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Your daily practices are your medicine. All you’ve got to do is slow down, tune in and listen to your body by implementing practices that will keep you in balance. You know yourself better than anyone: who are you at your core? What are those enduring character strengths and qualities that are uniquely part of who you are? What is your vision of who you want to become? All these thoughts were triggered by today’s guest, Andrea Claassen, an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, Personal Trainer, Yoga Teacher, and Wild Woman Project Circle Leader. Andrea’s mission is to help women slow down, tune in, and connect to their divine body wisdom. She is also the host of the Peaceful Power Podcast, where she delivers actionable takeaways to live a more holistic lifestyle.
Show Notes
Sister Science of Yoga – Originated in India over 5000 years ago, Ayurveda is a holistic system, explains Andrea. She talks about the popularity of the staples present in Ayurveda and some practices like Dry Brushing Neti Pot in the West because they do work.
Spending Time Alone – In her mid-20s, Andrea was reluctant to spending time alone. She discusses the possible causes for this, including the hesitation to deal with emotions that are hidden, which led her to just shove emotions down and stay busy doing her thing, keeping her mind off anything that’s uncomfortable.
Healing Journey – Andrea talks about how some clients who gravitated towards her were also from the same age group, and a lot of them had the same hidden emotions. Hence, through personal training, she shared a lot about herself in order to make them feel comfortable sharing about themselves in return. This was their healing journey.
Lack of Margin – The margin between working professionally and taking some time off work for personal reasons of relaxing is where the magic is at, says Andrea. She realized that there’s something in her life that’s calling her to slow down, similar to something in terms of Ayurveda called the Vata dosha, the wind element; when one got a lot going on, they realize they need to ground down and end up slowing down.
Slowing Down and Tuning In – Andrea gives a few pieces of advice on slowing down, quoting that “Your daily practices are your medicine.” She shares some great starter points you can use to begin slowing down and tuning in, such as taking a fresh look at what you’re doing, you on a daily basis, your daily routines, and what does your morning looks like.
Contact Andrea Claassen
Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonallivingmamas
Freebie: 5 Day Ayurvedic Challenge- https://andreaclaassen.com/5-day-ayurvedic-challenge
Bobbi's Takeaways
There was a lot in that conversation that really resonated for me. I hope that you had plenty of takeaways as well. Here are my three insights for thriving.
We have to have the space for awareness and possibilities to emerge. Just like Andrea was so caught up in her daily rush that she was missing the warning signs that her body was trying to give her, it took a co-worker pointing out that throwing up every Friday night probably wasn’t normal. And it sounds so obvious when it is happening to someone else. Or when we tune in, you know, late into the story. But sometimes, when you’re in the thick of it, it creeps up on you.
For the Type A personalities, it is okay that you want or you crave some challenge that it becomes not about, well, how do I stop pushing? Or how do I become more relaxed? But how can I balance it? I’ve been accused of being a type-A personality many times in my life and, and I suppose it’s true. And two things that really hit me. Number one, it’s okay. It’s actually not a character flaw, and neither is being relaxed. All the styles, all the personalities are okay. What a powerful notion that we’re okay. And two, I really connected with that trepidation that sometimes we have around. What happens if I stop pushing? If I think that a lot of my success is because of the way that I’ve been able to push or achieve or challenge myself. It’s scary to think about letting that go. So again, it’s not a yes or no; it’s how do I balance it?
I absolutely loved when Andrea said that your daily practices are your medicine. So with that in mind, are our daily practices feeding us nourishing us? Are they depleting us?
