How Yoga Can Help You Calm Your Teacher Life with Brett Larkin [episode 122]

122) How Yoga Can Help You Calm Your Teacher Life with Brett Larkin

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Welcome to episode 122 of wife, teacher, mommy, the podcast sponsored by educate and rejuvenate. How yoga can help you calm your teacher life with Brett Larkin. This interview is such a huge treat. If you have ever tried yoga, but thought it wasn’t for you, or if you’ve ever considered it, or if you’re a dedicated Yogi, no matter what you were probably going to learn something new from this episode.

 

And even the way that Brett shares about yoga, about what it is about, what it means to have a yoga life. Just change the way you think about it. So you do not want to miss this interview. Let’s dive in.

 

Someone’s gotta take care of you. It’s the time or resources you lack. Teacher [00:01:00] Mommy, they have got your back. They’ll bridge the galaxy to come. They’ll bridge the galaxy to come. Between your life and class, you and your family. They’ll bridge the galaxy to come. Bridge the galaxy to come.

 

Welcome to Wife Teacher Mommy, the podcast. I’m Kelsey Sorenson, a former elementary teacher and current homeschool mom. And even though I’ve been a resource creator since 2014, I’ve realized that printables alone aren’t all you need in order to thrive as a teacher or homeschool parent. That’s why I also created this show and got started.

 

Certified as a life coach to help you finally kick burnout to the curb and feel confident with whatever challenges come your way with the right mindset strategies and new teaching inspiration. You’re going to be well on your way to your best teacher life. Now let’s [00:02:00] go.

 

welcome to I’ve teacher, mommy, the podcast. If it’s your first time here. Welcome. If you have been listening for a while, so glad to have you back for another incredible interview. Today last week I interviewed Gasper Randazzo who was featured on Netflix’s TV show the trust recently, if you missed that episode, you do not want to miss it.

 

So be sure to go back and listen to that one. After this one today, what I’ve. I’ve got for you is an incredible interview with Brett Larkin. Author of yoga life. And she is a yoga instructor with like hundreds of thousands of followers. And she is just so incredible. And it’s really interesting how. I got to having her on the podcast.

 

Actually, I got a cold pitch in my inbox and we get a ton of cold pitches for podcasts. Like probably every day we have somebody being like, can I be on the podcast? Can I be on the podcast? And usually we just [00:03:00] have to like send them a forum bake. I’ll get to you if I can. But normally I have so many other things planned for all of you that. I can’t get every guest on, but when I saw hers and it was all about yoga and mindset and meditation and mindfulness and. All the different things she could speak on, like spirituality, all that. I just felt really drawn to it.

 

I was like, you know what? I think actually, when I hear this one out, I think I want to hear what Brett has to say. And I’m so glad that I did. And it was such an informative interview. I learned a lot from the interview. In fact, I loved it so much that as soon as the interview ended, I got out my Kindle scribe.

 

And if you’ve been listening for a while, you know, I love my Kindle scribe. Um, it is like a Kindle, but you can write on it as well. I read at an average of about one self-help book a week this year. I’m actually, if I look on my good reads challenge, I’m actually ahead of pace on the one book a week, it was kind of crazy. But I always highlight, I take notes.

 

That is how I learn. And I’m able to consume. [00:04:00] And I synthesize the information I learned in each of the books and I just love it. I’m able to journal on it. Right. My wins each day, I do all of it on the one device and it just comes with me and I love it. Um, but I immediately got it out and I purchased her book, yoga life that we talk about on the podcast.

 

And I cannot wait to dive into it. I like scrolled through it. I’m like, oh, this book is going to be amazing. I have a few other books I’m finishing up, but I’m really going to dive into it soon. It’s just everything she has to share on this episode. I can’t wait to find what my ideal yoga positions are.

 

She talks about how you’ve, if you’ve never done yoga. It’s actually perfect because you’re going to get exactly what you need just by reading the book and finding what’s right for you. And you can then leave out the rest. So it’s really a lot of overlap between what I talk about. And I have not, I’m not a huge Yogi.

 

I haven’t done any yoga training or anything, but there’s so much overlap between like the mindfulness and the nervous system and the body work. And. Are. Our thoughts and everything that we talk [00:05:00] about here that can really tie into the way Brett talks about yoga. So really excited to dive into this interview.

 

I’m also really excited because Brett is going to be speaking at the 2024 educate and rejuvenate summer conference. So if you are in educate and rejuvenate, our wife, teacher, mommy club member. Or if you have a ticket, you will get into the event and you will get to see her presentation along with my presentations and the huge speaker lineup we have, which. With incredible speakers like Gasper from last week’s interview is one of our keynotes Christie and Yakus Mitch’s our other keynote go to educate and rejuvenate.com to learn more about the event.

 

It’s going to be great. Okay. Let’s breed Brett. Spile quick. And then we’re going to get right into this interview. So Brett Larkin is the founder of uplifted yoga and the author of yoga life habits, poses, and breathwork to channel joy. I missed the chaos.

 

Her training has set the standard for quality online certifications since 2015.

