Transcript
Speaker: Hey there ladies, and I also feel compelled to say namaste because today's guest knows her way around a yoga mat.
Speaker: Monique Lyle is a public health professional, owner of iTransform LLC, and movement practitioner with a passion for helping people lead healthy, peaceful, balanced lives.
Speaker: As an anatomy observer, she thoughtfully provides attention and modifications to assist students in achieving untapped physical range of motion.
Speaker: And I can say from personal experience, she's damn good at it.
Speaker: Monique, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker: It's my pleasure.
Speaker: Thank you for having me.
Speaker: So tell us a little about yourself and your journey into wellness.
Speaker: So I'm originally from Michigan, rural Michigan.
Speaker: So yes, I grew up in a very small town with like one fast food restaurant and nothing to do but sports.
Speaker: And so, you know, one high school, one middle school, two elementary schools.
Speaker: What else is there to do but learn how to cheerlead, gymnastics, and whatever else was offered.
Speaker: So I'll be honest, I think I am a little...
Speaker: blessed when it comes to body awareness because I learned it at a very early age just from being thrown into, oh no, you're going to go outside and play with the boys, go catch a football, or oh no, you're going to jump rope at the edge of the street with your cousins.
Speaker: So just already moving a lot in rural land kind of gives you the benefit of understanding some concepts that are a little more definitely on the scientific side, but you don't understand that as a kid.
Speaker: You just know you're out there running and moving around.
Speaker: And so it started there, just being a lover of moving my body.
Speaker: And then it became more of a journey when my mother was diagnosed with lupus and then subsequently breast cancer 10 years later.
Speaker: So it became this, well, how do I get my body to respond a little bit differently in the face of something big like a diagnosis?
Speaker: And how do I help her keep her mental capacity in the face of something that
Speaker: we've never even heard of.
Speaker: And so understanding the mind-body connection, it has been a blessing to be able to experience it firsthand, experience it secondhand with a mom, and then take it to other people who have never been introduced to quote-unquote body awareness.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So a lot of people hear that word.
Speaker: It's a popular buzzword.
Speaker: How do you define it?
Speaker: So I define it as the ability to recognize where my body is in space.
Speaker: Plain and simple.
Speaker: Where's my body and how is it moving within this space?
Speaker: And if I can give an example, COVID taught us that to some degree.
Speaker: We had plenty of floor markers to tell us to stay six feet apart.
Speaker: But you know, it's always that one or two person in target who wants to be right up on your back.
Speaker: And you feel that, right?
Speaker: That's body awareness.
Speaker: And it's poor body awareness on some other
Speaker: other person's part, but that itself is body awareness.
Speaker: You're so right.
Speaker: I never made that connection, you know, and it makes me think of the old Seinfeld episode with the close talker.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: Jerry was teaching us about body awareness back in the 90s.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Why is this concept so vital for improving and also maintaining our health once we have it?
Speaker: So, okay, so let me back up for a moment because body awareness, without going too scientific, I'm going to go through the three parts of it.
Speaker: And one would be that internal signal piece.
Speaker: You know when you're hot, you know when you're cold, you know when you're hungry, you know when you're thirsty.
Speaker: Internal signals, right?
Speaker: And then you have the other piece that says,
Speaker: I sense movement.
Speaker: So right now you can't see me, but I'm talking with my hands because I'm a hand talker and I do it without thinking, right?
Speaker: And then you have this spatial deal where I'm in this space and I feel other bodies around me or I feel other things around me or I know I need to shift because I'm too close to something.
Speaker: You have this, what's going on in the environment as it relates to my body?
Speaker: So when you begin to understand,
Speaker: all of these very intricate concepts, you understand how to help your body better, how to help it become well or whole or healthy.
Speaker: If I can give you an example.
Speaker: Of course.
Speaker: Growing up, I grew up in a home where there wasn't a lot of consolation if you hurt yourself.
Speaker: So, you know, you're in sports, you fall down, you scrape your knee, it hurts.
Speaker: But the coach says, push it off.
Speaker: push through it, get up and keep going.
Speaker: I cringe when I hear parents do that with young kids because it teaches them to ignore the internal signals that are naturally communicating something to them to get their attention.
Speaker: So then you grow up with this notion of numbness or I'm going to ignore this because I've been taught all my life to push through.
Speaker: And so if I'm not pushing through, then I'm not good.
Speaker: And if I'm not good, I'm not the winner.
Speaker: And so it has all this array of other negative elements that attach itself to it, right?
Speaker: And so learning how to stop that bad language, that bad conversation to say, no, it does hurt.
Speaker: Or no, I've gone too far in this posture.
Speaker: I can now better take care of myself because I'm no longer ignoring the natural internal conversation that it's giving me.
Speaker: Yeah, I think with boys, that's especially true.
Speaker: And, you know, when we were growing up, for sure, the whole concept of no pain, no gain was really big in the fitness world.
Speaker: And it actually can flip on you because body awareness isn't about body image, which is what some people want to make it.
Speaker: It's about what is your body saying to you?
Speaker: How is it relating?
Speaker: And when you learn to listen, you can really do your body more justice.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: than not listening and doing that push on.
Speaker: So I definitely want to come back to that.
Speaker: But before we do, so tell me what lead you to discover yoga specifically.
Speaker: So I, I was bored.
