Loving Life Fitness Podcast

#8 - Erin McNaughton

• Host Angela Grayson • Episode 8

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Erin McNaughton shares a story of how her search for a disciplined workout routine ultimately led to new opportunities, clarity and a sense of freedom she didn't even know she was searching for. Take Erin's yoga classes at One Love Yoga in Palm Coast. Join a retreat with Erin at Yoga Elements Retreats, Oct 20-22nd in Apopka, FL and Nov 3-5th Fort White, FL. She is also involved in monthly Women's Circle and monthly book club also at One Love Yoga in Palm Coast, FL. To get more links to Erin's favorite books, see the Chapter Markers. 

Erin is an E-RYT 500 who specializes in prenatal yoga and also has a certification in BUTI yoga. Her interest in yoga first came as a means to get fit but quickly became so much more of a spiritual practice that she maintains daily. Erin is a trained professional doula and loves talking all things related to pregnancy and birth. If she is not teaching yoga or welcoming babies earth side, you can find her paddle-boarding, biking, swimming in the ocean or working alongside her husband running their small business, Shamrock Tattoo. 
Erin's Facebook  Erin's Instagram 

Book Recommendations: 5 Love Languages The Four Agreements
The Untethered Soul ; Living Untethered
The Secret of the Yoga Sutra; The Living Gita
How Yoga Works; Mans Search for Meaning; Braving the Wilderness
Hypnobirthing; Bountiful, beautiful, blissful
Rediscovering birth; Magical beginnings, enchanted lives

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This is Angela Grayson from the Living Life Fitness Podcast. To help others in their fitness journey. It's All Possible! It’s time to wake up. Here we go. Hi, everybody. This is Angela Grayson from Loving Life Fitness. A podcast that's brought to you to try to help you live your best life. And I'm having a conversation with Erin McNaughton, who is a yoga instructor. Plus many more things. And we're going to talk about everything that she does in her life to try to help others live their best life. Hi there, Erin. How are you today? I'm good, Angela. So great to hear your voice again and have this conversation with you. Such an honor. I'm so glad that you accepted the invitation to be on the show. I know there's listeners out there who are going to enjoy everything that you have to say. It's an absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me. So let's start with your fitness journey. Let's go back, okay? And then tell us what you're all about. I'll start with my childhood. I was a very dedicated and disciplined ballerina. When I was 11, I got a scholarship to a school and I went away to a boarding school and ballet was just my life. It was everything I did. I was so passionate about it. It took precedence over most other things until I got to high school. And then things started to change. And I realized what it was like to have a social life. And those things became a little more important to me. But I've always communicated with my body, and I think that's where kind of my my journey with fitness, dance, yoga, all the other things that came about sort of began. That's where it originated. And what has dance done to your life to help you with your journey in yoga? Well, it was funny because I was so disciplined when I was younger and I had two sons. And after my second son was born, I was seeking out that sort of discipline again. And I wanted to get back into something and I wasn't sure what was going to give me that. You know, there's not a whole lot of adult dance classes offered in our area or just in general. And so I heard about yoga. I had tinkered with it here and there before, but I was like, you know, this is a good place for me to start and see where it goes from there. Yeah, I think dance was just a form, a way for me to sort of get out all of my emotions. If we take it a step further. Do you remember walking into your first first yoga class? I do. I remember going into yoga class and I wasn't sure really what to expect. Then on top of that, it was a heated yoga class, and I think that I was probably very mistakenly confident walking in thinking, Oh yes, I have a background in dance, and I did it for so long. And I it was something that I sort of excelled at. So I kind of expected yoga to come easy and it definitely did not. I was proven wrong. The first day I walked in, I was looking around like, what is the teacher saying? I don't understand these words. I don't know what these poses are. You know, we've all heard of a couple of the poses and I was nailing those, but everything else, I was lost. So it was very humbling. It was a great experience. I left there definitely feeling amazing and I knew it was something I would want to do again. And I did. I kept going back and then the studio I was attending at the time had a 21 day challenge, and so I decided to challenge myself. That's where you go consecutively for 21 days. And I did that. And although I first went back to yoga as a form of discipline and to sort of tone my body and get a workout, something was happening and transforming in my emotional body as well. And I couldn't really, you know, place a name on it, but it was just the feeling that felt so good and it turned into magic. I completed that challenge. I was like, This is something that I want to share, you know? So I continue doing yoga. And very shortly after I enrolled for my first yoga teacher training. So it was kind of it was on from there and hasn't stopped. Yeah. Let's let's talk about what yoga gives us and what it takes away from us. Oh, that's a beautiful question. The changes that were happening and the transformation that were happening were so subtle, but I was becoming more aware. So the subtleties kind of were like, Oh, that's coming from this place. For example, you know, if you're driving down the road and I hate to admit that, but I do. I had at the time a little bit of road rage and somebody would upset me and my car and, you know, you immediately get all these heated emotions. Sometimes you might throw a choice finger or word out. And after I was doing yoga, after I was paying attention to my breath, after I was paying attention to my body and really just sort of moving with intention, everything else started to fall into place the same way. And I started to notice like, Oh, that guy just cut me off and it didn't affect me at all. It's almost like you're for me at least I was gaining a whole lot of clarity and two things that were important and things that weren't, and two things that were intentional and things that weren't in addition to that. Beautiful question. I mean, there's so many things I can say. What it gives us, the discipline. I was definitely receiving the magical spiritual, emotional practice that was coming along with that, the veils that were being lifted, meaning like all these things that maybe I was telling myself at the time, I was not in a great place where I believe a lot of people start doing