Broken to Brave | Guiding you to heal & break free from anxiety

Transforming Your Life Through Yoga with Kayla Wonisch

• Dr. Stephanie Lopez • Episode 67

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Ever wondered how practicing yoga can influence every aspect of your life? Kayla Wonisch, a certified yoga teacher and meditation instructor, joins me for a second time to open up about her profound healing journey. Kayla shares how yoga has been a keystone in her personal development, helping her tackle procrastination, self-judgment, and her relationship with support. Through her anecdotes, she reveals how who you are on the mat reflects who you are in life, illustrating the power of yoga as a safe space for practicing the changes you wish to see in your mindset and behavior.

In this episode, we talk about the following:
1. The role of yoga and meditation in personal healing and growth.
2. Importance of self-trust and how yoga can help develop it.
3. Tips for starting a yoga or meditation practice.

Kayla's previous episode:
Discovering Bravery and Purpose with Kayla Wonisch

You can connect with Kayla on:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kaylawonisch/
https://www.instagram.com/wearewarriorone/

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Speaker 1:

I'm Dr Steph and I want you to know that you do not have to suffer from anxiety or explosive emotional reactions like lashing out. You are not, in fact, broken and I'm going to show you how to have the ultimate control over your reactions so that you are unstoppable. Welcome to the Broken to Brave podcast. Welcome back. I am so excited Today. I have Kayla Wanisch on the podcast with me today. She's actually been on the podcast once before and I will link in the show notes for that episode so that you can hear all about her healing journey. However, there was a lot that we didn't talk about that day and, for context, in case you missed that episode, kayla and I met in ooh, was it 2014? No, 2017.

Speaker 2:

I think it was 2017.

Speaker 1:

Wow, I thought I knew you longer. I was like a year out of high school in 2014.

Speaker 1:

Okay, no, definitely not 2014. So, 2017, through a mutual colleague, and we have stayed in touch ever since, and she is actually the yoga teacher that I bring to all of my Bravecation retreats. Now I just want to brag on her for a few minutes, because she's not going to brag on herself. So here we go. Kayla is a 500-hour certified yoga teacher, but she's not just a yoga teacher, she's also a yoga leader, meaning that she's a yoga teacher for others who are in training to become yoga teachers. She's also a certified meditation teacher, a licensed human element practitioner, a life coach and executive coach and a former Lululemon ambassador. I am just like smiling ear to ear because I get to be friends with you and I'm like, oh my goodness, just so freaking impressed with your transformation. Everybody listening. If you haven't listened to the first episode, make sure that you listen to that one, because you will see how far Kayla has come. It's really, really impressive.

Speaker 2:

Okay, there's a lot of context in that other episode.

Speaker 1:

A lot of context.

Speaker 2:

For the warm, warm introduction.

Speaker 1:

Oh, you're welcome. So today I was thinking that we would focus more on the part of your journey that includes yoga and meditation. I'm curious how has it played a role in your own healing?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, really the only way I could answer that and I'm actually really happy because I went to. I went to a class last night and it was one of my favorite instructors last classes, so one of the instructors that I saw predominantly when I first started going into yoga and really was foundational in my yoga journey, and she said you know, yoga is a keystone. And she explained what she meant by that and she's like so a keystone is like you need a tortilla before you make the burrito. Right, it's a keystone. And so yoga was the keystone to her success, to everything that's gone on in her life that has brought her what she wanted. And I was like, ah, it resonated so much because yoga has been the catalyst and the keystone to so much, so many benefits that have happened in my life.

Speaker 2:

And it's really because in my earliest days of yoga I really learned about the concept of who you are on your mat is who you are everywhere, which used to piss me off. I was like I was judging myself. I was just like, how dare you? Like I didn't even know what I was making that mean about myself. But one day it shifted, the meaning shifted and it was like oh, that means that anything literally anything I want to shift about myself, anything I want to shift about my mindset, anything I want to be, I actually get to practice right here, on the four corners of my mat, and it's a safe place to practice, and that's why it's called a yoga practice.

Speaker 1:

I have full body goosebumps. I don't know why I got teary-eyed hearing that. Okay, let me make sure I got this. Who you are on the mat is who you are in life.

Speaker 2:

Is that right? Yeah, it's who you are everywhere.

