The Nourishment Warrior: Rebuilding Trust in Your Body (Epi. #262)

What if strength isn’t about pushing harder — but protecting yourself more fiercely?

In this episode, Shilpa sits down with Amy Toscano, founder of Feed Your Lioness and creator of The Nourishment Warrior framework. A mother of five, Amy helps women restore trust in their bodies through nourishment, rhythm, and self-respect — not through performance or force.

Amy shares the moment she met her inner lioness during a spin class in the middle of COVID — not as aggression, but as quiet, steady presence — and how that insight reshaped her relationship to strength, nourishment, and resilience.

Together we explore:

• Why many high-capacity women mistake intensity for strength
 • Why nourishment isn’t softness — it’s strategy
 • How protection and rest can be acts of resilience
 • The core elements of Amy’s Nourishment Warrior framework: rhythm, responsiveness, and self-respect

If you’ve been operating from effort and performance, this episode invites a different question:

What might change if you trusted your body enough to protect it?

Explore more at:
 👉 https://www.feedyourlioness.com/coming-soon-03

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Transcript

[00:01:57] shilpa: Welcome, Amy. Thank you for being on [00:02:00] my show. 

[00:02:01] amy: Hi Shilpa. I'm so happy to be with you today. 

[00:02:05] shilpa: I am excited for the audience to have your knowledge and your wisdom and your holistic approach to wellness and learn from you. Learn about your seven pillars and learn about your brand and you. So without further ado, I will give the audience a chance to hear your.

[00:02:28] shilpa: Philosophy around wellness and about your brand. 

[00:02:33] amy: Oh, thanks, Shilpa. Well, I'm a student of wellness, so I myself am a work in progress. So I am, I'm teaching it as I practice it, and it's, I just think that self-care is so much. A practice, something like practice makes perfect. And when you know if it's new to you, it feels strange and [00:03:00] at first, but, practice makes perfect.

[00:03:03] amy: My brand Lion Lions Wellness, is about fiercely protecting our wellness because I think that. Our one precious life and our wellbeing is, you know, our most. It's such a gift. It's our most prized possession. And, we only have, one that we know of, on this, this planet. And even if we have more this one is very precious and so we like, need to treasure it and take care of it.

[00:03:37] amy: Fiercely. 

[00:03:38] shilpa: Fiercely, and I love that word fiercely. You've influenced me already because lately when I meditate, I think of your branding word fiercely, and I tell myself, even though one wouldn't consider fierce in meditation together, I'm like, I'm going to fiercely focus. 

[00:03:56] amy: Yeah. I love that you said I was a nourishment warrior.

[00:03:59] amy: [00:04:00] Because. You do have to be fierce about it, right? In this crazy, modern world, like it's quite a like revolution to stand up to the culture of busyness and more. And my kids like to, I can't believe they wanna watch like a video that has two videos playing at once. You know, have you seen those?

[00:04:27] amy: No. Oh my goodness. Yeah. One side is like someone telling a story or doing something, and the other side is some like multi-sensory like. Shaving soap or something. So that's the, that's what we're up against. So we have to fiercely protect our nervous systems and our hormones and our wellbeing, our relationships.

[00:04:50] shilpa: Yeah. 

[00:04:50] amy: Right. Yeah, 

[00:04:52] shilpa: totally. And it's interesting, you, it, the word fiercely embodying that and having to take a stand for. [00:05:00] Self care holistically is something that,

[00:05:06] shilpa: isn't really, and maybe it's taught in some subcultures. I think you and I have talked about this, but it's not just naturally, weaved into people's, lifestyle and I know their lifestyle. Mentors like yourself out there that teach it. So maybe you have a different influence on say, your children because you're perhaps bringing that wisdom into their life.

[00:05:32] shilpa: And I've tried to do it with my son, but I wish I had been given that.

[00:05:36] amy: I've had. I'm having to learn it the hard way. 

[00:05:38] shilpa: Yeah. 

[00:05:38] amy: I didn't grow up like that. I grew up with kind of, you make it look like it's easy. But you do all the things. You go to all the meetings, I mean, I have five kids, so I've had to lower my standards as I've gone, that things are gonna, balls are gonna get dropped sometimes.

