In this heartfelt and expansive episode, I’m joined by Parashakti Alexandra - yoga teacher, sacred space holder, and new mother, as she shares her powerful journey through yoga, pregnancy, motherhood, and rediscovering her authentic self.
Together we explore:
🌿 The philosophy and ethics of yoga (yamas & niyamas) as spiritual guideposts for boundaries, identity, and self-trust
🌿 How pregnancy transformed her yoga practice from asana-focused to prayerful and intuitive
🌿 Why modern motherhood often feels overwhelming—and how lack of community support, not the child, is the root cause
🌿 The importance of co-regulation and adult nervous system support in postpartum wellness
🌿 Reclaiming your individual identity within motherhood—and honoring your soul’s unique evolution
🌿 What it truly means to live your yoga off the mat
This is a must-listen for anyone navigating life transitions, identity shifts, or the sacred terrain of motherhood and healing.
📅 Retreat Reminder: The Return to Soul Retreat is happening this October in Upstate NY!
📩 Join the Monthly Newsletter for tools, practices, and updates straight to your inbox.
Connect with Parashakti Alexandra on Instagram
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Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast is intended to inspire, educate, and support you on your personal journey. It does not substitute for professional mental health advice. I am not a psychologist or medical professional. If you are experiencing distress, mental health challenges, or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified professional.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Somatic Healing for Wellness-Focused
Women, a podcast for thesensitive, soulful,
high-achieving woman ready tocome home to herself.
I'm your host, rae.
I'm a somatic coach andbreathwork facilitator here to
guide you back to your body,your truth and your power.
Each week we'll explore nervoussystem healing, somatics,
(00:24):
breathwork, embodied living,creativity, self-expression and
soul-led personal growth.
If you are ready to soften thepressure, release perfectionism
and live with more presence,more pleasure and more purpose,
you're in the right place.
Let's take a deep breath andlet's dive in.
(00:44):
Welcome back to the podcast.
If you are new here, I'm Rae.
I'm a somatic coach andbreathwork facilitator.
And if you aren't new here,welcome back.
I'm so glad that you're tuningin for today's episode.
So for today's episode, we dohave a guest speaker.
(01:07):
I'm excited to introduce her inone moment.
And before we dive in, I dohave one front desk item for us
and that is that the upcomingretreat is happening in October.
Return to Soul Retreat and overon Instagram Live.
I've been doing a series, anInstagram Live series, kind of
(01:27):
talking about different parts ofthe retreat.
So if it interests you, you cancheck out any of those episodes
.
If you didn't catch them live,you can watch the replay and you
can check out the link in theshow notes for more information
on the retreat and theapplication notes for more
information on the retreat andthe application.
(01:48):
So our guest speaker today Alex.
She shares about her story andjourney of finding yoga.
She talks about the ethics ofyoga.
She also talks about herexperience with pregnancy and
the journey of becoming a mother, and she could talk a little
bit also about boundaries andnervous system regulation.
So I'm excited to bring youtoday's episode.
These are topics that some ofthem I talk a bit about on the
(02:11):
podcast, but definitelyparenthood it's not a topic that
I talk about often and so Ithought it would be fun to kind
of bring a new topic to ourpodcast here, our audience here,
and, yeah, let me know any ofyour favorite takeaways and I
hope that you enjoy today'sepisode.
(02:35):
Welcome back to the podcast.
I'm excited to bring youtoday's next guest speaker,
parashakti Alexandra, and I'llgive it over to her to introduce
herself in a minute.
But a little bit about how Iknow Parashakti Alexandra is
(02:55):
through the community, throughliving in the the same area,
connecting on Instagram, justreally seeing what she stands
for and just loving everythingthat she shares about and her
mission.
So I'm really excited to havethis conversation with her today
and to share her magic with you.
And today we'll be talking alittle bit about all different
(03:17):
topics.
We'll see where it takes us,but for anyone that doesn't know
you or isn't familiar with yourwork yet, us but for anyone
that doesn't know you or isn'tfamiliar with your work yet,
would you be able to share alittle bit about you, your story
and maybe where you're at inthis season of your life?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, thank you.
I am Parashakti.
Alexandra Parashakti is myspiritual name.
In many spaces I am referred toas Parashakti, but it's also
okay to call me Alexandra orAlex, and the phase of my life
that I'm in right now is abeautiful balancing act and
(03:56):
renewal and rebirth to reallyrediscovering who I am.
And in that questioning I havereturned to some beautiful roots
that have been there the wholetime and also some parts of me
that are newer and I'm justrefining the importance and the
true purpose of I'm a new mother.
(04:18):
My son is eight months old.
I am also a sacred space holder.
I guess you would say I teachyoga.
I'm very passionate about yogaphilosophy and ancient classical
Hatha yoga, more traditionalstyles of yoga, but I also hold
(04:41):
space predominantly for women toreally explore transitions and
life changes and to hold themthrough whatever is revealed to
them through this work, notlimited to yoga, but also in
relation to plant medicine,motherhood and sacred birth
(05:03):
preparation, womb healing andwomb work.
I've hosted full moon circles.
I'm really into astrology, sopretty much anything that really
fires me up and lights me up.
I like to then, when I feelready to hold that space for
other women to explore as wellwomen to explore as well.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, that sounds so beautiful and I really see
everything that you share reallyaligns with everything you just
said, and it's so nice to seehow it all kind of like connects
and really comes together sobeautifully.
I guess we can start with yoga.
Yeah, so with yoga specifically, how has that evolved for you
over time?
(05:50):
How did you find yoga?
What does it look like today?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
like expanding, like getting so excited to talk about
this Wow, I actually feel likeI could cry.
Oh, that feels so good.
It's been such an anchor injust like evolving as a person.
Really I want to say a woman,but you know a person because
you know so much of yoga is justeliminating all of our
(06:21):
identities, includingidentifying with being a woman.
It's just really understandingand being in relationship with
the true self, with a capital Swhich has no gender and has no
identity.
Yeah, my first yoga class ever.
I was 15 years old.
I went to a hot yoga class withmy older sister.
(06:42):
I was so hungover I wasdrinking a lot at that time in
my life I passed out in classfrom dehydration.
I also remember, because it wasmy first class ever, the
teacher instructed that me andmy sister be on the opposite
sides of the room from eachother.
We couldn't be next to eachother.
That absolutely terrified meand I remember passing out in
(07:05):
class like falling on my faceand that's never happened in my
life.
And the teacher just came overto me and she was like you're
okay.
And I was like, am I Like?
Everything just went black andmy ears are ringing and I'm
terrified.
But then I just laid on my matthe rest of the practice and
breathed, horrified.
(07:25):
But then I just laid on my matthe rest of the practice and
breathed which is the first timeI've also ever done that, and
just had nothing else to do butbreathe.
It's so funny how that was likethe seed of my practice.
Oh, because it didn't light meup.
I wasn't like wow, that'samazing and I can't wait to do
that all the time, but it wasthe beginning of something that
ended up, you know, leading mehere.
I was 15, then I'm almost 32now and you know it's such a
(07:48):
huge part of my life.
The story is very long, I think,of my relationship with yoga,
so I'll try to condense it, butI guess I will say that I was
still curious about it and Ialso knew that I was flexible
and you know, in practicing someother classes here and there, I
felt really powerful in thepostures.
(08:10):
I was like, oh, I'm good atthis, which is so funny because
now I would never tell anyonethat they're good at then and I
really enjoyed feeling strongand bendy and powerful and, of
course, the endorphins that werereleased.
(08:31):
And you know, after Shavasana Iwould leave class feeling
better than when I walked in, soI kept up with it through
college.
I always felt a bit insecurewalking into the space, but I
always felt better leaving.
So I just kept going walkinginto the space, but I always
felt better leaving, so I justkept going.
And I owned a travel company forseveral years before I became a
(08:51):
yoga teacher and I did a hugetrip in Europe by myself when I
was 23, backpacked Europe forfour months and I went through
so much on that trip of reallybeing with myself and I had an
incredible time.
And I had some tough times, youknow, really having to be with
(09:14):
myself on the bus, like fromPrague to Berlin, for so many
hours and totally by myself, notknowing anyone and just being
with my own thoughts and goingto some dark places.
And my salvation was always infinding a yoga studio.
Whenever I, whenever I got tomy next hostel, if I had a weird
(09:36):
time, like you know, on my busride, my my mind went, went to
some weird places.
I just intuitively knew like Ineed yoga right now.
So that's when things startedreally expanding in a new way of
like okay, this is helping mymind, this is helping my
emotional shifts.
(10:00):
And when I got back from Europe,I was so lit up about yoga that
I got my first job at a studioworking at the front desk, and I
was practicing almost every dayand that's when I started
crying at the end of every yogaclass in Shavasana, really not
cognitively processing trauma,but, I think, releasing a lot of
(10:24):
fear that I was holding onto inmy body, a lot of pain,
different narratives, ways thatI still felt just connected to
the story of the pain in my life.
And I remember meeting with theowner of the studio and just
telling her a little bit aboutwhat I was going through and
(10:46):
telling her that I was cryingand she was like this is yoga,
so keep coming back, just keepcoming back.
And, yeah, eventually went onto get my yoga teacher training
through the pandemic.
Had a big aha moment, you know,in deep meditation.
In the pandemic Sold my travelbusiness, became a yoga teacher.
You know, in deep meditation.
And the pandemic sold my travelbusiness, became a yoga teacher
(11:07):
, got super fired up about that,came home ready to teach, was
teaching like four or five daysa week, all different types of
classes, like I was just booming, I was so in my calling and I
think everyone could feel itLike even now, right, I'm like,
I'm like so, smiling so big,just like remembering that, like
(11:28):
that's how I was all the time,anytime we would talk about yoga
.