Speaker 2:

Right and so everywhere, yes, and how that showed up for me, and especially back in, it was around the same time I met you back in 2017. It would show up and there was something I really wanted, right, that's why I'm signing up for like a 90 minute heated power cord class. Like there was something you know cognitively, that you know my prefrontal cortex wants. When I sign up for that, which is likely, you know, to look a certain way or to feel a certain way, or to have a certain, you know, accolade, even though that's like at the, at the top or at the surface, I mean.

Speaker 2:

And so even with that surface level understanding of like I'm going in this class to achieve this goal, I found myself stealing from myself, right, and so, you know, could I stay in that playing a half second longer? I don't know, maybe, or could I try this thing I haven't done before, or do I actually need a block, right? So all of these little things that started to come in that actually related to who I was in the real world, things that started to come in that actually related to who I was in the real world, and so I started to notice that there were moments where I wasn't necessarily tired but didn't want to get into a pose, and so I would find something else to do it was time to put on ponytails.

Speaker 2:

Time to drink water. Actually, you know it's time to actually get up completely and go refill my half-filled water bottle, like I'm not out of water, water right. And so it kind of shined a light on how much um I choose to procrastinate or how quickly I can procrastinate when things get tough. So the big learning um, and I think the other one was my relationship with support and so, um, the blocks are a really salient example of relationship with support. Am I willing to grab support at the beginning of class? And even if I don't know that I need support, I know it's mind-blowing.

Speaker 1:

I don't think I've ever used a block before. Well, that doesn't use a block, just like fuck. She's like goosebumps everywhere again. This is so good. Okay, keep going.

Speaker 2:

I'm sorry, I just my jaw dropped when you said that no, I'm so excited because, like, this is what yoga brought for me and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's everywhere, yoga is everywhere. And yoga really to bring in some of like the history of it, the word really just means to bring together, right. And so in a yoga studio, that's bringing yourself together with other humans, it's bringing energy together, if you will, but it's also bringing you together with yourself. And what's really cool about that is yoga, especially the yoga I practice.

Speaker 2:

And so, if it's unclear, I do prefer and practice pop power yoga, and part of the reason for that is I like to joke it gives your body like kind of everything that you don't need in your body. It gives it a space to go. So, if all you did was go to a yoga class and sweat and then like leave halfway because you had to use the bathroom, that is absolutely what your body needs to do that day. It removes you of impurities, right. And so that's what really started to kind of get me into the room, like this whole removal of stuff. It really started to kind of get me into the room like this whole removal of stuff, but then I started to shed so much more that was not serving me and including mindsets, including self-limiting beliefs, and, yeah, I could do a whole podcast on me doing a handstand alone and what it did for my self-confidence.

Speaker 1:

Can we dive into that? Honestly, in this moment I I'm like I'm pretty sure I need to pick up yoga hello wow, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, um, really, on the topic of like who you are on your matters, who you are everywhere, and being able to really practice yeah, you want to be on this space um, I realized there's a really fun example. Um, basically, a class is about 60 minutes long and for about 40 minutes of that class, if you're in a power style, you're doing things such as playing some down dogs and chaturanga, which is a halfway push up, and so a lot of things that actually hold and support a lot of your body weight and so, technically, if you can make it for I guess, 80% of that with holding all of the down dogs, you have the physical strength to do a handstand right, you have the physical strength to lift your own body up.

Speaker 2:

However, there's a lot of other things going on. Where you're going into a handstand outside of your physical strength, it is your prefrontal cortex not wanting to be upside down Completely reasonable, completely reasonable request of your body. It has done most things standing on its feet for so long and so it's kind of a shift to tell your brain like hey, no, we're going to stand up here upside down and everything's completely okay for a few seconds. The brain doesn't like that. But there's also the amount of trust that needs to go into catching yourself. Once you're up there, you have the evolution fight of your body doesn't want to be upside down right now, especially because you probably haven't done it since you were three, four, five, six.

Speaker 2:

So there's a part of your brain that's like we don't do that. Children do that. I'm not a child. I must be serious and be up straight or whatever our brain is telling us to be. But then there's also the trusting myself and we call it jokingly like our bravery how brave am I? Which I love. You know how much I love the word brave.

