher. You're goodat this. And that was the first
(04:15):
nudge. And it's interesting thatI'm back in Latin America at
this point in my life, stilldoing exactly what they nudged
me to do.
Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, verycool. And but so then I'm
guessing in that 20 year period,you then went back to the states
and then had been traveling backand forth between us and Central
(04:38):
America.
Us and all over, really. I wentback to the states and I said,
Well, I think it's time I was21. I said maybe I should go to
college. So I went to college,but I ended up spending all of
my time in the yoga studio, justdown the road. And you know,
being from the East Coast, youmay have heard of Charm City.
(05:00):
Yoga, it was in Baltimore for along time. And they they
recently were bought by Yogaworks. But I trained at Charm
City 20 years ago with Kim MinFreedy. And give her so much
love and respect over the last20 years. She's really been a
guide in my life. Nice. And thenI've always had this, this love
(05:23):
of surf. So, you know, I wasback and forth between Central
America and the US and differentstates that I lived in in the
US.
Nice. And how long have you beenin El Salvador now?
It's been about six years. Wow.
Yeah.
And both you and your husband isit Adrian, you guys work
(05:44):
together and manage the wholecenter together?
We do it all. Family life andwork life.
Nice. Do you have children?
We do. Yes. Yeah, we have twolittle babies. Our son Luca is
three and a half and ourdaughter, Livia. She goes by
Libya, Paloma. So she kind ofhas two names. But she's one and
(06:08):
a half.
Nice. Congratulations. Did youdid you both meet in El Salvador
or here in the States.
So funny enough, we met inColorado, and he walked into my
yoga class in the middle ofwinter. And I had just gotten
back from leading a retreat inPanama. And I was telling my
(06:29):
regular students about the eventand how much I love visiting
Latin America. And he was justvery kind and sitting in the
back of the room. And he said,Have you ever been to El
Salvador? And I said, No, that'sthe only place I haven't been in
Latin America. And he said, Oh,I should tell you about my
project down there. And webecame friends. You know, it was
(06:52):
a two year friendship before webefore we started our romance.
And he invited me down to ElSalvador, actually, for a job.
He invited me down to help himopen and run the yoga retreat
center, and really bring it towhat it is now. And very
(07:14):
quickly, we found that, that wewould be great partners. And
like,that's amazing. Very cool story.
Did. So what is it like runninga yoga retreat center in El
Salvador?
Oh, gosh, it's a lot of work. Ithink we have to prioritize time
(07:38):
for surfing now, where before wedid this, we would serve a lot.
Yeah. But it's, it's really beensuch an amazing project to work
on together. And now after beingclosed for about a year, we're
reopen. We have new rooms. Wehave a retreat here right now.
(07:59):
That is wonderful. And we haveanother small group of
professional young surfers fromPanama. So there's a lot of life
here, and a lot of good vibes.
So it is a lot of work, ofcourse, but the work is fun. I
bet I got to go surfing with thecustomers. So that was great.
(08:21):
That is amazing. That soundslike the dream job for sure. I'm
just so everyone listening canfind you on your personal
website, which is LindseyGonzales. yoga.com. And then
also, you have a website, ElSalvador yoga.com. If people are
interested in looking atbalance, surfing yoga, and also
(08:43):
I just want to make mention thatyou're on Instagram as well at
Lindsey Gonzales yoga, andbalancer for yoga, which I'll
have all those links down belowso people can check out like
photos and get a visual on whatit is you all are doing your
center looks really beautiful.
Like it looks like has anamazing pool and rooms I saw
from looking at your Instagramtoday that you have a new cafe
(09:04):
opening that is inspired andBalinese style architecture or
at least decor. Can you tell mea little bit about that?
Yes, so separately of eachother. My husband and I both
spent quite a few years goingback and forth to Bali for
(09:24):
different reasons. I was thereto teach yoga teacher trainings
and he was there to go surfing.
and years and years ago he had asmall jewelry business with his
mother and they sourced a lot ofjewelry from Bali. So he was
spending time and then finallywe got to go to Bali together
and when we were there togetheron our last trip right before
(09:47):
the pandemic, we we said this isit. We have to take as many
pictures as we can we have toremember this feeling and bring
it to Latin America and thencreate He did in a Latin
American way. But I think theBalinese style is, is beautiful
with hardwoods and naturalfibers and lots of very
(10:09):
intelligent details that makethe stay feel luxurious and
rustic at the same time.
Nice. That sounds amazing. Didyou find architect Endor builder
in El Salvador to build for you?
Or is that something that youboth were hands on?
(10:33):
very hands on. We worked with alocal architect. And we had fun
meetings where we would come toher with all of these ideas, and
then she would put it ontopaper. And a lot of times, she
would say the builders havenever done anything like this
before. So we're going to beable to teach them a new skill.
And that was an excitingproject, even even in regards to
(10:55):
like the the thatched roof inone of our buildings. The Fache
is done in a Balinese styleversus a Latin American style.
So very different, verychallenging. But it works. And
it's beautiful. Nice. We're soproud.
That's really cool. That soundsamazing. Is it officially open
now? Or are you just a few daysaway?
(11:18):
Well, everything is officiallyopen, except for the cafe. The
cafe will open on November 12,which is just a few days away.
Congratulations. That's amazing.
I'm curious, since you are deepin the yoga world, and also in
the surf culture. Can you tellme what it's like to blend these
(11:40):
two art forms together? Do yousee a lot of similarity
similarity between these twopractices?
Oh, yes, I really feel like yogaand surfing go together
perfectly, because they theykind of balanced the opposites,
(12:02):
you know, and no pun intended, Ialways find myself giggling when
I say balance, balance, balanceover and over again. But it's it
is the balance of the opposites.
It's the the hands together,it's the semester up, it's all
of that. So in surfing, youusually are looking up and
arching your spine and spottingyour direction so that you can
(12:24):
catch the wave. But in yoga, wedo a lot of internal work. And
so curling into the body,rounding the spine, rounding
into the neck and then findingmore expansion. So they go
together perfectly. I have to,you know, I was about to say
like, I have to go surfing on adaily basis. And I have to do my
(12:45):
yoga practice to heal my bodyfrom all of the hard work of
surfing.
That's cool. I hear you that.
That makes perfect sense. I feelthe same way we were our studio
is a wall steps away from theocean. And there's nothing like
if having a really big day to beable to get into the saltwater.
(13:06):
And even if it's just for aswim, we definitely do not have
waves like you do and ElSalvador. I'm curious, what is
the surf season like there interms of like if a beginner
comes and has never really beenin the ocean and is really new
to the ocean environment? Isthere a time of year where it's
a little bit more conducive tothat?
(13:30):
Yes, I'm glad you asked. BecauseNovember 1 is the day that it
turns into summer here. It's theend of the rainy season. The
month of November is one of themost beautiful times to be here,
though the waves are a littlebit smaller, and the rainy
season is over. So the waterfeels a lot cleaner, very fresh,
(13:51):
but there's greenery all aroundso sitting out in the ocean is
just magnificent to look back atthe green hillsides nice like
November through April to answeryour question is really the best
time for beginners or travelersthat are like surfing but they
don't surf all of the time. Butthey want the combination of
(14:13):
surf and yoga. That's the besttime of year to come.
Because the other time of theyear is when it gets quite big.
I'm gathering from from hearingmy friends that traveled down
there to go surf they were thererecently or when they were there
last they said it was really bigand almost too big. Like, like a
lot of work just to get outthere too. And I'm curious, do
(14:37):
you surf big waves are you outthere when it's at its peak?
You know, I do not not hugewaves but we are the land El
Salvador is the land of righthand point breaks. And opposite
from beach breaks. Beach breaksjust kind of come at you and
they're harder to get out. Butthe beauty of a point break is
(14:58):
it's a rocky point. And you canpaddle into a channel and then
take the channel out to the wavewithout a lot of fuss, catch the
wave, write it down the line andthen get right back to the
channel. Yes. So I think that'swhy El Salvador is so accessible
for people that are even at justan intermediate level is that it
(15:20):
helps them advance theirsurfing.
When you're taking newbies out,are there are there some soft
sandy beach break? places thatyou go to take them out in?
Yes, yes. And so our little townis is in a cove called Alto. And
l tumko. is predominantly ariver rock break. But during the
(15:45):
months of November throughApril, all of the river rock is
covered up with sand. And thesand is pulled on to the beach
covers the rock makes it muchmore friendly. So we have two
spots right out front of wherewe are, where people can learn
how to surf. And then the nextcode just five minute drive down
the road is an all sand beach.
So perfect. It's possible. Yeah.
(16:07):
Cool. And where are you guyswhere your yoga Shala is and our
yoga studio and accommodation.
Is it right on the ocean? Areyou up on a hill somewhere?
Yeah, no, we were pretty closeto the ocean where about a three
minute walk? Wow. But we'reright right in front of the
(16:30):
river mouth have a point breakcalled lavo Khanna and LeBeau
Khanna is incredible. It'sactually one of the only left's
but it also works as a right.
And it's the wave that was theOlympic qualifier in 2020, or
2021, the Olympic 2021qualifier. So that is steps away
from our front door.
(16:54):
Very cool. Can you give me someinkling or insight into say I
mentioned to somebody, I'mgetting ready to go to El
Salvador and their reactionhere. Maybe they haven't
traveled much, and they're inthe States and they go, ooh,
isn't that dangerous down there?
Be careful. Is that? Does thathold any truth for you? Or is
(17:15):
that more just maybe folks thatdon't travel a lot that get
nervous about thinking aboutbeing outside of the states more
of a myth?
