Madison Mindset the Podcast
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Madison Mindset the Podcast
334 ~ Beyond the Mat: Yoga Therapy with Hannah Singer
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I am feeling so blessed right now to welcome Hannah Singer to the Podcast for a beautiful conversation about her transformative journey from professional dancer to yoga therapist. This episode reveals how ancient yogic practices combined with modern techniques can help us reconnect with our innate joy and healing abilities.
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Hello Magical Human and welcome back to Madison Mindset, the podcast. I am your host, madison. It is an honor to be here with you. Before we dive into this episode, I want to ask you a question Are you seeking magic in your life? Are you seeking peace, love and joy? Are you having trouble feeling that on a daily basis? Do you feel like you're always repeating the same patterns, getting stuck in certain thought patterns of self-doubt or fear? Do you struggle with anxiety, worry? Are you dwelling on the past and fixating on the future? This kind of thing takes us away from the present moment, takes us away from the magic that is available and found within each and every being and every moment. Life is precious, and not as long as we may like it to be. So now is the time to connect with the magic within and to really sink into the oneness of the world and to enjoy living your life, to create with intention, to live with purpose. My new program, mind Magic, teaches you from awareness point of how your mind is currently functioning, guides you all the way through to a magical mindset over four consecutive Sundays. The program starts on the 19th of October. Now is your opportunity to jump in, do something for yourself and embrace the magic. Now is the time. You are worth it. Check the link below in the show notes. You can join from there. Send me a message with any questions. Send me an email. I'm very happy to help you wherever I can. I'm looking forward to seeing you in the program by the wonderful henna singer. This has been really exciting for me to be able to welcome henna onto the podcast and spend that time alongside her. She is an absolute inspiration and I just really admire her embodiment and the amount of education and study she has done. She has really shown up in so many ways and I can see that. I first found her on Instagram and I could see that she had put so much work into things and it's helping people, it's helping me and I'm just so grateful for all of her work. So I'm very excited to welcome you into this space where you can also learn from her and connect with Hannah. You into this space where you can also learn from her and connect with Hannah.
Speaker 1:Hannah Singer is a conscious coach, yoga teacher and founder of Growth of Mind, a platform dedicated to self-awareness, mindful movement and transformation. Drawing from her own journey through injury and healing, she blends yoga, breathwork, menstrual cycle coaching, yoga therapy and mindfulness to help others reconnect with their bodies and live with intention. Hypnotherapy offerings are coming soon. Hannah provides personalized coaching, private yoga sessions and therapeutic practices that support emotional, physical and energetic well-being. Through her work, she empowers people to align with their inner truth and cultivate lasting change. All of the links to work with Henna and to find her online are down below in the show notes. Thank you for being here. Magical Human. Let's dive into the episode Magical Human. Welcome back to Madison Mindset, the podcast. I am here with beautiful Hannah. I'm so excited to be sitting here with you in this virtual space and I'm so excited to be here, thank you, thanks for having me on so good.
Speaker 1:Of course, I really connect with the content you put up on Instagram, which is how I found you, which seems to be the way we find people these days just on Instagram. I really love what you talk about and love, you know. I love the nature that you put up and the yoga practices and even some breathwork techniques I found from you and different things and I'm like, oh, I should try that, and different mudras as well. It's just been so helpful. So thank you for putting up such valuable content that actually I can implement into my life, because that means the world to have real information there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you, that's been the goal. It's been a deep intention of mine to harvest a space that is both inspiring energetically but also supportive and offering people, you know, things that they can integrate into their day to day life and, specifically, yoga practices and techniques that I found to be super supportive in my day to day life. And, yeah, that makes me really happy to hear that you've been, you know, inspired by them and want to integrate them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah it's. It's helped massively, so I thank you for that. I can imagine it's helping many other people as well. So, before we jump in, I would love to know a little bit more about you, and I'm sure anyone listening who's never heard of you love to know a bit about you. How did you find yoga? What's your journey? Who are you?
Speaker 2:I'd love to know your journey. Who are you? Yeah, yeah, oh goodness, what a loaded question. It's like the simplest question but yet the most loaded. Wow, okay, I'm a, I'm a talker, I'll I'll say that right off the bat and I'll I'll not give you my whole life story, cause that could take the whole podcast. But, in short, my journey as a whole hasn't been linear, as most of our journeys haven't been linear on this planet, on this earth at this time.
Speaker 2:And I grew up as a dancer, I spent my whole life dancing, so I was very connected to movement. I was connected to art at a very young age, performing at a very young age, and it kind of unfolded into my work in yoga, not necessarily easily, but, I would say, somewhat fluidly, because I was experiencing an injury that I got from dance. I went into a career to become a dancer, to be a professional dancer. I was in that for only a year and within that year I quit. I gave up everything. I was like I need to restart and reboot my entire existence at 19 years old, and so I quit dancing. I finally was like I'm taking healing into my own hands. I was experiencing a lot of anxiety, a lot of even like waves of depression, a lot of darkness at that time, and most of it was actually tied to the physical pain that I was experiencing in my body. And so when I had, you know, decided to quit dance, it was like what am I going to do now?
