Veronique Ory - Shine On and Off the Mat - Native Yoga Toddcast

Episode Transcript
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Todd McLaughlin (00:33):
Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy
you are here. My goal with thischannel is to bring
inspirational speakers to themic in the field of yoga,
massage bodywork and beyond.
Follow us native yoga, and checkus out at Native yoga
center.com. All right, let'sbegin

(01:04):
Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast.
I'm so excited to introduce toyou Veronique Ory. She has a
website yogawithveronique.com.
She has an Instagram@VeronicaOry. All of those are
going to begin in the linksbelow. She has a brand new book
Shine On and Off the Mat, whichwe speak about during this

(01:27):
podcast. Also, she has a virtualprogram called Coming Home. And
she's offering a yoga retreat inJune down in Costa Rica. That
sounds amazing. So I reallyenjoyed speaking with Veronique.
She's so nice. And I loved it. Ican't wait for you to hear it.

(01:47):
Let's begin. I'm so happy tohave Veronique Ory here today.
How are you?

Veronique Ory (01:54):
I'm so well. How are you, Todd?

I'm doing really well. Thank you so much
for joining me today on ourpodcast. I really appreciate it.

Thank you for having me.

I can already hear some birds in the
background. I can see you and Ican see your house behind
you.... but what are you lookingat?

Yes, I'm facing this beautiful Preserve. There's
a giant oak tree right in frontof me that is protecting me with
a beautiful orchid that's inbloom attached to the side of
it. And there's amazingCardinals and mockingbirds

(02:38):
andall the Florida Wildlife thatemerges from the trees from time
to time. Squirrels and bunniesand sometimes bobcats and
armadillos.

Yes. That's cool. And I noticed the dog came
up to since we've been chattingbefore we started here. Is that
your dog?

Yes, my Yogi pet Bowery. He likes to sit when I
and then baddha konasanabutterfly pose he thinks that
says perfect perch to sit on mymeditation cushion with me.

That's perfect.
You maybe would have to paysomeone to assist you like that
normally, but it sounds like youhave a

Yeah, yeah, we have a fine couple exchange
going on.

Nice. I love Well, first of all, I was really
excited to see that you'relocated in Vero Beach Florida.
And whenever some we're not faraway down here and you know,
whenever I hear birds like thatin Florida, like sometimes when
I see the development that'sgoing on around our area, like
there's so much building goingon that forget or sometimes it's

(03:59):
I mean maybe not apparent howmuch wildlife there is around so
to hear that and if I did notyou know you're in Florida, I'd
maybe think maybe she's in CostaRica or she's down in the Amazon
or but to hear that you're righthere in Florida and there's like
this birds in the background ismakes me reminds me of how much
natural beauty there is here inFlorida. You're originally from

(04:22):
Canada, is that correct?

Yes, there's like Montreal, Quebec.

How did you make your way to Florida?

Oh, my so many different cities along
the way. I wasa theatre company called Athena

(05:00):
theatre and was very muchimmersed in the arts, which then
led me to New York City for nineyears. And just when I was sort
of in the world of immersion,vibrant, energetic feeling so
alive with all the differentlanguages and feeling so just

(05:24):
lit up by culture and all thatthere is to explore I also was
confronted with a lot ofanxiety. And as I found yoga and
was getting older and really wascraving the house with the yard
anda bit of sunshine boost for most

(05:48):
of my days. I've landed inFlorida four years ago, just
really wanting that upgrade andquality of life. I really feel
that Vero Beach is just sopeaceful. It's such a quaint
little beach town really love ithere.

I love Jiro my son and I will go up there and
go surfing and the waves areoften a little bit better up
there sometimes depend uponwhich angle the swell is and
kind of in relation to down herein Palm Beach County, so I love
taking a road trip to Vera Vera,it always feels a little bit
more like Old Florida and mewhen I go there.

Hmm, cool. Yeah, it's, it's a little tucked away.
And it's a little bit far fromthe major airports. So it isn't
so so congested, like the majorcities on the east coast of
Florida in particular, I'venoticed but people have have

(06:46):
started to lie down. Thesnowbirds are definitely here in
full effect. This year isdefinitely feeling the
difference this past month forsure.

Big time. I mean, the weather here right now
is so amazing. Like lately, theskies have been like crystal
clear blue. And it's like in thehigh 70s. It's been absolutely
amazing. So I agree the trafficis just so much more intense
right now because of it.

Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely wind of
wanting to embrace moresunshine. It definitely affects
the way that you just stand andbreathe and walk around. Yeah, I
was marveling yesterday walkingBowery, like, there isn't a
single cloud in the sky. Am Iliving in a real?

Was it where I'm using the weather yesterday?
I was like, Oh my gosh, I hadthat kind of moment, like, so
nice. I agree. I agree. When didyoga come into the picture?

2012 is when it really landed. I had sort of
nibbles have it over the yearsand really came into it in 2012.
At the sort of wake of HurricaneSandy in New York City where all
the subways closed down and wewere just holed up in our

(08:14):
apartment just waiting for thesign that it was safe to move
around. And the yoga studiocalled the yoga room in Astoria.
And Queens opened up and myroommate Matt at the time said,
Do you want to go to this class?
And it was just sort of likethis off handed? Do you want to
do this? And he probably couldhave said anything. And I would

(08:36):
have been like, Yeah, let's go.
And it was one of those change.
Everything kind of moments, thatclass rocked me to my core, it
was so beautifully done. And oneof those moments, you know, for
anyone who's landed into thissphere, it's like you show up

(08:59):
and you're like, how did thisteacher know exactly what I
needed to hear at this precisemoment, and I just signed up for
a 30 day unlimited pass on thespot. And I just thought I want
to feel like this all of mydays. And I've been really into
that rhythm ever since.

