Know Ya Flow
Women in flow, share what they know. Hear women's stories of how they've grown, what they know, and how they are living in flow.
Know Ya Flow
The Fortuitous Path: Discovering TCM, Meridian Yoga, and Personal Growth w/Mandy Loy
This episode is a deep dive into the intersection of traditional Chinese medicine and modern wellness practices, featuring the transformative power of acupuncture, meridians, and yoga. We explore how physical symptoms can reflect emotional distress and how practices like ear seeds can provide healing and balance, both individually and communally.
• Mandy shares her personal journey transitioning from restaurant work to wellness advocacy
• The discussion emphasizes the synergy of yoga and acupuncture in managing emotional and physical health
• Exploring the benefits of ear seeds and the NADA protocol for stress relief
• Recognizing the impact of community in healing practices
• Insights into the mind-body connection and emotional expression through physical symptoms.
Take a class with Mandy or get ear seeded!! Check her out @mandyloyyoga
Welcome to Know your Flow podcast, where women in flow share what they know. I'm your host, lauren Barton. Join me as we talk to women and hear their stories on what they know, how they've grown and living in flow, all right. So today we're here with Mandy Hi, mandy Hi Hi, mandy Loy. So, yeah, I wanted to talk a little bit about. We're going to talk a little bit about traditional Chinese medicine, meridians, acupuncture, things like that, and maybe a little bit about yoga and your journey into all this information and knowledge. So, yeah, thanks for being down to come chat, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, absolutely so start by telling us a little bit about what you do, what you're into right now and maybe how we feel like it benefits your life and others um, just simple, yeah, easy question to start off with.
Speaker 2:So I guess, like how I came into this stuff the meridians and the adding in the Chinese medicine perspective and tapping and acupressure and the ear seats was I was working at an acupuncture clinic and I had some hands-on work to do there, so I wasn't doing the actual acupuncture but I was removing the needles. So I would meet people who had whatever they had going on in the beginning of their session and you know they're like stressed out, they have headaches, they have back pain, they have neuropathy, you know whatever it is, and then the doctor would come in and do their treatment and then I would get to be the person that saw them on the other end of the treatment, so removing the needles and like seeing how it affected people differently and what it looked like from the beginning to the end. So I hadn't had a ton of experience with acupuncture prior to that.
Speaker 2:I had been a couple times, and then we were trying to find a way for me to get a better grasp on things, because I was obviously seeing all these people feel better and getting to like see the happiness and the joy on their face post-treatment, and so we started looking into like little things I could do that weren't go to acupuncture school, because, yeah, what is that process? Like Long, I would think so. So it's a master's program and it would also be a commute, and I'll circle back to this part of it with the ear seeds eventually. But commuting is not my thing. I don't like being on the highway, don't like driving at night, so like that wasn't an option that's not calling to me.
Speaker 2:So we found this yoga training that the teacher and their program is called science of self yoga. So they teach you about the 12 meridians and then they give you a bunch of sequences and there's just a bunch of different things you can do with the information they give you. So it kind of all just like clicked with this training. And then the last day of the training they offered like an ear acupuncture training or ear seeds. So the rules for Virginia are are different than you know, like every state's different, so I can't actually do the needling unless I'm at an acupuncture office, but I can do the ear seeds. So that was at the end of this training and it just kind of made things make more sense, not only like with that job at the acupuncture office but also with teaching yoga yeah, it was like okay, this is exactly what I needed.
Speaker 2:This seals the deal for me. This makes me feel like I'm doing this for a reason.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause you have your 200 hour, and how long have you had that?
Speaker 2:Um about nine years.
Speaker 1:How did you find yoga in?
Speaker 2:in general, I lived in the Outer Banks for a long time and occasionally I would like go to some classes there with some friends. And then I moved back here and it was a big change, big transition, like being gone for almost 10 years and then coming back here and being away from the ocean, and just a big lifestyle change. So I started taking some classes and, of course, had that week long of attending classes where I would just leave bawling my freaking eyes out, you know. And then JALA opened, so I started going there just because they had that new member like oh yeah, on my body it was like $30 a month or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I was like, okay, yeah, I'll do that. And then I kind of just got close with Krista, the owner of that studio, and when she offered the training I was like you know what I think I'm just gonna do this and then it ended up.
Speaker 2:I texted my mom to tell her that I had signed up and she's like no way, I just signed up too, no way. So I actually ended up doing the 200 hour training with my mom, totally on a whim, like neither one of us knew we had signed up. That's so funny. Did it make you guys closer? Yeah, or yeah, I mean it. It it had its positives and a little bit of a negative. Like it was something I kind of wanted to do on my own so I could, like bond with strangers, yeah.
Speaker 1:Cause you can't really share really the depths of your stuff with your mom. I mean, I guess you can, but when your mom's there, or even like a close friend, sometimes it can feel a little bit more like oh, are they gonna judge me? Because they know me for real.
Speaker 2:And now, I'm saying this, and or am I like, tied to and responsible for their enjoyment? Yeah, which is kind of silly, but it happens seriously yeah but it was fun. It was good to have like somebody to ride with.
