How To Be Authentic as A Yoga Teacher Episode 114

Welcome everyone to the Yogalebrity podcast. I am absolutely thrilled to share our guest today. This is one of my favorite human beings in the entire world. She came to my yoga retreat in Sedona last year, which by the way, we still have a couple of spots open in the retreat, and I'm going to take a note right now to make sure that I let Justine know to put that link in the description below so that if you want to join the Sedona Yoga Retreat this year, you have the opportunity to do so by going to the description and clicking on that link. But that is where Serena and I met. She came to my retreat and it was her birthday gift to herself, which was super exciting, and we instantly fell in love with each other. I think that we are twin flames and I absolutely love her. She had— we have very similar energy. We karaoke together and with fake microphones that I— here's one of them right here. We've— I got these fake microphones. If you're on YouTube or on Spotify, you can see the video. And I got these fake plastic microphones and Serena and I next leveled with these. We also shared microphones and then we got sick together. So it's fine. We're true friends now.

It's fine. What about that part?

Yeah. Oh my gosh, it was awful. But anyhow, the fuck, it was worth it. It was all worth it. We had a great time. And yeah, anyhow, thank you for joining me today, Serena.

Thank you for having me.

Oh my gosh, thank you so much. I'm so excited. I was like, this is how I'm starting my Monday. I'm super excited. Like, my whole week is going to be amazing. So I would love for you to share with us a little bit about your story. Like, share with us, like, why did you decide to become a yoga teacher and, you know, what brought you to teaching yoga? Because you're not even from this country, you just came here with your bags or whatever. I don't even know how you got to this, to cross the pond, but you're here.

I swam.

I swam. Oh, anyway.

Timing is everything, right? It's, it's everything. And, um, my grandmother who's from Norway has been practicing yoga forever. Forever. She was an immigrant from Norway, then she moved to England when she met my grandpa. And in the bushy countryside, she would have like the, this lady come and teach her yoga and then she would have like friends come to her. Lovely countryside estate to do yoga with her. So that was my first introduction to yoga, was actually my grandmother, my very Norwegian grandmother. It's the thickest accent ever. And, and then fast forward, you know, to my teen years, my mother was, and I was struggling with lots of different problems, you know, like most teenagers do. Food issues and body image issues or alcohol issue, all the issues.

Oh, don't we all? You know, what's really interesting is that, you know, I was thinking about puberty the other day and like how difficult it was for us to go through all those things. And I'm going through perimenopause and it's like reverse puberty. It's the same. It's like not being in control of your hormones, not being in control of your emotions. Like even if you're trying to be nice to people, you just, you You're like, stop.

Oh, I'm going to be really bad then, because I'm already like that.

Oh, it's really bad. It's really bad. Anyhow, do go on.

Um, so yeah, then my mom took me kind of like to a little— so we're in London and it's like this tiny little center and it's kind of like a little ashram. And I'm like, in my mind, like, I'm totally going for like weight loss for like the physical. I'm going for like that and not knowing any—

Dog alert! There's no weight loss in yoga.

I was like 17, you know what I mean? Like, I, I— and I go there and I'm like— and everybody's, you know, barefoot in like their cotton clothes.

Such a goof. Yeah. How old were you? I was like 17. Okay, how long ago was this?

Oh, very long time ago. Very, very long time. I'm 40, so a long time.

Okay, yeah, so I'm 50 and I I started practicing when I was 11, right? And so like 40 years ago, yoga was just like totally different. When you said like everybody was wearing all white and their cotton and stuff, like we don't do a lot of the things now that, that like yoga people— like when I started, every single person was a vegetarian. Like you would not dream of doing yoga if you weren't a vegetarian. It's like ahimsa, number one rule. This is how we do it. You can't have fear, pain, and suffering animals in your body. People always wore like cotton, really loose clothes. They didn't like— it wasn't about what you looked like at all. No, it was about like the breathability of the fabric, the vibration of that fabric, and like how it vibrated with your vibration as a human. Like, and we practiced on, um, I remember when the sticky mat first came out, the PVC mat, the, the— is it PVC? I don't know how— what it's made with. Anyhow, it's junk. Um, but we used to practice on rugs.

Uh-huh.

Yep. Right? Yep. So that's funny. Like, you were way back in the day, just like me, like, with all the old-timey yoga stuff.

Yeah. And everybody was a gazillion years older than me, you know, and they just immediately, they like handed me like this gigantic book, which I don't remember at the time of what it was. I just remember thinking, oh my gosh, this is like a holy Bible. It's huge. It's big and thick and just, and then immediately going into like, I guess now knowing the Ayurvedic part of it, of like, you know, the herbs and the teas and the dietary side of it and the cleansing side of it. And me, I still like, just come in here to lose some weight, man. And then they're just talking and there's so much talking. I just remember being in that room and it was hot. It was really hot and just everybody talking. I'm like, when are we going to get to the moving body part, right?

Because yoga is more about the satsang, about the, the talking, than it—

I just nearly fell.

Sorry. Uh, yoga is more about the, you know, what you learn, and less about the body. But people don't know that. People just think it's all about the body.

Yeah, yeah, evidently so did I.

Yeah, same. I mean, we all did, right? Yeah.

So then that was like my introduction, and I was just— I was very quickly like, nah, this isn't for me, this isn't for me, it feels kind of culty. I don't know.

I mean, it does have that vibe, but I think that you're probably like me. The risk of us joining a cult is very low. The risk of us being the leaders of a cult is very high.

Are you probably—

yeah, we're at the retreat. We watched this movie Kumare at the yoga retreat, and it's about this guy who's from India, and he like kind of trolls the Americans. And he's like— well, he was actually born in New Jersey, but he's Indian. His family is Indian, and his grandma is from India, and his mom is from India. So he's in this like very Indian family, and he decides to go to Phoenix and be like a fake guru to see if he can fool people and just kind of prove to them that like they're following something that isn't really, isn't like real, is it like, it's like made up, you know, like he's kind of like making fun of his own culture and our culture at the same time.

