Hard Times No More Relationship Podcast
Allesanda Tolomei- Hard A.K.A. Mrs. Hard of www.mrs-hard.com is your grounded, empathetic, compassionate wellness coach. She shares her experience to help you heal challenging personal and family relationship problems with tried-and-true methods to set healthy boundaries and detach with love.
If you are ready to experience fulfilling, meaningful connections you are in the right place. You can transform difficult relationships and find happiness without putting aside your needs or waiting for others to change. Let people-pleasing and codependence fall away and say goodbye to hard times for good.
Hard Times No More Relationship Podcast
Present, Grounded, & Free: Yoga as the Path to Inner Peace with Jodi Shields -Ep. 44
In this episode, I’m joined by my dear friend and office roommate, Jodi, who has been a massage therapist for almost 20 years and is also a dedicated yoga teacher. Jodi shares her wisdom on how yoga and massage therapy can help us become more present in our lives, relieve stress, and cultivate a loving relationship with ourselves. Tune in to learn more about how tuning into your breath, body, and mind can support your well-being and lead to a calmer, more balanced life.
We also talk about our upcoming Awaken Retreat with Dr. Debbie Victoria-Seale, happening on Saturday, October 5th, from 1-5 PM in downtown Napa. This half-day retreat is designed to help you rest, restore, and rejuvenate with a restorative yoga practice, guided meditation, and tools for grounding your energy.
You'll hear about:
1. Yoga as a Path to the Present Moment:
Jodi emphasizes the power of yoga in helping you stay connected to the present. By tuning into your breath and body during yoga postures, you learn how to release stress and anxiety, fostering a greater sense of inner peace.
2. The Synergy of Yoga and Massage:
With nearly two decades of experience as a massage therapist, Jodi discusses how understanding the body through massage deepens her yoga teaching. She talks about how combining both practices helps people release tension, strengthen their bodies, and feel more connected to themselves.
3. Meeting Your Body Where It’s At:
Jodi highlights the importance of honoring your body’s current state without judgment. In both yoga and life, meeting yourself with compassion can reduce stress and lead to more meaningful self-care.
4. The Benefits of Restorative Yoga:
Restorative yoga, which Jodi will be teaching at the Awaken Retreat, is a deeply grounding practice that helps calm anxiety and promotes relaxation. Jodi shares how this slower, more supported style of yoga allows your body to open and heal in its own time.
5. Awaken Retreat:
We talk about the upcoming Awaken Retreat on October 5th. Participants will experience a rest-focused workshop, guided meditation, a 45-minute restorative yoga session with Jodi, and an energy-grounding class with Dr. Debbie. It’s the perfect opportunity to reconnect with yourself, reduce stress, and rejuvenate your soul. Click Here To Sign Up!
Mentioned in this Episode:
- Awaken Retreat: Happening on Saturday, October 5th, from 1 to 5 PM in 828 School Street, downtown Napa. A half-day retreat to rest, restore, and rejuvenate with yoga, meditation, and energy work. Limited spots available.
Click Here To Sign Up
-Connect with Jodi:
- Yoga Classes: Join Jodi for weekly yoga classes at our studio in downtown Napa or Napa Hot Yoga.
- Private Yoga & Massage Therapy: Book a private session with Jodi for personalized yoga or orthopedic massage therapy.
Click Here To Visit Jodi's Website & Sign Up For Classes
Links:
-Follow Jodi on Instagram: @LibraVitae
- Follow Allesanda on Instagram: @Mrs.Hard_TimesNoMore
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Hi, I'm Alessandra Tolome Hard, aka Mrs Hard, and this is Hard Times no More, a podcast for people who are tired of struggling with boundaries, people-pleasing and relationship problems. I have overcome some hard times. Within three years, I stopped drinking, my mom died of cancer and my house burnt down in a California wildfire, and those are just the highlights. I have a lot of reasons to be miserable, but I'm not. The truth is, life was more challenging before these events happened. If you are tired of waiting for your circumstances to change to find happiness and peace of mind, you are in the right place. Join me as I share the tools I use in love to transform challenges into assets and interview others about their relationship journeys. Together, let's learn how to have a happy life full of healthy, meaningful relationships and say goodbye to hard times for good. Hey there, I'm Alessandra Tolome HardHard, aka Mrs Hard, wellness and Relationship Coach. Today, I'm so excited to have my good friend and work roommate, jodi Shields, with me on the podcast.
Speaker 1:Jodi is an amazing soul. She's authentic, real and deeply caring for her clients and friends. As both a skilled yoga teacher and orthopedic massage therapist, she brings a unique blend of knowledge and experience to her practice. Jodi hosts a weekly yoga class at her studio in downtown Napa, as well as two weekly classes at Napa Hot Yoga. Nearly 20 years of experience in massage therapy. That gives her a profound understanding of the body, and she integrates that wisdom beautifully into her yoga classes. In this conversation, jodi and I will talk about how yoga serves as a powerful path to the present moment. She's going to share her insights about how tuning into your breath and practicing yoga while meeting your body exactly where it's at, not needing to be the most flexible person in the room, can have a transformative impact on managing your stress and anxiety. Whether through yoga or meditation, jodi believes in building a more loving and mindful relationship with yourself.