yoga when they're maybe in a dark place in their life or a dark time. So all of these things or negativity that I was feeding myself before I began yoga started to sort of disappear. So all of these layers were sort of being peeled back and I was able to let go, you know, and I don't really like saying letting go because I think that's something that just repeated so often by so many teachers. And people don't understand how they can just let go of something, especially if they've been holding on to it for their whole life. I was allowing things to just be as they were instead of trying to control them, instead of trying to fix. I was just really going with the flow, living in each moment and letting everything be. I think it offers a lot of magical properties that I could sit here and tell you words, but really it has to be experienced in my opinion, and I think it takes away a lot of fear. It takes away a lot of judgments, not only about yourself, but also with other people. I think that you gain compassion and yeah, you let go of the ego a little bit way back in. It wasn't even that long ago, but seems like a long enough time ago. And 2019 is when I took my yoga teacher training. So, Erin, I met you at the gym and that we both worked at. I was a trainer and you were a teacher, a yoga teacher there. And you announced one day that there was going to be a teacher training at Renew Yoga in Daytona, Florida. And if anybody was interested or and we knew of anybody who was interested and I signed up. I'm like, wow, you know, you were always an inspiration to me in the class on the mat. And then when I decided to go to teacher training, which I never anticipated that I was ever going to be a yoga teacher, I never thought that I was good enough. But when I went through the training, to me, yoga before had been all about the asana, the practice, the postures, a form of flexibility, range of motion, stretching and feeling good in the body. I never got into to the spiritual side of it, living a yogi life. We learned in that class 8 limbs of yoga. The yamas and the niyamas. And I learned so much from that. And my life has transformed because of all of that. And those readings just teach us so much about how to live. A good life becomes instilled in you, and I'm so happy that you inspired me to do that. Now, a lot of Christians out there, they think that the Yogi Way is like another religion. Let's talk about that a little bit. Do you feel that way or do you feel something else about that? Well, first I want to go back and just say it was such an honor to have you in that training. I was very honored to be a part of that at Renew and that is where I started my yoga teacher journey under the guidance of Pat Raye, Melanie Richie. Melissa Smith, the owners and Brenda O'Donnell were there at the time, but she's in Tampa now. And wow, what a great group we had and what a great offering. And I'm really glad that that I was your inspiration to start. And I just love seeing where you've come from that place and how many doors that opened for you. And I know for a lot of people and maybe some people that are listening, if you want to do a teacher training and you're nervous, like just go for it. If it ignites your fire, if it makes your heart beat after, please just do it. Open the door and go. And it is such a transformational space. And even if you're a little closed off to the ideas and concept of all that, you're going to gain something from it. Yeah, I do not think that yoga is a religion. I've talked to so many people about this particular idea or a question because I've had people call and say that they wanted to try it, but they were nervous because they, you know, they were told that maybe their mind would be opened up to evil or, you know, things of that nature. So what I tell those people is, yes, the yoga is going to help you connect to yourself. And in doing so, you're going to connect to your God, whatever that means to you, to maybe, maybe you love nature. And that is existence. Maybe, you know, it's science, maybe it’s your higher. So maybe it's a bunch of deities, maybe it's Norse gods. But whatever it is, when you connect to yourself and you tap into that unexplainable feeling within you that you know is authentic and pure, and that is just made of light, that's what you tap into. It's not necessarily a religion, but it can help you get closer to your God. It can help you you want to seek out. But also, I think you're going to want to find deeper understand not only for what it is you believe, but for other people's beliefs, too. It sort of opens up your mind to hear and understand, but maybe not agree with what other people believe. I think that's just that's a beautiful thing. A beautiful thing. It doesn't matter what religion or if you practice a religion at all what it might be. It gets us closer to ourselves and honoring ourselves and honoring others around us and bring us us all to a better place. Absolutely. You practice and teach several different kinds of yoga at one of the classes that we had when I went through training was Couples yoga, and I was really impressed with that. I don't know if you are still doing that, but tell us about couples yoga. Well, now that you mentioned that, I definitely should have something there because it is so much fun. It's basically using another person almost as a prop, but not just a prop. It helps you get a little deeper into all of your poses. It helps with communication, it helps with intimacy. My husband and I actually teach the couples classes that I taught in the past. He is an E-RYT 200. And that was really special to be able to do yoga, something I'm so passionate about and love with someone that I love and adore. And what's even cooler than that is when we prepare these classes, we do it together and it forces us to communicate. Hey, to this relocate as it's not feel like, Oh, let's try that. So that feels really great. And oh my gosh, I feel like this opens me up so much more. So that is a class that we really, really love to teach. And I think 98% of the people that come really has received positive feedback. And it's not what we do, it's what they have done with their partner and it makes them feel so good. And that connection is just something really special. That is a great offering. And yeah, maybe stay tuned for some upcoming couples workshop and it doesn't matter if it's a husband and a wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, significant other. It doesn't matter. It's just two people doing the practice together and not only opens you up physically, but when you're sitting with somebody like that for an hour and involved with each other's bodies and pushing and pulling and seeing how far you can take each other. So communication, we're always looking for things to do with others. And why not let this be one of them instead of just going out to eat together or, you know, things where we're just sitting going to the movies on the couch, why not do something physical that brings us together