In this episode, we explore the transformative power of slowing down in a fast-paced world. Joined by yoga therapist Addie deHilster, we delve into practical strategies using yoga, mindfulness, and everyday activities to reduce stress and cultivate calm. We also talk about the significance of breath control, gradual movements, and integrating slow practices like restorative and yin yoga into daily life. We look at the importance of self-care, intentional pauses, and playful spontaneity, the conversation highlights the benefits for those dealing with anxiety, stress, and trauma. Listeners are encouraged to connect with their body, heart, and mind, and approach transitions with curiosity.
MEET Addie deHilster
Addie deHilster is a C-IAYT Yoga Therapist and a trained Mindfulness Meditation teacher. She draws from her long-term experience practicing Buddhist Insight Meditation and Yoga, Qigong, and Somatic movement modalities. Addie owned and operated a community yoga studio for over 5 years, and she has taught accessible movement practices for students with challenges such as chronic pain, arthritis, cancer, and insomnia. These days, she is most interested in de-compartmentalizing movement and meditation practices, and finding creative ways to make mindfulness more accessible to those struggling with traditional sitting practices. Addie is the host of the Moved To Meditate Podcast and leads an online Mindful Movement Teacher Training.
Find out more at Move To Meditate and connect with Addie on Instagram and the Move To Meditate Podcast
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Chris McDonald: Are you constantly feeling rushed or overwhelmed by the pace of daily life? Is it hard to sit still? And do you feel like you're moving too fast? In this episode, we explore how yoga can become a powerful tool for slowing down both physically and mentally. My guest, Eddie D. Hilster, shares practical strategies to help you slow down and reduce stress.
These insights will help you find more ease and balance in your day to day life. Addy also shares with you a helpful yoga practice that you can use personally and with clients. Get cozy on your mat and give yourself permission to slow down on today's episode of Yoga in the Therapy Room. Welcome to Yoga in the Therapy Room, the nontraditional therapist guide to integrating yoga into your therapy practice.
I'm Chris McDonald, licensed therapist and registered yoga teacher. This podcast is here to empower therapists like you with the knowledge and confidence to bring yoga into their practice safely and ethically. So whether you're here to expand your skills, enhance your self care or both, you're in the right place.
Join me on this journey together. to help you be one step closer to bringing yoga into your therapy room. Welcome back to Yoga in the Therapy Room podcast, the non traditional therapist's guide to integrating yoga into your therapy practice. I'm your host, Chris McDonald, and I want to just let you know I have a cold, so I'm a little bit congested.
So bear with me. My voice is not at my best today, but I'm doing my best to be here for you. But today we're talking about an important topic that so many of us struggle with. Myself included. And that is slowing down, especially through yoga. So in a world where we're constantly rushing from one thing to the next, task to task, and especially as mental health therapists, it can sometimes feel impossible to hit that pause button.
But that's exactly what we're going to look into today. One of my favorite people in the yoga world is here to help guide us through this. Addie DeHilster is a yoga therapist and trained mindfulness meditation teacher. She draws from her long term experience practicing Buddhist insight meditation, as well as yoga, qigong, and somatic movement modalities.
Addie is host of the Move to Meditate podcast. She also leads online mindful movement teacher training, which I was fortunate enough a year ago to sign up with. It's a 60 hour training, and oh my gosh, I learned so much through that. And She is just phenomenal in what she does. In this episode, we're looking at how yoga can help us slow down, not just on the mat, but in our daily lives.
We'll explore practical strategies that can help you become more present, reduce stress, and find that much needed space to breathe and reflect. So take a deep breath, settle in, and let's begin our journey to slowing down through yoga with me and Addie DeHilster. Welcome to Yoga in the Therapy Room podcast,
Amanda Baker: Addie.
Hey, Chris, it's so great to be here with you on your newly rebranded podcast. Yes,
Chris McDonald: this is so exciting. And to have you here that has taught yoga for so long and have so many wonderful experiences. I'm just honored to have you here.
Amanda Baker: Oh, that's really sweet. And I'm just, uh, like, I love, we were saying before we started recording, I just love what you're doing and the perspectives that you're bringing.
