September 15, 2025 • 48 mins
One word forever changed Crissy's life: cancer. How would she cope? Could she survive? Crissy joins us today to share her new book For the Love of Jugs: A Breastie's Guide and to show us how she turned surviving into thriving. Learn more about Crissy's work here!
If you feel inspired please consider sharing this episode with a friend, writing a 5⭐️ review or becoming a Raising Wild Hearts Member here!
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
This is all temporary, right?
Everybody can say it.
And and it's not like you'rejust throwing again like that
toxic posity, just layering ontop of the negativity.
No, it's just bringing you intothe present moment of what is.
What is for me at that time?
Okay, I'm sad.
I have cancer in my body.
I'm frustrated.
(00:20):
I want to punch something.
But you know what?
This feeling isn't gonna lastforever.
The cancer is gonna be gonesoon, and I just have to be
here.
SPEAKER_01 (00:55):
She's also a wife to her high school sweetheart and a
mom of two now young adults.
She's got a decade of experienceand blends vinyasa and
therapeutic yoga, specializingin lymphatic and fascia health
to support women on theirhealing journey.
And she is an absolutepowerhouse in all of these
things.
I'm so happy to be bringing thisconversation to you.
(01:17):
We do talk about Chrissy'sbreast cancer journey.
We also talk about mindset andhow to heal from trauma and
Chrissy's experience with herlifelong things that she brought
with her.
And it just gets so deep, and Ilove it.
Um, so this conversation is foryou.
If you know somebody goingthrough a breast cancer journey,
(01:39):
I asked Chrissy some good thingsto say to people when they have
a cancer diagnosis becausesometimes we're well-meaning,
but we say really stupid shitand we just don't know what to
say.
So then we don't say anything.
This is a very real, veryheartfelt conversation.
We touch on fear, the mind-bodyconnection, and so much more.
(02:02):
I hope you guys enjoy thisconversation as much as I did.
Let's jump in.
Chrissy Florio, welcome to theRaising Wild Hearts podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (02:16):
Thank you so, so much.
I am I'm always just so beyondlike grateful and honored when I
get to do these types of thingsbecause I feel like there's a
there's a sense of trust thatyou have in me to be able to
speak to your audience and yourcommunity.
So it doesn't go unnoticed.
I I actually have the chillsright now, you know, kind of
(02:38):
thinking about this and a littlebit of what we were talking
about beforehand too.
But it doesn't go unnoticed howgrateful I am to be able to not
only share my story, but alsoshare some of my wisdom and my
knowledge and hopefully be aninspiration to at least one
person in your community, if notmore.
SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
That's right.
A lot more than that.
And this conversation, yes,we're gonna talk about breast
cancer.
You were diagnosed with breastcancer in 2020, but also like
this conversation at the core,at the heart, is about being
human in this messy fuckingworld we find ourselves in.
It's about self-love and aboutempowerment.
So we're gonna go all theplaces.
(03:18):
And the place I want to kick usoff, like, tell us how you
transformed this story from paininto purpose.
Like, look at you.
You wrote a book.
You're, you know, you started abusiness.
Like, I just can't wait to hearabout it.
But like a lot of people, youcould put your head in the sand
and just kind of take it and letit beat you down, but you
(03:40):
transformed it to purpose.
So take us along that journey.
SPEAKER_00 (03:43):
All right.
Well, yeah, being diagnosed inin 2020 was another smack in the
face after going through COVIDand quarantine life.
And I was diagnosed inSeptember.
And in Florida, as you know, wewere already starting to get
back out and live life again andrestart after quarantine life.
And so when I was diagnosed,because of the uncertainty of
times, I felt like I needed togo back into quarantine.
(04:05):
I didn't know how my body wouldreact.
I went through chemo, I had adouble mastectomy.
I didn't know how my immunesystem would react to getting
COVID or getting sick.
So we quarantined again.
And I gotta say, it was ablessing in disguise to go back
inwards again, not only inquarantine before, where I took
that time to start developingeven more of a spiritual
(04:27):
practice, but I was able to putsome of that and a lot of my
other practical tools in myspirituality and what I was just
learning.
And then obviously my backgroundin yoga, having taught yoga for
so many years, when I had to gothrough my breast cancer
journey, I had to go inward.
And I had the time to do that.
I didn't have all thedistractions.
(04:48):
The only place I was going towas to my doctor's appointments
and to chemo.
I didn't have the distractionsof normal life going on.
So I was able to really, reallygo inward and start to really
understand the importance ofhealing through this, not around
this, healing mind, body, heart,and soul.
And understanding that this ishappening for me and not to me.
(05:12):
And that's a really hard thingto understand.
You hear those words, you havecancer, and you're like, what in
the actual fuck?
I thought I was a healthyperson.
How did this happen to me?
There's no way, right?
And and those thoughtsdefinitely went in my mind.
I mean, I'm not gonna lie,right?
But I was able to just kind ofhone it back in and say, okay,
Chrissy, let's let's see reallywhat this means and and how we
(05:36):
can grow through this and get onthe other side of this and not
just play the woe is me um typeof character in this story of
mine.
You know, granted, I have alwaysbeen somewhat of a a positive
person.
I I've always kind of seen, youknow, the the good side of
things.
But when you're going throughthat, there's a lot of dark
(05:57):
days.
And I think it's important tounderstand that we can have
those days.
And it's important to also workthrough those days and not just
sugarcoat everything and justput positivity, toxic positivity
on top of everything.
It's it's you gotta understandthat we have to feel all of the
feels.
So I also allowed myself to dothat throughout my whole
journey.
(06:18):
And and it really wasn't untillike a couple years later that I
paused and I looked back and Iwas like, holy shit, I really I
would read like journal promptsand or some of my old journal
books, and I would look back andwow, I really, from the
beginning, was fairly positive.
Like, I got this.
(06:38):
I'm gonna tackle this head on.
And that's when I started torealize more and more that I
needed to turn my pain intopurpose and really help women
who are diagnosed understandthat it doesn't have to be a,
you know, a prison sentence,understand that they can still
create a life of peace, of joy,of ease in their diagnosis.
(07:03):
And and again, but alsounderstanding that they're gonna
have hard days, they're gonnahave good days, they're gonna
have rough days, they're gonnahave, you know, the in-between,
but that it's super important tofeel all of it.
And I just, yeah, I think that'skind of where I was just like, I
gotta do something.
And as teaching yoga, um, Ithought I was gonna kind of go
(07:23):
down that route.
So I got differentcertifications, like yoga for
cancer recovery and yoga for thelymphatic system, understanding
our physical vessel a little bitmore about the fascia, even
traditional Chinese medicine,all with a yoga like foundation.
But I realized more and morethat I gotta, I have to create
(07:45):
something that I don't have tobe in front of the person.
And that's where I realized abook is really necessary.
So yeah, so I started writingthe book for The Love of Jugs, A
Bresties Guide.
Love it.
Every time I say it out loud, Iactually giggle.
Yeah, because it's just funny.
But you know, it just brings usa sense of lightness to what
(08:07):
could be a very dark time.
So, you know, she's been out nowfor almost six months, and um,
I've been getting just somebeautiful reviews and and even
from people who have neverexperienced cancer, have read it
and feel that it is very helpfulfor them in whatever trauma or
life situation that they gothrough as well.
So that's really nice to kind ofhear from from different people
(08:30):
with uh those beautiful reviews.
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
Yeah.
Did you think while you werewriting your book that this was
kind of like a love letter or awarm hug to yourself on that day
when you got that diagnosis?
Exactly.
Again, chills again.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:46):
Yes, yeah.
You know, I wanted it to be thegirlfriend's guide, the what to
expect when you're expectingtype of book, but in the breast
cancer world.
Because the moment you hearthose words, you almost feel
like the Charlie Brown, like,wah, wah, wah, wah.
I mean, you you completelydisconnect.
You don't know which way iswhat.
(09:08):
You, it's just, it's a lot,right?
And you are getting thrown intothis new world that number one,
nobody ever wants to be in, butthere's new lingo, right?
You got to learn all thelanguage of cancer, what type of
cancer you have, what's yourprotocol is gonna be.
Then you start doing research.
Is this right for me?
And obviously telling everybodyand being that emotional
(09:30):
standpoint of it.
So the book really is for thosewomen.
The most because again, peopleask me all the time, Chrissy,
what my sister was diagnosed, mymom was diagnosed, my best
friend was diagnosed, what can Iget them?
The book is what you get them.
The book is, you know, gonna bekind of like their Bible, their
journal, their guide to keepwith them throughout their whole
(09:51):
journey.
Because not only is there thepractical tools in it, right?
But it there's a lot more ofhelping people to realize that
there's more to healing thanjust the, I'm just healing my
breast, I'm just healing wherethe cancer is.
You have to heal mind, body,heart, and soul.
So introducing to some peoplethat don't even understand
(10:14):
really what holistic healing isor an integrative approach to
your healing, but how can youincorporate, yes, the the
physical of the Western world toget the cancer out, but how do
you also incorporate some ofthose ancient old wisdom, you
know, and energetic type ofhealing practices from the
Eastern world?
And so, I mean, that's reallywhat I did.
(10:35):
I incorporated both into mypractice and I felt like it gave
me something to do on my own tohelp myself support myself and
not need my doctors.
And granted, I did need mydaughter, doctors.
I went through chemo, I had themastectomy.
So I needed them to help me getthe cancer out, but I was also
supporting myself mentally andemotionally and energetically as
(10:57):
well, so that I could heal onthose levels too.
So I incorporate that into thebook, as well as recorded
meditations and a beautifulguide that they can get sent to
them, as well as the book, thatis just one more level, one more
interactive level to the book.
And we talk about all things inthis book.
