About

Today’s guest is Cate Stillman, founder of the thriving worldwide community of Yogahealer and Yoga Health Coaching, and Author of Body Thrive and a new book coming out this year called Master of You.  I got to see Cate Stillman present at a podcast conference recently, and I was lit up with ideas. What struck me is how profound her take was on building a community of people that will push you to your greater good and be in flow for a better earth.  Cate has somehow managed to marry her background in international environmental politics and policy and ayurvedic teachings. I knew I had to have her on this show and share her culture-changing ideas with you. Cate founded Yogahealer in 2001, she’s the host of Yogahealer podcast that has 1.5 million podcast downloads, 194,000 Youtube views, and 3,500 community members. Yogahealer | Instagram Free Body Goals session   Free Dream Session Little Left of Center is also broadcasting on DecaturFM and Salesforce Radio. If you haven’t hit subscribe yet, please make sure you do so you never miss an episode of these perspective-shifting conversations. Leave a review. SHARE it with your friends and enemies.  Connect with me via text at 470.242.6311, or on the socials at Instagram, LinkedIn,  Facebook or good old fashioned email.Thank you so much for listening and I’ll see you next week!   Transcript: I'm so excited to welcome Cate Stillman of yoga healer. So you are an author of body thrive. You're the founder of yoga healer and yoga health coaching. You founded in 2001 you have a podcast called yoga healer. There's one and a half million podcast downloads. You've got a community and 194,000 YouTube views and 35 a hundred community members. Kate, welcome to the show. Can you tell me more about your backstory? How did you get here? Oh Yeah. So I came, I came into my path that at yoga healer, which is all based on personal and planetary thrive. So we look at both, you know, people thriving but also our planet thriving. I came, I came into yoga healer into AyurVedic medicine and yoga from international environmental politics and policy. I'm particularly focused on global warming, so I have a different story into, into yoga, that and into wellness. Then a lot of my than a lot of my colleagues, I really came from a, a global public policy background. And I was looking at how, you know, how can I make the biggest difference in my lifetime to leave the planet in a better place? Then I was finding it. And basically what happened is in policy, I quickly came to the place of frustration of bureaucracy and wanted to look at how do we help humans become more conscious? And that's what really brought me into your Veda. Yeah. So let's back up for a second. When you were growing up, did you grow up in a spiritual household or what was that like for you? Cause it sounds like it, it sounds like two polar opposites, when in reality they're probably more intertwined. We just don't connect the two. So I'd love to hear more about your interest in and political policy or global policy and the spiritual. How did that awaken for you? Yeah, I think it was like, you know, it was Many ways the opposite of growing up in a spiritual household. Like I grew up in an atheist household and very, you know, very based in the material reality of, of the world. And I met, I met my first spiritual teachers in high school working trail crew in the national forest out out West. And I was volunteering my time to and living in the wilderness wilderness areas, like literally wilderness areas rebuilding trails. And I, and I met people that had, you know, very educated in terms of global public policy, had that perspective and really woke me up to, you know, what the planet, what the situation was with the planet and what the situation was with people in public policy. And so it was really in high school and then going back East, I was raised as competitive East coast gal. I'm in sports and academics and all of the, all of the things. And I was able to really see the materialistic culture that I had been pretty much bought into. You know, and even in terms of how medicine works, I had a lot of health issues. Even though I was very athletic and very in shape as a kid, I had migraines, I had constipation, I had allergies that were pretty severe. So I was in and out of out of allopathic doctors offices my entire childhood. And didn't really interface with holistic medicine until I got my, you know, until after my, if you will eco spiritual awakening and starting to look at like, wait, what is the relationship between all things? What is the relationship between my experience and my body and, and my inputs, including, you know, including people, including food, including beliefs, including, you know, all the things. And that's really, that really helped steer me more towards a lifetime of, of helping people thrive. Where was that moment that it clicked on for you? Did something happen or did you meet a spiritual teacher that, that awakened you? Cause I feel like there is an awakening that's happening now where people are starting to realize that their chronic illnesses could be because of what they've eaten. And it may not be their fault, it's just what's been around. So it has never been connected until now where I think it's a little more readily available or accessible in terms of putting that together. So what was that like for you? Yeah, I mean, I remember reading fit for life in high school. So coming back from my work in the forest service and, and reading, you know, just starting to get that connection between food as plant-based guy. What's, what's his name? Yeah. I mean fit for life was like just, it was