Liz Corwin - The Power of Peace: Journey of a Navy Fighter Pilot & Yogi

In this episode, Liz Corwin, a former Navy F-18 pilot and current Navy reservist, shares her journey from being a fighter pilot to becoming a yoga teacher. She discusses the importance of authenticity in teaching yoga and offers insights on how to create a safe and inclusive environment for military members in yoga classes. Liz also talks about the transformative power of motherhood and the impact it has had on her yoga practice. She shares her favorite retreat experiences and highlights the importance of creating a container for retreats while allowing the group dynamics to shape the experience.

Visit Liz on her website: https://www.walkaboutyoga.com/

Key Takeaways:

• Authenticity is key in teaching yoga, and it is important to be true to yourself as a teacher.
• When teaching military members, it is essential to create a safe and inclusive environment by being direct and using clear language.
• Motherhood has brought a new perspective to Liz's yoga practice and has made her more aware of her body and its capabilities.
• Retreats provide an opportunity for personal growth and transformation, and it is important to create a container while allowing the group dynamics to shape the experience.
• Supporting military families is crucial, as they also need the support and opportunities for growth and well-being.

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Transcript

0:33

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy you are here. My goal with this channel is to bring inspirational speakers to the mic in the field of yoga, massage bodywork and beyond. Follow us @nativeyoga, and check us out at nativeyogacenter.com. All right, let's begin. Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. My name is Todd McLaughlin. I'm so happy that you're here because I have the opportunity to bring this conversation that I had with Liz Corwin to you. Liz is a yoga teacher, a storyteller and a poet. She was extremely generous and offering up her time here to share some of her stories along her journey in yoga, and as a yoga teacher, and also as a former Navy F 18 pilot. Yes, check her out on her website, which is walkaboutyoga.com. And at the Super excited to have this opportunity to bring Liz Corwin bottom, you'll find all her handles to her social media on to the podcast. And Liz, thank you so much for doing this with me, I've been really looking forward to this links. And you can follow her and see what she's up to opportunity. I found you via Instagram. And I'm very definitely, definitely send her a message to thank her for impressed with everything that you're doing in relation to your work as a yoga teacher, and the fact that you are a former taking time. And I really hope that you enjoy this. I had a former Navy F 18 pilot. That's incredible. And a current Navy great conversation with Liz, I'm so excited for you to hear this. reservists. And you've taught yoga on military bases and studios around the country, and you lead global yoga retreats, And Liz, thank you! It really truly was a pleasure. All right, and your website is walkaboutyoga.com. So thank you, I'm so excited to ask you some questions. let's begin. I know I really appreciate it. I know, as we were talking a moment ago, like it took a while for us to to make this happen, you know, and life has its way of finding the right time for it to be so and so I'm really you know, it's been in the works for a while. So I'm excited to to actually finally meet you and speak with you. And all Thank you. Well, I appreciate that. And I, I have huge respect for our military, and I'm so thankful for the work that you do. We wouldn't be doing what we're doing right now, if we didn't have people like you, helping. That's, that's a big compliment. Just like, it's hard sometimes, you know, people see you in uniform, and they're like, Thank you for your service. And it's always such a humbling experience to kind of, especially now that I'm not like, do in operations, right, I'm working at headquarters and things now. So it's hard for me to take those compliments when I'm not the one deployed anymore for nine months as I used to be, but I appreciate it. And I know that it's true. You know, like so many people in the military are in the midst of that right now. And for people to recognize that is just important to keep that you know, in mind, you know, the little things that we get to that you and I now get to take for granted myself now, but that a lot of people don't. So, yeah, understood is there. Are there things that you see that where people are disrespectful in that regard? That's really difficult to stomach? Not so much anymore? You know, I think that our country is in a very different phase. And no, for the most part people are, you know, I walk into the grocery store and uniform or something and immediately multiple people will say something and kind. So, I mean, I'm sure it's still out there, you know, it's difficult. I mean, obviously, with the problems going on in the world right now, it's easy to look at militaries is, you know, violent and aggressive and, you know, but to remember sometimes that behind all that is is at least for our country, especially, and others is there's a desire for peace underneath So, I completely understand but no, I don't think I run into that a lot, at least where I live. But I also live in a very large military community in Virginia Beach. I mean, huge. You can't throw a rock without, you know, hitting a military base or installation. So I'm in a special place for that. But that also comes with its other things. So like, for instance, if I get pulled over for speeding, and I'm in uniform, they don't let me off the hook. You can probably do that and other places where you're a little bit remote and like all military, yeah, we'll give you ticket not here. Right now. Yeah, they want you to behave. Set the example like we're not letting you off easy here. That's no but but people have been pretty. Yeah, just the, the acknowledgement and appreciation. Lately, especially it's been, that's cool. What age were you when you had a moment of realization that you wanted to serve for the country? Well, so my, you know, I wish I could say that, like, Oh, I've been patriotic since the, you know, when I was young, but I'm actually, I wouldn't say that. That's what brought me to it. It was a very selfish reasons. It was very kind of exciting. I'm an adrenaline junkie. And it just sounded amazing. My older brother joined the army. He did Army ROTC, and I kind of wanted to follow in his footsteps just because he was my big brother. And, and what he was doing was super cool. And then he became a helicopter pilot. And I was like, well, now I gotta one up him somehow. So that's so classic. And you decided to become a fighter pilot. Like, I love hearing the motivation. Yeah, I really wanted to become like an army Apache pilot. I thought that, you know, because I had, like, my brother played with GI Joes. And I was like, This is so cool that you pilots, but then when he told me that, like army, you know, they have to, like, hang out in the dirt and camping. I was like, I like my showers. I'll join the Navy. And then I was thinking about the dip trying to do helos as well. Because I heard all these horror stories about you know, when your flight school and you hear all about, like all becoming a jet pilot, like, you know, it's tough. I mean, it's 10 hour days of briefing, like, you don't want to do that, you know, but, but yeah, ultimately ended up doing that. So it was more of I just I did ROTC in college, it was a great way coming from my background, my family dynamic to go to good university and the military paid for it. And then when I graduated, I started flight school. So it was it was very much you know, we we definitely grew up in a patriotic family. Like