Speaker: Let me let me just be honest, I was in my 20s, I wasn't dating had a really bad breakup.
Speaker: And so after moving to Maryland from Michigan, I used to do classes through Howard County Recreation and Parks.
Speaker: And there was this little Jewish lady that I fell in love with.
Speaker: She did all kind of aerobics and jazzercise and all that jazz.
Speaker: And she introduced me to yoga.
Speaker: And from there, it was like, oh, that's kind of cool.
Speaker: And then I kind of left it.
Speaker: And then I got pregnant and I was really sick.
Speaker: But I also really needed to move my body.
Speaker: Sidebar.
Speaker: I also was a professional dancer for a stint.
Speaker: So we can come back to that.
Speaker: But needing something while pregnant.
Speaker: And very sickly.
Speaker: It was the thing that kind of brought me back to a balanced space.
Speaker: And so I happened to reach out to this mom's group who was like, oh, yeah, we're doing prenatal yoga at so-and-so's house tonight.
Speaker: And I'm like, I'm game.
Speaker: Like, I don't know how prenatal yoga works, but it sounds like something I need to help me deal with how sick I am.
Speaker: And I'm feeling like I can't really function.
Speaker: And so that's where the real journey started.
Speaker: for me in terms of longstanding yoga practice and involvement.
Speaker: And so had baby number one, did it then, had baby number two, I couldn't do it then.
Speaker: But the moment that I was able to get back in, it's funny, my girlfriend bought me a Groupon to a hot yoga studio and I had never done hot yoga.
Speaker: Bikram hot yoga to be more specific, which is a very prescribed sequence.
Speaker: I thought I was going to die that day.
Speaker: And it became the love of my life.
Speaker: And so did the owner instructor who's now my mentor.
Speaker: So that's where my yoga journey kind of flourished out of the need, out of a boredom in my twenties to a, how do I get my body and my mind back together when I'm feeling so ill?
Speaker: I totally understand.
Speaker: Your first hot backroom experience.
Speaker: It sounds a lot like my experience in your first place.
Speaker: Oh boy.
Speaker: Oh boy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I apologize because I know what that's like.
Speaker: Oh, don't you dare apologize because I'm going to get into that because it's so important for women to learn how to push past a certain fear.
Speaker: So absolutely.
Speaker: Definitely want to talk about that line.
Speaker: But first, there are a lot of misconceptions out there about yoga.
Speaker: Can you speak on some of those and then explain what yoga is actually about?
Speaker: So without going deep into yoga philosophy, I
Speaker: There's a lot of limbs to yoga, right?
Speaker: But what we know more in the Westernized world is asana, practice, taking breath and putting it with movement and placing the body in particular for formations, right?
Speaker: But depending on who you are, depends on how you show up.
Speaker: So someone who's coming to it from a more spiritual standpoint is different than the person who's coming at it with an athletic bend who just wants to,
Speaker: the hard grind.
Speaker: And so I try not to tell people what they should be thinking about something.
Speaker: How is it that you're approaching it?
Speaker: And is that the best approach for you is where I prefer to come from.
Speaker: It's not a religion that you'll hear that often.
Speaker: It is rooted in a particular culture.
Speaker: And I'm grateful that they invite us to participate in what they use as an expression within their culture.
Speaker: And I think what you touched on there, the physical versus spiritual is really important because I've certainly noticed it.
Speaker: Like for me, your Sunday morning class was much more physical in nature, that particular flow.
Speaker: Whereas the Hatha yoga that I started doing also on Saturdays, that definitely has a more spiritual bent.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Yeah, I was about 15 minutes into that one laying on the mat saying to myself, you are not going to cry.
Speaker: Don't do it.
Speaker: And so it has the ability to bring up all kinds of emotions and things, no matter where you are within a sequence or if you're lying on the mat versus, you know, you're standing still.
Speaker: And once you become more comfortable with your body, body awareness,
Speaker: you'll allow yourself to go where your body is telling you to go or inviting you to go.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: So how do you also then factor in the whole concept of alignment?
Speaker: Alignment is my jam.
Speaker: And it's my jam because I come from the dance world where you got to look as synchronized and same as possible in certain genres of dance, right?
Speaker: And so alignment is also very important to me because of the amount of injuries we see with any kind of movement, whether it's a sport, yoga, dance, injury is inevitable if you don't know what you're doing and how to do it safely.
Speaker: And so when I, as I approach alignment, I am doing it from the standpoint, I want my students, I was about to say my children, them too, I want everybody to be safe.
Speaker: And so
Speaker: It also comes with that whole element of trying to engage body awareness, because if you know you're double jointed and I say, give me a straight arm and you overdo it, that's going to eventually be a problem for that joint.
Speaker: So it's like, no, you're double jointed.
Speaker: You've got to bend your arm for it to be actually straight.
Speaker: And I'm one of those people that I had to have that pointed out to me a whole lot of times.
Speaker: I'm really flexy in my elbow.
Speaker: So it's like, no, Monique, your straight arm is actually bent.
Speaker: It's not overdoing it where you're popping, you know, you're popping the inside of your arm out.
Speaker: So alignment is all about safety for me at the end of the day.
Speaker: So a lot of women with any kind of chronic illness are afraid to try yoga because it seems intimidating, especially with all the social media pressure out there.
Speaker: Or it can be physically scary depending on our symptoms.
