How Yoga Can Help You Navigate Midlife Challenges and Find Inner Peace with Chelsea Rothert and Linda Baffa

Are you into yoga? Maybe you’ve considered adding it to your exercise routine, but have been reluctant. 

I fell in love with yoga, but it wasn’t instantaneous. 

It didn’t love my monkey mind, the poses, and the lack of flexibility I had…but I was drawn to it because I loved how it made me feel, the messages my teachers offered, and the community it provided.

I know yoga isn’t for everybody, but if you are trying to navigate difficult midlife challenges, yoga can connect you to your mind, body, and spirit in ways no other practice has–enabling you to find more inner peace even in the roughest moments.

That’s why I asked two of my all-time favorite yoga instructors, Linda Baffa and Chelsea Rothert to join me today. These amazing ladies are the founders of The Inspired Being, and we had a fantastic conversation about the benefits of yoga, meditation, and self-care.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Linda and Chelsea's unique journeys into the world of yoga and how they found a sense of home and embodiment through their practice.
• How yoga connects the body, mind, and spirit, helping us feel stronger, more balanced, and better overall.
• What are Pranayama breath and Ujjayi breath, and how to meditate even when you don’t think you can?  
• Simple ways to incorporate yoga and meditation into daily life, even with just a few minutes each day.
• The benefits of Linda and Chelsea's retreats and how they offer a deeper connection with ourselves.

Let’s slow down together for this inspiring episode where we dive into the world of yoga, mindfulness, and self-care through a yoga lens. 

Stay free and fabulous,

Laurie

These guides will help you take the next step in life. 

Click here for my “Somatic Healing for Beginners Guide”

Click here for my “Girlfriends Guide to Online Dating”

Click here for my “Girlfriends Guide to Dating Differently”

Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

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Website

Connect with Chelsea and Linda:

https://www.theinspiredbeing.com/

Instagram: @the.inspired.being

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

Transcript

Laurie James  
Welcome to Confessions of a Freebird podcast. I'm your host, Laurie James, a mother, divorcee, recovering caregiver, the author of Sandwiched A Memoir of Holding on and Letting go, a therapy junkie, relationship coach, somatic healer, and now podcaster. I'm a free spirit and here to lift you up. On this podcast, I'll share soulful confessions, and empowering conversations with influential experts. So you can learn to spread your wings and make the most of your second half. So pop in those earbuds turn up the volume. And let's get inspired because my mission is to help you create your most joyful, purpose driven life. One confession at a time. 

Laurie James  
Welcome back, Freebirds. I am so so excited today because I have the pleasure of speaking with two of my all time favorite people and yoga instructors in the world, Linda Baffa and Chelsea Rothert. And I met them at a local yoga studio near me, it no longer exists. And I have to say that that was such a special and sacred place for a very long time. And I don't think I realized it. And we'll get into this more, but I don't think I realized that and tell it was gone. But just to tell you a little about Linda and Chelsea. They are the founders of The Inspired Being, which is a mentoring and they offer retreats and they met over two decades ago during their yoga teacher training in Hawaii. Through the years, they've developed a unique way of inspiring people, me included, through wellness retreats, courses and workshops, their combination of teaching styles can be described as the perfect balance of a ying and yang. Yes. And they believe the power of retreating to recharge, is the key. And I have certainly benefited immensely from the retreat to the years. And I also wrote about one of their retreats in my book Sandwiched. So welcome Chelsey and Linda. And thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day and families and work to be with me.

Chelsea Rothert  
Glad to be here.

Linda Baffa  
Yeah. Thank you for having us.

Laurie James  
Yeah. So Linda, we'll start with you, Linda, help me a little bit how you decided to get in? Or how you fell into the yoga world? And how has that shaped you to the person you are today? And then Chelsea, I'll ask you the same question. 

Linda Baffa  
Hmm, yes. What a great question. Well, I feel like yoga was like the best friend that I never knew I needed and had ever found yoga, my best friend at age 18. At a time in my life, where I really needed a best friend too. I just started college and I went to NYU and I was a theater major. So it was a crazy journey for me. And it was part of our drama training to learn about our body and our breaths and self awareness, and all the good things that yoga provides. And I literally remember doing my first down dog and breathing into it and feeling like oh my gosh, I have found home I have found this beautiful remembering really of what it feels like to be connected to myself.

Laurie James  
Yeah. And can I safely say embodied like more embodied.

Linda Baffa  
Absolutely embodied is a big part of it for me, because I was actually very physically awkward growing up. And one of my stories, as we talk about, in many ways of self awareness is that I am not athletic. And that was something that I clearly stated around age 12, 13, 14 When everyone was getting into their sports, and I was like, not making any of the teams. I said, I'm not athletic. And I don't know this body. It is very awkward. I hate running. I hate moving. I hate everything. Then I went into singing in the arts and that's what created my acting journey. But yeah, it was the first time I felt good in my body. It was the first time I did something that I felt like, wow, I can do this practice and feel strong, feel energized, feel balanced, feel good. And it really changed my body in so many ways. It still does. I mean, if I don't practice for a week or two, I feel the differences. Yeah, embodiment is a huge part of it. Not just physically Of course, and all the ways but yeah, for sure. 