Speaker 2:And yoga was something that had already been softly integrated throughout my dance career and at that point I knew that I had been wanting to get a certification in yoga. I wanted to be a yoga teacher. I just didn't know when. The timing never felt, right up until 19 years old. And it was at that time where I was like oh yeah, this is it. There's a worldwide pandemic, I'm experiencing deep back pain, I'm being pushed into this like experience of deep contraction. And that was also my signal of like you got to do the work, you have to go within.
Speaker 2:And that was the time when I signed myself up for my first 200 hour teacher training and that whole journey, you know, took off. I started meditating every day and, within a year of practicing yoga, yoga therapy that I didn't know was yoga therapy. At that time, I did yoga therapy and meditation and I healed my back pain within a year which was wild after having chronic back pain for eight years. So that's a sum of like my journey to get to yoga. And you know who I am is not that. Who I am is just a soul existing and floating on this planet and striving to access. You know joy and light, because I believe that is our birthright, and you know the most innate part of all of us and who all of us are in our core.
Speaker 1:It's amazing, and how is that going? I?
Speaker 2:think it's going pretty good. Yes, I would say like I feel, like you know again, life is not linear, but I feel like I've experienced more joy within the last you know six years, seven years of embarking on easier to maybe access when you're in the right environment or when you are utilizing your imagination all the time, because you're in a different brain state for the first you know seven years of your life. But I think now it's been such a conscious craft that it's become for sure part of who I am Joy, light and moving through that space and continuing to utilize yoga as my funnel for that to be channeled through and to inspire others through, but also to continuously come home to myself as well in that process.
Speaker 1:That is so beautiful. I completely resonate with you on the journey of finding joy and it's actually what I've been saying to clients lately, because everyone seems so obsessed with getting the right tools, getting the right practices, and everyone's got so much knowledge about practices and things that can help, but the implementation and the actual benefits of embodying those practices are just not there, because people are so just scratching the surface here and there but not diving into it and seeking that joy and seeking the peace that can come from it. So it's it's such a beautiful way to start the conversation is just seeking joy, just as a human being, so precious.
Speaker 2:Totally. I think joy is also our way of accessing more nervous system regulation. I think that you know what you're saying is huge, because so many people are burnt out, so many people are looking for places to start and often you know you go on Instagram and you can even see some of my posts of me doing like morning kriyas. A morning kriya might not be for everyone. Hopefully you read the captions, but if you don't, the morning Kriyas aren't for everyone and someone who, let's say, is coming across Instagram and sees me doing a Kapalabhati breath technique, where it's building a lot of fire and heat in their body, that might not be the place for them to start. The place for them to start might be going outside and putting their feet in the grass and getting off their phone for 10 minutes a day, like it could be the most simple practices. It's often the most simple practices that bring us home to ourselves.
Speaker 2:Those you know yoga techniques or specific tools I have found to be more helpful now in my journey with all of the knowledge that I've already, you know, cultivated over the last six, seven years of studying yoga, but I wasn't doing those techniques often as a beginning practitioner to the extent that I'm doing them now. So I think that's also a lost conversation of. People want a place to start and I love sharing those techniques because they're fun and they're beautiful and they hold so much power. And when people ask me where to start with yoga, I'm like just breathe, follow your breath, literally count your breath in, count your breath out, start there Instead of it being it's super, it looks cool and looks fun. It's like go touch grass, go drink water, go find something that brings you joy and do more of that. Do more of those things and microdose those into your life.
Speaker 1:I really love what you said there and it's so relevant. I've had this kind of conversation with a few different people the last couple of weeks, even just about stop overcomplicating it and just have fun, just breathe, just enjoy. And it's interesting how people don't think that's right and speaking to like. I had a client yesterday and I told her just have fun. And she's going to laugh because she'll hear this and be like that's me.
Speaker 1:But she was like it sounds too easy, it doesn't sound like that's going to help, and I'm like there's your problem. You think we need to overcomplicate it. Read seven books, do six different courses, listen to every podcast and then you'll get help. That's not, I'm telling you. That's not where it is Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we often look to even these books. I was reading this book this morning by a sub guru it's called Karma and you know I'm only a little a ways in and I was like, holy crap, it's so good, but my brain was not comprehending all of the information in it and I think that that you know it reminded me like, okay, this information is definitely useful and supportive, but if you're not going to actually receive it, it doesn't do anything. It goes in one ear and out the other.
Speaker 2:And that's why I believe books we come to at specific times and not everyone needs to read every book out there.