even more? I completely agree. And just even breathing with someone, you know, sitting back to back and tuning in to their breath with yours and it just becoming one or what it feels like one, even that connection, I'm like, no speaking or communicating. Just communicating with the body or the breath is so beautiful. And yeah, I mean, it's definitely better than and I listen, I love sitting on the couch and watching a movie with my husband or going to the theater. But this is a deeper and a different connection, and I think that we all need that, especially after, you know, what happened the big pandemic a couple of years ago. I think people are still finding ways to come back together. Since she spoke of breathing right now, we're going to get a little bit and we'll come back to the other types of yoga. Let's talk about the importance of the breath and practice breathing in your yoga sessions. There's so many different types of breath, but if you want to, we can do a very simple breath together here and the listeners can join in if they want that this breath is in formally known as box breath. Basically, if you imagine drawing a box in front of you, you can do it visually in your mind's eye or maybe with your hand and you're going to inhale for the count of four, three, two, one, and then ha, 3 to 1 exhale 3 to 1, and pausing at the bass, 3 to 1, we'll repeat this Inhale on two, three or pause for 3 to 1. Exhale for 3 to 1. Pause. One, two, three, four. But that was only two rounds. And I don't know, we probably should have checked in here before we did the breath, but that's a beautiful way to just a simple way for beginners that have never really focused on their breath to start. Notice how you feel. Check them on their body. Check in with your emotional body before you start you about 10 to 15 rounds of that breath and then check back in. And I mean, I always feel a difference when I consciously agree versus disclosing my I and her ten minute. If you focus on the breath coming in and out, it's it's magical. And the more we do it, the more we practice it, the easier it becomes. And we feel relaxed. We feel in the moment. If you've had a busy day and you come into your class, your yoga practice and your mind is all over the place, we can come together and just take a moment to relax and be where we are. Also using the breath throughout the practice. What does it do for a yoga while marrying breath with movement? I mean, these these traditions have come a very long way since the beginning of yoga, and each movement has a breath. Now, this is something I love teaching traditional yoga, but I also agree with listening to your body and listening to your diaphragm. And maybe I might offer expanding and inhaling and contracting as you exhale, but that might not feel right in your body. So it's teaching you to be in tune and then to delve into what works best for you and these movements in your body. Again, I tend to teach the traditional way, but I also always invite people to change that. I mean, I think we put so much emphasis on things that can feel frustrating, especially to beginners, like, well, this has this breath, this movement has this breath, and instead of focusing on actually how they're feeling, they're like, Oh, I messed up this breath with this movement. It's not that big of a deal, you know? And all these things kind of flow naturally and will come to you naturally. The more you practice. But yeah, I mean, it can help you expand in your body and create space, create length when you're incorporating the breath with within movement and it can calm your heart rate, it can speed your heart rate up. There's so many different types of breath we use and can use in different movements or postures to create different effects. I'm not educated in Kundalini yoga, but there's listeners out there that are extremely interested in breathwork under any other. Probably is the most interesting to me and eventually I'll dive in there. But that's another whole long road and journey ahead. But yeah, to activate different parts of the body to activate different chakras emotions. Any blockages you can use breathwork for all of those things. Okay, that was very good. Let's move on to prenatal yoga. One of your specialties though. I love teaching prenatal yoga. I'm always I love babies, I love pregnant women, I love birth. It's just always been something that's fascinated me. I was very fortunate to have two sons and go through it two different ways and recognize the difference between them. And unfortunately, I didn't have yoga while it was around, but I wasn't in tune with it when I was pregnant. And so it became really exciting to me, like how much I loved that yoga teacher training I did that. I wanted to continue my education and that just felt like the right way for me to go. And then that training really opened me up to more things that I'm sure we'll probably talk about in the conversation. That prenatal yoga so special because it is a way to help you connect with your baby, especially someone that let's say they're pregnant with their second baby and they've got a a toddler running around or even, you know, for me it was seven years, so I had a seven year old running around. But you tend to just go throughout your day and forget like you're housing a life and the taking time to actually connect with that life within. And it's probably the most special part. But also, I mean, there's so many benefits of prenatal yoga to help you prepare for your actual labor and delivery. The benefits are endless. It can help you rest better, sleep better. All of the things that can come along with pregnancy and addition yoga can help so much anxiety. Again, breath work through labor and delivery, cooling yourself down physically and eat emotion through a breath work when you're pregnant. The benefits are endless for sure. You can start at the beginning of your pregnancy and keep doing prenatal yoga all the way through first, second, third trimester, all the way to the end. Absolutely. I mean, as long as we do say, just check in with your doctor. If you are experiencing or of your high risk pregnancy, definitely should consult your OB or midwife first. But yes, it is typically safe to practice from the beginning to the end. What we commonly see is people coming in because maybe their doctor or midwife said, Hey, have you ever tried yoga? But a lot of people that come to prenatal yoga have never done it before. They walk in nervous, but it is a very gentle practice. And then also people that are very experienced with yoga and they're pregnant and they want something a little bit more, they're able to adjust their practice according to how their bodies feeling. So they maybe would move a little bit faster. You know, that what we're offering. But yeah, and it's available to everyone, whether you've ever done it or not before. But pregnancy is not a time to start a vigorous practice. You know, if you're not a runner, you shouldn't go run. Start running when you find out you're