From the Heart with Rachel Brathen

Are we all going to be ok? This is one of the most heartfelt questions that Rachel answers on this week’s episode. It has been a while since she sat down to take questions from our listeners – and ultimately, we are all wondering about the same things.As we navigate this new world, we are not feeling grounded, centered, safe or secure. We are swinging from high to low, trying to find some type of normalcy and balance during a global pandemic – and we are starting to develop a new reality of actually not being ok. But, Rachel shares inspiring advice that gives us all a reason to move forward.Tune in as Rachel opens up about the deeper questions of finding peace during global panic, how to take care of yourself as an empath, accepting our pain, and also things like her LEAST favorite yoga pose, how day to day life is going in Aruba, if her family will leave the country, and how Lea Luna desperately wants a sibling.This episode will remind you to honor yourself first, to care for yourself first, to lean into and own uncomfortable feelings, and to contemplate what it is that you need to be doing on a daily basis in order to take care of YOU. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tune in to this episode and take a deep exhale as Rachel begins with a grounding meditation before diving into the topic of today: our relationships. Connecting with others lies at the root of this human experience. Our relationships with our loved ones can lift us up and carry us through incredibly difficult times. But, what can relationships with those who challenge us teach us?2020 is bringing out the worst in a lot of people. Staying steady throughout everything that continues to come our way this year isn't easy! Challenging relationships often bring out a darker side to us. They can add to that inner critical voice that we already have inside, which can be exhausting and depleting – but it also offers us some incredible insight. If your inner critic did not get loud at times, how else would you learn to change that narrative to something more positive? If you were never challenged, how would you find your own boundaries and limits? Those who are the most challenging to us are often those suffering the most – and if you did not learn that key life lesson, how could you practice empathy, compassion, and cut others some slack?Tune in to find the answers to these difficult questions and learn once more the overall lesson: if you do what you need to take care of yourself, chances are you will be in a place to help someone else as well. By taking care of ourselves first, by practicing self-care, by quieting our inner critic, we heal… and spread that healing wherever we go. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you struggling with finding your purpose in life, staying positive, or looking for changes to make in order to improve your spiritual health? You are not alone!This week Rachel is joined by former monk, meditation teacher, motivational speaker and author Jay Shetty. Jay offers valuable spiritual insight into the mindset of a monk, how to infuse your life with purpose, passion, compassion, and service, as well as how to set boundaries and discover triggers (before you become triggered)! It's the simple things that end up transforming our lives - the question is how we are able to apply them in our day to day. Jay shares actionable things you can do in your day to cultivate balance, feel good in your body and align yourself with your purpose. Tune in to learn why creating sacred spaces in your house and returning to your self care practices at the same time every day is the most important thing when it comes to wellbeing, and get a step-by-step approach to finding your life’s purpose!This week’s podcast will help you cultivate your curiosity in order to find your purpose, make small changes and set boundaries in your life in order to have a more healthy, positive, conscious human experience. Tune in to learn how to think like a monk! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode begins with a heart-centred meditation on acknowledging the feelings you are experiencing in this moment. Human beings are complex emotional creatures with the ability to feel many things at once, but sometimes it is hard to distinguish between them all - unless we really sit with our emotions and bring them to surface.This meditation is much needed by Rachel as she dives into today’s topic while doing her best to speak from the heart after feeling like she’s lost her voice. In today’s episode she goes into depth around how to figure out where you are meant to be in life, practicing self-care through the most challenging times, making sure we don’t jump to gratitude too quickly and diving deep into the struggles that are playing a role in your life.We all have our struggles that we are facing, especially this year as many of use are losing our connection with others and replacing it with fear. Through all the difficulties, it can be hard to find the silver lining - but maybe it is not meant to be found yet.This episode will help you discover what is moving through you (and what is really beneath the surface!), find perspective, acceptance and purpose with where you are right now on your journey, and face your challenges by learning from them. Maybe you won’t be met with a silver lining or ray of gratitude just yet, but you can take care of yourself until you reach the other side. Tune in to lean into trust and accept that healing is complex, messy and confusing - but it still offers many insights. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel’s life has been turned upside down lately in a way she cannot fully describe. In today’s episode, she recounts the story that unfolded in the past week after she was ‘cancelled’ online. Although she feels as if she is going through a process of mourning, she is having difficulty pinpointing exactly what it is she is mourning, and the purpose behind it. Her family is safe. The Yoga Girl community is strong and connected. Island Yoga is still thriving. So, what exactly is she mourning? A sense of safety? A sense of community? A sense of belonging and feeling at home? This type of mourning is visceral and hard on the nervous system. But as with all hard things, the only way out is through.Answers may reveal themselves in time, but today all we can do is be kind, find healing, and do more things to connect to peace every moment of our day. Tune in for a heartfelt, raw, honest account of social media gone wrong and the effects it can have. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Following the recent Aruban backlash from a social media post of Rachel’s, Rachel and Dennis are facing a situation they have never experienced before: feeling unwelcome and unsafe in their own home. In today’s episode, Dennis interviews Rachel to discuss the entire series of events that have unfolded.After living in Aruba for 10 years, having residency, being married to an Aruban, promoting the island endlessly and working hard to raise money and awareness for the abuse of women, children and animals on the island, Rachel is shocked and saddened by the situation they are currently facing. Cancel culture is real and exists for a reason. It is important to call out individuals so they can learn and do better. But does a poorly timed, out of context opinion warrant harassment, abuse and death threats? This episode is a chance for Rachel and Dennis to explain where Rachel’s story post was coming from, offer sincere apologies to anyone negatively affected, and to also share the darker side of cancel culture and social media. Tune in for a genuine and heartfelt episode on the entire story behind the attempt to cancel Yoga Girl. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you feeling like you are perpetually living in a state of not knowing? You are not alone! As the world struggles through this pandemic, nothing is certain, and no one really has any answers. The best we can do is take good care of ourselves, hold each other up, and listen to Rachel and Dennis try to work through it on the Yoga Girl podcast. This week’s episode features Rachel’s husband, the man that holds her up, Yoga Girl’s very own producer, tech guy, camera man, the hilarious, distinguished gentleman behind the magic, Dennis Schoneveld!  As Aruba faces a new coronavirus outbreak after opening its borders to the US, Rachel and Dennis contemplate - is this the new normal? Are we all getting used to not knowing what will happen? Are we getting comfortable living in this new normal of not knowing if businesses will be allowed to operate, if schools will open, if daycares and restaurants are safe? Are we supposed to wear masks every day? How long will this last? The new normal is unknown, and everything can change so quickly.Now, Dennis and Rachel contemplate another lockdown, how they made it through the first one, what will happen in the future, parenting, their businesses and more, all through the lens of the new “normal” and the unknown. This episode would not be complete without answering some of your questions from IG! Will they have another kid, how did they made it through quarantine, will they run off to Costa Rica and create a surfing commune, will it get better or worse in the future? Tune in to find out! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As students and teachers we have a responsibility to look at who is missing in our yoga classes, healing circles and retreats. Healing tools should be available to all! Making a change begins with recognizing just how far we are from equity and diversity in the wellness industry - and taking active steps toward change, every day.This week Rachel is joined by the fantastically fierce Nicole Cardoza (@nicoleacardoza on Instagram). Nicole is a yoga teacher, wellness expert, entrepreneur, investor and more! As a strong voice in the anti-racism movement, Nicole is the visionary behind Yoga Foster and Reclamation Ventures, two organizations that are bridging the gap in the wellness industry and making tools for healing accessible to all. This episode will guide you on how to diversify your yoga practice, support marginalized voices within the wellness field, and change the face of the wellness industry. Now is a time to shine a light on the spaces we turn toward for healing – and who is missing from them.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Life is full of so much doing. We move quickly through our day, from working to planning to organizing to… more doing. Even as this year forced us all to slow down, we didn’t stop ‘doing’. We cooked, baked, organized our homes, or started new projects. But have you ever stopped ‘doing’ for a moment to ask yourself why? What is the real motive behind your inability to be really, truly still?In this episode, Rachel shares the traumas in her life that led her to move through life at a pace so fast, her body is having trouble keeping up. In a society that rewards us for success and accomplishments, the concept of slowing down might trigger anxiety, discomfort, or even physical illness! Although Rachel used to pride herself on her ability to do everything and do it well, there is one question she cannot answer – and then what?At the end of the day, at the end of our lives – what is all this doing for if we are not present in it? If we rush through life, we miss the most important moments. What if we could operate and create from a place where we are totally accepted, loved, and appreciated for just being? This episode will remind you that you do not have to achieve anything in ordered to be accepted and loved. You are good enough the way you are. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We spend so much time in our armor, protecting ourselves with layers and layers of conditioning. If we do not have our needs met as children, if we are not seen, heard, appreciated or loved, we subconsciously begin to develop a resilience, an armor of protection. We seek to have our needs met elsewhere and develop coping mechanisms to be healed later in life.In this episode, Rachel reflects on the internal work she is doing, how it is affecting her, her daughter, her husband, and giving her new perspective and presence. Doing this work is not easy. It gets messy, uncomfortable things come up, relationships can be affected, and unfortunately there is not one linear line to healing. But we owe it to ourselves, future generations, our children, our communities, to become aware of our traumas, to begin the journey of peeling back the layers and getting really present with our core wounds.This episode will remind you that it is ok to prioritize self-care, to nurture and care for yourself when you are on the sensitive path of healing, and that it’s better to peel back the layers in order to move through the world with vulnerability and truth.   To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices