Yoga After a Spinal Injury: Healing and Resilience with Charmaine Mitchell

0:00 Hey there, before we get started on this week's episode, I would love to ask for your support by reviewing this podcast. We want to share yoga with as many people as possible and this free resource, this podcast is one of the ways that we can do that. And the best way that you can help support us is by giving us a review.

0:16 So if you go to Apple podcast or Spotify or whatever podcast platform you use, Scroll down until you find that star review and then give us some love. Thank you so much, and let's get started with this week's episode. The slower we go is the fastest way to where we want to be, the slower we breathe and practice it.

0:41 The next time you do yoga, breathe so stinking slow, like the big, the slowest breath, slowest movement. Almost like you're going in slow motion. You put the slow motion, you know, thing on your phone and, and you're taking a video of it like it's so slow, almost like you've seen Tai chi or something and it's whoa, it's like psychedelic. Welcome to the Going Pro Yoga podcast. If you love yoga as much as I do, then this podcast is for you.

1:16 We talk all things yoga related for teachers in order to supplement and complement and even support after a 200 hour yoga teacher training. Or if you've never done a training before, this podcast is all about just learning more about yoga in an authentic way. Together with Paul Teodo and Byron De Marseille, we put together this podcast to provide you with a free resource to learn more about yoga.

1:37 Whether you want to share yoga or teach yoga or just practice yoga, this podcast is talking all things yoga related and we're trying to talk from the teachers perspective and also the students perspective to make sure we get a full 360° angle on what yoga is all about and how it's evolved in the modern world. Welcome to our podcast.

1:55 Welcome to the Going Pro yoga podcasts. This is Michael Henry, your host, and I'm excited today we have a new guest, a special guest, and the first time guest. We have a lot of returning guests, but this time we got a fresh and new one, which I'm really excited.

2:12 Charmaine, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Yeah, I'm really excited to have you here. So Charmaine is a friend of mine who I think I met, Oh God, 2 1/2, maybe three years ago 3. Years. AGO 2020, right. Two April 2022. So almost three years.

2:30 Yeah. Coming up. Yeah. So 2 1/2 years, we'll say. Yeah. Wow. It seems it feels like longer than that. It does. Yeah. And Charmaine, we met on the teacher training, actually came in as a student as A and the elements of power yoga teacher training. And since then we've basically been, yeah, friends, you've been coming and going from Bali.

2:52 And yeah, it's, it's so nice to have you here in Bali because sometimes you're gone and sometimes you're back. And it's a surprise sometimes when I see you and I'm like, oh, Charmaine's here. So I would like to allow you an opportunity to just introduce yourself a little bit.

3:09 So to kind of give people an idea of who you are, where you're coming from, you know, because if they don't know who Charmaine is, it'll give them some context before we kind of jump into the conversation a little bit. What do you think? I love it.

3:20 Cool. So maybe you can start with like where you're from, these sorts of things. Yep, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and contribute to this amazing series of podcasts that you have been curating. I've been loving them.

3:38 And so my story is that I am a mother of four who are now 282624 and 20. And I was a stay at home mom. And then I became, unbeknownst to me that would happen, well, divorced, but then also became an entrepreneur, digital nomadic entrepreneur. So I was travelling, went to Tulum and I went to Greece. And then finally Bali opened up and I could do a business visa to come in 2021.

4:15 And I did, I came for six weeks. And as the story goes, as many, many people tell a very similar story, Mama Bali will tell you when you need to stay. And I did a yoga class at the Yoga Barn and Byron de Marseille, who has obviously been on this podcast many times, said that it was a yoga teacher training coming. And I knew I wasn't going anywhere. I was doing that training and that would be like, that was like four months away.

4:45 So I stayed and then I came for six weeks to Bali, but I stayed for a year and my, I had done yoga. So I had, I did BIC from yoga for many years and then I broke my spine in 2014. I was knocked off the seawall in Vancouver by a cyclist, broke it in three places and had to have a spinal fusion with metal in my spine.

5:13 I'd always, I got back to yoga, you know, and I when I was younger, I'd always thought maybe I'll, maybe I do yoga teacher training one day and be a yoga teacher, you know, when I was like my 20s and then I never did. And here I was 51 metal rods in my spine.

5:32 And yet the voice is really clear. And yet you're staying and you're didn't do yoga teacher. Now's the time. Now's the time. Now's the time. And yeah, so I really feel like that also landed really strongly because when I broke my spine and they didn't know that I whether I walk again and I had to learn to walk again and all of that.

5:55 And it happened quite fast. And they wondered why. And they said, what were you doing before you broke your spine? And I said, well, I would do beak from yoga like, you know, five times a week. And they're like, oh, it's the muscle memory was remembering it remembered exactly where to go. So I was able to just walk quickly thereafter and get back to things like yoga and hiking and things that I wanted to do. So there was some limitations here and there. And like, even in yoga, there's

6:28 certain asanas that are not always the easiest for me, but I breathe. We're going to talk more about that in a minute. But yeah, that's my story. And that's how I ended up here. Is sitting here across from you. Yeah. Yeah.