You know that that comment aloneis probably what kept me from
coming here for a long time isjust a warning. And I didn't
really know what it meant. Andso I said, Okay, well, maybe I
(17:38):
should actually go check thisplace out. Because Adrian says
it's wonderful. So let's seewhat it's all about. It's where
we live. So some some that is asafety concern. But where we
live, it's 45 minutes from theSan Salvador Airport. The San
Salvador airport is actually onthe coastline. It's not in the
(17:58):
city of San Salvador. And I dotell people that when traveling
anywhere in the world travelwith caution, you don't want to
be out in the city late at nightin the neighborhood that you're
aware of. And so when you flyinto San Salvador, you would fly
into the airport and drive alongthe coast for 45 minutes, and
(18:18):
you get directly to our door.
Our business is inside of aguarded and gated town called El
tiempo. And so what I appreciateso much about this town,
especially raising my babieshere, is that there's a police
station within the community.
And in El Salvador, the policeare really the good guys. So you
(18:40):
know that are I know that I cango to them if something is feels
uncomfortable, and they canassist. Yeah.
Cool. I appreciate it. Yeah.
Yeah. I'm curious also is Do youtravel around El Salvador much?
Or do you pretty much stay? I'mso you guys are so busy. And you
have your business? And have youhad a chance to travel around El
(19:04):
Salvador?
Yeah, we have. We've had so manyamazing trips, we usually go
twice a year on big excursionsto different parts of the
country to check out the lake orthe volcanoes or the waterfalls
or some other surf breaks. AndI've never had a bad experience
(19:26):
in El Salvador. That's cool. Ifeel really comfortable with the
people here. And you know what,one of the amazing things is
that the infrastructure is solovely. The roads are great. So
driving around, you're notdriving on potholes, and the
people are lovely and kind andwelcoming.
(19:47):
That sounds amazing. I'm curiousLindsey, what is your background
in different yoga styles andtraditions? Do you have a
specific style that yougravitate toward during Your
daily practice, or are you wellversed in multiple different
approaches?
(20:08):
Oh, great. Yeah, I, I feel likeI'm pretty well versed I started
as a young athlete, withAshtanga being my main focus,
and learning all of the historyand the philosophy around
Ashtanga gave me a very goodfoundation as to what yoga is.
My teacher came in for the shetrained directly with batavi
(20:31):
Joyce. And so I feel very heldon the shoulders of the teachers
before me. When I moved toColorado, so I lived in Colorado
for a long time. When I movedout there, I got immersed in the
INR culture, I just felt theintelligence behind the INR
teachings and I found on usaraand started practicing on usara.
(20:55):
So my, my style has evolved alot throughout the years from a
strict Ashtanga practice to avery fluid and athletic vinyasa
style practice. And now I callmyself an align and flow
teacher. So alignment based withintelligent movements. And I've
(21:19):
spent a lot of time studying inthe Pilates world. I'm not a
Pilates teacher, but I do reallyvalue the pelvic floor work and
the core work that comes withthat, and I tried to incorporate
it into my class. It'svery cool. It seems like a
logical progression if we'restarting off in the Stanga to at
some point, really appreciatesome nice, gentle, restorative
(21:39):
alignment based yoga as well. Doyou agree?
I totally agree. Yeah.
Especially with age.
Yes. How do you do you feel likethe process of practicing yoga
and getting out in the surfregularly? Kind of keeps you in
that level of fitness? Or haveyou had any challenges over the
(22:02):
years in terms of any injuriesand or rehab needing to rehab
anything?
Luckily, I have not had a lot ofinjuries in either surfing or
yoga. But But yoga has evolvedfor me, there have been times in
my life where I've needed gentlerestorative years. And there's
(22:23):
also been times in my life whereI need fast, athletic, long
periods of time. So luckily, youknow, the yoga mat is always
there. And it's it's there, evenif you just have to want to sit
and cry for a good spot to hangout.
Yes. Good point. Good point. Inoticed as well, one thing that
(22:48):
got me really excited to have achance to speak with you is my
wife gave birth to our childrenat home in the water with a
midwife, and I noticed that yourbirth doula, can you talk a
little bit about how you gotinterested in becoming a birth
doula and what you are howyou're servicing in that field
(23:11):
now.
Thank you. Yes. So this actuallystarts as a surfing story. My,
my husband and I were on thetrip of the surf trip of a
lifetime in the mental islandsof Sumatra, Indonesia. And we,
we were talking about how muchwe loved each other and that we
(23:33):
wanted to have a baby in thenext couple of years. And we
came home from that trip to findout that we were pregnant. And
so it's it's a fun surf story.
You know, don't take yourgirlfriend on a on a surf trip.
But we we were so excited tofind out that we were pregnant,
and I didn't know a lot aboutpregnancy or birth or any of
(23:54):
that. I just wasn't immersed inthat world and my friends are
all having babies later in life.
So I said, Okay, I think I needa midwife. And I think I need to
learn how to do this, like Iwant to dive in. And he was in
full agree, you know, he agreedfully that he would support me
(24:15):
in this process. So I started tolearn about about Hypno
birthing, and I started to learnabout doula work. And I said,
Well, I'm going to hire amidwife and a doula and I'll
never forget my first meetingwith my midwife. She just calmed
my nerves. She made me feel socomfortable and welcome and
(24:39):
special. And so that that work.
It also made me feel similar tohow I feel about the yoga world.
Everyone is so accepting andloving and Chi. And I hired the
same doula for both of mybabies. And she she said to me,
you should become a doula,similar to my yoga story with
(25:00):
the girls in Costa Rica, theyjust said, do this. And I heard
the call and loud and clear. Sothat's amazing. Yeah. That's
cool. Did you have both yourchildren at home as well? Or did
you go to the hospital or whatwas yours? Yeah.
(25:23):
My son, my son, we were we werehere in El Salvador through both
of our pregnancies. But we wentback to the US to have our
children. My son was born at abirthing center, naturally, in
the birth tub. And it was areally spiritual hypnobirth
experience. It was a reallywonderful, gentle. I, I just
(25:47):
couldn't even believe it, youknow, and I'll tell you a small
snippet of the story. As he wasbeing born as he was descending
in my pelvis, I got intohypnosis so deeply that I didn't
really feel pain or discomfort.
But in my mind, I went to thevisual of red, orange, yellow,
red, orange, yellow, and that isthe kaleidoscope of the lower
(26:10):
three chakra colors. And I sawthis kaleidoscope of color. And
it was really fascinating. Andso rather than thinking about
what was happening in my body,I, I leaned into the
visualization. And then he wasborn. And the midwife had to
rush to flag my husband andsaying, Hey, baby's coming down,
(26:33):
back in here.
Wow, that's amazing. I mean, cuzI know, obviously, for a lot of
women, it's a very painfulexperience. So the fact that
you're able to actually putyourself into that level of
hypnosis and, and work throughit on that level is really
(26:57):
amazing. That's incredible.
It was the I'm, I'm so gratefulthis, that birth was the
greatest gift of my lifetime. Itjust changed. It changed the
course of my life. And it mademe want to help other women to
experience something similar,and to guide them in this path.
(27:18):
So then my, my daughter, I saidto my my Doula, hey, I think I
want to have a home birthbecause I have this two year old
now. And how will I go to abirth center with a two year old
and she said, great idea, youare going to have a home birth.
And we just follow that path. MyI have a deep tub, thankfully,
(27:42):
at our house in when we have ourUS home is in Washington. And I
have a nice deep tub. So Ishowed her the space and she was
very comfortable with that idea.
My daughter was born at homejust steps away from my bed. And
her birth story is also ahypnobirth story, it's a little
different. Because my son withmy son, I had a very long labor,
(28:05):
and my water broke very early inmy labor. With my daughter, I
had a very short labor, justthree hours, and my water did
not break until a few minutesbefore she was born. So it was a
little different in the way thatthere was one great effort on my
part. And I remember visualizingthis like, like kind of Kali
(28:29):
goddess. And there was a roarthat came out of me but not not
like a deep guttural roar, itwas more like ah, I can own and,
and she was born with sound intothe water, but also very, very
much painfree very comfortablebirths.
(28:54):
That's amazing. I know a lot ofpeople I remember when we were
preparing to, for my wife tohave a home birth, we found that
we needed to be very carefulabout who we told that we were
doing that other people thatwere supportive of the idea
were, you know, reallysupportive, obviously. And then
(29:15):
if I told maybe some of thatwork to the hospital or
something, maybe a physician orsomebody they, you know, would
meet us with like, are youcrazy. That's why we have
medical science, this this iswhy we have hospitals is what if
something happens and planting alot of doubt about the safety of
that experience. And we had suchincredible situations both times
(29:41):
that we were thankful that wedidn't weren't persuaded by that
and that we held true to theidea. What do you as working as
a doula, do you find that youcome across this sort of Support
slash, you know, are you crazyconcept? Often? Yes. Yeah,
(30:07):
absolutely. Yeah,yeah. I think, you know,
humanity we want to protect eachother. But we're, we're actually
express expressing thediscomfort around homebirth I
think people are just expressingtheir own fears. And in in my
work with hypnosis andhypnotherapy, it's, it's about
creating healthy boundaries andstepping into your own power as
(30:31):
a as a woman and as a family. Sothat in the classes that I
teach, the the father is verypresent or the birth companion
is very present. And they have arole to support and help the
mother release any fears oranxieties or tension or pain.
And then pain can be transformedthrough this practice of
(30:56):
visualization. And you know thisthrough your own work and
through meditation that we canreally decide to change our own
minds and release the the fearsof others. Here's the
point, Lindsay, that's amazing.
Do your have your childrenexpressed curiosity for the
(31:19):
ocean and surfing?
Yes,I do. Do they have a choice?
