Evening Reset

Alright. Welcome to those who are just joining. Let's go ahead and just get comfortable, settle in. It's such a win that you are carving out this time for you this evening. We are going to be guiding you through just a calming evening ritual just to help you to unwind, to process the day, and to help you to just settle in for deep, restored sleep.

And the idea is that this is gonna be something that you can turn to any evening. You can pick and choose little pieces of this that really resonate to help you just at the end of the day to release stress and feel more prepared for the day ahead. So I recommend just having something that you can write with, and we can go ahead and get started. And I'm so happy to have Victoria here with me of Relax PRN. Hey, guys.

So first, I'd love to hear how are you feeling? How was your day? You can let me know in the chat if you're comfortable with that. You can also just write it down. But where would you rate your stress on a scale of zero to five?

Knowing that however you're feeling, it's not good or bad. It's just really valuable information. This is really an opportunity just to pause and check-in. How was your day? Love it.

It was an eight. Good. But maybe a three as far as stress. Low. Okay.

Love it. So good day, low stress. That's amazing. Those are the kind of days where we really wanna collect information on what contributes to that as well. Alright.

So it really is just such a win that you're carving out this time for you, especially because that can feel really hard. Especially in vet med, we are really, in so many ways, selected and rewarded for our constant productivity, our willingness to self sacrifice. And so it can feel really hard to just pause and prioritize this time for you. Yeah. Three.

Okay. Started off good then got stressful. Yeah. And so let's just settle in first with reconnecting with breathing because sometimes we forget to breathe. Right?

We can go throughout the entire day and maybe just having shallow breaths, kind of breathing up in our chest. And it's amazing how just taking a moment to take some real breaths can help to center you and to reset. So right now, you can maybe put one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly if that feels good. And practice breathing with both your chest and your belly expanding on the inhales. And then on the exhales, slowly exhaling for twice the amount of time.

Continuing to breathe, expanding your chest and your belly, but also thinking about 360 degrees so that the sides of your rib cage and even your back are expanding. Just inhaling and slowly exhaling twice the amount of time. The thing that I love about breathing is that every moment, every breath is this opportunity to reset, to inhale new energy, new insights, and perspectives, and to exhale and release whatever you're ready to release and let go of. Just taking another breath in, inhaling more of what you're ready to invite in. And then slowly exhaling, allowing yourself to settle it in for this next hour.

And then another breath that I love to just have in my back pocket is the physiologic sigh. And so if you're not familiar with that, it involves taking a nice inhale and then inhaling a little bit more so you're fully expanding your lungs and then letting out a nice long exhale through your mouth. And so it's like alright. Let me know in the chat what you felt doing that. So if you don't know me, I am Amelia.

I'm an integrative health and life coach. I'm the founder of Lifeboost with Amelia, and I'm a veterinarian who experienced and recovered from burnout. And I knew that our profession struggled with burnout. I just didn't think it was going to apply to me. Like, I was into healthy habits and stress management and personal development, all the things that we're supposed to do.

And yet five years into practice, despite looking like I was thriving on the outside, my bar my body started to make it clear that my approach really wasn't working for me. I had constant anxiety, brain fog, abdominal pain that came out of nowhere, and I was really waking up just already wanting my day to be over. I was just counting down for retirement. And even then, it took me a long time to realize that I was burned out because it had been my norm. It was I was so used to just pushing through that, and I didn't have the perspectives that I'm gonna be sharing with you today.

And that's when I realized that the way that we're taught to achieve health and success doesn't work. If you want two little details for it to feel good and sustainable. And so now my work centers around helping people to stop relying on caffeine and cortisol to get through the day so that you can feel fulfilled in your career, confident in your body, and have time and energy left for you without the guilt. And then use that holistic mind body approach. And so pretty much all the things we'll be guiding you through today, like journaling and yoga and meditating, were all things that I used to hate, and I didn't think they were for me because I hated to slow down.

And now I realized that really was my nervous system letting me know it didn't think it was safe to slow down. And so if that sounds familiar, it's great that you are here today. Hey, y'all. I'm new to most everyone, but I'm Victoria Reggett. And I am so honored to be here, and I wanna thank Amelia for having me.

We connected through social media of all places, but it was Kismet in the sense that she had a vivacious personality and this zest for life that was so audible in just her voice. And then when we dug a little deeper, I got to know that we are very much like minded individuals, similar to Amelia and probably a lot of y'all, I did it alright. And then I decided that maybe what was right wasn't right for me. So, you know, we did the normal school system and came out, and I worked hard and I grinded. And I grinded to a point where I paid off my student loans over 250,000 in four years.

And that really wasn't what burnt me out. Honestly, that was kinda what kept me going, the excitement of knowing I had something to aim for. Mhmm. But at a certain point in my trajectory of my career, I just found that what was right was no longer working for me. And maybe if it wasn't working for me, it wasn't working for others either.

So that's when I began to replenish my cup through travel. And most of my travel was actually solo travel, with my biggest one and the first one being to go to South Africa alone. And that was a moment of self discovery. They say that, man may not have been created in Africa, but all journeys started in Africa, and it was very much a spiritual moment for me. From there, I continued to work and to build and to foster and come out of a survival mode and into, like, a thriving area.

