March 27, 2025 • 56 mins
Air Date - 27 March 2025
We know that Yoga practitioners may use sacred Sanskrit terms, but is it appropriate for Yogis and Yoginis to use vulgar language? My guest this week on Vox Novus, Dr. Tracey L. Ulshafer says that there are some words that Yogis should refrain from using…and sometimes not! Rev. Dr. Tracey is the founder of One Yoga and Wellness Center, which operated as a physical studio in New Jersey until 2022. Dr. Tracey continues to escort international yoga and healing retreats. Her self-published, award-winning fictional book, The Accidental Yogini, continues to be praised as an easy read with digestible yoga philosophies spread throughout. The book was rebranded as a series in 2024 as The Accidental Yogini: Kristin, and a new book, The Accidental Yogini: Padma, was also released, with more books to come.
Her website is https://www.oneyogacenter.net/, and she joins me this week to share her path and just published book, Sh!t Yogis Shouldn’t Say!
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We know that Yoga practitioners may use sacred Sanskrit terms, but is it appropriate for Yogis and Yoginis to use vulgar language? My guest this week on Vox Novus, Dr. Tracey L. Ulshafer says that there are some words that Yogis should refrain from using…and sometimes not! Rev. Dr. Tracey is the founder of One Yoga and Wellness Center, which operated as a physical studio in New Jersey until 2022. Dr. Tracey continues to escort international yoga and healing retreats. Her self-published, award-winning fictional book, The Accidental Yogini, continues to be praised as an easy read with digestible yoga philosophies spread throughout. The book was rebranded as a series in 2024 as The Accidental Yogini: Kristin, and a new book, The Accidental Yogini: Padma, was also released, with more books to come.
Her website is https://www.oneyogacenter.net/, and she joins me this week to share her path and just published book, Sh!t Yogis Shouldn’t Say!
#TraceyLUlshafer #VoxNovus #VictorFuhrman #Spirituality #Interviews
Visit the Vox Novus Show Page https://omtimes.com/iom/shows/vox-novus/
Connect with Victor Fuhrman at http://victorthevoice.com/
Subscribe to our Newsletter https://omtimes.com/subscribe-omtimes-magazine/
Connect with OMTimes on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Omtimes.Magazine/ and OMTimes Radio https://www.facebook.com/ConsciousRadiowebtv.OMTimes/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OmTimes/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omtimes/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2798417/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/omtimes/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Vox Novus, the New Voice, Vox Novus, the New Dimension,
Vox Novus thought and movement leaders who will share from
their experience and offer tools to help us navigate our
rapidly changing world. My name is Victor Furman. Welcome to
(00:29):
Vox Novus, the New Voice. We know that yoga practitioners
may use sacred Sanskrit terms, but is it appropriate for
yogis and euguinis to use a vulgar language? My guest
(00:53):
this week on Vox Novus, Doctor Tracy l Alschaeffer says
that there are some words that yogi should refrain from
amusing and sometimes not. Reverend Doctor Tracy is the founder
of One Yoga and Wellness Center, which operated as a
physical studio in New Jersey until twenty twenty two. Doctor
Tracy continues to escort international yoga and healing retreats. Her
(01:16):
self published award winning fictional book, The Accidental Yogini continues
to be praised as an easy read with digestible yoga
philosophies spread throughout. The book was rebranded as a series
in twenty twenty four as The Accidental Yogini Kristen and
a new book, The Accidental Yogini Padma was also released
(01:38):
with more books to come. Her website is one yogacenter
dot net and she joins me this week to share
her path and just publish book. Sh exclamation point t
Yogi's shouldn't say. Please join me in welcoming to Vox
Novus doctor Tracy Alshaffer. Welcome doctor Tracy.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Hi, how are you today?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I am wonderful, Thank you. How are you, my friend?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I'm doing well myself. It's a great day, sons.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Absolutely, absolutely, Tracy. We have a new audience meeting you today,
so let's share how we met and how yoga changed
our lives and paths. It was my pleasure to meet
you when we were both pursuing our Doctor of Ministry
degrees with a new seminary back in twenty twenty, and
we were both associate ministers with the Interfaith Temple. Please
(02:28):
share with our listeners your early path and how it
evolved before yoga, massage and healing became your calling.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Sure, I guess the biggest shift for me. I had
a car accident as a teenager. I had a compression
fracture in my spine which created this week link, and
as I worked as sedentary desk job, things got worse.
(03:00):
I didn't particularly have any faith growing up. My parents
both said you can figure out what you believe in,
so I didn't have spiritual practices at that time. I
was kind of lost, and a friend of mine said,
you might benefit from yoga. Let's check it out. So
(03:23):
flash forward a month or so into this yoga practice,
and suddenly I'm feeling stronger and not taking advil in
my back is feeling better. So I realized there was
something to this, and soon I noticed that the physical
improvements weren't the only thing. I was having a better mindset.
(03:49):
I was starting to make decisions about my life that
put me in a better place, better relationships, a job
that more suited me. And then finally I made the
decision to leave that all behind, Corporate America, all that stuff,
and to do my own healing practices. So I had
(04:12):
a yoga teacher training that I completed, and that was
after a massage therapy program. So two years of training
and study and then I just said that's it. I'm
in both feet full time and I didn't look back
so since then, and that was some time around nineteen
(04:35):
ninety nine or two thousand, when I finally finished graduating
from all of that. I have been in this holistic
spectrum since then.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
You know, it's interesting because my yoga path started also
with a back injury. I had actually sustained a back
injury in my twenties and I carried it into my forties.
And a friend of mine said, have you ever t yoga?
And I said no, And they said, try yoga. It's
going to help your back. And I had an adult
(05:08):
education newspaper from the local high school and there was
an ad that said take yoga with Judy Hamsa, and
there was something about the name Hamsa I didn't understand.
I didn't know the name, but something about it resonated
with me, and I started taking yoga classes and Judy Hamsa,
whose Judy became my teacher and also a dear friend.
(05:28):
And during the course of this she asked me, she said,
I love your voice. Would you start facilitating a meditation?
And I did, and then we started taking a series
of trips to a zen monastery up in Livingston, Manor,
New York. And at one of these trips somebody mentioned
the word reiki and there was something that again resonated
with me. I didn't know what it meant, but there
was something about the word that resonated with me. And
(05:51):
there were three of us who said early next year,
and within two weeks we were actually in our first
reiki class together, and reiki and yoga with a raw
conpuels that sort of reopened my path from a spiritual sense,
and I'm grateful for both of them. You are a
prolific author, prolific. Before we discuss your just published new book,
(06:13):
sh exclamation point t that yogi shouldn't say, tell us
what inspired you to write your best selling series, The
Accidental Yogini.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I always loved writing, even as a kid I had,
you know, kids would be out playing in the in
the playground and I would be squirreled away somewhere writing
plays and short stories. So that was always an important
(06:44):
part of my life. And when I was, you know,
twenty two years of owning a yoga studio and watching
the transformation that takes place with people, the transformation that
took place in my own life, I wanted to combine
(07:05):
my two passions of writing and sharing what yoga can
do for people, how it can transform their life. So
I got the idea to write a book called The
Accidental Yoghini where this you know, this young girl, her
life's a mess and somebody wrecked, just like our story's victor.
(07:29):
Somebody in her life says, why don't we try yoga?
And she reluctantly goes into it. She doesn't think it's
going to help, and lo and behold, it changes her
entire life. And so I wrote that. I think that
might have been published in twenty eighteen. And then a
couple of years ago, I closed my yoga studio and
(07:53):
I was in Florida with my mother and wondering what
I should do. UH didn't really have a lot of
work at that time, so I started writing a second
book and UH and decided to rebrand the whole series
and call it the Accidental Yoghini Book Series and then
(08:15):
give it a name. So the first book got rebranded
as The Accidental Yoghini Kristen, and then The Accidental Yoghini
Padma came out UH last year, and I've gotten good
reviews from them, and I've won some awards for the
first book and some Reader's Choice five stars. And now
(08:36):
I'm working on my third book. So I I'm just
trying to sprinkle yogic wisdom in a digestible way for
people and and have them see that there's there's many
different ways that this practice can can can help you.