No, not really. My, my son isthree and a half. And by the
(31:39):
time he was two and a half, hewas an incredible swimmer. And
we we didn't do any sort oftraining, we just put him in the
pool every day and made watervery comfortable. And so now my
my little daughter is jumping inthe pool, you know, so she's
excited to be a part of that aswell. The waves, the waves are
(31:59):
still big and scary, but thebeach is fine. And the tide
pools are, are where they'rehappy. That's cool. But my my
son is very cute. He likes toshow people his surfer stance
and he likes to stand on theboards and wax the boards. So
we'll take it slow, but theyhave to be strong swimmers
first.
I hear you Yeah, when you're ina more serious environment like
(32:22):
that it's a little differentthan just playing in a little
kind of tide pool by the ocean.
Yeah, some of the similar I'malways because I love surfing
and yoga, I'm always looking foryou know, similar similarities
in terms of the two practicesand differences and, and how
they kind of helping feed eachother. And one thing I noticed
(32:44):
that in the surf world, there'sthis like dream of being alone,
an uncrowded space where there'snot a lot of competition. And
then when I observe, like, wehave a pier here, June up here,
and when the waves are good,there's so many people in the
(33:05):
water, and it's reallycompetitive. And you kind of see
people getting really aggressiveand angry. And, you know,
there's just like, so muchemotion and testosterone
sometimes, and, and I'm curious.
And in the yoga world, I don'tfeel like when we go into a
(33:30):
crowded yoga room, it's exactlythe same type of competition,
because it's different. Likewith waves, there's only like,
234 waves coming in a set. Andthere's 100 People all trying to
get those four waves. So youhave like, so many people
competing for a small resource,and sometimes that doesn't bring
(33:52):
out the best in humanity. But Inoticed like in a larger yoga
setting, because we're all onour mats, it's not really
competitive, because we're notlike going to get like a yoga
wave in the room or something.
But sometimes there iscompetition, I think in terms of
trying to impress others, andlike, show off and there is a
little bit of that, or I'vedefinitely, I felt that myself.
(34:14):
So I'm aware that you know, Ihave to, you know, taper that
and I and I also feel like inyoga, I do dream of a silent
retreat, and like being, youknow, off alone for just a few
days to really have quiet spaceand enjoy meditation and
(34:34):
practice. Do you have anythoughts around those thoughts?
Yeah. You know, I was I was inthe water today, and it was I
was at a break called studentsall which is one of those
beautiful right hand pointbreaks. And there's never any
(34:57):
competition out there. Never I'mI, today there was, and it felt
different. And I had to comeback to my my yoga space and
come back to the hotel and say,Wow, I, I'm really surprised
that that happened today. Youknow, but but it's also I think
(35:18):
going back to the other storyabout other people, that's,
that's them and not me. And sowe get to choose how we respond
in those types of interactions.
And the surfing world can bequite aggressive at times. But I
was out there with a couple ofgirlfriends and we just said,
You know what, let's just go in.
(35:39):
We'll go surfing later when thatenergy is, is there. And so I
think that's the the vibe herein El Salvador is the vibe of
when owned, which means likegood vibes or cool like, chill.
Thank you low like understandingthat we can, the waves will
still come and we don't have tofight for them. So it depends on
(36:04):
what kind of surfer you are. Ido like to travel to the places
with the uncrowded waves,though. I definitely do. Yeah.
agree there's a good wave about20 minutes up the coast from us
that my husband and I went andhad a great date at the other
day. And so we needed that weneeded to get away from the
(36:26):
local waves so that we could goto something that not everyone
knows about. And there are stillsecrets around the world.
Good point. Good point. Do youhave like if you had to pick
like your top two or three yogaposes post a surf session? What
(36:47):
would be your go to poses?
Like, like a rabbit position,you know the rabbit pose from
the Bikram series. I'm not a bigfan of the Bikram series for my
personal life, but that pose isgold after surfing, and starting
(37:09):
to breathe into the intercostalmuscles of of the ribs. That all
moving again. Yeah. And maybemaybe like another you know, I
cat cow, but with rotating theribs and hips. So I call it
cleaning out the inside of analmond butter jar with your
(37:31):
ribcage.
Nice.
That feels good after certainlylots of mobility flexion
extension and side bending.
Very cool. Yeah. Can you explainwhat the teaching situations are
like where you're at in terms ofI feel like I read that you're
(37:53):
in charge of the trainings andor do you offer teacher
trainings there in El Salvador?
We did. We offered a teachertraining here in 2018. And we
have not offered one again hereyet, but we will in the future.
But right now we are the onlyYoga Studio in the town of El
(38:14):
Junco. So people come from allover and can drop into any of
the yoga classes. Excuse me, wealso have some workshops going
on and I guide, I hold space orfacilitate space for
transformational breath work aswell. And that has been a really
wonderful offering in thiscommunity. A lot of travelers
(38:37):
find out about it. And then alot of the the local community
and expats are coming tobreathwork to do some big
healing work.
Nice. Can you can you describewhat a transformational
breathwork class is like?
Sure. It's, you know, it's abouttwo hours long. So it's a long
(39:00):
evening, I hold the classes inthe evenings and we breathe in a
certain pattern, so that you canrelease the the conscious mind
and tap into whatever thesubconscious experience needs to
share with you. And it could bea subconscious experience of
grief patterns in your body andin your life that you're holding
(39:21):
on to or traumas can definitelybe supported through breathwork
or past life experiences, it canbe quite profound. And so in a
breath work class, you will justlay on your back. And you can
have a little eye covering andhave something behind your knees
(39:41):
and you do this breath patternthat eventually starts to take
over. And you have to surrenderright? So as a participant in
your own life. It's important toget out of get out of our own
way. So that's the work ofbreathwork is to see what comes
up I sometimes tell people thatthis is similar to plant
(40:03):
medicine, but without the plantmedicine. You know, it's just
the power of your breath.
You probably, maybe on purposechoose not to explain the exact
breath technique, but I'm justcurious is that one where you're
exhaling really intensely? Or?
Because I've heard I've neveractually taken like an official
(40:27):
transformational breath.
workshop, I did one recently, ina style that some the
facilitator called it resetbreathwork. And it was, like,
three short inhales and longexhale. And it really like I
(40:50):
didn't think it was going to beI just thought, how could this
be an intense experience, andpeople beforehand had kind of
worn like, Your hands can almostlike crab claw, because it draws
all the prana into the center ofyour body. And obviously, with
like, the change in the oxygenand carbon dioxide ratios in the
body. And I, when I heard that,I was like, Okay, we're just
(41:12):
gonna breathe. I don't see howthat could happen. But it was so
intense. Oh, my gosh, like Ididn't expect. And I'm curious,
is it is it? Well, when he said,If this is a little bit like a
plant medicine ceremony, butwithout the plant medicine, it
sounds to me like theseexperiences can be extremely
profound. Can you tell? Are youable to talk about learn? Yeah,
(41:34):
sure. Of course, yeah, it'ssimilar. It's, you know, in the
past, it's been calledHolotropic. Breathing. And so
different than the three shortbreaths, we do a big, strong,
powerful inhale, and a verysoft, light exhale. And so it's
kind of a pattern, and Idescribe it like climbing a
(41:55):
roller coaster. So it's this.
Like, you're climbing to get tothe top of the experience, and
then the body is so overoxygenated. That there may be a
point of suspension, whereconsciously you'll say I'm, I'm
not breathing. Butsubconsciously, you're saying
I'm getting exactly enough ofwhat I need, or I already have
(42:16):
inside of me what I need. And soit's a it's interesting, yes, it
is a play on the balance of theof the oxygen. But the, the hand
position that you're talkingabout is called technique. And
that is very common in any typeof Holotropic or
transformational or rebirthing,breathwork. And so that's, that
(42:39):
happens when there's a holdingpattern in the mind. If the mind
is holding on to something verydeeply, it will show up in the
body. And maybe you've you'veread or heard of the book, The
Body Keeps the Score. I refer tothis book a lot, because the
body is trying to tell ussomething when it curls into a
technique pattern. And so it'sat the point when we get out of
(43:03):
our own way, that the bodyactually releases the tetany
pattern. And then it feels quiteeuphoric. And so it can feel
quite spiritual. And it could bein combination with either
laughing which is very euphoric,or, or tears and crying, which
is also a wonderful release.
(43:29):
Interesting. So there's a lot tosay about it. When that starts
to happen, your hint orsuggestion is don't develop fear
around the sensation of that andjust continue on with the breath
practice and just see whatevolves.
(43:49):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Becausewhatever we resist, persists.
And so if there's a resistancearound the technique, it could
actually become a little bitmore challenging. It could, it
could hurt, it could becomequite painful. And so if you if
you notice it and say, there'san interesting thing happening,
(44:10):
my hands are hurting. Okay, I'mjust gonna keep going.
Eventually that will release andit releases in a really
euphoric.
Wow. Good advice. I will I willtry that next time for sure.
Yeah. That's an that's amazing.
Rosie. So I mean, you we've kindof covered like, love of the
(44:33):
ocean and surfing yoga in termsof asana and different styles of
yoga. You're involved in thedoula work and like really, into
obviously using that same skillthat you're talking about with
the breathing and then bringingthat into the doula work. Makes
(44:54):
perfect sense because obviously,that A similar type of fear and
sensation of pain and ordiscomfort, and then
transforming that to besomething that you can release
and relax into is pretty amazingand intense stuff. Are there any
other areas that we miss likethat you're really passionate
(45:14):
about? I mean, another area thatI'm curious, I do want to ask
you What about in relation tomusic and or mantra and sound?