And I realized that if travel could replenish me and educate me, why couldn't we offer the same thing to our colleagues? So that's really where Relax PRN came from. Most of y'all know PRN stands for pro renata, and it means as needed. So we really you know, at Relax PRN, we're hosting these veterinary conferences, but in a different way. We're giving you education in the classroom and outside of the classroom.

And we really want you to, as the yogi say, take what you need and leave what you don't. And that's the new paradigm that we're trying to mold for others. And it's, like, the most, contradictory paradigm because there's no paradigm. It's break whatever the paradigm was and then make it whatever you need. Take it PRN.

So I wanna appreciate and thank you all for letting me be here, and I hope I get to learn with y'all and from y'all. Mhmm. Thank you, Victoria. Yeah. She has beautiful destinations, so definitely check those out.

So the flow for the evening, we are gonna be doing some nervous system regulation, guided reflections. There's going to be a meditation so that you can connect with your inner wisdom. There's gonna be Victoria is going to be guiding you through a little evening yoga flow, and then we'll close with another meditation where you can connect with your future self. And in so many ways, we are conditioned to just push through and ignore our bodies. And the one thing that took me a really long time to realize, but once I realized it, it really changed the way I experience life is your body is the one thing in this world completely devoted to taking care of you.

And so of all the things to listen to and trust, it really is your body despite those messages that teach us that it's an inconvenience or or sometimes even the enemy. And so that's why this evening is all about I'll be guiding you through simple ways just to pause and to check-in with how are you feeling, what has been contributing, and looking at yourself in a holistic way, body, mind, heart, and your inner wisdom. And so another way just to start telling your nervous system, this is good. This is good that you are carving out this time for you and to release stress that you may have accumulated today is called havening. And, basically, you just rub down your arms like this.

Pretty simple. But this kind of rhythmic touch when inserted in areas of your body are a great way to just calm your amygdala. May help to release calming neurotransmitters like GABA and oxytocin. And it's also just a nice way of, like it's really you know, you're hugging yourself. You're like, I'm there for you.

Doing few minutes of this if something is really overwhelming you is an amazing way to be able to shed that, kind of to kinda process it so that it doesn't stay with you. And it also works if you rub your head. So you may notice that you sometimes intuitively do this when you are stressed and rubbing your face. That's another way to just calm your nervous system. And then it even works if you are rubbing the palms of your hand like this, which is great because this is the kind of thing that you can do and people won't even know what you're doing.

It's so subtle. And since I can't see many of you, I'll just trust that you are doing this with me, not just watching. That way you can really feel what your body and nervous system respond to. So a really powerful habit that you can start today is to end the day thinking about what was a win or positive moment. What were your successes from the day?

Because our brain is really good at pointing out the things that didn't go as planned or the the negative things. We have that negativity bias because our brain is always looking for threats. It's not necessarily good at noticing the things that go really well or those positive moments, And that can shift us more into survival mode. But by being intentional and actually looking for the wins, that's how we can shift into a much more positive, empowering experience. And it really doing this changes the way that your brain is working because you have a brain filter.

It's called the reticular activating system. And it decide what to bring into your conscious awareness because it would be so overwhelming if you are aware of everything all at the same time. And so based on your past experiences, your expectations, your thoughts and beliefs, it decides what to bring into your conscious awareness. So by doing this, you are changing your brain filter to start noticing your wins. So take a little time and think about your day and just write about what was a win, a positive moment that you had.

And bonus points if you wanna share it in the chat because that can really be a happiness boost for all of us. It'll just take a minute so that you can really think about think through your day. Getting on top of your to do list. That is a good feeling. Yeah.

Got a lot of surgery done today. Could be living a few that really needed it. That's amazing. Such a success. And you did all those surgeries, so now you're here too, making time for you.

Being here is such a win. A therapy session in the sunshine, that sounds magical. Yeah. Beautiful. Alright.

So now let's take a time to really acknowledge that, not just in our mind, but also in our heart. Your shelter dog was adopted. Oh, I love that. Alright. So heart breathing, basically, again, you can put your hand on your heart.

I love doing that personally because it just feels so comforting. It feels like an act of self love when I do that. But heart breathing, you're just gonna breathe, but imagine that you are breathing from your heart. And as you do that, really inviting compassion into your heart, thinking about anything that's really easy to have love and compassion and gratitude for, really connecting with that feeling in your heart. So allowing it to radiate from your heart.

And practicing allowing yourself to receive some of that compassion, not love. Sometimes we can be easy at having that for our patients, for others, and not necessarily fully practicing receiving that kind of compassion. So now let's check-in, tune in to what your body is telling you. You've already thought a little bit about your stress level on a scale of zero to five. But what does your nervous system state?

What is your body telling you? So it may be that you are in the safe and social state. The parasympathetic state, that is the state where your body is really designed to thrive. It's where your body can function optimally. So your body may feel relaxed but strong.

