Manders Mindset
Are you feeling stuck or stagnant in your life? Do you envision yourself living differently but have no idea how to start? The answer might lie in a shift in your mindset.
Hosted by Amanda Russo, The Breathing Goddess, who is a Breathwork Detox Facilitator, Transformative Mindset Coach, and Divorce Paralegal.
Amanda's journey into mindset and empowerment began by working with children in group homes and daycares. She later transitioned to family law, helping people navigate the challenging emotions of divorce. During this time, Amanda also overcame her own weight and health challenges through strength training, meditation, yoga, reiki, and plant medicine.
Amanda interviews guests from diverse backgrounds, including entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, and wellness experts, who share their incredible journeys of conquering fears and limiting beliefs to achieve remarkable success. Hear real people tell how shifting their mindsets—and often their words—has dramatically changed their lives.
Amanda also shares her personal journey, detailing how she transformed obstacles into opportunities by adopting a healthier, holistic lifestyle.
Discover practical strategies and inspiring stories that will empower you to break free from limitations and cultivate a mindset geared towards growth and positivity.
Tune in for a fun, friendly, and empowering experience that will help you become the best version of yourself.
Manders Mindset
From Religion to Rituals: Reclaiming Empowered Wellness Julia Rajagopalan | 146
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In this magical and mind-opening episode of Manders Mindset, host Amanda Russo chats with the incredible Julia Rajagopalan — a writer, instructional designer, certified nutritionist, 400-hour yin yoga instructor, and practicing witch. Julia shares her deeply personal journey from growing up in a traditional religious household to embracing her identity as a witch, and how she blends ancient rituals with modern wellness practices in her course, Healthy Witch Wellness.
The conversation explores how mindset and spiritual rituals can profoundly shape one's approach to health, healing, and self-identity. Julia opens up about her battles with anxiety, the healing power of breath and yoga, and why redefining wellness to fit an individual's unique journey is so empowering. Whether someone is a seasoned witch or just witch-curious, this episode offers practical tools and thought-provoking insights sure to inspire and align.
Timeline Summary:
[2:11] - Julia shares what it means to be a lifelong learner.
[6:44] - Discovering spirituality outside religion and finding freedom in witchcraft.
[13:27] - Julia’s transformative experience with yoga and healing from anxiety.
[22:50] - How India reshaped her wellness mindset and yoga practice.
[29:31] - The myth of all-or-nothing wellness and embracing balance.
[36:14] - The magic of spell jars, intention setting, and environmental cues.
[44:02] - Understanding tarot as a tool for self-reflection and inner wisdom.[53:08] - The connection between yoga, tarot, and mindful living off the mat.
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Schedule a 1:1 Virtual Breathwork Session HERE
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To Connect with Julia:
Website: healthywitchwellness.com- Check out Spells & Rituals!
Welcome to the Manders Mindset Podcast. Here you'll find both monologue and interviews of entrepreneurs, coaches, healers and a variety of other people when your host, Amanda Russo, will discuss her own mindset and perspective and her guest's mindset and perspective on the world around us. Manders and her guests will help explain to you how shifting your mindset will shift your life.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Amanda's Mindset, where we explore the power of shifting your mindset to shift your life.
Speaker 3:I'm your host, Amanda Russo, and I'm here today with Julia Rajakapalan, and she is a writer and an instructional designer and she's practicing witch, tarot reading and a certified nutritionist. She's also a 400-hour yin yoga instructor and I am so excited to chat with her. She also has a course called Healthy Witch Wellness and I was super fascinated by the name of that, so we are going to delve into all of that and her journey today. Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 4:Thanks for having me. It's such a pleasure to talk to you.
Speaker 3:So that's a great bio, but who would you say Julia is at the?
Speaker 4:core? That's such a good question. I think I am a lifelong learner. I love to explore and to learn new things. I like to say I'm a book witch, which just means that I love to read and I find magic and power in the written word. So in my day job I'm an instructional designer, which just means I create training courses and I take the amazing knowledge from lots of different people and I distill it into a course. So I'm constantly learning all the time. But I also like to write, I like to read and, honestly, I'm a learner for sure.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. Have you always been a learner?
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, from the time I learned how to read, I was constantly reading, constantly exploring. You couldn't keep me like in one place at a time. So I love to travel and I lived in India for three years. My husband is originally from there, and so he got transferred there for work and so I went there with him and I did my yoga teacher trainings there, so I studied vinyasa and yin yoga and I've traveled to over 60 countries and I just love to explore and learn about new cultures and new people, and I just love to explore and learn about new cultures and new people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love that. Can you take us down memory lane a little bit? Tell us about your upbringing, childhood.
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. I grew up I live just outside of Detroit, michigan, and I grew up in a small town further north and my background is we were in a very Christian, religious family and I have two sisters and I sort of moved away from that aspect of my background, moved away from religion. I found I didn't agree with everything politically and I was looking for more. I'm constantly exploring, constantly learning, and it's funny. At one point I said, oh, maybe I'm a Buddhist, maybe I'm an atheist, maybe I don't think there is anything. And then I started doing all of these. I guess you could call them spiritual practices, right, I'm doing fire rituals and doing spells and I'm doing all these things and I didn't really have a name for it. I knew it wasn't Christianity anymore, I knew it wasn't this.
