Speaker 1 (00:00:00) - So. Hi, Lauren.
Speaker 2 (00:00:03) - Hi, Brenda. So happy to be here today.
Speaker 1 (00:00:06) - Thank you for joining me. I am so excited for this conversation. I love any chance I can get just to chat with you.
Speaker 2 (00:00:14) - Likewise. I know last time we talked, you led me through a very intense and powerful and expansive breathwork session, and it was crazy because I think it was right when I. Or it was probably in the first couple months of this pregnancy that I'm. I'm about seven months pregnant now at this point. And I remember having this really powerful journey with you, and you took me through connecting with, my baby. So.
Speaker 1 (00:00:44) - Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:00:44) - Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:00:45) - You're welcome. I have chills just remembering that. That feeling and the connection that felt so. Rich. Between you and the baby and oh my gosh, what a pleasure and a privilege.
Speaker 2 (00:01:02) - I know we have to breathe together again.
Speaker 1 (00:01:04) - Yes. Let's do, let's do so, yeah. Would you mind telling our audience a little bit about yourself and the work that you do in the world, and then we're just going to dive in?
Speaker 2 (00:01:14) - Sure.
Speaker 2 (00:01:15) - Yeah. So I do a lot of things in the healing and therapy space, and I'll dive into more kind of my background. But I started diving into yoga as my as my my lifestyle, my, my path. And that led me into learning about various types of somatic therapy, like breathwork and hypnosis, and really just learning how to connect with the body. the breath is everything, as you know, and it it really is linked to how we move through the world. So that that's been my main, my main work, currently is teaching people how to breathe properly because it impacts how, all of our systems work and it impacts our emotional regulation and go on and on and on which we'll dive into, I'm sure. And I also run a e-commerce brand where I help people through, I help people breathe and sleep better through a bio hack trick of mouth taping. So, yeah, I created a mouth tape product with one of my besties from college, few years ago. Now we've been running this company together, and it's so perfectly linked with the the somatic and breathwork that I do because it's really teaching people how to breathe properly.
Speaker 1 (00:02:46) - Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (00:02:48) - So wild that so many people, including myself, had no idea how to breathe. And I'm still learning. And it's still I'm still checking myself each day. But, our sleep also is just so incredibly. Important to how we how we are in the world and how, we move and how our emotions are our digestion.
Speaker 1 (00:03:13) - So much so, I have to be honest, before I met you, I had never heard the term mouth taming. I didn't know what it was. And so the first call we were on together and you were talking about mouth tape, I'm like, what is the mouth tape? In case somebody listening in there thinking the same thing, can you explain what mouth tape is.
Speaker 2 (00:03:34) - Yeah. So yeah, for for the listeners out there, they're like, what the heck is she talking about? Mouth tape is literally just as it sounds. It's taping your mouth while you sleep at night to help your body understand and train itself to breathe through its nose. Our noses are meant for breathing and our mouths are meant for eating and talking.
Speaker 2 (00:03:58) - Not so much for breathing. Even though there are certain points, with certain breathwork techniques, when you're exercising where you do breathe through your mouth and that's perfectly fine, but to breathe through your mouth long term is actually pretty detrimental to your health, to your dental care. It active. It keeps you in a hyper stimulated, stressful state. So, there's a lot of people out there mouth breathing while they sleep and while they move throughout the day. And mouth tape is a really natural and simple way to just train your body to breathe through your nose.
Speaker 1 (00:04:34) - I love this, and as we speak, there's a package of mouth tape arriving in my mailbox. I cannot wait to try it. And yeah, and tell our listeners and you about my experience, because I know for sure that occasionally I breathe through my mouth when I sleep. I know because I wake up with dry mouth.
Speaker 2 (00:04:54) - Totally. It's not just for Snorers. It's not just for like your typical person who, you know, I'm sure everyone has a vision of like, kind of like maybe like an old guy with her mouth open on the airplane, like choking, like it's not.
