LYT

Category: Podcasts

  • 53 | Truth On And Off The Mat

    53 | Truth On And Off The Mat

    Today we are talking about truth! Truth is actually one of the tenants in yoga, and it really is such a loaded word. When you think of truth as a topic, one could have a lot of things come to mind: telling the truth, finding your truth, being true to yourself. Today, however, we are going to focus on being in accord with facts or reality, really placing strength on finding the truth within ourselves.

     

    Where are you avoiding things? Where are you not addressing things? There takes a lot of courage to see the truth, feel it, and speak it without fear. I encourage you to explore these questions while in your movement practice.

     

    Maybe your truth is that you are impatient; you are a doer; you like checklists and crossing things off. This isn’t wrong, but you can’t bring that into a practice. The truth is, it’s going to be harder than checking stuff off, but it’s going to be so much more fulfilling.

     

    Resources:

    Today’s episode is sponsored my LYT Daily online yoga classes. This is an exclusive pass into my personal practice and program that I created from my experience as a physical therapist and 20 years developing my LYT yoga methodology. There is a different class with me everyday – including special monthly live streams – so you can feel your most LYT up – anytime and anywhere. Get a 3 day free trial today by going to movementbylara.com and clicking “daily classes.” Let’s get moving!

  • 52 | Breaking Through The Turbulence To Create Better Habits

    52 | Breaking Through The Turbulence To Create Better Habits

    Today’s episode is all about breaking through, and I feel like this is a real metaphor for a lot of things, but mainly habit formation. I like to think of habits like turbulence in an airplane– you know it’s coming, you can feel it, it’s uncomfortable, but then you break through and there’s no more turbulence, it’s all ease. Habits themselves don’t go away, even though they can be overridden with new patterns, but they are a challenge to neurologically code over.

     

    What is a habit?

     

    They are something that we do, and they emerge because our brain is always looking for ways to preserve effort. Think of some of the habits you have that are useful, and the habits you have that you’d like to code over or breath free from.

     

    Why are habits so hard to break?

     

    We already have created so many habits to default to that it neurologically makes it difficult to “stop” a habit. Instead of focusing on that, I suggest finding ways to override the habits you already have. It won’t be easy, but it is worth it.

     

    How can you breakthrough a habit?

     

    Research is showing that creating new routines can over-power old routines. I recommend being gentle with yourself. Pick something that you want to improve upon, or completely change, and find something that will override that feeling that the pre-existing habit gives you.

     

    Resources:

    Today’s episode is sponsored my LYT Daily online yoga classes. This is an exclusive pass into my personal practice and program that I created from my experience as a physical therapist and 20 years developing my LYT yoga methodology. There is a different class with me everyday – including special monthly live streams – so you can feel your most LYT up – anytime and anywhere. Get a 3 day free trial today by going to movementbylara.com and clicking “daily classes.” Let’s get moving!

  • 51 | Q&A With Lara

    51 | Q&A With Lara

    I get a lot of questions from listeners, yoga teachers, and followers I have on social media quite often, so I wanted to take today to answer a few of them. My hope is that in answering these on my podcast, this helps someone else as well!

     

    How do I best counteract muscle tension and imbalance from carrying a toddler/ heavy item?

     

    We tend to always carry something heavy on one side of our body, and it is challenging to counteract this– more core! Allow your arms to be the lever that holds the weight while you hold from the center, tightening from there.

     

    How do I balance seeing yoga as a business versus respecting the practice?

     

    Well, I don’t believe they are mutually exclusive– I respect the practice. Think of this in other careers: doctors and medicine, the law and lawyers, etc. When we put yoga on a pedestal, we think we can’t view it as a profession and in turn make money from it, which is too bad. Figuring out how to blend the two really comes down to how you lead.

     

    How do you move through pain like grief?

     

    I am a big feeler, and I’ve always told my students to not be ashamed if they cry during class. Feel your feelings, let them emerge, experience it! Whatever you need to do to release it, do that. Like everything in life, feel it and know that you will survive it.

     

    Resources:

    Today’s episode is sponsored my LYT Daily online yoga classes. This is an exclusive pass into my personal practice and program that I created from my experience as a physical therapist and 20 years developing my LYT yoga methodology. There is a different class with me everyday – including special monthly live streams – so you can feel your most LYT up – anytime and anywhere. Get a 3 day free trial today by going to movementbylara.com and clicking “daily classes.” Let’s get moving!

