SelfKind: Conversations in self-care, kindness and compassion for highly sensitive people

Today I am beyond thrilled to introduce my guest, Lisa Petersen to The Movement and Mindfulness Podcast! Lisa is my somatics teacher and someone who has had a profound impact on my life as both a movement teacher and human. In our chat together, Lisa shares: > what somatics is, explores and supports > the value of mixing modalities (and why somatics is often her movement tool of choice for c...

Ok, so you're looking to move your body more frequently, but the HOW and WHAT is proving elusive. So you look to see what others are doing for inspiration. Some of them swear by getting up at 5am. Some are hard-core believers in 'the plan' (e.g. putting it in the calendar). Others have their own proven method that is guaranteed to work. But are any of these 'right' for you...

Today I'm welcoming Natalia Walker from Inner Creative to The Movement and Mindfulness Podcast to talk all about unlocking our inspiration and the 'doubly smart' approach to setting goals that make us happy. What really excited me about my conversation with Natalia was her approach to goal-setting that centers self-care around the goals themselves, rather than the traditional techni...

Lots of us are used to doing THE MOST or at least believing we have to do THE MOST when it comes to movement and exercise for it to count. And, while I'm all for a focused movement and exercise session, believing that this is the only way can really do us a disservice when it comes to living with less tension and more ease. What I'm talking about today is a perspective shift around movem...

So happy to welcome Jessica Patching-Bunch back to The Movement and Mindfulness Podcast! Jess joined me back on episode 70 to talk all about stress resilience and today we're picking up the conversation and talking about the internal stress we experience from self-judgement. Self-judgement is a thing. Do you do it? I do. And it can be incredibly stressful. So, what can we do about it? In this...

If you're anything like me, even as an adult, you often feel like you need 'permission' or validation or confirmation that you're 'doing it right' when it comes to movement and self kindness and self-care. For whatever reason, we have this way of outsourcing the assessment of our capacity to do something (a great example is waiting for the yoga teacher to tell you to...

Today Lori Curran of The Humble Nook joins me to talk about motherhood and how it has changed us, challenged us and transformed us (and continues to do so!) In our candid conversation we chat about: > the impact of our own expectations - what we told ourselves we should be doing, feeling and achieving > how feeling scrutinised impacts our experience > feeling lost and how we each navigate...

Comparison. It's a trap! Comparison can take multiple forms, but it consistently robs us of: > staying present with what is true for us > moving in the direction of what we want and how we want to feel (rather than striving to catch up with the comparison) > things that have the potential to bring us joy (but we never get started because ... comparison). Tune in to find out how these...

Consistency. It's like the thing we aspire to, but that can feel so far out of reach. But, there's a reason consistency is so important ... when we're consistent it means that we're doing something frequently over time. It doesn't mean we do it at 110% every single day, it actually means we've found practical and sustainable ways to make it work in our real lives. Tod...

Selflessness. Is it something you aspire to?  It's certainly something we, as a society, have put on a pedestal as something to aspire to. But is there a chance it's actually getting in our way and holding us back? You bet.  I've got a fire under me about this one because in one breath we're told to be selfless and in the next we're told to look after ourselves. How? So, i...

Um, can you believe it? We're at episode ONE HUNDRED of The Movement and Mindfulness Podcast! That's bonkers-bananas! I ummed and ahhed about how to mark the occasion. I asked my Insta-crew what I should do. The most common suggestion was a 'get to know Erica' episode. I felt weird about that, so I've melded a bit of 'get to know you' with 5 (transferrable) lesso...

In today's episode I have the absolute joy and pleasure of chatting with Rochelle Trudo -  a licensed professional massage therapist who has been working with humans and their bodies for 21 years.  Over the years, Rochelle developed a desire to understand the deeper meanings behind the pain and illness of not only herself, but also wanting to teach her clients how to do that as well. After co...

