Are you part of the 50% of people who report their stress increased dramatically in the last few years? Has the world pandemic and its new demands taken a toll on your life and wellbeing? If so, today’s episode is for you.For today’s episode, I do not have a guest, I’m taking the spotlight. Check out my other solo episodes:Episode #73: Yoga, chronic pain, and mental health.Episode #77: Setting Goals and Moving ForwardEpisode #87: 5 reasons you procrastinate Episode #93: A 3 step guide to being more yourself Since stress is such a big topic and affects so many people, I’m planning on doing a series. It’s also a very big part of my yoga teachings already, at the core of my coaching, so I have a lot to say on the subject.EPISODE ANNOUNCEMENTS:?? Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast anywhere you listen. Find out how here.?? Take a screenshot of the episode when you listen and share one of your takeaways on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast?? Become a Premium Member: www.withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger. ?? Sign up for coaching on this?? My 5 biggest takeawaysTOPICS I COVERED DURING THIS EPISODE:Why we need to learn about our stressWhat stress isOur perception and thoughts on our circumstancesTools to become more aware of out thoughtsOur lack of safetyOur nervous system response to stressThe first step in addressing our stressABOUT MEErika is a yoga teacher, the host, and producer of On & Off Your Mat Podcast, and a transformational life coach. Being a teacher is part of who she is, and she uses yoga, podcasting, and life coaching as different entry points all aiming to help her students and clients build a happier, healthier, and more peaceful life.Her radiant spirit and engaging sense of humor create light-hearted practices focused on awareness, intentional movement, and self-care. She empowers her students and clients to awaken to themselves, become embodied, and build the life of their dreams.Website : www.erikabelanger.comIG :@erika.belanger & @onandoffyourmatpodcastTell me what you struggle with, go on, tell me, I’ll create content just for you See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On and Off Your Mat Yoga Podcast

Understanding Your Stress, with Erika Belanger

Have you ever caught yourself reacting in what felt a totally automatic way… and ever wondered where that reaction came from? Today I sat down with Bonnie Wallace to talk about the yoga philosophy concept of Samskara or psychological imprints to answer this question…EPISODE ANNOUNCEMENTS:?? Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast anywhere you listen. Find out how here.?? Take a screenshot of the episode when you listen and share one of your takeaways on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast?? Become a Premium Member: www.withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger. ?? The tool she talked about.?? My 5 biggest takeaways from this episode.QUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODECan you tell us what Samskaras and Vasanas are?What are the different types of Samskara?How do they affect us and our lives?Can we change/erase “negative” samskaras? Can we create new “positive” ones?What does that process look like?What is your personal favorite practice when it comes to beliefs/samskaras?ABOUT OUR GUESTBonnie G. Wallace is a Certified Ayurvedic Health Counselor, Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist (RYT-500), Holistic Chef, and Herbalist. As a graduate from the largestAyurvedic College in the Western world, Bonnie has over 1,300 hours of education from the California College of Ayurveda and the Himalayan Institute. Herspecialty is working with the overachiever -the one who does it all to help heal their gut health, burnout, depression, and anxiety.For nutrition and lifestyle counseling, Bonnie Wallace's multi-faceted programs result in radical and sustainable transformation- using a combination of therapeutictantric yoga techniques, Life-Pattern counseling (uncover and reframe beliefs that keep us in self-sabotaging cycles), customized nutrition plans, herbal medicines,specialty lab testing, and sensory therapies. Bonnie especially enjoys working with her team of Ayurvedic and Functional Medicine practitioners, meeting regularly to optimize treatment plans for all her clients.Her expertise in nutrition and lifestyle counseling is led not only by scrupulous education but refined intuition and an affinity for understanding the humancondition. This approach opens doorways in individuals that they forgot were there, while her gentle yet passionate guidance holds space and inspiration forindividuals to do the necessary personal work in these journeys.Bonnie works exclusively with individuals 1:1 in order to ensure each person has her utmost attention and is getting exactly what they need. She works virtually, making this work accessible to people around the world. She caters retreats and special events with beautiful, nutritious food, educational workshops and health consultations.You can find Bonnie freediving, making friends with animals, and traveling when she is not working with her clients or cooking.Connect with her for resources and inspiration on Instagram @bonnie.gene See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Your beliefs or your Samskaras and Vasanas