And the ways that you're using these yoga practices, I think it's really brilliant.
Chris McDonald: Absolutely. Um, and Addie does teach, have a teacher training too that I, I did this mindful movement training, which, you know, that's what I'm helping to use to teach therapists as well. Some of what you've taught me. So you bring so much to the world.
Amanda Baker: Oh, I'm really glad to hear it was useful. And we, yeah, we've had several therapists take that. I think to find like simple movement practices and a more like mindful perspective on movement that they can apply. Yeah. Like you were saying, like with your work. You add this layer of like the therapeutic theory and the experience with clients in that context.
So it's just a, yeah, it's a good marriage.
Chris McDonald: So much good stuff for sure. Well, let's jump in and can you share with listeners your journey with yoga? How did you find it? And what's been helpful for you with yoga?
Amanda Baker: Well, yeah, my journey with yoga has been unfolding over quite a long period of time. I started doing yoga when I was in college in the late nineties with the VHS tapes that I had access to at the time.
Like maybe more, some people of my age can relate to. I
Chris McDonald: can.
Amanda Baker: I had that like Rodney Yee and Patricia Walden. I love Rodney Yee. A and P in yoga. Those were so good. I did them over and over, but I started yoga really because I was pretty tightly wound as a young person. I was pretty stressed. I'd had some kind of intense family stuff growing up and then I was kind of like thrust into adulthood in college and I was a music major performing a lot and just sort of under the spotlight and, um, Yeah, just coping with a lot of like that stress and anxiety and someone pointed me towards yoga.
And just from the very first time that I even tried it, and like, I know it was just a VHS tape, but it was really powerful for me. It felt so good to just connect with my body in that way. And yeah. Honestly, my favorite part was the Shavasana. Like the first time Patricia Walden guides this like point by point relaxation through the Shavasana on that, that really old, you know, yoga tape.
But it was just the, I couldn't remember a time in my life where I'd felt that relaxed and to realize that was possible, you know, the age of 20. That was life changing. Like, Oh, you can feel like this. I had no idea. So that really set me on a course of, you know, continuing to practice quite a bit on my own for years and eventually finding more community around yoga as time went on and later on training to become a yoga teacher.
Although at first I didn't really envision that I was going to be making it my career. That was something that kind of. Happened along the way, but yeah, it was just a pivotal moment for me to have someone suggest that as a way of working with my stress and my sort of like, young person angstiness and all my questions about like, what?
Is the meaning of life and what are we even doing here and what is the point of any of this and you know, all of, all of that, all those questions, all those questions were very much up for me at that point. And, and I, I still find them quite interesting, but yoga was the whole, the whole gamut of those physical practices and those philosophies.
And it really. was a major step for me to be introduced to it.
Chris McDonald: Yeah, for sure. And today we're talking about slowing down more with yoga. So can you talk about what does that mean to slow down? Cause we hear that a lot. It becomes, it seems like it's more popular to talk about slowing down, but what
Amanda Baker: does it really mean?
I know, like, we all have this vague sense of like, I'd like to slow down a little bit, right? And I think it's like, you know, life is busy, life is really full, you know, we have a lot going on, and I think it's great to have a full life, and it's great to have a lot of people. Of things to go to and people to be with and responsibilities and such, but there comes a point where we can get pretty burned out by it.
We can get really exhausted by it, or we can just kind of feel like we're on this like hamster wheel of like, go, go, go. And then even when we have time to take a pause or go on a vacation or just. enjoy a Sunday morning, we pause and we stop and we go, Oh no, I don't know how to relax. I feel like I should be doing something or what's wrong.
And this is, this feels too unfamiliar. And I don't even know how to slow down. So I think that, yeah, it becomes this. Habit that's very encouraged and very reinforced and seems to be what's expected of us to always be doing something, always be moving to the next thing and the next thing. So to me, this, this whole like practice of slowing down is about how do we come out of that autopilot mode and how do we learn to shift gears when we need to or want to.