We talk about nipples and sexand, you know, just like body
(11:21):
image and things that peopledon't realize that we experience
when you're going through likeall of these changes that are
going on in your body.
And you just they don't talkabout it really in the doctor's
offices.
And so, unless you have somebodythat's been through it or who's
really, really open, if you havea doctor that, you know, is a
little bit more forward-thinkingand talks about these types of
(11:43):
things, then it's it'sbeautiful.
But I didn't know some of thesethings.
And so again, I just wanted togift that to my pink sisters
that come after me, of justgiving them that sense of like,
oh gosh, thank goodness I'm notthe only one experiencing this
type of thing.
unknown (12:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:00):
Or if they do start to feel like, you know, sex
hurts or it doesn't feel gooddown there, or, you know, like
just moving your body and stuff,just the achy joints and
everything, just knowing thatit's normal, somewhat normal, or
that you're not alone is iscomforting.
SPEAKER_01 (12:16):
Right.
I love that you incorporatedkind of the mind, body, body,
mind connection in this book.
I think that's amazing.
Do you?
I'm so curious because I waslike kind of thinking about our
interview.
I was thinking about what wewere going to talk about, and I
was like, I wonder what LouiseHay has to say about like the
manifestation of breast issuesand what it represents.
(12:37):
And symbolically, have you everlooked up in Louise Hay, You Can
Heal Your Life?
What it like the symbolism, Iguess, of the breasts and breast
cancer.
SPEAKER_00 (12:47):
I have not, but that's beautiful, and I'm going
to.
SPEAKER_01 (12:50):
Yeah.
Well, I'm going to tell you.
I'm going to tell you right now,because I did.
I have the book here.
I was like, I gotta bring thisup because I think it's really
interesting, and maybe we canlike dissect this because I'm
curious your thought on this.
So it says, she says, breastsrepresent mothering and
nourishment, of course, right?
And breast problems represent arefusal to nourish the self,
(13:12):
putting everyone else first,over-mothering, over-protection,
and overbearing attitudes.
Like, how does that all land foryou?
And then we're gonna unpack iteven more.
Nipples are tingling here alittle bit.
I'm feeling it.
Like, I feel that.
SPEAKER_00 (13:29):
I do, I do.
Yeah.
I I love all of that and I cansee all of that, right?
Um, before I dive into that, youknow, we have the left side of
our body is the the female side,the mother side.
The right side of our body isthe masculine, the father
figure, the male.
(13:50):
And my breast cancer was on myright side.
So I'm on the masculine side.
And it's interesting that acouple of things.
My upbringing was an interestinghousehold.
My father was died, uh, was, um,excuse me, was paralyzed when I
was five years old.
And I know that going throughthat at such a young age and
(14:11):
watching my father go fromsomebody who was super um
physical and an athlete and verymuch a man to somebody needing
help a lot was a reallyinteresting thing to witness and
to watch.
It wasn't a very easy childhood.
And I love my father, but he'swas is is, he's still alive, is
(14:32):
somewhat of a difficult man tospeak to and stuff like that.
So when I got diagnosed and Irealized it was on my right
side, I'm like, well, isn't thatinteresting?
Right.
And when we when we talk aboutthe breast in general,
regardless if it's masculine orfeminine, you know, that this is
this is the way that we feed andnourish life.
And I just think that when webecome mothers, and it could be
(14:58):
a mother of an animal too.
No, you know, not everybody is,you know, can have children or
choose to have children orwhatever, right?
But we tend to sometimes, and Ithink this is generations past,
we do put everybody in ahead ofus, right?
We're the we're the doers, we'rethe givers.
We're like, okay, what do youneed?
What do you need, right?
(15:18):
And we just go, go, go, and wedon't stop and pause to provide
ourselves with the self-love.
And it's beautiful conversationslike this that is that
invitation to anybody who'slistening to this podcast, that
it's not selfish to create apractice, a routine, a ritual of
self-love daily.
Daily.
That could be five minutestuning everybody out and going
(15:41):
in your room and doing ameditation.
It could go be going to workoutclasses or yoga or going out for
a walk.
It could mean getting on a phonewith your best friend or making
time to go hang out with yourbest friend.
What are things that can nourishyou, right?
Because when we are little, weare being nourished from our
parents, Hopi.
(16:02):
And then when we have children,we nourish, but then it's like
we forget to fill our cups onceagain.
And that's really, really,really important to do.
So that's everybody's reminderand permission.
Like you don't need thepermission, but we feel like we
do sometimes, is to really allowyourself this time to love
yourself, to nourish yourself,to fill your cup, to carve out
(16:25):
time and space and not view itas selfishness, view it as
self-love.
We have one life to live.
We have one vessel that we livein.
And so showing up every day tojust move our bodies or just to
simply breathe or be is a formof self-love and so, so
important.
And then the other thing, too,for myself about the masculine
(16:48):
and the feminine, it'sinteresting.
I've, I've, I wouldn't callmyself like a real girly girl,
but I'm definitely more femininethan I am masculine for sure.
We need a little bit of both inus in order to create.
And I found that I was leaningway more into my feminine side,
(17:08):
which I love.
You know, we're girls, we'reladies.
I love the feminine side.
But I realized more and morelike I also have to attune into
the masculine side to do, toalso be that part in creating,
right?
Because if you think aboutbabies can't happen without at
least a male and a female, itdoesn't have to be together.
It could be sperm and rightthere, but we can't do it
(17:30):
without some form of fat umfeminine and masculine.
And we need to take that alsointo what we create in life.
We need to tune into a littlebit of that masculinity in us to
kind of really bring that hometo put it into action, but with
the loving and the creativityand the expression of the female
to like make it happen.
So I really had to tune intothat to actually create the book
(17:53):
too, which was reallyfascinating for me to understand
and to just have that moment oflike, oh shit, okay, I see where
you're going with that.
So it was really just kind ofnice, very cool.
SPEAKER_01 (18:04):
So did the book like fall out of you, or did you have
to like tape yourself to yourchair or somewhere in between?
SPEAKER_00 (18:10):
Somewhere in between.
In the beginning, it was, itwas, it was, it was bumpy,
right?
It was like, okay, where do Iwant to go with this?
My brain can focus and create somany different things, but then
it wasn't like making sense.
And I would catch myself, fearwould be coming in.
And it would be like, hey, whydon't you go schedule an
(18:33):
appointment with somebody, go tolunch?
Why don't you get up and go intothe pantry?
Yeah.
And go into the pantry and gograb a snack, even though you're
not hungry.
Why don't you say, you knowwhat?
Oh, you know, you definitelyneed more coffee when you
clearly don't, right?
The fear and the ego and justthat procrastination was big.
It was huge.
(18:54):
And just doing the type ofmindset work and growth work and
just being real and honest withmyself, I saw that.
I understood that.
So it was taking me a lot longerin the beginning because of
that.
And then towards the end, I justwas like, I'm doing a disservice
(19:15):
to all of these women who arebeing diagnosed daily.
It is one in eight women whowill be diagnosed with breast
cancer in their lifetime, right?
One in eight.
So I'm doing a huge disserviceby not having this book out in
the world.
And I think that was like thefire.
And then also be having thatrealization of the masculine and
the feminine that actuallyreally, really helped me.
(19:36):
And I would do a lot ofmeditations where I would
meditate around my heart spaceand I would see my heart almost
like it was a throne.
But it wasn't just a queen'sthrone or a king's throne.
It was both of them sittingthere.
And it was like I saw themcoming together and being in
unison and working together tohelp me get this book out into
(19:57):
the world.
And it was really then that Ithen also put a timeline on
myself.
And I was starting to feelenergetically, she has got to be
out in the world.
I just, I gotta get her done.
I gotta get her done.
And I kept just saying that overand over in my mind.
And I just put the pedal to themetal and I just, I, I got it
out.
And you know what?
(20:17):
She's probably not perfect asnothing is in life, right?
And so I had to be one with the,it's never gonna be perfect.
Just get her out into the world,be with what is.
And then I I found my publishingteam and um worked with them to
finalize everything, and andhere she is, six months ago.
I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
I love that.
So I want to talk about thislike overmothering piece versus
self-care.
And I don't think we have tolike pit these two against each
other, right?
I do believe because I'mpracticing daily, like that I
can be a mom of three and stillcare for myself.
And sometimes for me, it sneaksup in these very sneaky ways.
So, like today, 20 minutesbefore this podcast interview,
(21:01):
wouldn't you know?
I got a call from my son'steacher.
You know, he's just feeling alittle off.
He's feeling a little stuffy.
I really think the best thingfor him would be to come home.
And I'm like, yeah, that'sgreat.
And I totally get that.
And I just I love how committedyou are to my son's needs and
how in tune you are to him.
And mama's got shit to do.
(21:22):
So I'm gonna um call you later.
I'll let you know when I can getthere.
And in that moment, I actuallyhung up the phone and I had a
good cry because I, you know,like feel that pull, right?
We can feel this pull in sneakyways of like, drop everything,
gotta go get him, got, gotta putmy thing on hold.
And it's like, no, I I thinkit's a good practice to really
(21:45):
be aware.
Is this one of those times?
Cause okay, there's gonna bethat time, right?
Right.
But of course.
Today wasn't, right?
So, how in your experience, youhave two grown-ish kids, right?
Did you and do you continue towith adult kids balance that
like overmothering versus likereally holding your line and
your boundary of yourself?
(22:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (22:06):
Or for yourself.
Yeah.
And for yourself, right,exactly.
Because, you know, the truth ofthe matter is we're, you know,
we're different people.
We wear different hats, right?
We're self first, then we aremother or wife or friend or
sister or daughter or whatever.
But we have to make sure that weare whole and centered and
(22:29):
aligned and filled first.
But when people need us, right?
It is that very much pull.
And it's interesting that you'resaying this now because my
children right now are 20 and23.
