How many of you have been interested for a while now in adding yoga into your daily self-care
practice in order to help you maybe reduce stress and anxiety, maybe stay in shape, maybe
to stay flexible, whatever it might be.
Today I have a special guest on and we are going to talk all about yoga.
Her name is Heather Blackman and she is the founder of Fit Aspire and a yoga and wellness
teacher.
She shares her love of movement, creativity and wellness through yoga classes and workshops.
So let's get into it guys.
You are listening to the Seoul Aligned Self-Care Podcast.
I'm your host Tina Stinson and I had a stroke at the age of 39 from stress and burnout
that shook my world.
Now I'm laying it all out.
The deep-level self-care practices and mindset shifts that I needed that kept me healthy,
balanced and thriving.
Join me in this intimate space as we explore healing, resilience and a soul's journey to alignment.
This is where real conversations about deep-level self-care happen.
Let's get into it.
Hello Heather, welcome to the Seoul Aligned Self-Care Podcast.
I'm excited to talk to you today.
How are you doing?
I'm doing good.
Excited to be here.
Glad to talk with you.
Yeah, and talk all things yoga.
Yeah, so tell me a little bit about yourself, your yoga journey.
Yeah, absolutely.
So I am a yoga teacher who probably has a little different background than many yoga teachers.
I actually started more on the endurance side of the house.
So I am after college, well maybe I should say this, actually started with a dancer.
So that creative movement side of thing has been in me since I was about three and I had
the chance to dance until I was about 21.
At the time, maybe dating myself, you didn't come out of college and find like a great dance
program.
So I needed something else because I really enjoy eating and I found I should probably have
some balance.
So I started running, did a 5K, worked up to a marathon in my first year and then somehow
found triathlon along the way and did this for quite a while until eventually I started
being the person that friends would come to and ask questions.
And so got into endurance coaching that way, you know, once you start, you know, being
that person, everyone's asking all the questions, I'm the one who likes to dive in and do all
the research.
So went then and got certifications and and coached endurance training for about 10 years.
So both running triathlon, cycling specifically, swimming was never my favorite.
So that wasn't something I spent a lot of time on.
I kind of specialized helping the people who didn't want to swim either and like still
being able to do the Iron Man and not really having to spend a ton of time in the pool.
Yeah.
So yeah, so a little different approach.
So yoga maybe popped in and out during that time.
I feel like when I was working at a gym as a run coach, you know, you got access to go to
the different classes.
And so I went to a yoga class about three times and went, well, we're doing the same thing
every time and going back to that dance background.
That wasn't super interesting to me.
So I went, maybe I just don't like this yoga thing.
And so it was really kind of a very small blip on my radar.
I moved to Colorado in 2012 and it's very strange because it's a big triathlon culture,
but there's also so many things to do out here, you know, there's snowboarding in the winter
and hiking and, you know, just so many outdoor activities.
So I started to train less.
I kind of moved away from doing triathlon myself, which then kind of made me wanting to spend
a bunch of time coaching a little less interesting.
And so it just started kind of fading off and then yoga started to become something I tried
again and went, oh, okay, so they're not all like that first class I went to.
It doesn't always mean go into this hot room and do the exact same poses, which works
for some people, but not the way my brain functions.
So I found Vinyasa, I found Yen and went, okay, these things are actually kind of interesting,
but I would still say I wasn't super consistent and really not until I moved to the mountains
and a friend of mine opened a yoga studio and being the good friend who wants to support
their business, I started going more regularly.
So there was no like magical reason I started practicing regularly other than I wanted to
support my friend.
And then doing that, I realized, huh, now that I've been doing this a couple of times,
a week, I'm noticing that I'm not as sore as I used to be when I get off my bike, for example,
or I'm starting to feel a little bit more clear headed if I take a break in the day and
do a yoga session.
So just starting to kind of experience these benefits that to be honest, I wasn't necessarily
looking for.
I didn't even know I should be looking for those.
