SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome back to Unfiltered with Love. I'm your host, Carrie Love, and I'm so glad you're here. Let's get into today's conversation. Today I'm joined by Liv, who is also going to be one of the facilitators at my upcoming Return to Yourself retreat. Liv has a background in social work and brings together yoga, breath work, mindfulness, meditation, and holistic healing in the work she does. And what I really appreciate about her is that she doesn't approach yoga as simply movement or exercise. There's a much deeper conversation underneath it about embodiment, self-awareness, intuition, and reconnecting with who you are. And that feels especially relevant to a lot of the conversations we've been having here lately. We've talked about stagnation, endurance, carrying too much, and maybe part of returning to yourself is learning how to come out of your head for a little while and actually reconnect with your body. So today, Liv and I talk about what embodiment means, the mind-body connection, breath, yoga, meditation, crystal sound healing, nature, self-awareness, and some of the patterns we can begin to recognize when we slow down enough to actually notice ourselves. And as usually happens on this podcast, our conversation also wandered into a few places neither one of us planned, including confidence, being perceived by other people, finding your voice, and learning through practice. I really enjoyed this conversation, and I think you will too. So here's my conversation with Liv. So I've been talking a lot on the podcast lately about caring too much, stagnation, endurance, and trying to figure out what it means to come back to yourself. And because you're going to be a part of the return to yourself retreat, I thought this was the perfect conversation to have with you. So let me start really simply. When you hear the phrase return to yourself, what does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah, so I would say returning to yourself to me means reconnecting to who you are before the world told you or taught you who it is that you should be. Kind of disconnecting from the expectations of the world around you and basing your worth on how much you can get done or how many things you've been successful in. I think that it has a lot to do with disconnecting and reconnecting to who you truly are and your most authentic expression. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

I agree with that 100%. And I'm really happy to have you a part of the retreat because I feel like we are on the same page with those things. And I've noticed a lot that you've been posting lately on your social media talking a lot about embodiment. And did you want to talk a little bit about that and your background with that, with what you do with the yoga?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Yeah, definitely. So I bring holistic healing into a lot of therapeutic settings. So I have a degree in social work and I like to integrate yoga, breath work, and different mindfulness techniques in the therapeutic setting, uh, where we work through not only the physical body and how the physical body holds and stores a lot of emotional trauma, but also working into mental health and kind of unraveling and untying a lot of the trauma that's stored in the body and how holistic healing practices are a great outlet to opening up and unraveling any of that tension.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Yes. And when I was looking around and thought about the different things I wanted to have at the retreat, and I definitely wanted to have you, which is why I approached you because I've taken your yoga classes before, and we've talked before about what we think the background of the embodiment and how we both feel about the embodiment in practice. And I thought that this is a perfect venue for you with what you bring to your clients, and I'm so excited to have you as a part of it.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

I'm really excited to see what's gonna unfold and what we're gonna create together.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Yes, thank you. I wanted to ask you a little bit about the crystal sound healing and if you could explain exactly what is happening.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Yeah, so crystal sound healing is a practice where I play the crystal balls and it helps the mind and body naturally relax and come into a more theta meditative state. The frequencies that are emitted from the crystal balls that are made out of pure quartz crystal are connected to different energy points along the body that are known as the chakras. And when I play the crystal bowls, the root chakra bowl, for instance, it helps to uh allow the body to feel more grounded. And then we move all the way through all of the chakras when I play all of the bowls. But sometimes I focus on playing one bowl or two bowls at a time, creating more of like a series over time with starting with um the base of the spine and working our way up.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

I have experienced it before and it is really nice. So thank you for describing it. For someone who may not have experienced it as of yet. Yeah, of course. I also wanted to ask you because we're gonna be at the beach for the retreat, I wanted to know what do you think that nature does for us? And do you think that people are more grounded at the beach, the woods, or outside? And I will say you're outside right now, and if anybody can hear the birds, which sounds really easy.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Yeah, I think that we as human beings naturally find a lot more of a sense of ease in nature. I think being in nature is a really important part of mindfulness and reconnecting to Mother Nature, or how I like to call it our true home, can be really grounding and help us to reconnect to what truly matters and reconnect to the little things. Being outside is really powerful, and I think the beach has its own magic and the mountains have their own magic, and every place outside holds a different frequency or healing properties that you know allow us to find a deeper sense of meaning and purpose and peace.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yes, and I really like being in the woods and being around nature, and I know I feel much more grounded and at peace when I'm out in nature. We've talked about Shangri-La before, you do some classes there, which is a place in Bonita Springs. And I feel like that when I'm there, I feel the energy is very calming there, and being around the plants and the nature there is really nice. And I feel the same with the beach. So I'm excited to do the beach part of it. So, what do you hope the women at Return to Yourself actually feel or experience during your sessions?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