I said, my older brother was army but, and my grandfather was Navy, but like, we didn't have a lot of people close to us that were military at all. So it really was almost, it was more of like just the unknown excitement of like joining the military with that could be traveling the unknown that I think kind of drew that part of my personality, especially at that point in my life. Gotcha. Gotcha into it. You went to flight school in Mississippi, is that correct? Yep. So there's multiple locations that you go to you start kind of in Pensacola, it's called the cradle. It's kind of cool to have a sign outside. It's like the cradle of naval aviation. It's where a little the baby pilot start. So there and then, yeah, a couple other locations in the United States and Mississippi being one of them. So yeah, you jump around a little bit. What type of like the amount of people that dream of flying as a fighter pilot, what percentage actually realize that dream? Because I remember growing up and thinking, wow, being an astronaut would be so cool. And then someone saying, Yeah, but only like five people get picked out of a million and billion kids that all dream of that? Is it true for a fighter pilot? Same thing? Like you really have to be the top top top top level to get to that point. Yeah, you know, there's there's such a, I talked about this before, there's the butt off piece of it. Yeah, you got to do really well in school. Flight School is no joke, especially early on the way the military works, it kind of ebbs and flows of when there is a need for things right. So like, one year, there might be too many jet pilots coming through or too many helicopter pilots or too many whatever pilots the next week, you know, or a year there might not be so like that's bigot, as we say kind of turns on and off. So even if you did work your hardest get the best grades, make it through flight school. Sometimes that week, they might only need one jet pilot, and you know, all these other kind of aircraft. So it's, it really is sometimes the luck of the draw too. I happen to go through flight school in Pensacola. So you go to Pensacola first you kind of do a lot of like book test like you. There's no flying there right at first. Yeah. And if you didn't have a 97 or 98% like you were done. Yeah, in a couple months. So but then, you know, fast forward a year or two later and they're like okay, 85% will keep Yeah. So you just, it really does determine and depend on when you're going through the group you're going through with. Right? Yeah. So there's a lot of pieces like that. And then so there is, you know, little bits of just luck kind of built in there too. Yeah. Yeah. What was your first experience flying a fighter jet on your own? On my own Oh, boy. Um, well, they don't mess around with like, tossing you up there by yourself pretty quickly. Like it's, it's actually more of a sink or swim kind of thing. They want to see how you handle the pressure do. So it's, it's not too far along. I remember. So I flew, like a Cessna first military would send us to get like that 25 hours and assess, just to be like, Hey, you're sure you want to do this before we invest all this money in you to send you to flight school. So I did that outside Chicago, 25 hours in the Cessna. And funny story, but my first time alone, and just a tiny Cessna, I porpoise down the runway, and for any pilots out there that know what that means. It means I bounced. And I couldn't land, go back around. And I remember my instructor being like, Well, you gotta land the plane lives. So we got. So luckily, I kind of had to talk myself down out of that one and got out of it. But so you start with the Cessna. And then you start with the training, single engine kind of planes. And I remember though, the first time I flew in F 18. It was like, like, there was no comparison. Do you know what I mean? Like you're flying the trainer jets, and then all of a sudden, like, I moved to Virginia Beach. And it was just in there, like, first flight there, you know, it's like, Hey, you gotta take control, like, wow, it's similar, right? There's similar mechanics to what you learned. But it's, you know, there's, there's moments of being a pilot where it you never get used to it. And I don't know, maybe different pilot will say something different. But there was never an aircraft carrier landing that I got used to, in a way if that makes sense. Like, every calf shot was just as exciting as the first time. Wow. So yeah, like, I'm sure you can even hear my voice right now talking about it. And that's part of why this whole yoga thing is so important, especially for you because he was speaking about it. My energy level right is going up. It's the adrenaline, the excitement of it. So oh my gosh, or yoga steps. And for me a lot is that reregulation kind of out of that. Hi. And I read on your I scanned your information this morning, and you took your first Is it true? You took your first yoga class in Mississippi? Yes, yes. So I stumbled into a yoga studio. I don't even know why I wasn't like, trying to think maybe before I started, yeah, my first like, real yoga class was there. By like, not gym yoga. I'll say no, and it happened to be an Ashtanga studio. I just didn't even know what that meant. Oh, cool. That word was Yeah. But it happened to be there and in Mississippi, and it just became this like safe haven for me. Like I didn't even know how much I needed it. Where the teacher was so kind and I, it's funny, I want to go like look back up that studio and see if it's even still there. And the instructor is still there. Because she'll never, she'll never understand what she gave to me, especially during those years. And I think that's the cool thing about being a yoga teacher is like, we just don't know, you know, every student that comes into a class, you don't know, you have no idea. But even before that, in right before I started flight school, I remember going to some gym yoga classes here. Not here, but in Chicagoland area when I was doing that Cessna training. And I was the person that got off the treadmill showed up late to the yoga class. And then they put everybody in Shavasana. And I was like, I'm out of here, like, five minutes, rest, what are you talking about? And then go get back on the treadmill. And the worst part was there was like a glass wall between the yoga class and the treadmills and the gym. And so this poor teacher had to watch me show up late to his class, and leave early and get back on the treadmill. Class really instilled a lot of patience with me with students, I think, because I'm like, if anybody had said anything to me at that time, about like, you can't come later, you can't leave early. My little ego would not have been able to handle it. And I probably never showed a backup for yoga class. So yeah, I'm really I need to look him back up to and find these teachers that were there for me early on and dealt with. Now that's so great to hear. Because it's that's awesome. Because I think sometimes I've come across yoga teacher situations where, you know, we locked the door, and you know, you can't be late and that that could be a turn off. And but I think it's important Are we building a little bit of room for people to kind of slowly build up to that? Would you agree? Sounds? Yeah, I think it's both, you know, because I mean, there's something about you that practice, right, the discipline of it, the showing up and prioritizing it that I do appreciate as well, right, like I did a stronger for a long time. And that's a pretty strict discipline of all of them. So I see both, but I think it depends on the person too. And I'm just again, I'm just grateful that at that time, I linked with the people that were going to allow me to come back. And that's something that it has stuck with me now. So like, my biggest thing, anytime I'm teaching a class, especially with military, I just want them to go to another yoga class, I don't care if it's mine, I don't care what studio, but that their first experience or their initial experiences are such that it's a safe place for them to show back up. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. Do you teach civilian classes and military classes? And then classes that are mixed? Yeah. So um, right now, actually, so as we talked about early on, you know, we've pushed push off, push, delay this podcast, because I was pregnant and had a baby. And he's now almost eight months old. So I haven't been teaching as much as I used to. In studio class, I'm still doing all my retreats and things. But when I was teaching a lot more studio type classes, yeah, there'd be civilian classes. And then I teach military classes on like bases and things. But again, in Virginia Beach, here, it's such a military heavy community. And one of the studios I was teaching it called studio bamboo. They have military only classes to and yet you, you're still going to have a ton of military in your class. Do you know what I mean? Your civilian classes. So there's always a mix. But yeah, on bases, I was teaching military classes, civilian classes, and you handle them a little bit differently. And I was lucky enough to do a retreat a couple of years ago with Team Red, White and Blue, phenomenal organization, to do a retreat for military service members and those that support them. So family members as well. And those are really special, you know, when you get that kind of localized population, because you can talk differently. So I mean, it's the same thing for all your yoga teachers out there, right? Like, if you know that you have all beginners, and you know that you have all advanced, sometimes it's actually a little bit easier. And I use that word advanced very lightly. We all know that, that doesn't quite mean. Advanced, means physically stronger, sometimes classes, not the person but the class demanding classes, but and then when you have a class where it's like a multi class, right for yoga teacher, those are hard. Yeah. Yeah. Because you have to truly dance between what everybody needs. So yeah, yeah, sometimes it's nice to have just a military class with military members, cuz I find that I teach differently. I'm a little bit more like no nonsense, a lot less fluff. I curse. I, yeah, just use different terminology. That makes it feel more personal for that group. How would if I'm a brand new yoga teacher, and I don't have a lot of awareness of what it means to be to serve in the military, and or I have not done any sort of like trauma informed yoga study and or have not had a chance to work with anyone that has suffered or does suffer PTSD. What kind of advice would you give me as a kind of a green teacher coming in and really eager, I'm really excited. And I'm definitely willing to put the work and to become a good teacher. But are there any helpful hints you can give me to help me be a little more sensitive to what others have potentially experienced? And, and to make the environmental more comfortable? Hey, really? I love this question, Todd. It's because it's so complex, because I had a teacher once and many of you probably heard of her Shawn Korn. And she said, to me, once, it's okay to suck. You know, when you're a new teacher, it's okay to suck. Like we put so much pressure on me, we're as new teachers to be perfect all the time. And I just want to put that disclaimer before I go on to the next piece. It's like it's okay to mess up. It's okay that you didn't, you know, know everything about everybody in the class that day or you said the wrong thing or you upset somebody that's going to happen. So I just want to put that out to be very kind of generous and kind to ourselves. And yet, if you're going to be a yoga teacher, and you're going to step in and you know that you might be in a location where you might have military members coming. Number one is don't treat people Well, different, you know, like, that's it be authentic. This is the first thing, right, any teacher training one on one, if you're authentic, your audience will recognize that and appreciate that in ways that you don't even know. And you'll be able to speak to a larger I think spread of the population. So you know, that's why when I say this, like when I'm teaching with military, like, there's no bullshit, like, I'm sorry, I'm gonna need to cut that, like, you can't be everyone, you can curse on this, like, see through it or smell through it, they want nothing to do with it, they don't have time for that, right? They're not looking for that easy out of the so. And I'm not saying that I don't change my voice. Of course, you know, the voice inflection changes when you're teaching from the beginning of a class in the middle to the end, and do that. But make sure it's your authentic voice and not that sing songy yoga voice that you think you should be doing, because that's not gonna fly, like military books, and others as well, like, but specifically that population. But what I would say, you know, some of the things I took taken trainings on this, my teacher and Richardson Stephens works with military all the time, it's how, before I was a yoga teacher, I was going with her to bases to teach military special ops guys and stuff. And, and one of the, you know, so built into our training and our TT and stuff. And then I did mindful yoga therapy training, which is fantastic as well put that out there for anybody that wants to teach with these populations. I get no kickback, I've you know, I'm just support these amazing programs, but you go through their simple little things you can do, right? So authenticity. Sometimes people like having their back to a wall. Don't sneak up on people, right? If this has become like a really big thing in the yoga community of like, well, don't put your hands on somebody unless you ask them first, right? Because that can be a big trigger. I'll be honest, Liz Corwin speaking here. I like to touch people like in a yoga class, because I think that there's a boundary that softens, but you've got to know when and when not to to it. And that takes time. So if you're a new yoga teacher, don't jump into that one. However, like I said, if you know that there might be people in your class like that, I would not recommend touching. And then I also would allow them to see the room. So don't walk up behind people. To go over to a student come from the front and Come slowly. Yeah. So those are just some I'll throw out little things to be mindful of. That's so interesting. And I this probably is extremely obvious, but the not coming up from behind is this stemming back to the idea if you are in some sort of combat situation, you obviously want your back covered. Is that Is that where this stem from stems from? Yes, it's more just trust in your space. Yeah, you know, if you don't feel if you're not fully in the present moment, which a lot. Some people aren't sometimes, especially with trauma, then they're not aware of the spaces around them as is, or they're they I shouldn't say they're not aware they're hyper aware. Right. And so any movement is more likely to trigger something. And it actually takes them out of the present moment more likely. Right. So yeah, I mean, you could say, you know, like in the military, we say like covering your six and stuff, but I'll say this, I am not. I do not have PTSD. I do not have PTS, I do not have TBI, thank God. Can you can you tell me why even and I even like to stay in corners. I want to see the room. I always want an escape. I want to know where the doors are. I don't know where the windows are. That's just me. I don't know if that's just because of military training to or not, but I like that personally. And so it's just something that I'm caught conscious of in classes with military of just my movement in space in the classroom. And sometimes it's even best to just stay at the front. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Interesting. That's so good to hear. Thank you so much for sharing that. I'm curious. The word authenticity. How if you were running a teacher training, or just simply speaking with a friend that also is curious. I'm curious, how how do I become more authentic? How do I tap into my authenticity? Because it sounds easy enough. Yeah, but that's a train. Yeah, please. No, go ahead. And what were you gonna say? But I guess um, I agree with you that there's this idea that it could sing songy voice and yoga. Is is not doesn't I'm not attracted to that like, that does kind of repel me a little bit like I like when it's very clear and it's present tense language versus Like, now lifting your arms and and pointing your toes and like I like it when lift your arms. Point your toes. Like, I feel like I connect to that. But I'm curious, um, maybe somebody that is their authentic self like, yeah, things songy. So I guess I guess I'm curious if you have a strategy or an idea around how to tap in? How do you tap into your authentic self? Yeah. Okay, so I'll do this twofold. One is the voice thing real quick. I actually, sometimes there are teachers that are a little bit singsong II, but that's who they are. And I love them for it. And it's, it brings out a side of me that needs to be balanced. But it's them. Do you know what I mean? It's that that's actually their real voice, that they'd speak like that. I don't think that you can bring out your authentic self, and we talk about it in yoga teacher trainings, but it's not something that's gonna get done immediately. Right. And even though TT like there's no way because unless you do the work, unless you go through the struggles of, of the facing who you are, in some ways, and really deep diving, I think that there's a lot of personal work that needs to be done sometimes before we can kind of start get figure out who that person is. So I would say don't rush it. But be aware. And be aware, especially as a new yoga teacher. Take different teachers classes, listen to them. You hear it and you know it, or you don't you know what I mean? It's not even something like, you know, which teachers are truly being authentic themselves. Maybe you don't even like that teacher, but you can still tell that they're being authentically them. Right. So I would just say that there's a lot of personal work that has to be done along that way to kind of venture onto that journey. But in terms of in a teacher training, sometimes we we teach certain ways to say certain things, right. And if you peel some of that back and just say, use your own words, don't use the words I just taught you to say about warrior too. I want you to try and explain more your to to me, in words that I haven't used, do you remain and you get them out of the box of just being and I was a little parrot to what I was first teaching No, like the exact same way that my teacher said something I repeat the exact same way. So it does just take time. And again, that comes back to like, it's okay to suck at first. Like you're you're figuring it out along the way. The only thing that you mentioned that I think is really important. And something actually that ties back to the last question you asked me is very direct language, especially, you know, when I'm dealing with the population, military population, lift your right arm, then maybe I have to say it three times because they lifted their left arm or they lifted it halfway or whatever. It's like, lift your right arm, like there's a directness in that. And there's sometimes a sense of comfort in that for the student, because they're like, I don't know who said this, maybe it was Shawn again, or maybe it was my teacher. And but somebody said, and I'm sure you've heard this too, right? Like, people aren't going to trust you with their hearts and spirit unless they, they're gonna let you they're gonna maybe trust you with their body first. So we can safely move their body through space, then maybe by the end of class, they will open up in a more, you know, emotional, spiritual way. But they're not going to trust us with those deeper layers until great, great point. I have not heard it said that. Somebody told me. Yeah, it was new. It could have been my teacher in the mindful yoga therapy that like, that's why you have to use such direct cueing. Sometimes it's or it's so you don't have to, I'm never gonna say have to because every teacher have taken amazing classes where they don't give direct cueing some of my favorite teachers don't use direct cueing, but I recognize when they're not right. Yeah, and I already trust them in ways that I don't need the direct cueing. So, but direct cueing is a way to establish that relationship of trust with the body so that a teacher can kind of tap that deeper layer of trust with the rest of the holistic kind of class. Well said, Oh, I wanted to congratulate you on being a new mom. How, how has motherhood helped improve your life and or challenge you in your life? Oh, god, oh, my gosh. I get to be a student again, with my body. That has been the coolest thing. Because as I mentioned, you probably hear him crying, my door just cracked open because of the wind. But I got, you know, as a practitioner practicing four or five times a week, I knew my body. I knew what I could do. I knew the limits. It was getting a little bit not stale. But I was just in so many ruts and habits. Even if you looked at my practice, and were like, Oh, she's advanced, right? Because she's in a handstand right now like, No, I wasn't I was in a space of kind of resting in the places that were comfortable and avoiding the places that were not comfortable because they knew where they were. And so going through the pregnancy journey, and then of course postpartum and dealing with this new cool bye already, it's I feel like a brand new student again, my practice has changed so much. And I can still do a lot of the same poses, you know, I can pop into a handstand still, but it's different. Everything feels different. And I think that it's probably when I do start teaching more like, maybe studio classic in the future, it's, it just changes the way that I've, I'm experiencing yoga at the moment, in such a fantastic way. Nice. Nice. Yeah. And then I mean, that doesn't even obviously tap into the fact that you have this little human that you're just so in love with and seeing the world through his eyes. And yeah, just just that newness factor. We were I took him for a walk yesterday. And we stopped to touch like the buds and a leaf on a tree. You know, and you can just watch the recognition and it made me look at that tree differently. You know, like, yeah, yeah. To just be around children, even if you don't have your, you know, your physical. Oh, like in that way birth owned, but like to be around children and babies especially like, it's really cool. I agree. He's so independent, though. He's such a little like, Oh, he's so defiant. Totally and doing stuff already. So I'm quickly learning that it's like, it's my son, but I can't even use the word Mike, because he's already a person. Like he's like, Get away from me. You can already see like, some of the strands of your adrenaline seeking endeavors from your childhood, you're already witnessing your own child, like kind of be like, I'm going to do something really cool and amazing tomorrow. Yeah, I can I can although you know, someday when he's like, Oh, yeah. My thought when I tell him like, yeah, baby or your mom do planes. He's gonna be like, whatever. Yeah. Like, I'm so not gonna. He's not even gonna care. Yeah, pretty much. Pretty much expect that. Yeah. That's awesome. You have kids? I do. I do have a 17 year old son and 11 year old daughter. And yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing. It's