So yeah, they are now adults.
But my daughter just had her allfour of her wisdom teeth pulled
last week.
And so her being home and I feltlike it brought me back to when
(22:54):
she was little and she neededme, right?
They don't need you as much.
They still need you, but theydon't need you as much as they
get older.
I don't need to, I'm not gonnawork, I'm not gonna do anything,
I'm just gonna be here for them.
But then I realized like that'soff balance.
And I think that, you know,obviously in life, I'm a Libra,
as we talked about this.
I'm a Libra.
So I really hone in on thescales and balancing of things,
(23:18):
but not everybody is like that.
And not every moment in our lifeis gonna be fully balanced.
Like I fully understand that.
Hot, like myself wasn't feelingright with that.
So I was like, you're gonna befine for a little while.
I'm gonna go for a walk, or I'mgonna do this, I'm gonna make
you soup, but I'm going to, youknow, or or giving yourself
grace and saying, I'm gonna giveyou my all right now because you
(23:42):
need it and I appreciate you andI want to get you up and
running.
So I'm just gonna put certainthings on the back burner for
right now.
So I don't feel pulled to alsodo this, right?
So it's almost like setting theexpectations within yourself to
say, I'm gonna focus on thisright now because this is this
is present and this is what'sneeded.
And those all of those otherthings, you know what, they're
(24:04):
not my priority right now.
So I think that's also somethingthat we can create within
ourselves, is not the need to doeverything on the to-do list
right away and it has to bedone, right?
Certain things can be pushed offto the next day and what have
you.
So that's super important.
But for you in your case, whereyour child calls, the teacher
(24:25):
calls, and and they need you.
I think some of these thingsalso are really good learning
lessons for our kids toexperience when they're little.
Not every time that I have alittle sniffle or I'm like, you
know, almost and you're givingthem like the power to like kind
of push through a little bit.
And I don't want to say pushthrough in a very like, no, suck
(24:45):
it up buttercup type of well,the gift of trusting someone
else too.
SPEAKER_01 (24:49):
Yeah.
The gift of trusting that he'sin good care.
SPEAKER_00 (24:52):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
And also that like relax alittle.
SPEAKER_01 (24:56):
Yeah.
Well, and he's a boy.
I think I can like let him pushthrough a little bit more than
my girls, like, you know,parenting them differently.
Like I want my girls to beunderstand that they're cyclical
and that they, you know, theyhave that kind of rhythm.
But him, I'm like, okay, liketake a hammer and go beat some
shit out back.
Yeah, yeah.
It's like a kind of a different,you have a boy and a girl,
(25:18):
right?
I do.
I do.
Parent them definitelydifferently for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So interesting.
Okay.
So I want to circle back aroundto fear.
We dipped our toe into like thefear that came up when you
started to write your book andwhen you continued to stay the
course.
What was that fear voice likefor you in the beginning of your
(25:39):
breast cancer journey?
And how did you ultimately, I'massuming that you did, because I
know you and I know your story.
I'm assuming that you did shiftit from fear to love.
And how was that journey foryou?
Did you have to embrace thefear?
Did you have to say, like, fuckthe fear?
Did you like what did you do?
SPEAKER_00 (25:55):
Yeah, definitely in the beginning of my journey,
everything was fuck cancer.
Everything.
I had that mentality of like,fuck that, this, this, you know.
And it wasn't what's interestingis from a fear-based standpoint,
maybe, maybe the universe knew Iwas gonna be okay.
(26:17):
I never had the moment of likedeath, the fear of death.
I didn't go down that path.
And I know I've spoken to somany people who have been
diagnosed with cancer since me,since my diagnosis.
And there's some people thatdefinitely are fearful of dying.
They're fearful that cancer isgoing to take them.
It's interesting, I never hadthat moment.
(26:37):
For me, the fear was how is mybody going to react to a chemo?
How is my body going to actreact to putting implants in?
These implants that I neverwanted.
And yes, I had the decision if Iwanted them or not, but I had a
double mastectomy.
I have zero breast tissue.
I would look like a 12-year-oldconcaved boy if I did not have
(27:00):
implants and I didn't go big oranything, but that that fear of
how is my body going to change?
How is my body going to adapt?
And leaning into my yogapractices and tools and
spirituality, I had to visualizemy body healing, my body gonna
(27:20):
be okay.
I I had to lose the attachmentthat my body is never gonna be
the same, ever.
Not even just my breast, but mybody.
I mean, what I what you gothrough when you're going
through chemotherapy is orradiation or the the surgeries,
your body changes and adapts.
(27:41):
You have to lose the attachmentto the number one, to the
outcome, just be in the presentmoment.
And I think that was one thing.
The moment I felt fear creepingin or sadness, because there was
a lot of times where I wouldjust get sad.
I couldn't just go out to happyhour or hang out with my friends
or go for walks with people.
(28:02):
I mean, my best friend literallywould have a take a COVID test
every time she came up here tocome lay in bed with me on, you
know, a day or two after chemo.
She would literally take a COVIDtest, come up here and stay with
me for a day or night, help mewith my daughter, give my
husband a little bit of break,you know.
So that was really the onlyinteraction that I had outside
(28:23):
of my husband and my daughter.
My son was already off tocollege.
So there was a lot of sadness.
So when those feelings of fear,of sadness, of anger, of
frustration, of confusion wouldcome up.
I, number one, always had amantra in my head of this is all
temporary.
Be here, Chrissy.
(28:44):
This is not gonna be forever,right?
One day at a time, one foot infront of the other.
And that goes for anything inlife.
You're having a tough day withyour children.
Okay, this is one day at a time,this is all temporary, right?
Everybody can say it.
And and it's not like you'rejust throwing, again, like that
(29:06):
toxic posity, just layering ontop of the negativity.
No, it's just bringing you intothe present moment of what is
what is for me at that time.
Okay, I'm sad.
I have cancer in my body, I'mfrustrated, I want to punch
something, but you know what?
This feeling isn't gonna lastforever.
The cancer is gonna be gonesoon.
And I just have to be here, bewith the emotion, feel the
(29:29):
emotion, release the emotion,right?
And not just layer it on withthat positivity.
And because it just subsides andit pushes in and it stays in our
connective tissue, right?
There's a there's a statement ora quote the issues are in the
tissues.
I learned that when I did myteacher training back in 2012.
(29:49):
And it's so true.
We hold on to these emotions inour the cells and the tissue in
the connective fat um,connective tissue of our fascia.
And If we don't release it andmove and just breathe and learn
to love our body and just letthings go, we hold on.
And then that's when they canultimately turn into dis-ease in
(30:11):
the body.
So I just knew that fear doesnot serve me, anger does not
serve me, but they're gonna comeup every now and then.
And we have to just be one withit more.
Be okay with it.
It's gonna come up.
It's gonna shock the shit of yousometimes too, you know, on days
that you least expect it.
But just notice it, be aware ofit, and then see what you need
(30:32):
in that moment.
Because we always do needdifferent things.
And if we're aware of like, Isee that fear creeping up, I can
see how that's showing up.
And now I'm acting in a certainway, or my thoughts are coming
more negative, or my actions, mywords, or you know, or I'm
lacking in doing anything,right?
I'm pausing, I'm fawning, right?
(30:52):
Or freezing even.
Then you can understand, like,if you have all of these
different tools in your toolbox,then you can start to see, like,
okay, well, what do I need rightnow to be with this and then to
move through this?
Whether it's breath work,getting out in nature, just go
standing out in the sun for afew moments, journaling,
(31:13):
tapping, shaking, right?
There's so many beautifulpractices that we can call into
to help us through that momentand to kind of just release and
uh feel at more at ease and calmin our bodies and regulate the
nervous system.
SPEAKER_01 (31:30):
Yeah.
I think a lot of us have troublewitnessing someone in a
challenge.
So, like if we hear that someonehas a cancer diagnosis, we say
the stupidest, most like awkwardshit.
And I'm sure you heard a lot ofthat.
So, what's one or two helpfulthings that we could say to
(31:51):
someone who recently received adiagnosis?
SPEAKER_00 (31:54):
Yeah.
Um, you know, I'm I'm a littledifferent because I don't get
easily offended.
And I think it just depends onthe person, right?
Because like some people can,well, first of all, don't ever
say I'm like, oh, my, my, youknow, mother-in-law died of
(32:15):
that, or don't ever bring updeath or, you know, or like the
negative side of things.
I would say try to be uplifting,supportive.
You know, some people don't lovethe you got this, but like
that's supportive to me, right?
You know, I I just try, I don'tknow.
Again, I'm not very, I don't getmy feelings hurt too often.
(32:38):
And people say things are, youknow, one thing that people
would say to me all the time islike, maybe they hurt themselves
or they got a stomachache orsomething like that, like, oh my
God, but it's never, it's not asbad as you, Chrissy.
And I always stop and pause andI say, but you know what?
Your experience is justdifferent than my experience.
Yeah, okay, yes, it might not becancer, but you had an injury.
(33:00):
So who's to say that that's notworse or better or whatever?
Like, who's to say that?
So just to, you know, kind of beopen-minded and put yourself in
their shoes a little bit andjust imagine, really think about
what it is that you're saying.
And just be as positive as youcan, but not like overly.
Just, you know, always support.
(33:20):
Ask what do you need?
And I'm trying to think of likewhat I don't remember really
any.
The only thing that I would saythat really, I think bothered me
the most was just getting atext, how are you?
from people that are really,really super close to me, but I
haven't talked to in weeks.
(33:41):
Making the people not feel likeyou're just checking in so that
you like just to get your updateand you know what's in the know.
But then also like just give alittle bit more, like thinking
about you, sending you love towhere it doesn't feel so like,
how are you?
Bitch, you don't get to know howI am if that's if you haven't
(34:03):
reached out to me in in weeks.
