E15: Yoga Wisdom for Life: Transformative Teachings for Navigating Challenges

As incredible as Yoga is for strength, stress reduction, and supple flexibility it is also a powerful toolset for navigating the challenging waves of life when you’re feeling lost and confused.  

There is SO much more to Yoga than just about physical postures; it truly is a comprehensive toolkit for navigating the complexities of existence.  

In this week’s episode, we’ll delve into three powerful teachings from this ancient practice that go beyond the mat and into the realms of personal growth and self-discovery.  

Join us as we uncover how yoga can help you awaken to your true essence, shift perspectives, and cultivate resilience in the face of adversity.  

For times when you're feeling lost, confused, or overwhelmed, these timeless teachings offer invaluable insights to guide you back to center.  

Press play and lets dive into:   

• The great amnesia of the human condition and how Yoga helps you wake up from it to remember who you really are   
• How to flip anything on situation on its head and find a different way of seeing things   
• How to relax your grip when you find yourself holding on for dear life (both on the mat and off!)    

Ready To Start Your Day Like The Powerhouse You Are In 15 Minutes Or Less? Grab Your Spot In Amplify Your Morning Here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/amplify    

Get Your Copy My Bestselling Book: The Warrior’s Journey: Ancient Wisdom for The Modern Entrepreneur and a special thank you gift of a Maui infused meditation here: https://thewarriorsjourneybook.com/

Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!

