Ep 124  Trauma-Informed Yoga & Storytelling to Build Community with Lydia Bush

[00:00:00] Cynthia: Hello and welcome to the Well Connected Twin Cities podcast. I'm your host Cynthia Shockley and today we have an amazing conversation with Lydia Bush. Lydia is a bilingual English and Spanish yoga instructor from Arkansas, currently residing in South Minneapolis. She teaches vinyasa style, trauma informed, beginner friendly classes in non studio spaces. Her classes and retreats are described as inclusive, relaxed, comfortable, and challenging in a positive way.

[00:00:30] She is passionate about honoring the Southeast Asian roots of yoga and practicing yoga as a modality for healing and liberation, both on an individual and societal level. Lydia is going to share a bit of her own personal story, as well as how storytelling connects community and how community is so important for our health and wellbeing, and then how yoga just ties all of that together.

[00:00:55] I'm really excited for you to enjoy this conversation with Lydia Bush. And here we are with Lydia Bush. Hi, so good to see you and meet you for the first time. 

[00:01:08] Lydia: Hi, Cynthia. It's a pleasure. 

[00:01:11] Cynthia: Yeah, I'm so glad that we can connect and, thank goodness for that Yoga Teachers of Minneapolis page, just connecting all us yoga teachers. 

[00:01:19] Lydia: Otherwise, we don't have time. 

[00:01:21] Cynthia: Yeah, I just got to get the notifications like right to our face, Lydia, just, I love starting our conversations with something personal, something just unique to you.

[00:01:33] So I'm curious if you wouldn't mind sharing a rose and thorn, something that's beautiful, going well versus something that maybe isn't going so right now for you. 

[00:01:44] Lydia: Yeah, I think I will start with the Rose and it due to some circumstances in my life, I recently became a non car person for the first time, and I found great housing, walking distance from my job, my full time job as a fifth grade teacher, and I teach yoga in the park.

[00:02:05] And so it's been this transition of just feeling way more rooted because I don't just don't go that far away from my home. And I tend to be a maximizer and be super busy. So it's been really cool to just have like limitations put on me and just walk around my neighborhood and make connections more locally.

[00:02:24] That's just been really cool. And spend more time in my bed. That's so fun. It's the most fun. Just laying here. That's the rose. And then the thorn would be that I'm working with, I recently got an ADHD diagnosis for the first time the real one. And medications are hard. And finding medications that work and solutions that work are super hard.

[00:02:45] Just appointment. Didn't work, try a different one. That's definitely a thorn but staying hopeful. 

[00:02:51] Cynthia: Yeah, gosh. Thank you for sharing. I know that journey of finding the right medication or the right just protocol is so challenging and draining because you also have to wait for the medication to take effect and then have to get off of it.

[00:03:07] And it's just, so I commend you on your effort and for you being here present with us today. 

[00:03:15] Lydia: I'm not going to let it stop me. 

[00:03:17] Cynthia: Yes. All right. We actually have an episode with someone who talks about her ADHD diagnosis being really really liberating because it's something that she always wondered, but having that diagnosis just helped things click into place and gave more grace and permission to really use that ADHD diagnosis as almost.

[00:03:39] It's just a tool for self knowing and a tool for, okay now what are the things I can research and grow from? Yeah, I'm glad that you're diving in headfirst and trying to figure out what works for 

[00:03:49] Lydia: you. Yes. It definitely feels like a tool to help support myself. So it's a good first step.

[00:03:57] Cynthia: Perfect. Lydia, I know the reason we have you on this podcast episode was cause originally we were focusing on trauma informed practices. And that's when I reached out to the yoga community and asked if anyone does work in trauma informed care, and that's when you reached out. And so teaching.

[00:04:19] Yoga and teaching specifically trauma informed yoga. I know there has to be a story there So do you mind sharing what brought you into this type of healing work? 

[00:04:30] Lydia: Yeah, I'd be happy to so first I'll say I think there's a definitely A lack or an overreach of yoga teachers to say we're trauma informed when we only had a 200 hour registered yoga teacher training, or I have my 200 hour and then part of a 500 hour, right?

