From Sourdough to Serenity Exploring Wellness Practices with Amy Chauvin

Can small habit shifts lead to a life of abundance and joy? Join us as we welcome back Amy Chauvin, a dedicated manifestation and breathwork coach, to unravel the transformative power of breathwork and its profound impact on manifesting desires. Amy shares her personal journey, emphasizing the importance of letting go of old habits and aligning with one's true purpose. Through her morning breathwork practices, she experienced remarkable positive changes, like improved sleep and reduced caffeine intake, illustrating how minor adjustments can lead to significant outcomes.

Ever wondered how to amplify your intentions to manifest your dreams? Tune in to learn about my own manifestation story, where declaring my intent to the universe, combined with Amy's breathwork techniques, led to incredible results, including a serendipitous trip that matched my vision board. Amy details the nuances of breathwork, differentiating it from yogic practices, and offers guidance on how to prepare for and benefit from these sessions. We also delve into essential health tips like hydration and maintaining a clear mind for optimal breathwork experiences.

Discover the unexpected wellness benefits of sourdough bread as we explore its nutritional advantages and how baking can serve as a meditative practice. Amy and I examine the interconnectedness of diet, movement, and mental clarity, emphasizing the importance of consistency in breathwork. We offer practical strategies for integrating breathwork into daily routines and discuss the significance of approaching new beginnings with a beginner's mind in yoga. Wrapping up, we celebrate the universal accessibility of breathwork and invite you to share these insights with loved ones, fostering a supportive and health-conscious community.

Connect with Amy:
https://stan.store/AmyChauvin
https://www.instagram.com/amychauvin/
http://www.amychauvin.com/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hi everyone, welcome to the Nearly Enlightened podcast. If you're returning, welcome back. I'm joined today by Amy Chauvin. She is a passionate manifestation and breathwork coach, the creator of the Break Free Journey to Manifest and the Break Free Breathwork. She helps women get unstuck to manifest their dream lives in any area of their choosing whether it be relationships, health, finances or business through her one-on-one coaching and breathwork programs. And she's actually been with us before, so welcome back, amy.

Speaker 2: 0:33

Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here with you today.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Two Gemini Queens and Gemini season. How perfect is this.

Speaker 2: 0:40

Yes, it's like we almost got this burst of energy to do this right now I know right, it's so funny.

Speaker 1: 0:46

So I guess the first thing I want to talk about is when you talk about a manifestation coach. What does that look like? How do you help people manifest?

Speaker 2: 0:57

So, of course, it all starts with my journey and where I started figuring out where I was manifesting in life and I would always figure it out after the fact. And then I was like, okay, I need to, I need to pull all of this together and help people be able to align with all of this. They're ready to manifest those big dreams and goals. And a lot of it really starts and stems from from going to like stuff you need to let go of, Like. It all starts kind of like in that shadow work area where it's stuff you need to let go of, stuff you need to shift. I work with lots of habits that people need to shift. Normally, if I'm working one-on-one with someone for 10, 12 weeks, we pick one particular habit and work that whole time on that one habit and then dive into learning more about self values, purpose, and then it leads up to the manifesting. Because I feel like without those first few things, if you don't know about yourself, how do you really know what you want to manifest?

Speaker 1: 2:03

Yes, you need that clear picture yourself. How do you really know what you want to manifest? Yes, you need that clear picture. I love how you put it um that it's habits that you need to shift and not habits that you need to change, because we, you know, sometimes in this sphere it's always like fix change, but like that shift, it sounds um more manageable 100% and I would never be like, because of course I'm Jebediah and I want to do it all at once.

Speaker 2: 2:31

And what I realized is if you want to do one habit shift, you just want to focus on one and it doesn't need to be anything dramatic, but you just have to commit to it daily for at least like 30 to 120 days and once one habit shifts and I've witnessed this in clients' life and my own life you will notice so many other habits shifting. Sometimes just that one little shift can move and transform into many different habit shifts.

Speaker 1: 3:05

Do you have an example of that in your own life?

Speaker 2: 3:07

Yeah, I'm like yes, of course, um, let me just I cause a lot triggered Um. So I would say my morning breath work and maybe 10 minutes in the morning, me starting a 10 minute breath work practice in in the morning just for my own personal practice. I shifted into waking up earlier without an alarm clock, going to bed, without like being like I have to go to bed by this time, just like falling asleep when I need to fall asleep. That shifted into less coffee throughout the day.

Speaker 1: 3:50

That's a big one for a lot of people. So it's funny, I don't. This is one that's hard for me to grasp. I used to be a coffee drinker but I gave it up, probably like before I did my first 200 hour teacher training because I wanted to be present in that training without like needing stimulants or you know whatever to carry me through. And I haven't looked back, I haven't. I don't really drink coffee now and I it's funny I'm so sensitive to caffeine that even some tea is like just too much for me to handle.

Speaker 2: 4:27

Yeah, the the caffeine content. Um, especially for those like that do get affected by caffeine, it raises anxiety and stress, like in me personally, like I don't like feeling jittery. There is certain um, certain coffees like just a silly Keurig. It does nothing to me, it does not give me the jitters If I go out and say, get a coffee, a cold brew coffee somewhere. It's just not good, it's not good at all, it does not do good for me.