Speaker 4:And then I started sort of learning and reading and I realized that I'm a witch. And it's sort of weird to say that because, like, growing up we're like, oh, witches are bad, they're evil. And I thought, when I finally was able to like sort of come out of the broom closet. So we say sometimes and say like, hey, yeah, I am a witch, right, I felt so free, I felt so empowered because I finally had a name for what I was doing. I was doing yeah, that is what I am, and it's very different from the way I grew up. I was at small town and now I'm like, wow, this is really a new thing, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:How old were you when you started to discover this about?
Speaker 4:What. I was 16 when I told my parents that I was not going to go to church anymore and that was a big drama because we went to church every single Sunday. I went to religious school from kindergarten to eighth grade, so it was a lot of religion and I think, similar to a lot of other people, I sort of overdosed on it. It was a little too much and it just really wasn't. I think. You know, I think it's wonderful for other people. I respect everyone and their choices. The politics were not what I believe. So I really think that it was the right choice for me and I did explore a lot. Now my parents have come to terms with it. They're like whatever, but at the time it was a big drama.
Speaker 3:So how did you start to uncover this Like that? What was the first sign that I'm just if you?
Speaker 4:will. I'll tell you what it was. I could tell you the exact moment it was coming for a while. I remember I asked my pastor my dog had just died and I asked my pastor if dogs went to heaven and he said no, because they don't have souls. And I remember I was like a little kid and I remember thinking what I don't want to go somewhere where there are no puppies. Come on man. So I guess it was always sort of there. But then I went to a youth gathering. It was one of those very large ones and I remember coming home and thinking maybe this is not for me. And I remember a friend saying whoa wasn't that inspiring. And I was like no, it wasn't. I just felt so disconnected from it and I realized that wasn't my path. It's a great path for other people. Like I said, I respect everyone's choices, but it wasn't my path for sure. I had a different journey to take.
Speaker 3:I gotcha, and so you told your parents at 16. Did you realize what it was that you were practicing at 16? Or did you not have the witch name for that?
Speaker 4:So I was taking college classes at 16. So I actually went around to some local religious, I went to a synagogue, I went to a mosque and explored some of these things on my own with my college class that I was taking at the same time as high school, and I didn't really find my home in any of those places and so I thought, well, maybe there isn't anything. Maybe I'm an atheist, but honestly I don't think that I can say there isn't anything. In the same way I can't say there is anything. So I think maybe I'm closer to like a witchy agnostic, and so I have hope that there are divine beings or the universe that's out there who's looking out for us. I have hope and I think there is something, and I'm not always it depends on the day, but I'm not always sure what it is. But I like the exploration.
Speaker 3:No, I get that. So now, when was it you went to India?
Speaker 4:So I was in India, it was. We got home right before COVID, so like six months before, a year before COVID, I don don't know. I was there for three years 2019, something like that. I was there for three years and we came back to Detroit like a year before COVID. So I feel like everyone marks things as like pre-COVID and after COVID, right?
Speaker 3:I'm like we really do. So you were 16 when you told your parents you're done with church, and now you didn't necessarily have a name for it right away. So I'm just curious the interim between, like before you went to India, before you started getting involved more in the wellness realm, like how did you get to that point?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's such a good point. I was very lost for a lot of years. I was drinking a lot, I wasn't happy, I wasn't happy with myself and it was a struggle to a certain extent. And I started when I was graduating from college. I started having panic attacks and that's why I love your title, the Breathing Goddess, because breathing is so important.
Speaker 4:I remember going to the hospital thinking like I am going to die, and they said no, it's a panic attack because the change in your life is so scary, right. And so they said have you tried yoga, have you tried yogic breathing? And I said no, I have not. I was always taught that yoga is evil. That was literally the church said yoga is evil. And I said let me give this a shot. And sure enough I was. I didn't know how to breathe, I was not breathing properly and it was adding to my anxiety. I was like hunched over and I was just so anxious I could feel everything in here and in yoga and in your practices we learn how to breathe right, with deep belly breaths we open our chest to relieve some of that anxiety.
Speaker 4:And it changed my life and I knew I always wanted to do a yoga teacher training. So when the opportunity to go to India came up many years later, I thought, oh, this is perfect. I'm so excited because then I can like learn yoga at the heart, from the heart of that, and it was amazing, yeah. So I practiced, but again I was drinking a lot. It wasn't healthy, and so I've been sober now for three years and I'm so proud of myself. It was a difficult journey. It was one of the most difficult things I've ever done in my entire life, but well worth it, and I think I'm finally in a place where I can share what I've learned with others.
Speaker 3:Congratulations. Three years. That's amazing. Now you mentioned in college you were having the panic attacks. What were you going to school for?
Speaker 4:So my undergrad was in history, and so I was studying history, thinking I was going to law school, but that really wasn't a good choice for me, and so I took a year off in between undergrad and graduate school and thought about what I wanted, and so I wanted to get a job at an archive so these are the places that preserve historical documents right? So fun. And I worked with these amazing collections Like I saw a paper signed by Martin Luther King Jr so cool. But I was getting these semester by semester appointments, and then I didn't have health insurance. If I break a leg, I'm moving back in with mom and dad. And so I started to work for a company that provided resources to libraries. So I traveled around the country helping teachers and librarians learn about how to use electronic resources, how to integrate them into the classroom, things like that, and I really got to explore the entire country that way, and it was amazing.