Speaker 1:Before we dive into our conversation, I also want to mention that Jodi and I, along with Dr Debbie Victoria-Seale, will be hosting the Awaken Retreat on Saturday, october 5th, from 1 to 5 pm at our studio in downtown Napa. There are only a few spots available and only a few days left to sign up, and so, if it's calling you, you got to register. The link will be in the show notes and it'll also be on my website at mrshardcom. This retreat is all about rest. It's time and space for you to restore your energy and feel rejuvenated. During this event, you'll experience a rest and refocus workshop led by yours truly, as well as a deeply calming guided meditation. You'll also experience an amazing restorative yoga practice led by Jodi and an empowering class with Dr Debbie, who will share tools for you to ground and cleanse your energy while replenishing your soul. If you're feeling overwhelmed or stressed, this retreat is designed to help you take the time and space you need to reconnect with yourself and find peace of mind again. We would love to see you there. So, once again, you can find the link to sign up in the show notes or on my website at mrshardcom.
Speaker 1:Now, without further ado, let's dive in to today's conversation with Jodi Shields. Hi, jodi, hi, how are you Good? Welcome to the podcast, thank you. So I'm really excited to have you here on the podcast today because you and I are very good friends and we've been work roommates since 2018. And I'm so excited for people listening to get to know you better. Oh, well.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. I can't believe it's been since 2018 yeah, do you remember how we met?
Speaker 1:yes, I totally do. Will you tell the?
Speaker 2:story, sure, um? I believe it was one of my clients who came to see me at one point who told me about you, um, and that you were doing massage at Whole Foods. You were doing chair massage at Whole Foods and that's how she met you. I don't know if you remember Crystal.
Speaker 1:I think she saw me at the farmer's market. Okay, Because I was never at Whole Foods Okay so maybe she was confused.
Speaker 2:So the farmer's market, but she had told me about you and asked me if I knew you and you know, then cut to like you contacting me for something for massage. Yeah, and I wasn't able to see you and suggested that you see Amber. Yeah, right.
Speaker 2:So you did and that, like I don't know, a couple of months went by and then I reached out to you for massage. Yeah, so I came to see you for massage and I liked you and you gave an amazing treatment. And then when I was in the space on school street with two rooms uh, I had told the landlords that when the third, there was a third room downstairs and when that tenant moved out that I would like to know about it. And so they came to me and said that they wanted you know that the tenant was moving out, and did I want to rent the space? And I thought of you immediately that the tenant was moving out and did I want to rent the space? And I thought of you immediately and I don't know why, it was just like I remember Alessandra. She has a private practice.
Speaker 1:I think it's thriving, like maybe she's looking for a change, and I just randomly reached out and you said yes that's so awesome and I'm so glad that I had a chance to ask you what your memory of our story was, cause I don't remember anything about Crystal. Oh, how funny. Okay, for me, like, what happened was I was at Dr Debbie's office and I was looking to rent my own room and I swear to God, it was like within a month's time of me, like wanting to do that and making that decision, but not even looking yet that you reached out and I always thought it was kind of funny because I'd reached out to you for a massage, but then seeing Amber, I was like why did she remember me? And then seeing you for a treatment and I'm so grateful that you reached out because you've been a dream work roommate, I feel the same way.
Speaker 2:I think, you know, the universe is an amazing thing and whenever I doubt it, I have to look back and see the certain things that I've put energy into and what has come back to me. Yeah, and so you putting out there that you're looking for a space and me remembering you know our brief, you know encounters in the past and just being like you know, I think I'm going to reach out to this girl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And then you got us the space we're currently in right now too.
Speaker 2:Love our new space.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and for me, my experience of that story, too, was once again deciding to do in-person workshops instead of online. And then, literally within a week, you were like, hey, that space above where we used to rent is available and it's really awesome. You should go look at it. And you were like my sign from the universe to do in-person things.
Speaker 2:That's so great. Yeah, that makes me so happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if you are listening and you haven't seen the space yet, jodi has done an amazing job decorating. All of our clients both of our clients coaching, massage therapy and yoga clients comment on how beautiful the space is. And I'm so grateful that you have such a talent for interior design Because, like this black on the wall, the charcoal I remember you showing me this watch and I was like, ah, that might be a little bit too much, but you had a vision and it's all come together so perfectly and it's just a beautiful space that everyone feels like really calm and at home in this space, which is perfect for the kind of work that you're doing, where people can really just let go and feel comfortable in this space.
Speaker 2:People can really just let go and feel comfortable in this space. That's exactly the feedback that I've gotten from my clients too is that they just even not not only the first time, but their second and third, you know, fourth visits. They just walk up the stairs and, like God, this space is so calming. I feel so easeful when I walk in here and that just starting out a session whether it's yoga or massage right Imagine a workshop or retreat just that initial feeling of easefulness makes for a great treatment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I completely agree with that. So tell us a little bit about how you got into massage.
Speaker 2:Well, first I want to say thank you for letting me um use my creative freedom in the space I love your creative freedom Not freaking out when I move stuff all the time.
Speaker 1:That is my favorite thing to come in and like see that something is moved, because I don't just think like, oh, she thought it was aesthetically better this way. I think that you have like thought about it for a while. It was like percolating before you even did it and then, like you were like okay, I'm gonna feel it out and feel how this thing feels in this other place, and I just like genuinely feel that energy whenever I see something added or moved, of like there was some thought put into this before it appeared or shifted, and that I love how you're just like trying things out too because, like you love, you love the feeling of a space and I love the feeling of walking into a space that someone created who has that greater vision. But I'm not that's not my like strongest point by any means, and so I love that that's your strongest point or like strength.
