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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
The Path to Total Wellbeing with Crystal Cerrato
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What happens when ancient wisdom meets modern wellness? In this inspiring conversation, I sit down with Crystal Cerrato—founder of Body of Light Yoga School and creator of BODYWELL a virtual wellness platform— explore how integrated wellbeing practices can completely transform your relationship with your body, mind, and spirit.
We kick things off with a little confession: neither of us has ever been the “fitness type.” But yoga opened a doorway—not through perfect poses or Instagram-worthy moments, but through deeper healing, self-awareness, and true embodiment. Crystal shares how her personal quest for health and balance evolved into a holistic four-pillar method: Eat, Breathe, Sculpt, and Flow—the foundation of BODYWELL.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
How yoga goes far beyond the physical—and why it's actually a complete science of wellbeing
How proper breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system (hello, post-yoga bliss!)
How strategic nutrition impacts mental, emotional, and physical health
Why trying different teachers can deepen your practice
The powerful lessons hidden inside fear (and how it points you toward your biggest growth)
The truth about 200-hour yoga teacher trainings—and why continuing education matters
Practical breathwork, mindful eating, and movement tips you can start using today
Crystal also shares her journey from digital marketing to founding a yoga school, building a wellness platform, and stepping fully into leadership as a mother, entrepreneur, and teacher of teachers.
Whether you're new to the yoga world or looking to deepen your wellness journey, this episode offers actionable tools, inspiring insights, and a powerful reminder that true health starts from the inside out.
Ready to elevate your wellbeing?
Check out BodyWell.live and use code "free month" for a complimentary trial—or use code "GIANA" for $30 off an annual membership.
Nearly Enlightened Podcast
Your high-vibe toolbox to connect with your body, mind, and spirit. Empowering you to uncover your Inner Wisdom.
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Let's grow together: @nearlyenlightened | Nearly Enlightened
Welcome to the Nearly Enlightened Podcast, a high vibe toolbox designed to help you connect to your body, mind and spirit. I'm your host, gianna Giarrusso, and I'm here to share tools, conversations and insights to help you on your journey of self-discovery. This podcast is all about exploring what it means to live a conscious, connected and nearly enlightened life, because the truth is, the answers aren't outside of us, they're already within. Let's dive in. Today's guest is a powerful force in the wellness world, a devoted wife and mother and founder of the Body of Light Yoga School, and the visionary behind the newly launched online platform BodyWell. Her mission is to guide others towards total body well-being through movement, nourishment, breath and mindful living. Welcome, crystal Serrato.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, so glad to be here.
Speaker 1:I am so glad to have you. So, crystal and I a little background most of the people who come on this podcast are friends who are like doing the work and are just like badass trailblazers. Who are like doing the work and are just like badass trailblazers. And you are no exception. Crystal and I met when we were doing our 300 hour yoga teacher yoga teacher training through booty yoga in 2019. And we just became fast friends. Yeah, we did. We had sleepovers where we would like do our homework and that's funny In those days, we were drinking wine.
Speaker 2:And just giggling the night away.
Speaker 1:Giggling the night away Reading the Hatha Yoga Pratapika 10 out of 10 do recommend, I know, yeah, like, if you are a yogi, if you're thinking about being a yogi, if you're a yoga teacher, like, read that book. I don't know why, but just read that book.
Speaker 2:And we can't even tell you what it's about. You have to read it by yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like it's so funny, like all of those, all of those texts, those ancient texts, kind of find you at the right time I had the Bhagavad Gita but I tried to read them so many times and just could not until that training.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Same when I first read the yoga sutras in my 200 hour and I remember getting my books ahead of starting and I tried to like jumpstart on the reading and I was like, okay, so no, this is not happening on my own. Yeah, and it just. It really does come at the exact time that you need it and it it lands. I feel like it takes a few times to really have the information land, but it does when it's meant to.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's one of the things that I loved about. It is like we kind of went in a circle and we all read from our different texts and got to really talk about it and actually like little side plug. But this is kind of like why D and I started the 30 day deepen your practice challenge. So I'm really excited about that. That starts on May 1st, so if you want, you can sign up. I'll link it in the show notes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm excited. This is so great. I'm so excited. This is like so important. I was just listening to you guys on the live and this is like so important because, like you said in other challenges, it's like you kind of miss a lot of what yoga actually is and the way yoga originated. It wasn't meant to be a workout and like it's dope that it helps with the physical right, like there's so many healthy benefits and whatever in the physical practice, but like actually what it is is so much more healing, um, beyond the surface.