Speaker: So what would you say to them to help them work through that resistance and give it a shot?
Speaker: I say to them, as I say to all my students, honor your body.
Speaker: Honor your body.
Speaker: I invite all bodies, everybody, not just collectively, but everybody type into my space.
Speaker: And it's because everybody, everybody type can do yoga.
Speaker: What I would say to our sisters is administer some self-grace to yourself before entering such a space.
Speaker: be it yoga, be it the Zumba class, you know, be it the twerk session class down the street, whatever it is, administer some self-grace to yourself and understand you're showing up for you, not the person next to you.
Speaker: See, we have this mentality of I've got to beat or be like the body next to me when in actuality you need to be the body that you're in because I can't live in your body.
Speaker: I can't move your body.
Speaker: Only you can.
Speaker: And so as you approach your mat,
Speaker: the dance floor, the exercise floor, it's really important for you to say, I'm showing up as the person I am today.
Speaker: And I'm going to do the best that I can today, not looking at what I did yesterday, because yesterday could have been phenomenal, but today my body may not want to go there.
Speaker: And so I'm going to administer some self-grace and honor where I am today.
Speaker: I think that's not only great advice, but it touches on the difference between doing like at-home yoga with videos versus going in person to a class.
Speaker: I personally have seen like such a huge difference.
Speaker: I'm still doing at-home yoga, but once a week, I make it a point to go out to a class because you are there with all the different bodies, all different ability levels, all different capabilities, and it really puts things into perspective.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And I'm so glad you brought that up because I too have an at-home practice versus in studios as well.
Speaker: One of my things is I generally don't like going to gyms.
Speaker: I love, I'm learning to appreciate strength training for myself, but I feel very, quote unquote, intimidated being around weights and a lot of guys because I feel like all eyes are on me.
Speaker: So I said, you know what?
Speaker: I have weights at home.
Speaker: Why am I not taking advantage of what I have here?
Speaker: So I too, I have a
Speaker: a strength training practice at home.
Speaker: And then I still go in once a week to push myself in a space where I am okay with Monique, despite who else is around or watching.
Speaker: And it just helps me, it helps me cultivate, I'm okay.
Speaker: I am enough and I am okay.
Speaker: And that's a great
Speaker: and points for yoga because I feel nothing but safety when I'm over at Yoga Revelation, whether it's in your class or Miriam's class.
Speaker: I always feel so safe and I never felt safe as a woman in a gym.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a different environment.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: I mean, I once stopped going and I'm mad at myself.
Speaker: I have to, I'm trying to forgive myself for being mad about at myself for once like stop.
Speaker: I stopped going to a gym.
Speaker: Because of one guy, this one fireman who was an asshole, they wouldn't do anything about it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We have those unfortunate people.
Speaker: And guess what?
Speaker: One day when you're ready to tackle that, I'll say demon for lack of better words, you're going to go in there with your go get them badass attitude and do what you need to do and get on out of there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So points for yoga on that, because there is none of that when you show up at a yoga class.
Speaker: And I'm grateful that you say that because not all facilities are like that.
Speaker: There are some that you go in and it's straight competition.
Speaker: But once again, when I administer self-grace to myself, I'm going in with a different tone and I can block out the competition.
Speaker: You know, who's got the straightest leg, the leg that goes all the way up into the air, who can do the better split.
Speaker: I don't have time to worry about them.
Speaker: I'm here to use this body that God gave me
Speaker: And to do the best that I can to keep it in the best health that I can as long as I can.
Speaker: You know, you're so right.
Speaker: And I hadn't thought about that.
Speaker: It's the difference between a place like Yoga Revelation where it's strictly this is a yoga studio versus like a Planet Fitness where they have a room where there are yoga or so-called yoga classes.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: It's a totally different mindset.
Speaker: And I've subbed at some of those places.
Speaker: And what I can say is it does take a different level of discipline and focus to be able to keep yourself in those spaces because you've got so much volume and movement outside of the walls.
Speaker: If you're in an enclosed space, I've taught in particular gyms where they remove the walls outside of the, I'm going to say the quote unquote exercise yoga space.
Speaker: So you really have to stay grounded to know how to
Speaker: engage with your teacher and the sequence and kind of shut off the weights and the sounds that are going on behind you.
Speaker: Well, I think it's safe to say removing those walls was a man's idea.
Speaker: Yes, it was.
Speaker: Yes, it was.
Speaker: Well, so this leads to another great question for people.
Speaker: What qualities should women look for in a good instructor and studio?
Speaker: For an instructor, I'm going to say someone who recognizes you and pays attention to you.
Speaker: And let's say, yeah, at times there will be 20 people in a class.
Speaker: There is still a way to pay attention to all 20.
Speaker: You're not going to do it at one time, but there's a way to give each one attention.
Speaker: Number two is, are they using really good cueing?
Speaker: to keep you safe in your alignment?
Speaker: And then number three, is there a chemistry between you and that teacher?
Speaker: Because that's going to be important because they are helping guide your practice.
Speaker: And so if I don't feel connected to you or I don't feel that I'm cared for, I'm using my body here, I need to be cared for, right, in some degree, there's not going to be, I may not come back to your class.
Speaker: I'll put it that way.
Speaker: From a studio standpoint, I want to be a part of a community that's a real community.
Speaker: I want to come somewhere that I feel safe and it's clean.