[00:05:58] amy: Like I, [00:06:00] but yeah, no I grew up with, just kind of trying to be perfect, really. Yeah. 

[00:06:07] shilpa: Yeah. And, one thing I know about you and what I appreciate is that you've mentioned in the past that you're soft spoken and yet you stand by something fiercely, which is you truly believe it in your spirit and soul, that these seven pillars of your business and your brand require us to,

[00:06:29] shilpa: take a stand for our wellness. 

[00:06:31] amy: Yeah. And I wanna stand beside like my fellow women who are feeling, who are trying to take a stand for themselves, but they can feel so hard and scary. So part of lioness that, that metaphor is also that we hunt in packs together and we protect one another.

[00:06:54] amy: So I really like that idea of coming alongside, like a friend and support [00:07:00] and just re reminding yes, you are precious. You are powerful, you are worth it. We need, we all need that. Yeah. Someone in our life. And we don't all just have that 

[00:07:13] shilpa: Oh, and your brand.

[00:07:15] shilpa: The mascot, so to speak, is a lions, and that's why you've just brought up the word lions. But even the imagery conjure up this feeling of, wow, I can do it. I can be fierce, but fierce for a very noble cause, which is, taking care not only of your soul, taking care of yourself holistically, but taking care of others.

[00:07:41] amy: But it's that old, oxygen mask metaphor. You do have to put on your oxygen mask first so that you can function to put it on your neighbor. 

[00:07:51] shilpa: Absolutely. And I can give you a silly example that I'm sure you can relate to given five children and other souls that [00:08:00] depend on you, but. In the morning, if I don't have like my lemon tea with the apple CI or vinegar and a little quick bite of some protein, my head is just spinning.

[00:08:13] shilpa: I feel like I'm not dropped in my mind yet, so to speak. And sometimes my sun won't be saying, I wanna do this, I wanna eat that, I wanna do that. I'm like, whatever you need, but first, let Mommy 

[00:08:25] shilpa: Have her tea. 

[00:08:27] amy: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right. Like we can't give from a an empty we need to fill our I mean, we, we can and we do, right?

[00:08:36] amy: We do it, yes. But at a co, at a cost after a while if we keep on trying to pour from an empty. Well, 

[00:08:45] shilpa: I wanted to have you share something that I know about you as like, sort of the backstory is that you. Sounds like from what you've shared in the past with me is that you were drawn [00:09:00] into the general space of wellness almost intuitively.

[00:09:05] shilpa: You just knew that this is where your heart wants to be and serve. And you were in, sort of the general medical field earlier. Maybe you could share a little bit about that and what drew you in. How did you trust that you were going in the right direction? 

[00:09:23] amy: Sure. Well, that was kind of all I was aware of.

[00:09:27] amy: I'm gonna date myself too, that I graduated from high school in 1999 and we had to fill out little aptitude tests and I know that I did terribly on. Precision and like when you just had to fill out the boxes, I got like 12%. So I guess I shouldn't be a, have been a surgeon, but, but I came out the highest in like the serving the social field, the arts and the health field.

[00:09:55] amy: And so I ended up, going into the health [00:10:00] field and I. I said, okay, I'll be a doctor and I'll be pre-med. And I did, go to this, this cool trip for seniors in high school and at Georgetown University. And that was actually where I first started to get exposed to that. Oh, there are some other modalities of healing and oh, the body is really more, even more interesting and amazing than.

[00:10:25] amy: Than I ever realized. Like, I think we, we went somewhere and learned about this concept of reflexology and like we would roll a pencil in between your fingertips and like it gave me a headache. Like, oh, like things are connected, that's just like a small little thing, but that must have planted a seed early on.

[00:10:52] amy: But still, I didn't really know, the depth of what healing could [00:11:00] be, but I. So I went into the Western medical world. I think I ended up picking dietician at one point because, oh, here's a bit of personal truth. I found out I was pregnant while I was in school, and needed.

