00:00:08
Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Mind our Mountain with Cheryl Strade. I'm so excited about my guest today, Adrian Mischler, famous for her YouTube channel Yoga with Adrian that's followed by thirteen million people around the world. Adrian feels kind of like a friend to me, even though I've never met her. I heard about her, I want to say about five or six years ago. When I heard about her thirty day yoga journey, I convinced my husband to do it. It was something that we did at the New Year, during the month of January, and every day we opened up my laptop and pulled out our mats in our bedroom and we did yoga together with Adrian and with the millions of people around the globe who were doing it alongside of us. It was transformative. It was also hard. It felt kind of epic, because to make yourself do something every day for a month is a hard thing. And what I loved about Adrian's energy and this process. Not only, of course, did she show us, you know, how to do the downward dog the right way or corrected our form very gently. She told us that we could. She told us that, however, we showed up to the mat was okay. She preached the gospel of loving kindness and forgiveness and generosity and acceptance, and I feel like she really was nurturing my spirit and my soul and my mind in addition to helping me do some new, cool, hard things with my body. In my conversation with Adrian, we talk all about that. Let's listen to my conversation with Adrian. Adrian Michler, Welcome to Mind over Mountain.
00:01:46
Speaker 2: Hi Bear, Cheryl, thank you so much for having me.
00:01:49
Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to talk to you, because I feel like I know you, and I'm going to guess I am not alone in that. Your YouTube yogame with Adrian channel has something like thirteen million followers at this point, maybe more, and I welcome you into my home on a regular basis. I found you many years ago when I did the thirty Day Yoga Journey one January, and it felt transformative to me. So thank you so much for being one of my teachers and guides. And it's truly a great honor to get to have this conversation with you today.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much. The feeling is mutual. I feel like logging on here and yeah, just that I'm meeting up with a friend, and yet this is our first time to have a conversation and look at each other in the eye. So I am grateful for that. I'm grateful to be considered and invited. And I never take it for granted that anyone would welcome me into their home, into their sanctuary, into their personal time and space. So that has been true since day one, really and just could not feel more true. I feel like I might even appreciate it more now than I did in the beginning. Wow, So thank you, thank you.
00:03:11
Speaker 1: When I first was thinking of people I want to talk to for this podcast, you were one of the very first people on my list, you know, and the very at the very top of my list. And I reflected on that a bit because when I think of you, and I've now practiced with you, you'll go with you often enough to know that everything you say about what we do with our bodies together, I mean through through my computer screen is about permission and gentleness and and and curiosity and a kind of you know, there's no there's no idea of competitiveness. I guess what I'm trying to get at is so much of the language you use, and I think the principles that you use as a teacher and a human it seems seem to be the opposite of what we think of when we think of sport or when we think of athletes. And I'm wondering what you think about that is, are you an athlete? Is yoga a sport? And where does it fall into line when it comes to questions like competition or driving hard as we think of with so many other sports right off the bat, For me, yoga is not a sport. It is a practice for living and growing and understanding and knowing ourselves so that we can so that that can influence the way we show up and get to know and understand others in the world. It is an ancient practice, as you know that I'm no expert of and never will be. But I am a humble student and very passionate person about having a practice that to me is not sport, but that is truly encompassing the whole person. So that is one spirit, one's physical body, and then our mind.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: And I think again yoga was all about, which is like this trustful surrender, and I think it takes a lot of courage. I would if I were to name a sport like an athleticism that has to do it with yoga, it would be that it would be all about courage, that you have to actually be brave enough to see yourself because it is not about that performance. And for me actually, and I think for many people who show up for any type of yoga, you may not notice it at first, but pretty quickly your inner wisdom's like what am I doing this for the mirror or the person next to me? Or like why am I giving two hundred percent when I have two percent today? Like where is that coming from?
00:06:00
Speaker 1: It?
00:06:01
Speaker 2: And as you said, and to me, that like sparks of curiosity that then feels really motivating to keep coming back to the mat for versus I think when I was younger, there was a lot of external There was a lot of motivating factors that were outside of myself, right, Yeah.
00:06:19
Speaker 1: It's it's so interesting though, because you know that word embodiment is I think one I think of a lot when I think about what yoga is, and it is I mean right there that that body is at the center of that word. You know, you said yoga's not a sport and I know what you mean by that, And I also think that when I'm doing yoga, I'm actually more more engaged with my physical being in a kind of total or whole or embodied way, if you will. Then maybe I am sometimes when I'm doing the other sports that I practiced that you would have no calling the sport, you know, whether it be hiking or running or weightlifting. And so in some ways, it's like yoga to me is more athletic because it's more about the body, or I guess what I mean, is athletic at its essential core. I wonder what you think about that, what you think about embodiment.
00:07:17
Speaker 2: Yes, I would agree that that there is an athleticism too, in that it is a discipline. It is all about focus and discipline and listening and responding. It's funny because oftentimes I will joke with my family or my work family that, you know, okay, looking ahead, looking at this month, like I'm an athlete, Like we're gonna, I'm gonna, We're gonna have to. I really need to be on my game, you know, just because of the sheer amount of things on the calendar or whatever. So that's kind of like my go to thing of like we're I'm going to be an athlete, I'm going name everything I consume, you know, everything matters. Yeah, But I think I'm probably using that because there's truth in that. There is a certain type of attention that is given when you're when you're in yoga that cannot come from any other place but yourself.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: But I think, Adrian, one of the things that that I find so compelling and beautiful and powerful about what you do on you know, on your YouTube channel and other places too, on your platform, Uh find what feels good. And I think that what I'm really curious about with you is you know you are you know, yoga is that friend, but you are that friend two millions of people, and you are the voice that counters that inner terrible someone that lives in a lot of our heads, all of our heads, let's face it. And you're saying it's okay, you are okay, And you do not condemn me when I can't touch my toes while keeping my legs perfectly straight, or I can't you know, reach in the same way that I see you reaching. And what about you? How do you? How have you been a friend to yourself? When have you found it hard to show up for yourself, to show up on the mat, to be that voice of invitation and kindness and generosity.
00:09:29
Speaker 2: So the first thing is, like, I I don't think I'd be able to share what I share online or in person in my community if I hadn't. You know, I'm a big fan of putting myself in other people's shoes. I'm not perfect, but I try to do that. But I also try to bring my experience to whatever it is I'm leading. So it's why I actually don't have like I have a little bit ill just this is a random example, but a good one. I have a little bit of prenatal yoga and yoga for mothers are expecting online, but not a lot because I've never had that experience. And so most of the things I could say, especially for yoga theater and the YouTube channel and that kind of passion project that mushroomed that blossom. I'm taking requests, but I'm usually sharing from a personal experience, something that I had gone through and then either overcome or move through or learned to celebrate. And I think that has been a big shift for me, is not worrying about how I sound or what other people think, but really giving myself more permission to not even openly. I'm barely getting it out there, but this practice definitely happening in my own kind of inner circle of celebrating my downtime's celebrating my failures, leaning into the tenderness, not needing to be this strong person. Leaning you know now that I'm you know, always wanting to be a good role model for young people, but especially for yoga teachers. You know, you don't have to know everything, like leaning into the things you don't know. Let me check on that I don't know. Let me ask you a question, right, you know, trying to find the answer together versus having all the answers. We know all these things, but it's just so funny how we're so We've got such a grip on some of these patterns that I think the best way I've been befriending myself is by allowing myself to be seen.
