We're now switching to releasing episodes the 1st & 3rd Monday's of each month. With Tay's second baby on the way time is a bit lacking these days. We still want to continue to bring you great content but need to trim down for the time being!
Summary
Join sisters Taylor and Brittany as they explore the transformative power of confidence and affirmations with their guest, Mo Bridgeford, a seasoned yoga instructor and mental health advocate. The conversation delves into the importance of authenticity and how it can lead to personal empowerment, emphasizing that true confidence comes from understanding and embracing one’s unique journey. Mo shares her insights on the significance of being present and connected, both in yoga and in life, while also highlighting the impact of societal expectations on self-perception. Throughout the episode, they discuss the necessity of breaking free from negative labels and the vital role of self-compassion in fostering mental health. With a blend of humor and heartfelt anecdotes, they encourage listeners to recognize their worth and the beauty in their imperfections.
Takeaways
Building confidence involves embracing your authentic self and rejecting societal labels that don't fit.
The importance of self-affirmations lies in their depth and genuine belief behind them.
Yoga can serve as a powerful tool for personal healing and self-discovery when practiced authentically.
Understanding the impact of energy in a room can significantly enhance the yoga experience.
Mindfulness and being present during yoga practice can lead to greater emotional awareness and healing.
Recognizing that life’s challenges can yield valuable lessons is essential for personal growth.
Chapters
00:13
Introduction to Our Journey
00:52
Introducing Mo: A Dynamic Yoga Instructor
05:54
Embracing Authenticity
19:22
The Power of Perspective and Self-Acceptance
23:32
The Journey of Self-Affirmation
30:19
Navigating Life's Challenges: Wisdom Through Trials
40:02
Finding Confidence as an Instructor
48:32
Mindset and Empathy
49:16
Finding Hope in Brokenness
58:49
Human Connection and Its Importance
Transcripts
:
Hello, friends.
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I'm Taylor.
Mo:
And I'm Brittany.
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Together we are two sisters who are here to help you learn some tips and tricks to help navigate this crazy journey called life.
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We bring the perspective of a licensed mental health counselor, AKA therapist, and a new mother.
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And a slightly eccentric mom of two.
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When you combine us as sisters, we like to consider ourselves as quite the dynamic duo.
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So join us as we talk about all life has to offer.
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Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and hit that follow, like or subscribe button wherever you listen to podcasts for updates.
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You can also see all of our expressions and interactions posted on YouTube under Hani Counseling channel.
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If you're liking what you hear, leave.
Mo:
Us a five star review.
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It helps us know what content you like and spreads the love to others to get resources and help for their mental health.
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Such a mouthful.
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I know.
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Why can't we like pre record it?
:
I don't know.
Mo:
But anyway, yeah.
:
Welcome to our special issues special edition today.
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Special issues, special issues.
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But welcome to our special episode today.
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We are super excited.
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We have a guest today.
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Tay, do you want to introduce our guest?
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Yes.
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This is one of my favorites.
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Oh, I love you.
Mo:
Thank you.
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My state in yoga.
Mo:
Feeling is definitely mutual.
Mo:
Feeling is mutual.
Mo:
Love it.
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This is Monique.
:
You go by Mo though.
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Yes.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
Goodbye, Mo.
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I always call you Mo.
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This is Mo Bridgeford.
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She is from Spark Hot Yoga and she is a yoga instructor there, which is how I met her.
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And then I fell in love with her and she tortures my husband with me.
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So it's great.
Mo:
I'm in.
Mo:
Count me in.
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Like Saturdays.
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And it's.
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You have to go.
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Just because I want to see more crunches.
Mo:
Amazing.
Mo:
Just for Matson.
Mo:
Yep, yep.
Mo:
All the love.
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Yeah.
:
So Mo is the instructor at Spark Hawk Yoga Studio and she has been practicing yogini.
:
I have not heard that word before.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
Female yogi.
Mo:
That is yogini.
Mo:
Yes.
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I'm a yogini for 13 years and a certified instructor instructor for almost 10.
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She has a passion for both yoga and travel, hosting and co hosting several yoga retreats stateside as well as internationally.
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Mo is certified in many disciplines of yoga and loves to bring energy, passion and connection to classes she teaches.
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Mo also has a medical background in nursing with a specialty in geriatrics and currently works as a medical consultant and mentor for a medical device manufacturer.
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But yes, your.
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Your energy is my favorite.
Mo:
Oh, thank you.
:
To travel a lot.
Mo:
Wow.
Mo:
All over.
Mo:
I absolutely love Costa Rica.
Mo:
Costa Rica's amazing.
Mo:
When my young adults who are well, my kids, when they were kids, now they're young adults.
Mo:
We used to travel to the Bahamas a lot, so I love the Caribbean.
Mo:
Absolutely.
Mo:
Oh, love, love, love.
:
We need to go the other way.
Mo:
The other way.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Just in Mexico this year.
Mo:
Yes.
:
And then we've been to Belize, but that's the closest we got to the Caribbean.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
Looked at Belize for a yoga retreat is awesome.
:
We did that for a honeymoon, so that was good.
Mo:
Oh, it's.
Mo:
Well, stay tuned on that one.
:
Okay.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
I'll go back.
Mo:
I only hear great things about Belize, so.
Mo:
Yeah, I just need to get down there and scope it out.
:
So you like the heat?
Mo:
I like the heat.
Mo:
I like the tropical.
Mo:
I do Bali, Indonesia.
Mo:
I've been there.
Mo:
Thailand also just, you know, several different places where we offer that.
Mo:
The change this year, though, was when Haley and I, another instructor at Spark, we just in June, had a yoga retreat at Whistler or in Whistler.
Mo:
So the mountains, it wasn't.
Mo:
It wasn't tropical.
Mo:
It was beautiful.
:
Another one.
:
Like, she announced another one, right?
Mo:
She did, yes.
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Skydiving one.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Yes.
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I knew he.
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Our circles have crossed a few times.
:
Oh, that's right.
Mo:
Yep.
Mo:
And she has a retreat with Cammy Bedker in April, I think it is, for Costa Rica.
Mo:
Cammy is.
Mo:
She's a partial owner of Marysville with Chuck.
Mo:
Chuck is in the studio up there.
Mo:
Love Chuck.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
Chuck is terrified.
Mo:
Talk about energy.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
Oh, I'm cool, though.
:
Like, traveling and doing yoga retreats.
:
That's.
:
Yeah, that's okay.
:
So Haley, my friend, and I talked about doing one, and then we both got pregnant, and we're having our babies.
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Right when it was last year, Right when it was happening.
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He was in Vegas, or it was.
Mo:
Oh, Zion.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
And they just returned from Zion, so two years back to back, she and Jeanette.
Mo:
Yeah, it.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
The canyons and everything, I hear.
Mo:
Yeah, they enjoyed it.
:
You were very pregnant.
:
I gave birth at that point.
Mo:
Oh, at that time.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
You're like, here, Madsen, I'm gonna go on this retreat and I'll be back.
:
Retreat.
Mo:
At that point, it wouldn't be very yoga at all.
Mo:
No.
:
And then you've been a nurse.
:
You said you stopped nursing, though, what, 10 years ago?
Mo:
Actually, I've been in this role in this field for about 23 years, so I haven't practiced as a nurse for about 23 years.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
Very rewarding.
:
Fascinating.
:
Yeah.
:
That's so cool.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Well, Mo has lots of wisdom, so we brought her on today.
:
Oh.
Mo:
Age.
Mo:
Age.
Mo:
With Age comes wisdom.
Mo:
You would hope.
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She told us, like, there's no way.
:
Yes.
:
Like 22.
Mo:
My youngest is older than that.
Mo:
Did you see the gray hair right here?
:
Like her kids?
:
I think your oldest is what, 33?
Mo:
37.
:
37.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
She's 37.
:
Okay.
:
Yeah, she's mom's age.
:
You look good.
Mo:
Yoga.
Mo:
No, I'm 57.
Mo:
I'll be 58 in.
Mo:
In January.
Mo:
Okay.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
You could be my daughters.
:
There you go.
Mo:
You would be awesome.
Mo:
Daughters.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
Yes.
:
We can take more, Mama.
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We need all that we can get.
:
Crazy babies.
:
Yeah.
:
So today we're going to kind of talk about building confidence or affirmations with Mo.
:
So this is something that she does really well at.
Mo:
And.
:
Yeah.
:
Yeah.
:
This is actually a subject I picked, like, purposely for you.
