Trauma-Informed Yoga: How to Process Emotions, with Katie Nesbitt

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 Podcasts 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. Even if it just feels good, but you're not exactly sure why, but you know the beginning of classes.

0:33 I will always I will never have somebody just drop right into stillness, but invite movement. Invite movement. If you're starting in a seated meditation or you're starting lying on your back, invite in any movement that the body wants to take right then and there. You're allowing your students to gain control over themselves and their practice, which is a big part of trauma informed anything.

0:55 Regaining control and empowerment. Also offering up that ability to move any of that energy that's just still there from the day. Shake it out, move it out, like do it feels right in your body. And what we're doing is we're already starting to tap into your students own intuition, their own inner guidance, which is what we really are hopefully seeking for. A lot of our, our students is for them to feel empowered to tap into their own inner guidance and their own inner wisdom.

1:22 And so you know, that's just within the first minute and so right there and then if you just do with that one piece, you're already starting to allow them to gain some more control and empowerment and feel like they can, you know, do what feels right for themselves. Welcome to the Going Pro Yoga Podcast. If you love yoga as much as I do, then this podcast is for you.

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2:08 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 teacher's 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.

2:26 All right. Welcome back to the Going Pro Yoga podcasts, Michael here. And today we have a returning guests. Very exciting. Katie Nesbitt is here with us on the podcast again. Hello, Katie, how are you? Hello. Very happy to be here. Welcome back, welcome back to Bali. Thank you.

2:42 Yeah, you've been, you've been out and about moving around, so it's great to have you back in person and also on the podcast of course. So Katie's been on the podcast before episode one O 2. We talked about judgement, free awareness of self, and I highly recommend listening to that podcast episode relating to Trauma Informed Yoga to some level. We talked about the nervous system a little bit and also just it helps to create more awareness of self in a non judgment way exactly how the

3:12 title reads. So definitely recommend listening to that. And Katie also talks a little bit more about her background so you can learn a little bit more about her. Otherwise for this episode maybe we'll just give a brief little intro of who you are.

3:24 So if someone's like I've already listened to this one like who's this Katie girl. So let's talk a little bit about you like where you're from something to that effect your yoga experience and then we'll we'll jump into it.

3:35 Were my name is Katie Nesbitt, very happy to be back here, back in Bali back with you talking about yoga and all things, because it's a big part of my life and has been for. I mean I've been teaching yoga for 12 years been practicing for double that amount. And I'm from the United States originally. I'm originally from the state of Maine lived in California Los Angeles area for about 20 years.

3:59 And now I sort of divide my time between the US and Bali mainly. But I also travel quite a few times throughout the year for yoga retreats. I'm also for trainings as well. So it's become a pretty interesting and unique lifestyle unexpected. I mean if you asked me 10 years ago, I thought I'd be here. No, I would have no idea that this was even possible. That's a good thing.

4:25 Unpredictability. Yeah. Fulfilled. Yes, good. Incredibly. I have a theme lately of conversations with people who have, like, started to, like, actually put their foot into yoga space a little bit more, like teaching and sharing and wow, I'm not making as much money, but man, is it ever fulfilling.

4:42 I'm like, yeah, it's pretty fun. It's pretty fun. I'll raise both hands to that because as we were just chatting about offline that you know I used to work in the corporate world for many years and yes, the paycheck was very different and yet the the, the fulfillment level was also quite different as well. Right, right.

5:05 Well, I'm glad. I'm grateful for that. And I'm grateful for all of you listening here to, yeah, continue learning about yoga because like we talked about the pot before we started this podcast, we're like, well, I hope people realize that yoga, teaching, yoga, learning about yoga is just a forever experience.

5:20 And which is why I love this podcast is because for myself, I get to learn for people like you and then also get to share what I learned so that we can just completely support this community. Not just the yoga community, but just the world in general. I think it's awesome.

5:35 Cool. Thank you. Yeah, no worries. That feels like a conclusion of the podcast but we're just actually getting started. So but yeah, that's just where we where we went. So yeah, I mean your background, you have a lot of trauma, informed yoga experience, neuroscience I believe as well, right. So we were thinking of maybe kind of talking a little bit more about the the maybe the neuroscience or maybe the the nervous system aspects of.

6:03 Yeah, just trauma, informed yoga or just trauma in general. And that conversation is just really popular for people. Well, not for everyone, because some people kind of want to avoid it for fair reasons. But usually it's kind of a conversation where people are like, well, I want to learn more about it. So I know how to help myself.

6:19 I want to try to feel better. I want to know how to, you know, not feel anxious all the time or I want to feel, you know, just better. And as soon as the conversation of emotions come up or trauma in relation to yoga and releasing and somatic releases and these types of things, that's when people start to like, you know, perk their head up and be like, maybe I should learn about that. Which is another reason why I want to take your yoga training, which is coming in April.

6:45 We'll talk about that later. But yeah, let's talk about some concepts related to the nervous system, however you want to start. Yeah, well, I mean, I think to your point there that a lot of us who practice yoga, you know, all, all teachers have started off as, you know, a yoga student. And we feel the effects, we feel the benefits of yoga, but we often don't really understand what is actually happening inside of ourselves.

7:08 So not that that's a requirement, you know, to know the neuroscience, the neurobiology as to what's happening inside of the Physiology, the nervous system, the brain. But I have found over the last you know 3 plus years of being more in the topic of trauma informed yoga and somatic therapy and working with clients one-on-one and working in you know group classes and trainings as well as when individuals can understand more and be more educated as to the why and what is happening inside of the body.

7:41 It creates empowerment And that is one of the key tenants of trauma informed anything is to re empower people to gain more control over their life in general and that comes down to more control over their internal reactions responses.

8:00 But the understanding as to what is actually happening and how to remain more regulated, that can make such a difference in people's lives, both as students and especially as teachers, as yoga teachers. Now, you know, to really understand what is going on, like what is the why?

8:17 What is the how, you know, how what does you know, how do we even stay regulated? What does that even mean now? And so just to get deeper into those aspects can create more empowerment for people. And that's really what a lot of this is about. Yeah.

8:30 Knowledge is power. Yes, it is. Yeah. And I couldn't agree more. I mean, that's part of why I like teaching anatomy. Because if people understand why you say these things to queue, why you sequence in this way, why, why are we doing all this?

8:42 Like, what's the point? Exactly. Then you're more likely to actually like subscribe and like, listen and use it. Otherwise it's just more information. Which we got enough of that already on the Internet. It's just floating around everywhere. Exactly.

8:54 And not just, you know, sort of regurgitating some things that you've heard, but really to understand it within yourself. 1st and and for you as well. Exactly. We might have talked a little bit about this last time we were together because there is that similarity of you like really teaching the anatomy and the Physiology of what's happening in the body so that we can understand it, so we can really connect to it. And that is sort of that strong foundation is that we need to have the experience for

9:20 ourselves, you know, I believe until we can really even go out there and teach from that place. And so to have the deeper understanding that is just so powerful as both a student, as regular person in this world, but then also even more importantly, as a teacher who's going out there and really trying to help support people along their journey.

