Latest / The MODERN YIN Podcast / How Yin Yoga Helped Me Ditch The Hustle Culture

Transcript

How Yin Yoga Helped Me Ditch The Hustle Culture · The MODERN YIN Podcast

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Hey, hey, Yeni at Life Gang. It's Kimberly Roberts, your host
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here. And I'm so excited to deliver
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little bits of insight on living your best, most extraordinary
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life with, of course, yen, yoga, traditional Chinese medicine,
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reflexology and even mindset acts.
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So thank you so much for pressing play on today's
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episode. Let's do this.
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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Yinning at Life
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podcast. I'm so happy you're here today.
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I've got something I want to talk about that still to this
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day kind of blows my mind that it's happening It's the hustle,
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right? And I want to speak specifically
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to the people over 40 here, OK, about how we're still hustling.
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And let me tell you, as someone who's over 40, I get it.
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I still sometimes hustle and it's like, it's just not worth
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it anymore. And I will tell you, as you get
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older, hustling gets harder. It's kind of like, you know,
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when you were back and you were like in your 20s and you could
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drink like, you know, a pitcher of beer and eat a whole large
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pizza and then literally crash 5 minutes later.
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Go to sleep, get 4 hours of sleep, get back up and, you
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know, go about your day and you'd be just fine, right?
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Well, now, if I tried to do that now, I will tell you I would be
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out of Commission for days upon days with like probably a
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hangover, a bloated stomach and inflamed and exhausted.
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And so the same thing is happening.
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I find with the hustle culture, like there is so much power in
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doing less because we actually create more when we do less.
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And this is something that I will tell you, I struggled with
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that concept in my mind for the longest time.
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I was like, wait a minute, if I'm doing less, how can I
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actually be doing more? But I want to explore why the
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hustle culture keeps so many of us stuck in OverDrive,
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especially people over 40, and how yin yoga, breath work,
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acupressure, meditation, even reflexology have helped me step
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out of that hustle cycle. And in today's episode, I want
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you to stick around because I'm going to guide you through a
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short practice where you can literally feel the shift right
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away. Like I just got back from a 20
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minute walk outside. It's beautiful outside today.
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And I will tell you, when I got up this morning, I started
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working right away. And then all of a sudden, you
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know, after about an hour, I was like, I'm feeling kind of
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drained. And I felt like I was pushing
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myself. And I was like, OK, no, no, no,
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I'm not going to do this. I'm going to stop and I'm going
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to go outside. I literally went out for a 20
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minute walk. That's it, just 20 minutes.
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I came back in and I was like, I felt like a completely different
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person. Now, if you know, in traditional
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Chinese medicine, our liver loves that we go in flow, that
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everything is with ease, which is of obviously the complete
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opposite of hustling, right? So being outside in nature for
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those 20 minutes, just going for a gentle walk, not only like
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reset my buttons, cleared out my mind, gave me a little bit more
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energy, but it also rejuvenated my liver.
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So it's like a total win. And was I hustling?
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Absolutely not. But I will tell you, for years I
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lived in the hustle in the corporate world.
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The long hours and the constant striving were like my normal.
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It was like hustle, hustle, push, push, do more.
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And when I started my own business and I left the
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corporate world, I thought running my own business, doing
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the work that I truly love would actually free me.
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But instead it made me push even harder.
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Like, how ironic is that, right? And my nervous system stayed
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switched on. Rest felt weird, it felt wrong.
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It almost felt guilty, like I was letting something slip.
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And I was like, shouldn't I be doing something right now?
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I should be doing something, right?
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And then I'd be like, well, maybe I shouldn't do something.
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Maybe I should just rest. Maybe I should go and do some
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yin yoga right now. Maybe I should go do some breath
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work meditation, OK. And I started to experiment with
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that. And then all of a sudden, that
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need to always feel like I was on right suddenly turned itself
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off. And I started discovering the
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real, serious power of pausing. And that real shift came to me
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when I started reshaping my yin yoga practice.
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Like yin has always taught me that slowing down isn't
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weakness, it's actually where clarity and creativity and
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rejuvenation happen. And the less that I forced, the
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more space I had for new ideas, for energy, for calm confidence,
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for balance. I was like, I would come up with
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the most incredible yin yoga series for my app when I was in
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my practice. I would come up with like, oh,
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maybe I should do this for a new breath work class or maybe, oh,
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this acupressure point would be really cool to teach people.