[00:04:49] That's not that many hours. However, I, and there are trauma informed yoga programs, and honestly, all the yoga programs, that's a whole political conversation. But I find that the story of me teaching trauma informed yoga started with my own trauma. And that was, so the first time I went into a yoga class was 2013 and the only reason I had access to it was because I worked at a fitness center and I was like, why not take a free class?

[00:05:19] And at that time, the trauma of my young years, one through 18 or birth through 18 which I won't go into, but just the kind of trauma that takes you out of your body. And I never really felt connected to my body. I never felt comfortable in my body. I felt like I was in a world of mind things of you walk in and you sit down and then you stand up and you walk out and it's all happening in here.

[00:05:43] We're taking notes. We're looking at a PowerPoint. Everything was just in the mind. And so I remember in that yoga class just thinking, Whoa, this Is more than just the mind. Not only is it making my body happy, which I know now is my ADHD needing to move a lot, but it was also spiritual. There was a spiritual element, an element of spirituality that wasn't.

[00:06:10] All based on cognitive processes, it was something, some space for me to move in the poses, but also be aware that there's more to me. And of course, I just fell in love with it like we all, like a lot of us do just being able to be more than my mind because my mind was very fraught with trauma and with confusion and with darkness.

[00:06:33] And teachers who allowed that space for there to be the more spiritual side of yoga and the more philosophical side from Southeast Asian philosophy. It just really made me feel like, Oh, I'm a whole person. I'm a whole person and I'm not reduced to these negative thoughts. I'm not reduced to these arguments or these conversations that are going on.

[00:06:56] I am more than just my brain that is ill. And so I try and take that with me and I think I, I do. I take that with me into all the programming that I do. But, so from there, it just led it to me just wanting to practice yoga a lot. And just loving how the poses made me feel whole and brought a good feeling to my body that like under your skin, just like nice tingle feeling.

[00:07:19] I still get it anytime, I'm in child's pose or any pose that just feels right in the moment. I still get that sweet feeling. And I practiced for that reason. And then in 2018, I went and got my certification because I was just like hungry to know more and to be able to share it with others because I've just always been a person of if I get something good, I want to share it.

[00:07:39] And so I started out teaching in Spanish, and then switched basically do both. But that's another part of the conversation. But that, experience of trauma, and then having those positive feelings in that space to I experienced the spiritual and emotional side of myself in a positive way, just felt so healing that I just have to keep passing it on.

[00:08:01] Cynthia: Amazing. I know for you that storytelling is something that you find really valuable and you've mentioned just in previous conversation or just emails really, that storytelling is something that you feel brings community building. Do you mind sharing a little more about where this value comes in for you and why it's important to you?

[00:08:31] Lydia: Yeah. It's so interesting when we take a yoga class because it feels so intimate, but we can also take yoga with someone for years and not know anything about them. And I think either one is fine. But I love to share my story. in bits and pieces. It's hard to be vulnerable enough to be like, this is all that's happened to me.

[00:08:49] But in bits and pieces to share it with people, because I believe it builds connection between us. I believe it's an antidote to shame. When you hear someone's story and it's similar or you hear what they've overcome and you think, Oh, I'm not the only one. So I love that this storytelling as a way to dispel shame between us.

[00:09:10] And I also just feel that if I'm more. open to sharing about myself, that it creates an atmosphere where folks are open to sharing about themselves as well, which leads to building community. And once we know each other, we are seen by one another. And even if it's only once a week at class, we have this little, this person who's holding a little bit of us.

[00:09:32] And we're holding a little bit of them and it's just really comfortable and cozy when we share stories and build bridges in that way. 

[00:09:40] Cynthia: Yeah. And I know you chose not to share the details of your personal trauma. But I, let me take just a slice of time to share what brought me into yoga.

[00:09:57] Cause I, everything you're saying just. It just really resonates with me and I also see that value in, in storytelling and opening up the possibilities of how vulnerable we could get, what we could see in each other. Cause I know I went to my first yoga class in 2010, but it was just to stay limber in the off season for dance.

[00:10:19] And it was just, I would roll my eyes at all the. The spiritual teachings, the deeper lessons. I was like, whatever, just keep me flexible. And and then my father got ill and I had to leave school had to focus on helping raise my brothers and just learning about my mom as a human being versus a mother and getting to know my father with like lower brain capacity.