What you believe about movement is 100% impacting if and how you show up for it. And ... you might not (yet) even know what those beliefs are. So, that's what we're talking about today! Some of the most common beliefs that tend to stand between us and our yoga/movement practice and how we can move beyond them. It's not unusual to hear ourselves saying 'I don't have the tim...

What is natural podiatry? What's so good about barefoot shoes and why should we care? Well ... today I have Andy Bryant, natural podiatrist, here to answer these questions and more. Andy is a podiatrist with over 20 years experience who is passionate about the barefoot movement and natural footwear. He is a forever student of the Foot Nerd Program with The Foot Collective, an international gr...

When it comes to fitting in yoga (or any kind of movement or self care practice) it can be one of the last things we try to slot in among everything else. And so ... it’s often the first thing to go when life gets busy. Buuuut, it’s often these very practices that keep us functioning and feeling better in our own skin. So finding a way to make them an integrated part of our life is important. In t...

Today, I'm thrilled to Welcome Laura Jean from Dietitian Values to the podcast to talk all about living a values-based life. In this episode we talk about: What values are and how they are different from what we value What it means to 'show up in other people's values' and how this impacts how we show up in our lives How to discover your own values (and why it's important...

We've all heard the common yoga class phrase 'listen to your body'. But what does it mean? And is our real issue that we don't know how to listen or that we don't trust what we hear? Hm ... a big question, yeah? Well, get ready for questions because in today's episode we're going to ask a lot of them. This is an episode to get you thinking about these ideas and,...

Flexibility and yoga go hand in hand, right? Well, yes, perhaps. But today I want to talk about a different kind of flexibility than the kind that leads you to touch your toes. Let's talk about mental flexibility and the reality that our practice (whether it be on the yoga mat or anywhere else) HAS to be flexible enough to respond to our changing needs. Yet we know that structure and routine...

Oh the weight of the world can feel like it's resting on our shoulders, hey? Shoulder tension is something I think we can all understand and relate to. Whether you find yourself persistently tense or experience it from time to time, it can be a right ol' pain to manage. Today on The Movement and Mindfulness Podcast, I'm sharing some of the reasons why tension might be there in the f...

I don't know about you, but I've definitely SHOULD myself a lot in my life. I've used should as coercion to get on my yoga mat (amongst many other and varied things) and what I've come to realise is that should always makes me feel guilty. It's a terrible motivator because it comes from a mal-aligned place. Annnnd ... so often, our shoulds are BORROWED. Somewhere along the...

How can a mindfulness and mindful movement practice influence and inspire your creative pursuits? Today, Physiotherapist and creative Christine MacSween is here to share her process and experience with us! Christine is a yoga and movement teacher turned physical therapist who is passionate about pelvic health as a part of whole body/whole person health. Much of her clinical practice is in pelvic h...

I have a little story for you today. A surprising parallel between the short hiatus I took from posting on social media to our human desire to quit when we feel like we're failing. I took a short break from posting while away for a long weekend with my family. No big thing, right? And yet, all those human thoughts started to bombard me - maybe this was it for me? Maybe I would never have anyt...

If I told you your tension was keeping you safe, what would you say? I'm guessing you'd be confused, because tension is just a royal pain in the body, right? But the truth is that your tension is a bit like a security blanket - it's providing a sense of stability and safety for your body. This is what we're talking about in today's episode. We cover: - why tension acts lik...

In this episode of The Movement and Mindfulness Podcast I'm chatting with Vanessa Hollo - an outreach worker and accessible yoga teacher supporting  addiction and mental health recovery. Straight up you need to know that in this episode we talk about substance use and addiction, mental health conditions and trauma. There is also adult language and a conversation about the rise of conspiracy t...

A few years ago, I experienced something that felt like 'self-development burnout'. I was so exhausted by my pursuit of self-development - which included my yoga practice, meditation, reading, mindset work and more - that I essentially threw my hands up and said 'stuff it, I'm done.' Can you relate? If so, I have something to share with you in today's episode of The M...