Yoga Health Coaching |

Ayurveda and Healthy Habits in the Guiding World

Cate Stillman — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 19:11:54 +0000

On today’s show, I talk with Backroads leader, Yoga instructor, and Tribe Scribe for Yogahealer, Sydney Doolittle about guiding active travel trips while staying mentally and physically healthy and grounded. As a hiking and biking guide, Sydney leads 6 day active vacations in across the country; it her job to safely lead her guests in outdoor pursuits while keeping herself and her guests in good physical and mental condition. We discuss the challenges that come with living a transient or movement-based lifestyle and staying in tune with our bodies natural rhythms and desires.

Sydney aspires to be an Ayurvedic practitioner and is currently in the Yogahealer Body Thrive course. We rap about the Body Thrive habits and give tips on how to implement them in your active lifestyles. Tune in to hear a bit about Ayurveda, the benefits of working in groups, and how to keep people in alignment and living up to their full potential through outdoor adventure and travel.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

How to stay grounded while traveling
How to stay healthy while guiding outdoor trips
The benefits of studying/teaching Ayurveda/health 1:1 vs. in a group

Links Mentioned in Episode:

Show Highlights:

1:30- Sydney shares a bit about how she became interested in Ayurveda and her background in the yoga/Ayurveda/health and wellness world.
6:00- Sydney and I discuss how to stay on our paths while working in the guiding industry. Is it possible to bring people closer to themselves in a holistic way as they travel and go on vacation? We discuss some ways in which we can keep people grounded and feeling nurtured while out of their comfort zone and on the road.
9:30- Food is an always a big topic no matter who or where you are, and knowing how to eat well when leading outdoor adventure trips for Backroads is no exception. We chat about how to eat and when to eat when it comes to guiding in order to stay on your A game.
19:00- What’s the next step for Sydney and where does she plan to take her yoga, Ayurveda, and active travel guiding skill set? We discuss the difference between working as an Ayurvedic Practitioner with clientele 1 on 1 versus teaching groups in the holistic health realm.

“How do we bring people closer into nature in a way that they are connecting more with themselves and the elements around them?“ -Cate Stillman

“Often it can feel somewhat disconnected like we are here to enjoy nature and nature is something other than the self or that nature is something that is out there…There’s this disconnect from getting grounded in the adventure experience.” -Cate Stillman

Favorite Quotes:

“How do we bring people closer into nature in a way that they are connecting more with themselves and the elements around them?“ -Cate Stillman

“Often it can feel somewhat disconnected like we are here to enjoy nature and nature is something other than the self or that nature is something that is out there…There’s this disconnect from getting grounded in the adventure experience.” -Cate Stillman
“As someone who is waking up on the path, how do we live into the evolution of this guiding and bringing people closer to themselves through an adventure or outdoor expedition?” -Cate Stillman

Guest BIO:

Sydney Doolittle has been an avid yoga practitioner since she was a young girl. As a former gymnast turned coach, sharing her love of yoga by teaching others, was a natural transition. She obtained an Anusara based yoga certification at Vital Yoga in Denver, CO in 2013 and in 2016, her yoga pursuits took her to India where she studied in Rishikesh to obtain her 300 hour yoga teacher training certification. Sydney has taught in some obscure places, leading retreats with the Life Force Project in Salento, Colombia and on a yacht in the Mediterranean with Sun Fun You Fitness Voyages. Sydney recently returned from Bali where she studied Clarity Breathwork and is now certified as a Breathwork Practitioner. She currently studies Ayurveda with the American Institute of Vedic Studies, with the hopes of becoming an Ayurvedic Practitioner in the near future. She currently works as a Tribe Scribe for Yogahealer and has worked as an active travel guide for Backroads for the past 5 years, leading hiking and biking trips worldwide. She has a passion for the outdoors, hiking, snowboarding and immersing herself in the natural world as much as possible.

Connect with Sydney on Facebook or Instagram at travelingyogi108.

Leading When You Don’t Feel Ready

Carly Banks — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 09:53:50 +0000

On today’s show Carly Banks talks with Davina Clauer, a Yoga Health Coach in training and mother of two, about Davina’s experience in Yogahealer courses. Both Body Thrive and YHC courses opened up so much time and space in Davina’s days and brought health and ease to her and her family. She is currently working her full time job, pursuing her Yoga Health Coach certification, and starting her new coaching business, while at the same time finding space for her passions as a Yoga Instructor and Postpartum Doula. While Davina’s story is unique, it is not uncommon for many people to accept Ayurvedic Body Thrive habits into their lives and move into a space of easeful living. Following these habits allow us to enter into a state of flow, where we feel in tune with life and at peace within ourselves. These habits help to move us out of a stagnant state into one of perpetual growth and learning. If you are interested in upleveling your time, your health, your space and your life, then listen in on today’s podcast and gain inspiration and velocity on your growth path.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

How do the Body Thrive habits help us to thrive?
How to find more time in your day.
How working in a group helps growth.

Links Mentioned in Episode:

Show Highlights:

1:20 – Davina talks to us a bit about her Yoga Health coaching background, how she found Cate and Yogahealer, and where it has led her.
6:00 – The addiction to saying ‘I don’t have enough time.’ In reality, with the BT habits we are opening up so much time and space for ourselves and we have the capacity to handle more.
12:00- The importance of group dynamics and how accountability helps our exponential growth in life. We don’t have to do it alone!