Speaker: I also like to be a part of places that recognize that I can go somewhere else.
Speaker: And, you know, and they give added value or touches to make me want to stay.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: And I have to add in here that you are all of the things you just described.
Speaker: I seriously marvel at the way you are able to manage so many things because unlike some yoga instructors, you do it with us.
Speaker: A lot don't.
Speaker: And the way you manage the routine along with the music and still manage to watch all of us simultaneously and give us that individual tension or modification when we need it.
Speaker: It's absolutely masterful.
Speaker: I have to credit dance to that.
Speaker: And being on stage and being in a rehearsal space, you have the benefit of mirrors.
Speaker: So you can see everything that's going on.
Speaker: So I've been able to develop that introspective eyesight where I don't have mirrors in the particular space that I teach, but I can see.
Speaker: I can see what I can't see, right?
Speaker: And so being able to tap into that
Speaker: And while moving my body at the same time, I can give you quick hints of what you may be feeling or what may be happening so that I can safely guide you to where we're going.
Speaker: Now, I will confess that I'm working my way out of doing as much movement because I like touching bodies as people give me permission to do so.
Speaker: And I want to get back more into that.
Speaker: COVID kind of created that monster, if you will, where we couldn't touch bodies and we couldn't get close to people.
Speaker: So doing everything out, I'm going to say 80 percent or 90 percent because you've got Zoom over here and you've got people in front of you.
Speaker: You kind of had to keep it moving because you couldn't touch people.
Speaker: And me walking around doesn't help the person who's trying to watch me on a screen.
Speaker: So trying to navigate the virtual class and the in-person class and give people attention, it is an art.
Speaker: It's definitely an art.
Speaker: And that's another big benefit of going in person is that we get your expertise along with it.
Speaker: I know like for me, I had struggled for years just with a very simple concept of downward dog.
Speaker: I would have trouble figuring out the distance.
Speaker: between my hands and feet.
Speaker: And I would overthink it a little bit and beat myself up a little bit about it.
Speaker: But what I didn't factor in was since I have Ehlers-Danlos, my joints are loose, but that makes my muscles tight.
Speaker: Tight.
Speaker: And it wasn't till I got in your class that you were like, oh, it's okay.
Speaker: Put your, put your hands and feet closer together.
Speaker: You got this because it didn't occur to me that when you said, put your heel down, oh, my heel wasn't going down.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: How about that?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I should move so it can go down.
Speaker: Voila.
Speaker: Sometimes hearing the same thing, but from a different person.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Cause I mean, Adrian had said that to me on YouTube, how many times, but it just didn't click.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I think, I think a big difference too was getting out of my own environment, getting out of my basement and into a class that boundary can make all the difference in the world, especially for women, I think.
Speaker: because we're relational.
Speaker: And so we need that energy from each other that you got this girl, you're rocking it, girl, you're a badass girl, like get to it.
Speaker: You need, we need that energy and we need that support.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And too, like at the class, there's no fear that my cat is going to stroll in and get underneath me while I'm in a bridge or something while I'm trying to do a plank.
Speaker: Or other women don't have to worry about a toddler coming in with a snotty nose, dropping a tissue on their head.
Speaker: I've seen it all.
Speaker: I've seen it all from virtual world.
Speaker: I've seen it all.
Speaker: If I may, you asked about some misconceptions regarding yoga, body awareness.
Speaker: Maybe it was just yoga.
Speaker: But if I may touch on one of these things that is really near and dear to me is our body habitus.
Speaker: And being able to move.
Speaker: So like one of those unfortunate stereotypes is if you have a bigger body habitus, you can't move.
Speaker: You can't do yoga.
Speaker: You can't exercise.
Speaker: You're not flexible, which is so not true.
Speaker: And I say that because I have a best friend who struggled with weight loss and self-esteem for a very long time.
Speaker: And she's the one who bought me the Groupon to that hot yoga studio that I then got her to say, oh, yeah, I'll try it with you.
Speaker: My heart is for all bodies because I understand and I've walked the path with different body types to help them find happiness with who they are, how they are right here, right now.
Speaker: And so the whole notion of what we see on social media and still on TV of it's got to be this slender,
Speaker: lean body that can do and be and have everything.
Speaker: That's so not true.
Speaker: So not true.
Speaker: I've seen larger bodies than mine do phenomenal postures and alignment and blow my mind like, you got it.
Speaker: You got it.
Speaker: And you're breaking the barrier and the stereotype right here, right now, right in front of my face.
Speaker: And I'm loving every minute of it.
Speaker: And I'm celebrating you because I know the chatter that happens
Speaker: on social media and everywhere else about our larger sisters.
Speaker: And I would say the same goes for age as well.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: There's a hundred year old in New York that I am, I'm looking for this little Jewish woman who I love to death because she is still running at a hundred and doing yoga.
Speaker: And I'm like, she looks phenomenal.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: She looks phenomenal.
Speaker: Or even locally, Ernestine Shepard, who's been in bodybuilding for years.
Speaker: She's in her eighties.
Speaker: African-American.
Speaker: I love her.
Speaker: I'm yet to go to one of her sculpt classes.
Speaker: I was just invited last week.
Speaker: So maybe next Friday I'll be there.
Speaker: But watching her body in her 80s with her false lashes on and her go-getter girl attitude is phenomenal.