Speaker 3:And did you say it was when you were graduating that you started having the panic attack?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was like when I was graduating. I was like 22-ish and I think I'd always had anxiety. I think our society sort of builds on anxiety. Right, like what do you mean? I love my folks on Instagram and I love social media, but I think in many ways it can add to our anxiety. I don't know, what do you think?
Speaker 3:I'm sure you think all the time, a thousand percent. I'm at the age in the generation where I kind of had the benefit of growing up like right before the Internet existed. Smartphones were a thing I got one high school but people didn't have them. In middle school I got the experience like Instagram wasn't a thing. When I was in high school I had a Facebook, but it was this whole new thing Facebook, myspace and like it was not what it is now. Even if you don't have anxiety, I feel like we live in an anxious culture. Like you mentioned, everybody's, like I've got anxiety you almost do because of the way society is now.
Speaker 4:It's become constant right, and I remember I'm in my 40s and I remember like you could turn things off, you could go grab a book and you didn't have to think about everything that everyone else was doing. And now, like even when I'm working, I have CNN on in the corner and I have to remind myself to turn all that off. That's not healthy. All the time it's important to be informed, but it's not healthy to be inundated with all of that Like that's too much.
Speaker 3:I completely agree, and that's fascinating to me, though the hospital recommended yoga to you with the panic attacks.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean because they were like you need to calm down, you need to start breathing properly. And so they recommended talking to someone at the college and they were the ones who were like, go to yoga, try it, try yogic breathing, try belly breathing. And they were right, it was a big time. That's why I'm such a proponent for yoga, because I firmly believe that everyone can do it.
Speaker 4:When I was in India it was really fascinating because people there, like my in-laws, they don't go to an hour-long power yoga class. Like that is not how people I mean there are some of those there but like that's not how people typically practice yoga. We have, I think, in many cases, which increases our anxiety, this all or nothing mindset. Right, when, oh, if I don't go to this hour long power yoga class, then I'm not a yogi, I don't practice yoga, I'm just like a big old loser. And that is just not the case.
Speaker 4:And I try to get people to realize that, like yoga and a lot of these other practices don't have to be an all or nothing. You can be a witch or you can be a little witchy. In India you'll go for a walk and you'll see, like these little old aunties, right, who will go be on their walk and then they'll stop in the park and they'll do a little yoga for like two, three minutes and then they'll keep going and that's part of their practice and that's what I like. A big part of healthy witch wellness is mindset right, Changing your mindset and understanding these healthy practices and that can be part of your practice on a daily basis. It doesn't have to be a whole if you have time for it, good on you but it doesn't have to be a full hour of yoga. It can be like a few minutes and those little steps will help your mind and your body.
Speaker 3:It's so true, I'm so fascinated that they suggested yoga to you Like. Sometimes the medical professions is reluctant with the holistic sometimes.
Speaker 4:I remember they gave me some medication too, and I forget what it was and I was thinking I don't think I even fulfilled it Because I was like I don't too, and I forget what it was and I was thinking I don't think I even fulfilled it because I was like I didn't have a ton of money. I was like a broke college student. But I remember thinking, well, maybe I'll try this yoga thing first, and then I always have this in the background and I remember the yoga being so helpful. But I think there are a lot of medical practitioners not all of them, but I think a lot of them are starting to realize the health benefits of breathing, of yoga and some of these alternative things, and I'm hoping they're getting away from just light pills. Yes, it's not healthy. No, I know.
Speaker 3:For everyone, I know. That's why I love that I've noticed a difference as well. But prior I never heard it. Never heard it Even I'm young. But like 10 years ago I went through I was having daily chronic migraines and it was just pills and at the time you don't know what else to do and I ended up taking one of them. I don't even remember what it was, but I fainted in an American Eagle at the mall, completely passed out, had no recollection of it. Oh my God, that's so scary, I know, and I was like 19 years old at the time. Thankfully I was with my boyfriend at the time, but like I didn't even remember and I was just on the floor and the doctor was like you can't stop taking these medications and I'm like what's going to happen? I'm going gonna faint again. Like yeah, seriously, let's do it, I'll risk it, I'll take my chances, okay um, sorry you went through that.
Speaker 4:I used to get migraines once a month and it was brutal even then.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and, but it's the. The holistic stuff is honestly what helped me work away from that. I started meditating after that and it didn't fully go away from that, but I started changing my diet, I started eating differently and, with all these little, I haven't had migraines in four years, good for you. And I don't take anything for them.
Speaker 4:That's amazing. Yeah, I don't take anything for mine anymore and mine are very hormonally related. I don't know if yours are too, but I've noticed like certain times in the month I have to be really careful, like, about not pushing myself too hard, because I know if I push myself too hard, if I go for, like a run or something like that, or an hour long yoga class, I'm going to get a migraine and I'm going to be out for a while. I get that.
Speaker 3:I love how you mentioned it doesn't have to be the all or nothing. Did you realize that before you went to India, or was going to India? That realization.
