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Zen(ish) Mommy episodes

  • Finding your 'Fit' with Taylor Walker Sinning

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    As we welcome a new year, you might find yourself doing an audit of the things you rocked in 2021, and the things you didn’t quite get to. Fitness is bound to fall somewhere on that list. Here today to chat all things movement and health is Taylor Walker Sinning, global fitness icon, certified personal trainer, holistic health coach and fitness model, who sees ‘fit’ as more than just fitness, but also being able to fit nutrition, self-care and wellness practices into the mom-wife-career equation in a realistic way. You’ll hear her thoughts on New Year’s resolutions and goals, what it was like for her to be a 9th Grade PE teacher, and why she believes educators hold so much power. We talk about living in the stream, and how putting off moving your energy leaves us pouring from an empty cup. Taylor reveals to us that she believes there is no single answer to movement during pregnancy and gets real honest about her relationship with fitness throughout her two pregnancies. We explore the power of movement to resolve pelvic floor issues post partum, and she reassures listeners with budget constraints that just a few sessions can make a huge difference, if you’re not able to invest in more. With plenty of wellness tips and helpful insights, today’s episode is well worth a listen. We hope you join us! 

    Key Points From This Episode:

    • An introduction to Taylor Walker Sinning, fitness icon, personal trainer, coach, and model.
    • Taylor weighs in on New Year’s resolutions and tells us why she advocates for the ‘reset button’, and encourages listeners to set realistic goals.
    • How putting off moving our energy leaves us pouring from an empty cup.
    • The importance of a daily check-in, to ask yourself what it is that you need.
    • What it was like to move during her two pregnancies and how they differed from each other.
    • Why she doesn’t believe there is any one answer to movement during pregnancy.
    • Her opinion that modern women are trying to do everything yet are very hard on themselves.
    • What she believes about breathwork and the parasympathetic zone: it is the cornerstone for motherhood, fitness, and especially prenatal fitness.
    • The power of movement to resolve postnatal problems in the pelvic floor.
    • Taylor recommends seeking postpartum therapy after birth to assess what is needed.
    • Why doing just a few sessions with a trainer can be beneficial if you can’t afford more.
    • How postpartum training differed for her between births and what she learned.
    • The postnatal training that Taylor has in the works to roll out on her app. 
    • Why she wants to continue the messaging of moving your body in a way that feels good for you, to have a better delivery and a happy, healthy postpartum experience.
    • Her wellness tips for pre- and postnatal moms: fill up your cup whenever you can, schedule time for yourself, whether it’s a walk outside or a podcast, ask for help and
    • The change that your relationship goes through and the importance of asking for help.
    • Why continued dialogue is so important.s

    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

    Taylor Walker Sinning on Instagram
    Taylor Walker Sinning on Twitter
    Taylor Walker Sinning on Facebook
    Taylor Walker Sinning

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    38 min
  • Dear White Women, You Can Do Better

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    Dear White Women

    Systemic racism, anti-racism, and education have been topics of interest ever since we started seeing abuse by law enforcement officers of the Black and brown communities play out on our TV screens last summer. If you’re wondering how to educate and how to be a part of raising a generation of children that practice anti-racism consciously, today’s episode is for you. Our guests, Sara and Misasha, have been rocking the boat with their weekly podcast, Dear White Women, where they channel their different skills to help white moms use their privilege to uproot systemic racism. Tune in to hear why the conversation about race is relevant for all of us, why it is a privileged stance to suggest avoiding conversations about race with your child, and the philosophy behind the Dear White Women Podcast. You’ll also find out why it’s important to uncover your own internal biases in order to heal and connect. Sara and Misasha share some tools that they have used to explain race and difference to their children and get candid about their experience raising of mixed race children in 2021. We hope you join us for a rich and informative discussion today!