[00:11:18] amy: Like to make like a decision now, like a career path that was going to land in some income a little more quickly. I think I was, I had gotten a little distracted and was studying the evolution of thought or something at that point. I had gotten a little off track. I told you it was also came up in the arts, it was bound to happen that I'd get a little distracted, but, but yeah, so I went down the dietician field, Western medicine, and just learned it took a long time to learn what doesn't work, basically to help people be well and heal. I learned, that we're really good at putting band-aids on things.[00:12:00] 

[00:12:00] amy: But it, I didn't start learning. I had to think about real healing until I had to, and it was a confluence of events where I went through a divorce after, like coming to realization that I had been in a very, emotionally traumatic relationship for a long time. At the same time that I learned about functional medicine and was enrolled in the Functional Medicine coaching Academy.

[00:12:31] amy: So it was really beautiful because I was learning about some of these self-healing methods just when I needed them the most. Yeah. That's a bit of the story of wellness, how it got started. 

[00:12:46] shilpa: Yeah, absolutely. And so interesting, you mentioned two anecdotal, stories that just when you needed something the most is when it was presented to you.

[00:12:56] shilpa: Kinda reminds me of when I, went through my meditation, life [00:13:00] coaching training, my training program started the day we went into COVID and all around us. Virtually socially, we were learning about people who are truly emotionally suffering and for whatever reason, I'm sure I was challenged emotionally, being away from normal lifestyle, but I had this whole world opened up to me about.

[00:13:24] shilpa: Spirituality around the world and different modalities, and I went deeper and deeper, even though I was raised with it. This allowed me in a vacuum to go deeper with a set of people that were all around the world. 

[00:13:37] amy: I hear so many of these resonating stories of how COVID, for all the death and destruction that there was at the same time, this quiet flowering that was happening.

[00:13:50] shilpa: Yes. 

[00:13:50] amy: In the quiet spaces. Right, 

[00:13:52] shilpa: right. Spaces. And for you, like you mentioned, you were, you learned you were pregnant and then you happened to be in this field [00:14:00] that would teach you about nourishing yourself, and then you were in a different space during your divorce and you're exposed to even more modalities that helped you.

[00:14:11] amy: Hmm. 

[00:14:12] shilpa: Was it through those moments, maybe either consciously or unconsciously, that gave birth to your wellness brand?

[00:14:24] amy: Yes. For sure. It, birth is a good word. So I started to catch glimpses of this sort of truest, most healthiest, most authentic. Part of myself that even, in a really difficult time, I caught glimpses that it was there and could be nourished and it was small and it was quiet, but it was that fierce, strong part of myself.

[00:14:50] amy: Yeah I have a little story on my website that I had this like metaphysical moment in a spin class. It was during COVID [00:15:00] and we had the, my friend who owns this gym had this great idea to put, shower curtains in between the bikes, and then it was dark with little like fairy Christmas lights.

[00:15:16] amy: So you had the energy of everybody in the room, but you're also in your own little bubble and there's something about like that breaking through something hard. And I like met myself there in this little bubble on the bike like this. I met. My lion is inside of me, and I didn't have the name of the business at that time.

[00:15:40] amy: It came later, but that, yeah, that was a key moment. 

[00:15:47] shilpa: You know, I love the fact that you mentioned the spinning and the bubble. It's just the imagery of you being on that bike, pushing through the different levels on a bike and the sweat, and then [00:16:00] the lighting around you, yet being in a bubble. It just sounds a powerful story, especially when I too had fallen in love with spinning at, some point. And each time I'd be on the spin bike, I'd feel it like this empowered line. This moment. 

[00:16:17] amy: Yeah. Right? 

[00:16:19] shilpa: Yes. 

[00:16:20] amy: So then you know it's there and , you wanna take care of that. And it doesn't always look like being on a spin bike sometimes.

[00:16:26] amy: Sometimes it looks like. Lying on the couch if that's what you need, right? Like I don't wanna give the impression that it's always about pushing really hard. Sometimes it's about backing off, but it's about seeing that person inside of us ourself and actually loving it, I guess. 

[00:16:48] shilpa: You mentioned something just now about sometimes it doesn't have to be pushing, and you and I have had this conversation as well that, being in Western [00:17:00] culture or often in a world where pushing through, is the status quo.

[00:17:06] shilpa: However, I also believe that when you, allow yourself to just. Slow down. There's more listening that goes on there. 'cause you're aware. What, what does my body need? You're listening. Tell me more about how important listening is for you.