Speaker 2:Not everyone needs to become everything you know it's like we've. We strive to be all things rather than asking ourselves maybe who we really are, like what really deeply resonates with us, because often what resonates with you might not resonate with the whole world and the masses. And I think that your advice is beautiful about maybe not over-complicating things but actually doing less and peeling away these layers of complication and layers of uh, dogma or or, you know, whatever we've been taught to to do or how to act or how to be, and just asking yourself and becoming curious like, well, what do, how do I want to be, what do I want to do, what brings me joy, what feels good? And if it feels too simple, okay, let it feel simple and see, like, be in that experience. And if it feels complicated that it's too simple, okay, be there, like that's where you are now, that's where your journey is right now, that's where the magic and the growth and the change and the transformation will happen. Often we don't give it the space to be seen or to be felt.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, this is such an important conversation. I love everything you're saying, so I would love to know a little bit more about yoga therapy, because I I teach yoga as well, but I have not. I've heard of yoga therapy, but I've never actually understood what that means. So, would you be willing to talk to us a bit about that and what that means?
Speaker 2:and how that's different yeah, so yoga therapy is a holistic approach to supporting someone on whatever journey they're on, whether that be a healing journey of, you know, physical pain, mental pain, energetic pain, or someone who's just curious about deepening their connection to self deepening. You know their yoga practice. It's it's multifaceted, um, but what we, what we do in yoga therapy, is look at a client or a human or a soul on all of these levels. So we're assessing them through the chakras, we're assessing them through the values. We're assessing them, you know, through the Maya model or the koshas, and we utilize these, these models in yoga around for, you know, many years and assessing our humans, our clients, through that lens to find modalities, whether that be through asana, which is, you know, the physical postures, pranayama, breath techniques, bhavana, visualizations, different upayam, which just means different tools, and we're taking these different tools, you know, from the lineages of yoga. This specific lineage that I'm studying through is Shri T Krishnamacharya, so it's vinyasa krama lineage, and yoga chikitsa, yoga therapy lineage, and we're taking these tools that have been housed under the name of yoga and utilizing them as a way to support people.
Speaker 2:So we can see clients who are coming in with struggling with anxiety or clients who are struggling with back pain, clients who are struggling with you know routine or whatever. It can be a whole whole range of things and we, we practice within the scope and the lens of yoga and utilizing biomedical knowledge and atomic knowledge, spiritual knowledge, philosophical knowledge, anatomic knowledge, spiritual knowledge, philosophical knowledge, and bringing it all together to create a you know routine, I guess you could say, for someone in order to help them, you know, heal or achieve whatever goal that they are seeking to experience with us. It can be a little convoluted, but I like to say in the most simple terms that, yeah, it's super, it's super fascinating it's.
Speaker 2:You know, we're not psychotherapists, we're not doctors, we're not physical therapists, but I like to imagine that if a psychotherapist met a physical therapist, who met a psychosomatic practitioner, who met a spiritual yogi and had a baby, that's the culmination of it. So it is multifaceted and the things that I might assign someone as a part of their practice or routine, their sad sadhana. It could be from chanting and and yoga sutras all the way to physical movement practices. So it's very wide range, but we're assessing the whole human and utilizing even tools from our uveda and other areas of work as well.
Speaker 1:Wow, that must be insane to study. You must have put so much work in. Oh my god it's three years.
Speaker 2:three years to get your license as a yoga therapist and I officially can call myself a yoga therapist as of today, which is not up today, but as of this, you know, last two months, which has been really exciting, but I'm still, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:I'm still finishing out the last bit of of getting the you know title, I guess, of uh, um, the full title of it all, because there's there's more steps once you even graduate from whatever program you have done. But it's a three-year journey and I feel like I am an absolute beginner, like an absolute baby, in the world of yoga therapy and I feel like how I felt after my 200-hour teacher training where I was like how am I going to remember all of this and utilize all of this? And you have to start somewhere. So I'm starting exactly where I'm at and it's been a really fun process of absorbing a whole, whole bunch of knowledge and, you know, one day hoping to integrate it all as deep wisdom.
Speaker 1:It sounds incredible. Well, you can practice on me. I'm keen. I really want to know more about this.
Speaker 2:It sounds amazing.
Speaker 1:I find yoga, you know, like through my teacher. He's always like he's a yoga master and when he talks he just assumes that I've memorized all this stuff and it's just in one ear and out the other and I'm like I don't you're talking about.
Speaker 2:I'm so sorry, I'm trying to remember everything, but there is so much and it's all in a different language yes, totally yeah, sanskrit in and of itself can be a beast to understand. I was actually learning a chant yesterday with one of my teachers and it was like if you listened in on on that conversation you'd probably be laughing, because I was laughing the whole time. Just pronunciation of things of itself can take. You know, one one shloka or one line can take a week to to even start to understand slightly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's, there's so much out there in the world of yoga and I I recently talked to a friend who's like diving deep into yoga and he was like, where do I start? I want to maybe get a certification, but I really want to like embody yoga through the eastern lens. And so, you know, I told him I'm like start reading the yoga sutras, start there, like start really digesting and understanding what that is as you continue to do the practices you've been doing and the breath work you've been doing, and it's all going to come to you. But yeah, I think everyone's starting point is vastly different and where you take it is vastly different, and the goal is just that we practice, we keep practicing. Whatever your yoga looks like, it means for you and your, your body and your mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so where I'm from Australia, if you can tell from the accent. But yeah, I don't know why people love it. People will be like, wow, your voice is so relaxing. I'm like the Australian accent.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, it's beautiful. I love the Australian accent.