Speaker 4:I had heard about this all or nothing or black or white thinking, or I think they call it dichotomous thinking. I'm never pronouncing that right, but I'd heard about that and it is, I think, really problematic in a variety of different ways. Because for me, I was very much with my health journey. I was like thinking that I needed to eat healthy all the time, or if I wasn't eating healthy, like that I could kind of like pig out, I mean, and I realized that it shouldn't be like me, oh, I ruined today, so I'm going to just eat a bunch of cookies, like I can have a cookie, right, and that's okay. And like being able to change that mindset was really important. So.
Speaker 4:So, like in the Healthy Witch Wellness Grimoire, I've created this really cool little workbook, right, that helps you walk through some of these common mindset traps.
Speaker 4:I call them and I also like to call them hexes, right.
Speaker 4:So it's because I use witchy language, right, and so I think that we get into these sort of mindset traps, right, and we have to identify them number one, and then we have to figure out some strategies for working around them, right. So like when I catch myself saying, oh, I couldn't make yoga today. So I guess I'm just going to sit on the couch they know what I can go for like a 10 minute walk, I have time for that and energy for that. Or if I catch myself being like, oh, I'm going to cut all my carbs this week and I'm just going to like it's going to be like keto all the way. Not that there's anything wrong with keto it's helpful for some people but for me then it turns into sort of this hyper focus, all or nothing. And so I think being able to identify when those things happen and then say like, hey, if I'm starting to do that, what? I'm going to take a step back and figure out a healthy balance somewhere in between, and it's really important to me.
Speaker 3:Has anything helped you find the healthy?
Speaker 4:balance. Yeah, I think meditation is a big one, being able to sit with myself and relax and calm down. And again, with my meditation practice, I thought, oh, I got to like clear my mind. I got to be blank and if I'm not then I suck at meditation. And the reality is there are so many different ways to meditate. We can go for meditation walks, we can just sit quietly and let the thoughts come in and go out. So I found that is really helpful.
Speaker 4:I also like to do little witchy spells and little witchy rituals and I have something here. I call it a spell jar. Sometimes people call it witch jars or things like that, and it's a practice that has been in a variety of different cultures. So, what you do and this I got at the Dollar Tree because I'm not breaking the bank and we put things in here like cinnamon, I have some rosemary and I actually this is one that was in my car. I created this one because I wanted to remind myself to make healthy choices when I'm driving in my car Because, I'll be honest, I love fast food. I love me some Taco Bell. It's so bad, it's so good, but that's not a healthy choice for me. I feel terrible for only two days afterward. And so I said, okay, one of my goals is, I want to make healthier choices when I'm in my car. Right, I wrote down in here make healthy choices. And I put it in here and then I sealed it with some wax.
Speaker 4:I keep this in my car and I think there is some power in creating these rituals and putting them out in the universe and taking the time to set my intention to do that. If you want to use different language, you can call this an environmental cue. Environmental cues in the habit cycle trigger us to do things right. It's sort of like a reminder, like, okay, I want to drink some more water, so I got my water bottle right here, so I, there we go. That's my reminders. It's also an environmental cue. So this we call you can call this an environmental cue. I put it in my car and I see it there. So when I start pulling toward Taco Bell, that's right I have this bell that's going to tell me that's not the choice I'm going to make today and I'm going to go home and maybe make something healthy to eat.
Speaker 3:Wow, I love that and I love how you mentioned you can call it whatever you want an environmental cue, a spell, Like people are different with their words, but I love that idea. It makes so much sense. Have you read the book Atomic Habits?
Speaker 4:That's exactly what I'm talking about. Like, that's the language, right. Because I'm a witch, I call it a spell, right? Here's the thing with witchcraft.
Speaker 4:What I find so fascinating is a huge part of witchcraft is about intention and mindset. So when I do a spell, the first thing I do is I set an intention what do I want this spell to do? What am I trying to do here? So that's the very first thing. Then I create a special ritual or special thing around it, and I think many of us especially for those of us who have moved away from a traditional religious background many of us are craving some of this ritual. We're craving something to make time special, to see special occasions, to make things special, right. So I think these rituals are really important to us to help start things or to end things. They're really important to make things special. And so for me, a lot of these witchy rituals I've been doing forever.
Speaker 4:Like every year around Halloween we would have a bonfire and my sister and I and her kids would write down one thing we want to get rid of, right. We'd write it on a paper and then we'd burn it. We'd say like, oh, we're getting rid of that Doing all along. And to call it witchcraft, I think, is one choice. People call it spiritual, or I've heard people say woo or whatever. That's cool too. Or you can just say like, hey, this is intention setting, this is manifestation. But for me, this is my background, this is my interest. So that's why I tend to use this language and I think people really respond to it because, number one, it's fun, right, and also I think it triggers something that's sort of ancient in us. These practices, in many cases, have been around for a very long time and it's really cool to be able to connect with our ancestors and connect with people who have been doing this for so long.
Speaker 3:I love everything you just mentioned there. Now you mentioned connecting with the ancestors.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Can you elaborate on that? Yeah, sure, so I mean, there are some people who are ancestral witches, who have been practicing witchcraft for generations. I'm not one of those, but I think there are different ways to connect with your ancestors. So some of us are lucky enough to have been born into traditions that have impacted us not everyone but you can connect with your ancestors in a bit different ways. You can connect with your ancestral place.