If you have sensitive knees and poses on all 4 or lunges that bother you, if you know the muscles around your knees are weak or they tend to compensate for your tight hips, this class is for you.This episode is part of our premium subscription, get access to it here, and become a premium podcast member.  On the membership platform, you'll find: 1. Your premium podcast episodes ($5/month). Just like before, as a member, you can get a ton of exclusive audio and video content like this class for sensitive knees.2. You can now also have access to almost 300 recorded full-length yoga classes in a Netflix-Style Membership ($25/month). 3. You can sign up for any live-stream class I offer! With our podcast premium membership, your contribution ripples to thousands of people every week, allowing me to offer accessible quality free content to a wide community of yogis. This podcast is a way I contribute to the community, and this membership is a way you can too. It allows you to share everything yoga offers with the world by supporting me in the creation and production of this podcast while I choose to keep it ad-free.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

PREMIUM | Yoga for Sensitive Knees

Have you ever noticed how a cluttered space might affect your mind, your focus, or your overwhelm? How about your physical health? Today I sat down with Sherry Steine to talk about Feng Shui and how it actually is yoga for your home and how our wellbeing is affected by our environment.  EPISODE ANNOUNCEMENTS: ?? Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast anywhere you listen. Find out how here.?? Take a screenshot of the episode when you listen and share one of your takeaways on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast?? Read my takeaways from this episode.?? Become a Premium Member of the podcast: www.withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger.   QUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE How does our outer space affect our inner space?What is Feng Shui?Can you give examples of blockages in our bodies that might be reflected in our home or vice versa?Do you have recommendations to make our yoga space as harmonious as possible?What are your go-to practices and tools to create inner balance and harmony?Can you give examples of blockages in our bodies that might be reflected in our home?  ABOUT OUR GUEST Sherry Steine has been a Certified Feng Shui Consultant since 2004. She studied with Feng Shui Master Dr. Larry Sang, Feng Shui Scholar Dr. Nancy Canestaro, and Noted Feng Shui Consultant and author Hope Karan Gerecht. As a Registered Yoga Teacher Sherry has studied Chinese Medicine and Yoga, Yin Asana and Biomechanics, Trauma-Informed/Sensitive Yoga, Yoga for Seniors, and Restorative Yoga.  Sherry integrates her practice as primarily a Yin, Restorative, and Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher as a Certified Feng Shui Consultant, author, interior environment coach, essential oil alchemist, and Reiki practitioner through her business SBW Aligned Expressions. Sherry works to provide Feng Shui, Yoga, and Essential Oil solutions for those who want to improve their holistic wellness outcomes. Sherry is also a podcaster for her new podcast Aligned Expressions and an Author of two Books, Feel Good Spaces: A Guide to Decorating Your Home for the Body, Mind, and Spirit and Landing on Your Feet and Putting Down Roots: 21 Rituals to Transform Your Life and Interior Space.  Sherry has worked with numerous clientele from military officers, small businesses, to national and international yoga teachers providing Feng Shui consultations workshops and training since 2006. Sherry is currently studying for her YTT 300 teacher training to be completed in late 2022. Website: https://www.sbwaligned.comSacred Spaces Podcast: https://anchor.fm/sacredspacesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sbwaligned/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SBWAligned See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When your outer space reflects your inner space

Have you been hearing a lot about emotional intelligence? Have been afraid to dive into shadow work? But you are looking to live a more happy, aligned, and connected life? If so, this episode is for you.EPISODE ANNOUNCEMENTS:?? Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast anywhere you listen. Find out how here.?? Take a screenshot of the episode when you listen and share one of your takeaways on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast?? Read my takeaways from this episode.?? Become a Premium Member of the podcast: www.withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger. QUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODECan you explain what is emotional intelligence?What are some tools that you use to deal with our emotions in a positive productive way?What is shadow work and why is that important work?How do you relate emotional intelligence work and shadow work to your yoga practice?How does your yoga practice support you in this work?How does doing our shadow work can help us show up more fully in the world for social justice.ABOUT OUR GUESTSianna (she/her) is committed to being Love-In-Action here on earth to serve. This has taken many forms over the last three decades, including being a yoga teacher, storyteller, holistic bodyworker, crafter of herbal medicine, and guide for women in the way of a priestess.As the visionary of the Rasa Yoga Collective, Mythic Yoga Flow®, and RITUAL, Sianna shares her voice in the way of community and collaboration.She is a gifted storyteller and awakens the imagination through the language of the soul. Dedicated to social justice activism, anti-racism, unpacking her own white privilege, shadow work, mantra, ritual, Tantric yoga philosophy, and Celtic studies.Sianna brings a genuine presence to every offering with humility, devotion, and deep care for the collective. In addition, she has extensive training in bodywork, functional anatomy, wildcrafting, emotional intelligence, and earth-based wisdom. She leads Rasa Yoga teacher training courses online, alchemical arts for sacred sisterhood online, and is the co-host of the Fearless Heart Activation series with her beloved, Masood Ali Khan, to inspire courageous conversations and brave space for real transformation in these times.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Emotional Intelligence and Shadow Work