6:47 Very exciting. And I think what we kind of want to do with this episode is kind of not go the traditional conversation route of, oh, you're a yoga teacher and let's talk about teaching Austinism, blah, blah blah. We want to talk more about like how yoga or the influence of a yoga teacher training or just the essence of the lifestyle, the philosophies and all this stuff.

7:08 How that kind of infuses into, let's say, more the personal professional life and or just mindset or state of being, not so much being like, oh, I'm a I'm a formal asana yoga teacher. But you know, like we talked about before this podcast, and I think a lot of people can relate to this, like we're all yoga teachers. Eventually, once we realize that we are in it, we don't actually need to be teaching yoga asana to be considered a yoga teacher. You don't even technically need

7:34 to do a yoga teacher training to be a yoga teacher, right? Yoga. And if we wanted to break it down into the simplest foreign, you could say it's just the breath. It really is. Right. The connectedness to the universe, the divine, all this stuff.

7:50 So yeah, that's, I think that's kind of where we're gonna go is just kind of talk about Charmaine's experience with how yoga has transformed and contributed to your life and how it's infused into different corners. Yeah. And that's what I'm excited to hear and talk about. Perfect.

8:06 I love it when you said it. That's the magic word to me is the breath. Yeah, it's the secret, You know, people would always say, well, just breathe, you know, years ago. I'm like, what do you mean? And I, I feel like yoga, the asanas are all designed as medicine to get us there to that spot, which is always there and always has been there, which is the breath.

8:37 And it's just that simple. When I, and when that hit me, I'm like, Oh my gosh. But it takes the journey through whatever that is, whatever that looks like in this life. And there is no one way. And each journey is so unique and amazing. But yeah, you're right, it's the breath. Yeah, discovering the breath, right. It seems like such a simple thing, right? It's like, oh, I breathe all the time. You almost like take it for granted. And it's funny because when I

9:02 teach about the breath and like, oh, I'm talking about the lungs and breathing and inhale and exhale, I'm like, it's so simple, but it's so profound. Like, do you understand? Right. And sometimes it's almost like an awakening of just knowing how powerful a breath can be.

9:17 Yeah. I think is I, I actually did, I did a post it note and I would put it on my my laptop, on my mirror. Remember, breathe. Remember, breathe. Like everywhere, Yeah. So that's some of the technique that you allowed yourself to kind of get almost created more of a, let's say like a habit or like a an embodiment of it. Yeah, Oh my goodness.

9:44 I mean, we all have our journey, right. And so my journey to on my own inward journey and the different courses that I did and I did women's empowerment and in New York City with Regina Thomas Howard and our, you know, letting pleasure lead the way, which is what led me to Bali, which is what led me to the yoga teacher training.

10:08 You know, like this is following that guide that guy to what really feels good will lead you home for sure. And we can all, we can have so many different practices and there aren't any anyone set or recipe that that works for everybody, right? So, but there's a recipe that works for me, that's working for me.

10:33 I'm still on my journey. We all are. And I'm like, oh, this is interesting. And hello, let's you know, life is a game. It's research. And we're just like, let me try this, let me try that. And when we get that pluck, that feeling in our body that says, oh, yeah, this is we got to go there. We got to go that route.

10:56 We take all of us with us, all of our tools, all of our practices, all the parts of us that we've now explored and bringing it to each experience that we're having. And when you were, you were discussing about how we bring it then off the mat and into our lives.

11:18 That's like I say, it's not what we do, it's who we are when we do it. So I'm a functioning master, but it's not who I am. I do that. It's what I do. I do it with my intention and my full being and my presence and guidance and travelling in my breath and being present from obviously my, my clients and the best way that I can be and giving them.

11:45 You know, like we talked about that we, we all have a different platform or stage. We may not be a yoga teacher in a classroom, but we're taking this this training, whether we did a yoga teacher training or mastery of however many yoga teacher yoga classes that you've done, which I've done a lot of yoga classes. And is taking that all of the wisdom and the the whispers and the messages that come through for me on the mat into my life, whether it's with my clients or

12:16 whether it's with my children or my friends or the random people that I meet like today at the Cafe. And this woman comes up to me to tell me that, oh, my goodness, you're glowing. And we start going into this whole conversation about the inner light.

12:33 And then I said, you know, you should really go take some classes at the Yoga Barn and take some yoga classes. And yeah. And how that just leads us to share our, our wisdom and what, you know, again, it may not be for her, but she met me for a reason today in that cafe.

12:53 And I believe that just like I'm here right now with you. Yeah. So would you say that your experience with bringing yoga or infusing yoga more, let's just say into your world by like kind of diving into the breath and discovering, let's say, your inner power?

13:12 Or you can call it your intuition, or you can call it sharpening your senses that are ultimately not necessarily like, oh, I'm going to go teach a yoga class like an asana, but like, I'm actually going to use this sharpened sense, intuitive knowing and use it in my life, whatever it is that I'm going to do, right? I didn't introduce you as a Feng shui master because that's not who you are, right?

13:34 You're, you're, you're Charmaine or, you know, you're this, you're this being that holds herself in a particular way. And whatever it is that you do, you bring that essence through. So whatever you decide to do, you, you, you infuse that same essence. And that essence allows you to ultimately sharpen whatever it is that you're doing.