00:11:46
Speaker 1: I think by some people have been perceived as like, Okay, you know, you're the Yogi. You're the great Adrian Mitcheler who knows you know, who has such groundedness and calm and ease and knows the knows the right path you know, and my work is dearsugar. Sometimes people be like, well, tell me what to do, give me this advice, as if as if there's as if I'm not just down there flailing around or struggling just like everyone else. Right, And and we have both I think we shared this. We've both always said no, no, no, no, no, I'm right here with you struggling. I'm right here with you trying. I'm right here with you having to find the courage to show up, but the mat or the courage to you know, navigate these difficult things in my life. And I think that you. I was so moved. You've done that beautifully when you had the experience that I read about a few years ago, when you had a panic attack, and you shared with with your vast audience your struggles with that, and which you know, I think at first, blessed blush seemed contrary, right to to somebody who has spent a lifetime with stillness and calm, Right, can you tell us about that?
00:13:01
Speaker 2: Absolutely? The funny thing about that is that when I experienced like full fledged bodily panic and went through that experience of like pretty severe nervous system, it's like I always think of the image of bugs Bunny doing his like like it was. It was. It was very lonely tunes.
00:13:32
Speaker 1: Did you know you were having a panic attack or what happened?
00:13:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, well what happened was so what happened was I I guess I can't remember how old I was, but in my late thirties I wanted to freeze my eggs and I kind of knew that and I wanted to. Yeah, I was like my hard earned cash and I want to do this, let's do it. And then the pandemic hit and I didn't do it. Oh well, so I threw myself into work. I'm sure it's no surprise, but yeah, during the pandemic, I was very blessed to have a lot to do, to share, to show up for and I did. I showed up for everything. And I don't name that as like I'm so amazing, but to bring just to kind of help contextualize the lead d to something major that changed me, changed my whole life. And I think, of course the pandemic was that for all of us in some way, shape or form. But I really I did not say no. If someone's out there that's like, no, you said no, send me, because I really I lost the ability. I just was like from every person I went to high school with, middle school with diaper drive, every major news outlet, and I'm not I'm thankful. Like I said, I had the great privilege of blessing. I'm having some having work and write something meaningful to share, and I would do it all over again. That's the funny thing. It was such a it was. It was beautiful. And as soon as things opened up enough that I could go do essentially go freeze my eggs, I did with and my now husband was very supportive. But here's the thing. I was not properly educated on how to care for myself post that post that procedure, but also just with the the hormones that I took. You know, I was told you could go back to work after a day, maybe two days, all good, o' labien awesome. So I was like, okay, great, and two days I'm going to travel to Mexico City because I had an opportunity masked up. You know, was still we were coming out of this pandemic time. But I went. And here's a fun thing that everyone will love to hear that their yoga teacher did like I was like, this is the first time, you know, we were out in a long time. So I'm like, you know, Mexico City is not far from Austin, Texas, but I'm traveling. We are making the most of it. We are saying yes to hanging out. We're having that extra wine, We're having that extra espressol in the afternoon, we and all of those things. It was just too much. I was walking through the big park in Mexico City to put the pech Park, and it just makes me feel ill to think about it, even to this moment. But there was something going on I did not know what, and my beautiful partner was there and Isa so dramatic. I actually have never told this piece. This part of the story so dramatic. But I'm like walking through Chipoltepeg Park and if this were a movie, it would like the camera would go from a wide all the way into a close and I basically end up kind of like behind this tree having a bit of a panic attack on my house. Dow has been holding me, but I didn't even know. Neither one of us knew that that was happening then, so we kind of carried on. I just thought, Wow, it's the hormones, right, it's the hormones. I don't know. So we continued on, met some friends. I have some great colleagues in Mexico City. Conversations, work dinners, hanging out, and then all of a sudden, finally work is done. We get to have one of our favorite types of days, which is walking in Mexico City, getting our step count high, with no care in the world. And we walked to our one of our favorite little spots and it you know, it was unspoken, but the plan was that, you know, my husband I would just have a day just us and I started to lose vision in my right eye, couldn't see, have my peripherrole and when my beautiful dad, who's now healthy, strong, but when he was diagnosed with MS, that was the first thing that happened was he was driving to work one day and he lost So then I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, is it the harmons or do is there something else going on? And well, I'll wrap up the tail. But that led to me us not walking back to the apartment, getting in an uber and the whole journey back to the apartment and up to the apartment from then on was was pretty severe and I I'm just I can't believe that my husband or I did not know that I was having a panic attack. So it was kind of the secrets of events that led us maybe up to that that made it confusing. But I also think that's why I share my story is we we need to be more educated on these things and more in tune with our nervous system and how it works, like the ideology, because that could really go a long way. I wrote in an ambulance to the local hospital, and after many, many, many tests, it was the hospital staff that was like, Okay, the next thing on the list to do is have the hospital you know therapists come in. And we were like what so? And then, as you can imagine, the whole process from there was so personal and almost dumbfounding. How could I have not known that I was having that experience? So I've been pretty devoted to ever since kind of leveling up on my understanding, right and what is your what is your understanding of that now?
00:19:54
Speaker 1: I mean, as somebody who who I think yoga is so much about, right, like calming that nervous system, being attuned to that nervous system. What have you learned in the wake of this experience with having a panic attack, and did you have others or was that the only one?
00:20:15
Speaker 2: Well, the main thing I learned that and especially for anyone who's listening in any season of their life, is you can feel happy and grateful and optimistic and a little bit sad but still helpful and have a full blown panic attack. You know, like, it is not always how you see it in television or the movies. Everyone is different, and all of our physical makeup is always going to be different. It's always changing based on whatever's going on in our lives. I know we hear it all the time, but we can and we should, and we can tru lead each other into fine tuning those listening skills. You don't have to actually know the whole physiology or go to any fancy workshop to learn this stuff. Just start paying attention to your body. I sometimes can feel it if a car breaks quickly in front of me. Sometimes I'm like, no problem traffic. Other Days I can feel this zing in my whole body, or this tingling that I probably ignored for years. But now after this experience, I'm I'm, I'm the.
00:21:24
Speaker 1: Veil has been and now you're like, that's panic. That's that's the expression of something deeper than maybe the conscious mind knows.
00:21:33
Speaker 2: Yeah. To me, it's like it's a signal. So thankfully I'm not close to the panic as much anymore. But it's a it's a signal, it's a it's a it's a bread crumb, it's a love note. You know, we can turn this into poetry too. It doesn't need to be so fear based, you know, as what I learned as well, it's a whisper of like, hey, if this is your baseline, we're kind of here today because yeah, we felt that tingly. I don't need to dwell on it. I don't actually need to sit in it unless I do feel like I need to. But for the next seven to ten days, I'm going to say no to things. I'm going to go on longer walks. I'm going to get it back to what we call on yoga this you know spot dicks, like this sweet spot dick space, which is a place where we don't disregard the hard stuff or the stress inducing stuff. As we know there's good stress. We know this, but it's more about getting the right like toggling the right balance of you know, the high octane and the and the steadiness to kind of find your your your mid range. And the thing is it changes all the time. That's why showing up for regular practices, whatever they are, are beautiful.
00:23:08
Speaker 1: Everything you're saying about what you had to do after experiencing this panic attack and realizing that's what it was to me. The phrase that's coming to mind is self care. And it just happens that I have a deer Sugar letter that I would love for you to help me answer that's on this subject. Can I read it to you?