really a lot about plant based diet and yeah, and it was, I mean, it's not even like, you know, in retrospect there's so many better books now. Fast forward, you know, 40 years there's, there's better books now I would say about, you know, just helping people understand seasonal eating and, and understanding the connection between your local ecosystem and your health and how being connected is actually one of the factors. You know, and for me in terms of like, what was it, I think it was probably just a series of, it was a series of events. Then in high school I became part of a group called mass hope. It was, I was in Massachusetts and the hope stands for high schools organized for protect the earth. So as soon as I was, you know, in a way activated or turned down, I started, and I believe this is very, anyone listening is gonna understand this. You know, it's like as soon as you're wanting to make a change to hang out with other people who are actually making that change, it change. That's the change. It changes everything because then you're the world of higher level thinking in the world of problem solving and the world of ideation and you're less in the world of victim mindset of, Oh, all this is happening to me. Whether it's health symptoms or whether it's the current state of politics or the current state of a ecological health. Did you feel like you were in the victim mentality or did you feel like you were always more of a doer? Yeah, I think in terms of how I was raised with standard American diet, which is not a living foods diet, it's not an ecologically connected to your ecosystem diet to say the least. And being in and out of allopathic doctors offices, which were basically like, you can take a pill, you can have allergy shots. One of my nicknames growing up was the pill popper thanks to my dad giving me that name. So I think I was in a not, you know, in an unconscious victim mindset as, as a kid and as a teen before I really you know, started to educate myself in terms of is there another way? I mean, and again, that was the 80s, so that was, it was a different climate then then now literally pre-internet, right? So you can't just like Google holistic headaches and get some clues. Like I didn't know until I was pretty deep into our, your Vedic medicine in my twenties. I didn't understand from a daily habit, embodiment perspective, how my headaches were linked to constipation and how to deeply cure my constipation. So in our body thrive course, like habit number three, start the day, right? We teach, we teach, we basically teach people how to become pooping champions because it's such a huge problem in the West. I often cite the stat that, you know, like the number one medicinal tea is smooth move the number one selling medicinal tea. And that tells us that people are not having complete elimination, which means we're bringing waste into our day. So even if we're taking all the right supplements, but we're constipated, we're not going to get the level of absorption from the supplements. We're basically not flushing money down the toilet is one way to look at it, but we're not actually getting to the root of the issue. So it did take me, you know, quite a while to connect the dots. It's an evolution for sure. And it's funny, on a personal note, I am plant-based for this month. So I am a, I'm trying it and I am a Pooping champion. Like I am so gassy and I'm like, I don't know if this is healthy or not, but I, God, it's a, it's, it's been a, it's been interesting. I'm trying to figure out if, if this is okay or not, but yeah, so far so good. Yeah. I mean in looking at, in our your Veda, we look at, you know, things like gas is like there's a, there's usually a lack of absorption with that or there's a level of like your digestive fire not adjusting to your new. The other thing is like some people digest beans a lot better than, than others. Just depending on your heritage. Like what did your ancestry eat? So there can be, there can be a lot, there can be a lot to it. So interesting. I think what's, what's fascinating about everything you're talking about is so complex but also connected. And I'm wondering what is your mission? Yeah, I mean it's been, I mean it's all based on personal and planetary thrive. So at yoga healer we have a number of different ways of, of helping people. So the way we always start with everybody is body thrive. So it's like, let's dial in your habits. So these are the habits of yogis. These are the habits that build resilience and adaptability. It's how can, how can we actually get reset into universal rhythms and circadian rhythms? How can we actually go with the flow of what our bodies are designed to do and how they're designed to feel. And that's counter culture. And that's the sticky hard thing, right? It's like the habits are earlier, lighter dinner, so you don't overload your digestion at night. Then early to bed, which is easy to do if you haven't had too many calories later in the day, you'll naturally get tired. A lot of people have issues with early to bed just because it tech addiction, right? So then we get to look at that head on the third habit to start the day, right? The hydrating and eliminating. And people don't realize that we can retrain our body into, into these habits, breath, body practices before you eat, that you actually wake in your pronic body or your energy and physical body and and get ready for the day. So we create a lot of space before going into the day. And then there's, there's six other habits that follow that. There's, these are just like the most basic habits. A yogis in yoga philosophy. It's called Dina Charia. It's the daily