Chris McDonald: Absolutely. And this just happened to me yesterday. It was so funny with this episode coming up today, recording on Monday. This was Sunday. And I don't know about you, but weekends sometimes can be very full between, you know, I want to do fun things, but then there's things I got to do for personal life and cleaning and All the chores.
All the chores, you know, just the normal stuff and then cooking dinner. And so I start, I just got so busy yesterday that I was texting with a friend. She's like, when are you going to relax though today? And I was like, whoa, wait a minute. She's like, you need to make some tea. Cause I was telling her about this cold I have.
And you know, you need to just chill out for a little. I was like, you're right. I was really on that go, go, go mode. And I think it's so easy to do that and be so, I guess the word that comes to my task oriented too.
Amanda Baker: Yeah, totally. And I think there's, there's something about going at that rate and at that pace all the time and just moving from the next thing to the next thing that it doesn't allow us much space to reflect.
Or check in with ourselves or rest or, you know, even in a, like, if we're talking about a therapeutic process and a client isn't used to like slowing down, it's going to be hard for them to even like articulate what they're feeling or notice what they're feeling or process what they're feeling if they don't have some capacity or some tools to help them just sort of like.
take a minute and take a breath and make that connection, right? Because I think the speed, it just sort of keeps us a bit on the surface of things.
Chris McDonald: Yeah. Yeah. And I'm just thinking too, even our nervous system, cause doesn't that put us in that sympathetic arousal too. And just, we're going, going, going. So I did take her advice.
I made some tea and I sat on the couch and relaxed for a little while. So I was like, thank God it was, I feel like it was a voice from the universe too. Like, dude, what are you doing?
Amanda Baker: Yeah, thank goodness someone, uh, made the, like the person who told me you should try yoga back so many years ago. Like sometimes you hear that, that voice and you really know, like, yep, I need to listen to this.
Chris McDonald: Yeah. And I wonder too, is it more that we get caught in the doing and not the being?
Amanda Baker: Yeah, and I think it's hard because like we may realize this and you have tools and you have experience and practice so you were able to actually like make that cup of tea and go sit and relax for a moment, you know, other times I know for me, I might have the intention to sit and relax and then I find myself scrolling on my phone or making a to do list or planning something else.
And it's, yeah. Even though I also have tools, but I do, but it's hard and sometimes it's like we're expecting ourselves to go from full speed to full stop, like slam on the brakes
Chris McDonald: hard
Amanda Baker: and it's hard. It feels kind of like we're hitting a brick wall where the shift is too sudden and we need more familiarity with what it feels like to slow down or we need more.
Gradual transition into slowing down, you know, some different, I think, some different ways of approaching it can be, can be really helpful.
Chris McDonald: Yeah, so why is it important, do you think, to slow down more?
Amanda Baker: Well, I think we want to be present for our lives, right? We don't want to miss those important moments of our life.
You know, those moments with others we care about, or those special moments You know, that we've been working towards and that we really want to savor or those, those big highlights of, of life. We also want to feel like we can be present in those challenging moments of life and, you know, to take care of ourselves and to tune in to what we need or what those around us might need.
So, to slow down gives us a different perspective. Imagine when you're, when you're driving in your car and you're, you're going down the block, you can't really see all the individual stores on the block that, shops that might be interesting or restaurants that might be interesting. Like, if you really want to see those details and notice what's there.
You got to slow down a little bit and take a better look, right? Because when we are going fast, we're, we're missing things. So when I practice slowing myself down, I really like to note like, oh, what's different? What's showing up that I haven't been seen? Or what is, what's interesting here? You know, bringing the curiosity I think is a huge piece of the process of slowing down and what, what makes slowing down interesting.
Chris McDonald: Hmm. Interesting. Yeah. So even asking those questions, like, what do I notice that's different? And even if you go the same way to work every day, what do I notice that's different on the way to work?
Amanda Baker: Yeah, whether it's like the season is changing and the leaves look different on the trees or the light looks different today, or, you know, someone put a different decoration in the window of that bookstore that I like, or, you know, tuning into those details and, you know, the same thing for our lives, right?