Mo:
Oh.
:
Special guest.
Mo:
Wonderful.
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And I feel like it's because whenever you start yoga class, you specifically talk about, like, owning who you are, owning your experience, and it's very.
:
You're very empowering.
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So, like.
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And I think that's the key to confidence and affirmation.
:
Hey, everyone.
:
At this point, we were experiencing some technical difficulties with the recording process.
:
And it cut some of what we were saying off in the process.
:
Mo was asked a question about confidence and how she defines it as well as builds this.
:
And you're going to come in now mid sentence into what she was saying.
Mo:
I guess the perspective of who the world thinks you should be and even sometimes family, you know, we try to.
Mo:
There's a lot of labels out there.
Mo:
And sometimes if we're not careful, that energy, we absorb that energy of labeling, and then we become what other people or who other people think we should become or be to satisfy them, versus living your authentic.
Mo:
Your authentic life.
Mo:
And I think that no matter where we're showing up, whether that's yoga or whether it's in life, and I think.
Mo:
I just think sometimes it's come to the point to where we've lived in falsehood for so long that it's taken over and we don't understand how to break out of that and truly understand who we are and the gifts and talents that we've been blessed with and gifted with.
Mo:
Because I really do think we all have our.
Mo:
Our place.
Mo:
Like a piece to a puzzle.
Mo:
I think we all kind of come together, but when a couple of pieces aren't placed in the correct place in that puzzle, that over, you know, those puzzles, you know, it takes up your whole counter.
Mo:
I just think that sometimes the pieces try to get forced into certain parts of that puzzle that don't fit over here, but they may fit up in the right hand corner, and that's where their gifts and talents are used.
Mo:
And just being.
Mo:
Just being authentic and being real, I think really allows us to understand and to settle in and have that peace that we don't have when we're not authentic people.
Mo:
Yeah, you know that.
Mo:
I know that's going around the barn, but it.
Mo:
It truly is.
Mo:
It's authenticity in yoga and then taking that also into life.
Mo:
Because a lot of what's applicable in yoga and what you bring to it or glean from it, you can actually take out with you.
:
Yeah, I think that's one of those lessons that kids usually learn later in life.
:
Right.
:
Like into, like, later adulthood.
:
And then even then, like you said, like, as adults, it's hard sometimes to not wear those hats that were expected of us from families.
Mo:
Yes, ma'am.
Mo:
From work or whatever it might be.
:
Well, I even think about, like, the roles that we play in our jobs or in what, like, when I was trained to be a therapist, it was very much, you do it a certain way.
:
This is art type.
:
But yes, like, they would call this, like, a form of conversating or an art form.
:
And at the same time, I was still expected to act like a typical therapist, like I was when she came in, because my office does not look like a therapist office.
Mo:
I love this.
Mo:
I love this.
:
Yes, it's like, very, like, just if you haven't been in our office, we have posts or pictures online.
:
But it's very like a house.
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And it's just very, like, loving and welcoming.
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But my vibe is also that, too, with clients.
:
Like, how I talk on the podcast or, like, to people is what you get with me.
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But that was breaking what I was taught to do.
:
And it took me a while because I had this weird stage in training, just like what you're talking about, where it's like, I wasn't authentic.
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I was doing what was expected and labeled of me, and I wasn't very good.
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And then finally I was like, screw this, I hate this.
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And I went in and just was like, I'm going to be me.
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And I was great.
:
I nailed it.
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And I got clients and it was fine and I did great.
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And now I love my job because I can be authentic.
:
And I think that's what kind of separates people, too, is you can't, first off, recognize the social expectations of the norms.
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You can't recognize the labels and that you are trying to be in this puzzle and you don't Fit.
:
But also you don't recognize that it actually empowers you to do the thing you're meant to do better.
Mo:
And I think that with that comes up such a piece, and I think that it just.
Mo:
Things just flow because you're using your natural talents and gifts that you were created and designed to use versus trying to inject someone else's.
Mo:
Well, you need to do this, and you need to be talented this way.
Mo:
So go take five more different college classes, because this is what's required.
Mo:
And how many of those college?
Mo:
Because I think back to mine, and I'm thinking, well, that really wasn't even applicable.
Mo:
Why did I have to take that class?
Mo:
You know?
Mo:
And again, when we're flowing in our natural state and we are being our authentic selves, there's so much more peace and joy in that and what we do because we're living life according to what we are creating and not what someone else is telling us to create.
Mo:
So authenticity.
Mo:
I.
Mo:
You just.
Mo:
It's just one of those things.
Mo:
You just can't beat it.
Mo:
It's just.
:
I think it takes a lot of empowerment, though, and, like, bravery.
Mo:
Yes, it does.
Mo:
Yes, it does.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Because you're breaking so many social norms.
:
But I have this sweet little group of teenagers that's for social skills class.
:
Oh, I have a social skills group every other Monday.
:
And they're like, most of them are on the spectrum.
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And every time this conversation, like, this is your power to be different.
:
But we're learning.
:
We're learning the rules of society, the social norms, so that you can figure out which ones you purposely want to break or which ones you want to abide by or have to abide by.
Mo:
Yes.
:
And then from there, learn how your superpower helps you in that.
:
So I'm not trying to change you.
:
I'm trying to teach you how to use it.
Mo:
Yes.
:
For your good.
:
And I think that's what we're talking about.
:
We're talking about confidence.
:
Because a lot of my clients will come up with these scripts, like, you know, like, I should just accept my body the way it is, or I should.
:
I'm just pretty or whatever.
:
And it's like, no, you don't actually believe that.
:
Like, what do you.
Mo:
You're saying it, but you're.
Mo:
There's no depth to it because you.
Mo:
It hasn't really settled in to where that has become a true belief.
Mo:
And it's amazing.
Mo:
You can tell the difference, can't you?
Mo:
It's just like, oh, this.
Mo:
These are words.
Mo:
You're just These are scripts.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
Versus true, heartfelt words.
Mo:
I've always been the type that I, I go against the norm, I question everything.
Mo:
I flow upstream.
Mo:
But with that also comes scrutiny sometimes and, and you know, you get your fingers pointed at you and you're like, yeah, she, she's not one of the norms.
Mo:
She always goes against the flow or she questions things.
Mo:
And unfortunately, sometimes in our society, questioning things can really be very discouraging because some, some you should.
Mo:
They say you just shouldn't question things.
Mo:
You should just do what you're told.
Mo:
And I'm like, well, that's not me.
Mo:
And I'm not gonna apologize for it, you know, because it's not being authentic.
:
I love that though.
Mo:
It's just not being authentic.
:
But I think that's what's gotten us as a society, as a people into the spots that we're not happy or.
:
Yes, the spots that create a lot of conflict.
:
Like a lot of the mental health stuff.
:
I'm like, we could just prevent this if we just lived what you really wanted.
:
Going with what you think you should be.
Mo:
Yes.
:
And there's.
Mo:
Because the pressure, because of the pressure to do so.
Mo:
Because you're not normal if you don't do it the way that it's been scripted to do.
Mo:
And that's just not true.
Mo:
But, you know, I'm very grateful.
Mo:
And those molds are being broken.
Mo:
Yeah, it took me a while to break my mold or have my mold broken and.
Mo:
But woo.
Mo:
What a freedom.
:
Okay, how'd you choose to do that then?
Mo:
Well, and I share it with the students sometimes.
Mo:
Every now and then when I feel the energy in the room before I'm teaching or during, you know, just when they're going through the breathing exercise, I will share just a little bit of my testimony.
Mo:
And I've been in a very, very dark space.
Mo:
Very negative, condescending, didn't care about, you know, any, you know, the words that came out of my mouth just wasn' and.
Mo:
And I just realized that, you know.
Mo:
Okay, so you're talking about walking and how it kind of was the start of my transformation and really my mindset because I realized in moving my body and being able to have those walking meditations that it truly was about perspective, how I chose to view things.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
You know, and I chose to view things, I think, on a deeper level than what I should have.
Mo:
And sometimes like ascribing deeper meaning than.
:
What it was there then.
Mo:
Then what was there.
Mo:
A lot of times now, don't get me wrong, a lot of the things were there, but how I chose to deal with those emotions was to suppress everything in.
Mo:
And I just felt like I didn't have a voice at that time to really stand up and say, I, you know, I'm not just not receiving any of that.
Mo:
That, that's.
Mo:
Those are things that are being projected that really I.
Mo:
That's has nothing to do with me, but they're being on me.