Speaker 2:Well, I just love, like I said, that you permit me to do that without getting angry or freaking out. And you know, and I love that, that's the, that's the dynamic we have and it's worked out so well. And again.
Speaker 2:I'm so thankful. But how did I get into massage? Um, that's a story, let's hear it. Um, I'll try to keep it brief. I was in the corporate world for a really long time. I started out working for a moving company doing data entry when I was in college and it was just a part-time job. And then my mom lost her job, so I started working full-time and I think I just thought that was my path full-time, office work, climb the ladder, do the things, because that's kind of what I saw my mom do. Right, I lived primarily with my mom and she was a career woman and that's what I thought. Like that's what I'm going to do. I can't wait to be. Important is what, like the thought was for me to have to call my job Because I'm so important that I have to check in when I'm on vacation, to think that I thought that and to be here now and like don't ever call me when.
Speaker 2:I'm on vacation, yeah um, but it's just funny because that's what I saw growing up. Um, so I did just, I stayed in the corporate world. I did, um, climbed up the ladder, worked hard, uh, at a young age, uh, was in management, project management, um, people management, which is a terrible job. If you're in people management, you need massage and yoga and meditation. Um, but anyhow, I had just been in this loop and I had switched jobs, thinking that it was you know the job, the place I was working, and then only to find myself getting into the same sort of rut, working really hard, being stressed out all the time, crying every night after work, drinking too much after work, you know, going out with the work people, because that was something that I, you did in the corporate world.
Speaker 2:And then I found that getting out of hand and I just I felt stuck and randomly a friend of mine said hey, guess what? I just signed up for skincare school. Hey, guess what I just signed up for, um, skincare school. She's my age. I'm like you just signed up for school. She's yeah, I'm gonna go to skincare school to be an esthetician. I was like well, how are you gonna pay for that? She's like I got a loan.
Speaker 2:I was so blown away by this concept right, so you're just gonna get a loan and go to school? She's like, yeah, I'm gonna work and go to school. She's like, yeah, I'm going to work and go to school part time and, you know, pay the loan. Then the wheels started turning. I was like, if she can do it, I could do it. I could do whatever I want. And, like the universe speaking to me, an ad came on TV for National Holistic Institute massage school and I was like, oh yeah, I remember I talked about wanting to do massage a long time ago. Maybe I should look into school. And I did, and I went to school and I worked full time and I got alone and I did all the things. And here I am, and that was 2007.
Speaker 2:I graduated massage school and it was the best thing I've ever done in my life. Yeah, it was life changing for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what did success?
Speaker 2:look like to you with your massage practice. Initially what? It meant. What it still means is the flexibility in my schedule and to feel good about what I'm doing. Again, as I said, in the corporate world I spent a lot of time getting yelled at, being stressed out, doing my best to make everybody happy, but knowing that in the industries that I had chosen, like stuff was going to go wrong and sort of being a like a punching bag or, you know, like a customer service person, like they always take the brunt of things Right.
Speaker 2:So, um, being in massage I I got this genuine feeling of helping people and then being happy to see me, and that did something for me you know, that made my heart happy to be able to offer something that I ultimately became really good at and like attuned to and using not using, but you know, providing that service to people and like changing their lives a little bit, making them feel better in their body, making them feel better in their brain, and that like makes me happy. I'm a people pleaser from way back, yeah, so to be in a career where I am constantly in that caretaking, people pleasing place, but at least this time, or this way, I'm fulfilled.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:It fills my cup as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it sounds like your idea of success changed so much, so much From when you were working in corporate and what you were seeing your mom do to like starting your own practice. And there's so many challenges that come up with starting our own practices, especially if you're coming from a different mindset of what success is and what life is supposed to look like. And then if you're a people pleaser and a helper, it's like having those healthy boundaries with your clients and not taking on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was the hardest thing for me, I think even in my office corporate world I still took on a lot of other people's stuff you know, and it's hard not to when I'm a very I'm very susceptible to that, I guess.
Speaker 2:Um, so, taking on that drama from work and the coworkers and the customers and then bringing that into, okay, I'm going to channel my energy differently and then not taking on stuff from different places that you work or different people that you work on, and especially in massage, because it's it's such an intimate business. And when I say that I don't just mean like physically, I mean like emotionally, because you're really bringing out, you know, some emotion, some feeling in people's body, whether it's stress, pain, you know, whatever's going on in their life translates into what's going on in their body. Yeah, so it took me a long time to sort of create healthy boundaries around that, and it's just experience, experience, practice, practice, practice.
Speaker 1:Mm, hmm, what do you currently do to practice If you see yourself like not having very healthy boundaries? I know for myself, if I become depleted and stressed, like my boundaries will slip then more than when my cup's full and I'm feeling good. What do you do when that starts to happen?
Speaker 2:Um, over the years I've learned that there are certain things that really do like refill my cup. One of them is, um, friend time, and you know just whether it's just spending time outside of the things that you know create stress in my life and I'm not to say like there's stress in everybody's life, but you know, so I'll, I'll look for friend time, friend time where you can just talk and be candid, and that really helps me, like I'll leave a friend if I felt stressed out after even just a 15, 20 minute coffee break and I'll feel better. Um, body work wise.
