Somatic Healing for Wellness-Focused Women

(#79) Yoga, Motherhood & Rebirth: Finding Identity, Boundaries & Nervous System Healing with Parashakti Alexandra

• Rae The Somatic Coach • Episode 79

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In this heartfelt and expansive episode, I’m joined by Parashakti Alexandra - yoga teacher, sacred space holder, and new mother, as she shares her powerful journey through yoga, pregnancy, motherhood, and rediscovering her authentic self.

Together we explore:
 🌿 The philosophy and ethics of yoga (yamas & niyamas) as spiritual guideposts for boundaries, identity, and self-trust
🌿 How pregnancy transformed her yoga practice from asana-focused to prayerful and intuitive
🌿 Why modern motherhood often feels overwhelming—and how lack of community support, not the child, is the root cause
🌿 The importance of co-regulation and adult nervous system support in postpartum wellness
🌿 Reclaiming your individual identity within motherhood—and honoring your soul’s unique evolution
🌿 What it truly means to live your yoga off the mat

This is a must-listen for anyone navigating life transitions, identity shifts, or the sacred terrain of motherhood and healing.

📅 Retreat Reminder: The Return to Soul Retreat is happening this October in Upstate NY! 

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Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast is intended to inspire, educate, and support you on your personal journey. It does not substitute for professional mental health advice. I am not a psychologist or medical professional. If you are experiencing distress, mental health challenges, or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified professional.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Somatic Healing for Wellness-Focused Women, a podcast for the sensitive, soulful, high-achieving woman ready to come home to herself.

Speaker 1:

I'm your host, rae. I'm a somatic coach and breathwork facilitator here to guide you back to your body, your truth and your power. Each week we'll explore nervous system healing, somatics, breathwork, embodied living, creativity, self-expression and soul-led personal growth. If you are ready to soften the pressure, release perfectionism and live with more presence, more pleasure and more purpose, you're in the right place. Let's take a deep breath and let's dive in. Welcome back to the podcast. If you are new here, I'm Rae. I'm a somatic coach and breathwork facilitator. And if you aren't new here, welcome back. I'm so glad that you're tuning in for today's episode. So for today's episode, we do have a guest speaker. I'm excited to introduce her in one moment. And before we dive in, I do have one front desk item for us and that is that the upcoming retreat is happening in October. Return to Soul Retreat and over on Instagram Live. I've been doing a series, an Instagram Live series, kind of talking about different parts of the retreat. So if it interests you, you can check out any of those episodes. If you didn't catch them live, you can watch the replay and you can check out the link in the show notes for more information on the retreat and the application notes for more information on the retreat and the application.

Speaker 1:

So our guest speaker today Alex. She shares about her story and journey of finding yoga. She talks about the ethics of yoga. She also talks about her experience with pregnancy and the journey of becoming a mother, and she could talk a little bit also about boundaries and nervous system regulation. So I'm excited to bring you today's episode. These are topics that some of them I talk a bit about on the podcast, but definitely parenthood it's not a topic that I talk about often and so I thought it would be fun to kind of bring a new topic to our podcast here, our audience here, and, yeah, let me know any of your favorite takeaways and I hope that you enjoy today's episode.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to the podcast. I'm excited to bring you today's next guest speaker, parashakti Alexandra, and I'll give it over to her to introduce herself in a minute. But a little bit about how I know Parashakti Alexandra is through the community, through living in the the same area, connecting on Instagram, just really seeing what she stands for and just loving everything that she shares about and her mission. So I'm really excited to have this conversation with her today and to share her magic with you. And today we'll be talking a little bit about all different topics. We'll see where it takes us, but for anyone that doesn't know you or isn't familiar with your work yet, us but for anyone that doesn't know you or isn't familiar with your work yet, would you be able to share a little bit about you, your story and maybe where you're at in this season of your life?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, thank you. I am Parashakti. Alexandra Parashakti is my spiritual name. In many spaces I am referred to as Parashakti, but it's also okay to call me Alexandra or Alex, and the phase of my life that I'm in right now is a beautiful balancing act and renewal and rebirth to really rediscovering who I am. And in that questioning I have returned to some beautiful roots that have been there the whole time and also some parts of me that are newer and I'm just refining the importance and the true purpose of I'm a new mother. My son is eight months old.

