Bend Into Balance: Petit Pinson, Yoga Instructor, Movement Guide, Rhythm Enthusiast, & Human Potentialist

In this episode of Bend Into Balance, host Adriana Mariño sits down with Petit Pinson, a yoga instructor, movement guide, rhythm enthusiast, and human potentialist who has called Bend home for 15 years. Petit shares her winding path through oceans, mountains, and six continents, and how her life of adventure, devotion to movement, and deep curiosity ultimately led her to yoga.

From training with world‑renowned teachers to leading classes and teacher trainings at Namaspa Yoga Community, Petit’s story is one of rhythm, reverence, and connection. She opens up about the power of small daily practices, the spiritual heart of yoga beyond the physical poses, and how humility, presence, and compassion shape her life both on and off the mat.

A dancer, mother, musician, and lifelong adventurer, Petit brings a grounded, soulful perspective to what it means to live fully in the body, and fully in community.

Find her at:

Namaspa Yoga Community,
1135 NW Galveston Ave, Bend, OR 97703

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hello and welcome to the second episode of Bend into Balance. I am Adriana Marino, host and producer of this podcast. And today I'm very excited and happy to have Petite Pinson with us. Petite, tell us about yourself, please.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

That's a big one. Hello and thank you for having me. I um have been in Benn for about 15 years now, and um came here from Mount Shasta um via many travels before that and um life experiences. But I am um mama to a 16-year-old boy, um, love of my life. And I teach yoga at this point. I'm I'm teaching yoga full-time at Namaspa and leading the teacher training there. So I'm a yoga instructor. I've worked at um most of the different studios in town throughout my time here and just love um what Ben has to offer and um being outdoors and connecting with community here. And I've just found a lot of beautiful souls to to share um that stoke with.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah, yeah. Okay, thank you. How did your path in fitness health begin? Because I know you have dabbled in many sports in quite a semi-professional way, if not professional.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

So can you tell us a little bit about um yeah, I I I right away went back to um, I was my father wasn't stunt man. He was in Hollywood stunt man. He was the original Lone Ranger stunt man.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Um, so I say that because I was raised by him, and then my mother was 30 years younger than him and from Vienna, Austria, and a sort of adventurer in her own right, who came at 19, married, marrying a 50-year-old to America. Uh-huh. Um, and so between the two of them, um, it was an interesting like um journey of like my dad, for example, would all the other parents would be say, get down from there. And my dad would say, climb a little higher, go to the right, and then jump off, you know. And so I was guided into like adventure and um embodiment. And then my mom would be the one to take us on like ski trips and teach me how to ski or um take a you know, road trip down to Mexico. And so I feel like early on it was instilled that like let's use these bodies and let's have um experiences in them and let's take ourselves to edges. And we grew up on on a river. I say we, my brother and I, um in central California. And so a lot of swimming. And I learned to swim there. I learned to do a flip turn against a edge of a rock in the river, and um, which led me into summer swim team and which led me into swimming in high school, which led me into swimming at UC Santa Barbara. Oh wow, um, in you know, division one. I would choose choosing between Cornell University, Cal Poly, and UC Santa Barbara. So I ended up, you know, in college swimming, but it all stemmed from sort of the overall like um every day from sunup to sundown, like running around on the rocks and diving in the river and jumping off the, you know, and um climbing higher when the other kids had to get down and all of that. So I think in that way, and then on top of that, from the younger age sense, my dad was a vegetarian from the time he was 13 to his death at 89. Um, so in his home, it was like it always smelled like a big pot of soybeans and like broccoli. And my mom was a full-on um carnivore. And so she'd be making park chops and all that. Yeah. Both of them actually amazingly healthy and like loving their lifestyles, but very different. So I got this sort of taste of um, I don't know, the the fullness of life through both of them, I think. And I think um a lot of health and fitness just has to do, or mine anyway, like with um fully engaging with life. It's not like, oh, it has to be a vegetarian and it has to be, you know, regimented workouts and all that. That's never been, that wasn't the message I got from a young age anyway. Of course, once I was in a more organized sport like swimming and I was a cross-country runner, um, it was more regimented. But um, even then my dad stepped in and told the coach, like, she can't come every day because she has other things to do. I have, you know, more of a wholeness of being because I also, I will say it back to my dad is that with him being older and a retired stunt man, he's he chose to spend all his time teaching my brother and I um music and sort of gymnastics athletics. And so we from age five woke up at five in the morning before school. We had a little gymnastics routine we would do that led by him. Wow. And then we would each play the piano. He didn't know how he just taught us out of a book. And then when we came home from school, we had to play the trumpet and guitar. Again, he didn't know how he just taught us because he thought it was really important. We spent like it was all about spend a little time each day doing these things, and then you'll build something like a talent or a skill or at least an a well-rounded being. And that was from age five through high school, wow before school and after school. So now as a parent, I look back and go, wow, that he really pulled that off. And my mom was supportive of it, but you know, they were divorced at that point. So it was more of a journey in that way. Um, so I feel like now that you asked me that question, that has a lot of to do with like my roots into engaging fully with life, learning new things, um, feeling how this body can, you know, be strong, healthy, how I could might take 10 minutes one day just to do one thing, and that can build into a a healthy habit where you know, it can create great results. And it doesn't mean it has to be some big, you know, program I signed up for. It's just like, nope, 10 minutes a day, I just do this. And so I really saw that that could happen um through and then was supported by different coaches who had different um insight and inspiration and support along the way in my swimming and my running. Swimming became the main main event, but um I was a runner for a long time as well as just the things I loved, like skiing and biking and all that.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah, yeah. That's amazing. I did another story about your father. Yeah. Um, what do you think the biggest takeaway from your father's example is for you?