Speaker 1:That's crazy, I think of us as like I don't know why. I seriously, when I hear like an Australian, I'm like oh my goodness, you need to sharpen up the words. And people over here they love it. They come over like I love this.
Speaker 1:I'm like really, anyway, we're all so different, right, people over here, anyway, whenever I have someone come into class, they come in and nine times out of 10, it's I just need to stretch more, I just need to stretch more, I just need to stretch more. You know, I just need to do, like, some yoga, some stretching, and I find that that's people's basic understanding of yoga and it's interesting to watch them attend a class. They have that realization that this is not easy, this is not stretching and there's a lot more here. And then, the more they practice, the more they seem to gain from it and, before we know it, they're meditating every day and they've changed every aspect of their life, which is such an interesting process to witness in people. So when, when you first found yoga, did you go to it because you thought it was stretching and then found so much more? Or did you go into it for the mind? Or how? How was your?
Speaker 1:journey when did you realize that yoga was this lifestyle?
Speaker 2:yeah, so it was kind of a two-part story. My mom mom is also a yoga teacher and when we were younger, before she even became a yoga teacher, she was already in the world of fitness and movement and she ended up bringing us to so many yoga classes, like when I was a kid, no matter what. I would be going to yoga with my mother throughout my entire childhood and I actually didn't enjoy it most of the time. I was like super uncomfortable most of the time and it wasn't until I was 15 where I had a shift in my kind of spiritual landscape and that's what really propelled me forward into yoga as I experience it now and know it now. But it did start, I guess you could say physical, in the sense of you know, I was so young that I didn't understand any of the other concepts of yoga and here in the West you know a lot of the way that yoga was taught and seen was through that very physical lens, through that, you know, asana based practice, almost workout kind of vibe or super hyper flexible vibe and like only for a specific demographic. And when I was 15, I was out of the country and I was kind of I was the Caribbean and I remember one of the teachers. I had had a shaved head and just this extremely grounded aura and she taught me the first yoga class that I had experienced in which I had a spiritual experience and was like I had a spiritual experience and was like, whoa, this was way more than just doing poses and stretching and, you know, trying to to look a certain way, it was like poetry unfolding throughout the entire class and I remember coming out of it and telling her that I was like I want to be you one day, and I followed her on Instagram because Instagram was like just a thing at this time, and I've been actually connected to her ever since then. But she was a pivotal teacher and you know, I only had her for maybe what two classes my entire life, and it transformed everything.
Speaker 2:And then my mom went and got her certification and I would, you know, practice with her and I began, at around the same time, studying yoga and taking it on seriously, and now my older sister is a yoga teacher, my younger sister is a yoga teacher. So we're a full family of yoga teachers and, yeah, it kind of propelled forward in my family lineage as well of something that we all became deeply fascinated by and, um you know, wanted to deepen our, our own awareness. I would come home and my mom would be like, do you know this mudra and do you know this thing, and do you know the chakras and what are the yamas? And like we would have these like philosophical conversations, just like sitting at my you know kitchen countertop, and that's when I knew I was like, oh yeah, this is something that is way beyond just showing up to to a physical practice. So I really think, though, it wasn't until I started meditating you know, years later it's again when I was 19 is when I actually got certified.
Speaker 2:It was around then when I started deeply meditating every day, like 40 minutes a day, and that was when stuff started to really shift in my mind and I could feel new neural networks being created in my brain, to where I was seeing the world differently. I was perceiving myself differently, and that's the first time I think I really understood what yoga was for me beyond the mat, and that's when I actually was like I'm going to become a yoga teacher and I'm going to teach it through this lens that feels, you know, as an embodiment of the eight limbs rather than a focal point on the one limb. That is super, hugely important. Asana is hugely important and it's not something I want to disregard, but it's something that I want to also, yeah, discuss the importance of all the other aspects that you know create the lineage of yoga that I move through.
Speaker 1:That is so beautiful. It's interesting when you're talking about, you know, like the brain forming new connections, like seeing life differently, seeing yourself differently, because I've definitely felt similar things to that as well, and it was, it was, it was interesting. It's hard to kind of pinpoint and put into words unless someone has experienced it, but it's.
Speaker 1:It's almost as though, like you know, the the whole point, like the goal of yoga, is the stillness of the mind, you know, the peace of the mind and as you step closer to that, the way you're thinking and the way you're perceiving and receiving life starts to shift in more alignment with that, so there's less disturbance on the mental level and it's really interesting.
