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Everything is Sacred with Koya Webb · Deeply Well with Devi Brown

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Speaker 1: Mm from grandmothers who whispered in their baby girl in
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Speaker 1: two fathers on dimly lit street corners, instructing young soldiers
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Speaker 1: to always keep their eyes open. You be queen, you
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Speaker 1: were fired. You will pass through centuries on the hands
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Speaker 1: of your daughters. They called you wisdom. Proverbs on the
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Speaker 1: backs of diamond eyed school children who growing into hymnals
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Speaker 1: recited by amethyst holding urban philosophers who recited neighborhood commandments
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Speaker 1: out of the windows of restored Alchemedo cheriots. To keep
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Speaker 1: the warmth of their blood, be wise, be smart, being black,
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Speaker 1: Opal Brown courts bloodstone and prayer. Be every form of
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Speaker 1: jim se King told, scribe, scribe, told son, son, told wife,
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Speaker 1: wife told her daughter, and daughter told the as this is.
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Speaker 1: And the innsstors told me that you would come to
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Speaker 1: give wisdom. Thousands They said you would come, Dropping Dropping Gem.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Dropping Gem's podcast. What's up, everybody? Thank
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Speaker 1: you for joining me. I'm your host Stevie Brown. Today
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Speaker 1: we are talking about yoga. I'm very excited to dive
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Speaker 1: into this conversation because I have just recently reignited my
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Speaker 1: connection to yoga. I fell off for quite a while
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Speaker 1: and I've really been finding so much deep joy uh
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Speaker 1: and really surrendering to that practice and using it as
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Speaker 1: an opportunity to get to know myself and to get
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Speaker 1: to know my body better. Uh. I was thinking speaking
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Speaker 1: of joy, I was thinking this morning about my self
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Speaker 1: care routine and my daily practice, and it's really been
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Speaker 1: evolving quite a bit. It's kind of juicier than ever.
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Speaker 1: In this morning. I've been really surrendering into a nice
1:59
Speaker 1: two hour mettation. Every day I break it up. I
2:01
Speaker 1: try to do two hours um one hour at some
2:05
Speaker 1: point early in the day, and then I do about
2:06
Speaker 1: an hour before I go to bed, and that has
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Speaker 1: been feeling incredible. I'm not always that deep and flow um.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes I just like to sit with maybe a once
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Speaker 1: a day twenty minute twice a day twenty minute. But
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Speaker 1: it's felt really good listening to my spirit and honoring
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Speaker 1: its needs and right now its needs day two hours
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Speaker 1: of meditation to day. So I've really been enjoying that,
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Speaker 1: and I've really been working to just identify more moments
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Speaker 1: of joining my day, especially as it relates to how
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Speaker 1: I connect with my body. And so funny enough, the
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Speaker 1: way I've been enjoying connecting with my body. This week
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Speaker 1: has been making and eating tacos. I know that sounds wild,
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Speaker 1: but hear me out. Really, it's so much simpler to
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Speaker 1: find joy than we probably give ourselves credit for. And
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Speaker 1: it's really about the intention. And so I'm someone that
3:03
Speaker 1: really loves tacos. It's kind of my jam, all different kinds,
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Speaker 1: breakfast tacos, lunch tacos, dinner tacos, dessert tacos. They are
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Speaker 1: my thing and I really like building them. This sounds
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Speaker 1: so wild, but it's been um, you know, it was
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Speaker 1: really it was really interesting this week because I was
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Speaker 1: kind of getting a little craving and so I went
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Speaker 1: and got, you know, some ingredients at the store, all
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Speaker 1: the things, and every morning I was just called to
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Speaker 1: make myself a breakfast taco. But I'm I turned it
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Speaker 1: into something that I really enjoyed. I was thinking to myself,
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Speaker 1: what is it that makes this so enjoyable for me?
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Speaker 1: And I think it was really settling into waking up
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Speaker 1: and doing something that I know would make me smile,
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Speaker 1: something that tastes good to me in the way that
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Speaker 1: I like to do it, taking my time with it, uh,
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Speaker 1: and then also connecting to the nostalgia, right, Like for me,
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Speaker 1: tacos represent living in the dorms and having big parties
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Speaker 1: back in the day and having taco Tuesdays, and you know,
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Speaker 1: it was just something fun, and so I was kind
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Speaker 1: of gifting myself that little trip down memory lane each
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Speaker 1: morning as I did that. And you know, working with
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Speaker 1: your hands, even if it's just for ten minutes cooking something,
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Speaker 1: it just is such a beautiful connection you can kind
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Speaker 1: of get lost in it. So I say all that
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Speaker 1: to say, you know, everything can be self care. You
4:29
Speaker 1: know it sounds funny, tacos of self care, but really
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Speaker 1: think about it. What are the things that matter to
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Speaker 1: you and connect to you, and how can you do
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Speaker 1: it in a way that also makes it a ritual
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Speaker 1: or makes it something that does give you access to
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Speaker 1: that smile or something that you can just kind of
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Speaker 1: get lost in and savor a little bit. So have
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Speaker 1: fun doing that with your food, do it with tea,
4:52
Speaker 1: do it with coffee. There's always moments to be found
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Speaker 1: for us um in anything that we're able to kind
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Speaker 1: of escape into a little a bit. So that's my
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Speaker 1: taco story. Today on the show, we're gonna be talking
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Speaker 1: really about the gifts and the power of yoga and
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Speaker 1: ways to feel connected to your body and get really
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Speaker 1: deep into your body, and it's you know, it's interesting
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Speaker 1: the conversation about yoga. We've probably seen yoga more at
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Speaker 1: the mainstream and the front running or kind of forward
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Speaker 1: facing practice for quite a while, um, at least depending
5:28
Speaker 1: on you know, where you are in the world. I
5:30
Speaker 1: grew up in Los Angeles, so it's always been really
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Speaker 1: prevalent out here, even more so than meditation, which has
5:36
Speaker 1: been on kind of the upward climb in the mainstream
5:40
Speaker 1: for the last decade or so. But with yoga, it's
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Speaker 1: always something that has felt a little distant for certain communities.
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Speaker 1: You know, a lot of the front facing campaigns for yoga,
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Speaker 1: a lot of the company's yoga has also been deeply
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Speaker 1: connected to whiteness, and so typically the images we'd see
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Speaker 1: for the majority of yoga representation in the mainstream in
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Speaker 1: the last you know, fifty years or so, it's really
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Speaker 1: been around whiteness, and a lot of that was like
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Speaker 1: kind of in the hippie communities and then also some
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Speaker 1: of the really big box brands in the yoga world
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Speaker 1: and the athletisure where you know, all of the campaigns
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Speaker 1: really just featured white women doing yoga, and it's been
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Speaker 1: so beautiful seeing all of the other communities that are
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Speaker 1: coming out and not only connecting with this work, but
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Speaker 1: have been doing this work for a really long time,
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Speaker 1: but bringing that into the forefront and really having the
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Speaker 1: opportunity to invite in more cultures and more communities into
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Speaker 1: this powerful work and to create a sense of safety
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Speaker 1: and support um and community. So that piece of it
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Speaker 1: has been really interesting to explore because when you look
6:57
Speaker 1: at the fibers of some of the ways that our
7:03
Speaker 1: most influential figures and time have been able to show
7:07
Speaker 1: up for themselves privately, I think we're starting now to
7:11
Speaker 1: unwrap and understand how many people that took up powerful
7:15
Speaker 1: place in the world were behind the scenes, really tending
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Speaker 1: to their spirits, really tending to their bodies, really taking
7:23
Speaker 1: care of themselves. So picture that kind of surfaced in
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Speaker 1: the last couple of years that has been really inspiring
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Speaker 1: for me to see is Rosa Park doing yoga sutras,
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Speaker 1: you know, yoga postures and different uh spiritual spiritually lead
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Speaker 1: physical activity. There were pictures of her and all of
7:42
Speaker 1: the all these different poses and you know, for me,
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Speaker 1: it was just so inspiring, but also made it all
7:52
Speaker 1: make sense. You know, a lot of our ancestors, a
7:55
Speaker 1: lot of the wisdom keepers, a lot of the warriors,
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Speaker 1: they knew of this work. You know, they knew of
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Speaker 1: the power of showing up, nurturing, nourishing, being tender with
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Speaker 1: their spirits. But because of the times, we weren't always
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Speaker 1: allowed to see that side of things. And so I
8:13
Speaker 1: think in a lot of ways, some of the conversations
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Speaker 1: have been so one sided, especially in this moment in time,
8:19
Speaker 1: around activism being something that is only about output and
8:28
Speaker 1: not personal investment. And so, you know, when we see
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Speaker 1: a lot of the activism and a lot of the
8:34
Speaker 1: amazing leaders taking up space right now, it seems so exhaustive.