He's completely trolling everybody.

Yeah, it's really a fascinating film, but in the film he goes to this cult It's a conscious community. It's— they— that's what they call themselves, a conscious community. Um, basically it's a cult. Uh, this guy like leads this cult, and we're watching this, and I was like, I think that the book to that community is in the living room of the retreat house. And sure as shit, we go over there, the book is in there. So then you go on this walk down to this like stream, and they had said in the movie that the place was in Tucson. We were in Sedona, so we just like did it, you know, but they must have said in the movie Tucson to like protect their privacy. Because you go on this walk on the retreat with everybody else, you guys walk down to this like little stream, and it's the place where they shot the whole thing. We were literally staying in one of the houses from the cult Conscious Community from that movie. Oh my God.

It was too perfect.

It was great. It was great. Okay, so anyhow, so you're, you're like yoga, it looks like a cult.

I don't know if it's for me. So then fast forward and I, I, I, you know, I go to, I go to a couple different studios in London and try it out a little bit and I start to kind of get more interested in it because I'm doing now the physical asana. I'm doing the asana now. And then fast forward to like 20— 2012, 2013 or whatever. I, um, I started working at a place in, um, Sunset Beach, which is next to, in between like Seal Beach and Huntington Beach in California. And I started going to a hot yoga studio that was literally from walking distance from where I worked. And then it was just like, I just fell in love. I just was like being in a dark room, feeling that heat, feeling the openness of my body, going on like an inquisitive spiritual journey with myself, physically exhausting the body to quiet the mind. It's just like everything just kind of came together and Then when you get into certain classes, how it basically feels like you're almost like in a ballerina-esque flow, you know? And that's just kind of, that's when it really was like, okay. 'Cause my whole life I had, Serena, you need yoga. Serena, you need yoga. Like, that's my, you know, but it just didn't, it, the dots didn't connect. But when I stepped in that hot studio, I was like, okay. Now it's, I'm now I'm beginning to get it. Now I get it. And that was kind of like my introduction to beginning to have a practice and beginning to roll out on that at home and going more on the discovery of it and trying new studios, trying new teachers, trying new, you know, there's this thing on Instagram where everybody's like saying, you know, if you don't like try, if you don't like yoga, try again. Because it's true, there's so many different types of yoga that, yeah, it's almost impossible to not find one that you won't like.

It's, yeah, so many people don't know that there's a lot of different types of yoga. People think like there's one kind of yoga and they don't realize that there's like thousands of— even within India, it's not like there was like one kind of yoga in India. There's thousands of kinds of yoga asana in India. Yoga philosophy comes from Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras, and that's pretty standard. But the, the asana part and some of the, like, things that go with it, you know, there's, you know, there's Sivananda, there's Ashtanga, there's Vinyasa, there's Iyengar, you know, like, and, and there's even more beyond that, you know. So, um, the laughter yoga literally comes from India. I didn't even know I feel like that should be my niche.

Anyhow, so yeah, and then, so then I was, I was working in that company for really, for quite a long time, and then, you know, fast forward to the pandemic, fast forward two kids, marriage, all the rest of it. And, you know, we had, my husband and I, we went to Hawaii to go and, um, finally lay his mother to rest. And we had some very serious conversations of like, what do we wanna do? Where do we wanna raise our kids? What do we, you know, what kind of environment, blah, you know, all of that, that big conversation because I was ready to leave LA for quite some time. And that's when we decided, okay, we're gonna go and move to a tiny little countryside town in Arizona, high desert. And when I told my work, they were like, okay, well, I said, I'd love to work for you, continue to work for you remotely. I did it during COVID I've been doing the job for 8 years. You know what you're getting with me. I can do it effectively, quickly, all the things that you need, I can provide. Sorry, Serena, we don't let people work remotely. Okay. So then literally that morning of the day of me leaving that company 11 o'clock that morning, Serena, you're going to stay with us and work remotely and train this person that we pulled from out of the warehouse indefinitely. Okay. So I worked with them for the full year of 2022, training this guy from the warehouse, doing, doing stuff for doing other little projects for them. Like, 2 weeks before Christmas, sorry Serena, we're gonna have to finish this relationship because, you know, we don't let people work remotely. Okay, okay. So my daughter is in soccer. I get talking to one of the other moms. Come to find out that she owns one of the, one of the very successful yoga studios in the town close to me who's also going to be opening up yoga teacher training at the beginning of 2023. And I was like, like I said at the beginning of this, timing is everything. God was like, okay, Serena, here's your direction. This is what you've always wanted to do. I've always wanted to be a yoga teacher since I stepped into a studio. I wanted to be a teacher because I know the benefits of it.

Mm-hmm.

And seeing, seeing, being able to guide people and see them reach their potential is something I treasure.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

And so then I did the, I did the yoga teacher training and I was like, okay, this is it. This is what I love doing. I'm happy doing this. I'm miserable when I'm sat at a desk, you know, 8, 9 hours a day. Plus my sciatica can't take it, man. Auntie, you know, and that was just kind of, that was kind of that. And now I'm just like on this path of how do I continue to be on this path and grow as a teacher and grow with my students, get more students, expand as a business so I can make a real living out of it because, you know, Anybody who's a yoga teacher knows that there's no actual real money in teaching yoga.

Well, yes and no, right? So I think that, you know, driving around town and teaching classes, there's no money in that, right? Right. There's wonderful experience in that though, and that's something, you know, I work at the studio that I used to own. I just work there and I go and teach classes and I have a community there of people that I enjoy being around and, um, it helps me stay connected to the world, right? Um, but the real money is in teaching online, right? And so you recently joined the Empowered Yoga Teachers course that I offer, um, to help yoga teachers break free from the financial like chains of just like driving all over and teaching all over. And there's so much value in being in person and teaching in person, but there's so much more money in teaching online. Um, and so could you talk to us a little bit about like what your experience has been in that course?