13:54 It's almost like you're able to read, we call it the energy. You read the room, read the, the, the information that's being provided. And then you take that information and you apply it as best as we can in the circumstances of whatever it is that we're doing.

14:09 Right. That's kind of what I'm hearing, right? Thinking of like, you know, if someone else is like, Oh, well, I don't teach yoga and or maybe I was teaching yoga and I'm like thinking, I don't know if I want to keep doing it. It's like you can still use the skills of yoga to continue to sharpen your own inner self, which actually awakens more of your intuitive sharper sense of knowing or seeing or feeling and how that can, let's say, improve relationships and decisions and these types of things.

14:38 Yeah, that kind of like resonate. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, spot on. OK, that's it. So when you so I'm kind of like wondering, should we talk about Feng shui a little bit or should we talk a little bit more of how you infuse it, let's say in your personal interactions, friendships, relationships, like where do you want to go with connecting how yoga to your life That's.

15:04 A great question. I feel, well, I feel like the conversation with that girl today, there's it's not a coincidence that you know, her and I met. I feel like that's a really nice way to to continue here for her to come up to say that to me. She's a photographer and she said, you know, there's a lot of beautiful women in here, but there is you have a glow, It's an aura that's around you, a light. And I really feel that is the connection to ourselves, our breath, our self loving and, and

15:58 that she could see that. And then I feel like it was a really beautiful conversation just how it went where, you know, she she was talking about how she can see these things. And that I know we all have a unique source code, each of us in one that we're born with that we don't even really we think it's so we don't even think anything of it that it's any big deal because it comes so easy to us.

16:22 And I said, you, you have you have sight that you maybe don't even you haven't really fully harnessed in all the ways it could be and and even maybe even acknowledge it. But this you just did just now by coming up to me to say this, I feel like there's more here for you and to guide her then to take classes at the yoga Barn, for example.

16:45 I feel like this is this is right here, something that she said when she said to me, Well, I don't know. I'm kind of a little bit, I don't know that I trust classes or yoga or I don't know that I trust, you know, those kinds of classes or those kinds of rooms or people.

17:05 And, and I said, I feel like there's like a little bit of a fear there. So yeah, maybe. And I said, well, to me, there's two things. One is it, is it like, Oh my gosh, this feels so good. I want to do this or I'm terrified of this or I'm, I'm a little triggered by this. Even if I'm a little triggered, I'm like, OK, I need to go. I need to go toward it.

17:29 It's the fastest way to move through. And boy, there's something there for me. And so I was sharing that with her and how yesterday there was a class at the Yoga Barn and the teacher kind of like I had had a meeting with her before I met her briefly.

17:44 And it was there was like a triggering energy. And I thought, OK, I need to go take her class. That's like the opposite of what most people would do. Right. Yeah, exactly. And so that's why I'm like, I instead of avoiding, I'm going into it. OK, what's there for me?

18:00 There's something here for me. So I feel like there's two ways of there's like this dance between following your pleasure and then following the things that kind of trigger you or fear you and allowing those triggers to trigger us into excellence and the highest and our best. Because there's so much that we don't know. Always curious, like, OK, what is it I'm not seeing here? What is it that I don't know?

18:22 Because I, I know that I know a lot, right? We all, we know a lot. We're super wise and we know they're always like. I'm open to learning more as I'm curious so I feel like my pleasure will leave me there and sometimes the triggers or fears will leave me there even deeper and quicker. Yeah, I think that's really interesting to kind of unpack a little bit, because a lot of us seek pleasure and avoid pain, or at least that's our natural animalistic instinct, right? To to kind of like survive and

18:53 like survival and thriving and, and pleasure is kind of where the the the sites are, right. And then everything else like plain and discomforts and unknowns and these types of things are what we kind of avoid. So have you always kind of embodied this action with regards to, you know, looking at the triggers and the pains and stuff like that or like what, like how does that connect?

19:21 It's kind of been the last 15 years. OK, Yeah. When did you start practicing yoga? Yeah, probably about 15 years ago. Well, I mean, I doubt I I did a few classes here and there when I was, you know, in my early 20s. But I became a mother at 25.

19:38 So, you know, I had four children. So I was either pregnant or nursing or raising babies. So for a decade, I didn't do any yoga. Yeah. And I'd say, yeah, about 15 years ago, I really started to be practicing, which is practicing yoga, meaning going to a class, doing the asanas, like, you know, going through the motions of it.

20:00 And it wasn't until I would say when I went here in Bali is when I really started to integrate it in a different way. For sure. But I believe following your pleasure. Will lead your home because at some point you can follow your pleasure all the way to where you're like, OK, you can have too much of a good thing, right?

20:24 Like it's not, it's no longer pleasurable anymore because you followed it all the way and you got what you got and you and you see it and you're like, oh, OK, now what? You know, like I could stay here in Bali and live this amazing, incredible life And just like the hamster will can be anything you want it to be could be filled with pleasure and joy and peace and happiness and that's great.