8:38
Speaker 1: But I think the piece that we didn't know is
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Speaker 1: that so many of them knew how to care for themselves,
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Speaker 1: and they knew how to connect with God. And how
8:47
Speaker 1: big of a piece of the puzzle that is, how
8:50
Speaker 1: necessary and really non negotiable that piece of the puzzle
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Speaker 1: is being able to connect with your soul, with your spirit,
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Speaker 1: with your body as you show powerfully in the world.
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Speaker 1: Over the past couple of years, yoga studios, they've been
9:06
Speaker 1: popping up around the country right now. The stats on
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Speaker 1: that are that thirty six point seven million people nationally
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Speaker 1: are practicing yoga. And this stat is actually old. It's
9:17
Speaker 1: from two thousand and twelve, so nine years ago. I
9:21
Speaker 1: mean even now, I dare to say that's probably tripled.
9:25
Speaker 1: The willless industry is evaluated as I believe, it's like
9:28
Speaker 1: a three trillion dollar industry, so I'm sure that that's tripled.
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Speaker 1: But within that study, it was identified that more than
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Speaker 1: eight of those who do practice identify as white. Of
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Speaker 1: the yoga community. Yoga has a really complicated history with
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Speaker 1: race and appropriation. Obviously, it's origins are in India, you know,
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Speaker 1: and so a lot of the reason we even have
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Speaker 1: yoga in this country is because of incredible gurus that
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Speaker 1: passed the work down in a allowed it to come
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Speaker 1: to the West. But we don't always see a reverence
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Speaker 1: for that culture, and we don't always see their being
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Speaker 1: credit attributed to the ancient practice, to the lineage and
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Speaker 1: where it came from. There was a nineteen Ebony article,
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Speaker 1: and this piece was inspiring really to tie in with
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Speaker 1: the Rosa Parks piece we were just speaking about. In
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Speaker 1: nineteen Ebany article, there was also an article from nineteen
10:24
Speaker 1: sixty five, also in Ebony Shout Out to Ebany that
10:28
Speaker 1: was highlighting this as a practice yoga something for everyone
10:34
Speaker 1: um that was describing an increasing number of African American
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Speaker 1: people that were turning to yoga as a meditative practice
10:40
Speaker 1: to specifically retain lucidity and heal from the injustices that
10:45
Speaker 1: ailed them. So it's love, you know, when I when
10:48
Speaker 1: I read staffs like this, and when I find out
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Speaker 1: all of the pioneering work that people were doing for
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Speaker 1: so long before us, it fills me with gratitude, and
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Speaker 1: it also reminds me to like, oh ways, being humility
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Speaker 1: for this work. People have been practicing and doing and
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Speaker 1: showing up powerfully for their spirits for a long time,
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Speaker 1: and we don't give the generations that came before is
11:10
Speaker 1: enough credit for that. You know, they were fighting against
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Speaker 1: a collective consciousness that was so stagnant and so steeped
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Speaker 1: in trauma, but there were really active people raising their
11:22
Speaker 1: families in this way, showing up powerfully in this way.
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Speaker 1: So it's just it's just a beautiful reminder to continue
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Speaker 1: to know our history, to continue to be humble in
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Speaker 1: the privilege that it is to show up for ourselves
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Speaker 1: in this lifetime um and in this moment in time.
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Speaker 1: So those are my thoughts. I know that kind of
11:40
Speaker 1: went um a little bit everywhere. We went from tacos
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Speaker 1: to Rosa, parks, um to yoga. But somehow it's all
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Speaker 1: deeply connected. So let's talk about today's show. I am
11:51
Speaker 1: excited to have an incredible pioneer in this space, a
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Speaker 1: woman who has been powerfully, powerfully standing in her power
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Speaker 1: and in her truth with than the yoga community for many, many,
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Speaker 1: many years. Today's guest is Koya Web. Koya Webb is
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Speaker 1: a yoga teacher, a holistic health coach, author, speaker, and
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Speaker 1: vegan activist whose core mission is to promote daily self care, oneness,
12:18
Speaker 1: and eco friendly living to combat some of the world's
12:21
Speaker 1: biggest challenges, including mental health, social injustices, and global warming.
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Speaker 1: Koita is the founder of Get Loved Up, an international
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Speaker 1: lifestyle community and yoga school that inspires mental, spiritual, and
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Speaker 1: physical health through an app, online courses, retreats, in person
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Speaker 1: yoga teacher training events, and the Get Loved Up Podcast. Koya,
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Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me, Thank you,
12:49
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. So I have been watching you
12:52
Speaker 1: from Afar for a very long time, and I just
12:57
Speaker 1: have to say, you know, I remember the first time
13:00
Speaker 1: I became familiar with you is through seeing a photo
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Speaker 1: of you on social media years back, and it just
13:05
Speaker 1: took my breath away, Like I remember, and this is
13:09
Speaker 1: right before, you know, kind of the beautiful, robust life
13:14
Speaker 1: wellness is having in this moment. You know, it was
13:16
Speaker 1: like right before that kicked off. And so I had
13:19
Speaker 1: never seen like an image so gorgeous with a woman
13:24
Speaker 1: of color in this beautiful, spiritual, sacred position. And I
13:28
Speaker 1: just remember seeing that and being like, wow, Wow, who
13:34
Speaker 1: is that? What is she made of? Oh? Thank you
13:40
Speaker 1: that that means the world to me and I when
13:44
Speaker 1: I started, I was a tight athlete. I never thought
13:47
Speaker 1: I would be in some of these poses. I never
13:49
Speaker 1: saw anyone that looked like me in these poses. So
13:53
Speaker 1: to inspire other women of color was one of my
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Speaker 1: main goals, and choosing to be a certified yoga teacher
14:01
Speaker 1: and also choosing to certify others. So thank you so much.
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Speaker 1: That just made my heart smile because that is definitely
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Speaker 1: one of my goals. Yeah, and God, you've been doing
14:09
Speaker 1: it so well for so long, and I really want
14:11
Speaker 1: to especially speak to that part, because you know, I
14:14
Speaker 1: think a piece that I really appreciate when I see
14:19
Speaker 1: you is you were doing this work. You were answering
14:24
Speaker 1: your call, the calling on your life, before this even
14:27
Speaker 1: became a career path anyone even knew about, before it
14:31
Speaker 1: was even most people even thought it was possible, and
14:34
Speaker 1: so many people before they had probably even heard of yoga.
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Speaker 1: What did that? What did that feel like? Or what
14:41
Speaker 1: did you How did you allow yourself to show up
14:44
Speaker 1: so fully in a pioneering way when there was no blueprint.
14:49
Speaker 1: M That's such a good question because for me it
14:53
Speaker 1: was healing. I was just healing myself, and you know, eventually,
14:58
Speaker 1: after healing myself, I'm still in the healing process. But
15:01
Speaker 1: after healing myself for some years, I created my brain
15:05
Speaker 1: Get Loved Up because I realized that with the massive
15:08
Speaker 1: amount that I love to pour out into the world,
15:10
Speaker 1: I have to take care and nurture myself. So that's
15:14
Speaker 1: why you know, I created the company Get Loved Up
15:16
Speaker 1: because I needed to get loved up. I need to
15:17
Speaker 1: make sure I was practicing self care. I was doing
15:20
Speaker 1: my breath work, meditation, my yoga so I could live
15:23
Speaker 1: my purpose and be able to pour um the way
15:26
Speaker 1: I wanted to. But it definitely didn't come like, Oh,
15:29
Speaker 1: I wanna build this wellness business, so it wasn't a thing.
15:32
Speaker 1: So me posting online was just me holding myself accountable
15:37
Speaker 1: to my practice. So I wasn't even doing it for
15:40
Speaker 1: a company. You know, that was before all of that started.
15:43
Speaker 1: So this was just me, like, Okay, there was this
15:47
Speaker 1: this challenge called the Growth Soul Beautiful Challenge, and I
15:51
Speaker 1: was like, all right, I'm gonna do that challenge and
15:52
Speaker 1: I'm gonna post every day because I'm gonna make myself
15:55
Speaker 1: practice before I post. And so that was the thing.
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Speaker 1: It's like, you can't post that post until you practice.