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Um, I think it is well, not living one of them is like as if I I would say as a mom is like not living in like fear of something going wrong or like, oh, get down, or you might get sick, or you might it's like, no, what what's the best that can happen, not what's the worst that can happen, right? Yeah, what's the best that can happen? Let's let's engage. And also that I think it's the um, you know, probably from both my parents, but the the little bit at a time uh choose something and do it a little bit every day if if that's what you the habit you want to build or the something you want to create or focus on or feel you know, strengthen your body in a certain way, do the five pushups that whatever it is, yeah, that that can it doesn't feel as overwhelming. It's like, oh that's accessible. And it was just like he taught he chose it because it was his passion. He knew nothing about music. He's like, I'm gonna teach my kids music out of a book. And you know, we we learned a lot. So I think that that is a is a good lesson. Just keep choosing, keep learning, keep showing up. Yeah. Yeah. How does your path eventually bring you to yoga? And yeah. I do have a meandering path for sure to to everything. Um I had all kinds of different jobs in and out throughout life and traveled a lot. Um yoga, I was um getting my teaching credential, like my California teaching certificate outside of San Diego, California. And the teacher that was my um, I was working here in her classroom. She was like my master teacher that I was getting my hours for with her for my credential. And then sh we became good friends through that. And she was just getting into yoga and she was gonna go to this yoga retreat in Yosemite National Park. And so she invited me. And I knew about yoga, but I, you know, I was like, that's cool. I don't know a lot about it. I love to stretch, I'm I'm athletic and I like to be outdoors. That's pretty much all. I just knew it was, you know, philosophy and didn't know much about it. But I so I went with her and the two women who were leading it. Um, it was part of an organization at the time called Wild Women. Now it's called um Balance Drock. But they were quickly like soul sisters. I mean, they were like, wow, I feel like I know these women. And they led the the retreat. It was like journaling and um yoga, and I loved it. And I fell in love with them, and I fell in love with just the the um philosophy of it of it and how I felt and the movement that I already sort of didn't, I feel organically, but also now it had a like context and a really deep one and uh like years and years of teachings and India and and philosophy. So it felt really like I felt at home and I felt at home with these people. Um, and so I I stayed in touch with them actually, and then was working with wild women and like leading trips in the backcountry that integrated yoga and journaling into um Yosemite and I took that ended up in in Tibet and like traveled to it because I had gone to this thing with my, you know, that's kind of like my life has gone that way a bit where it's like, oh yeah, I'll go there with you. And then it becomes, you know, it's like which door, maybe I got that from an early age to like stay um aware to which doors are opening and then oh, okay, now I'm going through this door. Not like I it's gonna look this way, and I set my expectation and now I'm, you know, got my four-year degree, I'm gonna get this job. That's just never been my um my driving force. And so it's pretty organic. And it's like, oh yeah, now I know these people. Oh yeah, I'll come to Yosemite. Oh, good. We're gonna, you know, yeah. Now I'm in Tibet leading yoga, but I haven't. And then I ended up in 2007, I believe it was six or seven, was my first um 200-hour yoga teacher training that I took. Okay. And that was in Nevada City or like Grass Valley area, which is near Lake Tahoe, that area. Beautiful. Um, and I lived with uh an intentional community called Ananda. There's three in the world Italy, India, and Grass Valley area um that I know of. But I lived there for a month for this training. And really I my intention was uh I I got the physical part. I was such a physical person. I loved Aons, I love all, you know, all the things I'd done to that point. Um, so I've chose a training that really um dove deeper into the spirituality and philosophy of it. And so I really, yeah, had it was my dad had passed just before that. So it was a really I didn't go there thinking I want to be a yoga teacher, but I went there thinking I want to I want to go deeper into this um in a spiritual and you know way and feel what it has to offer. So then yeah, like I mean, I guess we'll keep going because now I'm teaching yoga.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

It's a long story. Yeah. Um what did you find there?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

What did this teacher training uh teach you? Um it taught me I lived in my tent on this property for a month and it's an intentional community, and they all gather in the morning and everyone starts in silence, and we did meditation. So it really taught me um I don't know, the power of intentionality, like start your day this way, or the power of community, them coming together to do like chanting and things like that, what I which I had never been a part of, and it moved me to tears immediately because there's so much devotion. And it's not necessarily, oh, you're devoted to one being or God or deity or any, you know, it's just like you're devoted to light, you're devoted to your heart, you're devoted to connection. And it was really powerful in that way. Um, the meditation piece was super powerful me for me. I had one rock that I always went back to. I called it Shakti Rock, Shakti Rakti, but Shakti Rock. And I sat on that rock and I was sit by this lake and just like I found so many. I would ask a question sort of out to the universe, and the answer would immediately come back to me. Like I already knew. So it was almost like, oh yeah, it's all right here, like in me already. But I'm just remembering. Like if we all just take the time in this way to breathe more consciously to connect to these teachings or whatever teachings aren't inspired you to that place, um, we can remember that we are, you know, that we are connected, that there's something greater, whatever, you know, I felt into that. I think I felt some like a bigger sense of connection. And um, even just the learning, like, yeah, learning more about the journey of yoga. And I think always learning like that. It is I learn a lot. And then it just opens up all kinds of doors and questions. It's like, well, wow, there's so much more to learn. So I think I left there with some sense of, you know, peace, especially after my dad had passed, and also like a big, bigger door opening to like this whole world of yoga. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

And after that, did you become a full-time yoga teacher? How did that um no?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