Speaker: I want to be like these women when I grow up.
Speaker: I still say that too.
Speaker: Even at 35, I hear you.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And yes, so size and age are such major intimidation factors.
Speaker: Can you give us just like some simple examples of say modifications that we can commonly do in yoga if we need to modify a certain pose or posture?
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Props are pals.
Speaker: I say it in my class, props are pals.
Speaker: Giving someone the ability to bring the floor to them is a game changer.
Speaker: So if
Speaker: You have tight hips, perhaps some back spinal issues, and coming into what we would call a simple forward fold is an exhausting feat for you.
Speaker: I'm going to give you as many blocks as you need just to hinge from your hips.
Speaker: And if that's all you can do today, then you've achieved what you need to achieve.
Speaker: So modifications with props is one thing.
Speaker: Taking something, for instance, a pigeon pose.
Speaker: One leg is straight on the mat.
Speaker: The other leg is bent, either
Speaker: parallel to your mat or at a 45 degree angle and you're laying over a bent leg.
Speaker: That is not easy for a lot of people.
Speaker: It's a really deep hip opener.
Speaker: So what do you do?
Speaker: You put somebody on their back.
Speaker: You give them the same range of motion for the joint.
Speaker: You let them straighten one leg towards the ceiling.
Speaker: They bring their ankle on top of the knee on the other.
Speaker: You're in the same range of motion.
Speaker: So it's understanding postures enough to know what's the counter to this
Speaker: if I can't get them exactly laid out?
Speaker: Is there something I can bring them to on their back?
Speaker: Is it something that they can do standing?
Speaker: So being able to first know your stuff enough to know that there are counter poses that give you the same range of motion and then being able to facilitate it on a body that needs it, that's an advantage to that student.
Speaker: Props and changing positions.
Speaker: And it can even go beyond that, which you helped me with recently.
Speaker: So one of my biggest struggles with yoga, no matter the thickness of the mat, has always been, I get, what's the word for it?
Speaker: Like a pressure pain on my kneecaps.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And it's a really tough thing for me, especially if it's like on a wood floor, even with a thick mat.
Speaker: And you helped me in that with class because I definitely had what I like to call my Dennis Duffy, hey dummy moments where I was like,
Speaker: Hey, dummy, the blanket's not working because you have to move it too much.
Speaker: Get a pair of knee pads, would you?
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Props are pals.
Speaker: Yes, they're totally working both at home and at the studio.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: So we touched on it a little bit, and this can be one of the toughest things for women with chronic illness is finding our balance and not literal, but like our balance, though yoga helps with both, but our balance between how far do we push to see our potential versus causing ourselves pain?
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: I do.
Speaker: So I'm going to go right back to something I said earlier, that internal signal.
Speaker: which is a part of body awareness and knowing your body enough to know the difference from a mental standpoint and a physical standpoint.
Speaker: Am I in therapeutic discomfort or am I in the burning, pinching sensation that means I've gone too far?
Speaker: So I learned that from yin, not just being a practitioner for a year first, but then becoming a teacher of yin, because that's all about stressing joints, not stretching muscle,
Speaker: We're going deep into the hips.
Speaker: Anything from the belly button down to your feet is what yin concentrates on.
Speaker: So it's the knee joints.
Speaker: It's the hip joints.
Speaker: It's a little bit of core, low back.
Speaker: And so you've got to know the difference getting into those deep postures that you're holding three to five, maybe even 10 minutes.
Speaker: Have I gone too far?
Speaker: Your body speaks to you, ladies.
Speaker: You've got to be able and willing to listen to it and know the difference from a mental, emotional standpoint.
Speaker: of, yeah, it's telling me back off, or this is a therapeutic discomfort.
Speaker: I'm not having the added element of conversation, or like I say, those hips will gossip.
Speaker: I'm not having that added gossip to the conversation.
Speaker: I'm feeling what I'm feeling, and I'm able to breathe through it.
Speaker: It takes you all back to body awareness and being able to sense those things collectively and have a intelligent conversation with your body to know,
Speaker: I'm right where I need to be.
Speaker: I'm right where I want to be or nope, back it off.
Speaker: You're so right about that.
Speaker: And what I find is the yoga practice, it helps you just in day-to-day life, cultivate that a little bit more.
Speaker: Like I've been doing yoga for years now and other practices with it, but nowadays, like I can tell the difference between just a regular headache and a hormone headache.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: I had my very first Reiki session on Monday, but stay tuned for an episode on that because holy crap.
Speaker: Amazing.
Speaker: But like yesterday, that was a lot of heavy energy work, you know, and it's depletion in a way as your body recovers.
Speaker: And yesterday I was ravenously hungry, but I could tell the difference that it wasn't hormonal hunger.
Speaker: It was like exertion hunger.
Speaker: And I'm so happy.
Speaker: Once again, you've been listening to your body.
Speaker: because that's a part of body awareness.
Speaker: There are conversations going on all the time, be it in our heads or somewhere in a joint, in a muscle, in a bone.
Speaker: And oftentimes, if we don't understand that it's saying something to us, we will ignore it and move on and potentially go into injury mode.
Speaker: Or, you know, it could be a flare up from a chronic illness or some other negative connotation or, you know, situation that had we just listened, had we just listened because the body was telling us.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And you are such a great role model for this because I didn't know before today that you were a dancer, but I'm not surprised because even when you're just like sweeping or mopping the floor, you move like a dancer.