cycle. So if someone's in line with the daily cycle, what happens is they start to experience resilience and adaptability. The resilience enables them to do a lot more than they were able to do. Like their immune system is strong, they have surplus of energy. The adaptability is being able to actually take a few hits, take a few punches from life if you will, and be able to adapt to what the situation needs. Whether that's travel, whether that's an unexpected illness or death or you know, some massive trauma that happens. There's an ability to adapt to the situation. So once, once our members have that, then they go onto a much I say more interesting path because I personally find that like a lot of people get stuck in the never ending health cycle when they get quite narcissistic. If I can call a spade a spade where it's like I'm in that zone, that narcissistic zone, like how do I look? Right? How do I feel? And, and that's a never ending cycle because I mean yoga has this great teaching of like wherever you place your awareness that will expand. So if you just continually put your awareness on your own health, you, you can become in, you know, just like increasingly to the nth degree more or less like obsessed with personal health. But the problem is that doesn't actually lead to a fulfilling life. There's more to life than how you looking how you feel. It's a really good baseline to check the box off and say, do I have the automated habits to thrive? If so, yes, check that box off, keep doing those habits and you'll be just fine. Now you can get onto life purpose and that's where my second book, which is releasing March, 2020 a master of you comes in is like how do you, how do you attune to a much bigger life, like a much bigger life purpose, a bigger Dharma, a bigger sense of your ambition. Like what are you here to do in this lifetime? Like, let's get on that and work through a systematic process with, with the five elements, with your space or your home, with your body or Earth's element with your fire or your ambition with your time or your air element. And then with your integrity and flow, which is water element. And you know, basically see what you can see, what you can do. So I felt, I feel like what you're talking about is really resonant. Like it sounds like such a utopian state to be able to be grounded in the earth to, you know, be conscious about what to eat to make an impact outside of yourself by taking care of yourself and helping others. So it sounds like a very profound plan. Can you talk a little bit about yoga healer? Cause on your website it talks about it's, you guys do yoga teacher training, you know, who signs up for things like this. How do you track these people? Cause I think I think the community that you started to leave less of a carbon footprint, you know, and being very cognizant about, you know, eating from the earth and eating things that aren't processed and having a more fulfilling sustainable life. I want to understand a little bit more about who is yoga healer for and, and I, I also would like you to define Dharma and I are Veda. Yeah, Right. Good. Let's go back to the beginning. I, you means life and Veda is, is to study or to live the wisdom. So it's the living wisdom tradition. So that's what are your Veda means. And it's the healing science that Koa Rose with. Yoga is inseparable from the path of yoga. And it's from the ancient Indus Valley in Northern India. And it's evolved over thousands and thousands of years. Some people will give you a 5,000 year timeframe. Other people will say, well, the prebate is, that goes back to 8,000 years. So it's based on a culture that was like, I like to say hell bent on enlightenment. Like what is an awake life? What is a like, what is possible for a human being. And that's if we look over time, this dedication to living in alignment with the cosmos. So it's, it's big, it's big. It's like, you know, it goes right directly into spirituality, like to live in alignment with the cosmos that created you. There's things within, there's mechanisms within the human mind, body, spirit awareness that let us know if we're aligned and let us know when we're out of alignment. I mean, I just invite every listener right now. Like you could create a quick list of three things that you've done in the last 24 hours that are in alignment with your life purpose or with your Dharma. Even if it was like, I drank enough water today. Like check, right? And you can also write a list of three things that you've done that are totally out of alignment, right? And we can all do that and we can all continually do that because there's a sense of continual refinement. We can continue to evolve. Potentiality is a moving target. So you never actually arise. Like the next level becomes reveal. Those, you're halfway through this level, you start to see the next horizon. And that's, you know, to me so much of what the Ayurvedic path is. It's, it's not just about health, it's about enlightenment. And then as far as the word Dharma, the roots of Dharma are in Dar in our duty and in responsibility. The roots of the word have a lot to do with cast actually from India of like if you were born into this caste, you had certain duties and certain responsibilities. A lot of the concepts from yoga, they change with time, right? The deeper meaning transforms as, as humans evolve. And so now that we're in like a post caste system Dharma, like what is your duty? Like, what is your responsibility? And I'll speak to that for just a moment. So I was born into a, I would say an upper middle class household. We didn't spend frivolously at all, but we had means and resources most of