Speaker 2 (00:05:08) - It's for everyone. I did not know that I was breathing through my mouth until I realized that I had dry mouth. I was drooling my sleep. I was actually only I started tracking my sleep, which is wild because I was only getting like three hours, 2.5 hours of quality sleep. Now that I'm mouth taping, it's more like six seven of deep REM sleep, non-REM and REM sleep. there's so much studies coming out to which is just so I'm like, it like, activates my nerd side of me. Like, there's so much data coming out around mouth taping, too. and it's definitely a weird thing. Like, it's taboo, but it's almost like it's it's comparable to, like, getting into an ice bath. It you're training your body to do something different and, There is just numerous health benefits that it's almost silly not to try, which led me to trying it. I was like, I'm going to give this a try. And it really changed my sleep game, which changes everything.
Speaker 2 (00:06:10) - Once your sleep game is changed totally, everything is changed.
Speaker 1 (00:06:13) - Yeah. So the first thing that crossed my mind when I thought about am I willing to try mouth tape was what happens if my nose is stuffy? And then I went to your website and saw that there's two different kinds of mouth tape and one has a breath vent. Is that for like in case you have a stuffy nose.
Speaker 2 (00:06:34) - Yeah. Yeah. So. We have. We actually just came out with a new type A new product variant. So thank you for calling that out. We have we have a hole or a no hole. insert your joke there, you know. Yeah. So but the the we call it vented or non vented. And we do have a little central vent for those that are maybe newer to mouth taping or haven't tried it at all. And there's a little bit of like anxiety of like oh my like typically I'm congested or I have a stuffy nose and I just want a little bit of peace of mind and maybe a little airflow if needed.
Speaker 2 (00:07:13) - We also have customers that email us saying that they love the the, the hole in the middle because they can put a straw through it and drink water at night. So I we just get the funniest customer emails to like, people are like, oh my God, I'm, we're we're having such better sex because we're sleeping so much better. I mean, people just like we've become like these sleep therapists. It's so funny that the kind of kinds of emails we get, and we love them because people are getting excited because they're having more energy, because they're sleeping better. and so the, the tape without the hole is maybe more for the, the people that really don't want any airflow. And they and they maybe are a little bit more seasoned. Maybe they don't sleep with their mouths open already and they just want to completely cut. Cut that. Like any temptation to bring in a little bit of air. So both are great variations for for anyone to try and see how they like. See what? See how they like it.
Speaker 1 (00:08:16) - That's amazing. So cool. Okay, I literally can't wait to try it. And so when you think about biohacking and. I just have to say, it's so cool that you're like, what is this? Oh, I like it. It's helping me. I'm going to design my own and create an e-commerce brand. I mean, to go from point A of what is this to? I'm going to create my own e-commerce brand is really cool. Yeah. How did you know what to do?
Speaker 2 (00:08:51) - Yeah, actually I love I love that, Guy raz podcast, how I built this. I don't know if you've heard of that. Yeah. And it's he like he he's like, how did you do the thing? And I will say, so we're, we're about two and a half years into business from. From launching to. To present day. And. Well, I'll take a step back. The reason we decided to create a tape. my partner Natalia. again, such a good friend.
Speaker 2 (00:09:24) - Soul sister from. From years ago. She's. She got me into taping initially, and we realized that we were using really low quality tape from, like, CVS or Walmart or Rite Aid and. I realize some of your listeners might not even know what those stories are, but, yeah, just basically poor quality tape that probably had toxins in them, probably had dyes, probably had harsh chemicals. and I was wearing them at night and pulling my skin off in the morning. I was getting a residue on my lips. I feel like I was, like, unintentionally waxing myself every morning and like. But like my taking my skin off in the process. And that was really our like, of like, there's no nontoxic, comfortable, durable moth tape out there. Let's why don't we create our own. And that was the initial sort of seed. And then it took it took a solid six months to a year of actually sketching out the shape of the tape with a pencil and paper and then putting it into a, software CAD.
