[Transcript starts at 1:27]
Hello, friends. Maestro here and welcome back to another episode of Maestro on the Mic. The mic switched it up for you today. Today we have a guest with us and I am incredibly honored and stoked to have her here with me.
A little bit out of the traditional approach perhaps. And that is specifically why I brought her on. She is a wellness coach. And if I read this directly from. Her bio on her website says for more than 10 years, I've helped women discover a healthier and more fulfilling life by exercising, eating, and living in sync with their natural rhythms.
Now, if that sounds a little bit woo, amazing. I want it to, I hope it does. Cause I want us to take a step back, take a step outward and start looking at, like my intro says, the bigger. Picture. I brought her in to speak with my mafia. She blew my mind talking about spirality. If you follow me on Instagram, you know, when I was in that spirality kick and I'm still there and seasonality.
I'm going to kind of theme this episode. Here we go again. I will now pass it over to her, let her give her, her, give you her whole background without further ado. Welcome to the show. My friend. Here we go again. Here we are
again. Yes. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. And, uh, even though I've never been on the show, this conversation has been had for generations.
And that's the good news. You know, we think we're reinventing something, but really these are the same, uh, questions, concerns, excitements, and, and things that. Humans have been dealing with forever. And what's great is that we get to have this conversation now we get to have it together and we get to share it with each other.
And my hope is that it's interesting.
Dude, I love the reframe that you throw on every time, like, and that's the good news, because when we typically think about. Here we are again. There's just such a, even a negative way of saying it. It's like a negative energy. You're like, here we are again, here we go again.
And then here comes Emily and she's all, wait, that's the good news. I love it. I love it. Before we jump into that, can you paint us a little picture? Give us a little background, who you are, what you do, let the people know. Yeah. I'm going to interrupt because I don't think personally that your bio, your website really.
encompasses all that you are and all that you do. So I want to hear, I want to hear it all. I want to hear where, you know, where this interest started, your background, what things are like right now. I want to hear it all. Cause there's so much there. Of
course. So I'm a, a woman, white. Uh, identifying, living in New England in, uh, just outside of Boston, Massachusetts.
I have Swiss blood in me. My mom is born in Switzerland. So, I love the cold. I know we've talked about that before. Um, And I like all four seasons. I've lived in Mexico city before where I had two seasons every year. And quite frankly, I missed having all four seasons. Now, regardless of where you live, I know you've chosen to move away from the Northeast, good for you, but there is a seasonality.
To your year, to your years, you know, to your life and even to the day, you know, we could even break down the day and consider it like a whole year. Um, and some traditions do like, uh, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, but we can get into those in a second. So I come from a movement background.
I am a trained, uh, yoga teacher. I used to run a yoga studio. and mortar until Rona decided that that was no longer a good plan. And frankly, I'm really excited to be launching into now several years into this new phase of my life, coaching people on yoga. Yes. And meditation, but. With this view of this holistic, more, uh, wide view, as you said, the bigger picture of how seasonality can really be an ally if you intentionally engage with life in this way, um, And I recommend you intentionally engage with life no matter what it is.
But if you intentionally engage in the piece of seasonality that it can really help people, especially women, where it's much more clear that we have cycles, right? Um, to manage stress, to feel a little bit more at ease with the ups and downs and then transitions and all the change, because the only thing that we know for sure is change.
Um, and That's okay. That's actually the good news because we're not people seem to fear change Because they think it's constantly new when really my thing is, you know, there's a, instead of having life sort of visually look like a cycle where we're like, okay, you know, we mentioned at the beginning, here we are again, here we are again, but there's a slightly different flavor.
Here we are having this conversation that probably generations before us. people have had or at a campfire, but with a slightly different flavor, a slightly different context, with slightly different perspectives, and it's those new perspectives that feel like so much change or so much newness when really I like to focus on, okay, what's similar about this?
What can I learn from having been here before, or what I know what this was like for me before, or from others who have been here before and then take that into consideration with how I take care of myself, how I show up. And, um, mostly that for me, we're, that conversation revolves around self care, both in the movement side of things, but also, um, things like meditation and rest and how you would nourish yourself with food and other practices.
Um, so, um, I have a strong background in yoga, yes, but I also pull from traditional Chinese medicine and, uh, a practice called Ayurveda, which sounds funny to say, Ayurveda, but it's, uh, it's basically the, the bigger umbrella under which Yoga, the physical practice of yoga lives, and it's older than yoga and has been around for thousands of years, much like our human form has, and so not a lot's changed, right?
Our digestive systems have not evolved, mostly in the thousands of years that humans have been around. And again, this is the good news. Like, how can we apply this Wisdom of nature and the natural cycles and tune in really, it's not necessarily discovering something new. It's just tuning into these spirals or cycles and being able to sort of Make decisions to time things in a way that feels like it's going with the natural You know flow of energy as opposed to against it And so that's what I do with my clients.
That's what I do with my one on one clients I also have an online subscription where we have resources and classes and live events and things like that But mostly I just love sharing all of this because it's what we're doing anyway You know, so how can you and I and others step into it a little bit more intentionally and get even more out of that?
Love
this. I love this seasonality as an ally, the intentionality that you engage with life. I love all of these reframes and these little, you know, nuggets that you add onto there. Can you tell me, Emily, like. Why? Where did this come from? Is this, this is just you, this interest? Was there something that spurred this?
So
for me and for most yoga professionals, they come to learn about Ayurveda during their yoga teacher training in some way, shape or form. And unfortunately it's that way around instead of the other way around, which would be to really understand Ayurveda. Ayurveda translates as the science of life. And so it really encompasses.
which makes it really hard to study because it's a lifelong endeavor for those who choose to really get into the nitty gritty of it. And it's also relevant to everyone because there's no one size fits all situation. And we can learn from the fact that humans have not evolved that much over the thousands of years that we've been alive.