And it's a lot of work, but it's also not a lot of work, you know what I mean? It just depends on the individual. Obviously being a mom with and now just turned 7-year-old and 4-year-old, and my husband being away a lot of the time for his work, and then also trying to teach, and then also build a business. And then, you know, it's like, uh, uh, all the, all of that stuff, you know, running the farm and all that kind of stuff. It's, it was a lot and is a lot for me, but it's not difficult.

You know what I mean?

It's very simple, like AA. It's very simple. You just have to apply it. You just have to do it. I loved, um, I love the breakdown of it. I love how quickly, I like how effective the videos are. I've met some awesome people, some awesome, awesome, awesome people. I love the community and how the corrup, how everybody just is like built each other up, follows each other on Instagram. Come on, you got it. Yeah, great, great content. Y'all, you smashed it that week. You know, I love all of that.

So, um, well, but you joined the Mastermind afterward, and so you continue to, to meet with us and, you know, be a part of the group and work on what you need to work on. And I think that's one of the things that's really nice about it, right, is that you can, you can kind of work at your own pace as a mom. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. Which is crucial for me because like I said, I've got lots of other business stuff going on, on top of this and it's just under the umbrella.

What are the things that you've really benefited from that you've implemented so far from taking that course?

100%, um, knowing what software to use to edit, because I had a little bit of when I I had a little bit of experience in editing, but on Final Cut, back when I was in London and at school. So I kind of had a little bit of an idea of that, but I was all trying to do it on Instagram. So much harder when you— it's so harder.

So you learned like how to access new software that you'd never used before. Your content game really leveled up, right?

Yeah, tremendously. Um, I was able to get more focused on that. Although it's like, I know what my niche is, but I still kind of struggle a little bit talking to that, to that niche because my, my, I inherently go towards the comedy. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I'm just trying to figure out how I can merge the two. Yeah.

Yeah. Because I do that too.

Yeah, I do.

I share, like, I have some that are comedic and some that are not. And I think, you know, like, that's the really key thing is like integrating your personality into your content even a little bit, you know. Like, when I make my content, there's always this like undertone of comedy as part of it, which is probably why we really resonate with each other.

Yeah, I told my husband I'm really funny. He says that I'm not. I said I am really funny. He's like, no, no, I'm— he thinks he's really funny because, you know, he has done comedy and done stand-up. And I'm like, no, you're not funny. And I think that's just because I've been married to you for nearly 14 years, so you're not funny to me anymore.

What is it that you're working on? Like, what are you creating in, in the course? What are you creating for other people?

Well, what I'm trying— I keep flip-flopping and That's something I'm really, really struggling with because I'm kind of, I'm moving, you know, my, my idea is to be within the niche of, you know, yoga for, for moms, yoga for busy moms. But I'm not very good at the very deep and meaningful, oh, now take deep breath, mama, you got this.

Do you think it has to be that though? Do you think it has to be that? Do you think that there might be other people like you out there that want the comic relief?

And maybe that— I haven't, I haven't seen it in the yoga world.

You know what I noticed is that when I started doing content 3 years ago, everything, everything I saw was just people doing their practice. Sped-up versions of people doing their practice, people doing their practice in beautiful places, wispy outfits, blah blah blah. But I'm seeing a lot more content now, like the kind of content that I make, that is content where you actually provide instruction and information. And I think one of the things that you might want to look at is, can you be a forerunner in in a content area that others are not doing? Maybe that's a gap in the social media game. Like, I feel like my goal on this planet is to change the face of the relationship between yoga and social media and how we present ourselves on social media so that 100 years from now people are getting true, real yoga on social media. And what if your content became that gap filler where there's some comedic relief, because there's no way that all women went, oh, and then you're so— with passion and this purpose and this meaning. Because I, I have a lot of friends that actually are not traditional mothers in the sense of being a, you know, like, oh, Tommy, boo-boo, let me give you kisses, you know, like Right. And there's just a— there's a lot— there's more people like you, I think, than, than you think. And that's— I think some of the things you're bringing up are really important because one is that we don't need to have just a particular niche forever, but we need to choose a niche in the beginning so that our content gets seen by someone. Because when we're putting out content that's confusing to the viewer, it's confusing to the algorithm. The algorithm wants to place you in a certain place. So when I first started making content, I only made content about yoga teacher training. That's it. That's the only content I made. Now I make a much wider variety of content. Like, it just organically started to happen. I was like, let's try some adjustments and assists and see, because I was in Costa Rica and I was doing a retreat and there were other people with me. I'm like, let's do some adjustments and assists and see what kind of happens with that. And so I did that and people were really resonated with it.

Mm-hmm.

And so then I was like, oh cool, well maybe I should make a course on this. And now $10,000 later, you know, off of a $200 course, I have like that just organically happened, you know? And so I think when we have that, that I don't know what to do, what's actually happening, and this is just my opinion, Sabrina. And is that we're self-sabotaging, right? Because you know and I know, in the words of Walt Whitman, I am large, I contain multitudes, right? So at some point you could do other things, but stepping into your true self is breaking through that procrastination cycle and really stepping into your dream, right? Yeah, I think that's the thing that like most of the people who struggle, that's what they struggle with is their authentic voice, right?

And linking that in, how can I sell that?

Well, I think that, but the first step really isn't how can I sell, right? The first step is just how can I share? How can I offer the most? Like when I first started sharing on social media, I was just— and I talk about this in my masterclass— I was just sharing like everything. Because you get to an age where you realize like the money is great, but the money doesn't matter. Like, I could die tomorrow, you know? And what legacy will I have want to leave on social media? What, what do I want after I pass away? What videos do I hope people are watching on YouTube of me? You know, what do I want to leave behind for the people who watch my videos after I'm gone? And so that's the— when I'm thinking about my content, I'm thinking about that. I'm thinking like, well, if I'm not here, what— how will this impact others? And so if we're just thinking— and maybe that's because I'm later in life, you know, but I think if we're thinking about how can we actually share what we know with other people, you know, how can you share your experiences of first becoming a yogi and some of those things that we talked about earlier, you know, like, how can we share that? And really offer something to the world. That's got to be the first step because you got to want to do it for free, and then the money comes. I know that sounds really backward, but it's absolutely true, right?

