Good Neighbor Podcast: Cooper City
Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors of Cooper City
Good Neighbor Podcast: Cooper City
EP #289: Ifat Kent with The Yoga Nest
What if the secret to a smoother labor could be as simple as breathing? Join us as we uncover the transformative power of prenatal and postpartum yoga with the inspiring Ifat Kent from the Yoga Nest. From her roots in Israel to her thriving practice in Cooper City, Ifat shares her journey and passion for supporting expectant mothers through yoga. Discover how simple breath work can ease anxiety and foster a positive labor experience, and learn why Ifat champions the benefits of staying active during pregnancy. Whether you're in Cooper City or connecting virtually, Ifat’s insights offer something valuable for all expectant mothers.
But the conversation doesn't stop there. We shift gears to tackle the modern parenting challenge of raising teenagers in a social media-driven world. Sharing personal stories and insights, we explore the critical role of open communication, love, and support in guiding teens through their formative years. From instilling life lessons to maintaining patience when wisdom doesn't seem to click right away, we highlight the ongoing journey of parenting with understanding and empathy. Tune in for an engaging exploration of yoga, motherhood, and the art of raising grounded teenagers.
Call: (754) 610-1660
Visit: https://www.theyoganestfl.com/
Follow: https://www.instagram.com/thenestfl/
Like: https://www.facebook.com/thenestfl
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. We are back and we are better than before. Our guest today is into something that I've always had an interest in. This is kind of like I always say north of 40, I've been very into spirituality and self-awareness and personal growth and development, and one of the things that I've always been intrigued by is yoga. Not practiced it too often. I did try it out a couple of months back and it was an interesting experience. Our guest today is Ifat Kent, and Ifat joins us from the Yoga Nest, so I am excited to get into this with you today. Ifat, thanks for joining us, Thank you for having me, as I like to say. So let's get into this. Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about what you do over at the Yoga Nest, and then we shall proceed from there?
Speaker 3:Okay, the Yoga Nest is specifically geared toward prenatal and postpartum. So what I do is I get people ready essentially for birth, but also try to make sure that the journey leading to and after is enjoyable and hopefully less pain, better sleep, more connection to themselves, to the baby and to other expecting families, and so we kind of focus that niche is pregnancy and postpartum. It's really about having babies.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I can see how I mean. Not again, I haven't practiced yoga very often, but I can see how a practice like that would be incredibly beneficial for prenatal and post would you call it postpartum Was? It postpartum care Cause it just. It just seems like something, a practice like that would be good for that. Now, is that something that you have always specialized in yoga, or did you start just doing general? How did you land on this specific niche within the yoga practice, the yoga field?
Speaker 3:So I started practicing yoga back when I was in Israel, accidentally found it through my oldest sister and I really enjoyed it, the spiritual part of it more than anything else. And then I started liking the physical part of it more than anything else. And then I started liking the physical part of it, but I was never like an avid practitioner right until I got pregnant. And then, when I got pregnant, I started practicing and I noticed that, well, it gives me this hour, hour and a half of alone time and I was able to connect to my body, I was able to connect to my breath and then, therefore, I was able to connect to my body. I was able to connect to my breath and then, therefore, I was able to connect with my baby a little bit more, because, you know, life is busy and we don't necessarily take that time to sit and listen or or just to sit and be quiet, especially more now than ever. And so that, really, I don't know, resonated with me so when, after having three kids, I said I really I really just want to teach that, I want to focus on that.
Speaker 3:Now, my yoga training was general yoga training, just general, the 200 hour basic stuff. And then I reached out to my then teacher for prenatal yoga and I said I really want to just teach prenatal yoga. She said, ok, let me train you and you'll start teaching. So, funny enough, the day after I finished my yoga training, I started with teaching prenatal yoga.
Speaker 2:Well, so you mentioned something there. In talking about the practice, you mentioned the breath. That is something that I've been big into. Independent of yoga is breath work. I think this is hugely beneficial for folks. Is that common for yoga practice to incorporate breath work in the practice? Is that part of what you do? I'd imagine that would be also very helpful in the practice.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes and no. So in pregnancy we need to focus on simple breaths. It's not the very complex breathing exercises that you might be familiar with. There's breath practices and there's yoga, but within yoga there are a lot of different breathing methods, right. But for pregnancy we try not to retain the breath. Right, you don't want to stop your breath, you want to make sure that baby has a lot of oxygen and really we focus on deep breathing, just nice, deep, calm, slow. We want to keep everything as calm as possible. So the practice is mainly deep and cooling breathing, cooling type of breath, because in pregnancy there's a lot of work that the body is doing to grow a baby. There's a lot of heat that's created in the body. So we try to cool the body and we try to quiet the mind and that essentially helps with stress reduction, anxiety reduction and better labor, because labor is tough.