 

And it has [00:06:00] matriculated thousands of yoga teachers. Brett’s award-winning YouTube channel with half a million subscribers and uplifted yoga podcasts empowers listeners to actively design their lives. Using yoga’s ancient wisdom. You’ll get enthusiastic, love her courses on Kundalini, prenatal, yoga, and the uplifted yoga academy.

 

Learn more@brettlarkin.com. Okay, let’s get to the interview.

 

 

 

Okay, welcome to Wife, Teacher, Mommy, the podcast, Brett. We’re so excited to have you here today.

 

too.

 

I’ve been really looking forward to this interview because when I got the email about possibly having you on the show, one thing that I loved about what you do and the idea of chatting about yoga on the podcast, it isn’t really a topic we’ve touched on yet, but I feel like it really ties into what we do here and what I talk about on the podcast.

 

I talk about, well, we talk about a few different things. We talk about like thought work, but also like feelings work and getting in our bodies and making sure we’re regulated. So many of us are so in our heads [00:07:00] and disconnected. So one reason that I love the idea of chatting about yoga on the podcast, it’s not only a topic that we’ve talked about lately, but a lot of teachers, like, we are burned out more than ever before. so many are leaving the profession. the moms to homeschool.

 

That’s a whole other, like, part of burnout and feeling like you’re around kids all the time and never get a moment for yourself. And so we talk about, like, a few different things here. We talk about, like, our thought work and. You know, that is really important. But sometimes we get so stuck in our heads that we need to come into our bodies and realize what’s going on.

 

And we’re so stuck in our head that we maybe don’t even recognize what emotions we’re feeling or even

 

if we’re dysregulated or stuck in the stress and burnout. And I feel like yoga can be just such a great way

 

to work through the stress, to get embodied,

 

um, to get in touch with our spirit.

 

So how does yoga help with all of this?

 

I, So relate to everything you’re saying. I, mean, we’re living in the information age. We’re inundated with more [00:08:00] information than ever before. I think I have a stat in my book that’s like, we’re exposed to more information in a day than our great great grandparents were in their entire lifetime. And then,

 

add on kids, add on if you’re teaching or homeschooling.

 

I mean,

 

even just thinking of zoom culture, it’s like, we’re just, floating heads, right?

 

So there’s a lot of over intellectualization. There’s so much information out there. And I agree. It’s

 

like, I think the journey of like the next hundred years, it’s going to be the journey downward, like downward

 

back into our body and regulating the nervous system.

 

And something that everyone can do just listening to this right now is just put one hand on your heart

 

and

 

one hand on your belly. I find that like touching my Actual body

 

reminds me that I have a body,

 

reminds me that I have a body.

 

um, and just observing your breath. And we can talk a little bit more about that. But to me just that simple awareness of like, I have a body, how is my body breathing?

 

Like that is yoga, even if you’re not on a mat, even if you’re not wearing yoga pants, even if [00:09:00] you’re not doing any poses. My definition of yoga is that awareness, that introspection. So we can dive into that more, but I just want to preface and say that. Anyone who’s just observing their breath and getting their hands on their body,

 

for me is a yoga success story already.

 

success story already.

 

I love that. Like, it doesn’t have to, I feel like people think of yoga and

 

they’re like, oh, I can’t do that I’m not flexible.

 

I, I mean, I’ve thought that too. Like, oh, I can’t like do all the incredible poses as well as the other people,

 

but it’s not necessarily about that. And I, So I love what you said there. Can you, can we rewind a little bit though and talk a little bit about Well, a little bit about yourself, but also what

 

inspired you to, like, get into yoga, to write, yoga life, to inspire people everywhere about

 

yoga

 

Yes Well, I initially found

 

yoga because I had a

 

lot of anxiety So that was kind of when I was finishing up college and I just fell in love with the practice It

 

gave me an awareness that the voices in my head weren’t me which some people already know but others like [00:10:00] me

 

weren’t clued in until later in

 

life that This negative inner dialogue or these, you know, the cast of characters that lived rent free in my brain

 

telling me to do more, strive more, be the best,

 

uh, that kind of perfectionist voice.

 

Like I didn’t have to listen to it. It wasn’t until I started doing

 

yoga and getting awareness, you know, the yogi say, the more space between your breath, the more

 

space between your thoughts.

 

So as you slow down your breath, you start to notice all those voices and realize that they aren’t you.

 

However.

 

However.

 

changed when

 

I became a mom.

 

Uh, when I became a mom, I was going through a very rapid period of growth in my business. And I was also

 

the full time care provider for my father who was dying of cancer.

 

I’m an only child. My parents are divorced. So when I say I was the sole care provider, it was

 

literally like my newborn was in one room in my house and the bedroom next door was my dad

 

dying. And he

 

died that year. So it was this.

 

crazy year of like

 

business growth, walking my dad through this death portal, figuring out how

 

to be a [00:11:00] new mom. And all the

 

yoga that I had done up to that point was failing me. Like I couldn’t go to a 60 minute class anymore. I couldn’t even teach or have time to do the routines that I was telling

 

other people to do that I was putting on YouTube. You know, up until that point, I had been this

 

cheerleader of like yoga every day, you can do it. And I was doing these long

 

practices.