I came for the yoga booty, and I stayed for the inner peace.
Yep.
I said it.
I came to the yoga practice the physical nature of it.
I like the challenge.
I like the intensity of it.
I like how I felt after.
And although I could hold the poses, you know, with some wiggling and wobbling and obviously learning and practice.
It was challenging for me to hold my mind steady, and that became the real challenge of the practice is the inner work And one of the masters that brought yoga from India over to the west, BKS Iyengar.
You maybe have heard of Iyengar yoga.
He's the creator of that.
He said that yoga doesn't just change the way we look at things.
It changes the one who sees.
So it literally changes us at the deepest level.
And so if you find yourself in a period of wiggling and wobbling right now, like maybe you've experienced when you're doing yoga and you're standing on one foot and you're like, woah.
And you forget that you're on a rock hurtling through space and you're you know, why you can't seem to hold still and everyone else in the class looks like a pristine elegant statue and you're like, well, what is happening? If you find yourself in that, whether literally on the yoga mat, which, of course, it'll be applicable for that, but maybe in a time in your life when you're going through a transition, a transformation, an upheaval, maybe a breakup, a loss, grieving, maybe, you know, recovering from a disappointment, maybe shifting gears in your in your relationship, in your business, what have you.
I wanted to share some of the teachings from the yoga practice that you maybe have turn heard, you know, outright from your teacher if they include these deeper love to the practice beyond the Asana or the physical, or maybe you've inadvertently heard them, or maybe you've heard me share them if we've done yoga together, or maybe you read it in my book.
Maybe, you know, who knows? But what I wanted to do was be able to share these with you in a way that hopefully will give you some other tools to navigate that wiggly walkway transformational moment if you find yourself in that.
Right? And if you're not, It's always just good to be learning, right, because these are literally ancient tools.
Ancient tools that are applicable in many different situations, especially ones that are challenging, right, much like standing on one foot on a rock hurtling through space, but also, you know, maybe just changing things in your relationship or whatever.
You know, who knows? Right? These things happen all the time.
And so what I wanted to do to start was actually read you the blessing from my book.
I don't know if you know this.
I wrote a book.
Yay.
It became a best seller in a few different categories.
Yay.
That's exciting.
Right? So this book is really It's told through the lens of Virabaddra, which is the warrior that the warrior poses in yoga, are modeled after this this myth that we tell the story of in the book, it's told through that lens, but it's also simultaneously speaking my journey as well.
So it's a parallel between Vera's journey, which is the journey of navigating the challenges of life to be able to accomplish a task that he was given, which represents taking control of the mind.
And so it parallels his journey, and I tell my story alongside of that.
Plus, I really talk about how I think at least entrepreneurship and life in general is a warrior's journey, a warrior's journey of growth and understanding and expansion and learning and letting go and becoming and transformation and evolution and all the things.
Right? So whatever lens you're looking through, That's the story of your father.
And ultimately, it's the tale of the Yogi, but it's simultaneously giving you tools that you might be to use.
And so you'll see how, you know, these tools are applicable when you're in Austin practice, but when you're off and and navigating life, they are very much applicable.
And so the blessing kinda downloaded to me a few years ago when I was standing outside, and was listening to the ocean and and looking around, and I got all of these beautiful messages.
And I was reminded of it this morning when I was looking at tiny little baby dinosaur.
I mean, a lizard who was matched the color of the sand, and I remembered this blessing.
And I thought, oh, that'd be a nice way to open up.
This week's episode.
So I want you to just if it's safe, place your hand on your heart and receive these words as a blessing for your journey.
May you always remember your true nature? I stood with my feet planted on the earth.
Closed my eyes, and I breathed deeply.
From the depths of my heart, I heard the universe whisper to me.
Do you hear the roaring sound of the ocean? You have that same power within you.
Do you see the mist carried far on the wind? Your magic travels the same way and reaches much farther than you know.
Do you hear the birds singing their beautiful song? Your heart sings those same songs of joy.
Do you see those big heavy rocks? You have that same strength, steadiness, and resiliency.
Do you see the spiders, intricate web, You two are woven into the web of life and are eternally supported.
Do you see the butterfly dancing on the wind? Your soul dances with that same lightness.
With another breath, the universe whispered.
May you always remember your true nature, little one? Powerful, magical, joyful, strong, resilient, connected, supported playful and expensive.
The same is true for you, my friend.
And it's my intention that this book and this podcast is a loving reminder of that.
So that's the opening to the book.
If you wanna grab the book, I'll put the link in the show notes, but you can go to the warriors journeybook.
com.
And grab it with a special little bonus meditation.
