April 10, 2025 • 60 mins
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Yoga offers a comprehensive approach to wellness that goes far beyond the physical postures, connecting mind, body, and spirit while creating space for self-discovery and healing. Jennifer Lynn shares her journey from corporate burnout to becoming a certified trauma-informed yoga and menopause yoga teacher, exploring how this ancient practice helps regulate the nervous system and provides tools for modern life challenges.
• Yoga means "to join" or "unite," creating a container for self-awareness that encompasses physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions
• Dynamic yoga styles (Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga) build strength while passive styles (Restorative, Yin) release tension through gravity-assisted postures
• Props in restorative yoga (bolsters, blankets, blocks) support the body to meet the ground where you are, honoring injuries and individual needs
• Yoga views anxiety as upward-moving energy requiring grounding practices, while depression is addressed through energizing, heart-opening postures
• Menopause yoga incorporates women's circles, breathwork, and specific techniques to address symptoms throughout perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause
• Finding the right teacher often matters more than the specific style of yoga, with many communities offering free or donation-based classes for accessibility
You can find Jen HERE
Mentioned in the episode: Judith Hanson Lasater
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mary (00:05):
Welcome to No Shrinking Violence.
I'm your host, Mary Rothwell,licensed therapist and certified
integrative mental healthpractitioner.
I've created a space where wecelebrate the intuition and
power of women who want to breakfree from limiting narratives.
We'll explore all realms ofwellness, what it means to take
up space unapologetically, andhow your essential nature is key
(00:28):
to living life on your terms.
It's time to own your space,trust your nature and flourish.
Let's dive in.
Hi and welcome to the show.
23% of women in the UnitedStates practice some form of
yoga twice the number of men andI'm guessing the image you got
(00:50):
when you heard the word yogamight vary depending on your
experience with it.
There are at least 10 styles ofyoga, including vinyasa, hatha,
kondalini, bikram that's thehot yoga ashtanga, yin,
restorative and anusara, and Imay not have pronounced all of
them correctly, but we'll talkmore about some of these in a
(01:12):
bit.
Although many people wouldthink of yoga as exercise and
granted classes are oftenoffered as part of a gym
membership, I would venture toguess that my guest today would
not think of yoga as exercise.
In fact, my own concept of yogahas evolved as I've gotten
older.
I now see it and use it in myown life as a way to connect to
(01:34):
my body and be present in themoment, but also it's an
important way for me to maintainstrength and keep a strong core
and a sense of balance,something I would never have
thought of when I was younger.
According to the GlobalWellness Institute, yoga is the
largest contributor to themindful movement market, which
also includes practices such asPilates and Tai Chi.
(01:57):
The benefits of yoga arefar-reaching and include stress
relief, pain relief andcultivating a connection between
the mind and the body.
When I maintain a consistentpractice -- which doesn't always
happen -- I feel lighter, (evenif the scale doesn't support
that), stronger and moregraceful.
I also feel more grounded andbelieve that my ability to
(02:20):
manage my cortisol, my stressresponse, is enhanced for sure.
Oh, and I sleep better.
And I'll be honest, my favoritepose is Shavasana, or corpse
pose.
It's typically the final poseof a yoga session, where you lay
flat on your back, legs andarms spread in a position of
surrender.
My body now finds it sofamiliar that I can use it in
(02:42):
the middle of the night to helpme relax and fall back to sleep
if I'm having one of thoseracing mind nights.
I believe so much in yoga that Iwanted to share a very special
person with you today.
I met her recently when shecame to one of my workshops to
improve sleep in menopause, andwe are planning to partner on
something pretty cool in thenear future.
(03:02):
Her name is Jennifer Lynn, andI wanted her to weigh in on the
nuances of yoga, the history andthe aspects of it that go far
beyond the movements and poses.
For example, I have recentlyattended a couple sessions that
included the instructor readingpoetry, and I know Jen has some
of her own thoughts on morerecent happenings in the yoga
(03:24):
world, so let me introduce myguest today so we can jump in
and talk yoga.
Jen is a certifiedtrauma-informed yoga teacher
with a focus and interest ongentle movement designed to
relax and restore the nervoussystem.
She began her study of yogamovement over 15 years ago.
After many years spent in thecorporate world left her feeling
(03:44):
exhausted, burnt out andoverwhelmingly stressed, she
became a yoga teacher in 2020.
One of her passions isintentional gathering in the
form of women's circles, whichshe began facilitating also in
2020.
Being witnessed in circles hasexpanded her life in so many
ways and she truly believes inthe power of healing and growth
(04:06):
through this modality.
Most recently, and somethingI'm so excited about is she
became certified as a menopauseyoga teacher after recognizing
that she lacked resources andsupport to navigate her own
menopause journey and wanted toshare this with other women.
Welcome to No Shrinking Violets, Jen.
I'm so looking forward tosharing thoughts on the amazing
(04:27):
practice of yoga.
Jennifer (04:29):
Oh, thank you so much, Mary.
I'm so honored to be here.
Mary (04:33):
Alrighty, so let's dive in .
So I thought we might want tostart with a basic definition of
yoga.
I think that it's so varied.
There's, of course, sort of thepopular media portrayal of it,
and I know I myself have had somany different types of teachers
and I think, having gone to oneof your classes, it's very
(04:59):
different what you do than someother types of yoga.
So that's actually one of thethings I love about it, and I'm
guessing that many listenershave taken at least one yoga
class.
But the actual concept of yogais about way more than an
exercise class, right?
Jennifer (05:17):
Oh my gosh, absolutely yeah.
So we'll first begin with theactual definition of yoga, which
is to join or to yoke, or tounite, and what the ancient
yogis were hoping to unite isour own internal consciousness
with that of a universalconsciousness.
(05:41):
So a more modern and inclusivedefinition of yoga, though, is
that it's a system, right, it'sa process, a discipline, a
lifestyle that really creates acontainer for us to be held in,
and within that container is theaim for us to learn about
ourselves ourselves, and thiscan include learning about our
(06:08):
body and the way that it moves,how and where we hold our
tension.
The container includes learningabout how our mind works and
the thoughts that arise for us,our judgments, our preferences,
and it also includes learningabout our relationship to
something bigger than us,whether we call that something
God, or universal energy, or thedivine, or what I really like
(06:32):
is just a simple trusting in theunfolding of life as it is.
Here in the West, we really seea lot of opportunities to use
yoga as a physical practice, butyoga is so much bigger than
that.
It really is a discipline forall parts of our being our
(06:53):
mental, our emotional, ourphysical and our spiritual.
Mary (06:58):
That's a huge umbrella and , again, that's one of the
reasons I love it, so I use itnow, partly because I had an
injury.
So getting older it's harder tomaintain strength and I didn't
really want to just go to a gymand lift weights.
But a lot of yoga movement isstrengthening.
(07:19):
I think it makes you feelpowerful and even some of the
names of the poses you knowwarrior I think it feels very
empowering.
And recently I had, as Imentioned, a chance to attend
one of your classes for thefirst time and you call it
restorative yoga, but I didn'treally have a concept of that.
(07:43):
So when I got there, first ofall it was one of the most
calming environments I had beenin, and that's one of the things
, too, I love about yoga, evenif I do it at home I have the
lights very low and I reallylike that.
But we basically held poses andwhen I say a pose, I don't want
people to picture a pose likeplank or down dog.
I mean we laid in very again, Imean I think it is restorative.
(08:07):
We laid in positions that weredid feel restorative and we held
those for about 20 minutes andI had never done that and when I
left, I felt so good and sogrounded.
So can you talk about all thedifferent types of movement that
also might fall under theumbrella of yoga?
Jennifer (08:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
There's so many different types.
I think maybe the first way wecan kind of break it up is that
in yoga we've kind of got twodifferent areas, so one would be
considered dynamic movement andthe other would be considered a
(08:48):
passive movement.
Right, so your dynamic yoga isgoing to be anything that
includes movement.
This would be things such ashatha yoga, which is a slow and
deliberate form of yoga with anemphasis on breath control and
mindfulness.
Underneath dynamic yoga, wealso have Ashtanga, which is
(09:12):
more of a physically demandingpractice that involves a series
of postures performed in aspecific order.
This one is pretty interesting.
They call it the yoga forathletes and they kind of tell
the story that it was developedfor young orphans in an
(09:32):
orphanage in India to get theirenergy out at the beginning of
the day a lot of heat.
And then we have the passivestyles of yoga, which yin yoga
and restorative yoga would fallunder that category, and
typically with passive poses,what you see is they are
(09:55):
postures held for a series oftime.
In yin yoga it's usuallybetween three to five minutes,
and restorative yoga it can beanywhere up to 20 minutes or
longer, depending on the postureand what it is.
Your aim is, and in the passiveforms of yoga, we're allowing
gravity to kind of pull ourweight down towards the earth.
(10:19):
So there's a lot of props usedand a lot of different things
that are being used to supportthe body so we can release our
tension and then allow the earthto hold us.
It goes without saying that thepassive styles of yoga, that's
not where you're going to buildthe strength.
(10:40):
So if it's strength that you'relooking for, you would want to
go more towards the dynamic sideof yoga and for releasing
tension and calming the nervoussystem, I would really recommend
passive styles of yoga.
Mary (10:57):
Very comprehensive, so I'm going to put a little asterisk
beside one to talk about alittle bit.
So you mentioned restorativeand you and I recently had a
conversation about that.
So that might be something thatpeople may see other places
like come for restorative yoga.
But I get the idea from whatyou and I have chatted about
(11:19):
that it's not always asadvertised.
In other words, someone maycome to your restorative class
but then try another one with adifferent teacher, and it can be
a totally different experience.
Jennifer (11:33):
Yeah, yeah, the form of yoga designed by Judith
Hanson Lassiter restorative yogawill always be floor-based
postures, using props to supportthe body with the intention of
(11:56):
recognizing where in our bodywe're holding this tension and
then consciously releasing thattension.
So if you're doing that veryspecific class designed by
Judith Hanson Lassiter, therewouldn't be any standing
postures or anything whereyou're supporting your own
weight.
A lot of times what we'reseeing now in the yoga world is
(12:20):
restorative has kind of becomethis buzzword, for lack of
better terms but people areusing it in classes that are
dynamic, and so that meansthere's going to be some
movement and there can be a lotof restorative benefits for any
(12:41):
class right, because it's thepresence that we're really going
after.
But make sure, before you go tothe class, that you get really
clear on if it is a dynamic formof restorative yoga or if it's
the true, actual restorativeyoga designed for the floor base
postures.
Mary (13:02):
Well, one of the things I love is the idea of the earth
supporting us, because anybodythat's listened to any of this
podcast knows that I am a naturegirl and I mentioned something
about nature in nearly everyepisode.