00:23:30
Speaker 2: Yes, please, Deer Sugar.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: My life over the past couple of years has been difficult by any measure. My younger brother was diagnosed with cancer. He's getting treatment, but it's been hard to see him sick, and it's scary to be so uncertain about what's ahead. My wife and I separated and recently decided to divorce amicably, but it's still sad. I lost my job about a year ago when the company I worked for had to downsize, and even though I found another job fairly quickly, I don't like it as much as I'd liked my old job, and I miss working with coworkers who felt like family. My beloved fourteen year old dog is ailing, and his veterinarian has started to talk to me about it being time to think about putting him down. On top of all that, there's a relentless stream of news that brings me to tears of rage and heartbreak on an almost daily basis. The end result of all of the above is that I'm often finding myself talking to friends about my various sorrows, and a good number of them say I need to practice self care. I nod and agree when this phrase self care comes up, but upon reflection, I've come to realize that I, a capable, high functioning thirty seven year old woman, doesn't actually know jack about self care. If pressed, I'd say it's getting a massage or taking a hot bath. I like both of those things, but neither strike me as sufficiently self caring. Neither would shift the way I feel about my life right now or be transformative in the way I think I need. So how do I do it? How do you take care of yourself when things are truly hard?
00:25:02
Speaker 2: Sugar?
00:25:04
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people care for me, but how do I care for myself? Thanks? Signed self care seeker? Oh that letter fills my heart because I think I know I myself have also asked that question many times. You know, we throw around these kind of wellness terms and it's like help me, help me, help me actually figure this out, Like how do I get through this hard time and feel better about it or accept the brutal and difficult things about my life? What do you think, Adrian? This letter.
00:25:46
Speaker 2: Touches me too because it reminds me as a person. And this is what I would first lovingly share with self care seeker, which is like, we're just not alone. We the rates of reported loneliness are higher than ever. But I think that's the first thing that came up for me, was like, oh, you're not alone. That so much of that resonates with me as well. And I think even if you don't believe it out of the gate today, I would just invite us all myself every day to remember that, you know. I mean I just shared how I might text my girlfriends and tell them about this amazing dream I had talking with you. But I think recognizing how powerful the few people, even if it's that one person or one person that you pass consistently on a walk each day, that they're part of your they're part of your journey and part of your story, and so you're not alone. And I think that's one of the things that I am blown away by with Yogo, with Adrian. And I'm not necessarily saying this person should come on over, though they totally should and stay a while, But I think that is one of the beautiful things about that international community. Is is and this kind of takes it back to where we started our conversation. Is there's there's not that feeling of competition, and you don't even need to have the camaraderie. But it's almost just like this exhale as you realize I'm not the only person having a really tough go and that we're allowed to sit in that together like you don't have to We're not alone in that.
00:27:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that, and I think when you do that. So earlier we mentioned if you'll agree with if you'll go with my term of your your your it's you're inner terrible someone You know that we all have that that is the voice of doom and negativity. And everything's hard and I'm heartbroken and I can't and how am I going to survive this? And I won't accept this, you know, that voice. I could go on. You can see I'm rather familiar with my own personal it's but there is a voice in each of us that's truer and stronger and more rooted and is always speaking from love. And I call that my wise inner stage. And you know, different people call it different things for themselves, but that's there. And I think that the best advice I have for self care seeker, and I think this you're speaking to this point, Adrian, is that whatever it is that puts yourself in company with that wise voice is going to be powerfully self caring, you know. So sometimes that is taking a walk. Sometimes that's showing up on the mat and doing yoga. Sometimes it's reaching out to a front, and it could even be just texting a friend, you know, and you just feel a little bit better. And sometimes it's one practice I do obviously as a writer, but I'm constantly encouraging other people.
00:29:10
Speaker 2: To do this.
00:29:11
Speaker 1: When I'm in the you know, self care seeker, ask me directly, what do you do when you're in a hard time? And by the way, I'm actually in one right now, and what I do and yet I still have to function, I still have to do everything I need to do, as we all do. And what I do is I start each day with a letter to myself and so self care Seker, I'm going to give you an assignment, and everyone who's listening, who's going through a hard time, write this down and do it. Dear what's your you know, whatever your name is, So dear Adrian, if you were doing this, Dear Adrian, this is your wise inner sage. And here's what I want you to know today, and what I promise you is what you write next, that letter to yourself is going to be full of clarity. It's going to be full of truth, and it's going to be full of love and to give yourself a doose of that. Medicine doesn't obliterate all the hard things throughout the rest of the day, but it starts you off with that sense of, like you said, you aren't alone, and also that you can do these things.
00:30:17
Speaker 2: That's beautiful. I'm going to do that in my morning pages tomorrow. And I think that just magnifies what I was thinking, which is self care is not outside of you. It's listening. And for me, self care is also and I totally understand where self care seekers coming from because the amount of money that is involved in shaping what we're supposed to think of self care as it's just like something you need to buy or pay for a yeah. Yeah, But one thing I wanted to add was that for me, yeah, self care is like the process of getting to know yourself. Like that's a great way to care for yourself, and it does take bravery and also that for me personally, we have this phrase in the yoga therapy program which kind of just helps us take these practices out into other settings like clinical settings and schools in safe and beautiful ways. We have this phrase called little little and so it's just even if it's just like a paragraph, right with a letter or just a little bit of today, I'm going to pay attention to how I talk to myself, but that that gentle and consistent way of being is like the ultimate self care. Like a little little or you know on the channel always say little goes a long way.
00:31:47
Speaker 1: I think that's an interesting that's so right, you know, Like that that letter I just proposed, it could be three sentences long and it will be that little thing. And I think that there's a lot of crossover into yoga for me with that you know that little you know?
00:32:03
Speaker 2: Can you?
00:32:04
Speaker 1: Can you drop those shoulders? Can you?
00:32:06
Speaker 2: You know?
00:32:07
Speaker 1: Like you know square your lips? Can you the most challenging thing for me and yoga? And I want to ask you what's the most challenging thing for you and yoga? But I have to admit, Adrian, and I don't know. Maybe you can diagnose me what is wrong with me? But I it's gonna sound crazy. I hate breathing. Like when you are like, Okay, I'm gonna lead you for two minutes of breath work, I'm like, no, I don't want to breathe. Breathing, breathing is it feels I resist it, like and it's so like talk about little little right, That's exactly what the breath is, which is why you're always on about the breath. It's the core of everything. And I resisted. It is the hardest thing for me. What is the hardest thing for you? And please tell me why is breathing so fucking high for me?
00:32:56
Speaker 2: And I'm smiling so big and I apologize, but it's because because believe or not, these I think these are the conversations we need to be having. Not Here's a video that fits sleekly into your algorithm telling you how to do this technique. I think for so long, even for me, I was like, oh wait, especially through video, but people aren't actually doing these breadth techniques with me or in the room. What we really need to do is take a single breath that we're actually willing to do and to find this like slow, gentle, consistent relationship with it versus you know, the quick fixed culture is kind of like the opposite in my mind of trustful surrender. So I think backing the truck way up and while still honoring anayama, especially if you're in if you're practicing yoga, but we can take it out of the leands of yoga for the sake of this conversation for a moment, to say, like one cycle of breath that begins with an exhale, I would say, would be my homework for you and self care seeker if they're willing. We often think of the inhale starting or excuse me, the breath starting with an inhale just for fun. What would it be like to actually think of the beginning of your breath cycle with the ex sale and to just slow it down and literally just one cycle of breath, so that would be an exhale and inhale, and you're doing it now. And you're a writer, you're a storyteller. We know that in every end is the beginning. So it's like then it just kind of starts to unfold. Oh well, I'm the exhale, is now the beginning of the next cycle. I have a teacher right now that just keeps saying these three words slow and I say them too, smooth and steady. That's what we're looking for. The hardest part for me, showing up. It's hilarious. I mean it's true.
00:35:03
Speaker 1: It's so even the leader, this this god is leader of the millions of people around the globe, it's like, ah, it's gonna be hard to get there sometimes some days.