And you really don't want toknow, like, I've been running to
the bathroom or I can't eat, I'mso nauseous.
I feel like I'm gonna pass outevery time I stand up, right?
Like, that's not things that I'mgonna text over the phone, like
especially if you haven'treached out to me in a while.
So just again, being mindful inyour approach into the reaching
(34:25):
out is make it soft, make itmeaningful, make it like you
have their best interest inmind.
And it's not like you just aretexting so that you know.
So that you feel like ifsomebody asks that they know
what they're talking about,right?
SPEAKER_01 (34:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (34:41):
Just be more aware and supportive about that.
SPEAKER_01 (34:44):
Yeah.
So you seem like a very wise andgrounded person, Chrissy.
I'm assuming part of that islike yoga.
I don't know if you like cameout of the womb like a little
monk or whatever, but maybe,maybe you did.
Um, but I'm so curious nowbecause I, from where I'm
standing and kind of sitting,I'm looking at you and I feel as
(35:08):
though I'm sensing as thoughyou've gained even more wisdom
walking this path.
You have really needed to walkthrough the fire, so to speak.
And so what would yourself todaysay to the former version of
you?
Something maybe that you didn'tthink of.
I know you were always sopositive.
You were so like reallyinternally motivated to like get
(35:29):
this and get over this.
But like, what would you say toyourself today?
SPEAKER_00 (35:33):
I've really witnessed a lot of trauma in
life from my dad, you know, um,his injury when I was young and
seeing him overcome it.
That, yeah, no, I don't believeI came out of the womb like a
little monk, but I came out ofthe womb, you know, I was the
baby.
I was not necessarily a plannedpregnancy.
(35:55):
So that kind of also I think isa little traumatic, even though
I didn't really realize thatuntil years later, really until
2020, before I was diagnosed, Istarted to realize, like, hey,
you're not a mistake.
You're not an oops baby, right?
But so all of these littletraumas that we experience in
life give us the opportunity fora little bit more growth and a
little bit more wisdom and alittle bit more of like we see
(36:17):
other people, like with myfather seeing how he overcame
what he overcame.
So when I got to my big trauma,I was like, I can do this, I can
do hard things, right?
So I kind of went down thatroute.
But seeing myself now, and if Iwere to say to Chrissy,
42-year-old Chrissy, who is justdiagnosed, who went into, no, I
(36:41):
got this, I'm gonna do this,fuck cancer, right?
I would say, I did this, but Ididn't know I was doing this.
Change your language, be it morecalm, be more at one with the
cancer, and realize that you'renot fighting yourself.
You, because the cancer, it'sstill your cells.
(37:02):
It's your body, right?
Yes, we want them to go becausethey've gone rogue and they're
not necessarily good.
So we want those to go, but wedon't want to attack ourselves.
We don't want to fightourselves.
So I had the pleasure of workingwith a pranic energy healer who
you know, Faral.
And you know, she did abeautiful protocol on me and she
(37:23):
changed my way of thinking aboutthe chemotherapy at that moment
of just like, please go whereyou're needed and leave the rest
of my body unharmed.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (37:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:32):
And I think it was that moment that I started to
realize like, I've got to kindof be one with this.
But I was still saying, fuckcancer, I'm a warrior, right?
So I think that kind of for thepeople who are just getting
just, you know, diagnoses trynot to use that language.
So that is very hard, negativefighting language.
(37:53):
Just starting to immediatelycreate the sense of peace in
your journey and in your healingand understand this is one
thing, like, yes, teaching yogafor as long as I did, I
understand the power of the bodyand I understand the power of
the mind.
And I always talked about themind-body connection, but it
really wasn't until like I wasin it, and then even more after
(38:17):
doing some of these additionalcertifications of how important
the body-to-mind connection is,how we need to be more in our
body and in the experience ofthe senses of our body, and then
how that directs up to the mind.
I also have a lot of herniationsin my low back and bulging discs
(38:37):
and all of this stuff.
And when it flares up, I mean,it is really super painful.
And the more think about this,like when you have any type of
pain, the more you think aboutit, the worse it gets, the more,
you know, throbby it gets andintense it gets, right?
But when you are more in yourbody and you try to not think
(38:58):
about like that pain, the painis the brain signaling down to
those nerves to throb.
And there was a beautiful bookthat I read, Heal Your Back
Pain, that he actually, thisgentleman, this doctor, Dr.
John Sarno, way back in the 80sand 90s, was realizing that it's
more of like the body to thebrain.
(39:20):
Let's change that direction ofthe communication.
Um, to, you know, when you havea pain, to redirect it with a
certain affirmation, torecognize that that is fear, and
that is the fear signals fromthe brain trying to keep your
body safe and your nervoussystem safe to keep you where
you are.
So it's really an interesting,fascinating book.
(39:42):
So the more things that I learnabout that, and like with the
fascia, our communication systemof our bodies, we can change the
communication signals and we canmove from body to mind to create
more of that ease.
And I feel like I wish I wouldhave known then the power.
I knew somewhat of theimportance of it, but really
(40:03):
that direction of body to mindand the power that our bodies
have to heal.
And we don't give our bodiesenough credit in healing.
We tend to look outside ofourselves.
We run to doctors, we run tomedication.
And granted, I did, but I alsoincorporated an integrative
approach to it as well with thatholistic healing.
But I think that more and more,especially Americans, need to
(40:27):
understand how powerful ourbodies are when we nourish it,
when we feed it properly, whenwe limit external toxins and
environmental toxins, and whenwe quiet our mind and when we
can go inward, we can create ahealing vibration in our bodies.
(40:48):
And, you know, I could talkabout this all day long, but you
know, there's a lot of, there'sa lot of self-image, body image
issues in a lot of us, right?
We put ourselves down, we havethat inner critic in our mind.
And that is really defeating toourselves.
And one of my good friends,who's also a breast cancer
thriver, has said to me, youcan't heal a body you hate.
(41:12):
And that was like, holy shit,you can't heal a body you hate,
right?
And think about all of thesebeautiful humans walking around
with the idea that we have to beperfect and we have to put Botox
in our faces and all the fillersand, you know, show up to these
extra class exercise classesevery single day and put on the
(41:32):
perfect clothes and be perfect.
But that's not what it's about.
It's about finding thatself-love and going inwards and
meeting yourself with compassionand appreciating your
imperfections as much as whatyou think the perfection should
be and understanding there's nosuch thing as perfection, right?
So learning to love yourselfwith how you are, who you are.
(41:55):
And yeah, we want to make, wewant to show up for ourselves,
we want to be better than wewere yesterday and we want to do
things for ourselves, but wecan't have that negative tone,
right?
Because then our bodies can'theal.
So we have to create this innerand outer environment of love
and compassion and peace and andstrength and power to help our
(42:16):
bodies heal.
SPEAKER_01 (42:18):
That's right.
The mantra I've been ending mymeditation with the past like
month or so is peace begins withme.
And sometimes when I say it,it's like, really though, shit.
No, not today though.
But but it is.
It's, you know, peace beginswith me.
That inner, you know, that innerlove, that inner peace, and it
exudes out.
So I love that.
(42:39):
You are a gift.
Thank you so much.
Where do we find you and followyou?
Where do we get your book?
Tell the people where they canget all your stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (42:48):
Yeah.
So the book is on Amazon and onmy website.
Again, it's called For the Loveof Jugs, a Bresties Guide.
Again, I giggle every time.
And you can also get it on mywebsite.
So you can go toforthelovofjugs.com and there
you'll be led to the beautifullanding page with all of the
stuff about the book.
You can also download theBresties Meditation Guide there,
(43:09):
which is the has the recordedmeditations and a lot based
around the book, a lot ofjournal prompts and things like
that.
And the book has even morejournal prompts and interactive
components to it as well.
And then you can learn otherways to work with me, getting
ready actually in October of2025 to do a four-week program
called Rhythm.
(43:29):
And it's helping breast cancerthrivers kind of get into this
rhythm of routine and healingmind, body, heart, and soul.
So it is kind of based aroundsome of the features of the book
as well.
But if you all want to justfollow me on social media,
Instagram probably is the best.
It's Flo.
I'm sure you'll put this in theum things, but it's Flow F L O
underscore with Chrissy Florio.
(43:51):
I would love to keep in touchwith you and all of your
community.
And this was just so much fun.
Again, thank you from the bottomof my heart for trusting in me
and having this beautifulconversation.
This was wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (44:03):
Oh my gosh, absolutely.
Okay, now we're gonna wrap upand I'm gonna ask you the three
questions I ask everybody at theend of the interview.
They're kind of like rapid fire.
The first one is what's bringingyou joy today?
SPEAKER_00 (44:15):
This conversation.
Honestly, I love deep, reallyreal, authentic conversation.
So this is bringing me joy.
And I taught an awesome classtoday earlier, too.
So that made makes me very happyas well.
SPEAKER_01 (44:28):
Amazing.
The next question I have for youis what are you reading right
now, if anything?
SPEAKER_00 (44:34):
I am reading.
I am reading.
I actually have the book righthere, Be Seen by Jen Gottlieb.
Cool.
SPEAKER_01 (44:41):
I love the work.
Okay.
Very cool.
Yeah.
Awesome.
And then the last question Ihave for you, Chrissy, is who or
what has taught you the most?
SPEAKER_00 (44:50):
I, based especially on this conversation, my breast,
my breasts, the cancer, learningthat we really can do hard
things, it has brought me to acompletely different
relationship with my body, withmy mind, with my energy, with
this life we get to live.
I view life way differently.
(45:11):
I easily could go outside andjust look at the preserve behind
me and just lose myself in themoment.
And I really didn't do thatbefore.
I was a go-go-go type of person.
And now my breast and my cancerdiagnosis has created true
presence and this true conceptof being, of really being,
(45:36):
living through life, slowingdown.