Laurie James  
Yes I love that. And for any of you who are listening, who knows Linda, I would never look at you or think of you as somebody who's not athletic? Right? I mean that just so you sharing that story. And that's actually I didn't realize that about your youth that you had that experience. So thank you for sharing that. What about you Chels? 

Chelsea Rothert  
I always feel like I stumbled into yoga quite accidentally, to be honest. I moved around a lot, childhood. And then again, as a young adult, I was always bopping around. And at the time, I lived in Vancouver Island, Canada, and I had some friends who took me and similarly to Linda, the first time I was on the mat, I felt like I had returned home, I couldn't pay it or describe it any other way. It just felt like I am absolutely supposed to be here. And fast forward. I moved to Hawaii after that. And I began practicing there. And my studio owner who I love to death, definitely a mentor of mine, which is ultimately where Linda and I met. But I mean, she saw something in me that I guess at the time I really didn't see for myself, and she offered to pay for half my training if I would teach media for a year. And I said, What do I have to lose? Sure. So she did. And I did. And it really was the beginning of everything really, I was laughing. Linda and I are currently doing the artists way with some plans of ours. And it asked us the other day to write a letter to a mentor. And I started thinking about this woman so fine. And I thought, wow, she saw something in me at the time that I didn't even know that I was interested in or needed. And not only did I need Linda, not only if I devoted the last 20 years of my career to all things yoga, and then some but I met my husband in Hawaii, so much of my life has really, it's really come from there and continued from there. And I I feel like I really do eat, breathe, teach, I think all things come from a yogic philosophy for me, and it's changed my body agreed with Linda. I mean, think I'm athletic ever, I've never been sport in my life. But I love everything that it is, truly.

Laurie James  
And I believe that that comes through the way you guys both teach the way you guys run your retreats, all of it. And I just want to say, one of the first times I ever went to one of your retreats was when I was in the thick of my eight year period of time in my life that I wrote about in my book. But I just remember that very first time that I went, and I was like, I don't know what to do with myself here. Right? Because I was not embodied. I was so busy doing everything for everybody else. And at the your living yoga retreat, where you have that silent day where there's no books, no social media, you can be creative, but I felt very lost. Right. But that was so profound for me thinking about that aspect of it. Because yoga to me, one of the many things that yoga has taught me to be more of a human being not a human doing. And I think that's been one of your phrases, Chelsea, and I'm still like, you know, we can't get away from it. Because you know, we have family and lives and things that we want to do and teach and coach and all of these things. But yeah, that was a turning point for me. There were many.

Linda Baffa  
Yeah, I think that's really common for most people. Yeah, even for me, like I think I started with the physical parts of yoga, the breath, the body. And that meditation came about five years after that, and then that's when it really started clicking like, Whoa, this is so much more.

Laurie James  
And that's what a lot of people do. They start yoga and to be honest, that's part of how I started. My very first class was Julie Raiders class. She didn't train you did she? She did. Okay, so that was my very first class. And I was like, I don't like this. Oh, it's my first drink. But all I know was I felt so much better after and then I started going once a week and then twice a week. And then when I was really into it, it was three days a week. Now I'm back to about twice a week. But it's still I can tell my mind it gives me so much more focus. I'm so much more embodied when I do that. And Linda, piggybacking on what you talked about, you know, a lot of people come into yoga and they're like, Oh, my God, this is boring, or I'm not flexible enough. Like, what do you say to somebody who says, who might be listening? Who is thinking that or I don't know how to do the poses? 

Linda Baffa  
My response I have to really one is, that's the point. Yeah, the perfect person to do yoga, because that's the whole point is to learn how to be bored, how to be uncomfortable, how to be with everything in your body, mind and spirit that you don't want to be with. Right? That's the whole point. People don't often like that answer. But that's the answer. And then I do this with my kids, sometimes when like, they say, I'm bored. And I'm like, awesome. Like, what an opportunity, again, another very Yogi answer, but I always just try to say like, this is where you start. Yoga is about coming as you are, right? It's not about being an acrobat, right? It's not about doing a handstand, or how many pushups you can do, right? I mean, our in western yoga has sort of made us think that that's what it's about. But if you go to the deep philosophy of yoga, it's nothing about that, right? The postures are there to help us move energy, shift energy in some way, whether that means you're bending your knee and forward, bending your knees in a forward fold, or the you have perfectly straight legs and you're touching your toes, it doesn't really matter, as long as you're in a shape and you're breathing through that shape and accepting that moment and being present, right? 

Laurie James  
Mm hmm. Yeah. And going into the breath, Chelsey, can you explain to our listeners, what Pranayama breath is and why it's important for us to focus on that when we are doing yoga. 