Speaker 2: 4:59

I get into like this, like heightened anxiety, like stress level, same. Yeah, it's just, it's a beautiful thing once you realize. So it's like I didn't fully take coffee out of my life but I did shift from getting four or five coffees a day on the road because I was in sales. So if I had to use the bathroom I'd go into a Dunkin' I'd go get a coffee and I was like on like coffee, high all day long. And then what would happen? I couldn't sleep at night. So then I had some wine and then it turned into like coffee wine, needing my alarm clock to wake up in the morning. And it was just this, like this shift that I knew I had to do and once I did it I really never looked back that that's see.

Speaker 1: 5:43

I love how this is framed, like you didn't cut it out, you didn't quit cold turkey, but just making a small shift started a ripple effect and started all these other positive changes. Yeah, I love. I love looking at that way. I'm going to take that from now on.

Speaker 2: 6:01

Yeah, sometimes it's just one little thing and you'd be shocked over the course of three, six months, plus when you get that light bulb moment of all the other things that shifted from it.

Speaker 1: 6:15

So how does breathwork and manifestation kind of go hand in hand? So breathwork.

Speaker 2: 6:22

So I just want to clarify this because there are many, many, many forms of breath work out there. The particular type that I practice I actually practice quite a few different types, but the one that I practice with clients it's a circular, connected breath is you, once you get 10 minutes in into the breath work flow, then you're 20 minutes in, then you're 30 minutes in and then I pretty much I personally will guide um with my voice, along with very hand-selected music and just really like it's the person that is participating their real journey and it's whatever they are calling in and manifesting, is just able to slow down the brain to a deep meditation of us are on, go, go, go, go go. That breath work lets you calm the brain down and just really be open to receiving what you are visualizing and manifesting and it really does help you get in alignment with it.

Speaker 1: 7:36

So some of your social media posts over the last couple of months you've talked about things that you have manifested through this journey. So what are some of the big things that you manifested that came through?

Speaker 2: 7:50

So one thing, one, one particular one that just jumped up was an exact salary. So I was sitting by the water. I knew that I was, I was technically consulting for a company and like I knew it was coming. But I was like sitting there just really like I wrote on three backs of business cards three different salaries and I sat there right by the water and I was like low, high, middle and I kept going to the middle. I should have in for the high. Within one week I had an offer letter with the exact salary within one week. That's crazy. And I was like whoa, okay, I need to. And it was because I was clear, I was in alignment and I was actually focusing on what it is I wanted to call in. Other things is let's see what else have I manifested At one point, a house within a quarter mile of where I was calling in getting this house, and this was a point in time.

Speaker 2: 9:03

This was actually pre-breath work and this was a point in time. This was actually pre-breath work. But this was a point in time where I was living in my mom's friend's basement with my dog for a month because I could not find a house and my dog was so big I couldn't rent anywhere and whatnot, and I took a good, dear friend of mine's advice. He goes you know what you might look crazy go to a spot and just yell into the universe exactly what you want. It was a quarter mile from the house that I ended up getting that.

Speaker 2: 9:37

I didn't get out of my car. Yeah, I did yell in my car. Boom, the house within. I believe it was like 30 or 60 days it was closed on and this was a point in time when there was no houses on the market and I went to view over about 70 houses in a three-month period. So, like it's just like another like manifestation, like aha moment, um, yeah and yeah, and then exact trip this is a more recent like, since I've been doing breath work is I've manifested an exact trip where I did have on my vision board and in some of my breath work I had the exact picture of where I was standing, with a picture of me and my sister on my vision board, and it wasn't me intentionally going there to the exact spot, it just happened. And I realized it after, like floating through my pictures from the trip.

Speaker 1: 10:36

That's amazing. Yeah, so when you're in a breathwork session, what does that look like? So for someone who, like, is so unfamiliar with breathwork or might be familiar with, like, yogic breathwork, like how does that, how does that differ?

Speaker 2: 10:55

So, like I said earlier, there's many different types of breathwork. Like breathwork could literally just be a four count in hold, four count out hold. That's just a super simple. Like calming breath, the breath work that I facilitate. Any session anyone jumps on with me, I go over specifically everything they need to know before entering breath work, exactly how to breathe, and the journey is really up to them. They can go slow, they can go fast, they can even stop if they want throughout it. So like there's nothing to be scared of. It is a totally different way of breathing. So we're doing deep belly breaths and then circular so belly chest out. Participants lay down. So if you're virtual, you'd be laying down either on a yoga mat, on the floor, maybe on your bed, totally flat, laying down, and I basically guide, with music in my voice, through the journey. And yeah, by the end a lot of people say it feels like it was only five minutes and it was really over an hour.

Speaker 1: 12:01

It's funny when you get into those meditative states, like time just kind of slips away. It does 100%. Are there any no?

Speaker 2: 12:12

That's when you know it's doing the work.

Speaker 1: 12:14

Yeah, it's so true. That's like I teach this like somatic movement, a meditation class on Monday nights and Thursday nights and that's what everyone says to like. I feel like this class is five minutes. It really could be a 90 minute class and we're doing it in 60 minutes and 60 minutes is quick when you're when you're teaching. But anyways, I digress, are there any contraindications for breathwork or like who is it for for breathwork?