Speaker 2:

I am also a sacred space holder. I guess you would say I teach yoga. I'm very passionate about yoga philosophy and ancient classical Hatha yoga, more traditional styles of yoga, but I also hold space predominantly for women to really explore transitions and life changes and to hold them through whatever is revealed to them through this work, not limited to yoga, but also in relation to plant medicine, motherhood and sacred birth preparation, womb healing and womb work. I've hosted full moon circles. I'm really into astrology, so pretty much anything that really fires me up and lights me up. I like to then, when I feel ready to hold that space for other women to explore as well women to explore as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that sounds so beautiful and I really see everything that you share really aligns with everything you just said, and it's so nice to see how it all kind of like connects and really comes together so beautifully. I guess we can start with yoga. Yeah, so with yoga specifically, how has that evolved for you over time? How did you find yoga? What does it look like today?

Speaker 2:

like expanding, like getting so excited to talk about this Wow, I actually feel like I could cry. Oh, that feels so good. It's been such an anchor in just like evolving as a person. Really I want to say a woman, but you know a person because you know so much of yoga is just eliminating all of our identities, including identifying with being a woman. It's just really understanding and being in relationship with the true self, with a capital S which has no gender and has no identity.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, my first yoga class ever. I was 15 years old. I went to a hot yoga class with my older sister. I was so hungover I was drinking a lot at that time in my life I passed out in class from dehydration. I also remember, because it was my first class ever, the teacher instructed that me and my sister be on the opposite sides of the room from each other. We couldn't be next to each other. That absolutely terrified me and I remember passing out in class like falling on my face and that's never happened in my life. And the teacher just came over to me and she was like you're okay.

Speaker 2:

And I was like, am I Like? Everything just went black and my ears are ringing and I'm terrified. But then I just laid on my mat the rest of the practice and breathed, horrified. But then I just laid on my mat the rest of the practice and breathed which is the first time I've also ever done that, and just had nothing else to do but breathe. It's so funny how that was like the seed of my practice. Oh, because it didn't light me up. I wasn't like wow, that's amazing and I can't wait to do that all the time, but it was the beginning of something that ended up, you know, leading me here. I was 15, then I'm almost 32 now and you know it's such a huge part of my life.

Speaker 2:

The story is very long, I think, of my relationship with yoga, so I'll try to condense it, but I guess I will say that I was still curious about it and I also knew that I was flexible and you know, in practicing some other classes here and there, I felt really powerful in the postures. I was like, oh, I'm good at this, which is so funny because now I would never tell anyone that they're good at then and I really enjoyed feeling strong and bendy and powerful and, of course, the endorphins that were released. And you know, after Shavasana I would leave class feeling better than when I walked in, so I kept up with it through college. I always felt a bit insecure walking into the space, but I always felt better leaving. So I just kept going walking into the space, but I always felt better leaving, so I just kept going.

Speaker 2:

And I owned a travel company for several years before I became a yoga teacher and I did a huge trip in Europe by myself when I was 23, backpacked Europe for four months and I went through so much on that trip of really being with myself and I had an incredible time. And I had some tough times, you know, really having to be with myself on the bus, like from Prague to Berlin, for so many hours and totally by myself, not knowing anyone and just being with my own thoughts and going to some dark places. And my salvation was always in finding a yoga studio. Whenever I, whenever I got to my next hostel, if I had a weird time, like you know, on my bus ride, my my mind went, went to some weird places. I just intuitively knew like I need yoga right now. So that's when things started really expanding in a new way of like okay, this is helping my mind, this is helping my emotional shifts.

Speaker 2:

And when I got back from Europe, I was so lit up about yoga that I got my first job at a studio working at the front desk, and I was practicing almost every day and that's when I started crying at the end of every yoga class in Shavasana, really not cognitively processing trauma, but, I think, releasing a lot of fear that I was holding onto in my body, a lot of pain, different narratives, ways that I still felt just connected to the story of the pain in my life. And I remember meeting with the owner of the studio and just telling her a little bit about what I was going through and telling her that I was crying and she was like this is yoga, so keep coming back, just keep coming back. And, yeah, eventually went on to get my yoga teacher training through the pandemic. Had a big aha moment, you know, in deep meditation. In the pandemic Sold my travel business, became a yoga teacher. You know, in deep meditation. And the pandemic sold my travel business, became a yoga teacher, got super fired up about that, came home ready to teach, was teaching like four or five days a week, all different types of classes, like I was just booming, I was so in my calling and I think everyone could feel it Like even now, right, I'm like, I'm like so, smiling so big, just like remembering that, like that's how I was all the time, anytime we would talk about yoga.