Speaker: It's part of you.
Speaker: A hundred percent.
Speaker: I don't know how not to be a dancer.
Speaker: I was the kid who was like doing turns in the aisles and doing cartwheels and pointing my toes up on shelves, getting in trouble with
Speaker: you know, with my mom or grandma, because I just, my body just said move.
Speaker: And so I was grateful to find that, that outlet in life, which is also giving me really good posture.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I think it's so important that we start kids young.
Speaker: I mean, that was a really painful thing for me as a kid, because I had cousins who were super into gymnastics and
Speaker: And, you know, at their house, they'd be jumping on the trampoline and they'd be doing cartwheels.
Speaker: And I could never do any of that.
Speaker: And I didn't know why, you know, and it just made me feel so much less than.
Speaker: And I think if we really started our kids earlier, not only would we prevent, you know, so much illness, but some of that pain wouldn't have to exist.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And it also takes a healthy dose of self-esteem too, because once again, we live in a culture that
Speaker: is about follower numbers, whether you know these people or not, and who's liking what.
Speaker: And, you know, all the superficial things that at the end of the day don't really amount to a hill of beans, as my mom would say.
Speaker: But what is important is how you feel in your body.
Speaker: And are you able to move it?
Speaker: Because there are some people who don't know the beauty of being able to move their bodies.
Speaker: And for anyone who is able body, get up and move that body.
Speaker: It's a blessing to do so.
Speaker: So in one of your Instagram posts, which I have to say to everyone, go follow Monique on Instagram.
Speaker: The links will be in the show notes.
Speaker: Her Instagram is amazing.
Speaker: You mentioned the need for embracing vulnerability.
Speaker: What does this mean and why is it important?
Speaker: Vulnerability is a strength.
Speaker: People tend to look at it as that intimidation.
Speaker: I can't be seen.
Speaker: Nobody can know.
Speaker: It gets a bad rap, but being able to be vulnerable,
Speaker: be transparent, be open, be okay with how you're feeling, what you may be saying, where you may be going.
Speaker: It's a beautiful journey that I had to learn how to be that and be in that space and still feel safe for myself.
Speaker: So I grew up in a home where kids were saying not heard and a lot of trauma.
Speaker: And
Speaker: So as an adult, I grew up not quote unquote having voice.
Speaker: I spent a lot of money and years in therapy just to be able to say, I have a choice.
Speaker: I have a voice.
Speaker: I can decide yes or no.
Speaker: It's not in your hands to decide for me.
Speaker: It's in my hands to create what I want.
Speaker: That took vulnerability and the willingness for me to say, I'm not okay because it's okay to not be okay.
Speaker: But not enough of us are told that story.
Speaker: It's okay not to be okay.
Speaker: So once I got to that space where I realized I needed help to be more because I knew I was more, that's when I said vulnerability is a blessing.
Speaker: It's a beautiful thing to be able and willing to say, I'm not okay.
Speaker: I couldn't have said that better.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: So I think it's safe to say none of us are going to be doing yoga every day, nor is it necessarily healthy to be doing yoga every day.
Speaker: But that doesn't mean we can't incorporate the principles of yoga into our lives, into our treatment plants on a daily basis.
Speaker: So what can that look like?
Speaker: So can I go back for one moment?
Speaker: Yoga is absolutely fine to do every day if your body is willing and ready for it.
Speaker: So I never want someone to say, oh, yeah, I can't do that every day.
Speaker: Of course you can.
Speaker: There's so many different types of yoga.
Speaker: I'm not saying go pump yourself in heat every day if your body is not ready for that and you're not a normal liquid consumer.
Speaker: Healthy liquid.
Speaker: You know, let's put a disclaimer on there.
Speaker: Healthy, clear liquid.
Speaker: Water consumer.
Speaker: It's absolutely fine to do every day.
Speaker: So I'm so glad you said that because you just like punched a hole in my own programming, which is really important is that when I think doing yoga, I think of doing like a 30 to 40 minute, like, you know, breaking a bit of a sweat when here I am.
Speaker: Some days I just go down and do 10 minutes of stretching and that's still yoga.
Speaker: And I should know this by now.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Or guess what?
Speaker: Lying on your back in Savasana for 10 minutes, that's still yoga.
Speaker: It's unity.
Speaker: It's mind and body with breath.
Speaker: Guess what?
Speaker: I'm sitting on my yoga ball chair.
Speaker: And every now and again, I can feel my spine lax.
Speaker: But I know for myself, an erect spine is where my body is most comfortable.
Speaker: That's yoga.
Speaker: The mere fact that I recognize my spine is rounding when I should be more erect for my body, that's called yoga.
Speaker: That's everyday living.
Speaker: The moment where you say, oh, my God, I better stop and count to 10 before I blast this person at work.
Speaker: Guess what?
Speaker: That's yoga.
Speaker: Because you took the moment to recognize how your body was responding and you gave it what it needed in the moment.
Speaker: And that was breath.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So let's talk about that just for a minute here.
Speaker: So you are the chief of the Bureau of Administrative Support Services for Baltimore County.
Speaker: That's a big job.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: As I say in my quiet voice.
Speaker: She is enough.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So in what ways, like you just said, maybe even just, you know, counting to 10 before going off on somebody, in what ways do you incorporate yoga into your career, your other career?