  • 50 | Clarity in Cues and Conversation

    We hear it all the time, communication is key! In today’s episode I’m talking about communication and cueing, more specific to yoga teachers, but could absolutely benefit anyone using communication in their profession. When it comes to cueing, a more abbreviated form of communication, it’s really important how you do this because you are trying to get a lot of information across quickly.

     

    Not everyone has been taught or raised with proper communication, leaving it to be a learned skill. Communication is fundamental, especially when teaching others.

     

    Yoga teachers:

     

    Be yourself! Communicate from your own languaging, heart, and inspiration. It’s easy to tell when you are communicating from an inauthentic place, and that’s not what we want to portray.

     

    Write down what the movement practice feels like for you, what it has given you, and what you feel like when you’re connected to it. This will give you a baseline from which your communication can flow.

     

    When teaching and using cues, be more direct and clear on what you are trying to say. It doesn’t need to be emergent, but it has to be heard so that those listening know exactly what you want, and feel safe as knowing where they are going next.

     

    Resources:

    Today’s episode is sponsored my LYT Daily online yoga classes. This is an exclusive pass into my personal practice and program that I created from my experience as a physical therapist and 20 years developing my LYT yoga methodology. There is a different class with me everyday – including special monthly live streams – so you can feel your most LYT up – anytime and anywhere. Get a 3 day free trial today by going to movementbylara.com and clicking “daily classes.” Let’s get moving!

  • 49 | Posture As The ‘Gait’way To Happiness

    49 | Posture As The ‘Gait’way To Happiness

    In today’s solo episode, I am discussing the idea of using posture as the gaitway to walking tall, both literally and figuratively. How we hold ourselves, our posture, really does influence the way we walk, how we feel, and the perception that we put out into the world.

     

    Our posture is indeed a gateway to better living.

     

    When we walk, not many of us are thinking of how we are walking– sure, maybe you’re thinking of the speed, or the surface being walked on, but the turnover of one foot to the other or the shifting of weight usually isn’t being thought about. How you stand is more often than not translated to how you walk.

     

    Stance:

    The idea that your head is centered over your shoulders and pelvis.

     

    Go against the wall so that the sacrum is up against the wall, the scapula is up against the wall, and the back of the skull is up against the wall; that is your optimal resting posture where all the curvatures, the natural curvatures of the spine, are in place. When you take this into movement, you are practicing weight shifting from one foot to the other.

     

    Walking:

    When you walk, take a step forward with your left foot. Land the heel down and as you start to shift from heel to forefoot, shift the weight of your shoulders and pelvis over the ankle. You’ll notice that your hips will be over or beyond your left ankle, and then you’ll push with the right glute a little. Once full on the left foot, the right leg will swing forward naturally, shifting your hip over the ankle which allows the left hip to come to an extension. Squeeze your left glute firmly, and then allow the left foot to swing forward.

     

    Resources:

    Today’s episode is sponsored my LYT Daily online yoga classes. This is an exclusive pass into my personal practice and program that I created from my experience as a physical therapist and 20 years developing my LYT yoga methodology. There is a different class with me everyday – including special monthly live streams – so you can feel your most LYT up – anytime and anywhere. Get a 3 day free trial today by going to movementbylara.com and clicking “daily classes.” Let’s get moving!

  • 48 | Resilience + Positive Psychology | with Katie Curran

    48 | Resilience + Positive Psychology | with Katie Curran

    Today I am joined by a good friend, accomplished athlete, and fellow lover of movement, Katie Curran. Katie has her Phd in Positive Psychology, and today we are talking about an important topic that is something you can actually cultivate yourself: resilience.

     

    Katie’s Background

    Katie Curran, MAPP, is the founder of Proof Positive (www.proofpositive.org). She’s dedicated to enhancing human flourishing through the science and skills of positive psychology. Under Katie’s leadership, Proof Positive designs and delivers on customized learning strategies that fuse the cutting- edge science of positive psychology with the trusted tools of human behavior to produce lasting and meaningful results. She holds a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelors of Psychology from Towson University.

     

    What is your movement history?

     

    I played basketball, I loved to swim, and then I spent three years dedicated to work. In those three years, I was not moving. After I realized I needed to be my own motivator, I bought a bike and spent time doing triathlons before finding yoga.

    What led you to a degree in positive psych?