SPEAKER_01 (45:39):
Thank you so much again for being here.
SPEAKER_00 (45:42):
I love you, girl.
Thank you so much.
This is all temporary, right?
Everybody can say it.
And and it's not like you'rejust throwing again like that
toxic posity, just layering ontop of the negativity.
No, it's just bringing you intothe present moment of what is.
What is for me at that time?
Okay, I'm sad.
I have cancer in my body.
I'm frustrated.
(00:20):
I want to punch something.
But you know what?
This feeling isn't gonna lastforever.
The cancer is gonna be gonesoon, and I just have to be
here.
SPEAKER_01 (00:55):
She's also a wife to her high school sweetheart and a
mom of two now young adults.
She's got a decade of experienceand blends vinyasa and
therapeutic yoga, specializingin lymphatic and fascia health
to support women on theirhealing journey.
And she is an absolutepowerhouse in all of these
things.
I'm so happy to be bringing thisconversation to you.
(01:17):
We do talk about Chrissy'sbreast cancer journey.
We also talk about mindset andhow to heal from trauma and
Chrissy's experience with herlifelong things that she brought
with her.
And it just gets so deep, and Ilove it.
Um, so this conversation is foryou.
If you know somebody goingthrough a breast cancer journey,
(01:39):
I asked Chrissy some good thingsto say to people when they have
a cancer diagnosis becausesometimes we're well-meaning,
but we say really stupid shitand we just don't know what to
say.
So then we don't say anything.
This is a very real, veryheartfelt conversation.
We touch on fear, the mind-bodyconnection, and so much more.
(02:02):
I hope you guys enjoy thisconversation as much as I did.
Let's jump in.
Chrissy Florio, welcome to theRaising Wild Hearts podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (02:16):
Thank you so, so much.
I am I'm always just so beyondlike grateful and honored when I
get to do these types of thingsbecause I feel like there's a
there's a sense of trust thatyou have in me to be able to
speak to your audience and yourcommunity.
So it doesn't go unnoticed.
I I actually have the chillsright now, you know, kind of
(02:38):
thinking about this and a littlebit of what we were talking
about beforehand too.
But it doesn't go unnoticed howgrateful I am to be able to not
only share my story, but alsoshare some of my wisdom and my
knowledge and hopefully be aninspiration to at least one
person in your community, if notmore.
SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
That's right.
A lot more than that.
And this conversation, yes,we're gonna talk about breast
cancer.
You were diagnosed with breastcancer in 2020, but also like
this conversation at the core,at the heart, is about being
human in this messy fuckingworld we find ourselves in.
It's about self-love and aboutempowerment.
So we're gonna go all theplaces.
(03:18):
And the place I want to kick usoff, like, tell us how you
transformed this story from paininto purpose.
Like, look at you.
You wrote a book.
You're, you know, you started abusiness.
Like, I just can't wait to hearabout it.
But like a lot of people, youcould put your head in the sand
and just kind of take it and letit beat you down, but you
(03:40):
transformed it to purpose.
So take us along that journey.
SPEAKER_00 (03:43):
All right.
Well, yeah, being diagnosed inin 2020 was another smack in the
face after going through COVIDand quarantine life.
And I was diagnosed inSeptember.
And in Florida, as you know, wewere already starting to get
back out and live life again andrestart after quarantine life.
And so when I was diagnosed,because of the uncertainty of
times, I felt like I needed togo back into quarantine.
(04:05):
I didn't know how my body wouldreact.
I went through chemo, I had adouble mastectomy.
I didn't know how my immunesystem would react to getting
COVID or getting sick.
So we quarantined again.
And I gotta say, it was ablessing in disguise to go back
inwards again, not only inquarantine before, where I took
that time to start developingeven more of a spiritual
(04:27):
practice, but I was able to putsome of that and a lot of my
other practical tools in myspirituality and what I was just
learning.
And then obviously my backgroundin yoga, having taught yoga for
so many years, when I had to gothrough my breast cancer
journey, I had to go inward.
And I had the time to do that.
I didn't have all thedistractions.
(04:48):
The only place I was going towas to my doctor's appointments
and to chemo.
I didn't have the distractionsof normal life going on.
So I was able to really, reallygo inward and start to really
understand the importance ofhealing through this, not around
this, healing mind, body, heart,and soul.
And understanding that this ishappening for me and not to me.
(05:12):
And that's a really hard thingto understand.
You hear those words, you havecancer, and you're like, what in
the actual fuck?
I thought I was a healthyperson.
How did this happen to me?
There's no way, right?
And and those thoughtsdefinitely went in my mind.
I mean, I'm not gonna lie,right?
But I was able to just kind ofhone it back in and say, okay,
Chrissy, let's let's see reallywhat this means and and how we
(05:36):
can grow through this and get onthe other side of this and not
just play the woe is me um typeof character in this story of
mine.
You know, granted, I have alwaysbeen somewhat of a a positive
person.
I I've always kind of seen, youknow, the the good side of
things.
But when you're going throughthat, there's a lot of dark
(05:57):
days.
And I think it's important tounderstand that we can have
those days.
And it's important to also workthrough those days and not just
sugarcoat everything and justput positivity, toxic positivity
on top of everything.
It's it's you gotta understandthat we have to feel all of the
feels.
So I also allowed myself to dothat throughout my whole
journey.
(06:18):
And and it really wasn't untillike a couple years later that I
paused and I looked back and Iwas like, holy shit, I really I
would read like journal promptsand or some of my old journal
books, and I would look back andwow, I really, from the
beginning, was fairly positive.
Like, I got this.
(06:38):
I'm gonna tackle this head on.
And that's when I started torealize more and more that I
needed to turn my pain intopurpose and really help women
who are diagnosed understandthat it doesn't have to be a,
you know, a prison sentence,understand that they can still
create a life of peace, of joy,of ease in their diagnosis.
(07:03):
And and again, but alsounderstanding that they're gonna
have hard days, they're gonnahave good days, they're gonna
have rough days, they're gonnahave, you know, the in-between,
but that it's super important tofeel all of it.
And I just, yeah, I think that'skind of where I was just like, I
gotta do something.
And as teaching yoga, um, Ithought I was gonna kind of go
(07:23):
down that route.
So I got differentcertifications, like yoga for
cancer recovery and yoga for thelymphatic system, understanding
our physical vessel a little bitmore about the fascia, even
traditional Chinese medicine,all with a yoga like foundation.
But I realized more and morethat I gotta, I have to create
(07:45):
something that I don't have tobe in front of the person.
And that's where I realized abook is really necessary.
So yeah, so I started writingthe book for The Love of Jugs, A
Bresties Guide.
Love it.
Every time I say it out loud, Iactually giggle.
Yeah, because it's just funny.
But you know, it just brings usa sense of lightness to what
(08:07):
could be a very dark time.
So, you know, she's been out nowfor almost six months, and um,
I've been getting just somebeautiful reviews and and even
from people who have neverexperienced cancer, have read it
and feel that it is very helpfulfor them in whatever trauma or
life situation that they gothrough as well.
So that's really nice to kind ofhear from from different people
(08:30):
with uh those beautiful reviews.
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
Yeah.
Did you think while you werewriting your book that this was
kind of like a love letter or awarm hug to yourself on that day
when you got that diagnosis?
Exactly.
Again, chills again.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:46):
Yes, yeah.
You know, I wanted it to be thegirlfriend's guide, the what to
expect when you're expectingtype of book, but in the breast
cancer world.
Because the moment you hearthose words, you almost feel
like the Charlie Brown, like,wah, wah, wah, wah.
I mean, you you completelydisconnect.
You don't know which way iswhat.
(09:08):
You, it's just, it's a lot,right?
And you are getting thrown intothis new world that number one,
nobody ever wants to be in, butthere's new lingo, right?
You got to learn all thelanguage of cancer, what type of
cancer you have, what's yourprotocol is gonna be.
Then you start doing research.
Is this right for me?
And obviously telling everybodyand being that emotional
(09:30):
standpoint of it.
So the book really is for thosewomen.
The most because again, peopleask me all the time, Chrissy,
what my sister was diagnosed, mymom was diagnosed, my best
friend was diagnosed, what can Iget them?
The book is what you get them.
The book is, you know, gonna bekind of like their Bible, their
journal, their guide to keepwith them throughout their whole
(09:51):
journey.
Because not only is there thepractical tools in it, right?
But it there's a lot more ofhelping people to realize that
there's more to healing thanjust the, I'm just healing my
breast, I'm just healing wherethe cancer is.
You have to heal mind, body,heart, and soul.
So introducing to some peoplethat don't even understand
(10:14):
really what holistic healing isor an integrative approach to
your healing, but how can youincorporate, yes, the the
physical of the Western world toget the cancer out, but how do
you also incorporate some ofthose ancient old wisdom, you
know, and energetic type ofhealing practices from the
Eastern world?
And so, I mean, that's reallywhat I did.
(10:35):
I incorporated both into mypractice and I felt like it gave
me something to do on my own tohelp myself support myself and
not need my doctors.
And granted, I did need mydaughter, doctors.
I went through chemo, I had themastectomy.
So I needed them to help me getthe cancer out, but I was also
supporting myself mentally andemotionally and energetically as
(10:57):
well, so that I could heal onthose levels too.
So I incorporate that into thebook, as well as recorded
meditations and a beautifulguide that they can get sent to
them, as well as the book, thatis just one more level, one more
interactive level to the book.
And we talk about all things inthis book.
We talk about nipples and sexand, you know, just like body
(11:21):
image and things that peopledon't realize that we experience
when you're going through likeall of these changes that are
going on in your body.
And you just they don't talkabout it really in the doctor's
offices.