Chelsea Rothert  
Again, so many answers come to mind for me. But pranayama is breath. There's a variety of different pranayama exercises that are taught some very simple and Ujjayi breathing, just the traditional, you go to a yoga class and a great teacher will start a practice reminding us that that is really what we're here to do is to breathe first and move second. At least that's my philosophy. Like Linda said, if you're there and you're present, and you're breathing, then you are doing yoga. Similarly, the breath is in a yoga class physically, it's there to keep you present. Because it's kind of impossible to move your body in a variety of ways while thinking about what's for dinner, while also focusing on your inhale and your exhale, the purpose of your consistency of breath, your awareness is to keep you really present what you're doing. It audibly keeps you safe on your mat while you're moving, because you are truly focused and mindful of what you're doing. But I'd like to think that the breath is there in a practice to give us provide us with the opportunity to practice the art of presence, that is yoga is to practice the art of singular thinking. We're always thinking of a million things. How special is it really to focus on your breath, your pranayama I'm only focusing in this moment about my inhale, my exhale, my steadiness. That's the art. Really, that is the art for me. 

Laurie James  
Well, and that's a test for me if I go into a new yoga class, and you guys aren't around us anymore. Like, do they teach that? And there's so many instructors that have come across that don't teach that first. So can you Chelsea, just walk us through what that breath is that we're supposed to be doing when we go into a yoga class?

Chelsea Rothert  
Yeah, and you know, Ujjayi breathing sure, you know, there's definitely a way to teach Ujjayi breathing for the most part, I'd say in its most basic form is just breathing deeply in and out of the nose, you want to hear, whisper, you want to have warmth, you want to feel that there is a real integrity to the breath. It's long, it's slow, it's deep. It's audible, that the person beside you should be able to be inspired by your breath so that that breath then becomes a contagious energy in the room. But I find as a teacher, I oftentimes feel that many times there's one of two things I hear no breath, and it's like, my number one cue is I should hear you breathing right now. Right? Where's your breathing? Where's your breath? But number two is I think sometimes people are overdoing the breath and they're breathing in a very, very labor intensive sort of breathing and I think that'll wear you out right, so there's this low, deep, warm, intentional breath. But something that's realistic for you to be doing from start to finish. The reality of your, the maintenance of your breath has to be present with you there for sure. So just a slow, deep inhale through your nose, a long, deep exhale out your nose, really feeling that warmth at the back of the throat, just integrity is the keyword to use. 

Laurie James  
Thank you for sharing that. Because I think that for me, when I go to a yoga class, and instructor doesn't teach that, like, that's a measure of like, that's not a good teacher. And maybe I shouldn't be so judgmental about it. But I think because I've had you too. And you know, some of these other fabulous yoga instructors like Julie Reiter, and Heather, that you guys teach that. And what was interesting is I did a yoga class on Saturday, and something happened to their audio system. So she couldn't play music. And it was actually such a refreshing change, because she did focus on the breath. And most of the people in the class are regular. So it was just so beautiful for all of us to kind of be in sync with our breath. And that was kind of a refreshing change. Because tell me if I'm wrong, but like the music piece is more of what Western teachers have brought into the practice, right? Traditional yoga. I mean, it's been around for 2000 years, like, I mean, outside of live music.

Chelsea Rothert  
And don't get me wrong, you know, there's something really energetically like, good, right? When there's just good music going in, you're like this, I feel this in my soul. It's the same of like, just that feeling of wanting to get up and dance. But I can truly say one of my favorite classes I've ever taught, I can remember it, I can hear it still, in my mind was teaching out the green yogi and the music didn't work. And I had that moment of panic of like, what am I going to do? And then I said, you're going to teach the Yoga, you know, it's got nothing to do with it. And honestly, it was one of my favorite classes. And it was one of everybody else's favorite classes, too. Yeah, I'm thinking about that for sure.

Laurie James  
Yeah. And that's the universe, God, higher power, just, you know, kind of guiding us right of like, okay, so now we have to shift, let's, let's shift. And let's make the best of this. And it's amazing what comes out of those experiences, oftentimes when we lead. So Linda, in your opinion, why is yoga important for us in our self care practice?

Linda Baffa  
In a nutshell, I guess I'd say yoga is important because it connects all the facets of our human experience, right? It connects the body, and the mind and the spirit, the soul self, right? So it's a continual coming back to connection to yourself and connection to source. So I feel like without that, we're just stumbling through life. We're caught up in the motions. We're doing things habitually, all of us are, they'll mean experiences to do things habitually, especially to think things habitually. So yoga asks us to just pause and step back and shift, reconnect, like, recalibrate, and then go back into our life and say, Okay, well, now I know, I have some fresh eyes, I have some fresh perspective, I feel differently. I feel good, hopefully. I mean, yoga, always make me feel good. But for the most part, it makes me feel damn good. Like, if I don't practice, I feel kind of disconnected and shitty. And when I practice, I feel like I'm one of my clients always says, like walking on a cloud. And I'm like, Yeah, I do. It feels easier to move through this human experience in this life with the sense of reconnecting constantly. That's why it's a practice. We are constantly doing it, there is no end. And I think why I'm so passionate about it, because I feel those benefits constantly. And I can't share them with everyone and anyone. 