Speaker 2:

So that continued evolving and let's see, after a few years of teaching, just with my foundational credentials of 200 hour, I pursued a 300-hour training that was, I would say, 80% philosophy and history-based and 20% asana-based, and I had no idea what kind of training it was going to be. I just knew that I liked the teachers and needed another training. And when I saw it announced I was the first person to sign up. I was like, cool, it's time for my 300-hour. It was Just like I just knew it was meant for me. And that's when yoga started becoming more embodied.

Speaker 2:

You know, um, I I felt like through became this way that I started to live the practice rather than just practice the practice. Everything just made so much sense and it really had me ask big questions about what I was doing with my life, like who I was in the world, rather than just teaching and practicing and loving yoga. But am I a good person Really? Am I a good person? Can I be accountable and can I listen to that gut feeling really? Or am I just talking about it and making little changes in my life when something feels off? Or can I make the big changes when I really feel like something's really asking me to shift something? Can I be brave enough? Can I trust God enough? Never really used the word God as often as I did after that training, that training completely like I like leapt.

Speaker 2:

You know it was like it wasn't just like the next step in my life. I felt like I skipped 10 steps and then just arrived at this new landing of just like oh, this is who I am now and yeah, I think that's that I want to say, like that's where it's at with yoga. But you know, I think once I got really got pregnant, I really leaned into my practice being revolved the most around prayer and the ethics and the morals, the trust, you know, the more philosophical foundations of yoga was the biggest part of my practice. When I was pregnant, I was still practicing asana, but it felt different, it looked different, my discipline was different. I was still teaching up until a few weeks before I gave birth, but even that was different. And yeah, so there's been so many different stages of my relationship to yoga and what yoga has been in my life.

Speaker 2:

And yeah, it's been. The most consistent relationship in my entire life is my relationship with yoga.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, wow, thank you so much for sharing. It was so amazing to hear like all the different layers and lessons and the whole journey. It was really, really amazing. Yeah, so what you mentioned about kind of this the spiritual aspect of yoga, the ethic part of yoga and how it supported you throughout your pregnancy and you found yourself deeper in prayer and deeper in the ethics of yoga Can you share maybe like a flavor of what that looks like?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know, the foundations of the whole yoga practice are based in the ethics and the morals of yoga. They're called the yamas and the niyamas and when I teach about this I refer to them as, like, the 10 commandments of yoga. And the first five, the yamas, is really about your relationship with others and how you move through the world in relationship to yeah, other people, relationship to yeah, other people. And the next five is more about your relationship with yourself and cultivating that spiritual discipline. So I just got a little distracted because I hear my son playing with his toys right outside my bedroom. I'm much through pregnancy. I was tired in different ways, or achy in certain ways, or, you know, did my physical practice already for the day and still felt like I needed more back to studying more often, reading more of the yogic texts as a way to just stay strong in my practice. Because where I could previously practice asana for an hour and 15, hour and a half, I was getting maybe 20 minutes of, like, basic postures or, you know, prenatal it's like they instruct very different types of postures. There's so many postures that I couldn't do anymore and I still wanted to feel so connected to my practice. So I do a lot of reading, but also there is a huge element of surrender and trust in being pregnant and preparing for labor and delivery and birth and motherhood. You know, everything that comes after that. And so I just had to really remember and put into practice everything that I had studied, and so the biggest part of it, you know, was just being really honest with myself and really honoring whatever was coming up for me. You know, instead of just trying to be strong and just be like, yeah, this is how it's supposed to go.

Speaker 2:

I wasn't afraid to ask questions through my pregnancy. I also wasn't afraid to I don't want to say demand, because it sounds a little bit charged, but I guess it was a little bit charged, right. Like. I had a very natural experience through my pregnancy and my birth. I'm at home birth, no medication. I had a midwife and never saw an OB in my entire pregnancy. It was just my midwife who I would see, and that is so incredible, right, how it's just a physiological way of giving birth rather than this like medical system.