pregnant. But yoga is a safe activity to practice any time during pregnancy. Do husbands ever participate during the prenatal yoga? That's a good question. At the studio, we actually prefer it to remain just women because sometimes they'll be a partner that may want to come, but if somebody doesn't have a partner with them, you know, we just want everyone to feel very comfortable in that space. So, yes, if I am teaching, you know, my adult clients or someone else, I love getting their partner involved. I do have the experience with couples yoga, so it's nice for them to again connect with their partner because a lot of times too, as women, we forget to let the partner in on what's happening with our ever changing body. You know, we just kind of want them to understand, but we may not know how to communicate that. So sometimes doing yoga together or having the support partner with you during the practice can be really beneficial or and preparation for our labor and delivery. All right. So why we're talking about prenatal yoga. You mentioned, Doula. You are a Doula. Tell us about that. I am. So this is definitely not something that I set out to do. or be, again, the yoga sort of I learned how to recognize signs of excitement or what really sparks joy and interest in my body. And I sort of follow that that direction. So in my prenatal yoga teacher training, we were required to get some more continuing education units to complete the certification for that. And there was a lot of different things that we were they were trying to guide us in different ways. But I saw doula training and I said, Hey, would this be acceptable because I don't want to be a Doula, but I think this would be a really great way for me to gain education. I can teach in my prenatal yoga classes and they were like, Absolutely, you could do that. So I showed up and you know, we're sitting in the circle and everyone's talking about what brought them there. And I was like, I'm not here to really be a Doula, I'm just here to soak in all of this awesome information and share it. And let's see, I think that was like a Thursday. I want to say the training was Thursday through Monday, a pretty full day, and by the end of that weekend I was just completely transformed and I was like, okay, this is it. I'm going to do this also. And I fell in love with that. One of the other women that were in that certification. her name is Caroline, her and I became partners and created a company called Birth Prep Doulas, which just recently has kind of separated because she moved to Alabama a couple of years ago and we kept that going long distance. And she had three littles. So after her last baby, she kind of took a break recently. The company is not really what it was before, but I am continuing to be a doula. And for those of you that don't know what that is, a lot of people don't. Now it's basically a support person for a woman and labor from the beginning of labor to delivery, not just labor, I should say, whenever they hire you, it could be they can be one week pregnant and decide that they want to be a dollar and we can go through this whole journey together. It's education, it's physical and emotional support techniques. It's getting the partner involved. If there's a partner, it's a whole lot. But basically I like to say it's a it's like a wedding planner, but for birth. So you just help do the whole process of planning, preparing the body, preparing the minds, preparing the paperwork, all of the things that come along with it. And yeah, it's something that has been really rewarding. I think that I've done about 26 births and every single one of them was so different and unique and beautiful. Are you there when the baby is born? Yeah. For moral support. For emotional support, to help the woman through it all. The husband. But do are do you get involved at all with the medical side of it or. No. No I don't do anything medical so it's more comfort techniques and measures which has been really great that I had the background in yoga because yoga where yoga poses all of these things can be really helpful. What I found I've done home and hospital deliveries and what I found is when you show up to the hospital with a Doula, they’re more, a lot of the nurses are really grateful because, you know, they've got a lot of patients at the same time, whereas you're going to be in the room the whole time with this woman and you provide a lot of help to this woman and support that. Otherwise they would have to sort of carry or maybe it would take them away from another patient at this one required more. So it's a beautiful compliment to all of those involved in the medical field. I believe, you know, I've never had anyone show me or tell me differently. There's definitely difference of opinion sometimes, but my job is to respect the mother's wishes, to be an advocate for the mother and try and stay that course with them. Yeah, you go through all much when you're going through a pregnancy and don't always have all the answers to all your questions. And some women emotionally, they have it a little bit harder than others. And every marriage isn't perfect either. So having a doula around to help you with things that might come up throughout your pregnancy so that you can make it through smoother and hopefully helped to patch things and make things turn out in a better way. And what about after the baby is born? Do you help? I know a lot of women who want to breastfeed and sometimes have issues with that. Are you still around then, or does it end at birth? No. I mean, typically I stay around for a couple hours while they're at the hospital. Or with home birth will definitely help to start in the breastfeeding process. Anything else that the mother needs help with? Also, I have done postpartum Doula work. There are a lot of postpartum doulas out there. It's not something that I specialize in really, just because it's not conducive with my scheduling. But yeah, there's postpartum doulas that will go to your house once you're home, that when you're napping will feed your baby, or if your baby's sleeping and you're napping, you know they can change their baby diaper and get the baby dressed and bring them to you to breastfeed while you nap or so many things cook meals for you. There's different doulas provide different services, but it is a really great thing to think about. Like we do all this preparation for birth and we forget about how important it is to prepare for postpartum because really that's when the real work began. I mean, by no means is it easy to give birth, but afterward, when you're responsible for this whole other life that just came outside, it, it can be very, very challenging. So I also help as a birth doula, I prepare them for the challenges that may or may not arise just as an any other thing. The more education you have, the better prepared you feel for these times, these transformational times in your life. I wish I knew what a doula was when I went through my pregnancy. I didn't even know there was such a