100%. 100%. This is definitely a career that is— there's got to be more passion and love because that's going to be what drives you, because the money is not going to come right away.

It just won't, right? You have to get really good at providing for people, and then the money comes, because then people want to be with you. But you also have to learn, like, all these, like, traditional tricks, like sales copy and marketing. Like, I was sitting at— last night we were playing Scrabble. You know, I have a degree in— I have two degrees. I have a degree in English literature and women's studies. And, um, I have felt— I've always felt like my whole life, like, I never used my degree? Like, why did I waste my time in college? Well, I should have just gone to work. And I realized in that moment that like, I use my degree every day because what I do every day is write copy. I write sales copy, right? And so we have to just take those things and make them for the people that we're serving. And I learned something yesterday from my coach, cuz everybody should have their own coach, right? And, um, for lack of a better word, mentor, whatever. That it is our duty to sell as hard as we can to people things that we know are going to help them. Like, I know that joining the Empowered Yoga Teachers Course is going to push people to start having those tough conversations with themselves, right? Those conversations like, what is it that I should offer? How should I present myself? What is my authentic self really about? You know, and then how do I put that onto, onto camera, right? How do I, how do I put that in 40 seconds? Because the— right, and then everybody's gonna be like, but you didn't share blah blah blah, and I'm like, it was 30 seconds long, okay? I can't possibly cover everything that yoga has to be in 30 seconds. Buy my course if you want to know it all because it's in there, you know. But, um, but you know, I think that was for me like a really hard— like, I feel like you're going through all the things that I went through in that first year when I was creating content. And it's so common what you're talking about, and it's so normal. There is this— and, uh, you know, I don't— maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like there's this breakdown between what you think social media wants of you and what you truly should be making. You know, like stepping into letting the world see the real Serena that I absolutely love. I feel like we just had a coaching session, girl.

I have to rewatch this and then take my notes. Like, I mean, it's, you know, I just, I just did a video on that about, you know, How to step out of your fear. And it's just like, you just do it. You just do it. You know, that's the only way to get over a fear is to just do it. Um, you know, it's, I don't, that's it. That's all I got. No excuses.

No excuses. No excuses. No excuses. So before we started recording this, you were talking, um, a little bit about some of the people that, um, you've met on my team and working with some of those people. So can you share a little bit about your experience with the team and what that was like? Absolutely.

Well, before we started recording, I said, I can't wait to be on your 300 Hour because I have had the privilege and honor of getting to know some of your people, Francesca specifically. And I've seen, um, I've seen the level of teachers that come out of your teacher training and I love to see such a heavy emphasis on the philosophy, on Sanskrit. Um, I feel like for my 200-hour, it was there. I just don't know if it was, and this could have just been me as a student. Okay. 'Cause I don't wanna put the blame on anybody. It could just be me as a student. I don't feel like I absorbed or got quite as much out of the actual philosophy side of it all. And I really want to grow more in that. I am excited to be in a position where I can be on your 300 because I love how you break it down into, well, what What, what areas do you want to be in? Because I really want to do pre-postnatal.

That's in there.

I really want to do aerial yoga.

Oh, well, that's not in there yet. We have to talk to Paula. She's supposed to be creating that for me, but she's so busy running a studio in Tijuana, she's had no time.

Well, yeah, how rude.

Rude, rude.

And, um, you know, I would love to play with the idea of maybe doing— you know, I teach restorative, but I haven't got any formal restorative training. I mean, I've done restorative class.

I'm a great restorative teacher, Elizabeth Marshall from Portland, Oregon. She is one of the most incredible restorative teachers ever.

See, and so there's just— there's so much— yoga is such a huge topic, and I never realized how big the topic was. Until I did my teacher training. And I love the fact that you also incorporate like the, um, online stuff on the 300, you know, and obviously that being a strong influence for me now. So, you know, Francesca is— she— I was fortunate enough to have a class with her. She led a class when we were in Sedona and excuse me, and she was brilliant. She was brilliant. And just seeing, just knowing you and seeing how you are and how passionate you are for the true roots of yoga, the true roots of it, it's like, it kind of leaves you like chomping a bit, like, I want more, I want more, I want more, I want more. Because I know that it's like, as teachers, we need to be constantly growing and learning. Never stagnant. I mean, as people, yes, but as teachers, if we're going to be the guide to somebody, then we need to be constantly evolving and growing. So yeah, I think that's where I'm excited to be in that position.

What are you doing now with your in-person yoga? What are you— where are you at? What are you doing?

So I'm doing— I have my— I'm very dedicated to providing yoga specifically for the town I'm in. A lot of people in the town I am, I'm in don't have the money or the time to travel to the other town. So I'm pretty passionate about providing that here to these people. I, and also to a lot of the retirement community as well, because you know what, they got a little spunk in them, spunk in them. And I. I really enjoy all of their personalities. Um, I'm going to be, I'm just going to be starting a new class on Thursday morning. It's going to be like my signature Yoga Fit class, which is, you know, this is where it's like the hybrid yoga with hand weights, like a Yoga Sculpt with, with, um, cardio at the end.

Yeah.

So that one really is more of like a workout.

Okay.