So for the most part, as I mentioned, our digestive systems, you know, do roughly the same thing, you know, with minor variations from person to person, but like the traditional Chinese medical, uh, tradition that gave us acupuncture, you know, Ayurvedic healing has been around for so long. And so it really looks at nature and having us and the idea that we are part of nature.
So instead of feeling very separate from it, we can learn from it and we can make decisions on our health and on our anything that we decide really based on What's going on outside. For example, as we're doing this live, there's a big snowstorm coming our way, which makes me super excited now getting ready to go swimming outside, you know, in a bikini in the middle of a snowstorm may not be the right choice for most people, right?
You know, this is something that we naturally are not used to. going to be doing. Instead, we're getting warm clothes. People are getting, you know, supplies and things like that so that they can feel prepared and nourished and warm. Um, and so you're already practicing seasonal living, whether you really know it or not.
My thing is, Can you, and when you do, intentionally sort of use this information of like, okay, it's going to snow tomorrow. What does that mean? Well, it means the heat's going to be on all day, which means I'm going to dry out the dry, hot air. It is. Honestly, like the worst part of winter for me and for many people.
Yeah. Right. And it's what keeps us warm. So we need that but then how do you mitigate some of the sort of negative effects of that environment? That's sitting in the dry heat while it's freezing cold outside and that's where Ayurveda really informs a lot of those self care practices like Putting a little drop of oil inside your nostrils so that they don't dry out.
Oiling the body. Self massage with warm oil. And these are things that we Think like might sound weird, but you're kind of doing them Anyway, once a month, you might get a massage and then what are we gonna use? Warm oil You know, they're not so far away from some of the things that people are used to doing today And so what I try to do is help people connect the dots So that they can make those decisions for themselves and know like, okay This is what's happening with me.
This is what's happening in my environment. How do I help create a little bit more balance so that I feel more myself when I move through the world and through my day?
I love that, that, that, uh, connecting the dots and holding the mirror and helping people identify the things that they're already doing.
I, as soon as you said, but not as soon as, but before, when you said about being part of nature, the thing that popped into my head immediately was. Avatar, right? I love that movie. And I was talking to a friend who I saw the movie with years ago. I, that movie came out a bazillion years ago. I'm old, but when I saw that movie and at that time where I was the season of my life, I was really just enamored by this, the effects and the colors and like the story, whereas the person I saw with, she got and understood like this connected nature of things and being part of nature.
Like part of me. And like, that's why, you know, you have that kind of visceral reaction when they go and they cut down the big tree. I'm sorry if I'm ruining it for anyone, but like the movie is really old. So if you haven't seen it, I'm sorry, but like the big tree falls and you're just like, you feel something.
And if I'm, if I was to watch it again today, I definitely know that it would hit in a different way in terms of just like really feeling that we are part of nature. And I think that Rona has for many people. You know, I opened their eyes to that. And I love that you brought that up there. And you're tying that in with the fact that we already know this and the fact that we're already doing these things.
And now you as a, as the coach. The, you know, the sidekick. You can show people that and be like, Hey, you're already doing this. Your body knows what to do. Your body knows what it needs. I love you gave us a tangible example of, you know, the dry, hot air, such a good, you know, depiction there. You guys like get that feeling of like, Oh, I'm like turning into the crib keeper over here.
What do I need? Can we talk a bit more about that? Just, and maybe you can get a little bit strategic or tactical. Maybe that's a better word. Uh, can we talk about this in the mafia call as well, but just, you know, the things you eat in certain seasons, like I'm not trying to have a salad in wintertime.
Maybe if I put it in the microwave and heat it up, but you know, there's just things inherently that I'm like, nope, I don't want that. My body's craving this. Can you perhaps talk a little bit about the things that you recommend, the things that you see, the things that you personally do, uh, you know, as the seasons are changing?
Yeah. I mean, really it depends on where you live, right? So those of our friends in the mafia and elsewhere who are down under right now and experiencing the heat of the summer, like they're, they're, They're growing tomatoes. They're having a grand old time. The rest of us over here in the Northeast, you know, there's nothing growing.
And so that doesn't mean that there's nothing that's seasonal to eat. My biggest advice to people is if they can, is to get a farm share or a CSA or visit your local farmer's market and whatever is there is most likely to be in season and it's going to be local and, you know, fresh. And all of those things together are going to have a bigger impact on your ability to use the, you know, fuel and the nutrients and nourish yourself in a way that feels good.
So that's the easiest way. And frankly, I, I tell people that seasonal living simplifies your, your, your Lifestyle choices because you don't have to think of like, okay, what am I going to cook tonight? It's like well rutabaga showed up in my winter farm share yesterday. What am I going to do with that?
Well Little look it up on the internet and figure that out, you know That's that's the beauty of I think a farm share Never mind all the wonderful benefits to the farmer and keeping that ecosystem going you know, if you look at what is actually growing and this is harder nowadays because we can grow almost anything anywhere.
I will never forget. I went to Iceland and they were like, yeah, the pineapple you're eating. When I went to Iceland a few years ago, I led a yoga retreat there and I was eating pineapple. And they, I said, this weird, because you said you were a local Restaurant like you only sourced from local sources and they were like, yeah.
Well, we have all this volcanic heat that we use to run through a lot of our, uh, greenhouses. And so we have local pineapples in Iceland and I'm just mind blowing, mind blowing, needless to say, the point of all that was, you know, if you look around at what's been going on. Really in season and eat mostly that nature gives us what we need.