Speaker 1:Did you want to teach or were you just like, no, I just want to deepen my practice, and this seems like a good thing for me to do so I I did want to teach.
Speaker 2:I don't really know the why behind that, though. Yeah, I did want to teach, and it it's, I guess, like it just kind of happened too, because I ended up managing the winchester studios, so it just made sense for me to be teaching there too, since I was doing all the other behind the scenes things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why do you?
Speaker 2:think that you liked yoga. I liked that I could go into a room. I didn't have a phone, no one could talk to me or call me. I just was there in the experience, just alone. You know what I mean, but not like lonely alone. Yeah, you know what I mean, but not like lonely alone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like alone with a purpose. Yes, like your favorite state, but there was like some, yeah, like you were doing good Because I know you share that. You're a five on the Enneagram. Yeah, and I love the Enneagram and it explains so much about people's personalities, and especially the fives. I think it really seen. And oh, I'm not just like weird that I only have so much energy or that my social battery is low 100%.
Speaker 2:and it's funny that you say nines also, because I thought I was the person that thought they were a nine. And then someone, someone said to me I think you're actually a five, why don't you like go read that a little bit? And I was like holy crap.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, what were the elements of the five that you feel like had that the nine didn't?
Speaker 2:The needing to recharge your battery alone, for sure. And research, like I'm also a Virgo, so there's this aspect of perfection that always comes up for Virgos and I never felt like I was a perfectionist, but then the research part of it may make a little bit more sense, you know. So I brought all these freaking books with me that no one can see, but I have four books Just in case you know, yeah, you might need to research something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a good point Honestly, yeah, so that's cool to know about yourself that you bring kind of this like thorough knowledge to the table. Would you kind of say that that feels like what you offer people a little bit, or what you have to sort of give like what you offer people a little?
Speaker 2:bit or what you have to sort of give. So I would say yes, but then there's that little thing in the back of my head that's like do I actually know enough about this stuff to be hey, I know all this stuff.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. No, I totally know what you mean. What do you feel like helps you with that, get over that or push through that? What?
Speaker 2:do you feel like helps you with that? Get over that or push through that. A big realization that I've had this summer is that for me, summer is hibernation. So I am like the bear of the summer. I don't like being hot, I hate humidity, it gives me a headache. My skin doesn't like to touch my skin when it can't go somewhere cool. So the realization was I need to be outside, I need to go on my walks, I need to go to yoga, I need all those balancing tools for myself to be in alignment so that I can share these things. Because my full-time job, I work from home, so literally I could spend a whole entire day just inside of my brain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then that's when things get yucky yeah, because it's just like feeding lies if you're not careful. Yeah, exactly, and like yeah, and creating scenes that aren't even necessary. Does Chinese medicine have anything sort of in terms of the summer and balance and things like that? Because I know, like in ayurveda it's a lot about like bringing in cooling elements and things like that same kind of things.
Speaker 2:they would suggest the yoga and the breath work and all those types of things. And staying cool would mean that the things that I know that I need to do, I need to do them early or I need to do them late, yeah, so just finding that place where you can fit it in, making sure it's somewhere.
Speaker 1:So then, what does winter look like for you? If yeah, so if you're able to push through by really nourishing yourself, especially in the summer, then how does winter look?
Speaker 2:So it's's easier. I will go anywhere and do anything, as long as there's not sleet on the ground that's so funny yeah, I do like to be comfortable. I do like to be in my cardigan. My freaking dog's name is cozy, so like there are those things about winter. You know that I love being able to be in a blanket at home, but I don't feel like I'm trapped there. It's enjoyable to be there, but then I'm also okay with going and doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I also love the hot yoga at that time of the year.
Speaker 1:Like I cannot do it in the summer, in the winter time, yes.
Speaker 2:Every day. Yeah, exactly, heat, me up and then send me on my way.
Speaker 1:yeah, exactly, heat me up and then send me on my way. Did you feel like you struggled with, like your needs for any period of your life, like, did you ever feel kind of like can I be more social, or why do I always need alone time? That kind of come up for you yes, so my background and my lifestyle.
Speaker 2:prior to all of this, I worked in restaurants, so the whole time I was in the.
Speaker 2:Outer Banks. I worked in restaurants. I went there with the plan to stay for the summer, make a bunch of money and then come home, but then I was just. This is awesome, we have the winters off, we can kind of travel. So I feel like I lived the life of a retired person. When I was there, I worked really hard for a couple months and then I did the opposite of a snowbird. I went wherever and then when I moved back here, I also worked in a restaurant.
Speaker 2:So my ability to be social looked totally different. The friendships that I thought were important to me looked totally different. Everything revolved around alcohol. So that's who I thought my people were and I'm not saying that some of those people weren't my people. But those friendships now and it took a long time to be okay with this and process this those friendships weren't true. I was able to be social because I had been drinking or everyone around me had been drinking, and you know it was just easier that way. So then, as I got a little bit older, drinking gave me a headache every time, and now I'll get a migraine and I could drink a beer and I'll be hung over for two days. It's just crazy. So, leaving that lifestyle and moving to this one, it took a long time to be able to let go of some of those friendships that I thought were really important and understand how people changed and grew. And then also you throw COVID into the mix and you know, everything went haywire.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Everything that you thought was important. You had to decide, is it? Or do I just let this go and move into this other community?