Speaker 1:So I'm so glad you guys are doing that. Yes, and it's. So, going back to the yoga sutras and talking about a 200 hour, my first 200 hour, we didn't even I didn't even know that the yoga sutras existed. We did not talk about it.
Speaker 1:So like as I deepened my own practice and started to learn more as how I I learned about them. But I mean and this is a great segue into why you created the body of of light school um was because in 200 hours, like that's, there's a lot to pack into 200 hours and that's like the very base level that you need to. There's a lot to pack into 200 hours and that's like the very base level that you need to teach to become a yoga teacher. So talk to us a little bit about the Body of Light Yoga School.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's funny that the segue is the Yoga Sutras, because it really was that moment in my 200 hour where we were studying the Yoga Sutras and we were dismantling identity really and connecting to what we know as the self. And so in like maybe halfway through my 200 hour yoga teacher training, I knew that I wanted to teach teachers. So really the creation of my school started as an idea at that point. It took a long time then to actually come into fruition, but it honestly happened. So naturally it was like the evolution of myself becoming a yoga teacher. I started teaching halfway through my 200 and just kind of hit the ground running, built myself a website because I was coming from digital marketing background and that's like what I knew how to do. So I did all of that. I just started teaching my butt off, like you know, when you first start and you teach like 30 classes a week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's insane. I taught 18 classes a week when I first started, Like why was I doing?
Speaker 2:that you know it's crazy, but I like, I think it's almost like an initiation of a brand new teacher to like get out there Baptism by fire. A brand new teacher. To like get out there, baptism by fire, yes, exactly. And like see as many bodies as you can and like different people and different, um, things that have people have coming up in the classes to like really learn how to be a good teacher, um, but yeah, so my inspiration for my school started in my 200 and I developed it start, actually, I started with developing an 85 hour prenatal curriculum and that was sort of like my tester to see how a longer format training would go. It was incredible, that one I held online and I was like, okay, I'm ready to complete my 200 hour curriculum. So I did that and I'm now we're getting towards the end of my third cohort and we have a fourth one coming up as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I have other trainers coming in to lead the curriculum, so it's just the school is like expanding and it's really really exciting stuff. But the whole mission behind it was to teach the yoga sutras and to teach people what yoga actually really is beyond like a really badass sequence Although they get that too.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's the gateway for a lot of people. It was for me, like the physical practice I so, right before we started recording, we were both talking about how we don't like running, but it's something that we're starting to integrate. Um, but I was, like never really a fitness person. I hated going to the gym. I would, but it wasn't something that I liked to do. I would like to spin every once in a while. That was like my, if I'm going to do something physical, that's what I'm going to do. When I found yoga, it blew me away. So, like it was the physical practice and it is for a lot of people, the physical practice that brings you in, and that's great. But like it was the physical practice and it is for a lot of people, the physical practice that brings you in, and that's great. But like that is limb three there are eight limbs Like let's start talking about those other things because, like you said, yoga is so much more than the physical practice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Same I was. Well, I've been like somewhat athletic all my life. I grew up doing sports and dance and cheer and like just a little bit of everything. But as a young adult when I first started it was, I was definitely not in a fitness mindset. I was not good to my body, yeah. And I really what 20 year old is right, exactly, and so it really like did bring me into my body and into my mind and into spirit.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yes, that's what it was for me to like learning about breath control. And then, like my best friend, nikki and I, we found this yoga studio that no longer exists. It's actually kind of sad, but it was 45 minutes of chanting and breath work and then a 45 minute yin class Wow, and it would literally put you on another planet. And that was I was coming from, like always going to hot power yoga, and then I tried this class and that was where I decided like I need to teach people this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can only imagine I have not taken a class like that. That sounds amazing.