So for
example now, it's winter time what's available here in the northeast is a lot of root vegetables Which frankly is perfect for that. Remember that dry heat I was talking about and also that cold dry air in the snow That is that is the alternative right? Those are the two both of them are dry and miserable What helps When you're feeling dry, what helps?
Something that's not dry. I want a hot stew and oil and heat.
Yeah. Something warm and heavy, right? When you're dry, you're going to like fly away. And this is what happens really. This is what happens in Ayurveda. We call it Vata Dosha, which is this energy of air and ether, which is very high frequency and moves a lot.
Talks really fast. personified and, and it's like, not very connected to the earth. So root vegetables that are grown quite literally underneath the earth can be very nourishing and help us feel both heavier, not in a, not in a negative way, but just in a, in a way that we're feeling nourished and, and satisfied, but also give us the nour, Nourishment we need, you know, we tend to eat heavier stews and things like that in our time.
This is something we're naturally doing so incorporating more of those foods and less iceberg lettuce, which is not going to feel nourishing
and
probably not something you're
craving. I don't want
that.
Anyway, Give me that and I'm like ma'am. I don't want that
Liver mondays at chante's house is where it's at in the winter time.
It's a heavier food, right? It's gonna be grounded Yeah. That is it. So then when we get to the spring, you know, what does spring feel like for most people?
Uh, for me, it's kind of waking up. It's, uh, things are warming up. We have like a kind of emergence. Things are growing. Things are blossoming. That's, that's my personal experience.
Yeah. And if you live in a place where things are melting, the initial part of spring is still pretty cold and wet, right? We think of rain and, and the weather being different and maybe nicer for a minute and yes, there's maybe more sunshine, but it is still wet and like a classic spring day for me is like mud.
So the opposite of mud, is that dry? Hot air that we were just talking about, right? So when I talk to people, something as simple as like, if you're feeling very like heavy, especially in the springtime or congested, which can happen allergy season in the spring in particular, blow dry your head.
Huh? Yeah, look at that.
You know, people think of netty, which is water and, and, uh, and it's warm. Yes. And it can be useful, but it can also give you as bad as infection because you're, it's wet and you're already wet. Right. So blow dry your head and that can help feel a little bit lighter, feel a little bit less congested. If that's something you're dealing with.
And these are the, principles of opposites that we apply using, um, the laws of Ayurveda, if you will. And then in the summer, you know, in the summertime, hot yoga might not really be that great, right? So swimming, other things where you're quite literally dunking yourself in cool water or being a little bit more fluid about your day and your routines is really a nice way to balance this like intensity that is characteristic of that time of year.
Oh, good. But let's go back to spring for a second because I know you have a lot of movement professionals in your audience. Yes. And I want to talk about it right now. We're in January. Happy belated birthday, by the way. Mine's, mine's next week. I was like, yours is coming. Yeah. Happy birthday. I'm in good company.
Um, but one of the things that I think is really counter to this idea of going with the flow of the natural rhythm of the seasons is the January 1st push for everybody to start a new program. And because a lot of us movement professionals are also in business for ourselves, perhaps we're also trying to, or we think we're trying to garner some of that.
possibility of, um, financial gain and otherwise to, to get behind something like that. And so many times, and even when I had a brick and mortar for the last few years, I was noticing that the January boom, wasn't really so boomy. Anyway, and really the time that you were describing of things blossoming and feeling a little brighter in the spring is when people are really ready to start a new program.
And this is also evident in the astrological seasons. If we look at each month of the year, like right now, we're in Capricorn season, which is perfect. Two Capricorns having a conversation in Capricorn season. You know, Aries is It's the first sign of spring when we get spring equinox and the ram is ready to bust out.
It's like the baby born again. And that's the time when people are ready to like really start fresh with something new and maybe get behind a new, uh, physical activity program or, you know, some other kind of health and wellness routine. So one of the things I do is I focus my. Uh, mind body reset program that I do in the fall as well, but especially in the spring, specifically because that's when people feel like they need a little reset after the heaviness of winter and maybe being not as active as they would like to be.
Gosh, this is so good. And I'm probably going to circle back to this so we can kind of dive a little bit deeper, but I love that You're bringing in rather the business side of things as well. I, I honestly, like intuition, it's there, right? People know, I really believe when they look at their businesses and the people that I coach and work with, they know that like.
This time of the year doesn't necessarily do as well as others. And we can also look at, you know, very, you know, uh, social factors, right? School starting, things like that, whatever. And then that plays into it, but paying attention to the seasonality of things. And I love, love, love, love, love. First of all, this book.
image of this, like baby Ram didn't know that. But now that's like forever in my head, like big ribs, like busting out. Now's the time that people, and the word that you use are ready to do it. That is huge. Like, yes, if you have good marketing, if you will, if you have good copy and compelling copy, you may be able to get people in.
But for me, I know that Emily's the same. I want people in that are ready. And that I want to work with this, you know, with you to make these changes, to, to incorporate whatever it is into their life, not because I was really savvy and like, I hit really heavily on a pain point and kind of coerced them or they had that, like, you know, that, that desperation or that urgency.
So when you get people that are actually ready and they want it and then they join, dude, that's when the magic, the magic happens, like that is, I think people, you know, they, they kind of inherently. They inherently know that. Do you, have you seen, or do you, cause I want to tie it into the movement stuff as well, since you do that.
We talked a little bit about, uh, food and that just makes sense. That's a lot, there's laws of opposites and things like that. Uh, but with movement. Are we changing, are you changing the things that people are typically doing? Like in the winter, are we doing more like flexion patterns? Let's see if I might go very generalized there.
And like in spring and to summer, we're looking more extension and opening things up, does that play in at all?