which were dedicated to education. That was the philosophy of, of my house. So I always had access to fantastic education. If not world-class. And that was the emphasis. So I feel a certain level of responsibility and duty based on what I, I just, I mean, I didn't step into this life starving in Africa and with the AIDS virus, right? Like me, I stepped into this life into an educated household where the priority was education. And there was plenty of financial means to, to pursue that. And because of that, there was always, always access to be able to make money in the marketplace in meaningful ways. So I feel a certain responsibility in my life to be of service to humanity rather than like, I could have become a stockbroker. You know, cousins, he's worked on wall street finance for the last 30 years. He just retired. I'm like, I could have gone that way. I could've gone that too, but I didn't, you know. And that to me is, was part of my Dharma of just recognizing like, Hey, I've had, I've had certain breaks from day one, like, let me fulfill my duty to, to respond, right. Responsibility to respond in a way that is deeply meaningful to those who my life will touch. I think that's so, it's funny cause I have a seven year old son and I talk to him every night and talk about you were given a purpose, but I am talking out of my ass like, you know, your job is to figure out what that purpose is and live, you know, and, and be of service to others. But I have no idea what it is. It just sounds really good. And yeah, I'm trying to be a good mom and trying to raise conscious children. I've got a four year old girl and a seven year old boy. So I, I love that you are putting words or articulating a concept. And one of the things that I noticed about your podcast from some of the episodes that I learned, I really like, I don't think it might've been released today, but the one about stress and sleep that was really powerful. And I think that's some of the concepts that you talk about and talk with experts on are very practical. And very relatable, especially with sleep apnea or people that are, you know having issues with sleep or that teenagers need nine and a half hours of sleep. And the reason why they're suffering or of technology addictions have everything to do with something as simple as sleep. You know, so it seems like very simple principles if I'm understanding what you're putting out into the world, you know, but you give some practical advice to be able to do that. And I'm wondering, one thing that you you, I, I wrote down from, from your talk, you said don't underestimate the power of belonging. And I thought that was so freaking profound, you know of communities. So I want to understand your role in building a community and teaching others how to build their own community out to make their own impact. Cause that is like the superpower, Kate. Mmm. Yeah. So who do, who are we most aligned with? Like, one of the things that I look at all the time is, you know, especially with my course members is they often know what, what they want to do, but they don't, they don't know how to do it. Right? Yeah. And so when we look at that, there's this, there's this how to do it and then there's also an a, an efficiency. So that's the effectiveness, how to do it. And then it's like how to do it efficiently. Like how to get there more quickly. That becomes really important in what, that's when you start to focus on those things. Like there's actually a community of people moving in that direction and there's already leaders and guides that have done that journey. And that's always true. Like we're never really the first one. I mean, I might, I think it was like the first are your Vedic podcaster, right? But I wasn't the first podcaster and even the first podcast or wasn't the first person having a radio show. And even the first person having a radio show wasn't the first person with a message that had that had a fan base around the message. Like that goes way, I mean the, in the yoga tradition that goes back thousands and thousands of years of like the guru sitting and, and, and giving teachings, right? And so it's like you're never really the, you're never really the first on. And when we have that perspective, it's like, who's already, who's, who's at exactly the vibration that if I tune into that, I'm going much forward, much faster on the how to do what needs to actually get done. So it's like the what to do and then the how to do it efficiently. And if we tune into the community that's already going there, boy, a lot happens quick. So for instance, in yoga health coaching, that's, that's our global professional community of wellness pros, both from yoga and our, your Veda, but also nurses and doctors and body workers, nutritionists, personal trainers, mental health therapists. Like it goes on and on. So anyone who's like, I'm here to help other people thrive and becomes a member of that course. There's a few components to that course and we're really clear before someone enrolls with these components are in terms of like where you'll end up at the end of it and there's a big component on how to have a lucrative lifestyle, like how to make a great living and take great care of yourself. So there's a whole business model components, so say someone wants that, we're really clear, like if you get in this community like that's, we're hitting all edges of that conversation, all sides of the puzzle, all the edges of that conversation. And so you won't feel awkward talking about how to double your income as a wellness pro in this community. That's totally normal for us. Now we're also going to talk about efficacy, like how do