Speaker 2:

How much you love the word brave, but how brave am I to really literally leap into my own power and support myself? Because it's a really big cognitive shift.

Speaker 1:

I think I just needed to hear all of this today. This is just really really hitting and resonating and I'm so happy. Okay, I'm sorry, Keep going.

Speaker 2:

No, I'm so glad. It makes me really happy to hear, because these are the stories I try to share. As a yoga teacher, I used to say and I'm kind of veered off saying this, but I am not technically the best yoga teacher If you've come to yoga for knowledge of the muscles or you know understanding, maybe, chinese meridian lines or how energy flows to the body, that's not why people come to my classes. I'm convinced people come to my classes because they like who they are in their presence. But they like who they are in my presence because I'm trying to share what I think is just the human experience.

Speaker 2:

You know it is, just it is. We're all swimming in this and if we don't stop for just a moment to one check in to look under the hood, just to make sure the car is running Like if you never go change your oil, the car is going to blow up Bad things happen.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, my sister made that mistake, or maybe it was my mom, I can't remember.

Speaker 2:

Apparently. Transmission fluid is a big thing. I don't know if that's a sign for anyone. Just go ahead and get that checked out. But the same is true about your body. If you're not going in and checking in One, the physical check-in how am I feeling? How's my body feeling? Second, how am I feeling? How's my body feeling? You know, um, can I hold this? Oh, this is different than yesterday. This place is sore, right like the actual physical practice and the between the ears practice. What does it do when, um, I'm in plank for three minutes? Yeah, she's mad then she breaks out.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, she breaks out and you know and I make I make this example in yoga all the time it's really easy to be self-accepting, to be self-loving and to really care about yourself. In child's pose, however, life is so much more like plank and life is so much more like chair pose, is so much more like chair pose, as life is so much more like ego, where you know your arms are blocking your vision and you're sweating and you're in a chair, like life is so much more like that than it is child's pose. So how do you treat yourself when you're like that, when you're in the chair, when you're in the plane, when it's 45 minutes into a 60 minute class and you're like wait, I thought I signed up for half and half, not full power. How do you treat yourself in all of these moments? Because it gives you like choice and permission to treat yourself differently, right there.

Speaker 1:

So, so beautiful. I had a flashback to my first workout after having Annabella, a flashback to my first workout after having Annabella, my first baby. I worked out my entire pregnancy, like literally right up to the end, and at the time I was going to burn boot camp. I freaking loved it and I took eight weeks off of working out and then I went back and it was so hard I ended up in tears and I think I was not only shocked just because it had only been eight weeks and I worked out the entire pregnancy, but also just disappointed, I think, with my body not understanding that, even though I worked out while pregnant, it's very, very different. And anyways, I don't know. That just like flashed into my head as you were describing it, because now it's been six and a half years, so I can't remember what I was saying to myself, but I'm sure that there was negative self-talk there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's so easy to fall into the trap of. I think there's positive comparison to oneself, right. I feel like maybe the only comparison to myself and my past self, however, like what is and this is, you know, definitely work I've learned from you, is like, what is the way I am putting on that difference or that valence, right, because I can look at where I am now and where I used to be as evidence that I have failed. Or I can look at that as evidence of like, yeah, that makes a lot of sense based on the things that have happened in that period. And this is where I am right now and this is where I'm going to go, rather than making it double hard.

Speaker 2:

Because you're already doing the physical exertion, you're already working out, you're already doing something that is like, um, I think, like counterintuitive for evolutionary purposes, like it doesn't make sense to our brain to exert excess energy, um, to work out. Because it's like, well, what if we have to run from a bear later, like you know now, right, but your body actually wants to contain as much energy as possible, and so all of these things are working against you. And then, on top of it, you're like you suck.

Speaker 2:

You're telling yourself that you're awful the whole time, and so it's like, of course, you have to work out.

Speaker 1:

Oh my goodness, this is so true. Oh my goodness. Okay, anything else on how yoga or meditation have played a role in your healing? How to trust?

Speaker 2:

myself and then taking that superpower and applying it to everything that I do. And I think another thing that really changed my perspective of not only myself but the world around me is on. I might've talked about this in our last episode too. I hope I did. But there's this idea that I remember learning from a previous teacher around we're almost like all humans are almost like the string of Christmas lights, and so if the light turns off next to you, right your lights off.

