In our dialogue, we engage with Veronique Ory, who elucidates the significance of establishing sacred boundaries within our daily routines. Central to this discourse is the notion of cultivating a "beginner's mind," which emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and balance amid the chaos of modern life. Ory advocates for a deliberate detachment from digital distractions, particularly in the formative hours of the day, and encourages practices that promote connection to a deeper source of inspiration and creativity. We delve into the pivotal role of self-care in maintaining one’s energy and clarity, thus enabling a more authentic engagement with the world. Ultimately, this conversation invites listeners to reflect on their practices and the profound interconnectedness that underpins our shared human experience. The discourse presented in this episode unfolds the intricate relationship between self-awareness and the cultivation of a beginner's mind, as elucidated by our esteemed guest, Veronique Ory. The conversation navigates the significance of establishing sacred boundaries in our daily lives, particularly during the dawn hours when the mind is fresh and receptive. Veronique articulates a compelling practice of maintaining a deliberate distance from digital devices upon waking, suggesting that such a practice fosters a profound connection to one's inner self and the universe at large. This connection is further enhanced through mindful activities such as meditation, breathwork, and the appreciation of nature's splendor, particularly during the tranquil moments of sunrise. Moreover, the episode delves into the profound implications of curating our daily experiences, emphasizing the necessity of engaging in activities that elicit joy and creativity. Veronique shares her approach to intuitive movement, whereby individuals are encouraged to transcend rigid practices and embrace a fluid expression of their physicality. This practice not only liberates the individual from the constraints of perfectionism but also fosters a deeper connection to the creative energies that flow through us all. The conversation culminates in a poignant reminder that each moment is an opportunity for renewal, urging listeners to embrace their journey with a sense of wonder and an open heart, thereby igniting the potential for transformation in their lives.

Takeaways:

• In the podcast, Veronique discusses the importance of creating sacred boundaries in daily life, particularly in the context of morning routines.
• The practice of connecting to one's breath and source is emphasized as a vital component of personal well-being and spiritual growth.
• Veronique shares her personal journey of awakening to oneness, highlighting the significance of community and connection in overcoming divisive societal forces.
• The conversation explores the transformative power of reducing media consumption to foster a more positive and centered mindset.
• Listeners are encouraged to adopt a beginner's mind, allowing for a fresh perspective each day as they engage with the world around them.
• Veronique emphasizes the importance of embodied spirituality, advocating for a connection to source that transcends physical limitations and societal labels.

I'm Anthony Wright and I am your host today on the Living Conversation with Adam Dietz. And we are talking with our guest Veronique Ore and your friendly canine friend that is showing up in the, in the camera there.

This is Hart.

Oh, what a nice name for a dog.

Very pretty.

So before the break you were talking about beginning to know ourselves well enough so that we can stay in a beginner's mind state. But also to you said, titrate or measure what of daily life we can take in and still remain balanced and centered.

Can you talk a little more about that?

Yeah.

So this is talked about in so many different spaces and I think it's a really important thing, I think probably we can't hear this enough as a culture is to create really sacred boundaries around when you are connecting, let's say with the horizontal plane, particularly in the mornings.

I recommend, and many people do, that you don't have your devices where you sleep to in fact have them as far away from your head as possible and then really take care to attune upwards. So vertical plane, whatever your belief system is, to connect to source.

So somehow to take yourself outside, to cast your eyes as far as they can see, to connect with your breath to meditation.

I really love an attention to learning something in the morning, whether it be listening to a talk or reading or if there's a course that you're moving through something of interest. It could be a musical instrument that you're learning, a language that you're learning. And then, and then it's like, do I feel light?

Do I feel like that steam energy?

And then, and only then do I look at my phone to see if there are messages that I need to tend to, which I know most people, you know, they might use their phone as an alarm. There are other ways that you can, you know, create an alarm.

So that right there, which you know, good would be five minutes, great would be an hour, like wonderful.

You know, I'm saying for me, but maybe in general a three hour Runway and you, you know, you just figure out what time you need to wake up so you have a good amount of space. Space. I really love waking up before the sun rises because then you could really be in that quiet stillness.