So that continued evolving andlet's see, after a few years of
teaching, just with myfoundational credentials of 200
hour, I pursued a 300-hourtraining that was, I would say,
80% philosophy and history-basedand 20% asana-based, and I had
(11:52):
no idea what kind of training itwas going to be.
I just knew that I liked theteachers and needed another
training.
And when I saw it announced Iwas the first person to sign up.
I was like, cool, it's time formy 300-hour.
It was Just like I just knew itwas meant for me.
And that's when yoga startedbecoming more embodied.
(12:15):
You know, um, I I felt likethrough became this way that I
started to live the practicerather than just practice the
practice.
Everything just made so muchsense and it really had me ask
(12:36):
big questions about what I wasdoing with my life, like who I
was in the world, rather thanjust teaching and practicing and
loving yoga.
But am I a good person Really?
Am I a good person?
Can I be accountable and can Ilisten to that gut feeling
(12:57):
really?
Or am I just talking about itand making little changes in my
life when something feels off?
Or can I make the big changeswhen I really feel like
something's really asking me toshift something?
Can I be brave enough?
Can I trust God enough?
Never really used the word Godas often as I did after that
training, that trainingcompletely like I like leapt.
(13:26):
You know it was like it wasn'tjust like the next step in my
life.
I felt like I skipped 10 stepsand then just arrived at this
new landing of just like oh,this is who I am now and yeah, I
think that's that I want to say, like that's where it's at with
(13:48):
yoga.
But you know, I think once Igot really got pregnant, I
really leaned into my practicebeing revolved the most around
prayer and the ethics and themorals, the trust, you know, the
more philosophical foundationsof yoga was the biggest part of
(14:08):
my practice.
When I was pregnant, I wasstill practicing asana, but it
felt different, it lookeddifferent, my discipline was
different.
I was still teaching up until afew weeks before I gave birth,
but even that was different.
And yeah, so there's been somany different stages of my
(14:29):
relationship to yoga and whatyoga has been in my life.
And yeah, it's been.
The most consistentrelationship in my entire life
is my relationship with yoga.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, wow, thank you so much for sharing.
It was so amazing to hear likeall the different layers and
lessons and the whole journey.
It was really, really amazing.
Yeah, so what you mentionedabout kind of this the spiritual
aspect of yoga, the ethic partof yoga and how it supported you
(15:06):
throughout your pregnancy andyou found yourself deeper in
prayer and deeper in the ethicsof yoga Can you share maybe like
a flavor of what that lookslike?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah, you know, the foundations of the whole yoga
practice are based in the ethicsand the morals of yoga.
They're called the yamas andthe niyamas and when I teach
about this I refer to them as,like, the 10 commandments of
yoga.
And the first five, the yamas,is really about your
relationship with others and howyou move through the world in
(15:39):
relationship to yeah, otherpeople, relationship to yeah,
other people.
And the next five is more aboutyour relationship with yourself
and cultivating that spiritualdiscipline.
So I just got a littledistracted because I hear my son
playing with his toys rightoutside my bedroom.
(16:04):
I'm much through pregnancy.
I was tired in different ways,or achy in certain ways, or, you
know, did my physical practicealready for the day and still
felt like I needed more back tostudying more often, reading
more of the yogic texts as a wayto just stay strong in my
(16:28):
practice.
Because where I couldpreviously practice asana for an
hour and 15, hour and a half, Iwas getting maybe 20 minutes of
, like, basic postures or, youknow, prenatal it's like they
instruct very different types ofpostures.
There's so many postures that Icouldn't do anymore and I still
(16:49):
wanted to feel so connected tomy practice.
So I do a lot of reading, butalso there is a huge element of
surrender and trust in beingpregnant and preparing for labor
and delivery and birth andmotherhood.
You know, everything that comesafter that.
And so I just had to reallyremember and put into practice
(17:14):
everything that I had studied,and so the biggest part of it,
you know, was just being reallyhonest with myself and really
honoring whatever was coming upfor me.
You know, instead of justtrying to be strong and just be
(17:34):
like, yeah, this is how it'ssupposed to go.
I wasn't afraid to ask questionsthrough my pregnancy.
I also wasn't afraid to I don'twant to say demand, because it
sounds a little bit charged, butI guess it was a little bit
charged, right.
Like.
I had a very natural experiencethrough my pregnancy and my
birth.
I'm at home birth, nomedication.
(17:55):
I had a midwife and never sawan OB in my entire pregnancy.
It was just my midwife who Iwould see, and that is so
incredible, right, how it's justa physiological way of giving
birth rather than this likemedical system.
And I think I had this idea thatme and my midwife would always
(18:19):
be on the same page because,like, obviously she gets me
because I want to do thingsnaturally and she does things
naturally.
And there was a few times,maybe two or three times through
my pregnancy, where I had tolike get a little bit stronger
in my in my voice and just belike, no, I don't want to do
that and why do I have to dothat again?
No, this is actually feelinglike a no for me, you know.
(18:43):
And and challenge, notchallenge her.
A little bit it felt like that,but really it wasn't about
challenging her.
It was about honoring what Iknew that I needed.
And even though I am outspokenand confident and speak up for
myself and all of these things,I don't think I would have been
able to do that through mypregnancy with as much grace and
(19:06):
as I could, because of the rolethat yoga has played in my life
.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, I'm hearing like just a lot of embodiment
and a lot of grounding, and Iimagine pregnancy can be a bit
ungrounding there's so many ebbsand flows and so many different
seasons of it.
And so being able to come backto your practice and come back
to your practice and come backto your practice and something
that I hear a lot in yoga islike practicing off the mat.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
That phrase, would you say that that's kind of like
what you were able to do andhow you integrated it into your
daily life?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Oh yeah, like 90% of my practice was off the mat
through my pregnancy, which wasawesome because I was, like you
know, not even just with mymidwife, but pregnancy brings up
so much and I think I thinkthis happens to everyone.
But I also think, I don't know,I have some hardcore karma.
(20:09):
You know things that just likeget stirred up in my life that I
just have to face.
I mean, everyone has that right, but I don't know.
There's a different intensityto some shit that I go through
in my life.
And then I also think that myson is this incredible symbol of
healing and change, becausewhen I was pregnant, I had shit
(20:34):
come up with friends and family.
That wasn't pretty, you know.
Ego was present with my friendsand my family and myself and my
partner, right, it's like allthis stuff comes up, like
there's such a huge changehappening to my immediate family
unit of me and my partner andmy son.
But my son and his essence andthe fact that he was coming to
(21:00):
the world was already creatingthis ripple effect of other
people being affected by himexisting and I was like he's my
little guru because he's alreadyimpacting so many things and
he's not even here yet so it was.
It was beautiful how mypregnancy was always this anchor
(21:22):
of just this wise little soulthat had all this power already,
and I think even the way that Iwas able to think about it that
way is a testament to mypractice.
I could have been like, oh myGod, this is so.
There's so much drama I'm goingthrough.
I can't deal with this rightnow.
I'm pregnant.
Meanwhile I was like, all right,little man, you're stirring
(21:44):
something up in my life.
Right now, this is happeningbecause of the seed of you,
right?
This is the change in my lifeand this person's getting shaken
up a little bit and thisperson's having a really strong
reaction to this and I need toprotect myself from this person
right now and I need to setboundaries around this.
And all of that was happeningthrough my pregnancy, and the
(22:06):
anchor of it was obviously myson, but also you know my
practice in setting boundariesand meeting people with love and
getting through the discomfortin a way that was graceful and
loving.
Even though it was souncomfortable, I still showed up
with my heart.
(22:27):
All of that was yoga.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Setting boundaries can be so challenging.
Boundaries can be sochallenging and I love that you
phrase it as an act of love.
Yeah, it is, yeah, yeah,oftentimes it can feel really
challenging and scary, and so wedon't give ourselves the
opportunity to see it from thatlens of it's going to serve us
(22:52):
and it's going to serve thepeople around us, and so we
don't give ourselves theopportunity to see it from that
lens of it's going to serve usand it's going to serve the
people around us, and, althoughit's challenging, in the long
run it is an act of love.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Absolutely.
I like that.
You said it serves us and thepeople around us, because it
does serve both.
I think taking a breaksometimes and taking some space
allows the other person to findanother way, and that is also
part of their karma and part oftheir healing, in a way that
you're not controlling anymore.
(23:20):
You're like I'm going to stepback so they can discover
whatever this is bringing up forthem.
There's this quote that I loveit's like boundaries are the
distance in which I can loveboth you and me at the same time
.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
And a little bit of a going back, a little bit to
another topic that we spokeabout, but I saw a quote that
you had shared on Instagram If Isay the name incorrectly,
chappelle Roan.
She had this quote All myfriends who have kids are in
hell.
I don't know anyone who ishappy and has children, and you
had a carousel post that Ithought was just so beautiful
(23:57):
and it was like, well, let metell you, that's my style a
little bit.
I loved it.
It was such like an incredibleyeah, just a way to point out
like all of the ways that womencan be supported through
pregnancy and birth andpostpartum, and would you like
to share a little bit about that?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, for sure.
So I don't even know how tofully pronounce her name.
I think it's Chapel Rowan.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Oh is it?
It might be.
Yeah, I probably said it wrong.
She's a new pop star.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
She's a new pop star.
I'm not really up with thetimes.
My friends have to show me someof these things.
She's pretty popular.