Speaker 2:stress reduction, anxiety reduction and better labor, because labor is tough Now. Are your classes primarily in person, or do you do any virtual work with women? I imagine you probably do things virtually as well for pregnant women. It's probably more convenient for them to do this from home in some cases.
Speaker 3:So I do both. I do what people need, but I love people and so I love. You know, during COVID it was only online, obviously, and then I also discovered that I could reach people that are far you know, and just be online. But I love the interaction with with people, so I love doing the classes here locally in Cooper city.
Speaker 2:So you're in Cooper City? Yeah, really, whereabouts are you located?
Speaker 3:So I used to have a studio here in Cooper City that I owned until COVID and then I closed it. Now I just use studios. I rent local studios to teach my classes. So I have a dance studio right here in the neighborhood across from the high school, and I rent it out on specific days, sundays mostly when I teach the classes.
Speaker 2:Very, very cool. So I was going to ask you something and then it totally escaped me. I totally blanked out. It's going to come back to me shortly, Okay, so it just came back to me as I was talking. I think a lot of people out there have misconceptions about the practice, about yoga. When it comes to, like these Eastern healing modalities meditation, yoga, breath work there seems to be, at least in our country, a lot of skepticism, a lot of you know again misconceptions that people typically have about this. Can you speak to that? Like, what are the things that you typically hear from people about what you do in terms of, like, myths or misconceptions?
Speaker 3:So funny enough, not too many, honestly, sometime. One time one person told me that they were Christian and they they didn't want to necessarily practice yoga because of their religion. And you know, yoga is not a religion and you can make yoga as spiritual as you want to right Yoga can be. Yoga has different aspects. One of the aspects is physical. So if you wanted to make it just physical, then so be it. You know you do it for your health, right? If you wanted to take it a little further, like you mentioned, you can get into more breathing practices. If you wanted to take it even further, you can add a good amount of meditation and awareness and you know, maybe then the yoga philosophy and lifestyle, but it's not a religion, it's more of a philosophy and it has different ways of practices.
Speaker 3:So not too many these days. The funny thing is that a lot of doctors are actually sending their clients to me and they're saying you should go practice yoga because it's really good for your pregnancy, which makes me really, really happy. But a lot of the misconceptions. Actually, people tell me well, I'm not flexible, so I shouldn't be practicing yoga.
Speaker 2:I'm like well that's why you should be to get more flexible. Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3:And you don't need to be a pretzel to be practicing yoga or you don't need to.
Speaker 2:You got to start somewhere, yeah exactly, and you don't need to.
Speaker 3:You know, have a quiet mind Again. That's why we practice. Nobody has a quiet mind. Nobody's too flexible to start with Well, some people are, but most people are not, and we don't need to be there. The whole point is the practice. Just like if you were to go to the gym daily, it's going to take some time before you have really big muscles. Yoga is the same thing. It's all about the practice. So I think that people get into yoga sometimes just for the physicality of it, and then they discover that when they slow down, they find other prizes and gifts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not about the destination, it's about the journey. What do you say to a pregnant woman out there that hears about doing yoga? Maybe it sparked an interest but, like you said, they have in their mind like, well, I'm not flexible, I'm carrying around this baby, I don't know if I want to get into that. Speak to a woman like that. What would you say to somebody like that?
Speaker 3:Well, first of all, I say that, especially in prenatal yoga, we take it slow, we don't try to build too much heat no one is against the clock. We don't try to rush things. We try to really listen to the body and slow things down. We want to get stronger, we want to get flexible, we want to slow down our breathing, like I mentioned before, and we want to have a good experience. So it's all about having fun, meeting people, connecting with yourself and with other pregnant moms, no pressure whatsoever in our classes. And so I tell people don't be afraid, come try one class. So I tell people don't be afraid, come try one class. That's it. You just try one class. If you absolutely hate it, then it is what it is. Then at least maybe you can go and find other things that you can do.