Speaker: It starts the first thing in the morning.
Speaker: When I open my eyes, I give thanks.
Speaker: I get up, I take my emergency drink, my vitamin B shot, and I hit my mat.
Speaker: I work, I have a seven minute routine that just gets my heart going.
Speaker: And then I'll do some strength training and I sit and I meditate.
Speaker: Quiet my body so I can, I do all this great movement to get any angst out to wake it up, but then I de-excite it and I come into a quiet space.
Speaker: And whether I'm having prayer moments or I'm doing breath,
Speaker: I get quiet so that I can be at an even keel before I walk out the door.
Speaker: And, you know, versus overly excited or off kilter about something that happened within my morning, be it, you know, the 6 a.m.
Speaker: text message that, oh, so-and-so didn't show up to unlock the garage.
Speaker: We can't park, you know, versus jumping straight into that alarmist state.
Speaker: So it's cultivating an environment first thing in the morning for my mind and body.
Speaker: So by the time I walk through my building, I get into the garage, I walk through three floors, check in with security, and I get to my office.
Speaker: I work from a standing desk, literally probably 90% of my day.
Speaker: I'm on my feet.
Speaker: I feel good on my feet, but I also have a chair for the moments when my body says sit down.
Speaker: And I listen to it.
Speaker: And I sit down and I bring my desk down to me.
Speaker: I also know in the midst of heavy, I'm going to say putting out fire moments,
Speaker: Monique has to close her door and quiet herself.
Speaker: And sometimes it's easier said than done because if it's too many things coming at once, I have an open door policy.
Speaker: My door is rarely ever closed, except for when I'm doing virtual meetings or presenting.
Speaker: But I know in certain moments, I have to shut the noise out to get myself balanced and equalized because I can't be an effective leader for those who are following me if I am not in tuned, if I am not grounded,
Speaker: And if I'm not giving them the best me so that they can be the best them to carry out whatever task is needed.
Speaker: So that whole piece of keeping my mental capacity going while still feeling vibrant in my body and utilizing breath in those spaces where I'm like, oh boy, I feel my flesh rising and I really want to lay this person out, but that's not going to be the best end result.
Speaker: So let me come from a more compassionate space after I collect myself.
Speaker: Yes, that's the key.
Speaker: Yes, because I can only control me.
Speaker: Very, very true.
Speaker: Yeah, and that's something I think a lot of us really need to work on accepting and understanding.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: So there's one more intimidation factor that I want to touch on.
Speaker: And there's a quote you have on your Instagram that just speaks to this beautifully.
Speaker: It's from Martin Luther King Jr. When he said, you don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Speaker: Let me tell you about that quote.
Speaker: The job I'm in, I was preparing for it before I even knew I was going to be in this position.
Speaker: I worked for Baltimore City 10 years in government.
Speaker: I've been in government my entire career.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: I love serving people.
Speaker: I love proving that government can look and feel better than what most people would say they experience.
Speaker: And so
Speaker: Coming from Baltimore City into Baltimore County, I was doing the same role.
Speaker: I was director of communications in one place.
Speaker: I came to the county doing just that.
Speaker: But then there was an innate signal within me that said, Monique, start preparing to leave this office and this position.
Speaker: I didn't know where I was going.
Speaker: I didn't know what I was going to be doing.
Speaker: But I literally, I listened.
Speaker: I started getting the files together.
Speaker: I started creating plans for the next person.
Speaker: I made sure things were cookie-cutter.
Speaker: They can follow the shared drive where everything was labeled to the nth degree that I could.
Speaker: And no sooner than I was done with my self-imposed project, my director came and said, so-and-so is leaving.
Speaker: I need to move you.
Speaker: I need to physically move you.
Speaker: And I need you to shift into this space.
Speaker: And I said, OK.
Speaker: I was ready because I was already getting ready to be ready.
Speaker: And so not being able to see the whole staircase,
Speaker: damn, I probably didn't even see those steps, but I knew I had to take a step.
Speaker: And so that's why that quote is so profound for me because in life, I've had those moments where I couldn't see anything, but I knew I had to do something.
Speaker: And so being able to see the one step is even hopeful because you know there's going to be more to follow more than likely.
Speaker: If you're going up a staircase, you know it's going to be more than one step.
Speaker: If not, it's just a step.
Speaker: But to know there's going to be multiple steps
Speaker: I was ready for that first one.
Speaker: And so I know whatever it took, whatever process, whatever habits I had to develop, whatever skills I had to obtain, I knew it helped me take the first step that those things I could build upon to take subsequent steps.
Speaker: So I love that quote.
Speaker: It speaks to my everyday life in a lot of ways.
Speaker: It's amazing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And for me too.
Speaker: And that's often the biggest hurdle for women with chronic illness is taking that first step.
Speaker: So when it comes to yoga,
Speaker: What's that one first step any woman can take just today towards starting a practice?
Speaker: I would say if you're at home, get the mat and sit on it.
Speaker: First step, get the mat and sit on it.
Speaker: If you're going to a studio, sign up for the class and show up.
Speaker: I don't even care if you came to my class and you just laid on the floor or sat or did child's pose the entire time.
Speaker: Guess what?
Speaker: You accomplished a goal.
Speaker: You made it.