There's a few songs of hersthat I really enjoy, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
My favorite too.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I'll be like Pink Pony, that's the best one.
Yes, yes, yeah, it's so good.
I think she's cool, but I thinkshe doesn't get it yet.
And that's okay because, youknow, all of us say ignorant
things all the time, becauseit's just part of the human
experience.
Really.
(24:59):
It's like sometimes we speakwhen we don't fully know, and
that's also something that Ilearned, like with pregnancy.
Like sometimes people justdon't know, but they feel like
they should say something, and Idon't even know what question
she was asked when she respondedin that way.
But I will say that it's notkids that make your life hell,
(25:21):
it's the system and the societythat we live in.
Right, that was like the bellyof the post.
Like it's not becoming a mother, it's not being a mother, it's
not the life changing, it's nothaving the baby, it's not the
baby, it's not the toddler, it'snot the kids that are making
(25:44):
your life hell, it's the lack ofsupport and community and the
village.
It's the lack of support andcommunity and the village.
Like this is how people wereliving for thousands of years
and then just in the last Idon't know couple of hundred if
that, probably less, have thingsshifted in a way that just
(26:17):
upholds all right capitalism.
That's what it really is.
Right, it's like go back towork and do these things and
this idea of we want to go backto who we were before we had
children, like that's this likegoal right In terms of what we
look like and who we're hangingout with and how often we're
hanging out with them and whatwe're doing.
But like any incrediblelife-changing transition that
(26:41):
anyone experiences in their life, whether it's having kids or
making a career change or havinga spiritual awakening, like all
this stuff, there always is anelement, I think, of grieving
your past life.
Right, because I alsoexperienced, even with my
spiritual evolvement orspiritual evolution or whatever
you want to call it right, whereI was like like I don't drink
alcohol anymore and even once ina while I'll still have these
(27:03):
times of like man I miss justbeing like careless and ruthless
and like a lunatic, like I wishI just wasn't so self-aware and
like you know, I wish I couldjust get hammered and dance on
tables again and roll home atfour o'clock in the morning and,
you know, eat McDonald's andjust like not give a shit about
(27:25):
any of these things anymore.
And that's okay that once in awhile, like I get a thought like
that of like a little grief ofmy life where I wasn't at this
stage anymore, because sometimesit's easier, right, like it's
easier to not be so self-aware.
So I think that sometimes thereis an element of grief and
longing once you become a mom oflike yeah, I miss just like
(27:49):
going to a concert that startsat 10 pm, you know, and maybe
that'll happen again at somepoint in my life.
I'm sure it will.
So I think that is normal andhealthy, but I also don't think
that that means like we're inhell.
And I read something recentlyabout how new moms who have so
(28:12):
much grief about who they werebefore a mom are really finding
I don't see too much attachmentbecause I don't want to be like
judgmental, but I In some way webecome so attached to the
maiden, you know, the wild child, like the free, young, sexy
(28:36):
girl we were, and by stayinggripped to that we're actually
getting in the way of our ownevolution of the woman that
we're supposed to be right now,of the woman that we're supposed
to be right now.
So I feel like I'm bouncing allover the place with your
question because I can reallytalk about this in so many
different avenues of, like thechanges that come once you
(28:58):
become a mom and obviously it'sdifferent for everyone.
But just to bring myself backto you know, chapel Rowan's like
quote and that post that I madeI wish I had it in front of me.
But like the, you know,postpartum or motherhood can
feel like hell when you know youdon't have a supportive partner
(29:19):
who also educated themselves onthe changes that you're going
through in your body andemotionally and hormonally.
And motherhood can feel likehell when you know you're
expected to go back to workwithin six weeks or eight weeks,
which is way too soon, way toosoon.
You're still getting to knowyour baby.
(29:39):
They're still getting to knowyou.
Motherhood can feel like hellwhen there's no village showing
up for you postpartum, and it'sso often that our partners go
back to work earlier than we do.
So you know, if you're a newmom and your partner got two
weeks off to and that's like alot right, I know people like
(30:01):
you know maybe they took fivedays when the baby was first
born and then it's just youfiguring it out.
I don't even want to thinkabout what that could have been
like for me if on day five, itwas just me.
Like my heart is like breakingeven imagining what that could
be like.
But that really is the realityfor so many people in this
(30:23):
country.
And I think that's when thingsfeel like hell, because maybe I
would identify with thatstatement if I was also in that
position.
I would think that it washellish.
But motherhood can feel likeheaven.
It can be this beautifularrival and you know identity
(30:46):
and I keep saying the wordevolution, but it's just what
feels so true, you know, becauseyou're evolving into this new
stage of your life it can feellike heaven when you do have the
right support and when peopleare patient with you.
And yeah, it's all about help.
And for so many years it wasthe village, it was the tribe,
(31:09):
it was.
You know, at any given momentyou could just pass your baby to
another woman who you trustedand like, take a break and take
a walk and go sit by the riverand sing for 20 minutes and then
you know, just to regulate yournervous system and then come
back and we don't have thatanymore and I think that's what
makes it feel so hellish.
(31:29):
But it's not the baby that'shellish, it's not being a mom
that's hellish, it's the lack ofthe systems that have supported
us through this time.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah, yeah, I had a friend recently who had a baby
and it was so nice.
I got to go over her house withone of my other good friends it
was like a few of us like everyFriday and just kind of like
hang out with her and hang outwith the baby for when she was
on maternity leave for likethree or four months and it felt
(32:03):
like.
It felt like olden times orsomething.
I felt like I was like in theGolden Girls or something Right,
I love it.
Times or something.
I felt like I was like in theGolden Girls or something, right
, I love it.
It was so nice and it wassomething that we looked forward
to like every week, just beingable to like be together in that
space.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
It was really really nice.
That's so good, like I thinkpeople who don't have kids are
like oh she's pissy.
Like she's got her baby, likewell, she's doing that, like
we'll wait for her to reach outto us or like we'll call her in
a couple of weeks or a couple ofmonths, like when she has her
footing.
But what a lot of people don'tknow is that babies can't
regulate their own nervoussystem.
(32:43):
They don't have the abilitycognitively.
That part of their brain hasn'tdeveloped yet.
So babies regulate byco-regulating.
That's why they always need tobe to their mom.
But adults, even though we havethe ability to self-regulate,
when you are a new mom you arejust constantly co-regulating
(33:04):
with your baby that it becomesso much more difficult to
self-regulate that the way thata new mom self-regulates is by
being with other adults.
And that's something new that Ilearned when I was freshly
postpartum.
So I would just fucking textlike 10 people and be like who's
(33:26):
coming over today?
One hour all I need, please.
I just need to talk to anotherhuman.
Honestly, that's even how Ifeel.
Talking to you on this podcastthis morning, I'm like I'm so
excited for this.
I don't even know what we'regoing to talk about.
But I just get to talk toanother woman for an hour.
I'm so excited to do that.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
That's amazing.
Yeah, you know, I love that.
You, you share that because itmakes it makes so much sense
when you put it in that context.
You know, I talk a lot aboutnervous system regulation and
self-regulating and and thingslike that, and when you put it
in that context it makes a lotof sense.
Yeah, yeah, amazing.
(34:05):
So, sharing more, you know moreabout your story, more about
how it sounds like you're reallystepping into like merging yoga
and wellness and motherhood andlike all these like beautiful
things are coming together.
Yeah, what are some ways that,like people can connect with you
, people can find you, peoplecan work with you, things like
(34:28):
that people can work with you,things like that.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Yeah, so right now I'm teaching a few classes in
person.
So if someone listening to thisis local to Long Beach or
Rockaway, I teach a few days aweek at a studio called Ocean
Bliss Yoga.
It's in Rockaway.
Here I also teach prenatalevery Monday night at 5.30 here
in Rockaway and I also teachonline.
I try to do like two strongofferings per month virtually,
(35:00):
and I always bring out somethinga little bit different.
So, upcoming this month on the14th it's a Monday night I'm
teaching a class called yogicsleep, which is one of my
favorite classes to teach, whereI'll be teaching gentle
postures, and then we end withyoga nidra, and yoga nidra is
this type of guided meditationthat brings the practitioner to
(35:22):
a state of consciousness thatteeters between the wake state
and the sleep state.
It's incredible for nervoussystem regulation and I learned
somewhere that even doing like20 minutes of a yoga nidra can
almost like trick the body intothinking you just got like eight
hours of full sleep.
(35:42):
So it's, it's really, reallygreat.
So I'm doing it at 7.30 PM thatclass, because then people can
just drift off to their eveningroutine and then go to sleep
that night.
So that'm doing it at 7.30 PMthat class, because then people
can just drift off to theirevening routine and then go to
sleep that night.
So that's Monday, the 14th yogasleep.
And then on Earth Day, I'mexcited I'm offering a full
morning practice.
Virtually it's going to be a 90minute practice where we do
(36:05):
guided meditation.
It'll be like a grounding, verylike Earth Day meditation.
The asana sequence is veryfocused on the root chakra, so
we'll be doing a lot of hipopeners and a lot of standing
postures and then we end withpranayama, which is, you know,
yogic breath work.
So it's a full practice 90minutes.
If 90 minutes feels long forsome people, just remember that
(36:28):
the meditation and the breathwork portion, you know, are
almost like 30 minutes combined.
So it is like your standardhour-long yoga class, because
we're doing the asana for aboutan hour and then 15 minutes
meditation, 15 minutes pranayama.
So that's going to be in themorning on Earth Day, which I
think is the 22nd.