Speaker 1:so was there like a catalyst for why you went from being in that scene to then kind of this scene of health and self-love and self-development and growth and things like that was there, or was it just kind of the natural progression of like this isn't working for me. I don't like this anymore.
Speaker 2:I think, because I had spent so much time in that industry and I didn't have a traditional graduate high school, go to college kind of background, that it was like there's certain boxes that I could fit into and I say this but I work a nine to five-ish job typing away to pay my bills, but this is what I actually love. So I think originally I started off at a chiropractic office with Dr Nikki at Likens, whom I will say this to my dying day she is an angel, like she was meant to be a part of my journey for sure yeah, and then I moved to the acupuncture office.
Speaker 2:Same thing, I think that was meant to happen. Another person who changed the whole trajectory for me and in those moments it felt good, but I had no idea that that was supposed to happen to get me here. And that was supposed to happen to get me here. And I've been thinking a lot about my nine to five job that I have now. That was meant to happen so that I have time to do these other trainings and learn this other stuff and get to the, the pinnacle yeah, whatever, yeah, whatever that is.
Speaker 1:Or yeah, just to continue on the path of serving others in a way that feels authentic and feels aligned with you, you know, and what you're interested in, and to be able to pursue those interests and bring them to other people and for your own love of research. And yeah, because, like you said, I'm sure there's so much to know and to learn in this field. Are you always interested in kind of yoga stuff? Woo, woo stuff? Do you like reiki, things like that? What do you think? So?
Speaker 2:this is a really funny question to me at this moment, because this summer was like a struggle and just in the last couple of weeks things have come up for me, Like I've been working with an energy worker. Last week I had a long, long conversation with another Reiki practitioner or master and she actually said to me before I had really told her anything about myself, except for where I got her phone number and what I do for a living- yeah she was like right now, these roles could be reversed.
Speaker 2:you are meant to be doing something like this, if that's what you want to be doing. She was like I would come to you and let you tell me what you see in me. And I was like, okay, I just, you know, I just needed a little bit of validation. So there's always been a part of me that's been drawn to this stuff. And the night before I had this conversation with this woman, I literally, on a walk with the dog, said to my boyfriend I think I'm going to give up this full-time job sometime in the near future and just literally go full, woo-woo, yeah. And he was like, uh, okay, I don't know what that means, but okay, yeah exactly.
Speaker 2:So like it has been a long time building inside of me. So like I would get off work at 3am when I worked at the restaurant, I would go home and I would get on online and look at GoFundMes and donate half my tip money to people I'd never even freaking met, you know, because I needed to feel like I was of service in that kind of way, and so I was finding any little tidbit to give back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and you know restaurant work in general. I'm sure was really hard on your spirit and hard for you to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, getting on GoFundMe or whatever it is in those small ways was what you probably have energy to be able to do, because, yeah, I mean, restaurant work in general is a lot, you know, and get it, having that schedule and all that stuff is so much. So, yeah, that makes a lot of sense, for sure, and yeah, so with being a five, though, okay, and you only have so much energy, does it scare you to help others? Or do you have any sort of boundaries about how much you are able to give? Or does any of that kind of stuff come up? Where you're like, I want to be of service, I want to be helpful, I want to give you this information, I want you to feel better. I have all these tools, but also I don't know if I have the amount of energy to give you. Does that come up? Or especially being like an introverted person and all that too?
Speaker 2:Yes. And so I have a planner paper, and once I see that it looks like it's at the max, then I'm like, okay, this day is out. No, or I'll reschedule what can be rescheduled. You know what I mean. I feel like I'll usually know ahead of time if there's too much about to happen and I'll just put a, put a no, yeah on the day yeah, so you have good boundaries with your time and yeah, for the most part and I definitely was not always like that.
Speaker 2:I was like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I'll do everything. Yeah, and then I'll go home and crash for a week and not be able to respond.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you've kind of been able to find more of the balance as you've grown, of a sustainable way to support other people and yourself like at the same time, so you can show up so tell us about, yeah, where do we want to begin? So why do you feel like so the acupuncture clinic was what really turned you on to it and you're like this is really cool. What benefits have you felt yourself from receiving acupuncture?
Speaker 2:so I had acupuncture, basically just for the headaches and then a couple of times just for overall wellness, just like a let's just wipe the slate clean kind of thing. And that was nice because again you're in a room, you're by yourself, nobody can call you, nobody can ask you for anything, nobody's barking. You're just there in the space and things are flowing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, can you explain a little bit of what acupuncture is, what it does and the benefits?
Speaker 2:So acupuncture is based on the meridian system. So just on the most basic level we'll say there are 12 meridians and they're each in a pair, so there's a yin and a yang energy channel in a pair. So there would be a big form with all the information and then all that stuff is collectively put together to figure out where do we start. So like you wouldn't go in and say my back hurts, I have glaucoma yeah, right, right, you know they wouldn't try and treat everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they would find the most prominent and start there and so they're going to treat it by putting the needles in whatever corresponds with, whatever meridian corresponds with the problem, the challenge at hand.
