.jpg)
Nearly Enlightened
Join Nearly Enlightened's host Giana Giarrusso and discover the body, mind and spirit connection! The Nearly Enlightened Podcast is for the soul-centered seeker who is on the path of personal growth and spiritual development. This podcast takes a light-hearted approach exploring topics rooted in themes of mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.
Nearly Enlightened
Embracing Authenticity with Kat Parks
We want to hear from you! Send us a text message.
Have you ever wondered how understanding your human design can transform your relationships and decision-making? Join me and the inspiring Kat Parks, a seasoned Face Yoga Instructor, as we reconnect over our shared experiences and delve into the world of projectors—an insightful and rare ish type in human design. Our conversation unfolds with nostalgic memories from Arizona and the unique ways technology has helped maintain our bond despite the distance. We explore the essence of being projectors, the importance of seeking permission before offering guidance, and how this understanding has deepened our connection with ourselves and others.
Life's changes and the profound impact of grief become central themes as we share personal stories about mourning loved ones. Kat and I discuss the delicate balance of aligning professional commitments with personal well-being and the transformative power of honoring our emotions. From adjusting class times to finding joy in small changes, we emphasize the necessity of giving ourselves the time and space to navigate and grow from our grief. This heartfelt conversation reveals the strength and beauty found in vulnerability and the incredible journey of personal growth amidst loss.
We also confront societal pressures head-on, discussing the rising trend of Botox and fillers among young people and their long-term effects on self-perception and health. Kat and I explore the psychological impacts of beauty filters and makeup, and the empowerment that comes from embracing natural aging through practices like face yoga. Our candid discussion highlights the importance of authenticity, transparency in the beauty and wellness industries, and the joy of self-acceptance.
Connect with Kat:
bit.ly/be-easy-tension-release-guide
www.BeEasy.Life
Find her on IG @BeEasyFaceYoga
Nearly Enlightened Podcast
Your high-vibe toolbox to connect with your body, mind, and spirit. Empowering you to uncover your Inner Wisdom.
Subscribe & Listen on your favorite platform.
Explore More: Meditate to Elevate | Blog | Free Guide
Let's grow together: @nearlyenlightened | Nearly Enlightened
Welcome to the Nearly Enlightened podcast. I am your host, Gianna Girusso, and today I am joined by my beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, wickedly talented and smart friend, Kat Parks. She is an experienced faith yoga instructor and yoga teacher who has worked with thousands of students since 2013 at her own studio as well as a top-rated wellness resort in the country. With a passion for sharing the joys of faith yoga in a fun and easy way to develop greater awareness and confidence, she loves to share the possibility of connecting to our natural beauty as we age without the risks of invasive treatments. Kat hosts workshops, teaches private classes and leads an immersive group program that empowers others to become more intimately acquainted with their faces. Hi, Kat, Welcome back. Hi, I'm so happy to be here again. I am so happy to see you. So, for those of you who don't know, Kat was on. Now. It's been like a while maybe, like it's been a minute, like at least a year, yeah, maybe maybe more.
Speaker 1:Um, I met Kat when, um, I was living in Arizona and we were Arizona besties, going to yoga all the time together and hanging out, having goddess days, and I was just saying to her how like I was looking at her apartment. You can't see it because you're only listening but, um, I was looking at her apartment and I was like I miss her so much.
Speaker 2:I know the last time that we recorded we were together, we were sitting side by side in our office on our couch and we had two different microphones going to the same computer and it was just this precious little moment. And today I'm so happy to be here. It's, you know, less fun that you're not sitting right here next to me, but at least I get to see you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, virtually is good too, but I would rather hold your hand.
Speaker 2:Yes, At least we have something like this.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, you know, technology can be used in a beautiful way. I've been saying this a lot lately because I feel like we always demonize it, but there are such beautiful things to technology, like people who are far away. We're about 2,500 miles apart right now, but we can still feel kind of close.
Speaker 2:I love it. Yeah, I think the hard thing with technology is when you know it doesn't work prior to us getting started. My microphone is having technical well, I should say I was having technical difficulties. It wasn't my microphone's fault, but you know, sometimes these things just come at us and it just gives us another opportunity to reframe our mindset.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's such a perfect way to put it because I'm like, I'm the worst millennial Like I. Technology is not my forte, which is it's always surprising to people because they're like, but you design your own websites and funnels and you do a podcast every week, Like, what do you mean?
Speaker 2:It's, you know, there's all kinds of different parts of it and I feel the same way because, like I've definitely done some of those things you know and work with my newsletter list, make those funnels et cetera, but it's I don't know the little nitty gritty things. I'm like what? Where do I plug this microphone into?
Speaker 1:I am a spirit, having this human experience and the technology is just not part of what I want to be doing Exactly. Oh well, I'm so excited to have you here. So one of the things that we were just talking about which I wish we were recording for so we were talking a little bit about human design and we are both projectors, which is kind of unusual because projectors only make up about 20% of the population, and yeah, but we tend to seem to gravitate towards other projectors because both of us are surrounded by a lot of them.
Speaker 2:Truly Well, human design is freaking amazing and I feel like a lot of people who are projectors. When we find human design, we're like, oh my God, this is it. This is why I'm a weirdo, this is why I don't fit in with the usual society standards. But in the time that I've realized that I'm a projector, I've found out that my husband, you, my two best friends since childhood, my husband's best friend since childhood and all of the people that I love hanging out with the most are all projectors. I think that we can really sense each other's weirdness. Or, um, as I had one projector say that she, she felt like we all had these like secret wings that were not allowed by society, but us projectors, we can see each other's wings and I thought that that was really the way to put it oh, I love that two of my best friends are also projectors, um, and I think so.
