The Power of Yoga and Mindset with Stacy McCarthy

Do you feel like you're constantly doing but never being? Meet Stacy McCarthy aka Yoga Namastacy, a visionary in integrative health and wellness who has a knack for transforming "human doings" into "human beings." As a yoga and meditation specialist with a rich background in exercise physiology, kinesiology, health, and nutrition, Stacy brings us a fresh perspective on the transformative power of yoga and the profound significance of mindset and energy. We also discuss the Big 3 and how to go from being a "human doing" to a "human being".

Timestamps to help you navigate this episode:
(0:00) Intro
(0:20) FREE Self Love & Sweat MONTHLY Calendar
(1:52) Yoga's Transformative Power With Stacy McCarthy
(10:06) Power of Yoga for Mind, Body
(20:33) Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25
(22:28) The Power of Energy and Mindset
(31:09) Transitioning to Human Being From Doing
(43:39) Finding Balance Through Yoga

Who is Yoga Namastacy?
Stacy McCarthy is a true visionary in the field of integrative health and wellness specializing in yoga and meditation. With a degree in Exercise Physiology and extensive experience as a College Professor of Kinesiology, Health, and Nutrition, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the stage. From serving as COO of a successful fitness club chain to founding and investing in a thriving plant powered super food cafe chain, Stacy’s career is a testament to her passion and dedication to helping others lead healthier, happier lives regardless of their age or where they are starting on their wellness journey.  Join this dynamic leader and explore the limitless possibilities for growth and transformation in living a life of abundant joy and unconditional love.

Connect with Stacy McCarthy
IG: @yoga_namastacy
FB: /StacyMcCarthyYogaNamastacy
YouTube: @StacyMcCarthy-YogaNamastacy

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:20 FREE Self Love & Sweat MONTHLY Calendar
• 1:52 Yoga's Transformative Power With Stacy McCarthy
• 10:06 Power of Yoga for Mind, Body
• 20:33 Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25
• 22:28 The Power of Energy and Mindset
• 31:09 Transitioning to Human Being From Doing
• 43:39 Finding Balance Through Yoga

Transcript

Lunden Souza: 0:01

Welcome to Self Love and Sweat the podcast, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections, break down barriers and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host, Lunden Souza. Hey, have you grabbed your free Self Love and Sweat monthly calendar? Yet this calendar is so amazing. It comes right in your inbox every single month to help you have a little nugget of wisdom, a sweaty workout, a mindset activity, just a little something, something to help keep you focused and motivated and keep that momentum towards your goals. So every day, when you get this calendar, you'll see a link that you can click that will lead to a podcast episode or a workout or something that will be very powerful and quick to read. And then you'll also see, on the top left corner of every single day, there's a little checkbox in the calendar and what that is is that's for your one thing. You can choose one thing every month, or it can be the same, something that you want to implement and make this something that you can easily implement, like daily meditation or getting a certain amount of steps or water, for example, and staying hydrated and even taking your supplements. This can be something if you want to get more regular doing a particular habit and routine. You can choose what that checkbox means. So if you want your self-love and sweat free monthly calendar delivered right to your inbox every month on the first of the month, go to lifelikelunden. com/ calendar. Fill out the form really quickly and you will have your calendar in your inbox within a few short minutes. That's lifelikelunden. com/ calendar. Go, get yours for free and enjoy this episode. Welcome back to the podcast. Today's special guest conversation is with Stacy McCarthy.

Lunden Souza: 2:12

Stacy McCarthy is a true visionary in the field of integrative health and wellness, specializing in yoga and meditation. With a degree in exercise physiology and extensive experience as a college professor of kinesiology, health and nutrition, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the stage. From serving as COO of a successful fitness club chain to founding and investing in a thriving plant powered superfood cafe chain, stacy's career is a testament to her passion and dedication to helping others lead healthier, happier lives, regardless of their age or where they are starting on their wellness journey. She was awarded the prestigious idea world health and fitness instructor of the year. She's a member of the holistic leadership council and inducted into the freestyle Frisbee Hall of Fame. Stacy is a true leader in her field, but her proudest accomplishments are her two successful entrepreneur children a college basketball player from Harvard and a national soccer champion from UCLA. From an early age, she taught them the importance of health and balance in leading a fulfilling life. And despite her many accolades, stacy remains grounded. Her journey as a caregiver to her mother living with Alzheimer's has taught her life lessons she never knew she needed to learn, making her a compassionate and dedicated advocate for holistic wellness. Join this dynamic leader and explore the limitless possibilities for growth and transformation in living an abundant joy and a life of abundant joy and unconditional love.