[00:17:28] shilpa: So earlier Amy, you had shared something about just sometimes you just need to sit on the couch or slow down, and to me that often means that you have learned to trust the voice or learned to listen to what.

[00:17:49] shilpa: Your inner guide or intuition tells you. Maybe you can walk me through how you use listening as a through line and how [00:18:00] that also comes through in terms of trusting what you're hearing. 

[00:18:07] amy: Hmm. Okay. There's so many ways to apply that I think we're so well trained to override. And I think it's, I think that's how sometimes trauma happens in the first place that we've got some kind of little voice telling us like, this isn't okay for us.

[00:18:32] amy: This isn't a good place. But somewhere we were taught right to, to not listen. And that can get us into some. Some difficult situations and then, and then like to survive we learn to just keep going and not listen to our pa our pain that like sometimes we don't wanna feel it, it's uncomfortable. So we do whatever [00:19:00] we can to, whether it's numbing it or keep like addiction to, to busyness and.

[00:19:06] amy: But when we really don't listen to what we need, our body starts to speak back louder and louder until it gets our attention. Maybe it will just decide it's going to stop working for us. It's like maybe we. Run into, complete adrenal fatigue and now like we can't get out of bed 'cause we've just pushed ourselves so hard.

[00:19:29] amy: Or,

[00:19:30] amy: I mean that's as an example that, that happened to me. But, so once we learn, we can learn that lesson. We don't have to learn it the hard way we can. Listen and intervene a little earlier. I mean, so many of us are even cut off from hunger. Like they, people will say like, I don't get hungry. You know?

[00:19:56] amy: It's because we've learned just to, to push [00:20:00] through that. We've learned, you know, a little part, a voice in our head is even saying it's a good thing. 'cause now you know we've eaten less calories today or something like. It takes really time to,

[00:20:16] amy: to get, to really learn to listen again. 

[00:20:21] shilpa: Yes. And that is something that you and I've, touched upon, but that listening needs to occur not only, for ourselves and listening. To our body. That's a skill you can, instill in your children. I think you've mentioned that sometimes a child might be acting out and what's really happening is another layer of,

[00:20:49] shilpa: I don't know. They're reacting from something and it's good to be able to then listen to where they're coming from. But you've also mentioned listening to elders [00:21:00] so that before you work with them and help them really understanding where they're coming from. I forget when we spoke about this, but something to the effect of when you prescribe medicine.

[00:21:12] shilpa: Do they need the medicine? Do they know why they need to eat? And are they aware of what's really going on with them? Because we're taught to just ingest and put things in. 

[00:21:24] shilpa: But are we listening to the person we're trying to help who needs to, have this nourishment? 

[00:21:34] amy: Yeah.

[00:21:38] amy: I have a particular person I'm thinking of who came to me with a lot of GI issues. But she also had a history of. Restricting and binging kind of thing. So she was really like, disconnected with her body and she, she kept trying to figure out like what was the [00:22:00] offending food and to take that out.

[00:22:03] amy: But then she would get kind of fed up and then want to eat a whole lot of that. Same food or any food, but what she really needed was like some consistency and to learn to trust her body again.

[00:22:21] amy: So that just, it really takes time and it takes someone listening to you and asking you questions. That will get you curious about yourself and kind of what's really, what's really going on and what, what needs attention first? Mm-hmm. Like, it's, it's not enough or helpful to just prescribe a diet or to someone and say, follow it.

[00:22:50] amy: Like this is, this is the perfect. Thing you need to do. You need to listen and see what really le needs. Like love and attention [00:23:00] first. 

[00:23:00] shilpa: Yeah, absolutely. I like where you're going with this. 'cause often with my own dad, I think. I will have had, conversations where I get very fierce with him saying, you need this protein.

[00:23:17] shilpa: Sometimes all he wants is the comfort foods. 

[00:23:20] amy: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

[00:23:22] shilpa: So there's a balance because some of us need that and it gives us what that real need is as opposed to the nutritional need. 

[00:23:31] amy: And what he also may need is. That like autonomy, like, because so much has been taken away or he's lost so much at this point and he may just need to feel like in charge and in control of something, you know?

