Let’s face it, the fitness and wellness industry attracts all kinds of people and there are all kinds of ways to succeed in it. The assumption is that people who work in wellness, from instructors and trainers to studio and gym owners, are well. That these folks have already done their work and they are grounded, compassionate entrepreneurs who have their ego in check and the best interest of their students and employees at heart.  Sadly that isn’t always the case. In fact I would suggest that many of us are in the wellness and fitness community because while that’s who we are striving to be, we aren’t there yet and we know it. Without strong and grounded mentors and collaborators who are willing to tell the truth about this industry we can spend a lot of time floundering around trying to be something and someone we are not. To fit the woo woo wellness cookie cutter insisting we want to help others yet refusing to help ourselves first. The truth is we can’t help anyone if we aren’t in business, we can’t stay in business if we don’t get paid, and we can’t get paid if we don’t give people results beyond the woo woo wackadoodle world of wellness. Our work IN today is a look at how we as fit pros can find a balanced approach to the business of the body by grounding our business in the body.

What makes trauma release yoga different from every other kind of yoga?

They say comparison is the thief of joy but it can also be an excellent guide post. Today we’re going to take a deep dive into the differences between traditional yoga and trauma release yoga. Our work IN today will hopefully empower you on your own real world resilience journey.

I want to start by saying I believe literally everything we do can be approached from a yogic perspective. We don’t have to be on a mat to practice yoga but most people even today believe that yoga is only stretching. Our challenge as instructors is to hide our eye rolls, and refrain from saying something cryptic  like “You know nothing, John Snow” and simply lead by example. Hopefully with a little grace. 

Grief and stress are part of the human condition. We don’t need to live very long before we experience either one. What’s interesting is the recovery process for each can be remarkably similar. Chronic long term stress can feel remarkably like grief. Our Work IN today is a look at how we can use the 5 stages of grief as a framework to better understand and conquer chronic stress for long term resilience.

In my own trauma release process using trauma release exercise there was a lot of grief that came out. It was the strangest sensation to feel sadness in my bones.

Yoga retreats sound so nice. Full disclosure, I’ve never been on a retreat per say and I have all the excuses to prove it. I’ve done yoga teacher training that lasted a week but I’ve never had the time to take away from my family, my job for anything like that that didn’t have some purpose to it. Shoot I can barely bring myself to take time off on holidays with my family. But I understand the appeal. I like the idea that you completely step out of your everyday life to rest and repair, recharge, maybe learn something new or simply take a full time out. I sometimes fantasize about running away like that. That seems like an awfully big privilege if I’m honest. And what is the point if nothing changes about the life you come home to?

Today our work IN is all about how to use retreats in intentional, mindful ways for practical, long lasting stress relief and resilience and an opportunity to try one without the big time and money commitment.

Episode 38, and 39 of the work in our, a beautiful collaboration between myself and Kailyn Vu from Dear Lovely Universe. We decided to get a little creative and swap hosts for each of our podcasts. So today you're going to hear Kaelin, interviewing me about trauma release exercise and yoga, about the connection between the nervous system and our health, about how we can better nourish ourselves, body, mind and spirit. It's a great conversation.

Trauma Release Yoga combines the mindful movement of a traditional yoga flow with freedom of choice, options and action, empowered nervous system communication with the tremor mechanism,  and guided meditation. It offers a way to integrate the best of both worlds to support students in their path to self recovery from all forms of stress injury.