But I wanted to start with that because the reality is is that sometimes when we're navigating all of the ups downs and all arounds of life, we can forget our true nature.
And the teaching from yoga about this is Avidya, and they call this the great amnesia of the human condition.
That we forget our affinity because we're so wrapped up in the ego mind.
We're so captivated by the saboteurs, by the patterns of thought that are literally just looping over and over in our mind that we forget our true nature is a soul.
Our true nature is a spiritual being that is energy that is expressed in this physical form.
And so that's why yoga, we start with physical form because it's the layer that we're most familiar with because the truth is is that you have a body.
You're not your body.
You have a mind.
You're not your mind.
You are the essence.
You are the awareness.
You are the consciousness behind all of those things.
And so that is our true self, right, the the atman, the soul, which is connected to the eternal soul.
Which is the Brahman.
So that's one of the teachings is that great amnesia that tends to happen.
Right? And we get so caught up in our mind in the spirals and the ongoing thought patterns.
And so yoga helps us to anchor back into this level of the physical being that we are aware of so that we can find stillness.
We can find peace.
And so for those of us that are very busy brains, right, or very purpose driven or action oriented.
And if it's challenging for you to find that stillness, I.
E.
Quote, unquote, meditation is hard for you.
Like I said, it was for me for a long time, and I avoided it, which totally made me feel out of integrity.
And I talk about that in the book, but what I realized was I just hadn't found my way to be able to anchor my mind and focus.
And in the book, I tell a funny story about finding your stick.
And the mind is like an elephant my teacher told me, and we need to find a stick so that we can keep our mind focused.
Right? You can think of an elephant.
You often see them holding on to a stick or in front.
And so inside the book, we tell that story, but it really comes down to finding a way to be able to harness the power of your mind so that it's not running amuck and running in circles.
Because of our negativity bias, it wants to just keep us in protective mode, keep us in our comfort zone, if you will, or our zone of familiarity.
And so another perspective shift that I wanted to share with you is one of the ways that we can begin to flip things, right, because if you're like me and you tend to catastrifies sometimes, I e, look at the worst case scenario, fixate on the, you know, potential problems or the struggles or the mistakes or what have you, I'm working on this, right, but it's our hardwired nature of the negativity bias.
So the yoga teaching is Pratipaksha Bha Vana.
Pratipaksha Bha Vana.
It means to flip it on its head and look at it upside down.
Okay.
So that's what, you know, we do inversion practices in yoga.
Like, think of for example, the simplest one that you probably do consistently, maybe, is downward dog.
Anytime when we have the head above the heart, we are inverted, There's more complicated ones, obviously, and some very fancy ones you've probably seen on social media.
But just for 1st and foremost, like, even child's post is technically an inversion because you're butt is higher, and so your your heart is higher than your head.
So you're flipping things upside down in a sense.
So that's some way that you can begin to shift things because what it's doing there is it's just giving you a completely different perspective.
Right? And and to help you with that, why not take a power pause and literally go upside down in some fashion.
Right? You can even just scoot your butt up to the wall, put your legs on the wall, and lay your torso on the ground, and essentially you're doing an inversion.
You lift your butt up with a pillow underneath your butt, and you are doing even more inversion.
So you're just giving yourself to take a different view.
Right? Because when we're under stress, we tend to narrow our focus.
Right? This is what happens physiologically.
We narrow our focus and we get really dialed into something, and it's hard for us to see options, opportunities, other perspectives.
So how can you flip it on its head? Because this is where we can begin to understand and remember that there's a field of infinite possibilities.
But when we play worst case scenario, we're fixating on 1, which is more than likely not the one you want.
So it's kinda interesting that we're giving all of our focus and attention to something that we're like, oh, no.
That would be absolutely awful.
Oh, I can't hear that.
You know, and so we're feeding that energy.
Right? And so from the field of infinite possibilities when we flip things upside down and we start to just get curious.
Right? You're using your capacity for imagination in a different way, likely a more light, playful, productive sort of way, And so it's, you know, I forget who said it, but someone said that anxiety is the misuse of oh, no worry is the misuse of imagination.
And so how can we use our imagination to your benefit, to your vision, to your goals, to your expansion? Right? So flip it on its head and take a different view.
Pratyaksha, Babana.
And then the other way to takes one of the really potent yoga sutras that was a yoga sutra.
So it's like a little nugget of yoga philosophy.
Um, so we take that and how can we begin to use Right? So when you go upside down, you're taking a different view.
So another one that I think is really important and is really foundational for your asana practice, your physical practice of yoga, is that in every posture, we have both structure.