And trust me, I grew up a theater kid, I was never a morning person. I would boast that I would more likely still be awake at 5am than waking up at 5. And these days it's such a joy.

And then just turning the dial up on awe and wonderment, getting back to that Beginner's mind of like, oh wow, the sun is doing it again. Look at him, he's just waking up, you know, and it's magical, right?

And you could just almost like you're having a psychedelic trip, but you're sober and you're just watching how the sun is doing its thing on the leaves.

And you know, maybe you have incense going and you're just like in this trance of seeing the different shapes of the incense and then you're thinking, why would I go to my emails when there's this amazing site before me, you know, so it's, it's so important, right? And then, and, and then maybe you decide, you know what? I'm going to do a fast away from media altogether. Maybe that's what I need.

I'll stay empty from food until whatever time. I'll stay empty from media or communication until a certain time.

And if I feel the desire to know something, maybe someone I love will tell me or maybe I'm not meant to know it.

Well, this reminds me of just like it's the most natural thing, right? You wake up and your mind is, you know, in Chinese philosophy sometimes they say daily new, you're brand new, you're brand fresh.

So anything you're bringing in, it's like you're choosing to bring that in. You don't have to. So, so we naturally wake up, like maybe closer to enlightenment.

The longer we can keep that rolling the better is what it sounds like from what you're saying here.

And I also agree so much that, you know, one of the biggest practices we mentioned a couple times on here is, is I, I cut my news consumption like by 90%, you know, because I don't want to know. I don't mind knowing what the sausage, how the sausage is being made, when we're all going to get healthcare, but I don't know.

But I want to know about the sausage machine when ice is coming to knock on our doors. I don't want to know, right? So I, and even with 10% of consumption, I still know too much. I still know lots of things I don't want to know.

And, and I think it's so much about self care. Like if you can care for yourself, then you could show up with so much more energy.

You know, if you're just ground down, putting your head in the blender of this news cycle every day, you, you, you just get to snap at people. You're going to contribute to the, the negativity. So I think it's really beautiful.

I Know, I learned that lesson in grad school that I, I woke up really early 5am every day and I can get an hour or two of writing done for my dissertation and it just, it just naturally happened. And I'm still awake before most people. I could still have tea, I could still jump into the day and maybe take a 20 minute power nap later.

So I think that's really, you know, when I think what's so great about, you know, speaking with you as a yoga teacher is it's embodied spirituality. It's not this distant thing we have to.

Like when you're speaking about horizontal, you also brought it back to say that's connecting to source, connecting to your breath.

So when we say I think one way, would you agree that one way of talking about it is you want to connect to what you think or feel or intuit is the highest possible thing you can, but also have that deeply inside yourself to reconnect to. Is that one good way of talking about it?

Yeah, I really, I really love that in terms of the embodied practice, that source we all have access to.

You know, it's, there have been so many examples of people on opposite sides of the world having the same idea for a song or a book or some kind of creative download. We all have access to it.

And when we, and we attune to that, I really think of that as creating that frequency dial where we're connected to being a vessel opening up. So the creativity that pours through me, it's actually not mine, it's coming through me.

So I mean there's a certain connection to it certainly it's this is my voice, it appears that way.

And yet I always think of, for example, in the, in the physical practice space of a co creation, I tap into the energy of, of the moment of the place that I'm in, the people who are here.

And, and there's a psychic communication that's happening where every single time people come up to me and they say, how did you know that's exactly what I needed. And when we're, and we're, when we are all connected that way, we do get exactly what we need.

It might not be, you know, as the song goes, what we want. Right. We might get the challenge, but the reframe in that is actually thank you for this challenge.

Thank you for this opportunity to practice this again. Let me resource myself so that I can move through this in a way that feels like there's a sense of ascension, so to speak. Right.

That we are in that, in that Journey to and through and with enlightenment that in fact it's not a destination. I think we have glimmers of that, that, that set in when we're to it.