Speaker 2:

And I think I had this idea that me and my midwife would always be on the same page because, like, obviously she gets me because I want to do things naturally and she does things naturally. And there was a few times, maybe two or three times through my pregnancy, where I had to like get a little bit stronger in my in my voice and just be like, no, I don't want to do that and why do I have to do that again? No, this is actually feeling like a no for me, you know. And and challenge, not challenge her. A little bit it felt like that, but really it wasn't about challenging her. It was about honoring what I knew that I needed. And even though I am outspoken and confident and speak up for myself and all of these things, I don't think I would have been able to do that through my pregnancy with as much grace and as I could, because of the role that yoga has played in my life.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm hearing like just a lot of embodiment and a lot of grounding, and I imagine pregnancy can be a bit ungrounding there's so many ebbs and flows and so many different seasons of it. And so being able to come back to your practice and come back to your practice and come back to your practice and something that I hear a lot in yoga is like practicing off the mat.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

That phrase, would you say that that's kind of like what you were able to do and how you integrated it into your daily life?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, like 90% of my practice was off the mat through my pregnancy, which was awesome because I was, like you know, not even just with my midwife, but pregnancy brings up so much and I think I think this happens to everyone. But I also think, I don't know, I have some hardcore karma. You know things that just like get stirred up in my life that I just have to face. I mean, everyone has that right, but I don't know. There's a different intensity to some shit that I go through in my life. And then I also think that my son is this incredible symbol of healing and change, because when I was pregnant, I had shit come up with friends and family. That wasn't pretty, you know. Ego was present with my friends and my family and myself and my partner, right, it's like all this stuff comes up, like there's such a huge change happening to my immediate family unit of me and my partner and my son. But my son and his essence and the fact that he was coming to the world was already creating this ripple effect of other people being affected by him existing and I was like he's my little guru because he's already impacting so many things and he's not even here yet so it was.

Speaker 2:

It was beautiful how my pregnancy was always this anchor of just this wise little soul that had all this power already, and I think even the way that I was able to think about it that way is a testament to my practice. I could have been like, oh my God, this is so. There's so much drama I'm going through. I can't deal with this right now. I'm pregnant.

Speaker 2:

Meanwhile I was like, all right, little man, you're stirring something up in my life. Right now, this is happening because of the seed of you, right? This is the change in my life and this person's getting shaken up a little bit and this person's having a really strong reaction to this and I need to protect myself from this person right now and I need to set boundaries around this. And all of that was happening through my pregnancy, and the anchor of it was obviously my son, but also you know my practice in setting boundaries and meeting people with love and getting through the discomfort in a way that was graceful and loving. Even though it was so uncomfortable, I still showed up with my heart. All of that was yoga.

Speaker 1:

Setting boundaries can be so challenging. Boundaries can be so challenging and I love that you phrase it as an act of love. Yeah, it is, yeah, yeah, oftentimes it can feel really challenging and scary, and so we don't give ourselves the opportunity to see it from that lens of it's going to serve us and it's going to serve the people around us, and so we don't give ourselves the opportunity to see it from that lens of it's going to serve us and it's going to serve the people around us, and, although it's challenging, in the long run it is an act of love.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I like that. You said it serves us and the people around us, because it does serve both. I think taking a break sometimes and taking some space allows the other person to find another way, and that is also part of their karma and part of their healing, in a way that you're not controlling anymore. You're like I'm going to step back so they can discover whatever this is bringing up for them. There's this quote that I love it's like boundaries are the distance in which I can love both you and me at the same time.

Speaker 1:

And a little bit of a going back, a little bit to another topic that we spoke about, but I saw a quote that you had shared on Instagram If I say the name incorrectly, chappelle Roan. She had this quote All my friends who have kids are in hell. I don't know anyone who is happy and has children, and you had a carousel post that I thought was just so beautiful and it was like, well, let me tell you, that's my style a little bit. I loved it. It was such like an incredible yeah, just a way to point out like all of the ways that women can be supported through pregnancy and birth and postpartum, and would you like to share a little bit about that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure. So I don't even know how to fully pronounce her name. I think it's Chapel Rowan.

Speaker 1:

Oh is it? It might be. Yeah, I probably said it wrong. She's a new pop star.

Speaker 2:

She's a new pop star. I'm not really up with the times. My friends have to show me some of these things. She's pretty popular. There's a few songs of hers that I really enjoy, oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

My favorite too.

