Podcasts about yoga therapeutics

Anthony Benenati, founder of City Yoga and That's Not Yoga®, shares his personal evolution from his earliest experiences with yoga to developing a practice that meets each individual where they are. In this conversation, he explores breaking limiting ideas about yoga, uncovering its deeper meaning, and building genuine human connection through mindful movement. He also reflects on how curiosity, learning, and purposeful steps can lead to lasting change. This is a conversation about healing, empowerment, and finding a practice that truly serves you. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Anthony's journey into yoga and the pivotal moments that shaped his path.Breaking common stereotypes and misconceptions about yoga.Understanding the true purpose of yoga beyond the poses.How yoga fosters authentic community and connection.The power of desire, knowledge, and action in creating transformation.Episode References/Links:Anthony Benenati's Website - https://thatsnotyoga.comAnthony Benenati's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thatsnotyoga Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by BJ Fogg - https://a.co/d/3edLCLcGuest Bio:Anthony Benenati is the founder of City Yoga, The first Anusara yoga studio in California and That's Not Yoga® , a culmination of three decades of study and practice in the Hatha Yoga tradition. Anthony's philosophy is simple; fit the yoga to the student, not the student to the yoga. He believes that it isn't about the style of yoga you practice, rather, the effectiveness of that style for your body. Yoga practice should help you transform, not cause more suffering. Anthony draws from a deep knowledge of the different classical styles of modern yoga and other modalities to construct a path of healing and transformation for their student. Anthony has trained in Kundalini, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Anusara and Viniyoga. He specializes in Yoga Therapeutics and tailors the practice so your body uses its natural movements to heal itself from pain and suffering. He has taught globally and has trained thousands of students. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! 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If yoga is about anything, it's about setting meaningful boundaries.Lesley Logan 0:12  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:51  All right, Be It babe. I am so stoked for you to hear today's interview. Our guest today is actually a dear friend of Brad and mine, and he is a person we have quoted on the podcast before, and he's someone we said, we have to get him on the pod. And guess what? We did it. And also, I can't believe this is the first time he's on the pod. I feel like he'll be a regular conversation, because it's just really fun to hear him share his perspective, and he is an amazing yoga teacher. And this is as much of a yoga podcast as it's not a yoga podcast episode, because we talk a lot about what really is yoga, and what does it mean to have a yoga practice, and what is it trying to teach us? And if you think you know what yoga is I'm gonna challenge you to listen, because I think it's really easy for us to have been fed something that it's not and then not realize, like, the amazing benefits that it has. And so I'm not gonna say anymore, because this episode is just one of my favorite it's gonna go hands down and one I'll quote in the future. And I knew that when I brought him on, I just knew that we would have an amazing conversation, and this is hopefully going to entertain, educate and inspire you. So here is Anthony Benenati. Lesley Logan 2:09  All right, Be It babe, I'm really excited. This person is actually a dear friend, like I know I've said that about some guests, but usually they're a dear friend of like, a couple moments. This person I've known for like, 10 years, and Brad has known him much longer, he's been a regular in our lives. Anthony Benenati, you are one of the best yoga teachers I know, but also so much more than that. Can you tell everyone who you are and what you rock at? Anthony Benenati 2:33  Well, first of all, thank you for having me on. What an honor. Who am I? Anthony Benenati, you said my name. I am, believe it or not, a yoga teacher, a professional yoga teacher. I've been doing this for 32 years now, which, when I tell people that I teach yoga, they they have immediate this vision of what that might be. Lesley Logan 2:56  Yes, you should be in white. Anthony Benenati 2:59  I should be in white or. Lesley Logan 3:02  With a glow. Anthony Benenati 3:04  It's not very serious or, right? Everybody has their assumptions of what yoga is, which, my job is to help educate and instruct on what the practice truly is versus what it has become. The practice that sort of everybody knows now, versus really, what it truly is and what its goal is.Lesley Logan 3:29  Yeah, I feel like we could also, like, talk about that for hours, because I had someone send me a reel of a guy on a Reformer with a, like, stationary bike in his hands and feet. And it was a joke. It was like an April Fool's joke. And he was like, okay, guys like, this class, we get cardio and core and like, he's holding the bike, he's it's obviously a joke. But like someone sent it to me, and I'm like, the fact that this is so hilarious that people who've never done Pilates before are sending this to me, tells me that what people think Pilates is has strayed far from what Pilates is. So I feel like I can understand that. And I find myself constantly educating people a little bit like, well, that yes, those are Pilates exercises and so, but it's not the inherent reality of it is. And so I feel like I understand that plight, that that journey you're on, in a little bit. Anthony Benenati 4:18  You and I have had this conversation many times before, because you're so close to the source of it, and and that's what I love about what you do, what you teach, and where I am, and what I teach, is that there's a lineage, and you're very close to the source, and the closer you are to the source, the more authentic the teaching, the further down the line you get disconnected from that core source. Then everything starts to get watered down and miscommunicated. Lots of stuff gets forgotten. Lesley Logan 4:55  Yeah, well, it's like the game of telephone, like, I mean, like when you play that game in school, like, you, the further it goes down the line. Anthony Benenati 5:03  The more warped it gets. Lesley Logan 5:04  Yes, yes. And it's funny, but also, like, that is the reality. Can we take a step back? Because, like, a yoga instructor of 32 years, that is a long time. And I think, like, there's not many of you. I mean, there's many of you, probably in India places, but like, there's not many of people who've had that many decades and and have studied the way that you have like, did you grow up like doing yoga? Did you want to be a yoga teacher?Anthony Benenati 5:32  No, this story is, is pretty remarkable. No, I did not grow up with yoga. In fact, I didn't really understand what yoga was until I was literally introduced to it after I moved here to L.A. So I've been in L.A. since 1991 before that, I was in the military. I was in the Air Force. And when I was in the Air Force, I was a competitive power lifter, and I played sports all my life. So my body was pretty wrecked in my 20s. I had a shoulder surgery and a knee surgery already, and I remember I was waiting tables, and I had met this girl, and I was taken by the way she sort of carried herself. She was she walked very upright, almost Royal. And I thought, you know, it's L.A., everyone's moving to LA to become an actress. And I thought, okay, this girl, right, she's like telling her family, I don't want your money, I'm moving to L.A. and I'm going to be an actress. So I asked her, and she laughed in my face, and she lifted up the back of her shirt, and she showed me a 13-inch scar on her spine. And she told me that when she was young, she had this incredible S curve in her back, and she was in a full body cast from her neck all the way down through her torso. And I said, oh, my God, that that sounds painful. And I said how do you move? You can't, I haven't seen you bend. She goes, I can't. The only thing I can bend is my hips. I can turn my hips, but I cannot bend my back. I said, well, what do you do for relief? And she said, I do yoga. And I was like, Well, explain what's that and how does that help you? And she said, I'd love to explain it, but I don't think I can. Why don't you just come to a class? So I did, and you know, me then, I was really big. I had all this muscle mass, right? And I went to my first class, and I could not finish, could not finish the class. It kicked my butt. And I was so, my ego got, got triggered. And one of the things that's important for me as a teacher now when I teach my students is that there is, yoga doesn't see things in good and bad. Yoga see thing, sees things in does it work or not? And at the time, ego served me, because it made me go back, and it made me go back and it made me go back. At the time, the reasons because I think I was going to get it, and that's fine for whatever, for whatever reason someone enters into the practice is fine, you're there. That's the important part. We can work on the why and the why always evolves as you get along through the practice. But for me, I tell people, ego brought me to yoga and it it kept me there.Lesley Logan 8:34  Yeah, I think, isn't it interesting, like, because I'll have I work with teachers, and they're like, oh, I don't want to work with people who want to lose weight. And I'm like, I, you don't have to promise them anything you can't do. But if, if that brought them into the space, I would much rather you a non like someone who's not going to manipulate or use them or lie to them to be the safe landing for them to find a movement practice that can help them love the body that they have, you know? So I'm not here to be I won't take you if you want to lose weight. I'll just say, here's the science of weight loss, here's how I can fit in and and here's how I don't, you know, but this is what we can do together and like building that trust. And if that's what brought them in, and that's what got them to keep coming at the beginning, but then they stay coming because of how it makes them feel, and then they become a person who doesn't worry about that, because they actually care more about how they feel than how that what the scale says. Like, to me, that's kind of like that same thing. Like, I think too often people are wanting to turn away that negative energy, that negative energy in air quotes, because that's not what something is. But really it's like, you can't just, you don't, we don't get to decide how people come to us. Anthony Benenati 9:48  Right. Lesley Logan 9:49  All we can do is like, kind of be a space for them to evolve and learn the what, what, what they wanted, what they're here, what we can teach them. Anthony Benenati 9:57  Yeah, I'm glad that you said that. I'm glad that you said that to create the space, because that's exactly what it is, isn't it? It's like we want to create a safe space for them to explore them, and not come in with this bunch of judgment that I'm putting on to them so that they feel uncomfortable. I want them to feel as comfortable as they can. Starting anything new is difficult. We all know that. Let's not make it harder. Lesley Logan 10:22  Yeah, yeah. I also like that you said there's like, there's not bad or good.Anthony Benenati 10:28  That's a radical, that's a radical idea for people. In the West, we are programmed this is good and this is bad. I can even hear, you probably hear this in your students' languages too. Oh, that's my bad side, or I have a bad leg, or I have a bad shoulder. And I'm careful with that, careful with the languaging. It's not bad. It may be injured, it may be weaker, it may be tighter, but that doesn't mean it's bad.Lesley Logan 10:55  Yeah. And I, well, I, there was a years ago, like years ago. I can remember where I was driving, but I can't remember the name of the podcast, I was in traffic on San Vicente trying to get to Wilson Boulevard, and I was listening this podcast, and they talked about how, like, we have to be mindful of how we talk about our body, because our body is listening. And they have done studies that, if you like, say, I gained weight, I'm someone who can't lose weight, like, I I'm fat. All this your bod, those people who say that they actually have seen that they produce fat cells, like, that's what they do, right? Versus like, they also, like, told people, like, oh, you had this knee surgery. And the person goes, oh, I had knee surgery, so my knee is better. They didn't have knee surgery. They literally didn't give it to them. They just pretended they put them under they had controls, don't worry there's other things, but. Anthony Benenati 11:42  The placebo effect. Lesley Logan 11:44  What you tell your body like really does matter and and I studied with BJ Fogg, who's the found who wrote Tiny Habits, and he's really the leading scientist on habits that everybody has been stealing from and, not stealing, it's the wrong word, they probably study with them, but at any rate, he said there's no such thing as a bad or good