(08:57):
So you know, even even people that are probably what
you might feel are the furthest away from being a
yogi or a HUGGINI, it can help if you just
let it in. And it has some very profound healing
because it incorporates all the facets of the human person, body, mind, spirit, everything,
(09:23):
And it's just a complete self development practice that's thousands
of years old. But I want to bring it to
people that you know, may have preconceived ideas about it
and may think that it's only for people that are
bendy and flexible or just for I hear a lot
(09:44):
people think, well, it's just for rich white women.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yogas for everyone and everybody, And so that's what I
try to portray in my books different different heroines from
different walks of life.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
And as you mentioned, your latest nations are Podma and
the newer release of Kristen. Let's start with Podma, her
path and how yoga changed her life.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Padma is the story of a newly married young mother
and has a lot of stress and anxiety about being
the perfect mom and wife. I think a lot of
women do that to themselves. We, you know, have these
(10:30):
aspirations that we have to do be this perfect person.
And so for Padma, and she is an Indian American
woman who's a family member practiced yoga, but it was
never brought into her own life. So through a series
of a few things I won't I don't want to
(10:51):
give too much away about the book, she does find
her way to the yoga practice and actually back to
the motherland of India and it and what happens for
her is this calling her true life purpose. Her Dharma
finds her or she finds it. And then at the
(11:12):
end of the book, you see this very different person emerge.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And share with our listeners the meaning of the word
the name Padma.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Padma is Sanskrit for lotus, so their lotus symbol in
Hinduism and Buddhism is a deep We could talk about
that probably for an hour. But part of her journey
that her teacher says is I think you're going to
(11:43):
find the truth and the true meaning of your name.
So she does. She does understand that to a deep,
deeper extent. Through her travels through India. What is the
lotus flower and what does it represent?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
How does Christian's journey from Podmas.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Kristen was the first book, So in that one, there's
a little bit more of my own story in it.
It's not about me, and there's a lot of creative liberty.
There's a lot of my students in it. But it
is a woman who works in corporate America who has
an issue with her hip or her back. She's not
(12:25):
even sure. So she's in pain all the time and
she doesn't like her job, and a family member recommends yoga.
She starts yoga and the next thing, you know, similar
to my story, she's out of pain and starts to
realize that the job maybe isn't the thing for her.
The relationships that she's she doesn't have a solid, true relationship,
(12:49):
so she starts to seek out these these aspects of
her life that are more true to her, and she
winds up at the end being actually a yoga teacher
and it changes your life. So the different heroines, but
same common thread.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Both Padma and Kristen reflect discovery and healing journeys for women.
This message is so important, especially after the challenges of
the current political climate have created for women. What message
would you offer concerning this?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
My only advice is always to be true, and I
think if you are able to find a way to
be true, you will be a guide a light for others.
Your truth won't resonate with everyone, it's not meant to,
(13:48):
but you will. You will find and you will help
the people that are meant to find and help you.
I would say, as long as you're following your truth,
you know it's all coming. So just stay stay with that.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Focus on that and for both of us we talk
about second chapters. These books also look at second chapters,
significant life changes that both women and men experience as
they reach their late thirties and early forties. How would
you suggest they approach and embrace those changes?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, I think that people that are on the path
are fairly open. So you know, understanding that our experiences
brought us here to these moments of to they set
us up for where we are and what we're living
(14:47):
in and what we're experiencing. So you know, be open
and also remind yourself at all times that even though
you may have lived a lot and been through a lot,
you don't know everything. There's always more to understand or learn,
(15:08):
So you know, forget what you think you know, and
I go back to that follow your truth, you know,
but but also be open for the universe and how
it's going to divinely guide you. If you're too busy,
you'll miss a lot of those signals. And I find
(15:29):
that a lot of people today are too busy. So
they get to this point in their life where they
want to make a change, but they're just so caught
up in their life and they and they believe that
there's nothing that they can do to change it because
just it, it is what it is. I hear that
(15:50):
a lot. But when we're open, and sometimes it just
takes us to do one thing a little different to
shift the energy, and then suddenly something opens up and
we can experience we can experience a deeper truth and
then understand, Wow, there's something more deeper I'm meant to
(16:13):
be doing here. And I think that that's a lot
of people's agitation. They don't realize that there's something else
under the surface because they're just too busy kind of
getting through life. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Absolutely? And for both of us, this reflects the blessing
of synchronicities in our lives, synchronicities. Carl Jung referred to
them as coincidences without causal connection, sacred coincidences without causal connection.
And for both of us, it was the synchronicities and
the willingness to look at them and embrace them and
(16:48):
say yes, that works for me and.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Move forward right right.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Tell us about your founding of one yoga center, how
the school ensued, and why you chose to it in
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Well, when I was leaving that corporate job and I
had started doing some massage therapy, some reiki, I had
started teaching a few yoga classes at that time, which
was around around the turn of the century. I love
saying that makes me feel so ancient. Around the turn
(17:27):
of the century. But when that timeframe, yoga was really
starting to boom in the area, so there weren't many
studios around. I was teaching a few classes and suddenly
found this need to really open something bigger. So I
opened a yoga studio and then I was really just
(17:52):
busting at the seams. In a couple of years, I
had to open a bigger wellness center. It wound up
being a huge wellness center for one thousand plus square
feet with many rooms that I rented to different holistic
practitioners and had yoga trainings sometimes three at a time,
multiple classes. It was a really really big place and
(18:16):
busy place, and yoga exploded at some point in the
two thousand, let's say fifteen area where there was a
yoga studio on every corner. And then what happened was
a lot of my students started going to other places
that might be closer to their home. And one day
(18:41):
this is a story for another time, but I came
back from Peru after having a very deep spiritual experience
and realized that this big wellness center wasn't right anymore,
and so I downsized. I moved the location, and I
focused just on my offerings instead of having a lot
(19:03):
of other people that I spent most of my time promoting,
and they were lovely people, but I really just needed
to make it more concise about my offerings and what
I could do for people. So I did that, and
then COVID happened, and we all know how that changed
(19:24):
the world. So I actually, for a while I was
still doing hybrid yoga classes, but I started selling crystals
and I had a huge crystal sale business. I loved it.
I still do. But one day I looked at my husband.
(19:46):
I actually was sick. He had gotten COVID. He brought
it home and gave it to me. He was so
kind that way of sharing. We were sitting on the couch.
I couldn't get anybody to my class. I couldn't get
anybody to even water the plants. And I looked at
him and I just said, I'm tired. I don't think
(20:08):
I can do this anymore. I think I'm done. So
he said okay, and a couple months later I closed,
and the idea was I think what happened with that
time frame is a lot of people who weren't living
their true lives, or they weren't living in their true
(20:29):
homes or doing what they really impassioned about. Or maybe
the time for what we were doing was over and
we needed a push to do something a little bit different.
And I think that's what happened to me. The brick
and mortar of owning a physical location was over, and
(20:50):
I needed to expand myself to offer things to a
more global community. So it gave me the opportunity to
kind of say way into that.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
And what are your offerings today? What do you offer?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
I do healing retreats around the world. I go to
planetary power places, earth chakra places. We lean into the land,
we do healing work for ourselves and the planet. I
also offer different workshops on yoga or Thai yoga body work,
(21:28):
and I write and so I'm working on more lecture
workshop series that incorporate my books and offering them at
different places.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
My guest is doctor Tracy Alshaffer. Her book, Her new
book that we're going to be talking about is sh
exclamation point t Yogi's shouldn't say? Tracy, please share with
our listeners where they can find out more about you
and get all of your wonderful books.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
My website is one yoga center dot netne spelled out
yogacenter dot net. And what about the books there on Amazon?
You can also purchase them through me at my website.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
And we'll be back with more of Tracy after these words.
On the own Times Radio.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
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Speaker 1 (22:54):
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Speaker 1 (23:54):
Back on Vox Novus. My guest this week my dear friend,
Reverend doctor Tracy Alshaffer. We're going to be talking about
her new book sh exclamation point T Yogi's shouldn't say. Okay,
it's time for me to watch my language. What inspired
your brand new book.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Oh, Victor, I was, as I mentioned earlier, in Florida
with my mom. I had closed my yoga studio. I
had a lot of feelings. I had a lot of
pent up agitation about a lot of things. I needed
an outlet. I needed a way to express a lot
(24:35):
of things. So I just started writing this book. And
that was in twenty twenty two. So I put it
away for a while. As you know, life does, it
marches on, you get busy, you start doing other things.
And I revisited it in January, and and when I
(25:01):
reread it, I said, wow, I actually have most of
the book done. It just needs some editing and some
build out. And so I sat down and I did that,
and I finished it, and I just thought it was
a good time for it.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Absolutely. Now you're a Jersey girl or joysy girl, and
I'm a Brooklyn boy, So these words are not uncommon
to us, especially growing up. Tell us who you dedicated
this book to and why you think they would love it?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Well, I hope they would love it. Let's say that
both of my grandmothers have passed. They were both very
influential women in my life. They were both very strong,
but in different ways. My one grandmother, Rachel, she was
my Jewish grandmother. She was born with polio and she
(25:58):
was told she could ever do lots of things in
her life, and her sole mission was to prove everybody
wrong and do all of the things that she was
told she could never do. So one of her greatest
loves were the Philadelphia Phillies and when they were on
all she used to do was curse at them, Curse
(26:20):
at the refs, curse at them. It was comical to
see this older woman with that kind of language. My
dad used to call it. She sounded like a truck driver,
that's what, so you know, it was normal language in
(26:40):
my house. My other grandmother, she didn't really so much her.