Speaker 2:

I'll be like Pink Pony, that's the best one. Yes, yes, yeah, it's so good. I think she's cool, but I think she doesn't get it yet. And that's okay because, you know, all of us say ignorant things all the time, because it's just part of the human experience. Really. It's like sometimes we speak when we don't fully know, and that's also something that I learned, like with pregnancy. Like sometimes people just don't know, but they feel like they should say something, and I don't even know what question she was asked when she responded in that way.

Speaker 2:

But I will say that it's not kids that make your life hell, it's the system and the society that we live in. Right, that was like the belly of the post. Like it's not becoming a mother, it's not being a mother, it's not the life changing, it's not having the baby, it's not the baby, it's not the toddler, it's not the kids that are making your life hell, it's the lack of support and community and the village. It's the lack of support and community and the village. Like this is how people were living for thousands of years and then just in the last I don't know couple of hundred if that, probably less, have things shifted in a way that just upholds all right capitalism. That's what it really is. Right, it's like go back to work and do these things and this idea of we want to go back to who we were before we had children, like that's this like goal right In terms of what we look like and who we're hanging out with and how often we're hanging out with them and what we're doing.

Speaker 2:

But like any incredible life-changing transition that anyone experiences in their life, whether it's having kids or making a career change or having a spiritual awakening, like all this stuff, there always is an element, I think, of grieving your past life. Right, because I also experienced, even with my spiritual evolvement or spiritual evolution or whatever you want to call it right, where I was like like I don't drink alcohol anymore and even once in a while I'll still have these times of like man I miss just being like careless and ruthless and like a lunatic, like I wish I just wasn't so self-aware and like you know, I wish I could just get hammered and dance on tables again and roll home at four o'clock in the morning and, you know, eat McDonald's and just like not give a shit about any of these things anymore. And that's okay that once in a while, like I get a thought like that of like a little grief of my life where I wasn't at this stage anymore, because sometimes it's easier, right, like it's easier to not be so self-aware. So I think that sometimes there is an element of grief and longing once you become a mom of like yeah, I miss just like going to a concert that starts at 10 pm, you know, and maybe that'll happen again at some point in my life. I'm sure it will. So I think that is normal and healthy, but I also don't think that that means like we're in hell. And I read something recently about how new moms who have so much grief about who they were before a mom are really finding I don't see too much attachment because I don't want to be like judgmental, but I In some way we become so attached to the maiden, you know, the wild child, like the free, young, sexy girl we were, and by staying gripped to that we're actually getting in the way of our own evolution of the woman that we're supposed to be right now, of the woman that we're supposed to be right now. So I feel like I'm bouncing all over the place with your question because I can really talk about this in so many different avenues of, like the changes that come once you become a mom and obviously it's different for everyone. But just to bring myself back to you know, chapel Rowan's like quote and that post that I made I wish I had it in front of me.

Speaker 2:

But like the, you know, postpartum or motherhood can feel like hell when you know you don't have a supportive partner who also educated themselves on the changes that you're going through in your body and emotionally and hormonally. And motherhood can feel like hell when you know you're expected to go back to work within six weeks or eight weeks, which is way too soon, way too soon. You're still getting to know your baby. They're still getting to know you.

Speaker 2:

Motherhood can feel like hell when there's no village showing up for you postpartum, and it's so often that our partners go back to work earlier than we do. So you know, if you're a new mom and your partner got two weeks off to and that's like a lot right, I know people like you know maybe they took five days when the baby was first born and then it's just you figuring it out. I don't even want to think about what that could have been like for me if on day five, it was just me. Like my heart is like breaking even imagining what that could be like. But that really is the reality for so many people in this country. And I think that's when things feel like hell, because maybe I would identify with that statement if I was also in that position. I would think that it was hellish.

Speaker 2:

But motherhood can feel like heaven. It can be this beautiful arrival and you know identity and I keep saying the word evolution, but it's just what feels so true, you know, because you're evolving into this new stage of your life it can feel like heaven when you do have the right support and when people are patient with you. And yeah, it's all about help. And for so many years it was the village, it was the tribe, it was. You know, at any given moment you could just pass your baby to another woman who you trusted and like, take a break and take a walk and go sit by the river and sing for 20 minutes and then you know, just to regulate your nervous system and then come back and we don't have that anymore and I think that's what makes it feel so hellish. But it's not the baby that's hellish, it's not being a mom that's hellish, it's the lack of the systems that have supported us through this time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I had a friend recently who had a baby and it was so nice. I got to go over her house with one of my other good friends it was like a few of us like every Friday and just kind of like hang out with her and hang out with the baby for when she was on maternity leave for like three or four months and it felt like. It felt like olden times or something. I felt like I was like in the Golden Girls or something Right, I love it. Times or something. I felt like I was like in the Golden Girls or something, right, I love it. It was so nice and it was something that we looked forward to like every week, just being able to like be together in that space.