[00:10:45] And just. Being in that space. I lost so many parts of my identity like I'm no longer a student. I'm no longer a dancer I'm no longer getting you know, all these things that validate that I have value in the world and so that's when yoga came in as A brand new tool of self discovery, self knowing, sitting in the discomfort just thinking and dreaming about what's possible.

[00:11:13] And so I'm seeing you like nod along I'm wondering if you're willing to share like what slice of that resonates with you. 

[00:11:22] Lydia: I think what I'm thinking and making is making me smile is how yoga finds us. And that's because of the people who put it on the ground. So I'm grateful to. to them. And I'm happy to be hopefully one of those people as well.

[00:11:34] But it finds us and it, I love it because it gives us what we need. I needed to be in my body and it allowed me to come back into my body. You needed an identity. So it allowed you to connect with who your deeper self. And below, beneath all those identities. So yeah, that's what resonated.

[00:11:54] So good. 

[00:11:55] Cynthia: Ah, I love that. Yes, it meets you where you are. It gives you what you need. At the time, like first time around, I just, I needed to stretch. It gave me just that, 

[00:12:05] Lydia: yeah, which is okay too. I think it's important to honor all eight limbs of yoga. But it's a lot. And in our lives, we can take what's serving us at the time with respect for the whole practice, take what's serving us and be blessed by it.

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[00:13:19] Cynthia: And I know community building is so important to you. So it's what you benefit from, what you heal from and learn from you want to share with others. And so I'm curious for you, why is that so important? 

[00:13:33] Lydia: I think a lot of us are isolated, maybe most of us and isolation equals a part of us dying.

[00:13:42] It can lead to physical. We've seen the research that it leads to. An earlier passing away, it leads to lots of health problems if we're isolated. So it's for survival, on the first plane. A lot of us do not have family members that are close, or family members who are able to, geographically close or emotionally close.

[00:14:04] Family members who are able to be ourselves around. I have never felt that support from my family, it's always been family. for me or being alone. And I think there's a time for both, but I really believe in us holding each other in community, whether it's through a yoga class through, through a weekly coffee date or whatever it is, knowing each other and seeing each other in order to stay alive, just like plants that need to be in the dirt.

[00:14:30] We need to be connected to one another in order to survive and then hopefully to thrive on our journeys. 

[00:14:37] Cynthia: Yeah, I just saw some statistics recently, so this is really timely that the effects of social isolation is as impactful on your health outcomes as obesity, as cigarette smoking, as alcoholism, as like all these things that we think are so terrible for your health.

[00:14:59] And yet. Social isolation is also deadly, so that is a 

[00:15:07] Lydia: really good point. I feel like we're in a moment where we can like cognitively understand that, but then when we get around each other, we're weird. When we get around, when we get around new people, we're weird and we do things that don't lead to connection.

[00:15:21] That's a big part of why I think that my classes in the park and the sort of the casual and open way that I do things that tries to emphasize community building is just to get past that weird level. The other day, we, I had a regular class with just a few people in the park and afterwards, a lady was like, I just recently moved here.

[00:15:39] Does anybody know a good dentist? And then they, she got dental recommendations right after yoga. And I'm like, that is community. That is us saving each other time, saving us other, each other potential traumatic experiences of bad providers. So just sharing the resources. is so valuable and so rich.

[00:15:58] Cynthia: I love that. And just, I know you like teaching in non studio spaces, so I think I have an inkling based on what you just shared, but can you dive a little more into the strategy behind that, or why you've chosen to take that route? 

[00:16:18] Lydia: So I've taught in a couple studios over the years. Totally enjoyed it. What I've noticed is that there's just a lot dif we could do different things with it. Yoga is this cool thing where you just show up with your body and you can do yoga.

[00:16:33] You don't have to bring your sports bag, you don't have to bring you don't have to have a big prop or a court. You can just show up and do yoga. And so it's really been exciting to me to think about other places where yoga could happen. The park is amazing because we're around nature, which is like so much metaphor and it's just good for us on every level.

[00:16:53] I teach at Urban Ventures on Monday nights right now, and it's so cool because they sponsor that class and people attend the class for free. Which is ideal. We can get the parents who don't have it in their budget to be a member of a studio. We can get the, honestly, teachers like myself who can't afford to be members of a studio.