Speaker 2: 12:44

or like who is it for? So I would say breathwork can be for, it can be for everybody. But there are a couple, um, like health contradictions that you would want to number one, get doctor approval. Um, and also, like I like to work 18 plus, I will work with kids if they're over 16 and their parent has participated in breath work already. So it's kind of like I've done that before. But some of the medical and health contradictions.

Speaker 2: 13:17

So if anyone has epilepsy and seizures, that's something that you wouldn't particularly want to do, this style breath work, but there is alternate breathing techniques that someone could do. That would still be just as beneficial. What else? Glaucoma, pregnancy, which I've known people that are pregnant and they still continue their breath work practice is just something that I want my clients to let me know and we'd adjust the breathing method and yeah, there's a few others on the list. And, of course, you want to have a clear mind. So like you wouldn't want to be going into breathwork like three mojitos in or you wouldn't like just smoking or something. Like you want to have the clearest head and also you want to try to maybe not eat too heavy for a couple hours prior because you are doing deep belly breathing. So those are some some of the things to have a really good breathwork session.

Speaker 1: 14:16

That's funny that you mentioned that, because traditionally yoga, the asana practice was meant to be practiced on an empty stomach, so there must be some. There must be something there with that, yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:29

I feel like what, like cause? I've done hundreds and hundreds of breath work, um sessions, like me personally, and I do feel like if you do have an emptier stomach, you do go deeper into it and I always recommend drinking like being hydrated, because you don't want to be totally not hydrated going through through um, through breath work.

Speaker 1: 14:51

Really with anything.

Speaker 2: 14:52

Really with anything like water is your friend.

Speaker 1: 14:55

Yeah for sure, especially as the summer months start to come through and and things are warmer. That's that's something I've been really mindful of, because I'm been teaching about three, two to three hot yoga classes a day. Oh wow, I know, I know. So staying hydrated, it's like super important Adding electrolytes just replenishing after just literally sweating out my life contents.

Speaker 2: 15:19

Yep.

Speaker 1: 15:21

You need, you need triple water. Yeah, um, I just like to add salt because those hydration packets, like I loved them at first but, um, like I don't love that they usually have citric acid in it and all the flavorings and then sugar. So, like all the extra added ingredients, like I'm just like why?

Speaker 2: 15:45

Yep.

Speaker 1: 15:45

Like, can it just be like I don't know salt.

Speaker 2: 15:49

Right, well, that's when you make it salt. Yeah, exactly I love my flake sea salt. I add it to pretty much everything, yeah, so in an industry I was in, fake flavoring. Oh my goodness, we'll go down another, another angle. But fake flavoring so much of it is just so much crap, I know is just not good and we don't even realize it because it's in everything.

Speaker 1: 16:15

I know, I know and I'm I'm like a sucker for like bubblies and just like the, the spark, the flavored sparkling water, and it's like none of them are actually just like juice flavoring. Yep, real ingredients, except for spin drift. I was actually like really surprised that it's just like it's juice flavoring. Um, they do use citric acid too, which I'm like what the heck we?

Speaker 1: 16:44

could go down that rabbit hole. Most citric acid is derived from black mold, so I try to avoid that. But I mean being hyper aware. It's like I could spend three hours in the supermarket just like going through and reading all the ingredients. That's really sick.

Speaker 2: 17:03

Yep.

Speaker 1: 17:07

Maybe we all need to sit and manifest um big food making a shift yeah, it's what I've, I've noticed in my travels.

Speaker 2: 17:18

It's wild traveling to different countries and how you feel after eating the food in some other countries than when coming back home and like, even just like the, the ingredients on the back of packets of things like I've. I've done that whole exercise a few times while traveling and I'm like wow okay.

Speaker 1: 17:39

so if anyone's been following me on Instagram, I've been on a sourdough and this is something that comes up for me a lot, Because if you go to the supermarket and you read these bread packages, like the list of ingredients is so long but bread is literally just flour, water and maybe some salt. So it's like why is the list of ingredients on a bread package like 10 plus ingredients like I? I really just don't get it. Yep, it's like how did this? How did this happen? How did we get here?

Speaker 2: 18:12

yep, it's insane.

Speaker 1: 18:15

So if you follow me on Instagram, you'll be noticing like I've been making literally all of my bread from hamburger buns to um. Like two days ago I just made sandwich bread for the first time.

Speaker 2: 18:32

Is it true that I guess it's probably different for whatever style bread, but is it is it true that certain handmade breads are less gluten than what like a traditional loaf that you would buy, or is there?

Speaker 1: 18:49

so it depends, um, it depends. It depends on the method that you're using. If you're using just a regular like dry active yeast, um probably still going to have a decent gluten content to it. It also depends on the flour. So this is what I'm learning. So different flours have different gluten contents and when you're making sourdough bread, it's kind of okay to use those higher gluten contents because the bacteria in the sourdough is actually going to feed on the gluten and start to break it down. And that's what makes sourdough more manageable for people who might have a gluten intolerance not an allergy, not celiac, but a gluten intolerance. It makes it a little bit easier for them to digest because the bacteria in the sourdough is actually like feeding on that gluten and breaking it down.