9:40 OK, so then what do I do whenever I'm feeling super stressed out? How do I deal with that? Well, where do we begin? I mean it really is actually a deeper there's there's so many deeper questions before I can just answer that. That is a blanket statement.

9:56 And you know, and just, you know, the the last episode that we talked about, we did get into some mindfulness and what mindfulness really means and how the brain is responding when we're feeling stressed or anxious or depressed.

10:09 You know, there are very different tactics and different avenues that we may take based upon if somebody's feeling hyper aroused and in more of that anxious, hyper vigilant state versus somebody that might be hypo aroused where somebody is in more of a depressed state, a more numbed out state, dissociated state. That is very different than somebody who is so hyper vigilant as to what is going on either outside of themselves or inside of themselves.

10:37 So might some people might feel that racing heart, you know, and what's going on, they are very connected to what's going on in their body or somebody that is in more of a hypo aroused state, they have a disconnection to what's going on inside.

10:49 So very different tactics when you're working with clients one-on-one, which is a lot of what I do. But when we're looking at public yoga classes, you're going to have people coming in from all different arousal States and where they may be. So that's where becoming more trauma informed to even just that knowledge.

11:07 And there's this, you know, this in general thought maybe that, oh, I need to regulate my nervous system. I need to calm my nervous system down, sure. But regulation is not just about calming. It's not just becoming in this deeper calming state.

11:25 It's truly about finding a deeper connection to yourself and authenticity as what is going on within yourself. The calm may come from that, but that not is not necessarily always the goal when it comes to trauma. Informed can be, you know, sort of that byproduct to all of it.

11:44 But first and foremost it's about finding the connection, the deeper connection inside to then understand the next steps. So if somebody is, you know, feeling super anxious like you just said, what do I do? You know, when I'm feeling really anxious, it's something where when I work with clients, you know I need to. We get to know each other a lot more so that they can get to know themselves a lot more.

12:07 So you know the self knowledge that we are gaining through yoga, you know, that again is that byproduct of what we're doing with getting on our yoga mats, feeling the sensations in our body, feeling the postures in our body, noticing the thoughts in our mind, noticing the emotions that may come up, noticing even the spiritual connection.

12:24 You know that deeper self knowledge and self wisdom is so important when it comes into this. With that being said, you know some people that do come in that are really anxious. I'm not going to go right into a calming meditation to go from that state of hyper arousal of that anxiousness. You know that hyper vigilance to go right into, OK, let's just sit down and close your eyes and come into a calming meditation. It's very challenging to go from this hyper wrap state into just a state of calm.

12:57 It almost feels like it's it makes things worse sometimes. Exactly. And and that's where you know, when we're approaching mindfulness from the trauma informed state is recognizing that even mindfulness can be triggering. It can be extremely triggering and extremely arousing for individuals.

13:19 So often times we we can't start off with closing the eyes and go into the sensations that you're feeling that can actually exacerbate the symptoms. You can re traumatize as well. So we have to be very careful with that.

13:31 We need to do it slowly and again from that state of connection and being OK with what you were feeling. That's the first step. It's not about just drop into a state of calm and peace and if you are you know, kind of guiding somebody that way even with let's say a mantra based meditation repeat to yourself, I'm calm, I'm at peace.

13:52 Somebody is not feeling that way. They are fighting that and then that can then lead to internal judgement, internal shame. I'm not feeling calm, I'm not feeling peace. What is wrong with me? And that can just then create bigger issues.

14:07 So yeah, there's a lot around and that's why the the our first conversation I think just LED into more of the mindfulness and how within mindfulness is that place of not judgement. And that is one of the biggest tenets of it yet.

14:20 To get to that point doesn't happen at the snap of the finger. That takes time. That takes practice. To feel into what you were feeling, and to practice slowly being OK with whatever is there, not judging it, not shaming it, not guilting yourself for not being in a different place than where you are.

14:38 So on that note I'm thinking emotions right we're we're basically talking about emotions and for some people there's not aware. It's really hard to know what I'm feeling in a particular moment, especially if you are emotionally hijacked or compromised or you're basically just not feeling your best in that particular moment.

14:58 It's really difficult to figure out. You might be able to nail it like I'm frustrated or I'm angry or something like this or I'm sad, but not always is it like very clear to you because your clarity is is a little bit gone at the most moments. So I guess my first question is like what would be a helpful way to like start to figure out maybe it's like learning more about emotions, maybe like reading about them, like what are certain emotions actually

15:21 meaning and that actually helps to give a reference point for whenever it does come up. Or like what would you suggest? Yeah, I mean, naming the emotion is a big piece because what that does, it takes you out of just being caught up in the experience. It allows you to take that step out and to be more of the witness, to name it, to structure the emotion a bit more from the state of feeling and thought. And that will bring us out of the areas of the brain, such as the brain stem, the midbrain,

15:48 and bring us into that prefrontal cortex, which will start to bring in more of that observation. And what is happening right now. So that we don't just get caught flowing down this river, that we don't know where it's going to and we're trying to survive and save ourselves, but instead we're able to take a look at it, to name it, to recognize what is happening, not to bypass what is happening and just try to force a different emotion. We actually need to feel through

16:16 it. We need to feel through it safely. And that's where having somebody that can help support you in that to help, you know, you find greater regulation as a student, as a client, to have somebody that has this knowledge, has this information to be able to support that journey and can then also help in the Co regulation. So that is why as a yoga teacher, as a healer, as a coach, we need to be very regulated, very connected as well within our own selves and

16:46 our own emotions, especially when we're working with others because there is such a thing as Co regulation. My nervous system isn't forming your nervous system. And I'll say this right now, if you don't mind that right before we started this podcast, we took about 10 seconds.

17:00 We closed our eyes and I could feel your breath. I could hear your breath that then was Co regulating me stepping in to this place and we were just breathing, you know, But I don't know if you felt that or not, but it was just this sense of connection first. Then the calming came from that.

17:20 So again, it's not just about, you know, OK, let me just force myself into a state of calm, you know? How often is that going to work? I don't think it ever works. So no. Yeah, it's like I'm anxious, Meditate. It's like well.

17:34 Right. No, maybe And and so I've I've kind of diverted off of that question that you asked as well. But you know even with that with if we're feeling anxious but we we need to pause. OK what am I feeling right now We need to ask ourselves that question what is that emotion and not only what is that core emotion that I'm feeling whether it's joy anger you know whatever it may be.

17:55 OK, now what are my, you know, what are some feelings that I'm feeling about that emotion? You know, am I frustrated about the anger that I'm having right now? And so we kind of start to just go a little bit deeper into that, but without judging it. Again, going back to that first podcast that we did together is going back to that place of not judging the emotions, not judging your feelings and your thoughts around the emotions. And then we go from there.

18:21 So from that point then we might, as we're going deeper into the connection, OK, I'm connecting to the emotion in somatic therapy, we always bring it back to the body, always, always, always bringing it back to the body.