Speaker 1:But with asana it's funny because I often will say to people you know, there's only one yoga sutra about asana. It is important, but it's more of a preparation and allowing the body to be open and to be able to sit for meditation and to be a more comfortable vessel to live in, because a tight, restricted, painful body is not easy to live in and to experience peace in. So the asana to help you, no matter where you're at, whether you're doing yoga in a chair or whether you're doing, you know if you're just using the upper body or if you're. You know like there's no limit to where you can practice asana. There's always something, but it's important to use it as a tool, not the be-all, end-all. It's not, you know, whoever's not in headstand sucks at yoga.
Speaker 2:You know that's not how it is. Yeah, asana in and of itself is. It means seat, you know, and I think that that that translation I really love, because truly the idea is that we eventually at some point sit still and we ground and we allow ourselves to access what yoga sutras being that state of Nirodhahar, the ability to, to stop the fluctuations of the mind and in our world. Like it is vastly complicated to do that it is. It takes a lot of discipline and I think that's why yoga for us all, lot of discipline, and I think that's why yoga for us all, it truly is a lifelong practice because there's, you know, I rarely meet people in, especially in this Western world who are, you know, I've reached Samadhi and I'm done, I've done my work.
Speaker 2:I don't think I've met anyone actually, maybe you know one person in my whole yoga career who maintains that energy of samadhi and I'm sure if you asked him he would probably fully tell you that that's not a reoccurring state, but he probably has access to it a little bit more easier now after his, you know, years and years of study and teaching and whatnot, and embodiment, but yeah, I think it's really fascinating because often, you know, we are led into the practice most people through the physical lens and then discover what goes beyond that.
Speaker 2:But when we really look at yoga as a whole, the idea is that you bridge together the body, the mind, the breath and every layer of yourself into this space of oneness and that's that. In that space, you know, we can access calm, which really just means equanimity, the space where we are not, you know, constantly striving and seeking this, this form of happiness that goes beyond a neutral state, and the opposite is true of you know, we're not being pulled into these deep states of darkness and suffering and living there either, but rather we are able to take our dualistic lives and bridge them together into this deep state of equanimity and peace. Calm, nirodha samadhi maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe we walk closer to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just one step at a time. It's a powerful thing. Yoga For me I found yoga, then lost yoga, then found yoga and kind of was like in and out quite a bit in the beginning and now it's something that is the stability in my life, the thing that supports every. You know every area of health. You know your physical, mental, emotional, everything and it's. It was a practice for a while because I definitely, as I mentioned to you in the beginning, I'm definitely more of a hype go person, I've got a lot of fire.
Speaker 1:So when I talk to Ayurvedic practitioners, they're like person, I've got a lot of fire. So when I talk to Ayurvedic practitioners, they're like, wow, lots of heat, lots of heat. Okay, you know, let's tone it down. So I was very much like if it's not perfect, I'm not doing it. You know, if I can't do the asana perfectly, I'm not doing it. If I don't understand it and it's too hard, I'm not doing it. So that was. I really resonate with people who, you know, feel like it's too hard, I don't know how to, I don't know how to do it, it's too hard, it's too much and it's sometimes still. I'll feel that kind of wave of like this is so much to try and get.
Speaker 1:And that's why, for me, you know, prioritizing the point is stillness the point is to lean into the nothingness, to lean into the present, present, observe nature and notice that the trees are just still and calm and not doing a hundred different practices or asana, they're just being and they seem to be doing all right.
Speaker 1:So be a tree, you know, just be in that nature and just be. I think is one of the most powerful teachings that I've received off yoga, and I'll stop taking the whole thing and going oh, my goodness, the Yoga Sutra is this huge book that doesn't make any sense and oh, like, there's yamas and niyamas and the eight limbs of yoga and the chakra system, and there's so much I have to do. It's really just about presence and stillness and, in each moment, being able to understand like what is going to support the stillness and, in each moment, being able to understand like what is going to support the stillness of my mind what will support that, you know, and I often say to people in class, like, is what you're doing right now is binge watching Netflix, or eating an entire chocolate bar, or, you know, whatever you're doing, is that supporting the stillness of your mind?
Speaker 1:If the answer is no, it's usually a very easy yes or no. See if you can steer away from it or just choose again, make another choice, and that alone has been so powerful and I think for people it makes it a lot more simple as well. And the idea of having a yoga therapist, like someone who knows all the things and then can help you find what's for you. You know, I really like that idea, because often it's hard like I love kapalabhati, that fire breathing but often I find it makes me dizzy and like I've got too, much.
Speaker 1:I think it's like too heating for for me yeah, if you're a fiery.
Speaker 2:If you're a fiery, you know if you got got like Pitta and Vata on blast in your doshik layout. And if you're, I wonder what are your? If you don't mind me asking your zodiac signs, like your big three in?