Speaker 2:Yes, and it might be multiple meridians that they work in. So we'll just say it's low back pain, because who doesn't?
Speaker 1:have that at some point.
Speaker 2:So they would place the needles on the points. That would help with low back pain and maybe add something in there too for calming the nervous system. You know, there's a couple of points that are used pretty frequently and most of those are just to ground your energy because they want it to be an enjoyable experience. You know, especially if you're someone who's like I don't really love needles, so I'm just going to be in here in a state of panic you know what I mean Adding something that's just chill and you would just be there for 20-ish minutes and this would help to do. It could do several things, but mainly move the chi in a better way. So the energy inside the body Open up the pathways, or if there's too much going on, then pump the brakes. So the energy inside the body open up the pathways, or if there's too much going on, then pump the brakes on the energy.
Speaker 1:So what is the difference between what a reiki practitioner is doing and then an acupuncturist and like those energy channels, are they all connected? Are they all the same?
Speaker 2:so they could be working in the same areas because it's all subtle body, it's all energetic.
Speaker 1:Really, can you see the meridians? No, so how do they know that they exist? Do you like how I'm asking you, like you're the god of acupuncture?
Speaker 2:let me, let me look in this book real quick.
Speaker 1:How look up? How do they know if they exist?
Speaker 2:I mean, I guess I would say how do you know your feelings exist?
Speaker 2:yeah, exactly one of the people that I have learned a lot from her name is Stephanie Nosko and she has a book coming out soon, but also she's on Instagram and she posts these very digestible little snippets, so like she'll pick an organ and she'll tell you the physical things, the emotional things, the subtle body things, the points you could use if you're experiencing any of these things and all of that. And one of the things she talks about is imagination, and I know the word imagination makes things sound fake, but look at this hair studio. It wasn't real before you got here. How did you come up with all the ideas for this place and how you wanted to decorate it and what you wanted to look like?
Speaker 1:You thought about it, you saw it in your imagination.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or I mean, maybe some of it was elsewhere, but you created that in your mind from other ideas.
Speaker 1:And I think that sort of the results of things like this speak for themselves. I don't know why we, I guess as humans, we just like to know things and know things for certain. But I also think sometimes it doesn't matter really.
Speaker 2:And that's like the big difference between Eastern medicine and Western medicine. So Western medicine those doctors you would talk to them about Reiki and they'd disregard the whole idea because they're taught from science and proof and being able to like, see all of this, these things, and then Eastern medicine, like you said, more subtle body, more natural things, and it doesn't make either one right or wrong, and I think we're just now coming to a place where the two can coexist. I've seen two people with the exact same condition one trying to go one way, one trying to go the other way, and those things not working, and then they have to do the opposite of what they originally wanted to do. So two people with lyme's disease. This lady over here is eating all the food, doing all the natural stuff, and she's not getting better. She decides to just take the, the medicine or whatever, and then she's walking again.
Speaker 2:She's able to take care of herself. She's able to do all the things, and then someone else. You know, it might be different. So I think we just have to decide what we want to believe in, and if we don't, then it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:Then don't take the tool. Exactly, yeah, but it's here if you want it. Yeah, exactly. So the meridians are running through the body, the channels. What makes things get stuck? Or how does it? So if your low back is hurting, for instance, that's a physical thing, your low back and then basically the idea behind it, from what I understand, is that the meridian that would be sort of in line with that or that, what relates to that, is sort of clogged or stuck. Is that kind of how it works?
Speaker 2:And then it could be from a lot of things. So it could be because you sit like a shrimp at a desk all day. It could be because you were in some sort of car accident 18 years ago and you didn't really think you hurt yourself, but there's still something there that's not processed. It could be from emotions. I mean, there could be something that you have been wanting to say for 30 years and it's stuck there. You know what it is. You just have it deep, deep, deep somewhere, hiding it from everyone and everything, and that can cause stagnation and pain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause if you're not going to listen to your intuition or the truth that lives within you and do anything about it, it's got to go somewhere, and so then it gets stuck in your body. So do you think that after people receive a treatment or acupuncture, that they're able to speak their truth more? As these things get worked on, do you think that it starts to alchemize these things or transform these things because of the freedom that you're now feeling in your body, or how do you think it all works? I guess you could completely ignore it and still keep it tucked away.
Speaker 2:But I mean that's that's kind of how the ear seeds work too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, let's talk about the ear seeds. So yeah, the ear seeds are great. Bt dubs love, love them. Couldn't tell you really what they, you know do, but I love receiving them. I feel a lot better, clearer, more balanced, just more ready to live life.
Speaker 2:I don't know, yeah so that was something that I learned on the like the last day of that training and we learned the needles. But the ear seeds were something exact same points. It's just a sticker and a bead. So like they go on, the exact same points on the ears. The protocol that I do was created by it's called the NADA protocol National Acupuncture Detox Association. So this protocol was created in the late seventies and actually brought to the United States by the Black Panthers Wow. So a lot of their members were on drugs and dope sick and they were trying to find ways to treat their members who didn't have a lot of money and make them feel better. So they learned this protocol.