Speaker 1:I can only imagine. I've not taken a class like that. That sounds amazing, I know. And you know what, if somebody knows of a class out there like this, whether it's like virtual or whatever, let me know about it. Like if there is a teacher doing this like I want to know I'm coming, we should do it. I know I know we should. I actually know somebody who does like the bhakti stuff, so like all of the chanting I that's like out of my realm of practice, really, like I I don't know a lot about that, I'm more of like an anatomy, physical girly, meditation, breath work, um, so that kind of like the chanting and the sanskrit.
Speaker 1:I'm that's not my strongest point.
Speaker 2:Very fun, very fun ideas.
Speaker 1:I mean there's. There's definitely a need for it, like I would like. This class was literally incredible. She would hold us there after class because you were actually like drunk.
Speaker 1:You felt like you were like on another planet, but it was like not safe to drive. So she would have like little snacks and refreshments, yes, and she'd be like put your feet in the grass. Like she had this beautiful property, the yoga studio, like was her house. It was just like this incredible space, um, oh yeah. If anyone knows of anything like that out there, let us know yes so, speaking of body, well, there are um four, four pillars through that.
Speaker 1:Talk about the pillars of body, well, and what it is and how people could join.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I wanted to create this platform that touched on everything because, like you said, we do tend to get caught up in the physical and, like it does, it is the gateway right, like people do come into yoga through the physical practice, um, but with a lot of wellness programs we sometimes get stuck on just the movement. So I created this platform that has four pillars. So the categories for classes are eat, breathe, sculpt and flow. So in the eat category we have nutrition education, so I have some like Ayurvedic stuff in there. I have a holistic nutritionist, I have some other people contributing to some things coming up, and then I have a page for all recipes and the recipes are all based on um, like well-balanced, easy to prep, um, meal prep ideas, dinner ideas, sweet treats, desserts, like all the things, so that people can really plan in advance to stay on track with their nutrition and really nourish their body on a physical, energetic and spiritual level as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, and the nutrition is such a big piece and I've talked about this on the podcast before with my friend Stefan if, like healing your gut, it's such an important step in the process and making sure that you're eating right for your body and it looks different for everyone, like I was vegetarian for seven years and that worked for me for a time, but it stopped working for me at a time and I had to make a pivot and since I have, like, I have felt different. My, my skin is different, my hair is different. So like, just like listening to my, my skin is different, my hair is different. So like, just like listening to your body and knowing that there's not like one size fits all. So I love that there's education there. It's not just like, oh be, dairy free, gluten free, it's like that's not necessarily for everyone.
Speaker 2:Right, and it's not super helpful either. I feel like to have like the plan, the recipes, like here's your inspiration. Just go and do this, you're going to feel great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just contributed a recipe.
Speaker 2:You sure did, and I'm so excited. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm like this looks absolutely incredible. I'm really excited to try it.
Speaker 1:My go-to and I switch it up with like different cuts of beef, but sometimes I'll do like a good chicken, like an air chilled pasture raised chicken, yeah, but it's like so easy to swap out the protein. I mean you could even make it vegetarian. I would eat like that when I was vegetarian too, but for me it's just like when I was eating that way it was a lot of carbs and I didn't even realize it.
Speaker 1:It was like a lot of carbs, a lot of seed oils, a lot of processed food Right, and a lot of carbs. That's the thing, and I didn't even realize it.
Speaker 2:It was like a lot of carbs, a lot of seed oils, a lot of processed food, Right, and a lot of times people see whatever branding, marketing, packaging and they're like, oh, healthy, this is great. And then on the ingredients label it's like what even is this? This is one ingredient away from being plastic, Like really.
Speaker 1:Like it probably is 3d printed. Yeah, yeah. So going back to the pillars you have eat and then the second one is breathe.
Speaker 2:Yes, so we have different pranayama breath work tools and techniques, as well as guided meditations to help people regulate their nervous system. I find that a lot of times, what we're missing in this society is the pause is like the moment of stillness, and so I wanted to keep them short and concise, but really impactful and really beneficial, like with intention. So we're breathing with a purpose and it's all in the descriptions, like what each one is for, um, which I'm so grateful that you contributed to that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know Same, that was so good to do. I don as well. Yeah, I know Same, that was so good to do.