Um, yes and no. I, I, I like to think of it more in terms of, again, applying that law of opposites. So if, for example, in the wintertime, we talked about that dryness, Whether it's dry because you're in the heat or the dry because you're outside in the cold But winter and fall too is really the season of very dry, cool, you know, crunchy, like the skin starts to get a little dry and, and you can counter that with the food like we were just talking about, but you can also change some things about your, um, movement.
exercise programs that can also give you more of that more heavy, sturdy, grounded, solid energy. And so for people to start like a lifting regimen instead of a running regimen, like right now, especially the day before a snowstorm is not the day to start marathon training. And it sucks because the Boston Marathon is always in April.
These poor people are running on treadmills and doors, you know, for like months. I'm not one of them, but you know, running is like a classic spring activity because it's very springy. By literally you're bouncing your feet against the floor, and when you think about it, that's a very counter Balance to the heaviness of like the wet mud spring like energy that is in the environment, right?
So pounding the pavement in the spring is a great antidote Whereas maybe now you actually want to go for a hike with a pack on something heavier, you know I think of like Or, or maybe it's not just the heavy, heavy versus light, it's more how you're moving more fluid movements because the dryness has you feeling all crunchy and rigid, right?
So think about like skiing downhill, for example. I know you don't live in a place necessarily where you're running out to do that, Shantay, but this is an example. It's a little more like fluid, a little bit, you know, think of the snowboarder carving through it. Yeah. And all of those things seem like really small things, but they can really feed your need to find a little bit more balance and feel more at ease within yourself.
Same with swimming in the, in the summertime, you know, water sports, just the fact that you're in the water is going to change how you feel. Um, and if you think about your own, you know, I know you exercise almost daily, if not daily, think about your own patterns. Every, every eight to 12 weeks, most people want something slightly different.
Yep. You know, we, we either get tired of it or the body needs a change, you know, if you're doing it strategically for gains or for other reasons, you're going to want to do that anyway. And so that is roughly. Right. If we're talking about two to three months, by the time you've started your regimen, and then the time you kind of are tired of it, you're going to want to change it up.
So it's natural for us to change it up and not necessarily run the same eight miles outside every day. We're going to want to do different things. And if you think about what's going on outside of you, what's going on for your life too, you can make some small adjustments and get really, right. Uh, great benefit from that
makes so much sense.
And just as the QS and the listeners we have here, many of them own their own businesses, and this is definitely something to think about with the services being provided, but also just as an individual, listen to this episode and listen to everything that Emily is saying. And I'm guaranteeing that everyone's shaking their head and they're like, yeah, that makes total sense.
Like people love to beat up on themselves and be like, I can't stick to something. I can't do it. And you've just, you know, really, you know, nailed right there that there is this inherent shift seasonality that we go through that makes sense. Like we need that, that balancing that goes on as the seasons change.
Even if you live in a place that has not these extremes of season, like there's still seasons here, folks. I know you, people are like, Oh, it's a 70 degrees. No, this morning was 49. The changes in the temperature here, you know, all within one day. But I love this. Yeah. and people being able to just think about themselves and their own experiences.
You said a little bit earlier about the seasonality to your day. Could you speak a little bit more about that?
Yeah. You know, in Ayurveda and in traditional Chinese medicine, they have something called a body clock and I think the simpler one, well, the simpler one is the Ayurvedic one and I'll explain that one in a second, but.
If you know anything about acupuncture, for those of you other nerds out there like me, uh, there are 12 major meridians, which are energy lines. And so each two hour section of the day, the 24 hour clock is sort of divided into each meridian being more prevalent at that particular time. And so based on that activity or energy, there are things that are better to do during those two hours or so, according to the traditional Chinese medical body clock.
In Ayurveda, we simplify it a little bit more and we basically divide the day in half. So let's just think about the, the morning part from 6 AM to about 6 PM. And we divide that into three seasons because in Ayurveda, we don't have four. It's really three because fall and winter, we talked about that dryness, the coldness, it's really prevalent for both seasons, right?
It's the same. Thank
you. That actually makes me feel really good. You saying that because coming from the East coast, I would be like, it's warm. And now it's cold, there's no like fall. There would be the leaves change for one week. You have maybe two to be able to get up, you know, the Potomac and go and, and, uh, see the leaves have changed.
Otherwise you missed it and they fallen down and now it's cold. So, that makes me feel better, Emily. Thank you for, for sharing that bit of knowledge there.
Yeah. I still love all four seasons, but just energetically speaking, you know, they, they kind of grow the two together. So similar. So similar. So similar.
And there is a spectrum, right? The beginning of summer is very different than the end of summer. There's a reason why an 80 degree day in June feels very nice, and it does not, right? it's, different. But going back to your question of the body clock or this idea of like a year and a day. So remember we talked about spring, the waking up energy.
Think of that as the, the first part of the day from about six to 10 o'clock. Now remember it's spring. So even though you're just waking up and things are, systems are getting going, you still feel kind of muddy, sluggish, and maybe not super clear minded, right? Unless you're drinking coffee, which I know is one of your things.
But the reason why coffee is really great In the morning and really only for some people is because it cuts through that fog, right? It's the opposite of that morning fogginess. Yeah, it's also when things are getting going So it's a great time to you know, do some of the regular routine things of like taking care of yourself Um, dressing and, and bathing and all those things to prepare for the day.
And then the middle part of the day from about 10 to two is like summer. It's where you have the most heat, the most activity, the most energy and the most metabolism. So you have the ability to digest a bigger meal at that time of day. Then we get into fall slash winter from about two to six o'clock at night.
That's when you tend to be a little chattier. I tell people don't. Put your meetings from in the morning because people are wanting to connect in the afternoons. You
know,
the thinking work is really great from that 10 to 2 time of day. And then the communicating, um, activities are, are much better suited for the afternoon.