We have the stability.
We have the strength, and we also have softness.
We also have spaciousness.
We also have surrender.
We also have a letting go.
And so when it comes to those periods of wiggles and wobbles and transformation.
When we hold on really tight, and we're trying really hard to do something.
We can create our own wave of resistance and challenge.
Right? You maybe have noticed when you're in a pose and you're trying really hard to do it, everything gets really rigid.
And we kind of close ourself down and we contract.
And so if you have flipped things upside down, you're taking a different view, or if you're just pausing to recognize, okay, where am I holding on really tight? Because I just don't wanna let go here.
Can you notice that when we are clenching, when your fist are clenched and you're holding on to something, the resistance and the tension that that brings through your entire being, not just your arms or your entire being, if you attuned to the subtlety of it.
But If we acknowledge that there are a million possibilities available to us, if we pause, and we flip it on its head, and we take a moment to deeply remember the truth of who we are.
You know, sometimes we can do this in the moment.
Sometimes it takes a little bit.
So, you know, just give yourself some space and grace.
Can we begin to create a little bit of softness? And so how can we create some space to surrender.
And if you are like me and you're very, you know, focused and driven and action oriented, Sometimes that can be really challenging to just sit in the space.
And we wanna remember this teaching.
So this teaching is really relevant to physical asana practice.
So it is that within every posture, We have strength without rigidity, and we have softness without a dullness to it.
So it's, so in every posture, there is that, the stability, the action, the doing And there's also the counterbalance to that with the sukha, the sweetness, the softness, the surrender, the essence, the being.
And so it can be a dance.
It is a dance, right, in order to have spaciousness and opening and flexibility.
We need structure.
We need the stability.
We need that 10 segarty.
It's called.
We have this integrity of the tension.
We have the the muscular activation to hold the the bones in place.
And we have the connective tissue to and the ligaments in the tendon.
To hold everything, to hold the structure.
There's activation on one side of the joint.
So for example, when your arms are out or more in your 2, There's activation in your upper back shoulder blades are pulling towards each other down.
And then on the front side of your chest and your shoulder, there's an opening.
But that opening comes from the activation and the connection from the back body.
Right? And so if we don't have that, It's challenging to hold the arms up.
The arms represent your sword, so we wanna have them sharp.
We wanna have them out.
We wanna have them powerful.
But if your upper back is not activated, Other muscles will kick in.
You'll probably feel it in your neck, and you'll feel it in other areas that aren't necessarily meant to be very activated in that post.
And so what we wanna look at is where are we gripping? Where are we holding on for dear life to something that maybe isn't serving you anymore.
Maybe isn't working anymore.
Maybe isn't, um, panning out in a way that is sustainable.
And how can we let it go? Right? And and it's interesting because as much as I'm in this right now, I keep seeing these beautiful mocks And on Maui, we have these moths.
And if you look them up, the ollieander moth, they are literally the craziest coolest things I've ever seen.
And they're big.
Right? But they're scared of me.
So they stay away, which is fine because I'm not much much for winging creatures if you've heard my stories about birds, but They stay, and they're so beautiful, but that's the same.
The symbology of the moth is very similar to the symbology of the butterfly in that there is a period of surrender and decomposition to be able to come into this evolution.
Right? The caterpillar surrenders itself, but in return, it gets these wings.
And so it's one of those things of, like, how can we create the sense of softness and and surrendering and letting go in order to be birthed into the next phase and age of your life in order to become an even fuller, more vibrant expression of yourself because that version of you is waiting.
Right? But if we're gripping and holding on to something that maybe has been moved on or taken away or or we're letting go of it or we're recognizing not working, that really creates its own sense of resistance and therefore blocking.
It's a misuse of your energy because we're so hyperfixated on it.
Right? And so if we're hyper fixated on this problem or this issue or the shortcomings or whatever it is, then it can tend to really hold us in that cycle and prolong the struggle.
Right? And so it's like, the more we try, the more effort we're putting into it.
And if we can just step back, remember at the deepest level of who you are, take a different view, then maybe Who knows? Right? Maybe more inspiration and ideas and opportunities will flow to you.
Probably yes.
Chances are yes.
Because that tends to be how things work in the universe.
Right? And so, you know, it's easier said than done, but it's just important to remember that these tools, these ancient teachings, are are there for us, not just on the yoga mat, right, and remembering that it is it's all part of the journey, the warriors journey, and there's an evolution that comes with any practice.
And so it's been a really interesting journey to begin to look at how these tools have woven in and out of my life to create the fabric of my life, if you will.