If you want to learn the 3 steps of transformation according to the yoga sutras, called Kriya Yoga or what is yoga in action, how using these steps will help you attain a deep meditative state, a state of oneness and pure bliss, or understanding the obstacles that are in the way, this episode is for you. This episode is part of our premium subscription, but to celebrate the new year and our anniversary, you can have access to it and our whole library for free for 1 month. To get access to it, visit https://withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger, select the premium podcast tier and use the coupon code NEWYEAR2022.With Ribbon is an awesome platform and I’m excited for you to discover it for free.1. Your podcast premium membership whereas a member, you can get a ton of exclusive audio and video content like talk on the yoga sutras.2. You can also have access to over 200 recorded full-length yoga classes in a Netflix-Style Membership, with new ones added every week.3. You can sign up for any live-stream class I offer or any special event!Now coming back to our premium membership for a second, since you’re here on the podcast, know that as you become a Premium Member, your contribution ripples to thousands of people every week, allowing me to offer accessible quality free content to a wide community of yogis. This podcast is a way I contribute to the community, and this membership is a way you can too. It allows you to share everything yoga offers with the world by supporting me in the creation and production of this podcast while I choose to keep it ad-free. Ok! That’s it for now, go to https://withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger to get your access to our premium membership for free visit us on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast or Stay tuned for our next regular episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

FREE PREMIUM | Yoga Sutras 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3

Have you been curious about aromatherapy and have wanted to include essential oils in your practice or yoga or meditation? If so, this episode is for you.EPISODE ANNOUNCEMENTS:?? Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast anywhere you listen. Find out how here.?? Take a screenshot of the episode when you listen and share one of your takeaways on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast?? Become a Premium Member: www.withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger. ?? Read my 5 biggest takeaways here.QUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODEWhat is aromatherapy?Why use aromatherapy? What are some benefits?What are your favorite smells for meditation?Lavender is such a popular one, if you don't like it, what would you replace it with?Can you explain how essential oils affect the brain?Are there any contraindications to essential oils?What do you say the skeptics?How can we choose a quality oil? What should we look for?What are your personal favorites? What are the first oils you would recommend people to start with?ABOUT OUR GUESTLaura is a trained yoga teacher and owns a yoga studio in West Sussex where the Spritz Wellness brand was born. Spritz Wellness was one of our sponsors for our 100th episode giveaway. Laura splits her time between London and her beach house and the inspiration for the Spritz Wellness products comes from a combination of yoga, nature, and the sea. She uses aromatherapy as one way to be grounded and find calm in a very busy world. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Using Aromatherapy to Enhance Your Yoga Practice

This episode is part of our premium subscription. To get access to it, visit https://withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger. With Ribbon is an awesome platform where you'll find1. Your podcast premium membership whereas a member, you can get a ton of exclusive audio and video content like today’s class to help wind down before bed2. You can also have access to over 200 recorded full-length yoga classes in a Netflix-Style Membership, with new ones added every week.3. You can sign up for any live-stream class I offer or any special event!Know that as you become a Premium member, for as low as $5/month, your contribution ripples to thousands of people every week, allowing me to offer accessible quality free content to a wide community of yogis. This podcast is a way I contribute to the community, and this membership is a way you can too. It allows you to share everything yoga offers with the world by supporting me in the creation and production of this podcast while I choose to keep it ad-free.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