Speaker 2 (00:10:40) - like we had a totally just learn as we go. We found it. We found a bunch of different tape manufacturers, all made in all the everything that we do is all in the states, all the United States, because we didn't want to go overseas and have to risk not knowing what was in the products. we also want to just keep everything here, you know, and. Yeah. So it was just a lot of mistakes. Mistakes, some error quoting, trial and error. And it took about a year to, to actually develop the product before we, started opening up a site, we created a Shopify website. and now, you know, everything was just done by Natalia and I really. And we were just going off of our intuition and really what felt really good to us, we wanted something that was comfortable. We tried. 30 plus tapes. You know, we talk. We're constantly on the phone talking. Different people traveling around. We wanted to see where how tape, how it was made.
Speaker 2 (00:11:47) - So we just became tape nerds. And here we are with with tape and it's it it honestly, we needed to launch it so we can get feedback from customers and actually understand how people like the tape. We liked it, but we wanted to see if it if there was a spot in the market for us. And so far again, we're getting like the the best emails and the best reviews from customers, which, you know, for anyone that is a customer of Ohai Tape, that's that's the name of the company. Thank you. We're so grateful, out there for your support. And we're small, but we're strong and we're going we're just trending upward. And, it's been a journey, so I never thought I would have a product based business because I've always been in the service space. I've always taught yoga breathwork. I've been in the somatic coaching space. So to have a tangible product is, it's a total learning curve. so thank you for asking that, because I don't take enough time to slow down and realize how far we've come.
Speaker 1 (00:12:52) - Yeah, it's really inspiring. And so as I think about. How you gave yourself permission to go from everything that you had known about yoga, breathwork, somatic coaching to launching a product. Yeah. How did you give yourself permission to go try something brand new that you did not know how to do, that you had to figure out on the go how? What was that process like?
Speaker 3 (00:13:24) - It was.
Speaker 2 (00:13:25) - Crunchy. I will say like in clunky. You know, we I feel like we were like we were like the bowling ball and like the, the bumpers just going back and forth. Because I come from a background of working for an employer, I've been in the corporate space. So to be to shift your mind from an entrepreneur from from an employer employee, sorry, excuse me. To an entrepreneur, it is like a you do have to give yourself permission, like full permission and. Trust that, You know, let's just try it. If it doesn't work. So be it. And we just felt there was very little risk.
Speaker 2 (00:14:12) - We we were in this. We were moving into this business because it because we cared and we wanted to help people sleep better, including ourselves. And we had such a strong that's our mission is really to help people breathe and sleep better. We we want to help millions of people in the next several years sleep and breathe better. And that was our driving force and still is. And we also our number one rule is to just have fun. And so if we totally take this thing, it's been fun and we shift and and we redirect, you know, it's. I really my mentors we we have a lot of mentors that we've. Just. Had to turn to in in this business process that have made me realize that failing can be fun because you're getting so much data and so much information for yourself to learn, and also to be with, to be in partnership. For those that have a business with a partner they're co-leading with someone is to be with someone who's who's going to not only love you and have the compassion for you as you're going through your like, kinks of feeling like doubt and failure.
Speaker 2 (00:15:28) - And is this going to work? Are we out of money? What's what what what literally what's tomorrow going to look like to just support you and love you through that, but also to kind of help you meet your edge and meaning, calling you on your bullshit or checking you, or just but doing it in a way that you know it's going to help you. And so good partnerships. Solid team. I'm not doing this alone and it doesn't feel like I am. And that that's beautiful. So that's been a permission as well. I do a lot of breathwork to help my like a lot, and I, I need a book a session with you seriously soon to it. Yeah. Because. Because there's just life moves so fast. And I think being an entrepreneur gives the illusion that things are even faster because it's your own business and that you have you. It's hard to shut things off. At the end of the day, you're no longer working a 9 to 5. You're working, you know, 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. and, and I, we kind of turned that on, on its head and said, let's not make this such a all consuming thing.
