Yoga as a Path to Health, Healing and Wholeness with Monica Angelatos Part 2 l S1E062

Monica Angelatos: 00:00:00

Yoga is just such a complete system like even the mantra, the humming the chanting, that that we were talking about the vagus nerve just off camera, but that stimulates the vagus nerve. And and when you're stimulating the vagus nerve that can automatically shift your nervous system from being in that fight or flight mode and to being rest into rest and restore. And when you're in rest and restore, then all your systems are back online and everything's working optimally. So like I just see these like little glimpses everywhere and every conversation, it just pops up and I'm like, oh, there's yoga. Oh, there's yoga. Oh, there's yoga. You know, it's like the yoga is everywhere and, and it's just such a brilliant it's such a brilliant system or technology. It's like an ancient technology

Linda Orsini: 00:00:49

Hello, and welcome to a call for love. I believe the most powerful gift you can offer yourself is to give and receive love more freely. I'm your host, Linda Orisini meditation guide and spiritual coach. Everyone has the desire to be seen, heard, respected and loved. The journey to becoming more connected to your greater purpose lies within the ability to live from the deep source of love within you. Let's begin.

Linda Orsini: 00:01:21

Welcome back, everybody to call for love. I'm thrilled to share part two of our journey yoga as a path to help healing and wholeness with my friend and guests, Monica Angelatos. And in Episode 61, you joined us for a deep dive into why yoga has transformed our lives. But today we continue the conversation because here Monica and I explore the concept of surrendering. And it's not just about giving up or giving it no surrendering is actually about trusting in nature and the universe. And that's often when you can experience especially in those deep relaxing poses that yoga offers. But yoga is so much more than the poses. And here we talk about the profound emotional releases that occur when we practice this ancient technique. In fact, I share how I suffer from anxiety, and how the practice the eight limbs of the yoga practice have helped me move through it. Because there is so much more to yoga than meets the eye. So if you are suffering from anxiety, any kind of trauma, like a car accident or from your past, or even want to move your body for agility, flexibility and mobility, then this is the practice for you. This is the episode for you. So dive in and hear more from Monica as we share the gifts, the treasures that yoga brings to our lives.

Linda Orsini: 00:02:59

You know, people say to me, I'm all about love. And it sounds a little woowoo it sounds a little flighty. It sounds a little airy. But really, it's really just connecting with Union with ourselves with yoga and the vehicle for me, there's many paths to liberation. And so my has been through the yogic world and I have met incredible people. I just, I can't imagine my life without him. But the thing is, is that it's always available to us, we carry it within our hearts, we carry it and that's why I'm so passionate about meditation because of course, as you know, I don't even need to tell you but Asana is were created to prepare the body for meditation. And Asana is once again, our poses and pranayama just in case people don't know is breath work.

Monica Angelatos: 00:03:51

Right? Yeah. And I mean, it's a complete package. If you think about it, so you're moving the body, the pranayama Yes, its breath, but Fanta Yama also refers to prana prana also refers to lifeforce energy. So lifeforce energy is outside of us, and it is within us, right the energy. And so when we're working with breath, we're working with lifeforce energy lifeforce energy is essentially God. Do you know lifeforce energy. I know it's so weird to like say that because you know, I know like in, you know, the times that we live in, and now it's like, you know, some people might get you might not like hearing that term, but it's literally just lifeforce energy. It's all around us. And when we're drawing it in through breath, it's fueling our bodies. It's moving through the lungs into the heart into the bloodstream into every single cell of your body. And so it's when we're we're communing with it constantly in and out breathing in and outdoors a relationship with this pranic field of energy. And when we're moving our body and breathing, and we're opening up all these pathways in the body, you are, you're inviting that energy in you. And so that's what's getting things kind of unstuck and you're able to release and you're cleansing, and clearing and eliminating and making space for, you know, all for making space for all for all that Tronic energy to do all that beautiful work inside. It's healing. It's so here.