PREMIUM | Slow Practice Before Bed

Are you on a journey of personal growth? Looking to be happier? Wondering how to be on that path with a partner? If so, this episode is for you.EPISODE ANNOUNCEMENTS:?? Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast anywhere you listen. Find out how here.?? Take a screenshot of the episode when you listen and share one of your takeaways on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast?? My 5 biggest takeaways from this episode.?? Become a Premium Member: www.withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger. QUESTIONS THEY ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODEWhat is the inner work? What does actualizing that mean or look like?What impacts our happiness? What is the source of our dissatisfaction?How do we start to shift our inner dialogue?Why does chasing what we want does not ultimately bring happiness?How do we stay in the present moment and stop chasing happiness?Can we go over the level of consciousness?How can we do this work with a partner?ABOUT OUR GUESTMat & Ash are best known as The Yoga Couple to their 500K+ online community. The influential couple is internationally recognized for their holistic healing work, authentic yoga teachings, and as the creators of The Inner Work method. Mat and Ash boldly give a voice to taboo topics such as pornography addiction and the importance of women’s menstrual cycle awareness and as Top 10 Amazon bestselling authors of The Inner Work, hosts of The Inner Work podcast, and cast members on the first season of Battle of The Fittest Couple on Paramount Network, they have made it their mission to bridge the gap between Western Psychology and Eastern Philosophy. Currently, they reside in Hawaii where they host healing retreats, yoga teacher training, and offer one-on-one life counseling specializing in The Inner Work teachings. Their methods focus on understanding the varying levels of human consciousness and the power to self-heal any aspect of the human condition including relationship issues, overcoming addictions, inner child healing, and trauma recovery.  LINKSTik Tok | Website | Instagram | YouTube  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Inner Work, with The Yoga Couple

Have you been practicing what you've been taught but don’t always understand why you’ve been told to do or avoid certain things in asanas? Or Are you teaching yoga and feeling stuck in your cues? Well, biomechanics might be the answer to your questions.EPISODE ANNOUNCEMENTS:?? Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast anywhere you listen. Find out how here.?? Take a screenshot of the episode when you listen and share one of your takeaways on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast?? Read my 5 biggest takeaways from this episode.?? Retreat info: erikabelanger.com/yoga-retreat-mexico.?? Book a call: https://erikabelanger.com/contact?? Become a Premium Member: www.withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger. ?? Donate to help build the yoga retreat with Go-Fund-Me Campaign. Use the same link to share!ABOUT OUR GUESTJules Mitchell MS, CMT, ERYT500 is a Las Vegas based yoga teacher, educator, and massage therapist. Her unique approach blends the tradition of yoga with her extensive study in biomechanics to help teachers develop their craft and empower them with education. Jules’s methods intend to achieve ease in movement through deliberate effort, thus her teachings integrate numerous modalities, balancing the somatic aspects of yoga with the most current exercise science. Bringing the most useful and applicable pieces of that science into the yoga community is her passion. She regularly contributes to teacher training programs and leads workshops and courses worldwide. Her book, Yoga Biomechanics: Stretching Redefined, is now available through Handspring Publishing. As adjunct faculty at ASU, she serves as a yoga consultant on various research studies measuring the effects of yoga therapy on special populations. Her most influential teachers include Greg Lehman (Reconciling Biomechanics with Pain Science), Leeann Carey (Yapana Yoga), Gil Hedley (Integral Anatomy), John Casey (yoga philosophy and Sanskrit), and the many dedicated scientists who collect, analyze and publish data so we may continue to ask more questions, even when it invokes a discerning analysis of popular opinions.Her website: www.julesmitchell.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Yoga Biomechanics and Asanas, with Jules Mitchell

Do you struggle from time to time to feel, connect to emotions like anger, grief, sadness, and release those emotions? If so here's a meditation to help you practice to do just that. This episode is part of our premium subscription. To get access to it you need to visit our podcast premium membership area.Know that as you become a Premium member, for as low as $5/month, your contribution ripples to thousands of people every week, allowing me to offer accessible quality free content to a wide community of yogis. This podcast is a way I contribute to the community, and this membership is a way you can too. It allows you to share everything yoga offers with the world by supporting me in the creation and production of this podcast while I choose to keep it ad-free. Ok! That’s it for now, go onto https://withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger to get your Meditation to connect to and release emotions, visit us on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast or stay tuned for our next regular episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