00:35:17
Speaker 2: And to be created though. This morning, I too was going through a hard time this morning, and I even thought about our conversation. You know what I do when you're like, what do I have to do with my day? I'm not in my perfect, perfect perfection, And I just found myself sitting near Benji by the fire. Was Yeah, I was like, oh God, I gotta I gotta really think about my day. I had a big long, long chunk today from in terms of just hours that I needed. I wanted to be on and present, and I just brought the soles on my feet together wine, moved my hips back and did a little bought a canassana, did a little hip opener, and breathe. I mean I probably did three cycles of breath mm hmm. And one could say that's like so measly, but it was enough, and that was it.
00:36:09
Speaker 1: I love that, and I I should say, I mean, I genuinely cannot believe we're this far into the conversation and Benji has only been brought up once. I mean, basically I wanted to lead with that because I mean, I love you, but I I you know, Benji is just like I just want to snuggle him, you know, would.
00:36:31
Speaker 2: You and the producer's mind a pan to Benji?
00:36:34
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we live for this. Yeah if okay, we can do it. Okay, look at Benji. Benji could live with me and my three dogs. Look at Oh he's he's just such a master. You know, he is part of the work you do, and I think he's part of the the healing you do too. Would you would you say so? I mean, he he's a blue healer, to which, as a word person, I'm like, I love that he's a healer and a healer. What part does Benji play the presence of Benji and so much of so many of your videos and so many of the things you do online. What role does he play for you and for the audience?
00:37:15
Speaker 2: It's changed over the years. If I'm being honest and I'm like, just now, I like garnered the confidence to talk about Benji with the utmost serious like just earnestly, So thank you for the opportunity to practice that instead of like you know, but I think early on, social media has changed, YouTube has changed. Everything has changed a lot since I began the YouTube channel with my business partner, Chris Sharp, And I think in the beginning I really liked having something to post, whether that was my dog Blue before Benji or Benji. But then as people started to actually engage with the channel, I loved it as a real tool that I did not overthink, trust me, but was a tool for creating a real space that felt like human. And you mentioned this, and I admire this greatly in your work. I hope you can hear me when I say that that there is a lot of energy that is put into creating an equanimity, a sense of like we're in this together and I'm right here with you versus like what can happen in both directions? And maybe I'm full of it, but I believe in my heart that Benji has actually been a really beautiful tool for that, for just quietly creating an environment kind of showing not talking about, but just having the environment feel like home, really home. In the early days, I would ask a friend to watch Benji while we filmed, and I think the first time that he couldn't watch Benji. Then we had Benji caraling all over and guess what, people love it. So what was I thinking? Puppies sell?
00:39:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, better than better than sex, or at least alongside sucked. It's like sex and puppies, you know, right, It's like if you're gonna be online, that's yeah. No, I think you're right. And I you know that back to that word embodiment or those these words we've been using, like honest, honesty, quite, courage, showing up. You know, animals do that like they do not one thing. One thing I wrote as their sugar is you can't fake the core and and and you know, humans keep trying to right, but animals never try. They never try to. They always show up. If they want to lick your face, They're going to try to lick your face, you know, if and if they want to lounge and have a deep snooze, as Benji often does while the rest of us are doing things like downward dog and cat cow. That's what Benji does, and I there's something very ancient and wise about seeing that enacted.
00:40:00
Speaker 2: They're mirrors, just as we are for each other, or can be. You know, when we are we don't need to be perfect. And I'm talking to myself, but when we allow ourselves to slow down and be present, I think, yeah, we are mirrors for one another, and that definitely does not exclude the animals we live with. In fact, I feel like Benji, I'm totally going to say this, but I am a better person, a better human. I am a better community member, I think because of what Benji brings to my life and the way he mirrors my own energy back to me. And you know, we always laugh because if my husband's on the mat at home, Benji's all over I'm acting like a puppy even though as well, but with me. He knows exactly where to go because we have He can feel when I'm getting ready to teach, especially were we are kind of locked in. It's not a joke. We're our nervous systems are communicating. And I think that's great reminder for all of us. And of course just the unconditional love aspect that he teaches or he brings out in me.
00:41:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, and maybe, and I think to some degree that's connected to the ways that we can believe in ourselves. You know, we bring we bring that kind of stillness or solidity into the communities that we live in and in the families that we're a part of, in the friendship circles that we contribute to, and a wonderful way to kind of nurture and practice and cultivate that stillness certainly begins on the mat. So what's next for you? I mean, I know that you have your beautiful find what feels good app and platform that is building a whole other community that's adjacent to you. Go with Adrian, where are you ahead? Next to your heart?
00:42:04
Speaker 2: Thank you for asking. I am I'm looking up to you. I'm looking to the writers and the storytellers right now, I have been called to get it down, and I think i'm because I'm talking with you all, just say I think I've I keep stumbling because I think I have to have the perfect it. What is it going to be? It could be this, you could be this, And it's so funny. I'm so clear about what I don't want it to be. I think that's a good thing. But I think I think I'm finally realizing I'm never going to be in the season where I know what it is. I have to just commit to the practice of regular writing. So I'd like to write something and share it with all of the beautiful people around the world that I've had the privilege to connect with in ways big or small. So that's a big thing. And then I'm also starting a conscious movement apparel line. And I can't say too much because I don't know when this will air, but I can say that I have, yeah, talk about devotion. I just have been devoted with a very small new team cool to kind of yeah, focus on a people center quality and mean, that's awesome. You know.
00:43:26
Speaker 1: I just have to say, you didn't ask directly for the writing advice, but I'm just yes, behind my eyes I was like, please, I mean, honestly, you you are so right, your instincts are right. You will never find it until you begin writing. It's you know, it would be like me just you know, watching people you know do the perfect downward dog and thinking that the first is that the first time that I can do it, it's going to be perfect too. And my job is to just watch other people do it perfect, and then I'll just hop in. It doesn't work that way. You got to practice, You got to write, You got to find your way. The writing will teach you how to write. The story will teach you how to tell it. And it's very messy, and it's very scary, and it's very often you feel like you're kind of wandering through the wilderness. I always liken it, honestly, to use actually an ocean wilderness metaphors. It's like you're swimming, and you're swimming, and you're swimming and you cannot see the shore, and you start to think the shore is never going to appear, and then you keep going and suddenly you find yourself, you know, crawling on your hands and knees onto the sand, off the rocks and your home and you've done that thing. So get to it, girl, and if you want to write, you just have to stop thinking about it and you have to stop talking about it. One of my favorite poetry professors at the University of Minnesota, Michael Dennis Brown. I was in his class when I was nineteen and he was a very formative person for me, and he would always say, don't think right, don't think right. So that's my advice to you. We want to read your story. We need your story. Thank you, Thank you for sharing it with us today on Mind over Mountain, Adrian Mischler, What a delight that has been to talk to you.
00:45:17
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Thank you for all that you're doing and the way that you're doing it. I see it and it matters, and I'm just so grateful to be a small part of it today. Thank you.
00:45:30
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. If you'd like to submit a letter seeking advice, please send it to me at Deardearsugar at gmail dot com. And don't forget to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, Happy Trails, and I'll see you next week. Mine over Mountain with Cheryl strad is an iHeart women's sports production produced by Britney Brown and Rodney Brown of Barbara Jean Productions. Supervising producer is Kaylin West at REALM. Associate producer Amaya Brathwaite. Our executive producers are Molly Barton, Jerry Carreta, Grace Views and Jesse Katz. Our theme song is composed by Gramoscope Music. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, Happy Trails and I'll see you next week.
Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Mind our Mountain with Cheryl Strade. I'm so excited about my guest today, Adrian Mischler, famous for her YouTube channel Yoga with Adrian that's followed by thirteen million people around the world. Adrian feels kind of like a friend to me, even though I've never met her. I heard about her, I want to say about five or six years ago. When I heard about her thirty day yoga journey, I convinced my husband to do it. It was something that we did at the New Year, during the month of January, and every day we opened up my laptop and pulled out our mats in our bedroom and we did yoga together with Adrian and with the millions of people around the globe who were doing it alongside of us. It was transformative. It was also hard. It felt kind of epic, because to make yourself do something every day for a month is a hard thing. And what I loved about Adrian's energy and this process. Not only, of course, did she show us, you know, how to do the downward dog the right way or corrected our form very gently. She told us that we could. She told us that, however, we showed up to the mat was okay. She preached the gospel of loving kindness and forgiveness and generosity and acceptance, and I feel like she really was nurturing my spirit and my soul and my mind in addition to helping me do some new, cool, hard things with my body. In my conversation with Adrian, we talk all about that. Let's listen to my conversation with Adrian. Adrian Michler, Welcome to Mind over Mountain.
00:01:46
Speaker 2: Hi Bear, Cheryl, thank you so much for having me.
00:01:49
Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to talk to you, because I feel like I know you, and I'm going to guess I am not alone in that. Your YouTube yogame with Adrian channel has something like thirteen million followers at this point, maybe more, and I welcome you into my home on a regular basis. I found you many years ago when I did the thirty Day Yoga Journey one January, and it felt transformative to me. So thank you so much for being one of my teachers and guides. And it's truly a great honor to get to have this conversation with you today.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much. The feeling is mutual. I feel like logging on here and yeah, just that I'm meeting up with a friend, and yet this is our first time to have a conversation and look at each other in the eye. So I am grateful for that. I'm grateful to be considered and invited. And I never take it for granted that anyone would welcome me into their home, into their sanctuary, into their personal time and space. So that has been true since day one, really and just could not feel more true. I feel like I might even appreciate it more now than I did in the beginning. Wow, So thank you, thank you.
00:03:11
Speaker 1: When I first was thinking of people I want to talk to for this podcast, you were one of the very first people on my list, you know, and the very at the very top of my list. And I reflected on that a bit because when I think of you, and I've now practiced with you, you'll go with you often enough to know that everything you say about what we do with our bodies together, I mean through through my computer screen is about permission and gentleness and and and curiosity and a kind of you know, there's no there's no idea of competitiveness. I guess what I'm trying to get at is so much of the language you use, and I think the principles that you use as a teacher and a human it seems seem to be the opposite of what we think of when we think of sport or when we think of athletes. And I'm wondering what you think about that is, are you an athlete? Is yoga a sport? And where does it fall into line when it comes to questions like competition or driving hard as we think of with so many other sports right off the bat, For me, yoga is not a sport. It is a practice for living and growing and understanding and knowing ourselves so that we can so that that can influence the way we show up and get to know and understand others in the world. It is an ancient practice, as you know that I'm no expert of and never will be. But I am a humble student and very passionate person about having a practice that to me is not sport, but that is truly encompassing the whole person. So that is one spirit, one's physical body, and then our mind.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: And I think again yoga was all about, which is like this trustful surrender, and I think it takes a lot of courage. I would if I were to name a sport like an athleticism that has to do it with yoga, it would be that it would be all about courage, that you have to actually be brave enough to see yourself because it is not about that performance. And for me actually, and I think for many people who show up for any type of yoga, you may not notice it at first, but pretty quickly your inner wisdom's like what am I doing this for the mirror or the person next to me? Or like why am I giving two hundred percent when I have two percent today? Like where is that coming from?
00:06:00
Speaker 1: It?
00:06:01
Speaker 2: And as you said, and to me, that like sparks of curiosity that then feels really motivating to keep coming back to the mat for versus I think when I was younger, there was a lot of external There was a lot of motivating factors that were outside of myself, right, Yeah.
00:06:19
Speaker 1: It's it's so interesting though, because you know that word embodiment is I think one I think of a lot when I think about what yoga is, and it is I mean right there that that body is at the center of that word. You know, you said yoga's not a sport and I know what you mean by that, And I also think that when I'm doing yoga, I'm actually more more engaged with my physical being in a kind of total or whole or embodied way, if you will. Then maybe I am sometimes when I'm doing the other sports that I practiced that you would have no calling the sport, you know, whether it be hiking or running or weightlifting. And so in some ways, it's like yoga to me is more athletic because it's more about the body, or I guess what I mean, is athletic at its essential core. I wonder what you think about that, what you think about embodiment.
00:07:17
Speaker 2: Yes, I would agree that that there is an athleticism too, in that it is a discipline. It is all about focus and discipline and listening and responding. It's funny because oftentimes I will joke with my family or my work family that, you know, okay, looking ahead, looking at this month, like I'm an athlete, Like we're gonna, I'm gonna, We're gonna have to. I really need to be on my game, you know, just because of the sheer amount of things on the calendar or whatever. So that's kind of like my go to thing of like we're I'm going to be an athlete, I'm going name everything I consume, you know, everything matters. Yeah, But I think I'm probably using that because there's truth in that. There is a certain type of attention that is given when you're when you're in yoga that cannot come from any other place but yourself.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: But I think, Adrian, one of the things that that I find so compelling and beautiful and powerful about what you do on you know, on your YouTube channel and other places too, on your platform, Uh find what feels good. And I think that what I'm really curious about with you is you know you are you know, yoga is that friend, but you are that friend two millions of people, and you are the voice that counters that inner terrible someone that lives in a lot of our heads, all of our heads, let's face it. And you're saying it's okay, you are okay, And you do not condemn me when I can't touch my toes while keeping my legs perfectly straight, or I can't you know, reach in the same way that I see you reaching. And what about you? How do you? How have you been a friend to yourself? When have you found it hard to show up for yourself, to show up on the mat, to be that voice of invitation and kindness and generosity.
00:09:29
Speaker 2: So the first thing is, like, I I don't think I'd be able to share what I share online or in person in my community if I hadn't. You know, I'm a big fan of putting myself in other people's shoes. I'm not perfect, but I try to do that. But I also try to bring my experience to whatever it is I'm leading. So it's why I actually don't have like I have a little bit ill just this is a random example, but a good one. I have a little bit of prenatal yoga and yoga for mothers are expecting online, but not a lot because I've never had that experience. And so most of the things I could say, especially for yoga theater and the YouTube channel and that kind of passion project that mushroomed that blossom. I'm taking requests, but I'm usually sharing from a personal experience, something that I had gone through and then either overcome or move through or learned to celebrate. And I think that has been a big shift for me, is not worrying about how I sound or what other people think, but really giving myself more permission to not even openly. I'm barely getting it out there, but this practice definitely happening in my own kind of inner circle of celebrating my downtime's celebrating my failures, leaning into the tenderness, not needing to be this strong person. Leaning you know now that I'm you know, always wanting to be a good role model for young people, but especially for yoga teachers. You know, you don't have to know everything, like leaning into the things you don't know. Let me check on that I don't know. Let me ask you a question, right, you know, trying to find the answer together versus having all the answers. We know all these things, but it's just so funny how we're so We've got such a grip on some of these patterns that I think the best way I've been befriending myself is by allowing myself to be seen.