Laurie James  
Yeah, no, and it's true. I mean, it's been, I don't know, over 15 years since I first started doing yoga. And I'm the same way like I noticed when I like in disconnected and I think back I'm like, Why am I feeling this way? It's like, Oh, I haven't done yoga this week. I'm like, Okay, tomorrow or tonight, or whatever it is. Let's get it on the schedule. But that it is so key. And when I was writing my book, I mean, I probably have some ADHD or ADD, I don't know what they call it now. But I can remember going to yoga and then coming home and I had some of my best writing sessions. After I did yoga because I was so much more connected. I was able to focus And I was in touch with, and I could go back to what I was writing about, and really connect with what I was feeling, and be able to make meaning of it, because I was present and because I was more embodied, right. And so there's so many benefits, and really yoga was one of my first, you know, because I've been doing this Somatic Experiencing training. And that was really my first introduction to I mean, because yoga and a lot of ways is also a somatic practice, right? To become more embodied to become more aware of the sensations and the feelings, and the things that are happening inside of us. And I was like, Oh, wow, this is cool. I like this, let's do more and more. 

Linda Baffa  
And don't you feel like because of your yoga background, any other modality that you step into any other therapy or understanding of self is just that much more tangible, like you're able to access it more. And that's how I like, like Chelsea mentioned, we're doing the artists way. And I did this, I don't know, 25 years ago, when I was a struggling artist. And I mean, this is like, magical this time around. I am loving every, I'm not loving every second of it, because a lot of work. That's part of it. You know, I'm loving the part of it. That's work. And I'm seeing so many benefits already right away. We've only been doing this for a week. It's a 12 week journey, but it's just amazing how much more quickly you're able to absorb new things. 

Laurie James  
Tell me if I'm wrong, but you're probably getting things on a deeper level that the first time around. Yeah, that that's it exactly. So like, I feel like yoga in so many ways is the foundation of life. I mean, at a very simple way, tell me you guys disagree. But you know, if we have that foundation, where we're really embodied and connected with our mind, body, and spirit, and we're present, then you we can be more creative, we can step out of our comfort zone a little bit more, we can learn new things easier. And just in life, in general, it just helps us get through life.

Linda Baffa  
I would say deeper and faster or more quickly, right? The way that we recover from things is faster, it doesn't mean like bypassing big feelings at times, like we can be with those things happen in life. But the way we're able to process things and accept things many times is, it's a beautiful way to go through that is how I feel. 

Laurie James  
And it gives us a little bit more capacity, it doesn't mean that what's happening sometimes is okay, you know, some things we can't control. But for me personally, it's allowed more capacity to handle what was going on my life.

Chelsea Rothert  
Right? It's to say you're never in control of what's going on in life. But there's one thing we can all agree on is that we are out of control. But what we can do is we can control how we react, the tools that we arrive with, right? That is what we can be in control of is how we show up. And that is what the practice I think really does lead us to and it's such an exponential practice, the more often that you're practicing it is how, at this point in time, I can sit down for five minutes of meditation, and I can get there right away. And you meet somebody who wants to meditate. And they say, Well, every time I sit down for five minutes, or whatever my mind races and my answer is then sit down twice as long. It's exponential. The more that you do it, the quicker you'll drop in. But if you just walk once a year and try to meditate, well, no, you won't be very good at that. 

Laurie James  
No, but it's like anything, you know, you have to practice anything to get better at it. But can you touch on meditation a little bit Chelsea and the I think Linda talked about, she started with the physical of yoga, and then got into the mental benefits. But then five years later got into the meditation piece. But can you talk about how meditation can take you a little bit further with yoga or as in conjunction with yoga? 

Chelsea Rothert  
I think that meditation is one of those really beautiful things. You know, I think about even just myself. I've had problems with my hip in the last couple of years and it's kept me away from my physical practice. You know, I do have limitations currently that I'm not able to get on my mat as often and do I feel like I'm practicing yoga less? No, I actually don't and I don't because I have the the art of meditation. And as Linda said, this is a practice for your whole self. It's not just a practice for your body and whether in the beginning, you're receiving the benefits of meditation by moving meditation, that physical loss knows that you're doing it, eventually, you just arrive, you know, and I love it. And I mentioned that because there, you know, in my career, I've seen people with all different body types, different ages, like not everybody is able to do the type of practice and where do we all land, we land with meditation, I think that's where we're going. That's the point of it is to drop into the soul to drop into that deep inner knowing. And that is where we arrived by meditation. And the beauty of meditation is, it always sort of surprises me that so many people are so intimidated by meditation, because uni is there are hundreds of different kinds of meditation, walking outside, and listening to the sounds of the world pass you by, but doing it with a sense of awareness, that is meditation, sitting up in the mountain tops and meditating in peace and quiet, that is meditation, you know, there are so many forms, it's to be quiet, it's to be still with your thoughts. It is the seat of mindfulness and observation and self awareness, it is not a practice meant for perfection, if you're looking for a practice of perfection, meditation is not it right? It is about giving yourself permission to become quiet, so that you can hear what's going on. Always think of my favorite quote, A Rumi quote, and it's the quieter become the quieter we become the more weakened here, that is attention to me just be quiet, just quiet the mind and anything will arrive.