Lunden Souza: 3:42

Stacy, so happy to have you here. I know you are on Instagram yoga Namasteci, which I love. I've been saying that today. I'm like Namasteci is on the podcast today. Thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited to dive in. But before we start, I want to just hear from you a little bit. I know this was a beautiful bio that I just read. I always get so excited to read the bios of my guests because it's so inspiring. But I know you're in Southern California, like, what are you up to? What is the life of Stacy look like today?

Stacy McCarthy: 4:14

Oh gosh, kind of my bio. Hi everyone, it's great to be here. My days have always been filled with teaching, which is the most important thing on my day to day. I teach a lot, whether it's training teachers, whether it's leading courses at the college retreats all of that. And then also I have a busy home life as well.

Stacy McCarthy: 4:36

As I said in there, I've got a mom that lives with me who has dementia and that requires some care. So after working and running your business, then you come home and you're still caretaking. I thought when my kids were grown that was done, but another generation, so it's all good. I live by a lot of mantras, those mind vehicles of especially my mom's been with us for seven years that for every burden in life there's a blessing in disguise. So rarely at this time in our lives do we get to really know our parents. She hasn't always had dementia, but the last year or so it's been rough, actually since the pandemic. So, yeah, a lot of teaching and I love it. I've been doing this for a long, long time and I still feel like there's so much to learn and grow and so many opportunities out there.

Lunden Souza: 5:31

I feel like some of the most incredible people I've ever met or had the chance to talk, to say things like that I've been doing this for so many years and I still don't know everything or I still have so much to learn. Do you feel that way too, that you're like a forever student, that you're always learning?

Stacy McCarthy: 5:49

Yes, and especially a big part of my journey, as I started in fitness right out of college many, many moons ago. I taught all the latest crazes and all of that fun stuff. Even in 1991, I met a yoga teacher. That really changed my life before. Yoga was so hip and cool and I just I knew that was my path, I knew that was my calling and I went very, very deep into it. And that's what I do a lot of is really helping people, through the lessons of yoga, to have more harmony in their life physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. And so, when it comes to this ancient technique, you can never stop learning. It is so vast, it is so deep, way more than I think especially Westerners understand. They view it as these yoga postures that you do almost like it's an exercise, but it is truly a path to more abundant joy and unconditional love in your life. That's truly what it is.

Lunden Souza: 6:53

And that's your definition of yoga is the path to joy and unconditional love in your life. Yeah, I think we can really get caught up in a lot of the postures, or can I remember, you know, thinking can I do the inversions? Am I good at crow? Like we can get very into yoga as a posture. Am I good enough, or whatever? What was it about yoga? That other, like you said, you started, you know, many moons ago, as you mentioned and did, taught a lot of different modalities. What was it about yoga that really stuck for you? Was it the spiritual component? Was it the? What was it specifically about yoga?

Stacy McCarthy: 7:29

So it's interesting the first time I took yoga was from a friend. He was very bendy. He really didn't know how to teach yoga. He was just very bendy and the postures came easily and he said I want to teach you yoga. And I was really into running then and I'm going to age myself. I'm going to go way back. This was the 80s, running was the rage, nike and running and all of this was the rage. And he did this, taught me this yoga class. He's put this book behind his head and all this crazy stuff and I'm like this is not for me. This is definitely not for me. I'm not into this at all. And then, a few years later, I met a different yoga teacher that was able to help me connect to a deeper part of my inner self. And, yes, the poses were challenging, but it wasn't about the poses. It was about you know, everyone thinks yoga is about touching your toes. People think I'm too stiff to do yoga.

Stacy McCarthy: 8:20

Yoga is about touching your soul and a really, really great teacher who has that depth, helps their students go deeper and connect to their inner self, and that we push so many times in life. We push so hard to get somewhere. We're trying to push through and you know, no pain, no gain. And yoga is really about stepping back a little and allowing yourself to still work intensely, but surrender and connect to a deeper part of your inner self. And if you can find a teacher who can take you along on that path, it is transformational. And that's what I found and I went on to study not only with him but with his teacher in India and I've never really looked back and I still continue to study and I still practice and it's just, it's so deep. It is just so deep, this exploration of the self.

Lunden Souza: 9:13

Yeah, it's beautiful because there are a lot of layers and there isn't really a finish line. If you will, it's just kind of. What I'm hearing is it's part of who you are and it became part of who you are and how you exist in the world. You said something about finding a teacher that resonates with you. How do we do that? Maybe somebody listening has gone to a yoga class where everyone's super bendy, to use your words, and maybe feels like, oh, I'm not as bendy or I can't touch my toes, and maybe they're listening. Now how do we find a better teacher that might meet us where we are, when we're kind of new to this?

Stacy McCarthy: 9:51

I would say keep trying. I mean, most people come to yoga because they're like, oh, my back hurts, I want, I want to feel, I want less back pain. Or I'm too, I want to be more flexible. Or I saw this on Instagram and that person's doing a handstand and I want to be able to do that. Most people come through the physical body. That's, in yoga terms, we call that the very first layer of our whole person. It's wonderful, come through the physical body.