 

And the minute I became a mom and a caretaker of an elderly parent, like all of that went out the

 

window And

 

I knew I

 

had to reinvent what yoga was and how it was working in my life and what it meant for me.

 

And that is the inspiration for the book. The idea is that yoga is not this additional thing you have to do. I called the book yoga life because the idea is like your whole life becomes a student, like a yoga studio, and you can sprinkle the ancient wisdom of yoga. even just here and there between other activities.

 

So we can talk about what that looks like and how I change my practice during that really intense year. Um, if that’s something you’re interested in diving into.

 

interested in. Yeah, yeah. No, I think [00:12:00] this is all so relatable because I think a lot of us, like and I, it’s actually

 

come up on

 

coaching calls, like very similar things to this where we feel like, oh, well, I used to be able to

 

do things this way. Why is it now harder to do it that way? like

 

you know, whether it’s a new addition to the family or it’s, they took a different position at a different grade level. They’re like, it was So easy for me, but now they’re relearning a new

 

grade

 

level or something Like, that. And

 

just realizing that there are

 

different times and seasons in our lives where,

 

you know, it might look a little bit different, but it’s not all or nothing. it’s, not like Oh, since I can’t do a 60 minute yoga class, that. means yoga is just out of my life right

 

Exactly. I love what you just said. And, and I’d love to paint a picture for

 

everyone listening right now. It’s like,

 

cause this is a huge reframe that’s going to help you. Empower you to fit yoga in is if we all, I think we could all

 

agree that if we opened a

 

savings account and we put a little bit of money in it each day

 

that that money would

 

grow, that it would accrue

 

and that maybe because of compound interest and [00:13:00] other things at the bank, like the money would like definitely like,

 

over time grow quite a bit.

 

However, when it comes to yoga or breath work, we tend to think that like, unless we’re at an ego retreat in Bali or wearing perfect yoga clothes or like set up in the perfect yoga space or have an hour to practice,

 

that the results of our practice

 

aren’t

 

cumulative. So one of the biggest initial reframes that I would love for moms, teachers, anyone’s listening to make is that like,

 

even

 

just.

 

Two minutes of breath work or one

 

deep breath in the heat of an argument is worthwhile. It’s like dropping pennies into that savings account

 

of

 

your nervous system

 

And even if it’s just 1 percent a day that you’re expanding your nervous system capacity, think about what that means over the course of a year, you are going to be just a completely different place,

 

a completely different person.

 

And

 

then when you start personalizing the breath work and the yoga poses that you choose to do, all of a sudden, instead of that.

 

Two minutes of breath work or two [00:14:00] minutes of poses being like a couple cents in the savings

 

account. It’s like a couple dollars because you’re making the little

 

time you have more potent. So that’s why I love to talk about

 

personalizing your practice. And we can totally go

 

there next because that’s what I ended up doing when I. ran out of time. I was like, okay, I need to get

 

the most bang for my yoga buck

 

in like the 10 minutes that I have to practice between like baby’s nap and dad

 

waking up and needing me.

 

Right. Um, and so I really started optimizing what

 

I chose to practice

 

what I chose to practice. I love that. and before we dive into like personalizing it, I want to remember that some of the people listening might like not even be doing yoga, They’re like how do I personalize something that I don’t even know how to do? You know? So what, what would you say, like, let’s say we’re like bare beginner here with yoga like how do they get like started and then personalize it to them?

 

point. Yeah. Well, I think the first thing to realize is that yoga is not gymnastics.

 

the.

 

the [00:15:00]

 

Um, images we see of yoga.

 

on social media are just such a small aspect of the practice. I have a chapter in my book

 

about the history of yoga and

 

how yoga came west, but the reality is that the true yoga, the ancient yoga was always about

 

us being able to best manage our energy.

 

I like to call yoga the science of

 

energy management, which means it is like

 

fantastic for moms and teachers or anyone who is busy

 

because the yogis figured out basically millennia ago that certain breathwork and postures. energize

 

us. Other breathwork and postures help calm us down. And if we look at what people are struggling with, we see Starbucks on every corner.

 

We see, um, I think the number one over the counter medication that’s sold is like sleeping

 

aids. So our,

 

our, we have a crisis where we don’t know how to increase our energy or.

 

How to calm down at night. And so yoga can really help with that. So it’s not just about relaxation. It is not about fancy poses.

 

It’s really about how can I best optimize my energy [00:16:00]

 

even amidst challenging situations that are coming at me. And to understand that anything you do happen to do on a yoga mat is like the easy yoga, the real yoga is happening off the mat on a, on a yoga mat is a very controlled environment. Like. No one’s honking at me.

 

No one’s cutting me off in traffic. You know, kids hopefully aren’t yelling or climbing on top of me. It’s like when I get out into the world is when we really want to Be able to have that awareness of our inner dialogue and deepen our breath

 

So what I would say to someone who’s a beginner is like

 

don’t be intimidated.

 

You really only need

 

10 to 20

 

minutes a day if you want to have like a formal practice and you only really need to practice six to eight postures that feel good for you.

 

And my book has like a quiz that helps you figure out what those postures are going to be based on a variety of things, physical, emotional, and mental.