Speaker 2:You know, when I'm, when I feel like I've, I will get to a point, if I don't take care of myself, where I'm working on someone, and I'll think to myself does this even feel good? Is this even what I should be doing? And when I realized that it's like I'm not in my body. So I know that that means like I need to get back into my body and I'll start like reaching out to you or to other massage therapists to feel the work again in my body, and that helps me a lot to feel better about my work, and then I can see things more clearly and I'm not trying to, you know, overbook myself, because now I'm thinking about my body again. So I think really stepping back into that headspace that calms me, and then feeling the work in my body and take caring, taking care of my own body, helps me to set those boundaries.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I completely resonate with everything you just said. And then also I know that when I receive from other practitioners, I learn more and I become inspired about the work again, totally. And so if I'm feeling burnt, just like you were saying, like if I'm feeling burnt out, it's time for me to receive more body work. And I'll never forget I've brought this up before, but when I was starting my practice, dr Debbie told me she said, the more body work you receive, the busier your practice will become, and like, what I wanted was a super busy practice. And so then I started seeing other massage therapists and it really did work.
Speaker 1:Because, yeah, but it's also like the more we take care of ourselves, the less we have to like push to make things happen. It's like things just kind of magnetically are drawn to us instead of there needing to be as much force, which is counterintuitive to our mind. Like, sometimes our mind thinks we really have to work hard, we have to push, we have to strive and all of those things are good, but when we're depleted and we're doing that, we lose the kind of energy that we're trying to receive. I don't know, it just creates like more friction in our lives sometimes, does that?
Speaker 2:make sense. It does make sense and I think about it in terms of I have a lot of clients that will ask me like, well, what do you do when you need a massage? And if I know it's been a while, it's almost like I feel guilty saying, oh, I haven't gotten body work in a while because I'm telling people you need to take care of yourself, you need to, you know, create a schedule where you can include body work in your life, where you can include self-care in your life, and then here I am not doing it. So it feels more authentic as a practitioner when I'm receiving work regularly and then providing that to other people, like it feels more of an authentic exchange, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you're walking your talk Right exactly and I feel better in my body.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, like you said, every time I see a practitioner, I pick up on something. Yeah, even though I try to shut my brain off and just receive. That's kind of impossible, yeah, but for the most part you know I can, I can have that, you know, turn off the brain a little bit, just receive the work, and then you know kind of think back and go like, oh, what did she do there?
Speaker 1:What did he do with that? And you know that's awesome. And then you took a pivot and created a branch for yoga. I did. And you took a pivot and created a branch for yoga. I did.
Speaker 2:And so tell us how you got into being a yoga teacher.
Speaker 2:Yoga has been like in my periphery for probably like more than half of my life. You know whether it was. You know, back in the day I used to go to the Y for exercise and we would do um like high impact aerobics classes and every once in a while we would stumble into a yoga class, uh, to stretch, quote, unquote to get a good stretch, um. And then, you know, as I started taking different classes, different places, I would try yoga and it never made sense to me. I couldn't make sense of the class. I didn't understand the flow, I didn't. The teachers never really resonated with me.
Speaker 2:I guess, I don't know, I would get really frustrated and leave feeling worse than I did when I went in and so that sort of shied me away from it until, um, I started practicing massage at a yoga studio and I did an introductory class. I was like, all right, I'm going to try. I'm going to try from the beginning and do this intro class. And it made sense for the first time, and I was in my 30s. So for the first time in that long it made sense, and actually I was older than that. I'd like to skip decades here and there. First time in that long it made sense and actually I was, I was older than that. Um, I'd like to skip decades here and there, Um.
Speaker 2:So I just don't think anything was ever that long ago, Um, but anyhow, um.
Speaker 2:So, taking this beginner's class and sort of learning like the foundations, like a little bit of philosophy, a little bit of the beginning steps and then how that sort of progresses into more advanced things, that made sense to me.
Speaker 2:So I just sort of started practicing regularly and then having it available to me regularly by working in a studio, doing massage, having classes right there.
Speaker 2:So, as I just did more, I wanted to learn more, and one of my very good friends and yoga teachers we started doing a trade where she would do private yoga and I gave her massage and through the years of us working together, she decided to develop a teacher training curriculum and then I did her teacher training and, again, like the different styles that come into it, the different uh philosophies that evolved or have evolved, and the different um limbs, let's say, of the yoga practice, um are different to each practitioner and to each teacher. But it was an eye opener for me in that I got to really dive in to understanding my practice and why I wanted to do it, Like what this was doing for me, Cause that's a big people ask what's your why? I don't know, I just like it. But what it's done for me more so in my head than in my body is when I practice yoga. I found that I am fully present in what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:And there aren't many times that I can say that, yes, I'm present when I'm doing massage, yes, I'm present with every client, but the mind wanders and, you know, sometimes I'm thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner and then I got to remind myself to come back to the body, and I mean, that happens, you know, whenever you're doing something, because the brain just wants to work at a million miles an hour. But yoga, to me, gave me what I needed to bring that focus back into my mind and body, because I had to. I had to think about what I was doing, and I don't think about just, hey, we're going into downward dog. I think about it as what are my hands doing, what are my arms doing, what is my core doing, what are my legs doing and what's my breath doing, and so that put me right into that moment that I couldn't really achieve without it.