Speaker 3:I think that pregnant moms need to understand that movement is very important in pregnancy. They used to tell us to rest and relax. Oh, you're fragile, you're pregnant, you're not fragile. Labor is so hard. You really want to prepare yourself for it. It's kind of like preparing for a marathon. Are you going to go and run 26.2 miles without training for it? That is not a smart thing to do and most people will quit without training for it. That is not a smart thing to do and most people will quit. And so, in order for you not to quit, you want to practice, not just yoga, I mean anything that you want to practice, any way that you can prepare yourself mentally, physically, emotionally. You want to do it. So be nice to yourself, be kind to yourself and just do something every day, every day honestly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it seems like a while ago now. It's probably 10, 12, probably my kids are 10 and 12. I remember back to when my wife was pregnant with my kids. She was very active. She was doing like full blown exercise, gym classes up till, I think, like eight months. I remember seeing her with this giant belly. I'm like go to the gym. She's like, yeah, I got to get the reps in. Like you said, it's only a benefit to stay active. Obviously you don't want to go too aggressive on the active side, but just to keep moving and keep your blood flowing is going to help you, I'd imagine, prepare for labor, which is the ultimate.
Speaker 3:Of course, and if someone's used to going to the gym, I tell them go to the gym, keep going to the gym, don't stop. You might have to modify and as you grow you have to listen to yourself. You might end up picking up smaller weights and smaller weights, but don't stop and then do different things like walk and stretch, do the yoga, do the gym. You know, take care of your body, eat healthy, drink a lot of water, especially down here in Florida, but do it, don't stop, just do something 100% Florida.
Speaker 2:But do it, don't stop, just do something A hundred percent. All the stuff that seems like it should be so easy to do consistently. But then building the habits and doing these things daily is always, always an issue for people. Uh, but it's just so important right To exercise and diet and just keeps you so. So well mentally. Um, you mentioned you had three kids. Yeah, well mentally. You mentioned you had three kids.
Speaker 3:Yeah, how old are they? My oldest is 17, almost 18, I guess. 16 is my middle and 14 is my youngest. So getting closer and closer to an empty nest. Pun intended on that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so 14, 16 and soon to be 18. So you got to. You got to give me some, some tips and some words of advice. I got a 10 year old son, 12 year old daughter, or. First of all, are they, what's the? Are they boys, girls?
Speaker 3:Yeah, two boys and a girl. The girl is in the middle.
Speaker 2:Okay, perfect, perfect. So what am I in store for here as my kids enter the teen years? I mean, I'm already experiencing some of it with my daughter, and it's been up and down More good than bad. But what am I in for? Give me some words of wisdom, some advice. Oh my gosh, tell me all the secrets, let's go.
Speaker 3:I don't have any secrets. I let. I have three kids, right, and they're very different. Each one is a whole new world, right, and I just try to let them be themselves and wrap them with as much love as possible.
Speaker 3:It's funny because this morning I went to Vista View with a couple of my mom friends and we were talking about the teenagers these days and they have a lot of anxiety and they have a lot of I don't know. I feel like the phones are crazy and social media is crazy and it's hard to keep them away from it, and I feel like I know we always say it because it sounds like we're really old people, but everything is so different now, I don't know. Everything is so different now and it's really hard for them. I feel like life is actually harder with with the social media and how they compare themselves. So I feel like all we need to do is try to create enough time where we spend a face-to-face, no phones time together and then try to help them talk, and I feel like everybody needs a therapist. So I don't know, maybe send them to therapy.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Like, have time where you, you bond and communicate and just I don't know. Try to understand that this is, this is really a different world these days. Just wrap them with as much love and openness, allow them to come and share with you, because there's just a lot going on, um and and just keep making them. You know, try to instill the things that you find that are helpful for you now, after 40, right, and teach them about, you know, being disciplined and doing things even when they don't want to, but but you know, finding their passion and and working on it, because things don't just come with a click of a button, you know, and some things do require work and it's hard.
Speaker 2:It's so funny. You said instill them with the wisdom. So this is something that I've said several times now to guests on the show and just conversations I've had. I find myself more and more just talking to my daughter and really trying to, like you said, instill these life lessons and wisdoms that I've learned, and it just does not seem like anything's registering with her and every time I talk about this the guard goes up and she just doesn't seem. Nothing seems to resonate. I know some of it's probably getting in, but it's just not clicking.
Speaker 2:And I was talking to my mom and I said hey, you know, mom, why? I told her the same thing that I'm talking to her and she's not listening. I said when I was young, why didn't you ever sit down with me and give me some life wisdom and lessons? She goes, jeremy, I used to tell you that all the time you never listened to me and it set in. I was like, okay, so the problem is it's not, it's that I'm not connecting with her in the right way. And what I found is that the best way to connect with people in general, communication-wise, just ask. Don't tell them the thing. You have to ask questions to get them to uncover these things on their own, and many times it's not going to happen through a conversation.