Laurie James  
Totally and, and when I've been at your retreats, or I go up to the mountains, to Mammoth or I go down to the beach, I mean, when I get away from the busyness of every day, or I take my dog for a walk, I mean, that's when information or my higher self, or I get clarity around something. But I think our society now is, you know, we have to be on our phones, because I can't look like I don't have anything to do. And I'm just standing here, you know, waiting for my coffee, or whatever it is.

Chelsea Rothert  
Well, I was gonna say meditation, to me is a form of beautiful boredom. You know, it's the gift of silence. I think we live in a very noisy world, we really do. We are so busy, everybody is so busy, they're so obsessed with filling their time. I mean, gosh, what would happen if you just started the day with five minutes of quiet for me, it's like, it's gaining time, I feel like the wheels are like winding backwards. I'm gaining time just by starting the day with like, a moment of peace and quiet before I open the door and hear the whole world blasting at me. My approach to the day is quite different when I have taken five minutes to enter gracefully, versus I opened the door to the sound of my two children and the whole house and somebody needs this. Somebody needs that, you know, those five, they're sacred. 

Laurie James  
Absolutely

Linda Baffa  
I was gonna say the same thing. We're like an old married couple that can finish each other sentences. I was gonna say boredom is an opportunity, like I said earlier, and that opportunity is peacefulness. Right? Quiet 

Laurie James  
Inner peace. 

Linda Baffa  
Inner peace, that we are so unconditioned to accept or understand. Right? Like, it's like we what are you going to be? What are you going to do? What are you going to achieve? It's never enough. Keep going fill up your you know everything and it's just- 

Laurie James  
Fill up your day, fill up your life. And think about either the past or the future. 

Linda Baffa  
Oh, totally. Exactly. Yeah, heaven forbid you just land in the present moment and be like we keep coming back to this word being which is part of our brand inspired being. Yeah. 

Laurie James  
But it's also true and I think what I'm continuing to learn through my somatic experiencing it, it's not just being that is but now somatically can you get out of your head and into your body and really feel the sensations like I have a lot of tingling in my body which is you know, energy right. So you talk about Chelsea a five minute ritual. One of the things that I do I don't have any kids In my house, as you guys know anymore, but I lie in bed for five or 10 minutes, and I just feel the sensations, I feel the tingling, I might, you know, notice my heartbeat. And I'll just focus on my body, not my thoughts, not what I have to do today. And that has been really transforming for me because I start out in a calm, present place. And then I move on to my day.

Chelsea Rothert  
I think that that is so important, I think any form and I think that's the beauty here is whether it's a physical yoga practice, it's a meditation, whether it's a somatic awareness, in my opinion, all of that is a form of mindfulness, wellness has been around forever, for a reason like to be mindful is to be aware. And when you are aware, then you are exactly where you're meant to be. You are where you are. Right. And that is, that's it is just simply to be mindful of where I am how I feel, what is it? What's going on here? Right, instead of rushing through?

Laurie James  
Yeah.

Linda Baffa  
So when I mentioned, it's really an art or act of slowing down. And yes, there's stillness, but even in stillness, I like to say this a lot in yoga, there's still movement, right? The heart still beating, going up and down your breathing, you know, there's still movement. So it's the art of slowing down enough pausing, I love to use the word pause to feel these things, like you said, like you do. And I want to bring it back to the artists way, because I'm just so into this. We have to write three longhand pages every morning. That's the task really, for 12 weeks. And I mean, I do college rule like full sheets. And what I've noticed about it more than anything is that I have to slow down. Write fast enough to keep up with the thoughts that I'm used to, like texting or typing, even talking, right, because I forgot how to write because I never write was who does nobody writes anymore. I can't read my handwriting, but it doesn't matter. Because I've forgotten how to write, but I'm slow. Like I have to slow down. And that has been the most beautiful thing like it's

Laurie James  
Yeah, yeah. And somatically slowing down. We need to slow down to be able to heal, to heal our trauma to heal from your last relationship to heal from a startle or you anything that might be stuck in our nervous system. It's that act of slowing down which yoga allows us to do, right. So that I love that. And that's so key. So Chelsea, I don't know if you're still doing it. But in the past, you were a birthing doula. And you have focused a lot on pre and postnatal yoga. And at the last retreat that I was at, you were taught you had us all working on strengthening our stomach, and you're having us do these exercises. Can you touch on that a little bit? I don't know. It might not translate well, via verbal but if we can, because that was profound for me. 