Speaker 2:Does that make sense? Oh, yeah, okay, and you know even other forms of exercise. You know they do that to a degree, but for me, yoga made sense in that way. And then after let's see, that was in 2019 is when I did my teacher training, and then I was teaching for about six months until everything shut down and I actually didn't think I'd teach when I took that teacher training. I really did it just for myself, but found that getting in front of people was really intimidating at first. It still is, I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 2:It's still intimidating, but I'm even more so in the moment when I'm teaching than when I'm taking a class, so that also gives something back to me when I'm teaching. But what I was going to say is, during the pandemic, I took a. I furthered my yoga education by taking another 300-hour online course 300 hour online course and that really changed the way that I practice and the way that I understand the practice. So now I feel more confident in my teacher, in my teaching, I feel more at ease in my teaching and it's becoming more and more enjoyable.
Speaker 1:That's so awesome. Yeah, I love your yoga classes, thank you. I've taken a couple and I really do experience the synergy between, like you, having so much experience as a body worker meshing with yoga, because your awareness about what people's bodies are doing in my experience is different than other yoga classes that I've taken Other yoga classes. My body is very mobile and sometimes it gets aggravated with a lot of twisting or certain movements, but my body has never gotten aggravated in any of your classes and for me that's a big deal because I'm more of a flexible person. So, like strength training is a lot better for my body on a daily basis or like a more frequent basis, but your classes have always been something that I've walked away from, where I'm like I feel better.
Speaker 2:Thank you that makes me really happy. Yeah. Um, it makes me happy and I I like that feedback of I feel better, like that's all I can hope for when someone takes a class, when someone's you know on my massage tables that you're going to feel better, like that's all I can hope for when someone takes a class, when someone's you know on my massage tables that you're going to feel better than when you got here you know, um, whether it's in your body or in your brain.
Speaker 2:Um, but what I've learned about yoga and what's hard, I think, is that people yoga's evolving, ever evolving. So when, when you think about what yoga was, you know, a hundred years ago versus what it is now, when you think about the traditions that you know that the texts speak of, you know yoga wasn't about, you know, sun salutations and moving into, you know downward dog from plank pose. You know yoga was about centering your mind and basically like ceasing all thought. Right.
Speaker 2:And so the way that it's evolved is yoga as a union of body, breath and mind. Yoga as a union of body, breath and mind, and that's what makes sense and that's what contemporary yoga is more of is is bringing that movement aspect, moving with your breath, focusing the mind, um, and it's not for flex, it's not only for flexible people you don't have to be bendy to do yoga.
Speaker 2:I am not the bendiest person in my classes. You know. I laugh at myself sometimes when I call. You know if I, if I say to get into a pose, and there's someone in the class who's like hyperflexible and is, like you know, pancake style and I'm like barely touching my toes. But the work isn't from being hyperflexible or just getting into the posture. The work is getting into the posture, working to get into the posture, and it's also engaging the muscles and strengthening the muscles. And every body is not the same and I think that's where the bodywork background kind of comes in a little bit, Because I know every body is not the same. Everybody's body doesn't move the same way. Everyone doesn't have the same range of motion. That doesn't mean they can't do something in a yoga class, it just means they have to do it differently.
Speaker 2:They have to do what works in their body. Um, the most confusing thing for me in yoga is I have, I hyperextend my knees right. So when I, when I straighten my legs, I automatically hyperextend. So I would have, I would take yoga classes before I knew what any of that meant. And they would say okay, straighten your legs.
Speaker 2:No, bend your knees a little bit. No, straighten your legs but don't lock your knees. And I'm like I don't understand what you're telling me to do. This is the way my knees go. They're locked, Like I don't know how to not lock my knees and have them be straight at the same time I'm leaving and I feel like some people get that way and it's not black and white.
Speaker 2:Yoga is very much not black and white and it's what works in your body, for your body, and as a teacher, I try to convey that to the students, to the people in my class, because it's not going to look like everybody else's practice. It's not going to look. If you want to look at your neighbor to see what they're doing and make sure you understand the, the terminology, or maybe I said something. They didn't catch the word that I meant, that's one thing, but don't expect to look exactly like they do. You know, um, and so in a sense, that whole experience was also humbling for me.
Speaker 2:Um, to learn that my body might never, ever do certain things, um, but I like that, I like that I was able to kind of come to that on my own. Learn that it's okay for your shoulders to be in a certain position, even though, like some yoga teachers you know in the past, will say like no, you have to be in this position, like this is what it says in the book, like this is how your posture is supposed to look. That might not work in your body. So you have to make adjustments and you have to do what feels good. And I do feel like having the body work background and then taking all the classes that I've taken and like honoring my own body in my practice has allowed me to be able to like verbally cue that to people who take my class.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Cause, like as you were talking about this, I just love your perspective on like accepting the body like where it's at and meeting it there instead of like forcing it to do something that's out of its natural realm. And then like where you're putting success in terms of like your yoga practice. That is, it being like the pancake person, right? Or is it just?
Speaker 1:showing up and doing your best and like exploring what movements feel good for your body and like where your range is and connecting with your breath and your mind. And connecting with your body instead of being goal oriented because I so often with exercise, become so goal oriented like wanting to do it right, like making sure it's a good workout, you know.
Speaker 1:Quote unquote good workout instead of like. This is just time to spend time with my body and myself in a check in with like where I'm at, because all of our minds, like you said, are going a million miles an hour and it's sacred space when you're just taking that time for self care, and sometimes people have a hard time doing it on their own and so going to a class and being facilitated by somebody, especially somebody who's going to be realistic about where their body can go and what their goals could look like, like that brings so much peace and like creates a space for so much peace and connection within, rather than it being like an outcome based practice.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I think you know as humans and and in our life, everything is is a goal oriented. One of your goals. Where do you see yourself in five years? You know it's it's like well.