Speaker 2:I don't know when this will drop.
Speaker 1:I'm going to put it up next week, so it'll be up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's in there. So, yeah, so we got eat, breathe and then sculpt is just like fitness for all levels. I have a new format that I'm kind of playing with right now. That's a slow burn sort of a Pilates inspired musicality, but like fusion is really a cool thing. So I have some like slow burn type of sculpt and then I have a couple of other contributors and it's not any one particular style, it's just there's different things in there. And then flow is yoga, so there's different types of yoga as well. I have a couple of different instructors teaching yoga flows, because the yoga is not intended to be the workout per se, right?
Speaker 2:I wanted to differentiate the two. So you may love that, you may still like work up a sweat, work your muscles, all of the things, but they're separate because they have different intentions interventions.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, and like I talk about this in my yoga classes a lot like the intention for each yoga pose, like first it would have, um, like it would be beneficial to some sort of like organ system or your skeletal system, or literally, it was just designed to make you uncomfortable, um, so that you can literally go to those places in your mind where you feel those challenges, where you feel those blocks, and meet them. So it's a way to like overcome. So the poses have a very specific um purpose and if they do, if I was one of those people who I was naturally very flexible, so I was resting in my flexibility a lot before I really started engaging my muscles and going through with intention and I see that a lot in classes. I'm sure you do too, cause you teach a lot as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I always say about yoga it's like people feel like it's hard at first and then you kind of figure out alignment and it maybe gets easier, but then as you practice you, it gets harder again because you realize like you could take a level one I'm using finger quotes or beginner class and still find so much challenge because you learn how to engage properly and how to like root down and rebound and find the lift and all of that. So it's a very interesting practice.
Speaker 1:Yes, I know. I mean I've been practicing pretty religiously for about 13 years now and I talk about this too in my classes. Like in down dog, it's one of the first poses that you learn. But there's still so much like even now I'm still finding things in in down dog that it's like, ooh, what if I just did this? What if I did this, if I adjusted this a little bit, if I brought my heels here? It's like you're still refining these poses, even if you've been practicing for a really long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like it's always an exploration too, or like even just just hold it longer, like, oh my goodness, to hold down dog for 10 breaths is a long time. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Holy shoulders yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Upper back the whole. Thing.
Speaker 1:Good. Can you share one super simple practice or mindset shift under each pillar, or that inspired each pillar that listeners might be able to try today?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have the pillars in a specific order. So it's eat, breathe, sculpt and flow for a reason. So I start with eat because we want to plan in advance. If you're doing all of the things, you're going to be hungry afterwards. I'm not saying that you should eat before you do your sculpt and your flow and your breath work and all the things, but it's about planning. So, as far as the eat category, it's about the planning in advance and knowing what you're going to eat, either for that day or maybe for that week, how you're setting it up.
Speaker 2:So plan in advance. For breathe, take the time like, really just do it. You can sit and even breathe four count in and four count out and sit there and do that for a few breaths or even a few minutes if you have the time, and it can shift how you're feeling, it can elevate your mood, it can help to bring you more into the present, and a lot of times when we're dealing with some mental stuff it's because we're not in the present. So get present and carve out the time for it. In the sculpt category, some of them are tricky. I'm gonna just say some of them are tricky. I'm going to just say that some of them are like really they're challenging in the best way, not tricky like nobody can do it but challenging in that you will be tested.
Speaker 2:So find that top, pass the discipline within and just push, go through it because you will feel better on the other side of it. And as far as flow um, a tangible practice that people can do, see if you can maintain the same flow through of your breath throughout the practice. Like focusing on the breath through the movement is really the connection piece in that I think that bridges everything together. The breath really is like the key to the more subtle body and the more subtle elements of like the eight limbs of yoga. So focus on your breath and let the movement guide it.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I would say that the breath is really the the way to get into, tap into the parasympathetic nervous system and come into that rest and digest state. And I think that's why you know people, when they go to their first couple of yoga classes, they leave and they're like why do I feel so damn good when I leave here? And it's like, well, because you did this challenging thing and you probably breathe deeper than you've ever breathed in your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just incredible what it can do for your mind and body and your nervous system, all of the things. So, to combine these practices, the breath and the physical movement you're working on so many different layers of your physical and energetic being. That's like, yeah, that's healing, more healing than so many other things that people try.