And so, unless you have somebodythat's been through it or who's
really, really open, if you havea doctor that, you know, is a
little bit more forward-thinkingand talks about these types of
(11:43):
things, then it's it'sbeautiful.
But I didn't know some of thesethings.
And so again, I just wanted togift that to my pink sisters
that come after me, of justgiving them that sense of like,
oh gosh, thank goodness I'm notthe only one experiencing this
type of thing.
unknown (12:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:00):
Or if they do start to feel like, you know, sex
hurts or it doesn't feel gooddown there, or, you know, like
just moving your body and stuff,just the achy joints and
everything, just knowing thatit's normal, somewhat normal, or
that you're not alone is iscomforting.
SPEAKER_01 (12:16):
Right.
I love that you incorporatedkind of the mind, body, body,
mind connection in this book.
I think that's amazing.
Do you?
I'm so curious because I waslike kind of thinking about our
interview.
I was thinking about what wewere going to talk about, and I
was like, I wonder what LouiseHay has to say about like the
manifestation of breast issuesand what it represents.
(12:37):
And symbolically, have you everlooked up in Louise Hay, You Can
Heal Your Life?
What it like the symbolism, Iguess, of the breasts and breast
cancer.
SPEAKER_00 (12:47):
I have not, but that's beautiful, and I'm going
to.
SPEAKER_01 (12:50):
Yeah.
Well, I'm going to tell you.
I'm going to tell you right now,because I did.
I have the book here.
I was like, I gotta bring thisup because I think it's really
interesting, and maybe we canlike dissect this because I'm
curious your thought on this.
So it says, she says, breastsrepresent mothering and
nourishment, of course, right?
And breast problems represent arefusal to nourish the self,
(13:12):
putting everyone else first,over-mothering, over-protection,
and overbearing attitudes.
Like, how does that all land foryou?
And then we're gonna unpack iteven more.
Nipples are tingling here alittle bit.
I'm feeling it.
Like, I feel that.
SPEAKER_00 (13:29):
I do, I do.
Yeah.
I I love all of that and I cansee all of that, right?
Um, before I dive into that, youknow, we have the left side of
our body is the the female side,the mother side.
The right side of our body isthe masculine, the father
figure, the male.
(13:50):
And my breast cancer was on myright side.
So I'm on the masculine side.
And it's interesting that acouple of things.
My upbringing was an interestinghousehold.
My father was died, uh, was, um,excuse me, was paralyzed when I
was five years old.
And I know that going throughthat at such a young age and
(14:11):
watching my father go fromsomebody who was super um
physical and an athlete and verymuch a man to somebody needing
help a lot was a reallyinteresting thing to witness and
to watch.
It wasn't a very easy childhood.
And I love my father, but he'swas is is, he's still alive, is
(14:32):
somewhat of a difficult man tospeak to and stuff like that.
So when I got diagnosed and Irealized it was on my right
side, I'm like, well, isn't thatinteresting?
Right.
And when we when we talk aboutthe breast in general,
regardless if it's masculine orfeminine, you know, that this is
this is the way that we feed andnourish life.
And I just think that when webecome mothers, and it could be
(14:58):
a mother of an animal too.
No, you know, not everybody is,you know, can have children or
choose to have children orwhatever, right?
But we tend to sometimes, and Ithink this is generations past,
we do put everybody in ahead ofus, right?
We're the we're the doers, we'rethe givers.
We're like, okay, what do youneed?
What do you need, right?
(15:18):
And we just go, go, go, and wedon't stop and pause to provide
ourselves with the self-love.
And it's beautiful conversationslike this that is that
invitation to anybody who'slistening to this podcast, that
it's not selfish to create apractice, a routine, a ritual of
self-love daily.
Daily.
That could be five minutestuning everybody out and going
(15:41):
in your room and doing ameditation.
It could go be going to workoutclasses or yoga or going out for
a walk.
It could mean getting on a phonewith your best friend or making
time to go hang out with yourbest friend.
What are things that can nourishyou, right?
Because when we are little, weare being nourished from our
parents, Hopi.
(16:02):
And then when we have children,we nourish, but then it's like
we forget to fill our cups onceagain.
And that's really, really,really important to do.
So that's everybody's reminderand permission.
Like you don't need thepermission, but we feel like we
do sometimes, is to really allowyourself this time to love
yourself, to nourish yourself,to fill your cup, to carve out
(16:25):
time and space and not view itas selfishness, view it as
self-love.
We have one life to live.
We have one vessel that we livein.
And so showing up every day tojust move our bodies or just to
simply breathe or be is a formof self-love and so, so
important.
And then the other thing, too,for myself about the masculine
(16:48):
and the feminine, it'sinteresting.
I've, I've, I wouldn't callmyself like a real girly girl,
but I'm definitely more femininethan I am masculine for sure.
We need a little bit of both inus in order to create.
And I found that I was leaningway more into my feminine side,
(17:08):
which I love.
You know, we're girls, we'reladies.
I love the feminine side.
But I realized more and morelike I also have to attune into
the masculine side to do, toalso be that part in creating,
right?
Because if you think aboutbabies can't happen without at
least a male and a female, itdoesn't have to be together.
It could be sperm and rightthere, but we can't do it
(17:30):
without some form of fat umfeminine and masculine.
And we need to take that alsointo what we create in life.
We need to tune into a littlebit of that masculinity in us to
kind of really bring that hometo put it into action, but with
the loving and the creativityand the expression of the female
to like make it happen.
So I really had to tune intothat to actually create the book
(17:53):
too, which was reallyfascinating for me to understand
and to just have that moment oflike, oh shit, okay, I see where
you're going with that.
So it was really just kind ofnice, very cool.
SPEAKER_01 (18:04):
So did the book like fall out of you, or did you have
to like tape yourself to yourchair or somewhere in between?
SPEAKER_00 (18:10):
Somewhere in between.
In the beginning, it was, itwas, it was, it was bumpy,
right?
It was like, okay, where do Iwant to go with this?
My brain can focus and create somany different things, but then
it wasn't like making sense.
And I would catch myself, fearwould be coming in.
And it would be like, hey, whydon't you go schedule an
(18:33):
appointment with somebody, go tolunch?
Why don't you get up and go intothe pantry?
Yeah.
And go into the pantry and gograb a snack, even though you're
not hungry.
Why don't you say, you knowwhat?
Oh, you know, you definitelyneed more coffee when you
clearly don't, right?
The fear and the ego and justthat procrastination was big.
It was huge.
(18:54):
And just doing the type ofmindset work and growth work and
just being real and honest withmyself, I saw that.
I understood that.
So it was taking me a lot longerin the beginning because of
that.
And then towards the end, I justwas like, I'm doing a disservice
(19:15):
to all of these women who arebeing diagnosed daily.
It is one in eight women whowill be diagnosed with breast
cancer in their lifetime, right?
One in eight.
So I'm doing a huge disserviceby not having this book out in
the world.
And I think that was like thefire.
And then also be having thatrealization of the masculine and
the feminine that actuallyreally, really helped me.
(19:36):
And I would do a lot ofmeditations where I would
meditate around my heart spaceand I would see my heart almost
like it was a throne.
But it wasn't just a queen'sthrone or a king's throne.
It was both of them sittingthere.
And it was like I saw themcoming together and being in
unison and working together tohelp me get this book out into
(19:57):
the world.
And it was really then that Ithen also put a timeline on
myself.
And I was starting to feelenergetically, she has got to be
out in the world.
I just, I gotta get her done.
I gotta get her done.
And I kept just saying that overand over in my mind.
And I just put the pedal to themetal and I just, I, I got it
out.
And you know what?
(20:17):
She's probably not perfect asnothing is in life, right?
And so I had to be one with the,it's never gonna be perfect.
Just get her out into the world,be with what is.
And then I I found my publishingteam and um worked with them to
finalize everything, and andhere she is, six months ago.
I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
I love that.
So I want to talk about thislike overmothering piece versus
self-care.
And I don't think we have tolike pit these two against each
other, right?
I do believe because I'mpracticing daily, like that I
can be a mom of three and stillcare for myself.
And sometimes for me, it sneaksup in these very sneaky ways.
So, like today, 20 minutesbefore this podcast interview,
(21:01):
wouldn't you know?
I got a call from my son'steacher.
You know, he's just feeling alittle off.
He's feeling a little stuffy.
I really think the best thingfor him would be to come home.
And I'm like, yeah, that'sgreat.
And I totally get that.
And I just I love how committedyou are to my son's needs and
how in tune you are to him.
And mama's got shit to do.
(21:22):
So I'm gonna um call you later.
I'll let you know when I can getthere.
And in that moment, I actuallyhung up the phone and I had a
good cry because I, you know,like feel that pull, right?
We can feel this pull in sneakyways of like, drop everything,
gotta go get him, got, gotta putmy thing on hold.
And it's like, no, I I thinkit's a good practice to really
(21:45):
be aware.
Is this one of those times?
Cause okay, there's gonna bethat time, right?
Right.
But of course.
Today wasn't, right?
So, how in your experience, youhave two grown-ish kids, right?
Did you and do you continue towith adult kids balance that
like overmothering versus likereally holding your line and
your boundary of yourself?
(22:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (22:06):
Or for yourself.
Yeah.
And for yourself, right,exactly.
Because, you know, the truth ofthe matter is we're, you know,
we're different people.
We wear different hats, right?
We're self first, then we aremother or wife or friend or
sister or daughter or whatever.
But we have to make sure that weare whole and centered and
(22:29):
aligned and filled first.
But when people need us, right?
It is that very much pull.
And it's interesting that you'resaying this now because my
children right now are 20 and23.
So yeah, they are now adults.
But my daughter just had her allfour of her wisdom teeth pulled
last week.
And so her being home and I feltlike it brought me back to when
(22:54):
she was little and she neededme, right?