Speaker 1:For me, what's coming up is so my friend Laura was on the podcast like a really long time ago, but that episode is still up. I think it's actually one of the first in the queue, so if you like, scroll all the way down. You can listen to that episode. She it really is a human design workshop. It's like an hour and a half long podcast and she really like goes in. It's amazing. But what she was saying about projectors is like we always get our energy from like plugging into other people. So I think that when we come along other projectors, like it's easy for them to like plug into us and really like see us and we can really do the same for them. And I know I got some of my best advice and guidance from other projectors because I think they really like they're good at zooming out and seeing like the big picture.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh, I love that. Yeah, our classic projector guidance, which I've started, I've started tuning into, are also like asking for permission to give that guidance, especially with other projectors, because sometimes it's like, oh my God, but I have all the answers for you and I just want to give them to you and tell you how your life can be better. But first I need to ask like, is that okay? And you know, honestly, a lot of the time it's not. So, we just keep cruising with our guidance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it tends to always be like the tough love that other people don't want to hear and like. For us it's like the same. It's like when we're getting that advice. It's like the tough love that we don't really want to hear, but like yeah, and it need to hear yeah, that's when it gets um.
Speaker 2:You know weird that both me and my husband are projectors. We're like, let me help you. I.
Speaker 1:I can fix it. I know I can. I have all the answers.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, this projector stuff, man. At least we have each other. But the thing that I was sharing with Gianna before we started was the fact that we are both the same projector authority, which is that we make decisions from an intuitive hit, which can sometimes be like really challenging to listen to because there's so much other noise out there. I think I spend a lot of time wondering, like was that the intuitive hit, or is this the intuitive hit, or should this be the right thing that I do, or that be the right thing that I should do?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, because sometimes those moments of like deep intuition they pop up and you're like, am I crazy, or is this advice that I should follow? Yes, and then it's over immediately. Yeah, and it's like learning how to trust and balance and sit with. One of the things that somebody had told me before is like, oh, you should take 30 days to make a decision, and that actually like melted my brain. Oh my God, because I'm like that's such a long time, like what? Like the offer might not be valid anymore. It might not be, there.
Speaker 1:But I do notice the wisdom in that, because I am usually quick to say yes, but then once I do sit with it for a little bit, I'm like, oh, I don't think I should have agreed to this. Like now my energy is feeling like it's not there and so I think, taking the time and being honest and honoring and being like hey, like I need at least a few days with this, to sit with this and to really see, like what my intuition is telling me, like sometimes an immediate yes is like it might feel like intuition but it's not. If that makes sense and yeah, I just I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it's like people pleasing patterns or like what it is, but, um, yeah, like sometimes after saying yes, it's like, oh, the energy just actually doesn't feel right here. And one of the things about being a projector is like you really need to be seen and invited in, and sometimes it can be hard to wait in that space of like okay, I'm here doing my thing, like here shining my light, but like where?
Speaker 2:is everyone? Yes, definitely that timing too, of like just waiting. I noticed that sometimes with like things I'm working on or something maybe I want to talk to someone about, and the more time that I take and not do that thing, a lot of the time I end up changing my mind about it. I'm like, oh, you know, I actually don't have to talk to that person about that thing, or, you know, I changed my mind about it anyway, or I'm actually not going to do this thing, and so I feel like sometimes there is something about knowing ourselves and how we work and how we move through things that can really help us be more productive, be more authentic, be more ourselves, rather than trying to be on this hamster wheel of our usual society that is generators who are doing things, crossing things off their to-do lists and motivated, and we're just not like that, which can feel challenging, I think, to be an entrepreneur when there's stuff we have to do, like sending you a headshot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I totally get that and it's funny because it's so amazing how this podcast has worked this last season. Um, but christy and I were basically just talking about this, um, taking like these moments of rest can feel like really like oh, is rest the most productive thing I could be doing? Like no, I could be doing all of these things. But sometimes when you do lean in and take that moment to rest, then like the creativity flows or like you get the energy to do the thing. So like not feeling so guilty about taking a rest and I was talking very candidly about this on that episode like from last November till like probably just like about a month ago, my energy felt very high. It was very like be out there, be seen, be doing the things, be like pumping out the content, you know, just like in that go like hustle kind of culture.
Speaker 1:But like the last two weeks, I really felt like I needed a break. So I kind of took a break and I felt bad about that, because the podcast has been in such a groove where it's like actually booming. I am in shock and awe every single day when I look at the analytics, like I'm humbled and blessed and grateful. But I was worried about taking those two weeks off and I was like what is this going to do to like the groove that we've been in? And the worry was for not like it was a waste of energy really, because the same amount of people were listening, probably catching up on past episodes or like whatever they were doing, but the numbers were still there. So I was like absolutely blown away and like I really can't express my gratitude enough for everyone who listens, who shares, who comes on this podcast, because, like I wouldn't be able to do it without these, all these moving parts, so I'm very grateful.
Speaker 2:That's amazing and I'm sure that the rest that you took got you more in alignment with what it is that you actually want to do and moving forward with the pod and everything else that you're working on. But the thing with podcasts it's like you know, if you have this awesome content, you do these cool interviews, you have these neat people. People care about that, people want to listen to that and whether or not you post every week, people are still going to listen to that, one of my most favorite podcasts. I haven't seen them post in since like July and I still keep checking because it's my favorite podcast and you know the people who listen to that are going to keep checking. We're going to keep listening to old ones because that is what matters to us and I think that the the fickle friends or the fickle fans um, fair weather friends, uh, they're not our vibe. You know we want these hardcore people who love what we have to put out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so true. And I like what resonates with me is like always leading by example, and like I am not just going to come up here and talk this talk without walking the walk too. So just like honoring the energy that I'm in and even I'm starting to reevaluate, like my teaching schedule, which I've been teaching, like an obscene amount of classes 10 to 14 classes a week oh my God, that's too much. It's a lot for a project. It's a lot.