Favorite Quotes:

“Your day now flows around the habits instead of being another thing that you have to find time for.” -Davina Clauer
“The most successful people start before they’re ready.” – Davina Clauer
“Sometimes we compare ourselves to people who are in chapter 20, or they are in a different book, and we forget that they were on chapter 1 at one point.” -Davina Clauer

Guest Bio:

Davina Clauer is the proud mother of two amazing girls and is really into practicing & teaching Vinyasa Yoga. Her specialized practices are focused on supporting mothers, babies and children through significant moments of life. The techniques used in prenatal and children’s yoga can provide countless benefits for the overall well-being for the entire family. Davina took her first yoga class with her then 6-month-old in 2013 and her life changed forever. This led her to start teaching yoga in 2015 after completing my RYT-200 certification. Towards the end of 2015 Davina’s life was shattered when she suffered a devastating loss of a pregnancy at 11 weeks. She was searching for anything to feel better and decided to turn back to her yoga practice. She was pulled toward the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda to heal herself emotionally and address the physiological cause of her miscarriage. She found Yogahealer and entered into her first Body Thrive during this time, which then lead her on to Yogahealers’ Yoga Health Coaching Course, that she is currently enrolled in.

Davina is now happy to report that after some major changes in lifestyle, she conceived and carried a healthy baby girl who graced us with her presence in Feb. 2017. Since giving birth Davina has been bound and determined to continue down her wellness path and decided that she wants to help others on theirs; she hopes to help people design the healthy life that they deserve to live! Conect with Clauer on her Website and Facebook.

Mood + Mantra: How One Favorite Phrase Helps Me Manage My Anxiety

Marcia Wilson — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 16:11:48 +0000

“Breathing in, I calm my body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.”

― Thich Nhat Hanh– from Being Peace

When I was 25 my dad died from pancreatic cancer. His death, just 4 months after diagnosis, left me questioning what it meant to live a full life and how we can most effectively navigate these very human challenges. My search for answers unfolded into studies in Buddhism, Yoga, and eventually Ayurveda. Some of the first writings I was introduced to were the simple and effective teachings of Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. One of my favorite writings of Thich Nhat Hanh was a mantra from his book, Being Peace: “Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is the only moment.” This phrase was taught to me in an abbreviated form: “calm, smile, present, wonderful.” I began to use it during hot and sweaty Bikram yoga classes, during the stress of marital separation and as a tool to share with my yoga students. Over 20 years later this mantra is still my favorite go-to.

Mantra = Mind Protecting

Mantra- the use of sounds or words as objects of concentration- means “mind protecting. ” By allowing our awareness to settle on the sounds we repeat aloud or silently we “protect” ourselves from thoughts or emotional responses triggered by our daily lives. Staying focused on the mantra protects us from negative thoughts, monkey mind and replaying conversations in our head. It keeps us in the moment. Mantra comes in many forms. Some mantras, called “seed” mantras, are sounds that do not have a particular meaning in English. Full phrases in both Sanskrit, “om shanti shanti shanti,” and English (“breath in goes deep, breath out goes slow”) are used commonly. Mantras can be used with other practices like yoga or as a stand alone meditation practice.

Train Your Nervous System to Be Calm and Steady

A key teaching from the world of Ayurveda is the value of mindfulness or meditation practice as part of a daily rhythm of self care called “dinya charya”. One of my teachers- the Abbot of a Theravada Buddhist Monastery, helped me understand that practice is just that, practice. The time we spend meditating – whether we follow the breath or use a mantra- gives our nervous system and subconscious a chance to develop a familiarity with the technique. The goal? When we face a challenge in real life – when we need to be calm and steady and hold space for ourselves – the mantra and our breath are right there with us. Our practice gives us ability to access calm and peace even when it seems elusive.

Anxiety + Overwhelm: Using Mantra to Navigate Life

As much as I had used the mantra “calm, smile” both in practice and in troubled times, it was this winter, over 20 years after first learning it – that I had the chance to see the full benefit of mantra in action.

My History of Anxiety

Part of my history is one of anxiety and overwhelm. I notice that this tendency is worsening as I age. Ayurveda views anxiety through the lens of what is called a Vata overdominance imbalance. As we age, we tend to become even more Vata dominant in our bodies, minds, and hearts which means that managing anxiety is made easier by self care practices like keeping things simple, following a routine, oil massage, and using practices like yoga and meditation. Although I follow Vata pacifying self care practices, my life recently has been one of travel, living in temporary accommodations and spending endless hours working on the computer. These are all lifestyle factors that increase Vata and make me more vulnerable to the panic attacks I can experience on planes and buses when I feel confined.

How I Stopped My Panic Attack

I am sitting in an aisle seat in a plane. I fly a lot and love travelling in spite of the fact that as soon as the beverage cart rolls up beside me and the flight attendant looks down at me, I get triggered. Something about this scenario makes me unbelievably claustrophobic, which I compensate for first by taking off shoes and sweaters. I start clearing away anything that might be blocking me or even touching me. I ask my family to move as far into their seat as they can. The stronger my panic attack the more I need to take action, I ask the flight attendant to move the cart, and I often stand up and try to walking in the aisle. In the past, I have never been able to calm myself without asking others to help by moving and giving me space. On my recent flight to Mexico, I had a surprise. I began to feel myself getting triggered, a panic attack looked inevitable, I looked down, dug deep, and began repeating “breathing in, I calm my body, breathing out, I smile.” I blocked out everything else and repeated until the beverage cart moved on. And to my surprise, I averted my panic attack.

Trust The Practice

I lie on the floor in Bikram yoga with eyes wide open, breath ragged and “calm, smile, present, wonderful” on endless repeat. Walking and breathing to the rhythm of mantra. Meditation. Following my breath, as I drive, sit to work and in-between activities.I have learned that practice comes in many forms and that when my real-life anxiety meets years of experience with a favorite mantra, my ability to calm and regroup is right there, waiting for me. Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. I got this.