And so I don't know how that relates to other movement professionals other than in terms of moving and activity Obviously the morning is a great time for many people to do their exercise because it does help them get going it helps them Clear out that early morning fog get them Get things going. But then the afternoon is also another time when exercise would be good, except you wouldn't necessarily want to do it so crazy that you've riled up your system and make it hard for you to go to bed.
These are all things that most people know for themselves anyway, right? But if you think about that same three division into three, right, you've got the six to 10. It repeats at night, right? So from six to 10, it's spring again. It's like a little more sluggish. You wind down your day, you're getting ready, but not for the day you're getting ready for sleep.
So that same getting ready energy that we talked about spring. And then in the middle of the night from 10 to two, again, a lot of metabolic processes are happening while you're sleeping. It's a high energy time, as my meditation teacher says, it's so intense, nature knocks us out. Ah, I like that. Right?
Like, we actually have to go to sleep because otherwise we would be, you know, we wouldn't be able to handle what, what's actually happening in our body while we're sleeping. And then, from about Um, the early morning hours from two to six is when we have lighter sleep.
You know,
we're a little bit more cognizant.
Some people do meditation during this time because they find it really beneficial or journal or writers get up and write because they have, you know, ideas moving around a lot, much like. In the afternoon when people are ready to communicate and share ideas, right? So you have the whole year in a day, but really you kind of have it twice cause it's mirrored in the morning
and in the
evening.
This is so
interesting. Do you believe, cause I do, uh, that, uh, it's something I thought about for, I've thought about for a long time that. People, irrespective of where they're born, are, like, meant to live in a certain place. It just, you know, drives with their energy better. Like, I know for a fact that.
This time zone here and definitely the weather, but this is my best time zone. Crawl. I've gone all around the world and yes, I can adjust and I can just use you pretty quickly, honestly. I'm like, this is where I'm at now. Cause I'm a Capricorn and this is where I live now. So now this is the time we're on, but I have always felt like when I naturally want to wake up.
And yes, I know and get that your hormones and such play an incredibly huge role there, but I can't help, but feel like I'm We, everyone has a place where it would jive best with their inherent being. Is that?
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you figured it out for yourself and, you know, some of us are fortunate enough that we can choose where we live.
Um, but yeah, it's the same concept of opposites. Basically like attracts like and opposites balance It's one of the reasons why i've never met a couple where both of them run hot And it works out like right one is always the one that's freezing And warming their hands on the other one Who's always hot?
You know opposites. There's a reason why it kind of works that way. Yeah, but when it comes to your own Constitution is the word that we use in in ayurveda and in yoga You So, you know, those of us who run hot are going to feel a little bit more at ease when it's not so fricking hot out. Or similarly, if you run cold, I'm guessing that's you, Dante, you're going to feel more at ease when you're in a place that's generally more warm or maybe the moisture is better be higher because that adds to warmth, right?
Oh yeah,
definitely. Yeah. Denver's not the way for me, man. Colorado? I turn into dust when I go there.
So dry. And it's funny too because sometimes You know because like attracts like and I think of my husband with this because he's the one that runs hot in the relationship I'm, like i'm the cool blooded capricorn like you but he loves spicy food And that is not balancing but it's very familiar, right?
Because we know what we like and we we like more of what we like, especially when we're out of them. I'm not trying to dig on my husband here, but a lot of us when when we You Have something or when we have something that's consistent. We want more of it And that's why change can feel so hard because we're trying to interrupt that pattern Maybe for the sake of really great things for balance for feeling better in general But it it's hard because it's less familiar And so many of us like environments where it's familiar.
Like I have Swiss blood. We are very familiar with that cold, snowy Alps. And I like it here in the Northeast, you know? So the familiarity is nice. Yes, I do feel great when I'm in a tropical climate and, you know, it's just not where I particularly choose to, to make my life.
Yeah.
There's a
difference between like, yeah, I like being here and like, I could live here cause I like warm, but I'm not trying to go live in Florida.
Not necessarily because of the people, but also that's on there, but the weather, like the humidity, I don't want that either. There's definitely. Yes, I can enjoy this, but it's not what I want to be living. And
then this goes back to that intuition that you mentioned, which I love that you brought that up because, and we talked about this when I was on the mafia too, is like knowing yourself through whatever way you do that.
And for, for me, I think for a hundred percent of the people, meditation should absolutely be a part of that. You know, we, we. tend to think of meditation as different things, which I'll get to in a second, but meditation, or even if it's your daily workout, like your daily run, whatever it is you do, that helps you sort of reconnect with, okay, what am I doing?
What am I feeling? How am I doing? How am I moving? What's going on? Both physically, mentally, energetically, spiritually, whatever, happiness wise. Getting to know yourself, and this is where I think some consistent routine or practice is useful, even if you adjust it for the season.
Key
to understanding not just what you need, but thinking about those of you fellow business owners out there.
It's like, you know, Your people are going to go along with whatever energy you're putting out there And if you're trying to for example Go with the january 1st energy that culturally you think okay This is when i'm supposed to be doing a program but it just doesn't sit right with you because you've you know better you've Tried it before and it didn't work last year.
So you you know, but you You feel the energy, so you think you have to do it again this year. Like knowing yourself, that intuition and actually listening to it is only hard the first time you do it.
Can we keep going with that? Tying into, uh, one, the intuition to like, yes, people feel this kind of societal pressure and like, let's stick with this.
Given that right now is a time that. We're in like, Hey, I think we're kind of pushing away from new year, new me, but people are trying to implement new things. They are trying to change, which I fully support. If you've decided like, I want something differently. I want to have this build this habit. You mentioned a little bit earlier about change, feeling hard.
We're trying to interrupt some of these patterns. Can you get perhaps a little bit tactical with us? And, you know, even if that's the speaking about techniques for self awareness, but things that you've kind of suggested to people as they are looking to implement. Like they've decided, I want to do this.