20:53 I can do that. And I'm noticing that that's uncomfortable for me. There's more. And so there's like this. There's things that are being burst out from me now with regards to that, which is being and holding space for women in a way in which I had no idea that was going to happen. And for women who have gone through like perimenopause and who are going through it and menopause because I even had my period and we didn't know if we were going to talk about this. But here we are in like 7 years

21:26 and I've never been more turned on and orgasmic and connected to myself in my entire life. Like what? This is totally the opposite of what they tell you. You know that you're going to be an old Crone and dry up and withered and you know no what but.

21:47 That sound seemed appropriate, like it seemed like the right sound. It didn't. Like, I don't even know, but yeah. And so it's totally the opposite. And you know, I feel like we, we, we just look at the, we look at the chakras. You start at the root and then you're like, OK, we've got the sacral.

22:06 I mean, it's like all about like feeling it and pleasure. And even when I am doing yoga, when I'm practicing it, I am in the asana practice and I'm breathing in such a way that I breathe so slow, so deep that when I do, I breathe into my sacral and it's it's like every nook and cranny of my body.

22:31 And then it's like I can feel this snake, which I know that they discussed that it's kundalini, which I did not know what that was when I was here. This was happening to me. There was this awakening and I could feel the energy move up through the chakras. So I really feel like this is this energy because it goes and then it goes up to our solar plexus, which doesn't always feel so good, right?

22:55 Like, I mean, you're doing core work and it's like, no, it's uncomfortable. And then moving up into the heart space, which then and then throat and then we're going up. So I feel like that whole, that pleasure has LED me and LED the energy through up through my crown.

23:16 That's through this practice. And I really feel like the slower we go is the fastest way to where we want to be, the slower we breathe and practice it. The next time you do yoga, breathe so stinking slow, like the biggest, the slowest breath, slowest movement, almost like you're going in slow motion. And you put the slow motion, you know, thing on your phone and and you're taking a video of it.

23:47 Like it's so slow. Almost like you've seen Tai chi or something. And it's whoa. It's like psychedelic is what it feels like. Yeah. I've actually tried to do that a lot. Yeah. Yeah, just to like when I'm really in my practice, I'm like, it's almost like I'm not even paying attention to the teacher like I am, but I'm not, you know?

24:10 I'm like, I'm just like I'm breath, I'm breathing and like I'm following what you're saying. But like, if it's not really matching my own rhythm of my breath, then I'm gonna go off course. But I'm, I'm with you, but I'm not really with you.

24:21 You know what I mean? Yeah, no, I do. Yeah, absolutely. But that's it. I think that's the way, you know, you're on, you're on your mat. And it, I practice 90% of the time with my eyes closed and I'll only open it sometimes, like when I got to do balancing poses, you know, like what do you call that pose? Warrior 3?

24:45 What's the word for that? What is? What is the Sanskrit word? Vera Badrasana 3. Vera Badrasana, Three. Yeah, those I see. I don't get that. I don't get those names. Yeah, that's OK. But I'll open my eyes for that. And so it's like we're in our own little world on our mat when we do that. This is this is the key.

25:04 We're going to know really what's happening. I tune right into, I will tune into the teacher's voice and I'll, you know, the cues, especially when it's a great teacher that has a great cues. And I can just be like tune into that, but my breath will override for sure, just like you said. Yeah.

25:24 And I think some teachers, or at least some of the teachers that I know, and you guys know Paul and Byron and I'm sure many others as well, like they kind of want to lead you until you don't need to be LED anymore. You know, they may not say that, but ultimately it's kind of like, you know, you know, in a way that you're still respectful to the room.

25:43 You know you don't want to be like off course so much that it's interrupting the other people's experience, right? Unless it's empowerment. Yeah, unless you've been doing empowerment, then it's a different scenario. If you don't know what that means, then I can't help.

25:55 You have to come check it out for yourself. Empowerment Flow Saturdays at the Yoga Barn at 10:30. Yeah. But ultimately, yeah, a little plug for Byron. But yeah, ultimately just being able to allow people to find whatever that is that they need to find, right, That connection to themselves, that flow and that rhythm. That's definitely what that class is all about, for sure. But I would still say that ultimately other classes to some extent are also trying to allow

26:24 you to do that as well. I think some people just need a little bit more hand holding in order to find that place, if at all, because a lot of us have a hard time, I shouldn't say us, but there are a lot of people that have a hard time slowing down, yes, connecting to themselves.

26:41 And you know, not to oversimplify it, but how do we do that? Yeah, we connect with the breath. That's it. More slowly. No, I, I wish I could. I mean, the only thing I can say is the, the breath and like into the hips where we hold so much emotion, but breathing into the hips and then so ever so slowly, you're like moving the hips.

27:09 It's like micro movement and you do like a micro movement. The breath will just kind of like last forever. It's almost like I don't know what the word is, but. Like prolong it. I have, but it's kind of like it's hanging in the air. Like it's just expands and time expands and the breath expands and it's like that.