Stacy McCarthy: 10:16

But at some point, if you are only there through the musculoskeletal system and you haven't tapped into anything deeper, you're probably going to treat it as a trend. Step the Robics was back in the 90s, and boot camp is, and TRX, whatever's happening now, and you're going to move on to the next best thing. But if, if something touches your soul, that teacher has a way of helping you go deeper into the practice and challenges you, challenges that resistance within you, and everyone comes to yoga with some level of resistance. Maybe it's physical, maybe it's mental, emotional or spiritual. You're coming to this practice with some form of resistance. So if a teacher can help you penetrate that in a way that feels safe to you, that's your teacher, and that teacher is not just going to challenge you in the physical poses. They're going to challenge you in a much different way and you'll know it. When it's the right teacher, you'll know it.

Lunden Souza: 11:14

Yeah, it's like a click. I remember I lived in Austria for a while and I, when I moved there, I didn't speak very German very well and I started taking a yoga class with the company I was working at at the time and she taught it in German because most of them were German speakers and eventually she started teaching more in English. But I loved yoga because I was like, oh, this is helping me, like connect with that new language I'm learning and with my body at the same time. But I remember, specifically because I did start with fitness because of the physical body, I wanted to look a certain way, be a certain strength, look like, you know, the models that were on the fitness oxygen magazine, whatever all the things. And so I was doing yoga for the bendiness to touch my toes, to be, you know, like this.

Lunden Souza: 12:04

But I remember we were in Downward Dog and she said something about connecting between to the fleshy part, between my pointer finger and my thumb while we were in Downward Dog and I'll never forget that because she kind of spoke my language, because she was having me connect with the part of my body. Right, I was very much in the physical when it came to yoga at that time. But then I remember just yeah, as I started to listen to her words, she helped me. She would just, yeah, give certain cues that helped me connect to parts of my body that I hadn't really paid attention to before. And because of that I kind of built this trust with her within my physical body of like, oh, she knows that when I bring awareness to this fleshy spot between my pointer finger and my thumb that's going to flatten down my hands even more in that position, or when she has me like internally or externally rotate, it just helped me connect with my physical body in a in a new way that allowed allowed me to kind of trust her even more.

Lunden Souza: 13:02

It was like, okay, she knows what feelings and sensations I might be feeling in my body. And then I was kind of able to go deeper and I thought that was really profound and powerful. And, yeah, just the way yoga instructors have that ability to use words to help us connect with our physical body. But then I felt that was kind of like the slide that you know just kind of took me down the rabbit hole of something deeper. Do you find that with your students?

Stacy McCarthy: 13:27

I do and I teach in all different types of venues, from very traditional yoga studios to an online platform to health clubs. I have taught in many different venues and really, you know, I encourage people to practice because the more you practice, the more you can connect and the more space you find. So what? In yoga terms, what we're really doing is first and I'm a kinesiology professor, so I understand the body so the first thing I have to do is I have to keep students safe in their musculoskeletal system. You know, I have to help them feel like, okay, I'm safe here, I understand my body. But then, as you practice long enough, you start to connect to your energy body and you actually start to understand how energy moves through the body.

Stacy McCarthy: 14:10

And this can seem a little esoteric to some people if they haven't practiced that deeply, but you start to peel. This is this is what it means body, mind, spirit, that that gets thrown around so much. Body, mind spirit, physical, mental soul. You know, body, mind, soul, all of this gets thrown around. But when I ask people, what does that mean? Most people have no idea what that actually means, just like body, mind, spirit. But what does it truly mean? And yoga gives us the framework to understand that. So we do have the musculoskeletal system. It's our most superficial part of our body. We have to break through the barriers of that. You have to. You have to learn how, oh, I overwork my traps. You know, up here I'm always like this. You have to learn like oh, I can use my upper back, I can start to use everything and overuse nothing. So my body comes back into balance. So my posture, my musculos skeletal system has balance and symmetry. Okay, now I feel good in my body. Well, guess what? When the body is no longer clenching and holding, your energy system starts to wake up and you start to feel the energy moving through your body. So you learn how to direct, regulate and capture that energy. And when you learn to do that, it starts to bring greater clarity and vitality to the mind. And when the mind has more clarity and vitality, here's where the magic starts to happen. You start to tap into your inner body, wisdom, your insight, your intuition, magic, actually like. You start to listen to those intuitive nudges that you usually forget, that you know it's telling you, but you're too busy to even notice. So you start to tap into that. And once you start tapping into that, it really starts to open you up into this deeper, most profound part of your inner self where you find lasting peace. And and this is the journey, but it takes practice.