You may feel content. You have good energy. But it may be that your nervous system is telling you something different. Maybe you are more in fight or flight, and those states are more of a high energy, tense state. So flight, you are you're wanting to move.

Right? And so that could your be your body or mind. It could be that your mind is thinking of all the things you need to do or it's worrying, overthinking. It could be that your body also feels a bit restless, that it's hard. Like, even right now, maybe it feels a little hard to stay still, and there's this desire to multitask.

Fight mode. Again, you may feel tense, but you may feel irritable, kinda like you have a short fuse. Again, you could have a bit of a restless feeling or an urge to be controlling things. If fight or flight doesn't help your you to escape a threat, then you the nervous system more has a plan b, and that can be freeze or shutdown, which are a little bit different. If you think about fight or flight as having the gas pedal way on, then freeze is like you have the gas and the brake pedal on at the same time.

And so there can be this high energy state, but you're also frozen. You may feel kind of overwhelmed. You may feel so many things to do that you don't know where to start, have some of that procrastination. You may feel a bit disconnected from your own emotions. And then they're gonna be shut down, and this is just your body saying this has been a lot.

And so instead of more of a high energy state, it's gonna be low energy. Just having low energy, low mood. Your your battery is empty. You may have this sense of heaviness. You may feel kind of down.

You may feel disconnected from your emotions, not really caring, not wanting to be around people. So you can write down which sounds most familiar. You may have gone in and out of all of these states throughout the day. And if you want to in the chat, you can also share which one or ones sound, most familiar. And none of these are a problem.

They are just information. The only time it becomes a problem is if we're never listening to what our nervous system is saying, and we just keep on going adding pressure without pausing to release some of that stress. Shut down. Well, I'm so glad that you are here. Perfect place just to comfort your nervous system.

So another great thing I'm trying to move out of flight right now. I'm so glad you're here. Good fight. Okay. Yeah.

That's perfect. Right? That awareness is huge, and it's a sign that it's so great that you're all carving out this time. So at the end of the day, one thing that's really helpful to do is a brain dump of all of the things in your head, all of the stressors so that you're not going to bed and, being the first time you're pausing. And, otherwise, your brain is gonna going to think, okay.

Now is the time to think about everything that I didn't worry about or think about all the things I need to remember. So just take a little time to get all of that down on paper right now. Think of it like these are tabs that have been open in your brain, and we just want to uninstall those, get those on paper. Frustrated and freeze. Usually, a shutdown person.

Yeah. And that just tells us that the nervous system is saying this has felt like a lap. We're gonna talk about what may be contributing to that soon. So we'll just give it a minute to do a little brain dump to clear your mind. Alright.

How are we doing? Do you guys want some more time? Are you good for the next step? Okay. So one important thing to know is that your body and nervous system decide what's stressful, not your conscious mind, which means that there often can be things that are contributing to our overall stress level that we're not even consciously aware of.

And so you can think of stress in your body as like air in a balloon. Like, a balloon is designed to have air, but the more air it holds, the tenser it becomes. And, eventually, even a little bit more air or a little pressure from the outside can be enough to cause it to pop. And that's the same thing with our bodies. Right?

Our bodies are designed to have stress and to experience it. But if we are accumulating stress without ever having a pop off valve for it, then eventually, even, seemingly little stressor can be enough to feel like too much. Right? And so it is helpful to think about these four different categories to think about what are some things that could be contributing that I haven't even been consciously aware of, especially if you sometimes find that you're in a state, maybe you're in fight mood, you're kind of irritable, maybe you're in shutdown, you have no energy motivation, and you're consciously thinking, I shouldn't feel this way. That shouldn't be a big deal.

This helps to think why it's really understandable that you're feeling that way. And so you can add to your list, think about physical stressors. So during your day, where is there a lack of basic necessities? So for example, did you maybe skip lunch? You had to work through lunch.

Maybe you didn't have a chance to drink a lot of water, and you're kind of feeling like a withered flower. Maybe, you haven't had time to give your brain a break or had enough sleep or fresh air, sunlight, movement. Could be maybe you're experiencing pain or discomfort. Maybe you're sick, dealing with an illness or chronic disease. Having low energy, blood sugar spikes and crashes can cause feelings of anxiety or irritability, hormones, mobility challenges.

All of those could be physical stressors. When we think about cognitive, that could be overload, so just too many things to think about and not enough time to process. Fatigue, just we make so many decisions throughout the day without a break. Could be unknown, self doubt. All those shoulds that can pile up, negativity.

And then there could be emotional. So vet med is a roller coaster of emotions throughout the day, and yet we're not really taught how to process those or release. There's not often not a lot of time to pause. And so it could be there's worry, fear, anger, shame, guilt, just suppressed feelings that you haven't had time to release. And in a moment, we'll be walking through another way to do that.

And then, also, environmental is another one that we often don't think about. So maybe it's just sensory overload. Maybe your clinic, there are so many sounds or bright lights that could be contributing. You can think about if the temperature is too hot or cold. Think about your schedule, culture, other people, technology, any of those things.