Speaker: So it's just doing that little small thing with action.
Speaker: Do the small thing with action.
Speaker: So I have a friend who keeps saying, yeah, I'm going to get this six pack back.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm going to.
Speaker: I'm going to.
Speaker: I'm going to.
Speaker: Get rid of the going to and just do.
Speaker: That's a big quote in my house.
Speaker: Yes, there is no try.
Speaker: What does it just do, Bruce Lee?
Speaker: Yes, yes.
Speaker: And then remember your why.
Speaker: Why do you want to do that?
Speaker: And make your why big enough so that it motivates you.
Speaker: It inspires you.
Speaker: It captivates you.
Speaker: It calls you.
Speaker: I think a lot of us need to examine our whys on a lot of things.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Let me tell you, I had to listen to my body this morning and just lay.
Speaker: But you know, the call of my habit of getting up, working out every morning was very loud.
Speaker: And I had to say, guess what, guys?
Speaker: Not today.
Speaker: So make that why big enough that it still calls you, but you know when to answer and when to put it on do not disturb.
Speaker: Oh, I love that.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: That's perfect.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So we're going to wrap this up here with a few fun questions.
Speaker: So tell me, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Speaker: Only a woman who works in government could solve like that for that question.
Speaker: Can I tell you, can I tell you growing up in rural Michigan, we didn't have trash.
Speaker: There was no trash.
Speaker: There was no litter.
Speaker: People honored and respected the land.
Speaker: So trash, seeing trash on the streets, honestly is my biggest pet peeve and my children know it.
Speaker: I said, God, if you give me that
Speaker: witty idea on how I can eradicate trash off the streets, I'll go and do it.
Speaker: Because I think it's such a disrespect to our planet, to our environment, to each other, that we just throw things through.
Speaker: Oh my gosh, watching a person throw trash out of their window incites me.
Speaker: And if I could have like all these flags and waves and signage that I could stick out of my car without someone trying to shoot at me or do something violent, I would.
Speaker: Because that's just how passionate I am about
Speaker: the preservation of our space.
Speaker: Trash.
Speaker: I totally get it.
Speaker: My husband gets so annoyed with me when I would literally like rip a yogurt container and empty one out of his hand when he's about to put it in the trash and put it in recycling.
Speaker: Like it's an extra five feet.
Speaker: It's not going to kill you.
Speaker: No, it's not.
Speaker: So what is your favorite movie?
Speaker: Ooh, my favorite.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I'm just going to go ahead and be vulnerable.
Speaker: My favorite movie is Pollyanna.
Speaker: The old school Pollyanna, Haley Mills.
Speaker: I grew up on Pollyanna.
Speaker: Yes, I was the little mixed girl who loved Pollyanna.
Speaker: And it's because she brought such hope in her message and in that story.
Speaker: It was so much hope and it was so much community building.
Speaker: And I think we need some more Pollyannas out here today.
Speaker: Now, I love that because Hayley Mills holds a special place in my heart because she was Miss Bliss.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And in the parent trap.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yeah, before my generation came along and ruined it with the Lindsay Lohan.
Speaker: Hey, they tried.
Speaker: They tried.
Speaker: If you could have one actual superpower beyond the yoga superpower that you have, what would it be?
Speaker: My superpower would be
Speaker: to make people a little bit more compassionate, the ability to help people or to make them be more compassionate.
Speaker: I think we can resolve a lot of isms, schisms with compassion.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You're right about that.
Speaker: Certainly.
Speaker: So tell everyone Monique where they can find and maybe take an online class with you or like in person if they're local Marylanders or where they can find your, uh, I transform business.
Speaker: So,
Speaker: If they are looking for me, they're going to mostly find me at Yoga Revelation in Ellicott City.
Speaker: I teach at 8 a.m., a non-heated class, and then 8 p.m.
Speaker: for a heated class, same room, the love studio, same space.
Speaker: We also have online version.
Speaker: If you're looking for me solely, I do a lot of private sessions with people.
Speaker: You can email me or hit me up on Instagram, and we can start that journey together separately from Yoga Revelation.
Speaker: And as I said, everybody, go follow Monique on Instagram.
Speaker: The link will be in the show notes.
Speaker: It's so inspiring.
Speaker: She's got a lot of quotes on there and you can definitely find her to book a yoga class through that Instagram.
Speaker: Monique, it has been an absolute pleasure and I do hope to get back to your class soon.
Speaker: I keep switching back and forth between Saturdays and Sundays.
Speaker: I can't wait.
Speaker: Do the best for your body.
Speaker: And it was a pleasure for you to have me here.
Speaker: Thank you so much.
Speaker: And that was my conversation with movement expert, Monique Lyle.
Speaker: You'll find all of her links in the show notes.
Speaker: I'd love to hear your feedback on today's episode.
Speaker: So come share your thoughts on Instagram at Krista H. Des or email me at Krista at KristaHernandez.com.
Speaker: And check out my website where you can get my free weekly sanity planner, a task manager tailored to the challenges you face with chronic illness.
Speaker: It'll help you prioritize your to-do list and be more efficient with your most precious resources.
Speaker: time, and energy.
Speaker: So go to kristahernandez.com and get your free weekly sanity planner today.
Speaker: Your body will thank you tomorrow.
Speaker: Thanks for joining me here on SheLived.
Speaker: See you next time.