So when that is part of kind ofthe instruction, when you're in
a class and there's that talkabout allowing the earth to
(13:23):
support you or being connectedto the earth, that feels really
good to me.
Now I did want to clarify incase somebody is not familiar
with the word props those arethings like a soft block right
or a blanket, things that wouldsupport your body if you're in a
position that might be aided orbecome more comfortable by
(13:45):
having something supportive,correct?
Jennifer (13:48):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Thank you for asking forclarification on that.
So a prop would be anything.
Typically you'll see it in theform of a bolster, which is it
could be round or rectangle,kind of like a big pillow for
yoga, and then we use a lot ofblankets and we use blocks as
well.
In my classes I like to bringtowels too that can be rolled up
(14:14):
into a little roll that fitsreally nicely underneath the
head, along the neck.
So, yeah, a prop is anythingthat is supporting the body in a
way that we can relax into.
And the importance of props inrestorative yoga especially is
that it allows us to meet theground, kind of where we're at.
(14:38):
So, if we have some type ofinjury, so, for example, if we
are coming into what we wouldcall as cobbler's pose, so we're
laying flat on our back, weconnect the soles of our feet
and we allow our knees to openup wide, and so, as you would
imagine, you're going to feel anice stretch there on the inside
of the thighs.
(14:58):
Well, if you're moving throughsome type of knee injury, that
could also create some pain inthe knees to have your legs open
like that.
So in a restorative yoga class.
What we would do is either useblocks or a bolster or blankets
to support the knees up, soyou're still allowing the inner
(15:20):
thighs to open up.
However, you're supporting thebody where it's at, so we don't
want to aggravate any injuriesor create any new injuries.
So, again, it's meeting yourbody where you are with the
props.
Mary (15:38):
And it really brings in the idea of just being gentle
with yourself.
I think when we think in termsof you know an idea of exercise,
it's always about pushingyourself.
You know, like doing the repsand you know if it doesn't hurt
it's not working.
And this is such a differentidea of honoring your body.
(15:59):
And I understand even more, aswe're talking, why people think
about yoga as a practice.
I mean, we don't talk aboutthings like exercise as a
practice and so it's morepractice, like it's built into
your lifestyle and I know fromyour story you really leaned
(16:21):
into the world of yoga as aresponse to things in your own
life.
It sounds like a lot of careerissues came up for you, things
of stress, and realized itwasn't fulfilling.
So you must really have a greatidea, just personally and from
your work with students, of thebenefits of yoga.
(16:43):
So what are some of thebenefits?
Jennifer (16:46):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I mean, the benefits of yoga arevast.
So let's start with the physicalbenefits, and some of those
could be with the dynamicclasses strengthening our
muscles, and then, with bothdynamic and passive, we also
allow the body to lengthen andstretch, and these three areas
(17:09):
are really important becausemost of us are pretty sedentary
these days.
Yoga also improves posture, ithas cardiovascular benefits,
helps improve balance, improvesflexibility and can also help a
lot with pain relief.
So I would say some of themental-emotional benefits are
(17:33):
stress reduction, improved mood,helps to regulate emotions,
improves sleep quality and itcan also reduce anxiety and
enhance resilience.
And then that final componentof spirituality it can really
increase our self-awareness,which can expand the way that we
(17:55):
view life.
This is where we're invited tobe present and that allows us to
be more accepting of life as itunfolds, with less attachment
maybe to how we may want it tounfold rather than how it is,
and also back to that idea of itconnecting us to something
bigger than ourselves, whetherthat's, you know, just trust,
(18:18):
you know, or universal energy,or whatever you feel comfortable
with.
Mary (18:25):
So there's a lot of points of entry, I feel like for yoga.
You know, you can be searchingfor a lot of different things
and kind of start to walk intothis world and what I found and
I don't know if this is true foreveryone, but I sort of, along
the way, have come up with sortof my favorite poses, and
(18:45):
obviously Shavasana is one.
But I have a great memory ofbeing at work, and so I worked
in a college, so summer would bea little bit slower and I
remember that I was talking tomy colleagues and really we were
all very close, we were greatfriends, but I talked to them
about the legs up the wall pose,which I just love.
(19:08):
So I have this memory.
We were lying in the hallway ofour counseling center because
there was nobody else around andwe were doing legs up the wall
pose and we were just kind oftalking to each other and it's
such a great memory.
Jennifer (19:20):
So that's a little wonderful posture, isn't it?
Yes?
Mary (19:24):
Well, that's the other thing, Jen, that things like
there's a lot of twisting right,and so I think when I was young
and I think our minds, whenwe're young, we may be and I
don't want to speak foreverybody we might be looking
for something different fromsomething like yoga.
We might be looking forsomething different from
something like yoga, but I usedto think, well, what's the point
(19:52):
of the twisting?
But there's always some sort ofdeeper way.
We're accessing something alittle bit deeper right With
with some of those types ofmovement.
Jennifer (19:57):
Yeah, absolutely so.
You know, the postures allstimulate our vagus nerve in
different ways, which you know.
The vagus nerve is a nerve thatruns through most of our body
and it really plays a big partin regulating our nervous system
.
So anytime that we're able toreally take care of that nerve
(20:22):
it can really help calm the mindand calm the body.
And you know this one teacherthat I studied with for a while,
she described the human body asbasically a tube and then
within that tube we have a lotof different pumping actions
which allows our digestion tomove, which allows our digestion
(20:43):
to move, which allows our bloodto flow.
You think about any of thesystems moving through our body.
It's done through that pumpingsystem with our heart and
different things.
So when you think about some ofthese postures, it could be in
restorative yoga.
If we're laying on the bolsterand we're twisting to the side,
(21:05):
we're really wringing out ourorgans.
Right, our body is holding onto a lot of different toxins and
things that maybe it could beemotions that we're not
digesting properly, and it givesour body a chance to really
like wring it out, as if you'rewringing out a wet towel body a
chance to really like wring itout, as if you're wringing out a
(21:26):
wet towel.
And there's other postures thatyou know, like forward folds.
They are really calming to themind, and the idea behind that
is that we're placing the mostvulnerable position of our body
downwards, so that would be ourthroat, our heart and our belly.
Historically, if we're runningaway from something way back
(21:47):
when a saber tooth tiger, theseare the areas we would have
wanted to protect.
So a lot of times, if we feelanxiety, any type of covering up
of this area can really supportus.
So, yeah, each posture has beenspecifically designed with
something in mind the ancientyogis, really some of the
(22:12):
thoughts around a lot of theearly postures was that they
wanted to be able to sit inmeditation for as long as
possible, and you and I bothknow we can only sit for so long
before our body becomesuncomfortable, and so a lot of
the traditional postures wouldhave just been opening up the
(22:33):
body in order to sit inmeditation for hours and hours
and hours on end.
Mary (22:45):
Wow, I like that context and I love the idea of the
ringing out, because so theparasympathetic nervous system
is, as you said, it's our way ofcalming and I feel like in our
times today, I mean, you canjust look at social media for 10
minutes and I don't think youreally realize that what is
happening is it's activating thesympathetic nervous system and
(23:05):
so that's what increases ouradrenaline and increases our
heart rate.
And we have so many things inthe world today, even driving.
You know that it activates asystem that, as you referenced,
was really designed way backwhen we became human to address
true danger.
(23:25):
And now our sympathetic nervoussystem is triggered all the
time.
It's triggered by things thatremind us of trauma, but our
levels of cortisol and I'm goingto speak specifically about
women women have a harder timemanaging the regulation of
cortisol, harder than men, andespecially women in menopause.
(23:46):
So the parasympathetic nervoussystem, that's your vagus nerve,
that's what tells your body.
You know what.
We're actually okay, but thatin our modern world it's much
harder for that to kind of fire,to like, do its work because we
are often so flooded byadrenaline and cortisol just
(24:09):
from our modern world.
And so what a beautiful way to,you know, not only connect
consciously to our breath andour bodies, but in doing, just
in doing some of the things, weare supporting that vagus nerve
and that parasympathetic nervoussystem, even if we don't
recognize that's what we'redoing.
Jennifer (24:31):
Yeah, absolutely yeah.
You know, the way I've reallybeen understanding stress lately
is that, you know, a lot of usaren't completing that stress
cycle and so we'll have ourcortisol rise, we'll become in a
stress state and then we tendto just hang out there, you know
(24:51):
, and really our bodies weren'tdesigned to hang out there for
extended periods of time.
And you know, that's reallywhere yoga can step in and help
us to complete some of thesestress cycles, something I had
mentioned earlier about.
You know, when we connect themind and the body, it brings
this awareness into our lives.
(25:12):
And so, you know, in our worldwe really value living out of
our mind, right?
We really value that intellectof our mind, right, we really
value that, the intellect of themind, and we forget that the
other half of our story reallyis our body and the wisdom that
we hold in our body.
And so yoga really providesthose two things to come
(25:35):
together.
And it's amazing to see how, onthe mat, you know, I've I've
watched myself and I've watchedothers have breakthroughs,
things that they've beenstressed about for a really long
time, trying to think their waythrough, and it wasn't until
they they kind of moved thatenergy downward, reconnected
with their body, that they wereable to see the bigger picture
(25:59):
and complete that stressresponse for you know something
in particular Well, I love thatyou brought up closing the loop,
because you're exactly rightthat it's really important for
our body and I mean, and again,our mind.
Mary (26:15):
We do tend to talk about things separately, but they
totally are not separate.
But if we can't complete theloop, in the sense of we have
the stressor, our cortisol goesup, we respond and then we
deescalate A lot of things inour modern world we really can't
do that.
(26:35):
If we're watching the newsright now, there's a lot of
things where we can feelpowerless and the things that we
do are not necessarily solvingthe problem.
So again to go backhistorically, if you're running
away from something that canhurt you, you get to safety.
You recognize I'm safe now.
(26:56):
In the same way, if you've everalmost had a car accident, when
you're finally safe, whathappens?
Your body starts shaking.
You know you responded in themoment to avoid the danger.
But once you're safe, then yourbody is like reassessing Okay,
we're okay, now let's shake outthis energy.
You know we're gonna have tore-regulate our breathing, but
(27:19):
you are able to complete thecycle a lot of times when it's
something physical.
But when we have this constantinflux of social media we always
have our phones on us.
We have a high level ofdifficulty completing any cycle,
and so I feel like yoga isreally an intentional way of
(27:43):
being able to do that in themodern world.
So what do you love aboutteaching yoga?
Jennifer (27:50):
Oh my gosh, there's so much I love about teaching yoga
.
So I actively practiced yogafor about 10 years before I got
my certification yoga for about10 years before I got my
certification.
And I will never forget how Ifelt leaving my very first yoga
class.