Speaker 2 (00:16:44) - Let's still make this spacious in our body. Let's still but let's practice what we're preaching and still get good sleep and, Just keep trucking away every single day, even if it's moving the needle just a little bit. I think the last thing I'll say around the journey is that I think that there's this idea that entrepreneur entrepreneurship is like instant success, like when we first started this company, I'll just. Be transparent and say people were, you know, people were like, oh, you guys are going to be millionaires.
Speaker 1 (00:17:22) - What a great idea.
Speaker 2 (00:17:24) - And I think that there is a, there's like this little glamour, almost illusion that sold when, when you have a really great idea, a great product that it is going to be instant. and it's been a beautiful lesson to realize we're in this for the long game and that it. That's amazing because. So we get to be on the journey and on the destination, not right at the end. So we don't know where things are going to go.
Speaker 2 (00:17:55) - We have our we have our visions and our our goals and our, you know, our project management team and everything. But we are really just leaving space for things to flow and and leaving room for magic. I love that.
Speaker 1 (00:18:10) - And there's a couple of things that I'm hearing. One is that you're allowing the failure to give you data, not making it mean something. About your worthiness or the worthiness of the idea. It's literally data points. And I just want to really highlight that, because I think that that's an important mindset shift from what we've been taught in school. And entrepreneurship is a different ballgame in the sense that failure really is just more data points.
Speaker 2 (00:18:42) - 100%. Yeah. Percent. Others. Also like I think it's getting rid of like the shame of not knowing something and then asking a question like, I've been on a phone call with executives of these manufacturing companies, asking them some maybe dumb, really dumb questions. And I don't care because I'm trying to learn and. You know, everything for the most part, and entrepreneurship and ism is a muscle that needs to be worked and you're learning.
Speaker 2 (00:19:16) - And unless you have come from a family of a long lineages of business owners and people there and teaching you, and you were taught at a young age, most of us who are starting businesses are really just figuring it out as you go.
Speaker 1 (00:19:32) - Totally, 100% making it up day by day, data point by data point. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:19:39) - And if you're if you're out there being like, I got it all figured out. I have a rude awakening for you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:19:48) - So do you think that I wonder this sometimes when people come to me and they they want a change. They want, you know, to release themselves from the golden handcuffs of a position that they're in that feels like the benefits are too good, retirement's too close. And it's really tempting for people to think, oh, I should start a business or a side hustle. Do you think entrepreneurship is for everyone?
Speaker 2 (00:20:13) - It's a really good, solid question that I think I've asked myself many, many times because I was working my corporate job as I was working, this e-commerce business on the side and teaching yoga and teaching breathwork and supporting people in somatic coaching.
Speaker 2 (00:20:30) - So I had like six jobs. Yeah. And, you know, I don't have children as of now and, you know, one on the way. But I was able to make that work until I was able to then shift completely away from corporate. So that is one way to do it if you feel the call to work for yourself. I mean, I, I think I think that. This is probably me just putting my opinions on everyone, but I think everyone should want to work for themselves because there's so much freedom in that. However, I think you have a point and I want to ask you that same question. I think, I think. It's not, might not be for everyone. And it's okay to not want to run your own business. Like having dependable income and a 401 K and your company matches it and you have your your team and your coworkers and you, you go and leave for the office for the day. I mean, whatever your work situation is like, if you're working for someone else, that's beautiful and there's a lot it affords people very beautiful lives.
Speaker 2 (00:21:44) - So I think it's just really checking in, like really closing your eyes, feeling your body, checking in with what feels good for you. Because. It doesn't need to be for everyone. It's just it's really like. What kind of yes filled life do you want to live? You know, I absolutely needed to throw that in there. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:22:02) - Thank you, thank you. You know, I know.