Speaker 1:Western astrology if you know yeah, I know, I'm Sagittarius sun, sign Okay, and all of the other ones all of the other ones are fire signs, except for one which is an air sign, but I don't remember which one it is, I just remember fire up the wazoo.
Speaker 2:Okay, so for you, like, immediately, right off the bat, my brain would not be able to give you Kapalabhati, right off the bat, my brain would not be able to give you Kapalabhati. If you're seeking more grounding and you're seeking, for you, cooling would be huge. Cooling and even wetness would be important, because vodic energy can be very dry, fiery energy. I mean. Think of fire as the element. In and of itself it's hot, right. So we want to cool the system down, cool the energy down and get more grounding techniques. So I would teach you shitali pranayama, which is a breath technique where you inhale through your mouth and you exhale through your nose. Do you know this one? Is that the one where you like breathe in through a straw?
Speaker 2:It's like yeah, yeah, you can breathe in through a straw and if you can do it with your mouth, you can take your tongue and go like this, and you curl it in I don't think everyone can do that, though there's like a pretty vast percentage of people that can't curl the tongue like that.
Speaker 2:If you can, though, it's great because it adds even more wetness on the inhale, um, but it helps regulate the nervous system, but it's also your autonomic nervous system, but it's also great for cooling the body down. You can even feel the coldness of the air as you breathe in through the mouth. But you can do it as a straw if you can't curl your tongue. And then there's a technique that goes with it where you inhale and you lift your head up and then, as you exhale, you breathe out your nose and chin comes back down. So even like 10 rounds of doing that instead in the morning.
Speaker 2:Instead of Kapalabhati, leave that one to the side and take on the more cooling and grounding breath patterns with extended exhales. That would be really nice for a high fire, high pitta type, because Kapalabhati is, it's just stoking your fire, it's bringing. It's wonderful for the digestive system, but there's other things you can do to support your digestive system and your digestive fires that agni, without you know, turning on the whole system and making it this like intense uh process. So maybe I'll make a video on sheep to leave. I would love that. I would love that.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love this because this is something like. I've been practicing yoga for about eight years and studying intensely for three or four, so it's often overwhelmed me with you know all these practices and going which ones for me. I can know all these practices and going which ones for me. I can't do all the pranayama in one day, so when do I do it or what is it for? And often, like my teachers have been very like, this breath is for the morning or this breath is for digestive system.
Speaker 1:I really feel like what you're talking about is kind of the missing link for me and maybe for many people people because I often, like, will do Kapalabhati and then just feel so sick. And for anyone who's wondering, like, how can the breath possibly affect you that much, I'm telling you, when I do Kapalabhati I get dizzy, I get a headache, yeah, and I feel sick and I go straight into anxiety and all of the ailments I have with my body. You know how we all just have these little things that go on like one day, oh, my left arm hurts.
Speaker 1:Oh, my digestive system's a bit funny. We all have that. We're all in that together, right, just a byproduct of the human body. But I always get things related to fire. It'll be digestive stuff, it'll be headaches, it'll be skin things, so like dryness and like itching and rashes, all things that are very fiery yeah, so everything you're talking about I'm like this really sounds interesting to dive into.
Speaker 1:I love that. I would love to talk a bit about somatic work as well, because I've seen that you do a lot of it on on Instagram and in my head I've got yoga and somatic work separate. I don't know a lot about it, except it's like release, and every now and then I feel like I want to jump and release some energy. Yeah, but I'd love to know more about it and how you integrate it or why we might use it yeah, yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:So I I went to somatics actually through dance. I studied somatics in uh in university, for a semester basically. But dance in and of itself is a somatic practice and so, you know, I spent my whole life experiencing the somatic benefits of dance and never understood why I was so attached to dancing for my whole life and it was so hard to give it up, because it was this like deeply healing part of my life that allowed me to process emotions and move things through me, even in performing, you know. And the goal of somatic not not performative, so it's not for that, but that that's more related to my own personal journey and how I got into it.
Speaker 2:Somatics is really just a relationship with your body. It's this deep connection to your body and the sensations that you're experiencing, and utilizing that connection, the mind-body connection, but also this overall observation of your body to support, in moving energy, to support, in releasing energy, to support and inviting energy in. So it's kind of similar to breathwork. Depending on what you need, you might need something different. So a lot of the somatic practices I'm showing or posting online are up regulatory, meaning that they're getting your, your nervous system more in a sympathetic state and eventually we bring you back down into neutral or back into the parasympathetic state. So essentially, the world of somatics, just like yoga, is very vast. Yoga in and of itself is already a somatic practice. You're connected to your body, you're connected to your mind, you're bridging that psychosomatic experience together through movement, through mindfulness, especially, um, you know, when, when you have a guide that like is, is someone who you can tap into their flow of teaching really easily, that that um connection within yourself grows even stronger because there's a feeling of safety already and there's a feeling of dropping in. That happens maybe a little bit easier. But somatics really is a useful, a useful realm of practices. That has supported me a lot and supports me especially now throughout my days, like I microdose somatics, throughout my days where I'm, you know, taking five minute breaks to shake it out, I'm taking five minute breaks to brush, I'm taking, you know, maybe even doing some of the more down regulatory experiences of like, literally just like letting my body sway, letting my head sway side to side with my breath, like there's there's a vast realm of of different practices out there for somatics and, depending on you know, where you study, I haven't, you know, received any specific, like somatic um licenses or or any certifications outside of studying in in school Um, but I also really just connect to my own body, like what feels really good in my body and when we talk about yoga and somatics and bridging those worlds together.