habit. Everything serves you. Every like the habits you don't like about yourself, if you don't like that you scroll on the internet. If you don't like that you binge-watch NetFlix that they'll all the habits we have serve us, they provide something because your brain actually doesn't want to be around anything that causes judgment or shame. So it, it's seeking, like, oh, like, maybe it's comfortable for you to it's soothing to just binge out and watch something you get you get to avoid the other thoughts you have, or with certainty, which we all are looking for and and so he said, If you so, you can't ever say I have a bad habit or I don't want to have good habits. They're just all habits. And then there might be habits you prefer and habits you'd like to get rid of. Anthony Benenati 12:42  Right. I think in the context of the yoga conversation, yoga would simply ask, do your habits serve you? And that's another way to say it, right, whether it's good or bad, is it serving you? Lesley Logan 12:54  Yes. Anthony Benenati 12:55  So maybe at the end of the night, you've had a really shitty night and you need a drink, and most people would go, oh, my God, you teach yoga. You don't drink, right? There's another stereotype. Lesley Logan 13:06  Yeah. Anthony Benenati 13:07  But does that drink serve you in that moment? Is it going to control you? Is it going to take over? No. May it take the edge off and allow you to process the things that you're going through? Sure. Are there other ways to process it? Yes. But not everybody can just be like, you know what, I'm super stressed, and I'm just going to sit and meditate. That's not that's not realistic. Lesley Logan 13:30  Yeah, yeah. Anthony Benenati 13:31  It's not realistic for somebody, you have to meet people where they are, yeah, yeah, and make the changes gradually. Lesley Logan 13:38  Well, I mean, do you have to meet yourself where you are? Anthony Benenati 13:41  Well, yes. True.Lesley Logan 13:44  That's a bigger, that's so huge. I just, you just mentioned something I thought it would be really good timing, like, since there is the stereotype of what yoga is, especially in the West, especially in big cities, oh, actually, even now, because the way things work in rural areas. It's just franchises so like so, what is yoga really?Anthony Benenati 14:08  Okay. How long is this podcast?Lesley Logan 14:11  We can have you back for another. We can split it up. Anthony Benenati 14:13  Part two. On its most basic level, yoga is a practice. It's been, well, the iteration that we know as yoga today has only been around a couple of 100 years prior to that, prior to the last 5000 years with yoga, yoga has been a ritual, a path, a practice to transcend the known or the physical, to transcend it to, instead of saying I am my body, yogis back then would say, I am not my body. And then they would use the practice to try and extricate themselves from their body. So, a free soul, you can think of it that way, the soul that inhabits me is limited by this physical boundary, and I'm going to use the yoga practice to liberate myself from this physical, literally, prison, is how they thought of it. But things evolved, and as things do over hundreds and thousands of years, consciousness changes, and societies evolve, and mindsets change, and even language changes. So yoga now has become a physical practice to help the body and the mind connect. So there's a saying that if you keep the body to cool the mind, most people, they start thinking a lot when they stop doing. And that's why a lot of people are just doing all the time, do, do, do, do, do, and there's no room for thinking. And then when they stop doing, all of these thoughts start coming up, and they don't know how to deal with them, so they just start doing again. Which is, I guess, a way of pushing things down so that you don't have to deal with it. Lesley Logan 16:05  Yeah, yeah. Anthony Benenati 16:06  Yoga gives us a invitation to try something else. Iit's a, it's an invitation to be like, how does my body work? And how does it work better? And not for the sake of the practice itself, but how is it going to help my life? Even if you do yoga every day, let's just say you do 30 minutes of yoga every day. There's 23 and a half other hours. What else are you going to do? Hopefully your yoga practice is serving that.Lesley Logan 16:37  Yeah, yeah. 30 minutes everyone is 2% of your day. If you want to do the math, it's 2% so if you can't give 2% of yourself to something that helps you become better, the other 98% like, I love that. I love the way that you described it. I think that it's really true. And I think it kind of like takes it away. Because I think people get caught up in the process of yoga, the poses, or the styles, and that's just all process which no one really, like, in the world of marketing guys, sells nothing. No one cares about the process. They care about the transformation, the the idea of like, you know, you said, like, breaking free of this limiting thing that would be like the thing, the promise. Let's go back. You, we kind of got, you got the ego kept you going to yoga. Why did you, like, did you know you wanted to be a teacher? Like, did you, I, because I had the same thing. I went to Pilates kicking and screaming, to be completely honest, and I thought it was a bullshit infomercial workout. And then I loved it, and then I kept going back, because I felt really good. And it wasn't till someone said I should be a teacher that I even thought about being a teacher. So how did you become a teacher? I mean, like, 32 years, take us back.Anthony Benenati 17:46  That's exactly, that's exactly, right, it was my teacher at the time that had told me. He told me after class. Now this was, you know, maybe a year, year and a half into starting with him. But he said, you know, because we've had multiple conversations, not just in the classroom but outside, we'd go and have tea or whatever. And he goes, have you ever thought about teaching yoga? And I said, absolutely not. I mean, why would I? Why would I do that? I barely know the practice. He says, I understand that, and I can get you more information, but I see something in you that I think will help other people. And I think what he saw, and after teaching a whole bunch of teacher trainees myself, the most effectual teacher is someone who understands how people get to the practice. And what I mean by that is if, for instance, if I grew up in the yoga tradition and my parents were teachers, and I had been doing yoga all my life, and I never really understood the struggle of a tight body, of not being able to do the poses, of not understanding the language, of having no connection to yoga, whatsoever. Then I couldn't offer that to anybody else coming into the practice, because I would, I, some of the teachers that I train who are super flexible, for instance, they never understand what it's like not to be so it's hard to have empathy for the student that is having a very difficult time doing the most basic movement. And I think empathy is such an important factor to be a great teacher, you have to be able to put yourself in their shoes. Lesley Logan 17:47  Yeah, yeah. Anthony Benenati 17:47  Or barefoot as it, in the yoga studio.Lesley Logan 17:47  Yeah, yeah. I agree. Like, I think, I think, you know, I used to be embarrassed by, like, how I thought so negatively about Pilates, and when I realized it was actually probably the way that made people trust to even try it out, like, I also thought it was bullshit. So, you know, I got it. And then the other thing, like, I do have one of those hypermobile bodies, but I fractured my tibial plateau right before I met and I remember, like, all this fear about, like, what that meant for my Pilates practice, what that meant for my weight training, my running, everything right? Was like, fear going on. And then I also realized in my own healing, how easy I was giving it to people with knee surgeries. Because I was just like, okay, like, don't move this in time thing and so I have an injury, I was like, oh, there's actually a lot of things they can do. There's like, so much like, and there's also so much they can't do, but like, you know, like, we don't have to, like, push them, but at the same token, like, we can challenge this body because it got injured for a reason. There was an imbalance, and that's why that happened.Anthony Benenati 18:11  Correct, correct. And we're here to address that imbalance, right? A lot of times, yoga is translated as union, which is a very simple, and it's not a direct translation. The root word of yoga is actually thousands of years old, and it's yuj, Y-U-J and it means to yoke. Now this is an old fashioned term. You know the yoke when they used to yoke the horse to the cart or the ox to the cart. Lesley Logan 21:02  I'm nodding, because I did do the Oregon Trail, and that is where I learned yoga. Anthony Benenati 21:06  Okay, there you go. So that's the image that I want people to have here, and it's very important, because what you have, so yoga, at that point, becomes an action. It's a verb. It's not just a noun. What is it? But what is it doing? It's joining. But what is it joining? It's joining two different things, right? The cart and the horse. Now, alone, these two things serve purposes, don't they? But if you connect them, then you can do incredible things that neither one of these things could do by themselves. So in the yoga practice, we say one and one never equals two. It always equals three, because there's you, there's the thing, and then there's the thing you guys are creating. So it's you and Brad as individuals, and it's your marriage, which is a living entity. And it has a life of its own. And if you don't feed and nourish that third thing, not only will it die, but then you're broken apart again.Lesley Logan 22:15  Yeah. Yeah. You should become a counselor as well.Anthony Benenati 22:18  What do you think after class is about? When people feel comfortable with you, they come after class and then they start telling you about deeper issues, right, things that not the body, but the why, the why that they're here. Why are they struggling? Why are they having a hard time? I was actually listening to one of your previous podcast this morning, as we were taking me and my wife were taking a walk, Ashley, around the lake here, and we were listening, and it was the client, or the person you had on that had stage four cancer. Lesley Logan 22:54  Oh, yeah. Anthony Benenati 22:55  And I remember you said something, and it was very astute. You said that. Well, you didn't know how many, and I looked it up, we have about 60,000 thoughts a day, and you said about 95% of them are negative, right? And it's true. It's like we have these same repetitive thoughts all throughout the day, and the majority of them, the vast majority of them, are negative or repeat from the day before and the day before and the day before. And at what point do you start addressing this and start changing the narrative? Yoga is the invitation to start learning that you can that there is an issue first and then the tools to change them. Lesley Logan 23:43  Yeah.Anthony Benenati 23:45  So I love yoga as a verb, as an action, not just a thing like we can name it, and you can't just name it and make it yo. You can't just put goats in the room and call it yoga. It's not. Lesley Logan 24:01  Yeah, I'm with you on that. I mean, like, because it's cute everyone and so don't at me. It is adorable, and if it gets people in, sure, but also, like, you're now paying attention to the goat, not you, which is like, another distraction that, you know, I think, like, I think, I think it's really easy, people want to distract themselves from all that's going on. Like, first of all, you've been a teacher since the 90s, so in L.A., which means use your studio was around during lots of things. Like, you know, I don't, I don't remember when, like, the riots were, if your studio is open, but then there was, like, 911 and. Anthony Benenati 24:46  The riots werre '92 so it was just after I got here, so I opened the studio in '99 so 911 happened for us, and that was a remarkable time. Obviously, the next, Gulf War happened, and lots of other things. And, you know, the studio became a community. It became a place for people to go, even if they just wanted to sit and be in the room, let alone practice. I remember the practice after 911 people just wanted to sit and gather and cry and talk and rage and not move. They didn't want to move their bodies. They just needed community. They felt so detached.Lesley Logan 25:24  Yeah. I mean, I wasn't any, I wasn't in a practice at the time, but I remember, because we were in California, so you're so removed, but you're not, you know? And so I can see how, like, your space can be that. And I think, like, it's so cool and also so big to have us to do a practice that can be so many things for people. It can be the community that they need, it could be the safe space that they share, and it can be a constant, like, it's there, no matter when things are good or when things are bad. And we don't have a lot of those things, right? Like, there's not there's not a lot of places or things you can do even when times are good and when times are bad, and I know you're gonna tell me good and bad, but like, you know, in the in the happier, joyful times versus, like, the sadder times.Anthony Benenati 26:09  Right, now we're in a really difficult time, and we've been here before. 