[00:23:49] shilpa: I absolutely understand. Yes. Amy, I love some of the things you were touching upon when it comes to, not only listening, but also listening and as it ties [00:24:00] to trauma because, I've shared this with you before, that, many of us, myself included, we don't always know that we may have experienced trauma.

[00:24:12] shilpa: There was no words to articulate it and patterns reemerge. In life where we end up reliving certain conditions because we're used to it. I I had a friend once call it, you're comfortable with it, but I actually take offense to that word 'cause there's nothing comfortable about some of those distressing conditions.

[00:24:38] amy: But we are accustomed to it and sometimes like it is what we're trained to it's like a station we're set to. 

[00:24:47] shilpa: Yes. Yeah. And I like that word station because if you're thinking about it more spiritually or metaphysically, that or that state is the vibrational state [00:25:00] and we're used to tuning into that state 'cause it's what we were around for so long.

[00:25:07] shilpa: And so whether you're drawn to a certain condition, circumstance, a relationship of certain type, that trauma is there, but your model, your pillars, which I'll have you go into in just a moment, it factors that in. So maybe you could step us through your seven pillars. 'cause one of my favorite pillars of yours is regulate.

[00:25:33] amy: Yeah. Even. That's your expert, that's your realm. And maybe that's why we, connected all those months ago. It is definitely an important one. It's number three of the seven pillars. These are like the, like I told you once, I found this. This person inside myself that could be healthy and, [00:26:00] you know, vibrant.

[00:26:02] amy: I, I wanted to find all the pieces that we're going to keep her healthy and safe and well, and it's taken some time, but this is like the recipe that I would have liked somebody to have handed to me. And they have to go in the right order. Just like when you're. Making, I'm not sure if we talked about this earlier, but like when you're making a recipe in the kitchen, like you don't just throw all the ingredients in a bowl and expect it to come out right?

[00:26:28] amy: You do it in the right order and with love and attention. And indeed in the program, it's like I'm standing next to you in the kitchen, like when we're coaching, helping, like helping you. Making sure you're, you're on track just 'cause you know what you need.

[00:26:44] amy: And so I'm just reminding you of that yeah. 

[00:26:47] shilpa: And so you're ingredient number, what's your ingredient? 

[00:26:48] amy: Number one? Number 

[00:26:49] shilpa: One? Yeah, 

[00:26:50] amy: of course it's nourish of course, because I'm a dietician and so I think that, I'm pretty sure that nutrition [00:27:00] is one of our building blocks we need to survive, before we try to do any of the steps, our body needs to know that it has all the essential, just basics that it needs, like money in the bank. So that's number one. And we spend the most amount of time there and we circle back to it. It's not about rules and a restriction, it's about ensuring the body is getting all that it needs.

[00:27:26] amy: And then number two is, so once we have everything we need, then we, we say, okay, well what do we have now that we don't need that's weighing us down? That's, you know, no longer serving. So that could be things that we're ingesting. It could be things we're saying to ourselves. It could be, people we're listening to or digital noise, what are the things that, are no longer serving that, that we wanna [00:28:00] to drift away from?

[00:28:05] amy: But we'll come back to that in a future step, because then when you take those things away you realize they were serving a purpose. So that gets to your next, your favorite step regulate. Now the nervous system needs to be regulated. I have a little a metaphor. I like metaphors. So this is like you've been carrying around heavy bags at the airport and then you drop them off to be checked at.

[00:28:33] amy: You know, check your bags, but now you feel kind of weird, like not carrying all this in the airport. So now we need to find ways to reassure the nervous system that it's actually safe. And this is all about creating daily rhythms, tuning in. Tuning in and, asking the body, noticing what's happening and what does it need to feel safe [00:29:00] getting out of the busy thought loops and getting into our body, our senses, and this can be really fun.

[00:29:08] amy: Like for some, for you, you're a guru at this stuff, but for some people it's new territory, so it's really like. Exploring and so it is not one size fits all. Like here's the thing you need to do. It's an exploring process, like for them to learn and find out what do they need, what works for them.