nonstop evolution. New, new excitement, new challenges. It's really incredible. I'm so excited for you. It's Yeah, well, that's my, that's my biological son. And then I have two stepsons, that are nine and 12. Right now, so nice. He kind of threw me into the pot of very quickly. And now I'm trying to catch up but a little older and can help. Oh, that's awesome. Well, you're not a new mom, then you've already your Yes. And yeah, you're familiar. Yeah, there's layers. Yeah, that's cool. What, um, when you lead retreats, what are some of your favorite sort of ingredients that you try to make or bring to the forefront? When you host a retreat in relation to location and or? The way how do you like to structure the the retreats? It depends on obviously, what kinds like, obviously, that military retreat that we did with Team Red, White and Blue was very different than some of my, like, international retreats that I'll do for more kind of travel. And they always tend to attract the group of people that need to be there. And so it's almost like when I think of retreats, and for those that are thinking about running retreats, you can set it up and you can create the container just like a yoga class, right, you can set it up, you can create the container, you can think of what your class is going to be your sequence, your playlist, your food that you're gonna have an or treat, whatever the activities, and then once that group kind of enters the room, or once that group shows up, like, I hate to say it, but like, you gotta let go control because that group is gonna have their own flow to it. And so then it just becomes I see it more as like, you're like, you're kind of like going like this, you know, to make sure everybody's it feels like an inflatable arm man, when you just have to kind of move with it. Like, we used to have this thing in the military were like, we'd all go out together, we called it like the moving amoeba because like, you'd be in a group like 10 people and like, one person would start to go over there, and then the other person go there, and they try and get the, it takes 20 minutes to go 50 feet, right. So kind of letting go of the reins, sometimes with their treats. And just knowing that it's meant you're supposed to create the container, but it has its own personality and life force that comes with it when you get a group of people together. Nice. is probably the one thing to know about a yoga retreat, which will also help whoever's running that retreat know that like, Hey, you're not going to be able to control everything. Yeah, good point, right. So, yeah, where's one of your most favorite places that you've held a retreat? Like what was one of the most magical sort of? I'm sure it has a lot to do with which who shows up and then obviously, like, location, beauty of location, but where's one that sticks out in your mind for just being memorable? Can I pick like a couple? Yeah, so I run I run one in Amalfi Coast every year because we stay with this Italian family and they've become like my family. Wow. The parents do the cooking. They don't speak a word of English but the mom's making her pasta the dad's making the homemade wine from their garden, the daughter runs it. The husband's a photographer and our driver, like their whole family, like the brother owns the pottery shop. So that one is like super special. I've done that one, four or five times now. The one I mentioned about Team Red, White, and Blue was really powerful. Because the group that we got together, especially I think it was like on the last night we were having like a fire pit. And the impact that the people that had attended kind of made on each other because I remember there was one woman, I'm not gonna use names or anything, but she had contacted me before the retreat. And she was like, Liz, can we meet ahead of time, I had a zoom call private zoom call with her. Because she was feeling limited in some of her physical abilities. And so she didn't want to go she this was a woman that hardly left the house. While we had this zoom class, I went through some basic yoga stuff with her to make her feel more comfortable. Say, Hey, we're going to do this too. You know, you might see other people in the class doing all sorts of stuff doesn't matter. She showed up. And by the last day, that woman was doing half moon in the middle of the room this morning to start in a chair, right. And by the last day, she's doing half moon, middle of the room. She's like Queen of the whole thing last night at the fire pit. She's telling stories, and she's, she's out of her house. Do you know what I mean? Like that was the big thing to get her out of her house. And now she just blossomed. So seeing things like that, like that'll just stick with me forever, forever. So that's probably, you know, in terms of experiences, and then I've done a yoga retreat in the Tanzania. Our yoga retreat. Wow. So that was the story of it. That one that I'll never forget is we were in the middle of like the Serengeti. There's no fences. Were by the pool. I'm teaching like a meditation class one evening, because we're so tired, right? There's no actual, like physical Asana happening. But we're doing a meditation class. And we're sitting there and I've got like, a group in front of me and there's like a, maybe a three foot fence around the pool. And as I'm leading this meditation, we're all quiet. We're here. Like 50 feet away. And there's hyenas right on the other side of the three foot fence. And we're all like, oh, my gosh, the Maasai warriors and guys that are there to protect us, like come running over with we're like, where are your guns? And they've only got spears? Right. And you're like, Are you kidding me? No, they come running over. And so that was a pretty memorable. Oh, my gosh, meditation experience would be a little unnerving. Because the hyena wild I you know, that's, that's, they were pretty afraid of those Maasai warriors, though. They were terrified of them. So that's probably another one of those. But that was, you know, so off the wall and being Yeah, every other tree. Oh, man, that sounds amazing. What? What was your first retreat that you led? And how many years back? Are we talking here? Like, how, how many years ago? Did you start teaching? I started teaching and I think it was like 2010 or 11. And then maybe when was your first retreat that you led? That 16 2016 Cool. Where was that? Oh, and I was I was living in Europe at the time I was living in Germany. And I remember my first retreat was a ski and snowboard yoga retreat, and Austria saw that I saw cool. And I remember I mean, I think I charged $299 Oh, yeah, for four days. Like I started, this sounds so basic, because I didn't even I didn't want to make money. I just want people to come and have fun with me and snowboard with me. Yeah. And it was unbelievable. It was at this cool place called Alpine retreat in Austria, right on the border of Austria and Germany is very cool. I hosted a couple there. Great, great location, if anybody ever wants to be out in the mountains and amaze us near this old Roman road that kind of cuts through Austria from Germany down to Italy. In the mountains there, it's exquisite, re stationed in Ramstein, Ramstein, my, my ex husband and I were living in Stuttgart, Germany. So I was reserved at the time he was active duty. And so we lived there for about two years in Germany. Amazing. Oh my gosh, I loved that. I was teaching at some German yoga studios there and I learned a couple you know, words. And I remember thinking like the German language what is this gonna sound like and you know, in yoga speak and the sing song yoga words. Right. And it was so beautiful to take the classes, you know, because it can be a pretty hard language in terms of that. Yeah. But it was it was beautiful. I wasn't remember I knopman Our Saltman is like, breathe in, breathe