It was just something that I was able to find and then coming to that consistency I was
able to see, hey, this actually is pretty amazing.
And I was able to see a lot of the things that I was able to do.
And I was able to see a lot of the things that I was able to do.
And I was able to see a lot of the things that I was able to see.
And then I realized, I was able to see a lot of the things that I was able to see.
And then I realized, I was able to see a lot of the things that I was able to see.
And then I realized, I was able to see a lot of the things that I was able to see.
And then I realized, I was able to see a lot of the things that I was able to see.
And then I realized, I was able to see a lot of the things that I was able to see.
And then I realized, I was able to see a lot of the things that I was able to see.
The Gay Ethylans.
And I could completely relate.
I did a little baby one.
I did I own girl.
You're probably familiar with I own girl, right?
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Yeah, so that's a good beginner triathlon to do.
And I hated the swim and I had,
I love biking.
I love running.
I hated the swimming.
And how does terrible, funny experiment,
that's with the swimming were,
because it's so many beginners, during Iron Girl.
It's like ever.
So many people grabbing onto me and holding onto my legs.
And then I forgot to put my goggles on.
Like the whole time.
- Oh, no.
- And they were on my,
- They were on my head.
It was so, I was like, oh my God,
thank God it was so short.
But yeah, that was it for my triathlon career.
That was it.
I was like, I did it.
- Didn't not like that.
But yeah, so the yoga thing for me was kind of like,
every time I injured myself somehow,
I would go to yoga and it always helped me heal
so much faster.
And then, you know,
it always suffered from like pure form of syndrome,
which was, you know,
and yoga always helped me with that.
And so I just started doing it regularly.
And then I had a kind of devastating injury
I tore my hamstring completely.
- Oh my God.
- Yeah, that was,
that was one of the hardest,
I always say that was harder,
a harder recovery than my stroke.
Honestly, it really was.
Because it was just so,
and it's still to this day still hurts,
but like because I don't have that connection on one side,
my body is kind of like off.
And I have to count,
I, it's almost like I have to do yoga
to keep my body balanced
because this, my right side of my body is always super tight, you know?
- And I absolutely,
trying to compensate for the other side
and keep you going.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
- So it's very interesting, but yeah,
so now I do yoga almost every single day.
And I agree with you where,
you know, when I,
the first couple of times I tried it,
you really have to give it a chance
because not only are there different types of yoga
and so many different types of yoga,
but every teacher is different.
And I follow all these different teachers,
like on YouTube and stuff like that.
And I'm like,
well, I'm gonna go to her today because I,
you know, she challenges me
and I'm gonna go to her today
because she's like super chill, like, you know?
- Totally.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, no one,
I think that is a great point because, you know,
just like I said, I was like,
I obviously don't like yoga
'cause I don't like this one class.
But you don't know that until you experience it, right?
So I will talk to people and they're like,
oh, I don't like yoga.
And my first question back is typically,
tell me what yoga,
like what was that class like that you didn't like?
Because it's almost like,
there's so many things like this in life
that there is so much variety,
but you don't know until you know,
to even ask the question of,
is this what it's supposed to be?
Or are there other options that I should explore?
- Yeah.
- 'Cause especially, you know,
as you start to learn more about yoga
as I'm sure you did too,
I found a really like Vinyasa.
I like slower ones as well.
I like Yin, I like restorative.
Didn't even know these were things.
Like I think I went to my first Yin class
probably five or six years after I started
to get more regular in yoga.
And I was like, what is this?
And my personality is,
I don't know what it is.
I'm gonna go try it.
But that's not the case for everybody.
And so if you do have a bad experience,
it's to your point, even looking at the teacher,
maybe the teacher wasn't a good fit for you.
Maybe the style wasn't a good fit.
- Yeah, maybe it wasn't what I was ready for at that time.
'Cause also sometimes some of the teachers
are teaching more than just the physical movements
that are going into the spirituality aspect of it.