Speaker 1: 19:46

So it kind of that's kind of like a like it depends, yeah, um, but I'm gonna I'm gonna get controversial here for a second but most people are not even allergic to the gluten in grains, but they're allergic to I always say it wrong glyphosate or I don't know how to say it, but it's a pesticide. But they also use it to treat the wheat once it's been harvested so that it doesn't get mold. So what we're actually allergic to is what the wheat is being treated with, not the gluten itself, which that's kind of a hot take. But you do notice, when you're eating sourdough it is very, very different. You don't get that full, bloated feel after and I've really experimented with this a little bit. I've.

Speaker 1: 20:49

You know pasta is something that makes me very like boxed pasta. I just it doesn't really agree with me and that's crazy, coming from this like very Italian girl. But I don't like it. I don't enjoy eating it at all. It always makes me feel gross after and I feel I get those big carb crashes and I find that I haven't been getting that with the sourdough. You don't get those crazy, that sleepy carb crash that you feel and I don't know for sure, I'm not a scientist. You feel and I don't know for sure, I'm not a scientist, but what I think it is is when you have sourdough, especially a long fermented sourdough. It really breaks that gluten down so you don't get the big blood sugar spikes and crashes that you would with traditional bread. So I think that that's kind of that's kind of interesting.

Speaker 2: 21:45

Yeah, 100%, cause there definitely is like bread is so good, but then after you eat it, you just feel so full, yeah, yeah, and I think so.

Speaker 1: 21:57

You know, so many people talk about this when they go to Europe or Italy. Um, like, they don't feel that and that's because they don't call it sourdough, but they are using a sourdough method and usually their bread is fermented for 36 hours, sometimes more. So you're getting that breakdown of the sugars and of the gluten. So you're just not having those big blood sugar spikes and and crashes. So it's kind of interesting, like going back to this, um, this old way, this, this like way of the ancestors, um, of of fermenting wheat, of fermenting, yeah, wheat, like. So how we make flour is we take the wheat berries and we blend them up into a powder and that's how we get our flowers. So, um, like breaking down all of these, all these things, and I think, um, getting organic flour is also very important because you're getting less of those of those pesticides. You're still getting them, um, but not in in the quantity that you would also like, depending on where you get your flour from. Like, if you get your flour from italy, glyphosate's illegal there, so it's banned. They don't use it, um, they're not using it to spray their wheat with. They're not using it to treat their wheat once it's been drying and curing, um, so that's something to look at too.

Speaker 1: 23:28

Actually, there's a really interesting and they actually don't even talk about Italy in this, but there's a really interesting show on Netflix. It's a chef's table pizza, okay, and the episode actually. I'm going to go back to my Arizona roots for a minute Um, the. I think it's like the first episode. They talk about pizzeria Bianco, which is in Phoenix, and, um, the chef that started that restaurant. He is very passionate about all of this and like where the ingredients come from and they actually grow that. Him, not him, but he partners with a farm that grows the wheat in arizona and it's like very pure and it's so good that italy actually imports this wheat and this flour. So it's it's really interesting. Ingredients are really important and this is something that I've been diving into and you, you talk about like clearing your body and getting to that place where you can be in alignment, and I think what we put into our body is very important and it makes a big impact on that clarity 100% what we eat, what we put in our bodies, what we use as products.

Speaker 1: 24:48

Yes.

Speaker 2: 24:49

Full circle, our movement that we have like working out, that is also big. And then the internal stuff, like getting clarity and bringing peace into your life, which is where breathwork and meditation and yoga and all of that that pulls in. So it's almost like this full circle and looking at it from the outside like okay, how am I going to do this? What I always recommend is start in just one area. And then, as we just spoke about habit shifts, if you start in one area, mark my word it trickles.

Speaker 1: 25:25

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2: 25:26

Instead of trying to do like 20 things at once.

Speaker 1: 25:29

Yeah, yeah, because that's when it gets overwhelming, that's when we kind of like fall away. There's like too much to do do so, like you revert back to those old patterns, whereas, like you said, if you make that one small shift, like if you eat out every day during the week for every meal, like if you just start to shift that for for one meal a week, like that's definitely gonna have an impact and trickle down where it's like okay, it's easy to do one meal a Mm, hmm, and wellness shift it affects probably a money shift.

Speaker 2: 26:17

You'd probably be saving a bunch.

Speaker 1: 26:19

Yeah, and mindset, I bet too, and mindset, yep, I think that there's like nothing better than preparing your own meal, like so, when you get into this world and you know, my lifestyle has always been yoga, breathwork, meditation, movement, and I totally lost my train of thought.

Speaker 2: 26:43

Oh.

Speaker 1: 26:43

I know what I was saying. And then, once it becomes your job and once you're doing this like not that it became it kind of I needed a new outlet and baking cooking became that outlet of like okay, yes, I have a meditation practice, but then when you're leading meditation, all the time, when you're sitting and meditating, like I feel like you don't get that same um, I don't know what it is, but you just it's different. It's different when you start doing something for your job and it becomes your livelihood. So I needed, like something else, that kind of like freed my brain and I could just like be in the present moment. And I think baking really does that for me.