PREMIUM | Meditation to connect to and release emotions

Tools and somatic practices for your health. Do you tend to be codependent in your relationships, a perfectionist at work, or a people-pleaser amongst your friends? Have you noticed how these patterns affect your health and your wellbeing? In today’s episode, we’ll talk about this and give you some tools and somatic practices to start addressing this.EPISODE ANNOUNCEMENT:?? My 5 biggest takeaways from this episode.?? Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast anywhere you listen. Find out how here.?? Take a screenshot of the episode when you listen and share one of your takeaways on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast?? Retreat info: erikabelanger.com/yoga-retreat-mexico.?? Become a Premium Member: www.withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger. ?? Donate to help build the yoga retreat with Go-Fund-Me Campaign. Use the same link to share!ABOUT OUR GUESTVictoria Albina (she/her) is a Certified Life Coach, UCSF-trained Family Nurse Practitioner, and Breathwork Meditation Guide with a passion for helping women realize that they are their own best healers, so they can break free from codependency, perfectionism, and people-pleasing and reclaim their joy.She is the host of the Feminist Wellness Podcast, holds a Masters's degree in Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health and a BA in Latin American Studies from Oberlin College. Victoria has been working in health & wellness for over 20 years and lives on occupied Munsee Lenape territory in New York’s Hudson Valley.Her Website (download her meditation and grounding practice for free)Instagram: @victoriaalbinawellnessPodcast: Feminist WellnessFacebookLinkedInQUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODEI know you use healing modalities and somatic therapy like yoga, ecstatic dance, and breathwork. Why did you get interested in these modalities?How can being codependent, perfectionist and people-pleaser affect our health?What are some of the somatic manifestations people can experience?How can we do expressive journaling if it's a practice that usually brings us deeper into focusing on the negative?How do we start shifting out of codependency, perfectionism, and people-pleasing?What’s the importance of connecting to our intuition, and learning to trust it in all this? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Overcoming codependency, perfectionism, and people-pleasing , with Victoria Albina

Have you experienced trauma and struggled to move through it so you can get on the other side and find the gifts in the experience? I know I have. If that’s your case too, this episode is for you.?? My 5 biggest takeaways from this episode.?? Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast anywhere you listen. Find out how here.?? Take a screenshot of the episode when you listen and share one of your takeaways on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast?? Retreat info: erikabelanger.com/yoga-retreat-mexico.?? Book a call: https://erikabelanger.com/contact?? Become a Premium Member: www.withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger. ?? Donate to support someone in need so they can attend a yoga retreat with Go-Fund-Me Campaign. Use the same link to share!?? Free Sacred Space Training with Keira: Coupon code ERIKAQUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODEHow do you define trauma?What is your life brought you to help people through trauma.How can we move through trauma?Any tips for people who think there’s no way they can live through the pain, the darkness?How can we use our experience to create, share and have an impact on the world?How does it look like to connect with your divine self?How can we show up in our business with the healing work of our trauma as the fuel behind us?How do you show up in your purpose if you are feeling overwhelmed with the pain?What are the things we can do daily to support our healing and supporting our impact?ABOUT OUR GUESTKeira Poulsen is a mother to 5 children, an intuitive spiritual entrepreneurship coach, 2 x author, and CEO of Freedom House Publishing Co.  Keira helps women who feel inspired to make a huge impact in the world write transformative books of light. She teaches them how to receive their book with spiritual tools that allow for the creation of the book to come through in under 2 months’ time.Keira then helps them create successful businesses of light, derived from the message of their book.  It is her deepest belief that women who are receiving powerful messages of truth from the Divine are here to share these messages through published books and create powerful and successful businesses of light that will impact humanity for the better! "Free Sacred Space Training with Keira: Coupon code ERIKAInstagram: @keirapoulsenMore about her offerings: https://msha.ke/keirapoulsen/#links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Finding the Gifts in Trauma, with Keira Poulsen

Last month I polled our premium members and they voted on a video where I would teach my favorite ns hacks. So if you’re stressed and looking for tools to feel more relaxed, this episode is for you. It is part of our premium subscription. Find it here.With Ribbon is awesome and you’ll find on this new platform 1. Your podcast premium membership whereas a member, you can get a ton of exclusive audio and video content like today’s NS video2. You can also have access to over 200 recorded full-length yoga classes in a Netflix-Style Membership, with new ones added every week.3. You can sign up for any live-stream class I offer or any special event like my upcoming yoga retreat in Mexico.Everything is now in the same place!Now coming back to our premium membership for a second, since you’re here on the podcast, know that as you become a Premium member, for as low as $5/month, your contribution ripples to thousands of people every week, allowing me to offer accessible quality free content to a wide community of yogis. This podcast is a way I contribute to the community, and this membership is a way you can too. It allows you to share everything yoga offers with the world by supporting me in the creation and production of this podcast while I choose to keep it ad-free. Ok! That’s it for now, go onto https://withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger to get your Nervous System Hack Video, visit us on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast or stay tuned for our next regular episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