you get your members to results faster? How do you get people healthier faster. And then we're also going to talk about groups about how people change faster and groups then one on one. So if you want to leverage double dynamic groups model, if you want to lucrative lifestyle, and if you're curious about yoga and Ayurveda, and you resonate with me because I'm kind of, you know, I'm the one wearing the ringleader hat, then you're going to love this. And that's a tribe. That's a community. So we know how to do it. You know, we know what to do. We know how to do it, and it will enable someone to just be in that. It's like a, to me, it's like a container. It's like a crockpot. And for anyone who makes fermented foods, I love in my house, we're always preventing sauerkraut or kimchi or jots or, or whatnot. I'm a huge fan of culture. And, and if you want to understand culture, start creating food cultures, and you'll start To understand how a food culture is not Just the ingredients that you put in. It's not just salt and water and cabbage. Sauerkraut is different than salt and water and cabbage. It's a living probiotic organism onto itself that heals the human microbiome. And that's really what a dynamic group can be. So if someone's like [inaudible] Oh my gosh, I love this conversation. That's your radar tuning into the community because there's a gazillion communities out there, but like one are you like, wow, this, this lights me up on all levels. And it makes me think new and better thoughts. So one of the things that you say, I think it's right in the beginning of the podcast and I think you are maybe talking about yoga health coach or some of the yoga health cold calls, the free calls that you have. And you said something that really resonated where you say and I'm totally paraphrasing, I'll probably butcher it, but you said you know, you ever have those conversations that you remember there are so impactful that they change not only your perspective, but you start to change your behavior. And that is like, that's the magic right there. And Cate, I don't know if you know this, but you are endlessly fascinating and I'm wondering, I told my husband, yeah, please do. So I'm wondering, I have to go back on this, that you started this yoga healer in 2001 I think it's becoming more normalized now, but you must've been like a freak show to other people in 2001. What was it like kind of being the, you know, with your ring leader hat and then screaming out where, you know, people are going, this girl's crazy, where now they're like, wow, she knew what she was talking about. So what is it like kind of blazing your own trail where there isn't so much of a path there yet? Yeah, it's such a good question. I mean, when I tap back into it, there was, I was in San Francisco in 2000 going back and forth between aryuveda school and in yoga school and I was in two, two year programs. So yoga teacher training in 2000 was not a weekend workshop. It was a two year program. And so there was this depth of, of seriousness of like the Sadika of the true practitioner. That was very in ingrained in San Francisco, which was really the hub of teacher training in the United States at the time. And what I saw and the more, actually I understand, I think this might be helpful to Alison for just everyone listening. It's like the more you understand who you are, the more you understand your personality profile. So I really recommend everyone take like five personality tests who just understand who you are. Cause once I, once I understood that it all made sense. So I'm really high in innovator creator, futurist. Like those things always come up but I didn't know that in 2000 I was just like why is everyone paying attention to the wrong thing? And that's what I was also like in my teen years and environmental activism. I was like why is everyone paying attention to fashion or like the next pair of like whether it's baggy jeans or skinny jeans or whatever instead of like we're destroying the planet. Hello, let's wake up to this. So the more I understood that, like my awareness actually is very, very future oriented. So I was looking at like my unborn children's children right back in the 80s when I was a teenager because my awareness just is very future forward. My ability to innovate. The way that intersected with growing yoga healer was that I found there was a faster, better way to teach people Ayurveda and, and yoga. And so I, I didn't know at the time that I was a curriculum creator, but I started creating my own curriculums when I was only a year into both schools. I just started like, I was like, there's a workshop, like someone's got to teach this work that like why hasn't anyone taught this workshop yet? And I was sort of blown away and I'd say like anyone who's like blown away by what hasn't happened yet, like that's your Dharma is to make that happen. So I started teaching these two hour workshops, daily routines of a Yogi to yoga in yoga studios in San Francisco in 2000 and when I found was like, it mostly attracted wellness pros, it mostly attracted yoga teachers and body workers and you know, people that were doing Chinese medicine. And doing yoga at the time or was it an evolution? Yeah, no, I was, yeah, I was, I was in, I was in yoga teacher training at the time that the Iyengar yoga Institute. Yeah. And so I, I mean arguably like yeah, I was in those communities and that's who was turned on to it. But that's who's always been kind of turned on to Ayurveda in the U S as the yoga people and tell lately. And now it's like the spa people. So if you do like SEO research in Ayurveda, which we do at yoga healer, I'm like, Ayurveda