Speaker 1: 27:34

Sourdough is such an emotional journey, like when I was doing the first, my first loaf of sandwich bread, like you're in this unknown territory, so your brain starts to go crazy and you're like the fear starts to come up. You're like I don't know if I'm doing this right. Oh, I'm definitely doing this wrong. Like, oh, this dough feels weird, like it doesn't feel right. I don't think it's rising, right, it looks a little. I'm having this conversation with my sister who, like isn't into sourdough, like just likes to reap the benefits, and she's like whatever, I'm sure it's going to be fine, because I go through this every single time I try a new recipe. It's like the same cycle of like panic, fear, and then it's in the oven. It's like, oh, actually, I think it's going to work out. Oh, actually, it looks really good. Now I'm pulling it out, I'm like, oh my God, I fucking nailed it.

Speaker 2: 28:19

Yep, 100%. So that's. I believe it's the amygdala in the brain, so it's. Whenever humans are starting something brand new, it's your brain fighting with itself, trying to trip it to not do the new thing.

Speaker 1: 28:33

Yes, to revert back to the old patterns. Revert back to the old.

Speaker 2: 28:36

Like you suck, you're not going to do it right, it's not right. Blah, blah, blah, blah blah. And then all of a sudden you do it right, oh okay, and then it takes a few times and then boom, that programming shifts.

Speaker 1: 28:49

That's such an important thing to note because it's really hard to start something new and we don't acknowledge that space of like being a beginner is fucking scary and you're in uncharted waters and your brain wants you to revert back to your comfort zone.

Speaker 1: 29:06

So I think that's really important for anyone who wants to start a yoga journey, a breath work journey, who wants to work with a coach who might never have have done something like that before. Acknowledge the space you're in. Like it's really scary to take those first few steps, even if you're just even if you're not working with anyone or not starting a new practice, like even if you're just making those little shifts of of those little habit shifts, like that can be very scary and your brain's going to want you to go back to the way that you were doing things. So acknowledging that and knowing that it's okay that the fear comes up Like this goes back to what I've been saying in the last couple of episodes Like I'm really not into the positive vibes, only crew, and this is definitely something that comes up when you're starting something new. Like you can't pop, you can't trick your brain, like positive vibes only your way out of it. It like sometimes the only way to the other side is through.

Speaker 1: 30:03

yes, yes so like feel the fear feel it, let it come up like know that it's for your benefit, that that creating these new habits and patterns are for your own benefit, and and just yeah, the only way to the other side is through. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 30:23

There is an awesome. I don't know if I'm saying that's totally correct, but one of my favorite authors is Robin Sharma. He's huge in the personal development field and part of his his thing he says it's hard in the beginning, it's messy in the middle. It's hard in the beginning, it's messy in the middle and it's beautiful at the end. So when you're going through anything brand new, it's going to be messy at first. I used to be a figure skater back in the day. How many times did I smash my body onto the ice, slide across the ice, fall time and time and time again. It was pretty much hilarious in the beginning, but that's anyone doing something new. And then it gets a little bit messy, like you might start landing things, landing, landing, and then boom, you fall, boom, you fall again, messy in the middle. And then, once you get to mastering a skill or something new, then it's just easy, like riding a bike. So it's being okay with yourself to not be perfection at everything you do, especially if you're starting something new.

Speaker 1: 31:35

Yeah, yeah. That's so important. And what I've noticed in in the yoga space is people are very intimidated to come through to be new, and new yogis are my favorite yogis because you're, you're, you're, you're pushing through that boundary and a new studio here in Rhode Island just opened that I've been teaching at. So we're getting a lot of new faces coming through and, as a teacher, there's so much pride in people who take advantage of that two-week unlimited membership and they're doing one or even two classes a day and you can see the shift happening in real time, like the first time they came in. They're timid, they're like probably a little scared, especially coming to my class.

Speaker 1: 32:27

My class is notoriously kind of hard I'm gonna push people out of their comfort zones, for sure but the way they look and feel when they leave class and they like felt successful and they feel good because they have all these endorphins rushing through their body, because they've been like breathing deep and moving their body in a way that they might not have before, I like have been having a lot of these like proud yoga teacher moments, which I've not that I've never had before, but as of recently it's been different and I don't know if it's because I'm kind of approaching that in August it will be nine years that I've been teaching, which is so crazy to think about, because I feel like I just thank you.

Speaker 1: 33:19

I feel like I just started, um, and I feel like I'm just I'm just now stepping into the full potential of of what that looks like, um. So yeah, I've had these recent moments of of just like this, like immense yoga teacher pride.

Speaker 2: 33:38

When people come to my classes and they make it through to the other side and then they come back, it's like, oh, we had a good time when I took your hot yoga class for the first time, oh, that's right back a few months ago and I was like, oh okay, we're getting months ago. And I was like, oh okay, we're getting like halfway through. And I'm like, oh okay, but I did, I pushed through the whole thing and after I was fine because it was a hot yoga class I was like firetruck red. But I felt so amazing after and it was definitely pushing myself outside of my limits, of my norm.