And if you are feeling content and in that safe and social parasympathetic state, that is amazing, and this is also a great time to think about what contributed to that. How can you be collecting some data on what is really helpful to support your energy and to signal safety? I'm just taking a minute. And if you want to share in the chat, I'd love to hear if there are any things that maybe you didn't initially think about that you're realizing may have been contributing to your, nervous system state. So now looking at that list that you have or just in general, think about what is right now is something that is causing stress, that's feeling like a challenge, anything that you'd like to feel different about.

Yeah. You'd prefer quiet. And, yeah, there's so much noise at work. There is. And that's really important.

That's really helpful to be aware of because even thinking about, like, can you have some noise canceling headphones? Can you give yourself some time to have some moments of peace? Maybe while you're doing some records, you can put that on because that can signal so much safety and just give your nervous system a moment just to take a deep breath when you're aware of what can feel like a break. So FasterEFT is, like, my secret weapon, and I hope that you'll think that too. So it's an amazing way of releasing and let it letting go of stress that you don't wanna hold on to.

If you have something that happened in your day that you're having a hard time letting go of, your mind just keeps replaying, or if you have something in the future that you are worrying about, this is perfect. It really helps to shift the way that you are feeling about it. So I'd recommend pick picking one thing right now that is causing some stress, and I'm gonna walk you through. We're gonna do three rounds of this. And EFT stands for emotional freedom technique.

It involves just tapping on different calming acupressure points on your body. And you're just gonna say, I release and let this go. So you can tap along with me. So you start just right at the top of your head. Just thinking, I release and let this go.

And then you're going to tap right in between your eyebrows. I release and let this go. And you're gonna tap right outside your eyebrow or your eye where you can feel the bone. I release and let this go. Tapping right below your eye where you feel the bone.

I release and let this go. Tapping on your collarbone. I release and let this go. And then just hold on to your wrist and take a breath in and slowly exhale twice the amount of time. And then we're gonna go again.

Just tapping on the top of your head. For those in fight mode, I release and let this shit go. Whatever you need to say, that feels good. Tapping between your eyebrows. I release and let this go.

Pain right outside your eye where you feel the bone. Tapping right below your eye where you feel the bone. I release and let this go. It's hopping on your collarbone. And then release and let this go, noticing if your body maybe yawns, any sign that's feeling good.

And then holding on to your wrist and taking a breath in and slowly exhale twice the amount of time. And noticing how things may be shifting, thinking back to that thing, maybe when you think about it, it feels a little bit more neutral. And we'll do one more round. And this is also something so it's great if you use it as soon as you wake up in the morning if you're already feeling overwhelmed doing a round of this. Tap right in between your eyebrows.

It is also great right before going to bed. And if you are doing it as you go to bed, you can also tap slower. So tapping right outside your eye. Because if you're having a hard time sleeping, it's often because your everything is sped up. Your thoughts are fast.

Right? And in order to fall asleep, things have to slow down. And so maybe you're imagining just slowing that tapping down. Tap right below your eye. And so even if you are in bed, you don't even necessarily have to tap, but you can imagine if you were tapping really slow.

Because right now, just noticing how does it feel, how does it sound as you do this so that you can repeat it going to your collarbone even as you're sleeping. And then you can just hold on to your wrist and take a breath in and slowly exhaling twice the amount of time. And let me know if you notice any shift, if your nervous system liked that in the chat. So now think about what was something today that felt hard or stressful or overwhelming. And take a moment to think what did you learn from that.

Because, really, the biggest growth happens in those hard moments. Right? But it only becomes a problem when we stay stuck if we either just keep pushing through but don't really acknowledge it or if we judge ourselves. But instead, if you look at a challenge or something that was hard or even a mistake and you think, okay. What did I learn from this that I can take with me tomorrow?

How did this help me to grow? How was this a practice rep for when I'm going to be even better at this thing because we can't be experts at something without first being a beginner? So just take a moment to think about, was there something stressful today, something hard, something that didn't go as planned, and what can you learn from it so that you could make an adjustment that's going to help you in the future. And this is really the biggest success. Right?

Love the Nokia appearance. And this is another thing I highly recommend. Like, at the end of the day, if you're having those days where you're just like, oh, man. I didn't get nearly as much as I wanted to done or that just, like, beating yourself up, just use that to your advantage. Think, okay.

Well, what contributed to me not being able to do everything on my list? Was I being overly ambitious? Was that just not realistic and I was putting too much on my plate? Was there something that happened earlier, and can I make an adjustment? What happened in my morning?

What did I get distracted doing? And what am I gonna do tomorrow? That is something that I can try. Remembering that this is all an experiment, and you don't have to know the right answer. You just don't wanna get caught doing the same things or feeling experiencing the same stressors every day.

If you're noticing, okay. I'm ending the day in fight mode. Okay. What things contributed? What was the thing that felt hard?