[00:29:27] shilpa: And that's where, development of listening and. Comes in hand with trust. 'cause maybe you're hearing something from your gut. 

[00:29:37] amy: Mm-hmm. 

[00:29:38] shilpa: But it's really your thinking mind that's giving you information. And then sometimes we stop there. I know for myself. Mm-hmm. There might have been moments like that in my early years where I've been like, whatever.

[00:29:55] shilpa: If I had learned to pause earlier in life, 

[00:29:59] amy: Hmm. 

[00:29:59] shilpa: [00:30:00] I would've been able to say that. I need to trust that. 

[00:30:03] amy: Yeah. Well, I so many times, like my patients or clients will say, well, I've been thinking about this. I've been really thinking about this particular supplement or this particular exercise. And I'm usually like I get curious what is it about it?

[00:30:23] amy: Usually they're onto something like, we know what we need and we need that reassurance. But, and also somebody with us to make sure we're doing it safely. But I'm usually, there's usually like more than one. There's not just one right answer. There's one right answer for you, but it, there's, I just think that's really fun part of it that we do when we listen.

[00:30:44] amy: We know.

[00:30:48] amy: So what that brings us to what, okay, number four, once we start listening, number four is restore. So this is where we go even [00:31:00] deeper, with repair and replenishment. And, this is the step that I need a lot of practice on. This is like. You know, when you, finally get a massage or go on a VA vacation and you're like, oh, there I am, like you.

[00:31:18] amy: Why didn't I do this sooner? Like, I should do this more often. Right? But, and this is actually doing it, like, why did we wait an entire year to, go away for a one night reset that. 

[00:31:35] shilpa: It's so true. Budget has not allowed for both my husband and I to have a lot of getaways, but almost every time we do something, like, we did a road trip recently and we were like, whoa.

[00:31:51] shilpa: It was like somebody walks into the room and flips a switch and they're like, mm-hmm. Just a little bit of a reset, sometimes even getting away from your conditions, [00:32:00] but that restore in different forms. 

[00:32:03] amy: Mm-hmm. So true. And you probably made back your money and productivity because 

[00:32:08] shilpa: Yeah. 

[00:32:09] amy: You were in your flow, right?

[00:32:12] shilpa: And you mentioned something f for, the, previous step. Where you talked about, there's no right answer. There's, you may be able to prescribe a set of modalities to someone or nourishment approaches, but sometimes we know what, how we wanna restore. 

[00:32:33] amy: Mm-hmm. 

[00:32:35] shilpa: So it could be like barefoot on the grass and grounding or it could be.

[00:32:44] shilpa: Pausing long enough to catch your breath. 

[00:32:46] amy: Mm-hmm. 

[00:32:48] shilpa: Yeah, 

[00:32:49] amy: that's right. 

[00:32:51] shilpa: And what's your step five? What's the fifth ingredient? 

[00:32:56] amy: Well, now that, we're safe [00:33:00] and we're stabilized, now we can build capacity and protect. So number five is move. So now that we're safe, we can further strengthen the system by introducing some good stress.

[00:33:14] amy: And I really like the concept of intuitive movement, like just like intuitive eating. We can really like tune into our body and say like, what do we, what kind of movement is really gonna feel good and restore me? Like sometimes it's that intense spin class. Sometimes it's yoga, sometimes it's heavy weights.

[00:33:34] amy: But doing that. Consistently moving. Building that as a habit. And then number six is connect. So a hug is not just a hug, right? Who are the people who truly ground you, who remind you of your value rather than depleting your energy. 

[00:33:54] amy: So in this step just. We [00:34:00] kind of dig into that a little bit more, and I'm saving that as like a later step because it could be a little tricky.

[00:34:06] amy: Um, but it can also be connecting with ourselves. Like I just today gave myself a nice foot massage and I, you know, that was a way to. Connect with myself. Yeah. 

[00:34:22] shilpa: And we can, I like, good example. I'm one of those people, I used to have the budget for a nice deep tissue massage. That doesn't happen, but almost every day I take even just two minutes and just before I put my socks on, I'll get some magnesium oil and rub it into my feet and good 

[00:34:41] amy: girl 

[00:34:42] shilpa: feels so good.