Speaker 2:

That's just kind of how Christmas light works, and yoga just kind of screws that light back on, and so now your light is on, which means the lights around you are more likely to turn on, and at first I thought that was like so yoga and cliche and just like right. Then I really thought about it. And when you go to a place to fully let it all out, you know, say you are allowed, and it doesn't have to be yoga, yoga, but any place where you're able to exert your energy and actually flush out and recharge, you actually are making the world a better place, because it is one less person you honk at, it is one less partner that you snap at, maybe in a like squiggly, whiny or orange dotted, you know, leaking out of the side's way. Um, it's one more breath you take before responding to a situation, and so actually does make the world a better place it trickles out yeah, and it makes if you live in florida, it makes i4 a better place, and I think the there was something.

Speaker 2:

There was definitely the light thing. I wanted to say, um, but oh, I think it. It's really the small hinges swing big doors, so we think these huge things need to have. Oh, if I, I can change my whole life if I didn't do this huge swing, which is maybe true, um, but you could also swing right back, right and so, um, some of the biggest shifts are actually made from the little, teeny things that we do every single day and that is so important it's so important because it's like, oh, I don't want to do this big thing, I could just like breathe for 20 minutes a day I can pay attention to myself for 20 minutes a day and the compounding interest, the compounding effects of doing that thing is astronomical, astronomical.

Speaker 2:

I'm in a completely different space seven or eight years later.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, every now and then someone will come into my program and they will feel so much pressure to master all of it. And I'm like to be completely honest, if you go to module three and you just focus on that defense mechanisms your entire life will change.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, just the one thing. And so I really love the saying that you use small hinges, swing big doors, because it can feel so easy to think, oh no, I've got to master all this and all this and all this, and it's like, actually, it's just really often just a little tweak that changes your whole life as your whole life, yep, or a little, just glancing at it a different way, and that's been a huge thing, because if that is true on my mat, then that must be true everywhere.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, I also love that you brought up self-trust. I had not ever thought about yoga or any other like working out and correlating that with self-trust. That's one of the big things that I talk about in my ditching anxiety training, because and I share 10 signs that people do not trust themselves, because that used to be me that I didn't and most people have no idea that the opposite of anxiety is trust yes, they think the opposite of anxiety is trust. Yes, they think the opposite of anxiety is calm, but it's trust, yeah. So I just love that you brought that up.

Speaker 2:

I love that. I actually have two things to add on to that, especially with trust, specifically, and yoga and power yoga, and also any form of fitness Any form of fitness actually that engages your core right, because core is your second brain. They're actually saying that it might've been our first brain. I know you're the psychologist, but I was reading that recently Really Like, if you like, if you look in a long enough evolution, like technically, the stomach would have had to develop first. So it's like our oldest brain muscle. I'd be really interested to learn about that. But it's like your guts or your brain. Your brain and your guts are sending messages back and forth to each other all the time. So the degree that I can physically strengthen the surrounding support areas of the area that is associated with trusting myself Call me a hippie. I'm just going to go see if it works right.

Speaker 2:

You know, trust is really like your solar plexus or your guts You're trusting yourself, muscles which are the same muscles that need to be engaged to get into a handstand, to hold a plank, to trust yourself Right, and so it kind of becomes this this I personally don't know, and you probably know about my tattoo on my arm. This is I do not know. I will not know. I do not know if the correlation between my core and solar plexus, chakra and trust is 100% scientifically sound. I do not know. Yeah, and it is useful for me and the lens that I adopted to this world to to believe so, because I've seen the benefits of thinking it does.

Speaker 2:

I've seen the benefits of really meditating on my guts and trusting myself and then seeing it ripple out not only in physical shape, like not only in developing core muscles, but also in developing skills that imply that I trust myself, but also in developing skills that imply that I trust myself.