Stacy McCarthy: 16:00

My teacher, who's was from India he's passed away, passed away in his 90s, but I say I practiced with him. He taught all the way up until he passed and he didn't speak much English but he would say the most profound things people would after practice many times that we would have where you sit and answer some questions and people would always ask these like same crazy questions. You know he was lovingly called Guruji and they're like oh Guruji, you know how soon until I can put my foot behind my head, how soon can I do all these like crazy questions? And and how soon can I fix my low back? My low back hurt, my neck hurts, my headaches? And they'd ask him all of these questions and one time I, you know, I you could tell he's just so tired of answering these same questions because they were, they weren't really that important when it comes to the practice. And he said something that I use all the time and I share with my students all the time, because my whole thing is getting people to practice. None of this matters If you don't have the devotion and discipline to do the practice. And he said do your practice for a lifetime and you will have more health and happiness than if you do not do this practice for a lifetime.

Stacy McCarthy: 17:11

That's simple and you know, here I am, I'm 61 now. I've been doing this practice for many, many decades, many, and I can tell you absolutely at this age, my body is way more balanced than it's ever been. I'm doing things that I would never imagine that I could have done at 30 years old I am. My mind is so much more steady, I I pause before I react. I have learned how to step back a little bit. So I feel so much more content and appreciative and grateful in my mind and I think that's why I can take on and do something as challenging as taking care of someone with Alzheimer's.

Stacy McCarthy: 17:56

If anyone's out there that's ever done that, you know it's. It's incredibly trying and and it's why I have this deep inner peace. And it's because I do the practice and I don't have any expectation that I'm going to have the perfect body or my back pain is gone or I'll never have a headache. I don't have any of that. But guess what? I feel better now than I ever had. But that wasn't my reason. So that's it. That's been very profound for me and that's what keeps me coming back again and again, daily, daily.

Lunden Souza: 18:33

Is committing to that, like your guru said, like do it for a lifetime. I also like what you said about the intuitive nudges, like being able to be in yoga for a practice. We might say like oh, mind, body, spirit, but we have that moment of that, yeah, that awakening of our mind to be able to listen to those intuitive nudges before they become like screams, where you have to stop and halt. I sometimes call them whispers versus like banging on the door, and I think yoga has been a wonderful modality to help tune into some of those whispers, because, yeah, when we're in some of those postures, I can think of maybe some lunges or different things for hips or whatever, where we might have to, you know. You know, lean in a little bit more or we might need to loosen up a little bit and kind of, you know, take it back. And I love the how you said you find yourself responding instead of reacting, taking that moment to be like Okay, what do I need now and how can I respond instead of just react? For those of you listening and not watching, the video I mean Stacey is vibrant and beautiful and you know I read this long bio of a lot of what you do. And then also you describing, you know, taking care of your mother for the last seven years, not to say that the way someone looks reflects on what's going on on the inside. But you don't look like you're, you know, exhausted, fatigued, overwhelmed, and had you been, you probably wouldn't be making time to do podcasts or different things like this. And I know you have this concept of being an energy billionaire and I want to talk a little bit about that because, yeah, a lot of us listening have a lot on our plates and I think we can have a lot on our plates and do it, like you said, with that, that inner peace and that unconditional love. So what is and what is the concept of energy billionaire? Mean?

Lunden Souza: 20:33

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Lunden Souza: 21:30

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Stacy McCarthy: 22:31

Yeah, so energy billionaire. Yeah, I'm actually writing a book on this because as much of what I teach is the energy body of understanding energy body. So anything in life that has any real value is going to require a certain level of energy. The challenge is most people run out of energetic gas while they're climbing that mountain of success. When we're young, our bodies are. They're exploding with growth and energy. Remember that, remember that phrase.

Stacy McCarthy: 23:01

The wonder years were like a rocket ship that quickly soars. And then, somewhere in our 20s, we, we reach a peak in our vitality. And then gravity sets in and we begin this long, slow decline and, bit by bit, muscle mass shrinks, bone density declines and with these shifts come other changes. We, you know strength, flexibility, balance, mental clarity, stamina. All these shifts start to happen. And then, as we continue through the decades 30, 40, 50, 60 and beyond more shifts start to happen. We don't sleep as deeply, recovery from injury and illness takes longer, we're more prone to certain diseases, our tissues don't lubricate as well.

Stacy McCarthy: 23:53

I can speak about all of this at this point in my life and all of a sudden we've gone from the wonder years to the. I wonder what hit me years. It's like what happened. Now, despite all of this, there are those women who have fought back, you know, they've decided not to coast and whether they're 35, 55, 75, they're still living adventurous lives, they're still starting new careers, they've got a powerful body, they've got the soaring spirit. And these, these are the women I call energy billionaires, because they've tapped in to a lot of what it is that I love teaching, and that is creating lifelong rituals that really will guarantee your success and mastering what I call the big three how you move, how you eat and how you think.