Speaker 2:So in a an exercise practice, your goals become like what building muscle, bulking up or losing weight, getting down to a size four doing you know, whatever the goal is, and all of that's great, right, but it's and how many times have we heard it it's not the destination, it's the journey, journey. And the same holds true in your, in any exercise routine, um, in any, you know, whether it's yoga, or you know whether any career path, um, I think about what you said about you know the goals and like wanting to, to do the things and having goals, whether it's in yoga or exercise, that's great. But you know, I, I, over the pandemic, I decided I was going to learn, teach myself, how to press into handstand. Okay, that's very difficult and I'm not a gymnast and I think, um, maybe, if I started trying to press into handstand in my twenties, that maybe I could do it, but it was. It was an unreasonable expectation in my body, right, and it's twofold, like I don't have the upper body strength or the wrist strength anymore.
Speaker 2:And when I noticed what I was doing, practicing handstand every day, trying to press into it, I was creating more harm in my body than good and I had to say you know what? It's fun to try and get into handstand every once in a while. It's fun to use a wall and kick into handstand. I don't have to press. I don't have the core strength. I might never have the core strength, um, but it's fun to play with it and every once in a while I teach it. You know, and people like to play a little bit and I found that that was more fun than actually getting into the posture that I thought I needed to like get into. Just, you know, goals change and that's okay, yeah, right. And, and I think, getting more flexible, feeling better. When I say more flexible, I mean getting either maybe it's stronger, maybe it's more flexible, maybe it's being able to touch your toes, maybe it's being able to move without discomfort right, all those things are good goals and you work towards them every time you practice.
Speaker 2:At least, that's how I feel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it sounds like the philosophy is more like show up for yourself, meet your body where it's at, and then the fruits of your showing up and continuous practice are that you are more flexible or you feel better in your body or you notice something's changed, and that is a different way to practice, rather than like comparing yourself to someone else, right, or continuing to push for handstand when it's injuring you Right, and just thinking you know, I just need to be tougher or stronger or whatever your negative self-talk is telling you.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and there's a lot of that. Self-negative, negative thoughts are so easy for us. Mm-hmm. And it's like part of how we're wired. Our brains are wired to just like trust. The negative, you know, but you said it spot on. Showing up for yourself and enjoying that work, enjoying the class, enjoying whatever it is that you're doing when you're doing something for yourself, eventually will show you the results that you were hoping for, and those results might be different than what you thought you were going to get.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's what I've seen happen in so many areas of life, like in relationships. Sometimes you want a very specific outcome For me with my dad. Like I really wanted him to show up as like a father in my life but he's just not capable of that because he's a sick person. He's had a chronic illness his whole life. And like when I was able to release that idea of like he needed to be the dad in my life, he needed to do dad things like fix my car and like tell me about financial things and decisions I should make you know, when I released that idea and just met a relationship where it was like we have a very different relationship than I thought we would ever have today, but it's peaceful and it's fulfilling and we laugh together and like that was the secret.
Speaker 1:There was like releasing what I wanted so badly and like, beneath all of that, I wanted connection with him. I wanted love with him. Right, I wanted love for him. I wanted to look forward to talking to him instead of dreading his phone calls and like I got all of those things. The package just looks different, Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the same holds true in relationships, whether it's friends, or in all relationships, whether it's friends or significant others. I mean, I have the same or similar struggle with my husband and it's not a struggle I shouldn't call it a struggle, but it's like. You know, you always want your spouse to be a certain way, or you know your significant other to be the dream person, right, and I've had to realize, I think, that the pandemic I said was either going to make or break us. But it actually made.
Speaker 1:I feel like a lot of people feel that way.
Speaker 2:Right. But I feel like, without the distraction of so many other things and I was afraid of that distraction, like that time like kind of blowing up in our faces what it did was give me a chance to like kind of reevaluate what I think I, what I thought I wanted as far as our connection goes Right and I realized that, like we speak very different love languages Right, and I'm obviously acts of service, you know, and and when I realized that it doesn't have to look exactly like I thought my fairy tale life, it would look and like meet him where he's at.
Speaker 2:Then he started meeting me where I was at as well, you know, yeah, and letting go, like you said, letting go of that expectation and just letting it be. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I love the quote like it only takes one person to change a relationship and that's how that works. Like I feel like people can subconsciously feel it when, like you have acceptance for them, it like releases a level of tension or like a wall that's there between two people. When you genuinely are able to accept them, when you're not just like praying to have acceptance, to have acceptance right, like be struck into you, when you genuinely work some sort of program or path or do some internal work or a practice it could even be a yoga practice like showing up for yourself and showing your self-acceptance that can trickle into your relationships. But when you genuinely have that, other people feel it and then their walls come down and you stop fighting about things or nitpicking each other about things that you used to nitpick each other about, and then you're able to create a different kind of relationship Maybe not the ideal one, like we've been saying, but the one it ends up feeding your soul so much more.
Speaker 2:Right and ideal changes over time. Yeah, Needs change over time, whether it's experience, age, situation, you know what you might have thought ideal at one point shifts and you focus on things that are important in your now, and I think that's one of the things that um yoga has helped me with. Is that now part?
Speaker 1:Hmm, yeah, that's big, that's really big Is that big.