I want a new habit, whatever it is. It's a new year. Uh, what, what, what do you say? How do you help these folks?
First, I think the more experiments you can do, the better. So the fact that you're trying something and then you decide, you know what? That's not for me or not for me right now. That's great. You learned something, you did it.
So, um, and on the more provider side, like if you're providing an experience that's maybe early in the year, but maybe not like a 30 day challenge, maybe it's just like a one day thing. Like here's some inspiration, you know, get on my team here and. Keep nurturing those people so that by spring they're ready to go for something more intense or longer, right?
Never mind the fact that you don't want to be launching all the marketing stuff during the holidays I mean people are not ready for it anyway Just even think of that piece, which I know you talked about you you've talked about with all of us before It's like that's the worst, right? During the holidays not a good idea Um, but going back to your question about getting tactical, you know, I think You And I, I, I'm going to bring up the, uh, the Shantae breakfast.
It's like consistency, right? Now, consistency doesn't have to mean boring, but it maybe has to mean putting something on your calendar at the same time every day, or maybe it's the same time each day of the week, whatever it is for you. Where you're doing a thing, whether it's movement, meditation, going for a walk, you pick the thing.
But the consistency is that you're doing it every time during that time. And so give yourself the flexibility to experiment and to try different things. Modalities and things but the consistency to show up for yourself at that time every day Even if it's like you need to just lay down on your yoga mat for half an hour and that's what you did Like no expectations of what's necessarily going to happen during that time, but just that you're showing up for yourself
I loved it.
I love it. I love it. Can I interject there. You, cause you said that you said the word twice, meditation. You said it's going to be, you know, a little bit different perhaps than what we think. Could you expand on that?
Yeah, I think we've like many things, many words have gotten lots of baggage around them, especially in our day today.
And, um, it's unfortunate, right? Cause I have fellow yoga teachers who are like not calling themselves yoga teachers anymore because they're worried about what it's going to Sound like, is it really yoga? All those questions and same thing with meditation. You know, my meditation teacher, whose name is Lauren Roe.
She's actually out in California. L O R I N is how you spell his first name. He's amazing. He's like a kid in a candy store of life. Great to be around. Um, but he says that really what we're calling meditation is codifying all the different ways that our nervous system can basically down regulate. And so for some people, that's quite literally going out, watching the sunset and going home.
Like that is meditation, watching the waves of the ocean. Maybe it's that feeling when you're pounding the volleyball across the net. Like there are those little moments where you feel really connected with either life, something bigger than you or yourself. And the skill of meditation can be just Noticing that, like, oh wow, I really like that part of volleyball for, you know, I'm just making this up.
Not that you've told me. Or for me, like, I'm a swimmer, so for me, swimming is my meditation, you know, some people would call it their workout. But for me, I'm like, there's nobody talking to me, I'm underwater, I can feel the movement of my arms going into the water. I feel renewed afterwards. And so, You know, do your thing, whatever your meditation is.
And yeah, if you want, call it meditation, but try to do it as often as possible. And notice those moments where you're naturally In a state of meditation, you know, Lauren will say that meditation is a natural human instinct. You know, we're, the body's constantly just trying to heal itself and, and survive.
Yeah. And
thrive.
And so it's discovered all these ways of, Of just maybe sometimes it feels like you're just tuning out and you don't hear a thing because you're petting your dog or your cat Like it could be something as simple as that. And yes, I know there are some traditions out there who Suggest that it has to be something very different and very hard to achieve But you know, we are householders.
We're not monks living on a mountaintop somewhere. Although some of us might choose to do that for a short period of time. We're householders with lots of ambitions beyond transcending this life that we're currently live. Like, you know, cause frankly, after that, what's left, right? So can we tune into some of those moments?
Use your intuition to tune into the natural rhythms that you already are a part of. And then. It makes it really more enjoyable. You know, you mentioned in your podcast about holiday overwhelm, like write those things down and not everybody's a writer. Writing things down leaves an imprint in a different way on your physical, like system
so
that you can remember, Oh yeah, I've been here before.
Oh yeah. Like when I hang out with my kids, That makes me really happy, you know, like gratitude journal at the end of the day If you're writing down the same thing a lot of the time That's something to tune into isn't that wonderful? Isn't that awesome? And similarly if you're like, oh my god, I can't believe this is happening again in a negative way I challenge you you and the listeners like anytime you find yourself saying I can't believe this is happening again Think stop and try to think of a time when actually this You You can believe it.
It's happening again. You've been here before, not to beat yourself up about it, but just to be like, that's your cue. That there's something here for you. And maybe being in a similar spot is not all that bad. Because you kind of know what to do this time around. So next January 1st or December, if you're planning your programs accordingly, like think about really, if you, if you felt overwhelmed, this Christmas season, this holiday season, And you had a program launching in January.
Like, do you think maybe that has something to do with it? And if you didn't like it, like some people thrive on it and it's awesome. And you nailed it and you crushed it and you met your goals. Like go, you do it again. Maybe you live in a warm climate. Exactly. It was more warm.
Exactly.
Awesome. You know, But for the rest of us, like, can you stop and think, do I really want to do that again?
And if the answer is not really, then that's your clue.
Dude, I love that you wrote it down. I love that. I have it written down on my board. Cause I wanted you to go into that about writing it down. This, this whole concept, here we are again, and not making it negative. I love the refrain that you have of here we are again.
I, this is even the intonation, the, the, how you say it of the inflection, rather, how you say it, it doesn't need to be a negative thing. Being at the same, being, you know, present faced with a similar situation is awesome because you have been there before. And this means you have data that you can pull from it and say, okay, what did I do last time?