She was quieter in her demeanor, she was quieter in
her strength. But when she got into her nineties, especially
later nineties, she started to cut loose and it was
(27:02):
hilarious to hear her curse. She was Italian, so sometimes
these Italian words would slip out and it was just
it was just funny, and I think she was very humor.
She did it for effect. She did it. She said
these things for effect and to get a rise out
of people. So I dedicated the book to both my
(27:25):
grandmothers and in hopes that they would they would both
appreciate the humor and be proud of of the work.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I think they both love what you've done. I really do.
I have that sense about that absolutely. So, as you
had mentioned before, you massaged your way out of corporate
job with benefits studied massage and yoga instruction. You shared
that you're a big fan of the Buddha and his
middle path, and you say, so, try a little meditation,
(27:55):
use a little cursing, do a little proniyama, watch a
bit of a student good movie. Do you think Sidhartha
would have agreed with you on cursing in the movie, Victor.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
I love this question and thank you for it. This
book you have to read understanding heavy sarcasm, and for
people that don't get that, it's maybe not their book,
The Buddha's Middle Path. It's really not about extremes, right,
(28:31):
it's about balance, finding balance in the middle, and it's
about not denying the extremes, but integrating them into a balanced,
harmonious life or living. And it's like the Yinyan symbol, right,
(28:55):
there's light in the dark, and there's dark in the light.
So we can't deny those shadows. We shouldn't live in
the extremes either. So when I say do a little this,
do a little that, there's this sarcastic edge to that.
I want people, though, to think about these things when
(29:16):
they read the book. I want it to elicit certain emotions.
I want them to dig deep into what they believe
and what they think. And I do think that Saddartha
would appreciate.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
That absolutely well. The famous story of his enlightenment was
he was under that tree and he opened his eyes
and they asked them who he was, and he said,
I am awake. And I think what we're talking about
is awakening to the fact that we need to embrace
everything that resonates with us in life.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Right exactly. That's the journey, right, that's our that's why
we're here.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
I think it's funny when you had mentioned to do
a little praniyama, use a little cursing. I was thinking
of that song Casey and the Sunshine Band do a
little dance, make a little up, get down tonight. Get that.
You say even jackasses can be yogis I assume you've
met a few. I mean, yogi's not jackass.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I have. I've met a few of both, don't both? Yeah, No,
I have, I've experienced. I'll tell you one profound person
that I met, and I won't I won't say his name.
But there was a traveling yogi that came to Princeton
University early on in my career. I think I was
(30:45):
still studying in school for yoga training. I don't believe
I was even teaching yet, or maybe I just started teaching.
But it was one of those synchronistic events where I lived.
I lived outside of Prince and I came home one
day and there was a flyer stuck in my door
for this, uh, this yogi that was going to be
(31:09):
at Princeton University through the I think it was the
hin Hindu or Hinduism society was bringing him in and
I and I said, well, I don't know who put
it there or how this got there, but I'm going
that's a sign, right. So I went and I knew
Princeton University a little bit but not great. I knew
(31:30):
I knew the building, but I didn't know where in
the building. I found myself upstairs and this this Indian
man was just kind of walking in the hall and uh,
you know me, my Jersey self. I just walked up
and said, hey, do you know where this guy is?
And he says, oh, it's going to be downstairs, and
I said, okay, thank you, and I went downstairs and
(31:53):
we're waiting and then the guy that I saw in
the hallway is the guy. He winds up being this
holy man, this traveling yogi. And one thing that I
that I realized quickly, and I've noticed this with the
Dalai Lama, who I was privileged to see when he
(32:13):
was at Rutgers University many years ago, twenty some years ago,
when he came here. They do the same thing when
they are asked a question that comes to them. In
this case Princeton University. Very academic, very smart people, but
(32:37):
sometimes a little too much in our heads, right, So
when asked a particular question. The first thing this man did,
and I've seen the Dalai Lama do, is giggle. So
this heavy, deep philosophical, academic loaded question comes and the
(32:59):
first thing they do is pause and laugh. One of
the things that I've learned is not to take myself
so seriously. I learned that that day, and I continue
to learn that, and I hope that I bring some
of that in the book.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Absolutely. You know, it's interesting. I think all of us
have had some form of a teacher in our lives
who've helped us to achieve that same realization not to
take ourselves too seriously. I worked for men many years ago,
and he was a brilliant, brilliant businessman. But they had
a couple of expressions that he used all the time.
(33:41):
One of them was I may not always be right,
but I'm never wrong. And the realization was, I'm working
for you. I have to respect what you have to say,
whether I agree with it or not. That was a
very important realization for you to have as a young man.
The other realization, the other thing he used to say
when someone did something that he didn't like, he would say,
what do you have? S h exclamation point T for brains?
(34:06):
And the concept of what he was basically saying. He says,
think he was teaching us to think before we reacted
or moved forward in a certain way. And I'm grateful
for all of those teachers, even at the time that
they may have seen a little bit harsh. I'm grateful
for those teachers. Yeah, for sure, you offer a whole
chapter on the F word, and I don't mean faith.
(34:31):
Does that reflect your new Jersey upbringing?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Well, I think it might be a little Jersey and
a lot of gen X. I remember in high school
I had a very good friend and I don't know
if it was I think senior year when you have
to write these papers and whatever, and his was on
the just that the F word and how for our
(34:56):
generation it has a whole different meaning and kind text
than previous generations. So it's it's a common it's a
common word, and it's and it's very eclectic, and it
has a lot of deep meaning and it has a
(35:16):
lot of fun superficial meaning depending on how you use it.
So I think it's a I think it's a heavier
dose of gen X, but there's definitely a lot of
Jersey in it.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
And tell us a little bit more about why you
dedicate so much time to the effort.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Well, I think that there's a there's lots of layers
that I go into in the book with respect to it.
I didn't realize when I started writing it how much
yoga philosophy I was going to dig into, I guess,
and I wound up sort of doing that so that
(35:59):
the chapter titles. The first chapter's title is the F word, right,
that's it chapter title. And then there's other ones, and
they're meant to grab your attention. They're meant to maybe
even startle you a little bit, or you know, push
some buttons. And what I wind up doing in the
(36:20):
chapter is really syncing into yogic concepts and philosophies that
relate to it and and and explore in a deeper,
more profound way, I hope, but also with a lot
of humor and levity. Is this how can how can
we put this in any kind of yoga term? Or
(36:43):
would a yoga even use this term? So, without giving
too much away about the book, I felt like that
was the most impactful way to start it.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Is there power in the F word?
Speaker 2 (36:59):
Absolutely? Have you ever used it?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Of course? Me with my virgin lips never and that
never came out of my mouth. No, no, absolutely, what
what What are some of the powers that are in
that word?
Speaker 2 (37:16):
I took semantics in college, right, this class about semantics,
which the reason I took it was I was really
interested in the energy behind words in in uh in.
In the context of that, the course didn't meet up
to my expectations. That's another story. But I find that
(37:41):
all words, just like anything, have energy to them. Right,
So when we're using these specific words, when we're when
we're trying to express something in a certain way, you know,
finding just the right word that has the right nuance,
(38:04):
it it brings a whole new life. So I think
that particularly that one word has the ability the power
to do that, but in lots of different ways. So
it can. It can, it can be very deep, and
it can be very It can elicit anger or other
(38:26):
emotions in that realm, but it also can elicit laughter
and and enjoy. It's a it's a very versatile little effort.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Tell us the meaning of the Sanskrit word ahimsa.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Ahimsa generally means non violence.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
Okay, and does it also mean forgiveness? Yes, okay, So
may we find ahmsa within effery.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Yes, why not? Everything is relative right and it's all
about right intention.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Absolutely. I love the expression. I haven't seen this word
the e r y added on to the end of
the F word until about five years ago. And I
think it's a great word. M It means I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
It's a fun word.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
It's a fun word. It's a wonderful words. It's a
word that implies that what's transpiring, what's taking place, is silly,
really right, Yeah, the silliness of the f ory. I
love that word. My guest reverend doctor Tracy Olshaffin, By
the way, I'm also a reverend doctor and we're using
(39:47):
the F word, so that's okay. I just want to
let people know it's okay. Her brand new book sh
exclamation point t Yogi's shouldn't say We'll be back with
more of Tracy after these words on the Old Times
Radio Network.