Speaker 2 (00:22:04) - What you think. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:22:06) - Let's see. I feel like I feel like the freedom is really intoxicating for people. And I also feel like if you have something that you feel is so important that you can't stop thinking about it, that you're willing to show up and do a lot of work, maybe not for any compensation for a while as you're getting the ball rolling and it means that much to you to do it. I say give it a try. If you don't have that much commitment to the thing, like if it doesn't, just leave you thinking about it when you go to bed and thinking about it when you wake up in the morning and there's not that fire in your belly, and you need security to feel safe in your nervous system, then maybe a side hustle would be better than going into full on entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (00:22:54) - But I do think it's really rewarding. I also think it's the biggest spiritual journey I've ever been on. Like I am learning more about myself, my spirituality, my commitment to showing up for myself, and the ways that I say, you know, my clients should. Like, I am walking the walk over here and, learning a lot about myself in the process.
Speaker 2 (00:23:19) - I will never forget one of our for our listeners out there, one of our mutual mentors, Samantha Skelly, said one time on on a call we were on that your your business is your spiritual evolution. and our business isn't 100% us, but there's a lot of things that we're dynamic beings. But. It's a huge part of what we do. And and it's hard for me. My business, my work, my energy that I put into how I receive money, how I receive opportunities is it's my dharma, it's my it's my path. And I really don't think there's a lot of separate between how you flow in business, how you flow in life.
Speaker 2 (00:24:10) - And it's really interesting because entrepreneurship has showed me that if you're not spiritually grounded and in your sauna and your practice. You will attract some. Really? Like, What? What do they call them? Snakes. Snake skin cells. Weight. Snake oil.
Speaker 1 (00:24:29) - Snake oil salesman. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:24:31) - Really will attract people that are terrible partners. you will have poor relationships. There will be. I mean, it's just not to sound so doom and gloom, but it takes a lot of some of the best entrepreneurs, you know, they they've pilgrims, pilgrimage to India and, and have done personal work on themselves. You don't need to go to India to do that. But there's there's something really special about what you said around it being your your spiritual. Path, you know, and being being away to awaken yourself even deeper on your spiritual journey. It's through business. Yeah. Fascinating.
Speaker 1 (00:25:13) - It is. And I'm curious, you mentioned how you're flowing through businesses, how you're flowing through life.
Speaker 1 (00:25:20) - And, I'm noticing that when I have a contraction in my personal life that I have a contraction in the business, and they really are linked, like when there's expansion one place, there's expansion the other place, and. It doesn't always feel the same, but when I look at the evidence and the data points, it is the same. And then you also mentioned it's impacted your ability to receive. Can you say more about that?
Speaker 2 (00:25:52) - Yeah, yeah, I believe that when I'm. In a dense state, meaning I'm. Maybe I'm sleep deprived, you know, but in a in a state of, distraction, I don't feel as connected. My energy is low. We all. I mean, every day, we cannot expect to be enlightened and shining our brightest. You know, not one out of ten at a ten level, but, Yeah. In those times where I'm feeling, Disconnected. My relationships, my personal relationships, there's there's blockages. And then in business, it's just things aren't flowing as, as easily.
Speaker 2 (00:26:48) - and that could be one more in my mind. I'm more focused on the numbers, the, you know, the, the, the KPIs and and being really stressed out about the nitty gritty details and forgetting about the big picture of of why we're doing this. so it's a lot about zooming out and kind of understanding. Where I'm operating from and my operating from more of my soul, my heart space, or am I operating from my mind? And it's just checking in. It's not. It's really not shaming it or berating myself because it's easy running your own business to be so attached to certain things and being so in it that you do need to take a break. So I try not to work for more than a few hours a day and really, lean into a lot of rest, a lot of nature time. And I find that business just flows like almost when I took when I. Over the last couple of years, I feel like I've actually worked less. which is an interesting thing, because you would think that when things ramp up in the business, you'll be working more.