18:33 So from there we can work into, OK, where am I feeling it in my physical body right now? And then as we start to pause and we make that deeper internal connection to what's happening inside, then that will inform us. The next step is, so if I'm feeling, let's say, tension in my jaw, which is a big area for a lot of people, Yep, I know I want to stretch out my jaw right now too, even just by saying that. The jaw, the shoulders, the chest, the abdomen, the hips, all of these are some pretty key

19:04 areas where we can hold on to some of that, that emotion that we're feeling. And you know, from there. Then we ask ourselves, you know, how can we try to shift that? How can we shift it from the bottom up? So instead of, again, that example of instead of going, if I'm feeling agitated, instead of just jumping right into a mantra based meditation, peace instead. First we notice what's happening in the physical body which is a direct reflection of the nervous

19:34 system, and then we work with that. So if my shoulders are tight, I'm going to roll my shoulders out. I'm just feeling tension and throughout my whole body. I'm going to shake, I'm going to jump, I'm going to bounce. I might dance.

19:43 I might do something to help the sympathetic activation that is happening inside of my body, to help it process through, to get to a greater place of completion of that energy, that sympathetic activation that is happening in the body.

19:59 We know that things are being kicked off, neuro chemicals, hormones, the heart racing, the sweating. Like we know what is happening in the body with a stress response. Now how can we work with that? How can we allow it to move through us, to then get to a place of truly feeling that we are safe again?

20:17 We have to get to that point of recognizing right here, right now. In this moment, with this breath, right now. OK, I'm safe. I'm safe. Not even that I'm good. I'm calm. No, no. We need to work our way there slowly and retrain and repattern the nervous system, the brain, in order to help us find more of that resilience. Because let's be honest, we're not going to, we're not going to eliminate stress in our lives.

20:45 It's not going to happen. I thought that you're going to tell us about is how to. To burst your bubble right now, yes, just talking with me or just going to clear all the stress in your life that could potentially happen.

20:55 Well, we should just end the podcast. Right. We're done. See, I see you when I see you. But you know, just driving on the street, we're going to have somebody cut us off. We can't control other people. So that it's going to have an effect on the more that we can build this, this resilience of our nervous system. To recognize there's a stressor that I know how to bring myself back into regulation.

21:16 I know how to bring myself back into connection within myself where I am. I'm OK right here, right now, but let's see what's happening in the body. Are there some residual effects that are happening in the body from a stressful event that either just happened or that is a residual that is happening in the body from years ago, decades ago, that is still lingering in there?

21:42 You know, it's as I always say, the brain and the nervous system, it's trying to keep us safe. It's trying to keep us protected. And often times that can mean bracing. And just that sympathetic activation that is continuing to stream through our body is when we cannot release some of that activity that's happening there. And so, you know, jumping, moving, you know, moving the body is a really key piece when it comes to regulation, connecting to the physical body,

22:10 to then move it in a way to help move some energy through us, to then get to a point where we may be able to sit with our brat, or we may be able to sit in a meditation or even just Orient ourselves to the environment that we're in.

22:26 But we need to find the connection before. Right, so let's play this area a little bit. This is helpful. So something happens my I have a stress response in my body, right? Sympathetic response and I'm feeling anxious or some version of an undesired emotion. OK, I don't really know what it is. So what I was thinking in my head is like, OK, if you don't really know what it is like, just name the closest thing to what you think it is.

22:54 That's what I think is helpful for me. And honestly, I have a recent example, so we can maybe use this example where I had this exact thing happened and I wasn't sure what I was feeling. And I just needed to, like, deal with it in that moment so that I could teach yoga.

23:09 Because it happened. It's teach yoga, just classic. And then I was like, OK, I'll deal with it later. So I wrote down the note in my phone like, OK, this is like, I know what's happening. I don't really know what I'm feeling. I think I'm feeling angry, frustrated, something. And then it took me some time to, like, try to name it later. I couldn't quite figure it out, so I just Googled it, just Googled words.

23:30 I was thinking I was like, I'm thinking vengeful, I think like spiteful or something like this. So I started to like research like just Google words, like what are synonyms of this or like, what are different words? And it just gave me more options to feel like, oh, it's more like that, actually more like that, which helped me to narrow it a bit more.

23:47 So I don't know, I see you nodding a lot if you're watching the video. So that made me feel like I could get a little bit closer to it. What actually made me feel like, oh, I, I said. That's what that is, But maybe feel actually like I have more control to some level. Exactly that connection to especially being able to name it, being able to structure because we as human beings, you know, our brains like structure, our brains like to know the answer and we don't know the

24:14 answer. It is going to keep going and going and going until we try to create that answer. In a sense whether it's you know right or wrong of that answer, the mind is continuing to go to try to get to that point of completion of understanding what is this story, what does this mean? And so the fact that you were able to even put it to the side for a moment, congratulations on that. And then be able to re enter back into it from a place of awareness, a place of greater

24:41 consciousness to say I'm ready to dive into this a bit more. Now I'm getting curious which is another big piece of trauma informed anything is that point of curiosity and pairing the curiosity from a place of compassion with how we really need to enter into this. And this is where then just like you did on your own self exploration, you're diving deeper into what does this mean? You're asking it in a way of it doesn't doesn't sound like you were super frustrated in the

25:12 process of that curiosity, but it was more of the I want to know what is this feeling. I can't quite put my finger on it and that's where a lot of this work is. Is it that curiosity from the place of compassion of the non judgement Let me do the self exploration again, That's what yoga is. It's an internal self exploration, you know, for ourselves to gain more of the wisdom about ourselves and then beyond ourselves as well.

25:40 But it does. It starts inside so that the process that you took is an excellent process. Great. Ask you after you. Yes. Pat yourself on the back there after you essentially found a word to explain it. You know, the feeling that you're having.

25:55 How did that then allow you to feel after that? And did you take any next steps? It made me feel. It made me feel like I was more in control. I was calmer. Maybe it felt like I was using less energy to try to figure it out.

26:11 Maybe I felt less scattered. I was still kind of feeling the emotion right, the mode, but it was more concentrated so it didn't feel as much. So I guess it did lessen to some degree. And it was resentful. What's the word where I'd resentful?

26:29 I was like, oh that's you know what the in the vengeance was like a really extreme version of it. I was like, it's not quite vengeance that seems really intense, but resentful. I was feeling resentful and it kind of stemmed into and and and I learned more about this because I I literally Googled it and it was like reading.

26:44 No, it lead to anger and these types of things. And these are, you know, feeling like you were treated unfairly. And all these things were just ticking. The bots being like, yeah, I was like I was feeling seen by just reading about it. And I'm sure there's plenty you can Google or there's plenty of books like I I also have Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown, which talks about all, you know, spectrums of emotion. So I started reading about anger and resentment and that also helps me to feel more like, Oh

27:08 yeah, OK, so this is definitely what it is. So then after that, I want to be honest, I brought it to my therapist and we talked about it. That's what I did because I was like, I don't really know how to move work through it. And like I what I would do in those moments as I tried to move what whenever.