I um then I was traveling a lot. I mean, I was like, I hosted a travel show in Peru for a little bit. I was a massage therapist in a backcountry ski lodge in Alaska. I was leading trips up in northern India and backcountry and um and still with like wild women, but then some of my own things and other people, like leading trips that integrated some yoga and some writing, which both of which I love. Um, but also like um helicopter skiing and massage and things like that. So I kind of would piece, and I was running sled dogs for a while. That was one of my jobs. Oh wow. Dog musher out of mammoth. So it's like I always go, gosh, if I just look at my resume from from my life, it was it was pieced together. It was so much fun. Like it was a lot of different things. So I did a lot of different things, but I um always had that. I think and I can look and see the common thread of like oh, movement, connection, you know, community, like rhythm, sort of the rhythm of life, the rhythm of dance, the rhythm of movement and yoga and breath. Like it kind of all and I got my teaching credential, like I started with the story. And um, so I was working with kids for quite a while and did an outdoor education program. So it all fit in there, but it all sort of, even though it was a lot of different things, even the sled dogs and all these different jobs, they still had that element. You know, it's like yeah, I'm connecting, I'm using my body, and there's a rhythm to it, there's movement, there's um collaboration and community. So I just like at one point I remember seeing that. I was like, wow, I'm I like do not have my shit together. I'm like, what am I doing? I was allowed to say that. Of course, not enough. So why do you say that? Why I mean, because at some point, you know, you go, oh man, I'm 30, whatever. Uh-huh. What am I, what am I doing? I'm like, I don't have a I don't have a quote unquote real job. Uh-huh. And I think at some point I'm like, I have such a rich life. And then I realized how all these things like also have such a thread of like everything that makes me me. So I like, yeah. I don't think I ever worried about that, but it was like, man, my journey does not look like a lot of people's journey because it was very meandering. And sure. Take that next job. Okay, now I'm moving here. Cool, let's do it. Or traveling on this trip, let's do it. And so it always sort of went that way because it's interesting when people ask me, Well, how did you get to here? I'm coming on. I'm not even sure. It's just like the wind is in that direction. Yeah. Did you do the little chocolat? Chocolat, that movie. She's like, whichever the wind blows following the wind. Yeah. So I can relate to that. But okay. It yeah, I can say that, but then when I look back, I go, wow, it's pretty intentional. Like they followed those things because that's who I am, you know. Always finding your edge. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Remembering your dad's words. Right, climbing a little higher. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Which took me a lot of places. And speaking of climbing, I understand that you went to Mount Everest and had a very interesting climb there. Can you tell us a little bit about it? That was wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Um that came about too in this kind of uh meandering way that I saw an ad in a magazine that said something like, wanted um 12 people to leave the country and travel all these different places. It was called Global Extremes. And then, you know, five people will have the chance to climb Mount Everest on an expedition. And I saw that and I closed it. And then I saw it two more times. And I think I keep seeing this. And so I read it more closely. And I was 30, I want to say. Um, maybe 31. But I um then when I saw it like the third or fourth time, I was like, maybe I should just apply for this. Like I didn't have a child. I did, I was pretty free. I was like, I could. Yeah. And um, it was like a little video. Why do you want to do this? I don't know. I had to, you know, send in the stuff. And um I got chosen. There were 20, 20, 50 people got chosen. Uh-huh. We went to Moab, Utah, uh, 50 of us, and to do this, like put us in teams, kind of adventure racing, interviews. And I was kind of like, I'm I was skeptical because I go, God, like reality show is kind of cheesy. I don't know what it's all about. But going there, I met like so many cool people. And all the people who were producing, directing, all that, they were amazing because here they are, like Jimmy Chin, who's now like, oh wow, Rick Ridgway, like Conrad Inker. Like it was phenomenal. I'm like, this team is amazing. These people are awesome. So it was a great time. And I've chosen to move on, which was like 20, 25 of those 50. Went to Aspen, Colorado, did the similar thing, but in the snow and ice climbing and all the. It wasn't that you had to be so good at something. I think they were putting together a show. So they wanted dynamics. They also wanted to know you're teachable because we're gonna maybe go on an expedition to Everest. It has to be somewhat safe and viable. Yeah. So whatever, whatever they were looking for. I was just like, well, this is really fun. I don't know if I'm gonna be chosen, but this is super fun. The people were great. And then I was chosen. Twelve of us, it's like you or the 12 who are leaving the country going to South Africa. Wow. South Africa, nine of us went to Costa Rica. Uh-huh. Costa Rica, seven of us went to um Iceland. And all of these places, we they put together different like ventures and challenges and teams and all this stuff. And then five of us were chosen for Everest, and I was chosen. So it was like this reality show, but it turned out like for me at the time, I thought this is like someone wrote a scripted reality show just for me. Like I was having so much fun, and all the gear was provided. And they I didn't have to plan anything. They planned, you know, yeah. Kind of amazing. I look back now, I'm like, that sounds so exhausting. We did a lot, like it was really um challenging physically. Um, so once we were chosen, there's five of us that went to Tibet. We went to the North Face, North Side, um, for Everest, and it was on the 50-year anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary's climb and our day. Okay. Yeah. So it was a big gathering. And um, yeah, so our and long story short, on that one, we got to uh, well, there were five of us, two women, three men, and it was all being filmed the whole time still. Um, we we, you know, you go up and down, you do the whole thing. Like this taught me a lot about just determination, discipline, listening to your body. I mean, beyond. Um, but by the time we were going for the summit push, there were um four of us. Oh no, there were only three of us left. Me and two men. Because the one man said after our acclimatization, he just said, I, you know, it's a real deal. Like, people are dying. He's like, uh, this isn't for me. I'm gonna go home. And then the other woman, right after the last sort of preparation, she said, My parents are so worried and I don't need to be this high. I didn't know, totally understood. And so it had me checking into like, Holly, what am I trying to do? Do I need to be here? What am I doing? But I was still like, I felt good. Um, so two of the my men and me and the camera crew and our kind of lead climber, and we were going for the summit. Um, and there was another team just a day ahead of us under our same leader. Okay. And so that um that night we get this call. Like they had gone, made poor decisions about going up when they should have come down, snow blind, like anyway, in trouble. Like you hear them up, you read about on Mount Everest.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