[00:34:45] amy: Yeah. I'm so glad you're giving yourself that two minutes you 

[00:34:49] shilpa: Yeah. 

[00:34:50] amy: To zone it 

[00:34:50] shilpa: and Well, that even goes for the movement. I mean, ideally there should be movement that helps with the heart and helps with [00:35:00] movement of the whole body. But just even like, because I work from home, I'll get up and put the dishes in the dishwasher or move things around and that movement.

[00:35:11] shilpa: Good for you. 

[00:35:12] amy: Feels good, right? 

[00:35:13] shilpa: Yeah. 

[00:35:14] amy: And I think it's so important to find things that you enjoy doing. 

[00:35:19] shilpa: Mm-hmm. 

[00:35:19] amy: So that you will do them. Yeah. 'cause of the best way to move is to move on a regular basis. 

[00:35:26] shilpa: Yeah. So it must 

[00:35:28] amy: be something you look forward to. 

[00:35:30] shilpa: Yeah. Was it Einstein who said A body and movement, stays in.

[00:35:36] shilpa: Momentum or So, 

[00:35:37] amy: yeah. 

[00:35:38] shilpa: Yeah. Something to that effect. But basically, in order to stay in motion, you need to continue the motion, 

[00:35:45] amy: right? Yeah. But sometimes you need to pause. 

[00:35:48] shilpa: Yeah.

[00:35:48] amy: I heard, I think so. Have you heard that Ted lasso quote that depression can't hit a moving target? 

[00:35:55] shilpa: That's a good one.

[00:35:58] amy: So, you know. [00:36:00] We have to make sure we're not running, just running away from something too. But, 

[00:36:04] shilpa: yeah. Well, and know, not so long ago, you had texted me, you and I were texting each other and you said something about, slowing down that weekend and 

[00:36:14] amy: Yeah. I was like, I need a nap. 

[00:36:17] shilpa: Yeah. And you said, but I like the way you phrased it.

[00:36:20] shilpa: 'cause I think it, it's something all of us can resonate with is that you said it shouldn't have to just be a checkbox. Like not trying to slow down, nourish yourself, but sometimes those modalities that we practice when they started becoming the checkbox you need to check off, that becomes the stress of the western.

[00:36:38] shilpa: Just 

[00:36:39] amy: another task, like another thing I'm not doing right. 

[00:36:41] shilpa: Yes. 

[00:36:42] amy: Or not doing enough of. Right. 

[00:36:44] shilpa: Yeah. I'm 

[00:36:45] amy: stressed out about self-care. Yeah. 

[00:36:48] shilpa: Well, I used to have a spreadsheet and I still I'm very structured and organized to the point of OCD probably, but I used to keep the spreadsheet that had all the modalities that I wanted to [00:37:00] integrate in practice in the morning, and I got to the point where I was stressed out because I would have the spreadsheet open while I'm going, okay, let's get the breath work in, let's get the meditation in, let's.

[00:37:11] shilpa: Let's do the movement and I check it off each one and I just found myself thinking, you know, I'm not staying present in the moment anymore. 

[00:37:20] amy: Yeah. I think like we can hold like three things in our head at a time. Like, and, but we can draw more focus onto different modalities depending on what we need at that point in our life.

[00:37:33] amy: Like we don't need all the things all the time. 

[00:37:36] shilpa: We don't, so what's our 

[00:37:38] sense? 

[00:37:38] amy: We need less things. 

[00:37:40] shilpa: We need less. Yeah. Less is more. 

[00:37:44] amy: Yeah. And that's brings us probably to number seven, defend, which is a lot about carefully choosing our yeses and nos. It's all about boundaries. Again, listening to your gut and [00:38:00] trust and.

[00:38:01] amy: I think this is so cool because it has huge physical ramifications. When we are able to defend and protect our nervous system against the onslaught of stress, we actually can repair our actual gut. You know, we listen to your gut, but our vagus nerve gets out of fight or flight, and actually when we sit down and rest.

[00:38:29] amy: We actually make hydrochloric acid and pancreatic enzymes to break down our food. So we have fewer sensitivities to foods, less reactivity. We actually shift our microbiome, and I think that is so cool that we've learned that like the genes in our microbiome have. So much effect on us, but we can act, actually [00:39:00] shift our microbiome, and heal our gut integrity, if that's all, like all in our power to defend against and heal from just by fiercely protecting our wellness.