Stacy McCarthy: 24:46

And while we could place all our habits, both good and bad, and countless different categories, if you think about it, most of them are going to fall into one of those three categories. So when we come to how we move, if we come to our movement intelligently, we're bringing balance and symmetry. We're learning how to use our bodies so we don't overuse anything, but we use everything. Now our bodies are going to last a lifetime. If we come to the consumption of our food and our thoughts consciously and deliberately, now we're really addressing the whole person. And so when we're addressing the whole person now, we're bringing that true health, that true harmony to our lives over a lifetime and that's so. That's really.

Stacy McCarthy: 25:32

And you know, in my bio, you know I began like running health clubs and a chain of health clubs I ran I had plant powered cafes of really helping people eat more plants and not saying that you know everybody needs to be. You know, yoga, bending, plant eating, vegan, meditating. I'm saying that if you can take some very simple rituals in your life and start shifting, that those shifts make a big difference in your energy. Because the reality is is you know you can have the best body in the world, you can have the best job in the world, but if you don't have energy to do the things you really want to do, if you don't have enough time and energy in your day to accomplish everything you want to do with time to spare, then you know you're going to burn out. That's going to be that. That's just going to be it. You're going to burn out.

Lunden Souza: 26:26

Yeah, that is the recipe for burnout. What did you say? That the three would you say how you move, how you think, how you live?

Stacy McCarthy: 26:32

how you think, how you move, how you eat and how you think how you move, how you eat and how you think.

Lunden Souza: 26:38

And I could think of, you know, moments in my life where, yeah, it was definitely more like all eggs more in the move basket or all eggs more in the eat basket, instead of looking at all three and wanting to fill them, let's say equally. I know, early on in my, in my, when I first moved to college and started working out, it was just like everything was in the move and probably the eat basket it was like what am I going to eat? Is it the right nutrients and protein and calories and the supplements and the things you know. But it wasn't until, probably until I was like 29 30, that I really got into a lot of the how we think and what, how that impacts, and it had a lot of hormonal cystic acne on my skin, a lot of stuff. That now I know has a lot, a big component of the thinking and and the that part is a huge component you can, you know, work out and eat the best foods and be I was always.

Lunden Souza: 27:39

I would always say I was the healthiest person I knew, because at that time, yeah, I was. I was the one who was going to bed early and waking up and doing the workouts and having the regimented food, meals and supplements and all those things. But I never until I realized I had to talk about not an intuitive nudge, but like a banging at the door of like, hey, there's something going on up here that plays a big role. And the reason why you and I met is because I met your husband at a meditation retreat, and so meditation, I know, is a big proponent or a big part of your life, and you're a big proponent of meditation, and it's been something that has, yeah, changed my brain and changed to I am and how I operate and how I choose to show up in the world. And so do you find that too, where maybe some people put too many eggs in one of those baskets and forget that the other ones exist?

Stacy McCarthy: 28:34

Well, what I would say is the think part is the biggest part, because exactly what you said, london, that you can eat perfectly, you can move perfectly. But if your thoughts are a mess, if you're inside beating yourself up because I didn't do the perfect diet, I didn't move today, I am not about that. I'm not about excessive exercise, I'm not about extreme dieting. All of that just is contributing more stress to your life, and so I. So one of the reasons I love the practice of yoga and why it changed my life I was that person. I was in the fitness world and I was teaching all the latest crazes and tried all the latest diets and all of that, and I was just always stressed out about it. And when I found yoga, it's like all of a sudden, that didn't matter. What I was finding is, as I continue my practice, is how I feel when I ate this whale. Oh, I had less inflammation in my body. I feel better. My thoughts are more calm when I ate this way. Oh my gosh. This is how I feel when I didn't sleep enough when I did these things. This is how I felt, and every day it was a reflection in my practice as learning about myself.

Stacy McCarthy: 29:39

I was learning about my thoughts when I came into that practice, and so the thinking is a huge, huge part of it.

Stacy McCarthy: 29:47

If we don't stand guard of our mind first and foremost, none of that other stuff matters, and the journey that I teach and that I take people on is the journey back to your true self, to your essential self and to your soul self. Quite honestly, and at that level that is, that place inside of us is a state of being not doing, but a state of being of abundant joy and unconditional love, and that's why it says that in my bio is what I'm helping people do is come back to that place, and when you come back to that place within yourself of abundant joy and unconditional love, all that other stuff falls into place. I don't count calories, I don't do all of that stuff. I am not excessive about my exercise, and yet I feel the best I ever have, because I also it's helped me make the best choices on based on how I feel, so that when I sit I feel good, my body's not achy, I'm not beating myself up, and so the thinking is the most powerful part of this is the thinking part.