Speaker 2:And it's up to five points in each ear. So there's the Shen Men, which is like the main point in the ear. There's a liver point, a kidney point and a lung point. So I do this now at a women's recovery center. That was just like another step for me. After we learned. I was like, well, now I need to use it. What do I do? Where do I go? So I ended up at a women's recovery center to do this. But the points work for stress, anxiety, cravings, withdrawals, depression and also just to tap into parasympathetic nervous system. Most people will leave them in for a week. I do have a couple people who leave them in for longer and just call me in like a three or four weeks and they're like hey.
Speaker 2:Receive me. Yeah, but the story I like to tell about these is at the end of this training. It was in Richmond, it was a Friday, it ended at five o'clock and then I had to drive back here, which is two plus hours. I hate driving on the highway. I hate driving at night. So it was in November, so it was nighttime, so I had them put the ear seeds on me before I left and then I just got my car and got on the highway with the other seven million people and just drove back to Winchester and was unfazed. So that, to me, made me a believer.
Speaker 1:I mean you literally said at the beginning of this I would never want to commute because I hate driving and stuff. And what does it induce? Stress and anxiety, and especially after a long training. I've had that before where, after you're just so drained and you want to be in your bed because it's so much information and that you were able to just like doop, doop, doop. Yeah, not a problem, they're pretty cool. Do you do them on yourself? Yeah, sometimes, yeah, I do so. Then did you guys also learn about tapping?
Speaker 2:Yes, so that's part of it. So this particular training gives you an outline for a sequence for each meridian pairing and then the ability to change it. You know it could be a yin practice, or it can be a really physical yang practice, or you just throw together the parts that you have time for, or and this is for a yoga practice, yes, for teaching yoga.
Speaker 1:Okay, so the? What are the 12 meridians? So?
Speaker 2:liver, gallbladder, kidney bladder, large intestines, lung, heart, small pericardium, triple warmer. Dun dun dun, I got 10. Heart Is heart one Did I say heart? I don't know. Heart and small intestines are besties.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then is there an emotion with each one of those as well? Yep, yeah, so there's an emotion that correlates with. So, in theory, if somebody has, I don't know what kind of problem would you have with a small intestine so the small intestines is paired up with the heart okay, heartburn, chest pain, that sort of thing.
Speaker 2:If you had that, this one could be things like this well, the emotions are joy, love and compassion. So if you feel lacking in any of those departments, that and then like shoulder stuff, so the heart and the small intestines both run from the pinky up the arm and come to the backs of the shoulders.
Speaker 1:So anything in the shoulders, the backs of the shoulder blades, so all in that area, elbows stuff like that because I think that emotions and the physical body together, I think that's so fascinating and I think it's so overlooked, and I think that sickness coming from our emotions is again overlooked. So if somebody was like man, I, my shoulders are hurting all the time. Whenever I'm with this friend, my neck hurts. I feel like, oh, whatever, is that sort of something that you feel like okay? If you start tuning into your body and you start noticing these things and then you notice what you're doing around those things, then what Should we explore? Maybe not doing? Or is that a sign in our lives, like, if we're like man, my face always breaks out whenever I this or whatever. How do we sort of navigate that, you think?
Speaker 2:Most people probably aren't. That might sound bad. Some people aren't totally self-aware enough to know when that stuff comes up. And I mean myself included.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know Until fairly recently.
Speaker 2:I feel like now I'm way better at that. But there was definitely a time where I was like I have no clue. I have had this pain, stiffness behind my right shoulder blade for a long time. I had chiropractic work, I had acupuncture. I went to a nutritionist way back when she thought I had liver stones which I had acupuncture. I went to a nutritionist way back when she thought I had liver stones which I had never heard of. I know there were gallstones, but she thought maybe I had liver stones and there was some kind of blockage back there. But then I was like this is definitely an emotional thing.
Speaker 1:How did you know that it was an emotional thing? Cause you're like it's not going away. It feels deeper than that than that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it feels like it's been there forever and I think sometimes we have to this sounds so cheesy look within and be like what the heck is going on and burying guilt and burying shame and those types of things I feel like are the the root of so much? I mean, they could be the root of why you're physically sick. So it could be the pain, it could be physical sickness, and that's hard, hard, hard work, hard. I mean, our parents weren't taught to deal with any of this. So I often have to remind myself it's not that I have a bad relationship with my mom, but she does not want to talk about feelings, heck, no, but that's because nobody ever taught her how to talk about her feelings.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean Exactly. So, that stuff, I think, is where the hard work lies, where that you have to just decide. Think is where the hard work lies, where that you have to just decide. Do you want to believe in this and let this support you and help you?
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't know, does that make sense? No, I think it totally makes sense. But because you're so right, yeah, just ignoring feelings, being like, oh wow, my body hurts, and then trying to fix your body, and never like looking deeper at what emotion could be underlying, or yeah, or any of that. But I mean luckily, yeah, and I wonder, like, do people know that this is a thing, or is it just because we practice yoga, hip to it, like I wonder the percentage of people that do know the correlation between your emotions and your physical I mean, we have two I acupuncturists in this town, which is not very many, and we have a ton of doctors, general practitioners and all of those things.