    Key Points From This Episode:

    • The two layers of change: internal work and systemic change.
    • How it got personal for Misasha’s during the police brutality in summer last year.
    • Why the conversation around race is relevant for all of us: racism hurts all of us.
    • Why it is a privileged stance to suggest avoiding conversations about race with your child.
    • The philosophy behind Dear White Women: leading with heart, without shame, and bringing everyone into the conversation. 
    • How important it is to model an inclusive environment and community for your kids.
    • Challenges Misasha faces in speaking to her kids about these issues correctly.
    • Representation as a small but important way to create inclusivity.
    • How the values that you teach at home are irrelevant unless you embody them.
    • The role of slowing down and listening to your body to identify unconscious bias and racism.
    • Why our internal bias and racism doesn’t make us bad people, but needs to be uncovered.
    • How uncovering this bias can help us heal and connect with others.
    • Asking questions of yourself and others as a way to deconstruct internalized biases.
    • The generalizations we make about people of color and how we don’t with white folks. 
    • How crayons can be used to explain difference between people.
    • Why children’s questions are a great entry point to be able to have discussions.
    • The importance of allowing kids to see themselves and others in books and media.
    • How it’s not too late to start having these conversations and instill critical thinking skills.
    • Connecting with why we care about racism and integrating those questions into dinnertime.
    • Why you can’t un-know what you know, and why it’s time to do something about it!

    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

    Dear White Women

    Dear White Women on Twitter
    Dear White Women

    The Zen Mommy

    Mom, Slow Down!

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    52 min
  • Slowing Down to Find Your Flow with Strala Yoga Founder, Tara Stiles

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    Slowing Down to Find Your Flow with Tara Stiles

    In theory, we all want to slow down and live with more purpose but, in practice, the emotional and psychological barriers to changing your mindset can be incredibly challenging to overcome. On this episode, we host Tara Stiles, a global yoga, movement, and wellness expert, author, and Founder of Strala Yoga. She brings a revolutionary approach to being, moving, and healing, and offers some life-changing insights in our conversation today. Tara shares about her path into yoga and how her first experience reminded her of feelings she had as a child. You’ll also hear about the ‘Yoga Rebel’ piece about Tara that was published in the New York Times and some of the obstacles she hopes readers will overcome when they read her book. We get real about crises of spirit and talk about the conversations Tara has been having with her preschooler, and as well as the importance of teaching boundaries as a parent. We dive into how yoga is a part of her child’s life and the main thing she wants readers to take away from the book: yoga is already within you and you deserve to feel good! We hope you join us for today’s inspiring episode.

    Key Points From This Episode:


    • Tara’s passion to slow down and help whoever wants to slow down.
    • Her path into yoga and how her first experience reminded her of feelings she had as a child.
    • How integrating yoga into her ballet classes helped her to feel better.
    • The ‘Yoga Rebel’ piece in the New York Times on her non-denominational approach to yoga.
    • Obstacles she hopes readers will overcome: the fear of slowing down.
    • How a solid yoga practice supports feeling better, getting more done, and navigating life.
    • The simple moments she introduces people to so that they get comfortable with yoga.
    • How Tara experiences many crises of spirit, with the biggest one coming from yoga.
    • Conversations Tara has with her preschooler about microaggressions from adults.
    • The importance of teaching your child to have boundaries with themselves and others.
    • Why it is important to integrate the attitudes you learn in yoga to your everyday life.
    • What she has noticed as a parent: when she is calm, her child is calm.
    • How yoga is a part of her child’s life and she tells her mom to tell the people to have fun.
    • The main thing she wants people to take away from her book: yoga is already within you, and you deserve to do something that makes you feel really good!
    • The kids yoga book she did with Nat Geo: Yoga Animals.
    • What dinnertime looks like in her home: eating to get through it and play again!