Do you have any personalpractices? Because you did make
mention that during the birthingexperience that it was like a
home, you know, experience? Doyou? Do you have other daily
rituals, routines are practicesthat involve sound and or music?
(45:42):
Yeah, so So breath work in thebreathwork workshops, the music
is really quite intense andquite stimulating. But in any
type of breath work or ceremonythat I have done in the past, or
I lead, I guide people towardsusing their voice to release
(46:02):
their chakra energy and I, Idaily Hum, I hum, I own my
children ohm and sing mantrawith me and I don't, I don't do
like singing bowls all the time,just because I don't have them,
I'd like to have them. But I dolove. I do love sound. And I do
(46:24):
love expression of the heartthrough the voice. So that being
said, that is just a lovelydaily offering is to create some
sort of opening from the heart.
I agree. One of my one of myfavorite things about being out
in the ocean and, you know, bigset coming and you'll start
(46:47):
hearing people start to hoot, alittle bit out in the water.
Like, either to let you know,like, Whoa, there's something
coming get ready. Or, you know,expressing real excitement for
somebody having an incredibleride and dislike, you know,
you're out in an openenvironment where it doesn't
feel like you're doing somethinginappropriate by just like
(47:11):
yelling really loud. You know,it's like usually welcomed by
people. Do you find in yogaclasses? Do you incorporate
that, like into an actual Asanasession, not like yelling out
loud, but I have seen differentlike yoga modalities where they
encourage people to dislikereally just kind of let loose
and start, you know, eithermoving their body shaking around
(47:32):
yelling at the top of theirlungs. Is that something you've
ever experienced? Or? Or no,yeah, you know, Kundalini and
all of that. I even yesterday inthe class, we were doing this
surfer shoulder class, and I hadeveryone reaching their arms up
really high. And then with abig, powerful exhale, take their
(47:55):
arms back behind them. And thenwe did it quite fast. And we did
it a, you know, a dozen or moretimes, just inhale, exhale,
inhale, exhale, and it buildsthis fire inside of the body
that is so stimulating. Andimmediately after a few rounds
of this big powerful exhale, wejust brought her hands to our
(48:18):
heart center and closed her eyesand felt the floor. And some
people started crying. Wow.
Because it's it's a lot to bringup that sort of energy and
breath inside of your body. Andso it's a beautiful way to
release. So yeah, I'm all aboutit. I hit in the water. I cheer
(48:43):
people on. I love the the powerof the voice. It's connected to
the heart.
Amazing. What about local artsand crafts there? And in terms
of board building and or boardbuying? Do you come to the
(49:04):
States? Get new gear fly home?
Do you have local shapers likeI've always I practice bodywork
and I'm a massage therapist, andI love reading surface Journal
Magazine. And I love the part inthe surface journal where they
highlight the shapers and theyreally go into the art of
crafting a homemade board andlike all of the thought and
(49:30):
planning and years of historyand then learning it from their
teacher and it being passed downin the evolution of the shaping
process and sometimes when I'mdoing body work all just to kind
of keep my imagination, havingfun and in the process but think
of it as like a shaping process.
(49:51):
And And I'm curious, are therelocal shapers there in that you
that you support or what is thatexperience for you there in El
Salvador?
Yes. Just locally, we have agentleman who's who goes by the
name papaya. And he has a pioussurf shop here in town. So he
(50:12):
has been making boards for 15years, probably. And he does a
great job. They're beautifulboards. But he just linked up
with the company sharp eye outof San Diego, California. And
the the owners of sharp eye camedown and they taught papaya how
to make sharp eye boards. So Ithink there's this cool
(50:35):
collaboration going on. And thereason that they did that,
because they obviously want toincrease the brand. But they
also want people to be on reallywell made Ford's that they can
get a good deal here locally inEl Salvador versus paying the
higher US price point. That'sreally cool. So all the guys all
(51:00):
the young guys, including myhusband, my husband just bought
one of Popeye sharp eye boards.
Nice. All right, yeah, they'reon that board now.
Very cool. Do do you practicebody work? Or do you have a team
of body workers that help workfor you at the at your retreat
center?
Yeah, they're local ladies.
There are some wonderful localladies that hold space for
(51:23):
bodywork. And I always get tothe benefit of getting to
interview them.
Yes, let me see. Let me see ifyou're any good. Oh, actually,
you're really good. Keep going.
Exactly.
I have recently found a womanwho blew my mind. She's a local
(51:48):
woman here. And she's been doingbodywork self trained for 20
years. And she is an incrediblehealer in that way. And so she
is training in some of the otherlocal women community. And I
feel like that takes us back tothe roots of what bodywork used
to be. It used to be a mentor,and a student. And I really love
(52:11):
seeing that. That blossom inthis community. Wow. And I like
being on the receiving end.
Well, I'm, I'm totally sold.
Lindsay, I want to come downthere and hang out with you
guys. That sounds so fun. Imean, surfing, yoga, breath,
work, body work, amazing foodcafe and Balani style. I I don't
(52:37):
know that I can think ofanything else to add to that
that could make it any better.
Personally, I'm sure you've beenthinking of different things,
but I don't think it would needanymore. Like that sounds like
such an incredible combination.
So I hope anyone listening,please, what's the best way for
(53:02):
someone to reach out to Lindsayto go to your website and or via
Instagram and just send you amessage or? Yeah, favorite
info at El Salvador yoga.comWe'll get you to the right
place. And you can message onany channel. But that's the best
email address.
(53:22):
Yeah, very cool. And I if anyoneis interested in taking a yoga
retreat, and surf retreat to ElSalvador, definitely contact me
as well. I'm hoping that we cancome down there, Lindsey, that
would be so amazing. I reallyI've always wanted to go and I
have friends here in Floridathat go regularly just because
they love that it's not CostaRica. And in terms of its its I
(53:49):
hear El Salvador is not as likebuilt up as Costa Rica is is
that. Is that true?
Yeah. Totally true. Yeah.
It's just different. Yeah, yeah.
It's different in regards totourism. I think Costa Rica has
really have, they have anadvanced Tourism Program. And
here in El Salvador, we're just,we're learning. Yeah. We're
(54:13):
learning we're always thestudent. And we're having a lot
of fun taking people and, andreally immersing them in the
culture of what it's like here.
And how beautiful this countryis.
Wow. That's amazing. Lindsay.
Well, thank you. I'm curious, doyou have any thing that you
would like to close ourconversation with? Such as a
(54:36):
prayer, a wish, a dream, anintention, a thought?
Yeah. Thank you. Let's see.
Let's, it will probably just bearound choice. So let's go back
(54:56):
in Two choice. There's I'm a bigfan of a lot of different books.
And there's a book that Irecommend to people all the time
called A Man's Search forMeaning. Have you ever read that
book?
I have not a man. It'syeah, it's a, it's a book about
(55:18):
a gentleman's choice during thetime of the Holocaust. So it's a
very heavy book in that way. Butthe lightness that comes out of
it is that you have choice andhow you respond to other
people's choices. And so I wouldlike to leave everyone with
(55:39):
that, that there's a gentle wayto be in the world, whether
you're out surfing or you're inthe comparison trap, or you're
on social media, and you'reseeing all day lives so great.
But but really, you have achoice in your own life to
choose greatness. So I must say,I hope everyone chooses
(56:00):
greatness for themselves.
Thank you, Lindsay. That'sperfect. Well,
thank you so much.
I really appreciate you takingthe time to speak with me and
organize out of your busyschedule. And I look forward to
(56:21):
having a chance to actually meetyou in person. For those of you
that are listening to thepodcast, I will put this up on
our YouTube channel. Also,Lindsey, I noticed that you have
a YouTube channel as well,Lindsey Gonzalez, I went ahead
and followed you today. Soeveryone listening, at least go
in, give Lindsey like a followup comment. And we appreciate
(56:42):
it. We like to know that peopleare watching and listening and
all that great stuff. So on thatnote, thank you, Lindsay. Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you somuch. All right. Great
connection. Appreciate it. Havea great day. Native yoga Todd
cast is produced by myself. Thetheme music is dreamed up by
(57:06):
Bryce Allen. If you liked thisshow, let me know if there's
room for improvement. I want tohear that too. We are curious to
know what you think and what youwant more of what I can improve.
And if you have ideas for futureguests or topics, please send us
your thoughts to info at Nativeyoga center. You can find us at
(57:30):
Native yoga center.com. And hey,if you did like this episode,
share it with your friends, rateit and review and join us next
time
Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast.
So happy you are here. My goalwith this channel is to bring
inspirational speakers to themic in the field of yoga,
massage bodywork and beyond.
Follow us @nativeyoga, and checkus out at nativeyogacenter.com.
(00:56):
All right, let's begin.
Welcome to the Native YogaToddcast. I'm so excited to
introduce to you LindsayGonzalez. Please check Lindsay
out at her website,lindseygonzalesyoga.com. I'm
(01:16):
gonna put multiple other linksin the description below places
that you can find Lindsay. Youcan find her on Instagram, the
handle @lindsaygonzalesyoga, youcan also check out her yoga and
surf retreat center in ElSalvador Central America called
Balance Surf and Yoga on awebsite called
(01:38):
ElSalvadoryoga.com. They alsohave a website called
sunzal.com. And there'll be acouple of other links in there
as well. I'm so pleased to havethis chance to meet Lindsey and
to talk about her life down inEl Salvador taking people
surfing teaching them yoga, as abirth doula and in leading
(02:03):
transformational breathworkworkshops and classes. And so
with that being said, also, ifyou all enjoy this show, if at
the end, if you can write aquick review and or leave a
rating and review. I really,really, really, really
appreciate it. Thank you. Allright. So let me go ahead and
(02:25):
let's get into the discussion.