[00:17:13] We can just catch a lot of other people who aren't able to go to yoga in studios. And I've just really enjoyed getting to know those people and getting to serve that community and also have the flexibility of when there's not that overhead costs, when you're not in this Immaculate, beautiful studio.

[00:17:28] When you're just in a like a community center, if somebody brings their kid, it's not weird. If somebody has their kid sitting and looking at their phone or doing their homework, it's okay. And that I just think that's a different way that yoga can serve people outside of studios. And and then those have been places that I've loved because I got very tired teaching in studios.

[00:17:47] Two classes a week was not working for me on top of my entire yeah. Top of my full time job, and I was tired scraping the bottom of the barrel and not able to be as prepared as I want to be for my classes and not able to be as excited about it as I want to be for my classes. And so teaching in the park means I can just teach when I want to and let my people know when I'm having a class.

[00:18:10] And so that has been, that has helped my relationship with teaching yoga be energized because I only do it when I want to. And then the community center classes are more regular, but it's only once a week and it goes in cycles. So I get more of a break. So that's another reason that I've just really enjoyed teaching in non studio spaces and seeing where else yoga can go.

[00:18:28] Cynthia: I'm feeling really inspired by this idea of being able to just pop up and say, Hey, I'm feeling energized. I'm feeling inspired. This park is beautiful. Let my people know and just get that class going. That's so liberating. As a yoga teacher, I'm like, ooh, that feels good just thinking about it.

[00:18:51] Yes, 

[00:18:52] Lydia: it can literally be when you want to, when you feel like it. And of course we know the feeling of maybe somebody, nobody shows up, but the stakes are low. Again, you didn't have to, You a basketball court, you didn't have to bring equipment, it's yoga, you pop up, and if people come up with you it's a total win.

[00:19:11] Cynthia: Yeah, and I think that also helps maybe break down a little bit of that barrier for some people who feel like they need to look a certain way or show up a certain way when they're in this like immaculate studio space. I've heard so many times a barrier for people is, that they don't have yoga clothes, quote unquote, or, like they, they feel like they have to fit the image.

[00:19:36] But if you're just going to the park, you're just going to a community center, I can see how that barrier isn't there. You can just show up and not have to worry about 

[00:19:44] Lydia: that. Yeah. Lowering the stakes as much as possible, especially for newcomers to the yoga world. 

[00:19:51] Cynthia: Yeah. I totally appreciate that. 

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[00:20:39] Cynthia: Well,

[00:20:40] I know besides your classes you also are leading retreats. So tell us about that. I'm also, I've done a couple of retreats and I know there's just so much magic there.

[00:20:54] So tell us about your retreats. What can someone expect? 

[00:20:59] Lydia: So the last one I did was to Costa Rica, so that was like a big huzzah, right? That 

[00:21:04] Cynthia: was my first one, but I got lucky because, yeah, my, I had a Mighty Mama member who was living there for the winter and she's hey, you can host a retreat here for seven ladies.

[00:21:14] I'm like, gotcha. I'm coming. Yes. 

[00:21:17] Lydia: Those connections go such a long way. Right? 

[00:21:19] Cynthia: Community. There it is. 

[00:21:21] Lydia: Exactly. Exactly. It makes everything better. Yeah. So Costa Rica was. It was last May. Yeah, feels like a long time ago, but it was last May and it was just like so beautiful. I'm really passionate about conversations that get to the heart of who we are and what we've got going on and just like cracking ourselves open.

[00:21:40] And Seeing that happen on the retreat, of course we did asana and we had, horseback riding and beach stuff. But what I just think of that I remember the most and I think was the most powerful were our sharing times. We do one person is silent, the other person is sharing and we're sitting side by side.

[00:21:54] So we're not making eye contact and just sharing. Based on the proms and really beautiful connections were made between these people There was a lady who is queer and she was connected with a mom who's talking about how she struggled to connect with her Daughter because she was queer and they left that conversation feeling like I have so much more to understand about my daughter.

[00:22:16] I feel So much more open to understanding her lifestyle. Now that I've had this conversation with someone else who is in that community, that was so beautiful. One lady ended up working with another lady who she'd had a conversation with, like literally switched jobs. They work together now. So there was a couple on the retreat and they had some beautiful conversations about things that just weren't on there, daily.