Speaker 6 (40:00):
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Since two thousand and seven, HHI has been working tirelessly
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(40:21):
and that someone cares to learn more. Please visit Humanityhealing
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Speaker 3 (40:30):
Hello. I'm Sandy Sedgeby, a host of Home Times Magazine's
flagship radio show What Is Going On. My passion is
sifting through information, research and innovations from new thought teachers, speakers,
and researchers, pushing back the boundaries of what we know
about life, energy, metaphysics, and the universe. I love shifting
(40:50):
perceptions about who we are, why we're here, and how
quickly impossible becomes normal when we open our minds, expand
our awareness, and accept that the only that exist those
we place upon ourselves. So, if you're the kind of
forward thinking, eager investigator of what lies beyond the current
reality that most perceive, why not make a date to
(41:11):
come play with me in the Field of Possibilities at
four pm Pacific time seven pm Eastern time every Thursday,
and together we can discover what's really going on.
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Speaker 1 (41:53):
Back on Vox Novus. My guest this week my dear friend,
Reverend doctor Tracy Allshaffer. We're about her brand new book
sh exclamation point t Yogi's shouldn't say, Tracy, Have you ever,
in a time of upset, told someone to kiss your asla?
Speaker 3 (42:14):
No?
Speaker 2 (42:14):
But I want that on a shirt.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Is there a place for hatred in yoga?
Speaker 2 (42:25):
That's another really good question. And one of the reasons
that I use some of these words and went there
with some of these chapters is I want people to
ask those questions, and I want them to really lean
into them and think about them, because I think that
there are a lot of these feelings about spiritual paths
(42:52):
and teachers that in many ways we're not human or
we're held to certain high standards we either imposed by
ourself or by our community and others, that we are
should be perfect, or we should be this, or we
should be be that. And certainly we aspire to be
(43:13):
good people, that are helpful people, that are kind people.
But to deny certain aspects of the self is to
deny our complete humanity. So hate is a part, it's
an emotion, it's a feeling, just like anger is. We
(43:38):
like to refer them as shadow energy or shadow stuff. Again,
I think that's in some ways to downplay that they
that they're valid, but they are. We've all experienced these things,
so we don't you know, there's this whole again philosophy
(44:03):
about attachment and avoidance in yoga. They're both equally not fantastic.
So we can't avoid as much as we can't be attached.
So we have to embrace those qualities. But I think
with a certain amount of emotional intelligence as well. So yes,
(44:26):
I think I believe there's space for that in yoga.
There should be space for that in yoga, and we
should be we should be questioning those things and then
where do they come from and what is the underlying
energy that's bringing them up. This is how healing occurs,
(44:47):
not by avoiding that it exists.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
Absolutely. I remember early on when I first started taking
yoga classes, if I would to were to pull a
muscle in something other than the yoga class, I would
use the S word as a response to that. And
I had pulled a muscle yoga class, and I used
(45:10):
all of my power to refrain from using the S word.
After that happened, and I came to the realization, you
know that, I had a discussion with my dear friend,
my yoga teacher at the time, and I came to
the realization that, you know, what, we're human beings, and
if this is part of our normal humanity, it should
be part of the yoga.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
Practice too, right, Yeah, And I think I talk about
a lot of this in the book, and some of
it I just kind of drop in and let you
let you ponder it. But these are these are important
qualities and aspects of the journey. So I appreciate your
(45:50):
questions and bringing this up so we have an opportunity
to talk about it, because I want people to understand
the full context of where I'm coming from with the book.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
Is there vanity in yoga?
Speaker 2 (46:04):
Yeah, yeah, I had. I was in a class once.
I remember this teacher, I incorporated it. I adopted it
from her. We were in a class and for anybody
who practices yoga knows tadasana, which is mountain pose. And
(46:25):
normally in many situations, you're coming up from the floor
to a standing position, and when you get there, what
is the first thing that you do? You fix your clothes,
you adjust your shirt, you tuck things in, you make
sure you look good. Right, And that's what she said.
(46:48):
She's she called it fix your clothes pose, and I
loved that, and it's like, it's true. Is anybody looking
at us, No, we're doing it for ourselves. We want
to make sure will look good.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Proniama is the act of different breathing exercises.
Is it possible to curse through prontiama?
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Yeah? I think you could well, right, just like there's
there's mantras that are internal, right, so you could curse
internally during pranayama. I could do it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
Is there is there a purpose for cursing during pronayama?
Speaker 2 (47:36):
I think I tell a story in the book. I
don't want to retell it now, but there was a
situation that I was in. It was an excruciating, painful experience,
and I wanted to give up the whole time, and
there was only so much positive encouragement that it worked.
(48:00):
And at some point I resorted to cursing and telling
myself you're never going to get through this, you can't
do it, and then I would make myself so mad
I would do more, so it kind of fueled me
to go further. So it worked. It worked in that capacity.
(48:21):
So I've found that there are these extreme times where
all of the love and light doesn't help me, and
I have to dig into a whole other side of
myself to get through. And that's where that comes in.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
I think that's a recognition again of our humanity, that
we're not perfect, and sometimes we have to make a
change and adjustment in order to fulfill that which we
aspire to. And if the process involves self cursing, then
and then you take the action after the self cursing,
then it served its purpose.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
We serve this purpose, right, right?
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Aren't there curse words in Sanskrit?
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (49:07):
You know it's interesting. I'm not a Sanskrit scholar, but
I did a little research because I wanted to understand
this a little bit better myself. You know, there's no
direct curse words in Sanskrit in a modern sense, apparently,
(49:27):
but you know, this is a classical language. It was
mostly used in the Vedas, the Upanashads, so these spiritual
and religious texts. However, there are ways that you can
reflect or express certain things in Sanskrit. Like the word
(49:54):
mudha means full, we're idiot, so it's it's not calling
someone a jackass, but that's as close as as you'd
get in Sanskrit to something like that. And even the
word cursing, it's it's meant different in this context. In Sanskrit,
(50:17):
and in these specific texts, there were sages who actually cursed,
but when they cursed someone it was more something like
may you be struck with misfortune? That was their cursing
of the person. So I find you know again, I
(50:38):
love when I find these things because it reminds me
it's not all about that, you know, that light aspect.
There is another aspect that we have to integrate. And
so yeah, it's there, it's all there. It's just not
(51:02):
in as as much of a forward way. I guess
that we use it today.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
That makes the gentleman that I had mentioned earlier that
I had worked for many years ago, who used to
use these expressions to bring us to the realization that
we were making mistakes, are not perfect A true yogi.
Speaker 2 (51:22):
Right, he was absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
What would you suggest for someone who gets s H
exclamation point t in their third eye from a passing pigeon?
Speaker 2 (51:37):
That's supposed to be good luck, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (51:39):
Is that a good way? I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (51:41):
I think when you get dropped on by a bird
and it's on your either the crown of I think
the crown or the forehead, it's supposed to be good luck.
I don't know about the eye.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Well, this is the third eye, so that would be
the forehead, right, right, right. In all seriousness, you share
a tremendous amount of information on yoga practice and spirituality
in this book. What would you like readers to take
away from it? Uh?
Speaker 2 (52:11):
Again, you know, question, question what you know or or
why you believe in the things that you do. Don't
take yourself so seriously. One of my yoga teachers used
to say it was kind of corny, but he used
to say, angels fly because they take themselves lightly, you know,
(52:32):
And I think you have to get back there. Everybody
today takes everything and themselves and everyone else. So seriously,
and I'm not saying things aren't serious, but there has
to be some levity and laughter and taking yourself lightly.
(52:56):
Let's let's not forget the importance and this significant of
that in if an Indian or a Tibetan holy man
does it, and you can watch the joy and the
glimmer in their eye when they giggle at something that's
so serious, you can you can see where that wisdom
(53:18):
comes from. Come on, let's let's take a minute to
appreciate the joy is a part of life and we're
meant to be joyful.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
And I think we need to laugh and curse every
day as an exercise.
Speaker 2 (53:30):
Let's do it. Let's see what happens.
Speaker 1 (53:34):
My guest, my dear friend, Reverend doctor Tracy Alshaffer, her
brand new book sh exclamation Point T Yogi's Shouldn't Say
Tracy again, Please share with our listeners where they can
get your books and find out more about you and
your amazing work.