Here we go. I'm so happy to havethis chance to speak with you.
This is Lindsay Gonzalez andLindsay, you're joining us from
El Salvador. How are you today?
I'm doing well. Thank you somuch for this connection.
Um, I'm really appreciative myfriend Alexandra, who lives down
(02:47):
in El Salvador, She recentlywrote me and said, You got to
come do a yoga and surf retreatdown here in El Salvador. And
she sent me your informationwhich led me to be able to get
in touch with you. And thereforeI'm so appreciative for you to
take time out of your busyschedule. Can you tell me how
(03:08):
your yoga journey began?
Oh, so it's actually come fullcircle in, in a way. I was a
young girl just out of highschool and I moved to Costa
Rica, and kind of did it on a ona whim, I thought, I don't know
if I'm gonna go to college rightaway. But I know I need to go
(03:29):
and get better at surfing. Andso I bought a one way ticket to
Costa Rica, almost over 20 yearsago. Wow. And I lived on the
beach with these two women thatwere just a few years older than
me. But they were both yogateachers from California. And
they were they're doing thetraveller thing. And they had a
(03:52):
little tiny yoga room set up.
And we would invite all thelocal surfers over and they
would teach yoga. I had come offof a, you know, life of being
young life of being an athlete.
And I was really flexible. Sothey said, Lindsay, you have to
be a yoga teacher. You're goodat this. And that was the first
(04:15):
nudge. And it's interesting thatI'm back in Latin America at
this point in my life, stilldoing exactly what they nudged
me to do.
Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, verycool. And but so then I'm
guessing in that 20 year period,you then went back to the states
and then had been traveling backand forth between us and Central
(04:38):
America.
Us and all over, really. I wentback to the states and I said,
Well, I think it's time I was21. I said maybe I should go to
college. So I went to college,but I ended up spending all of
my time in the yoga studio, justdown the road. And you know,
being from the East Coast, youmay have heard of Charm City.
(05:00):
Yoga, it was in Baltimore for along time. And they they
recently were bought by Yogaworks. But I trained at Charm
City 20 years ago with Kim MinFreedy. And give her so much
love and respect over the last20 years. She's really been a
guide in my life. Nice. And thenI've always had this, this love
(05:23):
of surf. So, you know, I wasback and forth between Central
America and the US and differentstates that I lived in in the
US.
Nice. And how long have you beenin El Salvador now?
It's been about six years. Wow.
Yeah.
And both you and your husband isit Adrian, you guys work
(05:44):
together and manage the wholecenter together?
We do it all. Family life andwork life.
Nice. Do you have children?
We do. Yes. Yeah, we have twolittle babies. Our son Luca is
three and a half and ourdaughter, Livia. She goes by
Libya, Paloma. So she kind ofhas two names. But she's one and
(06:08):
a half.
Nice. Congratulations. Did youdid you both meet in El Salvador
or here in the States.
So funny enough, we met inColorado, and he walked into my
yoga class in the middle ofwinter. And I had just gotten
back from leading a retreat inPanama. And I was telling my
(06:29):
regular students about the eventand how much I love visiting
Latin America. And he was justvery kind and sitting in the
back of the room. And he said,Have you ever been to El
Salvador? And I said, No, that'sthe only place I haven't been in
Latin America. And he said, Oh,I should tell you about my
project down there. And webecame friends. You know, it was
(06:52):
a two year friendship before webefore we started our romance.
And he invited me down to ElSalvador, actually, for a job.
He invited me down to help himopen and run the yoga retreat
center, and really bring it towhat it is now. And very
(07:14):
quickly, we found that, that wewould be great partners. And
like,that's amazing. Very cool story.
Did. So what is it like runninga yoga retreat center in El
Salvador?
Oh, gosh, it's a lot of work. Ithink we have to prioritize time
(07:38):
for surfing now, where before wedid this, we would serve a lot.
Yeah. But it's, it's really beensuch an amazing project to work
on together. And now after beingclosed for about a year, we're
reopen. We have new rooms. Wehave a retreat here right now.
(07:59):
That is wonderful. And we haveanother small group of
professional young surfers fromPanama. So there's a lot of life
here, and a lot of good vibes.
So it is a lot of work, ofcourse, but the work is fun. I
bet I got to go surfing with thecustomers. So that was great.
(08:21):
That is amazing. That soundslike the dream job for sure. I'm
just so everyone listening canfind you on your personal
website, which is LindseyGonzales. yoga.com. And then
also, you have a website, ElSalvador yoga.com. If people are
interested in looking atbalance, surfing yoga, and also
(08:43):
I just want to make mention thatyou're on Instagram as well at
Lindsey Gonzales yoga, andbalancer for yoga, which I'll
have all those links down belowso people can check out like
photos and get a visual on whatit is you all are doing your
center looks really beautiful.
Like it looks like has anamazing pool and rooms I saw
from looking at your Instagramtoday that you have a new cafe
(09:04):
opening that is inspired andBalinese style architecture or
at least decor. Can you tell mea little bit about that?
Yes, so separately of eachother. My husband and I both
spent quite a few years goingback and forth to Bali for
(09:24):
different reasons. I was thereto teach yoga teacher trainings
and he was there to go surfing.
and years and years ago he had asmall jewelry business with his
mother and they sourced a lot ofjewelry from Bali. So he was
spending time and then finallywe got to go to Bali together
and when we were there togetheron our last trip right before
(09:47):
the pandemic, we we said this isit. We have to take as many
pictures as we can we have toremember this feeling and bring
it to Latin America and thencreate He did in a Latin
American way. But I think theBalinese style is, is beautiful
with hardwoods and naturalfibers and lots of very
(10:09):
intelligent details that makethe stay feel luxurious and
rustic at the same time.
Nice. That sounds amazing. Didyou find architect Endor builder
in El Salvador to build for you?
Or is that something that youboth were hands on?
(10:33):
very hands on. We worked with alocal architect. And we had fun
meetings where we would come toher with all of these ideas, and
then she would put it ontopaper. And a lot of times, she
would say the builders havenever done anything like this
before. So we're going to beable to teach them a new skill.
And that was an excitingproject, even even in regards to
(10:55):
like the the thatched roof inone of our buildings. The Fache
is done in a Balinese styleversus a Latin American style.
So very different, verychallenging. But it works. And
it's beautiful. Nice. We're soproud.
That's really cool. That soundsamazing. Is it officially open
now? Or are you just a few daysaway?
(11:18):
Well, everything is officiallyopen, except for the cafe. The
cafe will open on November 12,which is just a few days away.
Congratulations. That's amazing.
I'm curious, since you are deepin the yoga world, and also in
the surf culture. Can you tellme what it's like to blend these
(11:40):
two art forms together? Do yousee a lot of similarity
similarity between these twopractices?
Oh, yes, I really feel like yogaand surfing go together
perfectly, because they theykind of balanced the opposites,
(12:02):
you know, and no pun intended, Ialways find myself giggling when
I say balance, balance, balanceover and over again. But it's it
is the balance of the opposites.
It's the the hands together,it's the semester up, it's all
of that. So in surfing, youusually are looking up and
arching your spine and spottingyour direction so that you can
(12:24):
catch the wave. But in yoga, wedo a lot of internal work. And
so curling into the body,rounding the spine, rounding
into the neck and then findingmore expansion. So they go
together perfectly. I have to,you know, I was about to say
like, I have to go surfing on adaily basis. And I have to do my
(12:45):
yoga practice to heal my bodyfrom all of the hard work of
surfing.
That's cool. I hear you that.
That makes perfect sense. I feelthe same way we were our studio
is a wall steps away from theocean. And there's nothing like
if having a really big day to beable to get into the saltwater.
(13:06):
And even if it's just for aswim, we definitely do not have
waves like you do and ElSalvador. I'm curious, what is
the surf season like there interms of like if a beginner
comes and has never really beenin the ocean and is really new
to the ocean environment? Isthere a time of year where it's
a little bit more conducive tothat?
(13:30):
Yes, I'm glad you asked. BecauseNovember 1 is the day that it
turns into summer here. It's theend of the rainy season. The
month of November is one of themost beautiful times to be here,
though the waves are a littlebit smaller, and the rainy
season is over. So the waterfeels a lot cleaner, very fresh,
(13:51):
but there's greenery all aroundso sitting out in the ocean is
just magnificent to look back atthe green hillsides nice like
November through April to answeryour question is really the best
time for beginners or travelersthat are like surfing but they
don't surf all of the time. Butthey want the combination of
(14:13):
surf and yoga. That's the besttime of year to come.
Because the other time of theyear is when it gets quite big.
I'm gathering from from hearingmy friends that traveled down
there to go surf they were thererecently or when they were there
last they said it was really bigand almost too big. Like, like a
lot of work just to get outthere too. And I'm curious, do
(14:37):
you surf big waves are you outthere when it's at its peak?
You know, I do not not hugewaves but we are the land El
Salvador is the land of righthand point breaks. And opposite
from beach breaks. Beach breaksjust kind of come at you and
they're harder to get out. Butthe beauty of a point break is
(14:58):
it's a rocky point. And you canpaddle into a channel and then
take the channel out to the wavewithout a lot of fuss, catch the
wave, write it down the line andthen get right back to the
channel. Yes. So I think that'swhy El Salvador is so accessible
for people that are even at justan intermediate level is that it
(15:20):
helps them advance theirsurfing.
When you're taking newbies out,are there are there some soft
sandy beach break? places thatyou go to take them out in?
Yes, yes. And so our little townis is in a cove called Alto. And
l tumko. is predominantly ariver rock break. But during the
(15:45):
months of November throughApril, all of the river rock is
covered up with sand. And thesand is pulled on to the beach
covers the rock makes it muchmore friendly. So we have two
spots right out front of wherewe are, where people can learn
how to surf. And then the nextcode just five minute drive down
the road is an all sand beach.