    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:


    Tara Stiles

    Tara Stiles on Instagram
    Tara Stiles on Facebook
    Strala Yoga
    Clean Mind, Clean Body
    'Rebel Yoga'

    Yoga Animals

    The Zen Mommy

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    The Zen Mommy on Instagram
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    44 min
  • Teaser Episode: What is the Flow State with Tara Stiles

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    Flow State with Tara Stiles


    During this mini conversation, we ask Tara Stiles what her definition of being in the flow state is. She is a global yoga, movement, and wellness expert, author, and Founder of Strala Yoga with many powerful insights to share about what flow state feels like, how it benefits us, and why we should try to get into it as often as we can. We hope you join us! 

    Key Points From This Episode:


    • We ask Tara Stiles how she would define the flow state.
    • The universal experience that we all have, whether with yoga, gardening, or something else.
    • What it feels like for Tara to share that experience: like time moves differently. 
    • How, when you are in the flow state, you feel like you can do it forever.
    • Why, for Tara, it feels like she is here and everywhere at the same time.
    • Deepak Chopra’s idea of being ‘non local’ and how it is the universal feeling we all have.
    • How it is important for us to get into that flow state as much as we can.


    Tweetables:


    “The experience [of flow state] for me just feels like I’m here and I’m everywhere at the same time.” — Tara Stiles [0:00:44]

    “It’s cool when people explain their experience because everyone explains it so [differently], which reminds us that it’s good for us to keep getting into that flow state as much as we can.” — Tara Stiles [0:01:11]

    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:


    Tara Stiles

    Tara Stiles on Instagram
    Tara Stiles on Facebook
    Strala Yoga

    The Zen Mommy

    Mom, Slow Down!

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    2 min
  • Creating and Keeping Chemistry with Alicia Davon

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    Creating and Keeping Chemistry with Alicia Davon

    Creating chemistry takes skill. Along with her husband, Erwan, today’s guest, Alicia Davon, has helped over 12,000 singles and couples have exceptional relationships. She is a relationship and romance expert who has a deep and caring interest in women’s sexual and relationship satisfaction after a profoundly transformative experience in her early college days. During today’s conversation, we talk about how she came to be in the business of counseling couples and how she met her husband, Erwan, through his Pleasure Course. She explains to us what it really means to lose chemistry, what intimacy means, and why it is different for most people. Alicia also introduces us to some of the tools that she and Erwan use to guide their clients, including the 12 structured touching techniques and four practices she trains people in: meditation, psychological inquiry, body practice, and sensual practice. We hope you join us to hear all this and much more today! 

    Key Points From This Episode:

    • What it was like for Alicia to grow up with great parents in Los Angeles.
    • The crisis point she experienced at UC Santa Barbara, where she became depressed.
    • How her spiritual exploration lead to a realization that there was more to being a woman.
    • The story of how she met her husband, Erwan, through his Pleasure Course.
    • Alicia confirms that what we are missing as women is the connection to our body. 
    • The multifaceted reasons that chemistry wears off, including the lack of novelty.
    • What losing that chemistry really means and how you can learn skills to regain it.
    • How becoming a parent impacts your connection to your own sexuality and pleasure.
    • One of the keys, which is to make time and space for the relationship.
    • The set of 12 touching practices that Erwan and Alicia have developed for couples.
    • How couples often have the same goal but different ways of getting there. 
    • What intimacy is and why it is different for most people.
    • Why sex is only as good as the woman is enjoying it because, biologically, we carry the heat.
    • Why men and women have to go at the woman’s pace in order to have a positive experience.
    • Why it is important to do self-exploration in order to know what you like. 
    • Alicia explains why prioritization is the key to sustaining a good sex life once you have kids.
    • Why prioritizing pleasure doesn’t have to just be sexual. 
    • The four practices Erwan and Alicia train people in: meditation, psychological inquiry, body practice, and sensual practice. 