 

But There’s a part of the book where I just talk about how less is

 

more. So you don’t need to go to

 

a

 

studio. You don’t need to like pick a [00:17:00] yoga style. Oh, my gosh, the styles are so confusing.

 

styles are so different.

 

right? They’re like, do I do Hatha or Ashtanga or

 

Yeah. Decision fatigue, right? Oh, I have to decide. Like,

 

that’s just, like, a barrier to

 

you. can like throw.

 

All of that

 

out and you can just discover what I call

 

the soulmate postures. Okay? Your soulmate yoga poses. That’s just like the six

 

to

 

eight poses or breathing

 

techniques that really serve to balance you. You don’t need anything more. So I know you’re

 

like, how do people start without personalizing? But I almost feel like

 

If you haven’t started

 

yoga and this is going to be your first entry, like that’s the best because I wish I had learned

 

yoga just like, okay, tell me about yourself.

 

These are the things that would really work well for you and just do those. Don’t

 

worry about

 

anything else. So

 

if you can do the personal as I like personalized way in

 

Um, I think that that really works, but it’s just

 

like having a lot of

 

grace realizing it’s not always going to happen. Like sometimes my practice looks like I’m doing cat cow on my bathroom floor

 

while my

 

husband shaves and we’re talking about weekend plans, right?

 

Like, is that my [00:18:00] ideal morning practice?

 

No, but it’s better than

 

nothing. At least I’m getting a central spinal movement in, At least I’m

 

connecting with my breath. So

 

just finding these little, I mean, we can talk more about yoga habits a little later, but

 

little

 

ways to

 

slip it in and

 

come back

 

to that money in the bank analogy, right?

 

I know that even though that cat cow was like, I’m talking to my husband,

 

like it’s cumulative. It’s money in my nervous system bank that is going to help serve me later when my son is having a tantrum or like the better I can feel in my body, the more I can be present and, um, able to assist him

 

able to assist him.

 

Yes. I love what you said about like, you know, it doesn’t always have to be the ideal, like what we would do. for yoga. Like some days, like you mentioned, on your bathroom floor or whatever. And that’s kind of, we talked about in, we did this self love challenge. We just finished up on the podcast and on one of the days they talked about like having a minimum baseline. like, maybe you just want like three minutes of movement in a day or like whatever it is And you can always try to do. more than that.

 

but like if you just [00:19:00] have that minimum or like those, Like you know, maybe just

 

one pose that like is like, if I do nothing else, I do this

 

and, and making your

 

and then you can build

 

up from there.

 

And that one pose could be Shavasana, which is literally like a

 

nap. right? So I like to view The the yoga mat as like, This is a safe space

 

Okay, but at least you practice the most important yoga, which is that self connection, that looking inward.

 

I have so many people in my community who ask, like, how do I get consistent? How do I have a consistent practice? And the answer is like, you

 

make your yoga practice so

 

nourishing. That you never

 

want to skip

 

it, which requires a

 

huge reframe, right?

 

This isn’t about following along to someone else’s routine, although you can definitely do that. I

 

have like a thousand free videos on YouTube. Um, but this is about like, even if you start with one of my videos, let’s say

 

you can mute me, you can pause me. You could go off and do your own thing after a little bit.

 

Like I actively encourage that. You want to be able to design some breath work and poses that are [00:20:00] going to feel nourishing. And depending on what’s

 

going on in your life, if your baby’s sleeping through the night or not, like that’s going to look very different in all

 

these

 

different seasons. so to me, an advanced yoga practice is this skill of like yogic

 

adaptability.

 

Do I just know enough postures? And it’s really like,

 

you just need to know like 12. Like if you just read my

 

book, like you’re set. Um, To, to, to, to like meet yourself in the imperfect moment you’re in. There is no perfect practice. It’s like, how can I design an imperfect practice to meet me in the imperfect

 

life moment I’m in to, nourish myself and fill my cup?

 

That’s my philosophy.

 

That’s I love that so much. So like in your book, they’re able to go in and they’re able to do like find the poses And, and by there, I mean, like, I’m actually, I can’t wait, I’m going to grab your book.

 

I didn’t totally, I actually wanted to do it before this interview, but I actually just finished my manuscript for my book last week. So, um,

 

Congratulations. Yeah, I’d be happy to

 

send you a copy. like how it starts is we start with a personality quiz. So I don’t

 

know. [00:21:00]

 

I’m so going to date myself here. But like when I was a kid,

 

I loved

 

at like summer camp doing like

 

those Cosmo quizzes. Do you

 

remember those

 

from like

 

17 magazine and stuff of like

 

You know, but it was just like so funny to me.

 

So I was like, okay, I want this to like be what we’re doing. So

 

the book starts with like a little personality quiz so that you can find out the dominant element within you. And I don’t want this to be too confusing for folks, but

 

according to traditional Chinese medicine

 

and the

 

Ayurvedic system within yoga is the same.

 

It’s like

 

all of us have one

 

dominant

 

element that

 

kind of makes up our personality and informs how we move through life.

 

So you’re either air, earth or fire dominant.

 

And if you know that it’s so

 

important, like this is the first thing yoga beginners should be taught because

 

if you know that,

 

then it informs what breath work is going to serve to balance you, what breath work is going to skew you out of balance.