27:25 It's got to the point where it's affecting my my ability to be present for situations, whether it be work or relationships that I was like I need to move it out because I need to resume life, which is very applicable to every person is that, you know, we feel things all the time, but not always can we deal with them in those moments, right? As much as we would like to.

27:46 Sometimes it could take a while, Sometimes you can't even do it yourself. Often times you can't do it yourself. You need someone else to kind of help with that. So that's basically what I did next was I I called her up and said I need an emergency session. I got something I can't let go.

28:01 And it's like I even I understand it and I know how to like I know all this stuff, like the neuroscience, I understand all that, but I just can't seem to move it. I need help. So maybe that's part of the next thing is admitting to yourself that, you know, we can't do all this stuff by ourselves. We do need help and asking for help, which is also really hard for people.

28:20 It's I both hands up in the air for that one. For me, that's something that throughout the years I've really had to work on that and being OK with asking for help when I need the help. Because as much of a strong woman that I am, you know, it's like I need to also know that I maybe can't do everything on my own.

28:38 And that I need the assistance from others, the support from professionals and to understand how to navigate through a lot of this. And something that you said in telling that story, you know, really stood out for me. And I'm not sure if you were listeners or not, but even with you just simply Googling it, you started to feel seen.

28:56 And that is a huge piece of any trauma informed care is even the ability to feel seen and heard can help create healing. So even if you don't know all of the details of neuroscience, what's happening in the body, for any yoga teacher to be there to simply hear and to help a client or a student feel seen and heard, that is already starting the process of healing.

29:26 It's pretty big. Yeah, and and doable. Everybody can do that. Yeah, absolutely. Space if you want, Absolutely. And with you then going to speak with your therapist about it, like excellent. Again to help with all of those the the processing from more of the cognitive cerebral part a bit more which is which is big that's a big part of it as well. And then as you were talking about moving it through the body and then we're getting into the somatic therapy piece then we're getting into OK it's not just

29:55 all in my brain because we know the brain and the body are connected two way communication system here always going on. So we need to get below the head as well and get into the body and to recognize how is this being held in my body?

30:11 How is this resentment feeling in my body? Where am I feeling it? In my body? Again, getting curious, but now dropping it down from the story in our mind as to the Why do I feel this way? What happened? You know, how can I not get rid of this out of my mind? We need to drop it into the body, get out of the head, get out of the head for a little bit. Yes, there are some very key qualities to doing that and talking through a lot of experiences. But when we get into the body,

30:38 it can really create more of that holistic sense of healing and then that's what you start to recognize where your personal patterns may be. Everybody can be different and it's not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to somatic therapy or any trauma informed care in terms of one person's journey towards healing and recovery can be very different than another person. It always is.

31:02 But as you start to empower yourself through the curiosity, through the self exploration of getting into the body, where do I feel resentment in my body? Do I feel it in my chest? Do I feel it in my finger? You know, do I feel it in my legs? Do I not feel my legs when this emotion is coming up? Often times we start to feel disassociated, disconnected to our body.

31:23 In a lot of ways, we need to bring that connection back in and recognize, and I'm here, I'm in my body, I'm in control, I'm connected. Now, what's that next step? And often times as we continue down this path, those answers sort of sort to come to us as well as we get to know ourselves even more. And so, you know, once you felt like you were able to name it, OK, feeling that, that emotion, that feeling of resentment right now, let me think about the

31:53 story of that. Let me think about how I got to this point. But now let's get back into repatterning the nervous system and the body around them. So OK, I know what what's happening in the brain. I know what's happening in the mind with my thoughts around all of this. But now let's see the effect of the nervous system, which then affects the physical body, where we're feeling tightness, where we're feeling tension, where we're feeling disassociated to parts of our body.

32:17 Now how can we find the regulation which is the connection to it? So then work our way through it. So if we're feeling tightness in the chest, you know, how are we going to work on that? How are we going to work on that? And that that again can be slightly different for people. For some it might look like let's place a hand on the heart, let's breathe into that space, let's bring some more awareness into that space that you're feeling, the physicality of the feeling of resentment.

32:45 And for others, it might that might be too activate the tight chest can create more fear, anxiety, other emotions. So we may actually bring the focus and the awareness into another part of the body that's away from that part.

33:01 So we start to connect, we start to regulate, we start to calm to another part of the body. If it becomes really intense in one physical location, OK, so this is really helpful. I'm going to stay here a little bit. That's OK. First thought is like some people, a lot of people unfortunately are not very connected to their body just regularly, let alone being in an estate when they have an emotional stress response.

33:28 So you're saying what I'm hearing you say. It's like ask yourself the question like where am I feeling in this? In my body. And I can imagine there's people that are gonna be like, that's not enough. Like I need more like how can I actually find it? And my therapist said, she said do a body scan is what she told me.

33:44 So I knew what that meant. So because in the moment I was just, she was asking me and I was sitting there being like, I have no idea, but I was like, I'll just give myself a chance. Then I just like was like I thought about my feet and my toes and I moved my toes around. I was like, no.

33:55 And then I like would wind up my leg And then I went up my other leg and then hips and finger, You know, I started to literally like take my time and like bring attention to each little area. And it's it was so subtle. And then finally, I was just like, oh, it's like my upper back area.

34:08 I can feel like a tightness there. And in fact, I've had a discomfort pain here for the last three days. And this is how long this has been going on. All of a sudden it was like, oh, obviously there's a connection there, right.

34:20 So just to kind of give some, you know, like it's not always easy to figure out where in the body. So just give yourself a chance scanning the body and you're nodding your head. So that's very validating. Thank you to just like try to try your best.

34:32 And if you do find, what I'm hearing you say is if you do find the location and it feels like it gets more intense when you focus on that area, then what I heard you say is to try to like move away from that or focus on an an area that's a little bit more distant from it. Yeah.

34:45 So like for example, neutral. Neutral, yeah. To the area, yeah. And then we can slowly work our way back, back towards the more activated area within the body. And and what you're saying is very key here as well. So this is something where even when I'm working with clients, the first session, we do not just jump right into this, right. The first session, oftentimes it is reconnecting to the body and allowing them.

35:05 I mean, you know, working with clients have a clients that literally can't feel their feet. They can't feel their feet on the ground. You know, they can't find a connection to their hands. So it's working with reconnecting to the body and from a very neutral place as well. So we start to, you know, when we know this as yoga teachers, you know, oftentimes we have yoga, We have the students that come in and you know, still can't feel their body in a lot of ways.

35:28 And I, and I'm This is why this conversation is so important, that as yoga teachers, you're going to have people come into your class that cannot connect to their body parts. And so we start off by just slowly getting ourselves there to find the reconnection and the connection before the calm.

35:45 That's what we need to find. That is the very important step. It's almost just like it when we might have talked about this in the last one. When we think about letting go, just let go. Let go of what you're feeling. You know, really set. It is very hard to go from, like ask anybody, all right, I have this resentment.

35:59 Just let it. Go oh, thanks, that was really helpful. Yeah, exactly. And that's and you know, when I, you know, I'm not saying that in a way of, you know, when we're teaching public classes of having that as a focus area, as an intention, as a theme for classes to release and let go, that's OK.