Now what do I wanna adjust so that tomorrow I'm at least doing something a little bit differently, then you don't get stuck on that hamster wheel that feels exhausting. And so if you are having that unhelpful thought coming up that in that negative voice, kinda like a mean girl on your shoulder that's trying to tell you you didn't have any wins or you haven't been doing anything right, then that is your inner critic. It is helpful to name your inner critic so that it's easier just to call it out. I like to call mine b k for buzzkill because that's what she does when she shows up. And a simple way to quiet that voice is simply by rubbing rubbing your fingertips together and really paying attention to the pressure needed to feel the ridges.

And the reason why that works is because that unhelpful negative internal dialogue comes from a part of your brain called the default mode network. And when you do something simple, just tuning into any of your senses, something external, that activates a different circuit in your brain called the task positive network. And those two are like a seesaw. And so if you were activating this, it is decreasing the activity, turning down the volume of that unhelpful inner critic. So it also works if you are havening, if you are just really focusing on the feeling.

If you go to go for a walk and you're listening to birds, if you're trying to fall asleep, maybe you're listening to music, or you can just be rubbing your fingertips together, that can help to quiet that voice that may be keeping you up. Alright. So now let's do a little bit of a meditation so that you can connect with your inner wisdom. You've been doing a lot thinking consciously, but let's see what inner wisdom you already have. So for this, think about some kind of challenge or something that you would like some guidance on.

And if you don't think meditating is for you, if it's felt hard in the past, just stay curious and open to this. Just you know, your mind may wander. That's completely normal. You're not supposed to have a clear mind. I'll be guiding you through, exactly what to do and just stay open to what this experiments could offer for you.

And we're gonna start in kind of a fun way. So start rubbing your hands together just to warm them up a little bit. And just look at your hands and look at them with curiosity, looking at them in a way that you have never looked at them before. What have you never noticed? And now shifting your awareness to the space around your hands.

Bring your awareness to the space in between your pinky and ring finger. Bringing your awareness in between your ring finger and middle finger, Noticing the space between your middle finger and your ring finger and the space between your ring finger and your thumb and bringing your awareness to the space all around your hands. The space between your hands and the ceiling, the space between your hands and the floor and just becoming aware of all the space around you. And maybe your eyelids, you allow it to get heavy and to close your eyes, resting your hands on your lap or wherever it's comfortable. And noticing the space between each breath.

There's a space between the inhale and the moment you exhale and space between each exhale and inhale. And noticing the space in between each thought. And allowing the sound of my voice to help you to deepen into relaxation. Now bringing your awareness to the crown of your head and imagining a wave of relaxation, allowing that to soften. Your awareness to your forehead, allowing it to release tension, relax.

Relaxing the little muscles around your eye, your eyes, Allowing your tongue to relax and your jaw, imagining a wave of relaxation. Maybe you want to shift it a little bit, just releasing any tension it had been carrying. And imagining a wave of relaxation from your head down to your neck, allowing the relaxation to extend to your shoulders And down your arms, imagining stress that had been there releasing through your fingertips. Your awareness to your chest and imagining relaxation and softening, imagining relaxation in your abdomen. I'm feeling a wave of relaxation from your head all the way down into your pelvis, imagining that wherever your focus still goes, it brings relaxation and release.

And feeling relaxation down your legs to your feet and your toes. And your body and unconscious are aware of so much more than your conscious mind. And in this state, you can connect with that inner wisdom. And you really have three brains. There's the brain in your skull, the second brain, the brain in your gut, and the third brain, the brain in your heart, which has so many neurons all on its own.

So tuning into your gut, what does your gut know about how to overcome that challenge? And staying open and curious, not trying to force the right answer. Just being open to what comes up. It may be a thought, a feeling, a symbol, an image, or something else? What does your gut know?

The beautiful thing about the unconscious is that it continues to work. And so even if you don't get a message right away, it may come to you in the shower or on a walk or in your sleep. Bringing your awareness to your heart. What does your heart know about how to overcome this challenge? You may put a hand on your heart if it feels right, staying open.

And then bringing your awareness to your mind. What does your mind know about how to overcome this? The unconscious, the part of you that is aware of so much more. And then when that feels complete, knowing that your unconscious is going to be continuing to work and may continue to give you messages and guidance throughout your day and week. You may want to stretch and slowly open your eyes.

You can take a minute just to write down if there's anything that came up that you want to remember. You're welcome to share it in the chat as well. And if your mind was distracted and it felt hard, that's okay too. You can share that as well. It's all just really valuable information.

And I will pass it on to Victoria for lovely yoga flow. Oh, you're mute muted. Let me Thank you for that. Sorry. That was a lovely meditation, y'all.

So what I love so much about yoga or just about movement is as long as you have a body, you can do it. K? So there's no special props. You don't need a yoga mat. You literally can do this where you're at.

If you have a small area where you can stand up, I'll encourage y'all to just come to your feet for a second. I'm going to try to negotiate with my computer to get my small five foot three frame all in it. Okay? But we're gonna go through a little yoga practice tonight. Okay?

And this is going to be a more restorative practice. So we're gonna get together to do some moon salutations. For those who are familiar with yoga, sun salutations are what is predominantly taught in the yoga practice, and they are energizing. It's more of a workout, whereas moon salutations are restorative. So now that we're winding down for the evening, we're taking that wonderful energy from that delicious meditation.