They don't need you as much.
They still need you, but theydon't need you as much as they
get older.
I don't need to, I'm not gonnawork, I'm not gonna do anything,
I'm just gonna be here for them.
But then I realized like that'soff balance.
And I think that, you know,obviously in life, I'm a Libra,
as we talked about this.
I'm a Libra.
So I really hone in on thescales and balancing of things,
(23:18):
but not everybody is like that.
And not every moment in our lifeis gonna be fully balanced.
Like I fully understand that.
Hot, like myself wasn't feelingright with that.
So I was like, you're gonna befine for a little while.
I'm gonna go for a walk, or I'mgonna do this, I'm gonna make
you soup, but I'm going to, youknow, or or giving yourself
grace and saying, I'm gonna giveyou my all right now because you
(23:42):
need it and I appreciate you andI want to get you up and
running.
So I'm just gonna put certainthings on the back burner for
right now.
So I don't feel pulled to alsodo this, right?
So it's almost like setting theexpectations within yourself to
say, I'm gonna focus on thisright now because this is this
is present and this is what'sneeded.
And those all of those otherthings, you know what, they're
(24:04):
not my priority right now.
So I think that's also somethingthat we can create within
ourselves, is not the need to doeverything on the to-do list
right away and it has to bedone, right?
Certain things can be pushed offto the next day and what have
you.
So that's super important.
But for you in your case, whereyour child calls, the teacher
(24:25):
calls, and and they need you.
I think some of these thingsalso are really good learning
lessons for our kids toexperience when they're little.
Not every time that I have alittle sniffle or I'm like, you
know, almost and you're givingthem like the power to like kind
of push through a little bit.
And I don't want to say pushthrough in a very like, no, suck
(24:45):
it up buttercup type of well,the gift of trusting someone
else too.
SPEAKER_01 (24:49):
Yeah.
The gift of trusting that he'sin good care.
SPEAKER_00 (24:52):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
And also that like relax alittle.
SPEAKER_01 (24:56):
Yeah.
Well, and he's a boy.
I think I can like let him pushthrough a little bit more than
my girls, like, you know,parenting them differently.
Like I want my girls to beunderstand that they're cyclical
and that they, you know, theyhave that kind of rhythm.
But him, I'm like, okay, liketake a hammer and go beat some
shit out back.
Yeah, yeah.
It's like a kind of a different,you have a boy and a girl,
(25:18):
right?
I do.
I do.
Parent them definitelydifferently for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So interesting.
Okay.
So I want to circle back aroundto fear.
We dipped our toe into like thefear that came up when you
started to write your book andwhen you continued to stay the
course.
What was that fear voice likefor you in the beginning of your
(25:39):
breast cancer journey?
And how did you ultimately, I'massuming that you did, because I
know you and I know your story.
I'm assuming that you did shiftit from fear to love.
And how was that journey foryou?
Did you have to embrace thefear?
Did you have to say, like, fuckthe fear?
Did you like what did you do?
SPEAKER_00 (25:55):
Yeah, definitely in the beginning of my journey,
everything was fuck cancer.
Everything.
I had that mentality of like,fuck that, this, this, you know.
And it wasn't what's interestingis from a fear-based standpoint,
maybe, maybe the universe knew Iwas gonna be okay.
(26:17):
I never had the moment of likedeath, the fear of death.
I didn't go down that path.
And I know I've spoken to somany people who have been
diagnosed with cancer since me,since my diagnosis.
And there's some people thatdefinitely are fearful of dying.
They're fearful that cancer isgoing to take them.
It's interesting, I never hadthat moment.
(26:37):
For me, the fear was how is mybody going to react to a chemo?
How is my body going to actreact to putting implants in?
These implants that I neverwanted.
And yes, I had the decision if Iwanted them or not, but I had a
double mastectomy.
I have zero breast tissue.
I would look like a 12-year-oldconcaved boy if I did not have
(27:00):
implants and I didn't go big oranything, but that that fear of
how is my body going to change?
How is my body going to adapt?
And leaning into my yogapractices and tools and
spirituality, I had to visualizemy body healing, my body gonna
(27:20):
be okay.
I I had to lose the attachmentthat my body is never gonna be
the same, ever.
Not even just my breast, but mybody.
I mean, what I what you gothrough when you're going
through chemotherapy is orradiation or the the surgeries,
your body changes and adapts.
(27:41):
You have to lose the attachmentto the number one, to the
outcome, just be in the presentmoment.
And I think that was one thing.
The moment I felt fear creepingin or sadness, because there was
a lot of times where I wouldjust get sad.
I couldn't just go out to happyhour or hang out with my friends
or go for walks with people.
(28:02):
I mean, my best friend literallywould have a take a COVID test
every time she came up here tocome lay in bed with me on, you
know, a day or two after chemo.
She would literally take a COVIDtest, come up here and stay with
me for a day or night, help mewith my daughter, give my
husband a little bit of break,you know.
So that was really the onlyinteraction that I had outside
(28:23):
of my husband and my daughter.
My son was already off tocollege.
So there was a lot of sadness.
So when those feelings of fear,of sadness, of anger, of
frustration, of confusion wouldcome up.
I, number one, always had amantra in my head of this is all
temporary.
Be here, Chrissy.
(28:44):
This is not gonna be forever,right?
One day at a time, one foot infront of the other.
And that goes for anything inlife.
You're having a tough day withyour children.
Okay, this is one day at a time,this is all temporary, right?
Everybody can say it.
And and it's not like you'rejust throwing, again, like that
(29:06):
toxic posity, just layering ontop of the negativity.
No, it's just bringing you intothe present moment of what is
what is for me at that time.
Okay, I'm sad.
I have cancer in my body, I'mfrustrated, I want to punch
something, but you know what?
This feeling isn't gonna lastforever.
The cancer is gonna be gonesoon.
And I just have to be here, bewith the emotion, feel the
(29:29):
emotion, release the emotion,right?
And not just layer it on withthat positivity.
And because it just subsides andit pushes in and it stays in our
connective tissue, right?
There's a there's a statement ora quote the issues are in the
tissues.
I learned that when I did myteacher training back in 2012.
(29:49):
And it's so true.
We hold on to these emotions inour the cells and the tissue in
the connective fat um,connective tissue of our fascia.
And If we don't release it andmove and just breathe and learn
to love our body and just letthings go, we hold on.
And then that's when they canultimately turn into dis-ease in
(30:11):
the body.
So I just knew that fear doesnot serve me, anger does not
serve me, but they're gonna comeup every now and then.
And we have to just be one withit more.
Be okay with it.
It's gonna come up.
It's gonna shock the shit of yousometimes too, you know, on days
that you least expect it.
But just notice it, be aware ofit, and then see what you need
(30:32):
in that moment.
Because we always do needdifferent things.
And if we're aware of like, Isee that fear creeping up, I can
see how that's showing up.
And now I'm acting in a certainway, or my thoughts are coming
more negative, or my actions, mywords, or you know, or I'm
lacking in doing anything,right?
I'm pausing, I'm fawning, right?
(30:52):
Or freezing even.
Then you can understand, like,if you have all of these
different tools in your toolbox,then you can start to see, like,
okay, well, what do I need rightnow to be with this and then to
move through this?
Whether it's breath work,getting out in nature, just go
standing out in the sun for afew moments, journaling,
(31:13):
tapping, shaking, right?
There's so many beautifulpractices that we can call into
to help us through that momentand to kind of just release and
uh feel at more at ease and calmin our bodies and regulate the
nervous system.
SPEAKER_01 (31:30):
Yeah.
I think a lot of us have troublewitnessing someone in a
challenge.
So, like if we hear that someonehas a cancer diagnosis, we say
the stupidest, most like awkwardshit.
And I'm sure you heard a lot ofthat.
So, what's one or two helpfulthings that we could say to
(31:51):
someone who recently received adiagnosis?
SPEAKER_00 (31:54):
Yeah.
Um, you know, I'm I'm a littledifferent because I don't get
easily offended.
And I think it just depends onthe person, right?
Because like some people can,well, first of all, don't ever
say I'm like, oh, my, my, youknow, mother-in-law died of
(32:15):
that, or don't ever bring updeath or, you know, or like the
negative side of things.
I would say try to be uplifting,supportive.
You know, some people don't lovethe you got this, but like
that's supportive to me, right?
You know, I I just try, I don'tknow.
Again, I'm not very, I don't getmy feelings hurt too often.
(32:38):
And people say things are, youknow, one thing that people
would say to me all the time islike, maybe they hurt themselves
or they got a stomachache orsomething like that, like, oh my
God, but it's never, it's not asbad as you, Chrissy.
And I always stop and pause andI say, but you know what?
Your experience is justdifferent than my experience.
Yeah, okay, yes, it might not becancer, but you had an injury.
(33:00):
So who's to say that that's notworse or better or whatever?
Like, who's to say that?
So just to, you know, kind of beopen-minded and put yourself in
their shoes a little bit andjust imagine, really think about
what it is that you're saying.
And just be as positive as youcan, but not like overly.
Just, you know, always support.
(33:20):
Ask what do you need?
And I'm trying to think of likewhat I don't remember really
any.
The only thing that I would saythat really, I think bothered me
the most was just getting atext, how are you?
from people that are really,really super close to me, but I
haven't talked to in weeks.
(33:41):
Making the people not feel likeyou're just checking in so that
you like just to get your updateand you know what's in the know.
But then also like just give alittle bit more, like thinking
about you, sending you love towhere it doesn't feel so like,
how are you?
Bitch, you don't get to know howI am if that's if you haven't
(34:03):
reached out to me in in weeks.
And you really don't want toknow, like, I've been running to
the bathroom or I can't eat, I'mso nauseous.
I feel like I'm gonna pass outevery time I stand up, right?