Speaker 2 (00:27:57) - But I've really taken a step back to let energy flow for me to receive, and just see what happens. And when that happens, I know it might sound like, you know, I don't know how it sounds, but it might sound a little. For those that are like, you know, I don't understand really the spiritual piece of it. It is like when you're so attached to something, it can just you can just choke it to death. And so releasing that bit of attachment lets energy come in and you never know. And, and then you get to discern what you do with that energy. Do you say yes. Do say no and go from there. So it's a lot of businesses, a lot of checking in with your body and where you're operating from. And also as a leader to like for my team. We we check in with ourselves a lot. You know, if someone's getting into a space where we want to cut down a competitor or we want to coming from more of a, ego, ego space, you know, maybe more of a old way of doing business.
Speaker 2 (00:29:05) - We check ourselves and because everything, I mean, everything you do in business, really, your customers can feel it. And and you're just like your clients can feel it when you're present or when you're not present. So the same applies to this e-commerce brand and just to your life. You know, there's really no division between the two. It's all connected.
Speaker 1 (00:29:31) - That's right. There's no walls.
Speaker 2 (00:29:33) - Yeah. Like you can't hide, you know, like, I really do think a bad business, like, cannot hide and last long, like, it just doesn't. People eventually find out that you're you're not operating from a genuine space. and you might be able to. Kind of scheme a little bit for a long time, but ultimately I really think light light will shine in and people will see. So it's like authenticity is number one, you know?
Speaker 1 (00:30:09) - yeah, that's words to live way right there. Yeah. Authenticity is number one. Oh my gosh. So good. So if we bring the conversation back to Somatics and understanding the body and then thinking about how our sleep and our life can be impacted if we're breathing through our nose, if somebody is not familiar with breathwork, they may be like, wait, what what what what are some of the benefits of breathing through your nose?
Speaker 2 (00:30:40) - Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:30:41) - So we have we have our nervous system that is broken up into a couple different parts. The autonomic nervous system is broken up into two parts. There's the parasympathetic and the sympathetic. so just high level here. Your parasympathetic is your rest and your digest. It's really where your body just takes like a load off and your organs and your, your, your, your, your mind, your just body as a whole. Your holistic system gets to take a, take a breather, pun intended, like take. Yeah, take a rest. And then you have your sympathetic system, sympathetic nervous system where you're, you know, you're activating that. And in times of working out, having sex, being really hyper focused, like both are. Really important parts of how we we live throughout the day. And so bring this back to the breath. The nose activates your when you breathe primarily through your nose. And this is where a lot of yogic breathwork comes in. You know, where a lot of meditative, meditative mindfulness practices come in.
Speaker 2 (00:31:57) - They have you mainly breathing through your nose to activate that parasympathetic. So you're really trying to bring your body into a state of rest, which is what we're doing when we're sleeping. So when you tape your mouth and when you literally just cut off, air flow from in and out through your mouth and bring it to your nose and train your mind to do so, you're tapping into that part of the nervous system that is trying to calm your body down and get you into a deep sleep. And one thing, one thing on that. If if you're out there listening and you have it takes you a long time to fall asleep, you have sleep anxiety. That was a huge thing for me. Mouth tape is like this crazy little trick that trains your body to get into a deeper, more restful state quicker because you are breathing through your nose. breathing through your mouth too, like I mentioned earlier, isn't a bad thing. We need we need to breathe through our mouth for certain things. And also, you know, there's different types of breath techniques where you can go on beautiful, powerful, almost psychedelic journeys by breathing in and out through your nose or, I'm sorry, through your mouth activating and also just collecting data, emotional data, seeing where you have pain in the body.
Speaker 2 (00:33:17) - I mean, both serve a purpose. It just depends on what your intention is.
Speaker 1 (00:33:21) - Absolutely. I love that answer. So good. So as we kind of come to a close here, I'd love to ask you a question around your yes filled life. Is there something that you either did or did not do that has led you to your guess filled life?
Speaker 2 (00:33:40) - Oh I love this. So I think for the most part what's led me to the most, some of the most beautiful experiences I've had, whether it be travel or relationships that I've been in partnership business partnerships is, I like to call myself the Sacred Rebel. I, I have done a lot of things in a rebellious way because I didn't want to do it. And normally, maybe because I had strict parents growing up, I grew up in a, yeah, seemingly really healthy, normal households, so to speak. Again, quoting here, but, I had this rebellious streak to me and. And let me just clarify when I say rebellious.