So perfect. It's possible. Yeah.
(16:07):
Cool. And where are you guyswhere your yoga Shala is and our
yoga studio and accommodation.
Is it right on the ocean? Areyou up on a hill somewhere?
Yeah, no, we were pretty closeto the ocean where about a three
minute walk? Wow. But we'reright right in front of the
(16:30):
river mouth have a point breakcalled lavo Khanna and LeBeau
Khanna is incredible. It'sactually one of the only left's
but it also works as a right.
And it's the wave that was theOlympic qualifier in 2020, or
2021, the Olympic 2021qualifier. So that is steps away
from our front door.
(16:54):
Very cool. Can you give me someinkling or insight into say I
mentioned to somebody, I'mgetting ready to go to El
Salvador and their reactionhere. Maybe they haven't
traveled much, and they're inthe States and they go, ooh,
isn't that dangerous down there?
Be careful. Is that? Does thathold any truth for you? Or is
(17:15):
that more just maybe folks thatdon't travel a lot that get
nervous about thinking aboutbeing outside of the states more
of a myth?
You know that that comment aloneis probably what kept me from
coming here for a long time isjust a warning. And I didn't
really know what it meant. Andso I said, Okay, well, maybe I
(17:38):
should actually go check thisplace out. Because Adrian says
it's wonderful. So let's seewhat it's all about. It's where
we live. So some some that is asafety concern. But where we
live, it's 45 minutes from theSan Salvador Airport. The San
Salvador airport is actually onthe coastline. It's not in the
(17:58):
city of San Salvador. And I dotell people that when traveling
anywhere in the world travelwith caution, you don't want to
be out in the city late at nightin the neighborhood that you're
aware of. And so when you flyinto San Salvador, you would fly
into the airport and drive alongthe coast for 45 minutes, and
(18:18):
you get directly to our door.
Our business is inside of aguarded and gated town called El
tiempo. And so what I appreciateso much about this town,
especially raising my babieshere, is that there's a police
station within the community.
And in El Salvador, the policeare really the good guys. So you
(18:40):
know that are I know that I cango to them if something is feels
uncomfortable, and they canassist. Yeah.
Cool. I appreciate it. Yeah.
Yeah. I'm curious also is Do youtravel around El Salvador much?
Or do you pretty much stay? I'mso you guys are so busy. And you
have your business? And have youhad a chance to travel around El
(19:04):
Salvador?
Yeah, we have. We've had so manyamazing trips, we usually go
twice a year on big excursionsto different parts of the
country to check out the lake orthe volcanoes or the waterfalls
or some other surf breaks. AndI've never had a bad experience
(19:26):
in El Salvador. That's cool. Ifeel really comfortable with the
people here. And you know what,one of the amazing things is
that the infrastructure is solovely. The roads are great. So
driving around, you're notdriving on potholes, and the
people are lovely and kind andwelcoming.
(19:47):
That sounds amazing. I'm curiousLindsey, what is your background
in different yoga styles andtraditions? Do you have a
specific style that yougravitate toward during Your
daily practice, or are you wellversed in multiple different
approaches?
(20:08):
Oh, great. Yeah, I, I feel likeI'm pretty well versed I started
as a young athlete, withAshtanga being my main focus,
and learning all of the historyand the philosophy around
Ashtanga gave me a very goodfoundation as to what yoga is.
My teacher came in for the shetrained directly with batavi
(20:31):
Joyce. And so I feel very heldon the shoulders of the teachers
before me. When I moved toColorado, so I lived in Colorado
for a long time. When I movedout there, I got immersed in the
INR culture, I just felt theintelligence behind the INR
teachings and I found on usaraand started practicing on usara.
(20:55):
So my, my style has evolved alot throughout the years from a
strict Ashtanga practice to avery fluid and athletic vinyasa
style practice. And now I callmyself an align and flow
teacher. So alignment based withintelligent movements. And I've
(21:19):
spent a lot of time studying inthe Pilates world. I'm not a
Pilates teacher, but I do reallyvalue the pelvic floor work and
the core work that comes withthat, and I tried to incorporate
it into my class. It'svery cool. It seems like a
logical progression if we'restarting off in the Stanga to at
some point, really appreciatesome nice, gentle, restorative
(21:39):
alignment based yoga as well. Doyou agree?
I totally agree. Yeah.
Especially with age.
Yes. How do you do you feel likethe process of practicing yoga
and getting out in the surfregularly? Kind of keeps you in
that level of fitness? Or haveyou had any challenges over the
(22:02):
years in terms of any injuriesand or rehab needing to rehab
anything?
Luckily, I have not had a lot ofinjuries in either surfing or
yoga. But But yoga has evolvedfor me, there have been times in
my life where I've needed gentlerestorative years. And there's
(22:23):
also been times in my life whereI need fast, athletic, long
periods of time. So luckily, youknow, the yoga mat is always
there. And it's it's there, evenif you just have to want to sit
and cry for a good spot to hangout.
Yes. Good point. Good point. Inoticed as well, one thing that
(22:48):
got me really excited to have achance to speak with you is my
wife gave birth to our childrenat home in the water with a
midwife, and I noticed that yourbirth doula, can you talk a
little bit about how you gotinterested in becoming a birth
doula and what you are howyou're servicing in that field
(23:11):
now.
Thank you. Yes. So this actuallystarts as a surfing story. My,
my husband and I were on thetrip of the surf trip of a
lifetime in the mental islandsof Sumatra, Indonesia. And we,
we were talking about how muchwe loved each other and that we
(23:33):
wanted to have a baby in thenext couple of years. And we
came home from that trip to findout that we were pregnant. And
so it's it's a fun surf story.
You know, don't take yourgirlfriend on a on a surf trip.
But we we were so excited tofind out that we were pregnant,
and I didn't know a lot aboutpregnancy or birth or any of
(23:54):
that. I just wasn't immersed inthat world and my friends are
all having babies later in life.
So I said, Okay, I think I needa midwife. And I think I need to
learn how to do this, like Iwant to dive in. And he was in
full agree, you know, he agreedfully that he would support me
(24:15):
in this process. So I started tolearn about about Hypno
birthing, and I started to learnabout doula work. And I said,
Well, I'm going to hire amidwife and a doula and I'll
never forget my first meetingwith my midwife. She just calmed
my nerves. She made me feel socomfortable and welcome and
(24:39):
special. And so that that work.
It also made me feel similar tohow I feel about the yoga world.
Everyone is so accepting andloving and Chi. And I hired the
same doula for both of mybabies. And she she said to me,
you should become a doula,similar to my yoga story with
(25:00):
the girls in Costa Rica, theyjust said, do this. And I heard
the call and loud and clear. Sothat's amazing. Yeah. That's
cool. Did you have both yourchildren at home as well? Or did
you go to the hospital or whatwas yours? Yeah.
(25:23):
My son, my son, we were we werehere in El Salvador through both
of our pregnancies. But we wentback to the US to have our
children. My son was born at abirthing center, naturally, in
the birth tub. And it was areally spiritual hypnobirth
experience. It was a reallywonderful, gentle. I, I just
(25:47):
couldn't even believe it, youknow, and I'll tell you a small
snippet of the story. As he wasbeing born as he was descending
in my pelvis, I got intohypnosis so deeply that I didn't
really feel pain or discomfort.
But in my mind, I went to thevisual of red, orange, yellow,
red, orange, yellow, and that isthe kaleidoscope of the lower
(26:10):
three chakra colors. And I sawthis kaleidoscope of color. And
it was really fascinating. Andso rather than thinking about
what was happening in my body,I, I leaned into the
visualization. And then he wasborn. And the midwife had to
rush to flag my husband andsaying, Hey, baby's coming down,
(26:33):
back in here.
Wow, that's amazing. I mean, cuzI know, obviously, for a lot of
women, it's a very painfulexperience. So the fact that
you're able to actually putyourself into that level of
hypnosis and, and work throughit on that level is really
(26:57):
amazing. That's incredible.
It was the I'm, I'm so gratefulthis, that birth was the
greatest gift of my lifetime. Itjust changed. It changed the
course of my life. And it mademe want to help other women to
experience something similar,and to guide them in this path.
(27:18):
So then my, my daughter, I saidto my my Doula, hey, I think I
want to have a home birthbecause I have this two year old
now. And how will I go to abirth center with a two year old
and she said, great idea, youare going to have a home birth.
And we just follow that path. MyI have a deep tub, thankfully,
(27:42):
at our house in when we have ourUS home is in Washington. And I
have a nice deep tub. So Ishowed her the space and she was
very comfortable with that idea.
My daughter was born at homejust steps away from my bed. And
her birth story is also ahypnobirth story, it's a little
different. Because my son withmy son, I had a very long labor,
(28:05):
and my water broke very early inmy labor. With my daughter, I
had a very short labor, justthree hours, and my water did
not break until a few minutesbefore she was born. So it was a
little different in the way thatthere was one great effort on my
part. And I remember visualizingthis like, like kind of Kali
(28:29):
goddess. And there was a roarthat came out of me but not not
like a deep guttural roar, itwas more like ah, I can own and,
and she was born with sound intothe water, but also very, very
much painfree very comfortablebirths.