Lunden Souza: 30:56

Yeah, I agree, if I had to choose one that I would choose to be the one it would be the thinking, absolutely. And I love what you said between being and doing. It reminded me of years ago. I think it was probably five or six years ago. I remember when I was living in Austria, I was working for a fitness tech company and we made fitness apps and things like that. And I remember one of the Hemsworth brothers like came out with an app and the slogan was you're not a human being, be a human doing, or something like this. And this was like six or seven years ago, so it was probably like at the very beginning of when the wheels were turning of like hmm, something about that does not sound right. And I remember like leaving a comment and being like huh, I beg to differ. I think that the world is full of human doings and we probably should go more into this being direction. And I just remember hearing that and being like bothered by it a little bit.

Lunden Souza: 31:56

You know now I mean, I have this podcast, I, you know work. I'm talking with people regularly who go to the gym, who kind of get that, or we're like on that same page and wavelength, if you will. You've also been in the fitness industry for a really long time. Do you think that? Do you think just by the sake of my environment, the people that I'm talking with, that we're moving from human doing to human being? Or do you think that you think as a society, as a collective, we're starting to see that? Or do you think I'm just kind of tunnel vision, because those are the people I'm talking to and engaging with? You think we still have a long way to go? Where do you see that change happening, since you've been in the game for a while?

Stacy McCarthy: 32:37

I think that we collectively are starting to wake up and it's very exciting. I mean, I started in this, you know, so long ago and I remember when you know yoga, nobody was doing yoga, like there was not a yoga studio in every corner, there was not yoga in jim's there was. This was not happening at that time. It was very fringe on the outskirts. And now it's like almost everyone I talk to is not only doing yoga, but they're also yoga teacher. I mean there, and maybe it's because I am in this world, but I will tell you, people are waking up and you starting to see more and more with meditation, with breath work, with energy work, all of these things are starting to come to the service, the root of their roots there, from yoga. This is the deep understanding. A lot of times it is not mentioned, but that's where a lot of this is coming from all the different types of breath works going on, all of the different types of energy, moving energy. Much of that is from Thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago, from yoga, and so I think we are waking up collectively. I think our planet needs us to wake up From many different areas. We have to be more awake, and so I'm really excited about the future. I think more and more people are getting it. We just can't keep grinding. It can't just always be. No pain, no gain. Is there, is there? Why can't you get there through joy? I'll tell you a story. So in december twenty twenty, a few days before christmas, at the height of the pandemic, at the height of coven, I was riding my electric bike up the road to pick up our mail. We have to go pick up our mail and all the sudden I felt the wheel shake as I was going downhill. It's the last thing I remember. I woke up in trauma care, my face seriously jacked up. I've had nine different procedures. That asphalt and tar. I was knocked out cold. Call my husband, who is like working and they're like your wife. Is that trauma care. He couldn't come in because it's covered right. Has to wait outside. Long story short, my face was so jacked up I had asphalt and tar embedded down to the bone. I had nine different procedures since then, everything from tattoo removal to extreme lasers to try to pull all this out.

Stacy McCarthy: 34:51

Why was I was going through this a few months later I was noticing, as I live on a beautiful property and I walk along and I used to see how the flowers are blooming and how beautiful it was, and I noticed after my accident, with my face all really jacked up, that I was finding everything wrong. Walk through the garden and I'm like, oh, that tree is dead, it needs to be taken out, those bushes need trim. Everything was like negative when I'm I, when I'm I was this meditative walk I would do through nature in my garden and now I'm Just really down on it. And so something happened. I started to develop this weird thing called it started as a little style in my eye and then it turned into this weird thing called a collision, which literally looks like a giant war Island is not pretty at all and that in a company with my jacked up, tarred up face and stuff. And then at that time I got the notification and that I was going to be the recipient of the world health and fitness instructor of the year very big award in my industry. You're voted by your peers. It's a long, it's like the academy awards in my industry and I was gonna have to give this big talk, this acceptance talk. Look at myself in the mirror and I'm like, just like I look like my Tyson with all this. If you know who that is, he's the boxer with the tattoos. I got this big thing on my eye Like, okay, stay so your mind body teacher, you know the stuff.

Stacy McCarthy: 36:14

And so what I realized? I'm walking through the world, I'm walking on my beautiful nature walks with angry eyes. I'm seeing the world with anger because of my accident and, as I notice, I'm looking at the world through angry eyes. I'm like I need to change these thoughts. I need a new mantra mantra that mind vehicle, as I mentioned earlier. I need a new one. So I'm like, okay, new mantra. I see everyone and everything with abundant joy and unconditional love, including myself, my health and my healing.