That's cool.
What type of practice was it?

Huh? It was a Vinyasa style class for the
first 60 minutes and then theending 30 minutes was
restorative. And so we were justsnuggled up with bolsters and
blankets and just steeping andall of the movement that we
moved through.

Very cool. Did you have like an emotional
experience? Sometimes a lot ofpeople will talk about like the
first time they go intoShavasana after their first yoga
class. that they'll have like acoming home experience and or
feel their senses in a way thatthey've never felt? Can you
explain a little bit more whatyou remember of that first

(10:11):
practice?

Absolutely, I felt so much during that time
that I was operating at such ahigh, I'll say in loose coats,
high functioning, stress buildsrhythm. And I very much

(10:34):
attribute myself lovingly astype A and OCD and high
achieving, and they want to doall of the things and check off
all of the tasks. And I thinkbecause I had been operating in
that pace for so long, it wasn'tuntil I slowed down that I was
able to objectively see how verymuch that isn't healthy or

(10:59):
sustainable, long term at all.
And I realized how much of thoseemotions I was storing in my
body. And so much of my, whatI'd call like happiness, or my
level of contentment was like somuch in relationship to

(11:20):
validation outside of myself,being in the entertainment
industry feeling like thisperson said, Yes, I'm in
jubilation. And then this personsays, No, and this could happen
like in like a 15 minute windowwhere like, I'm like, so
ecstatic one moment, and thenlike bawling on the floor, and

(11:41):
my kitchen, just like a puddlethe next moment, and just
starting to unpack that. And Ithink, you know, depending on
any industry, one is in, therecould be that tendency of, you
know, you're seeking a raise, oryou're seeking like a kind word
from your boss, or whatever itis. And it's like, when we're

(12:02):
constantly reaching forsomething outside of ourselves,
we are really giving our lightand our magic away. And also
just like, playing with thatarea of where our own control
habits reside, it's really,really toxic, ultimately, in

(12:26):
terms of finding that sense ofpeacefulness, and remembering
what it is to actually be inthis deep contentment, that is
devoid of the exterior, whichis, you know, so much easier

(12:47):
said than done. But, you know,it was, it was some of the
things that started to kind ofplant the seed and those regards
of moving through these emotionsand kind of, like, unlocking so
much stress and anxiety and alsolike, really noticing where the
triggers show up. And, and, andthe triggers are like very at

(13:09):
the surface when you're livingin an urban environment in
particular, because you're justlike, wrestled, and sort of
jostled, and with so muchdifferent energy all of the time
that if you're an empath, or youknow, in tune with other
people's emotions even a littlebit, you know, we're, as human

(13:30):
beings, we're sponges, we tendto like pick up on the energy
that we surround ourselves with.
And so to be in that frequencyfor an extended period of time,
the yoga practice was just like,so soothing. And it was just
this amazing breath of fresh airand this like very like resonant

(13:52):
like connection to the breath,to have like, I don't know that
I was like, breathing with anykind of awareness until then.
And the breath part was actuallyalso one of the main components
that really awakened a lot of mypersonal yoga practice as well.

That's cool.
After you had that first monthexperience, what direction did
you go to then? Did you have amoment? Then that made you think
I want to be a yoga teacher? Orwas it after a couple of years
of practice that you thatsomeone say, Hey, I think you
would be good at this or whatwas the transition for you?

(14:35):
Letting your practice evolve anddevelop to where you decided
that you would like to leadpeople in a yoga practice as
well?

Yeah, it really took five years of practicing
every day and the There was amoment I was on a yoga retreat
with one of my favorite teachersKylie holiday out of New York
City. And one of theparticipants on the retreat, he

(15:11):
said to me, you know, you shouldreally teach and I said, Oh, no,
no, like, I really enjoy this.
You know, I was, I was soworried that it would, you know,
sometimes when you know toomuch, it kind of clouds your
ability to have beginner's mindwith it. And I found that with
theater, it became very hard tojust watch a play without

(15:34):
simultaneously looking at thelighting design and the sound
design. And oh, that'sinteresting. I wonder why the
director made that choice issort of like psycho analyzing
everything, instead of justlike, let it wash over you in a
way that feels like what theteam designed the show to do.
And so I was really worriedabout that, becoming a yoga

(15:58):
instructor of like, I don't wantto lose the magic of it. And
what ended up really shifting mythought surrounding that was, I
started to feel like there wasas much creativity and as much
joy as experienced in theater, Ialso experience just like, a lot
of heartache, a lot of drama, alot of managing a lot of very

(16:22):
large, dramatic personalities,that, you know, it tends to
attract. And I would be managingall of that and feeling like I
was putting out fires constantlywith my theater company, like,
it just seemed like there wassomething going wrong all the
time. And then I would come to ayoga class and like you're, you

(16:46):
know, this close, maybe like aninch away from your neighbor.
And you're just like, it didn'tseem like there was competition,
it seemed like we're all doingthis thing. And like, maybe
you're putting your foot behindyour head. But that's cool.
Like, I don't need to do that,or, you know, all of these
things. And I've found like,well, if I could feel like this,

(17:08):
and have it be my livelihood,also, then maybe that would help
bridge this gap that I've beenexperiencing of like, finding
the peacefulness here on mymagic carpet, and then like
going back to work, and thensort of unraveling all of that,

(17:29):
and then having to put myselfback together. So I think having
the awareness of like, oh, well,maybe sort of echoing the
feeling of my first yoga classof wanting to feel like this all
of my days of my practice on themat, and like, little by little
feeling that expansion of like,oh, how does this affect every

(17:49):
single facet of what it is thatI do? And finding that that
awakening really helped? Like,okay, well, maybe I'll do a yoga
teacher training and just kindof try this on and see if
perhaps, that part of my journeycan unfold in this way.