36:14 But just recognizing that there are steps that need to happen before that can ever take place and a lot of it starts, it's awareness first, it's awareness. So even just doing like you just said, I will bring clients through body scans, I will bring clients through. We did this on the last episode of orienting in the room to even recognize what am I even aware of outside of myself before I can even go inside here.

36:39 So we start to focus the mind from that place of awareness, recognizing what is right here right now. Then we work our way into the body and it can be some people find it very connecting for them to do a body scan. So body scans are a very big piece of this to build the foundation to then be able to go deeper into the deeper healing, the deeper re patterning that we're looking to do that does not happen right away. There are very logical steps that we need to take before that But again every client is

37:07 different with their ability to connect to their inner body and and what's happening in their nervous system. But often times it can be through body scans. Other people really like to connect to the breath other people that can be very activating for them.

37:20 So we we play around and it's always about getting feedback from your student, from your client along the way because again everybody's different and what they're feeling, what they're experiencing and then allowing them to be heard, to be seen, to really be recognized in this process as well as they are gaining more self knowledge about themselves, more control over themselves and that empowerment piece, that's what it can lead to allowing us to feel more empowered.

37:49 And you know when I'm working with clients I wanted you know I want to work them to, to get to a place of being able to get to that point, to asking themselves those questions to work through those steps on their own. But it can take, it can take some time depending on who's showing up and you know how connected or disconnected they may be, how hyper aroused or how hypo aroused they may be feeling as well.

38:11 And it can can vary from day-to-day. So the word came up with patience, and you just kind of said that in a different way because you were saying all this stuff. And I was like, I think the key, one of the key things here is you definitely need to be patient with yourself or with someone else in order for any of this to even work. Because if there's any expectations of, like, I'm going to figure this out, like kind of like me the other day, I was just like, you know, I'm smart,

38:34 I understand this stuff, you know? But ego is just like, cool. Like, I talk about this all the time. I teach this stuff so clearly I should know how to do it, but that it lasted like 4 days and I was just like, you know, it's super frustrating.

38:48 And what I kept telling myself is like just be patient. Just be patient. I was like I wanted to just like I'd I was anger. I needed to like release or like a version of it, you know, resentment was kind of leading towards anger. And I I just like had a hard time letting go of it regardless of all the tools.

39:06 And I just kept saying like just be patient, it'll pass. Just be patient. Let it pass, like, you know, feel into it, but then also just being patient. So I just thought I'd share that the patience was a huge thing for me to be able to survive the last several days without letting it jeopardize my regular day-to-day life.

39:22 Knowing that I'm not going to forget about it, right. That's like, I know I'm going to, I'm going to keep coming back to you, don't worry. And I'm not going to just ignore you, but like, I'm going to also be patient because I need to go take care of this thing, right? Which is why I like to write it my I write it in my phone so I don't forget.

39:39 I mean it's talking points for my therapist but it's also just it's it helps my brain be like I'm not going to forget about you, don't worry. Which actually helps the little me inside feel like. OK, thank you. Feeling. Hard.

39:49 Exactly. Because the little me inside is the one that's actually has the problem with all this. It's not the adult me, right? And and you nailed it. Having that patience is very key in this process, and that patience does not mean ignoring it and suppressing it because it's going to show up, just in a different way.

40:06 In a different experience, and so to be able though to designate times that you will return back to that that can also calm the mind in other parts of the day to allow you to show up just like you said. I'm going to take time at this time this day to really dive into this.

40:25 Not to ignore it, not just sweep it under the rug, but to give yourself that time, But then also that can calm the mind during the other times of your life that you need to show up without just bypassing that emotion and what's there, because what's there is real, you know, what's there is very real for you. Very emotions are a very, very real part of our lives. And you know, it's not this tangible, tactile thing that we can touch, but it's something

40:51 that is there beneath the surface that we need to acknowledge. And then have the patience and have the curiosity to it and the kindness that we give ourselves and the little us inside where we first experienced, you know, those emotions. So that's another piece.

41:07 I'm not going to go into this right now because it's a much deeper topic, but going deeper into actual somatic therapy in terms of looking back and recognizing does this emotion feel familiar? Does this feeling in my body, your upper back, does that feel familiar to you?

41:26 Have you had that before in the? Past that's also hard to do. It's. Super hard it is. And that's where we really need support with that as well. Yeah. So let's go back to if, if it's OK, let's go back to the movement part of the the moving the energy or moving the the emotion or allowing it to process in the particular moments.

41:46 Because talking about, you know, hyper arousal, hypo, arousal, we're talking about the polyvagal theory, which I do have an episode about that, which I actually don't remember which one it is. Let's see if I can find it real quick. It is episode.

42:04 Oh no, I don't know where it is. Oh, here it is 112. I talk about nervousness and and overwhelm and I basically break down the Polypagel theory a little bit. OK. So if you don't know what that is, you can go listen to that episode.

42:17 But basically what I wanted to kind of have the conversation around is you talk about a bottom up approach which is like almost regardless of whatever is being felt, you kind of have to allow that energy to be moved or processed.

42:32 So that can either be activities or shaking or moving the body so that the energy that's being. I don't know if it's released or it's, it's it's waking up, let's say it's waking up in the body from like an old wound perhaps that it needs to like break free and actually like flow a bit. Is that kind of?

42:53 Yeah. So with this especially, you know, if it's something of an older experience that is showing up again. So often times the way that this can be described is, you know, the the gas pedal and the brake and what can be happening is when the sympathetic activation begins sympathetic response in the body.

43:11 Physiologically, I always like highlight that that this is not just a theoretical, oh, I don't know, I'm, I'm feeling anxious and stressed like no, your body is actually reacting, heart is reacting, your blood is reacting.

43:23 You know the flow of everything is reacting inside of your body. So it's very real thing that is considered the gas pedal. OK, if we press the brake to that, we can get stuck. We get stuck in that response. And then there's burning fuel, yes. We are slowly burning ourselves out now. It's like that, right?

43:45 And it's like, so yeah, I forgot what where I read this or where I heard this. But you know, I do like that analogy of the gas pedal and the brake. And if you're thinking about this in terms of car, the motor is just running. It's running and running and it's going to burn itself out, you know, because you're not going anywhere. But you're also revving it up, you know, in order to react and be ready to react.

44:05 That's what the body is doing. It's repairing yourself to protect yourself, to run, to fight, to flee, to freeze, to flop. You know, there are a lot of different ways that the body is trying to respond to keep us safe. And if we stop that, if we just cut it off before we can actually feel all the way through it and then move it through us from that energetic standpoint, it's going to remain.

44:26 You might suppress it, you might just turn it down a little bit, turn down that dial. But when something else reminds you of feeling unsafe in a similar way, it's going to Rev right back up again inside. We're talking about like, like the energy being processed or the movement.

44:45 Because basically what I'm thinking is, you know, I'm trying to think of like, little tips for people to help themselves in moments, right? Which is like Google things and like learn more about emotions. Like, OK, that's great.