and massage comes up, which is a really different target audience than people who are really interested. Interestingly enough. And understanding Ayurveda how do you, how do you measure success? Oh, that's a good question. So one, like one of my coaches, he's always like, what does winning look like? What does winning look like? And it's, it's very holistic, right? So in he was in my office a week ago. This is brilliant, like very huge scale businessman and, and you know, he, when he looks at me, he's like, you're so, you're such an amazing integrity. He works with, he works with entrepreneurs from all over the world and he's like, you're so in integrity and lifestyle. And he's like, and I get that like winning for you looks really different than like, you know, 99% of the CEOs I work with. And so for me, winning, it's, you know, it's a 30 hour work week. It's working from home. I have a global remote team. I eat all my meals at home. I, with my, you know, with my husband, with my daughter, my husband was just home for lunch. We had lunch an hour ago and I'm just I'm just around. So winning for me is, has a lot to do with family and lifestyle. My mom lives a mile down the road. I would go cross country skiing with her after we're done podcasting. So I've created idyllic life, my ideal and I believe we all have the possibility to do that. Many people don't do what it takes to make that happen. Whereas I'm very specific and strategic and that's what master review does in that book and the course that goes with it. Awake living is helping people actually use strategy to live their ideal life. And then on the business side, because business is a huge part, like I'm a, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a CEO, I'm, I'm the head coach at yoga healer. I mean we have a huge target this year of doubling. We grew last year, we were up by the end of year about 40% over last year. This year we want to go 100% larger, which is significant because I'm already in like top 2% of us women business owners. So I set big targets but I'm continually using parade as principal. Like what are the, what are the 20% of things that are driving the results and I'm ruthless with when things have to change. Like we had to reschedule calls cause we have powder right now and I'm in the mountains and my ski house. Where are you right now? I'm in, I'm in Teton County, Wyoming. How do you have this cool background, blue background that the office door, it's a Mirage. It's just a white, there's so much brightness out of this window. Look how fun. Yeah. So it's funny, I would have put a blue background because blue is my favorite color, Whatever is right or something. Yeah. And so I'm, I'm curious. You got you. So you've made, there are so many people in your community and I would imagine that probably one of the most gratifying feeling is, is when people, when that light switch goes on and when that transformation happens and you know, to take it back. So I know that in some of your podcast episodes, you talk about meditation and how some people get very frustrated with it. I'm one of those people that I I don't know if I hate myself. I just do not want to be in a room alone with nothing going on. I'm always listening. I'm always, you know, doing something. I'm very productive. I wake up at four 30 in the morning and I do some breathing, but but I'm, I'm not in that meditative mind space. So for my own, for my own personal journey. Tell me about a time when you meditated, where it was the most transformational for you. Can you please enlighten me as to what it might feel like if I finally get this stupid meditation thing down? I'm really resistant to offering the, that's what you want because in many ways it's not the point. So in, yeah, so the is like the point of meditation to experience deep peace and bliss. I [Inaudible] It may be one of many, is to know that that's the backdrop of everything. And so it is a worthwhile goal to know how to, to drop into that, which is already In the undulating pulsations of universal energy, which feels amazing, which feels like that's, yeah. I mean it's not that that's not a worthwhile goal, it's just that if that's the goal now we don't even have a shot at it. Yeah, that makes perfect sense too. And I think just having the ability to feel like there's value in meditation for me is the goal is to understand that it is worth something and not like just keeping me from all the shit I need to get done. You know what I mean? So I would reframe yes, definitely reframe. So one of, one of the, I would say like one of the biggest toxicities right now. So, and Ayurveda toxicity is really different than it is in the West. So toxicity is that which is on digested. It's really fascinating concept. So when you sit to meditate and everyone listening just put you in the You Seat with Alison and I'll put, I'll put myself in there. When I sit to meditate, often what happens is that which is undigested. And so the process of meditation is, is digesting that which hasn't been digested. I mean, interestingly enough, like physically. So if there's undigested food, the energy of attention will go into digesting food if there's undigested emotions, right. Just from all the interactions that happen through the day. Like, say, say you're like a typical mom and you do something, you have some interaction with your child and you're like, I don't want to do that again. Right? Like we all do. Right? I'm like, there's a better way actually when you said they'll be a process of digesting that emotion without actually focusing on it. And that's the paradox. And meditation is, it's not through analysis. It's not through