And so like when I was younger
and I was doing all my running and stuff like that,
I still run, but when I was super into that running crowd,
if I went to a yoga class
and they start playing some music in the front and chanting,
I'm like, what is going on here?
And now I'm like, yeah, now I'm like, down with that.
Like you know what I mean?
So it's like, what stage are you at?
What are you looking for?
And I think that people need to be more open-minded
to having fun with it.
So it doesn't always have to be,
I feel like yoga could also be sometimes super intimidating
when you walk into a yoga studio,
especially for the first time.
And so like maybe you begin a yoga
or maybe you'll go going with one of your friends
who goes to a class who can kind of like introduce you to it.
But like how can I make this more fun, more, you know?
So as a yoga teacher,
like what would you say to the person
who's like intimidated to going
or they maybe have like, they're, you know,
not comfortable wearing the clothing
that most people wear during yoga, all those things.
- Absolutely.
And I actually just had this conversation
with my mom in the last couple of weeks
so I can tell you exactly what I told her.
- Yeah.
- Floating wise, it doesn't matter.
You could wear sweatpants and a t-shirt.
Really whatever you're comfortable in,
I would just consider that down dog is a really common pose.
And so your hands are gonna be on the ground
and your hips are gonna be in the air.
So just you don't want your shirt to slide over your head
if you're feeling uncomfortable.
So maybe something even that you could tuck into your pants.
This isn't yoga clothes, but there is no real yoga clothes.
It's really something you can move in
and that you're comfortable in
and so that you're focused less on your body
and like what you look like
and more about the movements.
So that would be what I would say to what you wanna wear.
I like wearing cute yoga leggings and tops
but not required at all.
So if that's fun for you, go shopping for a new outfit.
If that's not fun for you, wear something you got.
Doesn't matter.
(laughs)
And then if you, there's really two choices.
Some people, just like going to the gym
for the first time, that can be really intimidating.
And so where home workouts can be a really great way
to just start moving, home yoga workouts
are a fantastic way to start moving.
And there is a ton of options and nobody else can see you.
Just good and bad.
So I think part of that is, right?
You feel less self-conscious.
So if that is like your barrier to going,
oh my gosh, start at home.
The downside is there's no teacher to give you any feedback.
And I am the first person to tell you,
your pose does not have to look like some textbook picture.
It's really more about what it feels like in your body.
But for a lot of people, myself included,
I liked that feedback just to make sure
I'm moving in the right direction
that it's kind of like what it was intended to
and then I can make it comfortable.
So you miss a little bit of that feedback if you're at home
and not having a camera on with like a live class.
Going to the studio, so if you're not in your head about that
and I encourage you not to be,
the studio is supposed to be welcoming and encouraging.
Everyone's encouraged to just be on their mat
and not be looking at their neighbor.
In fact, you'll hear that in classes a lot.
I would just go tell the teacher,
hey, this is my first yoga class
because then they can watch you in a way like helping you.
And they know I'm gonna give different cues
if it's somebody's very first class
to really help them find success.
And I'm gonna be also watching for them
to be looking comfortable versus somebody
who looks extremely uncomfortable.
And again, how can we make some tweaks
to make this work for you?
If I have no idea, it's your first class,
I may not have that same lens on
that helps me to give you the best experience.
So just communicating with your teacher.
Your teacher wants to help you.
That's literally why we do this.
So I think that would be my two big pieces of advice.
And then just start,
like whatever one of those options
sounded the least intimidating, do that.
And don't overthink it.
I think that's also a big deal.
- Yeah, yeah, I agree.
And I mainly do yoga at home
because I live at a very rural area
and there's no yoga studios within 40 minutes.
And so I don't really have much of a choice.
And I started doing that through the pandemic too.
Like when we can go to the yoga studio
or I just didn't want to.
(laughs)
So it was like, so yeah,
there are so many people online that do it
and they do have videos,
I don't know what they call them,
but they teach you how to get into a pose.
So it's not a class.