Stacy McCarthy: 37:01

Sometimes I would say that up to 60 times a day, I catch my thought. Negative, angry eyes catch it and guess what happened? The started to clear up. Things started to clear up. I started to see the world again through my heart and I connect with my heart and I connect with my heart and I'm like I'm so happy and I connected back to my heart rather than being stuck in this head full of anger and disappointment and judgment and embarrassment about my looks and also tell me a lot about my looks.

Stacy McCarthy: 37:29

You know that if you are that obsessed about your looks, they're gonna fade. They are going to fade. I don't. You know, I don't care if you are martha stewart right now in the cover of sports illustrated 81. There's some things that have been done there. Now I got a hand at the martha but honestly, you know how much work did it get her to look like how Our looks are gonna fade. So if we're so attached to that, we're gonna see the world differently. But if we can connect back to that abundant joy and that unconditional love right here and move through life, through the heart, it makes all the difference and that's healing to that's whether you have a disease of some kind. Whatever is going on, if you can come back to the heart and out of your head Is your head is always gonna judge and hold you back. That's what is designed to do your heart. Your heart surrenders to the moment and you're in the present moment. It's all okay.

Lunden Souza: 38:23

Thank you for sharing that. That was so wonderful and I love that you said the like I'm looking through angry eyes. I think I can think of you know, moments when I'm looking through the angry eyes to or whatever we want to call him the frustrated, frustrated eyes, the judgmental eyes. I love the angry eyes and I think anyone listening right now can Think of a moment when they're seeing things through the angry eyes and having that awareness, and I love that. You said hey, sometimes I would say it sixty times a day it's like I often think of the mind kind of reframe is like the you know you live in kind of southern california black that in when you go to la. It's just like that construction happening. It's like that's what's happening in our mind. We have to put the cones up and the little dividers and say this is no, this is where we're driving now. I know that used to be a lane, but like this is the lane now, this is the lane we're gonna follow. And I was on a call with a client couple days ago and you know she was frustrated over some of the mess ups and I'm like yeah, but you're rebuilding right now and those are just cones If you are driving and you know the road was under construction, could you, in theory, take your car and drive over the cones? Yeah, but now, since you put that cone up, you're gonna have to choose to honor what you know, the construction that you've set up.

Lunden Souza: 39:35

And it really does feel like that, with certain thoughts that you just notice. Man, this is on repeat. It's just been playing and I'm not seeing all the negative things in nature and stopping having that awareness and saying it again, and sometimes it takes fifty or sixty times. My angry eyes See things not to be grateful for, and so when I go into More of the awareness process, it's like everything I do get to thank you, it's like even the fork. I'm like, okay, thank you for this, for this food.

Lunden Souza: 40:08

I just go into this gratitude mode of where everything gets to thank you, because I know that my angry eyes, to use your term, will take me to you know all, but this isn't on, that's not right, and it's like but there's so much to be grateful for in that moment that that's what I choose to do, is just like have that moment of gratitude with every Kind of step or instance until I kind of find myself back into that flow and so I think that's so wonderful to highlight and a great takeaway. For someone listening is just like when are your angry eyes? What thoughts have been coming up when you're seeing through those lenses? And it does feel a little I want to say robotic, but it's like if you've been seeing things a certain type of way and in that thought pattern for a long time, it does kind of feel Not you until it feels like you, right.

Stacy McCarthy: 40:59

Yeah, I also liked what you said when you said you were coaching a client. You know one of the things my teacher also taught me that I share a lot and you know, when you've got 90 plus years on the planet of you know this, this practice of you know yoga, the science of life. There's a lot of wisdom in it. And he used to describe karma this way and it kind of reminded me of what you were saying coaching the climate, that the karma a lot of people think. You know karma is like what goes around, comes around. But his description is very different of karma and it's like if you're driving on that road, you were saying the cones and stand the lane.

Stacy McCarthy: 41:34

Well, if you're driving on that road, things aren't happening your way and you hit that speed bump Uh oh, here's a speed bump, that's something not going your way, or you messed up the business, or you divorced, or financial relationship, whatever is going on. That speed bump, that's that karmic speed bump of hey, you know what, slow down, take a look. This is just letting you know you're going in the wrong direction. Rethink this and so, when something's not going your way, from a karmic aspect, it's just that speed bump of hey, I'm trying to get you back on the right path. Take a look at it. And that's what I really looked at too. And you know, when I was looking out gosh, why am I never had this weird thing with my eye, was going on what is all of this? And that's when I realized, okay, this is a speed bump. Okay, take a new look at it back up, look at things in a new way. And the other thing and you know so much of who I am and how I am now I, you know, I I have to say it's because of yoga, I mean, and it's taught me so many lessons.