journaling. It's not through talk therapy. It's actually being able to be with what is and there's a surrender into the universal intelligence that's part of all of ourselves, that the intelligence of, of us, of universal energy, it actually does digest the emotion. There's also undigested thoughts. So say it's fascinating cause you, and I wanted to circle back to this cause you said something about you don't know your Dharma. And I was like, Oh yes you do. You don't just create little left of center and have two children without, you know, and wanting to be a conscious parent and step deeper into your own, thrive without. So it's like what are your, what are your deeper convictions? Yeah. Right. And so even if we look at the process of meditation and how this relates to all that, like say there's something that you're, say you have like two disconnected thoughts, there's like this thought here and there's this thought here and when they connect it actually shifts your brain chemistry and enables something else to happen. It enables another thought sequence. It changes your radar or your perception, your ability to perceive. So when we sit to meditate, the like what is going to create that synapse across that cleft? Right? And that's what happens is those two undigested seemingly disparate things actually become connected in the unified field of consciousness. So I wouldn't worry so much about what your emotions are in meditation, whether the emotions of peace or the emotions of pleasure or the emotions of stillness or the emotions of extreme agitation, anger, fear. I mean depression, you know, jealousy, like whatever they are. It's just to actually be in awareness of that without needing to analyze it. And then all the magic actually is happening on a subtle level. This, this digesting that which is undigested. That has never been positioned to me in that way. And I thank you for doing that. I'm going to sit on this as I listen back and and trying to figure out, I still remind myself to do that, you know, I've been a 20 year meditator and I still ended like a daily basis remind myself of that in practice. Well I think that's what is so interesting about you and about whatever I've consumed of your work so far is that it is incredibly relatable and practical. And I wonder from, you know, what are some simple insightful tips that, that could make us all better? I mean, some of it you've already talked about if some of the, the steps, but you know, what are we missing? What are we getting wrong in your opinion? Yeah. I Mean there's a reason all our courses start with, with body thrive, with the, with the book, with the process, with the tip sheet. I'll give you an, I'll give you a few tip sheets to put in the show notes for people to get just like on one sheet. Like, what are the 10 habits of body thrive? What are these habits of yogis? I'll also give you a link to the how to be a Vata, how to be a Pitta, how to be a Kafa which is just a great way of just starting to understand your unique body type. It's where most Westerners really connect with Ayurveda is, Ooh, it's my constitution. But yeah, I mean, I think what we're, what we are missing in general is the habits. And it's because we're in a culture that eats, have your later dinner. We're in a culture that snacks rather than does intermittent fasting. We're in a culture that hyper consumes media stays up late because of that. Right? Netflix says our greatest competitors sleep. Right? And that's real. That's true. That's not, it's insane. It's insane. We know that if with sleep deprivation basically comes every health issue, you know, I mean, it's, it's, it's crazy. Sleep is, sleep is our best. Medicine always has been meditation close behind it, but sleep is second to none. So, you know, a complete elimination, intermittent movement in the day. Like all these just super basic habits that everyone's grandparents knew, you know, but they are counter culture right now. Well, it's interesting because as I'm thinking about the answers are so simple. Getting sleep, eating food from the earth, or at least co, you know consciously sourced food, eating food that is actual food and not processed bullshit. You know, I'm staying off of some of the technology or kind of getting involved in that. And you know, I talk a lot about about this on my show that I feel like, you know, we, we are scheduled from the moment we get up until the moment we go to bed and we do not give ourselves any time to process anything, myself included. You know, like we are, we, we look at productivity as King and, you know, if something hurts you take a pill and fix it and move forward, you gotta keep moving, you know, or if something hurts, take a pill, take a drink, you know, go shopping. I know for me, my, my vice is shopping and chocolate. And you know, like, it's, it's always an evolution. So, you know, I'm wondering, the world is not organized well enough where sleep is priority. Where good food, where people have access to good food. So if the world is pushing again to, you're probably the best person to answer this as somebody who you know, has kind of pioneered and blazed your own trail when it wasn't very popular to do. So, how do people stay true to those habits when the world isn't really organized to make it very easy to do that? Yeah, No, it's, it's true. I mean with publishing, I self published the book in 2015 and then sounds true rereleased it and in 2019 and and over the years we've had so many people just be like, wow, the book. But it's hard. It's like we have the course and this goes back to community. Just like what you were saying. Like if you're, if you think about