Speaker 2:That's a lot for anyone, but my energy was very there to support it before.
Speaker 1:Like it was, but my energy was very there to support it before, Like it was it, like I was, just it was lighting me up, it was like giving me energy. And now I'm starting to feel that pull back a little bit of like. Okay, let's like streamline, um, and just kind of see where I'm at and I actually am getting. It doesn't sound like such a big deal when you're teaching 10 classes a week, but I'm getting rid of one of the classes, which is a very early morning class, after a very late night class. So on Thursday nights I teach a class that ends like fairly late and I mean, as you're a yoga teacher, so you know like by the time you unwind, get home, eat dinner, like shower, and you're just like going, you can't really settle down. And then my next class on Friday morning is seven, 30 in the morning, so I have to be there for seven. It's like very early. I'm a projector, so I'm not really an early morning person to begin with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's tough back to back, yeah, and then teaching seven, 30 and then nine. So now I'm getting rid of both of those classes and swapping it for a nine 30 class, which just gives me a little bit more time to sleep in and like take a little bit of a slower morning, so it just feels more aligned and even just like that one little shift that's coming up in a couple of weeks, like I feel already, I feel like a weight has been lifted. It's like honoring that space that you're in.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful, yeah, and I think that we really need to be in alignment, especially if we are entrepreneurs, doing these things for ourselves, choosing what it is that we're doing for you know I'll put this in big air, quotes our living. Because we need to be aligned with that, because otherwise then we're just slogging through every day hating life, hating what we're doing, and that doesn't sound like a fun way to live life to me, and I would like to have fun in this life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that we really are meant to have fun and enjoy, like I also talked about this on the podcast last week like you can't fully experience like joy and happiness and pleasure and love unless you feel like the opposite end of the spectrum. So like just honoring the fluctuations of like what we experience as humans, that's like the full experience. So like, yeah, lean in, feel those feel those things move through them.
Speaker 1:You know I'm I talked about this too like I'm coming off the heels of like probably the worst year and a half of my life and, um, like I, really the joy feels that much more joyful now, you know that's beautiful.
Speaker 2:I love to hear that and I totally get where you're coming from. Been been there with you for that last year and a half of your life.
Speaker 1:Um, and you also experienced grief and and loss in that in that like year and a half too, so you definitely I was going to say you, you've been here for me over this last year.
Speaker 2:That has been a great challenge, full of deep grief and um, yeah, but you know, hey, I'm here Almost made it to the other side of that year, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, this too shall pass.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, um, do we want to talk about grief?
Speaker 1:Sure, let's dive in. Yeah. This whole season has kind of been about moving through grief and you know I think it's cliche, but one of the things that you know, you always see those quotes that come up about grief and it's like grief is like the absence, the physical absence of love. So it's like you wouldn't feel that grief if you didn't feel like this deep love. So like how beautiful is that to like have felt that deep love.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, I'll um, I'll share that Um. A year minus 10 days ago, I had to say goodbye to my soulmate kitty cat.
Speaker 2:I'm going to try not to cry. Um, that's okay, man, it was just the freaking worst. And the year has just been really challenging. Um, with other bits of grief, um placed on top of that. Um flowing through my own, flowing through my husband's after he lost his dad, um, suddenly and unexpectedly beginning of this year. Um, so it's been. It's been a rough one. You know when it's kind of like everything starts stacking on itself. One of the things that I feel really resonated with me is that the part that or what we are grieving is who we were able to be with the person or being or entity that we have lost, and I feel that so deeply.
Speaker 2:I have been a cat owner since I was 21. Like, I got this kitten, I needed a kitten when I was 21. And I spent my entire adult life as a cat mom. I'm obsessed with cats, total cat lady. She's my little baby. And then, all of a sudden last year, I'm like this cat lady without a cat and I had to figure out who to be, who I am, how to be, and I honor her and that part of myself, while also not trying to just like get over it. I think that that's a really gross and toxic thing that our society also gets into. Is this like oh, you're still sad, oh, it's just a cat, get over it. It's been a a year and it's like, well it? It can be 10 years and I might not still have washed the shirt that I was wearing that day.
Speaker 1:and that has to be okay, because this is my grief journey yeah, that's yeah, yeah, and it really is like, like you know, I just said it, but like like I'm I'm learning how to be this new version of me. Now, since that last year and a half, since all like the grief and loss and my life fell apart and I moved back across the country to be closer to my family, and like I'm stepping into this new version of me and and sometimes that's part of the grief journey too is like feeling the sadness for who you were before. You know, for me it was before shit hit the fan. Like, yeah, you know, sometimes like those facebook memories come up of when I was like very traipsing around colorado and like topless in the desert and uh like swimming in Sedona with no top on um and like.
Speaker 1:I really like part of that was like mourning the loss of that person, like and figuring out who I am now and stepping into who who I am now.
