The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

361: Connect to Nature & Your Roots with Tracee Stanley

Description:

What is our relationship with nature? How do we connect to our roots and our ancestors? Why is all of this important and relevant to yoga? Tracee Stanley shares her insights.

Tracee Stanley is the author of Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation and Awakened Clarity and The Luminous Self: Sacred Yogic Practices & Rituals to Remember Who You Are. She is also the founder of Empowered Life Circle, a sacred community and portal of practices, rituals, and Tantric teachings. Tracee is devoted to sharing the wisdom of yoga nidra, rest, meditation, self-inquiry, nature as a teacher, and ancestor reverence.

In this episode, Tracee talks about her journey in seeking a place beyond all sorrow through yoga, and how this is different from turning inward and blocking out external suffering of others. She also shares her perspective on our relationship to nature, how to change it into one of reciprocity and cultivate a real connection through rituals. Tracee also explains our deep connection to our ancestors and how we can tap into their wisdom and learn from them through our practice.

Key Takeaways:

[1:10] A snippet from this interview with Tracee Stanley about how nature can help us, our loved ones, and our communities.

[1:42] Shannon expresses gratitude to Tracee for not shying away from some tough questions and gives a brief introduction to herself and her work.

[6:10] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Tracee Stanley.

[8:28] What does Tracee do and who does she do it for?

[11:59] Tracee shares a little about turning inward to find this place beyond sorrow, and how it is different from simply ignoring what is going on in the world.

[14:50] What is the place that is beyond all sorrows?

[16:23] How does getting out in nature help people come back to themselves?

[19:21] What are some of the rituals and practices to start connecting with and being in a reciprocal relationship with nature?

[21:27] Shannon reflects on how her relationship with her garden has changed since 2020.

[27:11] Shannon pops in with a message about OfferingTree.

[28:38] Tracee talks a little about our connection to our ancestors.

[32:05] Tracee shares her experience of connecting to her ancestral realm.

[36:22] Shannon talks about looking up her own settler ancestry. Tracee reflects back some insights about this process of reclaiming our roots.

[41:09] What are some of the rituals that Tracee does now that help her?

[44:35] Check out Tracee's book on her website.

[45:06] Tracee has some final words of advice for people who are feeling worn out.

[46:28] Shannon shares her biggest takeaways from this conversation with Tracee.

[48:39] What's coming up in Pelvic Health Professionals and the podcast?

Links:

• Tracee Stanley

• Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation & Awakened Clarity by Tracee Stanley

• THE LUMINOUS SELF: Sacred Yogic Practices and Rituals to Remember Who You Are, by Tracee Stanley

• Empowered Life Circle

• Ancestry.com

• Yoga During a Pelvic Cancer Diagnosis: 6-Week Online Series with Tyla Arnason (she/her)

• Guest Speakers in Pelvic Health Professionals

• Shannon Crow on Instagram

• The Connected Yoga Teacher Facebook Group

• Pelvic Health Professionals

Gratitude to our Sponsors, OfferingTree and Pelvic Health Professionals.

Quotes from this episode:

"If we know that we can also touch into a place that can be revealed to us through stillness and practice. That to me is very hopeful because it becomes an inner resource that we can always go to."

"One of the things that happens when we want to look away and pretend it's not happening is that we're not acknowledging this idea that we are all connected."

"We actually, as human beings, have to take this respite of rest at some point, whether it's seasonal or whether it's during the day or whether it's because the cycle of the news has carried us to a place where we need to take a moment or a day to rest or more than one or two days. But we have to listen."

"Can we, instead of resisting this cold, resisting this time of fallowness, can we welcome the beauty that the snow brings and the cold brings?"

"For most of us, I think that has been lost or forgotten or we feel that it's not important. And yet all of the prayers of our ancestors, all of their memories, all of their knowledge is living in our DNA and it's part of who we are."

"I can't tell anybody what to do. This is why practice is so important because practice, when we get still and silent and we rest, gives us the answer of what is ours to do."

"It really doesn't have to be big, but one little increment of movement in a positive direction can be so helpful."

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What is our relationship with nature? How do we connect to our roots and our ancestors? Why is all of this important and relevant to yoga? Tracee Stanley (she/her) addresses these questions and shares insights about rituals we can practice to go deeper.