Chelsea Rothert  
So what we did really is Yes, I'm very passionate about a postpartum body. I know that's an odd thing to say. I just think it's very odd. We live in a world where we focus so much on the beginning and then we're like good luck with you get on with your life. See ya, something so intense has happened to your body for nearly a year. Right? So what we really did on that retreat, which I mean, my children are five and eight, Laurie, I don't know if you want to say how old you are, and your children are, you know, quite older. Now. I would consider everybody postpartum I'd consider women who haven't had babies postpartum to be honest, you have a pelvic floor, you have a uterus, you know, you have all these parts of your body that whether you have just birth the baby or years ago, you birth the baby or you didn't birth a baby and you're going near your menopause state of life, like there is a real hammock that lives in your body. And the hammock gets tired from years of having things sit in it. And that's just the best way for me to say what we actually did during that retreat was I walked you guys through five diastasis recti is its name so when a woman gets pregnant, oftentimes the abdominal wall so the very surface layer of your abdominals can pull apart and it causes this separation and it can cause a lot of back pain and hip instability and all sorts of stuff. So the exercises come from that if anybody wants to know what they are, go find a diastasis program. There are many He thinks I think I have one on YouTube. But that's really what we did was the exercises. And the exercises are meant to strengthen your core and your pelvic floor. But it's not just that what you're learning to do in those exercises. And what I feel very passionate about teaching is how to get the two of them to talk to each other. Because in my experience, most of the time, people either have a strong core, or they have a strong pelvic floor, the real honey is how to get them to have a conversation with each other. And that's why it's so hard, you can do five of these exercises, and every muscle in your body is trembling and feeling very foreign. And like, I don't know how to do this, I actually can't do this, well, you kind of can't in the beginning, because they're not two things that are really in good partnership with each other. So the exercises are meant to teach, the best way that I can say it to give like a visual for people who are listening to this is you have a north, south and an east and a west, you have all four directions when it comes to your core and your pelvic floor. And in order for them to talk to each other. You need to be feeling like your north and south are connecting. And your east and west are connecting all simultaneously. At the same time. If you can achieve those four quadrants coming together, you're doing it. And it should be really, really hard. If it's not, you're not doing it right.

Laurie James  
That was a challenging and enlightening exercise.

Chelsea Rothert  
Yeah, like five exercises and you feel burnt out. Right. That's when you're doing something.

Laurie James  
They were small micro movements, micro movements. Thank you. That's what I was looking for. They were small micro movements, but I definitely felt them. And I did them for a while. But I need to look that up too.

Chelsea Rothert  
I'll send you a link.

Laurie James  
Yeah, send me a link. And I'll stick it in the show notes for everybody too. So I know we've covered a lot. But is there like one or two for each of you, like go to tools that are yoga related that are easy that we can share with our listeners?

Chelsea Rothert  
I don't know if mine is easy, I guess I really believe that the reason why Linda and I have created our brand around retreating is because I really do believe that it should be a non negotiable for every person here on this earth. I don't care who you are, what your financial situation is, we can figure out a way to just make it happen for everybody taking time. And sure, maybe yours is not a seven day retreat, you know, across the globe with us, maybe it's a one day experience, maybe it's a half a day, maybe it's a couple of hours to yourself. But pulling away from everything that makes up your life and really just pulling back it's called retreating for a moment it is to retreat from all that goes on. It provides such clarity and such easy connection to yourself, it is really hard to connect to yourself in a noisy world, it just it. So I do believe that that is my tool. It's purely selfish, in my opinion, why we lead retreats so often.

Laurie James  
But I disagree with you in terms of selfish. 

Chelsea Rothert  
No, I mean, why we do what we do. 

Laurie James  
Oh, why you do what you do. Okay, I thought when you're going on the retreat with- 

Chelsea Rothert  
No, leading the retreats itself, and that I get to attend four to five retreats a year.

Linda Baffa  
However, when we go I mean, I also appreciate what you're saying and try to retreat a couple times a year or daily if I can, you know, to find that moment of respite and connection to myself. But doing the practices on our own are obviously different. Like, than when we're leading, you know, because we're holding, guiding. Yeah, all add on. To me. It's just like movement and meditation, which is a yoga practice. If I can, yoga practice in daily life is real good. Of course, that is not the reality of my life. I have two young children's I work pretty much full time. So to carve that out is really challenging. So it can be really simple. Like for me, it could be five minutes in the morning like you do, Laurie it could be a guided meditation. Usually I'm doing in the middle of my day right now we just got a puppy so I'm extremely sleep deprived. So I lay down on my bed and I listen to someone just guide me that I can just like go right in and not have to like let all the thoughts bounce around and just like drop into my breath or something like that for 15 to 20 minutes a day and then movement. Really it can be anything. I mean, obviously yoga is wonderful and do so many things for the body but if it's a walk around the block if it's sometimes I love to play tennis, you know, any any movement, right? Ride your bike, play basketball with your kids, any way to like shift to the physical energy is is to me always needed.

Laurie James  
Beautiful. Thank you. And can we touch on your retreats. So tell us about your upcoming retreats in the fall and into 2025.