It was almost as if the weightthat I've been carrying around
(28:14):
for 20 years was just taken offof me.
And you know, during that timeI wasn't living a very present
life, I wasn't connected toanything bigger than myself, I
was definitely stuck in apattern of reactivity and my
body was full of tension.
(28:35):
And because I can so clearlyremember how I felt going into
yoga versus how I felt comingout of yoga that's, I guess the
aim of a lot of my teachings isproviding that safe space where
people can show up to my classin whatever state they're in and
(28:57):
be welcomed fully exactly asthey are, welcomed fully exactly
as they are, and then beingable to watch them kind of shed
those layers of stress andjudgments and thoughts as the
class moves forward and thenseeing that end result of who
they are at the end of class.
It's really fulfilling and Ifeel really honored, honestly,
(29:22):
at all of my classes for beingable to create a space that
allows people that opportunityto kind of check out of the
world, even if it's only for anhour.
I think you're absolutely right.
We just have so muchinformation coming at us all the
time and it's really hard tomanage so much information, and
(29:43):
I don't believe that we wereever meant to have as much
information coming towards us aswhat we really do, so to teach
yoga and to provide this quiet,safe space where people can just
be.
It's an amazing feeling.
Mary (30:03):
Well, if you all can't tell from Jen's voice, she is a
very, very calming and acceptingpresence.
Thank you that he was a raremale right that was attending,
(30:29):
because we know that there arenot nearly as many men, so any
men listening maybe venture intothat world a little bit.
But you recognize that he had apain issue and you address that
.
And I remember early on one ofactually probably one or two
instructors that I had early onwould really walk around the
class and adjust people's poses.
(30:51):
I remember and always askpermission is okay if I touch
you.
And I loved that.
You know, because little I feellike little adjustments in your
movements and your poses, likeshe lengthened my down dog in a
way that I was like, oh, this iswhat it's supposed to feel like
.
And I think when someone cansort of intervene physically in
(31:16):
a way that's really gentle andsupportive and make that
adjustment, I always think aboutthose times as really like with
gratitude, like that's so coolthat you're in a situation where
you're being also supported todo things in a way that's going
to be the best way to have themost benefit.
Jennifer (31:37):
Yeah, absolutely, this can be a little bit of a hot
topic in yoga.
I've studied with a fewdifferent teachers who have
taught me two very differentthings.
So it's interesting.
And some of the teachers I'vebeen with they say that nowadays
we don't ever want to touch astudent, that it's not
(32:00):
acceptable under anycircumstances.
And then there's other teacherswho really advocate, for as
long as you're getting consent,hands on adjustments really help
to bring the practice alive forsomebody.
(32:22):
And I have had some studentswith, you know, some trauma that
they brought into class andthey made it clear at the very
beginning that they didn't wantany hands on adjustments and of
course we always respect that.
And then other times,intuitively, you know, I am kind
of led to the student and askif there's anything that I can
help with, because you know I'llspeak for restorative yoga can
(32:47):
help with, because you know I'llspeak for restorative yoga if
you're laying in the posture andyou don't quite have the prop
underneath you correctly, thatcan make a big difference.
You know, in restorative yogawe want to allow the body to be
as comfortable as possible.
But if the prop isn't set upright, you could actually be in
discomfort, which won't allowyou to relax your mind and then,
(33:10):
in turn, your body's not goingto relax, which really defeats
the whole purpose of restorativeyoga.
So I try to really use myintuition and, you know, meet
people where they're at.
Mary (33:24):
Well, I'm glad that you talked about those two sort of
schools of thought, because Iwill say that type of helpful
intervention has not happened inmany years with any of the
teachers that you know I'veattended a class with.
So I think that's something andwe'll, near the end of the
episode, we'll talk sort of alittle bit about, if somebody
wants to kind of embark on someyoga, what you would suggest for
(33:48):
that, but I think, recognizingthat it's okay if there's a
discomfort to talk privatelywith the teacher about that.
And you sort of opened the doorhere for the next thing that I
wanted to talk to you about andthat's how yoga can specifically
help address mental healthissues like anxiety and
depression.
(34:08):
And I know well, I feel like alot of yoga has mindfulness just
built into it, and actuallythat was.
I had a whole episode, episode11, on mindfulness and I know I
will use that a lot, thatconcept of being grounded, being
in your senses, to disconnectfrom maybe the frantic thoughts
(34:29):
that are giving rise to thingslike anxiety.
So can you talk a little abouthow yoga helps with those types
of things?
Jennifer (34:36):
So you know, again, we live in a world that
unfortunately, values theintellectual wisdom of our mind
over the wisdom of our body, andso that's how most of us have
been conditioned to live ourlives, which is through the mind
, right?
So yoga can really supportmental health because, again, it
(34:58):
reconnects our mind-bodyconnection and it does this
through breath, awareness, bodyawareness and presence, and
something really magical happenswhen we reunite these two parts
of ourselves.
We can gain more clarity onsituations, we gain more
emotional regulation, we canbegin to learn to identify less
(35:22):
with our thoughts and we canalso begin to really release any
deeply held negative beliefsabout ourselves or others, or
even the world that we live in.
So another way yoga can reallyhelp with depression and anxiety
is through sensory awareness.
In yoga we tend to view anxietyas an energy that is moving
(35:47):
upward, sometimes maybe tooquickly, and it usually involves
and has a component ofoverstimulation.
So to counterbalance thisthrough sensory awareness, we
can create a condition thatmoves that energy downward,
towards the earth, energydownward towards the earth.
(36:09):
So, like I mentioned earlier,there's certain postures that
really encourage the flow ofenergy For anxiety.
With that upward moving energyto counterbalance, we could do
things such as forward fold or,like you mentioned earlier, your
favorite posture, legs up thewall, mountain posture, or any
slow, deliberate movement with afocus on our connection to the
(36:30):
earth below us.
And then we also have the manydifferent breathing exercises
that we can do.
That moves that energy downwardto stimulate our nervous system
and it can promote calmingwithin the body.
And then, of course, on theother side is depression or low
(36:51):
mood.
So in yoga we typically seethat as a slow moving, heavy
energy that is already movingdownward.
So in this case we would wantto stimulate that movement of
the energy upward.
So, working with strengtheningpostures such as the warrior
(37:11):
series or dynamic movements likea vinyasa flow that really
connect that movement and thebreath, that can really help to
stimulate any stagnant or stuckenergy in the body, any stagnant
or stuck energy in the body.
And then there's also breathwork specifically for low mood,
(37:33):
and they would be things such asa box breath, which could be
for a four count inhale, fourcount hold, four count exhale,
or a lion's breath which isbreathing in through the nose
and then a fast, forceful breathout through the mouth.
And I really feel that there'san interesting concept with
(37:56):
regard to restorative yoga inparticular, since that's kind of
my passion, I'll drop this inhere.
In restorative yoga we view anymental health, specifically
anxiety and depression, in thesame way you would like I said
earlier, with either that risingenergy up or that slow,
stagnant energy down.
(38:17):
And in restorative yoga we comeback to this idea that we want
to either open up or protect themost vulnerable places on our
body.
So that would be our throat,our heart and our belly.
So if I would have a student inmy restorative yoga class who
came in and shared with me thatthey're moving through anxiety,
(38:40):
I would never place them in aposture where these vulnerable
places are facing wide open tothe world.
If they wanted to do a heartopening posture, I would
oftentimes lay a blanket or twoor something heavier over the
chest to kind of cover up thosevulnerable places.
And because anxiety also hasthat component of
(39:04):
overstimulation, we wouldprobably also work with either a
blanket or an eye pillowcovering up the eyes in order to
reduce any extra stimulation.
And then the complete oppositewould be true for depression in
particular, or low mood.
I would want to encourage thatperson to open up those
(39:25):
vulnerable places.
So heart opening postures forsomebody moving through low mood
would actually be reallytherapeutic.
You know, if you think aboutdepression, you know, on a
physical level you can sometimessee their shoulders slumping
down and it's almost like theirshoulders are coming down to
protect the heart, you know.
(39:46):
And so that opposite movementwould be opening up the heart.
And then I would say, anotherway yoga really supports
depression and anxiety inparticular is if you're doing a
dynamic or an active form ofyoga, it really releases the
feel-good chemicals andendorphins which can help lower
(40:09):
stress and improve mood andwell-being.
And then the last way that Ijust kind of felt it was
important to add in here is that, whether it's in-person classes
or virtual classes, I thinkthat the form of community that
yoga offers can really help withmental health issues.
(40:32):
You know, when we show up to aplace where we can really be
seen as we are in the conditionthat we are in that particular
moment and meet new people whoare welcoming of us, I think
that always has an opportunityfor health and wellness.
And I think you know, now morethan ever, it seems that a lot
(40:56):
of us are becoming isolated andwe have a high rate of
individualism in the modernworld, which is a really real
thing that I see playing a largerole in our mental health.
We are meant to be living,working and playing in community
, and without that there's apiece of us that's always
(41:16):
missing right, and so we mayfeel that yearning for something
or that longing, and we mightnot know exactly what it is.
And so to show up in asupportive community, such as,
you know, yoga offers, it canreally really help with
somebody's low mood or anxiety.
Mary (41:39):
Yeah, that idea of connection is really powerful
and I think it's so interestingtoo.
And I'll tip my hand a littlebit because I mentioned, you and
I are working on a littleproject together, but it was
probably at least eight yearsago that I bought a book on
facilitating women's circles andworking full time, working in a
(42:00):
college environment.
It really wasn't feasible atthat point, but it had always
been something that was veryattractive for me to like.
I sort of wanted to lean inthat direction, because the
other part of I think the ideaof supporting each other is
something that we touched onhere and I mention often is that
(42:24):
I feel women have been set upto be competitors too often and
social media doesn't help that.
But one of the most powerfulthings for our health and our
wellbeing is our girlfriendsright.
Connecting.
That's part of what wenaturally do often as women is
(42:45):
connect and being in.
Especially when you think aboutthe circle shape right,
everybody's equal you can seeeveryone and being in a space
where the whole intention is tosupport each other, not to try
to hide or think well, it seemslike everybody else is fine, so
(43:06):
I have to pretend that I'm fine.
And when you're intentionallycoming together with a spirit of
support and recognizing we allhave parts of ourself that we
want to support and want tostrengthen.
I think that is so powerful.
And the other thing that youmentioned and I've been a
therapist for 35 years but youjust most clearly explained the
(43:31):
energy of anxiety and depressionin such a beautiful way because
really, when people are anxious, it is an upward energy.
They're in their head, they'reelevated, and then that
heaviness of low mood is kind ofexactly as you're saying.