Cool. You took that training? And then you
jumped right into teaching? Ordid you still pause on the idea?

Yeah, it was it?
If anyone was watching from theoutside, or like I imagined,
like if my life or a movie likelike, the whole audience would
be like, Come on already. Like,what are you waiting for?

That's good.
You don't I don't think I don'tthink jumping in and rushing.
You know, this stuff is, is agood idea. So that's good that
you give it some time to what apleasure. Yeah.

Yeah, I taught a little bit from yoga teacher
training, one of my. So I did a100 hour intensive in Costa Rica
blue spirit through amazingyoga, which was another
transformational experience, andthen came back to New York and
realize that you're really notgoing to get hired anywhere with

(19:11):
a 100 Our people didn't reallythink that that was a thing. And
so then I signed up for a 200hour and Sara Marsh who owns for
yoga, she really believed in meand right away, she was like
teach yoga in the park. Andhere's this corporate gig and
she just kind of gave someopportunities my way and you

(19:32):
know, I created a thumbtackprofile and garnered a private
client over here and so startedkind of getting my feet wet
really slowly. And even when Imoved down to Florida, I, you
know, had maybe five groupclasses on my schedule and was
still operating my theatercompany remotely. Up until

(19:56):
December of 2019. I actuallymade the decision to close my
camp. After 17 years, which wasone of the hardest decisions
that I made, and, and whathappened when I did that is like
the universe, as they say,conspired, and all of a sudden,
the pandemic hit. And all of myat that point, I'd built up to

(20:17):
17 group classes a week at allthe places that could possibly
offer yoga, and all of that wentaway. And then an entire private
client roster just emergedthrough word of mouth. And then
I mentioned to my partner, AaronLanahan, I said, Do you want to

(20:39):
lead a yoga retreat in CostaRica? And she was like, yes. And
so then we did. And so all ofthese things just started
happening, I started writingdown my dharma talks and
published a book and all ofthese things, I just seemed like
this, like, off landish, likebig dream thing that'll happen,
like years down the road, likeeverything just sort of started

(21:02):
to fall into place in a waywhere it just felt like, Oh,
this is this is where I am, thisis, this is where I'm meant to
be. And it's just been, I'vejust been, you know, so, so
grateful, it's been reallyrewarding in so many ways. And
just to get to have theopportunity to share the yoga
teachings in this way that feelslike it's drawing in from my

(21:28):
background in theatre. So it'svery much storytelling, it's
very much creative. It's verymuch flow and improvisational,
it's very much tuning into whateach of my clients intentions
are, and posing questions andall about self inquiry. And so
all of the things that I foundto be so helpful in my personal

(21:51):
yoga practice, like planting theseeds for my clients in a way
that feels like they're growing,and they're asking questions of
their community, and then thathas a really beautiful ripple
effect to the lives that theyattach, and so on and so on.

That's amazing.
Your new book is called shine onand off the mat. Is that
correct? Yes. And you kind ofgave me a little bit of an idea
or insight into that you didn'tknow you're going to be
publishing a book, and thenyou've published a book, can you
tell? I have the dream ofpublishing a book one day, can

(22:28):
you tell me what the evolutionprocess was from the day you
realize that I could do this,maybe I would want to do this,
too. I am doing this too. It'sdone. Can you give me a little
bit of a breakdown of what thatprocess was like?

Yeah. So for years, I've been really enjoying
sharing stories from my life asa portal into my dharma talks at
the beginning of my yoga class.
And so I'll tell like a littlenugget of a story as a way to
universally connect, what endsup happening, right is, there's

(23:13):
a certain theme, or there's acertain teaching that I'm
individually uniquely goingthrough, but very much so it
connects to what everybody isgoing through in a certain
regard. And so it would helpplant this seed and would help
kind of make sense of like, whywe're in this twisted shape, or

(23:34):
why we're playing with thisbind, and so on. And as I was
moving through teaching in thisway, I started to get this
really amazing feedback from mystudents that they like, really
think about those stories. Andthey really think about those
teachings throughout the week.

(23:57):
And so it started to feel like,okay, maybe I should write these
stories down, and start to justmaybe have them as a collection
for my own personal, you know,archives of sorts. And so seven

(24:19):
weeks before the pandemic, Ijust started doing that in real
time, I would just not anythingextensive, but just kind of a
short paragraph just to kind ofjog my memory as maybe just like
a way to kind of reference ofwhere I've been, so that there's
a connection to where I am toperhaps where I'm going and just

(24:41):
in the way that I might journaland then look back and it just
helps kind of clarify thejourney a little bit. And so
then when the studio closureshappened, I very clearly had
this vision of the idea of thisinteractive Yoga Book. For that
it would be a story on one page,a photograph emulating the

(25:06):
essence of that story on thispage, and it would connect to a
video series, where there wouldbe a 20 minute meditation, a 20
minute vinyasa practice and a 20minute yen practice. And there
would be also, I received a lotof great feedback on my

(25:26):
playlists. And I think music isa really great portal, this
really beautiful universallanguage that can kind of bring
somebody into an energy. And soconnecting the music playlists,
and then having a journal promptso that people can kind of put
their own voice and their ownexperience into this interactive

(25:50):
container. And so that's theformat of the book. And so it's
one theme with the story withthe videos, the music, the
journal prompts per week for a52 week journey through that
first year of a pandemic.