27:34 That is what I found. It's like this tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny. So it's like there's still movement in the breath, but it's so, so slow and so, so slight. It's interesting thinking about activating chakras in empowerment yoga. We talk about how we want to actually activate the chakras earlier in class to try to stimulate that flow of energy before you kind of go into the whole sequence of things. And one of the ways that we try to stimulate the sacral chakra is through hip movements, small

28:10 hip movements, intuitive hip movements. So you saying that makes me think like, OK, cool. Like there's the root chakra there. But then the sacral rate afterwards, the pleasure center that was moving the hips, which you could think just like generally speaking, you're like, oh, moving the hips is kind of like sexual. It's like there's a pleasure thing there, but it's not necessarily just that, but you are stimulating that area. And by infusing the connection

28:33 with the breath, you know, you're also kind of activating even more that energy source. And the thing that came up for me when you mentioned that was by moving even more slowly, by engaging the hips, which you're actually probably doing, because this is my brain science brain, is you're probably engaging more of your deep, subtle core, your deep, subtle core to control those slow movements, which is actually starting to activate your solar plexus chakra. And then the way we go.

29:04 Yeah. So that's kind of what I'm hearing a little bit for you, which is kind of like that does a lot for you. Yes. Well, thank you for explaining that because I haven't understood the science part of it and that really helped.

29:16 Well, that's physiological, yeah. That's what my brain hears. But, you know, yeah. Well, I, you know, thank you. I'm just doing it. And I, you know, they say do yoga and see what happens, right? And I say do it feels good and see what happens. I mean, aren't we a week?

29:34 What else? What else are we here for? Do things that feel good. Sometimes it's feeling good to go take a nap. Sometimes it's feeling good to go help the person, your neighbor. Sometimes it feels good to do. I mean, what feels good and so on doesn't do what feels good. And that's what happens.

29:49 And so then, you know, I'm having this in now in Shavasana. I, I sometimes sing and, you know, not that I really didn't think I could sing, but it's like really, really good singing. It's really good. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but yeah.

30:11 But no, I what I feel this is what I feel is that we are all capable of singing or anything and everything, and that our ego is the what limits us from allowing it to flow, whatever it is. And I really feel like it's source God creator universe, like its energy moving through the body that wants to just move through and it's moving up through all the chakras through and it just, it has to be released. And that's what's coming out.

30:42 And it's not every time, but sometimes it'll even be throughout the whole awesomenal practice where on my exhales, I see every exhale, there's a hum or a like a note that comes out on the exhale. And then sometimes it's only in like, I don't know what's going to happen, right?

31:05 What's another thing about yoga, right? You never know what's going to happen. It's appreciation, not expectation or I just, you don't know. You get on the mat, you're like, oh, what's going to happen today? I do not know. That's great.

31:16 I love it because it's, it's scary for people to like activate their throat chakra, right? You know, and the throat chakra is the bridge between your heart and your intuition, which is your third eye. So that throat chakra, which I think there's a universal trauma that people experience with like public speaking and speaking up for themselves and being what's the word like silenced or, or suppressed to some degree and just following suit and, and

31:43 being orderly and not actually like saying what you think and saying how you feel and these types of things, which is all part of the throat, right to some degree. So yeah, it's interesting to kind of hear you say that you the singing part is kind of like come through for you or like not necessarily singing, but some sort of activation of the throat, which releases even more, let's just say that kundalini energy or that flow of energy through to your

32:07 intuition. Let's just say, which is your third eye, the next chakra up the ladder. And, you know, we kind of talked about how the breath allows us to refine this sense of intuition, this sensory like ability to make wiser decisions and to connect with people more and to be more open with love and stuff like that, and infusing that into our personal life, into our professional life and how we do things. So it's all kind of really talking about the same thing, right?

32:34 Yeah, exactly. I don't know if you knew this, but this is an interesting little thing I just learned yesterday. If you look at the picture of a woman's womb and uterus and and everything, and then you look at the throat, the actual fiscality of both, they're very, very similar. And so, yeah, I mean, not that it could be, it could be male or female thing where we may have a, you know, our, our throat is not that activated for who knows what other what traumas have happened in our lives.

33:09 But a lot of times a woman, especially when as women we have because just of history, so much trauma is in our womb and it's very connected to the throat because this that was like the our heart is first create, first created and as a baby and fetus.

33:28 And then it's our gender is our next part, you know, so it's like really connected to who we are. And yeah, I did. I just learned that actually yesterday. I didn't even know that and that's super. Interesting at the the physicality of the throat, yeah or the an anatomy you can.

33:45 Say anatomy, yeah, but they're really. Yeah, it's really interesting. And just last week, I LED a group of women and we were talking about this a little while ago, but through a womb meditation. And we went into, into our womb. And what I was describing, what came through the channel through me was that it's like of the Galaxy or the universe inside, that we're carrying it inside of us in the seat of creation, in our wombs.

34:16 And that we are not only carrying that, but that we are part of the universe. And then it's also inside us. And then if you go into the eggs, there's another one. It's almost like the kaleidoscope of the, of the galaxies, you know, inward and outward.

34:29 And so just connecting to that symbolism of that and really, really feeling that and honoring that because we are theater creation. That was profound for a lot of women. And some of the women created art from it and were able to express in ways that they hadn't and also released some traumas that they're carrying around.

34:54 And that's we're going in a whole other different direction now. But that I feel like it's connected to our throat because we we have traumas there. We're less likely to speak. And so the energy is, is not coming up through the chakras. It's like staying down there and it's not being allowed to flow. And chances are those women are probably not breathing very deeply.