You feel like you're dragging abag of rocks with you and so
(43:53):
even simply, if somebody's justhaving a day, they don't
necessarily have to have adiagnosis of anxiety or
depression, but we all havemoments where we're anxious
because that's actually aprotective factor.
We need to have that type ofenergy sometimes to respond to
life, or it's just a day that'ssad or heavy.
(44:13):
Some of these things that arepart of a yoga practice can
really help and the things thatyou mentioned and I often tell
my clients to stand in mountainpose, which is basically, you
know, shoulders back and down,your hands are open right and
kind of facing forward.
(44:35):
I feel like that is such astrong pose and it's also really
opening your heart to the worldand taking up your space.
Jennifer (44:46):
Yeah, absolutely, it is Yep.
And then I would just add, youknow, with the focus on the
soles of the feet connecting tothe earth, I think that you know
a lot of us underestimate oralmost forget how important that
connection to the earth reallyis.
Mary (45:05):
Yes, very much so.
And again, even just as agardener, being out and being in
the dirt and planting, growingthings, that connection, and
there's a lot of things in thesoil that are antidepressants,
but that's a whole other episode, Right?
There's one more thing that Iwanted to talk about with you,
because I know it's a newercertification for you and I am
(45:28):
so excited about it.
You recently became certifiedin yoga, specifically for women
in menopause, so can you talk alittle bit about what kind of
concerns?
Because you know we have thehot flashes and we have all of
those things that tend to shifthormonally at that time of life.
What does it help address?
Jennifer (45:49):
So, yeah, I did.
I just received mycertification from Yoga for
Menopause, which is a recognizedleader in the world for
training yoga teachers,specifically for yoga for women
as they transition through whatthey call the menopause years,
and this is really an importantthing to touch on before I speak
(46:12):
too much about it.
The reason that they havetermed it the menopause over
just menopause is because herein the West, when we think about
menopause, we think about that12 months without a cycle, and
so, really, this certificationthat I just received it's for
the entirety of the transition.
(46:33):
So the menopause includes thestages of perimenopause,
menopause and postmenopause, andit's really important to
include all of these becausethey all have different symptoms
and different needs during eachof these stages.
I fell in love with thisparticular program because they
(46:56):
took so much wisdom fromdifferent modalities from around
the world and then they combinethem together to create one
really beautiful program.
So menopause yoga incorporatesthe healing modality of women's
circles, where we can cometogether as a safe place to
(47:16):
learn and to share about our ownunique experiences as we move
through the menopause, alongwith the healing properties of
different styles of yoga andbreath work, and then there's
also meditation, and a big onein this program is journaling,
which provides the data that weneed to be able to see the big
(47:39):
picture of our life.
So kind of the way each class isdesigned is that we'll pick a
different symptom of themenopause and then we'll focus
on that.
So you know, you name thesymptom, it can address it.
Some of the big ones that wewent over in class are anxiety
(48:00):
and overwhelm, low mood, hotflushes, mood hot flushes you
know just all the very commonthings.
Anxiety and overwhelm was theone that I would say most
students kind of related to.
That were moving through theperimenopause stage and then
postmenopause.
(48:21):
You often had women who werekind of seeking to re-find that
joy in their life and so, justlike we talked about earlier
with the anxiety and thedepression, each one of these
classes is really aimed to takea look at where that energy is
at.
So, again, with that anxietyand overwhelm, that would be
(48:41):
that rising energy.
So we're going to want to bringit back down towards the earth
and then somebody experiencing,you know, just the blues and
post-menopause or, you know,feeling stuck.
That's when we're going to wantto kind of bring in some
strength training and moredynamic movement and breath work
for them.
(49:02):
Another concern that is veryreal throughout the entire
menopause transition is reducedsleep quality.
So a class designed with thissymptom in mind would focus
primarily on restorative yoga oryin yoga postures, which really
help to release that tensionthroughout the body and the mind
(49:23):
.
And it's also a really beautifulclass when we focus on sleep
quality because, like you saidearlier, yoga really is that
practice.
And so, with any of theseclasses, the more that you do
them, the more that you'retraining your body to come back
to these tools whenever you'removing through one of these
(49:45):
symptoms.
So to practice restorative yogaeach night for an hour, that's
training your body.
Like hey, when I lay down inthis position, this is my time
to begin to quiet my mind, torelease the tension, and after
so many nights of doing that,your body takes it on as a
(50:06):
muscle memory.
So each class is beautifullydesigned to support pretty much
any and all of the symptomsthroughout menopause.
And then, if there is somethingmissing, that's the point of
the women's circle.
That's included in this.
So it's usually going to beabout an hour where you can
(50:27):
connect with other women and youcan learn tools that they're
using or things that they'removing through, which could also
be a great resource foryourself.
Mary (50:37):
That sounds amazing and I will tell you, I already put
your first class in my calendarat the end of the month, I found
them on your website calendar.
At the end of the month I foundthem on your website.
It just sounds really wonderfulbecause you're right about,
again, the feeling of overwhelmthat seems to be so consistent
(50:59):
and with the shift in ourhormones, we do really
physically have less in the tank.
Everything has shifted andagain whole other episode but we
need to retrain our brainbecause our brain will recover
and that's the beautiful thing,and I'm going to give you credit
(51:20):
for this, because you talkedabout the second spring and I
love the idea of thinking aboutmenopause as a second spring.
That's my favorite season.
Everything is starting againand once you move through this,
you can decide what you wantyour life to be.
And I think we often think aboutmenopause with this sense of
(51:42):
dread and this, oh no.
And, of course, as you said,you learned now to call it the
menopause and isn't it so likeWestern culture to reduce it to
12 months of a physical thing?
You've arrived when you haven'thad your period for 12 months,
but it's so much bigger thanthat and the shifts do do begin
(52:03):
in perimenopause.
So, yeah, what a reallybeautiful and validating way to
address what's happening.
So of course as.
I yeah, it's really well.
I love that you are, you'resort of my conduit into that
right now, because you'relearning all of that and I love
(52:25):
learning that from you.
So, as I thought would happen,we have hit about an hour,
almost an hour.
So I want to pull all of thesethings together and I didn't
sort of warn you ahead of time.
I was going to ask you aboutthis.
But if someone is new to yoga,if someone's listening and maybe
they took a class or two,didn't really love it, but some
(52:46):
of this is resonating.
In other words, they want tofind this sense of connection,
this sense of peace or, you know, maybe explore more restorative
yoga.
Where would be a good place forsomeone to start to venture
into this world?
Jennifer (53:01):
Yeah, so that's a really good question.
You know I'll speak for myselffirst, and for me it's
oftentimes been about theteacher, you know.
So I see a lot of people saying, oh well, I only like
restorative yoga or I only dovinyasa, and I find that to be
(53:23):
kind of limiting because then itcould just be a style.
But oftentimes what I found inmy experience is that I have
learned to love different stylesof yoga because of the teacher
that was teaching it, whether itwas the way that they were
(53:47):
showing up and I really enjoyedthe lessons that they were
bringing to class, or I reallyenjoyed the sense of community
that they created in theirclasses.
There's often, you know, biggercomponents than the physical
practice that really drew me tothem.
But I would say, you know,there's so many resources out on
YouTube now, um, so if youdon't want to spend a lot of
(54:11):
money or you don't have theresources to spend a lot of
money, you know there's there'sfree classes offered there and
there are so many wonderfulteachers and you can narrow it
down by style until you get anidea of what feels best for your
body, and then you knowthroughout that you'll probably
(54:33):
come across a teacher or twothat you really resonate with as
well.
There are also a lot of freeresources in our community.
There's different Facebookgroups.
I don't know that I know anyoff the top of my head that I
could mention right now.
But you know, yoga is reallyone of those modalities that a
(54:54):
lot of teachers want to giveback to their community.
So I just had an example pop inmy mind In Harrisburg, on 3rd
Street, it's the community yogaspace, so it's a donation-based
yoga studio, and so you know,sometimes people show up there
for free and other times theyhave a few dollars to put in the
donation bucket, and she offersmany different styles of yoga,
(55:19):
from restorative to yin, to moredynamic flowing classes as well
.
And you know something we didn'ttouch on earlier, but there's
many different branches of yoga,and one of them is pranayama,
which is breath work, and sothere's lots of kundalini
(55:40):
classes popping up in our areaand there's one for $10 that
happens on Thursdays atConsciousness Coffee here in Le
Moyne, and that's a style ofyoga that's very gentle, so
you're in a seated posture thewhole time and you're just
simply working on your breath,but it's still a form of yoga
(56:01):
because it's connecting the mindand the body together.
So yeah, long story, but Iwould say, start with YouTube.
Find some free resources thereuntil you narrow down, maybe the
style that you're looking for,and then searching the area for
you know, just some good classes.
(56:21):
Oh, my yoga is a great resource, and just plain yoga as well.
They're probably two of themost well-known studios in our
area.
Mary (56:30):
That's a great list, and we actually have listeners from
all over, even Europe.
So, Jen is obviously mentioningdifferent options close to where
we are in Pennsylvania, but I'mgoing to say, as you started
talking about Harrisburg, whichis the capital of our state, I
(56:50):
was thinking there's a smalltown nearby that does the same
thing donation.
So what I would encourage isfind those options and don't be
shy if you can only give adollar or two or even nothing to
start, because often when yougo to a yoga studio, those
classes are a pretty decentfinancial investment and I think
(57:13):
you get a lot out of it.
But I don't want that to feellike a barrier.
So, jen is talking about a lotof really good ways to start to
venture into this world, thatyou don't need to have that big
financial investment to start.
And I also want to thank you,jen, for mentioning the teacher
(57:33):
aspect, because 100% you'regonna respond to specific
teachers, I think, becausesometimes you can feel like a
little like meh, you know thatwas fine and it's not you.
I have had certain times whereI've done, you know, a series of
10 or whatever and I absolutelyloved the energy of the teacher
(57:58):
and that is something I thinknot to be discounted.
I think it's sort of liketherapy.
You know you respond to yourtherapist maybe or not, so there
is something to that, I think,to honor if there's a space
where you feel like, wow, thisis really, this is feeling
restorative to me or this isfeeling empowering, you know,
(58:20):
kind of honor that.
And the other thing I would sayis go into spaces.
Youtube is great, but this ideathat Jen talked about of being
in community, when you are inthat space and often it is a
very calming place, it's lowlight, there's often beautiful
(58:40):
music.
That is part of the experience,so we can't always do that is
part of the experience, so wecan't always do that.
I know I do a lot of onlineyoga, but when I have time, I
really love to be in thepresence of others and the
presence of the teacher andexperience that.
So, jen, thank you so much forbeing here.
This has been really awesomeand I learned so much and I
(59:04):
actually feel calm because youhave such a calm presence.