    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

    Alicia Davon on LinkedIn
    Alicia Davon on Facebook
    Erwan Davon Teachings on Instagram
    Erwan Davon Teachings on Facebook
    Erwan Davon Teachings
    Erwan and Alicia Phone: +415 3089 580
    'This Couple Trains People to Have Hour-Long ‘Extended’ Orgasms'
    'The 5 Keys to a Successful Relationship'

    The Zen Mommy

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    41 min
  • Episode teaser; What is Intimacy with Alicia Davon

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    Intimacy Mini Convo with Alicia Davon


    The term ‘intimacy’ is often used as a synonym for sex but, in reality, each person has a different definition for what it means to be intimate. In this short conversation, relationship expert Alicia Davon unpacks what that means. Tune in to hear more!

    Key Points From This Episode:


    • How intimacy is often used just to mean sexual interaction.
    • What it can mean: connection and attention with no distractions.


    Tweetables:


    “Intimacy can mean sex or sexual interaction. Intimacy can mean connection, feeling emotionally connected to someone. Here I am, here you are, we’re not distracted. I’m paying attention to you, you’re paying attention to me.” — Alicia Davon [0:00:38]

    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:


    Alicia Davon on LinkedIn
    Alicia Davon on Facebook
    Erwan Davon Teachings on Instagram
    Erwan Davon Teachings on Facebook
    Erwan Davon Teachings
    Erwan and Alicia Phone: +415 3089 580
    'This Couple Trains People to Have Hour-Long ‘Extended’ Orgasms'
    'The 5 Keys to a Successful Relationship'

    Mom, Slow Down!

    Support the show

    The Zen Mommy on Instagram
    the Zen Mommy

    2 min
  • One Mother's Mission to Educate Parents on the Calming Powers of Infant Massage with Kahlmi founder, Elina Furman

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    The Connecting Powers of Baby Massage with Elina Furman

    On today’s episode, you’ll learn why infant massage is such a dynamic tool to connect with your baby. Our guest, Elina Furman is a certified infant massage instructor with over ten years of experience in the baby products industry. She is launching a new tool known as Kahlmi, the first bonding and massage tool for babies and children using acutech technology and vibration to help families connect, calm, and comfort. She is here today to help us create a deeper connection with our babies and to ourselves. Tuning in, you’ll hear the story of how Elina came to be a certified infant massage practitioner and the benefits she has seen, as well as why the physical effects are a side effect of the immense psychological and emotional ones. She also provides parents with some practical tips on how to massage babies and children, starting slow, and emphasizes the fact that you don’t need a product to massage your child, but she considers Kahlmi a hero product that provides her with a platform to educate people about the amazing tool of baby massage. We hope you join us for another great episode today!

    Key Points From This Episode:


    • The story of how Elina came to be a certified infant massage practitioner.
    • The desire for holistic, non-medical solutions and the lack of conversations about baby massage that led Elina to research it.
    • Issues infant massage helps with: weight gain for premature babies, teething, gas, and colic.
    • Why the physical benefits are a side effect of the psychological and emotional ones.
    • Why you need to have a hero product in order to create awareness around a topic.
    • How she went about creating educational platforms before launching her product.
    • The cumulative benefits of baby massage and how consistency creates results.
    • The importance of taking three minutes to regulate your own mood before giving a massage.
    • How baby massage makes parents much more confident in handling their infant.
    • Why you should start slow with short massages in the morning and in the evening.
    • Making sure that the experience is positive for your baby. 
    • How involving fathers in infant massage is an opportunity to level the playing field. 
    • Why you don’t need this product to massage your baby.
    • Baby massage as the bridge between love and science.
    • What dinnertime looks like: one child eating chicken nuggets, another eating salad, Elina eating later on, and her husband eating when he gets home.


    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:


     Elina Furman
    Elina Furman on Twitter

    Elina Furman on LinkedIn

    Kahlmi

    Kahlmi on TikTok
    Kahlmi on Instagram

    The Zen Mommy

    Mom, Slow Down!