Speaker 1:Yes, I agree. And and when it becomes like, once you gain that awareness towards it, it's really hard to ignore it like your body almost craves it, like that's what happened. Like I started going to yoga so regularly and then like, oh, if I would take like a couple days off, my body would be like craving it, like that's what happened Like I started going to yoga so regularly and then like, oh, if I would take like a couple of days off, my body would be like craving it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, have to get there, yeah. And sometimes we come out of it for a longer period of time and we kind of like forget, and then when you go back into it, it's like, oh, yeah, that's why I'm so drawn to this.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I love um love the concept of body well, because it's really a way to for people to embody their wellness and actually, like, do the work, and I love that. So what does total body well being mean to you personally?
Speaker 2:It's been a journey of my life and it really is everything. It's the heart of everything. We're touching on every facet of our health and I think that that's so important and that's really what has guided me through so many tough times in my life and experiences. And having the tools to understand nutrition has helped my body and understanding that that plays a role in anxiety, depression, all of the things that I have experienced in my life, and other like long-term diseases that I'm predisposed to. If I can kind of shield, proof myself with nutrition. Now it has literally changed the game and how I feel. So to then incorporate all of these things the breath, the movement, the food it's my way of like taking what my my mess and making it my message. It's so funny.
Speaker 1:We literally said that on yesterday's podcast. So Kat and I recorded yesterday and it went up yesterday. How funny. And we said that several times throughout the episode.
Speaker 2:It's just, that's how you know it's, it's alignment. It's just have our own, like you know, unique pathways of of reaching that embodiment. But, like, for me, this is, this is it, and it almost body, well, almost unfolded naturally, before I even realized like, oh man, this has been, this has been what I've been doing like for so many years now. And now I'm like, okay, this is my guiding post, this is, this is what drives me, this is why this is in such alignment for what I'm doing and what I'm creating. And it's just really, it's honestly, it's happened so easily, so naturally, and that's how you know that is how you know.
Speaker 1:that is that I can like totally relate to that experience. That's kind of how nearly enlightened was born to and it's how the podcast keeps growing Like it. It shocks me all the time, but I love sharing this information Like it is. It is my life's work, like, like you said, when you were in your 200 hour. When I was in my 200 hour, I had like a very similar experience of like, oh my gosh, nothing else has worked out before, because this is what I was supposed to be doing. Like everything that I've ever done has led me here. Yep.
Speaker 2:Yep and through all the rejections and denials and the nose and I'm like, okay, but just not with you, Because I like I know what I'm supposed to do, I know what my purpose is, I know my mission and and when you trust that and listen, things just fall into place.
Speaker 1:And it can be scary. Like I know, people get very overwhelmed. So this is what's going to lead me to my next question. Like a lot of people get overwhelmed by the oh, I should do this, I should integrate this, I need to take this out and it gets like very overwhelming and it ends up stopping people from actually starting the thing. So, in the like, there are a lot of shows, especially in the wellness culture that we see online today. So, like, what would you say to somebody who's like afraid to start, wants to start? Is like yoga, curious or health and wellness.
Speaker 2:Curious. I feel like fear is an indication that this is a path that you should dig into, like you should really lean into fear. There's a very, very fine line and we're always, like I'm always advocate, advocating for discernment, because there's a fine line between like butting up against things that are just not meant to be and not in alignment, and things that are like clear signs telling you no, change course, redirect, but like we sometimes like butt up against that. But I think there's a very difference between fear, and I remember I can't remember who was that told me this, but someone once said, like if it doesn't scare you, it's not, your goal is not big enough, and so if there's fear in that, it's like, okay, this is a little bit exciting and it's okay if you you mess up.
Speaker 2:It's okay If you don't have the exact right equipment or the exact right things in your pantry, if it's food related or the whatever. Just start, just go trust what fills you up, Listen to that little nagging fear and lean into it, because just outside of our comfort zone is where we grow and I think that's like what we were talking about earlier. Certain poses are really hard and you sit in them up for a long time, but then, on the other side of that, you're stronger and you learn something, and we know that a lot of it's mental and we're the ones that are in our own ways. If we can just clear that out of the way, we can do really incredible things. We're connected to all of creation. We can do whatever the heck we want.
