Yoga Beyond the Workout with Renee Green

What if yoga was never meant to be just a workout?

In this episode of Healers Talk Healing from Miracles Ultimate Wellness Resources, Lynne Herod-DeVerges and Nina Ganguli welcome back Renee Green for a grounding conversation about yoga, alignment, mindfulness, and the deeper connection between body, mind, and spirit.

Renee shares how yoga is often viewed in the Western world as exercise, but its deeper purpose invites us into presence, breath, meditation, and inner awareness.

Together, they explore what it means to feel alignment from the inside, why the perfect pose is not the goal, and how yoga can become a practice of listening to the body instead of forcing it to perform.

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt disconnected from their body, frustrated in a yoga class, or curious about the deeper meaning of yoga beyond stretching and movement.

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Transcript

Recording Started

SPEAKER_02 0:09

I'm super excited. We are back again. Lynn, myself, we're back again with Renee Green. And Renee, we were doing some preemptive talking as we always do. And I'm glad that Lynn, you interrupted us to say, hey, hey, you know, people might want to be interested in this conversation. And what I was asking Renee, or what I was saying actually, before I think I asked something, I was making a statement about yoga and the modernization of yoga in the Western world. And me, if y'all don't know, I'm South Asian. So as far as I understand, yoga was born and um I'm just gonna say facilitated because I can't think of another word right now in South Asia. What it is a practice that's been going on for many, many, many, many, many hundreds of years for centuries, I would say. And lately, what I've been noticing that's been coming up in what I'm seeing out there in social media, in the conversation around yoga, specifically from the South Asian lens, is this concern that yoga is being westernized or modernized. And you know, my question to you as a practitioner and as a teacher, Renee, is what are your thoughts about that?

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Well, I I have to say, I I I truly believe that yes, it is being westernized. Um, good, bad, or indifferent. I I don't know if if that is um really a take on it. Um it's it's what you want out of it, what you need out of it. And in the the Western culture, um, they they need uh or they think we think um we need specific things. But there's also something to be said about the tradition of it, yes, and the meaning behind it. You know, yoga was you know originally started, this this movement portion of yoga was originally started so that we could sit in meditation. And it it was, you know, you're you're moving your body, you're stretching your body so that you could sit in meditation um and be in that quiet space and go within. So they're they're kind of really hand in hand. I think if you look in history, um you know, meditation and yoga are really merge together. Um, and in our Western culture, we have really separated it, you know, you quietly do meditation and you get in and you do um um hot yoga and you do, you know, the the other um um flow yoga and different various things. But I think with my perspective of it, is it is a little more traditional in the fact that you want to find the alignment within your body. If you go to a yoga studio, you'll probably see mirrors on all of the walls. Um, and in my practice, there's no mirrors. You're you have to really feel inside where that alignment is. You need to, you need to, you know, the yoga teacher tells you to put your arms out, and we'll do this a little more when we get into our workshop, but you'll the yoga teacher will tell you to put your arms out and have them, you know, extended out, and you're kind of like this, you know, or you're moving in, you're moving your legs, and things tend to come off balance. And I think from my perspective, that that yoga teacher is there to help you. And what I like to do is I'll have somebody with this and I'll go over and I'll slowly adjust them to this, and I'll have them close their eyes and see if they can feel the difference in their bodies. And I think that yoga is more about what that feeling of alignment is in your body.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

I love that, I love that, and as you're speaking, what comes through my mind is alignment of the body is also alignment of the spirit, alignment within, and which then was taking my mind back to yoga being truly a spiritual practice of the full essence of alignment, balance, you know, in every aspect of our beingness. So I I love this.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Absolutely. I think that um it is about that that spiritual practice. I mean, again, you know, yoga was intended to, or the movement portion of yoga was intended to allow us to sit in meditation to make that connection. Um, and it starts at the at the movement piece of it, you know, or if you're connecting with yourself, it makes it so much easier to to connect with source, to connect with spirit.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