Wow. So that's super ambitious, because you
said, out of 52, and for eachweek, you have so a story, a
photo that represents and thenso the video then you have a
link in the book that you directpeople toward on to what

(26:32):
platform like Vimeo or? Yeah,Vimeo, thank you. I was like
that probably said that wrong.
And and then is that somethingthat they need to purchase the
book to be able to watch? Andit's like, like there's a code,
or is it something that thosevideos are available for people
to see? Anyway?

Yes, so I do have a special offer right now,
specifically for your listeners.
So there's my book, which youcan get the hard copy or the
ebook. So through an offering itthrough the month of February,
little preview, so the first 10entries of the book, I'll give

(27:16):
you the link to put in the shownotes. It'll be the first 10
entries of the book, as well asunlimited access to the videos
on my Vimeo channel. Ordinarily,the, the subscription is just $7
a month. So it's very accessibleto everyone. That was my big

(27:38):
impetus, especially wheneverything shut down just
wanting to create somethingwhere people can practice from
anywhere.

Yep. What a cool idea. I don't think I've
come across this particular withpresenting like this. Is this
something that you got the ideaoff of somebody else? Or? Or is
it that you just it just justdawned on you like, let me
combine all these differentvisual mediums. Word in the

(28:10):
sense that you can write youhave photo and then a video.
That's really cool. Soundsunique. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.
Sorry. Yeah, I'm excited. Yeah.
I'll definitely sign up on whatyou're talking about. I went on
your website right before westarted the podcast. And so I
was able to see that offer thatyou're talking about. I didn't

(28:32):
fully check it out. So I haven'tsigned up yet. But I will write
more done. And that's such agood idea. So I have a bunch of
questions for you. So you're intheater. So you've been around
mediums such as print and videoand I'm guessing like when

(28:52):
you're saying theater, like morelike Broadway style theater, or
were you involved in film priorto the theater element and or
when you lived in LA, were youalso involved in film? What is
your relationship to film andyour theater background?

Yes, so I studied theater in college. And I moved
to Los Angeles out of college,my theater mentor said, because
I came to him, do I move to NewYork City or do I move to LA and
he said move to LA becauseyou'll never make a living in

(29:31):
theater. Doing straight plays, Idon't sing and dance in any way
that one would pay for that.
Even though I love it so much.
Just casually alone in my house.
But I moved to LA and I startedto do independent films. And I
really miss theater like I justlove the craft of being Being in

(29:57):
character development and reallydigging into script analysis and
things like that. And so thatwas when I decided to start my
own theatre company and start tocreate opportunities for myself
and for my friends and forartists that I believed in. And

(30:19):
initially, it was all of thesepublished plays that I had read
in college that I really loved.
And then the evolution of thatwas, when I moved to New York, I
had feedback from one of mycolleagues, like, why are you
doing this revival of this playthat had this huge, successful

(30:41):
Broadway run? Like, what is yourangle? And so I started to
question that, and then that'swhen I really shifted into
finding different ways tosupport emerging playwrights and
so started producing originalplays and finding, yeah, new
playwright, containers ofcurating plays in house and

(31:04):
having monthly readings anddifferent things like that. So
yeah, a lot of experience on thestage, and then a little bit of
experience on camera, and a lotof experience behind the camera
and different in differentfacets as well.

How did you, I know this is going a little bit
more down the technical of likethe how to I know there's yoga
teachers that are listening thatare utilizing online platforms,
creating online platforms, theirstudents that are listening that
are benefiting from the onlineplatforms that are being made.

(31:42):
In relation to you have somereally beautiful video that shot
on your website that I saw ofyou practicing on the beach? Did
you set up a tripod and filmyourself? Or did you have a pro
doing all this for you?

I definitely had a pro. I definitely had a prep
Fair enough. So Brandi Anthonyshot the video that's on my
homepage. And then my dearfriend shots and Jeff shot the
photographs that are in my book.
And they're sort of woven intomy Instagram feed as well.

Nice. Yeah,

that's the Vimeo series, I shot myself, because
that was a weekly commitmentthat I made and, and I wanted it
to feel intimate. Like at home,I didn't want it to be overly
produced. I wanted it to feellike people were just kind of
like stepping into my porch.

Nice. And you said a 20 minute practice on yen
a 20 minute practice on vinyasa.
What were the three categoriesthat you kind of kept it around?

Yes. And guided meditation. Cool. Yeah, so
anchoring the theme or into themeditation. So starting with a
place where one could be still.
And the invitation is, you know,you could also take those guided
meditations on your commute, youcould take it into your bath,
you could take it on your walkwith your dog, or your kids or

(33:08):
your loved one. And so trying toand part of the reason just to
come back to what you weresaying, of why all of these
things together is, I believe,and you know, of course, we're
here talking about yoga, as youknow, everyone listening, we're

(33:29):
drinking the Kool Aid, like,Yep, we're here for yoga. But I
often meet people who will saylike, oh, I took a yoga class,
once, it's not for me. Andoftentimes, I feel like perhaps
they are needing to receive itin a different way through a
different person, maybe at adifferent time. And we all learn

(33:52):
in different ways. And sofinding that through either
hearing it or reading it, orseeing a photo, or maybe doing a
journal prompt, you know, maybelike the yoga practice doesn't
look the way that maybe youthink the idea of what yoga is.
And so the hope is that thereare these different ways to

(34:16):
process it. And in the spirit ofit being a 52 week journey is
like, you could do it insequence the way that I wrote
it, or you could close the book,close your eyes, and then open
the page and let the theme thatis meant for you to show up to
practice with and that could bea pondering, it could be doing

(34:40):
the guided meditation or thevinyasa practice or the yen
practice. It could be listeningto the playlist while you're
folding laundry, you know,there's so many different ways
to play with it that there'sthis opportunity to and perhaps
especially, you know, if you arenew to the practice and then

(35:04):
also if you have been practicingfor a while and maybe feel like
you're at a plateau or you feellike a little burnt out or maybe
you're like wanting like adifferent creative pathway. It
is hopeful that it's a canvasthat you can kind of like show
up where you are, and almostlike a buffet choose the thing
that resonates in the moment.