Speaker 2:

It was really really nice. That's so good, like I think people who don't have kids are like oh she's pissy. Like she's got her baby, like well, she's doing that, like we'll wait for her to reach out to us or like we'll call her in a couple of weeks or a couple of months, like when she has her footing. But what a lot of people don't know is that babies can't regulate their own nervous system. They don't have the ability cognitively. That part of their brain hasn't developed yet. So babies regulate by co-regulating. That's why they always need to be to their mom. But adults, even though we have the ability to self-regulate, when you are a new mom you are just constantly co-regulating with your baby that it becomes so much more difficult to self-regulate that the way that a new mom self-regulates is by being with other adults.

Speaker 2:

And that's something new that I learned when I was freshly postpartum. So I would just fucking text like 10 people and be like who's coming over today? One hour all I need, please. I just need to talk to another human. Honestly, that's even how I feel. Talking to you on this podcast this morning, I'm like I'm so excited for this. I don't even know what we're going to talk about. But I just get to talk to another woman for an hour. I'm so excited to do that.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I love it. I love it. That's amazing. Yeah, you know, I love that. You, you share that because it makes it makes so much sense when you put it in that context. You know, I talk a lot about nervous system regulation and self-regulating and and things like that, and when you put it in that context it makes a lot of sense. Yeah, yeah, amazing. So, sharing more, you know more about your story, more about how it sounds like you're really stepping into like merging yoga and wellness and motherhood and like all these like beautiful things are coming together. Yeah, what are some ways that, like people can connect with you, people can find you, people can work with you, things like that people can work with you, things like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so right now I'm teaching a few classes in person. So if someone listening to this is local to Long Beach or Rockaway, I teach a few days a week at a studio called Ocean Bliss Yoga. It's in Rockaway. Here I also teach prenatal every Monday night at 5.30 here in Rockaway and I also teach online. I try to do like two strong offerings per month virtually, and I always bring out something a little bit different.

Speaker 2:

So, upcoming this month on the 14th it's a Monday night I'm teaching a class called yogic sleep, which is one of my favorite classes to teach, where I'll be teaching gentle postures, and then we end with yoga nidra, and yoga nidra is this type of guided meditation that brings the practitioner to a state of consciousness that teeters between the wake state and the sleep state. It's incredible for nervous system regulation and I learned somewhere that even doing like 20 minutes of a yoga nidra can almost like trick the body into thinking you just got like eight hours of full sleep. So it's, it's really, really great. So I'm doing it at 7.30 PM that class, because then people can just drift off to their evening routine and then go to sleep that night. So that'm doing it at 7.30 PM that class, because then people can just drift off to their evening routine and then go to sleep that night. So that's Monday, the 14th yoga sleep. And then on Earth Day, I'm excited I'm offering a full morning practice. Virtually it's going to be a 90 minute practice where we do guided meditation. It'll be like a grounding, very like Earth Day meditation. The asana sequence is very focused on the root chakra, so we'll be doing a lot of hip openers and a lot of standing postures and then we end with pranayama, which is, you know, yogic breath work. So it's a full practice 90 minutes. If 90 minutes feels long for some people, just remember that the meditation and the breath work portion, you know, are almost like 30 minutes combined. So it is like your standard hour-long yoga class, because we're doing the asana for about an hour and then 15 minutes meditation, 15 minutes pranayama. So that's going to be in the morning on Earth Day, which I think is the 22nd.

Speaker 2:

I'm also, you know, leading workshops every month, and something that I just put back into my offerings quietly I'll be sharing about them more often is I offer mentorship to other yoga teachers, people who are looking to strengthen their teaching style. It's really one of my favorite ways to work with people in the yogic lens because these are people who already have a foundation of you know the big umbrella of what it means to practice yoga. But I had different people reaching out to me because they're looking to strengthen their sequencing or their cueing. But also there's been some teachers who are feeling disconnected from their own relationship to yoga and teaching yoga has just become a job and they show up and they come up with their sequences and it lights them up, but when it comes to their own practice of just them in their room, they're feeling like a little bit lost. So that's really exciting for me to reconnect them to their why right, like their real purpose, like what brought you to be a yoga teacher, what brought you to yoga. Let's reconnect with that.

