Do you feel like you are always running from one thing to the next without taking time to check in with yourself? Would you like some tools and advice on how to release frustration or angry emotions? Do you want to learn about the simple yet life-altering benefits of mediation?

In today’s podcast, I am joined by Kelly Smith. Kelly and I talk about the restorative and freeing benefits of yoga and meditation.

Meet Kelly Smith

Kelly Smith is a globally celebrated yoga and meditation teacher, E-RYT 500 /YACEP, founder of Yoga For You, and host of the iTunes chart-topping podcasts, Mindful In Minutes (100k weekly listens) and Meditation Mama.

Kelly believes that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to yoga and meditation and encourages her students to find their own personal practice, listen to their bodies, and find inner joy by accessing their most authentic selves and owning their power.

Kelly specializes in the non-physical limbs of yoga and is best known for her master training in meditation, restorative yoga, and yoga Nidra and her international retreats.

Connect with Kelly on her Instagram.

In This Podcast

Summary

• Yoga is much more than just stretching
• You can practice enhancing your self-awareness
• How yoga helps you manage strong emotions
• How to set up a simple and sustainable meditation practice

Yoga is much more than just stretching

Often on Instagram or social media, we see yoga poses being done by flexible people doing flashy movements. It might just look like flexible stretching and spending time on a mat, but yoga is much more than just that.

There are eight different aspects to yoga, and some of these include:

• Poses
• Meditation
• Breathwork
• Concentration
• Self-awareness

There are these eight different elements that make up the practice of yoga, so when you’re just going and doing the stretch or [just] doing the poses, we’re really only doing 1/8^th of the practice. (Kelly Smith)

Yoga can also translate to “union” as in the union of all these aspects together, and also the union of the “self” that you feel connected to in the present.

With tools like meditation, self-awareness, and breathwork, you can become more attuned to your “self” in the present.

You can practice enhancing your self-awareness

It is very easy to become and maintain a high level of busyness. It is easy to pile up the schedule and run from one thing to the next without checking in with yourself, and your life at large.

With activities and teachings like yoga, you can use it as a grounding tool to set your day up well in the morning or to collect yourself at the end of a busy one.

To me, meditation is the thing that sets the tone and prepares me for a full day of keeping those spinning plates up in the air, or it’s a thing at the end of the night where I can turn the volume down on all of the noise. (Kelly Smith)

Carving out those 10 minutes in the morning or at night (or both) to check in with yourself and make time with yourself and your personal relationship is vital to helping you create a good, balanced, and successful life.

How yoga helps you manage strong emotions

Motherhood, parenthood, or being in a long-term relationship while balancing work and personal life are all powerful things that can bring out strong emotions in any person.

Yoga and meditation are practices that you can build to build your emotional fortitude and ability to handle stressful situations without lashing out or saying something that you’d later regret.

Anger and rage, they are emotions just like anything else, and one of my favorite parts about meditation is that it gives you the space to explore your emotions in this safe capacity so you can sit and be. (Kelly Smith)

You can use your meditation space to explore tough emotions and find their deeper causes and release them, instead of carrying that frustration around until it explodes.

How to set up a simple and sustainable meditation practice

1 – Commit to 10 minutes a day: meditating between 8 to 12 minutes a day is enough to receive the physical, mental, and emotional benefits.

2 – Try 10 minutes in the morning or 10 minutes in the evening: don’t work with good intentions. Plan 10 minutes in your schedule and pick either to do them in the morning or the evening.

3 – Pick a focus: gently focus on your breath, on noticing and clearing your thoughts, or on how your body feels. As a beginner, consider following a guided meditation like Mindful in Minutes or Molly Loves Mornings.

Meditation is just single-pointed concentration, so focusing your mental power on one thing what I really recommend is just listening to a guided meditation. (Kelly Smith)

Useful links:

• Veronica Cisneros Website
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/empoweredandunapologetic
• Follow me on Instagram 
• Take our FREE Marriage Predictor Quiz here
• Website: https://www.yogaforyouonline.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yogaforyouonline/?hl=en
• LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/yogaforyouonline
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mindfulinminutes
• Podcast: https://www.yogaforyouonline.com/podcast
• Mediation Mama podcast: https://www.yogaforyouonline.com/meditation-mama

Meet Veronica Cisneros

Hello, my name is Veronica Cisneros, I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Marriage Coach, Course Creator, Retreat Host, Mother of 3, married for 23 years, host of the Empowered and Unapologetic podcast, and owner of a group private practice called Outside The Norm Counseling.

A lot of couples struggle with setting aside intentional time to connect and communicate. They yearn for meaningful conversations that don’t lead to arguments.

1 month away from divorce, I realized I had to do something different. For years I had compromised myself to meet the needs of my husband and my child, I lost myself and was about to lose my marriage. After years of personal growth and self-reflection, I not only reclaimed my identity, and celebrated 23 years of marriage but also helped hundreds of couples transform their marriage from feeling like roommates to experiencing a deeper love.

I am on a mission to help couples reignite the fire by providing them with the skills to have the relationship they deserve.

Whether you listen to the podcast, join the free Facebook community, or do the Workshop,  you’re in the right place. Let’s do this together!

Thanks for listening!

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