Like noticing those, the shifts with, you know, Um, our relationships or with, um, how we're feeling throughout the day, how we can better attend to ourselves or take care of ourselves.
Chris McDonald: So what are some yoga practices that can help with slowing down?
Amanda Baker: Yeah, I have a few of these. I know you do. Yeah, I think one of the most simple things we can do is to Slow down the breath, right?
So if you pause and you check in with how you're breathing, when your nervous system is really activated or you've been in a rush or you're under pressure and things are going fast, you're probably breathing faster, right? Like that's just part of the body activating the resources it needs to keep up with you, right?
So you're probably breathing faster. And if you can just start to lengthen your exhales. Take a little bit longer with the breaths. Take, take a minute. It doesn't have to be, you know, a 30 minute meditation. It can just be a short process of taking some slower breaths. They don't even have to be deeper breaths necessarily, but just slower breaths.
That is incredibly powerful for the nervous system because we know that You know, breath is one of the quickest ways that we can influence our nervous system state.
Chris McDonald: And it's always
Amanda Baker: available. It's always available and you can do that sitting at a red light in the car. You can do that in a waiting room before a meeting.
You know, you can do that. It's very portable. You can do that one pretty much anywhere. You can do that one in bed at night when your mind is kind of racing and you're trying to wind down and fall asleep. A more slightly active version of that that I love to do is playing with the pace of a movement. So we might, maybe we could try this one.
Yeah, let's try it together. If we imagine we were doing the arm part of sun salutation, sorry, just the part where you Inhale and raise your arms up and then you bring your palms together and exhale them down to your heart. It's a little hard with our microphones. I had to move it. Like checking in for a moment, just notice how fast your mind is moving and if it feels like you're Thoughts are kind of quick or you're leaning kind of forward energetically and your pace has been sort of fast, then start the movement kind of fast, like inhaling the arms up and exhaling the palms together to the chest.
Inhale circling them up again and exhaling the palms to the chest. This is faster than we'd normally go, right? It is. Much
Chris McDonald: faster
Amanda Baker: than I
Chris McDonald: teach.
Amanda Baker: Right. And I'm kind of like Let me just meet my mind at the pace it is. Mirror the movement of the mind so it can connect. And then as we do the next one, can we do it a little more slowly?
Just raise the arms a little bit more slowly and then exhale the palms together at the chest a little more slowly and then go slower and slower on each one, starting to inhale the arms up. And exhaling, the palms together at the heart, that full exhale, even a little slower this time, inhaling, and then exhaling, even slower,
inhaling, the arms up, even more slowly, still inhaling, still inhaling, exhaling, Exhaling and see how slow you can go. Just impossibly slow sloth yoga, still going up, still going up, exhaling the hands together. Can you do one even more slow than that? That's hard. It gets harder, right? And you might even start to go so slowly that you have to take more than one breath to do it.
Like, can we go so slowly? We have to take. Two cycles of breath, or just, uh, however many breaths. And then if we pause, just notice how you feel. Maybe the mind Slowed down a little bit to match what the body was doing. Maybe the breath naturally slowed down because we were connecting it to the pace of the movements.
Ah, I feel a little calmer. Yeah, I feel like there's a little more space too. Yeah, so any movement, you could make up any movement and do that. It could be like when you're laying on your back with your knee into your chest and doing hip circles, kind of faster and then slower and slower and slower. It works really well with Qigong movements where we're just doing kind of a simple up and down with the arms, but really any movement.
Doesn't have to be an official yoga pose. Right. It doesn't have to be complex.
Chris McDonald: Not at all. Simpler the better. Yeah. So listeners pay attention what you notice with that too, with just inhaling arms up. Down to prayer pose and doing it fast and slow. And I think this is wonderful to bring into the therapy room with clients to notice.
And I have clients who've told me that I have your voice in my mind when you say, go slower than you want to go.
Amanda Baker: Because there is resistance that comes up, right? Like when we try to go slow, maybe we're going up against what feels like is expected, right? Like somehow going slow is not enough. In some way, or like we won't get enough accomplished, you know, we also might feel like slow is going to be boring or tedious or not as efficient as the way we're used to moving.