out and so nice. Nice. Did you grew up sending any other language Other than English, just Spanish, my family is Italian and I feel terrible. That's like on my bucket list like I better speak Italian fluently before it. I keep working on that one. But, yeah, we did find out. So I'm sure that people can relate to this right that if you grew up in the United States sometimes and your families, you know, my mom was like second generation. No, sorry. She was first generation. And so her parents wouldn't speak Italian to her because they wanted her to just speak English. Yeah. And we'll go back to Italy sometimes and like our Italian slang from the United States, and we'll say things over in Italy, and they're like, that doesn't mean anything. I grew up saying that. What are you talking about? It's supposed to be Italian. Yeah, that's not even a real word. Like it's not even a it's not even a thing. You know, like, one of the things is like, God bless you. And I think we grew up seeing like Sanjay Nina Kirschbaum being a carpet cleaner or something. Like my mom was very Catholic. And so but then we went and asked her, like, Italian family when we were over there, because we still have family in Italy. And they're like, yeah, like, it kind of means this. But no, that's all I need to learn Italian before my end of days. That's cool. I hear you, I'm with you. I'm always trying to pick up as much language as possible. I heard you speak. They speak another not fluently. I've studied Spanish off and on over the years. And I currently just for I really enjoyed trying, though, I currently picked up the Thai language program on Pimsleur, which is just an audio version. And it's such a difficult language because it's tonal. So like one word, if you just say it slightly different three different ways means three completely different things. So I just like the challenge of hearing and trying to repeat even though I know I like I probably will never be able to speak Thai I dislike the challenge of being completely ripped out of my, my box of being able to understand what's going on. And then I think I feel good, even though like when I'm trying to memorize words, that even though it's feel so impossible, that probably has to be good for our brains, just to make new synapses fired. Make me use my memory. And so yeah, I do like to try I had a chance to go to Italy once and work on a Wolfing farm or willing, there's a program called willing workers on organic farms where I went and worked on an organic olive oil farm and I worked with these guys pruning all of trees, and they spoke zero English, I spoke zero Italian. So I had a little Italian English dictionary up in the olive trees, and I was trying to throw words back and forth. But um, you know, it's like, take so much study to actually get to the point where you can even have a basic conversation, you know, like, it takes a lot of work. Yeah, I do find that, you know, when you immerse yourself in something, though, like, that's the only way to learn it. Right? Like, I'm surprised by the end of my week in Italy. How like, I'm like, wow, actually. Right? And once you're forced to do it, yeah. Good point. Well, language is one of those things. It's so good. If I need to teach, right, I need to teach, right? That's what I need to do is I need to teach my son, Ranger Italian so that he has it as a baby, and then it'll maybe force me to come back full circle, right? I am trying to get him to say instead of mom, I wanted to say like mama nama. So I use that one often. There we go. We're not there yet. He's not there yet. What about with Sanskrit and your use of Sanskrit in yoga classes in relation to classes that are geared toward those that are a military versus ones that you potentially like? Just civilian style classes? Yeah, I know, this is a really kind of popular thing, especially right now, right? With our rights as yoga teachers to really like even use that language, right? Like this whole idea. It's not. So a lot of the studios I've taught and have actually like, changed. You know, a lot of them don't say Namaste at the end. They'll maybe say something different. It's hard for me I'm kind of in between because traveling around the world, you know, and being in like, Nepal. Like that's what you say you just say Namaste. It's Hello. It's goodbye. Like they say it to everybody, you know, and I do under understand the feelings of procreation and whatnot. So I'm not saying I'm not respectful of that. But there. I loved using words like that when I traveled with people, you know, and they wanted me to back with them. Like, that's how we were saying, I acknowledge you, you acknowledge me. So I still use some of those. Some Sanskrit, obviously. I think there's a beauty to it. You want to talk about languages like I probably know a little bit more of Sanskrit than I do have other ones and I just, it's to have those fresh eyes, sometimes in a new language to say something in a different way. I mean, I think that's why a lot of people are attracted to using Sanskrit right? It's because it doesn't have all of the history that the English language does for us, right? So it's fresh, it's new, it allows us to kind of be in something else and new pose and a different way, get our mind out of our way. But yeah, when I'm teaching with military, if I do say something, then I'll say kind of the more technical term as well. I don't use it as much, because you got to, you got to be very careful sometimes. And it but I do explain what things mean. So that if they hear it, it's not, you know, because again, this ties back to what do I want that what do I want, I want people to want to go to a yoga class, I want them to feel comfortable going back to a yoga class anywhere. And they're going to hear those things sometimes. So it's better I think, for them to be exposed to it in a way. You know, if me if Liz, you know, fellow military member says the word and explains what it means then when they go here, maybe in a yoga studio, or traditional civilian type yoga studio, they'll be like, Okay, maybe it's not for me, maybe I'm not gonna say it, but I understand what that teacher is trying to get at and won't be as foreign. Yeah, it is such a great topic of conversation. And I do feel like I often tiptoe around it, I feel like in India, people seem so excited that I wanted to learn, and they were so supportive of me, attempting to learn that I feel like more here in the States is where that sort of argument gets used often. And so I know, it is such an interesting thing, because I but I do think it kind of boils down to if our hearts are in the place of coming from a place of respect. And we are truly respectful, like authentically respectful, not just saying I'm respectful, that has a lot to do with maybe how it's received. So I noticed such a fascinating idea that because if we're really appreciating the history and culture of yoga, then using the terminology seems like it would pay tribute to it and and honor it, and be like, so thankful that we have exposure to the ideas that came from that culture. But I could see where if it's not done respectfully, that yeah, I guess it's not respectful. Like I remember in 2012, I went to India, studied Ashtanga and Mysore. And part of the reason was, like, I felt like how am I who am I to teach yoga in the United States if I haven't gone to where it began? And, you know, honored where it came from, and see where it comes from. And like, I just, I felt this need to do that. And to be honest with you. The one thing I remember taking from that trip, more important than anything else. Yoga is so personal, right? Like, yes, there's this history, this is there's this tradition of where it comes from. And we honor that, and we respect that. But we all I, in my opinion, have a right to personalize that, that practice. That's the point of it. And I, I felt very