 

Like for example, I’m Pitta dominant, which is the fire element. So breath of fire, which is like a pranayama breathing technique that’s very heating.

 

isn’t

 

[00:22:00] ideal

 

for me if my goal is to, you know, show up really calm for my kids. Like the water breath is a better choice. So then the book moves through how

 

you would set up your own personal practice.

 

There’s five

 

components to a personal practice. you sit, You sit, You stretch, you know, you strengthen, you meditate, all these little pieces. They can each be like three minutes.

 

And then once you know your dominant element, there’s more quizzes in the book that are like, these are the, what I think would be the soulmate postures for you, for each section of

 

your little ritual. And then, because we know life happens, the end of the book is like, okay, you’ve made this little 20 minute

 

ritual. There’s a

 

worksheet you can print out. And it’s like, okay. Let’s just imagine everything’s

 

gone to hell in a

 

handbasket, right?

 

Like you

 

woke up late, you didn’t sleep,

 

like you have this dominant element.

 

Here’s how you take your 20 minute thing and make it a five minute

 

thing. Here’s how you would like remove these sections.

 

Oh, the house is clean. You have a babysitter. Like here’s how you’d expand your 20 minute thing to be a 60 minute thing.

 

And then there’s like the yoga habits, which are all the little

 

ways you can sprinkle

 

yoga in like in the [00:23:00] car or While you’re cooking and more like

 

philosophical fun, things like that.

 

See how many yoga habits I can squeeze into a day because I’m fire dominant. I’m

 

Yes, totally. One of my favorite things to do

 

is

 

actually like see how many yoga habits I can squeeze into a day because I’m fire

 

dominance. I’m very competitive.

 

Um, but yeah, just to give some examples, like one yoga habit is just

 

to stretch while I’m watching TV. So I always force myself, like there’s a rule in my house

 

that if you’re watching TV, you have to stretch for at least half the show.

 

This is for me and my husband. So now is this, I,

 

as I feel as like doing this, you know, really serene stretch in my bedroom with candles for like

 

70 minutes. And sometimes I manage to do that. No, it’s not.

 

But again, it’s better than nothing.

 

Like another

 

example, I really love to use the car and especially the garage.

 

I think for a lot of moms,

 

me, it’s like, I know the

 

like the

 

garage can become a really.

 

It’s a

 

great

 

place to do breathwork or meditation. For example,

 

obviously if you’re homeschooling, this doesn’t work, but [00:24:00] if you do drop your kids off at school, you drive home. And for me, it’s like, I know the minute I enter my house, like

 

there’s going to be things I need to do.

 

I’m going to feel like I need to jump on email.

 

Before I

 

before I cross that threshold. The garage is kind of this space in between worlds.

 

So I often just stay in the car

 

and I just, I’m like, I’m going to just put my hands on my body, check in with myself. How do I feel? What do I want?

 

And

 

Practice just

 

a couple slow deep breaths and again, these are small things,

 

but they add up.

 

Um, when the tea is boiling, I love

 

tea. You can see me drinking it right now. I used to like scroll social media. Now when I’m waiting for the tea to boil, all of

 

you can do this. I just

 

put my hand on the counter and walk my seat back. So I’m kind of stretching my spine. So I’m kind of

 

in an upside down L shape and I just wag my booty side to side and it’s just like this lovely.

 

Like lengthen the spine and low back

 

stretch just while I wait for the tea to boil and I slowly deepen my breath. [00:25:00] When I’m talking to my kids, I love to take my feet a little wider apart and just do some hip

 

circles to

 

mobilize my low back and pelvis. So I might be talking to them, telling them it’s time to clean up or time to cook dinner or whatever, but I’m adding in a little mobility.

 

And then of course, there is. Thanks. a psychological aspect to this where yoga gives us these really incredible principles about how to live our life, um, what yoga in action looks like in our relationships. So I practice those off the mat as well. So we can go into those if you want. It’s kind of different than some of the movement and breathwork pieces.

 

Um, but yeah, those are just some

 

Does that help paint a

 

picture? Oh yeah, and I feel like each of

 

those is kind

 

of like you were saying, they’re all making a little deposit into

 

that bank that is going to grow and again,

 

help our nervous system regulate, help us to get more connected with ourselves. So I love these little habits and how

 

They can help us to incorporate yoga into our life, like yoga

 

life. I love there’s a

 

Yeah

 

so there’s a text in yoga called the Yoga Sutras.

 

and the yoga

 

sutras are sort of this guidebook about

 

how to really [00:26:00] achieve Enlightenment so I actually don’t think it’s about practical for moms, which is controversial to say, because everyone loves this

 

text, but really it It’s more designed for people who are like living in an

 

ashram and have 10 hours a day to practice yoga.

 

So when I was going through that really

 

difficult year with my father passing and looking after him and becoming a new mom, and I remember I told you, I was like, how does yoga still work

 

for me? Like I

 

don’t

 

need Like to achieve enlightenment. I need to like make it through bedtime. Like that’s my goal

 

right and is there anything in the yoga sutras that can actually help me in this situation and There’s actually one sutra or one line of the the yoga sutras that actually speaks directly to this and it’s Sutra 2. 1.