It's it's you know, as you were speaking, I could I was visualizing. I remember when I would um exercise with my dad, I would work out when we were when I was a kid, he always made sure that we were moving. And he used to wait train back home in India. And one of the things he would do were these, I would call them, I didn't know what they were at the time, these weird push-ups. Okay. And what I was like, these are so what are you doing, Dad? Because it would be a full, like it would be a full thing. And what I ended up realizing once I um took some yoga uh classes was he was doing sun salutations, uh full like sun salutation into cobra, like that. There was a full flow that happened, and he said what it did was this is what he said, like it woke up his body, but at the at the same time as waking up his body, it was strengthening all of his muscles. And uh he said that most of the the people that were doing weights and bodybuilding um uh in his days, so that was quite a while ago, yoga was part of that full training so that the the muscles and the body uh were, like you said, aligned. But my my question, I think, is af coming out of this, is see, I always honestly, I always thought, because I'm I'm naive about this, that yoga was a part of the the the Hinduism, which is not a religion, but it is a way of life, and it's you know, there's this all of these different things that come into it. And I think I was saying just before we even started recording, I think what would benefit probably me and many other people is do a little bit more research on actually, you know, um, the original practice of yoga. But what's interesting that you said to me was, you know, what is what has it be different here is our mentality is different here. The way we live is different here. And what it's opening in my mind is instead of having some sort of judgment about how authentic it is and how close it is to um what's happening in in the east, is that we have a version that works for our cultural needs and our cultural norms. And like you said, it's not good, bad, it's just what works right right now. Um, what is the discussion that's happening in you know in the yoga community out there amongst your peers around something like this?

SPEAKER_00 8:18

I I really I have to say that it really depends on the type of teacher you're talking to. And if you're you're talking to uh a vinyasa flow teacher or you're talking to a hot yoga teacher, they're not necessarily um looking to keep that. I and I I hate I I'm I'm probably uh abusing what I'm about to say, so bear with me. Um but they're not keeping that alignment of your of your inner body in mind as they go through a practice. There there is the visual practice um that that that you're going through, the motions that you're going through. You know, they they tell you to step one foot forward and stand and stand up into warrior one and then uh just you know step back into down dog and and you're going through the motions of it, but you're not pausing and getting the feeling of what that pose is, and that's not to say that that's a bad thing. Um, I I love to take myself a nice hot yoga class, I I love to go and do it, but the difference is is that over time I have taken the time to feel into what those postures feel like inside instead of what they look like. Um, and I, you know, I like to say that I um am always keeping everyone safe, which is part of it. You know, having the alignment for your body body is part of it, but it's that mental safeness that comes with yoga that we in the West tend to lose.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

That's what I was alluding to, or at least thinking before, is that in the West, our mindset is yoga almost as an exercise, a physical exercise. Uh, it's categorized as you know, body movement, and there's so much emphasis on that as opposed to the whole person, you know, self-alignment, which is body, mind, spirit, and also, of course, then our emotions also move into alignment with that. Um, I really do, and this is why I appreciate having worked with you, because being able to move into a place of alignment and just be where my body needs to be at that moment is so comfortable. I've done the hot yoga, I've done uh the yoga where you know you do hold a pose for a long time and a long time and a long time, and the instructor straightens your body this way and does this and that, and I'm there and I'm like, and I'm feeling bad because I can't hold it for more than a minute, and so it is um and at that moment, I'm I'm not in a place where I number one feel body alignment in that specific moment, of course, over time, sure, but in that specific moment, I may not feel totally in alignment, but I'm also not experiencing the alignment, the inner alignment. And and but the way that you actually teach it and the way that you work with people is fully allowing for the internal, the the spirit alignment with the body alignment at the time and being able to um not be in a place of shame, guilt. Why won't this body work? Come on, body, do what you're supposed to do. It's not it's not that kind of a focus or you know, uh a practice, and and I do appreciate that. And yes, different teachers have different styles.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

So and and again, there there's no there's it's not that their style is wrong or indifferent, but part of it is is it is a yoga practice, and here in the West, we go to a yoga class. Ah, good point. And if you're not taking that time to practice when you're not in the class, off the mat even, um, you're you're not finding that that full benefit of yoga, you're not practicing it. You you are going to a class.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

So that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

That is that's fascinating because my brain is like, okay, well, then how what do what does that mean? Transitioning it off the mat, you know, like what does that mean? Is it a lifestyle? Yeah, what does it mean?