Right? So I think that's where the curiosity comes in because it's like, we're not just going slow to go slow. We're going slow. So we can notice more or see something different and see what we're missing. Usually when we're going so quickly. Right? What looks or feels different when I've actually slowed things down.
Like if we were to do that movement again, I won't make you do it again right now, but like, you probably noticed different sensations when you were going slower or felt your breath a little bit differently, or even sometimes even like the way you see the room can be different. Like, Oh, it's seeing with fresh eyes now because I'm, kind of slow down a little and I'm taking in different information.
So it can be kind of refreshing to slow down if we bring that kind of curiosity and interest to it.
Chris McDonald: Yeah, in our day, and I'm just thinking day to day too as therapists, is there times that you can slow down more even between clients to do some practices, whether that's breath work or movement, something just to kind of pace yourself, even just sit, look outside with a cup of tea, you know, something that can bring some ease and.
Amanda Baker: Yeah, and then I think that sort of leads me to another aspect of this, which is co regulation. Like, when we can be around someone or an environment that feels slower or calmer, that helps our nervous system to kind of mirror that. right? So like when the therapist is slower and calmer, it really helps the client to sort of surf off of that vibe, right?
To borrow a little bit of that slow energy. It's one of the reasons I think people enjoy going to yoga that they might not even understand that they enjoy about going to yoga, but to go into a slow energy. Space that's set up to be tranquil and not so stimulating and slower and to be with a group of people who are moving and breathing slowly and a teacher who's speaking in a slower cadence, right?
It all kind of creates a framework for our. Our environment and for our nervous system to be able to kind of shift gears faster. I think we're with more ease because we can co-regulate or mirror from that, um, that input that we're getting. That's a little bit on the slower side.
Chris McDonald: Are you a therapist interested in bringing yoga into your therapy room, but are unsure? How are you ready to take the next step and bring the benefits of yoga into your therapy sessions? Imagine feeling confident in using yoga as a therapeutic tool and knowing the when and how to bring yoga to sessions safely and ethically.
My Yoga Basics course for therapists is here. This eight part online training covers everything from nervous system regulation to understanding how to guide clients with yoga effectively. And through a trauma informed yoga lens, you'll have scripts for all yoga practices taught and two individual consults with me to support you on your journey.
The next course starts November 21st, so don't miss out. Get ready to build your confidence today. Go to hcpodcast. org forward slash yoga basics. That's hcpodcast. org forward slash yoga basics. Can you talk about some different kinds of yoga that are slower, like in yoga and gentle yoga practices, restorative, those kinds of practices?
Amanda Baker: Yeah, exactly. Um, those are the slower end of the yoga spectrum, right? It's sort of the, maybe you have on one end of the spectrum, this sort of like flow yoga or the power yoga where you're moving.
almost non stop, which can be great. That is its own style of practice that has its own set of benefits. But there's the whole other end of the spectrum where there's a lot more stillness and slowness, which can be challenging in its own way. Um, and those styles are like restorative yoga, yin yoga, where we hold the poses for quite a while with lots of prop support and comfortable stretches that, you know, allow us to have kind of a meditative experience within a held yoga pose.
And then there's also just, you know, gentle yoga, which might be more movement oriented, but slow paced and not so vigorous, not so physically demanding, might be more sort of. gentle movements for the joints or lots of breath oriented dynamic movements, but nothing that's, that's going to make you have to towel off with sweat
in a, in a gentle, a truly gentle class. And so I think those can be, those kinds of practices are, Bringing ourselves into those spaces to do those kinds of practices can be a great laboratory for us to experience and get familiar with what it feels like to go a little bit slower. So it's kind of like the practice laboratory outside of our daily life where we can learn some of those, those experiences and those skills and practice that slow breathing and practice that slow moving, sort of get a feel for how, Juicy that is and you know how rejuvenating and refreshing that can be and nourishing that can be then we can learn how to apply that, you know, in the flow of life where we might be taking those, those little slow down breaks during the day, but so I think, you know, those kind of slower styles of yoga are a great place to just sort of like really find that skill set and find some of those tools and get familiar with them.