Mo:
And, you know, we, we know the projectors and the narcissists.
Mo:
We know that.
:
What.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
Does that really happen?
:
Like all these things.
:
Minorities, like all of these things.
:
Add to our.
:
Yes, our thing that it's.
:
It's valid.
:
Yes, all of it's valid.
:
But again, it is like making it more toxic for you if you can't deal with it, because it's still going to be there either.
Mo:
That's it.
Mo:
But then I, I look back now that I have kind of weathered those storms, and they were storms because not only were they weren't they.
Mo:
I can't say they weren't physical storms, but they were emotional storms, psychological storms, which basically ended up manifesting in the physical.
Mo:
So my body, you know, I gained a lot of weight, I was depressed, I wanted to sleep all the time.
Mo:
I had no energy.
Mo:
I didn't want to go out and do the things that I used to love and enjoy doing.
Mo:
And it just put me in a really dark space in my head, in a mindset.
Mo:
And so when I started again, walking was the first thing to that path is just walking and meditating and listening to podcasts that are, you know, you're more than enough or, you know, those types of more positive things that I was drinking in and filling my cup with versus those things that really weren't beneficial to me.
Mo:
But truly, we all have a choice.
Mo:
And that mindset that I was in at that time, it was about perspective and truly not understanding at that time, it was how I chose to view things as well.
Mo:
So that led into the path of yoga, which just took my healing to the entire next level.
Mo:
So I think yoga was used as an instrument.
Mo:
Instrument or tool to be able to bring me even more so out of that state.
Mo:
And I have never looked back.
Mo:
But what it's taught me is to really guard my energy.
Mo:
And I am that way.
Mo:
Some people call it highly sensitive people.
Mo:
Some say it's more like having that empathetic, that more like empaths.
Mo:
But I view it more as being intuitive and kind of knowing and sensing and feeling energies around you.
Mo:
So when you know that there's Not a good energy.
Mo:
You just pray that shield around yourself and you physically.
Mo:
Physically take your hand and you sweep those energies off.
Mo:
Because I do believe in energy.
Mo:
Vampires as a.
Mo:
An analogy that.
Mo:
So real.
Mo:
They will.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
And they take everything from everything.
:
And then you wonder.
Mo:
You wonder why you're so drained.
Mo:
You wonder, like, what just happened.
Mo:
I was happy one minute, and I'm in tears the next because I feel like all my energy's been gone.
Mo:
Out the door, sucked dry.
Mo:
It is so true.
Mo:
So anyway, and that's the way I kind of felt.
Mo:
But now I'm.
Mo:
I'm very, very aware of.
Mo:
Of those energies, even in the classroom, but.
Mo:
But more so even in life that I.
Mo:
I refuse to absorb those energies because I know where I've been and I know where I've come from.
Mo:
So that's.
Mo:
That's.
Mo:
That strength has come with that.
:
I think I've seen this theme with everybody, though, is because this happened with me too.
:
I finally, like, screw this.
:
I'm just gonna be myself.
:
Because you hit this point of such darkness that you realize, yeah, it's not worth the other side.
:
And I'm not.
Mo:
I'm not get really protected.
:
But I.
:
I was thinking the whole time you're talking.
:
So our mama raised this where it was like, if you look good, you feel good.
:
And I think that's that mantra my whole life.
Mo:
Yes, yes.
:
What we do externally really influences internal as well as internal and external.
:
I think yoga creates that connection as well.
Mo:
Yes, it does.
Mo:
Yes, it does.
:
Such a clear example, I think, for clients and for anybody, if you're trying to explore this pathway is like, you.
:
You can see through one or the other, how to get those to work together.
:
And I think that's what.
:
It's cool.
:
Your journey totally resembles all of that.
Mo:
And it's funny, because some things that you wear, I personally think, too, has an effect on your demeanor, your attitude, and your mindset.
Mo:
But then you wear something different that's just seems like it's more uplifting.
Mo:
It's like a total personality change.
Mo:
Okay.
:
Yeah.
:
That would meet this pregnancy, though.
:
Do you remember this pregnancy at the beginning?
:
I got rid of all these oversized shirts that just made me feel, like, ugly.
:
And I was like, I'm just gonna own the bump this time.
:
I'm gonna get it.
:
Thank you.
:
And I was tight.
Mo:
Look at you.
Mo:
But you look amazing.
:
Only, like, four pounds this pregnancy because I was, like, so aware of, like, I just need to honor my body.
:
And it's such a different experience this time than the Last one.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
That I.
:
And I can do yoga this time.
:
Like so many different things this time that I couldn't last.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
But see that shift?
:
It was all perspective.
Mo:
You see that shift?
Mo:
Thank you.
:
Yes.
:
So ashamed that I was.
:
And I'm gonna gain all this weight.
Mo:
And I did.
:
I gained like 50 pounds this one.
:
I was like, no, no, I'm not doing that.
:
That's what it is.
:
And it's been fine.
:
Like, it's a tiny little bump.
:
So I'm like, I think you can really see it play out in a lot of different ways.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
And when we walk down that path of having that mindset like you just mentioned, even if we're not pregnant, we're just like, stop doing all the COVID up clothes.
Mo:
This is your body.
Mo:
Own it, Love it.
Mo:
It is a part of you.
Mo:
There's a disconnect between.
Mo:
And it's the same with yoga, is bringing that mind, body and breath into one.
Mo:
Right.
Mo:
And so even with ourselves and with our bodies, it's the same thing.
Mo:
It's like there's usually a little bit of a disconnect with your mind compared to your body.
Mo:
Because when you look in the mirror and you're like, I don't even like you.
Mo:
I don't.
Mo:
And we speak those words into our lives.
Mo:
And words have power.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
There's power in that tongue and it reinforces it.
Mo:
And the more we repeat it to ourselves, the more the body holds on to those words and all the way to a cellular level.
Mo:
There's a book out there that I really like.
Mo:
It's called the Body Remembers and the body knows.
Mo:
And every word that we speak to ourselves, good, bad, ugly, or everything that we experience, the body holds on to that.
Mo:
And then we wonder why it manifests.
Mo:
And tmj, you know, we're grinding our teeth because, you know, they say, you know.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
And the tension in the shoulders and the jaw area, those high tension areas, but the hips and the low back.
Mo:
Autoimmune disorders.
:
So many things.
Mo:
Yes, ma'am.
Mo:
Yes.
:
And I see this with my clients.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Like chronic migraines.
Mo:
Yes.
:
PTSD symptoms.
:
And I'm like, it's because you're abusing yourself every day.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
And even that can be as how we speak to ourselves.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
How we see ourselves.
Mo:
It's like instead of loving and accepting ourselves, taking care and nourishing these temples, these bodies that we have because we only have one, we choose to have that negative respect.
Mo:
Or we allow the world to say, you need to look like Barbie and You need to look like Ken, and you need to.
Mo:
And instead of saying, I need to look like exactly who I am and own who I am, that's where the authenticity again starts to come in.
Mo:
And like I said, shared with you.
Mo:
I gained so much weight during that dark period, and I was.
Mo:
Okay, I took the scales and I threw them out the door.
Mo:
I threw them in the garbage can.
Mo:
I do not have a scale.
Mo:
I do not own a scale in my home.
Mo:
It doesn't mean anything.
:
It keeps you captive.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
It keeps you in bondage.
Mo:
It keeps you in because you're on it all the time.
Mo:
Oh, I had dinner last night with friends, and we really had.
Mo:
We actually ended up ordering appetizers.
Mo:
Let me step on the scale and see if it changed anything.
Mo:
And then if it does, you see the number go up, you get discouraged.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
You think you're terrible, and then you.
Mo:
Gotta fast and not water weight.
:
That's.
Mo:
That's it.
Mo:
Five pounds.
Mo:
First five pounds that we lose is mostly water gain.
Mo:
But that's kind of a hard concept when it's like, get rid of that £5.
Mo:
Well, it's water gain.
Mo:
Drink more water.
Mo:
Flush it out.
Mo:
Just flush it out.
Mo:
That's what you do.
Mo:
But yes, that's.
Mo:
And.
Mo:
And.
Mo:
And that's the whole thing.
Mo:
It is about mindset.
Mo:
And just that little shift can make a huge difference.
:
I love that you called it out, though, because this is an activity I do with a lot of my clients.
:
Teens, ptsd, whatever age they are.
:
And they all love my dog Koa.
Mo:
Of course.
Mo:
Who doesn't love koh?
:
You know, it's funny.