 

and it says yoga and action is, and it’s really important that this, this piece of the text talks about yoga and action and differentiates it from all the rest of the yoga that’s in the book, which

 

is kind of like yoga for enlightenment.

 

This is like yoga if you’re a householder and [00:27:00] acting in the

 

world, meaning like you have a job

 

and you’re not meditating in a cave.

 

Right? So I got really interested in this one sutra. Sutra just means thread or like aphorism essentially. And it says yoga in action is, and then there’s three words. And I absolutely fell in love with my spin on these three words because Sanskrit’s a little bit of a difficult language in the sense that one word can mean many different things.

 

So often you might read one translation of a yoga text and it’s very different from someone else’s translation because of how they choose to interpret it. So the three words. In this sutra are Svadhyaya, Tapas, and Ishvara Pranadana. So I’ll go through each one. Svadhyaya, the first one, is often translated to mean

 

self study,

 

self study, right, or even the study of scripture.

 

I like to think of

 

I like to think of it as self awareness. And if you’re doing yoga in action, meaning acting in the real world, it’s like what’s the point of self [00:28:00] awareness if I don’t Take what I learn through introspecting to nourish myself and to take care of myself. So I actually translate Svadhyaya as like the self awareness that leads to self care.

 

So that would be that introspecting, the putting the hands on the body. How do I feel? What do I want? How can I nourish myself? Um,

 

ourselves that love and compassion and knowing what we need. Yeah. I love that.

 

Yeah, that’s half the battle, right? Like most of the time we’re frazzled or we’re upset and we’re not even in touch with our true desire or we don’t even know what would be nourishing. So it’s like we’re set up to fail and you ran a self love challenge. So you would totally be down with like you’re already practicing it.

 

Um, the second word tapas

 

is an interesting one that often gets translated to mean heat, like the, the heat that you might feel in a chair pose or difficult pose, but it’s so, so much more than that.

 

I think of tapas as like that intentional. Friction or that alchemy. I think of like wood when the woods being burned by the fire or think of it as like your digestive system.

 

That’s [00:29:00] like transforming food into energy.

 

It’s the alchemy of purposely changing, um, and transforming something.

 

So.

 

What this looks like, or the cheat phrase that I use for this one is cultivate the opposite. Tapas basically means the friction, the

 

resistance that you feel when you’re going against your default programming. So if I’m someone who always shows up late,

 

tapas for me might be forcing myself to arrive 10 minutes early.

 

That’s going to be going against my habitual kind of patterning

 

and doing things in a new way.

 

So tapas might also show up in the yoga mat. Like if you’re someone who.

 

is super addicted to doing like hot yoga.

 

Tapas for you might mean doing like again, or restorative type of yoga at home. That’s going to feel very different than what you’re comfortable with. Different with your pattern, different than your pattern. So what I love about this concept of tapas is it’s so. Personal. It’s so unique. Like if I’m really stingy, tapas might mean like leaving a really lavish tip at a [00:30:00] restaurant, even though that feels super uncomfortable for me.

 

And what all of this is doing is like it’s expanding our capacity, right? Of

 

how we show up in the world and what we’re comfortable with. So it forces us to grow And move through life in new ways.

 

So that’s that second principle of tapas. And I love it. Also, like, Yeah.

 

someone who always shows up late,

 

it forces you

 

to, yeah, experiment as well, right?

 

Like,

 

maybe you always do the homeschooling in like a certain order of the subjects, and

 

you’re like, you know what? Let’s cultivate the opposite, change it up, we’re gonna go outside first. And then, you never know how the day flows from there. Like, often we just get so set in our ways, you know, the brain just wants to do everything the same, because your brain doesn’t really care about your evolution, it just cares about your survival, unfortunately.

 

It cares a little bit about procreation as

 

about your arrival. For sure, and that’s the default. And this is where we consciously override that default, and we’re like, Hey, you know

 

Exactly. So, it’s that’s tapas

 

like you hit it

 

[00:31:00] on nail on the head. Um, the third concept is Ishvara pranidhana. So this often gets translated as God by some yogic scholars. Um, it’s

 

often translated as like, surrender. Um, believing in something greater than yourself, but it’s really like surrender is a nice translation. What I use as my cheat phrase for that one is relinquishing control, relinquish control,

 

which I know as moms, it’s like, so hard,

 

Let’s change it

 

challenging. But the thing that I’ve found is like, if I relinquish control, even if it’s just within my own mind,

 

I have more energy to put towards myself and I’m able to be more relaxed.

 

So. Um, let me give an example and I think I use this example somewhere in the book. I might tell my son

 

to do things a little

 

who’s, let’s say

 

he’s four in this moment, like

 

go clean up your plate. Like take your plate to the counter. That is like a very [00:32:00] controlling statement, which makes sense from like a

 

parent going to a kid.

 

Like I want him to clean up, but the minute

 

I say it like that,

 

it’s creating this dynamic of like, I’m telling him what to do. And now we’re in a situation where he’s either going to obey me or he’s not. And then my brain has a lot of stories about like.

 

If he obeys me, that means he’s a good kid and I’m a good mom.