(36:48):
I'm also, you know, leadingworkshops every month, and
something that I just put backinto my offerings quietly I'll
be sharing about them more oftenis I offer mentorship to other
yoga teachers, people who arelooking to strengthen their
teaching style.
It's really one of my favoriteways to work with people in the
(37:12):
yogic lens because these arepeople who already have a
foundation of you know the bigumbrella of what it means to
practice yoga.
But I had different peoplereaching out to me because
they're looking to strengthentheir sequencing or their cueing
.
But also there's been someteachers who are feeling
disconnected from their ownrelationship to yoga and
(37:35):
teaching yoga has just become ajob and they show up and they
come up with their sequences andit lights them up, but when it
comes to their own practice ofjust them in their room, they're
feeling like a little bit lost.
So that's really exciting forme to reconnect them to their
why right, like their realpurpose, like what brought you
to be a yoga teacher, whatbrought you to yoga.
(37:57):
Let's reconnect with that.
And so that I have coming upthis month also working excuse
me, working with some people formentorship, but I think the
best way to keep up with whatI'm doing right now is through
Instagram.
I just updated my LinkedIn bioto this cute little, different
type of website that looks soaesthetically pleasing.
Now it's like all my littlelinks are right there and so
(38:19):
anyone can just click that andsee what offerings I have coming
up or, you know, just email meor DM me anytime.
I talk to so many strangers onthe internet and I really enjoy
it.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Yeah, absolutely oh.
That sounds amazing.
So many incredible things thatyou're up to.
I love Yoga Nidra.
That is my favorite.
I love drifting off into theand you get so many like
insights and everything.
And I'm hosting, actually, myfirst retreat in October of this
year in the fall Upstate, newYork.
(38:53):
So close, close by.
It's like a two hour drive fromLong Island area and we have a
guest teacher coming to do someyoga nidra manifestation, yoga,
sleep.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Awesome, awesome, congrats also on launching your
first retreat.
It is there's nothing like aretreat.
It's like I know it's like oneof my favorite things to do is
like do a mentorship, but I'mlike wait, I think retreats are
actually really my favorite.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
There's something so special that happens, you know
at them Like it's hard to putinto words, but when you take
time and space to likedisconnect from your day-to-day
routine and then you also cometogether with, like these
incredible people that we're alldrawn for similar or the same
(39:42):
reasons, it's just like some,it's like a little like
collective energy, and then yougo home and you're like wow,
like someone just shifted, orI've received so much, or I have
this new insight or this newinspiration, and it's really
nice.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
It is totally life changing.
I still get messages frompeople who came on my retreats
like three years ago stilltalking about how that became
like the foundation of themtotally changing their lives.
Someone who my first retreatthat I ever hosted I had only
been teaching yoga for fourmonths and I just sent it.
(40:19):
I was like I'm doing a retreatand I think it was easy for me
to do that too, because I owneda travel company for so many
years that I felt reallyconfident.
And just like so many yearsthat I felt really confident and
just like you know theproduction of this group trip
right and like you know making alist of all like the coffee
shops nearby.
So when we have free time, likeyou can go here and you can do
(40:39):
this and you know the itineraryof like we're going to hike at
this national park and I just Ilove it.
I love all of it.
And that retreat that I did, myfirst retreat ever.
Because of that retreat therewas this one person who came who
ended up getting totally soberafter the retreat.
She already was like not reallydrinking alcohol as much, but
(41:01):
she was smoking a lot of weedand even like on the retreat
she'd just be like excusingherself to the woods, like a
little chimney just smoking allthe time, and I, you know, do
your thing, girl, like that'sokay, that's okay.
So after that retreat and theother treats I do are also
always plant-based.
Now I think I'm probably goingto do them just vegetarian, but
(41:24):
we don't need any meat.
So anyway, this girl, likesuper Italian, right, like loves
her Italian meats, comes tothis retreat and then after I
think that I reached out to herbecause I was doing a retreat on
conscious cannabis, like a yearlater we were going to Colorado
and it was like intentionally,sacredly, connecting to the
(41:45):
spirit of the plant, you know,not using cannabis like
mindlessly and just like pickingit up for no reason, but like
as an ally in our spiritualityand that's a conversation for
another time, like myrelationship with, like what
that has become.
But I reached out to her because, like I think you'd be really
into this, right, she wassmoking a lot of weed on the
retreat and she's like you know,I haven't had a chance to reach
(42:07):
out to you, but that retreatthat we did, it totally changed
my life.
I stopped drinking, I stoppedsmoking weed and I'm vegetarian
now and it had been like over ayear and I was like what?
I had no idea at all.
And she was like I totallychanged my life after that
retreat.
It was like such like a shift inmy life and I was just like,
(42:32):
wow, okay, like there's thesesubtle changes that are reaching
everyone who comes on theretreat and so, like unbeknownst
, like to me, I'm just like,yeah, cool, everyone had a
transformative time.
Or, like you know, you getlittle texts or emails after
that was like thank you so much,like that was life-changing,
right, you hear that like a lot.
But then following up a yearlater and being like you did
(42:55):
what?
Like because of that, okay,great, awesome, like so glad I
could be a part of that in anyway.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Yeah, I mean, that's what, yeah, that's what's
possible, like on the other sideof just um, all of those little
shifts that happen over thecourse of a few days, and then
the next thing you know, you'relike, oh my goodness, I'm going
to make all these changes.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yeah, it's so cool.
I'm so excited for when I willeventually do more retreats and,
who knows, maybe you and I willdo one together one day.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Yeah, who knows, I was uh for this retreat.
I was looking for someone tocollaborate with, like that was
initially my, my vision for it.
Um, and over time it just itwasn't like happening Like the
thing.
The things weren't falling intoplace, and I love the way that
it's structured.
Now, um, it's a small group ofwomen, it's six women, uh, so I
(43:48):
you know I can hold space forsix women for that amount of
time, but the vision originallywas to collaborate with somebody
.
So I'm open to collaborationsfor the next retreat.
We'll see.
We'll see how this one goes.
I guess that was the first one.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Oh, it's going to be great.
I'm so excited for you.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Oh, thank you, yeah, yeah.
So my last question for you.
I always like to end with thisquestion whenever I have a guest
speaker, and this could besomething that you already
talked about, it could besomething entirely new, but, in
general, what is one thing thatis lighting you up right now in
life, in this season of yourlife, one thing that is exciting
(44:28):
, you bringing you joy, justreally lighting you up.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
I'm just going to take a few breaths to allow it
to reveal itself.
I think something that's reallylighting me up right now is this
I don't want to say likerealization or remember I don't
(44:52):
know what word I want to use butI've been thinking a lot about
like my future as an individualagain, and, of course, I'm
always thinking about my futurewith my family and my partner,
because now there's three of us.
So we're like where are wegoing to live and what are we
(45:12):
going to do, and you know,what's this going to look like
when we collaborate here andthis and the other thing.
But I've been getting somedreams lately and just some
downloads, some insights, somediscoveries of like pursuing
like higher education, you know,like maybe getting a PhD one
(45:33):
day and something about whereI'm at right now is just feeling
really excited, that likesomething epic is really going
to come in, like being a studentagain and not just, you know,
pursuing trainings, like I feellike I'm always going to be a
(45:53):
yoga teacher and I'm alwaysgoing to be this version of
myself in some degree, but Idon't know.
I've been getting these likevisions of being just like in my
forties and and just like witha PhD and like just doing like
really epic work and likeresearch, and like I've been
(46:13):
getting really excited about therelationship between psychology
and what yoga teaches us, likeethically and morally, about
like being a good person and howto like watch the mind, and I
think that's what's always litme up about yoga, because I've
been someone who has, you know,been in therapy since I was like
(46:35):
seven years old, so I have alot of like background and
understanding of the psyche andI've always wanted to like
bridge them in some way, like myspiritual path and the yogic
path, with like psychology.
And I feel like I'm gettingcloser to that right now because
things are starting to feelmore real about what that could
(46:55):
look like, what the potential isin that, and part of me has
always wondered, like whyhaven't I done that yet?
You know, but everything isalways divine timing and I'm
like I feel like that's what I'mworking toward in a different
way and I'm not ready for itright now.
But something is lighting up inme about, I don't know, maybe in
(47:17):
the next five to eight years Isee myself just like it's like
before when I talk about takingsteps and then all of a sudden,
it's like you skip a bunch ofsteps and you're on a new
landing, like that's comingagain I don't know when, but
it's coming and that's just likeyes, okay, and that's just like
it's for the collective right,it's my purpose and being of
(47:38):
service and like helping people.
But it also feels like likethat's for me.
You know that that's like notabout like my baby or my partner
, even though it'll like affectthem and they'll be there for
the ride.
I'm just like, ooh, like thisisn't about like my friends or
my family system, like this isabout like me as a woman and
like me as an individual and mypotential and my purpose.
(47:59):
And that feels like I would belike so hot, like that feels
like so sexy, like that's likeyes, like you know it's.
It's feeling like a big yes andum, yeah, I wasn't expecting to
like feel that way aboutanything, aside my baby, and
especially that he's only eightmonths old, and I'm like
(48:20):
something's in there for mecoming soon.
I'm like, yes, okay, that feelsgood oh, that sounds amazing.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Yeah, I can like, I can feel, I can feel like your
excitement and how how, yeah,how amazing that feels.
Well, thank you so much fortaking the time being on the
podcast.
This is an incredibleconversation and I just loved
hearing about your story andeverything that you're up to and
(48:49):
everything that you'll be up toin the next five to eight years
potentially, and thank you somuch.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Thank you.
Yeah, this was great.
An hour with another woman justfeels great.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Thank you for being here and tuning in to somatic
healing for wellness focusedwomen podcast.