We had to get out and become it became a rescue where we were rescuing that other team who was snowblind and dehydrated and out of water and out of oxygen and all this. So it quickly turned into kind of a big ordeal at over 28,000 feet. Wow. And Everest is just over 29,000. So we were just below the summit, gonna go for the summit the next morning, but instead we rescued these climbers and brought them down. It was like I would never, you know, wish that on someone, but everyone was okay, aside from maybe someone lost a finger or something. And and wow, that we that everything worked and worked out and we all got down safely was like beyond the experience I was ever signing up for. But I'm I'm happy to sit here with all my 10 toes and 10 fingers and tell about it. Wow. Yeah. Incredible. Incredible. So that was my journey on Everest. I mean, it was yeah, it was big.

unknown 21:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

And it all started with the ad in the magazine. So there's like, okay, dad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Here we go. Wow. What did that experience leave you with? I mean, having, you know, you were 1,000 feet away from making the summit, yet you had to go down to save to help others. And it brings me to this idea of connection support that you have already mentioned already, already.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yeah, for sure. And up there, yeah, things can turn so quickly. It's like yeah, I think I realized, you know, there's there was all these beautiful parts of being there. And any of the ugly parts were actually human created. It's like, I gotta get to the summit. Like the the e when the ego stepped in, that's why people made poor decisions. Got it. It's like, oh, what a bummer. Like, I mean, people run into hard problems up there anyway, and things can happen. But it was like, oh, because they sh I mean, people wanted so badly to get to the summit that they You know, could have died if we weren't there to rescue them. You know, so that was like, wow, like really checking in, like, okay, what is driving you? Like, I want I I'm not willing to die just to be here and go up to the top, you know. I want to listen to the mountain. And I really learned a lot from the um like the Sherpa and the Tibetan and Nepali people. Like they honor the mountain is, you know, uh it's um Chomolangma or Mother Goddess of the Earth and Sagar Matha, depending if you're in Tibet or Nepal, which basically means mother goddess of the earth. And it's just like this reverence for the mountain. Whereas on the other side, you see, like, we just got to get up there and make it to the summit. So I can say that I summited. So I really just learned a lot of humility. Mountain has the last words anyway, and a lot of connection with these beautiful people who for them is like, you know, the the reverence for nature and for the mountain. I just like I brought that piece home with me a lot. And not like there were wonderful people there, but I in that moment, I was like, wow, I'm really I'm glad we're here and able to rescue. But I was like, what is the whole purpose? Like, what are we trying to do? And what am I trying to prove? Like, let me just reassess, like just gaining perspective on on, you know, yeah, I think mainly humility and and and connection for sure. Like we all were able to come back together and go, like, that was intense, and we wow, we're able to do it and we made it. But um, yeah, I think just the reverence for nature is a big one.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

That can be lost.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

And how does that perspective that you gain and the humility remind you of the teachings of yoga? Because I see a parallel between, you know, the yoga practice for sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Um yeah, I mean, I mean, yoga, you know, is invites us into connection, I'll say, because yoga means to connect or use to bring together. But it's like the connection to to release from the illusion of separateness. So if I'm like, oh, if it's, you know, me and how good my pose is or what clothes I'm wearing to yoga, and this isn't a judgment on myself or anyone else, but it's like we we can we can go there. And then it's like all of a sudden we're just in this sort of ego place of of um more superficial. Whereas yoga really, the teachings of yoga is so much more than just the poses and it invites us into the place of like humility as a strength. Like, oh, let me humbly sit and feel what what's going on, what are my gifts, what what's the information that's here, what's the invitation, how are my well-being and your well-being one and the same, right? That I we can so get stuck in a story of separateness, or and we see that in the world so much. So I think yoga is like this beautiful tool when we really sit with ourselves in this body, we remember we feel, oh, everything's energy, and it's it's um, I'm not alone and I am part of something much greater. And and it, yeah, it it can be spirituality, but I see I think it's science, it's physics, it's all these things, right? It's energy. So I think that um yeah, yoga invites us into that place of just getting quiet and and and witnessing enough, right? Instead of acting instead of reacting, responding in a little more um conscious, you know, connected way. So yeah, it reminds it, it's it's a parallel for sure. I can go back to Epris and think of the deeper place I had to tap into sometimes to yeah. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Can you tell us what is yoga? I think many of us think of yoga as just the poses or the asana practice, yet yoga is the the the physical aspect of yoga is only one of the eight limbs of yoga. Can you tell us more about what exactly is yoga?

SPEAKER_01 25:50

And um, I mean, I I would say, I mean, yoga itself comes from the Sanskrit ush, yu j, like to yoke or bring together so we can think of connection. And so, like you say, I think in the Western culture we've sort of brought that more to physicality. Like I'm gonna connect my movement with my breath and you know my mind and my body. And um, that's beautiful and that's part of the flowing yoga, or even just um coming to the mat, you know, in our in these bodies. Um the deeper, I think, philosophy and history and teachings of yoga um is connecting back into you might say divine or oneness, right? That I'm not separate, right? It's and and that we go into this movement and breath to move stuck energy, to move stuck form, to move stuck thought so that we can remember this place of union, this place of connection. And I mean, it I think that I I think the idea and I feel the idea is like when we do, we can then look at each other with more compassion and go like, oh, you're not separate from me. You also live, you also die, you also feel, you know, all these things. Yeah, you're a mom, I'm a mom, whatever it is. So we can come from that place. Like I'm looking out of these eyes and I'm in this body, I'm but I'm not this body. I'm so I'm energy and I'm connected to you. So the poses are like a vehicle, you know, to bring us deeper in to this reflection or introspection, or like you just come and you move and you go, God, what's here for me today? What information is here, or what what story have I been playing out and holding so tightly to that it's limiting me? And then we start to loosen our grasp. Um, so it's way more than just the physicality, you know. Feels good, and that's good because if we feel good in these bodies, we can then, you know, sit more comfortably, we can meditate and come to some stillness, right? So going, going, going. So it all it all fits. But the bigger essence of yoga is really a deeper connection with all that is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

Yeah. What brings you to yoga every day to your mat? What is what is that driving for that keeps you doing?