So I want to thank you so muchfor sharing all of your
knowledge today.
Jennifer (59:12):
Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me on here.
It truly was an honor to speakwith you.
Mary (59:21):
And I want to thank everyone for listening.
Please review or follow theshow so you don't miss a thing,
and I really would love to hearyour thoughts when I decide what
episodes I want to venture intoor guests that I wanna bring in
.
I really am trying to build acommunity here and address some
of the thoughts that listenershave, so please comment, or you
can even text me directly usingthe link above the show notes
(59:44):
and until next time, go out andbe the amazing, resilient,
vibrant violet that you are.
Welcome to No Shrinking Violence.
I'm your host, Mary Rothwell,licensed therapist and certified
integrative mental healthpractitioner.
I've created a space where wecelebrate the intuition and
power of women who want to breakfree from limiting narratives.
We'll explore all realms ofwellness, what it means to take
up space unapologetically, andhow your essential nature is key
(00:28):
to living life on your terms.
It's time to own your space,trust your nature and flourish.
Let's dive in.
Hi and welcome to the show.
23% of women in the UnitedStates practice some form of
yoga twice the number of men andI'm guessing the image you got
(00:50):
when you heard the word yogamight vary depending on your
experience with it.
There are at least 10 styles ofyoga, including vinyasa, hatha,
kondalini, bikram that's thehot yoga ashtanga, yin,
restorative and anusara, and Imay not have pronounced all of
them correctly, but we'll talkmore about some of these in a
(01:12):
bit.
Although many people wouldthink of yoga as exercise and
granted classes are oftenoffered as part of a gym
membership, I would venture toguess that my guest today would
not think of yoga as exercise.
In fact, my own concept of yogahas evolved as I've gotten
older.
I now see it and use it in myown life as a way to connect to
(01:34):
my body and be present in themoment, but also it's an
important way for me to maintainstrength and keep a strong core
and a sense of balance,something I would never have
thought of when I was younger.
According to the GlobalWellness Institute, yoga is the
largest contributor to themindful movement market, which
also includes practices such asPilates and Tai Chi.
(01:57):
The benefits of yoga arefar-reaching and include stress
relief, pain relief andcultivating a connection between
the mind and the body.
When I maintain a consistentpractice -- which doesn't always
happen -- I feel lighter, (evenif the scale doesn't support
that), stronger and moregraceful.
I also feel more grounded andbelieve that my ability to
(02:20):
manage my cortisol, my stressresponse, is enhanced for sure.
Oh, and I sleep better.
And I'll be honest, my favoritepose is Shavasana, or corpse
pose.
It's typically the final poseof a yoga session, where you lay
flat on your back, legs andarms spread in a position of
surrender.
My body now finds it sofamiliar that I can use it in
(02:42):
the middle of the night to helpme relax and fall back to sleep
if I'm having one of thoseracing mind nights.
I believe so much in yoga that Iwanted to share a very special
person with you today.
I met her recently when shecame to one of my workshops to
improve sleep in menopause, andwe are planning to partner on
something pretty cool in thenear future.
(03:02):
Her name is Jennifer Lynn, andI wanted her to weigh in on the
nuances of yoga, the history andthe aspects of it that go far
beyond the movements and poses.
For example, I have recentlyattended a couple sessions that
included the instructor readingpoetry, and I know Jen has some
of her own thoughts on morerecent happenings in the yoga
(03:24):
world, so let me introduce myguest today so we can jump in
and talk yoga.
Jen is a certifiedtrauma-informed yoga teacher
with a focus and interest ongentle movement designed to
relax and restore the nervoussystem.
She began her study of yogamovement over 15 years ago.
After many years spent in thecorporate world left her feeling
(03:44):
exhausted, burnt out andoverwhelmingly stressed, she
became a yoga teacher in 2020.
One of her passions isintentional gathering in the
form of women's circles, whichshe began facilitating also in
2020.
Being witnessed in circles hasexpanded her life in so many
ways and she truly believes inthe power of healing and growth
(04:06):
through this modality.
Most recently, and somethingI'm so excited about is she
became certified as a menopauseyoga teacher after recognizing
that she lacked resources andsupport to navigate her own
menopause journey and wanted toshare this with other women.
Welcome to No Shrinking Violets, Jen.
I'm so looking forward tosharing thoughts on the amazing
(04:27):
practice of yoga.
Jennifer (04:29):
Oh, thank you so much, Mary.
I'm so honored to be here.
Mary (04:33):
Alrighty, so let's dive in .
So I thought we might want tostart with a basic definition of
yoga.
I think that it's so varied.
There's, of course, sort of thepopular media portrayal of it,
and I know I myself have had somany different types of teachers
and I think, having gone to oneof your classes, it's very
(04:59):
different what you do than someother types of yoga.
So that's actually one of thethings I love about it, and I'm
guessing that many listenershave taken at least one yoga
class.
But the actual concept of yogais about way more than an
exercise class, right?
Jennifer (05:17):
Oh my gosh, absolutely yeah.
So we'll first begin with theactual definition of yoga, which
is to join or to yoke, or tounite, and what the ancient
yogis were hoping to unite isour own internal consciousness
with that of a universalconsciousness.
(05:41):
So a more modern and inclusivedefinition of yoga, though, is
that it's a system, right, it'sa process, a discipline, a
lifestyle that really creates acontainer for us to be held in,
and within that container is theaim for us to learn about
ourselves ourselves, and thiscan include learning about our
(06:08):
body and the way that it moves,how and where we hold our
tension.
The container includes learningabout how our mind works and
the thoughts that arise for us,our judgments, our preferences,
and it also includes learningabout our relationship to
something bigger than us,whether we call that something
God, or universal energy, or thedivine, or what I really like
(06:32):
is just a simple trusting in theunfolding of life as it is.
Here in the West, we really seea lot of opportunities to use
yoga as a physical practice, butyoga is so much bigger than
that.
It really is a discipline forall parts of our being our
(06:53):
mental, our emotional, ourphysical and our spiritual.
Mary (06:58):
That's a huge umbrella and , again, that's one of the
reasons I love it, so I use itnow, partly because I had an
injury.
So getting older it's harder tomaintain strength and I didn't
really want to just go to a gymand lift weights.
But a lot of yoga movement isstrengthening.
(07:19):
I think it makes you feelpowerful and even some of the
names of the poses you knowwarrior I think it feels very
empowering.
And recently I had, as Imentioned, a chance to attend
one of your classes for thefirst time and you call it
restorative yoga, but I didn'treally have a concept of that.
(07:43):
So when I got there, first ofall it was one of the most
calming environments I had beenin, and that's one of the things
, too, I love about yoga, evenif I do it at home I have the
lights very low and I reallylike that.
But we basically held poses andwhen I say a pose, I don't want
people to picture a pose likeplank or down dog.
I mean we laid in very again, Imean I think it is restorative.
(08:07):
We laid in positions that weredid feel restorative and we held
those for about 20 minutes andI had never done that and when I
left, I felt so good and sogrounded.
So can you talk about all thedifferent types of movement that
also might fall under theumbrella of yoga?
Jennifer (08:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
There's so many different types.
I think maybe the first way wecan kind of break it up is that
in yoga we've kind of got twodifferent areas, so one would be
considered dynamic movement andthe other would be considered a
(08:48):
passive movement.
Right, so your dynamic yoga isgoing to be anything that
includes movement.
This would be things such ashatha yoga, which is a slow and
deliberate form of yoga with anemphasis on breath control and
mindfulness.
Underneath dynamic yoga, wealso have Ashtanga, which is
(09:12):
more of a physically demandingpractice that involves a series
of postures performed in aspecific order.
This one is pretty interesting.
They call it the yoga forathletes and they kind of tell
the story that it was developedfor young orphans in an
(09:32):
orphanage in India to get theirenergy out at the beginning of
the day a lot of heat.
And then we have the passivestyles of yoga, which yin yoga
and restorative yoga would fallunder that category, and
typically with passive poses,what you see is they are
(09:55):
postures held for a series oftime.
In yin yoga it's usuallybetween three to five minutes,
and restorative yoga it can beanywhere up to 20 minutes or
longer, depending on the postureand what it is.
Your aim is, and in the passiveforms of yoga, we're allowing
gravity to kind of pull ourweight down towards the earth.
(10:19):
So there's a lot of props usedand a lot of different things
that are being used to supportthe body so we can release our
tension and then allow the earthto hold us.
It goes without saying that thepassive styles of yoga, that's
not where you're going to buildthe strength.
(10:40):
So if it's strength that you'relooking for, you would want to
go more towards the dynamic sideof yoga and for releasing
tension and calming the nervoussystem, I would really recommend
passive styles of yoga.
Mary (10:57):
Very comprehensive, so I'm going to put a little asterisk
beside one to talk about alittle bit.
So you mentioned restorativeand you and I recently had a
conversation about that.
So that might be something thatpeople may see other places
like come for restorative yoga.
But I get the idea from whatyou and I have chatted about
(11:19):
that it's not always asadvertised.
In other words, someone maycome to your restorative class
but then try another one with adifferent teacher, and it can be
a totally different experience.
Jennifer (11:33):
Yeah, yeah, the form of yoga designed by Judith
Hanson Lassiter restorative yogawill always be floor-based
postures, using props to supportthe body with the intention of
(11:56):
recognizing where in our bodywe're holding this tension and
then consciously releasing thattension.
So if you're doing that veryspecific class designed by
Judith Hanson Lassiter, therewouldn't be any standing
postures or anything whereyou're supporting your own
weight.
A lot of times what we'reseeing now in the yoga world is
(12:20):
restorative has kind of becomethis buzzword, for lack of
better terms but people areusing it in classes that are
dynamic, and so that meansthere's going to be some
movement and there can be a lotof restorative benefits for any
(12:41):
class right, because it's thepresence that we're really going
after.
But make sure, before you go tothe class, that you get really
clear on if it is a dynamic formof restorative yoga or if it's
the true, actual restorativeyoga designed for the floor base
postures.
Mary (13:02):
Well, one of the things I love is the idea of the earth
supporting us, because anybodythat's listened to any of this
podcast knows that I am a naturegirl and I mentioned something
about nature in nearly everyepisode.
So when that is part of kind ofthe instruction, when you're in
a class and there's that talkabout allowing the earth to
(13:23):
support you or being connectedto the earth, that feels really
good to me.
Now I did want to clarify incase somebody is not familiar
with the word props those arethings like a soft block right
or a blanket, things that wouldsupport your body if you're in a
position that might be aided orbecome more comfortable by
(13:45):
having something supportive,correct?
Jennifer (13:48):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Thank you for asking forclarification on that.
So a prop would be anything.