It's not really. We don't really tap into any philosophy there. It's more me like, come on, you got it, come on, you got it, you know? Um, and I recently partnered up with a lady who opened up a, like a co-op here in town for childcare. And we've been working together to do me doing the yoga class and then her providing the childcare all at the facility. And it's, it's called the Flourishing Moms Club and it is absolutely spectacular. They've got like indoor areas for all age groups for them to play. They've got home study areas cuz a lot of the kids out here are homeschooled. Um, and I did one last month. Yeah, cuz we're in December now. And it was such a pleasure to have a late, some ladies to show up and say, You know, I've been co-sleeping or I've been nursing, or I've, you know, I've been doing, I've been hands-on mum for years. And it was so nice to have just an hour where I wasn't being touched. I didn't have to meet their needs. I didn't have to like answer their questions. I just could have 60 minutes of just doing some gentle movement, connecting to my breath, allowing my mind to get to a meditative state. Allow myself to connect to who I am, you know. And so that's really something I, I treasured, and I really look forward to building on that, building on those clients and reaching more women, specifically reaching more women.

Yeah, that's a really important, um, it's a really important thing to do. And I love that you're teaching seniors. I think that's great. I love, I love that. I think, um, I, I just think it's so important because I think oftentimes they're forgotten. Mm-hmm. You know, and you start to get lonely. And I just know from like living in an RV for so many years and traveling around and before, like we did it way before everybody would be, before it was popular. Um, and, uh, it was mostly older people who did it. And so one of my very best friends in the world was an 88-year-old man named Buster.

I love Buster.

Um, And I loved— but you would have loved Buster. Buster was hilarious. Buster would be like, hey, um, do you want to just, um, come back and snuggle? You know, I don't mean like, no, Buster, I don't. He's like, well, you gotta try, you gotta try. You know, I mean, it's a fair point, but I guess you gotta try. He, uh, but he could play all kinds of music from the '60s. Like, he knew his favorite song was Pretty Woman, and he would just like— when you would walk in, he would like arrange these like music circles, you know, where all these like people would get together and play music. And when you would walk in the room, he would go, he would play the bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum. The beginning of Pretty Woman. But, um, yeah, I think, you know, working with seniors is very admirable. And so online, tell us a little bit about what you're doing online, what you're creating online, and how people can connect with you online.

Still creating, still building, still in the production. Um, and you can connect with me through, um, Instagram, serenyoga.833. Um, it— 8 being the number of money, power, karma, wealth, and 33 being the master number of master teacher. Master Manifestor, Master Creator.

I love that. I think that we should have you back on the podcast after you've created your first offer.

Okay.

So when do you think, um, you'll have that done so I can schedule you to come back on the podcast?

You put me on the spot. You see the sweat patches already going up.

Have you met me before? Do you know me? Have you met me? I would just like to introduce myself as someone who is an instigator.

Oh, that's right, Sagittarius. Oh, you know, I want it. Here's the thing, and I can't say too much on it because I've got— I'm, again, I'm in the development of it as well— is that I am currently meeting with the SBA, the small business loans people, to— and I'm working with them to get a business plan together. And, um, I'm working towards having something more in person. That's all I'm gonna say. That's taking up a lot of time.

Well, that's exciting. I'm excited to see what happens. Um, having a space to film is very nice. I know because I film at my old studio. Um, so before we go today though, if you could only share one thing with the world and it was the end of your time here on this planet and you wanted people to take something with them, you know, from you, what would you share with the world?

Oh boy. Um, what would, what would I want them to leave with?

What would you wanna leave for others?

Oh, what would I wanna leave for others? Oh gosh. You know that the impression that I've left on them is that don't take yourself too seriously. Don't take life too seriously because you can get bogged down. It can get stressful. Life is already pretty tricky, so try not to take it too serious. And if you, you know, if you can find a connection with something bigger than yourself, whatever your God may be, Gaia, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Mother Mary, whatever it is, find that connection and develop it as deeply as you can.

I was going to end it there, but I actually would really like you to touch on something else that we did not talk about that I think would really benefit a lot of people because I know people ask me about this. I know from speaking to Francesca and to you that you're both people who are very spiritually based. You're very Christian, and it's something that's deep inside of of you. I would love for you to talk about your relationship with Christianity and yoga, because I know that's something that a lot of people struggle with, and I, I think that, um, a number of people could really benefit from your perspective on that. Can you share a little bit about that?

Absolutely. It's, um, it's a constant toeing of the line because there's this like whole side of me that's deeply spiritual, deeply into numbers, numerology, astrology, energy, energetics, knowing all of, you know, having a pretty good understanding, not the greatest, but some understanding of it. And then there's this side of me who's like, who believes Jesus Christ was the Messiah, who believes that Jesus Christ was, was more than what we were told, more than what we were told in, in, in the book that I believe may have missed out some pretty key elements of it. And I don't like to be told that if I believe this, I'm right, but if I believe that, I'm wrong. And one of the things that when I, when I had spoken to my pastor's wife about me going into yoga teacher training, I was, you know, be very careful, Serena, you know, I don't want you to invite things into your life, you know, that you don't want and that And I was thinking to myself, well, and then when I had the conversation with her, come to find out she didn't know anything about yoga.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

And basically it was just a regurgitation of what she had been told. And there were many similarities between Christianity and yoga philosophy. And one thing being, and this is going to be a hot topic, Ahimsa.

Ah, yes, yeah, yeah, in the Old Testament they talk about it. I'm gonna let you share, but I, I'm like, really, I grew up Catholic and, um, I grew up in a very religious family, and so I've read the Bible many times, so I'm, I'm, yeah, share, share, share.

So, you know, there's this talk of, of not— and I'm just going to subtext it and very—

you can, you can share, you can share on here, it's all right. It's a— you can be raw, you can be raw, girl. It's— as long as you don't use the F-bomb, we're good.

Okay, now I'm going to watch. Now you're going to go I, you know, they talk about not killing, be it another man, another woman, or a baby child. You know, don't kill God's creations. And that's in layman's terms what is talked about in the Bible.

Be an animal.