Linda Orsini: 00:05:32

And as you know, in shavasana, the ending pose, the dead person's post this they say, How many people have witnessed with tears in their eyes? No, yeah,

Monica Angelatos: 00:05:43

no, especially when you truly allow yourself to surrender, and let go. And when that happens, if you ever have an emotional release, I like I encourage people to just invite that, because that's you letting go of stuff that you don't need things that you've been holding on to you don't even even need to know what that you know what that is you don't have to, you don't have to try and like you know, analyze it, you should just be so grateful and so happy that you're free from free from that thing that you've been storing in your in the tissues of your body, or in your heart or in your mind, and you're free from it. And so when those openings happen, just let yourself go. Yeah, it's,

Linda Orsini: 00:06:24

it's a really beautiful release, especially in such a state is people well,

Monica Angelatos: 00:06:29

and that's why it's called corpse pose, right? It's because it's a dead man's pose. Because you allow yourself to go to that state, where you're you're surrendering, you just it's not a giving up, there's a difference between giving up, people will always people might think that surrendering is equivalent to giving up it is not a giving up. It's a It's trusting, trusting in the nature of things, trusting in yourself, trusting in the universe, trusting that everything is meant to be the way that it is trusting in life. And that every whether it's good or bad, or in between that it's meaningful and purposeful, and that it's okay for you to go through it. And that we should just all be happy learners. Like we say in miracles, yeah,

Linda Orsini: 00:07:20

yeah, learners. And of course, in miracles, I do say that miracles are shifts in perspectives, right? So when you can shift energetically, or in your thoughts or in your motions. That's a miracle. It's a miracle, because you know, what really upset you before. And if you've shifted, and now you can invite it in with kindness and love. That's a miracle that you have let that go. Yes. Yeah, I love that. We could talk forever. But yeah, I really want to thank you for being on a call for love. I think that if people are not into yoga, they might, I would say, revisit it. And if they are already into it, they can appreciate it and articulate maybe why, maybe why it makes them feel so good. Because I said a long time ago, I was experiencing a lot of anxiety. And the doctor wanted to put me on medication. And I was dating Gord at that time, and I said, Well, what are the side effects? And they said, Well, you could lose your libido and gain weight. I'm like, That is not going to work. And then I thought to myself, well, what makes me feel better. This is how I got into yoga. And I said, Well, yoga makes me feel better. And so why don't I try this first? Sometimes you need to go on medication, but I thought I'd try it first. So I went and then I increased my classes and classes. And that's how I got into it because I wanted to avoid you know, the realm of medication. But yoga increases

Monica Angelatos: 00:08:53

libido and reduces when you did you did three things in with one.

Linda Orsini: 00:09:04

That's so hilarious. I did well I you know, I shut

Monica Angelatos: 00:09:09

it and you kept your you kept your libido but probably made it even better.

Linda Orsini: 00:09:17

Energy, you love your body, you're more mindful of your body, your second guess? Or think what you're putting into your body. Right? Right. Yeah, that's hilarious. Why did you get into yoga again? Well,

Monica Angelatos: 00:09:28

I didn't get into I was brought to yoga, in fact, and then I felt yoga. So I was doing yoga before and then I didn't do yoga. I had that experience. And then I was brought back to yoga is kind of how it played out. Yeah,

Linda Orsini: 00:09:44

I think that's the case with many people. My sister tried to get me into yoga when I was like, below 10 years of age and I did not have any part of it. But I think it's something that when the student is ready the teacher