empowered, actually, not because I'd been to India and studied and now I was allowed to quote unquote, I felt empowered to say, I recognize the kind of yoga that they're doing there, I recognize the kind of teachings that were happening in that location. I felt comfortable coming home and putting my own print. On honoring my lineage, everything I say, I'll tell you this, everything I say most of what I teach, it comes from someone, somebody I learned it from so I am so grateful for all the teachers and what they passed down. But it doesn't mean that I don't have a right then to have this piece of me infused in, in what I'm now sharing too, and you can't help it, you can't stop that. So I just I'm very that was the thing that I left there with was, I am allowed to experience this, to make it my own. To share it in the ways that I'm I'm going to if I want to share this at all, there's going to be little pieces of lives infused in that and that's okay, even if I'm trying to honor the technicality of maybe the the words or the things that I say or how I say them or whatever. But yeah, so for me, it was a very empowering experience to come home and say that, like we all can, this is a piece of it can be a piece of all of us if you choose so you know, and I don't have to feel good. I wasn't going to feel guilty about the parts of it that I might experience differently. Nice. Well said. Well said Liz, your website name walk about yoga. When I hear the term walkabout I think of Australia in the terminology of going on a walkabout and I'm curious what was how did you come? I mean, it's great name. I love it. It implies or could imply so many different ideas what what do you what do you think about now currently when you when you hear walk about yoga, what what does it make you feel or speaking? I mean, this actually ties to the conversation we were just having, you know, a little this ideas of appropriation I've had people reach out to me and be like, Hey, you're, you shouldn't be using that name. And I understand I respect where they're coming from. Again, I feel like it's a word that has some meanings and I Um, there's pieces of it that I honor, I believe in the the meaning behind it. And one of those things is that this idea of a walkabout is like, there are times where we have to go venture alone, we have to go out, survive, venture alone, and then we come, we always come back home, right? There's this coming home aspect. It kind of ties into that whole idea of like, the dark night of the soul, if you've ever heard that, right, and there's so much the positivity culture can be so I mean, it's wonderful. It's fun to be a part of right. But there's also for me, I'm a strong believer, and you want to talk about authenticity, about doing that deep work on yourself. And going to those places that aren't as pretty and aren't as positive and are as nice. And sitting with that and surviving that if you want to use a lack of another word, and then coming home again, and every single time you kind of do that iteration of like, into the darkness, back to the light into the darkness back to the light. So I work with like a spiritual mentor, like almost every week, because I try not to get too comfortable in this positive mentality all the time. It's great to be there. I'm not saying don't. But to really have honest looks about stuff. And so for me, this idea of a walkabout is like, we go someplace else we in same thing with retreats, right? We remove ourselves from what's known, and what's comfortable. And we expose ourselves in ways that test us. And sometimes we fail, and sometimes it's ugly, and sometimes we're dirty, and and then we find a way to come back home afterwards, right? We find a way to kind of return but we're never the same. And that's a good thing. But I don't know. So that's kind of that's where it started. And it's kind of amazing the way that this journey has brought me that it is even more instilled in who I am of this idea that like we're reframing ourselves in ways then. But it's always still coming home. Yes, yes. I love that. The first time I heard about the concept of a walkabout I was like, how cool would it you know, like I really was attracted to, I had a chance to live in Australia. So I heard the term a bit. And you were when I was ready to Brother, I was 20. I emigrated over there. So I spent five years in Western Australia and a town called Margaret River, which is south of Perth, on the west coast. I study I only did a semester there study abroad in Sydney, where we do nice, so probably so amazing. Yeah, yeah, I love Australia. It's like it is it's an amazing country. I loved it. So I love that idea of being in nature and being tested and having to trust in your survival instincts as well. I'm curious, I hope I don't like if I bring up too heavy of a conversation because I really don't want to go super heavy on you right now. And but you made a great point very beginning of a conversation about you know, underneath fighting is this concept of peace. And so, I know, like, we we we need a military to defend us. And then but with the underlying principle of to maintain peace. That's such an amazing idea, isn't it? Like do you have you ever had epiphany zand or challenges in your own relationship to your role as a protector but also as a Peace warrior too? Because it seems like you've been able to navigate both worlds in a way that maybe it's just one world obviously it's one world any thoughts without an understanding that makes it no no there is nothing when I do when I feel like there should be there's nothing off limits there's nothing close to anything either thoughts on it and a process to it or not. And this one it's it's hard to hear you say like I'm like, I don't know what where do you think you said like defender protector? Like I can't I don't see myself like that. That's a very so I'm kind of trying to figure out how to dodge that one because it doesn't land you don't see that you don't see yourself as that like i i recently I recently watched Did you watch masters of the air? I would be so curious to know what you think of it just came out on Apple TV. Well, it's about it's about World War Two World War Two American World War two pilots and it shows them in these planes that have like hardly any navigation like back in 1944 1940s. I mean, these planes didn't they didn't even like that someone with a chart and you know he's down there figuring out where they have to go and they're flying and no one even knows where they are. And the end it was pretty incredible to watch on the level of like the bravery of these people going into war. I guess that's where I just have this incredible all respect for People doing something like giving their lives or potentially giving up their life for the betterment of their entire culture or country or clan or whatever way we want to describe those who it is that we try to protect. So I don't know, I guess I'm in all of that. So I understand that why maybe you say I don't see myself as that because maybe you just you do what you do. And maybe you don't have to overanalyze anything. But it's a hard. Yeah, I think well, because you tell a story like that. And I'm like, Well, I'm an all those guys too, right? I was, I was skiing out. And this was so close to skiing on steamboat last week, and I was walking through the town and there was this sweet old man, he must have been mid 80s. And we started talking, his name was Fred. And he had this cowboy hat on because a steamboat right. And I didn't even notice at the time, but yet these jets, like pins on the side of his hat, I didn't even notice. We started talking, he tells me he's, you know, former F 16 pilot from the Vietnam era and stuff. And I'm like, Oh, my God, like to me that too. I'm like, Okay, those are like, I don't know, I have reverence and offer that kind of experience speaking with him. So