Speaker 2:It will happen through making a mistake in life or learning a valuable lesson, by whatever making the wrong decision, and that's how you learn right, and that's how you get to the point and it's something that when my mom said that to me, it went off in my head and it clicked and I realized it was very helpful for me in communicating with my daughter because I had to understand that you have to learn to see things from that other perspective, and it's tough.
Speaker 1:Like you said, they're plugged in all the time.
Speaker 2:But one of the things I'm incredibly grateful for is that she's now into soccer and she's got the bug and she's loving it. So it gets her out of the house, gets her moving. The sports and athletics are so important. I would say that to parents right now with young children, with everything that's going on with technology get your kids involved with the sports, some extracurricular activity, something to get them out of the house and get them away from the screens. I don't know where we're going with this stuff, but it seems to me like fast forward 10, 20 years. We're all going to have these things implanted in our head anyway.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. And then I think also just be a good example, like live your life fully and take care of yourself, and I mean, they're going to learn something from your actions, not just your words. So, whatever you do, just be the best that you can be, and I think that that's going to inspire them. You may not notice, but they're looking right. They're looking at us all the time. They're learning from us all the time. So just try to be really happy and do everything that's healthy and good for you, and I think that they'll absolutely learn from that.
Speaker 2:So, speaking of learning through life lessons, I find that, looking back through my life, some of the most impactful experiences I've had that have shaped me to who I am, are some of the most challenging experiences not necessarily the rewards or the things that went well, but the things that I struggled with along the way, that helped define who I am today and helped teach me some of the most valuable lessons.
Speaker 2:Looking back through your journey, is there something that comes to mind, a defining moment, something that you struggled with at the time? But now again, looking back with hindsight, you could say you're grateful for having gone through that or experienced it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yes, I mean many things, many things. But if I had to pick one, because I thought about it before and I was like you know, something that shaped who I am today and why I'm doing what I'm doing is some of the failed attempts that I had. I mean my well, I had pregnancy losses a couple of times. I had, you know, my know, my first pregnancy. I knew that I wanted to have an out of hospital experience. I really wanted to have a home birth and that was not successful. So I ended up having my first in a hospital. Then my second was a redemption. You know, I had a water birth and these are things like when I failed miserably or at least that's how I felt back then. I wanted to develop tools that will help me, but then I realized, oh, I can help someone else too, and it just made me more compassionate person. I feel like I realize how hard it is right, because I've been there, done that, and then now I can come with an open heart and a lot of compassion but kind of be a cheerleader for others to go through that.
Speaker 3:No regret. Actually, I keep telling my clients you know, I had one baby in a hospital. I had one baby in a birthing center. I had one baby at home. One baby in a birthing center had one baby at home. So I have experience with that. Right, I ended up taking drugs that I didn't want to, you know, like epidural or Pitocin, for my first labor. I didn't necessarily want that, but it didn't kill me, I'm okay, everything's all right, and life gives you also chances to kind of redeem yourself and do a lot of good things. One of the good things is that use whatever you learn to help others right. So I'm like you know sometimes, sometimes if you really have a hard experiences, it makes you better at helping other people. So I feel like no regrets, I'm here, I'm strong, I'm, I'm good, I'm able to use whatever I experienced to help moms now, and so I'm like this is, this is great.
Speaker 2:I love it, paying it forward.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So for anyone out any any pregnant mothers out there or pregnant folks out there, or anybody that's planning on getting into this what's the best way to connect with you guys? How can our listeners reach you? Maybe share your website, your phone number.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so they can go to the website, which is theyoganestflcom or thenestflcom, and they can find us on Instagram as the Nest FL. On Instagram as the Nest FL. They can reach out through the phone 754-610-1660. And, yeah, just find information. This way they can sign up to classes online. They can do in-person. We're here. They can also ask questions. It's a nice community. I feel like there's many ways to connect with us and sometimes just find videos. There are some free videos on the website as well, so kind of get to know me a little bit before joining a class.
Speaker 2:Well, we will, of course, drop a link in the description to all of your contact information so folks can reach out. Ifat, thank you for joining us today. It was a pleasure getting the description to all of your contact information so folks can reach out If thought. Thank you for joining us today. It was a pleasure getting the opportunity to meet you and learn about the value that you add to our community through your business. So again, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Of course, and thanks as always to our listeners for tuning in, and we will catch everyone next time on the next episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Everyone take care, have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Cooper City. To nominate your favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to GNPCooperCitycom. That's GNPCooperCitycom, or call 954-231-3170.