Speaker 2 (00:34:35) - Rebellious. I'm not I'm not, getting into any criminal activity or like, doing anything that, I'm not proud of. But there there was a side of me that wasn't really afraid of risk. and that's why I think of The Sacred Rebel is just going for it. even though it might not be, like, the easiest path or maybe the, I don't want to say the smartest path, but just something that is totally new unknown. So really leaning into the unknown for me has ironically led me into a lot of yeses. Like a lot of things that might have been like Uno. Like, I don't, I don't know, let's see, have led me into understanding that, oh, that's actually a yes. there's something someone said a funny, quote to me the other day. Or just like a statement, it was like like, it's scary, but I like it. And and that's what I like, that I love that, like, I'm a little scared, but I kind of like it.
Speaker 2 (00:35:45) - I kind of like how I feel, you know? It's like the unknown. Like, should we go in there? yeah. Let's do it. And I think that's what, what has been so powerful for me and has been my, my. Yes, it has led me to Mrs..
Speaker 1 (00:36:06) - I love that.
Speaker 2 (00:36:07) - Great question.
Speaker 1 (00:36:08) - Oh, the sacred rebel. When we think about feminine archetypes, that's one of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (00:36:14) - Yeah, I know I have, I have, I have little pictures of like, little sacred rebels all over my house and just things that remind me of certain times in my life where, yeah, I really leaned in and kind of did something, That either surprised my family or surprised me, and it ended up being the one of the most powerful experiences, you know, like leaving, leading my corporate job, quitting up and quitting and going moving to India and, you know. At the time, you know, people were like, do you have are you mentally okay? And yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:36:57) - so that's a that's a great question. I know I want to just turn around and ask you all these questions too, but I know where you got to tell me how we're doing on time.
Speaker 1 (00:37:06) - We're good. We're doing good. you know, I think for me, it it is continuing to show up for myself. And what I mean by that is there's 101 ways in any given day that we can self abandon, whether it's by writing over a calendar item that's just for us or agreeing to do something we don't want to do, or tucking away that little voice of intuition that says, hey, it's time for this. And so I think for me, it comes back to, am I showing up fully for myself every single day? And really allowing the yeses to come forward because they're not necessarily auto yeses. And this is kind of what you were saying too. Sometimes we have to. For me, I have to slow it down and get into the body, and then I can find the yes in the body, but my mind and my body do not always agree.
Speaker 1 (00:38:08) - And if I move too quickly and I just am using the mind, I can miss some really cool stuff. But when I get into the body and I just fully permission those yeses to come forward in any way they want, then it just feels really good. Oh.
Speaker 2 (00:38:26) - I love that. Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:38:29) - You know, you're the first guest that has ever asked me that question.
Speaker 2 (00:38:33) - yeah. I was so curious. I'm like, I'm like, ready to move in to the portion where I ask you questions now. Thank you for answering.
Speaker 1 (00:38:44) - Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (00:38:45) - Know, of course, your answers sounded like erotic to me. You know, like, just like getting into the body. It's like. And I don't mean erotic in it, you know, in the way that we think, like, oh, in a sexual way, but it's like. No, in like a, like, kind of, like, playful, you know, sensual. Like, let me explore how I'm feeling. Is this a.
Speaker 2 (00:39:06) - Yes? This is a is this a sacred yes or this is a sacred no.
Speaker 1 (00:39:09) - Yeah. Well, you know, it's so interesting that you say that because there is this, this immediate charge around the word erotic in our culture. And we think that for some of us, maybe it's a thing we should shy away from. And I like leaning into it simply because it does really link to embodiment.
Speaker 2 (00:39:31) - Oh, totally.