Stacy McCarthy: 42:36

And I it's not just the yoga postures is truly the deep philosophy that has lasted thousands of years. We have a term in yoga and then I'll relate it back to the yoga postures, because that's where a lot of people start and one's called to pause, and this is the disciplined effort that we put in. So when we get on our mat, we're trying to do this pose, we're doing the best we can. Takes discipline, it takes that, that effort to do it. But on the flip side of that, we balance it out with a Sanskrit word that's called sento. What that means is can you also, while you're putting in this effort, can you find the contentment, can you appreciate all that you have and see the perfection in where you're at, while you're working hard in this? And those things really are. One of the things that have helped me in my business, in my teaching and everything I do is that, yes, I put in the effort, I work intensely, I work with discipline and devotion, but at the same time, I appreciate all that I have and where I'm at on this journey and it's just, it's what helps.

Stacy McCarthy: 43:39

Keep again, if we go back to the thing, in balance, everything's got to be in balance, right? You can't. If I go back to those yoga poses, if you come in and you're like that real bendy person I call them wet noodles. They're like a wet noodle, they can do anything, right, but they've got no stability. So they're like a wet noodle, but they're not. They don't have stability and you have that person that comes in. That's like a solid rock. They've been lifting weights their whole time and they're just like iron and they've got no fluidity or mobility. Well, one's not better than the other, but when you bring the two together and your muscles have both balance, have both flexibility and stability. Now, now you brought it back into balance, and this is physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

Lunden Souza: 44:23

Yeah, I love that. I think yoga is probably yeah, I mean, I love to move, I absolutely love to move, but yoga is definitely the the modality that I most crave, that I most know like, oh yeah, that's probably because I've been out of flow with my practice a little bit and I can notice stagnance in the mind or even stagnance in the body, and so I really appreciate that analogy of kind of like the bendy and then the tight start in. That's like not one's good or bad, it's just like that middle ground. We all can use yoga to kind of find that for us mind, body and spirit it's so wonderful.

Stacy McCarthy: 45:06

And I think you know I brought that up because probably a lot, a lot of you you know right now watching and listening have maybe tried a yoga class and maybe you went in there and you're like, oh, I'm too tight or I'm too weak. You had all of these plays, these stories in your head. And if you realize that you're perfect exactly as you are as you come to your mat and you let go of all of those, if you can replace all those expectations that you think of your, for yourself, that you're supposed to have, and instead replace it with appreciation that you made it to your mat and that you're just appreciating being here, it changes your world and that's why the thought is so important. The postures are a vehicle to get you here. That's what we use it for and in the meantime, can they give you a lean, strong, flexible body? Of course, depending on the type of yoga you practice. Do you practice with what you're doing? Of course, but that's not the end result.

Lunden Souza: 46:04

Yeah, and it shouldn't be the main focus, especially if you want to have, like you said, or your or your your teacher told you like a lifetime practice, right, it just needs to be about the, the feeling and the lifetime, because, as you mentioned, you know not, the way that we look is not always going to be the same throughout our lifetime physically, all of that. I appreciate your time so much, stacy. It's been such a wonderful, wonderful conversation, and just even just reading through your bio and hearing the, the accomplishments you've made in your career and even in your family, of just being this sturdy, solid, flexible kind of that middle ground, not only in your professional life but in your personal life, for yourself and for others, is just so motivating and inspiring. It's really beautiful. Yeah, thank you for being here and let us know how we can connect with you, follow you on social media, maybe do some coaching with you. Let us know all the things.

Stacy McCarthy: 47:05

Yeah, oh well, gosh, you can connect with me on all the social platforms. It's yoga, namaste and it's so. It's a play on the word Namaste, if you haven't heard that Namaste. And then yoga before that someone on all the socials. And then, gosh, I have an online platform of classes and I also think I gave a giveaways on there. So, if you connect with London, I have a little ebook on Master the Big Three. So that move, you think, some very simple rituals that you can do in each one of those areas. That is just shifting you towards, you know, a little more harmony physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. And then a little mini, a little mini workout practice as well that you can just do every day, if you want. Very simple with breath work, yeah.

Lunden Souza: 47:55

Cool. Thank you so much and I'll include all those links, including the freebie link that you mentioned, in the show notes. Thank you guys for listening. Connect with Yoga Namastacy that a few times. I can't not. I can't say it without smiling, so I just think it's super cute your play on words there. Thank you for your time, thank you for who you are in the world and I look forward to connecting with you again in a future time, thank you. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of self love and sweat the podcast. Hey, do me a favor Wherever you're listening to this podcast, give us a review. This really helps a lot, and share this with a friend. I'm only one person and with your help, we can really spread the message of self love and sweat and change more lives all around the world. I'm Lunden Souza, reminding you that you deserve a life full of passion, presence and purpose, fueled by self love and sweat. This podcast is a hit spot Austria production.