Most of the teachers on YouTube or wherever
you would find a video have,
they have these,
and I would encourage people to do those,
especially if you're like struggling to get into a pose.
And also going back to the clothing thing,
you should see some of the things I wear when I practice you.
- The matter is, if you're holding me in your PJs.
- Yeah, a lot of times am in my PJs.
- Yeah.
- And I do find wearing like joggers or sweatpants
really comfortable as long as they're super stretchy
because you don't want it to restrict your movement
or anything like that.
So it's like, yeah, some of the things I wear,
and then when you're at home too, you could strip down
when you get hot.
You can't usually do that at a yoga studio.
So, (laughs)
- Totally, completely.
- I'm a proponent of home yoga,
but I do miss the studio because there's a community
and it's more fun and you make like my did friends
and it's just getting different perspectives
on the teachings of yoga and learning different things
from different yoga teachers.
And you do breath work too, right?
- Yes, yeah.
So every single one of my classes in the studio
always start with breath work.
The only reason I said in the studio is
when I teach virtual, one of the bigger quests is short classes.
So I tend to separate them out.
So if you were to come to my virtual studio,
I have a whole library of breath work.
And then so then the yoga,
Asana classes tend to be a little bit more focused
on the Asana and then I encourage students,
put them together.
If you have time, do like a box breathing video first
and then do an Asana flow
because that's what I would teach you
if you came to a studio class.
Studio classes tend to be 60, 75 minutes.
You're gonna find mostly, I find 60 minutes
is the most common.
And so then I have time.
I start every class with breath work
and we'll go through a lot of different types.
A lot of times it's maybe aligned to what our purpose
of the class is going to be.
And we'll try to find a breath work
that really helps you find a similar feeling.
Or we'll just work on understanding
how much the breath can manipulate your entire day.
So I like to explain Ujaii breath,
which a lot of people have at least heard of,
maybe and you were like, what is that?
We practice that while we move quite often in Vinyasa
or in a rocket yoga.
And that is mostly in your upper chest.
So and that is a more up tempo
like excited energetic breath.
So not the thing you wanna practice
if you've been really stressed out at work
and you need to bring your energy down,
then we would do something that's more in your belly.
So it's a nice way to be able to give these tools
that you can practice on and off the mat.
And we just kind of incorporate them on all the classes
and I also finish with breath work
just to kind of bring it full circle
and help you kind of ground back down.
Yeah.
I think to your point, a lot of people don't think
of that as yoga, right?
Like maybe it's just the movements, right?
And the movements came later.
It has to be beginning.
It was more about the sitting.
And so I always say the movements
are so that you can sit because when we're,
a lot of us are very busy all day
and our minds are going a million miles a minute.
And if you told me, okay, Heather, now go sit down
and be quiet and close your eyes.
I'd be like, that's probably not gonna happen right now.
Yeah.
But I could go move first and then sit down.
I've gotten out of my head that to do list
has kind of floated away without me even noticing.
Then you can sit in silence a bit easier.
And so that's really the whole point of all that movement.
So coming back to breath is a meditation practice.
And so one of the core tenons of yoga as we started with.
So yeah, yeah.
I, one of the things that really
that I can resonate with yoga is doing some of those
more challenging yoga classes.
And you know, you're in a, you're in maybe a difficult pose,
you know, you're challenging yourself,
you're challenging your strength or even other things too.
But at the same time, you're trying to stay connected
to your breath.
So you're trying to breathe through it.
So you're breathing through the discomfort.
And it's very, it's just like a metaphor for life, you know,
but we have all these things that happen to us where we have
to work through like difficult things in our lives.
And we have to learn to be able to move through those emotions
in a way where we can, we can stay level headed and balanced.
And I find that yoga is a good teaching tool for that.
Just how to regulate, you know, regulate yourself,
be able to know and have the confidence
that you could work through these difficult things.
And so that's what I always think about, you know,
when I'm in like a typical pose and I'm like, oh, Jesus, you know,
and any yoga teacher's like talking about something and you're like,
oh, my God, move on.