And so I think that that's also such a beautiful part of the practice is that we're not aiming for mastery of anything. It's, it's a practice that is non linear, just like life. So I think of the infinity symbol, right.

And I've had conversations with friends and, and one of my dear friends, he'll say, oh, I'm not as far along in the practice as you are.

And, and I said, you know, I might off road for a while, I might emerge with weeds in my hair and look all like haggard and then sometimes I might emerge and be serene and joyful. But it's all a part of it. I was on my back porch sobbing this morning. But no one would know that, right? Because we only see what we see.

So there's definitely that conversation of awakening in that cleansing. And that's one of the beautiful practices too about yoga is we end each practice in Shavasana. In Sanskrit it's corpse pose.

So we actually are meeting our mortality and the intention is that we meet it with a peacefulness that I have done enough. And then we roll to one side and we become a fetus once again. And then we emerge to a seed and it's a rebirth and we begin anew.

And how do we want to begin anew to this breath and now this one.

You know, it's, it sounds like, I mean all through what we've been talking about is that you're, you're, you're wanting your clients and perhaps our listeners to be aware of setting our own boundary. And I have to set a boundary right now. We have to take a short break. I'm Anthony Wright.

I am your co host today on the Living Conversation with Adam Dietz and we are talking with our guest Veronik Ore. And how can people contact you? Veronique?

Yes, please contact me. You can find out more about [email protected] as well as connect on social media. Veronique Ori and it is social media.

I invite everyone to engage and not just watch. So please reach out. I would love to connect.

All right, we'll take a short break and be right back, so stay tuned. I'm Anthony Wright and I am your co host today on the Living Conversation with Adam Dietz.

Thanks for joining.

And we're here with our guest Veronik Ory and Varini before the break, you were talking about ending a yoga practice for the day in the corpse pose. But I was really struck by what you said about your experience this morning. In the opening of the day, do you do a sun salutation?

That's a great question. I love when people are curious about what my personal practice is. It's definitely shape shifted over the years.

And this morning I had some found time. I had a client who had forgotten to tell me that he was traveling.

And so though it was tempting to launch into my to do list, I put on playlists that I've been listening to recently. It's a Montreal Chill Vibe playlist that I found on Spotify. And I just started moving intuitively and I know that might be elusive to some.

You could just think about that.

It's not a dance, it's not sun salutations, it's not shapes per se, but it's just, if you were listening to music and you were laying down, how would you move? If you were standing and listening to music, how would you move? If that feels awkward, maybe it's like eyes closed and it's just swaying.

And then over time that'll become more comfortable for you. You might turn the lights out and try to create an environment that feels comfortable to do that.

And then if you do want guidance, I do have an on demand platform that I'm happy to share later on, but I. I tend to be in the intuitive movement. That's how I like to move. That's also how I like to guide where it's less very prescriptive. Sun salutation. Here we are, Warrior one, Warrior two.

But rather within each shape that we can play. Right. So I think there's a lot of rigidity and there's a lot of perfectionism, a lot of Type A OCD on the scene.

And so I really love to break up with things being just so. It's honoring lineage, certainly, and it's also allowing each person to play with. How does this resonate for me?

And oftentimes when we can embody it as our own. So this might be, you know, what a jazz musician might feel like when they're improvising and just letting the notes sort of come through.

And so that's that connection of source. It's less so of, am I doing this right? But rather, does this feel light and creative to me?

Does this feel like an expression that feels resonant in my. In my mind, body and soul?

And so I was playing that with that this morning and in fact, I had mentioned in the earlier part of the conversation of my last dog, he actually passed away suddenly from heart disease last April. And he was my faithful companion for 10 years. And he was always meditating with me, right next to me when I practiced.

And when he passed away, I really lost it. You know, for anyone who has been going through this grief season, I'm like hand to heart. Like, I feel that still.

It's like that like ache in your bones where you feel like you can't take it. And I was really missing him this morning. I had unexpectedly adopted this puppy, Heart, pretty soon after Bari passed away.

And a lot of ways I feel like Bari sent Heart to me. I mean, you know, he died of heart disease. My heart is broken. He sent me a puppy named Heart.