Speaker 1: 34:21

Yeah, and that's the beauty of beginning, of any kind of beginner, anything like to be in that space of pushing through and persevering like nothing gives you more pride and feeling success like that, and I love to see that happen for people.

Speaker 2: 34:42

Yeah, it's such a beautiful thing and it's almost like I know. In yoga you say if you can't do something, switch it to something else. So it's like, even if there's a particular move, like even if in breath work, if something's not feeling the like vibing with you, you can switch it to something else. And it's okay. Being new at something Like I think I was like in child's pose for like the last 15 minutes of class because I was just like okay, my body's done with this, I'm just going to lay here like this and it's totally okay.

Speaker 1: 35:16

But see, even that even as a beginner, that's to me and I say this in my class a lot that's the most advanced yogi is somebody who's in touch with what their body needs and knowing that it's okay Like child's pose, is still yoga, even if you're just laying there breathing, that's yoga, like we've made it so much about fitness here in the West. But the science of yoga is so much more than the poses. The poses are basically like the, the very beginning, like if if you're in the asana practice of yoga, the poses of the physical movement practice of yoga, that's the entry level, that's that's the beginner, the beginner level. Once you get into the breath work, the meditation, that's when you start to become a little bit more of an advanced yogi. Yes, it's fun to do all the arm balances and all the tricks and all the really big poses, but that's not, that's not what yoga is about. That was to prepare the body to sit and meditate. So the real advanced yoga is in the stillness and I'm sure it's like very similar with breathwork too.

Speaker 2: 36:33

Yeah, the whole second portion of breathwork journey that I lead is just laying in the stillness and that's when you get the most like epiphanies and downloads and just things like aha moments in your head is in the stillness.

Speaker 1: 36:52

Yeah, so I don't know where I heard this before, but it stuck with me and I really love it, but it's. It says something like prayer is when you talk to God and finding that stillness and meditation is when you allow God to talk to you.

Speaker 2: 37:08

I am a true, true, true believer in that, because if You're constant on go, go, go, go, go, go go, like many of us are on, go, go, go go go, go, go. Like many of us are, um, I don't know, the past 50 years go back a hundred years, like we were not as humans, like put here to be as it has much in go mode that we currently are between computers and phones and jobs and traffic and yes, like this hustle culture, it's like total hustle culture and it's in those moments when you are able to take a moment for yourself, slow down and not have the brain like jumping around on 20 million different things.

Speaker 2: 37:52

That's the sweet spot, where the magic happens and you get so much clarity.

Speaker 1: 37:57

Well, that's why I think I don't know if you've seen this on social media recently, but I think there's a lot more um people talking about slow living and embracing that slow life and I feel like, um, my making bread has been me kind of cultivating this, because when you make sourdough bread sometimes it's like a three-day affair and you're not like constantly doing things in those three days, like it's like mixing and then just kind of like letting it sit and wait and there there's something there, because we do have this um that's like unhealthy relationship with instant gratification.

Speaker 2: 38:42

Oh yeah, the I'm getting Amazon. Will it be here tomorrow or will it be here?

Speaker 1: 38:46

in a week, yes, and we could take this back to a yoga practice or a breath work practice. Like you're not going to get that instant gratification. Like, yes, you're going to do that one session and you're going to feel great when you leave there, because you do have a rush of endorphins and all of those feel good hormones. But it's a, it's a practice. And like you have to keep showing up for that practice. Like you're not going to just do it once and then Like shift your whole life. Like it has to become a part of the life.

Speaker 2: 39:15

One hundred percent. I've been really dialing into. Consistency is key and anything you do, consistency is key. If you show up and just come and do one breath work or one yoga class, that's not going to be. It might be transformational to some extent, but just imagine if you did a weekly, a bi-monthly practice, how much further along you would be.

Speaker 1: 39:42

So if somebody wants to integrate a breathwork practice into their life, but they're a little like oh, where do I fit it in? How do I fit it in? What suggestions would you give them to cultivate that consistency?

Speaker 2: 39:57

So which I?

Speaker 1: 39:58

feel like a Gemini is an expert in this topic, because we can get sidetracked very easily. So how do you keep that consistency?

Speaker 2: 40:07

So how do I personally keep the consistency? Yeah, okay, so I'll call myself out I. When I was first doing breathwork, I was consistently doing two times a month. I started in 2020. So I had the time and space to do twice a month. Fast forward, once I became trained, I challenged myself and I did a year and a half of breathwork every single day for a year and a half, and it was not a full hour breathwork session. I did a couple a month and then maybe about like eight, 10 minutes in the morning I would just put a couple songs on right as I woke up and it's just such a beautiful way to start the day because you are just kind of regulating your nervous system and you're not going into that full, full breathwork journey. After that year and a half, of course, like anything, I did fall off.

Speaker 1: 40:55

Going back your brain, reverting you back to your default.

Speaker 2: 41:01

I did not totally stop my practice, but I did revert back to a couple, two, three times a month of like full long breathwork sessions, which is still amazing, like that's what I would recommend to anybody starting, and I don't know. It was just like when I know we both have had a similar journey in the past year and I did fall off.