They talk about the same thing in the hymns. Yeah, the same thing. And I know there is more similarities. You know, they talk in the Bible about having a Christ consciousness.

Mm-hmm.

And you know, they talk about the Jesus Christ coming in and being able to use his hands to heal. What do they do in the spiritual world? What do they do in the spiritual industry? They use their hands to heal.

Reiki. Under the name of Reiki. Yeah.

I think there are more similarities between the two that people understand, and it would be really nice to have more of these open conversations about, about it, about how You can absolutely use anything for good or bad. It just depends on your intent, because I've seen people use yoga for bad.

Yes.

You know, I mean, I've seen— there's a lady out where I am who talks about doing Aleister Crowley type stuff with yoga, which is a very real thing.

Yes.

Now when I do yoga, I'm, I'm, I'm inviting God, love, peace, light, energy, hope, joy. That's what I'm inviting. So it just depends, it just depends on which end of the spectrum you want to be. If your intent is to be good and to spread love and to spread joy and to, to vibrate higher then that's what it's going to be. It just depends, you know, it's again like the church. Church being good, being used for good, but it's also been used for pretty terrible things. Where do you want, which side of the line you want to be on?

I think it's really fascinating when you start to study different religions and different philosophies that they share a common thread of a number of things. And yoga specifically says in the Yoga Sutras that it is no religion, right? That it's a philosophy that can be paired with any religion, right? But it's interesting, I never thought about the Reiki connection and Jesus laying hands on people, which was definitely something that I grew up learning about. And I think it's the woo-woo that scares people, right? But woo-woo is actually the reality. Like, the— for like, Tesla talks about the highest form of communication is vibration. Right. Right.

You can't deny the science of vibration. You can't.

You cannot.

You cannot deny that when you use vibration and it hits certain frequencies, it creates beautiful formations and crystals. You can't deny the fact that when you hit certain frequencies, it can heal parts of your body. There's science. There's studies on it. I mean, sure, they might be buried because nobody wants to know that you can heal yourself through vibration. You don't need pills.

You know what's interesting about that? That I was listening— I was just listening to RFK's podcast this morning as I was making my breakfast, and they were talking about Google, and they were talking about how it suppresses information and pushes out other information based on what what they want you to see. So like Amazon is their biggest, um, advertiser. So if you just type in the word A, you're going to get a ton of results for Amazon. Um, one another big advertiser for them is the pharmaceutical companies. So they're going to push down anything that isn't big pharma's interest. And something I learned that I found really fascinating is that the pharmaceutical companies aren't making the advertisements for you and me. That's why they don't make any sense when you watch the advertisements. They're just like, "Gee-ah-dee-ah," and they're dancing and stuff. And I'm like, "What is that for? I don't understand," right? And it has 5,000 side effects. That ad is purchased so that the media companies are shushed so that they don't give real information about what the pharmaceuticals do. There's a new book that just came out by a woman named Casey Means called Good Energy. And I'm reading this book and she's talking about how prior to the early 1900s, we didn't have— like, Rockefeller put into place a modern medical system, and that we were healed through our foods, we were healed through herbs, we were healed through spiritual practices, and that Prior— until the birth control pill came out. When the birth control pill came out, that was when they started to prescribe medications that you would take every day, and they realized like, oh, we can get recurring revenue from this. And the reason that Rockefeller had his lawyer draft up a code for doctors was because Rockefeller was selling the drugs. He was the first of the big pharma, and so he wanted to make money. So he was like, well, you can't do any of these natural things, none of them work.

We can't even—

right, even if some of them did work— even now, I'm not saying that all of them work, some of them don't work, you know— but even if some of them did work, they were not allowed to be used by modern medical providers because Rockefeller wanted to sell his drugs to us.

Correct. This is all— this is all true facts, right?

It's very fascinating, and it's something— it's information that's suppressed.

Correct.

So that we don't learn about that, so that we don't know about that. And thankfully now this is media, right? This podcast is media. Social media in some ways is also media, right? And so, but I can share this with you and you can share this with your friends and their friends and their friends and their friends. And those of you who are watching can share this with other people. And so then we can spread information and we can help each other question. And I'm not saying that like everything that we say is right. I think that everything that anyone listens to should be questioned. It should be, um, analyzed. Yeah. And you should, you should make your own decision. And if you don't agree with me, I'm strong enough to be okay with that, right? People on social media are like, you gotta say this and you gotta do that, blah blah blah. And I, and, and I don't, I don't care. Like, I don't care if you have a differing opinion than me. Like, I actually prefer that. Everyone on my team thinks differently about what just happened in the election and who should have been elected and all of that. And they all have very strong opinions about it. And, uh, yesterday during our team meeting, Francesca moved to the side and there was a big Trump sign in the back behind her. And I was like, oh shoot. Like, I know that Justine hates Trump. She's gonna be like, oh my God. You know, I'm like, oh shit. But, You know, somehow we all get along, right? Right.

Because it doesn't— it shouldn't matter. It should not matter.

Right.

And the thing is, is we've all been programmed to make it the make or break of the relationship. Like, you know, I'm— I lean more on the independent side, so that's why I get put in the box of conservative, right?

They're just like, this is what you are now because you're independent. And really it's like, I'm just like, whatever is the best. I don't think there should be parties. Parties.

Yeah, I don't think there should be parties, you know, do the job right for the people, right? Um, and you know, I have a pretty strong feeling about that, especially seeing as coming from a very socialist country where it's heavy government, heavy, heavy, heavy government, and not being able to do anything or having it— having a say or having any rights really at all. And But I've got lots of friends, obviously, you know, being in the yoga world, that's very, very, very swings a specific way. And, you know, who also don't like Trump, but we, we don't, we don't have conversations on politics.

Yeah. I mean, I have conversations with people about them, but I don't, it doesn't bother me if they think differently than me. I don't think we have to not talk about it.

Right.