2008 we were here the last time this particular President was in office. We were here. And we go through these cycles, and they're not unlike other cycles throughout the history of life, and we will have more. And it's not always positive, it's not always happy, it's not always on the incline. Sometimes it takes a dip. And you and I both know that that's really where you're tested. You're tested in the dips. You're never tested when things are great, and you're never going to change when things are comfortable either. Change only happens when you're uncomfortable.Lesley Logan 26:47  Yeah, it's really true. One of the my favorite things that you would bring up when we were in class is talking about, like, you know, you can't have love without hate, the equal opposite. And I was hoping you can, like, dive into that a little bit for us. Because I think, one, I actually think since these several moments of 2008 and 2016, and and now it's really easy for people to not see good and so it makes me go, like you guys, like you're seeing all the hate. Like, are you recognizing it's equal opposite. But I also, like, I think it's hard. I think people are always waiting for another shoe to drop, as opposed to, like, noticing when things are are also going well. But anyways, I wanted to know if you could, like, just share a little bit about that, because my listeners haven't heard that, and it was my favorite things. Like, Brad brought up your, like, Saturday morning classes today in a call with people, and he said, like, there'd be like, 50 people in this room, and you know, like you would often bring that up, and it was always around the same time that, like, something not great was going on. We all just felt it, whether it was in the city or the world. And like, you have to remind yourself of those things. Anthony Benenati 27:53  It ties into the whole good and bad thing, because it's a reframing of thought. Like, you have to really reframe this idea that even, even if it's something that you don't like, it's serving something. So it's a basic function of physics, like, things wouldn't exist if it didn't have an opposite, right? You wouldn't know joy if you didn't know pain, you wouldn't know laughter if you didn't know sadness, you wouldn't have anything to reference it to. So your capacity to love is directly related to your capacity to hate, to feeling these negative, quote, negative feelings versus these positive. They're there to balance each other out, and it's the idea is that it's your choice which one you want to feed. You remember Star Wars, right? Think about the force. The force is this, is this neutral thing, and it's how you choose to use it. They were all using the same force. But the lesson was, am I going to use this to help empower and further and engage, or am I going to use this for selfish and personal and destructive reasons? Same energy, how do you use it? So rather than wasting your time on whether something is good or bad or right and wrong, it really serves you to think, is this serving me? Because, like you said earlier, at some point in your life, it served you, whether it was to keep you safe when you were a child, for instance, maybe you were in a really bad home life, and you learned coping mechanisms. You learn, for instance, maybe how to shut it out, right, and how to go into your own cave, which is, which is very easy for me to do. If things get too much, I tend to remove myself and go back into this little cave. Well, you can't do that when you're in relationship. Yeah. Well, you certainly can't do that for very long, right? You need tools like, yes, I need to go take 10 or 30 minutes to myself, but I'll be back. It's that communication, to let that other person know I'm not leaving you. I'm not not communicating with you, but I do need to take care of myself. So it's changing, the languaging around this. So it helps me to think, for instance, this bad time that we're having right now, it's temporary. Now, temporary may mean years.Anthony Benenati 27:55  Yeah, I know I had a like, a thing, like, like, a little mantra card that's, everything, everything, everything is temporary. And I'm like, and temporary does not mean two seconds, two minutes, two weeks.Anthony Benenati 30:02  Exactly. There is no time limit on temporary, but it will end. Things always do. Things always change, but it was helpful to me to look at kind of life in that different way. I wasn't raised like that. I was raised as a Catholic, so it was always guilt and shame and right and wrong and very linear thinking, very black and white thinking, very dualistic, instead of this idea that maybe it's not so black and white, maybe there is the gray. And I think we're all learning that extremism on either end is not the path. So, far right or far left, we're not going to get anywhere because we're isolating. We have to find a way to start communicating again and finding common ground and stop making other the problem. Lesley Logan 31:41  Yeah, yeah. Anthony Benenati 31:43  That's my that's my I think that goes on and off the mat. Don't look at your body as a bad thing. Don't look at it as something that you need to conquer or change, or that somehow there's something wrong with you. How can I enhance myself? How can I make me who I am, and everything that I am that may not be somebody else, but very unique to me. How can I make myself even better, a better version of me, not, not somebody else. I don't have to be somebody else. I just have to be the best me I can be.Lesley Logan 32:18  Yeah. That makes me think of like, I interviewed a happiness strategist, and I was like, you know, I was like, this is interesting, because, like, like, can you be happy all the time? And she's like, well, of course not. She's like, like, she's like, she's like, but she said your ability to be happy is as directly related to how uncomfortable you can get, like, how comfortable withuncomfortable. You can get like, that's, can you like, what's your resilience? And she, you know, and I think, like, I think a lot of people have been outsourcing so long how they feel based on, like, what's going on out in the world, and not going back to like, how can I make myself the best version? Because we can affect the people around us more easily when you were talking about other it made me think you guys Google the Heineken commercial. It's quite long, but they literally took, like, people of opposite extremes and like, they took a guy who, like, voted against gay marriage, and then they took a lesbian and they put them in a room together, and they have to, like, build a desk, right? And like, and they, a table, or they build something. And the guy, like, this one guy is like, completely, I got this. I like, I can do these things, right? And she's like, and like, so they have to work together to build this thing. And like, each personal strengths have to do it, and then they have to sit down and have a beer. And at the end, the people who like when they interviewed them before they met the person they're building with, it would be like, I don't understand transgenders. I think they have to know rights, blah, blah, blah. And then they meet someone who's transgender, but they just built this desk together, and you watch this person go, well, let's have another drink and like, so it's really fascinating that, like, if we can actually stop, you know, being on the opposite sides, we can actually be together, and you get to know people, you're more likely to hear them and listen to them and realize we're kind of like what you think has been influenced by so much, by other people who are louder and you you actually love people who are around you more than you know, you know? And so I think that's what's so beautiful about a yoga class, or even Pilates classes, they can attract people from all sides of a spectrum and have a shared experience. And you know, because, and the more they get to know themselves, the more ideally, and this may be the idealist in me, like they think about caring for others, because they can, because once you've, once you've taken care of you, you actually have the capacity to actually care about other people.Anthony Benenati 34:45  Oxygen mask, baby. It's all about putting on your oxygen mask, right? You got to put yours on first. You can't help anybody else if you're passed out. But I like what you said there, too, because Yoga does want to meet people where they're at. I remember, I had this woman in class. She always sat up front and in the beginning of class, at that time, we would chant the sound of om in the beginning of class, just to settle the class and get things going. And she would never chant, and that's fine. You don't have to, right? It's again, everything's an invitation. But she did come up to me after class one day, and we had a conversation, and I asked her why, and she says, well, you know, I'm a devout Jew, and I feel like I'm sort of disrespecting my tradition if I'm doing something I don't understand. And I said, well, I'm so glad that you brought that up. First of all, yoga doesn't care what you believe. You can believe you know, Orange is God, and you can still practice. Yoga doesn't require a belief, it just requires a willingness. And I said, well, you're a devout Jew, so what are you comfortable saying? And she said, well, shalom. And I said, Well, what's in the middle of shalom? And she said om. And I said, exactly. So from that point on, we would chant om, and she would chant shalom, and she would just hold the om. It, for some reason, it gave her permission. It was totally fine with everybody else, and then she felt included. That was a wonderful story. Lesley Logan 36:19  I love that. I think also giving people permission, right? Like, I think that's what, you know, people can have permission to move their body, but also be in practice. Like, that's why it's called a yoga practice, and I think that's what it does so well, something that, like, I call it a Pilates practice, and there are a lot of people like me who call it practice, but there's also a lot of people who don't understand that, and they don't call it that, and they're like, I gotta get this. And it's like, no, what are you talking about, like, you're never gonna like, you don't get that. Like, it's your body. Your body's different every single day. Like, there are days like, at 6am I do Pilates, and at 8am I work out with you, and my body between those two hours is very different. And I'm like, whoa. I, what happened on my dog walk that this is no longer an option. I do, I do like that. Okay, I want to go into, because I think, like, you have had so many chapters in your yoga career, and what how you are, how you are teaching yoga now, is very different than what you did for the majority on your studio and things like that. Like we talk about some, be it till you see it moments and like, kind of like, what your what are you being till you see it, right now?Anthony Benenati 37:20  You're right. I did go through a lot when you when you have a studio for that long, you know, you go through a lot of changes, including me and my original partner, we split, and then there was that moment where you had to decide who's going to fight for this, who's going to get the studio, because we both wanted it, and that was that was all about desire. Do you really want this? And how bad do you want it? And then after that, there were other things that came up every time you're being tested. And you will be tested no matter how committed you think you are to whatever it is that you think you want, you're going to continue to be tested. And it just is a way to reaffirm, do I really want to be it? Do I really want to do this? For me now, you're right. It is different. My body is different. My practice is different, and not in a bad or a good way, just different. This is the different body than it was when it was in my late 20s. Being it now is, for me, is really being about being authentic, being authentic to the moment, being authentic to my students, but really being authentic to my own inner voice. And every time I get on the mat, the first thing I tell my students is, listen, listen to your body. It's going to tell you something different today than it did yesterday. If you come onto the mat with an agenda, most of the time, you're going to be disappointed, because you don't know that your body's ready to do those things that day, that particular day, maybe you need something completely different than you thought. We have to be open to that. And then the day I decided that my time of studio ownership was over, that was a tough one. That was a really hard day. But the moment I decided to make that shift, I felt so much more freedom. Yoga had changed, you know, it really had become corporate. At this point, it was being completely watered down. People were barely doing teacher trainings and leading yoga classes, and it just became too much of a struggle to do the business of yoga versus being the teacher. You know, when you own your own business, you never are not working. That's the thing. It's 24/7 right? You don't get to clock out and go home and forget about