Speaker 1:

I couldn't agree with that more. I bring that up, especially in my subconscious, reprogramming content and sessions with clients, like do I know without a shadow of a doubt that every single thing that I'm about to say is like scientifically 100%? No, not necessarily. And what I have seen is that it makes profound shifts for people, so kind of who cares? Now, not everybody agree, not everybody listening may agree with that. And if you listening are thinking, hmm, that sounds weird, I don't know about that, I probably would have agreed with you before I started my inner work journey or early on, that it needs to be proven and right and this and that, and the more that I've gotten into it, the less that matters. If this makes a shift for me and this changes my life and this changes the way that I think and I feel and the way that I show up, who cares?

Speaker 2:

Right, and it's really only going to be my own judgment of the thing that stops it from being beneficial to me, and so if that's true, then let's go off and try it.

Speaker 1:

Right, exactly, exactly. I'm going to cut that there because I could say so much more on that note, but I want to stay focused on you. I am curious, mm-hmm, what are and maybe you already covered this, but what are some things that you wish people knew about? Yoga or meditation.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think the biggest thing I wish people knew is that it is as hard as you make it it is, and so I'll say a couple of things too. I think probably if you're wanting to start a yoga journey, the story in my head is, the most daunting part is finding a studio or finding community, because there is a trope, there is a kind of like I knew I did not know what I was getting into, and I'll talk really quickly about my introduction to actually getting into a yoga studio. I was in a workshop and it was like one of the checking questions like what's something you no-transcript? And when I tell you, I was having like visions of being in a hot yoga studio and I had never been in one, but just the idea of being like hot and stretching.

Speaker 2:

I was like that makes sense to my brain.

Speaker 1:

It was very interesting.

Speaker 2:

I had heard about it and I was like I had heard about yoga and I was like, yeah, yeah, cool, my dad did yoga.

Speaker 2:

He had tried to get me into it a bunch of times. I was like, yeah, yeah, cool. But then I heard about this like hot yoga thing and I was like, oh, I like this sounds right. Yeah, let me, let me look into this. Um. And so a workshop participant that was with me he was probably like a few years, 10 years, older than me. Well, he's like, well, let's stop you. And I was like they're just so expensive, obviously, like I can't afford. Um, I think it was like back then $80 a month, um, for a membership, and he's just like nodding along, he's listening, and I'm like talking about how expensive it is, and so by the time our conversation ends, he had been mostly the amount of one month and in that moment it was not the cost.

Speaker 2:

I was terrified and now I was like I have this hundred dollars that someone gifted to me, yeah, but now I used to go to the youngster I was, I was, I was so scared and it made me realize, oh, it was never about the money, I couldn't. I could find eighty dollars, I could find forty dollars or whatever that intro fee was I really could have found. And somewhere, um, if I really look, um, I was so afraid of walking through the doors. I didn't know what to expect. Like the uncertainty yeah, like the uncertainty, and not trusting myself and not trusting you know, not knowing what I didn't know about yoga. Like what's going to happen when they say a pose and I don't know what it is. You just look around in the room, it's fine.

Speaker 2:

But you just follow everybody else that first hurdle is literally just taking the jump. It's it's just going into the studio or it is, um, my first, even before I hit a studio, was just doing it, um, by myself. For five minutes a day was the goal I set for 90 days. Like just see what happens. Let's see what happens if you try this thing, for you know, five minutes a day for 30 days 30, then it was 60, then it was 90. And then eventually I was like, okay, I think I'm ready to like go inside.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it was a huge shift, but it took me. Really, it wasn't the money, it wasn't the studio, it wasn't the community. The first yoga community that I went to wasn't even a yoga community that I stayed with, no bad blood, just you. You find your tribe, your vibe attracts your tribe, and so it's yoga, something that is really interesting to you, really getting clear with yourself. I'm like what, what is getting in the way of me making this decision? And it's okay if you're afraid to go somewhere new, it's okay if it's uncertain, and those are the things you can actually tell your first yoga teacher, because they get it.

Speaker 1:

They understand, you're my favorite yoga teacher. I have not been to a ton of yoga probably outside of you to a ton of yoga, probably outside of you. I've interacted with five to seven, maybe maybe slightly more, yoga teachers and my brain just always goes back to you because no one else that I've interacted with has facilitated the type of sessions that you do and integrated. You know the self-acceptance and the negative self-talk and the appreciation for even this is going to sound weird, but if you've been to Bravecation this may ring a bell appreciation for even your toes. There's a different vibe with you in a yoga session than anybody else that I've interacted with. So I just want you to know that. I mean, you're special, you are, and I'm so glad you kept having those visions and that you got that $80 and ended up doing it.