Chelsea Rothert  
We have our next retreat is in October, It's our flagship retreat. So it is really five full day immersion of all of our go to tools, there's a Day of Silence, there's a cleanse, there's really clean eating daily meditation practices, we're really setting people up to walk away feeling immensely refreshed and very much in tune with their disciplines and what it takes to live with this a daily sense of inspiration. So it's a real deep dive for sure. And it's the foundation of our teachings. So that is in October. And then after that we have I guess Costa Rica, we're heading to Costa Rica in January, the end of January, for a pretty intimate experience. Actually, Linda, you might want to touch on that one. 

Linda Baffa  
Sure, yeah, we're gonna go into right by the ocean, but like in the jungle, and it'll be sort of an adventurous retreat, they'll be surfing nearby ziplining, waterfalls, hiking, all sorts of fun things to do in nature, which is what Costa Rica is all about. It's gonna be kind of a perfect mix of a longer retreat and a shorter retreat, we're gonna do five nights. So people are welcome to book and with other travel or meeting family or friends or doing their own thing. And Costa Rica is huge. This sort of stemmed from like, we love Bali, I've led multiple retreats in Bali, I would go back again and again. But it is such a long journey. And we I went online to those retreats with you. Yeah. And it's amazing to go that far away and really step into another world. And Bali is amazing. And for so many reasons. But Costa Rica still has that Bali energy that jungle, the ocean. It's a beautiful culture, but it's only like six hour journey versus like a 24 hour journey. So yeah, so that's sort of and then we're doing at the end of January when most people are cold and want to be warm. So that'll be nice. And yeah, it'll be pretty intimate. Probably less than and 12 or less people. So that's, that's really special. So we can really connect with everybody and dive a little deeper through the practices, but also like harnessing that sense of adventure and playful energy. Yeah, playful energy getting out of your comfort zone at times. I mean, we all need that. 

Laurie James  
Absolutely. And your flagship retreat Chelsea that you were talking about. I went with a girlfriend Marcy, for probably four years straight. We went at every year and I love that retreat. At the beginning. I have to say there was a little love hate relationship, but overall, I loved it and and the cleanse pardon me that might be the part that I didn't didn't love. And my body didn't love that so much. But what I want to say about it, that is a retreat that I truly you're living yoga retreat, which is your signature retreat. That would make me feel good. Like that would sustain me literally for like six months. 

Chelsea Rothert  
I agree. 

Laurie James  
It was wild. 

Chelsea Rothert  
Yeah, I ride high for a long time. 

Laurie James  
Yeah. And not like in I'm on an adrenaline rush. But just I call it homeostasis like I just felt very balanced and very even in my nervous system wasn't you know, didn't have high highs and low lows even though I was going through a lot and managing a lot.

Chelsea Rothert  
And I think that ultimately you know why we've named it the living inspired retreat is because you come home really feeling like that is exactly what you're doing. You've arrived home with a real authentic sense of inspiration about your life and with a lot of tools in your tool bag as to how to do that for a longer period of time. 

Laurie James  
And not just yoga. I mean, it's eating healthy and getting rid of caffeine and you know, all of it.

Chelsea Rothert  
And I think that that's the point of what Linda and I like to offer. So we have about four retreats a year and they all really feed a different part. You know, we've got that the living inspired which is really about again, honing in on the disciplines and really setting yourself up with lots and lots of tools to walk away with. We've always got one international that is pretty much about like fun and just tapping in again, have that childlike spirit that just says enjoy to enjoy, because that's what life is about. We always have a one day retreat, typically in January. Our next one is January 11. I believe in the Pacific Palisades. It's just a real, we always get to check in with the people that we have, you know, missed. And we it's a great place to drop in and get reconnected to yourself in a very short, inspired day. And then we've got a, a women's retreat next April, in Ojai, and it's really about self care, it's the definition of self care, it's really just reminding ourselves that, you know, we've got to gotta love on ourselves, you know, quite often to feel great. And to do that without any apologetic energy whatsoever. You know, it's important to take care of yourself big time and connect in that sense of sisterhood. Sorry, gentlemen, you're not invited on this one. But there is something really special about the sisterhood. And that's really where that Ohio State comes from, is just getting to the root of it all.

Laurie James  
Yeah. Love it. Love all of them. And so as we come to a close, what's one confession that each of you guys would like to share? Maybe something we haven't touched on, around yoga, or healing or mindfulness. 

Linda Baffa  
I'll go. And Chelsea might even say something very similar. But I think that confession when I think about confession, I guess that's the word you use, right? Yeah. Yeah, I feel like it's sort of like admitting something that you don't want people to know. And Chelsea, and I like to do this with each other a lot. Until you know each other like some of our secrets. And I feel like, the main thing is that we are walking this walk with all of you. And we are not perfect beings, and yoga and mindfulness and all these practices. They're sort of like a myth that if you are teaching them, or if you've been on this path for a long time that you're living this enlightened, beautiful, peaceful, blissful all the time life and, and I've even felt that about some of my teachers and learned in many ways that they're hot messes. And I am- 

Laurie James  
Not that either one of you are hot messes. 