So cool. Super creative. Thank you. Is once the
today, did you practice anymeditation today?

Oh, gosh, yes.

Can you get my Oh, yeah, were we gonna say?

Yeah, I love starting the day with a
meditation I actually do knowthe group the light meeting. Oh,
goodness. So I originally foundthem on Insight Timer. And they
are. I've been really, I've I gothrough phases, sometimes I want

(36:10):
guided words. And sometimes thethe soundscape of music feels
like the thing and that feelsreally resonant these days. And
so I thought you said lightmeaning the light meeting, the
light

meeting? Where would I find that?

So they are on Insight Timer, and they also
have a Spotify. And they're thischalice guitarist duo based out
of Arizona, I believe. Cool. Themusic is. It's, it's a really
nice guiding like, it feels likea journey. And it's like, it's

(36:57):
just enough of something thatlike your mind could travel to
different things. And then alsoit can just like really route
you into the moment so that thattends to accompany on my morning
walk.

Very cool. And like 10 minutes, 15 minutes, our
tracks, but you can do for 10What's the how long? Yeah. One
of the songs.

Yeah, the track that I'm on 17 minutes. I've
been really lingering on thisone track for the last month.
It's really good.

That's so awesome. I I'm almost done
reading a book called Becomingsupernatural by Dr. Joe
Dispenza. Have you heard ofthat? Yeah. Yeah. Have you read
it?

Haven't read that one. I'm very familiar with Dr.
Joe Dispenza. His teachings, Ithink he's brilliant. It's
pretty

amazing, I have to admit. And he was kind of
referencing this idea of likelooking at the kaleidoscope. So
I went on YouTube, and I foundthe kaleidoscope at this idea of
like, it made me think of whatyou just said in terms of just
having something on editorialthat you won't necessarily be
prompted, but your imaginationcan get queued off of the sounds

(38:19):
that you're having. And so inwatching the kaleidoscope, his
concept I believe I understandproperly is that, you know,
you're watching all thesegeometric shapes, and there's
that like center point in themiddle and everything's kind of
expanding and contracting aroundthat center point. So it can let
your consciousness settle downenough that then when you go

(38:39):
along with your meditation,you're just in that sort of
trance state a little easierthan if you're in that place of
like, gosh, my mind just keepsgoing and I can't focus and so
it kind of reminded me what yousaid about the the audio side
that might play out the same waythat that visual with the
kaleidoscope would Can you giveme any insight into any other

(39:00):
things you've come across thatthat helps you along in your
meditation journeys.

Yeah, I love having a journal nearby, I find
that writing out the thoughts,particularly the thoughts that
are on repeat, it's reallyhelpful to get them out in that
way. And it really helpsespecially in that stream of

(39:25):
consciousness, consciousnesswriting, it helps unpack the
subconscious. And so it feelslike okay, like I'm having this
thought at the surface and thenwhen you kind of take a little
bit deeper, then you kind ofhave like these reveals that
start to emerge and then as youstart to witness that in the

(39:47):
space of, okay, what can I learnhere, then? It's almost like
there's like a freedom. It'slike you're like kind of like
letting go of it. The idea ofbeing on the gerbil wheel with
things and there's a, there's anice, kind of like, oh, I can

(40:10):
get off yeah.

Like, does that mean like, you'll sit down with
a journal and just say, Okay,I'm gonna give myself like 10
minutes, I'm just gonna writedown, whatever comes up, I'm not
gonna judge it, I'm not thinkingsomebody's gonna read this down
the road, I'm not gonna publishthis. I'm just like, writing,
writing, writing, writing, thenyou'll go back and read and read
through it and see what I canpick out. That's, that's the

(40:38):
underneath underlying. That'scool. That's a good idea. I'm
like, kind of analytical, Iguess, like, do you set a time
limit? Or you're like, Okay, I'mgonna write for at least 10
minutes? Or is it just free flowfor you now at this point, like,
cool, let me just get two orthree sentences down. And that's
enough. Is there some like magicamount of time that you've used
that you find is is better thananother?

Hmm, I tend to want to explore a certain
thoughts. So I'll just kind oflike, chew through a certain
amount. Topic or maybe a personor an event that I'm trying to
figure out, or if I was, like,triggered by something else,

(41:23):
just kind of like, free flow onthat until I've processed it to
a degree that feels satiating,which, you know, sometimes takes
longer than other.

That's cool.
Where are you? Currently with?
That rawness of you writing?
Knowing? Like, no one's gonnasee this, to being able to put
that out into say, the universevia on social media slash
whatever the platform is? Areyou editing before? Or like, how

(41:59):
many layers down the track fromthe raw to the final? Are you
going these days? Like, do youhave any challenges with that?
Are you? Are you at a place inyour life where you're just
like, I'm gonna say anything andeverything I feel, and I don't
care how anybody judges me, I'mnot gonna like worry about any
judgment whatsoever. And I'm notgonna be scared about any of

(42:21):
that. I'm just gonna put it outthere. Or do you write the raw
and go? Ooh, I know, that'sgonna offend somebody. I'm not
gonna say that. I probablyshouldn't do that. I should be
more sensitive. Like, in a niceway. I don't I'm not saying I'm
just kind of curious whereyou're at with all that these
days.