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Um yeah, I think it really is like it's a place where I can um I mean this it can sound cliche in yoga, but like coming home, like I'm just coming home to my heart and my breast and my body. There's the physicality of it, and then I can listen and and and create m and more intimate relationship with my internal landscape where like I then I can be the witness of a story that I've been telling that really isn't serving me or is not serving someone else or isn't serving my son because I attach to some, you know. But if I'm just going, going, going and reacting to life, then I never get that place or the perspective, right? So I think it's probably embodiment, like clarity, clarity. That's often my sort of um intention when I come to the mat, just to get clear clarity of whatever's here now and like trusting the universe, like trusting the process. A big part for me, um, often and lately is like what when I come to the mat and move or sit in meditation, it's like what what actually is in my control? And there's not a lot, right? If we really think about it. Yeah. And like that could either be, oh my gosh, that's so scary. But it's like, no, what actually is, therefore I can let go of all the things that aren't. If I'm trying to hold something that's not in my control, then in the yoga philosophy, and quite obviously, if we think about it, we cause our own suffering because we want things to be different than they are. And if and and then we go, well, what part of that is in my control? Usually it's just like my own response to life. That's the one thing, kind of it. So yeah, then it just clear it clarifies it. I mean, it can be that can be humbling in itself, right? But I just want it to be different. It's really really hard, or it's really not what I expected. And then we can live in that story and get stuck there, or we can be with it, feel it. Like I feel angry, I feel sad. Yoga isn't about feeling good all the time. Yoga is not passive, it's actually a very proactive way of coming back to what what what works more effica efficiently or effectively or skillfully. I mean, in whatever you're doing, you know, in how you show up in the world from day to day and how we show up with each other. So I think I come to the mat just to remember that all that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Being a teacher and leading so many students in yoga classes every not uh uh you know, each week, what does that responsibility feel like as a yoga instructor and knowing that you have so many students coming to your classes?

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Um, well, I can't say as a newer when I was a newer teacher, it was, you know, a little scary. Like, what you know, and then I think when you said the words like responsibility, at first I think I felt more responsible, like I'm giving this class, it has to be good or whatever. But I think um, as I've taught longer, it's like I'm so grateful for the community. And it's really like we all have our own sovereignty and autonomy in this, in this realm. And we're coming here to connect. And so it's really not about me or how good my class is, even though I, you know, I always want to offer the best class possible. But it's like I see it as um like a sharing. I mean, a sangha is called a spiritual, it's a commute spiritual community, comes together again and again. So it's like, wow, I wonder if these students know that I'm also receiving such healing and strength from them, you know? And so now that I've taught for a long time, I feel like this reciprocity in just being there. Um, certainly I, you know, some days I feel better, like any job kind of thing. Yeah, like I'm going, oh man, I gotta hold space for 40 people to be here, but I don't have to hold anything at all. I'm just I'm presenting the teaching in the best way possible, and then I'm giving them space to have their journey.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

And then I can be kind to myself, whatever I happen to be going through that day and present be present as possible. And really it invites me to presence to teach because I'm like, I'm I'm there with the next pose, the next breath. And so I feel like it's a gift. Yeah. That I'm I'm given a gift to be able to teach yoga. And then it's a gift that I give, and it's a gift that they're giving me and they're receiving, you know. So altogether, it just it's I feel I always say, like, wow, I get to go to work barefoot and I feel good in my body, and then like everyone feels better when they leave and has you know, I was like, this is really a powerful, rich um place to be. Yeah. So I feel grateful in that way.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

So how do you connect the mental health benefits that yoga offers? Because you just said, you know, we come here to be in our bodies, but everybody leaves feeling better. How does the mental health aspect figure into yoga practice?

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Yeah. Um there's I mean, I think especially it's the um the tools that yoga can give people to carry with them in their life of like just, you know, one minute to sit with my breath, to notice what's here right now, to feel my feet on the ground, to tune into my heartbeat. Right. So the I think with mental health, the and I'm not um, you know, expert on that, but I do know and I um have friends with mental health and how yoga affects them and supports them and students too, and just being in the realm is just the breathwork, the invitation to just feel and just allow like whatever's here to be here, not needing to avoid it, abandon it, edit it, fix it, you know, grasp it, attach it. None of those. You could just be with something and there's space and you know how blessed we are to have a community and a studio in which to do this. Not everyone in the world gives that opportunity. So it's, you know, it's a blessing to have that space. But even just the little things, a moment to like if you walk, if you have the invitation to walk through the park, that's one thing, or to walk through the park barefoot and feel each blade of grass and then stop and look at the tree and notice the texture, like those are gifts. And then you have that tool. Oh, next time I walk through the park, I can feel the that slight sense of peace, right? Or yoga, like come home to your breath, feel your arms reaching out, like, and you just feel it, and you're like you're embodied for a moment. You're not in your story of anxiety or depression, you're just in a body taking the next breath. So I think there's a lot of um just really, I mean, it this feels like simple but not easy, you know, as tools to to work with and and slowly, gently. But yeah, it the the the the the calm amidst the storm type of thing. Like you can hold a hard pose even and you can you still tap it back into that sense of peace, sense of center. And so we we start to practice on the mat in a safer sort of environment to then off the mat, like, oh, I just did that.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

I can do that here. Yeah. Now that you mention off the mat, how do you feel that you carry the practice and the principles of yoga off the mat when you're not in the studio, when you're not teaching classes? How do you carry that with you in your daily life?