it. Lesley Logan 39:50  Yeah, there's a reason why I like, watch White Lotus. I'm like, because I'm not where I can't work and watch White Lotus like, this is me being awesome. That's how it serves me. Even if it, like, gives me a little stress and anxiety, I'm like, but I'm not working, so I get it, no, like, I mean, like, yeah, and then I I, I'm where I'm married to someone I work with. So it's never, it's never off. Yeah, but I, thank you for sharing that, because, I mean, like, I think a lot of people, there's an aspiration to start something or do something or own something. But as you said, you've evolved. Not only has yoga evolved, but you've evolved. Your body has changed. And I think sometimes we forget that as we evolve, we outgrow some roles, you know, and like, just like you outgrow clothes, like you outgrow, like you outgrow a role, and it's like owning a studio serves such a good purpose, like a good purpose at the time, like you had a partner and a family and, like all these things. And then it also got to a place where it's like all this is changing, and I have, too, you know, but that's so hard to like, because it's like a light switch. Anthony Benenati 40:58  Yeah. Well, you know, I had felt it, but not really paid attention to it. And you know how your body does, your body will jump in there and it'll call your attention. And I literally had my one and only panic attack at that moment. It was like, oh yeah, this is a sign you are not in a good place. This, this, this, it's time to get out. It's time this, this had run its course. And that was a hard decision to really give up the thing that you worked so hard to create. But it was also learning that that was separate from who I was, that we were not inextricably connected, that we were these individual things, and we did create a third thing, but that third thing was dying, and it was time to change into something else.Lesley Logan 41:46  Yeah, yeah. What are you most excited about right now?Anthony Benenati 41:51  Oh my gosh, we are empty nesters. That's the most, 25 years of being a parent.Lesley Logan 41:59  I had someone I just interviewed. She's like, I'm a bird launcher. She's like, I've launched all my birds. They're all birds. They're all launched. Like, the positive of that.Anthony Benenati 42:10  It is so true. We are so excited about this next chapter for us, which is freedom in a lot of different ways, right? I mean, you're never not the parent, but they don't need you every day anymore. They need you when they need you and and happy to be there when they do. Like this morning, my youngest called from college, and she stayed on the phone for over an hour. And she just needed feedback. She needed to connect. She didn't necessarily need a ton of advice. She just, you could feel that she needed connection. For now, for me, it really is about this next chapter. Your lives are a bunch of chapters, and at being, you know, 50, I'll be 58 this year. It's a very I know, right? Yeah, I can't believe it myself, but this idea now that I can make choices solely for me or solely for us as a couple and not oh my god, what are we going to do with the kids, and is this child going to come? Or are they not going to come, or are we going to do this all together, that we can make these choices for ourselves, I'm really excited about that. That's the personal aspect of it. Professionally, professionally, things have changed, you know, ever since covid, everybody went online, and which is great. It's a great way to connect to everybody, but I still feel the need to be in the classroom, yeah, and we do those in persons, and we do those yoga retreats, and we do those monthly workshops, just so that people can have that feeling of connection and community again. Lesley Logan 43:52  Yeah, I think that's why we do our tours, too. Like, I love being online, because I can impact people without having to travel as much. And also, like, I need to see bodies in three dimensions.Anthony Benenati 44:03  Right. How do you make an adjustment with you can't see and touch? Lesley Logan 44:06  No, I'm literally going so if I was there, I would hold your arms still. Imagine I'm like, is your child around? Can they grab your arms and hold them? Hold their hold their arms. Okay. Now go.Anthony Benenati 44:18  That's so good. Lesley Logan 44:19  You know, but like, I think, I think that's why, like, I like the idea of, like, really reframing what's good or bad. Because, like, I think it could be so easy, like, back before the pandemic, like, oh, online is terrible. You can't have those things. But we, Brad and I used to, like, call you just be on the phone. Because I was like, I can't handle the traffic. I can't but I want you. So just, just be on just be on speakerphone, and we'll mute ourselves, and we'll be, you know, but like, when the pandemic happened, I was like, oh, I love this, because now I can have access to the people, I don't live in the same town as you, and I, Brad and I still get to have that practice with you, and I think, but also, yeah, we miss, like, actual hugs and actually seeing people, and you have to be more intentional. But I think that that, I think then we are more intentional, you know, so that is also cool.Anthony Benenati 45:08  Yeah, we really mourned the day you guys left.Lesley Logan 45:12  When we moved from L.A. to Las Vegas was during the pandemic, and we didn't actually have a mourning, because nothing was actually happening in person, the more like it was a year and a half later when things opened back up and we were not part of the opening back up that was like, so it was a delayed mourning, a delayed grief for us. Okay, obviously, we're gonna all catch up, guys. We're gonna take a brief break, find out how people can find you, follow you, do yoga with you. Anthony Benenati 45:39  Great. Lesley Logan 45:40  All right, Anthony, where do you hang out? Like, are you on the Instagram? Or is there just a simpler way? How can people do yoga with you or learn more about what you're doing? Where do you where can they go? Anthony Benenati 45:52  Well, they can go to my website, which is, thatsnotyoga.com and of course, there's a story behind that, because that's a pretty bold statement, which was intentional. One of the misconceptions about yoga is that anything goes, right, and that is so far from the truth. If yoga is about anything, it's about setting meaningful boundaries. So if you take a bunch of energy and you narrow it, you're going to increase the flow of that energy. Just think of water. Take a lake. Narrow the boundaries. It becomes a river. Narrow the boundaries even more, becomes a raging river. So most people think that if you limit their choices, then you're limiting their freedom. But I call it the Cheesecake Factory theory. Walk into a Cheesecake Factory and you sit down, and they literally throw you down a book. And they're like, okay, what do you want? And you can have anything. The book is like, an inch thick. And I just get overloaded because there's too many choices. I much prefer to go to a restaurant where they just print the menu that day and there's six things on it, and you can have this, this or this, and I'm like, great, I'll have that. The narrowing of your choices actually gives you more freedom, because you're constantly saying no to a bunch of things while you're saying yes to a limited amount of things, right? Like being in marriage, you're saying yes to Brad and no to everybody else. It's this process that continues throughout your entire day, right? What am I letting in? What am I consciously keeping away? I love that understanding.Lesley Logan 47:42  I love that. So you guys just so you know, because he didn't say it, but I'm gonna say it for him. Brad and I can do yoga online with this man. You do it three times a week. I try to show up twice a week when I'm there. And Brad, we're getting him on the 8 am wake up call. We're working on. Do you remember? Do you remember when he used to do it 6 am? I think we have to remind him that he used to do 6 am yoga. Anthony Benenati 48:03  Absolutely. Lesley Logan 48:03  When the bed was further away from the studio was the the thing. So you guys can do that. You can find that on, on, thatsnot yoga.com. You kind of just gave us a Be It Action Item. But I just want to see like, if there's any other bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted steps people can take to be it till they see it. Anthony Benenati 48:18  Okay. The the, the the triad, the triumvirate that we like to follow in the practice, is desire, knowledge, action. Those are my Be It moments. To break it down, you got to want to do something, then you have to learn how to do it, and then you do it, this whole idea of just do it, that's not going to work. Just doing something without knowing how to do it can cause you harm doing something and you don't have the real desire to do it, you're not going to put your best effort in. If you do those three things in that order, you can pretty much do whatever you want to do. You've got to want to do it. You got to learn how to do it, and then you simply have to do it, and you have to commit to doing it over and over and over again to create that meaningful change. Those are my action items. And the thing is, is, if you don't want to do it, don't do it. That's the thing. You're, exactly, more freedom. And that's whole, that's yoga's goal. Yoga just wants you to be more free. But that doesn't mean no boundaries. It means establishing meaningful boundaries, boundaries that are going to channel you in the direction you want to go. And guess what, people, you can always change your mind. You can always change your mind.Lesley Logan 49:48  I mean, that is like that needs to be on people's walls. Because I find like, you know, like, imagine if you never gave yourself permission to change your mind. You might, you might, the world might have lost a yoga teacher that day, because you would have had a panic attack and then a burnout, you know, like, you can change your mind on your schedule, you can change your mind on your goals. You can change your mind on lot of things, like, you know, and that is for the perfectionist, listening. That might be the hardest thing you learn.Anthony Benenati 50:14  I'm speaking to you, perfectionist.Lesley Logan 50:17  Yeah, oh my gosh, Anthony, obviously I could talk to you for hours. And clearly Brad is like itching to walk in this room, you guys, so we gotta let him in so you can say hi to his friend, but thank you for being here, and thank you for just sharing so much of your wisdom. I continue to learn from you. Always. I can't wait to learn more. Someday we're gonna do a joint Pilates, yoga. That is my dream. That is my vision. Maybe on the Summer Tour. Maybe you'll be our L.A. event. So see, you guys, let us know what your favorite takeaways were. Let Anthony know in thatsnotyoga. Let the Be It Pod know and share this with a friend who needs to hear it, because that's how everyone wins. You know, we all can take away something from this, and I'd love to hear what yours are, and you know what to do, until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 51:02  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 51:41  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 51:46  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 51:50  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 51:58  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 52:01  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Lesley Logan 52:14  I'm interviewing Anthony. Anthony Benenati 52:15  Hi, Brad. Lesley Logan 52:16  Yeah, it's an interview right now. No, we're not done. You're just interrupting. We'll put this in the bloopers. He's come in twice, and I'm like, um. Anthony Benenati 52:24  What's up, buddy? Brad Crowell 52:26  I wanted to say hi. Lesley Logan 52:27  Yeah. Okay, alright, one second, let me get to those Be It Action Items. Okay. We'll talk.Transcribed by https://otter.aiSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Send us a textJulia Geer is a seasoned yoga therapist and Ayurvedic health counselor with a strong background in holistic health practices. She began her yoga journey in 1997 and has since become a certified yoga therapist recognized by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). Julia is also trained by renowned mindfulness teachers Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. Beyond her expertise in yoga and Ayurveda, Julia has an undergrad degree in management and technology and brings unique insights to how artificial intelligence intersects with health and wellness. Her professional journey spans over 18 years in tech and healthcare, focusing on integrating AI technologies.Visit her on her website: https://www.thegeershift.com/Key Takeaways:Julia Geer's transition from yoga enthusiast to a certified yoga therapist with a focus on holistic and integrative health.The distinctions between yoga, yoga therapeutics, and yoga therapy, and how these practices integrate into Western healthcare.The role of AI in healthcare and how yoga and Ayurveda can support practitioners in this transformative time.Practical applications of yoga therapy, such as aiding clients with chronic conditions like COPD.Thanks for listening to this episode. Check out:

In the latest episode of The Flow Artists Podcast, we speak with Renae Stevens and Kristin Mathiassen. Renae Stevens is the creator of the Aerial Yoga Therapeutics training program, a pioneering approach that integrates the aerial hammock as a therapeutic modality for mental, emotional, and physical well-being. With a background in yoga, somatic practices, and mental health recovery, Renae has developed a unique methodology that bridges the mind-body connection through the versatile and supportive medium of the aerial hammock. Kristin Mathiassen, a trained aerial yoga therapist, specialises in working with individuals with disabilities, particularly those with Down syndrome. Her personal experience as a mother to a son with Down syndrome inspired her to explore the therapeutic potential of the aerial hammock and sensory-based activities. Kristin's expertise lies in creating safe, playful, and engaging environments that support the unique needs and abilities of her clients. The aerial hammock's "superpower," as described by Renae and Kristin, lies in its ability to provide a soothing, supportive, and sensory-regulating space for practitioners of all ages and abilities. Whether used for physical rehabilitation, mental health recovery, or simply as a means of exploring movement and body awareness, the hammock offers a diverse range of applications within the realm of aerial yoga therapeutics. One of the key strengths of aerial yoga therapeutics is its emphasis on accessibility and inclusivity. Renae and Kristin stress the importance of offering progressions, modifications, and grounding experiences to ensure the safety and engagement of participants with diverse needs and abilities. Instructors in this field must possess a deep understanding of the human body and the ability to adapt and facilitate sessions that cater to a wide spectrum of presentations. Renae is running a series of aerial yoga therapeutics training courses later this year. This is an opportunity to receive some of the best aerial yoga training available in the world with Renae and a whole host of experienced facilitators, including Kristin, as well as yoga luminaries such as Simon Borg Olivier. For more details head to https://aerialyogateachertraining.com/our-courses/ for more information and the ‘discover more' link for each training for start dates and pricing. The first unit - Aerial Essentials Teacher Training starts in June 2024! Use our code GARDENOFYOGA to get a free online mentoring session valued at $200 (and offered in multiple languages!). Just write the coupon code: GARDENOFYOGA at checkout. Links Renae Aerial Yoga Teacher Training Website: https://aerialyogateachertraining.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aerial_yoga_therapeutics/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aerialyogatherapeuticsteachertraining Kristin: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elementsofflow2024/ Elements of Flow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556267041098