Speaker 2:So I don't think it's common knowledge or maybe people just haven't been ready for it, but it is kind of like your yoga practice. You know, when you first start going to yoga, you're there to get a workout.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. And then suddenly you start feeling something else, and then other parts of it become important, and then it's literally for your well-being.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly For your brain To not be crazy, yeah. So, anyway, what were the the? Did you have the other two, stomach and spleen, please? Stomach and spleen, cool, so you're able to create yoga sequences that align with the meridians correct, that are able to activate and sort of open them, open the channels yeah.
Speaker 2:so if we were to do the full sequence with any of the organ pairings, and then there's also a general one that just taps into all the meridians, you know you would do whatever you want to do for a warm-up or checking in, and then there's tapping along almost all the meridians and then for the meridians that run through the hands and the arms, there are arm stretches, so that would be a part of whichever direction you decide to go. So then that way you're tapping into everything, opening up the possibilities. You know what I mean yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:So before this, because you had kind of alluded to or mentioned that, this gave me kind of like a purpose, a way to sort of form my sequences before, were you kind of what is the point? Not what is the point, but how am I structuring this?
Speaker 2:like, what am I doing? Yeah, I was do. I have a reason why I think we should be doing this, and then we, after that, we do this or is this just what I've always done?
Speaker 1:yeah, maybe they didn't have the brain space to get creative with movements, or it just didn't probably feel aligned and this feels more purposeful.
Speaker 2:And it felt like everybody was kind of teaching the same thing and there's nothing wrong with that, no, but you wanted your own. If we're all here, we've all basically learned from the same few people. Exactly, and there's nothing wrong with that at all, but for me, to understand it. This is what I needed. For me to understand why I wanted to do this, followed by this this is the information that I needed. It's really cool.
Speaker 1:I'm sure that feels really nice to have and to be able to do something that you want to offer, you want to teach, you want to like, you love yoga and to pair it with something else that you're like. This gives it more purpose.
Speaker 2:Probably feels really good and I'm not saying hey. If you have back pain, come to tuesday night's class at blah blah blah yeah we'll cure it. Don't go to acupuncture. You know what I mean. No, some people can't afford to go to acupuncture.
Speaker 1:It's not cheap it is a very expensive scene. How often do people need to normally? Because I feel like there's always this thing of okay, we're going to sign you up and you have to commit to X amount of times for it to really sink in. What's the story with that?
Speaker 2:It's kind of similar with chiropractic in that sense.
Speaker 2:So when you first come in they do their session, their intake, and it just depends what's going on. If it is low back pain, then it might start with, say, two times a week for the next three weeks and then see what's progressed, and then it would back off once a week for the next couple of weeks and you see how it goes. Those two types of practices chiropractic and acupuncture are kind of set up where they want you to come 20 times. We'll just say 20, I don't really know what the number is, but they want you to come 20 times and the first part of it will be frequently, and then it'll start to back off and then see, if you know, if you're going to the chiropractor, see if your spine's more in alignment, there's a little more movement where you weren't feeling great, and then same thing with the acupuncture, and then they kind of say, come back once a month, or if you're feeling really good, call us if you need a boost. Or I mean I go to the chiropractor every three or four weeks.
Speaker 1:Okay now, yeah, Do you feel like at the end of those, like when it's time? Oh, so let's talk a little bit about tapping because of yeah, we talked about that. So what is tapping and how is it helpful?
Speaker 2:So we do the tapping along the meridian pathways so that just brings a little bit of energy to the body, brings a little bit of energy to the pathway, wakes up the chi and also it just makes you feel alive.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean, yeah it makes you feel awake. I would just say it enlivens the chi and the body what do you know about acupuncture and menstruation and helping the flow, making periods better, perimenopause things in terms of like women's health?
Speaker 2:I was wondering if you wanted to speak to any of that obviously I I'm not an acupuncturist or I don't know everything, but there are definitely points on the body that help with those types of things. So example there's one on your ankle that is good for hot flashes. The office I worked in she treated tons of people for infertility, menopause symptoms. The hot flashes weight gain literally everything.
Speaker 1:I think it's a really good tool to use, especially for those like transitions in life, Pregnancy too. Can you get it when you're pregnant? I think that what a great tool to be able to help with hot flashes, painful periods, stagnation, infertility all of those things like that is really cool. Is there anything else that you want to speak to about traditional Chinese medicine or anything that you're like this is really cool, or anything that you've been working with or that you're like man, people knew this about this or how it could benefit that, or anything in your studies that you find interesting?
Speaker 2:I think just that some of these, the most common points, are really instinctual things. So example there's a point at the top of the shoulder, along this big muscle, that you know. You kind of just press along the top of the shoulder, find a really sensitive point there and then just press in on that point and let that arm relax. Maybe you give it a little squeeze. And this is a huge stress point which it just seems after I've been told that it's like another validating thing. You know, if you're stressed out, you're just you're already squeezing your shoulder. You know, if you have a headache, you're massaging your temples.