16:01
Speaker 1: And so it was really something that helped me accountable
16:05
Speaker 1: my yoga practice. I love that and I hope for
16:08
Speaker 1: anyone listening, this is giving a beautiful permission to document
16:14
Speaker 1: yourself in your process. You know, not to wait until
16:18
Speaker 1: you think you're fully arrived or together, but to really
16:22
Speaker 1: just savor the journey as it goes and document it
16:25
Speaker 1: and see yourself at all the stages. Absolutely, And the
16:31
Speaker 1: reason that's so important it's so interesting because people frown
16:34
Speaker 1: upon it in the yoga community now because different people
16:38
Speaker 1: use poses in different ways and different things or nothing
16:41
Speaker 1: for different reasons. And so that reason it, you know,
16:46
Speaker 1: holding myself accountable. And I do encourage people like you to, like,
16:49
Speaker 1: you know, post your practice, do a time labs, just
16:51
Speaker 1: to hold yourself accountable. But because unfortunately some people have
16:55
Speaker 1: used it for different reasons, like it's not as as
16:58
Speaker 1: sacred and it doesn't it translate necessarily in the same
17:02
Speaker 1: way for a lot of people in the yoga community. UM,
17:05
Speaker 1: but a lot of people are still using it in
17:08
Speaker 1: that way, like this is my accountability pose. And you know,
17:12
Speaker 1: now it's a whole business, so it's a little bit different.
17:14
Speaker 1: You don't have things that they're becoming. So I feel
17:20
Speaker 1: like it's still a great thing to do. But I
17:22
Speaker 1: also understand, um, you know, within the industry and have
17:26
Speaker 1: to speak to within the industry that it is a
17:28
Speaker 1: business now and we have to to make those different
17:31
Speaker 1: those decisions very mindfully. Yeah. I know in reading part
17:35
Speaker 1: of your story, I know you were on track to
17:38
Speaker 1: be an Olympic athlete and you were really performing at
17:42
Speaker 1: such a highly level in track, and from what I've read,
17:46
Speaker 1: you use yoga as part of your healing journey. Um.
17:49
Speaker 1: After an injury. Talk to me specifically though, about when
17:55
Speaker 1: the connection to your sacred knowingness happened. What did that
18:00
Speaker 1: feel like starting yoga potentially being one of the only
18:03
Speaker 1: people in the room that looked like you coming out
18:06
Speaker 1: of this devastating injury. How did you use this to
18:11
Speaker 1: find that deepest authenticity of your soul? Uh? I remember
18:17
Speaker 1: down to the moment. I remember down to the breath
18:21
Speaker 1: because I was and I was in the middle of
18:24
Speaker 1: like a mild depression because you know, I had everything
18:28
Speaker 1: going for me. I had full scholarship, more than I
18:31
Speaker 1: could ever ask for, and just in one day, it
18:36
Speaker 1: was gone. And I know we can all relate to
18:38
Speaker 1: that now, when your world has just turned upside down
18:40
Speaker 1: in one day. And you know, I didn't know what
18:43
Speaker 1: to do. I was just like, all right, what am
18:45
Speaker 1: I gonna do with my life? Like I put all
18:47
Speaker 1: my eggs in this basket and I just don't know.
18:50
Speaker 1: And so when I went to the counselor, which I
18:54
Speaker 1: was sent there because I was just crying in class,
18:56
Speaker 1: I was having these crying spells, and the counselor suggested yoga.
19:02
Speaker 1: And now I'm a Southern girl, you know, so I
19:04
Speaker 1: was just like, you know, is that another religion? And
19:08
Speaker 1: I just wasn't sure and she was like, no, it's
19:10
Speaker 1: just stretching. We know it's more than that now. But
19:13
Speaker 1: then I was like, okay, I'll try. And so I
19:16
Speaker 1: went into this class and I'm seeing people in these positions.
19:21
Speaker 1: I can't touch my tones because I'm an athlete. I
19:24
Speaker 1: can do a backband because I had to hide job,
19:26
Speaker 1: but I can't touch my toes. I'm like, I don't belonger.
19:29
Speaker 1: This is not me. And I was just like, you know,
19:31
Speaker 1: just I felt like I didn't fit in. I felt
19:33
Speaker 1: like what am I doing? And then I'm sad. I'm
19:36
Speaker 1: just like, I'm really really sad. And so the teacher
19:39
Speaker 1: saw my frustration and she she came up to me
19:42
Speaker 1: and she said, I want you to just breathe me,
19:46
Speaker 1: and so we took it inhale and ext healed together,
19:49
Speaker 1: and I felt chills running down my body and that sensation.
19:54
Speaker 1: I'm a feeler. I'm a very empathetic person, so that
19:57
Speaker 1: feeling for me with spirit and I remember feeling that
20:01
Speaker 1: um in my youth because my parents already said you'll
20:04
Speaker 1: know when to get baptized, you'll know, you know. I
20:06
Speaker 1: was like, but how I'm gonna know, Like as the
20:08
Speaker 1: preacher gonna say, so, like, oh my god, No, I
20:09
Speaker 1: was always excited. They're like, you'll know, And so I
20:12
Speaker 1: got that that same chill, and then I ended up,
20:14
Speaker 1: you know, um, choosing to live my life in a
20:16
Speaker 1: certain way. You know, that's that's possible way, right um.
20:20
Speaker 1: And so when I felt that energy, I knew that
20:25
Speaker 1: that was divine guidance. And that has always been my
20:29
Speaker 1: god my sacred knowing is the breath. I feel like
20:32
Speaker 1: breath is spirit and it is our free tool to
20:36
Speaker 1: manage our stress, manage our emotions, manage our trauma, and
20:40
Speaker 1: everyone who's in this life we have it to use.
20:43
Speaker 1: From the time we get here, we have it, and
20:46
Speaker 1: when we leave, we don't need it anymore. So the
20:48
Speaker 1: breath was definitely my my journey and word, oh my god,
20:52
Speaker 1: I love that. Even even even talking about the breath,
20:56
Speaker 1: I get emotional, Like all of a sudden, my heart
20:58
Speaker 1: started swelling right now, and like my eye they're a
21:00
Speaker 1: little misty because that feeling, Oh my god, that feeling
21:06
Speaker 1: when it hits for you, and you know, I am
21:09
Speaker 1: equipped with all the tools I need for this life,
21:12
Speaker 1: and it just dawns on you, that you're safe, that
21:16
Speaker 1: you can trust, that you can allow yourself to not
21:20
Speaker 1: be hyper vigilant with your body, which I think especially
21:23
Speaker 1: for women um and has deeply especially for all women
21:27
Speaker 1: of color. That's the missing piece. That's the missing piece,
21:32
Speaker 1: being able to even trust feeling your own body, being
21:37
Speaker 1: in your own body and that breath like connecting to
21:40
Speaker 1: breathwork is one of the most powerful spiritual teachers imaginable
21:46
Speaker 1: and just being able to sit with your breath, to
21:49
Speaker 1: sense it, to practice feeling it as it's going, like
21:52
Speaker 1: to the different areas of your body, the transcendence. Oh God,
21:56
Speaker 1: like right now, I'm even like, oh, I want to
21:58
Speaker 1: start breathing right now. Yes, we should do a breathwork
22:02
Speaker 1: piece right now because it feels so delicious. Also do it?
22:10
Speaker 1: We do it? Okay, So everyone closed your eyes, take
22:16
Speaker 1: a deep and health through your nose and exhale side
22:22
Speaker 1: of breath out through your mouth in health through your nose,
22:28
Speaker 1: Bring your shoulders to your ears and exhale side out
22:38
Speaker 1: last time inhale, hold the breath and as slowly as
22:49
Speaker 1: you can side it out, feel that energy, feel that vibration,
23:04
Speaker 1: that spirit. Mm hmmm. Days like this. Moments like this,
23:13
Speaker 1: I'm always like, oh, duality, so I have to go
23:16
Speaker 1: back to the world. I can't just like be a
23:18
Speaker 1: reclusive and focus on the breath all day. That part,
23:23
Speaker 1: that part, you know, a piece that that you spoke
23:28
Speaker 1: to as you were sharing your journey was really around
23:30
Speaker 1: the first time you had been connected to yoga, and
23:34
Speaker 1: the thought that came up was like, is this okay
23:38
Speaker 1: to do? You know? I think that that's a piece
23:40
Speaker 1: I would love to speak to because that's that's a
23:43
Speaker 1: piece that I think really affects so many people in
23:47
Speaker 1: so many family systems, and especially as it relates to
23:51
Speaker 1: families of color and what is in our households and
23:54
Speaker 1: and these kind of judgments that spring up around what
23:57
Speaker 1: we're allowed to do for our own spirit to welfare.
24:01
Speaker 1: And that's such an interesting point. Um I've shared on
24:04
Speaker 1: the show before, like I'm not I didn't grow up
24:06
Speaker 1: in the church. I grew up, though, with a connection
24:10
Speaker 1: I wouldn't even say a connection, a knowingness about multiple
24:13
Speaker 1: belief systems and an interest. I always felt really called
24:17
Speaker 1: to Christ Um even when I didn't. I didn't know
24:21
Speaker 1: um anything about Christianity, but the man Christ being you know,
24:26
Speaker 1: this being of living a life with this christ consciousness.