 

And it’s kind of like,

 

we’re on this good trajectory. If he doesn’t obey me, what does that mean? Like your brain makes all these stories, right? It’s like, maybe he’s a bad kid and I’m a bad mom. Why doesn’t my kid listen to me? So even with just a simple rephrase of,

 

I would love this table to be clean. Do you see how that’s different than like. Go put your plate on the counter. In that, I’m, instead of being controlling, I’m expressing a pure desire. I’m saying, I would love this table to be clean.

 

And then in my own mind,

 

I relinquish control of

 

whether the table is going to get cleaned by him or not. Even if it’s energetically in my own [00:33:00] mind,

 

it’s like, I find my kids can sense a difference. Like they know I’m unattached to the outcome and that I’m not going to make it mean anything,

 

what to do, and now we’re

 

very

 

often, they rise to meet me because

 

I’ve stayed in desire instead of control. So they’re actually like excited to,

 

to

 

be my hero and please me. Again, they’re little. So sometimes they don’t. But there’s just an example of how relinquishing control can work and just like,

 

a very simple practical moment with your kids. Um, and then there’s also like relinquishing control of like,

 

you know, he wants to wear his bluey sweatshirt. Like again, even though it’s dirty, like I’m willing to relinquish control. Like, do I really care that his nursery school might be like, why is he wearing the same shirt five days in a row? Like, no, I don’t, I don’t, care. So I’m relinquishing control of that. So I think what’s hard about being,

 

to be clean. And then in my own mind, I relinquish

 

exactly. I think one of the hardest things about being a mom is like knowing

 

when do I want to relinquish control and when do I not want to relinquish control and it’s always, [00:34:00] ultimately to me, it comes down to safety. Like if they’re playing on the stairs, it’s like I’m going to control and remove them from the stairs.

 

Like you’re not allowed to play on the stairs. But if it’s something like snapping socks or, you know, food, like whether to eat something or not, it’s like we all have to draw our own boundaries and lines about, because the thing is when I try to control, it’s according to the yogic system, Like that is a waste of energy. that’s why this is So fascinating because it’s Like, if you’re practicing yoga in action, yoga is a science of energy management.

 

to try to

 

It doesn’t make sense to try to control the uncontrollable. Like that’s a huge waste of energy.

 

Yeah, where you could maybe, Like if I surrender this, I can put that energy into something that’s actually productive, and that’ll help me to Or I can put that energy. into self care.

 

Or I could put that energy in the self care. but yeah, yeah. So I always say relinquish control, the more energy you have for self care. So let’s say I’m frustrated by the bluey sweatshirt situation.

 

if I relinquish

 

Like if I relinquish control and I’m like, you know what, I’m just going to let him wear it. And [00:35:00] then I put my hands on my own body. And I take all that energy that I was about to expend making him change, him being upset, being controlling, and just direct all that energy inward, giving myself that attention. it’s like I’m filling my own cup.

 

And that’s why like relinquishing control and self care go really well together. Because a lot of times we need to relinquish control and just actually parent ourselves, like deal with our own

 

and deal with our own discomfort. Yes. Because a lot of times it is about that. Like we’re putting that on our kids when it’s really like we could, Yeah. take that

 

Yeah, it’s really about

 

us. Like, are us being worried? Like what his future is going to think or

 

is going to

 

think. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Oh, this has all been so good. And I feel like it’s been, had so much clarification about how we can fit yoga into like our everyday lives and how it’s like a practice, like. In other areas, rather than just like being on a yoga mat, doing a bunch of poses and things like that,

 

yeah, exactly. Like on a yoga mat, [00:36:00] what a beautiful place to practice self care, the practice of tuning inward. How do I feel? What do I want? Right? Like the yoga mat’s a great place to practice that. The yoga mat’s a great place to practice tapas. Okay. I’m going to maybe put myself in a position that’s a little uncomfortable and I’m going to see how that goes.

 

Like these are new sensations in my thigh. This feels weird. This feels different. Can I breathe? Right? It’s like a simulation. for what we’re going to have to deal with off the mat later with our kids, right? Can I relinquish control of like, this pose just doesn’t feel good for me, right? Or I’m just, you know, just going to skip this whole section of my routine today because I don’t have time or I’m not in the mood or I’m on my cycle or whatever it is. so the mat is like a place where we can practice all these concepts in our body. And then off the mat is where the real yoga is happening. It’s like, how

 

can I embody these in a conversation with my partner or colleague or a child? and how I’m showing up.

 

and how I’m showing up.

 

I love that. I love this. I thought this could be a great reframe for those who’ve maybe tried yoga and they’d be [00:37:00] like, I don’t know, it just didn’t work for me, but maybe if they can kind of take what they’ve learned. from this podcast, but also probably take a step further and get a copy of your book because that can help them find their, um, Oh, what was it you called it? Their, their poses that will, the personalized, the what?

 

The soulmate poses.