Speaker 4:So, like my parents on my mother's side, they're all from Hungary, they're Hungarian right, and so I went back to Hungary. I was lucky enough to be able to travel there and I learned all about like the Hungarian culture, because I'm very distanced from it. I can cook some paprikash and some goulash, but that's about it. But I went back there and then I was able to like, find some like traditional Hungarian items that I brought home with me, and so, like, when I was able to like, find some like traditional Hungarian items that I brought home with me, and so, like, when I'm trying to connect with, like my ancestors of place, I can see these items and understand that there's a history beyond me. Some people who have practicing witches in their background connect with a direct ancestor. I don't have that in my background, but I think there are ways that you can still connect with people and your ancestors without having a specific witch. You know witch lady in your background.
Speaker 3:I get what you mean. I love how you mentioned a few times you can call this whatever intention setting, witchcraft, whatever people want to resonate with them, Like, if the word witch doesn't resonate, if the word intention doesn't like. But it's all this, it's all the same concept. It's literally just like synonyms but it's the same concept.
Speaker 4:I love that Very much is, and that's what I like about witchcraft, because it is so open to so many different traditions Right, and I think it's important to make sure that we're not appropriating, but we're appreciating people and understanding things like that. The thing that is important about witchcraft is it is a unique practice for yourself, so it's going to look different for every single person who does it right. And for me I'm a super practical witch. Do I think that manifestation? If I say something out into the universe, I'm going to automatically get it, and no, not if I don't do anything, because that's not the way the universe works. I think there's power in saying things aloud for our psychology and I think there are ripple effects in the universe, but I also think we have to make sure that we're writing things down and making sure that we make an action around it.
Speaker 4:So one of the rituals that I have in my book and in my course is a ritual once a month. So at the beginning of the month you go outside your front door, okay, and you open the door and you take some cinnamon and you put it in your hand and then you blow it into the house and then you say like, hey, I invite prosperity to enter my house, like I invite money and wealth to enter this home. Right, you can make up your own incantation, whatever. And so I do that every month, and the lots of witches do it too. It's really fun, but not the other thing I do. Along with it, I write down one thing I'm going to do to make prosperity enter my house. So whether it's like I'm going to not eat out so much this month and save my money that way, or I'm going to look for some more contracting jobs this month, I've right down one thing, because I think the ritual is important, but I also think we need to make sure that we're doing something along with it.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's so cool. Okay, I've heard of the cinnamon thing just recently, because I started doing it because one of my friends gave me a cinnamon. Wow, I love that, though, and you combine it with something a little more practical. That like a step an action step.
Speaker 4:I think it's the best way, it's the best of both worlds, right? Because then you can make sure that you're actively working toward this intention, make sure that you're actively working towards this intention.
Speaker 3:No, that makes a lot of sense. I love that. Wow, I've never heard that mentioned. Like, I've heard the cinnamon ritual, and I even I saw it on Instagram once not even from somebody I know, but I saw it on Instagram but I've never heard like the. That makes a lot of sense, though, because, like, the ritual is powerful, but you're doing something to not just like wish this is going to happen, basically, like to kind of show it a little more.
Speaker 4:Exactly. I think it has to be both Right. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and that's one of the things we talk about in the course and in the grimoire. That's one of the things we talk about in the course and in the grimoire. Another thing that I think is really important and listening to some of your podcasts, I know you're going to be totally along the lines of this, because people talk about this in your podcast understanding the stories that impact us and the stories that we tell about ourselves. So there are a couple of different books that talk about this. I think no Sweat is one of them.
Speaker 4:But we have these stories that we tell ourselves right, and they come from a variety of different places. Sometimes there are teachers or our parents, right. For instance, I have an exercise story. I was telling myself this story that if I'm not running a full mile, then I'm not exercising and I'm not doing it right. Exercise has to be hard and it has to be kind of miserable. But this is the story I told myself because my gym teacher was like you have to run this mile right. And then I would hear from my mother oh, I don't have time for exercise, it's so hard, it's so sweaty.
Speaker 4:And so in the book I sort of talk about these things as, again, hexes right, these are hexes that like people have put on us and they're not even like from us, they're not from our hearts. They're these things that other people have their issues that they're putting on us. Really, I mean, if you want to think about like psychological terms, like they have their issues that they're putting on us. So we don't have to keep telling those stories. We don't have to keep saying, oh, exercise has to be miserable or else I'm not exercising. No, you can find something that you love, like for me, I love yoga, my husband loves squash or pickleball. So find something you love and that's good enough.
Speaker 4:So I had nice little rituals about removing those hexes. First of all, identifying them, figuring out what your story is like, your wellness story and we have one for exercise, for wellness in general, for food we have so many stories that we've heard about food and some of them are healthy and some of them aren't. So being able to identify those sometimes it has to be with the help of a licensed therapist, but I think also identifying them and then doing some rituals to sort of remove them and reminding ourselves that we don't have to keep telling those stories. Those are hexes that other people put on us. They're not what's in our heart.
Speaker 3:I love that and I like how you mentioned identifying them. If we can't pinpoint what they are, change it.
Speaker 4:You're absolutely right. You cannot change it if you don't know that it's even there. Unfortunately, I have a couple of different chapters I have on that and I thought it was helpful for me anyway, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3:Now I want to transition a tad. When did you discover and go down the road of tarot?