thing. I didn't start really till I met you. I had never heard of a doula. And years ago, many years ago, I think women helped each other more. There was more family around because we all lived closer together to our families. Now everybody lives all over the place. We leave our families for jobs or what have you. And so families are not close by. Also, women work now not like it was before, where mothers were home. Sisters were home, and they would all help each other. So having a doula, another woman to be there for you, I think it's a beautiful thing in so many ways. Thank you. I was like, you. I had no idea what a doula was either. I didn't have the yoga when I was pregnant. That I think, is why I'm so passionate about both of those things, because I'm able to introduce that and I've seen how it has helped to create better delivery. Is better communication with a partner, less feelings of postpartum depression, all of these things, it really does help the more satisfied and statistic then I really don't have it in my brain right now. But the more satisfied you are with your birth experience, the less likely you are to have the postpartum depression. And so, I mean, even just that statement or that statistic, it's crazy when you think about it. How many people still don't know what a doula is or they don't even really prepare. They just feel like it's a medical condition and I'm just going to go in and have a baby without really acknowledging what's happening and their body and and really how much of a miracle it is. I mean, I'm still blown away that we can do this. You know, it's incredible. And that our body just creates an organ that it needs to sustain a life and then it gets rid of the organ when we're done in our placenta. So it's just the whole thing still boggles my mind. Even though I learned the science behind it, it's still just such a miracle. And I think we forget that we've stepped away from that a little bit. But I have seen transformation. We're coming back to recognize that, and hospitals are becoming much more friendly. I remember giving birth and I wasn't even allowed to have water, though every time that the nurse or doctor would leave, I would yell at my husband to like, give me some freekin’ water because it's important that they hydrated it’s like a marathon. But now it's small changes like that, you know, now you can have the clear juices or the clear liquids and drink water, small things like that after baby come, skin to skin, on mother that they don't take the baby right away and do all of the tests to, you know, they wait for at least an hour. And if you request longer, they will. So they're definitely becoming more friendly and and the holistic views and you should definitely voice that. That's something that you would prefer the more before you get there, talk to your doctor, talk to your midwife and tell them exactly what you want. And if you don't know where to look, look online. We just got rid of our website, which held a lot of information, but you could always get in touch with me. I love talking about it. So let's talk about let's go back to yoga and I want to hear about your Buti yoga. So Buti yoga is really fun. I think it got a bad rap on that first came out because it is too fast music, too loud music. It's not a traditional movement. It's a continuous flow where they mix yoga with tribal dance, with plyometrics, with cardio. So it's a variety of movements and poses designed to sort of awaken that primal instinct within us. So in a Buti yoga class, wherever you attend, you will probably hear hollering and cheering, and there's even movements where you drum and you’re just banging into your mat and it feels so good. And B-U-T-I Buti is Marathi Indian, a Marathi word for something hidden. The objective of Buti yoga is to sort of release whatever is hidden within you or keeping you from being that primal instinctual self, it's very fun, it's very fast and we always add to it by making it, you know, in the black light. So that's always very fun. I think people are a little less self-conscious when you can do this type of yoga in the dark. It's proven to be really fun. I need to try that. Recently, I taken out ballroom dancing and I'm just having so much fun doing that, moving the body in ways that I've never moved before. It's stimulating muscles that I have never used before. Dance is an entirely new thing to me. This girl is trying to learn to move her body in ways that it's never been before. I want to try your Buti yoga and see what happens that well, isn't that amazing? Regardless of our age, we can still find like different ways that we've lived in this body our whole life. And regardless of your age, you can still find activity or movement that you've never experienced before. Or maybe you've done them, but you just didn't do them with intention. And I think that's so awesome that you're doing that. I've heard such great things about ballroom dancing. The whole world went on and on there. I'm just full of joy. It nonstop dancing and it's amazing. It's all I could say. Everybody should really try it. Some type of dance doesn't have to be ballroom dancing, some type of dance. It's just absolute fun. You forget about everything that's going on in your life and you're just there having a good time with other people who want the same thing. That's awesome. I'm a big advocate of dance for sure. I’m glad that you found that. Yes. So travel, I know that you travel to different places being part of retreats and also to study yoga. My question to you is tell us about a couple of the places that you've been into and how it's influenced your yoga practice. That's a great question. I'd say probably one of the most life changing experience was I went to India, I went with the women Kirsten Warner and Katie Wise, who led my prenatal yoga training. They're from Colorado, but they came down to Altamont Springs to lead that training and they were so inspirational to me. They're both so different, but such strong and empowering women. And I felt when I saw that they were hosting this retreat, I was like, I have to go. It was, I believe for 14 days I was either ten or 14 day retreat. And Rishikesh, which is kind of like known as the the yoga capital and the retreat was named Grace and Chaos, which is exactly what I would describe India as. It was my first time really traveling on my own by myself and definitely my first time in a third world country. So it was I was scared. I was really nervous to get on that plane. Luckily, another woman that I had met and the yoga teacher training or the prenatal training lived in Florida and we ended up meeting at JFK and flying over to New Delhi together so that brought me a source of comfort. But, you know, we didn't do we did yoga every day. Of course, it was a yoga retreat, but there was so much more involved anyway. Katie Wise is actually a voice coach and she has a band and she I can't really explain how it happened, but we did a lot of working on our voices and I never even really tapped