Speaker 2 (53:50):
Absolutely so. The new book Sah exclamation Point T Yogi
Shouldn't Say That is launching on Amazon on this Saturday,
March twenty ninth. All my other books are on Amazon
as well. All the Yoghini books and a few other
books that I wrote previous to that, So you can
buy everything on Amazon their print on demand. I also
(54:14):
have copies here that I can sell to people on
my website, which is one yogacenter dot net, and I'm
happy to autograph them. And I'm also looking for opportunities
to collaborate with other people for workshops and book signings.
(54:36):
So if this speaks to you, if this work or
my thoughts, if it speaks to you, please do you
reach out. I'm looking to collaborate with a lot of
more people this year.
Speaker 1 (54:48):
And Tracy, what are you offering in terms of personal
services if.
Speaker 2 (54:53):
You are in New Jersey or the surrounding area. I do.
I'm a licensed massage therapists, so I do massage therapy.
I also have a program of Thai Yoga body work
I teach that's National Board certified for Continuing Education units.
But I also offer that to people. I also do
(55:15):
what I call quantum healing sessions. So it's a blend
of lots of different things, shamanic practices, reiki, all kinds
of things that I've amassed along my journey, and so
those are private offerings and private yoga that I offer,
and then the retreats. I have a huge trip to
(55:38):
Egypt and through Egypt that I am now booking for
October of twenty twenty twenty six for people who want
to explore the power behind that land.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
Beautiful Reverend doctor Tracy, thank you so much for joining
us and sharing your wisdom, and your wisdom which is
filled with humor as well as practical application. Thank you
so much. Thank you, Victor, and thank you for joining
us on Vox Novius. I'm Victor the Voice Furman. Have
a wonderful week.
Vox Novus, the New Voice, Vox Novus, the New Dimension,
Vox Novus thought and movement leaders who will share from
their experience and offer tools to help us navigate our
rapidly changing world. My name is Victor Furman. Welcome to
(00:29):
Vox Novus, the New Voice. We know that yoga practitioners
may use sacred Sanskrit terms, but is it appropriate for
yogis and euguinis to use a vulgar language? My guest
(00:53):
this week on Vox Novus, Doctor Tracy l Alschaeffer says
that there are some words that yogi should refrain from
amusing and sometimes not. Reverend Doctor Tracy is the founder
of One Yoga and Wellness Center, which operated as a
physical studio in New Jersey until twenty twenty two. Doctor
Tracy continues to escort international yoga and healing retreats. Her
(01:16):
self published award winning fictional book, The Accidental Yogini continues
to be praised as an easy read with digestible yoga
philosophies spread throughout. The book was rebranded as a series
in twenty twenty four as The Accidental Yogini Kristen and
a new book, The Accidental Yogini Padma was also released
(01:38):
with more books to come. Her website is one yogacenter
dot net and she joins me this week to share
her path and just publish book. Sh exclamation point t
Yogi's shouldn't say. Please join me in welcoming to Vox
Novus doctor Tracy Alshaffer. Welcome doctor Tracy.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Hi, how are you today?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I am wonderful, Thank you. How are you, my friend?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I'm doing well myself. It's a great day, sons.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Absolutely, absolutely, Tracy. We have a new audience meeting you today,
so let's share how we met and how yoga changed
our lives and paths. It was my pleasure to meet
you when we were both pursuing our Doctor of Ministry
degrees with a new seminary back in twenty twenty, and
we were both associate ministers with the Interfaith Temple. Please
(02:28):
share with our listeners your early path and how it
evolved before yoga, massage and healing became your calling.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Sure, I guess the biggest shift for me. I had
a car accident as a teenager. I had a compression
fracture in my spine which created this week link, and
as I worked as sedentary desk job, things got worse.
(03:00):
I didn't particularly have any faith growing up. My parents
both said you can figure out what you believe in,
so I didn't have spiritual practices at that time. I
was kind of lost, and a friend of mine said,
you might benefit from yoga. Let's check it out. So
(03:23):
flash forward a month or so into this yoga practice,
and suddenly I'm feeling stronger and not taking advil in
my back is feeling better. So I realized there was
something to this, and soon I noticed that the physical
improvements weren't the only thing. I was having a better mindset.
(03:49):
I was starting to make decisions about my life that
put me in a better place, better relationships, a job
that more suited me. And then finally I made the
decision to leave that all behind, Corporate America, all that stuff,
and to do my own healing practices. So I had
(04:12):
a yoga teacher training that I completed, and that was
after a massage therapy program. So two years of training
and study and then I just said that's it. I'm
in both feet full time and I didn't look back
so since then, and that was some time around nineteen
(04:35):
ninety nine or two thousand, when I finally finished graduating
from all of that. I have been in this holistic
spectrum since then.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
You know, it's interesting because my yoga path started also
with a back injury. I had actually sustained a back
injury in my twenties and I carried it into my forties.
And a friend of mine said, have you ever t yoga?
And I said no, And they said, try yoga. It's
going to help your back. And I had an adult
(05:08):
education newspaper from the local high school and there was
an ad that said take yoga with Judy Hamsa, and
there was something about the name Hamsa I didn't understand.
I didn't know the name, but something about it resonated
with me, and I started taking yoga classes and Judy Hamsa,
whose Judy became my teacher and also a dear friend.
(05:28):
And during the course of this she asked me, she said,
I love your voice. Would you start facilitating a meditation?
And I did, and then we started taking a series
of trips to a zen monastery up in Livingston, Manor,
New York. And at one of these trips somebody mentioned
the word reiki and there was something that again resonated
with me. I didn't know what it meant, but there
was something about the word that resonated with me. And
(05:51):
there were three of us who said early next year,
and within two weeks we were actually in our first
reiki class together, and reiki and yoga with a raw
conpuels that sort of reopened my path from a spiritual sense,
and I'm grateful for both of them. You are a
prolific author, prolific. Before we discuss your just published new book,
(06:13):
sh exclamation point t that yogi shouldn't say, tell us
what inspired you to write your best selling series, The
Accidental Yogini.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I always loved writing, even as a kid I had,
you know, kids would be out playing in the in
the playground and I would be squirreled away somewhere writing
plays and short stories. So that was always an important
(06:44):
part of my life. And when I was, you know,
twenty two years of owning a yoga studio and watching
the transformation that takes place with people, the transformation that
took place in my own life, I wanted to combine
(07:05):
my two passions of writing and sharing what yoga can
do for people, how it can transform their life. So
I got the idea to write a book called The
Accidental Yoghini where this you know, this young girl, her
life's a mess and somebody wrecked, just like our story's victor.
(07:29):
Somebody in her life says, why don't we try yoga?
And she reluctantly goes into it. She doesn't think it's
going to help, and lo and behold, it changes her
entire life. And so I wrote that. I think that
might have been published in twenty eighteen. And then a
couple of years ago, I closed my yoga studio and
(07:53):
I was in Florida with my mother and wondering what
I should do. UH didn't really have a lot of
work at that time, so I started writing a second
book and UH and decided to rebrand the whole series
and call it the Accidental Yoghini Book Series and then
(08:15):
give it a name. So the first book got rebranded
as The Accidental Yoghini Kristen, and then The Accidental Yoghini
Padma came out UH last year, and I've gotten good
reviews from them, and I've won some awards for the
first book and some Reader's Choice five stars. And now
(08:36):
I'm working on my third book. So I I'm just
trying to sprinkle yogic wisdom in a digestible way for
people and and have them see that there's there's many
different ways that this practice can can can help you.
(08:57):
So you know, even even people that are probably what
you might feel are the furthest away from being a
yogi or a HUGGINI, it can help if you just
let it in. And it has some very profound healing
because it incorporates all the facets of the human person, body, mind, spirit, everything,
(09:23):
And it's just a complete self development practice that's thousands
of years old. But I want to bring it to
people that you know, may have preconceived ideas about it
and may think that it's only for people that are
bendy and flexible or just for I hear a lot
(09:44):
people think, well, it's just for rich white women.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yogas for everyone and everybody, And so that's what I
try to portray in my books different different heroines from
different walks of life.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
And as you mentioned, your latest nations are Podma and
the newer release of Kristen. Let's start with Podma, her
path and how yoga changed her life.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Padma is the story of a newly married young mother
and has a lot of stress and anxiety about being
the perfect mom and wife. I think a lot of
women do that to themselves. We, you know, have these
(10:30):
aspirations that we have to do be this perfect person.