Brian hosts a panel to discuss New Year's resolutions. Why most New Year's resolutions fail and what to do to create habits that lead to your transformational success? Panelists are: Christina Singhal, a Certified Life Coach, Registered Nurse, and a 7-year South African Military Veteran, is known for her remarkable talent in assisting individuals in enhancing relationships, and discovering meaning in daily lifeLaurel Joakimides, dedicated Life Mastery Consultant, empowers vibrant women aged 45-65 to reclaim their inner strength and design a richer, fuller life after setbacksPaul Nadeau, former hostage negotiator and international peacekeeper, author and keynote speakerKristina White, certified in Yoga Therapeutics and Transformational Life Coaching who helps others practice self-compassion and empowerment

Jeff sits down with Ashley Ludman to hear about her Journey, her evolution and healing, and some of the most formative lessons that she has learned along the way.To learn more about Ashley and her work, visithttps://ashleyludman.comAshley Ludman is a breathwork therapist and educator. Graduating with a degree in Occupational Therapy in 1995, her experience in neurotrauma and acute care rehabilitation informs her current offerings. In 2001, she opened Seaside Yoga, in Wilmington, NC, while training Yoga teachers and specializing in Yoga Therapeutics. In 2010, relocated to Nosara, Costa Rica, where she now lives and offers Breathwork Facilitator Training Programs both through the distance and at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

Yoga Therapeutics and what it means for your diversified healing approach w/ Markay Bressler You will learn What exactly Yoga Therapy?How it can help you in your healing journey. What some complimentary healing modalities might be for you. How does yoga go beyond the mat? Why professional pivoting is soon to be the norm Markay is a RYT500 and IAYT Yoga Therapist candidate; she has studied the body and taught movement for more than 15yrs. Her specialties are: vinyasa, slow flow and restorative yoga as well as breath and mindfulness classes - all of which are trauma and diversity informed. She is in the process of creating new offerings that bridge Ayurvedic and western (allopathic) nutrition; and she aims to help students restore their mind, body and breath connection while empowering them to heal themselves. Markay holds concurrent BS degrees in Nutritional Sciences and Food Science, an MBA in Economics and Organizational Behavior and is currently studying to complete her Yoga Therapeutics Certification (C-IAYT) as well as her MS in Nutrition and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Certification (RDN). When not on the mat, she is shamelessly reading medical and psychology journals and doting on her plant-babies. @markaysuzanneyoga markaysuzanneyoga.com ___ For more binge worthy growth & Grit sessions visit www.youbossexperience.com to get access to ALL THREE 2020 Virtual Summits with 45 Amazing speakers. Learn even more inside HONOR YOUR BODY. If you are serious about improving your health and wellness, always feel welcome to set up a call with me to explore some options of working together or for me to point you in the right direction whether it's with me or one of the amazing professionals I have met along this gritty journey. You can do that at www.christinedesouza.com. Where you can find more information about the programs I personally used before and after pregnancy to get to my best health and lose almost 100lbs. twice. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gritandmoxie/support

What is the first image that comes to mind when you think of aerial yoga? Is it a thin young woman, lithely moving about in an aerial hammock, maybe dangling upside down in some weird pretzel shape that barely resembles anything with the name yoga attached to it? Is it something more akin to a circus performance, with tricks and flips and a silk fabric digging into god knows where? To borrow a phrase from Morpheus of the matrix films, what if I were to tell you, that everything you know about aerial yoga is wrong? Well perhaps not wrong, but just not the full picture. This is why we were so excited to speak with Renae Stevens for this episode. Renae is a senior yoga teacher with Yoga Australia, a certified yoga therapist and holds her master's degree in art therapy. In our opinion, she is the foremost aerial yoga teacher in Australia. She helped bring aerial yoga to Australia way back in 2011, being a senior trainer for antigravity - the organisation founded by Christopher Harrison. This episode is sponsored by Yoga Australia: https://www.yogaaustralia.org.au/ https://www.instagram.com/yogaaustralia/ Links Aerial Yoga Workshop: Break Free from Your Chair: https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/workshops/aerial-yoga-workshop/ Aerial Yoga Therapeutics Foundations Training: https://www.gardenofyoga.com.au/workshops/aerial-therapeutics/ Renae's website: https://www.creativebodyflow.com/aerial-therapeutics/ The opinions expressed in this podcast do not reflect the view and opinions of the sponsor.