Speaker 2:Well, it's true. I mean, yeah, I guess it's big and it's hard. It's a hard one to be in because you know you're always thinking about well, I, not you. I I'm always thinking about what I should have said, what I could have said, what did I say I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have done that, I could have done that differently. What am I gonna make for dinner tomorrow? What am I gonna do with my life? What you know, and it's like this, always this past sort of reflection in in a negative way, right in this future, like almost dread right, and like when you put that out, there you're, you're asking for for the negativity to come back to you, you know.
Speaker 2:And so I feel like accepting things as it comes. Yeah, the past is the past, it happened. No one else is thinking about that anymore, and if they are, then they need to work on stuff too.
Speaker 2:Right, I mean, and we all do, but um, I think that's when I say, like, being in the now, it's, it's not easy. It's not easy to put the past stuff away and to put the future thoughts away, but just when you can, in that moment, find yourself in the now and realize, like, what do I have, what do I need right in this moment? Right now. Yeah, I love that, I love that. And then what kind of yoga?
Speaker 1:do you practice?
Speaker 2:So the type of yoga that I teach is more of a flow class. So when I say flow, one breath, one movement, it's called vinyasa or hatha style. It's not specifically a certain set of postures every time I teach, but it depends on what part of the body that I'm working on. Typically I'll do a comprehensive practice, which means you're going to feel everything everywhere, but maybe we'll focus on like a hip opening class to get deeper into the hip flexors and then my postures will vary based on that and usually it's like a build-up. So we'll start like a little softer, a little gentler, building into a more challenging practice and then taking it down to a restful state, always offering like modifications for people.
Speaker 2:I like to try and include different options for people. Typically you're going to get a lot of flow, which is a lot of movement, a lot of lengthening tissue, and I also really focus on strengthening. That's awesome. It's not all about being like I said. It's not all about being like I said. It's not all about being bend, bendable yeah, it's not about being gumby it's about being definitely not it's about being human.
Speaker 2:It's about you know, we said, sometimes you don't feel like pushing yourself and you meet your body where it's at right and you just accept that this is where you're at and this is where your body feels good right now and you stay there. And then there are those mornings where you wake up and you're in class and you're tired and you don't think you want to do anything, but you start feeling good and you're like you know what? I'm going to take this posture a little bit deeper.
Speaker 2:I'm going to try the more advanced style and see how that feels in your body. And, like I said, more often I have people coming up to me telling me that they feel so much better than they did when they walked in, and again that just makes my heart happy. Yeah, did that explain what kind of yoga I?
Speaker 1:teach. Oh yeah, you did a great job explaining that, Thanks. That was very clear. I don't know a whole lot about yoga and I was 100% able to follow. Okay, good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I started teaching or I started taking an Ashtanga protocol, which Ashtanga yoga is very strict in its protocol, as is Bikram style yoga, which I teach at the Hot Yoga Studio in Napa, and so that's 26 postures. You practice the same 26 postures every time you do it. Ashtanga you practice the same postures, adding on as you get more advanced. I like those things in the sense that your body gets used to being in certain postures and that you can see the results as far as being able to get further into a posture, hold something longer because you're stronger. So I have an element of repetitiveness in the way I teach, but not in the postures that I teach. Does that make?
Speaker 1:sense? Yeah, it does. It does Like you're not doing the same 26 postures over and over again, but you do tend to hang out with certain postures, right or a certain, but you do tend to hang out with certain postures, right or a certain.
Speaker 2:There's a certain element to my flow which you know. We do the same sort of almost warmups, but you know you're used to the way that if you, if you continue to take the classes like you, get used to the way, like the format that I lead it in, so it's not completely foreign.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. I love that so that you can like build in terms of like your practice and your knowledge and being familiar with certain poses.
Speaker 2:but it's a million styles and there's a million teachers and each teacher has their own style, Um, but there are people who are more comfortable with that. I do these postures. I'm really good at those you know and that's great, and they work in their body. For me, I felt like I needed a little bit more, and I love the flexibility of being able to change things up a little bit and get a little bit more creative in the sequence, While again having a little bit of familiarity in the way that I teach.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would be drawn to what you're saying like the second option in terms of having more creative flow, because for me, I lose the present moment if it's too predictable, like I need to have change. And that's why I love like having my own practice and being massage therapist and then doing coaching and workshops, because, like that helps my brain stay like very engaged, where if I do too much of the same thing it becomes mundane and then I check out a lot easier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I get that. I feel the same way. Since incorporating teaching yoga and also training in the new modality, body work modality, it's kept me more on point and aware of my body and my practice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what is that new modality?
Speaker 2:Well, I've been studying the Hendrickson method. After experiencing such amazing body work from my roommate, I continue to bring the Hendrickson method into my practice and I have had a little bit of training. I've had the first level of training as it's taught through the official modality, but the little bit that I've learned and we've talked about this makes a huge difference in my clients' bodies. So whether or not I do a full Hendrickson session on someone or whether I incorporate it into my more traditional body work style, I'm getting better, longer lasting results with my clients and I think I've said this to you before. The second yoga teacher training that I did Um and the Hendrickson method had so many similarities in um how the body works and how the the well, how yoga is taught and practiced and how body work is taught in practice Like there were so many connections that it just made so much sense to me and has deepened my practice and love for both body work and yeah, I'm totally nerding out on anatomy right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I can see how they both feed each other so strongly. And the Hendrickson method is a form of orthopedic massage and both Jodi and I practice it and we ask clients to leave their clothes on during the session. It's similar to physical therapy in the sense of like, like we're having you do certain motions while lying down on a massage table, but that activates certain muscles and can turn muscles on that go to sleep. Like people don't realize that their glutes often go to sleep, even if they're a runner, and that can cause like sciatica, it can cause hip pain, it can cause low back pain. And so when you get the muscles firing in the proper order and then you do these certain movements where you have a client resist against you and then release, and that tricks the nervous system into letting go on a deeper level and so that you're not forcing as a massage therapist, trying to like force the muscle into submission, you're more allowing the body to release neurologically and release the tightness in the muscles and then get the appropriate muscles backfired and wired. And so people after the sessions they feel very much in their body.