35:22 And I'll hear the, you know, like the sighing that happens, the holding of the breath. And yeah, because the throat then it's being suppressed. Yeah, anyway. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. I mean, pent up energy or stuck energy?

35:43 Stuck. It's not necessarily always a good thing. You know, we call it not to get, again to sciency, but potential energy, energy that has the potential to be contributed to something. You know, we have a lot of potential energy when we eat food and we store energy in our body to, you know, eventually use it, like going to a yoga class, which you and I are going to do in a couple hours. That's right.

36:05 So we're we're, we're building up a certain potential energy for eventual use. But you know, I think of some of this energy conversation like it eventually needs to get used. It needs to be call it processed, call it serve its purpose. And if it doesn't, then it slowly becomes, you could use the word toxic, but that's probably not the right word. It's probably more agitated.

36:30 The energy becomes agitated and it starts to infuse agitation in the area around. So if you, let's just say, because what I'm hearing you say is if we have energy that's in the womb, which I cannot relate with, but that is stuck and it's not able to travel up because of a blockage, then that energy can result in some sort of dis ease in the body, which can ultimately interrupt, let's just say, the physiological or anatomical processes that we have in the body.

36:58 And you know, then, you know, conditions and things like that might be manifesting as well. Well said, Michael. Well said. Yeah. Like fibroids or tumors, all kinds of things that have endometriosis, many different. I mean, we're just speaking about women here, but I mean, it applies to male or female when they're stuck energy and actually just made me think of, OK, so we go back to the breath, which it's like you're getting in there with the breath. It's like this cleaning out,

37:30 cleansing. But we want to touch, you know, the asanas touch all parts of our body. We want to touch all parts of our body gently. And Brian Cast, who was the creator of Power Yoga like 35 years ago, I've done his master class in in Venice.

37:46 And one of the things he says is that we want to touch ourselves intimately and all parts of ourselves. And that's what we're doing here in this master class. And so I remember that and I feel that way with the breath that when we breathe super slowly and like I said, into the hips and into the womb and we just actually imagine that we're sending breath to cleanse out in all those areas in that intentional way. We can move through that energy, we move it through and it can be cleared out.

38:20 We don't have to analyze what The thing is or what the trauma was. I mean, we can, you could go to therapy for that or whatever, but this is just through the physical, just from the breath. And, and in Feng Shui, when I work with my clients, I say our home is a mirror to our subconscious and the energies in a home cannot affect the people that are living there. And then you're also an energetic match for the home that you're in because obviously you're an energetic match energetically when with the with

38:52 wherever you are in your life. And I can do, I read energies of homes and then I can say, Oh, I kind of know what's going on with the people that are living there. And it's like, I already know what's happening without even having a conversation with them. And so, for example, it's like cleaning out a closet. You give attention to an area that say the closet happens to be in love and partnership and it is just completely if they're not having any, if they're not

39:20 in a partnership that they're that's loving or they're not in a partnership at all or and they want to be or they've been wanting to be. And in all likelihood, I know that that area of Southwest is likely clogged up with stuff or it's completely neglected and it's the only area of the house that will be neglected. And sure enough, that's what we find. And so it's like giving attention and they'll be resistant and they, you know, like to doing it or to clearing it out or to getting it

39:49 attention. So it's. Yeah. So it's like as without, so within, so within, so without. And I see this, it's like, that's why when I say about the breath, it's like, it's like clearing out the closets of our chakras. So it's like chakras are here, the chakras are out there.

40:06 And that's what I, I do. I work with my clients and in this way and. Yeah, it's yoga has has shown me that has brought me that part, that aspect to my work. It's fascinating, isn't it, that the outer world is a representation of your inner world, right.

40:25 And then, yeah, you being able to sharpen that sense, to be able to help people find that essence. I loved it. That was a that was a great little, I mean, connecting the breath and and area in the body and basically cleaning out the closets inside your body, right.

40:38 And you help people do that by literally cleaning out their closets. Yeah. Exactly. More or less, More or less. Not to oversimplify it, yeah. But it well, but the breath is simplifying it, so it's. True, exactly. Yeah, like we don't need to make things don't need to be complicated, right? They can be simple.

40:53 Yeah. Right. Sometimes when we think, when we see things so simply, we're like that can't be it, right? It's like it is. Oftentimes it is. Oftentimes. It very much is. And I love that you talked about the, you know, the nooks and crannies of the breath and just like breathing into the space and you know, we're, we're, we're talking a lot about the breath, But I mean it's so profound and it made me think of things like whenever I'm getting like a super deep tissue massage from our, our, our man YN.

41:22 Oh my gosh, yes. It's very intense and can be very painful. And this kind of goes to the pleasure and the. Oh my gosh, yes. I want to quit. I want to tell him please, like, stop less pressure. But instead I'm like, this is probably what I need. Breathe into it.

41:38 Wherever the point that he's pushing and I feel that pain, I'm just like, breathe, don't lose your breath. Connect with your breath. Breathe into that space, breathe into that space, breathe into that space. And then I kind of think of this stuff like, there's got to be something in there. You know?