Typically you'll see it in theform of a bolster, which is it
could be round or rectangle,kind of like a big pillow for
yoga, and then we use a lot ofblankets and we use blocks as
well.
In my classes I like to bringtowels too that can be rolled up
(14:14):
into a little roll that fitsreally nicely underneath the
head, along the neck.
So, yeah, a prop is anythingthat is supporting the body in a
way that we can relax into.
And the importance of props inrestorative yoga especially is
that it allows us to meet theground, kind of where we're at.
(14:38):
So, if we have some type ofinjury, so, for example, if we
are coming into what we wouldcall as cobbler's pose, so we're
laying flat on our back, weconnect the soles of our feet
and we allow our knees to openup wide, and so, as you would
imagine, you're going to feel anice stretch there on the inside
of the thighs.
(14:58):
Well, if you're moving throughsome type of knee injury, that
could also create some pain inthe knees to have your legs open
like that.
So in a restorative yoga class.
What we would do is either useblocks or a bolster or blankets
to support the knees up, soyou're still allowing the inner
(15:20):
thighs to open up.
However, you're supporting thebody where it's at, so we don't
want to aggravate any injuriesor create any new injuries.
So, again, it's meeting yourbody where you are with the
props.
Mary (15:38):
And it really brings in the idea of just being gentle
with yourself.
I think when we think in termsof you know an idea of exercise,
it's always about pushingyourself.
You know, like doing the repsand you know if it doesn't hurt
it's not working.
And this is such a differentidea of honoring your body.
(15:59):
And I understand even more, aswe're talking, why people think
about yoga as a practice.
I mean, we don't talk aboutthings like exercise as a
practice and so it's morepractice, like it's built into
your lifestyle and I know fromyour story you really leaned
(16:21):
into the world of yoga as aresponse to things in your own
life.
It sounds like a lot of careerissues came up for you, things
of stress, and realized itwasn't fulfilling.
So you must really have a greatidea, just personally and from
your work with students, of thebenefits of yoga.
(16:43):
So what are some of thebenefits?
Jennifer (16:46):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I mean, the benefits of yoga arevast.
So let's start with the physicalbenefits, and some of those
could be with the dynamicclasses strengthening our
muscles, and then, with bothdynamic and passive, we also
allow the body to lengthen andstretch, and these three areas
(17:09):
are really important becausemost of us are pretty sedentary
these days.
Yoga also improves posture, ithas cardiovascular benefits,
helps improve balance, improvesflexibility and can also help a
lot with pain relief.
So I would say some of themental-emotional benefits are
(17:33):
stress reduction, improved mood,helps to regulate emotions,
improves sleep quality and itcan also reduce anxiety and
enhance resilience.
And then that final componentof spirituality it can really
increase our self-awareness,which can expand the way that we
(17:55):
view life.
This is where we're invited tobe present and that allows us to
be more accepting of life as itunfolds, with less attachment
maybe to how we may want it tounfold rather than how it is,
and also back to that idea of itconnecting us to something
bigger than ourselves, whetherthat's, you know, just trust,
(18:18):
you know, or universal energy,or whatever you feel comfortable
with.
Mary (18:25):
So there's a lot of points of entry, I feel like for yoga.
You know, you can be searchingfor a lot of different things
and kind of start to walk intothis world and what I found and
I don't know if this is true foreveryone, but I sort of, along
the way, have come up with sortof my favorite poses, and
(18:45):
obviously Shavasana is one.
But I have a great memory ofbeing at work, and so I worked
in a college, so summer would bea little bit slower and I
remember that I was talking tomy colleagues and really we were
all very close, we were greatfriends, but I talked to them
about the legs up the wall pose,which I just love.
(19:08):
So I have this memory.
We were lying in the hallway ofour counseling center because
there was nobody else around andwe were doing legs up the wall
pose and we were just kind oftalking to each other and it's
such a great memory.
Jennifer (19:20):
So that's a little wonderful posture, isn't it?
Yes?
Mary (19:24):
Well, that's the other thing, Jen, that things like
there's a lot of twisting right,and so I think when I was young
and I think our minds, whenwe're young, we may be and I
don't want to speak foreverybody we might be looking
for something different fromsomething like yoga.
We might be looking forsomething different from
something like yoga, but I usedto think, well, what's the point
(19:52):
of the twisting?
But there's always some sort ofdeeper way.
We're accessing something alittle bit deeper right With
with some of those types ofmovement.
Jennifer (19:57):
Yeah, absolutely so.
You know, the postures allstimulate our vagus nerve in
different ways, which you know.
The vagus nerve is a nerve thatruns through most of our body
and it really plays a big partin regulating our nervous system
.
So anytime that we're able toreally take care of that nerve
(20:22):
it can really help calm the mindand calm the body.
And you know this one teacherthat I studied with for a while,
she described the human body asbasically a tube and then
within that tube we have a lotof different pumping actions
which allows our digestion tomove, which allows our digestion
(20:43):
to move, which allows our bloodto flow.
You think about any of thesystems moving through our body.
It's done through that pumpingsystem with our heart and
different things.
So when you think about some ofthese postures, it could be in
restorative yoga.
If we're laying on the bolsterand we're twisting to the side,
(21:05):
we're really wringing out ourorgans.
Right, our body is holding onto a lot of different toxins and
things that maybe it could beemotions that we're not
digesting properly, and it givesour body a chance to really
like wring it out, as if you'rewringing out a wet towel body a
chance to really like wring itout, as if you're wringing out a
(21:26):
wet towel.
And there's other postures thatyou know, like forward folds.
They are really calming to themind, and the idea behind that
is that we're placing the mostvulnerable position of our body
downwards, so that would be ourthroat, our heart and our belly.
Historically, if we're runningaway from something way back
(21:47):
when a saber tooth tiger, theseare the areas we would have
wanted to protect.
So a lot of times, if we feelanxiety, any type of covering up
of this area can really supportus.
So, yeah, each posture has beenspecifically designed with
something in mind the ancientyogis, really some of the
(22:12):
thoughts around a lot of theearly postures was that they
wanted to be able to sit inmeditation for as long as
possible, and you and I bothknow we can only sit for so long
before our body becomesuncomfortable, and so a lot of
the traditional postures wouldhave just been opening up the
(22:33):
body in order to sit inmeditation for hours and hours
and hours on end.
Mary (22:45):
Wow, I like that context and I love the idea of the
ringing out, because so theparasympathetic nervous system
is, as you said, it's our way ofcalming and I feel like in our
times today, I mean, you canjust look at social media for 10
minutes and I don't think youreally realize that what is
happening is it's activating thesympathetic nervous system and
(23:05):
so that's what increases ouradrenaline and increases our
heart rate.
And we have so many things inthe world today, even driving.
You know that it activates asystem that, as you referenced,
was really designed way backwhen we became human to address
true danger.
(23:25):
And now our sympathetic nervoussystem is triggered all the
time.
It's triggered by things thatremind us of trauma, but our
levels of cortisol and I'm goingto speak specifically about
women women have a harder timemanaging the regulation of
cortisol, harder than men, andespecially women in menopause.
(23:46):
So the parasympathetic nervoussystem, that's your vagus nerve,
that's what tells your body.
You know what.
We're actually okay, but thatin our modern world it's much
harder for that to kind of fire,to like, do its work because we
are often so flooded byadrenaline and cortisol just
(24:09):
from our modern world.
And so what a beautiful way to,you know, not only connect
consciously to our breath andour bodies, but in doing, just
in doing some of the things, weare supporting that vagus nerve
and that parasympathetic nervoussystem, even if we don't
recognize that's what we'redoing.
Jennifer (24:31):
Yeah, absolutely yeah.
You know, the way I've reallybeen understanding stress lately
is that, you know, a lot of usaren't completing that stress
cycle and so we'll have ourcortisol rise, we'll become in a
stress state and then we tendto just hang out there, you know
(24:51):
, and really our bodies weren'tdesigned to hang out there for
extended periods of time.
And you know, that's reallywhere yoga can step in and help
us to complete some of thesestress cycles, something I had
mentioned earlier about.
You know, when we connect themind and the body, it brings
this awareness into our lives.
(25:12):
And so, you know, in our worldwe really value living out of
our mind, right?
We really value that intellectof our mind, right, we really
value that, the intellect of themind, and we forget that the
other half of our story reallyis our body and the wisdom that
we hold in our body.
And so yoga really providesthose two things to come
(25:35):
together.
And it's amazing to see how, onthe mat, you know, I've I've
watched myself and I've watchedothers have breakthroughs,
things that they've beenstressed about for a really long
time, trying to think their waythrough, and it wasn't until
they they kind of moved thatenergy downward, reconnected
with their body, that they wereable to see the bigger picture
(25:59):
and complete that stressresponse for you know something
in particular Well, I love thatyou brought up closing the loop,
because you're exactly rightthat it's really important for
our body and I mean, and again,our mind.
Mary (26:15):
We do tend to talk about things separately, but they
totally are not separate.
But if we can't complete theloop, in the sense of we have
the stressor, our cortisol goesup, we respond and then we
deescalate A lot of things inour modern world we really can't
do that.
(26:35):
If we're watching the newsright now, there's a lot of
things where we can feelpowerless and the things that we
do are not necessarily solvingthe problem.
So again to go backhistorically, if you're running
away from something that canhurt you, you get to safety.
You recognize I'm safe now.
(26:56):
In the same way, if you've everalmost had a car accident, when
you're finally safe, whathappens?
Your body starts shaking.
You know you responded in themoment to avoid the danger.
But once you're safe, then yourbody is like reassessing Okay,
we're okay, now let's shake outthis energy.
You know we're gonna have tore-regulate our breathing, but
(27:19):
you are able to complete thecycle a lot of times when it's
something physical.
But when we have this constantinflux of social media we always
have our phones on us.
We have a high level ofdifficulty completing any cycle,
and so I feel like yoga isreally an intentional way of
(27:43):
being able to do that in themodern world.
So what do you love aboutteaching yoga?
Jennifer (27:50):
Oh my gosh, there's so much I love about teaching yoga
.
So I actively practiced yogafor about 10 years before I got
my certification yoga for about10 years before I got my
certification.
And I will never forget how Ifelt leaving my very first yoga
class.
It was almost as if the weightthat I've been carrying around
(28:14):
for 20 years was just taken offof me.
And you know, during that timeI wasn't living a very present
life, I wasn't connected toanything bigger than myself, I
was definitely stuck in apattern of reactivity and my
body was full of tension.
(28:35):
And because I can so clearlyremember how I felt going into
yoga versus how I felt comingout of yoga that's, I guess the
aim of a lot of my teachings isproviding that safe space where
people can show up to my classin whatever state they're in and
(28:57):
be welcomed fully exactly asthey are, welcomed fully exactly
as they are, and then beingable to watch them kind of shed
those layers of stress andjudgments and thoughts as the
class moves forward and thenseeing that end result of who
they are at the end of class.