Speaker 2:

And so that I have coming up this month also working excuse me, working with some people for mentorship, but I think the best way to keep up with what I'm doing right now is through Instagram. I just updated my LinkedIn bio to this cute little, different type of website that looks so aesthetically pleasing. Now it's like all my little links are right there and so anyone can just click that and see what offerings I have coming up or, you know, just email me or DM me anytime. I talk to so many strangers on the internet and I really enjoy it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely oh. That sounds amazing. So many incredible things that you're up to. I love Yoga Nidra. That is my favorite. I love drifting off into the and you get so many like insights and everything. And I'm hosting, actually, my first retreat in October of this year in the fall Upstate, new York. So close, close by. It's like a two hour drive from Long Island area and we have a guest teacher coming to do some yoga nidra manifestation, yoga, sleep.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, awesome, congrats also on launching your first retreat. It is there's nothing like a retreat. It's like I know it's like one of my favorite things to do is like do a mentorship, but I'm like wait, I think retreats are actually really my favorite.

Speaker 1:

There's something so special that happens, you know at them Like it's hard to put into words, but when you take time and space to like disconnect from your day-to-day routine and then you also come together with, like these incredible people that we're all drawn for similar or the same reasons, it's just like some, it's like a little like collective energy, and then you go home and you're like wow, like someone just shifted, or I've received so much, or I have this new insight or this new inspiration, and it's really nice.

Speaker 2:

It is totally life changing. I still get messages from people who came on my retreats like three years ago still talking about how that became like the foundation of them totally changing their lives. Someone who my first retreat that I ever hosted I had only been teaching yoga for four months and I just sent it. I was like I'm doing a retreat and I think it was easy for me to do that too, because I owned a travel company for so many years that I felt really confident. And just like so many years that I felt really confident and just like you know the production of this group trip right and like you know making a list of all like the coffee shops nearby. So when we have free time, like you can go here and you can do this and you know the itinerary of like we're going to hike at this national park and I just I love it. I love all of it. And that retreat that I did, my first retreat ever.

Speaker 2:

Because of that retreat there was this one person who came who ended up getting totally sober after the retreat. She already was like not really drinking alcohol as much, but she was smoking a lot of weed and even like on the retreat she'd just be like excusing herself to the woods, like a little chimney just smoking all the time, and I, you know, do your thing, girl, like that's okay, that's okay. So after that retreat and the other treats I do are also always plant-based. Now I think I'm probably going to do them just vegetarian, but we don't need any meat. So anyway, this girl, like super Italian, right, like loves her Italian meats, comes to this retreat and then after I think that I reached out to her because I was doing a retreat on conscious cannabis, like a year later we were going to Colorado and it was like intentionally, sacredly, connecting to the spirit of the plant, you know, not using cannabis like mindlessly and just like picking it up for no reason, but like as an ally in our spirituality and that's a conversation for another time, like my relationship with, like what that has become.

Speaker 2:

But I reached out to her because, like I think you'd be really into this, right, she was smoking a lot of weed on the retreat and she's like you know, I haven't had a chance to reach out to you, but that retreat that we did, it totally changed my life. I stopped drinking, I stopped smoking weed and I'm vegetarian now and it had been like over a year and I was like what? I had no idea at all. And she was like I totally changed my life after that retreat.

Speaker 2:

It was like such like a shift in my life and I was just like, wow, okay, like there's these subtle changes that are reaching everyone who comes on the retreat and so, like unbeknownst, like to me, I'm just like, yeah, cool, everyone had a transformative time. Or, like you know, you get little texts or emails after that was like thank you so much, like that was life-changing, right, you hear that like a lot. But then following up a year later and being like you did what? Like because of that, okay, great, awesome, like so glad I could be a part of that in any way.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, that's what, yeah, that's what's possible, like on the other side of just um, all of those little shifts that happen over the course of a few days, and then the next thing you know, you're like, oh my goodness, I'm going to make all these changes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's so cool. I'm so excited for when I will eventually do more retreats and, who knows, maybe you and I will do one together one day.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, who knows, I was uh for this retreat. I was looking for someone to collaborate with, like that was initially my, my vision for it. Um, and over time it just it wasn't like happening Like the thing. The things weren't falling into place, and I love the way that it's structured. Now, um, it's a small group of women, it's six women, uh, so I you know I can hold space for six women for that amount of time, but the vision originally was to collaborate with somebody. So I'm open to collaborations for the next retreat. We'll see. We'll see how this one goes. I guess that was the first one.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's going to be great. I'm so excited for you.