SPEAKER_01 34:54

I don't kidding. It's all a show. Yeah. Oh gosh. Yeah. I mean, it has been such a good, I can, yeah. I think that I um I weave it into my life by uh allowing what comes to come and goes to go, I want to say. Like having the flexibility or to to notice and and for the most part, allow for the flow of life. Like, like we were saying, like, gosh, I can see that if I really want to like control something or attach to something or detach, it's just like it's causing everyone some um conflict or struggle. So I think um, yeah, I it's given me a lot of sort of flexibility and um the honoring of different people's sort of journeys and stories, or as a mom, just like, oh yeah, I I don't have to make an issue of things that don't have to be an issue. Like I'm the one making it the issue, or you know, or am I the one making it a problem? Um, I can notice, I could, I think it's a a lot of self-reflection that I take off the map. Okay. I can pause. I have the pause so that I can respond rather than react. Got it. Not always, but it's like I notice when I do, like, oh yeah, that's the tool. I I can see when I use it and I can see when I don't. Yeah. So to take a moment to notice and then um um respond. And I I think I continue to connect, connect people when I use them at too. For friends with other friends and you know, just like being open. My my son always grew, do you know that person? No. Why did you say that? Like, I am I just connecting with people, not because I'm so necessarily outgoing. I'm just like, I notice their skis or whatever it happens to be. And he's always amazed, like, he's like, you guys are best friends. You didn't know them. And so I think that I yeah, just take that to heart of like, you know what, everyone has their story and everyone is worth seeing and listening to and connecting with in some way, at least honoring, you know, smile. So I think I take that too.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

Yeah. Yeah. Speaking to that point, connection, community, which you've mentioned a few times during this talk. Um, why is it Namaspa Yoga community? I feel that, you know, people come to Namaspa for the yoga practice, yet many are staying because of the community it's creating. Why is this community aspect so quite, you know, at its core of its purpose and meaning?

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Well, I would say that that was the intention from Susie Newcombe, the owner initially want to create community for sure. Um, I would say the space itself lends itself to that because there's a lobby that allows people to hang out and do that. But at the deeper is like, I think it's um the way we offer what we offer there, all the teachers and what was that's been cultivated and created there. That's um that holds space for everyone to come in as they are. Like come as you are, and you know, it's all levels, like let's just do this and and and be here. So I think everyone's invited in, and you can if you, oh, you have to show up late. Okay, oh, you have to leave early. Like we there's a lot of leniency. Like not every yoga study is like that, and there's there's pros and cons to all of that. But I think there it doesn't, you know, it doesn't matter if you have the fancy yoga pants, doesn't matter if you're, you know, what your gender is, what your background is, come on in and we're gonna, you know, support you in finding finding your way. So I think people feel that, and I feel that there. Um, I see people feeling that there. And I think that we, you know, as teachers afterwards, it's like we can hang out and talk and answer questions, or, you know, so it does really cultivate a community. I mean, I that community has shown up for me. Yeah. Yeah, it's really, it's a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

That's beautiful. I I hear a lot some people have an aversion to try out yoga because they say they're not flexible or that I'm not good enough for yoga. Can you talk to me about these myths and what you're I hear it, I hear that all the time.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

I'm not good at yoga. I can't sit still, I can't touch my toes, I'm so tight. I'm just like, okay, well, none of that is really yoga anyway. Um and I was like, Well, are you you're here and you're you chose to be here and you're just being kind to yourself and trying to be present, you're doing yoga, you know. Um, so I think the myth can or those sayings can come a lot from what Western, Western culture kind of took yoga as like, oh gosh, I, you know, all these beautiful, beautiful poses. And and it's almost like if you think of yoga, like the byproduct might be to get to a handstand or some big pose. The byproduct of be present and learning the next step and then the next step, the next step. So when people are like, I can't touch my toes, you're like, well, what would you do next if you were trying to? And who it doesn't matter if you ever touch your toes or ever straighten your legs. It really, does that really matter? Like we can make that matter. Okay, that doesn't matter, that aside. Really, we're asking you to tune into your breath, to pause, to feel your feet. Okay, now you bring your feet a little wider. Hinge at your hips, move toward the floor, bend your knees and like making something accessible. And so someone goes, Oh, this is my anatomy, this is my capacity right now. So if my ambition is to touch my toes and I want to go there right now, I'm gonna, again, struggle because I want something to be different than it is. Like, right? Well, you're not gonna touch your toes, and it doesn't really matter if you do, but what would be the process of mindfully, consciously, compassionately working toward that? And then the tools you gather in that process is the yoga. And then ultimately you might touch your toes and you're like, why did I even okay, cool. That's not even the goal, right? So it's like, oh, you just come, and then you're gonna feel like, wow, I can now I know where my pelvis is and I can feel my little back. Oh, it's healing. I'm strengthening. Oh, I just had a sense of stillness. Oh man, I'm gonna be so much better in that meeting later. Like, there's all the things that go into just the process of, you know. So we have the overarching, like, ah, just I remember one of my friends, she's like, I mean, everyone else in there is just like being quiet and meditating. My mind won't stop. I'm like, everyone's mind won't stop. Like you're not alone. Yeah. You know, you just come and you can start watching your mind as it doesn't stop. Like, watch it. Like, how curious. Like, I think the curiosity is big. Like instead of like, I'm supposed to do this, you look around the room, I have to do that. So I try to say in my classes, you know, like your body's where it is, your anatomy is where it is, your capacity is where it is, and then let's see what happens. Like, let's have an investigation. Like we're really just gathering information and then case stay curious, stay awake, and like, wow, what a miracle to be in this body. What a mystery. Oh, my hamstring, you know, like can we take some lightness there? Like I sometimes say in my class, can you take the practice seriously and take yourself a little more lightly? They're once gritting their teeth, you know. Uh-huh. Just like, it's okay. We're just here. It's just yoga. Like, just breathe. Like let's feel it. And then we can once you let go of those sort of stories, then you can go to deeper levels, right? So it's not like we get to the mat and we're into the deep work and philosophy of yoga. It like takes some time, but just the gift of breath or of a moment of stillness, like, or, you know, working towards something. It's good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

Having had the pleasure taking many classes with you, Petite, something I hear often that you say is, you know, don't be attached to the outcome. Can you tell me why this is something that comes up a lot in your classes? What are you trying to tell us as your students?