     

    Eight or nine years into my career I realized that I needed to find a way to reconnect to what I was doing, or I needed to quit. I found my passion spending a summer in Africa, and when I came back I discovered positive psychology.

     

    What do you find people are the least resilient with?

     

    I think we’re the least resilient when we stop doing those day to day things that enable our resilience. It’s important to remember that we can put strategies into our everyday practice in order to build resilience.

    Slow down to think F.A.S.T.

    • F: Am I thinking flexibly?
    • A: Am I accurate?
    • S: Am I thinking sharply?
    • T: Am I being thorough enough?

     

    How did you come back to movement?

     

    Having to find a new passion was difficult, but I know how important movement is, and how good it makes me feel! When I am still, so is everything else in my life. I realized how much I needed movement in my life, and everything else started to flow better once I started to move again.

     

    Resources:

    Today’s episode is sponsored my LYT Daily online yoga classes. This is an exclusive pass into my personal practice and program that I created from my experience as a physical therapist and 20 years developing my LYT yoga methodology. There is a different class with me everyday – including special monthly live streams – so you can feel your most LYT up – anytime and anywhere. Get a 3 day free trial today by going to movementbylara.com and clicking “daily classes.” Let’s get moving!

  • 47 | Improving Foot Functionality | with John Frank, PT

    47 | Improving Foot Functionality | with John Frank, PT

    My brother, John Frank, is back today to discuss the foot and its importance! The topic of the foot is a very hot one that has been requested by many of the Movement By Lara podcast, as well as my followers on Instagram. John has so much knowledge when it comes to anatomy, so we get in-depth with this one!

     

    What is the biggest problem you see in the physical therapy world with the feet?

     

    I see feet that have been deconditioned by shoes that are overly stiff. There are a lot of issues with the way that shoes are made: narrow toe boxes, elevated heels, etc. and these can create serious problems.

     

    There are three main areas of the foot, and within these, there is translation in different ways and the way that these three areas all interact together is what creates the arches of the foot. Getting barefoot helps your foot get the feedback that it needs to achieve this.

     

    Recommendations if you have plantar fasciitis?

     

    A lot of times, when this is removed, it shows signs of not enough blood flow. When the arch is too flat, and the ankle collapses, it is restricting the blood flow to that area. The big toe should point straight ahead, but if it’s turned in, I recommend Correct Toes.  

     

    Resources:

    Today’s episode is sponsored my LYT Daily online yoga classes. This is an exclusive pass into my personal practice and program that I created from my experience as a physical therapist and 20 years developing my LYT yoga methodology. There is a different class with me everyday – including special monthly live streams – so you can feel your most LYT up – anytime and anywhere. Get a 3 day free trial today by going to movementbylara.com and clicking “daily classes.” Let’s get moving!

  • 46 | Adapt, Adjust, Evolve

    46 | Adapt, Adjust, Evolve

    Today’s conversation was sparked by an incredible student of mine; a former Marine that now teaches yoga, and hopes to bring it to others who have served. I absolutely adore how positive he is, and the wisdom he brings to each conversation we have. In the military, he mentioned that they say, “adapt, adjust, evolve,” and I love that because it can be applied to just about anything.

     

    I recommend that you start thinking today about different ways that you can adapt, adjust, and evolve as well. You can move forward, and that’s the beauty of evolution.

     

    How do we adapt better movement patterns?

     

    From a cellular level, we can apply stress to the bone, muscle, and tissue for the body to then adapt to that by increasing the stem cells production of more material for stronger muscular tendon connections. This does take time!

     

    How do we get through the adjustment stage?

     

    I hear a lot of people get frustrated when they aren’t seeing results as quickly as they had hoped within their practice. It’s important to remember here, and remind yourself where you came from. This keeps us hungry, humble, and enthusiastic for the next steps and stages.

     

    Keep evolution in mind:

     

    We are all works in progress. Keep this in mind with each stage of your practice. Continuously working towards new phases of evolution will keep that hunger for you to keep going.  

     

    Resources:

    Today’s episode is sponsored my LYT Daily online yoga classes. This is an exclusive pass into my personal practice and program that I created from my experience as a physical therapist and 20 years developing my LYT yoga methodology. There is a different class with me everyday – including special monthly live streams – so you can feel your most LYT up – anytime and anywhere. Get a 3 day free trial today by going to movementbylara.com and clicking “daily classes.” Let’s get moving!