I understand that I just, I guess, yeah, but what I was gonna say, I guess is? Oh, yeah, that's a that's a deep one. It's, I think that if you if you it's actually think of your family, right? Do you have kids I do. And what you would do for your family? Right? I think a lot of the time, sometimes the motivation is as big as it can be, and isn't as strong or, you know, the higher values of like, I'm doing this for the good of this. This huge thing, sometimes it's as simple as I'm doing it for just the betterment of the things closest to me. I'm not saying it's always like that, but and I think that that's what actually gives people and that's why when I see things come out that support military families, right, the initiatives that are taking place, the number of the wonderful things that the community is doing for the military and military families, those are the people that like, need the support as well, right, because a lot of the time the military member, if they're doing it for maybe the bigger cause, too, right. And there's things that they believe in, but it also has to do with something very close to home. Right? And what kind of and now as a new mother, I can say this like, right, what kind of world do I want ranger to grow up? And what do I want ranger to be able to do? What do I want ranger to have access to? So yeah, I think it's kind of that's like a way to make it more like a day to day, you know, closer to home kind of thing of what we're, and then and then it becomes well. And I can say this when I find right, like you don't, you're not thinking about that kind of big picture stuff. Sometimes. It's there. Like, it's not that it's not, it's just you're fighting through each day and the beauty of each day. So sometimes it's less of like this grandiose, like, I'm going to save the world, you know, and I believe in this this, right? It's like, yeah, that's there, too. But underneath, there's the day to day grind of the things that you believe in, and your passions and the things that you are willing to stand up for. Right? And I think underneath it, all right, what do we all want, we want our family to be safe. Right? We want we want some level of peace and security. And we want our children to feel protected and have opportunities. And I just feel like that's like a that's a microcosm of like the bigger things that I think that we stand for as a human race, not just as a country, but like as a human race. That's what we're all kind of. Right? Like, at the end of the day, that's the only reason that things really start, oh, man, well said was great navigation there. Good job. I want to be really, I want to be respectful of your time. And we're coming close to the end of our hour together. And if I want to get more involved, or for the listener, if you want to get more involved, can you name a couple of different organizations that you have come in contact that do support military and military families that you would recommend us putting some time into? Yeah. Gosh, there's so many, um, the ones I've already named, I'll just rename here just to put them all together, Team Red, White, and Blue, this incredible nonprofit that I've been lucky to be involved in. And the things that they're doing are just to get involved with them in the sport that they do the they run, they actually have their own kind of like retreats and excursions, as they call them for military members, because none of you ever heard of a book called tribe. But one of the big things that that they talk about is just kind of human nature, right that we search out to have a tribe and when you're in the military, or when you leave the military can be very difficult because you've kind of lost your tribe as you're doing that transition, especially for veterans and whatnot. So to have that group again, so that's it. Really amazing one of my teachers I mentioned and Richard Stevens is does, she does an incredible Oh, I forgot about this, she has an incredible adaptive yoga class for anybody with kind of any body, right, any little, literally body, able body. You know anybody that has somewhat limitations in the way that they move. So if you're a yoga teacher, and you want to do like that additional training to be able to work with anyone that shows up to your class, I highly recommend that I think she does it online. I'm not sure what our next one is. But she works. It's studio bamboo Institute of yoga in Virginia Beach, then there's mindful yoga therapy. That one's a very trauma informed very specific, it used to be more focused on veterans and military but they do a lot now with all sorts of different populations to be you know, the different trying to think of give back yoga Foundation is a big one that I used to work with. With barrel Bender birch. That's actually one where there's free yoga videos online. For we created these free yoga videos for military. It's called Yoga for Warriors. So Gaiam helped us to give back yoga foundation with Gaiam. If you Google my name, and there for YouTube, there's free classes. I saw that. Yeah, so there's one that's like an hour long yoga class. And then there's like four that are 15 minutes. And the cool thing about those was the guinea pigs that we had for the classes, the two guys, they were for. They were Green Berets, that had like, never done yoga before. So like it was, it was real. It was legit, your arms over your head, I'm like, over your head, like put your arms over. That's so cool. It was very authentic experience to use that word again, I noticed on your website at the bottom where your social handles are the YouTube icon took me I think to that channel, is that correct? Yeah, it should be nice. Yeah, most of this stuff can be found on my website. And there's some things I need to update. But I do always try to list a lot of military nonprofits and groups that you can get associated with as well. So those are just some off the top of my head. Nice. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Liz, what a great opportunity, I saw that one picture of you, you look like you took a selfie, you are in a fighter plane, and you have your helmet on. And it had to be you unless it was just a picture of somebody else. Yeah, I used it with the backdrop of the sky. And I just thought, oh my gosh, that's got to be so incredible. I really was looking forward to this opportunity. And I appreciate your your time and for being so thoughtful when I reached out to you more than a year and a half ago. And you said I want to really want to do this. But I'm really busy at the time. So thank you for reaching back out to me and re instigating and getting this to happen. And I find everything you had to say really fascinating. And I appreciate everything you have to share. Is there anything that you would like to add as a conclusion? I just want to say thank you, thank you for telling stories and sharing stories. And you know, thank you opening people up to new venues because there's something that's probably going to land with someone each time you do this in a different way. And maybe it's the right time for them to hear something or not hear something. And so I'm grateful to people like you that are spreading messages and spreading words and just sharing stories. Yeah, thank you guys. Well, I will be in touch and I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Native yoga Todd cast is produced by myself. The theme music is dreamed up by Bryce Allen. If you liked this show, let me know if there's room for improvement. I want to hear that too. We are curious to know what you think and what you want more of what I can improve. And if you have ideas for future guests or topics, please send us your thoughts to info at Native yoga center. You can find us at Native yoga center.com. And hey, if you did like this episode, share it with your friends, rate it and review and join us next time