:
He had the worst haircut he's ever had.
:
His life, this last week, he's got this.
:
That's the reaction I get every time.
:
Everybody's like, he's still beautiful.
Mo:
He is.
Mo:
He sure is.
:
Every teen on teen yoga on Friday was like, let me hold him.
:
I was like, he looks literally like a rat, guys.
:
Like, his tail is, like, fart shaped up, and it's not a pretty cute.
:
And he has these little poofy ears.
:
And.
:
And everybody's response has been so compassionate.
:
But every time with this activity, I'm like, hey, what you say to yourself, yes, yes.
:
And they were.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Every time they refuse.
:
And I'm like, why are you refusing?
:
He's a dog.
:
Okay, so why.
:
And they know, like, my dog is my child.
:
But again, a human being, a person that grew in a mom, a mom sacrificed to birth.
Mo:
Yes.
:
I'm like, I'm going through that process, like, this person gave so much just to have you.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
You're sitting there spitting on that creation, that sacrifice.
:
I think the more that we can get down to that basic nuclear remembrance of this is a body.
:
I was gifted.
Mo:
Absolutely.
:
And I'm not willing to say it to a dog, but I'm willing to say it to myself two times a day, 100 times a day.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
What kind of abuse are you letting swing by for yourself?
:
And that's where I think your perspective really comes into play.
Mo:
It does.
Mo:
It does.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
Little shifts.
:
That's a choice.
:
I like that.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
So affirmations.
:
We've done it one on affirmations before, and I'm split, honestly, on affirmations.
:
I like affirmations as a therapist, when they have depth to them, like we were saying earlier, there's depth and there's actually, like, you fully can kind of buy into it or believe it for it, if not.
:
And it's just like regurgitation.
:
Like, I am pretty.
:
I don't like them.
:
I think they're useless.
Mo:
Yes, they are.
:
Okay.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
So what do you.
Mo:
I'm with you.
Mo:
Don't internalize.
:
It's like, I could say, like, oh, I really like that curtain, and I could hate it.
:
You know, like, you can say whatever you want to say, but I think at the end of the day, it's more about, do you actually buy into what you believe in?
:
But as a yoga teacher, you use affirmations a lot.
:
So how do you incorporate affirmations into your classes?
:
And how do you actually use ones that you feel like people can buy into?
Mo:
Well, and I love that you just mentioned, you know, just saying something and expect it to stick or have substance to.
Mo:
It doesn't always relate to.
Mo:
To any that, you know, I'm sitting here with.
Mo:
With you both, and if I just throw out, you know, you are whole, you are pure, you are this, you are that.
Mo:
And it's just, you know.
Mo:
Yeah, it's.
Mo:
Those are just words.
Mo:
And I.
Mo:
I'm very.
Mo:
I'm very careful, and I'm very mindful of what I say when it does come to affirmations.
Mo:
And because I am, I have that intuitiveness.
Mo:
I read the energy and I feel the energy in the room.
Mo:
So sometimes you will watch me walk around the room at the beginning.
Mo:
My eyes are closed.
Mo:
I know I'm walking around, so I can see where I'm walking.
Mo:
I won't step on anyone.
Mo:
Although I did step on a pair of glasses one time.
Mo:
One student's glasses.
:
I had something to Crunch.
Mo:
I'm like, oh, but.
Mo:
But anyway, I offered to get those repaired for her, so she forgave me.
Mo:
Thank goodness she forgave me.
Mo:
But I'm very.
Mo:
I'm very careful.
Mo:
But one of the ones I use a lot is that you are stronger than you give yourself credit for.
Mo:
Because a lot of us, and again, I think a lot of that too is gleaned or moved forward from what I've experienced.
Mo:
And if I feel or sense that energy that there's a student that has come into the room and it can only be one.
Mo:
But some.
Mo:
A lot of times what I say has an impact on several students.
Mo:
But even if it's the one that it can be the healing, that road to healing for that one and accepting and saying, you know, I've been beaten down emotionally.
Mo:
Hopefully I pray to God, not physically, but I've beaten down emotionally.
Mo:
But again, it impacts the physical.
Mo:
I did say, you know what, when I rise out of this class, I am going to be stronger.
Mo:
Because you know what?
Mo:
I've let go of the mindsets that I brought in here that I realized that didn't really benefit me.
Mo:
They don't edify me, they don't build me up, they don't encourage me.
Mo:
But instead I've been dragging the analogy that I use.
Mo:
How many are you of you are dragging that luggage in?
Mo:
I still call them suitcases.
Mo:
I'm old school and I'm from the south.
Mo:
So I'm like, your suitcase is in with these boulders, these rocks.
Mo:
There's nothing in there whatsoever in your luggage.
Mo:
You're packing for a trip, but what you've packed is this heaviness with these rocks and these boulders versus your.
Mo:
The things that you need, the things that.
Mo:
That are going to nourish you and take care of you.
Mo:
You've decided to put rocks into this bag and you're dragging it and you're wondering why the handle is breaking off of this bag.
Mo:
You're getting frustrated with the bag, but not with the object in the bag that you're dragging around.
Mo:
And it's like it's time to open the lid on the suitcase, open it and pack the rocks.
Mo:
Those boulders that are dragged out going anywhere.
Mo:
You know you're not moving forward or progressing in life.
Mo:
You want to you too, but you don't know how be dragging this with you.
Mo:
And that comes from the past.
Mo:
If we trying to move forward but yet present moment, then there's still something back there that we're dragging mean it's beneficial for us.
Mo:
So unpack the bag.
Mo:
Pack the bag with nourishing things for you and realize, yes, you are stronger than you give yourself credit for.
Mo:
You know, don't let anyone tell you that you're not, because it's amazing how we muster up that energy.
Mo:
But why does it take such devastating things to happen in our lives to realize, you know, that it's.
Mo:
We've had it the whole time.
Mo:
All we've had to do is say and let it go and impact that bag.
Mo:
And so I try to use analogies a lot throughout class, but that is one of the ones that I use the most.
Mo:
And just working issues out of our tissues.
Mo:
And again, that goes back to our body, holding on to every single emotion that we ever experience in our life.
Mo:
And if we don't work that out and deal with it, it will start showing up in ways of pain.
Mo:
And like you said, you know, it's all kinds of stuff, mental health.
Mo:
And we've got autoimmune, you know, disorders and things, because we can't, in a healthy way, figure out how to deal.
Mo:
To deal.
:
Yeah.
:
My favorite thing.
:
This is when I knew I loved mouth.
:
It was like I was coming out of COVID years, and we got just creamed as therapists.
Mo:
Oh.
Mo:
Oh, yes.
Mo:
Yeah, I can imagine.
:
You were young therapist.
:
I was a baby.
:
You were a brand.
:
I set up my practice and then got initialized.
:
What is that?
:
My practice exploded.
:
I had a wait list within six months, and I was like, what is this?
:
And I.
:
I was coming out of it, and I had met my husband, and we're dating and stuff, and I.
:
And I think we just got married.
:
And I started your yoga classes.
:
I remember going to sculpt, and I used to be super fit before that.
:
And I.
:
Because of COVID and getting burned out and that, you said this line, and it was an empower.
:
It's like everything you say just kind of circles around this ideology.
:
And I notice you change it slightly, but it's always like.
:
Like, you got this.
:
You're capable.
:
But you said, the mind is willing and the body can be weak or the body is weak.
:
And I was like, crap, you're right.
:
I can do this.
:
I already have done this.
:
I'm pretty.
:
Like, I'm pretty athletic.
:
I can do this.
:
And I just remember sitting there being like, crap, Mo, I hate you and love you.
Mo:
I think that was Matson sentiment, too.
Mo:
He was just like, mo, you're killing me in the corner.
Mo:
What are you doing?
Mo:
And then at the end of class, when he's walking out I still love you.
Mo:
And he'll fist bump me, and I'm just like, yeah, yeah.
Mo:
Every time it's the hard things, and.
Mo:
And, you know, and it always seems impossible until it's finished, until it's done, you know, and that's the same with life.
Mo:
When we're going through hard times, you know, one of the other ones is, you know, this too shall pass.
Mo:
It always does.
Mo:
It always does.
Mo:
And.
Mo:
And it's easier to say than to do it.
Mo:
But then we have to ask ourselves, what can I learn from this?
Mo:
What is it that I need to take from this that I'm going through?
Mo:
It hurts like there's no tomorrow.
Mo:
This is not the easiest thing, but, you know, we were never promised an easy life.
Mo:
And I think that that's how we acquire our testimonies, is we go through different types of trials and issues.
Mo:
And you know what?
Mo:
A lot of that we're being used to help others that are going through the same thing.
:
Yep.
:
Yeah.
:
Resilience is.
Mo:
That's what life is about.
:
You have to.
:
You have to earn your stripes, man.
:
You do earn it.
Mo:
You do.
Mo:
Because if we all breeze through life, life, and we're all on the mountaintops and we never hit the valleys, there's no.
Mo:
Again, substance to that because you haven't gone through with a lot of people.
Mo:
There's no wisdom in that.
:
No wisdom?
Mo:
No.
Mo:
No wisdom.
:
I tell my clients I got my wisdom because I had such a crappy twenties.
:
My twenties were really hard.
:
Oh, no.
Mo:
Oh.
Mo:
Grad school.
:
Grad school, dating, being single and like on my own.
:
It was a.
:
It was a nightmare.
Mo:
Imagine.
:
I can imagine, like, you earned this.
:
Like, I.
:
I'm not sitting here telling you these things just because I want to tell you.
:
Yes.
:
Because I've earned.
Mo:
You've earned it.
:
Privileged to tell you.
:
Yes.
Mo:
So when someone looks at you and it's like, well, it's easy for you to say.
Mo:
Well, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's not easy.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
And that's why when sometimes I feel the energy in a room and I feel like, you know, it's time again to share where I came from and why I'm here.
Mo:
It's like Mo doesn't.
Mo:
Has not always been this happy, chipper type of a person and this kind of light type energy.
Mo:
I came from a very dark place, I said, but that strengthens me to be able to help others and to share because that's.
Mo:
I think that's what we're created and designed is to kind of help Others, to lift others up, to support others, which.
Mo:
And I knew that when I became a nurse.
Mo:
I'm just.
Mo:
What do nurses do?
Mo:
You know, they care, they support, they encourage, they, you know, they take care of, and they do a lot of nurturing.
Mo:
They should be called nurturers for the good nurses.
Mo:
I'm not.
Mo:
I'm not judging any nurses out there, but I think some nurses with their bedside manners probably should have chosen a different career, because I think we all are gifted in different ways, and we know the areas that really, that truly that are we were creating, designed to be.
Mo:
You know, you've got teachers, you've got nurses, you've got just perfect like you.
Mo:
You, I couldn't have chosen.
Mo:
I wouldn't have chosen any other profession for you.
Mo:
You are where you need to be.
Mo:
You are.
Mo:
You are where you need to be.
Mo:
Right?
:
Yeah.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Yeah.
:
She's like.
:
Like, since I was little.
:
I was born to do this.
Mo:
I was born for this.
Mo:
But isn't amazing.
Mo:
But isn't that amazing, that revelation?
Mo:
Because you already know.
Mo:
So what do you do?
Mo:
You take that path and you go down that path and you just.
Mo:
You love it.
Mo:
Yes, it is hard.
Mo:
It's hard, the studying.
:
But you love it.
Mo:
But you love it and.
Mo:
Because you're meant to do it, and you're just so good at it.
Mo:
So same with nursing and teachers that are really good teachers and physicians, you know, they take a Hippocratic oath.
Mo:
Is to do no harm.
Mo:
Well, that's one of the disciplines of, like, yoga, is to do no harm.
Mo:
But again, even in that.
Mo:
Thank you.
Mo:
Even in that, it's like, you know, some are meant to and some are not.
:
I totally.
:
You're either.
:
You're either here like a healer or you aren't, or you're not.
:
I've definitely met something.
Mo:
Hey, trust me, working in that field.
Mo:
Absolutely.
Mo:
Yes, ma'am.
:
How many people that are in it for the title, the profession, the different reasons.
Mo:
Yes.
:
We talked about, like, social norms, everything.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
Yes.
:
This really was not your gift world.
Mo:
And they're not the happiest people to be able to help people.
Mo:
They don't spend that time truly understanding what's going on.
Mo:
It's just like, okay, I need to build your insurance.
Mo:
Here, go.
Mo:
Here's the script.
Mo:
Here, go take this.
Mo:
And.
Mo:
And that's how we've gotten to where we are with the medical system.
Mo:
I know.
Mo:
I know.
Mo:
It is.
Mo:
That's.
Mo:
That's for a different podcast.
Mo:
I'll rant with you.
Mo:
Oh, trust me, there's a Reason, Trust me.
:
How long was the coff blood for.
Mo:
Before they actually fix my good.
Mo:
This.
:
Yeah.
:
Whole mind, body connection.
:
Yeah.
:
A naturopath.
:
Yeah.
:
Trauma response, my lungs.
:
Nobody asks deeper questions.
Mo:
Nobody asks, but, you know, it's amazing.
Mo:
Oh, here, here's a script.
Mo:
Here, let me give you this script.
Mo:
Mental health.
Mo:
Here's a script here.
Mo:
Proact.
Mo:
Let me give you, Let me just give you these antidepressants that end up.
Mo:
No, you know, what's that?
:
We just fix the gut biome instead of actually giving, like.
:
Sorry, I can get really mad at this one.
:
Instead of giving chemicals to the brain, we actually fix the stomach and then we fix the how we think.
:
Then our production will be better.
Mo:
Did you know that the stomach is.
Mo:
The digestive system is considered the second brain?
:
Yeah.
:
90% of your serotonin.
Mo:
Yes, ma'am.
:
I'm really mad about this.
Mo:
Listen, do you think there's others out there that don't know that?
Mo:
Yeah, they don't know that.
:
Obviously it is.
Mo:
It's our second brain.
Mo:
They don't want you.
Mo:
Yeah, they don't want you to know that.
Mo:
And unfortunately, it has caused a lot of.
Mo:
A lot of unnecessary issues, not only in adults, but children.
Mo:
Children and.
:
Oh, my goodness, our teens.
Mo:
Oh, oh, oh, yeah, we can do that.
Mo:
Yeah, It's a different podcast, but so.
:
I did have a follow up, though, that we had on here.
:
So do you, you sound like you think you're like an empath, right?
:
Like growing up.
:
Is that how you read the energy in the room, do you think?
:
Or like, like explain this process to me.
Mo:
So I do, I, I feel the energy.
Mo:
I, you know, there's quietness when I start class when everyone is either on their back, they're in child's pose, and I am walking the room.
Mo:
And I'm just encouraging the students to bring awareness to number one, where they are the present moment.
Mo:
Because I, again, that's one of the things that I have learned in my own life, in my own path of healing, is to enjoy the present moment.
Mo:
Because a lot of times we spend our lives in the past or we're already jumping ahead to the future.
Mo:
So we miss so many beautiful, wonderful blessings in front of us that are here in the present moment.
Mo:
So sometimes I'll often focus on the fan or the blowers in the background.
Mo:
The room's quiet, you know, know to get them to ground and to be there, right there in the present moment and then that awareness to their body.
Mo:
Where is your mind?
Mo:
Your body is physically here, but where is Your mind, because your mind could be over at Fred Meyer, it could be at Home Depot saying I need to do this and you know, your to do list and all that.
:
But you're going through char notes.
Mo:
You know, I go, yeah, well, and that's.
Mo:
And to try to bring that.
Mo:
And then as I walk the room, I, I really truly do feel energy.
Mo:
But it's amazing because sometimes I can feel if I'm standing at the front desk, I can.
Mo:
When people, students are starting to walk, walk in and you know, we greet them and everything.
Mo:
I can already feel some.
Mo:
Whether heaviness is starting to come through the room.
Mo:
You just can completely let them.
Mo:
I am a good reader of body language and so body language says a lot to me.
Mo:
But some you don't have to speak a word.
Mo:
And, and your body language just really can.
Mo:
And so it's intensified once we get into the hot room with all the bodies in there.
Mo:
And when I'm walking around, there's thoughts and those voice that come to my head.
Mo:
It's just like, yep, this is, this is what I need to say.
Mo:
Because to break that heaviness.
Mo:
And you can also feel it when the breathing starts.
Mo:
If the breathing is very shallow, then you know they're holding on to something that there's some type of fear or anxiety or you know, they just can't get garner even the natural breath as it flows.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
And then if the breath is labored or hurried or rushed, then that automatically lets me.
Mo:
There's a little bit of anxiety in the room.
Mo:
So I start to address those areas and I say, you know, if this is how your breath is flowing in and out of your body and always give the three scenarios.
Mo:
I said because at this point in time it should be in its natural state.