Speaker 1:Um, now that that is behind me, and even though sometimes, like you said, it feels very fresh, it comes up like you get this wave of emotion because the healing journey is not linear, like we think, like the further we get away from something like, oh, it's better. But I talk about this a lot. I lost my brother when I was eight years old and when you talk about it it still feels very fresh. That was 20 something years ago and when you think about that day it's like it could have been yesterday.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I heard this analogy once that our grief is like when you're standing in the waves at the beach and sometimes these waves come and they're just hitting your ankles, and sometimes a wave comes and it gets you at the knees, and sometimes a wave comes and it just knocks you over and pushes you into the sand, and it doesn't matter when and truly just. I think a week or less ago I was sobbing my eyes out. I'll share very publicly I vacuumed my carpet for the first time in like 11 months because it still had my cat hair on it and I felt like so connected to this place, this rug, that my cat always was and I never felt compelled to want to like get rid of that. And just the other day it was like a week ago I vacuumed for the first time and I just sat on the ground and cried and I cried like again, like it was yesterday, and that's something that you know. I'm sure my mom would be like that's disgusting. You know you should have cleaned that rug months ago or, you know, a month after it happened, probably less, and this is all just.
Speaker 2:You know, we have to flow with with our own grief, our own emotions, what matters to us. And again, yeah, acknowledging the fact that we're different. And we're different not just when we have a grief event. You know, a breakup, a death, a loss, a change, a graduation, a job change All of those are grief events. But we're also just changing. And you know me, at 36, I can grieve the person that I was at 32. I can grieve the 26-year-old me, I can grieve the 21-year-old me, because there's no going back. And I think that the more that we can move through that, acknowledge that we are changing, that we are different. Whether or not we're having these big, epic, life-changing events, there's always going to be life-changing, changing events. There's always going to be life changing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so true, like that is. It sounds so stupid and so trivial, but like the only constant in life, the only thing that we can count on is that things are going to change Absolutely. So like staying in this fear bubble, or like not wanting things to change, or like clinging on for dear life, like it it doesn't matter, like it's still going to happen. You're not going to you're not going to avoid it, it's, it's happening.
Speaker 2:This feels like a good segue into aging. Yes, because something that I say all the time is that someday we're all going to have wrinkles, we're all going to have gray hair, we're all going to have saggy boobs if we're lucky.
Speaker 2:And that's the thing is that, like you know, it's the if we're lucky, if we keep aging, then this will happen to literally all of us, even the people who are getting Botox, even the people who are getting their hair dyed, even the people who are getting boob jobs. It's happening to all of us and I think that, acknowledging that and trying not to fight against nature, you know we are literally aging, we're literally changing, and the more that we try to like, cling on to youth or some version of ourselves that doesn't exist anymore, the worse we're going to feel about ourselves. And this is again, it's a practice.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's so much I want to unpack here.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad you brought up the Botox thing, because it is something that I've wanted to talk about, because there is like an immense pressure to not age. Like people are injecting Botox and fillers in their 20s now and that is just so crazy to me because historically it's been for people who are in their 50s and 60s, who you know, whatever their story is, but now, like, there's no long term studies. So these women who are starting in their 20s and keeping it up, like how is that going to fare? And you know, we're also using it, for I'm using air quotes, medical procedures now medical reasons right you're stinky and sweaty like oh, we'll just do a couple of units of botox under the armpits.
Speaker 1:Like oh, you get migraines, we'll just do a few units of botox in your forehead. Like oh, you have tmj dysfunction. Like oh, we're just gonna do a couple units of botox in your TMJ muscle.
Speaker 2:And by couple you mean a couple dozen, because for medical reasons they're using way more units than they are for cosmetic. I've taught now probably about 2000 students at the resort that I teach at, where I teach face yoga, and every once in a while, you know, I start my class by asking has anyone had Botox or fillers in the last four months? And then you know people raise their hands. I say where on your face and when? Um, and a lot of the time people will will say like oh, but, but it's for medical. Oh, but I get it for migraines, oh, but I get it for TMJ, and I straight up say it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Botox is Botox. Is Botox Cosmetic, medical, dysport, juvederm, they're all the same. It's botulinum toxin and they're all going to be the same, they're all going to be bad for your health.
Speaker 1:Yeah, your body has to metabolize that. It's going to affect your liver, it's going to affect your kidneys, like whether or not the scientific studies say it. Just like use your fucking brain.
Speaker 2:Yes. Well, the thing is is that there are scientific studies and, like I, I know that you know say, especially these days, there's a lot of, you know, research that's done by the people who have the money and sometimes it can be really challenging to find the data. But there's data from the National Institute of Health. You know this is, we'll call it, a very reputable source that many people can agree upon. That long-term Botox use, essentially, you know, we're not able to move our muscles. Our muscles are becoming paralyzed. Without proper muscle movement, we're not getting proper blood flow. Without proper blood flow, we're not getting the blood and minerals to our bones. So there's actually a National Institute of Health study that shows that there's bone loss and bone degradation after long-term Botox use. And this is something that we really need to think about, especially for something like TMJ. If they're putting it right at where our TMJ joint actually is, that's bone, and if that bone gets degraded over a period of time, then what?
Speaker 1:Then what? You start breaking your jaw? Yeah, your TMJ dysfunction is going to be the least of your fucking worries.
Speaker 2:Yes, and same thing with when we're getting it in our forehead. This is a huge bone in our skull and if we're getting it, say, at the crow's feet area, this is a part like our temple. It's already a little bit of a divot right here by our crow's feet. If we're starting to lose bone there, then we're going to have a different shaped face. But we really need to think about things like that the bone, the muscle, the blood flow, and less about you know what do I look like? Or, oh, I've got this line between my brows. There's things that we can do about it.
Speaker 1:So I don't know if many know this, but I used to work at a med spa back a couple of years ago and one of the things that the nurse practitioner used to say was you know, like these injections aren't going to even make you look younger, you're going to just look your age with work done, and this is someone who's actively injecting.