SPEAKER_00 13:29

You know, I really think that it means that you are being mindful of your internal space, and whether that's a a physical um motion for you or it's really a mental motion for you. Uh, it just it depends on you and who, you know, who you are. What do you take off the mat? You know, maybe maybe on Tuesday when you went to your practice to your class, it was about a physical alignment, and you took that physical alignment with you all day into the next day, into the next time you went into yoga, and then you went into yoga on Thursday, and it was all a mental practice. Am I breathing? How am I feeling in this pose? Not what do I look like in this pose?

SPEAKER_02 14:27

You know, funny that you said, How am I feeling in this pose? Because in all the yoga classes that I've been to, I I don't recall. I'm not saying it didn't happen, I'm just saying I don't recall. Someone's asking or saying, How do you feel in this pose? And not just about the physicality of the feeling, because this is what I'm getting from our conversation that that feeling goes beyond, like, oh, I feel my muscles stretching. Oh, you know, I feel my shoulder tight. It's it's more of what happens and uh what's happening with my spirit. Like, how is my spirit feeling? And if you were to ask me that, if I were to go back and remember some of the, you know, some of the ones that I've taken, a lot of times my spirit was frustrated because it was trying to get somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

And now I'm realizing that's part of who I am. Yeah, yeah. And as I'm processing the things that you're saying, it's it's like, ah, it's that you want this constant conversation about a human doing versus a human being, which we did talk about in in in the last episode. So if you're interested in that, you know, check that out. But I I think that the other thing that's coming to me is I'm I don't think people are can realize that it's it can be also like a somatic release.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

You know, when we think we're going to yoga class, we think we're going to exercise. You're you're right, we're going to exercise. Like, you know, I went to power yoga. So power yoga was like it wasn't easy, I'll just put it that way. Well, I did it. It wasn't a it didn't feel like a flow, it felt like somebody was kicking my butt. And um, so I think that that is something I would love for our listeners to be able to walk away with and understand that it's it's beyond a classroom, it's beyond um strengthening muscles and elongating them and having you be more flexible, which is very important. I'm not diminishing that, but there is so much beautiful gold and magic that might be missing in our on our mats and in our lives by pigeonholing it into exercise. Like on Tuesday, you go to yoga because that's your workout day. And and I think that's what I'm getting from what you're what you're sharing, you know, by working with with you. And what type of yoga is it? What stream of yoga is it that you actually bring to the mat?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

I teach uh a Hatha alignment-based Hatha yoga class. Um, and there is some vinyasa that moves through it because uh we do do sun salutations and things like that. But it is the way my teacher explained it to me is hatha is kind of the umbrella over the practices of yoga, and then the branches come out from underneath that that initial umbrella, um, the the the vinyasa flow, the ayengar, where you hold it a little longer, you go a little deeper. You know, um, I have to say that my teacher has a strong um Iangar background, and I think that that's where I first fell in love with finding alignment. And then when I found out that really that alignment was inside, I was like, okay, you know, hats off. Let's just do all the all the yoga, let's find it in there.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

So that's how you found your inside. That's how you found you inside. Yes, as you were mentioning uh previously in the the first uh episode, yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Yeah. And and you know, Nina, you you touched on somatic, um, you know, being part of of the practice. And Lynn, you had mentioned that, you know, holding that pose for a long period of time, you started to get mentally uncomfortable with it. And one of the things is that, you know, in working with yoga, it is it's part of our nervous system that we're working with here. And it's, you know, when your body feels rushed or unsafe or judged or forced into a shape that it is not happy with, then it you you tend to lose that that spiritual connection, that that spiritual connection with yourself. But when it feels supported in its alignment, you can be more present. You can allow your nervous system to feel safe, to feel like it's allowed to stretch a little more because it's safe. So I love it. I really think that that's uh the alignment is uh again, it's not necessarily the visual of it, but it's how it makes you feel inside. And every person, no matter what the pose is or what shape your body is in, it's about feeling safe inside or comfortable if you don't want to say, you know, safe. Um but feeling that inside as opposed to what I look like or what somebody else sees.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