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    31 min
  • How you can use social media to your advantage, a conversation with Sociale founder; Elizabeth McNevin

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    If you’re an entrepreneur or an aspiring business owner, today’s episode is for you! When she was laid off her corporate job in 2017, Elizabeth McNevin was left with just nine months to launch both a business and a baby. Tune in today to hear her hard-earned insights on how to leverage the power of social media to work for you! She believes that, at its core, social media is all about building relationships with potential customers, and encourages listeners to seek help both in and outside of the home to enrich their business and family life. Elizabeth is a big advocate for coaching and highlights the importance of choosing a coach who you connect with and shares your business values. We touch on which ads make the best conversions on social media, and Elizabeth tells us what people most want to see when they are scrolling: an imperfect, ‘scrappy’ feed. Mom-owned businesses are Elizabeth’s ideal client and she shares one of the resources that has connected her to plenty of great people who fit this description. We hope you join us to hear some tips, tricks, and insights that you can apply to your own business today! 

    Key Points From This Episode:

    • The story of how Elizabeth lost her corporate job while six months pregnant. 
    • How her next steps unfolded and the business coach that encouraged her to start.
    • What to look for when you are hiring a coach: a connection and shared business values.
    • Why, at its core, social media is all about building relationships with potential customers.
    • Elizabeth’s suggestion for business owners: hire help in your business and your home.
    • How something’s got to give if you don’t know your strengths.
    • The ads that make the best conversions on social media: the ones that don’t look like ads.
    • Why showing up on social media as your authentic self is the most powerful tool.
    • What is powerful about having a scrappy social media feed instead of a curated one. 
    • A resource that has been helpful to connect Elizabeth with other entrepreneurs: HeyMama.
    • How the shared experience of surviving a pandemic has brought people together.
    • Why giving back is such a big deal to Elizabeth: she had so many mentors coming up.
    • What her perfect clients look like: mom-owned businesses.
    • Elizabeth’s thoughts on the role of influencer: everyone is an influencer!
    • What dinnertime looks like in Elizabeth’s home: 16:45 or 17:00 dinner with her four-year-old.

    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
    Elizabeth would love to give you
    $100 off her new course (so only $97)  "Learning how  to leverage organic social posts, UGC and Reels in ads on FB/IG/TikTok/Pinterest "
    Use link  for Discount
     https://www.authenticadaccelerator.com/octoberpromo


    Elizabeth McNevin on LinkedIn
    Elizabeth Mcnevin on Instagram
    Elizabeth McNevin on Twitter
    Sociale Consulting on Facebook
    Sociale Consulting

    HeyMama

    The Zen Mommy

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    26 min
  • Susan Stutzel believes Saying Yes to Something is Saying No to Something else, so Choose wisely

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    Today’s guest is a leadership coach who is passionate about freeing professional women from self-sabotaging their goals to help them find purpose and balance. Susan Stutzel is here today to help us set realistic expectations and redefine what it means to be a good mom, and we kick off our conversation by emphasizing that unconditional love is the basis of good parenting. We also highlight the importance of showing up as your best self all the way through because “more is caught than taught.” Susan tells us why modeling behavior and intentionality are the most important pieces of the parenting puzzle, whether you’re a stay home parent or building a career. She defines balance as understanding the rhythms of your life, applying flexibility, and noticing what works for you, and we talk about recognizing your strengths, communicating and asking for help as the key to co-parenting, and the power of asking for help! We also touch on the shift in priorities that the pandemic has sparked and explore the practice of asking what you can say no to as a way to put your kids first and be all in with your ‘yes’. We hope you join us to hear all this and more today! 

    Key Points From This Episode:


    • How Susan defines being a good mom: unconditional love and showing up as your best self. 
    • The importance of the modeling behavior piece of parenting. 
    • Why intentionality is more important than distinguishing between staying home and working.
    • What realistic expectations look like: choosing your priorities and shifting your focus.
    • Balance as understanding the rhythms of your life and noticing what works with flexibility.
    • Recognizing your strengths, communicating, and asking for help as the key to co-parenting.
    • The power of asking kids for help with household chores as a benefit to them (and you)!
    • Why it is constructive to establish your priorities in order to return to that baseline.
    • How we got to the place of overcommitting our children: wanting to give your child every opportunity in a world where so much is available.
    • What COVID made us realize about being overcommitted and how unnecessary that is.
    • Asking what you can say no to as a way to put your kids first and be all in with your ‘yes’.
    • What dinnertime looks like at Susan’s home: just her and her husband, all the kids, guests stepping into meal times, takeout, and homemade meals.