If you were moved or inspiredby today's episode, please take
a moment to leave a rating andreview on Apple Podcasts.
It truly helps the podcast growand helps more people find me
on their healing journey.
Make sure to check out the shownotes to sign up for the
(49:25):
monthly newsletter, links tomore resources, opportunities to
work with me and ways that wecan stay connected.
If we aren't already connectedon social media, head over to
Instagram to follow me atraythesomaticcoach.
Send me a DM.
I'd love to connect with youand I answer each note that
comes in.
I am so happy you're here and Icannot wait to talk with you on
(49:48):
our next episode of the podcast.
Welcome to Somatic Healing for Wellness-Focused
Women, a podcast for thesensitive, soulful,
high-achieving woman ready tocome home to herself.
I'm your host, rae.
I'm a somatic coach andbreathwork facilitator here to
guide you back to your body,your truth and your power.
Each week we'll explore nervoussystem healing, somatics,
(00:24):
breathwork, embodied living,creativity, self-expression and
soul-led personal growth.
If you are ready to soften thepressure, release perfectionism
and live with more presence,more pleasure and more purpose,
you're in the right place.
Let's take a deep breath andlet's dive in.
(00:44):
Welcome back to the podcast.
If you are new here, I'm Rae.
I'm a somatic coach andbreathwork facilitator.
And if you aren't new here,welcome back.
I'm so glad that you're tuningin for today's episode.
So for today's episode, we dohave a guest speaker.
(01:07):
I'm excited to introduce her inone moment.
And before we dive in, I dohave one front desk item for us
and that is that the upcomingretreat is happening in October.
Return to Soul Retreat and overon Instagram Live.
I've been doing a series, anInstagram Live series, kind of
(01:27):
talking about different parts ofthe retreat.
So if it interests you, you cancheck out any of those episodes
.
If you didn't catch them live,you can watch the replay and you
can check out the link in theshow notes for more information
on the retreat and theapplication notes for more
information on the retreat andthe application.
(01:48):
So our guest speaker today Alex.
She shares about her story andjourney of finding yoga.
She talks about the ethics ofyoga.
She also talks about herexperience with pregnancy and
the journey of becoming a mother, and she could talk a little
bit also about boundaries andnervous system regulation.
So I'm excited to bring youtoday's episode.
These are topics that some ofthem I talk a bit about on the
(02:11):
podcast, but definitelyparenthood it's not a topic that
I talk about often and so Ithought it would be fun to kind
of bring a new topic to ourpodcast here, our audience here,
and, yeah, let me know any ofyour favorite takeaways and I
hope that you enjoy today'sepisode.
(02:35):
Welcome back to the podcast.
I'm excited to bring youtoday's next guest speaker,
parashakti Alexandra, and I'llgive it over to her to introduce
herself in a minute.
But a little bit about how Iknow Parashakti Alexandra is
(02:55):
through the community, throughliving in the the same area,
connecting on Instagram, justreally seeing what she stands
for and just loving everythingthat she shares about and her
mission.
So I'm really excited to havethis conversation with her today
and to share her magic with you.
And today we'll be talking alittle bit about all different
(03:17):
topics.
We'll see where it takes us,but for anyone that doesn't know
you or isn't familiar with yourwork yet, us but for anyone
that doesn't know you or isn'tfamiliar with your work yet,
would you be able to share alittle bit about you, your story
and maybe where you're at inthis season of your life?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, thank you.
I am Parashakti.
Alexandra Parashakti is myspiritual name.
In many spaces I am referred toas Parashakti, but it's also
okay to call me Alexandra orAlex, and the phase of my life
that I'm in right now is abeautiful balancing act and
(03:56):
renewal and rebirth to reallyrediscovering who I am.
And in that questioning I havereturned to some beautiful roots
that have been there the wholetime and also some parts of me
that are newer and I'm justrefining the importance and the
true purpose of I'm a new mother.
(04:18):
My son is eight months old.
I am also a sacred space holder.
I guess you would say I teachyoga.
I'm very passionate about yogaphilosophy and ancient classical
Hatha yoga, more traditionalstyles of yoga, but I also hold
(04:41):
space predominantly for women toreally explore transitions and
life changes and to hold themthrough whatever is revealed to
them through this work, notlimited to yoga, but also in
relation to plant medicine,motherhood and sacred birth
(05:03):
preparation, womb healing andwomb work.
I've hosted full moon circles.
I'm really into astrology, sopretty much anything that really
fires me up and lights me up.
I like to then, when I feelready to hold that space for
other women to explore as wellwomen to explore as well.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, that sounds so beautiful and I really see
everything that you share reallyaligns with everything you just
said, and it's so nice to seehow it all kind of like connects
and really comes together sobeautifully.
I guess we can start with yoga.
Yeah, so with yoga specifically, how has that evolved for you
over time?
(05:50):
How did you find yoga?
What does it look like today?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
like expanding, like getting so excited to talk about
this Wow, I actually feel likeI could cry.
Oh, that feels so good.
It's been such an anchor injust like evolving as a person.
Really I want to say a woman,but you know a person because
you know so much of yoga is justeliminating all of our
(06:21):
identities, includingidentifying with being a woman.
It's just really understandingand being in relationship with
the true self, with a capital Swhich has no gender and has no
identity.
Yeah, my first yoga class ever.
I was 15 years old.
I went to a hot yoga class withmy older sister.
(06:42):
I was so hungover I wasdrinking a lot at that time in
my life I passed out in classfrom dehydration.
I also remember, because it wasmy first class ever, the
teacher instructed that me andmy sister be on the opposite
sides of the room from eachother.
We couldn't be next to eachother.
That absolutely terrified meand I remember passing out in
(07:05):
class like falling on my faceand that's never happened in my
life.
And the teacher just came overto me and she was like you're
okay.
And I was like, am I Like?
Everything just went black andmy ears are ringing and I'm
terrified.
But then I just laid on my matthe rest of the practice and
breathed, horrified.
(07:25):
But then I just laid on my matthe rest of the practice and
breathed which is the first timeI've also ever done that, and
just had nothing else to do butbreathe.
It's so funny how that was likethe seed of my practice.
Oh, because it didn't light meup.
I wasn't like wow, that'samazing and I can't wait to do
that all the time, but it wasthe beginning of something that
ended up, you know, leading mehere.
I was 15, then I'm almost 32now and you know it's such a
(07:48):
huge part of my life.
The story is very long, I think,of my relationship with yoga,
so I'll try to condense it, butI guess I will say that I was
still curious about it and Ialso knew that I was flexible
and you know, in practicing someother classes here and there, I
felt really powerful in thepostures.
(08:10):
I was like, oh, I'm good atthis, which is so funny because
now I would never tell anyonethat they're good at then and I
really enjoyed feeling strongand bendy and powerful and, of
course, the endorphins that werereleased.
(08:31):
And you know, after Shavasana Iwould leave class feeling
better than when I walked in, soI kept up with it through
college.
I always felt a bit insecurewalking into the space, but I
always felt better leaving.
So I just kept going walkinginto the space, but I always
felt better leaving, so I justkept going.
And I owned a travel company forseveral years before I became a
(08:51):
yoga teacher and I did a hugetrip in Europe by myself when I
was 23, backpacked Europe forfour months and I went through
so much on that trip of reallybeing with myself and I had an
incredible time.
And I had some tough times, youknow, really having to be with
(09:14):
myself on the bus, like fromPrague to Berlin, for so many
hours and totally by myself, notknowing anyone and just being
with my own thoughts and goingto some dark places.
And my salvation was always infinding a yoga studio.
Whenever I, whenever I got tomy next hostel, if I had a weird
(09:36):
time, like you know, on my busride, my my mind went, went to
some weird places.
I just intuitively knew like Ineed yoga right now.
So that's when things startedreally expanding in a new way of
like okay, this is helping mymind, this is helping my
emotional shifts.
(10:00):
And when I got back from Europe,I was so lit up about yoga that
I got my first job at a studioworking at the front desk, and I
was practicing almost every dayand that's when I started
crying at the end of every yogaclass in Shavasana, really not
cognitively processing trauma,but, I think, releasing a lot of
(10:24):
fear that I was holding onto inmy body, a lot of pain,
different narratives, ways thatI still felt just connected to
the story of the pain in my life.
And I remember meeting with theowner of the studio and just
telling her a little bit aboutwhat I was going through and
(10:46):
telling her that I was cryingand she was like this is yoga,
so keep coming back, just keepcoming back.
And, yeah, eventually went onto get my yoga teacher training
through the pandemic.
Had a big aha moment, you know,in deep meditation.
In the pandemic Sold my travelbusiness, became a yoga teacher.
You know, in deep meditation.
And the pandemic sold my travelbusiness, became a yoga teacher
(11:07):
, got super fired up about that,came home ready to teach, was
teaching like four or five daysa week, all different types of
classes, like I was just booming, I was so in my calling and I
think everyone could feel itLike even now, right, I'm like,
I'm like so, smiling so big,just like remembering that, like
(11:28):
that's how I was all the time,anytime we would talk about yoga
.
So that continued evolving andlet's see, after a few years of
teaching, just with myfoundational credentials of 200
hour, I pursued a 300-hourtraining that was, I would say,
80% philosophy and history-basedand 20% asana-based, and I had
(11:52):
no idea what kind of training itwas going to be.
I just knew that I liked theteachers and needed another
training.
And when I saw it announced Iwas the first person to sign up.
I was like, cool, it's time formy 300-hour.
It was Just like I just knew itwas meant for me.