Speaker 2:I mean that's one of the points for headaches right on the temples. So some of these things it just kind of clicked afterwards Some of these things we already know. We just don't know that we know it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, you know what I mean. Yeah, exactly, it's like a remembering of these things. It's just activating what's already there and giving language to things that we didn't even realize. And I think what's cool too is the accessibility. You're saying, the fact that you can, you know, hold down that point or do sort of like self-love and body love and things like that, cause you do a lot of like self-massage and I do for myself. Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah, that is so helpful and it's so good to like connect to your body in that way. What have you seen from going to the women's recovery center? Have you seen any positives? Or do they feel like, oh wow, that was really helpful.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad you have this so I think initially going there it was kind of like when you first get into yoga.
Speaker 2:They had been taught like a physical practice, but then an hour of time they do not want to be moving physically for an hour of time. A lot of them have just come from jail or just come from another recovery center like a transfer, or they're homeless and so everything that they've been doing is completely flipped upside down so they don't necessarily need the physical aspects of the practice. So the ear seeds became a big part of that and seem to be very greatly appreciated, not just because they feel like they have a little bit of support, but also the physical touch of it. You know what I mean, Coming from where they just came from, I mean who knows what being touched meant to them or if people it could be a traumatic thing, or maybe no one had touched them or hugged them or anything in a very long time. So just the simple application of the ear seats that's a really good point. And then the practices we added in the tapping and we would do this little face massage thing and then really gentle movements.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then sometimes you know they're all revved up and ready to do something. So yesterday we did headstands because a couple of them wanted to do a headstand, and that's empowering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly yeah, and fun and playful and light and gets you into your body, because I think that so many times we are really disconnected with our body and it sounds like what you're offering is a way to connect without it having to be like a workout or really hard. You know these like subtle little things that then connect us back into our bodies and then make us trust ourselves more and love ourselves more and be like happier people. You know, Right, do you do a lot with?
Speaker 2:breath work as well. Yes, there is a big part of this. That would be like a 30 minute breath work session. I don't teach that yet. I'm sure at some point I will, but it just feels like when you only have an hour I feel like that would be more of a workshop thing until it started to catch on, because it's not easy. The breathwork.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like they call it work for a reason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what is the?
Speaker 1:pattern that they have them do so there's like alternate nostril breathing and then yes, I hate not. I know people really like it, but I hate it. My one nostrils always clogged.
Speaker 2:I'm like oh my god, but anyway yeah and then, yeah, a couple of um, there's something else too.
Speaker 1:Another part of it it's it's long if they call it breath work for a reason. Yeah, it's work, but you know your breath is a good way to connect, you know, into your body without having to physically be doing a lot. Especially when you're like an exhausted or, you know, burnt out or whatever.
Speaker 2:The last thing you want to do is go to a yoga class and work really hard, you know, or whatever and then there's also the part of this where you could make the practice a yin practice, but that too is not simple. So with this practice they're also trying to empower you to know your strengths and find that you can stay in these shapes for extended periods of time. But five minute camel pose.
Speaker 2:So when I went to this training, I was like there is no way that I will be in camel for five minutes. And I didn't while I was there. But then I went home and I, you know, I was like I'm just gonna do it, and they have this talk that you do while people are in that shape. And I was able to do it one time and then I was like, okay, I know it's possible. Now that doesn't mean that I need to do a five minute camel every day, because that's my, that's your least favorite.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, what do you think it is Like? Why do you? I mean, I know a lot of people, but for you personally, um, do you get like panicky?
Speaker 2:I get kind of lightheaded and also I think it's a big heart opener and that's my spot, that's my, that's where I need the work.
Speaker 1:And knowing that about yourself is very empowering. To know that, because do you feel like you need the?
Speaker 2:work because of, I would definitely say, emotional work. What emotions do you feel like you struggle with? I said my mom doesn't like to talk about emotions at all and when I was growing up, my grandmother was my person. She was the person that always made me feel seen, always made me feel heard, loved. There might have been one time I can think of when she was not having it, but you know she was it for me, yeah, and she's gone. So feel like it's hard for me to be really true about my feelings and trust anyone like opening up, which is literally what camel is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, completely open, completely vulnerable, completely open others and I think a lot of people obviously feel that way too, you know, and that it is hard to be open, but the more that we're vulnerable with other people and the more vulnerable we are, the more it allows other people to be the same way and the more that it allows more like love in our life. It's really really difficult. What type of talk do they do for five minutes while you're doing that?
Speaker 2:the typical things opening up your chest and breathing into the space but then they start tracing the pathways. Bring your awareness to your pinkies. Feel the energy in your pinkies and then feel the energy rise up through the sides of your hands. Much slower than this, but the sides of your arms to your elbow crease and then into your armpit, into the center of your heart. Feel the energy there and it just it's kind of like nidra, yeah, where you're like, yes, doing like a body scan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really cool you're. You're offering the between. You know tapping and breath work. You know just a little bit of breath, you know in your yoga class, nothing, not a 30 minute, but yoga that coincides with the meridians, like what a unique thing to offer. And it adds an extra layer of self-care to something that you're already doing to take care of yourself. But it's so subtle and you're like he, that's what I'm doing for you guys. You don't even know, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, and there's like little tidbits that anybody could take with them, I mean you could do the tapping every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just tap up and down the front of your body and then along the sides, and then along the back, just all the way to the top, all the way to the bottom, the arm stretches. I mean, so what do you think you're going to do to be full woo-woo? So I actually just signed up for reiki training today. Oh my gosh, congratulations, or you know? Yeah, I had like this amazing conversation with this person last week and I had already considered it, but just from talking to her, I was like I feel like this is my person that you want to learn from like your teacher yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm contemplating massage school, but none of them are in Winchester. Oh yeah, in the commute, yeah, so I'm going to go check out a couple spots. There's one in Harrisonburg, there's one in Harpers Ferry.