Monica Angelatos: 00:09:59

Yeah. Yeah, what in you know what? Like, I think that in our time like it wasn't quite as available to us like when I started when I was introduced to yoga. I was going into a metal factory where the woman was so passionate about yoga she had created her, she turned her lunch room into a hot room. And her sons had studied with Bikram, but they were living in California. So they had sent her cassette tapes of Bikram. And so she put a sauna in in her lunch room at her husband's metal factory. And then she was advertising these classes kind of like well, she wasn't really advertising, it was more like word of mouth because you could only really fit 10 people in the class she put up mirror, she had her husband do all this, you know, work to this little loft in her which used to be her lunch room. And so we you couldn't even buy a yoga mat at the time. Like you know, you can buy yoga mat anywhere you go to Walmart, you can get it at the grocery store, practically. But you couldn't you couldn't buy a yoga mat anyway, we wouldn't know where to get a yoga mat. And and so we would go So Maureen was a part of this. My my current business partner, and because she's also from Winnipeg, that's the connection. And so we would go there and we would practice we would listen to Bikram on this audio tape. And so that was my first introduction, of course, I would, I would feel amazing, she would only have classes, like three times a week. And so but it would carry me through, you know, and so I had the experience of you know, what, what the practice did, but then I moved away, and then there was zero access to, you know, to yoga. But I was still I was doing yoga in other ways without really even knowing it. Do you know, so my, my practice didn't end there. I just sort of came back to it. Because when I was doing the work on myself, and with the meditation and the visualization and the mindfulness, you know, mindfulness wasn't even a thing back then. But just intuitively, I understood that I had to delve deep into myself to process the traumas that were there to free myself from them from the inside. Yeah. And then of course, yeah, yeah. And then the yoga again, came in, you know, right after that, in fact, just shortly after I had that massive breakthrough. Yeah. And you know, and I really came to Joe Dispenza, his work as well through my own experience, because when he talked about his own healing, that totally resonated with me. And then I started to study his work a little bit more, more intensely. And it totally resonates. So I'd highly recommend, you know, for people to read his book on becoming supernatural. It, it can really help to, you know, transform and transmute traumas that are held and stored in the in the body and the heart and the mind, of a

Linda Orsini: 00:13:17

person. And I want to really emphasize here that trauma doesn't have to be big, right? There's big T and there's little, there could be things right, got in a car accident, that is trauma to your body. Those are unprocessed emotions, you know, you could have been younger and you had really wonderful parents, but you couldn't process something properly. You didn't allow. Go through

Monica Angelatos: 00:13:42

it lots of the time. It's it's unconscious, it's in it's in deep in the psyche. Do you know you're not even really, you may not have memory of it or recollection?

Linda Orsini: 00:13:54

Yeah, it's stored. And that's why for me, meditation has been one of the most profound gifts. And I love Joe Dispenza, too, because I took your yoga teacher training with you. And you had talked about it. And that was my introduction. So thank you, I read his work, and I really love him. There are so many really fantastic people. Just find one that speaks to you. And Joe Dispenza has his story. You know, it's

Monica Angelatos: 00:14:25

it's very powerful. Yeah. Linda, you conquer your anxiety. Yes.

Linda Orsini: 00:14:32

Now, yeah. When I say that. What happens is I am prone to anxiety. I think it's actually maybe biological because there's many people my family have anxiety which is focused on the future. But what happens is now when I feel I'm going into a state of anxiety, because I am very, very aware of it because I really tuned into my body and my emotions. I I practice, I go go into meditation, I go into a mantra. And right now it's Rama, I use a mantra, which is a repeated phrase, and or I do a practice, and then it alleviates. So it's not that I have conquered it, it's that when it does arise, I nip it in the bud, so to say, and then it kind of dissipates.

Monica Angelatos: 00:15:24

See, yoga is just such a complete system, like even the mantra, the humming the chanting, that that we were talking about the vagus nerve, just off camera, but that stimulates the vagus nerve. And, and when you're stimulating the vagus nerve, that can automatically shift your nervous system from being in that fight or flight mode into being rest into rest and restore. And when you're in rest, and restore, then all your systems are back online, and everything's working optimally. So like, I just see these, like little glimpses everywhere and every conversation, it just pops up, and I'm like, oh, there's yoga, oh, there's yoga, oh, there's yoga. You know, it's like yoga is everywhere. And, and it's just such a brilliant, it's such a brilliant system or technology. It's like an ancient technology. You know,

Linda Orsini: 00:16:07

I say, I always say when I enter a class, I do more yoga off the mat than on the mat.

Monica Angelatos: 00:16:13

Versus yoga all day long.