[00:22:40] Conversation schedule or things they didn't normally talk about, and then just the overall sense as a group of It's our beauty as people, and how, and taking a step back and looking down on what's going on instead of just being bogged down in the details. So anyway, sorry I got off track, but that's exciting for me.

[00:23:00] I just love that stuff. That's super on track, I 

[00:23:02] Cynthia: love it. 

[00:23:03] Lydia: Okay, good. Yeah, so I'm from Arkansas and I moved up here last, last August, and so that was with my Arkansas crew. So in the Minnesota one, I'm Latin America didn't feel as accessible for the folks who I work with because it is a long, longer flight from here to get down there.

[00:23:20] And so I found a local place called Shire in the Woods in McGrath, Minnesota. It looks really cute. They've got a fireplace and trails and cabins. And so in April, I am offering a three night retreat with a friend of mine who is a massage lady, Wonderland Wellness up in Northeast, and I hope to bring a yoga teacher of color on board.

[00:23:47] I don't have many connections here in the area, but just throwing that invitation out there. Holla at me people. You can tell there's not going to be a lot of revenue here. So if you're looking for a big paycheck, this isn't the retreat for you. But if you're looking for a big heart, it is the retreat for you.

[00:24:05] So 

[00:24:07] Cynthia: it's just feed your soul. It's just amazing. 

[00:24:12] Lydia: They do. Yes. So this will be early April. So it may be snowy. So I have a lot of indoor movement, obviously yoga classes, planned meditation, and then a group sharing and guided journaling. I just think it'll be a really great time for people to take a step back from their daily life and nurture themselves.

[00:24:30] And after, after winter, we're always hungry for connection. So I think it'll be just really fun to be together. 

[00:24:36] Cynthia: Oh yeah, April I feel is that sweet spot when Minnesotans are just itching to do something and just get out of the winter stagnancy, 

[00:24:47] Lydia: yeah, it's hard. It's long and gray.

[00:24:49] Cynthia: Exactly. Oh, that's amazing. And I'll have to look into that. That's Shire in the Woods location. That sounds amazing. 

[00:24:58] Lydia: You know how it is with the first trips. It's risky, but we're gonna, we're gonna hope for the best. It's gonna be great. The location seems lovely. Yes, 

[00:25:06] Cynthia: sending good energy your way.

[00:25:09] Lydia: Manifest it. It will be good. 

[00:25:13] Cynthia: Oh my goodness. I also feel like those Sharing opportunities during retreats, it's fun to go on the adventures and like the yoga and the beaches, but gosh, that's the juicy stuff. When you're sitting in circle, when you're sharing, when you're crying, when you're laughing, and there's just, that's, I feel like when there's all these transformations happening, and I always say that shame thrives in silence.

[00:25:43] And so when we can share our stories, Just so vulnerably to a group of people and to be well received and supported and validated whoo that's as wonders for any of that shame or guilt or fear. That's just ruminating inside you 

[00:26:01] Lydia: The weight comes off. The weight comes off. I just love yoga and retreats as a way of just taking off the masks, letting the weights go, being able to walk away as just the vulnerable, precious human you are, and being more aware of that.

[00:26:17] Yeah. 

[00:26:18] Cynthia: Ugh. Lydia, we're birds of a feather. How have we not met before? 

[00:26:22] Lydia: I'm so happy. Probably because I'm new to Minnesota, but I'm happy. 

[00:26:25] Cynthia: Okay. Okay. Now we're connected. Oh something else that really spoke to me in your bio was that you see yoga as a means not only to liberate the self, but to liberate our society.

[00:26:39] And I totally see that too, but I also sometimes get bogged down and maybe overwhelmed or disheartened because gosh, that's a big task to try and change our world. And even though it's gosh, if only everyone could just. I just want to cram it down people's throats sometimes. 

[00:26:59] Lydia: Be better, everyone. 

[00:27:00] Cynthia: Be better.

[00:27:01] Just do it. Just trust me. In your opinion, where do we start? How do we heal society as a whole with yoga? It feels like such a big task. 

[00:27:10] Lydia: We heal ourselves. That's what all the ancient teachers say, right? They tell us just to heal ourselves. We... We can only handle what we're in control of, and the only thing we're in control of is ourselves.