Speaker 2:You're going to just look your age with work done, and this is someone who's actively injecting Botox and filler and like all of the other things. So, like we're selling this pipe dream of like you're going to look younger, it's like, no, you're not, you're going to look your age, you're just going to look like you had work done. Kind of had a little bit more light shed on it recently is the fact that when folks are getting it done in their 20s, it's actually making them look older Because again, say, with something like Botox, we're not getting that proper blood flow. This is a time when in folks in their 20s up to probably about 30, our faces are still growing and changing, we still have muscles moving and we're still developing. So folks who are getting Botox in their twenties, it's actually making them look older because we're not able to move as much, they're not able to get as much blood flow to their very full of collagen faces. And then there's the thing with oh sorry.
Speaker 2:No, go ahead. The part with fillers is that these fillers were literally made for when we already have volume loss. So again, these are for folks in their 40s, 50s, 60s, to add more volume to places that have lost volume. But what they're being used for now is like contouring, as if it's makeup. But if someone who's in their 20s is injecting, say, into their cheeks, to get higher cheekbones or a look of higher cheeks, then all of that filler actually starts to expand within the face. It can actually start to migrate in the face.
Speaker 2:It can make you look different. And again, it's aging these people. I don't know if you've seen the Love Island gals. Have you seen them?
Speaker 1:So I've seen a couple episodes, but I'm not really like immersed in the culture.
Speaker 2:Okay, nor am I. This is the. I saw it on an Instagram post. They showed this plastic surgeon pictures of all these gals from Love Island and asked they're young, they're like inals from love island and asked they're young, they're like in their 20s.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're like 23 to 25, and the doc was supposed to guess, you know, oh, are they natural or have they had work done? And then, how old do you think they are? And he was like, oh, they're all, they're all fake. You know, none of them are natural, they've all had Botox or something, plastic surgery fillers. But he was guessing their ages, like 32, 36, 43. And the girl that he guessed, who was in her 40s, was legitimately like 24. And she legitimately looks like she's in her 40s. And it's one of these things that you know we're thinking too close, we're too close and not thinking about the future. And I think that when we're like, oh, but I can have these bigger lips today, we're not thinking about the fact that, well, what is happening to the skin of your lips Once that gets stretched out? There's no unstretching it. So you either have to keep getting fillers for the rest of your life or have saggy lips.
Speaker 1:Well, it comes to the other hot topic of like this is just big pharma creating customers for life. Like that bottom, that's the bottom line and that's all they care about. That's all big pharma cares about is the bottom line. Like yeah fillers, botox like these. It's a billion dollar industry. Oh yeah, they're not just gonna like make that go away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and here's the thing. Y'all the research is out there. You just type it in on Google world's most lethal neurotoxin, it's Botox. And if you were to ask your dermatologist or your injector at the med spa, hey, what are the adverse effects? They're probably not going to tell you all the adverse effects. And the sad thing is that there's people who are getting the Botox, getting the injections, having adverse events, going back to their doctors and saying, hey, I'm pretty sure that this is the Botox, and the doctors are saying, no, it can't be. Saying, hey, I'm pretty sure that this is the Botox, and the doctors are saying no, it can't be. And that's.
Speaker 2:This is a part where we just have to get into advocating for our own selves and our health and knowing that we know our bodies. You know there's there's people out there who have never had health problems, ever get Botox, and the next day they're having these crazy health events. And you know, we we need to think about that and think about the fact that you know, like I tell my students, we have to be aware of the risks involved with the things that we do. When you go to the gym, you know that you could drop a weight on your foot. You know that that's a risk, so you wear shoes. You're careful when you put things down. We have to know, when we go into the med spa to smooth out our 11 lines, we have to know that this thing that we're injecting could harm us, and could harm us in ways that we've never thought about before and could actually add to more things on our face going on that are exactly what we don't want, or not even just our face, but like our overall health.
Speaker 1:like no one you're like your health. Like you take for granted your health until it's not there. So like if you are a healthy person and then you do this one thing that triggers this adverse effect that affects you for potentially the rest of your life. Like that is a big risk to take.
Speaker 2:It really is, and you know, I think that so many of us really get caught up in the aesthetics part of it.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to address an aesthetics part of it. There's this thing called muscle recruitment that basically, if you get Botox in one area of your face, the other muscles that are not paralyzed are going to start to compensate, to do things that your paralyzed muscle can't do anymore. And when we have muscles compensating in ways that they're not meant to, you're going to get other wrinkles on your face that aren't, I'll say, normal. They're not normal wrinkles, say our crow's feet, those are normal. We get them from scrunching our eyes and lifting our cheeks. Now if we get Botox in our crow's feet, just in our crow's feet, next to our eye, then we might actually start to get under eye wrinkles, because then all the other parts of the circle are going to be working overtime. So folks who have been getting Botox for a long time, they might have more wrinkles underneath their eye. They might have some lines next to their nose. We might just start to get other movement in places that we're not looking for.
Speaker 1:So, going back to like I want to be solution focused, so this is kind of how you got into face yoga and like why you got into face yoga. So like what the heck for people who might not know, like what is face yoga? What's it good for? What does it do? Just a little bit about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love this. So face yoga has actually been around for 23 years. I know a lot of people haven't heard about it. It's been really gaining more traction and popularity in our country over the last few years. But this is a totally healthy, non-toxic modality full of over 100 different poses, exercises, release, techniques that can allow us to reduce, eliminate, prevent fine lines and wrinkles that can allow us to reduce, eliminate, prevent fine lines and wrinkles. This can help us create symmetry in the face, can really address almost any issue that we have with our faces.