Linda Orsini: 00:16:16

All day long. I want to actually talk to this for a second about humming. Because I do do this in my meditation classes humming resonates in the vibration, because the vagus nerve, Vega means wandering begins at the base of the skull is the longest wandering nerve. And so when you hum, if you can't do anything, and if breathing is like, done it it does not resonate, you know, hum your favorite tune, and that will Saj and vibrate the vagus nerve. It really, it's like a miracle and I hear us miracle, it creates a shift. And that's what a miracle. That's

Monica Angelatos: 00:16:54

right. Yeah. Okay, well, listen,

Linda Orsini: 00:16:56

I love this discussion. I am going to add here that I am an advocate for yoga and everything that encompasses it, and self compassion. And I'm actually guiding a self compassion, mini course at be yoga and wellness. So it's April 2024. But I know you have so many offerings at the studio. Is there any class that you would share? Where is there any asks that you would like listeners to maybe invite or how they can reach you? Or any last words of wisdom?

Monica Angelatos: 00:17:35

I'm over that suppose was three questions? Yes. Okay. So well, the studio's name is be yoga and wellness course you go online, there's so many things, we're very, very active, we're active in the community, we're active and offerings, workshops, trainings, like the next thing that personally I'm working on, super excited on, because I'm revamping my yoga teacher training. And I'm just in the midst of you know, putting that all together, that starts on April, April 12. And of course, it is a local program at one point, you know, I might make that somehow an online offering or a hybrid or something like that. But like, really, I pour every ounce of myself into it. And I get really, really excited, I think of all the things that I dabble in, in terms of yoga, this is kind of like all encompassing for me, and it just speaks to my makes my heart sing, I just love sharing it and you can't, you know, you can't shut me up about it. So I come, I come into the training, just literally offering and giving everything to my students, and I'm just super, super pumped and excited for it. So that's just like one thing that I'm doing. But other than that, there's, there's so much you just need to go to the website and peruse it. And there's always new workshops, and I have such a great team. I've got a great team of practitioners, I'm always looking for great practitioners too. So because after COVID, we lost people because they sort of moved on to different places or moved or, you know, their practice shifted and change. And I'm sort of rebuilding the practitioner side of things. But I've got the people that I do have are amazing, the teachers that I have, and they're always creating new new programs for to help people to help people heal and just become better people and to find themselves and to come back to themselves and to love themselves. And I absolutely love and support that I support all my teachers that are creating constantly creating stuff and I keep encouraging them to to you know, to do stuff and for us to have this beautiful forum and platform to to offer it to the to the community, so they can just go to the website ww.be yoga wellness.com Yeah, so now and there's there's also a free class too. So there's like a little you know, you can click on Get a free class, we have like a great intro special, we give so much to, to the community, we're also, we always have like community class as well, which is essentially just donation base and 100% of those proceeds go to local charity. For the past year, we've been really focusing on the doggies we love doggies, we have pet puppy yoga, so the rescues bring in litters, and of course, a big problem with the population in the in the north and in the reserve areas. And so we're supporting those rescues that are bringing in the mamas with the litters. And then we all will often have puppy yoga, and they're just adorable, we totally support that, and encourage people to come and adopt because after COVID, so many people adopted baby, and then they couldn't take care of them. And so there's a lot of there's also a lot of rescues from people that you know, can no longer care for the dogs. So that's what I

Linda Orsini: 00:21:09

love about, I will put the link in the show notes. But that's what I love about this whole concept and philosophy of yoga, because it's not something that we do just for ourselves. We do it for to raise our consciousness, we do it for our community, we do it for the planet, we do it for the past is not an isolated practice. So if you are looking for a yoga studio, and you're not in near Burlington, Ontario, Canada, there are many other studios. And in there you will find if it resonates with you, a community that supports living in deeper awareness, healing, love and kindness, for agility, mobility and flexibility of mind.

Monica Angelatos: 00:21:57

There's a lot there's so much there's, you know, there's a lot of places that one can turn to. Absolutely. So, I

Linda Orsini: 00:22:07

would like to thank you for being on a call for love. I think that we have really planted the seed that people will revisit yoga or expand their practice. So thank you, Monica. And thank you everyone for listening to a call for love. From my heart to yours. Namaste.

Linda Orsini: 00:22:29

Thank you for listening. It would mean so much to me. If you could share this episode with someone you feel could benefit from its message and subscribe to a call for love podcast. To receive new weekly episodes every Tuesday. Head over to global wellness education.com To learn more