Confino: Major points: Small Yoga pauses during the working day can refresh and relieve discomfort. Carol has developed a series of minute movements, breathing and meditation to bring the body, mind and emotions into a healthier state during the workday. Carol is helping people develop sustainable habits that are beneficial and easy to do.       00:41                                     This is episode one hundred twelve of changing face of yoga. And my guest today is Carol Confino. Carol has been a nurse for over 20 years and she's now shifted to preventing illness and disease becoming a yoga teacher, a yoga health coach and a certified yoga therapist. She's found ways of dealing with depression, self doubt and anxiety. The simple prompts process of noticing when these issues come up begins the process of overcoming. Welcome. Carol. Is there anything else you'd like to add to that particular introduction? 01:38                                     Just to clarify, I was an RN way back. I was an RN 14 years, but it's been 20 years since I've actually been a practicing nurse. But, I've been teaching yoga since 2006. Transition. 01:55                                     We all are doing that, aren't we?. I was very interested in what you were talking about doing desk yoga classes at a health fair. And you said it's a really different format from just doing office yoga or corporate yoga or whatever you want to call it. 02:23                                     It was interesting because I hadn't really thought about doing much corporate, but I was offered this job to do a health fair. Not so much in handing out flyers about my business or anything, but to teach office yoga. first time I had done hour long workshops at offices in the past, but I wasn't sure how this is going to work in a health fair. And I hit on what I call pause practices. I had done a workshop at my studio, Sun and Moon Yoga Studio here in Fairfax, Virginia. I did practices to pause during the day where you just take a minute or less and do some kind of practice that's going to either change your mind or your body in some way. So I used some of that and some of the things that I did with the desk yoga and there were a few practices that when I did them really resonated with people who didn't usually do yoga. So that's when it hit me that there's a whole population cause I've gone in offices and I've done a yoga class before or after work. But actually having it as part of their work day. Because yoga is more about mindfulness, being aware and when you start to become aware of when your posture is getting out of whack, what can you do? 04:04                                     And you know, you can go through all the alignment cues and things and sit up and you can bring your shoulders back. But I found that just bringing your arms out to a tee position brings in all the alignment cues and then you can add some practices that bring some strength up into your shoulders so you don't round forward so much. And if you incorporate that during your day, like as you're typing away on the computer, you notice you're rounding and you're in the middle of a thought, bring your arms out to a t, you've just broken up the muscles that were tight rounding you forward. And then you go back to typing and you roll down again. When you get to a breaking point where you've come to the end of the thought or the paragraph, you can do some stretches that will keep your shoulders up and keep you in better alignment because it's not so much the rounding forward that's bad. It's staying there. So if you can a couple of times an hour come in and out of it and to get them to sit and listen cause everybody's in a hurry.                                                 All these practices take a minute or less and I have about 20 different ones: minute meditations, eye exercises, shoulders and the arms. And they all fit into a nice little format and I give them a little handout they can take back to their desks that goes through all the practices, some breathing practices, some energy medicine practices and I go over the ones that are more unusual and then I say you can look everybody can round and arch their back and roll the shoulders. But explaining some of the things that I do that can keep you in better alignment and gets you through your day a little more comfortably. 06:13                                     Oh, how clever. That's really interesting. I'm sitting here doing the T thing. 06:22                                     If you do that t and then bring your arms in a cactus position. So you bend your elbows. 06:27                                     I am. 06:30                                     So if you turn your palms towards your head, okay, your upper back muscles are getting a little stretch and so your shoulders and the chest is contracting but they're not moving any bone. Really turn your palms away. And now the upper back muscles contract and the chest muscles stretch. So you go back and forth between those two. And then bring your arms down without moving your shoulders. I found this out from doing it over and over again. By at the end of the day, when I go to round my shoulders, I would feel a little more resistance than I did before I did cactus arms, which is different than if you bring your arms behind your back and squeeze your shoulders together. Your shoulders can come immediately come forward because you haven't gotten the stabilizing muscles to stay there. So that's like a revelation for a lot of very tight men particularly. But even women, they come and they do this and they notice it right away. And there's other ones, a couple of other ones that I do, and I talk about how to fit that practically into your day. Just like I said you're middle of something and then when you get to a stopping point, you do the stabilizing things and before you go on break, you can do some eye exercises. There are lots of different ones, there's even more than that. I didn't even go into the wrist with the ones that I do with the office. The wrist is much more subtle to work with. 08:06                                     I saw you had a a youtube video on it. 08:09                                     I had some on there and I'm going to have a little course. I'm doing the health fairs. Then I started making up the whole little handout that I have is going to come out as a course where all 20 practices are done. And the minute meditations I have recorded about a minute and a little longer because I just startto welcome them and then do about a minute. I've had people ask me when I've done this in offices, do you have any videos with this? And I said I have a few on youtube but this is going to be an actual little course package. 08:58                                     It's interesting.I think it's hard for people when they're working, but to take that time to take an hour or so for a yoga class, but just to get that habit in of really noticing where your shoulders are or whatever is, it's quite clever really. Because they can do that without really taking away from there their time at work. 09:21                                     And it makes them aware because actually if you do it over and over again, it actually becomes more comfortable to sit upright. You're really working your body very hard rounding your shoulders forward. It's not a bad position but the strongest position for your spine is when your head is balanced on top of the spine. Once you get your muscles used to that again, because that's how you were when you were a little kid. Your head couldn't go forward cause it was so heavy. Babies when they sit up, sit upright. Because that's where your spine is the strongest. You don't usually see little kids with rounded shoulders cause their heads are so heavy. Then when they bring them forward, it throws their balance off.                                                 But if you can kind of get aware that this is really more comfortable and also it gets them moving, even if like it's not get up and walk around the office. But even when you're in your chair you can change your position a lot. You've seen a belly dancer move, they have their arms in a tee position, they can bring a lot of movement to their body. But their shoulders stay where they are. It's actually not a very tight position, rounded shoulders. You can't move as well. You're restricted cause you're crushing your chest.                                                 You know, if the belly dancer had rounded shoulders, she couldn't get that movement down through the rib cage because she's crushing it. But if you bring your arms up, you actually can get a lot more movement. Your body is free or to twist. Not that you're going to stay still. Your body likes to move, your eyes like to move. Those things that you do every day is going to have more of an impact then what you do once a week in a yoga class or at least as much impact. Developing habits that are sustainable that aren't hard.                                                 We've had master teachers, like Leslie Kaminoff. He talks about even how you walk you can really, if you really are mindful of how you walk, it can help prevent some bunion's and things like that from just being aware of how your body's designed, which we didn't come with a book of how to, and so you kind of winging it. And when when somebody talks about what bones hit the floor first. When you put more weight on the outside edge of your foot, you're going to get a bunion there because it's protecting you. Work on your muscles, which isn't just the foot, it's the muscles of the leg and all that. They are all connected and bringing people in with these simple things they do at the desk, it might get them more interested. Some of these other aspects that aren't necessarily yoga poses, but like mindful movement and mindful sitting. 12:32                                     Let's go into that. How do you define mindful sitting? 12:38                                     Well, mindful sitting is noticing when my shoulders are rounded forward first of all. Where your feet are; are you really comfortable where you are? Because I do share with my classes at the studio sometimes and even when you do like cactus arms, when you're seated, notice that what happens with your feet and your legs too. If you don't cross your legs, your feet kind of come flat on the floor and the knees come over the ankles and your rib cage is lifted and you're in alignment without me telling you anything else. Now it's good to break it up and really notice and why you want everything aligned. But your knee likes to be at a right angle or a little, maybe a little bit straighter. I was just hearing something on the radio about when you put your car on cruise control, now they're saying put your feet flat on the floor in the car and sit up a little. But anytime you habitually do the same movement, always have your knees apart or together it's going to put strain on the knee, ankle or wherever. If you always cross your legs, real tight, that's going to start working on your hip. Just kind of noticing and being aware. 14:20                                     I was just going to ask do you give them help with getting that habit into their daily movement? I think that would be the hardest thing is just remembering to do it each time, 14:36                                     I'm building this as a business idea. I started with this office yoga, with the health fairs and then I'm going to start to work with either local companies or even online doing. My ideal is to have like little 15 minute things once a week or a couple of times a month because much longer people don't really want to do a lot like at work there. When you're busy, saying take an hour and for this relaxation practice or whatever it is, too much time, 15 minutes sounds reasonable. And then I'll have time for questions after, but what I can talk with them about whatever their issues are and it's like chipping away. So if you first get this idea of just coming into that cactus once in a while when you're at your desk. When you find that successful, then you start to notice other things. And I have talked to people about, do you notice, , what do you do with that arm that always hurts? I mean, is that the arm you use your mouse with.                                                  It's sometimes just bearing your position a little bit can make a big difference, and what kind of wear and tear you do on your body. That's kind of what I can build it into. From my own experience in working with brand new people to yoga because it's the type of people that really need yoga. It's the people who aren't going to go to work an hour early with yoga clothes and then change and go to work. These are the people that are just going to sit at their desk and not do anything unless it's really quick and easy. Some of the CEOs or the people running the thing running the health fairs will come over and they say, oh, office yoga, what is that? Or it's called all different things. Desk stretches. Each place has a different name, but they say, oh I only have about five minutes. So I'll just say, okay, I can do something in a minute or less. And I do it. You can see in their eye that it made an impression like wow, that does feel different. And it was so easy. And it's really easy.                                                 And especially when you think about it, even mindful sitting you kind of once somebody brings your attention to it. You think my outer outer part of my knee, that is always getting pulled out once because I sit with my knees apart all the time and it's fine to do, like I said, all of these positions like I tell the people at the health fairs is: none of these positions is wrong for your body. It's just what you do all the time is going to cause wear and tear. Knowing what is neutral for your body or because you kind of know what isn't putting any stress on your muscles. If you ever carried a crate or something and you had your fingers around it and you had to hold it longer than you expected. And your fingers don't open really quick, that's what happens to your back. But we sit with our back rounded forward for an hour and that's what happens with any muscle. You hold in one position for a long time.                                                  Our muscles are meant to move And whether we think about it or not, we're always moving like that. Even when you hold a Coffee Cup with your hand here, move your fingers up and down. You know, you never perfectly still and we don't think about that. But we do sit in front of the computer now and, and it's, I think as we do more and more on the computer, it is going to take its toll on our eyes, on the body. You know, they, they show that picture of how people progress from programs. Magnum man, the little, yeah. Chimps off and then they're going back. I've seen pictorials where they show it coming back down and this guy sitting at his desk all curled up looking just like the monkey at the beginning. Whatever you do over and over changes your body. People develop the hunchback and their shoulders are always rounded and that has long-term health impacts.                                                 What I usually have next to my station when I go to these health fairs is, there was an article in the Washington Post that you can Google just by putting in, don't just sit there. And what it is, is it's a picture of a guy over his desk and a cross section and next to it, it's got all the things that can happen from sitting improperly. And what that picture does is it draws people over, either laughing or you know, or concerned a little bit. It shows it crushes your heart. It doesn't let your lungs open up just from the way you hold your body and people know that it's not working well. And then when you explain that your body was meant to sit up, right? You've let certain muscles get stronger and other ones get weak that you feel like rounded forward is more comfortable. But after a while, once like I noticed as soon as my shoulders round forward now just because I've been doing yoga for so long.                                                 One other thing I do with the eyes is eye exercises and it struck me that even working in the office when we didn't have the computer doing everything, you would get up from your desk to look up information. You'd have to go over, get a book, find it on the shelf, bring it down and then your focus would change four or five times just looking up something. So your eyes got a little movement and your eyes didn't stay right in center right on this middle of the screen and just move in like an eight inch or 12 inch square. Even with the big screen, it's still only about 18 inches. Your eyes got a lot more range. We keep on for eight hours looking the same distance away with the same focus. Because now you can look up everything online. You don't have to move and , it's taking its toll on the eyes as well. And those are really simple just looking near and far, I'm making a point, you know like before you go on break, when your eyes are a little fuzzy focus far away, focus near in. you know, if you'll have a window, look at, look out the window, think about looking around, up, down at and then the sides.                                                  So these are all little things that don't take any time. You don't need a yoga mat, you don't need special clothes. But it's yoga, it's my your mind becoming aware of your body and then breathing practices to calm you down or to get you energized. There are all kinds of practices that it can be done in a very short period of time. 22:57                                     Excellent. I really think that's interesting because you're doing the essence of Yoga aren't you, of noticing, of being present and feeling what your body and your breath and your mind are doing. And that's basically, yoga is more than the Asanas. Where do you see this going? it sounds like a very accessible, easy to do kind of practice that it has a lot of benefits. How do you see it growing? 23:35                                     Well, I'm just trying to get it started. I think like having like either live or recorded 15 minutes little sessions periodically and seasonal, like doing packages of seasonal or topical like could be longer 45 minute sessions. If places want something like that can be customized to what the needs of an organization would be. You could bring in all kinds of practices like for anxiety and depression for sleep. and pain. I have a lot resources from all different certifications for Yoga, for depression and even with the brain, brain longevity, and memory and incorporating right and left brain and work like that can all be brought in. Make it really simple and easy practices that can be brought into any of these companies.                                                 My ideal is at some point to have people doing a year-long program where either a monthly or biweekly or quarterly packages where I could do either the short ones and even like for new employees when they come in, maybe have a recording like a, a zoom or a, not a Webinar, but a little video of me of going through the basics of these press pause practices; taking a practice and incorporating it every day.                                                  On the front of the flyer that I give out, it usually says, pick one or two to do each for the day and see which ones benefit you the most. And then maybe there's ones you always go to. And what happens eventually is you notice, oh, I really need this one now. End of the day practices, things like to leave work at work. So all of these we are creating either through a breath practice or a mindfulness practice at the end of the day, instead of rushing out the door. Do something that like almost like a little, not a ceremony, but a little thing that work is over. I clear my mind, I clear my thoughts and just let everything go and now I'm ready to go home and I'm not in a panic getting out the door.                                                  I'd like to see more and more corporations are getting more and more into the wellness and into retaining employees and in to employee health and these kinds of practices where they do it, they can do it anywhere, any not even just at the desk. You can do it anywhere, anytime. It can be incorporated in your daily life without you having to worry about being flexible.                                                 That's the whole thing. When you talk to people about doing yoga, they're all worried. You have to be very flexible and the idea is you're really thin and really flexible and you get into all of these positions. The positions are just way of someone who is real flexible of getting sensation. Someone said the difference between a flexible and an inflexible person is how much they have to move to feel the sensation. So someone is tight doesn't have to move as far. And they feel it. And somebody else who's more flexible has to move deeper and everybody's body is different. So things that work for some people aren't going to work for others and that's where you kind of tailor things in the therapeutic vein. That helped bring us all together. But where I'm seeing is that corporations might might be interested in having this be a regular thing that they can share with their employees. It can vary over the year or different topics? 28:16                                     I could see where, especially since it's not taking them away from work. It's just giving them a little time to reset themselves as you say. 28:36                                     Pause, reset, refresh is like on my website. That's another little catch thing. 28:44                                     You said you're a yoga therapist. Do you do these kinds of things with your Yoga therapy clients also? 28:54                                     I haven't done as many privates. When training. I did a lot of yoga therapeutics with clients, I also got into Yoga Health coaching with Ayurveda. Kate Stillman had these 10 practices where you do things in Kaizen. So kaizen, which is taking little, little things at a time. And I think between the Yoga Therapeutics and the Yoga Health coaching with these health fairs, I kind of combined some of that.                                                 When I work with individual students, you give them small things to do, get them to incorporate them and then build on that instead of a whole bunch of things to do at once.                                                 What is the main focus of what I want? What do you want to accomplish? What the client wants to accomplish. What are the simplest practices that can get you there that you can do easily along with a more formal practice you can do during the day daily or three times a week. Practice would be longer if I was working with an individual client, but what things you could change in between. Something simple, even like a pause practice. If they're working with me for depression or anxiety - a breathing practice. What breathing practice is most effective? We'll try these different ones. Which one would work for you? And you said every time you're feeling stressed because with any of the therapeutic things, the earlier you recognize that you're having an issue, the easier it is to head it off.                                                 So sometimes in the west we tend to ignore pain and ignore signals from our body, which may or may not be pain. There may be just discomfort, but we think we can push through it and sometimes we can, but it's all taking a toll because with pain and discomfort, your body is telling you something, If you don't listen and make an adjustment, your pain level usually increases because you keep ignoring the pain signal and then all of a sudden things fall apart. I'd often hear, people say it would be like I was healthy and then I had this one thing go wrong and now everything is off.                                                 And even back then before I had done yoga, I'm thinking it probably was happening all along. You just chose to ignore it. Your body has this amazing ability to help you do whatever you want to do. Even if you're having pain, it will, it will push you through it. But it's taking its toll and body can compensate for a lot of the things we do, which is why a bunion is a compensation for your gait being in a way that you always are rubbing on that part of the foot. Your body, in order to protect your foot, forms a bunion forms harder skin there. if you start to notice it earlier and instead of ignoring it, take action. that's really helpful.                                                 Working with people with anxiety and depression and pain and arthritis you do your regular practices and then you notice when something's aggravating it and when it's aggravating it, you stop. Then you do a practice that you know will relieve it and then go back to it. So it's all again yoga; your mind listening to your body.  Your breath will often be an indicator of when things aren't working well. And if you notice, I notice every time this happens, my breath gets faster in my heart rate goes up a little bit. You do a breathing practice or even just a sigh or something that changes your breathing pattern, changes your muscle movement which in turn changes your mind, your mindset.                                                 This is a global yoga therapy day is coming up. Yoga therapy is fairly new and a lot of yoga teachers do yoga therapy they modify things, but the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) actually created a certification for people who are focusing on going beyond the poses. And a lot of what IAYT is doing is funding and working on research to show that yoga therapy is effective. And, it's kind of hard to do some of the yoga therapeutics because a lot of it is preventive, so it's can't prove that something, did not happen. But a lot of people are doing research with pain, anxiety, arthritis, trauma, and are documenting changes that they see. For the next seven weeks before this comes up the global yoga therapy, it's on a Facebook page is just a global yoga therapy day and they're putting up videos every week of somebody's research and then other topics through, on the website that might be papers and things like that. 36:03                                     That sounds like a great resource. 36:10                                     YogaMate, is a place where you can look up yoga, yoga therapists and they put out all this information you can get all kinds of names of yoga therapists and how yoga therapy is researched. This Yoga therapy day is to highlight how yoga therapy it is making itself known a little bit more. Most people don't really think about yoga therapy or don't even know what exists. 36:46                                     Is there anything that you would like to add to what you've said or talk about something else that you would really like the listeners to know? 37:04                                     I think this is going to be kind of a, maybe not what I'm doing, but yoga I think is going to become more of a useful element even in medicine and in daily life. Even if they don't have enough, it's not called Yoga, this mindfulness and all it is really kind of the wave of the future. So I'm kind of happy to be here at this time and share some of this information with you and your listeners. 37:37                                     Thank you. It's been really interesting and I'm really impressed with how you've made it so accessible because I think that corporate yoga is probably really needed and yet it's a difficult a place to be because people are really busy. It's hard for them to do it, but I think you've done it really cleverly. I think it's really very interesting. So, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I really appreciate that you're bringing this information to the listeners and I'm sure they'll be interested also. 38:12    , thank you for having me. It's been really nice. Contacts: website: www.CarolfinoYoga.com FB: CarolfinoYoga   If you enjoyed the podcast and would like to learn more about what I do I am offering a free 5 day challenge.  In this challenge, each day you will be offered a practice to include your day to see the difference to take a minute break.   Energy Reboot Challenge: https://www.carolfinoyoga.com/energy-reboot-5-day-challenge/ For more information on yoga therapy you can still access all the videos and information from the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GlobalYogaTherapyDay/ If you enjoyed the podcast and would like to learn more about what I do I am offering a free 5 day challenge.  In this challenge, each day you will be offered a practice to include your day to see the difference to take a minute break.  Follow this link https://www.carolfinoyoga.com/energy-reboot-5-day-challenge/   For more information on yoga therapy you can still access all the videos and information from the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GlobalYogaTherapyDay/