00:11:46
Speaker 1: I think by some people have been perceived as like, Okay, you know, you're the Yogi. You're the great Adrian Mitcheler who knows you know, who has such groundedness and calm and ease and knows the knows the right path you know, and my work is dearsugar. Sometimes people be like, well, tell me what to do, give me this advice, as if as if there's as if I'm not just down there flailing around or struggling just like everyone else. Right, And and we have both I think we shared this. We've both always said no, no, no, no, no, I'm right here with you struggling. I'm right here with you trying. I'm right here with you having to find the courage to show up, but the mat or the courage to you know, navigate these difficult things in my life. And I think that you. I was so moved. You've done that beautifully when you had the experience that I read about a few years ago, when you had a panic attack, and you shared with with your vast audience your struggles with that, and which you know, I think at first, blessed blush seemed contrary, right to to somebody who has spent a lifetime with stillness and calm, Right, can you tell us about that?
00:13:01
Speaker 2: Absolutely? The funny thing about that is that when I experienced like full fledged bodily panic and went through that experience of like pretty severe nervous system, it's like I always think of the image of bugs Bunny doing his like like it was. It was. It was very lonely tunes.
00:13:32
Speaker 1: Did you know you were having a panic attack or what happened?
00:13:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, well what happened was so what happened was I I guess I can't remember how old I was, but in my late thirties I wanted to freeze my eggs and I kind of knew that and I wanted to. Yeah, I was like my hard earned cash and I want to do this, let's do it. And then the pandemic hit and I didn't do it. Oh well, so I threw myself into work. I'm sure it's no surprise, but yeah, during the pandemic, I was very blessed to have a lot to do, to share, to show up for and I did. I showed up for everything. And I don't name that as like I'm so amazing, but to bring just to kind of help contextualize the lead d to something major that changed me, changed my whole life. And I think, of course the pandemic was that for all of us in some way, shape or form. But I really I did not say no. If someone's out there that's like, no, you said no, send me, because I really I lost the ability. I just was like from every person I went to high school with, middle school with diaper drive, every major news outlet, and I'm not I'm thankful. Like I said, I had the great privilege of blessing. I'm having some having work and write something meaningful to share, and I would do it all over again. That's the funny thing. It was such a it was. It was beautiful. And as soon as things opened up enough that I could go do essentially go freeze my eggs, I did with and my now husband was very supportive. But here's the thing. I was not properly educated on how to care for myself post that post that procedure, but also just with the the hormones that I took. You know, I was told you could go back to work after a day, maybe two days, all good, o' labien awesome. So I was like, okay, great, and two days I'm going to travel to Mexico City because I had an opportunity masked up. You know, was still we were coming out of this pandemic time. But I went. And here's a fun thing that everyone will love to hear that their yoga teacher did like I was like, this is the first time, you know, we were out in a long time. So I'm like, you know, Mexico City is not far from Austin, Texas, but I'm traveling. We are making the most of it. We are saying yes to hanging out. We're having that extra wine, We're having that extra espressol in the afternoon, we and all of those things. It was just too much. I was walking through the big park in Mexico City to put the pech Park, and it just makes me feel ill to think about it, even to this moment. But there was something going on I did not know what, and my beautiful partner was there and Isa so dramatic. I actually have never told this piece. This part of the story so dramatic. But I'm like walking through Chipoltepeg Park and if this were a movie, it would like the camera would go from a wide all the way into a close and I basically end up kind of like behind this tree having a bit of a panic attack on my house. Dow has been holding me, but I didn't even know. Neither one of us knew that that was happening then, so we kind of carried on. I just thought, Wow, it's the hormones, right, it's the hormones. I don't know. So we continued on, met some friends. I have some great colleagues in Mexico City. Conversations, work dinners, hanging out, and then all of a sudden, finally work is done. We get to have one of our favorite types of days, which is walking in Mexico City, getting our step count high, with no care in the world. And we walked to our one of our favorite little spots and it you know, it was unspoken, but the plan was that, you know, my husband I would just have a day just us and I started to lose vision in my right eye, couldn't see, have my peripherrole and when my beautiful dad, who's now healthy, strong, but when he was diagnosed with MS, that was the first thing that happened was he was driving to work one day and he lost So then I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, is it the harmons or do is there something else going on? And well, I'll wrap up the tail. But that led to me us not walking back to the apartment, getting in an uber and the whole journey back to the apartment and up to the apartment from then on was was pretty severe and I I'm just I can't believe that my husband or I did not know that I was having a panic attack. So it was kind of the secrets of events that led us maybe up to that that made it confusing. But I also think that's why I share my story is we we need to be more educated on these things and more in tune with our nervous system and how it works, like the ideology, because that could really go a long way. I wrote in an ambulance to the local hospital, and after many, many, many tests, it was the hospital staff that was like, Okay, the next thing on the list to do is have the hospital you know therapists come in. And we were like what so? And then, as you can imagine, the whole process from there was so personal and almost dumbfounding. How could I have not known that I was having that experience? So I've been pretty devoted to ever since kind of leveling up on my understanding, right and what is your what is your understanding of that now?
00:19:54
Speaker 1: I mean, as somebody who who I think yoga is so much about, right, like calming that nervous system, being attuned to that nervous system. What have you learned in the wake of this experience with having a panic attack, and did you have others or was that the only one?
00:20:15
Speaker 2: Well, the main thing I learned that and especially for anyone who's listening in any season of their life, is you can feel happy and grateful and optimistic and a little bit sad but still helpful and have a full blown panic attack. You know, like, it is not always how you see it in television or the movies. Everyone is different, and all of our physical makeup is always going to be different. It's always changing based on whatever's going on in our lives. I know we hear it all the time, but we can and we should, and we can tru lead each other into fine tuning those listening skills. You don't have to actually know the whole physiology or go to any fancy workshop to learn this stuff. Just start paying attention to your body. I sometimes can feel it if a car breaks quickly in front of me. Sometimes I'm like, no problem traffic. Other Days I can feel this zing in my whole body, or this tingling that I probably ignored for years. But now after this experience, I'm I'm, I'm the.
00:21:24
Speaker 1: Veil has been and now you're like, that's panic. That's that's the expression of something deeper than maybe the conscious mind knows.
00:21:33
Speaker 2: Yeah. To me, it's like it's a signal. So thankfully I'm not close to the panic as much anymore. But it's a it's a signal, it's a it's a it's a bread crumb, it's a love note. You know, we can turn this into poetry too. It doesn't need to be so fear based, you know, as what I learned as well, it's a whisper of like, hey, if this is your baseline, we're kind of here today because yeah, we felt that tingly. I don't need to dwell on it. I don't actually need to sit in it unless I do feel like I need to. But for the next seven to ten days, I'm going to say no to things. I'm going to go on longer walks. I'm going to get it back to what we call on yoga this you know spot dicks, like this sweet spot dick space, which is a place where we don't disregard the hard stuff or the stress inducing stuff. As we know there's good stress. We know this, but it's more about getting the right like toggling the right balance of you know, the high octane and the and the steadiness to kind of find your your your mid range. And the thing is it changes all the time. That's why showing up for regular practices, whatever they are, are beautiful.
00:23:08
Speaker 1: Everything you're saying about what you had to do after experiencing this panic attack and realizing that's what it was to me. The phrase that's coming to mind is self care. And it just happens that I have a deer Sugar letter that I would love for you to help me answer that's on this subject. Can I read it to you?
