Live Like You Love Yourself

Chara and Lucy connect with Jana Long, the founder and executive director of Black Yoga Teachers Alliance, in an exploration of the stories that define who we are and provide a foundation for who we can be.  We get a look into a life touched by 50 years of yoga practice and we get a sense for why Yoga Journal named Jana one of it’s Game Changers! 

Resources & Mentions:

Black Yoga Teachers Alliance (BYTA) - https://blackyogateachersalliance.org/

Facebook Page - Black Yoga Teachers Alliance - https://www.facebook.com/blackyogateachersalliance

Power of One Yoga Center - https://powerofonecenter.com/

Facebook Page - Power of One Yoga Center - https://www.facebook.com/powerofoneyoga

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/powerofoneyoga/

Documentary - The Uncommon Yogi by Jana Long - THE UNCOMMON YOGI

What is pain and how can the tools of yoga and yoga therapy best acknowledge, manage and heal the complex experience of those living with it on a daily basis? Lucy and Chara speak with Yoga therapist, researcher and author Marlysa Sullivan about her work in Yoga therapy and pain management and how yoga provides a holistic lens for understanding and alleviating the root causes of pain.

Marlysa's Bio:

Dr. Marlysa Sullivan is a physiotherapist and yoga therapist with over 15 years of experience. Marlysa balances clinical research and practice with education, speaking and writing. She is the Physical Therapy Coordinator of the Empowered Veterans Program at the VA. This is a comprehensive pain care program that integrates whole health coaching, psychotherapy, and mindful movement with a chaplain, psychotherapist and physical therapist. She trains physical therapists as well as offers the mindful movement component integrating therapeutic pain education, mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapeutic principles with movement practices. She is an Assistant Professor in Yoga Therapy and Integrative Health Sciences at Maryland University of Integrative Health and holds an adjunct position at Emory University, where she teaches the integration of yoga and mindfulness into physical therapy practice in the DPT program. She is the author of Understanding Yoga Therapy: Applied Philosophy and Science for Well-being and co-editor of Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Treating the Person in Pain, as well as several peer-reviewed articles.

Resources & Mentions:

Marlysa's Website: https://marlysasullivan.com/

Books & Articles Discussed:

Yoga and Science in Pain Care

Understanding Yoga Therapy 

Yoga Therapy and Polyvagal Theory: The Convergence of Traditional Wisdom and Contemporary Neuroscience for Self-Regulation and Resilience

Books Lucy recommended:

John Sarno - “The Mindbody Prescription” & “The Divided Mind”

Alan Gordon - “The Way Out - Healing Chronic Pain” - includes the concept of neuroplastic pain

Who could you be if you knew that just by loving yourself you could change the world? Chara and Lucy speak with yoga teacher, social justice educator and author Jacoby Ballard about the beauty, power, and challenges of making a difference in the world by starting from within. They discuss Jacoby’s new book and his path as a queer activist, educator, and advocate for the power of self-love, compassion, and practice to connect and elevate us.

Resources & Mentions:

• Jacoby Ballard Website - https://jacobyballard.net/
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jacobyballard/
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/jacoby.ballard
• Jacoby’s Queer Dharma Book Club - https://jacobyballard.net/book/

How can yoga support us in improving our relationship with our bodies?  This was the question that we explored with psychologist and yoga therapist Janet Lowndes, a dear friend of Lucy’s and a woman who is doing amazing things in the world.  Her Melbourne, Australia based practice assists people with eating disorders and body image challenges.  So we talk about the part that yoga plays in creating and solving this problem in our modern world!  Fabulous conversation.  The first of Season two!!

Info and resources:

Janet Lowndes is Founding Director and Principal Psychologist at Mind Body Well, a private practice in Melbourne providing outpatient therapies for people with Eating Disorders and concerns about eating behaviours, body image and wellbeing - from a Non-Diet, Health at Every Size® perspective.

Her approach is one which emphasises wellbeing rather than weight, focusing on embodied self compassion and interoceptive awareness. She believes that Yoga is an act of embodied liberation, and she encourages yoga teachers and therapists to provide weight inclusive spaces which celebrate the wonderful diversity of bodies and minds.

Here's where you can find her!

• Web - www.mindbodywell.com.au
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JanetLowndesPage
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/janetlowndes.therapist/

Touching base to let you know what’s coming up in Season 2 and to introduce you to my guest Co-host for the season!

Resources & Mentions

Elements of Yoga Ayurveda for Yoga Teachers Course

The Center for Holding Space - Foundation Program

Yoga Communication

How to find yourself is a question that new age self help… and yoga, to some degree, have made infamous. But it's a journey that all of us are consciously or unconsciously engaged in every day.  In this final episode of season one of the podcast, Maria and Chara unpack the principles and particulars of self seeking. What does it really mean?  What does it look like?  And more importantly, what makes it all worth doing?  We talk about all of this and provide some clues for the seekers and sleuths out there.

What do we all need to know as human beings walking around on this earth with a pelvis? What are some of the misconceptions around what the pelvic floor is, how it supports and impacts our experience of living and  how to keep it (and us) healthy  In this penultimate episode of Season 1 of the Live Like You Love Yourself podcast,  Chara and Maria speak with , yoga teacher, podcaster and pelvic floor health specialist Shannon Crow about some of the confusion that we all experience around this vital aspect of our being and what we can do to own and nourish who we are by educating ourselves about the pelvic floor. 

Resources & Mentions:

• Pelvic Health Professionals - https://pelvichealthprofessionals.com/pelvic-health-resources/
• The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast - https://www.theconnectedyogateacher.com/podcast/
• Tobias Wiggins
• What is a pessary?
• Squatty Potty

A beautiful moment of connection and introduction.  Saved from an earlier start at the podcast, this unpublished conversation was one of the first recorded conversations we ever had.  It was a “first meeting” on air and has turned out to be a sweet goodbye to a beautiful friend. Chara interviews Maria about her life, her discovery of yoga and what she’s learned along her journey of teaching and practice. 

What is the role of yoga in times like these? Who must we be as practitioners to experience its full potential and ours as well? How can we characterize the dance that yoga and modern science are currently engaged in, and what are the potential pitfalls and windfalls of this pairing? What does the world need from yoga teachers right now? These are just a few of the inquiries that shaped our conversation with Dr. Michael de Manincor - Director and senior lecturer at the Yoga Institute in Sydney Australia. It was a delightful connection with a few interesting surprises along the way!

References & Resources:

• The Yoga Institute: https://yogainstitute.com.au/michael-de-manincor/
• The Yoga Foundation: https://www.theyogafoundation.org.au/
• Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram: https://www.kym.org/
• Michael de Manicoor on J Brown Yoga Podcast: https://www.jbrownyoga.com/yoga-talks-podcast/2018/12/michael-de-manincor
• Ayurveda for Yoga Teachers with Chara Caruthers

A candid conversation with Maria and Chara about the challenges of living and how our yoga can serve us when aspects of life (like Covid and cancer) take us by surprise. The conversation started as an inquiry into what the world needs from yoga right now. Our answer came through the lens of our own current struggles and hopes for the future.

Resources & Mentions

• Yoga for Older Grown ups course ONLINE with Maria - http://www.yogaforgrownups.com
• Elements of Yoga: Ayurveda for Yoga Teachers ONLINE course with Chara - https://bit.ly/ElementsofYoga