Come on.
Like I can't, I'm going to go.
Perhaps you want, I don't have to stay in that position.
If it gets too difficult, I know I can go into, you know, you know,
down when facing dog or, you know, child's child pose.
Yeah.
So it's like, I know I don't have to do this,
but like, I'm like, this is part of it.
This is why I do this.
Thanks.
So I think, yeah, you're practicing for those
difficult things, right?
Yeah.
In like a way less consequential environment.
So yeah, you holding a really hard bind in, I don't know, like an extended
side angle and you're like, to your point, what, and I am guilty of this sometimes,
you know, we're just going to take two breaths and then you go over and you
help somebody and five to 10 breaths later, they're like, oh, you can get out.
Yeah.
At the whole time, you're like, I'm still breathing.
I am still focusing.
But then think about then later in the day and you're in traffic and
somebody cuts you off and you're like, right, we're supposed to come back to that
breath that we can breathe through this and not let this completely destroy all of
our, our day.
You practice that in another uncomfortable position.
And so maybe that makes it the tiniest, but easier when you hit that really
frustrating situation a little later in your day.
Yeah.
It's perfect, I think.
What other healing modalities do you use during your classes?
Yeah.
And now one is another one of my specialties and this one is a little harder to
translate online at least for me so far.
So I tend to use sound mostly for local live classes.
But I have found this to be kind of game changing.
I am the person who likes the very energetic class, but then I also really like the
down tempo sound bath experience.
And if you haven't been to one of these, maybe let me try to paint the picture of my first
sound bath.
I was on my very first yoga retreat.
And this guy comes into our open air shallower.
There's like a wood floor and like one of those grass ceilings above you and like open air
on the sides and we're all like set up our mats and blankets and pillows and a circle around
it.
And this guy is in the middle of the room with this giant gong.
Yeah.
I mean like huge like it's tall as me and just like really big wide circular gold gong.
And what they tell you is just there's nothing you need to do.
Just close your eyes and just listen and fall asleep.
Totally okay.
And I would have swore that he was moving that gong and would like put it right next to
my head and play right behind me or he'd bring another instrument and play right behind
me.
And that's definitely couldn't move that gong.
So like from person to person, but it's just those vibrations that come out of that are
so powerful.
And that is what is interacting with the water in your body.
And it's just kind of like shaking things up so that it can settle back down at the start
of my sound baths.
I always use this analogy and one day it's not going to work because it's a little bit dated
but there's been no Jurassic Park.
So I feel like people still picture Jurassic Park.
So if you remember that scene in Jurassic Park where they're in the Jeep and there's like
a cup of water or coffee in the top holder and like the T Rex comes right next to it and
his giant foot comes down right next to the Jeep and you see all the ripples in the
water.
That's what happens in your butt.
And so I feel like everybody can picture that.
And so think of all those ripples while all the different sounds are playing.
And the reason we use lots of different sounds is everything vibrates at a different
frequency.
So my desk in front of me vibrates at a frequency, my brain vibrates at one frequency, my
heart at another, you know, you're all the different pieces.
But your heart and my heart are not necessarily on the same vibrational frequency.
We don't know.
It's just different vibrations.
And so we want to hit different vibrations of sound so that it can interact with different
parts of your body.
And so the reason we play so many different instruments is to hopefully find those different
interactions.
We can find that nice resonance.
And then it kind of settles back down.
So you don't have to do anything.
You just allow the sound to interact.
And it's typically pretty powerful.
I will have people who who cry and it's just a release of emotion.
And I'll have people who leave feeling super happy or really quiet and mellow or you know,
you'll get anger during my sound training.
One of the girls in also one of the teachers who was in the training got really angry during
none of the ones I did.
And I was like, oh my gosh, I do something wrong.
And no, you just need to like sometimes just letting that anger out.
You feel so much better.
It's just stirring stuff up, which quite often interacts with emotion.
And then you leave.