(28:54):
That's amazing. I know a lot ofpeople I remember when we were
preparing to, for my wife tohave a home birth, we found that
we needed to be very carefulabout who we told that we were
doing that other people thatwere supportive of the idea
were, you know, reallysupportive, obviously. And then
(29:15):
if I told maybe some of thatwork to the hospital or
something, maybe a physician orsomebody they, you know, would
meet us with like, are youcrazy. That's why we have
medical science, this this iswhy we have hospitals is what if
something happens and planting alot of doubt about the safety of
that experience. And we had suchincredible situations both times
(29:41):
that we were thankful that wedidn't weren't persuaded by that
and that we held true to theidea. What do you as working as
a doula, do you find that youcome across this sort of Support
slash, you know, are you crazyconcept? Often? Yes. Yeah,
(30:07):
absolutely. Yeah,yeah. I think, you know,
humanity we want to protect eachother. But we're, we're actually
express expressing thediscomfort around homebirth I
think people are just expressingtheir own fears. And in in my
work with hypnosis andhypnotherapy, it's, it's about
creating healthy boundaries andstepping into your own power as
(30:31):
a as a woman and as a family. Sothat in the classes that I
teach, the the father is verypresent or the birth companion
is very present. And they have arole to support and help the
mother release any fears oranxieties or tension or pain.
And then pain can be transformedthrough this practice of
(30:56):
visualization. And you know thisthrough your own work and
through meditation that we canreally decide to change our own
minds and release the the fearsof others. Here's the
point, Lindsay, that's amazing.
Do your have your childrenexpressed curiosity for the
(31:19):
ocean and surfing?
Yes,I do. Do they have a choice?
No, not really. My, my son isthree and a half. And by the
(31:39):
time he was two and a half, hewas an incredible swimmer. And
we we didn't do any sort oftraining, we just put him in the
pool every day and made watervery comfortable. And so now my
my little daughter is jumping inthe pool, you know, so she's
excited to be a part of that aswell. The waves, the waves are
(31:59):
still big and scary, but thebeach is fine. And the tide
pools are, are where they'rehappy. That's cool. But my my
son is very cute. He likes toshow people his surfer stance
and he likes to stand on theboards and wax the boards. So
we'll take it slow, but theyhave to be strong swimmers
first.
I hear you Yeah, when you're ina more serious environment like
(32:22):
that it's a little differentthan just playing in a little
kind of tide pool by the ocean.
Yeah, some of the similar I'malways because I love surfing
and yoga, I'm always looking foryou know, similar similarities
in terms of the two practicesand differences and, and how
they kind of helping feed eachother. And one thing I noticed
(32:44):
that in the surf world, there'sthis like dream of being alone,
an uncrowded space where there'snot a lot of competition. And
then when I observe, like, wehave a pier here, June up here,
and when the waves are good,there's so many people in the
(33:05):
water, and it's reallycompetitive. And you kind of see
people getting really aggressiveand angry. And, you know,
there's just like, so muchemotion and testosterone
sometimes, and, and I'm curious.
And in the yoga world, I don'tfeel like when we go into a
(33:30):
crowded yoga room, it's exactlythe same type of competition,
because it's different. Likewith waves, there's only like,
234 waves coming in a set. Andthere's 100 People all trying to
get those four waves. So youhave like, so many people
competing for a small resource,and sometimes that doesn't bring
(33:52):
out the best in humanity. But Inoticed like in a larger yoga
setting, because we're all onour mats, it's not really
competitive, because we're notlike going to get like a yoga
wave in the room or something.
But sometimes there iscompetition, I think in terms of
trying to impress others, andlike, show off and there is a
little bit of that, or I'vedefinitely, I felt that myself.
(34:14):
So I'm aware that you know, Ihave to, you know, taper that
and I and I also feel like inyoga, I do dream of a silent
retreat, and like being, youknow, off alone for just a few
days to really have quiet spaceand enjoy meditation and
(34:34):
practice. Do you have anythoughts around those thoughts?
Yeah. You know, I was I was inthe water today, and it was I
was at a break called studentsall which is one of those
beautiful right hand pointbreaks. And there's never any
(34:57):
competition out there. Never I'mI, today there was, and it felt
different. And I had to comeback to my my yoga space and
come back to the hotel and say,Wow, I, I'm really surprised
that that happened today. Youknow, but but it's also I think
(35:18):
going back to the other storyabout other people, that's,
that's them and not me. And sowe get to choose how we respond
in those types of interactions.
And the surfing world can bequite aggressive at times. But I
was out there with a couple ofgirlfriends and we just said,
You know what, let's just go in.
(35:39):
We'll go surfing later when thatenergy is, is there. And so I
think that's the the vibe herein El Salvador is the vibe of
when owned, which means likegood vibes or cool like, chill.
Thank you low like understandingthat we can, the waves will
still come and we don't have tofight for them. So it depends on
(36:04):
what kind of surfer you are. Ido like to travel to the places
with the uncrowded waves,though. I definitely do. Yeah.
agree there's a good wave about20 minutes up the coast from us
that my husband and I went andhad a great date at the other
day. And so we needed that weneeded to get away from the
(36:26):
local waves so that we could goto something that not everyone
knows about. And there are stillsecrets around the world.
Good point. Good point. Do youhave like if you had to pick
like your top two or three yogaposes post a surf session? What
(36:47):
would be your go to poses?
Like, like a rabbit position,you know the rabbit pose from
the Bikram series. I'm not a bigfan of the Bikram series for my
personal life, but that pose isgold after surfing, and starting
(37:09):
to breathe into the intercostalmuscles of of the ribs. That all
moving again. Yeah. And maybemaybe like another you know, I
cat cow, but with rotating theribs and hips. So I call it
cleaning out the inside of analmond butter jar with your
(37:31):
ribcage.
Nice.
That feels good after certainlylots of mobility flexion
extension and side bending.
Very cool. Yeah. Can you explainwhat the teaching situations are
like where you're at in terms ofI feel like I read that you're
(37:53):
in charge of the trainings andor do you offer teacher
trainings there in El Salvador?
We did. We offered a teachertraining here in 2018. And we
have not offered one again hereyet, but we will in the future.
But right now we are the onlyYoga Studio in the town of El
(38:14):
Junco. So people come from allover and can drop into any of
the yoga classes. Excuse me, wealso have some workshops going
on and I guide, I hold space orfacilitate space for
transformational breath work aswell. And that has been a really
wonderful offering in thiscommunity. A lot of travelers
(38:37):
find out about it. And then alot of the the local community
and expats are coming tobreathwork to do some big
healing work.
Nice. Can you can you describewhat a transformational
breathwork class is like?
Sure. It's, you know, it's abouttwo hours long. So it's a long
(39:00):
evening, I hold the classes inthe evenings and we breathe in a
certain pattern, so that you canrelease the the conscious mind
and tap into whatever thesubconscious experience needs to
share with you. And it could bea subconscious experience of
grief patterns in your body andin your life that you're holding
(39:21):
on to or traumas can definitelybe supported through breathwork
or past life experiences, it canbe quite profound. And so in a
breath work class, you will justlay on your back. And you can
have a little eye covering andhave something behind your knees
(39:41):
and you do this breath patternthat eventually starts to take
over. And you have to surrenderright? So as a participant in
your own life. It's important toget out of get out of our own
way. So that's the work ofbreathwork is to see what comes
up I sometimes tell people thatthis is similar to plant
(40:03):
medicine, but without the plantmedicine. You know, it's just
the power of your breath.
You probably, maybe on purposechoose not to explain the exact
breath technique, but I'm justcurious is that one where you're
exhaling really intensely? Or?
Because I've heard I've neveractually taken like an official
(40:27):
transformational breath.
workshop, I did one recently, ina style that some the
facilitator called it resetbreathwork. And it was, like,
three short inhales and longexhale. And it really like I
(40:50):
didn't think it was going to beI just thought, how could this
be an intense experience, andpeople beforehand had kind of
worn like, Your hands can almostlike crab claw, because it draws
all the prana into the center ofyour body. And obviously, with
like, the change in the oxygenand carbon dioxide ratios in the
body. And I, when I heard that,I was like, Okay, we're just
(41:12):
gonna breathe. I don't see howthat could happen. But it was so
intense. Oh, my gosh, like Ididn't expect. And I'm curious,
is it is it? Well, when he said,If this is a little bit like a
plant medicine ceremony, butwithout the plant medicine, it
sounds to me like theseexperiences can be extremely
profound. Can you tell? Are youable to talk about learn? Yeah,
(41:34):
sure. Of course, yeah, it'ssimilar. It's, you know, in the
past, it's been calledHolotropic. Breathing. And so
different than the three shortbreaths, we do a big, strong,
powerful inhale, and a verysoft, light exhale. And so it's
kind of a pattern, and Idescribe it like climbing a
(41:55):
roller coaster. So it's this.
Like, you're climbing to get tothe top of the experience, and
then the body is so overoxygenated. That there may be a
point of suspension, whereconsciously you'll say I'm, I'm
not breathing. Butsubconsciously, you're saying
I'm getting exactly enough ofwhat I need, or I already have
(42:16):
inside of me what I need. And soit's a it's interesting, yes, it
is a play on the balance of theof the oxygen. But the, the hand
position that you're talkingabout is called technique. And
that is very common in any typeof Holotropic or
transformational or rebirthing,breathwork. And so that's, that
(42:39):
happens when there's a holdingpattern in the mind. If the mind
is holding on to something verydeeply, it will show up in the
body. And maybe you've you'veread or heard of the book, The
Body Keeps the Score. I refer tothis book a lot, because the
body is trying to tell ussomething when it curls into a
technique pattern. And so it'sat the point when we get out of
(43:03):
our own way, that the bodyactually releases the tetany
pattern. And then it feels quiteeuphoric. And so it can feel
quite spiritual. And it could bein combination with either
laughing which is very euphoric,or, or tears and crying, which
is also a wonderful release.