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And I was like, Oh my God, like what am I doing right now?
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I'm in my, in practice, I'm calming my nervous system.
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I'm not intentionally thinking about creating content or about
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doing something in my business. It was just happening all on its
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own so effortlessly. And then I will tell you that my
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body started to crave these pauses more and more.
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And sometimes it was only like a 5 minute pause and it was
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literally almost like I was a light switch and the light
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switch was turning on for those couple of minutes.
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And I was like, oh, bright and calm and rejuvenated and relaxed
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and refreshed. And my nervous system started to
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get more and more regulated. So right now what I want to do
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is I want to do a little mini breath work with you guys, OK?
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Now, if you're driving, please come back to this part of the
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podcast episode, OK? So that you can really be
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present. But for those of you that are
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like, hey, I'm sitting here, I'm on the couch, I'm listening to
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you or I'm on my yoga mat. I'm ready.
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I'm down for this, OK? For you guys, find a comfortable
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seat or lie down. And then I invite you to close
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your eyes. If you can, place your right
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hand over your lower belly, and then with your other hand, I
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want you to use your thumb to gently massage the spot right in
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the center of the palm of your hand.
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OK? This is an acupressure point and
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it's called Pericardium 8. It is super good for calming the
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heart. It's really good for easing
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anxiety. It's really good for releasing
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inflammation. If you've got too much heat in
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your digestion, like your digestive system, it helps with
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that. It's just a really calming
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point. I love it.
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And it's so easy to find because it's literally in the center of
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the palm of your hand. OK, so as you're pressing on
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this point, start to take long, slow, deep breaths through your
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nose for a count of four, and then hold it in for a moment and
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then exhale gently through the mouth for six counts, OK?
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And as you breathe, feel your belly soften into your hand.
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Let your shoulders melt, OK, and we'll do it again.
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Let's inhale for four counts through the nose and then exhale
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for sex. Just notice right now how this
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feels, OK? Now release the pressure on that
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acupressure point on your palm and actually go to the other
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hand. OK, And you're going to press
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the same spot, so right in the center, the palm of your hand,
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you're going to press with your opposite thumb.
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And together let's start to inhale through the nose for 1234
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and then exhale through an open mouth for 654321.
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Inhale 1 234. Exhale 6543211.
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More time. Inhale 1234.
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Exhale 65432 one Slowly release your thumb from the point.
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Pause for a moment here. Just let your breath come back
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to an unmeasured state. Notice again after just pausing
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for literally all we did was 2 minutes.
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How do you feel? Scan your body, notice if you
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feel any vibration where you were pressing on that point.
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What does the heart center feel like?
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What kind of energy do you feel in your body right now?
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Like sometimes even with a a practice even 2 minutes can just
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stop the hustle and rejuvenate the nervous system.
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Like I will tell you now that I've been practicing regulating
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my nervous system regularly with all these practices, I can drop
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in so much faster. And where that 20 minute walk
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that I went on today before that would actually take me an hour,
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maybe even longer to reset. Now in like 1520 minutes, I
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literally feel like a completely different person.
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So if that kind of tiny pause felt really nourishing for you,
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imagine what a consistent practice could do for you.
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I have 3 free yen Yoga classes to get you started.
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One of them is actually an acupressure meditation for inner
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peace and mindfulness. So let's stop the spiraling,
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right? There's another one for
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abundance. So I do an abundance meditation
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to shift your mindset from scarcity and lack into abundance
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and freedom. And then there's a really juicy
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60 minute hip and shoulder opening practice.
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Who doesn't love opening those tight shoulders and hips, right?
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So you can get all of that, those free classes, if you're
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like, you know what, I'm already sold.
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I'm ready to go. Then you can sign up for my 7
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day free trial on my membership and you can explore a full
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plethora of content. Yin yoga, breath work,
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acupressure, reflexology, meditation.
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I've got yin yoga series and there's one that's super really
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calming right now and that people are just absolutely
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loving. And it's my 14 day Unwind and
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Calm series. It is specifically designed to
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soothe your nervous system and that's inside the membership or
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it's available on its own for lifetime access for a one time
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fee. I'll link all of that
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information in the show notes for you.
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OK, now I want to come back to the hustle culture because I
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will tell you the guilt part about slowing down for me, and I
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know for a lot of people was like, well, if I rest, then I'm
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being lazy, right? But I will tell you, rest is not
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laziness. We need rest.