Linda Baffa  
No, I was gonna say I am a hot mess, many times. And, you know, there's, I like to call it like, the primitive human parts of us that, you know, maybe when we're not as connected to our practices, because we're busier because we don't take the time or we get out of practice, for whatever reason, that life does get overwhelming and uncomfortable. And then, you know, it's easy to go back into habits that maybe don't serve us. And it's easy to do things that maybe don't feel like aligned with who we want to be, you know, like when I snap at my kids, because I'm just frantically trying to get out of the house and I scream at them. I mean, I do we do, we all do. Things that are very unacceptable to be honest, at times, and, and we're human exactly. And I love and embrace, I always say, like, I love and embrace this part of me, too. That's what I do, that's my practice, sends me that I'm like, let me just take a deep breath, like the ability, like we were talking about to bounce back or to catch yourself is, so it's more like, it's like a small amount of time, right? Like, whoa, that just got crazy. Like, I'm not going to stay here. And I don't want to be here. And we're going to talk about this and I'm going to apologize, so that ability to recalibrate and catch those moments. And sometimes it's even, you know, like, it's cumulative, like, especially like one of my habits, I'll admit is I love to have a few drinks. You know, I just love to throw a few back and sometimes it's two or three days in a row, like Fourth of July weekend when you're with your family and everyone's doing this unconscious fun behavior. And it's great. And then you know, you come back to life and you're like, now I need a cleanse now. Yeah, so yeah, that's it just like acknowledging that life is messy and ups and downs and we are and we're just constantly needing this practice to bring us back to center.

Laurie James  
Love that.

Chelsea Rothert  
Well, clearly, I should have opted to go first.

Linda Baffa  
Because I said it all. 

Chelsea Rothert  
Yeah, you did. I you know, that is absolutely my confession. I am a perfectly imperfect human and so were you and so are we all you know, and yeah, I think that what works for one doesn't work for the other and I think that I've heard this I hope it's a compliment. I've heard this from so many of our guests, you know where they will hear Linda and I do our workshops are, you know, we do these live chats on Instagram at times. And I think that they kind of put us up on a pedestal, and then they come to a yoga retreat with us. And they're like, wow, like, it's so nice to really get to know you for who you really are. And I do take that as a compliment. Because I am this and I am that, you know, and we're, we're everything. And that is what makes us who we are. And when we, you know, coming up with our brand name, that was the root of what we were teaching, you know, was like, we tried to come up with a name that would embody that, that we are perfectly imperfect humans. And we are simply two women who quite frankly, really do have such a beautiful yin and yang energy, Linda, and I could not be more different if I think we tried, in so many ways. But I think that's what makes us really special is how we really-

Laurie James  
You complement each other. In my opinion.

Chelsea Rothert  
We do you know, and I think that that is the understanding. It's like having the understanding that what is right for me isn't right for you. You know, we do things so differently. But at the end of the day, like we've got the same route, and we've got we're coming from the same place. And I think that's beautiful, because it shows you that you know, you have what it takes to be an inspired being too. You do, you really do. And it'll work for you how it's meant to work for you. Were we here to give you a few suggestions and hold your hand a little along the way and teach you what has worked for us, you know, and but yeah, we're not perfect.

Laurie James  
It works and leave the rest. 

Chelsea Rothert  
Yeah, exactly, yeah. 

Laurie James  
Well, thank you both for being here. We'll put it in the show notes. But where can people find you?

Chelsea Rothert  
TheInspireToBeing.com. 

Laurie James  
Beautiful. And we'll put your Instagram handle on there. And their website has all of their retreats. And thank you guys so much for being here. I loved our conversation.

Chelsea Rothert  
Thank you. And we wanted to just mention that we would love to offer a an incentive discount to anybody who wants to join us on one of our overnight retreats. We've got three to choose from. So we would love to offer a discount for anybody that comes as referral from you. We love you. And I'm sure will love your people too. 

Laurie James  
Yeah. Thank you. I'll make sure that that's in the show notes as well.

Linda Baffa  
Yeah. Thank you so much, Laurie, it was beautiful to connect with you and share all this good yoga vibe here.

Laurie James  
Yeah.

Chelsea Rothert  
Lots of years together. It's kind of special to see that. Here. We are now.

Laurie James  
Right? I love it. I love it. And I love you guys. 

Chelsea Rothert  
Love you back. 

Laurie James  
Thanks again. 

Laurie James  
Thank you for listening to this episode of Confessions of a Freebird. I'm grateful to be in your ears and hearts. If you're interested in becoming a free bird, I'd love to support you. Please check out my website at Laurieejames.com to learn how we can work together or to sign up for my newsletter. So you can receive tips on how to date and relationship differently and ultimately find more freedom and joy in your life. If you found this podcast helpful, please follow or subscribe rate and review and share it with friends so they can find more freedom in their second or third act also. Until next time.