It's really fulfilling and Ifeel really honored, honestly,
(29:22):
at all of my classes for beingable to create a space that
allows people that opportunityto kind of check out of the
world, even if it's only for anhour.
I think you're absolutely right.
We just have so muchinformation coming at us all the
time and it's really hard tomanage so much information, and
(29:43):
I don't believe that we wereever meant to have as much
information coming towards us aswhat we really do, so to teach
yoga and to provide this quiet,safe space where people can just
be.
It's an amazing feeling.
Mary (30:03):
Well, if you all can't tell from Jen's voice, she is a
very, very calming and acceptingpresence.
Thank you that he was a raremale right that was attending,
(30:29):
because we know that there arenot nearly as many men, so any
men listening maybe venture intothat world a little bit.
But you recognize that he had apain issue and you address that
.
And I remember early on one ofactually probably one or two
instructors that I had early onwould really walk around the
class and adjust people's poses.
(30:51):
I remember and always askpermission is okay if I touch
you.
And I loved that.
You know, because little I feellike little adjustments in your
movements and your poses, likeshe lengthened my down dog in a
way that I was like, oh, this iswhat it's supposed to feel like
.
And I think when someone cansort of intervene physically in
(31:16):
a way that's really gentle andsupportive and make that
adjustment, I always think aboutthose times as really like with
gratitude, like that's so coolthat you're in a situation where
you're being also supported todo things in a way that's going
to be the best way to have themost benefit.
Jennifer (31:37):
Yeah, absolutely, this can be a little bit of a hot
topic in yoga.
I've studied with a fewdifferent teachers who have
taught me two very differentthings.
So it's interesting.
And some of the teachers I'vebeen with they say that nowadays
we don't ever want to touch astudent, that it's not
(32:00):
acceptable under anycircumstances.
And then there's other teacherswho really advocate, for as
long as you're getting consent,hands on adjustments really help
to bring the practice alive forsomebody.
(32:22):
And I have had some studentswith, you know, some trauma that
they brought into class andthey made it clear at the very
beginning that they didn't wantany hands on adjustments and of
course we always respect that.
And then other times,intuitively, you know, I am kind
of led to the student and askif there's anything that I can
help with, because you know I'llspeak for restorative yoga can
(32:47):
help with, because you know I'llspeak for restorative yoga if
you're laying in the posture andyou don't quite have the prop
underneath you correctly, thatcan make a big difference.
You know, in restorative yogawe want to allow the body to be
as comfortable as possible.
But if the prop isn't set upright, you could actually be in
discomfort, which won't allowyou to relax your mind and then,
(33:10):
in turn, your body's not goingto relax, which really defeats
the whole purpose of restorativeyoga.
So I try to really use myintuition and, you know, meet
people where they're at.
Mary (33:24):
Well, I'm glad that you talked about those two sort of
schools of thought, because Iwill say that type of helpful
intervention has not happened inmany years with any of the
teachers that you know I'veattended a class with.
So I think that's something andwe'll, near the end of the
episode, we'll talk sort of alittle bit about, if somebody
wants to kind of embark on someyoga, what you would suggest for
(33:48):
that, but I think, recognizingthat it's okay if there's a
discomfort to talk privatelywith the teacher about that.
And you sort of opened the doorhere for the next thing that I
wanted to talk to you about andthat's how yoga can specifically
help address mental healthissues like anxiety and
depression.
(34:08):
And I know well, I feel like alot of yoga has mindfulness just
built into it, and actuallythat was.
I had a whole episode, episode11, on mindfulness and I know I
will use that a lot, thatconcept of being grounded, being
in your senses, to disconnectfrom maybe the frantic thoughts
(34:29):
that are giving rise to thingslike anxiety.
So can you talk a little abouthow yoga helps with those types
of things?
Jennifer (34:36):
So you know, again, we live in a world that
unfortunately, values theintellectual wisdom of our mind
over the wisdom of our body, andso that's how most of us have
been conditioned to live ourlives, which is through the mind
, right?
So yoga can really supportmental health because, again, it
(34:58):
reconnects our mind-bodyconnection and it does this
through breath, awareness, bodyawareness and presence, and
something really magical happenswhen we reunite these two parts
of ourselves.
We can gain more clarity onsituations, we gain more
emotional regulation, we canbegin to learn to identify less
(35:22):
with our thoughts and we canalso begin to really release any
deeply held negative beliefsabout ourselves or others, or
even the world that we live in.
So another way yoga can reallyhelp with depression and anxiety
is through sensory awareness.
In yoga we tend to view anxietyas an energy that is moving
(35:47):
upward, sometimes maybe tooquickly, and it usually involves
and has a component ofoverstimulation.
So to counterbalance thisthrough sensory awareness, we
can create a condition thatmoves that energy downward,
towards the earth, energydownward towards the earth.
(36:09):
So, like I mentioned earlier,there's certain postures that
really encourage the flow ofenergy For anxiety.
With that upward moving energyto counterbalance, we could do
things such as forward fold or,like you mentioned earlier, your
favorite posture, legs up thewall, mountain posture, or any
slow, deliberate movement with afocus on our connection to the
(36:30):
earth below us.
And then we also have the manydifferent breathing exercises
that we can do.
That moves that energy downwardto stimulate our nervous system
and it can promote calmingwithin the body.
And then, of course, on theother side is depression or low
(36:51):
mood.
So in yoga we typically seethat as a slow moving, heavy
energy that is already movingdownward.
So in this case we would wantto stimulate that movement of
the energy upward.
So, working with strengtheningpostures such as the warrior
(37:11):
series or dynamic movements likea vinyasa flow that really
connect that movement and thebreath, that can really help to
stimulate any stagnant or stuckenergy in the body, any stagnant
or stuck energy in the body.
And then there's also breathwork specifically for low mood,
(37:33):
and they would be things such asa box breath, which could be
for a four count inhale, fourcount hold, four count exhale,
or a lion's breath which isbreathing in through the nose
and then a fast, forceful breathout through the mouth.
And I really feel that there'san interesting concept with
(37:56):
regard to restorative yoga inparticular, since that's kind of
my passion, I'll drop this inhere.
In restorative yoga we view anymental health, specifically
anxiety and depression, in thesame way you would like I said
earlier, with either that risingenergy up or that slow,
stagnant energy down.
(38:17):
And in restorative yoga we comeback to this idea that we want
to either open up or protect themost vulnerable places on our
body.
So that would be our throat,our heart and our belly.
So if I would have a student inmy restorative yoga class who
came in and shared with me thatthey're moving through anxiety,
(38:40):
I would never place them in aposture where these vulnerable
places are facing wide open tothe world.
If they wanted to do a heartopening posture, I would
oftentimes lay a blanket or twoor something heavier over the
chest to kind of cover up thosevulnerable places.
And because anxiety also hasthat component of
(39:04):
overstimulation, we wouldprobably also work with either a
blanket or an eye pillowcovering up the eyes in order to
reduce any extra stimulation.
And then the complete oppositewould be true for depression in
particular, or low mood.
I would want to encourage thatperson to open up those
(39:25):
vulnerable places.
So heart opening postures forsomebody moving through low mood
would actually be reallytherapeutic.
You know, if you think aboutdepression, you know, on a
physical level you can sometimessee their shoulders slumping
down and it's almost like theirshoulders are coming down to
protect the heart, you know.
(39:46):
And so that opposite movementwould be opening up the heart.
And then I would say, anotherway yoga really supports
depression and anxiety inparticular is if you're doing a
dynamic or an active form ofyoga, it really releases the
feel-good chemicals andendorphins which can help lower
(40:09):
stress and improve mood andwell-being.
And then the last way that Ijust kind of felt it was
important to add in here is that, whether it's in-person classes
or virtual classes, I thinkthat the form of community that
yoga offers can really help withmental health issues.
(40:32):
You know, when we show up to aplace where we can really be
seen as we are in the conditionthat we are in that particular
moment and meet new people whoare welcoming of us, I think
that always has an opportunityfor health and wellness.
And I think you know, now morethan ever, it seems that a lot
(40:56):
of us are becoming isolated andwe have a high rate of
individualism in the modernworld, which is a really real
thing that I see playing a largerole in our mental health.
We are meant to be living,working and playing in community
, and without that there's apiece of us that's always
(41:16):
missing right, and so we mayfeel that yearning for something
or that longing, and we mightnot know exactly what it is.
And so to show up in asupportive community, such as,
you know, yoga offers, it canreally really help with
somebody's low mood or anxiety.
Mary (41:39):
Yeah, that idea of connection is really powerful
and I think it's so interestingtoo.
And I'll tip my hand a littlebit because I mentioned, you and
I are working on a littleproject together, but it was
probably at least eight yearsago that I bought a book on
facilitating women's circles andworking full time, working in a
(42:00):
college environment.
It really wasn't feasible atthat point, but it had always
been something that was veryattractive for me to like.
I sort of wanted to lean inthat direction, because the
other part of I think the ideaof supporting each other is
something that we touched onhere and I mention often is that
(42:24):
I feel women have been set upto be competitors too often and
social media doesn't help that.
But one of the most powerfulthings for our health and our
wellbeing is our girlfriendsright.
Connecting.
That's part of what wenaturally do often as women is
(42:45):
connect and being in.
Especially when you think aboutthe circle shape right,
everybody's equal you can seeeveryone and being in a space
where the whole intention is tosupport each other, not to try
to hide or think well, it seemslike everybody else is fine, so
(43:06):
I have to pretend that I'm fine.
And when you're intentionallycoming together with a spirit of
support and recognizing we allhave parts of ourself that we
want to support and want tostrengthen.
I think that is so powerful.
And the other thing that youmentioned and I've been a
therapist for 35 years but youjust most clearly explained the
(43:31):
energy of anxiety and depressionin such a beautiful way because
really, when people are anxious, it is an upward energy.
They're in their head, they'reelevated, and then that
heaviness of low mood is kind ofexactly as you're saying.
You feel like you're dragging abag of rocks with you and so
(43:53):
even simply, if somebody's justhaving a day, they don't
necessarily have to have adiagnosis of anxiety or
depression, but we all havemoments where we're anxious
because that's actually aprotective factor.
We need to have that type ofenergy sometimes to respond to
life, or it's just a day that'ssad or heavy.
(44:13):
Some of these things that arepart of a yoga practice can
really help and the things thatyou mentioned and I often tell
my clients to stand in mountainpose, which is basically, you
know, shoulders back and down,your hands are open right and
kind of facing forward.
(44:35):
I feel like that is such astrong pose and it's also really
opening your heart to the worldand taking up your space.