Speaker 4:little like party trick, right, like, oh, when we're all hanging out, I'll like read some tarot cards. I started learning the tarot cards and I had some really unusual experiences with them. There are a couple of times where I read for these people and I'd never met them before and they were terrified at how true they were. I remember one time I met this I was reading for this kid and I pull up these cards and I'm like, oh, there's a new, there's like a new baby in your life. And I said, oh, but is there something wrong? You should go to the doctor and make sure that the baby's checked out. And he freaked out, he jumps up and he's just like how did you? He's like I haven't told anyone. I'm like what are you talking about? And he's like my sister's pregnant.
Speaker 4:And I'm think that there are some people that are more, maybe, open to understanding like things that are out there in the universe. Like I cannot explain why those cards showed up, I cannot explain why I saw that for that guy, and there are a number of details I could tell you, like that. So I do think there are people out there that maybe are a little more open to understanding these things. But I think what's really interesting about tarot is it's more helpful when we use it to understand ourselves. So there are a lot of different psychological sort of studies that have shown these archetypes. So tarot cards, if you're not familiar, have these specific archetypes, right, like there's an empress and there's a star and a sun card, and they sort of talk about the journey of who we are.
Speaker 4:And I firmly believe I read my own tarot cards all the time. I don't read for other people right now, but what I firmly believe is I think that tarot helps us trigger things we already know. So as we're walking through the world, we are bombarded with information. Right, I'm looking at you and I see the beautiful pictures behind you, like beautiful purples, and I'm looking at that, but it's not. It's not maybe registering, but it's there what I mean. And so what I think we can do with tarot is we can kind of use that to bring some of this information that's in our subconscious, like very deep down in there, and bring it up to the top, to our conscious mind.
Speaker 4:So I've talked to people who are like I need to do a tarot reading for, like, if I should stay in this relationship or if I should go, and I think they probably already know, they probably already have the information deep down in there, right, because there are all these little clues. He doesn't text me back for like three days at a time. Last time I hung out, he sort of turned his back on me like three days at a time. Last time I hung out, he sort of turned his back on me. It's like a tiny little thing. That's like it's not a conscious thing that we would notice or think about, but there are all these different things.
Speaker 4:So when you start pulling your tarot cards, you think, hey, like here's what? Oh, I'm seeing a death card. Death always doesn't always mean death. Sometimes it means the end of something, right. And I'm like, yeah, that makes sense because of this and that. So I think tarot is a really cool way to start us exploring what we're already thinking, what we already know in our hearts or in our subconscious, if you want to call it that, and I have so. In each of my chapters I have a tarot spread and it talks about that aspect of wellness. So if it's my wellness story, it helps you explore your wellness story. So you can use the tarot cards to do some journaling and think about what you already know about yourself, and that's where I think the real power of tarot comes. I have had some tarot readings that I'm like whoa, that's where I think the real power of tarot comes. I have had some tarot readings that I'm like whoa, that's scary.
Speaker 3:So you think it's info, but they already kind of know. Yeah, I absolutely do.
Speaker 4:And, like I said, there's so much in our subconscious, or thousands of pieces of information around us, and this helps us bring it to our conscious mind. It gives us time to sit down and explore some of these questions, right, yeah?
Speaker 3:What would you say tarot and yoga have in common?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's such a good question because they don't seem to have a lot in common, right, but they're both like very old practices that have been around for a long time. So to me, I think there's a lot of knowledge in each of them, right, that our ancestors have had, and they had this knowledge before there were electron microscopes or MRIs or things like that. So I think it's taking some of this knowledge and putting it together, and I also think that both of them are very important while we're practicing it, but also when we put the tarot cards away, when we put the yoga mat away and when we walk into the world, because those practices, like your breathing right, like those practices we take with us, like you're breathing right, like those practices we take with us. So, even while we're doing it, it's important that even after these things we take with us as we go and we interact with our friends and neighbors when we interact with the world. So I think both of them sort of explore ourselves and then move on.
Speaker 3:I never thought about it like that. That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 4:Is that why you got into both? Yeah, maybe it is. Like I said, I thought at first, I think I sort of did them sort of shallow superficially, which is how we start all practices, right. We sort of start in the surface and we start digging a little deeper, and so I don't ever want to judge someone saying like, oh, I was a really shallow yogi. That's how you start, that's where you begin, and then I realized that these things really do impact us. And yeah, tara started out as a party trick and then it turned into a really cool tool to like explore myself, and being able to pass that knowledge on was so important, right yeah, now you mentioned that it helps you even more.
Speaker 3:So outside of it, like outside of the yoga, when you put the mat away, how so?
Speaker 4:no, that's such a good question because for me, it definitely helps my body, it makes me feel stronger, it makes me feel more flexible, but I also really think that it helps me find balance and find calm in situations that are not calm In yoga. Yoga we talk about finding your drishti right, like finding a focus, like a focal point to focus on. So whenever you're in a balancing pose, they always say you want to find a focus point and focus on that one point and ignore everything else, because that will help you focus and find your balance. And it works. I'm'm telling you it works right. Like you can be on one foot and you're like up here and then like this, and then you find a focus and you focus on a single maybe a piece of like dirt on the ground and you will still and you will calm yourself and you will find your balance.