24:31
Speaker 1: I was like, I need some of that, like this
24:34
Speaker 1: whole idea, do one to others as you would have
24:36
Speaker 1: done onto you this, you know, like all of the
24:39
Speaker 1: ways in which he lived his life. I was like, oh,
24:41
Speaker 1: I want you some of that, Like that's how I
24:43
Speaker 1: feel called to live, you know. Um. But you know, Christianity,
24:48
Speaker 1: especially as it relates to the structure of the Black family,
24:51
Speaker 1: generationally and historically, it's been both the tool of immense freedom,
24:56
Speaker 1: but I found also a tool of major restriction and
25:00
Speaker 1: stuckness for a lot of people, and the guilt associated
25:04
Speaker 1: with doing anything that is not found in that belief
25:07
Speaker 1: system I think really keeps people from being able to
25:11
Speaker 1: know God as deeply as they could. Thank you for
25:15
Speaker 1: sharing that. I mean, that is something that is who
25:19
Speaker 1: We can literally talk for four to eight hours on
25:22
Speaker 1: this subject easily. Um. And I think for me, I
25:28
Speaker 1: can only speak for myself because I respect all religions.
25:33
Speaker 1: I respect everyone's journey to spirit. I feel like I
25:38
Speaker 1: like to speak um to spirit in a way and
25:41
Speaker 1: I do use Spirit and God interchangeably in a way
25:45
Speaker 1: that it's it encompasses all. But I did grow up
25:51
Speaker 1: within religion, within Christianity as well, or not as well.
25:54
Speaker 1: I grew up within Christianity, um, and I learned a
26:00
Speaker 1: lot of good things that helped me be be uh
26:04
Speaker 1: the person I am today at my core, And you know,
26:08
Speaker 1: the ten commenments and and treating others like I want
26:10
Speaker 1: to be treated, and songs and probably in all these things.
26:13
Speaker 1: And so I am so grateful and will forever be
26:16
Speaker 1: grateful for that, um. And depending on you know, I'm
26:20
Speaker 1: from the South, so Southern Baptist Christian, and so depending
26:26
Speaker 1: on in all religions, how that religion is being implemented
26:33
Speaker 1: and the things and how it's been translated in so
26:37
Speaker 1: many different texts. And my question is how can something
26:40
Speaker 1: be so massively distributed and translated and not and and
26:44
Speaker 1: be perfect when we know that none of us are perfect? Right?
26:47
Speaker 1: So that is the question. And so with that, I
26:52
Speaker 1: feel that me personally, I was taught a lot of
26:57
Speaker 1: amazing things, as you said, and I was also taught
26:59
Speaker 1: a a lot of fear based thinking as you As
27:02
Speaker 1: you were adding it, a lot of a lot of
27:04
Speaker 1: fear based thinking, a lot of guilts, a lot of shaming,
27:07
Speaker 1: and I feel like more of the energy was on
27:12
Speaker 1: that vibration versus the you know, treat others how you
27:15
Speaker 1: should be treated. Um, listen to Spirit. And what I
27:21
Speaker 1: learned and what helped me on my journey to grow
27:24
Speaker 1: on the way I have is that I was through
27:27
Speaker 1: this injury, I was guided to Spirit in a very
27:31
Speaker 1: profound and practical way, and I developed a daily practice.
27:37
Speaker 1: And so what I would like to share it to
27:39
Speaker 1: everyone listening. No matter what religion you believe in, or
27:42
Speaker 1: whether you believe in any religion or not, or spirituality
27:45
Speaker 1: or whatever you wanna call it, I do think it's
27:48
Speaker 1: important to have a daily practice or ritual and connection
27:52
Speaker 1: to spirit or whatever it is that you believe in
27:55
Speaker 1: that is healthy for you and others in the world.
27:58
Speaker 1: And so what I can only speak for my own experience,
28:02
Speaker 1: it is blessed my life, and I've seen the lives
28:04
Speaker 1: of people that is blessed when they're able to separate
28:07
Speaker 1: from specifically like judgment and guilt and shame and focus
28:10
Speaker 1: more on a spiritual connection. Yeah, so beautifully said, what
28:14
Speaker 1: what do you think your practice in yoga in what
28:19
Speaker 1: ways did that close in your relationship with Creator with source? Uh,
28:24
Speaker 1: that's such a good question and it's it's it's devotional,
28:28
Speaker 1: it's the daily devotion, it's a daily practice, it's the
28:30
Speaker 1: daily sad night. It's like I feel, when you connect
28:35
Speaker 1: with spirit, you are divinely aligned. When you're divinely aligned,
28:40
Speaker 1: you can live your true purpose. There are many distractions, right,
28:44
Speaker 1: there are many things out there that can you know,
28:48
Speaker 1: you see other people, you might compare to other people,
28:50
Speaker 1: you might judge yourself based on other people, and then
28:53
Speaker 1: you start getting into this like fear modality. And I'm
28:56
Speaker 1: also a student of the Course of Miracles, and so
28:59
Speaker 1: the reason I like the Course of Miracles because it
29:01
Speaker 1: really broke broke down for me fear and love and
29:04
Speaker 1: like those emotions of um that get you know, and
29:08
Speaker 1: I do believe also fear is just a sign that
29:10
Speaker 1: I'm moving away from love. So in that sense, fear
29:13
Speaker 1: is also love and love is all their ears. I
29:15
Speaker 1: know that's like a deep blue but that's what I believe. UM.
29:19
Speaker 1: And so when I get this son, and oh you're
29:21
Speaker 1: in fear, you're in judstment, you're moving away the breath,
29:24
Speaker 1: my spiritual practice brings me back. So I actually value
29:29
Speaker 1: all of those emotions, my sadness, my anger, my grief,
29:33
Speaker 1: my all of that, and I'm like, thank you, thank
29:36
Speaker 1: you for letting me know that I'm I'm tracking this
29:38
Speaker 1: way and my daily spiritual practice brings me back. So
29:41
Speaker 1: yoga gave me a daily connection through the breath to
29:46
Speaker 1: my spiritual truth and That's how I've been living since
29:49
Speaker 1: I found it. Oh my gosh, that is so beautiful.
29:53
Speaker 1: I hope everyone listening this is just, um, something that
29:57
Speaker 1: really enlivens you to deep, to dig really deep into
30:02
Speaker 1: your spiritual practice and maybe practice evolving it. You know,
30:06
Speaker 1: what can you add on? What can you take off? How?
30:09
Speaker 1: How can you feel more nourished by the time that
30:12
Speaker 1: you spend with God? You know, how can you feel
30:15
Speaker 1: more nourished for yourself by the time you spend on
30:19
Speaker 1: yourself and your body? Hold that thought, we are coming
30:24
Speaker 1: right back. So as a as a master in yoga,
30:42
Speaker 1: I'm someone that's just started reconnecting to the practice. Um,
30:46
Speaker 1: I've been meditating for a really really long time. Pilates,
30:49
Speaker 1: you know, interestingly not very very different from yoga, but
30:52
Speaker 1: it's very connected to breath, and it's really connected to
30:55
Speaker 1: noticing like the small pieces of your body, if that
30:59
Speaker 1: make sense, Like you know, like if you do pilates,
31:02
Speaker 1: you're sore in places you didn't even know existed or
31:05
Speaker 1: that like you could be sore. So for me that
31:08
Speaker 1: was such a beautiful way to get to know my
31:11
Speaker 1: body because I was doing all that observing and that
31:13
Speaker 1: noticing and and what is that feeling? What is the
31:16
Speaker 1: response my body is having to this um But I'm
31:20
Speaker 1: now really coming into exploring and adding like a very
31:25
Speaker 1: vibrant yoga routine as part of my spiritual practice. So
31:29
Speaker 1: any tips, no, I need help, No, but you know
31:34
Speaker 1: what specifically, like, what do you think some of the
31:38
Speaker 1: challenges in this space of yoga are and is there
31:41
Speaker 1: any way to get around them? You know, like sometimes
31:44
Speaker 1: I think when you look at yoga, some of the
31:47
Speaker 1: postures are like very intense and intimidating some of them,
31:51
Speaker 1: and then you think it might take me five years
31:53
Speaker 1: to be able to do this. So if you could
31:56
Speaker 1: offer any insight on how to have a gentleness of
31:59
Speaker 1: self and and kind of an approach of lightness to
32:02
Speaker 1: beginning to practice like this absolutely, First of all, do
32:07
Speaker 1: not focus on the poses. And I know that's hard.
32:11
Speaker 1: I know it's hard to like what do you mean
32:13
Speaker 1: by that? How do I not? I know I know,
32:17
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna I'm gonna bring it back to my
32:19
Speaker 1: first my first teacher, and I'm trying to do I
32:22
Speaker 1: remember trying to do a headstand and I felt like,
32:24
Speaker 1: I feel like my brain is gonna ooze out of
32:26
Speaker 1: the top of my head. It's not for me. I'm
32:28
Speaker 1: tender headed. I can't. I can't do this like it's
32:30
Speaker 1: not you know. And I'm like, oh when I when
32:32
Speaker 1: I try to get into that lotus pose and it
32:34
Speaker 1: hurts my ankles. This is painful. This is not blissful.