Speaker 1:Yes, and what is more like powerful and empowering than that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we really are co creating with spirit. We can do whatever the heck we want. We just have to do the work too. So don't let the fear stop you want.
Speaker 1:We just have to do the work too, so don't let the fear stop you. Yes, I think that's such an important message it's. I worked for Lululemon and that was a big part of my journey to yoga and like where I am today, and one of the things that was like one of their pillars was do one thing a day. That scares you, yeah, and that's something. There's like a few lessons that I've taken from my time there that I like I think it still drives me forward. I mean just the entrepreneurial spirit. When I started working for Lululemon, it was 2012. They were still like kind of a baby company and growing, and I was part of the team that helped grow all of South Florida into like what it is. So we had just like this. Really. It was like basically all about. It was like going through the yoga journey. It was like my yoga teacher training. Before the yoga teacher training, it was like a real self-study.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:So, um, as you continue building body, well, what is one thing that's like lighting you up about it right now?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, just one, maybe your top three? Give us your top three. I'm just like so excited to see how it evolves and how it grows and the way the library is growing and having the different contributors contributing and the way that things are kind of like falling into place. Um, but I do see, uh, somehow emerging of my yoga school and body. Well, and I don't, the vision is like not, it hasn't quite landed all into place. I don't exactly know what that's going to look like, but I do feel like something is on the horizon of just like expanding and offering my yoga school, maybe through body.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know, but I think it's just the evolution and the possibility of what it could be and also just seeing who it reaches and how it shifts people's lives, because that's the intention is to like give people something that's like here are the plans, like literally all you have to do is take these classes and put it into work and things will actually start to shift in your life in such a magical and beautiful way If you actually just do it. I'm like right now I'm just trying to get people to take all of the classes on the platform while the library is young because if you do things that you maybe wouldn't have done, like oh, I might pass on that sculpt class or maybe that flow class is not for me. No, do them all. I have done them all and they're really awesome, like they're really so fun and so cool and so unique. Each person is such a different teacher and a different hue of the same light, you know. So.
Speaker 1:I love. I love that you're bringing other teachers in and I think that's like it's a really important thing to encourage in the yoga world. I've seen it, I've lived on the East coast, I've lived on the West coast. People find their teacher and then that's it. They like don't go to anyone else. I have fallen into this, myself included. But I think there and especially if you're a beginner, I think there's so much beauty in trying different teachers and seeing different perspectives, because this practice is 5,000 years old and it was, for the most part, verbally passed down from generation to generation and the reason it's evolved and stayed alive for 5,000 years is because of that. So I think that encouraging students to try other classes, other teachers, is really important. It's an important part of the practice. Like it is yoga, like that is the yoga practice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and even, and like us as teachers, we're all looking through our own lens of our own perception. So I feel like, even if you resonate deeply with one teacher like you, it's so important to take classes with other people because we can relate to them on different levels, on different layers, and it's just, there's infinite wisdom out there.
Speaker 1:Yes, there's infinite wisdom out there. Yes, one of the yoga teachers. In this area, in this community, it's been coming up a lot of like students being like oh I don't like that teacher, oh I like this teacher. And he always tells them like, it's not about what you like and what you don't like, there's no customer service in yoga.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:take that's hilarious, like there's something to learn from every single teacher, even if you don't like them.