41:52 My anatomical knowledge helps. And the fact that I trust him and he's been my masseuse for like 3 years, right? That he's not actually going to hurt me. But it's so painful that my brain is telling me like, he's hurting you, right? But I'm also thinking like, maybe there's something there that actually needs to come out and he's helping me or he's giving me the opportunity to let it out. But ultimately he can't let it out. It's my doing that has to let it

42:18 out. And I have to breathe. I have to connect with my breath. I need to breathe into that space to allow what he's doing to actually have an effect. Yes, and this actually you're getting into with a pain and pleasure, you're kind of getting into a Tantra spot that the breath we can choose either one and it's where we take pleasure, pain.

42:38 Remember we talked about love and hate, like pleasure and pain come together and unite and yoga is unification of it. All right, And that's that's what I feel. It's the same, the same thing. So it's like, how can we take the breath and find the pleasure even in the pain?

42:58 And I did not have this when I was having four children. OK, let me just say I did not have this knowledge and it was painful. I did not have this knowledge when even when I broke my spine, even though I was doing Bickrim yoga, still I did not know. And now when I do have pain, I can really breathe in a way that I, I have been able to actually bring myself to pleasure. You know what changed?

43:28 Nothing I did. All I did was breathe. And that is the work of that's Tantra, really. Not that we're going to go on the conversation about that, but that's, that's essentially it. It's the unification of of it all, the duality of all of it, of the pain and pleasure, which is really a choice. All powered by.

43:49 The breath. The breath. I love this. This is fun. I feel like we could talk for a long time. Yeah. I also kind of want to go in so many directions. Yeah, that maybe we'll just have to do this again. Yeah, at some point. But yeah, I love the power of this breath thing in in what I wrote down before. I don't because I was trying to pay attention to you, but I wrote a couple words down.

44:15 I wrote intellectualizing versus feeling. And I think it was under the context of like trying to understand why there's pain here. And like kind of like my brain just did was like, is he hurting me? Like what? Like what muscle is he pushing on?

44:29 Like what? You know, he's stretching. And like I'm trying to intellectualizing it versus actually just like feel it, feel the discomfort. Yeah, right. And I know that for a lot of people, we want to understand. The ego wants to understand that ego wants to know for a sense of safety and security, probably because the unknown is not not very comfortable, right.

44:49 But I think, I think you hit a button there with regards to wanting to intellectualize or wanting to know. And then the power of also just letting go of that and having this sense of trust and also just feeling what you feel and then seeing what comes on the other side of that.

45:08 Which eventually just to kind of like circle this back to my massage with my or my massages with YM is, you know, they're painful, they're not enjoyable for like an hour. Like I'm breathing, I'm focusing on it and stuff like that.

45:19 I'm typically doing like breath work, cycle, breathe, just try to get through it. It's. Breathing. But then afterwards I'm like blissed out. I'm so blissed out. Like I'm just like, I don't like everything is just amazing.

45:31 I'm just like sitting there just like looking. And he's like, do you want some tea? I'm like, OK, right. I just went from this pain, you know, full state of like allowing it to happen, breathing as best as I could through it and all of a sudden to just being blissed out, right. So kind of what you were saying is this like it's not a dichotomy.

45:50 What do you call it? It's the duality. Thank you. The duality of this, this pain and this pleasure and or the triggering or the, the, the thing that we're running away from and we want to run towards. It's like they're literally the same thing.

46:02 Yeah, yeah, exactly. And when we unite them, it's bliss. It's just bliss. But it's not necessarily pleasure bliss. It's like a this kind of 0 point, like Oh my God, I don't even know how to explain it. This is how I, this is how I talk. I don't really have words anymore. I think.

46:25 I think it's at some point we're going to do away with language. I think we'll just be like. Feeling things. Or talking in light language and you just kind of understand what you just the other person think. Yeah. I mean, there's obviously people that don't have speech and you can kind of just. Understand them.

46:40 Or if you're connected with someone really well connected, meaning yoga connected, unified, sometimes you don't even have to speak. You can just look across the room and it's like, I got you, I understand the situation. I understand what we're saying without saying it, right?

46:55 There's a lot of power there. Yep, it's really cool, really cool. There was something I wanted to say, but I don't remember what it is anymore. And I think that's OK. I think, I think we're going to wrap this one up. OK, I love.

47:05 It even though I want to keep talking to you and we're going to do that after the podcast anyway. Yeah, that's right. But maybe, maybe we'll, yeah, maybe we'll squeeze in another episode, whatever it is, in the near distant future. Yeah.

47:19 Cool. Thank you Charmaine for sharing. I feel like a little tease of wanting to know more, and I'm gonna let that. I'm gonna let that be. I love this. I love the air that you're having. You know others on other than yoga teachers and yoga theologians.

47:39 And I mean, they're all amazing and you're all amazing. But I think this is really good to hear from those of us on the mat who are taking it off the mat into the world. So I thank you for having me and for doing this beautiful service that you do. Thank you.

47:55 Thank you. I actually just thought of something. Maybe it'll be my last question. Are you up for it? Sure. I was wondering about. I was wondering about the, I don't know, it's kind of like a devil's advocate kind of question, OK. Like, you know, this pleasure and then pushing into the OR not pushing, but moving into the triggering, moving into the pain.