00:23:30
Speaker 2: Yes, please, Deer Sugar.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: My life over the past couple of years has been difficult by any measure. My younger brother was diagnosed with cancer. He's getting treatment, but it's been hard to see him sick, and it's scary to be so uncertain about what's ahead. My wife and I separated and recently decided to divorce amicably, but it's still sad. I lost my job about a year ago when the company I worked for had to downsize, and even though I found another job fairly quickly, I don't like it as much as I'd liked my old job, and I miss working with coworkers who felt like family. My beloved fourteen year old dog is ailing, and his veterinarian has started to talk to me about it being time to think about putting him down. On top of all that, there's a relentless stream of news that brings me to tears of rage and heartbreak on an almost daily basis. The end result of all of the above is that I'm often finding myself talking to friends about my various sorrows, and a good number of them say I need to practice self care. I nod and agree when this phrase self care comes up, but upon reflection, I've come to realize that I, a capable, high functioning thirty seven year old woman, doesn't actually know jack about self care. If pressed, I'd say it's getting a massage or taking a hot bath. I like both of those things, but neither strike me as sufficiently self caring. Neither would shift the way I feel about my life right now or be transformative in the way I think I need. So how do I do it? How do you take care of yourself when things are truly hard?
00:25:02
Speaker 2: Sugar?
00:25:04
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people care for me, but how do I care for myself? Thanks? Signed self care seeker? Oh that letter fills my heart because I think I know I myself have also asked that question many times. You know, we throw around these kind of wellness terms and it's like help me, help me, help me actually figure this out, Like how do I get through this hard time and feel better about it or accept the brutal and difficult things about my life? What do you think, Adrian? This letter.
00:25:46
Speaker 2: Touches me too because it reminds me as a person. And this is what I would first lovingly share with self care seeker, which is like, we're just not alone. We the rates of reported loneliness are higher than ever. But I think that's the first thing that came up for me, was like, oh, you're not alone. That so much of that resonates with me as well. And I think even if you don't believe it out of the gate today, I would just invite us all myself every day to remember that, you know. I mean I just shared how I might text my girlfriends and tell them about this amazing dream I had talking with you. But I think recognizing how powerful the few people, even if it's that one person or one person that you pass consistently on a walk each day, that they're part of your they're part of your journey and part of your story, and so you're not alone. And I think that's one of the things that I am blown away by with Yogo, with Adrian. And I'm not necessarily saying this person should come on over, though they totally should and stay a while, But I think that is one of the beautiful things about that international community. Is is and this kind of takes it back to where we started our conversation. Is there's there's not that feeling of competition, and you don't even need to have the camaraderie. But it's almost just like this exhale as you realize I'm not the only person having a really tough go and that we're allowed to sit in that together like you don't have to We're not alone in that.
00:27:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that, and I think when you do that. So earlier we mentioned if you'll agree with if you'll go with my term of your your your it's you're inner terrible someone You know that we all have that that is the voice of doom and negativity. And everything's hard and I'm heartbroken and I can't and how am I going to survive this? And I won't accept this, you know, that voice. I could go on. You can see I'm rather familiar with my own personal it's but there is a voice in each of us that's truer and stronger and more rooted and is always speaking from love. And I call that my wise inner stage. And you know, different people call it different things for themselves, but that's there. And I think that the best advice I have for self care seeker, and I think this you're speaking to this point, Adrian, is that whatever it is that puts yourself in company with that wise voice is going to be powerfully self caring, you know. So sometimes that is taking a walk. Sometimes that's showing up on the mat and doing yoga. Sometimes it's reaching out to a front, and it could even be just texting a friend, you know, and you just feel a little bit better. And sometimes it's one practice I do obviously as a writer, but I'm constantly encouraging other people.
00:29:10
Speaker 2: To do this.
00:29:11
Speaker 1: When I'm in the you know, self care seeker, ask me directly, what do you do when you're in a hard time? And by the way, I'm actually in one right now, and what I do and yet I still have to function, I still have to do everything I need to do, as we all do. And what I do is I start each day with a letter to myself and so self care Seker, I'm going to give you an assignment, and everyone who's listening, who's going through a hard time, write this down and do it. Dear what's your you know, whatever your name is, So dear Adrian, if you were doing this, Dear Adrian, this is your wise inner sage. And here's what I want you to know today, and what I promise you is what you write next, that letter to yourself is going to be full of clarity. It's going to be full of truth, and it's going to be full of love and to give yourself a doose of that. Medicine doesn't obliterate all the hard things throughout the rest of the day, but it starts you off with that sense of, like you said, you aren't alone, and also that you can do these things.
00:30:17
Speaker 2: That's beautiful. I'm going to do that in my morning pages tomorrow. And I think that just magnifies what I was thinking, which is self care is not outside of you. It's listening. And for me, self care is also and I totally understand where self care seekers coming from because the amount of money that is involved in shaping what we're supposed to think of self care as it's just like something you need to buy or pay for a yeah. Yeah, But one thing I wanted to add was that for me, yeah, self care is like the process of getting to know yourself. Like that's a great way to care for yourself, and it does take bravery and also that for me personally, we have this phrase in the yoga therapy program which kind of just helps us take these practices out into other settings like clinical settings and schools in safe and beautiful ways. We have this phrase called little little and so it's just even if it's just like a paragraph, right with a letter or just a little bit of today, I'm going to pay attention to how I talk to myself, but that that gentle and consistent way of being is like the ultimate self care. Like a little little or you know on the channel always say little goes a long way.
00:31:47
Speaker 1: I think that's an interesting that's so right, you know, Like that that letter I just proposed, it could be three sentences long and it will be that little thing. And I think that there's a lot of crossover into yoga for me with that you know that little you know?
00:32:03
Speaker 2: Can you?
00:32:04
Speaker 1: Can you drop those shoulders? Can you?
00:32:06
Speaker 2: You know?
00:32:07
Speaker 1: Like you know square your lips? Can you the most challenging thing for me and yoga? And I want to ask you what's the most challenging thing for you and yoga? But I have to admit, Adrian, and I don't know. Maybe you can diagnose me what is wrong with me? But I it's gonna sound crazy. I hate breathing. Like when you are like, Okay, I'm gonna lead you for two minutes of breath work, I'm like, no, I don't want to breathe. Breathing, breathing is it feels I resist it, like and it's so like talk about little little right, That's exactly what the breath is, which is why you're always on about the breath. It's the core of everything. And I resisted. It is the hardest thing for me. What is the hardest thing for you? And please tell me why is breathing so fucking high for me?
00:32:56
Speaker 2: And I'm smiling so big and I apologize, but it's because because believe or not, these I think these are the conversations we need to be having. Not Here's a video that fits sleekly into your algorithm telling you how to do this technique. I think for so long, even for me, I was like, oh wait, especially through video, but people aren't actually doing these breadth techniques with me or in the room. What we really need to do is take a single breath that we're actually willing to do and to find this like slow, gentle, consistent relationship with it versus you know, the quick fixed culture is kind of like the opposite in my mind of trustful surrender. So I think backing the truck way up and while still honoring anayama, especially if you're in if you're practicing yoga, but we can take it out of the leands of yoga for the sake of this conversation for a moment, to say, like one cycle of breath that begins with an exhale, I would say, would be my homework for you and self care seeker if they're willing. We often think of the inhale starting or excuse me, the breath starting with an inhale just for fun. What would it be like to actually think of the beginning of your breath cycle with the ex sale and to just slow it down and literally just one cycle of breath, so that would be an exhale and inhale, and you're doing it now. And you're a writer, you're a storyteller. We know that in every end is the beginning. So it's like then it just kind of starts to unfold. Oh well, I'm the exhale, is now the beginning of the next cycle. I have a teacher right now that just keeps saying these three words slow and I say them too, smooth and steady. That's what we're looking for. The hardest part for me, showing up. It's hilarious. I mean it's true.
00:35:03
Speaker 1: It's so even the leader, this this god is leader of the millions of people around the globe, it's like, ah, it's gonna be hard to get there sometimes some days.