Speaker 2:Yep, and that might be what you have to learn. It's a self-reflection then to spot yeah, yeah, like we're always, it's always about you, me like me learning to understand. Why didn't I like that? What was it about that that made me feel discomfort? Can I lean into that? Yeah, most likely there's something to grow from in that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I love that take. I mean yoga in general for me was was like a big out of my comfort zone jump and I jumped right into like the most intense class and I didn't even know it. It was like heated to 98 degrees, 86% humidity. The room was literally packed with probably more than 60 people. We were mat to mat. I was like put right up in front. It was like first yoga class ever. There's no other space except for like right up in front, and classes were 90 minutes. Then, like I don't know if people realize how hard a power yoga class is for 90 minutes in like 90 plus degree heat and 86% humidity, but it is fucking hard. Your brain thinks you're going to die.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you want to run out of the room screaming and crying, but you can't cause. You're in the front row. And you feel so good when you leave there because your brain is like oh, I didn't die, I made it, I made it through, yeah, and then it's like that glorious I don't know if your studio would do this, but like they turn the heat off right at the end and it's like oh yeah, and like turn the fan on and it's like this baby little breeze, but it felt like actual heaven. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, such a relief. I would go to a class in Arizona and it was like oppressive. It was like a Bikram style kind of. So it was like one hundred and five degrees and eighty five percent humidity and they would literally slap you with towels, like lavender towels, and I was like, why am I doing this? This is like actually like kind of um, like oppressive.
Speaker 2:yeah, oh my gosh, those glorious towels.
Speaker 1:I know it was crazy. It was like the only thing that got you through. But same thing there. It's like you're like stuck in the middle of a class and it's like you don't want to leave but you want to run out of there because it's so hot. But that's where the game, with your mind, comes in. It's like can you overcome what your mind is telling you? And like a lot of times it's trying to keep you in that box is telling you and like a lot of times it's trying to keep you in that box, it's trying to keep you in your comfort zone, super safe. It doesn't want you to see the other side, because what's on the other side is unknown to your brain. So that's scary.
Speaker 2:Right, right. I that was part of my early yoga story was hot yoga and I just I went into it and it was like really super duper, hard Right, and I feel like I heard some advice that says the first three classes are the hardest. Continue to go consistently and your body will kind of like acclimate to it.
Speaker 2:There was so many times that I'm like I need to get the hell out of here, and then I was like addicted to it and it helped me through so many things and eventually obviously led me to take my 200 hour training and which was not a hot yoga training but nonetheless brought me in and through that, like physical discipline, just changed a lot of things for me.
Speaker 1:How long after your 200 hour did you do another training?
Speaker 2:It was a year. So I did my training, started teaching halfway through and then after we graduated there was about a year and I feel like that's a really good. I recommend that to my 200 hour graduates to like teach for a year and then take a 300 if you're going to continue, because it takes a while to actually integrate what you learn in a 200 hour training through teaching. To then like be ready, I feel like, for a 300.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, I agree, I agree, I did another 200 hour before I even did my 300 hour.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, a lot of people I've heard take a couple of different 200s.
Speaker 1:Honestly, they were so different. One was like from one was through like a local studio here, so it was like a smaller scale. I mean, we had a big class, I think in my class there were probably like 28 people, um, and that was my first one and, like I said, we didn't touch on the sutras or the Bhagavad Gita. So it was kind of like, once I started practicing and like learning more on my own, I was like, oh, I feel like there was a little bit of a gap here. They skipped something. Show up in my class and a lot of people being like oh, my doctor told me to come to yoga and I'm like I am literally 26 years old. I have a 200 hour yoga teacher training. My degree is in fashion merchandising. I know zero about your fucking injury.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, your doctor is telling you to be here Like okay, yeah, okay, with your complete rotator cuff tear okay, you're all so with that so my 100 hour training was just basically dealing with pathologies that you see in the yoga class and that was like huge for me because I mean, you know, in a 200 hour you get like what? Two to four hours of anatomy. So that's not really a whole, a whole, heck of a lot.
Speaker 2:Um, a lot in my, in my, well, I think it's. Um, according to yoga Alliance standards, you have to have like 30 hours. Oh really, which is still in the grand scheme of things to be dealing with.
Speaker 1:It's more than it used to be.
Speaker 2:Oh is it? Yeah, um, we do. We do cover a lot, but I certainly would not like my training is not a injury. Specific training.
Speaker 1:So right now 200, like what 200 hour would be there's. There's too much to cover.
Speaker 2:There's way too much to cover with the philosophy and the sequencing, and the awesome is to even teach these people how to do correct um alignment in their bodies Like there's just so much to cover. So it is very interesting. And people come into yoga on a doctor's recommendation all the time, but for so many different things it's like there's you're like but you showed up to hot power and you have like whatever issues like this is not the same, yeah, like as like a yoga that's going to be like very restorative and using all the props and very slow, like there's so many different things.