(43:29):
Interesting. So there's a lot tosay about it. When that starts
to happen, your hint orsuggestion is don't develop fear
around the sensation of that andjust continue on with the breath
practice and just see whatevolves.
(43:49):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Becausewhatever we resist, persists.
And so if there's a resistancearound the technique, it could
actually become a little bitmore challenging. It could, it
could hurt, it could becomequite painful. And so if you if
you notice it and say, there'san interesting thing happening,
(44:10):
my hands are hurting. Okay, I'mjust gonna keep going.
Eventually that will release andit releases in a really
euphoric.
Wow. Good advice. I will I willtry that next time for sure.
Yeah. That's an that's amazing.
Rosie. So I mean, you we've kindof covered like, love of the
(44:33):
ocean and surfing yoga in termsof asana and different styles of
yoga. You're involved in thedoula work and like really, into
obviously using that same skillthat you're talking about with
the breathing and then bringingthat into the doula work. Makes
(44:54):
perfect sense because obviously,that A similar type of fear and
sensation of pain and ordiscomfort, and then
transforming that to besomething that you can release
and relax into is pretty amazingand intense stuff. Are there any
other areas that we miss likethat you're really passionate
(45:14):
about? I mean, another area thatI'm curious, I do want to ask
you What about in relation tomusic and or mantra and sound?
Do you have any personalpractices? Because you did make
mention that during the birthingexperience that it was like a
home, you know, experience? Doyou? Do you have other daily
rituals, routines are practicesthat involve sound and or music?
(45:42):
Yeah, so So breath work in thebreathwork workshops, the music
is really quite intense andquite stimulating. But in any
type of breath work or ceremonythat I have done in the past, or
I lead, I guide people towardsusing their voice to release
(46:02):
their chakra energy and I, Idaily Hum, I hum, I own my
children ohm and sing mantrawith me and I don't, I don't do
like singing bowls all the time,just because I don't have them,
I'd like to have them. But I dolove. I do love sound. And I do
(46:24):
love expression of the heartthrough the voice. So that being
said, that is just a lovelydaily offering is to create some
sort of opening from the heart.
I agree. One of my one of myfavorite things about being out
in the ocean and, you know, bigset coming and you'll start
(46:47):
hearing people start to hoot, alittle bit out in the water.
Like, either to let you know,like, Whoa, there's something
coming get ready. Or, you know,expressing real excitement for
somebody having an incredibleride and dislike, you know,
you're out in an openenvironment where it doesn't
feel like you're doing somethinginappropriate by just like
(47:11):
yelling really loud. You know,it's like usually welcomed by
people. Do you find in yogaclasses? Do you incorporate
that, like into an actual Asanasession, not like yelling out
loud, but I have seen differentlike yoga modalities where they
encourage people to dislikereally just kind of let loose
and start, you know, eithermoving their body shaking around
(47:32):
yelling at the top of theirlungs. Is that something you've
ever experienced? Or? Or no,yeah, you know, Kundalini and
all of that. I even yesterday inthe class, we were doing this
surfer shoulder class, and I hadeveryone reaching their arms up
really high. And then with abig, powerful exhale, take their
(47:55):
arms back behind them. And thenwe did it quite fast. And we did
it a, you know, a dozen or moretimes, just inhale, exhale,
inhale, exhale, and it buildsthis fire inside of the body
that is so stimulating. Andimmediately after a few rounds
of this big powerful exhale, wejust brought her hands to our
(48:18):
heart center and closed her eyesand felt the floor. And some
people started crying. Wow.
Because it's it's a lot to bringup that sort of energy and
breath inside of your body. Andso it's a beautiful way to
release. So yeah, I'm all aboutit. I hit in the water. I cheer
(48:43):
people on. I love the the powerof the voice. It's connected to
the heart.
Amazing. What about local artsand crafts there? And in terms
of board building and or boardbuying? Do you come to the
(49:04):
States? Get new gear fly home?
Do you have local shapers likeI've always I practice bodywork
and I'm a massage therapist, andI love reading surface Journal
Magazine. And I love the part inthe surface journal where they
highlight the shapers and theyreally go into the art of
crafting a homemade board andlike all of the thought and
(49:30):
planning and years of historyand then learning it from their
teacher and it being passed downin the evolution of the shaping
process and sometimes when I'mdoing body work all just to kind
of keep my imagination, havingfun and in the process but think
of it as like a shaping process.
(49:51):
And And I'm curious, are therelocal shapers there in that you
that you support or what is thatexperience for you there in El
Salvador?
Yes. Just locally, we have agentleman who's who goes by the
name papaya. And he has a pioussurf shop here in town. So he
(50:12):
has been making boards for 15years, probably. And he does a
great job. They're beautifulboards. But he just linked up
with the company sharp eye outof San Diego, California. And
the the owners of sharp eye camedown and they taught papaya how
to make sharp eye boards. So Ithink there's this cool
(50:35):
collaboration going on. And thereason that they did that,
because they obviously want toincrease the brand. But they
also want people to be on reallywell made Ford's that they can
get a good deal here locally inEl Salvador versus paying the
higher US price point. That'sreally cool. So all the guys all
(51:00):
the young guys, including myhusband, my husband just bought
one of Popeye sharp eye boards.
Nice. All right, yeah, they'reon that board now.
Very cool. Do do you practicebody work? Or do you have a team
of body workers that help workfor you at the at your retreat
center?
Yeah, they're local ladies.
There are some wonderful localladies that hold space for
(51:23):
bodywork. And I always get tothe benefit of getting to
interview them.
Yes, let me see. Let me see ifyou're any good. Oh, actually,
you're really good. Keep going.
Exactly.
I have recently found a womanwho blew my mind. She's a local
(51:48):
woman here. And she's been doingbodywork self trained for 20
years. And she is an incrediblehealer in that way. And so she
is training in some of the otherlocal women community. And I
feel like that takes us back tothe roots of what bodywork used
to be. It used to be a mentor,and a student. And I really love
(52:11):
seeing that. That blossom inthis community. Wow. And I like
being on the receiving end.
Well, I'm, I'm totally sold.
Lindsay, I want to come downthere and hang out with you
guys. That sounds so fun. Imean, surfing, yoga, breath,
work, body work, amazing foodcafe and Balani style. I I don't
(52:37):
know that I can think ofanything else to add to that
that could make it any better.
Personally, I'm sure you've beenthinking of different things,
but I don't think it would needanymore. Like that sounds like
such an incredible combination.
So I hope anyone listening,please, what's the best way for
(53:02):
someone to reach out to Lindsayto go to your website and or via
Instagram and just send you amessage or? Yeah, favorite
info at El Salvador yoga.comWe'll get you to the right
place. And you can message onany channel. But that's the best
email address.
(53:22):
Yeah, very cool. And I if anyoneis interested in taking a yoga
retreat, and surf retreat to ElSalvador, definitely contact me
as well. I'm hoping that we cancome down there, Lindsey, that
would be so amazing. I reallyI've always wanted to go and I
have friends here in Floridathat go regularly just because
they love that it's not CostaRica. And in terms of its its I
(53:49):
hear El Salvador is not as likebuilt up as Costa Rica is is
that. Is that true?
Yeah. Totally true. Yeah.
It's just different. Yeah, yeah.
It's different in regards totourism. I think Costa Rica has
really have, they have anadvanced Tourism Program. And
here in El Salvador, we're just,we're learning. Yeah. We're
(54:13):
learning we're always thestudent. And we're having a lot
of fun taking people and, andreally immersing them in the
culture of what it's like here.
And how beautiful this countryis.
Wow. That's amazing. Lindsay.
Well, thank you. I'm curious, doyou have any thing that you
would like to close ourconversation with? Such as a
(54:36):
prayer, a wish, a dream, anintention, a thought?
Yeah. Thank you. Let's see.
Let's, it will probably just bearound choice. So let's go back
(54:56):
in Two choice. There's I'm a bigfan of a lot of different books.
And there's a book that Irecommend to people all the time
called A Man's Search forMeaning. Have you ever read that
book?
I have not a man. It'syeah, it's a, it's a book about
(55:18):
a gentleman's choice during thetime of the Holocaust. So it's a
very heavy book in that way. Butthe lightness that comes out of
it is that you have choice andhow you respond to other
people's choices. And so I wouldlike to leave everyone with
(55:39):
that, that there's a gentle wayto be in the world, whether
you're out surfing or you're inthe comparison trap, or you're
on social media, and you'reseeing all day lives so great.
But but really, you have achoice in your own life to
choose greatness. So I must say,I hope everyone chooses
(56:00):
greatness for themselves.
Thank you, Lindsay. That'sperfect. Well,
thank you so much.
I really appreciate you takingthe time to speak with me and
organize out of your busyschedule. And I look forward to
(56:21):
having a chance to actually meetyou in person. For those of you
that are listening to thepodcast, I will put this up on
our YouTube channel. Also,Lindsey, I noticed that you have
a YouTube channel as well,Lindsey Gonzalez, I went ahead
and followed you today. Soeveryone listening, at least go
in, give Lindsey like a followup comment. And we appreciate
(56:42):
it. We like to know that peopleare watching and listening and
all that great stuff. So on thatnote, thank you, Lindsay. Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you somuch. All right. Great
connection. Appreciate it. Havea great day. Native yoga Todd
cast is produced by myself. Thetheme music is dreamed up by
(57:06):
Bryce Allen. If you liked thisshow, let me know if there's
room for improvement. I want tohear that too. We are curious to
know what you think and what youwant more of what I can improve.
And if you have ideas for futureguests or topics, please send us
your thoughts to info at Nativeyoga center. You can find us at
(57:30):
Native yoga center.com. And hey,if you did like this episode,
share it with your friends, rateit and review and join us next
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