PREMIUM | My Favorite Nervous System Hacks

Have you ever put a teacher a little far up on a pedestal or giving away your power when it comes to your spiritual practice? If so, today’s episode is for you. Our guest did just that, she's sharing her story and the lessons she learned on the way.For today’s episode, I sat down with Lopa van der Mersch. Lopa is a lifelong health seeker and founder & CEO of Rasa Koffee, a coffee alternative made of adaptogenic herbs. She spent years studying esoteric spiritual practices (& found herself in two cults!); has had a whole slew of health challenges that have had her seeking alternative therapies from Ayurveda to Functional Medicine to Shamanism for over a decade. Today, we sat down to talk about embracing nuance dogma and why we shouldn’t outsource our spiritual sovereignty.Listen to the episode here:MY 5 BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE1- Discernment is the best tool to get clear on whether a teacher has your highest interest at heart or not. See if the teacher is pushing you in a way that is generative for you or because they are getting something out of it. Some red flags: it's not ok to study with another teacher, you don't have a full sense of freedom, they hold your devotion as something they need and is owed to them, they think they only hold the truth, not open to being questioned, don't encourage you to have your own experience.2- To balance faith and discernment rest in your own experience. Be open to what comes, connect to your body and your heart, and then be willing to question it.3- Spiritual sovereignty starts with having a strong sense of self. Self-knowledge and self-trust are the base. Stay open to your teacher's opinion, but don't put them on a pedestal in a way that what they say has more value than what we think and feel.4- To start to take charge of your spirituality, with self-knowledge, you need to practice self-acceptance. As you cultivate a healthy sense of your needs, you start setting and upholding boundaries. Over time, you build more self-trust and own your voice more fully.5- We have so much input from the outside that we can start to question who we are. Our experiences are there to teach us and to give us parts of ourselves we need to see, to open to, to heal, or to develop.EPISODE ANNOUNCEMENTS:?? Subscribe, rate, and review this podcast anywhere you listen. Find out how here.?? Take a screenshot of the episode when you listen and share one of your takeaways on IG @onandoffyourmatpodcast?? Retreat info: erikabelanger.com/yoga-retreat-mexico.?? Book a call: https://erikabelanger.com/contact?? Become a Premium Member: www.withribbon.com/u/erikabelanger. ?? Apply for the yoga retreat scholarship.?? Donate to help build the yoga retreat with Go-Fund-Me Campaign. Use the same link to share!?? Coupon code ONOFF for 20% Rasa Coffee.QUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODEHow can we enter into a relationship of teacher-student instead of guru-disciple?How do you describe dogma?How can we practice critical thinking while also welcoming faith? And not throw out the baby with the bathwater and turn our back on spirituality or become overly cynical?How do we keep our spiritual sovereignty and still work with a teacher?What are the steps or some actions we can take to take charge of our spirituality? Reclaim our sovereignty if we tend to give it away a little too much?ABOUT OUR GUESTLopa van der Mersch is many things: Serial entrepreneur. Mother of two. Sustainability advocate. TEDx speaker. Recovering cult member. Three years ago, she added a new chapter: Founder and CEO of Rasa, the adaptogenic coffee alternatives revolutionizing people’s relationship to energy. 2015 was what Lopa now calls “her own personal 2020” — she left a cult, had emergency surgery while pregnant, lost a family member, and had a traumatic birth. Beaten down and exhausted, she needed a source of energy that could sustain her without burnout, crashes, or jitters.What she needed didn’t exist, so she worked with a clinical herbalist and Rasa was born: adaptogen-rich blends that nourish & energize while providing enough rich, roasty flavor to convert even the most devoted coffee fanatic. What started with a mom elbow-deep in herbs in her kitchen is now a movement, with triple-digit YoY growth and over 100K customers worldwide.Rase Coffee: wearerasa.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How to Stop Outsourcing Your Spiritual Life, with Lopa van der Mersch

Yoga as a practice, a discipline and a philosophy. Yoga for awareness, self-regulation and higher consciousness. Yoga to be embodied, to move, to connect. We often step on the mat for one reason and keep coming for a thousand others. Whether the practice is more physical, mental, or spiritual for you, this interview based podcast will answer all your questions. You will find a wide range of highly respected yoga teacher and authors here to inspire you to step on the mat and carry your lessons off the mat and into your life.

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On and Off Your Mat Yoga Podcast

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