What choices did I make? Did I like the outcome of those choices? No. What can I do? Do differently. You know, we also, I love that you, you sped about, we are a nervous system, right? It's always a seeking safety, right? We're built to survive, right? We're not born to run. I've seen plenty of people not born to run, but we are born to survive.
All right. Go outside and watch people. You know this, right? We are born to survive. That in mind, we do tend to remember the negative things, or have to remember the kind of feelings about it, but we don't always necessarily change it if we did survive, right? We didn't die. So we're like, well, we can kind of do it again.
It wasn't that bad. So that in mind, it is super helpful. Like Emily said to write it down, like, even if you're just writing down, like what time the sun goes down, how did you feel? Because every year the time the clocks change,
I cannot tell you how many calls I get from friends who are like, what's happening this year.
Is it something with the astrology? Because it's really dark. And I'm like, you know, it's not the planets doing anything like this. This is the seasonality. I literally, my best friend, she called me in August one year because the sun starts going down earlier. Yes. June 21st. People forget this. It's like this great trick that nature plays on us, but it, it does the opposite in the winter time.
So now we get to benefit because even though we're heading into like the worst of the winter months here in the Northeast, we have more daylight. So it makes it a little bit nicer to deal with, right? In August one year, she called me, she was like, Emily, what's happening with the moon and the stars? I don't understand.
And I said, honey, this happens every year. And again, this goes to time zone because you're in a different time zone, right here in Boston, we are at the edge of the Eastern time zone. So like,
totally
a lot of last summer I spent in Michigan on the Western side of the same fricking time zone. And the sun sets an hour and 10 minutes later,
which is
great in August, but then it sucks in September and October because the sun doesn't rise until much, much later.
And my husband was like, Oh my God, we can't live here. We can't live here. Even just because the sunrise time, like it was really messed with his system. And just like you found the right time zone, the right place for you, you know, hopefully we all find that. But yeah, it happens every year. I love it when people are like, wow, it's so unseasonably warm in December.
I'm like, every year, every year,
every year, we don't write it down. We don't remember,
you know, you don't have to write it down to go back and refer to it, but I think the act of writing something down does create a different kind of memory in your body.
Absolutely. I'm like, absolutely. I, I, you know, taking my own advice, writing down, A lot more about the weather, mainly I'm doing it for volleyball because it is so cold in these mornings.
And so for me, volleyball has changed because I progressed through the classes. And so last December, I wasn't in this class. This December, I have a 6 30 AM Sunday morning class. And I'm like, yeah, But also what's happening, like, let me write this down so I can be prepared for this next year and decide if I want to do it, honestly, like I'm very much sticking it out now, but it is, like you said, super helpful just to have that, that imprint there and to know here we are again, like, it's going to come back.
And that's actually a good thing. I love that you started the episode off by saying. That's a good thing. Here we are again. And that's the good news, right? Spirality exists and that's good news. It's so good. It's so good. I'm looking at the time here, Emily, before I like get too long here, can you do me a solid and just plug your stuff?
How can people find you? Where can they find you? Where can they binge you? How can they work? Give me all the stuff.
Yeah. My website is seasonalintentions. com and you can find me on the Instagram at SeasonalIntentions underscore, cause you know, somebody else got to that other one before I did. All good.
Um, and my signature program is my mind body reset. It's like a really short reset program that I do in the spring, as I mentioned, and also in the fall, which is another time that just your body's ready for a break. pretty big change Um, and so that'll be coming up probably end of march early april Uh, you can get on a list for that if you're curious about it from my website And then really the bulk of my work I do either in my one on one coaching sessions or in my online subscription for people who?
Want to access resources or more live events on a frequent basis One on one coaching is really where I help people get into What? routine that works for their lives. And that's why women and especially working women, um, mothers who, whose children are maybe a little bit older and they're trying to spend more time working on themselves and they want to do all the right things, but they, they don't know how to actually implement that in a way that's sustainable.
That's really what I do in my one on one coaching session.
That is so, a routine that works for their lives. Yes.
I love it. Yeah, cause the thing that happens, and I had this happen the other day, one of my good friends was like reading a book on Ayurveda that she got, and uh, she's like, this is all well and good, but are there any working moms that have written books on Ayurveda?
Because I don't know how I'm going to fit all of this into my day. And you know, I had to laugh out loud because I was like, actually, that's what I do. I help. I help. People like you figure this out, and I'm not a mother, so I don't have that extra advantage yet. But one of the things that happens with people who get excited about how much benefit just a little bit of this Ayurvedic or seasonality piece in, in their lives really helps.
They start realizing that they have to get up. Mm hmm. And initially, And I know you were one of these people initially, it's really challenging, or it's like, we don't want to let go. And I think you said this, or maybe one of your interviewees is that we don't fear change. We fear the loss that we're going to have.
Right. So for me, I would lose, you know, the extra snuggle time with my husband in bed. Like, cause he's the sweetest man right before he gets out of bed. I don't get as many snuggles the rest of the day. Right. So that's a big loss for me. But, and we think about all the other things and you know, people who do practice Ayurveda more diligently tend to wake up really early and go to bed at a pretty early time.
Are they missing out on life? Well, that's. Entirely up to them to decide it, you know, and um, I know you're big on agency So I am too like you make Those choices. Yes. And if you're unhappy or like you say pain is a great motivator Unhappiness, it's like kind of a pain, right? Yes Then that's a signal to maybe try something new try a different experiment And if that experiment is just quite literally like get up at a different time Which is honestly like my one thing that I tell people i'm like if you're not going to do anything But you want to try one thing You Get up at the same exact time every day, no matter what time you go to bed, no matter what time of year it is, get up at the same time every day.