And so for Padma, and she is an Indian American
woman who's a family member practiced yoga, but it was
never brought into her own life. So through a series
of a few things I won't I don't want to
(10:51):
give too much away about the book, she does find
her way to the yoga practice and actually back to
the motherland of India and it and what happens for
her is this calling her true life purpose. Her Dharma
finds her or she finds it. And then at the
(11:12):
end of the book, you see this very different person emerge.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And share with our listeners the meaning of the word
the name Padma.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Padma is Sanskrit for lotus, so their lotus symbol in
Hinduism and Buddhism is a deep We could talk about
that probably for an hour. But part of her journey
that her teacher says is I think you're going to
(11:43):
find the truth and the true meaning of your name.
So she does. She does understand that to a deep,
deeper extent. Through her travels through India. What is the
lotus flower and what does it represent?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
How does Christian's journey from Podmas.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Kristen was the first book, So in that one, there's
a little bit more of my own story in it.
It's not about me, and there's a lot of creative liberty.
There's a lot of my students in it. But it
is a woman who works in corporate America who has
an issue with her hip or her back. She's not
(12:25):
even sure. So she's in pain all the time and
she doesn't like her job, and a family member recommends yoga.
She starts yoga and the next thing, you know, similar
to my story, she's out of pain and starts to
realize that the job maybe isn't the thing for her.
The relationships that she's she doesn't have a solid, true relationship,
(12:49):
so she starts to seek out these these aspects of
her life that are more true to her, and she
winds up at the end being actually a yoga teacher
and it changes your life. So the different heroines, but
same common thread.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Both Padma and Kristen reflect discovery and healing journeys for women.
This message is so important, especially after the challenges of
the current political climate have created for women. What message
would you offer concerning this?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
My only advice is always to be true, and I
think if you are able to find a way to
be true, you will be a guide a light for others.
Your truth won't resonate with everyone, it's not meant to,
(13:48):
but you will. You will find and you will help
the people that are meant to find and help you.
I would say, as long as you're following your truth,
you know it's all coming. So just stay stay with that.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Focus on that and for both of us we talk
about second chapters. These books also look at second chapters,
significant life changes that both women and men experience as
they reach their late thirties and early forties. How would
you suggest they approach and embrace those changes?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, I think that people that are on the path
are fairly open. So you know, understanding that our experiences
brought us here to these moments of to they set
us up for where we are and what we're living
(14:47):
in and what we're experiencing. So you know, be open
and also remind yourself at all times that even though
you may have lived a lot and been through a lot,
you don't know everything. There's always more to understand or learn,
(15:08):
So you know, forget what you think you know, and
I go back to that follow your truth, you know,
but but also be open for the universe and how
it's going to divinely guide you. If you're too busy,
you'll miss a lot of those signals. And I find
(15:29):
that a lot of people today are too busy. So
they get to this point in their life where they
want to make a change, but they're just so caught
up in their life and they and they believe that
there's nothing that they can do to change it because
just it, it is what it is. I hear that
(15:50):
a lot. But when we're open, and sometimes it just
takes us to do one thing a little different to
shift the energy, and then suddenly something opens up and
we can experience we can experience a deeper truth and
then understand, Wow, there's something more deeper I'm meant to
(16:13):
be doing here. And I think that that's a lot
of people's agitation. They don't realize that there's something else
under the surface because they're just too busy kind of
getting through life. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Absolutely? And for both of us, this reflects the blessing
of synchronicities in our lives, synchronicities. Carl Jung referred to
them as coincidences without causal connection, sacred coincidences without causal connection.
And for both of us, it was the synchronicities and
the willingness to look at them and embrace them and
(16:48):
say yes, that works for me and.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Move forward right right.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Tell us about your founding of one yoga center, how
the school ensued, and why you chose to it in
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Well, when I was leaving that corporate job and I
had started doing some massage therapy, some reiki, I had
started teaching a few yoga classes at that time, which
was around around the turn of the century. I love
saying that makes me feel so ancient. Around the turn
(17:27):
of the century. But when that timeframe, yoga was really
starting to boom in the area, so there weren't many
studios around. I was teaching a few classes and suddenly
found this need to really open something bigger. So I
opened a yoga studio and then I was really just
(17:52):
busting at the seams. In a couple of years, I
had to open a bigger wellness center. It wound up
being a huge wellness center for one thousand plus square
feet with many rooms that I rented to different holistic
practitioners and had yoga trainings sometimes three at a time,
multiple classes. It was a really really big place and
(18:16):
busy place, and yoga exploded at some point in the
two thousand, let's say fifteen area where there was a
yoga studio on every corner. And then what happened was
a lot of my students started going to other places
that might be closer to their home. And one day
(18:41):
this is a story for another time, but I came
back from Peru after having a very deep spiritual experience
and realized that this big wellness center wasn't right anymore,
and so I downsized. I moved the location, and I
focused just on my offerings instead of having a lot
(19:03):
of other people that I spent most of my time promoting,
and they were lovely people, but I really just needed
to make it more concise about my offerings and what
I could do for people. So I did that, and
then COVID happened, and we all know how that changed
(19:24):
the world. So I actually, for a while I was
still doing hybrid yoga classes, but I started selling crystals
and I had a huge crystal sale business. I loved it.
I still do. But one day I looked at my husband.
(19:46):
I actually was sick. He had gotten COVID. He brought
it home and gave it to me. He was so
kind that way of sharing. We were sitting on the couch.
I couldn't get anybody to my class. I couldn't get
anybody to even water the plants. And I looked at
him and I just said, I'm tired. I don't think
(20:08):
I can do this anymore. I think I'm done. So
he said okay, and a couple months later I closed,
and the idea was I think what happened with that
time frame is a lot of people who weren't living
their true lives, or they weren't living in their true
(20:29):
homes or doing what they really impassioned about. Or maybe
the time for what we were doing was over and
we needed a push to do something a little bit different.
And I think that's what happened to me. The brick
and mortar of owning a physical location was over, and
(20:50):
I needed to expand myself to offer things to a
more global community. So it gave me the opportunity to
kind of say way into that.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
And what are your offerings today? What do you offer?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
I do healing retreats around the world. I go to
planetary power places, earth chakra places. We lean into the land,
we do healing work for ourselves and the planet. I
also offer different workshops on yoga or Thai yoga body work,
(21:28):
and I write and so I'm working on more lecture
workshop series that incorporate my books and offering them at
different places.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
My guest is doctor Tracy Alshaffer. Her book, Her new
book that we're going to be talking about is sh
exclamation point t Yogi's shouldn't say? Tracy, please share with
our listeners where they can find out more about you
and get all of your wonderful books.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
My website is one yoga center dot netne spelled out
yogacenter dot net. And what about the books there on Amazon?
You can also purchase them through me at my website.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
And we'll be back with more of Tracy after these words.
On the own Times Radio.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
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ome Times Radio IOMFM. Ome Times Magazine is one of
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Speaker 1 (23:54):
Back on Vox Novus. My guest this week my dear friend,
Reverend doctor Tracy Alshaffer. We're going to be talking about
her new book sh exclamation point T Yogi's shouldn't say. Okay,
it's time for me to watch my language. What inspired
your brand new book.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Oh, Victor, I was, as I mentioned earlier, in Florida
with my mom. I had closed my yoga studio. I
had a lot of feelings. I had a lot of
pent up agitation about a lot of things. I needed
an outlet. I needed a way to express a lot
(24:35):
of things. So I just started writing this book. And
that was in twenty twenty two. So I put it
away for a while. As you know, life does, it
marches on, you get busy, you start doing other things.
And I revisited it in January, and and when I
(25:01):
reread it, I said, wow, I actually have most of
the book done. It just needs some editing and some
build out. And so I sat down and I did that,
and I finished it, and I just thought it was
a good time for it.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Absolutely. Now you're a Jersey girl or joysy girl, and
I'm a Brooklyn boy, So these words are not uncommon
to us, especially growing up. Tell us who you dedicated
this book to and why you think they would love it?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Well, I hope they would love it. Let's say that
both of my grandmothers have passed. They were both very
influential women in my life. They were both very strong,
but in different ways. My one grandmother, Rachel, she was
my Jewish grandmother. She was born with polio and she
(25:58):
was told she could ever do lots of things in
her life, and her sole mission was to prove everybody
wrong and do all of the things that she was
told she could never do. So one of her greatest
loves were the Philadelphia Phillies and when they were on
all she used to do was curse at them, Curse
(26:20):
at the refs, curse at them. It was comical to
see this older woman with that kind of language. My
dad used to call it. She sounded like a truck driver,
that's what, so you know, it was normal language in
(26:40):
my house. My other grandmother, she didn't really so much her.
She was quieter in her demeanor, she was quieter in
her strength. But when she got into her nineties, especially
later nineties, she started to cut loose and it was
(27:02):
hilarious to hear her curse. She was Italian, so sometimes
these Italian words would slip out and it was just
it was just funny, and I think she was very humor.