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Our nervous system needs rest. It doesn't need to be in the
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sympathetic flight or fright state all the time.
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It needs rest and digest. It needs that parasympathetic
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state, and I'll tell you, a lot of us don't even get that when
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we're sleeping because we don't sleep that well.
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But I will tell you rest is the most fertile ground where your
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best ideas, health and joy are birthed.
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Seriously. Like I will tell you that the
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more I push and the more I hustle, first of all, the more
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burnt out I get. But secondly, you know what else
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happens? I get super frustrated and
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irritated and then what happens? My liver goes, oh, we don't like
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that because we don't like frustration.
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We like ease, we like flow. We like let's just roll with it,
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not let's push and let's force all the time.
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So when we do less, we nourish our liver, we calm and regulate
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our nervous system. And you know what?
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We are far more creative and inspired and are living more of
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that extraordinary life. Because I'll tell you when you
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get to be over 40, at that point, you're like, you know
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what? I should be living my
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extraordinary life by now. Like, come on.
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Right. Like I've done all the things.
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Maybe some of you are out there. Like I've had the kids and now
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they're old enough to be on their own.
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You know what? Yeah, I'm in the corporate
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world. But you know what?
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I don't have to prove myself anymore.
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I'm really good at what I do and I don't need to over deliver to
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prove my worth. Right?
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Like when we're younger, we have a lot less confidence, we're far
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more insecure. And so there's more of that
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tendency to push and to force and to hustle, right?
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And when we start a new job, like I don't know how many times
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I started, you know, in the corporate world or starting a
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new job where it would be like, well, you know what, like I'm
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new here. I really got to prove myself.
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I got to push, I got to force. I'm going to work like 15 hours
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a day even though everybody else is working 8 and a 8 1/2.
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And I got into that mentality. Well, I'll tell you when you get
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over 40, you're like, I'm not down for that anymore.
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I'm not working no 1415 hour days.
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And even for myself now at running my own business, having
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my own online yin yoga and well-being app and my in person
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reflexology business, like I work, maybe I'm going to say,
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and this is like I'm being a little bit over generous here.
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I probably work about 5 hours a day, four days a week.
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That's it. Like I work about 20 hours a
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week, that's it. Whereas in my corporate days, I
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was working like 14-15 hours a day, five days a week.
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So that's about 7075 hours, right?
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And then sometimes the weekend would roll around and I'd be,
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you know, doing overtime. So you know what?
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Been there, done that. Life is too short.
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And when we get over the age of 40, we really just want to start
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living our best life, right? So remember, rest is not being
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lazy. It's actually being productive.
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So thank you so much for tuning into today's episode.
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I hope you give yourself permission to pause, even if
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that is 2 minutes a day. Like I will tell you, start with
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two minutes. Don't be like, Oh my God, like
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I'm going to dedicate an hour to myself every day because you
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know what, it's probably not going to happen.
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But if you have the time, if you're like, you know what?
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I know I have an hour in my day to carve out.
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Try separating it first, right? 15 minutes here, 10 minutes
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there. Like truncate it throughout the
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day or depending on your schedule and see how that rolls.
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But definitely, please promise me that you were going to give
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yourself permission to pause for however length of time you want
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it. And on our soulfully in app,
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we've got practices as short as 5 minutes and as long as 60
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minutes. So you get to choose how long
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you want to pause for. Feel free to share this episode
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with a friend who needs that reminder.
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Hey, you know what? You've been hustling a little
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bit too much too. Why don't you slow down, check
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out my free classes, see if I'm the right vibe for you, get on
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the seven day free trial or get my unload and com 14 day series.
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So here's to actually creating more by doing a whole lot less,
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right? Who is down for that?
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If you are, leave me a comment in this podcast episode and let
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me know that you know what? I am done with the hustle
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culture. I am ready to live my best life.
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I am ready to create more by doing less.
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And for some of you, this might even spark something within your
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career maybe that you're like not happy with.
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And you're like, you know what? This girl's right.
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I, I don't want to, I don't want to work this hard or I'm not
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happy working here. I'm not fulfilled.
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I want to find something that really aligns with who I am
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meant to be. And when we're over 40, we sure
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as heck should be like, you know what?
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It's time to start focusing on ourselves and reconnecting to
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ourselves. So thanks so much again for
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pressing play. I will see you next week.