Cause you're going to anyway, your body's going to wake you up. Just actually get up out of bed and it can change so much for people. Just one
So many things is connecting right now for those listening. That quote was from the episode I did with Amanda Schultz. She said it at the end. She's like, wait until the very end to drop that people don't fear change.
They, or people don't resist change. They resist loss and totally, uh, yes, all the yes. So we'll link that episode, but what you just said about waking up. An agency, so many dots connecting there. Yes. I don't like, I didn't never really liked waking up early, but especially waking, waking up early, not of my own accord when I had to wake up early to like walk to work in the snow.
I was like, this is the worst possible thing that could ever exist in someone's life. Like, I don't want to do this. It's cold, it's dark, and I don't even want to be going to this job. Now I will wake up for a 6. 30 volleyball. Practice. And I, I wake up at five to do that so that I can eat my same breakfast because of the consistency there.
But I have that agency there and in you saying that, but waking up the same time all year. I think that's another reason that I really love this time zone. The mornings are pretty similar all year round. We don't get, there is a little bit of a time period where. When the time changes, uh, where suddenly you're like, Oh, it's like very, very dark when we wake up.
But the rest of the year, we don't get massive shifts. And that definitely makes the mornings and waking up much easier here than, you know, from when I was living on the East coast. And I was like, it's changing so much all the time. Uh, so that makes
sense. And this is where intentionality comes back in, because if you know why you're getting up and trudging through the And you have a really strong connection to why you're doing it.
And it matters to you for your life, then it's easy. You'll do it. Yep. You'll keep showing up. And that, that works with that. It works with anything that you're showing up to. It's like, why are you eating that piece of toast? Well, because it makes me feel really great. Okay. So then you'll keep eating the same.
And that's where change, it's like a lot of people think they want to change because they are at a pain point or they're unhappy, but they haven't started with why, as Simon Sinek would say, they haven't connected to a strong why. And that's where I love your little, I forget what you call it, the five by five exercise or something like, why are you doing this?
No, why are you really doing this? Five deep. Yeah. Do that for everything. Yes. Do that for why you want to get up at seven in the morning. And I promise you'll keep getting up. Just like for you, it had to be volleyball. If it was just something else, it wouldn't have worked. So,
yeah, a million, a million percent, just so many things tying together here.
I love this. But you folks know that I'm going to absolutely be obsessed with the agency piece and the choice piece and the intentionality and the reason I brought Uh, Emily on was really to discuss that spirality, that seasonality. And she, honestly, Emily, you knocked it out of the park. Just one of my favorite parts of this episode was just talking about the different types of movement.
Like I totally gotten the food side of things. And it's like, listen, don't give me that salad. I really, I know. Keep talking about the salad, but I don't want the salad. It's cold, but you talking about the different types of movement. That's huge. That is like. Yes. And I think we all know that and like, Oh yeah, that's why I'm craving a bit more of that and like, just doing more of these grounding movements and doing this, like, you know, maybe just to be very, you know, simple, the heavier movements.
And I'm going to kind of lift this. Whereas in this time I'm looking at more of more fluid movements and just incorporating that. It doesn't need to be like this massive shift and like, you know, you get rid of everything, but that makes so. Much sense. And I love this. There's so many, so many gems before I let you go, friend and folks listening.
Everything is of course, in the show notes, Courtney, thank you for that. Um, before I let you go, Emily, is there anything that you would like to leave the people with?
I would say, trust yourself. These are things you're already doing. You already know your body knows this. It's when we're too busy listening to other cultural cues, perhaps, or somebody else doing it somewhere else that we've seen doing it some other way that we think suddenly we have to do it differently than what really we know as works best for us.
And so you do you and trust yourself and trust yourself to know when it's time to change something and trust yourself to know when it's time to just maybe just do it. Sit with what you got that works for your own stuff. It works for your, your business and your programs, and you don't always have to be launching something new, you know, just because something didn't quite go the way you thought it could have been a timing thing.
You know, actually just today there was an email from James clear who I love atomic habits. And one of his quotes was about timing and how there are many seasons of life. And each season requires different. Like instructions. I forget the word. I don't have it in front of me. Um, but, you know, you need different things during different seasons of your life.
Those of you who are mothers are particularly well versed at this. When you're during pregnancy or right after giving birth, you need something very different. than any other time in your life. And so that's just one big example of something that happens every day, every year, every week, every month has a different flavor.
Trust yourself. And
it's
so much
easier. I nailed it. Nailed it. I love it. She said, trust yourself. James's quote, as I have the same, uh, I subscribe to his newsletter as well. Good advice at the wrong time is bad advice. Life is full of seasons and each season has different requirements. Know what season you are in and if you can better identify which ideas to utilize.
I'm going to have to put a little addition on to that. And if you want some help, go check out Emily. Cause this is literally what she does. Literally. Emily, thank you, man. This was just, you knocked it out of the park. Again, I love bringing people on that I've, You know, had recently in the mafia, cause then I'm like, it's going to be dope.
I already know we're going to do it again. So just thank you for being you and sharing this and connecting the dots and being so resolute and, you know, resolved and steadfast in this, this belief and how you share it. And just thank you for everything. This is awesome. Thank you for having me. Dude. My pleasure.
My absolute pleasure. You folks listening to this. Thank you. I know you could have been doing anything and you chose to listen to us. And for that, we are both endlessly, endlessly appreciative. I got two asks for you today, my friends. If you liked this episode, if you love this episode, if you are picking up what we're putting down, number one, go check out Emily.
All of her stuff is linked in the show notes. Thank you, Courtney. Number two. If you liked it, if you loved it, if you're picking up what we're putting down, do me a solid and share this episode with somebody who you think it could. All right. Officially wrapping it up until next time, friends, Emily Reed and Maestro out.
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