 

The soulmate poses. Soulmate poses, yes. I was like, I can’t quite remember what you called them, but yeah, that will help them to be able to Apply this to their life to be able to find their poses and then also like learn even more about the habits and everything that you have to share. So I’m excited to read Yoga Life. I’m very excited. I’m, I’m gonna get on my Kindle. It’s going to

 

Yeah. and I think for moms, you know, this is so important because we’re role modeling what self care looks like for our children. So that’s one of the

 

things that really inspires me to do this. work and to get on my mat every day and to practice these off the mat yoga habits as well, because, you know, we can tell our kids all this stuff, but it’s just in one ear out the other. They just [00:38:00] model our behavior. So especially if you have a daughter at home, like modeling for her, what self care

 

looks like that you might need to put your hands on your body or take some deep breaths or take a step out right to regulate your breathing or nourish yourself. Like her seeing that is so, so powerful.

 

So I think. Like very early when I was a new mom, I was always like, okay, I’ll do yoga when they’re napping. I’ll do yoga.

 

Like I was kind of like

 

secretly trying to do it when they weren’t around. And I still love to do yoga when my kids aren’t around. cause it can be very deep And profound and peaceful. But more and more I’ve been challenging myself to be like, no, they need to

 

see me doing this and modeling this

 

so that

 

they.

 

Know that this is a lifestyle and that I’m thinking about how to regulate my energy or even sometimes we like the other day We parked and we got to the playground and they were like, let’s get out Why are we going out of the car and I was like Mommy needs to take a couple deep breaths before we can leave.

 

I’m feeling a little anxious. So i’m just gonna Sit here and breathe. And, you know, like I want them to see that [00:39:00] because it’s in the modeling of it that they really recognize and get what’s happening. And I want them to know how to regulate and how to identify when they’re overwhelmed and need to take a

 

They’re overwhelmed. Yeah. And that’s really what we do as educators. We model things. We show them like, okay, this is how we do it. And we can do that with other things too, with yoga and with, I’ve had some of our members even say that they have taken things like, you know, let’s take a deep breath as a class, you know, and then their students are able to learn how to regulate themselves.

 

And when we take care of ourselves and fill our own cup, we’re able to. Help our students and our children so much more than if we didn’t. So, and yoga is just a fantastic way to do that, and especially, I love the way that you shared about yoga. I hadn’t heard all of this before, like, and it was a new perspective, so I, I learned a lot from this interview too.

 

So I appreciate you coming

 

Yeah, I’m so glad I got [00:40:00] to be here. and yeah, think about bedtime to bedtime is a great time to breathe with your kids. It’s like my favorite time to like slip that

 

in. So lots of fun things you can do there.

 

of fun things you can do there.

 

Yeah, so where can our listeners, if they want to connect with you more, get, we’ll put a link to your book in the show notes, but where can they follow you? What else would you like to share with them before we,

 

before

 

Yeah, I know, Thank you so much. The book is called Yoga Life. It’s available everywhere. Books are sold. You can get it on Amazon or bookshop. org And you can do free YouTube classes with me. Brett Larkin is my website. B R E T T L A R K I N. So if you just type that into YouTube, you’ll find lots of classes or on my website. the main thing I do is train yoga teachers. Um, we have a lot of people who have It’s been primary school teachers or high school teachers come take our online yoga teacher training. It’s totally online. Um, I ship you a beautiful manual, so you do have that paper

 

So you do

 

to go with the videos that you’re watching in our mobile app. Yeah, I’m still like a glitter pen and paper girl at heart. [00:41:00] so we ship everyone an actual book and you move through the cohort live with. People from all over the world. It’s, it’s a really beautiful experience. so if you’re thinking of, Oh, like I want to do my 200 hour teacher training to bring yoga into the classroom or into my homeschooling classroom, or just go deeper with some of these philosophical concepts, I would love for you to join us.

 

So yeah, that’s everything about

 

yeah, that’s everything about me.

 

That’s amazing. Thank you, Brett, so much for your time. And yeah, I can’t wait to continue to connect and learn more about yoga through your book.

 

Thanks so much for having me.

 

go with it. So fun! If you’re [00:42:00] [00:43:00] [00:44:00] watching

 

If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. And if you’re ready to take the next step, I would love for you to purchase a ticket to join me live at Educate and Rejuvenate Summer 2024, the education event of the year happening on July 16th and 17th this year. We have two incredible keynote speakers, Gaspar Vandazzo, who’s a teacher and stand up comedian who was featured on Netflix on the show The Trust just recently, and Kristina Kuzmich, who is an incredible Best selling author, video creator, influencer, mom, amazing person who was also our keynote last year.

 

She’s back. Everybody loved her so much. We have an incredible lineup of additional speakers teaching on topics such as math, language arts, reading, social emotional learning, classroom management, homeschooling, and tackling burnout. This year we have a super [00:45:00] clear teacher track and a parent chat for homeschoolers, and your ticket gets you access to whichever track you’d like.

 

Or you can even watch sessions from both if you want to. We will start the day all together with a workout each morning. We’ll have panels with the speakers. Plus you get to join me for some live life coaching, as well as with some of our other club coaches. It is the best professional development you could ever attend.

 

There are prizes, Lives, thousands of like hearted educators all coming together. And all of this is happening from the comfort of your own home. So go to educateandrejuvenate. com now to learn more about the 2024 event. Or if you’re listening to this later, that link will show you what is up next as we’ll continue to do events like these, and I hope to see you at the next one.

 

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