    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:


    Susan Stutzel

    Susan Stutzel on LinkedIn

    Susan Stutzel on Facebook

    The Zen Mommy

    Mom, Slow Down!

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    33 min
  • How to Sleep Train your Baby with Expert and founder of Rested Mama, Happy Baby, Mica Deshaw

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    Here to debunk some sleep myths that may have crept into your thinking is founder of Rested Mama, Happy Baby, Mica Deshaw. She provides one-on-one sleep coaching to create unique sleep plans to maximize sleep for families in under a fortnight. Mica is a pediatric sleep coach and mother of two who gets candid on today’s episode about why there’s so much unsolicited advice around getting your baby to sleep, and why you can go to all the hospital classes twice, and still not get the guidance you need. You’ll hear how she is driven by passion and prioritizes supporting what you want and need as a mom, and why she believes that if you don’t have a problem with sleep, you shouldn’t seek out a coach. She tells us about the service she offers, educating new and expecting parents, and building personalized sleep schedules, and describes some of the topics that she covers, from sleep goals, to identifying overtiredness and under tiredness. She assures us that her baby is getting 12 hours of sleep, and jokes that she couldn’t be a sleep coach if that wasn’t the case, and emphasizes the fact that it’s natural to want to sleep! Additionally, she lets us know that you can’t spoil your baby in the first eight weeks, and all you need to do is survive, before you introduce healthy strategies as they grow. She explains why it is important to set your baby’s expectations and make sure that they fall asleep and wake up in the same place to avoid startling them. As your baby gets older, deep communication of expectations and consequences needs to be introduced, and she lets us know why, if there’s going to be a reward, it needs to be immediate. We hope you tune in to hear all this and more today! 

    Key Points From This Episode:

    • Why people offer unsolicited advice to new moms: they have been through it, but might not be educated on all of it. 
    • Why you can go to all the hospital classes twice and still not get the guidance you need.
    • How Mica is driven by passion and aims to support what you want as a mom.
    • Why, if you don’t have a problem with sleep, you shouldn’t seek out a coach.
    • What Mica offers: education for new and expecting parents, building sleep schedules.
    • Topics Mica covers: what to expect from your newborn, sleep goals, how much sleep they should be getting, signs of overtiredness and under tiredness, postpartum sleep plans.
    • Why Mica couldn’t be a sleep coach if her child wasn’t getting 12 hours of sleep.
    • How her own experience with a newborn caused her to explore sleep schedules.
    • Why, even though it looks that way on social media, everyone else does not have it all.
    • The first tip: don’t feel bad about wanting sleep and be okay with knowing you deserve it.
    • Another tip: the first eight weeks, all you have to do is survive, you can’t spoil your baby.
    • Why it is important for your baby to fall asleep in the same place that they wake up.
    • The value of having a routine and a sleepytime phrase.
    • How to avoid startling your baby by creating expectations for them.
    • Deep communication of expectations and consequences with older children. 
    • Why, if there is going to be a reward, it has to be immediate.
    • Where to find Mica: on Instagram stories and live, via free consults booked in the link in her bio, and on her website.
    • The exclusive 50% discount available for Mom, Slow Down! listeners.

    Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

    Mica Deshaw on LinkedIn

    Support the show

    The Zen Mommy on Instagram
    the Zen Mommy

    28 min

About Zen(ish) Mommy

From the publisher's feed

A place to educate, empower, connect, and laugh. Host Jessica Gershman, a certified yoga instructor, mindfulness practitioner and a busy mom of 4, invites you to explore your own inner journey and…