32:37
Speaker 1: I'm not feeling where you all are feeling. I'm so
32:40
Speaker 1: and the teacher told me just breathe because at the
32:44
Speaker 1: end of the day, it is about what we spoke
32:46
Speaker 1: about earlier. It is just about connecting with the breath,
32:50
Speaker 1: the reason. And I just to give people some background
32:53
Speaker 1: on my my journey in wellness, I actually was a
32:56
Speaker 1: personal trainer. First, I was a personal trainer. I love
33:00
Speaker 1: up in people get healthy, live a healthy and active lifestyle.
33:03
Speaker 1: And then um, one of my clients that I love
33:05
Speaker 1: to talk to, you don't even want to train, and
33:06
Speaker 1: I realized I had a passion for hearing people's story
33:09
Speaker 1: and helping them find their own solutions. I became a
33:11
Speaker 1: life coach and then I became a yoga instructor when
33:15
Speaker 1: I realized and the reason I love yoga, I also
33:18
Speaker 1: um practice pilates as well. But the reason that I
33:21
Speaker 1: chose yoga to get certified and now offer people to
33:25
Speaker 1: become certified and yoga through my Yoga Teacher Training School
33:29
Speaker 1: is because I feel like it encompasses all because I
33:33
Speaker 1: take I do yoga hit if I wanna, you know,
33:36
Speaker 1: intense workout. I do um Ya yoga when I just
33:40
Speaker 1: want to slow down and breathe into my muscles and
33:43
Speaker 1: and loosen the tension in my mind and my body. Um,
33:46
Speaker 1: and there's so much room. But again, it's not about
33:51
Speaker 1: the poses. It is about the practice. And when you
33:54
Speaker 1: focus on the practice, the next thing you know, you're like,
33:57
Speaker 1: oh my leg just went by my head and I'm
34:00
Speaker 1: just okay. But it does happen over time. But again,
34:03
Speaker 1: I don't want to. I don't want to, like champion,
34:05
Speaker 1: the fact that of getting poses is the thing, but
34:09
Speaker 1: the beauty when you do it focusing on the breath right,
34:13
Speaker 1: and you do it focusing on on the journey. The
34:16
Speaker 1: reason people are in these poses because they've loosened, the
34:20
Speaker 1: tenseness and the stagnation in their muscles and in their body.
34:24
Speaker 1: What happens is yet you increase the blood flow, you
34:26
Speaker 1: increase flexibility, and it takes a long time to get there.
34:30
Speaker 1: Anything that is worth something is like it takes effort.
34:35
Speaker 1: Any beautiful thing that's created and including birth, including a child,
34:39
Speaker 1: it takes a process. And so if you commit to
34:42
Speaker 1: this process, this practice, not only will you have this
34:44
Speaker 1: peace of mind, this divine connection to spirit, but your
34:48
Speaker 1: muscles loosen up. Because I think you were talking about
34:50
Speaker 1: another part podcast, the issues and your tissues. It causes tightness,
34:55
Speaker 1: it causes inflammaia. When you do these yoga posts, it
34:59
Speaker 1: loosens up. And guess what, then you can get in
35:01
Speaker 1: some of these twists, and you can get in some
35:03
Speaker 1: of these turns. But it's not just about the twist
35:05
Speaker 1: and turn. It's the fact that when you twist and turn,
35:08
Speaker 1: you're improving your digestion, you are creating more fluidity in
35:13
Speaker 1: your body, and you're moving out some of the inflammation
35:16
Speaker 1: caused by toxic emotion, pain, physical injury, um physical injury,
35:22
Speaker 1: emotional injury, mental injury. And that's what's happening. So again,
35:27
Speaker 1: that's why say don't focus on the poses, because the
35:30
Speaker 1: poses are a result of your continued practice and dedication.
35:34
Speaker 1: Wow wow, wow, that was such a powerful explanation that
35:38
Speaker 1: helped me a lot. So I know, people listening, I
35:42
Speaker 1: hope y'all start this yoga journey with me too, you know,
35:45
Speaker 1: speaking about the issues being in the tissues are their
35:48
Speaker 1: specific spaces in our body where we are really kind
35:52
Speaker 1: of storing grief or storing emotions. And as part of
35:57
Speaker 1: you know, using yoga specifically for the spirit virtual healing
36:01
Speaker 1: UM and really for the ancestral healing, like being able
36:04
Speaker 1: to take up full space in your own body. How
36:07
Speaker 1: how do we begin to notice that in our practice
36:10
Speaker 1: and how do we free that? That's a really good question,
36:15
Speaker 1: and not being a scientist in the area, I will
36:18
Speaker 1: say energetically. I follow Louise Hay and her teachings UM
36:22
Speaker 1: You Can Heal Your Life, and it talks about different
36:25
Speaker 1: emotions and where they are stored. And I definitely highly
36:29
Speaker 1: suggest that book if someone is interested in knowing, like
36:32
Speaker 1: I'm feeling this, you know what, why why am I
36:35
Speaker 1: feeling this pain in my hip? And and it will
36:37
Speaker 1: show you, oh that that's regarding remorse for something, you know,
36:42
Speaker 1: And so that's actually what I use is almost a
36:44
Speaker 1: reference book to understand, Um, if I gotta ache in
36:48
Speaker 1: my back or if I'm getting this unexplained, you know, toothache,
36:52
Speaker 1: what is it? You know, it could be um connected emotionally,
36:55
Speaker 1: so I would say that, But I will also say
36:58
Speaker 1: when you think about you know, different issues, is almost
37:02
Speaker 1: like wait, you know, some people sort away in their stomach,
37:04
Speaker 1: some people in the backside, some people in the leg.
37:06
Speaker 1: So it's actually we can actually store different emotions in
37:09
Speaker 1: different places in our body. I believe that, and I
37:11
Speaker 1: also believe there is a correlation energetically, Um, I'm more
37:16
Speaker 1: so work with the chakra system and our spiritual energy centers.
37:21
Speaker 1: And you know, like you said at the beginning, like
37:23
Speaker 1: we want to feel safe as as black women, as
37:26
Speaker 1: women of color, we want to feel safe. So it's
37:28
Speaker 1: an important for us to ground down, to know who
37:31
Speaker 1: we are, to connect spiritually so we feel we feel safe. Um,
37:36
Speaker 1: to have a support system around us, and then you know,
37:39
Speaker 1: we go to the sake of the second chakra. It's
37:41
Speaker 1: important for us to express, to be able to speak,
37:43
Speaker 1: to be able to dance, be able to move, and
37:45
Speaker 1: so I kind of work with that energy system and
37:48
Speaker 1: I focus on on healing and alignment and increasing that energy,
37:53
Speaker 1: and then when it comes to releasing trauma, I focus
37:56
Speaker 1: on breath work to those specific areas is wherever you're
38:00
Speaker 1: feeling it um and then only if I'm life coaching
38:03
Speaker 1: with someone will I go deeper into really unpacking Okay,
38:07
Speaker 1: what is this issue bringing up? But in general, that's
38:10
Speaker 1: kind of how I move through. Like I teach big groups,
38:12
Speaker 1: so I'm more so focused on because that can really
38:14
Speaker 1: clear out a lot of the energy and all those
38:17
Speaker 1: little places, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, I love that. That.
38:21
Speaker 1: I mean, for me, one of the most powerful tools.