SPEAKER_01 42:06

Well, that initially took me back to Everest, where it's like the climbers that we had to rescue were attached to the outcome of getting to the top. And they didn't miss the all the clues that they were not, they should have turned around, you know, all these things. And so the outcome is one thing, but the journey, like it's such a cliche too. The the journey is where it's right. And so, I mean, when I came home actually from Everest, I did a sort of a speaking journey about it. And it this the talk was called, What's your summit? Because the the one, well, the one question people asked me when I got home, did you summit? And I didn't sum it. I was under, I was just below the summit. I was on a rescue. No, but can I tell you about making cheesecake with the Sherbas at 18,000 feet? And can I, there's all these things, you know? And so it's like, if we come to the class, I think the yoga class, and we're attached to some outcome, then we miss the like we we we have created such an expectation that we miss what's right there for us that day. You know, and we might even not get the same the outcome we thought. We're attached to it, but then we miss what we do get, you know. So it's like let yourself that that's that's not being present, right? It's like I'm attached to what's gonna happen what I'm gonna get from this. And therefore, I'm not in the actual practice of what I'm getting today, which could be very different. Or the message from my body that I'm maybe today is not a day to do this. It's a day to take child's pause and pause, you know, because I'm listening, but no, the outcome. I came for this, I'm gonna do five more push-ups, whatever it is. And we sort of miss the presence and miss the information that's right in front of us. Like, we're not home to get the message, you know. So I saw that happen at every real time, but like that. And I just like, wow, that's what my whole talk really was about. Like, let me tell you about the journey. And like every part was a summit. Like, that was a summit. That's something I'd never done before. That was another summit. Oh, yeah, I summited 20 more times doing this, this, this, and this. So it was kind of like, oh. You're just present.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

There's so many gifts, you know? Yeah. How does that tie into some of the Yoga Sutras, like the philosophy of yoga of staying in the present moment?

SPEAKER_01 44:12

Yeah, well um, I mean, that is the I mean the the life only happens in the now. I think that's the message really. Like it only happens in the now. We learn from the past. We're we're open to what's happening next. So let me like, we can't be like, oh, I let me, you know, but it's almost like I think Buck Bitzer Fuller said it, like, how can you walk in stupid every day? Something like that, where you're just like, I'm not attached to all the things I know already, because I'm gonna then I'm not gonna be so open to the learning that's here now. Same idea, right? So not like, oh, I know all these things. So then you limit yourself too, like you know them. So like then set them down at the door and come in and be open to what's here today. Like in there's the curiosity, the wakeness. Um, and even the the sutra about the physicality, like yoga's um sthira, suka masana, is like the the steadiness and the sweetness. It's like always inviting us back to balance. And I feel like that like a sense of center, a sense of presence, right? It's like, oh, I'm am I over-efforting life? Am I over-efforting this pose? Am I just kind of sitting back and under-efforting? You know, it's like, but let me meet myself and life seeks balance. Like let me let me come back to a sense of presence, a sense of center again and again, so that that's my my more default natural way of being, like present. You know, of course, but like we're constantly going to the future in the past. So it's not something's wrong. Like that's what people can think. I go to yoga and I'm doing it wrong because I can't stop thinking. Like my my my student yesterday, like I kept thinking of corned beef. Like it's St. Patrick's Day. Like, I wish I could see a bubble of all my students laying brains. Corn beef, cool. But like, cool, that's fine. Like it's not nothing, you know, but it's so funny. But then when we step back a little bit and we're present in the moment, like we're watching a movie, like I'm watching my thoughts go by, therefore I'm not that. So if we can watch and witness something, I'm not that. I watched that girl walk by, I'm not her. I mean, we can say come back to we're all one, but if we're watching things, right, then we're just like, how curious that my brain goes all these places. I'm curious, you know, and then we can notice our tendencies, work with um, and I think the sutras and the teachings of yoga, you know, ask us to work with prana or life force energy more skillfully, you know, more mindfully, right? Because we can scatter our energy, we can we we create all these tendencies that mind less, right? Like pick up my phone every morning and just scroll my phone. Not again, not a judgment, but it's like if I want to create a different habit than that, then I mindfully gotta create that pattern. So I put it over there. I won't, you know, instead every morning you'll wake up and do 10 minutes of meditation, whatever it is, but it takes just you create a new pathway.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

And but it have to be present. You first notice your tendency. Sure. Like, don't even know it. You're just moving on, you know, autopilot. Like, wow, look at all these default settings I created that I've really don't serve me so well. And then you come to yoga and you're like, let me get present and notice that. And like, oh, I can create whatever default setting I want. If if it's the story that I'm telling is making a blueprint for my body and my life, like then I can create the story, whatever story. Why don't I create a different story? You know, isn't and again, simple, not easy, and there's all kinds of things people go through. So I think yoga meets us right where we are. And it doesn't mean, oh, I've got all these tools, life will be great. No, we still suffer, we still feel all things, but is our response to it can be in a more um like effective way, efficient way.

SPEAKER_00 47:35

Yeah, I think. Yeah. Um, speaking of habits, which you just mentioned, you know, what habits were uh, you know, defaulting to, what are those habits? And you also mentioned habits earlier when you talked about your father and about those, you know, strict, rigid habits he had in place for you and your brother starting at five o'clock in the morning. Uh, what are those habits that you try to honor in your daily life?