I think we just have to respect that we all, it's like the Four Agreements. Miguel Ruiz says we all come from a different place, you know, because of how we've— what we've learned and our experiences and what our parents were like and where we lived and all of that affects what we think.

It—

our brain cells are literally wired by our environment.

Correct.

And that's scientific. I would like to ask you a question about Ahimsa, and this is a really tough question. And it's something I've been thinking about a lot ever since Yoga Alliance sent out an email saying that they were so disappointed that Roe v. Wade had been reversed. And I honestly, my roommate in college, and I'm just going to use the TikTok word unalived, because, you know, I don't want people to— I don't, I don't know if you can say the S-U-I-C word. Um, S-U-I-C. I'm not great speller. Um, anyhow, um, my roommate in college had an abortion when she was 16 years old, and it devastated her, ruined her life, uh, and she tried to unalive herself, and she would be not with us today if it wasn't for the fact that I found her and called the police, um, and the ambulance and had her taken to the hospital, for which she was angry at me because she did not want to live. And she never spoke to me again after that. She moved out. She never spoke to me again. Um, and I'm not saying, you know, but also at the same time, my sister had a situation where she was very sick with her pregnancy. The baby was very malformed because of the pharmaceuticals that she takes, and she would have died and her baby was going to die anyway. And so she had to have a procedure to have the baby removed. And so I'm not saying that there's no time for it, but I thought it was very fascinating that Yoga Alliance would send out that email in the context of ahimsa.

I mean, that's just complete contradiction of ahimsa. I mean, I mean, it is.

Yeah.

And so that is my brain immediately goes to why, why would you, because that's sending inaccurate information. You know, I mean, I don't get it. It's weird.

Yeah, I know. I feel like everyone has a really strong opinion about this, and in no way do I, do I want to isolate anyone or make anyone feel like they have to feel a different way. I'm just having a conversation about this, but, and I respect all the opinions because I think it's a complicated issue. It is. But I think one thing that we don't—

conversation.

Yes, I, I agree. One thing we don't acknowledge is the pain and suffering that the woman goes through because you are stopping a heart.

Correct.

And I'm not saying that we should— that people shouldn't have access to abortions. I'm not saying that at all. But I'm saying that we give no care to the fact that women are— that's a real baby inside of them. That's something that's— that they are creating. And then, you know, and what—

go, sorry, go ahead.

No, I'm gonna say like, what do women feel like? What are their feelings on that afterwards?

And how—

I have never had anyone of my friends, and I have a lot of friends who have had abortions. I've never had any of them not feel incredible sadness afterwards for many years to come and feel guilt. I have a friend that lives down the street that just told me she had one when she was younger and feels like that's why she was never able to have children.

Yeah. And that's a real thing. That's a, you know what, I get angry and resentful that not more information about the procedure is given out. It's just made it like— it's the whole thing is made out to be very nonchalant, and it's— it is not a nonchalant procedure. And it really upsets me that it's not, as you're bringing to the table, the topic of, of the aftermath for the woman is not brought up. It is— so a little backstory like, hmm, when my husband and I decided we wanted to have children, it took us a really, really, really long time to conceive. Um, you know, and everybody around us was getting pregnant, literally every single person around us, family members, friends, everybody was getting pregnant. So then I finally got pregnant after trying for like 18 months. And it's kind of like when you're trying to conceive, it's kind of like living from paycheck to paycheck, except for it's from period to period. Did it, did it happen? Am I going to get my period? And it's a really stressful, stressful, disappointing emotional roller coaster. So when we, we conceived, I started feeling just weird. I just knew something was wrong. I knew in my heart something didn't feel right. So I went to the doctors at 7 weeks. They did a scan, they saw the fetal pole, they said everything looked good, but I I just, intuition kicked in. It didn't feel right.

Mm-hmm.

And when I went to go for my 8-week scan, the sac was there, but there was no baby.

Oh.

And they said that it was gonna be an aborted pregnancy, basically that I was gonna miscarry. And we were like, just kind of so confused and like, what, what do you mean? Like, no, again, nobody told me about any of that kind of stuff being a thing. It, that kind of thing. Happening, so we were just like, we'll just, we'll just wait in case, you know, some sort of miracle happens. And shortly after I did start miscarrying, but not all of the pregnancy came out, so I was left with the sac still growing. So I did have to go and get, I did do have to go and get the procedure.

It's called a DNC, right?

Right.

And which, by the way, is not illegal in any state.

No, it's not. Yeah, it's absolutely not. And all I know is what the imprint it left on me.

Mm-hmm.

And now I can't fathom what it must be like to actually have a baby in there. I just had the sack in there and it threw it. It tore me apart. So I can't fathom what it must be like to, to go through that, to get your scan, see that fetus, cuz it's, it's a baby. You see it when you get your 8-week, you hear the, you hear the heartbeat.

Hmm.

And then to then not get any support after you make the decision.

Right.

I can't, I just, I can't. So it's an important conversation.

I'm sorry that you went through that. A lot of women go through that. You know, my, my sister, she, even though she had to make that choice for her, for her life, right? Almost every time I talk to her, we talk about it. Yeah. And that's been like 7 years ago. Yeah.

It, it's not like, it's not something you forget, right?

Right.

Especially if there was a baby there because you absorb that DNA, right?

Right.

And then so do the children thereafter. So my daughter would have had some of the DNA from that first pregnancy.

Wow.

Because that DNA stays within you, which is fascinating.

I feel so many things are coming to my mind right now. I'm like, what direction do I want to go? I think we just don't support women, anybody. We don't support each other emotionally. It's not women, it's also men. It's also men because if you look at like people who are these like school shooters and stuff, and that are young men, it's always they've been bullied.

Yeah.

And they're all on pharmaceuticals.

Yeah. Yeah.