Mo:
I will have them slow it down if it's hurry to rush or I will have them start to lengthen and deepen if it's shallow because they're not pulling enough oxygen from the lungs to even give them a proper mindset to establish the foundation for their class.
Mo:
And if you're not here that your body is there's going to be that disconnection.
Mo:
Then you're going to get frustrated and you wonder why you're falling out out of your standing balance pose.
Mo:
Why you just so true.
Mo:
Right.
:
The teachers that don't take that time to really slow them down.
:
So many more people topple over.
:
Oh yeah.
Mo:
And you can feel the frustration.
:
Oh my goodness.
:
You can feel judgment more too because there's a few classes I've been to recently.
:
I'm like, why is everybody judging each other?
:
Straight at each other.
:
And I can feel it.
:
I'll come home and be like, Matt's in that class.
:
Was like, yes.
Mo:
It wasn't what it was supposed to be.
:
No.
:
Because it was a workout class.
:
It wasn't a real least.
Mo:
Yes.
:
And he can even tell like the ones that are more based off of how I come home.
Mo:
And yeah.
:
Like, oh, okay.
:
So he's always.
Mo:
He's probably like, ah, yeah.
Mo:
That didn't resonate with you, did it, man?
Mo:
Not at all.
:
This is when she.
Mo:
But it is so true.
Mo:
And honest to goodness, ladies, we as yoga's instructors are there for the students.
Mo:
We're not there for ourselves.
Mo:
So the classes that we teach, they're not supposed to be for us.
:
Don't even do the flow.
:
You do whatever he need to know.
:
That's it.
Mo:
It is for you.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
It is to create and design.
Mo:
That's why you will never find me walking in the studio with a notepad or any.
Mo:
And, and I just want to, I want to just say this right now.
Mo:
I am not judging anyone who comes in with a little notepad or book or has their, their sequence on their phone.
Mo:
I am not.
Mo:
But because of the way I am created and designed, I flow with the energy in the room.
Mo:
I may have something in my head that I'm thinking, oh, we're going to do this today or we'll do that.
Mo:
But when I feel the energy in the room and it doesn't, it doesn't support what's going on in the room, there's going to be that disconnect.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
And I can teach it all day long.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
But it's not going to stick.
:
But that goes right back to your authenticity and trusting yourself.
:
And like, it's cool.
:
Because everything does connect for you.
Mo:
It does.
:
It's come full circle to think about.
Mo:
And you have to be okay with that.
Mo:
And you know, and, and if you're a new instructor.
Mo:
Because of course I was once a new instructor.
Mo:
You know, finding your voice and being okay because you've got a.
Mo:
There's a lot of eyeballs looking at you with.
Mo:
You're at the front of the room and just like, oh, God, oh my.
:
God, this is intimidating.
Mo:
What am I gonna do?
:
I just.
Mo:
But to have that confidence in yourself, to root down and always visualize those oak trees.
Mo:
Now, when I was growing up in the south, it was chestnut trees.
Mo:
You know, the chestnuts.
Mo:
Prickly little darn things.
Mo:
Before you get into the center and actually get the chestnut out they come and.
Mo:
Oh, yeah, they're encapsulated in these.
Mo:
They look like porcupines.
Mo:
And so you have to be careful when they're falling and you pick them up and everything.
Mo:
But when you open them, it's the most wonderful chestnut in the middle.
Mo:
It's that seed that's so nutritious.
Mo:
But I liken it to that, because those old trees like that in the south grow very deep roots.
Mo:
I mean, they're so deep, when they try to take a tree out, they have to dig for days and days and days try to get the root out.
:
Yeah, that's great.
Mo:
So.
Mo:
And oak trees are like that, and they're very strong and they're very solid.
Mo:
So when the storms of life come and they happen and the winds are raging and things, and the rains are pouring down, you know, some of the trees get uprooted because they have shallow roots.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
So my roots have definitely grown deeper as I've solidified, as I've gotten older, as I've experienced a lot of things in life.
Mo:
Good, bad, ugly.
Mo:
But a lot of that, even with the teaching.
Mo:
And I knew I was called to be an instructor, and I heard that voice again.
Mo:
It's like, why not?
Mo:
Yeah, why not?
Mo:
And I pursued it.
Mo:
I absolutely loved it.
Mo:
There's areas of yoga I don't get into.
Mo:
I'm not into that.
Mo:
But I think that yoga can definitely be used as a modality of an amazing amount of healing and revelation.
Mo:
And it's that shift.
Mo:
It only takes that one little shift in a mindset.
Mo:
Your perspective can change a person's entire day or even life.
Mo:
And even if it changes that day for them, they come in with that heaviness and they take out lightness.
Mo:
It's a win.
Mo:
It's a win.
Mo:
Those seeds that are planted, and I love for them to grow.
:
I love that, though, because you had to overcome a bunch of bias with yourself, and you had to just learn to trust yourself.
Mo:
Exactly.
Mo:
Yes.
:
And I think that's where, you know, our intuition, and this is where I think a lot of confidence comes in at the end of the day, is what's our intuition?
:
How do we actually trust ourselves?
:
Have we.
:
I was talking to client.
:
There's this book, and I need to look it up because I think I mentioned it a few times on here, but where it talks about, we have this, like, internal gut that's supposed to tell us, like, what we're doing and has a good sensory kind of like dogs.
:
But then, because we're trained out of it.
:
Then we, we.
:
We can't.
:
And that's where a lot of my clients come in.
:
And their anxiety is super high or.
Mo:
Yep.
:
They're just paranoid or misreading everything.
:
And it's because they retrained themselves.
:
And that's where it's like, that's.
:
It was the best intuition person I've ever.
:
I mean, I'm an empath too, so I'm really good at it.
:
But he's the one where I trust.
:
Like, if, if he barks at anybody.
Mo:
I'm like, you already know, don't you?
:
Like, I'm done, you know?
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
Isn't that something?
Mo:
Oh, yeah.
:
And we found out this guy came by the office and not.
:
Not a good situation.
:
That he left this note again.
:
And he ended up being, like, having police assaults and, like, brutality records and, like, very intense there.
:
And Koa was like, you know, like, I'm like, a good.
:
Yes.
:
But like, co op was just like, in front of me.
Mo:
Yep.
Mo:
You know, it is dogs.
Mo:
I think I.
Mo:
I really, I really do think think that they do have that intuitiveness.
Mo:
I think that they are blessing and why they are truly man, woman's best friend.
Mo:
My l would do the same thing.
Mo:
My loss.
Mo:
Even my son's friends when he was a teenager and they would come to the house, there were certain ones he did not like.
Mo:
And I mean, he would just, like, they're old, they're sketchy, and sure enough, as they've gotten older, I'm like, I understand.
Mo:
Yep.
Mo:
Now I understand.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
But they do have that.
Mo:
That's why they're amazing.
Mo:
They're just amazing.
Mo:
Amazing.
:
He will not move from me.
:
PTSD clients he will take.
:
But I have a lot of war vets that he'll come in.
:
Oh.
:
Position himself in between me and the war vet.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Three to four months into their treatment, one, it took a little longer, but, like, usually right in the sweet spot when they're de.
:
Escalated.
Mo:
Yes.
:
He's fine and he's totally normal.
Mo:
Yep.
:
But it's fascinating because I think we all have that capability.
:
Some of us, we do.
:
Others, like, we do.
:
We are very empathic.
:
We're very good at reading vibes.
:
I think that's where start trusting that too, for us.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
And I think way so many more people have it.
Mo:
They just don't know how to tap into it.
Mo:
They've overridden it.
:
Yes.
:
And they use their logic too much.
:
Use your brain.
Mo:
Yes, yes, yes.
Mo:
It's the whole.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
But again, it's like what's been poured into them is what's flowing out of them.
Mo:
But I think.
Mo:
I don't know, it's just amazing.
Mo:
Again, I think that there's that shift happening right now that I think a lot are saying.
Mo:
I always thought I was crazy.
Mo:
I always literally thought I was crazy.
Mo:
And now I realize that this is me, and I am absolutely loving this.
Mo:
But I'm kind of nervous because I don't know how.
Mo:
What to do with it.
Mo:
Because we.
Mo:
We as empaths, we have to be very careful because truly we can absorb energy that is.
Mo:
Is.
Mo:
Is.
Mo:
Is bad.
Mo:
It's really bad.
Mo:
And again, there's into it.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
We get sucked in like a vacuum.
Mo:
We get sucked in like a vacuum.