And that's when yoga startedbecoming more embodied.
(12:15):
You know, um, I I felt likethrough became this way that I
started to live the practicerather than just practice the
practice.
Everything just made so muchsense and it really had me ask
(12:36):
big questions about what I wasdoing with my life, like who I
was in the world, rather thanjust teaching and practicing and
loving yoga.
But am I a good person Really?
Am I a good person?
Can I be accountable and can Ilisten to that gut feeling
(12:57):
really?
Or am I just talking about itand making little changes in my
life when something feels off?
Or can I make the big changeswhen I really feel like
something's really asking me toshift something?
Can I be brave enough?
Can I trust God enough?
Never really used the word Godas often as I did after that
training, that trainingcompletely like I like leapt.
(13:26):
You know it was like it wasn'tjust like the next step in my
life.
I felt like I skipped 10 stepsand then just arrived at this
new landing of just like oh,this is who I am now and yeah, I
think that's that I want to say, like that's where it's at with
(13:48):
yoga.
But you know, I think once Igot really got pregnant, I
really leaned into my practicebeing revolved the most around
prayer and the ethics and themorals, the trust, you know, the
more philosophical foundationsof yoga was the biggest part of
(14:08):
my practice.
When I was pregnant, I wasstill practicing asana, but it
felt different, it lookeddifferent, my discipline was
different.
I was still teaching up until afew weeks before I gave birth,
but even that was different.
And yeah, so there's been somany different stages of my
(14:29):
relationship to yoga and whatyoga has been in my life.
And yeah, it's been.
The most consistentrelationship in my entire life
is my relationship with yoga.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, wow, thank you so much for sharing.
It was so amazing to hear likeall the different layers and
lessons and the whole journey.
It was really, really amazing.
Yeah, so what you mentionedabout kind of this the spiritual
aspect of yoga, the ethic partof yoga and how it supported you
(15:06):
throughout your pregnancy andyou found yourself deeper in
prayer and deeper in the ethicsof yoga Can you share maybe like
a flavor of what that lookslike?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah, you know, the foundations of the whole yoga
practice are based in the ethicsand the morals of yoga.
They're called the yamas andthe niyamas and when I teach
about this I refer to them as,like, the 10 commandments of
yoga.
And the first five, the yamas,is really about your
relationship with others and howyou move through the world in
(15:39):
relationship to yeah, otherpeople, relationship to yeah,
other people.
And the next five is more aboutyour relationship with yourself
and cultivating that spiritualdiscipline.
So I just got a littledistracted because I hear my son
playing with his toys rightoutside my bedroom.
(16:04):
I'm much through pregnancy.
I was tired in different ways,or achy in certain ways, or, you
know, did my physical practicealready for the day and still
felt like I needed more back tostudying more often, reading
more of the yogic texts as a wayto just stay strong in my
(16:28):
practice.
Because where I couldpreviously practice asana for an
hour and 15, hour and a half, Iwas getting maybe 20 minutes of
, like, basic postures or, youknow, prenatal it's like they
instruct very different types ofpostures.
There's so many postures that Icouldn't do anymore and I still
(16:49):
wanted to feel so connected tomy practice.
So I do a lot of reading, butalso there is a huge element of
surrender and trust in beingpregnant and preparing for labor
and delivery and birth andmotherhood.
You know, everything that comesafter that.
And so I just had to reallyremember and put into practice
(17:14):
everything that I had studied,and so the biggest part of it,
you know, was just being reallyhonest with myself and really
honoring whatever was coming upfor me.
You know, instead of justtrying to be strong and just be
(17:34):
like, yeah, this is how it'ssupposed to go.
I wasn't afraid to ask questionsthrough my pregnancy.
I also wasn't afraid to I don'twant to say demand, because it
sounds a little bit charged, butI guess it was a little bit
charged, right.
Like.
I had a very natural experiencethrough my pregnancy and my
birth.
I'm at home birth, nomedication.
(17:55):
I had a midwife and never sawan OB in my entire pregnancy.
It was just my midwife who Iwould see, and that is so
incredible, right, how it's justa physiological way of giving
birth rather than this likemedical system.
And I think I had this idea thatme and my midwife would always
(18:19):
be on the same page because,like, obviously she gets me
because I want to do thingsnaturally and she does things
naturally.
And there was a few times,maybe two or three times through
my pregnancy, where I had tolike get a little bit stronger
in my in my voice and just belike, no, I don't want to do
that and why do I have to dothat again?
No, this is actually feelinglike a no for me, you know.
(18:43):
And and challenge, notchallenge her.
A little bit it felt like that,but really it wasn't about
challenging her.
It was about honoring what Iknew that I needed.
And even though I am outspokenand confident and speak up for
myself and all of these things,I don't think I would have been
able to do that through mypregnancy with as much grace and
(19:06):
as I could, because of the rolethat yoga has played in my life
.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, I'm hearing like just a lot of embodiment
and a lot of grounding, and Iimagine pregnancy can be a bit
ungrounding there's so many ebbsand flows and so many different
seasons of it.
And so being able to come backto your practice and come back
to your practice and come backto your practice and something
that I hear a lot in yoga islike practicing off the mat.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
That phrase, would you say that that's kind of like
what you were able to do andhow you integrated it into your
daily life?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Oh yeah, like 90% of my practice was off the mat
through my pregnancy, which wasawesome because I was, like you
know, not even just with mymidwife, but pregnancy brings up
so much and I think I thinkthis happens to everyone.
But I also think, I don't know,I have some hardcore karma.
(20:09):
You know things that just likeget stirred up in my life that I
just have to face.
I mean, everyone has that right, but I don't know.
There's a different intensityto some shit that I go through
in my life.
And then I also think that myson is this incredible symbol of
healing and change, becausewhen I was pregnant, I had shit
(20:34):
come up with friends and family.
That wasn't pretty, you know.
Ego was present with my friendsand my family and myself and my
partner, right, it's like allthis stuff comes up, like
there's such a huge changehappening to my immediate family
unit of me and my partner andmy son.
But my son and his essence andthe fact that he was coming to
(21:00):
the world was already creatingthis ripple effect of other
people being affected by himexisting and I was like he's my
little guru because he's alreadyimpacting so many things and
he's not even here yet so it was.
It was beautiful how mypregnancy was always this anchor
(21:22):
of just this wise little soulthat had all this power already,
and I think even the way that Iwas able to think about it that
way is a testament to mypractice.
I could have been like, oh myGod, this is so.
There's so much drama I'm goingthrough.
I can't deal with this rightnow.
I'm pregnant.
Meanwhile I was like, all right,little man, you're stirring
(21:44):
something up in my life.
Right now, this is happeningbecause of the seed of you,
right?
This is the change in my lifeand this person's getting shaken
up a little bit and thisperson's having a really strong
reaction to this and I need toprotect myself from this person
right now and I need to setboundaries around this.
And all of that was happeningthrough my pregnancy, and the
(22:06):
anchor of it was obviously myson, but also you know my
practice in setting boundariesand meeting people with love and
getting through the discomfortin a way that was graceful and
loving.
Even though it was souncomfortable, I still showed up
with my heart.
(22:27):
All of that was yoga.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Setting boundaries can be so challenging.
Boundaries can be sochallenging and I love that you
phrase it as an act of love.
Yeah, it is, yeah, yeah,oftentimes it can feel really
challenging and scary, and so wedon't give ourselves the
opportunity to see it from thatlens of it's going to serve us
(22:52):
and it's going to serve thepeople around us, and so we
don't give ourselves theopportunity to see it from that
lens of it's going to serve usand it's going to serve the
people around us, and, althoughit's challenging, in the long
run it is an act of love.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Absolutely.
I like that.
You said it serves us and thepeople around us, because it
does serve both.
I think taking a breaksometimes and taking some space
allows the other person to findanother way, and that is also
part of their karma and part oftheir healing, in a way that
you're not controlling anymore.
(23:20):
You're like I'm going to stepback so they can discover
whatever this is bringing up forthem.
There's this quote that I loveit's like boundaries are the
distance in which I can loveboth you and me at the same time
.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
And a little bit of a going back, a little bit to
another topic that we spokeabout, but I saw a quote that
you had shared on Instagram If Isay the name incorrectly,
chappelle Roan.
She had this quote All myfriends who have kids are in
hell.
I don't know anyone who ishappy and has children, and you
had a carousel post that Ithought was just so beautiful
(23:57):
and it was like, well, let metell you, that's my style a
little bit.
I loved it.
It was such like an incredibleyeah, just a way to point out
like all of the ways that womencan be supported through
pregnancy and birth andpostpartum, and would you like
to share a little bit about that?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, for sure.
So I don't even know how tofully pronounce her name.
I think it's Chapel Rowan.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Oh is it?
It might be.
Yeah, I probably said it wrong.
She's a new pop star.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
She's a new pop star.
I'm not really up with thetimes.
My friends have to show me someof these things.
She's pretty popular.
There's a few songs of hersthat I really enjoy, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
My favorite too.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I'll be like Pink Pony, that's the best one.
Yes, yes, yeah, it's so good.
I think she's cool, but I thinkshe doesn't get it yet.
And that's okay because, youknow, all of us say ignorant
things all the time, becauseit's just part of the human
experience.
Really.
(24:59):
It's like sometimes we speakwhen we don't fully know, and
that's also something that Ilearned, like with pregnancy.
Like sometimes people justdon't know, but they feel like
they should say something, and Idon't even know what question
she was asked when she respondedin that way.
But I will say that it's notkids that make your life hell,
(25:21):
it's the system and the societythat we live in.