SPEAKER_01 47:59

Petite and first I'll just say it's funny when you say strict, rigid around my dad because people hear that, they go, wow, all the way, yeah, that's pretty strict and rigid. But then when I think of my dad, he was like the least strict and rigid dad of anybody's dad. It was like, uh, follow me at midnight, whenever you want to come home, you know. And I think it was just his he was just passionate to do it. So he made it a routine. Uh-huh. It wasn't very strict or rigid, but it was okay. We're doing it. So is this interesting? Because I can tell I'm not a very strict or rigid person. Thank you for that traction. Yeah. But so it's like, wow, to bring that in as a routine, but it didn't feel strict and rigid. Yeah. It's like has me reflect on that. Um, but for me, what are my habits that I bring in? Um, well, it is um like I mean, morning, I'm more of a morning person than a night person, but so like taking time as when I wake up, I have three kitty hats. And so snuggle the kitties, they're there, like just really presence myself to the day might be a mantra. Um, one of them that I often share in class. I will neither abandon nor coerce my experience or just meeting the day. I I offer my gifts humbly today and you know, kind of a positive inner voice, like so I'll be still in bed. I think morning routine, like making my tea, just with with um with awareness. Like, okay, now I do tea, you know, one thing at a time, because it could it can be easy. And I think we can all relate to gotta get those things done. So I'm gonna get on my email and I'm gonna do all these things, but keeping the routine of like tea and then sit for meditation. I might do some movement then, but you know, I or often I'm running up to teach to you, but then um a lot of it has to do with again, like I think I mentioned in the beginning of my dad, the little thing like, oh, let me just lie here for a moment instead of popping right out of bed because the cat snuggling next to me. I'm just gonna feel it, I'm gonna breathe, I'm gonna bring in in an in positive internal voice. And then I'm then I'll get out. Now I'm gonna make my tea and I'm gonna, you know, be grateful for the water when it comes out of the tap. It's like, and now I was telling my son, he like when I was offering the teacher training, the change your story, change your life kind of thing. Um, yeah, we we started playing with that because it could be anything, right? You're like, oh man, I have to wash these dishes. You're like, wow, I I get to wash these dishes. Like, we have dishes, we have water. Yeah, we have a house. Oh my gosh, we just have food. Yeah, because you now have now any dishes. Yeah, exactly. So I was like, man, it's so magical. So I I I I can feel that like putting those things in place just to like meeting the day with love in my heart type of thing. I greet this day with love in my heart. There's one, even when things are going hard, yeah. Like I can still greet it from a place of love rather than fear or disconnect or, you know, and it's like that's a practice. I think that's a practice because if we wherever we, whatever we practice, we put into place. I say that a lot in class. And so it's like, okay, what am I putting into place? And you know, I'm definitely not perfect. I'm like, wow, what am I putting into place right now? So, but like to catch ourselves, that's the trick, right? Right, oh, oh, that's not really gonna benefit me or anyone else. If that's what I'm putting into place. So let me reset by default and and again come back to breath, come back to my inner voice, come back to mindfully, you know, making my tea or sitting with my son and listening, or, you know, I try to get out into the when the sun's first rising into some my subfa my house space is a good direction for my kitchen window for that. But I just like, you know, meeting the day in that way with some sunlight if you're there, or just the intention of when the sun's rising. If I'm, you know, I'm not always up at that time, but I think that's super special. Getting out in nature is the big one. Yeah. Getting into any body of water I can is a big one. So as the the swimmer and me, and just um yeah. And I and I don't I remember my I remember my dad's come back to my dad again, he's an interesting man. Um he said, I remember even when I was little, I I I decided I'll brush my teeth today, but I'm gonna decide tomorrow if I brush my teeth or not. Like I'm just gonna make it something I just do mindlessly. I'm gonna decide each day to brush my teeth. Like he made it, like, uh-huh. It was like, uh, when I remember thinking that I was like, let me choose how I meet this day and choose to do this. Like if I'm like choose what I'm doing. You know, even if it was like that's a good habit to brush your teeth, but let me actually choose it, you know. Like it was an interesting thing he said um that sticks with me. So it's like I think it's that we it's our limited scope of what we do have in control, uh what we have control of, but we we there's choice within that, right? Who I am and how I show up in the world. Yeah. And it's and it's not for a long time. So we might as well be present, you know, and and share it and connect. And I mean, I think the humility is like, wow, we we all have just these wild, sweet, beautiful, heartbreaking stories. So I think if we're if we're humble and and stay um in a way that invites people in, like you said, Namaspa invites people in. I think that's something I take off the map that I'm inviting and and connecting. And I think um that's how we're gonna all get through this a little better.

SPEAKER_00 53:08

Thank you, Petit. Yeah, the spirit of what you says bring, you know, comes out so well in your classes. Good. Yeah. Where can people find Namaspa?

SPEAKER_01 53:18

Yeah, Namaspa's on Galveston and Ben in Bend, um, 1135 northwest Galveston, to be precise, behind Ten Barrel. Yeah, there's lots of classes. There's a big studio downstairs, a small studio upstairs. So we have lots of classes, healing flow, we have kind of we say mild, medium, spicy, different flows. We have yee classes, and um if you come in and are new to yoga, we'll just let you know what all that means and um and connect you. But lots of classes. I teach nine to ten a week and I'm leading the teacher training, so there I'm there a lot. And I have never met another petite as of yet. So if you ask for petite, it'll be me. Um, but yeah, it's it's good. It's a beautiful community. So I'm grateful.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

We're very grateful to have you in this yoga community here in the thank you. Thank you for everything you have brought to the class and outside class. You're welcome. Thanks for having me. Thank you, petite. We'll see you next day. Yeah, thank you.