[00:27:25] I know for a fact what's helped me is to have boundaries around my activism. Susan David, Long time ago, read her book and talked about values and how we all have different values, right? So from her book I chose, you choose like your three top values and then based on those values Chose the things that I most want to be educated on and change in the world and then focus on those Because I can't do all the things And I'm going to be frustrated and overwhelmed if I'm trying to fix all the things.

[00:27:58] But you know what I can do? I can read two historical novels a month by Black women. So that I learn to see the world from their perspective. Because that was high on my values list, right? And that was high on the issues that I want to be educated about. I don't read two books a month about climate change.

[00:28:16] I can't. That's not, that wasn't where I went. And someone else is going to. Which is so exciting. That's somebody else's thing. But pick your thing, or things, because I'm also always reading about yoga, so there's that too. Pick your things or your things and put boundaries around it. That's enough. It's enough.

[00:28:33] Find what's enough for you to do to make the world better, to educate yourself, to be transformed, prioritize your self care at the top of all of it, and then accept that's enough. We live in a society that always says more is better, and that is so wrong. Better is better. More is not better. Quality.

[00:28:55] You don't have to be doing all the things. You don't have to be working on all the things. If someone, people can be so critical of you're not working on this. I can't. This is the thing that I work on. We all have limitations and it can be really beautiful to, and healing, to recognize those limitations and also be grateful that we're trying to do something good inside of our own limitations.

[00:29:15] And we just, we can't heal society, but we can do that tiny little thing and we can work, hopefully through the world with kindness and support and care for ourselves. And that is going to reverberate out. And that is enough. It's good. And it's enough. 

[00:29:28] Cynthia: Especially if you're also focused on community building and connecting with others authentically, that's gonna, that's gonna pass through for 

[00:29:35] Lydia: sure.

[00:29:37] Exactly. You're going to make a connection with someone who's different than you and that relationship is going to teach you things that you never even would have thought to Google or find a book about, right? Exactly. 

[00:29:49] Cynthia: Oh gosh, I feel in this conversation, we've touched on trauma, how storytelling and yoga can really support that processing and healing, how that can transfer to community building and healing society as a whole.

[00:30:06] What is one takeaway that you hope listeners walk away from this conversation with? 

[00:30:12] Lydia: I would say just to know yourself and do what feels right for yourself. Yoga is this tool of knowing yourself reflecting on who you are. And I think we start with the physical, right? How do I feel in the class today?

[00:30:28] How do I feel doing this pose today? Or my body's just saying, we want to go upside down today. Or I want to do a child's pose today. Recognizing that and seeing that as, oh, that's myself talking. That's my friend. I know them. Getting to know yourself and trusting that knowing and nurturing yourself is going to lead you to find the ways that you heal trauma in the world, the ways that you move towards liberation in yourself and towards being a part of the liberation of our world.

[00:30:56] Cynthia: Yeah, that is, that's the work, right? Just even making choices aligned with your authentic self and trusting that's what's making this world a better place. 

[00:31:08] Lydia: Yeah. Giving yourself permission. It's so hard because the message can get so convoluted in us of it feels good. I shouldn't do it.

[00:31:16] Maybe it feels good and you should do it. A lot of times it feels good and you should do it to heal yourself and to feel good and to support yourself through life's hard moments. And when we do that so often, it leads to us having so much grace and care for those around us, for our world. 

[00:31:34] Cynthia: Exactly.

[00:31:37] I feel like we can keep talking and I'll just keep agreeing with everything you have to say, Lydia. Love it. Oh, it was such a pleasure having this conversation with you, getting to know you on a deeper level and I'm just so grateful you were able to join us today. 

[00:31:54] Lydia: Thank you so much for having me. It was really a pleasure.

[00:31:56] It's always good to be reminded about these high level, why do I do what I do and why is it so important? So good to be reminded yes! I'm on the right track. Yes, you're living in 

[00:32:08] Cynthia: alignment.

[00:32:09] Lydia: Yes, we are doing it together, moving forward. 

[00:32:13] Cynthia: Thank you so much for listening to the Well Connected Twin Cities podcast. Did you learn something new? Did you feel that spark of hope and excitement for what is possible? Because so much is possible. Tell us about it in a review on Apple podcast. Not only would we absolutely love hearing from you, but these reviews help our ratings and help other curious minds like you find this resource.

[00:32:38] We are always better together. Thank you again and see you next time.