Speaker 2:

It was a life-changing moment and you know, what's funny is, in my first class ever there was a cute little six-year-old girl, and so the teacher set me up next to the six-year-old and her mom and the yoga teacher. She was probably like in her 60s or 70s and she was so funny and so welcoming and had said something to the effect to the little girl that was six. She was like oh, you're as old as you are is the first day you start yoga, so you're going to be in pretty good shape. And then the yoga teacher herself was like and I'm still 24. And that was the age I was when I went in there. And so just kind of like solidified, like hey, you're in the right place, you can start this at any time, you this at six.

Speaker 1:

You can start this at 24,. You can start this at 70. And you're going to see amazing results. Yeah, I love that. Oh my gosh, Okay. So if somebody is like totally new to this, maybe they've just written off yoga for years. Where should they start?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I would start with well, whatever is sore on your body, finding a full leg stretches for yourself there, because that's really the first step is finding your own desire and need for it. The the catalyst in which to go. If the catalyst is like I want to be able to stretch, or I want to be well and have more energy when I get out of bed in the morning, or my back hurts all of the time, right, if you have something, start there, because we all have things, and find what works for you, because I wish there was a blanket solution. Right, and I know what worked for me was setting a really small, achievable goal. I actually did a method that I learned that instead of a SMART goal, it's an AIM SMART goal.

Speaker 2:

I actually get a method that I learned that instead of a SMART goal, it's an AIM SMART goal. And so the AIM sets for, like the A is acceptable minimum, like what's my acceptable minimum, like I still get, I still get a sticker if I do it, what's my ideal Right? And then what's my middle ground, and so like, for me, even at this stage you know, seven years into my yoga journey my acceptable minimum is still five minutes a day and I still get a brownie point or a gold star or like words of encouragement for doing that five minutes, that five minutes. My ideal is going to the Hot Power Studio and doing a sweaty you know 60-minute class five days a week and my middle ground is that if I could hit that studio three times a week still a win.

Speaker 2:

So all of those are wins. And so you get to categorize your wins, you get to set the parameters in which you play, and then you get those goals right. And so it can be this kind of miseducation of oh, I'm just not devoted enough or I'm not what's the other word? I hear a lot Like there's devotion, there's just also like just having like the drive for it, and it's like, yeah, you want to be devoted to your thing, you want to have the drive, but you also get to set the parameters. You get to choose, you get to choose, and so if you can't hit your parameters, you get to reset them.

Speaker 1:

Change them.

Speaker 2:

So if you're going to beat yourself up over them, if you're going to make this double hard on yourself or if you're just going to keep tracking. So my first big step is really figure out where your parameters are. Like. What is my ideal, Like, what would I like just really be blown away if I did? What's my acceptable minimum, what's my middle? And then you know how am I willing to treat and reward myself along the way? I really think of a concept that I know, or I believe you teach too, is around taking credit.

Speaker 2:

You know, you get to take credit for each of those actions, and I also did the in early, early days. I'm also ADHD, so this helped me a lot. My earliest days of trying, I actually printed out a physical analog calendar and wrote them across the top and I wrote my aim on it like what the the acceptable minimum, what the ideal, what the middle ground was, and I was allowed to cross off an x every single time. I hit one of those and cross, and then I got to see my progress. No, no tracking apps, no yoga apps like just you and a piece of paper. Yeah, put it on your board. If you have a yoga mat at home, put it next to the yoga mat, but really rewarding yourself, taking credit and you do take that step, because I do think building the habit is going to be is usually the most challenging part, as with anything. All of these tips, by the way, they do apply to yoga. They apply to everything else in your life.

Speaker 2:

Everything else in your life, exactly Yoga is everything else that you do your life, everything else in your life Exactly you do, really really starting there. And then it's self-acceptance, it's being gentle with yourselves as you go. If you meet a teacher that you're not vibing with, don't make that about you and don't make that about that person, just find somebody else on and keep finding. You know what your vibe is and you'll attract your tribe of people If yoga is the route that you want to go.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much, kayla. Is there anything else that you want listeners to know about yoga or meditation or your journey things you wish you knew? Anything else coming up?