Speaker 1:

Oh, thank you, yeah, yeah. So my last question for you. I always like to end with this question whenever I have a guest speaker, and this could be something that you already talked about, it could be something entirely new, but, in general, what is one thing that is lighting you up right now in life, in this season of your life, one thing that is exciting, you bringing you joy, just really lighting you up.

Speaker 2:

I'm just going to take a few breaths to allow it to reveal itself.

Speaker 2:

I think something that's really lighting me up right now is this I don't want to say like realization or remember I don't know what word I want to use but I've been thinking a lot about like my future as an individual again, and, of course, I'm always thinking about my future with my family and my partner, because now there's three of us. So we're like where are we going to live and what are we going to do, and you know, what's this going to look like when we collaborate here and this and the other thing. But I've been getting some dreams lately and just some downloads, some insights, some discoveries of like pursuing like higher education, you know, like maybe getting a PhD one day and something about where I'm at right now is just feeling really excited, that like something epic is really going to come in, like being a student again and not just, you know, pursuing trainings, like I feel like I'm always going to be a yoga teacher and I'm always going to be this version of myself in some degree, but I don't know. I've been getting these like visions of being just like in my forties and and just like with a PhD and like just doing like really epic work and like research, and like I've been getting really excited about the relationship between psychology and what yoga teaches us, like ethically and morally, about like being a good person and how to like watch the mind, and I think that's what's always lit me up about yoga, because I've been someone who has, you know, been in therapy since I was like seven years old, so I have a lot of like background and understanding of the psyche and I've always wanted to like bridge them in some way, like my spiritual path and the yogic path, with like psychology. And I feel like I'm getting closer to that right now because things are starting to feel more real about what that could look like, what the potential is in that, and part of me has always wondered, like why haven't I done that yet? You know, but everything is always divine timing and I'm like I feel like that's what I'm working toward in a different way and I'm not ready for it right now.

Speaker 2:

But something is lighting up in me about, I don't know, maybe in the next five to eight years I see myself just like it's like before when I talk about taking steps and then all of a sudden, it's like you skip a bunch of steps and you're on a new landing, like that's coming again I don't know when, but it's coming and that's just like yes, okay, and that's just like it's for the collective right, it's my purpose and being of service and like helping people.

Speaker 2:

But it also feels like like that's for me. You know that that's like not about like my baby or my partner, even though it'll like affect them and they'll be there for the ride. I'm just like, ooh, like this isn't about like my friends or my family system, like this is about like me as a woman and like me as an individual and my potential and my purpose. And that feels like I would be like so hot, like that feels like so sexy, like that's like yes, like you know it's. It's feeling like a big yes and um, yeah, I wasn't expecting to like feel that way about anything, aside my baby, and especially that he's only eight months old, and I'm like something's in there for me coming soon. I'm like, yes, okay, that feels good oh, that sounds amazing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I can like, I can feel, I can feel like your excitement and how how, yeah, how amazing that feels. Well, thank you so much for taking the time being on the podcast. This is an incredible conversation and I just loved hearing about your story and everything that you're up to and everything that you'll be up to in the next five to eight years potentially, and thank you so much.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. Yeah, this was great. An hour with another woman just feels great.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for being here and tuning in to somatic healing for wellness focused women podcast. If you were moved or inspired by today's episode, please take a moment to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It truly helps the podcast grow and helps more people find me on their healing journey. Make sure to check out the show notes to sign up for the monthly newsletter, links to more resources, opportunities to work with me and ways that we can stay connected. If we aren't already connected on social media, head over to Instagram to follow me at raythesomaticcoach. Send me a DM. I'd love to connect with you and I answer each note that comes in. I am so happy you're here and I cannot wait to talk with you on our next episode of the podcast.