38:23
Speaker 1: I mean, we've been speaking to this the whole show,
38:25
Speaker 1: but really in the breath and then really allowing that
38:28
Speaker 1: embodiment to take place in our bodies. Because I think
38:30
Speaker 1: so many of us on this healing journey, it's really
38:33
Speaker 1: easy to get stuck in the heavy space, to get
38:36
Speaker 1: stuck in like the cerebral understanding of where the trauma is,
38:40
Speaker 1: you know, And a lot of people just stop there
38:43
Speaker 1: and say like, oh, yeah, I'm this way because this
38:45
Speaker 1: happened to me and when I was a kid, and
38:47
Speaker 1: then this and so yeah, I'm clear. I I know
38:50
Speaker 1: why I am the way that I am, you know,
38:52
Speaker 1: And it's like all right, cool. The cognitive side, like
38:54
Speaker 1: you have language for what you have experience, like you
38:57
Speaker 1: have introspection, but it has to get brought down and
39:01
Speaker 1: like through yoga practice, through breathwork, it really gives your
39:06
Speaker 1: body the opportunity to get in on that healing so
39:09
Speaker 1: that the wholeness occurs, like you're sending that breath and
39:12
Speaker 1: that energy to your cells, and from an energetic standpoint,
39:16
Speaker 1: it's like it's loosening and freeing the toxins and the trauma,
39:20
Speaker 1: and the trauma gets in all the fibers and all
39:23
Speaker 1: the spaces um. Sometimes people can find even that have
39:27
Speaker 1: had chronic pain in one area their whole lives, the
39:30
Speaker 1: second they heal the memory connected to it, even if
39:34
Speaker 1: the trauma had nothing to do with the injury. But
39:37
Speaker 1: the second you begin to clear energetically emotionally for yourself,
39:42
Speaker 1: you'll notice pain running from your body, like leaving it
39:46
Speaker 1: freely and quickly getting out of there. Absolutely. And so
39:51
Speaker 1: the way it works with the chakra system is like
39:54
Speaker 1: let's say we we focus on the throat chakra. For me,
39:56
Speaker 1: if I don't speak my truth. If I'm if I'm
39:58
Speaker 1: supposed to say something, and if I don't speak my truth,
40:01
Speaker 1: I will go hoarse, like I won't gonna be able
40:03
Speaker 1: to talk, and like you know, people like what's wrong
40:07
Speaker 1: with you? And then once I express myself, because usually
40:10
Speaker 1: if I don't express myself, it's out of fear of
40:13
Speaker 1: expressing myself, I'm gonna you know, someone's gonna be upset
40:16
Speaker 1: or it's gonna cause some type of conflict, you know.
40:18
Speaker 1: And this is like probably like you know, ten years
40:21
Speaker 1: ago when I was working on self expression and then
40:23
Speaker 1: once I realized, like, no, you just have to tell
40:26
Speaker 1: your truths here your truth no matter what. But I
40:28
Speaker 1: would notice how I would just sent you up in
40:30
Speaker 1: that way and then once I released it. So it
40:33
Speaker 1: is energetic and a lot of pain in our body
40:36
Speaker 1: that we are if we feel like we don't know,
40:37
Speaker 1: even gaining weight, you know, some people say, oh they're sad,
40:40
Speaker 1: so they gained a lot of weight. Well what is
40:42
Speaker 1: that about. That's about protection, that's about security. So if
40:45
Speaker 1: you're an abusive relationship, it's not just like I'm hungry,
40:48
Speaker 1: so I'm eating a lot. That is your body's way
40:51
Speaker 1: of protecting and if your body is is protecting in
40:55
Speaker 1: this way, and it's like, oh, well, I'm just going
40:58
Speaker 1: to you know, um, go lose weight. I just need
41:00
Speaker 1: to lose weight, not addressing the problem or the emotional
41:04
Speaker 1: you know thing that that is trigger to make you
41:06
Speaker 1: gain in first. Even when you lose that weight, you
41:09
Speaker 1: still might find and do something else like oh now
41:11
Speaker 1: I'm drinking. Why because you didn't provide a solution for
41:17
Speaker 1: the problem. You just found You just found out how
41:19
Speaker 1: to lose weight. But still that root cause, that that
41:23
Speaker 1: root pain is still there. And that's why again I
41:26
Speaker 1: love yoga because I can tell someone okay, for mental clarity,
41:30
Speaker 1: door four fold. Get blood flow to your head and
41:33
Speaker 1: that's gonna increase the energy the bluff flow to your head.
41:36
Speaker 1: But if I give you a practice, that's not only
41:39
Speaker 1: gonna give you mental clarity, but you're also going to
41:41
Speaker 1: be dealing with you know, grief that can sometimes to
41:44
Speaker 1: be in the hips, but it can also being around
41:47
Speaker 1: the heart. So hip openers and heart openers specifically, just
41:50
Speaker 1: to go back to your question around grief, you know,
41:52
Speaker 1: but some people might be carrying it in their shoulders.
41:54
Speaker 1: So when you develop a practice, you're actually hitting many
41:58
Speaker 1: different areas every single day. It's literally like taking a shower,
42:03
Speaker 1: but it's a spiritual shower. It's like you're saying, I'm
42:06
Speaker 1: gonna spiritually breathe into every part of my body from
42:10
Speaker 1: head to toe so I can spiritually cleanse myself and
42:14
Speaker 1: get my energy on point. And we want, if we're
42:17
Speaker 1: trying to do all this work in the world, we
42:19
Speaker 1: want to make sure that we're spiritually clean so that
42:22
Speaker 1: we can help others. But if we got all this
42:24
Speaker 1: baggage from other people, doesn't matter if we're helping them
42:26
Speaker 1: or not. It's still within us and we don't take
42:28
Speaker 1: that shower. Then what happens if someone's in the mud
42:31
Speaker 1: and you reach out your hand to help them, tell
42:33
Speaker 1: me your hand is not gonna be muddy. If they're
42:35
Speaker 1: full of mud. You want to pretend like, because you're
42:37
Speaker 1: a strong person, that you don't got mud on you.
42:40
Speaker 1: So you just kind of wipe it off, and because
42:41
Speaker 1: no one can see it you, you feel like it's gone.
42:44
Speaker 1: It's like I should stick in their head and they say, no,
42:46
Speaker 1: it's still there. It's on you. You have to take
42:49
Speaker 1: your spiritual shower, and that's why practice is so important.
42:52
Speaker 1: Come on, you better teach so perfectly set yes, yes, yes, yes,
43:03
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know if you notice this for yourself,
43:05
Speaker 1: but it sounds like you do. Um. It is like
43:10
Speaker 1: turning everything into that ritualized experience, like you said spiritual shower.
43:15
Speaker 1: And I think about the fact that every shower I take,
43:18
Speaker 1: I use as an opportunity to practice my spirituality, to
43:22
Speaker 1: to to stand in my mastery and clear energy and
43:26
Speaker 1: even down to like if I'm taking a shower, I'm
43:29
Speaker 1: visualizing that as the water flows down my body, So
43:32
Speaker 1: is any negative or stagnant energy, So is any grief,
43:35
Speaker 1: So is any anything that's been trapped in visualizing it
43:39
Speaker 1: going down the drain. So it's like making everything that
43:43
Speaker 1: opportunity that you just so beautifully expressed to heal us,
43:48
Speaker 1: to heal our bodies, to free us, like there's always
43:53
Speaker 1: a deeper place to go, there is always more that
43:56
Speaker 1: can be released. And it's like when we turn that
43:59
Speaker 1: daily practice is to show up for us, like having
44:02
Speaker 1: that robust daily practice that can include the yoga, the meditation,
44:05
Speaker 1: maybe the journal and the prayer, but then also every
44:09
Speaker 1: single moment of the day is an opportunity to deepen,
44:14
Speaker 1: to become more to release in every single thing we do.
44:19
Speaker 1: Absolutely everything is sacred if we if we create this
44:22
Speaker 1: sacred space, this conversation is sacred. My meal, my breakfast
44:26
Speaker 1: was sacred, my everything, And and we have the opportunity
44:30
Speaker 1: of people like, oh that's that's a bit much. Absolutely,
44:33
Speaker 1: But also we go around, um just frustrated about so
44:37
Speaker 1: many things all day long, So we can choose sacred
44:40
Speaker 1: time just as much as we choose those other times
44:42
Speaker 1: with no judgment on either. But it's like, if we
44:45
Speaker 1: can see if we can normalize being angry all the time,
44:49
Speaker 1: then we can normalize being sacred all the time. Or
44:51
Speaker 1: we can just find a healthy balance, you know, everything
44:56
Speaker 1: is sacred. At the top of the show, I right
44:58
Speaker 1: before I welcomed you on to actually told a story
45:01
Speaker 1: about how this morning I made breakfast tacos sacred for
45:05
Speaker 1: me and it was a really delicious, nourishing, fulfilling experience.
45:11
Speaker 1: Breakfast wins. I had a breakfast burrito. Did you when
45:16
Speaker 1: I tell you? It brought me so much joy this
45:18
Speaker 1: morning making my little taco And I was like, oh,
45:20
Speaker 1: and I like even before I took the bite, I
45:22
Speaker 1: was like, I am so grateful for this moment I
45:26
Speaker 1: feel you. I have potatoes, and I don't eat potatoes
45:28
Speaker 1: all the time, and I had these yummy red potatoes
45:30
Speaker 1: and I was like, man, I haven't felt this full
45:32
Speaker 1: in a long time. I appreciate these potatoes. And I'm
45:35
Speaker 1: literally thinking the potatoes because I'm like, well, I've been
45:39
Speaker 1: missing out on potatoes. I mean, I eat French fries,
45:42
Speaker 1: but not like, you know, the actual like potatoes of
45:44
Speaker 1: the skin. Yes see. And so everyone, this is what
45:48
Speaker 1: we mean. You know, when we talk about how really
45:52
Speaker 1: effortless the healing can be and how joyful the healing
45:56
Speaker 1: can be, it is not the grand stuff. It is
45:59
Speaker 1: not know, the shopping spree that made you feel better
46:02
Speaker 1: for that instant. It is not the you know, it
46:05
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be these big ground, grand gestures and
46:08
Speaker 1: these comparative accomplishments. It's really like, you know you are healed.