Speaker 2:I think that's what scares people a lot of the times is when they come into yoga thinking it's a one size fits all and yoga is for everybody, no doubt, but there's so many different types that are maybe not specifically going to be beneficial to every single person, so it's important to do your due diligence, folks.
Speaker 1:Right, and, like I said, there, it's a 5,000 year old practice, so there's so many different lineages and like just different takes on it. And that's why, like, I think it's important to try multiple teachers, to try. If you're a teacher, try, try multiple, take multiple trainings. Like 200 hours, yes, it's enough to start teaching, but it is not enough to sustain, like you have to, you have to keep deepening your own practice, because in a 200 hour you're only covering so much and there is so much more to learn, um, and like never, never stop learning, like never stop being a student of the practice first.
Speaker 2:I think that's that's like another important thing 100% and I feel like when I'm leading the 200 hour trainings, my first three weekends are like the heaviest, because I want to make sure we got to get through like so much of the important stuff and I'm like, yeah, we have just I've given you such a mind dump of all this stuff. But this is really just me like showing you which chapters are available for you to like pick and then go into a deep dive of whatever calls to you. Do you want to be a specialist in anatomy and injury prevention? Great. Do another continuing education on that? Do you want to be a chakras person? Go, go learn more specifically into. There's like so much more in depth that you could go into any of the pillars of what yoga is. It's kind of like these are endless. Here's chapter one of all of it 200 chapter ones. Like you know, oh, that's so deep. We still go so deep into certain things. That's like there's just it's it's infinite the amount of wisdom and things that there are to learn about.
Speaker 1:It's literally life-changing even if you don't have the intention to teach, even if you just want to use it to deepen your practice. Like there was a woman who wasn't even really a practicing Yogi, um, and she did my first 200 hour. She just like needed a change, needed a shift and had no intentions of teaching. And it's just like insanely transformative because you do get all of these tools where. It's like this is how yoga is the science of wellbeing, so it's like this is how you be well, yoga is the science of well-being.
Speaker 2:So it's like this is how you be well, yeah, really, and there's just so much to uncover energetically and within our own selves and our minds and like the ways that we kind of self-sabotage ourselves, like there's uncovering of that too beyond, just like showing how you can help your low back pain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's great for that too. Right, and I would joke about this, but the yoga sutras I really feel like are the guidebook to life. Like you want to live well, be well, be peaceful, like learn to handle life's up and downs. Like read that book.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That is the guidebook to life.
Speaker 2:This is the guidebook. These are the ethics. This is how you do it. Here's how you center your mind and your body. It's all right here and you just have to do it.
Speaker 1:Incredible. It really. I mean, yeah, I'm, I think it's why we're, we're both here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:So, as we're closing up, if somebody, when's your next training? First of all, next 100 hour.
Speaker 2:The next one is in Santa Clarita. It's going to be just a condensed. It's every weekend, june and July and August, so I'll have the dates up for that coming up pretty soon.
Speaker 1:Exciting. So they can find that on your website if I link your website. Yeah, amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And if somebody is curious about BodyWell, what is it? How can they sign up? Where can they find it?
Speaker 2:So it's an online platform, has all the classes for total body well-being. So it's an online platform, has all the classes for total body wellbeing. It is you can join either monthly or annually, and you can join for a free month with the code free month, and the website is bodywelllive, and that's also the Instagram handle, so you can find me there as well.
Speaker 1:Amazing Crystal. Thank you so much for being here and sharing your heart with us, your wisdom, and thank you so much for being such an inspiration when it comes to teachers and really embodying what you preach.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. I really do try to only preach what I practice. So thank you for seeing that and recognizing that, and thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Anytime you want to come back and talk, we can maybe tell more about the Hatha Yoga Pratapika story Perfect. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of the Nearly Enlightened podcast. If this conversation resonated with you, I'd love you to share it, leave a review or reach out and let me know your thoughts. And if you're looking for more ways to deepen your connection to body, mind and spirit, check out my meditate to elevate my guided meditation portal or visit nearly enlightenedcom for more resources. Until next time, stay curious, stay connected and remember the answers are already within.