And so I would invite you to look and see the same.
Like, where has your journey taken you, these different stops along the way that may be seen like massive obstacles have actually become something that really allowed you to blossom and allowed you to grow and allowed you to take that next step into maybe a different path that you hadn't even considered.
And who knows what it'll hold for you.
Right? And so it's that the perspective of possibility and and the sage perspective that everything is a gift or an opportunity, and how can we begin to look at that? And so really just sitting back and taking a look at how things are unfolding for you and really honoring that and and honoring the wisdom, honoring the growth, and honoring the way that you are showing up for yourself.
And so that's really been quite a journey for me, and it's been an interesting evolution.
And it's really come to a beautiful realization of how the many things and the many things I've created along the way and the many experiences I've had have really led to where I'm at right now and sort of circling back circling back to something that's been really foundational for me along my journey, which is my morning routine.
And I hadn't I've been teaching this for quite some time, you know, and you've probably heard that before.
We've talked about, you know, how everyone has a morning routine, just how meaningful is it, and how it's foundational for how you show up for yourself and how you are able to really anchor that in with intention and really start the day from that place of purpose and power and presence as the purposeful powerhouse that you truly are.
And so for me, it's been an interesting journey because You know, I've been letting go of different areas and parts of my life and my business because I've recognized that they're they're not really serving me anymore, and they're not really allowing me to serve and show up and serve you at a very high level.
And so it's been interesting because all of these components as I begin to let them go have begun to weave themselves back together in a new way, a new configuration, like a new pose, has been birth, if you will, if we're staying with the yoga analogy.
And so, yeah, it's been really interesting.
And so I would invite you to just take a look at maybe how that's happening for you or has happened.
You know, it may be happening now or maybe in the future.
Who knows? But, yeah, it's been really beautiful.
It's been really beautiful.
And so it really was a moment, not a moment, a couple of weeks, actually, of sitting with this and allowing it to happen and and being a witness and just sitting back because my steta was wanting to just take over and do something now.
But my heart kept whispering.
No.
Not yet.
It's not time.
You know, you're a warrior.
You'll know.
You'll know when it's time.
And so inside the book, you'll hear that.
But that's really been beautiful because it actually allowed me to bring to life a totally new experience that I'm really excited about.
And I just began to speak to and share about called Amplify Your Morning, which helps you to start the day like the powerhouse that you are.
So that you can do that to amplify your energy, your joy, your focus, your creativity, your alignment, your inspiration, all of that.
Amplify all of it all at once, right, in just 15 minutes.
That's it.
Just 15 minutes.
And so I'm so excited because I know how impactful and I know how foundational these tools are when you have them integrated and laid out for you in a way that really serves and supports you in a way that helps you get out of self care overwhelm and and step out of anxiety overdrive to be able to really keep your energy aligned, to be able to achieve your goals without exhausting yourself, to be able to prioritize your health and happiness in a way that really serves you as the multilayered being that you are as well as serves your goals and your vision.
And so, yeah, I'm really excited about Amplify your morning.
And so I'll put the link if you wanna take a peek at it.
Um, it's really high touch, high accountability support.
So there are limited spots available, but if the link is there and it's live, there would be a spot for you if you'd like to take a look at it.
So it really is the opportunity to have this created for you in a way that really serves to you and is customized for you, but also have the accountability and the support and the motivation and the tools to really stick with it in a way that you love and look forward to because taking care of yourself, integrating these tools, having these ancient teachings woven into a into a flow that suits you, is really what it's all about.
Right? It should be something that you love and look forward to.
It shouldn't be arduous.
It should be fun and playful, and that's really what Amplify your morning is all about and really what life and and yoga is all about is taking it from that different perspective.
Right? Oh, good one.
I got full circle.
Pradipaksha, Rabana, is to be able to flip it.
How can we look at these different things that, you know, may feel like another thing that's just another thing on your to do list.
Oh, gotta do it.
Gotta take care of myself.
Gotta do yoga.
Whatever.
And how can you flip it and look at it in a way that really nurtures you and allows you to show up vibrantly in every you do because you love it and you look forward to it.
So if a lot if Amplify your morning is on the flow for you.
I would love to be able to support you.
If not, no worries.
Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you for taking the time to think and move and breathe and show up on purpose like the purposeful powerhouse that you are.
Until next time.
Take good care.
Bye bye