She did it for effect. She did it. She said
these things for effect and to get a rise out
of people. So I dedicated the book to both my
(27:25):
grandmothers and in hopes that they would they would both
appreciate the humor and be proud of of the work.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I think they both love what you've done. I really do.
I have that sense about that absolutely. So, as you
had mentioned before, you massaged your way out of corporate
job with benefits studied massage and yoga instruction. You shared
that you're a big fan of the Buddha and his
middle path, and you say, so, try a little meditation,
(27:55):
use a little cursing, do a little proniyama, watch a
bit of a student good movie. Do you think Sidhartha
would have agreed with you on cursing in the movie, Victor.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
I love this question and thank you for it. This
book you have to read understanding heavy sarcasm, and for
people that don't get that, it's maybe not their book,
The Buddha's Middle Path. It's really not about extremes, right,
(28:31):
it's about balance, finding balance in the middle, and it's
about not denying the extremes, but integrating them into a balanced,
harmonious life or living. And it's like the Yinyan symbol, right,
(28:55):
there's light in the dark, and there's dark in the light.
So we can't deny those shadows. We shouldn't live in
the extremes either. So when I say do a little this,
do a little that, there's this sarcastic edge to that.
I want people, though, to think about these things when
(29:16):
they read the book. I want it to elicit certain emotions.
I want them to dig deep into what they believe
and what they think. And I do think that Saddartha
would appreciate.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
That absolutely well. The famous story of his enlightenment was
he was under that tree and he opened his eyes
and they asked them who he was, and he said,
I am awake. And I think what we're talking about
is awakening to the fact that we need to embrace
everything that resonates with us in life.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Right exactly. That's the journey, right, that's our that's why
we're here.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
I think it's funny when you had mentioned to do
a little praniyama, use a little cursing. I was thinking
of that song Casey and the Sunshine Band do a
little dance, make a little up, get down tonight. Get that.
You say even jackasses can be yogis I assume you've
met a few. I mean, yogi's not jackass.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I have. I've met a few of both, don't both? Yeah, No,
I have, I've experienced. I'll tell you one profound person
that I met, and I won't I won't say his name.
But there was a traveling yogi that came to Princeton
University early on in my career. I think I was
(30:45):
still studying in school for yoga training. I don't believe
I was even teaching yet, or maybe I just started teaching.
But it was one of those synchronistic events where I lived.
I lived outside of Prince and I came home one
day and there was a flyer stuck in my door
for this, uh, this yogi that was going to be
(31:09):
at Princeton University through the I think it was the
hin Hindu or Hinduism society was bringing him in and
I and I said, well, I don't know who put
it there or how this got there, but I'm going
that's a sign, right. So I went and I knew
Princeton University a little bit but not great. I knew
(31:30):
I knew the building, but I didn't know where in
the building. I found myself upstairs and this this Indian
man was just kind of walking in the hall and uh,
you know me, my Jersey self. I just walked up
and said, hey, do you know where this guy is?
And he says, oh, it's going to be downstairs, and
I said, okay, thank you, and I went downstairs and
(31:53):
we're waiting and then the guy that I saw in
the hallway is the guy. He winds up being this
holy man, this traveling yogi. And one thing that I
that I realized quickly, and I've noticed this with the
Dalai Lama, who I was privileged to see when he
(32:13):
was at Rutgers University many years ago, twenty some years ago,
when he came here. They do the same thing when
they are asked a question that comes to them. In
this case Princeton University. Very academic, very smart people, but
(32:37):
sometimes a little too much in our heads, right, So
when asked a particular question. The first thing this man did,
and I've seen the Dalai Lama do, is giggle. So
this heavy, deep philosophical, academic loaded question comes and the
(32:59):
first thing they do is pause and laugh. One of
the things that I've learned is not to take myself
so seriously. I learned that that day, and I continue
to learn that, and I hope that I bring some
of that in the book.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Absolutely. You know, it's interesting. I think all of us
have had some form of a teacher in our lives
who've helped us to achieve that same realization not to
take ourselves too seriously. I worked for men many years ago,
and he was a brilliant, brilliant businessman. But they had
a couple of expressions that he used all the time.
(33:41):
One of them was I may not always be right,
but I'm never wrong. And the realization was, I'm working
for you. I have to respect what you have to say,
whether I agree with it or not. That was a
very important realization for you to have as a young man.
The other realization, the other thing he used to say
when someone did something that he didn't like, he would say,
what do you have? S h exclamation point T for brains?
(34:06):
And the concept of what he was basically saying. He says,
think he was teaching us to think before we reacted
or moved forward in a certain way. And I'm grateful
for all of those teachers, even at the time that
they may have seen a little bit harsh. I'm grateful
for those teachers. Yeah, for sure, you offer a whole
chapter on the F word, and I don't mean faith.
(34:31):
Does that reflect your new Jersey upbringing?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Well, I think it might be a little Jersey and
a lot of gen X. I remember in high school
I had a very good friend and I don't know
if it was I think senior year when you have
to write these papers and whatever, and his was on
the just that the F word and how for our
(34:56):
generation it has a whole different meaning and kind text
than previous generations. So it's it's a common it's a
common word, and it's and it's very eclectic, and it
has a lot of deep meaning and it has a
(35:16):
lot of fun superficial meaning depending on how you use it.
So I think it's a I think it's a heavier
dose of gen X, but there's definitely a lot of
Jersey in it.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
And tell us a little bit more about why you
dedicate so much time to the effort.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Well, I think that there's a there's lots of layers
that I go into in the book with respect to it.
I didn't realize when I started writing it how much
yoga philosophy I was going to dig into, I guess,
and I wound up sort of doing that so that
(35:59):
the chapter titles. The first chapter's title is the F word, right,
that's it chapter title. And then there's other ones, and
they're meant to grab your attention. They're meant to maybe
even startle you a little bit, or you know, push
some buttons. And what I wind up doing in the
(36:20):
chapter is really syncing into yogic concepts and philosophies that
relate to it and and and explore in a deeper,
more profound way, I hope, but also with a lot
of humor and levity. Is this how can how can
we put this in any kind of yoga term? Or
(36:43):
would a yoga even use this term? So, without giving
too much away about the book, I felt like that
was the most impactful way to start it.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Is there power in the F word?
Speaker 2 (36:59):
Absolutely? Have you ever used it?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Of course? Me with my virgin lips never and that
never came out of my mouth. No, no, absolutely, what
what What are some of the powers that are in
that word?
Speaker 2 (37:16):
I took semantics in college, right, this class about semantics,
which the reason I took it was I was really
interested in the energy behind words in in uh in.
In the context of that, the course didn't meet up
to my expectations. That's another story. But I find that
(37:41):
all words, just like anything, have energy to them. Right,
So when we're using these specific words, when we're when
we're trying to express something in a certain way, you know,
finding just the right word that has the right nuance,
(38:04):
it it brings a whole new life. So I think
that particularly that one word has the ability the power
to do that, but in lots of different ways. So
it can. It can, it can be very deep, and
it can be very It can elicit anger or other
(38:26):
emotions in that realm, but it also can elicit laughter
and and enjoy. It's a it's a very versatile little effort.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Tell us the meaning of the Sanskrit word ahimsa.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Ahimsa generally means non violence.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
Okay, and does it also mean forgiveness? Yes, okay, So
may we find ahmsa within effery.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Yes, why not? Everything is relative right and it's all
about right intention.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Absolutely. I love the expression. I haven't seen this word
the e r y added on to the end of
the F word until about five years ago. And I
think it's a great word. M It means I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
It's a fun word.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
It's a fun word. It's a wonderful words. It's a
word that implies that what's transpiring, what's taking place, is silly,
really right, Yeah, the silliness of the f ory. I
love that word. My guest reverend doctor Tracy Olshaffin, By
the way, I'm also a reverend doctor and we're using
(39:47):
the F word, so that's okay. I just want to
let people know it's okay. Her brand new book sh
exclamation point t Yogi's shouldn't say We'll be back with
more of Tracy after these words on the Old Times
Radio Network.
Speaker 6 (40:00):
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(40:21):
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Speaker 3 (40:30):
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(40:50):
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Speaker 1 (41:53):
Back on Vox Novus. My guest this week my dear friend,
Reverend doctor Tracy Allshaffer. We're about her brand new book
sh exclamation point t Yogi's shouldn't say, Tracy, Have you ever,
in a time of upset, told someone to kiss your asla?
Speaker 3 (42:14):
No?
Speaker 2 (42:14):
But I want that on a shirt.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Is there a place for hatred in yoga?