Speaker 1: 41:28

It's been a rough one for a lot of us.

Speaker 2: 41:30

Yep, I fell off with a whole bunch of just like external stuff going on with family and whatnot and all the things that like wanted to get thrown at me got thrown at me and I fell off my breathwork practice. And someone in my life goes like when I was kind of doing like a nosedive mentally for a moment, they're like, have you been doing your breathwork? And I go, okay, got to shift back in and get back into my my breath work practice and it is really just a beautiful thing Once you realize, hey, I fell off of something. I need to get back to it because it makes you feel like, for me personally, it makes me feel really good, it makes me feel really clear, it makes one of the biggest things over the past four years of me practicing breath work.

Speaker 2: 42:22

It's almost like if you're getting like a whole bunch of crap thrown at you, whole bunch of stuff thrown at you, and without doing breath work, or even my morning walks, without doing it, it just hits different. Yeah, it hits different and you react different. Yeah, it hits different and you react different. With doing a practice like this, it basically is kind of like Jay-Z song, like brush your shoulder off, like the stuff will come at you and just kind of like brush off your shoulder and it is just so important and it's like if anyone falls off of anything that they're doing, that they enjoy doing, be OK with it and just get back up and start it again.

Speaker 2: 43:00

So it's okay to not be that hard on yourself, but then actually having the time to reflect of like where you want to shift.

Speaker 1: 43:10

Shifting is clearly the topic of, and coming back to it, I think, was harder than even beginning, because there is this self-judgment of like well, why did I let this happen in the first place? But coming back to it, it's kind of like you have those aha moments of like, oh, like this is to support the nervous system through all this shit. So it's like you make it more difficult for yourself by shying away from those practices that are there to support your nervous system, which will just help make those stressful situations just easier to deal with 100%.

Speaker 1: 44:04

So where? If somebody is like oh, they're speaking to me, where can they work with you, or what are your current offers? I know you always have a lot going on in person. Just yeah, tell us how we can work with you.

Speaker 2: 44:23

So the best place to connect is for social is Instagram. At the top I have a stand store, so it's standout store slash Amy Chauvin. It has all my current offers Right now. My biggie is a manifestation membership, which is's we meet twice twice a month. The first Sunday of the month is a manifestation breathwork. You get a full virtual breathwork session. And then the third Sunday of the month is a manifestation meetup. So within a year it will be 12 different manifestation techniques or activities that we do as a group. These will both have 48-hour recordings for anyone. So if they're like, hey, I'm not available on a Sunday evening 7 o'clock Eastern, there is recordings in a Facebook group available.

Speaker 2: 45:21

And then, of course, my biggie is my one-on-one coaching program. It's between a 10 and 12 week program. It is basically what we spoke about in the beginning. It's shifting that one habit letting go, diving into purpose, learning about who you are to really shift, to be able to align and manifest a life of your dreams. And it all starts with that in our work and a commitment to yourself. And again, that's all basically on that link in my Instagram bio that commitment and discipline are.

Speaker 1: 45:58

I think it's been coming up a lot for me lately and discipline is something that in our culture it kind of has a negative connotation to it, like we think of it as like almost a consequence for not doing something or doing something that's maybe like harmful or not good for us. Um, but it keeps coming up for me that these practices do require a great level of discipline to show up, to continue to practice, to continue to integrate them into your life and, um, yeah, I don't know why it just came through, it needed to be said.

Speaker 1: 46:38

I need to talk about discipline, discipline more because discipline sometimes like, like we both just said on our practices, that there are times where even us we fall off yeah, it's getting that discipline to flow back into it well, it's remembering that teachers are human, like don't put us up on a pedestal, like where we we are in these spaces because we do practice and sometimes we don't practice, and sometimes we're coming back to the practice and like no one's perfect. Remembering that, that that teachers are just humans, where we're students first, so we're still like practicing and learning and, um, learning how to show up, and I think working on discipline is a big one for me, yeah definitely what you just said really like hit, because it's been something being a lifelong learner.

Speaker 2: 47:35

So discipline being a lifelong learner and part of how my programs have been created and how they have like morphed into what they are today. It's all from how stuck I feel. I felt throughout so many years of my life like just living in that stuckness, living in that hamster wheel, living in that like going through motions of life that were not in alignment. So it's just such a beautiful thing when someone finds something that makes it okay for them to start something new and shift into a new way of life and getting out of that stuckness.

Speaker 1: 48:16

Yeah, and for me it's like discipline. For me it's like I teach because these are the tools that worked for me and now I want to teach those tools 100%. Yep, so it came from a place of self-practice first, and it's not like I. You know, I didn't really do yoga that long before I decided to become a teacher, I think I had only been practicing for like three years, like a little less than three years even. No, it's probably like yeah, it was probably like three years. So, like in the grand scheme of yoga you talk about, like the science of yoga as a whole, it's a 5 000 year old science. So in three years, you're really just like scratching the surface. Even as somebody who has been practicing for over 10 years now I, just now, I'm starting to feel like I'm not a beginner. I'm still like a novice, but I don't, I'm just starting to not feel like a beginner.