Speaker 1:Some of my clients feel like really pumped afterwards, they like have a lot of energy and some clients feel like very relaxed. And it's neat because you can actually check in with a client during the session and be like, oh, does this still hurt? Like, for example, the easiest is when somebody comes in and they can't experience full range of motion in their neck and after doing the work you can check in and be like, oh, can you turn now? And like, usually by the end of a session a person has full range of motion depending on what their injury is Like. If it's a sleep injury, it's usually you can get it done in one session, right. If it's something else, then it can take more sessions. But people feel improvement immediately, immediately.
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, with chronic injury they're definitely going to need to come back regularly and have that same work done to help release that tissue. But there's always an immediate feel good afterwards and what I've found with the Hendrickson method is that it lasts longer than traditional massage.
Speaker 2:I love traditional massage, I love to give massage, I love to receive massage, but it never lasted with me and my body Like I feel great getting a massage and by the time I get home I'm like, oh, my neck still hurts or my shoulders still hurt. With the Hendrickson method. My body genuinely feels better for days and I think that that's what my body craves. My body craves more of that, like for heat for that purpose, more of that. You know, firing the muscles that should be doing the work, relaxing the muscles that shouldn't work so hard to assist um strengthening, assist um strengthening muscles that have gotten weak, uh yeah it just lasts in my body a lot more but, I, still love a traditional massage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, and I feel like that's why there's so many different modalities out there, because it's like what does your body need? Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's why I mean that's that mind muscle connection as well in the Hendrickson method, because you're touching the muscle right. You're telling the client, this is the muscle that I'm going to work on and you're getting them to think about the action that they're doing that causes that muscle to fire right. And then they can also feel the release that antagonist muscle like letting go. And. I feel like that also allows, that also makes more the connection reality between what I teach in yoga and what I do on my massage table.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely, definitely. And then if people want to take a yoga class with you and they're in the Napa area, where can they find you? They can find me at Napa hot yoga.
Speaker 2:It's on Silverado trail and Lincoln and I teach their Mondays. I teach a power of vinyasa class, which sounds more intimidating than it is, um, at nine o'clock Monday morning, and then a deep stretch and meditation class, uh, at seven 30 on Monday evenings. I also have a small group class here and I'm lovely downtown Napa studio on. Sunday mornings at 10 30.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'll put the address in the show notes.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, it's you just go to my website, which is Libra Vitaecom, and it has all that information.
Speaker 1:And then you're doing private one-on-ones too, right.
Speaker 2:I am yes, yeah, yeah, I've done that here in the studio. I've gone to people's homes and you know, I think a lot of people that do feel that intimidation level with, like, going into a yoga class find the benefit of having the personalized, you know, in-person yoga one-on-one. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then are you taking new clients for massage therapy Um.
Speaker 2:I, I will yes. Yeah, just a couple of, just a couple of slots. Um, if you mentioned that you heard on the podcast or through Alessandra, uh, absolutely, you know I like to um accommodate referrals. So any any of my clients that refer their friends, colleagues, like I try to get them in. So if we have anyone that's interested then I will absolutely do my best to see you.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. And then, if you want to hang out with both of us in person, on Saturday, october 5th, from 1 to 5 pm, jodi and I will be part of the Awaken Retreat, which is our theme for the Awaken Retreat is rest, restore, rejuvenate, and I'm going to host a workshop that's going to help you rest and refocus, followed by a deeply restorative guided meditation, and then Jodi is going to be teaching a restorative yoga practice.
Speaker 2:Yes, so stepping away from that sort of flow class style, restorative yoga is more. It's more. It's slower, it's more hanging out in postures that are fully supported. So we have blocks and blankets and bolsters and we'll be resting in postures that are fully supported. So we have blocks and blankets and bolsters and we'll be resting in postures that are, you know, very good for for your body and you'll be holding postures for a longer time but fully supported. So you're really not efforting much in each posture and it's more to support your body to open on its time. Um, and it's deeply relaxing. It's amazing for calming anxiety. Um, bringing that like feeling of happiness back into your body. Uh, I love a good restorative class. Um, again, it's totally different than a flow class where you know you're not getting up and down, you're not switching from posture to posture with each breath, but you're resting in fully supported postures, whether it be for hip opening or heart opening or feeling some shoulder relief. But it's definitely a slower, more grounding practice.
Speaker 1:I'm so excited for that. I love teaching restorative yoga. Yeah, that's going to be a great class. It's sleepy yoga, I love sleepy. Excited for that. I love teaching restorative yoga. Yeah, that's going to be a great class. It's sleepy yoga. I love sleepy yoga Me too. Well, thank you so much, jodi, for being on the show today. Thank you for having me. I loved being able to ask you these interview type questions, because when we hang out, we just chat. And so I feel like I got to know so much more about you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and thank you for making me feel at ease, because I was definitely nervous to talk about myself. You did a great job, so thank you.
Speaker 1:You're welcome and everyone out there listening. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for tuning in, Take care.