If that makes sense. Yeah.
Chris McDonald: Now, I know you've talked a little bit about some of the challenges. Can you talk more about what are some of the challenges to slowing down more?
Amanda Baker: Yeah. Well, I, you've mentioned the nervous system, right? And it's just like, this is why when we tell ourselves, okay, time to stop time to slow down.
It just doesn't automatically happen because underneath our physiology is still moving with a lot of momentum. So we need to work with the body and the nervous system to create that state shift. in our physiology, as well as the intention in our mind. So that can be a challenge when, you know, I see this a lot with like people who want to learn to meditate and they go from busily driving somewhere or busily emailing someone and then they go to their cushion and they're like, now meditate.
Just go. It's like, just go. There's not enough of a transition there. Right. So we need to look for those kinds of. What is your go to? Is it a breath practice? Is it a simple movement practice? Is it a cup of tea and stepping outside and like looking at the sky? You know, that helps you to just sort of key into, okay, physiology, nervous system, body.
We can actually shift gears now and slow down. So I think it's, yeah, it's that. And it's, it is that sort of resistance in the mind that maybe we haven't unpacked yet. Like, why am I resisting going slow? What am I worried might happen if I slow down? Who might I disappoint if I slow down and see, you know, if something is coming up around that, yeah, those are some of the main.
Challenges, I think, with this intention, like we might have the intention to slow down, but there, there may be those pieces undermining it.
Chris McDonald: Yeah. And I think from what you said earlier, too, it's, it can feel uncomfortable if we're not used to it and for clients to, to start to slow down to, especially with trauma.
I think that that can be. It's a trauma response, some people to keep busy, busy, busy and not to arrest, because once they stop, then they may get flooded with emotion or flashbacks.
Amanda Baker: Yeah. And sometimes it's like that doing is, is something that we've used to feel a little more in control and to let go of that and to be a little more open to the moment or like, Hmm, what's next?
I don't know. I don't have a plan to be more spontaneous. That can feel quite edgy. I have a practice kind of around that that I like to do on the yoga mat that just involves playful improv. So just starting in any position, you could be laying down, you could be in tabletop, you could be standing, and then getting into that position, that sort of foundation position, and then asking the body, what would like to move right now?
Or what feels a little stuck right now? And then just letting yourself do what comes next, whatever simple movement shows up. Like, sitting right now, if I were to ask myself that, body, what feels a little stuck and would like to move? Then the impulse comes to straighten my right leg out. It's like, ah, yeah, if I do a few ankle circles, that feels quite relieving.
Right, so it's nothing complicated. But it's just like, oh, there was that moment of listening. And you can make a whole practice out of this if you go, okay, now, what feels like it would like a little attention or would feel wonderful right now. And then it just like a deeper breath came and maybe this Impulse to like stretch and reach my arms out to let them come down.
And if you ask yourself that question in different positions, you'll probably do a different movement. If you started in tabletop, you'll do one thing. If you started standing, you'll probably do something else. And I think what's nice about that is it allows us to play without a plan. Right. To just practice.
slowing down enough to ask the body that question and to know it's not going to respond with some kind of a verbal answer or words. It's just like a lightning bolt. Yeah, it's just gonna be there's an impulse. So like stretch my arm out this way, and then we just let that happen and then follow what's next and what's next.
So it's spontaneous and playful and not planful, you know, it doesn't have to look any particular way. And you can do that for a few minutes and just kind of see how you feel with that and what the effects are of that. I think it's a safe place to kind of play with just noodling around without a plan for a minute.
Chris McDonald: noodling around. I think that people are used to just like a structured yoga class. So this could be a different way to interpret that. And even asking clients, how do you feel like moving right now? And, and just kind of noticing what comes up with that.