into the story that I had surrounding my voice. I never, ever would have shared my singing voice with anyone before. Before this practice and before this retreat and all of the exercises that we did together. Something happened. And I feel like my throat chakra just just immediately opened up and I found myself coming back home and singing to my students at the end of class when it called to me and starting to chant and even just share voice and my house singing lullabies to their kids then and things like that. So for me, that part of the training was huge. I mean, not only all of the friendships I gained and the yoga education I gained and just walking around and enjoying the Indian culture and being exposed to that was was absolutely incredible. Yeah. So that was probably my most amazing trip. I have been able to go on a local retreat with. I think we'll probably end up talking about this, but my friend Whitney and Maggie started a company called Yoga Element Retreat, and we my husband and I actually went on their retreat, I believe that was their second one they ever hosted. And man, it was such an awesome weekend one because I was with my best friend. So that was great. But also to witness these girls living in their Dharma, taking yoga outside and being in nature and sort of turning off their cell phones and just escaping for a weekend was was so incredible. And you're just brought back to that place again of like what's important and what's, you know, what am I I need to put my focus on and what can I start to let go of? Because we get so wrapped up sometimes. So those are the ones that are coming to my head right now that are incredible. And I, I recently just went on an amazing rafting trip that also offered yoga, and that was in Utah as a company called Adrift Dinosaur. And man, I'm still processing that whole trip, so I don't know how much I can share without stumbling over my words, but that was incredible. There was a yoga guide on it and we camped out on the riverbanks night and in the morning, and sometimes throughout the day she would offer breathwork or temple movement. And it was just so great to experience out away from public. Like there's no cell service, there's no electricity, it's just you and nature. So you have no choice to be fully present in your body. That was that was a really cool experience. Sounds amazing. Beautiful. You really take your yoga into your life in so many different ways and you have a love of your life because on it that an Absolutely yes. And involving your husband him wanting to be involved and being involved in it just kind of brings everything full circle. Absolutely. I feel like, you know, we want to nurture what is best in our partner and we want to receive the same from them. And so, you know, I probably should. He's really into the mountain biking. And I tried I broke my arm, I think the second time I went with him, but I tried to get back into it, enjoying his passion, too. But yeah, I think it is important. And when you can connect with someone like that, doing something that they love pretty special. So your yoga retreats, while we're talking about retreats, I know that you are going to be leading two retreats, correct? Now I'll be co-hosting. Yeah. With Whitney, the owner of the Yoga Elements Retreat. And I'm so excited they're coming out really quick. We have one in October from the 20th to the 22nd. That one's going to be in Apopka, FL. We are out in the woods and everything is provided. I mean, you get there and their teepee is already set up for you. And the bedding is actually very comfortable. Everything from the lanterns to bands and things like that are already set up. So it's kind of, as you could say, glamping. You know, you don't really have to bring all of your equipment and carry all these things with you. So I'm really excited to host that one. All of these retreats, both these retreats offer different activities that you can choose to do. I know for this one we'll be visiting a horse rescue. And you can also have an opportunity for intuitive horse connection. And November, we're hosting one from the third to the fifth, and that one is in Fort White. There's so much there's a cow encounter at that one. And these cows I've heard are like dog, you know, they really, like, enjoy walking up and greeting you just like a dog would and you can communicate with the cow. And then we visit springs. So they'll be Rock Springs in Apopka. And Ichetucknee Springs in Fort White, which is really cool. So you have the option for paddleboarding, paddleboard, yoga or you can just venturing out on your own. It's a very relaxing weekend for you. Again, just kind of put down the phone, step away from your daily life and immerse yourself in yoga and good company outdoors when the weather is starting to change and get a little bit cooler in the evenings. So that's just beautiful. Well, that sounds really nice. I will have to look into that. Yeah. Sounds like you might be getting me involved in a couple things, and maybe all of our listeners will join us too. I would love that. And we'd love to have you for sure. And you done yoga on the paddle board? I have, and it's definitely not easy. Typically, you'll stay on all fours there, maybe a couple of poses where you can stand up, but if you're trying to balance on one way, I find it really challenging. If you're very good practice yoga, it's fun to play with, you know, some arm balance and things of that nature on the board. But yeah, I mean, for me, part of the fun of falling in typically every time I might try and take a twist on a paddleboard in falling in and then I feel nice and then I'll start over. So it's definitely shouldn’t be something to be scared of. I mean, as as in any yoga class, you should just do what your body allows you to do and and move according to that and not worry about what anyone else is doing. So it's always a lot of fun, a lot of laughter during paddleboard yoga session. Yeah. The worst thing that can happen is you fall in the water. Yeah, the springs are a little cold, but it feels good and it feels great. And I'm sure will at the time. Maybe a little chilly at the November one, but last couple winters here in Florida have been pretty mild. I always like to ask my interviewees how or what books that might be passionate to them in their journey and health and fitness. Do you have anything you might like to share, either yoga wise or any other books that have helped you in your journey with health and fitness or nutrition? Yes, yes and yes. I am so passionate about reading and books and I tend to forget authors. Usually I remember titles, so I'll try and throw out a few that that I would definitely recommend. If you are looking for books, I'm like that person that I walk into a bookstore and ask and they're like coming over the intercom. We need a self-help section, you know? But I'm always looking for a self-help book. I also love breakthrough books. But let's see, I'm reading one right now that has been so awesome. It's called Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, and it was recommended to me by one of my students who I always call my students, my teachers. She just told me about it a couple of weeks ago and I got it. And for the past four days I've been getting up at 5 a.m. and I'm doing my meditation exercises, affirmations and I've started a new routine. And it's been so beautiful because probably like the majority of people listening, maybe not. I have a hard time getting in line with something that I start, so I might read these self-help books and I'm like, This is great. I'm going to incorporate it and I'll do it for a week or a month, and then I fall off. So we'll see what happens. But I'm so motivated by reading this book. So that's something that it's really easily read a little bit about. Kind of redundant, but it's making a difference so far and I'm really glad I found it. But the four agreements are definitely one of my favorite books that I recommend to a lot of people, especially if they're going through a hard time or again, I said this a lot throughout this conversation. Maybe it's something I should explore, but it helps you recognize what is important and what's not and to separate it. And I think just letting go of things that are important is so beneficial and propelling you towards the direction that you want to move out and to be successful. It's a little more comfortable life. The Five Love Languages is a great one to read. If you want to improve on your partnership, not just with your spouse or lifelong partner, but even family members or friends, How Yoga Works. That's a really cool book. It's a fiction read, but it's not like a traditional yoga book, and it is a beautiful story that follows one woman on her journey. And so I don't want to spoil it because I am not great at giving synopsis of her books. But yes, how yoga works is a great one. I just heard too, and I'm sidetracking. But I did tell someone about this book and they tried to find it. I don't know if it's out of print. It was very expensive, so I would recommend going through like the rest books or used books to try and find out if you're looking for, oh my gosh, yoga toolbox is I think that you are probably about that for the yoga teacher training if you're a teacher at all or you're just interested in going deeper into your practice in the poses. This book so great as it even talks about the different doses and how and what you should be focused on in each pose or according to your dosha, which that's a whole nother subject and topic. But it gets into Ayurvedic medicine a little bit. But I love the Yoga Toolbox and I still go back to that Now, if I'm feeling a little less fire or if I want to create something, you know, a new class, I always can find inspiration in that book. It's more of like a guidebook versus, you know, a reading book. And there's a lot of daily readings, too, that I would recommend. One that does pop them is the Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo. That's one of those daily inspirational books. So if you don't have a lot of time in the morning to read each one, take a look at, you know, whatever day you're on and read that and maybe journal about an hour or just have inspiration for your day. That one is a great one too. Thank you for all of those suggestions. Erin, if nothing else is coming to mind and you know that there are more, you can always let me know what those books are and I will have them offered underneath your podcast so that people will know that these are the books that Erin recommends and if they want to order them, they can go ahead and do that. Now, I'd like to leave our guests with one more thing. I'd like to have you ask our guest to try to reach some sort of goal. What would you suggest as to help them live their best life? Well, since I'm reading this book, I've been so inspired again to get up way earlier than I normally would. And I'm just going to sort of reiterate what the book implies, because I do agree with a lot of this. I don't think that you need to do all these things every morning. But if you wake up and begin with meditation, begin with silence, it can be a really grounding practice for you to start your day from that place of like, okay, let me just sit in silence, check in, notice what's happening inside. And then when you come out of that silence, I feel like you gain this clarity that you have to achieve whatever it is that you need to achieve that day. Maybe that's going to involve you sitting down and writing a list of everything, but you'll have a little more patience, a little less anxiety about all of the things that you have going on. So in this book, he talks about lifesavers and SAVERS as an acronym. And so I'll just go through those shortly, the “S” is for silence. So sitting in meditation,“A” is for affirmation, repeating things to yourself that maybe you have some limiting belief or something that you've been telling yourself for a long time, even if it's as simple as I'll share mine, I have a very bad relationship with time. Stop telling yourself that and feed yourself that affirmation. And like I have a great relationship with time. Even if you don't believe it, I'm going to be on time for all of my things today. I do things accordingly. I have plenty of time to finish through the reading yourself affirmations like that, and “V” is for visualization. SO this can go along with a meditation, but sort of sitting and visualizing what you see for yourself, for your life. What do you want? What is it that you desire? And even if you are unsure what sparks that joy in your heart, what makes your heart race a little faster? When you hear about it, read about it, watch it on TV, start paying attention to those things, and then just visualizing yourself, having those. And if you already possess them. And then the “E” is for exercise and have you, as you and I have talked about during this podcast, is moving your body in any way to you do a five minute dance, Maybe you go to a yoga class, maybe you go for a run, ride your bike. There's so many different ways to move your body. But if you start with these and the beginning of your day, it's going to set you up for success. The “R” SAVERS is for Reading. So any sort of reading material, definitely self-help books are a wonderful choice, especially if you're just going to incorporate reading 5 to 10 pages every morning. Again, it doesn't have to be something long, but just just adding it to their routine. And then the last “S” that's for Scribing. And it's kind of funny in the book is like, well, scribing is the same thing as writing, but there is no “W” so we just use Scribing. But journaling also can give us a little more insight into what we're feeling, what we're experiencing, and what it is that we want. Because even if you've ever done rewriting, you may have no idea what's going to come out of your brain into your hand and onto that paper. But sometimes it's a really great way to just release any sort of control at yourself, right? Maybe you have