00:35:17
Speaker 2: And to be created though. This morning, I too was going through a hard time this morning, and I even thought about our conversation. You know what I do when you're like, what do I have to do with my day? I'm not in my perfect, perfect perfection, And I just found myself sitting near Benji by the fire. Was Yeah, I was like, oh God, I gotta I gotta really think about my day. I had a big long, long chunk today from in terms of just hours that I needed. I wanted to be on and present, and I just brought the soles on my feet together wine, moved my hips back and did a little bought a canassana, did a little hip opener, and breathe. I mean I probably did three cycles of breath mm hmm. And one could say that's like so measly, but it was enough, and that was it.
00:36:09
Speaker 1: I love that, and I I should say, I mean, I genuinely cannot believe we're this far into the conversation and Benji has only been brought up once. I mean, basically I wanted to lead with that because I mean, I love you, but I I you know, Benji is just like I just want to snuggle him, you know, would.
00:36:31
Speaker 2: You and the producer's mind a pan to Benji?
00:36:34
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we live for this. Yeah if okay, we can do it. Okay, look at Benji. Benji could live with me and my three dogs. Look at Oh he's he's just such a master. You know, he is part of the work you do, and I think he's part of the the healing you do too. Would you would you say so? I mean, he he's a blue healer, to which, as a word person, I'm like, I love that he's a healer and a healer. What part does Benji play the presence of Benji and so much of so many of your videos and so many of the things you do online. What role does he play for you and for the audience?
00:37:15
Speaker 2: It's changed over the years. If I'm being honest and I'm like, just now, I like garnered the confidence to talk about Benji with the utmost serious like just earnestly, So thank you for the opportunity to practice that instead of like you know, but I think early on, social media has changed, YouTube has changed. Everything has changed a lot since I began the YouTube channel with my business partner, Chris Sharp, And I think in the beginning I really liked having something to post, whether that was my dog Blue before Benji or Benji. But then as people started to actually engage with the channel, I loved it as a real tool that I did not overthink, trust me, but was a tool for creating a real space that felt like human. And you mentioned this, and I admire this greatly in your work. I hope you can hear me when I say that that there is a lot of energy that is put into creating an equanimity, a sense of like we're in this together and I'm right here with you versus like what can happen in both directions? And maybe I'm full of it, but I believe in my heart that Benji has actually been a really beautiful tool for that, for just quietly creating an environment kind of showing not talking about, but just having the environment feel like home, really home. In the early days, I would ask a friend to watch Benji while we filmed, and I think the first time that he couldn't watch Benji. Then we had Benji caraling all over and guess what, people love it. So what was I thinking? Puppies sell?
00:39:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, better than better than sex, or at least alongside sucked. It's like sex and puppies, you know, right, It's like if you're gonna be online, that's yeah. No, I think you're right. And I you know that back to that word embodiment or those these words we've been using, like honest, honesty, quite, courage, showing up. You know, animals do that like they do not one thing. One thing I wrote as their sugar is you can't fake the core and and and you know, humans keep trying to right, but animals never try. They never try to. They always show up. If they want to lick your face, They're going to try to lick your face, you know, if and if they want to lounge and have a deep snooze, as Benji often does while the rest of us are doing things like downward dog and cat cow. That's what Benji does, and I there's something very ancient and wise about seeing that enacted.
00:40:00
Speaker 2: They're mirrors, just as we are for each other, or can be. You know, when we are we don't need to be perfect. And I'm talking to myself, but when we allow ourselves to slow down and be present, I think, yeah, we are mirrors for one another, and that definitely does not exclude the animals we live with. In fact, I feel like Benji, I'm totally going to say this, but I am a better person, a better human. I am a better community member, I think because of what Benji brings to my life and the way he mirrors my own energy back to me. And you know, we always laugh because if my husband's on the mat at home, Benji's all over I'm acting like a puppy even though as well, but with me. He knows exactly where to go because we have He can feel when I'm getting ready to teach, especially were we are kind of locked in. It's not a joke. We're our nervous systems are communicating. And I think that's great reminder for all of us. And of course just the unconditional love aspect that he teaches or he brings out in me.
00:41:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, and maybe, and I think to some degree that's connected to the ways that we can believe in ourselves. You know, we bring we bring that kind of stillness or solidity into the communities that we live in and in the families that we're a part of, in the friendship circles that we contribute to, and a wonderful way to kind of nurture and practice and cultivate that stillness certainly begins on the mat. So what's next for you? I mean, I know that you have your beautiful find what feels good app and platform that is building a whole other community that's adjacent to you. Go with Adrian, where are you ahead? Next to your heart?
00:42:04
Speaker 2: Thank you for asking. I am I'm looking up to you. I'm looking to the writers and the storytellers right now, I have been called to get it down, and I think i'm because I'm talking with you all, just say I think I've I keep stumbling because I think I have to have the perfect it. What is it going to be? It could be this, you could be this, And it's so funny. I'm so clear about what I don't want it to be. I think that's a good thing. But I think I think I'm finally realizing I'm never going to be in the season where I know what it is. I have to just commit to the practice of regular writing. So I'd like to write something and share it with all of the beautiful people around the world that I've had the privilege to connect with in ways big or small. So that's a big thing. And then I'm also starting a conscious movement apparel line. And I can't say too much because I don't know when this will air, but I can say that I have, yeah, talk about devotion. I just have been devoted with a very small new team cool to kind of yeah, focus on a people center quality and mean, that's awesome. You know.
00:43:26
Speaker 1: I just have to say, you didn't ask directly for the writing advice, but I'm just yes, behind my eyes I was like, please, I mean, honestly, you you are so right, your instincts are right. You will never find it until you begin writing. It's you know, it would be like me just you know, watching people you know do the perfect downward dog and thinking that the first is that the first time that I can do it, it's going to be perfect too. And my job is to just watch other people do it perfect, and then I'll just hop in. It doesn't work that way. You got to practice, You got to write, You got to find your way. The writing will teach you how to write. The story will teach you how to tell it. And it's very messy, and it's very scary, and it's very often you feel like you're kind of wandering through the wilderness. I always liken it, honestly, to use actually an ocean wilderness metaphors. It's like you're swimming, and you're swimming, and you're swimming and you cannot see the shore, and you start to think the shore is never going to appear, and then you keep going and suddenly you find yourself, you know, crawling on your hands and knees onto the sand, off the rocks and your home and you've done that thing. So get to it, girl, and if you want to write, you just have to stop thinking about it and you have to stop talking about it. One of my favorite poetry professors at the University of Minnesota, Michael Dennis Brown. I was in his class when I was nineteen and he was a very formative person for me, and he would always say, don't think right, don't think right. So that's my advice to you. We want to read your story. We need your story. Thank you, Thank you for sharing it with us today on Mind over Mountain, Adrian Mischler, What a delight that has been to talk to you.
00:45:17
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Thank you for all that you're doing and the way that you're doing it. I see it and it matters, and I'm just so grateful to be a small part of it today. Thank you.
00:45:30
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. If you'd like to submit a letter seeking advice, please send it to me at Deardearsugar at gmail dot com. And don't forget to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, Happy Trails, and I'll see you next week. Mine over Mountain with Cheryl strad is an iHeart women's sports production produced by Britney Brown and Rodney Brown of Barbara Jean Productions. Supervising producer is Kaylin West at REALM. Associate producer Amaya Brathwaite. Our executive producers are Molly Barton, Jerry Carreta, Grace Views and Jesse Katz. Our theme song is composed by Gramoscope Music. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, Happy Trails and I'll see you next week.