I want you all to come to your feet, and I want you to just stand in your natural position. K? And I want you to feel how your toes are placed on the ground, how the balls of your feet are contacting to the ground, how the arch isn't touching, and how your seals are planted. And now I want you to take a deep sweeping breath. Okay?

So a little bit of a squat as we come up and breathe in and come right back down to where you were. But this time, instead of your natural position, I want you to stand up straighter with your shoulders back, your core engaged, and your tail tucked. Your strong feet strong enough to where you can pull up your toesies and wiggle them. This is called mountain. This is where it will begin.

And just like a mountain, we are strong and we are capable. Alright. So big breath in. Sweep your arms up. And I want you to just stand in this for a second.

Make that five foot frame feel six foot. Just big stretch. Okay? Now I want you to take your hands, and I want you to plant your pointer fingers together and your thumbs together, encircling your other fingers as if you they are in a gun. Okay.

And from here, we're going to start our moon salutation by bending to the right simply with your thorax. So your hips and your lower body stays exactly where it's supposed to. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. This is called an ujjayi breath, and it's even better if you can actually get the back of your vocal cords to kind of be a little audible. So breathe in.

Very, very powerful breath. Now one more. Alright. Come back to center. Keep your arms in position.

Big breath for prep, and we're gonna bend to the left. Notice how your left side and your right side may not feel the same. Notice how the breathing might concentrate to different areas of your body. Now one more big breath in and send it out. Now I want you all to come into star pose.

Star pose sounds like what it is. So your arms and your legs are out, and your head is the center of the star, and you are the star, guys. This is a very powerful pose. So you're actively pushing your body down and up. You're stretching, and you're engaging.

And now from star, we're gonna honor the moon. We're gonna honor ourselves, and we're gonna honor our bodies. We're coming to a very powerful position here. Okay? So we're gonna breathe in, and we're gonna come to goddess.

Now goddess is a big girl squat with big girl t arms just like a goalpost. Seems easy enough, and then you're sitting here for a second. And you might wanna sway left, right. Do what feels good. Yoga's practice and just like our veterinary careers, it's about what feels good to you and what's right.

It's not about what everyone else said is right. Breathe in. Breathe out. Deep breath. Try to get a little deeper into your pose.

Remember, yoga is not about flexibility. It's about movement. It's about alignment. It's about breathing. It's about feeling good.

Alright. On your next big breath, we're gonna come right back up to star. Beautiful. Good job, guys. Alright.

Now this is the tricky part because your left and my left are different, but just do what feels right and make sure you do it on both sides. Okay? So from here, we're gonna take our arms down as such. Okay? I like to keep my thorax completely straight, my hips aligned, my arms are straight, and then I'm going to look over to my left hand over my middle finger.

And keeping that all straight, I'm only gonna hinge forward as such. Okay? And then we're coming into a side angle. Some people call this triangle. Makes sense based on position.

Even better if you can look up to your hand. But notice how those same feet that you grounded in your practice maybe betraying you a little bit. That's okay. Life ebbs and flows, and it's our job to just stay with it. Beautiful.

Now remember with this position, the goal isn't to get low. The goal is to be flat. So where is your body when your core is tucked in, when you're engaged, and when your arm is straight up. Take one more breath and position yourself same leg. We're gonna come into what's called pyramid.

So you twist your body so that your feet are basically like skis. They're both parallel and facing forward. And then you're going to hinge from your hips slowly with your breath. I like to keep my hands on my hips to make sure that one's not popping up, one's not popping down. And you're gonna come to a comfortable place on the ground with your hands down.

Another falsehood that people believe we should be, nose to knees. And maybe that's in your practice. But if it's not, we're just looking for angles, guys. We're all anonymous. We all know how the body should move.

So lean into this delicious stretch. Give me another good two breaths. Okay? From here, I'm in. We're gonna go into a low lunge.

So for those who aren't aware, low lunge is what we would have called a runner's lunge back in PE class. Okay? So our left knee is up. We're in a squatted position or a lunge position with our left, and then our right leg is fully extended back and on the balls of our toes. From here, you can have several hand fixed.

You can have your hands on the floor. Or if you wanna make this a little bit more of an active position, I encourage you to come up using your core strength and notice my hands are floating a little bit. So this is actually an even more difficult position that oftentimes people wanna fight. We won't stay here long, but alright. Breathe a second.

And now and now we're gonna come into what's called Skandasana. So Skandasana, from our little one, we're gonna go straight into what's like a surfer's pose. So I don't know if y'all can see me. I'll try to come backwards a little bit for those who aren't aware. But from here, we have one leg bent down and the other leg's fully extended while we're face on.

You can have many variations. Some people like to come up to their toe. Some people just like this stretch. It's really yummy. It's up to you.

Do what feels good and notice how it feels on this one side. Now we're gonna come into a breath for this. Big breath in. Let it out. Very good.

Get one more in there. Excellent. Alright. Now y'all are already on chart. We're gonna go to the opposite side.