Speaker 4:And so I think that to me, sometimes I walk out in the world and I'm totally overwhelmed and I say, okay, find your focus, find your drishti right, and I look at something and then I can let all of the extra stuff behind me go and I can figure out where I want to be, find my balance. So there are all of these ways, these lessons that yoga can bring to the world and how we interact with it off the mat. And the breathing is, I mean, to me, number one, being able to breathe through difficult situations. For me, breathe through like cravings and temptations right, being able to breathe through anxiety is really important.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's so true. I love how you mentioned earlier too that a lot of us aren't even breathing correctly and so many people don't even realize that.
Speaker 4:So many.
Speaker 4:I remember my mom was in the hospital and she had some fluid in her lungs and they actually gave her a little tool to help her breathe because they said she was not filling her lungs entirely, she was not breathing fully.
Speaker 4:And I thought that was so fascinating because I'm sitting there thinking you need to do those deep yogic breaths and so I think it's so important and so many people just don't do it or they don't know how to do it Right. And like when we all think, well, here, and you can help me because you're like the breathing goddess, right, but like, a lot of times when I was breathing I was like thinking, oh, I need to, like raise my shoulders up, but that's not it. Right, you need to breathe from your stomach. Yeah, into the belly, yep, and that's what expands your lungs and makes things bigger. And I always thought like, oh, if I'm breathing, I'm doing no order to do that and it doesn't help. And I think that's so interesting that, like, it seems like such a simple thing but it's contributing to her anxiety and her like ill health, right, I know and it's crazy Even a lot as women, we don't want to make the belly look bigger.
Speaker 3:We're even trying to suck that in Even women who don't have a belly. You know what I mean. Like, oh, trying to suck that in Even more so you're not fully breathing it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think we're making ourselves sick in many ways and it's so sad because we could be living a more fuller version of ourselves if we just embrace some of these practices that, like people a thousand years knew 2000 years knew about this. Thousands of years ago they knew that was a good practice and being able to bring that knowledge back is, I think, fascinating.
Speaker 3:So I'm curious how did you decide to combine witchcraft with wellness?
Speaker 4:Yeah, for me. I was working for a company that provided like nutrition coaching for people and I studied I mean literally like thousands of interactions between coaches and people, and when I was reading these interactions, I learned a couple of things. One thing was people sort of know what they need to do, right, like they know that they need to eat whole foods high in protein and not lots of sugar. They know they need to be moving more and sitting less, but they don't do it. And so I was like this is so strange, because our coaches are talking to these people and they're just not doing it. And there's no secret, it's all over the internet, there's tons of information on this stuff. So I was really interested in exploring what is the deeper issue here, and I think we don't do it for a variety of reasons. Right, sometimes I'm just busy, sometimes I'm tired and I haven't set my world up for that. And I think, when I thought about that, like a big part of it is also mindset. Right, a big part of it is us changing our mindset about who we are and what we want to do with ourselves. And I think, if you can sit down and say, okay, I'm just a person who doesn't sit on a couch for 12 hours a day. I am a person who gets up and walks around or works out. I think that will sort of change not just our health but our minds. And so I was already practicing these witchy things, right, and I thought, oh my gosh, when we do our spells and when we do our rituals and our intentions and things like that is all mindset, that is intention setting, that is goal setting. Right Like. So, when I write down my little thing that I want to happen and put it in my spell jar, that is changing your intention and your mindset. And I think that to me, was sort of the piece that was missing from a lot of these wellness programs. Right Like, ok, you can keep telling people here are your macros, here are the healthy, like the healthy things you want to do. But if you don't change like their identity, if you don't change their habits, if you don't change their mindset, nothing's going to change and they're not going to find that wellness. And we have all of these wonderful weight loss drugs and some people need them find that wellness. And we have all of these wonderful weight loss drugs and some people need them and use them, and that's something you need to talk about with your doctor. But we still need to be focused on, like, developing healthy habits right. And when we're talking about nutrition, it is all this habit formation, all of this stuff and to me, witchcraft really lends itself to finding an avenue to do this right.
Speaker 4:And also, I found that I have not always felt welcome in traditional wellness spaces, so like I cannot go to the gym and throw weights around in a place where these guys are yelling and that is just. I'm never going to be comfortable there. And so, for me, what was really important was finding a community of people who were focused on developing healthy habits and not like throwing tires around a parking lot or something, and not like throwing tires around a parking lot or something, and I think there are a lot of us out there that are probably more witchy or witch adjacent than the tire throwing. I just think there are more people like me. And so, for me, I wanted to make a space that was welcoming to those people I do.
Speaker 3:Now I'm curious are there different types of witches? You mentioned like an ancestral, something type of witch, so are there other?
Speaker 4:types? Yeah, there totally are, and I think I found a list online of like 42 different kinds of witches. Yeah, I don't know we talked about before. Witchcraft is a practice that is very personalized, so it's different for everyone. But I actually have a really fun little quiz on my website that you can take that will tell you like some of the different kinds of witches there are.