Like, that's not things that I'mgonna text over the phone, like
especially if you haven'treached out to me in a while.
So just again, being mindful inyour approach into the reaching
(34:25):
out is make it soft, make itmeaningful, make it like you
have their best interest inmind.
And it's not like you just aretexting so that you know.
So that you feel like ifsomebody asks that they know
what they're talking about,right?
SPEAKER_01 (34:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (34:41):
Just be more aware and supportive about that.
SPEAKER_01 (34:44):
Yeah.
So you seem like a very wise andgrounded person, Chrissy.
I'm assuming part of that islike yoga.
I don't know if you like cameout of the womb like a little
monk or whatever, but maybe,maybe you did.
Um, but I'm so curious nowbecause I, from where I'm
standing and kind of sitting,I'm looking at you and I feel as
(35:08):
though I'm sensing as thoughyou've gained even more wisdom
walking this path.
You have really needed to walkthrough the fire, so to speak.
And so what would yourself todaysay to the former version of
you?
Something maybe that you didn'tthink of.
I know you were always sopositive.
You were so like reallyinternally motivated to like get
(35:29):
this and get over this.
But like, what would you say toyourself today?
SPEAKER_00 (35:33):
I've really witnessed a lot of trauma in
life from my dad, you know, um,his injury when I was young and
seeing him overcome it.
That, yeah, no, I don't believeI came out of the womb like a
little monk, but I came out ofthe womb, you know, I was the
baby.
I was not necessarily a plannedpregnancy.
(35:55):
So that kind of also I think isa little traumatic, even though
I didn't really realize thatuntil years later, really until
2020, before I was diagnosed, Istarted to realize, like, hey,
you're not a mistake.
You're not an oops baby, right?
But so all of these littletraumas that we experience in
life give us the opportunity fora little bit more growth and a
little bit more wisdom and alittle bit more of like we see
(36:17):
other people, like with myfather seeing how he overcame
what he overcame.
So when I got to my big trauma,I was like, I can do this, I can
do hard things, right?
So I kind of went down thatroute.
But seeing myself now, and if Iwere to say to Chrissy,
42-year-old Chrissy, who is justdiagnosed, who went into, no, I
(36:41):
got this, I'm gonna do this,fuck cancer, right?
I would say, I did this, but Ididn't know I was doing this.
Change your language, be it morecalm, be more at one with the
cancer, and realize that you'renot fighting yourself.
You, because the cancer, it'sstill your cells.
(37:02):
It's your body, right?
Yes, we want them to go becausethey've gone rogue and they're
not necessarily good.
So we want those to go, but wedon't want to attack ourselves.
We don't want to fightourselves.
So I had the pleasure of workingwith a pranic energy healer who
you know, Faral.
And you know, she did abeautiful protocol on me and she
(37:23):
changed my way of thinking aboutthe chemotherapy at that moment
of just like, please go whereyou're needed and leave the rest
of my body unharmed.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (37:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:32):
And I think it was that moment that I started to
realize like, I've got to kindof be one with this.
But I was still saying, fuckcancer, I'm a warrior, right?
So I think that kind of for thepeople who are just getting
just, you know, diagnoses trynot to use that language.
So that is very hard, negativefighting language.
(37:53):
Just starting to immediatelycreate the sense of peace in
your journey and in your healingand understand this is one
thing, like, yes, teaching yogafor as long as I did, I
understand the power of the bodyand I understand the power of
the mind.
And I always talked about themind-body connection, but it
really wasn't until like I wasin it, and then even more after
(38:17):
doing some of these additionalcertifications of how important
the body-to-mind connection is,how we need to be more in our
body and in the experience ofthe senses of our body, and then
how that directs up to the mind.
I also have a lot of herniationsin my low back and bulging discs
(38:37):
and all of this stuff.
And when it flares up, I mean,it is really super painful.
And the more think about this,like when you have any type of
pain, the more you think aboutit, the worse it gets, the more,
you know, throbby it gets andintense it gets, right?
But when you are more in yourbody and you try to not think
(38:58):
about like that pain, the painis the brain signaling down to
those nerves to throb.
And there was a beautiful bookthat I read, Heal Your Back
Pain, that he actually, thisgentleman, this doctor, Dr.
John Sarno, way back in the 80sand 90s, was realizing that it's
more of like the body to thebrain.
(39:20):
Let's change that direction ofthe communication.
Um, to, you know, when you havea pain, to redirect it with a
certain affirmation, torecognize that that is fear, and
that is the fear signals fromthe brain trying to keep your
body safe and your nervoussystem safe to keep you where
you are.
So it's really an interesting,fascinating book.
(39:42):
So the more things that I learnabout that, and like with the
fascia, our communication systemof our bodies, we can change the
communication signals and we canmove from body to mind to create
more of that ease.
And I feel like I wish I wouldhave known then the power.
I knew somewhat of theimportance of it, but really
(40:03):
that direction of body to mindand the power that our bodies
have to heal.
And we don't give our bodiesenough credit in healing.
We tend to look outside ofourselves.
We run to doctors, we run tomedication.
And granted, I did, but I alsoincorporated an integrative
approach to it as well with thatholistic healing.
But I think that more and more,especially Americans, need to
(40:27):
understand how powerful ourbodies are when we nourish it,
when we feed it properly, whenwe limit external toxins and
environmental toxins, and whenwe quiet our mind and when we
can go inward, we can create ahealing vibration in our bodies.
(40:48):
And, you know, I could talkabout this all day long, but you
know, there's a lot of, there'sa lot of self-image, body image
issues in a lot of us, right?
We put ourselves down, we havethat inner critic in our mind.
And that is really defeating toourselves.
And one of my good friends,who's also a breast cancer
thriver, has said to me, youcan't heal a body you hate.
(41:12):
And that was like, holy shit,you can't heal a body you hate,
right?
And think about all of thesebeautiful humans walking around
with the idea that we have to beperfect and we have to put Botox
in our faces and all the fillersand, you know, show up to these
extra class exercise classesevery single day and put on the
(41:32):
perfect clothes and be perfect.
But that's not what it's about.
It's about finding thatself-love and going inwards and
meeting yourself with compassionand appreciating your
imperfections as much as whatyou think the perfection should
be and understanding there's nosuch thing as perfection, right?
So learning to love yourselfwith how you are, who you are.
(41:55):
And yeah, we want to make, wewant to show up for ourselves,
we want to be better than wewere yesterday and we want to do
things for ourselves, but wecan't have that negative tone,
right?
Because then our bodies can'theal.
So we have to create this innerand outer environment of love
and compassion and peace and andstrength and power to help our
(42:16):
bodies heal.
SPEAKER_01 (42:18):
That's right.
The mantra I've been ending mymeditation with the past like
month or so is peace begins withme.
And sometimes when I say it,it's like, really though, shit.
No, not today though.
But but it is.
It's, you know, peace beginswith me.
That inner, you know, that innerlove, that inner peace, and it
exudes out.
So I love that.
(42:39):
You are a gift.
Thank you so much.
Where do we find you and followyou?
Where do we get your book?
Tell the people where they canget all your stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (42:48):
Yeah.
So the book is on Amazon and onmy website.
Again, it's called For the Loveof Jugs, a Bresties Guide.
Again, I giggle every time.
And you can also get it on mywebsite.
So you can go toforthelovofjugs.com and there
you'll be led to the beautifullanding page with all of the
stuff about the book.
You can also download theBresties Meditation Guide there,
(43:09):
which is the has the recordedmeditations and a lot based
around the book, a lot ofjournal prompts and things like
that.
And the book has even morejournal prompts and interactive
components to it as well.
And then you can learn otherways to work with me, getting
ready actually in October of2025 to do a four-week program
called Rhythm.
(43:29):
And it's helping breast cancerthrivers kind of get into this
rhythm of routine and healingmind, body, heart, and soul.
So it is kind of based aroundsome of the features of the book
as well.
But if you all want to justfollow me on social media,
Instagram probably is the best.
It's Flo.
I'm sure you'll put this in theum things, but it's Flow F L O
underscore with Chrissy Florio.
(43:51):
I would love to keep in touchwith you and all of your
community.
And this was just so much fun.
Again, thank you from the bottomof my heart for trusting in me
and having this beautifulconversation.
This was wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (44:03):
Oh my gosh, absolutely.
Okay, now we're gonna wrap upand I'm gonna ask you the three
questions I ask everybody at theend of the interview.
They're kind of like rapid fire.
The first one is what's bringingyou joy today?
SPEAKER_00 (44:15):
This conversation.
Honestly, I love deep, reallyreal, authentic conversation.
So this is bringing me joy.
And I taught an awesome classtoday earlier, too.
So that made makes me very happyas well.
SPEAKER_01 (44:28):
Amazing.
The next question I have for youis what are you reading right
now, if anything?
SPEAKER_00 (44:34):
I am reading.
I am reading.
I actually have the book righthere, Be Seen by Jen Gottlieb.
Cool.
SPEAKER_01 (44:41):
I love the work.
Okay.
Very cool.
Yeah.
Awesome.
And then the last question Ihave for you, Chrissy, is who or
what has taught you the most?
SPEAKER_00 (44:50):
I, based especially on this conversation, my breast,
my breasts, the cancer, learningthat we really can do hard
things, it has brought me to acompletely different
relationship with my body, withmy mind, with my energy, with
this life we get to live.
I view life way differently.
(45:11):
I easily could go outside andjust look at the preserve behind
me and just lose myself in themoment.
And I really didn't do thatbefore.
I was a go-go-go type of person.
And now my breast and my cancerdiagnosis has created true
presence and this true conceptof being, of really being,
(45:36):
living through life, slowingdown.
SPEAKER_01 (45:39):
Thank you so much again for being here.
SPEAKER_00 (45:42):
I love you, girl.
Thank you so much.
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