So from this Skindasana, you're gonna use your core and balance, gently elevate within your time frame, and come to the same position on the opposing side. Okay? Very good. From here, if this stretch or this position isn't doing enough, we can come into a half bind or a full bind where you have your hands tucked around your knee, perhaps you use a prop and work from there. Maybe your body is not ready for these static holds, and you wanna come back and forth.

That's perfectly okay. Do what feels good to you. Alright. From Skandasana, we're gonna flip it up here and hit to a low lunge. So twist to the same side as your knee.

For our low lunge, we're gonna come into pyramid. So you're going to extend your foreleg backwards into a straight position. Now you can either keep your legs this wide, or for many, it feels better to come in a little bit. And then hinging at your hips, you're just gonna come down to a nice static hold. You should be feeling this in your hamstring, but not in your back.

If you're feeling it in your back, pop up a little bit. Gently rest your hand on your leg, but don't dump into it. Okay? So if this feels better, just hold as such, and we'll breathe into this one. From pyramid, we're gonna go right into the side angle.

So remember what I said, it is not about how low you can go. It's about how flat your body is. So I like to take my arm, elevate it up, look towards it, and take your lower hand and come down. Alright. From side angle, we are now gonna go back into our star poses.

Very good. Take a moment. Maybe things are tight. Maybe things are warm. Breathe in and then come into your powerful goddess.

Notice how this goddess feels different than your first goddess. Is your body adapting? Very good, guys. Alright. Sleep up into another star, and then we're gonna come back to mountain.

We're gonna do this one more time. This time, though, we're gonna do it with our breath. Okay? So do it on your terms. Make sure you feel comfortable with it.

I will guide through it. Okay? Big breath out. Mountain pose. Fingers to adjust you as a pointer finger, and we're gonna start by bending right.

Come back to your center and then left. Now come to star, and now goddess. Sometimes our goddesses are off balance. That's okay. That's laying for you.

From goddess, big breath up, star. Now take your arms out to a t. Look over your left finger, and then you're going to edge forward and dump down. And from here, we're in our side angle or triangle. On triangle, come into pyramids.

So just twist your thorax downwards. Get your feet and turn your back side. Very good. Now from here, we're going into the love lunch, y'all. Now maybe you need a little bit more.

You can floss your legs back and forth. This gives you both the hamstring and a quad stretch. And from low lunge, you're coming into. Now with power, we're going from our left Skandasana to our right Skandasana. Good job.

Now breathe. From your spandelson down, a little bit of a twisty rue, but we're going into that low lunge on this side. Now from low lunge, come on back into our pyramid pose. From pyramid, tilt your thorax and open it up to the crown, and now we are in our side angle. From side angle, you already know where we're going.

Right? Coming into star. Very good, y'all. So from your star, take a big breath in. Okay?

And let's get into our goddess. Big breath in from goddess into star. And then from star, meet me back at mountain. Now I encourage y'all to do what you'd like with your hand placement, but reground into your feet. Feel how your feet now seal on the mat.

How you feel so on your carpet, how your feet feel on the hardwood. Just be aware. What a blessing that every day we get to stand up on two feet, and our body just does this for us. Now take one big deep breath in. And as this breath comes in, I want you to slowly course the breath through your body.

I like to imagine my breath as a ball of light, whatever color suits you. Sometimes it's different. For me right now, it's yellow. As you take that big breath in, notice how that ball of light starts in your head, and it courses through your body. Send that breath exactly where you need it.

Maybe your lower back's hurting, and you send it there. Maybe your knees are giving you pain today. Maybe you've been on your feet all day doing surgery, and those arches are killing you. Send that breath there. Let it marinate.

Let it resonate. Now on your next breath, I want to make your hands. And then when you bring your hands to your third eye, which is right where your forehead is. Okay? And I want you to think good thoughts of yourself.

Now I want you to take your hands and bring them to your mouth. And say next to yourself. I want you to take your hands to your heart, and I want you to offer to your and to everybody else in this practice the joy, the blessing, and the instead in a few short months. So you talk to yourself and to others and offer yourself if it's a word. Good job, Noki.

You really did it. Apologies, guys. That's life for you. That's why we need yoga. Thank you, Victoria.

That was so lovely. That always just feels so good just to, like, move your body and to stretch. I needed that. I don't know about you guys. Alright.

So we're gonna do one more little meditation, and this is one that you also can guide yourself through. I'm gonna teach a little bit of mental rehearsal. So it really helps, when you get into a relaxed state and then you think about, for example, doing tomorrow just the way that you want it to go. When you do that, you are actually activating the same part of your brain as if you are doing it. And so that can be really helpful for improving performance, including, like, for surgeries, that type of thing.

There are some interesting studies on it. But we're also gonna connect with your future self. So go ahead and get comfortable again. Maybe stretching, settling back in, getting comfortable in your chair or lying down. And allowing yourself to just drop back into that relaxed state, remembering what that was like and closing your eyes and moving your awareness to your right hand, just allowing yourself to soften back into this moment, Moving your awareness to your right elbow and moving your awareness to your right shoulder.