Speaker 4:Some of the big ones are like kitchen witches who focus. I would call my sister a kitchen witch. She is a chef and she is super focused around like cooking and doing things in the kitchen. There are other witches who are green witches or garden witches and they're really focused on botanicals and growing things. So I think I kind of leaned in that direction. You just heard my alarm go off. I need a lot of the plans. So there are lots of different types of witches and I think, like putting a label on it is cool, but if you don't want to, that's okay too. But if you want to take the quiz on my website, it's really fun, so everyone can go and take it. And there are hen witches.
Speaker 3:There are lots of different witches, oh that's so cool, that is so fascinating to me. So what would you say are some practical uses that people can start applying right now?
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely, when I create. I have lots of little recipes for spell jars on my website and this does not take a lot of money. Like I said, I went to the Dollar Tree and got some little jars and some wax. These are household items that you put in here, and there's some great resources online. You can go to my website. There are lots of other great websites out there where you can put together a cool little spell jar. Other great websites out there where you can put together a cool little spell jar and I would put it around your house. Like, maybe you create one for sleep. I think I have a recipe for a sleep one on my website and you can put it next to your bed. And the other thing that I say, the spell jar is really cool, but maybe it's a reminder to turn off your phone before you go to sleep and spend some time reading or journaling, to like slow down and get like a proper amount of rest.
Speaker 4:One thing I talk about all the time is when we change our habits, we change our identities, almost right, and so and I know your guests, like the other day, talked about changing your identity Right, because you have to sort of change who you are as a person. So in one of the chapters and I think you can kind of still do this like, what we do is we choose what new healthy witch and we sort of walk around and sort of a meditation walk right where we embody and imagine ourselves as that new healthy person, right? So that's something we can all do. We can say like, ok, who do I want to be? Write it down, that's something we can all do. We can say like, okay, who do I want to be? Write it down and then go out for a walk and start embodying and imagining how you're going to do that. I love that.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. It was so nice talking to you. It was great talking to you as well. Have you heard of a man named Jay Shetty? Oh, yes, I love him. I'm a big fan. He's got a podcast called On Purpose and he ends it with two segments and I stole his segments and I end my podcast with his two segments. Both segments is the many sides to us. There's five questions and they need to be answered in one word each. What is one word someone who was meeting you for the first time would use to describe you as Okay, friendly.
Speaker 4:Kind.
Speaker 3:Curious. What is one word that, if someone didn't like you or agree with your mindset, would you use to describe you as Some people? Don't like it. What is one word that you're trying to embody right now?
Speaker 4:Peaceful.
Speaker 3:Love that. Then the second segment is the final five, and these can be answered in a sentence what is the best advice you've heard or received?
Speaker 4:oh, the best, what I'm still sticking to breathing like being able to take time to breathe is so important and it changes our physical body and our mind.
Speaker 3:You know it really does.
Speaker 4:Why is that the best advice? Because, number one, I don't have panic attacks anymore. That's helpful. I think it changes everything. Honestly. It impacts every interaction. It impacts everywhere you go, because when you're breathing in the right way, you're making better choices.
Speaker 3:You're at peace with the world. What is the worst advice you've heard or received?
Speaker 4:The worst advice yeah, the worst advice I think I used to get as a kid was like just like, pretend, right, just go along with it. Like I had a hard time making friends as a little kid because I was a little shy and I was a little I love my books, and I think I got some advice that was like just just pretend if you like them.
Speaker 3:And I think you got to be yourself like them and I think you got to be yourself what is?
Speaker 4:something that you used to value that you no longer value. So one thing I used to value is how people see me, and I really had to let that go. So now I have to focus on how I see me and how I see myself.
Speaker 3:If you could describe what you would want your legacy to be, as if someone was reading it, what would you want it to say?
Speaker 4:I would say that Julie was the connector between a variety of different things and took this knowledge and created connections that maybe some people didn't see.
Speaker 3:If you could create one law in the world that everyone had to follow, what would it be? And I want to know why.
Speaker 4:I think what I would say is that people need to treat others as they treat themselves or as they would want to be treated. In many ways, we don't have empathy for each other anymore. We think that we know what people are thinking without talking to them, and I would say that people need to really focus on how would you feel true empathy and understand and put themselves in other people's shoes. Love that.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for speaking with me. I really appreciate it. No, thank you for having me. It was such a pleasure, of course, and I will link your website in the show notes social media are you active on social media if anybody wants to connect with you?
Speaker 4:yeah, absolutely so. You can follow me on instagram at healthy witch wellness, and you can go to my website, healthy witch wellnesscom and you can take the witchy quiz you. You can also get recipes for spell jars.
Speaker 3:Awesome. I will link all of that in the show notes, but thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I do like to give it back to the guests. No pressure, any final words of wisdom, anything else you want to leave the listeners with?
Speaker 4:I just really want people to know that wellness is for everyone and they don't have to look a certain way or be a certain way to go and find wellness. And it's individual. It's for you, so find out what it means to you and then explore that, but it doesn't have to look like what it looks like for other people.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much again, and thank you, guys for tuning in to another episode of Leander's Mindset.
Speaker 2:In case no one told you today, I'm proud of you, I'm booting for you and you got this as always. If you enjoyed the show, I would really appreciate it if you would leave me a five star rating, leave a review and share it with anyone you think would benefit from this. And don't forget you are only one mindset. Shift away from shifting your life. Thanks guys, until next time.