Speaker 2:I like to put that word in big air quotes, because the only person who has issues with your face is you. And the thing is you know we are people, we're human beings and we're human beings doing things with our faces, because that's what humans do. And there's going to be a point again, like I said, that we'll all have wrinkles, we'll all have sagging skin, because that's literally what being a human is. Right now, as you and I are talking, we're losing collagen and elastin in our skin. Right now, as we're talking, our skin cell turnover is taking a little bit longer. There are things that we can do about this, like face yoga, like red lights, lasers, collagen supplements.
Speaker 2:But with face yoga, we're learning how to intentionally move and release the muscles of our face so that we can achieve these things, and not even just thinking about our goal-oriented like oh, I've got this line and I want to get rid of it.
Speaker 2:But just by exercising the face, you know, we're working out the rest of our bodies lifting weights, going to yoga, going to the gym, going on walks but we're not utilizing the muscles of our face.
Speaker 2:That are the exact same kind of muscles. So the more that we can learn how to move them properly and intentionally, the more that we can learn how to move them properly and intentionally, the more that we can learn how to release that tension and stress from our faces, the more we can start to relieve that tension and stress from our lives. It's a feedback loop. Your brain is stressed out and it brings that stress onto your face. If we can learn how to let go of that stress in our face, we're actually learning how to let go of that stress in our face. We're actually learning how to let go of that stress and tension in our brain. So we can learn how to do these things. We can learn how to take control of our faces, of what we're doing, of our habits, learn how to be more aware and ultimately, through all of that, find more confidence in what we look like and who we are.
Speaker 1:Wow, that was powerful, thanks. It's like what you were saying before about reframing. It's like reframing the way we think about aging. Yes, I'm not saying that you have to go inject your face. There are things that you can do to help you feel better, to help, like you said, increase blood flow, to help with building collagen with building collagen. So like, why aren't we it's you know the same thing, like, why aren't we talking about prevention?
Speaker 2:Like you're not going to prevent aging but you're going to aid in maybe aging a little bit more gracefully. Exactly and that's the thing is that I really want to impart that upon my students is that it's less about you know how young can we look or what can our after picture look like, but how can we love ourselves a little bit more. I have this line in between my eyebrows. That was literally the thing that got me started in face yoga. I was about a week away from scheduling a Botox appointment. I'd already talked to the injector, was already thinking about what kind of lie I'm going to tell my husband for what appointment I have to go to. And then face yoga came into my sphere. I think it was like a Facebook ad and I thought to myself you know what, maybe I should try this first. And it really just lit me up and has taken me to this place where you know, yeah, I still have a little shadow of a line between my eyebrows. I still have lines on my forehead. I still have crow's feet, a line between my eyebrows. I still have lines on my forehead. I still have crow's feet.
Speaker 2:I've been scrunching my nose my whole life. I've been talking out of one side of my mouth for 36 years, I've been lifting up one eyebrow and not the other one and learning to be okay with that. This is what I look like, this is who I am, and can I use face yoga to even out my eyebrows? Definitely. Can I use face yoga to release some tension from my face? Absolutely. Is that going to make me a different person? No, I'm going to love myself a little bit more, but I'm still going to be cat at my essence and I think that the more that we can be okay with who we are, be okay with the fact that, yes, we are aging, yes, we look different. We are going to look different at 36 than we looked at 26. We're going to look different at 46 than we look at 56, and letting that be okay, we're humans.
Speaker 1:And allowing ourselves to reframe it, because the alternative is being dead, like, yes, if you're not, you know, if you're not aging, then you're. You're fucking dead.
Speaker 2:Yes, or hating ourselves.
Speaker 1:Or yeah, and that's. You know, chrissy was talking about this. She, her work is in the art of aliveness and if you're not like celebrating who you are and loving yourself and working on self-care and self-love, then, like you're, you're not really alive, you're just like going through the motions of life but you're not really living.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love that, and that's almost worse than being dead, yes, yes, and just accepting ourselves for who we are and where we are, and the fact that things are changing and they will continue to change within our own selves.
Speaker 2:But you know, I sort of feel like I'm not sure if society has caught up with folks like us quite yet. So, that being said, folks like us have to know that, like hey, we're looking different and we're changing and we're growing up and our skin is different and our hormones are different and our life is different. And even though society is out here saying that we all need to look like 19-year-old Bratz dolls, we have to be okay that we look the way that we do. And I think, truly, I really do think that at some point in our not so far away future, those of us who have spent this time accepting ourselves, learning how to love ourselves a little bit more, being more intimately acquainted with our beautiful faces, there's going to be a point where we actually do look different and, I might say, better than some of our other cohort who are doing all the things right now, doing all the injections, hating themselves every time they get the injections.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and one thing that this kind of like has sparking for me is social media and filter culture and something that has recently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I was always one of those people who, like, if I was popping online, like I was showing up with a filter, if I was putting something up, like I was doctoring it a little bit here and there, and something shifted in me like probably close to two years ago, like I was doctoring it a little bit here and there and something shifted in me like probably close to two years ago, and I was like this is making me hate myself because I don't look like these filters. So like, yes, you do a side by side where you like put the filter on and then you do one without the filter. Of course, you're gonna like I'm fucking ugly, because that AI is like meant to make you symmetrical, gorgeous, stunning, like perfect, yeah, and like we just don't look like that. So like also, how disappointing when you're looking at yourself in these filters all the time and then you actually look in the mirror and you're like, oh, fuck, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel similarly. I have some photos that I look back on it myself and I'm like, oh my God, my skin was so smooth. Oh my God, I don't have dark circles under my eyes. And then I'm like wait, there's a filter on that. And I'm like I'm pretty sure that I put that on my airbrush app, because my skin has never been that smooth ever. And you know, I don't mean maybe if I was like wearing all kinds of foundation and makeup, but that's also not my ethos, not my vibe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, me either. It just like I feel like I'm just like smothering my face. I just can't do it. And it's funny because I used to like my early 20s, late teens, like I was all about the makeup, loved it, was a makeup artist for a good chunk of my 20s and now I barely wear any makeup at all, just like a little bit here and there, but I never put foundation on my face because, like I don't know, I just feel so smothered and, honestly, I haven't found anything that, ingredients wise, really resonates with me that I want to slather that shit on my skin.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, and just stepping away from using the filters was very empowering for me and I hope that it gives other people permission too, because one of my biggest pet peeves right now is seeing a lot of people in the healing sphere leaders in the healing sphere who will only show up online with filters and they're similar to like they're not wearing makeup, they're not makeup people, um, but they're showing up with these like distorting filters and like. Also how shocking for people who only know you online and then they might meet you in real life and be like Whoa, like she looks so different in real life than she does online and it's like I don't, I don't want to be that person.