46:14
Speaker 1: You know you have remembrance of your wholeness when there
46:18
Speaker 1: is joy in the potato, when there's joy in the taco,
46:24
Speaker 1: when there is gratitude in all of the moments that
46:28
Speaker 1: we thought we had to speed through because they were
46:31
Speaker 1: just things for like our maintenance or to just keep going,
46:34
Speaker 1: you know, and when we can sink and anchor into
46:37
Speaker 1: those moments oh my god, nothing. And also you know
46:42
Speaker 1: there's joy in the pain. I mean, because yesterday I
46:45
Speaker 1: cried so many tears. Um. I I was with my
46:49
Speaker 1: therapist because I'm really really champing therapy, especially for black
46:54
Speaker 1: women and women of color right now, and she was like,
46:57
Speaker 1: I don't know how you got all through all the
46:59
Speaker 1: things you've that. I think. I think it's just as
47:01
Speaker 1: a humor because that one minute, I'm letting it out.
47:04
Speaker 1: And there's there's something sacred about being able to cry.
47:07
Speaker 1: I remember I went for two years without crying because
47:09
Speaker 1: I felt like I had to be strong and I
47:11
Speaker 1: had to get through it and I had to, you know,
47:13
Speaker 1: be be this stronger than strong superwoman. And I had
47:18
Speaker 1: to learn to allow myself to cry. And now I say,
47:20
Speaker 1: tears are pain leaving the body. Um, and even having breakfast.
47:25
Speaker 1: I cried yesterday and having breakfast, I had a friend
47:28
Speaker 1: that cried and I was like, girl, yeah, she was like,
47:29
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. So I don't ever apologize for your tears.
47:31
Speaker 1: Cry let it out and I just tell space. And
47:34
Speaker 1: and there's something sacred about being it because we don't
47:38
Speaker 1: want to keep those emotions in you want to cry
47:41
Speaker 1: in your yoga practice, cry at breakfast, cry with your therapist,
47:44
Speaker 1: then laugh. I mean, I just you know, and it's
47:47
Speaker 1: it's all, it's all part of the healing process. It's
47:50
Speaker 1: all part of being human. And I feel like sometimes
47:55
Speaker 1: we we kind of when we do. And it's good
47:57
Speaker 1: to champion those good times. But I want to start
47:58
Speaker 1: champion the pain. Oh you had some anger, you have
48:02
Speaker 1: some rage? Yeah, how did it feel to let that out?
48:06
Speaker 1: Where did it come from? What what triggered that? And
48:08
Speaker 1: then we really dive down those like good good like yeah,
48:11
Speaker 1: let's talk about the instead of shaming um people for
48:14
Speaker 1: that that that the tears and the pain and the
48:17
Speaker 1: anger and the rage, Like I tell people how did
48:19
Speaker 1: that feel now? And then go down to like, Okay,
48:22
Speaker 1: where is it coming from. It's just like we were
48:23
Speaker 1: talking about before about like, you know, really understanding the
48:27
Speaker 1: root cause and not just trying to stuff the symptoms,
48:30
Speaker 1: because the symptoms fear is our best friends. Sadness, anger,
48:34
Speaker 1: those are our friends, and we have to tell them,
48:38
Speaker 1: thank you, what do you trying to tell me? We
48:40
Speaker 1: have to talk to that fear, talk to that sadness,
48:43
Speaker 1: talk to those tears and say what are you showing me?
48:44
Speaker 1: Where am I hurting? And so I also want to
48:47
Speaker 1: champion the pain. Thank you for speaking to that. You know,
48:51
Speaker 1: for me, shadow work has been the greatest teacher. And
48:55
Speaker 1: the way that I do wellness is in the shadows,
48:57
Speaker 1: you know. I And it might I don't know. I
49:00
Speaker 1: don't know if maybe it feels depressing. It doesn't feel
49:03
Speaker 1: depressing to me. But like you know, the majority of
49:06
Speaker 1: my captions on Instagram or the way that I share,
49:08
Speaker 1: it's really about how can you utilize your pain and
49:13
Speaker 1: allow joy to heal you, you know, And that's the
49:16
Speaker 1: piece that people don't talk about enough. This journey is
49:19
Speaker 1: one like the poet room, he says, you know, where
49:23
Speaker 1: allow your darkness to be your candle, you know, allow
49:27
Speaker 1: that dark place to be the light in your life
49:29
Speaker 1: that guides you forward into something else you can pass
49:32
Speaker 1: through it. I love that you spoke to that um
49:36
Speaker 1: and crying, and I think, especially you know, as black women,
49:39
Speaker 1: that is the piece that I think was always off
49:44
Speaker 1: limits generationally ancestry, that's the piece always off limits. And
49:48
Speaker 1: so when we start to explore why is that, well,
49:51
Speaker 1: why is that When it comes down to the root
49:54
Speaker 1: like the fundamental original seed. It really goes back to
49:58
Speaker 1: the plantation. System of life is profoundly painful physically and
50:04
Speaker 1: in every way, and there is no way to get
50:06
Speaker 1: away from it. And so you don't cry because no
50:10
Speaker 1: one cares and no one will help you, and it's
50:13
Speaker 1: not going to change. So that is the first time
50:16
Speaker 1: we taught ourselves to not give ourselves a dignity of
50:20
Speaker 1: our process and to not have emotions. It's not because
50:23
Speaker 1: we don't have them. It's not because we don't wish
50:25
Speaker 1: to express them, but it's because systems in place robbed
50:29
Speaker 1: us of that ability, and we adapted. But there is
50:32
Speaker 1: moment and time, in this moment in time to be
50:36
Speaker 1: able to to be radically different, you know, like part
50:42
Speaker 1: of changing this world, part of being able to destroy
50:45
Speaker 1: these systems, also means gifting ourselves with access to emotion
50:49
Speaker 1: in a way we never have before, in a way
50:52
Speaker 1: that we weren't taught. And so we're figuring it out,
50:55
Speaker 1: you know, like tears that should be a part of
50:57
Speaker 1: your spiritual routine. There is no shame in it. You
51:01
Speaker 1: are releasing your body needs to release. Let it. I
51:05
Speaker 1: cried for four hours, uh A couple of months ago
51:09
Speaker 1: I had like this. I hadn't cried in a while.
51:11
Speaker 1: I cry a lot of joy tears, Like I probably
51:13
Speaker 1: get teary eyed every every time I feel like I'm
51:16
Speaker 1: in purpose and on purpose. My eyes missed up. Not
51:20
Speaker 1: a full boohoo, but like I feel it in my
51:22
Speaker 1: heart and then, um, you know, I I probably tear
51:27
Speaker 1: up once a day in gratitude. I've been kind of
51:30
Speaker 1: in awe of God um so so much during this pandemic.
51:35
Speaker 1: But I had a few months ago, Um, I had
51:37
Speaker 1: kind of reached my breaking point with the pandemic, and
51:40
Speaker 1: I was just tired. I was so tired and so
51:43
Speaker 1: busy and exhausted, and so many things were happening. And
51:47
Speaker 1: I remember I was putting my son to bed and
51:49
Speaker 1: I felt it, you know, that feeling where you know
51:52
Speaker 1: you just really want to let go. And I said, oh,
51:55
Speaker 1: she needs to cry. I was like, all right, dev
51:59
Speaker 1: let's get the baby. Um, I'm gonna I'm gonna take
52:01
Speaker 1: you back to your room and I'm gonna give you
52:03
Speaker 1: that opportunity. So I was like, all right, let's just
52:05
Speaker 1: get through it and gift yourself, give your gift yourself
52:09
Speaker 1: some luxurious tears today. And I went into my room
52:12
Speaker 1: and I started crying and I just sat there. I
52:14
Speaker 1: put on some some frequency music. I just sat there
52:17
Speaker 1: and I cried, And after an hour, I was like,
52:21
Speaker 1: are you dune girl? I was like, no, she ain't done. Okay,
52:24
Speaker 1: let's go, and I just let myself cry until I stopped.
52:28
Speaker 1: But you know what, when I finished, I felt so pure,
52:32
Speaker 1: I felt so relieved. I had a spaciousness in my spirit.