Speaker 2: 49:30

That's beautiful, when you realize and kind of like reflect on your own personal journey and where you are and where you're at, and just like celebrate those moments, cause that's beautiful.

Speaker 1: 49:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah and celebrate showing up and being a beginner. It's like you know, if you've never done breath work before, like go have a session with amy, just try it out. Just try it out, you don't have anything to lose yeah, I, I actually had the question the other day.

Speaker 2: 50:00

So what? What if a client wants to try it but they're afraid and they're showing that resistance. So, like we were saying earlier, it's that part of the brain that when you try something new, there's that resistance switch that flips like no, no, no, danger, something new. So I like to say to clients, whether it's anything new or if it's breath work that they're trying is, just be open to trying something new. It might be your thing, it might not. If it is your thing, it could drastically transform your life. Like you have no idea and also know that it might be scary in the beginning, but you're in control of your breath. You can slow it down, you can stop, you can speed it up, like you're in control of it. All you're doing is breathing. So that's my advice to anyone that and we could all learn to breathe better.

Speaker 1: 51:00

So, like one of the things that has stuck with me since being a beginner yoga teacher which the study is probably a little outdated now because I think it was from like 2010. It was from the American Heart and Lung Association and it said something like the average American only uses 10% of their lung capacity. So that means we're breathing in the top one 10th of our lungs like we're, and that alone will trigger anxiety, so like we're not even breathing correctly. So how awesome to have a session and to learn how to really use the full capacity of your breath. Like that is such a powerful tool to learn.

Speaker 2: 51:39

I've had. This is myself and my own personal journey and then also clients have reported after doing breath work. Some people consciously realize, hey, am I holding my breath throughout the day? And they remember to actually take just like regular breaths, where a lot of times we are just holding our breath to then get a little tiny nose breath of air very shallow into our chest and through a breath work practice like you can actually connect with doing deeper belly breaths throughout the day and it is definitely a game changer. Yeah, I was that human walking around holding my breath all the time and what are you?

Speaker 2: 52:20

doing You're, you're basically creating stress and havoc in your body because you're, you're meant to breathe.

Speaker 1: 52:28

Yeah, it's like the only thing that's keeping us alive. Yes, and here we are holding our breaths. I know it's so crazy. It's something that comes up for me a lot too, because, like when I was younger I don't know why, I don't know who it was that like instilled this, but like that, like loud breathing, like we have been conditioned to think that deep breaths are like rude or, and like that blows my mind because like, literally, it's sustaining our life, like it's as essential as like drinking water and feeding ourselves, like even more so, like you stop breathing, you stop living 100, so like we've been conditioned to take these shallow breaths.

Speaker 2: 53:08

that's now causing like anxiety and all of these other issues, but it's like it's okay to be a loud breather it is or it's okay to like excuse yourself for two minutes and take 30 seconds, like go to the bathroom and just breathe for 30 seconds, like a slow down breath, like if you feel like you can't do the loud breath in front of people. Yeah, true, but it is just such a like, even taking 3060 seconds for yourself, just to slow down and do like a four, count in, four count out. It is magic and it just slows your system down. Like close your eyes, hands on heart and just a minute of breathing, connected breathing. It's so important and so beautiful.

Speaker 1: 53:50

Even a sigh, like I teach this in my yoga classes like anytime you need to breathe out with a sigh, like go ahead, take it be loud, like, like really let it go, because there there's science that says that sighing is a physical release of stress. So like how amazing that our body has this mechanism to physically release stress. Like I think that's so cool.

Speaker 2: 54:19

Yeah, it's like when dogs are overheating they can't yeah, and they let it out and they re-regulate themselves. To get back to yeah, we watch it in different animals and then yet we're afraid to do certain things.

Speaker 1: 54:35

Yeah, I know it's funny. I hope everyone on the other end of this podcast is like taking some really deep breaths right now. Yeah, right, because I feel like I need to.

Speaker 2: 54:46

Yep. So, I'll just like take a big breath.

Speaker 1: 54:59

This is your permission slip.

Speaker 2: 55:00

Um is there anything else you want to add before we wrap this up. Pretty much wherever anyone that's listening is at on their journey, just know your life, you can create it. You don't need to be stuck where you are. Every day is a brand new chapter, a brand new page in your book, and there are amazing things out there to help you manifest the life of your dreams. And, of course, I'm a firm believer of the breath.

Speaker 1: 55:25

Yes, I mean, I am too. It's literally a pillar of yoga, it's one of the eight limbs of yoga and it's like I said, it's what sustains our life. So like it's an important tool to learn how to use your breath to regulate your nervous system. Like.

Speaker 2: 55:41

What a beautiful gift 100%, and it's something that we all have and that we can all work with.

Speaker 1: 55:48

Yes, I think of like all of these healing modalities and like what works for you, like we all have our toolbox and then we're just like pulling these tools and breath work, I think is one that everyone should at least give a try 100%, I agree.

Speaker 1: 56:08

Well, thank you for joining me today. This has been so good. I feel like we talked a little bit about everything. Thank you for listening. Thanks for being here. Share this with somebody you love that might need this episode. You love that might need this episode. Like, subscribe, share, do all the fun things and I will see you on or you'll hear me on the next episode.