On and Off Your Mat Yoga Podcast

The first step in overcoming overwhelm is to understand what it is and how it feels in your body. By learning to recognize overwhelm, you can start to regulate your nervous system and manage stress more effectively. Join me to dive deep into the physical sensations of overwhelm and explore how to process this intense emotion in a healthy way.In this episode, I share the exact process I use with coaching clients to help them overcome overwhelm. As a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), you may be more prone to overwhelm than the average person. You’ll learn why overwhelm is a common experience for HSPs, and why it doesn't have to control your life.Click here for the 1:1 Somatic coaching application or click here to join the waitlist for my Feel It to Heal It mini course.For everything else, get full show notes here: https://erikabelanger.com/246

If you experience a lot of worry or anxiety, or you’re always replaying in your head what happened, or always thinking about what needs to be done or what might happen in the future today’s practice is for you.A lot of my coaching client find TOUCH to be a really resourcing sense to turn to when orienting, creating inner safety, or widening their capacity for processing uncomfortable emotions and deal with challenges, so I thought I would share one of my favorite, super simple touch meditation practice.I’ve used this with clients to✨ bring them to the present moment✨ reconnect to their body and sensations✨ get out of anxiety, overwhelm and hyper-vigilance✨ regulate their nervous system✨ bring back a sense of control over their body and emotions✨ and even rewire old beliefs like “I’m not enough”This practice is part of our premium subscription, to get access to it, become a premium podcast member.When you leave a review for the podcast on iTunes you can get a free trial. DM @onandoffyourmatpodcast or email (erika.belanger@gmail.com) me a screenshot of your review and we'll get you set up.Your podcast premium membership (as low as $5/month) allows me to continue to create and produce this podcast. I choose to keep this add-free for a better listening experience, so there are no revenue and the membership keeps this podcast alive. If you love On and Off Your Mat and want it to continue, support the show here and have access to this somatic practice and so much more.

Today, I sit down with Shanna Farnsworth to explore practical strategies for confident class planning. Shanna’s journey as a yoga teacher began 15 years ago in a New York City church basement. Since then, she has honed her skills in intelligent sequencing and mentored hundreds of yoga teachers. Her goal is to help teachers feel prepared and confident when leading classes, fostering meaningful connections with their students.Discover Shanna’s tried-and-true methods for crafting sequences that are both creative and purposeful. She offers insights on breaking down poses, using props effectively, and creating a cohesive class experience that fosters meaningful connections with your students.Get full show notes and more information here: https://erikabelanger.com/244

If you feel sluggish, drained of energy, and experience a lingering sense of emptiness or a hollow ache in your heart, today’s episode is for you. As Highly Sensitive People (HSP), we often wish we didn’t feel so deeply, so we tend to repress our emotions, leading to outbursts of tears. This makes it difficult to identify whether we’re actually feeling sad, angry, disappointed, ashamed, and so on.Tune in this week to discover how to feel your sadness so you can heal it. I discuss how truly feeling your sadness allows you to show up more fiercely and fully as yourself, enabling you to access more joy in your life. Learn practical strategies you can use right now when sadness hits, allowing you to express your sadness in ways that truly serve you.Get full show notes and more information here: https://erikabelanger.com/243

Dr. Andy Sabatier, a physiotherapist passionate about the mechanics of breathing, joins us. After training at Stanford Hospital's Cardiac ICU and serving as the primary ICU physical therapist for a hospital system in Oregon, Andy has dedicated himself to eliminating confusion and harmful practices around breathing. We continue the conversation on breathing that we started a few weeks ago with Alison Starr.In this episode, Andy explains the difference between functional and dysfunctional breathing, the anatomy of the breathing muscles, and simple practices to optimize your breathing. You'll walk away with a fascinating new perspective on this essential bodily function we often take for granted.Get full show notes and more information here: https://erikabelanger.com/242

If you want to raise your frequency to uplift your mood and energy, improve your emotional and mental well-being, connect more deeply with your higher self, intuition, or a sense of universal consciousness, or even align yourself with the energies of abundance, love, and success for example so you can manifest more of what you desire, today’s practice is for you.Visualization is a powerful tool for raising your vibration because it engages the mind, emotions, and energy in a focused way that aligns you with higher frequencies and allows you to be very gentle.This practice is part of our premium subscription, to get access to it, become a premium podcast member.When you leave a review for the podcast on iTunes you can have access to the membership for free, including today’s class as a thank you for helping others to find the podcast and on their healing journey. DM @onandoffyourmatpodcast or email (erika.belanger@gmail.com) me a screenshot of your review and we'll get you set up.On the membership platform, you'll find: 1. Your premium podcast episodes ($5/month).2. You can now also have access to almost 600 recorded full-length yoga classes in a Netflix-Style Membership ($25/month). 3. You can sign up for any live-stream class I offer!With our podcast premium membership, your contribution ripples to thousands of people every week, allowing me to offer accessible quality free content to a wide community of yogis. This podcast is a way I contribute to the community, and this membership is a way you can too. It allows you to share everything yoga offers with the world by supporting me in the creation and production of this podcast while I choose to keep it ad-free.

Alison Starr, founder of Kanda Yoga School and creator of the 20 Minute Miracles app, joins us to explore how developing a relationship with your breath can transform your yoga practice and your life.Alison shares her journey of discovering functional breathing and how it helped her overcome chronic pain and instability. She explains the difference between functional and dysfunctional breathing patterns and how many common cues in yoga and fitness can actually restrict the natural movement of the diaphragm. Learn simple techniques to calm your nervous system, increase your inner awareness, and find more ease and presence both on and off the mat. Get full show notes and more information here: https://erikabelanger.com/240

Kori Hahn is an author, yoga and meditation teacher, surfer, and devoted mother. Her adventures took her from the frozen landscape of Alaska to the warm waves of Sri Lanka, where she founded the Santosha Society, a community dedicated to travel, surfing, and soulful living. She's helped hundreds of women explore Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, and soul growth, and she's here to discuss today's topic through the lens of her new book: A Temple of Her Own.Discover how to embody the Sacred Feminine and learn how embodying these feminine archetypes can help you through the different seasons of your life. Kori goes through the goddesses in her book and gives us the profound lessons we can learn through each one about romance, pain, creativity, abundance, wealth, and more.Get full show notes and more information here: https://erikabelanger.com/239

MaKenzie Fly is a podcast host, retreat leader, and yoga teacher trainer living in Las Vegas. She helps yoga teachers get to their next level by developing more magnetism, attracting and retaining students through better sequencing, theme-weaving, and storytelling, and eventually becoming yogi-preneurs and building sustainable businesses as yoga teachers.Discover how to stand out as a yoga teacher by mastering the skills of theme-weaving and storytelling in your classes and in your business. MaKenzie shares why all of us are capable of telling a beautiful story through our yoga classes, and you'll get practical tips for implementing theme-weaving for the benefit of your students.Get full show notes and more information here: https://erikabelanger.com/238