Speaker 1 (00:39:33) - And so I think, you know, the embodiment piece, being able to feel using the body. We are humans on this physical plane, having a spiritual experience. And we get to have a body. Why not use the body to tune in to our higher selves and then enjoy the body? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:39:52) - I mean, our bodies are meant to. I you said it perfectly. Like there's it's not a mistake that we have these sensations and these pleasure points throughout our body that are so powerful. It's like it's. What if that's used, you know, not in the small categorised way that we're thinking that it's used for, but we can use it in how we are and be in the world.
Speaker 2 (00:40:17) - We can use it in business. We can use it in in a negotiation, you know, and x, y, z. there's a, there's a certain kind of magnetism when you feel I don't know if you've felt. You're in the in the in a room with someone who just feels fully embodied. And they have that, like, almost like Jenna secure to them. Yes. And it's it's it's magnetizing and and you're like, I want what she's having like or what he's having, you know, and, that's. Yeah, that's a lot of why I love the somatic work because it, it taps into that and it gives you permission to do so it in, in a freeing way.
Speaker 1 (00:41:01) - Exactly. In a freeing way. And, you know, I think that, you know, like there can be sexual or sensual aspects of it, but it's so much bigger than that. It's so much bigger.
Speaker 2 (00:41:16) - Yeah. It's like conversing with God you know. Yeah. Bursting with spirit or you know your higher higher power, higher self, great spirit whatever whatever is your word for that.
Speaker 1 (00:41:29) - Absolutely. And I feel like for me and I'd be interested in hearing what this is like for you. For me, I feel so much more connected to the divine when I'm in my body. And if I'm just in my mind, it's like I feel just small and kind of insignificant in the universe, if that makes any sense. But I feel like I'm part of the whole when I'm in my body.
Speaker 2 (00:41:53) - You said it. You nailed it. I mean, I find my one of my main practices is dance for myself. And when I'm dancing and I'm. I could be dancing alone in my house, and I'm sweaty and I'm. I'm feeling it. And I'm, like, kind of out of breath. And I'm just like, I'm so in it. I'm not in my mind. I feel alive, I feel energized, I forget that I didn't drink coffee that day. Like I just feel fully, fully present. And that's like when you go to a really good concert, a really good show, and you're just dancing for hours, or you're in a really tantalizing conversation with someone and, it's just flow.
Speaker 2 (00:42:39) - It's like when you're in that flow state that to me, flow state is. Is a really heavily in being in the body because the minds off and things are flowing. You're not rationalizing, you're not performing, you're not thinking, what am I going to say next? Or what am I going to do? Or what are they thinking of me? It's it's flow and. That's it.
Speaker 1 (00:43:04) - Dance is one of my mediums too, whether it's just me in the kitchen or if it's on the ballroom with somebody else. I go dancing like every Friday night and I go to a little like practice party. We learn a new dance, you know, or maybe, maybe it's not new, but I still show up for it. And then we have this practice party, and it can be 2 to 3 hours of dancing straight. And I'm just like, my hair is wet. Was swept by the time we're done. And I'm just, like, feeling so alive. Oh.
Speaker 2 (00:43:35) - Yeah. So I bet, like, I bet you're just like, drawing all the people into you.
Speaker 2 (00:43:40) - You know, like it's. It's magnetizing.
Speaker 1 (00:43:43) - I just dance every song, every song. It's so fun. Yeah. Oh my gosh Lauren.
Speaker 2 (00:43:49) - Those that for those that don't dance out there, start dancing. Put on a song right now. Start dancing. Let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1 (00:43:55) - Just try it. Even if it's just like tapping your foot. Give yourself permission to feel the music.
Speaker 2 (00:44:00) - Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:44:02) - Yeah. Lauren, I literally could talk to you all day. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being a guest.
Speaker 2 (00:44:08) - Likewise. Thank you so much for having me. We we could talk for hours.
Speaker 1 (00:44:12) - we probably will again. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:44:14) - Totally. I really appreciate you having me on. And, It's my. It's my pleasure. Thank you, thank you.