Frances Rhodis E-RYT 500, A.P. is a complete Wellness Doctor and Lifestyle Coach trained in Yoga Therapeutics, Somatic Awareness, Functional, and Chinese Medicine. She has been in the field of Holistic Medicine for over 18 years and has studied with teachers worldwide with the latest scientific research about how our genetics, environment, and lifestyle all interact to create well-being.

Clinical psychologist Erik Groessl talks about research showing the value of yoga in reducing pain, improving physical function and overcoming opioid addiction in military veterans, among other patients, in this conversation with Paul J. Mills of UC San Diego. Series: "Wellbeing " [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 32702]

Clinical psychologist Erik Groessl talks about research showing the value of yoga in reducing pain, improving physical function and overcoming opioid addiction in military veterans, among other patients, in this conversation with Paul J. Mills of UC San Diego. Series: "Wellbeing " [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 32702]

Clinical psychologist Erik Groessl talks about research showing the value of yoga in reducing pain, improving physical function and overcoming opioid addiction in military veterans, among other patients, in this conversation with Paul J. Mills of UC San Diego. Series: "Wellbeing " [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 32702]

Clinical psychologist Erik Groessl talks about research showing the value of yoga in reducing pain, improving physical function and overcoming opioid addiction in military veterans, among other patients, in this conversation with Paul J. Mills of UC San Diego. Series: "Wellbeing " [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 32702]

Clinical psychologist Erik Groessl talks about research showing the value of yoga in reducing pain, improving physical function and overcoming opioid addiction in military veterans, among other patients, in this conversation with Paul J. Mills of UC San Diego. Series: "Wellbeing " [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 32702]

Clinical psychologist Erik Groessl talks about research showing the value of yoga in reducing pain, improving physical function and overcoming opioid addiction in military veterans, among other patients, in this conversation with Paul J. Mills of UC San Diego. Series: "Wellbeing " [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 32702]

Kiki is a renowned Ashtanga Yoga teacher, wellness consultant, and personal coach. With 34-years experience, she has pioneered a career at the strategic intersection of Wellness, Natural Lifestyle, Yoga, Inspired Living, and Organic Beauty. Kiki is a spokesperson and community builder with a dedicated YouTube and Blogging audience. Kiki facilitates and implements transformational programs for individuals and organizations. Her clients include Hollywood and Fortune 500 leaders as well as adults and children with therapeutic needs. She develops and executes Yoga and Wellness Programs for Spinal Cord Injury at The Axis Project as well as Independence Care Systems, providing Yoga for communities with disability. Based in New York City, Kiki also consults remotely with clients around the world. A Yoga educator, she teaches workshops locally and worldwide. Kiki Graduated with Honors from NYU with a BFA in Drama, and it is here she was introduced to Yoga. As an actress, she starred and co-starred in Hollywood, New York, and Independent projects in film, television, and theater. Kiki continued her Yoga studies traveling to India more than a dozen times studying closely with Ashtanga Yoga with founder Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois in Yoga Therapeutics, Wellness Traditions, Sanskrit and Philosophy. In 1996, Kiki opened her first yoga school in Los Angeles, where she taught for 10 years. Here she was honored to host her teacher Pattabhi Jois as well as celebrated Kirtan singer Krishna Das in his first California appearances. She also worked as a Yoga Consultant in film and television, notably on The Next Best Thing, starring Madonna.