My biggest goal is to let everyone know that it's their time to take care of themselves. And I'm just simply the guy. So it's everyone's time to reconnect to their inner purpose, their true, authentic self, and who they want to be in their highest vibrational timeline. When people come to events that I'm hosting or co-hosting, I really like to make sure that everyone feels that deep sense of gratitude and inner peace and helps everyone to feel a deep sense of being able to process any trauma or any stagna energy in their body or in their mind, allowing them to find meditation or the flow of yoga, which in turn is just a reflection of our day-to-day life, like finding the flow of life or finding the breath. And when we find the breath, we find deeper meaning. I always say deeper breaths for a deeper, more meaningful life. So it's kind of uh all in all just an experience more than just a yoga class or just a meditation. It's um I really like to say it's a way of life without sounding too tacky or anything, but it really is because it encompasses everything that we're able to use uh as a toolbox in day-to-day experiences.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

And I like that you say that because I have experienced that with your sessions. I do think that it is an experience. I really appreciate your classes because I feel like it is more of an experience than just showing up to a session and doing some basic moves. I feel like you bring a lot more to it, a lot more soul to it, which is really nice. So thank you. You are really good. You talk really well and you are like flowing with it.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

It takes time. I feel like I've I've gotten used to it because I when I'm in front of a group of people, I have to really articulate myself when I'm teaching the yoga classes. I have to make sure that I'm not saying um or repeating anything. Or I I used to have something that that I would say, I'm forgetting what it was, but when I was in teacher training, my teachers were always super on top of making sure that I'm not you know getting scrambled. So it it did take a lot of practice. And I actually used to have really bad stage, right? I've been teaching yoga now for almost 10 years, but when I first uh got into the space of teaching, I was really, really, really nervous. And I used to teach with another girl for the first maybe six months of being a yoga teacher uh because I was so uncomfortable with being at the center of attention and being having all eyes on me. And and so I would I would either scramble up my words or or talk too fast or completely blank out and then just be standing there like a deer in headlights, which had happened a couple of times. It's definitely taught me that practice is important. And I don't like to say practice makes perfect, but something close to that.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yes, yes. Well, I have been taking an embodiment coaching class, and we're on the breath work module right now, and I've had to guide breath work sessions and yeah, kind of doing some coaching with that. So I found that a little bit not hard, but it's a little unnatural or unfamiliar to me at first coming first. So that's been interesting. So I I did that today, and I think I was telling the girl in my class that maybe I need like a script or something like that. So something just to start with to because I'm not I don't naturally just go into like, you know, let's do a body scan, you know, let's feel it in your jaws or whatever. Like that doesn't really go, I don't like go right there, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

So I mean if that's just something you say on a day-to-day basis, it I think what helped me when I was trying to practice being a teacher was I would write it down on my iPad or on a piece of paper and then put it, and it was so awkward at first, but this is what helped me. I would put it on the front of a mirror and then I would talk to myself so that I got familiar with what I look like when I'm talking, and then that kind of made me feel more comfortable because I had a weird relationship with being perceived by other people. And so when I started talking to myself in the mirror and then having this script that I slowly eventually memorized, I was like, okay, this is what these people see. It's nothing crazy or bad or anything. That's just me. And I'm talking, and now I'm slowly gonna memorize it and remember what's to say. And and you know, once you memorize it, it's like it becomes second nature. Just like like when you're driving and you're driving to to work that you've gone to every day for a year, like you don't even have to think about where you're going. It's just like comes to you, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

I might leave some of this conversation in our actual podcast. I wasn't really planning on doing that, but then I thought that's pretty good stuff to talk about because a lot of people have struggled with things like that and um I don't know, self-worth and looking at yourself in the mirror and not feeling awkward about yourself or things like that. I think people find that that can be you know very intimidating.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Yeah, I think self-empowerment is a really big tool because when you start to like the quote that says, when you when you look good, you feel good. But when you what it really means, like what does it really mean to feel good? You know, feeling good doesn't start with um just walking out of the house and and like you having a new dress on. That it also has to do with like taking care of your mental health and your physical health and and eating well and drinking enough water and all of these little things, little bits and pieces. So that's what I that's what I mean when I say that this these events aren't just a yoga class, it's an experience and it's uh lifestyle. Because when you go to this healing session that I'm hosting, you walk out of it, and then you might feel a little bit more aware of okay, I just put all that work into taking care of myself. Should I really, you know, drink this soda or should I really do this thing that's not gonna make me feel good or take care of myself? And then after like small steps in the physical, you start to recognize small steps in the mental where we'll notice if you're thinking to yourself negative thoughts or having these negative thought patterns or negative thought loops and kind of detaching from that programming and and unprogramming yourself from that those thought programs that you were taught from maybe from childhood. I grew up in a Slavic family, in a Slavic household. So in my culture, every time that you have something good to say, it's followed by something negative because you don't want to seem like you're being too conceited. But that's something that I noticed that I would do all the time. Like I would be super excited that I, let's just say I graduated college, I graduated university, I would be so happy about that. And then I would have to follow it up by saying, yeah, and it was really, it was really difficult to do that, or something that was kind of like negative, like almost like quote unquote balancing it out. But that was something that was taking away from the positive aspect of the thought or the experience that I was having. So I think there's all these little bits and pieces that go together.