52:37
Speaker 1: I had an expansiveness in my heart. And then I
52:41
Speaker 1: kept going and I had a beautiful night's sleep and
52:43
Speaker 1: I had a great day the next day. But I
52:45
Speaker 1: say that to say, you know, they these are mechanisms
52:48
Speaker 1: of how we're meant to operate. Just like you have
52:51
Speaker 1: to get food out of your system through your digestive track,
52:55
Speaker 1: we need to get grief, we need to get fear,
52:57
Speaker 1: we need to get shame out of our system. With tears. Yeah,
53:02
Speaker 1: it's it's so important, and especially as strong ones, it's
53:05
Speaker 1: like if the tears can't come up, they'll sneak in
53:07
Speaker 1: even through joy. Like you said, it's like, okay, we're
53:09
Speaker 1: gonna have to get out through her joy because you
53:11
Speaker 1: just refused to me for our crying session that we
53:15
Speaker 1: need so we'll just come about any time to type away.
53:18
Speaker 1: But it is so important and for people who have
53:21
Speaker 1: a hard time crying, UM, I encourage them to journal.
53:25
Speaker 1: And when they journal, journal about both sides of duality.
53:29
Speaker 1: I talk a lot about duality and my training and
53:31
Speaker 1: the fact that for every good thing that you write down,
53:35
Speaker 1: also write down some things that are not so great.
53:38
Speaker 1: So some people it's on both sides. Some people always
53:40
Speaker 1: talk about the negative and no positive, and some people
53:43
Speaker 1: all the ways talk about the positive and no negative.
53:45
Speaker 1: So both on both sides. I say, Okay, if you're
53:48
Speaker 1: always a positive person, talk about some things that not
53:51
Speaker 1: so positive, talk about some things you would like to
53:53
Speaker 1: see change in your life and the people you interact
53:56
Speaker 1: with and in the world. If you're in person that's
53:59
Speaker 1: always on the news and literally every hour of the
54:02
Speaker 1: days spent there, talk about some things that are going
54:05
Speaker 1: right in your life, in your circle and in in
54:08
Speaker 1: the world. So I believe. What I believe is that
54:11
Speaker 1: just like night and day, we are we are. We
54:14
Speaker 1: we have this duality that we have to respect. It
54:18
Speaker 1: is it is like living in harmony with nature, and
54:21
Speaker 1: we sometimes we choose to be on the dark, you know,
54:25
Speaker 1: just you know, living in the dark side, which is
54:27
Speaker 1: that's a choice. It's just a choice, no right or wrong,
54:29
Speaker 1: that's a choice. And then sometimes we live in the
54:32
Speaker 1: light and on both sides. I feel like it's important
54:36
Speaker 1: to see and acknowledge the other side, no matter you
54:38
Speaker 1: can decide. You know, some people are night people, some
54:41
Speaker 1: people are day people. Your experience, you know, wherever you
54:44
Speaker 1: decide to to rest and reside, that's going to create
54:47
Speaker 1: your reality. But knowing and being aware of the darkness,
54:52
Speaker 1: the shadow, the fear, like that's important, and also being
54:56
Speaker 1: able to notice that joy, happy as success, that's all
55:02
Speaker 1: your birthright to, it's all available. Dark is available at
55:05
Speaker 1: all times, available at all time you choose, and sometimes
55:09
Speaker 1: you need to use the dark and the light to
55:11
Speaker 1: move through your experience as a human being. And so
55:16
Speaker 1: I really champion really being connected to both and we
55:21
Speaker 1: and that's where it goes back to the breath. The
55:23
Speaker 1: way I got here is through spirits showing me, not
55:27
Speaker 1: just what people were telling me. And so if I
55:30
Speaker 1: never allowed myself to connect with spirit, I would have
55:32
Speaker 1: went down a path of like, Okay, whatever people tell me.
55:35
Speaker 1: But when I'm able to feel, I'm like, like, why
55:38
Speaker 1: did it feel so good when I cried why did
55:41
Speaker 1: it feel so good when I wrote down how I feel? So?
55:44
Speaker 1: When you allow duality to happen in your life without
55:47
Speaker 1: judging it, but just seeing it, acknowledging it, you're able
55:52
Speaker 1: to align again with spirit, with your truth. I love it. Yes, yes,
56:00
Speaker 1: all of it. Let me open my menu? What is
56:04
Speaker 1: available today? What do I want to order today? Yes?
56:09
Speaker 1: And just journaling, like I highly highly suggest journaling. And
56:13
Speaker 1: it could be if you don't have a journal, it
56:15
Speaker 1: could be on your phone voice not now you're feeling, yeah,
56:20
Speaker 1: getting them out, expressing them in some way, and your
56:24
Speaker 1: dark feelings just as much as a life feelings. So
56:26
Speaker 1: you know, I do the gratitude list and that's great,
56:29
Speaker 1: but I also do these are some places I can grow,
56:32
Speaker 1: you know. And I have a petter where I put
56:34
Speaker 1: these are my growth opportunities, you know, because I don't
56:37
Speaker 1: want to just be like, oh, I'm the best thing
56:39
Speaker 1: to slicepread. You know, you get on get loved up tip. Okay,
56:43
Speaker 1: let me tell you about like the anxiety attack I
56:46
Speaker 1: had two weeks ago. Let me tell you about the
56:49
Speaker 1: stress that comes with trying to maintain a platform or
56:53
Speaker 1: trying to have a team of over fifteen people. Let
56:57
Speaker 1: me tell you about some of that stress, and I
56:59
Speaker 1: unlike you, don't post about enough. I talk about it
57:01
Speaker 1: within my circles and my group. But because the whole
57:05
Speaker 1: social media has been a very interesting and journey for me,
57:09
Speaker 1: like I'm learning how to express it, but I think
57:12
Speaker 1: I still have layers of fear of experiencing attack through
57:17
Speaker 1: social media, and as a sensitive soul that I'm still
57:20
Speaker 1: dealing with layers of pain when it comes to social media.
57:24
Speaker 1: So I don't feel safe fully expressing the things that
57:27
Speaker 1: I can express just talking to someone on a podcast
57:30
Speaker 1: or just talking like in my at my yoga retreats
57:33
Speaker 1: or my yoga teacher trainings. But I'm doing it more
57:36
Speaker 1: now than I did before. But you know, this sacred
57:39
Speaker 1: space that I started just to hold myself accountable, then
57:42
Speaker 1: turned into a business, then turned into I'm influence, and
57:45
Speaker 1: then turned in I was like quite so it had
57:48
Speaker 1: these things happen and people don't really see because people
57:51
Speaker 1: joined at different times and they don't necessarily see the
57:54
Speaker 1: whole journey. But it's definitely been very deep for me.
57:58
Speaker 1: But I do think being able to show the light
58:00
Speaker 1: and the dark is important so powerful. Thank you for
58:03
Speaker 1: sharing that so so powerful, Koya, I have loved having
58:07
Speaker 1: you on. This show is up already. I was just
58:11
Speaker 1: gonna start it. I know. I'm like, this has been
58:13
Speaker 1: we gotta kick it. We're gonna meet up at the beach. Yeah,
58:17
Speaker 1: we have to have way more conversations like this. You
58:20
Speaker 1: are just um, You're powerful, You're amazing. I'm grateful you exist,
58:24
Speaker 1: and I thank you for sharing all of yourself, all
58:28
Speaker 1: of yourself with everyone and inspiring new methods of healing,
58:32
Speaker 1: new ways of connecting to God. It gives such a
58:36
Speaker 1: beautiful permission to everyone that gazes on you. Thank you
58:41
Speaker 1: so much. Thank you for so much for having me
58:43
Speaker 1: on your podcast. Thank you for dropping them them so
58:46
Speaker 1: often and just giving all of yourself and creating a
58:49
Speaker 1: safe container for us to to breathe. I received. Thank you.
58:54
Speaker 1: Tell everybody your instagram is Koya Web. Tell everybody um
58:58
Speaker 1: how they can find you and connect this beautiful work.
59:01
Speaker 1: Thank you. You can find me at kya web dot
59:03
Speaker 1: com or my company get loved Up dot com. And
59:07
Speaker 1: I also have a book let, Your Fears Make You
59:09
Speaker 1: Fears how to turn common obstacles into seeds for growth.
59:12
Speaker 1: And that's just like a tool that I share to
59:14
Speaker 1: help share some of the tools that have helped me
59:17
Speaker 1: navigate life. Amazing, Coya, thank you so much, thank you,
59:22
Speaker 1: thank you for having me. Hey find me on social
59:27
Speaker 1: Let's connect at Debbie Brown. That's Twitter and Instagram, or
59:31
Speaker 1: go to my website Debbie Brown dot com. And if
59:34
Speaker 1: you're listening to the show on Apple Podcasts, please please
59:38
Speaker 1: please don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe and send
59:44
Speaker 1: this episode to a friend. Dropping Jims is the production
59:47
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and The Black Effect Network. It's
59:50
Speaker 1: produced by Triple and Me Debbie Brown. For more podcasts
59:54
Speaker 1: from My heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
59:57
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.