Speaker 2:I teach a class every week called somatic yoga, and what I invite into this practice is the space for students to really guide themselves and not in the sense of like you're going to do whatever you want, but we get into maybe a little flow, a little vinyasa, and within this vinyasa they also have the ability to pause and the ability to invite something in that might be vastly different than what I, you know, might give them in a traditional vinyasa krama practice.
Speaker 2:Maybe they're in warrior two and instead of keeping the arms, you know, in a traditional vinyasa krama practice, maybe they're in warrior two and instead of keeping the arms, you know, in a traditional T shape with the palms facing down, they flip the palms up and they move one arm in and sway the body and then they take the other arm and sway the body and I'll give them like little cues and guides and things that they can explore, but the most beautiful part is when they do none of what I tell them.
Speaker 2:And when I see my students close their eyes and really tap in like what would feel really nice in my body, like where do I feel, you know I can cue them into like what feels like it needs a release, go there and they might take a movement and like push something away from them or use their hand on their body and like brush something off. So there's so many. You know ways to integrate it and hopefully this is giving you a little bit of insight on on how the worlds can can come together. But yoga is already a somatic experience. It's the integration of intuition, more than anything that that drives it deeper into the somatic realm.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is. That's really cool. It's interesting because when you say I trained in Vinyasa Krama, my teacher is of the Jivamukti lineage and he's been my teacher for many years. So I myself am not a Jivamukti teacher. But Vinyasa Krama is basically what I would say I teach and what I found with the practice is it gave me a grounding, because I was teaching yoga before I had met this teacher and I was basically what I would describe as kind of airy fairy, very up in the air, very ungrounded. It was very, you know that kind of it was. It was movement, it was good, but it was more, you know, very I don't know what the word is, but maybe like that modern vinyasa and not much ground.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like power vinyasa style, super like in this pose, in this pose, in this pose, in this pose.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So what I found is my teacher was first thing he did it was. I always picture it as like he tied a rock to my helium balloon and just grounded it and went, let's go into where we need to be and it really gave me that stability.
Speaker 1:So for years I've been teaching with that stability. And you know, warrior, two arms in the traditional position, you know. And now I'm finding, you know, can I, now that I have more awareness about it, can I maybe add something like that? So I really like the way you're talking about that. It's like, yes, there's the traditional position, it serves a purpose, it's beautiful, but there's also your body and your experience and that intuition and you're allowed to tap into that as well. So that's where the masculine, the feminine go together.
Speaker 2:Right, it's that grounding, but it's also that it's beautiful yeah, we need both, and I think that that's one of the conversations in the yoga industry that I'm really enjoying is this idea of integrating, you know, psychosomatic work, or somatic work on its own, into the realm of yoga in a way that continues to honor and respect the lineages of yoga and the discipline of yoga, while also pulling in aspects of what we have studied and discovered with modern science and understanding the brain and the body and what can be really supportive on people's journeys, and so I think there's a space for both, and especially when we're talking about somatics, which I think you know is super deeply connected already to the world of yoga, they go together super well, and I think that for me, the biggest important, important factor of teaching a somatic yoga practice is the educational element and making sure people know, you know, this is not traditional yoga. This is not a lineage of yoga that has been traditionally taught and there's still a clear education line throughout the class that is talking about sutras, or that I pull in bits of philosophy, or that I pull in, you know, pranayama techniques. It's like the same thing with breathwork and pranayama. They're two different things. Pranayama and breathwork have been evolved in their own ways and pranayama there's, there's specific rules and techniques and things that have been sustained over time through these lineages, while breathwork, there's a lot more I would say modern practices around it that have come from different you know science backgrounds and you know these different techniques that are different, you know, than what you find in yoga, pranayama, and I think that both serve a purpose and I've experienced breathwork and I've experienced pranayama and I enjoy both and I utilize them both differently. And I think that both serve a purpose and I've I've experienced breathwork and I've experienced pranayama and I enjoy both and I utilize them both differently.