I definitely write unedited for myself. And
then my shares, I'm very mindfulthat I keep it in the space that
is helpful. Yeah. And so I don'tshare names. I don't share

(43:06):
personal. And then I don't shareanything that is maybe like
beyond what I would tell mylike, closest people. I'm not
Yeah, I don't I don't know. Forme, I don't know that that is
actually something that ishelpful. And I think for me,

(43:31):
it's really healthy to have aboundary of my personal life
verse. And it's tricky, becausea different person could just be
like, This is me. Andunabashedly, here are all my
thoughts about all of thethings. And I feel like my role

(43:55):
personally is to be more likefinding myself as a vessel to
plant the seeds of an energy oran emotion or a certain
processing or like a certainquality that feels like a

(44:18):
universal consciousness so thatit prompts people to process
their own so they're notdistracted by like my own
specific unique story. Yeah, soit's, it's very tricky to
navigate in a way that yes,wanting to share your heart and

(44:43):
wanting to be open but also notwanting that like my new should
detail. That could be adistraction.

Yeah, I see that. It's so cool, because I
can I can see your background asa screenwriter or a play writer,
or playwright and or editor andor how you were talking about
how you really love just likegetting in on a story and
character development and theway you're going to portray

(45:12):
that. And then how you've beenable to segue that over into
explaining what you're learningin your yoga practice via these,
like common myths and or commonstories. That's really cool.
What else? What else are youdoing? So I like I like the idea

(45:33):
of this, I love music. I lovethe idea of writing. I like to
write but i like i like thethought of just like, blah, just
get it out there and read itback and see what comes out for
your own personal insight. Whatis your understanding of, are
you so in terms of like, sayjust physical yoga where we can

(45:56):
break down like, look how youcan flex your hip, and you can
use your quadriceps for Morristo engage your hip flexion. So
there's like this very physical,analytical side. And then
there's this like, amazing, youhave a root chakra, and it's
associated with this specificspecific emotions. And maybe
you're holding all your emotionsdown in the lower chakras, and

(46:17):
you could try to pull them up.
Where'd it Where are you at withthe I tried to tend away tend to
stay away from like, thespiritual side? Because I don't
know, maybe there's a betterword for it. Though, what is
your How are you connectingthese days with, say, the side
that you can't see, in yoga?
What's coming up for you thesedays?

Yes, I always feel, in my own personal
practice in the way that I enterinto each class that I teach. It
starts with an energy or anintention. And so say, my
intention for this class isslowing down. Then every

(47:08):
movement is almost throughmolasses. And every transition
is like how slow Can we reallyluxury in the in between? And so
it's maybe less about focus onwhat muscles are firing, or what

(47:32):
we're stretching, per se, butit's more like, how are we
finding these different physicalavenues are these different
modalities, and it might notnecessarily be traditional son,
a son be here we are standingpose balance, recording down. I

(47:58):
really love playing with adeconstructing that, and finding
that when we kind of move out ofthe habitual, then I tend to,
and I feel I've gotten thisfeedback as well as like when we
kind of sidestep away from beingso much in anticipation of

(48:21):
knowing what's coming up next,then we can kind of break those
neural pathways up a little bit.
And when we can kind of beseparate from the anticipation
of what's to come, then we canbe a lot more in that beginner's
mindset, which I think is areally beautiful practice to

(48:41):
inhabit as much as possible. Andso I, I really love moving in
that way. And, and so theremight be, you know, different
movements than one would sort ofexpect from a Vinyasa style
class or a yen style class, Ithink of those styles as

(49:06):
influences or inspirations. Anddepending on what the story is,
or the intention or the energy,then all of those movements are
very purposeful, that they'rehelping support that intention
that nothing's sort ofhaphazard, or by accident, or

(49:29):
like, we're just doing thiscourse sequence to like, get
stronger, randomly, at thismoment, three quarters of the
way through the class, which youknow, has its purpose as well.
It's just, you know, it's it'ssomething to think about, I
think, as a practitioner and asa teacher, as well as of asking,

(49:50):
like, why am I doing this? Andis it adding? Is it in support
of maybe the intention for theclass So maybe the overarching
intention of the practice ingeneral,

who has been a teacher that's been really
influential, influential to youin learning how to and or being
appreciative of the ability todo a Dharma talk or a this type
of yoga practice of weaving atheme into the class.

So many so many teachers, I really gained a lot
from when I was in New York,taking up pure Yoga West. Kylie
Holliday, who I mentionedbefore, I think she's brilliant.
I've never anticipated anything.
In any of her classes, she'smasterful. I really love Dana

(50:49):
slam. And learned how, and ScottHerrick like so many of those
teachers, there have been suchlarge influences. There have
been so many moments where Ifelt like my physical practice
was I just, I never believedthat I could do the things that

(51:20):
I saw when I first began. Andthey in different respects, like
saw that I was able to do thingsbefore I knew that I could. And,
and it really helped translatehow when we think we can't do
something, we end up provingourselves, right. And it's

(51:43):
probably not the way that wewant to prove ourselves, right,
to limit ourselves and sodisbanding that and like really
finding these more advancedpostures have influenced my
practice. And what's been sointeresting, like moving to this

(52:03):
quiet town away from New YorkCity is like, I've slowed way
down into my practice. And also,I love coming back to that as
well as like remembering howempowering it is to just be in a
headstand for 10 minutes, andlike, close my eyes and feel

(52:25):
like, wonder how long I couldstay here for. And I never
thought that I could do that. Soa lot of those teachers really,
really influenced my belief inmyself. And it starts with the
physical but, of coursetranslates to so much more than
that.