Jennifer (44:46):
Yeah, absolutely, it is Yep.
And then I would just add, youknow, with the focus on the
soles of the feet connecting tothe earth, I think that you know
a lot of us underestimate oralmost forget how important that
connection to the earth reallyis.
Mary (45:05):
Yes, very much so.
And again, even just as agardener, being out and being in
the dirt and planting, growingthings, that connection, and
there's a lot of things in thesoil that are antidepressants,
but that's a whole other episode, Right?
There's one more thing that Iwanted to talk about with you,
because I know it's a newercertification for you and I am
(45:28):
so excited about it.
You recently became certifiedin yoga, specifically for women
in menopause, so can you talk alittle bit about what kind of
concerns?
Because you know we have thehot flashes and we have all of
those things that tend to shifthormonally at that time of life.
What does it help address?
Jennifer (45:49):
So, yeah, I did.
I just received mycertification from Yoga for
Menopause, which is a recognizedleader in the world for
training yoga teachers,specifically for yoga for women
as they transition through whatthey call the menopause years,
and this is really an importantthing to touch on before I speak
(46:12):
too much about it.
The reason that they havetermed it the menopause over
just menopause is because herein the West, when we think about
menopause, we think about that12 months without a cycle, and
so, really, this certificationthat I just received it's for
the entirety of the transition.
(46:33):
So the menopause includes thestages of perimenopause,
menopause and postmenopause, andit's really important to
include all of these becausethey all have different symptoms
and different needs during eachof these stages.
I fell in love with thisparticular program because they
(46:56):
took so much wisdom fromdifferent modalities from around
the world and then they combinethem together to create one
really beautiful program.
So menopause yoga incorporatesthe healing modality of women's
circles, where we can cometogether as a safe place to
(47:16):
learn and to share about our ownunique experiences as we move
through the menopause, alongwith the healing properties of
different styles of yoga andbreath work, and then there's
also meditation, and a big onein this program is journaling,
which provides the data that weneed to be able to see the big
(47:39):
picture of our life.
So kind of the way each class isdesigned is that we'll pick a
different symptom of themenopause and then we'll focus
on that.
So you know, you name thesymptom, it can address it.
Some of the big ones that wewent over in class are anxiety
(48:00):
and overwhelm, low mood, hotflushes, mood hot flushes you
know just all the very commonthings.
Anxiety and overwhelm was theone that I would say most
students kind of related to.
That were moving through theperimenopause stage and then
postmenopause.
(48:21):
You often had women who werekind of seeking to re-find that
joy in their life and so, justlike we talked about earlier
with the anxiety and thedepression, each one of these
classes is really aimed to takea look at where that energy is
at.
So, again, with that anxietyand overwhelm, that would be
(48:41):
that rising energy.
So we're going to want to bringit back down towards the earth
and then somebody experiencing,you know, just the blues and
post-menopause or, you know,feeling stuck.
That's when we're going to wantto kind of bring in some
strength training and moredynamic movement and breath work
for them.
(49:02):
Another concern that is veryreal throughout the entire
menopause transition is reducedsleep quality.
So a class designed with thissymptom in mind would focus
primarily on restorative yoga oryin yoga postures, which really
help to release that tensionthroughout the body and the mind
(49:23):
.
And it's also a really beautifulclass when we focus on sleep
quality because, like you saidearlier, yoga really is that
practice.
And so, with any of theseclasses, the more that you do
them, the more that you'retraining your body to come back
to these tools whenever you'removing through one of these
(49:45):
symptoms.
So to practice restorative yogaeach night for an hour, that's
training your body.
Like hey, when I lay down inthis position, this is my time
to begin to quiet my mind, torelease the tension, and after
so many nights of doing that,your body takes it on as a
(50:06):
muscle memory.
So each class is beautifullydesigned to support pretty much
any and all of the symptomsthroughout menopause.
And then, if there is somethingmissing, that's the point of
the women's circle.
That's included in this.
So it's usually going to beabout an hour where you can
(50:27):
connect with other women and youcan learn tools that they're
using or things that they'removing through, which could also
be a great resource foryourself.
Mary (50:37):
That sounds amazing and I will tell you, I already put
your first class in my calendarat the end of the month, I found
them on your website calendar.
At the end of the month I foundthem on your website.
It just sounds really wonderfulbecause you're right about,
again, the feeling of overwhelmthat seems to be so consistent
(50:59):
and with the shift in ourhormones, we do really
physically have less in the tank.
Everything has shifted andagain whole other episode but we
need to retrain our brainbecause our brain will recover
and that's the beautiful thing,and I'm going to give you credit
(51:20):
for this, because you talkedabout the second spring and I
love the idea of thinking aboutmenopause as a second spring.
That's my favorite season.
Everything is starting againand once you move through this,
you can decide what you wantyour life to be.
And I think we often think aboutmenopause with this sense of
(51:42):
dread and this, oh no.
And, of course, as you said,you learned now to call it the
menopause and isn't it so likeWestern culture to reduce it to
12 months of a physical thing?
You've arrived when you haven'thad your period for 12 months,
but it's so much bigger thanthat and the shifts do do begin
(52:03):
in perimenopause.
So, yeah, what a reallybeautiful and validating way to
address what's happening.
So of course as.
I yeah, it's really well.
I love that you are, you'resort of my conduit into that
right now, because you'relearning all of that and I love
(52:25):
learning that from you.
So, as I thought would happen,we have hit about an hour,
almost an hour.
So I want to pull all of thesethings together and I didn't
sort of warn you ahead of time.
I was going to ask you aboutthis.
But if someone is new to yoga,if someone's listening and maybe
they took a class or two,didn't really love it, but some
(52:46):
of this is resonating.
In other words, they want tofind this sense of connection,
this sense of peace or, you know, maybe explore more restorative
yoga.
Where would be a good place forsomeone to start to venture
into this world?
Jennifer (53:01):
Yeah, so that's a really good question.
You know I'll speak for myselffirst, and for me it's
oftentimes been about theteacher, you know.
So I see a lot of people saying, oh well, I only like
restorative yoga or I only dovinyasa, and I find that to be
(53:23):
kind of limiting because then itcould just be a style.
But oftentimes what I found inmy experience is that I have
learned to love different stylesof yoga because of the teacher
that was teaching it, whether itwas the way that they were
(53:47):
showing up and I really enjoyedthe lessons that they were
bringing to class, or I reallyenjoyed the sense of community
that they created in theirclasses.
There's often, you know, biggercomponents than the physical
practice that really drew me tothem.
But I would say, you know,there's so many resources out on
YouTube now, um, so if youdon't want to spend a lot of
(54:11):
money or you don't have theresources to spend a lot of
money, you know there's there'sfree classes offered there and
there are so many wonderfulteachers and you can narrow it
down by style until you get anidea of what feels best for your
body, and then you knowthroughout that you'll probably
(54:33):
come across a teacher or twothat you really resonate with as
well.
There are also a lot of freeresources in our community.
There's different Facebookgroups.
I don't know that I know anyoff the top of my head that I
could mention right now.
But you know, yoga is reallyone of those modalities that a
(54:54):
lot of teachers want to giveback to their community.
So I just had an example pop inmy mind In Harrisburg, on 3rd
Street, it's the community yogaspace, so it's a donation-based
yoga studio, and so you know,sometimes people show up there
for free and other times theyhave a few dollars to put in the
donation bucket, and she offersmany different styles of yoga,
(55:19):
from restorative to yin, to moredynamic flowing classes as well
.
And you know something we didn'ttouch on earlier, but there's
many different branches of yoga,and one of them is pranayama,
which is breath work, and sothere's lots of kundalini
(55:40):
classes popping up in our areaand there's one for $10 that
happens on Thursdays atConsciousness Coffee here in Le
Moyne, and that's a style ofyoga that's very gentle, so
you're in a seated posture thewhole time and you're just
simply working on your breath,but it's still a form of yoga
(56:01):
because it's connecting the mindand the body together.
So yeah, long story, but Iwould say, start with YouTube.
Find some free resources thereuntil you narrow down, maybe the
style that you're looking for,and then searching the area for
you know, just some good classes.
(56:21):
Oh, my yoga is a great resource, and just plain yoga as well.
They're probably two of themost well-known studios in our
area.
Mary (56:30):
That's a great list, and we actually have listeners from
all over, even Europe.
So, Jen is obviously mentioningdifferent options close to where
we are in Pennsylvania, but I'mgoing to say, as you started
talking about Harrisburg, whichis the capital of our state, I
(56:50):
was thinking there's a smalltown nearby that does the same
thing donation.
So what I would encourage isfind those options and don't be
shy if you can only give adollar or two or even nothing to
start, because often when yougo to a yoga studio, those
classes are a pretty decentfinancial investment and I think
(57:13):
you get a lot out of it.
But I don't want that to feellike a barrier.
So, jen is talking about a lotof really good ways to start to
venture into this world, thatyou don't need to have that big
financial investment to start.
And I also want to thank you,jen, for mentioning the teacher
(57:33):
aspect, because 100% you'regonna respond to specific
teachers, I think, becausesometimes you can feel like a
little like meh, you know thatwas fine and it's not you.
I have had certain times whereI've done, you know, a series of
10 or whatever and I absolutelyloved the energy of the teacher
(57:58):
and that is something I thinknot to be discounted.
I think it's sort of liketherapy.
You know you respond to yourtherapist maybe or not, so there
is something to that, I think,to honor if there's a space
where you feel like, wow, thisis really, this is feeling
restorative to me or this isfeeling empowering, you know,
(58:20):
kind of honor that.
And the other thing I would sayis go into spaces.
Youtube is great, but this ideathat Jen talked about of being
in community, when you are inthat space and often it is a
very calming place, it's lowlight, there's often beautiful
(58:40):
music.
That is part of the experience,so we can't always do that is
part of the experience, so wecan't always do that.
I know I do a lot of onlineyoga, but when I have time, I
really love to be in thepresence of others and the
presence of the teacher andexperience that.
So, jen, thank you so much forbeing here.
This has been really awesomeand I learned so much and I
(59:04):
actually feel calm because youhave such a calm presence.
So I want to thank you so muchfor sharing all of your
knowledge today.
Jennifer (59:12):
Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me on here.
It truly was an honor to speakwith you.
Mary (59:21):
And I want to thank everyone for listening.
Please review or follow theshow so you don't miss a thing,
and I really would love to hearyour thoughts when I decide what
episodes I want to venture intoor guests that I wanna bring in
.
I really am trying to build acommunity here and address some
of the thoughts that listenershave, so please comment, or you
can even text me directly usingthe link above the show notes
(59:44):
and until next time, go out andbe the amazing, resilient,
vibrant violet that you are.
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