Speaker 2:

journey, things you wish you knew. Anything else coming up, yeah, one thing coming up is um, I guess a question that was asked me two weeks ago that I've been thinking about since around um, meditation, you know, versus yoga, kind of yeah, um, and people at, or someone asked me was yoga the game changer or was, uh, meditation the game changer for you? Did you start everything in your life shift once you meditate? I felt like my answer should have been yes. I think I was like yeah, and then I found myself like really thinking back to the journey and when I started meditation versus when I started yoga, and I was like showing up for myself was the game changer.

Speaker 2:

Meditation was a vehicle, yoga was a vehicle, but what they both provide and this is an oversupplication of meditation but what they both provide is an anchor, and an anchor or in the sutras it calls like you're very familiar with it, the chattering in your mind. So it's calming of the chapter of the mind and and really, in order to calm this chatter, this difficulty that's in our brain, um, we need something to focus on, we need some sort of answer or mantra. And so yoga, as we hear about it, we think about the poses we think about, like the up dog, down dog. Um, like I said at the beginning of the podcast, yoga just means to come together. There are many limbs of yoga, and the one that we associate with like yoga is the poses.

Speaker 2:

That's just one form. That's asana, right, and so you can practice this practice of self-discovery through asana, through movement. You can also practice it through breath. You can also practice it through focus. Um, all of these things are different limbs or arms for really understanding how to connect back with yourself. And so, was it yoga, was it meditation? Are they the same thing? Yes, you know, and it's again back to what I said around figuring out your frame. It's figuring out what you want from it and then getting yourself those, you know, those little.

Speaker 2:

I keep calling them gold stars because they are the little stars every single time you hit it, because you're worthy, you know you're worthy of the credit and you're worthy of taking care of yourself, and one of my favorite things to say, too, is like there is no secret.

Speaker 2:

We were just talking about this before we hit record. Yeah, our computers and our phones, phones. There is some secret that, at the end of the day, we have to charge those devices and then, every once in a while, we need a system update or reboot, or like. When you call, like tech support for literally anything, they're like well, did you clear your cache right? Did you turn it off and turn it back on again? Um, and that is what yoga and meditation provide to you as software that is running through this life.

Speaker 2:

It clears your cache. Yeah, it's back off and it turns it back on again and it makes sure that all systems are firing before you run into your meeting, your life, your kids, your anything that is so beautiful.

Speaker 1:

I feel like I'm going to start using that phrase. Did you clear your cash? You cleared cash.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I love that. You said the thing that changed everything for you was showing up for yourself. I usually use the phrase honoring yourself and I think that confuses people. Sometimes they're like what does honoring yourself mean? Yeah, anyways, I've got episodes about that so I'm not going to dive into it right this moment. Check those episodes out. But yeah, these are just the vehicles and it's really shifting how you are treating yourself and what are you listening to? That inner guidance and everything.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, and movement and your breath. It's free $3.99. $3. And nothing in life is as free as our breath. And so you know, if you don't know where to start, start with your breath, you can start with moving your body.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming on today. This was better than I anticipated. I knew it was going to be good. Oh, thank you for coming Now. I'm sure there's women listening who want to connect with you, who might want to reach out and ask questions. Where can they find you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So if you want to reach out to me directly, you can find me at Kayla Wanisch on Instagram. I'm actually at Kayla Wanisch on everything because there's no other Kayla Wanishes. So if you really want to find me, you can. And if you are local to the Orlando area and you're actually interested in going to one of my classes, I've taught every Saturday class at 9 am past two years. I don't think that's going anywhere anytime soon, so you can find me at Warrior One at Baldwin Park and then, if you're like, oh, that sounds super interesting and I need to find that address, just reach out to me or stuff, and we can find that for you. Love to teach you some yoga?

Speaker 1:

Yes, thank you. Thank you so much for listening today. Are you ready to finally heal and break free from anxiety, including symptoms like replaying interactions, fearing, making mistakes, imagining worst case scenarios and constant worrying? If so, DM me the word free on Instagram at Dr Stephanie Lopez and I will send you a link to my completely free class to officially ditch anxiety.

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Dr. Stephanie Lopez

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