Amanda Baker: Yeah, it can be kind of radical and it is because people are like, but you're supposed to teach me, you know, and it's like, yes, but teaching you could could look like telling you the instructions for the next pose, or it could be holding a space for you to teach yourself something.
or to explore a little more independently. But it's interesting to see what comes up, right? When we're offered like that little bit of freedom and space. And I totally trust that if you're asking that question and you're responding in just like simple ways. You're not going to hurt yourself. You're not going to do anything wild.
You know, you're not going to do anything risky. It's, it's really like what tends to come out of that tends to be just the kinds of stretches you do in bed when you first wake up in the morning.
Chris McDonald: Yeah, exactly. And it doesn't have to be handstand or anything. It probably won't be. Yeah, exactly. And you know what's funny?
After I've been doing yoga so many years and have my personal daily practice, it's, I get like visuals of things. Like all of a sudden I'll be thinking, okay, what, how do I want to move now? And I'll get like a picture of me doing down dog and then I'll do down dog. It's like, that's, I've tuned into my body, I guess, and inner wisdom or something that tells me where to go.
Amanda Baker: Yeah. That's like, that's intuition, right? That when we slow enough, that intuition can arise. And, I think it comes from being connected to the body and maybe having been curious enough in the past to explore in that way where you have this sort of intuitive understanding of what a down dog is going to feel like or do for you.
You have this sort of internalized experience of the benefit of that pose. And so you're, you're making that connection without even really having to think so much about it consciously.
Chris McDonald: And I remember from your course too, you talk about bringing that playfulness in. And, and I think it was Terry Littlefield who talked a lot about that.
And, and I think that, that we got to lighten up with yoga sometimes because it gets so serious. I think some people do just, can we bring that playfulness in?
Amanda Baker: I think as adults, we really need. We need play therapy because it's just, there's so much about having to get it right and having to be on time and look a certain way.
And you know, why couldn't our yoga practice be a place where we just get to try something on and try something new, be a little bit experimental, be a little
Chris McDonald: goofy. Yeah.
Amanda Baker: Exactly, exactly.
Chris McDonald: Allowing yourself to do that.
Amanda Baker: Yeah, not worrying about if you look like a dork or not, you know. It's okay. Right. Just
Chris McDonald: give yourself permission.
Amanda Baker: Yeah. Yeah, we do need more than that. Terri is a great inspiration for that because she's just amazing. a really gifted gentle yoga teacher, but she's also very funny and playful. And I think that can really help people get out of their heads when we,
Chris McDonald: you know,
Amanda Baker: we bring a little bit of that playful spirit.
Chris McDonald: Yeah. Was she on YouTube?
Amanda Baker: Yeah. She's got a YouTube channel.
Chris McDonald: Yeah. We can put that in the show notes too, because if you haven't experienced it, Experience her class. She is amazing. I love taking that class with her. She is just, she brings a different vibe to it.
Amanda Baker: Yeah. She's more
Chris McDonald: slowing down. Yeah. And fun.
Amanda Baker: I, she was the very first person I ever interviewed on my podcast like three years ago.
And the title of our episode was gentle is not boring. Because that was, yeah, it's kind of about this resistance that like sometimes we think if we slow down or we do something less strenuous, it's going to be tedious or boring or not be engaging enough. And I think that's not true at all. when we really can bring curiosity and playfulness to what we're doing.
Like we can, we can find so much enjoyment and luxuriousness and nourishment from simple things. And that cup of tea, you know,
Chris McDonald: I'm also thinking of intention, right? Cause if we go to like power yoga, the intention I'm thinking is more cardiovascular. We're trying to get in shape or use yoga for that. That means, but what is your intention, right?
With yoga practice.
Amanda Baker: Yeah, and even if that's your jam, you could still insert some slowing down into that kind of a practice, or maybe it's like you're a runner, right? You have this thing you do that is more vigorous or faster, but you can sort of slow down in a way by inserting breaks and just practicing moments of interrupting the momentum.
of what you're doing. Practicing the stop. Like, I like to bookend a practice, which could be your jogging practice before and after you run, or it could be your power yoga practice at the beginning or end of class. Like, just pause, check in with myself. Okay, how's my body feeling? What are the sensations that show up?