Mo:
You got to pick your crew.
Mo:
You gotta help, you know, your kids.
Mo:
Oh, and for you, I'm sure what happens with you before you even meet with clients is you shield yourself.
Mo:
You know, myself leaving.
Mo:
And you shield yourself leaving because you.
Mo:
You can take that stuff right out with you.
:
My office is so bright.
:
That's why I have my dog, because he takes.
Mo:
Love it.
Mo:
Love it.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
Love it.
:
Everything is intentional here, but people don't realize just how intentional.
:
It's usually for me, not for them.
Mo:
Yep.
:
But there's a brightness and a lightness to keep my life light.
:
And there's music playing or there's, you know, when I do a dance party at the end of the day or whatever.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Can actually get light back.
Mo:
Get light.
Mo:
Bring that light back to that darkness.
Mo:
Yeah, it gets.
Mo:
It gets dark, doesn't it?
Mo:
Oh, I know, I know.
Mo:
Like I said, even in the studio, you just feel that heavy darkness.
Mo:
And sometimes for me, even it's a.
Mo:
I really have to be rooted and.
Mo:
And.
Mo:
And I have to be shielded because sometimes it's a little more challenging to kind of break through it because it's that strong.
Mo:
And especially if there's multiple that come in with that.
Mo:
And again, I'm not trying to be.
Mo:
Be as you know, I'm not trying to be a psychologist.
Mo:
I'm not trying to be a psychiatrist or anything.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
But again, we have gifts and talents.
Mo:
Is the talents that we need to use and bring forth.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
And just because you have letters, I think doctors behind their name doesn't mean that they're healers.
Mo:
You just.
Mo:
You said that, you know, even though they take a Hippocratic code, acronyms don't mean anything.
:
Guys.
Mo:
Doesn't mean anything.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
I think it's the common folk that really make a difference because we've Experienced.
Mo:
Experienced it.
Mo:
Yeah, we've experienced it to be able to help others.
Mo:
So.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
So I do.
Mo:
I don't plan things.
Mo:
I really just read the energy in the room, and I teach accordingly.
Mo:
If we need to root, if it's a hatha class, we're not going to be your traditional hatha.
Mo:
I'm not a traditional hatha instructor Anyway, you know, a bunch of random stuff.
Mo:
Yes.
:
The same flow.
Mo:
And you can predict it.
Mo:
Yes.
:
And though I'm like, I don't know.
Mo:
What we're gonna do and.
Mo:
And what does that do?
Mo:
It keeps you present.
Mo:
You have to be present.
:
Be like, I don't know.
Mo:
I can do that.
:
I did it.
:
I did it.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
Trees coming next.
Mo:
Oh, I'm already going to hit it.
Mo:
Before the instructor even calls it.
Mo:
I'm already a.
:
Got this.
Mo:
I got this.
Mo:
But it keeps you in the present moment.
Mo:
It keeps your mind.
Mo:
Body guessing, and it keeps your mind guessing.
Mo:
But we always, as I say, reach the same destination.
Mo:
We just take a different route to reach that same destination.
Mo:
So.
Mo:
And sometimes it's just more earthy and more grounding because we need that.
Mo:
Because a lot of flightiness and that mind chatter takes place.
Mo:
It's like, let me bring you down, down a little bit.
Mo:
So you're earthing and you're grounding, and you don't have all that crazy racing through your mind, through your class, because it negates your practice.
Mo:
It negates your practice.
:
I think it negates your life.
Mo:
And it negates your life.
Mo:
Exactly.
Mo:
Exactly.
:
Indicates everything.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Okay, so it sounds like affirmations.
:
You.
:
Yeah.
:
It's usually based around an empowerment.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Statement.
Mo:
Yes, it is.
Mo:
Mix it up.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
Yes.
:
Okay.
:
Do we have anything else in that section?
:
My brain was just absorbed.
:
No.
Mo:
Took you down that around the barn.
Mo:
I just love this.
:
I just love this.
Mo:
This is, like, right down my path.
:
And I just love it.
Mo:
So it really all, I guess, wraps up and comes down to mindset.
:
It's.
Mo:
It's truly how I choose to view my life, my situation, anything that I'm going through.
Mo:
And I try to always ask myself, what are the ping moments in this?
Mo:
What.
Mo:
What can I learn through this?
Mo:
What can I glean?
Mo:
You know, we take those little nuggets on every situation that we have that we experience.
Mo:
It's like, what can I glean?
Mo:
No matter how bad it looks, what can I learn from this?
Mo:
And take as a nugget, because there's always learning opportunities in situations that we go through, good, bad, or ugly, we can always glean something if we choose to do so.
Mo:
Always a choice.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
So what we tell ourselves, that's what we're going to believe.
:
Yeah.
:
Have you heard about kintsugima?
Mo:
Yes and no.
Mo:
Not to the depth that I love.
:
I feel like you would love this analogy.
:
So.
Mo:
Okay.
Mo:
It's.
:
It's one I've used.
:
We've used it multiple times on the podcast.
:
Well, it's like.
:
It's one that I've used since I was in grad school because it's like, what you're saying, what can you glean?
:
And I.
:
I was going through grad school and I was getting shattered every day.
:
It was a nightmare.
:
Just point out all the things I.
Mo:
Can only imagine so you can rebuild.
:
You up and not be broken.
:
Broken for your clients.
:
But as it was happening, I remember being like, I am so broken and I'm not going to put together.
:
My friend served a church mission in Japan and she.
Mo:
Nice.
:
Yeah.
:
And she's like, you heard?
:
I have no idea what that is.
:
She told me it was ceramic pottery that was put back together by the Japanese in honor of something that broke and honoring the cracks in it.
:
But they put back together with gold or platinum, so very valuable metals.
:
And they didn't want to hide the cracks.
:
They wanted to honor and make it more valuable than it was before.
:
And that's where I finally was like, that's me.
Mo:
I love that.
Mo:
I love that.
:
Yes.
Mo:
Yes.
:
I think that's totally changed my whole view of my life.
Mo:
Yes.
:
I want to be as broken as I possibly can so I can be gold at the end of the day.
Mo:
That's it.
:
Honor it.
Mo:
That's it.
:
People want a super glue.
Mo:
They want a super glue.
Mo:
Oh, yeah.
Mo:
And then they want to hide.
Mo:
If they can super glue it together and let me cover it because it's.
:
It's.
Mo:
It's deemed or viewed as less lesser.
Mo:
Yeah, you're not pure.
Mo:
You're not whole.
:
Yeah, you've been.
Mo:
You're ruined.
Mo:
Yes, you're ruined.
Mo:
And I guess it's all in the eyes of the beholder.
Mo:
Right?
:
But the Japanese have this okay for such a harsh society because they have some really harsh expectations, like very hard work ethic, all these things, but they have wobbles.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
It's amazing.
:
Beauty and the imperfections and beauty in the.
:
In the cracks.
:
And I think that that's such a beautiful combo for them.
Mo:
It is.
:
They really do have an interesting balance in their culture, and I think that's where we can learn to do the same.
:
Like we don't need to be perfect.
:
We're all.
Mo:
We don't.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
And again, that's where that growth comes from is from those imperfections.
Mo:
It's whether that.
Mo:
That life.
Mo:
It's just where our testimony comes from.
Mo:
So it's just.
Mo:
If it's okay to just read.
Mo:
So I do read this sometimes and sometimes I don't.
Mo:
But sometimes when I feel led that I.
Mo:
I definitely will read it.
Mo:
And it's a poem.
Mo:
It's by John Greenlift Whittier and l.
Mo:
Written in:
Mo:
I'm not sure when he actually wrote it, but it's don't quit says when things go as when things go wrong as they somewhat sometimes will when the road you're trudging seems all uphill when the funds are low and the debts are high and you want to smile but you have to sigh when care is pressing you down a bit.
Mo:
Rest if you must but don't you dare quit.
Mo:
Life is strange with its twists and turns as every one of us sometimes learn turns and many a failure comes about when he might have won had he stuck it out.
Mo:
Don't give up.
Mo:
Though the pacing slow, you may succeed with another blow.
Mo:
Success is failure turned inside out the silver tent of the clouds of doubt and you never can tell just how close you are.
Mo:
It may be near when it seems so far.
Mo:
So stick to the fight when your hardest hit.
Mo:
It's when things seem worse first that you must not dare quit.
Mo:
For all the sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these.
Mo:
It might have been just powerful.
Mo:
It gets me every time.