44:56 But like, if it's like feeling like it's just so like deep, it's like stuck. It's like, what do I do? And what I'm hearing you say is like, move your body. Yeah, so a few tips. I'll just break some things down for people to even try. So if you were feeling, let's say, an emotion of anger or frustration or like something isn't happening that needs to be happening or this feeling that you want to fight back on something, how can we without fighting somebody, how can we allow that feeling to move

45:23 through the body in a Safeway so that can be even, you know, these are some, you know, somatic therapy tips and practices. You know, you can come up against a wall and actually push the wall as hard as you can as though you were just, you know, getting some of that movement through the body. You can also squeeze a pillow.

45:41 You can, you know, push a pillow. You know, you can do some things like that. Yeah, you can. You can. You can punch a pillow, run big on punching. But yes, that that. Absolutely. It's actually funny. I should share it as a short story on that another time or maybe later.

45:56 But you know, so you can do that. Go to a wall, push the wall, OK, take a pillow. Do what you need to do to that pillow as well. Or simply jumping up and down, shaking the hands, shaking out the head, and then also pairing that with some sort of vocal response as well to not just keep it and moving through the body. Like there is such a cathartic release when we are able to get something moving through us from a sound, whether it's words or just a guttural, animalistic

46:26 sound that needs to come through, You let that let it out. We need to move that stuff through us. It can be if you, especially if you, if you tend to hold tension in your jaw. You know, energetically what it's thought is that we're quite literally clenching our jaw from not saying something that we want to say. Not expressing.

46:47 Yes. So we might find a lot of tension in the jaw grinding the teeth. So say what you want to say as you're pushing that wall, as you're squeezing that pillow, as you're punching the pillow, as you're jumping up and down, as you're moving the body, say what you need to say. Say what feels like needs to come through you as well. So we're not suppressing it, so we're not stopping it. We need to let it move through US or else it's going to remain inside and it's going to come

47:14 out at another time in another way, you know, so, so those are some suggestions in terms of getting some of the movement. Go for a walk, go for a run. You know, it's a different for different people as to what feels a little more cathartic for them physically to move that energy, you know, doing yoga, doing some gentle movements with the body might feel nice, doing some more powerful movements might feel nice.

47:35 So it kind of depends on again what that emotion is as well. Because if you're feeling sad, if that is an emotion that you're feeling, I don't think you're going to want to push a wall like you know, that might not feel like you're getting to move that energy that is inside of you through, it said.

47:49 You want to be gentle to yourself. You want to have some very soft, loving movements, even holding your heart, swaying from side to side, just allowing yourself to feel whatever emotion is deeper down within. But the commonality is movement. Yeah, to allow the movement helps the processing. Yeah, OK.

48:10 So I I remember one thing, which is the pillow punching thing, but there was something else that is eluding me now. See if I can remember what it is. Can I mention something real quick? Yeah, please. I don't know how long this is.

48:23 Probably back in my 20s, which was a long time ago at this point. But I remember when I was just practicing yoga, I wasn't don't think I was teaching at that point. And I was also working full time and just balancing a lot. And I used to think I want to open up a studio that has yoga in one room and kickboxing in the other room. Because I just remember being in the office sometimes and just getting really frustrated and, like kind of wanting to punch a punching bag just to get like,

48:49 intuitively, you know, 20 years ago, maybe a little bit less than that. But I was trying to, like, I knew something inside of me needed to move that energy through. But then to also have the balancing effect of the connection of yoga and maybe the slower movement and the more movement in meditation.

49:07 God, get some of that activation out of you and through you. I never did that but still thought would I then get into a lot of the trauma and form and the somatics. I'm like, Oh my God, OK, moving some of the energy through before you can get yourself into a place of sitting on a yoga.

49:28 Yeah, that's good And and makes me think about, you know, the the secondary emotions that might come in just from the thought of doing some of this stuff. Like the thought of like, you know, releasing your anger through, like punching and not wanting people to see you angry.

49:45 Which kind of goes back to the other podcast which is talking about like don't judge yourself. And like, you know, if you need to be in a private, safe space to do that and to process, then please do that. And then it also kind of came up with the conversation of expressing yourself vocally, whether it be through sound or words, which can also make you, some people will feel like, I don't want to say it because people will judge me, other people will judge me.

50:07 At least that's what they think as other people will judge me. Which is why it's kind of like, you know, they say scream into a pillow or jump in a pool and scream underwater because then like, no one hears you. There's no judgement or perceived judgement, right? So that just makes me think of that. And there's also actually a waterfall here in Bali. Like, I think it's about 30 minutes West of Ubud, where there's like this big waterfall.

50:31 It's kind of like in this Canyon. And people literally go into this waterfall and they just yell and they shake their body and they just like just try to release a lot of whatever because, you know, it's most of it's muffled. Like you can't really hear it.

50:44 Like, you can kind of hear, but it's not. It gets muffled pretty well and it makes you feel like, you know, no one's around kind of thing. That's amazing. So it makes me think of that. But again, micro moments, whenever it's like you're trying to like, allow this to move through you.

50:57 Like what I'm hearing you say is don't hold back the vocals, right? If you are feeling like I don't want people to hear me, then great. You know, stick your head in the bathtub or something like that, or and a pillow and just allow it to kind of rip out some level. Absolutely.

51:11 As I teach breath work and we we have moments where I invite people to release through, you know, we're lying on our back, but through movement in the body, pairing it with sound as well. I mean, you can even place your hands over your mouth and just try it.

51:25 If you're at home right now, place your hands over your mouth and just scream into it. It is so muffled. It's a very muffled sound. And so we can still get that release. And you know, it can help in in a variety of ways where just again, if you have words that you really need to express and say it's a way to do it while you're in the activated state, it will then help to bring into a calmer, more rational state to actually have the conversation and the words that then may need to be said that will resonate to

51:51 actually move forward with the conversation instead of just coming out of that reactionary, instinctive, sympathetic state. We want to release some of that, to then get into that deeper place of connection, to have that more rash conversation.

52:08 But what else it can, what else? You know, getting the noise through as it's going to stimulate the vagus nerve as well. So that runs through, you know, the neck and the throat there. And so when we activate that area, whether it's through a scream, even a sigh of the breath, a humming, a singing, you know, speaking we are, we are massaging the vagus nerve. It's stimulating that area which is associated with the parasympathetic nervous system to then bring us into a greater state of calm regulation.

52:40 So there's there's kind of twofold with that which is I'm a big proponent of of using the voice and you know and it's something where you know a lot of people have grown up not being allowed to use their voice. And so we have that history that is with us as well and to be able to practice that can be extremely cathartic and re patterning within ourselves as well to be able to speak and to be able to be heard. But we have to allow that to happen in order to be heard and to be seen in the way that all

53:12 parts of us need. Yeah, definitely not judge. Exactly thank. You need to bring that back. Yeah. That the not judge ourselves I mean yeah ideally in those moments and it and it makes me think of because I'm trying to like I want to learn.