How's my heart? Moods? Emotions that are present seem to be here right now. Oh, okay. How fast is my mind going? Is it fuzzy? Is it clear? What's the tone of the thoughts right now? Okay. Body, heart, and mind. Do the practice or do the activity. Maybe you stop somewhere in the middle of it and do that check in again, just out of curiosity.
Not expecting anything in particular and then do it again at the end that makes the book end right and not that we're expecting A certain outcome, but you probably will feel different There probably will have been some shifts and that's an interesting, you know practice to notice that But it's also just inserting that pause in that moment of curiosity that allows us to slow down and connect with ourselves.
So there's so many ways to, to do that in the midst of the day, or, you know, even a faster paced activity that you enjoy. So it doesn't have to be yin yoga or gentle yoga or restorative if that's not your thing, but, you know, the intention, like you said, you can be very creative with, uh, The intention to explore slowing down.
Chris McDonald: So what advice would you give for listeners who still may be on the like, Ooh, I'm not so sure about slowing down. So what would you say about getting started?
Amanda Baker: Yeah, I think, yeah, reflecting on, you know, what would you benefit, what would be the benefit to you if you slow down? Like, is there something you think you might be missing?
Or is there something that you think you might, Enjoy about being able to slow down. So then you do kind of firm up that intention of like, okay This matters to me and then find, you know some gradual way to dip your toe into it right to not make it a big a high bar of like going from your normal pace to being Completely like a monk, right?
You know find your find your first baby step into slowing down You Whether it just means that you walk a little more slowly to your car on your way out of the grocery store, you know, you take 10 more seconds to get there than you normally would have. Cause you catch yourself. Like I'm not really on the clock right now.
I'm not really running late for anything and yet I'm power walking to the car. Like nobody's business. Right. Could I actually just Slow my pace down a little bit in that simple moment, you know, that could be one idea and there's a million ideas of ways that you could practice that. But what is your, like, what is your gradual baby step into this process of slowing down and seeing what, you know, might be The point of that and what might be the benefit of that, you know, maybe it's something about the transitions, but in your day between like when you're really busy working to when you're in downtime, you know, like, is there something you do for yourself there to help you slow down where you do a short practice, or you have that moment of stepping outside and taking a breath of fresh air, whatever it might be that cup of tea.
It really doesn't have to look the same for everyone. And maybe we get hung up on thinking that it does, but yeah, I don't know if that helps because it's sort of, yeah, it's, it's hard to sort of like, it's almost easier if you're talking to that actual person and they're saying, this is, This is me and this is why it's hard to slow down, but we can maybe do that for ourselves and apply that idea of like, okay, I get to be creative with this and I get to be really gradual with this and know that it's like a lifelong practice.
Chris McDonald: Yeah. Cause I think this could be like you said with transition. So when you end your work day, that could be a perfect time. What can I do to transition and maybe slow down before you go into your personal role? And that could be a good way to ease in, maybe.
Amanda Baker: It doesn't need to be cold turkey. For sure. As in sudden and abrupt, right?
Yes. It could be gradual, little bits at a time.
Chris McDonald: So what's the best way for our listeners to find out more about you?
Amanda Baker: Yeah, you can find me at my website, which is movedtomeditate. yoga, M O V E D, moved to meditate. Yeah, there's plenty of information there about anything I have going on. And I have a. Class library that has examples of practices that, that may assist with slowing down.
Um, some of them are specifically themed around this process of slowing ourselves down. And there's a free tier to the class library where you can sign up for what I call your free library card and access five classes a month. And I'm always rotating every month. So, so that's an easy way to, you know, find hopefully some resources and supports to, um, Yeah, just using, really using mindful movement in particular as a form of meditative practice and as a way of being more present in our lives.
Chris McDonald: Perfect. Well, thank you so much for coming on this podcast today. I really appreciate it. And listeners, thanks for tuning in today. I'd love to hear your thoughts on today's episode. You can connect with me at chrisatyogainthetherapyroom. com. Go ahead and email me. I'd love to hear from listeners. Let me know what resonated.
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