I mean, it's like, come on, you know, it's just so crazy. And what's so wild is actually, if you go to my Instagram, you'll see, you know, two, you know, depending on when you're listening to this.

But you can see a video of my Frenchie Boston Mix. And I. It's a real. So it's like kind of like a time lapse video of the practice. And he would, historically, he would feel me come out of Shavasana.

He would emerge from somewhere and then he would sit right in front of me and we would meditate together. And I was thinking about that as I was moving. And.

And then when I lay down in Shavasana this morning, I was in this meditation of, okay, the physical body is just a container and it's temporary. It's so heart wrenching when we go through loss because we just want the physical person or the sweet furry family member there.

And also, okay, if I can remember and re. Remember that that's temporary, but the soul, that's eternal and the souls that are meant to be connected are forever connected.

And as I had that thought, I felt this energy on my left arm and I. And I was like, oh, my gosh, he's here. And I looked and there was nothing there. But I swear I felt this touch.

And then I closed my eyes and I thought, okay, there's a new spirit here. I'm so grateful.

And then I opened my eyes and heart showed up and I sat to meditate and just like Barry did, she came and she sat right in front of me and we meditated together.

Yep, there's no accidents. I. I really.

That's part of what I really appreciate doing this life work that I have done in Eastern philosophy and with my friendship with Adam and My teaching of, of 18 and 19 year old students and meeting you, I mean there's no, there's no accidents. It's a, it's a, an entirely resonant thing. So we're coming to the end of the show. We got probably four or five minutes left.

What would you say is if you want our listeners to know one thing about what you have for us to understand about your journey and what you've learned about as a, as a, as a human container that's beyond the container. What would, what would you say that you'd like our listeners to know?

Oh gosh.

What comes to mind,.

What feels most necessary right now is to awaken to our oneness. There's so much right now that is trying to convince us otherwise.

It's a very divisive time and there's so much in remembering that what unites us is so much greater than what divides us.

Yep.

The eight year old version of each of us doesn't see the differences, isn't so obsessed with the titles and the things that monopolize a lot of our thoughts as adults and I think with the lights out in terms of the lights that are shown upon where the differences are.

But when we're in the connection to spirit, that doesn't have the outer containers, that doesn't have the labels or the ways that we might just naturally be an initial conversation with the random person that we would be sitting next to on an airplane, for example, of where are you from? What do you do? All of these things beyond that, at our core we all want to love and be loved.

And all we need is that sense of belonging, of safety and love. And when those three needs are met, then the things that plague us, they don't have a hold anymore.

And so whatever the practice is, whether it's meditation, whether it's yoga, whether it's anything that, that it can uplift you, that it can uplift your family, your community and, and ultimately it uplifts all of us.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're coming to the end of the interview here. Is there anything that you have, Adam, for Veronique?

There's a bunch of things, but I think that's such a nice way to end it. I don't want to. Off track.

Yeah, no, no, I really appreciate it. All right, well, I'm Anthony Wright and I have been your co host today with Adam Dietz.

Thanks for joining the conversation.

Yeah, we've been talking with our guest, Veronique Ore. And how can people contact you? Vernique?

Yes, you can connect with me. There's a lot on my website yogawith veronique.com you could learn about my book Shine on and off the mat.

There's online membership Shine which connects to how is your heart and there's a little four question quiz that will create a playlist for you where there will be a 20 minute practice, a music playlist, a journal prompt. There's retreats on the horizon. I'll be leading an immersion workshop at the Omega institute in Rhinebeck, New York this spring, May 31 to June 5.

Really looking forward to that. And then my partner Aaron Lanahan, Colenda and I are leading a retreat in Italy in October the 24th to the 31st cultural immersion wellness.

Really delicious food and and some some movement in the morning and in the evening and would love to connect anything that prompted some kind of inquiry in you, please reach out. You can certainly message me on my website or connect if you are on social media. I'm on Instagram.

Aronique Orey and thank you so much to both of you for holding the conversation.

Thank you. All right, well thanks so much for listening and we will see you next time.