I I just I'm really connecting to what you're saying because the words I connect to the word uh safe, but the that getting to be connected to self is so important. And we are we we keep saying feeling, and we live in a culture that feelings aren't necessarily safe.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

So you know, for those of us who are listening into for those of you who are listening into this into our conversation, I would really like invite you, if you're you know, just starting out and just beginning to understand, to connect with uh your feelings, have that space, like the instead of going to the like I'm thinking, instead of going to the mat to exercise, to stretch, which isn't like I said before, is important, but what if we were to bring our whole selves to the mat, the self that many of us are struggling to connect to and say, okay, we're gonna bring the whole self to the mat. And think about, and I'm sure you do this in your guiding through. I don't want to take over, but to bring your whole self and be like, okay, so this is making you angry or upset, or you know, but it goes, it's not about the stretch. What is it about?

SPEAKER_01 21:44

And that's also where the breath comes in, right? Because as soon as uh Nina said that, I'm like, oh, right, breathe. Are you breathing?

SPEAKER_00 21:54

You took the words right out of my mouth. That's exactly what I was gonna say is yes, you're in. The pose you're in the stretch, but can you breathe? Can you relax your shoulders away from your ears? Because we're doing this, you know, you know, we're we're in it. Can you relax that unnecessary tension because you're thinking about what you look like, what you have to do before what you forgot to do before you got here? Um, and can you stay connected to yourself while you're in the pose? Can you find I love this one? Can you find the ease within the posture?

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Oh, oh, that's that's fabulous. Can you find that's a clip? Can you find the posture?

SPEAKER_02 22:45

That's now we're all trying to breathe and find ease as we're sitting.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

I know, I'm like, well, right now, you know, everybody's shoulders out, relax those shoulders, breathe, you know. Can you can you find the ease within the posture?

SPEAKER_02 23:01

That is a philosophical question, my friend.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Yes, it it is a philosophical question, but it's also even in it in saying it and just in the moment of thinking it, it's like, what is my posture at this very moment, even sitting here, as we're as we are doing this uh wonderful, having this wonderful conversation, can I find the ease in my posture? And Renee, as soon as you said that, my body relaxed and went, oh yeah, there it is.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Yeah, because it is, it's right there. You just have to slow down to feel it, to notice it.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

And I did the same thing. I did the same thing, and you said, Yeah, there it is. And I was like, Oh, that's sore, oh that's tight, oh, oh, I'm not in ease, and and it's okay, like I'm not upset about it. It was just a oh, huh. I I feel like I'm discovering this as we're having this conversation, I would like to practice more of that time of relaxation and you know, so that when I am thinking about can I find ease here, that I find the ease. Or maybe I don't. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

To know what ease is, yes. When we when we walk around tense all of the time, what do you mean relax? Wait, I'm relaxed.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

And it's been exactly that way too. Oh no, I'm relaxed.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

And it's funny that you say that because um, you know, I find in order to get to that space, I need additional support to find that relaxation and ease. And what am I talking about? Maybe a nice glass of something or something, something slightly chewable. I will leave that to the imagination. But you know, it's it's funny that or not funny, it's interesting how that can come without any of those things through connecting with your body and connecting with your spirit and having that um the voice in my head is saying so many great things, they're just not coming out of my mouth. But what I what I really got just now in the moment is that's the ticket. That's the ticket. The ticket to to connection is this practice, is this movement. It's not trying to think after a long day, I need a glass of wine or uh something or whatever it could be, a slice of cake or whatever that might be. But wouldn't it be lovely if that was like I just need to come to self?