48:17 When is yeah, has there ever been a point or something for you that you've gone in that direction? I'm trying to advocate for someone's brain that's listening right now where you've gone into this triggering place, where you've gone into this pain place and you're moving into it and you feel like this is actually not right and you turn around or you or something changes. Because I'm trying to imagine someone's fear of like, how do I know if moving into the trigger?

48:42 How do I know if moving into the pain is, is, is going to be OK, right? Maybe that's still the ego and the protective mechanisms, but I'm just wondering if there's an alternative thought. Has only triggered me into excellence. It is only only only because everything's useful. Everything's useful, all the things, whether it's pain, sadness, this like, and, and I feel like our life, I mean, if we look at it as music, like our life is like a keyboard. If you think about music, the

49:16 rich or the music is when you play all the keys. If you're only living and playing keys in the middle or one part of the keyboard is just not going to be the richest music. So but people go, oh, they really, they have these desires and they want to do the thing, but then they don't do the thing because it may be things that fear them or us. Like I have them too.

49:39 I still have to do. I still do have them and have not gone into all of my fears for sure. But like that, that is where the music is the richest. But the fear around that is that, well, if you want the pleasure, we know that on the other side is pain.

49:56 Because you cannot have one without the other. You will experience both plain and simple. It's just the way that it is. You cannot know hot without cold, up without down. So pleasure and pain exists. So it's like, instead of it being so extreme, it can also be like we can bring it in to where we unite it together, but it's still rich. And I feel like that is where I feel like many people that I, that I have encountered where they're like, Oh my gosh, I'm inspired by your life.

50:31 I, I'm just, I could not, that's not possible for me. And I'm like, it really is. And as it's like following the pleasure in the and following the triggers and the fear and following your this is the dance. But there's this spot of of yeah, just being afraid of that, you know, like knowing that. Oh, yeah.

50:50 But if I have that clip that like the other side exists. And yeah. And a lot of times it's our own light that terrifies us the most. Of course, like that Marianne Williamson poem or quote that she says, which is our it's our light that we fear the most.

51:06 I can't remember the whole thing, but yeah, that's. Oh, man, I got a lot of things to think about. I'm starting to think like, what do I need to move into that's like triggering me because, I mean, we get triggered and bothered by things probably daily.

51:23 Yeah, some of us more than others. So now I'm starting to think like, how many times am I avoiding something that I should really actually just be moving into? Yeah, Hopefully a few listeners are thinking the same thing for themselves.

51:33 At least that's the. Intent. I did it yesterday, Yeah, I did it yesterday. I went to that, to that class and there was so much information there for me. And I just, I went, I had a feeling in my body of this trigger and and yeah, and I just kept staying. And I'm like, I'm not leaving, I'm staying in it. It's like holding the pose, OK, Holding the asana and you're sweaty and you're itchy and it's hot and it hurts and you hold it and you hold it and you keep

52:03 breathing through it. There's something there for you, right? And so going into it, go toward it and you will find something very useful and it'll it'll just trigger you into the next level. But there's always going to be another one. FYI, it's always another fear.

52:24 Yeah, they never go just transform. That's right, yeah. I love it. I think that's a great way to end. Thank you again. Yeah. It's my pleasure so much. It's my pleasure, yeah. It's been great to have you and also. My pleasure and my fear, actually.

52:39 Oh, really? Of course, Yeah, I had. I was like, Oh my, my gosh, what are we going to talk about? And yeah, I mean both are existing at the same time. And you did it even though. Well, that's that to me. If there's something that I'm excited about and I'm afraid of at the same time, well, that right there, that's the spot when you draw the two circles and the spot that meets in the middle of right here. That's the spot.

53:08 That's. What you want? Hey, I'm glad that we were in the middle. It's a spot, so here we are. Awesome. If anybody is curious about you, they want to reach out, ask you a question, or just kind of maybe, you know, talk more Feng shui. What would be the best way to do that? Instagram Instagram Charmaine at Charmaine Mitchell. That's it.

53:28 So. Yeah, we'll put it in. That's it, yeah. We'll put it in the show notes if people want to reach out. As I as I'm here in Bali, it's probably the best way to reach me, yeah. Cool. And where are you going after Bali? You're leaving soon, aren't you?

53:40 I will be going to Vancouver to see my dad for a month and then New Hampshire and Vermont for my son's wedding. That's right. Yeah. And back to then LA, California for three months and. Then eventually back to Bali. And then back to Bali.

53:59 Yeah. Yeah, always. Exactly. Yeah. Cool. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you everyone for listening and tuning in this week, and we'll speak to you next week. Perfect. Bye for now. All right, before you go, let me just tell you about the goingproyoga.com platform.

54:16 So right now you can go to goingproyoga.com and check it out for free for seven days, where you can actually learn more about yoga in the ways of alignment, queuing, sequencing, yoga anatomy. So that if you've done a 200 hour teacher training and you want to continue to learn, practice and grow, this platform is definitely for you.

54:32 So I definitely suggest checking it out goingproyoga.com right now. You can try it out for free for seven days.