Speaker 1:No people don't recognize me because I'm so filtered online Like. I want to show up as my authentic self and, like you said, my 33 year old self looks a lot different than my 22, 22, 23 year old self.
Speaker 2:I would sure hope so. Yeah, and that's the thing too, is that I think that that being transparent too, in in who we are and what we do. I just made a post the other day because I I feel like I've been seeing a lot of celebrities who were like, oh, I haven't had work done, oh, this is just, I was drinking tea and now I've lost 87 pounds and that's come on. That is absolutely not real. You know that you're taking prescription drugs. Can we just be real about what we're doing? And this is to say that you know, I am not opposed to plastic surgery or, you know, whatever it is that you want to do, especially in the celebrity sphere. I understand that their faces are their livelihood. That being said, like, can you just acknowledge that you can't move your eyebrows because you've had Botox? And can we just say that, like, oh, my nose looks different because I had a rhinoplasty? Like, can we be transparent about that? So I try my best to be transparent about all the things that I do, because I don't just do face yoga. I've got a little red light torch, I sit in front of the red light. Sometimes I get IPL facials, I do some facial massage. I have a gua sha tool. You know there's.
Speaker 2:There are other things that we do, but I think that when, when we're out here just lying to people, it's just perpetuating the problem. I saw one time a gal on Instagram. There's this whole group of big air quotes, face yoga ladies who are doing big air quotes, face yoga. It's not face yoga, you guys. But there's an ad where the gal in one ad she's saying that she's 32. And then in another ad, same girl is saying that she's 45. Well, what is she? 31 or 45? She's lying to you. One of those things she's lying to you.
Speaker 2:And I could lie to you and tell you that I'm 50 and look at how beautiful I look. I look like I'm 36. Or I tell you that I'm 36 and I've never had Botox and I do these other things. And sometimes people are like, oh my God, you don't have any wrinkles. And I'm like I obviously do. Like, come a little closer. I absolutely do. I'm 36 years old.
Speaker 2:I've been moving my face a lot and that's the point. That's the point. And I've been watching some movies back from like the 80s and 90s and it's so funny to like I look up the ages of these people and I'm like, oh my gosh, they really do look so different or like shows from the 90s. I was watching Friends the other day and all the gals on the show Friends, on the show Friends they're all moving their eyebrows a lot. They've got lines on their forehead and now, 30 years later, they're all smooth and perfect and can't move their faces.
Speaker 2:And that's not how life works, that's not how humans work, that's not how aging works. And when we, as consumers, are seeing these people look, you know, even more beautiful and flawless and smooth at 50 than they looked at 30. It makes us feel bad about ourselves. So I want to be that person who's out here saying this is what we can be like, this is what we can look like, this is what 36 looks like, this is what 36 can look like, and being a role model for people who are like I don't want to go that route.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's such a mic drop moment I love that I won't drop my beautiful mic. Yeah, no, don't do that. But I think it's such an important message and it's something that I actively work through, like I said, like the filter thing was a big deal for me and like I think I'm not alone in that, like it's so distorting that you really like it really fucks with your head.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's the smooth skin part for me because, like, I am not like that. I've got freckles, I've got lines, you know, sometimes I've got acne. Because I'm a human and when I see those old filtered pictures of me, I legitimately feel bad about myself and I'm like oh my God, I don't look like that anymore. I've never looked like that. I never looked like that. Spoiler alert.
Speaker 1:Spoiler alert that picture is not real and it's kind of sad because it's like what did you look like?
Speaker 2:I don't know, can I find that that undoctored picture?
Speaker 1:yeah same. I don't know if one exists in my 20s, really interesting and that's kind of sad yeah because I feel, like you know, in my teens and early 20s, like those kind of things didn't really exist yet. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:The filter was the fact that our cameras were crappy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it wasn't a filter, it was just pixelated.
Speaker 2:I'm so smooth. I love that.
Speaker 1:So if people are curious about face yoga or if they want to learn more about face yoga or work with you, where can they find some resources?
Speaker 2:Amazing. Well, I would say I would love for you to follow me on Instagram with face yoga, that I want to be more acquainted with my students and be able to see them while they're doing it, answer their questions, you know, make sure they're doing it properly. That being said, I'd love to share, you know, my face yoga ethos on Instagram. You can find me there at be easy face yoga, and that's B E, e-y face yoga. You can also find me online. I'm at beeasylife, so that's not a com, just got that new one beeasylife.