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Yeah. That it's it is it is so beautiful, and also considering um, at least in the in the western cultures, we are so body focused constantly in one way or another, whatever that that is, which is which is fine, but if we're gonna be body focused, be body focused in are you relaxed and is your body relaxed in this moment? Are you at ease in this moment? How can you let that little pinky finger relax? You know, how can you just take a breath and let something else relax? Let the insides relax, you know, just whatever that means. And the more you do that, the more you're also putting your attention inward, and that activity in and of itself helps the spirit and the body to more align.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

At least that's what I'm experiencing at this moment in time.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

Giving up, giving up that responsiveness and just bringing in awareness.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

That's another golden nugget, you know, giving up responsiveness and being more aware, which then leads to that level of presence. Right. And as we were speaking, I was remembering um vacation. I I'm very blessed. I I get to go on vacation quite often uh in a year, and it dawned on me maybe a couple of years ago that I'm truly not present while I'm there, I'm truly not fully relaxed. I'm lying on the beach, I'm having my my drink or my favorite food, and I'm with my family or not. And yet there's still all the noise, and what if that noise um could I not say be present, but be shut off and using the techniques and uh the poses that you teach and share with with people, how that could I'm I'm wondering like how would vacation be?

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Maybe different.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Like, yeah, because I'm already thinking I'm on vacation, but like what is life or vacation going to be like when when I'm not thinking about, oh, my back is sore in this chair. Oh, oh, you know, I gotta get up and I have to go to the bathroom. Oh, to say like the just the quiet that the drink or the other things we think bring to us.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

Yeah, I think when we learn to move off our mat, the way we quiet on our mat um is is part of the practice. And the the more that you do it, the the easier that it gets. And it may be that you have, my husband says I have a switch. It may be that you have a switch, like you sit down in the chair and you go, oh, I'm uncomfortable, and then you go, Oh, here it is. And that if the switch happens and you just let everything go for that moment, and you give yourself the grace to be in alignment with yourself for that moment, even if it's a short moment. You can at the end you can be grateful for it. Oh, I'm so glad I just took that moment for myself. And the more that you have the gratitude for the moments you take for yourself, the bigger, the easier, the longer those moments become.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Well, I think that was a mic drop too. You had a lot of them today.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Yes, we really have. We're we are we are learning quite a bit and beginning to move into the experience of that, which is phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

Yeah, and I am excited for the workshop that's that's coming up that you will be facilitating. And for those of you who are listening, go to the show notes and click on the link and register for the workshop with Renee. And, you know, if you have any questions, if you'd like to reach out to her, you can find her information on the website under our service directory. She's there. Just type her name in, Renee Green. You can find her information. And if you're concerned about that, just put it in the comments. We'll definitely get that information to Renee. Uh, Renee, you know, we could talk about this all day long. I'm having so much uh openness and awareness and just so much that you know it's not even formally improperly and processing in my brain right away. And I'm just so thankful for what you do for people and who you are for the world because we need to be a little more quiet and a little more, I'm gonna say need peaceful and calm. And if imagine if 8 billion plus people were calm, uh you know, aligned, connected to self, what difference that would make in the world?

SPEAKER_01 31:45

Massive. It would be absolutely massive. So we encourage everyone to be part of the workshop and move into alignment with yourself so you can also help move into alignment with the world. Let's just keep spreading this so that we can see the kinds of changes and the transformation that we choose to have happen in the world that's filled with light and balance and peace and joy and of course all of that through love. So, Renee, thank you so much for showing up the way that you do.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Thank you, ladies, for having me on and and having this conversation with me. And yes, we could talk all day. I'm happy to just talk all day. Yes. Um, I appreciate everything that you ladies do and bring into our world. Um, it is it is people like you that um make the world a better place. Um, and just you know, remembering that alignment yoga isn't about being in the perfect pose, it's about becoming more connected with yourself while you're in it.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

With that, until next time, everyone. Bye for now.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Bye for now. Namaste. Namaste