All you have to do is listen to the sound of my voice as you allow it to help you to become more relaxed. Moving your awareness to your left shoulder, to your left elbow, to your left hand. Bring your awareness over to your right hand, knowing that your mind may be having other thoughts or observing, and that's so normal. Moving your awareness to your right elbow and allowing that to relax. Moving your awareness to your right shoulder, over to your left shoulder, over to your left elbow, and move your awareness to your left hand.

We'll do one more time around to your right hand, to your right elbow, imagining with every transition as an opportunity to settle in just a little bit more, moving your awareness to your right shoulder, over to your left shoulder, your left elbow, and your left hand. And now imagine a movie screen and see your future self on that movie screen as you want to be already living the life that you've been dreaming of. You've overcome any challenges. You're wiser, confident, comfortable in your skin. You have good energy.

You feel successful. You have arrived there. You are thriving. It's a movie screen, so knowing that you can make any edits so that it's just the way that you want it to be, so that your future self is just as you want to be, And now imagine floating in and trying on that future self as if they're trying on a sweater, seeing how good it feels. To be living that, embodying it.

And as your future self, what do you know about what helped you to get to this point? What do you want to remember? Maybe it was even simpler than you had imagined. Staying open to whatever comes up. Noticing whatever there is to notice.

And now imagine that as your future self that it's tomorrow and you are navigating any challenges that come your way smoothly. You're confident. You're putting your oxygen mask on first. You are rocking your day. Rehearsing tomorrow has that future version of you, rehearsing it going smoothly, knowing that your brain is practicing.

It will already be more familiar tomorrow. Navigating your day with that wisdom, energy, confidence. Feeling proud of the way that you navigated it, all that you took from today and your future self. That you end the day proud. And then when that feels complete, you may want to stretch and open your eyes.

And you can take a little time to write down anything if anything came up that you want to remember. That is something that you can repeat on your own, doing that simple kind of relaxation of just kind of thinking about your bringing your awareness to your hand, your elbow, your shoulder. That can help you to get into that state, and you can be as creative as you want. It can helps if the movie screen resonated in your mind. You can play around with that in so many ways.

So that is bringing us to the end of the evening. I would love to hear what is one takeaway that you want to remember moving forward. I'm glad you liked the meditation. So much of this can feel great in the moment, but what do you want to take away? What are you going to put into the practice?

What part do you want to continue to integrate into your day or at the end of the day? Love to hear in the chat if you want to. And then my coaching program, the aligned success reboot, Every month, we do a deep healing and conscious unblocking call. So a little like this with reflections and meditations. Love that you'll be using Faster EFT.

I love that one. It's powerful. Do y'all remember when we were younger and you're at a slumber party and there is that game, like, concentrate concentrate. Do you remember that? And there's, like, the egg on the head, let the yolk fall down.

I never played that. I missed out. Okay. Well, that is faster EFT. And, like, you're, like, seven years old.

Little girl's just doing at a slumber party, and it's like, it was such a sentimental thing to bring back, and, like, you can feel the vibration moving through your body. So much. Oh, I love that. All little girls should definitely be doing that. That's what we need.

So you can scan that QR code if you wanna learn more about the aligned success reboot. There are courses in it that are race approved as well, so you can get credit for carving out time for you. And Victoria, as you mentioned, has so many beautiful, incredible retreats coming up, so definitely check that out. Yeah. If y'all are interested in this setting, this pace, all of the relaxed PRN retreats come with yoga.

They're very mindful that this is your time, and we want you to do with it what suits you and what serves you. But you're very much going to be inundated with very like minded people who also just wanna get so much more out of their experience, not just in room learning. Yeah. I'm right. That is so true that being in this relaxed kind of state or in a beautiful environment, that helps us to be in the parasympathetic state.

And that's where our brains are so receptive to learning, and so they're just forcing it. And if you think about those of us that like to have some quiet. Right? Think about how much that environment is just signal into your nervous system to be safe. So I love reading what you guys have taken away from this.

Plan on stretching before going to sleep and EFT. I love that everyone's gonna be doing the EFT. Megan remembers to crack the egg on your head. Yeah. Brain dump every night.

Oh, I'm glad. Yeah. That is so huge. Just get all those thoughts out on paper. It's amazing what a difference that can make.

Had some tapping and releasing another yoga meditation class. Yeah. It's great to really practice that every day. So amazing. Thank you all for carving out this time to be here.

It's really so fun. And Yes. Thank you, everyone. And thank you, Amelia. You did wonderful.

I feel, like, so restored and rejuvenated. Thank you. I'm so glad. We can all totally rock this week. Right?

We are lovely. I think everyone should do another check-in with themselves and see if that number that you started this session with is the number that resonates with you before getting ready for bed. I know I certainly feel like you made an impact on that number for me, so thank you. I'm so glad. Yeah.

Rate that now. Awesome. Sleep well, you guys. Thank you for being here. Bye, guys.

Thanks so much for having me. I hope you have a good night. Take care. You're welcome.

Mini Wellness Retreat Evening Reset

Course Content

Evening Reset

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