Right, that was like the bellyof the post.
Like it's not becoming a mother, it's not being a mother, it's
not the life changing, it's nothaving the baby, it's not the
baby, it's not the toddler, it'snot the kids that are making
(25:44):
your life hell, it's the lack ofsupport and community and the
village.
It's the lack of support andcommunity and the village.
Like this is how people wereliving for thousands of years
and then just in the last Idon't know couple of hundred if
that, probably less, have thingsshifted in a way that just
(26:17):
upholds all right capitalism.
That's what it really is.
Right, it's like go back towork and do these things and
this idea of we want to go backto who we were before we had
children, like that's this likegoal right In terms of what we
look like and who we're hangingout with and how often we're
hanging out with them and whatwe're doing.
But like any incrediblelife-changing transition that
(26:41):
anyone experiences in their life, whether it's having kids or
making a career change or havinga spiritual awakening, like all
this stuff, there always is anelement, I think, of grieving
your past life.
Right, because I alsoexperienced, even with my
spiritual evolvement orspiritual evolution or whatever
you want to call it right, whereI was like like I don't drink
alcohol anymore and even once ina while I'll still have these
(27:03):
times of like man I miss justbeing like careless and ruthless
and like a lunatic, like I wishI just wasn't so self-aware and
like you know, I wish I couldjust get hammered and dance on
tables again and roll home atfour o'clock in the morning and,
you know, eat McDonald's andjust like not give a shit about
(27:25):
any of these things anymore.
And that's okay that once in awhile, like I get a thought like
that of like a little grief ofmy life where I wasn't at this
stage anymore, because sometimesit's easier, right, like it's
easier to not be so self-aware.
So I think that sometimes thereis an element of grief and
longing once you become a mom oflike yeah, I miss just like
(27:49):
going to a concert that startsat 10 pm, you know, and maybe
that'll happen again at somepoint in my life.
I'm sure it will.
So I think that is normal andhealthy, but I also don't think
that that means like we're inhell.
And I read something recentlyabout how new moms who have so
(28:12):
much grief about who they werebefore a mom are really finding
I don't see too much attachmentbecause I don't want to be like
judgmental, but I In some way webecome so attached to the
maiden, you know, the wild child, like the free, young, sexy
(28:36):
girl we were, and by stayinggripped to that we're actually
getting in the way of our ownevolution of the woman that
we're supposed to be right now,of the woman that we're supposed
to be right now.
So I feel like I'm bouncing allover the place with your
question because I can reallytalk about this in so many
different avenues of, like thechanges that come once you
(28:58):
become a mom and obviously it'sdifferent for everyone.
But just to bring myself backto you know, chapel Rowan's like
quote and that post that I madeI wish I had it in front of me.
But like the, you know,postpartum or motherhood can
feel like hell when you know youdon't have a supportive partner
(29:19):
who also educated themselves onthe changes that you're going
through in your body andemotionally and hormonally.
And motherhood can feel likehell when you know you're
expected to go back to workwithin six weeks or eight weeks,
which is way too soon, way toosoon.
You're still getting to knowyour baby.
(29:39):
They're still getting to knowyou.
Motherhood can feel like hellwhen there's no village showing
up for you postpartum, and it'sso often that our partners go
back to work earlier than we do.
So you know, if you're a newmom and your partner got two
weeks off to and that's like alot right, I know people like
(30:01):
you know maybe they took fivedays when the baby was first
born and then it's just youfiguring it out.
I don't even want to thinkabout what that could have been
like for me if on day five, itwas just me.
Like my heart is like breakingeven imagining what that could
be like.
But that really is the realityfor so many people in this
(30:23):
country.
And I think that's when thingsfeel like hell, because maybe I
would identify with thatstatement if I was also in that
position.
I would think that it washellish.
But motherhood can feel likeheaven.
It can be this beautifularrival and you know identity
(30:46):
and I keep saying the wordevolution, but it's just what
feels so true, you know, becauseyou're evolving into this new
stage of your life it can feellike heaven when you do have the
right support and when peopleare patient with you.
And yeah, it's all about help.
And for so many years it wasthe village, it was the tribe,
(31:09):
it was.
You know, at any given momentyou could just pass your baby to
another woman who you trustedand like, take a break and take
a walk and go sit by the riverand sing for 20 minutes and then
you know, just to regulate yournervous system and then come
back and we don't have thatanymore and I think that's what
makes it feel so hellish.
(31:29):
But it's not the baby that'shellish, it's not being a mom
that's hellish, it's the lack ofthe systems that have supported
us through this time.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah, yeah, I had a friend recently who had a baby
and it was so nice.
I got to go over her house withone of my other good friends it
was like a few of us like everyFriday and just kind of like
hang out with her and hang outwith the baby for when she was
on maternity leave for likethree or four months and it felt
(32:03):
like.
It felt like olden times orsomething.
I felt like I was like in theGolden Girls or something Right,
I love it.
Times or something.
I felt like I was like in theGolden Girls or something, right
, I love it.
It was so nice and it wassomething that we looked forward
to like every week, just beingable to like be together in that
space.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
It was really really nice.
That's so good, like I thinkpeople who don't have kids are
like oh she's pissy.
Like she's got her baby, likewell, she's doing that, like
we'll wait for her to reach outto us or like we'll call her in
a couple of weeks or a couple ofmonths, like when she has her
footing.
But what a lot of people don'tknow is that babies can't
regulate their own nervoussystem.
(32:43):
They don't have the abilitycognitively.
That part of their brain hasn'tdeveloped yet.
So babies regulate byco-regulating.
That's why they always need tobe to their mom.
But adults, even though we havethe ability to self-regulate,
when you are a new mom you arejust constantly co-regulating
(33:04):
with your baby that it becomesso much more difficult to
self-regulate that the way thata new mom self-regulates is by
being with other adults.
And that's something new that Ilearned when I was freshly
postpartum.
So I would just fucking textlike 10 people and be like who's
(33:26):
coming over today?
One hour all I need, please.
I just need to talk to anotherhuman.
Honestly, that's even how Ifeel.
Talking to you on this podcastthis morning, I'm like I'm so
excited for this.
I don't even know what we'regoing to talk about.
But I just get to talk toanother woman for an hour.
I'm so excited to do that.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
That's amazing.
Yeah, you know, I love that.
You, you share that because itmakes it makes so much sense
when you put it in that context.
You know, I talk a lot aboutnervous system regulation and
self-regulating and and thingslike that, and when you put it
in that context it makes a lotof sense.
Yeah, yeah, amazing.
(34:05):
So, sharing more, you know moreabout your story, more about
how it sounds like you're reallystepping into like merging yoga
and wellness and motherhood andlike all these like beautiful
things are coming together.
Yeah, what are some ways that,like people can connect with you
, people can find you, peoplecan work with you, things like
(34:28):
that people can work with you,things like that.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Yeah, so right now I'm teaching a few classes in
person.
So if someone listening to thisis local to Long Beach or
Rockaway, I teach a few days aweek at a studio called Ocean
Bliss Yoga.
It's in Rockaway.
Here I also teach prenatalevery Monday night at 5.30 here
in Rockaway and I also teachonline.
I try to do like two strongofferings per month virtually,
(35:00):
and I always bring out somethinga little bit different.
So, upcoming this month on the14th it's a Monday night I'm
teaching a class called yogicsleep, which is one of my
favorite classes to teach, whereI'll be teaching gentle
postures, and then we end withyoga nidra, and yoga nidra is
this type of guided meditationthat brings the practitioner to
(35:22):
a state of consciousness thatteeters between the wake state
and the sleep state.
It's incredible for nervoussystem regulation and I learned
somewhere that even doing like20 minutes of a yoga nidra can
almost like trick the body intothinking you just got like eight
hours of full sleep.
(35:42):
So it's, it's really, reallygreat.
So I'm doing it at 7.30 PM thatclass, because then people can
just drift off to their eveningroutine and then go to sleep
that night.
So that'm doing it at 7.30 PMthat class, because then people
can just drift off to theirevening routine and then go to
sleep that night.
So that's Monday, the 14th yogasleep.
And then on Earth Day, I'mexcited I'm offering a full
morning practice.
Virtually it's going to be a 90minute practice where we do
(36:05):
guided meditation.
It'll be like a grounding, verylike Earth Day meditation.
The asana sequence is veryfocused on the root chakra, so
we'll be doing a lot of hipopeners and a lot of standing
postures and then we end withpranayama, which is, you know,
yogic breath work.
So it's a full practice 90minutes.
If 90 minutes feels long forsome people, just remember that
(36:28):
the meditation and the breathwork portion, you know, are
almost like 30 minutes combined.
So it is like your standardhour-long yoga class, because
we're doing the asana for aboutan hour and then 15 minutes
meditation, 15 minutes pranayama.
So that's going to be in themorning on Earth Day, which I
think is the 22nd.
(36:48):
I'm also, you know, leadingworkshops every month, and
something that I just put backinto my offerings quietly I'll
be sharing about them more oftenis I offer mentorship to other
yoga teachers, people who arelooking to strengthen their
teaching style.
It's really one of my favoriteways to work with people in the
(37:12):
yogic lens because these arepeople who already have a
foundation of you know the bigumbrella of what it means to
practice yoga.
But I had different peoplereaching out to me because
they're looking to strengthentheir sequencing or their cueing
.
But also there's been someteachers who are feeling
disconnected from their ownrelationship to yoga and
(37:35):
teaching yoga has just become ajob and they show up and they
come up with their sequences andit lights them up, but when it
comes to their own practice ofjust them in their room, they're
feeling like a little bit lost.