it, like if you were to hang out, say you were living in a household of meditators, like everyone had the habit upon arising before bed, maybe before meals. Just taking a moment, like say that was your culture. Say you had a culture of people that went to bed early, you know, and just basically had wifi off after 6:00 PM, had wifi turned on after 9:00 AM right. Say you lived in that culture, would it, the question you want to ask yourself is like, would it be easy for you to have those habits? I think so. Yeah. Yeah, I do too. Right. And the same thing is true. Like when I was in college, I ran track. And I, and my, actually, even my first year they put me, they roommate roomed me with another person on the track team. The second year, a lot of us live together. I was in a culture of people that ran. I was in a culture exercise every day at least once. Yeah. So for me to not exercise would have been harder then to exercise. And so when people come into the body thrive course, they enter, they enter a culture of people that are already doing the habits. They're not surrounded by begin with beginners, they're surrounded with experts. And we have people that have been mentoring in that community for years. There's me, I've been teaching this for decades. There's a lot of people that have been in it for three months, six months, nine months, a year, and then two years, three years, four years, five, 10 years. Right? So they're surrounded by a moving momentous experience. And some people have just had a breakthrough. They've just been in for three months. But those people are like, you know, actually are three, six and nine month members are the ones. It's fascinating now, cause we've had, we've had, we have so much data over time at this point and it's really common for someone between month six and month nine to wake up to their own habitual use problems. Mm. You know, it sounds like the answer is you find your tribe, you have to find a tribe that say, you know, and I'm, I'm curious And not a tribe that enables you, but in a tribe that will actually push you to the development that you want to experience. And that's where I find a lot of people go wrong as they find a tribe that feels comfortable. You really want to find a tribe that feels edgy. Ooh, I like that. And one thing you said, I want to make sure I say this, you said in the, in the conference who said, we embrace challenges as evolutionary adventures. And I thought, what a great way to look at problems and shit that is just hurled at you. That if you reframe it as an evolutionary adventure. I like that. And I'm curious, how do, how do people contribute to your mission? Yeah, yeah. I mean, all of our members contribute by taking the actions of their own evolution, right? And then our wellness pros do it by following our, our business model, which is dynamic groups and they start to scale their own impact through that. So those are the two biggest ways. But even like podcasts, listeners, so we have at this point where we're 2 million downloads and one of the things that like, I was in the airplane the other day and this woman's, I listened to your show or you, you know, and, and, and it's the best way she can help is just by sharing something interesting. Like you mentioned sleep apnea before. So if someone has sleep apnea and they listened to that, that stress and sleep episode, and they forward it to their mother who can't sleep or their partner who can't sleep or their best friend who they know is, has sleep deprivation. Like that's, that to me is how it works. I always say that culture changing is a movement and the only way it works is when you share what, you know, what you've learned, you know. And so how do people get in touch with you? Yeah, well the, I mean, really the best way to find out how we can help you at yoga healer is to schedule a conversation at yoga, healer.com forward slash conversation. So if like anything I said today was like, Oh, I want to find out more, go there. Because my, my coaches there, they know all of our, we have tons of like free video trainings and whatnot. But the best way to find out, like, which is the best one for you, whether it's an aryuveda one, whether a Dharma one or a career one is just to talk to talk to someone on my team. I have, I have fantastic gals, Megan and Anna. They're the easiest people to talk to and they'll get you in the right free training to see if you know, to see how interested you really are in something. And they'll also be able to share really specific tip sheets. I think we have over 30 tip sheets. You know, that, which is really gonna address your particular desires right now. I love what you're up to and I'll leave you on this one quote of yours. I took copious amount of notes. You're probably like, this girl is kind of a stalker. What am I doing? I mean, that's, you're saying this, I'm like, let me see if I can get, cause I did a I did a webinar on community building and on tribe. So yeah. So there's a video on yoga forward slash. Tribe. So if someone wants to, to get all Allison's quotes first. Yeah, for sure. But you said, okay. So I'll leave on, your ambition is lurking underneath the surface, waiting to be ignited. What a powerful way, Kate Stillman. Thank you so much. You're a culture changer. I appreciate all that you're doing and honor what you're doing as well and certainly appreciate the time you took to talk to me and my audience and I, I, I'm a hopeful to be part of your mission as well. If I can contribute and to share the word I am your girl to do that. Thanks so much, Allison. I really enjoyed your, thanks Kate. Thank you. Thank you. The intellectual scientists by Kate.