I worked in— when I first graduated from college, I worked at a Better Women's Shelter, and then I worked at— for an organization that helped people move from the state mental hospital to living in their own apartments, and I was a case manager, and I would help people transition. And one of the things that I learned in that time, because all of my clients were heavily medicated, was that they don't know what the medications do. Right. They don't actually know how they work, and they try different cocktails of medications to see how it works. And it's really just like this petri dish vibe that's going on in the mental health world. And, um, I think also it— my opinion from having worked in that field was that the medications are the chains of yesterday when they used to chain up people and mental health issues. This is what they do now with pharmaceuticals. And they would make these people— I remember this one client, this is why I quit. I had two reasons why I quit, was one, that I had a client who had— she'd always done really well, and then she got a new doctor and he put her on different medications. And she was just fun and vibrant. She was older, but she had all these stuffed animals that were around her, and she just was comforted by that. And she would watch her shows and be with her stuffed animals, and she was just like a nice old lady, you know. And she got this new doctor and he put this medication. And I went to see her and she's literally— she's drooling. She can't, she can't communicate anymore. I was just devastated. And then I had another client who, um, was bipolar or schizophrenic. Schizophrenic. She had a schizophrenic break in her 40s. And she, um— I went to find her one day and for our meeting, and I knocked on the door and she didn't answer. And that wasn't like— she was consistently non-compliant, so it wasn't like a real really big thing. But I went, and I went for about 2 weeks. I would knock on her door, and she just didn't answer. She didn't answer. So finally, I had the police come and do a wellness check, um, because, you know, she's an adult human. She was like in her 50s, you know. Like, I can't just— I'm in my 20s, you know, at that time. I'm not gonna just tell a 50-year-old person what to do. They, they break into her house, and they find her on the floor reaching out towards the door. My heart breaks still thinking about this. She'd had an abusive boyfriend that had killed her. Oh my God. And I can't help but think that she was reaching towards that door because she heard me knocking on it. And it just devastated me. And I just can't— I went back into retail and I never looked back. So I think The human experience is so vast and it's like, it's, there's so many of us are carrying around like different traumas. And I think that we just don't acknowledge that. And I think we've walked away and, you know, I'm not, I'm not Christian anymore. I don't go to church. I'm, that's not true. I just went to, I just went to mass.

You went to Ash Wednesday. Don't lie.

I just went to mass. But, um, I'm all like, I don't go to church anymore, but sometimes I do. Okay. I like it there. Um, it feels good.

I mean, those were actually healing centers, not places to go and worship gods. They were actually— the bells were there to heal us because of the vibrations.

Oh yeah, I like the incense. Yeah, I was disappointed. I went to the cathedral in Las Vegas and they didn't have incense. And when I— I always light a candle for my uncle who died of colon cancer at 55. He was only 6 years older than me. We were very close to each other. And I always light a candle for him. I go and light a candle every— at every church, and they just had switches. Hmm. I was like, hmm, no, I need to actually light a candle, put my dollar in there and flip the switch. But, uh, I won't be going back there anyhow. Um, but I think we're missing out on that connection. And oftentimes I think a lot of us are going to yoga, and I just— speaking for myself, a lot of us are going to yoga because It's our church, it's our community, correct? It's where we're getting healed.

I absolutely 100% agree, 100%. I was just talking about that to my husband. When I step into a yoga studio and the lights are low and you can smell the infusions, you know, if it's a hot studio and it's warm and it's cozy, and if, you know, you roll out your mat, you lie down You know, you're about to exhaust the physical body, which is gonna help you figure out some of the mental stuff. And the questions that sometimes a teacher can lead, the path that they can lead you down on the questions and how you can incorporate what you're doing on your mat and how you can take it out off your mat. Is it— I get the same feeling when I step into a church. It's like I'm connecting to something bigger than me. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

We need that sense of community. And I think because we've walked away from churches, um, we've lost that.

Yeah. Which is why I had said, when you asked me, is don't take yourself too seriously. And also if you can find some sort of connection to some kind of God. Do that.

Yeah, well, that took a turn that I wasn't expecting, but I think it was wonderful, and I'm really glad we had this conversation. I think it's very helpful for everyone, and in, in no way do we want to offend anyone. Um, all opinions are welcome, all experiences are welcome, um, and I think that the conversation just needs to be had though. It doesn't It's not— no one's right and no one's wrong. None of us have— none of us are God. No one— none of us know the ultimate truth, and all of our opinions are valid based on our experience. And so this is a forum where I feel like we should share. And I know I've had guests on here that feel differently, you know, and, and I— there's different points in my life I've felt differently.

Oh yeah, topics.

Yeah, 100%.

That's that. And that's really interesting that you would say that because, yeah, What I believed when I was in my 20s versus what I believe in my 40s. We're not hanging out. Not the same person.

Mm-hmm.

You know, and that's, that's, that is part of the human experience, right? It's evolution, it's growth, new experiences, new opinions.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate having you on the podcast. It's been an absolute pleasure, and I would really love to have you back on the podcast. When you've created your first offer so that everyone can download it and get it. And I'm excited for the things that you're creating in person. I know that you're going to be serving people at the highest level. So thank you. I hope to see you again soon. We are only one state away.

I know, I know. And I, I really want to come and get to Vegas, come see you.

Yeah, that would be great. That would be great. We can make more video magic. We made a reel together and it went viral. People love it. It's good.

I love making content with you.

I know, I love making content with you. I love being with you.

Oh, I love being with you.

Anyhow, uh, y'all, please do subscribe to the podcast wherever it is that you're listening. Uh, this is on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, um, and really anywhere you listen to podcasts. Um, share it with your friends. Help us to grow, leave us a 5-star review, and we would love to see you in the next podcast. And if you're watching this on Spotify or YouTube, you can leave comments. We would love to hear what you have to say and what you think about the things that we discussed today, or other things, or anything that you'd like to hear about on the podcast. So thank you again so much for joining us. We really appreciate you. Have a wonderful day, and we'll see you on the next Yoga Liberty podcast.