Speaker 2 (42:25):
That's another really good question. And one of the reasons
that I use some of these words and went there
with some of these chapters is I want people to
ask those questions, and I want them to really lean
into them and think about them, because I think that
there are a lot of these feelings about spiritual paths
(42:52):
and teachers that in many ways we're not human or
we're held to certain high standards we either imposed by
ourself or by our community and others, that we are
should be perfect, or we should be this, or we
should be be that. And certainly we aspire to be
(43:13):
good people, that are helpful people, that are kind people.
But to deny certain aspects of the self is to
deny our complete humanity. So hate is a part, it's
an emotion, it's a feeling, just like anger is. We
(43:38):
like to refer them as shadow energy or shadow stuff. Again,
I think that's in some ways to downplay that they
that they're valid, but they are. We've all experienced these things,
so we don't you know, there's this whole again philosophy
(44:03):
about attachment and avoidance in yoga. They're both equally not fantastic.
So we can't avoid as much as we can't be attached.
So we have to embrace those qualities. But I think
with a certain amount of emotional intelligence as well. So yes,
(44:26):
I think I believe there's space for that in yoga.
There should be space for that in yoga, and we
should be we should be questioning those things and then
where do they come from and what is the underlying
energy that's bringing them up. This is how healing occurs,
(44:47):
not by avoiding that it exists.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
Absolutely. I remember early on when I first started taking
yoga classes, if I would to were to pull a
muscle in something other than the yoga class, I would
use the S word as a response to that. And
I had pulled a muscle yoga class, and I used
(45:10):
all of my power to refrain from using the S word.
After that happened, and I came to the realization, you
know that, I had a discussion with my dear friend,
my yoga teacher at the time, and I came to
the realization that, you know, what, we're human beings, and
if this is part of our normal humanity, it should
be part of the yoga.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
Practice too, right, Yeah, And I think I talk about
a lot of this in the book, and some of
it I just kind of drop in and let you
let you ponder it. But these are these are important
qualities and aspects of the journey. So I appreciate your
(45:50):
questions and bringing this up so we have an opportunity
to talk about it, because I want people to understand
the full context of where I'm coming from with the book.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
Is there vanity in yoga?
Speaker 2 (46:04):
Yeah, yeah, I had. I was in a class once.
I remember this teacher, I incorporated it. I adopted it
from her. We were in a class and for anybody
who practices yoga knows tadasana, which is mountain pose. And
(46:25):
normally in many situations, you're coming up from the floor
to a standing position, and when you get there, what
is the first thing that you do? You fix your clothes,
you adjust your shirt, you tuck things in, you make
sure you look good. Right, And that's what she said.
(46:48):
She's she called it fix your clothes pose, and I
loved that, and it's like, it's true. Is anybody looking
at us, No, we're doing it for ourselves. We want
to make sure will look good.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Proniama is the act of different breathing exercises.
Is it possible to curse through prontiama?
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Yeah? I think you could well, right, just like there's
there's mantras that are internal, right, so you could curse
internally during pranayama. I could do it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
Is there is there a purpose for cursing during pronayama?
Speaker 2 (47:36):
I think I tell a story in the book. I
don't want to retell it now, but there was a
situation that I was in. It was an excruciating, painful experience,
and I wanted to give up the whole time, and
there was only so much positive encouragement that it worked.
(48:00):
And at some point I resorted to cursing and telling
myself you're never going to get through this, you can't
do it, and then I would make myself so mad
I would do more, so it kind of fueled me
to go further. So it worked. It worked in that capacity.
(48:21):
So I've found that there are these extreme times where
all of the love and light doesn't help me, and
I have to dig into a whole other side of
myself to get through. And that's where that comes in.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
I think that's a recognition again of our humanity, that
we're not perfect, and sometimes we have to make a
change and adjustment in order to fulfill that which we
aspire to. And if the process involves self cursing, then
and then you take the action after the self cursing,
then it served its purpose.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
We serve this purpose, right, right?
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Aren't there curse words in Sanskrit?
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (49:07):
You know it's interesting. I'm not a Sanskrit scholar, but
I did a little research because I wanted to understand
this a little bit better myself. You know, there's no
direct curse words in Sanskrit in a modern sense, apparently,
(49:27):
but you know, this is a classical language. It was
mostly used in the Vedas, the Upanashads, so these spiritual
and religious texts. However, there are ways that you can
reflect or express certain things in Sanskrit. Like the word
(49:54):
mudha means full, we're idiot, so it's it's not calling
someone a jackass, but that's as close as as you'd
get in Sanskrit to something like that. And even the
word cursing, it's it's meant different in this context. In Sanskrit,
(50:17):
and in these specific texts, there were sages who actually cursed,
but when they cursed someone it was more something like
may you be struck with misfortune? That was their cursing
of the person. So I find you know again, I
(50:38):
love when I find these things because it reminds me
it's not all about that, you know, that light aspect.
There is another aspect that we have to integrate. And
so yeah, it's there, it's all there. It's just not
(51:02):
in as as much of a forward way. I guess
that we use it today.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
That makes the gentleman that I had mentioned earlier that
I had worked for many years ago, who used to
use these expressions to bring us to the realization that
we were making mistakes, are not perfect A true yogi.
Speaker 2 (51:22):
Right, he was absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
What would you suggest for someone who gets s H
exclamation point t in their third eye from a passing pigeon?
Speaker 2 (51:37):
That's supposed to be good luck, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (51:39):
Is that a good way? I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (51:41):
I think when you get dropped on by a bird
and it's on your either the crown of I think
the crown or the forehead, it's supposed to be good luck.
I don't know about the eye.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
Well, this is the third eye, so that would be
the forehead, right, right, right. In all seriousness, you share
a tremendous amount of information on yoga practice and spirituality
in this book. What would you like readers to take
away from it? Uh?
Speaker 2 (52:11):
Again, you know, question, question what you know or or
why you believe in the things that you do. Don't
take yourself so seriously. One of my yoga teachers used
to say it was kind of corny, but he used
to say, angels fly because they take themselves lightly, you know,
(52:32):
And I think you have to get back there. Everybody
today takes everything and themselves and everyone else. So seriously,
and I'm not saying things aren't serious, but there has
to be some levity and laughter and taking yourself lightly.
(52:56):
Let's let's not forget the importance and this significant of
that in if an Indian or a Tibetan holy man
does it, and you can watch the joy and the
glimmer in their eye when they giggle at something that's
so serious, you can you can see where that wisdom
(53:18):
comes from. Come on, let's let's take a minute to
appreciate the joy is a part of life and we're
meant to be joyful.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
And I think we need to laugh and curse every
day as an exercise.
Speaker 2 (53:30):
Let's do it. Let's see what happens.
Speaker 1 (53:34):
My guest, my dear friend, Reverend doctor Tracy Alshaffer, her
brand new book sh exclamation Point T Yogi's Shouldn't Say
Tracy again, Please share with our listeners where they can
get your books and find out more about you and
your amazing work.
Speaker 2 (53:50):
Absolutely so. The new book Sah exclamation Point T Yogi
Shouldn't Say That is launching on Amazon on this Saturday,
March twenty ninth. All my other books are on Amazon
as well. All the Yoghini books and a few other
books that I wrote previous to that, So you can
buy everything on Amazon their print on demand. I also
(54:14):
have copies here that I can sell to people on
my website, which is one yogacenter dot net, and I'm
happy to autograph them. And I'm also looking for opportunities
to collaborate with other people for workshops and book signings.
(54:36):
So if this speaks to you, if this work or
my thoughts, if it speaks to you, please do you
reach out. I'm looking to collaborate with a lot of
more people this year.
Speaker 1 (54:48):
And Tracy, what are you offering in terms of personal
services if.
Speaker 2 (54:53):
You are in New Jersey or the surrounding area. I do.
I'm a licensed massage therapists, so I do massage therapy.
I also have a program of Thai Yoga body work
I teach that's National Board certified for Continuing Education units.
But I also offer that to people. I also do
(55:15):
what I call quantum healing sessions. So it's a blend
of lots of different things, shamanic practices, reiki, all kinds
of things that I've amassed along my journey, and so
those are private offerings and private yoga that I offer,
and then the retreats. I have a huge trip to
(55:38):
Egypt and through Egypt that I am now booking for
October of twenty twenty twenty six for people who want
to explore the power behind that land.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
Beautiful Reverend doctor Tracy, thank you so much for joining
us and sharing your wisdom, and your wisdom which is
filled with humor as well as practical application. Thank you
so much. Thank you, Victor, and thank you for joining
us on Vox Novius. I'm Victor the Voice Furman. Have
a wonderful week.
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