53:28 I'm learning. Right as we're having this conversation I'm contributing but I'm also learning and thinking of OK next time I have this experience like OK there's I need to move it. But I what I didn't think about was I need to vocalize or I need to use my voice chakra basically, which sometimes in situations where it feels embarrassing or I don't want to do it.

53:49 Maybe just humming, like keeping the mouth closed and almost making vibrations with my throat or my mouth might be a good start for some people. So I think I just wanted to mention that, yeah. Yes, and that can be a good transition to then moving into more of a calmer, calmer practices as well, because we're starting to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, not just going from the sympathetic activation into sitting down and meditating.

54:15 We go with move the body, get it through you, release through sound, then start to move into the humming. Just feel it. And that what that also does with the humming. Also another point that is beautiful with this too is it naturally extends the length of your exhale, which also stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. So that is a really beautiful potential transition into coming into a greater state of calm and acceptance of what you were just feeling.

54:45 That we have to continue down that path of the awareness of what we're feeling, what it is that we need to allow to be there. So again, that that anger that might be brewing at the surface that you've been pushing down all day, you just need to let it out, you know, do those movements to help get it out, allow yourself to feel what is happening, whether it's thoughts, the feelings, emotions, sensations in the body, the actions that need to take place. That might be able to mimic a

55:16 little bit of that completion of what it is you're looking to move through you. So it's the awareness, the allowing the accepting essentially to then move into more of that place of reconnecting inside and possibly starting to let some of that activation go coming back into that that greater state of again regulation where the byproduct can be a state. Great.

55:42 So in the acceptance thing, I think we did really mention that, but I think that's a pretty important piece. It kind of kind of relates back to the non judgment. Yeah, absolutely. If you accept it, then you're you're less likely to be judging it.

55:52 So yeah, great. Thank you for adding that acceptance piece and some. People do, you know, have a struggle with that, that word acceptance. Like I don't want to, I'm not ready to accept either what has happened or my response to something that has happened and instead using the word allow me, allow it, allow it to be there, allow it, allow the full range of emotions to be there.

56:18 Even if you can't accept it, that's OK, you know, because if we can't allow ourselves to accept something that's going to turn into judgment towards ourselves, which can then perpetuate a shame cycle and just perpetuates all those emotions when we're looking to try to move it through us.

56:33 So that the term of allowing, I use that quite a bit with classes, with clients is working towards that place of allowing and that Canmore naturally lead to a place over time with practice of acceptance. Again, it's not of acceptance, let's say of a traumatic event or something that that happened to us in ways that we were not in control of, but accepting the response, what's happening within ourselves, our reactions to that, that's where we get into that place of the non

57:05 judgment and what we're feeling. That's great. That's really helpful for me anyway. Hopefully other people, I'm sure they feel similarly. We're coming to a close, but what I'd love to maybe just take a few minutes to talk about is just, I mean, there's so many practices in yoga that I mean, depending on who's listening to this, I'm sure, you know, your knowledge of yoga expands in different directions and you know there's going to be strengths and and gaps and stuff like that.

57:35 But teaching yoga is just not about the awesomeness, right? We all know this. Most of us know this, but then just like thinking like this conversation, you know, how can we help other people? Because we're a lot of this is kind of uncentered around, like, how do we help ourselves for the most part in particular situations.

57:51 And obviously, they're not reaching out for help as part of that process. But like also like we're yoga teachers, we want to help other people. So like, how can we take some of this information and give people space or opportunity for them to reflect body scan on themselves or, you know, maybe release something that they're not quite letting go. So this makes me think of like, using some of the tools of just not the asanas, but like throwing a hum here and there, throwing a lion's red, throwing

58:14 a, you know, you're in gorilla pose and you start making monkey noises and like whatever it is, you know, just to kind of like shift the energy in the body. So it's almost like brilliant bringing, like a playfulness, A childlike behavior into a yoga class which can feel weird and uncomfortable.

58:30 But man, I bet you people will love that because it feels authentic. It feels real and allows them to get out of the head and into their body a bit more. So I just wanted to kind of we can talk a little bit about it, But I just wanted to mention that like I feel like, you know, in the yoga class, we can use this stuff to help people, not necessarily directly one-on-one, but just like, you know, there's 20-30 people in a class, just throw it out there, someone's

58:50 going to love it. Absolutely. And people do love it. They love it. Anybody who's ever taken my classes, they know that, you know, there can be a lot of different aspects within a class. And now that I know what I know as well around the nervous system is and and for everybody listening as a yoga teacher you're doing like just know and trust that you are helping to right into people still in the system by taking bite movement and bite movement.

59:16 If you're starting a little meditation or you're starting lying on your back with that bite in any movement that the body wants to take right then and there, you're allowing your students to gain control over themselves and their practice, which is a big part of trauma informed anything.

59:32 Regaining control and empowerment. Also offering up that ability to move any of that energy that's just still there from the day. Shake it out, move it out. Like do it feels right in your body. And what we're doing is we're already starting to tap into your students own intuition, their own inner guidance, which is what we really are hopefully seeking for.

59:52 A lot of our our students is for them to feel empowered to tap into their own inner guidance and their own inner wisdom and so. You know, that's just within the first minute and so right there and then if you just do with that one piece, you're already starting to allow them to gain some more control and empowerment and feel like they can, you know, do what feels right for themselves.

1:00:14 So just gentle movements with the body, shaking it out, you know, typically then I might move into, I mean, it depends, but I might move into a different pranayama technique. And it can be as simple as take, you know, a double breath in like 2 part, inhale in, sigh the breath out and we ease our way in to adding noise to that. Might just start off with just, you know, a little more of a silent sigh.

1:00:35 Some people just don't feel comfortable, you know, coming in and creating some noise in there as well. But then inviting them to do that, you know, if you want to make your next sigh a little bit louder, let it out, release that, release it from the body, you know, then from there, you know, I teach a lot of vinyasa classes, which I love.

1:00:52 I love teaching vinyasa. I mean, I love Yin as well, but for working towards greater regulation of the nervous system and we didn't talk about this maybe on a future get together. Here is the window of tolerance, and what we are trying to do is to try to widen the window of tolerance into this a widened state of optimal arousal within ourselves, but through a combination of movement of the body and weaving in stillness as well, we get to move ourselves to the edge of a window, getting

1:01:29 towards, oh, I'm getting towards a lot of that, like that strength, that heat, that warmth, that activity, that movement, some moving through sequences, especially if it's like a one breath per movement sequence. I will most likely then bring them straight into a sense of calming. We go from the movement and then we go into calm and we feel the sensations of the difference of the two and the transition of the movement.

1:01:56 The heart beating, you know, that is a sympathetic response. The heart is beating faster. I'm starting to feel sweat on my skin. You know, things are happening here. So now let's come into some stillness. Let's start to feel into that a bit. Let's notice what's there.

1:02:11 Let's start to slow down the breath again. So we bring them back into that optimal arousal point. And then some people, they might start to veer towards the hypo arousal, you know, of too much. Now I'm just sinking in. OK, let's slowly pick it back up again now.