Very cool. I appreciate. I wrote down all
those names so that I can checkthem out. And what has been your
experience with Guru Yoga? Interms of Have you subscribed to
a guru or not? Have you had anyguru challenges like, like, I

(53:15):
liked the way that you'retalking to me the way you had
the relationship with yourteachers where they could see
something in you, before youcut. And I think, in some ways,
in my own personal idealism ofwhat a guru is, is a teacher,
and in a lot of ways, thosefolks for you or your teacher,

(53:38):
and they could see that, wow,look at what she could do, or
what I think she can do. Ormaybe this is a blockage that
she can't see. And maybe I'mgoing to help her out and I
knowing Guru Yoga or having aguru, maybe that's the hope is
that the Guru is going to seesomething that I can't see,
they'll remove that obstacle.
I'll see. I'll see clearly, andthen life's going to be amazing.

(54:01):
What I know it's not thatsimple, but that's kind of like
my idealistic dream that I hadback in the day. Have you had
any guru relationshipssituations over the years in
your yoga experience?

I haven't personally now. Yeah, the guru
title is wildly either very likethis is it or it's very
divisive. And I haven'tnecessarily saw one out and one

(54:42):
hasn't necessarily appeared tome in that form. And also, I
very much have conscious time toconnect to source and love
mornings. So maybe in that way,there's this vertical connection

(55:07):
to maybe ancestors or maybelike, the energy of I think the,
the teachings that are sort of,in the universal energy and so
maybe like that could show up aslike, like an angel or some

(55:37):
something that maybe doesn'teven have a name. And yeah, I
think I think sometimes it'slike, okay, like, what would be
most anchoring? What would bemost uplifting? What is it that
I need in this moment toprogress or evolve or grow? And?

(55:59):
And maybe it doesn't have aname? And that, and that's okay.

That's cool.
I'm curious do Do you believe aguru situation would hold you
back more than it would propelyou forward? It sounds to me
like you're at a point whereyou're able to trust your
intuition, enough. And listen,and like you said, if you can

(56:26):
tap into a feeling of beingconnected to like a universal
source, that then there's noneed to have another person. And
that in between process.

There certainly could be valued to that. I don't
know that I would really say,one way or another. And

cool. I mean, I just curious, have my own
experiences with that. Andthat's where I just like to pick
people's brains and see, like,Yeah, where are you at, with all
that stuff? You know, becausethere's, like, such an
interesting part of the yogaworld, you know, like, I'm
personally now a little bit morejust like, I just want to focus
on my meditation and derive whatI can get out of my own personal

(57:25):
experience and see everybody asa guru, everyone as a potential
teacher, possible teacher, sothat's why I just wanted to see
like, what, where you're at withthat? Thank you, hopefully, I
wasn't going too deep on you,or, you know, asking something
that's too personal.

Yeah. Well, it's, it's something that, you know,
thinking about, you know, I waslistening to Jeff crozz nose
podcast, this morning. And itwas this conversation on rom
Das, and, you know, like, allthis, you know, history of

(58:07):
people in the 60s and the 70s,traveling to India and like, are
their guru, like, showing up tothem, and, you know, through
psychedelics, and all of the,the things of that era
happening, and and thencertainly, you know, how that

(58:28):
traveled to the west. And, andit's fascinating to think about
how that happens. And usually Ithink, what I'm, what I'm sort
of leaning into right now is, isthat in the stillness, and the

(58:48):
quiet, that guru or thatteacher, and it could be in, you
know, this oak tree here, itcould show up in these in these
different ways, and probablydifferent than maybe we would
expect it to.

Yeah, yeah. I like that. I like the fact of
thinking that your oak tree isyour Yeah. You made mention how
much and the orchid there's anorchid over there too, right.
Yeah. And that little squirrelor Armadillo that's come
scurrying across. Mm hmm. Goodpoint. Like, do you are you? Oh,

(59:33):
gosh. So then in terms of like,with animals in nature, to what
level of communication Do youfeel like you have with nature?
I don't know how I'd answerthese questions myself. So I
know I've totally put you on thespot with some random stuff. But

(59:55):
you know, I love it.

I love it. Yeah, I have have a dialogue with the
ocean often. And I'm I'mdefinitely a water. Baby. I love
being next to the water, lookingat the water in the water

(01:00:18):
embodying water.

Todd McLaughlin (01:00:20):
When's your birthday?

Veronique Ory (01:00:22):
It's October 28.

On the 30 If you're a Scorpio how to feel it?
Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Ican relate.

feels right.
Yeah. So conversation withwater, and then also
conversation with trees. I,after, you know, being in the
city for a bit, I would makeintentional trips upstate. And
there would be that point whereyou would get past Upper
Manhattan and then all of asudden, there's all these trees.
And it's like, ah, like, there'ssomething about that reminder to

(01:00:57):
breathe, that I feel that wecan, we can never get enough of
it's some, it's involuntary. Andyet we forget to do so with
intention sometimes.