unknown 15:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

That's interesting you say that because I don't think that people realize that. Or you think about just a yoga class and you know, really what changes other than physically, or maybe your strength or things like that. But it is very mental and it is an experience. And also recognizing the patterns in how you behave and how you interact with people or how you interact with yourself is very interesting and takes a lot of awareness, obviously. And and as we all know, once you have awareness of those patterns, then you can change things and change your mindset. So I agree with that.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Yeah, I like to say that that's what makes me a little bit different compared to other instructors, and everyone has their own way of approaching yoga, is a really ancient technique and lifestyle and form, and I read the ancient Sanskrit text. I took a Sanskrit course, I've spent a lot of time with monks in really desolate places, and I've really dove into what yoga is, and I like to bring the depth of it to the events and experiences. Um, but that doesn't go to say that the way that other people are teaching isn't correct or isn't the way it should be, because I think if everyone in in the whole world meditated or did yoga or both, even just a little bit, every single day, we live in a completely different world. So everybody's journey here is so unique and so different. And I believe in reincarnation, and I find my journey here in this life to be that of a teacher and healer, and I like to bring the depth of what that means to uh my clients and to the the students or to my community because I have so much passion in it, uh especially in this in this lifetime, I like to say.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Yeah. I'm with you on that as well. I think that everybody is different. And even coming from being a Reiki practitioner, I know that when I was practicing in Pennsylvania, there was another Reiki person down the street. And people would say, Well, don't you worry that that person is right in close proximity to where you practice. And I'd say, No, because I feel that who was meant to come to me as uh my clients were meant to come to me. And what I do may be different than what someone else does down the street. And that's the kind of same, same kind of thing that you're talking about with the yoga because everybody brings a different thing, and there may be people that are more into the physicality of it than the spirituality of it, things like that. So I think it's nice. I think everybody can find what they are looking for that suits them. Thank you for being on my show today, Liv. I have enjoyed having you here, and I look forward to having you as a part of my retreat, and I look forward just going to your session tomorrow. Thank you. I really enjoyed having that conversation. And one of the things I kept thinking about while Liv and I were talking is that returning to yourself doesn't necessarily have to be some enormous transformation. Sometimes it starts very simply breathing differently, noticing what your body is telling you, recognizing a thought pattern, going outside, moving your body, getting quiet enough to hear yourself again. I also really appreciated something Liv said early in the conversation, that returning to yourself is about reconnecting with who you were before the world started telling you who you should be. I think there's something really powerful in that because so much of life can become about roles, what we accomplish, what we produce, what everybody needs from us, and who we're supposed to be. And sometimes we need space to remember who we actually are underneath all of that. And that is exactly why I created Return to Yourself. Return to Yourself is an intimate women's retreat taking place at La Playa Beach and Golf Resort on Vanderbilt Beach in Naples, Florida. It's intentionally being kept small because I want there to be real connection and belonging, not just a room full of people moving from one scheduled activity to the next. I want women to have space to rest, reflect, connect, laugh, breathe, and actually experience being cared for for a little while. And Live will be part of that experience. She'll be leading beach yoga meditation and crystal sound healing during the retreat. So if you enjoyed hearing from her today, you'll actually have the opportunity to experience the work she was talking about in person. You can find all the details of Return to Yourself in the episode description. And if you listen to Unfiltered with Love, you can use the code LOVE100 to receive $100 off your registration. Again, I'm keeping the retreat intentionally small, so if you've been thinking about coming, take a look at the information and see if it feels right for you. And Liv, thank you again for joining me and for being part of Return to Yourself. I'm really looking forward to what we're going to create together. And before I go, here's the question I want to leave you with today. When was the last time you slowed down long enough to notice what your body, not your thoughts, not your responsibilities, not everyone around you, was actually telling you? Thanks for hanging out with me today. If you enjoyed this conversation, I'd love to hear from you. Send me a message, leave a review, or share this episode with someone who might need it. Until next time, keep asking good questions, keep being curious, and most importantly, keep showing up as yourself. This is Unfiltered with Love. I'm your host, Carrie Love, and I'll see you next week.