[00:39:16] shilpa: And that really is a great through line as well to, fear fiercely, defending your boundaries, fiercely defending the choices you make and the environment you choose to be in. And choosing to say, take care of your soul first. Not in a selfish way because like you were saying, if you're on a flight and something happens to someone around you, but if you don't have the oxygen yourself first and have a defended protecting that, it's hard to help others.

[00:39:50] amy: I think it's this amazing s symbol, the gut, like we've learned that, impaired gut integrity is at [00:40:00] the root. It's a root cause of autoimmune and other chronic conditions, but it's lit literally a breakdown in our barrier. It's it's such a symbol. We actually have holes then in our gut is our barrier and our boundary to the outside world, you know?

[00:40:19] amy: And similarly when we protect and create our boundaries.

[00:40:29] amy: You know, that helps our gut also be intact. So it's just, I think, is so fascinating how, how we're all connected, how it's all connected and that's absolutely what, we didn't learn in, in western medicine. But yeah, we are learning. 

[00:40:47] shilpa: We're learning. And.

[00:40:48] shilpa: Hopefully we're able to, through our own journey, integrate this information to share it with others. 'cause I definitely like where you [00:41:00] brought it full circle, talking about, there are these, it can manifest the things that we are not able to defend and protect and create boundaries around. It can manifest as.

[00:41:13] shilpa: Chronic issues in the body. 'cause the body keeps score and emotions that don't have emotions to move through. You get locked in the body in the form of illnesses and disease. There's that phrase like dise and emotions and the, the word motions and energies all tied. 

[00:41:35] amy: Hmm. But yeah, but, and that we don't have to let that scare us.

[00:41:40] shilpa: Yeah. 

[00:41:40] amy: That we don't have to be victims anymore. We can let it empower us like that. This is a, actually a positive message. I mean, you could hear it like, oh, you've been through trauma and now you're so much more set up for all these diseases. But you have the power within you to [00:42:00] heal emotionally and physically.

[00:42:03] shilpa: Yeah. Well on that note, Amy, what a beautiful way to send a healing message to those who are listening because you, what you just said is the most profound. That holistically bringing all this seven pillars together is a reminder that we can heal. Yeah. Well you are such a gift and such a light and I am so honored to have you on this show today and sharing your seven pillars.

[00:42:37] shilpa: The show notes will have a way for people to find you. Can you share, is there, any service or program that you're offering that people can learn about and what they'll find through the show notes? 

[00:42:53] amy: Yes. In the spring I'm going to be offering a program called Fiercely Protect. That is a, it's a [00:43:00] 16 week program, but it's really eight active weeks because the off weeks are meant to assimilate and process what you're learning.

[00:43:10] amy: And each week there's a one-to-one individualized coaching session with me, with myself. Focusing, going through the seven pillars and we spend the most, we spend the first month on, on Nourish to really get solid there. And then each other one is one, but we're con continually circling back. And then I think I mentioned that it's, it is divided up into three main sections.

[00:43:39] amy: So in, in each of those, there'll be a couple of opportunities. To come together as a group and kind of debrief and process together what we're learning and we can learn so much together as a pride. So if you would like to get on the list to, it will be a small group, 'cause I want it to feel intimate and [00:44:00] safe.

[00:44:00] amy: And those parts are, you don't have to participate in the group part if you don't want to, but. I think it's very worthwhile, but if you would like to get on the waiting list, there's a link, on my site where you can just leave your name and then you'll also get a quarterly newsletter from me.

[00:44:19] amy: I'm not a big emailer. I just do want a quarter right now just to keep everybody in the loop. But, I would love, I love if folks want to. Join my community of empowerment where we, just lift each other up 

[00:44:37] shilpa: Fiercely. Well, thank you Amy. I really enjoyed our conversation and we can have you back maybe a year from now to talk about your program as well.

[00:44:49] amy: That would be fun. 

[00:44:50] shilpa: Okay. Thank you. 

[00:44:52] amy: Thanks, Shilpa.