Mo:
It's a really good one every time.
Mo:
It is very humbling.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
Because what's the first thing we don't do is flee everything and run.
Mo:
That's what fear represents and that's what sometimes is instilled in us, is don't worry about it.
Mo:
Just run.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
Just blee everything and run.
Mo:
And this tells us no.
Mo:
Stand and fight.
Mo:
Don't quit.
Mo:
Don't give up.
Mo:
There's always hope.
:
But I think as you're reading it, my mind just went to this whole podcast we have not once talked about like you need to think these things or do these things or there was no specific go do this except for just believe who you are and believe in yourself.
Mo:
Yes.
:
And keep going and keep going.
:
Get back up empowerment.
:
And that's where I think people don't understand about self confidence affirmations is it's Not a secret thing thing.
:
It's a.
:
Just do it.
Mo:
But it's so simplistic that it's been so over complicated and they made it so mess up.
Mo:
They messed it up.
Mo:
It's been messed up and it's.
Mo:
And unfortunately that's.
Mo:
It's the messed up part that we've absorbed versus the people regurgitate and that's what we were doing.
Mo:
And again, what you speak into your life and what you speak to yourself manifests in some form or fashion and has.
Mo:
It will affect here the thoughts we become what we speak to ourselves.
Mo:
Ourselves.
Mo:
That's why I'm very mindful and aware of how I speak to myself because a lot of negativity can take place there.
Mo:
Oh, you didn't do that, right?
Mo:
You didn't do that.
Mo:
Oh, you drove that.
Mo:
You did this.
Mo:
You did.
Mo:
It's just like, wow, I'm just, you know, things just don't seem to stay in my hand today for some reason.
Mo:
You know, you just turn it and you just say instead of neutral, instead of judgment.
Mo:
But there's just, there's just a lot of judgment in the air right now.
Mo:
And unfortunately.
Mo:
But again, I think that strength is coming.
Mo:
I think we're going to start seeing a wave and maybe it's going to take those young ones that's going to really start to rise up and implement it and change those mindsets that have been.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
And I just, I just sense that there's just going to be a new wave that's going to be hitting for our own mental health in the way that we choose to view things.
Mo:
I really do, I do.
Mo:
And that's my prayer is that healing would take place not only in our nation, but across the lands, all over the world.
Mo:
Because it affects every.
Mo:
Everybody, everybody.
Mo:
And it's just been drilled in us all, all these years and long time, long time.
Mo:
But it doesn't mean that healing can't take place because again, when you have hope, you know, we should never give up on.
Mo:
Hope is always there to guide us through.
Mo:
It's like that beacon on a hill that we're trying to.
Mo:
In the darkness, in the water.
Mo:
And that's where it's guiding us to.
Mo:
Is that hope.
Mo:
So in you, of course, with mental, you know, working, this is your passion to heal.
Mo:
That's it.
:
I think people don't real.
:
At the end of the day, we're.
Mo:
Just, especially with the high rate of suicide, you just.
Mo:
It's high.
Mo:
Yeah, it is so high.
:
I mean if I don't talk about Suicide once a day, at least doing.
Mo:
Because they feel nose.
Mo:
And why do you think they do that?
Mo:
They feel there's no hope.
:
Exactly.
Mo:
But there is hope.
Mo:
And I don't think our society talks about hope enough.
:
I don't think they know how to portray it well.
:
I think people don't know how to embody it and.
:
And do in a way that doesn't seem.
:
Seem fake or pushy or whatever it is.
:
I think it's.
:
They don't know how to actually represent what that means.
:
And it doesn't mean I fix everything.
:
It doesn't mean I take anything.
:
It means that I give you strength to continue.
Mo:
But you're.
Mo:
It's rooted in you, though.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
So it has more substance to it than what some of the world offers.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
And I think that that's where the difference comes in.
:
Yeah.
:
It's like that's what we did.
:
The Suicide awareness.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
Podcast.
:
I just keep thinking.
Mo:
What month was that?
:
What?
Mo:
September.
Mo:
That's right.
Mo:
Suicide Awareness Month.
:
Great.
:
Thanks for picking that.
Mo:
I was gonna say, I think.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
September.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
Suicide.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
You're just like.
Mo:
It just kind of came naturally, right?
:
I don't want to do that one.
Mo:
You gotta do it.
:
I was like, I'm pregnant.
:
I'm gonna sob.
Mo:
Oh, but you know what?
Mo:
But you're real.
Mo:
That's why you sob.
Mo:
You felt it.
Mo:
You felt it.
Mo:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
:
You're right.
:
Hope is.
:
Is you have to find somebody that can give it to you.
:
That's worry.
:
We can give it to you here, guys.
Mo:
That's right.
:
And then go get down here.
Mo:
That's right.
:
Don't quit.
:
I love that.
Mo:
Don't quit.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
Thank you.
Mo:
Thank you, ladies.
Mo:
This is so fun and.
Mo:
And wow.
Mo:
I'm just glad we were able to.
Mo:
To connect so that we could get together.
:
But again, don't you worry.
Mo:
Oh, well, thank you.
Mo:
Let's.
Mo:
Let's have that medical talk.
Mo:
It's time.
Mo:
Time.
Mo:
It's.
Mo:
Well, you know, now with everything with.
Mo:
That just came out with Kellogg's and.
Mo:
And artificial colors and things that we have in our food in the United States.
Mo:
And I mean, we're just getting ready to go.
Mo:
It's like, I.
Mo:
I see that plow.
Mo:
I visually see that plow in that field, and it's just turning over all that dirt.
Mo:
Turning over all that dirt.
Mo:
Don't get me wrong.
Mo:
I love some fruit.
Mo:
Fruit Loops.
Mo:
I haven't eaten that kind of food in a long time.
Mo:
Don't get me wrong.
Mo:
Even before all this came out.
Mo:
But I'm Just like Fruity Pebbles for dinner.
:
Yeah, yeah.
:
You know, but ADHD kids, I've been trying to keep him off meds.
:
He's almost nine.
:
And that's been.
Mo:
Yeah.
Mo:
You see what I mean?
:
Processed foods.
:
Food, diet.
:
As soon as we cut it.
:
Yeah.
:
Drastically different.
Mo:
Yeah, yeah.
:
Yes.
Mo:
So that's going to be a good podcast, no doubt for you.
Mo:
It's coming.
Mo:
It's coming, lady.
Mo:
Oh, my goodness.
Mo:
Thank you.
Mo:
This has been wonderful.
Mo:
Just, you know, and I'm a talker, as you can tell, but, you know, I just, you know, just want to relay the information and answer your question.
Mo:
And yeah, I'm all about healing.
:
Yeah.
Mo:
But you create such.
Mo:
And that's it.
Mo:
It's got a coffee table kind of a meeting.
Mo:
We just, you know, you just create that.
Mo:
You create that energy that it's kind of like, oh, oh, oh, let me lean in and let's.
Mo:
So anyway, thank you.
Mo:
Thank you.
Mo:
What a blessing you both are for doing this.
Mo:
For really just having different people on, just to have human conversations.
Mo:
It's not AI generated.
Mo:
It's not.
Mo:
You know what I mean?
Mo:
Yeah.
:
So it's real, that human connection.
Mo:
Human connection.
Mo:
You.
Mo:
You can't beat it, can you?
Mo:
Because before cell phones or any technology was out there, it was all about human connection.
Mo:
Yeah.
:
You know what's interesting, too, is the human connection is.
:
Is with all the zoom stuff and everything else, that's the number one thing I have people ask me every time.
:
It's G, me and person.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
We encourage it.
:
That's.
:
Well, that's really.
:
That's where real thing happens.
:
I hate online.
Mo:
Yes.
Mo:
I don't either.
:
Aren't actually.
:
No, we can get it, but it's not the same stuff.
Mo:
There's no connection there.
Mo:
There's no energy there.
Mo:
And you can't feel the energy.
:
The energy is hard to read.
:
And that's my superpower.
:
So I'm like, trying to be.
Mo:
Yes.
:
And I can read it partly, but it's not the same.
:
Anyway, thank you, ladies.
:
I'm sorry.
Mo:
Took up so much your time.
Mo:
Probably like it's supposed to be 30 minutes and we're hour and a half.
:
We.
:
We have a bunch of different levels, but for you, you can be on here as well.
Mo:
Oh, my gosh.
Mo:
You're amazing.
:
Well, thank you, friends, for listening today.
:
We're.
:
Hopefully you learned something from all of us and from o.
