Bend so you won't break - Musings & Inspirations with Laura Bender

Hey what's up?! Can you believe we reached the last episode of the season? Thank you for listening! 

This week I connect with my good friend, yoga teacher and small business owner Katie and we discuss how yoga has kept her grounded and present especially in 2020. 

A couple years ago (beginning of 2018) a friend of mine had suggested that I contact her friend who happened to own a yoga studio that was possibly needing teachers. Enter Jaime - while I felt we made a really great connection and she was also a great boss, she really had a lot stuff going on that I was totally unaware of. Today we talk about her journey with reiki, yoga, moving to Colorado and her current spiritual path back to Christianity.

I had the pleasure of connecting with Leah a few short years ago kind of by accident. I was subbing a Restorative Yoga and Reiki class that was held at one of my former studios in Brunswick. Really awesome connection that has developed into a beautiful friendship - she has also taken some amazing photographs of me (which I have shared over and over), and I even offered some of my CHI Malas as part of a retreat she did a couple years ago. Every offering a lightness and gentleness.

I had the pleasure of connecting with Amy through a Facebook group for Yin yoga a few years back after I had received my training.  I know in my heart that we were connected because we are both souls on some kind of adventure leading down the path of self discovery and self transformation.

Amy always been passionate about working for herself and has owned various different businesses over the years. She worked online for a networking company in 2017 - 2019 which expanded her beliefs in what she could achieve as an entrepreneur. Amy radically changed her health, mindset and love for herself over the last 5 years and this year during the pandemic,  had a huge up-level in her personal & business life.

I’ve had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with Zella Marie, through 300 HR Yoga Teacher Training earlier this year. In fact,  I want to say she might have been the one that put a bug in my ear about podcasting. We had a great conversation about loving kindness, how just the simple act of helping someone out at the grocery store can make an impact on their life as well as yours and how her meditation practice helped her through a really tough school year. 

A little bit about Zella Marie - she has spent 20 years perfecting her craft in education, yoga, and movement.   Her expertise includes a RYT® 200 Hour Yoga Certification and has developed programs for all ages and abilities.  Zella currently coaches private yoga clients and conducts workshops on her proprietary Energy Flow Yoga™ program and she is the Co-Host on the Podcast - “Indigo Tent - Conversations for Your Highest Self”. 

She shares some really beautiful stories of kindness during this podcast, hope you enjoy. 

Way back in 2019, around this time of year, I met Christine at a coffee shop and we were talking yoga. We both spent October - March working at Bend Yoga in Brecksville.

With the shutdown of our little studio space and really everything else, we have been forced out of our boxes. Christine has years of experience in the restaurant biz and loves food. Due to some recent blood tests, she decided to go vegan and share her true food journey and her passion for wellness in her new blog and business Body Soul and Tofu!

This weeks theme is Ahimsa.  This literally means 'non-injury' and 'non-killing' or 'non-harming'. It implies the total avoidance of harming of any kind of living creatures (including yourself) not only by deeds, but also by words and in thoughts. My guest today, my good friend Nikki Lanigan and I are going to discuss the ways ahimsa applies to her life and learn a couple ways you could maybe incorporate it your day to day. We talk about essential oils, being vegan and vegetarian for most of her life and the practice and teaching of different forms of yoga. 

Denita! A couple years ago, I was hired to teach yoga at a Golds Gym in the Cleveland area. I was hired for the crazy time of the morning shift too. Well when I walked into our first staff meeting Denita was there with open arms to give me a hug! Instant connection - you can just tell if you share a bond with someone. We became great friends, we were going to run a race together, but the universe had other plans for both of us. Her discovering that she was an empath (which if you don't know how to deal - can feel like a flaw) but really brought her to a most awesome space.

During the show - (sorry I do some talking) we really dove into her journey of what brought her to Nigeria to marry her soul mate Peter, processing the energy and working through blockages that were brought on through the pandemic.