Speaker 1:I love that.
Speaker 2:So I actually will be hosting a huge 12-week course coming up in the next couple months. That is immersive, intimate face yoga coaching program. It is designed to empower you to take control of your face with natural, non-toxic methods like face yoga. This is going to help us to release tension, strengthen our face muscles, develop awareness and, again, my whole deal is that I want you to become more intimately acquainted with your unique face, because you have a unique face. We might have doppelgangers, but there's no one like you and we all are made differently, shaped differently and have different kinds of lives. But the more that we can become acquainted with ourselves, the more that we can develop that self-love, confidence, embrace our natural beauty and learn how to flow with life's changes gracefully, gratefully, without having to lean into those risks of invasive procedures.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I've done a couple of your like short programs, like a couple of weeks, um, and they're the best. Like I loved having that accountability of like okay, we're showing up for face yoga and even if I didn't necessarily do like a whole lot in between, those sessions like that once a week was so great and I know a couple of times I got um two of my friends to come along, with Kayla and Nikki, and actually those are my two best um projector friends. So it's funny.
Speaker 2:Oh, amazing, I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Maybe we can get all of you to join. Uh, find your face freedom.
Speaker 1:Yes, I think they're think they're gonna both be um sparked about that. Especially mckayla's an avid, um nearly enlightened listener, and she's actually coming on the podcast probably like in the next two or three weeks. Um, she's just like off the heels of she'll be coming back from a yoga retreat from the azores, so I'm excited to have her on.
Speaker 2:But when she hears this episode.
Speaker 1:She's going to be screaming.
Speaker 2:I love that. Well, kayla, michaela and Nikki and Gianna, I really do want all of you to join my program. It's honestly going to give you, like, everything you need to take control of your face, your aging, your aesthetic, without having to wonder what it is that we do. There's a lot of face yoga out there that can feel overwhelming and we don't really know exactly what it works for us. And again, my whole thing is how can we just love ourselves a little bit more, find that deeper confidence and release some of that tension? So I also have a free tension release guide. I'm going to give Gianna the link to put in the show notes, cause's a little wordy for me to just like throw out here with my voice.
Speaker 2:But it's a free epic resource that's going to help you how to learn how to quickly and easily release tension from your face and your life. Got face yoga poses in there and why we do it, why it's important. And then, once you got that free guide, well, you can keep on keeping on with that or, you know, work with me a little bit more.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I highly 10 out of 10 recommend working with you more. I loved all your face yoga workshops. Whether you know, I've had the pleasure of coming to some in person and to do some online and they're truly both magical and I do see the difference and it you know we, we love that instant gratification and even though, like, over time, it builds and you see more changes. But seriously, like I think, even when you were practicing, we took a before and after picture of before you taught me my first space yoga class and then after, and you could already see a difference.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I've seen a difference in a 20 minute practice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's the thing A lot of people like to ask me you know, how long does it take to see results? I think that that it it really depends on our age, our race, um, how committed we are to the practice, what it is that we're dealing with, our skin, skin type. So I try not to answer that question, but I'll say that I have seen results in as little as 20 minutes and we can definitely start to see results over a period of weeks or months.
Speaker 1:I had one more thought and it just totally left me, but I'm hoping it comes back before we wrap this up.
Speaker 2:Ooh, I'd love that, but I'm hoping it comes back before we wrap this up. Ooh, I'd love that.
Speaker 1:I mean I can talk more about face yoga. Oh, I know what I was going to say. It's truly like an amazing self-care tool to just have in your healing toolbox. It's something that you know. You don't have to be in a classroom setting, like, once you learn some of the techniques, like we've talked about this, you could do it in the car, you could do it while you watch TV, you could do it while you're washing the dishes. Like it's something that you can integrate into your life and sprinkle it in like a little bit here and there. It doesn't have to be like, oh, every day I'm going to this hour long class at this place. No, you could literally do it anywhere.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's what I tell my students after every class, because I always have someone ask me how much should I practice, how often should I practice? And when I teach a class we might be there for an hour or more because we're learning new things, but our practice can be 5, 10, 15 minutes. It doesn't have to be daunting. I do it when I wake up in the morning. I'm sitting in bed doing some face yoga. I do it on my drives to work, I do it while I'm watching TV. And even if we choose not to practice face yoga specifically, we can learn how to be more aware of our face. We can learn how to be like oh my God, my eyebrows are feeling tense. Let me let that go, and the more awareness that we can find, the better we're going to feel honestly yes.
Speaker 1:And the other thing is just like most of us are doing a skincare routine anyways, even if it's just like washing our face and putting on moisturizer, so like you can even just integrate it into the things you're already doing.
Speaker 2:Exactly A little bit of habit stacking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2:Amazing.
Speaker 1:Thank you for coming on. This has been an A plus episode. I feel like some of these messages I needed to hear yes, same. I feel like some of these messages I needed to hear.
Speaker 2:Yes, same I feel like some of these messages I needed to hear, and hear myself say spirit comes through every time. Yes, I love that it's been such an honor. I absolutely love chatting with you. My friend Wish that we could have a goddess day after this, but this is good enough for now.
Speaker 1:Yes, good enough for now, and it's not. It's see you later. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening to the Nearly Enlightened podcast. If you liked this episode, please give us a thumbs up like share, subscribe, do all of those fun things. It really helps. I appreciate it. I see all of you. If you have any questions, you can pop them into a text now, right from Spotify or Apple or wherever you listen to podcasts, and I think that's super cool. So I would love to hear from you, ask any questions, feedback, comments, concerns. I want to hear it all. So thank you for being here and we'll see you next time.