And then you have again, one of those things that doesn't feel like what I would have ever
expected to be part of yoga.
But it's a really powerful modality.
I will sometimes use it at the end of an awesome class as well, but we do host workshops.
And I host a lot of times with another sound practitioner so that we've got four hands
that can play instruments instead of just two.
So.
Yeah, that sounds, that sounds really cool.
I've never experienced it.
But I would love to and it also sounds fun, you know, it just sounds like a good time.
So yeah, you talked about you do virtual classes.
Yeah, so I absolutely.
So I've been teaching for several years local.
In fact, I came out of teacher training and immediately started teaching locally because
I have such a movement background.
Yoga came very naturally to me and I kind of pull all those things together.
But I realized that I was only being able to help people who could come to class at the time
that I teach.
And I teach at noon several times a week, which I love because it gives me a day, a time
to break up my day, but that doesn't work for everybody's schedule.
And so I thought, how can I make this easier to get to a yoga class with me no matter where
you live or what your job is and what time you have available to practice?
So I launched a virtual studio in February that allows you to get unlimited classes that
are kind of in this growing library.
The library probably has about 30 different classes in there right now and I add about one
to two every week.
So it'll just get bigger and bigger.
My audience kind of asked for most of these to be short.
So I would say 80% of them are less than 30 minutes.
And then because I like long classes, I also tend to throw in one or two that are like 60
to 75 so that you have both.
And to be honest, when I'm practicing at home, more often than not, I kind of want a short
practice.
And I will keep my longer practices for the studio.
But then sometimes I have more space and I want to do both.
So giving you options for both of those.
Like I mentioned, it's not just movement.
So I have breath work practices that are in there.
And then that way you can start to combine the classes and create what you want.
So in my perfect world, you would start with one of my breath work classes and then you
would move to an Asana class and then you'd have a nice long 10 minute Shabasa.
Yes.
Because it's in a perfect world.
So if that doesn't work, take a 10 minute class.
That's also great.
So I just want people to be able to practice and where where I started to have those
benefits that I mentioned. I only saw that once I started going to class regularly.
So I was practicing two times a week, three times a week, kind of dependent on the week.
That's when you start to experience the benefits.
So I want to make that easier for you.
So even if you do make it to a studio once a week, I love that.
I love in-person studios, but maybe then you could add a virtual class onto your calendar.
Now you've got twice a week that you're practicing.
So you're just starting to be able to find those benefits a little bit more quickly.
Yeah.
Yeah, no.
I don't know what I would do without virtual classes, honestly.
I love it.
So how can people connect with you?
How can they find you?
Yeah.
I hang out mostly on Instagram.
That is my favorite.
And I recently changed my name.
This was very traumatic for me.
I've always been a bit of a fire for about 10 years.
I think you could probably still search and find it that way.
But I am now on Instagram as I am Heather Blackman.
So it's my name.
Okay.
Nice and easy.
And then if you're interested in maybe some of the free resources that I offer and maybe
learning about the virtual studio, I created a unique URL for your listener.
So you can find that information at fitisbuyer.com/soulaligned.
And that'll take you to some of my free resources and also a trial of the studio.
I've actually never offered a seven day trial before.
So I just flipped it on last night so that you guys could give it a shot.
Oh, that's so exciting.
So that'll all be in the show notes.
So people could check out.
So definitely go check that out and visit check out the free resources.
And I'm definitely going to check it out myself.
It was a pleasure to have you on and talk to you and really cool to be hanging out with
a fellow yogi/runner type person.
I like that.
So thank you for coming on.
It was nice to meet you and talk to you.
Yeah.
Talk to you with you.
Thanks, Tina.
Did you guys know that the SoulAlignedSelfCare podcast has a community?
It's called the SoulAlignedSelfCare Insiders and I would love you guys to join us over there.
So the link will be in the show notes and I want to say we do so many cool self-care
practices over there.
So if you really want to up-level your self-care, join us on the insiders.
Okay, I'll see you there.