That's cool.
It's funny I had when I wasleading a paddleboard yoga
class, we're in this beautifulsetting. And then all of a
sudden, this big old truck comesbarreling down the road that
says, really loud, and so it wasso quiet. And we're all just
observing the sound of the watersplashing on the board. And
everything that's going on is sobeautiful. And here comes this

(01:01:35):
really loud machine sound, Istarted thinking, well, that's
just another sound of nature.
Because if humans, if we arenatural, which I know there's a
lot of debate there andphilosophy but and we figured
out how to make a car, the soundof the car going by, it's just

(01:01:55):
the sound of a tool that naturehas made. So how I know that's
harder to do, probably in thecity, when all you are around is
the sounds of human madeinvention. But maybe it's

(01:02:15):
possible to be in an urbanenvironment, and still connect
and commune with nature, butjust in this version of the
human made nature. And I alwayslike to think I always put
higher priority on the non humanmade nature, the water, sitting

(01:02:36):
under a tree. Watching anarmadillo. But what am I crazy,
or does that make any kind ofsense? Can you agree with that?
Or does that sound like no, Idon't want to be around trucks.
I don't like that sound?

Yeah, well, I think. So I was, I heard a
quote. I heard it a while ago.
And then I heard it again acouple of weeks ago, and it was
attributed to Albert Einstein.
But this is debated, whoactually said it, that people

(01:03:14):
are divided between ones thatsee the miracle, and everything.
And ones who see the miracle andnothing or that they don't see
the miracle. And it reallystruck a chord with me, because
I think when we get into thesedark pockets of processing

(01:03:38):
grief, or we're in a spiral ofanxiety, it's hard to see the
beauty in the track that'sdisturbing the yoga class, say,
or, you know, all of the thingsthat are distracting us from our

(01:04:01):
practice or meditation or justtrying to live peacefully. And I
found just as an example, I wasremembering. In New York, I
would be on any given subway carand in quieting myself down and

(01:04:22):
deciding not to bury myself, inmy phone or my book, or whatever
it is that I was focusing on. Iwas so just in awe of all the
different languages, how everysingle person looked like they

(01:04:45):
were from a completely differentworld. And there's so much
beauty in that right like we'veall traveled to this place we'd
like all somehow landed on thesubway car and we're all like,
squished in here. They'retogether. And maybe it's not
comfortable. Long term. Butyeah, there, there is a miracle

(01:05:09):
in that. And, and I thinkremembering the miracle, and it
is like a really great way tofind the power of nature, like
even in a city setting. And, youknow, when you like, when you

(01:05:29):
think when you think to like, ohmy, like, I couldn't build a
truck. You know, like thinkingabout, like, all the components
that it takes to, like, make,like, one of those, like,
massive, like, diggers or like,you know, construction vehicles
that make the most amount ofsound, it's like, wow, like,

(01:05:50):
can't believe like someone putthat together that's really
marveling. And so it kind oflike takes away or like, helps
soften the edges of beingannoyed by the distraction and
kind of finding like, oh, like,there's also a gratitude

(01:06:13):
practice, right? Like, thisconstruction is happening here,
or like, my garbage is beingpicked up. Like, I'm grateful
that I don't have to do that.
Personally, these differentthings. Yeah.

Thank you.
Thank you for going down thattrack with me. I love the fact
like, Yeah, I like that youbrought up like firing in the
miracle and everything, likebeing able to sit on the subway
and really appreciate culturaldiversity. And like, whoa, we
just, we're all here right now,like, Well, how do we all get

(01:06:50):
here? Like, in this moment?
Yeah. You know, like, it's kindof it is pretty amazing. It is
amazing. You know, I I'm takingmy glasses off during the
podcast, because my wife watchedthe last one. She's like, Todd,
the lights reflecting on yourclasses, you got to figure
something out. And so I've takenthem off, it's maybe it's good,

(01:07:13):
because I feel like I'm like, mymind is going a little more into
like, these different ideas. ButI just looked at the time, and I
went, Holy cow, we've been goingfor a while. Oh, my God. So I
don't want to I want to be veryrespectful of your time. And I
will have more questions foryou. Hopefully, maybe we could
do more in the future. Yes, I'd

love that.

Is there something veronik that you can
help us close with? You've saidsome really amazing things, and
I'm really enjoying ourconversation. So I don't want to
bring it to a close. But isthere something that you would
like to share before we do? Saygoodbye? For the time being?

Yeah. Well, before you hit record, I said
that I really wanted to talkabout stillness. And I feel like
that's something that I justkeep hearing people struggle

(01:08:19):
with. And this like, intentionalrest. And so I think this
podcast is like a really greatportal towards that this like
really beautiful opportunity tosimply listen. And I suppose I

(01:08:46):
just feel called to share that.
Perhaps this could be likelittle kernel, the little
invitation to continue to listenthat you know, beyond this
podcast ending that you thelistener, continue to stay open,
and listen and and get still asoften as possible. I think it's

(01:09:08):
really, really profound, sosimple and so profound.

Yes.
I didn't let her break thesilence. After that. She said
stillness. I have to come inwith something. Yeah, cool,
Veronica, that's amazing. Youknow, you have a great vibe. I'm
so thankful for this opportunityto love this opportunity to meet

(01:09:41):
other yoga practitioners andteachers and never having met
you, you being open and willingto just come and talk with me
and share this and share yourideas and thoughts, your
projects. So I can't wait torelease this and get for you.
Dark from all of you, listeners.
And so, on that note, thank youso much for ronique and I look

(01:10:05):
forward to hopefully we cancollaborate in the future. Yes,
thank

you for that really great

native yoga taught cast is produced by
myself. The theme music isdreamed up by Bryce Allen. If
you liked this show, let me knowif there's room for improvement.
I want to hear that too. We arecurious to know what you think
and what you want more of what Ican improve. And if you have
ideas for future guests ortopics, please send us your

(01:10:44):
thoughts to info at Native yogacenter. You can find us at
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Veronique Ory - Shine On and Off the Mat

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Veronique Ory - Shine On and Off the Mat