1:02:27 So we start to sort of I like in my classes to play with the nervous system in this way. And that's how we can build more flexibility to the nervous system, more resilience with the nervous system. We continue in the regulation of the connection point as to noticing what's happening.

1:02:45 That then starts to build more of that empowerment within themselves of wow, I just went from, you know, it's a joke for a lot of teachers like holding chair pose for, you know a minute, you know, and like trying to talk people through that in a way. But how can you.

1:03:00 This is what I teach a lot is I I will bring people into holding a posture. OK, let's connect to the breath. Can you slow down the breath while the challenge is building? Can you try to calm the nervous system down, Regulate the nervous system has the challenge is building up within it.

1:03:18 So that's where we start to be able to begin re patterning the nervous system's response and then turn the mental response as well. So we're building up a lot of the strength for our nervous system, the strength in our mind, the strength for us to be able to handle stressors, to know that it's temporary to know that we can come back to the state of regulation when we are wide working on widening that window of tolerance. So that's another whole topic in

1:03:44 and of itself, but teaser. I'm excited for that one. Cool. That sounds good. It sounds like like you're almost like you're you're you're you're pushing the boundaries of challenge or the boundaries of stress. You know stress is a big word that can mean many different things but basically some sort of challenge or some sort of you.

1:04:03 You gave it the line. He's, I think he said the line. Yeah. Or like approaching the border, let's just say, of where it could be. Yeah, edge of discomfort. And so that discomfort, some people feel super comfortable being activated, you know, power, sweat, like I like the challenge.

1:04:21 I like, like, you know, I'll say that it's like living in a greater state of sort of some chaos in their life and just adrenaline rush and you have things such as that. And then and for that person they may feel super uncomfortable with the calm state with coming into the stillness, coming into the slowness.

1:04:38 That's why I like to kind of weave in and out because again, we have a multitude of people coming in, variety of backgrounds, variety of their energy levels, what they, you know, bring into class from their past, what they're bringing in from that day. But I feel that that's a way where we can really touch upon all the folks that are in class.

1:04:58 But then yeah, it's it's sort of riding that that edge of discomfort. But the biggest piece is to allow each and everyone of your students the control over. Their practice. Yes, big time. I mean I every every single class that I teach at the start, you know, it's, you know, Ioffer up a lot of variations and modifications to postures. You know this is your time to choose what is right for you and and to continue with that throughout the class to let them know it's OK to allow whatever

1:05:26 they're feeling today to be there. They need to slow it down today. They feel like they want to, you know, get a little bit more energy going that day. But it's a lot that the foundation has to be putting the control into the student as well and what feels right for them, because in a lot of trauma, control was taken away.

1:05:47 Right, which is disempowering. Exactly. So this is all about re empowering people? Helping people, that's great. Thank you. This is super helpful. I've already, like, figured out a few different ways and how I'm going to improve my teaching, So thank you for that. I'm sure other people got it similar, if not different ways to help support themselves or other people or just teaching. Or maybe we've inspired some of those people that are listening that are like, oh, I don't know

1:06:15 if I want to teach yoga, but maybe I should. Yes, you should go do it. OK, cool. So yeah, this has been really great. Thank you so much for coming in and sharing. And I love it because we've been talking for like over an hour and we didn't really have a plan.

1:06:31 We're just like, yeah, let's just let's just hit record and see what happens. And this is always what happens if we. Yeah, we could talk. We're hours and I need to stop myself because it's, you know, with Zoom now I'm very passionate about this.

1:06:42 Which is why I like having you on the podcast. So thank you. It's really important. I want people to be here to be able to share stuff that's important to them passionately, authentically, so we can inspire other people. So thank you.

1:06:54 Thank. You. And so let's take a moment to plug in. You have the training. It's in April, which I just found about. So we'll talk a little bit about that or possibly even what else you might have, but not just in Bali, because that's selfishly me just wanting to know what's in Bali. But you know, tell me what?

1:07:09 What do you got going on? Yes, so I have. So I've been teaching the trauma informed aspects around yoga teaching for a little while now and and weaving them into 200 and 300 hour trainings. I'm now taking them out into stand alone training, so anywhere between 2025 and 50 hour trainings right now all around trauma informed yoga as well as somatic practices. So we get into the neuroscience quite deeply. We get into yoga philosophy and how that merges with a lot of the science that we have now and

1:07:42 we get into a lot of practices because it's very experiential. You as the student in a training need to feel. And so we go deep into that as well with a variety of practices, a variety of tools, techniques and then also teaching methodologies. So what to look out for in students, how to approach, how to handle different situations and scenarios, class setup, you know, class structure, a lot of different ways that that pertain to any public class as well,

1:08:11 just like I did now, just sharing a little snippet as to ways you can weave it into a public class. It doesn't mean that you need to teach solely trauma informed specialty classes, but we need we. It is imperative, imperative, It is crucial now for yoga teachers, coaches, health professionals to be able to understand what may be happening within their students because more often than not, they're not going to speak up about it.

1:08:36 They won't feel safe and comfortable to do that, but for us to allow the space to hold that or whatever may be going on within them. So I have those trainings coming up in the US early in 2024, as well as in Bali. I've got California and Massachusetts.

1:08:53 I'll be back to Bali and that will be a 50 hour more of a, you know, immersive, even a little more of a retreat style training if you choose to stay at the location. It's not a requirement, but they will be full days of diving into practices, diving into lecture, experiencing the practices and learning to then share that as well in a Safeway.

1:09:17 Amazing. So what's the best way to learn more, or find you or connect with you about any of that? Right now just my website sokatienesbitt.com and if you go to the trainings page then that will continue to be updated. The training that's coming here in Bali, I mean, I'm not sure when this is going to be put out there to the public, but it is OK, perfect. So in a few days, hopefully that information may be up on the website.

1:09:42 If not, just keep checking back. Yeah, keep checking back and I'll be announcing it on social media as well. So we'll put that in the the show notes, your Instagram, and the website for people to find you. Yeah, absolutely. I love teaching this work and it's just the important the level of importance of this is so high, Yeah. It's so high.

1:10:00 I agree. I've been telling, I know we talked about this before the podcast, but I've been telling all of my students and basically all the trainings and anytime I talk about the nervous system trauma about oh, Katie, you got it like like when when's the next training?

1:10:13 I'm like when Katie does one, but I'm waiting for Katie to do one in Bali so I can do it. And now I just found out today that she's doing 1. So yeah, for those of you that have been interested, highly recommend checking it out if you can make it work with your schedule, of course.

1:10:27 If not, just keep following along because I'm sure there'll be an opportunity somewhere. There'll be more, there'll definitely be more. Amazing. So thank you so much again for your time and your experience and your love really. Appreciate you.

1:10:39 It's always a great conversation, always a great connection with you. So thank you so much. I really appreciate you as. Well, my pleasure. And thank you to all of you listening out there and we will speak to you next week. Take care.

1:10:54 All right. Before you go, let me just tell you about the going proyoga.com platform. 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.

1:11:15 So I definitely suggest checking it out going proyoga.com right now. You can try it out for free for seven days.