Speaker 2:But I think that that conversation, yeah, is, is just really important right now and and super, super necessary to have, um, especially when we get into, like the, the realm, realm of of decolonizing yoga and continuing to, to sustain the, the lineages of practices and and styles and, um, yeah, education that has worked for so long and that makes so much sense. So I really do honor and value the, the traditional lineages, and I think that I myself, you know, I used to be on that airy train too and I think that, especially as my my, you know, studies in yoga have developed more, I have become more on that, that grounded or disciplined realm of practice, and I love having both, I love practicing both and I love being able to educate and share both because I think there's there's benefit to be found in in them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, both, definitely, definitely. I think the you know grounding in where yoga has come from as such an ancient practice and these ancient teachers and all of it is so important that we, you know to think of it as holding it and savouring it and teaching it so that for generations you know, five generations, ten generations down the line they still have access to the Yoga Sutras and the beginning of yoga. It's quite a responsibility to be a teacher of something that is so old and has so much depth. So, yeah, I think it's beautiful, but I love what you said about, you know, bringing like. We've learned things through modern science and some things work. So why not implement it and make it clear what is traditional and what is not?
Speaker 1:But we've found that this helps X, y, z, you know, I think that's so beautiful and, yeah, so for anyone who listening is going, oh, I like doing yoga and randomly tapping on my body and just like doing some brushing, yeah, great, go for it. It's good. You know, we know it helps. So, whatever, whatever works. But yet, before we finish up, I'd love for you to let us know how people can work with you or learn more about everything that you're doing. I'm very curious about the therapy work. So if you can go into, that as well.
Speaker 2:I'd be great. Yeah, so there's a few options I on social media, on the social media front growth of mind, growth of underscore mind on Instagram. That's me and that's where I'll post. You know everything under the sun, from retreats, trainings, events. I have a whole highlight tab on how you can work with me and my studies, from menstrual cycle coaching to yoga and yoga therapy. I'm becoming a hypnotherapist right now, so I'm or a hypnotist, a clinical hypnotist, so I'm in that study as well and you can.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, I have a new website coming out, but right now, let's say, for now, growth of mindnet. Everything is up on there. But, yeah, I would just say, let's keep it easy. My main Instagram growth of mind. I will have everything linked in my bio as of like what is relevant and currently available in terms of working with me. Available in terms of working with me. I am opening up like one or two more spots within my schedule for life coaching and yoga therapy. I fuse the worlds together and if you are interested you yourself, madison I'll connect with you after on yoga therapy, and we can, we can get into that realm further, but those sessions are held in the same way that coaching is. So for anyone interested, you can get the information on growthofmindnet and reach out. I'm here to help.
Speaker 1:Sounds amazing. I can't wait and everyone. Those things will be linked below as well, so you can easily just go and find Hannah wherever you need to find her. Before we wrap up, can you suggest, if everyone listening?
Speaker 1:who keeping in mind they're all very everyone's diverse, so this is going to be a fun way to do things, but if there's one thing that people can do, whether it's in their morning or in midday or before they go to bed, whatever, whatever, just something that tends to help most people in terms of dealing with life, going through with things you know, feeling the stress and the overwhelm that many people are stuck in at the moment Is there one thing that you can leave us with that you suggest that we try and see?
Speaker 2:how it feels. You know there is. This is going to be one of those practices where maybe the people who struggle, who are listening to this, who struggle with the oversimplification of things, might be a little bit angry. But this practice I learned from a book, actually, and a medicine man in Bali. Basically, all you do is you sit wherever you are. So if it's morning, night, evening, middle of day, whatever, wherever, whenever you sit, close your eyes and you breathe and smile and you smile fully. So it is.
Speaker 2:It's like not just I'm going to sit here and you have to smile, as if you are so excited, like you just won the lottery, smile. And one of the things he says is smile in your liver. And I love that because I was like, oh, can I smile in my liver, can I smile in my gallbladder and just like starting to go around, like even parts of your body. What would it feel like to smile in my heart? What would it feel like to smile in my heart? What it would feel like to smile in my ears, you know, and and moving those sensations. But in the most simple terms, sit, smile and watch what happens. If five minutes of sitting and smiling genuinely can transform your night, your day and and carve out some more space for peace. So that would be my one practice.
Speaker 1:That is beautiful and I love that practice so much, so much. I love the practices that take no time. Yeah, this is simple, it's so it gets to be simple. Yeah, like life is simple, right, it really is. When we just step down's simple, so the stuff that helps is is like what you said in the beginning. It's usually the simple we just have to allow it, allow it to be.
Speaker 2:Gotta do it. Have the discipline, yeah, to recognize like I literally just have to sit and smile and not think before. Just do it, just just sit, just smile and you'll be good.
Speaker 1:And you'll be absolutely fine. You'll be great. Yes, thank you so much, hannah, for spending this time and taking time out of your day to have this conversation. I've really enjoyed getting to know you and chatting with you. You're just such a bright light.
Speaker 2:I love it. I feel really good after this conversation. Yeah, this is wonderful. Thank you for having me. This was great. You're welcome.