Speaker 1:That wouldn't be that bad, except that bridge situation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I actually don't think you have to cross the bridge I think it's closer to like the car racetrack at some point. Okay, so that's not terrible. No, um, but we'll see. I don't know, I'm not signing up for all the things, because I tend to get that way sometimes where I'm like I'm gonna do this and this and this and this and this and this, and then I'm like, oh crap yeah.
Speaker 1:I have to finish at least one of these first then I guilt and shame myself for not tuning in to the course, or or not validated. Yeah, I know but I love signing up.
Speaker 1:I'm like addicted to courses and learning. I love it so much, but I mean it going to be really cool just to and having fun with it all and like layering it all on top of each other, Cause the whole time you're talking to you I was like, Ooh, I bet massage really can coincide with this as well. But even energy work, like being like what do like chakras and you know meridians and chi, like what do they all have in common? And're gonna learn that and that's gonna be so cool and to be able to offer that to people, yeah, it actually gets to be fun yeah, and it is fun, you know, and you're helping people and learning.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, is there anything else that you would like to. I mean, I could tell you about some books yeah, tell us if you want to know more.
Speaker 2:Yeah the science of self yoga is who I did the training through. She has four books and they're all available on Amazon, but it's Dr Rose. Aaron E-R-I-N Got it. And then this book, meridian's Maps of the Soul, this one's by Mike Mandel and this book. I listened to the audio book twice through, wow, and then I was like I just want to buy the book now so I can flip to the page and be like what did he say? My jaw hurts. I should do what. This one breaks it down Basically the principles of the organs. This one says the lung meridian, the big yes to life. Am I able to say yes loudly and clearly? Do I have a positive view on myself and my future? Do I find it easy to be open to new things? Do I take up space that I'm due? Do I observe and respect boundaries? And then if you answer any of these questions and you're like, oh, I need to work on that, then you just read about wellness.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's pretty cool and this kind of stuff is so fun because it's a lifelong learning, because I know sometimes I can get overwhelmed by, like I want to know everything there is to know about this and I want to embody it all. I feel like with these types of learning, it's like years and years of layering and being like oh, that's right. Didn't I read that one thing that one time about the lungs? Maybe I should go look at that, because this is kind of coming up now and then it it becomes like a practice in your life. You know. So I think if anybody's listening and they're like that sounds like a lot.
Speaker 2:You just take a little bit of time for what you have space for. Yeah, audio book. It opened up a lot of doors for me. Talk about the meridians a little bit in a practice, and then someone will come up and introduce themselves to me and be like oh, I know this about the meridians. I teach this. I do reflexology. I do this, and then I'm like okay, now I have all these new best friends. Yeah, that I want to learn from, know more about what they know yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, reflexology is cool too. Could you go to school just for reflexology? I think so, because that would be cool. I love that. Find your people, I know, and then it creates community and it's I mean, and it's such like a woman's way, if you will like, as women like coming together and all learning from each other and communally like it doesn't feel like we're arm wrestling for attention.
Speaker 2:It's like oh, I have a thing that I know about.
Speaker 1:You have a thing, they have a thing, and then you all just I mean, share it. I mean, hello, that's Know, your Flow podcast. Hello, that's what we're doing here. But yeah, no, I know exactly what you mean. It's so cool and I love that because it's not like you were saying earlier in the podcast. You and your friends were all just hanging out drinking, which, like really and we all go through that at some point, whether it's getting high together, drinking or doing something else. It's not productive, you know, it could even be bitching around or whatever. And now this is actually for the greater good of everyone.
Speaker 1:We're not just you know, it's like you have things that we collectively talk about and share, and it's not just drinking and bullshit our coping mechanisms have grown and blossomed into something beautiful now, when we're bored and feeling weird, we just overly research. Yeah, yeah, I love it. Well, thank you. What is your Instagram if people are like, hey, I want to do a yoga class and where do you do them and all that stuff, if you want to share that?
Speaker 2:so it's mandyloyoga for the Instagram. I teach a couple classes at Valley Health Wellness Center, and then I teach a class on Monday nights at Purple Fern on the walking mall.
Speaker 1:Are the yoga classes at Valley Health included in the membership? Yes, that's cool.
Speaker 2:And then you can also become a member for a day. If you just wanted to like, come check the place out and you could take as many classes as you want. You can swim in the pool, you can get the sauna, you can take a shower there. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Whatever you want, I think Valley Health is the gym. Yeah, that's where I would go. All right, mandy. Well, thank you, thank you.