something that you want to write about, but if you're someone that's like not inspired to journal or you're not really sure what you should say or write about, just allow your mind to go, Maybe start yourself with a prompt I haven't thought about in a long time and then just let your pen work for you. So I think obviously all of those things it seems like a whole lot. But even if you did all of those things for one minute each morning, you're definitely going to set yourself up for success and just be probably a little more joyful, at least throughout your day. And I think it's something that feels so good. You'll want to continue it. What a great routine to get into. Yeah. See how it sticks. Yeah, but simple things like that making a difference in our daily life, which slowly makes a difference in our life as we go along through the days the weeks, the month and the years. Absolutely. So I was heading towards the end of our talk when I thought of something that we didn't talk about that I would love to talk about with you. Okay. One more day yet, though, Aaron. In your classes, I'd been in your classes where you help people with their postures, with adjustment. I've been to classes where teachers do not do adjustments and teachers do adjustments and other classes. Some students don't like it, others don't mind it. I think it's so important to have the correct alignment and postures, even though you may not be able to go as deep and the posture, but to be in good alignment with whatever you're able to do. And if a teacher comes around when you're doing child pose and helps you with your breathing to get a little deeper, how much better that can feel or to move your arm a certain way when you're doing a triangle to help you get your arms in the proper position or to lean their bodies even into your head to help you have a little more balance so that you can feel when your right comes up higher than your low. Here we talk about a little bit about alignment with the teacher. Yes, I think that alignment is extremely important and yoga and I do believe that it is the job of the yoga teacher to pay attention. I think it's a huge class that's difficult to kind of watch everyone at the same time. But even using cues that are effective and helping different learners figure out the correct alignment and proper align a couple classes I've been to in the last few years, it has been a little different with a hands on adjustments because I think COVID sort of forced us to not get too close to each other or be worried about it. You should always, always be approached and ask if it's okay to touch you because there is people that really don't like it, don't care for it, or even if they're embarrassed. In the beginning of class, a teacher maybe will put the everyone in child's pose and then wipe your gaze down. Raise your hand if you would prefer not to be touched. But just throwing that out there that you should always be asked if. It's okay to make hand on adjustments, in my opinion. Now, this may not be every teacher, but if you come to my class, I mean, I make sure it's okay that I put my hands on you something I feel like I need to do very often. Even just walking towards the student and using a cue, the student will automatically adjust or correct their own body, which I think can be a really empowering experience also for them to to do that on their own even. And can you do the pose next to them? It can be a very effective way to get them to see, Oh, okay. I just needed to open that shoulder a little more or place this left a little further in. But yeah, I love adjustment. I love talking about alignment in class because I do feel like it is a very important part and alignment. Obviously it can be very different for people depending on their age, depending on any thing that's happened in their body, like accidents or breakages or things of that nature. You know, everyone is a little bit different. So you answered that question beautifully. I knew that asking you that question as a yoga teacher and as a trainer to me, which has helped me so much in my practice, that that was an excellent, excellent answer, not only to maybe other teachers out there, but also to people who may be reluctant to have a teacher help them with their poses in any kind of way. And using props. Props are very important, too. If you can get into a pose, why not use that prop, that block, that strap to help you keep your alignment where it should be even though you can't go as deep? I agree with that. And also, you know, speaking to students that may be attending a class or they're unfamiliar with yoga, it's okay to tell the teacher before you walk into a classroom, you know what you want or what you don't want. If you want help with alignment. Sort of mentioned that or hey, I mean, if you're experienced and you're like you've mentioned triangle earlier, I think I want a little help with my alignment and triangle. Speak that to the teacher and express that and they'll remember and come to you during class or whenever that pose is offered. Or maybe they'll either give you a little guidance before class, you know, if they have time or after. So definitely, you know, when I first started yoga, I didn't know all these things. I didn't properly know how to communicate maybe with a teacher or other students and ask for advice or use my voice in that manner. So I do think important also, not just for the teachers to maybe ask if it's okay for the hand on adjustments, but also the student can be responsibility to you, to sort of tell the teacher what they do or do. Not like a little quote from Pattabhi Jois “Practice and all is coming” We need to remember that came from a background in dance and I wanted to know what I thought. Nail every pose and do it just like the teacher did it. It probably took me a couple of years to really adapt that well into my own practice because I thought I should look a different way. I wasn't focusing on how it felt in my body and then also recognizing just all of our unique abilities from one body to the next. And that's not going to look the same. It's not going to feel the same practice, practice and all this coming. And just give yourself patience and grace. Thank you, Erin so much for coming on the show today. It's been an honor to have you. Thank you so much. Hopefully I'll see you at One Love Yoga Studio. We offer the infrared heated classes. We also offer not heated gentle classes. You get a chance to look at the schedule. We'd love to have you. See you in there. To attend yoga classes with Erin at One Love Yoga or via Zoom. Go to YogaPalmCoast.com And to get more information about Erin's upcoming retreats, go to YogaElementsRetreats.com You can find the links in our show notes. Well thank you Erin. It was so nice to talk to you. It was great talking to you, too. You this is Angela Grayson from the Loving Life Fitness Podcast. To help others in their fitness journey. It’s All Possible! It’s Time to Wake Up. Here we go.

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