So that's really exciting forme to reconnect them to their
why right, like their realpurpose, like what brought you
to be a yoga teacher, whatbrought you to yoga.
(37:57):
Let's reconnect with that.
And so that I have coming upthis month also working excuse
me, working with some people formentorship, but I think the
best way to keep up with whatI'm doing right now is through
Instagram.
I just updated my LinkedIn bioto this cute little, different
type of website that looks soaesthetically pleasing.
Now it's like all my littlelinks are right there and so
(38:19):
anyone can just click that andsee what offerings I have coming
up or, you know, just email meor DM me anytime.
I talk to so many strangers onthe internet and I really enjoy
it.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Yeah, absolutely oh.
That sounds amazing.
So many incredible things thatyou're up to.
I love Yoga Nidra.
That is my favorite.
I love drifting off into theand you get so many like
insights and everything.
And I'm hosting, actually, myfirst retreat in October of this
year in the fall Upstate, newYork.
(38:53):
So close, close by.
It's like a two hour drive fromLong Island area and we have a
guest teacher coming to do someyoga nidra manifestation, yoga,
sleep.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Awesome, awesome, congrats also on launching your
first retreat.
It is there's nothing like aretreat.
It's like I know it's like oneof my favorite things to do is
like do a mentorship, but I'mlike wait, I think retreats are
actually really my favorite.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
There's something so special that happens, you know
at them Like it's hard to putinto words, but when you take
time and space to likedisconnect from your day-to-day
routine and then you also cometogether with, like these
incredible people that we're alldrawn for similar or the same
(39:42):
reasons, it's just like some,it's like a little like
collective energy, and then yougo home and you're like wow,
like someone just shifted, orI've received so much, or I have
this new insight or this newinspiration, and it's really
nice.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
It is totally life changing.
I still get messages frompeople who came on my retreats
like three years ago stilltalking about how that became
like the foundation of themtotally changing their lives.
Someone who my first retreatthat I ever hosted I had only
been teaching yoga for fourmonths and I just sent it.
(40:19):
I was like I'm doing a retreatand I think it was easy for me
to do that too, because I owneda travel company for so many
years that I felt reallyconfident.
And just like so many yearsthat I felt really confident and
just like you know theproduction of this group trip
right and like you know making alist of all like the coffee
shops nearby.
So when we have free time, likeyou can go here and you can do
(40:39):
this and you know the itineraryof like we're going to hike at
this national park and I just Ilove it.
I love all of it.
And that retreat that I did, myfirst retreat ever.
Because of that retreat therewas this one person who came who
ended up getting totally soberafter the retreat.
She already was like not reallydrinking alcohol as much, but
(41:01):
she was smoking a lot of weedand even like on the retreat
she'd just be like excusingherself to the woods, like a
little chimney just smoking allthe time, and I, you know, do
your thing, girl, like that'sokay, that's okay.
So after that retreat and theother treats I do are also
always plant-based.
Now I think I'm probably goingto do them just vegetarian, but
(41:24):
we don't need any meat.
So anyway, this girl, likesuper Italian, right, like loves
her Italian meats, comes tothis retreat and then after I
think that I reached out to herbecause I was doing a retreat on
conscious cannabis, like a yearlater we were going to Colorado
and it was like intentionally,sacredly, connecting to the
(41:45):
spirit of the plant, you know,not using cannabis like
mindlessly and just like pickingit up for no reason, but like
as an ally in our spiritualityand that's a conversation for
another time, like myrelationship with, like what
that has become.
But I reached out to her because, like I think you'd be really
into this, right, she wassmoking a lot of weed on the
retreat and she's like you know,I haven't had a chance to reach
(42:07):
out to you, but that retreatthat we did, it totally changed
my life.
I stopped drinking, I stoppedsmoking weed and I'm vegetarian
now and it had been like over ayear and I was like what?
I had no idea at all.
And she was like I totallychanged my life after that
retreat.
It was like such like a shift inmy life and I was just like,
(42:32):
wow, okay, like there's thesesubtle changes that are reaching
everyone who comes on theretreat and so, like unbeknownst
, like to me, I'm just like,yeah, cool, everyone had a
transformative time.
Or, like you know, you getlittle texts or emails after
that was like thank you so much,like that was life-changing,
right, you hear that like a lot.
But then following up a yearlater and being like you did
(42:55):
what?
Like because of that, okay,great, awesome, like so glad I
could be a part of that in anyway.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Yeah, I mean, that's what, yeah, that's what's
possible, like on the other sideof just um, all of those little
shifts that happen over thecourse of a few days, and then
the next thing you know, you'relike, oh my goodness, I'm going
to make all these changes.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yeah, it's so cool.
I'm so excited for when I willeventually do more retreats and,
who knows, maybe you and I willdo one together one day.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Yeah, who knows, I was uh for this retreat.
I was looking for someone tocollaborate with, like that was
initially my, my vision for it.
Um, and over time it just itwasn't like happening Like the
thing.
The things weren't falling intoplace, and I love the way that
it's structured.
Now, um, it's a small group ofwomen, it's six women, uh, so I
(43:48):
you know I can hold space forsix women for that amount of
time, but the vision originallywas to collaborate with somebody
.
So I'm open to collaborationsfor the next retreat.
We'll see.
We'll see how this one goes.
I guess that was the first one.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Oh, it's going to be great.
I'm so excited for you.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Oh, thank you, yeah, yeah.
So my last question for you.
I always like to end with thisquestion whenever I have a guest
speaker, and this could besomething that you already
talked about, it could besomething entirely new, but, in
general, what is one thing thatis lighting you up right now in
life, in this season of yourlife, one thing that is exciting
(44:28):
, you bringing you joy, justreally lighting you up.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
I'm just going to take a few breaths to allow it
to reveal itself.
I think something that's reallylighting me up right now is this
I don't want to say likerealization or remember I don't
(44:52):
know what word I want to use butI've been thinking a lot about
like my future as an individualagain, and, of course, I'm
always thinking about my futurewith my family and my partner,
because now there's three of us.
So we're like where are wegoing to live and what are we
(45:12):
going to do, and you know,what's this going to look like
when we collaborate here andthis and the other thing.
But I've been getting somedreams lately and just some
downloads, some insights, somediscoveries of like pursuing
like higher education, you know,like maybe getting a PhD one
(45:33):
day and something about whereI'm at right now is just feeling
really excited, that likesomething epic is really going
to come in, like being a studentagain and not just, you know,
pursuing trainings, like I feellike I'm always going to be a
(45:53):
yoga teacher and I'm alwaysgoing to be this version of
myself in some degree, but Idon't know.
I've been getting these likevisions of being just like in my
forties and and just like witha PhD and like just doing like
really epic work and likeresearch, and like I've been
(46:13):
getting really excited about therelationship between psychology
and what yoga teaches us, likeethically and morally, about
like being a good person and howto like watch the mind, and I
think that's what's always litme up about yoga, because I've
been someone who has, you know,been in therapy since I was like
(46:35):
seven years old, so I have alot of like background and
understanding of the psyche andI've always wanted to like
bridge them in some way, like myspiritual path and the yogic
path, with like psychology.
And I feel like I'm gettingcloser to that right now because
things are starting to feelmore real about what that could
(46:55):
look like, what the potential isin that, and part of me has
always wondered, like whyhaven't I done that yet?
You know, but everything isalways divine timing and I'm
like I feel like that's what I'mworking toward in a different
way and I'm not ready for itright now.
But something is lighting up inme about, I don't know, maybe in
(47:17):
the next five to eight years Isee myself just like it's like
before when I talk about takingsteps and then all of a sudden,
it's like you skip a bunch ofsteps and you're on a new
landing, like that's comingagain I don't know when, but
it's coming and that's just likeyes, okay, and that's just like
it's for the collective right,it's my purpose and being of
(47:38):
service and like helping people.
But it also feels like likethat's for me.
You know that that's like notabout like my baby or my partner
, even though it'll like affectthem and they'll be there for
the ride.
I'm just like, ooh, like thisisn't about like my friends or
my family system, like this isabout like me as a woman and
like me as an individual and mypotential and my purpose.
(47:59):
And that feels like I would belike so hot, like that feels
like so sexy, like that's likeyes, like you know it's.
It's feeling like a big yes andum, yeah, I wasn't expecting to
like feel that way aboutanything, aside my baby, and
especially that he's only eightmonths old, and I'm like
(48:20):
something's in there for mecoming soon.
I'm like, yes, okay, that feelsgood oh, that sounds amazing.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Yeah, I can like, I can feel, I can feel like your
excitement and how how, yeah,how amazing that feels.
Well, thank you so much fortaking the time being on the
podcast.
This is an incredibleconversation and I just loved
hearing about your story andeverything that you're up to and
(48:49):
everything that you'll be up toin the next five to eight years
potentially, and thank you somuch.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Thank you.
Yeah, this was great.
An hour with another woman justfeels great.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Thank you for being here and tuning in to somatic
healing for wellness focusedwomen podcast.
If you were moved or inspiredby today's episode, please take
a moment to leave a rating andreview on Apple Podcasts.
It truly helps the podcast growand helps more people find me
on their healing journey.
Make sure to check out the shownotes to sign up for the
(49:25):
monthly newsletter, links tomore resources, opportunities to
work with me and ways that wecan stay connected.
If we aren't already connectedon social media, head over to
Instagram to follow me atraythesomaticcoach.
Send me a DM.
I'd love to connect with youand I answer each note that
comes in.
I am so happy you're here and Icannot wait to talk with you on
(49:48):
our next episode of the podcast.
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